About
About the Shakespeare Made in Canada Virtual Exhibit
The Shakespeare Made in Canada Virtual Exhibit is the result of a collaborative effort by a design team from the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP) and the College of the Arts at the University of Guelph. The team spent over three months collecting and digitizing media from the Shakespeare Made in Canada exhibition in order to create a virtual environment that simulated the experience of visiting the full gallery exhibit that was hosted at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre from January-June 2007.
The design concept for the SMIC Virtual Exhibit emphasized ease of use and navigation in order to best experience the vast amount of media that had been collected for the Shakespeare Made in Canada Virtual Exhibit. The Virtual Exhibit contains well over 1000 images of theatre programs, costume and set designs, models, productions posters, and many more pop-media Canadian Adaptations, not to mention 14 original film interviews with collaborators and curators involved with the exhibition.
*The Design Team 
Daniel Fischlin, PhD. Virtual Exhibit Director / co-curator Shakespeare Made in Canada Exhibit, CASP Director, University Research ChairDr. Daniel Fischlin has extensive experience in humanities computing design and innovation. Founder and Director of the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP) site, currently the largest and most sophisticated such site of its kind in the world devoted to Shakespeare, Daniel has been instrumental in rethinking the way in which the web is conceived as a place where substantive content can be presented in unique multimedia virtual spaces. Conceptor of the ‘Speare and Chronos projects, Daniel has published 13 books on a wide range of topics, and numerous articles–his most recent book, co-authored with Martha Nandorfy, is The Concise Guide to Global Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2007) and he is a University Research Chair at the University of Guelph. In 2007, he curated the Shakespeare: Made in Canada exhibit (January-June 2007) at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre that saw a huge number of visitors through its doors. Daniel has won numerous teaching awards and is also the recipient of major national research awards, including the only Premier’s Research Excellence Award ever awarded to an Arts researcher in the history of the award, and several substantial Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awards. Active as an improvising musician on both string and percussion instruments, Daniel has worked as a musician and composer through most of his life. The father of four, he is deeply committed to improving the content and quality of online experiences for youth generally.
Maxwell SummerleeVirtual Exhibit Project ManagerMaxwell’s passion for the extraordinary has led him across many continents in search of work and volunteer opportunities in both the humanities and the sciences. Currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Guelph, Maxwell spent three years doing History and Film Studies at Queen’s University, as well as a working as a research assistant in the Zoology Department at the University of Melbourne in 2004. A keen interest in nature and photography led Maxwell to Costa Rica in early 2007 where he volunteered on a biodynamic and organic farm. There he developed skills in group and communal work and fostered a passion for environmental management education. On this project, Maxwell served as project manager and lead photographer, organizing the collection, editing, organizing, and disseminating the media in Shakespeare Made Canada Exhibition.
Kenneth Doren, MFA CASP and Virtual Exhibit Digital Media Editor Kenneth is a Canadian multi-media artist and composer whose art installations, videos, and digital operas have been presented in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Canada and the U.S.A. A few of his many digital musical works include “Allegro Molto Con Brio King Kong” (1999), which focuses on pop culture connections to the Greek myth of Prometheus and incorporated a string quintet, three dancers and video monitors preformed live to sold out audiences and “Rule Britannia–A Low Opera in Grand Shite Style,” which investigated the political power path from domination to decline (2002). Kenneth has worked with the Alberta Ballet Company, Dancemakers, EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts, Glenbow Museum, Groundworks Dance Company, Kamloops Art Gallery, Live Art Dance Production, Mocean Dance, NSCAD University, and One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre. He was also the production Manager of Attitude Pictures for six years and Technical Director of NUTV University of Calgary Television Station in 1997. Kenneth has taught new media courses at NSCAD University and gave numerous video and sound production and post production workshops across Canada. He taught a summer media camp for teens at EMMedia in Calgary in 1996. In 2005 Kenneth obtained his MFA from NSCAD University and received an Alumni Award from Alberta College of Art and Design recognizing him as one of the top 75 students in ACAD’s seventy-five year history. He brings his formidable array of creative and technical skills to digital nedia editing with a keen sense of how educational and performance spaces can be creative sites that blend design and content.
Mat Buntin Virtual Exhibit Consultant, former CASP Project ManagerAs Project Manager for the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project, Mat oversaw a wide range of projects leading up to the Shakespeare – Made in Canada exhibit (January to June, 2007). For this exhibit, he was an assistant curator and a curriculum consultant to the exhibit’s school program (working with the University of Guelph’s Office of Open Learning and curriculum experts from two local school boards). The school program for the Shakespeare – Made in Canada exhibit was a huge success, with docent-guided tours hosting 2,800 students from Kindergarten through grade 12. Among many projects for the CASP website, Mat was responsible for the Shakespeare Learning Commons, was co-creator of the CASP Spotlight on Slings & Arrows, multimedia material from which was later purchased for inclusion on the series’ third season release on DVD by Acorn Media. During a contract with the Stratford Festival, Mat developed content for a pilot E-learning project based on the festival’s 2005 season. Through various CASP and community volunteer projects, Mat has significant experience with building and maintaining collaborative projects, working in committee and project management roles, and bringing his creative talents to bear on complex online development projects. Mat completed an internship in alternative education at the Albany Free School in New York State, and remains committed to exploring creative solutions to education and pushing the limits of online media.
Danielle Van Wagner Virtual Exhibit Editor and Research AssistantDanielle Van Wagner is an undergraduate student at the University of Guelph, majoring in European Studies and Art History. Danielle’s academic interests lie in the German language, nineteenth century literature, expressionist art and museology, for which she plans to study museum studies at the Masters level. Danielle has strengthened her analytical and communicable skills working as a docent with the Shakespeare-Made in Canada exhibit, as a researcher for the Ontario Jewish Archives, and as a researcher, writer, and editor for the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project.
*About the Shakespeare Made in Canada FestivalJanuary-June 2007
SHAKESPEARE MADE IN CANADA is a collaborative effort spearheaded by the City of Guelph, Guelph Arts Council, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Stratford Festival, and the University of Guelph. It began as an idea late in 2004 and has since blossomed to involve more than thirty-five local arts and cultural organizations in the development of a festival that will run from January to May 2007. The origin of this festival, quite simply, was the opportunity to borrow the Sanders portrait of Shakespeare. The tale of how the portrait came to Guelph needs to be recorded on these pages as a testament to the strength of friendship and the value of scholarly research to Canadian society.After seeing the Sanders portrait at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2001, Daniel Fischlin, professor in the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, got the idea of featuring the portrait as the signature image on the University’s Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP) website <www.canadianshakespeares.ca>. The site, created by Fischlin and a team of graduate and undergraduate students, is the largest and most complete in the world dedicated to showing the playwright’s cultural influence on Canada. Fischlin approached portrait owner Lloyd Sullivan of Ottawa, a retired Bell engineer, who had been for many years single-handedly and painstakingly researching the provenance of the portrait. Sullivan agreed to the use of the portrait on the CASP website, and a fast friendship between Sullivan and Fischlin developed. As it happened, they discovered that they shared the same experience of growing up and being educated in Montreal. They even attended the same elementary and secondary schools, the Daniel O’Connell School, run by the Irish Christian Brothers, and Loyola High School, run by the Jesuits.The idea of bringing the Sanders portrait to the University of Guelph and featuring it as the focal point of a Canadian festival devoted to the works of Shakespeare started as a suggestion made at Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guelph, and Joanne Shoveller, Vice-President, Alumni Affairs and Development, in Ottawa on November 19, 2004. The loan of the portrait was later arranged; its display at the University of Guelph was only the third time in its history that it has been shown in public.Realizing that there was an opportunity to reach out into the community to join together to create a series of events around the exhibition of the portrait, Summerlee suggested that the City of Guelph, Guelph Arts Council, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, and Stratford Festival be approached to become partners. Two major thrusts were established. A curatorial team, lead by Fischlin and Judith Nasby, director and curator of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, developed the idea of an expansive exhibition to present contemporary Canadian adaptation of Shakespeare in theatre, pop media, and visual art as a complement to the Sanders portrait. The Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Office of Open Learning, School of English and Theatre Studies, Stratford Festival, and Guelph’s L. W. Conolly Theatre Archives all agreed to participate in the development of the exhibition. The City of Guelph, Guelph Arts Council, and University of Guelph agreed to support the development of a region-wide festival of activities focusing on Shakespeare and community partnerships.A call to the regional arts and cultural community went out in September 2005. Ninety groups were sent an invitation to a meeting to discuss the viability of hosting a region-wide festival around an exhibition of the Sanders portrait. More than sixty people representing forty-five arts and cultural organizations attended. There was tremendous enthusiasm expressed at the meeting; from it came a community-based volunteer organizing committee that directed the development of the Shakespeare Made in Canada Festival and its activities.Later that fall, a call for expressions of interest went out to artists and cultural volunteers who were asked to submit ideas for performances (music, dance, drama, and so forth), visual arts, and exhibitions that would share the theme of Shakespeare. By February 2006, more than thirty groups had submitted ideas and the activities were slotted into an exciting and exhaustive program for the festival.The idea for the exhibition and festival gathered further momentum. In the spring of 2006, the University of Guelph garnered one of the most coveted prizes in the history of theatre in Canada. William Hutt, Canada’s most prominent and experienced classical Shakespearean actor, donated his papers to the L. W. Conolly Theatre Archives. As a vocal advocate for the development of a uniquely Canadian theatre tradition, Hutt was immediately engaged by the notion of Shakespeare Made in Canada (both the Exhibit and the Festival), and agreed to become the honorary chair of the Festival.No tale is complete without including its intricate twists and turns of human passion. Of all places, Hutt was to find his perfect foil in the Astrophysics Laboratory at the University of Guelph. Diane Nalini de Kerckhove, a well-known academic and musician, had recently joined the faculty. To the surprise of many, her excellence in research and teaching was mirrored in her talent as a jazz singer and songwriter. As fate would have it, she was about to release her third CD, Diane Nalini: Songs of Sweet Fire, based on the songs and sonnets of William Shakespeare. Learning of Shakespeare Made in Canada and of Hutt’s patronage, Nalini offered to launch the CD to promote the festival. In May 2006, Shakespeare Made in Canada was officially launched with a live performance by Nalini, hosted by Hutt, which attracted national attention from across the arts and entertainment sector.By the fall of 2006, more than thirty-five organizations from across the Guelph-Wellington region had committed to making Shakespeare Made in Canada a festival of local, regional, national, and international significance.The groundswell of commitment to this project has attracted the support of local business leaders, government, and public officials. Their enthusiasm and dedication to this project establishes a benchmark in excellence in community cooperation for which we are all truly indebted. I am grateful for the opportunity provided to me by President Summerlee and the University of Guelph to become involved in such a great project. I offer my humble and heartfelt thanks to all of those who have contributed to the success of Shakespeare Made in Canada.
Sue BennettDirector, University and Community RelationsProject Manager, Shakespeare Made in Canada Festival University of Guelph
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A Foreword from University of Guelph President and Vice-ChancellorAlastair Summerlee
IT GIVES ME TREMENDOUS pleasure to welcome you to Shakespeare Made in Canada, a unique and dazzling exhibition and celebration of history, culture, and country. You will have the opportunity to view traditional and contemporary art, learn about theatre design, test your knowledge of the Bard, see authentic costumes and rare works from theatre archives, take a turn at centre stage, and even try out a most modern Shakespearean adaptation: a state-of-the-art video game. Along the way, you’ll learn how the most produced playwright in history has influenced Canada’s artists, writers, actors, and scholars, and, in the process, Canada’s evolving sense of itself as a nation. At the centre of this spectacle is the Sanders portrait of William Shakespeare, widely thought to be the only image of the Bard painted while he was alive. This magnificent painting is believed to depict Shakespeare at age thirty-nine and is matched in drama only by the tale of its discovery. The portrait was held in Canadian Lloyd Sullivan’s family for some four hundred years and, at one time, was stored under his grandmother’s bed. It is believed that Shakespeare sat for an ancestor of Sullivan’s, an actor and painter called John Sanders, in 1603. You will discover how this painting came to be connected to the University of Guelph. Suffice it to say, it is a wonderful example of the important role of universities and scholarly research in uncovering national treasures.
Indeed, this entire exhibition is illustrative of the many ways Canadian scholarship helps provide the necessary social, historical, economic, religious, and archival contexts for better understanding the past and exploring our futures. It is also a way for us to showcase the cultural excellence 0f our city and our region, from theatre and music to other educational programs and events, and to highlight the importance of the relationship we share with our community. By working together, we have created a regional cultural synergy that allows us to produce collaborations such as Shakespeare Made in Canada. So open your eyes and your minds and feast on the visual and intellectual treasures that await you inside this uniquely Canadian exhibition.
Alastair J. S. Summerlee President and Vice-Chancellor University of Guelph
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Thanks
The Virtual Exhibit would not have come together without the effort and dedication of the core design team. None of this would have been possible without the technical expertise and advice of Brad Eccles, Yuri Doubov, and the College of the Arts technical services. Thanks too to Kenny Doren for taking the time to film and edit all the interviews. Bradley Boy, Allen Bennett, and Dean Palmer also graciously gave of their time and expertise to help resolve a number of technical challenges. Danielle Van Wagner must also be recognized for her amazing dedication and editing skills in the eleventh hour.Thank to the Dean of the Arts and to the President’s office for their continued support. We thank Aidan Ware, Dawn Owen, and Verne Harrison from the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre for their help with collecting material from the SMIC and for allowing CASP to film interviews on location at the MSAC. Thank you to all curators and exhibition participants who took time out of the busy schedules to share their thoughts and experience with the Virtual Exhibit design team. Thank you also to Richard Louttet and Petra Schennach from University of Guelph Office of Open Learning for sharing the material they co-prepared with CASP for the Youth Learning Commons.The constant advice, support, and leadership from Daniel Fischlin and Mat Buntin has been invaluable. Thank you.
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Sponsors
A huge debt of gratitude is owed to the President’s Office, the Dean of Arts, and the University of Guelph for helping fund this project not to mention all the other sponsors responsible for the success of the Shakespeare-Made in Canada Festival. Below is a list of sponsors who made this project and the Shakespeare-Made in Canada Festival possible. Thank you to all of you.
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