This summer, the Make a Wish Foundation received an unusual request from Robin, a ten year old girl with Craniopharyngioma, a life threatening benign tumor that develops near the pituitary gland in the brain.

She wanted to sail to Wonderland, meet the Red Queen and the White Queen, play croquet, solve riddles, parkour (overcome obstacles through the most direct path) and sleep in the woods. She wanted to live the adventure of Alice in Wonderland. How could the Foundation possibly grant this request?

Coincidentally and serendipitously theatre simple, a regular contributor to and participant in 4Culture’s Site-Specific performance program, was opening its latest outdoor, free production of Wonderland: Alice Adventures in Ballard. The Seattle Times wrote an article about it, which someone at the Foundation read. Foundation representatives attended the next performance of Wonderland in Bellevue Botanical Garden, and after the show, approached theatre simple co-founder Llysa Holland about the child’s request. Could theatre simple make this fantasy come true? Lysa decided that they could and would.

Llysa and the Make a Wish staff recruited partners for this exquisite adventure. Nordstom, the Ruins, the Space Needle, the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, a sailing company and a flying company all entered into the spirit in granting this wish.

On September 10^th, the White Rabbit surprised Robin at her home in South Seattle to be her attentive guide on this journey. They found an invitation to play croquet with the Queen and left in a limo to get proper dress for the occasion, because Robin had “nothing to wear.”

The Rabbit accompanied Robin to Nordstorm, and shopped for a proper party dress, specifically designed by the Nordstrom design team. They then went to the Space Needle and found clues that led her “up the Rabbit Hole” onto the observation deck, from which Robin looked through a telescope in search of clues posted below that led her on her next adventure. Robin went to the Ruins in lower Queen Anne and saw the tea party scene with Mad Hatter, March Hare, Teapot and Dormouse and got to be part of a “proper” tea party.

After the tea party, Robin arrived at Pier 66 to meet Captain Bruce Cunningham, who sailed the family and a few characters on a 42′ catamaran to Bainbridge Island, also known in this story as Wonderland. That evening Robin dined with the Duchess in a castle, where she spent the night.

The next morning Robin and her family had breakfast with Alice, the White Rabbit, Frog Footman and King and Queen. She saw an extraordinary croquet game played by young gymnast hedgehogs, then a remarkable croquet game with brooms as mallets and garden arbors as wickets. Following the croquet game, Robin met the Cheshire Cat, White Queen and many others. Then she encountered the Tweedles, completed the Parkour challenge and quiz to become queen and receive her crown. She celebrated with all the characters at a grand picnic. After her adventure in Wonderland, Robin and her family flew from Port Madison on Bainbridge in a seaplane back to Seattle. All of the characters gathered in front of the castle and waved as she passed overhead.

In the next couple of days, Llysa Holland and Andrew Litsky received a note from Robin’s mother:

“Robin laughed and smiled so much in Wonderland and told me many times how happy she was, and how magical the experience was. She cried when she saw everyone waving from Wonderland, missing them already. As we landed on Lake Union in the seaplane, Robin said, ‘I never thought I would have a flawless day in my life. This day is flawless, so far!’”

This story touched me so much I just had to share it. Llysa, Andrew, the fifteen actors who portrayed the Alice ensemble, the businesses that all jumped into the task at hand were extraordinarily generous with their talent and imagination. Llysa Holland is a genius. It makes me proud to be a part of this creative community.

Wonderful!

Jim Kelly

Photos: theater simple making a wish come true © 2011

(Thanks to Robin’s family for sharing their pictures!)

Saint Genet to perform in Occidental Park

Thursday, October 6 at 6:00 pm

Saint Genet presents Transports of Delirium (Aesthetic Ascesis in 4 Acts), a “Declaration of Aesthetics,” culminating in a large scale performance event featuring a short form operatic work, movement, and image. Presented in Occidental Square Park, the performance will be followed by a foggy procession to a dead gallery (the former location of The Lawrimore Project). This is the first public offering for this tempestuous young company.

This is the last project of ARTSparks 2011, funded by 4Culture Site-Specific, Seattle Parks and Recreation, and the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Photo: ©Dan Hawkins, 2011, Saint Genet, Transports of Delirium

Proposal deadline October 19th

Applications are now available for proposals to the 2012 Site Specific Program. Visual artists, installation artists and performing artists are invited to apply. 

4Culture’s Site-Specific program supports the creation and presentation of visual and performance art in non-traditional settings. Site-Specific seeks to broaden the definition of art and art-making, and encourages innovative proposals from all fields of creative endeavor. Site-Specific projects range from media and design works, architectural interventions, temporary installations and performances. Help us extend what we do by proposing something new and different.

The annual deadline solicits innovative ideas from artists and organizations working in all disciplines and encourages new collaborative projects between public venues and artists. Potential venues may include any public location as well as exploring non-traditional approaches to established exhibition spaces. Have a new site for us? Contact project staff if you would like to partner with 4Culture.

For more information and to apply: www.sitespecificarts.org

Photo: © Michelle Bates, 2011, Wonderland, theater simple

I like collecting sounds & field recordings, and I returned from The Long Walk with many hours of audio. Since then I have been digging through those files, editing, labeling, and posting, happily recalling many moments along the journey.

I learned of The Long Walk through Hollow Earth Radio, an amazing community internet radio station in the Central District. Since I love walking almost as much as I love collecting sounds (the two go very well together), I decided to go. I knew that I would likely be surrounded by people I did not know — yet that felt like an exciting challenge — to jump in to something that fell outside of my normal social group.

I expected to see and hear some art and natural beauty along the walk, so nothing about that was too surprising (the walk and the artists involved offered plenty of that). What did shock me, however, was how quickly the group felt like a community. I often hear about art attempting to create community, and sometimes it happens. This was, however, the first time I saw it happen at such a pace.

This generation of community was to me the strongest aspect of The Long Walk.

There were other aspects I appreciated:

• TLW facilitated communication and not just between the walkers. All of us participants had interactions with people on the roads, trails and towns. We were often asked what we were doing, which allowed us to then have dialog about our own personal experience of the walk with folks we likely would not normally interact with. I personally always appreciate this extended, though often a little forced, interaction with my greater community.

• TLW itself acted as a framework/canvas for many smaller projects, some planned, some not. Some more intimate, maybe even excluding many of the walkers, but some inclusive of anyone who happened to be in the general area (most aspects of the walk were in public areas).

• TLW will likely generate and inspire more art still, as folks, including myself, collect, recall, reflect and refine all their thoughts and experiences that came about as a result of the walk.

• TLW was fairly big in scope, bridging the gap between art, public space, public health, transportation, community/neighborhood awareness and education.

• TLW was one of the better personal, artistic/creative and community experiences I have had in a long time.

All that said, I am curious what may come of the next walk, assuming there is one, given the popularity of the walk this year (all the walking spots were filled the same day they were open), as well as some of the criticism of exclusivity (though most of the event involved public art in public spaces along public trails).

- Christopher Bradbury

Christopher Bradbury loves collecting sounds. He hosts the radio show Gunpowder Suite on HollowEarthRadio.org and lives in the Central District. A selection of his recordings, including ones from The Long Walk, are available at http://soundcloud.com/disconnecteddot.

Photos © 2011, Long Walkers: Breanne Gearheart and Sarah Kavage.

D.K. Pan and NKO were commissioned by Susan Robb to create artwork for The Long Walk. D.K. and NKO have collaborated on numerous creative endeavors including co-founding the Free Sheep Foundation. For this project, they presented “The 66 Ways of Water Magic” which involved a limited edition of 66 hand-screen-printed, monotype t-shirts emblazoned with the text “Time Is Memory” (in water-based ink). The shirts were packaged along with a water bottle and hand-labeled. Each Long Walker was presented with the object as a gift, wherein the name on the package was not their own. The instructions were for the participants to bear the gifts and engage in a water ritual with the recipient in order to complete the offering process. To give the gift, one had to receive it first, creating a sequential order based on randomness. The water rituals throughout The Long Walk involved songs and dance, feet and hand washings, and shared moments both private and public. The objects existed as an artifact of the ritual, underlying the aggregated system of understanding which increased with shared activity.

“How shall I tell what I saw?”

The Long Walk started somewhere, sometime. I joined in on a mid-summer’s morning. It was early after a long night. We had spent the late hours gathering, packaging and labeling gifts for fellow walkers, of whom we knew only names, void of familiarity or identity. It was the potentiality of persons still. We drove to a beach glowing in the cool, soft sunrise light. A few known faces amid the strangers. A total of 50 in this mobile engagement; all with their own histories and motivations. Along the way, there were conversations, an accumulation of observations and stories of past journeys. We were on a pilgrimage, some knew, others wished for, we all received. With each phrase and step, a sentence began to build of a collective experience, which understood its meaning before it could be captured in articulation. The specificity of course allowed for a multiplicity of experience tethered by path. We were passing through in real time.

In approaching participation in this project, the focus became one of investigation: how do geography, activity, and time intersect to inform place and memory?

A collection of bodies present with a task contained in scope of location and hours. We were going from here to there. It was understood: we walk and share. There was purpose and exchange, and value in making the moments measured and golden.

We walked through the city, on paved trails dodging bicycles, near places known, but viewing the hidden facades, marked by esoteric glyphs of preserved presence. We walked along-side manicured rivers, manufactured wildernesses, and in the places in-between places. In traversing the interstitial planes, there was a sense of immediacy, in that we will (most likely) never visit these places again, and if so, they will have disappeared, replaced by another place removed from present context.

The immediacy also fostered a certain release, that each place existed because of our temporal passing. The sightings of eagles and hawks, pet pigs, equestrian formations, emus, banana slugs, and forests full of furry trees were gifts of the action we undertook. The time of uphill steps in the mid-day sun – hill, then another and another – accepted our effort and became generous in relief. It was as difficult and demanding as necessary.  A community of expatriate minds bonded on shared activity. To speak of the intimacy of body, its groans and pains, with others barely familiar, led to a suspension of the normal, guided by the most normal way of being, to step with another of common destination.

There was always enough. Our pursuit of engagement guided by the poetic, expressed and observed by intent or accident. The tradition was remarked and acknowledged. References to the everyday and the thinkers, poets, writers, musicians, visual artists, students, teachers, walkers and rangers who contributed out of shared ritual. The water which walked with us listened to our perspiration and rewarded with precipitating mist. The mist settled on the outlined terrain and imagined landscapes of memory and etched them as a temporary tattoo.

- D.K. Pan

Photos © 2011, Long Walkers: Kolya Rice and Webster Polk.

Read the third blog post in this series of Reflections on The Long Walk

The intention of The Long Walk, a time-based, participatory, and socially engaged art event was this: to experience a shift in the perception of time, a new understanding of the local geography, and the creation of an interstitial culture. A series of stories with reflections from participants about the journey will follow over the coming weeks.

First, this from Long Walker Tara Wefers:

When I happened upon a blog post about The Long Walk I thought it would be perfect for my friend to do. She was a walker, she would like it. It only took a visit to the website for me to throw my hat in, too.

Although I had reasons for signing up – like, I am new to Seattle so I hoped to discover how neighborhoods connected, introduce myself to the parks, immerse myself in the experience of the art of walking, and meet people who were interested in something similar – I was willing to simply, deeply engage a completely unknown experience with a bunch of people as an art project.

This is just a brief glimpse into what I received from the experience. Bottom line, it was so much more than I could have imagined or hoped for.

The design of the walk had me pay attention to the beauty of walking for hours with a stranger and discovering each other. I became aware of the intimacy of walking and conversation, silence, song, pacing, limping, bags, smiles and snacks. I revealed myself in ways I would not have at a gallery opening, over beers after work, or at a dinner party.

Creativity was invited out of the Long Walkers. The music, sounds, poems, photographs, videos, improv, and more that poured out of all was like a feast in dedication to this place – King County.

And the places I met! I now know where the road changes from pavement, to gravel, to pine-needles! I know there are generous communities called Duvall and Carnation! I stuck my feet in rivers, slept in parks, and walked on trails that would have taken me years to find.

For me, the entire event was an invitation to actively be awake, aware, considered and considerate, connected and creative. This I know: I am more alive as a result of it.

- Tara Wefers

Tara Wefers is originally from Portland, Oregon. Her professional background includes various executive positions from VP of Client Services to VP of Marketing to Chief Development Officer for industries ranging from hi-tech services to children’s museums to a sustainable quick-service restaurant chain. She has a Master’s in Transpersonal Psychology specializing in Creativity & Innovation. Tara focuses on working with organizations who desire to go beyond doing no harm – to actually doing good. She is also a photographer, fiber artist, and now…a Long Walker.

Read the second blog post in this series of Reflections on The Long Walk

Photos © 2011, Long Walkers: Cath Brunner, Beth Sellars, Tara Breitenbucher, Paul Nelson, Christopher Hoff, Sarah Kavage, and Kolya Rice.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS/LETTERS OF INTEREST

THE NEELY MANSION ASSOCIATION, AUBURN, WASHINGTON

Deadline: October 3, 2011

The Neely Mansion Association in partnership with the 4Culture Arts, Heritage and Historic Preservation Programs, is seeking letters from individuals or organizations interested in stimulating community participation through the creation of public events and activities at the historic Neely Mansion and surrounding grounds.

Projects will explore the richly layered history of this restored 19^th century home while engaging the community in a deeper understanding and appreciation of the cultural relevance of this historic King County landmark near Auburn, Washington.

All disciplines and genres are welcome for consideration including theater, music, storytelling, film or digital media, visual art, sculpture, fashion and design, gardening, culinary, durational or seasonal events and activities, and community participatory events. For more information about the call and information on how to apply, visit our Opportunities listing.

Image: Neely Mansion in Auburn © 2007, 4Culture.

Lifelines by Sarah Ferreter and Jenny Kempson will be installed for First Thursday (August 4th) and will explore the park’s pre-regrade history. Perri Lynch’s Shoreline will do the same as she recreates the beach line that ran through the Occidental Park plaza. The month ends with artist team LSq installing their piece, Flock of Seagulls, a kinetic sculpture inspired by one of the Pioneer Square’s most overlooked occupants. Erin Shafkind will also be distributing Universal Artistic Licenses during the first three Thursdays and Fridays of August.

All this is made possible through a unique collaboration between Seattle Parks, the 4Culture Site Specific Program and the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. Check out the Site Specific website for more details of these and other projects.

Images: Rendering of Lifelines provided by Sarah Ferreter and Jenny Kempson; Rendering of Flock of Seagulls provided by LSq

For two days on a mid-July weekend, personalities from Saar Pioneer Cemetery came to life in Voices of Kent’s Pioneers, a series of onsite historical performances, showcasing the stories of selected individuals and families interred in the historic burial ground. Through collaboration between the South King County Genealogical Society and Book-It Theatre, with support from 4Culture’s Heritage Special Projects and Site-Specific programs, a cast of three women and three men portrayed multiple characters in a production adapted from genealogical records by Rachel Atkins, and directed by Kelly Kitchens.

Using humor and pathos, the actors gave voice to the departed as audience and cast moved from graveside to graveside. This year’s production follows the model and success of the inaugural historical performance at Saar Pioneer Cemetery in 2010, and strengthens the case for continued creative interpretation of heritage sites.

Image: Voices of Kent’s Pioneers July 17 performance © 2011, 4Culture.

For two days on a mid-July weekend, personalities from Saar Pioneer Cemetery came to life in Voices of Kent’s Pioneers, a series of onsite historical performances, showcasing the stories of selected individuals and families interred in the historic burial ground. Through collaboration between the South King County Genealogical Society and Book-It Theatre, with support from 4Culture’s Heritage Special Projects and Site-Specific programs, a cast of three women and three men portrayed multiple characters in a production adapted from genealogical records by Rachel Atkins, and directed by Kelly Kitchens.

Using humor and pathos, the actors gave voice to the departed as audience and cast moved from graveside to graveside. This year’s production follows the model and success of the inaugural historical performance at Saar Pioneer Cemetery in 2010, and strengthens the case for continued creative interpretation of heritage sites.

Image: Voices of Kent’s Pioneers July 17 performance © 2011, 4Culture.

COCA – Center on Contemporary Art will continue its environmental Site Specific series of installations in Seattle’s Carkeek park, called Heaven and Earth III: Cycles of Return. Twenty-one artists are featured in a walking course that takes approximately one hour. The exhibition runs through Oct 9th, 2011. To learn more about the artists and explore an interactive map, visit the project website.

Photo:Stephen Rock, Conversation with a Forest, Detail. Photo by Nichole DeMent

WONDERLAND: Alice Adventures, inspired by the writings of Charles “Lewis Carroll” Dodgson, is theater simple’s newest Genre-defying, Site-specific, All-ages Adventure; and it’s touring King County Parks!

You’re invited to enter this flexible and interactive style of theatrical WONDERLAND and have your own adventures.

WONDERLAND will open in Kent next week at 4pm July 23rd-24th, 4pm at Lake Meridian Park in Kent, 14800 SE 272nd St., Kent, WA 98042.

Then onward to Bellevue July 30th-31st, 4pm at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens in Bellevue, 12001 Main Street, Bellevue, WA 98005.

And the rabbits wrap it up in Auburn, as part of ARTrageous in Les Gove Park! August 6th, 11:20am and 2:30pm at Les Gove Park in Auburn, 910 Ninth Street, Auburn, WA 98002

By the way- if you have a hankering to volunteer- or perhaps even perform- contact the simpletons at theater simple, or 206.7894.8647 ex. 1 and they’ll see if they can incorporate you someplace!

theater simple’s Wonderland, Ballard 2011, Photo by Michelle Bates

4Culture is pleased to finally announce the 2011 Individual Artist Project award recipients! In late June, our Board of Directors approved recommendations from the 4Culture Arts Advisory Committee to support 72 artist-generated projects to benefit of citizens of and visitors to our region.

The Individual Artist Projects peer review panel reviewed 314 applications. Project budgets totaled $4,676,895 with requests to 4Culture totaling $1,725,457. This year’s peer-panel recommended that 72 artists receive a total of $345,070 in award funds this year.  The criteria for this program includes: excellence as demonstrated in the work sample and project application, project feasibility, and the public benefit to the citizens and visitors of King County.

Eligible projects may be at any stage of development including initial planning, development and final production. The presentation of funded projects provides public access to creative experiences to residents and visitors across our County. 4Culture is the largest annual funder of projects by individual artists in Washington State.

A few projects recommended for funding include:

• Abdoulaye Sylla, a master dancer and drummer from Guinea, West Africa, will create an instructional video for students and audiences.
• Toby Campbell will compose, perform and release new music for string quartet in conjunction with film-scoring workshops for youth.
• Leah Warshawski will continue production on her documentary film about Rwandan filmmakers struggling to create and present film in their country.
• Sondra Simone Segundo will complete a Native American art and design book for educators.

This year’s selection panelists: Yadesa Bojia, Visual Artist, Shoreline; Jayme Yahr, Art Historian & Exhibitions Director, Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland/Seattle; Vincent Orduña, Actor, Director & Theater Manager, CARCO, Renton; Laura Ciotti, Musician & Project Manager, Sweet Bird Classics, Seattle; Christine Juarez, Director of Dance, Vashon Allied Arts & Faculty, Cornish College of the Arts, Vashon/Seattle; Mary Longhurst, Documentary Filmmaker, Federal Way; Tish Lopez, Writer/Screenwriter & English Faculty, Bellevue Community College, Bellevue/Seattle. Please contact us if you’re interested in becoming involved with 4Culture as a panelist, advisory or board member.

We strive to reach out to artists working around the County. From January 20^th through March 1^st application workshops were conducted in communities throughout King County, including Auburn, Issaquah, Des Moines, Richmond Beach/Shoreline, Redmond and Seattle. Following the March 9, 2011 deadline, peer panels were held on May 16^th, 17^th and 18^th for applicants applying in the disciplines of visual arts, literature, music, media, dance and theater.

4Culture also encourages artists from across King County, working in all disciplines, to learn about our opportunities. Artists can access information about 4Culture’s funding programs by signing up to receive our on-line newsletter, which is emailed out monthly. It provides information about upcoming 4Culture opportunities for artists, such as: Gallery4Culture, e4c, Site Specific and our Touring Arts Roster, as well as, opportunities from other organizations and helpful tips from the field.

After working for seven years to secure funding for this and numerous other funding programs, 4Culture, with bipartisan support of the state legislature, was able to secure funds for this program through a portion of the King County Lodging Tax. We look forward to receiving many new applications next year!

© 2009, Toby Campbell, Anomie Belle, Image: Anthon Smith

This summer Seattle artist Susan Robb and 50 trail trampers (*including YOU?) will walk more than 45 miles along the King County Regional Trails System from Golden Gardens Park to Snoqualmie Falls. Over the course of four days – July 28th through 31st – the group will experience the landscape in a unique way, camp in unusual locations, celebrate with a formal dinner prepared by Matt Dillon of Sitka & Spruce, and engage with interactive artworks commissioned from, among others, The Bicycle Choir, Abraham Burickson,  Sarah Kavage, NKO, dk pan, SEAT, Seattle Phonographers Union, and Todd Shalom.

Robb describes the intentionality of her time-based, “open-source”, and participatory event:

“This socially engaged work places those involved in an essentially human situation, one where walking and talking effortlessly claim their positions as fundamental sources of connection. As participants walk in an organically shifting line down the trail, strangers meet and friends deepen their knowledge of each other. Maybe it’s the passing landscape that allows just enough input, or that somehow, in looking around at our surroundings, we relax and open up. Perhaps the rhythm of our bodies syncs with some kind of cognitive function? I don’t have the answer, but the simple act of walking over an extended period of time grabs hold of a primordial space inside us and something autonomous, authentic, and exciting happens.”

Are you interested in shifting your sense of space and time, gaining a new understanding of local geography, and becoming part of this interstitial culture of walkers?  The Long Walk is free and open to anyone 21+ who can hike an average of 18 miles/day. Participation is limited and registration will open on June 6th at 7 a.m. via Brown Paper Tickets.

Not up for the trek? You can still join the group at McCormick Park in Duvall on Friday, July 29th and follow their progress via a variety of social media outlets (including Twitter: @susan_robb (#tlwsr) and Facebook: The Long Walk Seattle).

Want more information? Visit www.thelongwalkseattle.com.

Photos © Susan Robb and participants of The Long Walk, 2010

*Video documentation of The Long Walk, 2010 can be viewed here: http://blog.4culture.org/2011/01/the-long-walk-in-video-view/

Salt Horse at Washington Hall

Friday – Sunday May 13-15 & 19-21

Seattle based theater/dance company Salt Horse will reinvigorate Seattle’s historic Washington Hall with a site specific installation and performance work entitled Titan Arum. Joining Salt Horse choreographers Beth Graczyk and Corrie  Befort is a cast of distinctively powerful dancers: Alia Swersky,  Allie Hankins, Jessica Jobaris and Shannon Stewart. Salt Horse  composer Angelina Baldoz’s music score showcases live  performances by renowned musicians Stuart Dempster, Greg  Campbell, Lori Goldston, Tari Nelson-Zagar and Jaison Scott.

Degenerate Art Ensemble at Frye Art Museum

Thursday May 12, 19, 26 & June 2

DAE’s latest site-specific performance, Red Shoes, will be presented at the Frye Art Museum and other First Hill locations. The performance—a rich tapestry of dreams, creativity, artistic agency, determination, and reinvention—is an adaption of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of a young girl whose red shoes will not allow her to stop dancing. Beginning in the Frye and spilling onto the streets, Red Shoes features key DAE members, Korean vocalist Dohee Lee, a marching band, a chorus, and the audience.

Images: Salt Horse, photo by Tim Summers, edited by Corrie Bofort; Red, photo by Bruce Tom

I’m in love with the Combat Paper project. 4Culture’s Site Specific program in partnership with the Renton Municipal Arts Commission, Compass Housing Alliance, Pratt Fine Arts Center and the King County Veterans Program proudly hosts Combat Paper, for their first visit to the Northwest.

Combat Paper is an arts organization that utilizes the traditional hand papermaking techniques to work with populations that have survived trauma due to conflict. Based in Vermont, they travel the United States to conduct workshops for civilians and veterans, which teach the craft of transforming cloth and military uniforms into works of art including, handmade paper, prints and books.

For the past five days, Combat Paper founders Drew Cameron and Drew Matott are working with Veterans and their families at the Compass Veterans Center in Renton. I stopped by to drop-off an old typewriter so they could type on the paper they are making – poetry or prose. I ended up spending most of the day with them. I was totally captivated by the stories the veterans had to share about their past experiences and their current conditions. I was just as captivated by the papermaking process – from liberating the rag to couching. I also saw beautiful artwork made by some of the teens who reside with their veteran parents at the Center.

The artworks that are created are both a personal form of therapeutic, artistic expression as well as a public testament for the participants of the workshop. The workshop experience creates an understanding between the civilian and the veteran, reconciling the experiences in conflict and military service as well as fostering community between misrepresented populations.

As a fairly self-contained unit, Combat Paper has taken to the streets to demonstrate papermaking, using uniforms or other clothing items of significance. Using their portable papermaking equipment, these street-happenings provide a place for the general public and veterans to have conversations about conflict and war, while learning the basic elements of papermaking.

Combat Paper will be working at the Compass Veterans Center in Renton through May 4th. Then, they head to Seattle, in front of 4Culture’s offices (3rd Ave S and Yesler Way), for a free, public demonstration during First Thursday’s Art Walk this Thursday, May 5th 4pm – 8pm. They will also conduct a free demonstration at Piazza Renton’s Spring Festival from Noon – 5pm this Saturday, May 7th. Additionally, Seattle’s own Pratt Fine Arts Center is offering a three-day workshop with Combat Papermakers on May 21, 22, 23 2011, and they are generously hosting a free lecture by the founders of Combat Paper on May 20, 2011 at 6:30pm at Pratt Fine Arts Center.

Given the the headlines lately, conversations about veteran support and military service are particularly relevant. I was surprised to learn that there are more than 670,000 veterans currently live in Washington State, ranking it fifth in the nation according to the U.S. Census. Additionally, the American Community Survey estimates 163,000 veterans, active military and national guards or reserves live in King County, with about half of those veterans residing in South King County and one quarter in Seattle.

The Combat Paper project, rooted in the traditions of hand papermaking, teach participants basic sheet formation using a mould and deckle that can then be used as the basis for creating journals, drawings, stories or poetry. They also expose participants to pulp printing using silk screen images, pulp painting, and basic binding techniques. Not all workshop participants are veterans or visual artists. Some are poets, some are writers, and some come simply for the shared experience.

While I was cutting up a uniform, I chatted with a wise veteran named Larry, who somehow got me talking and soon I had tears running down my face. How could a hippie kid like me be pouring my heart out to a veteran? You’ll have to see Combat Paper in action to find out.

Images: © 2011, Heather Dwyer, Combat Paper at the Compass Veterans Center, Renton, Washington; © 2011, Heather Dwyer, James working at the Compass Veterans Center, Renton, Washington; © Drew Cameron & Drew Matott, Breaking Rank, Print on paper made from military uniforms

Hurry! There are only a few days left to submit proposals for the ArtSparks summer installation and performance series in Occidental Park, Pioneer Square, Seattle.  King County artists and organizations are encouraged to consider ways of integrating site specific art into this downtown public park creating in effect one of Seattle’s largest outdoor arts venues.  Deadline is May 6th. Visit www.sitespecificarts.org for more information.

4Culture’s Site Specific program in partnership with the Renton Municipal Arts Commission, Pratt Fine Arts Center and the King County Veterans Program proudly hosts Combat Paper, for their first visit to the Northwest.

Combat Paper is an arts organization that utilizes the traditional hand papermaking techniques to work with populations that have survived trauma due to conflict. Based in Vermont, they travel the United States to conduct workshops for civilians and veterans, which teach the craft of transforming cloth and military uniforms into works of art including, handmade paper, prints and books.

Combat Paper will be making two public demonstrations in Seattle and Renton in early May. They can operate their portable Hollander beater (to make pulp from fabric) with the human power on a bicycle. We need a bike (any type) that can be supported on an indoor bike stands that still allow for riding and pedaling. They will need to remove the rubber from the rear tire and run the belt to the beater from it.  If you have a bike we can borrow for the month of May, please let us know!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Suzanne Tidwell, a fiber artist and city of Sammamish resident, has come up with a novel approach to a line of 20’ tall tree stumps that have been left standing in downtown Sammamish for an eventual carving or public art project.

Taking matters into her own hands, Suzanne decorated the stumps using crocheted and knitted wraps, with permission from the City and the help of many dedicated volunteers. Suzanne and the City have received a 4Culture Site-Specific award to install her second seasonal spring version. The project has created some controversy from an interesting source, a group of high school students who are demanding that the city remove the stumps. The city has agreed to respond to this request at the end of the project period. In the meantime Sammamish residents are invited to respond to this whimsical urban intervention which has delighted and engaged many local residents.

Read more about this story in the Sammamish Patch

Suzanne Tidwell, photo by Jeff Newfeld

A cool new Site-Specific project, called Barn Illumination, is happening Saturdays in April on Vashon Island. From dusk until 10 p.m., artist Ann C. Durant will illuminate Geissinger barn with high wattage lights from the interior, creating unique experiences that explore relationships between structure and landscape, the past and the present. This 4Culture sponsored project brings together arts, heritage and preservation in new way that highlights the value of historic resources and encourages discussion about the relevance of “place” in daily life.

The Barn Illumination Project is a traveling installation and designed as a tool for community dialog. To learn more or to invite the project to your town visit the project facebook page at www.facebook.com/thebarnilluminationproject.

Image: Geissinger Barn © 2011, photo by Phil Acuncious, YogaDog Studios.