The official schedule for WCCA 2015 is as follows:
TUESDAY – 14 July 2015 |
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| 1830 – 2030 | Art Exhibition and Opening Reception |
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WEDNESDAY – 15 July 2015 |
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| 0830 – 0900 | Conference Registration and Introduction | |
| 0900 – 1000 | * Jill Kiefer – Plenary Address | Plenary |
| 1030 – 1130 | * Sonia Copeland Bloom – Catch ‘em young – the importance of the countryside for children |
VP |
| 1200 – 1300 | * Endia Plunkett – Rag Quilting * Pen McElwee – Labourers in British Paintings |
FA AH |
| 1400 – 1500 | * Linda Wilde – Trompe l’Oeil * Suba Tremel – Carey Island Tamil Community * Jen Karetnick – Making Time for Writing |
VP VP CW |
| 1530 – 1630 | * Celina Senisterra – Architecture as Illusion * Datiri Group – A Survey of the Reasons, Meanings and Choice of Some Selected Motifs * Shelley Bruce – Community Art Project |
VP AH FA |
| 1700 – 1800 | * Ogueche Ire Chinasa – Masquerades and Masquerading * Jen Karetnick – The Vocation Behind the Vocation |
AP CW |
THURSDAY – 16 July 2015
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| 0830 – 0900 | Day Registration | |
| 0900 – 1000 | * Linda Wilde – E.H. Gombrich and the Psychology of Pictorial Representation * Jill Kiefer – Art as Illusion: American Style* Mark Jackson – Caspar David Friedrich |
VP VP VP |
| 1030 – 1130 | * Stan Bruce – Drop by and Paint * Datiri Group – The Aesthetics & Social Significance of ID Marks * Endia Plunkett – Story Quilts of the Underground Railroad |
FA VP VP |
| 1200 – 1300 | * Ayo Adewunmi – Between Illusion & Reality (Presented by Dr. Datiri) * Celina Senisterra – Examples of Illusion as Architecture |
AP AH |
| 1400 – 1500 | * Chris Blaine – Stave Church Portal and its Imagery* Linda Wilde – An Eggstraordinary Experience! Egg Tempera Workshop * Kristiene Clark – Is All Filmic Representation Illusion? |
APFAVP |
| 1530 – 1630 | * Betsy Aidinyantz – Am I a Reflection of My Art * Julian Ng – Driving a Plot through Song * Kaitlin Roney – Figural Drawing |
VP CW FA |
| 1700 – 1800 | * Robert Reece (USA) – Creating Characters with Dimension (Video and workshop) | CW |
| Cafe Book Reading and Signing, and Short Film Festival | ||
FRIDAY – 17 July 2015
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| 0830 – 0900 | Day Registration | |
| 0900 – 1000 | * Ogueche Ire Chinasa Barrister – Methodologies Needed * Pen McElwee – 18th Century Architecture and what it Meant at that Time |
AP AH |
| 1030 – 1130 | * Jen Karetnick – Thank You Judge Judy * Jill Kiefer – Art and Illusion – American Style |
CW VP |
| 1200 -1300 | * Bala Chandra – Transnational Education * Rosemary Berry – Relics and Monuments of Syria |
AP VP |
| 1400 – 1500 | * Kaitlin Roney – The Evolution of Nude to Naked * Jen Karetnik – How to Research and Write Non-Fiction |
FA CW |
| 1530 – 1630 | * Closing Plenary Address – Julian Brazier, MP (Minister for Defence – Reserves, Member of Parliament for Canterbury) & Presentation Ceremonies |
Closing Plenary |
PLENARY SPEAKERS:
Jill Kiefer (USA) – “The Illusion That IS Culture” – We create the world by what we believe. This address will be a journey through bits of time that looks at how culture has been articulated in art. Is Culture merely an Illusion?
Julian Brazier, MP (UK) – “Closing Matters” – Julian is the Minister for Defence (Reserves) and the Member of Parliament for Canterbury.
VISUAL PRESENTATIONS
1. Betsy Aidinyantz (UK) – “Am I a Reflection of My Art or Is My Art a Reflection of Me?” – An exploration of the reciprocal dialogue between the Artist and his or her Art—and a look into issues concerning truth, reality and illusion in art.
2. Chris Blaine (USA) – “The Urnes Stave Church Portal and its Imagery” – This presentation will be a journey through Viking history and mythology that shows how the Vikings connected the dots of a variety of cultural influences to develop this wholly unique portal.
3. Shelley Bruce (USA) – “On Becoming an Artivista” – Learned Ways of Engaging Art in Local Communities—as explored in Southern California, USA. In this presentation, Shelley will define artivista (artist/activist) by using her personal story of travel, education and community service — and describe practical ways in which these ideas can be replicated in other communities (local, national, and international). Shelley sees this as an essential journey for members of all communities. The artivista journey focuses on the themes of education, mental health, economy,
politics, entertainment, community and fun.
4. Jill Kiefer (USA) – “Art and Illusion — American Style” – This presentation will look at American artists and how they have created illusions with art and art with their illusions.
5. Kristiene Clark (U.K.) – “Is All Filmic Representation Illusion?” – Kristiene will use two of her films (“Give Stigma the Index Finger” and “Criminalise Hate Not HIV”) as the basis for a discussion of this very important question.
6. Datiri, Y. C.; Mwanse, R. K.; Yilwada, G. L.,Yusuph, R. K. (Nigeria) – “The Aesthetics and Social Significance of Identification Marks of some Selected Ethnic Groups of Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria” – An analysis of body adornment through an examination the types of body marks that existed in selected ethnic groups in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State.
7. Kaitlin Roney (USA) – “The Evolution of Nude to Naked: Female body image and the impact figure-modeling has on the female perception of self” – This presentation will open up a dialogue about our current attitudes toward the female form, as it is portrayed in both our society and art. The goal is to facilitate a better understanding of the relationships between the artist, the model, and the audience.
8. Mark Jackson (Ireland) – “Caspar David Friedrich” – This presentation will be an analysis of the intense, symbolic and anti-classical explorations of nature, conveying the spiritual experiences of life, created by one of the most significant painters of the Romantic movement.
9. Pen McElwee (Ireland) – “1920’s and early 1930’s Domestic Advertising in France and England” – A look at how products were pitched to the housewife, who– after her efforts in WW1–was unwilling to return to the kitchen and all the drudgery this involved. See how ads attempted to entice her back into the domestic arena by extolling the virtues of electrical gadgets and the auto—to make her feel more modern!
10. Endia Plunkett (USA) – “Story Quilts of the Underground Railroad” – This presentation will focus on the role that story quilts played during the slavery era in the States. In discussing the history of these quilts, Endia will explore their hidden meanings, and show how they were not as they appeared to be to the slave owners and other supporters of slavery.
11. Celina B. de Senisterra (Argentina/Canada) – “Architecture as Illusion: The Mesoamerican Open Space as Illusion of Traditional Identity” – The architectural artwork has the role of expressing cultural truths through constructed illusions that facilitate the understanding of reality’s complexities, and the connection of successive generations with their shared heritage. This will be examined in an analysis of its realization in Mesoamerica.
12. Subashini Tremmel (Germany) – “Carey Island Tamil Community – South Indian migration to Malaysia (1920-1940)” – This presentation will be a discussion of the social conditions at the time when the Tamils were brought to this island to work in the estates. The acceptance of the local people and how the language mixture has created a unique fusion will be an interesting aspect of this program. The lifestyles of the second and third generations of these populations will also be touched upon.
13. Sonia Copeland Bloom (UK) – “Catch ‘em young – the importance of the countryside for children” – This presentation will focus on how art and writing can turn a creepy topic like garden bugs into an engaging and fascinating subject for children, and encourage them to get out of the house to interface directly with nature.
14. Rosemary Berry (UK) – “Monuments and Relics in Syria” – This presentation will focus on the contested field of relics and monuments in Syria, looting and the international art market, and is based on a study of Palmyra commissioned in 2005.
ACADEMIC PAPERS
1. Ayo Adewunmi (Nigeria) – “Between Illusion and Reality: Africa through the Lens of Colonialists” – A paper that looks at the introduction of photography to Central Nigeria, through the activities of colonial explorers. They used photography as a means of “documenting” Africa, but often created false impressions of the African people.
2. Balasubramanyam Chandramohan (UK) ) – “How did we connect with the world in 2013-14? (a survey of trends in transnational practice, teaching, learning and research in Art and Design subjects UK Higher Education institutions)” – This paper will cover transnational links in art and design practice, education and research between UK institutions and those in Europe and beyond. These links will be analysed with specific references to the following categories: curriculum, pedagogy, collaboration in development and delivery, student mobility, student experience and recognition of qualifications.
3. Ogueche Ire Chinasa (Nigeria) – “Masquerades and Masquerading as Agents of Social Control in Adaba Community: Illusions” – This work is aimed at investigating illusions and realities -if any- involved in masquerades and masquerading in Adaba community.
4. Ogueche Ire Chinasa (Nigeria) – “Methodologies Needed to Teach the Changing Fine Arts and Art History Disciplines in Tertiary Institutions in Enugu Nigeria” – A study principally centered on teaching methodologies in southeastern Nigeria where fine art and art history courses are offered. The sole aim is to review the past and present methodologies as opposed to the future ones that require urgent revitalization.
5. Pen McElwee (Ireland) – “The Non-Representation of the Agricultural Labourers in 18th and 19th Century English Paintings” – A paper on how the myth and illusion of an idyllic existence were perpetuated through the non- (or inaccurate) representation of the working classes.
6. Lambert Nnadi (Nigeria) – “The Business of Creating Illusions through Hairdo Styles of the Efik Tribe in Nigeria” – Creativity in the art of hair styling is an old practice in the Olokoro Kingdom of Efik tirbe in Nigeria. It determines both the strength of the hair stylist and the status of his client. This research looks at the importance of this practice, and how lines, shapes and forms create illusions that will (or will not) fulfill clients’ expectations.
ART HISTORY CLASSES
1. Datiri Group (Nigeria) – “A Survey of the Reasons, Meanings and Choice of Some Selected Motifs Used in Decorating Berom Pottery: Illusions or Reality” – In this class we will critically survey the reasons, meanings and choice of motifs used in the decoration of some of the pots produced by the Berom people, to identify whether or not these chosen motifs are mere illusions or realistic.
2. Pen McElwee (Ireland) – “18th Century Architecture and What it Symbolised at that Time” – This class will explore the realities and illusions communicated by 18th C. architecture. What were the goals of the architecture and how well were they realised?
3. Celina B. de Senisterra (Argentina/Canada) – “Architecture as Illusion: Selection of Examples to Test the Thesis of Mesoamerican Architecture as Testimony of Cultural Identity” – This class will explore particular examples of whether (or not) and how (or how not) Mesoamerican architecture pays homage to the many cultures that are its identity.
4. Linda Wilde (USA) – “E.H. Gombrich and the Psychology of Pictorial Representation” – Based on Gombrich’s classic book “Art and Illusion”, this lecture will examine perception and optical illusion. Beginning with an examination of how primitive artists captured images based on “what they knew”, and leading up to the twentieth century’s disenchantment with representational painting, we will look at both subjective vision and objective standards of representational accuracy.
5. Linda Wilde (USA) – “Trompe l’Oeil” – Trompe l’oeil (trick of the eye) is the term used for the technique of using realistic imagery to create an optical illusion of depth. Artists have been
practicing it for centuries, to create stunning illustrations and fool their audiences. In this class we will examine some remarkable examples and discuss their relationships to broader realities
(and illusions).
ART STUDIO WORKSHOPS
1. Stan Bruce (USA) – “Drop By Painting Demo(s)” – Stan will paint on site, so people can stop by, ask questions, watch the painting process—first hand—and even paint, if they feel like it.
2. Endia Plunkett (USA) – “Traditional Gullah Rag-Quilting Hands-On Workshop” – This workshop involves a study and hands-on learning of traditional Gullah rag quilting, using the authentic method of burlap, strips of cloth, and nailbones (a nail or other form of traditional Gullah tool). Several styles and designs will be examined and the program will also include a brief history of the Gullah culture and its West African roots.
3. Kaitlin Roney (USA) – “Beyond Looking; Learning to See the Figure” – In this workshop, participants will come to understand drawing an exercise in seeing, and letting go of assumptions.
4. Linda Wilde (USA) – “An Eggstraordinary Experience: Egg Tempera” – Come explore one of the oldest mediums, used to create luminous and durable paintings for over two thousand years. Learn the secrets of the medieval painters, and discover the renaissance of this fine arts form. Egg paintings are fun and easy to create. Join us to expand your knowledge and horizons with the charm and beauty of eggs!
CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS/LECTURES
1. Jen Karetnick (USA) – “Making Time for Writing: Tips to Keep a Writer on Track” –In this Workshop, attendees will be introduced to a variety of tips on keeping oneself focused—through a series of exercises about writing, time, and mindfulness.
2. Jen Karetnick (USA) – “How to Research and Write a Nonfiction Book” – Using her current cookbook (“Mango”) as the outline, Jen will describe the process of researching and writing a nonfiction book. She will talk about how you find the subject and structure of your nonfiction book, and how to prepare a proposal for it and sell it to publishers. Culinary art is just a different kind of illusion!
3. Jen Karetnick (USA) – “Thank You Judge Judy” – This workshop will compare the elements necessary for a successful personal essay/memoir to words of wisdom that Judge Judith Sheindlin offers on her popular American television courtroom show, Judge Judy. Exercises coincide with each lesson that are exemplified by video clips of Judge Judy.
4. Jen Karetnick (USA) – “The Vocation Behind the Vocation: How to Use a Beloved Day Job to Inform, Enhance and Instruct Your Poetry” – William Carlos Williams did it. He was a physician. Philip Larkin did it, too. He was a librarian. Even the most recent U.S. inaugural poet, Richard Blanco, before turning to teaching and touring full-time, was an engineer – a day job that suited him perfectly. How did they manage to accommodate demanding, fulfilling careers and still publish first poems, then books of poems? Attend this program to discover how they used these vocations to inform their literary work.
5. Julian Ng (UK) – “Driving a Plot through Song” – Music can create illusion through emotions such as fear, anticipation and joy, and this technique is used in everything from classical music to film soundtracks. In pop music and the theatre, words are fused with music to drive a story forward by revealing more about the characters and plot, and to set up devices and scenarios. Learn how songcraft can be coupled with storytelling to become a powerful tool for authors and audiences through a series of practical exercises.
6. Robert Reece (USA) – “Creating Characters with Dimension” Video
ART EXHIBIT: PARTICIPATING ARTISTS AND TITLES
The Opening Reception to the Art Exhibit will take place on Tuesday evening, 14th July, from 6pm to 9pm. The exhibit will be up for the duration of WCCA 2015.
- Ayo Adewunmi (Nigeria) – 2 – “Smoke Dust and Fumes” and “Portrait of Royalty” (photography)
- Chris Blaine (USA) – 2 – “Sake” – 8 Color Reduction Print – 8″x10″ and “Dragonfly Rituals” – Collograph – 8” x 10”
- Shelley Bruce (USA) – 2 – “She Sounds Like Home” and “He Sounds Like Home”
- Stan Bruce (USA) – 2 – “Reflection of Spirit” and “Illusion of Yourself”
- Cathy Ciosek (USA) – 2 – “Untitled # 96” and Untitled # 87”
- Taneka Dianne (USA) – 2 – “Lounging Lady” and “The Purple Carriage”
- Jill Kiefer (USA) – 2 – “Some Pennies for your Thoughts” and “Abstract Illusion”
- Kaitlin Roney (USA) – 2 – “Vulnerable Form” and “Protected Form”
- Linda Wilde (USA) – 2 – “That Which We Call a Rose” and “By Any Other Name”
FILMMAKERS
This event will take place on Thursday evening of 16 July. Show times will be announced.
Harry Chaskin (USA) – 2 films – “Yucca Flats” – The idea for this short came quite accidentally. One day I inadvertently separated the sound from picture on a clip of the classic TV sitcom The Honeymooners. I was instantly struck by how violent the show sounded (specifically Jackie Gleason’s lines) without images to support it. I decided to explore this further by setting the Honeymooners audio to a surreal mock-sitcom. The result is Yucca Flats, a strange twominute satire of 50’s television which aims to darkly poke fun at the gender stereotypes and nuclear paranoia that loomed over mid-century America. “Holiday” – A music video for the band Body Language, produced for OM records. Aesthetically it pulls inspiration from tokidoki, a lifestyle brand created by artist Simone Legno. It was shot with flat felt puppets on multiple planes of glass to create depth, a stop motion technique called ‘downshooter’. Warning: This ‘Christmas Special Gone Wrong’ contains implied stuffed animal intercourse and a tragic ending.
Kristiene Clarke (U.K.) – 1 film – “Pointing Percy” – This short is part of a series designed to investigate “Men Only” spaces. It looks at the etiquette of when men go to the loo and usages of both public and private toilets. The tone of the film is humorous and playful.
Amanda Castro Garcia (Spain) – 1 film – “A golpe de tacón” (“Digging in Their Heels”) – This short film focuses on the events leading to the first organised response to the dictatorship by the workers’ movement, and by a sector of Spanish intellectuals, in which the wives of the Asturian miners played a crucial role.
Karissa Hahn (USA) – 2 films –“Reveries” – 2013, Super 8 to digital, black & white, sound, 03:33 – Charlotte Pryce is teaching by candlelight. I’m picking at my thumb under the table. She’s speaking with thumbs unpicked: “We don’t see an object, we see the effluence of that object. We see a light lingering in our eye because it works faster than our brain. This implies > we may invent what we see.” She’s now telling of Aristotle, of how he believed: The organs > not just the eye > retain the image. The sensations are retained and return to haunt the
sleep. “Bodies are vessels that take in images. Can we not see ghosts because our eye lags perception and we miss it? Are ghosts a perception of speed? ….I’m picking my thumb to the
bone over this. Illume, 2013, 16mm, color, sound, 02:40 – Metal metamorphosing to a surveying macro lens- bending reflections of the mundane. Reflections only made on the surface of objects – transposing into new forms.
CAFÉ BOOK SIGNING EVENT: AUTHORS, REPRESENTATIVES AND TITLES
This event will take place on Thursday, 16 July
Jen Karetnick (USA) – “Brie Season” (poetry) – Playful, witty, and exuberantly alive to the joys, griefs, flavors, textures, confusions and enthusiasms of middle-class American life in the
21st century, Jen Karetnick’s deft and delightful poems offer a rich cornucopia of pleasures for the senses and for the soul.
Jill Kiefer (USA) – “Pastiche: A New Old Kind of Faith” – Tensions (and excitement) mount when a sassy female British DCI teams up with a savvy American Art Historian to solve a
bizarre murder that’s taken place in what’s usually a pretty sleepy little town. The medieval and contemporary worlds collide in this mystery of twists, turns, and an endearing cast of characters.
Julian Ng (UK) – “The Dark Queen: Game On” (Book One) – Tim Greewood is a tall, geeky and awkward twelve-year old who has withdrawn into the world of gaming. One day, he finds himself whisked into his own real-life adventure complete with all manner of strange folk. It’s not too long before he comes face to face with the Dark Queen. Just who is she and why does she want to kill him?