LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which  distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming.  (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Visiting Artists Share Lore of Books, Music With Sitkans

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    Maria Paola Sanchez has a bookshop in Colombia that celebrates books as artforms in themselves.
    “I’m an artist, and I come from an artistic place; that’s my environment all the time,” Sanchez said.
    Jacobo Daponte V hopes to bring more public attention to the connection between Nobel-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez and how he was influenced by vallenato music – and what exactly is vallenato music.
    “The origins of this music, how it came about,” Daponte said. “It’s a melting pot of three cultures.”

Maria Paola Sanchez Forero and Jacobo Daponte V stand in a studio in Sitka Fine Arts Camp’s Yaw Art Center Thursday. The Colombians will work on separate art projects during their residency in Sitka. (Sentinel Photo)

     Both resident artists are in Sitka for the month through a collaboration between the Sitka Fine Arts Camp and the Colombian Ministry of Culture. This is the third year of the program, which was started after SFAC director Roger Schmidt made connections at an executive seminar with the minister of culture, who asked whether SFAC was interested in collaborating to host artists in residences.
    The two will put on shows and present talks for the public.
    “It’s really important to us for them to get embedded in the Sitka community,” said SFAC operations director Rhiannon Guevin. “They’re both already doing that. ... Both have been really fantastic to work with so far.”
    Sanchez will talk about books and independent publishing in Colombia 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21, at Yaw Art Center. She will give another talk 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1, on the other project she’s been working on in Sitka, “Ice of Others: using the C.L. Andrews Collection to Research the History of Arctic Explorers.”
    DaPonte’s presentation is 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26, also at Yaw Art Center. It is called “Evolution of Vallenato Music and Its Influence on Gabriel Garcia Marquez.” It will be a multimedia presentation and include some of Daponte’s own work exploring the history of vallenato music, a lecture on the music’s history and the Marquez-vallenato connection, and examples of vallenato music.

Maria Paola Sanchez

    Sanchez’ exhibition will look a little like a small book sale, or a miniature version of her independent bookshop in Bogota, Colombia, called Nada.
    All the books are created by independent publishers from Colombia, across Latin America, and various other parts of the world. Her publishing company is called Salvaje.
    She calls them “art books,” but it’s not the typical definition one might think of. These are not coffee-table sized collections of Matisse and Monet. They run the gamut of creations from independent publishers – a guide to the birds seen at a particular university; an illustrated biography of a Latina civil rights leader; a journal peppered with illustrations of children; a collection of odd photos taken “in the home”; and an R-rated graphic novel of a knockoff version of Spider-man, are among the books you might find.
    Many languages are represented, and many subject matters.
    There are also reproductions of out-of-print works, created exactly as when they were first printed.
    “The book is the exhibition – it’s the book we care about,” she said. “Each book talks about something different; none is talking about art. It’s talking about the world, and everything that’s on their mind.”
    Her other project is her exploration of the C.L. Andrews collection of Alaska books at the Sitka Public Library. This will overlap with her interest in independent publishing, but she’s not quite sure how yet.
    Coming to Sitka wasn’t quite what she expected, but she’s fine with that.
    “My son, he was so excited I was going to see snow. I sent some pictures that looked like, ‘you’re in Florida,’” Sanchez said. “It’s OK. This is the real place and the other place is in my imagination. This is an amazing place.”
    Her work with the C.L. Andrews collection also has shown her that the arctic, and arctic exploration, aren’t what she imagined. She’s been fascinated by stories of explorers from outside enduring hardships, as well as interactions between newcomers and indigenous people, and stories of hardships of indigenous people.
    “I’m learning a lot,” she said. She’s hoping to capture a mix of stories in a single volume or multiple volumes, which she plans to complete by November.


Jacobo Daponte

    A number of Daponte’s paintings depict accordion musicians in traditional costumes – this may seem like a stretch from Gabriel Garcia Marquez – but he will show you the journey between the two aren’t as far as you think.
    When he depicts the accordion players, Daponte is hearkening back hundreds of years in Colombia, when musicians traveled from town to town, sharing the news, telling folk stories, myths and legends, and entertaining people. Daponte can see where the embellished stories shared the magical realism qualities of the famous author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
    His talk on Sept. 26 is “Evolution of Vallenato Music and its Influence on Gabriel Garcia Marquez.”
    Both vallenato music and the Marquez stories share influences from northeast coastal Colombia on the Caribbean, an area influenced by African, indigenous Colombian and Spanish colonial cultures.
    Daponte, who is a painter, a psychologist and cultural ambassador, found the similarities between the stories told in vallenato music and by Marquez too impressive to pass up. He’s hoping that institutions dedicated to the legacy of Marquez will one day include the influences of vallenato music, and is hoping his work in Sitka on the subject will help in his efforts.
    Daponte’s program on Sept. 21 will give the audience a history of vallenato music, including some of the modern-day stars (born in the earlier part of the 20th century), and some of the ways Daponte sees a crossover between the music and the author. The music gets its name from a valley in the northeast of Colombia, on the Caribbean coast, where Marquez sets at least one of his stories.
    Those who attend his talk will be able to view his work, which he brought here from Colombia.
    Daponte said he knew from the age of 8 that he wanted to be an artist, after fright turned into fascination when he viewed his mother’s prints of Picasso’s Minotaur and Guernica.
    “That was it. I would like to be an artist,” Daponte said.
    In high school in Bogota, Daponte took an art history course, where the teacher introduced him to Cezanne, Gauguin, Matisse and Klimt.
    “It leaves a great impression on me because of the strong colors they have,” Daponte said. “I was really in love with painting.”
    His time in the Colombian Army took him to Egypt, where seeing the Karnak temple reinforced his desire to be an artist.
    “I thought, definitely I have to do something with art,” he said. Studies in business administration and psychology, traveling and living in Europe, and work as a cultural promoter have rounded out his resume.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.

50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.

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