October
2006
Kate Brown Film Chosen for NY Festival
"Ursa Dream," a six-minute animated film created by Mimbres Valley artist Kate Brown, has been selected by the New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) as one of eight movies shown in a special independent film program. "To The Point: Women Telling Stories through Media" is a joint project between NYWIFT and the Hamptons International Film Festival, now in its 14th year. Brown's film will be shown at the Hamptons festival, Oct. 18-22.
"This is an amazing honor as they only pick (around) 10 films," says Brown of NYWIFT, noting that the organization's honorary board of directors "starts with Lauren Bacall and ends with Liv Ullman, with every big-name New York woman entertainment figure in between!"
The Hamptons festival draws some 25,000 people each year, including heavy-hitter directors like Steven Soderburg and stars of both the big and small screen, such as Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Faye Dunaway, Kyra Sedgewick and Charlize Theron. Steven Spielberg is the festival group's special advisor. The Hamptons festival was founded to celebrate and showcase independent films—long, short, fiction and documentary—by "fresh voices" and offering diverse global perspectives.
Brown will travel to New York to promote "Ursa Dream," hoping to secure a distribution deal for her movie. The film—written, directed, animated and narrated by Brown—is the first movie of her production company, Fundamentalist Flowerchild Productions.
In the enigmatically animated short, a young girl in an unnamed tribe is drawn into a frenzied dance ceremony that changes her forever. Brown describes the film as "an intensely personal piece of animation, based on a dream that has guided me, in one way or another, for most of my adult life. Each frame was painted or drawn by me, often using techniques I developed in my work with clay."
"Ursa Dream" was produced by Michael Mideke, with music by Eric Sbar. The movie has been seen by thousands, Brown says, at showings in the US, Canada, Asia and Africa.
Currently, Brown is seeking sponsorship to help cover the cost of arranging a distribution deal for "Ursa Dream," and to position herself to raise sponsorship money for the second movie in the Ursa trilogy, which will explore the theme of exile, picking up where "Ursa Dream" ends. She plans to begin work on the new project in January 2007.
Currently, Brown has DVDs of the film available for sale ($15), as well as several sponsorship gifts: sets of greeting cards and small pottery bowls with an image of the film's namesake bear, as well as a poster and glossy 8x10 photos with still images from the movie.
"Ursa Dream" will be playing at Harry Benjamin's What's a Pot Shop, 300 N. Arizona St. in Silver City's downtown arts district, during the upcoming Weekend at the Galleries, Oct. 6-9.
For more information: www.ursadream.com, katebrown@gilanet.com, 536-9935.
Silver City Events
See "Weekend at the Galleries" participating galleries listing, beginning page A18, for opening receptions and exhibition details. Other arts events:
Dos Baristas Coffee Gallery will host a booksigning for western artist Robert "Shoofly" Shufelt, for Raised on Good Pasture (with Audrey Hawkins), and The Point of My Pencil by Robert Shufelt, Oct. 7, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
The StudioSpace and Gallery will exhibit oil, acrylic and watercolor paintings by Setta Smith Roberts Oct. 12-Nov. 15, with an opening reception for the artist Oct.13, 6-9 p.m. 109 N. Bullard St., Silver City, studiospace@jessgorell.com, 535-4548.
Las Cruces and Mesilla
Two local artists, Mayanna Howard and Rayma Claessen, will exhibit a selection of their works at Milagro Coffee y Espresso during the month of October. Howard, a watercolorist whose work includes predominantly adobe buildings, churches, windows and doors, uses a palette of southwestern colors. Claessen, well-known for her paintings of the Organ Mountains, will show her oil paintings of local fields, mountains and acequias. 1733 E. University Ave., 532-1042.
Laurel Weathersbee, local watermedia, fiber and collage artist, will demonstrate a variety of techniques using Yupo, a bright white synthetic paper developed decades ago in Japan, at the Las Cruces Arts Association meeting in the Dresp Room of the Branigan Library, Oct. 15, 2 p.m. Yupo, manufactured in the US as well as Japan, is relatively inexpensive, recyclable and waterproof. Its strength and durability make it archival as well. Weathersbee, current president of the southern chapter of the New Mexico Watercolor Society, is owner of the Teacup Garden Studio. Branigan Library, 200 E. Picacho, Las Cruces, 528-4000.
The Mesilla Valley Fine Arts Gallery will feature Caryl Porter and Helga DeLisle, both multimedia artists, as its artists for October. 2470 Calle de Guadalupe, in the historic Fountain Building,
522-2933.The Las Cruces Museum of Art will offer a series of free lectures and "art:21" PBS contemporary art education programs in October. Gallery talks by regional artists working in the same topical themes in the "art:21" PBS series will accompany the video presentations. On Oct. 12, guest sculptor Stephen Hanson will give a talk to accompany the program "Humor." On Oct. 26, painter Jacklyn St.Aubyn will accompany the program "Memory." Both presentations are at 10 a.m. in the Main Gallery. An accompanying exhibit, "New Voices," will feature works by honors art students from Las Cruces, Onate and Mayfield High Schools who will participate in workshops at the museum; it's on display Oct. 4 through Nov. 18.
"Reflections," a collaborative effort between two New Mexican printmaking organizations, La Prensa/Southwest Printmakers from the southwestern region and New Mexico Printmakers of Santa Fe, will be on exhibit in the Museum of Arts' Director's Gallery Oct. 4-28, with an opening reception for the artists Oct. 6, 5-7 p.m. 490 N. Water St., in the downtown mall, museums.las-cruces.org, 541-2137.
Three local artists working in diverse media will present "The Shaman's World" at the Tombaugh Gallery of the Unitarian-Universalist Church, with an opening reception for the artists Oct. 7, 2-4 p.m. Lynn Unangst, a fiber artist, will show her "spirit minders," three-dimensional figures created from natural desert found objects, fabrics and special fetish items. Ceramicist Valice Raffi will show a variety of hand-built ceramic items, some inspired by ancient Pueblo designs, and ceramic "medicine bags" in a range of sizes and embellished with beadwork. Laurel Weathersbee, a watermedia artist, will show a selection of landscapes created from torn and cut watercolor papers, expressing local desert landscape, "the Shaman's World," in vibrant colors and textures. The exhibit runs through Oct. 31. Gallery hours are Monday, Wednesday Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. 2000 S. Solano, 522-7281.
"Mesilla Valley Skies," new landscapes by Julie Ford Oliver, opens at the Patio Art Gallery with a reception for the artist Oct. 7, 1-4 p.m. It is Oliver's first all-landscape show. University and El Paseo, Mesilla, www.patioartgallery.com, 541-7401.
Columbus
The new Art on the Western Edge Gallery at Windwalker Guest Ranch Bed and Breakfast (Hwy. 11, mile marker 7, north of Columbus) will feature the work of local tile artisan Diana LeMarbe, with an opening reception Oct. 19 and a three-day tile-making workshop. Participants will create their own desert-scape art tile using various underglazes. For registration and information call
642-3641.