The Banff Centre: Communications

Computer Arts: Edvin Lee, aka Piperboy, is an interactive designer “living and working in the cold of Banff, Canada.” Edvin was a work study in CEE. His homepage.

Richmond (B.C.) News: Ballet BC dancer Scott Maybank got the ballet bug at the Banff Centre.

Toronto Star: “Daunting task lies ahead.” Dealing with the other parties while maintaining unity in his own party will be Harper’s challenge, says Keith Archer, a professor of political science at the University of Calgary and director of research at The Banff Centre.

The Tyee: Interview with conceptual artist Brian Jungen. “Jungen is half aboriginal and grew up in the middle of nowhere Fort St. John, so the odds of him making it to art school, let alone becoming a hit in the rarified art world, were slim. That’s until he started taking apart pairs of Nike Air Jordan basketball shoes and reassembling them into aboriginal ceremonial masks,” a project he started during a Banff Centre residency.

absolutearts.com: The Vancouver Art Gallery presents a landmark exhibition celebrating one of Canada’s premiere artists, Takao Tanabe, in the artist’s first major retrospective and nationally touring exhibition. “As director of The Banff Centre art program he was central to the revitalization of the institution, establishing it as one of the most important art centres in North America.”

The Globe and Mail: The St. Lawrence String Quartet has found its new second violinist: Scott St. John, an accomplished player and professor at the University of Toronto, where the quartet came together in 1989. St. John, who has performed quintets and sextets with the St. Lawrence, will join the group next September. He replaces Barry Shiffman, who announced in November that he would leave the quartet to become head of music programs at the Banff Centre.

Harold Doan and Associates Ltd.: Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited and the Banff Centre signed a memorandum of understanding on January 19 to explore opportunities in the areas of research and development, scientific and professional exchange, education and training, and to foster technology and business partnerships among small to medium sized enterprises operating in the digital media sector in Hong Kong and Alberta.

Georgia Straight: Former head of the Banff Centre’s art program is still producing.

Ottawa Citizen: “A member of the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame, Osborne Colson, 89, was honoured by Skate Canada at its 2005 annual general meeting in Winnipeg with its Competitive Coach Award of Excellence. The creator of team coaching and coach of national champions in Canada and the United States, Colson also started the Banff School of Fine Arts Summer Skating School in 1960, giving athletes a taste of skating, dance and theatre.

Edmonton Journal: Doris Yanda, 100, died December 27. Mrs. Yanda was a driving force behind organizing a weaving course at the Banff School of Fine Arts from 1975 to 1987.