Bruno Vinhas
Textile Artist & Curator
ORI
This project weaves the live performance of dance and text into a solo show-meets-immersive art installation on stage. It is a collaboration between St. John’s-based choreographer/dance artist Corie Harnett and Brazilian-born, St John’s-based textile and theatre artist Bruno Vinhas, and takes inspiration from the Afro-Brazilian spiritual and folkloric tradition of Candomblé. Archetypes from the folklore will help tell a contemporary story of relationship to the natural elements, cultural heritage, and reflections on mortality. Selected themes from Candomblé will intersect with an autobiographical account of connection to Newfoundland ancestral roots. The result will be an immersive performance piece that combines movement, monologue and a multimedia set design derived largely from textile art. The creation and performance of this multidisciplinary work will enable the principal artists to explore and create in new ways, and to benefit from the integration of varied media in storytelling.
We acknowledge the support of ArtsNL, which last year invested $2.35 million to foster and promote the creation and enjoyment of the arts for the benefit of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and the City of St John's through their art grant opportunity
We would like to thank the support of all involved in this project : Arts and Culture Centre - St John's (Peter and Reg), Anita Singh, Ainsley Howthorn, Barry Buckle, Brent Baker, Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador, Georgestown Cafe and Bookshelf, Graham Blair, James Stenson, Kailey Bryan, Kate Stenson, Rob Kean, Rodrigo and Tatiane Miranda, Sharon Campbell, The Textile: Craft and Apparel Design Program of the College of the North Atlantic, Vanessa Vasconcellos.
Corie Harnett
Corie Harnett is a dancer, choreographer and arts educator based in St. John's, NL. Her choreographic work is largely influenced by dance forms whose origins are in Latin street and Afro-Latin dance traditions, often drawing inspiration from narrative and whimsy to tell stories that are theatrical, accessible and affecting.
In addition to shorter, improvised site-specific pieces created for Neighbourhood Dance Works’ Sidewalk Dances, Corie has contributed choreography for the stage locally for events such as Femfest, Red Hot, and Métissages. Corie enjoys interdisciplinary collaboration, and in 2016 was commissioned to create work for Invocación Y Danza, a Spanish and Latin American live music and dance program for the Music at Memorial concert series. Choreographic works supported by ArtsNL, Newfoundland and Labrador's Art Council, include Carta Blanca, originally performed at the World Dance Alliance Global Summit, 2017.
Bruno Vinhas
Bruno Vinhas is a Textile Artist with a background in theatre directing and costume and props design.
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Bruno artistically translates how his mind captures these elements. Bruno's work ranges from textile art installations to intricate apparel design. Vinhas sensitivity to his craft allows him to push materials to their limits, without forcing beyond integrity.
Brazilian by birth, Vinhas is passionate about global craft culture. A degree in Tourism and Hospitality has provided Bruno the experience of living in multiple countries. Although he is inspired by the new cultures he has experienced his inspiration comes from the mother land and specially his city, Salvador with all the African and Portuguese background. He graduated from the College of the North Atlantic's Textile: Craft and Apparel Design Programs in 2017 and currently works as and Assistant Director at the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador Gallery
Kailey Bryan Videographer
Tech Team
Vanessa Vasconcellos - Afro-Brazilian Religion ( Candomble) Consultant
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Vanessa Vasconcellos defines herself as a lover of the Arts and Human Sciences. She has been working as a manager of hospitality, which has given her the opportunity not to seek to understand human nature, but to recognize that as long as is living she will have to deal with and live with different views of the universe surrounding human kind and all the means that belong to this terrenal plan. Married, mother of four furry friends, She sees herself as the one to nurse and care for all in her family and to the friends she made along the way. Love, friendship, travel and food are the items that inspire her to continue living and to give her the opportunity to discover the wonders of the Earth.
For her Candomblé is more than a religion, it is a way of life. The water, the earth, the air and fire, all this that surround us, are the Orixás. In one way or another, she feels the presence of all the deities, in especial her saltwater mother, Iemanja, who provides her with wisdom, intelligence and patience, and makes her understand that Orixá will be present in your life when you truly transport it from nature to inside yourself. Vanessa is an active member of the Candomblé community in Salvador, Bahia, Brasil.
Graham Blair - Graphic Designer
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Graham Blair is a freelance artist and designer based in St. John's, Newfoundland. Holding both a B.A. and M.A. in Cultural Anthropology and Museum Studies from the University of British Columbia, he has a lifelong interest in the intersection of culture and art. His original woodcut prints can be seen at shops and fairs in Newfoundland and Toronto, and he works regularly doing design work for Memorial University's School of Music, the St. John's Storytelling Festival, the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, Riddle Fence, and Flanker Press
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Sharon King-Campbell - Dramaturgy
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Sharon King-Campbell is a director, actor, playwright and storyteller based in St. John's. She has acted as dramaturge for Berni Stapleton's Woman, Naked (Girl Power), next to normal, Fun Home, and this autumn's premiere production of Timothy Matson's The Stars are Always Brighter When the Lights Go Out (Best Kind). Most recently, she has been assistant director for Between Breaths (Artistic Fraud), and directed Cymbeline (Bear & Co), transVersing (Artistic Fraud/FTLOL), and Shake It Up (Shakespeare by the Sea). Sharon's latest play,original, will premiere in November as part of PerSIStence Theatre's season. Sharon was the 2017 recipient of the Rhonda Payne Award and is currently pursuing her MA in English at Memorial University.
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Kailey Bryan - Videographer
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Kailey Bryan is a multi-media artist and drag performer currently based in St. John’s, Ktaqamkuk (Newfoundland). Their practice includes performance, video, installation, sculpture and textiles. Kailey received their BFA with Honours from York University (2010), and was the recipient of the VANL-CARFAC Emerging Artist of the Year Award (2014), the Louis Odette Award for Sculpture (2010), and the EJ LIghtman Sculpture Award (2010), and has received support from the City of St. John’s, ArtsNL, and the Canada Council for the Arts. Kailey’s work wants to seduce you. Sumptuous textures, cinematic lighting, and exposed flesh beckon the viewer. Strange tools, strange motions pierce inflated desire. Repetition and rhythm in form, gesture, and material help to unpack social coding and navigate embodied tension. Film, pop culture, craft and fashion history bubble up in Kailey’s work, with a healthy dose of dada-esque absurdism. Kailey works independently and in various collaborative partnerships, and was one of the founding members of Toronto-based collective Tongue & Groove. Kailey loves critical discourse, large bodies of water, and puns.
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Barry Buckle - Assistant Couturier
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Barry Buckle is an instructor and freelance Fashion Designer. After studying at Memorial University for a while, he decided to make his love of sewing and clothing design a full time career, and moved to Montreal where he studied and graduated with a degree in fashion design and illustration. After working in the fashion industry for a few years he went on to earn a diploma in pattern-making and fashion design from Holland College in PEI. Inspiration comes from things he sees. He also finds himself inspired by his students, at the College of the North Atlantic. Buckle creates custom outfits for people looking for unique pieces, or costume for productions by theatre companies. He has participated in hundreds of fashion, film and theatre events, through charity support and professionally
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Rodrigo and Tatiane Miranda - Afro-Brazilian Religion ( Umbanda) Consultant
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Rodrigo and Tatiane are from Brazil but they currently live in St. John’s - NL. The Brazilian couple has their own Umbanda house since 2011, and were proudly to share their beliefs in Orisha’s with Bruno and Corey.
Kate Stenson- Stage Manager
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Kate Stenson is a Newfoundland-born artist, recently returned from five years stage-managing, designing, directing, and producing in the Toronto indie theatre community. She is honoured to be working with Bruno and Corie on such a stunning, and unprecedented performance-/art-piece. Upcoming productions: Ours (assistant stage manager): Opera on the Avalon. Select credits: Laughing Wild (director), Coriolanus (stage manager), Moral Deficit (co-director): Skipping Stones Theatre Company; Room for Failure, MACBETH, CAESAR (all: stage manager): Wolf Manor Theatre Collective; Shakespeare-In-Hospitals (stage manager): Spur-of-the-Moment Theatre Collective; pool (no water) (stage manager): Cue6, Best of Fringe 2015; Shakespeare By The Sea (production assistant).