September 12th to 14th
Shō (partnership En Plein Air)
We are an arts centre based in Windsor Ontario that gathers together artists dedicated to the interplay of art, spirit and performance. Our interactive multi-disciplinary approach welcomes all creatives, be they poets, writers, painters, jewellers, fibre artists extraordinaire, musicians, actors and civic minded cyclists! Allowing each to innovate, collaborate and produce and present art across all borders.
Our Mission Shō is a shared creative hub committed to the interplay of all facets of arts and culture. We develop and support artistic prosperity which elevates our community.
Our Vision We are committed to nurturing, presenting and celebrating Windsor’s creative arts community. We recognize how invaluable it is to the economic, spiritual, social, intellectual and general wellbeing of those of us who live and work here. Some would say it is the vital heartbeat of a healthy city. Shō is wholeheartedly engaged in this exciting dialogue through our current work and is looking to a bright future! The power of “Community First” comes across without question.
About Shō In 2011, Lorraine Steele and Dr. Barry Brodie joined Sue & Phil McLeod as principals of the newly formed Sho art spirit and performance. Recognizing the importance of a highly functioning arts sector as invaluable to the community’s economic, spiritual, social intellectual and general wellbeing, their goal was to foster the arts through unique programming and promote the creation of new and original works by local artists. Creativity abounds in our community.
Allison Ware (community mural)
Allison is a third year BFA student at the School of Creative Arts, University of Windsor. She is creating the Island’s newest mural at the Pelee Island West Dock Pavilion. The mural celebrates Monarch Migration aligning with Flutter Fest: A Community Migration Celebration.
Matthew & Denise Romain (puppetry workshop)
Matthew, aka The Laughtertainer, is a musician and puppeteer. He has been building his puppet creations and performing since 1980. He teaches the art of puppetry to elementary, high school, and university students, and presents hands-on workshops for teachers, performing artists, and enthusiasts. Matthew embraces each project with joy! Whether he’s teaching a puppetry class, or bringing characters to life for a television show, or animating giant puppets with the Toronto Symphony for audiences of thousands, or enlivening a children’s birthday party in a cozy living room, his work consistently receives the highest praise. He has received numerous awards for excellence in his field.
As an elementary school teacher, loved by her students and respected by her peers, Denise inspired thousands of young minds for 31 years through creative and playful teaching practices. Denise grew up in Belle River speaking French, and has a keen interest in French Canadian history; the clothes, food, music, art, language and culture. A life-long learner, she is a student of mindfulness, music and psychology. She loves to cook, is an avid reader, and is filled with wonder and delight when amidst nature. She especially loves birds, bees and, of course, butterflies, and is thrilled to be part of Pelee Island’s enchanting Flutter Fest celebration.
Finalé – entr’acte
Entr’acte is a multidisciplinary exploration into the sights and sounds that make Pelee Island a place of rest & rejuvenation for the migration season featuring kites, puppets, sound poetry, and electronica.
Deanna is fascinated by our relationship to the Internet and the physical space it occupies in our lives. Her poetry examines these things and how this tool of communication intertwines with our most personal and emotional connections. Experimental poetry, music, art, the environment, and social justice inspire her practice. In prose, Deanna has written about literature, sound art, and music for Arc, Broken Pencil, Herizons, Musicworks, MUTEKmag, and others. Her poetry has been published by Art + Wonder, The Capilano Review, carte blanche, Free City Radio’s Art & Social Change, The Headlight Anthology, Occulto Magazine, Vallum, and others. As a performance poet, Deanna appeared with Kaie Kellough and Margaret Christakos in Klara du Plessis’ Deep Curation series in Fall 2019. She belongs to the Tuned Air Trio with musician Eric Lewis and singer Ayelet Rose Gottlieb. Her poetry/sound band Cloud Circuit launched its début EP (Archive Officielle Publications) in Spring 2020. The group performs regularly and will be recording its first full-length album in Spring 2023. Deanna has been a judge of Poetry In Voice recitations, is a former curator of the Atwater Poetry Project, and a graduate of Concordia University’s MA in creative writing. She is revising her first manuscript of poetry for publication. She loves dogs and when not immersed in poetry, spends her days booking concerts at Montreal venues Casa Del Popolo and La Sala Rossa.
Marshall Drägun & Zhaoyi Cai
Entr’acte is a contemplative manifestation of sonic aural being conceived and brought forth into existence through the collective hearts and minds of Zhaoyi Cai and Marshall Drägun. Paying homage to earthly and intergalactic elements that weave the very fabric of existence; creating the vibrational conditions that hold space and temporal form to life itself; flora, fauna and an array of cosmic agents. The project is traveling journey spanning across generations, regions, and solar systems leading to an eternally unraveling state of Now; A destined path that no matter which road is chosen, a conglomeration of possibilities will always lead us to our present moment in the natural world. These are the very pathways that brought us here. An ancestral language of peoples and places; of existence and non-existence. A blossoming improvisational force that bridges past, present and future together in a symphony of morphing totality.
Stone & Sky Music & Art Series 