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Canceled Bridgeport mural results in lawsuit

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Canceled Bridgeport mural results in lawsuit

BRIDGEPORT — Three artists, including an internationally recognized muralist, said they answered the city’s call to help transform the downtown area into a “vibrant center of community activity.” But instead, they said they got brushed off.

“We went through multiple renditions of proposals and purchased the supplies and then after all that preparation the city pulled out without explanation,” said Alice Mizrachi.

Mizrachi, whose work has been featured in exhibitions at the Museum of the City of New York, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the United Nations and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Washington DC, this week filed suit with two other artists against the city and the state Department of Transportation.

She said they are seeking to recoup the $75,000 they spent preparing to do a mural on a downtown railroad underpass.

“If I don’t stand up for artists there is a good chance they (the city) will do this again,” Mizrachi said.

Officials for the city did not return calls and emails for comment. DOT officials said they do not comment on pending litigation.

The planned mural was part of the city’s Color It In project that has commissioned a number of artists to paint murals on the sides of city buildings and vacant spaces.

According to the lawsuit, filed in Superior Court by the artists’ lawyer, Jane Cowles, in April 2022, the city announced a call for artists to submit proposals for murals called the “Railroad Underpass Art Project.”

On Sept. 15, 2022, the plaintiffs signed a vendor agreement that has been sent them via email by Matthew Abbott, of the city’s Office of Planning and Economic Development, the suit states. After purchasing the required insurance for the project, the suit states on Oct. 17, 2022 Abbot sent an email to the plaintiffs stating that the Bridgeport Underpass Art Project was approved by purchasing. In the same email the suit continues Abbott stated that MTA and DOT have both reviewed the access agreement and have no issues with the process.

But on Dec. 29, 2022, the suit states that the department emailed the plaintiffs that the Railroad Underpass Art Project was cancelled.

“There was no explanation and no further contact from the OPED,” said Cowles. “My clients had spent their own money based on the assurance of the defendants that the project was going to go forward. These may be well-established artists but that doesn’t mean they have a lot of money they can spend for no reason.”

Abbott did not return calls for comment.

Mizrachi, who has worked on mural projects around the country and in Amsterdam, Berlin and Tel Aviv, said she has never had a situation where a municipality suddenly cancels a mural project with no explanation to the artists.

In the meantime, the model for the mural lies rolled up in Mizrachi’s studio.

It was going to be titled “Native Flora Fantasy,” she said.

“I researched the native flora and wildlife of the area and the mural was going to include the native flora along with birds and other wildlife,” she said.

Jacob’s Pillow releases its plans for a new $30 million Doris Duke Theatre on its Becket campus

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Jacob’s Pillow releases its plans for a new $30 million Doris Duke Theatre on its Becket campus

BECKET — The price tag is formidable for the new, year-round Doris Duke Theatre to be constructed at Jacob’s Pillow: $30 million.

But a substantial amount has been raised and building plans are in hand to replace the original theater destroyed by fire in November 2020.

“In replacing what was lost while looking to the future, Jacob’s Pillow seeks to create a future-forward dance theater as it looks ahead to its second century,” according to a news release from the dance festival’s leaders. Preliminary plans were announced last November.



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This rendering depicts an aerial view of the Jacob’s Pillow campus, with the planned new Doris Doris Theatre on the site of the original Duke studio theater. 


PHOTO PROVIDED BY MECANOO ARCHITECT AND MARVEL


The goal is to create an accessible, inclusive space for dialogue, collaboration and education. At the same time, the new theater would maintain the intimacy of the original, along with a new digital lab to handle various programming needs, future technical upgrades and ensure long-term sustainable growth, flexible performance spaces and resiliency.

The reimagined theater, expected to open in summer 2025, will be more than double the size of the original playhouse — about 20,000 square feet, compared to the 8,500 footprint. The theater will seat up to 230 patrons in the main performance space.

The original Doris Duke Theatre, named for the billionaire art collector, philanthropist and heiress (1912-1993), was built in 1989 and opened in 1990 as one of three primary performance sites on Jacob’s Pillow’s 220-acre campus.

The new space restores a second indoor theater for Jacob’s Pillow’s annual summer Dance Festival alongside the flagship Ted Shawn Theatre. It also will provide a year-round studio on the Pillow campus, in addition to the Perles Family Studio, home to The School at Jacob’s Pillow, and the Pillow Lab, artist-in-residence program.



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This is what a possible production design inside the theater performance space in the new Doris Duke Theatre could look like.


PHOTO PROVIDED BY MECANOO ARCHITECT AND MARVEL


Funding comes from a coalition of donors and foundations, supported by a formal campaign launching this month.

“The campaign goal is approximately $35 million, which is inclusive of construction of the new theater and establishing an endowment fund which will help support the aims and operations of the new theater,” according to Elise Linscott, public relations and communications coordinator for The Pillow.

Last November, the Doris Duke Foundation unveiled a $10 million naming gift. Additional funding came from the Knight Foundation for the digital priorities of the project, along with support from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund for the design phase.

Jacob’s Pillow, a National Historic Landmark and recipient of the National Medal of Arts, is also raising an endowment of $5 million or more for the digital project and to directly support artists who will be on site at the Pillow Lab.

The nation’s longest-running international dance festival was founded in Becket by famed dancer Ted Shawn, who had begun performing there with a small dance troupe in 1933. The festival attracts more than 80,000 patrons during its season, which opens for this summer on June 28 and runs until Aug. 27.

“We are so grateful for the leadership support that makes it possible for us to envision a re-imagined Doris Duke Theatre, one that promises to have the warmth and character of the original and beloved Duke, while at the same time being relevant and accessible to what artists and audiences will need in the future,” said Jacob’s Pillow Executive & Artistic Director Pamela Tatge in a prepared statement.



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This rendering depicts a possible setup for activities and events inside the new Doris Duke Theatre. In addition to summer Festival performances, the new building is designed with a year-round, community focus and ease of use for special events.


PHOTO PROVIDED BY MECANOO ARCHITECT AND MARVEL


The new space will have improved lighting and audio capabilities. Many windows and skylights, with darkening capabilities throughout the building, will connect the theater with the surrounding campus and landscape.

According to Tatge, the design creates a year-round venue “that will serve as an incubator for a new generation of artists seeking to integrate technology into live performance and create art native to the digital realm.”

Contributions from Indigenous artists to the design will include visual art installations, a medicinal garden with local and indigenous plantings near the entrance of the building, and a fire pit for gatherings and celebrations.

Jeffrey Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, is a consultant on the building’s relationship to the site and Indigenous design values, a key element of the building’s design. According to the press release, The Pillow “seeks to honor the building’s context on the ancestral lands of the Muh-he-con-ne-ok, or Mohican peoples, who are now known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and reside in Wisconsin.”

The Pillow also honors the Agawam, Nipmuc, and Pocumtuc who also made their homes in what is now known as Western Massachusetts.

“It’s been great working with Jacob’s Pillow and [architecture firm] Mecanoo to develop the new Doris Duke Theatre,” Gibson said. “The current design takes into account important Indigenous values and supports multiple kinds of performances that can engage the inside and the outside of the building and traditional and more intimate performances. Certain Indigenous materials, patterns, and processes will be reflected in the interior and exterior, and I’m excited to see the submissions from Indigenous artists to help realize the final iteration of the building.”

Harnessing Scale for Native Visibility

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Harnessing Scale for Native Visibility

LOS ANGELES — Ishi Glinsky’s practice is delightfully diverse. He moves fluidly from painting to sculpture, abstraction to representation, integrating elements of so-called craft and fine art, adapting whichever medium fits his purpose. Despite this fluid approach, one constant thread woven through his work is scale: Glinsky works big, often scaling up smaller objects to epic proportions. He does this not out of hubris or bravado, but in an attempt to honor the traditional art forms of the Tohono O’odham Nation, of which he is a member.

“By taking something and enlarging it, I’m hoping to create a monument,” Glinsky told Hyperallergic. “And to start a conversation on many fronts, to inform and educate people if they don’t know, and if they do know, it’s done in a new way.”

For his upcoming solo show at Chris Sharp Gallery in Los Angeles, Lifetimes That Broke The Earth, Glinsky will present works that reference the Tohono O’odham techniques of basket making. Using a combination of ink washes, oil sticks, and thickly impastoed marks made with a palette knife, Glinsky turns the intricate patterns into brightly colored abstractions, zooming in on the elemental construction. He juxtaposes two different basket types on his canvases: one made using Yucca, bear grass, and Devil’s claw, and another in which artisans loop together lengths of baling wire to construct metal baskets.

In his paintings, the enlarged wire loops resemble the spiral forms of galaxies, suggesting another jump in scale. “It’s a fluid collaboration of the past and present, tangible and intangible,” he explains. 

Ishi Glinsky in his studio, April 27, 2023 (photo Matt Stromberg/Hyperallergic)

Glinsky will also be showing his own wire baskets, which he makes by weaving spools of baling wire into a chain-link fence on a wall loom in his studio. He then folds and twists them into baskets whose familiar forms contain a wiggling mass of wire, calling back to, but quite distinct from, the traditional technique he is referencing. “One thing that makes him so extraordinary is that he’ll invent a technique adequate for each medium, which is somehow totally unprecedented,” gallerist Chris Sharp told Hyperallergic.

Ishi Glinsky, “Geronimo” (2021), resin, pigment, industrial adhesives, steel, and aluminum, 31 1/2 inches x 34 1/3 inches x 6/8 inches (photo by Ruben Diaz, courtesy Ishi Glinsky and Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles)

His first exhibition with the gallery, Monuments to Survival, in 2021, featured works that reference other Native American traditions, such as Zuni jewelry, or ledger drawings made by the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and other Plains Indians. He collaborated with Zuni artist Veronica Poblano, one of the originators of “Zuni Toons,” traditional jewelry made from silver and inlaid turquoise that references Looney Tunes and other cartoon characters.

Glinsky uses steel, aluminum, and resin to make his versions, whose enlarged size and placement in the gallery suggest a reappraisal of the original objects. “Folks could come across [these works] in a trading post, in a display case besieged by other Southwestern ephemera,” he said. “I felt that the original should take the space of my necklace.” Significantly, Glinsky shares a portion of the sales price with the artists he collaborates with or whose work he is referencing.

Ishi Glinsky, “Coral vs. King Snake Jacket” (2019), canvas, industrial adhesives, wax, wood beads, aluminum, steel, nylon, enamel paint, and black pigment, 120 inches x 96 inches x 35 inches (with stand) (photo by Ruben Diaz, courtesy Ishi Glinsky and Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles)

Then there is the jacket, which occupied the entire front room of Sharp’s gallery. “Coral vs. King Snake Jacket” (2019) is a meticulous facsimile of the punk leather staple, decorated with metal studs and patches and blown up to colossal size. In keeping with his resourcefulness, Glinsky made the studs from fence post caps and replicated the texture of asphalt to provide the jacket’s weathered patina. The patches resemble those of bands such as the Dead Kennedys and Public Enemy but have been adapted into Tohono O’odham symbols or icons that support the American Indian Movement (AIM).

Despite the jacket’s punk aesthetics, Glinsky said he chose the form for its connection to the regalia he made and wore when he participated in Pow Wows. “You’re wearing this armor in a sense when you’re out in the world,” the artist explained. “Regalia is also representative of who you are, where you’re from.”

“Coral vs. King Snake Jacket” (2019) was acquired by the Hammer Museum, which recently announced that Glinsky will be included in the next iteration of its LA Biennial, Made in LA. The work also caught the attention of Gabriel Ritter, who organized Glinsky’s first solo museum show Upon a Jagged Maze, which opened last fall at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara. The exhibition was a decade-long survey, showcasing a cross-section of his multifaceted practice. Ritter described Glinsky’s works as “not just art forms but art movements unto themselves.”

“Just because art history hasn’t included them in the canon, that’s beside the point,” Ritter added.

Ishi Glinsky, Upon a Jagged Maze installation view at the AD&A Museum at UC Santa Barbara (photo by Ruben Diaz, courtesy Ishi Glinsky and Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles)

In light of these exhibitions — and a planned solo show with PPOW Gallery in New York later this year — it could be said that Glinsky is having a moment. All of this attention is especially notable given the unorthodox path he has taken through the art world. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona, in an artistic family (“Coral vs. King Snake Jacket” features a version of a drawing his late father made as a teen), and studied graphic design at a community college before exploring fine art on his own.

“I just started painting and finding my way through all different types of mediums,” he recalled. “Some of those, I sought out, some I hid from for a really long time. I was almost intimidated by painting. I didn’t know what I would contribute.”

He moved to LA in 2006, steadily continuing his material explorations, participating in some exhibitions, but largely staying out of the limelight. “He didn’t matriculate into the LA art world how most people usually do,” Sharp noted. This is not to say he wasn’t savvy about his career — he was tapped by Ralph Lauren in 2019 to create limited edition moccasins, an attempt by the brand to address how they have not always acknowledged the sources of their designs. However, his practice has been driven by his desire to share the traditions and artwork of the Tohono O’odham and other Native peoples, not with nostalgia in mind, but as a representative of contemporary art forms rooted in history.

“These stories that I’m holding, I’m doing my best to care for and tell them as respectfully as I can,” he said, “but also to crack them open and think about the future.”


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“Journeys in Spirit 2023” Showcases Traditional and Contemporary Native Art

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“Journeys in Spirit 2023” Showcases Traditional and Contemporary Native Art


Healing Paws

Healing Paws

Prescott News – From May 18 through June 20, 2023, the ‘Tis Art Center and Gallery in historic downtown Prescott will present “Journeys in Spirit 2023”: Traditional and Contemporary Native Art. Produced in partnership with the Museum of Indigenous People, with additional support from the City of Prescott and the Prescott Area Arts and Humanities Council, this fascinating exhibit will showcase the artwork, culture and stories of a diverse group of Native artists. Attendees will have a chance to meet the artists during Prescott’s 4th Friday Art Walk, on May 26 from 5-7 p.m.

From the rock paintings and carvings of early ancestors to basketry, bead working, ceramics and other mediums, art has always played a powerful and integral role in Native cultures. Today, many traditions continue to be handed down from generation to generation, and children are taught from an early age that color and imagery carry symbolic meaning and that through the arts, stories can be told.

The Native artists of “Journeys in Spirit” come from varied backgrounds and cultures, with some living within and others living outside of their tribal communities. The exhibit will highlight a range of styles and mediums, from more traditional works to modern mediums such as painting and photography. As they explore the intriguing artwork on display, “Journeys in Spirit” attendees will gain insight into the lives of the artists and the cultures and stories of their tribes.


Sedona Gift Shop

Sedona Gift Shop

The ’Tis Art Center and Gallery is located at 105 S. Cortez Street, Prescott, Ariz. 86303. For more information about “Journeys in Spirit,” visit https://www.tisartgallery.com/journeys-in-spirit-american-indian-art/.

‘The Art of Belonging’: New Orem art museum focuses on multicultural experiences

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‘The Art of Belonging’: New Orem art museum focuses on multicultural experiences
The Melanie Bastian home near the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, which was donated to UVU, is home to the university's new museum of art.

The Melanie Bastian home near the Utah Valley University campus in Orem, which was donated to UVU, is home to the university’s new museum of art. (Jay Drowns, UVU Marketing)

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OREM — Utah Valley University is launching its new museum of art by unveiling The Art of Belonging, an initiative that features dozens of artists of color in Utah whose work explores themes of belonging in community and culture.

The UVU Museum of Art was formerly called the Woodbury Art Museum and was located at the University Place prior to 2023. It is now located at Lakemount Manor, which was donated to the university by the family of the late philanthropist and community activist Melanie Bastian.

“We’re excited to launch the museum on an innovative new platform based on community-based partnerships and designed to celebrate the contributions of our culturally diverse communities,” museum director Lisa Anderson said in a statement. “We’re proud to showcase these important artists’ work and to engage our audiences in exploring themes of belonging in art and culture.”

The Art of Belonging initiative will feature a handful of exhibits are the museum:

  • The Art of Belonging: Statewide Juried Exhibition. This collection features over 50 pieces created by 40 Utah artists of color. The exhibition includes painting, sculpture, photography, video and mixed-media.
  • “Beliefs of Our Forebears” by Maruch Santíz Gómez: Santiz was born in Chiapas, Mexico, and identifies as part of the Indigenous ethnic group Tzotzil Maya. She uses photography to preserve and share asepects of Tzotzil culture.
  • “Material Meditations” by Jorge Rojas: Rojas is a Mexican artist and educator. This exhibit includes recent abstract works that combine the artist’s experimentation with materials and minimalism with influences from his Mexican roots.
  • “Corn Mandala: Belonging” by Jorge Rojas: This is the seventh in an ongoing series where the artist uses colorful natural corn kernels to produce patterns and symbols deeply rooted in Mesoamerican, Native American, and in this case, Polynesian tradition. Much of Rojas’s sculptural and performance work has celebrated the spiritual significance of maize for Indigenous cultures in the Americas.

UVU is holding a grand opening of the museum and community celebration on Saturday, May 13, from noon to 7 p.m. It will feature a dance party and a multicultural showcase by “Remembering Our Culture” representing dances rom Native American, African, Polynesian, Latino and Asian cultures.

The museum is located at 240 W. 1800 S. Street in Orem. The Art of Belonging initiative will include a number of public programs ranging rom artists lectures, performance art pieces and film discussions through Sept. 16. More information is available on the initiative’s website.

The exhibitions and other programs are free; however, tickets are required and can be reserved on UVU’s website.

Most recent Multicultural Utah stories

Sydnee Gonzalez is a multicultural reporter for KSL.com covering the diversity of Utah’s people and communities. Se habla español. You can find Sydnee at @sydnee_gonzalez on Twitter.

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Check out all these amazing events happening at the Crazy Horse Memorial this summer

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Check out all these amazing events happening at the Crazy Horse Memorial this summer
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The first Artist in Residence of the 2023 summer Cultural Programs season at Crazy Horse Memorial® began work on May 1. The May Artist in Residence, Iris Sully, a Sicangu Lakota wood carver and bead worker, is the first culture bearer in a line-up of over 100 artists scheduled to be at the Memorial from May until October. There will be five artists in residence during the summer, one during each month. Weekly Artist’s Talks will take place most Wednesday’s at 12:30.

Daily Performances at the Memorial will begin on May 25 and continue until September 30 with performances each day at 11:30, 1:30, and 4:30 on the Veranda Stage. Special evening performances will take place on select dates that include June 26 and September 6.

Living Treasures, a program that has culture bearers teach an art form to visitors, will take place during select weeks throughout the summer and will begin on May 29 with Métis Finger Weaving. Living Treasures takes place from 10:00-6:00 each day of the select week and reservations are not required. 

Mahkoche Kin, a program in which visitors walk through the woods surrounding the Crazy Horse Memorial® visitor center, will take place on the second and fourth Friday of May, June, July, August, and September. Walks will take place at 10:00 and 2:00 but day-of pre-registration is required and takes place within the Welcome Center. 

The 33rd Annual Gift From Mother Earth Art Show and Sale will take place on Father’s Day weekend in which there will be over 20 Native and non-Native artists exhibiting and selling their artwork within the galleries of The Indian Museum of North America®.

Finally, the Talking Circle Speaker Series will host 4 different presenters who specialize on a variety of topics at 6:30 on select Thursdays in June and July.

A full list of Cultural Programs and other special events can be found at

https://crazyhorsememorial.org/visit/special-events/.

Indigenous ‘modern, vibrant communities’ the focus of Spurlock’s new exhibit

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Indigenous ‘modern, vibrant communities’ the focus of Spurlock’s new exhibit

URBANA – A child-sized mannequin holds an adult figure’s hand in the corner of the North American room in the Spurlock Museum.

The child is wearing a small pink-and-white dress embellished with jingle cones.

“That’s one of my favorites, because this little time lapse shows the value that we put on our younger generations, that they’re always right there watching us,” said Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings.

https://illinoisnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/NEWS20230504_SpurlockPowwow_Feature01.mp3

Jennings is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Anishinaabe. He’s also curator of the new exhibit,“Welcome to the Pow-wow.” The dress belongs to his daughter.

The show is part of a growing movement to heal past harms committed against Native Americans. Other efforts include a bill requiring Native American history in public schools and new commitment by the University of Illinois to repatriate ancestral remains.

The exhibit will run for five years, with regalia like the jingle dress swapped out every year.

New recognition of Indigenous experts

Spurlock Museum Director Elizabeth Sutton explains her policy of only presenting artwork by known artists. Emily Hays/Illinois Public Media

All of the artwork is by Native American artists, but that wasn’t always the case for the Spurlock.

“It was really important for us to have Native Americans represented as modern, vibrant communities,” said museum director Elizabeth Sutton.

When Sutton took over six years ago, most of the artwork had been donated by the Laubins, a white couple.

She felt the collection blurred the lines between what the Laubins’ Native American friends had created and what Reginald Laubin made on his own. The curators didn’t always know which pieces were which.

“He was trying to create these pieces in the style and tradition of his Native American friends and these communities, but it’s just us lying, saying we don’t have time and money to do the research and just putting it up,” Sutton said.

So she took down the display.

Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings (right) is the founder of the Bizhiki Culture and Dance Company. Jason Schlender (left) is also a member of the company.

Around this time, Dylan Jennings visited the university as founder of the Bizhiki Culture and Dance Company.

During a tour, Sutton pointed out the empty space where the Laubin collection used to be. That’s when the two decided to collaborate.

“We’ve really shifted to say that lived experience is just as important — if not more important — for educational purposes,” Sutton said. “Nobody wants to hear my voice about something in our collection. If it’s really going to move you, it has to be that authentic voice of somebody who has that cultural knowledge about those objects.”

For Jennings, the goal was to educate a community that had long held onto a mascot that stereotypes Native Americans,Chief Illiniwek. The University of Illinois retired the mascot in 2007 and has not picked a new one.

“We’re cognizant of the history that this university in particular has had with the mascot and the kind of misrepresentation of Native people here on campus,” Jennings said. “Rather than scolding someone, we believe education is a really powerful mechanism to change the heart, change the mind.”

Pow-wows are modern history

Jennings, Sutton and the others decided to focus the exhibit on pow-wows, because they are a modern part of Native American history. Emily Hays/Illinois Public Media

In the 1890s, the federal government was transitioning from waging war against Native American nations to assimilating them and eliminating their culture. Many Indigenous dances were banned. 

“We had to be secretive as far as doing our ceremonial practices at home and keeping our things underground. But we also found ways to do things in public,” said Jason Schlender.

Schlender, also named ManidooNoodin, is a former tribal leader from the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe reservation in Wisconsin and part of the Bizhiki Culture and Dance Company. He was a consultant for the exhibit.

Summer DeMain performs a fancy shawl dance at the April 1 opening for “Welcome to the Pow-wow.” Emily Hays, Alex

According to Schlender, pow-wows have evolved over time as a tourist attraction, economic engine and way to maintain community traditions.

Modern touches are visible throughout the exhibit, from a “vendor stand” of furs, beads and a CD to contemporary art by Plains Cree artist Josh Atcheynum.

Many of the descriptions and placards throughout the exhibit were written by Schlender.

“We don’t need anybody else to tell our story. We’re perfectly functional. We’re perfectly educated enough,” Schlender said.

Model for other museums? 

From left: artist Josh Atcheynum, cultural consultant Jason Schlender and dance company founder Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings.

All of this is a first for Dylan Jennings, but he hopes it won’t be the last.

“The exhibit itself is a great starting point for more good conversations to come and more bridge building between our tribal communities and universities.”

As the dance company keeps traveling, Jennings said the regalia will too. All of it is on loan and still owned by the artists and tribes.

“We love being able to use them for educational purposes, but they’re very much meant to be used in our circles that are supposed to be danced with. Someday you might see these dancing at a pow-wow with somebody.”

CT artists’ music video, featured nationwide, shows opioid crisis’ toll through 106 victims’ faces

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CT artists’ music video, featured nationwide, shows opioid crisis’ toll through 106 victims’ faces

RIDGEFIELD — Local musician Ethan Isaac has lost many close friends due to the opioid epidemic over the past 10 to 15 years.  

“There was a period of a couple of years where every couple of months I’d hear another story of somebody that I knew overdosed,” said Isaac, who is co-owner of Factory Underground  a 13-year-old media production company in Norwalk.

So when his longtime friend and fellow musician Bruce James, a Stamford native and former Norwalk and Darien resident, asked him for advice on how to raise awareness through a song he wrote, called “Dedicated to Life,” about the epidemic, Isaac had an idea.

“I said, ‘Why don’t you make a video around your song? … Let’s find ways to bring in some imagery in the video that will help raise the awareness of the problem and let’s get this thing out,’” said Isaac, who produced the music video, “Dedicated to Life,” based on James’ song.

The video, which can be accessed on YouTube, has been selected by the Association of People Against Lethal Drugs to be part of the nonprofit’s third annual national opioid crisis awareness campaign and rally day on May 6. On that day, more than 25 rallies in cities across the United States will play “Dedicated to Life.”

‘Talk about the crises’

The four-minute music video encourages people to “talk about the crisis, talk about what’s happening,” said Isaac, whose 6-year-old daughter attends Ridgebury Elementary School, and whose wife, Karen Zimmer, is a singer and songwriter. 

The video features James talking about the opioid crises and shows 106 photographs of people ranging in age from 15 to 48 who lost their lives from addiction. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, pharmaceutical fentanyl is a synthetic opioid approved for treating severe pain. In 2020, more than 56,000 deaths involving synthetic opioids (other than methadone) occurred in the United States.  

“What you can hope is that people see this (video) and realize how serious it is and they either reach out to help a friend or family member that’s going through this,” Isaac said.

He continued: “Or, they might be having the problem themselves and they see this video and they don’t want to be one of those people that are affected or killed.”

James, who now lives in South Carolina, said aside from everyone who lost their lives through addiction, addiction affects the loved ones they leave  left behind.

“These people — their lives are never whole again. So then they resort to their vices, whatever they are drinking or drugs or food,” James said. “So it really destroys a large part of the family unit.”

James, himself, will perform “Dedicated to Life” at a rally at a church in Greenville, S.C., on May 6.

Isaac said he has made a difference through his music on multiple occasions. One was in 2005, when he traveled oversees with his band, Edisun, and played music for U.S. troops in active war zones all over the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The band produced a documentary in 2021 about its experiences on the road.

“Our first single was a song called ‘Medicate,’ which… raised awareness toward the overuse of medication in today’s day and age,” he said. 

What’s next?

Isaac and his music partner, Norwalk resident Kenny Cascioli, look to grow Factory Underground Tech, an audio and film school they founded in Norwalk in 2020. 

He also hopes to perform oversees again.

“Now that the world is kind of reopening from the pandemic… (I hope) to go back out and continue entertaining the troops and servicemen and women all over the world,” he said.

“There’s nothing better than being able to make a difference in your music,” he added.

  

 
  
 

 
 

 There will be rallies in more than 25 locateions on that day, across the United States.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Here’s what’s happening for First Friday

By in Native

Here’s what’s happening for First Friday

Juneau Arts & Humanities Council: Fabienne Luiza Peter-Contesse | “The Fine Art of Textiles,” 350 Whittier St, Juneau Arts & Culture Center, 4:30-7 p.m. The Juneau Arts & Humanities Council presents: “The Fine Art of Textiles”, a solo exhibition by Fabienne Luiza Peter-Contesse that features new works in textile, fiber and art quilting.

Peter-Contesse uses vibrant hand-dyed fabric, thread and ink as her palette to create intricate explosions of color and depth. Her exhibition examines both improvisational and representational art through textiles.The Fine Art of Textiles will be on exhibit through the month of May, and can be viewed during regular business hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Fabienne will give an artist’s talk at 5 p.m. Friday, May 12 in the Gallery. Admission is free, and light refreshments will be provided.

Alaska State Museum: “Visceral: Verity, Legacy, Identity – Alaska Native Gut Knowledge & Perseverance,” 395 Whittier St., Andrew P. Kashevaroff Building, 4:30-7 p.m. “Visceral: Verity, Legacy, Identity – Alaska Native Gut Knowledge and Perseverance,” is a group of three interrelated exhibitions co-curated by artist Sonya Kelliher-Combs, one of only a few artists working with marine mammal gut, that explore contemporary and historical Alaska Native issues, spotlighting gut as a conduit for Indigenous voices.

“Visceral: Verity,” a new exhibition of work by Kelliher-Combs, includes mixed-media installations that combine natural and synthetic materials and evoke questions of authentic experience, truth, abuse, transparency and credibility.

“Visceral: Legacy” expands Kelliher-Combs’s solo exhibition themes through a selection of objects from the museum’s permanent collection.

“Visceral: Identity” features gut parkas from across Alaska to highlight technical and historical aspects of this remarkable material in cross-cultural perspective.

Kelliher-Combs, co-curator and conservator Ellen Carrlee, and anthropologist Sven Haakanson, Jr. will participate in a panel discussion at 6:30 pm in the APK lecture hall on Friday.

Haakanson will lead a free bear gut processing workshop 10 a.m-4 p.m. on Saturday, May 6 and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, May 7. Drop-in participation is welcome throughout.

The Visceral trilogy of exhibitions will be on display throughout the summer 2023 season and will include other special workshops and lectures. Visit the museum’s exhibitions and events page for more information.

Juneau Jazz & Classics and Áak’w Rock: Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, 320 Willoughby Ave, Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall, 7-9 p.m. This Spring Festival, Juneau Jazz & Classics partners with Áak’w Rock to bring you the extraordinary talent of the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, made up of 16 members representing a wide range of Indigenous cultures from across North America.

More information about the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band is available online at the band’s website.

Tickets to Friday’s concert can be purchased online through the Juneau Jazz & Classics website.

Juneau-Douglas City Museum: “For Our Children: Chilkat Regalia Woven in the Lineage of Jennie Thlunaut & Clarissa Rizal,” 114 W. Fourth St., 4-7 p.m. The Juneau-Douglas City Museum is hosting a free reception for the re-opening of “For Our Children: Chilkat Regalia Woven in the Lineage of Jennie Thlunaut & Clarissa Rizal.” Curated by Lily Hope, this exhibition showcases finger-twined Chilkat robes woven by three generations of Chilkat weavers: Master Weavers Jennie Thlunaut and Clarissa Rizal, living weavers Hope, Shgen George and Ricky Tagaban, and seventeen new student weavers.

The exhibition will be on view May 5 through September, 2023.

Marie Drake Planetarium: Open House at Planetarium, 1415 Glacier Ave., 5:30-7 p.m. Join Steve and Quinn for a visit to the universe in the planetarium’s 30-foot dome. Masks will be provided but not required. The Marie Drake Planetarium is a nonprofit that provides free astronomy education to Juneau’s public.

Coppa: MK MacNaughton, artist, 917 Glacier Ave. 5-7 p.m. Coppa will feature original paintings by MK MacNaughton. MacNaughton has been enticing the Juneau community with her paintings that depict the beauty of nature. Come and see the next chapter in her artistic story.

The exhibit will be up through the month.

Hearthside Books: Mary Lou King, Author, Kelsey Hoke, Watercolor Artist, Dan Hopson, Musician, 2 Marine Way, Ste. 119, 4:30-7 p.m. Hearthside Books is pleased to welcome Mary Lou King for the book launch of the brand new “90 Plus Short Walks Around Juneau.” Kelsey Hoke will be showing her original watercolors and Dan Hopson will accompany the evening with classical guitar music.

First Friday opening only.

Frost + Fur: Glo Ramírez – GloInk, 2 Marine Way, Suite 114, 4:30-7 p.m. GloInk / Glo Ramírez is the featured artist at Frost + Fur in the Historic Merchant’s Wharf. Ramírez will be fully stocked on all her Cute But Cool products — earrings, stickers, clothing, etc.

This event is for First Friday only.

Black Moon Koven: Chromatic Crystal, alcohol ink painter, 224 Seward St., 4:30-7 p.m. Black Moon Koven will feature Inupiaq artist “Chromatic” Crystal Jackson and her “Strange Eyes” series of alcohol ink painting prints, along with other vibrant aluminum prints of critters and places of Alaska. Humorous stickers and handmade beaded earrings will also be available on opening night.

The exhibit will be up through the month.

Annie Kaill’s: Louise Kuntz-Tadda, ceramicist, 124 Seward St., 4:30-7:30 p.m. Popular Annie Kaill’s ceramic artist Louise Kuntz-Tadda has a fresh batch of her nature-inspired works. Kuntz-Tadda tries to capture the beauty of our wonderful Southeast surroundings in drawings, etchings, and glazes on each piece she creates—each piece is a blank canvas. She loves to share the joy of creating with clay, and has taught pottery classes in both Nome and Juneau for more than 20 years.

This event is for First Friday only.

Plants Before Time: Plant Stitches by ReccaShay Crafts, 118 Seward St., 3:30-6:30 p.m. Plants Before Time will feature local artist Rebecca Hsieh of ReccaShay Crafts and her recent exploration of combining gouache and embroidery “Plant Stitches” showcasing some of her favorite plants in this new mixed media.

This event is for First Friday only.

Shoefly Alaska: Tuesday Rabbit by Hannah Mitchell, 109 Seward Street, 4-7 p.m. Shoefly will feature local artist Tuesday Rabbit by Hannah Mitchell. Tuesday Rabbit focuses on silver, shells, and hand picked finds to create one of a kind jewelry pieces. Mitchell has been silversmithing since November 2022 and is finally ready to launch some silver pieces after honing her craft. Exclusive silver rings, earrings, and shell pieces will be launched during her first guest artist appearance on First Friday.

This event is for First Friday only.

Sealaska Heritage Institute: Mario Fulmer (Fur and Beaded Jewelry), Kelsey Erickson-Kizer (Beaded jewelry and prints), Christina Waska (Fur jewelry), 105 S Seward St, Sealaska Arts Campus, 4:30-7 p.m.

Sealaska Heritage Institute will be hosting three artists (Mario Fulmer, Kelsey Erickson-Kizer, and Christina Waska) in the lobby of the Walter Soboleff Building. Check out SHI’s new exhibit, which celebrates the art of Native women across Alaska, and will be open and free of charge for the duration of First Friday. The Atnané Hít (Arts Campus) will be open to visitors to view Steve Brown actively working on a totem pole and a Northwest Coast art exhibit filled with student artwork made from the classrooms of JDHS and TMHS.

First Friday opening only.

The Crystal Saloon: Sunny Porch (Solo) with Melanie Brown & “Cinco de Dance – O”, 218 Front Street

5-7 p.m., 10 p.m.-close

Melanie Brown is no stranger to The Crystal Saloon Stage. Bringing reggae-inspired originals and feel good vibes.

Starting at 10pm: “Cinco de Dance – O”. A two story dance event featuring DJ Javiii on the mainstage of The Crystal Saloon and DJ Aicardi in the Bearcade. A night featuring salsa, bachata, house music and specialty festive cocktails and mocktails!

First Friday opening only.

Barnaby Brewing Company: Hollis Kitchin, 165 Shattuck Way, 3-8 p.m.

Hollis Kitchin uses watercolor to create interpretations of the Southeast Alaskan Landscape. “Mini Mountainscapes” by Hollis Kitchin features a collection of paintings that capture the mood of the Southeast weather and landscape.

Exhibit up through the month.

Rainforest Yoga: Free Yoga with Tammy Davis, 171 Shattuck Way, Ste. 202B, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Join Tammy for a free foundational asana practice with functional movements and breath work.

First Friday opening only.

Rainbow Foods: New Oil Paintings by Page Bridges, 4th & N Franklin Street, 4:30-7 p.m.

New paintings on new forever theme of OUTER SPACE. Outer space is a broad subject including earth space and inner space. It inspires formal invention and imagination. See them near the sandwiches and in the child’ bay.

Exhibit up through the month.

Cosmik Debriz: Cosmik Debriz Launch Party, 204 N Franklin Street, 4-8 p.m.

A blast from the past with the future in mind – Juneau’s favorite purveyor of vintage alaskana, retro stylings, and wearable art is opening a store front! Enjoy homemade cookies while you peruse a curated collection of vintage flannels, dresses, mugs, Alaska themed t-shirts, and more.

Exhibit up through the month.

Devil’s Club Brewing Company: Logan Terry, 100 N Franklin Street, 4-8 p.m.

Dark Daze by Logan Terry showcases the light and dark times in his life. By contrasting the bright pop art we’re used to seeing from him with darker more abrasive pieces, it shows that these two experiences in life must exist together for good or bad.

Exhibit up through the month.

Kindred Post: Annie Bartholomew, 145 S Franklin Street, 4:30-7 p.m.

Get an advance copy of Annie Bartholomew’s debut album, Sisters of White Chapel, only at Kindred Post during May First Friday. Annie will be at the shop with her banjo playing songs from the release and selling early copies of the CD featuring of songs inspired by women who came to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Please note mail services are not available during special events

First Friday opening only.

Juneau Artists Gallery: Kelsey Hoke Martin, contemporary painter, 175 S Franklin St, Ste. 111, Senate Building , 4:30-7:30 p.m.

Kelsey Hoke Martin, artist and owner of K.Hoke Contemporary, is the featured Artist of the Month at the Juneau Artists Gallery. Kelsey features framed prints of her gorgeous watercolor and acrylic paintings of the Juneau landscape. She also has on display acrylic originals, unique printed camp mugs, and other detailed items.

“I am inspired by colors, texture, and culture. I fully recognize I am new to Alaska, however, I want to be as good to Alaska and its land as it has been to me. I’m lucky to live here and call this home. I hope that comes through in my art.”

Exhibit up through the month.

Arctic Chiropractic Juneau, LLC: Sonni Suson, 2243 Jordan Avenue, Valley, 7-9 p.m.

First Friday in the Valley, featuring wheel-thrown pottery made by Sonni Suson. Sonni has been an active participant of the annual UAS Student Art Exhibition and participates in the Pottery Sale held at the end of each semester at UAS.

Sonni Suson was born and raised in Michigan before transplanting to the west coast. She lives in Juneau with her husband Dean, their dog Riku, and one cantankerous, beautiful blue-eyed cat, Crono. Sonni works for the Department of Fish and Game by day, and by weekend and evening pursues her love for pottery.

Exhibit up through the month.

São Paulo exhibitions offer a window on to a Brazil seldom seen

By in Native

São Paulo exhibitions offer a window on to a Brazil seldom seen
A colourful painting depicts stylised fish, tropical birds and human heads; a snake winds its way through the composition
‘Sky Bird Boa Constrictor’ (2022) by Acelino Huni Kuin

Otherworldly neon faces float among a profusion of shapes and curving lines on the vibrant canvas “Sky Bird Boa Constrictor” by Acelino Huni Kuin. The painting is a commotion of fish, multicoloured birds, leaves and scales, bordered by black-and-white zigzags. Relax your focus and the patterned body of the snake appears, winding itself through the work. The effect is both dreamlike and riotous.

Psychedelic depictions of animals, plants and people are a frequent feature in Mirações (Visions), an exhibition of artists from the Huni Kuin indigenous peoples at the São Paulo Museum of Art. Exploring the mythologies and ancestral tales of the Amazonian tribe, many of the works are inspired by the consumption of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic drink prepared from jungle plants and used in shamanic rituals for centuries by native South Americans. In a curator’s essay, one of the artists, Ibã Huni Kuin, describes the process of putting the exhibition together as “working in the gallery with music and myth”.

The show is one of a pair that has inaugurated a year of programming dedicated to indigenous histories (or stories, depending on translation) at the cultural institute. This underscores a growing recognition of artists from Brazil’s indigenous populations, who were portrayed in idealised terms by the newly independent nation’s Romanticism movement in the 19th century and then studied as anthropological subjects. Their own cultural output was often not afforded the status of art, instead considered craftsmanship. Now, though, work by Brazil’s original peoples is gaining space in the country’s most prestigious galleries.

A painting depicts the heads and shoulders of men and women at all angles, with patterns on their faces, surrounded by geometric patterns
Ibã Huni Kuin and Maná Huni Kuin, ‘Untitled’ (c2017-19)

“It is a milestone for us to celebrate,” says Guilherme Giufrida, co-curator of Mirações. “Brazil has a history of 500 years of erasure and violence against indigenous peoples, who nevertheless resist.” 

The exhibition brings together 108 pieces by the Huni Kuin Artists Movement, or Mahku, a collective based in the remote state of Acre which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Through tableaux that examine their spiritual relationships with nature and wildlife, as well as cosmological origins stories, we are given a lens into a culture explained on its own terms, rather than through the eyes of outsiders.

Many of the art’s themes are introduced in temporary murals by artists in Mahku that plaster twin staircases in the brutalist building. On one side, a simple geometric design repeats in red and yellow, with tessellating diamonds drawn on the concrete handrail. This kind of pattern is traditionally used in body decorations, basketry and pottery, and now also to frame paintings. On the other side, a procession of bow-laden hunters in tribal headdresses march in profile along the back of a giant crocodile.

A painting shows a line of people in indigenous South American clothing walking along the back of a crocodile, with fish swimming around them
Ibã Huni Kuin and Bane Huni Kuin, ‘Untitled’ (2017)

In the background, audio plays of the chanting that accompanies the ayahuasca ceremony. These incantations are the main repository of traditional Huni Kuin knowledge and many of the Mahku paintings record the scenes described in them.

Across the large colourful paintings, a distinctive style emerges, eschewing realistic perspective in favour of two-dimensional figures and objects. Colours are typically bold, chromatic and intense, without shading. The works are busy, dense and bright, often containing multiple scenes or movements within the same picture. In a handful of pieces, dots inside geometric designs or the outlines of animals produce a result resembling pointillism.

“They are not landscapes, still lifes or portraits like the western tradition, but they are visualisations of what is seen during specific rituals and also serve as a language,” says Giufrida. “The paintings operate as a record of the stories and myths, as a kind of score for songs about the emergence of the world.”

We see fish attached to boughs of trees, couples copulating, coloured bodiless faces and animals ranging from tapirs to a crab floating alongside water creatures and birds. In one piece, villagers are encircled by a boa constrictor, which occupies a central importance in Huni Kuin folklore as the revealer of the mysteries of ayahuasca.

Another element stressed is the centrality of community life through scenes of hunting, food preparation and dancing. This is reflected in Mahku’s motto “sell art, buy land”. In accordance with this credo, the collective ploughs income from art sales into improving village infrastructure, such as new housing and sanitary facilities.

A painting depicts a series of pairs of stylised human figures wearing clothing of indigenous South Americans; above them are two dwellings with thatched straw roofs
Carmézia Emiliano, ‘Parixara’ (2020)

Saturated colours are visible too on the next floor up in The Tree of Life, an exhibition by Carmézia Emiliano, a self-taught artist from the state of Roraima. Her oeuvre emphasises the community aspects of village life among her Macuxi people, who inhabit the border region between Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil.

The show’s title refers to the myth of the Wazaká tree, which was cut down by a playful deity for the fruits from its top. Mount Roraima, an enormous flat-topped mountain, then rose from its trunk. It figures in Emiliano’s work as a metaphor for fertility or immortality.

It is more than five centuries since the Portuguese first arrived in what they would call Brazil, bringing with them oppression, murder and a marginalisation of the territory’s original inhabitants that continues to this day through illegal logging and mining. These exhibitions open a window into the cultural world of peoples so often depicted or documented by others, but now through their own brushstrokes.

‘Visions’ runs to June 4, ‘Tree of Life’ to June 11, masp.org.br

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