Tag: culture

The View from Up there: Long Boots and Jumping High

by Richard Young

Reviewed by Beth Stewart

Since the late 1950s, artists in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut, have produced unique and beautiful drawings, prints, and sculptures. Prints are produced in editions of 50, and sets are distributed to select galleries in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Europe. Galleries receive one copy of each print. London is lucky to be part of this.

For over a decade, Strand Fine Art Services has been one of the select galleries for the much-anticipated Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection.

The 2025 collection is as fresh and exciting as ever. The brightly coloured and highly imaginative pieces embrace traditional and contemporary imagery. Co-owner Andrew Symth agrees, saying, “There’s a newness to it.”

The show opened with over 30 prints. While many have sold and gone to their forever homes, there is still plenty to see and treasures to behold. All of the pieces are simply displayed sans frames using tiny magnets. My three favourites follow.

(Ningiukulu Teevee, “Kamikutaalik (One with Long Boots)”, Lithograph, 35.6 by 28.3 cm. Photo by Beth Stewart.)

Ningiukulu Teevee’s whimsical lithograph “Kamikutaalik (One with Long Boots)” features a raven sporting green waders. The bird marches with confidence and purpose across the page to an unknown destination.

“Puijut (Popping Up)”, Qavavau Manumie’s etching and aquatint glows. At first glance, I thought it was a wall of trophy heads, but the title reveals otherwise, and makes me look at it with new eyes. I love the artist’s use of complementary colours and the way the subtle gradations create the illusion of dimension for what would otherwise be a simple design.

(Qavavau Manumie, “Puijut (Popping Up)”, etching and aquatint, 71.8 by 53 cm. Photo by Beth Stewart.)

Shuvinai Ashoona’s exuberant etching and aquatint “Klaviqtag (Jumping High)” documents a simple pleasure in a setting that appears to be strewn with the detritus of mass-produced foodstuffs. Is the scene itself a garbage dump, or has refuse encroached upon a once pristine space?

(Shuvinai Ashoona, “Klaviqtag (Jumping High)”, etching and aquatint, 107.5 by 74.2 cm. Photo by Beth Stewart.)

According to Dorset Fine Arts, creativity at the Kinngait Studios is channelled into images that represent the Inuit way of life. They call the highly imaginative results isumanivi, which means “your own thoughts.” The pieces certainly make one think and subjectively interpret each piece.

In addition to prints, Strand has a beautiful collection of sculpture. For instant gratification with the potential to brighten all of next year, purchase one of the Dorset-produced Inuit Art 2026 calendars.

Strand Fine Art Services is located at 1161 Florence Street, Unit #4. For more information, visit www.strandfineartservices.com.

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Reviewed by Beth Stewart

Web: https://bethstewart.ca/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009620916363

Why Have I Revived The Beat Magazine? It’s a labour of love and more.

by Richard Young

by Richard Young, Publisher & Content Manager, The Beat Magazine 2025.

(Pictured: The Beat Arts In London, Issue 1, October 2009. Cover Art by Lionel Morise)

After a nine-year hiatus, I recently revived The Beat Magazine, an independent arts magazine I founded and published from 2009 to 2013, as The Beat Magazine 2025 website.

Since then, several of my peers and contemporaries have asked me one simple question: Why?

It’s a question I have asked myself many times over the last few weeks.

First and foremost, my reason for doing so is my humble attempt to make up for the lack of local arts and culture coverage in the mainstream media over the last several years. Frankly, I think this is criminal in a city the size of London. London and area creatives deserve better.

As one of our volunteer writers, Dawn Lyons, sums it up:

“London’s arts scene is alive with talent, creativity, and passion. It’s full of amazing artists across disciplines who continue to create, perform, and inspire, often without the recognition they truly deserve. I see The Beat Magazine 2025 as a way to showcase that energy and help connect people in the community with the incredible work happening around them.”

Much like the former print publication, the website provides timely, informed local arts news and commentary, and previews and reviews of local arts events. It also includes profiles of the area’s creatives and arts and culture venues. It is ad-free, and subscriptions are free. 

(Pictured: The Beat Magazine, Issue 30, March 2012. We featured Ceris Thomas on the cover. Ceris was appearing in The Drowsy Chaperone, then playing at the Palace Theatre.)

Second, simply because I want to.

Since the print magazine folded in the summer of 2013, I have kept myself busy doing many things.

I wrote freelance for a variety of local print publications, including Lifestyle Magazine, Business London, London, Inc., Professionally Speaking (Ontario College of Teachers), Scene Magazine, and the Villager Group of community magazines.

(Pictured: The Beat Magazine, Issue 25, October 2011. This cover, featuring a cast member from Evil Dead: The Musical, proved to be one of our most popular ones. We had difficulty keeping our stands stocked!)

I worked part-time/casually at a well-respected London Advertising & Marketing agency, writing copy about heavy industrial machinery. Talk about a learning curve! I thank owners Robert Adeland and Mina Thaler for their patience in teaching me the ins and outs of large cranes, dump trucks, excavators, and the like.

From December 2022 until August 2025, I was the Publicity and Program Department Head for Silver Spotlight Theatre, London’s theatre company that gives those 55 and older a chance to sing, dance, and perform on stage or backstage.

Most recently, I have served on the London Public Library’s Historic Sites Committee, the body that erects plaques around the city commemorating people and places of local historical significance. One project I take particular pride in is an Interpretive Sign Celebrating Wonderland Gardens’ Contribution to London’s Music History, which I prepared in collaboration with the City of London Culture Office. It will be officially unveiled on a date TBD.

(Pictured: The original Wonderland Gardens Outdoor Bandshell. Wonderland opened on May 24, 1935.)

That brings me up to the summer of 2025.

An unexpected medical diagnosis of Chronic Kidney Disease in July forced me to reevaluate many aspects of my life.

First and foremost, was changing my dietary and exercise habits. Gone are all processed foods, fast foods, and those with high levels of sodium and potassium. No more putting off going to the gym at least three times weekly.

Second, was relieving those things that cause me mental stress and unnecessary anxiety.

At my age (70-something), I decided that I want to fully re-engage with the local arts and culture community, rather than focusing on one aspect of it with my involvement with Silver Spotlight Theatre.

I also want to work at my own beck and call and not be accountable to others who may not always share my at times unbridled enthusiasm and relentlessness.

(Pictured: The final issue of The Beat Magazine, Summer 2013, featuring London dancer and choreographer, Amy Wright, on the cover)

In short, reviving The Beat Magazine seemed to be the best course of action to follow at this point in my life.

Has it taken up a lot more of my time than I thought? Hell, yes! But it’s my time and I love it.

Is there any financial return? Hell no! It’s strictly, to use the old cliche, a labour of love.

So, welcome to the new Beat Magazine in the form of The Beat Magazine 2025 website!

Let us know what you would like us to cover.

Let us know if you would like to volunteer some writing about the local arts and culture scene.

Let us know how we’re doing.

Let us know what’s working and what’s not working.

Contact me at richardyoung@thebeatmagazine2025.ca

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Richard Young, Publisher & Content Manager, The Beat Magazine 2025, https://thebeatmagazine2025.ca/

Addendum: Since going live in mid-August, the site has accumulated 4,007 Views and 2,901 Visitors.