The Blue Castle

Women's Respect, Women's Rights

2011-10-31T16:42:00.000-07:00

On November 15, The Blue Castle welcomes MUN doctoral student and Trudeau fellow, Leila Qashu. Leila will discuss Ateetee, a musical conflict resolution ritual undertaken by Arsi Oromo women in Ethiopia. Although these women are excluded from many male spaces, activities and political decisions, they secure and assert their power by creating their own social spaces and by interacting with the male social order through such media as musical conflict resolution rituals. Leila will explain the ritual through stories, musical, video and pictorial examples from her fieldwork.

Leila Qashu is a doctoral candidate in Ethnomusicology at MUN. She has studied and worked in Canada, Africa and Europe. Outside her studies, Leila plays viola in the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra.

Women's Respect, Women's Rights
Ateetee, a vernacular conflict resolution ritual

Tuesday, 15 November 2011 at 8 pm
The Ship (265 Duckworth Street)

Fast Talk about Body Image

2011-03-14T04:08:00.000-07:00

The Blue Castle welcomes St. John's artist, Pam Hall, for an unrehearsed, interactive multi-vocal community reading of part of her long term performance activism project around re-writing the female body.

Over 150 women from across North America have offered their insights into the phrase, "I feel beautiful when..." Join us in reading their words while also contributing your own!

Fast Talk about Body Image
Tuesday, April 26 at 8 pm !!!NOTE DATE CHANGE!!!
The Ship (265 Duckworth Street)

Je me souviens: memories of an expatriate anglophone, montréalaise, québecoise exiled in Canada

2011-02-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

MUN students, faculty and community members present a public reading of Lorena Gale’s acclaimed dramatic monologue, Je me souviens, an autobiographical meditation on nation, language, identity, and the complexities of belonging. Challenging, provocative, thoughtful and intimate, this Governor General’s Award nominated play is also a love song for Québec. This is also our opportunity to remember Lorena Gale, a formidable Canadian actor and writer who died in Vancouver in June 2009, aged 53.

Tuesday, March 8 at 8 pm
The Ship (265 Duckworth Street)

To Marguerite....

2010-03-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Blue Castle and St. John’s Status of Women Council present:

To Marguerite...
A collaborative fundraising concert in support of Marguerite’s Place

Why listen to Johann, Georg, Frideric or Sebastian when you can join us instead for an evening with Anna, Elisabeth, a princess, a duchess and a few widows? Enjoy splendid, sophisticated and sensuous 18th century music for flute and harpsichord by...

Anna Bon di Venezia, an Italian composer born to Russian parents. This musical wunderkind disappeared from historical records as soon as she married. Her works are original and sophisticated.

Elisabeth de la Guerre, née Jacquet, was highly regarded by the French court and by her peers for her remarkable playing and variety of compositions.

Anna Amalia, Princess of Prussia, the younger sister of Frederick the Great, for whom her work was no doubt composed.

The program also includes compositions by men whose music was engraved, published and supported by women ...

A sonata for flute by Michel Blavet, dedicated to his patron La Duchesse de Bouillon.

A work by Jean-Marie Leclair, engraved by his wife, Louise Roussel,, dedicated to Madame la Princesse D’Orange and sold by Madame Boivin..

This benefit concert for Marguerite’s Place features Sonja Boon, baroque flute, and Mary O’Keeffe, harpsichord. Currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Women's Studies at Memorial University, Sonja Boon is also an accomplished early musician whose professional career has included eight years as soloist and principal flutist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra (Oregon, USA). She was Artistic Director of The Burney Ensemble from 1998-2005. Harpsichordist Mary O'Keeffe performs in solo and chamber music recitals, and has appeared as soloist with the NSO Sinfonia. She is a cofounder of the Hot Earth Ensemble, a group dedicated primarily to presenting concerts of music of the 17th and 18th centuries.

All proceeds from this concert will go to Marguerite’s Place, a new facility which will offer supportive housing and affordable, fully accessible programming in a women-centred environment. This facility is named in memory of Marguerite Dyson, a friend and volunteer.

To Marguerite...
Friday, April 23 at 8 pm
St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church (entrance on Cornwall Crescent)
Admission: $20 general, $10 student, $50 (with $30 tax receipt)
Tickets: St. John’s Women’s Centre (Tel: 753-0220), The Travel Bug (155 Water) or at the door.

Forgetting...but not Forgotten

2010-02-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

For the past year, Megan Morrison, from MUN's Department of Women's Studies, has woven in and out of conversation with and about women living with late-stage dementia. As a researcher, she had to step out of her comfort zone in order ot hear and see what was being communicated. Over time, she learned to express herself through art, music and writing. Over time, these women learned to express themselves in whatever ways they can. Without relying on words, these five elderly women have taught Megan about who they are. Through story and song, she will share this experience with us.

Perhaps you will find yourself within the stories...or wanting to share your own.

Forgetting...but not Forgotten
Tuesday, March 9 at 8 pm
The Ship (265 Duckworth Street)

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Coming up in April:

To Marguerite....
A collaborative fundraising concert presented in conjunction with the St. John's Status of Women Council in support of Marguerite's Place

Why listen to Johann, Georg, Frideric or Sebastian...when you can join us instead for an evening with Anna, Elisabeth, the Duchess and a few widows? Sonja Boon (baroque flute) and Mary O'Keeffe (harpsichord) whisk you away to the eighteenth century for a program of music written, engraved, published and supported by women.

All proceeds from this concert will go to Marguerite's Place.

To Marguerite...
Friday, April 23 at 8 pm
St. Mary the Virgin Church (entrance on Cornwall Crescent)
Tickets: $20 (general), $10 (student), $50 (with $30 tax receipt)
Available at: St. John's Women's Centre (150 Lemarchant), The Travel Bug (155 Water Street) or at the door.

For more information about the concert call: 737-2551.

Working for a Living: Gender and Class in the Literature of Newfoundland and Labrador

2010-01-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

The Blue Castle invites you to join local authors Helen Porter, Bernice Morgan, Trudy Morgan Cole, and Carmelita McGrath, together with facilitator Phyllis Artiss for a roundtable discussion about working class women in the literature of Newfoundland and Labrador. The authors will provide insights into their depictions of women in fiction and expand on the themes of work, and gender, as they appear in novels, short stories, and poems set in this province. The roundtable will be followed by a general conversation with our audience, as the authors take questions and engage in debate about the topic.

Please join us for a roundtable conversation about Working for a Living: Class and Gender in the Literature of Newfoundland and Labrador, taking place on Monday, January 25th from 8-10pm at The Ship (265 Duckworth Street). Admission is free.

The Blue Castle on CBC's Weekend Arts Magazine!

2009-12-11T13:35:00.001-08:00

Catch us here:

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/nlwamgaloot_20091206_24089.mp3

To all of you who took part in our Smallwood event - thanks! it was a fabulous evening!

keep your eyes peeled for our winter series, starting in January 2010 with a roundtable featuring some of Newfoundland and Labrador's best loved women authors, among them Helen Porter, Bernice Morgan and Carmelita McGrath!

Stories in My Mother's Recipes

2009-11-10T06:54:00.000-08:00

Diane Tye, from MUN's Department of Folklore, invites us into her mother’s kitchen! From oatcakes, tea biscuits and chocolate chip cookies to strawberry Jell-O squares, her mother's recipes for simple everyday foods contain surprisingly complex subtexts that speak of her life as a wife, mother and church woman in Nova Scotia from the 1950s to the 1980s. These instructions tell stories of region, class and religion and, at the same time that they reflect her mother's gendered social responsibilities, they hint at ways in which she and other women of her generation resisted those expectations.

In celebration of the relationships between cooking and storytelling, The Blue Castle invites guests to bring along a copy of their favourite recipe and the stories that go along with it.

Stories in My Mother’s Recipes
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 at 8 pm at The Ship Pub (265 Duckworth St., St. John’s). Admission is free.

For more information, contact Sonja Boon (sboon@mun.ca; 737-2551) or check out our blog at www.bluestockingsalon.blogspot.com.

Catherine Isabella McLean Fraser: "Mother in Israel"

2009-10-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

On 26 October, we’ll be joined by Suzanne Sexty, MUN Honorary Research Librarian and regular Blue Castle-goer, who will talk about her research into the life of Catherine Isabella McLean Fraser: "Mother in Israel". From Crossapol on the isle of Coll, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, to the wilderness of Pictou, Nova Scotia, to Lunenburg, and finally to St. John's, the journey of Catherine Fraser took her far from her birth place. Wife of the first Presbyterian minister in Newfoundland, Catherine was a helpmate, mother and, always, "fiery Kate." The talk will look at Catherine's life as it brings her to Newfoundland.

Catherine Isabella McLean Fraser: "Mother in Israel"
Monday, October 26 at 8 pm at The Ship (265 Duckworth, St. John's)
Admission is free

Cooking up a (Life) Story: Women and Everyday Cultural Production

2009-09-04T04:36:00.000-07:00

The Blue Castle: Conversations on Women, Culture and the Spaces of the Imagination presents its Fall 2009 series: Cooking up a (Life) Story: Women and Everyday Cultural Production. Please join us for four conversations dedicated to everyday cultural production! From the stories that emerge from women’s recipe collections, to the lives that are revealed in letters and on tombstones, and the taken-for-granted material artifacts that grace our homes, we’re taking a closer look at women’s myriad acts of everyday creativity, activities that have enriched – and continue to enrich – all of our lives.

On 21 September 2009, join us for The Blue Castle Show and Tell. Show and Tell is all about storytelling: it’s a space for you to share the stories of everyday creativity that have shaped your life.

Third wave feminism is embracing the traditional crafts, using knitting, stitching, cooking, and more as ways to bring out messages of social justice while simultaneously revaluing these activities as worthy of critical attention. What happens when we begin to examine this very broad arena of women’s creativity? Here’s your chance to look at the handcrafted items in your home in a new light! Bring along an item that was created by a woman in your life or an everyday item that makes you think of a creative woman in your life, and a story or two to go along with them. If the kitchen stove is too big to bring along, bring us a picture and the great stories that go along with it.

On 26 October, we’ll be joined by Suzanne Sexty, a regular Blue Castle-goer, who will talk about her research into the life of Catherine Isabella McLean Fraser: "Mother in Israel". From Crossapol on the isle of Coll, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, to the wilderness of Pictou, Nova Scotia, to Lunenburg, and finally to St. John's, the journey of Catherine Fraser took her far from her birth place. Wife of the first Presbyterian minister in Newfoundland, Catherine was a helpmate, mother and, always, "fiery Kate." The talk will look at Catherine's life as it brings her to Newfoundland.

Diane Tye, from MUN’s Department of Folklore, joins us on 24 November to talk about women’s recipe collections and the stories they can tell us. We invite you to bring along your favourite recipe, and a few stories that go along with it as well. I’m bringing along my friend Helene’s Aunt Dorothy’s ginger snaps…what will you bring? Perhaps there will be enough for a Blue Castle recipe collection...

Finally, on 8 December, we look at women as letter writers – more specifically, we’ll be travelling back to mid-twentieth-century Newfoundland to read the letters women wrote to Joey Smallwood in the early years of Confederation. An interactive venture that might rival our spring suffrage debates, this gathering requires the active participation of a series of readers interested in knowing more about women’s activities in mid-century Newfoundland and Labrador.

Just like last season, all events are free and will take place in the warm surroundings of The Ship Pub, on Duckworth Street. We hope you'll join us.

Should Women Get the Vote? or; What will men wear when women wear pants?

2009-04-03T04:32:00.000-07:00

On April 21, 2009, The Blue Castle presents "Should Women Have the Vote? or; What will men wear when women wear pants?" an evening celebrating the 84th anniversary ofwomen's suffrage in Newfoundland. Showcasing the talents of several regular Blue Castle-goers, the evening will feature an interactive re-enactment of the great suffrage debates of the early twentieth century and will include excerpts from the speeches, songs, verses and memoirs of some of the leading voices of the suffrage movement, including Emmeline Pankhurst, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Newfoundland's own Armine Gosling.

Please join us in a celebration of women's suffrage.

Should Women Have the Vote? or;
What will men wear when women wear pants?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 8 pm at The Ship Pub (265 Duckworth Street)

Coming up in May....
And on May 19, 2009, we'll welcome Nancy Earle and Joan Sullivan in joint presentations on Cassie Brown. Nancy's 'The Making of Death on the Ice and the Newfoundland Imaginary' and Joan's 'My Life in Non-Fiction' will explore the conditions of (female) authorship in Newfoundland during the period. Nancy and Joan will look at the career of Cassie Brown and how she made a space forherself as author of Newfoundland. Nancy will also speak on the co-authoring/editorial process of Brown and Horwood.

Where are all the women?

2009-01-29T08:45:00.000-08:00

In the fourth of our monthly series of conversations, Marica Cassis, a new faculty member in MUN’s History department, takes us on an intriguing foray into the world of Byzantine archeology.

Cassis observes that “one of the most frustrating aspects of working in Byzantine archeology is that we are often still confined by traditional definitions of space….categories that restrict our understanding of this period to the elite, the religious and the male.” Where, indeed, might the women be?

Bringing along some photographs and a few artifacts, she’ll show us how gender theory can offer new interpretive lenses, thus allowing us to better locate and understand the lives and experiences of ordinary women in the Byzantine period.

Please join us in the warm and casual surroundings of The Ship for what promises to be a unique archeological journey!

Marica Cassis is a new faculty member in the Department of History, MUN.

Where are all the women?
Gender Theory and Byzantine Archeology
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 from 8-9:30 pm
The Ship Pub, 265 Duckworth St., St. John's

Upcoming Conversations

March 2009:
Women's Recipe Collections with Diane Tye, MUN

April 2009
Suffrage Speeches, Songs, and Verses
Please join us for a series of dramatic readings of suffrage speeches, songs, and verses, as we share the creative energy that resulted from women fighting for the vote!

Feminine Space: Margaret Campbell Macpherson’s Fractured Self

2008-11-28T06:17:00.000-08:00

In the early twentieth century, no other artist in Canada or the Dominion of Newfoundland exhibited in more Paris salons than Margaret Campbell Macpherson. Yet Macpherson, whose painting career took her from Prince of Wales Collegiate in St. John’s to Scotland, Switzerland and France, is virtually unknown now, her reputation eclipsed by Emily Carr, the Group of Seven and American Impression. Why? Join MUN's Jennifer Dyer for a discussion about the life and legacy of Newfoundland - and Canada's - first internationally recognized impressionist painter.

Jennifer Dyer is Director of the Master of Philosophy in Humanities Program at MUN.

Feminine Space: Margaret Campbell Macpherson's Fractured Self
Monday, January 19, 2009 from 8-9:30 pmThe Ship Pub, 265 Duckworth St., St. John's

Upcoming Conversations....
Where are the women? Gender theory and historical archaeology.
with Marica Cassis, MUN
February 2009

Women's Recipe Collections
with Diane Tye, MUN

Blue Castle Show and Tell
featuring treasures and treats from the attics, basements and personal collections of all of our guests!

Phebe Florence Miller and The Blue Castle: Challenging Boundaries of Place and Privacy in an Outport Literary Salon

2008-11-20T05:26:00.000-08:00

Vicki Hallett introduces us to the early twentieth century poet, postmistress and salon hostess, Phebe Florence Miller, who imagined her Topsail salon, The Blue Castle, as a "place of dreams." Vicki invites all guests to bring a poem - their own, or a favourite one - in honour of Phebe Florence Miller and her salon.

Vicki Hallett, a native of Newfoundland, is a doctoral candidate in Women's Studies at York University and an instructor in the Department of Women's Studies at MUN.

Phebe Florence Miller and The Blue Castle:
Challenging Boundaries of Place and Privacy in an Outport Literary Salon
December 9, 2008 from 8-9:30 pmThe Ship Pub, 265 Duckworth St., St. John's

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Upcoming Conversations...in 2009....

Feminine Space: Margaret Campbell Macpherson’s Fractured Self
with Jennifer Dyer, MUN

Gender and Archeology
with Marica Cassis, MUN

Women's Recipe Collections
with Diane Tye, MUN

Blue Castle Show and Tell
featuring treasures and treats from the attics, basements and personal collections of all of our guests!

Some Kind of Blue: Women and Salon Culture

2008-10-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

Sonja Boon takes us on a journey through salon history, with a particular focus on the colour blue - from seventeenth-century blue rooms, to the bluestockings of the eighteenth century and finally, to The Blue Castle and contemporary society's continuing engagement with conversation and collaboration. Join us for a talk followed by conversation in the warm surroundings of The Ship in the heart of St. John's.

Sonja Boon is a new faculty member in the Department of Women's Studies, Memorial University, with research interests into eighteenth-century women, salon culture, sociability and the body.

Some Kind of Blue: Women and Salon Culture
18 November 2008 from 8:00-9:30 pm
The Ship Pub, 265 Duckworth St., St. John's

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Upcoming Conversations:
Phebe Florence Miller and The Blue Castle
Challenging Boundaries of Place and Privacy in an Outport Literary Salon
with Vicki Hallett, York University
December 9, 2008 from 8-9:30 pm
The Ship Pub, 265 Duckworth St., St. John's

And in 2009....

Elizabeth Campbell McPherson: Newfoundland Artist
with Jennifer Dyer, Memorial University

Gender and Archeology
with Marica Cassis, Memorial University

Blue Castle Show and Tell
featuring treasures and treats from the attics, basements and personal collections of all of our guests!