Warren GREENE Michael THEISE Cristina SPINEI Tara WALTERS Abstract NASHVILLE
MUSIC CITY’S FIRST INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR
OCTOBER 17th - 21st 2018
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
www.art-nashville.com | +1.615.521.7041 | @art_nashville in collaboration with:
Image Courtesy of Contessa Gallery: Brendan Murphy (B. 1971 - ) Way Beyond the Roses, 2018
M A DZO I Look For Myself, Reaching Into This Infinite Surprise 45x21, collage with cotton thread
Leiper’s Creek Gallery in Historic Leiper’s Fork
4144 Old Hillsboro Road, Franklin TN 37064 (615) 599-5102 • www.leiperscreekgallery.com
SMILE Debuted Statewide in Nashville New and Minimally-invasive Surgery for Myopia (Nearsightedness) is First Major Advance in LASIK Technology in 25 Years, Reducing Dependence on Glasses and Contacts which causes the corneal shape to change, permanently changing the prescription. SMILE has a proven track record of success. It has been used internationally since 2011 and more than 750,000 procedures have been performed worldwide. Dr. Wang noted that currently, the procedure has not been approved to treat large amounts of astigmatism and cannot treat farsightedness and that LASIK is still a better option for a majority of the patients seeking laser vision correction.
The first major advance in LASIK technology in 25 years, the SMILE procedure, was performed in Nashville recently at Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center by its director, internationally renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Ming Wang, Harvard & MIYT (MD, magna cum laude); PhD (laser physics). “We are extremely very excited to be the first again to introduce the next generation laser correction procedure to the state, helping out patients with this new and minimally invasive procedure,” said Dr. Wang. Myopia is a common eye condition in which close objects can be seen clearly but distant objects are blurry without correction. LASIK and PRK have been the main stay treatments for myopia for over two decades. But SMILE, which stands for SMall Incision Lenticule Extraction, has unique advantages over LASIK. The SMILE surgery is minimally invasive as the surgeon needs only to create a small, precise opening to correct vision. No flap is needed. The laser incision is smaller than 5 millimeters for SMILE, compared to approximately 20 millimeters for LASIK. This helps the cornea to retain more of its natural strength and reduces
the risk of rare flap complications. Dry eye after SMILE is also reduced compared with LASIK, as nerves responsible for tear production during the cornea remain more intact in SMILE. One of the state’s first SMILE patients was Margaret Coleman, 34, a manager of the world-famous Bluebird Café, in Nashville, which was prominently featured in the ABC TV drama Nashville, among others. Ms. Coleman has had poor eyesight all of her life, legally blind in both eyes without correction. Ms. Coleman’s 3D Laser SMILE procedure went beautifully and she is thrilled to have her crystal clear new vision and newly gained independence on glasses or contacts and being one of the first patients in the state to receive SMILE! “I am so happy!!!” exclaimed Margaret at her postop visit. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the VisuMax Femtosecond Laser for SMILE procedure for -1 to -8 D myopia with up to 0.5D astigmatism. During a SMILE procedure, a femtosecond laser with precise short pulses is used to make small incision in the cornea to create a discshaped piece of tissue. This tissue is then removed by the surgeon though the opening
Dr. Ming Wang, a Harvard & MIT graduate (MD, magna cum laude), is the CEO of Aier-USA, Director of Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center and one of the few laser eye surgeons in the world today who holds a doctorate degree in laser physics. He has performed over 55,000 procedures, including on over 4,000 doctors. Dr. Wang published 8 textbooks and a paper in the world-renowned journal Nature, holds several US patents and performed the world’s first laser-assisted artificial cornea implantation. He established a 501c(3) non-profit charity, Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration, which to date has helped patients from more than 40 states in the U.S. and 55 countries, with all sight restoration surgeries performed free-of-charge. Dr. Wang is the Kiwanis Nashvillian of the Year. Dr. Ming Wang can be reached at: Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center, 1801 West End Ave, Ste 1150 Nashville, TN 37203, 615-321-8881 drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com www.wangcataractLASIK.com
PUBLISHED BY THE ST. CLAIRE MEDIA GROUP
www.facebook.com/NashvilleArts www.twitter.com/NashvilleArts www.pinterest.com/NashvilleArts
www.nashvillearts.com Editorial & Advertising Offices 644 West Iris Drive, Nashville, TN 37204 615-383-0278
Editorial PAUL POLYCARPOU Publisher and CEO paul@nashvillearts.com REBECCA PIERCE Managing Editor rebecca@nashvillearts.com MADGE FRANKLIN Copy Editor
Advertising SAM JACO 615-383-0278 sam@nashvillearts.com
Design WENDI K. POWELL Graphic Designer
Distribution WOUTER FELDBUSCH & NEAL VOSBERG
Subscriptions & Customer Service 615-383-0278
Business Office MOLLYE BROWN 644 West Iris Drive, Nashville, TN 37204
Editorial Interns SYDNEY BOZEMAN Belmont University NICOLE LEONARD Western Kentucky University TYLER REINA Belmont University
Columns HUNTER ARMISTEAD FYEye MARSHALL CHAPMAN Beyond Words LINDA DYER Appraise It JOSEPH E. MORGAN Sounding Off ANNE POPE Tennessee Roundup JIM REYLAND Theatre Correspondent MARK W. SCALA As I See It LIZ CLAYTON SCOFIELD Pocket Lint JILL MCMILLAN Arts & Business Council
Nashville Arts Magazine is a monthly publication by St. Claire Media Group, LLC. This publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one magazine from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office, or by mail for $6.70 a copy. Email: All email addresses consist of the employee’s first name followed by @nashvillearts.com; to reach contributing writers, email info@ nashvillearts.com. Editorial Policy: Nashville Arts Magazine covers art, news, events, entertainment, and culture in Nashville and surrounding areas. The views and opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are available at $45 per year for 12 issues. Please note: Due to the nature of third-class mail and postal regulations, issues could be delayed by as much as two or three weeks. There will be no refunds issued. Please allow four to six weeks for processing new subscriptions and address changes. Call 615-383-0278 to order by phone with your credit card number.
THE RYMER GALLERY presents
July 6–31, 2018 The Rymer Gallery / 233 Fifth Avenue / Nashville 37219 / 615.752.6030 / www.therymergallery.com
5 T H AV E N U E O F T H E A R T S DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE
HISTOR IC FR A NK LIN TEN NESSEE
C A ROL
E VA N S
July Featured Artist
202 2nd Ave. South, Franklin, TN 37064 www.gallery202art.com • 615-472-1134
PAINTINGS | JULY 7-26
THE
arts
COMPANY
theartscompany.com 5TH AVENUE OF THE ARTS • DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE
JULY 2018
38 Point of View John Jackson
76 Soul Stirring Salsa! From Nashville to Havana, Cuba
40 The Susan Basham Collection
84 Pam Barrett Hackett The Place Between Paint & Perception
NASHVILLE ARTS MAGAZINE
44 Caitlin Mello Does the Time Warp Again with Her Presidential Portraits
On the Cover
48 Warren Greene Feel Free to Touch
88
Ed Barnes Vases and Vessels Exquisitely Crafted with Mind Boggling Precision and Accuracy
48 88
Columns
Kenton Nelson, Food Service 2007, Oil on canvas, 48” x 48” Kenton Nelson is a contemporary American artist working out of Southern California. Upcoming exhibitions include an August show with Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska, www.ruzicska.com, in Salzburg, Austria, and a fall show with Peter Mendenhall Gallery, www.petermendenhallgallery.com, in Los Angeles. See more of his work at www.kentonnelson.com.
54 Michael Theise The Detail Is in the Detail
54
Portia de Rossi Brings Her General Public Collection of Synograph™ Paintings to The Gallery at Green Hills
22 Q&A with Cristina Spinei 25 The Other Side of Erie Chapman Dane Carder Studio
75 Sounding Off by Joseph E. Morgan 90 ArtSee 96 Art Smart by Rebecca Pierce 102 Theatre by Jim Reyland 104 NPT 108 The Bookmark Hot Books and Cool Reads
60 Abstract Nashville Bill Hobbs: Sculpture in the Sky
109 Beyond Words by Marshall Chapman 110 My Favorite Painting
60
29 Ashley Mintz Breaking the Cycle
68
34 Tara Walters Smoke on the Canvas
34
72 Arts & Business Council
94 Poet’s Corner
Features 14
18 Crawl Guide
64 Tyler Mahan Coe Cocaine & Rhinestones 68 Gorgeous Watercolors Take Center Stage
UNDER CONTRACT
NEW PRICE
306 DEERWOOD LANE | $1,980,000
525 EXCALIBUR COURT | $1,649,000
Gorgeous Southern Living Home on 3 private acres. Sitting room adjoining upstairs guest suite. Second floor expansion area roughed in for a bath. Unfinished basement with rough in for bath and bar.
Exquisite brick & stone home. Two story entry, paneled study, elevator. Chef ’s kitchen open to breakfast & family room. Enclosed porch with fireplace. Bonus room & theater.
NEW LISTING
FRANKLIN
1939 BRISTOL COURT | $1,599,900
5815 STILL HOLLOW ROAD | $1,599,000
421 YORKSHIRE GARDEN CIRCLE | $1,499,900
Exquisite custom built home perfect in every way. No detail overlooked. Superior location with the closest proximity to Nashville with Brentwood Schools. Fabulous view.
Incredible mid-century modern home. Chef ’s kitchen with custom finishes open to great room & dining. Master on main with walk-in closet. Rooftop terrace. Perfect for entertaining.
Elegant traditional home nestled on a private lot backing to common area. Marble foyer with sweeping staircase. Walnut hardwood floors, all bedrooms ensuite & big rec room.
LENOX PARK
STOCKETT CREEK
NEW LISTING - STOCKETT CREEK
HOMES AT WOODMONT
GREEN HILLS
1023 STOCKETT DRIVE | $1,299,900
3000 STRICKLAND DRIVE | $1,299,900
3623 WOODMONT BLVD | $1,040,000
3705 A & B ESTES ROAD| $949,900 EACH
GREEN HILLS
SOLD
UNDER CONTRACT
UNDER CONTRACT
KIRTLAND RESIDENCES | $675,000-990,000
1829 STRYKER PLACE| $1,499,900
2310 BELMONT BOULEVARD | $850,000
316 CHALFORD COURT | $695,000
SOLD
SOLD
SOLD
SOLD
7209 PRAIRIE FALCON DRIVE | $1,625,000
8 VELLANO COURT | $1,369,000
3619 WOODMONT BLVD| $1,200,000
403 BRIERLY COURT | $1,189,800
LAURA BAUGH 615.330.3051
The Baugh Group
worth properties, llc laurabaugh3@gmail.com | jkcooke@aol.com | cherylf@worthproperties.com
JENNIFER COOKE CHERYL FLEMING 615.406.4844 615.202.4466
BRENTWOOD WITH RESORT STYLE POOL
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
291 JONES PARKWAY | $3,750,000 European style home on private lot. Cooks kitchen with Calcutta Gold marble. Walnut hardwoods, 6 ensuite bedrooms, theater, resort pool with slide, cabana, outdoor kitchen, large yard, fireplace & bath.
SHARI LACY July 1-31
BRENTWOOD
5005 MOUNTVIEW PLACE | $2,950,000 Exquisite new home on 3 acres. Quality built with open floor plan, beautiful moldings, designer finishes. Master suite with marble bath, steam shower & HUGE closet. Finished daylight basement with safe room. Geothermal heat & air.
BETTER THAN NEW
Follow the Journey, Mixed media on canvas, 48” x 36”
1222 OLD HICKORY BOULEVARD | $2,199,000 Stunning private, gated estate! Hardwoods throughout, designer finishes & study with custom barn door. All bedrooms ensuite. Huge chef ’s kitchen open to family room & breakfast room. Upstairs media room & exercise room.
107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net www.yorkandfriends.com LAURA BAUGH 615.330.3051(M) | 615.250.7880 (O) LAURABAUGH3@GMAIL.COM
Follow us on
at York & Friends Fine Art
Courtesy of RH
WORDS Gina Piccalo
A
mid the clamor and excitement of Restoration Hardware’s glamorous grand opening of The Gallery at Green Hills, Portia de Rossi demurely describes her new endeavor: creating exact replicas of original art with 3-D printing. “I really did think if we can 3-D print pretty much anything, why can’t we print a painting?” she explains, perched inside one of RH Nashville’s elegantly appointed rooms. “And why can’t we get all of that articulation and texture that’s on the original? And why can’t we reproduce it exactly?” De Rossi is a longtime art lover and avid collector with her wife, Ellen DeGeneres. The walls of their Beverly Hills home are adorned with the work of Mark Grotjahn, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Andy Warhol. But with every purchase, de Rossi says, she felt guilty that these genius works wouldn’t be accessible to more people.
Portia de Rossi
Brings Her General Public Collection of Synograph™ Paintings to The Gallery at Green Hills
Out of that guilt, her Los Angeles-based art curation and publishing company, General Public, was born. In just eighteen months, she and her brother, Michael Rogers, collaborated with Fujifilm to create “synographs,” de Rossi’s trademarked name for the process of mass-producing exact replicas of original paintings. The rapid startup required a steep learning curve. De Rossi says she spent months in the back of print shops all over the country testing a wide range of ink colors and textures so the results were as authentic as the original. “When I started digging around, I saw there were a couple companies that had gone into museums [in Amsterdam] and taken Van Goghs off the wall and reproduced them,” de Rossi says. “To make them commercially available was a whole other process with different equipment from scanner to software. Nobody has really printed a brushstroke until now.” Synograph™ uses super-high-resolution scanners to read the subtle nuance of a brush stroke. Proprietary software transfers the image to wide-format printers that drop ink that cures instantly on wood, canvas, metal, or paper. General Public launched in mid-May with four categories: Colorfield, which features abstract expressionism; Found Art, which includes Paris Flea Market portraits and still lifes; General Public Domain, featuring old-master works updated by contemporary artists; and Studio Marks, which showcases an artist’s technique and craftsmanship. Their General Public collection is exclusively curated for RH Modern, a division of Restoration Hardware, and available in more than 100 stores nationally. Flemish painter Koen Lybaert, Dutch artist Paul van Rij, Kali Sanders, and American painter Seb Sweatman are included in the collection. The pieces range from $500 to $4,000. Artists get to keep their original and earn royalties on every sale. na General Public’s collection, including its RH Modern collection, can be found at www.generalpublic.art.
Kali Sanders, Plus 14
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
H AY N E S G A L L E R I E S PRESENTS
PETER POSKAS: TIMELESS PLACES THROUGH SEPTEMBER 8, 2018
INQUIRIES: GARYHAYNES@HAYNESGALLERIES.COM OR PHONE 615.430.8147 OR 615.312.7000. HAYNESGALLERIES.COM
New Work by
WANDA CHOATE
Red River Tatoo, Oil on panel, 48” x 36”
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
Warren Greene & Lisa Weiss through July 28
www.cumberlandgallery.com | 615 297 0296 | 4107 Hillsboro Circle
July Crawl Guide Franklin Art Scene
Friday, July 6, from 6 until 9 p.m. Experience historic downtown Franklin and see a variety of art during the Franklin Art Scene. Gallery 202 is featuring the work of encaustic painter Carol Evans. Finnleys is hosting Sheila Smith, who specializes in portraiture of pets, people, and homes. At Imaginebox Emporium find an Misty Westebbe, The Purple Butterfly array of original works painted using multiple mediums by Cory Basil. Franklin First United Methodist Church is showcasing the photography of Sharon Brown Christopher. Enjoy work by artist Jennifer Gibbs at Onyx & Alabaster. Outdoor Classic Structures is exhibiting recent figurative, abstract, and expressionistic Ashley Trabue, Outdoor Classic Structures paintings by Ashley Trabue. Photographer Misty Westebbe is presenting a variety of landscapes from rural America to Greece and still-life subjects at The Purple Butterfly. Williamson County Archives is showing paintings by artist Barbara Bullard. Williamson County Visitor Center is featuring the winners of the 2018 My Historic Franklin Photo Contest: David Henderson for Best Landscape; Robert Clutsam for Best Architecture; and Kevin Coffey, the Instagram Peoples’ Choice Winner. See works by painter Katie Neal at Parks on Main. The Coffee House is hosting Susan Charest and her drawings on wood. For more information and the trolley schedule, visit www.downtownfranklintn.com/the-franklin-art-scene.
First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown
Saturday, July 7, from 6 until 9 p.m. Enjoy an evening of art under the lights on 5th Avenue. The Arts Company is unveiling Introducing Cassidy Cole, a series of abstract mixed-media paintings in which the artist translates her experiences onto canvas and paper using color, lines, and textures. Tinney Contemporary is showing work by Cecil Touchon and Niels Shoe Meulman. The Rymer Gallery is opening Cisco Kid vs. Donald Trump, works by Kosmo Vinyl. Cecil Touchon, Tinney Contemporary The Browsing Room is presenting Artists at Work: Resident Artists of the Downtown Presbyterian Church, an exhibition of work by DPC artists Tom Veirs, Cary Gibson, Megan Lightell, Lauryn Peacock, Hans Schmitt-Matzen, Sarah Shearer, and Richard Feaster.
Megan Lightell, The Browsing Room
In the historic Arcade, The Gallery of Andy Anh Ha is featuring the work of Andy Anh Ha, which is reflective of natural elements—water, earth, and sky—and Valerie Levkulich, Rogue Gallery 77 consists of a mixture of mediums to create texture. The working studio Wolf and Crow Gallery is showcasing resident artist Emily Cathcart, as well as local artists Diane Lee and Bill Schumm. Rogue Gallery 77 is exhibiting The Ancient Series, featuring Valerie Levkulich and her Egyptian- and Greek-themed paintings in Mosaic Pointillism. Join in the grand opening celebration of DBO Gallery, the brainchild of artist Olasubomi Aka-Bashorun who has teamed up with Sam Welch, and Kim Barry. Work by Bashorun, Welch, Barry, and Stephen Shellenberger will be on view. Alexis Marie Thompson is the musical guest. Mary Hong Gallery is launching Jumper Maybach: The Pride Collection: INTROSPECTION, a series of work created by Jumper to show his love and support for the LGBT community in addition to all those taking part in the #MeToo movement.
Hatch Show Print’s The Haley Gallery is showing Sonnenzimmer’s Shape Song, the collective work of artists Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi. For parking and trolley information, visit www.nashvilledowntown.com/play/firstsaturday-art-crawl.
Uptown Crossing Parking Garage
The corner of West End and 21st Avenues On your way from the First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown to Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston, stop by Uptown Crossing Parking Garage to see Brian Tull’s three large-scale murals including The Highway Has Always Been Your Lover. The murals vary in size, with the largest being around 50’ long by 11’ tall.
Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston
Saturday, July 7, from 6 until 9 p.m. From Hagan to Houston to Chestnut and beyond, Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston offers a broad range of artistic experience. Julia Martin Gallery is featuring their annual group exhibition, BEVY, including work by artists Andrew Weir, Beizar Aradini, Bill Miller, R. Ellis Orrall, John Paul Kesling, Keavy Murphree, Megan Watkins, Rachel Wayne, Sharan Ranshi, and
John Paul Kesling, Julia Martin Gallery
East Side Art Stumble
Saturday, July 14, from 6 until 10 p.m. Take a drive down Gallatin Pike to Red Arrow Gallery for the opening of The Smell of Honeysuckle by multi-media artist Molly Barnes and Myth and Ethos by Tara Walters (see page 34). The Green Gallery at Turnip Green Creative Reuse is hosting an opening reception for Little Pieces, the 4th annual group exhibition of the Nashville Collage Collective, which features miniature, mixed-media works by 37 artists with a focus on experimentation and the use of recycled and found materials. Nashville Community Darkroom is exhibiting silver-gelatin prints of 35mm black-and-white
Molly Barnes, Red Arrow Gallery
Gwil Owen, The Green Gallery
Germantown Art Crawl
Saturday, July 21, from 6 until 9 p.m. Tour the non-traditional art spaces of Germantown to see an array of artworks by a variety of artists. As you make your way through the neighborhood, stop at these key art spots: 100 Taylor Arts Collective, Abednego, Wilder, Bits & Pieces, Bearded Iris Brewing, and Alexis & Bolt. For updates and more information, visit www.facebook.com/ germantownartcrawl.
Jefferson Street Art Crawl
Saturday, July 28, from 6 until 9 p.m. The Jefferson Street Art Crawl offers a unique and inspiring artistic experience. Art History Class will be held at the Susie B. McJimpsey Center. “Sitting at the Welcome Table” celebrates Black culinary traditions while examining related histories of dispossession and displacement since the Emancipation Proclamation. Join artist Thaxton Waters and guest speakers for a history lesson focusing on latchkey diets. The Nashville artist and cook Viktor Lee will prepare special tastings inspired by the discussion; first come, first served. Cultural Visions Art is presenting a beautifully diverse art exhibit featuring talented artists from around the world, including Ephraim Urevbu (Nigeria), Essud Fungcap (Haiti), William Toliver (Atlanta, Georgia), HC Porter and Eric Jones (both from Vicksburg, Mississippi). Woodcuts Gallery and Framing is featuring work by Jairo Prado. One Drop Ink is showing a collection of cigar boxes painted by Omari Booker. Please stay updated and view the map at Facebook.com/JSACTN.
Omari Booker, One Drop Ink
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Ephraim Urevbu, Cultural Visions Art
Christina Renfer Vogel, David Lusk Gallery
Chloe York, Channel To Channel
Tara Walters. At David Lusk Gallery, David Onri Anderson, Christina Renfer Vogel and KJ Schumacher bring together their works in ripple | nature | bodies, an exhibition that navigates the spaces between interpretation and description. Zeitgeist is hosting an opening reception for guncotton, a multidisciplinary exhibition of dance, video, sound, and sculpture by Banning Bouldin of New Dialect and artist Greg Pond. abrasiveMedia is presenting LookMirrorBreakPoint and Eyes Up, Nickels Down, a collaboration by sculptor Brian Somerville and performance artist Rebekah Alexander during which Alysha Irisari Malo will perform her new poetry. See work by Chloe York at Channel To Channel. COOP is hosting an opening reception for StudentTeacher, an exhibition that experiments with the mixing up of roles. Crosstown Arts resident Mike Calway-Fagen in collaboration with Provo, Utah-based artist Julian Harper present works by dancers, composers, visual artists, and filmmakers. The Silo at Track One is having a Pop Up exhibition with live electronic music in support of Twisted Scripture, a new limited-edition artist publication and mixtape curated by Leslie Deere. For more information, visit www.artsmusicweho.wordpress.com.
street photography by Chattanooga artist William Johnson. Johnson’s work, mostly portraits shot in Tennessee, is gritty, humorous, and distinctly Southern. Live music will be provided by Skyway Man. Southern Grist Brewery is showing photography by Elizabeth Ratliff of Elle Jackson Photography. For updates on the East Side Art Stumble, visit www.facebook. com/eastsideartstumble.
19
1577 MORAN RD $8,500,000 1577moran.com
Rick French 615.604.2323
21 NORTHUMBERLAND $4,799,000 21northumberland.com
Rick French 615.604.2323
1641 WHISPERING HILLS $3,490,000 1641whisperinghills.com Rick French 615.604.2323
2032 OLD HILLSBORO RD $2,999,950 2032oldhillsboro.com Rick French 615.604.2323
2021 FRANSWORTH $2,795,000 2021fransworth.com Rick French 615.604.2323
5400 STANFORD DR $2,650,000 5400stanford.com Rick French 615.604.2323, Tim King 615.482.5953
320 VAUGHN RD $2,499,000 320vaughn.com Rick French 615.604.2323 Co-Listed with Alison Douglas 615.305.6978
144 STEEPLECHASE LANE $2,475,000 144steeplechase.com Rick French 615.604.2323, Tim King 615.482.5953
1154 TRAVELERS RIDGE $2,250,000 1154travelersridge.com Rick French 615.604.2323
3821 WEST END AVE UNIT 301 $1,949,000 3821westend301.com Tim King 615.482.5953
4913 MAYMANOR CIRCLE $1,890,000 4913maymanorcircle.com Rick French 615.604.2323, Tim King 615.482.5953
715 BELLE MEADE BLVD PENTHOUSE $1,300,000 Rick French 615.604.2323 Co-Listed with Steve Fridrich 615.300.5900
3631 WEST END $1,090,000 3631westend.com Rick French 615.604.2323
805 FOSTER HILL $1,067,500 805fosterhill.com Rick French 615.604.2323, Tim King 615.482.5953
1808 24th AVE S UNIT 104 $519,000 Tim King 615.482.5953
RICK FRENCH 615.604.2323
401 BOWLING AVE UNIT 91 $510,000 Tim King 615.482.5953
TIM KING 615.482.5953
FRENCH K I N G . C O M 615.292.2622 office
289 DUNN RIDGE RD $450,000 Tim King 615.482.5953
WORDS Paul Polycarpou PHOTOGRAPHS Jack Spencer What brings you to Nashville?
What’s your greatest extravagance?
Two things. I was visiting the city with my sister on a whim and I met someone here. I was also at a point in my career where I felt like I needed a change. I thought there might be good opportunities to collaborate with other musicians here.
I’m a musician, I don’t spend money. I don’t have extravagances.
What were your first impressions? I loved how welcoming a community I found here. I was used to something completely different. Do you like country music? I don’t like it, I don’t dislike it. I just don’t really ever hear it. So what do you listen to? I listen to Latin music. I love Salsa, I go to Plaza Mariachi every Thursday night for Salsa dancing. In New York, I would go to the Copacabana to hear the greats like Eddie Palmieri. How did you get into composing? I started taking classical lessons when I was nine. I always watched Breakfast with the Arts, interviews with Yo-Yo Ma, and I was so inspired that I wanted to create my own music. So I started when I was nine making up my own tunes. What living person do you most admire? My mother; she’s a very strong person. I admire her the most. Who are the musicians that have influenced you? Ravel. I love the harmonies, the colors, the rhythm. I love composing for dance companies so I have a strong connection with his work. Stravinsky, and pretty much all Italian opera. I love jazz. I interned with Winton Marsalis when I was in college. Who’s someone you’d like to have a cup of coffee with?
Out dancing somewhere. There are a lot of great places in Nashville to do that. What characteristic would you change about yourself? To not procrastinate so much. I love those deadlines when it comes to composing. Deadlines inspire me. Who’s your favorite artist? I like the conceptual artist Sol LeWitt. Are you happy with where your career is going? I am. I’m working right now on another album and I’m using non-classical instruments on it. I’d like to get out of the strict conservatory classical realm into something that’s more encompassing. What talent would you like to have?
“
I’m good with languages but I’d like to learn a Formally, lot more— I’m Chinese, Greek, Arabic. Different alphabets, different an art historian, characters.
and the Dutch Golden Age is If I didn’t have to get much accomplished, I’d live in Italy. where my heart beats just a bit What’s your greatest achievement? I always wanted to be nominated at the Latin Grammys. faster. Where else would you like to live?
Just to be there was amazing. What other professions would you consider? Nothing. There was never another option for me. It was always composing. What do you not like about Nashville? That it’s not on the coast. What are you looking forward to? Working with the Ballet in October. It’s one of my favorite pieces to date. What’s your motto? You do you. Be who you are. What would surprise us to know about you? That I have a wealth of trivia knowledge. Where do you go for inspiration?
Milan Kundera. He wrote The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I have read all his books multiple times. He has a wonderful understanding of music.
I like being at the beach; I take long rambling walks; the Cloisters in New York.
And your favorite book?
Pizza. It’s my diet food. I especially like it at Lockland Table.
Well, that would have to be Samuel Adler’s book The Study of Orchestration. It’s the bible for composers.
22
What’s your idea of a perfect evening?
What’s your favorite food? Is there a Nashville musician you would like to work with?
What was the last good movie you saw?
Absolutely. Bela Fleck. na
I’m not really a movie person, but I did enjoy Bobbi Jene, about a dancer in the Batsheva Dance Company. I went to school with her.
For more information, visit www.cristinaspinei.com.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
CriStina pinei Composer, Performer
If your mental image of composers is of slightly aloof, self-absorbed older men in tweed jackets, it’s time to rethink that impression. Cristina Spinei is young, gifted, and engaging, especially when she is talking about her musical collaborations with some of Nashville’s finest musicians. Nashville is the world’s music city. Cristina Spinei is one of the reasons why.
JA N E T YA N E Z E V O L U T I O N Opening July 19, 2018
Galerie Tangerine is free + open Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM 900 South Street, Suite 104 | 615.454.4100
www.galerietangerine.com A Branch of Daigh Rick Landscape Architects, LLC
Erie Chapman
The Other Side of
WORDS Gina Piccalo
Erie Chapman - Self-Portrait
Dane Carder Studio through July 28
T
here’s no easy way to sum up Erie Chapman. In Nashville, he’s best known as the former president and CEO of Baptist Hospital, what is now St. Thomas Midtown. But privately, he has been “Dane Dakota,” the figurative photographer and “love poet” who spent decades quietly shooting sensual nudes and writing lines of poetry like this one: “She lives in sheets of forest & of sea. The more naked, the more of God to see.”
Stairs Nest
“I’m kind of a surreal image myself,” he says, on a bright morning in early May in his Germantown studio. “I look
Water Woman Impression #2
like I belong in the country club, but if you look a little deeper, you see it doesn’t fit at all.”
photography, and dancers from a contemporary modern dance class he took.
Chapman is 74 and retired from the corporate life. He doesn’t need to hide his nude portraits like he did when his paychecks came from the Southern Baptists.
He shot them in black-and-white, hidden in rock formations, and as ephemeral ghosts dancing around a room. Their faces are out of frame or obscured, and their bodies are often in shadow, made abstract and alluring. The images possess a dreamy, mysterious reverence for the female form and play with the idea of secrecy and revelation. “It’s the ephemeral that’s always interesting to me,” he says.
“You’re working uphill if you’re trying to convince a Southern Baptist it’s okay to have a nude in your office,” he quips. “One of the ways religion gets powered is by shaming.” He should know. Chapman is also a graduate of Vanderbilt University Divinity School and an ordained Baptist minister who works with an inmate on death row. He’s also the author of a beloved guide to compassionate patient care: Radical Loving Care: Building the Healing Hospital in America. And he’s an award-winning indie filmmaker and a produced playwright. It’s a wonder it has taken him so long to expose his dual personas. But that’s exactly what he did in May with an exhibit titled Final Dreams at Dane Carder’s studio in Wedgewood-Houston. Much of the work was shot during the 1970s and early 1980s, when Chapman was a federal prosecutor and a night court judge in Toledo, Ohio. Chapman’s nude subjects were models from the Toledo Museum of Art, where he studied
26
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Each of Chapman’s sessions demanded precision, because he shot with the large-format Crown Graphic 4x5 camera used by old press photographers. Every shot required a tripod with Chapman staring at an upside-down image under a cloak. With just two shots per film pack, each photo had to be carefully composed. “Back then, the local photo store wouldn’t develop nudes,” Chapman says. “So I went right to the darkroom and decided the best way in general to portray nudes was blackand-white and quickly discovered it was a lot more satisfying to shoot with a larger format. There is a richness and texture to a print made from a large negative that cannot be matched with a smaller negative or with anything done digitally today.” And yet, since 2008, Chapman has used a digital camera,
manipulating images with software that pre-dates Photoshop. As a result, his more contemporary photos are color-saturated with the texture and patterns of a futuristic mosaic. His May exhibit featured a series exploring the ancient myths of Echo and Narcissus and Nyx, the Greek goddess of night. Women are depicted waist-deep in water, praying at twilight to a forest of leafless trees or swooning over a waterfall. “My semi-controversial theory is that all beauty comes from the female, that women are the keepers of beauty,” he says. “So whatever I photograph, whether it’s a woman or a flower or any other image, I’m always looking for the female in the shadows and the shapes of the subject. There’s always going to be a female presence in my pictures.” Chapman got his first camera at age seven, while growing up in 1950s Los Angeles. He’d carry his Kodak Brownie around the house, shooting the California light through the palm fronds in his back yard, on his mother’s legs, in the folds of her dresses, and streaming through their Venetian blinds.
Three Mirrors
Over the years, he grew enamored of the nudes and botanicals of Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, and Man Ray. The New York Public Library’s curator of prints, Roberta Waddell, then at the Toledo Museum, became Chapman’s mentor. These days, Chapman works in a space over-stocked with creative intention, organized in an absent-minded way. The modest, dimly lighted place is busy with loose prints and stacks of paper and books. Framed black-and-white nudes hang on one wall and photos of his five grandchildren are scattered around. “I am multi-interested, not multi-talented,” he says. “That multi-interested nature causes me to dive in as far as I can into the things.” na Final Dreams by Erie Chapman is on view at Dane Carder Studio through July 28. For more information, visit www.danecarder.com. See more of Chapman’s work on his Instagram account @westwoodvillagereviews. He can be reached at danedakota@live.com. Patterns and Folds
3 Civil War Dancers
Free the Redhead
OCTOBER 18-20, 2018
SEPTEMBER 21-23, 2018
PAU L VA S T E R L I N G’ S 2 0 T H A N N I V E R SA RY G A L A PE R FO R M A N CE
DECEMBER 13, 2018
DECEMBER 1-23, 2018
FEBRUARY 8-10, 2019
APRIL 26-28, 2019
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
NASHVILLEBALLET.COM • (615) 782-4040
For season tickets and groups of 10 or more, call (615) 297-2966 x710
GENEROUS SUPPORT PROVIDED BY:
WORDS Megan Kelley
Breaking the Cycle
Ashley Mintz’s New Exhibit Hopes to Heal
Drummer, The Beat of a Longing Soul, 2018, Mixed media on canvas, 120” x 16”
Scarritt-Bennett through September 26
O
ur Chaotic Nature: Rebuilding Our Brokenness brings together written word, mixedmedia works, and a deeply empathic connection to struggles and injustices both externally and internally imposed. Ashley Mintz’s thoughtful exploration into the trials we undertake and overcome creates a beautiful and hopeful expression of the human condition. Mintz begins with applications of paint, creating a base layer which she builds up using materials including lace, scraps of art papers, “anything that will create texture. Sometimes
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
29
I even apply paint onto something and then press it against the surface before pulling off, creating shapes.” These intuitive moments, originally abstracted, begin to form areas of focus, leading Mintz to pick out shapes, colors, and lines, pulling an image from the unconscious space. “The images I end up seeing often relate to issues I am working through or surrounded by,” says Mintz. As a creative writer of spoken word poetry and song lyrics, Mintz discusses the nature of language: how certain words can weigh down an idea or distance the speaker from that weight. Mintz is conscious of how “we often want to talk about race, but we don’t know how to have that conversation. It’s easy for people to enter it defensively or to get triggered because we don’t even know ourselves where we have buried this trauma.” Count Yourself, 2018, Mixed media on canvas, 30” x 30”
This observation influences her inclusion of the written word as attentive and “poetic,” restrained in her choice of what and how much to include. The final edit is merged into the composition— sometimes with the act of repainting to move the image around to better engage the words—and written in a looping, personal style, humanizing the message. “I like art that is raw and honest, but I want to use it to approach things that are hard to talk about. So I use words, but I understand that sometimes it’s easier to open a conversation using image. Images tackle complex ideas in a way that gets two people talking to each other.” The pairing creates a visual dialogue between the phrase and the portrait, but one that is intended similar to theatre. The audience bears witness to the conversation between the two, seeing what is there even as they interpret to draw their own conclusions from the interaction. This new body of work is a continuation of thought begun in a 2016 exhibition through ScarrittBennett. “I was exploring past and present themes of how blacks are treated in America, these
Express Yourself, 2018, Mixed media on canvas, 30” x 24”
30
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
“
... trauma gets handed down in generations. It is expressed in all of these indirect forms, if it isn’t healed.
The Return, 22018, Mixed media on wood, 28” x 11”
modernized aspects of slavery,” says Mintz. “This work is also racially driven, but is more broad. There are themes that affect us all: poverty, mental illness, concepts of masculinity and femininity. And race, I come back and back again to race because ideas around race impact all of us.” Mintz hopes that the universal nature of these themes will help build empathy across cultures and build awareness of the effects of racism in our own lives. “I see how certain family members were treated or their experiences due to race, and I feel that this trauma gets handed down in generations. It is expressed in all of these indirect forms, if it isn’t healed.” The layers and layers of building in Mintz’s work echo these buried layers of trauma. “It’s part of the process to paint over, edit out, or add material as I figure out composition and look for the final image. The roots of social behaviors are also often hidden, painted over; we act out sometimes without knowing why we do these things.” The bright colors, however, bring an element of hope for the healing. “Even when a painting’s subject or writing is more serious, I still tend to use bright colors. You can be bright and still draw attention to a serious subject.”
Ashley Mintz
Photograph by Shaun Giles
The work is focused on empathy. “Behavior is just people trying to do the best they can, coping in the ways they have learned to protect themselves. Any pain, any distance, hurt, it’s not personal,” says Mintz. “I do the content that I do so that I can do the work of healing myself and not pass on any more of that trauma. I hope it will help others become aware of where this trauma exists in their lives and communities, and together we can do this work of healing.” na Ashley Mintz’s exhibit Our Chaotic Nature: Rebuilding Our Brokenness is on view until September 26 at the Laskey Gallery on the second floor of the Laskey Building at ScarrittBennett Center, 1027 18th Avenue, Nashville. The gallery is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, with a reception on July 9 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. More of Mintz’s work can be viewed at www.ashleymintz.weebly.com.
Welcome to The NCT Snuggery
TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR
A new immersive theatre experience for ages 0-5!
For ages 0-5 in The NCT Snuggery
NCT’s professional Snuggery performances include: • • •
A World Premiere by Ernie Nolan
•
August 11-September 9, 2018
A small audience An immersive environment Pre- & post-performance experiences Music, sound, & movement
• • •
Audience interaction & participation Privacy suite for nursingALLmoms THIS GOODNESS Complimentary coffee DONATED BY
Designed to overcome age, language, & development barriers, The NCT Snuggery is a safe environment for focus & creative thinking to be nurtured, or even discovered for the first time!
Performed in the Copeland Studio Theatre
TICKETS: Only $10 615-252-4675 or NashvilleCT.org All performances take place at The Martin Center 25 Middleton Street Nashville, TN 37210 FREE PARKING ON SITE
Discover yourself at NCT
“A UNITER, NOT A DIVIDER, BRINGING TOGETHER FRUITS & VEGETABLES!”
AUGUST 10TH & 11TH TOMATOARTFEST.COM
Tara Walters
Smoke on the Canvas
“
I am trying to push the processes of my elders further by demonstrating what it’s like to be a millennial in love with nature.
34
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
|
July 14–August 5
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
Red Arrow Gallery
WORDS Kathleen Boyle Cheveyo, 2016, Fire on canvas, 40” x 30”
A
s a teenager, artist Tara Walters developed a strong understanding of art’s healing potential. Following a traumatic facial injury at the mere age of sixteen, visual art, specifically Abstract Expressionism, provided assistance with Walters’s four-year recovery. “I was raised in the DC metropolitan area and was constantly exposed to contemporary museums and galleries,” explained Walters. “It became a sort of instant therapy for me; painting was a source of catharsis. My mother later gave me a print of Jackson Pollock’s Number 7 (1951). I would visit this piece at the National Gallery of Art, and I began to sleep under it. As above so below, the work coaxed me to create.” Such experience led Walters to pursue higher education in the visual arts: In 2016, she received her BFA in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and is relocating this summer to pursue a master’s degree at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Walters’s progress is bittersweet, though. Having moved to Nashville per the suggestion of artist Wendy White, Walters has flourished within the city’s art and music community. Her work has been featured in a number of exhibitions and is included in prominent public art collections such as the city’s Metropolitan
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
35
Into the Wild, 2016, Smoke on canvas, 40” x 30”
Courthouse. Furthermore, Walters has been the Director of East Nashville’s Red Arrow Gallery. “In a nutshell, [Walters] plays quite a few roles in my business and my life,” stated Katie Shaw, owner of Red Arrow Gallery. “Gallery Director for the last two years, rostered artist for whom I’ve held two solo shows, and close friend. Her absence will be noticed, and she will be missed.” As part of Walters’s send-off, a solo exhibition of her work will be on view from July 14 through August 5 at Red Arrow. Despite the emotional difficulty that can accompany pushing forward, Walters describes her experience in Nashville with
36
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
full gratitude as she also looks towards Los Angeles in hopes to “expand [her] career and life.” And if Walters’s paintings thus far give any indication of what’s in store, it can be safely assumed that a solid future lies ahead for this artist. This is due not only to Walters’s advanced sensibilities of form and palette, but also to her unconventional methods. Walters quite literally paints with fire. Citing artists Joan Miró, Tristan Tzara, Maya Deren, Julie Mehretu, and Lucy Dodd as primary influences, Walters discovered “fumage” while reading (in candlelight no less) an essay written by André Breton about various Surrealist
Atomic, 2017, Oil and fire on linen, 12” x 12”
Abracadabra, 2017, Fire, spray paint, pure pigment, and oil on linen, 72” x 72”
practices. Developed in the early twentieth century, the process of fumage upholds residual gray and black smoke formations that occur upon a surface that has been held near a flame. “Being spiritual and going to the local synagogue, I remembered that I had a . . . seven-wick religious candle and began to try out this method,” explained Walters of her first experience with fumage. “It was an instant subliminal connection. I danced ballet for fifteen years, and I felt like a ballerina again as I began painting by holding the canvas with one hand above me and danced with what felt like a loaded paint brush where the paint never stops dripping. It was magic, and so I never stopped.” This magic that Walters implores resonates upon the surfaces of her work. Harboring an ethereal quality, paintings such as Abracadabra (2017) offer a tease at the third dimension upon a large, flat, square linen plane. A soft combination of neutral tones respond to each other as they harmoniously conduct asymmetrical abstractions that suggest rhythm and order despite an apparent lack of repetition. The resulting imagery is suggestive of cloudlike formations, billows of thick air that one wants to see escape the constraints of their static medium. Like the Pollock painting Number 7 that provided nurture to Walters, so too does Abracadabra mediate sound and action integral to the human experience; although the paint has dried and the flame is snuffed, vitality remains. Walters achieves an emanating quality in her work that resounds within all truly successful art—a composition that embodies divinity in material form. Such result is no accident. A self-declared nature enthusiast, Walters’s paintings are informed by established modernist ideology as it applies to perceived conflicts between
I Hear Angels, 2017, Oil and fire on canvas, 36” x 48”
technology and the environment. “I am not a huge fan of artificial light . . . With my new works, I am trying to push the processes of my elders further by demonstrating what it’s like to be a millennial in love with nature,” explained Walters. “There’s a repetition in this work that resembles the digital age and how we are moving forward so fast and everything is turning artificial, but we still are pleading to be one with nature.” Although saturated in smoke, Walters’s paintings are conversely a breath of fresh air, manifestos that earnestly seek purity and truth in the digital age. na Tara Walters’s exhibit Myth and Ethos is on view at Red Arrow Gallery July 14 through August 5. For more information, visit www.theredarrowgallery.com.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
37
Graphite Drawing 1, Graphite on paper, 51”x41”
Point of View Artwork and Words by John Jackson
D
espite my best efforts as an artist, only once every five or ten years does a creation of the body, mind, and soul emerge and rise above the others. Most often surprisingly, but always welcome. I had started working in charcoal abstractions about 18 months ago. Recently hopped over to experimenting with its cousin, graphite. As per my usual routine over the past year or so, I taped a 52” x 42” slice of heavy paper onto a board and placed it on my easel. Picked up a large number-6 graphite stick and started scribbling. Freedom. Scary but exhilarating. After a while, I stepped back to get a view from about 15 feet away. It wasn’t working. Tried some more scribbling. Still wasn’t working. That’s OK. I’ll get a fresh look at it in the morning. The next day I took the board, paper, and scribbles outside, laid it flat on the ground, and sprinkled some graphite powder onto the surface. I enjoy working in the comfort and convenience of my studio, but working outdoors in the open air provides a connection to the elements that is difficult to explain. A relationship between one’s self, nature, the artwork, and the process that is both primal and precious. I started rubbing the graphite powder all across and into the surface of the paper, over the scribbles from the day before. Some of the scribbles peeked through from beneath the powder, and together they began to take on a different, more integrated identity. The two applications merging, embracing each other. Now, something was starting to happen. The image had my full attention. No daydreaming. Intrigued and eager, I scribbled more over the rubbed-in powder. Spontaneous, improvised, intuitive scribbles all over the surface in different directions, speeds, and pressures. Then another layer of rubbed-in powder. I repeated the process of layering the rubbed-in powder over the scribbles and vice versa. With each layer, it became more and more powerful and started to stir something in my soul. It began to take on its own aura, strength, and being. Staring into the deep, dark layers of shimmering gray, I began to reflect, contemplate, feel something. Not sure exactly what, but something. Each distinct layer of gray speaking to me in a silent voice. Could the vast, mysterious flaws, subtleties, and depth of the surface possibly be
echoing the vast, mysterious flaws, subtleties, and depth of existence? I’ve always found comfort and beauty in the darkness. Probably explains my nocturnal nature. Speaking of darkness, after a while of rubbing the graphite deep and hard into the surface of the paper and subsequently my skin, I looked down at my hand. It had become a shiny, dark, silvery gray from the burnishing. Picking up the jar of graphite powder, I noticed that the label warned, “This product contains a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer.” After that, I used a chamois to rub the graphite powder into the surface. It took a full day or two to get the graphite out of my skin. As I finished working on Graphite Drawing 1, I knew it was a rare and special artwork. One that may end up in my top three when all is said and done. I had taken it where I wanted it to go. Or maybe it took me where it wanted to go. na John Jackson’s Graphite Drawing 1 is on view, along with four other new artworks, through July and the July 7 Art Crawl, 6 to 9 p.m. at The Rymer Gallery, 233 5th Avenue North. www.therymergallery.com.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
39
Ron Koehler, Mixed Media Brushes, 2012–2016, Wood, metal, cloth, and found objects, 48” x 36”
Susan and Ray Basham
C
O
L
L
E
C
T
I
O
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
WORDS Leigh Hendry
Susan Basham The
N
N
ashville collector Susan Basham has the kind of extraordinary eye required to assemble a diverse art collection and meld it into a cohesive whole. Her discriminating taste serves as the common thread linking the unique works—a collection more than forty years in the making— which enhance the Belle Meade home where she resides with her accommodating husband, Ray. From the ferocious, psychologically charged work of contemporary American painter Leonard Koscianski (his gleaming egg tempera on panel is a showstopper), to the clever mixed-media sculptures of freshly retired Mississippi art professor Ron Koehler, to the work of painter Stephen Hannock, known for power-sanding his ethereal landscapes before punctuating them with text and collage elements, there is a cornucopia of unexpected pleasures here. Upon discovering that Susan, the primary collector, is a licensed interior designer, a partner in a design boutique, a former gift and accessories buyer, a commissioner of Nashville’s Watkins College of Art, an accomplished gardener and an award-winning cultivator of miniature daffodils, the richness and breadth of the couple’s collection makes perfect sense. One has to dig deep, though, to unearth these salient bits of personal background information because the lady of this house is no braggart. The cumulative effect of Susan’s decades of knowledge-seeking, exploration, and expert use of display techniques is evident at every turn. Whether she was sourcing a surprisingly subdued butterfly painting by famed Neo-Expressionist New Yorker Hunt Slonem (the work’s muted colors are a departure from his standard tropical-hued palette) or acquiring one of Argentinian-born artist Victoria Gitman’s intricate small-scale oils of thrift-store finds like vintage beaded bags, or
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
41
Victoria Gitman, On Display, 2010, Oil on board, 12” x 14”
Gilbert Gaul, Raft Building, 1890, Oil on canvas, 18” x 24”
simply layering a dozen creamy ostrich eggs into a likecolored bowl so that they appear as sculpture rather than an ordinary centerpiece, it’s obvious that every detail has been executed with exacting consideration. As a devotee of the thoroughly Southern, yet refined style of noted architect/designer Bobby McAlpine, this connoisseur uses McAlpine’s approach of restrained elegance as a reference point in her own abode. She has created a flawless backdrop for presenting her sophisticated, layered collection by uniting the home’s main-floor rooms with a mysterious, custom-mixed deep beige-pale apricot-taupe paint color. Several of the paintings were inherited from Susan’s father, who was so enamored of the Hermitage Hotel’s collection of works by Gilbert Gaul, a 19th- early 20th-century American painter of military scenes, that he eventually managed to purchase his first Gaul from Hooberry’s Bookstore in downtown Nashville. Later, while living in Kentucky, he collected the work of Bluegrass State notable Paul Sawyier (1865–1917), an American Impressionist whose art from a century ago blends seamlessly with pieces created last year. Ida Kohlmeyer, Untitled, 1982, Mixed media on canvas, 37” x 37”
But the artist who “started it all” for this homeowner, renowned Louisianan Ida Kohlmeyer, is represented by one of her signature, late-career (1982), pictographic paintings. At the other end of the visual spectrum, there’s a breathtaking art-glass chandelier in the dining room by Corning Prize-winner Thaddeus Wolfe, along with a portrait of Sonia Delaunay (the Ukrainian-born French artist who copioneered the Cubism offshoot of Orphism) by celebrated native-Tennessean-turned-New Yorker Red Grooms. There’s a smattering of pieces by other Volunteer State artists, as well, from the work of Hieronymus Bosch disciple, the late German immigrant Werner Wildner, to West Tennessee sculptor and University of Memphis art professor Greely Myatt, to Belgian Congo-raised, classically trained
Stephen Hannock, Flooded River with Distant Elm, 2010, Polished acrylic on canvas over board, 20” x 36” 42
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Leonard Koscianski, In Pursuit, 2013, Egg tempura on panel, 5” x 7”
Symbolist painter Greg Decker, to Middle Tennessee painter and teacher Charles Brindley (now working in Adairville, Kentucky), known for his extremely realistic depictions of deciduous trees and rock formations.
consummate collector whose sights remain trained on whatever she’s determined comes next. na
Susan says that she, too, has a special affection for rocks and stones and other natural materials, as evidenced by the glorious garden glimpsed from the windows of her classic early-1940s cottage. She credits acclaimed Nashville architect Robert M. Anderson, Jr. with reinvigorating the home which originally had “no zip,” while adding onto other parts of the residence. Anderson deftly fulfilled the vision of both Susan and Ray, whom she describes as an “enthusiastic cheerleader” regarding her aesthetic choices. Ray’s standing advice to his wife? “If it makes you happy, get it.” And so she has, in fits and spurts over the course of several houses and numerous years. Her most recent acquisition, made this spring, was a small gouache by Georgia native Bo Bartlett, a boundary-pushing American realist. With Bartlett checked off her ever-evolving Get List, Susan can focus on indulging her most serious hankering—a work by the highly regarded, Michigan-born artist Dana Schutz. Widely collected by prestigious museums, the occasionally controversial, Brooklyn-based Schutz renders bizarre subject matter in bold, eye-popping color. Though considered an acquired taste by some, a Schutz painting (they’re fairly difficult to purchase) would be a significant feat for this
Red Grooms, Sonia Darling, 2007, Oil on canvas, 14” x 12”
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
43
Photograph by Allen Clark
Monroe Mother Church, 2017, Mixed media + digital, 24� x 18�
Caitlin Mello
Does the Time Warp Again with Her Presidential Portraits
WORDS Annette Griffin
Polka Polk Fireworks, 2017, Mixed media + digital, 24” x 18”
Madison Is A Bar-B-QTie, 2017, Mixed media + digital, 24” x 18”
“I have a really vivid memory of growing up in Nashville,looking over downtown and the fireworks display, with a certain song on the radio; the crowd was wild but happily sprawled out on their car hoods, and it was sticky hot in that parking lot.” Caitlin Mello left and has returned to the central basin, citing years in New York and Los Angeles as lifetimes spent outside of it. In those she filled student, bilingual journalist, fashion editor, and other posts, wandering progressively further from writing into visual roles with each career move. Having been discouraged from applying to art schools by her adoptive father, a graphic designer, she resolved to learn design on her own. “People would ask me if I could do stuff and I would lie and say that I could, and then go teach myself how to do it.”
Now working locally as a graphic designer, she’s been commissioned by the Germantown Inn to create six presidential portraits. Given minimal instruction (“We want it to be presidents, and we want it to be wild”), Mello has conjured the ghosts of our forefathers as only a wayward daughter could. The images are playful and teasing, with flashes of hot-pink irreverence. “I was just kind of fusing all these elements of the South and the push and pull between what is the South,” says Mello. “These pieces were the themes of old and new, and ‘Conservative South’ versus ‘New
South’ kept coming up. Even the [Germantown Inn] was like that—this old building with a new take on it. So I wanted to do all of them with that sort of theme.” But this series is also about how politics and a sense of place are inextricably linked. “When I was growing up, everyone was from Nashville,” Mello says. Throughout the portrait series she waxes nostalgic, tucking transparencies of local liquor stores, barbecue joints, and concert halls into the images like Easter eggs for the town loyal to find. With that, and given the popular native pushback against Nashville’s growth over the past ten years, it’s surprising to hear
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
45
Bachelor Buchanan, 2017, Mixed media + digital, 24” x 18”
Coins for Andy, 2017, Mixed media + digital , 24” x 18”
Mello defend what this city has become. “Growing up, seeing so much discrimination and racism and prejudice— yeah, I would take New Nashville any day over that. It still exists, but not as much as it used to.”
argument, Mello had difficulty deciding how far to lean into her personal politics. “A part of it was like, I’m going to make certain statements on things. How far can I push the envelope with someone else’s hotel? I don’t want them to feel like I’m putting them on the spot of having to agree with everything that I’m saying, but this is important to say.” The issue threatened to fracture the project early on.
Her inclusive attitude charges the collection on a visual level, as well. “That was the whole idea of all of it,” she explains, referring to the layers of transparencies she’s enmeshed, “It was the fusion of all these different elements that come together to make a person, and a place. I lived in Peru and Barcelona and D.C. and New York and L.A., and my adopted stepdad was from Pakistan and my real dad was from Portugal, and my mom’s Southern, and it was the idea that every person has so many elements to them that come together, and you can see some clearer than others. And some things are really obvious, and some things are a little bit hidden.” Her approach to such sticky subject matter is refreshingly laid back. The results are bright, funny, and even have a certain anthemic quality, like listening to Ween in the back of your friend’s dad’s Chevy Blazer. This is, in part, because Mello’s self-confidence, her cheeriness and charm, are a ninja star. “I did struggle with how much of a statement can I make?” In the interest of inspiring spirited dialogue rather than an automatic
46
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
“They wanted me to do Andrew Jackson, and . . . I was like, I don’t know if I can do Andrew Jackson. The Trail of Tears is one of the most sad things that I can think about.” Despite her reservations, Mello proceeded with the assignment, though not without commentary: “Like, that’s a target on his head.” Keep an eye on this one. The artist admits that although she has always been political, her expression of it has intensified since our current president took office. “[Germantown Inn’s] opening was before the election. But then after the election . . . the gloves came off.” She pauses. “I’ve had intense guilt about not taking them off sooner.” na Mello’s presidential portraits are on view at Germantown Inn, www.germantowninn.com/en-us. To see more of Mello’s work, visit www.mellocreative.com.
Chaos and Awe presents paintings that relate to a contemporary version of the sublime, capturing sensations of disturbance, curiosity, and wonder at the ineffable forces that shape and disrupt society. The exhibition features approximately sixty paintings by an international array of established and emerging artists.
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 16 P R OGRAM HI GHL I G H T
FRIST FRIDAY:
AN EVENING OF CHAOS AND AWE Join us for the first event in our revamped live performance series featuring singer-songwriter Adia Victoria, poet Ciona Rouse, composer Darius Jamal VanSluytman, and artist-led programs with Afruz Amighi and James Perrin. Enjoy food trucks and tastings by Chef Maneet Chauhan.
Friday, July 27, 6:00–9:00 p.m.
FREE for members, 18 and under, and college students with ID. General adult admission: $12
919 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203 FristArtMuseum.org #FristChaosAwe
Chaos and Awe was organized by Mark Scala, chief curator, Frist Art Museum. Platinum Sponsor
Hospitality Sponsor
Supported by a grant from
Additional support provided by
Ali Banisadr. Contact (detail), 2013. Oil on linen; support: 82 x 120 in. Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Gift of Mrs. Georgia M. G. Forman, by exchange, Bequest of Arthur B. Michael, by exchange, Elisabeth H. Gates Fund, by exchange, Charles W. Goodyear and Mrs. Georgia M. G. Forman Funds, by exchange, Philip J. Wickser Fund, by exchange, Gift of Mrs. Seymour H. Knox, Sr., by exchange, Gift of Miss Amelia E. White, by exchange, 2014, 2014:8. Š Ali Banisadr. Photo: Tom Loonan
WORDS Noah Saterstrom
WARREN GREENE Feel Free to Touch |
Through July 28
Warren Greene in his Columbia, TN studio
“
Greene’s paintings are a unique convergence of the digital and the analog.
48
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
Cumberland Gallery
Dispersion, Detail
Greene’s paintings are a unique convergence of the digital and the analog. Without slogging too deep into definitions, let’s just say ‘analog’ here refers to things with continuous variability (human gestures), and ‘digital’ in this context refers to finite and predictable elements (numerical values). His surfaces are confounding; it is not easy to imagine how they came to be. However, Greene’s process is methodical, linear—logical—even as he makes in-the-moment decisions about next steps. He applies layers of acrylic paint, employing industrial materials and equipment to move and shift it around the canvas. Maybe he then overlays a mesh screen on wet
Dispersion, 2018, Acrylic on panel, 24" x 24"
I
could tell from photographs of Warren Greene’s work that to get any real grasp on these pieces, I’d better see them in person. So off I went to the Cumberland Gallery, along with my painter sister, to chat with Greene during the show’s installation. Twenty seconds into small talk, I found myself drifting from the conversation, crouching down to study the surfaces of the paintings still leaning against the gallery walls. Within a few minutes, the three of us were sitting on the gallery floor talking shop: process and painting.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
49
Margo, Detail
paint, removing it once the paint is dry, revealing a regular pattern. Perhaps he then sands the pattern, adds more layers, sands more. Greene is in close touch with the beautifully singular nuances that even the most repetitive actions can produce. As he sands a painting, or if he sands with one grit paper over another, any subtle change in how the paint was layered will change the effect entirely. When looking at paintings, I rarely ask, how was this made?—but that is exactly the question I kept asking as my eyes wandered toward Green’s pieces. With my face close to the paintings I heard myself say, “What is this?” And, it’s hard to tell. His own gestures are absent from the surface despite—or perhaps because of—repeating mechanical gestures: sanding, blowing, coating, scraping, polishing. The grand, passionate painterly gestures that were worshipped by abstract expressionists and dominated debate during the majestic rise of abstraction are nowhere to be found. Painters often find in their work that they insist on, for instance, the figure, or the gesture, or narrative, or
50
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
surface quality. Art devoted to surface quality is a facet of contemporary painting. The more purist practitioners of abstraction—Malevich, Rothko, Albers and the like—may be precursors to a painting style that is focused on optic effect and surface. Bridget Riley’s op-art and Gerhard Richter’s squeegee paintings are other limbs of that tree. When painters were no longer limited to biblical stories, or royal courts, or French bourgeoisie, some attempted to do away with subject altogether. But as many artists and poets have pointed out, subject matter is unavoidable, even if the subject is the surface itself. When surface is the subject, the value of a painting is in its smoothness, shininess, roughness, and so on—the optic effect and the process that made it so. The resulting artworks might find kinship in natural substances: rock worn down by river water, wood carved out by beetles, the opalescent depths of a frozen lake. In these works, specifically, there are echoes of Greene’s rural upbringing. Within rigid constraints there is always, of course, the possibility of remarkable variation and improvisation. In this sense, Greene shares an elegant musicality of Philip Glass (whom he loves) and even the chance operations of John
Gardening at Night, 2018, Acrylic on panel, 24” x 18”
Range, 2018, Acrylic on panel, 20” x 20”
Cage, though with more thought to the outcome. Greene’s paintings appear as natural emanations. A painting that was produced by using an air compressor to move paint around in meandering grooves is as inevitable as worm trails on an old log. To my sister, it looked like a brain. In the edges, I was reminded of cupcake icing. As Greene said, all those meanings are free to interrelate without being fixed; contradictory associations are oddly enjoyable. A painting may be wormeaten wood, a brain, or a cupcake—or better, all three at once.
Praxis, 2018, Acrylic on panel, 36" x 36"
In the course of our conversation, Greene mentioned his background in existentialism and semiotics and having submerged himself early on in the writings of Kierkegaard and Derrida. Noticing that many of his influences are brilliant minds but serious downers, I asked about the persistent beauty in his work. “The world has a lot of suffering, but it also has a lot of beauty,” he said. “Beauty is hopeful, but also, beauty is a fact.” Many years ago, Greene was at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and, though underwhelmed by the Old Masters in college art history classes, found himself within inches of a Rembrandt painting, desperate to touch its luminous surface. I’ll leave it up to your imagination to decide whether he did or not, but his preoccupation with glazes and layers and surface may be traced back to this encounter. As I sat with my face close to his painting, he said: “Feel free to touch it if you want to.” na Recent work by Warren Greene is on view at Cumberland Gallery though July 28. For more information, please visit www.cumberlandgallery.com.
Marah, 2018, Acrylic on panel, 35” x 32”
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
51
SONNENZIMMER
SHAPE SONG JUNE 2 – JULY 29
The Co-op’s Annual Birthday Bash and Ugly Pot Throw Saturday, August 18 • 5:00 - 8:00 Free and Fun Event for the Whole Family
224 Fifth Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37203 615.577.7711 • HatchShowPrint.com
1416 Lebanon Pike, Nashville, TN, 37210 • 615.242.0346 Hours: M-F 8am-4:30pm, Sat 10am-2pm
CATALOGED ART, ANTIQUES & JEWELRY AUCTION JULY 14
Bid in person, online, by absentee, or by phone. Full catalog at www.caseantiques.com
Wm. Shakespeare Burton (1830-1916) Painting Exhibited at The Royal Academy, London, 1897 Henri-Jean Guillame Martin (1860-1943)
19th and 20th Century Western Paintings, including Gunnar Widforss (1879-1934)
Collection of Native American Pottery & Baskets
Paul Fischer (1860-1934)
Sign Carried Memphis, TN, April 8, 1968
Folk and Outsider Art, including Clementine Hunter (1886-1988)
Fine Jewelry & Watches including Cartier Santos
Rare Books and Maps
AUCTION SAT. JULY 14th, 8 AM CST AT NEW OUR KNOXVILLE GALLERY LOCATION v PREVIEW FRI., JULY 13th, 12- 5 PM CST OR BY APPT. NEW Knoxville Gallery: (865) 558-3033 4310 Papermill Drive, Knoxville 37909 Nashville Office: (615) 812-6096 2106 21st Avenue South Nashville, TN 37212 info@caseantiques.com
20% buyers premium for cash, check/certified funds. Credit cards also accepted. Delivery to Nashville available. TNGL #5157
ACCEPTING CONSIGNMENTS OF FINE ART, HISTORIC ITEMS & JEWELRY
Photograph by Nancy Pinney
Michael Theise
at Haynes Galleries The Detail Is in the Detail
54
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Free Fruit, Oil on panel, 12” x 9”
WORDS Margaret F.M. Walker
P
uzzles and puns abound in the work of Michael Theise, whose stunning trompe l’oeil paintings are on view at Haynes Galleries all summer. Trompe l’oeil has a long tradition in the history of art; its name translates to “deceive the eye,” and these works of art are known for their optical illusions induced by hyperrealism. These amusing compositions include worn antiques, playing cards and other games, postcards, and money. Theise arranges them to keep the eye moving and questioning whether any part might be collaged materials rather than paint. Theise studied painting under Ken Davies, a master of this tricky tradition. Of this fooling style, Theise says, “I couldn’t get my head around it.” Though he tried to emulate Davies in school, it took many more years of practice, mostly painting for the fish and wildlife service, before he began to develop the skill to be truly successful in trompe l’oeil. These compositions, while almost photographic in their precision, are concertedly developed by the artist’s eye, usually to create a challenge to himself as much as to the viewer. Free Fruit features a postcard taped to a worn wooden board behind a pane of broken glass. A “handwritten” placard is tucked behind it. In Boom or Bust, the classic board game is covered with a nickel and bills in large denominations, leading us to think less about the contents of the box as the ideas within the game. Key Notes is a diminutive painting featuring several dollar bills tacked to an old portion of a cabinet and a key hanging off a nearby peg. Theise finds the objects he paints in various sources—several come from hawking eBay and frequenting coin shows, but others are lent to him by collectors. The
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
55
Boom or Bust, Oil on panel, 16” x 16“
titles typically come at the end of the creative process, reinforcing in words the visual puns embedded in the paintings. Vague storylines and jokes within these works keep viewers’ eyes moving around the composition. We look for the connections in addition to seeking intentional flaws and puzzling out whether the piece of tape is truly made of paint. The illusion sometimes even extends to the framing. I often wondered if the dark gap of a shadowbox frame might in fact be a painted border.
Always Lucky, Oil on board, 12” x 9”
A great number of Theise’s paintings feature money. Conceptually, it is ideal for artwork about irony. We often forget that money is more than tender—it is art, an etching to be exact. Its value as art with the designs denoting currency is far greater than its value as paper. Furthermore, he has found that money makes people stop and look. It is the hook that catches the attention of the passerby, wondering if it might just be up for grabs. This works, though, only because of his skill. Money is one of the most difficult objects to paint in a realistic manner, in part because we see it every day, and it is through this more than the other elements that we can observe Theise’s mastery of his craft. Theise pointed out that while it presents a great challenge, its flatness is less ideal for the genre. Thus, as in Always Lucky and Money Has Wings, he often folds, stacks, and wrinkles the bills within a composition. The faces on American banknotes are a way to incorporate the human figure into an otherwise object-focused genre of painting. Theise also does this by incorporating postcards of paintings by other artists such as John Singer Sargent and James A. McNeill Whistler. These more-impressionist styles create yet another challenge of imitation—this time by the need to loosen his brushstrokes. More than anything, he finds these works to be learning experiences, in which he puzzles out the procedures of masters in different styles. It is not only those painters of the human figure he will emulate, though, but also the landscapes of Charles Platt and the chaotic abstraction of Jackson Pollock.
Key Notes, Oil on board, 8” x 8”
56
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Monopoly, Oil on board, 11” x 21”
Platt, Oil on board, 12” x 7”
The Faithful Super Soaker, Oil on board, 18” x 15”
When viewing the exhibit at Haynes, I noticed that the color scheme among the paintings was very sympathetic. Theise admits he gravitates to earth tones, which has in part been a gradual move. His early work is very dark, relying heavily on contrast to make the optical illusions pop. The colors have lightened as his toolbox for creating illusions using texture, value, and shape in addition to contrast have improved. It is this use of texture that is truly impressive— from the pockmarked dartboard, to the soft folds of a worn bill, to the shiny modernism of a plastic squirt gun against
wood with visible grain and peeling paint. Theise lives by the philosophy that his artistic ability, while sharpened by hard work, is a gift to be embraced. All those who find time to spend with his work will have to agree that these small, painted puzzles are a gift to us as well. na
An exhibit of Michael Theise’s work is on view at Haynes Galleries through September 8. For more information, please visit www.haynesgalleries.com.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
57
132 WOODWARD HILLS PLACE
Gated gorgeous 4-level estate. High ceilings, elevator to 3 levels, in-law quarters, 4 covered porches, pool house, pavilion with kitchen, saltwater pool & hot tub. 5 BR | 6 FULL, 4 HALF BA | 11,862 SF | $2,995,000
Janet Jones & Mary Sue Dietrich 615.300.5045 (JJ) | 615.351.0073 (MSD) 40 BURTON HILLS BOULEVARD, SUITE 230 NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 37215 | 615.250.7880 | WORTHPROPERTIES.COM
Late February 2017, the 505 tower stands 34 floors tall and rising
“
To me, a new skyscraper is a massive piece of artwork in its own way.
abstract NASHVILLE
sculpture sky in the
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY Bill Hobbs
F
or more than two years, I photographed construction of downtown’s newest skyscraper, the 505 tower, for the purposes of a book of art photography commemorating its construction. When I first approached developer Tony Giarratana with a proposal to photograph construction of 505 from start to finish, I envisioned it as more an art project than a simple matter of photo documentation. To me, a new skyscraper is a massive piece of artwork in its own way. Like any piece of art, it starts with one person’s vision, and like some large works of art it actually takes the work of many skilled craftsmen to make it happen. I wanted to make art celebrating the emergence of that new sculpture on the skyline—and honoring the hard work of the craftsmen, artisans, and others who turned one man’s vision into a 45-story, 522-foot-tall reality. Before I began this project, I happened to see a big mural being painted downtown. The muralist, whose name would go on it, was standing on the ground, directing a couple of assistant painters who were up on lifts with cans of spray paint, filling in the details according to the muralist’s design. That’s how I have come to see a major construction project like a new skyscraper—it’s a giant sculpture being created by hundreds of assistants executing the original vision of the developer.
Rebar reaches upward, strengthening the columns that carry the 505 tower into the sky NASHVILLEARTS.COM
61
A view down an unfinished elevator shaft from the 22nd floor and things that captured both the beauty of the emerging tower and the gritty, hard work hundreds of men (and a few women) did in the sunshine and at night, in the heat and the cold, in good weather and bad, to bring 505 to life. Nashvillians by now are familiar with construction sites but mostly from road level, seeing the construction fencing and the orange and white barriers and the cranes rising high into
A jet soars overhead the day after the construction crane for 505 was raised to its full height of 590 feet
Scaffolding on the 45th floor holds up the temporary forms above which the roof concrete will be poured
In between mid-December 2015, when I photographed as workers poured the first concrete into the 70-foot-deep hole, and early August 2017, when I photographed as roofers installed the final layer of roofing material on the top of the 522-foot skyscraper, I made tens of thousands of images. Having never photographed construction before, I wasn’t bound to any conventional approach. I simply wandered the construction site, photographing things that interested me
the sky. My goal was to give the residents of 505, who are getting copies of the 505 book, a real sense of what it was like to build the tower they now call home. In the book, up-close images of iron workers, electricians, plumbers, roofers, concrete workers, and more are mixed in with images of the tower itself piercing the Nashville sky. As the tower rose and I continued to photograph it, I began to create more abstract images—and to enjoy the irony of making abstract photographs of something that is, quite literally, concrete. Things like rebar reaching skyward began to catch my eye, as did the view down an unfinished elevator shaft, a web of scaffolding so dense it nearly obscured a single worker within it, and, among my favorites, two images showing the skin of 505 reflecting the neighborhood where it now sits.
Instead of a sign, 505 is marked by a metal sculpture at the corner of Fifth and Church
One of them reflects two sides of 505—the orangered brick of St. Cloud Corner and the brown stone of Downtown Presbyterian Church—I call it Then And Now— and the other is a view of Church Street (and buildings beyond) reflected on the front of 505. That last one, I think, is a photograph Dutch painter Piet Mondrian might appreciate. na
The glass skin of 505 reflects two historic buildings that share the corner of Fifth and Church streets – Downtown Presbyterian Church and St. Cloud Corner
The finished 505 tower on the skyline
For more information, visit www.billhobbs.com.
Tyler Mahan Coe
Cocaine
&Rhinestones The Art of the Podcast WORDS Michael Ross
D
riving on San Francisco’s Polk Street in the early nineties, you might have noticed a large sign reading, “Anything done well is Art.” While “anything” may be pushing it, the statement makes sense when listening to Cocaine & Rhinestones, Tyler Mahan Coe’s podcast about twentieth-century country music. The attention to research detail and smooth narrative flow, combined with Coe’s clear, impassioned reading, raise the form to the level of—if not Art with a capital “A”—then certainly art on a par with that of a great chef, for it is Coe’s masterful blending of ingredients: anecdotes, hard facts, opinion, humor, and attitude, that make Cocaine & Rhinestones compulsive listening for even the casual country music fan. Subjects like The Louvin Brothers, Bobbie Gentry, Buck Owens, and Wynonna Judd are covered in episodes running anywhere from one to two hours, often over multiple episodes, allowing C&R to delve deep into the strange, fascinating lives of these country legends. But Coe is not merely dealing in individual biographies; the genius of this podcast is in how it connects the dots between artists and places them within the saga of this uniquely American music. The son of outlaw country legend David Allan Coe, Coe the Younger was destined to be a performer of some kind. “I was born into the entertainment business,” he says. “When I was a toddler, my father took me on Nashville Now,” says Coe. “There are probably videos of me crawling on Ralph Emery’s desk. He had me singing with his band before I was in kindergarten. I don’t know how I was ever going to be a medical researcher or accountant.” As a teenager, Coe got into more than his share of trouble. To avoid being sent to military school, he officially joined his father’s group. Having dabbled on guitar at home, he was now required to up his game. “It’s embarrassing to fake it around a bunch of people who are good at what they do, so you get good,” he recalls. Good enough, it turns out, to give guitar lessons for a while, in what would become a quest for a meaningful means of earning a living.
A move to Nashville, where Coe had some connections, and a talent for marketing and public relations led to freelance work for clubs like Mercy Lounge, Exit/In, Marathon Music Works, and the High Watt. Ultimately, those marketing skills led to the creation of Drunkmall.com. “It’s like SkyMall, but for people who get drunk and do online shopping,” Coe explains. Despite the site’s success, he realized that automation would eventually make human curation obsolete. “I needed to do something else and didn’t know what,” he says. “Then I discovered podcasts. I’ve always been a writer and fascinated with communication and language in general.” He was initially inspired by Karina Longworth’s You Must Remember This series about Hollywood. “Country music is way more interesting than Hollywood, but there were no podcasts, no translation of this library of stories,” says Coe. “The country music websites are more like BuzzFeed’s ‘10 times a country singer got arrested.’ That’s not the story. Who is this guy? We all know his name, but why is he a person anyone cares about? Let’s start there.” David Allan Coe was a devout scholar of country music, and he instilled that passion in his son. “With all the short-form content these days, it doesn’t seem there is any personal investment,” he says. “I get emotionally involved when I write. It matters that I get the story right, that people understand why this thing is so remarkable. It takes a lot of context to do that. You have to talk about Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression, the Great Mississippi Flood and the race relations that came out of that, all of which impact this country to this day. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time; no one’s going to truly understand this country song if they don’t know all this other stuff.” Coe’s podcast is designed to grab you from the first episode, in which Ernest Tubb shoots the head of the Grand Ole Opry. “You’ve got to start somewhere,” Coe explains. “I couldn’t think of anything that made more sense than Ernest Tubb getting drunk and deciding to shoot this guy. You find out it’s because of the Jimmie Rodgers Music Festival. Why did Ernest Tubb care so much about the Jimmie Rodgers Music Festival? Take another step back, and you find it is because he’s been obsessed with Jimmie Rodgers for his entire life.” And so it goes, through Spade Cooley’s horrific murder of his wife, through the epic tale of Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe,” and beyond. Listening to Cocaine & Rhinestones is like reading a book by a great music writer like Peter Guralnick or Robert Gordon, which begs the question whether Coe has considered releasing these amazing stories in book form. “I’m waiting for someone to approach me about it,” he says. “Each script has between 7,500 and 10,000 words in it, so the first season is a book that’s already written, sitting on my computer.” na For more information visit www.cocaineandrhinestones.com.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
65
Self Portrait with Ghost Nude, Erie Chapman, 1977
Dane Carder Studio Presents
FINAL DREAMS
The Private Art of a Public Figure
JUNE 12 - JULY 28, 2018
In the Hall Gallery / Houston Station • Reception during the July Art Crawl In 1977, prominent attorney, best selling author and internationally known healthcare CEO Erie Chapman (aka Dane Dakota) began a parallel, underground career as a serious photoartist. Under the tutelage of museum curator Roberta Wadell his focus became street pictures and the female nude. After his photographs won top awards, his work was exhibited at The Toledo Museum of Art, Manhattan’s Gallery of the Union League, The Rhode Island School of Design and Wisconsin’s Wustum Museum. Concerned that his nudes might cost him his job and marriage, he withdrew his work from public view for 35 years. He returned to full-time photoart in 2008. This is his first public showing since 1982. ALL PROCEEDS TO NON-PROFIT ERIE CHAPMAN FOUNDATION
438 Houston St. #262 615.598.5600
Judy Lavoie, Eat Chicken, Watercolor, 22” x 30”
WORDS Karen Parr-Moody
Gorgeous Watercolors Take Center Stage Customs House Museum Through July 27
S
omewhere between fact and fiction lie the best watercolor paintings. They are the paintings that tease out a shy glow from the veil of translucent color. They allow the paints to dance and mingle on the paper in a magical way. They create hues that don’t come naturally to the subjects yet imbue them with a sense of quiet grandeur. Such works are found in the 36th Juried Exhibition of 60 water-media artworks by members of the Tennessee Watercolor Society. These artworks, which include a Best in Show painting and a variety of other winners, will be on display at the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center in Clarksville through Friday, July 27. This is only the second time that Clarksville has been selected as a host city since the society began its statewide juried competition in 1972.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
69
Anne Davis, Lily: Foot of the Falls, Watercolor, 13” x 19” Tuva Stephens, Old Stogie John II, Watercolor, 20” x 20”
Painter Judy Lavoie won Best in Show for her 22" x 30" painting Eat Chicken, which possesses an incredible luminescence created by colors that gleam like opals. “Clearly, it is just a magnificent piece,” Jordan says of Eat Chicken. “It’s just such a familiar scene that it’s a pleasing piece, but then you get up close and start looking at how talented Judy is with her use of the medium, the flow of color to color. She’s a very confident painter, and I think that comes out in her use of color. It’s just beautifully done.” Lavoie painted the piece by using only three primary colors—Winsor & Newton’s Antwerp Blue, Winsor Red, and Winsor Yellow—which she chose because they blend well into bright secondary colors rather than into muddier browns or grays. To achieve her desired aesthetic, Lavoie employed a variety of techniques, including masking, pouring, drying, and finally, direct brush painting. It was her first time to paint what she calls “farm critters” up close and, obviously, she chose wisely.
Terri Jordan, Curator of Exhibits at Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, says the show is a wonderful representation of styles, from Photorealism to Impressionism to Abstract, that take advantage of watercolor’s unique properties. “It shows how much talent there is in Tennessee,” Jordan says.
70
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
The exhibition’s juror was Lian Quan Zhen, an international watercolor artist and instructor whose own paintings are Impressionistic in style. Zhen has been conducting watercolor workshops for more than twenty years and has published five books on the topic. During the opening week of the show, he conducted a five-day watercolor workshop at the museum. Zhen judged the artworks in the show by
Fred Rawlinson, Gully, Watercolor, 29” x 36”
Hilde Waide, Moon Light, Watercolor, 20” x 26”
Barbara Jernigan, Java Jumble, Watercolor, 15” x 22”
a handful of criteria, beginning with works by artists who “paint what they want to see, not paint what they see.” He says, “If they paint what they see, it’s just like a photo; it’s what they see. But if they paint what they want to see, they put a personal touch on the painting.” Zhen is also attracted to paintings, such as Eat Chicken, that use color in a creative fashion. “Sometimes color is boring, as with cows,” he says. “With Eat Chicken, you never see cows in real life with that much color, in general. You almost have to be drunk to see those things! It’s a creation; this is not just a simple copy.”
Larry Hughes, Looking Back at Zion, 13” x 23”
Every juried piece in the show is by an artist who has mastered the medium and watercolor techniques. But that alone isn’t enough to take the top prize. Zhen was also looking at composition, as with Eat Chicken, which maintains a strong design through the use of the farm gates for framing and the slightly off-center cow as the subject that grasps the viewer’s gaze. Then, of course, a painter must imbue his or her painting with life. “They must capture the essence of the subject,” Zhen says. “Like the cows: You can almost talk to them and they want to talk to you. There’s life in them. This is a higher level. This means you captured the spirit or the essence of the subjects.” Most important of all? Zhen says that any painting that wins Best in Show must have a specific style that is distinct to the painter. “The Best of the Show is personality,” he says. “When people look at paintings from the masters, they don’t even need to be told, ‘This is da Vinci’ or ‘This is Renoir.’ They recognize the personality. So, above all, is personality. Sometimes painters can be very high level, but they lack personality.” After leaving the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, thirty of the exhibit’s paintings will go on the road in
the Exhibition Traveling Show. The show will be on view at three galleries in Tennessee: the West Tennessee Regional Art Center (WTRAC) in Humboldt in August, the Sycamore Shoals Visitor Center Gallery in Elizabethton in September, and the Association of Visual Arts (AVA) in Chattanooga in October. na For more information, visit www.customshousemuseum.org.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
71
ARTS&BUSINESSCOUNCIL
BY JILL MCMILLAN
Get On Board! An Arts Nonprofit
Are you passionate about the arts? If you’re reading this, I sure hope you are! There are so many ways to get involved and support the incredible work of our arts community— attending shows and exhibitions; donating to an organization you care about; volunteering at arts events; and advocating on the local, state, and national levels. But if you’re looking for a deeper level of engagement with the arts community in Nashville, have you thought about nonprofit board service? By serving on a nonprofit board of directors, individuals can refine their leadership skills, learn organizational planning, practice creative decision-making, develop conflictmanagement tactics, and help strengthen the overall community. You’ll also have the opportunity to build your network, serving alongside other interesting and enthusiastic community members excited about the organization’s mission. If they’re passionate about the organization, individuals of any background can be an asset to a nonprofit board. So you’re ready to get involved, but where do you start? If there’s a specific organization you’re interested in, get in touch with them directly to see what volunteer opportunities they have so you can start getting to know their programs and staff. Many organizations look for board members that are already engaged in their activities. Another option is the Arts & Business Council’s Arts Board Matching program. Arts Board Matching promotes dynamic leadership in the arts community by helping people cultivate the skills needed to be effective, engaged board members, and by making matches between vibrant individuals and arts organizations. Participants are equipped for board service and success at four half-day workshops, and after completing the workshops, participants are invited to a “speed dating”style matching event with representatives from local arts organizations. Applications for the Arts & Business Council’s Arts Board Matching program will open in mid-July. Learn more and apply at www.abcnashville.org.
Photograph by Heidi Ross
If you’re inspired to make the arts community in Nashville a better place, I urge you to consider serving on a nonprofit board. Bringing your energy and expertise to the table can truly be a transformative experience for both you and the organization.
72
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Jill McMillan is the Executive Director of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville, where she is thrilled to serve the cultural sector at the intersection of arts and business. You can reach her at jmcmillan@abcnashville.org.
Picture Your Park
Centennial Park stands as a cornerstone in Nashville’s history and is a cultural hub as well as a visual and physical respite. As Nashville continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, it is critical that we protect and preserve Nashville’s 132 acre central park. In partnership with Metro Parks, The Conservancy is in the process of transforming our city park to a vibrant, walkable, urban green space. Enhancements include renovating the Great Lawn, West End Avenue entrance modifications, a new outdoor event pavilion, dramatic lighting designed for the Parthenon’s exterior, and new bandshell landscaping and access. The result will be an age-friendly, inviting and fully accessible green space for parkgoers of all walks of life and abilities. As the city’s first art museum, the Parthenon houses permanent collections (including a 42 foot statue of Athena) and rotating exhibits. Art continues outside in the park with temporary sculpture installations, monuments, and nature’s best colors. The park is constantly active with Musicians Corner, Shakespeare in the Park, Kidsville, and more. Throughout the year, The Chestnut Group of 200 plein air landscape artists are painting in Centennial Park culminating with an art exhibit in the Parthenon next May. Fine art and nature at its most magnificent.
Learn more about Centennial Park’s historic transformation at
PictureYourPark.com
SOUNDINGOFF BY JOSEPH E. MORGAN
Verdi’s Requiem Photography by Kurt Heinecke/Nashville Symphony
at the Nashville Symphony
Michelle DeYoung (mezzo-soprano) and Giancarlo Guerrero during the Nashville Symphony’s performances of Verdi’s Requiem
On May 31, the Nashville Symphony closed its classical season with a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem with many of its musicians playing instruments drawn from the Violins of Hope collection—a collection of instruments assembled because of their connection to the Holocaust. The resulting concert was not only a beautiful performance of one of the central pieces of the vocal music canon; it was also a meaningful statement regarding the ability of the good to persevere. One of the most remarkable aspects of this composition is its power, despite the fact that its composer was not a religious man, being raised, but lapsed, as a Roman Catholic. And although Verdi, as one of our greatest operatic composers, is perhaps the one composer who might be able to convincingly express an unheld belief, it is rather hard to believe that there isn’t the slightest bit of the pragmatist in his theology. The piece is huge, written for a full orchestra, including eight trumpets, four vocalists, and a double chorus. Verdi’s chorus often takes on the Greek archetype representing and informing the community of the broader meaning while the individual singers personalize and individualize the experience. In this, Tucker Biddlecombe’s chorus was very well prepared. The blending was precise and crisp with a strong intonation and apparent responsiveness to Maestro Guerrero’s direction, particularly in the imitative counterpoint in the “Sanctus” fugue.
Alan Valentine addresses the audience with Avshi Weinstein, Mark Freedman (Jewish Federation) and Lisa Perlen (Jewish Federation) prior to the Nashville Symphony’s performances of Verdi’s Requiem
Of the singers, bass Eric Owens was perhaps the most well known, famous from his performance as Alberich in the Met’s production of Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen. His solo in the “Tuba Mirum” was extraordinary and riveting. Mezzo-Soprano Michelle DeYoung brought a rich instrument and nuanced interpretation to her “Lux aeterna” which slowly brought the topic towards one of hope. However, among the vocalists, the evening was owned by soprano Erika Sunnegårdh. The final movement of the work is perhaps the greatest that Verdi wrote for a soprano voice, and Sunnegårdh blossomed into it. From madness, to joy, to tender love, she substantiated and brought to life Verdi’s remarkable expression of religious hope, fear, and joy of the end of times. For the orchestra’s part, Maestro Guerrero brought the nuance we’ve come to expect from his interpretation; however, at the “Dies irae” one could sense that all stops were released. The terrifying call of the trumpets, the thunderous bass drum, and the fearsome chorus all aligned to this famous movement, made it seem as fresh and as horrifying as if heard for the first time. On reflection, after this amazing performance, I thought not of the horrible evil that inspired the collection of these violins, but the remarkable beauty they were still capable of creating long after. Indeed, there is hope when beauty like this is able to persevere.
For more information, visit www.nashvillesymphony.org.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
75
From Nashville Dance Nights to Havana, Cuba, Two Nashville Photographers Capture the Infectious Rhythm of
Soul Stirring
Salsa! WORDS Mary Frances Clark
PHOTOGRAPHY John Partipilo Inviting, exciting, captivating, spontaneous Salsa—cultures colliding and connecting. The essence of Salsa is shared art in motion. The African and European roots of Salsa: Son, Guaguancó, Rumba, Boogaloo, Pachanga, Guaracha, Plena, Bomba, and more fuse rhythms, instruments, and styles from all over Africa, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, New York, and other places. This has given birth to complexities that fit so well together that they seem simple—that is until you hear them live at Rudy’s on a Monday night or you see them practiced at the many dance studios around the city.
Cuban musician Yosvany Cordero leads the dances at Rudy’s Jazz Room in Nashville
Perhaps it’s Salsa’s history of collaboration that makes it appeal to so many diverse individuals. It isn’t a dance that belongs to any one group. Anyone who dares to learn it in turn influences this living form of art. I couldn’t find a stereotype on Nashville’s Salsa floor. People from all walks and stages of life and all levels of dance move individually and collectively, expressing without words, feeling the common thread of the soul-filling joy that Salsa inspires. Often not noticed at first glance in Salsa is the trust involved. Stemming from a delicate balance of vulnerability and confidence, there is trust in yourself, your partners, the others on the dance floor, the music, and trust in the spirit of flexibility, forgiveness, laughter, and love of the present moment. As Executive Director of Music City Dance Alliance, Nicole La Ballerina explains that it’s about “letting go of the fear you hold in your chest, dropping that energy into your powerful, life-giving hips, and trusting that the world will hold you up.”
Dancers take a break from the crowded dance floor at Plaza Mariachi
You’ll find as many variations of Salsa’s twists and turns in Nashville as in other cities, but what stands out is the Nashville touch, the small-town vibe that makes the Salsa scene in Nashville feel like family. With classes, music, and dances nightly around Nashville, it’s easy to connect—and to get swept away. If you ask someone where to dance Salsa in Nashville, you’ll hear a list of activities for each night of the week, followed by, “I hope you come join us.” For information on events, check out the Facebook page Salsa Around Nashville.
76
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Peter Collins dips Jennifer Diaz at Rudy’s Jazz Room
Jasmine Cheri and Andy Chea sizzle on the dance floor at Plaza Mariachi
Iliana Armstrong and Vidal Galvรกn in perfect harmony at Plaza Mariachi
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
77
Yanaisa Hernandez Malagón and Hector Norcisa dance on Salsa night on Thursdays at Plaza Mariachi
“
Letting go of the fear you hold in your chest, dropping that energy into your powerful, life-giving hips, and trusting that the world will hold you up.
Clyde Harris dips Alicia Galván at Play which has Salsa nights on Wednesdays 78
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Cuba On Fire
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS Peg Fredi
I went to Cuba to photograph dancers, but I had no idea that it would be a transformative experience. I was about to discover something larger than an image in a camera or on paper. I was about to discover a global connection, something that binds us all together in this experience we call the dance of life. It all began with an email I got from a mentor-friend asking me if I wanted to participate in a U.S. government-approved educational experience with Cuba’s premier photographic organization, Fototeca de Cuba. It took only about 1.2 seconds to say yes. She told me we would meet Fototeca de Cuba’s director, learn about Cuba’s colorful history, mingle with the people, and photograph dancers. We were granted access to places and people normally unavailable to tourists. Having English-speaking Cuban photographers to provide local lore helped us engage directly with the people.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
79
80
Experiencing Cuba was like stepping into a time warp. Cars from the 1950s were still on the roads, some restored and some not. Buildings were standing like frozen sentinels over the streets, many in distress from exposure to the elements but dressed in fabulous layers of color. Everything was eye candy.
Dance is a way of life in Cuba. From the corners of the streets to Ballet Lizt Alfonso, sensual salsa to neighborhood gatherings, Cuban dance is a mixture of historical events and contemporary forms. We visited and photographed schools of dance that taught classical ballet, flamenco, and folk dances, and witnessed dances with African and European influences.
When we walked through the streets of Old Havana, people would come out of their homes and invite us to come in, visit, and have a meal with them. The fact that I didn’t speak Spanish made no difference in our ability to communicate with each other.
On the fourth day of shooting, we went to an old theatre where a local troupe, Conjunto Ban Rarra, was practicing for a performance. The magic began with the rhythm supplied by musicians playing handmade Cuban drums. As I began taking photos, the mesmerizing beat and vibrations of the
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
drumming overtook me. Suddenly, as my feet were moving, I was incapable of taking a still photo. I was so entranced in watching these artists’ bodies move to the music, with their colorful costumes flowing, that I didn’t want to forget how I felt while watching these dancers. They were dancing the history of the Cuban people with such passion, telling the story of oppression, joy, sorrow, revolution, and victory. How could I portray what I was seeing and feeling into a single image? I started playing with my camera and the settings.
“
Dance is a way of life in Cuba.
What I was seeing on my camera screen was an image that was blurred with movement of figures coming out of the darkness and geometric forms that appeared where there were none. Lines converged to make shapes that, in reality, were not there. I was seeing an image of what I felt. I had led with my heart, and my head had to figure out the rest. As I thought about what I was experiencing, I realized that this rhythm and these movements are part of a basic universal language. It is the dance of life and our common bond with humanity. na
Peg Fredi
Photograph by Karen Edgin
Peg Fredi is an award-winning photographer and native Tennessean whose art has been informed by her natural surroundings and Southern Gothic literature. She is a life-long learner and continually seeks new ways to bring a unique interpretation to her images. Fredi earned an MFA in Visual Arts from the College of Art and Design at Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is an Assistant Professor of Art and Director of the Adams Gallery at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, where she also earned a Master of Arts in Studio Art. For more information, contact Peg Fredi at pfredi@bellsouth.net.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
81
Back to school, without the grades. Registration for fall adult classes opens August 1st.
W.
Eclectic Home Furnishings and Design
2205 bandywood drive in green hills • nashville, tn 37215 www.margischair.com • 615.463.3322
GASLAMP ANTIQUES & GASLAMP TOO
I see the
Summer Sale
July 19, 20, and 21
SummerFestival
JULY 21st, 10am-6pm :: Cool sales, entertainment & gift card drawings!
100 Powell Pl, Suite 200 & 128 Powell Pl, 37204 615-297-2224 / 615-292-2250 : GasLampAntiques.com Two Stores Featuring Antiques, Vintage Finds, Home & Personal Furnishings
Like What You See? Subscribe to Nashville Arts Magazine $45 for 12 issues
www.nashvillearts.com
615-383-0278
A L L T H E B E S T I N F I N E J E W E L RY 5101 Harding Road Nashville, Tennessee 37205 615.353.1823
PAM BARRETT Photograph by Lance Davies
HACKETT
Pam Barrett Hackett in her studio
WORDS Megan Kelley
The Place Between Paint & Perception
T
he works of Pam Barrett Hackett form intimate windows into “personal interiors, little worlds where I go exploring, and it is easy for me to get lost in these micro spaces.” The paintings straddle the horizon space between “ether and earth,” creating elements of recognizable paths, structures, and flora, even as they dissolve into painterly abstraction and a love of material intent. Landscape flirts with dreamscape, existing simultaneously between macro and micro, between the terrain of land and the terrain of skin. “Everything is vague in terms of that third dimension.” For the viewer leaning into these intimate squares of wax and oil, the effect is akin to standing at the edge of wild, even ritualized, spaces. In the act of observing, as you come close to the surface, the external world fades out of your periphery. And suddenly, the back of the neck prickles at an awareness of a permeable boundary, waiting to be woke. “You are choosing to enter a place where you are very open to suggestion.” The landscape shifts between mark and matter, between paint and place, never quite clear which is which.
84
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
So Many Kinds of Yes, 2018, Encaustic, mixed on cradled panel, 10” x 10”
Solace, 2018, Encaustic, mixed on cradled panel, 10” x 10”
Thirsty, 2018, Oil, cold wax on cradled panel, 10” x 10”
Quickening, 2018, Oil, cold wax on cradled panel, 10” x 10”
“I don’t want to over-define a space,” says Barrett Hackett, whose titles even skirt in those liminal spaces between generalized terms and a suggestive secrecy that hints at familiarity. Much like trail names, they provide just enough context to guide, but none of the particulars of what to expect along the journey. “It is important to me that the paintings remain in a space where anyone can imply their own terrain, that they are not so much one thing that they cannot be something else to someone else.”
earthy shadows ebb their way out of layers of scraped paint; pigments recede, pushed into the rivulets of wax and rubbed into the natural places of resistance. Color becomes a tidal force—something with its own power but also part of a larger pull.
The result of this intention is landscapes whose presentation allows for this simultaneity of compressed textures that take advantage of the depth of the pictorial plane. Dark,
Like straddling the places between waking and dreaming, the works and the spaces they create defy easy definition. Places of opaque whites and foggy greys navigate forming elements of visible terrain in one place, but become painterly marks of obfuscation in another. “You are navigating this translucence, peering through and around and past it, as a membrane between you and this place.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
85
Tins of encaustic paint on a heated palette
Encaustic paint removed with a scraping tool
Layers of encaustic paint fused with heat
Relatively “cool” paint applied over the textured surface
of addition followed by scraping—that in taking away, in unearthing, “the whole history of a piece is revealed.” The process of removal transforms the painting into a sort of archaeological site where even when resolved, the evidence of labor and removal becomes its own presence. In the absence of material, what remains as aftermath continues to carry the original weight.
Wax petal scrapings of encaustic paint
Sometimes you can step through. Sometimes you cannot.” The process of encaustic is “also a very liminal process,” slipping between activated and inert, waking and dormant. “Oils stay alive on the surface where you’re painting, but when you bring them into encaustic,” moving the brush from the pot of hot wax to the painting, the mixed wax “immediately cools, and gets quiet as it skims across the surface, and then stops . . . but you wake it again with the torch.” The ability of encaustic to encase itself makes it a medium “well known for suspending,” and Barrett Hackett has been known to include elements of bark, hair, and metallic leaf in her work. But the paintings are rarely about dormant space. The aspect of encaustic that most draws her attention is its ability to depict a passage of time through the labor
86
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
As a result, unlike most encaustic work whose panels are heavy masses of wax, Barrett Hackett’s work is as materially light as her atmospheres are airy. Her process of scraping creates narrow, intentional panels, sometimes left raw, sometimes sealed with another membrane of glossy, clear wax. The result is a rising luminosity, like the lift of breath after the asking of a question. “Mine is an excavating process,” a deliberate choice to reveal by removal, and while “there are things under there sometimes that you don’t see,” Barrett Hackett challenges the medium to reveal in material what it hides in subject matter. “Even as they hide a lot contextually and pictorially, they reveal a lot materially.” At the end of the path are works where layers of time wind tightly around layers of material, even more tightly wrapped into layers of depth and place. They form a thread the mind insists on following, even as the landscape turns corners and defies the straight path. “Your mind is trying to make sense, to figure out how everything comes together, and that is what keeps us in these spaces: that even in uncertainty, we hear a call for a persistence of order.” na To view Barrett Hackett’s body of work online, visit www.pambarretthackett.com.
ARRATT GALLERY AT VANDERBILT
The Sarratt Seven through August 3, 2018 ELIZABETH FRIEND JC JOHNSON MAUREEN O’BRIEN NANCIE ROARK SUSAN MOODY JOHN TOOMEY DAVID HEUSTESS
JC JOHNSON The Tower of London
NANCIE ROARK Untitled Necklace
DAVID HEUSTESS Diana’s Dance
SUSAN MOODY Untitled
LOCATED ON THE MAIN FLOOR OF SARRATT STUDENT CENTER AT 2301 VANDERBILT PLACE, NASHVILLE, TN 37235 Visit us 7 days a week from 9 a.m–9 p.m. during the academic year. Summer and holiday schedule hours are Monday–Friday 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
www.vanderbilt.edu/sarrattart
EDBARNES Vases and Vessels Exquisitely Crafted with Mind Boggling Precision and Accuracy at Tennessee Craft Fair WORDS Amanda Dobra Hope
“Everything comes full circle,” he says,
and with an almost three-decades-long career crafting one-of-a-kind wood vessels, at 75 years old, Ed Barnes probably knows what he’s talking about. This year’s Nashville Arts “Stand-Out Award Winner” at the Tennessee Craft fair, Barnes last displayed his work at this show ten years ago. A change in the rules inviting artists from neighboring states allowed this mountain dweller from Virginia to return this year. Knowing this, one of the first questions I ask is if he would share his thoughts on what he found to be the differences between his trip to Nashville ten years ago and today.
“Back then, you could sell anything you made at any price you wanted. Now it’s different. People are spending their disposable income on electronics. Arts programs are being taken out of schools. They’re just starting to reintroduce shop and art because they realized that not everyone will be engineers.” As our conversation unfolds, it appears that the differences he noticed in a decade in the Nashville show parallel the full-circle journey of society, as well as in his life. The themes of this journey are getting back to simplicity, following your passion, trust, and not worrying so much about money. “My parents were fundamentalist Quakers; art was giggled at,” he recounts of his earlier ambitions to attend art school. Barnes’s father sent him to a Quaker college in Ohio, but he stayed only a year because his heart wasn’t in it. His career path was saved when a music professor took an interest in him and took him to a Van Gogh exhibit. After that trip, the professor told Barnes’s father that his son was going to be an artist, and he should just give up and send him to art school. Thankfully for Barnes and all those who enjoy his art, his father took that advice. Following college, Barnes became an industrial designer, designing packaging and bottles for large corporations in California. After getting married and having children, though, he realized he did not want to raise his children there, and he moved his family back to the Blue Ridge Mountains, searching again for the simple life. “I come from a woodworking family. I understand the different types of trees and what
Natural Edge Vase, Amboyna, pink ivory, verawood, rosewood, ebony, and maple, 32” x 16” 88
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
they’ll do,” he says. He built his own house and studio and realized that by traveling to art shows, he could live in a remote area and sell his art anywhere. So he combined his bottle-making skills with the trees he understood so well and began crafting his vessels. As for his family, Barnes says, “My kids have all grown up, left, and come back. We all live in close proximity to each other now.”
Barnes doesn’t have a cell phone, take credit cards, sell over the phone, or work on consignment. “I will only sell a piece if someone walks into my booth and can pick it up and feel it,” he says.
For more information contact Ed Barnes at 2edbarnes4@gmail.com.
Ed Barnes
Falling Ebony Wave, Ebony, pink ivory, cherry, maple, walnut, 12” x 21”
Moroccan Desert, Thuya Burl, walnut, and cherry, 18” x 8”
Photograph by Nick Barnes
I ask if Barnes has any final thoughts or words of advice for aspiring young artists. “I want parents to know, if they have a kid who wants to pursue art, don’t kill that spirit. Encourage them to pursue their creative dreams and stop worrying about making so much money. If you really enjoy it, you will make money. You may not be rich, but you’ll always earn enough money.” Wise words indeed from this artist that has seen both his life, and glimpses of society, come full circle. na
African Spring, Ebony, pink ivory, Amboyna, walnut, and canary wood, 12” x 21”
Southeast Asia Mushroom, Amboyna, 15” x 34”
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
89
James Perrin at Tinney Contemporary
Herb Williams at The Rymer Gallery
ARTSEE
Rebecca Lines and Katherine Morgan at Tinney Contemporary
At Watkins Art Gallery
ARTSEE
Tara Stone Gill and CK Stone at Zeitgeist
Bethany Finch at Zeitgeist
ARTSEE
Teresa Shaffer and Charles Shaffer at The Rymer Gallery
Scott Osterbind at Channel To Channel
At CONVERGE
Berlin Arguello and Anne Elise Hastings at CONVERGE
90
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Cory Dugan, Aimee Lewis and Roger Clayton at COOP Gallery
John Jackson at The Rymer Gallery
Danya Moiseev and Aimee Liu at Tinney Contemporary
Shea Gabrielle Holofcener and Taite McKinney at The Arts Company
At The Rymer Gallery
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL NOTT
ARTSEE
Jason Levkulich at Rogue Gallery 77
Jerry Waters and Marleen De Waele-De Bock at The Rymer Gallery
At Zeitgeist
ARTSEE
Mary Love Richardson and Ben Richardson at Julia Martin Gallery
Amelia Crouch and Mito Face at Channel To Channel
Sophia Gordon at COOP Gallery
ARTSEE
David Onri Anderson at The Packing Plant
Pennye Brown and Audrea Rovar at The Rymer Gallery
Valerie Levkulich at Rogue Gallery 77
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
91
Todd Hoote and Esther Freeman at COOP Gallery
At The Arts Company
Sarah Longenecker and Lindsay Walker at Julia Martin Gallery
Giles Clement and Zeiss at Julia Martin Gallery
ARTSEE
ARTSEE
Chris Gowen at The Rymer Gallery
Afona Irabor and Lynda Peter at Mary Hong Gallery
ARTSEE
Amber Bryant and Eb McKinney at The Rymer Gallery
Harry Kagan, Bradley R. Marshall and Lauren Bright at Zeitgeist
Erica Whitney Wilkes and Anna Pugh at CONVERGE
Ashley Wilson at The Rymer Gallery
Kim McMullin and Matt McMullin at The Rymer Gallery
Micaela Johnson and Jasmen Hooker at Zeitgeist
Jenny Lewis and Zoe Lewis at The Rymer Gallery
Mary Muller and Lorin Roark at Channel To Channel
92
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Tia Blanton at Mary Hong Gallery
Billy Martinez Street Painting
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL NOTT
ARTSEE
Artist Amy Lansburg at The Arts Company
ARTSEE
ARTSEE
Miranda Tidwell and Jordan Samiere at Julia Martin Gallery Danielle Bloom, Morelia Cuevas, Cass Teague, Crystal Stewart, and Shelly Mullins at Mary Hong Gallery
Courtney Rogers Perrin at Tinney Contemporary
Guy Gilchrist and Mary Hong at Mary Hong Gallery At Tinney Contemporary
Carla Ciuffo and Angela McLoughlin at The Rymer Gallery
Becky Rodriguez and Jonathan Holder at Channel To Channel
Lea Brainerd and Andi Whiskey at The Rymer Gallery
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
93
POET’SCORNER
2018 Nashville Youth Poet Laureate Presented at Mayor David Briley’s 2018 State of Metro Address
NASHVILLE The sun is setting over the city,
And as tea brews on the stove in 1962,
a symphony of silence,
a young boy takes his seat at a counter
save for a passing car.
downtown,
I watch my city turn off her lights,
his skin the same color as the coffee
say goodnight to the roofs and chimneys,
spilled onto his white button down.
and light the moon ablaze. And in 1864, sepia tones reveal Nashville Nashville—golden even when all is dark.
putting on her work boots as gunfire echoes through the night.
Music follows a woman home on Broadway, her husband plays in a bar
Walking through the streets
downtown.
of a slumbering city, I am heavy with the bones of those
A girl treks to the corner mart
who support the street below my feet.
in Edgehill, her daddy watching from the window.
Shawnee women weave baskets and braid hair in a window.
And in a university, a student stares at a ceiling,
I am watching history unfold
wondering how he ended up here,
during my long walk home.
miles from California. Here, we have party girls Here, Nashville has a skyline
and their drinking games,
people write songs about.
painting the town happy.
With evergreen and skies streaked with the fading light
We have tourists in their cowboy boots
of days gone by.
and low-rise jeans, losing themselves on 12 South.
Photograph by Aleah Mae
BY HAVILAND WHITING
We have the girl walking to the corner mart,
People speaking their minds will bring
remembering
change,
where her friends lived
will bring righteousness,
before a university expanded.
and will bring slumber to the bodies sleeping
Or a shopping mall.
below.
Or another highrise. And maybe the college student Nashville—what is the price
sends the streetlight reflected off the
of a family? Of a home?
pavement to his love in
of sun-bleached days on the basketball court,
California.
what happens to a friendship
Maybe he tells her,
when even the projects get too expensive?
“I miss the beach, but damn do these
What about the homes,
Nashvillians know how to dance.”
now skeletons? No little girls with their braids and beads
And as the sepia tones fade out,
or me, in my light-up Sketchers?
the wife and her soldier dance the Tennessee waltz while candlelight
There are people who have nowhere to go.
flickers.
Breathing in this high-rise city becomes
As the sun sets on the sleeping city,
difficult when I remember how
I bottle up her last rays.
cold the winters here get.
I release my love over the skyline,
And how much colder it must be when you’re
the one people write songs about.
sleeping outside. When I arrive home, We have people
I remember how imperfect home is.
who consider the bottom of a bridge
Nashville-heartbreak city,
the closest thing to home.
There are things that need fixing,
As I hand the man
lights that need replacing,
on the corner of Wedgwood
shelves that need dusting,
all of the change in my pocket,
and hearts that need breaking,
I wonder how long it will take until he too,
a city of music, of love,
becomes a memory.
of missed buses and art museums, of forgetting and cold nights, it is home nonetheless.
Background photograph by John Partipilo
ARTSMART
A monthly guide to art education
Tennessee Fine Arts Standards: A New Vision and Purpose
Photograph by Brad Foust
Photograph by Amanda Tutor
TENNESSEE ROUNDUP
Briana and Nigel, 4th grade students from Bartlett Elementary School, creating a replica of the mummy case of King Tutankhamun
Bartlett Songwriters Alliance at Bartlett High School
Under the leadership of Dr. Dru Davison, Fine Arts Advisor with Shelby County Schools, a team of teachers from across the state worked for two years to write and review academic standards for dance, media arts, music, theater, and visual arts. The new learning targets present a sizable shift in the delivery of course content in all arts disciplines and how students are expected to show mastery and understanding. This update represents the first significant change in structure and content in several years. The vision for the writing and review teams came from several sources, namely the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS), a first-of-its-kind set of national arts standards published in 2014. The standards were written to source the unique learning conditions and outcomes for each arts discipline and to provide a vision for lifelong learning. In revising the Tennessee standards, the writing and review teams sought to take the best parts of the NCAS and combine them with the knowledge and experience of Tennessee teachers to construct a more balanced approach to skills and concepts and to provide context on how and when arts content should be taught and assessed. For example, a current standard for K–5 elementary general music, “Students will sing alone, and with others, a varied repertoire of music,” now appears as “sing, alone and with others, with expression, technical accuracy, and appropriate
by Brad Foust, DMA District Fine Arts Specialist at Bartlett City Schools
interpretation.” The new learning goal requires students and teachers to consider the conditions and context of learning and provides criteria that may be used to assess mastery of the standard. Similar shifts are present for dance, media arts, theater, and visual arts. The writing team organized the standards under four domains and eleven foundations common to all arts disciplines. While there are commonalities between the disciplines, flexibility was provided to allow teachers to highlight the most critical aspects of their respective art forms. An example is in visual arts, where the Create domain is the dominant domain. In all other disciplines, Perform and Produce are the primary forms of artistic expression. In June 2018, the Tennessee Department of Education conducted standards training sessions in eleven sites across the state. This training marked the first time the TDOE offered state-level training for fine-arts teachers. All training materials and training sessions were written and led by current Tennessee fine-arts teachers, and all training resources and materials are available on the TDOE website. To access the standards, please visit the Tennessee Department of Education website at www.tn.gov/education.
ARTSMART Measuring Success What does success look like in arts education? An elementary art teacher may tell you that success is in getting a classroom of 1st-grade students to follow directions without getting glue in their hair. A band instructor feels successful when 45 beginning band students begin and end a piece in tempo and in tune, without a stray squawk or drum roll. For teachers of the arts, every day brings success, minor and major victories in the ongoing learning process of making art.
to equitable access to arts instruction. Simply put, wealthier school districts are more likely to have robust arts programs than high-poverty districts. The new federal education policy, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), seeks to address access and equity by requiring states to uphold critical protections for America’s disadvantaged and high-need students and by defining what constitutes a well-rounded student, which includes music and the arts.
Standards in the arts are sequential, with each element building on prior learning. They are meant to be rigorous, with specific learning objectives and assessment measures in an area of education that was previously believed to be “too subjective” to measure. So, each standard has a built-in measure of success. Which brings us to the social equity aspect of success measurement. Supportive state policies in the arts have not always translated
Arts education advocates are also addressing equity and access issues through a participation lens. The essential questions: Is arts instruction available at the school? Do all students have access to instruction? How many students participate in those classes? The Music Makes Us program began measuring participation in 2013 with a published study establishing a benchmark for participation and measuring the impact of music education in Metro Nashville schools. Over the subsequent five years, participation rates in music increased by 1,300 students, to well over 60 percent of the student population overall. In fact, growth in music classes has been greater than the growth of district enrollment. Measuring success in arts education can be multifaceted. Bottom line: We know we have a successful effort if we can say that all students have access to and participate in the joyful learning experience of creating, performing, and presenting art. Visit www.musicmakesus.org to learn about Music Makes Us and to read the published study.
by Laurie T. Schell CEO, Arts Education Advocate www.ElevateArtsEd.org
Photograph by Donn Jones
Tennessee has recently adopted revised learning standards in the arts, developed by teacher teams, to be rolled out in schools in the 2018-19 school year. Standards are built around four artistic processes (domains): Perform, Create, Respond, and Connect. For example, in the Respond domain in music, 6th-grade students should be able to: Analyze how context and musical elements inform student response to music through visual and aural examples.
Photograph by Ardee Chua
In the larger educational context, success is measured (and often justified) through a policy lens and more recently through a social equity lens. Most arts education proponents consider it a victory to have policies in place that codify learning in the arts. Every state has adopted content standards in dance, music, theater, visual arts, and media arts, articulating what every student should know and be able to do at each grade level in each discipline. Forty-four states also have policies requiring arts instruction at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.
ARTSMART
ON THE HORIZON
Oliver Middle School Theater: The Launch Pad result is the transformative power of theater that is referenced repeatedly by the students. “I didn’t think I’d enjoy it,” admits Benton. “But I tried out, and the next day I was George Banks [Mary Poppins]. Once I got into the program, I found something I never knew I had. It’s not a burden; it’s something I love.” Anderson’s transformational experience started differently with her initial disappointment in casting as Tweedle-Dee in Alice in Wonderland. “I had to wear a fat-suit! But people believed in me; spoke life into me. It’s not easy, all fun and games, but you bring joy to people.”
Kaylee Valdez in The Little Mermaid
Kaylee Valdez
Most adults would agree that it’s the crazy, noisy, anxietyriddled years of middle school that are most in need of focus, balance, growth, and a feeling of ‘belonging’. In these formative years, the opportunity to move outside ourselves, to gain perspective and empathy, is crucial to development into a mature adult.
Over the years, the students performed Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, and The Sound of Music. Through the process of rehearsal and performance, the students tapped into something within themselves ranging from confidence and belief in themselves to the ability to express emotions in a safe place and create a chain
Sarah Anderson
Sophie Riand
Oliver Middle School students Kaylee Valdez, Alexander M. Benton, Annie Mitchell, and Sarah Anderson agree that it was the theater program that provided these crucial life skills and serves as a launch pad into high school. Under the skillful and passionate leadership of Caroline Sharp, director of the Oliver Middle theater program, reluctant, often shy students are soon hurling themselves into role after role, gaining poise and confidence. “There are 78 students in my advanced theater class, and it is a teacher’s dream class,” says Sharp. “These students pour such energy, work, heart, and commitment into this program.” These eighth-grade students were part of the original “Disney Babies” who launched Oliver Middle’s collaboration with Disney Musicals in Schools and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. “They have embraced the truth that the magic of theater is just all the really hard work and commitment that a cast and crew pour into a show to tell a significant story,” Sharp explains. The
98
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Sarah Anderson and Sophie Riand in The Little Mermaid
Words by DeeGee Lester Photography by Jean-Francoise Riand
ARTSMART
good as our weakest member. And I have learned that we can and must push ourselves to a higher level of performance . . . together.” In tight budget years, the true value of the arts in schools is echoed again and again in the heartfelt remarks of young performers. Another student, Sophie Riand, summed up her feelings to Sharp. “Drama truly changed my life. You saw potential in me and pushed me to grow. Being a “Disney Baby” changed my life. I have grown in confidence. I used to be envious when other people got certain roles, but you showed us there are truly no small roles—every character tells a story, and only you can tell that character’s story. I started to believe this, and I found confidence like I have never known.” The theater program has successfully prepared each of these outstanding young actors to be launched this fall into high school.
Alexander Benton
Annie Mitchell in The Sound of Music
reaction of emotion within the audience (the ripple effect). “Drama has taught me to never give up,” says Valdez. “This year I went to auditions for The Little Mermaid thinking I was going to get a small role like the years before, but I ended up getting Ariel! Drama at Annie Mitchell Oliver has impacted my life so much. It has not just made me a better actor, but has made me a better person.” The challenges for these young actors are many and can run the gamut from working with a choreographer, or learning to appeal to different age groups within the audience, to working as a unit. “I have learned to celebrate others’ accomplishments and encourage my fellow cast-mates and students to strive for success,” says Mitchell. “I have learned that we can only be as Alexander Benton in The Little Mermaid
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
99
ARTSMART Video Field Trip to Nan Jacobsohn’s Studio
Students watching the video field trip to Nan Jacobsohn’s studio
Nan Jacobsohn’s sculpture
All my kindergarten through fourth grade students are currently creating with clay. My art room floor is so covered in clay dust that a first grader asked if it had snowed in the art room. My hands are dry and cracked from the clay, and my back is already sore from loading and unloading the kiln. Despite all that, I wouldn’t give up sharing the wonder of clay with my students for anything in the world. When I told my kindergarten class they were working with clay, one of them shouted, “I just love you!” That’s pretty much how everyone feels about clay.
Nan Jacobsohn in her studio
how she explains that every native society that has existed has created varieties of masks in varying mediums. She thinks it is because people have always loved to “shed our old everyday persona and become something new.” This really got me excited to do a clay mask sculpture with my students. Not only are masks universally created but they are also appreciated by all ages.
Nan Jacobsohn is a ceramic sculptor who claims to have a touch of clay attention deficit disorder, as she loves to bounce around from one project to the next. In the video, she does a wonderful job of explaining to my students how clay also has an attention span: It needs to rest and set up some before an artist can return to working with it. For that reason, Nan likes to fill in the time by working on several projects at once: masks, bas relief, and wheel throwing.
When Nan began sharing her process with a medium that my students had just finished creating with, that really spoke to them. I was amazed to see their understanding of her words and her creative process as their very own clay projects dried on the shelves in my kiln room. We chatted for a while about what we had learned from Nan in the video, and the most important lesson learned was that if they enjoyed working with clay, they should keep creating in clay—and they, too, might be a working artist like Nan Jacobsohn one day!
Nan shared that her main interest is currently masks. I love
See more of Nan Jacobsohn’s work at www.theclayhorse.com.
Photograph by Juan Pont Lezica
I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the studio of Nan Jacobsohn not too long ago. She was kind enough to let me film her working and explaining her process to my students. As my kids are finishing their work, they have been returning to our gathering spot and watching Nan’s interview. It is so vital for them to know this clay that they love so much can actually lead to opportunities for them—like becoming an artist!
by Cassie Stephens Art Teacher Johnson Elementary
9TH ANNUAL
PHOTOGRAPHY
COMPETITION
LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR & PROFESSIONAL
FIRST PLACE $500 cash SECOND PLACE $300 Chromatics gift card THIRD PLACE $200 Chromatics gift card Top entries will be featured in the December issue of Nashville Arts Magazine and entrants may be given the opportunity to shoot an assignment for the magazine.
SUBMISSIONS DUE: October 20, 2018 WINNERS ANNOUNCED: December 2018 You may enter as many photographs as you wish for $5 per photograph. See www.nashvillearts.com for details.
THEATRE BY JIM REYLAND
Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo combines a theatrical world of excitement, comedy, and spontaneity situated in a mysterious space between heaven and earth.
Carried Away with Life!
Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo Flies into Nashville
E
ver wish you could look inside the mind of a clown? Maybe not, might be too scary. Unless, of course, you could do it while riding atop a wildly creative, high-flying adventure, set down not only in front, but a hundred hands above you. If you could do that, if you could jump into a perfectly safe mind plunge that fills your heart with childlike wonder, then you might take a good long look. Lucky for us, Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo soars into Music City in late July and gives us all a chance to explore the possibilities. Corteo is a joyous procession, a festive parade imagined by a clown as he visualizes his own funeral taking place in a carnival-like setting, watched over by quietly caring angels. See, I told you, there’s nothing to worry about. Written and
102
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, the show brings together the passion of the actor with the grace and power of the acrobat to take the audience into a theatrical world of fun, comedy, and spontaneity situated in the mysterious space between our ears. Juxtaposing the large with the small, the ridiculous with the tragic, and the magic of perfection with the charm of imperfection, the show highlights the strength and fragility of the clown, as well as his wisdom and kindness. The music is lyrical and playful and carries Corteo through a timeless celebration in which illusion teases reality. Man, you gotta love this clown. Corteo first premiered in Montreal in 2005 and celebrated its 3,500th performance in 2015 in Bogotá, Colombia. Fun fact:
Photograph by Lucas Saporiti
Handmade: Friendships Famous, Infamous, Real, and Imagined by Jim Reyland is available at writersstage.com. Also, catch the award-winning STAND for two shows on October 27 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the 4th Story Theater at WUMC. jreyland@audioproductions.com.
Photograph by Matthew Murphy
Photograph by Lucas Saporiti
Photograph by Lucas Saporiti
Corteo fills Bridgestone Arena with high-wire Hula hoops, Jugglers, Duo Straps, a Helium Dance, the Acrobatic Ladder, a Cyr Wheel, several Bouncing Beds, Artist Marionettes, a very cool Teeterboard, Chandeliers, Crystal Glasses, and Tibetan Bowls, all happening 40 feet above us. Corteo stage set designer Jean Rabasse has divided the Grand Chapiteau and its rotating stage in two, with each half of the audience facing the other half, so they see not only the performance, but also have a performer’s eye view of the audience. This impressive stage is anchored by a 41-foot turntable, and above it all flies the “Patience,” a massive structure used to transport scenic elements and acrobatic equipment on and off stage from above. If that’s not big enough for you, it’s all wrapped in a massive collection of curtains inspired by the 1885 painting by Parisian artist Adolphe Willette. The two enormous baroque-style “Roll Drop” curtains (58 feet wide and almost 40 feet high) and the four sideways-opening Italian-style curtains are among the most striking scenic elements in the show. Finally, in the center of the circular stage is a labyrinth which exactly reproduces the proportions and size of the classic design on the floor of the nave in Chartres Cathedral, incorporating an
eight-inch Mobius strip painted at its center as a symbol of infinity and continuity. This clown has thought of everything. No detail too big or too small. An emotive explosion of the visual arts and musical senses, all coming together to thrill and delight us from the sky. All the sights and sounds required to open the mind and fill the heart. na Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo goes up for a limited six-performance run July 26–29 at the Bridgestone Arena. www.cirquedusoleil.com/corteo. Photograph by Lucas Saporiti
More than 8 million people have been enthralled by the world of Corteo. The cast is international, representing nationalities from Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, United Kingdom, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan, and more.
Roebling Bridge, from 10 Places That Changed America
Geoffrey Baer is back with new 10 That Changed America episodes airing Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Baer leads viewers on cross-country journeys to discover the Streets (July 10), Monuments (July 17), and Modern Marvels (July 24) that influenced architecture, civic development, construction methods, and other aspects of American culture. He travels via Model T and streetcar as he navigates roads ranging from New York’s Broadway to St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans to L.A.’s Wilshire Boulevard in the Streets episode. Monuments includes visits to the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and offers insight into changing attitudes toward remembrance and inspirational architecture. Engineering breakthroughs such as the reversal of the Chicago River are highlighted in the Modern Marvels episode.
Khrystyna Moshenska and Marius-Andrei Balan of Germany compete in The World Dancesport Grandslam Series
FILM SPORTS Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Life is hard for the 1.6 million migrant workers from Africa and Asia employed to build the stadium and other infrastructure, but they take pride and respite in their own soccer competition. The Workers Cup airs Monday, July 9, at 9 p.m. on POV. Later that evening, at 11:30 p.m., Driven Blind shares the story of Dan Parker. Though he was blinded in a fiery racing crash, this world champion drag racer is determined to get back behind the wheel. This film is part of the Reel South series of documentaries about Southerners that airs late-night Mondays. Maria Toorpakai is another athlete overcoming challenges. She is a champion squash player, winning matches for her native Pakistan, but also fighting to
be allowed to play in a Taliban-occupied area. She disguised herself as a boy, lived under house arrest, and eventually fled to Canada before returning home to stand up to those threatening her family. The War to Be Her airs Monday, July 23, at 9 p.m. on POV.
BREAKING THROUGH Wil B and Kev Marcus, otherwise known as Black Violin, performed at Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium this past April. See them Friday, July 13, at 11 p.m. on The Kate when they perform work by Copeland and Bach, as well as their own compositions and pieces by Imagine Dragons. Breaking Big is a new PBS show featuring artists, athletes, and other innovators discussing turning points in their development and career. Hosted by Emmy-winning journalist Carlos Watson, the series airs Sundays at 10 p.m. This month’s guests include restaurateur Eddie Huang (July 8), actress and playwright Danai Gurira (July 15), and country star Jason Aldean (July 22). The 2017 World Dancesport Grandslam Series, a sizzling competition held in various cities around the world, continues Fridays at 7 p.m. Encore presentations of many of NPT’s shows are broadcast on NPT2; enjoy 24/7 children’s programming on NPT3 PBS Kids. To make a contribution to NPT, please go to wnpt.org and click the donate button.
Marcus Samuelsson at Estero, from No Passport Required
Courtesy of Christine Carreira
(MORE) SUMMER TRAVEL
See more of the country Tuesdays at 8 p.m. with Marcus Samuelsson’s No Passport Required, in which the Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised chef explores the influence of various immigrant populations on U.S. cuisine and cities. Samuelsson samples MiddleEastern flavors in Detroit (July 10), Vietnamese dishes in New Orleans (July 17), Mexican-American favorites in Chicago (July 24), and Indo-Guyanese fare in Queens, NYC (July 31).
© Reinhard Egli – World DanceSport
In 2016, photographer John Guider took to the water in a small boat of his own making and retraced surveyor John Donelson’s 1,000-mile journey from the northwest corner of Tennessee to Nashville. Voyage of Adventure: Retracing Donelson’s Journey, NPT’s original documentary about Guider’s project, premieres Thursday, July 26, at 8 p.m.
Photograph by Colleen Stepanian
Arts Worth Watching
July 2018 Weekend Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30
5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 6:00 6:30
Saturday
am Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Dinosaur Train Bob the Builder Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Pinkalicious & Peterrific Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Sewing with Nancy P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home Garden Smart Steven Raichlen’s Project Fire Kevin Belton’s New Orleans Kitchen Food Over 50 noon America’s Test Kitchen pm Cook’s Country Kitchen Joanne Weir’s Plates and Places Nigella: At My Table Simply Ming Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting Best of Joy of Painting Woodwright’s Shop Rough Cut with Fine Woodworking This Old House Ask This Old House Make48 PBS NewsHour Weekend Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville
This Month on Nashville Public Television Earth’s Natural Wonders: Life at Extremes Humans survive in beautiful, yet challenging places.
Wednesdays, July 11 – 25, at 7 pm
Sunday
am Sid the Science Kid Dinosaur Train Sesame Street Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Pinkalicious & Peterrific Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Tennessee’s Wild Side Volunteer Gardener Tennessee Crossroads Nature Washington Week noon To the Contrary pm Firing Line Samantha Brown’s Places to Love Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope New Environmentalists Burt Wolf: Travels & Traditions Travels with Darley Weekends with Yankee America’s Heartland Rick Steves’ Europe Antiques Roadshow PBS NewsHour Weekend British Antiques Roadshow
Weekday Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 6:00
am Classical Stretch Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr Ready Jet Go! Cat in the Hat Nature Cat Curious George Pinkalicious & Peterrific Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Splash and Bubbles Sesame Street Super Why! Dinosaur Train Peg + Cat noon Sesame Street pm Splash and Bubbles Curious George Pinkalicious & Peterrific Nature Cat Wild Kratts Wild Kratts Odd Squad Odd Squad Arthur NPT Favorites PBS NewsHour
ORIGINAL
Ted Williams: American Masters A new profile for the hall of famer’s centennial. Premieres Monday, July 23, at 8 pm
Voyage of Adventure Photographer John Guider follows John Donelson’s 1779 river trip. Premieres Thursday, July 26, at 8 pm
106
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
1
2
16
15
7:00 Poldark, Season 2 Episode 5. 8:00 Endeavour on Masterpiece Colours. A model is killed during a photoshoot on an army base. 9:30 David Holt’s State of Music Wayne Henderson; Jeff Little. 10:00 Breaking Big Danai Gurira. 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 POV The Workers Cup.
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Chicago. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Toronto. 9:00 POV Lindy Lou, Juror Number Two. A juror from a Mississippi death penalty trial is overcome with guilt. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Reel South See the Keepers. Behind the scenes at the Memphis Zoo.
9
7:00 Poldark, Season 2 Episode 4. 8:00 Endeavour on Masterpiece Passenger. A disappearance may be linked to a teen’s unsolved murder. 9:30 David Holt’s State of Music Glencon Mill: Alice Gerrad, Rayna Gellert & Laurelyn Dossett. 10:00 Breaking Big Eddie Huang. 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 POV Brimstone & Glory.
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Portland. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Columbus. 9:00 POV The Workers Cup. African and Asian immigrants have their own tournament as they aid Qatar’s preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Reel South Driven Blind. A world champion drag racer loses his sight.
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Savannah. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Tampa. 9:00 POV Brimstone & Glory. Mexico’s National Pyrotechnic Festival. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Reel South First Lady of the Revolution. From reluctant Southern belle to first lady of Costa Rica.
Monday
8
7:00 Poldark, Season 2 Episode 3. 8:00 Endeavour on Masterpiece Cartouche. Season 5 continues as a horror movie begins filming in Oxford. 9:30 David Holt’s State of Music Steep Canyon Rangers. 10:00 Breaking Big Trevor Noah. 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 POV Singing with Angry Bird.
Sunday
3
17
7:00 10 Monuments That Changed America From the Statue of Liberty to Mount Rushmore to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 8:00 No Passport Required New Orleans. Vietnamese cuisine. 9:00 Frontline Blackout in Puerto Rico. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 The Tunnel: Vengeance Episode 3.
10
7:00 10 Streets That Changed America Wilshire Boulevard, the Lincoln Highway and other innovative thoroughfares. 8:00 No Passport Required Detroit. Chef Marcus Samuelsson explores the city’s Middle Eastern flavors. 9:00 Frontline Trump’s Takeover. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 The Tunnel: Vengeance Episode 2.
7:00 Civilizations What Is Art (Good for)? Series finale. 8:00 Great War: American Experience Fighting in the Argonne; the flu rages at home. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 The Tunnel: Vengeance Season 3 premiere. A boat carrying child refugees is torched in the Channel, leaving no sign of its passengers.
Tuesday
Nashville Public Television’s Primetime Evening Schedule
July 2018 4
18
7:00 Earth’s Natural Wonders – Life at the Extremes Surviving with Animals. Northern Australia, northern Siberia and Vanuatu. 8:00 Himalaya: Kingdoms of the Sky Earth’s highest mountain range. 9:00 NOVA Treasures of the Earth: Metals. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit; Amanda Shires.
11
7:00 Earth’s Natural Wonders – Life at the Extremes Surviving the Extreme. The high Himalayas, Brazilian Amazon and Australian Outback. 8:00 Rockies: Kingdoms of the Sky Wildlife and adventure seekers. 9:00 NOVA Treasures of the Earth: Gems. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Father John Misty; The Black Angels.
7:00 A Capitol Fourth Live from Washington, D.C., with host John Stamos. Performers include Jimmy Buffett, Pentatonix, The Beach Boys, Luke Combs and CeCe Winans. 8:30 A Capitol Fourth Encore presentation. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Sleater-Kinney; Heartless Bastard.
Wednesday
5
19
20
13
7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 2017 World 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Dancesport 8:00 How We Got to Now Grandslam Series with Steven Johnson 8:00 The Great British Cold. Baking Show 9:00 How We Got to Now Puddings. with Steven Johnson 9:00 British Antiques Sound. Roadshow 10:00 BBC World News Ashton Court/ 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Hillsborough 2. 11:00 A Place to Call Home 9:30 Dream of Italy Where Will the Baby’s Florence. Dimple Be? 10:00 BBC World News 12:00 A Place to Call Home 10:30 Last of Summer Wine And the Blind Shall See. 11:00 The Kate Jarrod Spector and Kelli Barrett.
12
6
7:00 2017 World Dancesport Grandslam Series Hong Kong. 8:00 The Great British Baking Show Desserts. 9:00 British Antiques Roadshow The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 3. 9:30 Dream of Italy Venice. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 The Kate Marc Broussard.
Friday
7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 2017 World 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Dancesport 8:00 How We Got to Now Grandslam Series with Steven Johnson Stuttgart. Glass. 8:00 The Great British 9:00 How We Got to Now Baking Show with Steven Johnson Pies. Light. 9:00 British Antiques 10:00 BBC World News Roadshow 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Tredegar House 2. 11:00 A Place to Call Home 9:30 Dream of Italy You’re Just in Love. Bologna. 12:00 A Place to Call Home 10:00 BBC World News There’ll Be Some 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Changes Made. 11:00 The Kate Black Violin.
7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 How We Got to Now with Steven Johnson Clean. 9:00 How We Got to Now with Steven Johnson Time. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 A Place to Call Home Happy Days Are Here Again. 12:00 A Place to Call Home The Trouble with Harry.
Thursday
7
21
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Sights and Sounds of L.A. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 A Place to Call Home Catch the Tiger. Regina’s behavior spirals. 10:00 A Place to Call Home All Good Things. Jack and Carolyn stand by their daughter in the Season 4 finale. 11:00 Globe Trekker Tough Trains: Vietnam.
14
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Hooray for Hollywood. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 A Place to Call Home Where Will the Baby’s Dimple Be? Olivia faces a heartbreaking truth. 10:00 A Place to Call Home And the Blind Shall See. Anna pushes Gino beyond his limit. 11:00 Globe Trekker Tough Boats: The Amazon.
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show The Norma Zimmer Show. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 A Place to Call Home You’re Just in Love. Anna makes a huge confession. 10:00 A Place to Call Home There’ll Be Some Changes Made. James grapples with his old feelings for Harry. 11:00 Globe Trekker Delhi & Agra.
Saturday
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
107
30
29
Wednesdays, Beginning July 11, at 8 pm
1
for NPT, NPT2, and NPT3 PBS Kids.
Visit wnpt.org for complete 24-hour schedules
Kingdoms of the Sky
August
3
27
Saturdays, Beginning July 28, 9 & 9:45 pm
Hillary
2
26
7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 2017 World 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Dancesport 8:00 Voyage of Adventure: Grandslam Series Retracing Donelson’s 8:00 The Great British Journey Baking Show An NPT original follows Sweet Dough. photographer John 9:00 British Antiques Guider’s history-inspired Roadshow river project. Hillsborough Castle. 9:00 Return to the Wild – 9:30 Dream of Italy The Chris McCandless Abruzzo. Story 10:00 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 The Kate 11:00 A Place to Call Home Jimmy Webb with Catch the Tiger. Ashley Campbell. 12:00 A Place to Call Home All Good Things.
7:00 The Outback 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 2017 World The Kimberley Comes 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Dancesport Alive. The spectacular 8:00 Cheekwood: A Grandslam Series region in North West Masterpiece by Man & 8:00 The Great British Australia. Nature Baking Show 8:00 Wonders of Mexico An NPT original about Biscuits. Forests of the Maya. the historic home and 9:00 British Antiques A new series explores gardens. Roadshow our neighbor to the 8:30 Living Dream: One Kirby Hall 1. south. Hundred Years of 9:30 Dream of Italy 9:00 NOVA Rocky Mountain Basilicata with Francis Making North National Park Ford Coppola. America: Origins. 10:00 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Homeless Chorus 11:00 The Kate 11:00 Austin City Limits Speaks John Oates. Alabama Shakes; Vintage Trouble.
25
7:00 Earth’s Natural Wonders – Life at the Extremes Surviving Against the Odds. Harsh life amid natural wonders. 8:00 Andes: Kingdoms of the Sky Cloud forests and Incan descendants. 9:00 NOVA Treasures of the Earth: Power. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Gary Clark Jr.; Courtney Barnett.
Tuesdays, Beginning July 3, 11 pm
31
7:00 10 Homes That Changed America Monticello, Fallingwater, etc. 8:00 No Passport Required Queens, NYC. Indo-Guyanese cuisine. 9:00 Frontline An American Family Escaping ISIS. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 The Tunnel: Vengeance Episode 5.
24
The Tunnel: Vengeance
7:00 Poldark, Season 2 Episode 7. 8:00 Endeavour on Masterpiece Icarus. A teacher disappears. 9:30 David Holt’s State of Music The Kruger Brothers. 10:00 Breaking Big Ruth Zukerman. The SoulCycle founder. 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 POV The War to Be Her.
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Birmingham. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Baltimore. 9:00 POV Whose Streets? The uprising in Ferguson, Mo., following Michael Brown’s killing. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Next Door Neighbors: Between Two Worlds An NPT original about Middle Tennessee’s immigrant community.
23
7:00 Antiques Roadshow 7:00 10 Modern Marvels Omaha, Hour 3. That Changed 8:00 Ted Williams: America American Masters American engineering The Greatest Hitter feats, including the Erie Who Ever Lived. A Canal and Hoover Dam. new profile. 8:00 No Passport Required 9:00 POV Chicago. The War to Be Her. Mexican-American A Pakistani girl plays cuisine. sports as a boy in 9:00 Frontline a Taliban-controlled U.N. Sex Scandal. area. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:00 The Tunnel: 11:30 Aging Matters: Vengeance Loneliness & Episode 4. Isolation
22
7:00 Poldark, Season 2 Episode 6. 8:00 Endeavour on Masterpiece Quartet. Espionage, big business and a long-held secret. 9:30 David Holt’s State of Music Amythyst Kiah; Mipso. 10:00 Breaking Big Jason Aldean. 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 POV Lindy Lou, Juror Number Two.
4
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Salute to Cole Porter. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 Hillary Everest. Hillary meets a new climbing partner, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. 9:45 Hillary
28
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Great Entertainers. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 Hillary Standing Tall. Edmund Hillary is fascinated with the Himalayas. 9:44 Hillary Louise. Hillary and mountaineer Eric Shipton discover a new route up Mt. Everest. 10:30 Next Door Neighbors: Between Two Worlds 11:00 Globe Trekker Tough Trains: India’s Independence Railroads.
THEBOOKMARK
A MONTHLY LOOK AT HOT BOOKS AND COOL READS
A Place for Us Fatima Farheen Mirza Whether your summer plans involve reading on a beach, in a hammock, or tucked away in a cabin, you’ll want to have this book in your hands. A Place for Us is a novel that traces the lives of an Indian-American Muslim family, the events that bring them together, and choices that tear them apart. It’s the book of the summer, and you can meet Fatima Farheen Mirza and get your book signed at Parnassus Books on July 11!
Modernists and Mavericks: Bacon, Freud, Hockney and the London Painters Martin Gayford An immersive look at modern British painting from World War II to 1970, this book examines the intertwined lives of many artists, including Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, and more. Rendered in stunning brushstrokes of language, this book will transport you to one of painting’s most exciting moments in history.
People Only Die of Love in Movies
Word of Mouth: More Conversations
Jim Ridley
Lily Clayton Hansen
Jim Ridley, beloved Nashville Scene editor and American film critic, lives on through his brilliant essays and reviews. People Only Die of Love in Movies contains nearly 100 pieces of his best. Organized by genre, it will speak to anyone with a love for film, art, and music. While Nashville lost Jim Ridley, his brilliance will continue to influence our city through his voice on the page.
Celebrate Nashville’s dynamic, one-of-a-kind community with a second volume of Lily Clayton Hansen’s interviews and portraits. The first volume of Word of Mouth has inspired art exhibits, features, events, and countless forays into the art of conversation, and left us wanting even more! Meet Hansen and start a conversation at Parnassus Books on July 19!
Shooting Stars and Jellybean Trees Aaron Grayum
Exhibit runs through August 17, 2018 Marnie Sheridan Gallery The Harpeth Hall School 3801 Hobbs Road, Nashville, TN 37215 615.297.9543
HarpethHall.org
You can’t make this up ... I’ve always sought out local mom-and-pop places when it comes to restaurants, hardware stores, etc. My latest adventure with one of these involved Powder Tech Services (P.T.S.) on 6th Avenue South near the old City Cemetery. A painter friend had recommended them when I was looking to have an old bench restored. The bench was covered with five coats of paint that needed to be removed. P.T.S. sandblasted the metal frame then powder coated it (twice) using a Prismatic bronze color. The results were so pleasing, I recently asked them to do the same thing to a blue-bottle tree made from welded pieces of rebar that had begun to rust.
BEYONDWORDS
Photograph by Anthony Scarlati
ry Eve st fir ! ay Frid
BY MARSHALL CHAPMAN
P.T.S. is owned by Glenda and Red Rhea. Glenda keeps the books and Red keeps things running in the shop, which also specializes in motorcycle repair. When I first met Glenda, a huge cat was lying across her desk. “What’s its name?” I asked. “Slic,” Glenda replied.
Williamson County Culture
Glenda looks like everybody’s favorite grandmother, but looks can be deceiving. I soon learned that Glenda used to race motorcycles, and I marveled at the framed photo of her bent over a Harley going god-only-knows how fast. I also learned that Slic was not the Rheas’ first cat. They had owned many over the years—all named for motorcycle parts. (Slic refers to a treadless tire on a top-fuel Harley.) “So what were some of your other cats’ names?” I asked. “Oh, there was Knucklehead,” Glenda said. (A knucklehead was an engine used in Harleys made from 1936 to 1947.) “Don’t forget Push Rod,” Red called out from behind his desk in the corner. Then there was Dipstick. “The baddest-ass cat that ever walked the planet,” according to Red. Dipstick lived with the Rheas for twelve years. “You could carry him upside down and he didn’t care. He was the most trusting cat you ever met.” Before leaving, I gave Slic a scratch behind his ears. As I did so, Glenda told me about the time Slic went missing for four days. “I told God that if He’d bring Slic back, I’d have him do His work. So when Slic came back, I started ‘Slic Says’ (daily Bible verses) on my Facebook page, and we’ve been doing it ever since.” For today’s ‘Slic Says’ visit www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=slic%20says. Marshall Chapman is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, author, and actress. For more information, visit www.tallgirl.com.
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
109
MYFAVORITEPAINTING HAYLEY MADDEN, DIGITAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
ARTIST BIO: Gregory Thielker At first glance, you might think you are looking at a photograph. It is, in fact, an oil painting by hyperrealist artist Gregory Thielker. Low Road is part of a series, Under the Unminding Sky, of photorealist paintings that depict various views through a rainy car windshield. The series reflects the artist’s interest in the way the road defines and controls how we experience landscape. Thielker explains, “I use water on the windshield to create a shifting lens for the way we see our environment: It both highlights and obscures our viewing.” Born in 1979, Thielker lives and works in New York City and has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad. www.gregorythielker.com
Gregory Thielker, Low Road, 2006, Oil on canvas, 36” x 48”
Gregory Thielker’s Under the Unminding Sky is a series of
twenty-two hyperrealistic oil paintings. The pieces are united by an ‘in-looking-out’ theme and share the common element of a water-covered windshield that distorts the landscape beyond. Low Road immediately stands out to me because I find myself lending more attention to the familiar experience of being ‘in’ rather than the landscape, or what is ‘out’.
I’ve often wondered if there’s a German word to describe the feeling that comes along with driving down one’s own personal Low Road during a summer rain. It seems like a moment worthy of its own unique descriptor. I’m so grateful for Thielker, his exceptional skill, and his decision to capture the Low Road experience. na
110
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Hayley Madden
Photograph by Kate Cauthen
Consider those big fat raindrops—you know exactly how they sound when they hit your windshield. The reliable whoosh (or stutter, if you’ve got a car like mine) of the wiper blades is imminent. The cracked window offers relief from the humidity and allows you to hear the hissing sound of cars driving on wet pavement. You anticipate the first notes of the next track on the mix CD that has been in the player for six years and hum them prematurely. I know you do this because I do this; I’m convinced it is a nearly universal experience.