6th Annual High Plains BookFest: The Call of the Wild
October 17-19, 2008 – Billings, Montana

The YMCA Writer's Voice and the Billings Cultural Partners are pleased to announce the theme of the 6th Annual High Plains Bookfest, The Call of the Wild.

The YMCA Writer's Voice is applying for a grant for The Big Read, as initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment. We intend to kick-off the program October 17-18, 2008 at the BookFest. The book selcted for the reading program is, of course, Jack London's The Call of the Wild.*

The 2008 BookFest will focus on contemporary regional writers whose work explores the theme of wilderness both as subject matter and as metaphor. Confirmed participants include Tim Cahill, Pam Houston, Steven Rinella, Gary Ferguson, Pete Fromm, Lois Red Elk, Stephanie Ambrose Tubbs, Davis Romtveldt, Michael Engelhard, Alan Kesselheim and many other regional writers.

Writers interested in participating in the 2008 BookFest - The Call of the Wild should mail or email a note to Corby Skinner, YMCA Writer’s Voice, 402 North 32nd, Billings, Montana 59101, or email to Corby@skinnerbenoit.com

* The hero of Jack London's The Call of the Wild (1903) is Buck, a St. Bernard/Scotch Shepherd dog. Set mostly during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98 in Canada's Yukon Territory and Alaska, the novel chronicles Buck's struggles and successes as he learns "the law of club and fang." Four years as a domesticated pet have not extinguished Buck's primordial instincts or imagination. He courageously survives brutal cruelty from humans and the wilderness, and he becomes the leader of his dogsled team. He endures hunger and fatigue, learns to scavenge for food, and fights with a rival dog. Despite all this hardship, Buck is "mastered by the sheer surging of life" for the Thornton, and his desire to answer the mysterious call of his ancestors.

The Writer's Voice seeks to foster a greater understanding and appreciation for contemporary literature of our region and to provide free and open dialogue between writers and their audiences.

Dear Educators:

It’s not too late to bring an artist to your school! The Writer's Voice of the Billings Family YMCA has just received additional funding from PPL Montana for our popular arts education/rural outreach program POETS ON THE PRAIRIE.

The program brings writers/artists into rural schools for a day of teaching and hands-on workshops. It nurtures an appreciation for the arts while at the same time featuring the diverse work of contemporary Montana artists. The artists are selected for their creative talent and for their interest and eagerness to share their work with students and teachers.

POETS ON THE PRAIRIE is designed as a classroom-oriented, working experience for the students. It is not meant to be an assembly or lecture for large numbers of students. Consequently, larger schools may not be able to include every student in the program on one day; these schools may want to target specific grades or they may wish to schedule more than one day. We want this to be a quality experience for the teacher and each student. We hope for as much time as possible in each classroom to actively involve everyone in the creative process. For legal reasons and to aid with discipline, a teacher must remain in the classroom with the visiting artist at all times.

Classes include cowboy poetry, collage, fundamentals of drawing, drawing the human face, drawing animals, sculpture and sculpting techniques, charades, pantomime,  improvisation, poetry, fiction and essay writing, newspaper or literary journal production, Crow language, introduction to brass instruments, watercolor, making chainmail, concepts of dance, wood carving, making 3-D floor plans, plus more. Descriptions are enclosed.

We are now planning the spring 2008 schedules. To ensure receiving both the artist(s) and date(s) you want, please let us know as soon as possible which artists you would like and which dates would work for you. This will give us ample time to make the necessary arrangements.

The cost for a full day visit is $75. Please contact The Writer’s Voice, 248-1685, with this information and/or any questions you may have.

Corby Skinner, Director

Laila Nelson, Administrative Assistant

Poets on the Prairie is supported by grants from

The  Montana Cultural Trust, The Starbucks Foundation,

 the Montana Community Foundation, and PPL Montana.

Pam Houston

JANE WAGGONER DESCHNER is an artist whose medium is the found photograph. For over twenty years, she worked in collage. Recently, facilitated by increasingly sophisticated digital technology and the age-old art of needle-in-hand, she has been exploring new ways of seeing vernacular photos, those ubiquitous, but often overlooked, products of mass culture. Currently her work is traveling throughout Montana and Wyoming as part of their ArtMobile programs. Opening January 2008, her work will be seen in “Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate,” a national juried exhibition organized by Helena, Montana’s Holter Museum of Art and the Montana Human Rights Network. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art from Vermont College in February 2002. In 2006, she co-authored and designed the book, Artists-In-Residence: The Creative Center’s Approach to Arts in Healthcare with The Creative Center in New York City. In addition to creating her own artwork, she works as a curator; teacher; consultant to arts in healthcare programs; coordinator of large public art projects; and free-lancer in advertising, marketing, editing, publishing and graphic design. Her work is in the collections of Federal Reserve Banks in Minneapolis, MN and Helena, MT; University of Montana; Montana State University-Billings Foundation; Yellowstone Public Radio; Nicolaysen Art Museum, Casper, WY; Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT; and individuals internationally.
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: A photo collage artist uses images (most often taken from catalogs and magazines) to create from many parts a new, individual statement. Deschner shows slides and examples of her own work to model how an artist thinks and works, and briefly discusses the art historical background and significance of collage-making, a new 20th century art form. It is a wonderfully equalizing medium because there is little need for traditional, often intimidating, artistic skills (i.e., ability to draw). Virtually every student enjoys creating a successful, unique artwork. One popular photo collage project Deschner uses is to ask each young artist to make a self-portrait--not in the traditional image of a face, but to choose and combine images which are personal and express what he/she knows and/or feels about him/herself. Three other collage projects, an exercise in abstraction, button/pin making and/or a collaborative surrealist game, are options she will discuss with the teacher contact.
Grade levels	2nd - 12th grade; the depth of explanation and length of hands-on increases in the higher grades.
# Students	Up to 20-25 per class for hands-on experience
Time required	1 hour - 1 ½ hours per workshop (1/2 hour slides; ½ - 1 hour for hands-on)
# Workshops per day	2 slide shows; 4 technique explanation and hands-on (can combine classes for slide show then instructor will spend time in each classroom for hands-on)
Advance preparation	Schools provide scissors, gluesticks, tagboard and a big selection of magazines (in subjects of interest to students).
ART
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: Becoming an Artist. The life of an artist is challenging–what’s it like to live your life as an artist? How does one combine self-expression with making a living? Using a slideshow of images of her work, Deschner will discuss her journey from deciding to go to art school at age 33 to earning a Masters of Fine Art twenty years later. She has used making art to help her through personal difficulties. Her work has evolved from hand-made photomontages to work interpreting found photographs on the computer. She has learned other skills (graphic design, picture framing, teaching) as part of her art practice and to support herself.
Grade levels	6th to 12th
# Students	regular class size, 20-25
Time required	.45-50 minutes
# Workshops per day	around 4
Advance preparation	locate a projector that can show a powerpoint from a CD