ZARA LEAF

www.zaraleaf.com

ZARA has been a professional visual artist, since she opted out of art school, and has created an impressive collection of original watercolor, acrylic and oil paintings, print reproductions and her own line of hand-painted glassware. She is known as much for her fantastical themes including fairies, unicorns, elves and the phoenix, as she is for her striking use of vibrant colors.

In many ways ZARA’s artistic career demonstrates the creativity necessary for Canadian artists navigating today’s diverse economic and creative landscapes. In 1997 ZARA was a founding member of Tribe of One, a multi-disciplinary artist collective that featured musicians, dancers and visual artists sharing the stage. As a performance painter, ZARA has toured across Canada, the U.S., England, Ireland and Scotland. In 1999 the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada sent ZARA and the rest of the Tribe to Kosovo to participate in a United Nations sponsored benefit concert for war-affected children.

In 2004 ZARA combined her artistic expertise with a passion for tattooing, becoming a full-time professional tattoo artist. This allowed her clients and collectors the opportunity to become living canvases displaying her incredibly unique and personal one-of-a-kind original tattoos.

ZARA’s artwork has been featured on three internationally released CD covers. She was a featured artist and panelist on Free TV, a nationally broadcast pop culture talk show, as well as a documentary the CBC produced on Tribe of One’s tour to Kosovo.

 

RIK LEAF

www.rikleaf.com

Rik Leaf is an Independent Canadian Recording Artist and Cultural Activist whose career demonstrates the creative spirit and ingenuity necessary for many of today’s successful artists.

Featured as a songwriter & performer on six internationally released compilation CDs 1995 – 2002, Rik has also produced four full-length CDs including his latest solo disc ‘now is the winter of our discontent’ in 2006.

In 1997 Rik moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba and established an artist collective called Tribe of One, featuring dancers and visual artists sharing the stage with musicians. One year later the band headlined Toronto’s Fresh Wind Festival along with Brit rocker Paul Oakley, performing for crowds over 7000.

That same year Tribe of One performed live on Free TV, a nationally broadcast pop culture talk show where Rik was also a guest panelist. Four years later in 2002, the producers of Free TV invited Rik to be the assistant producer, ‘shit-disturbing’ panelist and featured musical guest for all 24 episodes of their 4th season.

In 1999 the Department of Foreign Affair’s sent Tribe of One to Kosovo to participate in the United Nations humanitarian festival ‘The Return’ hosted by Vanessa Redgrave. That tour solidified Rik’s passion as an artistic activist and allowed him to develop relationships with the Red Cross, War Child Canada and legendary artist/activist Bruce Cockburn. Over the years Rik has produced and participated in numerous benefit concerts including Toronto’s International Concert for Peace and the Art for Real Change Festival in 2006.

In 2006 Rik established JUST Artists Inc., a not-for-profit arts organization facilitating the coordination of a national affiliation of socially conscious writers, artists, musicians, performers and producers committed to improving the world through their artistic contributions.

Over the last 10 years Rik has developed into a highly adaptable and exciting live performer, playing in bars and clubs, coffee shops and cafes, house concerts, benefit concerts, art galleries and outdoor festivals. Whether he’s performing as a solo artist or with a band, Rik consistently delivers passionate and engaging performances that have inspired a growing number of faithful fans and appreciative audiences

 

JOHN WEIER

www.poets.ca/johnweier

John Weier was born in Winnipeg and grew up on a peach farm near Niagara-on-the- Lake, Ontario. After graduating from high school, he studied anthropology and history of religions at the University of Manitoba. In 1975 he began work as Winnipeg's resident luthier; maker of banjos, violas and violins. He’s built some hundred stringed instruments.

John has studied in India and England. He’s worked in the Canadian book publishing industry and as a musician with the Duck Mountain Bluegrass Band. He coached for ten years in the Manitoba Fastball program and was awarded the Manitoba Order of Sport Excellence. He is a past president of the League of Canadian Poets and past Creator Co-chair of the Access Copyright Board of Directors. John began writing in his teens and has pursued this vocation professionally since 1983.

His first book, a collection of poems titled After the Revolution, was published in 1986; his tenth, Stand the Sacred Tree, a work of creative non-fiction, was published in the spring of 2004. Other books include Steppe: A Novel, Marshwalker, Friends Coming Back As Animals, and Violinmaker’s Lament. His writing tends to ride the genre boundaries.

John works freelance as a writer and violin restorer. He has travelled extensively in Africa and Europe. He is an avid bird-watcher (he’s logged more than 1,200 species) and bird guide; and the owner of Punchpenny, a small chapbook press. He has two grown and miraculous children, Anna and Jonathan, and lives in Winnipeg.

John has been published in a variety of literary journals and anthologies, and has read widely in Canada, Iceland, Denmark, India, Syria and the United States.
               
Africa: A History of Love, Wolsak and Wynn, to be released in the fall of 2007
Stand the Sacred Tree, Turnstone Press, creative non-fiction, March 2004
The Violinmaker’s Lament, Wolsak and Wynn, poetry, 2003
Marshwalker: Naturalist Memoirs, Turnstone Press, creative non-fiction, 1998
Coils of the Yamuna, Broken Jaw Press, poetry, 1998
Friends Coming Back As Animals, Moonstone Press, short fiction, 1996
Twelve Poems for Emily Carr, Punchpenny Press, poetry chapbook, 1996
Steppe: A Novel, Thistledown Press, experimental fiction, 1995
Those Tiny Bits of Beans, Pemmican Publications, children's picture book, 1995
Ride the Blue Roan, Turnstone Press, poetry, 1988
After the Revolution, Turnstone Press, poetry chapbook, 1986