Archive for the ‘Social Commentary’ Category
Day of the Dead found a home in Missoula back in 1993, when one of my favorite Missoula artists, Mike deMeng returned to Missoula from a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, a community, which, like Missoula, is rife with artists and an appreciation for the arts. The idea that death is a new beginning resonated with deMeng. The idea that death can be cause for celebration in addition to grieving is not new. The brash funeral parades of New Orleans are an American example of this phenomenon. DeMang was determined to infuse Missoula with this tradition. He returned to Missoula and recruited fellow university of Montana teacher and artist, Bev Glueckhert to help him, and the tradition has continued to this day. Day of the Dead in Missoula is even mentioned in the Wikipedia article about Day of the Dead. (Interestingly, Day of the Dead almost didn’t happen this year in Missoula.) Because Missoula’s incarnation of Day of the Dead was founded by a couple of artists, it’s no surprise that the arts hold an important part of the celebration of Day of the Dead in Missoula. What I’ve always enjoyed about the Day of the Dead celebration in Missoula is the steamroller prints. This year was the first year that I’ve been able to go and watch the prints being made, and it was quite impressive. University of Montana printmaking professors Jim Bailey and Elizabeth Dove’s printmaking students spend about a month carving the print plates.
The steamroller prints have been such a popular part of the parade every year that the process of printing them has been expanded. While those who were included in the creation and printing of the steamroller prints used to be mainly the printmaking students at the university, the program has been extended to students at some of the local high schools. Students work in teams of up to five. It’s easy to tell the difference between the high school kids’ prints and the university students’ prints, not by the quality of the carving, but by the size. The high schoolers’ prints are only about 4′x4′ while the university students’ prints run about 4′x8′. Each student makes a print for himself, so that everyone who contributed to the project has one. The prints are traditionally displayed in downtown Missoula for about a month before their respective owners take them home and display them in their houses. The plates? Well, I was saddened to hear that the plates are destroyed. Part of the reason for this is that they are so huge — where could they be stored? But destroying the plates also adds a special quality to the prints that do get made, and that is part of why they are so popular. What may be the highlight of Day of the Dead for many Missoulians is the parade, which occurs on November 2nd around dusk. But the parade isn’t the only celebration in Missoula for Day of the Dead. It has evolved into a time for people to express themselves not only publicly, but also to reflect privately about loved ones who have gone before them. The Missoula International School is at the forefront of Day of the Dead activities, and invites families to come and learn about the rich history of Day of the Dead, through traditional Day of the Dead arts and crafts, storytelling and other activities. Also at The International School, people who have recently lost a loved one can come to express themselves through creative movement and interactive dance that, organizers hope, will ultimately help to celebrate death while grieving it through the celebration of life and the promise of continued emotional and spiritual bonds with the deceased. The workshop features live percussion. Finally, The International School invites everyone to join together to build a community shrine comprised of photos, candles and other mementos honoring those who have died. The shrine project includes dramatic performances and music by the Sentinel High School jazz band. University of Montana drama students create a portable backdrop for the shrine, which often finds its way into the parade later. Day of the Dead celebrations culminate with the parade and the resulting performances at Caras Park.
Click the image below to view all of the steamroller print photos from this year.
I’ve written about The Open Field Artists before. You’ll have another opportunity to see them this week at Artini, at the Missoula Art Musuem starting at 5.30PM. From their email invite: “There will be 13 of us presenting at Artini this coming Thursday the 15th. We have been preparing for this since summer. There will be improv throughout the space as well as set pieces up in the Native American Art Gallery. Adelade and Jonathan have created hanging structures which will also be in the space. Our first show is from 5:30-7pm. Then a talk from the visiting artist until 7:30. Then again we have another show from 7:30-8:30. We will have a brief talk-balk opportunity from 8:30-8:50. Peace…and always…Muchas Gracias Words Used for the Creation of Works for MAM’s November Artini: revolution. community. oppression. freedom. revolution. Secret Agents will watching the space, the people. The public should be prepared for questioning. Revolutionary clowns appear with a Technicolor Dragon which will lead humanity toward a further acceptance of self inside-of-other! Perhaps we are connected (Earth). Perhaps we should being doing more. Perhaps…Listening, Questioning, Celebrating. The OpenField Artists is an Interdisciplinary art collective which uses dance, theatre, spoken word, music, video and visual art to explore themes such as Myth, Cultural Identity, and Consumption. Through experimentation, improvisation and the presentation of original works, they create experiences that involve the public in a variety of ways. OFA:
Please contact your City Council representative by November 13 and make your opinion heard School students of all ages, primarily those in the Missoula schools, will be the largest users of the center. However, the facility will present a broad variety of entertainment, with the intent to have something that will appeal to everyone. The Missoula County Commissioners have indicated their willingness to support the project with $20 million in bond financing. There is great potential for substantial economic impact of the facility on downtown, the city, and the surrounding area. For a full report on the economic impact of nonprofit arts organizations in Missoula visit The Arts Mean Business at www.missoulacultural.org The full council is scheduled to vote on this issue at the November 19 meeting. In order for a community arts center to be truly a community project, citizens need to contact their city council representatives to ask questions, give opinions and arrive at a conclusion about such a venture. City Council takes very seriously the opinions of its constituents. Therefore the Missoula Cultural Council urges citizens to contact City Council representatives to discuss these issues. Each council member may be contacted at this link: http://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/citycouncil/contact_us.htm
THE ALBUM WILL COME AS A 48.4MB ZIP FILE CONTAINING 10 X 160KBPS DRM FREE MP3s. All you have to do is perform a Google News search for “Radiohead”, and you’ll see that much is already being written about their decision to make their new album “In Rainbows” available for download at a cost of, well, whatever you’re willing to pay as a consumer. Yes, this is revolutionary, but let’s take a closer look, and then let’s draw some parallels before deciding what, if anything other artists can learn from Radiohead’s bold move. Free art has been available for a long time. I have degraded images of some of my art available for your viewing. How am I to stop you from “stealing” it by downloading it to your local machine, or even making prints of it yourself? I can’t stop that. (If you DO decide that is the route you’re going to take, please consider making a donation of whatever amount you’re comfortable with). I’ve also given away my artwork for free before. Sometimes, I don’t know who the recipient of the free art is. Other times, I have the pleasure of meeting the In the case of the restaurants, they are hoping that you’ll come into their establishment and buy more food. Similarly, Radiohead is offering their music for free, if you want it. But, as they say in the email which they send to folks who have signed up to download the album tomorrow, the songs will only be ripped at 160KBPS. I like my digital music at 192 or better, and I’ll bet that audiophile fans of Radiohead are willing to pony up some cash for an actual CD of the music, as there are rumors floating around that Radiohead will sign with a label to distribute the album in 2008. Think you can avoid the lines getting the digital version? Nope, there’s even a digital queue:
But can visual artists, for example, afford to give away their best work for free? Maybe degraded digital copies of it, sure, but originals? No, I don’t think they can. And I’ll go one step further and ask all artists who are just getting started not to underprice their artwork. Doing so de-values artwork by other artists of the same caliber and makes the art-buying public thank that paying full value for art is not necessary. I was in a gallery over the weekend at which the featured artist was selling small 5″x7″ framed original watercolors for less than $100. An original is worth more than that, my friend. For more about how to price artwork, have a look at this article. Donate and Support the Artist If you found this article useful, please consider making a small donation. I accept donations in any amount, none are too small or too large. All donations and gifts will be used to further my artwork. Donations are easy to give online, via Paypal or if you would like to work out any other method of supporting your local arts, please contact me directly via email.
Lucas stopped by the other night and told me about an article in Missoula.com Magazine that dubbed Missoula “The Paris of the West”. The article featured several well known visual artists and writers and profiled their lives and their art. Did the feature tell the whole story? The writing was good, as was the story. The photographs were incredible, featuring, for example, Missoula writer Jeff Hull sitting at The Oxford Bar. The Ox is the oldest bar in Missoula, though it was not always known as The Oxford. It pre-dates prohibition, and has since become a pretty seedy place. It’s open 24 hours, and after 2AM, it is a haven for drunks looking for a cup of coffee and some sustenance to sober them up enough to drive home. Meanwhile, regulars sit and play cards for money up in front. It’s a dirty bar that welcomes all sorts of riff-raff, and I’ve spent more than one early morning there. But. The writer does not seem like the type to frequent a place like this. Yet the photo implies that it is his stomping grounds. Maybe it is, I don’t know him. But I’ve never seen him in there, and the photo is pretty glitzy. Seems pretty staged to me. Regardless. Missoula, the Paris of the West? Condos have been popping up relentlessly here in town. Last year, I attended an open house at one of the condos that opened near Le Petit Outre. It’s a beautiful space, office buildings on the first floor with contemporarily designed two bedroom condos above. Apparently I looked like a potential buyer, as the realtor mentioned that “this neighborhood is full of artists, and is close to downtown. It’s a great location.” It is a great location, close to downtown, and, like he said, is a neighborhood full of artists. I looked at him and said, “The things you say are true. Don’t you think that by building a $350,000 per unit set of condos that you are pricing the artists right out of this neighborhood?” He had no response for me. Last year, I was lucky enough to have been able to pay my rent four months running by selling artwork. This year, I have not even had enough cash to buy materials to mat and frame artwork, much less spend cash on marketing (posters, ads, postcards, postage) for exhibitions. My former day-job laid me off in October, saying that they were going to call me back to work in March. March rolls around, and they still can’t afford payroll, so they can’t call me back, but could I come back in June? By June, they would definitely have their act together enough to cover payroll and call me back to work. I said, Sure, see you in June. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, believed them, and did not look for other work. Meantime, I experimented with different things, including trying to build this site from scratch as a means to earn a little extra cash. I experimented with different art styles, I made a bunch of art, I lived frugally, I was looking forward to returning to work, but I wasn’t looking for another job. June rolls around, and they can’t call me back to work. It takes me a while, but I am lucky enough to find a job. It’s a great job, great boss. Hard work, mowing lawns and landscaping in, sometimes, 100º+ temperatures, with, recently, heavy smoke from wildland fires. In the meantime, I fell behind on some of my bills and, though I make enough to make it, when you are behind, it’s difficult to catch up, much less make ends meet. So I’ve been working 9, 10, 11 hour days mowing lawns, digging ditches and hauling huge rocks around. (”That boulder is too large, I could lift a smaller one.”) It doesn’t leave me with much time to create art, sell it, or do much else in that arena. Meanwhile, the summer is coming to a close pretty quickly, and the landscaping will end soon. Soon after that, the lawn mowing will cease, and I’ll need to find another job. This paycheck to paycheck shit sucks, let me tell you. Yeah, Missoula’s been called “The Paris of the West” before, apparently by John Updike, but I’ve been unable to corroborate this claim. Yet, there have been other “Paris of the West” towns, most notably, San Francisco. The Missoula artists that are recognizable are the same ones over and over. Dudly Dana, Monte Dolack, Jonathan Qualben, David James Duncan and William Kittredge. That there is name recognition for these artists does not diminish their work by any means. I’m suggesting that if indeed Missoula is “the Paris of the West”, the whole story has not been presented. Artists who are struggling to produce original work, struggling to say something with their art, struggling to make it as artists who have’t sold out to marketing and tourism, who haven’t sold themselves short, and I say that because I think many of the well-known artists have great talent, but have chosen to make the art that they make because it is marketable. The executive who comes to Missoula from Chicago, pays beau-coup bucks to stay at Paws Up, pays and exorbitant amount of money for Orvis gear he will never use again, pays a fishing guide a ridiculous sum, then, as a memento of his Montana trip, makes a stop at Monte Dolack’s place has no real idea about the artists in Missoula who are struggling to make a difference. And he doesn’t care. Why should he? What about the unknown artists? The ones who haven’t “made it”? The performance artists about whom I have written before, the singers who quit their jobs to focus on their singing careers or quit school to pursue a living as a musician? The unknown visual artists who are struggling against obscurity and managing to make a go of it? Why were people like these omitted from the over-hyped article in Missoula.com Magazine? Like Paris, Missoula has its share of street kids, its share of bohemians and starving artists. But that segment of the arts community allegedly doesn’t bring dollars into the local economy. We know that isn’t true, so why are they ignored in a feature story such as this one? So why do we stay here, us artists who sometimes can’t afford to make our art, or, other times, rely on the kindness of friends in order to have a meal and share a beer or two? We stay here because we love Missoula, Montana. We love the country, the community, and we want to make a difference right here right now, in a town that is being torn in many different directions by many different factions, be they builders, Californicators, tourists, with whom we have a love-hate relationship, or a variety of other factors. We care, we have something to say, we want to create and share beauty while pointing out the truths we see among us. Which are sometimes beautiful, but sometimes are painful to look at, examine and admit. Some of us, though, can’t stay. About a month ago, I managed to drag myself out of bed fairly early before work and make it to The Good Food Store for a breakfast burrito and some coffee before heading to load up the truck with mowers and gasoline. While I sat eating my breakfast, a friend, a dancer, sat down with me for a few minutes. She had just returned from a stint away from town before, she informed me, preparing to move to Helena. If it is the Paris of the West, Missoula is, lacking the amazing architecture, the history and the world renowned art, an amazing place to visit, a great place to live. Yes, it’s difficult to eek out a living here for many, and because of that, some of us find ourselves working two, three jobs, rarely finding time to get out and explore the beauty for which we moved here, or, for those who are natives, the beauty for which they stayed. Still, Missoula’s a great town, and I am proud to be a part of it. I wish, though, that the marketing folks would acknowledge the unknown, no-name artists once in a while. Or that we unknowns could figure out a better way to make ourselves known. And that the arts community in this town was more supportive of each other, that the well-knowns did more to help the underdogs become more exposed, more appreciated, more MORE. Everything I’m saying, of course, isn’t related to Missoula being the Paris of the West. Nawp. The article was merely a jumping off point for me to ramble about some of the things that have been trampling my brain recently and relentlessly. Donate and Support the Artist
The Reverend was riding his double-decker bike beside us as we pedaled along the bike trail near the Clark Fork River. It was a beautiful low-heat, low-smoke late summer day in Missoula, and this crazy guy in white was hollering encouragement to us through a megaphone as we got the parade rolling. People rode on all sorts o bikes, from box-store BMXs to hand built metamorphosis rigged up with independently swinging rear tires. It was indeed a freakshow. It was a freakshow that celebrated alternative transportation, and it’s a freakshow that comes to western towns every year, sponsored by New Belgium Brewing Company. It’s a free festival of live music and performance art, magic tricks and acrobatics, flameshooting pogo sticks and beer. Oh, yes, there is beer. But, this year, at four dollars for a “Token of Our Affection”, the cool little wooden beer tokens, my budget didn’t allow for much imbibing. This year, I had some errands to run with a friend during the middle of the festival, so after the parade, we cut out early and headed off to get our lives out of the way so that we could get back to the festival. We missed most of the theatrics and music, so we spent our time watching the crazy bikes. In the middle of the park, a metal gate formed a circle in which rested an array of crazy bikes, ranging from the simple unicycle to the exercise bike that had no pedals, but was powered the rider’s ass moved up and down on the seat. It was hilarious watching people try to ride these bikes, and then the fun started with the Drag After one of the Tour de Fat’s workers explained from one of the main stages that the Tour is completely powered by alternative fuels, a faux NASCAR loving guy came out to make fun of the sustainability of the festival. After we had just listened to The Reverend explain that the entire stage and sound system is powered by the sun, that the plastic cups in our hands were made from a corn product that is compost-able, that all of the vehicles on the Tour are Bio-diesel, NASCAR Boy said that riding a bike is like having a fast car and making a right turn, referring to race tracks where one drives fast and turns left. With that as a lead-in, the Drag Race began. Two teams chosen from the audience and comprised of a man and a woman each, the contestants rode fixed gear bikes with small tires around a small race-course. The women went first, and seemed to have a pretty good handle on it. During the required pit stop, they were then dressed up in NASCAR regalia before they were allowed to continue their last lap. They handed off the bikes to the men, who had a more difficult time figuring out how the things worked, but they got the hang of it in time for the required pit stop, where their female teammates had a blast dressing them in drag and sending them on their way. We soon left in search of food and more beer, last call having been called, and our stomachs ready for a meal. The Tour de Fat, while celebrating alternative transportation, also encourages alternative thinking and community. Creativity and art. Fun and relationship building. And, I’ve decided that it is the New Halloween in Montana. Without cold weather to impede costumes that require one to go coatless, the Tour de Fat bike parade is the place to show off one’s costume prowess.
Check out all of the 2007 Missoula Tour de Fat photos Tags: alternative, arts and culture in missoula, bicycle, gasoline, inspiration, missoula, montana, performance art, revitalize, sustainablility, tour de fat, transportationalternative, arts and culture in missoula, bicycle, gasoline, inspiration, missoula, montana, performance art, revitalize, sustainablility, tour de fat, transportationAnother posting straight from the Missoula Cultural Council email distribution list. This time, every state in the nation is directly afftected. Read on. Act. ——————- After postponing due to a procedural delay, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to begin floor consideration of the FY 2008 Interior appropriations bill tomorrow [( 06.26.07)]. As you might have read in our Arts Action Alerts in the past few weeks, this bill includes an historic $35 million increase for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This increase will bring the NEA budget to $160 million and will provide new funding for the grants to state and local organizations, Challenge America, and American Masterpieces programs. This directly affects the arts in Montana! We learned this morning [ 06.25.070] that Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) (who received a “D†voting grade in our 2006 Congressional Arts Report Card) is planning to offer an amendment to cut funding to the NEA when the bill is considered on the House floor. We have worked too hard to allow this amendment to pass! If you have not yet sent a message, we ask that you take just two minutes to visit our Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy Center to contact your Members of Congress and ask them to support passage of H.R. 2643, (the House Interior Appropriations bill) and oppose this amendment.  With a few clicks, you can send this customizable message to your Representative and Senators. It only takes two minutes to make a difference - please send this message now Tags: arts, controversy, economy, insane, revitalizearts, controversy, economy, insane, revitalize
Friday night, many familiar faces joined together to share an intimate evening of dance presented by members of Headwaters Dance Co. and The Open Field Artists. Dawn Hartman, Sarah Bortis, Kitty Sailer, Ann Campbell and Heidi Junkersfeld danced for an hour straight, and in the process nearly brought me and many others to tears. It was beautiful. The evening began as a good friend greeted me at the door where she was taking tickets. She invited me to remove my shoes and find a seat on the cushions, which were arranged in a square around the room. Quiet evening sunlight melted into the room, and I noticed many people that I recognized. I found a seat and waited for the performance to begin. Having seen The Open Field Artists before, but never having seen Headwaters Dance Co., I was not sure what to expect during the course of the evening. I had spoken with one of the dancers, Heidi, a few days before the show, and she told me that this piece is different than anything I had seen before. She was right. Kaila June Gidley walked out onto the floor and began the night by welcoming us into the dance space where she spent so much of her time in Missoula. She smiled as she shared with us what the Missoula community means to her, and how happy and lucky she feels to have been a part of it. She spoke for about five minutes before telling us that her time to leave has come, and she wanted to share with us the beauty of the space in which we were all sitting. Kaila explained a little bit of what to expect from the piece, and then the dancers came out and began running around us along the perimeter where we sat. They dove and slid across the floor from different “doorways” in the seating arrangement. As I watched, I was thinking, I don’t know anything about dance. I don’t know what it means. I decided, though, that “getting it” on an intellectual level isn’t important to me. I “get it” on a visual and an emotional level, I “get it” on a physical level, knowing how difficult it is for someone to move their body in those ways. Much like classical music, dance is not something for me to have to think about. I just need to soak it in and let it envelop me.
I couldn’t wrap my head around some of the concepts, like Butoh, which Heidi had told me about, and Kaila touched on explaining briefly as she spoke in the beginning. Butoh traditionally explores the “transmutation of the human body into other forms, such as smoke, dust, ghosts, and animals”, earth, water, fire, wind, sky, war. Granted, the performance was not true Butoh, but it used elements from the form to communicate to the audience. There were times during the performance where I actually had to remind myself to breathe, the piece was so intense, the way the dancers moved their bodies with each other, the amount of love and trust visible on the floor. Towards the end of the performance, the five women stood in the center of the room and sang from Sinead O’Connor’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got. As they sang, they would pause and dance, then fall into each other. You know the “Do you trust me? The let go, and I’ll catch you” game that we all played as children? It was much like that, but more intense. “Dawn, fall”, Heidi said, and Dawn fell into her and all four of the other women supported her, but moved her body around on theirs, passing her around and gently holding her as they moved. Each of the women fell in turn and the other four supported them. I don’t know how to write about dance, really, but it was amazing, beautiful, emotional and intimate. I’ll leave you with some text from The Secret of the Vajra World by Reginald A. Ray that was included on the program that was distributed at the door: and so it is we see each other, and how? to negotiate circumstance, when associations fall short, I learn. whether you sit or stand, the invitation is woven. held close by forty hands…. Tags: art, art in missoula, arts and culture in missoula, butoh, friends, headwaters dance co, love, modern dance, open field artists, performance art, travel guide to montana, warart, art in missoula, arts and culture in missoula, butoh, friends, headwaters dance co, love, modern dance, open field artists, performance art, travel guide to montana, war
I’m on the mailing list for the Montana Arts Council, and recently received an important email from Arni Fishbaugh, the Executive Director of MAC. Fishbaugh and others have been hard at work on the draft of the Montana Arts Council’s Operational Blueprint for 2008-2013. More than 1,000 people shared their opinions with the arts council on what they would like to see for the future, and they have worked hard to incorporate that information into the Blueprint. Anyone interested in the arts in Montana, please go and download the arts council’s Blueprint. Read it. Once you’ve read it, give the Arts Council your feedback. Give feedback online here. Missoula, MT
Miles City, MT
Bozeman, MT |
