ORANGE CITY – Orange City Arts’ annual celebration of flowering gardens, music, art – and irresistible sweets – is coming soon. The 2015 Summer Suites will be held Wednesday, June 10 in three backyard gardens in Orange City.
The event begins at 6:30 p.m.
The “progressive concert” will feature The Copoetics of Sioux Falls, the Le Mars Flute Choir and several visual artists working while the public watches, with violinist Bethany Dykstra gracing that garden with music.
• The Copoetics — Dan Finch and Louisa Soli-Holt — invite Summer Suites guests to enjoy their guitar and ukelele, and Louisa’s “strikingly clear and penetrating voice.” A few years ago, both left South Dakota for Denver; both taught secondary school; both adored The Grateful Dead and Joni Mitchell. But Louisa’s heart was captured by Dan, the 5-string ukelele and most recently, their newborn son. The couple, no
w living in Sioux Falls, has traveled 10,000 miles, performing across the American West and educating many people on the differences between North Dakota and South Dakota.
Their name, The Copoetics? “It represents the collective poems of life we all share and create every day,” said Louisa. http://thecopoetics.com
• The Le Mars Flute Choir brings together flutists from Le Mars, Marcus, Sioux City and Orange City… and performs all kinds of music, from grand flute quartets to jazz. Watch for C flutes, G flutes and piccolos.
For Summer Suites, the seven-member choir will play a lovely variety, including Irish lilts, a rag, Camptown Races, a light class
ical piece by Boyce and the fun Little Red Monkey by Jordan. Another Summer Suites performance on June 10 is the Le Mars Flu
Left to right are Kathy Moore, Sue Ashenfelter and Dr. James Schroeder of Le Mars; Lynn Gross of Sioux City; Glenda Drennen of Le Mars; June Palleson of Marcus; and Donna Mortenson of Orange City.
• Visual artists, with violinist Bethany Dykstra, will grace the third garden. While attendees watch, seven visual artists will work. Bethany Dykstra, who has played violin for 11 years as part of eight honor orchestras and now the Northwestern College Chamber Orchestra, will perform pieces by Ten Have, Handel and Bach, accompanied by Kate Noteboom.
Visual artists: Emilee Berry 
sat on a poppy-covered stone staircase in Greece, and discovered the connection between the “light, organic feel of nature” and hard, rough architecture. So she loves both strong lines and repetition, and movement and texture. A recent award-winning art graduate from Northwestern College, originally from Battle Creek, she does sculpture, printmaking and photography, and will paint at Summer Suites.
Mary Jane Davidson, of Manitoba—and now Sioux City, comes from a family of artists, and learned about painting/ dying on silk from her sister. She stretches white silk, then hand-paints, using a variety of methods. Some are unpredictable designs, others complex and defined, with the help of gutta or soy wax resists. Many of Davidson’s paintings are on silk scarves.
Ron Erickson, of Remsen, has been woodturning for 15 years, using wood from fallen trees to create bowls, Christmas ornaments and small boxes. He loves trying new things. It’s a hobby, so he doesn’t advertise, but he has exhibited his work in Spencer and Storm Lake. We’re lucky to have Erickson for Summer Suites, since his June through August priority is not woodturning, but golf.
Lynne Hubers, of Orange City, learned to quilt from a friend in ’97, and hasn’t looked back. She loves choosing colors, working with beautiful fabrics, and designing. She enjoys geometric quilting, appreciates the finesse of traditional quilting, and especially likes the slow pace of appliqué work. She’s done one hand-quilted wallhanging — otherwise it’s machine quilting and piecing for Hubers.
Marena Nachtigall, a SE Iowa native, studied art at Hesston and Bethel Colleges in Kansas, graduating in ’03. She opened Earth & Art, ceramics and floral design in Noble. Functional wheel-thrown ceramics is the basis for her work, with an emphasis on carved and beaded embellishments. Currently Nachtigall and her family live in Orange City.
Lauren and Barb Ochsner have spent a combined 50-plus years on custom glasswork and framing, from their shop — Golden Prairie Art — of Maurice. They have designed and created stained glass for many area churches, plus Prairie Winds, the Dordt College library and Orange City Area Health System. They will demonstrate processes in creating stained glass art.
Judy Thompson, watercolor artist originally from Chicago and now Orange City, painted the cover art for the recently published Laura Ingalls Wilder autobiography. Her art has been exhibited across the Midwest, and she has done many artist residencies, including two at national parks. Acclaimed as “capturing a sense of place,” Thompsons’ recent work includes her “Homestead Series.”
Some artists will offer their art for sale at Summer Suites.
Summer Suites will be held in the backyard gardens of Sally and Laird Edman (featuring The Copoetics), Jodi and Kent McDonough (visual artists and violinist Bethany Dykstra) and Anita and Jack Vogel (Le Mars Flute Choir).
The event, part of the Onstage Orange City series, is sponsored by Orange City Arts. Instead of a show in Windmill Park, the event happens in three backyards.
Advance tickets are necessary, at $10 for adults and $7 for students if purchased by June 6 at the Orange City Arts office, Orange City town hall and Dove Christian Book Store. After June 6, tickets are $13 and $10. Maps and schedules are provided to ticket purchasers. Rain location will be the Northwestern College DeWitt Theatre.
Special thanks go to Sodexo of Northwestern College and Orange City Floral Company.
For more information, contact Orange City Arts, 712-707-6514 or ocArts@orangecityiowa.com
Sponsor: Orange City Arts
