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Rosa Photography by Brett Warren shot in the Ilex studio
TM
PUBLISHED BY THE ST. CLAIRE MEDIA GROUP
Charles N. Martin, Jr. Chairman Paul Polycarpou, President Ed Cassady, Les Wilkinson, Daniel Hightower, Directors
SOCIAL MEDIA
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EDITORIAL & ADVERTISING OFFICES 644 West Iris Drive, Nashville, TN 37204 615-383-0278 ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT Cindy Acuff, Beth Knott, Keith Wright 615-383-0278 DISTRIBUTION Wouter Feldbusch, Brad Reagan SUBSCRIPTIONS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE 615-383-0278 BUSINESS OFFICE Theresa Schlaff, Adrienne Thompson 40 Burton Hills Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37215 EDITORIAL
COLUMNS
PAUL POLYCARPOU Editor and CEO
JENNIFER ANDERSON The Great Unknowns
SARA LEE BURD Executive Editor and Online Editor sara@nashvillearts.com
MARSHALL CHAPMAN Beyond Words
REBECCA PIERCE Education Editor and Staff Writer rebecca@nashvillearts.com MADGE FRANKLIN Copy Editor DESIGN TRACEY STARCK Design Director ADVERTISING CINDY ACUFF cindy@nashvillearts.com
TED CLAYTON Social Editor JENNIFER COLE State of the Arts LINDA DYER Antique and Fine Art Specialist SUSAN EDWARDS As I See It ANNE POPE Tennessee Roundup JIM REYLAND Theatre Correspondent
BETH KNOTT beth@nashvillearts.com
JUSTIN STOKES Film Review
KEITH WRIGHT keith@nashvillearts.com
BETSY WILLS Field Notes
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 for free, or by mail for $5.00 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 Visa or Mastercard number.
F2O14 ebruary
on the cover:
EXCLAMATION Letterpress c.1885, 40" x 26" Hatch Show Print www.hatchshowprint.com
FEATURES
COLUMNS
14 Spotlights
39 Film Review 40 Public Art Downtown Public
29 Crawl Guide 45 A Creative Legacy: African American Arts in Tennessee 56 Looking East Western Artists and the
Library Courtyard
40 The Bookmark Hot Books and
Business of Art
42 The Great Unknowns by Jennifer Anderson
of Aggie Zed
73 Toni Swarthout Goes Red at Gallery One
Cool Reads
the Masters
69 Hannah Stahl Index: Women of Auschwitz
39
41 Arts & Business Council Art and the
Allure of Japan
65 Aggie Zed A to Z: The Capricious World
61 Milixa Mor贸n Takes a Long Look Back at
The Trials of Muhammad Ali
28 Art See
43 As I See It Embracing Klimt's The Kiss
56
77 An Artful Day Trip to Clarksville
50 NPT 104 Field Notes
Featuring Samantha French
111 Beyond Words
80 Laray Mayfield Warrior Women in the Arts
82 Art at the Omni
by Marshall Chapman
112 On the Town
86 Hannah Paramore Building the Creative Workplace
by Ted Clayton
114 My Favorite Painting
90 Lesley Patterson-Marx & Emily Holt Hidden Worlds 94
Aundra Lafayette Soulful Soup
96
Libby Callaway Q&A
98
Theatre
101 Brenda Butka Poet's Corner
102 Michael Weintrob
102
InstrumentHead
106 ArtSmart
104 NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 7
Featured Artist
PUBLISHER ' S NOTE
Art Creates a City
CATHRYN I MILES
t was a night straight out of an Edward Bullwer-Lytton novel— the one that starts, “It was a dark and stormy night.” The winds were whipping through 5th Avenue, and the rain was not far behind. Still, it was the first Collectors Art Night of the new year, and, just like our trusted US Postal Service, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night was going to prevent this event from happening. A record crowd was in attendance, and they were ready to meet the artists and to start the conversational ball rolling. Dorothy O’Connor’s installation at Tinney Contemporary proved to be a showstopper, and the audience simply could not get enough of her. The questions were coming fast and furious, and the conversation went to places that surprised both the artist and the audience. I loved every second of it. In the back room Jodi Hays held court with her wonderful abstract compositions that she refers to as organized chaos on a canvas. I made a note to remember that description; it’s perfect. Over at The Arts Company another monumental evening was about to unfold with Jerry Park’s photographic WorkSpaces: Artists’ Studios II. The room was packed with over forty artists whose studios had been photographed by Park. The exhibit was co-curated by Anne Brown and Lain York and highlighted the important role that artists’ studios play in the creativity and vitality of our neighborhoods and our city. I’m not sure an evening like this will happen again any time soon, so just to make sure it will not be forgotten Chuckie Arlund took the class photograph. Although it was a little like herding very talented cats, you can see it on page 19.
Blue Dance, Oil on canvas, 4 0 x 4 0
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
Unfortunately, artist Charles Clary was stuck in a storm in New York, but that did not stop us from reveling in the beauty of his work at The Rymer Gallery. I’m often asked about our covers. Of course the biggest question is always, “Can you put me on the cover?” The answer we always give is no! And that’s because we often don’t know until the very last moment what image will work. This month we fell head over heels in love with a poster from Hatch Show Print. Simply elegant. Who could resist? We found out just as we were going to press that it was the very last image printed in the old Hatch on Broadway. Many thanks to Jim Sherraden and his team for helping to recreate this image first printed in 1885. Their impact on our city is enormous. In this issue are two very remarkable Hannahs, Hannah Paramore and Hannah Stahl. Paramore has infused her new downtown headquarters with art from local galleries and is seeing firsthand the powerful effect that art has on creativity and productivity. Stahl, a young and gifted artist, has her show Index: Women of Auschwitz at Vanderbilt’s Space 204 until February 7. A stunning exhibit and not to be missed. Congratulations to both Hannahs. It's all art . . . whether you like it or not. Paul Polycarpou, Editor & CEO
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One of Shuster’s pieces is a photo of a rotary telephone with a tentacle of an octopus wrapped around the receiver. “I like the grotesquely absurd,” he says. “You can’t have one without the other.” A Nashville native, Shuster, 34, is currently working on his MFA in photography and electronic media at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Patrick Brien, who is also a Nashville native and is working Andrew Holmquist, Modernist on his MFA at the University of Sculpture, 2013, Oil and spray Georgia, is showing his abstract paint on panel, 31" x 23" paintings as part of the exhibit. His paintings have architectural references but no recognizable images. He describes them as openended. “It’s all about form and composition and texture,” he says. Brien, 33, worked at the Cumberland Gallery for almost eight years unpacking and hanging art and managing the gallery’s website. He says he’s honored now to have his work on display and has been looking forward to discussing the other artists’ work with them.
Under the the Radar Under Radar
Jesse Shaw, American Animals I, 2010, Linocut, 36" X 24"
Cumberland Gallery through February 15
M
by Wendy Wilson
ax Shuster considers seeing The Hallucinogenic Toreador by Salvador Dalí one of the defining moments of his life. He was fascinated by the way
the various aspects of the painting, on display at the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, work together as a whole. It’s not hard to see the influence of Dalí in Shuster’s work, which is decidedly surreal. But instead of paint and canvas, Shuster works with a camera, oddly staged objects, and dead sea creatures.
Max Shuster, Octopus Telephone, 2012, Archival pigment print, 24" x 24"
Shuster is one of six artists whose work can be viewed through February 15 at Cumberland Gallery in Green Hills. The exhibit, called Under the Radar, is a showcase for emerging talent.
Gallery owner Carol Stein says studios like hers have a responsibility to showcase the work of younger artists. “It gets their work out in Patrick Brien, Echo Index, 2013, the public eye.” The other Acrylic, plaster, graphite, and colored pencil on panel, 49.5" x 45.5" artists featured are Andrew Holmquist, Eric Oglander, Greg Sand, and Jesse Shaw. Holmquist, an MFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is showing paintings that pair geometric shapes with fluid lines and organic forms. Oglander is showing photographs and works on paper with images of urban decay, farm animals, and wild, overgrown places. Sand is displaying manipulated phot o g r aph s . S h aw, a printmaker, works mostly with relief prints carved from linoleum blocks. He currently teaches at Austin Peay State University.
Greg Sand, Absence #2, 2013, Archival digital print from scanned tintype, 5.5" x 4.2"
The exhibit Under the Radar will run through February 15 at Cumberland Gallery, 4107 Hillsboro Circle. For more information, visit www.cumberlandgallery.com.
14 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
OPENING DLG 03.01.2014
DAVID LUSK GALLERY
516 Hagan St . Nashville . davidluskgallery.com
Carol Curtis Watercolor 11 x 14
David Lusk Gallery
E
Opens March 1 by Rachel Carter
merging artists take note: you have an ally in David Lusk. After running his
eponymous gallery in Memphis for eighteen years, Lusk is opening a second location in a 2,500-square-foot space in the Wedgewood/Houston neighborhood of Nashville. Situated next to Zeitgeist Gallery on Hagan Street, David Lusk Gallery is joining a burgeoning art community in a city with an expanding visual arts presence. Kit Reuther and Mary Addison Hackett, both Nashville natives, will exhibit work in the new location, as well as artists from the Mid South and other parts of the country. “We have a troupe of artists who
are unrecognized in Nashville,” Lusk says. “I like educating people about what other artists make and do and how their work evolves.” Central to Lusk’s passion is watching his artists grow and mature over time. Several artists have been showing their work in his Memphis gallery since it opened in 1995, and he credits their success to a full schedule of art fairs and museum shows across the country. “I like to push my artists beyond a city-centric ring,” he says. “It will be fun to show collectors in Nashville that you don’t have to buy [established] names—you can buy names that are ascending.”
Tad Lauritzen Wright, 2013, Beautiful Southern Sprawl, Ink on panel, 48" x 80”
NashvilleArts.com
Kit Reuther, #1174-3d, 2013, Wood, wax, paint, steel, 33” x 16” x 14”
Dane Carder, director of the David Lusk Gallery, says that the new location will have a viewing room for clients—a rare element in Nashville galleries. “There is a certain cachet in going to New York to buy your art,” Carder says. “But David has a long history of success reaching a collector base.” Lusk explains: “Working with clients and broadening their view of art and collecting is something I really enjoy. To me, it is about more than just selling them something off the wall.” David Lusk Gallery will open with a group show on March 1, from 6 until 9 p.m. Regular gallery hours will be Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.davidluskgallery.com.
Carroll Cloar, Sundown, 1958, Casein tempera on Masonite, 28" x 33” February 2014 | 17
“Paramount” by Andy Warhol
“Mao” by Andy Warhol
300 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203 www.galerieravin.com 615.242.3001
“Mick Jagger 141” by Andy Warhol
“Campbell’s Soup II” by Andy Warhol
PHOTOGRAPH: CHUCKIE ARLUND
Captured: A Moment in Time
Standing: Myles Maillie, K.J. Shumacher, Anne Brown, Roger Clayton, Anton Weiss, Carol Mode, Lisa Bachman, Brady Haston, Bob Schatz, Richard Feaster, Buddy Jackson, Jack Spencer, Dawn Whitelaw, Anne Goetze, Vesna Pavlovic, Lain York, Camille Engel, Jerry Park, Martica Griffin, Jane Braddock, Bill Killebrew, Bill Davis, Timothy Weber, Mark Hosford, Lisa Mergen, Roy Overcast, Donna Rizzo Sitting on chairs: Marilyn Murphy, Brian Tull, John Jackson, edie Maney, Melodie Grace, Carrie McGee Sprouse, Sydney Reichman, Brenda Stein, Susan DeMay Sitting on floor: Barry Buxkamper, Bill Steber, Dane Carder, Sisavanh Houghton, Bob Durham, Michael Baggerly, Ed Nash, Trey Gossett
It takes something special to bring together over 40 of Nashville’s best artists, but photographer Jerry Park accomplished just that when he unveiled WorkSpaces: Artists’ Studios II at The Arts Company in early January. Co-curated by Anne Brown and Lain York, the second installment of this project is comprised of photographs of some 75 artists’ studios. “You could tell that the artists sensed that they were privileged to be together, and they were thrilled to be a part of an event that was historic in nature,” Anne Brown recounted. “Jerry is such
a great guy, and he put so much into capturing the essence of each artist’s workspace, the artists were happy to support him. Watching photographer Chuckie Arlund orchestrate the group for this image really added to the excitement.” To see a catalog of WorkSpaces: Artists’ Studios II complete with Park’s remarks about the day he spent with each artist, visit www.bit.ly/1aLgIGp. To see more of Park’s work visit www.theartscompany.com and www.jerryparkphotography.com.
Heidi Schwartz brings a new perspective to events by Jason Brown
S
Heidi Schwartz is a Live Event Painter. She captures the occasion from beginning to end. With the clock ticking down, she thrives on the atmosphere and with broad brush strokes and vibrant colors moves swiftly around the canvas. The guests are intrigued. They are seeing her creative interpretation as the event unfolds. People watch, fascinated, as Heidi fully absorbs herself into the moment as the paint drips down her arms and stains her dress. By the end of the event, up to three hours or so, the painting will be complete. The photographer will capture those fleeting moments, but Schwartz’s paintings pull together all elements of the event as she sees it. The result is a mixture of emotion, whimsy, and celebration and is always unique. As a musician, Schwartz created a painting to accompany each of her songs, incorporating the lyrics into the imagery.
PHOTOGRAPH BY: GARY LAYDA, METRO PHOTOGRAPHER
he’s dressed for the occasion in party dress and heels but, with paint brush in hand, stands ready at the large blank canvas.
Music City Center Grand Opening, 2013, Acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48"
An offer at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel to paint a private dinner led her down this exciting new path. She has gone on to paint parties, weddings, corporate events, and, her favorite, fundraising benefits. Her calendar is now busy with events around the country. She ships her paint pots ahead, using her own mixture of acrylics and house paint, and flies out with her easel in tow. NashvilleArts.com
Watch Heidi Schwartz at her next live event painting at Legacy Ball 2014 – A Night at the Oscars, a benefit for Davis House, on Sunday, March 1. Details can be found at www.davishousecac.org. You could own the painting too, as it will be auctioned at the event. For information on Heidi Schwartz, visit www.paintyourevent.com. February 2014 | 19
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LAIN YORK
Having Fun with History Frist Center for the Visual Arts through May 11
by Wendy Wilson
L
ain York wants to get people talking and sees his abstract art as a way to do that. “It’s a platform for conversation,” he says.
His current exhibit at the Frist is a chance for people to discuss links between the past and present. Titled Selections from the National Gallery, the exhibit is inspired by David McCullough’s biography of John Adams and Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book about Abraham Lincoln. York says he’s struck by how the debates of the past, like those today, often center around the tension between the role of the federal government and the role of the states. His collages are not designed to teach or convey a political point of view, but rather to highlight the rough-and-tumble nature of our democracy and the colorful people who have been influential in government and the media. Though York, a Nashville native, draws from weighty historical matters, many of his works have a lighthearted touch. His primary medium is cheap, stick-on vinyl, and he often incorporates humorous elements, an approach he likes to think John Adams and his contemporaries would appreciate. “I imagine John Adams being this great cut-up,” he says, also noting that Lincoln’s sense of humor was probably something that helped him get through difficult times. Lain York, Trashed in the Press from Selections from the National Gallery, 2012, Vinyl, acrylic paint, correct tape, and graphite on panel, 24" x 16" x 3"
Mark Scala, chief curator at the Frist, says his favorite piece is Trashed in the Press, which features a wrinkled piece of vinyl on the face of a bust. “It is simply brilliant.”
Lain York, Mr. Hamilton Carries His Eggs (to a Fine Market, Indeed) from Selections from the National Gallery, 2012, Vinyl, acrylic paint, correct tape, and graphite on panel, 24" x 16" x 3.25"
The exhibit will also offer a reading table for the public with materials York used for research. Selections from the National Gallery will be on view at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts through May 11 in the Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery. For more information visit www.fristcenter.org. To learn more about Lain York and his work, visit www.nashvillearts.com/2012/11/10/lain-york.
Cups for the Arts
T PHOTOGRAPH: TAMMY GENTUSO
he fourth annual Cups of Co-opportunity is slated for Saturday, February 8, from 7:30 until 11:30 a.m. at The Clay Lady’s Artist Co-op. All proceeds from
the event benefit VSA Tennessee, an international non-profit organization which promotes and celebrates the arts in the lives of individuals with disabilities. Make a donation by purchasing a cup; fill it with a hot beverage, and enjoy the festivities. There are over 300 cups and mugs to choose from, all donated by Nashville potters, Co-op artists, and students of The Clay Lady’s Studio.
The Clay Lady’s Artist Co-op is located at 1416 Lebanon Pike. For more information, visit www.theclaylady.com.
24 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
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Dan McNamara, Michael Hooper, Tony Silva, Kelly Harwood at Gallery 202
Teresa and John Hayes at Jack Yacoubian Jewelers
Chris Fox, Ginger Fox, John Logaras, Ebony Logaras at Gallery 202
Vicki Sawyer, Jim McReynolds at Gallery 202
Amy Anderson, Chelsea Skye Mills at Jack Yacoubian Jewelers
ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN JACKSON
Zachary Kane, Jonathan Stone, Joan Rollins, Alex Higginson-Rollins, Elizabeth Kane at Gallery 202
SEE ART SEE ART SEE Listening to IIIRD Class at Damico Frame & Art Gallery
IIIRD Class (band) at Damico Frame & Art Gallery
Brad Savage, Maty Noyes, Jack Shackelford, Ethan Norvell, Colin Bodayk, Avery Dilworth at Jack Yacoubian Jewelers
Darla Jackson and Michael Damico at Damico Frame & Art
Crowd at Jack Yacoubian Jewelers
Donna Blackard, Jack Yacoubian, Leigh S., Barbee Major at Jack Yacoubian Jewelers
28 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Top Notch, Silent J, Jimmy Stratton, Crow at Damico Frame & Art Gallery
CRAWL GUIDE Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston will take place from 5:30 until 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 1. Fort Houston will present a print show featuring work from Grand Palace, Boss Construction, and Kangaroo Press. 444 Humphreys, formerly Cleft Studios, will host a pop-up for Nashville-based editor and video artist Zack Hall showcasing two of his video art pieces. Zeitgeist will exhibit a group show featuring Terry Rowlett’s Nomads and Outsiders, Megan Lightell’s Megan Lightell – Zeitgeist Private Landscapes, and photographs from Peter Alan Monroe’s Coney Island series.
Norman Lerner – The Arts Company
The First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown takes place on Saturday, February 1, from 6 until 9 p.m. with more than 20 downtown art venues participating. The Arts Company will exhibit selections from the archives mixed with new work to come later this year, which includes an eclectic mix of photography, painting, and sculpture from new and continuing artists. The Rymer Trevor Mikula – The Rymer Gallery Gallery will host a reception for the new exhibit From Here To There featuring new paintings by Trevor Mikula. Tinney Contemporary will open Luminous – The Encaustic Work of Tom Brydelsky in the front gallery and works by Kathryn Dettwiller in the rear gallery. Gallery One will present Red by Toni Swarthout (see Tom Brydelsky – Tinney Contemporary page 73). Tennessee Art League will feature guest artist Connie Valedòn. WAG, in the Arcade, will exhibit Staying the Course, recent lithographs by Watkins students working with noted printmaker Brady Haston, assistant professor of fine art. Hatch Show Print’s Haley Gallery will show historic restrikes of original posters from the Hatch collection and Master Printer Jim Sherraden’s monopr ints, contemporar y interpretations of classic wood blocks of Hatch Show Print including the EXCLAMATION, made with blocks from circa 1885. Casey Payne – WAG
The Franklin Art Scene takes place on Friday, February 7, from 6 until 9 p.m. in historic downtown Franklin where a $5 ticket gives you unlimited access to trolleys that circulate to over 30 galleries and studios. Jack Yacoubian Jewelry and Fine Art Gallery will exhibit sculptural work by Donna Blackard, who carefully selects discarded items to create a story. Gallery 202 Mickenzie Smith – O'More will showcase the work of gallery College of Design artists William Buffett and Brenda Buffett. O’More College of Design will present the oil paintings of recent graduate Mickenzie Smith. The Savory Spice Shop will feature a series of new work by Sketch Bourque. On Thursday, February 20, at 7 p.m. UnBound Arts will host Third Thursdays at The Building with a film premier of East Side of the River. The documentary film project by Ron Coons is a story about the neighborhood, the musicians who live there, and the community of East Nashville.
Sketch Bourque – Savory Spice Shop
NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 29
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Ron York, Creason Clayton, and STARS
Y
ork & Friends Fine Art Gallery will celebrate their third anniversary with a party to benefit STARS (Students Taking a Right Stand) and a rare exhibition and sale of works by Creason Clayton.
Upwards of 75 Clayton pieces, including original oils, watercolors, continuous line drawings, giclées, and a few sculptural furniture pieces will be exhibited. These come from the private collection of his son, Dan Clayton, who will be on hand to share stories about several of the works, including the last painting Creason completed. “I was approached to sell Dad’s work shortly after he died in 2006, but I just wasn’t ready,” Clayton shared. “But I inherited so much, and realistically there is a limit to what I can display, so I decided it was time for others to enjoy his art. My father was such a quintessential person, considerate and gracious, and he was very prolific. Some of my best memories were watching him work. It was just amazing.” Clayton’s art can be found in private and corporate collections throughout the world. His work is characterized by a bold and energetic style, a lyrical sense of color, and a romantic attention to detail.
Creason Clayton, After Fat Tuesday, 1994, Oil on canvas board, 11” x 14”
Erin Daunic, Chief Development Officer of STARS, is thrilled that the organization will benefit from this event. “STARS serves schools and communities by providing prevention, intervention, and treatment to address bullying, substance abuse, violence, and social and emotional barriers to success. Ron has been a fabulous supporter of STARS for years, and we are
honored and humbled to be the chosen charity for this outstanding event!” The 3rd Annual Anniversary event takes place on Saturday, March 8, from 4 until 7 p.m. at York & Friends Fine Art Gallery. For more information, visit www.yorkandfriends.com. To learn more about STARS, please visit www.starsnashville.org.
Photography Workshops Head to Costa Rica
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PHOTOGRAPH: JERRY ATNIP
n August, 2014, Jerry Atnip will lead a photography trip to Costa Rica, featuring visits to a volcano, hot springs, rainforest, mangroves, coffee plantation, flora, wildlife, villages, and urban life, to name a few. For more information, visit www.jerryatnip.com.
Folly Beach
NashvilleArts.com
Along with Nancy McCrary, publisher of South by Southeast Photomagazine, Atnip has recently launched South by Southeast Photoworkshops. In March, the first workshop will feature an exploration of Cumberland Island, Okefenokee Swamp, and St. Mary’s, Georgia. This weeklong workshop will be led by Peter Essick, National Geographic photographer, with critiques, editing, and career direction given by Sylvia Plachy, famed Village Voice photographer. Other locations upcoming will include Montreal, Oaxaca, Mexico; the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, and Cuba. For more information, visit www.sxseworkshops.com. February 2014 | 31
Courageous Conversations St. George's Institute of Church and Cultural Life, March 6
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t. George’s Institute of Church and Cultural Life will kick off the fourth annual C3 Conference with an arts festival on Thursday, March 6. The
juried exhibition will showcase visual art from artists across the country. The theme of this year’s conference is Courageous Conversations, which the artists were charged to illustrate in their own unique fashion. The evening will also feature speaker and author Glennon Melton of Momastery, music by Phil Keaggy, and a wine and tapas reception. Doors open at 5 p.m. In addition to the art festival, the three-day conference will include interactive sessions giving attendees Cory Basil, Shades of Her Spirit, 2012, Pencil and hands-on training on how to have acrylic, 20" x 33" (1st place, 2013) Courageous Conversations involving topics such as family living, medical rights, addiction, and recovery. Offering commentary and insight will be speakers William Paul Young, author of The Shack, CNN Special contributor Rachel Held Evans, and Glennon Melton. Gina Hurry, Daydream, 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 48" x 36" (2nd place, 2013)
Attend the Arts Festival on Thursday night or register for the entire event. For more information and to register, visit www.c3nashville.org.
The Nashville Ballet's Attitude TPAC’s Polk Theater, February 14–16 by Wendy Wilson
J
ohnny Cash fans have a reason to check out this year’s Attitude show by Nashville Ballet. The
The two other pieces in this year’s show are And Legions Will Rise, choreographed by Brian Enos, and Time/Return/ Memory, choreographed by Paul Vasterling, artistic director and CEO of Nashville Ballet.
PHOTOGRAPH: TIM BROEKEMA
country music legend’s songs will provide the music for one of three pieces in the annual show running. The pieces combine contemporary dance with live music from local artists.
Sugar & the Hi-lows, comprised of singer-songwriters Trent Dabbs and Amy Stroup.
Company dancer Christopher The piece by Enos originally Stuart is the choreographer for premiered at Nashville Ballet’s the Cash ballet called Under 2012 Emergence performance. the Lights. “I didn’t grow up Christopher Stuart works with Alexandra Meister and Jon Upleger for the Johnny Cash ballet called Under the Lights ALIAS Chamber Ensemble will listening to Johnny Cash, but perform the music, composed by Kevin Puts, a recent Pulitzer when I moved to Nashville in 2002, I saw the music video of his Prize winner. version of Hurt and was just blown away,” says Stuart, who started to explore Cash’s other work. “Since then, I always knew I Vasterling’s piece was last performed by Nashville Ballet in wanted to choreograph to Johnny Cash’s music. It’s been in February 2008. It’s an adaption of the Greek myth about Orpheus my back pocket for a while, and the timing just worked out and Eurydice and uses a solo piano score adapted from Philip that we’ve been able to put it all together for this season.” Glass’s Orphée Suite. Two of the Cash songs featured in the piece are Ring of Fire and I Walk the Line. The music will be performed by neo-rockabilly band
For more information about this year’s Attitude show, visit www.nashvilleballet.com.
32 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
HISTORY EMBR ACING A RT
BUFFETT
+
BUFFETT A PARTNERSHIP OF OPPOSITES
WILLIAM BUFFETT, OIL ON CANVAS
BRENDA BUFFETT- ACRYLIC ABSTRACTS 202 2nd Ave. South, Franklin, TN 37064 • www.gallery202art.com • 615-472-1134 Visit Us During “Franklin Art Scene” February 7, 6-9pm
East Meets West Dance Theatre of Tennessee
F
eaturing romantic duets, a slice of social politics, and indigenous vignettes, East Meets West, presented by the Dance Theatre of Tennessee, offers a diverse and eclectic lineup of performances choreographed by five celebrated Asian choreographers.
In Yebo, Canada-based Jojo Lucila combines Asian-themed movements and props with unconventional choreography for a fast and eccentric performance. Performed to music by Art of Noise, Yebo allows classically trained dancers to cut loose.
Singapore Dance Theatre’s Ric Culalic renders a humorous take on love and relationships with Nuts. The piece asks the question, what happens when you are torn between love and lust? Set to the music of the Beatles as played by Music City Baroque, Nuts is youthful, romantic, and passionate.
The evening closes with Vinta (Sailboat), by Ballet Philippines’ Gener Caringal. Vinta transports the audience to South East Asia with its glorious waters and majestic sailboats. “Vinta is my love letter to my country and its people, continuously evolving, and will forever be a source of inspiration for many,” explains Caringal.
Hazel Gower, former Ballet Memphis choreographer, stages Green, an homage to her mother who was a pioneer in zero-waste management in the 70s. Green combines Tai Chi with balletic discipline and fast pointe work with music by J. S. Bach. Mirror, Romance and Fame, choreographed by former Ballet Caracas soloist Manuel Molina, showcases Molina’s love of graceful lines and intricate partnering. Concert pianist William Coleman will accompany the dance with music by Chopin.
Dance Theatre of Tennessee’s East Meets West is presented in part by Nashville Arts Magazine, the Metro Arts Commission, and Hotel Preston. Performances are slated for Saturday, February 22, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, February 23, at 2 p.m. at Father Ryan High School Auditorium. Tickets for performances of East Meets West are available at www.ticketsnashville.com. For more information, please visit www.dancetheatretn.org.
34 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
PHOTOGRAPH: MARTIN O'CONNOR
Father Ryan High School Auditorium, February 22 & 23
Invitation to the Dance, Cast Bronze
A New Direction for Bill Doak
Pop Kola, 2013
Jim Sherraden
University Club of Nashville through February 27
R
etired pediatrician Bill Doak’s exhibit at the University Club features bronze sculptures of themes from classical mythology and, as the name of the show suggests, signals a new direction for his art.
“My work has always been figurative, strictly representational, more anatomical, but this newer work is based on mythology. They are not literal interpretations, close interpretations but not overly narrative,” explained Doak.
This Pop Kola monoprint, created by Master Printer Jim Sherraden, celebrates vintage typography and a popular, regionally-known soda that was produced by Hub City Bottling Works in Jackson, TN, starting in 1919.
His interest in sculpture dates back to his undergraduate years at Vanderbilt when he took courses in basic clay modeling from Puryear Mims. In the 70s, Doak was probably the only physician in America with a foundry in his backyard. What became known as the Bluefield Foundry was built by Doak and his friends Tom Griscom and Lonnie Highley who worked early mornings, nights, weekends, and holidays casting bronze sculptures which they exhibited annually at the University Club. “We cast only our own work, and we had fun with it,” Doak recalled. Since retiring from medical practice, Doak has had more time to pursue his modeling, but he no longer casts his own work, using foundries in Louisville and Indianapolis instead. He does apply his own patinas and has enjoyed experimenting with a variety of chemicals to achieve different results. A New Direction, an exhibition of bronzes by Bill Doak, will be on display in the main lobby of the University Club of Nashville, 2402 Garland Avenue, through February 27. For more information, visit www.uclubnashville.org.
H A L E Y G A L L E RY
224 5th Avenue South • Downtown Nashville 615-256-2805 • HatchShowPrint.com Hatch Show Print is another historic property of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, a section 501(c)(3) non-profit education organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964.
Tennessee State Museum Feb. 11 thru Aug. 31, 2014 Free Admission
Fine Weather From A Friendly Place, 2013, Latex paint, pencil, and varnish on wood panel, 48” x 42”
Warm up with Underwood
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Belcourt Theatre through March 1
t was three degrees outside when Harry Underwood took his paintings to the Belcourt Theatre for his current show, so using the title of one of the paintings, Fine Weather From A Friendly Place, as the title of the exhibit seemed apt. “I thought it might get noticed for that,” he said
also on view
A C REATIVE L EGACY
AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTS IN TENNESSEE
William Edmondson, Lion, ca. 1940, limestone carving. Collection of the Tennessee State Museum
Located at Fifth Avenue & Deaderick Street Downtown Nashville tnmuseum.org 615•741•2692
with a smile. “I try to paint warm paintings for the winter because I think people will be interested in them, and they’re meant to be humorous as well.” Underwood is preparing for the Outsider Art Fair in Manhattan this May, so all but one of the pieces on display are new. He has also included a selection of small 7” x 10” paintings in the exhibit. Fine Weather From A Friendly Place will be on display at the Belcourt Theatre, 2012 Belcourt Avenue, until March 1. For more information, visit www. belcourt.org. To see more of Underwood’s work, please visit www.artbyharry.com.
36 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Luminiferous Clouds, 2013, Latex paint, pencil, and varnish on wood panel, 48” x 40”
Cuzco Comes to the Commission Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery
P
February 13 through March 28
eruvian native Clorinda Chávez Galdós Bell will exhibit her work beginning February 13 at the Tennessee Arts Commission. Like her ancestors, Bell paints in the tradition
of the Cuzco School of Religious Art, a style of Peruvian painting that was introduced to Cuzco by Italian artist and Jesuit monk Bernardo Bitti in the sixteenth century. Bitti´s iconography served as a form of religious education for the indigenous peoples. One of the first women to work in this genre, Bell began painting at the age of eleven and was soon helping her father and brothers create communal canvases in the family studio. Since moving to Tennessee, Bell has continued the family tradition on her own. Clorinda Chávez Galdós Bell: Cuzco School of Religious Art will be on display February 13 through March 28 at the Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery, 401 Charlotte Avenue. For more information about this exhibit, visit www.tn.gov/arts/.
Clorinda Chávez Galdós Bell, Arcangel Rafael, 2007, Oil on canvas, 24” x 16” Bell writes about him, “His name means Light of Health. He is able to heal any illness and he is shown with a fish."
Clorinda Chávez Galdós Bell, La Huida de Egipto (The Flight Into Egypt), 2002, Oil on canvas, 31.5” x 47” Bell writes, “It’s from Matthew 2, 13-15, a common theme in art that identifies the Holy Family with the plight of immigrants. The flight into Egypt is shown with the Virgin Mary, the Christ Child, and St. Joseph in company with the protecting archangel."
NashvilleArts.com
Clorinda Chávez Galdós Bell, La Virgen velando el sueño del Niño Jesús (The Virgin watching over the slumber of the Christ Child), 2007, Oil on canvas, 18” x 14” February 2014 | 37
Fritz Eichenberg – Artist of the Book
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Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery through February 27
n mid January the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery opened the exhibition Fritz Eichenberg – Artist of the Book. Considered one of the best (if not the best) printmakers of the twentieth century, Eichenberg was an extremely prolific artist whose images were published in newspapers, magazines, and more than one hundred books.
© THE FRITZ EICHENBERG TRUST/LICENSED BY VAGA, NEW YORK, NY
The exhibit focuses on a selection of forty illustrations Eichenberg created for twelve classic works of literature, including Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, a two-volume set of Emily and Charlotte Bronte’s works Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and more. Made possible by a generous loan from a local collector and curated by gallery director Joseph S. Mella, the show affords a rare opportunity to see Eichenberg’s work in context, from initial drawings and etchings to the books they appeared in. The books are original first-run editions and give viewers a chance to read the narrative that accompanies each illustration. Viewing the larger prints above the books reveals how intentional Eichenberg was and how his concepts evolved during the process.
Proposal Under the Trees (from Jane Eyre), From Fritz Eichenberg – Artist of the Book: 248 Selected Wood Engravings, 1938–1972
Fritz Eichenberg – Artist of the Book will remain on view through February 27 at the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery located in Cohen Memorial Hall, 1220 21st Ave. South. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 until 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/gallery.
Phoenix Art Gala Supports Healing Arts Project, Inc. Hilton Garden Inn Vanderbilt, February 13
T
he upcoming Phoenix Art Gala on Thursday, February 13, will benefit the nonprofit Healing Arts Project, Inc. (HAPI). HAPI offers opportunities for people in mental health and addiction recovery to express their creativity through a wide range of artistic activities and endeavors to raise community awareness and help combat stigma about these disorders. The Gala will include a silent auction, an art shop, and a buffet supper. In addition, four awards will be presented to recognize persons and groups who have made significant efforts to further the arts in recovery. Original paintings, drawings, jewelry, weav ing,
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ceramics, a n d n o t e cards from over 50 M idd le Ten nessee artists will be offered through the art shop and by silent auction. Also featured in the silent auction will be an Epiphone Guitar signed by Amy Grant and Vince Gill and Paradise Jacket, an oil-on-wood painting by Libby Byler. The Healing Arts Project is sponsored in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission and Laura Hudson, Abstract Birds, 2013, Markers the Metro Nashville and pen on paper, 18" x 24" Arts Commission. The Phoenix Art Gala takes place Thursday, February 13, at the Hilton Garden Inn Vanderbilt. For more information about sponsorship and tickets, visit www. healingartsprojectinc.org.
38 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Martha Christian PHOTOGRAPH: BOBBY SENGSTACKE
Handwoven Tapestries
The Trials of Muhammad Ali
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Film Review by Justin Stokes
erhaps one of the most recognizable figures in the history of American sports, Muhammad Ali was not shy when it came to confrontation. Born
at a time when racial tensions were high, Ali channeled his frustrations into an energy that allowed him to be the “King of the Ring” and a legend in the boxing community. Given his disparaging, pugilistic attitude, many were surprised when he chose to object to the violence in Vietnam, choosing to opt out of the conflict in a public move that divided many.
PHOTOGRAPH: ART SHAY
Bill Siegel’s The Trials of Muhammad Ali follows the quest of the iconic fighter formerly known as Cassius Clay as he embraces Islam and tries to redefine himself. Through interviews and archival footage of those closest to Ali, we see what tempered the man whom many consider the world’s greatest fighter as he’s caught in the most difficult conflict of his career. Forced to choose between external and internal peace, Ali paved a path of acceptance for generations to come.
Agate (detail). Martha Christian. 51 x 79 inches
Opening Reception
Sunday, March 2, 3:00 to 5:00 pm Exhibition: March 2– April 4, 2014 Artist’s Talk & Discussion in the gallery Saturday, March 8, 10:00 – 11:00 am
PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID FENTON/ ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES
The Trials of Muhammad Ali is another installment of the Community Cinema showcase, making the culturally relevant yet specialized content of PBS’s Independent Lens documentary series a fixture in the Nashville community. Showing Emmy® Award-winning films through the initiative created by ITVS, Nashville Public Television hopes to connect the community with documentaries by also providing a free lunch and a hosted discussion, offering nourishment for the body and mind. The next Community Cinema showcase will be held on Wednesday, February 19, at 11:30 a.m. in the Studio A space of NPT. For complete information and to guarantee your seat, please visit the Eventbrite page online at www.communitycinemastudioA.eventbrite.com.
Marnie Sheridan Gallery MONDAY – FRIDAY • 8:00 am to 4:30 pm Call 615.297.9543 for more information www.harpethhall.org THE HARPETH HALL SCHOOL • 3801 HOBBS ROAD, NASHVILLE, TN 37215 Park and enter gallery from Esteswood Drive
NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 39
Explore and Discover Nashville's Public Art By Caroline Vincent, Public Art Manager Photography by Stacey Irvin
A
mong many exciting public-art projects installed in 2013 (six Watermarks, seven Bike Racks—all by local/regional artists!), Ken Rowe’s Exploration and Discovery made a new home in the Main Library’s Courtyard at 615 Church Street. If you haven’t visited this lovely space, grab a sandwich and make your way to the best-kept-secret lunch spot in town.
The Scholar, Main Library Courtyard
Three highly detailed, lifelike bronzes make up the series and are inspired by the creativity, history, and ingenuity within the Nashville community. Artist Ken Rowe says, “I believe the details of the sculptures and the theme of exploration and discovery will engage viewers of all walks of life, no matter their age, gender, or cultural heritage.” Lifelong curiosity and learning are what the library is all about. If you’re the exploring type, or have a kid in your life, visit the Courtyard and see if you can find . . .
The Spark of Discovery, Main Library Courtyard
• Andrew Jackson’s hat • A saber-toothed tiger • Roman numerals displaying the year of Nashville’s founding (bonus points for calculating the year!) Can you determine . . . • What Nashville landmark is The Scholar looking at? • What stations the radios are tuned to on To The Moon? • What small animal can be found on The Spark of Discovery? Tweet, Facebook, or Instagram us selfies or pictures of your crew at the sculptures: @metroarts1. For more information on this and other public artworks funded through the Metro Nashville Arts Commission Percent for Art program, please visit www.publicart.nashville.gov.
The Bookmark A Monthly Look at Hot Books and Cool Reads
Still Life with Bread Crumbs: A Novel ANNA QUINDLEN Anna Quindlen returns with a brilliant new novel—a love story and the deeply satisfying tale of the changing dimensions of a woman’s life. Meet the author at Salon@615 on February 5 at the Blair School of Music's Ingram Hall.
Ripper: A Novel ISABEL ALLENDE Isabel Allende demonstrates her remarkable literary versatility with this atmospheric, fastpaced mystery involving a brilliant teenage sleuth who must unmask a serial killer in San Francisco.
For more information about these books, visit www.parnassusbooks.net.
The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress: A Novel ARIEL LAWHON This engrossing debut reimagines a scandalous mystery that rocked the nation in 1930—Justice Joseph Crater’s infamous disappearance—as seen through the eyes of the three women who knew him best. Ariel Lawhon lives in Nashville.
Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism THOMAS BROTHERS This is the definitive account of Louis Armstrong, his life and legacy during the most creative period of his career. Brothers picks up where he left off with Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans, following the story of the great jazz musician through the 1920s and early 1930s.
by Casey Summar, Executive Director, Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville
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n this new monthly column, the Arts & Business Council will be sharing expertise and first-hand stories about the business side of the arts. We believe
that artists are the transformative force that makes Nashville the “it” city. To support this incredible work, we offer legal and business counsel to artists and organizations in need, as well as education for artists to equip them to build a thriving, creative business. What’s that like on a daily basis? Here are some common questions and some oh-so-brief responses. Q: What’s the best structure for my creative business?
SUMMER
CAMPS
2014
A: For artists looking for liability protection and ease of tax filing, the answer to this question is often an LLC. That said, in the past year we’ve been seeing more artists engaging with social justice and community issues who might want to consider nonprofit or social enterprise business entities. Q: How can I protect my work? A: For most artists, this is a question about copyright protection. The good news about copyright is that it “vests” upon creation, meaning that the moment you create something, you have complete ownership and protection. To enforce your rights, you may also want to consider registering proof of your copyright, plus there are some practical tricks, such as watermarking, for protecting work from online theft. Q: It feels like my wheels are spinning but I’m not making any headway. How can I advance my career?
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A: We recommend starting by writing down your goals for your lifetime without regard to time and money (a big charge, I know!) and working backward from there to ten-year, five-year, three-year, and finally one-year goals. This simple process can be incredibly empowering and insightful and also allows you to turn goals into action items you can begin implementing today.
Next month, we will start digging deeper into the business side of the arts. Please contact us with questions or feedback at info@abcnashville.org. The Arts & Business Council leverages and unites the unique resources of the arts and business communities to create a thriving, sustainable, creative culture in Nashville. www.abcnashville.org
NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 41
The Great Unknowns
Angelique Rabus
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by Jennifer Anderson
series of fortuitous events has emerged in the course of Angelique Rabus’s life, continually pointing her toward photography. Her early frustration at the
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Greatly influenced by the work of Jean-Pierre Sudre and his protégé Elizabeth Opalenik’s use of the technique known as mordançage, which alters silver gelatin prints to give them a degraded effect, Rabus began to formulate her own concepts using the historical processing technique. She became fascinated by the idea that human bodies could be landscaped like nature in an urban setting and began her series of Scapings. This involves wrapping certain body parts to make them disappear during the mordançage processing technique. The resulting moody, tonal, undulating images are a sensuous and profound reminder of the underlying connection of all things. It is also a powerful indictment against the false reality of body image forced on society by the media. As an adjunct professor at Belmont University she pursues her love of teaching and her unique, expressive concepts using alternative photography. PHOTOGRAPH: TIFFANI BING
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PHIE
GRA
REO
O N CH DER S D MO Y AN RAPHER R A G OR EMP CHOREO ONT N AL, C ED ASIA SSIC CLA LEBRAT E BY C
lack of instant gratification when trying to draw was eventually replaced by the sense of connection she felt when first exploring photography in high school. Rabus impressed her teacher and with that encouragement decided to continue her studies of photography. After a couple of false starts as a studio arts major with an advertising minor, her college professor suggested she focus solely on photography despite the lack of a formal program. A graduation trip to Europe provided a breakthrough moment for Rabus when she was asked a question about photography Scaping #17, 2012, Mordançage photoshe couldn’t answer. graphic print, 12" x 16" Disappointed by her lack of knowledge but fueled by her love of tutoring, Rabus decided to pursue a graduate degree in photography.
Rabus’s series titled Scapings will be on view at the East Nashville Community Acupuncture Clinic through March. For more information please contact unboundartsnashville@gmail.com.
As I See It
Embracing Klimt's The Kiss
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incorporated gold and t’s February. Love silver leaf into his paintings and romance are in the with dazzling effect. air. There are numerous works of art titled The Klimt’s The Kiss is in Kiss. Rodin’s embracing the collection of the couple and Brancusi’s Österreichische Galerie abstract version leap to Belvedere, Vienna. It mind. For me, however, is a compelling image The Kiss (1907–08) by in reproduction, but if the Austrian symbolist your travels take you to painter Gustav Klimt is Vienna do not miss the the most intriguing kiss opportunity to see the in the history of art. The painting in person. While image is layered with you are in Vienna, be sure historical references and to visit the Austrian Postal sufficiently ambiguous to Savings Bank, designed by warrant focused attention. Klimt’s contemporary the A man leans forward to architect Otto Wagner. It kiss the upturned head is the obvious prototype of a woman who seems for the U.S. Post Office both receptive and coy. that was repurposed in Carefully articulated yet 2001 as the Frist Center seemingly disembodied for the Visual Arts, heads rendered in oil paint Nashville. Not far away emerge from passages is the Vienna Concert Gustav Klimt, The Kiss, 1908–09. Oil on canvas, 71" x 71" © Belvedere, Vienna House, an inspiration of patterned shapes and for Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The chocolate forms, which are derived from the influence of Japonisme and Art Sachertorte was invented in Vienna, and the best are still found Nouveau. The embrace contrasts tenderness and erotica; patterns there. It’s February, a good time to experience a kiss . . . in person. are geometric and organic; the space is flattened yet opulent. The Kiss Or, there’s always chocolate. was painted during Klimt’s “Golden Period,” when the artist made several paintings in the gilded style. Gold leaf is strikingly modern, a hallmark of fin-de-siècle Vienna, as well as a classic material Susan H. Edwards, PhD found in medieval manuscripts and earlier mosaics. In 1903, Klimt visited the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, where he saw the Executive Director & CEO Byzantine mosaics and observed how the absence of perspective Frist Center for the Visual Arts enhanced the brilliance of the gold tesserae. Afterwards, he
Nashville Arts Gallery Guide 2014 PUBLISHED APRIL 2014 | LISTING DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 27 Nashville Arts Magazine is compiling a comprehensive listing of all local art galleries and museums. Our editors will update the current guide, but if you have new contact or address information, please email us: info@nashvillearts.com
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February 2014 | 43
Mon Cheri, 72”x72”, oil on canvas
TONI SWARTHOUT RED
FEBRUARY 1 - MARCH 1 February is The American Heart Association’s national Go Red for Women® month. Gallery One and Toni Swarthout will donate 25% of all sales from the RED show to this important cause.
213 Third Avenue North • Nashville, TN 37201 615.352.3006 www.galleryonellc.com
R. Lafayette Mitchell, Boys on Books, 1996, Oil on canvas, 34” x 40”
A Creative Legacy: African American Arts in Tennessee Tennessee State Museum, February 11 through August 31 James A. Hoobler, Senior Curator of Art & Architecture at Tennessee State Museum
T
here was a period when African American artists were overlooked by critics and collectors in the mostly white art world; yet, still inspired by their vision and passion, they continued working and producing art, paving the way for generations to follow. The art produced in our state by notable African American
artists, beginning with the Great Depression and continuing through today, are among the works amassed by the Tennessee State Museum. The museum’s collection includes such internationally recognized artists as Beauford Delaney and nationally known talents as William Edmondson, Joseph Delaney, Aaron Douglas, and Bessie Harvey. In February, the State Museum will put these rarely seen works on view in the exhibition A Creative Legacy: African American Arts in Tennessee. A glimpse into the history and social culture which influenced these artists provides an opportunity to further appreciate these particular treasures. Michael McBride, Rediscovery, 1993, Oil on canvas, 51” x 39”
NashvilleArts.com
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As the twentieth century dawned, the arts began to blossom in Tennessee. With a growing urban population and higher educational and income levels, more people appreciated beautiful things in their lives and could afford to acquire them. In 1930, Fisk University commissioned Aaron Douglas to create a set of murals for the lobby and reading rooms of its new Cravath Memorial Library. Featured in the card catalogue room is a cycle of images depicting an African American Apollo and Diana and African Americans working in the arts and sciences. In the upstairs reading rooms, the murals showcase life in Africa prior to being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Toiling in the fields in America, and graduating from Fisk University itself, are also depicted in the artwork. The murals, which Douglas entitled with the themes Negro in Africa, Spirituals, Negro in America, and Negro Labor, are considered to be a significant American treasure. In 1939, while completing his M.A. at Columbia University, Douglas accepted a part-time teaching position at Fisk. He became a full-time faculty member there in 1944 and was the chair of the art department at his retirement twenty-two years later. The first nationally known African American artist to work in the state, he influenced the next generation of artists here, including Greg Ridley and David Driskell.
Aaron Douglas, Seated Woman Musician, 1940-1960, Gouache, 19” x 15”
Driskell followed Aaron Douglas as chair of the art department at Fisk from 1966 to 1976. He is now the leading figure in researching and writing about African American art. His paintings are highly sought after and collected. Greg Ridley, like both Douglas and Driskell, was a teacher as well as an artist, who worked in both painting and sculpting. Locally, his most-well-known works are the
James R. Threalkill, Grandpa’s Nap, 1995, Oil on canvas, 30” x 48” 46 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Joseph Delaney, Woman in Hat (Artist’s Mother), 1938, Graphite on paper, 25” x 19”
repoussé panels showing Nashville’s history in the Grand Reading Room of the Main Library and the panels on the doors to the Van Vechten Gallery at Fisk University. The museum owns seventeen Civil War-themed panels by Ridley and several of his paintings. These range from a portrait of Christ to Native American figures, African masks, and figurative works. Joseph and Beauford Delaney grew up in Knoxville in the early twentieth century, a difficult place and time to be a person of color. Because they were part of a very small minority in that region, they experienced poverty and educational challenges. But Lloyd Branson, a distinguished Caucasian artist there, took them
under his wing, helping to train both as artists. They blossomed, and both moved north to New York City to pursue their careers. Joseph, being the eldest, went first. As a man-about-town, he greatly enjoyed life in the city. Beauford followed, moving into Greenwich Village. Yet the two had inherent strikes against them in cosmopolitan Manhattan: they were African Americans and Southerners. Beauford, who was also homosexual, was often harassed as a result. Joseph remained in New York, where he garnered some attention and success, while Beauford departed for Paris, France, where he did much better. Despite their hardships, both Delaneys have left lasting legacies in art.
NashvilleArts.com
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Barbara Bullock, Self Portrait with Caffeine, 1989, Oil on canvas, 16” x 13”
David Driskell, Round Still Life, 1965, Oil on canvas, 40.25” x 30”
William Edmondson is one of Tennessee’s most acclaimed sculptors. Largely self-taught through his work as a stonemason’s assistant, he began carving his own tombstones at the beginning of the Great Depression. He worked with salvaged Indiana limestone claimed from building demolitions, and so his stones were usually already in predetermined sizes. From these pieces he pulled his works free from someone else’s intent and set his self-styled “critters” loose in the world. He also made human figural pieces of great note, from preachers to nurses to Christ and Eleanor Roosevelt. But it was his garden ornaments that became his best-selling creations. He made birdbaths, doves, and ornamental sculptures, which local residents set out in their gardens. With the debut of his one-man show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1937, major folk art collectors took note of him, and national collections began to acquire his work.
Memorial Hospital. She began to make sculptures out of found objects, using Biblical themes as one of her primary inspirations. By the 1980s she was attracting a national following among outsider and folk art collectors. One of her better-known series of work was the one she called Africa in America.
Bessie Harvey, who was born in Dallas, Georgia, moved to East Tennessee as a young adult. She ultimately made her home in Alcoa (outside of Knoxville) where she was employed at Blount William Edmondson, Rabbit, 1931, Limestone, 11.5” x 5.5” x 8” 48 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
The generation following her includes Michael McBride, James Threalkill, Samuel Dunson, and Alicia Henry. As with so many artists, all of them have taught at some point in their careers and continue to create work in their own studios. McBride and Dunson both teach at Tennessee State University, and Henry teaches at Fisk, while Threalkill has taught at Centennial Art Center. These generations of artists are just the beginning of a distinguished contribution to American art. Tennessee has much to be proud of with their work, their recognition, and their fulfilled promise. A Creative Legacy: African American Arts in Tennessee opens on February 11 at the Tennessee State Museum and will be on exhibit until August 31. For more information on this exhibit, please visit www.tnmuseum.org.
New Location
KRAUS
“Gumdrops”
Southwest Fine Art Gallery Dallas, Texas www.swgallery.com
The Kraus Collection
Arts Worth Watching Most famous for her seminal novel The Color Purple, writer/activist Alice Walker celebrates her 70th birthday this year. Born February 9, 1944, into a family of sharecroppers in rural Georgia, she came of age during the violent racism and seismic social changes of midtwentieth-century America. Her mother, poverty, and participation in the civil rights movement were the formative influences on her consciousness, becoming the inherent themes in her writing. The first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature, Walker continues to shine a light on global human rights issues. American Masters: Alice Walker brings her dramatic life to NPT and PBS stations nationwide on Friday, February 7, at 9 p.m. Told with poetry and lyricism, the documentary includes interviews with Steven Spielberg, Danny Glover, Quincy Jones, Howard Zinn, Gloria Steinem, Sapphire, and Walker herself. opportunity. On February 17, Independent Lens: Las Marthas follows two Mexican American girls carrying on their shoulders a Laredo, Texas, debutant ball unlike any other during a time of economic uncertainty and tension over immigration. The month ends on an uplifting note with Sled Hockey on February 24 at 9 p.m., a profile of the USA Paralympic Sled Hockey team as they prepare for the Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi in a sport called “murderball on blades.”
While Walker was growing up in the 50s and 60s and forming the views that would inform her artistry and career, the state of Mississippi was running a secret spy agency to preserve segregation and maintain white supremacy. For over a decade, the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission employed a network of investigators and informants, including African Americans, to help infiltrate the NAACP, CORE, and SNCC. They were granted broad powers to investigate private citizens and organizations, keep secret files, make arrests, and compel testimony. Independent Lens: Spies of Mississippi, coming to NPT on Monday, February 10, at 9 p.m., tracks the commission’s hidden role in important chapters of the civil rights movement, including the integration of the University of Mississippi, the trial of Medgar Evers, and the KKK murders of three civil rights workers in 1964. Also coming to NPT’s Monday night independent film slot is P.O.V.: American Promise (February 3), a chronicle of the experiences of an African-American boy and his friend at a prestigious private school in Manhattan. A winner of the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, this provocative, intimate documentary presents complicated truths about America’s struggle to come of age on issues of race, class, and
While Monday nights remain the home for independent film, Friday night has become the NPT and PBS destination for arts programming. In addition to the aforementioned American Masters documentary on Alice Walker, this month also includes two excellent Great Performances specials. On Friday, February 14, at 8 p.m., celebrate fifty years of the Royal National Theatre, the home to thrilling contemporary theatre productions, talent, and creativity. The gala performance taped in the fall includes an all-star cast of alumni performing excerpts from landmark productions. Among those scheduled to appear are Jim Broadbent, Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Hugh Jackman, Helen Mirren, and Maggie Smith, among many others. On Friday, February 21, at 8 p.m., Sting gives public television viewers a sneak peek at the Broadway-bound play The Last Ship, for which he has written original music and lyrics. In an exclusive performance recorded at New York City’s Public Theater, he performs an intimate concert of highlights from the show, providing a narrative outline for the musical as well as revealing the autobiographical underpinnings for the songs. On Austin City Limits on Wednesday nights this month, don’t miss Sarah Jarosz and The Milk Carton Kids, Kacey Musgraves and Dale Watson, Radiohead, and Arcade Fire.
ThisMonth
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 5:00 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 6:00 6:30
Saturday
am Electric Company Angelina Ballerina Curious George The Cat in the Hat Peg + Cat Dinosaur Train Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Super Why! Sewing with Nancy Martha’s Sewing Room Garden Smart P. Allen Smith Simply Ming Cook’s Country noon America’s Test Kitchen Bringing it Home with Laura McIntosh John Besh’s Family Table Martha Bakes Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting Best of Joy of Painting Woodsmith Shop The Woodwright’s Shop Rough Cut with Tommy Mac This Old House Ask This Old House Hometime PBS NewsHour Weekend pm Tennessee’s Wild Side
February 2014
Nashville Public Television
Sunday
am Sesame Street Curious George The Cat in the Hat Peg + Cat Word World Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Super Why! Tennessee’s Wild Side Volunteer Gardener Tennessee Crossroads A Word on Words Nature noon To the Contrary The McLaughlin Group Moyers & Company Washington Week with Gwen Ifill Globe Trekker California’s Gold Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope America’s Heartland Rick Steves’ Europe Antiques Roadshow PBS NewsHour Weekend pm Charlie Rose: The Week
The Amish Shunned American Experience Follow seven former members of the Amish community as they reflect on their decisions to leave.
Tuesday, February 4 8:00 PM
Daytime Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 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
am Classical Stretch Body Electric Arthur Wild Kratts Curious George The Cat in the Hat Peg + Cat Dinosaur Train Sesame Street Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Super Why! Sid the Science Kid Thomas and Friends Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood pm Caillou Super Why! Dinosaur Train Martha Speaks Clifford the Big Red Dog Peg + Cat The Cat in the Hat Curious George Arthur WordGirl Wild Kratts pm PBS NewsHour
Nashville Public Television
Nature Honey Badgers: Masters of Mayhem Tag along with badger specialists in South Africa who take on these masters of mayhem in ways that must be seen to be believed.
Wednesday February 19 7:00 PM
Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid American Experience Separate fact from fiction regarding the bank robbers whose exploits captivated America.
Tuesday, February 11 8:00 PM
wnpt.org
Monday
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Detroit - Hour Three. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Eugene, OR - Hour 3. 9:00 Independent Lens Spies of Mississippi. A 1950s secret spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange Doin' It In The Park: Pick Up Basketball
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7:00 Locomotion: Dan Snow’s History of Railways 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey Season 4, Part 6. When Robert and Thomas make a sudden trip, everyone’s life becomes more complicated. 9:00 Making of a Lady 10:30 Closer to Truth What’s the New Atheism? 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Detroit - Hour Two. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Eugene, OR - Hour Two. 9:00 POV American Promise. Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, middleclass African-American parents in Brooklyn, N.Y., turn their cameras on their son and his best friend, who make their way through a prestigious private school. 11:00 BBC World News
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7:00 The Real Mad Men and Women of Madison Avenue 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey, Season 4, Part 5. Rose’s surprise party for Robert risks scandal. 9:00 Masterpiece Mystery! Sherlock, Series III: His Last Vow. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as the detective in 21stcentury London. 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/ The World Show
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American Graduate Community Town Hall on Education Friday, February 14 7:00 PM
Sunday
Primetime Evening Schedule
February 2014 Wednesday
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7:00 Billy the Kid: American Experience The story of murderer William Bonney. 8:00 Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid American Experience 9:00 Frontline Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria. An investigation of the alarming rise of untreatable infections. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Rotaries: Avalanche on the Mountain
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Thursday
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7:00 Nature The Animal House. 8:00 NOVA Great Cathedral Mystery. A team of U.S. master bricklayers help build a unique experimental “mini-Duomo” using period tools and techniques. 9:00 Super Skyscrapers 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Kacey Musgraves/Dale Watson.
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13 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Crisis of Faith: Tennessee Civil War 150 Narrated by Grammywinning singer-songwriter Amy Grant. 8:30 Mind of a Chef Leftovers. 9:00 Doc Martin Cats and Sharks. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Time Jumpers: Jumpin’ Time
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Secession: Tennessee Civil War 150 8:30 Mind of a Chef Farmer. April travels to Cornwall to cook with farmer and Chef Tom Adams on his farm. 9:00 Doc Martin Don’t Let Go. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 March The 1963 March on Washington.
Rise and Fall of Penn Station Tuesday, February 18 8:00 PM
7:00 Nature An Original Duckumentary. 8:00 NOVA Roman Catacomb Mystery. Beneath the streets of Rome lies an ancient city of the dead, a labyrinth of tunnels, hundreds of miles long. 9:00 Super Skyscrapers 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Sarah Jarosz/The Milk Carton Kids.
NOVA Roman Catacomb Mystery Wednesday, February 5 8:00 PM
7:00 The Amish: American Experience Part 2. 8:00 Amish Shunned: American Experience The insular religious communities whose intense faith and adherence to 400-year-old traditions have by turns captivated and baffled Americans. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Shelter Me Second Chances.
Tuesday
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14 7:00 American Graduate Community Town Hall on Education 8:00 Great Performances National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage. The NT celebrates its 50th anniversary with a special gala performance, welcoming home an all-star cast to perform excerpts from landmark productions. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company
7:00 Masterpiece Mystery! Sherlock, Series III: His Last Vow. Sherlock Holmes stalks again in a third season of the modern version. 9:00 American Masters Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth. Most famous for her seminal novel “The Color Purple,” writer/activist Alice Walker celebrates her 70th birthday. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Moyers & Company
Friday
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15 7:00 Lawrence Welk Show 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Cafe There’s No Place Like Home. 9:00 Miranda Holiday. Miranda decides she needs to be a bit reckless and wild, so she decides to book a holiday. 9:30 Outnumbered 10:00 Globe Trekker Ice Trekking the Alps. 11:00 Doc Martin Cats and Sharks.
8 7:00 Lawrence Welk Show 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Cafe Reap What You Sow-Pt. 2. 9:00 Miranda Job. Miranda heads to the gym and, after a fuchsia-face-inducing workout, she decides it’s perhaps not quite for her. 9:30 Outnumbered 10:00 Globe Trekker Paris City Guide 2. 11:00Doc Martin Don’t Let Go.
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Cafe Reap What You Sow – Part 1. 9:00 Miranda Teacher. She decides the way forward with Gary would be to create a romantic moment. 9:30 Outnumbered 10:00 Globe Trekker Greek Islands. 11:00 Doc Martin Remember Me.
Saturday
Nashville Public Television
wnpt.org
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7:00 Heartbeat of Home Music and dance spectacular from the producers of Riverdance. Features traditional Irish, Latin and Afro-Cuban music and dance. 9:00 Suze Orman: Financial Solutions for You In this all new special Suze Orman guides viewers to make finacial decisions that you feel comfortable with.
7:00 Locomotion: Dan Snow’s History of Railways 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey Season 4, Part 8. Lady Rose meets the Prince of Wales and faces a dilemma. Trouble also plagues almost everyone else. 10:00 One Night in March 10:30 Closer to Truth Why Do We Sleep? 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
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7:00 America’s Wild West This new special features stories of Annie Oakley, Billy the Kid and more. 8:30 Celebration of Blues & Soul: The 1989 Inaugural Concert Never before seen historic concert features Stevie Ray Vaughan and other blues legends performing at the 1989 Presidential Inauguration. 10:00 BBC World News
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7:00 Triangle Fire: American Experience 8:00 Frontline Secrets of the Vatican. Through interviews get a first-hand account of the final days of Benedict’s papacy and the current battle to set the Church on a new path under Francis. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 American Graduate Community Town Hall on Education
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7:00 Grand Coulee Dam: American Experience 8:00 Rise and Fall of Penn Station The obstacles surrounding the building and demolition of Penn Station are examined. 9:00 Frontline Generation Like. The teen quest for identity and social media. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Water Blues Green Solutions
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7:00 Brit Floyd - Live at Red Rocks This new special features Pink Floyd’s greatest hits. 8:30 Joe Bonamassa: Tour de Force Live from London Joe Bonamassa returns to London in this all new special. 10:00 BBC World News
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Nashville Public Television
Nature Ireland’s Wild River Wednesday, February 26 7:00 PM
7:00 Daniel O’Donnell: Stand Beside Me 8:30 60s Pop , Rock and Soul (My Music) Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits and the late Davy Jones of The Monkees host this special featuring hits and favorites of the AM radio era: The Kingsmen ("Louie, Louie"), Question Mark & The Mysterians ("96 Tears") and more. 10:30 60s Pop , Rock and Soul (My Music)
MARCH
28 8:00 Jazz and the Philharmonic A superstar roster of award-winning jazz and classical musicians and ensembles, as well as emerging artists and rising stars, come together for an unprecedented concert at the Arsht Center in Miami, Florida. 9:30 Becoming an Artist 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Cafe Afternoon Tease. 9:00 Miranda Excuse. Penny decides to throw a Pride and Prejudice party in a bid to introduce Miranda to some eligible young men. 9:30 Outnumbered 10:00 Globe Trekker Globe Trekker Food Hour. 11:00 Doc Martin Ever After.
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7:00 Clinton 12 Black students who were subjected to racially motivated violence, harassment and protests. 8:00 Great Performances Sting: The Last Ship. Featuring new and original music and lyrics by Sting, the project tells the story of the demise of the ship building industry in 1980s Newcastle. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company
Great Performances Sting Friday, February 21 8:00 PM
7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 An Evening with Doc Watson and David Holland Grammy-winner David Holt hosts this musical experience of song and story. Interspersed with concert footage Doc entertains with anecdotes from his life in music. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 00 Brainchange with David Perlmutter
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7:00 Nature Ireland’s Wild River. Wildlife cameraman lives on the River to film the natural history of the Shannon as it has never been seen, heard or experienced before. 8:00 NOVA Ground Zero Supertower. 9:00 Super Skyscrapers 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Raidiohead.
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Looking Over Jordan: Tennessee Civil War 150 8:30 Mind of a Chef Restaurateur. April and her business partner explore the challenges of opening their first out-ofstate venture. 9:00 Doc Martin Ever After. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Secrets of the Manor House
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7:00 Nature Honey Badgers: Masters of Mayhem. This film follows three badger specialists in South Africa who take on these masters of mayhem in ways that must be seen to be believed. 8:00 NOVA Mystery of Easter Island. 9:00 Super Skyscrapers 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Arcade Fire.
Visit wnpt.org for complete 24 hour schedules for NPT and NPT2
7:00 Dr. Wayne Dyer: I Can See Clearly Now In this all new special Dr. Wayne Dyer uses personal stories and poetic illustrations to explain how our lives are composed of all of the choices we’ve made and will make. 10:00 BBC World News
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Baton Rouge - Hour 2. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Pittsburgh, Pa – Hour 2. 9:00 Ice Warriors USA Sled Hockey US Ice Sled Hockey team prepares to compete in the Winter Paralympics. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange Stories from Lakka Beach
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Baton Rouge - Hour 1. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Pittsburgh, PA- Hour 1. 9:00 Independent Lens Las Marthas. The annual debutante ball in Laredo, Texas. Its 94 percent Latino debutantes dress as Martha Washington or other patriotic figures. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange Ubaj: Improvise
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7:00 Locomotion: Dan Snow’s History of Railways 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey Season 4, Part 7. Robert and Thomas return from America. Bates disappears for a day, Edith prepares to go abroad, suitors flock to Mary and Rose makes her move. 9:15 Murder on the Home Front 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
Nashville’s Newest Leading Source for Tennessee Art
GINNY FUTVOYE
VICKI DENABURG
Twigs of Spring, 24 x 24, oil on panel
Heck of a Life 2, 20 x 16, mixed media on canvas
WJ CUNNINGHAM
DAWN ELLEN DESIGNS
Regina, 24 x 20, Acrylic on canvas
Baltic Amber, Swarovski crystals & Citrine
107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net • www.yorkandfriends.com Follow us on at Ron York Art
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Se e h ow m a n y o f t h e m o s t w e l l - k n ow n W e s t e r n a rti s ts , i n c l u d i n g Monet, Va n G o gh a n d M a t i s s e , w e r e i n f l u e n c e d by th e s t yl e o f J a p a n e s e a r t and c ul ture. This exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
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Mar y Stevenson Cassatt. Caresse Maternelle (detail) . Oil on canvas. Gift of Miss Aimée Lamb in memor y of Mr. and Mrs. Horatio Appleton Lamb, 1970.252. Photograph © 2014 MFA, Boston
Louis Dumoulin, Carp Banners in Kyoto, Fête des Garçons, 1888, Oil on canvas, 18" x 21"
Looking East
Western Artists and the Allure of Japan Frist Center for the Visual Arts through May 11
I
by Daniel Tidwell
t is difficult to imagine a time when the artistic genius of Japan was largely unknown in North America and Europe. Today one can see the influence of Japanese art and aesthetics everywhere—in painting, pop culture, and in modern design. But in the mid 1800s it was indeed the case that Japanese art and decorative objects were exotic and rarely seen since Japan had been largely closed to the West for over two centuries. Looking East: Western Artists and the Allure of Japan at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts takes a look at the formative moment in
the late 1850s when Japan first opened up to international trade and a craze for all things Japanese, referred to as Japonisme, took hold among artists, designers, and collectors in North America and Europe. The influence of Japanese art was particularly profound on Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists including Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edward Degas, Paul Gauguin, James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, and John Sloan. The source of much of their inspiration would be the
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luminous and highly stylized Japanese wood-block prints—known as ukiyo-e—with their flattened perspective, bold areas of color, and asymmetrical compositions. The work of ukiyo-e masters including Utagawa Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro, Kikugawa Eizan, and Utagawa Kunisada was fertile ground for these artists, and the subject matter of the prints, which included depictions of city life, women, nature, and landscape, was perfectly in synch with the Western artists’ desire to find new ways to understand and represent the modern world. Correlations between Monet’s iconic Impressionist landscapes and ukiyo-e are evident in many of his classic works, as he began to take a more modern overall approach to composition and color—a bold alternative to the academic art of the era. Frist Center Curator Trinita Kennedy says that “Monet looked to his collection of more than two hundred Japanese prints as . . . inspiration and even based the gardens . . . in Giverny on ukiyo-e landscapes.”
Manufactured by the firm of Frédéric Boucheron after a design by Paul Legrand, Inkstand, 1876, Silver, partial gilt, champlevé, basse-taille, cloisonné enamels, 9" x 13"
Van Gogh borrowed freely from ukiyo-e portraits of Kabuki actors to create paintings such as Postman Joseph Roulin from 1888. In this well-known work, Van Gogh depicts the subject’s face as a vibrant mask that seems to hover over his body, while his body language and hand gestures are directly reminiscent of those used in Kabuki drama. American painter Mary Cassatt was inspired by the intimate depictions of women and children found in ukiyo-e to create many of her signature works such as Maternal Caress from 1902, which shows a young child
Alfred Stevens, Meditation, ca. 1872, Oil on canvas, 16" x 12.75"
Mary Stevenson Cassatt, Under the Horse-Chestnut Tree, ca. 1895, Drypoint and color aquatint, 19" x 15" NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 57
Frist Center Director Susan Edwards says that while knowledge of Japonisme’s influence on late-nineteenth-century art is not new, the context has changed over time with “new research and new approaches incorporating updated positions on Orientalism and the roles of women in both Eastern and Western cultures. “A deeper understanding of the various sources that inspired the artists of the mid to late nineteenth century enriches our appreciation of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, taking us beyond the immediate pleasures of color, light, and subject matter,“ according to Edwards. “With Looking East we see paintings, photographs, prints, and decorative arts among examples of the source material that inspired their makers.”
Paul Gauguin, Landscape with Two Breton Women, 1889, Oil on canvas, 28.5" x 36"
embracing her mother. It is an intimate snapshot of home life not often found in prior Western painting. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec took cues from ukiyo-e prints as well, depicting city life and leisure activities—subjects that would have traditionally been deemed frivolous by the academy. In The Jockey from 1899, the viewer is in the midst of the action at the racetrack as two horses hurtle furiously toward the finish line—an image that has much in common stylistically and thematically with Totoya Hokkei’s Painted Horse Escaping from Ema from 1834. The rage for Japanese arts extended to architecture, furniture, and graphic design as well. In one particularly stunning print in the exhibition, Kinryuzan Temple, Asakusa from Hiroshige’s One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, a winter view of a snow-covered temple compound is framed by a red door post on the left and a brilliant red lantern in the upper right. The brilliance and modernity of the print are derived from the spare color palette and the dynamic, off-center composition. A Western corollary to this work is found in Charles Herbert Woodbury’s poster The July Century from 1895 where vertical elements frame an audience in silhouette as yellow lanterns tumble across the picture plane and fireworks light up the sky.
Kikugawa Eizan, Otome, from the series Eastern Figures Matched with the Tale of Genji, ca. 1818–23.Woodblock print, 14.75" x 9.9"
Looking East provides a front-row seat to an important moment of cross-cultural exchange that had a profound influence on the course of nineteenth-century painting and the birth of Modernism. “In the twenty-first century, we know and experience cultural fusion in everything from the food we eat to the technology we use,” says Edwards. “All of these things converge to alter our view of how the aesthetics of one culture can influence another.” Utagawa Hiroshige I. Mariko [written "Maruko"]: Famous Tea Shop, first state, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road, also known as the First Tōkaidō or Great Tōkaidō, ca. 1833–34, Woodblock print, 9.8" x 14.8"
Looking East: Western Artists and the Allure of Japan is on exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts through May 11. For more information visit www.fristcenter.org.
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615.791.1777
Lisa, Chica Lunar, 2011, Oil on Linen, 59" x 39"
PHOTOGRAPH BY ELKIN CAÑAS
Milixa Morón
Milixa Morón Takes a Long Look Back at the Masters by Karen Parr-Moody
F
or centuries, portraiture subjects sat, backs ramrod straight, in a breezy studio as the artist enjoyed a rare moment of intimacy with the elite personages. Working in this close situation, these
painters depicted the ruff around a duke’s neck, the mysterious gaze of a queen, or the coy smile of an heiress. Milixa Morón, a Venezuelan realist painter, renders her subjects in oil with techniques derived from such portraiture artists. These date back to the painters of the nineteenth century and then go even further back, all the way to the Renaissance masters. “I try to use the best of every period,” Morón says. Her glazing technique is taken from that used during the Renaissance; she also prepares her canvases as did artists of that period. From the Baroque period, Morón took the style of using intense light and deep shadows.
Ipazia Studying Perfection, 2011, Oil on linen, 31.5" x 21.7"
The skin of each subject possesses an exceptional luminescence, which helps when one is portraying goddesses, as Morón often does. She attributes this to her use of white lead paint, the principal white that has long been used in NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 61
Seduzione, 2012, Charcoal on fabriano paper, 31.4" x 21.6"
classical European oil painting. “It is perfect to prepare flesh colors, as it is warmer and more transparent than other whites and gives the flesh a better look, more real,” Morón says. As for the nineteenth century, Morón eschews the graceful formality of portrait painters such as John Singer Sargent or Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. While her work is definitely improved by that period’s realism, she “leave[s] aside the idealism,” she explains.
It is no wonder that Morón has amassed this nuanced philosophy of art. She has studied internationally at the Design Institute of Valencia, Venezuela; at Camberwell College of Arts in London; at La Academia de Arte Giovanni Battista Scalabrini of Valencia, Venezuela; and the Angel Academy of Art, Florence. She has also completed workshops at the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto. Morón currently lives and works in Florence, Italy, that city that has
62 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
nourished many a legendary painter. She is represented in Nashville by Haynes Galleries. Her favorite painters come from the nineteenth century and earlier, including Sandro Botticelli, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens, John William Waterhouse, Ilya Repin, Gustav Klimt, and Giovanni Segantini. Yet Morón, who was born in 1977, falls into the twenty-first-century generation of figure painters that includes Lucian Freud, Elizabeth Peyton, Mathew
Wishing Well, 2012, Oil on linen, 19.7" x 23.6"
Morón says. “The way they depicted each story was beautiful.” And as a painter in the current era, Morón depicts her stories in a way that is also beautiful, a luminous marriage of the past and the present. Milixa Morón is represented by Haynes Galleries. For more information about the artist please visit www.haynesgalleries.com and www.milixamoron.com.
Loosing Layers, 2011, Oil on linen, 15.7" x 11.8"
Carletty, John Currin, Chuck Close, and Alex Katz. For her part, Morón paints both the ordinary and the iconic, with an emphasis on the latter. Mythology plays its part, as do allegory and symbolism. Goddesses are a key inspiration, and Morón enjoys representing the deities of her South American culture. “One of my favorites is Gaea, the creator of everything, the first goddess,” she says. “I believe in the divine feminine, as it creates life.” One of many paintings that fall into this realm is Yara, Morón’s depiction of a Venezuelan goddess. The background is a jungle by way of Madonna of the Rocks, yet the goddess is made contemporary due to her pixie haircut. As with all of Morón’s subjects, Yara possesses a sense of heightened drama, despite her elegant pose. As a painter of portraits, Morón benefits from the ease of contemporary figure painting and its robust vein of realism. One sees this with the painting Divina Pastora, in which the swaddled babe in the sitter’s lap and a gentle lamb at her knee are pure Renaissance. But her sideways glance, along with her thoroughly modern hairstyle, could be that of a woman waiting for a subway to arrive. That is just one facet of Morón’s work that makes it so refreshing. “What helps a lot today is the freedom of expression, so you can paint anything,” Morón says. Beyond technique, what Morón has learned from the great painters of history is the subtlety of using allegory to communicate to the viewer. “The masters have taught me everything about allegories,”
Yara, 2012, Oil on linen, 39.4" x 27.5"
NashvilleArts.com
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BLAIR CONCERT SERIES 2013-2014
PLEASE JOIN US
The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet Blair School of Music Artists-in-Residence Wednesday, February 19 8:00 p.m., Ingram Hall Presented with gratitude to the Sartain Lanier Family Foundation for its generous support of the Blair School. The Blair School thanks Hutton Hotel for providing accommodations for the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet
Michael Hasel, flute • Andreas Wittman, oboe • Walter Seyfarth, clarinet • Fergus McWilliams, horn • Marion Reinhard, bassoon
Details about the spring 2014 concert series may be found at blair.vanderbilt.edu All concerts at the Blair School of Music are free and open to the public unless specifically stated otherwise. For complete details about all the upcoming events at Blair, visit our website at blair.vanderbilt.edu
BlairSchool_0214Q_a.indd 1
2400 Blakemore Ave. Nashville, TN 37212
1/16/14 9:55 AM
A to Z
The Capricious World of Aggie Zed
I
by Alyssa Rabun
n 1980, Aggie Zed sat cross-legged in the back seat of a New York taxi and watched as scenes of the Bowery blur passed her. Below skyscrapers and neon lights, Zed observed the littered streets where ragged men
Exaggerated Bee, Pastel and acrylic ink on paper, 26� x 20�
and women, cold and homeless, made beds in cardboard boxes. She read her surroundings like a storybook as these worn personalities made a strong and lasting impression that would eventually inspire her work.
“I was interested in these box people. What was it like to live in a box?” Zed asked. “I made a little figure with nothing but a man and a box with clay. It was magical and beautiful, and I started exploring these creatures. Then the whole gang started adding up.” A seasoned artist with a BFA from the University of South Carolina in painting and sculpture, Zed today divides her time between painting, drawing, and sculpting in her Virginia studio. The view from her studio window is a picturesque farm scene with rolling hills and red barns—a far cry from her New York experiences—but her work reflects her relationships and interactions just the same. Forming man, woman, animal, and creature, Zed develops characters with paint, pastel, and clay— encouraging viewers to engage with the implied narrative. “The mediums of soft pastel, inks, water,
Untitled (Yellow Bear), Pastel, ink, and acrylic on paper, 40” x 26”
A Toy Kind, Pastel and acrylic ink on paper, 40”x 26”
and acrylic are difficult to manage. I actually enjoy the difficult nature of the medium because I am constantly held off-balance by the struggle to keep the image from becoming a total mess. And I am not bored.”
(detail) Nudge, Pastel, ink, and acrylic on paper, 40” x 26” 66 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Her latest series of dry pastel and ink on paper works offers commentary on the idiosyncrasies of cubical work in an office setting. In Specifically Do Not Practice Your Kicks from your Seat, for example, Zed tells a witty tale of co-workers’ banter at the office.
“The woman in the background is being a little bitchy about what the other woman is doing at her desk,” Zed laughs, pointing to the character’s computer screen. “She’s just sitting there kicking her legs and staring at the screen, and her co-worker is reprimanding her.” Zed’s office imagery pokes fun at cubicalworking, computer-staring, drone-like lifestyles. She blends a critique of the human condition with playful humor, while mixing pastel, ink, and acrylic. “All of my office-worker imagery evolves out of an eternal gratefulness for not having to work in an office,” she laughs. “I can’t even begin to imagine what people do when other people are always looking over their shoulders.” She watches her narratives unfold with each brush or pencil stroke. Her process is organic. She begins each day with a cup of coffee and a blank sketchbook page. She draws from stream of consciousness then pins the images on her wall as opposed to easel. When sketches become drawings and mixed-media works, Zed uses a spray bottle to build and destroy her images, slowly getting to know her characters throughout the process. “I might start drawing a person’s head, then ‘scumble’ it up with a nasty brush and come at it again with acrylic ink,” she said. “A blob
Do Not Practice Your Kicks From Your Seat, Pastel and acrylic ink on paper, 26” x 20”
or something happens near a woman that I’ve drawn, and I develop it into a bottle or an animal. Then I’ll start watching the relationship between the characters unfold. A good day is when something gets written on these drawings that is an interaction between these characters that makes me laugh.” Zed’s visual poetry weaves zany characters and illogicality with non-fiction webs and social commentary to leave the viewer sometimes puzzled, perplexed, or amused. Her small sculptures and works on paper are currently on view at The Arts Company, and an exhibition of her work is planned for October. For more information about Aggie Zed and her work, visit www.aggiezed.com and www.theartscompany.com.
“I am constantly held off-balance by the struggle to keep the image from becoming a total mess.” Vitrine, Pastel, ink, and acrylic on paper, 40” x 26”
NashvilleArts.com
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Antique African Art for the Discriminating Collector Artworks include statues, masks & ceremonial regalia from all major ethnic groups of SubSaharan Africa. By Appointment 615.790.3095 williamdarrellmoseley@yahoo.com Gallery 427 Main Street Franklin, TN 37064
Mail P.O. Box 1523 Franklin, TN 37065
TAKE TWO
Index: Women of Auschwitz
V
Words and photography by John Guider
anderbilt’s E. Bronson Ingram Student Art Center’s gallery, Space 204, is presenting Index: Women of Auschwitz, the work of a very talented young artist who is at the advent of what will most likely be a very illustrious career. Hannah Stahl, a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University,
was the recipient of the prestigious Hamblet Award given to the senior whose work as an artist is most deserving. The money, especially significant for a young student, is to be used to explore a place of interest and then simply return and present one’s findings in the form of an art show. Stahl chose to visit Europe, leaving with an open mind, not knowing what she was going to discover. Her detailed itinerary included well-mapped-out stays at the region’s most cherished centers of culture and beauty. She visited the historic sites and the grand museums looking for her influence. For seven long weeks Stahl visited places like the Uffizi in Florence, the great cathedrals of Rome, the haunts of Freud and Mozart looking for her muse. Ironically, it wasn’t until Stahl set foot in the stark and solemn grounds of the world’s most infamous concentration camps that she knew exactly what she was meant to do.
Untitled #7, 2013, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”
Untitled #8, 2013, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”
Within the grounds of Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Majdanek, photographs of many of the camps’ inhabitants were on display. The images were the last vestiges of many of the people lost in the Holocaust. As Stahl’s eyes locked on the eyes of the condemned, the images came to life. She saw their individual uniqueness, their humanity, and for the first time in her life she was able to see the prisoners as real and not some statistic of a tragic, historical account. Stahl made photographs of the photographs and then returned to Nashville, using the remainder of her grant money to retain a small studio at Marathon Village, painting and developing the work for her oeuvre.
the background in acrylic and then builds the faces of her subjects in oil. The acrylic dries faster, allowing the painting to move along. The oils are more malleable and easier to blend, and as the image builds, the softening of details brings the features into the realm of realism. Stahl sees metaphor in the process, with the acrylic substrate being the ground from which the painting is born.
The work presented illustrates Stahl’s transcendence into an artist of worth. The first painting on the left is a very stark portrait, well crafted, of a woman rendered in grays encased in a realistic rendering of the background, derivative of the photograph. Slowly the subsequent canvases change as Stahl finds her own voice, creating more personal and stylized contemporary views of the images she brought home with her. The backgrounds lose their texture, turning flat black. Now the faces are no longer frozen in front of the prison walls, but instead jump off the canvases demanding to be seen, as if to say, “Look at me. I am not a statistic. I am not a myth. I am a real human being!” Stahl then adds a differently vibrant, monochromatic color to each of the portraits to individualize her subjects even more. The images take on a holographic, three-dimensional feel, liberating her faces from the confines of the canvas and letting them fly to the waiting eyes of the viewer as the original photographs did to her so many months ago. Her painting technique is non-traditional and effective. She paints
For me, the paintings themselves pose as a resurrection of people long forgotten. Her haunting images help to illustrate that these people didn’t die for naught. Their memory and the message of their horrible fate live on. What I find so incredible in the images themselves are the expressions on many of the women’s faces. These violated women, their heads shaved, their bodies malnourished, are able to show dignity even in the face of death. Some even smiled. Others looked proud and defiant. They knew this was going to be the last picture ever made of them, and they were able to look their captors in the eye as if to say, you will never defeat us. Stahl’s purpose is totally non-gratuitous. Many artists when they create think about the sale. Contemporary portraitists such as Warhol or Karsh went after celebrities and notables, knowing that their influence would carry back to them. Stahl’s work is purer and of higher purpose. She tackles a subject many would choose to ignore. She puts meaning above money, and in her celebration of the victims of one of the cruelest obscenities mankind has ever orchestrated, Stahl’s work embodies the meaning of what true art should be. Visit www.hannahstahl.com for more information about Hannah Stahl. Index: Women of Auschwitz will be at Vanderbilt University’s Space 204 until February 7. For exhibit details visit www.vanderbilt.edu/arts.
70 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Untitled #2, 2013, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”
Untitled #5, 2013, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”
Untitled #6, 2013, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”
BACKGROUND IMAGE BY WILLIAM W. ROSEN
Untitled #1, 2013, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”
NashvilleArts.com
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Aurora Borealis by Joshua Bronaugh
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UnBound Arts Presents: Third Thursdays at The Building
UnBound Arts Presents: Third Thursdays at The Building in East Nashville every month from January through June. Doors open at 7, $5 cover. The Building is located at 1008C Woodland Street, 37206 behind Drifters.
Aurora Borealis with Figure 1 of 8 in a new series, 10" x 10" oil on panel 4304 Charlotte Ave • Nashville, TN 615-298-4611 • www.lequiregallery.com
For more information check events on our facebook page at Unbound Arts or contact unboundartsnashville@gmail.com
“Art is not something you do, it’s who you are.”
UnboundArts_0214.indd 1 1/13/14 3:21 PM
1/22/14 9:18 AM
Join us as we take Nashville’s first Public Portrait Project to the streets! COME DRAW WITH US IN 2014!
ourtownnashville.org @ourtownbikecart IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
nashville.gov/Arts-Commission/Public-Art
Toni s wa r t h o u t
Goes Red at Gallery One By MiChelle Jones | Photograph by Joshua Black Wilkins
E
ast Nashville-based painter Toni Swarthout goes back and forth between lush abstracts and print-like paintings of trees. This winter she’s exhibiting
both types of work in the name of the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women campaign to raise awareness of women’s heart health.
Swarthout likes to support causes with her work, and she has a personal connection to this one: her mother died of a heart attack. With that in mind, Swarthout approached Gallery One owner Tammy Parmentier about mounting a benefit exhibition called Red, with 25 percent of the sales to be donated to the American Heart Association. Red happens to be a color Swarthout enjoys incorporating into her paintings, and many of the paintings in the show will feature the color. “Red is my initial color. I love it, and I’ve always been comfortable with it, but it took me a little while to get past the red and start doing other colors,” she said. The showpiece of the exhibition is Mon Cheri, a 72” x 72” oil-on-canvas abstract with a deliciously smooth surface of red, orange, and white pigment. Swarthout achieves maximum coverage and a range of textures by using a tool she devised herself (though she admits a debt to Gerhard Richter).
Mon Cheri, 2014, Oil on canvas, 72" x 72"
Swarthout restricts herself to three colors and has learned to let the paintings develop in their own way.
Strength, 2013, Acrylic on canvas, 16" x 40"
Love Letter (48” x 40”) is another intensely colored abstract. Here yellow and deep blue mix with red in wide streaks of movement across the top half of the canvas. The bottom half appears like a looser rendering of this pattern, as though reflected in water. “As I start moving the paint around, [the colors] start interacting with each other, and each piece kind of decides where it wants to go,” Swarthout said. She usually restricts herself to three colors and has learned to let the paintings develop in
Looking Glass, 2014, Acrylic on canvas, 72" x 72"
Love Letter, 2013, Oil on canvas, 48" x 48"
their own way. “After I start it, I kind of just let it guide me, and it just goes through that process on its own,” she said. She takes a somewhat different approach to her tree paintings: “I love my abstracts. I love my trees, too. It’s kind of like it’s two different children of mine.” There is a soothing quality to the tree paintings with their repeated shapes, some surprisingly uniform, and generally muted backgrounds. Many of these paintings are like stands of winter-barren trees, the vertical Sun Kissed (60” x 40”) with its blue-green layers, for example. Others have darker, richer backdrops. The tree paintings are done quickly, with a water bottle handy to keep the surface wet. Swarthout starts by applying a layer of white paint, then returns a day or two later to add layers of color. Using a palette knife, she scrapes away paint to create the tree trunks. These paintings come in tall verticals, long horizontals, and now large, square paintings. Swarthout recently completed Looking Glass. At 72” by 72” it is so far the largest tree painting she’s done. A technique borrowed from her abstract work allowed her to go large: She applied the layers with her squeegee tool. “They don’t always work; it just depends on the day,” Swarthout said of the tree paintings. “Usually if I paint one big tree painting I can’t do another one for a few days. I have to take a breather and let it rest.” It was only last year that Swarthout left the corporate world to become a full-time artist. Now she paints every day in her backyard studio. “I love it; it’s my passion,” Swarthout said. “I have days when I can’t get my paint clothes on fast enough to get out here because I have an idea.” Swarthout’s exhibit Red opens at Gallery One on February 1 with 25 percent of sales donated to the American Heart Association. www.galleryonellc.com.
Sunkissed, 2013, Acrylic on canvas, 60" x 40"
YEOMAN’S
POLK PLACE ANTIQUES
The Finest in American Period Furniture
IN THE FORK
A Rare Book & Document Gallery Located in Historic Leiper’s Fork, TN
5701 Old Harding Pike
(Behind Global Motorsports, in the Heart of Belle Meade)
PolkPlace_0214Q.indd 1
R ARE BOOKS & DOCUMENTS BOUGHT AND SOLD Wednesday thru Saturday 10-5 | Sunday 1-5 4216 Old Hillsboro Road | Franklin, TN ph: 615.983.6460 | fx: 615.515.9060 www.YeomansInTheFork.com
(615) 353-1324
10:30am - 5:00pm Wed. - Sat. Tuesday by chance or appointment
1/22/14 1:18 PM
PHOTOGRAPH: CLIFF WHITTAKER
Roxy Regional Theatre in historic downtown
An Artful Day Trip to Clarksville by Karen Parr-Moody
W
hether you purposely sally forth to Clarksville or land there by a quirk of scheduling on a trip elsewhere, you’ll soon find art around every corner of its historic downtown. Located 45 minutes from
Day-trippers’ first stop should be the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, Tennessee’s second-largest general-interest museum, which is conveniently located in the historic downtown at 200 South Second Street. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the portion of the museum that was built in 1898 is a fanciful structure topped by multiple dormers, eagle sculptures, and pinnacles. This rambling building houses historic items, exhibits of interest to children, and cutting-edge art.
COURTESY OF CUSTOMS HOUSE
Nashville, Clarksville is a particular attraction for those interested in regional and folk art.
Customs House NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 77
COURTESY OF CUSTOMS HOUSE
Customs House gallery
PHOTOGRAPH: TAYLOR SLIFKO/AUSTIN PEAY STATE UNIVERSITY
in Clarksville, where the art scene is largely contained geographically to one square mile, it’s a town ripe for a day-long foray.
The Sentinel by Olen Bryant from the Austin Peay State University campus
For history buffs, Becoming Clarksville: Honoring Legacies of Leadership is the museum’s newest exhibit. It incorporates tales of the tobacco trade, medicine, culture, and education. Alan Robison, the museum’s executive director, said, “In Becoming Clarksville there are many user-driven elements that challenge the viewer, the guest, to be a leader in his or her own right.” Besides being picturesque, the location of the Customs House Museum makes for an easy stroll to other artistic venues. Downtown is a delightful place to wander. Around the corner from the museum, at 100 Franklin Street, is the Roxy Regional Theatre, which is operated by Tom Thayer and John McDonald with a professional company of actors. They produce a variety of excellent plays, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show to The Great Gatsby to South Pacific. Les Misérables opens in March for a six-week run. A few doors down from The Roxy, at 96 Franklin Street, is the Downtown Artists’ Co-op Gallery, a space devoted to the works of contemporary regional artists and artisans. For more than a decade this group, known colloquially as the DAC, has championed the works of area artists through juried and non-juried exhibits. Next door, at 50 Franklin Street, the F&M Bank houses six floors sprinkled with more than sixty works of local and regional art, including a four-paneled panorama of Clarksville by painter Dan Hanley that creates a timeline from 1794 to 1906.
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PHOTOGRAPH: CLIFF WHITTAKER
Winford Gibson, Love Triangle–Kennedy, Monroe and Jackie, 1992, Carved and painted wood, fabric at Mabel Larson Gallery, APSU
Clarksville’s Downtown Artists' Co-op gallery
Day-trippers should not miss out on the chance to see the sculptures of William Edmondson (1874–1951), a Nashville native and the son of former slaves. They are located at the Mabel Larson Gallery at Austin Peay State University, 601 College Street.
This modest university gallery received a large gift in April of 2013 when Clarksville collectors Jacqueline and Ned Crouch gave APSU their wide array of twentieth- and twenty-first-century folk art, which they had amassed for years. Fittingly, the university has purchased a building downtown to house its entire folk art collection, with an eye toward it being a future center for study of the genre.
The Edmondson pieces form the nucleus of what is becoming an important collection of folk art at APSU. Also on exhibit in the Mabel Larson Gallery are two hound dog sculptures by the late Enoch Tanner Wickham, a self-taught artist who once displayed them in his roadside sculpture garden in nearby Palmyra. Works by Inez Nathaniel and Bill Traylor are also part of the permanent collection.
In the center of the APSU campus sits the massive sculpture Sentinel, which sculptor Olen Bryant donated in the early 1980s. Bryant, a well-known professor emeritus of the APSU art faculty, creates Zen-faced sculptures that can be found throughout private homes and public institutions of Clarksville and, indeed, throughout the entire country. Just a short drive or walk across downtown takes visitors to the historic L&N Train Station, located at the corner of 10th Street and Commerce Street. Built in 1901, the building showcases the work of the Train Station Painters, a local group organized by watercolorist Patsy Sharpe. Any day spent soaking up art is one well spent. And in Clarksville, where the art scene is largely contained geographically to one square mile, it’s a town ripe for a daylong foray.
PHOTOGRAPH: GREG WILLIAMSON
For more information about Clarksville please visit www.clarksvillecvb.com.
Larry Martin, Untitled, Oil on canvas at F&M Bank
Spring Awakening – Matt DuMont as Melchior, John McDonald as Headmaster Knochenbruch, Greg Pember as Moritz at The Roxy NashvilleArts.com
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PHOTOGRAPH BY NANCY LEE ANDREWS
LARAY MAYFIELD WARRIOR WOMEN IN THE ARTS
T
By Mary Unobsky
his is our second in a continuing series of articles dedicated to women who have exploded through the glass ceiling and made a difference in the arts landscape. This month we feature Laray Mayfield.
How does a former cocktail waitress from Music City’s notorious Printer’s Alley end up walking away with the 2013 Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series? Ask Laray Mayfield, a Hendersonville, Tennessee, native who has made the journey from Nashville to Hollywood seem effortless. Raised in the South as an intensely curious spirit, Mayfield has always been fascinated by people and has a real attachment to characters and storytelling. At the corner of luck and divine intervention, she met a young video director, David Fincher, when she was visiting L.A. with her boyfriend in 1986. Mayfield became his assistant, which grew into her casting exclusively for Fincher’s music videos and films. Her casting credits are as diverse as they are entertaining and include Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Social Network, and House of Cards among others with Fincher. This evolved into jobs from additional directors and production teams such as Tennessee’s uberdirector Craig Brewer, bringing her focus back to Georgia for Footloose.
Mayfield is constantly refreshing her talent pool by researching movies, TV shows, the New York theatre scene, and holding open auditions or taking general meetings with actors. She derives great satisfaction from giving back when she mentors other women in the industry, speaks at the Screen Actors Guild Foundation or the Carter Thor Studio acting school in L.A., and attends various film expos around the country.
Life is full of people who are not photogenic, but you don’t NOT cast them because of that. “You find that they have their own beauty, and that’s what you’re showing people. They’re beautiful because they are all unique, and there are all different kinds of beauty,” explains Mayfield. The Casting Society of America recently presented her with the Artios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting for a Television Pilot Drama. Mayfield is clearly a woman who is more defined by her authentic love of what she does than by any award bestowed upon her.
80 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
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COURTESY OF OMNI HOTELS & RESORTS
PHOTOGRAPH: JERRY ATNIP
Hollie Chastain, Star Portrait on Book Cover, Mixed media, 54” x 36”
PHOTOGRAPH: JERRY ATNIP
Lobby lighting designed by Alger-Triton
Interior lobby 82 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
COURTESY OF OMNI HOTELS & RESORTS
Art Omni
Matt Devine, 387 5/8ths Steel Rods, Steel with patina, 84” x 252” x 4”
at the
T
by MiChelle Jones
he Omni Hotel Nashville opened last fall, and it is the official hotel of the Music City Convention Center. It also adjoins the recently expanded Country
Music Hall of Fame. The scale of the hotel is, well, huge—the smallest of the 800 rooms and suites come in at 408 square feet. Views of downtown, the Cumberland River, and SoBro from the hotel are breathtaking. Views inside are also stunning, especially those of the 350-piece art collection. “Urban elegance with a vintage touch” was the decorating theme for the hotel, and art with a heavy focus on regional and Tennessee artists was a key element of this design plan. “The idea was to encompass all of Nashville, including the landscape, the foliage,” said Tracy Chevalier of Soho Myriad, art consultants on the hotel project. From that brief, Chevalier developed an art
program she refers to as Feel Nashville. “Everything in the art program should be something that you feel; you feel the strings of the guitar, feel the keys on a keyboard, but also feel the mountains and the landscape, the people and the community,” Chevalier said. Most of the original art is located on the hotel’s first four floors in public spaces such as the lobby, major corridors, the spa and restaurants—sometimes in surprising forms. Diners at Kitchen Notes are greeted at the hostess stand by Mandy Rogers Horton’s At Home in Any Room, one of her signature mixed-media collages featuring furniture. Setbacks in the walls throughout the restaurant hold colorful arrangements of vintage plates sourced from local antique shops and flea markets, and recipes found during those searches have also been turned into wall art.
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Jerry Atnip, Home, Photograph, four panels, 35” x 39” each
Just off the lobby Dolan Geiman’s Nudie Suite blends folk art and a nod to the distinctive Nudie Cohn suits that once defined the look of country music. Cutouts in Geiman’s whitewashed wooden panels—flowers and vines, an eagle, horses’ heads—reveal horizontal stripes made from colorful, repurposed wood. A row of shadowboxes across from Geiman’s constructions highlights stage attire from the Country Music Hall of Fame (which is located at the end of the hallway), among them Nudie creations for Hank Snow, Willie Nelson, and Marty Robbins. Nashville-based artists’ work in the collection includes Nashville photographer Jerry Atnip’s Home, a four-section, jewel-toned photograph of the Downtown Presbyterian Church, and a largescale version of local artist Ron Porter’s surrealistic Decoys (repainted per request from a smaller painting purchased for a Florida Omni location).
Though one goal of the Omni’s art is to highlight aspects of Middle Tennessee other than the musical heritage, music and related themes inform many of the pieces. For example, Chattanooga artist Hollie Chastain’s collaged portraits of country legends like Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, and Johnny Cash are located in the hotel’s Barlines pub. Matt Devine’s 387 5/8ths Steel is an interpretation of sound waves made by the artist speaking the piece’s title. Composed of narrow steel rods of uneven heights Matt McConnell, Rhythm, 2013, Steel, in a rich, brown patina, the bronze cymbals, 9’4” x 13’4” x 2’5” piece is situated on a wall between Bob’s Steak & Chop House and the onsite Bongo Java. COURTESY OF OMNI HOTELS & RESORTS
PHOTOGRAPH: JERRY ATNIP
white-stucco bricks of the adjacent walls. It is the focal point of the expansive second-floor space housing the Omni’s large ballrooms. Light fixtures running the length of the corridor mimic the curves of the sculpture.
Tours of the Omni Hotel’s art collection are given upon request. For information about the Omni Hotel Nashville, go to www.omnihotels.com/Nashville.
Carved Plate Wall Installation, 2013, Water Jet Cut Antique Plates, Varying Dimensions
But the most spectacular metal sculpture in the hotel is North Carolina sculptor Matt McConnell’s Rhythm. Conceived as a tribute to legendary cymbal maker Robert Zildjian, the curvilinear composition is made of bronze AAX cymbals in various sizes—donated, ironically, by Zildjian competitor Sabian— mounted to the wall by steel rods. Rhythm’s shiny, smooth surfaces contrast with the elegant yet roughly textured
PHOTOGRAPH: JERRY ATNIP
PHOTOGRAPH: JERRY ATNIP
In the Omni’s signature Mokara Spa, Nashville-based painter Kevin Menck’s suite of pastoral, plein-air landscapes helps set a relaxing tone. Throughout the hotel, paintings, photographs, and other flat pieces are mixed with 3-D wall sculptures, including Denice Bizot’s Iris in Bloom. This piece hangs behind the lobby’s reception desk and consists of rows of flowers alternating between light and dark blooms of recycled metal collected in Bizot’s home city of New Orleans.
Ian Kleinman, Lyric Commission, Metallic Endura paper face-mounted to plexi, composed of four 48” x 48” panels
84 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Judy Nebhut photographer
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Hannah Paramore
Painting by April Street
Building the Creative Workplace
O
By Rachel Carter | Photography by Hollis Bennett
n a cold day in January, Hannah Paramore is sitting in a black-and-white armchair in her new office. Behind her hangs a surreal painting of
five people in supine position by artist April Street. The subjects are actually standing upright, but the viewer can see this only by turning her head. “It’s strange, but it fits perfectly in here,” Paramore says. In black leggings, a black-and-white-striped sweater over a white turtleneck, and simple black flats, Paramore could be a gallerist. And, in a way, she is. Paramore is president of Paramore, the Digital Agency, a Nashvillebased company that designs websites and media campaigns for
clients in Tennessee and all over the country, including the Frist, CMT, and the Tennessee Department of Tourism. On November 1 of last year, Paramore and her staff moved from The Gulch, where they had been for a decade, to a new office on the fifth floor of the St. Cloud Corner building at Fifth Avenue and Church Street. When she decided to make the move to Fifth Avenue of the Arts, Paramore says she wanted the new space to reflect the arts community. So she teamed up with Anne Brown, owner of The Arts Company, a gallery of contemporary artists also on Fifth, to decorate the office with artwork that is modern, moving, and, like the brand for which she stands, colorful. The elevators open to color-block heaven. Green, pink, blue, and
86 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Denise Stewart-Sanabria, People # 26 and #27, 2011
orange—Paramore’s signature hues—pop in accents against the primarily black-and-white space. Around the periphery of the office, walls of glass frame meeting rooms with art deco chairs and names like “Disco Room.” Young, attractive people work on Apple computers. Their desks are immaculate. “It was three or four weeks before I let them put one personal picture out,” she says. “I wanted to see what it felt like to live in a space and be purposeful about decorating.” As we walk, Paramore points to an arrangement of nine paper boxes by Tennessee artist Charles Clary titled Flamungle Testation Movements 1–9. The boxes are carved in layers to look almost anatomical—what Clary describes on his website as works that “mimic viral colonies and concentric sound waves.” Although six works are on loan from The Arts Company and will rotate three times per year, Paramore purchased twenty-four works, including Clary’s. That was a surprise,” she says of the investment. “But once you get something on the wall and love it, you can’t imagine sending it back.” On a pillar in the staff lounge is Balancing Art on My Head by Leonard Piha, a papier-mâché sculpture of a tilted head and shoulders with shapes stacked vertically above it. It is on loan, but Paramore is considering buying it. “We love this one,” she says. For several weeks before the move, Paramore and Brown walked around the space and talked about what worked where. The result is a “gallery” of Paramore’s own, where the placement of each piece fits the décor with precision. “Not many people would be brave enough to include figurative pieces like April Street’s,” Brown says. “But Hannah really wanted to prompt creativity.” Part of Paramore’s impetus for having art in the office is to encourage conversation. “I hear the team talk about how the
Leonard Piha, Balancing Art on My Head, 2012
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February 2014 | 87
Brother Mel, Red Chair (Calder 1), 2007
Brad Wreyford, Two Clouds, 2013
different pieces of art make them feel,” she wrote in an email. “We have defined spaces for each person in our office, but I think it would be cool one day to walk by a person so moved by the art that they just picked up their computer and sat on the floor in front of it just to be closer to it.”
Paramore also expanded the company’s brand palette from one color—green—to four colors in conjunction with the move to Fifth Avenue and the unveiling of a new exterior sign. At night, the Paramore logo on the side of the building changes from blue to green to pink to orange via an iPhone app downloadable by anyone. Paramore pulls out her phone and clicks green. Voilà—the logo is now green. She looks at me with wide blue eyes. “The color has been changed more than 2,000 times,” she says. “As far as we know, this is the only sign of its kind in the world.”
Blake Allen, Paramore’s creative director, favors a geometric Brad Wreyford painting, titled Two Clouds, hanging near the Ping-Pong table (yes, it’s that kind of office). A red triangle in the painting picks up the red in the table’s logo—a detail only the creative director of a very creative company could appreciate. “It’s like being able to design in an art museum,” Allen wrote in an email. “Inspiration is all around us.”
Paramore recently moved from West Nashville to a condo on 8th Avenue. She walks to work, fulfilling a longtime fantasy of urban living, now that her children are grown. “I don’t need the big house and big yard, and I wanted to be part of a group of people that know each other and do things,” she says, referring to the arts community on Fifth. On my way out of the office, I stop at a large portrait titled Orange Crush by April Street. An amalgam of flora, fauna, and what looks like an urban landscape emerges from the top of a woman’s head. After joking that the woman in the painting looks exactly like her production coordinator, Paramore says she prefers to interpret the work not as a picture of mental clutter and chaos, but as a woman with ideas—a creator in full. “It is incredible to me that had we moved to another place in town, we may not have made the investment in the art or in the sign,” she says. “But you can’t plan these things. It’s serendipitous.” For more information about Hannah Paramore and Paramore, the Digital Agency, please visit www.paramoredigital.com.
Brett Weaver, Aspen, 2013
(background) Charles Clary, Flamungle Testation Movements 1-9, 2013
88 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
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Hidden Worlds Lesley Patterson-Marx and Emily Holt
I
by Cat Acree
have a friend who hikes slowly, who stops every few feet to pull apart something he found on the path, to reveal the secret of beard lichen or the veins of a leaf. Sometimes he stops for no reason at all,
or at least no reason he’ll share with me.
Emily Holt, Snake Tales, 2013, Acrylic, paint, wood, found drawer, 24” x 12”
Longtime friends Lesley Patterson-Marx and Emily Holt are similar magpies, tempted not by shiny things but by treasures found underfoot in the woods, vintage photographs, and scraps in parking lots. They incorporate their findings into their work—Patterson-Marx’s printmaking collages and Holt’s wooden relief sculptures—and will share these Hidden Worlds in an upcoming show in the Sarratt Gallery at Vanderbilt, their first together since 2006. Patterson-Marx considers herself more of a collage artist than a printmaker, as her experimental approach combines two different photographic printmaking techniques to reproduce imagery such as the found objects in her collection or the tiny illustrations in dictionaries. Her pieces are all quite small, with the beauty in the details, as with the accordion-style book made from a vintage harmonica, its pages bound together with bright thread. Inspiration from vintage quilts, mandalas, and yantras give these clever pieces their recurring symmetry. Mason jars hold tiny vignettes of shadowed characters in otherworldly settings, begging to be perched on a kitchen windowsill to catch the light, much like the accordion-style book of paper jars with feathers and leaves trapped inside. She also draws over vintage photographs and frames them in the hollowed-out pages of books, a process revealed in a stopmotion video to appear in Hidden Worlds.
Lesley Patterson-Marx, Piecing Together the Past, 1, 2012, Photopolymer intaglio, collagraph, thread, 14.5” x 14.5”
“Nothing that I make is quick,” Patterson-Marx says, “and I really enjoy the . . . quieting that happens in the mind when there’s an objective task to work on within the work.”
90 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
these are rabbit holes to even more secrets.
PHOTOGRAPH: ANTHONY SCARLATI
Patterson-Marx and Holt met while earning their MFAs at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill from 1999 to 2001, where they shared adjacent studios. Now they both teach at the University School of Nashville. Patterson-Marx, who moved to Nashville to teach non-toxic printmaking at Watkins College of Art, Design and Film, now Emily Holt teaches printmaking and contemporary practices (which she describes as local art appreciation on The Magic School Bus). Holt teaches book art, ceramics, and sculpture for middle school and high school.
Lesley Patterson-Marx, Letter House (Sisters), 2012, Solarplate intaglio, thread, collagraph, mixed media, 6.5” x 9”
Emily Holt’s sculptures are two- to three-foot-long wall hangings composed of many layers of scrap wood. Scraps are often cut in a spontaneous, unplanned manner, leading to random shapes piling up in her workspace. (She uses the word “playful” several times as she describes her process.)
PHOTOGRAPH: ANTHONY SCARLATI
Beginning on a background piece of wood, cut pieces are assembled several layers deep to compose colorful, surreal landscapes with rolling hills and abstract renderings of heavy, overgrown trees. These scenes range in depth and dimension, and they vary in how much is revealed above and below the horizon. Often the ground seems cut away, revealing fossils and roots, plus shapes that tug at the imagination.
Lesley Patterson-Marx
Says Holt, “I’ve been excited to be able to find a happy medium for being interested in three-dimensional work but also have a 2-D quality to it. I’m still making little scenes, but it’s raised surfaces . . . I was a painter before, and I still love painting, but this has been fun to work with objects.”
(detail) Emily Holt, Submarine, 2013, Acrylic, paint, wood, 24” x 12”
For Hidden Worlds, along with six of these layered wall hangings, Holt will premiere three-dimensional boxes with layered scenes on all four sides. As viewers walk around the box, cutouts reveal interior details—
Even though they work in disparate mediums, this close contact has helped them “evolve together” as artists while maintaining tandem themes and organic imagery. Says Patterson-Marx, “Collecting is definitely a common thread, and making use of what’s already there or responding to something that already exists in the world, whether it be a found photograph or a piece of old wood or a scrap of something that Emily finds on the ground.
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Lesley Patterson-Marx, Preserved Collection Book, 2013, Fabric, thread, paper, mica, nails, found objects, 7” x 36”
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(detail) Emily Holt, June, 2013, Acrylic, paint, wood, 24” x 12”
She’s always finding things wherever she goes.” With Hidden Worlds, it feels as though they’ve re-hidden their treasures within their own work. As Holt advises, “You’ve got to look for it, but you’ll find a little surprise if you peer closer.” Hidden Worlds will be on exhibit February 24 through March 28 at Vanderbilt University’s Sarratt Gallery. The artists’ reception is on March 20, 4:30 to 7 p.m. For more information about the exhibit please visit www.vanderbilt.edu/sarrattgallery.
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Soulful Soup Aundra Lafayette’s incredible soups blend art and life into beautiful food
A
By Stephanie Stewart-Howard | Photography by Ron Manville undra Lafayette has transformed herself into Nashville’s “Soup Lady,” and her reputation grows by leaps and bounds every day.
Lafayette gained renown as a dancer, dance teacher, and teaching artist with TPAC. Dance also inspired her culinary arts, and her audience now finds itself begging for soup. She’s built her small business as cash and carry—you order what you need and pick it up. Now, after the holidays, she tells us her vegetable- and herb-rich detox soups sell like mad. With no salt, meat, or dairy, you can manage your detox with soup plus added servings of raw vegetables, fruit, and plenty of water. (It’s what everyone forgets when they detox, she says: plenty of water.) For February particularly, she’s cooking up something special for Black History Month, a glorious mélange of red and green peppers, black-eyed peas, basil, lemon, hot sausage, spinach, olive oil, chicken broth, and spices. It’s delicious, warming, and good for you, soothing the soul and filling the stomach. It’s also beautiful, set out in a bowl. And that is the nature of Aundra Lafayette— soothing, gifted, beautiful. Devotion to healthy eating came from a dancing life. Aundra says she never gets sick,
never gets a cold, and part of that is owed to eating right and well. She began dancing at age 9, taking classes at Fisk, and hasn’t stopped since, training with the likes of Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Philadelphia Dance Company and others and teaching across the country. She’s taken her students to perform in Russia, taught in a New England therapeutic boarding school, at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, ArtsReach Studio through the Kentucky Center for the Arts, and Hume-Fogg High School, as well as through TPAC. Her boundless resumé as dancer, choreographer, and teacher is impressive. “Girl, go with what you feel—that’s what my father said to me about cooking,” says Aundra, telling the story of her first cooking expeditions as a teenager. The admonition to make use of her natural, artistic instincts has always served her well. “I call what I do cooking from the soul,” Aundra says. “I choreograph a soup like I choreograph a dance, you see? And I have the freedom to do what I want to do, just like I do in dance.” When she began making her soups available in 2009, some of our Nashville Arts staff became fans instantly, as did other local journalists, who
began promoting her made-to-order culinary creations. (A container costs you perhaps $10, depending on ingredients.) When Aundra says she’s cooking for the soul, she’s also cooking for the body, to make you healthy as well as sated. The term “healing soup” comes up again and again in her conversation; she takes healthy food seriously. She’s researched the nutritive value of the ingredients, including the herbs. “I’m targeting disease as I’m cooking,” she says, showing me a copy of a beautiful book called The Healing Foods that details the value of particular herbs, spices, and plants. Diabetes, obesity, heart disease: she crafts soups that impact them all.
Franklin Art Scene Historic Downtown Franklin Friday, February 7, 6-9 p.m.
PHOTOGRAPH BY DEBBIE SMARTT
Ultimately, she hopes to have a food truck, perhaps with a soup bar, rather than a brick-and-mortar restaurant. For now, she’s concentrating on building a clientele and diverse menu—though she may have a few surprises to share in coming months. And she continues to dance. There are few limitations to Aundra Lafayette’s plans for the future. To find out more about Lafayette's available soups, visit www.facebook.com/lafayettesoupcompany or email lafayettesoupco@gmail.com.
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Libby Callaway Creative Consultant
After building a career in journalism and fashion in New York, Libby Callaway now calls Nashville home. Fueled by a passion for all things in good taste, she’s thriving in our city’s creative environment. More than that, she finds that the Nashville vibe just plain makes her happy. 96 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Why Nashville?
Q&A
W
hat characteristics do you like most about yourself?
That I’m open minded, approachable, and I always return a phone call.
I saw something in this community that I knew would build. It wasn’t going to be just about Music Row forever. Things were changing even when I moved here ten years ago. And New York was wearing me out. I noticed every time I came to Nashville I was happy. What do you like most about the city?
I like the potential. The potential in the people, that anything is possible. There is a renaissance happening here right now. What do you like least?
Nobody hates on Nashville like Nashvillians. But that’s changing. All the outside attention from the media has made people very proud to be here. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish that I wasn’t such a worrywart. My sister gave me a rock recently that she painted to say, “Keep calm: We’re just passing through.” I mean, it’s not like I’m curing cancer here. Are you happy with where you’re heading?
Yes, absolutely, though I have no idea where that is.
And what do you like least?
What talent would you most like to have?
My ability to turn a molehill into a mountain. I’m a worrier. I have high anxiety, but I’m working on it.
I would love to be able to cook, to really cook. A huge wonderful meal. And I wish I were more of a calm, confident host.
What was the last book you read?
What is your greatest regret?
Anjelica Huston’s autobiography, A Story Lately Told.
No big regrets. I’ve become good at following my gut, and it has served me well. Things have worked out for the best.
Who would you most like to meet?
My grandmother on my father’s side, whom I never met. I hear these great stories about her, her big heart, and her tremendous sense of style.
You have five minutes left to live; what are you going to do?
That’s a heavy question. Be with my sisters. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
What about you would most surprise people?
What music do you like to listen to?
That I am shy, very much an introvert. So what do I do? I become a journalist interviewing total strangers.
Lately I’ve been listening to Jason Isbell, but I generally like harder music, rock and roll. There’s a band from London called Savages that are awesome that I like. It’s hard, driving music.
What are you going to be when you grow up?
Well, if it all goes to shit today I know I can always sell vintage clothes. Who has most inspired you?
I love Diane von Furstenberg. I love her whole take on life, creativity, and on being a smart businesswoman. We have stayed in touch since I left New York, and she has been a help to me. My sisters have also been a great source of inspiration. Who is your favorite artist?
I saw the James Turrell exhibit at LACMA [Los Angeles County Museum of Art] earlier this year, and that was amazing. I love big installations. I love the fashion photographer Sarah Moon. Also the work of Richard Avedon.
What makes you the happiest?
Being creative and building my vintage clothing business has been uncompromisingly about me. You can’t get that all the time working for someone else. What is your greatest extravagance?
Shoes! I don’t have children; I’m not married; no one keeping tabs on me—it’s a no-brainer. I’m basically pretty frugal, but shopping the end-of-season Barneys sale for Balenciaga boots at 75% off makes me super happy. What other profession would you consider?
That’s tough. I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to. But probably interior design, which has always been something I love.
What are you most proud of?
What film have you seen recently?
My reputation. A few years ago, someone interviewing me made the observation that if Anna Wintour is the Queen of Ice, then I’m a Queen of Nice.
I saw American Hustle over the holidays and loved it. Amy Adams’ wardrobe was insane.
Contact libby.callaway@comcast.net
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98 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Chip Arnold and Benjamin Reed as Mark Rothko and his assistant Ken in RED
W H AT D O YO U S E E ?
REDROTHKOREP TPAC’s Johnson Theater, February 15 to March 1 By Jim Reyland | Photography by Rob Lindsay
I
n mid stroke and fully engaged, abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko asks his young assistant, Ken, a series of loaded questions. “What do you see? What's art? And who gets to decide?” In John Logan’s RED, winner of six 2010 Tony Awards including Best Play, Mark Rothko and Ken are working feverishly in his New York Bowery studio on what would soon be known as the Seagram Murals (see page 100). It's 1958 and Rothko has been offered the biggest commission in the history of modern art. In RED, a raw, provocative, and searing portrait of an artist’s ambition and vulnerability, Rothko gives orders to his assistant as he mixes the paints, makes the frames, and paints the canvases. Undaunted by Rothko’s status, Ken questions his theories of
art and his acceding to work on such a high-profile, commercial project. As the discussion continues, Ken begins to realize his answers to fundamental questions about art are very different from his mentor's. As Ken advances to challenge him, Rothko faces the agonizing possibility that his crowning achievement could also become his undoing. RED is the first play from Tennessee Rep's popular REPaloud staged reading series to make it to the main stage. Performed in the staged reading format in 2011 at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, RED was so well received that it became an obvious selection for the main stage. Certainly one of Nashville’s finest actors, Chip Arnold, on playing the man, says, “Playing Rothko is a daunting responsibility . . .
NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 99
indeed, a frightening one. But like the proverbial moth drawn to the flame, I am drawn to what frightens me, what I don’t understand, and what could potentially harm or enlighten me.” Mark Rothko, a contemporary of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, was generally thought of as an abstract expressionist, although he rejected this and resisted the classification as an "abstract painter." “A picture lives by companionship,” explained Rothko, “expanding and quickening in the eyes of the sensitive observer. It dies by the same token. It is therefore a risky and unfeeling act to send it out into the world. How often it must be permanently impaired by the eyes of the vulgar and the cruelty of the impotent who would extend the affliction universally!” He even recommended that viewers position themselves as little as eighteen inches away from the canvas so that they might experience a sense of intimacy, a transcendence of the individual, and a sense of the unknown.
Benjamin Reed and Chip Arnold perform in RED
Chip Arnold: “For Rothko, I believe his main struggle was to envision and create art that brought the viewer into a transcendent state connecting their humanity with his own. Rothko sought ‘to capture the miraculous and put it onto canvas, stopping time’. Every creative act is an attempt to capture the miraculous, and when that is impossible to achieve, it can have a destructive effect on body and soul.” In the spring of 1968, Rothko was diagnosed with a mild aortic aneurysm. He continued to drink and smoke heavily, avoided exercise, and maintained an unhealthy diet. After a lifetime of depression, Rothko died by his own hand on February 25, 1970. He was sixty-six years old. Tennessee Repertory Theatre presents RED by John Logan, a rich and intellectually riveting play featuring Benjamin Reed, directed by René D. Copeland, and starring Chip Arnold as Mark Rothko. The Tennessee Repertory Theatre presents RED at TPAC’s Johnson Theater from February 15 to March 1 with previews February 13 and 14. For tickets, call 615-782-4040 or visit www.tennesseerep.org. The film version of Jim Reyland’s new play, STAND, performed across Middle Tennessee in 2012 as part of The Stand Project, is now available to stream at www.writersstage.com. Watch The STAND Film starring Barry Scott and Chip Arnold and directed by David Compton. And please consider a donation to support Room In The Inn. jreyland@audioproductions.com
Mark Rothko's Controversial Seagram Murals Set the Stage for the Rep's RED by Sara Lee Burd
M
ark Rothko’s Seagram Murals series provides a somber glimpse into the tension between dark nostalgia and a sense of impending doom. The 600-square-foot mural was commissioned to adorn the walls of the fashionable Four Seasons dining room located in the stylish new building on Park Avenue in New York City. The Seagram Building was designed by the then-popular, nowiconic modernist architects Philip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe. It represented the height of mid-century-modern ideals—truth in architecture, transparency of form—made in glass and steel. Therefore, it was a disappointing surprise that Rothko suddenly broke his contract and pulled his series from the building in 1959. At the time, the commission was considered the most prestigious public space granted to an abstract expressionist painter. Rothko painted in an abstract expressionist style, although he rejected any classification of his art. Abstract expressionist art is often credited with putting Manhattan on the map as a powerhouse in the art market. He had developed a particular niche within the broader expressionist vocabulary developed by Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, and Franz Kline, among others. He was considered a Colorist; he chose to communicate with viewers through the selection and application of color. He was appreciated during his time as an artist who wanted people to have a deep psychological, emotional, and spiritual connection by contemplating the process of creating shapes and the interaction of colors. A proper viewing of Rothko’s large-scale paintings involves meditation, reflection, and release. The path to create the Seagram series works had been overwrought with the artist’s bouts of insecurity, indecision, and anxiety. Even with discipline, the process was dark, and the resulting work revealed the struggle the creator faced. With help from his assistant Rothko made over thirty murals for a space that could fit only seven. Each canvas was covered in dark browns, dramatic maroons, and deep ochres that were intended to consume and imprison the rich patrons Rothko resented. He found fault in their taste for commercial art and feared their acceptance of his work would diminish his intentions. Perhaps the inherent prestige of the commission sealed its doom. The shock has never really worn off, as his reasons for reneging have not been satisfactorily explained. Whether out of concern that his work’s commercial success nulled the experience of his art or not, his suicide eleven years later suggests that the truth shines from a place of pain. See the Seagram Murals online at www.nga.org or www.tate.org.uk.
100 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
poet's corner
January Harvest Sly white blossoming in the night, scentless, without bees, matching moon for moon and stars for light. I climb the icy ridgetop path, daft in the perfume of no perfume, another brand of air, another kind of breath than advertised, a truculent preamble to promises of spring. The frozen creek is silent, cannot sing and cannot speak. Overnight, this orchard drops its melting bloom to fruit unseen and underneath, where deep below in hibernating rooms, roots, opening like windowblinds, are looking where to grow, engines powered up with snow. Every brittle leather leaf facing north and east cups a tablespoon of snow, the last cold blossoms left to go. That mute creek begins to speak, crawling under ice. In the barred and fallow dusk trees, unburdened, creak. Snow too is a season, a deadtime harvest dropped just when turning earth had stopped — an almanac for memory, like a poem.
– Brenda Butka Brenda Butka will present her poetry at the Poet's Corner at Scarritt-Bennett on February 27 at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. For more information visit www.scarrittbennett.org.
“When you mix art and music like Michael has done here, it’s phenomenal. It doesn’t get any better than this.” – Allen Toussaint legendary musician, composer, and producer. InstrumentHead art show, New Orleans 2013
Michael Weintrob's InstrumentHead
I
Junior Brown
by Lydia E. Denkler
nstrumentHead, a portrait project that has captured an eclectic array of musicians and characters from Bootsy Collins to King Sunny Ade with their trademark musical instruments in place of their heads, is the creation of New York-based artist Michael Weintrob. Weintrob, who has traveled the world photographing artists and bands for renowned publications including Rolling Stone, Spin, Jazz Times, and Newsweek, recently traveled to Nashville to collect more material for his ongoing series.
Bootsy Collins
Zakir Hussain
T
he artist’s idiosyncratic approach evolved from the need to create portraits that would stand out among the sea of famous photographers. Weintrob understands the strong bond between a musician and his/her instrument. He discloses, “I decided to place the instruments in front of their faces to blur the boundaries between each individual and the tools of their trade.”
choosing the musicians in his project the artist states, “Whether an individual is famous or an almost complete unknown, whether they play saxophone or sitar, the one thing they have in common is that music is central to everything they do.”
When asked to come up with a tagline to InstrumentHead, Weintrob says that the first thing that came to mind was, “Where their head’s really at,” though the artist wondered if this phrase was “a little contrived.” As he states, “I thought more about these intriguing, larger-than-life creatives for whom music is seemingly just as important as air and realized that ‘Where their head’s really at’ truly summed up the project.” Though InstrumentHead includes several famous musicians, Weintrob doesn’t search for only high-profile or instantly recognizable artists to be his subjects. In
After extensive travels throughout the United States looking for interesting musicians to include in InstrumentHead, Weintrob says Nashville was an obvious destination with its deep music roots and abundance of talent in multiple musical genres. While staying in Nashville with friend and saxophonist Jeff Coffin, best known for his work with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and more recently with the Dave Matthews Band, Weintrob set up shop in John Scarpati’s studio to photograph several Nashville musicians. His growing project has evolved to over three hundred portraits. For more information about Michael Weintrob and his work, please visit www.michaelweintrob.com.
Steven Bernstein NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 103
Perfect Silence, 2013/14, Oil on canvas, 36" x 48"
Field Notes
A Local Look at Global Art
Samantha French by Betsy Wills
T
his has been one cold winter in Nashville. Landlocked as we are, I find myself daydreaming of a beach vacation as I look out at the gray landscape. I muster appreciation for the wonder of four distinct seasons in an attempt to hang on, but the days seem to crawl.
Aqua Sunrise, 2013, Oil on canvas, 48" x 54"
Paintings by Samantha French nourish my summer fantasies during these dark months. What could be more inviting than the thought of a pool plunge in eighty-degree weather? The scale and exactitude of her work evoke the smell of Coppertone and chlorine and easily transport me to her underwater world. If only she could make my figure look that good in a bikini! 104 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Betsy Wills admits that she is blissfully ignorant when it comes to art curation and selection. She is, however, an avid art lover and collector and maintains the popular art blog artstormer.com. Wills is proud of the fact that her art does not match her sofa.
Float, 2013, Oil on canvas, 24" x 30"
Mid-morning Light, 2012, Oil on canvas, 48" x 60"
ARTIST BIO – SAMANTHA FRENCH Summer days spent at the lakes of Northern Minnesota inspire Samantha French’s recent paintings. Her work presents suspended moments depicting swimmers underwater complete with colorful swimsuits, air bubbles, and sunbeams bouncing off the ripples of the water. At first glance they appear photorealistic, but a closer look reveals that these works in oil fall apart into abstract forms. The style of her paintings points to French’s desire to evoke the nostalgic feelings of childhood. They are composed of bits of memories pulled together to represent the experience of tranquility and freedom felt when swimming. French received a degree in 2005 from Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She currently works in Brooklyn, New York, and exhibits her work internationally. Samantha French will be the guest artist at Groveland Gallery January 25 through March 1. For more information visit www.grovelandgallery.com and www.samanthafrench.com.
Just Below, 2013, Oil on canvas, 36" x 48"
Fall Back Surrender, 2012, Oil on canvas, 48" x 60" NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 105
ART SMART a monthly guide to art education
STATE OF THE ARTS
PHOTOGRAPH: JERRY ATNIP
Each month, these pages are filled with lush images and quotes from Nashville’s artists. With black-and-white photographers, dulcimer players, edgy choreographers, and intense stage performers, our city is awash in talent. According to recent studies, our city claims over 40,000 artists and creative workers. Many are known for their propensity to give back with their time, talent, and resources. In the coming months, Music Makes Us and Metro Arts hope to make it easier for singers, songwriters, luthiers, and arrangers to give their time where it matters most, in the classroom. Several years ago public- and private-sector leaders came together to form Music Makes Us, the Metro Schools-led effort to focus on music literacy and student participation while adding a contemporary curriculum that embraces new technologies and reflects a diverse musical landscape. During its first year, Music Makes Us launched new courses, added specialty faculty, and made hundreds of instruments available to students. Research conducted by MNPS indicates that students who engage in regular participation in music education exceed peers in attendance, ACT achievement, and graduations rates. Perhaps more important, qualitative data indicates that music education generates self-esteem, confidence, and connectivity to peers (Prelude: A Music Makes Us Baseline Report). In order to build on momentum and connect more students to music, this year Music Makes Us will:
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF METRO NASHVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
• Launch an online hub that will link community artists to classroom opportunities
Elementary students learn guitar through a partnership with Little Kids Rock
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF METRO NASHVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
by Jennifer Cole, Metro Nashville Arts Commission
Metro middle school orchestra students perform at the 2013 CMA-hosted All Stars Concert
• Establish a pooled fund to help more classroom teachers afford master classes and field trips These efforts will add to classroom capacity and support teachers where they are with what they need. We hope to facilitate both donations to the activity fund and community partner activation through a new online portal via www.musicmakesus.org. The goal is quite simple—connect our vast local resources to the emerging talent in our classrooms. Our hope is that every student in Nashville can experience music in a real-world setting, have expanded opportunities to perform in community settings, and regularly engage with working artists. We hope that band and choral instructors will have an opportunity to expand their professional skills and build on their craft. We believe this will make music real and practical and fun for students. This project will knit student experiences to real life—showing how chords and bars and beats connect with the larger world of music and community. It will be another step forward in showing how music makes us all better people, better artists, and better neighbors. To get involved or make a donation contact Laurie Schell, director of Music Makes Us, at laurie.schell@mnps.org. To read Prelude: A Music Makes Us Baseline Report visit http://bit.ly/1jdQIeT.
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SCHOLASTIC ART: HONORING EXCELLENCE by DeeGee Lester
At what point is artistic excellence recognized? When we reflect upon the talents of artists such as Andy Warhol or Red Grooms, fashion designer Zac Posen, or photographer Richard Avedon, it is natural to wonder: At what point was their talent first recognized at the national level as distinctive and worthy of notice? For these and many others, that turning point into artistic recognition came during their teen years as medalists in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, founded in 1923 by Maurice R. Robinson. Student works in all categories are selected based on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal vision/voice. The process demands blind judging (whereby jurors do not know the identities of students) and freedom of expression (whereby no work is disqualified on the basis of content). In 1994, the legacy and prestige of the awards were expanded with the establishment of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers creating a network of Regional Affiliates to administer the awards. Nationwide, more than 200,000 students submit works to top regional arts institutes and colleges in competition for awards, exhibition, and more than $40 million in scholarship opportunities.
For the twenty-third consecutive year, Cheekwood has proudly served as partner with the Alliance to host the regional art competition for Middle Tennessee. Eligible students from Davidson, Cheatham, Dickson, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, and Wilson counties submitted their artwork through an Online Registration System. Categories included art portfolio, architecture, ceramics & glass, comic art, design, digital art, drawing, fashion, film & animation, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. “The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition offers young artists profound ways to stretch themselves,” says Elizabeth Mask, art teacher at the University School of Nashville. “The competition gives them a platform where Beverly Warner, At the Right Moment, they can test their concepts, Drawing, Independence High present their highest level of School, Teacher: Andrea Howard execution, be critiqued by experienced jurors, and see their art exhibited in a professional setting.” The Student Art Competition and Exhibition at Cheekwood is presented through March 2 by the Tennessee Credit Union with winners eligible for scholarships provided by Watkins College of Art, Design and Film and Nossi College of Art. A panel of arts professors, artists, and museum curators selected the Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention recipients as well as five American Vision Nominees, considered the best of the exhibition. Gold Key and American Vision Nominees move on to national competition. Student excitement over participation in the Scholastic Arts Competition is well expressed by Vikka Schweer, a senior at Franklin High School, a 2014 Gold Key recipient, and American Vision Nominee: “I entered Scholastic for the first time last year and received a Gold Key and a Silver Key. I was so awestruck and inspired after seeing the other winners. I feel that looking at other photographers truly taught me how to turn a thought into a piece of art.”
Vikka Schweer, The Ante of Living, Photography, Franklin High School, Teacher: Melissa Estes
Julianna Lewis, Satyr-Model-Muse, Drawing, University School of Nashville, Teacher: Elizabeth Mask
Also achieving American Vision Nominee status were: Self-Portrait: Thought by Heather Hernandez of Ravenwood High School; At the Right Moment by Beverly Warner of Independence High School; Satyr-Model-Muse by Julianna Lewis of University School of Nashville; and In the Shadow of Monsters by Isaac Friedman of Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet. NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 107
FACE TO FACE A joint project between Antioch High School and the Frist showcases community artists by Stephanie Stewart-Howard Antioch High School senior Tristan Higginbotham says that while her school and Nashville neighborhood might not be renowned for attention to the arts, fine work is being done there. Fortunately, Tristan is in a position to make a difference as coordinator for this year’s Frist Antioch Community Exhibition (FACE). The project began when several teachers made a pilgrimage to the Frist in hopes of creating a projectbased learning platform involving Antioch students. The result was 2013’s inaugural FACE exhibition. For 2014, Tristan, who helped create last year’s event, has become the driving force with this as her senior capstone project.
Elecia Herrera, Stop Talking and Say Something, 2013, Mixed media on pizza box, 14.5” x 14.5”
“Most of what I’ve done has been marketing,” she says. “But the important part was the theme. I’d been blown away by a show at the Frist a couple of years ago: Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination. I wanted to do something like it; it inspired me. The idea for Transitions, Alterations, and Mutations came from my trying to explore that—I think the name changed about forty-seven times, but it ended up right.”
Tristan emphasizes this isn’t just a “high school thing.” They’ve worked hard to get submissions from around the community, including making multiple trips to Watkins and MTSU to encourage applicants. “It’s open to everyone,” she says. “Last year, we even had an elementary school student. This isn’t just a visit to a high school art show with stuff hung on the walls—it’s a true representation of the community, of all ages, and their different takes on the theme.”
Working with teachers Emma Lancaster (art) and Kyle Martindale (English), she recruited the judges, a terrific panel of the Frist’s Mark Scala, Karen Kwarciak of Cheekwood, and the Renaissance Center’s Andrea Steele, who juried the entries on December 9.
Last year was 2-D art only, but this show includes 3-D hanging pieces from an MTSU artist. “We’re still figuring stuff out,” Tristan says, waxing poetic about hanging the pieces at the Crossings Event Center in Antioch and deciding on exhibition wall color.
Joshua Petty, Caspian, 2013, Acrylic, oil, and epoxy on panel, 14” x 11”
The efforts required of her, including the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at the workings of the Frist via the museum’s exhibit designer Hans Schmitt-Matzen, have encouraged her to consider a career as a museum curator and turned her into a powerful cheerleader for art in the community at all levels. As it happens, the judges chose some of her work to hang at the show, so Tristan Higginbotham is represented in every aspect of FACE. The show is open to the community from February 20 through March 15, with a reception scheduled for 6 p.m. on February 20 at the Crossings Event Center. For more information, visit www.fristcenter.org.
David Anderson, Staring, 2013, Varnish and ink on polyester plate, 18” x 24”
Chuck Stephens, Shroud, 2013, Digital print on matte board, 11.5” x 30”
108 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
ON THE HORIZON: NASHVILLE SCHOOL OF THE ARTS Where Students Find Their Passion by Stephanie Stewart-Howard | Photography by Anthony Scarlati
Nashville School of the Arts (NSA) started as a magnet program within Pearl-Cohn in 1993 and became its own magnet high school beginning in 1997. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with four students to talk about their passions and what drives them to work in the toughest of professions. Each one underscored that while technologies and perspectives may change, the arts transcend generations, and creative kids still yearn to make something lasting. NSA brings those students together, providing the kind of environment where they can take artistic risks. These students make a commitment to their goals and live it; they provide evidence the future is going to be a good one.
MACHAELA CATHERINE NESLER
JOSEPH DILLON Senior Joseph Dillon says his study encompasses cinema, directing, producing, filmmaking, and theatre. Funny and well spoken, he sees a career in film in his future. He’s already made two student movies. “What I love is that everything is hands-on here. I’m learning the details of filmmaking, of lighting and camera angles, of theatrical production. NSA is a big family, especially the cinema students.” Dillon talks with enthusiasm about his advanced cinematography class and the history of human storytelling from cave paintings to early film. “My understanding has really evolved since I’ve been here. I mean, you can’t just start out if you don’t understand the basics behind the job descriptions. You have to learn, then apply it.”
Junior Machaela Catherine Nesler started at NSA studying primarily violin but switched to choir, as well as playing viola with the choir ensemble. “My real passion is for guitar,” she says, and her ultimate goal is songwriting. (She has her father, songwriter Mark Nesler, as inspiration.) Machaela gravitates toward folk music. “I think folk music has a certain realness to the lyrics that you don’t find in other genres. The words aren’t always easily self-explanatory, but they’re down to earth. And I love the instruments involved: mandolin, violin, guitar, steel guitar.” After high school, “I definitely plan on college. I think I’ll end up studying in a good music business program. I’ll keep up with songwriting, absolutely, but I’m not making final decisions about my path yet.” Machaela writes when she’s inspired, not on any schedule. “If something happens, I write. I do it when I feel I need to get something out. I’ll come back to look at it days later and to craft it into something away from the original emotions. Songwriting for me might be poking a wound, but as you write, you can sort of stitch it back together. It’s a healing process, better than Band-Aids.” Why NSA? It gives her a greater sense of family and togetherness than other schools. “We all have a passion for the arts; it’s what holds us together. There are just lots more opportunities here, where they mix arts and academics, than at other places.”
He plans on taking off for Columbia College Chicago, eventually studying abroad. British and European directors inspire him, and he hopes to learn more about their perspectives. “Filmmaking is m y p a s s i o n ,” Dillon says. “I know it’s not an easy task. In the arts, when you start out, it isn’t about money. But when you have a vision, you know it’s not all going to be handed to you. I want to give back, and I want to do something original, not just repeat others' ideas. You have to have originality or you are not going to get anywhere. And I’m lucky; I have the best cinema instructor Metro can offer.”
NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 109
BLAKE SKELTON Blake Skelton, a sophomore, plays piano, viola, and violin. “I home schooled, then I had a friend who went to NSA for violin, and I looked into it. It just all worked out perfectly. NSA had the best vibe.”
composer is twentieth-century master Fritz Kreisler, whom she appreciates both as a musician and a listener.
She says while she gets solid academic classes, she has enough music to feed her love of it, including private practice time. Every aspect of music “speaks to me— learning about it, getting to play, hearing music; that’s it. It calms and grounds me. It’s special to me.” It ’s c l a s s ic a l mu s ic foremost. “I love the Nashv il le Sy mphony. I’d live there if I could,” she says. Her favorite
SYDNEY HILLIARD Sydney Hilliard has danced since she was two years old, with a focus on ballet and modern dance. “My sister went [to NSA], and that’s how I knew about the programs,” she tells me. She balances the academic rigors of a regular high school with at least an hour and a half of dance technique classes plus history of dance. She’s currently dedicated to her Choreography 2 seminar, creating and producing her own 75-minute show. Asked about choreography, she says: “It’s just that I feel I can see different pictures in my head, and I love being able to put it on, creating something. Even if I’m not dancing in it myself, I feel I can inspire people.” Hilliard sees herself getting a bachelor’s degree in dance at Kennesaw State and perhaps eventually starting her own company. She’s not sure whether to stay in Nashville or go to the Atlanta area. She says, “There’s so much unrecognized talent around here, it would be nice to get to show it.” Inspired by Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, and local teachers Stacie Flood-Popp and Debra Perry, Hilliard says dance is harder than it looks. As beautiful as it seems, it takes an athletic prowess to accomplish. “It’s hard; it runs deep; it’s like a language for us. It’s just so much more than movement and pretty twirling. I think about the training the football players I know go through—I think ours is harder.” Honing both body and mind at NSA, she’s ready for the next challenges, mental and physical, that come to her. 110 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
On a typical day, Blake gets in quiet morning piano practice, then has piano class, followed by academics through sixth period, violin practice at lunch, online classes every other day, then geography, playing with the choir and working with others, English, then off after school to orchestra or a Monday class at the Blair School of Music. “It just works for me. I see myself going to a small liberal arts college, maybe studying music academics. As long as it involves music, I’ll be happy,” she says.
Beyond Words
by Marshall Chapman
PHOTO: ANTHONY SCARLATI
Target with no agenda . . . The longer I live, the more I’m convinced there’s a direct correlation between happiness and an absence of expectations.
Take what happened last week. My husband and I were going through a challenging period where he was dealing with health issues and I’d just come off the road. This was just before Christmas, which could’ve added more stress to the situation had we not decided we weren’t going to do anything for Christmas that involved making a list. Chris was sitting at his computer when I walked in and suggested we go to Target. “I thought we weren’t going to shop this year,” he said. “We’re not. Let’s just go and see what happens. They have a Starbucks, you know.” Chris remained skeptical. “Let’s just go and observe,” I added. “We’ll experience Target. Think of it as an anthropological expedition.” Ten minutes later, we’re walking the aisles of Target. Within seconds, I spy some magazine holders. “Oh, look! Magazine holders. I’ve been wanting some of those forever.” Then, “Oh, here’s a Lucite one!” I go in search of a red shopping cart. Next, we’re cruising the food section. I pick up a container of ripe blackberries while Chris goes off in search of pita chips. Then I spot a jar of sliced olives with pimentos. I suddenly remember how, as a child, I used to love making sliced-olive-and-pimento sandwiches with mayonnaise slathered on white bread. “Where’s the white bread?” I ask. Chris looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. We are both fairly health conscious when it comes to our diets.
Be Ours this Valentine’s Day!
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When we arrived at Men’s Clothing, a pair of gray fleece pants with white skull and crossbones printed all over them caught my eye. So, naturally, I tried them on. “Can I wear these out of here?” I asked the dressing-room attendant.
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As it turned out, Target had every brand imaginable—Wonder, Blue Ribbon, Bunny Bread, you name it. They even had half loaves of Bunny—called Baby Bunny Bread—so I tossed one in the cart.
“They don’t let you do that any more,” she said. After going through checkout, I ducked into the ladies’ room near the exit, where I quickly changed into my new skull-and-crossbones pants. I glanced at my iPhone and noticed the date—December 18. Keith Richards’ birthday, I thought. Perfect. www.tallgirl.com
NashvilleArts.com
February 2014 | 111
On the Town with Ted Clayton
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRALYN STOKES
We are presently into the second month of 2014 . . . how did we get here so fast? I always have heard that time passes quickly the older one gets; well, hold on, for I am on a fast train from party to party. Social media coverage has changed over my lifetime as the social affairs have also. Private entertaining in one’s home with hundreds of guests invited has almost become extinct, for so many social affairs in today’s time are based on charitable patrons fundraising. The parties are still most grand, in fact somewhat more sophisticated than in decades past. I fear to say that Betty Banner would have a somewhat difficult time in present-day social coverage. I can remember, from when I was a very young boy, the lavish cocktail dinner parties that my grandparents, Emily and Ted Murray, would host at their home, Murray Hill, in Brentwood. I was always spitshined and ready to be seen (for only a very short time) and constantly reminded that I was to be seen and not heard. Funny, that has not changed Bill Knestrick and Skippy Nashville – over the decades! Knestrick Mad Men Dinner
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRALYN STOKES
In the height of the social tradition of the 1930s the big city museums were for the rich; they had little influence in the art world and were never ever used for wedding receptions or dinner dances. Painting, sculptures, and other works of fine art were for the wealthy to enjoy in the privacy of their own palaces (but I do realize that the wealthy patrons were the financial support of the museums). In the 30s there were art supporters such as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (Museum of Modern Art) that saw the importance of having their own museums. For the most part entertaining took place in the grand and imposing estates, well-decorated townhouses, and private
Ted Clayton, Kimberly Fredrickson and Tim Kennedy, Ben Miller and Elizabeth Porter, Kristen Lowrance and Steve Mitchell, Hugh Howser, Amber Chapman and Skippy Nashville, seated: Stephanie Craven and Bill Knestrick – Knestrick Mad Men Dinner
clubs. Gracious hostesses of the day included Thelma Foy, Birdie Vanderbilt, and Elsa Maxwell, all known worldwide as leading New York hostesses. Entertaining in Nashville takes place today usually to host a Van Pond, Margaret Purall, David patrons party for charities or Glasgow – Tastefully Unpredictable the fine arts. Still welcoming hundreds of guests to their homes are Nashville’s finest grand dames of society, including Ellen Martin, Margaret Ann Robinson, Alice Hooker, Kate Grayken, the Eskinds, the Frists, the Ingrams, and many more generous benefactors of the arts, among them of course the Frist family for their contribution of the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
Joe Burchfield and Megan Casey – Tastefully Unpredictable
The socials of the 30s dressed for the evenings, ladies in long dresses, jewels, and furs escorted by their gentlemen in black tie or often white tie. Suits and skirts were seen only in the balcony of the opera and symphony halls; never ever was one seen in street clothing at a social affair. Life for the socials in this period was, in the words of Cole Porter, “delightful, delicious and delovely” just as it is today in Nashville, the “It” social city!
Speaking of private dinner parties, which I usually do not cover, there is one Nashville bachelor that knows how to entertain in style with all the bells and whistles. Bill Knestrick hosted a Merry Mad Men dinner party at his Green Hills Spanish villa during the holiday season (of course I was an invited guest or you would not be reading this). The seated, most elegant dinner was done in 60s style, with his table adorned with Heather Thorne and Paul Vasterling silver candelabras, satin-banded – Tastefully Unpredictable damask table cloth with accompanying linen, hem-stitched, monogrammed napkins. The china and crystal were patterns of the era, with floral arrangements typical of the period. The dinner menu was most 60s style with beef Wellington as the main entrée. So you see, we still do entertain in Gary Tisdale and Nick Stephens grand style in our homes. I must – Tastefully Unpredictable Chuck Rapp and Joseph Gregory – Tastefully Unpredictable
112 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
Artist Eric Nye – Artclectic
Chairs Kelly Linton, Carrington Fox, Arnita Ozgener – Artclectic
mention that Bill did have event planner to the stars Hugh Howser to help out with last-minute details, and we must remember that behind every mad man there is a sexy, lovely lady as was the case with Stephanie Craven. Yes, 2013 was just that sort of a social Mad Men year!
screen with a colorful marker and it shows up life size—you know one of those computerized toys. The digital screen was a hit, and I must say the possibilities are endless with a paint marker, LOL.
Another holiday party of note during the Christmas season was hosted by Nashville's wild and crazy Myles Maillie. Myles hosted some three hundred folks on a cold and rainy December evening at his White House on White Avenue. Festive holiday attire was seen, as many of the guests were on a party marathon that evening, party hopping from one celebration to another. If you have never been to the Maillie White House it is a must, and believe me, Mr. Personality Maillie will welcome you with open arms. Myles Maillie (in 3-piece suit) and friends – Maillie Holiday Party
There were a few outstanding events held at the end of last year that I want to share with you. Nashville GLBT Chamber of Commerce’s second annual Tastefully Unpredictable Party was held at Oz. Local restaurants showcased the culinary skills of some of the city’s most talented chefs. Bruce Pittman, a member of the Chamber Board, headed this affair and was oh so busy greeting enthusiastic and hungry patrons Gary Tisdale and Nick Stephens, Keith Sullivan and Matthew Corti, Van Pond Al Taylor and Jackie Karr – Maillie Holiday Party and David Glasgow, Heather Thorne and Paul Vasterling. OK, I know you are waiting to know my favorite food station: Charles Phillips and Dario Olivera of 1808 Grille prepared my favorite, Tuna Poke. Almost forgot to mention that Spangler Entertainment provided a new form of social entertainment, a digital graffiti wall where one paints on a
Artcletic, Nashville’s premier juried art show and sale, was held last season at the University School. Carrington Fox, Kelly Linton, and Arnita Ozgener hosted this artisan pop-up market. A super-great patrons party was held Scott and Katie Isaacs – the night before the show opened Artclectic to the public, where friends were busy grazing the wonderful creations. Libby Page, Anne Blake and Judson Rogers, Katie and Scott Isaacs, Amy Garrison and Tom Curtis were seen enjoying this artful evening. Of course I got in trouble with my favorite glass designer, but come on now, I did not have a pair of aqua-coloredRoger Spencer and Lori Mechem glass deer antlers in my collection. – Jazzmania A jazzy fundraiser, Jazzmania, an annual event supporting the Nashville Jazz Workshop, was held at the Factory in Franklin. Delicious food by Sargent’s Fine Catering, live and silent auctions, and, of course, phenomenal jazz music by some of the world’s most talented musicians, including the one and only Kirk Whalum. Sophia and Zac Forbes, Workshop directors Roger Spencer and Lori Mechem, Jonathan Hornel, Kit and Brook Babcock, Honorary Chair Ken Roberts with lovely wife, Delphine, and Ellen Pryor were snapping on 2 and 4!
Ellen Pryor, Ken Roberts, Kathy Millem, Delphine Roberts – Jazzmania
NashvilleArts.com
Hope everyone stays warm during this cold winter season, and I look forward to seeing all at the upcoming Antiques and Garden Show at the Music City Center. February 2014 | 113
My Favorite Painting
Franciscus (Frans) Everbag, Noodermarkt Amsterdam, 1938
C harlotte V ermeeren Founder of VLC International
M
y family has been collecting art and antiques as long as I can remember. I have fond memories of browsing for treasures at the Marché aux Puces and visiting museums growing up in the Netherlands and Paris, but of all the art we bought on our adventures, my favorite work is the print that used to hang at my grandparents’ home. Then at my parents’ house and now it hangs in mine.
This past November Oma died, and we found her journal. She talks openly about the war and her participation in the resistance. She wrote that even though her part was minor she helped her neighbors with shelter, food, and taking care of whomever needed it. Now when I walk past the Dutch print I see Oma on the square, going about her business and being irrepressible in dark times. Though this print has been my favorite for years it now has more meaning. After all, we lost a lot of family members during the war. To contact Vermeeren visit www.vlcinternational.com. 114 | February 2014 NashvilleArts.com
PHOTOGRAPH: JOHN JACKSON
One day my grandmother, Oma, saw me dreaming at the print. She said, “Do you know what makes this so special?” It shows life in Amsterdam in 1938 when the Nazis occupied Holland. It reminded her of how resilient the Dutch are. Despite the fear of bombs dropping and neighbors being taken out of their homes never to be seen again the print shows extraordinary people striving to lead their ordinary lives.
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