Back Lane Studios

Nina Simone (1933-2003) was born in North Carolina during the Jim Crow era and bore its scars. Her dream was to become a classical concert pianist, but instead became known as the “High Priestess of Soul” for her blend of jazz, blues and folk, all infused with classical music influences, including the counterpoint of Bach and the virtuosity of the Romantics.  Thanks to everyone who attended. Read more about the film and our guest here. 

What will the legacy be of our consumer society? No doubt garbage dumps as one of our most dominant engineered landmarks. Fortunately, there are a few people out there, trying to repurpose material that really should not be consigned to the trash.

Meet The Salvage Sisters, Beverley Daniels and Melissa Fisher-Rozenberg, who have created installations, collage and woven pieces from beautiful materials otherwise destined for the dump. They will be showcasing their work at our studio from Friday, Feb. 13 to Sunday, March 15.

Drop by the show this Saturday and Sunday, March 7-8, between noon and 5:00 pm. See what items you may recognize — like an old fridge rack — worked into the pieces.

The show runs to Sunday, March 15, when the artists will talk about their work, starting at 2:00 pm.

Visiting hours will depend on other activities at the studio and will be posted here on the website.  To visit during the week or for updated weekend hours, please contact us at info@backlanestudios.ca.

Our neighbour, Lisa Merchant, is a star in Toronto’s Improv community. She’s studied, performed and taught the art of improvisation for 35+ years. She’s a faculty member at Comedy Bar Pro, Social Capital Theatre, and a Senior Faculty member at The Second City Training Centre and a corporate facilitator both privately and with The Second City Works division. She is a multiple nominee and winner of 4 Canadian Comedy Awards, 3 for Best Female Improvisor.

Now she’s offered to teach an improv program on four Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 pm starting Feb. 10. The fee: $80. Interested? Read more here. Email us at info@backlanestudios.ca or call 647-313-1654 to enrol or if you have questions.

The New Year is here! Why not try something new, and at the same time help us collect stories for our Mapping our Memories project? We will be scheduling a free six-session (or more if needed) hands-on video-making course on Monday afternoons, starting Sept. 26, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.  You’ll learn how to use the technology you most likely already have — smart phone and laptop computer — to make a short video, and to use free simple editing programs. You’ll also get lots of personal help. We would love to include the videos in our Mapping our Memories project if you agree.

Videographer Cheryl Rondeau is our instructor. Cheryl has made many short videos, most recently about Inuit art and artists. Also helping us to refine our videos is Boyd Bonitzke, a video and sound editor.

We continue to schedule drop-in video-making sessions Mondays from noon to 1:00 pm and Wednesday from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. Above, an image from a short video made by Maureen Chicorli on how she met her mother-in-law. Watch the video here.

Interested? Email us at ellen@backlanestudios.ca or call 647-313-1654. The programs are free. Donations are welcome!