1. Director's Meandering Preamble
2. STRUTT | NAC's Tenth Annual Wearable Art Show

1. Director's Meandering Preamble
Damp and grey enshroud the Niagara Peninsula like a lake freighter drifting through a nasty patch of fog; nice weather for slow, stubborn life forms like kale, earthworms, and sentimental sailors, but at NAC fall weather heralds an exciting, rodent-like period of hyper-activity. It’s that time of year when dull days are warded off through the act of creating inexplicable and sensational wearable things out of whatever can be found kicking around the house--including what’s in the garage and the refrigerator. November is when we search out an under-used industrial building and construct a runway (this year’s is 100 feet long) and a spectacular stage. This annual period of weird activity culminates when uninhibited performers act, well, uninhibited and shamelessly model dozens of outlandish products of Niagara’s collective imagination before a throng of spectators and judges.

This Saturday, NAC presents our annual STRUTT Wearable Art Show. This one’s a doozey, it’s number ten! It’s hard to believe we’ve produced this show for a decade. It’s even harder to believe how the show has grown, how St. Catharines has embraced it. There are more artists every year, more people volunteering to be dressed in a ball-room gown of cabbage, or what have you, and more people wanting to see it all go down on the runway.

If you’re under the impression that a majority of the citizens of our sleepy little city think getting the leaves all raked up and finding a gold-framed Trish Romance at a yard sale is a Saturday well spent, you’re probably right. But this Saturday night, the not-so-silent minority will make the distinct noise of people who truly know how to have a good time. See you at STRUTT!

overnout
S.

Stephen Remus
Director of Operations and Programming

2. STRUTT | NAC's Tenth Annual Wearable Art Show
Saturday 21 November 2009
Doors 7pm Show 8:30pm

150 Bunting Road (Bunting at Eastchester) St. Catharines ON

TICKETS
General Admission $25
Curator’s Row $50 – SOLD OUT!
Table of Four $300 – SOLD OUT!
Table of Eight $600 – Only 2 Tables Left!

Energetic, enthralling, risqué; these words describe STRUTT, the Niagara Artists Centre’s Wearable Art Show, one of the area’s most inventive fundraising events.

Over fifty amateur and professional contemporary visual artists from Niagara and beyond create art for the human form. The creations range from the provocative to the magnificent, the edible to the electronic, the absurd to the sublime. Volunteer models from the Suitcase in Point Theatre Company and students of Brock University’s Dramatic Arts program flaunt these outfits on the runway while the artists compete for cash prizes in nine categories, including: ELECTRONIKA, the best piece of wearable art that uses electricity; EROTIKA, the most sexually provocative piece of wearable art, and DEMOCRATIKA, wearable art that generates the most positive audience response.

“STRUTT isn’t a fashion show, it’s a distilled, miniature mardi gras,” says Stephen Remus, director of the Niagara Artists Centre.

STRUTT is an annual benefit for the Niagara Artists Centre (NAC), a charitably registered non-profit Artist-run Centre devoted to presenting and supporting the production of contemporary art. Many hundreds of volunteer hours go into realizing STRUTT every year. It is the largest event of its kind in Canada, attracting over one hundred submissions each year.

The event is licensed and is followed by a post-runway dance party with food and refreshments provided by local wineries, including Creekside Estate Winery, and downtown restaurants, including The Office and Wellington Court. This year’s STRUTT will also feature the local launch of Creekside’s new line of wine, “Life is Good.”

Thanks to our generous sponsors:
RBC Dominion Securities, Frank Coy
Stagevision
Danzka Vodka
Creekside Estate Winery
Steamwhistle
Megalomaniac
Henry of Pelham
Coyote’s Run
The Office Tap & Grill
The Wellington Court
The Spotted Calf
The Merchant Ale House
Skyway Digital
The Standard
Access Multimedia
Eleven Hair Studio
Drake Hotel
Suitcase in Point Theatre Company
Lousje & Bean