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Art that moves you

trevor.kenney — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:03:18 +0000

What was an ordinary walk to the washroom on Level 6 of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Centre for the Arts is now anything but mundane.

The wall flanking the entrance to the U of L Main Gallery used to house a bank of pay phones, but with the removal of this obsolete technology, a great opportunity was afforded.

"I think people can easily agree, the advent of the smart phone has been terrific for the promotion of events and cultural organizations," says Dr. Josephine Mills, director/curator of the U of L Art Gallery. "For the gallery, changes in technology have meant another less obvious boon to our visibility."

The gallery quickly called dibs on the now vacant space.

"We requested a renovation that included the gallery-standard drywall over three-quarter inch plywood backing so that the wall could support hanging objects in frames, and we had the foresight to build in electrical and Internet connections," explains Mills. "Spurred by successful student design projects I had seen around campus, I initiated a call for proposals from new media students and faculty to create something for the new wall to raise the profile of the main art gallery."

The interactive wall located just outside the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Art Gallery allows people to immerse themselves in the art.

She assumed she would get ideas that involved applying vinyl or other traditional options to the wall.

"Instead, new media faculty members Leanne Elias, Dana Cooley and Carl Spencer, delighted and surprised me with a fabulously innovative idea to install an interactive projection, which was then developed by BFA New Media major Brendan Matkin," says Mills.

The playful interactive installation grabs attention as anyone walking by accidently sets the letters projected onto the wall dancing.

"With this collaborative project we wanted to try something new and different," says Matkin. "We wanted to promote the gallery, motivate others to realize this is a creative opportunity and have some fun."

Several people were involved with the project.

"We started planning in December and the hard work started in January," says Matkin. "In addition to Leanne, Dana and Carl, fellow student Alyssa Buck was an advisor on the project."

Matkin did the actual project development and worked with the open source Processing environment.

"We used a short-throw projector and Xbox Kinect and were able to overcome a few technical glitches," he says with a smile. "It's been a terrific learning experience."

Explaining how it works to a layperson, Matkin says, "Each letter interacts with the others as well as the digital shadow of people coming into the field. Gravity is used to
attract the letters back to their home position; however, to make the letters behave in a convincing manner, I used about 500 times normal gravity. The physics engine is the same as for Angry Birds."

Leanne Elias is pleased with the results of the project and its future potential.

"We are wildly excited about this project because it points towards new directions in interactive media," she says. "And the fact that this was a student-driven project makes it just that much more exciting."

She adds that several students, including Matkin, are going with her to the SXSW International Conference.

"Going to this interactive conference exposes our students to things we can't even imagine – truly cutting-edge technology."

Mills is excited about the future of the wall.

"Brendan created a superb inaugural project and, with the system in place, we are looking forward to further proposals for ideas to promote the gallery and our exhibitions and programs," she says.

The Art Gallery would like to thank the experts in the U of L Department of Facilities (Jim Vanderzee, Bill Hudains, Mick Nutley, Al Mueller, Paul Peterson) for their work in renovating the wall and installing the technology.

This story first appeared in the March 2013 issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Leading behind the scenes

trevor.kenney — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:39:46 +0000

Forget about spreadsheets and market analysis. If you want to hatch an incredibly successful idea, one of the best ways to do it is to scratch your musings on a paper napkin. The method might be unorthodox, but it's hard to argue with its effectiveness when you consider the list of businesses and ideas that got their start that way. The founders of Southwest Airlines, the professor who came up with trickle-down economics, and the duo who created the game Trivial Pursuit all used napkins as a springboard for their ideas. It's not a bad club, and it's one that Christian Darbyshire (BMgt '99) is happy to be a part of.

Darbyshire is the co-owner and operator of tinePublic Inc. (pronounced "tiny" Public) – an internationally renowned special-events company with a rather prophetic origin.

Inspiration for tinePublic struck late one night in Toronto at a restaurant in Chinatown. Darbyshire was sitting across the table from his good friend Andy McCreath, eating soup and talking the way old buddies do. The duo has known each other since the age of 12 and has a long history together. As fate would have it, Darbyshire and McCreath had professional interests in common, too.

Christian Darbyshire has been able to secure some of the biggest names in the speaking business.

After serving several years in the trenches of the television industry, Darbyshire had carved out a profitable niche as a freelance production manager and publicist. McCreath was doing publicity work for the National Hockey League. As the night wore on, the soup disappeared and the conversation between the friends got inventive. They started to wonder what was stopping them from joining forces and creating their own company. They had been planning events and doing publicity for others for years. Why not combine their expertise and strike out on their own? They envisioned putting together speaking engagements that featured big headline names, producing and promoting the events, and selling tickets for a tidy profit. Darbyshire used the proverbial paper napkin to jot down a business plan. Before the night was over, he and McCreath were partners in a new event-planning venture – tinePublic Inc.

"We wanted to create events for young business professionals," says Darbyshire. "Most of the speaking engagements at that time were big-ticket dinner events that priced a lot of people out of the market. We wanted to produce events that drew a wider audience."

tinePublic's top choice for a first speaker was former U.S. president Bill Clinton. Darbyshire sent a letter to Clinton's organization requesting a meeting to discuss his company's proposal. It wasn't a big surprise that there was no response.

"I knew it was a long shot trying to line up such a big name right off the bat, but there was nothing to lose in trying," says Darbyshire. "I sent at least half a dozen letters to Clinton's office over two years, and made several phone calls, but it didn't get us anywhere. In the meantime I kept looking for another opportunity."

The brass ring presented itself a couple of years later in the form of a reality TV star – one Bill Rancic, winner of the first season of Donald Trump's television show, The Apprentice.

"The Apprentice was a massive success and Bill Rancic was huge," recalls Darbyshire. "It was 2005, and business in Alberta was booming. It was the perfect time to bring the current icon of business success to the public."

Darbyshire and McCreath contacted Rancic's people, scheduled a meeting and flew to New York. There, in Rancic's Manhattan office, the partners laid out a plan for the first speaking engagement the pair would produce. It would take place in Calgary, the epicentre of new business in Canada, and Rancic would be the headliner.

"He jumped on board right there," says Darbyshire, describing Rancic's response. "We couldn't believe it. Suddenly we were in business. That was it. The ball was in motion."
The next 30 days were a whirlwind of big-time planning on a shoestring budget. Darbyshire and McCreath cleaned out their bank accounts to pull it off, and a month later Bill Rancic was in Calgary in front of a group of 1,800 eager businesspeople. The success of that first engagement led to five more shows at venues across North America. The Rancic tour was tremendously popular and profitable.

"That's when we knew we were really onto something," says Darbyshire.

tinePublic was enjoying its first taste of success. Darbyshire and McCreath were busy planning a stream of new engagements when one day, out of the blue, Darbyshire picked up a call from the office of the man he'd been waiting for since day one – Bill Clinton. Clinton's office had received all the letters Darbyshire had sent over the years and was impressed by the company's recent success. They offered tinePublic the opportunity to co-ordinate speaking engagements for the former president and Darbyshire accepted the job on the spot.

"It wasn't until I hung up the phone that it occurred to me that maybe we'd bitten off more than we could chew," says Darbyshire.

Putting his worries aside, plans for the Clinton engagement went full steam ahead. The event took place several months later at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ont., in front of a crowd of 6,500 riveted attendees. Darbyshire and his partner doubled their investment that day, and went on to produce 10 more events with Clinton over the next two years.

The rest, as they say, is history. tinePublic has gone on to organize touring events for Tony Blair, Alan Greenspan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Colin Powell, George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani and Lance Armstrong among other cultural and political icons. The company has also expanded its business scope to include concert promotion (they've worked with performers like Elton John and Diana Ross). In addition to his work with McCreath, Darbyshire runs a public-relations firm that works with major finance, cosmetic, oil and gas, and mining companies across North America. In recognition of his hard work, Darbyshire was named to Canada's Top 40 Under 40™ in 2011.

Stories and anecdotes about the famous people Darbyshire has met are just under the surface of his speech, but he's far too professional to let any cats out of the bag. The most he'll tell you is that everyone he's worked with is quite candid, and the insights he's gained from high-profile people are extraordinary. When it comes to sharing the secret of his own success, however, Darbyshire is a lot more forthcoming.

"You can't let fear stop you, in life or in business," Darbyshire says. "I've been scared plenty of times, but I've always followed through. If you really work at something, it will most likely end up being OK, or really good, or even spectacular. You've got to use fear in a positive way. Never give up. And think big."

This story first appeared in the Fall 2011 issue of SAM magazine. For a look at a flipbook version of SAM, follow this link.

Engineering a better future

trevor.kenney — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 21:33:53 +0000

There isn't any avoiding it. Day by day, all Canadians – from newborns to seniors – are getting older. In fact, the country's large population of baby boomers is rapidly approaching retirement age. In 2011, the first of the generation will turn 65; by 2015, there will be more people in Canada over the age of 65 than under 15.

The good news is that as medical science marches forward, we're living longer, on average. Data released in 2008 by Statistics Canada showed that the average life expectancy was 80.4 years in 2005 – up from 77.8 in 1991.

Of course, living longer isn't all it is cracked up to be if we're not well enough to enjoy it. Statistically, we're far more prone to developing diseases like cancer, Parkinson's or diabetes as we reach the golden years. Many people are also likely to become less active and give up the things they once loved to do, both in the realm of work and recreation. However, contrary to popular belief, there's nothing about aging that makes any of this

(l-r) Drs. Jennifer Copeland, Jon Doan and Lesley Brown are working together to understand how we can age better.

inevitable.

"There are some changes that we assume are a natural part of aging when actually, they're a natural part of becoming sedentary," explains U of L exercise physiologist
Dr. Jennifer Copeland.

For instance: while muscle loss is unavoidable, aging muscle can adapt to physical activity just as well as young muscles. Bone density does decrease, but by maintaining physical fitness over time, you can make sure you've got plenty in the bank for your senior years.

"If you maintain a certain level of activity, you should be able to do the things you enjoy for a really long time," says Copeland, who studies the impact of exercise on health.

In 2006, Copeland and U of L colleagues Dr. Jon Doan (PhD '06), who investigates the relationship between activity levels and work, and Dr. Lesley Brown, who researches balance and fall prevention, formed the Southern Alberta Centre for Successful Aging (SACSA) to examine how the transition to the senior years affects activity levels and what can be done to promote greater wellness. It's research urgently needed: between 2006 and 2026, the number of seniors is projected to increase from 4.3 to 8 million in Canada.

"That volume means we need a better understanding of what seniors want to do, what will be beneficial for them, and how we can match those things together," says Doan.

Funded by the U of L and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, SACSA involves a dozen undergraduate and graduate students, and more than 100 people so far have participated in the centre's research projects.

At the moment, there is a wide range of studies underway. All three researchers are taking part in a collaboration called the Successful Transition to Active Retirement (STAR) project, which is examining how the transition to retirement affects activity. Studies show that generally speaking, life transitions have enormous influence on health behaviours and "retirement is a big life change that hasn't been studied very much," explains Copeland.

The study examines people in various stages on the path to retirement, including those over 55 and still working, those who have completely retired and those engaged in new careers or employment opportunities after officially retiring from a long-term occupation (bridge employment).

Preliminary findings contradict the researchers' hypothesis that people who are bridge-employed are more active because they're leaving the house regularly to go to work. Rather, the opposite is true: working after retirement seemed to make survey respondents less likely to stay physically active.

However, it's likely that how active people are during bridge employment depends upon the industry they're in, says Doan. Continuing to farm past the age of 65 is probably more conducive to activity than an office job, for instance. Ultimately, Doan plans to analyze the differences between occupations.

Doan's research tends to focus on the interaction between work and physical activity levels, as well as how environments can be engineered to promote greater health. One of his projects involves assessing how the workplaces of seniors in bridge employment can be altered to better meet their needs.

"Older workers have different demands in that their understanding of the job is probably greater, but their physical fitness may be a little lower than other workers," he says.

As an interdisciplinary centre, SACSA taps into exercise physiology, kinesiology and biomedical engineering, a growing area at the U of L. Doan, who has an engineering background, explains that many of the technologies and research methodologies at the centre rely on biomedical engineering, particularly research related to the biomechanics of movement.

Case in point: a research project involving Doan, Brown and researchers at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary involving the use of a new device, called a GaitMeter, to study the movement of people with Parkinson's disease. Because the neurological condition impairs motor function, people with the disease often struggle with walking and are apt to fall. As a result, the disease can limit a person's mobility and independence, so finding ways to improve their gait is critical. Studying the stereotypical movements of a person's walk can only be done with carefully engineered equipment.

The GaitMeter is about the size of an iPod and clips onto a belt loop. The data logger communicates with a small sensor placed on the shin to register and record subtle changes in a person's body as they move. Unlike traditional devices used to measure movement that can involve cumbersome wires, this wireless tool is engineered to allow researchers to track study participants beyond the lab.

"We can get them walking around the track or walking down the hallways at nursing homes," explains Brown.

Thanks to SACSA funding, Brown's lab is also equipped with state-of-the-art balance equipment, including a Neurocom® SMART Balance Master Clinical Research System.

"It's about the size of a British-style phone booth," she explains. "It's three-feet wide and three-feet deep, and you step into it."

The floor of the device rocks back and forth, and the visual surround also moves.

"It allows you to test the (physiological) symptoms that control your balance: your vision, what you're feeling on the ground and the integrity of your inner ear," says Brown.

The tool is enormously useful both to the community – hospital patients with balance problems often come to the lab for assessments – and Brown's research program, since falling is one of her areas of interest. One of her current projects involves investigating how the focus of a person's attention influences balance. She recently recruited patients who were self-identified as having a fear of falling and exposed them to threatening cues (such as flashing words like 'ice' and 'fall' on the screen surrounding them). Brown measured how long they attended to the words and determined that people who fear falling found it difficult to stop paying attention to the threat stimulus. One possibility from this finding, she explains, could be that people who are fearful are prone to falling because their attention is captured by the threat and consequently directed away from controlling balance.

While tripping or falling may seem like a minor issue to those in good health, the consequences increase as we age, explains Brown.

"Working in this area for the last number of years, I really appreciate that balance is something we take for granted when we're younger, but as we age it can become an issue that preoccupies your life."

As a result of trying to avoid injuries like broken hips, older people can start to limit their activity and become less vibrant and independent.

The U of L is in an ideal location to do this work. While Lethbridge has a population of about 80,000, its dry and sunny climate has made the city a popular spot for active seniors to retire.

When it comes to living an active lifestyle, researchers say there are ways to be active at any age. Despite the many disclaimers on exercise products, physical activity is remarkably safe for just about everyone.

"The risks are pretty similar, regardless of your age, when you're starting something new," says Copeland.

The key is starting off very gradually and checking with your doctor before you take on a more extreme regimen. Although she's an avid runner and outdoorswoman, Copeland says her research has reminded her to stay committed to an active lifestyle.

"I must admit that my research has affected my beliefs about physical fitness. It has to be done a little bit each day – like brushing your teeth or taking a shower."

While collecting data at the Lost Soul Ultra marathon in Lethbridge this past September, she was inspired by one of her research participants – a 65-year-old woman motoring along a 100-km route.

"That's how I want to be when I'm older."

To view the entire issue of SAM in a flipbook format, visit this link

McCormick brings Semiotica to Christou

trevor.kenney — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:33:11 +0000

Student intern Emily McCormick is trying her hand at curating, creating the Semiotica exhibition for the Helen Christou Gallery.

"My experience as an Art History/Museum Studies major at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has been filled with numerous opportunities," says McCormick. "I've worked at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Art Gallery as a curatorial intern. Both galleries have allowed me to gain an invaluable amount of work experience for my future career."

One result of McCormick's internship at the U of L Art Gallery is Semiotica: The Persuasion of Text, an exhibition in the Helen Christou Gallery running from Mar. 12 through Apr. 9.

"Moving away from traditional art styles, this exhibition explores conceptual art involving written language," explains McCormick. "It features works from the U of L Art Collection by Jenny Holzer, Joseph Kosuth, John Baldessari, Vera Gartley and Enn Erisalu."

According to U of L Art Gallery Director/Curator Dr. Josephine Mills, "Emily proposed the idea for this exhibition last semester while working on an internship with me and she came up with a great concept."

Semiotica was built around one of the key works in the U of L Art Collection – American artist Jenny Holzer's Selections from Truisms. During the 1980s, Holzer attained international recognition for her use of text in public locations with her truisms (short, provocative statements) that appeared on electronic signs and posters, were carved into benches and appeared in many other formats all over the world.

"The work in our collection includes a bank of many of these phrases running across a screen. When first acquired, it was exhibited widely as part of touring exhibitions, but given this high use, we have not included it in an exhibition for several years," says Mills. "I am excited to see the work up in the Helen Christou Gallery and to give students and staff an opportunity to see it alongside other conceptual works from the collection."

McCormick's internship included the opportunity to organize a public perception project, assist with installations, write for a university newspaper as well as curate the exhibition using the gallery's extensive collection.

"The museum studies program has given me the opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in class and work in my chosen field before I finish my degree. This experience will definitely help me attain my career goals quicker," she says with confidence.

UNews - bank

Art that moves you

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Leading behind the scenes

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Engineering a better future

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McCormick brings Semiotica to Christou

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