Meet The Artists and Performers

Artist-Educator 

Gary Rasberry

JUNO-nominated children’s artist Gary Rasberry has been a fixture on the Kingston music and arts scene for over three decades. A noted artist-educator, Gary has held artist-in-residencies internationally, in California, Barcelona, and Amsterdam, and regularly criss-crosses the country as a VIA Rail Artist On Board, from Halifax to Vancouver, stopping along the way to perform at schools, festivals, camps and house concerts. As an Imagination Consultant, Gary Rasberry offers Song, Story & Sound workshops in schools everywhere and does his very best to leave a trail of happy children and smiling parents in his wake. A published poet and internationally recognized singer-songwriter, Rasberry’s latest album, Polishing Stone, was released by Wolfe Island Records in April 2021.

Poet-Educator

Nel Coloma-Moya

Nel has a passion for poetry! During challenging times in her life poetry provided an outlet and the opportunity for creative play and personal growth. Having developed poetry events in Brockville; In To Texts, a monthly poetry reading at From Here To Infinity Gallery in 2014, The Circuit, a music-poetry conversational that travelled from Kingston to Brockville; and a Poetry Lives in Brockville Festival, Nel hopes to bring poetry to an audience willing to explore the creative process with her in the lead up to the Experience Art Fest. Her vision is for a world where the creative process is valued because of how it can enhance our well-being and have each of us start our journey to self-discovery.

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Poet-Editor

Bruce Kauffman

Bruce Kauffman lives in Kingston, and is a poet, editor, and workshop facilitator. His written work has appeared in several anthologies and journals, two chapbooks, and four collections of poetry, with an evening’s absence still waiting for moon his latest in 2019. He continues to host the ‘and the journey continues’ monthly open mic reading series he founded in 2009, and also produces and hosts his weekly spoken word radio show, finding a voice at CFRC 101.9fm and cfrc.ca, which debuted in 2010. He was the thread in a 2019 film called Who is Bruce Kauffman? that featured several Kingston-area poets, artists/performers, and filmmakers. He was awarded the 2020 Kingston Mayor’s Arts Champion Award for his advocacy, volunteerism, and support of the Kingston art/poetry scene. (Photo credit: Ali Dixon)

Art Therapist-Writer

Anne Walsh

Anne Walsh is an art therapist, writer, public speaker and mother of two. She chose to pursue graduate studies in art therapy out of a desire to connect more deeply with people who struggle to communicate what they are experiencing. Covid has caused Anne to pivot her business by providing online support through her art therapy sessions, creative journalling group, ghost writing services and speaking support. Some of the proceeds from her work with women in their 40s and 50s is being invested in programs to help new moms receive the support they deserve.

Poet-Author

Chris Turnbul

Chris Turnbull is the author of two books of poetry: Continua (Chaudiere Books 2015; Invisible Press 2019) and [ untitled ] in o w n (CUE Books 2014), and several chapbooks. Her work is often hybrid and experimental in form. Her poetry, visual work, videopoems, and installations can be found online, in print, and within landscapes.

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Poet

Ron Chase

Ron was always drawn to the spoken word, even as a child in rural Ontario. He met his muse for the first time while attending Queen’s University. For a brief period he wrote poetry to the exclusion of all else but then suddenly stopped. He put down his pen and didn’t pick it up again for 25 years. His muse returned about two years ago with a vengeance and has shown little mercy since.

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Filmmaker

Dr. Paul Chaput

Paul is a Métis academic, actor, singer, composer, filmmaker, and poet. In November 2015 he completed his PhD in Geography at Queen’s University. His dissertation uses film (Planting Stories, Feeding Communities: Knowledge, Indigenous Peoples, and Film) as a research methodology to bring findings back to Indigenous communities and to engage the public on the subject of Native Studies. Paul has co-produced, hosted, and narrated 26 episodes of Finding Our Talk: A Journey Through Aboriginal Languages that aired on Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).  In addition to five episodes he wrote and directed for Finding Our Talk, he has produced, written, and directed two docudramas on Restorative Justice for Nishnawbe Aski Legal Services to help Treaty 3 frontline workers introduce Restorative Justice practices in northern fly-in communities. Two CDs of his original compositions were nominated at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards for Best Male Vocalist and Best Folk Album. He was a founder and the Artistic Director for the first three years the Métis Arts Festival in Toronto.
In 1995 he was awarded the Star of Courage by Governor General Romeo Leblanc.

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