Renowned sculptors to be featured in September residencies at Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild

LINCOLN - The fifth anniversary of Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild this September promises to elevate further the surprising art park in this small mountain community.

In addition to playing host to renowned sculptors Cornelia Konrads and Kate Hunt who will be working on new installations in the 26-acre sculpture park on the eastern edge of town, visitors and residents will be treated to an eclectic range of musical concerts curated by Composer-in-Residence Adele O'Dwyer.

Visitors are welcome throughout the three-week residencies to observe and, possibly on occasion lend a hand, to the artists. Folks who visited during last year's residencies will recall the work of sculptor Patrick Dougherty with his small army of volunteers, "weaving" some 13 tons of willow saplings into the "Tree Circus," which has taken its place alongside the historic Teepee Burner as an iconic centerpiece of the park.

Events planned during the residencies start with continuing work by the artists throughout their Sept. 10-29 residencies. (See "This Year's Artists" below).

The artists' mission is to respond to the environmental and industrial heritage of the Blackfoot River Valley in the creation of their large-scale sculpture installations. They will also present scheduled talks describing their work during the residency program. (see "Artist Talks" below).

BPSW Music

Music played a role in all the earlier residencies, but there will be much more this year thanks to the residency of composer and cellist Adele O'Dwyer.

She has curated a series of concerts that will feature musical genres including classical, jazz, folk, original music and song. All the concerts - including three lunchtime performances on Wednesdays (Sept. 12, 19 and 26) during the residencies - will be in Lincoln's unique octagonal Community Hall, a downtown venue that is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The 40-minute lunchtime concerts will begin at 12:30 p.m.

On the evening of Sept. 27 the Lincoln Youth Concert will feature the children of the Lincoln School Choir. Starting at 7 p.m. the program will include work prepared as part of the Sculpture in the Wild Montana-Ireland Song Exchange and Collaborative Composition Project, as well as a performance by the school band. On display in the hall that evening will be a gallery of artworks, writings and mural panels inspired by the exchange project.

The Closing Concert at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 - the night before the launch of the new sculptures - will feature the premiere of a specially written, commissioned composition by O'Dwyer for voice and piano quartet. The song cycle incorporates the poetry of native American poets Victor Charlo and Heather Cahoon.

The "Festival in the Wild"

A weekend of sculpture park activities including tours and music events is planned for Sept. 22 and 23.

On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 22, will be what's billed as a Café Music Night concert featuring pianist Phil Aaberg, singer/song writer Pan Morigan, Adele O'Dwyer and the BPSW piano quartet. That's also the night of the park's annual fundraising auction - the only event of the entire three weeks for which admission is charged, and it already is sold out.

The next day (Sunday) will showcase music by Pan Morigan and Friends.

Roger Treece, a multiple Grammy winner, said of the singer-songwriter-violinist Morigan: "Her song forms, when appreciated as they should be, will catalyze the next branch of evolutionary development in song-writing. Actually, I think if she was world famous, people would be raving about how amazing and truly unique her songs are."

This concert will take place at 3 p.m. in Lincoln Community Hall.

BPSW Education

Sculpture in the Wild is also celebrating the fifth year of its education program.

The BPSW education program provides an opportunity for more than 300 students a year from around the Blackfoot Valley to meet internationally recognized artists and to receive an introduction to the language and visual vocabulary of contemporary sculpture.

During the program students visit the sculptors working on site, engage with sculpture installations from previous symposiums and participate in a hands-on sculpture session. More than 1,200 children will have participated in this program over its five years.

Sculpture Launch

The official launch of the new BPSW sculpture installations will be Saturday Sept. 29. The public is invited to meet with artists Cornelia Konrads, Kate Hunt and Anne Yoncha in the TeePee Burner at 2 pm and proceed to the new sculpture installations.

After the launch, music will be provided in the Teepee Burner by Steve Gores and Friends.

This Year's Artists:

Cornelia Konrads was born in Wuppertal, Germany, studied philosophy and has worked as a freelance artist since 1998. Her interest typically focuses on site-specific installations - indoors and outdoors, temporary and permanent. She has created works for public spaces, sculpture parks and private collections

As a passionate traveler, she has realized concepts through her experiences of expositions, residencies and commissions in Europe, Asia, Australia and America.

Her starting point is always a reflection of the location of her work and its particularities - a close dialogue with the architecture, topography, vegetation and history of the surrounding area.

"I like this idea of showing that there is something invisible to be found in the visible," she says of her work. "I like to awaken the joy of thinking about possibilities, about what might be.

"What I'm most interested in is order and chaos. The visible and invisible. The material and immaterial. And I don't see them as contradictions.

"They're like poles that are in everything. I like moments of amazement and irritation. On the whole when we look, we don't see. We wander

in a sort of monologue with ourselves. This irritation and amazement shake us out of this mental drowsiness."

Kate Hunt grew up in a small town on Montana's vast plains, and she says her art has been influenced by the subtle power of landscape. "I have a personal conversation with the concept, materials and the world around me. It's a back-and-forth type exchange with me saying over and over, 'what if......'"

Her object-oriented works employ steel, twine, boat-building epoxy, and newspaper.

A resident of Kalispell at present, she is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute and Cranbrook Academy of Art. She has been awarded a Montana Arts Council Award and the Gottlieb Grant.

Hunt's work has shown nationally and internationally and it is featured in many prominent collections.

Anne Yoncha, BPSW/University of Montana Emerging Artist. plans a unique installation entitled "Tree Talk" that revolves around electronic communication with and among the trees found in Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild, especially the ponderosa pines. She is working with University of Montana PhD candidate Gerard Sapes.

Adele O'Dwyer has performed extensively on both sides of the Atlantic having won leadership and section positions in the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Opera Theatre Company and Irish Film Orchestras as well as in a number of festival chamber orchestras in Ireland and in the United States.

Her background includes working under the guidance of numerous internationally known cellists and composers.

She cultivated a taste for a wide variety of music and it is this interest that has shaped her style of musical composition. From Black is the Earth, inspired by the great Bog of Allen in Ireland, to North Circular Road Blues, influenced by the raw energy of the Chicago Blues and Utah, a hauntingly beautiful Native American Indian melody, O'Dwyer's compositions draw the listener in through their story-telling character. She has many CD recordings to her credit both as performer and as composer/arranger.