Surel's Place

Milia Ayache: Divas You Don't Know
2023-08-09 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Boise) | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
July/August Artist-in-Residence Milia Ayache reads from the one-woman play she has worked on while at Surel’s Place and fields questions about her work and process.

Free!

Milia AyacheJuly-August
Milia Ayache is a Beirut-based actor and writer. She originated the role of Molly in The Birth of Paper, an online/offline show linking the cities of Beirut and Pittsburgh through the mail, as well as The Performer in Angelmakers: Songs for Female Serial Killers, both plays produced by Real/Time Interventions.

Milia Ayache

Her latest piece of writing "Splits/kin" was published in The New England Review. “Vocal Hygiene for the Revolution” was published in Contemporary Theatre Review in 2020. Her article “Playing for Time in Beirut” on making theatre in public spaces was published in American Theater Magazine in 2017.

She recorded the entirety of Etel Adnan’s The Arab Apocalypse for the Sfeir-Semler Gallery in Hamburg. Favorite credits include Frog and Nadezda in Masrah Ensemble’s production of Derek Walcott’s Ti-Jean and His Brothers and Biljana Srbljanović’s Family Stories; Hermia in Walden Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Miles in the world premiere of Futurity: A Musical at the ART Institute at Harvard. In 2022, Ayache was in residence at Hedgebrook.

As an educator at the American University of Beirut and as a volunteer both at a senior citizen university program and in Syrian/Palestinian refugee camps, she championed voices from the margins- including migrant workers, refugees, women, seniors, and youths of different sexual orientations. She helped design and run Youthful Cities, a writing residency between Beirut and Coventry for writers under the age of 25; sat on the panel for the Mastercard scholarship, edited (and still edits!) drama for the Beirut literary journal Rusted Radishes, and produced plays for disenfranchised drama students at the university. Her mission has continued even while as a visiting assistant professor at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. In joining the community at Surel’s Place, she wants to offer her time, mentorship, connections, and advice on digital security/open source technology...if anyone wants it.

During her residency, Ayache led a workshop on the link between writing, presence, and performance through three tools from the later training of Konstantin Stanlislavski: the impression, the game, and the étude. The étude is a structured improvisatory short piece intended for the practice of a point in acting technique, but can also be used for great effect in generating writing. Exploratory in nature, it allows the actor or writer to exit the world of overthinking and, instead, think through action.

For her final presentation, Ayache performed Divas You Don’t Know, a one-woman play in English, Arabic, French, and Russian. In it, she explores her enduring preoccupation with three transnational divas of yore, their presence (or lack thereof) in contemporary culture, their posthumous impact on women in the public sphere, as well as the converging struggles that accompanied their personal and professional lives. Through song, dramatic monologue, and movement, she investigates their legacies and questions their roles relative to the politics of their respective nations.

Not completely forgotten, the divas, Maya Kristalinskaya (Russian), Asmahan (Syrian-Egyptian), and Dalida (French-Egyptian-Italian), have little space carved out for them on our consumer culture sponsored world stage. In our fraught political landscape where we are cornered into choosing sides, this is a story of women who didn’t. Kristalinskaya, once a grand Soviet diva, was relegated to touring backwoods cultural centers due to the rising anti-Semitism in the USSR. Asmahan, a Druze princess and spy, was murdered for being a double agent during WWII. Ayache dedicated much of her time at Surel’s Place to writing their stories in order to get their show on the road.

Kathy Curnow: The Chalk-White Belly
2023-09-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Artist-in-Residence Kathy Curnow reads from her mystery novel in progress and shares insights into her process and experience at Surel’s Place. Free!

Gretchen Weitemier: Carving Paths —Anticipation to Gratitude
2023-09-22 17:00 - 20:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Art inspired by the pandemic, nature and the spiritual experience of Boise artist Gretchen Weitemier. In the gallery at Surel’s Place during Flipside Fest.

Flipside Fest, Day 1
2023-09-22 17:00 - 21:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Surel’s Place once again hosts a music and arts venue at the 2nd Annual Flipside Fest in the Surel Mitchell Live-Work-Create District. Details to come soon!

Flipside Art Talks
2023-09-23 10:00 - 14:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Curated by Surel’s Place and the Garden City Placemaking Fund, Saturday’s series of discussions will feature local artists, arts leaders and experts studying the creative economy across the country. Open to all (no Flipside pass needed) in the backyard garden at Surel’s Place.

Gretchen Weitemier: Carving Paths — Anticipation and Gratitude
2023-09-23 15:00 - 20:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States

Flipside Fest, Day 2
2023-09-23 15:00 - 21:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States

McKenna Esteb: A Musician's Best Friend — The Power of Journaling
2023-09-30 13:00 - 16:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
The overall purpose of this workshop is to establish a safe, inclusive space to help fuel connection, release stress, and encourage creativity. This workshop will address writer’s block, perfectionism, procrastination, and work to destigmatize mental health issues. Participants will explore how to execute any creative project when dealing with mental blocks.

During the workshop, McKenna Esteb will share her experience with journaling: personal tips, how to workshop creative ideas, and how to release tension in the body through journaling. Together, participants will deep dive on how this can help the creative process and demonstrate what the songwriting process can look like.

ages 14 & up | partial scholarships available

McKenna EstebSeptember-October

While not unheard of to have a local artist in residence at Surel's Place, it doesn't happen very often. McKenna Esteb grew up in Snoqualmie Wash. — where her love for music began — performing in talent shows, at coffee shops and restaurants around the greater Seattle area. Throughout her career, she has called both Austin, Texas, and Boise, ID home. Since releasing her first single in 2019, her career has taken many different forms. Pivoting from 2-3 hour cover shows at coffee shops, she began performing her own musical project at Treefort, Flipside, Boise Pride, and opening for touring bands like The Suffers. Her vocal style is heavily influenced by the likes of Norah Jones, Etta James, and Amy Winehouse. The roots of her music have soul and funk influences mixed into a nice cocktail of pop/modern rock. Her music is vulnerable, direct, and influenced by her life experiences. In most recent projects, she wrote about Row v. Wade being overturned and donated all profits received from streams to Northwest Abortion Access Fund. With songs ranging from power ballads to rocking out, she is guaranteed to keep her music relatable and raw.

Our selection panelists universally recommended Esteb for the residency, even over out-of-town applicants. Eric Alexander, one of these panelists, wrote that, "I feel McKenna is poised to do great things, I hope a residency would allow her to move to the next phase of her creativity." And that's what she hopes to do.

During her residency, Esteb led a workshop on journaling. She shared her experience with journaling: personal tips, how to workshop creative ideas, and how to release tension in the body through journaling. For her culminating event, Esteb performed the songs created during her residency and told the stories behind each one.

Watch an interview Esteb gave during her residency with Idaho News 6.

First Friday Art and Studio Stroll
2023-10-06 17:30 - 20:30 | Surel Mitchell Live-Work-Create District, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, Idaho, 83714
Our celebration of arts and artists in the Surel Mitchell Live-Work-Create District.

Sponsored by the Riverside Hotel, The Common Well, Hannah Ball, and Casino Beach, these family-friendly evenings give you a chance to meet Garden City’s artists in their studios and work spaces. Plus, you’ll find hands-on art activities at artKids tables and keep an eye out for roving and pop-up artists and performances throughout the night.

New for 2023: we have eliminated the guest artist fee! We can set you up with a location to show your work, all you need to do is apply!FIRST FRIDAY GUEST ARTIST APPLICATION

More information about the next First Friday is available at The LWC District First Friday Event Page on Facebook.

See below to view an interactive Google map of the First Friday participating venues.

McKenna Esteb: Show & Tell
2023-10-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Audio Lab, 3640 Osage Street, Garden City, Idaho, 83714
What is emotional freedom? McKenna Esteb sees it as the ability to identify difficult emotions and learn from them – liberating yourself from negative feelings rather than attaching to them. Rather than predict the genre of music she will create during her residency at Surel’s Place, McKenna is challenging herself to write a set of songs by letting the music flow nautually and see what inspires her. She will share this new music with voice and piano during this performance followed by a Q & A.At the age of 21, McKenna Esteb was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). “I recognized recurring patterns in my life that I felt I had no control over. I disliked myself deeply. This affected my self worth, relationships, and my ability to create.” Once diagnosed, she started to connect to her music on a much deeper level and started to create more freely and frequently. This evening of new music is a continuation of that journey and the discovery of where emotional freedom and creative freedom intersect.

McKenna EstebSeptember-October

While not unheard of to have a local artist in residence at Surel's Place, it doesn't happen very often. McKenna Esteb grew up in Snoqualmie Wash. — where her love for music began — performing in talent shows, at coffee shops and restaurants around the greater Seattle area. Throughout her career, she has called both Austin, Texas, and Boise, ID home. Since releasing her first single in 2019, her career has taken many different forms. Pivoting from 2-3 hour cover shows at coffee shops, she began performing her own musical project at Treefort, Flipside, Boise Pride, and opening for touring bands like The Suffers. Her vocal style is heavily influenced by the likes of Norah Jones, Etta James, and Amy Winehouse. The roots of her music have soul and funk influences mixed into a nice cocktail of pop/modern rock. Her music is vulnerable, direct, and influenced by her life experiences. In most recent projects, she wrote about Row v. Wade being overturned and donated all profits received from streams to Northwest Abortion Access Fund. With songs ranging from power ballads to rocking out, she is guaranteed to keep her music relatable and raw.

Our selection panelists universally recommended Esteb for the residency, even over out-of-town applicants. Eric Alexander, one of these panelists, wrote that, "I feel McKenna is poised to do great things, I hope a residency would allow her to move to the next phase of her creativity." And that's what she hopes to do.

During her residency, Esteb led a workshop on journaling. She shared her experience with journaling: personal tips, how to workshop creative ideas, and how to release tension in the body through journaling. For her culminating event, Esteb performed the songs created during her residency and told the stories behind each one.

Watch an interview Esteb gave during her residency with Idaho News 6.

BOSCO Open Studios Tour
2023-10-14 10:00 - 18:00
Our new Artist-In-Residence, Willow Wells, will have an open studio in conjunction with the annual Boise Open Studios Collective Organization open studios tour.

at Surel’s Place: 212 E. 33rd Street in Garden City

Meet the artists and plan your artist studio tour now!Go to BOISEOPENSTUDIOS.COM to see the interactive map and print your own.

To visit an artist’s studio is to see the artist’s mind at work. Learn about the materials they use, find out what inspires them and see how both shape the resulting artwork. The tour includes an art giveaway, at each studio visited a stamp is provided, 10 stamps fill the Passport. Each completed Passport is entered in a drawing for a chance to win art.

Transformation of Foliage
2023-10-28 13:00 - 16:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Willow Wells will guide you through the process of observing and mimicking patterns seen in nature and how to use these patterns to create something new. With a focus on the beauty and diversity of plants, you will draw and transform them into other things using various drawing techniques such as sketching and coloring. You are encouraged to think creatively and transform your plant inspiration into animals, buildings, or abstract designs.

This workshop will be an engaging and fun activity for the community while also providing opportunities for skill development and creativity. Participants will gain a greater appreciation for the beauty and diversity of plants while also enjoying the process of transforming them.

A﻿ges 14 & up

M﻿aterials will be provided

P﻿artial scholarships available upon request to info@surelsplace.org

Merging Bodies and Land
2023-11-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Willow Wells is creating a hand drawn animation to use as a large-scale projection over a panoramic display of drawings. Her inspiration came from the surrounding environment and the local narratives that rise from it which she developed from extensive plein-air studies at the beginning of the residency. Using the landscape, she morphs the local plant life into figural forms creating a visual experience that highlights the connection between people and nature. By utilizing life and memory drawing, storytelling, and animation programs- she elevates traditional art processes and contextualizes them into a contemporary media mindset. Turning her still landscapes into time-based drawing allows her to explore themes of sex and gender in new and innovative ways.

Make Good Cheer: Holiday Cards As Mail Art
2023-11-18 10:30 - 11:30, 2023-12-04 18:30 - 19:30 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
You can join Artist-in-Residence Mary Welcome during one of her workshops “Make Good Cheer: Holiday Cards as Mail Art.” These hour-long sessions will include a 15-20 minute presentation, following which you will be provided with materials to make mail art, postcards, or other postal correspondence. Presentations will include anecdotal samples of mail art projects, readings from local historical correspondence, and local postal history (historical star route carriers, postmasters, the founding of regional early postal offices). Participants will have time to work on mail projects together in a relaxed conversational atmosphere and get ahead on your holiday mailings. The workshop is available November 18th at 10:30am and December 4th at 7pm.

Ages 16 & uppartial scholarships available by emailing a request to info@surelsplace.orgSurel’s Place is accessible by wheelchair

First Friday Art and Studio Stroll
2023-12-01 17:30 - 20:30 | Surel Mitchell Live-Work-Create District, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, Idaho, 83714
Our celebration of arts and artists in the Surel Mitchell Live-Work-Create District.

Sponsored by the Riverside Hotel, The Common Well, Hannah Ball, and Casino Beach, these family-friendly evenings give you a chance to meet Garden City’s artists in their studios and work spaces. Plus, you’ll find hands-on art activities at artKids tables and keep an eye out for roving and pop-up artists and performances throughout the night.

More information about First Friday is available at The LWC District First Friday Event Page on Facebook.

CLICK HERE for an interactive Google map of the First Friday participating venues.

God Bless the USPS
2023-12-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Mary Welcome is using her time in residence to expand the creative research already spanning over a decade in “God Bless the USPS,” a performative endurance research project which she began with a spontaneous photo of the post office in her hometown of Palouse, Washington in 2012. By meticulously photographing and archiving post office buildings across the country (with special attention to remote, rural, and neighborhood posts), she is building a vernacular map of our communications commons as a nation. She thinks of them like “a fingerprint of the place.” Surel’s Place gives her an opportunity to explore, research, interview, and photograph post offices across Boise, Ada, Elmore, Canyon, and Gem counties.

This research manifests across mediums, though most conservatively as a digital archive and mapping project. Mary is interested in the character of the USPS commons of southern Idaho: their stewardship, their stories, and their futures. The way this research is presented on this night will be specific to our community. The portraits and interviews may shift mediums, taking shape as exhibitions, performances, installations, sound recordings, publications, postcards, advocacy tools, and more. She is adding these Idaho post offices to over 2,000 she’s already captured, but there are still nearly 18,000 left to go.

Mini Woven Tapestries
2023-12-09 13:00 - 16:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Come explore the world of weaving at Surel’s Place!Take a break from the sensory overload of the season and discover how meditative tapestries are to make. Plus, they are a beautiful way to add texture vertically to your home or to give as a unique gift. This workshop, led by artist Amy Wood, is the perfect introduction in how to weave tapestries and wall hangings. By attending, you will learn the basics of casting onto a small-scale loom, several weaving techniques, and take home your very own mini woven tapestry and a handmade mini loom to make more tapestries in the future. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned weaver, this in-person event offers a unique opportunity to learn, share ideas, and create beautiful tapestries. Discover the joy of working with different colors, textures, and patterns as you weave your own masterpiece.Don’t miss out on this hands-on experience that celebrates the art of weaving in a cozy and inspiring atmosphere. Grab your friends and join us for a memorable day of creativity and connection at Mini Woven Tapestries!

Surel’s Place is accessible by wheel chair. For any inquiries about accessibility or to request an accommodation, please contact Marne Elmore at marne@surelsplace.org. Thank you.

Partial scholarships are available by request to info@surelsplace.org.

BIOGRAPHYAmy Wood is an artist based in Boise, ID who was born and raised in Arizona. She is currently finishing up her last year of her BFA in illustration at Boise State University which will conclude in the spring. Amy illustrates whimsical works inspired by nature through multiple forms of media including painting, weaving, 3-D sculpture, and digital media design. No matter the medium, Amy is most inspired by physical art materials that she can interact with by hand in order to connect with her artwork.

Looking Glass: Flash Show with Star Moxley
2023-12-15 17:30 - 20:30, 2023-12-16 13:00 - 16:00, 2023-12-17 13:00 - 16:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
STAR MOXLEY has worked as an artist all her adult life within the professional fields of theatre and visual art. Collage is just another form of fiber, which has been central to all of her endeavors. This new work demonstrates why her current boutique, Crazy Neighbor, has received national accolades for its unique perspective. Looking Glass gives a glimpse of how Moxley sees the world.

FLASH SHOW OPEN HOURSFriday, December 15th | 5:30pm – 8:30pmSaturday, December 16th | 1:00 pm – 4:00pmSunday, December 17th | 1:00pm – 4:00pm | Artist Talk at 2:00pm

Sewing Juxtaposed: Hillary Bilinski
2024-01-07 17:00 - 19:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, Idaho, 83714, United States
As a textile fabric artist, Hillary Bilinski seeks to push the medium of sewing from craft into visual fine arts. She sees her work as an addition to the conversation and movement from quilting as utilitarian décor to skillful, thought-evoking art. Her residency will focus on the manifestation of two wall-panel quilt designs made of all cotton and linen fabric and finished with Japanese Sashiko hand-quilting.

DREAM BIG
2024-01-11 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-01-13 13:00 - 16:00, 2024-01-14 13:00 - 16:00, 2024-01-16 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-01-17 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-01-18 14:00 - 18:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Claire Remsberg is creating a new painted wall piece using imagination and public engagement on a large panel of un-stretched canvas. Volunteers from the public will be encouraged to sketch using charcoal as they find narratives in the under-painted patterns. Artistic skills are not essential to participate. Claire will build on these ideas to develop the painting. She is offering public hours on a daily basis for the duration of the residency, inviting interested people to participate in the process of finding images in the canvas. (The Green Box will have the same open hours, so you can participate in that installation as well.)

DREAM BIG
2024-01-12 14:00 - 18:00, 2024-01-15 14:00 - 18:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
Claire Remsberg is creating a new painted wall piece using imagination and public engagement on a large panel of un-stretched canvas. Volunteers from the public will be encouraged to sketch using charcoal as they find narratives in the under-painted patterns. Artistic skills are not essential to participate. Claire will build on these ideas to develop the painting. Her working title for the piece is Dream Big. She is offering public hours on a daily basis for the duration of the residency, inviting interested people to participate in the process of finding images in the canvas. (The Green Box will have the same open hours, so you can participate in that installation as well.)
