Hoffman Center Blog

This is where you’ll find the latest announcements for our workshops, art camps for kids, the authors presenting at the Manzanita Writers’ Series, as well as other performances in music, magic, and theater.

To see what’s coming up, simply scroll down this page to see all the latest posts.  Or, if you are looking for something specific click on a category (from the list on the right hand side of the screen), and you’ll see all the posts relating to that topic

Along the top of the page, you’ll see additional tabs for more information about the Hoffman Center (just pull down the menu at each tab to get the info you want.)  Enjoy finding out more about us, and we hope to see you soon.

The Hoffman Center in Manzanita will host three performances of “A Thousand Cranes,” featuring 18 local children in the cast and crew, August 20, 22 and 23.
 The shows will cap off a three-week Summer Drama Camp for children ages 4 to 16 led by Annie Naranjo-Rivera. Students learned acting techniques, auditioned for roles and rehearsed the show during the camp.
 “A Thousand Cranes” is the story of a young victim of the Hiroshima atomic bomb who later develops radiation sickness. With an optimistic outlook, she begins to fold a thousand paper cranes in hopes of fulfilling the legend: If a sick person folds a thousand paper origami cranes the gods will grant her wish and make her well again.
 Performances will be held Friday, Aug. 20 at 5 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 22 at 2 p.m. at the Hoffman Center, 594 Laneda Ave. in Manzanita. A special performance will be put on Monday, Aug. 23 at 5 p.m. at the Nehalem Bay State Park Amphitheatre.
 Tickets to the Friday and Sunday shows will cost $5 and will be available at the door.

The Manzanita Film Series is proud to present DIVE! Living Off America’s Waste on Saturday August 28th at 7pm. In lieu of our regular admission fee, we are asking for donations to the North County Food bank of 2 cans or packages of non-perishable food, or a $5 donation.

Every year in America we throw away 96 billion pounds of food.

That’s 263 million pounds a day.

11 million pounds an hour.

3,000 pounds a second.

Inspired by a curiosity about our country’s careless habit of sending food straight to landfills, the multi award-winning documentary DIVE! follows filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends as they dumpster dive in the back alleys and gated garbage receptacles of Los Angeles’ supermarkets. In the process, they salvage thousands of dollars worth of good, edible food – resulting in an eye-opening documentary that is equal parts entertainment, guerilla journalism and call to action.

DIVE! has garnered critical praise while raising important questions about hunger and waste in our society. This is Seifert’s first film and has been warmly received by audiences across the country, winning thirteen festivals thus far, including the Boulder International, Sedona International, DC Independent, and Oxford Film Festivals.

The Manzanita Film Series is a program of the Hoffman Center in Manzanita, Oregon. Films are screened on the 4th weekend of the month through out the year. Admission is typically $6 and theater concessions, as well as beer and wine, are available for purchase. Please contact Franz Hasslacher, at franzhass@gmail.com for volunteer opportunities.

The Hoffman Center Reference Library collection is now online for you to browse from your computer.  For directions on how to logon click here.

At this time special arrangements need to be made to visit the library, but with enough interest we may have open hours on a regular basis. Studio artists in the Hoffman house may use the library at any time.

Books are tagged and are searchable by categories, including  Art Education, Art History, Drawing, Sculpture, Painting, Ethnic Art, Graphic Arts, Printmaking, etc.

Remember that this is a Reference Library, not a Lending Library, so books may be used in the library or in the foyer of the Hoffman house, but must be returned to the shelf when you are finished with them.

Please email Peggy Biskar for more information

Aubrey Hebig will be back at the Hoffman Center to teach three more ceramics classes in August.  Skills being addressed will include handbuilding, mold work, glazing, wax resist, wheel throwing and trimming, application of terra sigilatta for raku pieces plus any other areas of interest. Hoping to keep the group small and would like to know if you might be interested in one or more of the sessions. Pre-registration preferred to check on numbers and interest…..by calling Aubrey at 503-355-2914 or 503-347-4861.
Dates and time: Wednesday, August 11; Monday August 23 and Monday August 30 all classes from 6:00 to 8:00PM
Cost is $10 per session plus clay.

The Hoffman Center is holding evening hours for the Open Clay Studio on Thursday nights.  The Studio will be open from 5 pm to 8 pm every Thursday for anyone to come work on their projects.  All experience levels are welcome and a Studio Host is available to answer questions and offer tips.  Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Cost is $2 per hour, which includes glazing and firing up to the finished product.  Clay is $1 per 2 pound section.  For more information, contact Bruce Phillips at longboardmenow@yahoo.com.

John Kroger will read from his book Convictions at the Manzanita Writers’ Series at 7 pm on Saturday, August 21, at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita.

Convictions, subtitled A Prosecutor’s Battles Against Mafia Killers, Drug Kingpins, and Enron Thieves, is a professional and personal memoir that won the Oregon Book Award for creative nonfiction in 2009. The book chronicles Kroger’s decade long career as an assistant U.S. prosecutor working out of lower Manhattan, where he tackled organized crime’s biggest names and lowest operatives.

Kroger is the Attorney General of Oregon. His background includes service with the U.S. Marine Corps Force Recon, a degree in philosophy from Yale University, a law degree from Harvard University, and time as a senior adviser to presidential hopeful Bill Clinton. He has worked as a federal prosecutor, and law professor.

After years of taking down mobsters he needed a break and went on a solo bike ride across the country, attending to his own spiritual needs with as much energy as he fought for the public well-being. It’s this theme that resonates throughout: maintaining his personal convictions while convicting as many criminals as possible. In the end, he lasted longer as a prosecutor than most but eventually burned out and headed west. Still, after only a year of teaching at Lewis & Clark College, he was pulled back into the Enron investigations, and then found himself in the race for state attorney general. After only one year in office he has already fulfilled a campaign promise to establish an environmental crimes task force.

Following the author reading and Q&A, the popular Open Mic session will provide opportunities for the audience to hear nine local writers read from their original work. Interested writers sign up at the door to read; first come, first to read.
Writers interested in reading should check out the Open Mic guidelines and come prepared to read your original piece of work in five minutes or less.

The reading will be held at the Hoffman Center (across from Manzanita Library at 594 Laneda Avenue.) The building will be set up in a café style with coffee/tea and snacks available. Admission fee is $5. (Check out the 2010 schedule or contact Kathie Hightower, 503-739-1505; kathie@jumpintolife.net).

You want writing to be a priority in your life, but you keep getting side-tracked?

You wish you could focus on your writing, but you keep self-sabotaging?

You want to move from writing-as-hobby to writing-as-profession, but you don’t know how?

Lauren Kessler (www.laurenkessler.com <http://www.laurenkessler.com> ) and Thomas Hager (www.thomashager.net <http://www.thomashager.net> ) – who between them have written 18 books – will help you get serious about your writing life, from daily inspiration to annual budgeting. This one-day, high-energy workshop – with exercises and expert tips – will inspire you to up your game, whether it’s fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Learn from two writers in the trenches who have weathered the storms…and crafted successful writing lives for themselves as they raised three children.

 Lauren Kessler is the author of 12 books, including 6 works of narrative nonfiction. Her newest book, just released, is My Teenage Werewolf: A Mother, A Daughter, A journey through the Thickets of Adolescence. She is also the author of Pacific Northwest Book Award and Oregon Book Award winner Dancing with Rose; Washington Post bestseller Clever Girl; Los Angeles Times bestseller The Happy Bottom Riding Club and Oregon Book Award-winner Stubborn Twig, which was chosen to be the book for all Oregonians to read on the occasion of the sesquecentennial last year.

Tom Hager is the author of six nonfiction books and the former publisher of the University of Oregon

 Press. His most recent book, The Alchemy of Air, was named a “Best Book of 2008″ by Kirkus Reviews, and is a national finalist in Border’s “Original Voices” award program.

Saturday, August 21st from 10-3 Cost: $50.

Download and complete the Crafting Workshop Registration Form, and mail it in with your check to register.

The Hoffman Center in Manzanita will offer a three-week Summer Drama Camp for children ages 5 to 18. Led by Annie Naranjo-Rivera, the camp will be held 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays, from Aug. 2 through 20 at 594 Laneda Ave.

 Students will audition for, rehearse and perform a full-length stage production of  “A Thousand Paper Cranes.” The play tells the story of young Japanese girl and her magical wish.

 Students will learn about stage acting, projection and movement, in addition to making original costumes and artwork for the production.

 No performing experience is necessary. Tuition for the camp is $100 for the whole session. As the camp runs over the lunch hour, participants should bring a lunch.

 Naranjo-Rivera has over 10 years of experience working with children on the stage. She studied at Lewis and Clark College for her BA in Theatre Arts. She has worked with numerous children’s theaters around the country, directing, stage-managing, designing sets and props, choreographing, and designing stage lighting.

 A limited number of scholarships will be available, thanks to the support of local businesses and art lovers. Parents interested should ask when registering.

 Register now by downloading Kids Camp Registration Form, phoning 503-368-3846 or e-mailing hoffmancenter@nehalemtel.net.

Cathy Lamb will read from her latest novel Henry’s Sisters at the Manzanita Writers’ Series at 7 pm on Saturday, July 17, at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita.

 Henry’s Sisters is a story of strength and reconciliation and change, with a Columbia River Gorge backdrop.

 A Publisher’s Weeklyreview says “Lamb delivers grace, humor and forgiveness…positively irresistible.”

 The Three Tomatoes Book Club blog declares: “If you loved Terms of Endearment, the Ya Ya Sisterhood, and Steel Magnolias, you will love Henry’s Sisters. Cathy Lamb just keeps getting better and better.”

 Previous books include Julia’s Chocolates and The Last Time I Was Me. Her next book, Such A Pretty Face, is due out at the end of July, and Holiday Magic, an anthology with Fern Michaels, comes out in November, 2010.

 Lamb has a B.A. in Elementary Education and a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction, both from the University of Oregon. She was a fourth grade teacher for Beaverton Schools for more than seven years. In addition to writing seven books, she has written about 200 articles as a freelance writer for The Oregonian. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and three children.

 Following the author reading and Q&A, the popular Open Mic session will provide opportunities for the audience to hear nine local writers read from their original work. Interested writers sign up at the door to read; first come, first to read.

Writers interested in reading should check out the Open Mic guidelines at hoffmanblog.org <http://hoffmanblog.org <http://hoffmanblog.org> > and come prepared to read your original piece of work in five minutes or less.

 The series is a program of the Hoffman Center and will be held at the Hoffman Center (across from Manzanita Library at 594 Laneda Avenue.) The building will be set up in a café style with coffee/tea and snacks available. Admission fee is $5. Further information contact Kathie Hightower, 503-739-1505; kathie@jumpintolife.net.

The Manzanita Film Series is proud to present “Source to Sea: The Columbia River Swim” on July 24th at 7pm and on July 25th at 2pm. Admission will be $6 for adults and $3 for children 13 and under.

This film takes a broad, sobering look at the history and destiny of what the indigenous people call Che Wana, the Columbia River. It also tells the story of why Christopher Swain subjected himself to a 13-month swim down its 1243-mile length. Using the swim as a thread, the present condition of the Great River of the West is revealed. Full of rare archival footage of the sacred Celilo Falls and Kettle Falls, now inundated by dams, the film also deals with the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, pollution from mining, the river in Canada, petroglyphs, salmon issues and the struggles Christopher encountered.

There will be a question and answer session with the filmmakers and a crew member after all screenings.

Ekahni Books will be on hand selling topical books as well as books on film at a 20% discount.

 Admission is $6 and theater concessions, as well as beer and wine, will be available for purchase.

Please contact Franz Hasslacher, franzhass@gmail.com for volunteer opportunities