Although the first Orcas Island Writers Festival, Sept. 4 – 7, has attracted a diverse group of authors from all over Washington State and as far away as Alaska and Vermont, it has also been fortunate to have a number of renowned and published San Juan Islands’ authors participating.
“Orcas and Afar: Photographs and Poetry by Anita Leigh Holladay with Elli Blaine” is a mother and daughter show of photographs on exhibit at the Orcas Senior Center from Sept. 2 to 25. According to the artists, the photographs show the evidence of the human hand on the environment in obvious and subtle ways, from staircases to oyster beds to greenhouse flowers. There will be an artists’ reception and a poetry reading on Friday, Sept. 19, from 5 to 7 p.m. The poetry reading will start at approximately 5:30 p.m. and last for half-an-hour.
The Orcas Island Artworks features “Flowers with a View,” a series of pastel paintings by Josie Barrow, through the month of September.
All are invited to audition for “The Fantasticks” on Sunday, Sept. 7, from 4 to 7 p.m. or Monday, Sept. 8, from 6-8 p.m. in the OffCenter of the Orcas Center.
There will be a class offered about the medicinal values of easy-to-find plants Saturday, Aug. 23 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Orcas Island Senior Center.
Charley Thweatt will be playing acoustic music on Lopez during a concert, two workshops, and an appearance at the Teddy Bear Picnic this week.
Calls by coordinator Fred Enge for abstract artists have drawn a large response, with over three dozen would-be participants indicating their work will appear in Orcas Center’s main gallery show in September. The large number was a surprise to Enge, and indicated that the abstract discipline may have more active practitioners on our island than supposed.
Local dance artists Laura Ludwig and Maria Bullock will curate the 2008 Orcas Center Community Dance Concert to be held on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14 and 15.
Sharon Abreu, Michael Hurwicz and Marianne Lewis will be performing at the Emmanuel Church Brown Bag Concert on Aug. 27 at noon. Sharon’s popular concerts always feature a wide range of offerings, from folk to classical, including the original “Economology” by Michael Hurwicz, and Sharon’s own “The Left Hand of God,” vocals and guitar accompaniment by Sharon and Michael, with Sharon also on violin.
Local dance enthusiasts are eagerly warming up for the annual “End of Summer Blast.” The event is sponsored by Orcas Island Dance Club, but open to everyone. It will be held in the Orcas Center Madrona Room Friday, September 5, beginning at 8:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased for $10, at Kay’s Antiques, Eastsound.
The First Night! Concerts
ORCAS ISLAND
Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival’s Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann has planned a provocative season, centered around performances by musicians new to the Festival. Friedmann started program scheduling with harpist Heidi Lehwahlder accepting an invitation to perform, and the program grew from there. Festival “regulars” such as on Jon Kimura Parker on piano, Andrés Cárdenes and Monique Mead on violin, Karla Flygare on flute, David Harding on viola, Frank Kowalsky on clarinet, Page Smith and Anne Martindale Williams on cello will perform again, and new festival performers, Anna Polonsky, who will play piano, Chee-Yun, who will play violin, Page Smith, who will play cello, Karla Flygare, who plays flute, and the Miro String Quartet will join Lehwahlder at this year’s festival.
