Drawing Symposium, Draw to Perform
Participating Artists:
Ram Samocha, Nava Massas Waxman, Robert Luzar, Kerryn Graham,
Francisco-Fernando Granados, Nicole Collins, Kate Wilson and Cathy
Daley
Day 1: Wednesday February 10
Live Performances: 12:00 - 2:00 pm, Great Hall
Panel Discussion with the Artists: 2:30 - 4:00 pm, Great Hall
Day 2: Thursday February 11
Artist Talk: by Ram Samocha, 12:00 – 1:00 pm, Room MCA 190.
Workshop 1: hosted by Ram Samocha, 1:30 – 3:30 pm, Great Hall
Workshop 2: hosted by Ram Samocha, 4:00 – 6:00 pm, Great Hall
Draw to Perform visits OCAD U was made possible with the generous donation on
behalf of Ada Slaight, and supported by the Ada Slaight Chair of Contemporary Painting
and Print Media, Natalie Waldburger. Art materials during this event were generously
sponsored by Above Ground Art Supplies.
In the spirit of pushing the boundaries of imagination we proudly welcome Draw to Perform, an
international symposium for drawing performance. This symposium is a two day event, curated
by Ram Samocha in collaboration with James Olley, Lecturer in the Faculty of Art at OCAD U.
Samocha is a multidisciplinary artist currently living in the UK and is the founder and curator of
Draw to Perform.
Day one of the symposium will feature live performances by local and international artists. Day
two will open with an artist talk by Ram Samocha, followed by workshops in the Great Hall.
The workshops will explore drawing as performance and strategies for forming a dialog between
drawing, process and performance. Participants will draw live, share and discuss their outcomes
and ideas. The resulting works will be exhibited in the Great Hall. Participants welcome.
Please contact jolley@faculty.ocadu.ca to sign up.
For the workshops, participants will need to bring basic drawing materials such as graphite,
charcoals, chalks, Conté, ballpoint pen, acrylic paints, black ink, brushes, and/or masking tape.
Paper will be provided for the workshop.
For further information on Draw to Perform, follow the links below:
http://drawtoperform.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVF6SNhjsDMpFK7YVTVNphg
https://www.facebook.com/drawtoperform
Gestural Figuration
Paul Klee wrote that drawing is “an active line on a walk, moving freely, without a goal. A walk
for a walk’s sake. The mobility agent is a point, shifting its positions forward.” DRPT 2003
Drawing Workshop, composed of mostly second year students from a variety of specializations,
has been “taking drawing for a walk” pursuing ideas around how the activation of a
contemporary drawing practice can affect the very way we think about drawing. In this project,
Gestural Figuration, the artists have been exploring, through partner dialogue, the
interrelationship between the body and drawing, making use of unconventional performative
strategies to challenge their own assumptions, their use of materials, and the very definition of
drawing itself.
Also exhibiting as part of the Draw to Perform Visits OCAD U Symposium:
Artists:
Ricka Huang & Arleen Maldia
Anthony Masucci & Maxim Korpan
Nikita Macedo & Bailey Porter
Gordis Wong & Uyen Huynh
DJ Stewart & Bailey Marinovich
Josie Fiegehen & Sydney McManus
Daniel Acker-Paquin
Margaret Cornell Kirk & Emma Leah-Hall
Aaron Bosnjak & Emma Burkeitt
Juilee Raje & Sonia Raje
Sorour Pourzadeh & Wenjing Zhang
Facilitators:
Pam Patterson & Ghazaleh Baniahmad: Project leadership
Josie Fiegehen & DJ Stewart: Video compilation & editing
Special thanks to James Olley and Ram Samocha.
Drawing Symposium, “Draw to Perform”
Day 1: Live Performances, Wednesday February 10, 12:00 - 2:00 pm, in the Great Hall
Panel discussion with the Artists, Wednesday February 10, 2:30 - 4:00 pm
Participating Artists:
Ram Samocha presently resides in Brighton, UK. In his multi-disciplinary work Samocha
combines drawing with video, animation, and performance. Samocha often mixs
modern and traditional techniques of drawing in a search for new ways to combine
between 2D and 3D works.
Drawing is a seminal element in Samocha’s practice as it allows him to work with very
basic media. As an immigrant and traveler, Samocha often chooses to work with
temporary, flexible, and transportable surfaces and materials.
The combination of performance, installation, and drawing facilitates a more precise
articulation of ideas and issues, and allows the artist to self-reflexively examine the
relevance of drawing as a modern medium.
Samoch’s work has been recognized nationally and internationally. His work is part of
various museums and private collections and has been shown in the UK, Israel, Italy, the
Netherlands, Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
Ram Samocha is the founder of the Draw to Perform symposium, an international
gathering of artists and theorists involved in Drawing Performance, a discipline of live
drawing performance. In July 2014 the Draw to Perform was the subject for a seminar at
Central Saint Martins. In September 2015, it was the subject for a performance
symposium and workshops at Goldsmiths, University of London. And in February 2016 it
will be the subject for a drawing symposium and workshops at OCAD University,
Toronto, Canada.
www.samocha.com
www.youtube.com/ramsamocha
www.drawtoperform.com
Ram Samocha_TOPing, 2015, photo by Marco Berardi
Nava Massas Waxman is a Toronto based Multi-disciplined artist. Her work ranges from
painting, drawing, performance and objects. Her artistic practice investigates the
complex relationship and tension between inner perception, identity, autobiography,
relation of self to others and culture, all imbued with profound sense of nature. Her
work was exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, at Wall Space Gallery (Ottawa), Engine
Gallery (Toronto), Pennello Gallery (Cleveland), Stephan Cultural Centre (Rome, Italy),
Women’s Caucus for Art (St. Louis), Hovinkartano Art Centre (Hauho, Finland), Berliner
Liste—Moma (Berlin), AAF (New York), and elsewhere. Reviews and profiles of her work
have appeared in Arte Go, Globe and Mail, and The Canadian Jewish News. She received
a 1st place award for “Spiritual Essence of Art” at the ARTROM Gallery in Rome in 2011.
“I usually work in several media at once, although not all my pursuits are equally
public. Born in Beer Sheba, Israel, to Moroccan immigrant parents Nava Waxman,
moved to Canada in 2003 and studied at the Toronto School of Art. She holds a
Bachelor's degree in Social Science and Communications. Her work is held in numerous
public and private collections."
http://www.navawaxman.com
Nava Massas Waxman_Sea Level, 2015
Francisco-Fernando Granados is a Toronto-based artist. He has performed and
exhibited nationally and internationally in venues including Harbourfront Centre, Gallery
TPW (Toronto), Vancouver Art Gallery, LIVE (Vancouver), Neutral Ground (Regina),
Darling Foundry (Montreal), Defibrillator Gallery (Chicago), Ex Teresa Arte Actual
(Mexico City), Kulturhuset (Stockholm), and the University of the Arts (Helsinki). Recent
projects in Toronto include a public art work for Nuit Blanche, an installation at Sur
Gallery, and a performance at the AGO's First Thursday. He completed a Masters of
Visual Studies at the University of Toronto in 2012 and currently teaches sessionally at
OCADU and University of Toronto Scarborough.
http://francisco-fernando-granados.blogspot.co.uk
Francisco-Fernando Granados, Spatial profiling… 2014
Performance installation, site-specific ink drawing; performed in participatory form at
Satellite Gallery, Vancouver BC Dimensions variable
Photo credit: Caitlin Carr.
Robert Luzar is an artist, writer and educator based in Bath (UK) and Toronto (CA).
Engaging live-art, visual technology, and non-standard forms of drawing, he explores
questions of ‘multiplicity’ as a materialist event prompted by mark-making and selfinterruptive gesture. He is Lecturer in Fine Art, at Bath Spa University (UK), and holds a
PhD from Central Saint Martins (UK). His works are exhibited internationally in spaces
such as: DRAWinternational (FR), Red Head Gallery (CA), Orillia Museum of Art & History
(CA), Künstlerhaus Dortmund (DE), Nunnery Gallery (UK), Talbot Rice Gallery (UK), KCCC
(LTU), and Torrance Art Museum (USA).
http://www.robertluzar.com/www.robertluzar.com/robertluzar.com.html
Robert Luzar_A-Lighting Steps, Balls, and Chords (2015), photo by John McNorton
Kerryn Graham
I am motivated and inspired by the exploration of culture and society and I enjoy
discovering how complex and fascinating the world is. My outlook on life and art has
been greatly influenced by the wonderful communities that I have lived in and visited. I
have the desire to continue to explore and expand my mind, my soul and my art. I strive
to produce art wholeheartedly, honestly and openly – the way I hope to live my life.
I was Initially apprenticed as a ceramist in British Columbia and went on to study
ceramics at TAFE in Western Australia. I worked in this field for fifteen years prior to
continuing my studies in Fine Arts. I also possess a Diploma of Fine Arts from St
Lawrence College - graduating with Distinction. During this time I was awarded a
scholarship by the College to study Graphic Design in Barbados.
I completed my Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts at OCAD University in 2014 - majoring in
Painting and Drawing, and minoring in Social Sciences.
http://kerryngrahamart.blogspot.ca
Kerryn Graham_Negotiation, 2014, Film Still, Kerryn Graham
Nicole Collins' artistic practice focuses on the effect of time, accumulation, force and
heat on visceral materials, through painting, drawing, installation, intervention, video,
and sound. Since 1994 she has exhibited extensively including solo exhibitions at The
University of Waterloo Art Gallery (2013), The Art Gallery of Ontario (2013) and The
Embassy of Canada in Tokyo (2001) and group exhibitions in Toronto, Hamilton, St.
Johns, New York, Miami, London and Zurich. Her work has been featured online and in
magazines, newspapers and books including the major survey Abstract Painting in
Canada (Roald Nasgaard), the 3rd edition of A Concise History of Canadian Painting
(Dennis Reid), Carte Blanche, Volume 2: Painting, and The Donovan Collection
Catalogue. Collins is an Assistant Professor in the Drawing & Painting program at the
Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCADU) and she lives in Toronto with her
husband artist Michael Davidson and their daughter.
http://www.nicolecollins.com
Nicole_Collins, will it go round, AGO May2013. Photocredit Tessar Lo
Kate Wilson is a Toronto-based visual artist whose practice includes site-specific largescale wall drawing projects, digital painting and animation. Wilson has exhibited
nationally and internationally and is a recipient of awards from the Toronto Arts Council,
Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts including the Canada Council
for the Arts International Residencies (Paris)
In 2014, Kate Wilson participated in the Ontario College of Art & Design University
Digital Painting Atelier: Drawing and Painting Program, DPXA Area of Specialization in
the Faculty of Art, Toronto, Ontario. In 2014-15, Kate participated in Ways of Something,
Episode Three, curated by Lorna Mills. Ways of Something premiered at the
Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK and toured to Western Front, Vancouver, BC; Vivid
Projects, Birmingham, UK; SAW Video Media Art Centre, Ottawa, ON; Moving Image Art
Fair, Istanbul, Turkey; and the School of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
http://generalhardware.ca/kate-wilson/
Kate Wilson, Ecotopia, acrylic on wall, curated by Amanda Cachia, Kitchener-Waterloo
Art Gallery, 2012-13
Cathy Daley lives in Toronto and has been exhibiting her work throughout Canada and
internationally since 1980. She has shown in numerous public galleries and museums,
artist run centres and commercial galleries including The Power Plant, The Museum of
Contemporary Canadian Art, The Saidye Bronfman Centre, The Southern Alberta Art
Gallery, the University of Toronto Art Centre, Mercer Union and Museum Dhondt
Dhaenens in Belgium. Most notably, her work is in the collection of The National Gallery
of Canada and The Art Gallery of Ontario as well as many other public institutions and
private collections. Her work has been written about in numerous publications such as
Art in America, BorderCrossings, Canadian Art Magazine and Parachute. She has
received awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the
Toronto Arts Council and the Bertolt Brecht Fund of Berlin. She is an Associate Professor
at the Ontario College of Art and Design University. Her work is represented by Birch
Contemporary in Toronto, Newzones in Calgary, Robert Kidd in Birmingham, Michigan
and Edward Cella, Los Angeles, California.
http://www.cathydaley.com
Cathy Daley, Untitled, 42x75", 2015