Depths of Sorrow

I am working on an exciting project with Veronique MacKenzie(dancer/choreographer and Lukas Pearse (sound design) for the 100th memorial of the sinking of the Titanic.  The image is from video of Veronique taken by Tim Tracey and further developed by me... It will be an exciting show.  Please come!

" Large-scale projection pulls us into the haunting and tragic story of the maiden voyage of the Titanic with layers of animation and historical images. Combined with live dance performance and captured by infrared camera, they are woven into ghostly images using real-time video processing. This abstract narrative retells a story of courage and the ensuing darkness that overtook them on that fateful night. The immersive sound score draws into the emotion of the event and underwater imagery pulls us down to the final resting place and into the Depths of Sorrow.
Depths of Sorrow:
A multimedia performance with visual artist and animator Susan Tooke, audio/visual composer Lukas Pearse, and dance artist Veronique MacKenzie.
Performance Date: April 9, 2012Time: 8pm and 9pm
Location: Maritime Museum of the Atlantic: Viewable from both inside the Small Craft Gallery or from outside the museum (Sackville Landing) Free Admission.

Supported by Titanic 100, Halifax Dance

Kej Woodland

Kej Woodland (acrylic on canvas, 36"x 60") interprets the damp mossy woods of October in Nova Scotia. The patterns of the leaves drift across the trunks of uprooted trees, the ferns turn golden with the shorter days, and grasses lose the strength to stand upright at the end of the growing season.

Cove at High Head, Lower Prospect

Another spot on the High Head hike is this incredible cove, filled with rocks tumbled into spheres by the tide.  As the tide rises, a spout of water is forced through the granite formations, lending itself to be christened by Richard and me as Spittle Cove.  It is also the location of one of my early paintings entitled "Fifteen", after my daughter, Amy, who posed as a figure in the landscape.  27 years separate these two paintings.

Inlet at High Head

One of my favourite hikes is the High Head Trail, Lower Prospect, NS.
Near the beginning of the hike, a stream courses through rocks, just stepping stones at high tide, but as seen here at low tide, a trickle of water is trapped until the surge of the next tide releases it.

Inlet at High Head, acrylic on wood panel, 36" x 48"

Waterfall

A waterfall within a damp ravine of the rainforest in Goldstream Provincial Park, BC, I worked from a study done on site.  By further simplifying and abstracting the image, I drew the lines of movement and the exaggerated angles formed as rock and trees collapse toward the forest floor.

Motion Activated ( Page One)

Veronique MacKenzie (dancer/choreographer), Lukas Pearse (sound designer) and I have been working on a collaborative project involving movement, animation, and sound, with each of these elements responding and interacting with the other.  Last night at Nocturne in Halifax, we presented our explorations  to the public.  A truly absorbing and expanding experience, working with these two great professionals in other disciplines.  Thanks to Richard Rudnicki for help with set up, take down and photography.  Here are some images from last night.

View of crowd at gate with one of the projections above.

Looking down Granville Street with projection down the block.

Lukas Pearse, with his complex technical setup was the master puppeteer.
At 9, Lukas went off to another gig, after instructing me on how to run the sound, blend the videos with the live dance. 

View from Granville Street with all three projections. 

 All of the projections were manipulated from a master

 control program installed on Lukas's computer.

Veronique MacKenzie provided live movement for the grueling
 duration of the performance.   She was captured on infrared cameras
and her choreography interacted with the projected animations. 

My view for the night, Lukas' hand on the controls, 

Veronique  performing, and the crowd at the gates.

Daybreak/lily pond

A lily pond at midsummer:  how do you paint this subject without the cloying sweetness that florals often have, and yet maintain the feeling of 'pond'?  The dominant blue green suggests a gentler landscape; in the stillness of dawn wet grasses and lily pads balance in damp air and pond water.