Friday, June 4, 2004

Hailey conference features experts in arts

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By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer

The Idaho Commission on the Arts, Arts Northwest, the Idaho Department of Commerce and the Wood River Arts Alliance present "Merge: Idaho’s Regional Conference on Arts" next week in Hailey. The daylong conference is being held for artists and art organizations at the Community Campus on Wednesday, June 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. A continental breakfast will be served at 7:30 a.m.

Seattle’s dance steps on Broadway by Jack Mackie.

The purpose of the conference is to introduce the audience to a wide range of possibilities and ideas to further the arts in the Wood River Valley.

The keynote address, which takes place from approximately 12:30 to 1:15 p.m., is "Towards a Civic Art" by Jack Mackie, an artist, designer and urban redevelopment consultant.

Mackie has participated in a wide range of major urban redevelopment and new construction projects over the course of 23 years of practice in the discipline of public art.

These include serving as lead design team artist for Downtown Seattle Transit Project; project artist for the Santa Clara County, Calif., light rail project; design team member with MBM Arquitects; and lead artist for American Airlines and Miami International Airport for the new 47-gate international terminal.

"A lot of us from this area saw him at the Arts Matters conference sponsored by IDCA in Boise last year," Wood River Arts Alliance President Claudia McCain said.

"I was so fired up by his talk, I came back and presented a lot of it to the Arts Alliance. I thought we should do this here."

His projects have included creating the famous dance steps on Broadway Avenue in Seattle. The bronze cast shoe prints—inlaid into the sidewalk in eight dance-step patterns—were done in 1982.

McCain said he subscribes to the idea that any piece of public installation from manhole covers to parking meters and benches to transformers can be painted, decorated and enhanced.

"It’s all done in very innovative and interesting ways," she said. "It’s just fabulous stuff. Color and character enhance the things we have to have in our communities."

Workshops and breakout sessions will also be held. A sampling of these titles are: Traveling for Culture; What is Your Audience Doing Tonight?; Artists in Schools, and From White Walks to Sidewalk Grays. Each workshop is led by a successful practitioner in the field.

Tickets are $25 for a full day or $15 for lunch only. To register, send a check with name and information to the Wood River Arts Alliance, Box 4030, Ketchum, ID 83340.

For more information, contact Claudia McCain [email protected] or Idaho Commission on the Arts Community Development Director Delta Smith 800-ART-FUND.

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