November has arrived, with falling temperatures and the promise of snow. Even if Thanksgiving weren’t coming up, retreating indoors to fire up the oven and enjoy a hot meal with our family and friends will be looking more and more attractive as the weeks pass.

This is hardly a new phenomenon – all throughout history, the hearth and the dinner table have formed the center of family and community life. It was likely around the communal campfire that our distant ancestors first developed the art of storytelling. Indeed, when early humans first learned to cook their food, they drastically reduced the time and energy needed to find and digest raw foods, which is what allowed them—and now us—to reroute energy and brain cells to things like language in the first place. Scientists believe that cooking our food resulted in a 20 percent increase in human brain size.

In Vermillion, we know the power of a shared meal. Just to give you two examples: the Welcome Table has been serving a community meal ever Monday night for more than a decade, and the Vermillion Area Arts Council (VAAC)’s Art of Sustainability event this October, which coupled art, music, and environmental awareness with the Vermillion Area Farmer’s Market’s Harvest Festival dinner, was a resounding success. Food brings people together like nothing else.

Bearing this in mind, we at the VAAC are proud this year to continue what has become a Vermillion tradition: Chili Blues. Sponsored by Carey’s Bar and set to begin at 6:00pm on Saturday 16 November at the Washington Street Arts Center (202 Washington St), this annual chili cook-off brings together chefs both amateur and professional from across the Vermillion community, giving them a chance to display their culinary prowess – and giving the rest of us a chance to sample the best darn chili in town for only $10 at the door ($8 for VAAC members). With all that plus great music from local musicians Picks Bows y Amigos and a chance to vote for your favorite chili (with prizes for the winners!), we hope you’ll join us in keeping alive a tradition of food, fun, and fellowship that’s as old as humanity itself.

--Tom Emanuel, VAAC Events Chair

For more information or to participate in Chili Blues, please contact the VAAC at vaacboard@yahoo.

We hope everyone's enjoyed a lovely summer and look forward to fall in Vermillion and at the Washington Street Art Center. We have several events to look forward to in the coming months. Throughout October and into November, the WSAC will be sponsoring several kids and teen art classes, from beginning acrylics to multimedia exploration. This month, with the help of the USD sustainability program and the Vermillion Community Garden, we will be hosting our second annual Art of Sustainability! There will be art projects for kids, pieces by local artists available for viewing in the gallery, demonstrations for sustainable lifestyle, a potluck, raffle drawing, speakers, and music. The event will be from 2:00PM until 8:00PM on October 20th. Later in the month, USDs Student Art Association will be holding a Graphics show in our gallery, this event will take place on October 31st. In November, we will host another Graphics show with the SAA on the 15th. Finally, on November 16th we will host our annual Chili Blues celebration, tasting chili while enjoying great music, company, and conversation. Submit your own chili or vote for the one you like the most. Hope to see you at some of our events!

Rebecca Gehm
Events Chair, Vermillion Area Arts Council
Happy New Year from the Vermillion Area Arts Council!  We’re excited to kick off 2013 with some new and exciting plans to help our art community grow.  First, I must remind you it is not too late to get your vision into our MLK celebration.  As I said in the last issue:
Attention artists, writers, musicians and dreamers of all ages!  The Vermillion Area Arts Council is excited to announce a call for art, writing, music and other creative observations of peace to be contributed on January 21st, 2013, for our celebration of Martin Luther King Day.  Appropriately titled “Art for Peace”, this community event seeks to ask you:  “What is your dream?”
In the past, the Arts Council has worked with local schools as well as artists in displaying their own visions of peace with drawings, paintings and multimedia works.  We have also featured collaborative projects and a variety of music.  This year, we are looking to expand the array of art and generate more community participation by including documentaries, sculptures, presentations, and the sharing of written inspirations.  All ideas are welcome.  Please contact me within the next two weeks at beccagehm@gmail.com/605-659-5283 with your vision, be it small or large. 
The last day to contact will be Thursday, the 17th of January, as we will be setting up the show that evening.  Good People will be bringing some peaceful melodies on the evening of January 21st, followed by the USD Chamber singers at 7pm.  If you are reading something, we will be starting the written word portion around 7:30 PM in the style of a poetry reading.  The will be a variety of food, drinks and smiles throughout the afternoon and evening.
In other news, the arts council will be trialing new software this year in the hopes of tightening efficiency, bringing our members closer to the action and effectively communicating ideas and information amongst those who chose to receive it.  We have had enthusiastic conversations about this new development, because with tools like this, growth is inevitable!  We’ll be kicking this off within the month.  Also, we will be developing a new website and a new look for the organization this season, further increasing our own enthusiasm and hopefully that of the community!
As always, we welcome you to sign up as a member of the Arts Council and would love to hear your ideas for further developing this organization and integrating our thriving art community.  Please visit our website at www.vermillionareaartscouncil.blogspot.com for more information. 

Posted by Angelo Perzynski at 5:36 PM No comments:  




Rebecca Gehm
Events Chair, Vermillion Area Arts Council
CALL FOR ART:
Attention artists, writers, musicians and dreamers of all ages!  The Vermillion Area Arts Council is excited to announce a call for art, writing, music and other creative observations of peace to be contributed on January 21st, 2013, for our celebration of Martin Luther King Day.  Appropriately titled “Art for Peace”, this community event seeks to ask you:  “What is your dream?”
In the past, the Arts Council has worked with local schools as well as artists in displaying their own visions of peace with drawings, paintings and multimedia works.  We have also featured collaborative projects and a variety of music.  This year, we are looking to expand the array of art and generate more community participation by including documentaries, sculptures, presentations, and the sharing of written inspirations.  All ideas are welcome.  Please contact me within the next five weeks  at beccagehm@gmail.com with your vision, be it small or large.
While you’re pondering this, look for the presence of Vermillion Area Arts Council and the United Way in Vermillion’s Parade of Lights, held on the evening of December 7th!  On this busy Friday, we’d also love to see you at a student exhibition held by Christopher Meyer, assistant professor of sculpture at USD.  Meyer explains, “This exhibition will be the culmination of my Installation and Contemporary Sculptural Practices class. The class is designed to encourage students to break out of traditional sculptural media, approaches and straight forward object-making in order to experiment with new materials processes and concepts. The theme of the class is experience and it focuses on non-traditional media, installation (the creation of an environment as opposed to an art object), art videos, site specific works, assemblage, digital media, performance, happenings and ephemeral works.   This exhibition will be a group show for the whole class (2 Grads-1 MFA art, 1 MFA theater / 5 undergrad BFA art students) and will contain a large variety of works ranging from sculptural objects to art videos to installations and possibly performance art.”
There will be a reception for the show on the evening of Friday, December 7th at 7:00PM and the gallery will remain open through the weekend for viewing.
As always, we welcome you to sign up as a member of the Arts Council and would love to hear your ideas for further developing this organization and integrating our thriving art community.  Please visit our website at www.vermillionareaartscouncil.blogspot.com for more information. 

Posted by Angelo Perzynski at 5:35 PM No comments:  


MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2012November at the VAAC

Vermillion Area Arts Council welcomed fall with our annual Chili Blues cook off.  Musical duo Mike and Jay from Yankton, SD played some great classic rock and folk tunes while chili makers shared their culinary creations.  The room was abuzz while tasters tried twelve different chilies, discussing their favorites with their neighbors.  There were many outstanding chilies with quite a variety to choose from which made it difficult to pick a winner.  One chili made an impression above the rest however, as both the peoples’ choice and the judges’ choice first place award went to James Hoefelmeyer with his cilantro chili.  Thanks to all of our judges and chili makers as well as all who came out to support the VAAC, we hope to see you at Chili Blues again next year!
We have a couple of events coming up this month at the Washington Street Arts Center.  The first is “The Art of Sustainability” which will feature six speakers on a variety of topics ranging from sustainable agriculture to the role of artists in a sustainable community.  The event will also feature music by Dylan Daniels and Morgan Carnes as well as art by Mary Black-bonnet, Sarah Ames and other locals.  In addition, there will be a river presentation by Nancy Carlson.  The event will begin at 6:00 PM with a potluck, so bring a dish to share if you have one and join us in the celebration of art and sustainability.

On November 8th, the USD printmaking class will present “The Lawsuit Show”. USD Printmaking graduate student Paul Kaloper explains: “the show will feature works of art that examine themes of appropriation and authorship.  These issues have been an important part of art for a number of years and I think there’s still a lot to add to that dialogue.  Works in the Lawsuit Show will challenge our notions of originality and our concept of the role of an artist”. The show will feature both two and three dimensional works by mostly USD graduate students as well as senior undergrads.
The VAAC will also be continuing to hold belly dancing classes on Monday evenings with Christie Giles.  

Posted by Angelo Perzynski at 5:46 AM No comments:  


SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2012


Susan Osborn Sings for Women in the Arts        

Singer Susan Osborn will perform on Thursday, October 18th at Washington Street Arts Center in Vermillion at 8 p.m.  Women in the Arts Night will also feature a reception with refreshments at 6 p.m., and a poetry reading at 6:30.

            Osborn came to world prominence as lead singer of the Paul Winter Consort between 1978 and 1985, shining on such albums as “Common Ground,” “Missa Gaia,” and “Concert For the Earth."  She has performed all over the U.S. and throughout the world--at the United Nations, the Berlin Wall, the Nagano Winter Olympics, the Global Forum in Kyoto and the Hague, and for memorial and peace ceremonies at Hiroshima and Post-9/11 New York. 

             For the past two decades, Susan and her husband, artist/writer David Densmore, have lived on Orcas Island, Washington where the serenity and silence of nature have colored the creation of numerous original songs, and the synergy of the island's vital artistic community has inspired Osborn to refine her voice to even greater heights. 

            The evening will feature visual art by Nicole Geary and the poetry of Mary Blackbonnet, Lindy Obach, Jenny Yang Cropp, Marcella Remund, Lee Ann Roripaugh and Norma Wilson.  The event is sponsored by the University of South Dakota’s Women and Gender Studies Program as part of this year’s Biennial Women and Gender Conference with a theme of “Gender and Conflict.”  Vermillion Area Arts Council is co-sponsoring the event, which is free and open to the public.  For more information, visitwww.usd.edu/womensstudies.com.

Posted by Angelo Perzynski at 8:33 AM No comments:  


MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2012Chili Blues is Almost Upon Us!!

Love it or hate it, it's already that time of year again - D-Days.  Which means, naturally, it's also time for the hottest and tastiest D-Days tradition: Chili Blues!
If you're in town, come on down to the Washington Street Arts Centerafter the game to sample one of several wonderful chilies, and vote for your favorite.  This year there are prizes donated by Cafe Brule, the Vermillion Area Farmer's Market, as well as local artists, for the Judge's Choice and People's Choice winners!!  There will be cornbread, desserts, beer, soda, and of course, some fantastic live music.  This year's musical guests are Mike and Jay, from Yankton.  They've graced our stage before, and are sure to please.
We hope you'll join us from 6-9 this Saturday evening.  Bring the kids!

**We always have room for more chili-makers.  If you're interested in participating, comment here, or send us a message at vaacboard@yahoo.com


Posted by susan heggestad at 10:24 AM No comments:  


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012Join Us for a Bountiful Harvest of Arts

Join Us for a Bountiful Harvest of Arts

Norma C. Wilson, President, Vermillion Area Arts Council

While the dry summer was hard on our crops, it seems to have nurtured
Vermillion’s community’s arts. September and October promise a bountiful harvest
of arts to Washington Street Arts Center at the corner of Washington and Cedar
Streets in Vermillion. Mark your calendar for our three big events—Discovery Mime
Theatre: September 15 at 7 p.m.; Chili Blues with Mike & Jay: October 6, from 6-9
p.m.; and Women in the Arts featuring Susan Osborn: October 18 at 8 p.m.
Feel the rhythm of music and the magic of pantomime, with Discovery Mime
Theatre. The show consists of a variety of original mime vignettes precisely cued to
music and brought to life by silent actors, Brian Begley and Mary Inman. All ages
enjoy Discovery Mime Theatre's fast-paced stories. Slapstick comedy, juggling and
puppetry make their performances unique and captivating. The performance will
be preceded by a potluck dinner at 6 p.m. and will be followed by Vermillion Area
Arts Council’s Annual Meeting and Election of Board Members. The event is free
and open to the public.
Come back to the Arts Center on Dakota Days for our Annual Chili Blues
Festival. Guitarists and singers Mike Hilson and Jay Gilbertson will entertain the
crowd with the songs of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Eric Clapton, John Prine and other
favorites. The Yankton, South Dakota duo have performed together for 25 years.
And feast your eyes on Virginia Johnson’s stunning acrylic paintings of landscapes
and flowers. Of course, you’ll again have a chance to taste a dozen tasty chili
concoctions by the area’s best cooks and vote for the People’s Choice. Tickets to
Chili Blues, which include admittance to the event and all food, are $10 for each
Vermillion Area Arts Council adult member; $15 for non-member adults; $5 for
children ages 11 – 18, and free for children ages 10 and under.
In mid-October, singer Susan Osborn will headline Women in the Arts Night.
Osborn’s startlingly remarkable voice -- powerful and rich with emotional
expression -- came to world prominence when she was lead singer of the Paul
Winter Consort between 1978 and 1985, shining on such albums as "Common
Ground", "Missa Gaia." and "Concert For the Earth." She's has performed at the
United Nations, the Berlin Wall, the Nagano Winter Olympics, the Global Forum in
Kyoto and the Hague, and numerous memorial and peace ceremonies at Hiroshima
and Post-9/11 New York. Preceding the performance, the free event will also
feature a reception with refreshments at 6 p.m. and Poets Jenny Cropp, Mary Black
Bonnet Artichoker, Melinda Obach, Marcella Remund, Lee Ann Roripaugh and
Norma Wilson reading at 6:30 p.m. Ms. Osborn will also conduct a Silence and Song
Workshop on October 21 from 1-4 p.m. at the Arts Center. You can sign up for the
workshop at a prior VAAC event.
I am now ending my two terms on Vermillion Area Arts Council and will be
leaving the Board of Directors on September 15th after serving for four years and
three months. So this is the last Equalizer column I will write for the VAAC. I’d like
to thank Scott Munger and the entire Equalizer staff for giving us space to promote

the arts. I also wish to thank all of our members and friends in the Vermillion
community for supporting the VAAC. A special thanks to the City of Vermillion,
United Way, the Vermillion Area Community Foundation, the SD Arts Council, the
Clay County Commission, VHS Tanager Volunteers, Bank of the West, Fishback
Financial Corporation, CorTrust Bank and all others who have made contributions
to support our programs and the renovation and restoration of our historic
building—a work of art in itself.
If your membership in the VAAC has lapsed, now is a good time to renew. All
you need to do is come to one of the aforementioned events, or request a
membership brochure. Send your request to VAAC, Box 484, Vermillion, SD 57079.
Or e-mail vaacboard@yahoo.com. For more information about the VAAC, visit
vermillionareaartscouncilblogspot.com. I hope to see you at the VAAC Annual
Meeting, Chili Blues, our celebration of Women in the Arts and many other events
throughout the coming year. Our VAAC column will resume in November.

Posted by revontule at 1:47 PM No comments:  


TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2012Cool Forecast for Fall 2012
Norma C. Wilson, President, Vermillion Area Arts Council

VAAC members are planning a very cool arts season!  We’ve scheduled an exciting calendar of events at Washington Street Arts Center, 202 Washington Street, begining with a performance by Discovery Movement Theatre (featuring Brian and Mary Begley) at our Annual Meeting, Election and Potluck, Saturday, September 15, from 6-9 p.m.  We’ll have five open positions on the VAAC Board of Directors, and we’re looking for active individuals committed to the arts.  If you and/or someone you know are interested in serving on our board, please contact GeoffreyGray-Lobe (ggraylobe@gmail.com) or Janet Beeman (beemans@valyousat.net).  
Our annual Chili Blues Festival, scheduled for Saturday, October 6, from 6-9 p.m., will feature paintings by Virginia Johnson and music by Mike and Jay.  Singer Susan Osborne will be the headliner for the University of South Dakota Women in Research Conference’s Women in the Arts evening, Thursday, October 18th.
Michele Mechling and Susan Heggestad will teach a variety of art classes this fall at Washington Street Arts Center. The VAAC is proud to co-sponsor these classes offered through the University of South Dakota’s Continuing Education program. Monday nights, from 7-9 p.m., September 10 through October 1, Michele will teach Beginning Watercolor Techniques for adults (age 14 and up).  Michele will also teach Acrylic Painting for Beginners (14 and up) Monday nights, from 7-9 p.m., October 15-November 5.  On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, from 10-11:30 a.m. Susan will teach ARTPlay (for children ages 2-5 with a parent caregiver) September 18-October 11.  On Tuesday evenings, from 7-9:30 p.m., September 25-October 6, Susan will teach Painterly Prints for children and adults, ages 10 and up.  Susan will also teach Artists’ Books (for ages 10 and up) Thursday evenings, from 7-9:30 p.m., September 27-October 18. The catalogue with details about these classes and a registration form will be available in late August. You can register now on-line, at http://www.usd.edu/continuing-and-distance-education/community-education.cfm
During August we will be working to restore and renovate our historic building. I wish to thank Vermillion’s CorTrust Bank for their generous donation to help fund the installation of a handicap-accessible restroom on the main floor.
Thanks to the generosity of our community, the VAAC will continue to sponsor many more events and classes throughout the coming year, including the Art Block Program for Jolley School students.  We will also remain closely associated with the Community Garden and Vermillion Area Dance Organization.  
Please visit our table to find out more details and share your ideas about our programs at the United Way Kickoff on Thursday, August 23rd at 6 p.m. on the Platz at the corner of Main and Market Streets.  

Posted by revontule at 10:32 AM No comments:  
Labels: annual meeting, area events, art exhibitions, board of directors,children's events, Education, Equalizer column

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