28th Annual Art & Artists Celebration
September 21, 2024 | 12pm-5pm
Join us at Franconia Sculpture Park on September 21, 2024 from 12pm-5pm for our 28th Annual Art & Artists Celebration! Experience a day filled with creativity and community, featuring free art-making workshops, a market pop-up curated by Ivonne Yanez, live performances, a special musical performance by the Oshkii Giizhik Singers, and an exclusive showcase of new work by artist Marlena Myles.
This is a free event with a $10/car suggested parking donation. Brick Oven Bus pizza food truck and Buna Coffee will be on site, and non-alcoholic beverages will be sold by Franconia Sculpture Park.
EVENT SCHEDULE
12-5pm: Textile & Screenprinting Drop-in Workshop
12-5pm: Artist Market Pop-up
12-5pm: Windchime Drop-in Workshop
12:30pm and 1:30pm: “Only Time” dance performance by Benny Olk & Scott Stafford
“Only Time” is a duet on the nature of flow – root to trunk, body to body, water to shore. From this foundation, performers physicalize their expression through embodiment of the soundscore. Devised, Choreographed and Performed by Benny Olk and Scott Stafford.
2pm: Ecological Tour by Torey Erin
Join our Prairie Artist-in-Residence Torey Erin for a Ecological Tour of Franconia. Torey will be sharing her extensive research of the park’s environmental history and what it means for Franconia’s future.
3pm: Performance by the Oshkii Giizhik Singers
Join us at the stage for a musical performance by the Oshkii Giizhik Singers.
4pm: Performance by Fairooz a
Join us at the stage for a musical performance by the Fairooz and the Dost Toast.
Market Pop-up curated by Ivonne Yanez
Our Market Pop-up will be occurring in the Driscoll Education Center. Featuring prints, clothing, and ceramics, the market is curated by Franconia’s Artist-in-Leadership, Ivonne Jasso Yanez. Inside the Education Center, visitors will be able to create their own textile design using various techniques including screenprinting!
Featured vendors include: Malini Basu, Meher K., Genie Tran, Nelson Liu, Double Slice Studio, Melissa Nyberg, and Mia Makes Things
Marlena Myles
Marlena Myles is a self-taught Native American (enrolled Spirit Lake Dakota & also Mohegan/Muscogee) artist located in St Paul, Minnesota. Her art brings modernity to Indigenous history, languages and oral traditions while using the land as a teacher. Growing up on her traditional Dakota homelands here in the Twin Cities, she enjoys using her artwork to teach Minnesotans of all backgrounds the Indigenous history of this place we call home.
Her professional work includes children’s books, augmented reality, murals, fabrics, animations and has shown her fine art in galleries such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Museum of Russian Art, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art to name a few. In 2022, she created the Google Doodle for Native American Heritage Month (November) to celebrate North American Indigenous Stickball.
She has installed three site-specific augmented reality public art installations: the Dakota Spirit Walk (Saint Paul), the Sacred Hoop Walk (Minnesota Landscape Arboretum) and the Wodakota Walk (Caponi Art Park). She owns a Dakota publishing company, Wíyouŋkihipi (We Are Capable) Productions, to create a wider platform that educates and honors the culture, language and history of Dakota people. In 2023, she was awarded the Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship, Joyce Award, Rise25 Mozilla Honoree and is a 2024 ALL ARTS Artist in Residence.
Marlena’s upcoming project at Franconia Sculpture Park is made possible with support from the Joyce Foundation.
Benny Olk and Scott Stafford
Benny Olk (he/him) is a performing artist based in Minneapolis with an interest in contemporizing and contextualizing American modern and post-modern dance. As a member of Lucinda Childs Dance Company, he performed reconstructions of pieces such as Dance and Available Light. He performed in reconstructions of works by Merce Cunningham, and has premiered works by Moriah Evans and Anthea Hamilton. His works There’s Only One Bed and There’s More Than One Bed with Tristan Koepke have been shown at SPACE in Portland, ME and Candy Box Dance Festival in Minneapolis. He recently was honored to be part of the Isolated Acts 2024 cohort at Red Eye Theater. Benny holds a BFA in Dance from NYU and an MA in New Performative Practices from Stockholm University of the Arts.
Scott Stafford (he / him) is a dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist based in Minneapolis. His choreographic inquiry lies in the pathway between feeling deeply and the expression that physicalizes the experience. His work has been presented across the United States – spanning contemporary art museums, theaters, universities, and national parks. His most recent collaborative duet, “Only Time”, was showcased in September, 2024 at the Detroit Institute of Arts as part of the Detroit Dance Festival. “Scott Stafford’s choreography shone with sweeping, luminous flow and pristine technique.” – Sheila Reagan, Star Tribune (2022). He believes expression is vital and accessible to every individual.
The Oshkii Giizhik Singers
Oshkii Giizhik Singers (OGS) are a group of women from the Fond du Lac/Duluth area Native American community who sing traditional and contemporary Anishinaabe songs while hand drumming. OGS were founded in 2006 and have recorded three albums, the first of which, “It is a New Day” was awarded a Native American Music Award for best traditional recording in 2009. The group roster has had over 50 different singers over the 16 years OGS has been together with the average number of singers on a given date being anywhere from 4 to 8.
Fairooz and the Dost Toast
gathering of friends coming together to strengthen their bonds and build a supportive
community. As for me, Fairooz, the singer, I love making music with friends.
Fairooz and Dost Toast are simply about friends uniting to make my dream of making music
together with friends in a new land, across continents, come true.” -Fairooz
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.