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In this edition of The Bulletin

1. NAC’s Annual General Meeting + Potluck / tomorrow night!
2. Swizzle Studio in the Plate Glass Gallery
3. Gift Idea #1 – Stilt City Prints for sale
4. Gift Idea #2 – NAC Memberships make great stocking stuffers!


NAC’s Annual General Meeting + Potluck
Tuesday 20 December 7PM
At NACs New Studio Space on St. Paul
433 St. Paul Street, downtown

Grab hold of your work stations!

All members are encouraged to attend our year in review. Come witness just how far we’ve had our heads up our filing cabinet. Highlights include power point (with animations), motions to vote on, an election of board directors, and everyone’s favourite, adjournment. A bag of chips has been passed off as a contribution to the buffet in the past, but some members actually try.


The Swizzle Circus

A puppet installation by
Christine Cosby + Rob Elliott (Swizzle Studio)

Plate Glass Gallery at NAC
On view until 31 December 2016
Twenty-four hours a day!

This bright and dynamic installation is inspired by Alexander Calder’s “Circus”, department store holiday windows, and Swizzle Studio’s ongoing fascination with spectacle.

The centerpiece, “The Cowardly Lion Tamer”, is flanked by such circus mainstays as clowns, wild animals, daredevils, and roustabouts. Above the fleeing lion tamer, a human cannonball flies and acrobats soar through the air.

Gasping at the wild scene is an audience of puppets created by the members of Puppet-A-Go-Go: Christine Cosby, Rob Elliott, Alexa Fraser, Clelia Scala, and Trisha Lavoie. Swizzle Circus is the third of four Plate Glass Gallery installations for Puppet-A-Go-Go’s “In The Park” series. Swizzle Circus can be seen 24 hours a day until New Year’s Day.


Stilt City Prints – Holiday Gift Idea #1
Based on the original pen and ink drawing by Alice Crawley

This print, entitled Stilt City, was created based on an original pen and ink drawing by my mother, Alice Crawley, circa 1972. The drawing was used as the cover for the fourth edition of Twelve Mile Creek magazine, a magazine of art and literature edited by Alice that served as a forum for local, national, and international artists and writers. In particular, contributors to the noted edition were R. Johns, John Miller, David McFadden, Dennis Tourbin, Ted Dixon, Catherine Hraber, John B. Boyle, Samual Robinson, and Ivan Jirous.

Alice was the matriarch of Niagara’s artists, with a career beginning in the 1950s and continuing until her death in 2011. She was one of the founding members of the Niagara Artists Co-operative, now the Niagara Artists Centre, along with Dennis Tourbin, John Moffat, and John B. Boyle.

In 2001, for my 60th birthday, mom presented me with the original ink drawing and I became its honoured caretaker. It has hung in a place of prominence in our home ever since.

My wife Gaby and I have made the decision to share this work with the help of the Niagara Artists Centre. We commissioned NAC printmakers Stephen Remus, David Legge, and Natasha Pedros to create a limited edition of fifty hand-screened prints on Arches watercolour paper depicting this view of downtown that has since disappeared, but more importantly, to create a legacy for my mom. We are offering this print for sale with all proceeds donated to the Alice Crawley Endowment, a fund held by the Niagara Community Foundation that will support exhibit fees for women artists showing at the Niagara Artists Centre.

Each numbered edition of the print is offered for sale at the price of $400+hst (unframed). They are available at NAC, open Wednesday to Friday 10AM to 5PM, Saturdays 12NN to 4PM, or often by chance. Please contact NAC in advance if you’d like to purchase one.

John Crawley
NAC Champion Member


Give the Gift that Keeps on Keeping On – Holiday Gift Idea #2

Stymied as to what clutter you can inflict on your loved ones to mark this year’s celebration of materialism?

Hey, buck the ‘thing’ thing and give the gift of what the heck: membership in your friendly neighbourhood artist-run centre. NAC memberships are affordable (cheaper than food) and last the whole year. NAC members travel the inside track on good things happening (4 Show Room exhibits, 4 Flea Market Gallery exhibits, 3 Plate Glass Gallery exhibits, 20+ members gallery shows, killer roofdeck music shows, film screenings, literary events, and some of the best downtown hip-drops and shin-digs). Get someone out of the house and have them enjoy cut-rates and first dibs.

Come see us this week if you want to gift a membership (we’re open Wednesday from 10 until 5, Thursday and Friday 10 until 9) and we’ll pack it all up with some great NAC publications and other weird-ass paraphernalia perfect for ritualistic unwrapping.