Singing in the land:  earth magic, song, and the body 

Thursday, May 25 5-7 pm

 

Join bodyworker, musician, and animist priest ell rieke (they/them) in residency at the Sou’wester for a magical, musical exploration of connection with the earth, our ancestors, and the world of spirit.  Part workshop, part participatory sonic experience, we will spend the first part of our time in conversation, talking through questions like:  what is magic and why does it matter?  Where do songs come from?  Is the earth talking to us?  How can sound and rhythm help us navigate this complicated, painful, beautiful world?  

 

In the second half of our gathering, ell will guide participants in using voice and body to connect with spirit and the earth.  They will teach some songs of the season, from both folk and modern traditions, and then guide a gentle ritual of reverence and celebration for the coming of summer.  You will be invited to sing or hum and move your body, and are also welcome to just sit and experience.  All bodies, voices, and backgrounds are welcome, including kids! 

 

Please bring something to sit on, and cozy layers in case the evening is cool.  You may want to bring a journal and pen, if you like taking notes, and are also invited to bring a special object (that will return home with you) and/or flowers for the group altar. 

Intuitive Multimedia Embroidery with Chloe Jacobson

Learn 5 basic embroidery stitches while experimenting with expressive abstract multimedia techniques. We will play with stitching on top of watercolor washes on canvas fabric or fabric of choice.

I grew up in the dry, oaky lands of Southern Oregon and headed north to the lush forests of the Pacific Northwest to pursue a major in Visual Arts and Psychology from The Evergreen State College. I chose to pursue the healing power of the art process professionally through getting graduate degree in Transpersonal Art Therapy at Naropa University, and now practice as full time art therapist with the LGBTQIA population in Portland, Oregon. I am a multimedia artist specializing in embroidery, painting, and collage to express sensations, feeling spaces, and to tell stories of empowerment and liberation. I walk the edge of fine art and craft to explore the natural world through my lens as a queer art therapist. I blend media to reframe and re-contextualize, while offering simple messages. I especially seek narratives of natural perseverance, adaptation, justice, and resilience in the face of adversity or human constructs. My background in art therapy informs my process as being a platform for healing self-reflection, through making the latent, blatant. For more information visit chloekjacobson.wixsite.com/pdxemb

$60

Register

“Portraits, Men in Ballgowns, Sound, We Will Be Heard” by Scott Braucht

Sou’Wester Arts is thrilled to welcome filmmaker Scott Braucht whose program Portraits / Men in Ballgowns // Sound / We Will Be Heard will be featured in a special exhibition celebrating Pacific County Pride in our Red Bus Microcinema.

On view at The Sou’Wester’s Red Bus Theatre

May 29 – July 14, 2023.

Opening reception Monday, May 29 6-8p with a special acoustic performance from musician Khaelo Dé.

Clay Teacup Making Workshop with Midori Hirose

Explore clay and create a one-of-a-kind tea cup with Midori Hirose. All levels and fun clay making tools are welcome!

Midori Hirose is a Japanese American interdisciplinary artist. In Hirose’s work, physical objects and materials are interchangeable with community bonds, recognizing space as a necessary part of the generative process through collaborations, historical narrative, perception (physiological and psychological), and storytelling. 

Hirose’s work has been shown nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, and Disjecta Contemporary Art Center (now called Oregon Contemporary) for the Portland Biennial. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at The Lumber Room in Portland, OR; East/West Project, Berlin, Germany; Newberg Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland; and Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden. For more information visit midorihirose.info/ and instagram.com/midorihirose/

This workshop is full. 

June 27th-29th

Stop Motion En Plein Air! with Aarica North

This summer camp week is currently full. Feel free to register for a different summer camp week.

Who says you have to animate alone in the dark? Each student will build their own puppet with organic material, then the group will play a collaborative game outside where we create a stop motion animation together. Students will receive a copy of the final animation, and can bring their puppets home with them.

REGISTER

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JOHN & JULIE
“We Do”

An art exhibition in The Art Trailer Gallery July 14th-July 23rd 2023

Lifelong creative folks, John and Julie met in 2017, started drawing together and haven’t looked back. They each had established artistic practices – John is a painter primarily and Julie is a filmmaker primarily – however both are open to working in ways that push them out of their comfort zones and allow for spontaneity and improvisation. They have made drawings, paintings, films, sounds, saunas, and land art together. To celebrate their “first date anniversary” each year, they look at Wikipedia’s list of traditional wedding anniversary gifts and have a ritual of making art using the material assigned to that year. They cater the event, ie; order take-out, and reflect on the year past and the year ahead for their relationship. The result is this collection of works presented here on the occasion of their wedding taking place July 22, 2023. We Do: Saying Yes to a Relationship of Depth, Connection and Enduring Love is a book by Stan Tatkin that has been a guidebook for building John and Julie’s relationship.

John Frentress has made art since the age of three and studied art at Kirkwood College with Doug Hall who was an amazing multi-disciplinary artist. He went on to study and work at several schools and community education centers on the west coast and considers himself to be primarily a “proper” art school short timer, and an auto-didactic life long learner. Like many artists, he has a BS degree in Psychology. John had the privilege of occupying a studio in the Blackfish gallery in the Pearl district of Portland for 19 years – sadly the building is now sitting vacant waiting for a bulldozer. He works with brushes using oils, acrylics, sumi ink and watercolors – sometimes paints on light bulbs and other trash.

Julie Perini is a filmmaker, daily videomaker, diary keeper, video artist, reader, writer, teacher, question asker, raw nerve, hot spring hopper, product of white suburbs of New York and DIY culture of the 90s, and friend to many. Her involvement with the post-9/11 “War on Terror” spurred her work with prison and police abolitionist movements. She exhibits work in theaters, community spaces, galleries, campgrounds, storefronts, the sides of bridges, and many other venues. She sees movies in actual movie theaters. Julie likes old cameras and eats pancakes at a diner at least once a week. Originally from New York, she is a Professor of Art at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.

curated by Nikki Cormaci

Working with the beautiful dune grasses of Discovery Trail, we’ll discuss biodiversity, invasive species, and land protections. We’ll responsibly harvest dune grasses, then work together to shape the grasses into poetic sculptures.

Ana/Anu is a poet, multi-media artist, author and educator. Her work focuses on ecofeminism, collaborative art, and herbalism. Her two poetry books, “Noon” and “Mona Mona Mona”, explore intimacies of the PNW. Anu received an MFA in Poetics from Naropa University and is a postgraduate candidate at Tisch, NYU, focusing on Art and Public Policy.

$60

Register

Intro to Handbuilding with Clay III with Mariam Matheson

This workshop is full but Mariam is hosting another August 5th

Learn handbuilding techniques and create an object. This all day workshop includes all materials and tools needed to create a piece of handbuilt pottery. Pieces will be glazed fired and can be shipped to attendees. Can be taken as a series or independently of other Intro to Handbuilding classes.

Mariam Matheson has been a potter since 2018 and an artist her entire life. Mariam is the ceramics studio manager at Ilwaco Art Works. She lives in Seaview, WA with her husband and dog. 

DIY Screen Printing with Azenath and Ian

Screenprinting is a hands-on medium that allows students to reproduce any artwork they want in multiple colours and on many mediums. Our workshop, aimed at beginner students, will show how to undergo the entire printing process using a combination of recycled, homemade and a few purchased tools. Students will leave with the handmade screens and prints they made in the workshop, a booklet of historical art and propaganda prints from our collection, and inspiration and understanding to help them start screenprinting on their own.

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“Barn Rave, 2011” by Tori Wheeler

ON VIEW
JULY 27 2023 – OCTOBER 12 2023

Tufted, and interactive artwork, Barn Rave, 2011 encapsulates the frenetic, feral exchange of energy found in a packed dance floor. The modular work recalls a night in a remote barn outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Its tessellated pieces intertwine, forming a hazy, abstracted scene of kids drenched in sweat, a barn filled with fog, hay, pulsating music, and a mix of suspicious substances. This ephemeral experience imprints neural pathways.

The puzzle-like components and imagery pay homage to a transformative and hedonistic celebration of youthful exuberance. The liberated sensuality and sometimes-brainlessness of infectious bassy beats become the unyielding desires to relinquish the burdens and constraints of adolescence in small town surroundings. The pieces move and connect, at times surpassing a perfect fit. Capturing the raw energy of dancing amidst others. Capturing unbridled energy. Their arrangement allows for infinite reconfigurations—a reflection of the ever-shifting nature of the dance floor.

Tori Wheeler is an artist, designer, and dancer whose work is influenced by ecstatic human exchange, touch and tactility, music-and-nature-induced-trance-states, and a dash of trickster humor. Their creative practice mirrors that of a desire path.

Tori holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design from the Kansas City Art Institute and works as a textile artist, gold leaf gilder, and fairweather graphic designer.

Curated by Nikki Cormaci