Artists
Since the event started, we’ve been lucky to have many talented artists from across Nova Scotia participate and led their talents to create some really funky works of art. This year’s artists are no exception.
Check out this year’s artists
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.
Ryan MacGrath
Ryan MacGrath conjures up old world aesthetic with a contemporary twist, fusing indie rock and cabaret crooning. His debut full-length Cooper Hatch Paris is a romantic, whimsical wander through the orchard of imagination.
MacGrath questions the meaning of love, art, history and purpose. With a full-bodied, robust voice unlike no other, MacGrath explores both the light and the shadows it leaves behind.
With the voice of an acrobat and the musicianship of lion trainer, MacGrath is a ringmaster who was born to sing. Cooper Hatch Paris sets the bar for his unforgettable live performance.
When he arrived on the scene with In My Own Company (2009), a six song EP, MacGrath turned heads and ignited hearts. While Roy Orbison and Rufus Wainwright comparisons were drawn, the EP garnered MacGrath two Nova Scotia Music Award nominations.
After touring Canada by train and performing with a Barbershop quartet, MacGrath teamed up with producer Jason Michael MacIsaac (Heavy Blinkers, Jenn Grant) and Gypsophilia to record Cooper Hatch Paris.
MacGrath’s vision for the album began with herds of elephants, rolling storm clouds and sweeping vistas –he wanted to go big or go home.
Cooper Hatch Paris is a tip of the hat to old world romantics. With lush arrangements and rich instrumentation, MacGrath has crafted a gorgeous collection of songs filled with love, lust and longing.
Read more: http://www.myspace.com/ryansmacgrath
One Hundred & Ten Communications
One Hundred & Ten is a digitally-minded, next-generation advertising and communications company. We are dedicated to building stronger brands by telling better stories across multiple platforms, from in-store to television, from social media to public events. Everywhere the audience has an opportunity to touch the brand, One Hundred & Ten will be there to deliver the right experience.
While new in the market as a company, One Hundred & Ten people bring a weight of experience. We are a team of well-seasoned professionals who have a history of success on major brands.
Our name captures the extra advantage we bring to our clients and their brands. It is the 110º view we bring to the competitive landscape. The 110% effort our people put into understanding the brand. The 110% brand-building talent we bring to every assignment. The 110% collaboration with our clients. The 110% experience in the marketplace.
Our name is a daily reminder to us of our promise to our clients.
What We Do
Advertising, Video Storytelling, Corporate Design, B2B Communication, Direct Marketing, Digital & Interactive Marketing, In-Store Experience Design, Events, Open Doors for Others, Respect Others, Work for our Community.
Sarah Cornelissen
Sarah Cornelissen is an art loving, fashion craving, passionate snowboader who loves Halifax and how artistic it is. When she’s not applying her creative talents to a piece of art, she is the assistant manager of "Pro Girl" (an ALL girls skate and snowboard shop located in downtown Halifax). She grew up in Nova Scotia, attended Lockview High School in Fall River. Since graduating, she has finished 3 years at NSCAD University, with a focus on painting and jewellery. She also lived in Banff, AB for 2 years, which was mainly spent snowboarding, working and painting.
Jill Barber
A seasoned performer with a growing fan base across North America and the UK, Jill gained acclaim as a 2008 double-Juno nominee and multiple East Coast Music Award winner. In February 2008, Jill was given the extraordinary chance to perform in concert with Symphony Nova Scotia as part of its Pop Series. The results evoked the rich sounds of Patsy Cline, Edith Piaf and Etta James. It was clear that Jill, previously a self-proclaimed “smoky-folkie”, had reached a new level.
To recreate the magic of a live orchestra, Jill enlisted producer and long-time collaborator Les Cooper. His gorgeous arrangements for a skilled backing band with a 10 piece string section were recorded live at the Glenn Gould Studio. Exquisite guest vocals by the Good Lovelies and the Soujourners and a special appearance by Ron Sexsmith contribute to a contemporary album of songs that capture the lush sounds of a bygone era.
“Now I can finally claim to be making ‘popular music’. So what if it’s only popular 50 or 60 years ago” says Jill, who composed many of the songs during an intensive three-week residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
For her recent album, entitled ‘Chances’ Jill chose the title as befitting her approach to both music and matters of the heart. ‘Chances’ is a love song, but it’s really about the mysterious role that chances play in our lives. Recently, Jill took another chance and relocated from her adopted home of Halifax to Vancouver, as a result of the chance meeting that inspired the song.
Although she’s now living on the west coast, Jill’s involvement in Art to Boot is a testament to her love for the East.
Natalie MacMaster
Meet Natalie MacMaster: wife, mother and virtuoso Cape Breton fiddler. You know her more as the latter than the former; an electrifying performer whose passionate proficiency on the beloved four-string amplifies the traditional East Coast sound for contemporary times.
It’s a signature sound that has resonated with world audiences through 10 albums, multiple gold sales figures and 27 years; numerous Juno and East Coast Music Awards; two honorary degrees (from Niagara University, NY, and Trent University) and an honorary doctorate (St. Thomas University); the Order Of Canada – and a reputation as one of Canada’s most captivating performers.
She also has the respect and admiration of the crème de la crème of top-notch musicians: master violinist Mark O’Connor, whose camp MacMaster frequents as a guest instructor; legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma – who recently invited her to prominently participate as a guest performer on his 2008 holiday-themed album Songs Of Joy & Peace; banjo prodigy Béla Fleck; fellow fiddling marvel Alison Krauss; spiritually electrifying superstar guitarist Carlos Santana – the list goes on.
But to Natalie MacMaster, her beloved family now shapes and informs her musicianship as much as the jigs, reels, air, waltzes, strathspeys, marches and traditional folk that feed her spiritual soul. “Not so much the sound as the delivery,” states MacMaster, who married handsome fiddle phenomenon Donnell Leahy of Leahy in 2002. “I am a Mom now. I am a wife. Those things are my priorities in life, and I think people get a sense of that – of that part of who I am – through my show. “But my music itself hasn’t changed.” If anything, family has reinvigorated Natalie MacMaster’s commitment to the stage and her audience.
“I like being on stage even more,” she enthuses. “When I appear onstage, that’s my departure from Momhood – and I transform into Natalie MacMaster: the entertainer, the fiddler, the performer. “ I relish that now more.” As do her audiences, who are left clapping, hollering and screaming for more as MacMaster and her band wow them with stylistic diversity as reflected in such top-selling CDs as the Grammy-nominated My Roots Are Showing, Blueprint and Yours Truly.
The applause only increases in excitement when MacMaster incorporates step dancing into her performance. “I was 16 when I started focusing on the step dancing, and it was kind of a joke at the time,” she recalls. “I was with a bunch of other young musicians and we all played and we all danced. It was a joke at the beginning, but then I began pulling it out of the hat so to speak when I needed to perk up the crowd, and it always did the trick. “As the years went on, people came to expect it, so I still do a little of that – even when I’m pregnant.”
But it’s her majesty with the bow and her intricate technique in making the fiddle sing and championing the Cape Breton tradition that floors her admirers for over 100 shows per year.
“I guess culture and tradition never go out of style,” MacMaster explains. “For my crowds, they’ve been there for so many years – they just keep building and hanging on. “I think they’ve seen me go from a very youthful new sound into a maturity and a confidence through the years.
“I am a very musical person,” MacMaster declares. “I love music, and I don’t just love Cape Breton fiddling, although it’s my favourite: I love jazz and pop rock and country.
“I grew up listening to Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Def Leppard, AC/DC, Anne Murray -- if I hear something really great, like Bonnie Raitt’s Luck Of The Draw and ‘Good Man, Good Woman,’ I want to be a part of it. “That love spawned a few tunes like ‘Catharsis’ I recorded on No Boundaries – my first rock piece – and ‘Flamenco Fling’ on In My Hands.
Born June 13, 1972 to her parents Alex and Minnie MacMaster in Troy, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Natalie MacMaster’s impressive musical lineage includes a cadre of amazing fiddlers, including her uncle, fiddle prodigy Buddy MacMaster (with whom Natalie recorded the 2005 gem Traditional Music From Cape Breton Island); her cousin Andrea Beaton and the late, great Canadian folk icon John Allan Cameron.
However, MacMaster forged her own sound, debuting her fiddling prowess at the age of nine-and-a-half years at a concert in Glendale, Cape Breton. She delivered her first album, Four On The Floor, at the age of 16. “It’s been quite a journey, traveling through many different paths,” says MacMaster, who also holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Nova Scotia Teacher’s College.
Her career hasn’t been without its challenges. “I was incredibly shy on stage until I was in my early-to-mid 20s,” she explains. “I went through a phase of nerves – where you got better and better and then there was more at stake almost for you, in that you really felt the personal pressure to be as good as you could be. “It was at a point in time where people were expecting you to be good because you established some sort of familiarity with the crowd. It lasted for a year or so – where I was so nervous going on stage. “Finally, I said to myself, I can’t continue like this. I’m driving myself crazy. I can’t perform to the best of my ability because these nerves are affecting my bow. “So I put mind over matter, triumphed and transformed that negative nervous energy into positive nervous energy. “It made me stronger rather than weaker.”
This strength and confidence has only manifested itself through the years, whether it’s through album such as the gold Fit As A Fiddle that marks her fueling tradition or exploring Texas and bluegrass swing, Gaelic singing on the gold No Boundaries; a touch of folk rock and new age during the gold In My Hands; a contrasting embrace of the modern and old roots on Live.
It has served Natalie MacMaster on stage, whether performing with The Chieftains, Paul Simon, Faith Hill, Luciano Pavarotti or in front of millions on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the ABC 2002 New Year’s Eve Special and Good Morning America.
And at a youthful 36, her strength and confidence in performing the fiddle continues to drive her passion and hunger to explore her love of music even further – and satisfy her audiences, and herself, in the process.
“I am grateful for the ability to play music to people, for the ability that I have to extract so much from a tune or a melody and the rich feeling I get from it. “Music has given me another layer and dimension of feeling because it really broadens the soul and really broadens the heart, you know?”
Lynn Rotin
Lynn Rotin is a Halifax based painter working with oil and encaustic (an ancient technique that combines melted beeswax with pigment for colour and resin for hardness). She is well known for her pears on antique wood and her bowl paintings. These share an expressive energy combined with a focus on texture, surface and brush-sroke. Her palette is usually earthy yet vibrant.
Several paintings from her "Empty Bowls and Sacred Vessels" series are in the collection of the Nova Scotia Art Bank and charcoal drawings from "Holocaust and Memory" travelled to France.
Lynn has a BFA from NSCAD University and a BA from York University as well as a graphic design diploma from George Brown College (back in the day when there were no computers!!). She is the recipient of Canada Council grants and recently received a professional development grant from the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture. She teaches encaustic workshops and welcomes enquiries and commissions. See www.lynnrotin.com for samples of her work.
Extreme Group
Extreme Group is an Interactive Agency built to be experts in brand and consumer interaction. This doesn't mean we're an online agency and it certainly doesn't mean we're just about advertising. Our simple goal is to do whatever it takes to connect your brand with the consumers and audiences you are trying to reach. We open ourselves up to all possibilities, ideas, executions and media that solve problems. We also use whatever tools required to great effect – new and old, but only if they’re right for the job.
We value the importance of starting conversations and keeping them going. We believe in relationships rather than transactions and we always apply a simple, common sense approach to everything we do. Discovering the simple insight about your business that will leave a mark on your audience is what gets us up in the morning.
We recognize it's a new era, where anyone and everyone with a computer and an opinion can have an impact on your brand. We're here to help. We help all of our clients embrace this new era and the new ways of communicating in order to bring their brands to life. Getting results through interaction is the goal. Anything goes.
ISL Web Marketing & Development
Founded in 1995, ISL is a full service web marketing and development company, guided by our relentless focus on understanding how users behave online. In addition to OneWeb CMS, services include website design & development, web usability, Google Analytics consulting and Internet marketing. ISL is the first web company in North America to be ISO 9001:2000 certified; OneWeb CMS is just one example of its dedication to continuous improvement and innovation. ISL has offices in Halifax and Vancouver.
Breakhouse Inc.
Founded in 1998, Breakhouse is a multidisciplinary design consultancy based in Halifax. We believe that design makes everything better and we use creative thinking as a problem solving tool to develop dynamic environments for businesses, cultural installations and urban communities.
Our studio is comprised of design-focused individuals from varied backgrounds including architecture, urban and community design, graphic and interactive design, interior architecture, industrial design, fine art and illustration.
We help our clients create environments that capture the intrinsic elements of their brand and reflect the company’s unique point of view to the world. Our holistic design approach and entrepreneurship has been recognized by national design awards and Breakhouse continues to be rewarded through the success of our clients.
Malik Beals
Malik is a Grade 10 student at Bridgeway Academy in Dartmouth, a provincially-designated school for students with learning disabilities. An emerging artist, Malik has already sold custom printed t-shirts sporting a logo of his own design to family, friends and others eager to wear the hip clothes.
Malik has also discovered a passion for jewellery design. Eager to learn everything he can, Malik has turned to goldsmith Gerry Blackwood of Park Jewellery in Dartmouth. His mentor is teaching him about making and repairing jewellery, metallurgy and eventually, the process of design.
Malik works part-time at a local retail store and enjoys drawing, playing basketball and making jewellery in his spare time. He’s also a member of the RCMP’s Stetsons and Spurs, a volunteer youth program committed to developing leadership and building stronger communities.
