Leif Norman photographer

Gas Station Arts Centre
445 River Avenue

REFLECTIONS – Featuring Fine Art, Spoken Word, Dance, Music, Comedy, and More!

An Annual Showcase of Winnipeg’s Awesome Artistic Women in support of the Gas Station Arts Centre. The Girls, Girls, Girls! Gala Cabaret celebrates both the artistic talent and creativity of the fantastically talented women of Winnipeg, as well as the incredible performance space of the Gas Station Arts Centre.

Reception: 6pm
Performance: 7pm
Tickets: $20 Buy Online

Host: Hannah G

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WADaINU3oE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Performers and Visual Artists for this year’s gala listed below.

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PERFORMING ARTISTS

Aliza Amihude
Aliza Amihude is internationally known for her controversial yet contagious visual and performance art. As a jeweller and sculptor, Aliza often mixes precious metals and gems with materials like twigs, sand, and hair to express her belief that the entire natural world is precious and connected. As a performer and producer, she pushes the societal envelope with original songs, theatrics, political satire, dance, and comedy. Both praised and rebuked for her avant-garde art, Aliza consciously continues to create, teach, perform, garden, and laugh.

Aileen Audette
Performer, and local make up artist, she is always creating and never afraid to get dirty. A founding member of the local grotesque clown group The Talentless Lumps, she has spent recent time collaborating with local artists and exploring the world of clown.

This is her third year performing at Girls, Girls, Girls and her first as a visual artist. Her photography stills titled Morning Ritual is inspired by the private reflective quality in a women’s bathroom mirror.

Aileen trained and received an honors degree through the University of Winnipeg’s Theatre and Film program.

Jolene Bailie
Jolene Bailie is the Artistic Director of Gearshifting Performance Works. Rooted in a passionate belief that dance can be a catalyst for quantum leaps of positive change, Jolene presents shows annually, has toured her work extensively, and has happily performed the opening act for every Girls! Girls! Girls! Gala since its’ inception. Most recently her work was presented by The Xi’an Arts Museum (China, 2014) and The Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Rights Fest (2014). Jolene holds a MFA in Dance through The American Dance Festival/Hollins University, has danced on stages across the country and beyond, and lives an immersive life in dance. www.gearshifting.org

Ruth Baines
Ruth Baines is an independent dancer/ actor/aerialist/ all around creator living and working in Winnipeg. Her theatre company Ruthable Productions has tour the Fringe Festivals of Western Canada to great success since 1999. She is also a full time Stott-Pilates instructor. In her spare time she co-produces Girls!Girls!Girls! with Kimmy Z. Ruth is elated to be working with such a talented group of women on the 10th anniversary Gala.

DJ Beekeeni
Retro-contemporary live DJ specializing in elevator music, rare dance hits and misses.
DJB/Eve is also a composer, producer, singer and writer for her own acts as DJBeekeeni and Vav Jungle (on iTunes and Amazon). As of late, she is in an upcoming Nature of Things with David Suzuki, lead vocalist for her new crooner pop rock inspired act “High Priestess” and written a book that will be available in 2015.

BUNNY
Brittany Thiessen is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg’s Acting Honours Program; the magical place where she met her BUNNY co-star, Heather Thomas.  Their common love of 90’s R&B, the ukulele and scrunchies inspired them to create their comedy-musical duo and they’ve been performing together ever since! Brittany is also a co-founder of local theatre company Make/Shift Theatre, performing in their production of The Way We Felt: Searching For Remy at this  summer’s Winnipeg Fringe. Brittany presentation of No Exit.

Heather Thomas is a singer, songwriter, actor and multi-instrumentalist who wanted to use all of those skills in one project- enter Brittany Thiessen and BUNNY was born. Besides playing in (arguably) Winnipeg’s top female R&B ukulele duo, she can be seen and heard as the lead singer of electronic indie-pop duo ATLAAS. She also works as a vocal coach for a number of local artists. Heather is thrilled to make her Girls Girls Girls debut this year!

Jessica Burleson
Jessica Burleson is a writer and performer. She has performed every year for the Girls! Girls! Girls! Cabaret and does the occasional part in film. She reflects on everything and feels that ten years of GGG have flown by in a breath of excitement, stage fright and camaraderie. Here’s to the next ten.

Angela Chalmers
Photo by Leif Norman
Angela Chalmers loves to laugh. She also love to make people laugh. Performing alongside some of her favorite funny-ladies in her fourth GGG Gala gives her giggles. Giggling is contagious. May you all become infected!

(Angela has recently launched her own business – As It Happened Productions. The work is exciting and moving. Check out website – www.aihproductions.com)

Liz Cooper
Photo by Robert Dearden
Liz is an aerial artist & choreographer who began performing aerial circus arts back in 2001. She is the head aerial instructor for Monica’s Danz Gym and choreographer for Momentum Aerial & Acrobatic Troupe. In addition to teaching ongoing classes at Monica’s Danz Gym, Liz has also taught at Smirkus Camp in Vermont and in Saskatoon, Edmonton, Toronto, Seattle, Houston, Hawaii, and Oulu Finland.

Past performances include annual concerts with the WSO, the grand opening of the MTS Centre arena, annual appearances at Winnipeg’s Mardi Gras, the Festival of Aerial Arts in Houston Texas, the Juno Awards gala banquet, Nygard fashion shows, anniversary galas for the School of Contemporary Dancers Professional Program, the Brandon Winter Fair, and the World Gymnaestrada in Portugal, Austria, and Switzerland. Liz has also been a guest aerial performer with Bolero Dance Theatre, NAfro Dance Productions, and Manohar Performing Arts. Liz is excited to be a part of GGG again and delighted to be sharing the stage with Winnipeg’s finest artists!
www.monicasdanzgym.com

Melanie Dahling
Melanie Dahling is an actor/stand-up/writer born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. You may recognize her from a variety of fringe festival plays, as well as television appearances on Todd and The Book of Pure Evil and promos for 92citifm. In her short time working as a comedian she has performed in the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, opened for Chantel Marostica in Queer and Present Danger, and is a crowd favourite at the annual Femfest Cabaret. You can keep up to date with future shows by adding “sugardahling” to twitter and instagram.

The Fu Fu Chi Chi Choir 
The Fu Fu Chi Chi Choir embarked on its inaugural performance in 2007 at the Gas Station Theatres Girls, Girls, Girls Cabaret. Almost from the minute they took the stage, the Fu Fu Chi Chi Choir became a crowd favorite and are now a perennial part of the Gas Station Theatres fundraising event.

Since then, they have warmed up for Andrea Martin at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival Opening Gala, sang for Mayor Sam Katz and 400 of his closest friends at his Luncheon for the Arts, played to both riotous diners and to rooms with tumbleweeds blowing through at the Winnipeg Art Gallery Ball, and belted out tunes on the windy Arts Barge at the Forks.

Most recently they were invited back to the Winnipeg Comedy Festival to perform at the Pantages Theatre as part of the Women Who Kill Gala in addition to the Femfest opening Cabaret for Sarasvati Theatre. That same year also saw the choir perform at the Plug-In Gallerys Club Plug In as part of Grant Guys Circus of Objects.

Directed by choir members Michelle Boulet and Sarah Constible The Fu Fu Chi Chi Choir perform original compositions. One of these years they will get around to doing that album everyone keeps asking about.

hannah_g
hannah_g is a writer, contemporary storyteller, inter-disciplinary artist, and mixtape-laptop DJ. She is interested in collectivity, place-making, and recollection. www.hannah-g.com.

Anita Gebler
Anita is an original GirlsGirlsGirls performing spoken word at our first show to pay the taxes to save the Gas Station form becoming a ‘Giant Tiger’!!! Dramatic highlights over the years has been working at  MTYP, performing in film ‘Brothers,’ writing and directing children’s plays, Rising voices Poetry Contest, 2 published papers, working to integrate drama into school curriculum, performing her poetry, and acting in community shows and fundraisers. She especially enjoyed being in the Carol Burnett show directed and produced by Phillip Duncan. She has recently enjoyed her involvement in Fashion Show Fundraisers and had 2 art exhibitions as a painter this year and is selling paintings too!! By day she is a Family Counsellor and is a 24-7 President of a Financial Company. She is now only a 1/4 mother of 3 now grown-up adult children.

Desirae Gebler­-Ariss
Desirae Gebler­Ariss is 23 years old. She is currently working on completing her three year Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Winnipeg with a major in theatre performance. Desirae has been actively exploring various forms of theatre since the age of six. Her main focus in theatre this year is Devised Theatre ­ which is a contemporary form of theatre that incorporates movement and original work. Desirae and her classmates will be performing their own solo pieces this November at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film. Some of her major influences are: Bertolt Brecht, Michael Chekhov, David Lynch, Anne Bogart and Merryl Streep. These people have helped contribute to Desirae’s development as an actor. Desirae plans to continue her education in the field of theatre. She is also working towards improving her skills as a playwright and hopes to have a play written within the next year. Aside from theatre Desirae enjoys music, reading, travelling, and eating copious amounts of sushi.

Emerald Gebler-Ariss
I am a grade 12 student and the youngest of three kids. Naturally, as a daughter of a Black Hole theater major, I’ve been doing theatre since as long as I can remember. I was involved as a child actor at the WPG storytelling festival, street spring theatrical productions about Demeter and Hades, enrolled every year at MTYP, and have continued to be in school productions at the Morden Collegiate as a student actor directed by also known Black Hole theatre major, Phillip Duncan. Phillip has directed me as an actress in Mission Possible, The Carol Burnett Show, and The Black Donnelly’s. I have also worked as a director’s assistant for children’s shows with ‘Stage Act’ theatre camp. My mother does also allow me to have other interests and, so I have been allowed to go to school (sometimes) play soccer, volleyball, and basketball. I also have a way with a hammer, saw and sewing machine and make quilts, costumes and furniture.

Talia Pura
Photo by Leif Norman
Talia is thrilled to have been part of GGG for so many years. Recent aerial solo performances have included the Canadian Labour Congress convention in Montreal, Nuit Blanche with Cercle Moliere, and the Mansfield Brothers Vaudeville Troupe’s Show. When not hanging around, Talia makes movies, writes plays and books, teaches drama at U of Wpg, studies at U of MB, and works with ACTRA as branch president and national councillor, and with ACI, (Arts and Cultural Industries Association of Manitoba) coordinating a Youth in the Arts Mentorship program.
www.taliapura.com

Sacred Flames
This dynamic duo has been in artistic collaboration for nigh on 9 years. Blending a fusion of myth and magic for audiences all over Canada, in the areas of fire, dance, theatre and glow performance art. Bringing relevance to ritual as art, they dive deep in the intuitive ocean of the Divine Feminine and resurface to share the myriad of treasures they discover.

Estee Taylor and Samantha Brooke
A mother and daughter puppetry duo. Estee teaches puppetry workshops and has performed internationally with her “Jazz on a String” cabaret style marionettes over the last 20 years. She was a participant at the O’Neill Theater Center Puppetry Conference in 2013. Samantha is in her final year at the University of Winnipeg in Education and is an event planner. They have performed together at puppet slams and festivals, and between them, make the best Italian lasagna and German Black Forest Torte.

Stella Starlight
Ch-ch-ch–ch-changes; Heather Witherden is a comedian, ranging from stand-up to physical comedy to burlesque and all points in between. This summer she was featured in Chubrub Cabaret , a performance troupe aimed at opposing the idea that one body type is better than another. She’s been featured on stage at Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Winnipeg Fringe, and on television, in ‘She Kills Me’, an APTN series shining a light on female comedians. Never afraid to look in a mirror, she is always finding a little something she didn’t see before.

The Talentless Lumps with Special Guest
Photo by Leif Norman
We are now famous for our acts performed at Girls!Girls!Girls! (where we had our Debut in Blue and we showed the crowds our E-Wrecktion Site), and The Common Sense Holiday Cabaret (where our baby and shitty little Christmasses were born), and Fuck-Off Check-Off (where we resurrected an old dead guy who wrote boring plays), and Fringe Festival Beer Tent (where we golden showered ourselves with lite beer), and FemFest (where we showed how Orange is the New Blue and how to leave a mess of toilet paper behind our behinds). Mirrors are our friends. We love our reflections. You are beautiful just the way you are. We LOVE you!

Kim Zeglinski
Kim Zeglinski has been a member of the Girls! Girls! Girls! community of performers and organizers since the first show, 10 years ago! She is very excited to be returning for her third year as Co-Producer, along with Co-Producer, Ruth Baines. Kim Zeglinski is a busy mom of two, a wife, a teacher, an actor, and a writer-producer-performer.
Her 2014 Winnipeg Fringe Festival Production, Mittelschmerz (Translation: Middle Pain) was nominated for the Manitoba Association of Playwrights’ Harry Rintoul Award for the Best New Manitoba Play. You can find more information about Kim Zeglinski and her shows, by visiting www.kimmyzee.com
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VISUAL ARTISTS

Aliza Amihude
Aliza Amihude is internationally known for her controversial yet contagious visual and performance art. As a jeweller and sculptor, Aliza often mixes precious metals and gems with materials like twigs, sand, and hair to express her belief that the entire natural world is precious and connected. As a performer and producer, she pushes the societal envelope with original songs, theatrics, political satire, dance, and comedy. Both praised and rebuked for her avant-garde art, Aliza consciously continues to create, teach, perform, garden, and laugh.

Arlea Ashcroft
For the past 22 years, Arlea Ashcroft has worked exclusively in the Arts and Cultural sector of Winnipeg. She is a self-taught multi-disciplinary artist involved in the media and Visual Arts. She has received local, national, and international exposure through publication, broadcast, film festivals, and public presentations.

As a painter, filmmaker, installation artist, performer and musician, with the defunct punk band SHRIMP, Ashcroft is known for her antagonistic stance, dark sense of humour, and blunt force trauma use of a paintbrush. Most recently Ashcroft received rave reviews for her solo installation called, LET IT BURN an installation about grief suicide and depression. http://arleaashcroft.ca

CHECH
Born: Winnipeg Manitoba
Specialty: Abstract
Medium: Acrylic & Oil paint and Mixed Medias
“As an Artist, I utilize abstraction. I take the smallest part of a piece – be it a moment, a memory or an emotion – and illuminate the multitude of angles from which you might set your gaze upon it. Art has the power to cast a nuanced light upon the unnoticed, ugly and unappreciated. It can also allow us to develop a love for ourselves (and others) and help us discover the beauty of the human soul. Each of us must use the tools at our disposal to preserve and restore ourselves as well as dispel the demons in our minds’ shadowy places.” -CHECH

Dee Barsy
Dee Barsy lives and works in Winnipeg. She graduated from the School of Art at the University of Manitoba in 2013, and studied as an educational assistant at the University of Winnipeg in 2014. Currently, she is a visual arts educator who instructs children and youth workshops, a youth care , and also volunteers in the community.

As an art instructor, she has had the opportunity to see the benefits of engaging young people in arts programming. Dee believes that the creation of art promotes self-healing.

Darlene Drewniak
An ecstatic visual artist and healing arts practitioner,Darlene draws on the balance of mother nature and embraces the possibilities of the universal world.Creative expression nurtures the inner landscape,emerging the unique elemental frequency, enhancing ones divine expression. Darlene’s guided by Soul Creation.

Wanda Farian
Reflections? Or ruminating? I can’t decide…
When Andrea invited me to participate in the first GGG show 10 years ago I thought it was an odd request. I’m a costume person, not an artist. I thought. I still don’t know if I’m an artist or not, so I guess I’m still ruminating…
You Again is based on what feels like an eternal sense of longing. Wool, wood, cotton.

Kelly Hudson
My name is Kelly Hudson, and I have been a visual as well as hands on artist for years. I’ve been a hairstylist for eight years now and I feel that my work and paintings go hand-in-hand from creating colors to disconnecting lines and grooving with angles. I love that I’m able to keep creating at work and at home. I started my first painting with a pack of crayons and looseleaf. I was inspired by my favorite album at the time Led Zeppelin untitled album number four. music has always been an inspiration with painting. I like to hear the movement in a beat. the emotion in the voice the colors to a melody. So once I started getting into my passion of music is when I started exploring what to do with my hands while my ears listened. I got into acrylics because they just seemed easy to me and I can always make a mistake take it back or just jive with it. As I got more involve my color spectrum changed. From dark and mysterious to bright and colorful sometimes taking a dark older painting and accentuating a new look by brightening it up. I enjoy painting faces, landscapes, and skies. These are three things that I feel given and mediate feeling of emotion I can let myself and fold and sink into these mediums. Painting is just something that I have chosen to do in my downtime, as a hobby that makes me feel good. I am so grateful that I get to express myself through colors lines and feelings. As an artist I am thankful that I get to be a part of such a great production and fundraiser for my own neighborhood. And excepted to show off something so intimate of mine.

Leslie Jobes
Photo by Leslie Jobes
Leslie Jobes has had a camera in her hand from a young age, and her camera education continued from grade school, into high school with photography clubs, then in University with Fine Arts Studies. With the onset of MS (Multiple Sclerosis) in 2002, and the loss of her job photography grew into more than just a hobby – it has become a lifesaver, giving her life meaning again, and a feeling that she can once again contribute to society.

Leslie has been capturing the City of Winnipeg’s architecture, skylines, landscapes, weather, wildlife, people & culture for over 10 years now and the resulting body of work is a large and comprehensive collection of photography by a solo photographer. Her commitment to documenting Winnipeg often requires the patience to wait for just the right light, and to be prepared to shoot on a moment’s notice when it arrives. It has also led her to shooting in the rain, wind & snow, and dodging oncoming traffic on Portage Avenue in the early morning. The resulting images allow the viewer to revel in the beauty of the City of Winnipeg and surrounding county-side. To view some of Leslie Jobes works you can visit her at www.Artwanted.com.

Alerry Lavitt
Beauty is so threaded through the ordinary it is hard to miss. Alerry Lavitt is a Winnipeg interdisciplinary artist whose works harnesses timeless beauty in the natural, ordinary, world. A magical alchemy of light catches her eye, sparking an intuitive recognition of pivotal moments that cry to her inner chronicler to be made permanent.

Pause, Investigation, and Place all blend in her concoctions of paintings, photography, installation, and multimedia creations. Always learning about and exploring natural environments, she occasionally diverges to explore themes of feminism, identity, and female power with loving, tongue and cheek delight.

A graduate of the U of M’s BFA Honors program, her work has been exhibited at the Cre8ery, Estudio Luna, Graffiti Gallery, the Red Road Lodge, local businesses, and in private collections.

When not spending time with her muse, Alerry is self employed as a massage therapist and certified yoga instructor. She loves to create and play outdoors as often as possible.

Jordan Miller
Jordan Miller, a Winnipeg artist, graduated with a BFA (Hon., ’02). She also holds a diploma in Arts and Cultural Management (’08). Memberships include Arts and Cultural Industries of Manitoba and Mentoring Art for Women’s Art. She has mentored artists and has exhibited in group and solo shows in Winnipeg. Jordan was the recipient of the 35th Annual Woman of Distinction Award, Arts Category. She is collected across Canada and in the USA. Jordan paints in an abstract style and enhances her pieces with mixed media, image transfers, and found objects. In addition to being an Art Consultant, Art Instructor, she is also the Director of cre8ery gallery & studio. Her website is www.jordanlmiller.com

Holly Moore
Holly Moore is really an artist though she is currently an investigative journalist at the CBC. Holly graduated from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2000 and can’t believe that was 14 years ago. She lives in Winnipeg with her amazing kids, partner and a dog named Bear.

Farrah Okolita
Farrah Okolita is an artist who makes money by making life-size versions of models for theatres in Winnipeg. She then spends the money making models of life-size ideas in her studio in Beausejour, MB.

Diana Pops
My name is Diana Pops. I like shiny things and antique toys and pretty much anything inherently beautiful. Both me and my work tend towards the whimsical and curious. I am an artist working in precious metals and gemstones and living in the frozen Canadian prairies.

For me, it’s not so much about the metal and stones but more about the idea that something I’ve created makes a lasting impression. Besides being lovely to look at, jewelry is the perfect receptacle for emotion and sentiment. In my experience, treasured jewelry seems to always be part of a story. I’ve been privileged to tell stories in metal for clients all across Canada, the USA, and Europe.

Last year was my first year exhibiting with GGG, and I am thrilled to be debuting a new collection for Girls Girls Girls 2014!

Carla Schroeder
Hmmm…Ten years ago Andrea started Girls!Girls!Girls! at the Gas Station Theatre. Some of us were working together in theatre at that time and had a big deadline looming. But the morning of that first hang our work production was nil as we scrambled to finish our self portraits before AVW swung by the shop to pick them up. A few pieces were still wet and mine was put out in the back lane sun to get the glue to set up. Our motto was (is) “remember the clowns”. I’m still a scenic artist for theatre and film, and spent the summer as Head Scenic at Rainbow Stage. I’m currently painting “Truth and Reconciliation” for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and “Fidelio” for Manitoba Opera.

Amanda Smart
Amanda is a Red River Metis artist who has been working in theatre and the motion picture industry for over 12 years as a Stage Manager, scenic painter and most recently as Front of House Manager for Rainbow Stage (1993) Inc. She has studied Fine Arts in Art History at the University of Manitoba and Film Making and Journalism at The National Screen Institute. Amanda works primarily in Conte, charcoal, steel and paint.

Fiona Smith
Fiona is a Visual Artist who loves to work with various media. This year she has been playing around with “shikishi boards” that are traditionally reserved for Japanese Shodo (Calligraphy) practice (which she also does), with some pleasing results. This exploration embraces this years’ theme of “reflection” for Fiona – taking her back to formative years actually spent in Japan, yet playfully fusing with her Celtic roots & Roma spirit. When not creating art, Fiona dramaturges new works, is currently writing her first novel, battles her super cells, and is a Masters student. She chooses to make her home in Winnipeg because it supports its Artists and is such an incredible community. Yes, you – she’s talking about you – you rock!

Ali Tataryn
Ali Tataryn is an actress based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is also a founder of Frame Arts Warehouse. She studied at The Academy of Acting and graduated from Red River College with Honours for Applied Counseling in 2006. Her passions include Organic Movement, Writing, Expressive Arts Therapy and Tibetan Meditation.

Sara Wilson
Sara Wilson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her work primarily consists of pencils and any form of paper available. As an elementary school librarian she’s managed to continuously dabble in creating art throughout her career and schooling, whether it be creating signage and/or book marks for her students, simple practice sketches of friends and family for her own collection, drawing to update her webcomic or the series of curvaceous superheroines for the 2012 Girls! Girls! Girls! Gala.

Cynthia Wolfe-Nolin
Cynthia Wolfe-Nolin is proud to be curating the Visual Arts portion of Girls! Girls! Girls! A writer, director, perfomer, and artist, Cynthia’s recent acheivements include performing in the 2013 Winnipeg Fringe Festival (“Murder and Other Trivialities”) and the self-penned and produced works “Left Behind”, “Kisses”, and “On the Other Side of a Dream”. When not instructing students through the Native Youth Theatre program at MTYP, she can be found at the Martha Street Studio setting the ideas in her head alight. Thrilled to be collaborating with such an eclectic group of ladies for this season’s event, Cynthia is looking forward to what has yet to be.