Brad Colerick and Scott Feldmann—"The Stories We Tell,” featuring screenings of three short films, a Q&A panel, and a book-signing reception with refreshments, will be presented by the South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) and Colerick and Feldmann’s Deep Magic Song & Drawing Company.
Sunday, September 8
4:00 pm-6:30 pm
Fremont Centre Theater and SPARC Centre Gallery
The short films, based on songs by Colerick, include “Lost Bird” (Zintkála Nuni), awarded “Best Mixed Media Short” at the Sedona International Film Festival in February 2024. Animated with drawings by Feldmann and historic photos, it features Colerick’s song, “Little Bird—Lost Bird of Wounded Knee,” telling of the troubled life of Zintka, a Native American girl “caught between two worlds and accepted by neither.” (Seventy-five years after her death in 1920, Lakota leadership from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota ceremoniously reburied Zintka at the Wounded Knee Monument.)
The film, Stories That We Tell, features song lyrics written and performed by Colerick, interpreted on screen through home movies of the 1950s, ‘60s and 70s. Manzanar (Yuki), with animation hand drawn by Feldmann over archival photographs by Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams and Clem Albers, depicts American-born Yukiko Okinaga Hiyakawa, who lived in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, until, at age two, with the advent of World War II, she became the youngest Japanese-American to be interned at Manzanar, one of the Roosevelt Administration’s ten, stateside incarceration centers.
A Q&A discussion with co-directors/producers Colerick and Feldmann regarding their films’ storytelling choices in sound and visualizations will be held in the Fremont Centre Theater after the screenings, moderated by Steve Fjeldsted, former Director of the South Pasadena Library. A reception and book signing in the SPARC Centre Gallery will follow, marking the launch of the filmmakers’ illustrated book, Zintka!, a companion to the film, “Lost Bird.” The new book by Colerick and Feldmann expands on the true story of Zintka’s life and includes samples of Plains Indian ledger art. (Advance copies of the book will be available for purchase exclusively by attendees of the SPARC screening in South Pasadena and subsequent events in Nebraska and South Dakota.)
“In this special event, film, music, animation, and print combine to tell three important human stories,” said SPARC President Sandy Kitto. “These works by multi-talented artists Brad Colerick and Scott Feldmann embody SPARC’s mission to ‘Ignite Creativity and Illuminate the Arts.’”
The Fremont Centre Theatre is at 1000 Fremont Avenue, South Pasadena. The event is free; however, due to limited seating, reservations are required.
Recent Work, an exhibition of works by filmmaker and multimedia visual artist Jonathan Skurnik, presented by the South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC), opens to the public July 27 at SPARC Centre Gallery in South Pasadena with a
reception from 3 to 6 p.m.
Closing Reception // Saturday, September 7th
3:00 pm-6:00 pm
Skurnik describes Recent Work, as representing three distinct bodies of artworks he created over a four-year-period: Pandemic Paintings(watercolor and gouache on paper), the evolution of Skurnik’s playful exploration of color and color juxtaposition and a personal abstract language); Remain Calm (acrylic on wood), “inspired by the charm and absurdity of Airline Safety Cards”; and Unseen City (digital photography on archival paper), born of Skurnik’s fascination with “the way erosion and decay impact the physical world. I am from a people who have faced existential threats for millennia,” he writes, “threats that have required resilience and stubbornness to survive. My images speak to that survival instinct, evoking beauty amidst the sadness and loss of decay.”
Recent Works runs through September 14, 2024. SPARC Centre Gallery is at 1000 Fremont Ave., Suite 120, South Pasadena. The public gallery entrance is off the parking lot at the rear of the Fremont Centre on El Centro Ave. Gallery hours will vary after the July 27 opening. To schedule visits on other dates during the run of the show, contact curator Blue Trimarchi at (626) 676-4195. Admission is free.
SPARC hosts "Creative Exploration", a group student art show with art/work/place at the SPARC Gallery @ the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. Participating artists range in ages from 5-15 years old. Come support these talented young artists!
Closing Reception // Sunday, August 25th
4:00 - 5:30 pm
Show Dates // July 13th-August 31st
Location:
SPARC Gallery @ the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce
1121 Mission Street
South Pasadena, CA 91030