"New Voices of the Past: An Artistic Interpretation of Northwest History," April 20, 1999

Students at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics (VSAA) worked with Center for Columbia River History staff member, Melanie Stillion, and VSAA teacher, Jan Abromoviz, to create an interdisciplinary performance. Through historic research, students used dance, poetry, sculpture, music, theatre, and film to depict communities, social change, and varieties of human experience in Columbia Basin History. "Our goal," wrote Stillion and Abromovitz, "in developing the 'History as Art' pilot program was to provide students with self-directed learning opportunities outside of the classroom and to allow them space to discover their own creative process." Each student completed archival and field research, then translated it into an art form. Kimbree Brown performed five dance solos representing the emotional experience of African Americans in Portland. Matthew Newsham created sculptures from rebar, "the foundation of all modern buildings, which supposedly uphold social order," to represent the ironies of the American prison system -- specifically, Walla Walla Prison in Washington State. Through photo, film, and oral history research, Heidi Sandberg produced a film about Japanese Relocation in the Pacific Northwest during World War II. Rachel Erland composed a reading about the individuals and stories associated with Hanford Nuclear Reservation, the World War II nuclear reservation fueled by power from Grand Coulee Dam. The "New Voices of the Past" program was one of a series of programs presented by CCRH and supported by the James B. Castles Endowment Programs. Top image by Mathew Newsham. Bottom by Lindsay Farnsworth