ARTIST Alison Fox, shown at the 2015 MFOG, will lead this year’s art project at the event, Plexiglas cubes to be painted by children of all ages during Saturday’s concert, and illuminated that night during the performances. The cubes will hang from a metal sculpture, to be installed this week, by MacRae Wylde.
The second annual Music Festival of the Gorge – MFOG —returns to Hood River Waterfront Park amphitheater Saturday, 1 to 10 p.m. This is a free, all-ages event, where kids’ activities are planned and food carts will stand ready, along with a full lineup by “local musicians growing local music,” as the festival slogan goes. Volunteers will make the rounds accepting cash donations for the art and music fund. Following the concert will be after-hours music at Camp 1805, across the street from the park. The benefit concert supports school-based art and music education, in memory of Matt Klee, who died in 2015. He was an active community member and outdoor enthusiast who dedicated much of his free time enriching school programs and the local mountain biking culture. Learn more at www.livelikeklee.org and www.gorgeartsined.org. See page A3 for a Waterfront Park music lineup.
ARTIST Alison Fox, shown at the 2015 MFOG, will lead this year’s art project at the event, Plexiglas cubes to be painted by children of all ages during Saturday’s concert, and illuminated that night during the performances. The cubes will hang from a metal sculpture, to be installed this week, by MacRae Wylde.
Kirby Neumann-Rea
At left: a close-up of Wylde’s pollinator sculpture at FISH food bank garden.
Kirby Neumann-Rea
The second annual Music Festival of the Gorge – MFOG —returns to Hood River Waterfront Park amphitheater Saturday, 1 to 10 p.m. This is a free, all-ages event, where kids’ activities are planned and food carts will stand ready, along with a full lineup by “local musicians growing local music,” as the festival slogan goes. Volunteers will make the rounds accepting cash donations for the art and music fund. Following the concert will be after-hours music at Camp 1805, across the street from the park. The benefit concert supports school-based art and music education, in memory of Matt Klee, who died in 2015. He was an active community member and outdoor enthusiast who dedicated much of his free time enriching school programs and the local mountain biking culture. Learn more at www.livelikeklee.org and www.gorgeartsined.org. See page A3 for a Waterfront Park music lineup.
Arts in Education of the Gorge community art works are taking shape this week at three outside locations: sculptor MacRae Wylde’s large metal sculptures will grace the FISH food bank garden and (see related story) the amphitheater at Hood River Waterfront Park. A third set of works, also done in association with Wylde and related to the one at the garden, can also be found at Wy’east Middle School.
The garden sculptures are designed to be pollinators – structures to provide habitat for bees to pollinate neighboring planting areas. All the installations involve community interaction that will be literally hands-on: in addition to the painting of plexiglass cubes during Saturday’s Music Festival of the Gorge, on Wednesday students will insert bamboo and other organic material in the garden sculptures Wednesday morning to encourage bees.
Wy’east Middle School students designed and created the pollinators, as well as several already in place in the courtyard facing the school’s Performing Arts Center.
Meanwhile, the Hood River-based Arts in Education of the Gorge will receive a $7,001 Learning Grant from Oregon Arts Commission Story Baskets: To support an integrated arts residency using basket weaving and storytelling to improve student skills in art, math and literacy.
The commission issued a total of 20 learning grants to support Oregon arts organizations.
Arts Learning grants are designed to: support projects that expand opportunities for K-12 students to learn in and through the arts by filling a critical gap or expanding opportunities for learners; encourage teachers and administrators to build knowledge about the arts through relationships with teaching artists and arts organizations; and include a plan for measuring new achievements, skills or attitudes of participants.
Grant applications are evaluated based on quality and scope, preparation and evaluation of student learning.
The Oregon Arts Commission provides leadership, funding and arts programs through its grants, special initiatives and services. Nine commissioners, appointed by the Governor, determine arts needs and establish policies for public support of the arts.
The Arts Commission became part of the Oregon Business Development Department in 1993 in recognition of the expanding role the arts play in the broader social, economic and educational arenas of Oregon. The Arts Commission is supported with general funds appropriated by the Oregon legislature, federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust.
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