The Many Lifetimes of Victor Cooper
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Umbrella WinterSpring 20202019 Vol. 2928 No. 0403 What’s Under the Umbrella? o Art of illusions by Melissa Brant o Remembering Peter Davis o The many lifetimes of Victor Cooper Visual I Performance I Literary I Arts Calendar I Education A publication of the A publication of the TEAM Janet Jarrell, Executive Director [email protected] Adam Gray, Creative Director [email protected] Fiona Campbell, Communications & Outreach Director [email protected] Andrew Gray, Graphic Designer [email protected] Kim Lidstone, Bookkeeper [email protected] Darren Moore, Poetry Editor Fiona Campbell, Adam Gray, Janet Jarrell. Photo by Ash Murrell BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair Jenny Woods EDITORIAL FROM THE QUINTE ARTS COUNCIL TEAM Past chair Dan Atkinson Treasurer Maury Flunder March 8th is International Women’s Day (#eachforequal), a global day Director Andrea Kerr honouring and celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political Director Debbie McKinney achievements of women. To celebrate the voices and aesthetic of women in Director Heather Cockerline the arts, QAC will host the RISE: Because We Are Equal show from March Director Rick Moulton 1 to 31. Within these pages we celebrate some outstanding women artists: Honorary Director Lise Lindenberg Melissa Brant, Adey Singer, Lola Reid Allin, Sheila Stanley, and Thérèse Cilia, to name a few. The Quinte Arts Council is a not-for-profit, charitable organization, registration number 107869448 RR 0001. In film, we check out what Jodi and Victor Cooper are up to, we introduce Publications mail agreement number 40667523. you to emerging photographer Daniel Presley-Spinks and we celebrate CHSS SoundAcademy. We appreciate the healing power of music therapy, Kelly Published by: The Quinte Arts Council Holiff as a Hot Mess, and the Belleville Theatre Guild for bringing NFLD to the 36 Bridge St. E., P.O. Box 22113 stage. Command Performance Choir is heading to Europe, there is music and Belleville, Ont. K8N 2Z5 history at Signal and Opera has returned to Belleville! Printed by: Mr. Print, Belleville, Ont. In December, the arts community lost a great man: Peter Davis was near and Deadline for the summer issue: April 23, 2020 dear to many, including the QAC. For 20 years he worked tirelessly and with grace to produce the very publication you are currently reading. Both Peter and Umbrella welcomes articles (500 words max.) on or about Jane, his partner for almost 50 years, have been a big part of the QAC, and the arts in the Quinte region, poetry or prose, illustrations and we look forward to celebrating his art for the month of April. Please join us on photographs. Material may be reprinted only with permission. April 2nd from 4:00 - 7:00 pm to raise a glass and celebrate his life work at Umbrella reserves the right to edit, crop and editorialize all the gallery. submissions. Members are given space priority. Umbrella is mailed to members and delivered to distribution Sadly, the Bay of Quinte area has lost many icons of late. We remember Peter points throughout Quinte and beyond. The information Smith, long-time supporter of the QAC. It is outstanding people like Peter that contained within is believed to be reliable, but accuracy cannot give back to their community because they believe in the power of humanity. be guaranteed. We do not assume responsibility for any errors and/or omissions related to submitted content. The arts community was shocked to the core to lose Michael Rutland in February. He will be remembered for his passion, opinions and advocacy for MISSION STATEMENT the arts; in the words of his life partner Marilyn Lawrie, “his brusque exterior hid a heart of gold that valued truth and fairness and friendship and nature.” * to stimulate the arts in the Bay of Quinte region * to support and foster the artistic endeavours of our members to offer annual grants and awards In May the QAC brings back the juried competition Quinte en Plein Air. For * four days, artists leave their studios behind to paint and showcase their work * to create awareness of the arts through various media to advocate for the arts at all levels of government outdoors using various mediums such as: watercolour, acrylic, soft pastel and * oil. Prizes total over $4,000. * to work with other arts groups on long-range planning to avoid duplication to act as a resource centre This issue of Umbrella honours the past, supports our present local artist family * and pushes for a thriving, healthy and prosperous arts community. QAC programs are funded in part by: MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR, JENNY WOODS We welcome Rick Moulton as a new Director to the Quinte Arts Council! I have been reflecting on my terms at the QAC since I began in 2014. Starting as treasurer and graduating to Chair, I am proud to be a part of this dedicated group of Directors who have pushed the QAC through some great moves forward for the local arts and culture community. As I set to hand over the The John M. & Bernice gavel to Andrea Kerr in June, I appreciate everyone who has sat at this table Parrott Foundation supporting the arts! Cover: Melissa Brant Body Art Table of Contents Detail of oil painting by Peter Davis Remembering Peter Davis 2 Photography Up close and personal with photographer Lola Reid Allin 4 Emerging photographer Daniel Presley-Spinks 6 Photo by Daniel Presley-Spinks Theatre Local artists join stars in Wagner’s The Ring Cycle 8 Kelly Holiff’s Hot Mess 10 Film The many lifetimes of Victor Cooper 12 Music Music as a powerful healer 14 Victor Cooper Command Performance Choir confirms European tour 15 Selling whiskey to Al Capone 16 Fine Art Melissa Brant: Art by Us 20 7th annual Quinte en Plein Air Festival 22 The business of becoming an artist 24 Literary Melissa Brant. Photo by Luke Poetry by Sheila Stanley: Guys Night Out 26 Hendry of The Intelligencer QAC Bookshelf: Spring reading 27 The funny pages with Adey Comics 28 Art Education Breaking the Silence with music: SoundAcademy 2.0 30 What's ON: Arts Calendar 32 QAC Business Members and Donors 38 SoundAcademy 2.0 Remembering Peter Davis By Carol Bauer Remembering Peter Davis By Carol Bauer Peter Davis at the Quinte Arts Council’s 1991 logo contest, which was won by Peter’s submission On December 21, 2019, the arts community lost a dear friend, colleague and tal- ented artist. Peter Davis passed away peacefully at home, at the age of 82, after a long decline. He is survived by Jane Mackenzie, his partner of 49 years, his daughter Kim Davis, and many nieces and neph- ews. Davis had a rare talent as an artist, and he leaves a legacy of beautiful paintings in homes and offices across the country and around the world. Davis was the first designer of the Quinte Arts Coun- cil’s publication Umbrella, retiring in 2012 after 20 years. I first met him when I started working at the QAC in the mid-1990s, and within a week I knew we would be lifelong friends. He was always incredibly warm and welcoming, even during his last months of declining health and mobility. He was a born teacher and loved to share his knowledge and passion for the arts. When young or emerging artists would drop into the QAC asking for advice and guidance, he’d happily sit down with them to look at their work, share his experiences, and answer their questions about art and the business of being a painter. Davis was also a lifelong learner. Throughout his career, he studied and experimented with different forms of visual art including non-objective, still life, figure painting, landscapes and portraits. Colour and light were always the primary considerations in his work. He saw shapes as forms on which to “hang Wharf Street Debating Club, oil on canvas Umbrella, Spring 2020 - 02 Indian Motorcycle, 9” x 12”, oil on canvas the colour,” and then he worked to in- computers) highlighted his raw talent for spent many years sailing. He saw such tensify or modify the colour to create the design. His use of masterful techniques beauty there and spent months in his stu- desired effect, taking the viewer far be- could easily elevate a page layout by dio, meticulously putting to canvas what yond the obvious. shifting strips of copy, adding more his eyes and heart saw: the scenic beau- white space, crafting a hand-written ty of the islands and the ever-changing His grandfather was an accomplished headline or drawing a simple graphic light dancing across the river. painter and sculptor, so Davis grew up on the spot. As Peter saw it, each page in a house full of paint and clay and was its own work of art.” A show of Davis’s artwork will open knew early on this would be his pro- at the QAC Gallery, 36 Bridge St., E, fession. After high school in Toronto, Davis’s last series of paintings were of downtown Belleville on Thursday, April he went to England where he studied the 1000 Islands, where he and Jane 2 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting in London. After returning to Toronto, he worked as a painter, illus- trator, photographer and graphic artist for magazines such as Maclean’s, Fi- nancial Post, Quest and Homemakers. In 1988 he left the commercial art world to dedicate more time to painting. Even- tually he and Jane purchased a beauti- ful property on the Bay of Quinte, where they built a home and studio. Donna Davies, who worked with Davis at the QAC in the 1990s and has been a friend since, shared: “Peter was the creative force behind the look and feel of the QAC Umbrella for many years.