MSU NOTSTOCK arts festival: exceeding expectations
Minot State University's annual live signature arts festival, NOTSTOCK, continues to color outside the lines of convention. Scheduled Oct. 4-6 on MSU campus, MSU NOTSTOCK 2012 celebrates poster art, poetry, music, ceramics, theatre, and politics and features two special art exhibits.
"The events of NOTSTOCK allow participants to see art happen through the work of professional artists and then to turn around and make art happen themselves," said Sarah Aleshire, English instructor.
"Winged Shadows: Life Among Birds," a traveling exhibit from the North Dakota Museum of Art, features dozens of ways of looking at birds through paintings, photographs, prints, video, and electronic media by artists from throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. The artists' works remind the viewer of the sheer beauty of birds and the various relationships that exist between them and humans. "Winged Shadows" is open to the public Thursday and Friday (Oct. 4-5), 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and Saturday (Oct. 6), 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Conference Center.
Award-winning poet, translator, editor and activist Shaun Griffin will lead WordStock events, including "makeshops" in which participants generate words and graphics on the theme: POWER. The works created at these makeshops, held Thursday and Friday (Oct. 4-5), 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Conference Center, will be displayed in Hartnett Hall. Griffin will give a reading of his work Thursday (Oct. 4) at 7 p.m. in Aleshire Theater. A reception and book-signing will follow.
"Students and visiting poet Shaun Griffin alike are very excited about the opportunity to engage in a discussion about the power of words," said ShaunAnne Tangney, associate English professor. "Look out for new art on this theme on Hartnett Hall third floor!"
"Poster Offensive," a show dedicated to the promotion of peace and democracy through the medium of posters, will be on exhibit Monday through Friday (Oct. 1-5), 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., and Saturday (Oct. 6), 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. in the Northwest Arts Center Gallery in Hartnett Hall. Twin Cities artists, Peet Fetsch of Big Table Studio, Nick Zdon and Kelly Perlick, will speak about "Poster Offensive" and their work Friday (Oct. 5) at 9 a.m., in Aleshire Theater. They will also conduct screen-printing workshops Thursday (Oct. 4), 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and Friday (Oct. 5), 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Chicago artists Jay Ryan, owner of The Bird Machine, and Justin Santora will screen print live in the Beaver Dam, second floor of the Student Center, throughout the event. Santora and Ryan will give presentations of their work Thursday (Oct. 4) and Friday (Oct. 5), respectively, at 12 noon in Aleshire Theater. The work of Santora, Ryan, Fetsch, Zdon, and Perlick will be for sale during NOTSTOCK and displayed at 62 Doors Gallery & Studios, downtown.
POTSTOCK opens its third year with guest ceramicists and North Dakota natives, Sarah Snavely and Kendra Rodgers. Snavely, Rodgers, MSU faculty and students will give ceramics demonstrations and raku firings Thursday and Friday (Oct. 4-5), 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., outside the north entrance to the Student Center. Snavely is widely recognized for her exquisite greyhound sculptures.
New to NOTSTOCK are opportunities to view theatre productions. The Lampshade Brigade, an alternative forms theatre group, will present "An Exploration of Improvised Forms to Delight All Sensibilities" in the Black Box Theatre, Hartnett Hall, Thursday and Friday (Oct. 4-5), 10:30-11:30 a.m.
A favorite NOTSTOCK activity continues: daily do-it-yourself screen printing Thursday and Friday (Oct. 4-5), 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday (Oct. 6), 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the Beaver Dam. Visitors will choose a NOTSTOCK design and "pull" their own screen print. Participants are encouraged to bring their own T-shirt, hoodie, tote bag or other item to be printed.
NOTSTOCK will host a special concert with Minnesota folksinger and songwriter Charlie Parr Friday (Oct. 5), 8 p.m. in Aleshire Theater, Hartnett Hall. Parr will also host an informal workshop in the Beaver Dam Saturday (Oct. 6) at 1 p.m. Parr has released seven albums with an eighth to be released later this year. Local bands will open for Parr, play daily in the Beaver Dam, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and perform at the NOTSTOCK closing reception at 62 Doors Gallery & Studios Saturday (Oct. 6), 7 p.m.
"The event is unlike any other arts event in that it is an all hands-in hands-on, participatory event," said Bill Harbort, professor of art and NOTSTOCK co-organizer.
All events and performances are free and open to the public. For a complete list of times and events, go to www.msunotstock.org.
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Published: 09/19/12 |