August 2010

INDIAN MARKET IS HERE !In Santa Fe, we will all be attending the amazing art openings, film screenings, music concerts and lectures by writers ( intention for next yr SWAIA's 90th Indian Market: For DANCING EARTH to be presented in our full length production in a major Santa Fe theater, to bring Indigenous contemporary dance from southwest into this amazing cultural explosion!)Meanwhile, this year, look for DANCING EARTH members and associates at the following:*** Center for Contemporary Arts installation by Jaque Fragua , who debuted with us as a dancer earlier this month  : "Rubbish" ( look out for an impromptu guerrrilla style site specific ritual INVOKATION  at the opening on Thursday Aug 19 around 5 pm)Thurs eve also at Poeh Center in Pojoaque for a musical performance by Lois Suluk Locke.Blue Rain Gallery Fri Aug 20 at 5 pm, debut of Tony Aneyta's jewelryFri evening also will be  the Roots and Rhythms musical concert at Buffalo Thunder in Pojoaque, with Tamara Podemski and Brent Michael Davids. At Buffalo Thunder you can still see TIME -  the amazing art installation pieces indoors and outdoors by artists including Chrissie Orr and Rose Simpson.Sat Aug 20 Jaque Fraqua shows work at openings 5 pm at Fire God Gallery on E Palace, and 6 pm at Pop Gallery on W San Francisco. Great spaces to view emerging and alternative artists, the as-yet-undiscovered stars of Native art in the future...Look out for another one of our new dancers Ehren Natay showing his jewelry at  # 342 FR-N booth on san francisco facing the north.  somewhere between the courtyard of the IAIA museum and the La fonda parking garage. That's Sat and Sunday !!! (www.ehrenknatay.com)Musical performances on the Plaza will include award-winning guitarist Gabriel Ayala Sunday afternoon.****************************************Professor Jacqueline Shea Murphy of UC Riverside has written a review for "OF BODIES OF ELEMENTS', posted online with the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics :http://hemisphericinstitute.org/hemi/en/e-misferica-71/shea-murphyANNOUNCEMENT :At dusk on Saturday evening August 7th, the earthwork drawing on the land behind Buffalo Thunder will come to life. CRUDE FRACTURE by artist Chrissie Orr will become the site of a "spontaneous combustion- improvisation"  by Dancing Earth !Lakota grandmothers have already asked DANCING EARTH to address "the cleansing of the waters, inside our bodies as well as of the planet"; meanwhile environmental advocate Van Jones describes oil and coal as death based energy - the blood and bones of our ancestors , literally and figuratively, which in this era should be overturned by the life-based energy of sun and wind. With these elemental  images of fire and water ,  DANCING EARTH will create an improvisation, shaped by the shape, colors and concept of the earth drawing CRUDE FRACTURE, under  a sunset sky.In parallel by Ms Orr's vision of art made by, for and of a community, DANCING EARTH returns to traditional purpose of dance as functional ritual, while exploring through experimental physicality,  to unify people and to transform. They have been described as both " ancient and futuristic, blood memory in motion" -  making relevant temporal art inspired by Indigenous worldview on the issues of our times.

images by Julien McRobertsHere is the official press release:NEW MEXICO ARTS PRESENTS T.I.M.E. EXHIBIT AT BUFFALO THUNDER RESORT AND CASINO IN POJOAQUE FROM AUGUST 7 THRU OCTOBER 30, 2010Santa Fe – New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs; Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino; the Hilton, and the Pueblo of Pojoaque present T.I.M.E. – Temporary Installations Made for the Environment at Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino from August 7 thru October 30, 2010.  New Mexican artists were invited to create temporary environmental artworks based on green technology and innovation.  Seven artworks will be exhibited in exterior locations at the Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino.  The artworks will be displayed for nearly two months, and at the end of the exhibit will be disassembled and removed, leaving no trace of ever having existed.The T.I.M.E. project was inspired by the emerging public art trend to engage artists interested in creating more spontaneous and immediate artworks with short life-spans.  New Mexico Arts hopes this kind of project will engage communities and artists in the public art process.Participating T.I.M.E artists include artist team Max Almy andTeri Yarbrow, with Billy Valenzuela and Cavan Gonzales, Ryan Henel, Amy Schmierbach, Chrissie Orr, Joel Hobbie, Beth Rekow, and Rose Simpson.FEATURED ARTISTS: Max Almy, Teri Yarbrow, Billy Valenzuela, and Cavan Gonzales – have created a multi-media creation that will include a projection inside a tipi with the use of a LED projector (green technology).  Tipi builder Billy Valenzuela and San Ildefonso Pueblo, Cavan Gonzales potter will create a tipi designed for new media and projections.  Almy and Yarbrow will create a video that will be displayed on scrim cloth painted with imagery inspired by the Pojoaque people.  Cavan Gonzales is great-great-grandson of Maria Martinez.  His designs are inspired by San Ildefonso's noted symbol Avanyu, also the title for this collaborative project.Ryan Henel will create a baked adobe-like earthen-structure with an architectural quality similar to adobe homes in the area and will use metal rods to create an abstract form.  The artwork entitled Reflections may also reference wind and solar-powered elements.Amy Schmierbach’s installation will contain hundreds of softball to beach ball size mounds cast from biodegradable compost bags, biodegradable and sulfate free soap, and dirt.  The work entitled Melt uses materials that reference recycling and keeping our environment clean.Chrissie Orr will create a regenerative site-specific “Earth Drawing” inspired by the environment and people.  At dusk on Saturday evening August 7th, the earth drawing entitled Crude Fracture will be animated by the bodies in motion of DANCING EARTH, the nation's foremost indigenous contemporary dance ensemble.  Led by choreographer Rulan Tangen, several members of DANCING EARTH reside in New Mexico, and will gather to create a site-specific ritual dedicated to the healing of the waters of the Gulf, in reflection of artist Chrissie Orr's land-based rumination of the same theme - the black rift of oil that blows open the imbalance of modern systems in paradox to the natural world.Joel Hobbie recycles metal from the nearby Los Alamos Laboratory and transforms industrial objects into unique welded organic shapes.  His artwork Theremin Project is a large interactive sculpture where a heat censored theremin light up colored LED’s with solar panels incorporated into the design.Beth Rekow will install unique cast-glass towers that encase LED’s that have the option to be solar powered.  The artwork entitled Consumption is based on recycled plastic sculptures.Rose Simpson's artwork entitled Watchers will reference abstract human profiles made of traditional adobe mud plastered atop the finish of the main building of the Buffalo Thunder Resort.  The walls of the resort are plastered stucco on wood frame, mimicking traditional Pueblo adobe mud-brick architecture. The mud figures use the attention to detail of earlier Pueblo architecture, and seek to provide a contrast and acknowledge the dichotomy between traditional and modern relationships to architecture and how that aesthetic is portrayed to the larger public environment. T.I.M.E. at Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino EventsExhibit runs August 7 - October 30, 2010 Opening Reception hosted by Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino, the Hilton, and the Pueblo of Pojoaque August 7, 2010 6 to 10 p.m. Special Guest Speaker: 6:15 to 6:30 p.m.Jennifer Hobson, Deputy Cabinet Secretary, New Mexico Tourism Department*** Dance Performance by DANCING EARTH, the nation's foremost indigenous contemporary dance ensemble.  Led by choreographer Rulan Tangen, sometime before dusk For more information about the T.I.M.E. project at Buffalo Thunder, contact Chuck Zimmer, Art in Public Places Manager at 505-827-6490, 800-879-4278 (statewide), or email chuck.zimmer@state.nm.us. For directions to Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino, visit the website at http://www.buffalothunderresort.com/directions-and-map.Late August bring Rulan to participate in the Opportunity Agenda's gathering of artists and activists for social change: *** "CREATIVE CHANGE". This powerful gathering of national art leaders met for a dance warmup and outdoor improvisational ritual INVOKATION led by Rulan, with Ehren Natay on percussion . Thanks to all for your inspiring work in this world !***  Support for the creation of the improvisational ritual element of the work with Chrissie Orr at Buffalo Thunder, Jaque Fragua at CCA , and Opportunity Agenda   , as a developmental form of INVOKATION has come through the National Museum of the American Indian Expressive Arts 2010 award for INVOKATION , thank you NMAI !