Portland dance group to perform
Seven performers from BodyVox, a contemporary dance group from Portland, Ore. will perform at the Chilkat Center at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12 as part of its Alaska tour.
The show will be based on the modern fable of the sheep and the wolf, general manager Una Loughran told CVN. Dancers will perform several pieces ranging from synesthesia, the feeling of seeing movement in color, to recreating the sinking of the Titanic.
“BodyVox’s movement surges from a fascination with the endless possibilities of the human body in motion, informed by years of cross training and layers of experience,” said tour manager Daniel Kirk.
Among the performers will be co-founder, director and Emmy-award winning Ashley Roland.
Tom Heywood said that the Haines Arts Council began talks with BodyVox management a year ago to bring them to Haines.
The group is currently touring in its 21st season. While they’ve been to Alaska before, this will be their first time to Haines.
“We aren’t often able to bring dance groups [here], because they’re so expensive, but we’ve received two grants to help with that,” Heywood said.
The Alaska State Council on the Arts, WESTAF (Western States Arts Federation) and the National Endowment for the Arts have contributed to this event. It is also supported in part by a Harper Arts Touring Fund grant, funded by the Rasmuson Foundation and administered, under contract, by the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
The show is titled “Urban Meadow,” which also happens to be the name of one of the dances that captures the tone of the show. The performance is influenced by their hometown of Portland, and the mix of urban and rural space, Loughran said.
Additionally, the group will lead a school outreach program on the morning of the 12th, where kids can ask questions, engage with the artists, and move around a bit themselves.
Painters wanted for horse designs
Children could ride a Pegasus or unicorn at next year’s Southeast Alaska State Fair.
The Fair will offer five white carousel horses as blank canvasses to interested artists.
The carousel horses are coated with a sealant, which covers the lead paint that had been flaking off, assistant fair director Maddy Witek said. Now, the Fair is soliciting experienced artists to repaint the carousel horses for the popular ride.
“We coated them which is a more cost-effective alternative for the moment, which left them white, but provides the opportunity to explore some creative direction with them,” Witek said.
The Fair has sent some of its horses to professional carousel artists in the past. “But we thought this would be a fun way for the community to take ownership of the carousel and show off all our talented artists,” Fair board member Courtney Culbeck said.
The first five artists to respond will be awarded a horse to paint. The Fair will purchase art supplies such as paint, brushes, thinner and more.
Interested artists will need to sketch their designs and submit their supply orders by Dec. 15. Artists will need to apply three coats of primer, sand lightly between coats and apply a clear coat to the horse.
“We are looking for vibrant colors and depth,” Culbeck said. “Horses can be traditional or fantastical, but they should be beautiful.”
The Fair is offering the horses to artists as trial run and may offer more for painting in the future. Interested artists should contact Culbeck at 766-3346 or email her at [email protected].
Mann works on next film
Half modern-day treasure hunt and half history lesson, Haines local Cory Mann’s second film aims to tell the history of Tlingit silver bracelets.
The film, “Tribal Bands and the hunt for Alaskan Treasure,” is in its beginning stages seeking funding through crowdfunding programs like Kickstarter and GoFundMe. In 2011, Mann released a film “Smokin’ Fish” about theTlingit’s connection to their food and land, which was supported by a branch of of PBS. Mann’s hoping for similar funding for his current project.
“Bands like Indian bands and also bands like in Canada they address the Native tribes as bands,” Mann said.
Historic Tlingit bracelets were made from silver dollars pounded into long strips of metal and then carved with clan images. They are still worn along the West Coast from Oregon to Canada, Mann said. The images on the silver can tell stories, and depict identities. According to Mann, the bracelets represent clan and personal history. Although he doesn’t have a bracelet himself, Mann said he knows the intricate significance they represent in his culture.
“For example, I’m an Eagle Thunderbird, and I couldn’t wear a Raven Sockeye bracelet or people would look at me funny,” he said.
Although the film plans to use interviews with historians and metal detector hunts to find still-buried silver, Mann hesitates to call it a documentary because a lot of the shots will rely on recreated scenes, like a bank robbery in Skagway in 1898.
Mann said this film is important because, “It’s telling the history that so few people know about, and it educates everyone involved in the Tlingit history.” Relatively modern history, he adds, taking place from just 1898, shortly after Soapy Smith’s death.
Mann hopes to have the film complete by next summer.
Listen for elevator music at First Friday
November’s First Friday will be set to the sound of “elevator music” as musicians Sue Libenson and friends will perform in the Gateway Building Elevator.
Other events include Linda Strong’s exhibition of stone paintings and jewelry at the Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center in Klukwan.
Ampersand AK will present local artists shrines to famous artists, Día de Muertos and Ampersand style.
The Alaska Arts Confluence’s Art on Main Street includes Karen Bryant’s “A Vast and Silent Land,” a collection of acrylics on canvas and board. Bryant lived in the far north as a young geologist, setting her on a trajectory of more exploration of the remote corners of the region. The space and silence of the land informs her work, she said.
Edlred Rock Lighthouse memorabilia will be displayed as a new installation in a Howser’s window.
Photographer Brian Staurseth will show his work “Bears on the Klehini River” at the Alaska Wild Bear Photography Gallery across from the Port Chilkoot Dock.
Cassie Miller will display her “Corvidae Creations,” macramé jewelry, at the Port Chilkoot Distillery.
Haines Brewing Company will exhibit work from Katie Craney.
Art group to draw live nudes
Donna Catotti is leading an academic figure drawing open studio at the Haines Sheldon Museum where participants will draw live nude models.
The first two sessions will consist of one-minute poses where artists will use charcoal to draw and erase their sketches after each pose.
“The purpose of one-minute poses is to train the eye to see the gesture and record it quickly,” Catotti said. “Because they are all done using the same paper and erasing between poses, there is no need to be perfect. It is for practice, not product.”
Catotti said the group is appropriate for anyone who wants to improve their drawing skills, however interested participants should be aware that the nude models will include men and women.
The session will be modeled after the curriculum at Studio Incamminati, a four-year non-profit accredited art school in Philadelphia where local artist Yuko Hays is now a second-year student. The sessions are not a drawing class, Catotti said, and she will act as a monitor.
“I will time the breaks, instruct the model, make sure no one comes in who is not drawing, etc.,” Catotti said. “I will bring anatomy books and a half size skeleton for reference. I will be working on my own skills, not monitoring what others are doing. Anyone who wants feedback from me can have it on the breaks with the last quick drawing still on their paper.”
After the first two weeks of quick poses, the models will pose for five and 10 minutes.
“By the end, I expect each evening will end with a 20-minute pose, but only if that is what the group wants,” Catotti said. “If the bulk of the group wants to stay with quicker poses, that is ok with me.”
Catotti will provide extra vine charcoal and paper for those who need it. Artists must bring their own drawing board that can hold 13-inch by 19-inch paper.
The drawing group is free but donations toward the model fee will be accepted, Catotti said.
The group runs on Monday evenings from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. beginning Nov. 5 through Dec. 10.