Images courtesy of Storme Webber.
Storme Webber at the Frye Museum
Seattle-based interdisciplinary artist and alumna Storme Webber (MFAIA-WA ’14) will present a reimagining of her city through experimental memoir, archival photographs, poetry, social history, installation, and performance. Meeting at the confluence of First Nations and pre-Stonewall-working-class-LGBTQ cultures in Pioneer Square, Webber’s work valorizes the submerged stories of marginalized peoples, and of the land itself. Exhibition will run from August 5 to October 29, 2017. Free admission. 704 Terry Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98104. Tel: 206 622 9250
Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects at the Henry Art Gallery
Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects brings together archival materials and works by contemporary artists to narrate an expansive and critical history of transgender communities. This presentation of 99 Objects is the second iteration in a multi-exhibition, multi-venue project organized by Chris E. Vargas, Executive Director of the Museum of Transgender Hirstory & Art (MOTHA), and focuses on trans lives and experiences in the Pacific Northwest. Taking an inclusive approach to transgender, gender non-binary, and gender transgressive identities and expressions, the exhibition explores histories of community making and activism, biographies of historical figures, and legacies of violence and resilience. The exhibition features work by artists Ria Brodell, micha cárdenas, Rhys Ernst, Darius X, Lorenzo Triburgo, Jono Vaughan, and Storme Webber. Exhibition continues from August 13, 2016 to June 04, 2017. 15th Ave. NE & NE 41st St. Seattle, WA 98195. Tel: 206 543 2280
Rough Ground at Washington Hall
Storme Webber is producing Rough Ground, along with ShaIfa Mami Watu & Sadiqua Iman; a workshop-into-performance event that spans several days and connects established artists with emerging ones. Presented by Voices Rising: LGBTQ of Color Arts & Culture, which Webber founded in 2007, (also see this video presented by Voices Rising, Hidmo, and 206Zulu and produced by Storme).
In describing the poetry of Sha’Ifa Mami Watu, the playwright Robert Bashiri Price wrote that, “In an age of lies and falsehoods, the truth becomes exotic…” Rough Ground is that exotic place where truth crystallizes into something precious. It is a safe, creative space where dancers, visual artists, vocalists and indigenous drummers first workshop and then perform with the poet, interpretations of her poetry (each in their disciplines). It is a place where the truth of a single artist, becomes a collective story retold by a community of artists. For workshop/concert participants and for the audience, Rough Ground recalls the past; it bears witness to the present; and it inspires us all to be active, creative stakeholders in the future of our shared planet.
There will be workshops free and open to the public to give community artists a chance to be a part of this collaborative performance. Please stay tuned for details of our Indigenous Drumming with Storme Webber and Afro-Modern Hip-Hop with Maxie Jamal. Other featured artists for the event are Yirim Seck, Tuesday Velasco, Jennifer Moore, Alonzo Jackson, B-Girl Anna Bannna Freeze, and B-Girl Mecca. Friday, June 9 at 7 PM – 9 PM. 153 14th Ave, Seattle, Washington 98122. Tickets will be available first week of June, sliding scale of $10-$25 (no one will be turned away).
All Together Now artist Daniel Nickerson. Photo: Ted Kim 2016.
All Together Now at Carroll College
Montana is an expanse of cultural islands separated by miles of interstate. How can artists in a state the size of Germany and only 1 million people gain richer connections? Current MFAIA-WA student Krista Leigh Pasini and eight other artists are travelling to the state capital, Helena MT, to perform an original work to open dialog and offer space to honor loss at Carroll College June 1 – 3, 2017. All Together Now is a devised multidisciplinary, evening-length work that immerses audience members into the lives of a dynamic family coming together for what could be the last time.
Trends in Eco Art Panel Discussion
Alumna Riva Weinstein (MFAIA-VT ’14) joins Amy Lipton, Linda Weintraub and Christy Rupp for a panel discussion on trends in eco art at the Woodstock Artists Association & Museum. Woodstock, NY, Saturday, July 15, 2017.
Women’s Caucus for Art President
Alumna Beverly Runyan (MFAIA-VT ’13) has been a member of the Women’s Caucus for Art/New Hampshire Chapter for two years and became President of the Board in May 2017. Next month she will be attending the National Board meeting and retreat in Malibu, California. The Women’s Caucus for Art promotes women artists throughout the US.
Tenure Track
Alumnus David Smith (MFAIA-VT ‘15) has accepted a tenure track position at Auburn University (Alabama) starting this fall.
Mary Edwards, Endeavour: A Space Trilogy at the Beach Institute
On Sunday, June 11, 2017 from 3:30 to 5:30pm, alumna Mary Edwards (MFAIA-VT ’07) will be holding a conversation and an immersive listening session on her most recent work, Endeavour: A Space Trilogy, a sound installation inspired by the historic mission of NASA Astronaut, Dr. Mae C. Jemison, and is a continuing work-in-progress.
The Beach Institute is a renowned museum and ongoing educational and cultural center, located in Savannah’s Historic District.502 E Harris St, Savannah, Georgia 31401. There will be a reception to follow. All are welcome. The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 3:00pm. Link: Facebook Event.
Interchange
Indivisible Gallery will be showing artists Sharyll Burroughs, Jaleesa Johnston, Mary Edwards, and MFAIA Program Director JuPong Lin for Interchange, a group art show of multimedia installations & performance. Curated by alumna Christine Toth (MFAIA-VT ’07) who founded her gallery Indivisible in spring 2016 and is a residential house turned artist-run-centre. Open to the public on Saturdays, June 3-24 2017. 2544 SE 26th Ave., Portland, OR 97202. For more information, email: indivisible.pdx@gmail.com
Live Oak performance (2015). New College of Florida. Sarasota, FL. Photo Credit: Carrie Seidman.
Anjali Austin: Events of a Sabbatical
Professor and alumna Anjali Austin (MFAIA-WA ’15) was awarded a two-semester sabbatical from Florida State University (FSU) in 2016-2017 and focused her energy on choreographic research and creative practices. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, Anjali partook in a self-initiated choreographic mentorship project with choreographer and Lines Contemporary Ballet Company Artistic Director, Alonzo King. In conjunction with this research, Austin choreographed and premiered two new works; ‘Sunday’s Child’, a solo developed on Pittsburgh, PA native and Artistic Director of Bodiography Contemporary Ballet Company Maria Caruso, and ‘Suite’, a work to the music of jazz legend Mary Lou Williams commissioned by the Tallahassee Ballet Company.
During this period Austin’s activities included presenting a lecture on Black classical ballet dancers and teaching GYROKINESIS® at San Francisco State University, performing her solo work ‘Live Oak’ at San Francisco’s PianoFight Theatre, and conducting GYROTONIC® teacher training courses in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma.
Recently Austin was awarded a resident fellowship through The Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University. The coming year promises to be just as fulfilling as Anjali prepares to direct FSU’s School of Dance ‘Dance in Paris’ program in Summer 2018 and serve as President-elect of CORPS de Ballet International.
Link Anjali YouTube podcast
Link Alonzo King TED talk
Artist in residence at the California Rehabilitation Center. Photos: Cooper Bates.
Choreographic Residency – California Men’s Prison
Alumna Suchi Branfman (MFAIA-VT ’17) spent the spring as artist in residence at the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC), a medium security men’s prison in Norco, CA. For eight weeks, she danced and choreographed with incarcerated individuals, creating work about their lives and stories, focusing on sustenance in dire times. Branfman has been invited to continue the work this summer at the Luzira Prison, in Kampala, Uganda.
Performing Utopias in Contemporary Americas
Past MFAIA-WA Program Director Michael Sakamoto has published his essay on butoh, zen, and hip-hop “Flash: Hip Hop and the Urban Body in Crisis”, in the anthology Performing Utopias in Contemporary Americas, edited by Kim Beauchesne and Alessandra Santos, Palgrave Press.
Performers at the Peace Concert at Taproot Theatre. Images courtesy of Sam Vance.
Peace Concert at Taproot Theatre
On May 22nd, alumnus Sam Vance (MFAIA-WA ‘15) curated a Peace Concert in response to the current executive orders regarding immigration and the travel ban. The concert featured numerous Seattle area performers and speakers including Lama Chikh, Adham Smadi, Hana Lass, Benjamin Hunter, Bethanie Russell, Chelsea Le Valley, Shana Bestock, Lydia Hayes, Gordon Tibbits, Tyler Kimmel, the Tibetan Buddhist Lamas of Sakya Monastery, the Reverend Kelle Brown and the Vance family band, A Total Fiasco. Seattle Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim, who spoke about Seattle’s status as a sanctuary city, opened the ceremonies. Proceeds from the concert went to support the refugee relief work of World Vision. A second concert is planned for August 27th in cooperation with the City of Shoreline.
Threshold. L-R: Misha Penton, soprano, concept, director. Chorus: Michael Walsh, Sherry Cheng, Neil Ellis Orts (kneeling). Photo by Raul Casares.
Threshold at The Silos
Alumna Misha Penton (MFAIA-WA ’13), premiered Threshold, a site-specific new music work at The Silos on Sawyer, April 30, 2017, in Houston, Texas. The Silos, a mid-20th century rice factory complex, now converted into an arts space, offers a unique sonic environment and an enveloping industrial atmosphere. The new postopera work conceived and directed by Penton, is an abstract ceremonial mother-daughter Passion Play inspired by the ancient and enigmatic Greek initiatory rite, The Eleusinian Mysteries. Threshold was created by Penton, soprano, concept, text, and artistic direction; George Heathco, guitars; Luke Hubley, percussion; with music by Penton, Heathco, and Hubley; and with a Greek chorus of Sherry Cheng, Neil Ellis Orts, and Michael Walsh. Threshold: A New Music Video is forthcoming in summer 2017.
Link Facebook photo album 1 of Threshold
Link Facebook photo album 2 of Threshold
Allied Media Conference
MFAIA-WA faculty advisor Petra Kuppers and poet Stephanie Heit will co-lead Tendings: A Disability Culture Workshop of Sensing, Engagement, and Writing, at the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, MI: June 15 – 18, 2017.
Playa Artist Residency, Petra Kuppers and Stephanie Heit. Photo: Sharon Siskin.
ASLE: Association for the Study of Literature and Environment
Petra Kuppers and poet Stephanie Heit will run a workshop at ASLE that combines experiential anatomy, eco-specific investigations, somatic exercises, and writing. They began these practices in May 2015 while at Playa artist residency in Oregon and have continued them in their homebase in Michigan and during multiple residencies from Oslo, Norway to a Georgia barrier island. The work has been integral to connect to the environments they find themselves in; to tune into their disabled bodyminds and their shifting states; to tend their individual selves, their relationship and their surroundings; and to nurture personal creative projects and Olimpias disability culture work within a laboratory of open attention. 1:30-3pm, Saturday, June 24, 2017.
WisCon: Feminism, Science, Fiction
Petra Kuppers will present her current work on Afrofuturism and disability culture at WisCon, on a panel titled Speculative Intersections of Bodies, Species, and Stories. She will also be participating in roundtables on disability and representation, and on mentorship in the academy. May 24 – 29, 2017.
Ollom Art Gala at Ripley Grier Studios
Alumnus John Ollum (MFAIA-VT ’14) will be hosting the Ollum Art Gala & dance party with DJ Bonifacio D in New York City on Saturday, November 11, 2017 and is putting out a Call for Submissions. This gala supports art in all mediums and all MFAIA students and alumni are welcome to submit proposals. E-mail: info@johnollom.com for more information.
Misty Sol, Source of Light, 2017, acrylic paint and collage, and detail (right). Images courtesy of Misty Sol.
Misty Sol: Source of Light
A visual art show featuring the work of alumna Misty Sol (MFAIA-VT ‘11) and Slim Morrison curated by alumna Lori Murphy’s (MFAIA-VT ‘15) Wolfhound gallery located on the lower level in the Zhou B art center, Chicago, Illinois. The show, featuring paintings and text projections will run for one month rom June 16 to the end of July, and is sponsored by a Goddard Alumni Award. Wolfhound Studio Gallery, lower level in the Zhou B art center, 1029 W 35th St, Chicago, IL 60609 Tel: 617 821 2810
Teaching business skills with Creative Startups. Images courtesy of Pi Luna.
Budget Basics
Alumna Pi Luna (MFAIA-WA ’12) published a new book called Budget Basics in April 2017. With an integration of colorful illustrations, hands-on activities, and real-life examples, Budget Basics provides a fun way to build healthy habits and become financial sustainable. The book is available as a print or e-book on Amazon. Luna has also been teaching finance with Creative Startups, a nonprofit organization that teaches business skills to artists and creatives.
Stacy Dawson Stearns Teaches Trackers at Pieter
Alumna Stacy Dawson Stearns (MFAIA-WA ’12) has been sharing an approach called “tracking”: a technique for layering discoveries arising from experiential exploration with thematic content, psycho/emotional states of being, and texts (written, symbolic, and perceived). Each two-hour class is set up as a stand-alone session beginning with a developmentally based warm-up to open the body and lay down the first “track”. Participants will then be guided through a series of steps in order to determine a set of tracks that will be used in different ways, from divining character portraits to creating choreography and improvisational structures.
The final class in this series will be held on Monday, June 5, 2017 (10:30 am-12:30 pm).
If you have any questions about the class email: dawsonstearns@gmail.com.
Stearns is a Bessie Award winning (2000) interdisciplinary performer and creator known for her original work as well as her collaborative work with Big Dance Theater, David Neumann, Hal Hartley, Ken Nintzel, and Blacklips Performance Cult. She teaches movement in the BFA and MFA performance programs in the School of Theater at California Institute of the Arts. She will be taking her newest work, Love Gasoline! to the Edinburgh Fringe this August with the Calarts Festival Theater program.
420 West Avenue 33 Unit #10 Los Angeles, CA. For more info: pieterpasd@gmail.com. Pieter is accessible via the Metro Gold Line off the Lincoln Height. $15-$20 sliding scale.
Rosemary Alpert and Icaron Theatre Community, Matanazas, Cuba October 2016. Photo: The Kayla Project.
Festival Alas De Arte ~ Matanzas, Cuba
Rod Ambara of The Kayla Project released a short video featuring photography workshops and a personal interview with photographer and current MFAIA-WA student Rosemary Alpert on YouTube in May 2017. The video highlights Alpert teaching and connecting with members of the Matanzas community in Cuba during the “Festival of the Arts” (October 2016).
Arkansas Living Treasure
The Arkansas Arts Council selected alumna Louise McCallum Halsey (MFAIA-VT ‘07) as the Arkansas Living Treasure 2017. Arkansas presents this honor to individuals who have accomplished work in both making art and sharing their art through teaching. The celebration reception was held on May 4, 2017 in Little Rock, AR.
Googli Eyes. Created by the Seattle Visual Artists Salon.
Visual Arts Collaboration
Starting in 2015, a group of Seattle artists has been meeting every two weeks to discuss art. Sessions have been organized using Meetup.com and led by Robin Walker. Alumnus David Sokal (MFAIA-WA ’14) joined in mid-2016 and is currently working on a collaborative project involving nine artists. Each artist brings in a work of visual art and others respond by building on it or creating their own related work. If an artist considers any individual work complete, they can bow out of responding. Most work is 2-d using traditional media, collage, and digital output. A few 3-d works also arise from this process. There is no predetermined theme and the main purpose is simply to practice collaborating, to let go of controlling the work, and to enjoy making art in the company of others. When the artists meet, they share the work in progress, talk about the process and what they’ve learned. They are now approaching venues to show the body of completed pieces.
Pat Taylor’s JazzAntiqua Dance Ensemble and Kenny Garrett Quintet in collaboration.
World Premiere Jazz Collaboration at the Hollywood Bowl
Jazz choreographer and current MFAIA-WA student Pat Taylor’s company JazzAntiqua Dance Ensemble joins Grammy Award-winning jazz saxophonist Kenny Garrett and his quintet in a world premiere collaboration for the 39th annual Playboy Jazz Festival, June 11, 2017 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA. Set to Garrett’s rhythm-driven composition “Do Your Dance!” the choreography melds West African, American Vernacular and swing dance, house, hip hop, salsa, and dancehall within Taylor’s continuing explorations of her jazz movement language. This performance marks JazzAntiqua’s second appearance at Los Angeles’ preeminent jazz festival.
Pat Taylor, guest artist at Your Soul’s Movement, Denver, CO.
Your Soul’s Movement Summer Dance Intensive
Pat Taylor is guest artist for Your Soul’s Movement Performing Arts summer dance intensive, June 19-24 in Denver, CO. She will teach daily advanced beginning and advanced/professional level jazz classes, as well choreograph a work for the culminating Performance Showcase.
Transit Dances
Pat Taylor’s company JazzAntiqua Dance Ensemble will perform in Transit Dances, three site-specific dances close to the Santa Monica Expo Line stations, along with Arpana Dance Company and Donna Sternberg & Dancers. On Sunday, June 4, 2017. Tour times: 12 noon and 1pm. Starting point: Bergamot/26th St. Metro station in Santa Monica, Los Angeles. Comfortable walking shoes recommended. Tickets $10 here. Info: Transit Dancers.
A Joyous Self
MFAIA-WA faculty advisor Devora Neumark facilitated a participatory workshop as part of the inaugural Simone de Beauvoir Summer Institute (Concordia University). Mobilizing In/Visible Bodies was a weeklong feminist course about intersecting systems of oppression approached from a multi-disciplinary perspective (humanities, social sciences, visual and performing arts). The theme of the Summer Institute reflects a desire to address crucial and timely issues. In/visible bodies can be disappeared, murdered, imprisoned, medicalized, othered, racialized, veiled, gendered, trans, queer, disabled, aging, migrating, sex working, creating, performing, and resisting. A Joyous Self invited participants to consider the conditions within which to inhabit joy as a ground of being, a form of mobilization, and a way to alter perceptions.
Ari Rudenko in O R I G I N. Photo: Gendis Photoworks.
The Ark Project Proudly Presents O R I G I N at Peralta Studios
O R I G I N is an immersive exhibition exploring deep time creation, primordial life, and the prehistoric body curated by alumnus Ari Rudenko (MFAIA-WA ’17), Tobias Tovera, and Denise Susanne Townsend. New work from Rudenko, Tobias Tovera, and Denise Susanne Townsend will be on view in addition to a collaborative project and performance by Rudenko; all part of the Ark Project’s second year of programming.
The Ark Project at Peralta Studios is an international artist residency program realized in 2016 with a focus on creation, presentation, and documentation of contemporary art that engages discovery, transformation, and innovation. Each year one artist is added to the collective for an evolving curatorial project.
Thursday, June 1 – Thursday June 8, 2017: opening reception on Thursday, June 1, 2017 7pm-10pm with the performance beginning at 8pm. This event is open to the public and admission is free. The Ark Project, 2121 Peralta Street, Suite 117 Oakland, CA 94107. Tel: 415 999-4533. For more info email: thearkprojectcenter@gmail.com. Gallery Hours: Open by appointment.
Link: O R I G I N event on Facebook
Stephanie J. Baugh: The piece shown on the postcard is a collage panel titled, Mythology, size: 20” x 20”. Collage right: Priorities, size: 12”x x12” on panel. Images courtesy of Stephanie J. Baugh.
Exhibit by Stephanie J. Baugh, Karen Blomme, and Matt Moyer at Quad City Arts
From May 12 to June 30, 2017, artwork by alumna Stephanie J. Baugh (MFAIA-WA ’14) of Monmouth, IL, Karen Blomme of Davenport IA, and Matt Moyer of Columbia, MO will be on exhibit at Quad City Arts in Rock Island, IL.
Stephanie J. Baugh creates abstract panels that are expressions of self; reflecting her experiences, memories and conditions of conscience. Karen Blomme presents “Social Exchange,” art based on methods of communication used in our present world. She combines depictions of people interacting with symbols people use as shortcuts to communicating. Matt Moyer is a structural abstract artist. Conceptually, his work focuses on water and air distribution systems, both real and imaginary, and the ingenuity and materials needed to design and maintain them.
Quad City Arts is a nonprofit local art agency dedicated to enriching the quality of life in the Quad City region through the arts. The Quad City Arts Center Gallery is located at 1715 Second Avenue in the Arts and Entertainment District of Rock Island. For more information, contact Dawn Wohlford-Metallo 309-793-1213 X108, or by email at dwmetallo@quadcityarts.com.
Laiwan presented recent research at The Foreshore. Photo: Anne Riley.
Talk at The Foreshore
MFAIA-WA Faculty Advisor Laiwan presented at The Foreshore | Session 15, along with Will Plowright on his research with insurgents. In an approach to decolonization in tentacular thinking, an approach to staying with the trouble, making oddkin, and in a pitch darkness cast by the Enlightenment, Laiwan spoke nearby with recent research navigating creative practice that is, where and what is, distinct from human exceptionalism and instrumental logic. Will Plowright discussed his work with armed groups (some labeled ‘terrorists’), and the attempts to come to an understanding of them as human beings, rather than as monsters, criminals or deviants. The session engaged an intriguing conversation with an attentive audience on Tuesday May 16. The Foreshore is a year-long collaboration between Access Gallery and Other Sights’ for Artist Projects inspired by the deep influence of the waterways on our cities and societies on the West Coast. The storefront next to Access’ gallery space at 222 East Georgia will be activated by a series of open sessions, screenings, work-ins, mini-artist residencies, and open studios. We are motivated by our organizations’ intersecting concerns, and by the increased potential for artists and audiences in joining forces. Other Sights at Access Gallery, 222 East Georgia, Vancouver BC.
