Lines and Grounds
An Exploratory Drawing Workshop with Vida Simon

Saturday, July 9, 2011 from 9-5

This workshop will explore relations between drawing and walking in the land. It will take place both on the coastal trails of Tilting and in a fishing stage. We will draw inspiration from line, gesture, texture, rhythm –
click to viewin the marks we make on paper or as a figure moving through the landscape. We will begin outside, becoming aware of different qualities of line in a path, rock formation, or intricate spider web. There will be moments of stillness for observation, as well as experiments with drawing in/on the landscape, working with materials at hand. In the afternoon we will work indoors, drawing from the memories of our excursion, within the shelter of the Slipway studio.

How are our experiences of the environment altered when we are drawing, or observing with more intention?
How can we bring sensory experiences of the wilderness indoors, to resonate through a drawing?
How can geography, geology, the weather, fold into the act of drawing?

click to viewThis is an opportunity to begin a body of work in an open, process-based context. I will lead you through exercises to encourage in-depth exploration, and invite you to integrate personal source material. Various techniques will be introduced, but emphasis will be on an experiential, organic, and playful response to the subject matter and materials. Because of its directness, drawing can be an incredibly expressive way of opening up the imagination. This workshop is designed to accommodate all levels of experience – all that is required is curiosity! Whether you are developing a portfolio, craving an activity to complement your profession, looking for a way to generate new ideas, or just love spending time outdoors.

• Time: Saturday, July 9, 2011 from 9-5 (with lunch break);
• Place: Tilting, Fogo Island, Newfoundland. We will work both outdoors and in the Slipway, a fishing stage. We will go out rain or shine, so please bring clothes for all types of weather (rain jacket, hiking boots/rubber boots, gloves, etc.). And dress to make a mess!
• Cost: $140, includes all materials and homemade lunch.

Space is limited so please register before July 1st
For more information: / (709) 270-1260
www.vidasimon.net / www.townoftilting.com

Vida Simon is an artist from Montreal who has been living on Fogo Island since last fall. She has presented her work internationally, in a wide range of contexts – galleries, hotel rooms, storefronts, theatres, rooftops, and books. A continuum throughout her practice is a love of drawing: bringing together her interests in visual storytelling, improvisation, and elemental materiality. Since 1995 teaching art has been an integral part of her practice, including small, tailor-made drawing workshops held in her studio. This summer Vida is artist-in-residence at the Jennifer Keefe Studio in Tilting.

Cantastoria
Un opéra dessiné

August 27, 28, 29, 2010 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
7:30 pm — 141a, rue Ann, Montréal

An old stable. The audience enters at dusk. A room within a room. A row of women working at a table. A lightbox projecting textures, spectres, elderstories. A figure seen handling a tree in a jar. The smell of spices coincides with a certain sound and we all climb down.

Poster / Affiche
click to viewCantastoria explores the intersections of drawing and performance, through the layering of live presence and projected tableaux. The piece unfolds around an architectural structure I climb onto and inside of to animate drawings and shadow play. From this shelter narratives are recounted, imagined, or uttered in another language. Cantastoria is the culmination of years of research that began with the serendipity of encountering two different, yet related Malinas: the first Malina is a novel by the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann; the second Malina is the word for confined spaces where Jews hid in Lithuania during WWll. This performance combines sources from history, literature, and personal archaeology, transposing these various strands to the contemporary context of a building we could call a relic.

sound: Christian Richer
performers: Soufïa Bensaïd, Rachel Echenberg, Lou Nelson, Victoria Stanton, and Vida Simon

– –

Une vieille écurie. Entre chien et loup : l’auditoire faisant son entrée. Une rangée de femmes travaillant à une table. Une pièce lumineuse projetant des textures, des spectres, des « sages-histoires ». Un personnage maniant un arbre dans un bocal. L’odeur d’épices coïncide avec un son particulier et nous descendons tous.

Cantastoria étudie à fond les croisements du dessin et de la performance, à travers la superposition d’une présence en direct et des tableaux projetés. La pièce met en relief une structure architecturale sur laquelle je peux monter et dans laquelle j’anime des dessins et réalise des jeux d’ombres. À partir de ce refuge, des histoires sont racontées, imaginées ou murmurées dans une autre langue. Cantastoria est le point culminant de nombreuses années de recherche qui ont débuté lors d’une rencontre fortuite : la découverte de deux Malinas, différentes et pourtant reliées. La première Malina est le titre d’un roman de l’auteure autrichienne Ingeborg Bachmann ; la seconde Malina est le mot désignant des espaces clos où les Juifs en Lituanie se cachaient pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Cette performance conjugue des sources provenant de l’histoire et de la littérature, ainsi que d’une archéologie personnelle, en transposant ces divers brins au contexte contemporain d’un immeuble que nous pouvons appeler une relique.

son : Christian Richer
performeuses: Soufïa Bensaïd, Rachel Echenberg, Lou Nelson, Victoria Stanton, and Vida Simon

Inklings

gestes, murmures, ruminations

a book of drawings by Vida Simon

Available at
Drawn and Quarterly
211 Bernard Ouest
Montreal, Qc. H2T 2K5
(514) 279-2224
www.drawnandquarterly.com

The idea for this book came about as I was leafing through my journals from over the years and felt compelled to extract drawings from the sea of words. But then having done that, sometimes the words slipped back in when it seemed necessary to provide a glimpse of the context. The selected drawings range from sketches created for, or after performances, to remembering dreams, to observing a teacup. Inklings seeks to honour the fleeting processes that are usually kept private, transposing fragments of many books into one intimate book.

Inklings was printed in an edition of 500, of which 100 copies were numbered and signed.
Published with the assistance of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec.
ISBN 978-2-9811503-0-1
Black and white, 96 pages, 5 x 6 inches
$20.00

Biography
Vida Simon's work has been presented internationally, in a diverse range of contexts — galleries, hotel rooms, storefronts, theatres, rooftops, and books. Her work incorporates various media, combined to form site-responsive installations and performances. Linking all aspects of her practice is a passion for drawing, a form that most directly expresses her interests in visual storytelling, materiality, and embodiment. Her performances often foreground the ephemeral gesture of live drawing. Vida Simon lives in Montreal.