Water is rapidly becoming the world's most important commodity, which is why the Sun Valley Center for the Arts devoted its latest multidisciplinary project to one of life's precious resources.
"Water" will bring visual artists, musicians, resource managers and environmentalists to the Wood River Valley to explore the beauty, power and transformational qualities of water.
"For those of us who live in the American West, water plays a role in every aspect of our economic and social life," said Kristin Poole, Sun Valley Center for the Arts artistic director. "Traditional industries from ranching to agriculture to mineral extraction are dependent on water. Recreational activities—boating, fishing, skiing, golf, hiking—all rely on water. Of course, in other parts of the world it's not only about economics—access to clean drinking water is a life-or-death proposition."
The project will include visual arts exhibitions, a lecture, a panel discussion, films, a musical performance, classes and artist residencies in area schools.
Opening at The Center in Ketchum on Monday, Sept. 13, "Water" will feature work by six contemporary artists. Each artist has been selected to convey some sensation or idea that is universal about relationships to this essential liquid.
Valley resident Jan Aronson will present precise and considerate drawings of water, speaking to its rhythm, visual patterns and meditative qualities. Kate Bright is a contemporary British artist whose oil paintings capture the wonder of water, which holds many different forms from sparkling nodules of snow to sheets of liquid glass. Dawn DeDeaux's sculptures and print works are elegant but powerful reminders of the force of water, including the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
Basia Irland focuses on the ecology of water and on making connections among people who live along a river's banks. Irland will be doing a "Gathering" for the Sun Valley Center show, which will culminate in a release of native seeds into the Big Wood River on Saturday, Nov. 6.
Megan Murphy's drawings are studies of water, place and the West. For the Sun Valley show, she has created a body of work based on photographs of Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty," in the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point, Utah. The photographs will also include images of clouds. And Anne Neely's colorful paintings reveal and celebrate the flowing layers of water that move unseen underground in aquifers and lakes.
The Center is offering free exhibition tours at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 23 and Thursday, Oct.7, and at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 28. The Center Gallery will also be open late, until 8 p.m., for Gallery Walk on Friday, Oct.8, during which time visitors can make a clay fish to contribute to Irland's installation.
On Saturday, Nov. 6, at 10 a.m., The Center will host a special closing ceremony, "A Gathering of Seeds: Big Wood River, Idaho." Irland will speak about her work and guide participants in the release of ice books and clay fish embedded with native riparian seeds into the Big Wood River.
In addition, a related exhibition in Hailey, "Source/Resource: Ranching and Water in the West," will be on view from Sept. 17 through Nov. 12. "Source/Resource" pairs Ben Ditto's photographs of water use today on ranches in Utah and Nevada with historic photos from the archives of the Idaho State Historical Society of ranching and irrigation in Idaho. For details, visit www.sunvalleycenter.org.
______________________________________________________
'Water' program schedule
Saturday, Sept. 18, 10 a.m.-noon
Short tour on watershed health in the Wood River Valley with Jon Marvel, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project. The tour is $15 for center members and $20 for nonmembers.
Saturday, Sept. 18, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
A class on "Trout Illustrations"with Boise artist and fly fisherman Josh Udesen. The class is $50 for center members and $100 for nonmembers.
Thursday, Sept. 23, 6:30 p.m.
The Center in Ketchum will have a free screening of the documentary film "Tapped" at The Center in Ketchum. The film is a behind-the-scenes look into the unseen world of an industry that aims to privatize water.
Thursday, Oct. 14, 6 p.m.
Area water experts will share their perspectives on the most pressing water issues facing the Wood River Valley community for a free panel discussion at The Center in Ketchum.
Thursday, Oct. 21, 6 p.m.
A screening of the film "Flow: For the Love of Water" will take place at The Community School theater in Sun Valley. The award-winning documentary investigates what many experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st century, the world water crisis.
Saturday, Oct. 23, 3-5 p.m.
Family Day with free drop-in family activities will take place at The Center in Ketchum.
Friday, Oct. 29, 6:30 p.m.
Sam Lardner & Barcelona will perform Flamenco-fusion music at the nexStage Theatre in Ketchum. Tickets are $20 for center members and $30 for non-members.
Thursday, Nov. 4, 6:30 p.m.
Maude Barlow, founder of Blue Planet Project and former senior advisor on water to the president of the U.N. General Assembly, will speak about "global water justice" at the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood in Ketchum. Tickets are $25 for center members and $35 for nonmembers.
For details and to buy tickets or register for classes, visit www.sunvalleycenter.org.
Sabina Dana Plasse: splasse@mtexpress.com
“Water Series No. 19”Jan Aronson, 2008, graphite on paper, courtesy of the artist and Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum.
