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The Gaelic Arts Festival at Grenfell College
Program of events
The Great Book of Gaelic Twinning Project
Professional Development Workshop
L.A.W.N. potluck dinner and Reception
Historical Lecture
Is Mise an Teanga (I Am the Tongue)
The Great Book of Gaelic High School Art Project
Thursday, June 12
3:00 p.m.
Fine Arts Atrium
An Leabhar Mòr, The Great Book of Gaelic
The Great Book is the oldest kind of book and the newest. It’s a poetry book: 100 of the greatest poems, the ones that have always spoken, and now speak to and for, Gaelic literature. And it is an artists’ book – 100 Scottish and Irish artists alive in the here-and-now, but living with the past and present of Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It is, they say, a modern Book of Kells. But The Great Book has been printed, reprinted, and now will be launched in Corner Brook. The Book of Kells was never so lucky.
An Leabhar Mòr: The Great Book of Gaelic exhibition
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery
Opening reception
7:00 p.m.
Fine Arts Atrium and Art Gallery
Holly Pike, principal, Grenfell College, will welcome guests from Newfoundland and Labrador, Ireland and Scotland, including Kevin Anderson, representing Pròseact nan Ealn, An Leabhar Mòr tour co-ordinator, and Gail Tuttle, director of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery, who will open the exhibition. Terry Pike of the Western Newfoundland and Labrador School Distirct, and Charlotte Jones, co-ordinator of Learning Through the Arts, will open the children’s art exchange project and exhibition. The opening program will feature the Grade 5 Class of C.C. Loughlin Elementary School. Reception participants and guests include Malcolm MacLean, director, Pròseact nan Ealan; John Steffler, Parliamentary Poet Laureate; the Ireland Business Partnerships and Alistair MacLeod, author.
The Great Book of Gaelic Twinning Project
7:00 p.m.
Fine Arts Atrium
The “Corner Brook to Carlow and Back Again” Children’s Art Exhibition: two elementary-grade classes, one in Carlow and one in Corner Brook, present poetic responses to one another’s visual art. The Carlow students attend a Gael (Irish language) school, Gaelscoil Eoghan Ui Thuairisc, and the Corner Brook students attend French immersion at C.C. Loughlin Elementary School. Students in each class designed watercolours based on the theme of ‘Shorelines’. The paintings were exchanged- Carlow students received the paintings from Corner Brook students and vice versa, and the students then created a poetic response to the artworks and wrote them on the watercolour paintings in Gaelic or French. The resulting collaborations will be displayed in conjunction with The Great Book of Gaelic exhibition at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery. In Carlow, the artist working on the project is Bridget Flannery and the school is Gaelscoil Eoghan Ui Thuairisc and in Corner Brook, the visual artist in Nancy Jacobsen, the writer is Tara Manuel Rigler, the teacher is Anne-Marie Brown and the school is C.C. Loughlin.
Friday, June 13
Interdisciplinary colloquium on the Gaelic language and literature
10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery
Fine Arts Building
Moderated by Martin Ware, retired professor of English, Grenfell College, the colloquium features presentations by Grenfell College English professor Adrian Fowler and international scholars Greagóir Ó Dúill, Aonghas MacNeacail, Francis Breen, and Loretta Cormier presenting for Margaret Bennett. Coffee and muffins and a meet and greet start at 9:30 am. The sessions start at 10 a.m., with lunch on your own.
Click here for Colloquium notes
3:00 pm
Fine Arts Atrium
Loretta Cormier will launch a unique CD and booklet of the last
Newfoundland-born Gaelic speakers, compiled form fieldwork recordings made
in the Codroy Valley by folklorist Dr. Margaret Bennett between 1968 and
2007.
Coffee and refreshments.
6:30 p.m. for 7:00 p.m.
Humber Valley Resort, The Eagle’s Perch
A celebratory banquet dinner at the Humber Valley Resort Eagle’s Perch with
our international guests. By invitation only. Musical performance by
AcaBella.
Saturday, June 14
Professional Development Workshop- Tapestry
10:00 - 4:00
Fine Arts Building
2:00 p.m.
Corner Brook Museum & Archives
Facilitated by Pat Walsh of the Family History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, this workshop will familiarize those interested in tracing their family tree with the research methods and websites that offer valuable information. Register for this workshop by calling 634-2518.
8:00 p.m.
Arts and Culture Centre
Join us for an evening of great entertainment and experience the music and poetry of Ireland, Scotland and Newfoundland and Labrador. The gala features Irish, Scottish and Newfoundland and Labrador artists, including Anita Best, Louis de Paor, Louis MacDonald, Aonghas MacNeacail, Pamela Morgan, Fergus O'Byrne, and Jim Payne. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 637-2580 or online at www.artsandculturecentre.com
Sunday, June 15
1:00 – 3:15 p.m.
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery
An afternoon of poetry readings and music with readings by writers from both sides of the Atlantic. I Am the Tongue will feature Randall Maggs, John Steffler, John Ennis, Louis de Paor, Aonghas MacNeachail, Gregór Ó Dúill and Alistair McLeod, with musical performances by Jane Tucker and Colin Watson (SWGC Gaelic Singers), and Anita Best.
3:00 p.m.
Corner Brook Museum & Archives
Children ages 8-12 are invited to unite Gaelic and Newfoundland art into one image, showing the historical connection between the two. The children will take home the Gaelic and Newfoundland and Labrador paintings and drawings they create under the direction of local artist Jackie Alcock. This workshop will be repeated every Saturday throughout the summer at the regular Kids Day at the Museum.
7:00 p.m.
Glynmill Inn
Irish Migration to Newfoundland in the 18th and 19th Centuries will be presented by St. John’s folklorist and singer Anita Best. This much loved part of Newfoundland and Labrador’s history will be presented through stories and song.
Monday, June 16
The Great Book Show (Pròseact nan Ealan)
7:00 p.m.
Fine Arts Theatre
The Great Book Show attempts to be the poetry reading of all poetry readings – a guided tour of The Great Book, of Gaelic literature, of the doings of poets in the Ireland and Scotland at this very moment. Starring poets Louis de Paor, and Aonghas MacNeacail.
Tuesday, June 17
Website Launch: The Newfoundland and Labrador War Brides
2:00 p.m.
Corner Brook Museum & Archives
The Newfoundland and Labrador War Brides website is a tribute created by Jackie Alcock, daughter of war bride Mary Fletcher Sheppard of Liverpool England. During World War II thousands of Newfoundland and Labrador men met and married women while serving overseas, and brought their new wives back to the province. Despite many challenges, the women endured and became a vital part of their new communities. The website profiles many of the war brides as well as a gallery of art pieces created by Jackie Alcock.
L.A.W.N. potluck dinner and
reception
4:30 p.m.
A social event in honour of our visiting Irish visual artists Francis
Breen and Rita Duffy, The members of the League of Artists of Western
Newfoundland will host a potluck dinner and reception with
computer-facilitated portfolio reviews. By invitation only.
7:00 p.m.
Glynmill Inn
The History of the Scottish Migration to Newfoundland and Labrador will be presented by Dr. Olaf Janzen, professor, Historical Studies program of the Division of Arts, Grenfell College.
Is Mise an Teanga (I Am the Tongue)
8:30 p.m
Glynmill Inn
Directed by Murray Grigor, written by Kevin Anderson, produced by Cassandra McGrogan
Is Mise an Teanga is a film about Gaelic, its contemporary poets and their encounter with 100 visual artists in The Great Book of Gaelic – a Book of Kells for our time. The film travels the territory from Outer Hebrides to inner Dublin, to Connemara, the streets of West Belfast and Glasgow. We meet a group of quietly extraordinary poets encountering the world of the contemporary artist. Is Mise an Teanga is a living portrait of a language in flux.
Wednesday, June 18
7 p.m.
Student Centre Food Court/The Backlot
A farewell party for the Gaelic Arts Festival, featuring a performance by the Scottish Heritage Society, with musical accompaniment by local musician Tommy Murphy. Refreshments and bar service will be available. Sponsored by PMA Canada - Tony Buckle.
June 2008
past/present/future tense: The Great Book of Gaelic High School Art Project
Arts and Culture Centre Gallery
June 1 to 28, 2008
Bringing together the rich Scottish heritage of the Codroy Valley, the Irish connections of Fogo Island, and the local community of Corner Brook, the students and teachers of Belanger Memorial School, Fogo Island Central Academy, and Corner Brook Regional High School respectively will tell their own stories and reflect on the role that their history plays in their present and their future.
