Contemplative Practice Exhibition & BIG IDEA project

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

Sun Valley Center for the Arts P O Box 656 Sun Valley, ID 83353

U S POSTAGE

PAID BOISE ID

PERMIT NO. 679

Contemplative Practice March 31–June 23, 2017 A BIG IDEA Project of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts

Center hours & location in Ketchum: Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm 191 Fifth Street East, Ketchum, Idaho Sun Valley Center for the Arts P.O. Box 656, Sun Valley, ID 83353 208.726.9491 • sunvalleycenter.org

Cover: Dana Lynn Louis, Doni Doni (detail), 2017, blown glass, paint on wall and wood, courtesy the artist and Friesen Gallery, Ketchum Mailer: Meg Hitchcock, 108 Mantras (detail), 2016, letters cut from the Koran, threads cut from Tibetan prayer flags, courtesy the artist Pegan Brooke, “Trying to Sit Still for Five Minutes,” still from video poem Acceptance/Resistance, 2009-2015, courtesy the artist and Ochi Gallery, Ketchum Introduction Panels: Pegan Brooke, S-203, 2016, oil on canvas, courtesy the artist and Ochi Gallery, Ketchum Meg Hitchcock, Shoonya: Vijnana Bhairava Tantra (detail), 2009, letters cut from the Torah (The Book of Deuteronomy), courtesy the artist

110 N. Main Street, Hailey, Idaho 208.578.9122

Inside, left to right: Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels, Meteorlogie No. 6 (Fantastical Blueprint for the ­installation The Color of There Seen from Here), 2013, gouache and graphite on a late 1800s French meteorology chart, collection of ­Carmen Miller, image courtesy Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels, Meteorlogie No. 9 (Fantastical Blueprint for the ­installation The Crystal Cavern), 2013, gouache and graphite on a late 1800s French meteorology chart, collection of Carmen Miller, image courtesy Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels, The Color of There Seen from Here, 2013, lath, ­clapboard, plywood, courtesy the artist and Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York

Contemplative Practice March 31–June 23, 2017 Sun Valley Center for the Arts What is the connection between art and contemplation? For centuries, artists producing work within various religious and cultural traditions have created objects that allow viewers to enter a contemplative or devotional mindset. From illuminated manuscripts and stained glass windows to temple carvings and Japanese Zen calligraphy, artwork has enriched spiritual experiences for generations.

But how do art and contemplation intersect outside established religious traditions? While certain works of art might unintentionally trigger a contemplative experience in a viewer, a number of contemporary artists are actively creating work that incorporates medita-

tion and mindfulness both in terms of process and content. This BIG IDEA project uses work by artists engaged with contemplative practices as the basis for a larger exploration of meditation and mindfulness in our world today, from its role in multiple cultural traditions to recent scientific research into its physical, emotional and social benefits.

The visual arts exhibition, lectures, workshops, films, and commissioned theatre piece associated with this BIG IDEA project all serve as a springboard for a broader conversation about intersections between the arts, meditation and mindfulness today.

Contemplative Practice March 31–June 23, 2017 Sun Valley Center for the Arts M U S EU M E X HIBITIO N

Collaborations

The Center’s visual arts exhibition features work by artists who use meditation both in their process and as content.

The Center has commissioned Dana Lynn Louis to transform its Project Room into a space for meditation. The installation will feature drawing, sculpture and video, all intended to enhance visitors’ experience of the room as a place for contemplation. During the 2017 Sun Valley Wellness Festival, she will install light projections of her drawings at the Sun Valley Inn. Louis is also the subject of an exhibition of largescale sculptures, drawing and photography at Friesen Gallery, Ketchum, this spring: stream.

At both Friesen Gallery and The Center, visitors are invited to participate in a clearing project, writing something they wish to clear from their lives or the world on a card that will be sealed in an envelope. On May 25, Louis will lead a public ceremony, burning the envelopes.

Pegan Brooke makes nature-based abstract paintings that invite us to pause and to look closely—to spend time immersed in the fields of muted color and light she presents on her canvases. Inspired by reflections of light on water or the movement of light through forests, Brooke’s paintings consist of carefully organized grids, each constructed with precise gestural marks. Her paintings require that one “decelerate,” as the art critic Mark Van Proyen has written. This exhibition features three of Brooke’s paintings paired with some of her video poems, as well as a new interactive video installation.

Meg Hitchcock writes that her text ­drawings “examine and dissect the work of God.” She cuts individual letters from sacred texts and then reassembles them into passages from other religious texts. Using books from a range of religious traditions (Christian, ­Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist), she honors the ­diversity of spiritual practices while illuminating their shared ideas.

Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels creates sculptural installations that visitors can use as spaces for contemplation. She builds s­ tructures from reclaimed wood lath that consist of layer upon layer of equilateral triangles. Fels’s sculptures incorporate the act of repetition into their construction, with triangles expanding and contracting in size as she layers them. As she thinks through the form and construction of each sculpture, she creates works on paper she calls Blueprints, preparatory drawings on 19th-­ century French meteorology paper.

The Center is partnering with two local nonprofit organizations as part of Contemplative Practice.

Exhibition Opening Celebration

Special Reception & Clearing Ceremony

Fri, Mar 31, 5–7pm The Center, Ketchum Artists Pegan Brooke and Dana Lynn Louis will speak about their work at 6pm.

Evening Exhibition Tours

Thu, Apr 13, May 18 & Jun 8*, 5:30pm The Center, Ketchum Enjoy a glass of wine as you tour the exhibition with The Center’s curators and gallery guides. *Artist Pegan Brooke will speak about her work at the June 8 tour.

Sun Valley Center for the Arts sunvalleycenter.org

The Flourish Foundation is a social-profit organization dedicated to promoting contemplative-based practices for the purpose of achieving mental balance and universal compassion.

Ryan Redman, Executive Director of the Flourish Foundation, has created a guided meditation audio tour in response to Dana Lynn Louis’s installation. Visitors are encouraged to pick up the audio recording at The Center’s front desk.

Members of the Flourish Foundation’s Compassionate Leaders program (high school students trained in mindfulness) will also lead 20-minute meditation sessions at The Center, Ketchum.

Guided Meditations with Compassionate Leaders

Tue, Apr 11, 4pm Thu, Apr 13, 5pm (prior to Evening Exhibition Tour) Thu, May 18, 5pm (prior to Evening Exhibition Tour) The Center, Ketchum FREE The Flourish Foundation is dedicated to promoting contemplative practices in communities to cultivate healthy habits of mind and inspire personal well-being, benevolent social action, and environmental stewardship. The Compassionate Leaders fulfill this mission by participating in international service trips that cultivate human connections and provide youth with tools to positively to engage in the world. In recognition of the Compassionate Leaders’ participation in this project, The Center is making a donation in support of their upcoming service trips.

L ECT U R E

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Arianna Huffington

Radiant Mandalas: Meditative Drawing and Journaling with Kaleigh Surber from the Nevada Museum of Art

Fri, May 26, 6:30pm Sun Valley Pavilion, SV Tickets available only through the Sun Valley Wellness Festival: sunvalleywellness.org $40–$60 standard / $120 premium seating Lecture Series and Sun Valley Wellness ­Festival keynote speaker Arianna Huffington is the ­author of 15 books and the co-founder, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group.

In May 2005, she launched The Huffington Post, a news and blog site that quickly became one of the most widely read, linked to, and frequently cited media brands on the internet.

In 2012, the site won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Huffington has been named to Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people and Forbes magazine’s Most Powerful Women list. Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was 16 and graduated from Cambridge University with a master’s degree in economics.

Her 15th book, The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time, on the science, history and mystery of sleep, was published in 2016 and became an instant New York Times best-seller.

Co-presented as part of the Lecture Series by the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and the Sun Valley Wellness Festival.

T H eatre

Newly Commissioned Performance Piece – HIGH GRASS

As part of Contemplative Practice, Company of Fools has commissioned an original performance piece by Irene Ziegler. Performances will take place at The Center, Ketchum, during the following events:

The Sun Valley Wellness Festival is an annual four-day festival of talks, performances and workshops focused on mind, body, spirit and the environment. The Center has commissioned Dana Lynn Louis to install projected images of her drawings outside the Sun Valley Inn, site of the Wellness Festival. Louis will be speaking at the Festival, which also features a lecture by Arianna Huffington presented jointly by The Center and the ­Wellness Festival.

Thu, May 25, 5-6:30pm The Center, Ketchum FREE The Center will be open to the public for a ­special reception to kick off the Sun ­Valley ­Wellness Festival. At the conclusion of the ­reception, visitors are invited to join in a ­ceremony in which Dana Lynn Louis will burn envelopes containing wishes for ­clearing from all over the Wood River Valley and ­beyond. ­Clearing envelopes will be available at The ­Center and at Friesen Gallery, Ketchum, throughout the first two months of the exhibition.

Exhibition Opening Celebration Fri, Mar 31, 5–7pm

Guided Meditation Tue, Apr 11, 4pm

Evening Exhibition Tours

Thu, Apr 13, May 18 & Jun 8, 5:30pm

HIGH GRASS is a 10 minute performance piece inspired by volunteers with the county road cleanup crew, the discarded items they find in the “high grass” and the idea that collecting roadside trash is not unlike an archaeological dig. Like the Family Day activity offered as part of Contemplative Practice, in which found objects are used to create a work of art, the piece is about recycling, in a way, and once I found my characters and wound them up, the story started to spin. —Irene Ziegler, playwright

Sat, May 13, 9am–1pm The Center, Hailey $50 / $100 nonmember Cancellation reimbursement deadline: Fri, Apr 28 Explore the origins of the mandala and the significance of mandala designs in various cultures. Workshop participants will experience the joy of learning techniques that allow the inner self to manifest in a physical design filled with color and intricacy. Students will learn to still their minds and bodies in order to relax and allow colorful mandalas to flow onto the paper.

All necessary materials will be provided.

Panel Discussion What is the relationship between the practice of prayer and meditation?

Tue, Apr 18, 6:30pm The Center, Ketchum Free, advance seat reservation recommended This panel discussion brings together spiritual leaders and practitioners to explore the relationship between prayer and meditation. Join our panelists as they talk about prayer, personal meditation, the intersection of the two and their influence on our personal lives and society. The discussion will be moderated by Cate Cox, a practicing marriage and family therapist located in Ketchum. Panelists include Brian Baker, Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Sacramento, California; Pilar Tumolo, Tibetan Buddhist and Yoga Instructor with a master’s degree in integral counseling psychology; and Jim Mirel, Rabbi of the Wood River Jewish Community.

FIL M S Manakamana

Thu, Mar 30, 7pm Magic Lantern Cinemas, Ketchum $10 / $12 nonmembers Breathtaking, poignant and mesmerizing, Manakamana is a documentary shot entirely inside the narrow bubble of a cable car, high above a jungle in Nepal, as it transports villagers and tourists to an ancient mountaintop temple. Filmed in 16mm and comprised of 11 rides (each a single take corresponding to the length of a roll of film), Manakamana is a tender, ephemeral character study of its passengers and a window onto the lush, rolling landscape of a country in transition from ancient tradition to modernity. This evocative and rigorously structured documentary presents a rich sensory experience that ignites the viewer’s imagination. (118 minutes)

Heart of a Dog

Family Day Contemplative Practice

Sat, May 13, 3–5pm The Center, Ketchum FREE Tour the exhibition with The Center’s staff and guest artist Kaleigh Surber and learn how artists use balance and symmetry in their artwork.

Create your own mandala by using found objects from nature, simple drawing techniques and your own body. Family Day events at The Center provide special opportunities for multiple generations to explore art and ideas together by looking at art and making art.

Thu, Apr 13, 7pm Magic Lantern Cinemas, Ketchum $10 / $12 nonmembers Celebrated artist, composer, inventor, musician and film director Laurie Anderson created Heart of a Dog—a home movie, of sorts—to reflect on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog. Anderson’s narration touches on subjects that include family memories, surveillance, how dogs see color, and Tibetan Buddhist teachings.

(75 minutes)