Portrait of Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy by artist Judy Jashinsky, of Pines of Arcadia.

By Pat Stinson

If music restores the soul, then Friday’s 7-10 p.m. “Together for Ukraine” concert fundraiser at Manistee’s Ramsdell Theatre will not only benefit the people of Ukraine but also raise the spirits of audience members as they come together to give their support.

Taking place two days before Mother’s Day, the event is dedicated to the mothers and grandmothers of Ukraine, “whose bravery, pain and resolve we have all witnessed through social media and on the evening news,” as stated by the event organizers, in their news release.

Pines of Arcadia, an area nonprofit, is planning the May 6 event in alliance with the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts.

Friday’s musical acts include Gaylord singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jake Allen, who creates pop sounds and ambient music and has performed at Hoxeyville and Blissfest;  Manistee folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Ben Traverse, a member of the region’s Earthwork Collective; Bo White and the Bluezers, a rhythm and blues band from western Michigan; and The Downtowners.

According to Xavier Verna, executive director of Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts, all the performers are known to the committee members planning the event.

“Everyone is doing this out of love and support for Ukraine,” Verna stated. “The bands are not receiving their normal artist fee, but we are helping them with transportation and hospitality costs.”

Tickets to the event are $20 for general seating and $50 for those “wishing to make a greater impact.” Ukrainian flag pins will be sold for $5 each during the event.

All proceeds will go to Razom for Ukraine, a nonprofit crisis relief charity established in 2014 by Ukrainian-American women. The Ukrainian word “razom” means “together.” The organization’s website states that the charity is focused during the war on fulfilling Ukraine’s most urgent needs, including medical and hospital supplies and equipment, and emergency response communication equipment.

Judy Jashinsky is the artist-founder of Pines of Arcadia, an artist residency studio and exhibition space located south of Arcadia in Manistee County. Jashinsky, who spearheaded the benefit, said the idea for a fundraiser came to her while she was staying at her Chicago residence this winter.

“I’m standing on my balcony one day, and I’m looking out at Chicago ⸺ I’m on the 61st floor, so I can really see the city ⸺ and the announcer on the news is saying, ‘Kyiv is pretty much the same size as Chicago, so imagine what’s happening.’

“And, so, I started imagining,” she said, pausing for a moment. “What would it be like to look out and to see buildings fall around you?”

She added: “It just made me get goosebumps.”

When she returned to Arcadia in mid-February, Jashinsky said she called in some Pines of Arcadia board members to talk about hosting a fundraiser for Ukraine at the studio. In attendance were Dennis McCarthy, of Blarney Castle Oil and Propane, and artists Lisa Jaquez Allen, Jamey Barnard and Jef Bourgeau. (Absent was POA board member Al Frye, who is also a Ramsdell board member.)

When her POA board heard how many people Jashinsky thought the studio could seat (75), they told her, “No, this is bigger.”

All agreed they should approach the Ramsdell as a potential concert site. RRCA’s Verna replied two days later with the May 6 availability.

From the beginning, Jashinsky said she wanted musician Jake Allen to be one of the performers. Allen and Jashinsky had traveled to Lithuania in 2018 as part of the “Take Me to The River” art project. According to a statement on its website, the project was founded by a global group of artists to bridge physical and cultural chasms separating people living in various parts of the world, “especially during unsettled times.”

Jashinsky and Allen were invited to participate in an art exhibition in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.  The show, titled “Manuscript,” would commemorate the 100th anniversary of Lithuania’s Act of Independence, in which the country re-declared its borders and identified itself as a nation-state.

Jashinsky and Allen collaborated to create a music video. They used elements of a project Jashinsky completed for an exhibition about global warming for the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. For that exhibition, Jashinsky said she created four paintings of city high-rises in each season, using a water element unique to each time of year ⸺ such as snow in winter ⸺ “creeping in” toward the buildings.

For the “Manuscript” show, Jashinsky placed a word in each season’s water element.

With this idea as his springboard, Allen arranged to have video shot, using water as a canvas, set to his music, while he sang the four words Jashinsky painted:  Love, Freedom, Hope and Liberty.

Jashinsky said the music video, “Color in the Grey”,  will be shown during the fundraiser, and the concert will also include music by a choral group. She added that audience members will be invited to sing John Lennon’s “Let It Be,” using lyrics contained in the program.

Major sponsors of the event include Pines of Arcadia, with Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts; Blarney Castle Oil and Propane, of Bear Lake; Catanese Customs, of Arcadia; and Water’s Edge Dentistry; Authentic 231; and Well Flower ⸺ all of Manistee.

The Ramsdell Theatre is at 101 South Maple Street. To purchase tickets, make a donation or obtain more information, visit www.RamsdellTheatre.org/UkraineBenefit.

Eyes of a leader

By Pat Stinson

Arcadia artist Judy Jashinsky was watching Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a televised newscast last month when she had an idea to take his picture.

Jashinsky has repeatedly acted on this urge to take a photograph of someone she has seen on television. Her “Nurses and Doctors” series of 50 portraits, rendered on blue paper, is an artistic response to the haunted look of frontline hospital workers and other medical professionals interviewed on television during the COVID-19 crisis.

This time, there was something about Zelenskyy’s photograph which compelled Jashinsky to drop everything else she was working on and immediately begin painting his portrait.

“I think this was the fastest portrait I’ve ever done; I did it, literally, in one day,” she said. “He was easy to do because he’s got such an amazing face.”

She explained she always begins her pandemic portraits by painting the eyes.

“You know, the PTSD eyes,” she said. “So, there’s where you start with this guy.”

His likeness is beneath the inverted colors (blue on the bottom, yellow on top) of the Ukrainian flag. Jashinksy said a friend of Ukrainian heritage, looking at his portrait, told her Zelenskyy looked as though he were drowning.

However, another interpretation is possible. With his portrait’s shoulders, neck, chin and mouth in blue, and his nose and eyes in yellow, just above the blue, the Ukrainian president could be said to be rising toward the light.