Arts announcements ~~ A service of your Arts Council ~~ Notices (2)

 

"Living in Lake County"
Theme Show - The Judge's Statement.

 

If you haven't made up your mind to enter your artwork for the "Living in Lake County" juried art show to be exhibited in the Main Street Gallery for the month of September, 2010. do it now with the encouragement from the words of our judge, Tom Zephyrs, and I quote "reach into your expressive and creative self and stay true to the things that you love about Living in Lake County", by expressing it in a work of art and entering it into the jury process."

 

Here's the full statement of our judge: "I'm looking forward to viewing and selecting for the Lake County Living theme show.  There are    a number of things that I will be noticing as I go through the judging process.  Of course, your work should pertain to Lake County Living but also I will be looking for a creative and well-presented work of art.  The concept/content of the piece and the qaulity of the craft and the composition will be considered...those elements that make for an engaging work of art.  So reach into your expressive and creative self and stay true to the things the YOU love about living in Lake County.  Whether you win an award or not, the great success will be that when you look at your piece in the show you'll be happy to say that you are pleased to be an artist living in beautiful Lake County."     

 

So now that you are-as Arnold says, all "pumped up", pickup your entry info from the Main Street Gallery, Lakeport, CA.  and paint what you know as true about Lake County Living.  Your effort could be rewarded by receiving either the "Judges'Award", or, the "People's Choice Award, both of which will be presented at the Main Street Gallery-Friday Night Fling, on September 3, 2010.
CONTACT:  
Ray Farrow, 278-0323
Richard Seisser, 274-9912

Carol Muske-Dukes, California’s Poet Laureate
from LakeCoNews

The poet laureate is charged with educating Californians about the many literary icons who have come from California and added to its cultural heritage.

She is also charged with encouraging a new generation of poets to take up the mantle of creative expression and bringing poetry to students who otherwise would have little opportunity to be exposed to it.

“Carol Muske-Dukes is an accomplished and decorated poet and author. Her commitment to the literary arts and passionate belief that poetry can transform lives will serve as an inspiration for all Californians,” Schwarzenegger said.

Muske-Dukes has been a professor of English at the University of Southern California (USC) since 1993, where she founded the graduate program in literature and creative writing in 1999 and served as director of the program until 2002.

She previously served as associate professor from 1991 to 1993, assistant professor from 1989 to 1991 and lecturer from 1984 to 1988 at USC.

From 1972 to 1974, Muske-Dukes founded and taught in a creative writing program called “Free Space” at the Women’s House of Detention on Riker’s Island in New York which later became “Art Without Walls-Free Space.”

She is a regular critic for the New York Times Book Review and the LA Times Book Review. Muske-Dukes previously served as a poetry columnist for the LA Times Book Review from 2001 to 2004.

Muske-Dukes is the author of seven books of poetry, including her most recent work, “Sparrow,” which was a National Book Award finalist and “An Octave Above Thunder,” which was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

She has also written four novels, including Los Angeles Times bestseller “Channeling Mark Twain” and two collections of essays. Her collection “Married to the Icepick Killer: A Poet in Hollywood” was listed in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Top 100 Books of 2002.

In addition to her teaching positions and numerous books, Muske-Dukes has also been anthologized widely, including credits in Best American Poems, 100 Great Poems by Women, MotherSongs and others. Her list of awards and accomplishments includes a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, the Ingram-Merrill Fellowship, the Witter Bynner Award from the Library of Congress, the Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America, five pushcart prizes and the WriteGirl Bold Ink Award.

“I am truly honored to be named California’s poet laureate and I look forward to serving the people of California and poetry which reaches the hearts and imagination of young and old in both urban and remote areas of this diverse and dynamic state,” said Muske-Dukes.

Muske-Dukes, 62, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and earned a Master of Arts degree in English and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a bachelor of arts degree in English from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

“Carol Muske-Dukes is a distinguished writer who has greatly influenced the world of literary arts in California and throughout the world. Gov. Schwarzenegger has chosen Carol from a list of accomplished and well-known writers and The California Arts Council looks forward to working with her in the future,” said California Arts Council Director Muriel Johnson.

The California poet laureate works in conjunction with the California Arts Council to bring the poetic arts to Californians and to California students who might otherwise have little opportunity to be exposed to poetry.

Before 2001, the position was unofficial and honorary, conferred by the legislature and held for a lifetime.

The poet laureate position was officially created by AB 113 by Assemblymember Fran Pavley and signed into law in 2001. Under this legislation, the California Arts Council solicits nominations for the position and then recommends four candidates to the governor.

From these nominees the governor chooses the poet laureate and he or she is confirmed by the Senate. Compensation is $10,000 to be paid over the course of the two-year term. Muske-Dukes is a Democrat.

California has given the world some of its greatest writers and most influential works; John Steinbeck brought to life many regions of California — from the Central Valley in “The Grapes of Wrath” to Monterey in “Cannery Row” — in his immense body of work; Allen Ginsberg became synonymous with San Francisco while leading the charge of the Beat Generation with his most famous poem, “Howl”; and Raymond Carver revitalized the short story genre in the late 20th century.

The role of the California poet laureate is to spread the art of poetry from classrooms to boardrooms across the state, to inspire an emerging generation of literary artists and to educate all Californians about the many poets and authors who have influenced our great state through creative literary expression.

"Like jazz, Al Young is an original American voice."

-- Muriel Johnson, Director, California Arts Council on the appointment of Al Young as California Poet Laureate.

Underscoring the importance of poetry and the literary arts, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on May 12th 2005 appointed Al Young as California's Poet Laureate.

Good article about Al Young from the San Diego Reader

http//www.sdreader.com/published/2006-03-02/reading.html

More information about Al Young and the Poet Laureate Program:

Governor's Press Release

Al Young's Personal Website:

http://www.AlYoung.org

NPR Poet Laureate Radio Broadcast:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4657717

Program Background and Overview

http://www.cac.ca.gov/?id=239

Al Young, the California Poet Laureate, will serve a term of two years beginning this spring.

Californians can now easily purchase the Arts license plate online
by simply clicking <https://vrir.dmv.ca.gov/ipp/ippMain.jsp>. The DMV Website also accepts online orders for personalized license plates containing special combination of letters and numbers selected by the applicant. Applicants can test various combinations of letters and numbers on the interactive Website to find out instantly which ones have already been selected. With more than 88,000 plates sold, the Arts license plate is the number one specialty license plate in California and purchase of the plate helps fund arts education programs in schools and communities throughout the state.

EMBRACE THE WORLD,
a passionate, biased review

When we listen to music, we tend to listen to the same kind of music most of the time. It is the music that has the power to send us where we want to go, and we try to get sent there once again. But it tends to thin out with time, obeying the law of diminishing returns. A masterpiece can easily become background, even rock and Bach can, I must admit.

On Tuesday night my musical habits fell to pieces. I attended the Embrace the World concert at Robinson Rancheria, and my ears opened right up. Just like the rest of the audience, I got sent.

It's pretty hard to describe Embrace the World. I had read that it would be music from around the world, played by a wildly international troupe of musicians, and I had encouraged everyone I know to go. Frankly, I was expecting a sampler of this music and that, some Chinese music, some Iranian music, and so on. Interesting and educational, certainly, and some of it good, some just so outside my experience I wouldn't really get it. But that is not at all what Embrace the World gave us.