Motel art
Artist Onni Nordman (profiled in the Spectator in October 2016) has a new exhibit at the Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design and I can’t wait to see it. (Full disclosure: I had a sneak peek back in March when I interviewed his partner, Paula Muise, for this International Women’s Day piece.)
Nordman describes the inspiration for his new paintings this way:
While travelling around the country, I was entertained by the names of the independent motels we visited. The names invited imagination. However, the art, which is always screwed to the walls, could use an update. This exhibition of new paintings is what you really might like to see in your temporary homes.
Work from the new exhibit by Onni Nordman
Personally, I might even chance a night in the Bates Motel if Nordman had done the art.
The exhibition, which features 30 works, will be on display until 18 May 2019.
Library funding
I will write about recent developments with the plan for a new central library next week — as soon as I figure out what in the name of the Dewey Decimal system is going on with it.
File under: CBRM: Business as Usual.
Artist’s rendering of proposed new CBRM central library (that’s the library, peeking out from between two lovely, lovely buildings).
Nighttime Podcast
Pod nod
Jordan Bonaparte’s The Nighttime Podcast has picked up a story first published in the Spectator.
In an episode entitled “The Cape Breton Boys on the Tracks,” Bonaparte talks to Ken Jessome about the sad, strange story of three young local men — two of them known to Jessome — who were killed by a train in Aroostook County, Maine back in 1970.
Even knowing the story, I found the podcast to be a really fascinating listen. And I’m excited to see it get wider attention — Jessome is hoping it might even produce some additional information about the case.
Bonaparte — a Cape Bretoner now living in Halifax — and his podcast were profiled in the Cape Breton Post back in September 2018.
CBU en vedette
Cape Breton University’s international recruitment was the subject of a report on Radio-Canada’s Téléjournal on Tuesday, May 7th. (Although judging by the snowy scenes, it was actually prepared months earlier).
The Téléjournal is Rad-Can’s version of The National, only in French, with three fewer hosts.
It’s interesting — the students are charming and CBU looks really good in all the shots. You’d have no idea it was located on a highway in the middle of nowhere. (And yes, I know it’s time to get over that. I’m just not sure I ever will.)
It’s a feel-good piece, so I guess I shouldn’t quibble about things like the reporter stating that CBU’s recruitment efforts have always targeted countries where the people speak English (like China and Saudi Arabia?). Or the declaration that the school has hired 30 teachers without specifying that these are contract hires (“easily unwound” was the phrase I heard one CBU official use to describe them).
But I do have to say something about the shade thrown on Mian’s Restaurant on George Street (which I love) by the enterprising students opening “Sydney’s first authentic Indian restaurant” on Prince Street (which I am also prepared to love).
Having no way of judging the authenticity of Indian food, I think I’ll just chalk it up to healthy competition. (And since India has over 1 billion people and diverse cuisines, maybe they mean the first authentic North Indian, or East Indian or South Indian cuisine.)
Or maybe I just like “inauthentic” Indian food (the way I like “inauthentic” yoga).
Bottom line — more Indian food of any description is okay by me.
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