MAY 23: Alaskans, their music and art will be focus of festival.
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/4924579p-4858231c.htmlDutch climber so taken with state he's taking it home
MAY 23:
Alaskans, their music and art will be focus of festival.
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/4924579p-4858231c.html
By ROSE COX
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: April 4, 2004)
Peter Hoevenaars became so enamored with Alaska when he
climbed Mount McKinley in 1979 with a German team that he made repeated trips
here over the next couple of decades, forging friendships along the way.
Now the Dutchman has hit
upon a project to take a bit of Alaska back to the Netherlands to share with his
countrymen.
When he's not scaling
mountains, taking photos of Alaskans in Barrow or visiting Talkeetna or Homer,
Hoevenaars restores historical buildings for a living in Bergen op Zoom,
Holland. The town of about 60,000 residents is just southwest of Amsterdam and
boasts more than 350 buildings built in the 1700s.
Two years ago he met
members of the bluegrass band McLeod at the Fairview Inn during a visit to
Talkeetna.
"I said, 'I like your
music very much. Is there a chance you could come to the Netherlands?' "
Band member Dick Dooley
was struck by Hoevenaars' plan, and McLeod signed on. Out of their meeting came
the Holland/Alaska Exchange, an ambitious plan to share the music and culture of
the two lands.
"We're looking
forward to it because it's a chance to have a creative outlet for us. It's a
good way to get out of the normal routine," Dooley said.
The event starts May 23,
exactly 25 years to the day that Hoevenaars climbed Mount McKinley.
"His climbing buddies
are going to be there to help celebrate," Dooley said.
Hoevenaars and Alaska
photographers Anke Hoeper and Kate Salisbury have mounted an exhibit of Alaska
photos shot from Barrow to Kodiak. Artists David Mollett and Tony and Julia
Crocetto also will show their work.
Juggler and guitar player
Jim Kerr and dulcimer player Denise Martin will perform, and McLeod will spend a
week in Bergen op Zoom and give performances and workshops in nearby towns.
The art exhibits and
performances will take place in a 13th-century castle-turned-museum in downtown
Bergen op Zoom, the village square and surrounding art galleries. Artists and
musicians also will visit area schools.
Hoevenaars expects 5,000
to 10,000 people will attend the weeklong event, and many more will see the art
exhibits in the museum over the summer.
Holland is primarily flat,
and Hoevenaars believes photos and paintings by Alaska artists will be a treat
for the Dutch. He calls Talkeetna "mystical."
"Alaskans are mainly
influenced by nature -- the mountains, rivers, the forests," he said.
The classic art of Holland
is greatly influenced by the work of van Gogh and depicts historical values,
portraits and the clothing, faces and lifestyles of Hollanders, Hoevenaars said.
Contemporary art is a testament to Holland's modern, hectic life.
"The influence of
nature on music and artwork -- that's what I want to show the people of
Holland," Hoevenaars said.
"When Crocetto came
onboard, he said, 'If we're having artwork and musicians, why don't we make an
event of it?' " Hoevenaars said.
He took six months off
work to promote the festival, securing funding from General Electric Plastics,
which has a plant in the town, and private donors. The city provided free space
in the museum.
The festival also will
include a showing of Alaska documentaries and nature films, including the
classic "Nanook of the North."
The Alaska Seafood
Marketing Institute is organizing a culinary program featuring Alaska
delicacies, and Clifford Sobel, the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, will
kick off the festivities.
"For me, it just
started with a little bit of music, and this came out," Hoevenaars said.