In Spring 2017, as part of Jumblies’ Touching Ground Festival, Four Lands took up residency at the Evergreen Brick Works, with a two-week period of public workshops and a 1-day (June 3) installation and performance in the CRH Gallery and Koerner Gardens.
For this event, Jumblies partnered with Continuum Contemporary Music to commission and present two new musical works responding to the Four Lands material: one composed by Jason Doell (voices dangle like bells) and the other by Juliet Palmer (Quarry). The performance also included Spill, a pre-existing percussion piece performed by Ryan Scott, and a structured and participatory improvisation by Jumblies’ artists and participants.
Lead Artist, Designer, Concept: Ruth Howard
Installation Designers: Adrienne Marcus Raja, Parker Dirks, Sam Egan
Workshop Facilitators: Merle Harley, Eric Diolola, Kaia’tanoron Dumoulin, Teresa Cutknife, and others
Composers: Jason Doell, Juliet Palmer, Erik Griswold
Musicians: Sarah Albu (soprano), Leslie Newman & Kaili Maimets (flute),
Anthony Thompson & Graham Lord (clarinet), Graham Mackenzie (oboe),
Ryan Scott, Daniel Morphy, Adam Campbell &; Julia Chien (percussion), Raphael Arsenault (improviser)
and the Ground Floor Choir (Conductor & Director: Shifra Cooper)
Guest Choral Conductor: Hussein Janmohamed
Choreographer: Shula Strassfeld
Assistant Choreographer: Julia Hune Brown
Consulting Director: Varrick Grimes
Production/Stage Manager: Dylan Tate-Howarth
Lighting Designer: Jenny Jimenez
Technical Director: Steafan Hannigan
Festival Producer: Rachel Penny
Site Sponsor: Evergreen Brick Works
Artist Profiles
Ruth Howard
Ruth Howard is the founding Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre. She and Jumblies have created multi-year residencies resulting in large scale performances, in a series of Toronto neighbourhoods, resulting in large-scale productions and lasting Offshoot organizations. She has worked across Canada and in England as a theatre designer, has taught at many universities, colleges and schools, amentored many emerging artists and organizations, and won many awards for her work. In 2015 Ruth and Jumblies produced the west-to-east-coast Train of Thought tour with partners across the country. Her most recent projects with Jumblies include the May/June 2017 Touching Ground Festival of new works in Toronto and the Four Lands tour. |
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Adrienne Marcus Raja
Adrienne explores a range of practices which blends in painting, puppetry, audio, installation, moving images, and photography. As a Malaysian with a Kelabit and Hainan ancestory, she is a multi-disciplinary artist currently living in Toronto. Her works has been presented nationally and internationally. She is an MFA graduate of Ryerson University in Documentary Media. She also holds a BA degree in Mass Communication and Television Production from Curtin University. She is the first recipient of Jumblies’ Al Levitt Memorial Award. She enjoys travelling as well as learning alongside people from different backgrounds and communities. She is currently the Tour Coordinator for Jumblies’ most recent collaborative touring project, The Four Lands. She is also Jumblies’ Arts Management Intern (thanks to an Ontario Arts Council Compass grant). |
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Parker Dirks
Parker Dirks is a visual artist with an interdisciplinary practice and a trans*, feminist, sustainable food activist. They attended Goshen College in Indiana, where they were active in the Queer Collective and holds a degree in ceramics from NASCAD University, where they were active within the Feminist Collective. They are interested in combining art and activist practices in ways that examine the ways in which individuals and groups occupy spaces. At the Ground Floor, Parker has been doing screen printing and assisting with our Word & Images workshops. At MABELLEarts, they helped deliver the weekly outdoor series in Mabelle Parkette. |
