ARTS EAST

Review by Mo Duffy Cobb How do you say good night? Author Lori Joy Smith asks in her new artistic reverie, The Goodnight Book .   “Mommy, please, one more.” In classic bedtime theme, young readers are invited into the world of fainting farewells, and the ever-living world of tomorrow's tomorrows. Drawing upon the natural realm, writer and illustrator Lori Joy Smith begins with the soft bedroom kisses of good night , bonne nuit , buenas noches .  But soon, The Goodnight Book 's organic shapes begin to take on a life of their own, with much left to interpretation.             Have you ever wondered if the tulips say goodnight to their bulbs, the crab grass to its beach, the mountains to the moon? Smith has, and her exploration of the world's magic doesn’t stop there, her hues soon hatching their own bedtime spectrum. I loved the gentleness of this tale, the mysteries of the creatures, and the bits of sl...

Wendy Majestic and some of the amazing volunteers of The Maudified Project If you’ve been in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, you may have noticed some brightly coloured miniature houses scattered about town. Or you may have purposefully sought them out with map in hand or as part of a fun scavenger hunt or GPS game. The 11 painted homes are part of the Maudified House Project, inspired by Nova Scotia’s folk art icon, Maud Lewis (1903-1970), who was actually born in Yarmouth County. The ambitious and successful project organized by the Friends of the AGNS Western Branch Society represents an amazing example of community collaboration with numerous companies, organizations and individuals providing funding, 16 area artists and nine Plymouth School students creatively painting and a plethora of volunteers assembling and priming the homes. The Maudified Houses will remain in their current 11 locations, from Sealed Landers Park to Alma Square through to the second week of Se...

Last month, Edmonton artist Sydney Lancaster was Artist-In-Residence as part of Gros Morne National Park’s Art in the Park program. As part of the residency, Lancaster created a sculptural installation entitled Boundary|Time|Surface on the shore and sea at Green Point, Newfoundland. It was assembled the morning of June 22 nd ,  and naturally disassembled within one tide cycle. In early July, AE caught up with Lancaster to learn more about the experiences she, and others, had creating the large-scale, ephemeral piece. Artist Sydney Lancaster How did your life as an artist begin? SL: It took a long while before I was able to commit most of my time to my practice; I began dividing my time between waged work and the studio in 2005, including a stint as Administrative Officer at Latitude 53 Artist-Run Centre in Edmonton. The real 'leap of faith' came in late 2011, when I was given a year-long residency at Harcourt House Artist-Run Centre. I spent from October 2011...

Late at night, when everyone is sound asleep, and we feel like nobody is physically or virtually looking over our shoulder, those of us wishing to stroke our ego, might google our names. We’re craving that large, if affirming, Internet footprint somehow equating this with success or that we’ve made our mark. Of course there are those who aren’t quite so vain—nor paranoid—and out of sheer curiosity do the same any time of day. But the New Brunswick born writer Chris Eaton googled “Chris Eaton” for another reason. Instead he was searching for individuals other than himself. Although they had distinctively different biographies from he, Eaton discovered he had connections with them, and they with each other. This fuelled his novel Chris Eaton, A Biography, an entertainingly hilarious, but also intellectual, reflective, even emotional work of fiction inspired by snapshots of real Chris Eaton s across the globe.   Eaton gleaned “factual” profile information online and from t...

Word has it that five wanted ( requested, in demand, desired ) writers will be seen and heard on Saturday, July 26 th . The talented group of wordsmiths are Orysia Dawydiak, Steven Mayoff, Beth E. Janzen, Jeff Bursey and Kathleen Hamilton . They will read from their diverse works of fiction, non-fiction or poetry at the Stratford Public Library in Stratford PEI from 2 to 3:30pm .  Orysia Dawydiak & Cirit Name: Orysia Dawydiak Last seen:  Rolling into the PEI National Park on her rambling recumbent bike Dreaming of:  Tasmania, jungles of Peru When not writing: Practicing sheep calls and pulling out handfuls of nest lining from her shedding dogs Favourite dessert: Lemon meringue pie Last person she fantasized sharing a cup of tea with: Barbara Kingsolver Favourite spot:   Odessa Farm solarium, listening to the wind Name of literary work she will be reading from on July 26 th : Prisoner of Hildaland ...