email: arts@telenet.net
AUTUMN/WINTER 1998/99 Volume 5 No. 2
Winter Exhibits
Winter in Old Forge is usually cold and snowy, ending in late March with a slight warming trend toward April mud season. But this winter, two unique exhibits at the Arts Center will take us to warmer places.
From February 17 through April 1, The Arts Center will have on display drawings and paintings created by children from the Makueni and Machakos Districts of Kenya, East Africa. This project is the brainchild of Mark Scheflen, artist/ photographer, and Artistic Director of a community-based Visual Arts Program for St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in New York City. Scheflen has traveled to Africa several times.
The children who participated in the project ranged from nine to eighteen and were from fifteen different schools. Scheflen told the children that they could draw or paint whatever they pleased as long as it was their own idea and was done without adult assistance. The children had five weeks to complete their work.
Since Scheflen's return with the work in August of 1997, it has been displayed at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City, The Staten Island Children's Museum, and the U.N. General Assembly Public Lobby.
Scheflen provided the art materials to the children: basic paint, pencils, and crayons. The children brought their life experiences and personalities to the task. They drew native animals and scenes from their everyday lives. The districts involved in the project are located In rural Kenya in arid bush country near two national parks and Mt. Kilimanjaro. The children's artwork features this geography as well.
Mark Scheflen hopes this project will result in a cultural exchange of art between African and American children, perhaps as "art pen pals." This winter, Scheflen I will work with children from the Old Forge School District to possibly initiate an art exchange with children from the Makueni and Machakos Districts. The exhibit also includes a series of Scheflen's photographs documenting the project. In addition, Scheflen will display his own African wildlife photographs and some custom light box installations.
Also at The Arts Center this winter, from March 2 to March 5, the I Main Space will I be transformed I into a simulated rainforest, with photo images of rainforest flora and fauna, accompanied by a fascinating variety of actual and synthesized rainforest sounds.
The rainforest installation is by Barton and Priscilla McLean of Petersburg, NY, known as The McLean Mix." They create the rainforest atmosphere with slides from their international expeditions, their earthy~drone" music, and live woodwind, vocal, and other instruments.
The display is also meant to be interactive, with the audience creating rainforest-like sounds with keyboards, microphones, and acoustic instruments in this evocative setting. In a collaborative effort between the Arts Center and the Town of Webb Schools, students will be spending time with the Mc Leans in the rainforest installation, creating their own variety of sounds as well as learning about the rainforest.
The rainforest exhibit concludes on Friday, March 5 with a performance at 8 PM by The McLean Mix, called "Music From, About, and By the Wilderness." This concert is a wonderful opportunity for the community to enjoy this internationally acclaimed composing/performing duo of electro-acoustic music.
Leslie Bailey