News

February 1, 2012

If you love movement, you'll get a chance to twirl and turn in our new dance workshop, Dance ARound, with Shenandoah Sluter. (No, that is not a typo!) This year's workshop will explore endless ways to move and connect - including using hula hoops. Sounds like a perfect way to create your own "inner circle!"

January 17, 2012

Thanks to the hard work of our dedicated team, the new Star Arts website was launched today! Check out the scoop on our 2012 conference (June 16-23). You will come back!

January 5, 2012

From Eric Thomas:

Helen and I are looking forward to the 2012 Star Arts Conference! Our last tour through the Northeast was so much fun, we'd love to repeat it! So, in addition to seeing you all on the island, we'd like to investigate bringing our music to a venue near you either the week before or the week after the conference. We can perform in "public," commercial venues, do concerts in homes and places of worship, and provide music for spiritual or religious services. If you are interested in hosting and/or orchestrating one of these events, or know someone who might be, please contact me at: .

December 16, 2011

From Janine Torsiello:

Great news! My colleagues and I launched our new Web site called www.morrisbeats.com. The tagline is “At the heartbeat of the Morris County arts and lifestyle scene.” We will cover things of interest in the greater northern New Jersey area including sites or events that people might travel to see. In the first 8 days the site got in excess of 800 unique visitors and more than 18,000 page views – and that’s with only word-of-mouth advertising. We welcome folks from Arts to check us out. The more hits the better, so please check us out. http://www.morrisbeats.com

December 1, 2011

Star Arts 2012 will be held June 16th – 23rd. The photo-fabulous Caleb Cole will be returning to lead next year’s photography workshop. In addition, we look forward to new creative workshops led by Linda Celestian, Carl Erikson, Melissa Nussbaum Freeman, and Martin Hargrove. Check out the details in the Workshops section of our website. We are also thrilled to welcome back Rev. Bill Clark as our Minister of the Week.

November 29, 2011

Check out the fall 2011 Star Island Newsletter to read about the new Memorial Courtyard and Hurricane Irene’s visit to Star Island.

November 1, 2011

The Star Arts Steering Committee met in October to plan the 2012 Arts Conference. Co-chairs Richard Waring and Paula Stelzner reported that according to conferee evaluations, the 2011 summer conference was a rousing success. As we look towards next summer, Program Chair, Alison Hyder, has been on a roll. At this early date, five out of six workshop leaders for the 2012 conference have been confirmed.

October 2011

On October 21st, Jill Brody had a one-woman show of photographs at Salon Ciel in New York City. The show focused on Jill's ongoing work with the Hutterites, a communal group living in Montana. As the enthusiastic NYC Arts fans can attest, the images were eye-opening!

Nicole Terez Dutton won one of 10 writing fellowships awarded to emerging poets and fiction writers by the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Each fellow receives a seven-month residency at the Work Center, from October 1 to April 30, and a monthly stipend of $750. Nicole recently taught a poetry class for high school students on Fabulous Love Poems.

September 2011

Sofia Piel, noted photographer and pillar of the Polar Bears, moved to Seattle, WA to attend graduate school in cultural studies at the University of Washington. Congratulations and best wishes, Sofia!

August 2011

Rev. Alison Hyder became Interim Associate Minister at the First Unitarian Church of Wilmington, DE. Shoalers Lori and Jim Weddell, Karen Rege, and Joan and John Priest will be rooting for her from the pews!

May 2011

Anne Ferguson was mentioned in Mass Audubon's online magazine for developing the StoryWalk™ Project, which combines literacy and physical activity in a natural setting. Weatherproof pages from a storybook guide readers along walking trails while sparking conversation, learning, and an appreciation of nature. Annie developed this project in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. http://magblog.audubon.org/new-kind-environmental-literacy.

Lotus Do was mentioned in The New Yorker's Talk of the Town for participating in a game of Telephone in Manhattan. (In England the game is called Chinese Whispers.) A series of sutras was started by Buddhist nun Lama Pema and culminated in what Salman Rushdie, chair of the World Voices Festival, heard at the other end of the chain. The initial phrase, "Like a shimmering star, or a flickering lamp" devolved into "Shivering style, flickering lamp," then "Locus star locus," and reached Lotus's ear as "Fica sta." She was the 100th recipient of the game and detected hidden meaning. "FICA," she said, "Social Security. We all just finished filing our tax returns. This comes from the collective subliminal consciousness." Editor's note: Could this be a secret message to Star Islanders about how Star shimmers and flickers beneath the surface of our days only to reemerge and join us together again?