Poets and artists welcome visitors

 

Last updated 2/19/2019 at Noon

TL Brown

Poet Aurora Masum-Javed and artist Larry Krone enjoy the “magical” winter welcome at Caldera.

Nine artists and writers will share their work this Saturday at Open Studios for Caldera's AiR (Artists in Residence) program. Guests can hear new poetry, see works in progress, meet the residents, and tour studios on the shores of Blue Lake.

"Amazing," says poet Aurora Masum-Javed of her residency at Caldera. "It's so magical."

Residency programs nourish artists and other creatives by providing space and time specifically for creating their work. Yaddo, an East Coast residency, is famous for its social scene and cocktails. Northwest residencies like Hypatia-in-the-Woods, Soapstone, and Signal Fire have been treasured for their remote, natural locations.

Caldera combines the two modes. Artists in residence find plenty of solitude, living and working in simple cabins, dorm rooms, and private studios. They hike the lonely hills of Deschutes National Forest outside their doors.

Yet community also develops. Residents share group meals once a week. They may meet up in the Brad Cloepfil-designed Hearth Building, cooking lunch, rehearsing with a grand piano, or hanging out in the library.

Masum-Javed says the combination of solitude and companionship of other artists gives her "a contagious feeling of permission."

Winner of the Winter Tangerine Award, Masum-Javed was a finalist for the Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize and the BWR Flash Prose Contest. She was also a Pushcart Prize nominee.

After teaching for about 10 years, Masum-Javed saved enough money to write intensively for a year or so, residency-hopping as she goes.

She plans to share new work from a collection of poems focused on her relationship with her mother, a physicist and single mom. Exploring the political identity of daughterhood shapes the work.

"I feel like it positions you in a particular way," Masum-Javed muses. "It seems like daughters often take up the brunt of responsibility for their parents, caregiving, receiving social expectation and parental expectation-and the collision of those things."

Saturday's Open Studios will also feature country crooner and House of Larréon fashion designer Larry Krone (see sidebar).

Other artists include Abigail Chabitnoy, a 2016 Peripheral Poets fellow. A member of the Tangirnaq Native Village in Kodiak, Alaska, Chabitnoy lives in Colorado, where she works to support indigenous self-determination.

Self-described "border rat" Rubén García Marrufo has produced feature films and short experimental videos. The work "focuses on the aftermath of borders, bilinguality, and body instrumentality."

Three artists from Minneapolis are in residence this month. Sarah Abdel-Jelil works with dance and film, combining slow movement with time-lapse video techniques.

Gisell Calderón brings a DIY/punk/underground sensibility to her work in disciplines spanning video, writing, 35mm photography, and music. Textiles, printmaking, and installation enable Ian Hanesworth to investigate "systems of reciprocity and the malleability of queer identity through material explorations."

Portland performer, writer, and artist Maximiliano is also in residence. He is a 2019 Oregon Arts Commission individual artist fellow, and collaborator on the "performance x fashion" project Cvllejerx and the radical art space Nat Turner Project.

Todd Oldham

Larry Krone.

Also from Portland comes writer, educator, and community organizer Jamila Osman, whose writing has appeared everywhere from Teen Vogue to Aljazeera.

AiR Open Studios is free of charge and takes place Saturday, February 23 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Readings, performances, and artist studio tours begin at 1 p.m., preceded by snacks and coffee.

Caldera is located 16 miles west of Sisters off Highway 20 at 31500 Blue Lake Dr. Turn down SW Suttle Lake Loop, drive two miles to Caldera's gate, and follow signs to the Hearth Building.

The final AiR Open Studios event this season is slated for March 23. Additional information is available at www.calderaarts.org.

 

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