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Wednesday, March 21, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Sisters salutes…
Artists prepare for open studio event
By George Myers
Correspondent
PHOTO PROVIDED
The Sisters High School Choir turned in a stunning performance at the
Central Oregon District Choir Festival.
The Sisters High School
Concert Choir exceeded all
expectations at the Central
Oregon District Choir
Festival last Tuesday.
“The choir started the
school year with the success-
ful musical ʻCinderella’,”
said Choir Director Rick
Johnson. “We then focused
our energy on our Holiday
Showcase performance. In
January, we realized that
we were behind in start-
ing our festival music due
to the time we spent on the
musical. However, we were
prepared to dig in and do
our best. Due to many cir-
cumstances, there is not a
state qualifying Sky Em
League Choir Festival.
After discussing several
festival possibilities with
the students, we decided to
attend the Central Oregon
Choir Festival — which is
a festival for another OSAA
league. Our goal was to per-
form our best at the festival,
work with the festival col-
lege adjudicators, and share
our love of music with the
other Central Oregon high
school choir programs.”
The students worked
incredibly hard and put on
the performance of their life-
times last Tuesday. The adju-
dicators, festival audience
members, and high school
choir students from all over
Central Oregon flooded the
Sisters choir students with
compliments.
“Leaving the festi-
val, the kids were incred-
ibly enthused,” Johnson
said. “Our goals were met.
Wednesday morning, I
received the overall festival
scores and my jaw dropped.
The first through third place
winners of the Central
Oregon Festival were listed
— all 5A schools. I’m so
proud to announce that our
4A Sisters High School
Concert Choir achieved a
higher overall score (by 5
points) than the first-place
(5A) choir at the festival!”
Johnson said, “Thank
you for all of your support
of the choir kids throughout
the year. Please congratulate
the awesome students in the
Sisters Concert Choir when
you see them. They are truly
spectacular performers.”
The Sisters choirs look
forward to performing again
for the May 23 Choir Pop
Show at Sisters High School.
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The third and final group
of artists and writers are
working on a variety of cre-
ative projects at Caldera Arts
Center, and starting to think
about what they will be shar-
ing with the public during the
last open studios event this
Saturday.
Maesie Speer, Arts Center
programs manager, talked
about how each group of art-
ists is unique and different.
Caldera hopes these three-
and-a-half-week residencies
“make it possible for people
to explore parts for their iden-
tities as artists, teachers and
parents.”
This cohort of seven
includes four parent artists
who have their children with
them for part or all of their
stay. Maesie commented
that it has been interesting to
watch the parents and kids
self-organize to work and
play together.
Nika Blasser, who does
marketing at the Crow’s
Shadow Institute of Art in
Pendleton, has enjoyed her
chance to be at Caldera. She
is struck by the differences
in this residency from the
first one of her career last
fall in urban Denmark. She
describes her artistic process
as being responsive to her
environment and generally
highly connected to nature.
The work she is creating feeds
from the land, light, lake, cal-
dera and even the snow cov-
ering the ground. She is busy
creating and working in sev-
eral media.
“I’m going to make a lot
of things” and experiment
in order to pick what she is
pleased and happy with, she
reported. “I tend to prioritize
everything else above my art
practice … this makes me
recognizes how much value I
have in my own work. I owe
myself this time.”
The residency helps her
feel that her work is worthy
and valuable.
Coming from Brooklyn,
Amna Ahmad is here with
her active 3-year-old daugh-
ter, Lila. This is her first resi-
dency and it is an important
part of her shift from a full-
time corporate job to being
an author. She is valuing the
opportunity to learn from
the other artists here about
the business side of making
a living in the creative arts.
Although she started her first
novel several years ago, the
residency is her opportunity
See CALDERA on page 11
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