Shawn Butler
Fall 2020 (TBA)

My photographs of bridges, taken across Canada and Britain, present a layering of landscapes, the natural with that of human design.

I am interested in how these landscapes exist in relation to one another and are made distinct by their opposition—nature occurs where there is no human activity and the human where nature has been organized and subsumed.

CACCIA (Anne Archer and Chris Giguere)
December 2020

CACCIA is a flute and guitar duo whose style of music is eclectic and varied. With 2 CDs under our belt, we have a new project on the go: Blue Caccia. Here we’ve gone over to the dark side and added an alto sax to the mix.

CACCIA = Anne Archer, flutes, whistles, recorders, alto sax, and Chris Giguere, classical guitar

A SOLSTICE CELEBRATION

For thousands of years in hundreds of cultures, people have performed solstice ceremonies to welcome the return of the light. Against an ancient and atavistic fear that the light, the sun, will not return without human intervention, we undertake vigils and engage in in antic celebrations. We eat special food, we decorate our houses with seasonal symbols, we dress up and sometimes act out, we light candles, we honour our dead.

Somehow we know that solstice is a dangerous time. How can we be sure that the light will return? Because the sun hangs low and weak in the sky, daytime shadows are longest. The veil between the realm of the living and the realm of the spirit is stretched thin; we see shapes in the fire, ghosts in our dreams.

Solstice signifies transformation and reversal, the shedding of identity, and the merging of disparate worlds and customs. What began as a tribute to the goddess for giving birth once more to the unconquered sun is also the celebration of the birth of a son who brings about the ultimate, transcendent triumph of light over darkness.

This is our attempt to celebrate the season, and to give shape to some of the solstice mystery and magic.