Door 15

Katherine Coons Exhibit Opens at Forum June 1

Painting Hands, an exhibition of new work by well-known Anchorage-based artist Katherine Coons, opens Friday, June 1 at the Alaska Humanities Forum offices in downtown Anchorage. It will be open to the public through July during regular business hours.

After becoming deeply involved as a serious working artist in the Los Angeles contemporary art scene for more than two decades, Coons moved to Alaska in 2001. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Alaska, where she teaches Art Appreciation and Drawing. 

Coons has traveled extensively, including a 2005 residency at the Sanskriti Kendra Foundation in New Delhi, India that was supported by a grant form the Alaska State Council on the Arts. A 2009 solo show at The State Museum in Juneau featured tapestry works and small paintings based on her journeys in India, China and Southeast Asia.

She has also shown her work in recent years in exhibitions at the Art Institute in Portland, Oregon as well as the International Gallery of Contemporary Art and MTS Gallery in Anchorage. Three of her large abstract paintings were chosen in 2010 for the All Alaska Juried Statewide Art Exhibition at the Anchorage Museum.

“I am inspired by things around me, people, ideas, literature, nature and diverse travels greatly stimulate me,” states Coons.  “My paintings are an unconscious collection of these happenings.  Each work is a psychological journey about life and what it is and how I see it.  Works can be termed as expressionistic and conceptual landscapes that take on the universal statement of contemporary time and space in the 21^st century.”

Painting Hands, 40"x38", oil on canvas, 2012

LA 15 Group Releases McLaughlin Youth Center Video

One of three Community Service Group Project teams in the recently graduated Leadership Anchorage Class of 2012 has just released the final product of their group effort. It's a short documentary video promoting the volunteer mentor program at McLaughlin Youth Center.

The state's primary facility for youthful offenders is always in need of volunteer mentors to guide its clients as they finish their time at the center and re-enter day-to-day life. The LA 15 group produced this video with clients and McLaughlin staff explaining the depth of need for the volunteer mentor program. The LA cohort then visited civic groups across the municipality to present the video and encourage members to get involved.

Click on the "Play" icon in bottom left corner of the window below to watch the McLaughlin Youth Center video.

 

 Project Members: Katherine Jernstrom, Olympia Lewis, Greg Schmidt, and Brit Szymoniak. 

Forum Seeks Office Manager

The Alaska Humanities Forum is seeking a new Office Manager. Interested parties are encouraged to submit a resume, cover letter and three references to sbuchanan@akhf.org. For information call 907-272-5313.

NATURE OF WORK:

The Alaska Humanities Forum, Alaska's state humanities council, is a federal-state partnership and part of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Our mission is "to use the wisdom and methods of the humanities to enrich the civic, intellectual and cultural life of all Alaskans." We accomplish this mission through our various programs, partnerships and initiatives, including: NEH Regrants, the Rose Urban Rural Exchange, Take Wing Alaska, Educator Cross Cultural Immersion, the Alaska History and Culture Online Curriculum, Leadership Anchorage and many more.

EXAMPLES OF WORK:

• Reports to the President/CEO while performing office management and other duties;

• Responsible for opening the office no later than 8:30 a.m. and closing by 5 p.m. on weekdays;

• Ensures office tidiness, including kitchen, reception and meeting areas;

• Manages mail, including distribution and oversight of mailing lists and donor database;

• Oversees maintenance of office equipment and procurement of office supplies;

• Helps facilitate and participate in group office activities, including twice-monthly staff meetings;

• Organizes Board and Committee meetings, hospitality, facility rental, travel, etc.

• Maintains minutes of Board meetings, by-laws, and other organizational documents;

• Helps review and prepare letters and other official documents

• Assists in planning travel for president and non-program staff

• Aids the Finance Director by performing audit prep, data entry, reconciliation of accounts (including corporate credit cards), check runs and deposits, filing, and other associated duties;

• Assists other programs and staff during seasonal and busy periods in administrative tasks;

• Operates as primary contact with building facilities maintenance; and

• Performs other duties as assigned

KNOWLEDGE, ABILITIES AND SKILLS:

• Demonstrated competence providing customer service, excellent writing skills, and knowledge of office procedures, computer skills and orientation to detail.

• Flexibility, initiative, teamwork, discretion and commitment to quality are required.

• Knowledge of Alaska history preferred.

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE: 

• Must possess or be seeking a post-secondary degree.

• The candidate will have 3-5 years of progressive administrative experience in a professional setting.

• Preference will be given to applications with experiencing using QuickBooks Enterprise (or similar accounting software), MS Office and general office software.

• Must have a passion for the rich humanities and cultures of Alaska.

 

Leadership Anchorage Graduation: Tues., May 15, 6 p.m.

The 15th cohort of Leadership Anchorage will graduate in a ceremony on Tuesday, May 15, at the Anchorage Museum, beginning at 6 p.m.

This year’s participants will present three projects they worked on in sub-groups months: an organization plan for Tedx community dialogues; an image and public awareness campaign for Anchorage municipal libraries; and a volunteer recruitment drive campaign for McLaughlin Youth Center.

Family, mentors, board members and everyone who knows about and supports Leadership Anchorage is encouraged to attend and welcome the newest members to the Leadership Anchorage alumni.

Also in Leadership Anchorage news, on Thursday, May 17 an LA All-Alumni Reunion will be held at 6 p.m. at the Kincaid Outdoor Center (9401 Raspberry Road). For more information click here.

"Habits of Mind" at Forum Through May 28

"Habits of Mind" is a collection of 75 embellished mask and hand sculptures and personal reflection essays by students in the IGNITE gifted program at Denali Montessori School. The show, which opened Friday, May 4, will be on display at the Alaska Humanities Forum offices during regular business hours through May 28.

Below are four examples of the sculptures and writings in "Habits of Mind."

For more information on the exhibition and the Habits of Mind concept click here.

Margeaux, Grade 6

Habits of Mind: Thinking Flexibly, Creating, Imagining, Innovating, Questioning & Problem Posing 

I am a thought swirling around inside a head/I wonder what I will be/I hear the question that I am to answer/I see a light bulb beginning to appear/I want to pop out with a big BANG/I am a thought swirling around inside a head

I understand like a musical note/I shout each note as loud as I can/I dream to bring joy with each new idea/I try to make something never heard before/I hope to make old new and new old/I am a musical note

I pretend to know the answer like the wise old man/I feel curious about the new world/I hold each new idea with understanding and grace/I think like a trickster so watch out/I cry out for the answer/I am like the wise old man

I reach for the stars like a rocket/I desire to break through the atmosphere/I work to appreciate the simple beauty in stars/I search for the big surprise wating for me/I am Margeaux

 

 

 

 Zoe, Grade 5

Habits of Mind: Creating, Imagining & Innovating, Listening With Empathy and Understanding, Thinking Flexibly

I am as flexible in my thinking as a bending straw/I wonder about things I never saw/I hear beautiful music when my dad sings/I see pretty big mountains that flow with streams/I want to know more about Earth as it is/I am as flexible in my thinking as a bending straw

I understand people because I listen with empathy and understanding/I say things that are kind, funny and nice/I dream of getting a dog someday/I try real hard to work everyday/I hope that I can see a shooting star when we camp this summer/I am a listener with smiles and laughs

I reach for my creative mind when writing/I wish for a big thick book/I work hard to get what I need/I search for someone who appreciates me for who I am/I explore my mind for what I want when something is needed

I pretend I can manage my impulsivity/I feel mad when I mess up/I touch my forehead when upset/I worry about silly little things/I cry when I get impatient/I am emotional/Zoe

 

 

Jacob, Grade 3

Habits of Mind: Creating, Imagining & Innovating, Metacognition, Listening With Empathy & Understanding

I am a creator - I think as I create/I wonder what to create/I hear nothing but the scratching of my pencil/I see my ideas on my paper/I want to create, create, create/I am a creator

I understand how to think within my head/I say nothing when thinking/I dream silence/I try to share my ideas with the world/I hope I can/I am an inside thinker

I try to block out other people's feelings/I feel what they feel/I touch their feelings/I worry about what they feel/I cry as they cry/I don't have to be a telepath

I reach out to be accurate/I desire to be correct/I work to be accurate/I search for an answer/I explore all the different ones/I am Jacob

writing on forehead reads: "it's all up here"

 

 

 

Jada, Grade 4

Habits of Mind: Finding Humor, Creating, Imagining & Innovating, Managing Impulsivity

I am as funny as a clown trying to juggle/I wonder what people think of me/I hear lots of people laughing at me/I see lots of people walking around/I want more people to stop and watch me/I am as funny as a dog trying to hot glue

I understand why people smile when they see my artwork/I say, "I know what's funny!"/I dream that people will buy my artwork/I try to get people to buy and like my work/I hope that the next day things will change and people will buy my work/I am thinking flexibly

I pretend that I am in a balloon flying across a field of flowers/I see all the amazing flowers, and animals/I touch all the flowers when I land/I worry that I will not get to smell the flowers/I cry that people will laugh at me/I am gathering data through all my senses

I reach for more time to work/I desire to get better at not getting distracted/I work at not destroying things/I search for a cure to help me/I explore the world for a potion that will cure me/I am Jada

First Friday at the Forum: “Habits of Mind”

The Alaska Humanities Forum will continue its series of First Friday art openings from 6-8:30 p.m. Friday, May 4 with “Habits of Mind,” a collection of masks and hand sculptures created by students in the IGNITE gifted program at Denali Montessori School.

“Habits of Mind” features 75 vibrantly colored and embellished pieces reflecting upon 16 essential characteristics for success in problem solving and facing challenges.

The habits of mind concept was developed by Arthur Costa, the former Director of Educational Programs for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and by education consultant Bena Kallick, a specialist in group dynamics, creative and critical thinking and alternative assessment strategies for the classroom.

LA All-Alumni Reunion Set For May 17

The Alaska Humanities Forum will host a 15-year Leadership Anchorage all-alumni reunion and celebration with food and fellowship at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 17 at the Kincaid Park Outdoor Center (9401 Raspberry Road). Childcare will be available.

All 300-plus members of the first 15 Leadership Anchorage cohorts are invited as well as members of their families, mentors and other supporters of the Leadership Anchorage program. Alums are encouraged to invite anyone they feel made their LA experience special.

There will be a short (we promise) all-alumni meeting at 6:30 p.m. to discuss plans for a possible and long-awaited LA alumni association.

Here’s a statement from current Leadership Anchorage director Larry Campbell to all LA alums:

A handful of LA alums got together at the invitation of the Forum a few weeks ago to discuss the idea of commemorating the 15th anniversary with some kind of celebration. That idea has quickly morphed into talk of making it something more.

I think the time's come. Since assuming the directorship last fall I've discovered that Leadership Anchorage has a small but powerful emerging group of alumni serving in a variety of roles in our community – government and private sector, non-profit organizations, the law, education and on and on.

As I was preparing for LA15 last year I kept running into alumni as I planned meeting spaces, arranged for speakers or organized activities. When folks learned I was the new LA director they introduced themselves: "I'm LA 13," or "I'm LA 2." I began to think, "These people are everywhere." I began to feel I was getting involved with a cult – a good cult, mind you.

You may still remain in touch with your direct cohort, and you may know a few folks in years immediately surrounding your participation.

But when you take the broader view, do you people realize how powerful you are, and how much more of a force you could be were you simply organized?

Maybe there are opportunities for continued community service or continuing education opportunities. Maybe an organized group could assist in recruitment. After all, you're the ones who know good LA candidates.

We’ll count on seeing you at Kincaid Park. Bring your spouse or significant other, your kids, let the dog run the park. We'll be inviting other LA regulars, too, including past directors, presenters, mentors and everyone who's helped to make Leadership Anchorage the singular program it is.

Leadership Anchorage really is as special as you believe in your heart and mind it is. Come see the proof Thursday, May 17.

For more information contact Larry Campbell at 272-5324 or lcampbell@akhf.org.

 

Diaspora Event: Friday April 20, 6 p.m.

Two weeks after their groundbreaking First Friday art opening at the Alaska Humanities Forum, the seven Alaska Native members of the new contemporary visual and performance arts collective Diaspora will lead a public discussion of their work, which blends contemporary and traditional themes and materials.

The discussion will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 20 at the Alaska Humanities Forum offices, located at 161 East 1st Avenue, Door 15, in downtown Anchorage. For more info call (907) 272-5341.

Diaspora's artwork, including carvings, paintings and skateboard art, will remain on display at the Forum through May 2 during regular business hours.

Diaspora took their name in part from the long distances many Alaska Native youths travel from ancestral homelands in pursuit of education or employment opportunities.

The group's April 6 opening at the Forum marked its second major show. Diaspora debuted March 23 at the Alaska Experience Theater.

Carolina Chocolate Drops Return to Alaska

Ed. Note: The following story was reported and written by current Leadership Anchorage cohort member Chelsea Gulling. Ticket and venue information for the April 3 and April 4 concerts by the Carolina Chocolate Drops is available at the end of this post.

African-American old-time string musician Dom Flemons’s first exposure to Alaska was in 2007 when his band, The Carolina Chocolate Drops performed at the Alaska Folk Festival. While in Juneau, the band had a chance to jam with local musicians, and join in the evening bash at the Alaskan Hotel.  “People were really great,” he says of his experience, “we hung out, went to a lady’s house who made us dinner, and took a plane to look at the [Mendenhall] glacier.” 

“That was an experience in itself,” he says through a chuckle. “It was the first time any of us had a non-pressurized flight…we had a good laugh as everyone was grabbing for the sickness bag.”

Flemons plays banjo, guitar and percussion.  He along with vocalist Rhiannon Giddens and mandolin player Hubby Jenkins compose The Carolina Chocolate Drops.  Music fans can witness the passionate trio weave a contemporary charm into old-time black string music when the group returns to Alaska stages April 3^rd in Anchorage and 4^th in Palmer. The group is midway through a national tour in support of their latest album, Leaving Eden.

Prior to the group’s launch in 2005, Flemons used to strap a guitar and banjo on his back and take to the streets of his hometown, Phoenix, Arizona, busking the tunes of Dylan, Chuck Berry and Willie Nelson.  “I never had a permit [while busking]…the police didn’t like that.  I got very good at being able to pick up everything and run away very fast.”

Tired of playing alone, Flemons attended the inaugural Black Banjo Gathering held in North Carolina.  It was at this event in 2005 where he met Rhiannon Giddens, co-founder of the Drops. Black Banjo scholars and musicians initiated the gathering in an effort to familiarize the next generation of black string enthusiasts with the African, Afro-Caribbean and African-American roots of the banjo. 

Grantee Spotlight: Filmmaker Samantha Farinella

New York City-based filmmaker Samantha Farinella, founder of One Angry Woman Productions, has directed and produced six documentaries. They have been featured in more than 70 national and international film festivals, including the London Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Galway Film Festival (Ireland’s leading film fest) and at the Guggenheim Museum.

Her current documentary project is Hoonah’s Heroes, a documentary about Vietnam combat veterans from Hoonah, a predominately Tlingit community on Chichagof Island in Southeast Alaska, about 30 miles west of Juneau.

Earlier this year Farinella was awarded a $10,000 general grant from the Alaska Humanities Forum to help complete Hoonah’s Heroes.

Here’s an excerpt of a recent interview with Farinella. The full Q&A will be published in the next issue of Forum magazine, scheduled to drop in mid-April.

How did you get onto the story of the Vietnam vets in Hoonah?

 In 2009 I was let go at my job of five years producing behind the scenes segments for various television series. I’d already realized it was extremely difficult to engage in personal projects as well as produce content for my day job so being let go was actually an opportunity for me to get back into what I love to do best - make documentaries. My good friend Danielle introduced me to the story idea. She had been living in Hoonah for a few years and was very friendly with the veterans and familiar with their histories. I actually visited her up there in 2008 and met a few of the vets then but had no idea of making a film at that time.

How did you gain the trust of the veterans and the larger Tlingit community in Hoonah?

If I didn't know Danielle and her partner Sonya (who grew up in Hoonah), it would have been very difficult for me to do this on my own. With that said I am a very honest and open person and I think the community in Hoonah can easily detect insincerity and I passed their test. I was told Hoonah would be distrusting of outsiders but I was accepted into their community with open arms. During our time in Juneau and Hoonah, we were greeted with extreme warmth and openness; and it has been personally and professionally rewarding to realize that the film has garnered the support of so many people in the community: from the opening of Hoonah's senior center during off hours for us to conduct interviews to someone arranging a free helicopter ride in Juneau so we could videotape aerial shots of the surrounding area to being invited to play in Hoonah's weekend softball game.

When I first got to town I only had two phone numbers of veterans and when I left, after three weeks of intensive shooting, we conducted 19 interviews – most of them arranged purely by word of mouth. The SE Alaska Native Veterans organization and the Hoonah Heritage Foundation also helped make connections for me. I now consider Hoonah my home away from home. I have developed lasting friendships with people and plan on visiting every summer I feasibly can.

Thirty-nine men left Hoonah to become combat soldiers in Vietnam. Thirty-eight came home. Why do you think they had such a high survival rate?

I think learning how to fish, hunt and survive Alaska winters at an early age has made this community as well as many other Alaska communities very tough. Every veteran I interviewed said basic training in the military was nothing compared to how their uncles trained them.

When will the film be finished?

Good question. With the help of the Alaska Humanities Forum grant, I am able to get the ball rolling on editing. I was fortunate enough to snag editor Erin Greenwell (whose film My Best Day was in this year’s Sundance Film Festival) for four weeks before she goes on a three-month editing gig. Hopefully she will return and we can finish the film this summer or fall. Realistically we will hopefully be completed or close to completion in early 2013.

Photo: Director Samantha Farinella shooting at Excursion Inlet

Photo by Christie George