(OTIS, OR) – Sitka Resident Talks are an opportunity for the community to learn about the artists and scientists working in residence at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology through brief 10-minute-long presentations. This event is free and open virtually to the public via Zoom. RSVP at www.sitkacenter.org/events to receive an event link.
January 18th speakers include:
• Shobha Jetmanlani life began in India and at age two, she moved with her family to Oregon. A practicing dermatologist as well as a working artist, science and art are perfect springboards for her work. They both rely on hope and compassion; the connectivity with people; and require focused observation. Her work is included in public collections in Multnomah County and the City of Portland’s Vanport building. She has been awarded two grants from the RACC and was a featured Artist/Speaker for the OHSU Diversity awareness through arts and culture series in 2022. She presented a workshop on the art of observation and compassion for OHSU Department of Dermatology at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, PSU.
• Christian Orellana Bauer is a multi/interdisciplinary poet, visual artist, filmmaker, and musician working in a wide variety of mediums. They are interested in many subjects some of which include language and its relationship to culture, ethnocentric v.s ethnorelativist viewpoints, pluralism, ecology/climate collapse, the idea of cultural belonging and its relationship to race, melancholy, humor, and the aesthetic experience. They received a B.A from Portland State University, completed the Portfolio Program in poetry at the IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center), and have shared their work through galleries, events, and publications around Portland + Oregon.
• Shirod Younker is a sculptor, carver, and arts instructor. He works to facilitate the perpetuation of indigenous aesthetic sensibilities in a contemporary context. His art practice hopes to recognize, foster and study those values from which art they were inspired by. Further, much of Shirod’s art is done in the spirit of collaboration. His pieces can be seen or viewed at various locations such as the Nasomah Memorial in Bandon, Oregon; The Mill Hotel and Casino; The City of Portland Building, Oregon Historical Society Museum, Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts, Longhouse Education and Cultural Center, and in a cultural arts collection in New Zealand. Shirod is also an artist with the Inspired Natives Program at Eighth Generation Wool Blankets.
• Erin Shigaki is a community activist and helps run an annual pilgrimage to Minidoka, the American concentration camp where her family was incarcerated. She is active with Tsura for Solidarity, a nonviolent, direct action abolitionist project of Japanese American social justice advocates. She also serves on the board of Look Listen + Learn, a public access television show that inspires radical Black joy and advances early learning in young children of color. Erin believes that wielding art and activism to tell these stories can educate, redress, and incrementally heal. She holds a B.A. from Yale University.
• Thomas Meinzen is a composer, conservation ecologist, and writer originally from Eugene, Oregon. He received a BA in Environmental Humanities from Whitman College
and an MSc. in Ecology from Montana State University focused on bee and butterfly conservation. He has worked across the U.S. and Costa Rica as a bird and pollinator field biologist and currently supports communications and operations for two nonprofits based in Portland, OR.
About Sitka’s Residency Program: From October to April over 50 talented artists and scientists will be residing amongst the trees and wildlife to deeply explore their work as Artists and Scientists-in-Residence at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. Located on Cascade Head on the Oregon Coast just north of Lincoln City, the Sitka Center is an ideal location for artists and scientists to withdraw from the distraction of daily life, find the solitude needed to push through their creative boundaries and immerse themselves in natural study and reflection. Sitka Center is proud to host residents from around the world in various stages of their careers.
About the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology
Through workshops, residencies and events the Sitka Center provides time and space for placebased reflection, inquiry and creation at the intersection of art and ecology. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit located on Cascade Head in the Salmon River estuary north of Lincoln City, Sitka offers a place where visual artists, writers, natural scientists, musicians and interdisciplinary creatives of all abilities and backgrounds come to nourish their curiosity and creativity. 2023 marks Sitka’s 53nd year of offering art-and nature-inspired workshops, residencies and public events on the Oregon Coast.
For more details visit www.sitkacenter.org. 541-994-5485 Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, 56605 Sitka Drive, Otis, OR 97368.