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Authority record
Vogel, Vic
VV1 · Person · August 3, 1935-September 16, 2019

Musician Victor Stephan Vogel, of Austrian-Hungarian descent, known as Vic Vogel, was born in Montreal on August 3, 1935, as the second son of first-generation immigrants Emilia Zuelt and Mathias Vogel, who was of gypsy origin. Vic Vogel grew up on Bullion Street in Montreal. His father played accordion, and especially violin. Vic learned to play piano at the age of 5, by watching his older brother Frank as he studied piano. Vic also taught himself to play trombone, tuba, and vibraphone as well as arranging. At twelve years old, he dropped out of school. He started performing in Montreal Jazz clubs, and by the late 1950s he was playing in numerous orchestras. In 1960 he conducted his first ensemble at the Montreal night club Chez Paree. He went on tour with the orchestra Les Doubles Six de Paris in 1961 and with a CBC band in 1966. From 1965 to 1982, he was part of the staff creating the emission “Femmes d’aujourd’hui” at Radio-Canada, and has been musical director for a number of variety shows. At CBC radio, he conducted his own bands, including the Vic Vogel Big Band, which was formed in 1968. During its 50 years existence, this band became an important part of Montreal’s jazz scene. Every year from 1980 to 2015, Vic Vogel performed at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. He composed and arranged the music for the opening ceremonies for the Man and his World world's fair Expo 67, the Olympic Games held in Montreal in 1976, the Canada Games in 1985, as well as for the 1981 and 1985 Grey Cup football game half-time shows. Vogel’s other compositions include musicals for the Théâtre des variétés, program themes for CBC-TV and CTV, and film soundtracks. He has also created arrangements for jazz soloists and symphony orchestras. Vic Vogel released his first piano solo album in May 1993. In 2010, Vogel was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Concordia University. In June 2019, he received the Medal of the National Assembly.
Vic Vogel died in Montreal on September 16, 2019.

Vineberg, Lillian
LV1 · Person · [19-] -

1983 Faculty of Fine Arts graduate, artist, and long-time community volunteer, Lillian Vineberg was elected Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors in July 1997 for a one-year term, having served since 1996 as a community-at-large representative. Vineberg assumed the role of interim Chair of the Board of Governors in 1999, following the sudden death of then Chair, Reginald K. Groome, before being elected Chair of the Board of Governors at their November 17, 1999 meeting. Vineberg stepped down as Chair in 2003 and was soon re-elected to the Board of Governors as community-at-large representative until her retirement in 2011.

  • Vineberg served on several Advisory Search Committees: in 1996 she represented the community-at-large on the Advisory Search Committee for the Dean of Engineering and Computer science; in 1997 she was a member of the Advisory Search Committee for the Director of University Libraries; in 1999 she represented the community-at-large on the Advisory Search Committee for the position of Rector and Vice-Chancellor; in 2003 she represented the Executive Committee on the Advisory Search Committee for Provost; in 2004 she represented the community-at-large on the Advisory Search Committee for the Dean of Fine Arts.
  • In 1998, along with other 35 prominent Montrealers, Vineberg was a member of the External Advisory Board of the Faculty of Fine Arts, which was created to publicize faculty accomplishments.
  • In 1998 Vineberg also chaired the Task Force on the Revitalization of the Loyola Campus, created to find solutions to Loyola’s longstanding identity crisis. The Force’s final report was submitted to the Board of Governors at their April 15, 1998 meeting, after seven months of intense work. Richard J. Renaud paid tribute to Vineberg at the Richard J. Renaud Science Complex opening ceremony on September 2, 2003, citing her work as Chair of the Force.
  • Vineberg raised $7,200 in pledges at the 2000 Concordia Shuffle.
  • Vineberg spoke at a February 20, 2001 ceremony unveiling two large installations in the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall lobby in acknowledgement of the generosity of donors to the recent Capital Campaign. She was appointed Chair of the Installation Committee in 2005.
  • On May 11, 2006 Vineberg received the Humberto Santos Award of Merit at the 15th Annual Concordia University Alumni Association Recognition Awards banquet for her work with the Board of Governors, Fine Arts Advisory Board, and Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery Board.
  • The Lillian Vineberg Graduate Award in Painting and Drawing was created in 2010.
Villeneuve, Norman Marshall
NMV1 · Person · May 29, 1938 -

Norman (Norm) Marshall Villeneuve was born in Montreal, Quebec, on May 29, 1938. His mother is Adeline Villeneuve. From age 7, he was raised by foster parents, Alonso and Josephine Griffith, in the Little Burgundy area of St. Henri in Montreal. He is married to Louise Artibello-Villeneuve.
Norman Marshall Villeneuve first learned tap dance from his foster brother Charles. He began his career as a tap dancer and singer at age 8. At the same time, he began to teach himself how to play drums, and received piano lessons from Daisy Peterson-Sweeney at the Negro Community Centre. By age 14 he was a professional drummer. He has had a successful career as a musician for more than six decades. In the 1960s and early 1970s, he worked at Montreal clubs, including Rockhead’s Paradise, Chez Paris, the Black Bottom and Café la Bohème. From 1965 to 1968, he toured as a drummer with his cousin Oliver Jones throughout North and South America. In 1974, Norman Marshall Villeneuve moved from Montreal to Toronto, where he played in several jazz clubs, including Bourbon Street, The Senator, The Pilot and The Rex. Under his banner “Norman Marshall Villeneuve’s Jazz Message”, Villeneuve has mentored many young jazz musicians and has provided emerging musicians with the opportunity to perform. He relocated to Montreal in 2013.

Verthuy, Maïr
MV1 · Person · 19XX-

Maïr Verthuy started her teaching career at Concordia University as a Sessional Lecturer in French at Sir George Williams University in 1966, becoming Assistant Professor in 1969. After the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University in 1974, she worked with other feminist scholars on the establishment of a college dedicated to Women’s Studies. She became the first principal of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at its opening in 1978. Verthuy remained an Associate Professor at the department of Études françaises until being granted the rank of Professor in 1992. She would be getting the title of Distinguished Professor Emerita, in 2004 after announcing her retirement in 2003. She’s the author of many books and articles and presented at many colloquia around the world. Her domains of expertise are women’s rights and French literature.

  • Maïr Verthuy chaired Concordia’s Arts Faculty Council Committee on Experimentation and Innovation in Higher Education (or AFC Education Committee) in 1974.
  • Verthuy was a Democratic Alliance candidate in the St. Louis riding during the Quebec general election of 1976 (becoming Maïr Williams-Verthuy for the occasion as women running at the time had to use their maiden name tacked to their married names).
  • In 1978, Verthuy launched Les Cahiers de la femme/Canadian Women’s Studies of which she was an editor.
  • Verthuy gave the opening remarks at the Terre des Femmes ’79, a meeting of women’s groups from the Island of Montreal organized by the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Loyola’s Campus Centre in March 1979.
  • On May 4, 1979, Maïr Verthuy was honoured at Salon de la femme for her extraordinary contribution to the status of Women in the province of Quebec especially in the field of education.
  • Maïr Verthuy was the chief organizer of the International Conference on Research and Teaching Related to Women, sponsored by the Simone the Beauvoir Institute and held July 26 to August 4, 1982. The conference attracted 342 participants from 82 different countries.
  • Maïr Verthuy received the John O’Brien Tenth Anniversary Distinguished Teaching Award in 1985.
  • A Maïr Verthuy Scholarship was established in 1986. Its first recipient was Kathy Silver.
  • Verthuy was one of the founders of the Centre de recherche et d’enseignement sur la francophonie et les femmes (CREFF) in 1988. Among other things, the centre aimed at promoting local research on women in francophone countries.
  • In September 1995, she represented Canada at the United Nations World Conference on Women held in Beijing.
  • The YMCA selected Verthuy as the recipient for the 1997 Women of Distinction Award for the Advancement of Women.
  • The three-day conference Les Femmes de lettres et le français hors frontière held at Concordia in May 15 to 17, 1998 was held in honour of Maïr Verthuy.
  • On the recommendation of Quebec’s Minister of Education, Verthuy was made Chevalière, Ordre des Palmes Académiques by decree of the prime minister of France in recognition of her long commitment to teaching and research in French language and culture in 2002.
  • Verthuy was granted a Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case on November 7, 2008.
  • She was named to the Order of Canada by the Governor General in 2012.
  • Verthuy was the subject of the 2014 movie Autour de Maïr, directed by Hejer Charf.
  • She was inducted in the Ordre national du Québec, becoming a Chevalière in 2019.
Verschingel, Roger H.
RV1 · Person · 1928-1996

Roger Verschingel was born on January 19, 1928 and died on May 27, 1996 in Montreal. He was a professor of chemistry at Concordia University and one of its two founding institutions, Sir George Williams University. He received a Diplôme d’études scientifiques from Collège Notre-Dame in June 1946, a Bachelor of Science from Sir George Williams College in 1949 and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from McGill University in 1955.

He joined the Sir George Williams University staff in 1954 as a lecturer in Chemistry (Natural Science Division). He later became associate professor and professor in 1968. He was Chair of the Department of Chemistry from 1968 to 1973, and was Dean of Sir George Williams Faculty of Science from 1973 until the creation of the Concordia University Faculty of Arts and Science in 1977. Professor Verschingel retired in 1993.

Véhicule Press
VP1 · Corporate body · 1973-

Véhicule Press began in 1973 on the premises of Véhicule Art Inc. (Montreal), one of Canada's first artist-run galleries. The large space occupied by both the gallery and the press at 61 St. Catherine St. West was once the Café Montmarte, the renowned jazz club of the 1930s.

Guy Lavoie, Annie Nayer, Marshalore, and Vivian Jemelka-White established Véhicule Press. For printing purposes, they began using equipment inherited from Kenny Hertz's defunct Ingluvin Publications and an ATF Chief 20 printing press originally purchased by artist Tom Dean to print Beaux-Arts magazine. In 1973, Véhicule Press submitted their first Local Initiatives Project (LIP) grant.

In 1975 the press became Coopérative d'Imprimerie Véhicule - Quebec's only cooperatively-owned printing and publishing company. Coopérative d'Imprimerie Véhicule was officially incorporated in 1976. Members of the coop included Guy Lavoie, Simon Dardick, Marshalore, Léo Vanasse, Vivian White, and Willy Wood. Véhicule Press was the publishing imprint of the coop. In the same year, an editorial board was formed to allow the Press to apply for Canada Council grants. The editorial board was composed of poets Andre Farkas, Artie Gold, and Ken Norris. Véhicule Press was accepted into the lock Grant Programme of the Canada Council in 1979. The editorial board was dissolved int eh same year.

In late spring 1977, Véhicule Press moved to 1000 Clark St. in the heart of Chinatown, and in 1980 it moved to an industrial space located on Ontario St. East. In spring 1981, the coop was dissolved and Simon Dardick (who had joined the press in the summer of 1973) and Nancy Marrelli continued Véhicule Press from Roy St. East in the Plateau area of Montreal.

Véhicule Press publishes poetry, fiction, essays, translations, and social history. Simon Dardick and Nancy Marrelli are the publishers and general editors of Véhicule Press; Patrick Goddard is Administrative Assistant; and Maya Assouad is Marketing and Promotions Manager.

Poet Michael Harris was the founding editor of the Véhicule Press Signal Poetry Series, established in 1981. The collaboration has resulted in over 50 books by 35 authors. Additionally, Michael Harris was the editor of The Signal Anthology: Contemporary Canadian Poetry (Signal, 1993). Poet, critic, and essayist Carmine Starnino became the editor of Signal Editions in January 200. 123 titles have been published in the Signal Poetry Series since 1981.Carmine Starnino is the editor of The New Canon: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry (Signal, 2005).

Author Andrew Steinmetz is the founding editor of Véhicule's fiction imprint, Esplanade Books, established in 2003. Steinmetz was succeeded by author Dimitri Nasrallah, who has worked as the editor of the series since 2013.

Author Brian Busby is the editor of Ricochet Books, a series consisting of vintage noir mysteries, many of them set in Montreal.

Author Derek Webster became a Senior Editor of the press in 2018.

Covers for Signal and Esplanade Books are designed by David Drummond of Salamander Hill Design. John W. Stewart began designing covers for the press in the 1970s. At present, Stewart designs the Véhicule catalogue cover and occasional non-fiction.

Véhicule Art Research Group
VARG1 · Corporate body · 1991-199-?

The objective of the Véhicule Art Research Group, created in 1991, is the documentation and analysis of avant-garde art in Montreal during the 1970s, through the examination and interpretation of the activities of the artists' cooperative, Véhicule Art (Montréal) Inc. within the period 1972-1983. Véhicule Art (Montréal) Inc. was the first and most important alternate art gallery, resource centre, and educational agency for the expression of experimental art in Montreal.

The Investigation of the Activities of Véhicule Art (Montréal) Inc., 1972-1983 project began with the analysis and evaluation of the Véhicule Art (Montréal) Inc. fonds (P0027) held by the Concordia University Archives. This was followed by the identification and collection of missing primary and secondary documentation. To gather information not available in printed form, oral history interviews were also conducted with artists who exhibited or performed at the gallery.

During the next few years, the full body of documentation will be interpreted through various art historical methodologies. The results of the research will be disseminated through publications, exhibitions, seminars, and graduate and undergraduate courses.

The Véhicule Art Research Group is composed of Sandra Paikowsky (Concordia University associate professor), Brian Foss (Concordia University associate professor), and Nancy Marrelli (director of Concordia University Archives).

Véhicule Art Inc.
VA1 · Corporate body · 1972-1983

Véhicule Art Inc. was legally founded in March 1972 and the gallery opened at 61 Ste.Catherine St. West in the central core of Montréal on October 13, 1972. The first alternate space in the city, it was the creation of thirteen founding members who wanted a "non-profit, non-political centre directed by and for artists." The gallery was intended "to provide a space for the community in which to encounter art and art ideas through as many forms as these processes involve." This would hopefully, "rejuvenate public interest in the visual arts in Montréal, stimulating public consciousness and developing its interest."

Véhicule was conceived as both an exhibition space for visual artists and a locale for performance, video, film, dance, music, and poetry readings. As well, the founders stressed its essential role as an education and information centre with discussion groups, guest lectures, resource and documentation libraries as well as a liaison programme with public schools and universities within the city. Such aims were intended "to fill a gap in the community."

With some financial support from federal granting agencies, Véhicule embarked on its highly ambitious gallery programming and public information activities. The establishment of a press in 1973, at the back of the gallery, led to the production of artists' books, exhibition catalogues, newsletters, posters and poetry publications. Such Véhicule Press works reflected the multi-disciplinary atmosphere of Véhicule as various members of the group collaborated on specific projects. In addition, a slide bank and video collection were begun, adding to its informational resources.

In the early years, Véhicule's primary preoccupation was to bring to public attention the work of experimental local artists and in particular, their involvement with international trends. The opening exhibition of thirty-two works by twenty Montréal artists, chosen by nine Véhicule members, exemplified not only the concern for the new in the city but the spirit of a collectivity through the jury system. Although only four women artists participated in this show, two months later an exhibition of artwork by thirty-five young Montréal women was presented.

While Véhicule stated it espoused no single ideology, its orientation toward experimental aesthetic attitudes explains its strong support of anti-object art, with its particular emphasis on installation, performance and multi-media projects. During 1972 and 1973, about sixty events and exhibitions were presented, with three hundred participants, almost all from Montréal. A year later, approximately one half of the artists and performers were from outside of the local community. This shift reflected Véhicule's growing concern for becoming a vital part of a larger art milieu. The number of exhibitions and events remained quite constant through the 1970's, reaffirming the energy and ambition of its programming.

By 1975, Véhicule had gained official recognition by the inclusion of its members in two exhibitions organized by Montréal's Musée d'art contemporain. Public galleries outside Montréal also showed the works of Véhicule artists. Véhicule Press had expanded to form a cooperative printing company. The membership more than doubled and the gallery became involved in important exchanges with other alternative art centres in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Its programme of school visits, exhibitions of art students' work from local art schools and universities, as well as public events like the Kite Show (1973) and projects for the 1976 Olympics suggest Véhicule's determination to become an integral part of Montréal's cultural community.

As the membership expanded and the various disciplines represented at Véhicule became more consolidated, individual directions emerged. Véhicule Press developed a more extensive and ambitious publishing programme and became autonomous in 1977 when it moved to Chinatown. Dance and poetry readings increasingly became an essential part of Véhicule's activities. Gallery events and exhibitions were consistently reviewed in local newspapers and its public profile flourished. Video Véhicule, begun in 1976, established the gallery's importance as one of Canada's most active centres for the medium. During the late years of the 1970's video events dominated the gallery's programming and the large proportion of international artists at Véhicule attested to its solid reputation.

Despite these accomplishments, internal conflicts arose concerning the direction of Véhicule's programming and its administration. There was also increased polarization between the various disciplines involved with Véhicule. The original premise of a cohesive artists' collective had dramatically changed. In the summer of 1979, Véhicule moved to a larger space at 307 Ste. Catherine St. West and renamed Le Musée d'art vivant Véhicule.

During the final years, administrative and programming problems continued to plague the group. Memberships fell dramatically but became more restrictive. The separation of Video Véhicule (renamed Prime Video) from the umbrella organization was an example of the fallout from internal discord and conflicting ideologies within the cooperative. The art community which had supported Véhicule for almost a decade now believed that the alternate centre was neither responding to nor reflecting the needs of Montréal artists. That there were three generations of Véhicule artists in one decade demonstrates the shifts in the gallery's orientation and focus. As had happened often in the history of Montréal's art community, a coalition such as Véhicule eventually outlived its original mandate and purpose. As well, the city itself had become more responsive to new tendencies in art. Despite various stop-gap measures to renew interest in Véhicule, the last events took place in June 1982 and it was quietly disbanded in 1983. An era in Montréal's cultural history was over.

Vazan, Bill
BV1 · Person · 1933-

Bill Vazan was born in Toronto in 1933. As an artist located in Montreal, for many years he worked with photography and video as well as doing sculpture, primarily with rocks. Vazan's work can be seen in galleries around the world. He was one of the artists involved in Corridart dans la rue Sherbrooke (1976).

Valaskakis, Gail
GV1 · Person · 1939-2007

Gail Gutrie Valaskakis joined Loyola College in 1967 as a lecturer in the Department of Communication Arts. In 1969, she was appointed assistant professor, Communication Arts. Loyola College merged with Sir George Williams University to form Concordia University in 1974. In 1980, Gail Valaskakis was promoted to Associate Professor of Communication Studies in Concordia University, and in 1989 to the rank of full Professor. In 1992 she was named dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science. Outside the University. Dr. Valaskakis retired from Concordia University in 1998.

Tynes, Maurice
MT1 · Person · 1915-1978

Maurice Tynes was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in 1915. After the Second World War, Tynes settled in Little Burgundy, a neighborhood in South-West Montreal.

During the Second World War, Tynes served in the Canadian Armed Forces as part of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders infantry regiment. He later worked as a Feed Grain Operator for the Port of Montreal, where he worked until his retirement around 1975. Tynes had two children: Linda Jones and Robert Tynes.

Maurice Tynes passed away in Montreal in 1978 at the age of 63.