JULY 2023 ARTBEAT

ARTBE T

WENATCHEE FIRST FRIDAYS MAP INCLUDED

WENATCHEE FIRST FRIDAYS GETS A MAKEOVER

improve accessibility for art venues, artists, and businesses. With that in place, we set to work.

I am so pleased to now be able to announce that along with insane amounts of support from our other amazing partners The Comet Magazine, P2X Design and Jill Carter Design, we have an official Wenatchee First Fridays website (for easy communication and participation), a brand new logo, and if you turn to pages 4 and 5, you can check out the newly designed map, complete with QR code for accessing an online version.

FOOD FOR (ARTISTIC) THOUGHT

The Grunewald Guild, the Plain retreat center that’s been home away from home for scores of visiting artists since 1980, is seeking a cook to fuel all that intense creativity. The one-year position of Kitchen Lead starts in mid-July. Work from April through October averages 35-40 hours per week and from November through March, 20-30 hours per week (with additional paid tasks available).

The Guild website says: “The ideal applicant will have experience in food service,

ARTISTS GET A BOOST

BY MEG KAPPLER NCW ARTS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

One of my favorite things in the world is collaborative creation. I loved any group project in school (yes, I was THAT kid), and it was for two main reasons. First, the process of launching an idea to pinball around through different minds and perspectives is just really fun, and second, there was always an element of surprise because there was no way of knowing where the thing was going to end up or whether there would be a fistfight somewhere along the way. (So exciting!)

To my delight, for the past several months, NCW Arts has been working on a group project to re-brand and improve the Wenatchee First Fridays experience, and we have had incredible partners with us at the table. Alongside the Wenatchee Downtown Association and Visit Wenatchee, we set some guiding principles: 1) to streamline and simplify communication, and 2) to

ON THE COVER:

“Venn Dissolve” — 34”x34” oil on canvas, by Wenatchee oil painter Lindsay Breidenthal. The artist will exhibit several recent works at the Pybus Art Alley,

On the new website, we also now have a Presenter’s Toolkit, which will give businesses and artists helpful tips for planning and marketing a successful First Friday Arts Walk event.

This is just the beginning, folks! The hope is that with these tools, we can pump up the volume on our Wenatchee First Fridays, showcasing even more local creative talent in all its forms and celebrating our local businesses. I am very happy to conclude by saying that fistfights did not occur, and they were not at all necessary for me to be super excited about what’s to come.

Check it out! wenatcheefirstfridays.com

The Artist Trust is extending its COVID-19 relief program into a new grant opportunity, Endurance Grants (END), to help artists with continued emergency support for their financial needs.

The Artist Trust is a nonprofit organization recognized as a national model for direct funding and professional development and has invested over $15 million in individual working artists since 1986.

particularly in a retreat context. Applicants with demonstrable knowledge and experience with food preparation, presentation, safety, sanitation and management are preferred.”

Basic pay is augmented by a variety of benefits: paid time off and vacation hours, housing, meals and a free Gruenwald Guild course per year.

Find out more at director@grunewaldguild.com

The goal of END is to provide 40 unrestricted need-based grants of $2,500 to artists working in literary arts, media arts, performing arts and visual arts across Washington State. This grant will fund artists who identify with one or more of the following communities: Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and/or Native, LGBTQIA+.

For Endurance Grant details go to artisttrust.org. Applications due July 17.

SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY FOR LOCAL TEENS

A $2,000 scholarship is available to any 12- to 18-year-old filmmaker or songwriter from Chelan, Grant, Douglas and Okanogan counties. This scholarship will help one teen from our region attend the 2023 Prodigy Camp, held currently at Icicle Creek Center for the Arts (July 30-August 6).

music. The program offers a one-week intensive workshop with year-round mentoring designed for 20 promising young storytellers from around the world.

Campers will study the fundamentals of their art, with professional instruction to help them develop new scripts and songs.

To see examples of films and find out more about this extraordinary opportunity, visit prodigycamp.org/yodel

all showing her sensibility, sensuous style and strong perspectives. Meet Lindsay at Pybus Public Market, 3 North Worthen Street, Wenatchee, on First Friday Arts Walk, July 7, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (see related story on next page).

Prodigy Camp was established in 2006 with the intention of identifying and developing the gifts and character of tomorrow’s cultural influencers in film and

Applications are due July 10th via prodigycamp.org/apply.

QUIZ: R.U. ART SMART?

Who are these local artists? Initials are given, see answers on page 6.

1. (M.P.) An illustrator and muralist, his and his WVC students’ colorful and bigger-than-life creations are enjoyed on many Wenatchee walls.

2. (K.K.) She founded the regional Write On The River organization in 2005 and is a much-published author of, in singles and series, speculative fiction novels.

3. (J.T.) He’s a painter himself, and his

strong vision of a cooperative community of artists flourishes in the recently remodeled Two Rivers Gallery.

4. (M.F.) Her bold paintings, done in strong, sweeping primary colors, are full of movement and often give a face and voice to Latina women.

5. (R.A.) A nonagenarian college art teacher and working potter, she exhibits her dramatic ceramic pieces both locally and internationally.

6. (R.W.) Formerly a New York painter, he jumped into the local art scene and, in his last years living here, wowed Wenatchee with his big expressionistic canvases.

“The Spoils”

Wenatchee art watchers familiar with the paintings of Lindsay Breidenthal may know her poses, her signature golds, greens and corals and mélange of symbolic images. They also know she’s fearless about changing artistic direction. These days, she says, “I’ve been designing and using patterns more often and incorporating those into the paintings. Also, creating a series around a particular theme is interesting to me.”

A serendipitous thrift store find has resulted in works with a related focus, the Blue Dress series, started in 2019. She said, “I found this stiff, polyester uniform... and liked it for the structure and color... This dress is representative of what is generally seen as women’s work and the idea of a second shift — invisible, unpaid labor.”

Another major theme in Lindsay’s works stems from her study of natural sciences.

Her twin majors at Central Washington University were in biology and art, and her years in the field with the U.S. Forest Service helped her to see the inseparable link between humans and nature. “I’m fascinated by the systems and intelligence in the natural world. It’s observable, tactile... We humans are the natural world; we can see ourselves in things like group behavior and life cycles.”

Lindsay Breidenthal’s studio (her fourth in ten years) is in the big vintage home downtown she shares with her husband and young son. It’s a light and airy glassedin porch, but it’s small — and right in the middle of life at the house. In a perfect art world, she said, “Top of the list would be a big studio with lots of natural light — close to home but not IN the house.”

Despite space limitations, she’s a full-time artist (her last day job was four years ago).

“The Vessel”

She shows paintings throughout the region and takes time out from creating her big canvases doing murals, design work, windows and portraits and occasionally teaching art and nature journaling.

Lindsay mulled over the terms she’s seen on grant applications, and at 47 calls herself a “mid-career” artist, as opposed to “emerging” or “established.” She cites her very satisfying one-woman show at Wenatchee Valley College’s MAC Gallery in 2017 as a major turn in the right direction. She’d like to continue making murals but will also write proposals for gallery shows beyond the region.

Here’s a dare-to-dream scenario Lindsay shared: “I love painting the body, so I would hire a whole team for a collaborative extravaganza: photographers to take reference photos, theatrical models to don costumes and become characters, and me-

ticulous woodworkers to build my surfaces and frames!”

As a board member of NCW Arts Alliance, Lindsay is a true believer in the common goals of artists. “I think the creative community here is supportive of each other. The Arts Alliance is responding to a strong, collective need to connect and share knowledge and skills,” she said. “The biggest challenge for artists is the same timeless demon that’s always been there — self-doubt. And art finds a way around everything else … but affordable studio spaces would certainly help!”

You can meet Lindsay and see her latest artwork (including that in our cover photo) at Pybus Public Market Art Alley, 3 North Worthen Street, Wenatchee, during the First Fridays Arts Walk, 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, July 7.

REGIONAL TEENS WRITE, ALL RIGHT ! INDIE POP, FRENCH STYLE, AT THE PAC

concert has a summery twist: it’s presented in the outdoor courtyard on the downtown/fountain side of the PAC to take advantage of the beautiful weather.

High-school-age writers from all over North Central Washington tested their literary skills by submitting stories to the 12th Annual Teen Short Fiction Competition, co-sponsored by Write On The River and NCW Libraries.

The submitting writers were in grades 9-12 throughout Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, Grant and Ferry counties. “This was the best turnout we’ve ever had,” said coordinator Jessica Lynch of the annual spring competition. “And there was a lot of variety in the themes and styles.”

The organizers are happy to announce the winners of the 2023 competition. Librarians from around the region and members of the Teen Library Council judged the competitive entries and chose these three students to share the $200 cash award for their original writing:

First Place: Jadyn Matson, a homeschooled sophomore from Chelan, for “Over the Edge of the World.” Honorable Mention: Jada Wood, a freshman at Cashmere High School, for “Helios.” Honorable Mention: Isabel Menna, a junior at Cascade High School, for “Lost Princess Found: A Story of Resurrection.” The first two submissions were fantasy fiction; the third was historical fiction.

New York Times best-selling author Chelsea Cain, after visiting Wenatchee as a 2011 Write On The River Conference keynote speaker, initiated and continues to sponsor the annual competition.

Go to writeontheriver.org or ncwlibraries.org soon to learn more about these teen writers and to read their winning entries.

Husbands, an innovative band formed in France in 2011, has toured in Europe and across America, bringing a fresh perspective to the indie pop genre, and you can hear them in Wenatchee this month. A rising force in the French Indie scene, they have a loyal following and their support band, Plastic Picnic, brings, according to Billboard magazine, “Catchy, danceable beats paired with melancholy lyricism and shimmery melodies.”

Part of the Numerica Performing Art Center’s Black Box Concert Series, this July

The three Husbands — Matthew Poulin, Yannick Dangin Leconte, and Simon “Tells” Henner — draw their music from ‘80s pop and ‘90s alternative rock. They released a well-received debut album, “Golden Year” in 2014 and “After the Gold Rush Hour” in 2017, with more electronic sounds and a sleeker production style. Their music has been featured in several popular TV shows and films, including “Shameless,” “New Girl,” and “Love, Simon.”

Husbands performs at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 20, at the Numerica Performing Arts Center, 123 North Wenatchee Avenue. Tickets start at $24 at numericapac.org

ART IN THE PARK AWARDS $22,500 IN ARTS SCHOLARSHIPS

University in Spokane. Robbins is headed to Florence Design Academy in Florence, Italy, to study interior design and architecture.

“We are thrilled to announce this year’s deserving recipients,” said scholarship committee chair Adele Caemmerer. “These talented young people have demonstrated skill, creativity and dedication in their artistic endeavors, and we’re proud to support them as they explore their potential.”

Leavenworth Village Art in the Park announced its annual arts scholarship awards last month as the 2023 graduating class of Cascade High School donned their caps and gowns.

Two graduating seniors, Zoey Sheffield and Lauren Haiduc, were each awarded a four-year, $10,000 scholarship to support their post-secondary art studies, while Ada Robbins received the annual $2,500 Merit Scholarship. Sheffield plans to study English, creative writing and art at Western Washington University, and Haiduc will minor in theater at Gonzaga

Leavenworth Village Art in the Park has provided college scholarships since 1980, as well as enrichment grants within the Cascade School District, for a total of more than $35,000 annually in local art funding.

The non-profit group was founded in 1966 and operates the longest running, juried, open-air art market in Washington State in Leavenworth’s Front Street Park. Open from April through October, it provides vital income to the many independent artists who participate each year.

To find out more, visit villageartinthepark.org

ANSWERS TO PAGE 2 QUIZ: 1. Marlin Peterson 2. Kay Kenyon

3. Jan Theriault 4. Martha Flores 5. Ruth Allen 6. Robert Wilson

Recipients of the 2023 Leavenworth Village Art in the Park annual scholarship awards are (from left to right) Lauren Haiduc, Zoey Sheffield and Ada Robbins, pictured here with scholarship committee chair Adele Caemmerer

Jada Wood

Jadyn Matson

Isabel Menna

ON THE UPBEAT SINGIN’ THE BLUES

‘ALMOST, MAINE’ ALMOST ON STAGE

held their own casting auditions and made all creative choices for their scenes; each one also assisted other directors or took charge of a design element of the show.

By Kris Lahd

Seattle-born Darnell Scott moved to Eastern Washington when he was a teenager. Darnell cut his teeth as a musician in his school’s orchestra, playing the cello. Soon, he realized the girls he liked winked more at the guitar players, so he picked up a guitar at his friend’s house and taught himself to play. It came very naturally to him and he soon joined a band playing what is today considered “classic rock.” Wanting to delve into his roots, Wenatchee resident Darnell soon discovered his love for blues music.

What was the first blues song you ever learned to play?

There’s a song called “How Long Blues” written by Leroy Carr. Here’s a story. Back in the day when my grandfather had cancer, my grandma called me to come over and watch him for a little while, and if you know anything about the African American community, blues was considered like a voodoo-type music, and the older generations didn’t want it around. Grandma does not want to hear songs like “Hellhounds on my Trail.”

Well, I had bought a brand new guitar and I walked in the house with it and the first thing my grandma said was, “Don’t you be playing that blues music in here.” I said, “OK.” So, Grandma takes off to the store and my grandfather says, “Grandson.” I said “Ya Pops?” He said, “Play me a blues song.” So I played the song “How Long Blues,” and he just laid back with a big smile on his face, and to this day I call it my Grandpa Song.

Where does your songwriting inspiration come from?

Every one of them are things that have happened in my life or things that I relate to. Somebody else might be going through that same thing so my songs can be inspirational songs; you know, don’t give up, songs that help people find strength.

Who are you most influenced by as a guitarist?

Well, at first it was guys like Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton. Then I started moving to less mainstream guys like Keb’ Mo’ and the guitarist from the Lawrence Welk Show. That guy could play anything! There’s so many! I even get influenced by going to a winery to see somebody else play.

5 Question Lightning Round Blues or Funk? Blues

Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn?

Ugh… Jimi?

Buddy Guy or B.B. King? B.B. Fender or Gibson (electric guitars)? Fender

Taylor or Martin (acoustic guitars)? Martin

Upcoming Shows

July 1: Sigillo Cellars from 6 to 9 p.m.

July 4: George WA Fest from 1 to 2 p.m.

July 7: Badger Mountain Brewing from 6 to 9 p.m.

July 8: Milepost 111 from 6 to 8 p.m.

July 16: Rio Vista Wines from 1 to 3 p.m .

July 21: Icicle Ridge Winery from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

Members of Music Theater of Wenatchee’s (MToW) introductory directing workshop have been working at the Riverside Playhouse since May 23 to learn the craft of turning a written script into a live-action onstage production.

The result of their collaborative venture is “Almost, Maine,” a romantic comedy written by John Cariani, comprising nine short plays that explore love and loss in a remote, mythical New England town.

Local theatrical directors Cynthia Brown, John Mausser, Peter Kappler and Dave Williams turned teacher and mentor for the summer, instructing their adult students in stage direction, artistic design and stage management. Their apprentices then

The student directors are Alee McGee, Rachel Powers, Aaron Mitchell, Christy Kimmel, Carrie Grosch, Josey Meats, Haily Jo Kelly-Raymond and Sara Solano. In their casts are actors Jeff Anderson, Marissa Collins, Terra Sokol, Seth Gamble, John Merritt, Lauren Loebsack, Rachel Powers, Laura Clifton, Aaron Mitchell, Caleb Seims, Mike Magnotti, Cynthia Brown, Clint Barke, Kaitlynn Barrett-Ashbaugh and J. Woody Lotts.

The six-week workshop, the most extensive since 1990, was free to the participants and created to provide a (relatively) stress-free space for potential directors to try their skills on a full production. Correspondingly, it will also help create for MToW and other theaters in the region a volunteer base of people with fresh new directorial vision for future productions.

“Almost, Maine” is onstage July 6, 7, and 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Riverside Playhouse, 2333 B North Wenatchee Avenue. Tickets $18 at numericapac.org

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE ...

honed program of people-pleasing scores, improved venues, variety and good marketing: all that contributed to making this region renowned for its first few musical weeks of summer. Excellent music is well supported in both cases by the work of dozens of volunteers and the generosity of dozens of donors.

Here are some details that may catch your attention — be sure to look further into these groups’ websites for lots of information on the who-when-where that suits you best.

CARTOONIST RETURNS TO OIL-ON-CANVAS ROOTS

Reader’s Digest to The Wenatchee World and The Good Life, are meticulously sketched in blue pencil on cardstock, inked in black, and scanned into the computer for color. He’s also worked in watercolor and exhibited work at Spokane’s Museum of Arts and Culture.

The hills are alive with the sound of music, and not just from Leavenworth Summer Theater’s open-air production of the eponymous musical, a beloved summer staple since 1995.

For two very solid weeks from June 30 to July 15, both the Icicle Creek Chamber Festival in Leavenworth and the Lake Chelan Bach Fest offer, in several pleasant venues, music from a wide range of composers like Bach (understandably), Bizet, Bernstein, Beethoven, Boulanger, Britten and many more on down the alphabet.

Over the years, they’ve crafted their extensive programs to appeal to serious admirers and performers of classical and symphonic music as well as to us humalongs whose main exposure is via radio.

The longevity of the organizations is notable in itself. The Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 29th year and the Bach Fest has been making music for 42 years. Both started small and intentional, and as good arts organizations do, they grew.

Youth involvement, national and internationally known performers, a carefully

In Leavenworth, you can enjoy several performances of pieces composed for smaller groups of players: three are by Young Artists, four are “Music in the Community” (a winery, the library and the farmers’ market) and six are evening events with the Festival orchestra, which are also live-streamed, in the group’s homebase Canyon Wren Recital Hall at Icicle Creek Center for the Arts.

Chelan offers a shorter time frame but a similarly packed program. Including the Young Musicians, one hundred instrumentalists and vocalists, some from the region, some invited from afar, offer a total of 23 free events at wineries and churches (Sip and Stroll) with some performances (Pops in the Park) at Riverwalk Park downtown.

Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival, June 30 to July 15. Details at icicle.org

Lake Chelan Bach Fest, July 7 to July 15. Details at bachfest.org

FIRST FRIDAYS LAUNCH PARTY

features, in addition to gallery openings and artist exhibitions, live entertainment and special shopping and dining deals throughout the downtown core and beyond.

Join us as we unveil …

- A brand-new Wenatchee First Fridays logo

- The new print poster and walking map

This cartoonist isn’t joking. For years his artwork has spoken truth, but Cashmere artist Dan McConnell said his outrage at the war in Ukraine — the mobilization of troops, random bombings and the murder of civilians — begged for a stronger medium. “I needed to work larger and use large muscle movements,” he said, “in order to act out the angst and passion I felt about the horrors of war.”

Fifty years after his college art classes, Dan has returned to oil on canvas after a career of cartooning. If the medium is indeed the message, he is speaking loud and clear.

Dan’s political cartoons, with far ranging publication from MAD magazine and

But these more recent and impassioned paintings (“I guess you could call them Brute Art,” said Dan) come from oil abstractly flung at the big canvases, then dripped and scrubbed down to a focal point. Added last are recognizable details of destroyed civilization.

Dan was recently a finalist in a Heritage University show (see related story below). He is the featured artist in July at Two Rivers Art Gallery, where this exhibit of Ukraine war responses is tempered by another branch of his art: caricatures of famous composers and actors.

Meet Dan at the First Fridays Arts Walk at Two Rivers Art Gallery, 102 North Columbia Street, Wenatchee, 5 to 7 p.m., July 7.

HOWELL, MCCONNELL WIN IN EmergEAST COMPETITION

Howell and McConnell’s works were originally exhibited earlier this year at Heritage University in Toppenish. Of the 15 artists in that original exhibit, 10 were selected for the EmergEAST Finalist Exhibition at Gallery 110, which was held during the month of June.

Please join us for the official launch of the new and improved WENATCHEE FIRST FRIDAYS!

NCW Arts, Visit Wenatchee and the Wenatchee Downtown Association are working together to re-invigorate our Wenatchee First Fridays event. It now

- The new website: WenatcheeFirstFridays.com

- New ways for local business owners and artists to easily get involved

Have a glass of wine, enjoy live music and hear all about it! 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. Friday, July 7 at the Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce, 137 N. Wenatchee Ave.

Two local visual artists — Nena Howell of Wenatchee and Dan McConnell of Cashmere — were selected as finalists in the 2023 EmergEAST juried competition. Howell was one of three awardees who will receive the opportunity for solo exhibitions, as well as a membership and representation, at Gallery 110 in Seattle.

The exhibition is a collaboration between Heritage University Art Department and Gallery 110 as part of its Emerging Artist Program. The program seeks to support artists from predominantly rural regions in Washington who may lack access to larger audiences in metro areas. It does this by providing exhibition opportunities, subsidized gallery memberships and other resources to help grow their art careers.

The next call for the Emerging Artist Program will be announced in January 2024. More information about the program can be found at gallery110.com

Lake Chelan Bach Fest 2023 guest conductor Sarah Ioannides

Nena Howell in her studio with pup

The Visit Wenatchee Tasting Room