• An African art gallery is officially open in Palmer Park Mall in Palmer Township
• Grace Mugala, owner of Asante Art Gallery, said it offers a first of its kind to the area
• With her roots in Kenya, Mugala said the new gallery will give art-lovers a glimpse into life overseas

PALMER TWP., Pa. — “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see,” French artist Edgar Degas once said.

Ever since Kenya native Grace Mugala first shared her artwork with the area at Musikfest 2008, she said she’s had lots of encouragement from those she’s met to open her own space to display her pieces.

“It takes a while to get a gallery,” Mugala said of those past conversations. “But one of these days, I will.”

Her dream became a reality on Nov. 4, as she cut the ribbon for her beloved Asante Art Gallery in Palmer Park Mall in Palmer Township.

It’s an endeavor she said is a first of its kind in the Lehigh Valley by featuring contemporary style artwork with an East African influence.

The art provides a way of sharing the stories of her culture, she said.

“It promotes cross-cultural understanding and dialogue to the world,” Mugala said. “It reflects the modern African point of view of life.

“By capturing the zeitgeist of time, it presents and opens a window into the contemporary world.”

Asante Art Gallery offers many of these windows, Mugala said, providing “vibrant and colorfully bright, intricate yet simple designs” paired with powerful messages and symbolism.

Mugala first shared her passions with LehighValleyNews.com in May at the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission’s 58th Fine Art & Craft Show.

Giving thanks

“Asante” is a Swahili word for “thanks,” Mugala said.

She said she’s thankful for her friends, family and fellow artist colleagues for coming out and contributing to the grand opening.

But she’s going to continue doing shows and more to help foster more support from area art-lovers to help sustain the 4,000-square-foot gallery that originally opened in June.

Mugala had a variety of other vendors come through for the ribbon-cutting, whose works still are for sale at the gallery. Some of those included a fashion designer from New York with roots in Senegal; another artist originally from Guinea, West Africa; one from Doylestown and another from West Chester, Chester County; a customer from Harrisburg; along with specialists in wood carving and pottery.

Mugala said you’ll find all of that, along with watercolors, acrylic on canvas and varieties of both with frames and without to give the buyer further framing options to match surrounding furniture.

Price range varies by size of the work, but Mugala said there’s something for everyone and every budget.

Two paintings and one dress were sold that day, she said.

U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley, also was present, offering a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition to Mugala for her artistic contributions to the Lehigh Valley.

“I was blown away by the beauty of this new space in our community for all to gather and enjoy,” Wild said in a Facebook post following the event.

Mugala said she first met Wild a handful of years ago at a previous Riverside Festival of the Arts in Easton.

‘A long journey’

As for the future of Asante Art Gallery, Mugala said she’s open to collaborations with other local artists interested in sharing their work at the gallery.

She said she’s also excited to potentially hold a Black History Month art celebration in 2024.

For those looking to one day open their own gallery, Mugala had a little advice.

“It just takes courage and a lot of time, and you need to be persistent,” she said. “Otherwise, it’s a long journey.

“It’s not easy to open one, but with time and you’re committed, it’s possible.”

Artist SunRose IronShell talks about her art during an interview at Gallery 103 located in the Ho-Chunk Centre in downtown Sioux City. IronShell is one of five Native American artists being featured at Gallery 103 and the adjacent 3 Rivers Art Gallery as a part of the galleries’ new artist showcase on Friday, Nov. 17.

Tim Hynds

Visuals Editor

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A Ficus tree grows in the studio.
Photo: Wendy Goodman

In 2015, California native Brian Thoreen, an artist and designer, was on his way with his son and his brother to the Yucatán when a hurricane hit, so they ended up diverting their trip to Mexico City instead. “I instantly fell in love with it even though I didn’t know anybody,” Thoreen recalls. He kept coming back, getting to know the community of artists there, until finally, in 2018, he ended up renting this space — there’s a studio, a kitchen, two bedrooms, a patio, and a dining area — from artist Thomas Glassford. He and his wife, Tess Lochanski, who is French, have an apartment in Paris, but they spend most of their time in Mexico City when Thoreen is not traveling for exhibitions of his work. To make it perfect, Thoreen says, “I basically didn’t have to do a whole lot.”

I was in Mexico City recently on a trip organized by the Design Leadership Network. Every year, the DLN, which was founded 17 years ago by Peter Sallick, takes its members to a different city. Su Wu was one of the curators that led a group of us on a studio visit to her good friend Thoreen’s space in the San Miguel Chapultepec neighborhood. She also took us to MASA gallery, co-founded by Thoreen along with Age Salajõe and Héctor Esrawe. (Among other shows she has done with the gallery, she curated MASA’s exhibition “Intervención/Intersección” at the former post office in Rockefeller Center last year.)

It was raining hard when we entered the courtyard, dripping with green leafy vines, of the home and studio. Once inside, all we could hear was the sound of water ricocheting off the plastic roofing, which is provided with two openings to accommodate the V-shaped split trunk of the enormous Ficus tree that takes center stage in the first room of Thoreen’s working area.

“It feels like having a living animal,” Thoreen says. “It’s really like you are living and working in some kind of living organism, some kind of belly of the beast. The rain, the leaves falling from the tree, birds on top, my cat chasing birds — it’s just kind of a constant being around living things.”

He led us on a tour of his studio with completed and unfinished work and then showed us the living area where he and his wife live while there.

“I like to bring in industrial materials that I resonate with,” Thoreen says, “because my father was a contractor and I grew up doing roofing and construction with him.” His art and design throughout the house illustrate how he has repurposed neoprene and played with materials including charcoal and wax.

Why Pattie Gonia, Yo-Yo Ma, and Quinn Christopherson Won’t Give Up | Atmos

A still from Won’t Give Up. Courtesy of Pattie Gonia, Yo-Yo Ma, and Quinn Christopherson.

The drag queen, musician, and cellist have teamed up on a powerful climate anthem that speaks to our interconnection with nature. The trio speak with Atmos about the role of art in activism.

Drag queen Pattie Gonia, musician Quinn Christopherson, and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma might seem like unlikely collaborators, but together they have created a beautiful and powerful anthem for climate. Won’t Give Up is a moving and uplifting song that speaks to our interconnection with nature, staying hopeful and working together for a better world. “When I met Pattie and Quinn, it was clear we shared a purpose, a way of thinking about our roles as artists and as human beings,” Yo-Yo Ma told Atmos. “For me, music, culture, is a service — it’s about responding to need with the best of whatever we have to offer, and it’s always exciting to work with younger people; we have to think beyond our own generation.”

 

Pattie Gonia, known for her climate-themed take on drag, had the idea to write a requiem for our dying glaciers, a mournful musing on loss and grief. Then, she met with Christopherson, an Indigenous trans musician, who convinced Gonia to turn this into a song of hope. Won’t Give Up also features haunting and beautiful sounds from Yo-Yo Ma, the exquisite cello player who’s currently touring the world with his own cultural climate project Our Common Nature.

“Glaciers make sounds — incredible sounds,” said Yo-Yo Ma. “If you listen even for a few moments, you can hear them creak and groan; it’s a reminder that they are living beings, constantly moving and evolving, and now, dying. I wanted to capture their voice, and the great depth of it, something ancient and present, urgent.”

 

In the stunning music video, the three artists perform in front of the Holgate and Exit Glaciers in Christopherson’s native Alaska, donning sustainable, handmade outfits by Lisa Jiang, including a traditional qaspeq that was made by Chrisopherson’s great-aunt. Here, Gonia and Christopherson speak to Atmos about the project, what it was like working together, their hopes for the future, and the role of art in activism.

Atmos

This song could perhaps better be described as a project with multiple components and moving parts. How did it come about?

Pattie

I had had the idea to do a requiem for a glacier—something that could be performed at a funeral for a glacier. That idea was really indicative of my theory around activism a few years ago, this naming of things for what they are, and these glaciers are dying. I’ve had a really big change of heart and approach over the last few years in terms of seeing how, yes, the realities of climate change are so real, but so are the people, the solutions, the possibility, and the potential for change. If we want to build a movement, we have to create a culture where people can act in sustainable ways and be moved to action by long-term motivators that allow room for imperfection and progress rather than these short-term fear-based motivators. And then Quinn came on the project and said, what if we turned it into a really different thing?

Quinn

We had talked about this idea of doing a requiem for weeks, and I thought it was a really impactful, amazing idea. But then when Pattie and I got into the room together, we started talking about how we feel about nature and climate change, and it was like this wave washed over me and I thought, Hold on, we’re already giving up before the song has even started. In my experience of writing about my own life, yes there are dark times, but the way I can frame them now when I tell those stories can be with new empathy or new wisdom. To me, it feels like a strength to flip things over in a way that can be shared with more and more people, and it’s just as impactful. In my culture as an Alaskan Native, we feel like we and nature are not two different things—we’re the same, and so we’re going to treat nature how we treat ourselves. When I talked that through with Pattie it instantly clicked.

“When I met Pattie and Quinn, it was clear we shared a purpose, a way of thinking about our roles as artists and as human beings.”

Yo-Yo Ma

Cellist

Atmos

This idea of connection to nature really comes through in the song and the music video. Can you talk about how you brought that out?

Pattie

The outfits were designed by Lisa Jiang, an amazing, sustainable designer who took a zero-waste approach to all of these outfits, from my dress to Quinn’s two-piece to Yo-Yo Ma’s scarf. She hand-dyed all this fabric to symbolize air pollution, making the looks symbolic of the thing that is killing these glaciers. We tried to do everything with purpose in this project. For example, Quinn’s great-aunt made his qaspeq, the traditional jacket he wears in the video, and there are many other personal ties to this project as well. My dad’s from Alaska and after he died seven years ago I took his ashes to Holgate glacier where we filmed the video to scatter them. It felt very surreal to be back in the same place where his ashes are and it reminds me again of our connection to nature and how lucky we are to get a chance to fight for this thing while we’re alive.

Quinn

My great-grandfather was a really well-known violin maker who went by Frank Hobson the Eskimo Violin Maker. His instruments—violins, violas, cellos—were and still are some of the best instruments ever made. He made them by cutting down the trees, carving them by hand, and then playing them to feel if the wood was alive or if it was dead. If he felt it was dead, he would throw it away and start again. So, I have always felt a strong love for strings, of course, and when we just started talking about this song and bringing in Yo-Yo Ma, doing this in my home state, it all just felt really right the whole way through.

Atmos

It sounds like there was a lot of different inspiration for this project. What else has inspired you from the world of art and activism?

Pattie

I think that so much more art is activism than we think. Take music, it’s played such an important role in every single social justice movement on this planet, from the American Civil Rights movement with the song “We Shall Overcome,” to anti-war anthems, and I don’t know why it’s not playing more of a role with climate. From my very queer lens, I think that drag is nothing but political and is nothing but activism. All the way back to the queer rights movement, especially in the U.S., drag queens led the charge and I think they still do. I don’t often look at myself as a part of that, but I think so much about the collective power of drag and the effect it can have when it comes to community organizers, people that are living loudly and proudly.

But I also think that art as activism can be fun and collaborative and it brings people together. Often when we think of artists we think of solo work, but I think it is so impactful when art can really be community-based. I’m excited to have the starting line of this song, I’m excited to sing it with people and perform it with people. When we were in Alaska, we got to perform the song to a group of local youth artists, so that was about 50 people, and it was so special. I just can’t wait until even more people are singing it.

Atmos

It would be great to hear more about the community work you did in Alaska as well as filming the music video. What was that like and what was the impact?

Pattie

Yeah, so we did this giant artist share event with local Indigenous youth artists and organizers, including a drag show with local Alaska drag performers who are amazing. Through that we raised $66,000 for different Indigenous and women-led organizations in Alaska, which is great.

Quinn

And for the artist share itself, we made what Yo-Yo Ma would call “offerings.” which is when we just sit down and start playing something for people. We all gathered and people shared different things, so the group of youth had written a song, there was some poetry, and then we shared our song, followed by a big dancing group at the end, and then food. It was really native, really Alaskan, this idea of gathering, performing and eating together—that’s what my culture is steeped in. It was really special—and also silent! Any time a performance was happening, people were sat on the floor in pindrop silence. It was just beautiful.

Atmos

It’s definitely true that drag is political, as is preserving Indigenous culture and practices, that’s really special. The way that all comes together in this project is powerful. What was it like to create this song with such diversity in the room?

Pattie

Well exactly, what’s really powerful about songwriting is that who’s in the room matters. Case in point with Won’t Give Up—you get a completely different song when you put in different ingredients. I think that’s really indicative of our activism as well. If we always have people that look like us, or come from the same places as us, our activism isn’t going to be effective. But if we can change who’s in the room and imagine new ways to be, then I think it can look really different, which is how it should be. It should reflect people, all people.

Atmos

Turning the song into an anthem of hope, you allude to the idea that there are solutions out there, maybe different ones from what’s being discussed in the mainstream narrative. What do you mean when you talk about solutions?

Pattie

My theory of change when it comes to climate is, try to have an effect on what you can control. People fight for what they love, right? So if I can get people outdoors, especially queer youth that are oftentimes the most disconnected people from climate, and if they can fall in love with nature, then they’ll fight for it. One of the most harmful things in this world is how much capitalism has disconnected us from nature and from each other. There are so many climate activists that I really look up to who are bringing people together constantly. I look at what Quinn is doing to make music and community, especially for queer people. That takes so much work and is often so unseen.

“My theory of change when it comes to climate is, try to have an effect on what you can control. People fight for what they love, right?”

Pattie Gonia

Drag Queen

Quinn

Yes I totally agree. It’s about looking at wherever we’re at in the world and finding how the climate crisis is affecting us there. The solutions then come from within, they come from your community, and I think that’s where a lot of the change can happen. In Alaska right now, for example, they’re trying to build a huge road through a lot of Indigenous communities, it’s called the Ambler road, and it will interrupt migration patterns for the caribou which will change the entire ecosystem. I went on a tour with the band Portugal. The Man to spread awareness about the destruction through five remote villages, some of them not even on the road system. We got to speak to the chiefs, the elders, the youth of the villages, and they were all exactly on the same page. They know what’s best for their community and it really felt like we could win against the big corporations because we all know what’s right. I’m pretty sure if we all just take a second to see what’s happening right in front of us, the solutions will come closer.

Pattie

I really appreciate what Quinn said because it’s rare to find such powerful community spaces where people can come together. Shout out to what Yo-Yo Ma is doing as well. With his project, Our Common Nature, in every city he tours in, he stays an extra day or two and runs a completely private artist share with different musicians, poets, artists—anyone from any discipline can come and I just think that’s really beautiful.  

Atmos

What do you hope people will take away after listening to this song?

Quinn

I want people to share it, to sing it, and scream it and feel it! A song is meant to be played many times over and leave you still not knowing exactly what it’s about or saying. This song is about us, it’s about nature, it’s about loving each other and nature. There are so many ways to feel it and for everybody to explore that.

Pattie

The beautiful thing about art is that when you put it out there, it’s no longer ours; it’s everyone’s, and we want everyone to feel like it’s theirs. I also want people to think about how social justice and environmental justice are inextricably linked. I want people to know that humans are not apart from nature, and I want people to take who you are, take what you’re good at, and apply it to what you care about in this world. If we do that, the world will never look the same.

Won’t Give Up was released on 13th November at 9pm PST.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been condensed and edited for purposes of length and clarity.

Images courtesy of Pattie Gonia, Yo-Yo Ma, and Quinn Christopherson

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Members of the Onondaga Nation and other Indigenous communities from across the country gathered at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs for a symposium on conservation, climate change and biodiversity on Sunday and Monday.

Speakers at the symposium discussed how Indigenous communities prioritize environmental preservation through art and ancestral practices. The event — titled “Indigenous Resilience, Climate Change, and the Environmental Humanities” — was held in Eggers Hall and hosted by groups including the Native Student Program and the Center for Global Indigenous Culture and Environmental Justice at SU’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The symposium included several lectures and a panel, as well as an art exhibition at the Syracuse University Art Museum.

Linda Infante Lyons, an Alutiiq — or a Southern Alaskan Indigenous person — called on symposium attendees to be hopeful rather than fearful about the implications of climate change in her remarks Sunday.

“If we can learn to love the land, we will take care of it, and artwork is my way of showing that I love the land and I want you to love it as well,” Lyons said.

Lyons said she disagreed with the methods of “end-stage” capitalism, specifically how it focuses too much on maximizing profit and capitalizing on resources. She said she wants the world to move toward a more sustainable way of life similar to how Indigenous people have lived for generations while incorporating modern science and anthropology.

“I’m afraid that we will sort of follow this Western European trajectory, which is very linear… it’s not sustainable,” Lyons said. “It really does sort of predict an end and almost embrace an apocalyptic end.”

Lyons also called for greater representation of Indigenous peoples in international communities.

Brandon Lazore, an Onondaga snipe clan artist, was hired by SU to produce a variety of art about Haudenosaunee culture on campus — including a mural at the newly reopened Native Student Program building located at 113 Euclid Ave. Lazore spoke about the importance of education in Indigenous communities and the optimistic view of the world he hopes to reflect in his artwork.

“My healing is me being able to educate through my art,” Lazore said. “We talked a little bit about our past histories and I chose not to paint about our traumas. I want to talk about things that would lift us up, put us in a good spirit and give us something to be proud about.”

Ali Meders-Knight, a member of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico in Rancheria, California, described the “post-apocalyptic world” Indigenous people live in where they have lost their ancestral lands, languages and resources.

Meders-Knight also addressed the rate of suicide in the Indigenous community. Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native people have the highest rate of suicide among racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Meders-Knight said that when she had her own struggle with suicidal thoughts, basket weaving and art “saved” her.

“Suicide’s really hard in our community, and it’s not spoken enough about,” Meders-Knight said. “I know youths that have killed themselves, I know adults that have killed themselves.”

Meders-Knight said she believes the best way forward is to have people work on land together and promote self-healing by connecting with ancestors through ancestral traditions.

Looking to the future, Lazore said he wants to leave a lasting impact through art that will inspire many generations of Indigenous people.

“I want our people to be proud of themselves and proud when they see these installations and proud when they see these paintings in museums, or wherever they might land or wherever they might be,” Lazore said. “I know that what I’m doing is gonna last a lot longer than I will.”

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – History in the making. That’s what one art gallery is showcasing on Madison’s east side.

All of the art is created by nine different Indigenous artists from around the upper Midwest. The work can be seen in the Marzen Art Gallery.

“Art history is happening right now,” Integrated Art Group general manager Jason Levy said. “We’re fortunate enough to get some of these powers assembled in the same space.”

The art is curated by an art gallery from Duluth, Minnesota: The Rabbit, Bird and Bear.

“They said that there’s not very many galleries in Madison that showcase indigenous art,” The Rabbit, Bird and Bear owner and CEO Michelle LeBeau said.

It’s a visual medium Madisonians don’t get to see every day.

“I want them to be blown away by it,” Levy said. “I want them to know that there are Indigenous artists creating contemporary work right now.”

Being blown away is just one of the reactions Levy wants people to feel from the art. The main feeling he wants people to feel is a sense of healing.

“There’s been a rise in the interest of how art can heal and provide a healing environment,” Levy said.

The meaning behind the art serves a broader purpose. The nine artists are working with healthcare clients in Madison, and across the nation, by showing their art in hospitals to bring a sense of comfort and healing.

“When they can find something that can either bring them peace, calm or even just a distractions for yourself or the family in those environments, we try to do that in a sensitive, articulate kind of way that gives dialogue to develop a space, so it feels comforting,” Levy said.

For Indigenous artists like Christopher Sweet, having his work make an impact in Madison means a little more.

“I was born and raised in Wisconsin,” Sweet said. “I’ve spent a lot of time in this area and it’s just really great to be, you know, a part of this.”

You can check out the work of the Indigenous artists yourself. The Marzen Art Gallery will have the exhibition on display through Dec. 15.

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One of Glacier Symphony’s most culturally rich and art-filled shows of the season is coming to the Wachholz College Center on Nov. 18 and 19.

The Glacier Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John Zoltek, will present multiple powerful orchestral pieces, including a premiere of a new Montana composition “The Hunting Moon,” and additional layers of concert entertainment during Vision Spirit Land. 

Many Native artists are featured in Vision Spirit Land and include University of Montana professor and Salish Kootenai poet, Heather Cahoon, Blackfeet artist and Montana’s 2023 Teacher of the Year, Keven Kickingwoman, and Missoula-based 3D-collage artist, Monica Gilles-BringsYellow. New Mexico-based world flutist, Suzanne Teng, will be performing with the orchestra. 

Glacier Symphony will also be bringing in Westwater Arts from Los Angeles, California, an immersive visual concert experience company that will provide visuals of Native peoples, sacred natural spaces and National Parks choreographed to the concert music. 

The inclusion of the photo-choreography by Westwater Arts was an integral part of planning this concert program and art-music synergy, meant to add a very relevant and beautiful visual experience for the audiences. 

Performances are Saturday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. at the Wachholz College Center on the Flathead Valley Community College campus.

The program will begin with two ceremonial songs sung by Montana Blackfeet artist and 2023 Montana Teacher of the Year, Kevin Kickingwoman, to welcome the audience and give thanks and blessings to the concert. The first piece played by the symphony will be “Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus” by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The song will be accompanied by photo-choreography, projected on special screens above the orchestra, by Westwater Arts, called “Visions,” and include historic images of Native Peoples of various regions of North America, including Montana, photographed by Edward S. Curtis. This will be the first of three such pieces with projections during the concert. 

Ticket pricing for adults starts at $39, college students $15 and children under age 18 start at $12. Sponsors include Glacier Bank, Whitefish Mountain Resort, Freedom Bank, and the Kalispell Grand Hotel. 

For more information, call (406) 407-7000 or for tickets visit glaciersymphony.org

THE WORLD premiere of “The Hunting Moon” by Glacier Symphony artistic director and conductor, John Zoltek is featured during the concert. This new work is a poem cycle for speaker, flute soloist and orchestra that is based on the poetry of Montana Native American poet and professor Heather Cahoon, who is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. 

The music incorporates spoken poetry from Cahoon’s work and includes a Native American flute solo performed by New Mexico-based flutist, Suzanne Teng. The song contains 11 separate movements which incorporate nearly 15 poems and additional excerpts from Cahoon’s published works. 

Zoltek has used these poems as an inspirational springboard to create a colorful and unique orchestral work that is atmospheric and dynamic. 

“The Hunting Moon is my artistic response as a composer of European ethnicity to the evocative image world of Heather Cahoon’s poetry and my own experience living in this beautiful area we all now call home,” Zoltek said. “I am honored to work with Heather on this special project and I thank her for being receptive to this idea, lending me the use of her poems to set to music, and sharing her thoughts and advice.”

The poems are rich in natural imagery and speak to Native American spirituality, wildlife, reservation living, and Flathead Valley scenery. 

Cahoon said it was an honor to know her poetry inspired Zoltek to respond in his art form and create a concert. 

“I can hardly wait to hear — and to feel — my poems reinterpreted as music, as a literal symphony of vibrational frequencies that enter the ear as well as the rest of the body,” Cahoon said. “I’m also looking forward to hearing the Salish words that Maestro Zoltek has written into the performance. It’s going to be quite powerful to hear the language that has been spoken in this area for thousands and thousands of years and I’m so pleased that Maestro Zoltek has incorporated it into the performance.”   

The solo flutist represents the musical voice of the poet, which will be paired with the narrated poems during the concert. 

Suzanne Teng, who plays a wide variety of world flutes, including the Native American flute, excels in improvisation, an attribute that will be showcased in “The Hunting Moon.” The poetic text will be projected above the orchestra so that the audience can follow along with the narration and make connections between Zoltek’s composition and Cahoon’s text. 

After intermission, the concert continues with two more photo-choreography projection pieces by Westwater Arts: “Reflections of the Spirit,” with music by Samuel Barber and “National Park Suite” set to music by Antonin Dvorak. The photography and film clips will feature spaces sacred to the First Peoples of the Americas and a brilliant overview of our shared National Parks. The concert will conclude with the final movement from Dvorak’s ninth symphony.

A pre-concert and intermission art exhibition will feature the artwork of Monica Gilles-BringsYellow, who created artwork specifically for the Vibes and Visions 41st season theme. 

AHEAD OF the performances, Glacier Symphony and the Dick Idol Gallery in Whitefish host a preconcert soiree for the opening of an exhibition of rising star Monica Gilles-BringsYellow, the artist behind Glacier Symphony’s 41st season theme artwork. The event is Nov. 15 at 5:30 p.m. 

Guests will enjoy a private performance by Vision Spirit Land guest artist, and flutist Suzanne Teng, wine and tasty bites provided by The Salty Calf, and an opportunity to mingle with the inspiration behind Maestro Zoltek’s new composition, poet Heather Cahoon. 

Tickets are limited, with proceeds benefiting the Glacier Symphony, Orchestra, and Chorale’s concert and youth music programming. Tickets are $100 each.

Women have been involved with the hip-hop genre from the very start. As a part of Funky 4 +1 More, Sharon Green, also known as MC Sha-Rock, is considered the first female rapper ever. She helped lay the foundation for women in the largely male-dominated hip-hop genre.

In the 1980s, the movement began to migrate south. New Orleans-born rapper Mia X debuted her skills and rapped alongside the notable Mannie Fresh, who gave us the beloved “Back That Thang Up.” From there, we were given rap talents like Miami native Trina and Memphis’s Gangsta Boo.

Their work in the industry created an affirming space for a new lane of female artists like Texas-born Megan Thee Stallion, Alabama-born Flo Milli, Atlanta-raised Latto, and Snow Hill-raised Rapsody. A New York Times article by Niela Orr deemed that The Future of Rap is Female and it is clear that women are leading the charge. More specifically, women in the South are dominating.

When I first interviewed TiaCorine at the Summer in tha Carolinas Festival 2022, it was an organic conversation in a cramped green room. With her daughter close to her side, we discussed her sound, style, and what to expect from her in the future. Since then, she completed her first two-month tour, opened up for rapper Key Glock, released her own shoe and merch, and performed her hit song “Freaky T” at Coachella with rapper Latto.

TiaCorine is an artist putting on for the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This year, Corine signed to South Coast Music Group, which is home to North Carolina’s DaBaby and Toosii. When asked about being a part of a new area of lady-led music, she was ecstatic.

“I definitely think the future is definitely female,” Corine said, “but I don’t want to just say rap. I really don’t want to consider myself a rapper. I’m an artist. Females are great. I mean, we got it all. We got the looks, you know? People want to look at something that’s cute and sexy. I feel like we’re just more innovative and we’re creative.”

Her unique style shows traces of her interests in anime and rock ‘n’ roll, which her fans adore. With influences from both of her parents, her music is as versatile as her background.

“I remember my very first female influence, I think her name was Lil’ Mo,” she said. “I remember the song ‘SuperWoman.’ And I just loved that song.”

Corine talked about the other musical influences that shaped her sound. “(My dad) put me on to like the Hip-Hop side, you know the Sugar Hill Gang, Run-DMC, Salt & Pepper, (A) Tribe Called Quest …”

This, mixed with her mother’s alternative upbringing, allowed her to have versatile influences. “I got these two worlds going on,” TiaCorine said. Her mom is Native American and lived in Idaho. “She was more so listening to 80s, 90s, 60s, 70s like Rock-Pop,” she added, “So, she’s playing Queen and Tina Marie.” These influences contributed to the versatile and bubbly music that her fans listen to today.

Her distinct upbringing collided to make Corine a sensation and now, she does it all under the watchful eye of her young daughter, Zoe. She’s on track to be just as much of a star as Tia is.

“She literally is me,” she said, beaming with pride. “She’s really, really good at drawing. She loves music … I’m hearing her in the backseat. So, it’s like she’s gonna do something. I don’t know what. But she’s very creative. That’s my girl.”

Corine explained how this unique sound has allowed her to diversify her own music and experiment with genres outside of rap. She looks forward to the future of her artistry.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I’m working on the album and that is worth the wait. I’m building the content right now … I’m morphing right now … I’m trying to be on some iconic s—.”

One of India’s richest families—and most prominent groups of cultural patrons—will open a contemporary art centre in the country’s south next year. Hampi Art Labs is being launched by the JSW Foundation, the social development arm of the JSW Group, a Mumbai-headquartered conglomerate founded and led by members of the Jindal family. The company, which has holdings in steel, energy and infrastructure, among other assets, has a reported annual revenue of $22bn.

The 18-acre art centre, due to open in February 2024, will be located in a town near Hampi, a Unesco World Heritage site, around a six-hour drive from Bengaluru. A popular tourist destination, Hampi was once the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, which ruled parts of southern India from the 14th to the early 17th century. During its peak, the empire was one of the world’s largest in terms of prosperity and size, and its leaders erected more than 1,000 monuments across Hampi, including intricately carved stone temples, markets and gateways, a number of which remain intact. Tourists also visit the site for its striking geographical position, amid vast boulder formations and on the banks of the Tungabhadra river.

Hampi Art Labs will house exhibition venues, studios and a new artist residency programme. It is built with an undisclosed budget, on land owned by the JSW Group in the town of Vijayanagara, where the conglomerate operates India’s largest steel plant.

“Hampi Art Labs is an institution uniquely born of place—the proximity of the JSW Plant in Vijayanagar to an ancient and distinctive world heritage site like Hampi offers unparalleled possibilities that having this residency in an urban centre could not match,” says Sangita Jindal, the chairperson of JSW Foundation and the wife of Sajjan Jindal, the chairperson of the JSW Group. She will oversee the centre along with her daughter, Tarini, the creative director of Hampi Art Labs.

Artist residents will have access to the steel plant to “work on a large scale and with specialised equipment”. Further production facilities include those for printmaking, ceramics and new media.

This is not the first culture initiative the Jindals have launched in the area. In 2012, JSW opened Kaladham, a ten-acre campus in Vijayanagar that houses a museum dedicated to the heritage of Hampi, along with performance venues. Sangita Jindal has also previously worked with the Global Heritage Fund to restore temple sites in Hampi.

The Jindals are well known in India for funding and promoting a wide range of visual arts initiatives. Sangita Jindal is the publisher of Art India, a quarterly magazine covering India’s art world. The Jindal collection, mainly focusing on Modern and contemporary South Asian art, features “more than 1,000” works and is housed across a number of properties and offices owned by the family. Around 80% of the collection belongs to Sangita Jindal, with the rest owned by JSW Group. The new centre’s inaugural show will focus on works from the collection by artists including Bharti Kher, Andy Warhol, Lubna Chowdhary and Ai Weiwei. Future exhibitions will be made up of new, commissioned works and loans.

The first set of artists signed up to the residency programme are Bhasha Chakrabarti, Sharbendu De, Madhavi Gore, Promiti Hossain and Anirudh Singh Shaktawat. The new centre is being designed by the architect Sameep Padora and his studio sP+a.