ARTS EAST

Words and works by Meghan Clarkston Clarkston is a visual artist, author, writer and mental health/eating disorder advocate. She owns and operates Abbatoir Lane Studios in Halifax. First time I can recall creating art was when I was about 7 years-old; drawing children’s books in class at James Wood Elementary in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Perhaps I was a late bloomer... I tend to explore art forms that intrigue me in a sense of the unknown. Recently I’ve adopted the art of pyrography as my main love. But in short I have four loves; pyrography, ink, water-colour and photography. It’s always interesting for me when I read or hear about a fellow artist’s approach to the process of their work. Often I feel rather “broken” hearing how intense their steps are to the final piece, knowing that my methods are rather unconventional. My process really depends on the emotions of the moment. For me, that’s where the imagination or creati...

Musicians Jessica Rhaye and Dennis Ellsworth have been touring the Maritimes together each celebrating the release of a new album. The Rhaye/Ellsworth tour will arrive at The Carleton in Halifax Wednesday night ; in a couple weeks it will travel to The Guild in Charlottetown. Arts East caught up with the two Atlantic Canadian songwriters in anticipation for this week’s show and upcoming collaborative performances. Yesterday we posted our interview with Ellsworth . Today we hear from Rhaye, whose musical career has taken her to stages around the world, from the Francophone Games in Niger and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver to shows for Prince Charles and the Mariposa Folk Festival! What inspired you to start making music? JR: Music has always been a part of my life. I don’t ever remember a time when I wasn’t singing or making up my own melodies and lyrics. I played the ukulele in elementary school and then moved on to the guitar in my teens. I was inspired by fo...

Musicians Jessica Rhaye and Dennis Ellsworth have been touring the Maritimes together each celebrating the release of a new album. Saint John’s Rhaye fourth album, Far Gone Lullabies , features “songwriting [that] has moved up another notch ,” says CBC East Coast Music’s Bob Mersereau. Hazy Sunshine is Charlottetown-based Ellsworth’s sixth album, from his work as a solo artist or with his band Haunted Hearts. “… never before has Ellsworth released an album as heavily influenced by his belief that, no matter how rough things get, you will lose hope if you lose the ability to affect positive change,” states a recent press release. The Rhaye/Ellsworth tour will arrive at The Carleton in Halifax Wednesday night; in a couple weeks it will travel to The Guild in Charlottetown . Arts East caught up with the two songwriters in anticipation for this week’s show and upcoming collaborative performances. Today we’ll hear from Ellsworth; stay tuned for tomorrow when we’ll post wo...

http://www.brokenjaw.com/catalog/pg135.htm From Shore to Shoormal ~ D’un rivage à l’autre Poems by Donna Allard & Nat Hall Broken Jaw Press Two prolific poets/po è tes share a fascination for language; an attention to minute detail lyrically explored to become worlds of their own; a geographical and spiritual connection to the Atlantic Ocean and its offshoot waterways…Donna Allard and Nat Hall combine their works, inspired and penned from their Shediac Bay (New Brunswick) and Shetland Island (Scotland’s northern archipelago) homes, to create a collaboration: From Shore to Shoormal ( D’un rivage à l’autre ). Each poet embraces her own expressive style and observations, and yet their mutual bond is genuinely apparent throughout the entire tome. It is as if you can picture Allard and Hall standing each on her own shore or shoormal communicating to the other with timeless messages dug up from somewhere deep inside. Appropriately Hall writes in “Atlantic Home”: O...

The third annual Halifax International Drum Festival is just a week away and promises a “whirlwind of energy, excitement and excellence that can’t be beat!” Over two days (Friday & Saturday, November 1 & 2) world class percussionists and dancers from here and abroad will be performing mainstage productions and leading workshops representing a myriad of cultures, from First Nations, Classical Indian and Middle Eastern to Celtic, Korean, Spanish Cajon and Afro pop! Chris Kennedy, the festival’s executive director and producer, revived the percussive celebration, initiated by the late Matthieu Keijser, to create Halifax Drum Festival. Kennedy, incredibly fervent for the upcoming festivities, shares what’s in store for next weekend. When did the Drum Festival begin and what inspired its creation? CK: In the early part of the new millennium, my friend Matthieu Keijser (an amazing local percussionist) ran what was then called Drum Fest, an annual event showcasing so...

Author/musician/artist Darrell Duke In August 2013, Darrell Duke released his third book, Thursday’s Storm: The August Gale of 1927 (Flanker Press). It tells the fatally tragic story of the Annie Healy crew struck by a hurricane raging through Placentia Bay, Newfoundland 86 years ago. Duke spent 20 years researching and interviewing the loved ones of those lost seamen to complete the tome. Arts East caught up with the author, playwright and singer-songwriter, originally from Freshwater, Placentia Bay, to find out more about what went into Thursday’s Storm and also his life as an eclectic artist. What motivated and/or inspired you to write this book? DD: The inspiration to write this story began 20 years ago, in August 1993, while sitting in the front room of my Great Aunt's home in Fox Harbour, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. Having always noticed an old photo of a man on her wall, I finally got the courage to ask who it was. My aunt, Bernadette Foley Murray, start...