NORTE MAAR for Collaborative Projects in the Arts

CAMP POCKET U

a social school and arts camp inspired by Black Mountain College

as interpreted by Austin Thomas in collaboration with Norte Maar

summer sessions begin July 2010

The goal of Camp Pocket U is to unite experienced art makers with young people to further the conversation amongst creative thinkers, empowering participants and making art and performance accessible to rural communities. Further it is our goal to transform a community through art and performance with the local Elementary School as the gathering place for expression uniting creativity in minds and bodies together to enjoy healthy activities for all.

DATES:

Camp runs July 21, 2010 through July 28, 2010.

COST:

For a 3-day stay the cost will be $450.00, this includes the train trip.

ABOUT ROUSES POINT: The Northern Gateway:

Rouses Point, located along a glorious mile of the Adirondack Coast, is a friendly, lakefront village with an extraordinarily rich history. From lovely classical architecture to a charming, well-preserved downtown, it is ideally situated along the western shores of Lake Champlain. The Village provides natural gateways to Canada, Vermont and New York State with a convenient port of entry to and from Canada and an impressive bridge spanning Lake Champlain. 

Historical attractions and cultural events flourish. Camping, golfing, cycling, fishing and birding abound. You'll discover the bootlegger's "Rum Trail," a rich railroad heritage, a 19th century fort as well as old-fashioned BBQs, parades and one-of-a-kind specialty shops.  Rouses Point is a friendly and relaxed environment in which to live, work and play.  To learn more about Rouses Point including local services and village directory visit click here.

HISTORICAL NOTE (FERNAND LEGER IN ROUSES POINT):

LEGER IN ROUSES POINT: A CHRONOLOGY -- In March 1943, Cubist painter Fernand Leger discovers Rouses Point when his train is delayed for several hours on a journey to Montreal. "The Champlain Valley, with its fresh green orchards and French-speaking population, bore a resemblance to Normandy which captivated Leger." (1) He returns July 1 of that year and spends the summer at an old farm. Abandoned farm machinery overgrown with vegetation inspire many new compositions for paintings.

In July 1944, Leger begins his summer again in Rouses Point spending time with his friend Siegfried Giedion who was writing his book, Mechanization Takes Command. In August Leger works on The Girl with the Prefabricated Heart, a sequence for Hans Richter's film Dreams that Money Can Buy.

"By 1944 Leger had completed the Divers series, wherein figures are strewn through the picture space with top and bottom, hands and feet virtually interchangeable."(2) "That summer too (1944), Leger was continuing to develop the spectrum of circus personalities that would fill the enormous canvases of his last decade, such as La Grande Parade (1954)."(3)

"Among the sketches I saw at Rouses Point were some of a subject Leger had broached a couple of years earlier, jauntily attired cyclists and their machines-partly inspired, he said, by the American taste for outdoor sports and eye-catching clothes."(3), as seen in Leger's La Grande Julie (1945).

"A special atmosphere emanates from the group of works, frequently called the American Landscape series, created during Leger's summers in Rouses Point. All of Leger's American oeuvre displays a pictorial area densely covered with compositional elements. The group of Rouses Point landscapes is no exception. In Tree in Ladder (1943) man made objects are intertwined with and devoured by the overgrown vegetation."(5)

Leger spends his last summer in Rouses Point in 1945 before returning to France at the end of WWII.  In 2007, Norte Maar presented a ballet inspired by Leger at it's annual FETE DE DANSE: Summer Dance Concert.

__________
(1) Kotik, Charlotta. "Leger and America." In Fernand Leger. New York: Abbeville Press, 1983, p 56.
(2) James, Martin. "Leger at Rouses Point, 1944: A Memoir," The Burlington Magazine, vol. 130, no.1021 (April 1988), p 281.
(3) ibid
(4) ibid
(5) ibid p 57.

ABOUT THE FACILITIES:

Home base for Camp Pocket U will be the local Rouses Point Elementary School where the gymnasium will hold dance classes, small workshops, and evening performances. Creamics and skateboarding will be held in the parking lot located adjacent to the school.  Two classrooms will hold afternoon lectures and spit drawing.

Kids art program will be under the direction of Jason Andrew in collaboration with summer resident artists.  Suggested programs will include, civics, chess, drawing, ballet, capoeira, yoga, painting, ceramics, skateboarding, tennis.

The Norte Maar House will function as command central.  The house will service as dinning hall, exhibition space while tents pitched out back will serve as video / library lounge, kids retreat, and reading room.  Dinners will be held on the porch.

GETTING THERE:

Once you are in RP the entire Village including nearly all our activities are in walking distance.  Here are a few ways of getting to Rouses Point.  CPU highly recommends train travel for convenience and mind set.

VIA TRAIN.

The Village of Rouses Point is the last stop in the on the Amtrak before crossing the border to Canada. Trains depart Penn Station everyday at approx 8AM. Amtrak and its famous "Adirondacker" connects New York City to Montreal and makes daily stops at several sites along Lake Champlain, including Plattsburgh, Port Kent, Westport, Rouses Point, and Port Henry. It is one of the most scenic train excursions in America. Rouses Point is last stop in New York State and the USA.