I caught up with artist Jason Hackenwerth by phone at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. It was the only time he could spare for an interview before his Palladium show this Saturday.
“I’m exhausted. Going into the final stretch.”
Jason’s show, Sparrow’s Dream: A Journey of Transcendence, is the capper on a three-night festival of shows by recipients of the Palladium Creative Fellowships. The festival begins on Thursday with a dance show by choreographer and current Fellow Sadie Lehmker. Friday Bryan Hughes and The Crew bring an American Songbook show to the Side Door. Brian’s band features three former Palladium Fellows: John O’Leary, James Suggs, and Alejandro Arenas. The three-night festival wraps up Saturday night with Jason’s mix of dance, balloon sculptures and opera.
For tickets and more information about the festival, you can follow this link.
Since 2020, the Palladium Creative Fellowships have offered financial support of up to $2,500 to local artists to develop new creative projects. The Palladium program supports performers in our community as they create new works, advance existing works, implement new media, and/or develop new ideas. When that work comes to our stage, the artists are also paid for the performances.
Over the years the Creative Fellowships have been supported by the Friends of the Palladium fund, Smith & Associates, the Hough Family Foundation, the Margaret E Dickins Foundation and the Gobioff Foundation.
Jason, an internationally known artist who lives in St. Petersburg, the Fellowship grant has helped him focus his thoughts on the meaning behind his art.
“Artists are always asked to talk about their work and their inspiration. But to put it together in this way I had to really boil it down to a very succinct way of expressing what is my vision and what is the story I’m trying to tell with my work. Organizing this show has been very illuminating for me in ways I haven’t seen before. “
To achieve his vision, Jason will make 30 giant balloon sculptures, some for rehearsal and some for the show. Inside those sculptures will be a cast of trained dancers and actors, including four graduates of the Juilliard School.
Those performers include Palladium fellows Helen Hansen French and Alex Jones, along with Helen French, Alexander Hernandez, Madison Pineda Bender, Mackenzie McLean, Sean Porter, Mac Ryan, Maria Fernanda and Buysse Carrero (Mafer).
“The performers will be moving inside these sculptures. You’ll see the sculptures move, not the dancers. It’s like I’m asking dancers to become puppeteers.”
Jason also promises the show will be fun.
“I got a lot of tricks up my sleeve for this. I pray they come off halfway as good as I envision them.”
There will be 12 or 13 of Jason’s giant moving sculptures on stage during the show.
Please check out Sparrow’s Dream or one of the other Fellowship shows (or all three!) I look forward to seeing you there.
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