Arts News

{mosimage}TORONTO - Kevin Hearn of the Canadian pop band the Barenaked Ladies, jazz singer Matt Dusk, tenors John McDermott and Michael Burgess and concert pianist Stewart Goodyear are all St. Michael’s Choir School alumni who have gone on to become successful musicians both here and abroad. As a tribute to the school for its 70th anniversary, they will all perform at Roy Thomson Hall Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. along with the Canada Pops Orchestra and the boys of St. Michael’s Choir School.

Art exhibit tells story of Christ

By

{mosimage}WELLAND, Ont. - The One Called Jesus, a travelling art exhibit with lifelike, highly detailed characters, is winning rave reviews from visitors during a month-long stop in Welland.

Sr. Varley prays with paint

By
{mosimage}TORONTO - She may not be able to trace her ancestral roots to Group of Seven painter Frederick Varley, but Sr. Virginia Varley, CSJ, says that in the art world, “the name does me no harm.”

Digital revolution creates opportunities for religion

By

SHERBROOKE, Que. - There is a “digital revolution” transforming today’s mass media in ways that pose both risks and opportunities for evangelization, says a Quebec communications expert.

Taking creative steps to healing

By
{mosimage}TORONTO - Before he walked into 6 St. Joseph House a year-and-a-half ago, Dave Evans was no artist. “I was getting drunk on the side of the street,” is how he describes his typical day as an addicted and usually homeless man.

Franciscan convent outdraws Mayan ruins

By
{mosimage}IZAMAL, Mexico - The Yucatan. To sun-starved Canadians the very name conjures up images of Caribbean beaches, a turquoise sea and ancient Mayan ruins. Lots of them. The Yucatan Peninsula is reputed to have one of the richest stores of archeological treasures in the world. It is populated by the Maya, the largest indigenous group in North America and the focus of Mel Gibson’s recent movie Apocalypto. Multitudes of Canadians visit every year.

Church sticks with the familiar in its art

By
{mosimage}TORONTO - Artist Elizabeth Adams has been making art for churches for 30 years. Her latest commission, titled Unbind Them, is on view at St. Philip the Apostle Anglican Church in Toronto. Despite her years spent studying in Italy, and her love of Romanesque architecture on display in the front hall of her home and studio, almost none of Adams’ work has seen the inside of a Catholic church.

Ireland Park will bring immigrant experience to life

By
TORONTO - When Ireland Park opens at the foot of Bathurst Street June 21, the 25-metre-long wall commemorating those who died on Toronto’s waterfront in 1847 will display 663 names. Blank spaces have been left for the 461 whose names have disappeared from the historical record.

From Genesis to the Apocalypse

By
academyawardThe most important information in the bookends of the Bible, Genesis and Apocalypse, is the stuff that tells us who we are. Identity is one of the most deeply religious questions we can ask.

Play asks the ethical questions that need to be asked

By
Theatre review: Chimera

Chimera is an engaging play about a topic which is rarely dealt with in theatre. For that reason alone it is well worth seeing, but it is also well acted and well staged, thought provoking and topical.

Giller Award winner has sense of service

By

dr. lamTORONTO - One gets the sense from reading selections from Dr. Vincent Lam's Scotiabank-Giller Prize-winning new collection, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, that the author would have made an excellent reporter had his time not already been taken up with medicine and fiction writing.