Arts & Culture

After being gone for two and a half months, the bear sculpture in front of the Alaska State Capitol is back. It returned Monday after Main Street improvements in that area were complete. During its absence, the bear received touch-up work by original artist Skip Wallen and sculptor Steve Parks.

Skip Wallen guesses how many times his bear sculpture has been touched over the years.

“Close to a million people pass through Juneau each year and if one out of ten of those people patted that bear, that would be 100,000 pats per year.”

At that rate, Wallen says, that’s a total of 2 and a half million pats in the past 25 years.

“But nobody pats it one time,” he says. “They go pat, pat, pat, so I figured that must be up in the 7-8 million range of rubs and pats on that bear.”

All those touches and pats caused the bronze bear to turn red in certain spots, like the ears and nose.

“The kids like to climb on it and they grab hold of the ears, then a lot of people like to rub the nose because it’s just a convenient spot to reach over and put your hand on,” Wallen explains.

It was brought to the rock dump where Wallen and sculptor Steve Parks worked on the bear for four days in June.

“We applied chemistry to those spots to try to match it with the areas of the bear that had not been rubbed and patted.”

This is the first time touch-up work has been done on the bear in 26 years.

“Some people told me those were love pats and I should have left the bear and not retouched them,” Wallen says. “I just thought, well, it’s not much effort to pay a little attention to the bronze and start afresh for another 25 years.”

Wallen originally began work on the sculpture in 1984 to honor 25 years of Alaska statehood. It’s made from recycled high power lines that once ran across the state of Colorado.

He named the piece ‘Windfall Fisherman,’ based on bear drawings done at Windfall Harbor on Admiralty Island.

Wallen is currently working on a new public sculpture of another iconic Alaska creature – a humpback whale.

Perseverance Theatre’s STAR Program is hosting the summer’s final performances. Plays include Shakespeare’s King Lear, the British comedy Cinderella, and a new production of Guys and Dolls. The summer tradition has been going on since approximately 1982.

On a sunny Juneau day, 50 kids sit in the audience at Perseverance Theatre. A prop has gone missing and Program Coordinator Shona Strauser is at the front of the stage seeking information.

So that means someone was playing with the swords. From now on, without a doubt they will get locked up. Or else I will sword you. -Strauser

The students are part of the Summer Theatre Arts Rendezvous Program and they’ve been working for five weeks to produce their plays. The group is comprised of ten to 18-year-olds, some with no previous acting experience. During daily exercises the actors practice pronunciation, projection and movement – led by Strauser. Strauser is the Perseverance Director of Education and has been involved with the program for a decade.

So a lot of theatre camps focus on workshops or just presenting what they’ve learned but this one is in full production mode. This program’s pretty awesome because we’ve got shows running in reps, so one night you could see King Lear, one night you see Cinderella, and one night you see Guys and Dolls. -Strauser

The students perform on the theatre’s main stage, with a set and costumes created by the same technical designers used for Perseverance Theatre’s regular season.

These are all professional people working on children’s theatre and making a huge commitment to young people. -Strauser

Director of King Lear, Donnie Gott, joined the program last year.

 I asked Shona if I could be part of the program because I really wanted to torture some children with Shakespeare.This year she asked me what I wanted to do and I said ‘is King Lear a little crazy’ and she said yes, so I said ‘let’s do it.’ – Gott

Chris Talley,16, and Rebecca Hassler, 14, play the villains of the production. Hassler is a both a seasoned veteran of  STAR, but Talley says his mom forced him to be part of the program.

 I was kind of scared because I had never played a bad guy before. It was nerve-racking to figure out I was going to play someone evil. -Chris Talley

Both are planning to try out for their high school productions at Thunder Mountain and Juneau-Douglas High Schools.

 I’m going to audition for all the plays at my high school. And I want to come back and do more Shakespeare next year, because I love Shakespeare. -Rebecca Hassler

See Cinderella on Friday, King Lear and Guys and Dolls Jr. on Saturday at Perseverance Theatre.  Tickets at the JACC, Hearthside Books and online at  perseverancetheatre.org

Six traditional canoes have retraced a historic Tsimshian route from British Columbia’s northern coast to southern Southeast Alaska.

About 100 people  paddled from the Canadian village of Metlakatla to the Alaska village of the same name. They arrived this morning (Aug. 7). Watch a video of the ceremony celebrating their Alaska arrival.

Kelly Bolton is organizing events on the American end of what’s called the Gathering Strength Canoe Journey.

She says it’s been a safe trip.

“Flat and calm. It couldn’t have been better. The weather was on their side. Everything was on their side,” Bolton says. 

Southeast’s Metlakatla was founded about 120 years ago by followers of Anglican missionary William Duncan. They canoed from their old home to a newly created Indian reservation, following a religious dispute.

The contemporary Canadian paddlers are in their eighth year of journeys. But this is the first time they’ve traveled between the two Metlakatlas.

Bolton says most of the canoers are teen-agers.

“We’ve even had several of our youth and three chaperones from Metlakatla who took part in this journey. So that is very historic, having our own people take part in this journey,” she says.

Watch a video of the canoes being greeted at Metlakatla, B.C.

The paddlers stopped at an isolated beach on Tuesday. They pulled into Metlakatla today as part of the community’s Founder’s Day celebration.

Bolton says leaders are planning a feast.

“It’s just been amazing the way the community of Metlakatla has all come together as one and how everybody has helped prepare for this. The amount of food that has been donated, the Native traditional food that’s been donated, it’s just amazing,” she says.

Bolton says the trip began July 31st. Canoers also stopped in Prince Rupert and several nearby Native communities.

The final stop is Thursday in Saxman, next to Ketchikan. Paddlers will then board an Alaska ferry for the ride back to B.C.

See more journey photos and information on Facebook.

Local, state, and Native officials, and Native elders donned hard hats and picked up shovels on Thursday afternoon to break ground on a new cultural center planned for downtown Juneau.

The Walter Soboleff Center will be erected at the corner of Seward and Front Streets with Shattuck Way running along the rear of the building.

The 29-thousand square foot space will be devoted to the research and study of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian cultures. The building will house education, arts and language programs, archives and artifact collections, and offices of the Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Former Juneau mayor and former Sealaska corporation chairman and CEO Byron Mallot heads up the group raising funds for the center’s construction.

This is what ANCSA is all about. To create another giant step in Alaska’s Native peoples contributing their strength and their essence, their beauty, their values, their traditions, and their heritage to all Alaska and even to the nation.”

First Lady Sandy Parnell spoke on behalf of Governor Sean Parnell who attended the event, but who could not speak because of laryngitis.

“Like Dr. Soboleff himself, let this center stand for peace and understanding, for mutual respect and honor, for working together to lift all people up. That, by lifting people up, it will communicate to the world the values of Alaska and the values of Dr. Soboleff.”

Dr. Soboleff’s sons Ross, Walter Jr., and Sasha also participated in Thursday’s groundbreaking.

And for those things which we hold dear in our hearts, it is so grateful to have this unfold before us in the name of our dad, Dr. Walter Soboleff.”

Selina Everson, past Grand Camp president, represented the Alaska Native Sisterhood:

We have progressed from our Tlingit box of culture to a building that will carry on Dr. Walter Soboleff’s legacy. We have come a long way. We have a long way to go.”

Other speakers included Albert Kookesh, Chairman of the Sealaska Board of Directors; Chris McNeil, Sealaska CEO and President; Juneau Mayor Merrill Sanford, Juneau Representative Cathy Munoz; Ed Thomas, President of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska; Eagle Clan Leader David Katzeek, and Paul Marks who provided the Raven response. A letter from Juneau Representative Beth Kerttula and Juneau Senator Dennis Egan, who could not attend the groundbreaking, was read during the ceremony. The Yees Ku Oo dance group performed before and during the event.

Sealaska Heritage Insititute officials say they have raised about 75-percent of the funds needed for the $20 million project. Some of that money included state and CBJ appropriations, or grants from the Alaska Native Education Program or the Cruise Industry Charitable Foundation.

Completion is expected for the end of 2014.

The center’s proposed site, previously known as “The Pit” or the “Hole in the Ground,” was turned into a temporary park after Sealaska corporation acquired the vacant lot and donated it to the Sealaska Heritage Institute. The space used to be site of the Endicott Building or the Skinner Building which burned down almost exactly nine years ago.

The Reverend Doctor Walter Soboleff was a Presbyterian minister, and spiritual and cultural standard bearer of the Tlingit people. He passed away two years ago at the age of 102.

A future performing arts complex is essential to the development of what’s known as the Willoughby District, according to a local architect.

The Juneau Arts and Humanities Council and Perseverance Theatre are teaming up to create a Willoughby Performing Arts Complex.

North Wind architect James Bibb says the collaboration is critical for how the rest of the district grows. Bibb spoke at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday.

“If the buildings around the arts and cultural district are developed, it starts to build a neighborhood, build an identity. It creates a campus.”

The complex would be the new home for Perseverance, containing the theater, rehearsal space, offices, and costume shop.

Perseverance artistic director Art Rotch says the current theater building is nearing the end of its life. Being part of the Willoughby Performing Arts Complex would mean moving from Douglas, which has been the theater’s location since it was founded in 1979.

“That’s tough, but the theater serves the whole community, in fact the whole state, so we have to think about how to do that best,” Rotch says.

Nancy DeCherney is executive director of the Arts and Humanities Council. She says the new arts complex will also have a second theater for public use, a restaurant and bar, apartments, offices, and a potential dance studio.

“The apartments and offices would offer both mixed use in the neighborhood and give us operating income to support the facility.”

The goal, says DeCherney, is to expand the JACC by building into the parking lot. This would take away 55 parking spots, an idea she’s gotten unfavorable reaction to.

“The parking in this area is a problem whether we build it or not, and maybe we can use this project as a way to have community conversations about ways to solves the issues in the Willoughby District with regard to that,” she says. “That’s how I’m approaching the parking – yes, it’s a problem. Let’s fix it.”

Developing Willoughby District is long-range goal of the city, and includes the current SLAM project.

Last year, voters approved an extension to Juneau’s 1% sales tax allocating $1 million towards a JACC expansion.

DeCherney says the current estimate for a new performing arts complex is around $18 million. DeCherney hopes to see the project started within five years.

Hundreds of years in the future, Earth is rendered uninhabitable. Brothers Raymond and Rusty Hayes are battling for survival. Their weapons? A board, a deck of cards, and some dice.

Raymond Hayes sits at his kitchen table. He’s dealing out a deck of cards with pictures of aliens, warships, and magical creatures.

Rusty stares intently into his hand. Rusty moves first, and I ask them how they came to be playing their own game this summer day.

These two brothers grew up in Wrangell. And as kids, they played a lot of board games.

Now, they’ve decided to create their own. Their game is called War Command. It started as a glimmer of an idea in Raymond’s head over a year ago. He came up with the idea for a game that mixes a number of different genres.

“Our game mixes fantasy-style characters with sci fi-style characters, which is much more challenging than I anticipated when we did it at first,” says Raymond.

They never planned to have War Command go in the direction it’s taken.

“We didn’t even think this game would go to tabletop. We thought that we would be releasing it as a little app on an iPhone,” said Rusty.

Rusty said he always like Raymond’s idea for the game, but never thought it would get off the ground.

“I’ve been programming games since I was in 9^th grade or so. I think when Raymond first came to me with this game idea all I said was ‘That’s a really great idea Raymond but that’s just too big. You’ll never get that done.’ And then he came to me with the team more put together and a more serious game design document. And I thought, oh my god, we’ll we have to move on this now.”

The War Command team consists of the Hayes brothers, a PR person and graphic designer, an art director, and 17 illustrators from around the world—some from as far away as Malaysia.

The team took War Command to the Salt Lake City, Utah-based gamers convention, called SaltCon.

They presented it as a mobile app. But, they brought along a demo tabletop board game, so other gamers could test it out in person.

And, they said, they were amazed by the response. The feedback on the tabletop version was so positive, they decided to launch a physical form of the game first.

That’s what they’re trying to do now.

Last week, Rusty and Raymond launched their online Kickstarter campaign. They hope to get enough interest to fund the first making and distribution of War Command.

Rusty said if they don’t get enough money to make the tabletop game this summer, they’ll still be releasing the mobile app early next year.

“But if the Kickstarter succeeds, it will be nice because we’ll probably be able to preempt that a little bit and have the game board in stores around holiday season and then the app available right after,” said Rusty.

And he said, I should stop asking them questions so they can actually finish the game. It’s bad enough waiting for a normal game, but when the competition is between two brothers who are also the designers—well, let me tell you, the tension is high.

Rusty’s characters are cornered at the edge of the board. Raymond’s commander is making an advance. He picks up the dice, rolls, and…

Better luck next time, Rusty.

For more information about War Command, check out the game’s website, Facebook page, and Kickstarter campaign page.