Arts and Culture
BMCC Arts and Culture Series
Presented by BMCC Arts and Culture Committee
BMCC Arts and Culture Series brings thought-provoking and relevant presenters and performers to BMCC for students, employees, and community members to enjoy.
Schedule for Spring 2023
Theme: Reconnection: Regaining a Sense of Community
Please find more information for each event below the day schedule.
All events are free for students, staff, and community members, except where noted.
Thursday, May 11, 2023
- CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITION READING & AWARDS
- Time: 3:00 PM
- Location: BMCC Library in Pioneer Hall on the Pendleton campus
- You can also join by Zoom here
- Refreshments provided
- College Community Theatre presents Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap
- Show Dates: May 4, 5, 6, 7 and May 11, 12, 13, 14
- Learn more and buy tickets here
Student Creative Writing Competition
Winners announced for the 2022-2023 competition!
| AWARD | CREATIVE NONFICTION | FICTION | POETRY |
| 1st place |
"A Beautiful Mourning" - John Glidewell GRAND PRIZE WINNER |
"Sacrifices" - Simon Johnson | "Dark Times" - Simon Johnson |
| 2nd place |
"A Life Worth Remembering" - Ahnica Shoemaker |
"Phase" - Cassius Jennings | "Where I'm From" - Aliciana Archibald |
| 3rd place |
"Remembering Timmie" - Aliah Vassey |
"Jacky's Drug" - Jasmin Lewis | "Finding Her" - Jasmin Lewis |
Submit your creative nonfiction essays, short story fiction, and poetry.
Submissions |
Reading and Awards |
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Due Date: Monday, May 1 by 4:30 PM Click Here - Creative Writing Competition - Entry Form and Rules |
Thursday, May 11 at 3:00 PM BMCC Library, Pendleton campus If you are unable to join us in person for the awards and readings, you can join us by Zoom! Refreshments will be served and there is room for all! |
Contact Information: If you have any questions about this writing competition, please contact Allison Lakomski at (541) 278-5962 or at alakomski@bluecc.edu
Previous Presentations
Annual BMCC Student Art Show
& Staff, Faculty and Alumni Art Show
Opening Reception, Awards, and Judge's comments
Monday, May 1, 2023
12:00 PM
Betty Feves Memorial Gallery, Pioneer Hall, Pendleton campus
Judge: Roberta Lavadour, Executive Director, Pendleton Center for the Arts
Refreshments provided
Click here for Call for Artists - Student
Click here for Call for Artists - Staff, Faculty, and Alumni
In addition to serving as the Executive Director of the Pendleton Center for the Arts, Roberta Lavadour serves on the Pendleton City Art Commission and the Oregon Arts Commission. Her studio practice is in artist's books and design bindings, and her work resides in numerous public and private collections in the United States and abroad.
Show runs May 1 through June 2
Stop by the Betty Feves Memorial Gallery
Monday - Thursday 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Friday 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Baby Moccasin Workshop #1 - How to Start Moccasins
Monday, May 1, 2023
4:30 PM to 7:00 PM
BMCC Library, Pendleton campus
Instructor Merle Kirk, enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, will teach moccasin making on Monday, May 1 (learn how to start moccasins) and Thursday, May 4 (learn how to finish moccasins) at the BMCC Library on the Pendleton campus.
Registration is free for BMCC students. Registration will cover hide, glover, thread, and wax. Students should bring their own thimble. Non-students can register and pay $25 for supplies. We have limited supplies available so class will be limited to the first 15 people to register. Attendees will need to be ready to finish moccasins by Thursday, May 4 class.
Refreshments provided.
Class is full and registration has been closed. We will consider offering another class in the future.
Merle Kirk, pictured above, is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs. She currently works as the Indian Ed Coordinator at Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She teaches her students tribal language, as well as sewing, beading, and weaving. Merle has been sewing moccasins for 30 years.
Annie Smith, BMCC Native American Liaison, will be available in the BMCC Library on Tuesday, May 2 and Wednesday, May 3 from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM to assist students. Those days will be optional to complete "moccasin homework."
This event is a part of Blue Mountain Community College Arts and Culture Series. If you have any questions, please contact Annie Smith at (541) 278-5935 or email asmith@bluecc.edu
Reconnecting and Leading with Love with Eddie Cortez and PFLAG
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Pioneer Hall, Room 132
If you are unable to join us in person, you can join us by Zoom!
In an era of division and insecurity, we are still reminded of community and love through our actions locally. Knowing to never take for granted what leading with love can do, PFLAG will discuss the purpose of the organization and its impact at a state and community level.
Ed has been a staple in the Pendleton community for many years. He is an award-winning business owner whose business is committed to serving those with intellectual and physical disabilities by assisting them in obtaining and retaining employment, as well as other supportive services.
Ed was asked to join PFLAG as a board member in 2021. He hit the ground running and immediately began planning and participating in several community events. He took part in planning several “mixers” to promote education and advocacy in the Pendleton community. He has worked alongside PFLAG and GSA to implement safe spaces for the LGBQT+ community in Pendleton and continues to advocate for those safe spaces.
Ed has a heart for equality, equity, and inclusion and a strong desire to make all of Pendleton a safe space for those he serves. He is an integral part of the LGBQT+ pulse in Eastern Oregon and has been for quite some time. He was a strong part of the planning and putting on the Drag shows in 2022 and will be equally involved in this year’s show coming up in June.
Ed never turns down the opportunity to help those in our community and is an integral part of the inclusion culture here. He is a great resource, always supporting, educating, advocating, and truly leads with love in all he does.
Ed was born in a small town in Texas, grew up in between Texas and the Walla Walla area until moving to Pendleton in the early 1990’s. Ed currently resides in Pendleton with his amazing husband Travis and their two fur babies, Ricki and Rocko.
Contra Dancing Workshop
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
2:00 PM to 3:30 PM
McCrae Activity Center (MAC) Mezzanine
Come learn about Contra Dancing and how to dance contra with our very own Greg Schulberg, BMCC Faculty -Math and Computer Science.
Contra dancing is a social dance in which dancers form couples and the couples form sets of two couples in lines. Callers describe a series of steps called "figures," and the essence of the dance is in following a pattern with your set and your line. Since there is no required footwork, many people find contra dance easier to learn than other forms of social dancing (source Wikipedia - see videos and learn more on Wikipedia).
You do not need a partner to join the dance; you will dance with everyone. All ages are welcome from 5 to 105, and no prior dance experience is needed.
The workshop is free to all and is open to students, staff, faculty, and community members. Non-alcoholic drinks provided.
Greg Schulberg first learned about contra dancing in college and fell in love with the energy, live music and patterns in contra dance figures. He has been an instructor for ballroom and international folk-dancing and performed at a variety of international folk-dance events. Greg and his partner Ellen Wardell can be found dancing at live music events around town, and occasionally offering dance instruction for community members.
Baby Moccasin Workshop #2 - How to Finish Moccasins
Thursday, May 4, 2023
4:30 PM to 7:00 PM
BMCC Library, Pendleton campus
Instructor Merle Kirk, enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, will teach moccasin making on Monday, May 1 (learn how to start moccasins) and Thursday, May 4 (learn how to finish moccasins) at the BMCC Library on the Pendleton campus.
Registration is free for BMCC students. Registration will cover hide, glover, thread, and wax. Students should bring their own thimble. Non-students can register and pay $25 for supplies. We have limited supplies available so class will be limited to the first 15 people to register. Refreshments provided.
Class is full and registration has been closed. We will consider offering another class in the future.
Merle Kirk is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs. She currently works as the Indian Ed Coordinator at Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She teaches her students tribal language, as well as sewing, beading, and weaving. Merle has been sewing moccasins for 30 years.
Annie Smith, BMCC Native American Liaison, will be available in the BMCC Library on Tuesday, May 2 and Wednesday, May 3 from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM to assist students. Those days will be optional to complete "moccasin homework." Attendees will need to be ready to finish moccasins by Thursday, May 4 class.
This event is a part of Blue Mountain Community College Arts and Culture Series. If you have any questions, please contact Annie Smith at (541) 278-5935 or email asmith@bluecc.edu
Contra Dance with Live Band
Friday, May 5, 2023
6:30 PM to 10:00 PM
Student Union - Pioneer Hall, Pendleton campus
Come join us for an evening of reconnecting and dancing! We will have a live band playing contra music for us to dance to in our Student Union. Wear comfortable clothing and smooth-sole shoes, if possible.
You do not need a partner to join the dance; you will dance with everyone. All ages are welcome, and no prior dance experience is needed.
We will do a short review on contra dancing from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM. The dance begins at 7:00 PM.
The dance is free to all and is open to students, staff, faculty, and community members. Donations are accepted for the band and caller. Snacks and non-alcoholic drinks provided.
The one-and-only Greg Schulberg will be the caller for the evening, while a talented local band will be playing for us.
Greg first learned about contra dancing in college and fell in love with the energy, live music and patterns in contra dance figures. He has been an instructor for ballroom and international folk-dancing and performed at a variety of international folk-dance events. Greg and his partner Ellen Wardell can be found dancing at live music events around town, and occasionally offering dance instruction for community members.
BMCC Powwow 101 Workshop - Want to experience a fantastic local cultural event? Want to learn more about the traditions first? You're in luck!
Come to the BMCC Powwow 101 Workshop this Wednesday, March 8th, at 12:00 PM in P-132 on the BMCC Pendleton campus or join via Zoom. Snacks provided on-site!
Then, to get the full experience, join us at the Powwow event this Saturday, March 11, at 1pm in the McCrea Activity Center (MAC) on the Pendleton campus.
Did you miss the Powwow 101 Workshop? Here is a link to the Recording of Powwow 101 Workshop
BMCC Powwow
Campus Read: One college, one book
Heldáy de la Cruz: Dáyquiri: Little Poems
Monday, April 18, 2022
11:00 AM
Zoom Recording
A free, electronic copy of Heldáy's book is available to the BMCC community at the following link:
Pica.org/events/Dayquiri-LittlePoems
Heldáy de la Cruz (his first name is pronounced "el-dye") is an artist and community organizer. Through illustration and design, his work explores the identities that are lost and found within the queer and latinx diaspora. This, alongside his undocumented status, are at the very core of his community work.
Heldáy’s artwork and story has been shared in Milk X Magazine (Hong Kong), The Huffington Post, AIGA Portland, She Shreds Magazine, Ecotrust, Street Roots, East Oregonian, The Oregonian, ACLU of Oregon, Design Week Portland, Brand New Podcast, Social Justice League Podcast, Talking with Ghosts Podcast, Homebase Gallery, Culture Strike, and the Define American Film Festival.
He also co-leads a collective called UndocuPDX that provides resources, education, and news for the undocumented community.
For more information, contact Shaindel Beers at (541) 278-5938 or email sbeers@bluecc.edu
Tanaya Winder
Monday, April 18, 2022
3:00 PM on Zoom
Zoom recording coming soon
Tanaya Winder is an author, singer/songwriter, and motivational speaker who comes from an intertribal lineage of Southern Ute, Pyramid Lake Paiute, and Duckwater Shoshone Nations, where she is an enrolled citizen. She is a 2016 National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development “40 Under 40” emerging American Indian leader. Winder co-founded As/Us: A Space for Women of the World, a literary magazine publishing works by BIPOC women. She holds a BA in English from Stanford University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of New Mexico.
Tanaya's poetry collections include Words Like Love and Why Storms are Named After People and Bullets Remain Nameless. Her specialties include youth & women empowerment, healing trauma through art, creative writing workshops, and mental wellness advocacy. Winder’s performances and talks blend storytelling, singing, and spoken word to teach about different expressions of love and “heartwork.”
For more information, contact Annie Smith at (541) 278-5935 or email asmith@bluecc.edu
Poetry Panel: Activist Poetry
Shaindel Beers, Heldáy de la Cruz, Ki Russell, Tanaya Winder
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
2:00 PM on Zoom
Poetry Panel Zoom recording
Session was on poetry and activism. Panelists read poetry that we would consider “activist” poetry then answered questions.
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Shaindel Beers is the author of three full-length poetry collections, A Brief History of Time (2009) and The Children's War and Other Poems (2013), both from Salt Publishing, and Secure Your Own Mask (2018), from White Pine Press. She teaches at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Oregon, where she lives with her son Liam, her husband Matt, and a menagerie of pets. She serves as Poetry Editor of Contrary Magazine. Learn more at shaindelbeers.com. |
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Heldáy de la Cruz is an artist and community organizer. Through illustration and design, his work explores the identities that are lost and found within the queer and latinx diaspora. This, alongside his undocumented status, are at the very core of his community work. Heldáy’s artwork and story has been shared in Milk X Magazine (Hong Kong), The Huffington Post, AIGA Portland, She Shreds Magazine, Ecotrust, Street Roots, East Oregonian, The Oregonian, ACLU of Oregon, Design Week Portland, Brand New Podcast, Social Justice League Podcast, Talking with Ghosts Podcast, Homebase Gallery, Culture Strike, and the Define American Film Festival. He also co-leads a collective called UndocuPDX that provides resources, education, and news for the undocumented community. He is speaking on Monday, April 18 at 11:00 AM via Zoom. He is the author of Dáyquiri: Little Poems. |
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Ki Russell teaches writing, literature, and creative writing at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Oregon. She is the author of Antler Woman Responds (Paladin), The Wolf at the Door (Ars Omnia), and How to Become Baba Yaga (Medulla). Ki researches fairy tales then butchers them for her own purposes. She steals time from grading to wrestle with words, converse with cats, dance with the dog, and paint. |
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Tanaya Winder is an author, singer/songwriter, and motivational speaker who comes from an intertribal lineage of Southern Ute, Pyramid Lake Paiute, and Duckwater Shoshone Nations, where she is an enrolled citizen. Winder co-founded As/Us: A Space for Women of the World, a literary magazine publishing works by BIPOC women. She holds a BA in English from Stanford University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of New Mexico. Winder’s poetry collections include Words Like Love and Why Storms are Named After People and Bullets Remain Nameless. Her specialties include youth & women empowerment, healing trauma through art, creative writing workshops, and mental wellness advocacy. Winder’s performances and talks blend storytelling, singing, and spoken word to teach about different expressions of love and “heartwork.” |
For more information, contact Allison Lakomski at (541) 278-5962 or email alakomski@bluecc.edu
Student Creative Writing Competition
No theme for the 2021-2022 year - submit on whichever subject you want!
Due Date: Wednesday, May 11 by 4:30 PM
Reading: Friday, May 20 at 3:00 PM - BMCC Library, Pendleton
Click Here - Creative Writing Competition - Entry Form and Rules
Contact Information: If you have any questions about this writing competition, please contact either member below.
| Alison Timmons Phone: (509) 967-3874 Email: atimmons@bluecc.edu |
Allison Lakomski |
Announcing the 2022 Student Creative Writing Competition winners!
Please join us Friday, May 20, at 3:00 p.m. in the BMCC Library on the Pendleton Campus as we award the winning students and hear them read their winning entries.
If you are unable to join us in person for the awards and readings, you can join us by Zoom!
Refreshments will be served and there is room for all!
An Open House for our new Native Club Room will also be taking place at the same time in the Library. Stop by and see the artwork and enter the door prize raffle.
Creative Nonfiction - Essays
- 1st place: "Backing Up" - Theresa Pihl
- 2nd place: "An Iron Thread of Strength" - Katrina Holmes
- Honorable Mention: "The Paper Girl" - Mackenzie Aldrich
- 1st place: "Melly" - Maria Tejeda
- 2nd place: "Rendezvous" - Theresa Pihl
- Honorable Mention: "Lovesick" - Luna Dennett
- 1st place: "Cookies and Quilts" - Kaylee Zimmerman
- 2nd place: "Inanition" - Luna Dennett
- Honorable Mention: "In Lenguas (En Tongues)" - Maria Tejeda
Christine Hemp is the quintessential Humanities ambassador: Poet, author, musician, artist, teacher, and speaker. She has offered her talents to such people as elementary schoolchildren, U.S. Navy officers, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal elders, Microsoft managers, and National Park visitors. Her program called “Connecting Chord” (first presented in London, UK and later in Port Townsend) united youth offenders and law enforcement officers through the writing of poetry. All her programs concentrate on the power of our own words and how they make a difference.
She earned her B.A. in Humanities from Willamette University and her M.A. in English from Middlebury College. She has received numerous awards for her poetry and nonfiction, including a Washington State Artist Trust Fellowship for Literature. Her new memoir, WILD RIDE HOME: Love Loss, and a Little White Horse was released from Arcade/Simon and Schuster earlier this year. The Booklist review says “it seems like [this memoir] was written directly from Hemp’s soul”
Christine Hemp is on the faculty at Hugo House Seattle and the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival. She lives in Port Townsend with two horses, two cats, and one husband.
Watch Arts & Culture - Christine Hemp Video Presentation
Building Bridges
Briana Spencer is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) and she is a descendent of the Cayuse, Nez Perce, Oklahoma Seminole, Cascade, and of Chief Spencer of the Klickitat tribe. She is also Afro Puerto Rican, Irish, and French.
Briana was born and raised in Pendleton and her tribe has inhabited and have been stewards of these lands since time immemorial; her cultural heritage and future are here.
Nolan Bylenga is an active member in the Pendleton community and has been involved in several local protests as a speaker and organizer. He is an alumni of Pendleton High School and he recently graduated with a Bachelors of Political Science from Portland State University.
Nolan says he loves being in a small town such as Pendleton because of our sense of community, and he hopes to continue helping with events that will bring our community closer together.
HEARTWORK
Tanaya Winder
View Previous Recording Here!
An author, singer/songwriter, poet, and motivational speaker. Tanaya comes from an intertribal lineage of Southern Ute, Pyramid Lake Paiute, and Duckwater Shoshone Nations where she is an enrolled citizen. Tanaya’s performances and talks emphasize “heartwork” – the life path one is meant to follow by using their gifts and passions. She blends storytelling, singing, and spoken word to teach about different expressions of love. Her specialties include youth empowerment and healing trauma through art.FAKE NEWS
APRIL 15
The change came after almost 15 years working as a reporter for the East Oregonian, sister paper to The Observer. During those years, Phil reported on a variety of topics and issues, but the “Powers That Be” at the EO eventually assigned him the public safety beat, where he helped break some of the papers' biggest stories, from deadly crashes to cold-blooded killings.
He also lived for two years in Japan, is the father of a couple of awesome daughters, loves cats, working out, films and sushi, and maybe not in the order. He also has a burgeoning collection of science-fiction model kits and upscale action figures that threaten to overwhelm his pocketbook and modest lifestyle.
MAXVILLE
THE FORGOTTEN HISTORIES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LOGGERS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Gwen Trice
Executive Director of Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center
Joseph, OR