By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
In the ceramics building at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp this week, you might find young artists and their instructor preparing to start the raku firing process.
Others are channeling the tide or eagles in a dance rehearsal upstairs in Allen Auditorium, while musicians in Yaw Chapel study jazz theory.
Writers and photographers are also hard at work at locations around Sitka, finishing pieces in preparation for Saturday’s showcases for the public.
These “Intensives” – a week of concentrated study of a particular art form – follow SFAC’s regular High School Camp, in which students generally take a variety of courses.
“‘Intensives’ give the kids a chance to dive as deep as possible into an art form,” said arts camp Director Roger Schmidt.
Some students came just for the week to study dance, photography, writing, ceramics, or jazz. For others it’s an add-on to the just-concluded high school camp, for an extra week of study with top artists and teachers.
Also on campus this week, cast members and crew have been polishing the full-length Broadway musical “Oklahoma!” that will be presented July 26 and 27 at the Performing Arts Center.
Cast members of Sitka Fine Arts Camp's production of "Oklahoma!" rehearse in Rasmusson Hall this morning. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Meanwhile, the summer program that brings college students to Sitka for three weeks of hands-on experience in historic preservation has been under way with rehab work in the century-old Sheldon Jackson National Historic Landmark buildings.
In all, some 85 students are working on campus in one “intensive” form of study or another, Schmidt said.
“The great thing about having that campus is we like having the opportunity to add new arts programs for kids,” Schmidt said. “We can’t grow our camps any bigger, but where we can grow is in the summer. (The Intensives) serve more people in specific ways. ... So many of our smaller communities in Alaska don’t have programs for kids to explore these arts forms.”
The showcases for the one-week workshops will be on Saturday.
Products of the ceramics, photography and writing classes will be on display 1-4 p.m. at the Yaw Art Building. Readings from the writing intensive course will be at 2 p.m. in Room 111.
Students of the Jazz Workshop and Dance Intensive will perform 7 p.m. at the Sitka Performing Arts Center.
The jazz workshop – in various forms – was one of the first summer programs added to the SFAC schedule after the camp returned in 2011 to the Sheldon Jackson campus, its place of origin.
Two of the founders of the jazz workshop, Ed Littlefield (percussion) and Christian Fabian (bass), are joined this year by Darmon Meader (vocals and saxophone) and veteran SFAC jazz professor Dennis Yerry (piano, Native American flute).
Saturday’s performance will show off the students’ work on original arrangements that the students selected “based on some sort of heritage or personal story,” Littlefield said.
Arrangements of a Cat Stevens song, a video game tune and an Italian melody are among the pieces audiences will be treated to in Saturday’s show. The jazz faculty also will perform.
Along the way, the 18 jazz students – from Sitka, other Alaska communities, the lower states and British Columbia – have learned about jazz theory, jazz-style interpretation, rhythmic understanding and other concepts.
While some of them worked on original compositions, others focused on learning how to “reharmonize” tunes.
“The camp is focused on giving them information,” Littlefield said. “The education they get here is world-class, from the people we bring in.”
Littlefield said the kids responded enthusiastically from the first night on. Meader, in his first year, said the kids seemed to appreciate the fact he came all the way from New York and New Jersey for the Sitka classes.
Rounding out Saturday’s lineup will be a performance by the dance intensive students.
The one-week camp was led by SFAC veteran instructor Adam McKinney and Sarah Ashkin. McKinney has danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater & Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Ashkin, a choreographer and curator, has created works in Los Angeles, London, New York, Philadelphia, New Mexico, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The two worked with their nine students this year to create the multi-media dance performance “Change Up,” which “confronts the scientific, cultural, and emotional impacts of climate change.”
“Engaging in an inquiry-based choreographic process, Sitka Fine Arts Camp Dance Intensive students and teachers met with Tlingit elders and oceanic scientists to better understand multiple perspectives of climate change,” the program notes say. “As a way of affirming stories of our joint climate crises, we offer ‘Change Up’ to honor our collective lands and histories.”
At a Thursday rehearsal McKinney invited students to share some of their thoughts while dancing the piece, which included “climate change,” “community,” “animals dying,” “family,” and “fear.”
“We’re using a process called inquiry-based choreography – asking questions about their experience of climate change and how it’s affected their lives and how it’s affected their world,” McKinney said.
The Saturday performance at the PAC will include projections of images collected from the Tongass.
“For me, it’s about student learning,” McKinney said. “It’s making the connection between what’s going on socio-politically, and making the connection using the arts as a lens to better understand their experiences of the world.”
The Saturday events are open to the public. A $5 donation is suggested for the Saturday dance and jazz performance at the PAC.
