Arts Access Newsletter Fall 2001

VSA arts of Minnesota invites you to celebrate with us the growing accessibility of the arts at the first Minnesota Arts Season Opener. The free event is Sunday, Sept. 9 at 2:00 at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. It will show -- through awards, performances and information how arts activities can indeed be enjoyed more thoroughly via accessible materials, American Sign Language interpreting, Audio Description and other tools.

The 2001 Minnesota Arts Access Awards will recognize five individuals and organizations that have made exemplary achievements in enabling people with disabilities to participate in the arts. They include:

• Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre, whose access programs were recognized nationally last year;
• Sister Kenny Institute, whose annual international art show has drawn attention to artists with disabilities;
• Nancy Hauser Dance Co., which has increasingly been involving the deaf and hard of hearing community in classes and performances;
• Helene Oppenheimer, whose DeafArt creations have merged sculpture, pottery and ASL;
• Deb Helmke-Wodtke, an arts instructor at Interact Center for Visual and Performing Arts.

The fifth annual Minnesota Arts Access Award recipients will each be presented an original artwork called the Jaehny, named in honor of Jaehn Clare, an artist and co-founder of the statewide organization. This year's Jaehnys are being created by Brently Michael Davis, a St. Paul sculptor.

The Arts Season Opener will feature performance excerpts from the upcoming theatre and dance season (each presented with American Sign Language interpreting and Audio Description).

The afternoon will also include refreshments and information about pre-show tactile tours, post-show discussions, transportation, playbills in accessible formats, performance schedules, door prizes, and sampler season tickets, which will offer shows at a variety of arts venues.

The Playwrights' Center has recently renovated its facility, an old church at 2301 Franklin Ave. E. in Minneapolis. The accessible entrance is off the parking lot. For more information, contact VSA arts of Minnesota.

Helene Oppenheimer of Woodbury and Renate Lien of Saint Paul painted one of the Charlie Brown statues for Peanuts on Parade in the city of Saint Paul, which was the birthplace of the late cartoonist Charles Schulz. Their version features DeafArt and was sponsored by Hamline University. The Schulz family, whose granddaughter is training to be an American Sign Language interpreter, purchased the statue and donated it to Oppenheimer. After the "Blockhead Party" in Saint Paul September 17-18, she will use it in her work promoting use of ASL through sculpture and pottery. For more info, go to ASL in Clay (http://home.earthlink.net/~aslclay).

The National Veterans Art Competition has named Don Taylor of Deer River a Gold Medal winner and Best of Show for his entry in the Korean War category. He was awarded a trip to the veterans visual and performing arts festival to be held in Prescott, Arizona, this October. Walter Edison of Minneapolis was another Gold Medal winner from Minnesota. Taylor, who has built furniture for the Concordia Language Camp near Bemidji, also won the Joan Hyde Encouragement Award at this spring's Sister Kenny Art Show.

Eric Peterson of Minneapolis received an Excellence in Directing award at the Minnesota Association of Community Theatres State Play Festival, held in St. Cloud in March. He directed and performed in an original play, Whenever Frances Looks Up, by Carol Hough of Detroit Lakes. The show was then remounted at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, August 3-12 in Minneapolis. Eric is a past president of VSA arts of Minnesota.

The visual artists team of Anne Krocak of Minneapolis and Marilyn Summers Cool was awarded a WARM/Jerome Scholarship of $1000 to take part in its 2001-02 Mentor Program. The WARM program supports emerging women artists. Anne was a 2000 winner of the VSA arts of Minnesota Artist Recognition Award.

Five Minnesota artists won major awards in the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Services' 39th Annual International Art Show by Artists with Disabilities, held April 19 to May 16 in Minneapolis. Winners included:

• Mary Carol Peterson of Pelican Rapids won the Best of Show award;
• Dennis M. Behr, Minneapolis: First place, Mixed Media Red Birds;
• Grace Lund, Shoreview: First place, Watercolor On Wings of Joy;
• Melissa McLean, Saint Paul: First place, Sculpture Bring Your Own Lampshade;
• Elizabeth Plummer, Saint Paul: First place, Photography Missouri Clydesdale.