Sylvia Bendza, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery and Canada Council for the Arts sponsored Landfall Trust Artist-in-Residence; Brigus Bay from Landfall, 2008.
News & Events from the
Landfall Trust & Kent Cottage
Due to foul weather, the Kent Cottage Sunday Open House, May 19, has been cancelled. We'll reschedule as soon as practical.
Berni Stapleton is the Landfall Summer 2013 Writer-in-Residence. Read more about Ms. Stapleton below under the Summer 2013 Artists & Writers-in-Residence column.
Interdisciplinary artist Michael McCormack, is The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery 2013 Landfall Artist-in-Residence. Read more about Mr. McCromack below under the Summer 2013 Artists & Writers-in-Residence column.
Plans are well underway for the 2014 Kent Centennial, a Commemoration of Rockwell Kent in Newfoundland. Kent lived at Landfall in 1914-15 (please see the Kent Cottage page). In the very near future we'll be adding another page to the website featuring the Commemoration's events and activities including selections of Kent's illustrations and writings from his days in Brigus.
The colourful Landfall 2013 Newsletter covering the Trust's 2012 year activities and plans for the future is now online.
The Trust is exploring opportunities to share our arts and cultural heritage programs with new and unique residency offerings. Do you represent or know of an agency willing to co-sponsor a Musician-in-Residence program? Please contact us with your ideas and suggestions.
Listen to an audio recording, about Jake, the Folensbee Estate and the Landfall Trust with Trust board member Robert Frampton, a former student and friend, Remembering Jake.
Summer 2013 Artists & Writers-in-Residence
Berni Stapleton is the Landfall Summer 2013 Writer-in-Residence. She is a Newfoundland- Labrador author, actor and playwright of unique distinction.
Berni is a recent recipient of the Ambassador of Tourism award from Hospitality NL. She is a past recipient of the WANL award for best work in non-fiction for her book They Let Down Baskets. Her most recent book of short stories is called Rants, Riffs and Raves: The World According to Berni Stapleton from Creative Books.
She is now working on a new book of comedic essays entitled A Toothache in My Heart. She has been a playwright-in- residence with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Playwright’s Workshop Montreal, Alberta Theatre Projects, CanStage, PARC and other national companies.
Berni is a writer and performer with Rising Tide’s Revue. Her plays are regularly produced across the province of Newfoundland, notably The Oracle at Gros Morne and The Double Axe Murders at TNL in Cowhead, Play Me Home with Rising Tide Theatre in Trinity, and Accordion Dreams: The Minnie White Story in Grand Bank.
She is a regular contributor to The Newfoundland Quarterly. She starred in and co-wrote the wickedly funny Shabaret! at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s (performed and co-written with Amy House and Alison Woolridge.) Berni was the Artistic Director of the Grand Bank Regional Theatre Festival for 12 years and is credited with having transformed that fledging company into the third largest professional summer festival in the province.
Michael McCormack is The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery sponsored Summer 2013 Artist -in-Residence at Landfall's Kent Cottage. Michael is an interdisciplinary artist from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
He was the founder and custodian of the McCleave Gallery of Fine Art since 2002, until the suitcase gallery merged with the Suitcase Art Gallery Space Research Institute (SAGSRI) in 2007. Michael currently works as the Director of Eyelevel Gallery and representative for the Association of Artist-run Centres from the Atlantic. Michael co-curated exhibitions throughout Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and Ireland, and exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries, festivals and artist-run centres across Canada, most recently at Eastern Edge Gallery in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Visit Michael's website at www.michaeldmccormack.com and read about his recent Electronics Residency at the Centre For Art Tapes in Halifax, NS at http://shortwaveradioproject.wordpress.com/.
Past Events
. During their visit to the Kent Cottage Open House in May, the Honourable John C. Crosbie, Lieutenant Governor Newfoundland & Labrador, and Mrs. Crosbie, are presented the Gerald Squires limited edition print Kent Cottage at Landfall, by Trust President Andrew Crichton. Photo by Dennis Flynn.- February 2013: Landfall Board Member Dr. Milly Browntraveled to the Centennial Celebration of Rockwell Kent in Winona, Minnesota. The week-long festival exhibited Kent's works and activities while building Briarcombe Farms, two Georgian Revival Mansions overlooking the Mississippi River.
- September 2012: The annual Kent Cottage open house celebrating Culture Days was hosted by the Lanfall Trust directors and writer -in-residence Sara Tilley.
- July 2012: Landfall was visited by Carlene Roters (www.carleneroters.com) and her husband Frank Merritt, from New Mexico. Carlene's father, Carl Roter, visited and painted in Brigus in 1930. Carlene is now working to return her father's Newfoundland work to Newfoundland.
- May 2012 saw a wonderfully full Open House on the 20th with over 125 people visiting Kent Cottage. Thanks to all for the most enjoyable spring afternoon at Landfall.
- April 2012: the Landfall Trust received the prestigious Manning Award in the International category at the 2012 Awards Ceremony held in St. John's.
- 2011 was a landmark year for Kent Cottage and the Landfall Trust. Take a moment to catch-up on the events of the past year in the January 2012 Landfall Trust Newsletter.
- October 2011: Culture Days: A Landfall and Kent Cottage open house was hosted by the volunteer directors on Sunday , October 2.
- August 2011: Relatives of A.E. Harris, owner of Kent Cottage from 1929-1933, visited Landfall and Kent Cottage during the unveiling cermony of the Cottage Interpretive Signage. The Harrises live in England.
- May 2011: the first Landfall Open House of the 2011 season with over 75 visitors.
- June 2010: The annual Landfall Open House was held during our community week with 120 visitors attending.
- April 2010, Dennis Flynn, of Colliers, Newfoundland, a photographer and writer, published an article for the April 2010 issue of Life is Better Downhome, entitled The Landfall Legacy.
- June 2009: The annual Landfall Open House was held in conjunction with the Bartlett 2009 Celebrations.
- September 2008: well known Newfoundland artist, Gerald Squires gave a captivating illustrated presentation to a full house at The Rooms, St. John’s featuring works completed during his residencies at Landfall over the past two years.
- September 2008 Internationally recognized writer Kevin Major undertook a writer’s residency in late September when he worked closely with students and staff at Amalgamated Academy in Bay Roberts.
- July 2007: CBC Radio broadcaster, Eleanor Wachtel, writer,and popular host of Writers and Company, gave a sold-out presentation at Memorial University in St. John’s, The Lives of Writers.
Other Landfall Residents Activities Since Opening in 2005:
- In 2012, The Rooms sponsored Landfall artist-in-residence,Sam Douglas had a presentation at The Rooms sharing how his Newfoundland experience is influencing his landscape painting. Sam also conducted an artist workshop at Landfall's Kent Cottage. The Trust sponsored Writer-in-Residence Sharon McKay gave a presentation at the Amalgamated Academy in Bay Roberts.
- In 2011, artist Veselina Tomova, of St. John's, The Rooms 2011 Landfall Artist-in-Residence, held a one-day sketching workshop for adults at Landfall and another for young people in the Brigus summer recreation program.
- In 2010, Christy Georg, of Boston, the Rooms 2010 Artist-in-Residence and sailing vessel mariner, provided three knot-tying workshops for local nautical enthusiasts including the Summer Youth Recreation Program in Brigus, Hawthorne Cottage and the Cupids Legacy Centre.
- In 2009, Gerald Squires, of Ferryland and renowned Newfoundland artist, was again a 2009 Artist-in-Residence. Gerald offered a piece of his Landfall work, the watercolour Kent Cottage at Landfall for the Trust to release as a limited edition. Proceeds from the print sale will be directed towards conservation efforts for preservation of the Landfall Kent Cottage.
- In 2008, Temma Gentles, a textiles artist and designer from Toronto, was The Rooms 2008 Artist-in-Residence, and hosted a textiles workshop for children in Brigus.
- In 2007, Robert Tombs, of Ottawa and graphic designer, was The Rooms 2007 Artist-in-Residence, and hosted a teens poster workshop in Brigus.
- In 2006, Cecil Day, a print maker from Nova Scotia, was the 2006 Rooms Artists-in-Residence with Sylvia Bendzsa, of St. John's,a painter and visual artist. Cecil conducted a print marking workshop and Sylvia conducted art materials and skectching workshop in Brigus.
- In 2005, Scott Walden, philosopher and photographer, was the first Rooms Artist-in-Residence at Landfall in 2005. Dr. Walden gave three presentations on the relationships of photography and writing on place, memory and history.
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