Connecting through Creativity with our Local History, Culture, and Ecology

Connecting through Creativity with our Local History, Culture, and Ecology 

FREE 3-Day Stand-Alone Workshops

June 19 – 21, 2021 Rain or Shine

Drop-Ins Welcome – No Registration On Workshop Day

All Ages – Adults/Teens/Children

Composer/Director/Multidisciplinary Artist/ Historian JG Everest will lead a three-day series of stand-alone workshops that will nourish the creative spirit through poetry, photography, music, and an interactive exhibit.

Workshops will take place near the Land O’ Lakes Community Park Pavilion and Walking Trail (located behind the Northern Waters Museum) and geared for all ages. Participants may take part in one day, two days, or all three workshops. The series will culminate in a free interactive exhibit that will incorporate poems, photographs, and music that students developed in the previous workshops.

Connections through Photography – Saturday, June 19, 2021 (10 AM – 1 PM). Free.  

After a short guided nature walk incorporating local history, acclaimed photographer Mark Schermeister leads an outdoor, site-specific workshop exploring the ways photography can open our eyes to hidden magic, the present, and the past. Open to all ages and abilities. Participants bring their own smartphone with a camera to take their own photos to share with each other and contribute to the larger Sound Garden installation.

Connections through Music – Saturday, June 19, 2021 (3 PM – 5 PM). Free. 

Composer / Director JG Everest will lead participants in a series of listening exercises and sound-making activities that bring our attention to the existing aural ecosystem of the site, and the ways that spatial layers of sound can affect our sense of scale, proximity, and location. Together, we will develop group and individual score ideas for live performances on Make Music Day. We will explore elements of texture, harmony, and rhythm, in a series of playful improvisations throughout the space. No instrument or prior formal musical training required, but participants can bring their own instruments in and / or play some of the instruments provided.

Connections through Poetry – Sunday, June 20, 2021 (12 PM – 3 PM). Free.

After a short guided nature walk and history talk, acclaimed local poet J.K. Roche shares her creative approach and the role of nature in her writing process, before opening up the workshop for participants to find a favorite spot and experiment with their own writing and reflection, right there in nature. Open to all ages and abilities. Poems, stories, and sketches can be shared with the group as well as a part of the site-specific Sound Garden installation for Make Music Day. Bring your own notebook and writing tool.

Connections through Interactive Exhibit – Monday, June 21, 2021 (Drop-in anytime between 11 AM – 4 PM). Free. 

As a culmination of LOLA Arts Connecting through Creativity with our Local History, Culture, and Ecology workshop series led by Composer/Director/Multidisciplinary Artist/ Historian JG Everest, an interactive sound garden will be installed in Land O’ Lakes, WI for one day only. The exhibit will include poetry, photography and, music developed in the weekend workshops.  Part of the exhibit will include specifically tuned wind chimes that participants will be able to play as they wander through the exhibit, making music. This is part of the LOLA Arts Make Music Day celebration.

Bio: JG Everest loves to find new ways to more deeply connect us to specific places and the natural world. As an artist, he creates immersive site-specific sound and performance installations that connect the histories, ecology, and cultures of places and communities, using spatial sound design as an integral compositional element.  He has worked as a music director and performer for many projects and performing ensembles. He regularly teaches music and sound design and listening approaches to students, artists, and musicians of varied backgrounds, in workshops, classes, and private lessons. He is a 2019 McKnight Artist Composer Fellow.

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