River Cleanup with Karl Erickson
2026-04-11 12:00 - 14:00 (America/Boise) | Idaho River Sports, 601 N Whitewater Park Blvd, Boise, Idaho, 83702, United States
RIVER CLEANUPSaturday, April 11th | 12:00pm – 2:00pmat Idaho River Sports | 601 N Whitewater Park BlvdfreePlease RSVP

During his residency at Surel’s Place, Karl Erickson will be creating a series of puppet-sculptures and experimental animations about waste along the Boise River Greenbelt. Join him and other members of the Surel’s Place community as we participate in the Idaho Rivers United River Cleanup to collect trash on the shores of the river for Karl to use as the source for his creations. He will then assemble these objects into puppet-like figures and digitize them using a 3D scanning processes. These digital “trash-puppets” will sing, dance, and tell stories of their unexpected journeys along the river, personifying the entanglements that bring human-generated material into contact with the more-than-human.

Introduction to Photogrammetry: Turning Photos into 3D Art
2026-04-18 13:00 - 15:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
WORKSHOPINTRODUCTION TO PHOTOGRAMMETRYSaturday, April 18th | 1:00pm – 3:00pm$45

REGISTER

Ever wondered how photos can become immersive 3D objects? In this hands-on, two-hour workshop, participants will explore photogrammetry—a powerful and accessible technique that transforms everyday images into digital three-dimensional models. No prior 3D or technical experience required, just curiosity and a smartphone.

We’ll start with a clear, approachable introduction to photogrammetry, looking at inspiring artistic examples and breaking down the full process—from capturing photos to generating 3D models and creative outputs. Participants will be guided through the photogrammetry app Polycam with live installation support and an overview of the apps strengths and limitations.

The workshop then moves into practical scanning basics: how to capture effective images, work with light, ensure proper overlap, and scan safely. Participants will complete a live scan of a simple object, followed by group review and reflection to better understand what works—and why.

Beyond the basics, we’ll explore creative and experimental approaches to photogrammetry. Through prompts and inspiration, participants will learn how intentional “mistakes” like movement, shadows, and visual glitches can be used artistically to produce unexpected and expressive results. A dedicated 20-minute work period allows time to experiment and play with the process.

We’ll wrap up by exploring ways to export and share your work, including 3D models, augmented reality (AR), videos, and still images. The session concludes with group sharing and reflection, giving participants ideas for how photogrammetry can fit into their own creative practice.

Participants will leave with:

A working understanding of photogrammetry

Experience using free mobile scanning apps

At least one completed 3D scan

Creative strategies for experimental and artistic use

Knowledge of how to export and share 3D work

Perfect for artists, designers, educators, and anyone curious about blending photography, technology, and creative experimentation.All experience levels are welcome.

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

Exhibit and Art Talk: Trash Puppets
2026-04-30 19:00 - 20:30 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
EXHIBIT & ART TALKTRASH PUPPETSThursday, April 30th | 7:00pm – 8:30pmfree

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

During his residency at Surel’s Place, Karl Erickson created a series of puppet-sculptures and experimental animations about waste along the Boise River Greenbelt. He collected trash on the shores of the river and assembled these objects into puppet-like figures. He then digitized them using 3D scanning processes. These digital “trash-puppets” will sing, dance, and tell stories of their unexpected journeys along the river, personifying the entanglements that bring human-generated material into contact with the more-than-human.

The Boise River simultaneously connects and separates (Garden City on one side, Boise on the other!) and is a powerful nexus for gatherings and departures. What do we bring with us to the river and what do we leave behind–materially, culturally, politically? Who handles this material, and whose stories are told or forgotten in the process? The trash-puppets will act as witnesses of these overlooked narratives, ultimately revealing evidence of a global system in which nothing is truly separate.

BIOGRAPHY

Karl Erickson (Tennessee) is an Associate Professor of Digital Art at Rhodes College. He received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts and his BFA from Wayne State University. He was raised in the Detroit-area of Michigan. He makes digital animations, videos, installations, and audio/visual performances. His screen-based work takes place in galleries, museums, film festivals and music venues.

Karl’s art is about recognizing the agency of all the other-than-human entities with which we share the Earth. This includes plants and animals, as well as machines, “inanimate matter,” electricity, waste, the macroscopic and the microscopic. The complex systems he uses in his art-making, from photogrammetry to modular synthesizers to data analysis, are analogous to the complexity of the ecosystem.

Karl’s animation Know No Now has been screened at the 2023 LINOLEUM Animation and Media Art Festival in Kyiv, Ukraine, Chroma Art Film Festival in Miami, FL (where it won the 2023 award for Best Animation), and the 2023 West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival. He has been an artist-in-residence at Hub Feenix in Finland, The Arctic Circle (twice!), Loop Art, Plyspace, and Signal Culture. He is a 2025 recipient of a Current Art Fund award from Tri-Star Arts.

Thank you to Karl Erickson’s Residency Sponsors:

Sean Hatton Trio - IDAHO GIVES
2026-05-04 17:00 - 19:30 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
IDAHO GIVES KICK OFF CELEBRATION & MUSIC FEATURING:SEAN HATTON TRIOMonday, May 4th5:00pm Happy Hour | 6:00pm – 7:30pm Music

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

free with a suggested donation of $20 or more to Help Surel’s Place Reach Our $7,000 Goal: RSVP

RSVP

Idaho Gives BEGINS!

Join Surel’s Place for a special kick-off event for Idaho Gives. Held annually, Idaho Gives encompasses the span of 4 philanthropic days (May 4th – 7th) where the community comes together in support of its nonprofits by raising money and raising awareness. We are pleased to present the Sean Hatton Trio at Surel’s Place in support of this statewide enterprise. Join us with the Sean Hatton Trio to celebrate our mission – to support artists by providing them time and space to explore their creative process, cultivating a connected, vibrant, and inspiring community.

“Called one of Idaho’s best by the Idaho Statesman – The building harmonies and talents of vocalist Sean Hatton might take you back to the days when Crosby, Stills, and Nash were kings of folk. The band’s sound is unabashedly Americana at its best.” – Amy Busek / Idaho Mountain Press

Workshop: VISUALIZE. PAINT. DANCE.
2026-05-16 13:00 - 16:00 | Idaho
WORKSHOP

VISUALIZE. PAINT. DANCE.

Saturday, May 16th | 1:00pm – 4:00pm

$45

REGISTER

In this immersive workshop, Artist-in-residence Kara Wilkes guides participants through a creative, multi-sensory journey that blends visualization, writing, visual artmaking, and dancing. Inspired by Anna Halprin’s Psychokinetic Visualization Process, Kara shares a method of choreographing she developed during her MFA in Dance research focusing on embodied trauma and healing techniques using dance. The workshop engages participants in a guided visualization and a writing process that prepare them for expressive drawing/painting. Group art stations are provided to encourage relaxed, collaborative experiences while participants make visual artwork. Inspired by their paintings, participants then translate their creations into movement, developingpersonal dance phrases and expanding them through partner or small group collaborations. The workshop culminates in an optional sharing and reflection circle, where participants may present their artwork and movement pieces, engage in discussion, and close with either a guided meditation or playful group improvisation—leaving with both their artwork and a deeper connection to their creative expression.

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

Biography:

Kara Wilkes (North Carolina) is a choreographer, educator, visual artist and filmmaker. Her expertise in classical and contemporary ballet is supported by her twenty-year career performing works by Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, Alonzo King, Nacho Duato, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Dwight Rhoden, George Balanchine, Darrell Grand Moultrie, and others. In 2019, Kara earned her MFA in Dance from Hollins University where she began researching embodied generational trauma and healing techniques that employ dance. Her choreographic works also reflect various effects of the Intelligence Age on human relationships and our planet.

Kara was a 2022-23 Toulmin Choreography Fellow through NYU’s Center for Ballet and the Arts and National Sawdust. She is the resident choreographer for Chautauqua Dance and recently created for Ballet Idaho Training Program, The Tallahassee Ballet, Traverse City Dance Project, Texas Christian University, and the USC Kaufman School of Dance. Kara has also been on dance faculties at Florida State University, Wake Forest University, Santa Clara University, and Mills College.

Thank you to Kara Wilke’s Residency Sponsors:

Final Event & Art Talk: Sycamore
2026-05-29 19:00 - 20:30 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
FINAL EVENT & ART TALKSYCAMOREFriday, May 29th | 7:00pm – 8:30pm

free

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

Sycamore is choreographic work in-progress that Kara Wilkes (dancer/dance maker) began creating in 2022. Featuring four solos, the piece continues her MFA in Dance research on embodied generational trauma with a focus on addiction and healing. Sycamore is an interdisciplinary work offering live vocals, recorded soundscapes/music, props/sets that interact with gesture-based dance movement, and contemporary dance vocabulary. The four solos highlight distinct characters: The Addict, The Lost Child, The Hero Child, The Co-dependent; their journeys illuminate the complex experiences of addicts and/or those who have been exposed to addiction (alcoholism in particular). While at Surel’s Place, Kara has developed two of the four sections; each will be eight to ten minutes in length when complete.“I have always envisioned Sycamore as having a small modular set with the audience sitting close to the action; the four sections take place ‘in a house’ where pieces of furniture, props and projections support the dancers’ storytelling,” Kara explains.

Thank you to Kara Wilke’s Residency Sponsors:

This programming is supported in part by Creative West and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Volunteer House and Yard Clean up
2026-06-04 10:00 - 13:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
VOLUNTEER

HOUSE AND YARD CLEAN UP DAY

Thursday, June 4th | 10:00am – 1:00pm

You can be a part of this incredible community of artists and art lovers. Volunteers are crucial to the work we do together to support the arts in Idaho.

We are hosting a volunteer gardening and house clean up day on Thursday, June 4th. Snacks and drinks will be provided. Surel’s Place has an assortment of garden tools, but feel free to bring garden gloves and any tools you think might be helpful. See you there!

Please send an email to hallie@surelsplace.org to RSVP.

If you are interested in other volunteer opportunities please fill out our Volunteer Interest Form.

First Friday Art & Studio Stroll
2026-06-05 17:30 - 20:30 | Surel Mitchell Live-Work-Create District, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, Idaho, 83714
LIVE-WORK-CREATE DISTRICTFIRST FRIDAY ART & STUDIO STROLLFriday, June 5th | 5:30pm – 8:30pm

free

Garden City’s Surel L. Mitchell Live-Work-Create District is lively with artists, art studios, and businesses year-round, but especially during free First Friday events. It’s a great way to explore the local art scene, with exhibitions, readings, and performances at various locations.

On June 5th, there will be a preview of the Shrinky Dink art at Surel’s Place. The bidding will be live!

Plus, DJ Jared Hallock is spinning a Prince Retrospective on our front patio. You’ll also find a photo booth to document your Pop Life.

It’s the First Friday Super Star Scavenger Hunt! Gold stars and mystery orbs are hidden along the route. Look for the mushrooms on the digital map for location clues. Collect gold stars on your tour and turn in the raffle ticket at any location to enter for the grand prize!

The Tiny House next to Surel’s Place will feature ceramics by Samuel Paden.

You can tour the event with our program director, Jodi Eichelberger, by bike on a special First Friday artBike tour. Register at https://surelsplace.ludus.com

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.

SPONSORED BY:

BIENNIAL PARTEE & SHRINKY DINK ART AUCTION
2026-06-06 18:00 - 21:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
FUNDRAISERSUREL’S PLACE BIENNIAL PARTEE & SHRINKY DINK ART AUCTIONSaturday, June 6th | 6:00pm – 9:00pm

$20 | Partee Admission$50 | Partee Admission + Dinner

GET TICKETS!

Get Ready. We only hold the Shrinky Dink Art Auction every other year, so if you miss it, you’ll have to wait two more years. What is it? It’s our biggest fundraiser that features the artwork of dozens of talented local artists who are asked to use (at first take) the unassuming, crafty, children’s art toy of Shrinky Dinks, which are bake-able, shrinkable plastic sheets. But, (at second take) the art material becomes limitless, elevated, surprising, and utterly creative. The ante always goes up, and this unusual art exhibition is not to miss.

On top of our Shrinky Dink Art Auction, we will parteeee with buskers, a DJ, a tarot card reader, refreshing food and beverages, a photo booth, and more. Dessert will be deliciously provided by a fellow nonprofit organization, Life’s Kitchen. Another festive aspect of the night: a live auction and paddle raise, so look forward to coming together to raise money for Surel’s Place while having a good time and celebrating art and community.

Oh, and the theme this year is Pop Art, so prepare for bold color, nods to popular culture, and soup cans 🙂

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

P.S. There is an art preview party the night before during the District-wide First Friday Art & Studio Stroll.

OUR SHRINKY DINK ARTISTS:

VIEW THE ARTWORK!

REHAM AARTIMICHAEL BALTZELLNICOLET BARCLAYHEATHER ELIZABETH BEEBRECKEN BIRDJULIE CLEMONSLISA FLOWERS ROSSRICK FRIESENANDREW GROTHELIZABETH HILTONNICOLE HITCHCOCKEMMA HOODSTEPHANIE INMANSHELLEY JUNDLAUREN KISTNERSUE LATTAJERRI LISKDEBORAH MARTELLBRIGETTE NELSONNANCY PANGANIBANEVAN SENDEROWICZJASON SIEVERSGIA STRANGJESSIE SWIMELEYRACHEL TEANNALACHANDREW TRAUBRANDY VAN DYCKWILLOW WELLS

THANK YOU TO OUR MEDIA SPONSOR:

Workshop: Relief Printing
2026-06-27 13:00 - 16:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
WORKSHOPRELIEF PRINTINGSaturday, June 27th | 1:00pm – 4:00pm

$35 | Sustaining Member (with Special Passcode)$45 | General RegistrationPartial scholarships available by request to info@surelsplace.org

REGISTER

Each participant will receive a 4 by 4 inch soft carving material, and Artist-in-Residence Camilla Taylor will teach you how to design a high contrast image, carve it, and stamp it. Then, the participants will use their stamps to create a large-scale pattern, collaborating with each other on layout and color palette to create a repeating pattern using their own carvings as the design motifs. Participants will go home with a collaborative print and their carving

Biography:

Camilla Taylor (CA) was raised in Provo, Utah, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In 2025, they presented Unkindness at Track 16 Gallery in Los Angeles, an exhibition examining mystical transformation through destruction. The exhibition included a sculpture that survived the complete burning of Taylor’s home and studio in the Eaton Fire earlier that year, embedding material endurance and change directly into the work. That same year, Taylor was a ceramic artist in residence at the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Residency and was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Artist Fellowship.

Working across glass, printmaking, metal, fabric, and other materials, Taylor’s practice investigates interiority, the uncanny. The mortal body recurs as a central motif, explored both as a literal form and as a site of seduction and repulsion. Works such as Unrelenting, a cast glass sculpture depicting a human foot subjected to the forces of frostbite, reflect Taylor’s interest in vulnerability, endurance, and the thresholds where the body and mind transform under pressure.

Taylor has been on faculty at UCLA and Occidental College, teaching sculpture, drawing, and printmaking.

Exhibit & Art Talk: Penitent
2026-07-11 19:00 - 22:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
EXHIBIT & ART TALKPENITENTSaturday, July 11th | 7:00pm – 10:00pm

free

Artist-in-Residence Camilla Taylor focused their residency on a series of drawings referring to the myth of St. Mary of Egypt. She is depicted covered in her own hair after decades of an ascetic life wandering through the desert. Presumably, even her clothes disintegrated. Rather than decades, Taylor lost nearly everything in mere moments. All their artwork and possessions at their Altadena home and studio were destroyed in the Eaton Fire of 2025. They recently curated the group exhibit My House Burned Down at the Track 16 Gallery in Downtown LA, which closed in June, 2025, and in a solo exhibition and catalog at Track 16 Gallery in East Hollywood, Unkindness, that dealt with themes of atheist mysticism, which closed in January 2026.

“This loss and displacement changed the way I make art,” Taylor says, “My work became more fragile and more precious.” However, hair is a theme they’ve used often as a motif in their work. It is a symbol of the body and a material that is both deeply corporeal and also has near magical qualities in many cultures, controlled in how it’s cut and worn and revealed. Taylor references hair also as a symbol of femininity, and their own ambivalence towards it. This will be explored in drawings, prints, and sculptures referring back to the myth of St. Mary of Egypt, and the larger corporeal and quasi magical qualities that hair represents.

Also available to see by appointment July 11th – 13th by emailing camilla.a.taylor@gmail.com. You may also request a preview PDF.

First Friday Art & Studio Stroll
2026-08-07 17:30 - 20:30 | Surel Mitchell Live-Work-Create District, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, Idaho, 83714
LIVE-WORK-CREATE DISTRICTFIRST FRIDAY ART & STUDIO STROLLFriday, August 7th | 5:30pm – 8:30pm

free

Garden City’s Surel L. Mitchell Live-Work-Create District is lively with artists, art studios, and businesses year-round, but especially during free First Friday events. It’s a great way to explore the local art scene, with exhibitions, readings, and performances at various locations.

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.

SPONSORED BY:

Workshop: From Memory to Sinema
2026-08-22 13:00 - 16:00 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
WORKSHOPFROM MEMORY TO SINEMASaturday, August 22nd | 1:00pm – 4:00pm

REGISTER

$25 | Sustaining Member (with Special Passcode)$35 | General RegistrationPartial scholarships available by request to info@surelsplace.org

The session opens with a two minute excerpt from Artist-in-Residence al’ikens Plancher’s Boat People proof of concept to show how lived experience can be distilled into cinematic language. Participants then complete a brief written exercise, turning a vivid personal memory into one or two concise sentences. Using pencils, index cards, and colored markers, each participant sketches three images (a beginning, a middle, and an end) that capture the memory’s arc. A group discussion follows on how framing, scale, and negative space shape emotional tone. In the second hour participants refine their panels, add single line captions for dialogue or sound, and place the cards on a communal Story Wall so individual narratives can converse. The final hour is devoted to a walk-through of the wall where each storyteller narrates their sequence and receives guided feedback on clarity, pacing, and sensory detail. Everyone departs with a concise visual blueprint that can seed a short film, graphic narrative, or written vignette while highlighting shared themes of place, identity, and transformation.

Ages 16 and up

Note: “Sinema” is “cinema” in Haitian Creole and al’ikens Plancher’s artistic brand.

BIOGRAPHY:

al’ikens Plancher is a writer-director from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He began high school at 12 and college at 16, turning away from a possible diplomatic career to pursue his childhood dream of filmmaking and represent his country through his art.His work spans television and film, including The Chi (Showtime) and Yellowstone (Paramount), and award-winning shorts such as Remnants (HBO Best Short Film), Konpa (Tribeca Film Festival), and Boat People (Oscar®-qualified).He has spoken at the University of California, Irvine; Florida International University; Florida Atlantic University; and the Latin American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh. His work is supported by Tribeca Studios, SFFILM Rainin Grant, Ragdale, NALIP, the Wolfsonian, Oolite Arts, Third Horizon, Surel’s Place, and is a Creative Capital Awards Finalist.His other interests are spirituality, relationships, and food.

This programming is supported in part by Creative West and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Reading: Boat People
2026-08-27 19:00 - 20:30 | Surel’s Place, 212 E. 33rd Street, Garden City, 83714, United States
READINGBOAT PEOPLEThursday, August 27th | 7:00pm – 8:30pm

free

al’ikens Plancher’s residency will conclude with a public staged reading of pivotal scenes from the newly revised draft of Boat People, performed by local actors. It explores the forgotten history of Haitian refugees detained at Guantanamo Bay in the 1990s. The reading will run about 20-25 minutes and be followed by a moderated discussion that links the film’s historical events to current debates on migration, belonging, and civic responsibility.

BIOGRAPHY:

al’ikens Plancher is a writer-director from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He began high school at 12 and college at 16, turning away from a possible diplomatic career to pursue his childhood dream of filmmaking and represent his country through his art.His work spans television and film, including The Chi (Showtime) and Yellowstone (Paramount), and award-winning shorts such as Remnants (HBO Best Short Film), Konpa (Tribeca Film Festival), and Boat People (Oscar®-qualified).He has spoken at the University of California, Irvine; Florida International University; Florida Atlantic University; and the Latin American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh. His work is supported by Tribeca Studios, SFFILM Rainin Grant, Ragdale, NALIP, the Wolfsonian, Oolite Arts, Third Horizon, Surel’s Place, and is a Creative Capital Awards Finalist.His other interests are spirituality, relationships, and food.

This programming is supported in part by Creative West and the National Endowment for the Arts.
