Artist of the Week
The Jack Straw Artist of the Week Podcast highlights work created through the Artist Residency Programs at Jack Straw Cultural Center.-
Perri Lynch Howard - Ocean Avenue
Perri Lynch Howard’s “Ocean Avenue,” produced during her Jack Straw Artist Support Program residency, is an immersive audiovisual experience that transports viewers into the tranquil heart of our oceans. Through a mesmerizing blend of underwater soundscapes and captivating visuals, this work invites audiences to witness the profound beauty and fragility of marine ecosystems.
By juxtaposing the serene sounds of whale song with marine noise pollution caused by human activities, “Ocean Avenue” aims to raise awareness about the detrimental impact of noise pollution on marine life, from whales and dolphins to countless other species that rely on sound for communication, navigation, and survival.
Originally debuted at the Santa Fe Art Institute, and opening May 17th at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, “Ocean Avenue” offers a powerful and evocative exploration of our planet’s underwater realm.
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Mako Kikuchi - In Shadows 陰で
In Shadows, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program, is a multi-generational collaborative composition between composer Mako Kikuchi and the Omoide Project, a collective of Seattle-based writers whose work remembers and preserves the wartime experiences and legacies of Japanese America. The creation of this album began in remembrance of the 80th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 by Franklin D. Roosevelt. While not explicitly naming the Japanese community, this order authorized the forced removal of all individuals deemed a threat to national security. In total, over 125,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated, approximately two-thirds of whom were American citizens. Kikuchi and the Omoide writers bring the sounds, memories, and emotions of this experience into the present. In Shadows bears witness to the deep trauma that resides in those who experienced and those who are descended from this incarceration.
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Romson Regarde Bustillo New Media Gallery Podcast
Jack Straw artist Romson Regarde Bustillo talks with Carlos Nieto about his Jack Straw New Media Gallery installation Proximity Modifier No. 49: Dukkha, Liberation, and Tranquility.
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Sylvia Jones - Poems from Television Fathers
Sylvia Jones recorded the audio version of her poetry book Television Fathers at Jack Straw as part of her Artist Support Program residency. This excerpt includes the following poems from the book:
“Man with Shotgun and Alien”
“First Black Cop Bop”
“Don Draper Demonstrates in His Clogs”
“In Some Underground Cavern”
“Don Draper Eulogizes Norman Lear”
“Don Draper Acquires Himself an Art Residency”
“To Be a Dog”
“A Hurt Mouth Amount”Television Fathers is available now from Meekling Press: https://meeklingpress.com/television-fathers/
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Thomasa and the Bird Tribe Orchestra - Prelude/Dance of the Faeries
Thomasa Eckert and The Bird Tribe Orchestra produced their album Red Ruby Palace during their 2000 Jack Straw artist residency.
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Jessica Gigot - Her Deepest Ecologies Podcast
Jack Straw artist – and 2022 Jack Straw Writer – Jessica Gigot has released the second season of her podcast Her Deepest Ecologies, produced in part through the Jack Straw Artist Support Program. In conversation with a wide range of artists, makers, creators, and caretakers, this podcast takes on two fundamental and interconnected questions: “How do we care for ourselves and each other?” and “How do we nurture the Earth?” In Episode 14, Jessica talks with poet Martha Silano about her writing process, her poetry teachers, her new book, and her recent ALS diagnosis.
You can hear the first two seasons of Her Deepest Ecologies at herdeepestecologies.substack.com.
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KRAB Radio - A Christmas Carol
KRAB FM aired this adaptation of Dickens’s classic – produced, directed, and narrated by Rita Rega – on Christmas, 1974. The cast includes Harold Street, Theda Berkeley, David Stimson, Doug Dillon, Dean Richardson, Father Cyril Kenna, Larry Smith (Albert), Brian Fox, Cheryl Rockham, Charlene King, Ken Graham, Phil Ferguson, Shirley Powell, Raleigh Fisher, and Natasha Bushnell.
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Derek G. Larson - Très Mall, Episode 7 (excerpt)
This excerpt from the 7th episode of Derek G. Larson‘s animated series Très Mall, with music produced through Derek’s Artist Support Program residency, features a clip from an interview with art historian David Joselit. You can watch the full episode, which also includes music by Jim O’Rourke and conversations with art critic Boris Groys, philosopher Carlos Oliva Mendoza, and cartoonist Jim Jinkins, at dis.art.
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Rasheena Fountain - The Blues Woman Touches Down in the Pacific Northwest
Rasheena Fountain’s Jack Straw Artist Support Program project Dropped Down Blues is on view in the “How to Carry Water” exhibit at The Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts (PRAx). Dropped Down Blues is a speculative blues fiction and poetry audio-visual project set in Pipers Creek, a 1.4-mile stream located in Carkeek Park in Seattle. The project includes nature field recordings, speculative fiction, poetry, and guitar riffs based on fieldnotes, observations, research, and guitar performances during the November 2022 visits to the creek during salmon run.
In the summer, Fountain spent time in the studio with a Jack Straw engineer to hone the audio (poetry, speculative fiction, field recordings, and guitar performance) for the project as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program. If you are in Corvallis, Oregon or nearby, check it out, along with the other artists who are in the exhibit. The “How to Carry Water” exhibit is the vision of curators Ashley Stull Meyers and Kelly Bosworth and will be on display at PRAx until December 21.
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Transonic - Hook Jab
Jack Straw artists Transonic recently released “Hook Jab,” the first single produced with help from their Jack Straw Artist Support Program residency. Follow them at @transonicmusic to hear what comes next.
Applications are due November 25th for Jack Straw’s 2025 Artist Support and New Media gallery programs. Visit us on Submittable for more information: https://jackstraw.submittable.com/submit
