 Brian Mahieu (American, 1964-) Winter Sunset Looking North—Cottonwood Grove 11 Jan 16, 5:45 pm, 24°F 40 X 30 inches, plein air oil on canvas THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI  The artist at two. One of only five photographs he has of his childhood.  Pushing my bike home from class on a snowy day. Mid-late 1980s,  Martín Ramirez (Mexican, 1895-1963) Collage, mixed media.  Bringing a painting in from the field. January, 2016.  Brian Mahieu painting en plein air, Ebay's Landing, Whidbey Island, WA, during the forest fires of 2017. | In June of this year I spoke at this podium during the Whidbey Island Arts Council’s annual membership party. After I finished many people came up to me expressing an interest in the kind of community for creative people that I suggested, opportunities to connect with fellow artists and to share ideas and our humanity in ways that would enrich us and propel our creativity forward. I want to share some of those ideas with you. First, I need to say that when I use the word “artist” I am using it in the broadest sense. I am using it to encompass all of those who create whether it is art, music, poetry, prose, theatre, architectural drawings, earthworks or even the most transcendent chocolate mousse. When I graduated from college with my art degree I immediately opened up a studio/gallery and began selling my work for a living, augmenting the art income with teaching private lessons and starting five businesses in ten years—all of them utilizing a part of my art education. There was a void in my life, however. I realized that creating art is a lonely business. In college, surrounded by my peers and professors there was a feedback loop. Not anymore. I am a plein air twilight painter, I have been for thirty years. I paint exclusively outside, year round. This meant that often I was in some remote, river bottom field in the freezing cold, coyotes howling in the distance and owls calling above, working until it was too dark to discern the colors on my palette. The cold and the isolation and the inevitable self-doubt that haunts artists made me think “Will anybody care about this painting? Will they look at it until they see it, until a chill comes over them, an aha moment of connection when they say “I know how that feels.” I even had iconoclastic thoughts like “is painting dead?” and “does art matter?” Creation is a lonely business. By its very nature it is a solitary pursuit. We stare into the abyss, we strive to find beauty in chaos, ugliness and pain, we reach into the ethers to grasp our own truth and pull it into reality—making tangible that which only we can see. Creation is an act of sheer will. All over the world, our ancient ancestors created art as the first record of our humanity. Leaving hand stencils and paintings that date back 40,000 years and have been found all over the world from Indonesia to Australia, in the Americas and in Europe. Twenty five thousand years ago our Cro-Magnon forbears climbed treacherously deep into limestone caverns and by the flickering light of torches left us ghostly records of their existence. One method was to chew the pigment; charcoal, red ochre or chalk and to spit it out in airbrush fashion around their outstretched hands—literally breathing their art and their DNA onto those rock walls to thrill and mystify us millennia later. Those hands—some misshapen, some missing fingers—speak poignantly of hard lives, survival. Yet still they were driven to leave their mark, to say “I was here and I mattered.” I had a friend who was raised by alcoholic parents. His brother was often left alone in his crib by their mother for long periods of time. A bright and artistic, child, numbed by boredom, he found an earth pigment—in his diaper—and covered the walls with drawings of the Civil War. There were soldiers with guns, horses and cannons. The need to create is inborn, it is part of our DNA, and that creativity will come out if we let it—it does not require expensive materials or a formal education—a toddler can accomplish it with self-produced umber. Martin Ramirez immigrated to the United States as migrant worker from Jalisco Mexico in 1925. Often out of work, he was taken into custody by immigration agents. Unable to speak English, he was declared insane and institutionalized, labeled a catatonic schizophrenic. His hospitalization forced him to create art from scavenged materials—he used melted crayons and burnt matchsticks to draw. He made collages glued together with a paste of chewed bread, mashed potatoes and saliva. In his own time, he had to create his art in secret and hide it from hospital officials. However, in September of this year, The Santa Monica Museum of Art reopened as the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles with a show of Ramirez’s work. (1) Art does matter. Even, or perhaps especially, the art of those on the fringes of society. Destruction is easy, inevitable. It seems the whole world is bent on destruction. It is impossible to listen to the news without hearing stories of senseless destruction or looting of cultural heritage sites, monuments and artifacts for reasons of religious fundamentalism, political propaganda, monetary gain or as casualties of war. Beyond that there is the destruction of human rights, human dignity and even life itself—extinguished with a harmless-sounding “pop pop pop” often mistaken for fireworks. Deterioration, though not destruction, is a law of Physics. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is called The Law of Increased Entropy. The first law sates that matter can not be created or destroyed—that is the good news— however the quality of matter and energy deteriorates over time. Usable energy required for productivity, growth and repair becomes unusable energy in the process of entropy. As entropy increases, disorganization, randomness and chaos increase. (2) Sound familiar? Through art we can combat this destruction. Artists are unusual people. We have a power. We feel things this big (the size of the sun) we represent those things this big (the size of the earth) so the average person can experience them this big (the size of the moon.) We don’t bumble through life unseeing and unfeeling. The wonderful and terrible thing about being us is that we do see and we do feel, and our purpose on this planet is to make an aesthetic record of those things—a roadmap to life for our fellow humans. That aesthetic record can take many forms it can be a poem or a play, a sculpture or a dance, a collage of newspaper clippings and mashed potatoes or even a Civil War scene painted with the most humble of pigments. As is the musician who sculpts white noise into harmonious arrangements of sounds and silences that touch the core of our being, we are like the Seers of old—the Shamans and artists who retreated into those caves to scratch and paint and breathe mysterious images onto the rock walls. Images that still resonate with enigmatic meaning some 40,000 years old. When I was eighteen years old, I was disowned from my family and shunned without a cent, because of my sexual orientation. My, then, father prophesied over me that I would die young of some dread disease, penniless in the slums of a major city. That did not happen. It took me about three years to spring back from that crushing event and to find my way. I took some of my paintings to a private liberal arts college and they gave me grants and scholarships and student loans. I worked my way through college as a waiter and lived on twenty dollars a week grocery money. I rode a bicycle 365 days a year from home to school and work. When I graduated, I quit my job in the restaurant and set out to be an artist. I needed to borrow $500 to rent a studio space and open my art gallery. The bank would not lend me any money so I took my paintings in hand and walked around town selling enough to make rent that first month. The gallery grew organically, I had a knack for marketing and paid off my extensive student loans in just three years with income from painting sales. Art has power. The most profound and rewarding moment of my artistic career was probably at the opening for the last exhibit of my twilight paintings of the Missouri River Valley. The gallery had walls of windows on two sides, and we timed a reading of my statement to coincide with sunset. Here is the last paragraph of that statement dated 2 May 2016: “My paintings are about color and paint quality and how those things communicate mood. Lately it has been very subtle color, delicately nuanced, colorful neutrals in meticulously constructed Tonalist palettes that speak volumes in a whisper. They are about paint—the visceral, expressive, frozen marks of color that record a moment in time, a gesture, an emotional response to the exquisite pain and beauty of existence. Landscape is a universal motif that resonates with human beings all over the planet. To me, the horizon line is the soul of a landscape painting. The light at the edge of the earth and the luminous color below sets the tone of the painting like the eyes of a portrait. My eye is always inextricably drawn to the horizon line—searching as our ancestors did for danger or prey, solace, beauty or escape. I have to force myself to paint the foreground but I long to merge with the spectral mists on the horizon. Just as I had to stop painting for this exhibit, I was starting to have a stylistic breakthrough and I felt that my paintings had achieved a flat yet transparent web of color, a beautiful nuanced surface, but one I could look through into miles of colored haze to the distant hills. I have always loved that tension between image and abstraction—that is the magic of art. In studio lighting my twilight paintings reveal their abstraction, their exuberant brushwork and color. In the twilight in which they were created they become quiet, naturalistic evocations of how it feels to be enveloped in the landscape of dusk.“ As I read that paragraph the lights in the gallery were turned off track by track, the last lights going out as I read the last line. Slowly the paintings began to glow in the dim natural light, the light which they were born, and it seemed that I heard a communal gasp. There were sniffles. One woman rushed out in tears. I had my answer— Some people will care. Some people will take the time to look until they see, to look until they feel, until that sympathetic vibration of emotions happens—that aha moment of human connection and empathy that only the language of art can produce. Art is not dead but the world is dying for art. When we create we are defying the Law of Increased Entropy. The act of creation defies disorganization, randomness and chaos. “Honey, how was your day?” I’m exhausted. “Why so tired?” Oh no big deal, I just spent the day fighting the Second Law of Thermodynamics—and I won! I look forward to connecting with you my fellow artists and human beings as we navigate through this often brutal and ugly world to bring forth our own truth and beauty, as a creative community, on this rare and wonderful island—dare I say this artists’ colony—in the Salish Sea. Thank you. —Brian Mahieu Island Bohemians Cafe, 22 Oct 17 Greenbank Washington References: (1) Mandalit del Barco, NPR News. Work Of 20th-Century Artist Martin Ramirez Kicks Off Opening Of ICA (2) allaboutscience.org, The Second Law of Thermodynamics |
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Visiting Mezzo Soprano, Eleni Matos, Third Annual Luise Gregor Women in Music Celebration 20178/21/2017   Miss Matos has received universal acclaim and hailed as a winner in an unprecedented thirty-four (34) of today’s most coveted vocal competitions (more than any classical singer) including the Maria Callas International competition of Greece, the Luciano Pavarotti International competition, and the Queen Elisabeth International competition of Belgium. Most recently, Miss Matos was awarded a career grant from the REC Music Foundation. She has sung throughout the world under the batons of such renowned conductors as Daniel Bareboim, Zubin Mehta and Leonard Slatkin, Neeme Jarvi and Jahjah Ling Murry Sidlin, Bruno Bartoletti and Neal Goren.
Most recently, Miss Matos performed a recital of “the Lost Art Songs of Luise Greger”. She and collaborative pianist Rebecca Wilt were chosen by the Greger family to embark on a recital tour in Germany and America. In addition, she performed the mezzo solos in the multimedia production “The Last Judgement –Verdi’s Requiem” in Opera Festival de Quebec and Beethoven’s 9th symphony with the Quad cities Symphony. Future performances include Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, an Artsconverge production by Paolo Micciche with the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, and the New Symphony Orchestra in Sophia Bulgaria conducted by Benjamin Loeb. A benefit concert for the Greek Orthodox Salvatore Kirche in Munich, Germany. Past orchestral performance include: Beethoven 9th Symphony with Spokane Symphony and The National Chorale at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, The Detroit Symphony; the Verdi Requiem with The National Chorale at Lincoln Center and Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Virtuosi di Prague, Sinfonia di Mexico, Boston Youth Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony and Oregon Symphony, Akron Symphony and Jacksonville Symphony; Frank Martin’s In Terra Pax Washington DC; Alexander Nevsky Florida Orchestra with Jahjah Ling. Marking her European opera debut, Polish National Opera chose Miss Matos as their Marguerite for the world European premiere of the Achim Freyer co-production with Los Angeles Opera of Berlioz La Damnation de Faust. Past opera appearances include Paulina in Pique Dame with Opera Grand Rapids, Principessa in Adriana Lecouvreur with Opera Orchestra New York, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Greensboro Opera and /Sarasota Opera, Leonora in La Favorita with Opera Orchestra of New York, Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle with Opera Festival of NJ and Amneris in Aida with Opera de Colombia. Laura in La Gioconda with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Carmen with San Antonio Opera, Akron Symphony, Grant Park festival Orchestra. Miss Matos television appearance include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Detroit Symphony, Defiant Requiem with conductor and creator, Murry Sidlan and the Oregon Symphony, Verdi Requiem at the Irodeon Greek National Television louli Psichouli conducting, Verdi Requiem Mexican National television Sinfonia di Mexico. Miss Matos has appeared with Chicago Symphony, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Florida orchestra, I Fiamminnghi, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orchestre Symphonique de la Monnaie, Noordhollands Phillharmonishch Orkest, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Orchestre Royal de Wallonie, and Virtuosi di Praga. Enriched by her strong Greek-American heritage, she was honored to sing the Verdi Requiem at the foot of Acropolis at Greece’s week-long remembrance of Maria Callas. Miss Matos’ debut recording of Haydn arias can be heard on the ERI label. You can hear her Alice Parker rendition of Come Sunday with Tampa Bay Master Chorale and Florida Orchestra on CD as well as Defiant Requiem on Netflix.   Susan began her artistic journey at 62. With limited training and funds, it “took a village” of mentors and happy accidents to create the patchwork of experiences that have brought her process this far. Fueled with a determination born of adversity she has created her artistic life along the way developing an artistic process very unique to pastel artists. Susan uses suede mat board as her ground for the unique portraits and landscapes she creates. "I am a happy spirit on a creative rampage! After 12 years teaching high school English, speech, drama and journalism, and 26 years in media relations in Seattle, I retired to a Whidbey Island paradise in 2006 to become an award-winning writer, and pastel and encaustic artist."
  Two of our newest artists on the tour, Reggie Kastler and Leslie Stoner, are neighbors and met during meetings for the tour. Both live in the Hastie Lake area of the island. Leslie Stoner paints with Encaustic, which allows her to slow down her thoughts and reflect inward. As she works, the image evolves in layers according to the chances of the materials and the seasons of her emotions. Because the medium is organic, layered, and hard to predict, when painting she plays at the intersection of risk and promise. Leslie’s materials come from nature—beeswax, pigment, oil, and tree resin. Her tools are purposeful: the razor blade, the spatula, and Hogs hair bristle brushes. Fire is the element that merges them. The paintings are about human emotions, fears, anxieties & self-doubt. The imagery is rooted in abstracted nature; about what lies beneath and what floats above, with an emphasis on where the two meet. Leslie believes that everything beautiful has some darkness. What she paints is a reflection of her struggle to find inner peace with the dark and the light.   For Reggie Kastler, basketry brings together all of her art talent in combining the love of weaving with natural fibers, blending color and creating shapes. Clients are encouraged to discuss ideas and colors with her, thereby she can create custom baskets to fit their individual needs and artistic expressions. She has even been commissioned to design and weave an Indian ceremonial basket, What an honor! "Teaching basket weaving to adults and children is a very joyful and rewarding experience as well as educational for me," says Reggie. 1995 was her first year of teaching in public and private schools and giving group demonstrations. Her baskets are sold mostly by herself, she likes it that way, because she believes customers would like to meet her and have the chance and experience of watching her weave and ask all those important questions. Her baskets have found their way across the globe. One is immediately taken with Reggie’s openness and willingness to share her know how and with 16,000 baskets under her belt the know how is considerable.
We in the tour are happy to have opened the door to this friendship between artists dedicated to their mediums and immersed in natural fibers, beeswax, pigments and tree resin! By Lynn Sheffield   Several years ago, as I contemplated retirement, I knew it would include raising animals. A couple of dogs - a cat - perhaps a horse for riding as I had done when I was younger? But alpacas?? Nope, they didn’t even make a blip in my mind’s eye. Then, a chance encounter when I was working in San Francisco changed everything. A drive down the coast highway and up into the Santa Cruz mountains brought me to my first alpaca farm. Ask anyone who’s met an alpaca, and they will most likely talk about those huge, black, soulful eyes. For me it was love at first sight. That was 2003 and the beginning of an adventure that brought me and my husband to Whidbey Island to build Olympic Mist Farm with a starter herd of five cute and fuzzy ‘pacas. Alpacas are ancient animals indigenous to the high plains of the Andean mountains in South America, and were treasured by the ancient Incan civilization - their fiber once reserved for Incan royalty. Now, due to international recognition, their soft, warm, hypo-allergenic products are available to everyone.
 Initially my plan was to breed and sell animals, but after immersing my arms into a mound of freshly shorn fleece, that idea was quickly replaced with crafting a studio/farm store where I could create and sell hand-hewn products. With an island full of fiber artists, and visitors from around the world, it seemed only natural to share this amazing fiber with them. I am very fortunate that every year my animals provide me with pounds of new fleece to be woven, spun, felted, and dyed. The studio/farm-store offers beautiful yarns in natural and blended colors, interesting homespun novelty yarns, soft roving for spinning, alpaca socks (trust me, your toes will thank you), eco-printed scarves, felted soaps, fiber-fusion vessels, and more. I never seem to run out of new projects to try. Beyond these quality products, lower quality fiber can be used to stuff pillows, make dog beds, and to encircle plants during cold winters. And our alpaca manure helps fertilize the gardens of growers throughout the Island. In the end, these wonderful gentle animals represent many things the world has too little of these days; peace, sustainable living, simple stillness, and love – and they beckon you to come visit and enjoy.   Participating in his first Whidbey Island Working Artists Summer Open Studio Tour this year is Brian Mahieu, Whidbey Island Arts Council board member, and a professional plein air landscape painter of thirty years. We asked him to describe his process and provide some insights into his working methods. Below is his response: I have wanted to live in the Pacific Northwest since I was a fourteen year old kid trapped in rural Missouri. My best friend’s mother told me about the Olympic Peninsula, the rain forest, the wild oceans, moss, ferns, and cool rainy weather and I fixated. It took me thirty eight years to get here. My husband (Tom Harris, photographer) and I came to stay on Whidbey Island when we came out to get married in 2013. Visiting Ebey’s Landing was the highlight of our stay on Whidbey, the natural beauty transported us and I exclaimed: “Everywhere I look is a painting!” We moved here in July of 2016 and then bought a home in January of this year. It took some time to get settled and to assimilate and to integrate this new land, sky and sea-scape into my consciousness. The light and palette of color here is entirely different than the Midwest. The first thirty years of my career as an artist were spent painting, mostly, twilight paintings of the Missouri River Valley. Due to the sweltering heat and humidity there, twilight offered a respite and richer colors than the bleached and flattened colors of midday. Painting dusk has been my specialty for three decades. My first nocturne completed in 1985 was a gouache painting of a moonrise, now in the collection of The State Historical Society of Missouri. It was signed with date and time of completion, a practice I still employ today. I paint outside, year round often until a half hour after sunset. Snow scenes have always been my favorite motif, though I will have to travel to the mountains to paint those now. I am deeply attracted to the opalescent quality of the winter skies, and do not perceive them as “gray” but as iridescent shades of myriad colors, like the opalescence of an oystershell. In the ‘90s my work was very high chroma with vivid and saturated colors. For the last ten years or so it has been much more in line with the tenets of American Tonalism where one color dominates the palette of a composition and the color is subdued and imbued with a quiet harmony. Even if the palette is more saturated there is still a dominant hue and overall sense of the color of the day. The practice of painting in series has been a hallmark of my work from the beginning. I like to return to the same spot day after day, season after season and year after year to truly delve into its essence and understand how it changes with the seasons, times of day and even by the minute. I am a rabid purist with respect to painting directly from nature rather than from photographs—that is nature-once-removed. My work is created on- site in the tradition of painting en plein air as the Impressionists did. Though many of them reworked their paintings in the studio I refuse to do that. My late college professor Sid Larson (a friend and assistant to Thomas Hart Benton) used to tell me “If you go back into one of those paintings your butt isn’t going to fall off!” But I wouldn’t do it then and I don’t do it now. My work is anti-photographic in the sense that first and foremost it is an aesthetic record of a time and place, and an emotional record of what my five senses were experiencing at that time—it is not merely a picture of something. My studio is a place to prepare to go out painting and to clean up afterwards, with a display wall to serve as a gallery. I love to show visitors my palettes, paints and brushes, the insects and bits of grass stuck in my paintings and to explain my process. For me, the studio is a place to discover what I did in the field when I was immersed in nature and the elusive creative trance. Usually it is too dark for me to see the paintings in the field, as they are finished at or after sunset. Ebey’s Landing was the natural choice for my first series on the island. The unspoiled natural landscape, lack of human structures, deep vistas, and gentle collision of land and sea and sky offer endless motifs for painting the ever changing light and weather conditions. It is a thrill to paint the iridescent sunsets as otters trundle across the beach and eagles hunt on the warm updrafts, the calls of seagulls in my ears and the scent of firs and spruce and kelp on the wind. Those are things that I can’t get in the sterile, environment of a studio. Although I might be able to make a painting more “correct” in a visual sense by working from a photograph, I can not make it more true to the day and to my experiences in the landscape by working divorced from my motif. The human eye can see so much more in the highlights and the shadows than a mechanical lens and I do not want to miss out on those subtleties. The greatest discipline of my work is stopping, leaving the imperfections, walking away when the light has changed. My left brain is always telling me I need to “fix” my paintings but I know that would drain them of life. They are honest. To me, art is a non- verbal form of communication and my work is designed to impact viewers viscerally. It is a great thrill when a viewer slows down, takes a deep breath and looks at one of my paintings until they really see it— a flicker of recognition crosses their face, a feeling in the pit of their stomach and they say to themselves “I know how that feels.” —Brian Mahieu Brian’s husband Tom Harris is a photographer who also goes on painting expeditions to chronicle the landscape and the painting process. Some day, they dream of having a joint exhibit. Of his work Tom says: "My adoration of good photography goes back to my childhood, flipping through quality coffee table books and National Geographic magazines with scenes of nature. . . places that were far flung and inspired the imagination. It wasn’t until about ten years ago when I picked up my first ‘point and shoot’ and was amazed at the photos I took in our garden. Then, after we adopted two greyhounds we acquired a Nikon D-90 that I used to capture our dogs playing and running around a dog park. When we decided to foster greyhounds we used the camera to capture their stunning images and used those in marketing the dogs. We placed fourteen greyhounds in quality homes in two years. During this time I spent hours and hours fine tuning my ‘eye’ for composition and part of that came in chronicling Brian's painting trips. While he painted in the hot, steamy Missouri river bottoms I would sit behind him, chatting with the occasional passerby, snapping pictures of his work in progress as well as the river and sprawling farm land. It was his work in progress that became an obsession. I’m telling a story many people don’t know: how a plein air oil painting comes to life. I have spent many hours chronicling the painting process and find the pictures that resonate the most with people are multi faceted. For example, the artist with a brush in hand or the canvas against a backdrop of the subject matter. Sometimes, as with all photography the happy accidents produce the most inspiring photos. —Tom Harris” All photos: Tom Harris   The following is exerpted from the article written by Paul-André Bempéchat originally published in the May 2017 issue of the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music Restoring Luise Greger: A Renaissance in Progress Luise Greger In Central Germany, as in Washington State, the descendants of Luise Greger (1862-1944) have begun releasing her manuscripts and archives for publication, so as to restore her legacy as a major composer of Lieder. This arduous process began with the music faculty at Brigham Young University in Utah, and continues now, through this article, a future monograph, and the ongoing recital and recording projects of the glorious Greek-American mezzo-soprano Eleni Matos with American pianist Rebecca Wilt, of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. In 2015, the first annual Luise Greger Music Festival was held August 14-16 in Washington State, with venues in Langley at the Northwest Language Academy, at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, and in Clinton at Heron’s Crossing, on Sunlight Beach. This second annual Luise Greger Music Festival, “Women in Music,” was expanded to four days in 2016, with events also scheduled at the Langley United Methodist Church. Most importantly, it is to the immense credit of the German publishing house Furore Verlag (www.furore-ver-lag.de), devoted exclusively to publishing works by women composers that lovers of the Lied can begin to assess the contributions of Luise Greger. As the Greger family continues to uncover additional compositions, correspondence, concert programs, and reviews of their ancestor’s career, Furore Verlag has formally invited―by way of the introductions prefacing each volume―everyone who comes upon information of any kind regarding Luise Greger, to submit such findings for the enhancement of their presentations both online and in-score: “A box of sleeping [sic] notes and a few meagre biographical details are all we have at the moment. May we appeal to all who read this to follow up [with] any references to Luise Greger’s person, her surroundings and her music and to pass them on to us? Thank you.” It is particularly heartwarming to read this in the score, as this new, contemporary tradition of a “work-in-progress” (in academia known as a “working paper”) is now directed to the sophisticated musical public, in the spirit of Wikipedia. The Life in Brief The following biographical material is adapted from Furore-Verlag’s introduction to Luise Greger’s scores under their copyright: Luise Henriette Caroline Greger, née Sumpf, born on December 27, 1862 in Greifswald as the daughter of a senator and factory director in Greifswald, a very prosperous bourgeois family. She was eleven when she began composing Lieder, and was privileged to begin her piano and composition studies with the noted professor Carl Ludwig Bemmann (1807-1893), who, soon after her tutelage began, had her performing in public. Unconfirmed sources recount that she studied for a year at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin (Königliche Hochschule), and she herself claimed to have received singing lessons from Hedwig Wolf, in Berlin, and that none less than Richard Strauss conferred upon her the official, professional title of “compose.” In 1888 Mme Greger married the physician Dr. Ludwig Greger (1860-1919) in Berlin. The family moved to Kassel in 1894 where Luise increasingly devoted herself to composing and performing. The following passage, written to her sister in 1900, demonstrates the difficulties women experienced to launch their careers. She explains that she had to wait several years before being able to establish herself as an artist: “At the beginning of April I shall sing and play at two concerts, for which I shall also receive a fee. Once the hiatus has been lifted, this will happen more often.” After her divorce in 1911, she and her eldest son Helmuth held salons at her home in Kassel, where she performed her many Lieder. Becoming increasingly frail due to old age, she moved to the so-called “Hofgeismar Informary” in the summer of 1939, all the while continuing to perform. Unfortunately, she was transported (deported?) along with other ill and elderly patients to the Merxhausen mental institution at the beginning of December 1943. Luise Greger died just three weeks later, on January 25, 1944, at the age of 81. During her lifetime Luise Greger achieved great recognition in Germany and across Europe as a chamber singer and Lieder composer. Most notably, in 1930, the Elsass-Lothringische Bune (Alsace-Lor-rain Association) declared her an honorary member of their society, and during the festivities, Greger’s Hymne an Elsass (Hymn to Alsace) was performed at the Stadthalle in Kassel. In an article to mark her 70th birthday in 1932, the Kasseler-Post offered the following tribute: “Her Lieder belong in the repertoire of famous male and fe-male singers. Her melodies have already been heard in Dresden and Leipzig, at Mu-nich’s Odeon-Theater, the Gürzenich Hall in Cologne, and in many other cities, most frequently, of course, at concerts in Kassel, garnering great applause….” Greger composed more than 100 Lieder. She began writing music for the stage only in old age: the piano excerpt from her fairytale opera Gänseliesel (“The Girl with the Golden Goose”) is classified as Opus 170. Its premiere at the Stadttheater Baden-Baden on December 10, 1933 may well have been one of the high points of her life. Negotiations are underway to re-vive this charming work. As a result of the rediscovery of this remarkable woman’s work―in the proverbial old trunk―Greger’s works are now re-entering the public sphere. In 1993 and 2002, she was the focus of the Kasseler Frauen-Empfang (Kassel Women’s Day), and on July 8, 2012, at the sesquicentenary of her birth, an evening of her Lieder was performed at the North Hesse Summer Festival (“Kultursommer Nordhessen”). On September 1, 2013, a commemorative plaque was placed at her former residence at Wilhelmshöher Allee 259 in Kassel. At the unveiling ceremony, the Classic Brass Ensemble Schauenburg (Roland Sälzer, conductor) performed the prelude from Gänseliesel, arranged for this formation by Martin Forciniti. Another great honor was bestowed upon Luise Greger in July 2013: a footpath in Kassel, joining Niederwald-strasse and Baunsbergstrasse, was renamed Luise-Greger-Weg; it leads from her first residence in this city to a point close to her second residence. The city’s elders had decided upon this route so that an important component of the composer’s life experience could be traced both gracefully and sentimentally. The Compositions At the time of this writing, Furore Verlag has released six collections of Luise Greger’s Lieder in addition to her children’s opera, Gänseliesel, in both piano and open-score versions: Zehn Plattdeut-sche Lieder (“Ten Low German Songs”), undated; Der Frühling lockt! (“Springtime Beckons!” 1873), 15 songs, one of which, Gruβ (Greeting), Greger composed at the age of 11; Auf den Schwingen der Nacht (commonly translated as “Fallen Angel”), undated, a collection of nine songs for baritone and piano, titled after the frst song within the collection; Malönchen, fifteen songs for soprano and piano (no specified dating), and named after one of the Lieder within the cycle, set to a poem by the famed North German author of children’s prose and poetry, Gustav Falke; Lieder Album, 18 songs with piano, ca. 1915; Weihnachtslieder (“[5] Christmas Songs,” 1921-1923). It is clear that Greger’s reputation as a significant composer of Lieder was, during her lifetime, indeed merited, and that her painstaking renaissance is entirely worthwhile. What has impressed me most is Greger’s sprawling―although never truly explosive―emotional range and diversity tenor. Her kinship to the most genteel, yet refined of Lieder composers, Schubert and Wolf, bespeaks in her unquestionable re-spect for the minutest variations of the human soul: from the simplest nursery songs to complex psychological frameworks, she proves to be a master of the craft of prosody. Her command of prosody is obvious, as are her choices of harmonic procedures relative to the symbolic complexity of the poetry she sets. What will be particularly intriguing for scholars of German and Comparative Literature is Greger’s choice of poets. In terms of name recognition, they range from the immortals Goethe and Heine to the now-forgotten Theodor Storm (1817-1888), Julius Wolff(1834-1910), Rudolf Baumbach (1840-1905, a k a Paul Bach), relatively well-known during their life-times, but a myriad of poets who populated her inner world. And it is clear that she was never one to ignore, for convenience’s or appearance’s sake, her fellow female artists. Be the setting from the obscure Al-wine Wuthenow (1820-1908) and Margarethe Thulcke (1879-?) to the best-known (predictably male) poets of her times, Greger’s assiduity is systematic. Her ability to incarnate both simple and complex literary symbols into heartrending emotions harkens the greatness of Schubert and Wolf. She achieves her goals through harmonic textures, which are never dense, and through progressions whichever nudge but never baffle. Auf der Schwingen der Nacht (Nightfall), Luise Greger’s op. 125, no. 1 (fue 15022), is a perfect example of her mature, intimate post-Romantic idiom, and situates her squarely in the Austro-German traditions of Brahms, Strauss, and Mahler. Her rhapsodic setting develops a dialogue be-tween the voice and the tenor voice in the piano, buttressed by brocades of arpeggios against a firmly tonal setting. The composer dedicated her setting to the poet, her friend Gottfried Hertel, whose writings are also very worthy of discovery. Arguably, the crown jewel of Luise Greger’s productivity, once her full legacy shall have been established, will be her children’s Singspiel operetta Gänseliesel, in ten tableaux, op. 170, and published by Furore in 2014. Its libretto, with its motives chiseled from several Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, is by the even more, and mysteriously obscure, Emilie Riedel (n.d.). The (+/-) 50-minute work is scored for chamber ensemble―flute,with piccolo ad libitum, bassoon, two violins, viola, double bass (cello ad libitum), and piano―and includes dialogue interspersed between arias, vocal ensembles, and choral interjections. This works presents an ideal project not only for middle- and upper-schools with German-language components, but for university-level folklore and mythology departments as well. An English translation is, quite logically, overdue. As stated earlier, manuscripts are being uncovered regularly, and eventually, the full opus number range evinced from the catalogue, ranging into the Opus 170s, will emerge. Furore has produced crisp, generously-spaced scores, which present no reading problems at all; my only critical comment is the hope that the historical and biographical explications will, in the future, be presented in full in English and also in French. I am not alone in my hope that the excellent work begun in Utah and in Washington State will be followed across North America and around the world. We await, therefore, the release of Eleni Matos’ and Rebecca Wilt’s compact discs of this important legacy. French-Canadian pianist and historical musicologist Paul-André Bempéchat (www.bem-pechat.com) is Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University’s Leverett House. Renowned for his interpretations of the First Viennese School and Chopin, he is a self-styled, rebellious product of the Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School, where he worked with the legendary performer-teachers Arthur Balsam, Nadia Reisenberg in piano and chamber music, and Martin Isepp in vocal accompanying. Sorbonne-trained in musicology, his foci have been Nationalism, Impressionism, and Gustav Mahler. His most significant publications include the first biography of Jean Cras (Routledge, 2009; 2nd ed. Peter Lang, 2018) and the recent Festschrift honoring the 90th birthday of Henry-Louis de La Grange (Peter Lang, 2016), Naturlauf, Scholarly Journeys Toward Gustav Mahler.   David Maclean after Berthe Morrisot By Anne Belov Once again, Froggwell Garden is host to a collection of scurrilous art forgers as the popular Forgeries@Froggwell returns. It’s all in fun, but make no mistake: These are serious paintings by talented artists who know that there is much to be learned from making master copies. Honestly, you’ll think you wandered into the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The show is held at Froggwell Garden; 5508 Double Bluff Road on Whidbey Island (near Freeland) August 4-5-6 (Friday, Saturday, & Sunday) 2017 from 10AM - 5 PM all three days. Parking is limited so please carpool if possible. All works are for sale, Checks or Cash preferred.  Anne Belov after Ernest Shepard  Dan Freeman after Alexander Calder
 Milky Way from Hurricane Ridge 2:45am, July 2017 Copyright 2017 Kim Tinuviel, www.kimtinuviel.com. All rights reserved. by Kim Tinuviel I'm writing from the road... the life of a dedicated artist/photographer. While my subjects are usually landscapes, panoramas and abstracts, as well as the aurora borealis (northern lights), this trip focused on the night sky since the calendar and conditions were just right for a view of the Milky Way. My goal was to find clear, dark skies, away from sources of light pollution (including the moon) which erase the stars from the sky. Thinking it might be nice to spend a week on the Olympic Peninsula, I headed for Hurricane Ridge, where there is a 180 degree view of the (mostly) dark southern sky. When the sun set, the crescent moon wasn't far behind and I was rewarded with many beautiful shots until the dawn light crept in. Yes, I was up all night, but it was worth it (see below). You don't need to be a professional to shoot the night sky or the aurora borealis, you just need to do your homework and get out there and try! For those who would rather enjoy the fruits of MY labor, these prints are currently for sale in any size and on any material (framed or unframed, paper, acrylic, metal, adhesive wallpaper, etc.) contact me directly for custom pricing. If you're interested in learning to shoot the night sky yourself, I'm happy to teach the basics to you and a group of your friends in a six hour evening excursion on Whidbey Island (or a longer excursion further afield). Again, contact me for details or visit the Hidden Wonders Photo Tours website for general info. Kim Tinuviel 360-639-4299 Contemporary Art - www.kimtinuviel.com Digital Photography Tours & Workshops - www.hiddenwondersphototours.com  Milky Way from Hurricane Ridge 11:30pm, July 2017 Copyright 2017 Kim Tinuviel, www.kimtinuviel.com. All rights reserved.  Aurora Borealis from Langley Marina, Sept 2016 Copyright 2016 Kim Tinuviel, www.kimtinuviel.com. All rights reserved.  Aurora Borealis from Whidbey Island, May 2017
Copyright 2017 Kim Tinuviel, www.kimtinuviel.com. All rights reserved.   Hi, my name is Karin Bolstad, and I am the “headmistress” of Blueschool Arts in Clinton. Blueschool is a shared studio space; as well as a gathering space for creative projects, classes, workshops, talks and short term gallery shows. We currently have 9 artists on site: a fused glass artist, two fine mixed media artists, a kinetic sculpture artist, a jeweler, an assemblage artist, two oil painters, and a candle maker. Before I and my family moved to WI from Seattle in 2009, I had a shared studio in Georgetown, in a building full of artists and a popular coffee shop. There’s a general belief out there that artists “want to be alone”, but I’m the opposite: I love the energy that a group of artists create by working alongside each other. Once on the Island, I looked around to see if anything existed here where I could set up my easel and paints. I put out requests via Drewslist and flyers to see if there were any other folks looking to also share space, and scoped out Langley for possible rentals. No luck. I had barely any response from the public; and none of the rental spaces in Langley were affordable or felt like they were places I could make a mess. I had pretty much given up when the opportunity came through the Wellington Day School’s former building, which after the school moved had sat uninhabited for a year. I decided to move into this 3,000 sq ft space all by my lonesome, just so at least I had a dedicated space for art making even though I didn’t have my community I so craved. It seemed that was the magic step that needed to happen for Blueschool to come in to existence, for once I moved all my supplies in there and I invited some other creative buddies to come see, they wanted in on the action. Before I knew it I had almost a full house, and was able to make an arrangement to rent the whole building, and the owner took the building off the market. We have now been there for 3 years with some turn over, but still the majority of us have been there since the beginning. When I moved in, I had no plan for creating a venue for the public. But the center room of the building seemed perfect for holding classes, and some of our artists were also teaching artists, so it seemed like a good idea to hold this space for creative gatherings. We named it The Drawing Room.   I wanted it to be more than just a “room” though: I wanted it to be a place that also inspired creativity. My Drawing Room is a cross between a Victorian drawing room, an Anthropologie display, an antique store, and a gallery. The Drawing Room is now a rentable venue for both teachers and facilitators for their classes or events; or a venue for personal events like birthdays and parties. We have monthly art socials where the public can come in for a nominal fee and learn about a particular art medium - we have had socials on mixed media, paper mache, book binding, jewelry making, encaustic - just to name a few. We have just started having weekly open studio hours for those who want to come and spread out their creative projects on our tables.
Since we have moved to Clinton, other amazing artists and makers have also set up shop nearby. Artists tend to set up in areas with lower rents - so in cities this tends to be either depressed neighborhoods or industrial areas. On the island that is a little more difficult: but Clinton, because it is not the BEST spot for retail, makes it perfect for makers, and (just FYI!) currently has quite a few empty storefronts and office spaces. Perhaps we’ll see you there too?
By Steph Mader Glass art workshops are wonderful fun - especially that moment when we open the kiln to reveal everyone's work from the day before. I can't imagine anything better than being with other creative people, learning from each other’s work and exchanging ideas. There is so much to know about glass. Even in the area of kiln forming (fusing), there are tons of techniques available to realize your creative ideas. You just have to embrace your inner glass geek and learn a little about the technical side. At my studio in Freeland, islanders and artists from farther away have been meeting for weekend workshops to learn about new glass fusing techniques. It’s not necessary to have glass experience; I always come armed with lots of designs to try, or you can bring your own. The glass and tools are all set up and ready to go, all you have to do is show up. Here are some photos of glass pieces done in the spring workshops – there has been some really good work going on!
 Visible Means of Support Sticking Up for Each Other A visual arts show by the Three Bs Bruce Morrow Briony Morrow-Cribbs Buffy Cribbs The Front Room Gallery Bayview Cash Store, 5611 Bayview Road, Langley, WA July 14th-28th Opening Reception July 14th, 6:00 - 9:00 (artists in attendance) Donations to Friends of Friends Medical Support Fund email threebes@whidbey.com for more info By Buffy Cribbs
In 1986, 31 years ago, a young family with a four year old daughter moved to Whidbey from the San Francisco Bay Area. We were Bruce Morrow, Buffy Cribbs and Briony Morrow Cribbs. Down the years Bruce and I ran a contracting business designing and building homes, studios and cabinetry for many local artists and friends, as well as making art for local and National shows. During that time we also developed our own studios and a professional level print shop for etching and relief printing. As Briony developed in her teen years she too became interested in art and has gone on to become a professional artist, illustrator and educator in her own right. She now resides in Putney, Vermont. In the past we, as a family have enjoyed putting together family shows occasionally as a way to celebrate our overlapping passions and, since Briony is visiting briefly this summer, we thought we’d take the opportunity to do that again. With the advancing of time and age related bodily stress and Bruce and I have recently closed down the construction aspects of Two Morrows Builders, our umbrella organization, and will now be relying more heavily on the proceeds from art sales and art instruction for our basic living expenses, so this title has resonance for us; but we are also taking advantage of the opportunity to use this celebration of family and community in order to raise funds for an organization dear to our hearts, Friends of Friends Medical Support Fund. Friends of Friends is a community –supported organization dedicated to raising and disbursing funds for uncovered medically related expenses to people on South Whidbey who are unable to pay these costs themselves.  WHIDBEY ISLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL TWELFTH SEASON July 28th-August 6th 2017 The Whidbey Island Music Festival is delighted to announce it's twelfth summer season of chamber music concerts. This season will present a wide-ranging series of six performances of four different programs, all on period instruments. The Whidbey Island Music Festival is a beloved annual event that presents great performances of baroque and classical chamber music in relaxed and intimate venues on beautiful Whidbey Island, with repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Beethoven and beyond. We bring music of the past four centuries to life with vivid and moving concert performances on period instruments. This summer, all programs are at St. Augustine's in-the-woods. Complete artist and program information is available at www.whidbeyislandmusicfestival.org. Concert Schedule
St. Augustine's in-the-woods 5217 Honeymoon Bay Road, Freeland, WA 98249 Six Concerts of Baroque and Classical Chamber Music PROGRAM I: Classical Masters - String Quintets by Mozart and Mendelssohn Friday, July 28 2017 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 30 2017 at 3 p.m. Mozart and Mendelssohn, while born a generation apart, shared striking commonalities. Both were prodigiously talented composers and performers, and both were raised in musical families with sisters who were also extremely gifted musicians. Two of the great masterworks of the chamber music literature, Mozart's C major quintet and Mendelssohn's great Bb quintet were composed for the special combination of 2 violins, 2 violas and cello. The addition of a second viola to the string quartet adds a special warmth and richness to the harmonies, as well as providing a more soloistic platform for the first viola.
PROGRAM II: Mozart in Brazil Saturday, July 29 2017 at 7:30 p.m. José Mauricio Nuñes Garcia was an African-Brazilian composer who was the grandson of slaves. Born in Rio di Janiero and ordained as a priest, he composed sacred and secular works. He was familiar with and influenced by classical era composers such as Mozart and Haydn. It is fascinating to hear sacred motets by Nuñes Garcia in the context of Mozart's works.
PROGRAM III: Music of Missions and Mysteries - Latin American Baroque Friday, August 4 2017 at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, August 6 2017 at 3 p.m. As the Spanish empire colonized Latin America, music became an important tool for evangelism and a key part of the quest to convert and ‘civilize’ the indigenous populations. In this programme, Pacific MusicWorks, led by GRAMMY award winner Stephen Stubbs, explore the vibrant mix of Italian, Spanish, African, and indigenous elements that created the new musical style that developed in the cathedrals and missions of Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, and Bolivia. Both immigrant and native composers celebrated and explored the great mysteries of faith in spirited and vivacious works that can continue to speak to us today. Music by Esteban Salas, Manuel José de Quiroz, Manuel de Zumaya, and others.
PROGRAM IV: Stylus Phantasticus - the free and fantastic style in Italy and Austria Saturday, August 5 2017 at 7:30 p.m. This program traces the “Stylus Fantasticus” from its origins in seventeenth century Italy with Farina, Uccellini and Fontana, and its development in Austria by the great violinist-composers Pandolfi Meally, Albertini, Schmelzer and Biber. The musicians’ instrumental and improvisational agility is on display in this program of music performed in the “free and fantastic style". The improvised style of the violin is grounded by a colorful continuo team of baroque harp, baroque guitar, chittarone, harpsichord and organ, which employ a wide range of colors, textures, and sounds to accompany the violin.
2017 Festival Artists are:
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Artists WIMF Director Tekla Cunningham, baroque violin, viola and viola d'amore, leads an active and varied musical life. At home in Seattle, she is Orchestra Director and concertmaster of Pacific MusicWorks, and is an artist-in-residence at the University of Washington School of Music. She directs the Whidbey Island Music Festival, a summer concert series now in its twelfth season which produces and presents vibrant period-instrument performances of chamber music repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Stephen Foster. Her concert performances have been described by reviewers as "ravishingly beautiful" and "stellar" and as "a consummate musician whose flowing solos and musical gestures are a joy to watch". She has appeared as concertmaster/leader or soloist with the American Bach Soloists, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and Musica Angelica, and has played with Apollo’s Fire, Los Angeles Opera, Pacific Baroque, Portland Baroque, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and at the Carmel Bach, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Indianapolis, Oregon Bach Festival, Valley of the Moon, Vancouver, Savannah and Bloomington Festivals. Tekla received her musical training at Johns Hopkins University and Peabody Conservatory (where she studied History and German Literature in addition to violin), Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, and at the San Francisco Conservatory. Tekla plays on a violin made by Sanctus Seraphim in Venice, 1746. Praised by critics for "a ripe, sensual lyric soprano" (Opera News) and a "captivating combination of skilled singing and magnetic acting" (Pioneer Press), soprano Tess Altiveros is in high demand on concert and operatic stages alike. 2016/2017 engagements include Clorinda in The Combat (Seattle Opera), Bach’s St. Matthew Passion semi-staged (Colorado Symphony), Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Skylark Opera Theatre), Musetta in La Bohème under the baton of Andrew Litton (Colorado Symphony), Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem (Seattle Pro Musica), the Midwest premiere and recording of Emerson Eads’s Mass for the Oppressed (Notre Dame University), and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro (Angels & Demons Entertainment), a performance described as “transcendent” and “luminous” by the Twin Cities Arts Reader. Other recent credits include Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Tacoma Opera), Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw (Eugene Opera), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Juneau Lyric Opera), Adele in Die Fledermaus (Opera Coeur d’Alene), Elle in La Voix Humaine (Vespertine Opera Theater), and the Queen in Rumplestiltskin (Opera Fairbanks). Upcoming engagements include Euridice in L’Orfeo under Grammy Award winning conductor Stephen Stubbs (Pacific MusicWorks), Violetta in La Traviata (City Opera Ballet), Messiah (Bremerton Symphony), and her ninth season singing for the Seattle Mariners.
Violist Vijay Chalasani is a Seattle-based performer, scholar, and teaching-artist whose work focuses on the performance practice of music of the last five centuries. Equally at home on both modern and historical violas, Chalasani was featured as a soloist in performances ranging from the Walton Viola Concerto, Mozart Sinfonia Concertante, and Hoffmeister Viola Concerto with modern orchestras, to Bach’s 6th Brandenburg concerto, the Telemann Viola Concerto, and the Telemann Concerto for Two Violettas with period orchestras. An avid advocate for contemporary music, Chalasani was the soloist in the US premiere of Vinko Globokar’s chamber-theater piece “Blinde Zeit” with members of the Callithumpian Consort, supervised by the composer. He has also performed with violist-composer Garth Knox, pianist-conductor Stephen Drury, and the Inverted Space Ensemble, coached with composer Brian Ferneyhough (on his “Adagissimo” for string quartet), and has collaborated with the Guerrilla Composers Guild and others to actively commission new works for the viola. Chalasani performs frequently on period instruments with ensembles such as the American Bach Soloists, Pacific MusicWorks, Early Music Vancouver, and the Albany Consort, as well as in chamber music performances of works from the classical and romantic eras on historical instruments. Chalasani currently studies in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the University of Washington, where he studies viola with Melia Watras; as a Teaching Assistant at the UW, he works with the Modern Music Ensemble and Baroque Ensemble, and teaches Chamber Music Lab and String Techniques. Chalasani’s graduate studies were at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Don Ehrlich (modern viola), Elizabeth Blumenstock (baroque viola), and the late Mark Sokol (chamber music). His undergraduate studies were at CSU Sacramento, where he studied viola with Anna Kruger, chamber music with Ian Swensen and Andrew Luchansky, and pedagogy with Judy Bossuat. In addition to the concert stage, Chalasani often performs in less traditional venues such as bars, cafes, and house concerts, and has appeared in cross-genre performances with a wide range of artists including rock band Third Eye Blind, hip-hop orchestra Jazz Mafia, and indie-folk group Americana Orchestra. Seattle based harpist Maxine Eilander plays on a range of specialized early harps: the Italian triple strung harp, the Spanish cross-strung harp, the German ‘Davidsharfe’, the Welsh triple harp for which Handel wrote his harp concerto, and the classical single action pedal harp. Maxine was born in The Netherlands and grew up in South Africa, where she earned her Bachelor of Music on the classical harp. Her special interest in early music led her to further study at the Hochschule für Kunste in Bremen, Germany, where she completed her post-graduate diploma in early harps and continuo practice. Since then she has appeared as a soloist with many leading ensembles including Tragicomedia and Tafelmusik. Maxine has performed at numerous opera houses and festivals including Boston Early Music Festival, Covent Garden Festival, Staatstheater Stuttgart and Netherlands Opera, playing continuo in productions of various baroque operas and chamber music. In 2012 Maxine was invited to perform Handel’s Harp Concerto at the World Harp Congress in Vancouver, B.C.. From 2005 to 2012, Maxine managed the Accademia d’Amore baroque opera workshops in Seattle. As an administrator, Maxine was the Director of Education for Pacific MusicWorks since 2007, and in 2013 became PMW’s Managing Director. There is an increasing list of recordings featuring Maxine as a soloist. She has recorded Handel’s Harp, released on ATMA in 2009, with all of Handel’s obligato music written for the harp, including his famous harp concerto, which she has also recorded with Tafelmusik (A Baroque Feast, Analekta, 2002). The 2008 release of William Lawes’ Harp Consorts on ATMA garnered much favorable press, including five stars from Goldberg Magazine. Other recordings include: Sonata al Pizzico, a recording of Italian music for harp and baroque guitar with duo partner Stephen Stubbs (ATMA 2004), and Teatro Lirico released on the ECM label in 2006, Ay que si, Spanish 17th century music with Les Voix Humaines (ATMA, 2002), Scarlatti’s oratorio Hagar and Ishmael, with Seattle Baroque (Centaur, 2003), and Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine, with Tragicomedia (ATMA, 2002), and 2005 Grammy nominated Conradi’s Ariadne for the Boston Early Music Festival (CPO, 2005). Adam LaMotte is well known to audiences throughout the country as a leader of both period and modern ensembles. He has appeared as soloist, concertmaster, and conductor of numerous orchestras throughout the country, including the Northwest Sinfonietta in Seattle, String Orchestra of the Rockies, Astoria Festival Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Maggini String Orchestra, Ars Lyrica, Mercury in Houston, and most recently, The Orchestra, in his home town of Portland, Oregon. As part of the baroque ensemble El Mundo Adam was nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award. Mr. LaMotte has been hailed by critics as an "especially compelling" musician with "exceptional talent," whose performances are "energetic and exquisite." As Artistic Director of the Montana Baroque Festival, he brings world-class period instrument performances to the rural Montana community. He has co-founded two critically-acclaimed ensembles, in Portland and in Houston, and continues to produce many chamber music and chamber orchestra performances. Hailed by The Miami Herald for his “superb continuo… brilliantly improvised and ornamented,” Henry Lebedinsky performs on historical keyboards across the United States and the United Kingdom, both as a soloist and as a member of Agave Baroque, Pacific MusicWorks, The Vivaldi Project, and The Live Oak Baroque Orchestra. He has also played with The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Charlotte Symphony, Seraphic Fire, and Boston Revels, among others. He has taught master classes and workshops on historical repertoire and performance practice at the University of Edinburgh and at colleges and universities across the USA. An avid composer of sacred music for choir and organ, his works are published by Paraclete Press, Carus-Verlag Stuttgart, and CanticaNOVA. He is the founder and director of the Pacific MusicWorks Underground Concerts (formerly Early Music Underground), which brings old music to new audiences in brewpubs, wineries, and fun unconventional venues across the greater Seattle metropolitan area. Mr. Lebedinsky holds degrees from Bowdoin College and the Longy School of Music, where he studied with Peter Sykes. He currently serves as Organist and Choirmaster at Seattle’s historic Christ Episcopal Church. A native of San Francisco, Peter Maund studied percussion at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and music, folklore, and ethnomusicology at the University of California, Berkeley. A founding member of Ensemble Alcatraz and Alasdair Fraser’s Skyedance, he has performed with early and contemporary music ensembles including American Bach Soloists, Anonymous 4, Chanticleer, The Harp Consort, Hesperion XX, Kitka, Musica Pacifica, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Texas Early Music Project, and Voices of Music, among others. He is the author of “Percussion” in A Performers Guide to Medieval Music, Indiana University Press, 2000. He has served on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley as well as in workshops sponsored by Amherst Early Music, the San Francisco Early Music Society, the Texas Toot, the American Recorder Society and the American Orff-Schulwerk Association. Described by the Glasgow Herald as “the most considerate and imaginative of percussionists” he can be heard on over 60 recordings. Reggie Mobley Countertenor Reginald Mobley fully intended to speak his art through watercolors and oil pastels until circumstance demanded that his own voice should speak for itself. Since reducing his visual color palette to the black and white of a score, he has endeavored to open a wider spectrum onstage. Particularly noted for his “crystalline diction and pure, evenly produced tone” (Miami Herald), as well as “elaborate and inventive ornamentation” (South Florida Classical Review), Reggie Mobley is rapidly making a name for himself as soloist in Baroque, Classical, and modern repertoire. His natural and preferred habitat as a soloist is within the works of Bach, Charpentier, Handel, Purcell, as well as other known Baroque Period mainstays. Not to be undone by a strict diet of cantatas, odes, and oratorios, Reggie finds himself equally comfortable in rep of later periods and genres. Such works as Haydn’s Theresienmesse, Mozart’s Requiem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. He has also performed the title role of “Paris” in the Florida premiere of John Eccles’ Judgment of Paris, under the direction of Anthony Rooley and Evelyn Tubb. A longtime member of the twice GRAMMY® nominated Miami based professional vocal ensemble, Seraphic Fire, Reggie has had the privilege to also lend his talents to other ensembles in the US and abroad. Such as the Dartmouth Handel Society, Apollo’s Fire, Vox Early Music, Portland Baroque Orchestra, North Carolina Baroque Ensemble, Ensemble VIII, San Antonio Symphony, Early Music Vancouver and Symphony Nova Scotia under direction of Alexander Weimann, and the Oregon Bach Festival under the direction of Matthew Halls. Not to be held to conventional countertenor repertoire, the “Barn-burning, [...]phenomenal” male alto has a fair amount of non-classical work under his belt. Not long after becoming a countertenor, he was engaged in several musical theatre productions as a principal or secondary role. Most notable among them was the titular role in Rupert Holmes’ Mystery of Edwin Drood, and “Jacey Squires” in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. In addition to his work in musical theatre, he performed many cabaret shows and sets of jazz standards and torch songs in jazz clubs in and around Tokyo, Japan. Reggie studied voice at the University of Florida with Jean Ronald LaFond, and Florida State University with Roy Delp. Corentin Pokorny is a baroque and modern violinist based in Seattle, Washington. He has been a member of many chamber ensembles, most recently, the Daana String Quartet, the SCREE! Ensemble, and the Rocoempo Trio with his two brothers. He has also played with Pacific MusicWorks among other orchestras. He was born and raised in France, where he studied violin, piano, and voice from a very young age. He studied in the Boulogne Conservatory of Music, followed by several years in the Aulnay-Sous-Bois Conservatory of Music, under the teaching of violinist José Alvarez, former principal second of the Paris Opera, and assistant violin teacher at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. After moving to the United States in 2008, Corentin eagerly joined the musical scene of the Seattle area, performing three years in the Seattle Youth Symphony, as well as taking part in the chamber music program of the Seattle Conservatory of Music. He also performed many times, as soloist and as part of ensembles, in concert series at the Daniels Recital Hall in downtown Seattle. He is actively playing with Pacific Musicworks, including their Underground concerts, which bring early music concerts to bars and wine tastings. Corentin received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Washington in 2016, where he studied with Ron Patterson, violin professor at the University. During his years at the University, Corentin won the University of Washington's concerto competition, and was the concertmaster of the University Symphony Orchestra for the 2014-15 year. He also was a member of the UW Scholarship string quartet, the Daana String Quartet, for the 2015-16 year. Romaric Pokorny, viola, is an avid chamber music player. Based out of Seattle, he has been a member in several chamber music ensembles in the Puget Sound area, most notably the Oceana String Quartet, SCREE! String Quintet, and especially the Rocoempo Trio, alongside his brothers. He also enjoys performing with Seattle’s Pacific MusicWorks, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, SeattleMusic, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and various other ensembles. A native of France, he received his early musical training there, studying violin, piano, composition and music theory at the Conservatoire a Rayonnement Regional de Boulogne-Billancourt and later at the Conservatoire d'Aulnay-sous-Bois under violinist Jose Alvarez, and earning a Diplome Superieur de Solfege. After moving to the United States, he finished his studies with a degree in Viola Performance from the University of Washington. His interests also grew to include some experience in pipe organ building and restoration, working for an organ supply and restoration company for several years, and is currently working with The Harpsichord Shop. His other current music interests include genre-crossing musical exploration (with the Rocoempo Trio) and the promotion of classical and early music performances to include a broader audience, with Pacific MusicWorks Underground. Danielle Sampson is an avid performer of baroque, classical, and contemporary music. Highlights of her last season included a performance of Spanish, Cuban, and Guatemalan music with Pacific MusicWorks, Bach’s Magnificat and Wachet Auf with Early Music Vancouver, and her debut with SF Soundbox performing in Ashley Fure’s Shiver Lung. In 2015 Danielle performed with the Boston Early Music Festival in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (Melanto) and L’incoronazione di Poppea (La Virtù, Pallade), and with Early Music Vancouver in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (the Sorceress) and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. She performed as Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina with Black Box Baroque last April, and appeared with Liaison, Nash Baroque Ensemble, and Jarring Sounds for the 2016 Berkeley Early Music Festival. Danielle has appeared with Amaranth String Quartet, Seattle Opera, Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, American Bach Soloists, and California Bach Society, among others. She is a founding member of the guitar/voice duo Jarring Sounds (with Adam Cockerham), and performs with Cappella SF, the new bay area octet Gaude, and Seattle’s Byrd Ensemble. She earned her BM at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, and her MM at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Danielle currently resides in Seattle. Stephen Stubbs, who won the GRAMMY Award as conductor for Best Opera Recording 2015, spent a 30-year career in Europe. He returned to his native Seattle in 2006 as one of the world’s most respected lutenists, conductors, and baroque opera specialists and in 2014 was awarded the Mayor’s Arts Award for ‘Raising the Bar’ in Seattle. Before his return, he was based in Bremen, Germany, where he was Professor at the Hochschule für Künste. In 2007 Stephen established his new production company, Pacific MusicWorks, based in Seattle, reflecting his lifelong interest in both early music and contemporary performance. The company’s inaugural presentation was a production of South African artist William Kentridge’s acclaimed multimedia staging of Claudio Monteverdi’s opera The Return of Ulysses in a co-production with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. PMW’s performances of the Monteverdi Vespers were described in the press as “utterly thrilling” and “of a quality you are unlikely to encounter anywhere else in the world”. Stephen is also the Boston Early Music Festival’s permanent artistic co-director along with his long time colleague Paul O’Dette. Stephen and Paul are also the musical directors of all BEMF operas, recordings of which were nominated for three GRAMMY awards, and won the GRAMMY for Best Opera Recording 2015. In addition to his ongoing commitments to PMW and BEMF, other recent appearances have included Handels’ Giulio Cesare and Gluck’s Orfeo in Bilbao, Mozart’s Magic Flute and Cosi fan Tutte for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and Handel’s Agrippina for Opera Omaha. In recent years he has conducted Handel’s Messiah with the Seattle, Edmonton, and Birmingham Symphony orchestras. Stephen will make his debut Messiah performance with Houston Symphony this December. His extensive discography as conductor and solo lutenist include well over 100 CDs, many of which have received international acclaim and awards. Nathan Whittaker, violoncello, enjoys a unique and diverse career as a concert soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, teacher, and historical cello specialist. He plays regularly with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and is a founding member of the Op. 20 String Quartet. Recent concert appearances have included the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, Vancouver Early Music Festival, and Pacific Baroque Festival (Victoria, B.C.), as well as other concert stops ranging from Seattle to New York to Dubai. He also composed and recorded an original score for the Emmy nominated documentary "When Seattle Invented the Future". He can be heard on recordings by ATMA Musique and Harmonia and broadcasts by NPR, CBC, and KING FM. An active pedagogue, he maintains a dynamic private studio and is faculty at the Cornish College of the Arts and the founder and director of the Seattle Chamber Music Coaching Sessions (SCMCS). Along with his busy performance and teaching schedule, he completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Washington in 2012. Dr. Whittaker also holds degrees from Indiana University.   I live in a little seaside town on Whidbey Island, an artists’ and writers’ haven, in the far NW corner of Washington State, USA. We recently downsized and I have a work in progress studio above the garage of my home. It’s not the ideal artist’s studio as it needs more light and in the near future I plan to have two skylights put in, but it did come with a very useful kitchen area with little sink and fridge. I am able to see a lot of my two street rural neighborhood from my ‘eyrie’. At night owls hoot on my neighbor’s roof and in the early hours of summer mornings I often see coyote pups playing, deer wandering around and hummingbirds and songbirds on the feeders in my front garden. As the day progresses I hear the murmur of neighbors conversations from their porches and the voices of children playing. This all fades into a background buzz as once I start painting I am lost in my own world. I do take breaks every couple of hours not only to help stretch my back but also to clear my mind. I like to step back from my work and to rethink it.  As it’s still fairly new I am continually rearranging the studio trying to fit everything in as I seem to have so many collections, whether they are tea tins or dried roots. I find plastic craft containers very useful to store all my goodies. I have a corkboard that faces my desk and I love to pin up anything that inspires me. I have two crafting tables that easily fold away when not in use and I use them to lay out artwork and to use my Artograph light pad. Below one of them I have extra-large baskets that contain 10 years of British art magazines. Great to reread on rainy days! My desk is very basic but it works for me. I use artists’ white tape to tack my paper on to a piece of foam board. I like to work with a roll of kitchen towel under the board and I alter the shape of the roll according to what angle I want my board to be. I often use small brushes meant for oil or acrylic work as well as watercolor brushes. I work using dry brushwork in layers over wet in wet and I am always striving to achieve the beautiful soft textures of petals etc. I also use Billy Showell’s eradicator brush not only to help with mistakes but to gently soften my paint edges. My favorite paint manufacturer right now is Daniel Smith from Seattle. I find their dot charts really useful not just for trying out paints before buying a tube, but they are also very convenient when attending workshops. I used to only work on Fabriano HP paper as it had a great surface for botanical work but lately have mainly reverted to Arches as the new Fabriano paper isn’t what it used to be. I did have a bit of luck recently as I found an artist friend on the island who was willing to barter a roll of the older Fabriano in return for one of my paintings. Bartering artwork was a first for me!
I have three bookcases that hold my ever expanding collection of art and nature books. I often paint heirloom fruits and vegetables bought from my local Farmers’ Market and every two years I buy The Whole Seed Catalog that helps give me ideas of heirlooms to look for and paint. I also have a unit from IKEA that works well to store papers flat and two Dick Blick folding racks to store prints. Oversized items such as shipping boxes, bubble bags etc., have spilled out onto the landing where there is a built in cupboard that comes in handy. My computer and printer are next door in another room. I often think about how to rearrange this space so that it is more efficient but that will come in time. Meanwhile it suits me just fine. Deborah Montgomerie graduated in 2015 from the SBA Distance Learning Course. She originally trained as a textile designer and worked for many years as a technical illustrator and graphic designer for aerospace companies and has lived in England, Canada, Brazil and now the USA.
 On June 22nd, 2017 from 4-7pm, everyone is welcome to join our celebration of the Whidbey Island Arts Council's annual members and accomplishments.
- Please bring a salad or dessert to share. - Beer and wine will be available for purchase to our 21+ guests. - Hot grilled entrees will be provided by the Arts Council. - Friends and families welcome! There will be a special performance at 5:30pm featuring The Whidbey Girls Choir, a program of the Arts Council. The Whidbey Girls Choir will be joined by Jerry Mader directing and Sheila Weidendorf on keyboard. Located at the Greenbank Progressive Club 715 Bakken Rd, Greenbank WA 98253 We invite you to RSVP, invite your friends & share this event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1648186285222482/  “Deep silence...is a necessary requirement for deep thought and self-knowledge which, in turn, are essentially creative in nature and are of vital importance in enhancing both intellectual and artistic pursuits.”
~Jane Dawson, Reflectivity, Creativity, and the Space for Silence; St Francis Xavier University, Island Consort is tremendously excited to announce a new annual festival promoting contemporary composition: New Music on the Rock will launch in 2017 on June 18th at Whidbey Institute's Thomas Berry Hall. This first year will feature an afternoon concert beginning at 2:00 p.m. on the Chinook Lands and leading into the Hall, with works by area composers Neil Welch, Huck Hodge, Stuart Dempster and Kit Mills and will include eurythmy performances by Maiko Canard. Following the afternoon concert will be a Composers' Forum (open to the public) in which we will explore the themes of humanity and the creative spark, the role of silence in the process of creation and in listening, the relevance of new music and more. In the evening we will present a concert of works by Whidbey Composer Jerry Mader*—our Composer-in-Residence for this first New Music festival. That 7:00 p.m. program features an oboe quintet, a piano quintet and a set of three vocal motets. “When I am silent I fall into the place where everything is music.” ~Rumi Entitled Deepening the Silence Within: Music for a New Humanity this 2017 launch festival examines themes of sourcing the creative flow from within, of honoring the land that sustains us (It is no accident that we will be holding these concerts on the precious Chinook land and in lovely Thomas Berry Hall!), how silence and stillness holds the center of truth and beauty in the midst of a chaotic world. Further, we honor the ways in which music—and all the creative arts—can bring us together in our common humanity, especially when conflict rages on the world stage. We will first come together on the land just outside of Thomas Berry Hall, where musicians and movement will call us to the center of ourselves, and to the center of stillness between us. Maiko Canard in her movement exploration of the many kinds of silence will lead us into the hall, deeper inward as we then receive the music that ensues into our consciousness. As the founder and Artistic Director of Island Consort and our New Music on the Rock series—I am thrilled to be launching this festival at this juncture in our collective personal, political and artistic lives. It feels so very important, first, to honor the role of the arts—in this case, music—in creating and sustaining the human collective. Every culture has music, has art. When we ignore the arts, stifle the creative impulse that lies at the heart of what it means to be human, we suppress the vitality of our communal life and our cultural and I would say, ultimately spiritual expression of humanity. We NEED to hear our poets and prophets, embrace our artists and musicians—lean forward into the artistry of being alive in this time and in this place. It is important, too, that we not only honor our musical traditions from time the past (of COURSE we want to play Bach forever!) but also look to NOW, meet the composers and thinkers and philosophers and creators of today who are in immediate response to this very moment. They, too, lead us to our Selves. I chose this year's theme, Deepening the Silence Within: Music for a New Humanity out of my profound belief that music arises out of the deep silence of whatever it is that IS, that breathes worlds into being, that opens hearts and connects us. Too, it is easy to see and taste and experience the turbulence of our world, rife with division and strife and persecution and propaganda. It is too easy to be dehumanized, to succumb to despair and and hatred. If music is anything for me, it is a wholly and holy creative force that rehumanizes us, connects us to the divine spark of whatever it is that spins our galaxies, that weaves us together and enlivens our existence. Just as the personal attention turned inward toward the silent center of being quiets the confusion of the conditioned mind and allows revelation and peace to arise in one's consciousness---the collective turning toward the silent source of creative impulse can carry us beyond fragmentation and division and open our collective consciousness to new possibility, new understanding of what it means to be human. ~Sheila Weidendorf, Island Consort Artistic Director “From pure sensation to the intuition of beauty, from pleasure and pain to love and the mystical ecstasy and death — all the things that are fundamental, all the things that, to the human spirit, are most profoundly significant, can only be experienced, not expressed. The rest is always and everywhere silence. After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” ~Aldous Huxley, The Rest is Silence  Artist: Brian Mahieu - Soft Evening Light , collection Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri Join us for our Memorial Day Weekend Membership Show on May 27th, 28th, and 29th, 2017 at the Coupeville Rec Hall. Re:Membering is a fundraising event to benefit the Whidbey Island Arts Council and our featured member artists. Shop for local art and listen to local musicians while mingling with artists and Whidbey Island Arts Council Board Members. Wine will be available for sale to our 21+ guests. All proceeds of this event will support the arts and culture of Whidbey Island. Memorial Day Weekend Saturday 12pm-7pm, Sunday 10am-5pm, Monday 10am-5pm Exhibition of Talent: Katrina Hude Jordan Jones Jim Short Bruce Marrow Buffy Cribbs Janet Lewis Don Wodjenski Clovy Tsuchiya Steph Mader Melissa Koch Janis Saunders Frank Rose Brian Mahieu Mary Ellen O’Conner Bev McQuary Island Art Glass David Stern Location: Coupeville Rec Hall 901 NW Alexander Street Coupeville, WA 98236 |
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