Icicle Arts’ After School Arts Program Is Now Enrolling

Photo by Reed Carlson

Icicle Arts announces the return of the After School Arts Program in Leavenworth and Cashmere, starting in November. Students may enroll now for fall, winter, and spring sessions at Osborn Elementary and at Cashmere United Methodist Church (walking distance from all Cashmere schools). The once-weekly multi-disciplinary arts program, taught by Andrea Locke and special guest artists, is focused on providing affordable and professional arts education and inspiring students to continue their own personal exploration and study of arts throughout their lives.

In its first program year (January-June 2010), Icicle Arts’ After School Arts Program included first-grade through twelfth-grade students by offering weekly programming in various art forms ranging from visual to performing arts to two levels of participants. Serving over 100 students in its first six months, the results of the program were tangible and positive. Participating families reported through an online survey the following benefits from the program: increased academic achievement (42.9% elementary, 87.5% middle/high school) and improved mood, motivation, ability to focus, communication skills, self-esteem, and tolerance for others (42.9% elementary, 71.5% middle/high school).

The fall mini-session of Icicle Arts’ After School Arts Program will be held from November to December and will be offered to two levels of students. Level one will be offered to third, fourth, and fifth graders at Leavenworth’s Osborn Elementary School from 2:45-4:45 PM on Tuesdays (snack will be provided). Level two will be offered in Cashmere at the United Methodist Church’s upstairs art room from 3:30-5 on Thursdays. Level two students will choose from a variety of arts topics and Icicle Arts staff will work with the students to create a custom curriculum specific to the students’ interests, including fun field trips. All sessions are subject to minimum enrollment. Students must register in advance: online at iciclearts.org or by calling (509) 548-2278. Wenatchee locations are currently under exploration, interested schools should contact Icicle Arts.

Icicle Arts Program Coordinator Andrea Locke holds a B.S. in Dance from The University of Idaho, and will create a broad curriculum including a variety of art forms. Past topics included dance and choreography with Managing Director and professional dancer/choreographer Anna James Miller, theater with guest artist Shana Pennington-Baird (Seattle), papermaking with guest artist Jan Johnston (Leavenworth), printmaking, cartooning, collage, recycled art, and ceramics.

The cost to participate in Icicle Arts’ After School Arts Program is $10/week, based on the length of the session. Fall session cost is $40 for Leavenworth and $50 for Cashmere. Students who are eligible for free/reduced lunch programs and are interested in applying for a scholarship should contact Icicle Arts. Register for both sessions now online at iciclearts.org or by calling (509) 548-2278.

This year’s After School Arts Program is made possible by a $5,000 gift from Fred Johnson in support of the Cashmere program and by individual community member contributions. To support the program and help local children experience hands-on arts activities please contact Icicle Arts.

Call to Artists: Icicle Prize in Recycled Art!

Icicle Arts is pleased to announce the 2011 Icicle Arts Festival, featuring the Icicle Prize in Recycled Art, sponsored by the Icicle Fund. This juried exhibition will be installed by Icicle Arts on the grounds of Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort and Barn Beach Reserve in Leavenworth, Washington. Eligible artwork must be made entirely or mostly of materials from the trash. Eligible artists must live in Chelan, Douglas, Grant or Okanogan County.

Entry forms are available at iciclearts.org or by calling (509) 548-2278. Artists of all ages may submit artwork in the following categories: 2-dimensional (grand prize $250, second prize $100), 3-dimensional (grand prize $250, second prize $100), installation (grand prize $250), wearable (grand prize $250, second prize$100, third prize $50), senior student: age 11-18 (grand prize$50, second prize $25), junior student: age 10 and under (grand prize$50, second prize $25). Guest judges are regional professional artists who use recycled materials as their primary art medium, not residing in the four counties. Confirmed judges include Marita Dingus (represented by the Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle), Maria Ruano (of Bedrock Industries Seattle), and Diane Kurzyna aka Ruby Re-Usable (Olympia), and Ross Palmer Beecher. Other judges will be announced soon. The deadline to enter artwork is August 15; artwork will be installed August 26 and 27 and remain on display through the month of September.

Icicle Arts is also inviting portfolio submissions from photographers residing in the four counties who are interested in photographing the exhibit for a $500 stipend. Photographs will be published in a full-color exhibit book, available for purchase at the festival, and on print/web media, with credit to the photographer. Application materials are available at iciclearts.org or by calling (509) 548-2278 and applications will be accepted until August 15.

Icicle Arts Festival dates are September 2-11, 2011 and events include a special exhibit of guest judge artwork at Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center with an opening on September 2 during Wenatchee First Friday, an art walk and reception at Sleeping Lady on Friday, September 9, workshops by guest judges at Barn Beach Reserve in Leavenworth on Saturday, September 10, a Songwriters’ Showcase performance featuring 2010 Icicle Prize grand prize winner Beth Whitney along with Icicle Prize second and third place winners Brian McMahon and Sandy Vaughn on Saturday, September 10 at Icicle Creek Music Center’s Canyon Wren Recital Hall at 7PM, and the Main Stage Event: “Trash to Fash” Runway & Awards Show at Icicle Creek Music Center’s Canyon Wren Recital Hall on Sunday, September 11, at 4pm.

Tickets to the Showcase and Main Stage shows are available through iciclearts.org and are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. There is a special $10 rate for students and seniors 65 and over (in advance and at the door). Seating is limited at the venue, and advance purchase is recommended. For more information on Icicle Arts Festival visit iciclearts.org or call (509) 548-2278.

Lance Dooley featured at Icicle Arts Gallery next!

Icicle Arts Gallery presents “Hand, Heart, and Head,” featuring figurative sculptures and drawings by East Wenatchee artist and Wenatchee Valley College faculty member Lance Dooley. The show opens on July 19 and will be on display until August 22. A “Meet the Artist” reception will be held on Friday, July 22, from 5PM to 7PM with free admission, refreshments, and local wines. The gallery is located at Barn Beach Reserve - 347 Division Street in downtown Leavenworth. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11AM to 4PM and by appointment.

Lance was born in 1968 to a family of traveling Americans in Thailand. His family then spent 7 years in Tehran before returning to the father's hometown in Oroville, Washington and then moving to East Wenatchee, WA where he graduated from High School with the “Artist of the Year” award. Lance served for four years in the United States Army, mostly in Wurzburg, Germany where he enjoyed touring the countryside and central Europe in his old beat-up 1979 Mazda and learned to speak German. After finishing military service in 1990, he attended and graduated from Wenatchee Valley College where he was awarded the President’s medal. He continued his education at Washington State University and graduated Cum Laude from the Electrical Engineering program. Lance then worked in Seattle for a number of years, while pursuing his artistic studies. When he bought his first house in 1999, he finally had his own art studio and began participating in regional art shows and embracing serious training in the visual arts. The rich infusion of cultures from different countries imprinted Lance and he always dreamed of going to the best art school in the world and developing the necessary skills to visually articulate facets of the society he lived in and other wanderlust adventures and experiences yet to come. That dream came true when he went to The Florence Academy of Art in the renaissance city of Florence, Italy and graduated in 2008 from the sculpting program directed by Robert Bodem. 

Lance is a student of nature and strives to represent that which is in front of him in a naturalistic way by drawing upon his classical training. His subject is the human form and he works extensively from live models. Lance minimizes projecting himself onto his work and attempts to capture the forms and emotions that emanate from each model he works with. Each person carries a lifetime of unique experiences and Lance’s goal is to illuminate this to the viewer. His mediums are charcoal on paper and sculpted clay that is molded and then cast into plaster or bronze. Each project is started with a series of drawings and charcoal studies in order to grasp the character of the model. When a pose and theme is selected, the project transitions into the sculptural phase, which entails creating a metallic armature that mimics the pose and gesture of the model. Clay is applied to the armature in a way to maximize the gesture and rhythms of the forms of the body. Surfacing of the clay varies from smooth to rough and textural, depending upon the feeling to be conveyed. The end result of the project is a representation of the model that often has lifelike qualities of its own, encouraging a high level of connectivity between the sculpture and the viewer. The sculptures fall into several themes such as; historical figures, religious/spiritual figures, fantasy subjects and commissioned pieces. In particular, a lifelong project is the study and investigation of entities known as angels, demons or fairies and how they may be one and the same entity that carries different names or labels in different societies.

Icicle Arts is accepting applications from artists interested in exhibiting their work in 2012. For more details and application information visit iciclearts.org or call (509) 548-2278. Icicle Arts Gallery is a program of Icicle Arts, North Central Washington’s arts alliance since 2004. To learn more, join as a member, and support the arts in North Central Washington, visit iciclearts.org or call (509) 548-2278.

Artwork by Seattle Artist April Richardson Next at Icicle Arts Gallery

Icicle Arts Gallery presents “From Weeds to Wildflowers,” featuring mixed media monotype prints by Seattle artist April Richardson. The exhibit opens on June 7 and will be on display until July 16, 2011.  A reception for the artist will be held on Friday, June 10, from 5PM to 7PM with free admission, refreshments, and local wines by donation. The gallery is located at Barn Beach Reserve - 347 Division Street in downtown Leavenworth. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11AM to 5PM and by appointment.    

As an artist, Richardson is intrigued by “life and death and everything in between. Continuity, repetition, adaptation to circumstance. Memory. What happens when light is limited or space is restricted, or there's too much of a good thing. What was here yesterday? What will be here tomorrow?” Her creative process starts with a drawing from life, and combines painting, printmaking, and collage to make mixed media monotypes; unique prints. Lush color, flowing lines and sensual curves and edges create a world within each piece. She applies thin layers of ink and paper and then scrapes or tears them away, rebuilding layer after layer to achieve depth and rich textures.  Paint and other surface treatments transform a print to a complex and evocative work of art.

Richardson’s work has been shown at numerous galleries around the Pacific Northwest and have been selected for collections at Swedish Medical Center, Oregon Health Sciences University, and Harborview Medical Center. She frequently participates in local area art festivals and activities at art museums such as Bellevue Arts Museum and Wing Luke Asian Museum. Richardson enjoys teaching classes and workshops to children and adults. She was recently a finalist for the Heritage Park Public Art Project and a Juror for the 57^th Annual American Association of University Women Art Competition.

Icicle Arts Gallery is a program of Icicle Arts, North Central Washington’s arts alliance since 2004. To learn more, join as a member, and support the arts in North Central Washington, visit iciclearts.org or call (509) 548-2278. View Richardson’s artwork online at aprilrichardsonartist.com and Icicle Arts Gallery online at iciclearts.org/gallery.

Artwork by Gretchen Daiber at Icicle Arts Gallery

Icicle Arts Gallery presents “Ocean to Altitude - Animal Studies in Stone and Bronze,” featuring original artworks by Leavenworth artist Gretchen Daiber.  The show opened on March 11 and will be on display until May 8.  A “Meet the Artist” reception will be held on Friday, March 18, from 5PM to 7PM with free admission, refreshments, and local wines from Cascadia Winery, Vin du Lac, Icicle Ridge Winery, and Wedge Mountain. The gallery is located at Barn Beach Reserve - 347 Division Street in downtown Leavenworth. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11AM to 4PM and by appointment.

Working as a fine artist for over 35 years takes dedication, determination and a true love of the process, and that is what Gretchen Daiber has done. Her focus has never deviated from her keen interest in representing her personal Pacific Northwest experience. As the daughter of Mountaineering legend and Seattle Mountain Rescue founder, Ome Daiber, Gretchen has always been totally at home in the outdoors. A keen student of all living things, her work reflects a deep connection to nature and the living creatures that inhabit her world. Interested in printmaking at the University of Washington, she later apprenticed with sculptor Tony Angell, and made a career change to sculpture in the 1980s. Much like her mentor, subject matter includes birds, animals, lizards, and seals - which Gretchen has studied first-hand and in great detail during her travels. The past 15 years have been spent wrestling with huge chunks of Icicle Valley granite, battling jack hammers and diamond blades, dust and heat, to produce dozens of gorgeous sculptures of native species including bears, salmon, river otters, weasels, wolves and ravens, some of which inhabit the grounds of Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort in Leavenworth. Moving and installing the finished commission is the ultimate challenge!

A passionate supporter of conservation efforts on behalf of the snow leopard since her residency at the Woodland Park Zoo in 1977, Gretchen was commissioned by the International Snow Leopard Trust in 2006 to honor its founder, Helen Freeman. The resulting life-size bronze sculpture in now installed at the Snow Leopard Exhibit in Seattle. Additional public sculptures are part of permanent collections in Wenatchee, Moses Lake, and Puyallup. A great supporter of the arts locally, Gretchen has given her time and talents to the Icicle Creek Music Center since its inception in 1996. A hard-working advocate for the appreciation of original fine art, she has helped organize several local artist groups, and attends receptions and gallery openings in support of her artist friends. In 1999 the Watershed Art Project was initiated by Gretchen, along with her mentor, Tony Angell, and two local artists, Cynthia Neely and Gretchen Rohde. The project introduced the general public to fifteen internationally renowned nature artists who visited and recorded the Wenatchee River Watershed during 2001.  Their finished work returned to two local galleries in 2002, with a portion of the Watershed Art collection being purchased and gifted to the Washington Audubon Society in 2003. As representational art goes in and out of style, Gretchen has remained true to her inner voice and determined to work with the forces of granite and bronze to produce a body of work that is both inspirational and heartwarming.

Icicle Arts Gallery is a program of Icicle Arts, North Central Washington’s arts alliance since 2004. To learn more, join as a member, and support the arts in North Central Washington, visit iciclearts.org or call (509) 548-2278.

"Outdoor Inspirations," Photographs by Marc Dilley

Icicle Arts Gallery presents “Outdoor Inspirations,” featuring photographs by Leavenworth photographer Marc Dilley. The show opened on January 14 and will be on display until March 6.

About the Artist
Marc Dilley was born in Los Angeles in 1951 and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He received a B.S. degree in Botany from Cal State Stanislaus and an M.S. in Plant Pathology from WSU. After working for the WSU Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center for 30 years and retiring in 2008 he now lives in Leavenworth with his wife Margareta. Dilley’s artistic influences include Jean Elaine Dilley, Ansel Adams, Marc Adamus, Tony Kuyper, Mark Metternich, and the music of Beethoven. Dilley’s photographs invoke a thoughtful reverence for nature. His interpretation of the traditional landscape is colorful, expressive, and awe inspiring.

“I am a photographer for one reason: to record the beauty of nature and interpret my feelings about it,” says Dilley, “This is what I attempt to achieve in my images: not merely to depict but to illuminate.  As a hiker, backpacker and climber for nearly 40 years, my experiences in the natural world have been my primary artistic influence. If I could not be in wilderness, I would not photograph; if I could not photograph, I would still be in wilderness. My challenge as a photographer/artist is to record as precise and accurate an image in the field as possible and then imbue that "raw" camera image with my personal impressions back in the studio. To give my images the emotional impact that I seek, each promising shot is subjected to the tool of the serious photographer - camera image software - to achieve my pre-visualized goal. With the exception of sensor dust, noise removal and some minor cloning, my adjustments are limited to luminosity and color.“

About the Gallery

The gallery is located at Barn Beach Reserve - 347 Division Street in downtown Leavenworth. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 11AM to 4PM and by appointment. 
Icicle Arts Gallery presents six solo shows per year and two special exhibits. For more information on the gallery, or to submit a show application visit iciclearts.org/gallery or call 509-548-2278.

Films in the Barn: “Who Does She Think She Is” - Jan 15, 7pm

Icicle Arts and Barn Beach Reserve continue their new “Films in the Barn” series on Saturday, January 15 at 7pm with “Who Does She Think She Is.” This riveting documentary by Academy Award-winning producer Pamela Tanner Boll features five bold women who navigate some of the most problematic intersections of our time: parenting and creativity, partnering and independence, economics and art. Through their lives Tanner Boll explores what it means to nurture children and family, and keep the creative fire burning within. “Can women follow their artistic instincts and still function as wives and mothers? Pamela Tanner Boll’s articulate documentary answers that question with a qualified “Yes.” -V.A. MUSETTO, The New York Post.

The screening will take place in “the barn” at Barn Beach Reserve - 347 Division Street in downtown Leavenworth.   Refreshments and local wines by Columbia Winery, Vin du Lac, Icicle Ridge Winery, and Wedge Mountain will be available. Tickets are by donation and are $5 for Icicle Arts and Barn Beach Reserve members and $7 for non-members - available by calling 509-548-2278 or reserve online now! Memberships are available at the door. All ticket proceeds benefit Icicle Arts and Barn Beach Reserve.