Folk musician Elizabeth LaPrelle (Doran, Anna & Elizabeth) and visual artist Erik Ruin (Justseeds) combine forces for an evening of ballads and crankies. From the mountains of Appalachia to the isolation wing of a German prison, the duo will explore haunting songs of love and loss, playful lullabies, passionate protests of the world as it is- and dreams of how it could be.

Also featured is Groundswell Spell is a 10-minute double overhead projector and crankie shadow puppet performance, crafted from plastic packaging and paper refuse. It is accompanied by a recorded soundtrack composed and performed by Marian McLaughlin, and live vocals. Groundswell Spell is a light and shadow meditation, an offering to those who came before us who knew that all was kin, that god was rock as much as sky, who danced in cyclical time. "Groundswell Spell" was written and crafted by Baltimore-based puppeteer Valeska Populoh and will be performed by Valeska and Peter Redgrave.

The evening will open with a musical set from Snow Caps.

Artist Bios:

Erik Ruin is a Michigan-raised, Philadelphia-based printmaker, shadow puppeteer, paper-cut artist, etc., who has been lauded by the New York Times for his "spell-binding cut-paper animations." His work oscillates between the poles of apocalyptic anxieties and utopian yearnings, with an emphasis on empathy, transcendence and obsessive detail. He frequently works collaboratively with musicians, theater performers, other artists and activist campaigns. He is a founding member of the international Justseeds Artists' Cooperative, and co-author of the book Paths Toward Utopia: Graphic Explorations of Everyday Anarchism (w/ Cindy Milstein, PM Press, 2012). Current projects include the Ominous Cloud Ensemble, an ever-evolving, collectively-improvising large ensemble for projections and music.

Elizabeth LaPrelle is a scholar and singer of Appalachian Ballads from Rural Retreat, Virginia. She built her style and repertoire from research into archival recordings, and family and friends. She started making recordings with her family as a teen, and received her undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary with a major in Southern Appalachian Traditional Performance. In the experimental folk duo Anna & Elizabeth, she toured internationally and helped re-popularize the “crankie” performance art form. She’s also a banjo-player, and a visual and interdisciplinary artist. She lives with her husband Brian Dolphin and their young son.

Valeska Populoh (she/her) is an artist, performer, educator, and cultural organizer. She works mostly in Baltimore, MD and the Chesapeake Bay bioregion, unceded land of the Piscataway Conoy and other Chesapeake First Families.

Peter Redgrave (he/him) is a cultural worker, an artist, and educator, based in Baltimore, Maryland. A multivalent performer, his work oscillates between improvisation and score-based pieces, solo practice and collaboration, jest and critique.

Snow Caps is the musical project of Philadelphia songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Keller (they/he/she). Andrew's deeply personal lyrics and bizarre, beautiful melodies combine to create music that transcends genre. Writing songs is a tenet of Andrew's daily life that has helped them learn more about themself: they consider Snow Caps "diary music." A friend once said that Snow Caps is music for anyone who has ever had a feeling. Hear more on Snow Caps’ Bandcamp page, and see more on their Instagram.

Want a preview? See a crankie by Erik Ruin here, another by Elizabeth LaPrella here, and the two artists collaborating here.

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