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Author: Susan Viebrock

[click "Play" to hear David Feela and Kierstin Bridger talk about poetry and the prize]

 

Mark Fischer prize Telluride Arts (telluride council for the arts and humanities) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Mark Fischer Poetry Prize. Join the poets for a special poetry reading and celebration. The event takes place Friday, May 20, 7 p.m., The Steaming Bean.

Started by former Telluride Arts director and Talking Gourds Grand Poobah Art Goodtimes in 1997 and sustained by Mark’s widow Elaine Fischer and the Fischer family, the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize is named in the memory of Telluride’s much-loved poet, lawyer, skier, and raconteur.

Mark Fischer was a daring experimenter, who combined a polyglot’s command of languages with a quirky sense of humor and a passion for obtuse words. In that spirit, prizes given in his name have been awarded to the entries whose work best exhibits the qualities found in Mark's "squibbles": originality, novelty, complex meaning, linguistic skill and wit. The wilder the better. Poet David Feela judged this year's winners from among the 70 entries submitted from the Four Corners.

18 May, 2011 /

[click "Play" to hear Ian Cheney's conversation with Susan]

 

Ian Cheney Wicked Delicate is one helluva compliment paid to a good blueberry pie in the state of Maine, one of the two addresses (the other is Massachusetts)  where Ian Cheney grew up. It is also the name of the documentary film advocacy project founded in 2006 by Ian and Curt Ellis.

Under the auspices of Wicked Delicate, Ian and Curt, fellow graduates of Yale, co-created, co-produced and co-starred in the feature documentary "King Corn," granted a George Foster Peabody Award in 2009. "King Corn" follows Ian and Curt as they discover where America's food comes from when they plant a single acre of corn and follow it from seed to dinner plate.

18 May, 2011 /
[click "Play", Jagged Edge's Erik Dalton speaks with Susan]

 

Kayak swap Friday, May 20, 7 p.m., Telluride's Jagged Edge hosts a movie night. The featured film is Young Gun Production's "Source."  Saturday, May 21, 9 a.m. to close, the store hosts a river gear and kayak swap. Both events are fundraisers for the San Miguel Whitewater Association, Telluride's local paddling/whitewater club.

"Source" provides unique insight into the lives of some of the biggest names in kayaking, their appreciation for diverse and challenging rivers and what keeps them up at night. We follow them on their global journey to experience new cultures from Vietnam to the high Sierras, meet new people, and, of course, push their limits in spectacular whitewater. Experience global first descents, explore new heights in freestyle, and witness the descent of the tallest waterfall ever paddled. “Source” captures stunning action in impossible locations.

18 May, 2011 /
 Rick Silverman, the former director of Mountainfilm in Telluride – the 33rd annual event starts next week, May 27 – really started something, when, in the mid-1990s, he showed a film by Adrian and Roko Belic. "Genghis Blue" is the heart-warming story of a Tuvan throat-singer Kongar-ol-Ondar and a blind San Franciscan bluesman, Paul Pena, who taught himself to throat sing, a popular form of entertainment in southern Siberia. In 2009, Mountainfilm's current director, David Holbrooke, asked the brothers and the "Elvis of Tuva" to return to town for a program encore.

Tuvan throat singing and the people who create the unique sound became a popular form of entertainment around these parts. Now it's the Sheridan Arts Foundation's inning.

 

On Thursday, May 19, 6 p.m., the Sheridan Opera House welcomes Alash, a quartet of Tuvan throat singers.

17 May, 2011 /

Andrea, Tunnel to Towers Mud season in Telluride ends with Memorial Weekend, May 27 – May 30, with the coming together of the tribe for the celebration that opens the summer festival season: Mountainfilm in Telluride. What began as a homespun gathering of outdoor enthusiasts...

16 May, 2011 /
[click "Play", Susan speaks with Andrea Garbarini and Beth Gage]

 

Andrea in Rwanda
Andrea Garbarini in Rwanda

The events of 9/11 marked a turning point in the history of our country: America lost its innocence. Even in Telluride we no longer lived in splendid isolation from the violence that  impacts lives across the globe every single day. Suddenly, violently, our corner of the Big Blue Marble acquired a discernible crack. We became vulnerable. 

For the families who lost loved ones, the implications of the tragedy of 9/11 go way beyond the geopolitical to profoundly personal. And the recent execution of Osama Bin Laden does not change much. Terrorism with a capital "T" has entered our vocabulary and there is still no turning back.

A new documentary by Telluride locals George & Beth Gage, "From the Ground Up," is a tribute to those people, telling the story of five widows of  FDNY firefighters, men who lost their lives trying to save others. In just a half hour, the film gives depth and breadth to Mountainfilm's motto: "Celebrating Indomitable Spirit."

16 May, 2011 /

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Hilton Kelley]

 

Hilton Kelley Hilton Kelley speaks at Awareness in Action Symposium

Hilton Kelley, The Sierra Club's 2011 Goldman Environmental Prize winner for North America, is in town for Mountainfilm in Telluride, May 27 – May 30. He is scheduled to speak Friday, May 27, at the Moving Mountains Symposium in one of three afternoon breakout sessions,1:30 – 3:30 p.m., The Nugget Theatre.

Traditionally Mountainfilm's Moving Mountains Symposium has focused on a single issue or place: reintroduction of wolves into the West, Mongolia, energy, water, food, extinction, etc. But this year, with hot spots all over the world and our own country in hot water, festival director David Holbrooke concluded that talking about issues was simply not enough. He decided his event would model "Awareness Into Action."

15 May, 2011 /
[click "Play", Susan has a conversation with Will, Kate and Pia]

 

 

 

Pia at the Times Building 005 It's a game of fill in the blanks Telluride style and an example of synchronicity in action.

The initiative began with Will Thompson, owner of the Telluride Gallery of Fine Arts and an active member of the Telluride Merchants' Association.

Since the economic downturn, the need to deal with vacant real estate has been a challenge for business owners from coast to coast. From Seattle to Dayton, Chicago to Cleveland, they have turned to arts organizations and artists for colorful solutions. Empty spaces on Telluride's Main Street got Will's wheels turning.

14 May, 2011 /
[click "Play" to listen to Susan's conversation with Jeanne Mackenzie]

 

Jeanne Mackenzie Artistic immersions continue at Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts with guest instructor Jeanne Mackenzie. Her class, Plein Air Landscape Painting, takes place Monday – Thursday, June 20 – June 23, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Jeanne Mackenzie lives in a rural setting near Fort Collins, Colorado, where she is a founding members of the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters group. Jeanne holds a BA in art and teaching credential from San Diego State University. Her work has been featured in Southwest Art Magazine’s Best of the West, American Artist Workshop magazine and International Artist Magazine-Master Artists. Jeanne is on the staff of the Denver Art Museum, where she teaches color theory, composition and painting.

10 May, 2011 /
[click "Play" to listen to Dan Collins talking about the Telluride mapping project]

 

 

Telluride map Telluride's five-star Wilkinson Public Library and Telluride Institute board president Dan Collins introduces the region's Community Mapping Project. The event takes place Monday, May 9, 6 p.m., in the Library's Program Room. (Refreshments are served.)

Cartography is the study and practice of effectively communicating spatial information about reality in the form of maps. Dan's cartographic explorations involve developing a set of maps that fold into the Telluride Institute' s ongoing efforts around watershed and environmental education. But his current project pushes the boundaries of conventional map-making.

08 May, 2011 /