By Jan Oakley, Lakehead Education News: 

Robin Faye, a visual artist and Master of Education student with a focus on Environmental and Sustainability Education, has created an art piece (see below) currently on display at the “Breaking Ground” exhibition at the Baggage Building Arts Centre in Thunder Bay.
The artwork is an interactive piece about pedagogical learning spaces. Robin created it as part of an arts-integrated research project conducted by Dr. Pauline Sameshima, her thesis supervisor. The artwork invites viewers to gently move inside it and sit on a meditation cushion to contemplate.

Robin explains that Dr. Sameshima worked with yoga teachers in her research, inviting the participants to write about their training process and respond to art she had created. Robin then read what the participants had written, and responded with the creation of her own piece, which deliberately remains untitled.

“My artwork is my impression of the yoga teachers’ experiences,” she explains. “Viewers will have their own interpretations of it, but some themes include contemplation, personal growth, and internal experiences. It references a snake skin, as one of the participants described her experience of growing as a yoga teacher to be like shedding her skin, like a snake.”

Robin adds that arts-integrated research is a dialogic process between artist and participant, with a goal of authentic expression. It’s a fluid process that can change according to context – much like one’s impressions of art.

Robin’s artwork was selected as the cover art for the show, which is a spring exhibition of multidisciplinary works by 20 artists. It is on view until June 29th at the Baggage Building Arts Centre in Thunder Bay.
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Her work is also exhibited online at Lakehead University's Arts Integrated Studies Virtual Gallery, which is curated by a jury coordinated by Dr. Sameshima. 

By Jan Oakley, Lakehead Education News. 

Dr. Pauline Sameshima (Professor and Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies), has won a SSHRC “Aid to Scholarly Journals” grant, for the open-access Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies (JCACS). Dr. Sameshima is Editor-in-Chief of JCACS. Lakehead Doctoral student, Holly Tsun Haggarty, is the Associate and Managing Editor of JCACS.

The three-year award, valued over $100,000, will support this Canadian journal in continuing to publish the most innovative and provocative curriculum work in Canada — experimenting in various modes of knowledge mobilization, and increasing dissemination, discoverability and readership of original research results. 

JCACS publishes articles semi-annually in both French and English that address curriculum issues of interest to Canada and Canadians and an international readership such as curriculum pedagogies in elementary and secondary schools, undergraduate and graduate courses, and informal or community-based settings. The journal aims to reflect the diverse scholarship of the members of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, which includes the special interest groups: Science Education Research Group, Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada, Regroupement pour l’étude de l’éducation francophone en milieu minoritaire, Canadian Critical Pedagogy Association, and the Arts Researchers and Teachers Society.

"The funding is critical to developing a sustainable, accessible, and inclusive journal. We will be able to operationalize our goals of including bilingual abstracts, publish more French articles, support social media dissemination, develop mentorship/community dialogues, and update and secure our current platform, Dr. Sameshima says. "We are so grateful for the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council."

Poetic responses with Sean Wiebe to prints in the  'Diversity Innovation International Printmaking: Artistic Vision, Poetic Voice Exhibit" opens in Wales.

More information is here.

By Jan Oakley,  Lakehead Education News: 

Congratulations to Dr. Pauline Sameshima (Professor and Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies), who has won a 2018 Contribution to Research Award for her relevant research activities over the past three years.

The award recognizes Dr. Sameshima’s productivity in quantity and quality, her interdisciplinary range, and her scholarly outputs such as peer-reviewed journals and books while she creates, disseminates, and curates research through the arts. It also recognizes her mentorship of graduate students, her attainment of funding, and her research collaboration with scholars across disciplines.

“The arts offer loving ways to engage communities in collaborative research, and through the arts, we can share research with different communities. I am honoured to have received this award and am grateful to co-researchers, community partners, graduate students, and Lakehead for making my work possible,” she says.

One of Dr. Sameshima's endeavors includes the addition of two new research art galleries that opened at Lakehead this year. She curates the Galleries@LakeheadU spaces, which are made up of five different locations for displaying research done at the University.
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Below: Pauline Sameshima with Anne Klymenko (Director of the Office of Research Services) in front of artworks created by Pauline Sameshima and Patricia Morchel (PhD student at Columbia University, NY).

 by Jan Oakley is in the Education Exchange Newsletter, January 2019,  p. 9.

See UBC Alumni interview
"When I’m worrying about something, my mother says to try not to force things, to let things happen. That is the best advice. You cannot force a garden to grow, only tend it, nurture it, and breathe."

“The knowledge economy has been replaced by the creative economy, bringing to the forefront worldwide studies that link weak creativity development at work and school to unhealthy economic and societal well-being,” she said. “Advances in Canada’s creativity will depend on broader audiences being able to participate in active learning and making at all levels. Creativity is not relegated to artists.”
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The Canada Research Chairs program, which attracts world-class researchers to universities, has positioned Canada as an international leader and destination of choice in research and development.

In total, the Government of Canada will provide $158.7 million in support to 186 newly awarded and renewed Canada Research Chairs. The research has potential benefits for Canadians and their families, businesses, practitioners and policy-makers. 
The Canada Research Chairs program invests approximately $265 million per year toward research in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.

Dr. John O’Meara, Dean of Lakehead’s Faculty of Education, said Dr. Sameshima will continue working with partners and faculty in Thunder Bay, other parts of Canada, and internationally to develop creative ways of exploring and expressing research.

“We are proud to have Dr. Sameshima renewed as a CRC and look forward to seeing her research reach broad audiences through the arts,” Dr. O’Meara said.

Dr. Sameshima curates Galleries@Lakeheadu and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies. Her latest award-winning book is a co-edited collection titled Poetic Inquiry: Enchantment of Place published by Vernon Press.

“During Pauline’s first term as a Canada Research Chair she has brought inspiring work in the creative arts and helped us appreciate innovative research through different lenses,” said Dr. Andrew P. Dean, Lakehead’s Vice-President, Research and Innovation.  “I look forward to her research contributions in the second term.”

Dr. Sameshima's research projects include the implementation of creativity propulsion theories, community-engaged research, prenatal education access, dementia studies, and designing teaching and learning models.

A 3-minute research video she created with her team on prenatal education demonstrates how the arts can facilitate research dissemination to the broader public. More on Dr. Sameshima's research can be found at solspire.com.

Dr. Sameshima’s Chair, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, has been renewed for five years.

​Lakehead University has approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and 2,000 faculty and staff in 10 faculties at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead is a fully comprehensive university: home to Ontario’s newest Faculty of Law in 44 years, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, and faculties of Engineering, Business Administration, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Social Sciences & Humanities, Science & Environmental Studies, Natural Resources Management, Education, and Graduate Studies. Maclean’s 2018 University Rankings place Lakehead University among Canada's Top 10 primarily undergraduate universities, as well as first in Total Research Dollars, second for Citations, and third for Scholarships and Bursaries. In 2017, Research Infosource named Lakehead Research University of the Year in its category for the third consecutive year. Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

​https://www.lakeheadu.ca/academics/departments/education/news/node/46396 

Dr. Pauline Sameshima, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies, was awarded a SSHRC Connections Grant. The grant, matched with funding from the Office of Research Services, supported the first Social Innovation Forum: a full-day event that focused on community-based research addressing some of the most pressing social issues in our communities.
Co-Investigators on the grant were: Charles Levkoe, Christopher Mushquash, David Greenwood, Elaine Wiersma, Max Haiven and Collaborator: PhebeAnn Wolframe-Smith. Visioning and planning for the Social Innovation Forum was supported by Pauline Sameshima, Charles Levkoe, Elaine Wiersma, Anne Klymenko, Batia Stolar, PhebeAnn Wolframe-Smith and Rita Nicholas.
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“The Forum, which was part of Lakehead University’s Research and Innovation Week 2018, was designed to showcase the impact that community-University partnerships can have on social justice and innovation,” Dr. Sameshima explains.

The Forum began with a luncheon, with keynote speaker Dr. Katherine Graham (Carleton Centre for Community Innovation) speaking on the topic of “Who’s in Charge Here? Community-Based Research and Social Innovation.”

In the afternoon, a research conversation took place between Lakehead researchers and community organizations, discussing topics of concern to Thunder Bay and the region. Recommendations from the community conversation will help inform the development of a community engaged research strategy for Lakehead University.

The evening research panel, entitled “City Limits: Addressing Social Injustice through Community-Based Research,” brought together diverse local, national, and international researchers who discussed barriers to inclusion in urban environments, and how community-based research can support potential solutions. Dr. Sameshima was the panel facilitator.

“The day’s events aimed to create dialogues on how Lakehead University’s research capacity can be utilized to inform and address challenges confronting community organizations and our city. Through the Forum, we honoured the opportunities to bring community and University together,” she says.

Cover of the Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies 15(2)

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​Miami. Autumn. 2017.
Walking the smooth sand of the beach and strolling the outdoor night life of Lincoln Road enthralls; even the clickety clack of the glossy hotel floors along the waterfront beguiles. From the air, I note that nothing is left of the territory but a thin strip of filtered white beach sand; the rest of the land is operationalized. The constructed Miami is the perfect eclipse of the land. The operation of humanity supplants the natural barrier islands. Post-truth politics, post-reality living and the hyperreal are declaimed through the social media microphone and even the sea has become colonized parcels of exchange-value.

Read more. . . 

2018 Society of Professors of Education "Outstanding Book Award Honorable Mention"
Available! See endorsements for the book here! 
​https://vernonpress.com/title.php?id=134#.WUmSgWjyuM8

Editorial and Journal Cover: Journal for the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies  See http://jcacs.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jcacs/article/view/40328

Tuning the Body, Breath, and Mind
 
In this special workshop, you will connect and come to recognize your body through smooth and simple movements in typical and non-typical yoga Asanas. The class will integrate Traditional Chinese Medicine philosophy to help release tension (and pains by those seeking release). You will gradually switch your focus from external chaos toward internal peace. The whole process is a full yogic kriya/cleansing path--healing and washing the inner body and mind, re-organizing the inner body and mind to create more space, and recharging vital energy. The hope is to eventually cease the active mind, return to the base of yoga, create balance and unity within, and to allow energy to flow naturally.
 
About the Instructor
Tao Yu is the founder of Yutao Yoga, a leading yoga studio in Kunming, Yunnan, China. Tao has been studying yoga for near 20 years, and has been teaching for 15 years. He graduated from Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana in Bangalore India. Tao has studied with the most well known Hatha yoga masters,  B.K.S Iyengar and K. Pattabhi Jois, since 1999. Tao’s teaching is based on alignment and therapeutic approaches, yet adapts and adjusts to each individual. His method of teaching is "Treat others' bodies as mine; treat my own body as others’”. Beside teaching, Tao has also written articles for yoga magazines and translated and interpreted for yoga masters. He was invited to interpret for B. K. S Iyengar’s first ever conference teaching in China.