Fifth annual arts festival enters new theater

PALMER — The annual Machetanz Arts Festival, named for Alaskan artist Fred Machetanz, begins next week at Mat-Su College Tuesday, June 2 through Sunday, June 7.

“The 5th annual festival is bigger and better than ever,” Felicia Desimini, assistant professor of art at Mat-Su College and festival director, wrote in an email.

This is the first year, for example, that the festival committee of Desimini, Rex Bluestone, Matt Sale and Helen Sarkissian — as well as the participants and instructors — will be able to make use of the new theater.

In addition to teaching the first workshop of the festival this year, “Contemporary Landscape and Figurative Painting,” Palmer-grown artist and educator Dean Larson will give a free presentation on his process of creating art Thursday, June 4 in the theater.

Among the other “exciting additions to the festival” made possible by the addition of the theater, Desimini said, are a spoken word workshop on Wednesday and poetry slam event on Saturday of next week. Trey Josey, director of the Anchorage-based, art education group Diff3r3nt By D3sign, will host the workshop for high school students and an event for all poets that is “contemporary, important, powerful and meaningful,” Desimini said.

The writing workshops also are new, thanks to the collaborative effort between Morgan Grey of 49 Writers Inc., the Alaska Humanities Forum, and Desimini.

Educator and musician Elizabeth Barton’s “SoundLab” is another newcomer to the festival. In the workshop, attendees will create music from “found” objects, often used to create visual art through repurposing.

“This is the first time,” Desimini wrote, “that I have ever encountered found objects as musical artistry! We think this will be a fabulous experience for all.”

Also new this year are four, two-day workshops: Digital Photography with Jim Frei, Portrait Painting with Carl Abken, Intermediate Watercolor with Fairbanks artist Vladimir Zhikhartsev and Invitation to Drawing with Tom Nixon, also of Fairbanks. Two half-day “Zentangle” workshops, two silk-painting workshops, and two ceramics workshops — raku firing and handbuilding — also are new, Desimini said.

And, festival participants can watch Bryan McKimson work his magic with the festival’s brand new 3D printer in the Mat-Su College Atrium to produce topographical maps this weekend.

“We are very excited that Bryan McKimson, a recent graduate of Wasilla High, explains the workings of this technological advancement,” Desimini wrote.

Last but not least, the arts festival committee has added a mini film festival on Sunday, June 7. Nine independent films, seven of which are international, will be shown. Block I, beginning at 4 p.m. comprises four films and capitalizes on the recently popular zombie genre. Block II contains five films, including “Tolkein’s Road,” a short film about J.R.R. Tolkien’s journey to write “The Hobbit.”

Register online at matsu.alaska.edu/MAF.

Here is the list of events happening during the festival:

3D Printing Demonstration

Presenter: Bryan McKimson

June 5-6

Spoken Word Poetry Slam Workshop for Students 16-25

Instructor: Trey Josey

June 3, 2-5 p.m., or June 6, 7:30 p.m., optional performance

Portrait Painting with Carl Abken

Instructor: Carl Abken

Two-day workshop: June 5, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Digital Photography Workshop – Start to Finish

Instructor: Jim Frei

Two-day workshop: June 5, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Invitation to Drawing

Instructor: Tom Nixon

Two-day workshop: June 5, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Intermediate Watercolor Painting

Instructor: Vladimir Zhikhartsev

Two-day workshop: June 5, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Zentangle® Basics 101 Workshop

Instructor: Donna Jacobson

June 5, 2-5 p.m., or, June 6, 1:15-4 p.m.

Hand Building – Ceramics

Instructor: Carol Ryan-Aube

June 6, 9-11:45 a.m., or, 1:15-4 p.m.

Raku Firing Workshop

Instructor: Sandra Cook

June 6, 9-11:45 a.m., or, 1:15-4 p.m.

SoundLab

Instructor: Liz Barton

June 6, 9-11:45 a.m., or, 1:15-4 p.m.

Paint the Northern Lights on Silk

Instructor: Gina Murrow

June 6—9:00-11:45 a.m.

Paint Silk Like a Pro

Instructor: Gina Murrow

June 6, 1:15-4 p.m.

One day Featured Artist: Oil Painting – Cityscapes with Dean

Instructor: Dean M. Larson, M.Ed.

June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Discover the Magic of Embossing- Printmaking

Instructor: Marianne Wieland

June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Mosaic House Sign

Instructor: Karen Urroz

June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Monotype Printing with a Pin Press

Instructor: Garry Kaulitz

June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Beginning Watercolor

Instructor: Don Kolstad

June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Image-Making: Dyed Eggs

Instructor: Kay Coulson

June 6, 9-11:45 a.m.

Freestyle Egg Painting Workshop

Instructor: Kay Coulson

June 6, 1:15-4 p.m.

Mixed Media in Watercolor – (Quilt Sampler)

Instructor: Jean Shadrach

June 6, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Writers Panel: Is This the Golden Age of Alaskan Writing?

Panelists: Deb Vanasse, Don Rearden, Julie LeMay

June 6, 9-10:30 a.m.

Poetry: The Mysterious and the Obscure

Instructor: Julie Hungiville LeMay

June 6, 10:30 a.m.-noon

Unleashing the Screenwriter Within

Instructor: Don Rearden

June 6, 1-2:30 p.m.

Windows on Your Characters: Strategies for Compelling Fiction

Instructor: Deb Vanasse

June 6, 2:30-4 p.m.

Spoken Word Poetry Slam Workshop for Students

Instructor: Trey Josey

June 6, 7:30 p.m., Optional performance