GIMME MORE | Designed by SUSAN COLLETT + PENELOPE STEWART + NICHOLAS STIRLING | RESERVE THIS ROOM

The Gladstone’s Racine room is an intimate, elegant retreat. Guests will be enticed to leave their cell phones behind as they step into the grandeur of the past and experience a sense of the romances of hotel travel during the Victorian period. An audio postcard built into the room décor adds to the ambience.  

ARTIST STATEMENT

The architecture of the Gladstone currently being restored to its former glory gave us the inspiration to create a room that would reflect its new elegance while playing with contemporary notions of displacement. We are interested in the push and pull of travel, the longing for adventure while longing to be at home. Ideas such as...I am here... I was here... You are here... Wish you were here.... began to percolate. Maps, old postcards, stamps, old luggage, mazes all became source material to create the functional and the mise en scéne. A further element added to the space is a soundscape. The guest has the option of listening to a CD "audio postcard" composition or tuning into the regular outside radio broadcasts.

ARTIST BIO

Susan Collett is a Toronto-based artist who works both as a printmaker and ceramist. She has recieved numerous grants and awards and her work is included in many Corporate and Private collections including Ernst & Young, Bank of Montreal, and The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery. In 2003 as a Winifred Shantz award recipient she spent 3 months in Jingdezhen, China which culminated in two solo exhibitions of her work at The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Kitchener and at Prime Gallery, Toronto. In September 2005 she will be mounting her first solo exhibition in Montréal at Galerie Elena Lee. In 2006 Susan Collett has been invited to create a courtyard installation at the Burlington Arts Centre. She is represented by Prime Gallery in Toronto.

Penelope Stewart received a BFA from York University. She has shown her work both Nationally and Internationally (Toronto, Calgary, Montréal, Vancouver, San Antonio, Rotterdam and Prague). Her work is held in major Public and Private Collections including Department of Foreign Affairs, Ontario Securities Commision, Cambridge Galleries, National Library of Canada. In the fall of 2005 she will be participating with a major installation sponsored by the Design Museum, Canberra Australia in dwell an exhibition of site installations which will coincide with the Canberra International Architecture and Design Biennale. Penelope Stewart is represented by Edward Day Gallery, Toronto.

Through his LuxuriaMusic studio facility, Nicholas Stirling has been composing and performing original music for many award-winning feature films, documentaries and television series since 1993. Clients have included, Canadian Geographic, Disney Films (Canada), Discovery Channel, TVOntario and others. Mr. Stirling holds an Audio Engineering Honours Diploma from the Harris Institute in Toronto, Arts Diploma from the Ontario College of Art & Design, and is an instrumentalist with formal training in Clarinet and Piano at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. An active member of the Guild of Canadian Film Composers since 1995, Mr. Stirling has been contracted Executive Assistant to the Director since 2001.

THANKS | Tony Preto, Manuel Goncalves, Stephen Farrell, Jean Guy Haché, Hayley Stewart, Loiuse Champion of Spitalfields

CONTACT | Nicholas Stirling: LuxuriaMusic / LuxuriaMedia 416.537.3050 nstirling@goodmedia.com
Penelope Stewart: 416-977-4010 penelope.stewart@rogers.com
Susan Collett: 416-504-5313 scollett@primus.ca