Christine Forni - Drawing you Outside Sat. Sept 14th 3:00-5:00

Kristina Isabelle Dance and Tryon Farm Institute present Art In Nature and Drawing you Outside, a mobile outdoor drawing room for participants to explore nature and the landscape though handmade charcoal.  All ages and experience are welcome.   Saturday September 14th from 3:00 - 5:00.  Artist Salon Talk to follow workshop at 5:00.   Art supplies will be provided.  Wear comfortable shoes as we will be walking.   

Suggested donations accepted $10 adults / $5 kids.  Meet at the Tryon Farm Barn at 1500 Tryon Road, Michigan City, IN. 

“Drawing You Outside” is a collaboration project created by a visual artist and film maker, Christine and James Forni. The project creates a mobile outdoor open drawing room for participants to survey the view of the landscape and the nature surrounding them. 

Through the slow art of mark making on paper participants gain a connection to being outside and retain a tactile memory from drawing; this analog process of observation is an antidote to the harried life many people lead absorbed in digital indoor worlds, or experiencing virtual realities through lenses of technology.  Through this process of drawing outside we can experience beauty, empathy and understanding for the environment outside.  
This program serves as a restorative alternative to large amounts of time we spend detached from the outdoors. Connectedness with nature is positively linked with environmental responsible behavior and multiple variables supporting human well-being, including happiness.

This drawing exercise begins with a walk in the woods. The participants will be encouraged to write their about their experience along the walk such as the sounds, the smell, and they will be guided to see how light interacts and moves through nature. We will observe through the lens of drawing at two specific sites in nature to draw for an hour at each site.

Christine Forni’s work is based on the many ways light interacts with the physical world. She’s a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, alternative photography, drawing, and installation. Forni exhibited at venues such as Ueno Royal Japanese Art Museum, DeCordova Sculpture Museum, Piedmont’s Museo di Scienze Naturali to Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art.

 Forni, a midwestern artist, lives in Chicago. In 2015, she uprooted her life to study abroad in Paris. While overseas she exhibited photograms at Academia Romana and was invited as a guest speaker to the international physicists conference on Constructal Law in Bucharest. Forni’s landscape installation began in Paris during an artist residency at École du Breuil d’Horticulture where she researched Parisian gardener’s organization of native and non-native plants collected from around the world. Concurrently she had a residency at Muséum National d’Historie Naturelle there she documented and drew details of bones specimen similarities amassed by naturalist during the colonial exploration period. 

 Born in Cleveland, she spent her younger years in the industrial cities of Pittsburgh and Detroit while living next to a forest preserve. She helped her grandmother create a living plant specimen collection overtaking their formal dining room; with her grandfather she planted vegetables and grafted trees in their victory garden to feed the family. Forni experienced a dichotomy of industrial backdrops along with time spent around nature and plants in domestic settings - these layered alternate environments inspired a fascination around human interpretations and interactions within the natural world informing Forni’s practice today.

Christine Forni’s work is based on the many ways light interacts with the physical world. She’s a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, alternative photography, drawing, and installation. Forni exhibited at venues such as Ueno Royal Japanese Art Museum, DeCordova Sculpture Museum, Piedmont’s Museo di Scienze Naturali to Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art.

         Forni, a midwestern artist, lives in Chicago. In 2015, she uprooted her life to study abroad in Paris. While overseas she exhibited photograms at Academia Romana and was invited as a guest speaker to the international physicists conference on Constructal Law in Bucharest. Forni’s landscape installation began in Paris during an artist residency at École du Breuil d’Horticulture where she researched Parisian gardener’s organization of native and non-native plants collected from around the world. Concurrently she had a residency at Muséum National d’Historie Naturelle there she documented and drew details of bones specimen similarities amassed by naturalist during the colonial exploration period. 

          Born in Cleveland, she spent her younger years in the industrial cities of Pittsburgh and Detroit while living next to a forest preserve. She helped her grandmother create a living plant specimen collection overtaking their formal dining room; with her grandfather she planted vegetables and grafted trees in their victory garden to feed the family. Forni experienced a dichotomy of industrial backdrops along with time spent around nature and plants in domestic settings - these layered alternate environments inspired a fascination around human interpretations and interactions within the natural world informing Forni’s practice today.

Kim Beck is a Tryon Farm resident and figurative painter while continuing to add to my oeuvre of avian subjects, particularly birds of the Midwest.  I am passionate about the challenges associated with depicting these subjects.  My hope is to inspire others to feel the awe and reverence I feel for the diversity and beauty of individuals and the natural world we encounter daily, and to express  through my paintings the stories I encounter that might also have meaning to others.

Dolores Diaz is Botanical artist with a passion for sustainability and conservation.  In 2016 her work was juried into the 15th International Exhibition of Botanical Art and Scientific Illustration at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University.  She teaches observational drawing, Outdoor sketching and Nature Journaling and continues to exhibit locally, nationally and internationally. 

Friday September 13th at 7:30 pm - Mr. Canoe

On Friday September 13th at 7:30pm the Tryon Farm Institute’s Art In Nature series presents Mr Canoe, a documentary film about the life of Ralph Frese, master canoe builder, historian and expedition paddler and his 1976 expedition recreating Lasalle's trip from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and their snow storm portage through NW Indiana. Director James Forni will be onsite to share his story and the making of this film.  Plus musician Tom Kastle will share his maritime songs and stories as it relates to Ralph Frese.   Come with a picnic and share an evening under the stars at Tryon Farm. 

In fall 2012, Chicago filmmaker James Forni was introduced to Ralph Frese, a world-renowned canoe-builder and conservationist whose iconic Portage Park shop Chicagoland Canoe Base was known as the city’s last working blacksmith shop. 

Forni was able to dig into Frese’s past through research and interviews with more than 30 friends and peers. Forni and colleagues from his production company, Octane Rich Media, combed through archive materials, films, and radio and television interviews spanning half a century to create a 45-minute film that paints the “complex portrait of one of Chicago’s most interesting and influential citizens,” according to Octane's synopsis of the film.

James Forni is an award-winning director, photographer and the founder of Chicago-based studio: Octane Rich Media. A dynamic creative director, executive producer and storyteller, James has directed over 1,000 television spots, webisode series, websites, short films and tutorials. He is an expert in transforming complex material into inspirational narrative experiences.

For more than 25 years James Forni has created internationally recognized work for admired brands and Fortune 500 companies like Abercrombie & Kent, Dove, Hyatt, Jarden, Jim Beam, Levi’s, MasterCard, Mercedes Benz, the National Basketball Association and Rolex. In addition, James has worked directly with prominent personalities from Justin Timberlake to Lenny Kravitz and Michael Jordan.

James has a Master in Film 1 Studies from EICAR, the International School of Film and Media in Paris, France, as well as professional certificate programs from Maine Media and the Santa Fe Photography Workshops. He is a former member of the University of Chicago’s Writer’s Studio, Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences and the Interactive Agency Bureau. He studied undergraduate programs at Wesleyan University and received his B.F.A in Theater and English from the University of Vermont.

Tom Kastle traveled the world, collecting and performing maritime songs and stories and captaining sailing ships on the Great Lakes. These days, his passions are even more diverse and include theatrical projects, from Man of La Mancha to Henry IV; film projects, like Francisco Torres’ Delight In the Mountain; and television, where he hosted a short documentary that was nominated for an Emmy Award. He is a musical director and composer, writing and performing concert opera narrations, hosting and interpreting nautical events, and being a musical and “concertina consultant” for Lookingglass Theater.

Saturday August 17th at 7:30pm - Bonfire Concert featuring Mark Grobner

Art In Nature Bonfire Concert features Tryon resident Mark Grobner with his hammer dulcimer. Mark Grobner has provided therapeutic music in hospital, hospice, and long-term care settings since 2002. He has presented on the topic of Music & Healing at various conferences and seminars including the 2004 Advocate Healthcare Dimensions of Excellence Conference with music therapist Soozie-Cotter Schaufele. "While Mark plays with great technical precision, more importantly is the sensitivity and soulfulness that comes through his delivery" (Ken Kolodner). Mark teaches the hammered dulcimer in Indiana and performs throughout the Midwest. He has recorded three CDs, and produced the compilation CD, Journey to the Heart, Hammer Dulcimer Expressions, which includes some of the finest hammered dulcimer players in the country.

Sand: Part 4 Succession / Migration

July 20th 8:00

Tryon Farm Barn 1500 Tryon Road, Michigan City, IN 46360

The conclusion of the 4 part Sand series will feature a dance film projected on the Tryon Farm barn with live interactive performers. This performance will open the inaugural Art in Nature Series presented by the Tryon Farm Institute.

Film Directed by: Elise Kermani

Performers: Kristina Isabelle Dance - Kristina Isabelle, Sarah Gonsiorowski, Angela Luem and Cara Sabin

Sand: A Migrating Performance in 4 Parts was co-conceived by: Melli Hoppe, Kristina Isabelle and Elise Kermani - Michigan City Moves.

8:00 Cocktails 8:30 Performance

Sand: Part 3 Community

June 22 6:00 pm

Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk - Indiana Dunes National Park, Riverwalk Drive, Portage

This event will be a site-specific promenade performance, in which the audience is invited to stand and walk from one area to another to watch performers interact with the landscape and structures around the Portage Lakefront and Pavilion.  The performance will incorporate the soundtrack of the play “Sacred Sands: A Play for Voices” written by David Hoppe, recorded by and with music by Dan Schaaf.   It will include Kristina Isabelle Dance artists: Sarah Gonsiorowski, Kristina Isabelle, Angela Luem and Cara Sabin, (who performed in Part One and Part Two of the series), dancers from South Shore Dance Alliance, body puppet by Pilgrim Heidi Kambitsch, stilters, drummers, masks and interactive summer solstice activities. This performance is free and open to the public. 

“Sand: A Migrating performance in 4 Parts,” is inspired by the book “Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes,” written by J. Ronald Engel. The series explores the constant tension between nature and human activity in Northwest Indiana.  It began with a preview at Links Hall in Chicago in March, moved to the Indiana Dunes National Park in Portage in April, and to the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City in May.  Following the performance at the Indiana Dunes National Park in Portage in June, we will culminate the series with a performance at Tryon Farm in Michigan City at 8:00 on July 20.  

About Michigan City Moves: MCM is an artist collective dedicated to promoting and sharing experimental music, dance and film in NW Indiana through performances, classes and interactive workshops. The current collective features Kristina Isabelle, Elise Kermani and Melli Hoppe.  Kristina Isabelle is the artistic director of Kristina Isabelle Dance for 16 years producing multi-media evening length works, many featuring signature long-legged stilt dances as well as site specific environmental dance-scapes.  KIDCO tours nationally and internationally. Elise Kermani is artistic director of MiShinnah Productions, a non-profit dedicated to making cross genre performance films. She received a PhD in Media Philosophy from the European Graduate School and teaches media art at State University of New York, Empire State College. Her particular interest is in creating site specific performance where architecture informs the project.  Melli Hoppe was the Artistic Director of Susurrus, an Indianapolis based not-for-profit performance group, from 1993-2013. She has collaborated on site-specific performances in Indiana, New York, L.A., Ireland and Italy and taught site-specific theatre and stage movement at Butler University for 10 years.

Sand: A Migrating Performance in Four Parts is made possible through partnerships with MiShinnah Productions, Kristina Isabelle Dance Company and the Tryon Farm Institute. For more information contact Melli Hoppe at 219-210-3619 or michigancitymoves@gmail.com.

Funding for this project was provided for in part by a grant from the mediaThe Foundation.

Mishinnah Productions

Kristina Isabelle Dance

Tryon Farm Institute

Part 2:  Disruption May 3 at 6:00pm

Lubeznik Center for the Arts, 101 W. Second Street, Michigan City   

This performance will be influenced by the exhibit Nature vs Everything as well as the architecture of the Lubeznik Center and will inhabit and activate the exhibitions. Kristina Isabelle Dance and Michigan CIty Moves will respond to the 16 panel painting by Tom Torluemke .

Conceived by: Melli Hoppe, Kristina Isabelle and Elise Kermani - Michigan City Moves

Music: Elise Kermani

Performers: Kristina Isabelle, Sarah Gonsiorowski, Angela Luem and Cara Sabin - Kristina Isabelle Dance

Part I: Readjustment/Shifting Sand April 27 at 6:00pm 

Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk - Indiana Dunes National Park

This intimate performance will include a performance by Kristina Isabelle Dance Company, Sand Creature by Pilgrim Heidi Kambitsch, and music by Elise Kermani.

Conceived by: Melli Hoppe, Kristina Isabelle and Elise Kermani

Written by: Kristina Isabelle

Co-Directed: Kristina Isabelle & Melli Hoppe

Music: Elise Kermani

Dancers: Rachel Ferring, Sarah Gonsiorowski, Kristina Isabelle, Angela Luem, Cara Sabin, Jannah Schwartz

Sand: A Migrating Performance in 4 Parts features choreography by Kristina Isabelle and Melli Hoppe, sound media artist Elise Kermani. The series is inspired by the play Sacred Sands: A Play for Voices, written by David Hoppe, and the book Sacred Sands: The Struggle for Community in the Indiana Dunes, written by J. Ronald Engel.  

All evenings can be viewed as one complete performance experience or you can catch the full evolving production by catching each iteration. 

LinkSircus - Celebrating 40 yrs of Links Hall with Bob Eisen and guests

Produced by Third Way Projects, LinkSircus--Celebrating 40 Years is an installation-style evening of dancing and celebration in multiple spaces by multiple people doing curious things. Featuring visual art by Tom Melvin; Curated by Bob Eisen (co-founder of Links Hall) and Bonnie Brooks (director of Third Way Projects).
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TICKETS

7pm-9pm | Tickets $10-$40

If it is possible for you please strongly consider buying the $40 ticket, $10 will go to supporting the performances and $30 will be donated to Links Hall to support our effort to eliminate ALL rental fees for ALL artsits this season. We need your help to #PayThe40thFoward.

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PERFORMERS

Asimina Chremos

Bob Eisen + Jessica Cornish

Honey Pot Performance

J’Sun Howard + Jennifer Karmin

Kristina Isabelle

Rika Lin + Tom Lee

Same Planet Performance Project

The Seldoms

Zephyr Dance

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Cake and Celebrate!

Back by popular demand is the Links Hall Cake Lounge. At 9pm the building will be open to anyone who wants to join in the celebration, buy a drink, dance to some jams, and eat cake! AND for the price of a raffle ticket you can vote for your favorite cakes (baked by the Links Hall community) and help us crown the Cake Lounge GodX!

Ragdale Ring Performance:  Dance-Scape

Curated by Kristina Isabelle and featuring performers from Kristina Isabelle Dance, Hubbard Street Pre-Professional program, and Walkabout Theater, costumes by Heidi Kambitch, and musician Ryan Packard and friends. 

Dance-Scape will be an interactive movment piece inspired by Ragdale's priaire landscape and the dnamic Ring set design by Galo Canizares and Stephanie Sang Delgado. 

A family friendly program. 

Mana BSMT and Mana Contemporary Chicago Present: Body + Camera

Mana BSMT is pleased to present the second iteration of Mana Contemporary Chicago’s inaugural Body + Camera festival, an annual event featuring films, installations, and live performances that explore the intersection between the body and the moving image. The festival at Mana BSMT will include highlights from Chicago’s presentation, as well as new work by BSMT artists-in-residence and guest artists from UAE.

SCHEDULE

5PM
Doors Open

6:15–7PM
Embodied: Short film screenings

7:30–8PM
Digital Bodies: Live-streamed performance by Ghada Da, Farah Al Sharie, and Nidal Morra

9–9:20PM
The Dolls: Live performance by Claudia Hart

9:30–11PM
Transmutation: Late night film screenings (on loop)

Live DJ set

Mana Contemporary Body & Camera Festival

May 19th VIP Event

On May 19th we will perform Claudia Hart's  The Dolls,  which combines dance, sculpture, and animated mathematical algorithms to meditate on the philosophical idea of "the eternal return" in our digital age. With  Kurt Hentschläger ,  Kristina Isabelle , and  Liviu Pasare . 

http://www.manacontemporarychicago.com/press20161202chicagoreader/

In celebration of Links Hall co-founder Bob Eisen's 70th birthday, Eisen will present work in a special one-off event, featuring special guests Kristina Isabelle and Links Hall co-founder Charlie Vernon. Isabelle will present a reconstruction of Chicago area modern dance master Sybil Shearer's 1969 group work "Judgement Seeks It's Own Level", set to the classic rock anthem In-A-Gadda-Da-Vita by Iron Butterfly. Presented courtesy of the Morrison-Shearer Foundation. Tickets available for $10

To celebrate a year of our Artistic Director Kristina Isabelle and her husband, Geoffrey, living a year out at Tryon Farms, we want to share an evening of nature, dance, art, and fire with all of you.  

Join us and please invite your friends as this will be a one of a kind walking performance experience by Kristina Isabelle Dance and a few of my favorite performers from Chicago and Michigan City followed by a community bonfire, a fabulous food truck and more.

We will share the possibilities for future performance collaborations between Tryon Farm Institute and Kristina Isabelle Dance. Make Dance and Art on the farm a reality.

Please RSVP: to modfarmtryon@gmail.com

This is a BYOB event - some provisions will be provided.  
Food truck by bonfire


Stay overnight:
1-Tryon Farm Guest House  http://www.tryonfarmguesthouse.com/
2-Check Airbnb for other homes in Tryon Farm or Michigan City area
3- Bring a tent and camp in our prairie

If you would like to sponsor an artist - contact Kristina @ kristinaisabelledance@gmail.com

Current Sponsors:  
Tryon Farm Institiute
Marty Balogh & Carl