We join with other members of the musical community to mourn the death of a legendary composer and musical innovator, Butch Morris. Morris passed away on Tuesday after a battle with lung cancer. He was 65 years old.
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Photo: Christine Wong Yap. take charge of your happiness. 2011. 83" x 24" x 1," ribbon, thread, pins. Courtesy of the artist. THE SALLY & DON LUCAS ARTISTS PROGRAM AT MONTALVO ARTS CENTER PRESENTS A NEW EXHIBITION HAPPINESS IS... January 25 - April 14, 2013 Artists examine emotional health and wellbeing through an aesthetic lens. (SARATOGA, CA) - On Friday, January 25, Montalvo Arts Center will inaugurate its new 20-month-long programming theme Flourish: Artists Explore Wellbeing with an exhibition entitled Happiness Is… which will run through April 14. Installed in the Project Space Gallery and also making use of Montalvo’s 175-acre grounds, the show is organized by the Lucas Artists Residency Program (LAP). Participating artists Susan O’Malley, Leah Rosenberg, and Christine Wong Yap address an age-old question: How do we foster happiness and build a contented life? Each artist drew from a variety of influences and disciplines—including scientific research, visual experimentation, and grand gesture—to attempt her individual response. Taken together, O'Malley, Rosenberg, and Wong Yap examine the role of aesthetic pleasure in inspiring positive emotion. In particular, through the events and engagements they have planned for the public, they emphasize the importance of community, ritual, and active participation in cultivating happiness. In the Project Space Gallery, Wong Yap will showcase a series of messages sewn from ribbons and installed directly on the gallery wall, each encouraging positive mental habits. Also on view will be her large-scale, hand-drawn diagrams mapping the interconnections between theories of subjective wellbeing. Wong Yap’s work will also be on view outside with an installation of her work Irrational Exuberance Flags. This rotating series of colorful flags represents the energetic spirit of enthusiastic optimism. For the exhibition, Rosenberg will specifically address how color, light, and material impact our sense of contentment. Inspired by the use of light as a therapy for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), she invites gallery visitors to stand in front of her Illuminated Stripe Works—a series of small striped light boxes—and alleviate negative emotion. Her work outdoors will include the installation of colorful design elements, including two striped benches, which are integral to the participatory A Healing Walk, on which she collaborated with O’Malley. O’Malley has created A Space (for you), an area in the gallery where visitors may experiment with various happiness-inducing activities, including talking and listening to one another, and allowing time for relaxation and reflection. To facilitate this, the area will be decorated with chairs, rugs, and pillows with positive messages. Outdoors, O’Malley has created A Healing Walk, a guided path marked at various points with signage featuring positive and happiness-affirming directives. Happiness Is... Engagement A number of additional events and programs have been planned in connection with the exhibition: Friday, January 25 OPENING RECEPTION, 7-9:30pm Project Space Gallery, Free admission Be one of the first to view the new exhibition, and enjoy two exhibition-specific “happenings” with the artists. At 7:30pm, take a 15-minute silent walk through Montalvo’s grounds, led by Susan O’Malley. At 8pm, return to the gallery and participate in a ritual of sharing, pleasure, and community, by sampling site-specific cookies baked by Leah Rosenberg. Saturday, January 26 IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE FLAGS, 1pm Lot One, Lucas Artists Residency, Free admission Join Christine Wong Yap in the raising of her Irrational Exuberance Flags. HAPPINESS IS SMILING, 1:30pm Phelan Library, Historic Villa, Free Admission Audience members are invited to smile at each other for one minute, led by Susan O’Malley. HAPPINESS IS…, A CONVERSATION, 1:35pm Phelan Library, Historic Villa, Free Admission Join all three of the Happiness Is… artists and Carole Pertofsky, Director of Wellness and Health Promotion Services at Vaden Health Center, Stanford University, for a conversation about the pursuit of happiness. Wednesday, March 20 HAPPINESS TAKES SHAPE, 7pm Phelan Library, Historic Villa, Free Admission Celebrate the first International Day of Happiness with an evening of reading and performance led by poet Genine Lentine and cellist/vocalist Theresa Wong. Saturday, March 23 HAPPINESS IS WALKING, 11:30am-12:30pm Project Space Gallery, Free Admission Explore Montalvo’s grounds during a guided walk led by artists Susan O’Malley and Leah Rosenberg. THE SOUND OF HAPPINESS, 1-3pm Phelan Library, Historic Villa, General: $25; Members: $20; Students: $15 Cellist/vocalist Theresa Wong and poet Genine Lentine offer an afternoon of vocal and writing exercises exploring the relationship of voice, language, and happiness. Wong will guide participants in vocal improvisations that demonstrate how chance gives rise to creative freedom. In a series of writing exercises and readings, Lentine will invite participants to explore how uncertainty can be an exhilarating source of inspiration when writing poems. This workshop is suitable for all levels of experience and is open to all ages, including children. Saturday, April 13 HEALING IS TALKING, HEALING IS LISTENING, 1-3pm Project Space Gallery, Free Admission Sign up for an appointment to listen and talk with artist Susan O'Malley by emailing lbaines@montalvoarts.org. Slots available include: 1-1:15pm, 1:20-1:35pm, 1:40-1:55pm, 2:00-2:15pm,2:20-2:35pm, and 2:40-2:55pm. Happiness Is... 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Flourish: Artists Explore Wellbeing For centuries, philosophers have applied themselves to the task of defining “wellbeing,” and asked how we might best live meaningful, happy, and healthy lives. For Aristotle, individuals could only achieve eudaimonia, or a state of flourishing, when they lived lives of virtuous activity, fulfilling our deeply human capacities. Today, this focus on wellbeing appears to be part of a global trend. In 2011 the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development, urging member states to recognize that the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental goal in the lives of all human beings. The late 20th and early 21st centuries have witnessed an explosion of interest in the topic as TV personalities, spiritual leaders, health professionals, psychologists, sociologists, business people, environmentalists, politicians, writers and artists have all sought to redefine our understanding of a life well lived and answer the question: How can we live meaningful, happy and healthy lives? How can we flourish? Seeking to contribute to the ongoing international conversation about wellness, Montalvo embarks on Flourish: Artists Explore Wellbeing its new 20-month-long programming theme. Flourish will not only cast light on the question of happiness and health, it will also bring to the community a series of exhibitions, conversations, performances, workshops and screenings, promoting creativity and communal engagement. All programs will be mounted in collaboration with artists from the Lucas Artists Residency Program and Montalvo’s Education Department. Happiness Is...
Montalvo Arts Center is an oasis of culture and nature whose mission is to create and present arts of all types, nurture artists, and use our historic Villa, buildings, and grounds in innovative ways that engage people in the creative process. Located in Silicon Valley's Saratoga hills, Montalvo occupies a Mediterranean-style Villa, built in 1912 by Senator James Duval Phelan, surrounded by 175 stunning acres, including the campus of our international Lucas Artists Residency Program. Senator Phelan bequeathed the villa and grounds to the people of California for the encouragement of art, music, literature and architecture, a mandate that Montalvo has carried forward ever since its founding. For more information, call (408) 961-5800 or visit www.montalvoarts.org. Earlier this week, mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin began her tenure as a Montalvo Artist-in-Residence. Just prior to arriving in Saratoga, she made headlines at her performance opening the 10th season of Music at Meyer, the concert series at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco, a program inspired by her recently published memoir: Do you Dream in Color?: Insights from a Girl Without Sight, which details her career as an international opera singer…who happens to be blind. If the San Francisco Classical Voice’s review of her show whets your appetite for more information about Rubin, be sure to check out
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