Category: Project Spotlight

Project Spotlight: Seed Researcher Ryan Laxton

In today’s Project Spotlight, we’re having a look at Ryan Laxton’s research from the 2016 Winter term.

Laxton’s work set out to explore the connection between Latin America and the Niagara Region through wine culture and industry. The connections he saw in this field were that both localities have an impact on the global wine industry, with Niagara being known as a wine region, while Latin America is known for its many unique wines, and ideal growing conditions. Both regions started off being viewed with less respect in the global wine industry, and known for cheaper, low-quality wines. Laxton observes their respective evolutions — Niagara coming to be known for its ice wines, and Latin America (specifically Chile and Argentina) coming to be known for their rarer red varieties, with Chile’s Carmenere having been thought of as extinct until recently rediscovered.

To facilitate his research, Laxton visited local Niagara archives and vineyards, interviewed people in the industry, and drove through wine country! The poster below highlights Laxton’s research and experiences through his project.

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Project Spotlight: Seed Researcher Laura-Lee Karen Burey

Today in our Project Spotlight, we have a look at the work done by Seed Researcher Laura-Lee Karen Burey in the Winter term of 2016.

Burey’s topic was Racial Intermixture in Canada and Latin America: the Métis and and the Mestizo in History, and the objective was to reveal the true story of the Métis people in the Niagara Region and the Mestizo people of Latin America by connecting their histories of colonial transculturation and racial intermixtures. Part of this project included the creation of an exhibit at the Welland Museum using their existing Métis collection and correlating it with the Mestizo culture. The below poster displays several of the artifacts explored in Burey’s work, along with more detail on the process of the project.

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Artist in Residence, January – April 2016: Julia Rose Simone

Among our community engagement programs, we maintain the Seedling for Change Artist in Residence program, which is open to anyone of any age or location wishing to embrace the spirit of Seedling for Change in any artistic form and medium.

Our (very first!) Artist in Residence for January-April 2016 is Julia Rose Simone, who created an alternate map of Canada using the shapes and borders of the countries of Latin America in place of Canada’s provincial borders, inspiring thought about nationality, geography, land usage, visual perception, and global unity. As of September 2016, this map serves as the header image for our website! Julia’s contribution also inspired us to create the Julia Rose Simone Prize (click the link to find out more)!

See Julia’s map below and read more about Julia’s work and process in her own words:

Julia's Map

My name is Julia Simone, I am 11 years old and I am Laura[-Lee Burey]’s daughter. I’ve […] put together a map of Canada using the countries in Latin America. I have also designed a logo for the upcoming website intended for the Latin American and Niagara project.

First of all, I drew the outline of Canada. Secondly, I visualized where the Latin American countries should be placed. Then I bagan drawing the larger countries first then I added the smaller countries around them. The reason I took these steps was because I felt it would be more difficult to fit in the larger countries after the smaller countries were placed. I placed Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico based on the outline of Canada. It looked as though it fit in. All the empty spaces in white represent the areas in Canada that would not be occupied by a country. Since I used my visual sense to place the countries, I did not use an actual scale. I perhaps could have drawn the countries a bit bigger to fill in the area of Canada. This composite was my visual interpretation.

I wish to thank everyone for giving me the opportunity to take part in this project. I found that the map was very challenging as this is not something I am used to producing.

— Julia Rose’s vision for Think Latin America Canada, Think Canada Latin America. (Canada: 9.985 million square km / Latin America: 19.197 million square km)

What do you think of Julia’s work? Are you inspired by what she has created? Would you be interested in being our next Artist in Residence? Send us your feedback!

Project Spotlight: “Think Latin America Niagara, Think Niagara Latin America”

Next up in our Project Spotlight series, we take a look at a project related to our previously-explored project Think Latin America Canada, Think Canada Latin America:

This project is entitled, Think Latin America Niagara, Think Niagara Latin America

Narrowing the focus from all of Canada as a nation, Think Latin America Niagara, Think Niagara Latin America focuses on connections we can make right here in the Niagara Region.

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