ArtSake

The deadline for Artist Fellowships applications in Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry is this Monday, January 30, 2012.

If you are a Massachusetts choreographer, writer, and/or poet who meets the eligibility requirements, apply! (Monday is a postmark deadline.)

The fellowships are anonymously-judged competitive grants for Massachusetts artists. Fellowships of $7,500 and finalist awards of $500 are awarded based solely on the artistic excellence of the work submitted. Check out our tips on applying.

Read full program guidelines, eligibility requirements, and application instructions and apply online.

Image and Media: photo of books by past MCC Fellows (l to r) SUCCESS OF THE SEED PLANTS by Leslie Williams, THE FOREIGNER by Francie Lin, CLOISTERS by Kristin Bock, MRS. SOMEBODY SOMEBODY by Tracy Winn, excerpt from DEEP by Ariel Cohen and Kellie Ann Lynch.

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The Massachusetts Cultural Council is pleased to announce that we are now accepting 2012 Artist Fellowships applications in the categories of Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry.

The deadline for Artist Fellowships applications in Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry is January 30, 2012. Read the program guidelines and apply online.

The Artist Fellowships are competitive, anonymously judged fellowships of $7,500 and finalist awards of $500, direct support to individual artists in recognition of artistic excellence. Read our tips on applying.

As a reminder, the deadline for applications in Drawing, Painting, and Traditional Arts has passed. Award results in these categories will be made at the end of January 2012.

Media and image: excerpt from MY OWN PERSONAL (#2) by Sarah Slifer (Choreography Fellow ’10); Allan Reeder (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’10, ’06) read at Porter Square Books. Allan recently received a Promise Grant from the Sustainable Arts Foundation.

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Today’s glimpse from our gallery of past MCC Fellows/Finalists: an excerpt from Mayara by Mary Jane Doherty (Film & Video Finalist ’11). Mayara is a nonfiction film-in-progress about a young Cuban dancer who makes a startling decision.

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November, upon us like a helping of heavily syrupped sweet potatoes, brings with it this bounty of news from our past Fellows/Finalists…

(more…)

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The Art of Leaving, a multi-disciplinary dance performance at The Arts Block in Greenfield, MA, takes place on Nov. 4 and 5, 2011, 7:30 PM. But elements of the project have been viewable by the public stretching back to May 2011, when Cynthia McLaughlin, the creator of The Art of Leaving: Portrait Tales, began exhibiting large scale photographs in public places. The photographic scenes depict characters and situations exploring leaving and staying.

Working with performers Krista DeNio, Cassie Sioux Mills, Lani Nahele, and Jennifer Polins & Saliq Francis Savage, and with Chattman Photography, Cynthia conceived portraits to explore questions like, “When do we stay?” “When do we leave?” “What do we preserve?” and “What do we abandon?”

The dance performance continues those explorations.

We asked Cynthia a few questions of our own, and here, she responds:

What inspired the “Portrait Tales” project? I met Joanna Chattman, the photographer, when she was photographing a fashion show I had choreographed and performed in (Tiny Crush Society), and, later, I was struck by the thought that she takes these beautiful photographs and works on them and prints them, and then she can share them again and again. I know it sounds like a “duh” moment, but as a director and performer I work so hard for so many hours and it’s all so expensive and no one is paid well and then it’s over. I wanted to find an aspect to my work that is sustainable. So I began to consider the process I was currently involved in, The Art of Leaving, and there began the idea to find a life for the characters through portraiture, a way to preserve them. I wanted to reach the widest audience possible, so I wanted them to be large and outside. What I never expected was how the process of working with these buildings, learning their history, getting to know their owners would become part of the work on its own. The work of siting, styling and costuming the portraits became a study in itself of The Art of Leaving.

Do you secretly dream of being a) a pop icon, b) an algebra teacher, and/or c) a crime-solver/writer a la Jessica Fletcher? There was a dark period last spring when it felt like I was pushing up against a lot of solid walls. I kept fantasizing about being a Bolt bus driver. It seemed so clear and functional. Get these people from Hadley to NYC – something seemed so deliciously straightforward about it. I suppose I would last a day….

Computer, longhand, or typewriter? Ha! I had to write all your questions down in pencil and write all my answers before I sent them to you.

What’s the most surprising response to your art you’ve ever received? Recently, I performed an installation, “Waiting for Pigeons” as part of a curated event called 21 Rooms in York, ME. Each artist had a room in this wonderful vintage motel, The Nevada. The work deals with nesting, isolation and confinement. A lot of people (1,500 attended) found it “scary.” Really, I thought, I’m in a white paper bag bird mask and I’m making a nest. That’s scary? It was great.

The unauthorized biography of your life is titled: Hmmmm… Fumbling in Grace.

If forced to choose, would you be a magic marker, a crayon, or a #2 pencil? #2 pencil, definitely.

What are you currently reading? I just finished Birds in Fall, a beautiful, poignant novel. There is an underlying thread throughout the story that deals with birds in migration, so it is related to my work. I’m highly influenced by literature and keep a bibliography for my projects.

What’s next? I have many plans in the works. More collaborations with Tiny Crush… I would like to do another photo project that is more of a scavenger hunt – this time dealing with my bird character. There is an old church near my house with no electricity and an old pump organ. I know an amazing organist and would love to create something there… My mind’s always racing.

Performances of The Art of Leaving are November 4-5, 2011, 7:30 PM, at The Arts Block in Greenfield, MA.

Images: all photos conceived, directed and styled by Cynthia McLaughlin, photographed by Chattman Photography.

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In September, past MCC fellows/finalists venture into imagined flora, faraway lands, outer space, the impermanent, the temporary, and the nearly not. (For starters.)

And now, we venture into our monthly round-up of the news of past awardees of our Artist Fellowships Program.

Karen Aqua (Film & Video Fellow ’11) will be honored by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston in a tribute program, on Sunday, September 25, 2011, 3 PM. Read more about the program on ArtSake.

Sally Bellerose (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Finalist ’04) will read from her novel The Girls Club at Forbes Library in Northampton on Saturday, September 24, 2011, at 3 PM. The novel tells of the complicated, interconnected lives of three working class sisters in small town Massachusetts.

Congratulations to Alice Bouvrie (Film & Video Fellow ’11), whose documentary Thy Will Be Done now has a distribution partnership with New Day Films. The film will be appearing at Heart of England International Film Festival in the UK, September 7-18, 2011. The film, an excerpt of which won the artist an 2011 Artist Fellowship, will also be screening at the North Louisiana Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in Shreveport, LA on September 17 (12:30 PM) and September 20, 2011 (5:30 PM, followed by a panel discussion). Next month, along with a screening at the International Film Festival Australasia in Australia, the film will be shown at Lesley University‘s Marran Theater in Cambridge on October 12, 2011, at 7 PM.

Sarah Braunstein‘s (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’04) novel The Sweet Relief of Missing Children was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction’s Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize.

John Cameron‘s (Crafts Fellow ’11) work is included in New Hampshire Furniture Masters 2011. The annual auction is on September 10, 2011, at the Currier Museum of Art in NH.

Cheryl Clark (Poetry Finalist ’10) will read her poetry on Saturday, September 24, 3 PM, at Outpost 186 in Inman Square, Cambridge, as part of the Unaffiliated Reading Series.

Shawn Cody‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’07) new music theater work The Water Dream will have a staged reading as part of Shakespeare & Company’s Studio Festival of New Plays. The performance features Broadway veteran Anthony Rapp and takes place Monday, September 5, 2011 at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. Read about the event in Playbill.

Rebecca Doughty (Painting Finalist ’10) has a solo show of new paintings, called Nearly Nots, at The Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown. The show runs September 2-21, 2011, with a reception on Friday, September 2, 7-10 PM.

Vico Fabbris (Painting Fellow ’06, Drawing Fellow ’00) will have an exhibition titled Floragenis at the Rice Polak Gallery in Provincetown from September 1 to September 15, 2011. Opening reception, with the artist, Friday, September 2, 2011 at 7 PM. An interview with Vico Fabbris on his Floragenis exhibition at the Rice Polak Gallery will appear in the Provincetown Banner on Thursday, September 1, 2011, written by art historian and art critic Susan Rand Brown.

Long time organizer of poetry and interdisciplinary programs in Massachusetts, Michael Hoerman (Poetry Fellow ’04) has created a brand new organization, The Temp Series Project, to advocate and promote writing and art in the Commonwealth. Based in culture-rich Lowell, MA, The Temp Series Project will create interdisciplinary events, develop commissions, and host special showcases that highlight Massachusetts artists and promote their appreciation. Projects in the works include a temporary reading series, pocket poetry festival, and temporary public art. For more information, join The Temp Series Project on Facebook. The Temp Series Project was recently approved for fiscal sponsorship by Fractured Atlas.

Brian Knep (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’11) is showing Healing 2 as part of the group show Building Expectation: Past and Present Visions of the Architectural Future at Brown University in Providence, RI. The show runs at the David Winton Bell Gallery September 3-November 6, 2011, with an opening reception and curatorial talk on Friday, September 9, 5:30-7:30 PM.

Jesse Kreitzer (Film & Video Finalist ’11) has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for his independent feature film, The Wake. The film, which was recently selected as a finalist for the 2012 Sundance Institute’s Screenwriter’s Lab, is the story of a grief-ridden social worker who cares for a dying woman in secrecy from his wife and two children.

Dawn Lane (Choreography Fellow ’10) will premiere a new work of dance, one potato, two potato, at the Doris Duke Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow on September 2, 2011 (8 PM) and September 3, 2 PM and 8 PM. The work draws on aspects of Irish culture & history (i.e. knitting, the famine and Irish dance) to explore perceptions of excess, wastefulness, having enough, or nothing. Dawn’s MCC Fellowship, as well as a Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Creative Development Residency, helped pave the way for the new work. One potato, two potato is presented in cooperation with Jacob’s Pillow Community Dance Programs and Community Access to the Arts. Read Dawn’s post about the development of one potato, two potato, on ArtSake.

Scott Listfield (Painting Finalist ’10) is among the artists with work in Lift Off: Earthlings and the Great Beyond at the Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University in NJ. The exhibition is in the Main Gallery September 1, 2011-January 5, 2012, with an opening reception and catalog launch Thursday, September 15, 5-7 PM. Follow Scott’s new blog for more info on his upcoming solo show at the University Gallery at UMass Lowell, Astronaut: Paintings by Scott Listfield. That show will run November 7–December 2, 2011, artist talk & reception November 8, 3-5 PM. Finally, Scott is featured in a recently released book documenting the great Crazy 4 Cult art shows at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles.

Christian McEwen‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’11) new book World Enough and Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down will be published by Bauhan Publising this month. The book reflects on how slowing down the pace of one’s life can have profound benefits, including on creativity.

Nathalie Miebach (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09) has two solo shows in Massachusetts, this month: Musical Storms is on exhibit at the Cushing-Martin Gallery at Stonehill College in Easton from September 22-October 31, 2011, with an opening reception October 5, 6-7:30 PM. Another solo show, Changing Waters, is on exhibit at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown September 30-November 30, 2011.

Anne Neely (Painting Finalist ’10) has a solo exhibit, Mopang: Recent Paintings on view at Lohin Geduld Gallery in NYC, from September 7 through October 8, 2011, with an opening reception September 8, 5–7 PM. A catalog with essay by Jonathan Franzen (who, incidentally, won our Artist Fellowship in 1986!) accompanies the exhibit.

Congratulations to Marlo Poras (Film & Video Fellow ’05), whose film-in-progress The Mosuo Sisters received a Chicken & Egg Pictures Liberty Grant.

Eric Henry Sanders‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’09) play Reservoir is being remounted at Theater 89 in Berlin (translated title: Haseks Heimkehr), following a successful production there in May. There was one performance in August, and upcoming performances September 9, 10, 16, and 17, 2011.

Tara Sellios (Photography Fellow ’11) is preparing for a solo show called Lessons of Impermanence at The New England School of Art & Design, this November 2011.

Peter Snoad‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’09) short play My Name is Art was staged at Artists Exchange in Cranston, RI, August 19-28 as part of their Black Box Theatre’s annual one-act festival.

Julia Story‘s (Poetry Finalist ’10) poetry was recently featured in TriQuarterly literary journal.

Steve Tourlentes (Photography Fellow ’11, ’05) currently has a piece in Night Vision, an exhibition on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City through September 16, 2011.

Frank Ward (Photography Fellow ’11) gave two presentations in Central Asia, in August, first presenting his work in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, followed by a lecture in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

Jeff Warmouth (Sculpture/Installation Finalist ’05) has a solo exhibition at the SHOW Gallery and Performance Space in Staten Island, NY. The show, called SuperJeffuBurgerMarket, runs September 10-October, 29, 2011, with an opening reception Saturday, September 10, 5-8 PM.

Ellen Wineberg (Painting Finalist ’04) has work in two MA exhibitions this months: she has four pieces in 24 Solo Shows at Bromfield Gallery in Boston, August 31-October 1 (opening reception Sept. 9, 6-8:30 PM). She’s also part of a five-person show, Exquisite Corpse at Deerfield Academy. The show, with work ranging from minimal to real, runs September 22-November 17 (opening reception Sunday, Oct. 2, 2-5), at the school’s Russell Gallery.

Michael Zelehoski (Painting Fellow ’10) has a solo show at Sanford Smith Fine Art in Great Barrington, running through October 13, 2011.

Past Fellows Notes
Aug. 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
Apr. 2011
Mar. 2011
Feb. 2011
Jan. 2011

Are you a past fellow or finalist with an event, honor, or other bit of news you’d like to share? Tell us about it.

Images: Painting by Vico Fabbris, from the FLORAGENIS series; paintings by Rebecca Doughty, from the NEARLY NOTS series; Michael Hoerman’s digital rendering of Storehouse No. 1, a video installation proposed by The Temp Series Project in Lowell; cover art for Christian McEwen’s WORLD ENOUGH & TIME (Bauhan Publishing, 2011); Frank Ward, #3 (2009), Giclee print, 22X33 in.

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In Three Stages, we ask Massachusetts artists to shed light on their art-making process by focusing on three stages in one work of art.

Here, Dawn Lane (Choreography Fellow ’10) traces her new dance piece “one potato, two potato” from its inspiration, to its juxtapositions, to the collaborations that have led to its premiere at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA, September 2 and 3, 2011.

Inspiration

I first traveled to Ireland in the spring of 1984 and knew immediately it was a place I would return to. On my fifth trip in 2006, I found myself driving a “green” road in the Burren in County Clare. I stopped at what looked like a farming road and started walking… I soon noticed a megalithic stone, which I later learned was a pre-Christian well and children’s burial ground. On the stone was a simple and stylized carving of a child’s face. I took some photos and drew a sketch. That night as I wrote in a travel journal I felt a fascination forming… the road was the Famine Road, also know as The Burren Way.

In June 2009, I returned and shot some video, the true beginning of this project. I was moved to learn this road was built by those whose homes and crops were devastated by the potato blight in the mid 19th century in exchange for food and if they were lucky a bed in a workhouse. Between the years 1845 and 1852, over one million people died and another million left Ireland. Some died on what came to be called coffin ships… boats that went back and forth from Ireland to North America, never letting anyone off.

Juxtaposition

The juxtaposition of this calamity and the beauty of the Irish landscape coupled with the spirit and humor of the Irish people triggered me to create this work. My intentions are to draw upon this history as a metaphor, rather than to create a historical depiction. All of us are vulnerable, all of us exquisite, all of us wasteful. We all subscribe to hope and possibility. We bear responsibility for our choices yet, we sometimes have no choice in our predicaments. The piece one potato, two potato looks at the delicate balance between devastation and beauty, hardship and triumph. The choreographic challenge is to find ways to depict the balance… paying attention to take care and honor my intentions while remembering that an audience has to be engaged and not turned off by tragic subject matter. It’s about trust, really. I want to trust my choreographic instincts, so the audience will trust me and get on the ride!

Go maire sibh chomh fada is mian libh, Is ná raibh gátar oraibh chomh fada is a mhaireann sibh. (May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.)

Collaboration

I want to extend my gratitude to Ella Baff, the Pillow staff, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and my colleagues at Community Access to the Arts for their support in the creation and fruition of this work. In October 2010, my dancers and I had the honor of working in the Doris Duke Theatre for one week as part of the Pillow’s Creative Development Residency Program. It was during this week that we established the basis for one potato, two potato. We are delighted and honored that the premiere is in the Doris Duke Theatre, the very space the work was nurtured.

Since October 2010, the work has grown to include much collaboration, integrating dancers with mixed abilities from CATA’s Moving Company, working to include the children of the several of the lead dancers, and collaborating with a filmmaker and photographer to create video/photographic projections which will play intermittently during the work. The assembly of all these people exemplifies true collaboration, each facet needing the other in order to create a completed work. It has been a lesson in letting each step inform the next and letting all involved bring their passions, talents, and expertise to the process.

Dawn Lane’s “one potato, two potato” will premiere at the Doris Duke Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow on September 2, 2011 (8 PM) and September 3, 2 PM and 8 PM.

Dawn Lane’s work has been performed at The Kennedy Performing Arts Center, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Boston Conservatory, and elsewhere, and has been funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the LEF Foundation and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. She is one of three nationally chosen dance educators to teach Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion™ residencies, and recently took part in a new work residency at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Her work was selected for the VSA International Arts Festival in Washington, DC in June 2010. In 1998 she founded The Moving Company, a mixed ability dance company for Community Access to the Arts (CATA), for which she has worked since 1995 and is currently Artistic Director.

Images: all photos courtesy of Dawn Lane.

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We’re excited to announce that the Massachusetts Cultural Council 2012 Artist Fellowships guidelines are now available. The Artist Fellowships are unrestricted, anonymously judged, competitive grants in recognition of artistic excellence.

There are two deadlines per fiscal year, divided by discipline, and applications are now being accepted in Drawing, Painting, and Traditional Arts. Deadline: October 7, 2011.

Beginning December 15, 2011, MCC will accept applications in Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry. Deadline: January 30, 2012.

Who should apply? Generative Massachusetts artists who meet eligibility requirements (see guidelines) are encouraged to apply. Read our tips on applying for an MCC Artist Fellowship.

We know artists work in ways that are not always easily categorized. If you have any questions where your work might best fit in the program, don’t hesitate to ask us.

Read full program guidelines, eligibility requirements, and application instructions.

Image: Luke O’Sullivan, SUITCASE (100,000 DOLLARS) (2009), screenprint on wood, 18x13x11 in.

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The Massachusetts Dance Festival kicks off its second year of full-day weekend education workshops and performances August 13-14 at Boston University’s Dance Studio Theater, and August 27 at UMass Amherst’s Bowker Auditorium.

A veritable Whitman’s Sampler of delicious Massachusetts-based modern, ballet, jazz, hip-hop and world dance companies will be participating:
Agbekor Drum and Dance Society (ADDS)
BoSoma Dance
Boston Dance Company
Chaos Theory Dance
Contrapose Dance
Fran & Miriale Dance Fusion
Impact Dance Company
Lorainne Chapman The Company (LCTC)
Legacy Dance Company
Navarassa Dance Theater
Triveni Dance Ensemble

But don’t squeeze the dancers to see what flavor they have inside -just watch them perform. It’s guaranteed to be a tasty delight.

Plus, there are workshops for all dance levels, from beginner (age 8 – adult) to professional. Workshops begin around 10:30 a.m and run until 3 p.m. Check out the schedule to learn more. Questions: 508-429-7577.

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Whether you are a choreographer, dancer, figure painter, lover of archival images, or just “dance-curious”, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive is for you. They have collected film and video footage of human bodies in exquisite motion performing at Jacob’s Pillow from the late 1930′s to the present. You can really sense the trajectory of dance (and fashion and music) through the decades while watching these clips. Of note is the spectacular black and white footage of Ted Shawn’s male dancers performing Kinetic Molpai and the athleticism and grace of the dancers from Rennie Harris Puremovement (James “Cricket” Colter, Duane Lee Holland, Jr., Forrest “Getemgump” Webb) performing Rome and Jewels. So spice up that life drawing class and watch these dancers do their thing! There really is something here for everyone unless of course you’re looking for a “how-to” instructional dance video of the Macarena. In that case, well…you’ll have to look elsewhere.

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