Blackwater explained, “To me, this is something very meaningful, especially as a First Nations woman. Coming forward with this, the first in history, I really believe that we are all coming together where we’re building relationships now and so, this is a big step for the Blood Reserve and Lethbridge Police.”

The LPS organizational values translated into Blackfoot are:

• Respect – Inakootsiiyssini
• Courage – Iikitapiiysini
• Professionalism – Okamotapotakssini (doing your job right)
• Accountability – Ohkottsstakata (to be able to depend on each other)
• Collaboration – Isspomaanitapiiysinni (helping others)

Indigenous post-secondary students from the Kainai, Piikani and Siksika First Nations are encouraged to send an Expression of Interest (EOI) to participate in the project before April 24, 2023.

LPS Deputy Chief Gerald Grobmeier said, “All expressions of interest will be reviewed by a panel that include members of the LPS Indigenous Advisory Committee, and shortlisted artists will be asked to provide one original work of art in a digital medium.”

The artist whose design is selected will receive a $500 bursary.

Eligible artists must be 18 or older and registered as a post-secondary student during the preceding academic semester.

Blackwater added, “We wanted to have the LPS logo incorporated with the design, and we have very talented artists on the reserve and especially with the digital media. I’m sure we’ll have some sort of incorporation with a cultural design, or something is what I’m hoping for.”

More information about the process, including eligibility, timelines and requirements can be found at the Lethbridge Police Service website.

Read more at LethbridgeNewsNow.com

A stunning picture book written by Joanna McInerney and illustrated by KAA follows a small fawn who embarks on a beguiling journey in an effort to chase the sun. Traveling through lush forests, groves of cherry blossom trees, wintry hills, and sunflower fields, readers accompany the young deer on his poetic journey to stop and smell the flowers.

In The Fawn Who Chased the Sun, Ho Chi Minh-based duo Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien, a.k.a KAA, envision a whimsical world that translates into flourishing illustrations. Transporting readers into an exuberant environment, KAA incorporate various patterns inspired by William Morris along with surreal elements such as oversized flora and towering frogs.

The duo first creates detailed sketches, which Quang scans and hands over to Lien to begin the digital coloring process. Highlighting seasonal shifts through different palettes, they encourage the reader to enjoy the journey through multiple perspectives as the environment changes. “We have tried so many new perspectives and colors that we never used before in this book, and every experiment brought us joy while drawing it,” the illustrators tell Colossal.

You can follow more of KAA’s work on their Instagram, Behance, and website.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article An Endearing Fawn Searches for the Sun in an Enchanting Picture Book Illustrated by KAA appeared first on Colossal.

Eugene-based artist Miranda Zimmerman, a.k.a. Faunwood, brings a playful ceramic menagerie to Portland this month for Slither, a nearly sold-out solo show at Antler Gallery. Informed by Faunwood’s background in evolutionary biology, the adorable creatures meld art and science and are miniature renditions of amphibians and mammals, all stylized with the artist’s use of wide eyes and mottled glazes. The hand-sculpted characters are expressive and reflective of the organisms’ real-life anatomy, and their unique dispositions emerge through the firing process. “Every ceramic critter I make comes out of the kiln with its own little personality and sass, sometimes completely different from what I’m expecting,” the artist writes on Instagram.

Slither is on view through April 23, and you can find more from Faunwood on her site. (via Supersonic Art)

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Faunwood’s Adorable Menagerie of Miniature Ceramic Critters Is Primed for Adventure appeared first on Colossal.

Last spring, the 29th Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival was well under way at the Lyceum Theatre in downtown San Diego when its founding organization, San Diego Repertory Theatre, collapsed with an insurmountable $2 million of debt.

San Diego Rep is no more, but JFest is rising again. Thanks to an outpouring of support from Jewish community organizations, private donors, international artists and local venue operators who have offered both financial support and performance space, the 30th anniversary JFest will return June 1 through July 16 in a newly reimagined form.

In the past, JFest held most of its events at the Rep’s former home, the city-owned Lyceum Theatre in Downtown San Diego. The new festival will present events all over the county at venues in La Jolla, Encinitas, Balboa Park, Hillcrest, Solana Beach, East Village and Carlsbad. This year’s venues include two professional theater companies, a Universalist church, a farm, a movie theater and a Jewish temple.

JFest’s founding artistic director Todd Salovey said he was overwhelmed by the community’s desire to rescue the festival, particularly the generous sponsorship by the fest’s longtime donors, the Lipinsky family of San Diego, as well as a new producing partner, the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla.

But even with these offers of support, Salovey said it was herculean effort to cobble together a new management team and festival program. He said it was touch and go for months, but several weeks ago, he and his team saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

“We felt like a startup,” he said. “There was a lot of work to do without us knowing what would actually happen. About a month ago we all looked at each other and realized that this is going to happen.”

Dybbuk Theatre of Los Angeles, seen here in 2022, will perform “The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), or In Sooth I Know Not Why I Am So Sad” at the 2023 Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival.

(Courtesy of Taso Papadakis)

Salovey has returned in the role of artistic director. JFest’s new managing director is Matt Graber, who served as director of marketing and, later, director of external affairs, at San Diego Rep from 2015-2022 and is now chief marketing officer for San Diego Opera. Joining them as festival advisers are Rebecca Myers, producer of the fest’s 3-year-old Whole Megillah Jewish New Play Festival, and Ali Viterbi, a festival producer and associate artistic director for more than a decade.

Graber said this summer’s festival will be a “proof of concept” test to see if the public will support the festival in its new form. If successful, the creative team plans to put together a new mission, vision and values statement as well as a three-year fiscal plan.

Although it’s been a challenging year relaunching the festival, both Graber and Salovey said they feel a sense of optimism about the future.

“It has given us a freedom that we can make the festival take on different programming and be more ambitious,” Salovey said. “That will be super exciting.”

Besides working with the local artists that past fest-goers know and love, Salovey said he would love to attract even more international touring Jewish artists like frequent past performer Hershey Felder and this summer’s Perla Batalla. He’d also like to produce more new events, like this summer’s 24-hour “Eco-Jewish Play Fest,” and perhaps partner on full theatrical productions with other local theater companies.

But one thing that won’t change is the festival’s core goals.

“We love that our audience is not just Jewish,” Salovey said. “It’s important we demystify and de-stereotype the images of what we think Jewish people are and we develop an audience across communities.”

Graber said that a rising tide of antisemitism both in the U.S. and abroad has made it more important than ever for the festival to expand and diversify its audience.

“We want to represent Jews of many hues and we want to take the festival out to people,” he said. “We have to do what we can to un-otherize ourselves. That message about antisemitism is not just targeted to White male Americans but also marginalized communities. One of the best ways to un-otherize people is through art. We want to represent the entire breadth and weight of the diaspora.”

Below is the schedule for the 2023 Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival. Tickets, priced from $18 to $50, go on sale today on the newly launched website sdjfest.org.

2023 JFest Schedule

Festival launch party — Details to come. 7:30 p.m. June 1. Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla.

“Witnesses” Concert — One-night reunion concert-style performance of CCAE Theatricals’ award-winning world premiere 2022 musical inspired by the diaries of five European Jewish teens who perished in the Holocaust. 2 p.m. June 4. Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, La Jolla.

A scene from CCAE Theatricals’ world premiere musical “Witnesses,” which won the top prize Monday at the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle’s 2022 Craig Noel Awards on Feb. 27.

(Courtesy of Ken Jacques)

“Judaism & Art” by Rabbi Meir Soloveitchik — The senior rabbi of Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan will be the festival keynote speaker. 7:30 p.m. June 5. Congregation Adat Yeshurun, 8625 La Jolla Scenic Drive North, La Jolla.

The Whole Megillah New Jewish Play Festival. — “Unapologetically Jewish” new plays will be presented at local theaters. 7:30 p.m. June 7 and 7 p.m. June 11 at the Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park; 7:30 p.m. July 6 and 2 p.m. July 9 at New Village Arts, 2787 State St., Carlsbad.

“Neshama — Music of the Soul” — A communitywide concert of pop, folk, klezmer, classical, Sephardic, dance and Middle Eastern music. 7:30 p.m. June 8. The Old Globe, Balboa Park.

14th annual Woman of Valor — Celebration of six San Diego Jewish women: Annie Benaroch, Amelia Glaser, Jan Landau, Fanny Krasner Lebovitz and Sheila Lipinsky and Beth Sirull. 1 p.m. June 11. Leichtag Commons, 441 Saxony Rd, Encinitas.

“Hereville” — Family-friendly musical by Robby Sandler and Lizzie Hagstead about a time-traveling, monster-fighting orthodox Jewish girl. 7 p.m. June 11 at the Old Globe, Balboa Park; 2 p.m. July 9 at New Village Arts, Carlsbad.

Singer-songwriter Perla Batalla.

(Courtesy)

Perla Batalla in House of Cohen — The Grammy-nominated Batalla, who once toured as a backup singer with legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, performs some of his lesser-known songs and shares anecdotes about their friendship. 7:30 p.m. June 15. Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, La Jolla.

Theatre Dybbuk presents “The Merchant of Venice (Annotated), or In Sooth I Know Not Why I Am So Sad” — This Los Angeles-based Jewish theater company presents its latest play, exploring the history and theatricality of one of William Shakespeare’s most controversial plays. 2 p.m. June 18. Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, La Jolla.

Matisyahu to appear at Belly Up Tavern.

(Charles Vidal)

Matisyahu in Concert — This Jewish American singer, known for his pop hit “One Day,” performs reggae, rap, beatboxing and alternative pop. 8 p.m. June 20. Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave. Solana Beach.

22nd Klezmer Summit: The World of Jewish Music — Yale Strom & Elizabeth Schwartz and Hot Pstromi will perform Jewish music from Western and Eastern Europe and the Middle East with guests Farhad Bahrami, Corale Thuet, Robert Zelickman and Fred Benedetti. 7:30 p.m. June 21. First Universalist Unitarian Church of San Diego, 298 W. Arbor Drive, Hillcrest.

“Recordially Yours, Lou Curtiss” — Screening of Yale Strom’s new documentary that chronicles the life and times of local audiophile and raconteur Lou Curtiss, who created both the San Diego Folk Festival and Adams Ave. Unplugged Festival and ran Folk Arts Rare Records in San Diego. (The screening will be preceded by a talk on Jews and folk music at 6:15 p.m.) 7 p.m. June 25. Digital Gym Cinema, Park & Market, 1100 Market St., East Village.

“Chagall” — Co-created by writer/composer Yale Strom and writer/director Todd Salovey, this concert reading traces how Bella and Marc Chagall became refugees in their lives and art. 7:30 p.m. July 6. New Village Arts, Carlsbad.

Eco-Jewish Play Fest — Coastal Roots Farm will collaborate with Rebecca Fletcher on this new event, where seven writers, directors and stage managers and 21 actors will be given 24 hours to create seven short plays inspired by the farm’s core Jewish values of sustainable agriculture and food justice. 6 p.m. July 16. Leichtag Commons, Encinitas.

By CHARLIE POGACAR

SPECIAL TO THE News of Orange County

Think again.

Last Fridays & the Art Walk, hosted by the Hillsborough Arts Council, continues to be one of the town’s premier events. This year’s series opened on Friday, March 31, and will run through November—the next event is scheduled for Friday, April 28. The fan-favorite Makers Markets are back this year as well, but will start back up in May. 

Not only has Last Fridays & the Art Walk evolved a great deal over the past couple of years, but it still continues to push the envelope—all while maintaining the things that have always made Last Fridays & the Art walk special. Building on the success of the 2021 and 2022 events, this year there will be more musicians playing, more poets performing, and more artists showcasing their work all across downtown. For example, the Art Walk has grown its participating venues from 15 local businesses to 21—Yep Roc Records, Carlisle & Linny Vintage Jewelry, Delight Studio, and the Ballard Agency are the new additions in 2023. 

“When we arrived here at the Hillsborough Arts Council, we were aware of the fact that we were inheriting a beloved program,” said Mollie Thomas, Executive Director of the Hillsborough Arts Council. “We wanted to handle it very carefully knowing so many people had put in a lot of work over the years to make it what it was. At the same time, we saw a great opportunity to restructure and grow it.” 

In many ways, the event was forced to restructure due to social distancing restrictions imposed after the entire slate of 2020 events was canceled. Instead of being a deterrent, that was treated as an opportunity to increase the impact of Last Fridays and expand the scope of the Art Walk. Thomas and Iva Beveridge, Programs & Marketing Director for the Hillsborough Arts Council, are the duo that have been the driving force behind the events since fall of 2021—they were promoted from contractors to their current and created positions when the arts council decided to invest more in staff and operations in order to grow its programs.  

“Last Fridays is this beautiful proof point of what can happen when people come together with a shared passion for art and fun,” Beveridge said. “Particularly what manifested coming out of the pandemic, where prioritization was given to the Art Walk because it’s a perk for local businesses and also for the artists who get to display their work.” 

One of the key takeaways from the 2022 series of events was that themed events can help differentiate Last Fridays from month to month. For example, the annual Last Fridays event each October has always held a Halloween theme—that’s not going anywhere. But for the first time, last August’s Last Fridays event had a “back-to-school” theme, where artists and musicians with an educational bent were prioritized. 

For example, the August 2022 event hosted Ballet Orgulloy Almalatina, a Latino troupe with dancers of all ages that fit in nicely with the educational theme—an appearance that was organized by Donn Young and the Skylight Gallery at the Hillsborough Artist Cooperative. That month’s event also welcomed School of Rock, a music lessons outfit based in Chapel Hill. Donations were collected through Hillsborough Arts Council’s ArtCycle program to give local students and teachers back-to-school supplies they would require for the upcoming school year. The drive collected 500 pounds of school supplies. 

“That’s a huge part of what we’re leaning into this year,” Thomas said. “We will definitely be doing the back-to-school and arts education theme in August again. We are finding some other strong themes to create cohesion and some throughlines between a month’s events, but still with the flexibility that it may change or evolve year-to-year.” 

Back for another year, too, is the Living Arts Collective, an organization out of Durham—but founded by native Hillsboroughan Aubrey Griffith-Zill—that leads a Drum Circle (6 to 7 p.m. each Last Fridays) and a Dancewave (7:30 to 9 p.m. each last Fridays) in River Park. The events are geared toward all ages and varying ability levels. Thomas and Beveridge describe both the Drum Circle and the Dancewave as  “magnetic” experiences that provide an improvisational element that may as well be a metaphor for what Last Fridays & the Art Walk have become. 

In other words: no two Drum Circles, or Dancewaves, are truly alike. That’s now true of Last Fridays & the Art Walk as well. 

“We don’t want the event to feel predictable,” Thomas said. “We want it to feel like, ‘I need to be there this month, because who knows what I’m going to find.’ We want Last Fridays to be an event where everyone can reliably have a good time—for that to happen, each one has to be exciting and unique enough that you don’t know what you’ll discover.” 

The Hillsborough Arts Council is currently looking for volunteer leaders to help with Last Fridays & the Art Walk events. Those interested are encouraged to fill out an application on the Hillsborough Arts Council’s website. 

Amorepacific partners with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to expand the reach of Sulwhasoo, their luxury Korean beauty brand.

Visual art marketing is joining the AI revolution as ROI-based creative influence campaign pioneer Rad Technologies Inc. (RAD) teams up with visual marketing agency LNDMRK in a first-of-its-kind partnership. The two companies are pleased to announce their new product, RAD Visual Arts, which allows best-in-class creatives to collaborate with brands to develop cultural moments, content, and community through AI-informed visual art.

Iconic brands–such as Apple, Nike, and Porsche–who recognize the value of visual art marketing, have long turned to LNDMRK for solutions that leverage the world’s best-known visual artists. They’ve enlisted top creators such as Shepard Fairey, Sir Peter Blake, Vexx and Burnt Toast for highly curated murals, art installations, advertising campaigns, product collaborations, and live events.

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Now LNDMRK’s best-in-class visual art marketing strategy will begin harnessing the powerful precision of RAD AI’s data-driven creative intelligence solution. Trusted by leading enterprises, RAD Visual Arts will empower visual art marketers with data from over 600 API connections—including Reddit, Meta, TikTok and more—to drive decisions about campaign target audience personas, influencer selection, and content strategy.

“By partnering with LNDMRK, we’re combining the power of visual art as a marketing tool with the guaranteed performance of AI-backed marketing,” says RAD Founder and CEO Jeremy Barnett. “Successful visual art marketing depends on connecting the artists with cultural moments and market niches. Until now, marketers have been forced to rely on intuition and guesswork to guide their campaign decisions. We’re bringing quantifiable performance standards to visual art marketing and changing the way brands think about content marketing.”

“Joining forces with RAD takes our world-class visual art marketing capability to the next level,” says partner at LNDMRK Kevin Klein. “For over a decade, LNDMRK has been working with the world’s leading brands on establishing a genuine connection point to the visual art space. Our focus has been developing brand relationships with a category of talent which is not oversaturated by influencers and celebrity endorsement. The partnership between RAD and LNDMRK combines our network of visual artists with quantifiable marketing goals – this winning formula is the next chapter in brand collaborations.”

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