me arts ed

Visit and learn more about River Arts

I stopped in to River Arts and had a delightful conversation with Executive Director Linda Morkeski. River Arts has grown out of Round Top Center for the Arts just a year ago and is housed in a white building beside the Skidompha Public Library. The River Arts sign is very attractive, simple, yet striking. The mission of River Arts is to nurture appreciation, encourage participation and provide opportunity in the arts. And that they do very well!

River Arts is a non-profit arts organization located in downtown Damariscotta, at 170 Maine Street, just across from the post office. You can become a member and can submit up to three pieces for each juried show. The art exhibits are in place for five weeks. During the 6th week the staff and volunteers are scurrying around to arrange the work for the juror to select the next show and then hanging.

On display now is a show called “Driven to Abstraction” and will be taken down June 26th. The annual member show is opening on July 3, 2009. Work is being accepted for that show on June 26 and 27th, 10-4.

Not only does the building have exhibit space but also space for lecture and classes. On June 11th, Douglas Preston (click here) who has written for National Geographic, Natural History, The New Yorker, Harper’s and Travel & Leisure and author of several books including “Monster of Florence” was the evenings presenter. On June 25th, landscape and interior painter Lois Dodd (click here) will be lecturing and on June 28th Janet Fish (click here) will speak on her vivid and engaging explorations into life-giving actions of light.

Focus is not just on visual arts. Music and theater are part of their plans. River Arts has summer concerts for children planned with Shana Barry on July 15th and August 18th at 4PM. You can learn more about musician and artist Shana and her Fofers by clicking here. If you have children I suggest you check out her website. River Arts is also offering over 20 summer classes and workshops for children and adults in printmaking, sculpture, photography, animation, bookmaking, watercolor, oil and drawing.

Open life drawing and life sculpture studios on Tuesday and Wednesday’s. For more details on any of the information listed above please click here.

If you are wondering what to do on a rainy or sunny day this summer I suggest you stop in at River Arts and learn more about their programs first hand. They have many wonderful artistic plans for the future!

Composer/music educator, Jake Sturtevant, shares a special moment

Recently I was chatting with Jake Sturtevant online when he shared this special story and link. In Jake’s own words…

Bella

Here Comes Me! was inspired by a phrase my then 2 year old daughter, Bella, would say in almost every circumstance when presenting herself. I enjoyed the uniqueness of the phrase. It wasn’t quite “here I come” but we got the point. It was similar to her take on the phrase “ready or not here I come” when we were playing hide and seek. She would say “here I not, here I come”. I wanted to capture this innocence and word play through a piece of music.

I had always wanted a chance to write a piece for chorus that utilized beat boxing in some capacity. While commuting by car to a USM summer course I started playing around with the words, and found that I could use the phonetic ideas within the phrase to create the beat boxing sounds. Thus began the piece.

Knowing my chorus at Washington Academy would have fun with the pieces, I also wrote in a short beat boxing solo part for a student I didn’t even have in the music program. I taught the piece to chorus mostly by rote, and though there were many giggles along the way, the students responded passionately.

On the first day I began teaching it, one student said: “why can’t chorus class always be like this?” Later I had Bella record a short video clip for the chorus, telling them “thanks, you guys rock, Here Comes Me”. The students really appreciated the personal connection they had to the piece. Knowing they would be premiering the piece not only for their families and community, but also for Bella, really made the students anxious to perform the piece.

On the night of the Spring Concert we premiered it and the students received a standing ovation. The soloist thanked me many times for letting him be part of the performance, and every person I talked to after the concert commented on the pieces, and told me how much they enjoyed it, and how much they had heard their son/daughter talking about it before the concert. One musician/composer said: “this is how to keep the music program growing”.

Bella and Jake

Though it is hard to keep my composing going on top of full time teaching and being a full time Dad, I will always have this passion, and I think it broke some barriers between student and teacher, and I know it resulted in a better learning environment. Both student and teacher composition became an integral part of my classroom this year, and I hope to see many fruitful results through the coming years.

Below you can view the premiere of Here Comes Me! What stories can you share that touches on a similar experience you’ve had as a teacher?