“I left Lebanon being very distant from Arabic culture,” says 20-year-old filmmaker Raghed (Ray) Charabaty, who moved to Halifax from the mountains outside of Beirut to study film and art at NSCAD in 2012. “I wanted to focus on this new person I could be. “Until I realized that you need to go back to […]
Art
Posted inArts + Music
New Art: Kyle Alden Martens
Kyle Alden Martens is standing in front of me in his studio, holding up a short sleeve turtleneck that’s covered in tiny pockets. Each pocket contains a miniature blue teddy bear—the kind you’d get from a coin-operated machine in an arcade when you were a kid. “I’m loosely referencing Operation, the game where you take […]
Posted inArts + Music
Hotline tips on how to survive the Halifax Pop Explosion
Here we are, doggies. Tonight is the first evening of the Halifax Pop Explosion, five full days of the coolest bands in hip-hop, indie rock, indie pop and regular pop. There’s also a symphony experience, an incredible comedy lineup, songs for the folkier set, an HPX Conference, the Collide Creative Technology Conference and much more. If you haven’t […]
Posted inArts + Music
Q&A with Acadie mythique curator Harlan Johnson
Nova Scotian ex-pat Harlan Johnson isn’t a curator by trade, but with small grants from Dawson College and Concordia University, the painter and professor has realized his dream of an exhibit featuring the works of Acadian and Cajun artists. Johnson gives us the scoop on the project, Acadie mythique, that had artists from as far […]
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Here are your 2015 Masterworks Arts Award finalists
Five artists representing five different mediums are in the running for the prestigious award, a place in history and $25,000.
Posted inArts + Music
Beastie Boy grows up in While We’re Young
In Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young, Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts star as childless filmmakers who fall in with a hipster couple played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried. Stiller’s best friend Fletcher, a new dad, is portrayed by Adam Horovitz, who you more likely recognize from his day job as a Beastie Boy. He […]
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How Robert Houle “decolonized” himself through painting
[Image-1] Robert Houle turned painting into a full-time gig after selling his first piece—a small eight-by-10-inch acrylic titled “Red is Beautiful”—for $90 back in the ’70s. Since then, he’s served as the first curator of Contemporary Indian Art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, garnered international exposure and most recently won the Governor General’s Award […]
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Art Gallery of Nova Scotia 2015/16 season announced
Upcoming AGNS exhibitions have a very local focus, with nearly 100 percent Nova Scotian content. See the list below and start planning your gallery visits: John Greer: retroActive Last Art College: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design 1968-1978 Spring in Cambridge: the Visionary Drawings of John Devlin (more on Devlin here) Terroir: a Nova […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Increasing book taxes is bad for readers
[Image-1] In 2014, the McNeil government commissioned Laurel Broten, a former Ontario MPP, to review Nova Scotia’s taxes. Her review, entitled Charting a Path for Growth and completed late in 2014, made many recommendations including the removal of the POS rebate of the provincial portion of the HST on books. When the HST was introduced […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
It’s a new year!
[Image-1] We learn that our personalities are pretty much set by the time we are four or five and that the best predictor of future behaviour is our past behaviour. We are taught and learn early in our childhood about the challenge of change: Can a tiger change its stripes or a leopard its spots? […]
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Who’s getting HRM’s arts funding and why
First of all, yahoo for arts funding. Second of all, yahoo for detailed reports from the city explaining which arts organization are recommended to receive exactly how much (or nothing at all) and why. Click here for the full report, it’s very informative. Here’s a quick breakdown of how much each HRM-based arts organization (I’d […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
I am an African Nova Scotian womanist artist
[Image-1] I was born in Halifax and raised in Uniacke Square (Squaretown or Squizzy for those who are familiar). I was always apprehensive about allowing society to determine what labels I should wear. Eventually, I would decide myself: middle class (I like it here), African Nova Scotian, womanist, artist. I choose to be known as […]