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Blake, Age 3
Indigo, Age 6
Nicholas, Age 8
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Emma, Age 8
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Coloring Page
AGE FIRST NAME LAST NAME
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MAILING ADDRESS
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Activities
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594 W NELSON AVE IN WASILLA > 5 DAYS OF FUN > FAMILY FRIENDLY EVENT
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Arts
painters will setup their easels and demonstrate their work. Live music and food will be available throughout the day.
Contributed by Carmen Summerfield It’s time for another hot, Hot, HOT Iron Pour! Yes, for the 15th year, the Valley Arts Alliance Art on Fire Iron Pour Art Fest will be held on Saturday from noon-5pm, June 25, 2022 in Wasilla. The Valley will be buzzing with artists from across the country, as they gather to cast unique iron sculptures, create Raku pottery, and engage in other similar “fiery” events.
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A team of skilled foundry men and women, consisting of Pat Garley, who owns Arctic Fires Bronze in Palmer, D’jean Jawrunner, a college professor from New Mexico who teaches metal casting, Donnie Keen a commercial foundry owner from Houston, Texas, and other local sculptors and skilled
metal workers will demonstrate the fascinating 5000 year old iron casting process using a custom designed furnace known as a cupola.
which, when filled with molten iron, will render a unique keepsake. Known as a “scratch block”, these blanks are available for $10.
In the weeks preceding this event, Pat Garley will be offering workshops in metal casting and mold making at his studio in Palmer. These workshops will continue at the VAA Art on Fire Iron Pour Art Fest, when these molds are poured with liquid iron. See scenes of previous years events on our archives pages, www.ValleyArtsAlliance.com.
Throughout the day, artists will conduct Raku pottery workshops. Raku differs from other forms of pottery in that after a short firing, the “red hot” vessels are placed inside a metal can full of combustible materials, a process that draws the oxygen out of the glaze and is responsible for the unique and completely unpredictable Raku look.
At this Art on Fire Iron Pour Art Fest, visitors can create their own small molds, for their own unique iron plaques. These small mold blanks, approximately 6 inches square, can be etched or “scratched” with a design
The Association of Alaskan Blacksmiths will demonstrate blacksmithing techniques, Judy Vars will demonstrate Encaustic wax painting, and other fiery arts, such as glass flameworking, will also be demonstrated. Several local
MUSICAL ACTS INCLUDE: Mooncatz Ellie Cullison Samantha Sawyer Clayton Arnold John Stroup and others, too! The VAA Art on Fire Iron Pour Art Fest will be held at the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry, located at 3800 W. Museum Drive (near the airport) in Wasilla, from noon until 5pm on Saturday, June 25. The ticket price is $10, with children under 12 admitted free. Please join the fun! We hope to turn this day into an extraordinary Iron Pour Art Fest in the Valley! www.valleyartsalliance.com
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Arts Contributed by Tim Z Matsu Valley Rebuild in Wasilla is having a fundraiser with the help of local valley artists. Divided Art is a two-week art show and silent auction hosted by MVR June 15-25. Local artists have shared their talents and creativity in a repurposed art project that turns used bi-fold closet doors into room dividers and pieces of art. The generous participating artists took used doors from Matsu Valley Rebuild and have unleashed their creativity to give these outcasts of the closet door world new life and a new identity.
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Those who attend Divided Art can see the wonderful talent that we have here
in the Matsu Valley and even have an opportunity to own one of these cool statement pieces. These one-of-a-kind room dividers are great for creating a private space such as reading nook or changing area, blocking out unsightly equipment or appliances, perhaps even for providing privacy at a window without having to close the blinds or black out all the natural light. It could even be a mobile art piece that moves around the house! You may have a need for one of these awesome pieces already or just fall in love with one when you see it then find a need. The finished pieces will be on display at Matsu Valley Rebuild for two weeks while a silent auction will be held for each one. Attendees will have an opportunity to learn more about all of
the creators involves and even bid on their favorite… winning bidders get to take theirs home! The auction will close Saturday June 25 at 5pm, all proceeds benefit Matsu Valley Rebuild. Matsu Valley Rebuild is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit used and surplus building materials store with the mission of keeping useful building materials and related items out of the landfill. MVR aims to save people money by reducing dumping costs and offering great prices for shoppers. Through wiser building practices we will preserve green space and spread sustainability. Divided Art 2022 gives local artists an opportunity at a unique challenge
and promotes their work, skills and businesses while repurposing and making cool stuff. Matsu Valley Rebuild is pleased to involve and promote members of our community in its fundraising effort and thankful for all the artists’ time and effort. Before, during, and after the event, information on each artist and their work will be circulated online and available at MVR so we can spread art too. Come support building sustainability and support local art at Divided Art 2022! Matsu Valley Rebuild Materials Center 567 S. Denali Street Wasilla, Alaska
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Music
June 2022: The Deaf and The Musician, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is expanding outside of Utah with their first out-of-state tour, to Alaska. Their eclectic mix of popular songs has something for everyone. Each song is picked for its lyrical power and personal influence, and make for enjoyable entertainment and education.
fits perfectly with Ben’s 12-string acoustics guitar. Plan on a collection of familiar and original songs performed in a new way. You will see the words!
The songs you’ve heard again and again are given a visual spin with sign language. Cindy’s signing performance
Friday, July 15 Friday Fling, Palmer, 11:30am-1:30pm, Sponsored in part by LINKS Resource
Alaska performances held in July 2022: Thursday, July 14 Fairview Inn, Talkeetna, 8-11pm
Center, Mat Su Sertoma, and Make A Scene Magazine. Sunday, July 17 Seaview Cafe & Bar, Hope, 6-9pm The Deaf and The Musician is a combination of deaf artist Cindy McAllister and singer-songwriter Ben Brinton, as they combine visual sign language with music. The project came together during covid and has been educat-
ing and entertaining since. Cindy’s understanding of sign language comes from her own deaf disability and Ben’s history of being a Salt Lake City songwriter make for an enjoyable duo, as she interprets the songs and he guides you through a broad history of music and American songwriting. Each performance is unique, but include themes of sign language education, interoperation, storytelling, and more. The duo work to highlight the underestimated disconnect that exists between the general public and the disabled and hope to help bridge the gaps that exist by improving communication.
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Poetry & Prose Contributed by Improbable Scribe When Grumbledude agreed to lead a Shamanic Journey to visit the departed, I immediately volunteered to drum for the journey. You see, you can dream in the waking world sometimes more easily and comfortably than asleep. There are three of us, Grumbledude, White Wolfe, and me the Sun Bear in the Far North (currently warm enough, thank-you). To visit this place we prepare our story and tools, we call in guides and protectors, and we always talk politely to the Gatekeeper before departing. With Grumbledude as our wizard guide, we got in our comfortable positions and listened as he described the way we were going. Our Wizard let us know, that we had to get a bit lost before we could find our destination. Our critic might need to step outside so our imagination can get started. So by ways known, and unknown he led us through the paths to The House that Jack Built. Jack was Grumbledude’s Dad and owned a 2-story studio, a cottage and enough room for a large garden. The purpose of our visit, was to explore the space, and see what we could find. If we met
Dad, ask him some questions. If we meet anyone else ask them questions too. Questions about life, about what is it like on that side of the veil? Of, where are Great Aunt Margaret’s earrings dear? In this place we discovered a creative playground for kids and adults, an art studio and shop that you can build anything you can imagine with resources unlimited. The things that catch your eye should be examined, they might have a memory for you. In this time when many are grieving, “...we can have natural contact with the departed in dreams and dreamlike states and this can be a source of mutual guidance, forgiveness, and healing.” (Robert Moss) Being able to do this journey reconnected all of us into a time when we were more in tune with the natural world. We were in those days, also more connected with our souls desire. Our journey time in waking was only 5 minutes. Our experience may span much longer and letting us mine what we saw using our tool the Lightning Dream Method. Each of us returned with gifts and smiles. Stories for another time.
Contributed by Yvonne Moss
Somewhere within the night’s cold air, spirits wandered and to us dared, searching, searching, does any care, reminded of the wrong done there? The answer to their quest explained, echoed, and heard, in earth’s red stain, upon grieved ears resounding pain, was all the searching had to gain. And so, the wind was stirred to blow, echoes of a soul slain below, as before at the hands of foes, a voice unheard, and yet we know.
Contributed by Katherine Baker Those-pleasing...easing...sing...ing-words, novelty of the unknown heard. A voice, purging meekly the way, quiets itself of words to say. Hollowness in being only, soft yet swift, spoken words lonely. Poems of soul, shared and released, grants an echo, eternal peace.
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Being born in June, Might get you called a crazy loon! A lifelong label, ‘tis no boon To be tagged a jejune buffoon. To avoid this you must commune, Not wrap up in cocoon. You must be heard to croon A stronger vibrant tune. How you were born to attune, Loving parents, who did swoon At their lovely baby, June, Who had arrived beneath a moon, A lune, in June.
Contributed by Katherine Baker
Poetry & Prose Contributed by Sharon Ann Jaeger It is as if the towering clouds would open up and swallow the kite as the mountain did the children of Hamelin, though there the dancing lines of music wove with their feet a parallel and here there is only the dull blast of wind, fitful and raw. Whether the frail paper, bright patch of blue in a muted sky, can bear the stress of the gusts, whether the thin string knotted to ascend to a Babel height can hold, aligns us likewise too taut and tense, ‘til it is at length no matter that who does the flying here is a fiction, the kite will break free if it will, or dash to the earth at our feet in a mimicry of fate, while all our loss and longing wings at will in the sheer loft and pull as we hide for the story’s sake what we have at stake, while in the wind our origami selves are ripped away.
Contributed by Charles Dean Walker Rest in peace to the victims. Rot and burn to the perpetrator. Mass shooters, dangerous scumbag cowards. Traitors to their community. Terrorist of the country they hail from. Yeah, you can pull the trigger. Yeah, you can empty the magazine. But you can’t kill a soul. You can’t kill a spirit. You’ll never feel love on the other side. Burning in utter turmoil. Your sin becomes your name where you’re headed. Oh, you were bullied, huh? Oh, you were mistreated, huh? Oh, you’re a racist, huh? I was bullied too. I was mistreated too. I’m ashamed we’re the same race you supremacist piece of trash. Your legacy is a curse to history. I’ve no sympathy for a terrorist. Rot in piss! Burn!