Thirteenth Annual Juried Exhibit at the Edge Center Gallery in Bigfork

This will be the thirteenth time the Edge Center Art Gallery in Bigfork invited artists to submit their work for judging by a juror. Sarah Brooke, MFA Assistant Professor and Director of the Art Department at the College of St. Scholastica is this year’s juror. The results will be 17 artists’ work on display in this annual Juried Exhibit which is on display from June 29 to July 29.  The opening day reception is on June 30th from 5 to 7PM. There is also a special “People’s Choice Award” selected by viewers. That award will be part of the reception and can be voted on June 29^th and up until 6PM June 30th. There is no charge for the gallery and reception. The Edge Center Gallery is next to the Bigfork School and is open from 10AM to 4PM on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  

Sarah Brooke, this year’s juror and Assistant Professor of Art at the College of St. Scholastica, selected a wide range of entries that should be enjoyable to all who see the exhibit.  She received her BFA from the University of Minnesota and her MFA through a joint program between Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy and Bowling Green State in Ohio. She has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally and recently published a book of her paintings called “Portrait of and Artist.”  

Of the seventeen artists selected for this year’s exhibit four are new to the event. They are painters James Bzura and Tyler Evin, fiber artist Patricia Lovegreen, and sculptor Sherry Hoffman. The remaining artists chosen by Professor Brooke have previously exhibited in past shows. Among these are painters Sandra Thompson, Nikki Besser, and Jan Stenson; photographers Donna Rae Anderson, Audrey Johnson, Jill Johnson, Tim Lamey, and David Swanson; mixed media artist Sandra Boreen; print-maker David Nyssen; quilter Pamela Burns; basket weaver Cathryn Peters; and blown glass artist Jon Offutt. Altogether, 23 works of art by the 17 artists make up this year's 13th Annual Juried Exhibit.

The awards ceremony starts the evening of the opening reception at 6:15. A special thanks to the sponsors of the awards. This year they are: Best of Award by Kocian’s Family Market and two Awards of Excellence sponsored by Arvig Communications and First State Bank of Bigfork.  For the audience, the People’s Choice Award, sponsored by Bigfork Valley Hospital, is always special. It gives visitors a chance to see how their opinions compare to the juror. 

The Yellow Float photo (above) by Donna Rae Anderson from Deer River is an example of her work which she started at the age of ten using a Kodak Brownie. Her “…goal is to capture those moments when I am struck by the ‘WOW-ness’ of a scene…My greatest compliment is when told that my photograph looks like a painting…”

Northern Minnesota Artist Nikki S. Besser “…uses oil and mixed media as a means of capturing and recreating life’s most captivating moments on canvas…” (above)

From Crosby Minnesota, artist James Bzura shows his “…intent to birth art objects that declaim their existence as subjects experiencing history…” (above)

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Fargo’s Jon Offutt “…continues to represent the prairie landscape in glass...” (above)

Sandra Thompson from Bigfork says “I am an abstract artist…I’m very excited to find different mediums to explore. Encaustics attracted me for its glossy wax texture…” (above).

The Gallery invites you to come and see this Thirteenth Juried show and pick your favorite while enjoying a snack and seeing a variety of exceptional art. For more information go to  www.the-edge-center.org  Or come and visit Edge Center gallery which is next to the Bigfork School. The Gallery is open from 10:00 to 4:00 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

The Man In Black Johnny Cash Tribute Band in Bigfork

Jay Ernest is the lead singer in the Johnny Cash Tribute band and his voice is amazingly similar to the real thing. Jay has a natural, calm, deep bass-baritone quality that can only be truly appreciated when it is heard. The band is “The Church Of Cash - Johnny Cash Tribute Band” and it will be on stage this June 24^th at The Edge Center” in Bigfork.  Singer and guitarist Jay Ernest is joined by Jonathon TeBeest on Drums, Albert Perez playing Electric Guitar, and Eric Struve playing Upright Bass, in a performance suitable for all ages. This Minneapolis-based band’s family friendly performance is for everyone to enjoy: Saturday June 24 at 7PM: $15 adults and $5 for children 12 and under.

Jay Earnest (above from his Facebook page) learned to love Johnny Cash music from his father who loved and listened to Johnny Cash when Jay was growing up.  The music stuck with Jay.  When he was performing various kinds of music at open mics, and he played Johnny Cash, people put down their drinks, quit talking and listened.  When this tribute band became a reality, it was easy for him to learn Johnny Cash music because so much of it was still in his memory from his early years. He says that the band plays like Johnny Cash but does not try to imitate him. Along with his fellow band members, they bring the Cash feel to the music with a little mix of other country legends. The sound of the group speaks more about their music than any news article or blog can put in print. Enter the following URL and hear The Church Of Cash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOzp4svHQMc

Jay says, “Johnny Cash has been a very important figure in my life.  My father sang many of his songs to me as a child and unwittingly, I remember everyone that he sang to me to this day.  It made it very easy to get a set list together for the show! Johnny influences me even off the stage.  His love for his wife was legendary.  I keep that sentiment in my relationship with my wife, Christa, whom I love completely. His dedication to the American story is what excites me. His music has something for everyone to relate to and hold dear.  Johnny is one of America’s greatest artistic treasures.”

Jay Ernest was born in New Ulm Minnesota in 1973. He has toured throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Jay started “The Church of Cash” in Homolulu in 2009 and brought it back to Minnesota in 2010. He has been performing 200 shows a year throughout, the upper Midwest, Beligum and The Netherlands. As said earlier, his love of Johnny Cash music started as a young farm boy when his father sang Cash songs while working the land. It wasn’t till much later, when Jay started to play Johnny Cash music that his memories of Cash music became so important.  

Johnathon TeBeest on drums toured extensively since 1988.  His touring landed him in such countries a Belgium, Denmark, Germany, England and even Canada. He lived in Brooklyn for some years and was asked by Sony records to be a studio musician. He now resides in the North Metro of the Twin Cities with the Church Of Cash and is also producing records.

Albert Perez on Electric Guitar is originally from Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  He studied music at McNally Smith College in St. Paul. He has done national touring with a variety of bands. H joined Church Of Cash in 2016 and has been the main guitar player for the band.

Eric Struve plays Upright Bass and was born and raised in Rochester Minnesota. He has been playing bass professionally since 2002.  His wide range of influences have been witnessed as he has played in country bands, rock bands, reggae bands and also a group that plays music for silent movies at special showings in theatres across the Midwest.

The music that will be played by the band for this Bigfork performance will also show the wide range of Johnny Cash’s performances.  We don't have a complete song list for this blog, but we can give readers a sample of what might be included.

Gospel music that includes “Daddy Sang Bass”, “I saw the Light”, “I’ll fly Away and “Sweet By and By”. 

There will also be some of the Cash train songs such as “Folsom Prison”, “Hay Porter”, “Orange Special”, “”Wreck of Old ‘97” and “Rock Island line.”

There has to be a selection of love songs which will include “Jackson”, “Walk the Line”, and “Ring of Fire”.

The song list will also include, “One Piece at a Time”, “Boy Named Sue”, “Long Black Veil” and “25 Minutes to Go”.

  

This list is, of course, tentative and may change, so come to the show and expect a little of the unexpected.

Johnny Cash (above) was born in 1935 and died in 2003, four months after his second wife June Carter-Cash died. His final live performance was on July 7 2003.  He served in the U.S. Air Force for four years and was honorably discharged. He never was in prison, but was in jail on occasion for misdemeanors, sometimes related to his problems with amphetamine and barbiturate addition. He once said, “I was taking the pills for awhile then the pills started taking me.” In his career, from 1954 to 2003, he made 96 albums and 153 singles with several companies. Add to this, Cash’s collaboration with many notable musicians, plus numerous awards and honors that all combined represent a substantial career.  As the years went on, his demeanor became more somber, and his humility grew.

He performed free prison concerts, was an advocate for Native Americans, loved his family deeply, believed in his faith strongly, fought his addictions fiercely for his whole life, and did the best that he could.

You can’t fully describe this man’s life in a paragraph or two, but it might help you understand him. Go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cash for more about his life and music. 

During this concert you will get a chance to hear a wide range of Johnny Cash music, and we hope you will enjoy it. This band will let you experience a great performer's music, and hear how well it covers so many topics. The performance of "The Church Of Cash Johnny Cash Tribute Band" (shown below during an outdoor concert) will be on stage at The Edge Center in Bigfork on Saturday June 24 at 7PM: $15 adults and $5 for children 12 and under. It will certainly be and entertaining evening that you will not soon forget. 

Every Painting Tells a Story

There is an exhibit in the gallery this June that brings back an artist we saw at last year’s Juried Art show. She is Christine Tierney who won an Award of Excellence at the Show. According to her web site, she has been creating art ever since she discovered that she could make marks with a pencil and drew constantly as a child on every available surface. That passion to “decorate” did not always keep her out of trouble. See how time and lots of practice has brought her art to a very high and enjoyable level. Her art can be described as traditional representation with an impressionistic influence. Her show, “Every Painting Tells a Story” will be at the Edge Art Gallery during normal open hours this June 1^st  to the 24^th with the exhibit’s opening reception on Friday, June 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. Tierney will be present to talk to viewers and answer questions.

Tierney is a classical painter who works primarily with oil and pastels. She enjoys creating art in a variety of surroundings—from working on a commissioned portrait in her studio to scaling river rocks in search of the best vantage point for an outdoor painting. Christine Tierney’s art is accompanied by a short story about each painting.  See her entry in last year's Juried Show entry (below) titled Sunrise on the road). Also shown (below) is Tierney receiving her award.

Also from her web site, “After a career as an advertising artist-designer she (above) followed her heart's desire and returned to the fine arts. She studied classical painting in the traditions of the old masters. Some of her favorites are Sargent, Sorolla, Bouguereau, Degas, Cassatt, Vermeer and Zorn (not necessarily in that order!)”

“Christine finds inspiration in nature's endless beauty, particularly the way the light dances and plays on any given subject. You can find her in studio painting a still life, portrait, or studio landscape. When plein air painting (outdoors, in the open air), she searches carefully for the right scene that just stops her in her tracks, and has painted in rain, bugs, sleet, and snow, and even scaled some perilous rocks in the rapids of a wild river to get the best vantage point.”

                           
                                   
Christine is currently Vice President of the Lake Country Pastel Society, and has served as President of the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota. She teaches art classes and workshops in the Twin Cities metro area. Christine has won numerous awards, and her paintings are in many private collections. “Residing in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, Christine and her husband have a rustic little cabin in the Chippewa National Forest, providing endless painting inspiration.” For more about Christine see: http://christinetierney.com/

Tierney teaches painting and drawing in the Twin Cities area and served as head of the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota from 2014–2015.

The Edge Center Gallery is open during Edge events and on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. Again, Please join us for the exhibit’s opening reception on Friday, June 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. Tierney will be present to talk to viewers and answer questions.

What Do Wet Chalk Dragons, South American Masks, and Gyotaku Fish Prints Have in Common?

Every year brings a new group of student artists presenting their work at the Edge Center Art Gallery in Bigfork. The shows are always full of color with plenty of variety. This year, however, there is something special about the art.  It is the last of the art done under the direction of retiring art teacher Roberta Steinhart. She is retiring after 22 years of art teaching at the Bigfork school and another 10 years at the Clinton-Grace school. So what DO wet chalk dragons, South American masks, and gyotaku fish prints have in common?  It is in the art...come and see for yourself. To see this exhibition, visit the Bigfork Art Gallery that is attached to the Bigfork School through May 20^th during the regular hours of the gallery which are Thursdays through Saturdays 10AM to 4PM each day.  There is no charge to see the exhibits. 

With this group of student artists, the Edge Center Gallery again exhibits the innovation best made possible with youngster's early encounters creating art. The young student artists learn the basics of color, texture, shape, line, plus dark and light as used in compositions as they are stretching their creativity.

The exhibit will evolve throughout the month to showcase newly completed work by elementary, middle, and high school students.

Students’ skills are on display throughout the exhibit: a study of contour lines in a sketch of a bee’s wing, an exploration of positive/negative space in a drawing of birch trees, a playful use of color and texture in a wall mount of a Seussian creature.

The show also highlights the role of art in classroom learning. This year, Steinhart worked with teachers Aimee Rahier and Michelle Carnahan to integrate art projects into the curriculum. As third graders read Charlotte’s Web and learned about the role of spiders in nature, for example, they also created web paintings using a watercolor wash with salt. “We work as a team,” says Steinhart. “It's a very unique way to teach art [and] we are very fortunate!”

The Student Art Show will remain open to the public through May 20. Says Steinhart, “The students take so much pride in their work. It’s a thrill to have their art [displayed] in a real gallery.” 

Thank you Roberta for your years of introducing Spring to the Bigfork area in such a colorful way with wonderful student art. Your first-of-the-season color in the gallery has always been a favorite for many. Enjoy the lake and the next part of your journey.

Admission to the exhibit is free, and the gallery is open during Edge events and on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m..

Piatigorsky Foundation Brings Violinist Linda Rosenthal and Pianist Maxim Pakhomov to Bigfork

Piatigorsky Foundation violinist Linda Rosenthal and pianist Maxim Pakhomov will perform at the Edge Center in Bigfork as part of the Foundation’s program to bring world class music to smaller communities throughout America. Linda is based in Juneau Alaska and has performed everywhere in that state from remote fishing villages above the Arctic Circle to logging camps in Southeast Alaska, plus throughout the rest of North America, Europe and Asia. Maxim is from the Far East region of Russia with a touring background that includes England, Scotland, Austria, and Estonia. The date is Thursday April 27, time 7PM, prices $10 adults, students free.

It would be hard to find a wider mix of experiences between these artists, but their music, mostly classical, brings this diversity together in the “essence of music…the melody.” The program will be selections from composers spanning a time frame from the 1700’s to modern day. Combine the wide experiences with the range of musical selections and you will have a very interesting concert.

Violinist Linda Rosenthal is both a soloist with orchestra and chamber musician. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of both the Juneau Jazz and Classics, an annual music festival that brings world-renowned jazz and classical artists to perform and teach in Juneau each May, and the Lake Placid Chamber Music Seminar in Lake Placid, New York. Linda also tours Strings and Stories, a show for young audiences that she created and premiered at the Kennedy Center in 1995.  Since its debut, Ms. Rosenthal and Los Angeles actor Bill Blush have toured Strings and Stories annually under the auspices of The Piatigorsky Foundation.  Their show has reached thousands of children in schools, museums, libraries and community centers throughout the United States. 

Over the past decade, Ms. Rosenthal has commissioned and premiered more than a dozen works, including pieces for solo violin, electric violin, violin and piano, and violin and narrator. Her most recent commission was Glacier Blue, a Concerto for Solo Violin and Jazz Big Band. Ms. Rosenthal plays on a violin made in Turin, Italy in 1772 by J. B. Guadagnini.

Pianist Maxim Pakhomov’s American credits include performances in Merkin Hall and Zankel Hall, where he premiered his own arrangement of Stravinsky’s Petrushka for piano duo. Currently, he maintains an active schedule as a chamber musician and a chamber music coach.  He has performed with The Westchester Chorale and is the principal pianist of the Bronx Opera Company.  As a faculty member of Chamber Music Institute in Orono, Maine, he performed with Japanese star – violinist Ryu Goto, who is a brother of world famous violinist Midori.  

His solo performances include piano concertos by Rachmaninoff, Tschaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Brahms and Beethoven with the Orchestra of The Bronx; Beethoven’s Concerto No.4 with the Orchestra of the Barge Music Festival; the Triple concerto with the Bronx Symphony; Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Staten Island Philharmonia, Bach’s D Minor Concerto with The Bach Festival Small Orchestra of the Lautreamont Concert Series and The Beethoven Choral Fantasy with One World Symphony.  Mr. Pakhomov is a three-time winner of the Bronx Council on The Arts’ BRIO Award (Bronx Recognizes Its Own).  He is also an organist in the Congregational Church in Darien Connecticut – playing organ and learning organ repertoire have been his passions for the last five years.

  

The program will include selections from the following works and composers.

Sonata in G Major, Op. 30 No. 3                                   Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Allegro Assai

Tempo di Menuetto

Allegro vivace

Rumanian Folk Dances                                                 Bela Bartok (1881-1945)

Elegy and Habanera                                                      George Perlman (1897-2000)

Sonata No. 1 for Piano Solo                                          Rebecca Oswald (born 1958)

Ballad No. 1 for Solo Piano                                           Sharon Farber

Zigeunerweisen                                                             Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908)

Meditation from “Thais”                                                           Jules Massenet (1842-1912)

Fantasy on Fiddler on the Roof                                     Jerry Bock (1928-2010)

arr. Manuel Compinsky (1901-89)

The non-profit Piatigorsky Foundation's mission is to make live classical music part of the fabric of everyday life for communities throughout the United States with concert tours bringing top-quality musicians to audiences who often would not have the opportunity to hear them. The Foundation was established in 1990 by cellist Evan Drachman, grandson of the great Russian cellist Gregor Piatigorsky (1903-1976), The Foundation carries on his legacy in the belief that, as Piatigorsky said, "Music makes life better. Music is neither a luxury nor a frill. It is a necessity! It is rich. It is imaginative. And it is for everyone."

In addition to the Piatigorsky Foundation, this program is made possible  with the help of the following:

“Sisters of Swing Musical History of the Andrew Sisters" in Bigfork

The Andrews Sisters were a WWII era musical trio that brought close harmony music to stages in the U.S. and around the world entertaining armed forces throughout the war. Their story and music is brought back to “life” by the performance of three very talented singers in a show titled  “Sisters of Swing The Story of the Andrews Sisters.” The original sisters were from Mound Minnesota and are considered by many as the most successful female singing groups of the first half of the 20^th century. This show includes their story,  and 20 plus hit songs like “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” At The Edge Center in Bigfork on Saturday April 22^nd at 7PM. This musical is suitable for all audiences. Ticket prices are $10 adults and $5 children.

The “Sisters of Swing The Story of the Andrews Sisters” program features the Andrews Sister’s music of Laverne, Maxine, and Patty, played by Cat Brindsi, Kati Hahn and Jen Burleigh-Bentz (above). Also in the show is the very talented Jake Elders, who plays Lou Levy, Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby. The show is brought to the stage by The History Theatre on Tour a St. Paul based organization that is a three time IVEY award winning theater that produces new and existing works which explore Minnesota’s past and the diverse American experience.

In conjunction with the performance there will be an opportunity for visitors to share remembrances of the WWII veterans to whom the show is so closely connected (above period photo). There will be a Wall of Heroes display in the gallery which will consist of letters, photos, and memorabilia from WWII service men and women, brought in by Edge Center patrons.

The Andrews Sisters and their close harmony music were a product of the “swing and boogie-woogie eras.  The sisters were, singing “contralto”, LaVerne Sophia (1911-1967), singing “soprano”, Maxine Angelyn (1916-1995), and, singing “mezzo-soprano”, Patricia Marie “Patty” (1918-2013).  The group throughout their career sold over 75 million records, which was the last official count by MCA Records in the mid-1970s.  Their harmonies and songs are still influential to the industry today.  The group was inducted into the female group hall of fame in 1998.  

Lead singer. Patty, was only seven when the group was formed and only 12 when they won their first prize at a talent contest at the local Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. LaVerne played piano accompaniment for silent films at the Orpheum in exchange for free dancing lessons for herself and the rest of her sisters. They went on the road entertaining to support the family after her father’s restaurant failed.

At first they made their career by imitating an earlier 1930s group called the Boswell Sisters. They sung with dance bands and toured in vaudeville with various groups. As one might expect in the 1930s, the big break for the Andrews Sisters was radio. National attention was brought to the group via a major Decca record hit, “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon".  It was a Yiddish song that became popular with English lyrics but retained its Yiddish title (above).

It was songwriter Sammy Chan, who heard a performance of the song in Yiddish, had it “reworked” into a swing rhythm number, got rights to it and convinced the still unknown Andrews Sisters to perform it.  It was recorded in 1937 and became the sisters first major hit. This song has an interesting history by it self. If you want to read more go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bei_Mir_Bistu_Shein

After that there was no one to compare the group with and they became huge stars. The song earned them a gold record, the first ever to a female vocal group.  It became a world wide hit.

During the war they were everywhere with Allied Forces. America, Africa, and Italy saw a lot of the trio. They worked at the Hollywood Canteen and News York’s version Side Door Canteen.  They recorded a series of Victory Discs for distribution to allied forces, often treating random service men out to dinner and were dubbed the “Sweethearts of the Armed Forces Radio Service” for their many appearances on shows such as “Command Performance”, “Mail Call” and “G.I Journal”.  For more background:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andrews_Sisters

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from the Blandin Foundation, and with operating support made possible from a grant through the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council.

The above is just the surface of the Andrews Sisters career.  To get a singing introduction to them and their work, come to the Edge Center and get more. Edge Center in Bigfork on Saturday April 22^nd at 7PM. It is the “Sisters of Swing The Story of the Andrew Sisters.” This musical is suitable for all audiences. Ticket prices are $10 adults and $5 children.