Ottawa Arts Review
The Ottawa Arts Review (OAR) is the official English-language Arts Journal of the University of Ottawa. It is a not-for-profit publication, established, managed and produced by student volunteers who wish to promote and encourage the appreciation of both literary and visual art in Ottawa. The Ottawa Arts Review gives an equal voice to local, Canadian, and international artists, cultivating a vibrant and positive setting that facilitates creative exchange between emerging and established artists alike.
Monday, January 18th 2010
Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday night and made the event an incredible success!!
Special thanks to performers Zacc St Pierre, Vincent Kember, Brandon Wint, Nick Leonard, and Adam Saikaley, and to the wonderful La Petite Mort staff!
Thanks also to Young Jane's, Venus Envy, Milestones, SFUO, and Second Cup for the wonderful door prizes! Congratulations to all you lucky winners!
If you missed your chance to pick up OAR vol 3.2, it is on sale for $8 at Young Jane's (Dalhousie St) and Mags and Fags (Elgin St) in Ottawa, or by mail. Emaildistributions.review@artsuottawa.ca to request a copy.
If you are a writer or artist of any kind and would like your work to appear in the next issue of the Ottawa Arts Review, check out submissions guidelines on our website and send your submissions via email to submissions.review@artsuottawa.ca
If you want to be kept in the loop for further OAR blow-outs, join our group on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=505375098#/group.php?gid=39457984165&ref=ts
Thanks for supporting the local arts!
OAR/ SWEET AND SALTY: a showcase of Ottawa artists.
Local arts miscellany the Ottawa Arts Review (OAR) invites you to celebrate the release of its most recent issue, vol. 3.2, with a showcase of local artistic talent at La Petite Mort gallery. Performances of music, poetry, and the uncategorizable matched with the gallery’s always stimulating collection hope to arouse more than just your interest: Ottawa artist adam saikaley will set the musical tone for the evening with his sound art compositions; Nick Leonard will debut his performance art; and a selection of artists published in this most recent edition of OAR will recite their literary compositions throughout the night. We hope you’ll join us in celebration of the people and pieces that continue to draw us in and encourage us to question and connect.
“Masters, spread yourselves.” -- A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Event info:
Saturday, January 16, 7-10pm
La Petite Mort Gallery, 306 Cumberland Street
Excellent door prizes from local businesses to be won.
RSVP to the event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=242687313717
Check out adam saikaley before the event!
www.adamsaikaley.com
www.myspace.com/adamsaikaley
See you there!
Wednesday June 17th, 2009
The OAR would like to apologize for the accidental omission of the biography of one of its contributors, Richard L. Provencher. Richard believes poetry is a global adventure. He has poems in Poems Neiderngasse, The Dublin Quarterly, PusanWeb, Poetry Sky, Creekwalker and many other journals. His poetry Chapbook “In the Light of Day” is available from Mercutio Press. Richard and his wife, Esther, live in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Wednesday June 10th, 2009
April:
This month was a wild one at the Review: aside from worrying about exams, final papers and, for some of our staff, graduation(!), OAR still managed, with the help of many gracious friends and supporters, to launch its newest issue (vol. 3.1) and to put on two excellent events!
The first was an evening of Soul and Slam in celebration of the brand-new issue 3.1,* hosted by Canteen Gallery at 238 Dalhousie. The event featured funk and soul music spun by DJ MegaphoneTEETH, as well as a showcase of some on the city’s best slam poets – including Ian Keteku; Marcus Jameel; am kozak; Greg “Ritallin” Frankson; and more – who faced off in head-to-head battles in the name of either Funk or Rhythm. Poets spat their rhymes for three rounds until Brandon Wint was eventually chosen the winner, earning him $50 and publication of a poem of his choosing in the next issue of the Review. Read Brandon’s winning poem, “Still.”
The second event of OAR’s ambitious April was its Academic and Creative Writing Colloquium, which featured a discussion moderated by writer/Professor Sean Moreland and OAR co-editor Ashly Dyck, as well as a writing circle led by Steven Heighton who, in addition to his roles as poet, short-story writer, and novelist, was the Writer in Residence for the University of Ottawa’s English Department for this past semester.
The evening’s panel focused on the mutually influential relationship between academic and creative writing contexts, and was composed of University of Ottawa Professors Victoria Burke and Geoff Rector; novelist/poet Michael Blouin; novelist Steven Heighton; 2008 national spoken-word champion Marcus Jameel; and architect/poet H. Masud Taj. The discussion was enriched by thoughtful inquiries from the audience as well as by poignant questions, observations, anecdotes, and even poems from panelists, which tackled some of the most complex questions plaguing both fields of writing to date: plagiarism vs. inspiration or sampling, currently or historically; the relationship between creative writing and other disciplines (teaching, architecture, accounting, etc.) and aspects of life (children, family, etc.); sources of ideas for creative writing or research; the writing process for creative and academic styles; creativity vs. objectivity; freedom of creative/poetic expression in terms of religious and political viewpoints/influences.
This list doesn’t begin to do justice to the observations and insights of this witty and lustrous panel – keep your eyes peeled for video of the discussion, soon to be available here!
The panel was followed by a writers’ circle, entitled “Writing as Re-enaction,” which was well received by the literary community. Heighton’s one-hour lecture covered the onomatopoeic art of using the sounds of letters and words to enhance the action being described in both poetry and prose. While you may have missed participant’s spontaneous creations, Heighton’s advice can be found in written form in Eliza Clark’s collection Writer’s Gym. Check out Steven Heighton’s website for more thoughts and tips.
As for May, we’ve retreated into our editing and event-planning lairs to come up with a sizzling summer issue and a roster of activities to match. Among the hottest, look for staffer Jordan Patrick Lincez and his band Kudagras performing Friday, June 12 at the Rainbow. Show starts at 9:30pm, so make sure to email Jordan for your tickets: $5 in advance, or $7 at the door.
Also keep your eyes peeled this August for Lit for Kids, a literacy awareness fundraiser for the Education Fund of Guatemala’s CasaSito Association. This non-profit association partners with the Give Kids a Chance Foundation of Canada, among others, and aims to increase the educational opportunities and improve the living conditions for underprivileged people in Guatemala. Hit hard by the current economic recession, CasaSito will have to reduce its scholarship program providing funding to rural students, unless it receives further assistance from individuals and groups at the grassroots level. The OAR is committed to helping them reach their goal of not cutting back funding to a single student.
Click here to find out more, or to donate.
**Issue 3.1 is currently available for sale at Canteen Gallery, Mags&Fags, and at the office of the Undergraduate English Students’ Association of the University of Ottawa.
Monday, March 23, 2009
At the OAR we are pleased to announce that our last event raised the funds we needed to publish volume 3.1 of the Review, the latest issue and the first to be printed on recycled paper!
This highly anticipated event will be celebrated with drinks and performances three weeks from today, on Friday, April 3rd, at Canteen Gallery, 238 Dalhousie St., with the main attraction being a spoken-word poetry competition. This event will be operated much like the beloved CapitalSlam events - with doors at 7pm, sign-up sheet going out at 7:30pm, and judges chosen the night-of - and the victorious poet will be awarded a cash prize of $50, in addition to publication on-line and in-print!
In addition to this excellent exhibit of artistic merit our event will serenade you with a mix of funk, blues and soul music spun by MegaphoneTEETH.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
For those of you who have been unable to sleep, biting their nails in anxiety, searching the internet for poetry but are just unable to find any they'd like to read at 3:00 a.m (12:00 am Pacific), the wait is finally over! Check out the two new poems we have in our POETRY – get the hint? – section!
- Marc
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
I find it odd, especially since I read about two books a week in my spare time, but there are people out there that wish to ban books. That is why I am proud to celebrate Freedom to Read Week. What some people do not realize is that censorship happens everyday. Really, even in Canada, the written word is under attack!
"Freedom to read can never be taken for granted. Even in Canada, a free country by world standards, books and magazines are banned at the border. Books are removed from the shelves in Canadian libraries, schools and bookstores every day.... Few of these stories make headlines, but they affect the right of Canadians to decide for themselves what they choose to read" (www.freedomtoread.ca).
Please go to this website for more information to learn how our love of books and reading is being threatened. As for myself, I am going to enjoy a couple of lines out of Henry Miller today, one of my all time favorite outrageous authors.
- Marc
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Look out for this poster around Ottawa and the University of Ottawa for our fundraiser on Friday the 13th! If you are already on facebook, join our event page!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Night of the Loving Dead - Friday, February 13, 2009 @ Urban Well, 244 Laurier Ave E.
Finally, a way to celebrate Halloween and Valentine's Day and support the arts all in one night!
The Ottawa Arts Review's Volume 3.1 is ready to go to press. We just need a little more money to do it...
So we are having a fundraiser on 'Friday the 13th', the day before Valentine's, at the Urban Well to raise some money to get the work of our deserving contributors on the street. (By the way, you can still find copies of Vol. 2.2 at Raw Sugar Cafe, Mags & Fags, Young Jane's, Milk, and Benjamin Books. . .)
There are two things you'll want to do at this event:
1) Wear a costume so you can win one of our fabulous prizes!
2) Bring some change so you can send candy grams, sonnets, and notes to your friends or that cute stranger over there. If you're shy, cupid will help you out.
Party photos by Kelsey McGill.
Plus there's a great DJ and $5 martinis.
So come on out and bring all your friends!
$4 at the door, por favor!