Artists
Check out this jam-packed roster of amazing artists!
Miro Davis
Artist
We’re fortunate to have Miro Davis return to the event this fall after creating such a dynamic piece of art in February. Miro is an artist who was born in Vancouver BC, and grew up in New Mexico and Colorado. Davis completed her BFA in sculpture at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1995, and has completed a number of specialty workshops in various media at the University of California San Diego and the Massachusetts College of Art. Davis draws upon childhood experiences that are woven into her work resulting in visually complex and compelling narratives. She has worked collaboratively with communities and schools in the creation of large-scale three-dimensional murals and wall relief installations. Davis has shown at galleries in the US and Canada and has completed permanent public installations in California.
Stephanie Domet
Host, Mainstreet, CBC Maritimes
Stephanie Domet is a writer-broadcaster who lives in Halifax. She owns a baby grand piano, a guitar and two harmonicas. She doesn't play any of them, but if you happen to drop by her place, you'd be welcome to.
You may have heard her on CBC Radio, read her work in the Halifax Daily News, The Coast, or Halifax Magazine, or seen her in the 2005 Atlantic Fringe Festival performing her one-woman show called Cogswell!, or at the Atlantic Film Festival, performing in a film of the same name.
She has worked as a mall mascot, in a balloon factory, as a graveyard shift pastry chef and in many, many diners and bookstores. She vastly prefers talking on the radio to just about anything else she's done.
Colleen Jones
Host, CBC News & Canadian/World Champion Curler
Colleen Jones is at work before the sun rises, delivering sports and weather reports from around Atlantic Canada for CBC News: Morning.The mother of two and world champion curler has been a broadcaster for more than 25 years.Colleen has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports and delivered the weather in blazing heat, tropical storms and blizzards — all live on air.
Colleen was the youngest curling skip to ever win a Canadian Championship and continued this feat to go on to win the most championships than any other curler. Her consistency with winning has made her one of the most recognized and accomplished athletes to come out of Nova Scotia. She has done much to make women’s curling a more celebrated and watched sport at the national level.
Megan Leslie
Member of Parliament, Halifax
Megan Leslie has lived, studied and worked in the riding of Halifax for over seven years. After completing her law degree at Dalhousie, she focused on helping those in need across Halifax by working as a Community Legal Worker at Dalhousie Legal Aid.
Megan’s commitment to social justice includes advocating for lower power rates and legally representing low-income individuals. She is a founding member of the Affordable Energy Coalition and was part of a successful settlement agreement with Nova Scotia Power Inc. regarding energy efficiency programs. She has advocated at Residential Tenancies, Small Claims, Income Assistance Appeal Board, CPP Disability Tribunal, and Utility and Review Board hearings and has coordinated mobile legal info clinics around HRM, including Direction 180, Stepping Stone, MISA, Metro Turning Point, Bayers Westwood Parent Resource Centre, Single parent Centre and Adsum House. The "Tenant Rights Project", named as an anti-eviction strategy best practice, was also developed by Megan.
In addition to being a respected, regular media voice for energy affordability issues, Megan has made many high-profile presentations, including the UN Conference on Climate Change, the Canadian Public Health Association national conference, the Atlantic Regional Association of Immigrant Settlement Associations and the national conference of the Public Legal Education Association of Canada.
Now, as a Member of Parliament, Megan is putting her experience to work at the federal level, ensuring that Halifax maintains a strong, progressive voice in national affairs.
Christina Martin
Award Winning Singer/Songwriter
With a steady rhythm and swelling strings. Produced by Dale Murray (Cuff The Duke, The Guthries, Hayden), Two Hearts offers nine songs made of a hopeful longing. Merging country flourishes with a cinematic folk backdrop, the disc ranges from the choir backed finale of "You Come Home" to the more reserved "Hard Day In June." These stylistic shifts are held together by Martin's songwriting, which plots vulnerability against her strong vocals in manner reminiscent of artists such as Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch.
In 1999, Martin left her home in Halifax, NS with a rough course charted for Austin, TX. Within months she was a regular fixture of the Austin bar scene, performing her own material along side acts such as Wilco and singing backup as part of the retro-rock outfit Young Heart Attack.
In 2002, Martin began work on her debut album, Pretty Things. Recorded by Darwin Smith, the CD contains 12 original songs and features some of Austin’s finest musicians, including Kim Deschamps (Cowboy Junkies), Jon Greene (Torch), Charlie Larkey (Carol King) and Bukka Allen (David Baerwald). With a subdued sound centered around her striking vocals, the songs on the album bare an elegant simplicity derived from the innocence and honesty in their storytelling. After the stateside release of the album, Martin returned to the East Coast where she has continued to regularly perform. Quick to draw attention, her songs were soon after selected for inclusion on the CBC TV productions, Snakes and Ladders and the acclaimed mini-drama, Sex Traffic.
Her recording, "Two Hearts won her the 2009 ECMA Pop Recording of the Year and two 2008 Nova Scotia Music Awards: Female Artist Recording of the Year & Pop/Rock Artist/Group Recording of The Year.
Deb Nelson
Design and Lifestyle Expert
Deb Nelson has a passion for affordable, creative and stylish design. In 2008 she became a regular design and lifestyle contributor on, ‘Steven and Chris’, on CBC television. She made 40 appearances on the show and focused on decorating, design, affordable makeovers and “how to” lifestyle videos.
Deb has worked on over 150 episodes of lifestyle television programs (like Design Rivals, Style Dept., Party Dish, So Chic and Designer Guys), primarily as an Art Director, Stylist and Designer. Deb appeared in three seasons of Design Rivals on HGTV in Canada and Home Discovery in the United States.
Deb has worked mostly in television, but has also completed many residential design projects with private clients, and has renovated two homes in Toronto. She has followed a unique path, starting with a Bachelor of Arts at Queen’s University, an MBA at Saint Mary’s University and then took a number of interior design courses at BCIT in Vancouver. Originally from Halifax, she has lived in six provinces in Canada, and she has also lived briefly in Switzerland. After spending several years in Whistler Deb landed in Toronto where she has been since 2001. Her latest renovation project takes her to beautiful Chester, Nova Scotia where she can be found when not in production in Toronto.
Liz Rigney
Co-Host, Live at 5, CTV Atlantic
Liz was able to lend her talent once again for this event. She participated in the last “Boot it Up” event and had so much fun, she decided to return. Liz Rigney is one of CTV Atlantic’s most popular personalities. Her career with CTV began on Breakfast Television in 1994 before she moved, in 2002, to the newsroom where she reported for the CTV Evening News and Live at 5. In February 2006, Liz became the host and producer of Take Five the popular lifestyle and entertainment segment on Live at 5.
Liz has won a Best Regional Feature Award from the Canadian Radio and Television News Directors Association, an Edward R. Murrow Award from the American Radio and Television News Directors Association and a prestigious International Edward R. Murrow Award also from the RTNDA.
Originally from Charlottetown, Liz moved to Halifax in 1985 where she attended the University of King’s College and Dalhousie University. In 1992 she graduated with a degree in music and then went on to King’s for a degree in journalism. Liz is extremely committed to her job at CTV, but she is also passionate about her music and community work. She performs with her own trio, with the Stadacona Military Band and at various charitable concerts and events. Liz has also released two professional CD’s. Liz is very active through the region, hosting a huge number and variety of events that help raise funds for CTV supported organizations like the IWK Health Centre, the Children’s Wish Foundation, Kids Help Phone and the Salvation Army.
When she gets the opportunity, Liz likes to travel and has been fortunate to trek through the exotic locales of Tibet, Russia and Easter Island.
MT&L
Public Relations Firm
As a leading public relations firm serving regional, national, and international clients from offices in Halifax and Saint John, MT&L offers a broad range of marketing communications services for clients in private and public organizations, across diverse sectors. We’re thrilled the Learning Disabilities Association of Nova Scotia asked us to participate in the unique fundraising event that is Art to Boot. On behalf of our clients, we often try to see familiar things with a different vision. We think extending our re-envisioning to a pair of Blundstones definitely puts a fun twist on our usual mission.
MT&L is a partner with NATIONAL Public Relations with offices in Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria, New York, and London, UK.
Diane Axent
Diane Axent of Digby takes every opportunity in life to express her creative perspective. In a friends breezeway she noticed a dull brown boot with a roof top and it inspired a new medium for makeovers that is now Birdhouse Bootie history. While there is nothing predictable about her style, the supply on old boots kicking around is predictably endless.
That is the way Diane looks at life – as no limits on what can be accomplished and her professional past is a testament of exciting adventures: designer/owner of Axent on Silk; recognized for developing economic growth events in Canadian communities; featured in Canada’s National Film Board movie “Enterprising Women”; an event planner-organizer; economic development officer; on the pulse of rural communities; public relations and marketing consultant; motivational speaker; professional development coach/presenter and community TV host/interviewer. She’s an artist; creative narrator and writer; NS Justice of the Peace – all pursued with an artistic, and often unique thinking and doing, point of view.
Within her own family she is no stranger to challenges facing the physical and learning disabled person. “My Birdhouse Booties are now Art2Boot – an example of how everything changes” says Diane Axent.
Andrew Maize
An aspiring jacks of all arts, Andrew moved to Halifax a year and a half ago to begin his education at NSCAD university. At age 16 he started to play with creative colourful mess whilst being home school due to a car accident. His inspiration? The scene in the movie “Pollock” where Jackson first made his first accidental splash on the canvas. Andrew felt so inspired that he ran downstairs letting the movie play to an empty room and unloaded every available can of house paint onto an old dusty canvas of Christmas past, making a complete mess of the carpet, himself, and everything else that lay in the immediate vicinity. Andrew has been making a mess ever since. He’s been involved in theatre, where he acted a variety of roles, wrote and composed music, designed costumes, stage, sound and lighting. He also worked as an artbiker with the 4cs foundation, a non-profit organization delivering free art activities in public spaces throughout HRM. He just finished his summer job as the general manager of mo’s, a hostel, art gallery, used bookstore, community centre, wood fired pizza café in Five Islands Nova Scotia.
Andrew fell in love with blundstones 9 months ago and they have a happy and healthy relationship and enjoy a wide variety of activities including hiking, dancing, cycling and long walks at the dawning and the dusking of the day.
Eva Hoare
Eva Hoare is an award-winning news reporter at The Chronicle Herald newspaper and the newspaper's bi-weekly fashion columnist for the past several years. She's also the arbiter of the Herald's online "Ask Eva" feature, answering hundreds of fashion and fashion-related questions.
She's squired a group of budding fashionistas aged 21-79 on a New York Shopping trip (CAA-sponsored) and has participated in numerous charity events; including Girls' Night Out (The Progress Club) and The Scarlet Soiree.
This year she looks forward to a shopping excursion with the winner of an auction at Chicks with Sticks charity golfing event in Chester. Most recently, she was guest judge at "Off the Cuff," Halifax's own version of "Project Runway," at the Argyle Fine Art gallery.
She's appeared on C-100 radio as guest host and on television for news and other events. And, she LOVES BOOTS!
Kyle Jackson
Kyle Jackson is recognized as a painter/sculptor working with a distinct and colorful three-dimensional style that explores Nova Scotia regionalism. His recent work includes new formats, including installation and performance art, and continues the use of a folk art idiom that considers the Maritime condition.
Born in Toronto in 1960, Kyle grew up in a variety of culturally rich communities that nurtured his creativity, including San Francisco, The Hague and Amsterdam. Exposed to art from an early age, at 14 he even met his pop art hero, Andy Warhol, at the Art Gallery of Ontario (and still has the signed Campbell’s soup can). While in Holland, Kyle enjoyed his first art school experiences at The Vrije Academie, and spent leisure time perusing The Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum.
Kyle arrived in Nova Scotia in 1984 to attend NSCAD. He has been an active member of the local art scene as an artist, gallery owner and operator, patron and arts educator via the Visual Arts Nova Scotia PAINTS program. In 1988, Kyle was curator of the Wild Goose Chase Gallery in Blockhouse, NS. During this time he was instrumental in organizing the first Nova Scotia Folk Art Festival, since held annually in Lunenburg.
He has always merged his art career with other creative and cultural ventures. For 18 years he co-owned and operated the Soho Kitchen, a café, gallery, and veritable folk art museum. He has also worked as a builder and craftsman - a notable project was working with Emmanuel Jannesch in building the “Boat Playground” at the Sackville Landing on the Halifax waterfront. On a contract with Starfish Properties, Kyle was also involved with management, restoration, and renovation of several prominent heritage commercial buildings in downtown Halifax.
For more information about Kyle Jackson and his work, please contact Kelly McGuire by phone, 902.222.9118, or by email, kelly@kmcguire.ca.
