Art openings this weekend in Kingston, and other bits

I'm so nervous about winter coming on, that I've got to keep moving to take my mind off it. Anyone want to join me, hopping around on Saturday evening, Nov. 14? You can go to receptions at both Union Gallery (6-8 pm.) and Modern Fuel (starting at 7 pm.) Now, I love free munchies and good art – which is probably why I had to start a diet after last weekend’s food-packed (and buyer- thin) Modern Fuel auction, so I have no shame about going to two openings this Saturday night…just to graze, meet and watch! Since The Hub is off to Greater Perth (!) and I'm Dog-a-Mama, I have to pick events that will at least give me some human contact, as opposed to being spectator sports only.

This weekend’s openings at both galleries coincidentally highlights Canadian artists born in Zambia, Hong Kong, and Guyana as well as Canada. Union Gallery’s show, runs from November 10-November 28, and features the work of Donald Chan and Carlyn Bezic who “ create bizarre bodies, many-limbed monsters, and unsettling scenes.” In the other room, Vancouver’s Tondela Myles’ Mechanisms for Selection “explores portraiture themes based around identity, gender and sexuality as a way to speak about awkwardness, secrecy and instabilities found in the human condition.” I can relate to that.

I'll then zip down to the waterfront and across King Street to Modern Fuel between 7-9 pm for the opening of two video installations, Storytellings by Lucy Chan and Peter Kingstone, which runs from November 12– December 12. Also a look at a different perception of sexuality, Kingstone’s 100 Stories about My Grandmother is a four-channel video installation that weaves together documentary portraits of male sex workers telling stories about their grandmothers Chan's video installation Yearning to See was created during a residency in Banff where she, according to Modern Fuel, " drew portraits of people that she met while asking them if there was a personal cultural lesson they might share. "
Union Gallery is at the corner of Union and University, in the corner of the Stauffer Library. Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre is located at 21A Queen St, Kingston

Now NEXT Friday night (Nov. 20 already!), Theatre Kingston's GOBLIN MARKET (on for only a week) opens....and on Saturday night I'll be at both the Kyra and Tully launch at Sydenham United Church and the Delhi 2 Dublin Dance (tix at Tara, etc) for Livewire. Buying tix today!

RECENTLY IMPRESSED : Really enjoyed the speakers/slides at the Solo Studio-Watch Series' Round Table Salon (well, it wasn't much of a salon, but cozy all the same). A great set up to find out about the people behind the art: the purposely self-effacing conceptual art of Michael Davidge; the political meets cultural drawings of Doreen Inglis; the whimsical but meaningful drawings and paintings of Chantal Rousseau, Lisa Visser and Erika Olson, and the gorgeous work of relative newcomer painter (who knew?) Su Sheedy. Kudos to Jan Allen for making this discussion happen. More like these, everywhere, please.

ALSO - who knew how much I'd love the Kinsmen's amateur Wizard of Oz. I frequently find the varying skill levels' reaching for the sky sort of embarrassing in amateur theatre, but this brought out nothing but the best in everyone (and there was a lot of big skill, as well as emerging skill). It's only on through Nov. 21 at the Grand, though.

Out of town: The exhibits by Hoffos and Daphne Odjig at the National Gallery were fabulous. Loved Hoffos's peeping tom holograms. At the Canadian Opera Company, Robert Lepage's extraordinary staging of The Nightingale was wonderful all around, (and the cheap Kingston Opera Guild return bus trip to Toronto was good too) but the uber-magical moment was when the dying Emperor's semi-waterborne deathbed transformed into a gigantic skeleton. The U.S. has Sondheim. We have Lepage.

NOT SO IMPRESSED: The discussion at the library about some Journal readers' complaints about the lack of inclusivity in the music scene was so politically sensitive that it accomplished nothing, after taking 40 minutes to set up "the discussion." More will follow from this, though. That's the good thing. And the students' acting, set, movement and Judith Fisher's concept were perfect for the Queen's Drama major Twelfth Night...except the kids were just too cool (or laid back) to understand that "Yes, Virginia, Shakespeare can be a fast moving farce."

Goblins, Swamps, Gertudes and Good Tastes

The only thing bad about all the good stuff in November is that it’s so close to December…. Here’s a peek at the things that really leap out at me for the weeks ahead. (For a two month list, see kingstonlife.ca beginning Nov. 1)

Sunday, I’m off to Toronto for a whirlwind trip to Robert LePage’s water-set and puppetized staging of the opera The Nightingale, at Canadian Opera Company. How neat to be able to get tickets and a cheap return bus ticket through Kingston Opera Guild. (Next it’s Carmen and Otello in February.)

Hot tip from Al Rankin, if you want best seats for Gordon Lightfoot, just announced for April, on Nov.2 go to http://www.k-rockcentre.com and use the password GORDIE.

A far cry from that, Nov 2, Monday, there’s what may be a maddening discussion of privilege/diversity and the music scene in Kingston from 6:30-8:30 at the Kingston Library. Delahaye Room. The same week, Queen’s drama will open Judy Fisher’s Cole Porterized Shakespeare, Twelfth Night – which sounds quite elegant. It runs Nov 5-8, 11-14. 613 533-2104.

Art-wise next week, we’ll dash back from an afternoon matinee of Elephant Wake at the NAC for the Modern Fuel Good Tastes/No Frills Fundraiser, simple munchies and silent auction on Sat. Nov. 7, 7-9. Mind you, we were happy to get a mindblowing Rebecca Soudant piece last year – this year you could have a Robert Linsley, Aly Ogassian, Ben Darrah or Dave Gordon painting!. These MF guys work hard to keep Kingston edgy, and part of the proceeds can go to the artists. (You can’t say that everywhere.) Preview the works now at www.modernfuel.org. On Sunday Nov. 8, there is also the Solo Series Roundtable in at 2 p.m. at the Agnes. One of the speakers is Su Sheedy, who also has a show in Toronto –at the Muse Gallery on Yonge Street from Nov. 18- Dec. 10. Also on Nov. 8, the too-cool band The Gertrudes play a family-friendly afternoon set at The Mansion. 2 pm.

You might want to look ahead to the following weekend, Nov. 14 and 15 for Julie Davidson-Smith’s all weekend long Encaustic Painting Workshop and the opening of Sandra Whitton’s/Chameleon Nation Art of Giving show.

But the REALLY busy and dynamite weekend is Nov 20- 22 (here before you know it) which kicks off Fri Nov 20.with the opening of the sexy Theatre Kingston musical Goblin Market (starring local musical genius Danielle Lennon with the very popular Shaw Festival actress Robin Willis). The hard, hard choice (or total feast) is a triple threat of musical treats Nov. 21. I don’t know if it’s humanly possible to catch all 3, but there’s a Jenn Grant/ Kyra and Tully CD release at Sydenham United Church at 7 pm ---and the dance from Live Wire, the Delhi to Dublin Celtic Punjabi band –AND the delicious Swamp Ward Orchestra playing at the Mansion the same night. But I do want to try. Tix for the first two are at “the usual places.”