The Lion in the Room Next Door
by Merilyn Simonds | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0771080670 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0771080670 Global Overview for this book
Registered by varykino of Greenfield Park, Québec Canada on 12/6/2013
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
a collection of short stories
Merilyn Simonds was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, spent her childhood in Brazil and came of age in a small town in southwestern Ontario. She began as a freelance journalist, publishing nine nonfiction books and scores of magazine articles on subjects ranging from the environment to soap–making, from art and architecture to war.
With the release of The Convict Lover in 1996, she became nationally known as a literary writer, exploring the zone where fact and fiction meet. Now considered a classic in Canadian creative nonfiction, The Convict Lover was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction and was chosen as one of the top ten nonfiction books of 1996 by the Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire Magazine, Elm Street Magazine and Maclean’s. It was translated into Chinese, Japanese, and German, and in 1997, was adapted for the stage by the Kingston Summer Theatre Festival, premiering at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto in the fall of 1998. Judith Thompson is currently writing a new stage adaptation, which will premier at Theatre Kingston in spring 2015.
Merilyn Simonds was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, spent her childhood in Brazil and came of age in a small town in southwestern Ontario. She began as a freelance journalist, publishing nine nonfiction books and scores of magazine articles on subjects ranging from the environment to soap–making, from art and architecture to war.
With the release of The Convict Lover in 1996, she became nationally known as a literary writer, exploring the zone where fact and fiction meet. Now considered a classic in Canadian creative nonfiction, The Convict Lover was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction and was chosen as one of the top ten nonfiction books of 1996 by the Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire Magazine, Elm Street Magazine and Maclean’s. It was translated into Chinese, Japanese, and German, and in 1997, was adapted for the stage by the Kingston Summer Theatre Festival, premiering at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto in the fall of 1998. Judith Thompson is currently writing a new stage adaptation, which will premier at Theatre Kingston in spring 2015.
Journal Entry 2 by varykino at St James Church in Montréal, Québec Canada on Saturday, June 28, 2014
You always had to take it on faith that St. James United Church existed at all, because seeing it has historically been a bit of a challenge. For 78 years, it was hidden behind storefronts along Ste-Catherine St., initially built to help fund some of its activities. As soon as those were torn down in 2005 as part of ongoing restorations to the church, the St. James started to impress during the day, but would fade into the dark background at night.
When the Quartier des spectacles wanted to include the church as one of its downtown venues, it became necessary to create a visual connection to the rest of the entertainment district. The St. James had to be a lot more noticeable, so lighting designer Conor Sampson of CS Design was brought in to make it happen.
His overarching concept was to make the church work like a lantern, illuminating from within. Even if there are quite a lot of fixtures providing that effect on the outside.
His overarching concept was to make the church work like a lantern, illuminating from within. Even if there are quite a lot of fixtures providing that effect on the outside.
“It was about highlighting the historical value without actually installing equipment on the church,” Sampson says. “What we really wanted to do was to light the church so that you didn’t really know where the light was coming from.”
On that front, Sampson had some luck. The buildings flanking the church are lined with tall glass panels. That’s where most of the exterior light sources were installed, either from the bottom, to light the sides of the church, or from the top, lighting the facade. With specially designed brackets, a few fixtures were also cantilevered off the wooden sills of some of the tower windows.
“When you drill into masonry, you can have repercussions like cracking if you don’t do it right in the joint,” Sampson points out. “Everyone was very pleased that we were backing off from the building.”
The lighting scheme gives the St. James more than mere visibility; it also gives volume and perspective. You can tell how high the church is, you can make out some of the details in the stonework, and the illumination avoids two-dimensionality by wrapping the towers along the sides.
As for the three actual lanterns at the entrance, sleight of hand makes them look like they’re doing one thing when they’re really doing another. “The idea is that it looks like it’s glowing, but most of the functional light is coming from underneath,” Sampson explains.
Product designer François Bergeron from Bergeron Prototypes remodelled the original lanterns, gutting, stripping and repainting them. Then Sampson installed two fixtures for each: a domed bulb inside the lantern and a small projector underneath it, shining down on the entrance. The overall effect is well suited to the hushed theatricality of a church.
That inner glow: A classic feature of many churches is the stained glass window, designed mostly to be experienced inside during the daytime. For the St. James, Sampson reversed that conventional effect by making the frontal stained glass windows have an impact on outside viewers, and at night.
“When we first saw the project, these windows were lit with spotlights directly inside them. So you were getting a very pronounced kind of blot,” Sampson recalls. “We wanted to do something a little different, like a cinema light box.”
When the Quartier des spectacles wanted to include the church as one of its downtown venues, it became necessary to create a visual connection to the rest of the entertainment district. The St. James had to be a lot more noticeable, so lighting designer Conor Sampson of CS Design was brought in to make it happen.
His overarching concept was to make the church work like a lantern, illuminating from within. Even if there are quite a lot of fixtures providing that effect on the outside.
His overarching concept was to make the church work like a lantern, illuminating from within. Even if there are quite a lot of fixtures providing that effect on the outside.
“It was about highlighting the historical value without actually installing equipment on the church,” Sampson says. “What we really wanted to do was to light the church so that you didn’t really know where the light was coming from.”
On that front, Sampson had some luck. The buildings flanking the church are lined with tall glass panels. That’s where most of the exterior light sources were installed, either from the bottom, to light the sides of the church, or from the top, lighting the facade. With specially designed brackets, a few fixtures were also cantilevered off the wooden sills of some of the tower windows.
“When you drill into masonry, you can have repercussions like cracking if you don’t do it right in the joint,” Sampson points out. “Everyone was very pleased that we were backing off from the building.”
The lighting scheme gives the St. James more than mere visibility; it also gives volume and perspective. You can tell how high the church is, you can make out some of the details in the stonework, and the illumination avoids two-dimensionality by wrapping the towers along the sides.
As for the three actual lanterns at the entrance, sleight of hand makes them look like they’re doing one thing when they’re really doing another. “The idea is that it looks like it’s glowing, but most of the functional light is coming from underneath,” Sampson explains.
Product designer François Bergeron from Bergeron Prototypes remodelled the original lanterns, gutting, stripping and repainting them. Then Sampson installed two fixtures for each: a domed bulb inside the lantern and a small projector underneath it, shining down on the entrance. The overall effect is well suited to the hushed theatricality of a church.
That inner glow: A classic feature of many churches is the stained glass window, designed mostly to be experienced inside during the daytime. For the St. James, Sampson reversed that conventional effect by making the frontal stained glass windows have an impact on outside viewers, and at night.
“When we first saw the project, these windows were lit with spotlights directly inside them. So you were getting a very pronounced kind of blot,” Sampson recalls. “We wanted to do something a little different, like a cinema light box.”
