As the Festival of the Arts brings to gear up, many WKTV regulars and readers might recognize a familiar name at this year’s regional art exhibition.
WKTV volunteer Thomas Hegewald had two pieces accepted into this year’s Festival of the Arts Regional Art Exhibition. The black and white photos are titled “Layers, Sound of Raasay” and “Old Man of Story, Isle of Skye.”
An artist reception is set for this Saturday, June 1, from 1 – 4 p.m .at the Fed Galleries at Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University, located at 17 Pearl St. NW. The exhibition runs June 2 – 22.
The show features artwork from artists living in Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, and Ottawa counties.
In honor of this being the 50th Festival, there are two other Festival exhibitions: Comic/Anime/Graphic Novel Illustration Art at Madcap Coffee, 98 Monroe Center and “Bronzes of West Michigan” Photography Competition at the the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives, 87 Monroe Center. Both of these shows will have artists receptions from 6 — 7:30 p.m Wednesday, June 5.
The 50th Festival of the Arts opens Friday, June 7 and runs through Sunday, June 9. The three-day event features performances by local artists, craft and art tents, the art exhibitions, food booths, and this year, a food truck rally.
For more information on Festival of the Arts, visit festivalgr.org. For a complete list of the artists at all three art exhibitions, click here.
The Meyer May House is one of the homes feature in the “Grand Homes of Heritage Hill” series.
One of the area’s most popular home tours returns this month, the Heritage Hill 2017 Weekend Tour of Homes, and to help whet your appetite, WKTV will once again be airing “The Grand Homes of Heritage Hill” which includes a peek inside a home currently closed to the public.
“Grand Homes of Heritage Hill,” produced by WKTV volunteer Thomas Hegewald, kicks off Monday, May 15, with a 9 a.m. airtime for The Connors House, which is a privately owned home. On Thursdays, May 16, at 6 p.m., the next installment will feature The Meyer May House, which was restored and owned by Steelcase. Last the installment will feature The Voigt House, which is owned by the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Tours through the house were discontinued in 2009, making Hegewald’s show the only way for the general public to view the home. This show, which Hegewald received a 2007 Telly Award and a 2007 Festival of the Arts film award, will be aired Friday, May 19, at noon, the day before the Heritage Hill tour starts.
The Heritage Hill 2017 Weekend Tour of Homes is May 20 and 21 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 22 from noon to 6 p.m. Advance tickets are $18 and available through www.heritagehillweb.org or the Heritage Hill Association office, 126 College Ave. SE.; Martha’s Vineyard, 200 Union Ave. NE; Art of the Table, 606 Wealth St. SE; D&W, Family Fare, Forest Hills Foods and Lake Michigan Credit Union locations.
“The Grand Homes of Heritage Hill” episode feature The Voigt House won a Telly Award.
Tickets on the weekend of the tour are $25 and available only at GRCC DeVos campus, 435 E. Fulton.
On the ticket, there is a map of all the homes. You can see the houses in any order and on either or both days. Walk, bike or take the free shuttle buses that stop at each house on the tour. You can get on and off the bus at each house. If you are interested in getting a free ticket, volunteer. For more information to do that, email heritage@heritagehillweb.org or call 616-459-8950.
Houses for this year’s tour are: the 1874 the Italinate-style home at 71 LaFayette NE; the Amber House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protégé Marion Mahoney at 505 College SE; the 1886 Queen Anne-style home at 521 Madison SE; the Victorian Gothic cottage at 264 Paris SE; the Stick Style home at 417 Crescent NE; the Craftsman Style home at 544 College SE; the 1903 Widdicomb furniture family home at 422 Fountain NE; Oakwood Manor at 547 Cherry SE; the Calkins Law Office at 237 State St. SE; Child Discover Center at 409 LaFayette SE; and the Women’s City Club at 254 E. Fulton St.
Exterior shot of the Meyer May House from the home’s porch.
The annual Heritage Hill Tour of Homes is set to kick off in a couple of weeks and to whet your appetite WKTV will rebroadcast the award-winning “Grand Homes of Heritage Hill.”
“Grand Homes of Heritage Hill” will air Wednesday, May 18, at noon featuring the 2007 Telly Award winning episode “The Voigt House.” Friday, May 20, at 11:30 a.m., all three episodes will air, “The Voigt House,” “The Meyer May House,” and “Connors House.” Hegewald also received a Festival of the Arts film award in the documentary category in 2007 for his work on the series.
“The homes of Heritage Hill have fascinated me all of my life – from their varied architectural styles to their unabashed grandeur,” said Thomas Hegewald in an 2014 WKTV article about the series. Hegewald is the producer, videographer, and writer behind the series. “On every occasion that I have driven through this area, I have gawked at the homes and picked my favorites. I had been volunteering at WKTV for a few months when Tom Norton, the station manager, suggested that I produce a series on these homes. It seemed like an ideal match.”
“The Grand Homes of Heritage Hill” episode feature The Voigt House won a Telly Award.
In 2009, the Grand Rapids Public Museum discontinued the public hours for the Voigt House, making Hegewald’s video the about the only way to peek inside the 19th century home. Built in 1895-96 for the prominent merchant and businessman Carl Voigt, the Voigt family lived in the house continually for nearly 76 years until Voigt’s youngest son, Ralph, died in 1971. In 1974, the Kent County Council for Historic Preservation purchased the home and donated the structure to the City of Grand Rapids. One of the most noted features of the facility is that since it was a one-owner house, the first floor was redecorated in 1907 and never update again with the original silk wall coverings and carpeting remaining.
Hegewald said he selected the Voigt House and the Meyer May House because they both showcased how the original owners had once lived. “The Voigt house featured not only the original furnishings, but the décor as well,” he said. “The only restoration came in replacing an item, and only when completely necessary. Since there had been an addition to the Meyer May House, followed years later by it being broken up into apartments, a complete restoration had to take place to bring it back to its original state.”
Even the details of the Meyer May House were well planned.
The Meyer May House originally was built for a Grand Rapids clothier and purchased and restored in 1987 by Steelcase. The home was opened to the public in 1987 and provides the opportunity to se a Prairie house exactly as Frank Lloyd Wright intended. Along with being part of this year’s Heritage Hill Home Tour, the Meyer May House is open to the public Sundays from 1 – 4 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursday from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
The third home in the series is the Connors House, which is privately owned. While the home was owned by one family, it needed to be brought up to code for electrical and plumbing. “With extensive renovations underway, much thought was also put into the décor of the home to reflect its past, but with a contemporary feel as well,” Hegewald said.
“In the end, I came away with an appreciation for this area in our city – from the original owners who built the homes to those who fought to save them from destruction during the days of urban renewal,” he said. “I also applaud the efforts of the homeowners today who strive to keep up with the amount of work it must take to keep these homes in good repair.”
A greater appreciation of these historic homes and the district they are in is one of the reasons Heritage Hill started its annual Tour of Homes 47 years ago. This year’s tour, which is Saturday, May 21, from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday, May 22, from noon – 6 p.m., features six restored private houses, three historic buildings and two recent additions that demonstrate how new construction can fit into the fabric of a historic district. The tour includes the 1886 Queen Anne-style home built for the Davis family of Stow & Davis Furniture Co.; a 1916 Georgian Manor, a 1906 American foursquare and a 1912 Tudor Revival.
Advance tickets for the tour are $15 and available at the Heritage Hill Association Office, 126 College SE or at www.heritagehillweb.org. Tickets the weekend of the tour are $20. All proceeds go to the Heritage Hill Association and the organization’s historic preservation efforts. A free shuttle bus for the tour is provided between featured properties. For more information on the tour, call 616-459-8950.
The WKTV community gathered at Stony Brook Country Club on April 1 – and that’s no April Fools – to celebrate the volunteers to who make the station so special.
Since its inception as only the second community media station in the country in 1974, WKTV has given everyday citizens a platform for their voice and message to be heard. Volunteers have access to state-of-the-art video and editing equipment, studio space, a television channel, and an online newspaper to help mold their messages and stories about the communities they live in.
The best part? It’s all free!
Over 300 volunteers take advantage of the services WKTV has to offer in production, recording, editing, writing and filming. The Volunteer Appreciation Banquet is one way for the station to say thank you.
The banquet started with cocktails and a meet and greet before everyone sat down for dinner. The presentation of the awards followed dinner, but not before the premier of the annualvolunteer appreciation videos courtesy of Nate Diedrich and the WKTV Production Staff.
“Producing these videos for the volunteer appreciation event allows us to express our sincere gratitude for all the effort our volunteers and producers put into creating quality content throughout the year,” said Nate.
When the room finally quieted down from all the laughter, the awards were ready to be handed out.
Volunteer of the Year – Doug Remtema
Volunteer of the Year was rewarded to Doug Remtema for his willingness and ability to help out on multiple projects at the station. Doug is a real pro and makes life easier on whichever project is lucky enough to utilize his talents.
Doug Hansen was recognized for Lifetime Achievement. Doug started at the station back in the 80s and has continued to be a resource for both volunteers and staff members.
Kathryn Gray was chosen as Citizen Reporter of the Year for her ability to make individuals come alive through the written word.
Community Service Programming went to Thomas Hegewald. The Community Service award is given to the volunteer who not only creates their own programming, but is also willing to volunteer on other projects as well.
On top of the four individual awards, volunteers were recognized for their individual service at the station.
23 volunteers were first year volunteers, 16 joined the 100 hour club, six citizen reporters in attendance were recognized for their yearly contributions, four volunteers were recognized for five years at the station, two volunteers were recognized for 10 years, four volunteers were recognized for 15 years, and two volunteers were recognized for 20 years of service.
20 years of volunteering at WKTV
19 shows were recognized for Program Dedication Awards.
WKTV is run by the volunteers who make everything possible. The volunteer banquet is one more night for them to shine.
Full list of volunteers recognized:
Volunteer of the Year: Doug Remtema
Citizen Reporter of the Year: Kathryn Gray
Community Service Programing: Thomas Hegewald
Lifetime Achievement Award: Doug Hansen
100 Hour Club
Terri Rees – 711
Doug Remtema – 494
Gary Vande Velde – 480
Alan Dunst – 446
Mike Bacon – 279
Barb VanDuren – 278
Thomas Hegewald – 249
Tom Sibley – 220
Sophia Maslowski – 190
Phil Moore – 172
Carrie Bradstreet – 149
Dan Simone – 122
Kristyn Miller – 117
Nathan Krzykwa – 111
Doug Hansen – 110
Athina Morehouse – 103
Program Dedication
A Day in the Dirt – Gary Vande Velde
Catholic Forum – Alan Dunst
Community Awareness – Donna Smith
Feel Like You Belong – Alan Headbloom
Fools for Christ – Jim Dohm
High School Sports – Paul Kableman
Is That Really Me on TV – Melanie Evans
OnPoint – Thomas Hegewald
River Reflections – Rosemary Burns
Senior Exercise – Chris Rush
Silent Voices – Dennis Lawrence
So & Mo Presents – Sophia Maslowski
Sounds of Summer – Patty Williams
Talking God & Guns – Janice Brown
Tips, Tricks & Techniques – Chef Terri Rees
Veteran’s History Project – James Smither
Whittlin’ Time – Mike Bacon
VMTV – Hung Nguyen
You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me America – Carrie Bradstreet
First Year
Dan Davis – Whittlin’ Time
Gina Greenlee – OnPoint
Robert Gonzalez – Sports/Plus
Wendy Jenkins – Silent Voices
Mark Kelly – Sports
Mark Lange – Sports
Linh Le – VMTV
Cameron McCargar – Sports
Brice Miller – Sports
Athina Morehouse – OnPoint
Angela Peavey – Indie Films
Reid Petro – Indie Films
Steve Pham – VMTV
Bill Roelfsema – OnPoint
Eric Sheler – OnPoint
Michelle Sheler – OnPoint
Downie Streahl – Sports/Plus
Kevin Ton – VMTV
Lillie Towns – Silent Voices
Barb VanDuren – Chef Terri Right Hand
Arturo Varela – Mision Evangilistica
Chris Williams – Sports
5 Years
Ray Boisvenue – Fools for Christ
Karen Graham – Schubert Chorus/Plus
Mike Moll – Sports Announcer
Ron Schultz – Sports Announcer
10 Years
Mark Bergsma – Sports
Anne VanDreumel – Shubert/Plus/Plus
15 Years
Girbe Eefsting – Digital Cinema Guild
Eddie Grover – Various Shoots
Gary Vande Velde – Day in the Dirt/Sports/Plus
Mike VanDreumel – Mr. Fix It/Everything
20 Years
Mark Tangen – Dream Wheels/Festivals of Chefs
Dick Visser – Board/Direct: Reading Train/Beanie Babies/Crafty Ladies
WKTV is pleased to announce the newest program to the station’s line-up, “The Quilt Show” premieres tonight, January 20, at 6:30pm. Tutorials for the program were recorded in 2014 at the Quilts on the Grand Show. When last we left the intrepid WKTV crew on location at the DeltaPlex, they were videotaping demonstrations for “The Quilt Show.” Routines had settled down a bit, everyone was working together beautifully, inevitably this was the perfect time for the equipment to go haywire. So now the scene is set for the second day of taping on location, as told by producer Thomas Hegewald. Enjoy.
Making of “The Quilt Show,” Part 2
Quilts at the DeltaPlex Arena before the crowd shows up
The second day of recording we were more relaxed. Since the site was secured over night, we had left everything but the cameras in place. However, something unexpected happened that second day just as we powered up to get everything ready. Communication from the truck to the cameras didn’t work. In short, the camera operators couldn’t hear me direct them as to which shots to focus on or when their shots were were “on”, or being recorded.
Setting up for the next tutorial at the DeltaPlex
Added to that, the main, centrally located camera on the talent, or demonstrator, lost power shortly before we started recording. This was also the one back-up camera we were using to record the entire show in case something went wrong with the other cameras. This left us with only three cameras – one shooting an overview of the table and one camera on each side of the table for cross shooting projects and products on the table.
Tutorials were recorded in front of a live audienctable.
Because of the 40” monitors on the sides of the table, the camera operators could see which camera I was currently using for the program and knew when to hold their shot. In today’s tech savvy world, my audio operator sent texts to one of the camera operators, who happened to be her husband, relaying my directions to him for when and how to change shots. Midway through that first show, the fourth camera came back on-line, but we never did get the communications systems to work again.
We recorded six shows the first day and three the second. In between shows we transferred the footage to an external hard drive that the Guild had purchased. Once all of the shows were done, we spent over an hour packing everything up and loading it back into the truck.
The Super Suite editing station at WKTV
I began the process of editing the next day. While we had provided a Q&A portion at the end of each show, I decided to cut it out. We couldn’t get a microphone to participants quickly enough to hear the question and the audience wasn’t lit for recording, both of which created moments of silence for the demonstrator while listening. We could put two short shows together to broadcast in a half hour time slot for television broadcast. The shows would also be an easier to transfer to the internet if they were shorter.
I finished editing the shows mid-December and met with some of the West Michigan Quilters’ Guild members to review them. For the next two weeks I made a few changes based on the feedback and exported them in formats compatible for broadcast and internet posting.
We all learned a lot going through this process. It was bigger and broader than some expected and full of details and technical issues that weren’t always predictable.
Producer / Director Thomas Hegewald directing “The Quilt Show”
We’re already discussing how we would do it differently for the next show in 2016, including rehearsals for the demonstrators and crew. Using equipment from WKTV allowed us to try it out, make the mistakes and learn from them. In this way we produced something bigger than we could have done on our own, for very little cost, while at the same time we produced something worthwhile for the Guild and the community.
Editor’s note: If you would more information about training at WKTV so that you can produce your own shows, please call 616-261-5700. You also can produce a show for yourself and the community!
Over 300 volunteers take advantage of the services WKTV has to offer in production, recording, editing, writing and filming. The Volunteer Appreciation Banquet is one way for the station to say thank you.
