HOLD FAST 2024 Workshop + Events Schedule
Monday, August 19th, 2024
Monday, August 19 – 12pm-1:30pm
GROW WITH ME with SHIRLEY ANSTEY
EASTERN EDGE: 72 Harbour Drive
HOLD FAST welcomes Shirley Anstey for her very first art workshop. We’ll begin by painting planters. It’s up to you what you create. We will then take the time to enjoy some tasty snacks, then we’ll continue the workshop by planting seeds in our newly painted planters. At the end of the event, you’ll get to take your new plant friend home. Shirley guarantees this event will be a glitter bomb! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP.
Squirrel’s World (Shirley Anstey) is a local artist with a passion for nature and home. Her journey began with becoming whole and healthy, finding a better way to learn live and spend moments well, with better choices made and a will for more. She picked up a paintbrush and began to paint the sun, moon and stars. Through social media she has sold 14 commissions worldwide. Come learn with Shirley. Let’s plant the seeds to break the stigma around mental health and addictions. Glitter bombs.
Monday, August 19 – 6pm-8pm
GETTING UNDER IT with AUGUST CARRIGAN
LAWNYA VAWNYA OFFICE: 4 Clift’s – Baird’s Cove
A poetry workshop dealing with grief and story telling. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP.
August Carrigan is a spoken-word poet, playwright, and workshop facilitator from St. John’s NL. They have performed at events such as the Vagina Monologues, FemFest, SlutWalk, and The Women’s Work Festival and have work published in Coven Editions’ deathcap no.13, Salt Pages zine, Ink & Marrow, Moody the Zine, Riddle Fence, Acta Victoriana, and Blank Spaces Magazine. August offers poetry workshops online and in person which you can sign up for at eac177@gmail.com. They self published their first chapbook “The Mechanics of Grieving” last year and is currently working on a full length manuscript. Their play Tea for Two was workshopped during this year’s Women’s Work Festival and they are also working on a second draft.To see more of their work follow August on Instagram @windblowpoet.
Tuesday, August 20th, 2024
Tuesday, August 20 – 11am-1pm
FELT DIFFERENT with KATHRYN D’AGOSTINO
CRAFT COUNCIL NL: 155 Water Street
The Felt Different workshop will guide you through using wax/oil blends to alter the finish on needle felted sculptures and fulled knitting. The workshop is a jumping off point for thinking about new ways to work with wool. Complete beginners to experienced artists welcome! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP.
Kathryn is a researcher, writer, and artist based in Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). In her multidisciplinary approach she uses themes of community, commodification, and cultural preservation to address her identity as a ‘Come From Away,” a mother, and a lesbian. She works with natural fibers in felting and knitting, along with letterpress.
Tuesday, August 20th, 6-7pm
FEATURED ARTIST MEET AND GREET
THEATRE HILL CAFE, 390 Duckworth Street
Come meet this year’s Featured Festival Artists at the lovely Theatre Hill Cafe. This event will directly precede Foxtrot Oscar 1: a 25th Anniversary Variety Show (info below). This is your opportunity to meet the artists before their workshops, artist talks, and Art Crawl projects. This is a free event that is open to everyone!!
Tuesday, August 20th, 7-9pm
FOXTROT OSCAR 1: a 25th Anniversary Variety Show
MAJESTIC THEATRE, 390 Duckworth Street
Join us in celebrating 25 years of the HOLD FAST contemporary arts festival with Foxtrot Oscar 1! Inspired by the message behind our mural in 2016 by Jonathan S. Green, Foxtrot Oscar 1 translates to “I will keep close to you during the night”, which captures how the unwavering support from our artistic community has kept HOLD FAST going strong for the past 25 years. This is a ticketed event, please purchase tickets here.
This celebration will feature a mix of performers from the festival’s past, as well as some new friends! Performers will include: \garbagefile, Sam the Band, Lynn Panting Dance, Tendai Mudunge, Craig Francis Power, Madame Daddy, and XIA-3!!! You can learn more about all of the performers below.
Wednesday, August 21st, 2024
Wednesday, August 21 – 11am-1:30pm
DRAWING WITH WATERCOLOR IN MOVEMENT with RAIANNY QUEIROZ
FIRST LIGHT Centre for Performance and Creativity- 42 Bannerman Street
Drawing with watercolor stones with the expression of your body. From the sound, the drawing is made in gestures that are diluted in watercolor. From the movement of your body, gestures are made from watercolor drawing stones. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP.
Raianny Queiroz is a Brazilian visual artist with a passion for watercolor. She blends other artistic expressions into her creative process, which includes the discovery of engraving, printmaking and installation space. She studies identity and belonging through places, inspired by nature and the environment, transforming them into “imaginative landscapes”. She has participated in more than twenty art exhibitions in Brazil. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR). She holds a degree in Visual Arts and a Master’s Degree in Arts from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Ceará (IFCE), and worked as a teacher of architecture at the same federal institution. She founded and coordinated the research group “Ambience and Permanence Creation Studies”. She also taught art and coordinated the Art and Culture Centre (NAC) at the Federal Institute of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.
Wednesday, August 21 – 2pm-4pm
QUILT BLOCKS FOR UNDERLAY with BRENDA MABEL REID
EASTERN EDGE: 72 Harbour Drive
As an artist-community collaboration, Brenda and participants will make patterned ‘fabric’ for new quilt blocks for “Underlay.” Using stencils, we will design and paint motifs representing St. John’s onto blank quilt blocks. These new blocks will be incorporated into the original quilt, forever marking its trip to St. John’s. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP.
Brenda Mabel Reid (they/them) is an emerging non-binary visual artist with a social practice. They are based in the Haldimand Tract, in the Willow River (Grand River) watershed. Their work investigates power dynamics in Canadian society, places of friction, including issues around land ownership, queer space, the ‘justice’ system. Their practice includes textile, print, sculpture, installation, and audio. Brenda holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Waterloo (2021). Their work has been exhibited throughout Canada and has been featured on national CTV News. They have received grants from the Canadian Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
Wednesday, August 21 – exact start time tbd (roughly 5:30-7pm)
USING THE ARCHIVES FOR ARTISTIC RESEARCH with D’ARCY WILSON
THE ROOMS: 9 Bonaventure Avenue
Artists have been drawing from archival research in innovative ways, often to question the information preserved, to better understand the present, and to build a more inclusive collective narrative. Archival Assist will introduce artists and creatives to archival research by visiting local archives together to ask questions related to artistic work, and to learn the basics of accessing the materials they need. This workshop is intended for anyone who has wanted to engage with local archives for their work, but perhaps did not know where to start, or how to begin. All are welcome! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP.
D’Arcy Wilson (M.F.A. University of Calgary, B.F.A. Mount Allison, she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Corner Brook in Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). Wilson’s work laments colonial interactions with the natural world; as a descendant of European settlers in so-called Canada, she interrogates instances in which her culture’s affection for nature has been impeded by its tendency to harm. Shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award in 2019 (longlisted 2018, 2020), she has exhibited in museums and galleries nationally and internationally. She is Associate Professor in Visual Arts at Memorial University’s Grenfell Campus.
Thursday, August 22, 2024
Thursday, August 22 – 12pm-1:30pm
WAVES with ROBYN NOFTALL
THE BIRCH CENTRE: 120 LeMarchant Road
Robyn Noftall is a Canadian dance artist and film director-choreographer. Her journey began on the island now known as Newfoundland, where she is currently based after years of living in Toronto and abroad in Amman, Jordan. As her studies and work experience deepened, Robyn began pursuing her love interest for dance on film. Notable projects include Hajara (Festival of New Dance 2022), Unveiling (dance made in canada 2021) and Michael Peter Olsen’s Cloud Parade (2020) . She plans to continue creating space for women-led projects related to dance, film and music. Robyn aims to empower others through yogic teachings, community gatherings and art peace offerings.
Thursday, August 22 – 5pm-7pm
TATREEZ with SARAH KHRAISHI & BECK MACLEOD
EAST COAST QUILT CO.-343 Water St
Embroidery is a key component in adorning traditional Palestinian clothing. In this class, students will learn the history and basics of Palestinian embroideries: tatreez, hem stitch, and tahriri on aida cloth. They will explore a sampling of common traditional tatreez motifs to use in their own pieces, as well as discuss the creation of their own designs. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP.
Sarah Khraishi (she/her) is a Palestinian-Canadian textile artist and tatreez practitioner who was born and continues to reside in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Her work uses traditional Palestinian motifs to explore intersections of culture, politics and collective memory, often with a contemporary or playful twist. She received an MA in Philosophy in 2012, and has previously taught textile classes at Eastern Edge.
Beck MacLeod (they/them) is a textile artist and instructor with a focus on weaving, embroidery, and natural print and dye work. They are a Jewish, queer, and disabled artist who uses art as a form of self-expression and healing. Themes in their work include place, identity, disability, activism, and nature. Their background in ecology and environmental studies fuels their focus on natural fibres, dyes, and the use of found and thrifted materials.
Thursday, August 22 – 7pm-9pm
MOVE YOUR BODY, BABE! with JENNA SLANEY
FIRST LIGHT Centre for Performance and Creativity- 42 Bannerman Street
Move your body, babe! is a workshop for everybody and EVERY BODY! Guided by Jenna, this workshop will provide a safe(r) space for movers of all body types, gender identities, and ability/experience level to explore self love through movement and building self confidence and body lovin’! All that is needed is your beautiful self, in clothing that is easy to move in and makes you feel most confident, and some water! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP.
Jenna (she/her) is a young, queer femme, plus size performer who is passionate about creating space and comfortability for marginalized bodies in movement and performance spaces. Jenna has been dancing from a young age and has many years experience in various styles, with particular training of 6+ years as a heels dancer and can be found in the local burlesque scene of St. John’s as the sultry, sassy and forever sweet – Holly Rancher!
Friday, August 23, 2024
Friday, August 23, t10am-4pm
ROTOSCOPE ANIMATION with MARK BATH
EASTERN EDGE STUDIO- 72 Harbour Drive
Participants will be guided through a DIY-animation process, a hybrid digital-analog approach to turning smartphone videos into rotoscope-animations. The entire process will be explored: translating videos into individual frames; projecting them onto paper; tracing them frame by frame; reassembling rotoscoped images into animated sequences; and editing and exporting video files. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THIS FREE WORKSHOP.
Mark Bath (he/him) is an artist with a background in dramatic literature, performance, film, theatre, and visual art and design. Mark’s recent work “Someone Else’s Dream” (2022) merges contemporary dance and animation. It was presented at the Festival of New Dance (St. John’s), CB Nuit (Corner Brook) and Fluid Fest (Calgary).
Friday, August 23, 7-9pm
FANCY ARTIST TALKS with our HOLD FAST FEATURED ARTISTS
EASTERN EDGE GALLERY, 72 Harbour Drive
Fancy Artist Talks are the calm at the eye of the storm: a breath of stillness before the colourful, vibrant, chaos of Saturday’s Art Crawl. For featured artists, this evening is a time to share stories about themselves, their process, and their work. For attendees, it’s a chance to dress up in whatever makes you feel fancy, sip unique artist themed drinks, and gain a deeper appreciation for the art you’re about to see. Featuring: D’Arcy Wilson, Sarah Khraishi, Beck MacLeod, Brenda Reid, Mark Bath, Robin Peters, Matt Samms, and Melissa Tremblett.
Friday, August 23, 10pm
LE POKE BALL with QUARTZ FEST
VELVET CLUB AND LOUNGE, 208 Water Street
Pokémon meets drag at this unique event produced by Dream Haus Productions, Misty Manifest, and Shea Muah. It’s time to catch ’em all at the most electrifying drag competition of the year! Six dazzling drag contestants will face off in three fabulous categories, battling it out for the ultimate prize. Our local drag icons Misty Manifest, Shea Muah, and Scary Sherry will be the judges for this epic showdown. This is a ticketed event, get your tickets here!!!