It’s all
ABOUT THE ART
Issue I Vol. I Jan - Mar 2016 MAC DeLand Chair: Judy Thompson Editor: Lisa Habermehl This Issue’s Sponsor Hampton Inn & Suites DeLand Hampton.com
Experiencing the power of the arts and its impact on the vitality of a community Tourism | Economic Development | Education & Historical Preservation | Health & Wellness
The West Volusia Arts Scene
by Rick de Yampert, Freelance writer and musician Daytona Beach News-Journal A & E writer for 23 years, sitarick@rickdeyampert.com
T
he opinionated painter visiting the Museum of Art - Deland a year ago had a point.
cast onto canvas by German Expressionist Otto Dix, no doubt the heartland rocker in “Any artist or songwriter who is any good at all did not come you would be enamored by from a big city,” said this painter, whose work was about to go the more than 1,000 works on exhibit at the museum. “Where did Woody Guthrie come from? of German-born painter Oklahoma. Where did Hank Williams come from? Alabama. Where Oscar Bluemner that were did the Beatles come from? Liverpool. bequeathed by his daughter to Stetson University’s Hand Art “I defy any of you to tell me a great songwriter who came from New Center. Bluemner’s dramatYork City or Los Angeles. They might have ended up there, but they ic, boldly colorful rural and didn’t start there. New York and Los Angeles have nothing to do with village scenes made him a America. They really don’t. It amazes me that we admire and pay atkey artist in the creation of tention to the (expletive) that comes out from there. Who cares? I don’t American modernism along care.” Joan Miró, Le Coq, c. 1935, Pochoir, 21” x 16” with Georgia O’Keeffe and Collector’s Choice: Samuel Blatt Collection John Marin. Who was this artist who was boldly championing small town America Extended Loan, Museum of Art - DeLand over the big culture meccas? Rocker John Mellencamp. Yep, the very Indiana-bred guy who penned such Top 10 hits as Jack and Diane and On the theatrical side, DeLand’s Athens Theatre has staged local productions of the silly, such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the Small Town. sublimely serious, such as Les Miserables and 12 Angry Jurors. (By the Speaking at a press conference prior to the opening of his exhibition in the way, John, you’d make a great guest star as Dr. Frank-N-Furter when the downtown galleries of the Museum of Art - DeLand, Mellencamp clearly local Rocky Horror troupe, The Absent Friends, stage their shadow cast was smitten by the small town that had chosen to host his paintings. production again - seriously.) But hey, John - you would have been even more enchanted by the arts On the music side, DeLand is home to one kick-ass band - the music scene of DeLand and West Volusia if you had been able to hang around faculty at Stetson University. Music profs such as guitarist Stephen Robtown for a while. inson (he studied with Andres Segovia!), pianist Michael Rickman and many others perform regularly for the community. (John, think about As someone who’s been hanging around the area for a few decades writ- having Robinson guest on your next CD.) ing about local arts and entertainment, I can say you’d be thrilled by the stuff that goes on here. Closer to your musical heart is the annual DeLand Original Music Festival, which bills itself as the “Largest one-day music festival in the A few months before your paintings arrived, the Museum of Art Southeast featuring independent original music.” Among the 150 or so DeLand installed an Appalachian show and a Florida Collector’s show, acts performing on 30 stages, you’ll hear some fellow roots rockers plus which included works by Picasso, Miro, Matisse and others. So, John, everything from “baby-making” smooth jazz to futuristic rap-funk. just remember, you don’t have to go to New York to have your And, John, if you get really homesick for your rural roots, you can check art rub shoulders with the likes out the nearby Barberville Pioneer Settlement. Along with hearing some of Picasso. bluegrass and back-porch folk music, you can learn blacksmithing and chair caning (in case you ever decide to ditch that rock ’n’ roll thing). And while your portraits echo the sullen, intense faces Well, John, as you sang once upon a time: “I’ve seen it all in a small town, had myself a ball in a small town.” Oscar Bluemner, Variation of Expression of a Silktown, 1914 watercolor on paper, 14 cm x 18.5 cm Vera Bluemner Kouba Collection, Hand Art Center, Stetson University
Us, too. Come back anytime. END over