Main Library

College of Southern Idaho Spanish professor Raquel Arenz gives an introduction to the Mexican folk art traditions of the retablo and ex-votos. Retablos are devotional, unsophisticated paintings of saints, angels, the Virgin Mary and Jesus. These paintings are done on wood, tin or canvas. Ex-Votos are votive paintings that are sprung as the result of answered prayers. These forms of art are extremely popular and are part of the fabric of Mexican culture. Learn about these beautiful art forms, full of color, deeply rooted in personal faith and experience. You will be invited to make your own retablo as part of the night’s activities!

The manuscript of Mary Beath’s novel Paradox Valley was a finalist for the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction sponsored by Barbara Kingsolver. The book is set in the high desert of southwest Colorado where a New York installation artist visits her family’s original homestead for the first time, only to run headlong into a new cycle of boom-and-bust uranium mining and milling. Mary Beath’s poetry collection, Refuge of Whirling Light, won the Wrangler Award for Poetry and was a finalist for the Spur and Willa Awards. Her collection of personal essays, Hiking Alone: Trails Out, Trails Home won the Zia Chair Award from New Mexico Press Women. She lives in Albuquerque, NM.

Sun Valley Artist Series presents “Adventures in Patagonia,” featuring legendary kayaker and Olympian Chris Spelius.

Legendary kayaker and Olympian Chris Spelius shares his adventures in Patagonia – kayaking, rafting, and fighting international money moguls who plan to dam some of Chile’s most magnificent, scenic rivers.  Join us as we experience heroic stories about the rivers and lakes in Patagonia, as well as global efforts to protect them.

Chris Spelius kayaked and guided rafts on the Colorado River while attending the University of Utah in the mid 70’s. After graduating with a degree in Biology, he moved east to the Nantahala Outdoor Center, where he was a paddling instructor and trained for national and international kayak competitions.

Besides kayaking on the U.S. Olympic Team in the 1984 Olympics, Spelius has won several national championships and was a medalist in the ’91 World Playboating Championships. Spelius was also the first kayaker to descend the Niagara Gorge, beneath Niagara Falls, and has various first descents in Chile.

Spelius has been featured in Outside, Men’s Journal, Discovery Channel, and the television shows Extremists, Team Timex’s PaddleQuest, and ABC’s American Sportsman. He was selected as one of the “Legends in Paddling” and as one of the “Most Notable Paddlers of the Century” by Paddler magazine. Spelius has taught kayaking clinics around the world and has been featured in numerous paddling instruction videos including Retendo and Kayaker’s Edge. He hosted Kayaking 101 on cable TV and worked as a boat designer and consultant for Dagger Canoe Company.

Spelius first visited Chile in 1980. He later coached on a grant from the International Olympic Committee to help develop kayaking as an Olympic sport in Chile. Awed by its beauty, challenge, and playfulness, Spelius was the first to run commercial trips on the Futaleufu River in 1986. Spelius is founder of Expediciones Chile, now celebrating its 30th year of adventure trips in Patagonia.

Spelius is married and has a daughter. His family lives for 6 months of the year on the Futaleufu River, and for the other 6 months in the USA. Spelius is dedicated to protecting free-flowing rivers, is active in international river conservation, and is currently presenting videos and slide shows worldwide.

Marshall’s talk will cover the following points:

1. The “Beijing Consensus” or “China Model” of growth is in disarray. Domestic politics, now fractious, will determine China’s economic policies. Contrary to stereotypes, Xi Jinping’s authority is challenged from the left or right almost daily.
2. Like the former Soviet Union, China faces a crisis of excessive capital formation (and debt funding excess capacity). Unlike the FSU, however, China has exported its excess capacity to the rest of the world. Hence, the choices made by China will have profound consequences globally.
3. There is very little we can do to influence China’s choices since they will be driven by domestic politics. At best we can try to anticipate and cushion their consequences. Optimally we would invest more in education and infrastructure to outcompete China, but neither is likely given the current tenor of US politics.

Marshall W. Meyer is Tsai Wan-Tsai Professor Emeritus of Management and Sociology at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Adjunct Professor at the School of Business of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He has observed China close-up since 1999 and last fall keynoted a conference on “New Directions for the Chinese Economy” sponsored by Xinhua, the state news agency.

Matt Leidecker, local guidebook author, will talk about the Boulder-White Clouds and share maps, images, and stories from his recent two-year project researching and writing a comprehensive, waterproof guidebook to this stunning landscape.

Matt’s latest guidebook will be available for purchase after the talk.