Sunday, August 15, 2021

Hi, art lovers!

Fourth wave be darned, live entertainment continues to blink itself back into existence. The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival returned this week as Together We Fringe, a smaller affair than usual with the essentials still intact (read: theatre and outdoor drinking). Live music resumed at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage after something like five million days. (Proof of vaccination wasn’t required — and it won’t be asked for at TIFF. But it is something you’ll need if you want to see one of these concerts in the States.) Of course, it’s still plenty weird out there, and people continue to invent new ways to pandemic-proof their plans. (Did you hear what they’re doing at the Emmy Awards this September?) I’ve tried to see whatever shows I can in Toronto (while breathing in the company of strangers). Skip to the sections below to read those stories.

Other things to click: a Yayoi Kusama pumpkin being swept into the sea. It’s a contest to paint the best duck, so how did it become “the American Idol” of wildlife art? This foundation gets museums to confront climate change while helping them adapt to its effects. (Wonder if they’d have a take on this carbon-neutral NFT platform.) Inevitable: one of those immersive van Gogh shows is hosting a “weed night.” A Montreal couple just made one of the largest private art donations in Canadian history. See what's happening at the Bonavista Biennale, on to Sept. 12. CBC remembers Garry Neill Kennedy, the artist and educator who put NSCAD on the map.

And because we promised you eye candy ...

@mavreendavid/Instagram

Vancouver, go for a walk — or grab your bike or e-scooter or hoverboard. Whatever. Just get out there and see what’s happening on the street because Vancouver Mural Festival launched Aug. 4 and runs to the 22nd. This work-in-progress by Emmanuel Jarus and Marcelline Siu is one of 60 plus new projects going up as part of the event.

Vancouver Biennale

And then there’s the stuff being programmed by the Vancouver Biennale! You’re looking at a picture of Voxel Bridge, a new piece by Jessica Angel that’ll be under the city’s Cambie Bridge through 2023. It combines AR and blockchain technology — and yes, some more analog fare as well.

@muralfestival/Instagram

Over in Montreal, it’s also the most wonderful time of the year (for street art). This basketball court by Franco Égalité (aka Francorama) went up as part of the city’s Mural Festival (on to Aug. 22).

@yung.yemi/Instagram

Yung Yemi (previously seen here) created this portrait of Mary Ann Shadd, the first Black woman in Canada (and all of North America) to found a newspaper. The mural recently went up outside Mackenzie House in Toronto as part of Awakenings, a special Emancipation Month project from Toronto History Museums.

@tohistorymuseums/Instagram

This AR monument by Quentin VerCetty is part of that Awakenings project too. (Take a peek at the full slate of programming.)

@keepgrowingq/Instagram

Quentin recently debuted this IRL sculpture at Toronto’s Aitken Place Park as well. This one came to life through a BSAM Canada residency. Inspired by the books of Octavia E. Butler, it’s called Olamina after the heroine of Butler’s Parable novels.

You've got to see this

Mirvish Productions

We went to Toronto's first big indoor (!) theatre performance of the pandemic

Blindness isn’t a play per se. (It’s a sound installation based on José Saramago’s dystopian novel.) But it makes for one chilling night at the theatre.

Dahlia Katz

Theatre that’ll take you back to 2003 (or 2019, for that matter)

Instead of its annual Shakespeare festival, Canadian Stage brought a musical about the Toronto blackout to High Park. I took in the show with CBC Arts staffer Reiko Milley. Read what happened on our Big Night Out.

CBC Arts

It’s been more than 30 years since a Haida memorial pole was raised in this B.C. community

To honour his late mother, Lyle Campbell carved this memorial pole last year. Watch it come to life.

Follow this artist

Gyimah Gariba

@gyimahg

@gyimahg/Instagram

If you didn’t click on this Q&A with Gyimah last week, then you missed out on seeing this portrait of Lil Nas X. I just couldn’t stand by and let that happen.

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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time!