Myles BENNETT Craig CARLISLE Duncan McDANIEL Kristin LLAMAS Seeing Now at 21c MUSEUM HOTEL
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SMILE Debuted Statewide in Nashville New and Minimally-invasive Surgery for Myopia (Nearsightedness) is First Major Advance in LASIK Technology in 25 Years, Reducing Dependence on Glasses and Contacts which causes the corneal shape to change, permanently changing the prescription. SMILE has a proven track record of success. It has been used internationally since 2011 and more than 750,000 procedures have been performed worldwide. Dr. Wang noted that currently, the procedure has not been approved to treat large amounts of astigmatism and cannot treat farsightedness and that LASIK is still a better option for a majority of the patients seeking laser vision correction.
The first major advance in LASIK technology in 25 years, the SMILE procedure, was performed in Nashville recently at Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center by its director, internationally renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Ming Wang, Harvard & MIYT (MD, magna cum laude); PhD (laser physics). “We are extremely very excited to be the first again to introduce the next generation laser correction procedure to the state, helping out patients with this new and minimally invasive procedure,” said Dr. Wang. Myopia is a common eye condition in which close objects can be seen clearly but distant objects are blurry without correction. LASIK and PRK have been the main stay treatments for myopia for over two decades. But SMILE, which stands for SMall Incision Lenticule Extraction, has unique advantages over LASIK. The SMILE surgery is minimally invasive as the surgeon needs only to create a small, precise opening to correct vision. No flap is needed. The laser incision is smaller than 5 millimeters for SMILE, compared to approximately 20 millimeters for LASIK. This helps the cornea to retain more of its natural strength and reduces
the risk of rare flap complications. Dry eye after SMILE is also reduced compared with LASIK, as nerves responsible for tear production during the cornea remain more intact in SMILE. One of the state’s first SMILE patients was Margaret Coleman, 34, a manager of the world-famous Bluebird Café, in Nashville, which was prominently featured in the ABC TV drama Nashville, among others. Ms. Coleman has had poor eyesight all of her life, legally blind in both eyes without correction. Ms. Coleman’s 3D Laser SMILE procedure went beautifully and she is thrilled to have her crystal clear new vision and newly gained independence on glasses or contacts and being one of the first patients in the state to receive SMILE! “I am so happy!!!” exclaimed Margaret at her postop visit. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the VisuMax Femtosecond Laser for SMILE procedure for -1 to -8 D myopia with up to 0.5D astigmatism. During a SMILE procedure, a femtosecond laser with precise short pulses is used to make small incision in the cornea to create a discshaped piece of tissue. This tissue is then removed by the surgeon though the opening
Dr. Ming Wang, a Harvard & MIT graduate (MD, magna cum laude), is the CEO of Aier-USA, Director of Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center and one of the few laser eye surgeons in the world today who holds a doctorate degree in laser physics. He has performed over 55,000 procedures, including on over 4,000 doctors. Dr. Wang published 8 textbooks and a paper in the world-renowned journal Nature, holds several US patents and performed the world’s first laser-assisted artificial cornea implantation. He established a 501c(3) non-profit charity, Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration, which to date has helped patients from more than 40 states in the U.S. and 55 countries, with all sight restoration surgeries performed free-of-charge. Dr. Wang is the Kiwanis Nashvillian of the Year. Dr. Ming Wang can be reached at: Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center, 1801 West End Ave, Ste 1150 Nashville, TN 37203, 615-321-8881 drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com www.wangcataractLASIK.com
DARYL THETFORD
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Columns HUNTER ARMISTEAD FYEye MARSHALL CHAPMAN Beyond Words ERICA CICCARONE Open Spaces LINDA DYER Appraise It RACHAEL MCCAMPBELL And So It Goes JOSEPH E. MORGAN Sounding Off ANNE POPE Tennessee Roundup JIM REYLAND Theatre Correspondent MARK W. SCALA As I See It LIZ CLAYTON SCOFIELD Pocket Lint JILL MCMILLAN Arts & Business Council
Nashville Arts Magazine is a monthly publication by St. Claire Media Group, LLC. This publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one magazine from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office, or by mail for $6.70 a copy. Email: All email addresses consist of the employee’s first name followed by @nashvillearts.com; to reach contributing writers, email info@ nashvillearts.com. Editorial Policy: Nashville Arts Magazine covers art, news, events, entertainment, and culture in Nashville and surrounding areas. The views and opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are available at $45 per year for 12 issues. Please note: Due to the nature of third-class mail and postal regulations, issues could be delayed by as much as two or three weeks. There will be no refunds issued. Please allow four to six weeks for processing new subscriptions and address changes. Call 615-383-0278 to order by phone with your credit card number.
TINNEY CONTEMPORARY
©Jaq Belcher
WHITE NOISE NEW WORK BY JAQ BELCHER April 7 - May 19, 2018
237 5th Ave N . Nashville 37219 . 615.255.7816 . tinneycontemporary.com
5 T H AV E N U E O F T H E A R T S DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE
Marti Jones Dixon
Nashville
Paintings inspired by the Robert Altman Film
Opening Reception for the Artist Saturday, April 28 • 6-8pm 4304 Charlotte Ave • Nashville, TN 615-298-4611 • www.lequiregallery.com
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H AY N E S G A L L E R I E S P R E S E N T S C E L E B R AT I N G A N A M E R I C A N C L A S S I C : E V E R E T T R AY M O N D K I N S T L E R
H AY N E S G A L L E R I E S . C O M
On the Cover
Hank Willis Thomas Raise Up, 2014 (sculpture), Bronze, 10” x 80” x 11” See page 48.
April 2018 Features 78 Old School Farm Pottery
21 Tennessee Craft Fair Advances the State’s Handmade Traditions
80 Carmina Burana Nashville Ballet Hits the Road
28 Duncan McDaniel Standing Wave
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32 Seque 61 Innovative Certificate Program Puts Young Musicians on the Fast Track 37 Alysha Irisari Malo The Color of Words
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82 French Connection Alexandre Renoir Brings His Impressionistic Art to Monthaven 86 Nashville Opera’s Susannah 88 O’More Fashion Show At the Franklin Theatre 92 Spontaneous Comedy Company At The Jazz Workshop
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Columns
40 Craig Carlisle A Few Moments of Innocence
16 Crawl Guide
44 A Form of Synesthesia Called Photism: A Conversation with Kristin Llamas
22 Fresh Paint Leslie Tucker
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58 The Bookmark Hot Books and Cool Reads
Seeing the Unseen A Provocative New Exhibit at 21c Museum Hotel Challenges What We See and What We Choose to See
54 Scott Christensen Clarity without Limitation, Answering without Definition
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60 Challenging Perspectives: The African-American Experience as Viewed through Separate Lenses at Fisk University
96 Art Smart by Rebecca Pierce 101 Public Art by Anne-Leslie Owens 102 Theatre by Jim Reyland 104 FYEye by Hunter Armistead
64 Myles Bennett Murmuration by Process 68 Bringing the Creative World to Art on the West Side
91 Arts & Business Council
106 ArtSee 108 NPT
70 4 Bridges Arts Festival First Tennessee Pavilion, Chattanooga
112 Sounding Off by Joseph E. Morgan
72 Imogene + Willie’s Matt Eddmenson Strikes Another Match
113 Beyond Words by Marshall Chapman
76 43rd Annual Harding Art Show
114 My Favorite Painting
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Elegant traditional home nestled on a private lot backing to common area. Marble foyer with sweeping staircase. Walnut hardwood floors, all bedrooms ensuite & big rec room.
Beautiful new true custom build. Private but convenient. Custom cabinetry. Italian leathered granite. Granite & porcelain baths. Average 12’ ceilings throughout.
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BRENTWOOD WITH RESORT STYLE POOL
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LAURA BAUGH 615.330.3051(M) | 615.250.7880 (O) LAURABAUGH3@GMAIL.COM
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
BLU E FIG G A L L E RY Presents
Four Artist TN
DAVID SWANAGIN palette knife series
Randy Purcell, Market House, ink transfer on beeswax, 18x18
Opening Reception Nashville Art Crawl April 7 • 6:00-9:00pm Mike Martino / Emily McGrew Susan McGrew / Randy Purcell
Blue Fig Gallery • #56 Arcade • Nashville, TN www.bluefigeditions.com • mike@bluefigeditions.com • 615-942-9844 Luminous, Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 24”
Late October, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 24”
107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net www.yorkandfriends.com Follow us on
at York & Friends Fine Art
Elements
Opening Reception: April 21, 2018 • 6-9 pm
Myles Bennett
Dying Light (Rising), ink and graphite on canvas, pine frame, 46 x 41 x 5
Miranda Herrick
Works and Days 2, pen and ink
Saul Gray-Hildenbrand
Overcome, mixed media, 18 x 24
2104 Crestmoor Road in Green Hills, Nashville, TN 37215 Hours: Mon-Fri 9:30 to 5:30 • Sat 9:30 to 5:00 Phone: 615-297-3201 • www.bennettgalleriesnashville.com
April Crawl Guide Franklin Art Scene
Friday, April 6, from 6 until 9 p.m.
and acrylic by Leslie S C Cole at Lisa Erickson’s gallery behind the Winchester Antique Mall. For more information and the trolley schedule, visit www.downtownfranklintn.com/thefranklin-art-scene.
First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown Saturday, April 7, from 6 until 9 p.m.
John Partipilo, O’More College of Design
Experience historic downtown Franklin and see a variety of art during the Franklin Art Scene. Gallery 202 is hosting a group show including all their current artists. O’More is exhibiting work by photojournalist and fine art photographer John Partipilo. The Registry is showing paintings depicting middle-school students dressed up as Pam Austin, Wellspring Financial George Washington by Morgan Ogilvie. Enjoy nostalgic pen and ink sketches of old barns, churches, and other structures by Mike Krupek at Academy Park Enrichment and Performing Arts Center. Parks Realty is presenting work by Jill Adkins. At Imaginebox Emporium see paintings by Cory Basil as well as sculpture and prints. Williamson County Archives is featuring photographs by traveling photographer Tennille Melcher. Self-taught painter Shari Lacy, who works primarily with textured mediums and acrylics on canvas and wood, is displaying her work at Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church. Hope Church Franklin is showcasing vibrant abstracts on aluminum by Australian mixed-media artist Joshua Patterson. Hannah Pickering’s new collection Spring, which juxtaposes organic colors and textures inspired by nature with geometric patterns and line work, is on view at Finnleys. Big East Fork Retreat Center for Sustainable Stewardship is presenting paintings, drawings, and sculpture by Kathy Tupper. Citizen is exhibiting musician Jon Reddick’s oil-on-canvas paintings, which are inspired by the music that moves him. Discover southern-inspired paintings by Ashley Renouf at Habit Boutique. Wellspring Financial is hosting painter Pam Austin. Quilt artist Lindsay Castor is showing her work at The Cellar. See florals, landscapes, and portraits in oil
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Enjoy an evening of art under the lights on 5th Avenue. The Arts Company is presenting Daryl Thetford: Come Full Circle, a new series of photographic Jaq Belcher, Tinney Contemporary collage works depicting ordinary circumstances experienced in the landscapes of everyday life. Tinney Contemporary is unveiling White Noise, new work by Jaq Belcher, which centers around a site/time-specific floor drawing comprised of 144,000 hand-cut paper seeds, collected from the works produced over Belcher’s 16 years of practice. An Artist Talk hosted by Paul Polycarpou of Nashville Arts Magazine is slated for 5 p.m. The Browsing Room Gallery at the Downtown Presbyterian Church is hosting an opening reception for A Color Darker Than Black by DPC resident artist Sarah Shearer. With this body of work, Shearer explores her experience with depression, trauma, and loss while searching for peace and freedom. In the historic Arcade, Blend Studio is opening Sound of Colors: Presented by mother and daughter, works by Nozomi Takasu and Etsuko Takasu. Blue Fig Gallery is showcasing a group exhibit titled “Four Artist TN” by artists Emily McGrew, Randy Purcell, Susan McGrew, and Mike Martino, which includes paintings, drawings, encaustic transfers, and prints. Hatch Show Print’s Haley Gallery is displaying the work of Todd Herzberg, who works predominately in the print processes of relief and lithography and has recently begun to incorporate animation and installation to create complex stories with absurdist overtones. At 9 p.m. Mary Hong Gallery is holding a fashion show, Levitate fashion is art, including upcoming designer Evan Grey with paintings by Andrés Bustamante, Billy Martinez, and FAZ. For parking and trolley information, visit www. nashvilledowntown.com/play/ first-saturday-art-crawl.
Daryl Thetford, The Arts Company
Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/ Houston
Saturday, April 7, from 6 until 9 p.m. From Hagan to Houston to Chestnut and beyond, Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/ Houston offers a broad range of artistic experience. The Gallery at Fort Houston is presenting CRISIS & EXCESS, an interdisciplinary exhibition Meredith Olinger, Zeitgeist curated by Alyssa A. Beach and showcasing work by Marcus Maddox, John Paul Kesling, Eddie Love, Amanda Lomax, Zidekahedron, Brittany McMahon, Courtney Spencer, Coco Reilly, and Danielle Shoda. Julia Martin Gallery is unveiling Olivia Leigh Martin’s Artifacts Tiffany Marie Tate, Coop Gallery of Return, a lush body of new work in which the artist returns to her one true love: the landscape. Zeitgeist is featuring a group show assembled by Memphis-based artists Dwayne Butcher and Georgia Creson. The exhibit deals with themes of environmentalism, race, history, identity, and social commentary and includes artists Coriana Close, Melissa Dunn, Mary Jo Karimnia, Lawrence Matthews III, Meredith Olinger, Terri Phillips, Alex Paulus, and Lexi Perkins. Don’t miss I Live Here Too, a collection of new work by Omari Booker at abrasiveMedia. The show is a declaration of belonging in which the artist is visually expressing his desire to create a community of inclusion. COOP Gallery is exhibiting Unfolding Vantage by Steve Basel and Tiffany Marie Tate. At Channel to Channel, artist Astri Snodgrass is showing her rubbing and folded paper work, a body of work that deals with the relationship between materiality and image. Seed Space is featuring Polly by artist Kevin Jerome Everson featuring two single-channel films— one color, one black and white—filmed during the solar eclipse. Polly is named for Everson’s paternal grandmother who passed away one day before the eclipse. Matt Eddmenson’s exhibit The Day and What We Gave Up is on view at Dane Carder Studio (see page 72). David Lusk Gallery is holding an opening reception for Kelly S Williams’s Stars Align, paintings on birch featuring
Jason Hargrove, CONVERGE
a different compelling pattern and composition stemming from a long-time relationship to patterning, quilting, and fabric. CONVERGE is hosting Force of Nature, an art show and fundraiser benefitting the Tennessee Environmental Council’s Radioactive Waste Education Program (TRWEP). Organized by Katie Murdock, Hope Siler, Lauren Weber, and Claire Dugan from Belmont University’s Honors Program, the show includes works by local artists. Enjoy the opening of Surroundings and the Self featuring work by Ground Floor Studio artists Erin Murphy, Sibley Barlow, Amanda Brown, Georganna Greene, Matt Christy, Celeste Jones, Bobby Becker, Kim Hipps, Naomi Bartlett, and Janet Decker Yanez at Ground Floor Gallery. East Side Project Space is displaying Of Weight and Breath, co-curated by Christina Renfer Vogel and Ty Smith and including paintings by Brett Baker, Susanna Coffey, Clare Grill, and Ellen Siebers. For more information, visit www.artsmusicweho.wordpress.com.
East Side Art Stumble
Saturday, April 14, from 6 until 10 p.m. Take a drive down Gallatin Pike to Red Arrow Gallery for the opening of Duncan McDaniel’s exhibit Standing Wave (see page 28). Southern Grist Brewery is showing abstract paintings by Joel Barnett largely influenced by the natural world in form and color, but with nods to the created world through geometric and symmetrical shapes. For updates on the East Side Art Stumble, visit www.facebook. Joel Barnett, Southern Grist Brewery com/eastsideartstumble.
Germantown Art Crawl
Saturday, April 21, from 6 until 9 p.m. Tour the non-traditional art spaces of Germantown to see an array of artworks by a variety of artists. As you make your way through the neighborhood, stop at these key art spots: 100 Taylor Arts Collective, Abednego, Wilder, Bits & Pieces, Bearded Iris Brewing, and Alexis & Bolt. For updates and more information, visit www.facebook.com/ germantownartcrawl.
Jefferson Street
Saturday, April 28, from 6 until 9 p.m. Visit the vibrant neighborhood along Jefferson Street for a unique and inspiring artistic experience. Cultural Visions Art in The Lab is showing works by Justin Copeland. The Garden Brunch Cafe is featuring works by N’Digo Kali throughout the month of April. Woodcuts Gallery and Framing is exhibiting a group show featuring works by Omari Booker, Twin (Terry and Jerry Lynn), Frank Frazier, XPayne, Elisheba, doughjoe, Thaxton Waters II, and Ol Skool. One Drop Ink is displaying a selection of illustrations from Sarah Elizabeth Harris. Several additional venues are planning to participate, so check for updates at Facebook.com/jsactn.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
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HISTORY EMBR ACING A RT
Emily Allison Chandra Adkins Paula Barnett Glenda Shaw Brown Barbara Coon Carol Evans Tiffany Foss Ken Gaidos Kelly Harwood Julie A. Harvey
Michael Hooper Betsy Ingalls Joe Parrott Dave Pickell Anne Rob Vicki Sawyer Chris Smith Melvin Toledo Susan Blair Truex Sealy Xia
Photograph by Sally Bebawy
Photograph by Sally Bebawy
Tennessee Craft Fair Centennial Park
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Photograph by Mazzo Media
Advances the State’s Handmade Traditions May 4–6
WORDS Peter Chawaga
T
he state of Tennessee has a rich art history, from the decorative work of Cherokees and Chickasaws to the contemporary contributions of Red Grooms and Alan LeQuire. But it is perhaps the state’s history of crafting— handmade basketry, furniture, jewelry, woodworking, and the like—that has best defined its ongoing relationship to the world of art. That dynamic is captured every year during the Annual Spring Tennessee Craft Fair, entering its 47th rendition from May 4 to 6. It’s the chance for craft makers and lovers statewide to gather in Centennial Park and celebrate their shared affection for the handmade, as well as a vital economic moment that keeps these crafts in production.
to Centennial Park’s lower lawn, the green space between 26th Avenue North and 27th Avenue North. Of course, the event is about more than just buying and selling a wealth of the state’s handmade crafts. Many of the participating artists create things during the fair, offering glimpses into their processes for attendees. There is also a demonstration tent hosting wood turners and clay throwers, and there are interactive activities for kids as well. The development of artist and attendee relationships is part of Tennessee Craft’s larger mission to foster the craft community within the state.
“We build a craft city that, in three days, sees 45,000 people and generates art sales exceeding a half million dollars,” says Shaina Strom, communications manager for Tennessee Craft, which has been promoting handmade art and artisans in the state since 1965. “Many of our Nashville and Tennessee artists know they’ll make a third of their yearly revenue at the Spring Fair.”
“The best part, by far, is how great a time everyone has, seeing art made, talking with artists, and taking home that special something,” Strom explains. “Fair revenues feed our artist development programs, so down the line, the community benefits by having a thriving artistic community. We not only keep the fair free and accessible . . . but root craft in the community, educating our membership as well as the public on the people, processes, and rich traditions of craft in Tennessee.” na
Though the fair has been held for nearly 50 years, this season will mark some firsts. At 355, it received a record-breaking number of applications from vendors. It will also be moving
The 47th Annual Spring Tennessee Craft Fair will be held at Centennial Park, 2500 West End Avenue, on May 4 and 5 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on May 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please visit www.tennesseecraft.org.
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Cumberland Gallery through April 14
MANIFESTO: Impediments in the Agile World, 2017, Photo-composite printed on Endura Metallic chromogenic paper, 34” x 24” Each piece in this series begins with a visual dialogue between two foreground subjects. In this case, a winged brick is paired with pant legs falling out of the frame. Why do we silence ourselves, make ourselves smaller, hold ourselves back? Is it a need for safety, or a downward spiral?
T
he daughter of a psychiatrist, I was raised in the Boston area where my early artistic influences included MAD Magazine’s subversiveness, television commercials, and my father’s mysterious profession. From that background, my passion for satire, consumer culture, and decoding human nature emerged. After I arrived in New York City, it was Warhol’s soup cans and soap pad boxes that drew me into communication arts and consumer packaged goods design. Obsessed by psychological processes, I needed to know why people buy and
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WORDS Leslie Tucker
FRESH PAINT
Leslie Tucker
The #MeToo movement caught me by surprise. I had no idea that what many of us experience would become so public. It has forced a national reckoning. Recent allegations against powerful men have sparked a chain reaction, but this is a movement more fragile than many of us realize. It could all collapse, and we are very fearful about what perilous form it will take. I deploy several visual metaphors to signify peril, from an array of tack-side-up thumb tacks, wasps, and menacing botanicals to hanging clenched fists and dragon slayers. There will be retribution and backlash, but I also think we will look back on this moment as being formative, in the long term.
MANIFESTO: Slapped Back, 2018, Photo-composite printed on Endura Metallic chromogenic paper, 34� x 24�
Today, my visual arts practice examines humanity and has evolved from exploring what we buy, to what we buy into. My artistic goal, like a siren’s song, is to lure my audience with intricate appeal and then, upon closer inspection, to assault with disquieting content. Through juxtaposition and a photocomposite process encompassing thousands of images, I examine how we might learn to navigate our discomforts and disillusionment as a way to understanding, and perhaps transcending, our hypocrisies and our blindness. The goal of my MANIFESTOS series is to illuminate our conflicts and dualities, inviting viewers to rediscover the underbelly of our humanity and social systems. Each MANIFESTO tableau signifies a public declaration of opinions and motives, containing “text” and image. My preferred
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Leslie Tucker
Photograph by Glenn Truesdell
their thoughts during the consumption process. I was inspired by the idea that I could influence the thoughts and habits of many Americans by graphically manipulating images of commodities.
surface is Endura Metallic paper; its iridescent finish and rich metallic appearance is my 21st-century nod to medieval gilding. But gilded is not golden—gilded has a sense of a patina covering something else. As I’ve explored quite a few themes in this series, I’ve been invited to share some personal interpretations. na Leslie Tucker’s MANIFESTOS is on exhibit at Cumberland Gallery through April 14. For more information, please visit www.cumberlandgallery.com. See more of Tucker’s art at www.leslie-tucker.com.
MANIFESTO: Supreme Majesty, 2017, Photo-composite printed on Endura Metallic chromogenic paper, 34” x 24”
MANIFESTO: Here Is Your Princess, 2017, Photo-composite printed on Endura Metallic chromogenic paper, 34” x 24”
Our current embroilment with demagoguery is alarming, our Republic thwarted and in chains, each gilded link a monarch’s crown. A new Dark Age is upon us; Democracy is shown its cage.
Served up like pastry and fondled by desire. Women attract consumption whether they like it or not, so men’s attention can be pleasing, annoying, or frightening. It all depends.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
47th Annual Spring
M ay 4, 5 & 6 Fri & Sat 10 am – 6 pm Sun 10 am – 5 pm
FAIR
CENTENNIAL PARK Shop directly from over 200 juried regional fine craft artists. Enjoy live demonstrations and hands-on kids activities. Community event with free admission and parking. Free shuttle service on Saturday & Sunday (wheelchair accessible)
Plan your experience at tennesseecraft.org/SpringFair Left to right: Kelly Maxwell, James & Rombye Perry, Sean Fitzgerald, Amber Anne Palo SUPPORTED BY:
Center: Sadie Wang
America Creative Portraits by Everett Raymond Kinstler Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery March 23 to July 14, 2018 1220 21st Avenue South Nashville, Tennessee 37203 vanderbilt.edu/gallery
Morris Museum of Art August 11 to November 4, 2018 1 Tenth Street, Second Floor Augusta, Georgia 30901 themorris.org
Everett Raymond Kinstler (American, b. 1926) Paul Jenkins, 2006 Oil on canvas 60" x 50" Collection of the artist
America Creative: Portraits by Everett Raymond Kinstler is the third in a three-part series on portraiture organized by the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery. The exhibition is curated by Joseph S. Mella, director, and Margaret F. M. Walker, assistant curator, with special thanks to the artist, Peggy Kinstler, and Michael Shane Neal. The exhibition is made possible, in part, by Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. Brock, Robbie and Hank Davis, Mr. and Mrs. J. Michael Duncan, John and Margarita Hennessy, Mr. and Mrs. B. Frederick Horne, Mr. Michael J. Horvitz, Virginia Cretella Mars, Holly Metzger, Michael Shane Neal, Haden and Jimmy Pickel, Ms. Trish Savides, Mr. and Mrs. S. Douglas Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Steiner, Neika Stephens, the Terra Foundation for American Art on behalf of board member Greg Williamson, Westtown Publishing, and Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Williams III.
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2/22/18 4:02 PM
Raphaëlle Goethals & John Henry April 20 - June 2
Artists Reception Friday April 20, 6-8pm
CUMBERLAND GALLERY www.cumberlandgallery.com | 615 297 0296 | 4107 Hillsboro Circle
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Red Arrow Gallery
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April 14 through May 6
Photograph by Allen Clark
MCDANIEL
DUNCAN 28
Standing Wave
Spectrum Wind, 2014, Conduit rods and plastic cups, 8’ x 8’ x 15’
WORDS Kathleen Boyle
I
t can be interesting to discover whom people source for their inspiration. Take, for example, Nashville artist Duncan McDaniel. When asked to name some of his artistic influences, he identified three people, each of them representing a different point in the timeline of modern through contemporary art. The most current artist named by McDaniel is Tara Donovan, a Brooklyn-based sculptor who creates biomorphic installations from unconventional materials such as Styrofoam, plastic cups, and Slinkies. “I am in awe of the sculptures . . . in the way that she finds beauty in the repetition of everyday objects,” McDaniel stated. Representing mid-century American modernism, McDaniel saluted Mark Rothko’s bold color blocks and intuitive palette choices: “Something about the color combinations of his work evokes an emotional response with me.” Finishing the list is early-twentieth-century Dadaist and Surrealist Max Ernst, a source of inspiration for McDaniel since high school for his “truly imaginative” energy and subjects. Ernst’s aesthetic politics were invested in a practice he referred to as frottage, a process through which unrelated forms or objects were positioned in conjunction with one another to generate visual relationships that would not have occurred otherwise. The impact of these three artists resonates in McDaniel’s work. To be clear, this observation does not harbor a negative connotation; “influenced by” need not be confused as “derivative of.” Rather, McDaniel’s work provides an excellent example of how progress unfolds in the visual arts—it is informed
in its aesthetic, thoughtful in its intention, and keen in its form. McDaniel’s influences have generated a foundation from whence he has inaugurated movement of his own artistic accord, a contribution to the conversation anew. A collection of McDaniel’s artwork will be on view at Red Arrow Gallery in a solo exhibition titled Standing Wave. Having graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2006, McDaniel earned his bachelor’s degree in painting and furthered his education in 3D design and illustration from Nashville State Community College. The breadth of his interest is showcased; consisting of sculpture and two-dimensional artwork, Standing Wave is a reflection of McDaniel’s commitment to upholding various media. Flexibility is therefore at the core of this exhibition. As McDaniel explains, the title Standing Wave is itself a direct reference to a phenomenon that occurs when a stringed instrument is played. Thus, this exhibition nods to an intersection between plastic and audible art, while also acknowledging the musical identity of Nashville, McDaniel’s hometown. “Standing Wave is a pattern that happens when vibration is applied to a string or resonator fixed between two points,” he explained. “The vibration traverses along the fixed path in a wave pattern until it hits the endpoint and travels back in an equal but upside-down pattern back toward the original point. To the human eye, the string appears to vibrate up and down.” This sense of movement is very much invested in the formal aspects of McDaniel’s art. Upholding strong linear qualities,
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Magic Mirror Scroll 2, 2017, Ink on paper, 108” x 36”
Across the Clouds, 2016, Metal cans, plexi, and LED lights, 8’ x 20’ x 2’
Color Study 1-6, 2018, Watercolor on paper, 18” x 30”
work such as Color Study 1-6, a series of large, vertical watercolor paintings, exemplifies an organic awareness that seems to direct McDaniel’s technique. Having acknowledged a recent interest in traditional Eastern calligraphy for “the fluidity and simplicity of the materials,” Color Study 1-6 resembles an aerial view of the ocean, as numerous lines of bold, saturated pigments snake horizontally in waves across their respective picture planes. All of the six paper panels are tall and narrow in their 30 x 18-inch dimensions, and although they do not offer an immediate connection to the adjoining panels (i.e. this series is not a single image broken up onto six different surfaces), there is an apparent relationship at stake. It is as though McDaniel wants to churn within his viewers an awareness of momentum, a vitality that perpetuates life even when things may appear to be still. Another of McDaniel’s strengths is his sense of color; the palettes that he employs are, in a word, vibrant. As a result, the color relationships that he establishes further the feeling that his works emanate a sort of pulse despite their static physicality. This vitality translates into a positive, warm nature, a difficult feat given the pairing of selections of unconventional materials. His sculpture
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series Across the Clouds, for example, consists primarily of tin cans, a medium of industrial connotation. Yet these sculptures are highlights of Standing Wave largely due to their success in transcending their material associations and mediating a sentiment of nurture. This effect was achieved by incorporating electric light into the work that emits pastel hues from the structures. “Across the Clouds is about the overseas relationship I had with my wife,” explained McDaniel, who maintained a longdistance relationship prior to getting married. “The concept of this piece is inspired by tin-can telephones and our communication.” Despite the utilization of artificial light (Across the Clouds, quite literally, glows), the sincerity of the work is not feigned. This is perhaps emblematic of McDaniel’s ethos as an artist. “Much of the work I’m making is about process and finding satisfaction,” he explained. “The work is by nature light-hearted, and I hope the viewers walk away with the same sense of joy I feel when making the pieces.” na McDaniel’s exhibit Standing Wave is showing at Red Arrow Gallery April 14 through May 6. For more, visit www.theredarrowgallery.com. See more of McDaniel’s work at www.duncanism.com.
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WORDS John Pitcher PHOTOGRAPHS Lucas Leigh
Segue
61’s
Innovative Certificate Program Puts Young Musicians on the Fast Track
Students perform Songwriter round
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Yes, I think it can be easily done Just take everything down to Highway 61 —Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
Tour Manager extraordinaire talks music biz
B
ob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited is one of those albums that changed the face of music. Recorded in a white heat of just six days during the summer of 1965, the LP surpassed all that had come before it with its staggering literary sophistication and fine-tuned rock ‘n’ roll sensibility. Bruce Springsteen probably summed up the work best, saying Dylan’s music “sounded like somebody’d kicked open the door to your mind.” It’s perhaps no surprise that when North Carolina’s Catawba College decided to change the face of commercial music education, it drew inspiration from Dylan’s timeless masterpiece. Catawba already had a traditional four-year degree program that provided students with a thorough and prestigious education in commercial music. The college, however, did not have an advanced non-degree-track program for young artists in the pre-professional stages of their careers. Catawba responded to this need with the creation of its Nashville-based Segue 61 certificate program. This intensive nine-month course of study is designed specifically for students who have already achieved a high level of proficiency in their area of interest—songwriting, singing, or instrumental performance—and who are now intent on quickly transitioning into the professional music world. The program’s name (with its nod to Dylan and the legendary blues highway, Highway 61) was selected because it’s also an apt description of its function: segueing young artists into the music business. And like similar non-degree programs at the Juilliard School and other major music colleges, Segue 61 provides young musicians with a hands-
on, practical environment that allows them to spend more time performing and recording and less time writing nonmusic-related research papers in a college library. Sophia Brand, a 22-year-old songwriter from Great Britain by way of Chicago, was attracted to Segue 61 precisely because of its emphasis on practical music-industry training. “I got a bachelor’s degree in pop music at Catawba and loved the program,” Brand tells Nashville Arts Magazine. “But I spent a lot of time taking general education classes when what I really wanted to do was make music. There are a lot of things about the music industry that you just can’t learn in a classroom. That’s why I applied to Segue 61.” Once Catawba decided to establish a certificate program, it set out to find an ideal location. Los Angeles was briefly considered, but in the end Nashville was selected both because of its proximity to North Carolina and its preeminence as a music industry hub. The program, which admitted its first class in January 2017, set up its headquarters in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood, working out of a house and renovated garage equipped with a state-of-the-art recording studio and rehearsal space. Once accepted to the program, students pursue an intensive interdisciplinary program that familiarizes them with every aspect of the music industry. All students take workshops in live performance, recording, touring, and branding, among other things. Graduates emerge as self-sufficient musicians who know how to engineer recordings, book concert tours, and negotiate with music-industry executives. “The program puts a heavy emphasis on the development of
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communications skills,” says Cameron Johnson, Segue 61’s academic director. “Our students leave here knowing how to talk to other music industry professionals on their own terms. They basically learn the language of the business.” Students learn this language firsthand from Music Row A-listers, who serve as program mentors. These professionals—songwriters, producers, tour managers, session musicians, venue owners, music publishers, publicists, record executives, and more—are paired with specific students based on the young artist’s needs and interests. Some students know exactly what they want. Benjo Markus, a 19-year-old guitarist from Los Angeles, spent a year at Belmont University studying commercial music before discovering Segue 61. The program proved to be perfect for him because of his single-minded determination to become a professional sideman and session musician. “I don’t want to be the artist,” says Markus. “I want to be the guy in the studio.”
Manning the control room console
Sophia Brand, on the other hand, entered Segue 61 with aspirations of being a performer. After spending time in the program’s workshops, she’s decided she’s more of a creative personality. She’ll be following in the footsteps of Bob Dylan. “I really love writing more than singing,” she says. “I now want to focus on songwriting and perhaps synching for TV and film.” Some students make discoveries in the program that surprise and amaze even themselves. Brian Sorensen had double master’s degrees in classical guitar and music theory when he entered the program. Apparently, his musical DNA included strands of Styx as well as Segovia. After mastering the studio’s sophisticated digital recording equipment, he began cranking out exhilarating progressive rock tracks. Sorensen, who was shy when he entered the program, graduated with confidence and some amazing recordings.
Students working on songwriting projects
Recordings may well be the most important feature of the program. Students have unlimited access to the recording studio, so some create an impressive discography during their residency. Most students graduate with enough material to fill an EP or LP. And they have the know-how to market the recordings. As Dylan would say, “It can be easily done / just take everything down to Highway 61.” na Segue 61’s next term begins August 21 and runs through May 2019. Find out more online at www.Segue61.com.
Vocal great Annie Selleck (seated) gives performance instruction 34
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p U t
AArSHVILLE N
Art Up Nashville is a comprehensive fine art service provider dedicated to the professional installation of items such as art and antique objects, heavy mirrors, posters and photographs. No job is too big or small. Our staff consists of museum-trained art handlers who for years have regularly handled precious, irreplaceable items of all classifications for museums and galleries as well as commercial and residential clients. Additionally, our staff is made up of artists who possess a special appreciation for art and whose refined aesthetic sensibilities optimize the clients’ experience.
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Art Show and Sale
Friday and Saturday 9am-5pm • Sunday 12pm-5pm Over 200 original works of art featuring views and wildlife of the Warner Parks Generous proceeds benefit the Friends of Warner Parks
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The Color of Words
WORDS Cat Acree
A
My Eyes Growl with Hunger, 2015, Archival digital print on watercolor paper, 36” x 24”
C
hanges come into our lives with little taglines attached: This too shall pass. Nothing gold can stay. So it goes, we say, acknowledging cycles that move at a pace that we’re unlikely to notice, be it too fast or too slow. Artist, curator, and poet Alysha Irisari Malo works within this cycle. Malo’s current body of work is a marriage of poetry and photography— verse paired with macrophotographs that create a keen juxtaposition of abstraction and narrative. The process that led her to this current work was a fitting exercise in processing change. Before her son was born, Malo was painting, drawing, collaging, creating a “primordial soup” of textures that explored body parts and life cycles. “Instead of looking at the body from a distance, I started thinking about body parts and change, and how you could get injured and then heal,” Malo says. But when she and her husband, Eric, moved to Nashville from Chicago, she became pregnant, and suddenly her practice stopped. “I went through this kind of questioning period about what I was really doing—[whether] I was really an artist, because I wasn’t doing art.”
lysha Irisari Malo Instinct, 2016, Archival digital photo print on etching rag paper, etched glass, 13” x 19”
Stay, 2016, Archival digital photo print on etching rag paper, etched glass, 13” x 19”
Her husband recommended photography. Looking back, it was a brilliant idea—a medium that would require less interiority than abstract paintings of the body. And it worked. During walks with her infant son, Malo would scan the ground for trash, compost, broken glass, candy being eaten by an ant. Then she’d lie down on the sidewalk and take pictures. “I’m sure my neighbors thought I was crazy. I’d be on the ground and my baby is in the carriage, and I’d sit there for twenty minutes . . . The neighborhood was kind of gritty—well, grittier, back then. So I was finding something every time I walked.”
While The Dust Pulses incorporates an entire poem, most pieces feature excerpts. As Malo’s poems can be rather forthright, the act of choosing an excerpt dissolves that original narrative, allowing the words to be almost as abstract as the image behind it. In some pieces, the words can be difficult to read, and at a distance, the text sometimes disappears into the image altogether. “I want the image to be the first interaction that you have with the piece,” Malo says. “And then I want that text to be almost a subliminal message. I just want it to come out at you slowly, for you to read it and think, well, how does that deepen it? What layers does that add to it?”
And once the door was open, another creative outlet swept in: poetry. It was something Malo had always done privately, but now she found herself interested in sharing the intensely vulnerable interiority of verse. And though she knew she wanted to meld her photographs and text, it would take several more years before pieces began to fall into place. “I had to get it to this fine balance,” she explains. “I don’t want the text to be a caption for the imagery, and I don’t want the imagery to be an illustration for the text. One piece that I think had really encapsulated what I was thinking about was The Dust Pulses, the triptych.” Glimmering, reflective imagery draws you in, and then becomes expansive when paired with a poem of transition, of dust coming to life and then dematerializing: “The dust pulses / gathering itself together, / shifting and shimmering, / finding its volatile forms / through the context of history . . .”
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Nothing Gold Can Stay (After Frost), 2017, Archival digital photo print and acrylic on canvas, 30” X 40”
The Dust Pulses (Triptych), 2015, Archival digital prints on watercolor paper, 36” x 72”
With change acting as the force behind her work, it’s appropriate that Malo is also a co-founder (with Eric) of CONVERGE, a curated group of artists that collaborate on projects in the WedgewoodHouston community, which, like many Nashville neighborhoods, is caught in an upswing of change. Malo, along with artists XPayne and Jana Harper, will participate in WeHome Day on April 14, an interactive artmaking day at Track One and a culmination of Erica Ciccarone’s WeHome project, a podcast about the WedgewoodHouston and Chestnut Hill neighborhoods.
Photograph by Jami-lyn Fehr
With photographs of the neighborhoods, excerpts from the podcasts, and original verse, as well as short stories and images submitted by community members, Malo plans to create digital prints that will be viewable on WeHome Day. She also will prepare a number of photographs and printed text on clear adhesive sheets, which attendees can use to create their own Malo-esque pieces, which will be bound in an artist book to be donated to a library. “I’ve been doing community work through CONVERGE, but I’ve always been more in that director/producer role. So this would put me in the actor role,” she says. “I kind of feel like this is at the point where I was years ago, where I knew I wanted to put my text and my imagery together, and I needed to figure out how. . . . [My work] is more personal—it’s not outwardly focused to the community. It’s more introspective. So I think this is a way for me to try to experiment with bringing some community work directly into my art practice for the first time.” na To hear Malo’s WeHome Episode #4, Long-haulers, please visit www.wehomepodcast.org/episodes. For more information, visit www.AlyshaIrisariMalo.com.
Alysha Irisari Malo
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—Theodore Roethke
CARLISLE 40
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Photograph by Rob Lindsay
CRAIG
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Art is the means we have of undoing the damage of haste. It’s what everything else isn’t.
WORDS Noah Saterstrom
A Few Moments of
Innocence Gallery 205, Columbia through April 21
C
raig Carlisle has lived and maintained studios in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Columbus, Ohio; he has professional roots on the coasts, not in the South. So it must have been a bit of a surprise when, in the middle of planning a move back to California, he found himself moving his studio to a farm on the edge of a pasture forty-five minutes south of Nashville.
Serenity, 2016, Oil on canvas, 20” x 16”
Why, you may ask, would a self-described mid-fifties, mid-career artist with institutional support in the art world’s considered centers of ambition pick up and move to the rural margins? According to the soft-spoken, introspective painter: It just felt like the thing to do. Carlisle enjoys the solitude. The light is great in his studio. His family is close by. Fair enough.
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The Newlyweds, 2017, Oil on canvas, 20” x 16”
A recurring image in Carlisle paintings is big heads, which he refers to as, well, “Big Heads.” Whether the height of the canvas is 20 or 96 inches, the heads give the sense of colossal mass. Inevitably referencing the Easter Island Moai, they are mythic, genderless, ageless, and otherworldly. They have no hair and no ears, an ambiguous ethnicity, and rare or fleeting references to clothing or anything else that might imply date, place, or culture. These faces are devoid of (free from?) any attributes upon which human identity depends in its attempt to distinguish one person from another. I wonder, does the removal of all these indicators of environment make the faces feel less human? Or perhaps Carlisle aspires to a distillation of what makes a face most human: the expression. When you take away the interchangeable extra, the countenance is basically all that’s left. Highly individualized even without superficial indicators of gender, dress, culture, or age, they are eerie. They are unearthly. They are demigods, tricksters, and guardians. Of the submerged unconscious mass (id) of the Freudian iceberg, only the tip (ego) is conscious and visible. While it could be said that historically the genre of portraiture is the tradition of commemorating the ego, Carlisle’s big heads are better viewed as portrayals of the id and, as such, induce a sense that they are both human and non-human, comforting and unsettling. There are echoes of Modigliani. Some of the faces have tightly rendered features, like Byzantine icons. Some are stylized, like a Brancusi, an African mask, or an Easter Island colossus. There is also monastic serenity, the
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The Shy Head, 2016, Oil on canvas, 30” x 24”
harmonic musicality of Morandi. I asked him about the expressions, if he has control over them, or plans them. He told me he starts with the shape, then he starts painting. They are all improvised; the expressions and the palette are entirely an expression of his mood that day. They are mood rings. “I think it’s going to be a nighttime scene, but as I’m painting—nope, it’s going daytime.” He was recently invited to make a self-portrait for an exhibition, and we make an artist’s joke: Take your pick, they’re all self-portraits. Carlisle’s big heads are no doubt whimsical, with some sprouting flowers and some going sideways into water; some floating in front of cities, others peering from tufts of furry flora. In a world of five-second glances, his big heads risk being taken lightly as goofy, decorative, repetitive—or worse, reductive—“the guy who does the big heads.” Whimsy is easily dismissed as playfully one-dimensional, but I would assert that Carlisle’s work is playfully multi-dimensional. In early March, I go to his studio to see an entirely different body of work, called Letters to a Friend, which plunges into deep water and reveals the emotional richness of this painter. I bring my kids and mother along. It’s a bright and windy day when we pull up to Carlisle’s farm in rural Columbia, Tennessee. His studio has a large glass wall and is surrounded by pastures, goats, roaming chickens,
frantically honking geese, miniature cows, and grazing sheep. The painter himself is quiet, thoughtful, and always keenly engaged. After decades of metropolitan life, he now finds himself in the countryside, embracing a contemplative time. The day he moved into his studio, a very good friend and mentor died. In his crushing grief, Carlisle did what painters, writers, musicians, really artists of all kinds, have done since time immemorial. He let his art take over. Within all its manifestations, art can communicate, protest, praise, criticize, bewilder, promote contemplation, or engender connectivity. It can help us escape, reveal truths, or plunge us “more violently” into life, as Francis Bacon would have it. Self-expression is a small part of Art’s goals, and decoration an even smaller part; Art strives to become. In times of grief, Art can be the grief itself. Carlisle pulls out ten canvases for me to see, some very large, all oil on linen. They are simple, each different from the last but all saturated with a seething stillness. Some of the elements from his other work are there but more malleable. A few large heads appear, now inverted. One has three eyes. One has become a cloud. Mournfulness is unquestionably present, though hard to put your finger on where exactly. Each piece has a small word or phrase written in French, a language his friend loved: “Wherever he is now, he’s speaking French.” I spend time with a very large painting of a fawn in the snow with the word vulnérable painted across the upper middle
Big Head in the Garden of Love, 2015, Oil on canvas, 40” x 30”
of the scene in just the right cursive. Another piece features the word saut (leap) and a pair of disembodied arms, rendered with almost childlike marks. It feels both austere and nonchalant. In The Riptide, one of the big heads floats serenely on a body of water while a dove watches over; this one has a story and Carlisle relates the tale. In the late 1990s, he was caught in an actual riptide while surfing in California. The current had overtaken him, and he’d lost all muscle power. Desperate, he’d given himself over to the blue, and as he sank down, seconds from death, a paddling surfer happened to see him, towed him to shore, and left him on the beach. Carlisle never saw him again. The new works, growing in both number and scope in the rural farm’s glass-walled studio, have something of the devotional. They are confessional, earnest, a distinct and welcome break from the world of art fairs and Instagram, where Art can be mistaken as an insignificant kaleidoscope of fumbling makers preoccupied with innovation, and dealers sniffing out marketability. All this cleverness and existentialism has maybe dragged a fair portion of today’s work into a functional cul-de-sac, but Carlisle’s work, especially his latest un-shown group, is a paean to hard-won straightforwardness. As Philip Guston, a painter in Carlisle’s (and my own) canon, said: “I think we are primitive really, in spite of our knowing. It’s a long, long preparation for a few moments of innocence.” na Carlisle’s work is currently on view at Gallery 205, 205 6th Street, Columbia, TN, www.gallery205art.com. He is represented by George Billis Gallery, NYC, www.georgebillis.com. See more of Carlisle’s work at www.craigcarlisle.com.
The Riptide, 2017, Oil on linen, 50”x 60”
A Form of
Synesthesia Photism: Called
Photograph by Alfonso Llamas
A Conversation with Kristin Llamas
Janet Levine March Gallery at Nashville’s Gordon Jewish Community Center through April 30
WORDS Audrey Molloy
T
his month, Janet Levine March Gallery at Nashville’s Gordon Jewish Community Center opens with Kristin Llamas: ¿Como Te Llamas?, an expansive exhibition of illustrative paintings which playfully characterize the phonetic resonance of naming. Kristin Llamas is a Nashville-based artist widely known for her minimalist and photorealistic paintings produced concurrently with social outreach initiatives. ¿Como Te Llamas? is a continuation of Llamas’s relational investigations through paint, but marks a particular transformation in the artist’s practice towards subjective abstraction. I had a conversation with the artist to discuss these new works…
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Kerry, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 24”
Joel, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 24”
What was the catalyst for your interest in this visual play on nomenclature? My work is always project based and involves study and dialogue from the community while addressing social issues. However, in the start of 2017, I began feeling drained by social concerns. There was so much political and global disrupt that I felt like I needed to research something that someone of any race, belief, or country of origin could connect to. The Llamas Art Show has become the most inclusive project I have created to date. I consider this project a playful unifier, while also provoking honest conversation and self-awareness. By engaging with people on their name alone, I feel we are able to strip away all of those divisive factors such as location, politics, race, religion, and social status.
and the llama symbolizes themes that I hope to portray with this project: strength, perseverance, communication, and community.
Besides the semantic play on “llamas,” what is the symbolic or conceptual significance of this particular animal in context of this work? We are all given a label when we are born. This title, our name, becomes the first piece of information that we share about ourselves. A name is something that everyone has, everyone wants to know, and no one can take away. A name is the one thing we carry with us everywhere we go, even when we are gone.
The sound or “feel” of a name is what creates the form and imagery. To me, hearing and seeing a name leads me to feel like it looks a certain way. Now, we all have biases toward names. These biases are based on our experiences with people who share those names, and whether consciously or subconsciously, these interactions can create positive or negative feelings in us when we hear that name again. In some instances, I embrace that association of a name with its visual representation. Other times, I try to push that aside.
Naturally, when I decided to research names, I played upon my own name by asking “¿Como te Llamas?” My name is pronounced “ya-mus” but almost always mispronounced like the animal, so my subject matter seemed pretty obvious. My work has always been heavy in narrative and symbolism,
As the artist, I understand that I am taking liberty in linking characteristics with a name, but I don’t see these llamas as portraits of people so much as they are a representation of the name itself. My visual association with names is also proof that these labels hold a lot of weight on the perception of
In Llamas, your process is concerned with creating a visual representation of a name—a designation which is phonetic, etymological, and entirely free of aesthetic reference. Have you, in working on Llamas, constructed a stylistic lexicon or strategy for representing names? This has been one of the most interesting and timeconsuming elements to this project. I’m not sure that there is any real science behind it, but when it comes to associating a name with visual representation, I can most closely describe it as a form of synesthesia called photism.
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our identity. Have you ever said to yourself, “Wow, he doesn’t look like a Frank ... Andrew ... Jacob”? Or, “I keep wanting to call her Rachel!” Why? What is it about names that create an actual association to a look and or “feeling” within us?
Joseph, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 24”
So, what is the significance of a name? Particularly after spending time on this body of work, has your conception of “naming” changed at all? With all that I have learned during the creation of the first 200 names as llamas, more questions have arisen than have been answered. If someone is legally named “Matthew Jacob” but was always called Jacob, which do they connect to as their first name? If you have variations of your name, how do you choose if and when to share them with specific groups of people? Do you have a “professional” name and a “friend” name?
“
Regardless of race, belief, sexual orientation, or country of origin, we are all struggling with the same battle of identity.
How does your name change as it crosses borders and adjusts to new languages or tribes? Does that change have an effect on your actual feeling of identity? Does it affect your personality to have a name that is constantly pronounced or spelled incorrectly? Do unique names have a positive or negative effect on your self-esteem? Is your name helping or hurting you in life? How much of your life is predetermined by your name, a label, that you may have received before you were even conceived? Regardless of race, belief, sexual orientation, or country of origin, we are all struggling with the same battle of identity. I learned about a woman who was given a name that in her culture means “next a son.” I’ve spoken with people who have changed the spelling of their names, named their children all various versions of their own name, and those who had never even thought about their name until I asked if they identify with it. I have questioned the fate that I laid out for my own children by choosing their names. I have questioned our entire system of labeling people at birth. Importantly, this project has allowed me to feel a connection with individuals on a global level. na
Photograph by Mandy Liz Photography
Cassie, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 24”
Kristin Llamas: ¿Como Te Llamas? will be on exhibit at the Janet Levine March Gallery at Nashville’s Gordon Jewish Community Center during the month of April. The opening is April 11, 6:30 to 8:30 pm. For more information, visit www.nashvillejcc.org/jgalleries. See more of Llamas’s art at www.kllamas.com.
Pop Up Shop April 19
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WORDS Sara Lee Burd
Seeing the Unseen To Look Is an Act of Choice
A Provocative New Exhibit at 21c Museum Hotel Challenges What We See and What We Choose to See
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igures dressed in bright-orange jumpsuits are being forcibly escorted by United States soldiers onto an American plane in Steve Mumford’s Empire. The blindfolded Afghan prisoners call attention to the act of viewing through their bodily expressions. Looking away, bowing heads, and turning their bodies toward whispering inmates, these men do not appear to be wanting or able to see what is before them. Embedded with the American troops in Afghanistan for ten years, Mumford documented what he saw. Chief Curator and Museum Director Alice Gray Stites explains that the work captures “the everyday banality, the boredom no matter what you are engaging in.” She elaborates, “What struck me so much is this depiction of not only blindness, but also that we are living in a time where we are so inundated with images of violence, with images of war, with images of injustice that we don’t see them anymore either.” The artist translates this scene of nearly everyday life into large-scale works that Stites calls “contemporary history paintings.” This painting inspired Stites in her latest exhibition Seeing Now, open now at 21c Museum Hotel. It is through this work that she began to think about how seeing has been presented in the museum’s vast twenty-first-
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Steve Mumford (American), Empire, 2010, Oil on linen, 96” x 132”
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Rafael-Lozano Hemmer (Mexican-Canadian), Zero Noon, 2013, Computer, processing software, square HD display, electronic, metal enclosure
century art collection. Quoting John Berger, Stites explains her point of investigation into the theme: “To look is an act of choice.” The show came into focus for Stites once she juxtaposed Empire with Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Zero Noon. With this group she established the foundation for what she
summarizes as an exploration of “what we are seeing and how we see it.” Lozano-Hemmer’s interest in technology immediately interested the curator, and his visual presentation incorporating a digital content display struck her in particular. She enthusiastically elaborates, “That machinery, that technology that we look at all day long. It’s familiar to us because we come close to the screen and we see a hand going round and round at different rates. What appears, however, are random metrics pulled from the Internet. The statistics vary so widely . . . you are almost projecting . . . you are picking up on certain kinds of information because your brain or mind is trained to. It’s impossible to walk away. Not only are you consuming vast amounts of information, as we do, but instead of taking a quick look and walking away, the artwork holds you there. You become suspended in time. In a way it just slows down that onslaught of that exponential amount of information.” She concludes, “What it does tell us is what is going on in the world. It shows indices of change, but how do you make sense of those statistics? The artwork isn’t going to do that for you.” Continuing with a theme of technology, viewing Hank Willis Thomas’s With All Deliberate Speed requires the use of a cell phone. Looking at the rectangular composition, it becomes clear that parts of the image have been whited out. The artist left intact only a man carrying an American flag, giving the impression that the image conveys a patriotic or political message. Instructed by a nearby sign, the viewer is asked to participate with the work by taking a photograph using a
Nidaa Badwan (Palestinian), 100 Days of Solitude: Code 20, 2014-15, Chromogenic print, 24” x 41”
Norbert Brunner (Austrian), You Are Enchanting, 2013, Digital print on acrylic glass, acrylic mirror, Swarovski crystals, MDF, LED lights, 31” x 72” x 4”
flash. Like magic, the light develops the image so that the original image can be seen inside the phone. The resulting digital shot shows a scene of struggle during the civil rights movement. The title references the legal term defined from the Brown v. the Board of Education case. It declared that segregation in schools must end, but gave states the right to permit the separate-but-equal facilities to endure until a time determined ultimately by white men in power. The act of using the phone limits those who can see the complete picture to a middle- to upper-class audience who can afford to own mobiles. Perhaps in some way the people who carry with them this historical image will remember this particular moment of hatred in history. It’s possible that these are the very people who still have the power to make changes in the brutal legacy of racial inequality. Omission by erasure is a theme that persists in a number of works throughout the exhibition. It is the unseen and what remains that carries meaning and drives attention in Ken Gonzales-Day’s collection of altered racist postcards
in Erased Lynchings. Using mass-produced photographic images of lynchings of native American and Latino people, he calls attention to the fact that these were sold around the United States. Stites says, “You must decode what is going on here. It’s not apparent.” The artist calls attention to the devastating history of violence against people of color. Though the images were originally intended for entertainment, Gonzales-Day changes that intention by removing the suspended bodies from the postcard images,
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Not only are you consuming vast amounts of information, as we do, but instead of taking a quick look and walking away, the artwork holds you there. You become suspended in time.
Hank Willis Thomas, With All Deliberate Speed, 2015, Screen print on retroreflective vinyl on aluminum, 28” x 37”
Hank Willis Thomas (American), Raise Up, 2014 (sculpture), Bronze, 10” x 80” x 11”
leaving only the trees and the perpetrators. Although these astonishing objects are documented history, the bigotry they represent is not from a bygone era nor is it bound racially or geographically. As Stites adds, “It was a spectacle then, but yeah, there is far worse on the Internet today.” In a talk hosted during the exhibition opening, musician and visual artist Paul Rucker posed questions to the audience regarding basic historical facts: What is the date of the Emancipation Proclamation? How many waves were there of the KKK? How much money does it cost to imprison people at Guantanamo Bay? And many more. At times the crowd would remain silent, only a voice or two willing to pronounce the answers and propose their guesses. To other questions, many people would confidently respond. It was a fun game, but there was a heaviness in noting the silence. Whether the correct answer was withheld out of caution or lack of knowledge remains unknown. What transpired was a group awareness of the gaps in remembrance. A lack of being and staying informed must be a lesson that pervades the
Paul Rucker (American), Proliferation, 2009, Video animation with sound, running time 10:45 minutes
communities Rucker meets as he travels on a lecture tour. Rucker combines animation and technologies to organize information into meaningful ways with great aesthetic impact. His work Proliferation maps the growth and rate of prisons in the country from the nineteenth through the twenty-first century. Combining sound, light, and an outline of the United States, Rucker builds his composition. What begins as a few twinkling lights representing prisons spaced broadly across the map quickly crescendos into broad swaths of color representing nearly continuous prison complexes arising throughout the country. As a visualization of mass incarceration, it takes only a moment to see the truth of what that looks like geographically. Hank Willis Thomas’s bronze cast sculpture Raise Up features upper torsos of ten figures with arms extending overhead. In a contemporary environment of the United States, these poses immediately trigger the Hands Up Don’t Shoot movement, which started around 2015 to protest
Steve Mumford (American), Female Barracks in Samarra, 2015, Oil on linen, 60” x 60”
Ken Gonzales-Day (American), Erased Lynchings II, 2017, Archival digital pigment prints, 12” x 16” each
Nidaa Badwan’s100 Days of Solitude relies on preciseness in creating a classical image that appears in line with the history of Western art. Badwan employs rich tones, chiaroscuro lighting, and balanced compositions in self-portrait photography to document moments of her personal endurance into aloneness. The fruits and bins were functional for storage and sustenance during this 100-day self-sequestration, yet it seems they could have been plucked from a painting by Caravaggio. Badwan both appreciates and subverts this recognizable style by creating her own space and subject, thus freeing herself from the typical male gaze that dominated painting for centuries. Seeing Now encompasses a range of images with a varied approach to seeing as an act of will. The show explores the use of technologies in art to alter the way seeing is possible and the way artists have presented concepts visually to illuminate pathways to questions and knowledge.
Showcasing diverse perspectives of artists from around the world, the information that these works present to visitors may be difficult to approach emotionally, psychologically, and rationally, but they are worth the time and consideration. Each work provides space for thoughtful reflection about what you choose to see, what you have seen, and what you still may not be ready to confront. na Seeing Now is on view at 21c Museum Hotel until December 2018. For more information, visit www.21cmuseumhotels.com/nashville.
Toyin Ojih Odutola (Nigerian), Fortress, 2016, Graphite on board, 46” x 38”
police brutality. However, Stites is quick to explain that the sculpture is derived from a photograph that was taken in the late 1960s by South African apartheid-struggle photographer Ernest Cole. The photograph captures a scene of minors being strip-searched on their way to work. What Stites explains is “a degrading ritual that took place on a near daily basis.” The fact that this sculpture describes a real moment available in an archival photograph makes this work specifically recall the horrors in Africa. Simultaneously, the pervasive submissive pose is generally a reminder of ubiquitous shows of power through intimidation that have been inflicted upon people throughout time and across the globe.
WORDS Megan Kelley
Clarity without Limitation, Answering without Definition
Scott Christensen Darby Crossing, Oil, 16” x 25”
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Scott Christensen in his studio
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cott Christensen’s paintings engage terrain through a vocabulary of grandeur and solitude, silence and study. His landscapes dominate with quiet strength, yet allow room for the observer as a vital part of their experience. They are the eyes of the explorer, seeking to document the fullness of a world while acknowledging the vantage point of the individual relationship. It is a relationship equally vital to the painter who seeks these views, who believes immersion is the true way to know place, that tangent is necessary to finding direction. “I love being in the outdoors. I love the feeling I get, everything I’m seeing; everything becomes interesting to me. If you look enough, if you don’t come in with preconceived ideas about a space, you will find something. It will find you.” He describes a willingness for the unknown, an openness to the unexpected, in watching a storm come in over the desert: “It was this eerie light coming over, and you look at it and you wonder if you can get the motion, the emotion of it, if you can stop here, three hours on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, trying to capture this feeling you are finding. You push the emotional part of the painting into what you think you’re seeing, trying to communicate what you felt on this road in nowhere with this cloud coming down, and it’s uncomfortable,” Christensen laughs. “People get uncomfortable to be so far away from everything they know, but I am comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s where I find my best growth.” Christensen’s practice seeks that challenge, his work taking him into the wild spaces that make deliberate disconnection such a grounding experience. “When you see it—the storm, the lightning, the fish going off because they do that; the storm triggers their natural cycles—you get so attuned to nature, you see so closely.” Whether on his personal trips into nature or leading students into the environment they hope to capture in paint, Christensen describes the process of paying attention through painting as “reflecting,” not only visually describing landscape as natural presence, but the feeling of being present for the land as conduit and channel. It’s difficult but rewarding, in a way that Christensen says is unlike any other medium. “Photography tricks us; a photo is only a small moment. Painting is about really looking at something big and trying to grasp it in a way that allows for that largeness.” Christensen’s paintings—whether in the more intimately sized studies or as the sweeping scale of the larger masterworks—gather the viewer into that same experience. The composition evokes both
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There’s a beauty when your attention is turned into the land. When you are there, when you see and absorb and listen, it is different.
Glacier Park Hike, Oil, 26” x 36”
Coastal Air England, Oil, 30” x 32”
Wyoming Autumn, Oil, 30” x 32”
monumental size and a feeling of smaller spectatorship in the presence of a larger grandeur, but also the attention to space possible when a traveler pauses to take in a scene. Rock faces rise into mossy detail and yet recede again into brushstrokes as the eye looks into the rhythm of crashing waves, while the soft grace of shadows generates the depth of a distant river and simultaneously loses itself into built oils and marbled hues, mirroring the flattening effect of growing twilight on the human eye. “I want the painting to do more than just pure representation,” Christensen explains. His work seeks the immersive, perceptually layered experience of nature itself. “I want you to look at it one way and see abstraction, then as you pull away, it pulls together. The easiest thing to do is to define something, but to really represent landscape is to imply it without defining it. “Process has reframed how I think about painting,” he says. “The work asks a question and you have to answer it. The things at the corner of your eye—you have to follow them. You let the process take you and lead you through that divergent thinking. It is about answering without limiting, about clarifying without defining.” That communication is about trusting the viewer, allowing the audience to participate in the act of seeing landscape as complex, the perception of space as layered and nonlinear. Rather than limiting the expression of a river through
Scott Christensen’s studio
hyperrealism, Christensen makes room for the viewer to engage millennia of perceptive pattern habits, recognizing strokes as current and dapples as reflected sunlight, even in abstracted forms. The act forms a perceptual space that allows the artist a dialogue with place through painting, seeking to impart not a single-moment snapshot but, instead, an image informed by a thorough understanding of site through experience and attention invested and revisited over cycles of time. “People get absorbed in terrain, are amazed when confronted with real landscape. Most people don’t get to experience the outdoors as much as we used to. We have so much access to stimulus that competes for that attention that we get into the routine of not seeing,” Christensen feels. “But there’s a beauty when that attention is turned into the land. When you are there, when you see and absorb and listen, it is different.” The work of Scott Christensen is on view at Leiper’s Creek Gallery in May. As part of the exhibition, Christensen will demonstrate his technique and will also lead one of his internationally acclaimed painting workshops. A limited class of ten students will join Christensen for a four-day exploration of landscape through paint. na For more information on Christensen’s painting workshop, demonstration, or exhibition, visit www.leiperscreekgallery.com. See more of Christensen’s work at www.christensenstudio.com.
THEBOOKMARK
A MONTHLY LOOK AT HOT BOOKS AND COOL READS
I Was Anastasia: A Novel Ariel Lawhon Nashville author Ariel Lawhon will astonish readers with her beautiful, gripping new novel. Set in Russia and Germany in the early 1900s, I Was Anastasia brilliantly novelizes the enduring puzzle of Anastasia Romanov’s death and her most famous imposter. The dark, twisted plot lines will thrill historical fiction readers and mystery fans alike.
Ritz and Escoffier: The Hotelier, The Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class
The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma’s Table
Luke Barr
Rick Bragg
From “Puttin’ on the Ritz” to the hotels themselves, Ritz is a name synonymous with glamour. But the origin of the first luxury hotel is a tale replete with aristocratic scandal and signaled the onset of a new social order. Luke Barr is a master of narrative nonfiction and has painted a dazzling portrait of these dicey characters and the Belle Époque era.
Food in the South is inextricably linked to storytelling, family, and comfort. In The Best Cook in the World Rick Bragg, beloved Southern author, takes you into his mother’s Alabama kitchen and gives you a seat at their table. The recipes, in pinches and smidgens, will have your mouth watering. In this part memoir, part cookbook, Bragg proves that every recipe is a (laugh out loud funny) story.
Circe Madeline Miller Circe is the exquisitely imagined epic story of the sorceress from Homer’s Odyssey. Circe’s journey from nymph to sorceress is woven together with prose as magical as its characters and is ultimately a riveting novel about an unlikely heroine. Meet Madeline Miller and get your copy signed at Parnassus Books on April 11.
Registration for summer classes begins April 1st. More at watkins.edu.
Community Education
Spend your summer inspired.
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3/7/18 1:16 PM
NASHVILLE’S TOP MENTOR
MUSIC PROGRAM OUR STUDENTS LEARN FROM INDUSTRY PROS Areas of study will include: Music performance (studio and stage), artist development, production, engineering, marketing, management and more!
CLASSES START AUGUST 21, 2018 THROUGH MAY 2019
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WORDS Angie Renfro
Lee Friedlander, Untitled, 1957, Gelatin silver print
Challenging Perspectives: The African-American Experience as Viewed through Separate Lenses
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Jonathan Calm, Body Language III, 2018, Archival pigment print, 70” X 40”
isk University presents two powerful photography exhibitions that investigate the conversations we as a nation are having about social justice and, perhaps more important, the conversations we should be having. Let Us March On: Lee Friedlander and the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom is a collection of Friedlander’s photographs that document the Prayer Pilgrimage, a milestone moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Jonathan Calm’s body of work, African-American Automobility: The Dangerous Freedom of the Open Road, utilizes photography to explore decades of the experience of “driving while black.” Jamaal Sheats, Head Curator of Fisk, says of the shows, “I felt like it was important to do this type of exhibition right now to honor the legacy and the history [of the African-American experience] and also to think about how [to] recontextualize these ideas and these themes [and] push them forward. I think it’s important to have both of those conversations at the same time from two different vantage points.
The subject matter isn’t necessarily easy to talk about. But the beautiful thing about it is that the artwork can speak for itself.
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Let Us March On is a collection of Lee Friedlander’s photographs of the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom. The event took place in Washington, D.C. on May 17, 1957—the third anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision and was, at the time, the largest organized demonstration for civil rights. Tens of thousands of activists rallied in front of the Lincoln Memorial to peacefully protest ongoing segregation, voter suppression, and racial violence. Mahalia Jackson, Rosa Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were among the prominent figures photographed that day. Included in the collection are images of King delivering his “Give Us the Ballot” speech—his first address to a national audience. Friedlander’s photographs capture the grace and determination of a people standing together, seeking to be heard. His thoughtful compositions convey energy and optimism, best exemplified by his image of arms raised in solidarity against a clear and expansive sky. They also include more intimate portraits of the attendees, including a defiant Boy Scout staring skeptically back at Friedlander, who is white. Jonathan Calm, Green Book (Jackson I), 2016, Archival pigment print, 11” X 14”
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Lee Friedlander, Untitled, 1957, Gelatin silver print
Jonathan Calm, Double Vision (DWB III), 2018, Archival pigment print, 20” X 30”
These 45 satellite images of urban locations are printed using a solarization process, rendering the buildings as delicate and silver against a background of black. The shape of a target overlays the map, the bullseye marking the location where a black person was the victim of police brutality. By utilizing a removed perspective, a macro-view, Calm’s work asks us to do the same—to see this as an issue of our collective humanity. In one of a series of self-portraits, Double Vision (Recording I), Calm is posed lying on the cement of a well-traveled road. It’s a pose we’ve seen time and again, in images and videos of arrests. In his mouth is a camera lens pointed directly at the viewer. The perspective challenges the viewer to confront the larger systematic problem of racism, reversing the roles of subject and observer, asking that we see ourselves in these stories. Lee Friedlander, Untitled, 1957, Gelatin silver print
The foundation for Jonathan Calm’s show, African-American Automobility: The Dangerous Freedom of the Open Road, began as a journey tracing the historic path typically taken by African-American travelers utilizing The Green Book— an essential tool in the thoughtful and strategic planning required to safely migrate north. Calm stopped along the route to photograph the current state of the locations listed in the Green Book originals. His stark and beautiful images document the sites that were once the hotels, restaurants, and gas stations that black motorists would have been able to visit without compromising safety and dignity. During this trip, Calm began to see the car as a lens through which to view the larger issue of racism in America. He explains, “To reckon with the past of this particular era—that there even had to be a motorist guide for black people traveling the United States—is to also acknowledge the present [where] we have video after video of African Americans being shot in their cars for handing over documents. [My work examines] how big and systemic the problem has been and continues to be for black motorists. This story is still going on.” Calm’s exhibition also includes a body of work entitled Travel Is Fatal to Prejudice, which serves as a somber memorial.
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Calm’s photographs put current events into historical context. Reflecting on his work, he discusses the potential of the current socio-political landscape. “We’re at a place where we’re able, because of social media, to find each other and protest and ask for change. It’s my hope that there is enough of that over time that we actually do get federal, state, and local laws changed. I still remain hopeful.” When asked his reasoning for pairing the two shows, Sheats explains, “Both deal with memory—personal memory, institutional memory, the memories of our parents and grandparents. I think it’s important to be able to talk about that history. By displaying them both at the same time it creates a cyclical and perennial conversation that I think it’s important for us to have. And the best way to do it is through art.” Engage in the conversation, challenge your perspective, and listen to what these works have to say. Both exhibits open at Fisk University’s Carl Van Vechten Gallery the evening of Thursday, April 12, timed to align with the anniversaries of both the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The Friedlander exhibition will be on view until August 19 and the Calm exhibition until September 15. na For more information, visit www.fisk.edu/galleries.
MYLES BENNETT Murmuration by Process
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PHOTOGRAPHS Chris Callaway
WORDS Annette Griffin
Bennett Galleries
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| April 21–May 21
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is approach is fathomless: “I became involved in fibers because canvas just seemed like the most ubiquitous painting surface. As an architecture major I came at it from, ‘You take a brick or a stone and you see what you can do with stones or bricks.’ So when I got into art, I bought a bolt of canvas and was going into the material, just sort of this universal painting surface, but instead of building it up, I was going into it.” Myles Bennett’s new show, Elements, celebrates a gradient of crafts media with accompanying artists Saul Gray-Hildenbrand and Miranda Herrick. Their wood
Myles Bennett in his studio
and metal work, respectively, finds an enthusiastic audience at Bennett Galleries. Here, Bennett draws less attention to labor than he does to experience, and in turn, intimacy. This diffusion of focus echoes the artist’s interests in sound and the individual. Antithetical to popular experience, Bennett’s substance lies in his imagining himself as the viewer. Much of his other work is figurative or wearable, and it’s interesting to note that in this case even his abstraction explores the human form, as choreographed by interstices. True to training, he begins with site-specifics. “There’s a six-inch space between the floor and the partition walls. It just seemed like these walls were almost these very bizarre pieces in and of themselves.” (The walls at Bennett Galleries come in waves.) “So I kind of needed to recreate another surface; it’s almost like I’m creating a painting surface that is a wall surface. And then within that, there are breaks.” Framing a wall as canvas is the kind of clever trick that reveals his wider talents. He’s known for his training in architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design but has Dying Light (Rising), 2018, Ink and graphite on canvas, pine frame, 46" x 41" x 5"
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Clockwise from upper left: Dying Light (Falling), 46" x 41" x 5" Waves 10.5/3/5/4/5/3/10.5, 43” x 41” Waves 9.5/4.5/2.5/6/3.5/4.5/9.5, 43” x 41” Waves #6, 43” x 41” All 2018, Ink and graphite on canvas, pine frame
dabbled in photography, ceramics, and other interests while settling on painting, textile, and wearable designs as his primary focuses. For Elements, he’s trading the genius of labor for intimacy, developing work so diffuse that it envelops a viewer, rather than merely drawing them in. “Think of this as almost like a wall of sound. If you move your eye around, you’re always going to be very close to the work. You know, you can kind of have your own space without four people all looking at one little thing. It’s spread out so that everybody can have their moment.”
The dissipation of his paintings reveals wave patterns, delicate enough to be immersive, staunch enough to appear collected beside the obvious Rothko comparison. A combination of fine detail and allusion to sound wraps around Bennett’s experiential concept and succeeds his personal criterion for art: “I just want to see that what [the artist is] talking about and what they’re doing is the same thing. You know, I feel like people have a message, and then they have an aesthetic, and 90 percent of times it doesn’t mesh. But as long as what they’re saying and what they’re trying to do is on point, I’m very open aesthetically to different things.”
Here, Bennett’s work betrays a sincerity that minimalism alone cannot, alongside a quiet opinion of the way we view art. Even his pursuit of color runs commentary on the paragons of a traditional art school education and perhaps the New Hellenism of contemporary art.” I feel like I’m really going back to square one of color theory—but what I learned forever ago . . . You know, red, yellow, blue. These combinations are always sort of a vibration of black. I’m just separating all the colors out. On the front of the canvas I’ll paint a set of colors, and on the back of the canvas I’ll paint another set of colors.”
Of course, aesthetics aren’t principle in this work. They’re only the result of an experiment; one that hypothesizes understanding context well enough to tailor an experience to each viewer. In this scenario, resulting permutations mirror potential differences in visiting entities. Diffusions may shift or collide, but Bennett’s loyalty to his craft is guided by material and process. “If you keep following the process true to the process, you can end up in all these very different territories that you didn’t expect,” says Bennett. “They’re all deconstructed threads.” na
Then, using an exacto blade, he’ll carefully excise individual threads from the warp of the work. Heinous color quiets into meditation as he collects the detachments into bundles called cores. The remaining canvases are operatically colorful, yet quiet, like ikat negatives left under water.
Bennett Galleries will hold an opening reception for Elements, also featuring the work of Saul Gray-Hildenbrand and Miranda Herrick, on Saturday, April 21, from 6 to 9 p.m. The exhibit will be on view through May 21. For more information, please visit www.bennettgalleriesnashville.com. See more of Bennett’s work at www.touchstructures.com.
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The dissipation of his paintings reveals wave patterns, delicate enough to be immersive ...
Waves 10.5/4/4.5/3/4.5/4/10.5, 2018, Ink and graphite on canvas, pine frame, 43" x 41"
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Peggy Bilbro, The Conversation, 2016, Photo print on metal, 16” x 20”
Bringing the Creative World to
“Art West Side on the
Gordon Jewish Community Center
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April 21–22
WORDS Peter Chawaga
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Melissa Payne Baker, Climbing Roses, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”
ast Nashville may have a reputation as the city’s haven for eclectic, urban creatives. And midtown may boast some of Nashville’s best academically minded exhibitions. But for the last five years, Art on the West Side has been the creative hub to the left side of town. This year’s event will open on April 21 with a cocktail reception and continue through April 22. As always, it will be held at the Gordon Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Belle Meade, which hosts art exhibits year-round. The JCC will receive 30 percent of artists’ sales from the event to further its youth programming and art instruction. Beyond serving local West Side artists and patrons, the event will draw a national collection of works for sale. “Art on the West Side hosts artists representing a variety of mediums from all over the United States,” says Abby White, a chair for the event and development director at Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Media and Entertainment. “We hope our attendees will see and purchase art from artists they know and support and from artists they’ve never seen before. Every year, we look for new artists our attendees will appreciate and want to make part of their home or wardrobe.” Among the more than 50 participating creatives will be Harold Krauss, this year’s “featured artist.” Krauss has received national accolades for his colorist approach to painting, and his work has been exhibited at Fisk University and Nashville’s Parthenon. Cathy Moberg, featured artist from last year’s event, will return with her signature trompe l’oeil sculptural work. Clifford Bailey, who has an early history in Nashville, will be showcasing his modern-inspired paintings after 18 years of focusing his career in Los Angeles. The Florida-based Craig Watts will introduce his award-winning neo-colored wildlife
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and landscape work to Nashville for the first time. Finally, for the first time ever, the second day of Art on the West Side will feature a jazz brunch, a chance to peruse the displays along with some smooth jazz, mimosas, and breakfast foods. All told, it should be another year that shifts Nashville’s art focus to the west. “By showing work that represents a variety of mediums and in different price ranges, we hope to attract anyone who is interested in appreciating art close to home,” White said. na Art on the West Side will be held at the Gordon Jewish Community Center from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 21 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 22. The Jazz Brunch will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 22. For more information, please visit www.artonthewestside.org.
New Orleans natives Keith Calhoun and Chandra McCormick have been documenting life on the prison farm at the Louisiana State Penitentiary for more than 30 years. The poignant images record the exploitation of prisoners while showcasing the men’s humanity and individual narratives.
PROG R AM HIG H LIG HTS
SONGS OF FREEDOM
A concert presented with the National Museum of African American Music featuring the Fairfield Four and other musicians.
Thursday, April 26, 7:00 p.m. Free; first come, first seated
PHOTOGRAPHY AND ACTIVISM
A conversation with Keith Calhoun, Chandra McCormick, and Dr. Makeda Best
Friday, April 27, noon Free; first come, first seated
THROUGH MAY 28
Downtown Nashville 919 Broadway Nashville, TN 37203 FristArtMuseum.org/Angola #FristAngola
Supported in part by the FRIENDS OF CONTEMPORARY ART and
Chandra McCormick. YOUNG MAN, ANGOLA STATE PENITENTIARY, 2013. Archival pigment print. Courtesy of the artist. © Chandra McCormick
4 Bridges Arts Festival First Tennessee Pavilion, Chattanooga
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April 21–22
Brian Jensen, Fly Fishing, 2017, Acrylic, 22” x 70”
WORDS Leigh Hendry
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ielding unbridled enthusiasm like weapons for arts warriors, the new dynamic duo overseeing Chattanooga’s juried 4 Bridges Arts Festival has been in rigorous fine-tuning mode. In advance of its 18th festival later this month, first-time Festival Director Phyllis Mescon and Jennifer Lewis, Interim Executive Director of the Association of Visual Arts (the nonprofit beneficiary of the festival), have been laser-focused on refreshing this city’s enduring outdoor offering. Like award-winning singers under the tutelage of new vocal coaches or champion golfers swinging new irons, the pair’s fresh perspective could be the spark that vaults an already excellent event into exceptional territory. With Mescon and Lewis poised to deliver a next-level experience, the 2018 edition of 4 Bridges is an opportune time for Nashvillians to make the two-hour trek to River City, where many acclaimed artists await. At the top of any visitor’s “Must See” agenda should be the work of figurative painter Janina Tukarski Ellis of Greenville, South Carolina, who is the third generation in her family to pursue art full-time. Ellis’s deftly executed crowd paintings, rendered in oil and acrylic, compel viewers to come right up to her canvases in search of details about her obscured subjects. Among other festival standouts are: the soul-stirring,
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Ed and Kate Coleman, Clique Collection, 2017, Porcelain clay, 18” x 5” x 12”
contemporary outsider art of Alabama native Michael Banks; the spectacular hand-dyed, hand-felted silk and merino wool wearable textiles by Chicagoan Gina Pannorfi; the handmade heirloom furniture from former chef Jason Sharp of Michigan; the superbly accomplished trompe l’oeil paintings of Ohio artist Brian Burt; the whimsical clay sculptures of former giftware designer Kathleen Kelly, and the extraordinary basketry art of North Carolinian Joan Glover.
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
LISA MCREYNOLDS
Janina Tukarski Ellis, Explore in Unison, 2017, Oil on canvas, 60” x 40”
With its 8,000-plus festival-goers, 4 Bridges is consistently cited among the best American festivals, according to Mescon, who calls it one of the country’s premier “outdoor office” venues for serious working artists. In fact, a record 520 artists nationwide submitted work for consideration this year (notable among the four judges: former American Crafts Council Executive Director Andrew Glasgow) with 147 applicants making the final cut, including an elite 18 Tennesseans. Ten cash prizes, totaling $15,000, will be awarded to select artists whose divergent disciplines encompass painting, sculpture, jewelry, photography, ceramics, glass, fiber arts, metal and wood crafts, basketry, and furniture making. When this diverse group—some of them traveling from as far afield as California, Minnesota, and Vermont with others hailing from six of the seven states bordering Tennessee— converges on Chattanooga during the third week in April, Mescon and Lewis hope that thousands upon thousands of Tennesseans will turn out to show them our decidedly Southern, Volunteer State-style hospitality. na The 4 Bridges Arts Festival takes place Saturday, April 21, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, April 22, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at First Tennessee Pavilion, 1826 Reggie White Boulevard, Chattanooga, TN 37408. Admission is free. On Friday, April 20, there is a Preview Party from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $125. For more information, visit www.4bridgesartsfestival.org.
Belle Meade Theatre, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 15”
107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net www.yorkandfriends.com Follow us on
at York & Friends Fine Art
Photograph by Christopher Morley
Imogene + Willie’s
Matt Eddmenson Strikes Another Match Dane Carder Studio 72
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April 7–28
WORDS Karen Parr-Moody
Self-Portrait of the Artist (Work in Progress), 2018, Acrylic on canvas, 14” x 11”
F
ashion designer Matt Eddmenson, 43, is not having a midlife crisis. But he is undergoing a seismic shift in his thinking. To use the modern-day parlance of Urban Dictionary, he’s becoming “woke.” No, he wouldn’t mind zipping around Nashville in a sports car worthy of James Bond—“Don’t get me wrong; I’d love to have a Porsche”—but Eddmenson is going in a decidedly more low-fi direction. A key aspect of that shift is his return to his long-ignored passion of creating art. He has returned to this first love after time focusing on what has, essentially, defined his identity in Nashville for years: designing upscale jeans. Influencer, pioneer, hipster—call him what you will—Eddmenson essentially built the cornerstone of Nashville’s vibrant 12South neighborhood in 2009 when he, along with his wife, Carrie, opened the high-end denim boutique Imogene + Willie in a gas station formerly known as George’s Transmission. Since then, scads of celebrities have purchased jeans from the boutique at 2601 12th Avenue South, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, and singer-guitarist-producer Jack White. Yet there is a little-known fact about the man behind the jeans: He got his BFA in painting from the Art Academy of Cincinnati in 1999. This aspect of his biography is unknown to most people beyond the members of his innermost circle, including art dealer Dane Carder, who will feature Eddmenson’s portraits
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There’s a Line Outside Prince’s, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 46” x 72”
at Dane Carder Studio, 438 Houston Street, Suite 262, throughout the month of April. The exhibit will be open to the public from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and by appointment on weekends. Carder explains: “I had been aware that he was a visual artist—kind of like a closet visual artist, because he was running his company—and I wanted to shine a light on that part of his talent. I appreciate his aesthetic, and Nashville hasn’t seen it.” While Eddmenson has long put his soul and artistic talent into creating the Imogene + Willie look, from jeans to T-shirts to Zippo lighters, he has ignored a deeper longing to draw simply for art’s sake. He has also fought an inner struggle that many artists can recognize—that of not feeling one’s medium is high-minded enough. Whenever he painted a canvas it was a slog, yet he got lost in the zone when drawing. Still, he felt that painting was supposed to be the natural evolution of his work as an artist—and that evolution never happened. “I kept fighting my love to draw,” Eddmenson says. “The reality is I was never a good painter, but I could draw anything. But because I thought there was supposed to be an evolution in my career as an artist, I always downplayed the drawing.” In recent years, he decided to confront his inner critic by questioning this denial of self. “Why am I trying to leave this medium that I spent years and years and years practicing?” he says. “That would be like being a Suzuki violin player who’s a master and now plays in the New York Philharmonic as first chair, saying, ‘I’m switching to saxophone.’ What? That’s cool that you’re switching to saxophone, but it doesn’t really make any sense if your love and the passion you have is to play that violin. For me, that’s what I battled out. And I’ve figured that
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The 9th, 2018, Graphite on paper, 11” x 9”
out, but it’s taken a long time. I still have blank canvases lying around, but I just get lured back in by the drawing.” Interestingly, Eddmenson has gained a newfound freedom through jettisoning the notion of painting as the be-all and end-all. Whereas painting was always so stressful for him, it has now come back into his work as he has created a series of portraits for his exhibit at Dane Carder Studio. The work is a mix of portraits drawn in graphite and painted in black and white acrylic using vintage paper as the canvases. “It’s almost like if you let go, these things start to happen in the right way—as opposed to overthinking everything, as I tend to do,” he says. “I’m getting back to that basic thing that made art exciting for me in the beginning.” Eddmenson says his epiphany about his artwork has seeped into the world of Imogene + Willie. As the most visible acknowledgement of his reawakened passion, he now keeps a studio at work for creating art, which seems natural, since much of his job is art-based. The spillover is most obvious in his vintage-style drawings or wood-block prints that wind up on T-shirts. “I’m really dialing it back,” he says. “I think that’s maybe the theme for me right now: dialing it back. Less is more. For the first time in my life, the goal is not how big I can get, whether that be the canvas or the business, but rather, ‘How can I keep this small and simple while still maintaining the lifestyle I want to maintain, which again is simple?’” na Eddmenson’s exhibit The Day and What We Gave Up is on view April 7 thought 28 at Dane Carder Studio. A reception is slated for April 26 from 6 until 9 p.m. For more information, please visit www.danecarder.com.
NASHVILLE CHILDREN’S THEATRE
DRAGONS LOVE TACOS
By Ernie Nolan Based on the book by Adam Rubin and illustrations by Daniel Salmieri
April 12 - May 13, 2018
A festive soirée with dinner on stage, dancing, a silent auction, and featuring Broadway’s Laura Osnes.
Benefitting Nashville Children’s Theatre’s scholarship fund to support children and families of Middle Tennessee.
2018-19 Season Memberships Are On Sale
A SEASON OF DISCOVERY NASHVILLECT.ORG
OR
615-252-4675
Free parking. For MTA: NCT is on the Fulton campus along Route 15 Local or Route 55 BRT lite.
Lee Crum, The Beetles, 2015, Photograph, Circle/ aluminum disc, 8”x 1”
Emily Morgan Brown, Double Peony IV with Hydrangea Pigment, 2018, Charcoal and egg tempera on natural linen, 60” x 54”
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Erin McIntosh, Wriggle, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 72” x 60”
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Annual Harding Art Show Will Host Record Number of Artists Harding Academy
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May 3–5
H
arding Academy’s annual art show is always a major event. But this year’s exhibition promises to be the biggest and most memorable show of its kind to date. A record number of artists will be arriving from 12 states for the 43rd Annual Harding Art Show. The 74 artists participating in this year’s annual exhibit to benefit Harding Academy will bring with them hundreds of works in every conceivable medium, from paintings and sculptures to photography and jewelry. A renowned graffiti artist will be on hand to give a live demonstration, a first for the show. About 4,000 people usually attend the three-day show. As always, all the works will be for sale. Every year, the Harding Art Show hosts a prominent featured artist. This year’s artist is Erin McIntosh, a noted painter and arts educator currently working in Athens, Georgia. McIntosh is known for her abstract works that explore both organic and geometric forms. Like instrumental music, her paintings have an immediate, non-verbal appeal to the emotions. “We’re really excited to have Erin McIntosh as our featured artist,” says Laurel Orley, one of the event’s organizers. “She’s an educator who has taught art to hundreds of kids the same age as our students at Harding Academy.”
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Featured artists often engage in a collaborative artwork with the Harding students. McIntosh, who is currently an assistant professor of art at the University of North Georgia, has a significant online presence and will interact with students via the Internet. Among other things, she will provide a video tour of her studio and teach a lesson to the Harding Art Club via Skype. More than half of the exhibitors at this year’s show will be new. Still, there will be many familiar faces at the 43rd Harding exhibit. Ed Nash, last year’s featured artist, will return with his “Terrain” paintings, works with acrylic textures so thick that they look like hilly landscapes. Lauren Dunn, a Mississippi Delta native, returns with her landscapes and still lifes, all bathed in warm hues. Other artists coming to the show include Jim Sherraden, master printmaker from Hatch Show Print; Jess Cheatham, a Nashvillian who creates appealing and functional ceramic art; and Troy Duff, a Harding alumnus whose graffiti art finds inspiration in photorealism, painting, and typography. na The 43rd Annual Harding Art Show runs May 3–5 at Harding Academy, 170 Windsor Drive in Nashville. Hours are 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 3; noon to 5 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 4; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for Family Day on Saturday, May 5. The event is free but a $10 donation is suggested. For more information, go to www.thehardingartshow.com.
A Branch of Daigh Rick Landscape Architects, LLC
Molly Tuttle
1938 Martin 00-42
GUITAR LOVE FIND IT AT Amanda J oy b rown + Kath erine Wag ner Ruche T h r o u g h J u l y 6 th, 2 0 1 8 Galerie Tangerine is free and open Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM 615.454.4100 Located at 900 South Street, Suite 104 www.galerietangerine.com
WORDS Amanda Dobra Hope PHOTOGRAPHY Stacey Irvin
Studio Assistant Joanna Mechan and Julia Whitney Brown
Old School Farm Pottery I
n our attempt to help others, we often end up helping ourselves. When we embark with curiosity on the path undeniably unfolding before us, the most beautiful parallels and synchronicities can blossom. In 2017, after seeing the perfect spot for a pottery studio at the Old School Farm, a non-profit her husband manages whose mission is meaningful employment for adults with varying abilities, Julia Whitney Brown approached the board with her vision for Old School Farm Pottery. Rooted in her love for social practice, what began as an intention to bring beautiful tableware to the affiliated Old School Farm to Table restaurant is now allowing her to provide the opportunity for other artists’ dreams to unfold alongside hers. Brown’s story began when she was a child growing up under her mother
Student participating in Clay Day Projects
Julia Whitney Brown leading workshop during Clay Day Projects
and father’s different worldviews. Having begun a life more attuned, by her father’s influence, to natural cycles and traditional handicrafts, her later immersion into public school came as a bit of a shock. In order to ease the difficulty of social interactions in the new, foreign world she had arrived in, she retreated into her grandmother’s pottery studio. She became more isolated and, in her words, “became more attuned to objects and how to create solutions with them.” What she didn’t know at the time was that in later years she would become more attuned to people than objects, bringing her back out of isolation and into providing relational solutions with her art. This is where we meet Joanna Mechan, an adult of varying ability who had been working at the Old School Farm in the office doing marketing and photography. Through her work there, the other staff members had already identified Mechan as a creative who loved to help people, so she was recommended without hesitation for an assistant position at the newly founded (2017) Old School Farm Pottery, while continuing her employment in the office.
The organizational model for Old School Farm Pottery has three branches: a production studio by day (with which Mechan assists), education and outreach through public pottery classes, and meaningful employment for adults with intellectual disabilities. Brown and Mechan’s dreams include providing more hours for Mechan in the pottery studio as well as creating an artist incubator to provide support for her and other artists of all abilities. One of the ways you can support both is by attending a class. For a customized experience for both novice and advanced potters, check out Old School Farm Pottery’s six-week sessions. For children and families, try the Saturday Clay Days once a month. And if you’re looking for a more intimate experience with a loved one or friends, try the three-hour “date night” classes. As you support the mission of Old School Farm Pottery by immersing yourself in a class or by purchasing tableware for your home or business, maybe you’ll find, as Brown concluded, that “art doesn’t exist in isolation. But rather, life is integrated with art, and art is integrated with life.” na For class registration, custom orders, and more information, please visit www.oldschoolfarmpottery.org.
In the initial experiential classes, Mechan worked as a teacher and assistant. Brown was thrilled to have her and thought she was the perfect employee for the studio. However, it wasn’t until Mechan confided in Brown that she had previously attempted to attend college for ceramics and had dreams of becoming a clay artist that anyone knew of the deep synchronicities that were unfolding. Due to a lack of support for her learning difficulties in two different programs, she ended up giving up her dream and eventually switching to a small art school for photography.
Sculptures made during Clay Day Projects
WORDS Joseph E. Morgan
O
n April 20 and 21, Nashville Ballet is going on tour. They will be bringing Paul Vasterling’s epic realization of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana to debut at the new Charleston Gaillard Center. “Designed in the tradition of Europe’s great performance halls” and finished in 2015, the Gaillard (pronounced Gill-yard) Center’s purpose is to “ . . . enrich the diverse community of Charleston with artistic and cultural experiences that are accessible and unique.” As we saw as recently as April of 2016 here in Nashville, Carmina Burana is that and more.
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design, acting, and danced choreography, each forming essential pieces of an autonomous whole in which, as Orff expert John Babcock writes, “every musical movement was to be connected with an action onstage.” The echo of Richard Wagner’s ideal of Gesamtkunstwerk is important here; Orff was writing for Nazi-era Frankfurt and the connection would have nationalist implications. This is where Vasterling’s choreography is remarkable, in its epic realization of Orff’s ideal.
Orff’s work is a “scenic cantata” based on secular medieval poems from as early as the 11th century and organized around the central concept of the turning “Fortuna Wheel” (Fortune’s wheel). The Wheel, which may turn during individual numbers or between them, tends to shift the emotional and dramatic content to the exact opposite—joy turns to dismay, hope turns to bitter grief. To this, Orff set a score that reflects the rhythmic drive, motivic clarity, and fetishization of ritual that mark the music of the neoclassical 20th century, but he planned the piece to be more than a musical composition.
The production, which was first premiered in Nashville in 2009 and taken to St. Louis in 2013, embraces much of Orff’s fantasy. Here the production featured nearly 300 members with percussion and pianos spilling out of the pit and onto the actual stage. In Charleston, the forces will be nearly as strong featuring 150 singers from the Charleston Symphony Chorus, 60-plus musicians from the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and three guest vocalists, alongside 28 dancers from Nashville Ballet. The central visual element is the anthropomorphized Fortune, whose servants spin around her in a wheel of beautiful moments of spectacle, grandeur, gravitas, and reverence. na
In Orff’s conception, the work was to portray the ideals of Theatrum Mundi that would merge masks, costume, set
Carmina Burana is returning to Nashville next season with an added cinematic concept. For more information, please visit www.nashvilleballet.com.
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WORDS Joseph E. Morgan
Nashville Ballet Hits the Road
MUSIC BY
SARA BAREILLES
T H E S PE L L BI N DI N G S E Q U E L T O
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPER A
COMPOSER OF “LOVE SONG”, “BRAVE”
“AN EMPOWERING MUSICAL OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!”
THE HIT BROADWAY MUSICAL
JUNE 5-10
JUNE 19-24
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WORDS John Pitcher
French Connection Alexandre Renoir
Anchor Down, 2018, Oil on canvas, 20” x 24”
Brings His Impressionistic Art to Monthaven
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lexandre Renoir was painting in his Southern California studio when Nashville Arts Magazine called him for an interview. We were hardly surprised to find him in this creative endeavor. What else would you expect from an artist named Renoir? His surname, by the way, is no coincidence. Alexandre Renoir is a direct descendant of the legendary French Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Naturally, he has a few things in common with his illustrious ancestor.
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Despite his name, Renoir’s emergence as an artist was anything but inevitable.
In the Almond Grove, 2018, Oil on canvas, 24” x 30”
Burst of Lilacs, 2018, Oil on canvas, 24” x 30”
To begin with, he paints in a style that is rooted in Impressionism, an approach that emphasizes sense and feeling over exact representation. One can almost feel the warm breeze blowing over indigo waves and verdant green shorelines in his painting St. Thomas Reverie. Light and color are everything in this work. Topographical details are hardly noticed at all.
graphic design, photography, and theatre arts. “I tried all these different things because I wanted to find my place in the world,” Renoir recalls. “I also continued to paint, but I figured this was something I’d do simply to satisfy myself. I didn’t see myself entering the holy ancestor’s profession.”
Like his great-grandfather, Alexandre Renoir is also remarkably prolific. In fact, all the paintings in Alexandre Renoir: Beauty Remains, which runs April 22 to June 10 at the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Hendersonville, were created during the first few months of 2018. “I do work quickly,” concedes Renoir. “I usually create paintings as part of a series, working on four different paintings simultaneously. I’ll work on one for a while and then move on to the next. It still takes me about four days to create one complete painting.” Despite his name, Renoir’s emergence as an artist was anything but inevitable. By the time he was born in the French Riviera town of Cagnes-sur-Mer on July 7, 1974, most members of the Renoir family had long since abandoned the visual arts. The old master’s descendants ventured into theatre and film. Anything but painting. Alexandre Renoir’s father had once aspired to be an actor. He became an art broker instead, and in the late 1970s moved his family to Alberta, Canada. Immersed in the family history and French culture, Alexandre Renoir demonstrated a talent for drawing and sketching at an early age. His parents encouraged these gifts, sending him to Edmonton’s Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts. Over the years, Renoir tried his hand at a variety of artistic pursuits—goldsmithing, silversmithing, jewelry design,
That all changed in 2004, when he got a call from his brother, who was in Southern California. “He asked me if I’d like to take a vacation with him in Los Angeles,” says Renoir. “Well, I was living in Edmonton, Canada, and it was the middle of winter.” Suffice it to say, Renoir made a beeline to L.A. When he arrived, his brother wanted to know if he had brought his portfolio with him. “I didn’t think I’d need a portfolio for a vacation,” he says. A publisher in Beverly Hills, however, was interested in representing the young artist with the famous name. Renoir always realized that his lineage could be both a benefit and a liability. “My name will open up a lot of doors very quickly,” says Renoir. “But those doors will slam shut even faster if you are unable to produce something worthwhile.” Renoir accepted the publisher’s offer, and in the years since he’s been traveling the world and exhibiting his works in numerous galleries. The Tennessee State Museum featured his paintings in 2008, in a show called Strokes of Genius. That exhibition included his paintings alongside works by Mary Cassatt, Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Jean-François Raffaëlli, and, of course, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The elder Renoir is best known for his intimate depictions of domestic life, such as his 1878 Mme Georges Charpentier and Her Children, and for such scenes of French street life and culture as 1876’s Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette. “Ordinary people were often my great-grandfather’s favorite subjects,” says Renoir. “When he was younger, he’d hire a
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Spring Cherry Blossoms, 2018, Oil on canvas, 24” x 30”
washerwoman to be his model, using what little money he might have to pay her.” Alexandre Renoir, who is represented by Park West Gallery, finds inspiration in nature. His Spring Cherry Blossom, which will be on display at Monthaven, is a sensitive study in violet. Anchor Down, meanwhile, highlights the brilliant shades of blue the artist encounters on his many trips to the Caribbean. All his paintings showcase his penchant for the palette knife, which he uses to create texture in his works. “My great-grandfather believed palette knives were only good for cleaning palettes,” Renoir says. “But I think he would have approved of the textures I create with the knife.”
Alexandre Renoir: Beauty Remains runs April 22 to June 10 at the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Hendersonville. For more information, visit www.monthavenartsandculturalcenter.com.
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Alexandre Renoir in his studio
Photograph by Maria Steiner
Renoir will conduct a master class for children on Sunday, April 22, at 12 noon. The class will be held in the Magnolia Cottage on the grounds of the Monthaven Arts and Cultural Center in Hendersonville. The event is free for members and $20 for nonmembers. na
Bach’s St. Matthew Passion Performed by the Vanderbilt Chorale, Vanderbilt Symphonic Choir, Blair Children’s Chorus and Vanderbilt University Orchestra, featuring Tyler Nelson as The Evangelist, conducted by Tucker Biddlecombe and directed by Gayle Shay
Friday, April 13 • 7:30 p.m. • Ingram Hall and
Sunday, April 15 • 3 p.m. St. George’s Episcopal Church (4715 Harding Pike) Johann Sebastian Bach’s sublime St. Matthew Passion, fully staged and sung in English, German, French and Arabic, with English supertitles. Presented with gratitude to Mark Dalton for his generous support of the Blair School
2400 Blakemore Ave. Nashville, TN 37212
Exquisite Miniatures By Wes & Rachelle Siegrist April 15—June 24
Artists’ Demo & Gallery Talk Thursday, April 19
12:15pm
Exquisite Miniatures by Wes & Rachelle Siegrist produced by David J. Wagner, Ph. D. Curator/Tour Director This exhibit sponsored in part by Customs House Museum & Cultural Center in Historic Downtown Clarksville, Tennessee www.customshousemuseum.org 931-648-5780 © The Dragonslayer, Wes Siegrist, 2013
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SUSANNAH
It’s about people that take the word of God and then twist it to fit their own agenda. I hope this helps open a dialogue.
Nashville Opera TPAC
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April 6–8
—John Hoomes
WORDS Gina Piccalo PHOTOGRAPHY Brian Biery
T
here are few operas more culturally relevant today than the Southern Gothic parable Susannah, performed by Nashville Opera this month. This piece of McCarthy-era Americana so precisely echoes the contemporary tragedies of fake news and #MeToo, it could easily have been written today. Yet the timing of its revival is strictly coincidental. Susannah was added to Nashville Opera’s schedule way back in early 2016, long before the Zeitgeist deemed its themes worthy of review. “This is a very important piece in the things it has to say,” the opera’s CEO and artistic director, John Hoomes, says. “It’s about people that take the word of God and then twist it to fit their own agenda. That can be very dangerous. I hope this helps open a dialogue.” Inspired by the Biblical story of Susannah and the Elders, Carlisle Floyd wrote the opera in the 1950s while on the Florida State University faculty. Through the decades, it has become one of the most performed operas in America. In the piece, Susannah is an orphaned teenaged beauty, unjustly demonized by the self-righteous elders of her small town. Jealousy, hypocrisy, and ignorance corrupt her innocence, and through a series of misunderstandings the opera turns tragic and dark. It’s a challenging performance for audience and cast,
ART ON THE WEST SIDE especially for star Chelsea Basler, the Grammy Awardnominated soprano who plays Susannah. Not only does the material demand emotional depth, but the music, a blend of Appalachian folk melodies and lush classical pieces, requires real technique to sing.
5th Annual Fine Art & Craft Show April 21-22
“It sounds a little like Puccini in Appalachia,” says Hoomes. “It takes someone not afraid of the emotional journey the character goes through.” This is the second time the Nashville Opera has presented Susannah since its local debut in 2001. This time around, Hoomes says, the production features a more elaborate staging with a shape-shifting backdrop of the mountains of East Tennessee. In Basler, Susannah has an experienced star who performed the role twice and studied with its composer and Phyllis Curtin, the New York City Opera soprano who originated it. “A lot of times, I play the ingénue or roles where I’m a princess that falls in love with a prince after seeing him for a day,” says Basler. “For Susannah—she’s real. Things happen to her. She reacts to them. She feels her feelings.” na
PHOTO BY: ASHLEY HYLBERT
2018 Featured Artist: Harold Kraus
Nashville Opera stages Susannah at TPAC’s Polk Theater April 6–8. Hoomes will host a talk about the opera before each performance. For more information, visit www.nashvilleopera.org.
Opening Cocktail Reception & Sale Saturday, April 21 • 6–9 pm $15 suggested donation
Exhibit & Sale Sunday, April 22 • 10am–4pm Jazz Brunch • 10am–1pm (no charge) artonthewestside.org
O’
More Fashion Show
Ashleigh Cain Revival of the Fittest
I found inspiration for my collection from my surroundings. I have lived in Tennessee my entire life, and I let the roads guide my creativity. I wanted my designs to be linear and geometric like the pavement and signs on a highway. But in Tennessee, if you look beyond the road, there is much more to see. These past few years, I have spent countless hours on country back roads trying to find my inspiration. I incorporated organic colors and textures to capture the nature seen along these roads. I not only wanted to capture this scene through my designs; I wanted to literally use nature as well. The fur used in my garments is collected from roadkill; the leather is made from salmon skin; and my textiles are hemp, peace silk, and wool. I wanted to give new life to the animals I found and give them a new purpose. I was transfixed by the way something that brings people disgust could be transformed into something unexpected. My collection was created from my surroundings, but now that my garments are complete, I can see that they came from me, too: a little quirky, somewhat futuristic, and mildly confusing.
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Model: Senni Bloom
PHOTOGRAPHY & DIRECTION Jami-lyn Fehr LIGHTING & DIRECTION Christian Hall
Thursday, May 10 Franklin Theatre Doors Open 6:30 p.m. Show Begins 8:00 p.m.
F
or more than two decades the O’More Fashion Show has been a launching pad for student designers and groundbreaking talent. Over the years, the runway has served as a centerpiece for original designs that are cuttingedge in terms of style and technical execution.
designs created with Naia™, a fiber engineered by Eastman Chemical Company, a Tennessee-based Fortune 500 enterprise. And the show’s opening act, contemporary dance group New Dialect, will perform in costumes designed by O’More students.
On May 10, the show enters a new venue and a new era as the historic Franklin Theatre hosts the final O’More Fashion Show before the college merges with Belmont University.
Be there for an entertaining and historic evening on Main Street in Downtown Franklin and see how design has the power to transform lives. na
The 2018 show will feature the collections of O’More’s final senior class. It will also continue a longstanding tradition of collaborative efforts. Sophomores and juniors will present
For additional information, please contact Kate Oliver at O’More College of Design at koliver@omorecollege.edu. To purchase tickets, go to www.omorecollege.edu/fashionshow.
Sydney Duncan Sacred Nature
I most often find myself inspired by connectivity, especially the marriage of opposites. There is a compelling beauty in juxtaposition, whether that be in human relationships or in art, and it is a theme which I am compelled to highlight. Sacred Nature intends to provoke thought, as it questions the current societal perspective on the relationship between spirituality and sexuality, and femininity as a whole. Elaborate hand embroideries paint stories across sheer textiles and form fitting silhouettes, the soft color scheme and delicate fabrication jarred by heavy and direct imagery, creating a contrast that is still surprisingly gentle. My collection has the intention of inspiring its viewers to step out of their peers’ influence and to consider what is sacred to them, personally, and what exactly that means to be sacred. It strips away the over-sexualization surrounding femininity and presents it in a truer light of beauty and creativity, highlighting the intricacies and complexities of womanhood, as well as the purity within sensuality. Even more than that, these pieces are my own vulnerability actualized, as a woman but also as a human constantly torn between the search for personal truth and the weight
Model: Chloe Henderson
of expectation, conflicted, as it seems we all are, by this unquenchable desire for intimacy, too often extinguished by fear of rejection. Sacred Nature is an invitation to risk being seen for your raw beauty.
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Design is not only a field of interest, but the wheels that keep the world turning.
Macy Harmon A/W 18
I have always strived to find balance—the balance between strength and weakness, elaborate and dull, loud and silent, concentration and distraction. In this collection, I have found balance in all of those things. It’s essential that I continue to strive for equilibrium wherever tomorrow leads me—being stagnant in this world is not an option. I desire to elevate the expectations of design. Design is not only a field of interest, but the wheels that keep the world turning. My collection stems from my interest in culture, technology, and contemporary architecture. There is a plethora of sources I desired to utilize, and businesses to support, both across the world and in my community. I developed relationships with textile suppliers in Japan, and sourced most of the fabrics in my collection from their beautiful mills, and I worked with a local manufacturer in Nashville to execute the 3D pieces that accompany my garments. Although my inspiration as a designer changes on a consistent basis, I hope to always push new and innovative ideas into the world. The following quote from Socrates is one that has resonated with me more than most, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” I am truly thankful for the people and places that have allowed me to begin my career here in Nashville, and I am ecstatic to continue my journey of learning here.
Model: Julia Bedeaux
A WONDERFUL WORLD OF ART
Celebrate Creativity by Protecting It
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Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. —Sir Keith Robinson
Art adds immense value to our daily lives. I can call out several instances in the last day alone where the arts have contributed a special perspective to my day—seeing Nashville artist Donna Woodley’s What’s in a Name? series on display, listening to Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, and reading Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree to my kindergartner. I’m sure you could name a few as well. Despite the experiences art brings, we sometimes take art for granted by violating the artist’s creative rights. This happens a lot in the digital age. Think about it: Have you ever used a photo or piece of music in a presentation without getting a license from the artist? Or maybe you copied your favorite CDs and distributed them to friends (when CDs were still a thing). If you’ve done any of these things, you might have unknowingly violated an artist’s copyright interest. Copyright, a form of intellectual property, is a cornerstone of creation. It helps creators protect their work and ensure they can benefit from their artistic endeavors. That means that, in most instances, copyright provides artists with the ability to say when, where, and how their work can be used, as well as name the price for that use. Without these protections, artists would likely not be able to continue making the works that we love.
POTTERY DRAWING JEWELRY PAINTING PHOTOGRAPHY FUSED GLASS AND MORE WE ARE NOW REGISTERING FOR SARRATT YOUTH ART INSTITUTE ï Ages 5-16 ï ï Early bird discount through April 1, 2018 ï ï One week sessions beginning June 4, 2018 ï For more information and to register: www.vanderbilt.edu/sarrattart/ summer-youth-art-institute
It’s important that we know how we can use photographs, music, literature, and other artistic works in our work and play. That’s why this April, the Arts & Business Council will join the Copyright Alliance and ten peer arts service organizations across the country in a week-long World Intellectual Property Day celebration. World Intellectual Property Day, which occurs every year on April 26, began in 2000 as a day designated to learn about the role that intellectual property rights play in encouraging innovation and creativity. On April 25, the Arts & Business Council will present Copyright Mythbusters, an interactive panel for artists and general public alike. Through live audience polls and an informative panel of copyright experts, we’ll address a number of misconceptions, and hopefully, everyone will leave with a better understanding of how to use and value the artwork that brings enjoyment to our lives. We hope you’ll join us for the free celebration at Belmont University’s College of Law, April 25 at 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.abcnashville.org.
Alandis Brassel is the Program Director of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville. You can reach him at abrassel@abcnashville.org.
ARTS&BUSINESSCOUNCIL
Sarratt Youth Art Institute
BY ALANDIS BRASSEL
Photograph by Devi Sanford
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pontaneous omedy The Jazz Workshop
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WORDS Bob Doerschuk
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ant to know what life really means? Or, if you’ve already decided it can be a worrisome grind, maybe you just want to escape for a while, relax, and have a few good laughs? Whether you’re seeking or fleeing, Nashville’s Spontaneous Comedy Company may be your best destination, particularly on May 5 at Nashville Jazz Workshop. Jackie WelchSchlicher, Frank Rains Jr., Carolyn German, and Josh Childs will be there, ready to take your questions and, with help from keyboardist Kevin Madill, weave them into a tapestry of whimsical, inventive, possibly irreverent and absolutely hilarious invention. From monthly appearances at The Bluebird back when the group began in the 1990s with German and its other original members, to more recent gigs at Nashville Jazz Workshop, the Larry Keeton Theatre and other area venues, SponCom has refined its skills and tightened its focus, thanks both to decades of experience and the talents of its members. “What we do has a layer of purpose that makes it a safer ride and a little more sophisticated than what some audiences
might expect,” German explains. “We have a depth of knowledge you might not get from an improv group that’s fresh out of college and just wants to throw popcorn and have fun onstage.”
“I love not having to do lines,” Welch-Schlicher confesses. “All I have to do is shower—and I don’t really have to do that!” “Although we appreciate it when you do,” Rains comments.
“But it’s not like, we’ve got to keep it clean,” cautions Childs, a writer and actor by day who enjoys building trash robots with his son. “What’s funny is funny—and if it doesn’t alienate people, it’s even funnier.” “It’s easy to get a laugh with a four-letter word,” German says. “So why would anyone pay money to watch us do the easiest thing we could do?” What draws these four varied individuals onto the common, if shaky, ground of improvised comedy? For Rains, a technology salesperson, part of its appeal is therapeutic. “I get more nervous giving a sales presentation because I have to know things,” he says. “But once I get up there to do this, I know that the train has left the station and we’ll be riding it for the next couple of hours. Most people’s number-one fear is public speaking. We’re speaking in public too, but we have no idea what’s going to happen. That’s actually calming for me—and so much fun.” Actually, SponCom does rehearse now and then, though not like actors going over their parts before opening night. “Really, it’s just farting around,” Childs confesses. “It’s more about taking things apart,” German clarifies. “The beauty of working with really sharp people is that you can say, I didn’t feel good about what we did when I walked offstage. Somebody might ask, ‘Was it the structure? Were we not clear to the audience about our direction?’ For me, it’s more challenging than practicing lines or characters. It’s not like doing the same show eight times a week for three months. And I love that!”
Carolyn German, Josh Childs, Jackie Welch-Schlicher and Frank Rains Jr.
Their last-minute rituals before performance are similarly loose. “Josh usually acts like he’s throwing up,” Rains says. “Maybe we kick each other.” “I’m usually trying to get somebody just to talk to me,” Welch-Schlicher says, a little forlornly. The magic, of course, happens when they hit the stage together. Here, each has his or her individual approach. “I pull from my theatre background,” German says. “Once you work and intellectualize in lots of genres, you start paying attention to what those patterns are and why they work. It looks like you’re making something up on the fly—which you are. But it’s based on something.” “I try to be as open as I can possibly be to whatever happens in the moment, Welch-Schlicher points out. “It’s about letting anything and everything be fair game, whether it’s an audience comment, something I hear somebody say onstage, or something that pops into my brain.” “What Jackie is talking about is very jazz-like,” German notes. “I’m not going to rehearse my solo in a vacuum. I’m going to listen to what the sax player does and then I’ll pull from that. If you say it the same way twice, it’s not jazz. That’s where it’s similar to what we do.” UItimately, all agree, it’s the audience that makes SponCom shows memorable. “We’ve invited these people to come hang with us,” Welch-Schlicher says.” It feels special, at least to me. I hope the audience gets that when they come, because it only happens while they’re there and because they’re there.” na See Spontaneous Comedy Company perform at The Jazz Workshop on May 5. For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/Sponcomedy.
Photograph by Dan Heller
“And our show is very PG-13,” adds Welch-Schlicher, a onetime psych major at Duke University whose history includes making pottery and twelve years of work as a life coach.
INTERIOR
ANTHOLOGY
Interior Anthology has moved to a new office! We are excited to announce that our team has moved to a new location in the heart of East Nashville at 203 B North 11th St.
COLLECTION www.interioranthology.com
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DESIGN 615.920.5501
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info@interioranthology.com
Red-Handed Symposium Memorial Day Weekend
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May 25-27
Featuring Marty Fielding, Liz Zlot Summerfield, Amy Sanders and Ronan Peterson Keynote: Linda Arbuckle Panel: Ben Carter $325 register on-line at www.theclaylady.com (click on the Red Hand)
1416 Lebanon Pike, Nashville, TN, 37210 • 615.242.0346 Hours: M-F 8am-4:30pm, Sat 10am-2pm
ARTSMART
A monthly guide to art education
TENNESSEE ROUNDUP
TN Arts Commission Chair Ritche Bowden, 2018 Tennessee POL Champion Alyvia Crawley, first runner-up Kiya Brown, second runner-up Preston Cates, and third runner-up Grayson Brawner
Courtesy TN State Photography
Courtesy TN State Photography
Celebrating Poetry and Building Student Skills through National Competition
Alyvia Crawley shows her surprise and joy on winning the 2018 Tennessee POL state title
Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of poetry through a dynamic recitation competition in high schools across the country. POL has grown to reach more than three million students and 50,000 teachers from 10,000 schools in every state across the country. This year, Tennessee had nearly 3,000 students participate. On March 10, eighteen of these high school students traveled to Nashville, bringing three memorized pieces to recite in front of a live audience at the Poetry Out Loud State Finals. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum gave these talented finalists access to the beautiful Ford Theater to present their unique recitations of some of the greatest poems of all time. Poem selections ranged from classical prose written as early as the 1550s to contemporary pieces written by America’s current Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith. Alyvia Crawley from Clarksville High School took the title of State Champion with her recitation of Emily Bronte’s “No Coward Soul Is Mine,” earning her a $1,000 prize and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington to represent Tennessee at the national level.
Photograph courtesy of State Photography
“One of the biggest skills learned was my ability to comprehend what someone else is saying and then communicate it, which I think is important,” said Alyvia after her big win. “I really understood each of my poems, and I wanted to portray what the authors were saying.”
by Meredith Callis Arts Education Special Projects Coordinator
Communication and comprehension are key skills that the Poetry Out Loud program seeks to teach high school students. Alyvia’s English teacher, Roy Buchanan, was at the competition, and he has implemented POL for almost as long as it has been offered. While reflecting on his student’s win, Mr. Buchanan stated that the program has helped his students gain crucial 21st-century skills. “Part of it is gaining confidence to work in a world that is very competitive. Secondly, Poetry Out Loud teaches students to look deeper into what is written, understand the interpretation, and then verbalize it so others can understand it.” The first runner-up in this year’s POL competition was Kiya Brown from the Hutchison School, and the second runner-up was Grayson Brawner from Cumberland County High School. We are proud of each participating school and the wonderful renditions students prepared. We were fortunate to have incredible local talent joining us for the day, including Mickey Guyton as our emcee and sibling folk duo Giri and Uma as our musicians. We are also thankful to our host, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, for their dedication to providing engaging educational experiences for Tennessee students and teachers. Congratulations, teachers and students, for your hard work! We are already looking forward to next year’s competition.
ARTSMART
Teachers are the unsung heroes and heroines in our education system. Becoming a great teacher is not easy today, especially in urban settings, where poverty and a rapidly diversifying student population bring increasing pressures to the classroom. I celebrate the accomplishments of the almost 400 visual and performing arts teachers in Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and wish to highlight a new Federal grant that is focused on making good music and art teachers even better. The U.S. Department of Education has only two discretionary grant programs focused specifically on the arts in public schools. MNPS was fortunate to receive the Professional Development for Arts Educators (PDAE) grant in 2017. Granted to only 20 school districts out of a total of 70 applications, the $1.2 million fouryear grant provides intensive professional development for music and art teachers in all Title 1 elementary schools in the district (55 schools/65 teachers as of 2017). The grant funds will enhance teacher effectiveness through technology, blended learning, and hands-on experiential learning. In my view this is significant for (at least) three reasons: First, the fact of the award itself, given the competition. It speaks highly of the leadership of the MNPS arts department and Metro’s commitment to robust visual and performing arts programs, pre-K through Grade 12. The community can be proud that every zoned and magnet school has sequential music and visual art (and some also have theatre and dance) classes taught by credentialed specialists. This is not a given in other districts. Secondly, the grant activities will be delivered by two respected community partners. A long-time partner with MNPS, the Frist Art Museum will guide teachers in an inquiry-based teaching approach designed to help students develop close observation, reflection, visual literacy, critical thinking, and communication skills. Also, an experiential process utilizing artist mentors
Photograph by Ardee Chua
Teachers provide hands-on experience and collaborative learning
paired with art teachers will model effective teaching strategies, collaborative learning, and hands-on experience. QuaverMusic.com is a Nashville-based company that provides an engaging web-based learning platform that “teaches children to love music through a fun-filled state-of-the-art program of music education.” QuaverMusic will expand their school reach in MNPS from 30 schools to 55. The program is widely known throughout the country, supporting teachers in all 50 states. Finally, you might ask why this is a big deal, beyond the turbo boost to enhance teacher effectiveness? The evaluation component of the grant will of course measure the increase in teachers’ knowledge and skills. What makes the work really sing is the plan to measure the connection between the growth of participating teachers and reading literacy of students. Another important outcome objective is to promote the development of students’ creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication, known as the 4 Cs. Metis Associates, a national consulting firm with extensive experience and expertise in arts education evaluation, serves as the external evaluator. The evaluators will examine the extent to which students of participating teachers have increased academic achievement in literacy as a result of teachers effectively integrating core content standards into visual arts and music instruction. Herein lies the brass ring: The development of the 4 Cs and the connection between teaching the arts and student achievement in reading literacy are significant outcomes with implications for future program support. We know that teaching the arts is beneficial to academic, social, and emotional development, and cognitive and creative skills. Having more good research that deepens our understanding of why and how the arts are essential is a great thing.
by Laurie T. Schell CEO, Arts Education Advocate www.ElevateArtsEd.org
Photograph by Donn Jones
Children learn to love music through fun-filled music education programs
Photograph Courtesy of QuaverMusic
Music and Art Teachers Get a Boost
Photograph by Sheila Fox
ARTSMART Celebrating Dance Innovator Isadora Duncan Thanks to the early 20th century revolutionary expression and stylistic innovations by Isadora Duncan, “The Mother of Modern Dance,” any location can be envisioned as the perfect backdrop to a dance performance. For dancers, the sight of the Nashville Parthenon has long evoked images of Duncan performing at the beloved ancient temple.
Isadora Duncan dancers run underneath silk scarves Photograph by John Clark
On the weekend of April 27–29, Metro Dance Department, MTSU Dance, and the Parthenon collaborate to bring the ghost of Isadora’s artistry to Centennial Park through dance performances, lectures, and workshops. In the early 20th century, as women stepped forward to demand the vote and free themselves from societal traditions and expectations, Duncan emerged, shocking the world with a new, emotional art form. Inspired by Greek myth and architecture; reflecting the fluidity of classical Greek sculpture, the motion of wind in the trees or incoming waves, and the natural forces of gravity upon the body, Duncan removed the restrictive pointe shoes and costuming and unleashed the rhythmic spirit of the dancer. The April program is the brainchild of Kathryn Wilkening, Metro Dance Director, and Meg Brooker, an Assistant Professor of Dance at MTSU. “I fell in love with Duncan’s work and legacy when I was studying and living in New York. The 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center where I worked had an Isadora program for youth, and I was inspired by the passion, maturity, and depth I saw in these young dancers,” says Wilkening. “When I moved back to Nashville to work for the Metro Parks Dance Division, my first thought as I drove into Centennial Park and the Parthenon loomed before me was, we must have some Isadora Duncan dance at the Parthenon! While attending an MTSU Faculty Dance Concert, Wilkening was thrilled to meet Meg, whose Isadora Duncan performances have graced national and international venues. That initial collaboration expanded to include the Centennial Art Center, New Dialect contemporary dance company, Duncan Dance Project, Centennial Youth Ballet, and Kidsville in planning a weekend dedicated to exploring the fascinating work and life of Duncan through a variety of lenses.
Photograph by Drew Cox
Activities on Friday, April 27, include a Master Class in technique for dancers with New Dialect contemporary dance company at
by DeeGee Lester Director of Education The Parthenon
Isadora Duncan dance students directed by Meg Brooker
abrasiveMedia in Houston Station; a lunchtime film series at the Centennial Black Box Theater; and concludes with a courtyard evening performance at Centennial Art Center featuring Brooker, the music of Chopin, and the costumes and performance of Centennial Youth Ballet and MTSU instructor Jennifer McNamara. Saturday, April 28, features children’s activities at Kidsville in the Parthenon and a community dance workshop on how the Greek architecture and myth inspired the aesthetics of Duncan. The weekend culminates with the Sunday performance—outside and inside the Parthenon—bringing together dancers from the Duncan Dance Project, Centennial Youth Ballet, MTSU, and the Barfield School of Dance. “Everyone has a right to express themselves,” Brooker says. The weekend is a beautiful introduction and reinforcement of Isadora Duncan’s artistry. “We invite everyone to joyful movement!” For additional information or to register for master classes, go to www.nashville.gov/Parks-and-Recreation/Cultural-Arts/Dance.aspx.
ARTSMART One Man’s Trash A Video Field Trip to Bennett Galleries I just did a little Googling to find out just how much trash the average person produces in one day. Want to take a guess? According to the National Geographic Channel’s website, we’re responsible for making 4.6 pounds of garbage each day. It’s hard to imagine! Doing a little math, that’s approximately 1,679 pounds per person, per year. The thought is both sad and disturbing. However, before we get too down in the dumps (literally!) about that, I’d like to introduce you to Nashville artist Miranda Herrick. One man’s trash is this amazing artist’s treasure. When you look at the meticulous, meditative, and marvelous work of this artist, it’s hard to believe that her materials were once destined for a landfill. Miranda Herrick is both a visual artist and a gallery assistant at Bennett Galleries in Green Hills. When I met her there, to create a video of her discussing her work, she shared with me not only the beautiful space of Bennett Galleries and all the diverse work there, but also her pieces. I had already heard about Miranda through the artists’ grapevine. “She creates artwork with candy wrappers and trash!” I immediately knew I had to meet her. My elementary art students would certainly be intrigued by an artist who works with such unusual materials.
Miranda shared that she’s inspired by her grandmother’s quilts, Islamic tiles, and Op Art, to name a few. This makes sense, as her work is filled with repetition and pattern. When creating, she works on four large squares of MDF at a time, using the cans collected from friends and family. To start, she removes the top and bottom of the can. What’s left is a flat sheet of aluminum that provides an array of color on one side and a reflective surface on the other. As she works, she uses scissors to cut out shapes
and places them one by one on her four squares. Because the squares are to be the same, she places each identically cut piece in the same place on each square. Then, each piece is hammered in place. She likens the aluminum to fabric and the nails to stitching, just like a quilt. It was so inspiring to see an artist create with this material. Miranda has even created rugs from grocery bags and works of art from candy wrappers. What a wonderful message this sends: Artists can use a variety of materials to create—even what some deem as trash. The creative mind has no bounds. Thank you so much, Miranda, for sharing your process and teaching us this important lesson! Herrick is exhibiting her new drawing series Works and Days 2 at Bennett Galleries. The show opens with a reception on April 21 from 6 to 9 p.m., and remains on view until May 19. For more information, visit www.bennettgalleriesnashville.com. See more of Miranda Herrick’s art at www.mirandaherrick.com.
by Cassie Stephens Art Teacher Johnson Elementary
Photograph by Juan Pont Lezica
Now, when you think of “trash” art, I’m sure a certain picture comes to your mind: maybe a little messy, perhaps grimy and gritty. Well, let me tell you, Miranda’s work is the opposite of that. The recycled pieces she had on display were created from flattened aluminum cans adhered to an MDF [medium-density fiberboard] frame with small nails. Her Reflective series consists of four large, identical pieces that are hung together. The effect is like that of a kaleidoscope with small shifting, sparkling, jewellike pieces. Only upon very close inspection does one start to recognize the labels of a Diet Coke or a La Croix can. And that’s when you draw in your breath and realize each one of these tiny sparkly pieces has been meticulously cut out from an aluminum can!
presents
Levitate fashion is art.
Evan Grey, fashion & music Andrés Bustamante, painting Billy Martinez, painting FAZ, painting
April 7, 2018 @ 9:00 pm 414 Union St. sponsored by:
contact:
mhgallerynashville@gmail.com 615-423-0818 • @3van6rey
Woolworth on 5th T & K Talk Show Lasaters Coffee & Tea Fox’s BBQ Tequila Cuestión This Little Light Creative Art Glass Gallery Ageless Style “Wearable Art Hats” by Cynthia Brewer Blossomwood Foundation Jerry’s Artarama
PUBLICART BY ANNE-LESLIE OWENS, PUBLIC ART + PLACEMAKING PROJECT MANAGER
Johan Hagaman, Metamorphic, 2017, Paper, graphite, copper and milk paint, 23” x 16” x 2”
Metro Arts Celebrates Anniversary with “40 for 40” Local Art Acquisition
Sam Dunson, Domestic Relations – Momma, 2015, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 40” x 50”
Metro Arts is reaching a BIG milestone this year, its 40th anniversary! Focusing for many years on the arts grants program, Metro Arts increased its community investment in 2000 with the establishment of the “one percent for public art” program. The Metro Public Art Collection is now the state’s largest with 50 permanent artworks found in libraries, community centers, parks, and within the transportation infrastructure. To celebrate our 40th year, Metro Arts is expanding the collection in a new and exciting way with Art WORKS, an initiative to acquire works created by local artists for installation in public spaces within Metro buildings. The first phase, “40 for 40,” will result in the installation of 40 artworks in the Historic Metro Courthouse and the Metro Office Building. It will include sculpture, painting, mixed media, prints, photography, and textiles, all created by professional artists in Nashville-Davidson County. The wall-hung artworks will be installed in the corridors, waiting areas, and conference rooms. Like the rest of the Metro Public Art Collection, it will be free and open to the public during business hours. Additionally, it will be viewable on the Metro Arts website and mobile website ExploreNashvilleArt.com. For the Historic Metro Courthouse, a citizen selection panel
chose artists whose work is creative, innovative, and reflects Nashville’s spirit of community, service, justice, and equity. Selected artists include: Amelia Briggs, Dane Carder, Carla Ciuffo, Samuel Dunson, Jessica Eichman, Richard Feaster, Gil Given, Amelie Guthrie, Johan Hagaman, Brady Haston, Jodi Hays, Courtney Adair Johnson, Bill Killebrew, Bryant Lamont, Emily Leonard, Megan Lightell, Rob Matthews, Michael McBride, Susan McGrew, Joe Nolan, Lesley Patterson-Marx, Austin Reavis, KJ Schumacher, Hannah Lane Scott, Karen Seapker, Tony Sobota, Vadis Turner, Tara Walters, and Kelly Williams. Artworks will be installed in the Courthouse and a public dedication will be held in late 2018. A second call to artists is currently open for the purchase of artwork for the Metro Office Building, home to Metro Arts, Planning, Codes, Development Services, Water, and the Election Commission satellite office. For this building, Metro Arts will purchase wall-hung artworks from 11 local artists with a thematic focus on neighborhoods. Individual artists, galleries, and artists’ reps are encouraged to apply. After a selection panel determines the artists, Metro Arts will make studio and gallery visits to identify artworks for purchase. Visit Metro Arts’ Submittable page www.mnac.submittable.com/ submit to apply. Deadline is Friday, April 13. For more information, contact Anne-Leslie Owens at anne-leslie.owens@nashville.gov.
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BY JIM REYLAND
Handmade: Friendships Famous, Infamous, Real, and Imagined by Jim Reyland is available at Amazon.com. Or get an autographed copy and support the 2018 high school tour of his award-winning play, STAND, at writersstage.com. jreyland@audioproductions.com.
Photograph by Anthony Matula
THEATRE
“I love any excuse to take my filter off, and MMC is FUN is no exception. It’s a show for grown-ups, so leave the little ones at home and get ready for an edgy and excellent time!” Megan Murphy Chambers
Photograph by Anthony Matula
M
egan Murphy Chambers is FUN! There’s a lot of truth in that short title. On April 23, for one night only, see for yourself as Nashville stage favorite Megan Murphy Chambers takes you on a boozy, bawdy musical comedy adventure we don’t often see in this town. MMC is FUN is an homage to classic cabaret—stand-up, parody, storytelling, and audience engagement, and a tribute to local flavor—a fabulous live band, a bevy of magnificent guest singers, and a truly historic venue. Building upon the success of MAS Nashville, the five-woman music and comedy troupe she has performed with for over six years, Chambers believes that an audience for this kind of show is steadily growing. “I’ve always wanted to do a one-woman cabaret like MMC is FUN and have been so inspired by how enthusiastic our MAS audiences are. Nashville is hungry for this! We’ve done ten totally original cabaret shows as a group, and MAS shows are my absolute favorite thing to do, so I’m excited to give a solo night a go!” MMC is FUN will feature a wide variety of musical styles interwoven with Chambers’s inimitable monologues. The night will certainly be fun, but Chambers warns that, because of some of the material, it’s not fun for the whole family. Megan Murphy Chambers is FUN promises to be an evening of entertainment that more than lives up to its name: a boozy, bawdy, one-night-only musical comedy adventure with Nashville favorite Megan Murphy Chambers, featuring a fabulous live band and a bevy of magnificent guest stars. na Monday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. $20 general admission at the Belcourt Theatre. Tickets on sale at www.belcourt.org and www.meganmurphychambers.com.
TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHY BY HUNTER ARMISTEAD
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
FYEYE Instagram: @hunterarmistead
A Frame of Film, A Line of Words, Capture the Creative Culture of Our City
James Barrett New Dialect Dancer, on his recent performance at Track One, which geared a big buzz: Creating work on my own has been an interest of mine for many years. I find that my creative ideas tend to manifest themselves more clearly when I choreograph alone. All the interests and abilities I know I possess float around as possible tools until some become anchored through research. “Attempted Solo” was conceived from my habit of condoning instability in my life, instabilities that could easily be addressed and fixed. I find myself either completely ignoring obvious problems or finding easy ways out, offering temporary relief. I knew I wanted to interpret these life habits through a relationship to a set piece or structure of some kind. The choice to research with wooden planks was made during a rousing discussion with my music composition collaborators for the project, Matt Kinney and Kay Kennedy. They are brilliant artists who came to the table with many ideas of their own, and the concept and arc of the piece were quickly sketched. The context for “Attempted Solo” developed into an abstraction of an interview. The brainstorming sessions interpreting the interview model proved to be stimulating and mysterious. With just its bare bones, an interview is an interaction between people that has the potential to hold so much vulnerability. I researched the role of an “interviewee” working towards accomplishing a series of tasks. I envisioned myself building structures, relating to structures, and using my body to finish structures with the wooden planks, all while being evaluated by an outside character. I wanted the tasks to be physical exploration with a level of narrative. I wanted the audience to see me as an emotional being while appreciating my physical form. Each time I performed the solo I would purposefully push my limits of comfort. I feared if my approach ever felt easy then the audience would miss the urgency of my situation. My relationship to the wooden planks became very real. I discovered many ways to relate to the pile of wood, and my feelings towards the planks developed into a spectrum from intimacy to fear and vulnerability. I was lucky to walk away from this project with only a couple of bruises and splinters! Contact James Barrett @james_barrett19.
Abby Campbell at Blend Studio
Josh Evington, Amelia Briggs and Ross MacArthur at David Lusk Gallery
Peter Mansour at The Rymer Gallery
ARTSEE
Scott Marquart at CONVERGE
ARTSEE
LaRon Golden, Carah Lockett, Angelia Lomax, Netta Dobbins, Mallory Crawford, Antonia Stevenson, and Steven Young at The Arts Company
Artist Bart Mangrum at Studio 66
ARTSEE
Janie Wright and Ryan Johnson at Julia Martin Gallery
At David Lusk Gallery
At The Rymer Gallery
Roger Clayton, Stephen Watkins and Michael Nott at David Lusk Gallery
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NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Bill Schumm and Olasubomi Bashorun
Giro Gabayoyo at The Browsing Room Gallery
Shawn Clark and Elizabeth Browne at CONVERGE
Jenna Stebbins and Lara Horton at Open Gallery
At mild climate
Megan Wing and Nick Smrdel
Amia Butler at The Arts Company
Crystal Strickland at Julia Martin Gallery
ARTSEE
Brittany Lassiter and Whitney Hallberg at The Rymer Gallery
Nashville Ballet’s Professional Company at Ballet Ball 2018
At CONVERGE
ARTSEE
Olivia Keaggy, Hansell Smith, Dylan Rowe at WAG
Courtesy Karyn Photography
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN JACKSON
ARTSEE
Wesley Butler and Michael Wayne Tyler at Zeitgeist
At Zeitgeist
Makayla Lewis at Tinney Contemporary
Lauren Lindsey and Rachel Morgan at The Rymer Gallery
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Courtesy of WETA
Arts Worth Watching Johannes Vermeer’s The Milkmaid (c. 1657-1658) is in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum
Articulate with Jim Cotter continues Sundays at 10:30 p.m. Among this month’s episodes are “The Care and Feeding of Michelle Cuevas,” which includes a talk with the author of middlegrade and picture books. Airing April 15, this episode also includes Puerto Rican painter and sculptor Antonio Martorell. “Rum, Cigars and Mozart” (April 22), features the surprisingly fluid marble sculptures of MacArthur “Genius” Fellow Elizabeth Turk.
Courtesy of Steve Mundinger
Johannes Vermeer painted relatively few works (only 37 canvases survive) and after his death at 43, he was forgotten, his works attributed to others. His is now a revered name of the short-lived Dutch golden age, and his work is found in museums across Europe, as well as a few in the U.S. Vermeer, Beyond Time explores the life, work and re-
Bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding performs at the 2017 International Jazz Day All-Star Global Concert in Havana, Cuba
emergence of the artist from Delft known for his mastery of light and color. The documentary airs Thursday, April 26, at 8:30 p.m. and is narrated by Steve Martin.
de La Habana in the Cuban capital. International Jazz Day from Cuba, the one-hour film of that show, airs Friday, April 27, at 9 p.m. Will Smith and music legend Quincy Jones host the program.
UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
NPT EVENTS
Live from Lincoln Center and Great Performances have long been a part of Friday nights on NPT. On Friday, April 20, at 8 p.m., the former’s “Stars in Concert” series presents Tony Awardwinner Sutton Foster (Anything Goes, Thoroughly Modern Millie) performing with guest Jonathan Groff (Hamilton, Spring Awakening, Glee). Tony- and Grammy-winner Leslie Odom Jr., Groff’s Hamilton colleague, takes the stage the following week, April 27. The tenor is known for his keen interpretations of song lyrics.
Come see us in person this month! Our Indie Lens Pop-Up screenings continue Thursday, April 19, at Watkins College of Art with Look & See: Wendell Berry’s Kentucky. We’re also hosting a free screening and discussion of Living On: Tennesseans Remembering the Holocaust, an original NPT production, in conjunction with Nashville’s Violins of Hope celebration. The event includes a panel discussion with producer Will Pedigo and takes place Sunday, April 22, at Nashville’s Downtown Public Library.
Great Performances’ “Landmarks Live in Concert” series returns Friday, April 20, at 9 p.m. with will.i.am. in a show recorded in London’s Royal Albert Hall. The award-winning writer, producer, and performer is joined by his former Black Eyed Peas bandmates and other guests.
Join us Saturday, April 21, at Houston Station for our annual Big Yellow Bird Bash! Be sure to wear yellow for this evening of food, drinks, dancing, and a silent auction. Your ticket purchase helps support NPT’s cultural, educational, and civic programming. Find information about all of our events at wnpt.org/ events.
April 30 is International Jazz Day. Last year, more than 50 renowned artists— Herbie Hancock, Esmerelda Spalding, Roberto Fonseca, and Barbarito Torres among them—came together for an extraordinary concert at the Gran Teatro
To shower NPT with donations this April, go to wnpt.org and click the donate button. Encore presentations of many of our shows are broadcast on NPT2; enjoy 24/7 children’s programming on NPT3 PBS Kids. Courtesy of Christopher Boudewyns
Civilizations, a landmark series coproduced by PBS and the BBC, offers an in-depth look at the influence of art on the development of humanity. The ninepart series premieres Tuesday, April 17, at 7 p.m. and covers the globe to reveal themes across disciplines. Liev Schreiber narrates.
Leslie Odom Jr. performs in Live from Lincoln Center’s “Stars in Concert” series
April 2018 Weekend Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30
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Saturday
am Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Dinosaur Train Bob the Builder Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Pinkalicious & Peterrific Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Sewing with Nancy Sew It All Garden Smart Martha Bakes Nick Stellino: Storyteller in the Kitchen Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Television noon America’s Test Kitchen pm Cook’s Country Kitchen Pati’s Mexican Table Lidia’s Kitchen Simply Ming Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting Best of Joy of Painting Woodsmith Shop American Woodshop This Old House Ask This Old House A Craftsman’s Legacy PBS NewsHour Weekend Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville
This Month on Nashville Public Television
Explore the cultures and treasures that define us.
Sunday
am Sid the Science Kid Dinosaur Train Sesame Street Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Pinkalicious & Peterrific Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Tennessee’s Wild Side Volunteer Gardener Tennessee Crossroads Nature Washington Week noon To the Contrary pm MeToo, Now What? Samantha Brown’s Places to Love Travel Detective with Peter Greenberg Globe Trekker Changing Seas Two for the Road America’s Heartland Rick Steves’ Europe Antiques Roadshow PBS NewsHour Weekend British Antiques Roadshow
CIVILIZ ATIONS AN EPIC 9- PAR T SERIE S
TUESDAYS AT 7 PM Beginning April 17
Weekday Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 6:00
am Classical Stretch Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr Ready Jet Go! Cat in the Hat Nature Cat Curious George Pinkalicious & Peterrific Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Splash and Bubbles Sesame Street Super Why! Dinosaur Train Peg + Cat noon Sesame Street pm Splash and Bubbles Curious George Pinkalicious & Peterrific Nature Cat Wild Kratts Wild Kratts Odd Squad Odd Squad Arthur NPT Favorites PBS NewsHour
NPT ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARIES
Transit Vote: NPT Reports Town Hall A public forum recorded April 12 at NPT. Thursday, April 19, 8 pm
Next Door Neighbors: Between Two Worlds Immigrants from India, China and the Philippines. Thursday, April 26, 8 pm
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Portland, Hour 3. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Little Rock, Hour 3. 9:00 Independent Lens What Lies Upstream. The truth behind West Virginia’s massive 2014 chemical spill. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Graceful Voices Bahamian and African-American women of Coral Gables, Fla.
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7:00 Call the Midwife Season 7, Episode 5. Smallpox in Poplar? 8:00 Unforgotten on Masterpiece Episode 2. Sir Phillip refuses to cooperate with the investigation. 9:30 Victorian Slum House The 1860s. 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter The Care and Feeding of Michelle Cuevas. 11:00 Independent Lens The Art of the Shine.
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Portland, Hour 2. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Little Rock, Hour 2. 9:00 Independent Lens The Art of the Shine. Shoe shiners turn their job into an art form. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 True North: The Sean Swarner Story Cancer survivor’s North Pole quest.
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Portland, Hour 1. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Little Rock, Hour 1. 9:00 Independent Lens When God Sleeps. Iranian musician Shahin Najafi faced a fatwa for spotlighting women’s and human rights abuses. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 New Environmentalists From Guatemala to the Congo. Six activists.
Monday
7:00 Call the Midwife Season 7, Episode 4. A Pakistani woman faces an unexpected pregnancy. 8:00 Unforgotten on Masterpiece Episode 1. A skeleton is found buried in a cellar. 9:30 Aging Matters: Economics of Aging 10:00 Make48 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter Kenny Scharf: Here to Stay. 11:00 Independent Lens When God Sleeps.
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7:00 Call the Midwife Season 7, Episode 3. A mother abandons her children; Violet and Fred organize a beauty contest. 8:00 The Child in Time on Masterpiece A moment of distraction triggers a crisis in a couple’s life. 9:30 Little Women: A Timeless Story 10:00 Make48 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 Independent Lens Dolores.
Sunday
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7:00 Civilizations The Second Moment of Creation. The formative role of art and the creative imagination in the forging of humanity itself. 8:00 American Experience: The Massie Affair 9:00 Frontline McCain. A look at Sen. John McCain’s life and politics. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Independent Lens Autism in Love.
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7:00 Secrets of the Dead Hannibal in the Alps. 8:00 The Perfect Crime: American Experience 9:00 Frontline Trump’s Takeover. Inside the president’s high-stakes battle to control the Republican Party. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Treblinka’s Last Witness The last living survivor of a Nazi death camp in Poland.
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7:00 NOVA Living with the Weather Machine. Scientists research how climate change is affecting the weather. 9:00 POV Bill Nye: Science Guy. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Austin City Limits James Taylor.
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19 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Transit Vote: NPT Reports Town Hall A public forum recorded April 12 at NPT. 9:00 Great Yellowstone Thaw 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Lake of Betrayal The Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River in Pennsylvania and its impact on the Seneca Nation.
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 The Breaks Kentucky’s Breaks Canyon, the “Grand Canyon of the South.” 9:00 Great Yellowstone Thaw 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Independent Lens Mimi and Dona A mother and daughter face tough choices as they age.
Thursday
7:00 Nature 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads Moose: Life of a Twig 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Eater. 8:00 When Learning 8:00 NOVA Comes Naturally Holocaust Escape Outdoor-education Tunnel. programs. 9:00 GI Jews: Jewish 8:30 Portrait of a Americans in World Landscape: War II The Flint Hills Interviews with 9:00 Great Yellowstone Mel Brooks, Carl Thaw Reiner, Henry 10:00 BBC World News Kissinger and WWII 10:30 Last of Summer Wine veteran Bea Cohen. 11:00 Otherwise It’s Just 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Firewood 11:00 BBC World News Violinist Daniel 11:30 Austin City Limits Hoffman takes a crash Cyndi Lauper. course with an Irish master fiddler.
7:00 Roads to Memphis: 7:00 Nature American Experience Sex, Lies and The entwined stories Butterflies. One of the of Dr. Martin Luther greatest migrations on King Jr. and James Earth. Earl Ray. 8:00 Black America Since 8:00 Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise MLK: And Still I Rise Keep Your Head Up/ Out of the Shadows/ Touch the Sky. Move on Up. 10:00 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits 11:00 The Rise and Fall of Band of Horses/ the Brown Buffalo Parker Millsap. Chicano lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta.
Tuesday
Nashville Public Television’s Primetime Evening Schedule
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20 7:00 Music City Roots Live Chessboxer; Carrie Rodriguez; Jim Lauderdale. 8:00 Live from Lincoln Center Sutton Foster in Concert. With special guest Jonathan Groff. 9:00 Landmarks Live in Concert will.i.am. A Great Performances special featuring a Black Eyed Peas reunion. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Front and Center Songwriters Hall of Fame: Nile Rodgers.
7:00 Music City Roots Live Derek Hoke; Lee Harvey Osmond; Mark O’Connor. 8:00 20th Century Limited The famed New York to Chicago route. 9:00 Selling Sunshine: The Florida Trains Michael Gross hosts this look at trains and tourism. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Front and Center CMA Songwriters Series Presents: Clint Black.
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7:00 Music City Roots Live Shinyribs; Erin Rae; Katie Pruitt. 8:00 Willie Nelson: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize 9:30 David Holt’s State of Music Bryan Sutton and Rhiannon Giddens. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Front and Center Jack Johnson.
Friday
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Salute to New York City. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 Tutankhamun Episode 3. 9:46 Tutankhamun Episode 4. 10:32 The Songwriters Beth Nielsen Chapman. 11:00 Globe Trekker Hawaii.
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Salute to Sinatra. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 Tutankhamun Episode 1. 9:46 Tutankhamun Episode 2. 10:31 The Songwriters Sonny Curtis. 11:00 Globe Trekker Food Hour: Ireland.
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show The Italian Show. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 Prime Suspect: Tennison on Masterpiece 10:30 The Songwriters Jim Weatherly. 11:00 Globe Trekker Tough Trains: Cuba’s Sugar Railroads.
Saturday
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for NPT, NPT2, and NPT3 PBS Kids.
Visit wnpt.org for complete 24-hour schedules
Wednesdays, April 25 – May 9, 7 pm
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Sundays, April 8 – May 13, 8 pm
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Nature: Natural Born Rebels
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7:00 Nature – Natural Born 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 Music City Roots Live Rebels 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Bill and the Belles; Survival. 8:00 Nazi Mega Weapons Town Mountain; 8:00 NOVA Wonders Atlantic Wall. John Oates. What’s Living in You? 8:00 Nazi Mega Weapons 8:00 Live from Lincoln Microbial forensics U-Boat Base. Center explores the human 10:00 BBC World News 9:00 Jazz Ambassadors body’s ecosystem. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Jazz musicians 9:00 NOVA 11:00 A Place to Call Home embarked on State Search for the Super L’chaim, to Life. Department tours in Battery. the 1950s. 10:00 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits 11:00 Soundstage TV on the Radio; The Katharine McPhee. War on Drugs.
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Wednesday, April 11, 9 pm
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7:00 Civilizations God and Art. The relationship between religion and art. 8:00 First Civilizations 9:00 Frontline 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Pacific Heartbeat POI E: The Story of our Song
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 Music City Roots 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Live 8:00 Next Door Neighbors Sarah Potenza; the Between Two Worlds. McCrary Sisters; Meet immigrants from Bonnie Bramlett. India, China and the 8:00 Live from Lincoln Philippines in this NPT Center original documentary. Leslie Odom Jr. in 8:30 Vermeer, Beyond Time Concert. Dutch master Johannes 9:00 International Jazz Vermeer’s work and Day from Cuba family life. Performances and 10:00 BBC World News scenery in Havana. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:00 BBC World News 11:00 Attakapas: The Cajun 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Story 11:00 Soundstage Chicago – 50th Anniversary of Chicago II.
G.I. Jews – Jewish Americans in WWII
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Green Bay, Hour 2. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Charleston, Hour 2. 9:00 Independent Lens True Conviction. Three exonerated ex-prisoners start a detective agency. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 The Changing Earth – Crossing the Arctic
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7:00 Nature: Natural Born Rebels Hunger Wars. Meet animals who steal, cheat and fight to get food. 8:00 NOVA Wonders What Are Animals Saying? 9:00 NOVA Bird Brain. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Leon Bridges; Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats.
Unforgotten on Masterpiece
7:00 Call the Midwife Season 7, Episode 7. The Turners assist a man held in a detention home. 8:00 Unforgotten on Masterpiece Season 2, Episode 1. Remains are found in a waterlogged suitcase. 9:30 Victorian Slum House The 1880s. 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 Independent Lens Look & See: Wendell Berry’s Kentucky.
7:00 Call the Midwife 7:00 Antiques Roadshow 7:00 Civilizations Season 7, Episode 6. Green Bay, Hour 1. How Do We Look? The Opposition to Lucille’s 8:00 Antiques Roadshow many functions of the health class. Charleston, Hour 1. human image in art. 8:00 Unforgotten on 9:00 Independent Lens 8:00 First Civilizations Masterpiece Look & See: Wendell 9:00 Frontline Episode 3. Father Rob, Berry’s Kentucky. The Trafficked in America. Lizzie, Sir Phillip and writer/farmer at home Guatemalan teens Eric are all suspects. in Henry County, Ky. forced to work against 9:30 Victorian Slum House 10:00 BBC World News their will in Ohio. The 1870s. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Articulate with 11:00 Transit Vote: NPT 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Jim Cotter Reports Town Hall 11:00 National Parks – Rum, Cigars and Troubled Edens Mozart. The unique challenges 11:00 Independent Lens faced by our national What Lies Upstream. parks in the 21st century.
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Big Band Days. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 A Place to Call Home Somewhere Beyond the Sea. Regina organizes a party to help George’s political aspirations. 10:00 A Place to Call Home Too Old to Dream. Olivia dreams about Lloyd. 11:00 Globe Trekker Food Hour: The Story of Beef.
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show April Showers. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 A Place to Call Home The Things We Do for Love. Season 3 opener. 10:00 A Place to Call Home L’chaim, to Life. 11:00 Globe Trekker Papua New Guinea Islands.
SOUNDINGOFF With Mahler’s Fifth, the Nashville Symphony Brought Down the House On March 8–10 the Nashville Symphony presented a two-part concert consisting of a contemporary Violin Concerto by the living Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen and performed by Chicago-born Jennifer Koh as well as Gustav Mahler’s epic Fifth Symphony. The evening was marvelous, and with the Mahler especially, played to the strengths of Nashville’s great orchestra. When Salonen wrote his Violin Concerto for Leila Josefowicz, he was determined to “cover as wide a range of expression as I could imagine . . . from the virtuosic and flashy to the aggressive and brutal, from the meditative and static to the nostalgic and autumnal.” In all, he was quite successful at this with a work that is an essay in color, topic, and style but still remarkably virtuosic. Koh’s interpretation was nuanced but employed a great deal of technical skill. From the opening movement’s “mirage” of agitation and technical brilliance to the final movement’s extended, intimate, and beautiful “adieu” her performance was vivid and extraordinary. Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is perhaps best known for its opening trumpet fanfare, reminiscent of the “fate
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Photograph by Nicolas Brodard
BY JOSEPH E. MORGAN
motive” from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Principal Trumpet Jeffrey Bailey is perhaps one of the Nashville audience’s favorite orchestra members. On Friday he delivered with a clear, remarkable tone and a relaxed virtuosity that justified his acclaim. Leslie Norton on horn deserves special mention, too. All together in the third part, in the famous Adagietto, Maestro Guerrero led the ensemble through a riveting interpretation of what is said to be Mahler’s love song to his wife, Alma. However, the best part of the evening, in my opinion, was Guererro’s ebullient yet delicate direction of the final movement where several of the themes emerge from ideas heard in the second and fourth movement. As Guerrero brought the piece to its incredible conclusion, the audience leapt to its feet and rewarded him with multiple ovations; another excellent night at the Schermerhorn.
Jennifer Koh
Photograph by Jürgen Frank
For more information, visit www.nashvillesymphony.org.
Between the lightning bug and the lightning ... Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the almostright word and the right word is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” He was referring to writing, of course. But the same can be said about food. Or even bedding, as I recently learned. But first—food. Consider extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan cheese.
BEYONDWORDS
Photograph by Anthony Scarlati
ry Eve st fir ! ay Frid
BY MARSHALL CHAPMAN
The difference between a regular bottle of extra virgin olive oil and a premium select one from Italy really is a large matter. As is the difference between that already-grated stuff that you shake out of a bright green tube and a chunk of imported Italian Parmigiano Reggiano that you hand-grate at home. With one, you end up with a serviceable bowl of pasta; with the other, an astounding one. So when it comes to these items, I splurge.
Williamson County Culture
As for bedding, I recently found myself at the Sleep Number store on White Bridge Road. I was with my former husband (yes, we’re still friends), checking out their mattresses. I hadn’t bought a new mattress in over twenty years, and I must say that world has advanced light years since the old days of buying a mattress and box springs at Sears. Anyway, at Sleep Number we were greeted by a pleasant young man who we later learned was a “Sleep Associate.” At least, that’s what it said on his business card. After introductions were made and a few questions answered, he had us lie down on a mattress. Once supine, we saw our names lit up on the ceiling above our heads, along with the outline of a bed that had two little blue pillows with glowing blue numbers below them. He could make these numbers go up or down, by remotely changing the firmness of the mattress. The higher the number, the firmer the mattress. My sleep number turned out to be 35. After this experience, I was sold. We spend a third of our lives in bed, right? So I ended up buying a Queen-sized mattress with an adjustable base, which means I can raise or lower my head and/ or feet and change the firmness on either side of the mattress with a remote control. Or, as I later learned, by using an app on my iPhone. Which has me wondering: If I’m in Mexico or Outer Mongolia, and somebody else is sleeping in my bed in Nashville, can I make it move ... with them in it? Stay tuned. Marshall Chapman is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, author, and actress. For more information, visit www.tallgirl.com.
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MYFAVORITEPAINTING WENDI K. POWELL, GRAPHIC DESIGNER
ARTIST BIO: Greg Decker Greg Decker is a professional representational painter who lives and paints just outside of Nashville, taking much inspiration from the landscape. A prolific painter of “mythic” figuration, he paints landscape and still-life themes as well and has been active for thirty-five years. An “adventurous symbolist” painter, he worked as a teaching artist in NYC for twelve years, teaching with MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art before relocating to Nashville to teach his own workshops. A documentary film about his work by Nashville filmmaker David Poag is currently in the process of completion. www.greg-decker.space
Greg Decker, Spring, 1992, Oil on canvas, 9’ 8” x 12’ 6”
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bout twenty years ago I took a painting class with Greg Decker and this painting was hanging in his studio. Over the years, it has not been far from my mind. Several months ago I decided I wanted something dramatic and bold in my living room, and thus began my quest to own this painting. It now covers an entire wall as if it was custom made for that space.
I have long been a fan of Greg’s work and am proud to own several of his paintings. Honestly, there are days when I have to pinch myself to believe that Spring is mine! I look forward to enjoying this piece for many years to come. Do yourself a favor and get familiar with Greg’s work. I can guarantee that you will become a fan also! na
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Wendi Powell
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
I often find myself gazing into Spring and getting lost in its beauty and details. I love how Greg places the human form in a mystical landscape. Oftentimes the humans are morphing into something else; many times they are playing music or falling in love, and they are always living in harmony with the animals. It is truly magical.
FEATURED ARTIST
ERIN McINTOSH Between the lived and the imagined, the reality and the dream, the artist and the art: Discover beauty in the works of featured artist Erin McIntosh and more than 70 other distinguished artists.
MAY 3.4.5 3 DAYS • 73 ARTISTS • 12 STATES Celebrating its 43rd year, The Harding Art Show is the oldest school-sponsored fine art show in Middle Tennessee. Featuring more than 70 artists from 12 different states, this three-day event brings together the greater Nashville community for a weekend of art and celebration at Harding Academy.
THEHARDINGARTSHOW.COM @THEHARDINGARTSHOW
Mr. & Mrs. James F. Turner, Jr. & Family