About the Performance:
An artist talk + workshop and performance at Saratoga Arts
Improv Spaces presents an evening artist talk and hands-on workshop to explore the Feral Hues project of Troy-based interdisciplinary artist Ellie Irons and a contemplative offering by Boston-based percussionist Curt Newton with his “A Climate Meditation for Solo Drumset” at Saratoga Arts. Ellie Irons’s practice spans publicly engaged work — including with the artist collective the Environmental Performance Agency and her work with artist Anne Percoco as The Next Epoch Seed Library — to the nuanced paintings made from colors she creates from the berries, blossoms, and leaves of the plants from urban and disturbed habitats she creates with her Feral Hues project, online component, and book that is now on its third printing. She has previously brought the public on walking tours related to Feral Hues as part of her practice, and will be offering a hands on workshop and artist talk to open this special evening program.
The workshop will be followed by a performance by percussionist Curt Newton. Newton’s work ranges from free jazz ensemble work and his solo percussion. His performance “A Climate Meditation on Solo Drumset” has previously been performed at the MIT Chapel in 2024. His solo drumset work began in 1996, with his adaptation of Witold Lutoslawski’s String Quartet. His recent solo performances are completely improvised and he notes “often with a dedication to our miraculous yet threatened natural world and vibrant web of non-human relations.” We are excited to bring this performance with Iron’s workshop to the community to share these unique experiences with you and to think together about the quickly changing world in which we are enmeshed and our place within in it.
About the artists Ellie Irons is an interdisciplinary artist based in current-day Troy, New York, where the Mahicannituck and Mohawk Rivers converge. She received an MFA from Hunter College and Phd from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute focused on ecosocial art. She is the Co-Director of NATURE Lab at the Sanctuary for Independent Media. Her book Feral Hues was published in 2023 by PS Hudson. https://ellieirons.com/ https://www.mediasanctuary.org/ Boston-based percussionist Curt Newton coaxes whispers from drumsets and resonance from stacks of rattly stuff, weaving varied musical traditions in the spirit of dedicated playfulness. Over four decades, Curt has performed across North America and around the world and appears on scores of recordings with some of improvised music’s leading figures, including Ken Vandermark, Joe Morris, Nate McBride, Pandelis Karayorgis, Charlie Kohlhase, Eric Hofbauer, and Dave Bryant. About one live performance, the Chicago Reader’s Peter Margasak wrote “Newton dazzles…He exhibited breathtaking restraint, breaking down time with a subtle hand, tapping out painterly splashes of sound.” Curt studied privately with Bob Gullotti, has a Master’s in Jazz Performance from New England Conservatory. Complementing and spurring his music, Curt is also an active climate change community builder through volunteer work as an En-ROADS Climate Ambassador, a national convener for the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, and the leadership team of the Boston Green New Deal Coaltion. Professionally, he’s Director of MIT OpenCourseWare, which supports millions of learners and educators around the world every year with free open-licensed learning materials from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Website: https://curtnewton.com
