April 2009
State of the Arts
Vol. 9, Issue 4
P.O. Box 72786, Fairbanks, Alaska 99707
Published monthly by fairbanks Arts Association
IN THIS ISSUE
p2&3 Art Expo p3 art expo application p4 Reading Series p5 arts down the road p5 gift shop artist p6 gallery exhibit p7 Farthest North Jewish Film Fest
community calendar volunteer needs volunteer thanks committee meetings watercolor society corner oldie but goldie film series volunteer spotlight
“Promoting contemporary and traditional arts in Alaska’s Interior”
p8-9 p10 p10 p10 p11 p11 p12
Workshop with Jose Torres Tama
A community dialogue on issues of displacement Free Workshop • March 30-April 3 • 6-9pm Free Performance • April 4, 3pm • Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts Many of our local military experience changes with deployment, including
Are you:
Since 1995, Jose Torres Tama has been touring across the country with solo shows that thrive on a fusion of spoken word prose, bilingual poetry, rituals of fire, symbolic movement and exaggerated personae, creating spectacles that are visually dynamic and politically charged. Add to this cauldron a heady dose of hilariously absurd observations on consumer culture and you have a unique vision coming from a New Jersey/New York bred Ecuadorian-born brujo performance artist based in New Orleans. As an arts educator, he is dedicated to working in minority communities with Latino and African American teens through his Youth Performance Projects that introduce performance art and poetry as a means of self empowerment.
...military personnel or spouse? ...an exchange student? ...an rural student? ...dealing with issues of displacement?
Fa i rba n k s A r t s A ss o c i at i o n
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Fairbanks Arts Association was established in 1966 to promote and support the arts in the Fairbanks area. The Association is funded by private, corporate, and foundation memberships and donations, City of Fairbanks, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. With assistance from professional staff and charitable volunteers, the Association provides services in five areas: Visual, Literary, Performing, Community Arts and Arts Education. FAA also helps to raise funds for other arts groups, provides technical assistance and support for arts programing, encourages and advises individual artists and beginning organizations, sponsors workshops and presents educational forums.
FAA Phone: (907) 456-6485
adjusting to a single parent household. University students from other areas also experience similar difficulties and students from rural Alaska many times are presented with a cultural landscape that is foreign to them, which creates a sense of displacement in their own homeland.
Board of Directors Lorraine Peterson, President Marcella Hill, Vice President Leafy McBride, Secretary Myrna Colp, Treasurer
Members: Joan Stack Shane Hurd Darleen Masiak Calaya Williams Rebecca Burns Mary Ann Fortune Martin Miller
Staff June Rogers, Executive Director , ex 225 melissa@fairbanksarts.org
Sherry Faught, Office Manager/Bookkeeper, ex 223 sherry@fairbanksarts.org
Seth Schwartz, Program Coordinator, ex 227 seth@fairbanksarts.org
Jessica Rehfield, Education Coordinator, ex 222 jessica@fairbanksarts.org •
March 30 - April 3 6 - 9 pm
Free Performance April 4th, 3pm
june@fairbanksarts.org
Melissa Hougland, Associate Director, ex 226
Fairbanks Arts Association
Free Workshop
April 2009
Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts, Pioneer park, 2300 Airport Way
Workshop with Jose Torres Tama A community dialogue on issues of displacement Are you:
...military personnel or spouse? ... an exchange student? ...an rural student? ...dealing with issues of displacement?
Free Workshop March 30 - April 3, 2009 6 - 9 pm Free Performance April 4th @ 3pm Alaska Centennial center for the arts Pioneer park, 2300 airport way
Many of our local military experience changes with deployment, including adjusting to a single parent household. University students from other areas also experience similar difficulties and students from rural Alaska many times are presented with a cultural landscape that is foreign to them, which creates a sense of displacement in their own homeland. Since 1995, Jose Torres Tama has been touring across the country with solo shows that thrive on a fusion of spoken word prose, bilingual poetry, rituals of fire, symbolic movement and exaggerated personae, creating spectacles that are visually dynamic and politically charged. Add to this cauldron a heady dose of hilariously absurd observations on consumer culture and you have a unique vision coming from a New Jersey/New York bred Ecuadorian-born brujo performance artist based in New Orleans. As an arts educator, he is dedicated to working in minority communities with Latino and African American teens through his Youth Performance Projects that introduce performance art and poetry as a means of selfempowerment.
Free Workshop with Jose Torres Tama Name: ___________________________________________________ Phone: Address: _________________________________________________ E-mail:
Return to: Fairbanks Arts Association P.O. Box 72786 Fairbanks, AK 99707-2786
Limited space availble. Please reserve your spot as soon as possible.
email seth@fairbanksarts.org or phone Seth @ 456-6485 X 227
April 2009
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Fairbanks Arts Association
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MAINSTAGE Fairbanks
concert series
sponsored by Fairbanks North Star Borough Parks and Recreation.
Date & Time??
Concerts take place at the theater in Alaska Centenial Center for Arts at 7 pm Tickets available at the door for $5
Cold Steel Cold Steel is a group of local
Calypso, Afro-Cuban, and Samba
musicians who have brought
rhythms and melodies, and even a
the steel drum traditions of the
bit of good old fashioned rock-n roll.
Caribbean home to Fairbanks.
Cold Steel is affiliated with UAF’s
They warm up cold winter nights
Caribbean Music and Culture Club.
by playing traditional Reggae,
For more information please call 456-6485, ext 227 or go to www.fairbanksarts.org
The Arts Association is funded by Private, Corporate and Foundation memberships and donations, city of Fairbanks, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Fairbanks Arts Association
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April 2009
f a i r b a n k s
a r t s
a s s o c i a t i o n
.:: Reading Series ‘09 James Raines
received his B.A. in Creative Writing from The University of Houston. His poems have appeared in The Texas Review and The Double Reed. James is the creator and host of Line Break, a weekly poetry show on K.S.U.A. James would like to thank Wendy Grew, Amber Flora Thomas, Dr. Derick Burleson, and Dr. Chris Coffman for their guidance and insight. He would also like to thank the George W. McDaniel Writer’s Fund for their generous financial support. James Raines will be reading from his manuscript The God Machine.
Ashley Cowger
studies fiction and works as a Fiction Editor for Permafrost, the literary journal run by UAF graduate students. Her short fiction has appeared in various literary journals and she is also Editor and cofounder of the online journal, MFA/ M F Yo u ( w w w. m f a m f y o u . com). She will be reading from her thesis, a novel about a teenaged boy struggling with his fundamentalist Christian upbringing and his repressed homosexuality.
James Harris
received his B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Western State College of Colorado, and is currently pursuing his MFA in Fiction here at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. His work has received First Prize in The Farthest North Fiction Contest, Second Prize in Playboy
Magazine’s Annual College Fiction Contest, and has appeared in several literary reviews. He was also awarded the 2008 Collegiate Scholarship to the New York State Summer Writers Institute. He is currently working toward the completion of his first collection of short stories, and co-editing Of a Monstrous Child, an anthology focused on student-mentor creative writing relationships.
Bryr Ludington
is an essayist and fiction writer who is nearing completion of the MFA in Creative Nonfiction here at UAF. Among the themes she explores in her writing is the way in which experiences in the natural world can recoil in negative ways on the ego. Her work has received recognition from the AWP Intro Journal Awards and has recently appeared in Alaska Magazine. She lives in Goldstream with her husband, fiction writer James Harris, and their two young children.
Jacob Robert Stephens grew
up in the woods of northwestern Montana, working as a forester, fisherman, logger, firefighter, and a youth counselor in Croatia. He has degrees in English and English Secondary Education from the University of Montana, and an MFA from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Jacob plans to work seasonal jobs and travel in the near future, and will work this summer as a sawyer on a “hot shot” crew based out of the Klamath National Forest in northern California. For two years he has served as the poetry editor for the literary journal Permafrost. His work most recently appears in Bayou Magazine, Silk Road, and The Ester Republic.
English Graduate Organization (EGO) from UAF April 4 & 11, 7pm @ the Bear Gallery
April 2009
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Fairbanks Arts Association
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12th Annual Poetry at the Dredge
April 25, 2008 • 2 - 5 PM • Chatanika Gold Dredge • 29 mile Steese Highway.
Once a year, FAA celebrates National Poetry Month with Poetry at the Dredge. Everyone is invited to the antique gold dredge in Chatanika to hear poetry read aloud. This is great opportunity for trying out new poems, sharing a favorite by another writer during the open mic, or simply coming out to celebrate poetry. This year we invite people to bring their favorite Alaskan poetry to share in honor of Alaska’s 50th year of Statehood.
The all outdoor event is sponsored by the Literary Arts Committee of the Fairbanks Arts Association and the Chatanika Dredge Company. As always, this event would not be possible without the generosity of Jane Haigh who annually donates the use of her property for the event. April in Chatanika is chilly, so be sure to pack warm clothes and a blanket to sit on. Take it from us: a picnic is a good idea, especially with a thermos of something warm. Don’t miss it!
Gift Shop Artists of the Month: Deb McQueen
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I am a self-taught craftsperson. I use my own lamp work beads, poly clay pieces, and fused glass cabs in my art. I try to incorporate the handcrafts my mom taught me into my bead art. Crochet, braiding and embroidery are some of the techniques I use. Of all the beadwork stitches I have learned brick stitch seems most natural in my hands. My favorite color schemes are earth tones. These natural hues
seem to work nicely with the found objects and polished stone cabs. By blending colors and shapes, I form patterns that join all the parts of an art piece. My pieces are pleasing to touch, from the silky smoothness of a bracelet to the varied textures of a bead embroidered art piece.
Fairbanks Arts Association
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April 2009
april G a l l e r y
Exhibit
FNSB School District Up With Art
Exhibit Dates: March 6-28 Opening Reception: Friday, March 6, 5-7pm Awards presented at 6:30pm
April 2009
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Fairbanks Arts Association
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April 13 -17, Dance Theatre Fairbanks will be hosting Flavio Salazar. He will be instructing Dance Theatre Fairbanks’ Senior Level ballet classes during week of. Classes are open to ballet students from other studios at a drop-in rate. Saturday, April 4, 2009 at 8pm, Classical Mystery Tour & Fairbanks Symphony, A tribute to the Beatles! At the Carlson Center! Special Event - Fundraiser, Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 10am 15th annual Beat Beethoven 5K Race, At the UAF Patty Center Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 8pm, Connoisseur Recital, Jason Vieaux, Guitar 907-474-5852, ffgr@uaf.edu, www.FairbanksSymphony.org “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” directed by Anatoly Antohin, April 17, 18, 24, 25 @ 8:15pm and April 26th @ 2pm at UAF’s Lee H. Salisbury Theatre An original adaptation of one of the first and most famous examples of German Expressionism by retiring UAF faculty director Anatoly Antohin, Tickets are available at the UAF Wood Center or at the Theatre UAF Box Office, 474-7751. The Theatre Box office is open M-F 12-5 and two hours prior to a performance. Admission is $14 with discounts of $12 for seniors, military, and UAF Employees, and $7 for students with ID. Additional information is available online at www.uaf.edu/theatre/ season.
4th Annual Design Alaska Wild Arts Walk
Friends of Creamer’s Field is looking for artists, musicians, writers, and storytellers for the 4th annual Design Alaska Wild Arts Walk which will take place Sunday June 7th from Noon to 5pm at Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. The event is a walking tour of artists displaying and demonstrating their work at stations located near the Farmhouse Visitor Center and on the refuge trails. This is an opportunity for area artists to create, display, and sell their work. To obtain an application and more information, please contact Friends of Creamer’s Field at 452-5162 or online at www.creamersfield.org.
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State of the Arts
Fairbanks Arts Association invites you to advertise in our State of the Arts Newsletter!
Rates as low as $25
Members receive 5% off all prices!
For more info call 456-6485 ext. 226
North Star Ballet Annual Spring Gala at the Hering Auditorium, April 4th 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm • April 5th 2:00 pm Please call North Star Ballet at 451-8800 for ticket information
VOLUNTEERS!
We need volunteers in the Bear Gallery & gift shop! This is a great opportunity to support the arts in Fairbanks, while meeting visitors and sharing about life in the north. Our volunteer docents fill a threehour shift and are a vital part of our program. Find out more about how you can be part of the team at Fairbanks Arts Association, by calling 456-6485 ext. 223 or 226.
Fairbanks Watercolor Society meeting will be held Wed April 15, 2009 beginning at 6:30pm in the Blue Room in the Centennial Building in Pioneer Park. Social hour is from 6:30pm -7:00pm followed by the general membership meeting and the program begins at 8:00pm New members are welcome, for further information call 389-2114 or 458-7925. Fairbanks Shakespeare Theater presents Romeo & Juliet directed by Anne Thibault. The show will run Thursday, April 9 - April 26 at the Empress Theater in the Co-op building downtown. Shows are at 8 PM Thurs-Sat and at 2 PM on Sunday. For tickets or further information, call 457-7638 or email anne@fstalaska.org.
To submit calendar information please email melissa@ fairbanksarts.org or call 456-6485 ext.226
April 2009
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Black Orpheus May 14 at 7pm Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts in Pioneer Park, 2300 Airport Way
Tickets: $5 For more info, call 456-6485 ext. 227
Fairbanks Arts Association
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lu ou to o u r Vo
T ha nk y
ard Helen How erly Marj Mob e Phyllis Tat ss Dawn Cra eth Olga Hesk nter Dee Carpe Hana Esop vapil Rachael K Liz Bent ltz Cathy Schu geson Diane Bor ks Lottie Flee
April
nte e rs:
Committee Meetings:
bbs Kathy Du terer Linda Pfis ns Cheryl Joe sather Shirley Od uel enb Peggy Birk Betsy Bear an Flein Margret V oss V Katherine Jorrisen Mary Lou Lee Harris uhns Monique K r ille Martin M
Community Writer’s Group March 8, 1-4pm Literary Arts March 16, 7pm VAC Meeting March 18, 4:30pm All meetings in the Bear Gallery, 3rd Floor of the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts, Pioneer Park, 2300 Airport Way. All meetings are subject to change. For more information call 456-6485 ext. 227.
Th an k yo u fo r yo ur In-Ki nd Do natio ns !
Lee Harris
Sh irley Od sath er Pot ter y Ink Jet Pri nte r
s on donation s each The Fair ban ks Arts Asso ciat ion relie like you. Our need s just bers year from commun ity mem now we need: t righ ever how , time to vary from time
Office Supplie s Step Ladder 2 Dra wer File Cabinet Fax Ma chin e Air line Miles Computer w/W indo ws
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XP or newer Cordles s Dril l and Cha rger Rec eption Supplie s Sna cks
Th an k yo u for yo ur ge ne ros ity in co nti nu ing to supp or t FA A!
Fairbanks Arts Association
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April 2009
Daniel P. Kennedy
Watercolor
Dan is a talented professional artist living and producing fine art and prints in the Fairbanks area for the past twenty four tears. Dan’s passion is painting wildlife, especially birds in their natural settings in water base and oil paint. Dan has taught classes in painting and other art forms. He has an extensive background in the arts, having been professionally employed in product and graphic design, recreational arts and crafts, and teaching special needs and other students art. Dan has volunteered in many arts and outdoor related programs in the community. He has participated in “Artists in the Schools” programs and prqjects at Creamer’s Field. Dan has donated art to many chairities to raise money for various causes.
Society Corner
His interests include, hunting, fishing, hiking, photography, cross country skiing, canoeing, and spending time with hunting and other dogs training them and taking them for walks alone and with friends. Dan will take on commissions, and his goals are to someday produce a high quality book on art and nature, and to possibly produce conservation stamps.
Pygmalion
Pygmalion: Cranky Professor Henry Higgins (Leslie Howard) takes a bet that he can turn Cockney guttersnipe Eliza Doolittle (Wendy Hiller) into a “proper lady” in a mere “Pygmalion” six months in this April 9, 7pm delightful comedy of Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts Theater in bad manners, based Pioneer Park 2300 Airport Way on George Bernard Tickets are $5 Shaw’s play of the same name, and adapted by him for the screen. The film was a financial and critical success, and won one Oscar for best screenplay and three more nominations. The screenplay was later adapted into the 1956 theatrical musical My Fair Lady, which in turn led to the 1964 film of the same name.
April 2009
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Fairbanks Arts Association
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Published monthly by Fairbanks Arts Association
State of the Arts
April 2009
Vol. 9, Issue 4
P.O. Box 72786 Fairbanks, Alaska 99707
Thank you!
Return Service Requested
Known also as the “marionette lady” or “the German woman” I have been roaming around Alaska, Fairbanks and Tok since the late Seventies. In all these years the Fairbanks Arts Association has been most helpful and supportive of my endeavors. Meanwhile I changed the medium from European wooden toys and marionettes to stained glass objects and mirrors, and FAA is still standing by my side and giving me a sense of belonging. So, volunteering at Bear Gallery is giving back some of that support and enthusiasm that I receive from them. Needless to say that working at Bear Gallery is promoting the arts of others as well as my own. On a sidenote it is inspirational and meditative to be surrounded by the beauty of other artists work for a few hours at a time. It fills me with new energy by giving mine. A big thank you to all of you who make the different occasions run so smoothly, and for creating this wonderful opportunity to participate in the visual arts of Fairbanks and Alaska. up artwork. I hope as I begin to explore my own artistic side with creative writing, fabric arts and artisan soapmaking, that I’ll keep coming in and getting inspired by the people around me.
Volunteer Spotlight -Helga Wagenleiter