Festival of Dark Arts

written by Ginnette on February 8th, 2013

Saturday, February 16, 2013  -  2:00-10:00
Fort George Brewery + Public House  |  Lovell Brewery Taproom and Showroom
All ages are welcome  -  Admission is free  -  $8 for a Festival glass  –   $1 per sample

Featured Stouts

DESCHUTES ABYSS  -  ALESMITH SPEEDWAY STOUT  -  ELYSIAN OMEN  -  GREEN FLASH DOUBLE STOUT  -  SASQUACH BREWERY ESPRESSO STOUT  -  LUCKY LAB PALVOV’S RIS  -  LOMPOC STOUT OUT LOUD  -  TERMINAL GRAVITY BAR X STOUT  -  GOOD LIFE PASS STOUT  -  STONE BOURBON BBL IRS  -  BLOCK 15 NEBULA  -  BLOCK 15 SUPER NEBULA  -  HOPWORKS ARMY OF DARKNESS  -  OAKSHIRE ESPRESSO STOUT  -  NINKASI BOURBON BBL OTIS  -  MIGRATION FRANKIE CLAUSE  -  10 BARREL AMERICAN STOUT  -  BEAR REPUBLIC OLD BABA YOGA  -  BEAR REPUBLIC OLD BABA YOGA SPICED  – ROGUE SHAKESPEARE STOUT – BONEYARD BOURBON BBL SHUG NIGHT  -  BURNSIDE RED LIGHT DISTRICT  -  LAURELWOOD BBL AGED MOOSE AND SQUIRREL  -  THREE CREEKS COFFEE IMPERIAL STOUT  -  CASCADE DIESEL STOUT  – GREAT DIVIDE ESPRESSO YETI – BISON CHOCOLATE STOUT  -  PORTLAND U BREW TIGER BLOOD  -  BREAKSIDE DRY STOUT  - MCMENAMINS BOURBON BBL AGED TERMINATOR – OLD SCHOOLHOUSE STOUT – ASTORIA BREWING CO. BAD ASS STOUT –   FORT GEORGE CAVATICA STOUT  -  FORT GEORGE LONG DARK WINTER MILK STOUT  –   FORT GEORGE POLISH’S BLACK WALNUT STOUT  -  FORT GEORGE VIVA LA STOUT  -  FORT GEORGE SPANK STOUT  -  FORT GEORGE SQUASHED STOUT  -  FORT GEORGE CAMPOUT STOUT  -  FORT GEORGE MURKY PEARL  -  FORT GEORGE COFFEE GIRL STOUT  -  FORT GEORGE BOURBON BBL CAVATICA STOUT  -  FORT GEORGE RYE WHISKEY CAVATICA STOUT  -  FORT GEORGE KENTUCKY GIRL  -  FORT GEORGE MEEKER’S MARK  -  FORT GEORGE THREE WISEMEN

Barrel Aged Cavatica Stout Release

The Festival of Dark Arts will mark the release of Barrel Aged Cavatica Stout in Limited Edition 4-Packs, to be acquired in-house only. The unique packaging will serve as the transportation for these covert cans and suggests the theme: Dark. Each year, a different vintage will be released for the festival. The 2013 version has been aged in Heaven Hills Rye Whiskey Barrels and comes with a bizarre story to boot! These beers should age phenomenally.

Fort George Pub Stage

4:00-6:00 – BLUE SKIES FOR BLACK HEARTS	8:00-10:00 – THE BUILDERS AND THE BUTCHERS

Dark Arts Gallery Stage – Performance Schedule

2:00 – CHEYNE STOECKS – An ongoing project started in 1996 with origins in punk rock, industrial and percussive based ensembles of 3 to 7 members has evolved to its current, dark ambient lineup of 1.
2:45 – KITES AT NIGHT
 – The ongoing soul project of Nyklus Stephens, Kites At Night has explored many realms of genre including obscure folk, traditional noise pop, and distorted sonic lullabies.  Nyk aims to dissociate listeners from their previous mindsets, situate a collective vibe and blend the boundaries of psyches through textured sounds and compelling visuals.
3:30 – JOHN BERENDZEN
 – A resident composer and sound designer for 20 years, John Berendsen creates electroacoustic  music and sound for theatre, dance and arts communities in Portland and beyond.  He has collaborated with Imago, defunct theatre, Oslund + Co/Dance, Hand2Mouth, Oregon Children’s Theater, and many others.
4:15 – JUPITER AND MARCO DAVIS – A noise rock duo with interpretive dance by Dragulation ring leader, Marco Davis.
5:00 – GREGG SKLOFF – Featured on the 2009 album Gigantomachia by the Naket Future, Gregg Skloff has played contrabass since 1990 with artists such as John Gruntfest, Urs Leimgruber, and Bhob Rainey.  His solo instrumental performances, with swirling storms and sweeping vistas, conjure a uniquely intense and enigmatic mood.
5:45 – TIFFANY LEE BROWN AND ERIC HAUSMANN- THE EASTER ISLAND PROJECT – Eric and Tiffany will present video and improvised music from The Easter Island Project, taking the audience from the Northwest to New York to the island of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with combined elements of performance, writing, ritual, and art.
6:45 – BIRCH BOOK/IN GOWAN RING – A poet, composer and existential voyager, “B’ee” has performed in over 20 countries worldwide for over 20 years with a variety of transcendental nature folk music.  He’s released numerous albums of original material for the projects Birch Book and In Gowan Ring and will be performing original songs with his recently built Lyre-Harp-Guitar.
7:45 – SUN & MOON ENSEMBLE – Sun and Moon Ensemble is a musical vehicle 
for the metaphysical sound composition and improvisation of Derek Ecklund.  In 2006, Derek developed a digital instrument called the Planetary Sinewave Organ consisting of sinewave frequencies that are tuned to planetary orbit cycles.  Joined by Cameron Wagner; drone and voice, and Jonathan Howitt; percussion, this performance will bring orbit cycles of the planets into frequencies and down into listeners ears.
8:30 – VAR’YIN PARHAM & JESSAMYN GRACE – BELLY DANCING – Var’yin Parham has over 15 years of experience in Egyptian Cabaret style dance and teaches at the Astoria Arts and Movement Center.  Var’yin is also the artisan behind Ondine Treasures Jewelry, a collection of unique adornments inspired by the Northern Pacific Coast which will be featured at the Dark Arts Festival.  Visit her booth and fall in love with something one of a kind.  Jessamyn Grace, co-founder of the Astoria Arts and Movement Center, sees belly dancing as a way into and unto the self.  She began taking Egyptian Cabaret and Turkish style Belly Dance from Saqra and Aziza in 1994.  At just 14, Jessamyn got her first Tarot deck during a family visit to Seaside, OR and finds Tarot to be the perfect medium for contemplation of the beauty and complexity of people’s lives.  Visit her tarot booth at the Dark Arts Festival with a question for the ancestors in mind…
9:00 – SORIAH – Soriah, which translates as “Milky Way” from Sufi, is the stage persona for the internationally recognized artist, Enrique Ugalde.  Soriah’s craft is a blending of traditional Khöömei (Tuvan Throat Singing), tempered with Soriah’s own visceral force.  A live Soriah performance is as much a paranormal experience as it is a concert.  The atmosphere is sculpted by thick resin incense, mystical Aztec evocations and tribal drumming that transport the audience to a space between worlds.

Dark Arts Gallery

Curated and designed by Jessica Schleif, the gallery is a collection of local art including sculpture, painting, and photography all available for purchase.  Cash and carry, wrap and take.

Featured Artists:

Kim Waites  -  Jessica Schleif  -  Martin Garrison  -  Mariah Manners  -  Jamie Boyd  -  Sally Lackaff  -  Natalie Orr  -  Eva Kirk  -  Colour Gorsuch  -  Agnes Field  -   Shane Bugbee  -  Brenda Harper  -  Linden  -  Vinnie Steele

Terrarium Gallery

Jessica Schleif (The Fort George Gardener) is excited to present this collaboration with Sally Lackaff and Kim Waites who have created these living pieces of art – little worlds you can take home with you.

Artists on Site

THE PSYCHIC SIAMESE TERROR
JESSAMYN GRACE from the Day of the Velvet Voice (Belly Dance and Tarot)
VAR’YIN PARHAM Belly Dance and Ondine Treasures Jewelry
SOLSTICE FORGE Craft Blacksmithing with David and Karen Curl
KAREN ELAND The Beer Painter
FERNHILL GLASS
GILES CLEMENT Wetplate Photos
TATTOOS from Hold Fast and Keepsake
STOUT INSPIRED FOOD Provided by Fort George Chef Dana MacAuley and O’Falafel Cart

GREGG SKLOFF	EASTER ISLAND PROJECT	BIRCH BOOKS/IN GOWAN RING
VAR’YIN AND JESSAMYN	TERRARIUM EXHIBIT	SORIAH

Dark Arts Gallery Sound Installation

THE COLUMBIA RIVER SOUND MAP – Throughout the day, between performances in the Dark Arts Gallery, Derek Ecklund will be presenting his ongoing online sound installation – The Columbia River Sound Map.  As a professional sound recordist, Derek has mastered the art of creating a pristine, realistic audio snapshot. He believes sound, to be the best medium for transporting the listener directly into an environment and uses soundscape recordings to immerse the listener into a realistic 3-D environment. Derek hopes to inspire a deeper listening and awareness to the depth and variations of the sonic environments existing on our planet, through his recordings.  In 2009, he started the Columbia River Sound Map project, geotagging sound coordinates to a Google satellite map along the 1,243 mile course of the Columbia River from the source to the sea. He is inspired to use these sound recordings to tell a story about the river and its relationship to the life and livelihoods that depend upon it. By sound mapping, he more closely aligns soundscape with landscape.

www.soundmaps.net/columbiariversoundmap

Festival of Dark Arts: The evolution, the dream

Founded by artist and Astorian Jessica Schleif, the Festival of Dark Arts started as a small gathering and fundraiser for the Astoria Visual Arts Gallery, a space first created for new and emerging local artists.  During some of the darkest days of the year, samples of locally made chocolates and rich creamy stout shed light on the local underground art and music scene.

The stout was curated and donated by local brewer Jack Harris who, over a couple of pints one evening with friend Jessica, shared his dream that February would be stout month the world over.  He saw the potential of the Festival of Dark Arts to highlight stout as art and wanted to bring visual and musical art together with the art of craft beer.  With that, he invited Jessica to bring the Festival to Fort George Brewery for 2012 during our Stout Month (February of course).

Recognizing the positive impact the Festival of Dark Arts had on the community and with interest in its continued success, another local artist, Sally Lackaff, created a piece to promote the festival itself.  With branding in place and a new, bigger space to host the event, 2012 saw The Dark Arts Festival explode.  This year’s Festival is expected to bring over 1500 people from the Northwest and beyond together in Astoria to celebrate the craft of all things dark and delicious.

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Farm to Fork at the Fort

written by Brian on October 5th, 2012

Guest Post by: Chef Dana MacAuley and Evonne Hughes.

Continuing on with The Fort George tradition of creating something great by bringing together people within the community, Owner Jack Harris and Chef Dana MacAuley went on the air on Astoria’s local radio station KMUN last year to promote local food.  After hearing the show, farmer Larry Nelson contacted The Fort with a goal in mind: to start growing potatoes for the pub.  This began an exciting new venture of truly providing customers with a unique experience that goes beyond just taste.

After 15 years of farming, Larry Nelson and his wife Nancy created the L.A.N.A.’s Conscious Farm name, beginning its first growing season this year.  Located in the Lewis and Clark area, Larry and Nancy have always used strict organic practices and they will be officially certified after four years of soil testing.

Spud Dynamics

This 2012 planting season contains one of the indigenous foods of the Nakota tribe, an heirloom russet, of which 1000 pounds of seed potatoes were planted, followed by 10 pounds of Burbauks and Blazers.  Plans for an aggressive growing season were slightly halted after 2 frosts and a small flood took out most of the early March seeds.  However, the remaining seed potatoes were planted in mid-April and were just harvested this past Monday.  Everyone was filled with great excitement and anticipation as they watched the success of their first harvest being pulled from the earth.  What was nothing but a mere open, grassy plain in early spring had now been cultivated into almost an acre of rich, growing fields.  Grain to mulch the 200-foot-long rows was also provided by The Fort George.

(Click to enlarge).

Getting Dirty

This year L.A.N.A.’s Conscious Farm will use a technique known as cover cropping, wherein hot mustard and vetch will be grown in the off-season to then be tilled into the soil prior to planting, adding a great deal of nutrients to the soil.  In addition to this, spent grain from The Fort George Brewery’s operations will be used to mulch the 200-foot-long rows. The farm will also be using wild-caught salmon carcasses from Josephson’s Smokehouse located here in Astoria.  These will be combined into the compost, which will be spread 3″ thick over the soil before being tilled for the season.  Composting can induce soil temperatures to rise upwards of 175 degrees, thus killing off weeds and unwanted plants.

There is a magical and symbiotic relationship between the microscopic organisms created by these processes, the soil, and the plants being cultivated. All of the soil additions, besides create habitable environments for the organisms, which break down bound-up nutrients into the soil, and thus create more nutrients available for plant absorption, leaving us with large, solid, delicious and nutrient-rich potatoes. And it leaves the soil rich, ripe, and ready for next year’s crop!

Fun Potato Facts:
www.oregonspuds.com  The first recorded spud planting in Astoria was in 1811: 12 seed potatoes from New York, which produced 190 potatoes after the growing season.

www.organicfacts.net    The potato can aid in digestion, high blood pressure, inflammation, brain function, heart disease, skin care and treatment of cuts and burns, as well as many other ailments.

Starting this Saturday, L.A.N.A.’s Conscious Farm potatoes will begin being served at The Fort George.  Try the delicious farm-fresh fries and many other fresh, house-made creations.

You can also find L.A.N.A.’s Conscious Farm produce at the Thursday Farmer’s Market in downtown Astoria.

 

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The Fort George Garden(er)

written by Ginnette on September 25th, 2012

Fort George Brewery + Public House is growing. Cans of Fort George beer can be found on store shelves from Ashland, Oregon to Belingham, Washington. Our roots, however, remain firmly planted in the city of Astoria and are made up of a network of craftsmen and women who love this place and love what they do.  From our brewers, to our chefs and servers – every role is played with intension and care.  Every detail is important.  With that in mind, when owners Chris Nemlowill and Jack Harris first began renovations of the old Fort George building, they decided to preserve the Fort George Garden.  Rather than convert it to coveted off-street parking they enlisted the help of local gardener and master of her craft, Jessica Schleif.  Her style of gardening is unique and the results: gorgeous!

Jessica’s work at the Fort can be seen not only in the garden plot but also around the deck, in barrel planters outside the doors and will eventually extend into and around the new ramp!  We caught up with Jessica for a little Q & A about her technique and how she makes the Fort George garden and look so good.

Q: How would you describe your line of work and style of gardening?
A: I am an organic garden maker & hand tool gardener.  My style is naturalistic/regional.  Garden making, for me, is about the interaction between gardener and garden and accepting that nature is constantly changing.

Q: Who are your clients?
A: My clients are people that want to have places of beauty and meaning surrounding them.

Q: What made you choose this community to live and work in?
A: I chose to live in this community because of the way it made me feel inside.  That was 16 years ago.

Q: In the Fort George garden you used on-site refuse (the “spent” grain) to add nourishing organic matter to the soil.  Were you able to identify this resource right away?
A: I’ve been using spent grain in my gardens for 15 years. It’s such an amazing soil conditioner.  I feel lucky to be gardening at the source.

Q: You have adapted your style of gardening so that you can work without power tools- what are the most valuable tools in your collection?
A:  The tools I value the most are my Felco #2 secateurs and my Japanese hori hori knife. There are many others that I love, but these are almost extensions of my hands at this point.

Q: Any significant challenges that arise due to non-use of power equipment?
A: Rather than a challenge, I find that when I’m working close to the soil with my hand tools I can see and hear what the plants need, where they want to go or maybe who else we might want to invite to the garden party.  I’m in much closer contact than if I was at the other end of a spray nozzle or weed-eater.  It’s easier for me to build the plant communities when I’m listening.

Q: Now that the soil is much improved and the grounds are looking beautiful, what should we look forward to in the next phase of development for the FG garden?
A:  More berries, more barrels and hops towers for all!

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