UNews - Garrett Bishoff

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge official tartan unveiled

m.williams — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 20:58:53 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s golden anniversary is taking on a ‘wee’ brightly coloured hue this week with the unveiling of the official U of L tartan. In the spring of 2016, a call was put out to students, staff, faculty, alumni and retirees to submit their design for what would become the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s official tartan. After all of the entries were reviewed it came down to four finalists. Staff member and alumna Sarah Hilliard (BA ’10), was awarded the golden go-ahead for her design.

Sarah says her design represents the feeling she experienced walking up the hill during her convocation ceremony with her fellow graduates.

“It wasn’t until I looked around during convocation that I fully realized what we had all accomplished,” says Sarah. “Now as a staff member, I recognize that look in the graduates' faces as I see them for the last time before they go off and do great things with what they learned during their time here at the U of L.”

Sarah Hilliard (BA '10) see her tartan design come to life for the very first time.

One of those graduates is Garrett Bishoff (BA ’16) who convocated in the spring. Garrett’s design was chosen as the winning student design and was awarded a cash prize from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Students’ Union.

The idea behind creating a university tartan was a long time in the making for resident tartan expert, Steve Firth (BA ’14, MA ’16). You may have seen Steve around campus over the past few years championing the charity, Kilt-Up 4 Cancer. Steve wore a kilt every day for close to 600 days in support of men’s cancer awareness and given his heritage, has become the go-to-guy for all things tartan throughout the design and selection processes.

“Tartan has such a rich and long history,” says Steve. “It is a symbol of enlightenment and overcoming adversity. It represents a connection to history and an ethos looking forward, which is fitting for the U of L’s 50th year.”

Thanks to Steve’s connections and participation in the Kilt-Up 4 Cancer charity, he was able to pass along a substantial registration fee waiver with the Scottish Tartans Authority and negotiated the use of the Croft Weaver program with the Scottish Tartans Authority, which entrants used to design their submissions.

The process of officially registering the tartan with the Scottish Tartans Authority began in July of 2016, with the official certificate arriving just in time for Founders’ Day Weekend. ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Mike Mahon says developing an official tartan is a significant way to mark the 50-year history of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

“The tartan is a symbol of the great and bright things the student will do with the knowledge gained here at the U of L, and it will now be part of our legacy going forward,” says Mike.

The tartan will also be something that people can take with them thanks to the U of L Bookstore. Tartan bow ties, ties, scarves, sashes and even kilts will be available to order through the bookstore after the unveiling at the Founders’ Day BBQ. These limited edition items are handwoven and have been sewed by world-renowned kilt maker, Paul Henry, in Surrey, U.K.

Sarah says while this is the first time she’s ever designed a textile, the idea formed when she thought about who and what she wanted represented visually in her tartan design.

“The colours of each Faculty are represented as they are in the braids of their academic dress for convocation,” says Sarah. “All of the colours come together with the bright sunburst against the dark blue of the U of L field and these colours are framed by the colour red which honours the name Sacred Buffalo Stone (Iniskim) as given by Blackfoot Elder, Bruce Wolf Child.”

As a staff member providing administrative support in the Faculty of Fine Arts, an alumna and passionate contributor to the arts, Sarah embodies so much of what it means to be a shining member of the U of L community.

“The U of L has been such a big part of my life. I was able to discover my passions here, I forged life-long relationships here, I even got married here,” exclaims Sarah. “Being able to have my design become a part of U of L’s legacy is an incredible feeling and one I’m humbled to have.”

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Repeat winners take Play Right and Striking Prose prizes

trevor.kenney — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 17:50:58 +0000

Some familiar names have appeared on this year’s list of winners in the U of L’s Play Right Prize and Striking Prose competitions. Three of the winners, Blair Yoxall, Garrett Bishoff, and AJ Baragar also won awards in 2015 and, for the first time ever an individual, Garrett Bishoff, has taken awards in both competitions.

The Striking Prose and Play Right Prize competitions are generously supported by ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge alumnus Terry Whitehead and provide undergraduate students the opportunity to flex their creative-writing muscles, win cash, earn recognition, and have their work presented in a public reading, followed with a reception, on March 23 at 7 pm in the David Spinks Theatre. The competitions are open to all U of L undergraduate students and this year, winners came from three different areas – history, English and dramatic arts.

Whitehead, whose aim is to encourage excellence and help develop student writing skills, generously donates $5,000 in prizes each year to the Striking Prose and Play Right Prize competitions. First place winners in both competitions receive a $1,500 prize, second prize is $750 and third is $250, making these some of the most lucrative awards in the country for undergraduate student writing competitions.

Play Right Prize Winners

AJ Baragar

AJ Baragar (BFA, dramatic arts major) took first place with his play Crossfade. The jury, made up of drama faculty member Jorge Sandoval, MFA candidate and professional playwright Greg MacArthur and freelance theatre artist and U of L alumna Lindsey Zess-Funk found Crossfade surprising, sparse and darkly humorous.

“Crossfade deals with a difficult subject matter in a complex, human and honest way. It has a unique, individual voice, told through a series of fractured scenes that mirror the lives of characters struggling to find connections,” says MacArthur.

Garrett Bishoff (BA, history major), took second prize with Sins in the Name of the Father.

Of the play, Zess-Funk says, “It is a clear-minded examination of a troubling historical time (Nazi Germany), as seen through the eyes of young friends who are confronted with moral, life-and-death choices.”

Kayla Foster-Brandt’s play Not Otherwise Specified took third prize. Foster-Brandt is only in her first year of a BFA in dramatic arts.

“We found the play engaging and honest. It takes audiences on a voyage through the private world of eating disorders,” says Sandoval.

Striking Prose Awards

Blair Yoxall

BA English major Blair Yoxall’s short story Little Bull took first prize in the Striking Prose competition, which was adjudicated by three members of the U of L English Department – Jay Gamble, Nick Morwood and Ian McAdam. The story is a very moving account narrated from the perspective of a six-year-old Aboriginal boy in Lethbridge, who, under the care of his grandmother, both revisits memories of cultural connection and familial nurturance, and suffers the trauma of contemporary prejudice.

“Little Bull reveals the writer’s exceptional technical skill and the application of that skill to evoke an authentic emotional response,” says Gamble. “It truly is an exceptionally well-written story.”

Second prize went to Garrett Bishoff for Dark Night of the Souls. In Dark Night of the Souls, a small troop of nationals fighting in the Spanish Civil War lead a prisoner through a dark landscape and enter a swamp, which becomes a source of metaphysical terror, mysteriously exposing the intrinsic evil in their natures, and the records of past sins.

“This story selects a unique historical period as backdrop to explore several characters that are each fleshed-out with precise detail,” says McAdam.

A public reading of the winners' submissions will be held Wednesday, March 23, 2016, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the David Spinks Theatre.

Writers rewarded with 2015 Plays and Prose prizes

trevor.kenney — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 21:19:56 +0000

Thanks to a generous ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge alumnus, undergraduate students have the opportunity to flex their creative-writing muscles, win cash, earn recognition, and have their work presented in a public reading on Thursday, Mar. 26 at 7 p.m. in the David Spinks Theatre.

The 2015 winners, including top row from left to right are Garrett Bishoff, Brayden Haidenger and AJ Baragar. Bottom row from left to right are Emma Dering, Blair Yoxall and Rodrigo Henriquez.

Alumnus Terry Whitehead (BA '94), whose aim is to encourage excellence and help develop student writing skills, generously donates $5,000 in prizes each year to the Striking Prose and Play Right Prize competitions. First place winners in both competitions receive a $1,500 prize, second prize is $750 and third is $250, making these some of the most lucrative awards in the country for undergraduate student writing competitions. The competitions are open to all U of L undergraduate students and this year winners came from four different areas – History, English, New Media and Dramatic Arts.

Play Right Prize Winners

History major, Garrett Bishoff earned first place in the Play Right Prize for his play Detritus.

“Of all entries to this competition, this script demonstrated the strongest potential for growth and development. The playwright has playfully interwoven two narratives into a single exploration of fraternal love and loss,” says juror Jamie Dunsdon, Co-Artistic Director of Calgary’s Verb Theatre on behalf of fellow jury members Grant Linneberg, a Calgary based actor, and Dr. Kiki Benzon, U of L English professor.

Lost Dog by Brayden Haidenger, a dramatic arts major, took second place.

“Lost Dog is an avalanche of suburban family drama neatly framed within the search for a lost pet,” says Benzon. “It probes the limits of love in a family struggling to reconcile shared values with individual desires. We were impressed by the juxtaposition of the sitcom comedy setting with the dark subject matter.”

Third place in the Play Right Prize went to Co-Workers by AJ Baragar, also a dramatic arts major. The jury was thrilled to see a comedy in this year's mix of plays. They congratulated the playwright for creating a zany comedy with a surprise ending that was worth the wait. This play has already made it to the stage. In March 2014 it took three awards at the Chinook Regional One Act Festival in Lethbridge (Best Play, Best Original Script, and Best Male Actor) and at the Alberta Provincial One Act Festival last May it won Best Original Script. Co-Workers appears at Club Didi (Lethbridge) March 18-21 and Birds and Stone (Calgary) May 27-30.

Striking Prose Winners

Striking Prose, the short story writing competition, was adjudicated by three faculty members from the U of L Department of English, Dr. Kiki Benzon, Dr. Jay Gamble, and Dr. Wendy Faith.

Fourth-year English major, Emma Dering took first place with An Amiable Correspondence, which the jurors called a ‘Single White Female,’ epistolary for a late-Victorian age.

“This story sets the spine a tingle with one lonely student’s brewing obsession with her governess,” says Gamble. "It ultimately reveals the psychological instability of the young protagonist.”

Second place went to Blair Yoxall, also an English major, for Raymond’s Comet, which offers a witty and funny merging of the superhero and the literary in a hyper-real local setting.

“Mayor Nenshi even makes a cameo appearance,” says Gamble.

Third prize for the Striking Prose competition was won by Topnew media major Rodrigo Henriquez for Icarus, a story of the earth’s impending destruction told from multiple perspectives in a sinister science fiction mode.

UNews - Garrett Bishoff

��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge official tartan unveiled

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