An Exhibit in Montreal July 2-9
Improvising in music and song for the last 11 years has opened many pathways to new creative experiences and collaborations. It is such a flexible form that I find myself wanting to play more and more in spaces that are outside the usual concert venue, such as houses, parks, forests, beaches, museums, gardens, airports or architectural spaces that have interesting acoustics. When I improvise, or when I listen to improvised music, I sometimes see images, or I recite or sing words that spontaneously come to me in the form of poetry and prose, or I dance. I am thus drawn to collaborate with artists who use means other than music to express themselves.
Last summer, I responded to an announcement from Concordia University’s MFA Gallery seeking artists to exhibit over the summer. On the Zoom call, I met two Concordia colleagues who teach for the Department of Studio Arts, Adèle Beaudry and Eva Brandl. They were very open to collaborating with me.
Our application for a large grant from our Part Time Faculty Union (CUPFA) was accepted, and we are thrilled to share the exhibition "L'entre-Silences” that began as an idea in the summer of 2023.
From Idea to Reality - Our Process
Text by Adele Beaudry, Eva Brandl & Irene Feher
The forming of our group was an intuitive gesture, mirroring in many ways the work itself. Indeed, as quickly discovered, we all three favor approaches to artmaking that, although resting upon decades of experience, employ processes that highly value the uncalculated, the spontaneous, the responsive. These intuitive processes are ever changing and evolving. In this exhibition, improvised music will happen in response to the visual work, and be juxtaposed to it.
As our small group bonded around this meaningful area of intersection, it soon became apparent that to further promote both the connections and specificities of our respective works, we wanted to have a writer, an MFA student, invited to outline these factors. We consider this writing component as important to the exhibition, claiming its own form and space on a gallery wall, in whole or in part, in a meaningful relationship to both the musical and the visual. We are grateful to have Annik St-Arnaud as our writer.
Over the winter and spring of 2024, each of us spent time in conversation with Annik sharing our creative work, inspiration, questions, intentions and reflections. We met Annik separately so they could have a sense of us as individuals.
We discussed how the music could be integrated into the exhibit, and decided that conversations between individuals would add a variety of perspectives that would enrich the spontaneity of the experience. We are grateful for three Concordia students from the Department of Music who have joined our project: Kate Markle (alumnus), Shae Anderson, and Chloé Saingier.
The opening and closing events will each feature an extended musical improvisation that will draw inspiration directly from the visual works.
Experiencing the Artists’ Works for the First Time at the Vernissage and Once Again at the Closing Finissage
We are all familiar with the powerful impact that music has on our perception of film and media. Our intention in this case is to convey the gallery visitor’s experience through extended improvisation as a real-time emergence of a sonic reflection of the musicians’ experiences of the art works. These music improvisations are not intended as performances in themselves, but as direct collaborations with the works of art. It is our hope that the music will serve as an invitation for visitors to linger and reflect on their own responses to the works presented both in the context of silence and music.
These improvisations will last approximately 20-25 minutes in total, and each will be created in real time at the opening vernissage and then at the closing finissage. The closing event asks us to consider how our perception of art works might change when we visit them a second time.
Press Release
Artists biographies
Eva Brandl
Eva Brandl’s career as a visual artist spans over 40 years. Poetic notions of place and theatricality inform her work. Her current creations explore the evocative power of images in constructed settings. She obtained a BFA from Université Laval (1974) and an MFA from Concordia University (1979). She has exhibited widely in Quebec, in Canada and abroad.
Her work is represented in major Canadian Museums and institutions and in private collections. She has lectured in institutions nationally, participated in collective events and contributed to international symposiums on art and architecture. Eva Brandl was among the founders of the first Artist run centers in Montreal. A part-time Faculty in Studio arts at Concordia University, she also teaches at Marianopolis College in Montreal.
Adèle Beaudry
Adèle B. grew up towards the edge of her town, itself towards the limit of Montreal’s suburbia.
She now lives and works in Montreal, towards the end of the green line.
In varying proportions over the years, her work has oscillated between the personal, social and professional spheres, in her best possible disinterest of their distinctions. At the center of the oscillation is something like care. Over the years, some of her drawings and paintings have been shown, locally and more distantly.
Irene Feher
Dr. Irene Feher has been teaching private study in classical and contemporary voice for Concordia’s Department of Music since 2009. She is a dynamic independent teaching artist, performer, sound artist, music improvisation facilitator (Music for People), and presenter. Immersed in the process of social improvisation, Irene seeks to bring music out of the concert hall and conservatory, collaborate with artists, and create spaces where interactive improvised music can thrive. She designs and facilitates workshops for musicians of all levels, and performs sound baths for wellness. To learn more about their work visit www.livingyourmusic.com.
Annik St-Arnaud
Annik St-Arnaud is an artist based in Tiohtiá:ke / Mooniyang / Montreal. Their transdisciplinary practice lies at the intersection of textile processes, biodesign and culinary arts. From a speculative perspective, they explore our capacity for transition, collective organization and our potential to create flexible and sustainable systems. Focusing on natural materials; some grown or foraged, they make hybrid materialities that centers around slowness, care and resistance. Current research explores cooking, fermentation, food activation, agriculture and writing.
Shae Anderson
Shae is a 27-year-old vocalist currently studying music at Concordia University, with the intention of pursuing music therapy. Shae sees music as a transformative medium to connect, express, and inspire. Through singing, song-writing, and improvisation, she hopes to help others find more music in their lives, and share their own songs.
Chloé Saingier
My name is Chloé Saingier. I’m 20 years old and I’m a first year student at Concordia. I’m doing a major in music and I want to go into performance. I sing, I play piano and a bit of guitar. I would love one day to do shows and release my own music. My ultimate dream as a musician would be to help others through music. Make people feel less alone and heard but also comforted. If I help someone somehow doing what I love, then I feel like I accomplished my goal.
Kate Markle
Kate Markle (they/them) is a teaching artist, composer and improviser, based in Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal. As a trained vocalist (mezzo-soprano), they play within different styles and musical contexts, exploring how the voice can be used to interact with different sounds, timbres and textures. After graduating from Concordia University in Composition (2020), they have continued to explore how the composition process can become more collaborative and dynamic within a live-based process. Kate facilitates weekly community improvisation sessions with Irene Feher and teaches in public schools around the city.