Local musicians to rock solstice
Musicians from around the Upper Lynn Canal will take center stage for Solstice Celebration, a showcase of local talent, at the Chilkat Center on the longest night of the year.
The current line-up includes Skagway-based Jess and J Dot, a folk-blues duet playing original tunes accompanied by guitar and tambourine. Folk guitar duo Keith Heller and Joe Emerson are also slated to play, as well as Haines-based Aurora and the Fun Guys. Other acts are yet to be determined.
“We want to give local musicians an opportunity to play on the mainstage at the Chilkat Center,” Cosmo Fudge, event organizer, said. “There’s a lot of really good musicians in this town and it’s a shame there aren’t that many places to play,” outside of a bar environment. Fudge added that he hopes providing such a venue for local talent will inspire folks, especially youngsters, to take an interest in music.
Maddy Witek will emcee the evening, and invited musicians will play about 20-minute sets. Tunes begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday Dec. 21. Admission is $8.
‘Players’ present Christmas variety show
From handbells to gymnastic elves, the Lynn Canal Community Players’ Holly Jolly Christmas Follies is certain to deliver on its promise of a variety show.
Organizers Jacque Horn and Holly Davis have rallied 14 acts of family-friendly entertainment to take the stage Dec. 16 at 4 p.m. .in the Chilkat Center.
A handbell choir comprised of 14 community members, including Davis, has been practicing two numbers to open the evening of entertainment, which will be followed by a blizzard of dancing snowflake ballerinas and a group of high school flutists.
While several musical acts will perform traditional holiday tunes, dancers with lighted eight-foot “wings” and acrobatic elves tumbling to a techno beat will add a decidedly modern touch.
Though in past years the variety show has included acts with more adult-appropriate humor and content, this year acts that are “too racy, political or adult” will be part of an aftershow, Davis said.
Tom Morphet is in the process of organizing that aftershow, which he said would “lean toward more PG- rated fare, including local political skits.” Anyone interested in performing a skit for the aftershow can contact Morphet at 766-3775.
Arts council screens doc on Canadian painter
The Haines Arts Council will be screening “Where the Universe Sings,” a documentary about internationally acclaimed Canadian painter Lawren Harris on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Chilkat Center. The film follows changes in Harris’s art throughout his career in the early 20th century. He was especially influenced by his travels by rail and supply ship which took him into Northern Canada and the Arctic, inspiring sketches and painting of landscapes with an emphasis on the elements of water, sky, land and light. By the mid-1930s Harris’s work became more abstract.
Arts Council co-president Matt Whitman, who selected the film after viewing it this summer at the Atlin Arts and Music Festival, said he most enjoyed “the look at his (Harris’s) art as it progressed over time from realism painting to abstract.”
‘Feels like Home’ opens at museum
The nostalgia-fueled, mixed media art exhibit “Feels like Home” will open for a six-week run at the Sheldon Museum on Dec. 15.
Artist Tia Heywood’s exhibit includes wood sculpture, needle-felting, plastic and clay and will provide visitors with a tactile experience.
“Touching the sculptures can be like tracing a memory. The pieces draw their inspiration from Southeast Alaskan staples such as glaciers, mountains, sea anemones, and blueberries. Alaska has a hold on me,” Heywood said in a press release.
Heywood, 22, grew up in Haines. She graduated from Brown University in May and currently resides in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
An opening reception with the artist will be held on Dec. 15 from 5-7 p.m.
First Friday gets festive for holidays
December’s First Friday will feature festive holiday happenings, including an inaugural lighting of a town Christmas tree and a visit from Santa, alongside displays of local art at downtown businesses on Dec. 1.
Santa Claus will join Mayor Jan Hill who’s set to illuminate a Christmas tree on the corner of Third and Main St. at 5 p.m. The lighting of the tree is the first for the town in recent memory, said Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tracey Harmon.
The Chamber is organizing the event in conjunction with the Visitor Center and the borough. The borough purchased the lights for the tree donated by Carolann Wooten.
Tourism director Wooten said she suggested the event because “it’s getting to be Christmas time and I thought ‘gee every town I’ve lived in there’s been a tree in the center of town.’”
Wooten said in addition to this being a “fun, festive kickoff for the holidays,” it’s also an opportunity for the community to come together to “promote some healing.”
“It’s been a rough year,” Wooten said, adding that this could be a welcomed new tradition for the town, which she hopes will become an annual event.
Santa will make an appearance at the event and kids are encouraged to bring a letter to hand deliver to Saint Nick. The Haines Women’s Acapella Group will provide choral cheer with Christmas carols.
Gingerbread builders will exhibit their confectionary configurations as part of the second annual Gingerbread House Contest. Judging for the contest begins Dec. 1 at the Art on Main Street Gallery during First Friday festivities and continues there until Dec. 12.
Contestants can drop off their gingery abodes at the gallery from Nov. 28 – Dec. 1, and cash prizes for the top three vote-getters will be awarded on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 5 p.m.
The Alaska Arts Confluence will showcase work by Anna Jurgeleit wherein the natural and digital world collide. Her show “Altered Images” is comprised of photos that have been digitally manipulated through apps on her iPhone.
“I really like taking pictures of flowers, especially macro photography,” Jurgeleit said. “I’m always looking for flowers wherever I go.”
Though she shoots with a DSLR camera as well, Jurgeleit said this show is focused on photos taken with her iPhone and altered using photo apps, such as Tiny Planet.
“The whole idea is that you always have your phone with you and you can take great pictures with your phone,” she said.
Kelly Mitchell’s avian art will be featured at the Port Chilkoot Distillery from 5-8 p.m.
Her show “Going to the Birds” features small acrylic paintings and paper-mache bird sculptures.
“I never thought of myself as a 3D artist until I got into needle felting bird ornaments,” Mitchell said. “And from there started working with paper-mache clay” to make bird sculptures, complete with wire feet and legs.
Greg Horner will present wood carvings and glass castings influenced by Northwest Coast designs at the Haines Brewing Company from 5-7 p.m.
This new work by Horner will include relief prints made from copper plates, prints made from engravings and silverware.
Other businesses open during First Friday include Blossom, a flower shop new to Main Street, and The Rusty Compass Coffeehouse.
Alaska Rods will also be open until 7 p.m. with activities and drawings for prizes to celebrate their eighth anniversary.