Join us on Wednesday evening as our legendary Double Header series continues with a showing of regional artists Angela Meyer and Kevin Bierbaum, and a solo acoustic performance from Madison native Tom Weismantel of Hippocampus and White Waves.
The BrickHouse Community Arts Center, 7-9pm, Downtown Madison, Refreshments are always served, Everyone welcomed.
SDPB project explores SD Stained glass
Some of the most valuable treasures in South Dakota are hidden beneath the surface.
Barbara Johnson has unearthed many of them in her travels around the state. The humanities scholar has studied stained glass architecture in the state for two years. Her abilities will soon be showcased – along with the beautiful stained glass art of South Dakota.
“We really have quite a treasure trove of stained glass in South Dakota and it’s been really fun looking at it,” she said.
Johnson’s stained glass expertise – first acquired through a South Dakota Humanities Council grant project she started in 2010 – will be the centerpiece for an upcoming South Dakota Public Broadcasting Production that’s expected to draw interest from all corners of the state.
“History through Stained Glass,” a one-hour documentary (with accompanying web material) will examine the history and stories behind stained glass in South Dakota.
SDPB received a major grant for the project at the South Dakota Humanities Council board meeting in November 2011. Filming will occur in different towns across the state in 2012. The production will be released in late 2012/early 2013.
“SDPB is so honored to be working with Dr. Barbara Johnson,” said SDPB television producer Stephanie Rissler, who is producing the documentary.
Johnson, of Aberdeen, began studying stained glass after receiving an SDHC grant in April of 2010 to develop a Liturgical Arts database at Augustana College.
Her interest in stained glass was originally piqued several years ago when she attended a discussion at a church in Red Cloud, Neb. While listening to the speakers, Johnson noticed the beautiful stained glass adorning the walls of the church.
Johnson, who has a Ph.D in literature, then wrote an academic paper on the history of the glass for the Willa Cather Foundation, the organization that hosted the discussion. Her work was well-received, and she has continued to pursue stained glass history since then.
Rissler first met Johnson at the 100th anniversary rededication ceremony of the State Capitol in Pierre. Rissler was working on a production at that ceremony, while Johnson was speaking about stained glass. Rissler was impressed with Johnson’s speech, which eventually set the stage for a collaborative project.
“Our paths crossed again this past summer and the end result was a Dakota Life segment on Barbara’s work,” Rissler said. “The response from that Dakota Life segment was so positive we knew we needed to share more of the history behind these beautiful pieces of art. From there, our creative minds began working together to figure out a way to bring more of the stories behind South Dakota’s stained glass to our viewers.”
The documentary will showcase footage of the many stained glass pieces in buildings across the state. It will also tell the stories behind the stained glasses, which Johnson believes are an important part of the history of South Dakota.
The stained glass pieces peppered throughout various buildings in South Dakota make up a collage of work that has gone largely undiscovered, said Johnson. “South Dakota is like an art gallery on the prairies,” she said.
A premier event will be held to showcase the film after it has been completed. Johnson expects viewers to be taken in by the appealing stained glass contained within the walls of South Dakota buildings.
“When you walk into some place where there’s stained glass, you open the door and you never know what you’re going to see. And usually you’re totally amazed because it’s so beautiful,” she said.
From the South Dakota Humanities Council.
Note: Barbara Johnson was a guest Chautauqua Series presenter of the Madison Area Arts Council, and spent several weekends in Madison researching the stained glass of our community as part of grant from the South Dakota Humanities Council.
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We hosted guest Joanita Kant and her presentation ‘Quill and Beadwork of South Dakota’s Sioux Indians’ last week in Madison, and although we missed way too many of you, it was another great Chautauqua Series event.
Special thanks to the South Dakota Humanities Council and the Madison Public Library for making the program a success, and Chautauqua is bound and determined to return early next year, but really folks, we gotta have your support to make these events happen.
Emmeline Elliott
The Madison Area Arts Council went to Europe this year.
When MAAC volunteer Angela Behrends took an 11 day trip to France and Italy in May, she brought the MAAC logo with her – a red square and a blue square – and photographed the symbols throughout the visit.
MAAC is celebrating travels in Europe at this month’s Double Header art show, titled “Without Borders.” Photographs and artwork inspired from recent trips across the Atlantic will be displayed for the one night show, held October 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the BrickHouse Community Arts Center, 106 S.E. 2nd St. European desserts will be served as refreshments, including gelato ice cream and German kuchen and strudel made in South Dakota. The show is free and open to the public.
Other area artists and residents who will exhibit pictures and artwork from European trips are Alan Montgomery, Noriko Nakamura and Emmeline Elliott. Photos will feature the countries of France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, England and Denmark.
The MAAC logo was held up by Behrends or her travel companions or propped up against something for a picture. She captured the logo in front of landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
“I carried them with me as many places I could,” Behrends said.
In France, Behrends mainly toured Paris. She made stops in Florence, Assisi and Rome while in Italy.
“MAAC went to Europe with me.” Behrends said.
Montgomery will display several mixed media drawings that use collage images of photos he took in France and Italy.
A special collection of pictures and bookmarks from European libraries will be exhibited by Elliott.
The October MAAC meeting is Thursday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. at The BrickHouse Community Arts Center. Visit the MAAC Web site at www.madisonareaartscouncil.org or on Facebook for more community art news and events.
This is us going places.
Thanks to Brett Gustin for the support, and watch out for that Moose, he’s headed right for you….
Our much publicized White Night Festival returns this Friday, to the Historic Prairie Village with live music, great presentations, and more, all starting at 5pm, and running throughout the night. Best of all, it’s free and open to everyone, now isn’t that incredible. (It’s almost like we’ve been talking about this for months, and now it’s here)
Here’s a quick rundown of the big events:
Painters, poets, musicians, and a few friends can also be found throughout the village, working and enjoying the night with us.
Food and drink will be available for purchase, coolers are allowed, are those much sought after campsites are available too. In case of that forecasted rain, all events will be indoors, and we’ll make it happen.
Another native son returns home, as the incredible Jason Hegg takes the stage with Wumpus at White Night, Madison’s only half-way good excuse for a music festival.
Don’t miss the return of Madison’s Thomas Hentges as he leads Pasque this Friday, as White Night takes over Prairie Village for the biggest night of live music in Lake County this year.
Emmeline Elliott
Drive down any road in South Dakota, or practically any road in the Midwest for that matter, and you will see abandoned buildings. You might come across an old house sitting in the middle of a pasture with cows grazing around it. Or it might be a barn that seems like it sprung up by itself in the middle of a soybean field. The questions of who once inhabited them and why are they abandoned inspired the book Skeletons of the Prairie: Abandoned Rural Codington County, South Dakota.
Codington County Historical Society Director Tim Hoheisel will present a slide show of Skeletons of the Prairie at the Madison Area Arts Council’s White Night festival Friday at 6 p.m. in the historic Lawrence Welk Opera House at Prairie Village. This program is sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities and is free and open to the public.
Released by the Historical Society in 2000, the book began as a project by the Codington County Historic Preservation Commission to document and catalog, through photography, all the abandoned houses, barns, and other structures in Codington County, South Dakota, before they are all gone. Once the Historic Preservation Commission finished their work, taking photographs of more than 100 different buildings amounting to more than 1,000 photographs, Hoheisel thought a book would be a natural next step.
“Our mission at the Codington County Historical Society is to preserve, interpret, and disseminate the heritage of Codington County. The photographs preserve the buildings, the text interprets the history, and publishing a book disseminates the information to everybody. A project as important as this just had to be accessible to as many people as possible,” Hoheisel said. “The book is important to our local history because it documents something that will be gone in a few years; something that we will never see again.”
Professional photographer S. Paul Tuszynski took all of the photographs. His photographs capture the light and shadow of each barn, house, silo, or other abandoned structure, to create a specific emotion for each picture. Watertown writer Ried Holien wrote the text to accompany the photos and bring the buildings back to life. Hoheisel describes the book as part history, part poetry, part literature and part art. The book also has a forward written by South Dakota State University English professor emeritus and poet laureate of South Dakota David Allan Evans.
According to Hoheisel, who also serves as the Outreach Director of the Center for Western Studies at Augustana College, it is important to preserve these abandoned buildings because they are a tangible link to our past. These abandoned buildings tell the tale of early pioneer settlement into Dakota Territory and later South Dakota
The hardcover book is 160 pages long and contains more than 200 full color photographs.
Other White Night activities include live music, poetry readings, a theater performance, a train ride and arts and crafts opportunities. A full schedule of White Night events is posted here on our blog and www.facebook.com/madisonareaartscouncil.
The five members of Sioux Falls based, Pasque, have seen their share of stage time. Thomas Hentges, Tim Munce, John “slap” Myers, Adam Jones, and Martin Lien have all put in ten years or more of writing, performing, and recording original music. All old friends and admirers of one another’s talents, this group, now sound as if destined to work together. Beginning rehearsal in the fall of 2009 (all were looking to do something new), the group began work on a batch of new songs, as well as some of Hentges’ earlier material. The group also began a search for their own sound.
“We strive to put something together that sounds comfortable, something very genuinely Dakota,” says Pasque front man, Thomas Hentges. Influenced heavily by the music of the early 1970s, Pasque delivers their interpretation of what most call classic rock. Basking their collective ear in classic blues, r & b, and a healthy dose of roots, Pasque manage to bring something unique to the South Dakota live music scene. Call it what you want, it’s all Rock n’ Roll to Pasque.
2010 was a big year for Pasque, seeing the band play many gigs including the Great Aberdeen Music Fest and Sioux Falls’ Jazz Fest. The band also self recorded and released a free 3 song CD, which can be acquired at any Pasque show. The band is currently recording their debut full-length album, which they hope to release sometime in 2011.
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