ISSUE March 2019

THE ARTS MAGAZINE OF THE ART STUDIO, INC.

MARCH 2019

BLAST OFF PAGE 8

INSIDE: KEITH CARTER’S 50 YEARS, ART MARKET MOVIES, AND MORE

WANTED

Live models needed for Life Drawing, Tuesdays, 6-8 p.m.

Contact Sara Tuell at saratuell@gmail.com

ISSUE Vol. 25, No. 6 Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Art Studio, Inc. Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andy Coughlan Copy Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth Gallaspy Contributing Writers . . . . . . . . . Stephan Malick, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michele Cate Distribution . . . . . . . Olivia Malick, Elijah Malick

A View From The Top Greg Busceme, TASI Director WORK AT THE STUDIO continues. You may have observed the ceiling light rack above the lower deck of the gallery. It seems to give more direct lighting to the work and saves a lot of climbing on the 12-feet ladder.

Along with the track lighting in the lobby you will be pleased to see real lights in the restrooms, along with a 110v receptacle much needed lights in the darkroom hall and new 240v receptacle in the ceramics classroom.

We also just got powered up with a hotrod modem. We have a new sound system and a crazy cool light bar on the way.

New fans have also been purchased and are waiting to be installed. We hope to have a little left for kiln reconstruction and sheds to beef up our ceramics program again.

All of these improvements are made pos-

The Art Studio, Inc. Board of Directors Corporate President . . . . . . . . . . Greg Busceme Corporate Vice-President . . . . . Angela Scheibel Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephan Malick Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Roberts Secretary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jessica Davis Members at Large . . . . . . Stephanie Chadwick, . . . . . . . . . Olivia Busceme, John Fulbright, . . . . . . . . . . . Allison Kainer, Jessica Prince, . . . . . . . . . . Kelly Logan Murphy, Sara Tuell, . . . . . . . . . . Sheila Busceme, John Rollins Tenant Representative. . . . . . . . . . Kailee Viator Assistant Director . . . . . . . . . Marilyn Tennissen

The Art Studio, Inc. 720 Franklin Beaumont, TX 77701 409-838-5393 www.artstudio.org info@artstudio.org The ISSUE is a monthly publication of The Art Studio, Inc. Its mission is to publicize The Art Studio and its tenants, and to promote the growth of the arts in Southeast Texas. ISSUE is also charged with informing TASI members of projects, progress, achievements and setbacks in TASI’s well-being. Further, ISSUE strives to promote and distribute the writings of local authors in its “Thoughtcrime” feature.

ISSUE is provided free of charge to members of TASI and is also available, free of charge, at more than 30 locations in Southeast Texas.

Regular features include local artists of note and reputation who are not currently exhibiting at TASI; artists currently or soon to be exhibiting at TASI; Instructional articles for artists; news stories regarding the state of TASI’s organization; and arts news features dealing with general philosophical issues of interest to artists.

Contents “Keith Carter: 50 Years” . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4 Art Market at the Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . Page 6 “Capsula Stellis Iter In Nave” . . . . . . . . Page 8 “After School Special” Call . . . . . . . . . Page 11 Le Grand Bal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 11 TASIMJAE Call For Entries . . . . . . . . . . Page 13 Around & About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Thoughtcrime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 15

MARCH

See VIEW on page 12

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS AT THE ART STUDIO APRIL

Capsula Stellis Iter in Nave Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 2

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TASIMJAE (The Art Studio, Inc. Members Jurored Art Exhibition) Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 6

Name(s) Address

Membership in The Art Studio, Inc., provides invitations to all exhibitions and one year of ISSUE, the monthly arts magazine of The Art Studio. It also gives free eligibility for members to enter the annual membership art exhibition (TASIMJAE) and participate in various exhibitions throughout the year.

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Cover design by Andy Coughlan

sible by a grant from The Meadows Foundation, Inc. The 840 facility wasn’t left out as we had a CDBG grant to repair the roof and stop those leaks, and brought in new air compressor compliments of Meadows once again.

Through the support of our community, patrons and fellow artists, The Art Studio, Inc. is better prepared to meet the next 30 years.

Our final big push is to reconcile the roof issue in our main building. For too long our office, studios, structures and supplies have been lost or damaged by the insidious invasion of water from our leaky roof. Working with David Perkins at Perkins Roofing and board member Allison Kainer, who is over-

Renewal?

Patron: $500 Angel: $1,000 Benefactor $2,000 Life Member: $10,000 Artist?

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The Art Studio, Inc. 720 Franklin, Beaumont 77701

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4 • ISSUE March 2019

Volume 25, No. 6

KEITH CARTER’S NEW BOOK CELEBRATES FIVE DECADES OF MEMORIES

50

Story by Andy Coughlan

1972, above,

by Keith Carter

AT 320 PAGES, WITH 250 photographs, “Keith Carter; Fifty Years” is an epic tome that serves as an autobiography of the Beaumonter’s formidable career. The book is arranged so the images shift between years seemingly at random.

“It was my idea to not make it a chronological layout, and my theory is that memory doesn’t work that way,” Carter said. “It jumps back and forth in time.”

Carter is a master storyteller, plucking mo-

ments from the great narrative of life, and his connection to people’s stories is evident on every page of the book.

“It’s been a beautiful journey, but the things that work best for me is when I can, let’s use the word ‘feel’ or ‘think’ — there’s some sort of emotional connection here, be it historic, be it personal, be it the time of day and the way the light falls on a dog or a woman’s face, all kinds of things” he said. “It’s those images that have secrets in them, metaphors or implied narra-

March 2019 ISSUE • 5

Volume 25, No. 6 tives. They’re more than what you look at, at first glance.

“I like to work in the real world, so my photos take place in the real world. It’s just sometimes you skew the perspective a little bit and you leave it to the viewer to either want to pay attention to it, or to walk by — it’s a busy world.”

The photographs are his autobiography, Carter, who is a lecturer and Walles Chair at Lamar University, said.

“It’s how I spend my money, my time and my love,” he said.

Carter’s work is very much a love letter to Southeast Texas, where he grew up, but more than that, it is an exploration of people’s stories. His first book, “Uncertain to Blue,” is a collection of photos taken in small towns he visited with his late wife Pat. “That whole group of pictures that became that book was a learning experience,” he said. “I didn’t even know it but I was learning to become myself. It was something that my wife would enjoy and something we could do together, and my mandate was to make one photograph in each of these quirky-named places, be-

cause wherever there were people there were lives of the spirit. There was agriculture, there was architecture, there was family histories, there were unsung heroes in every little place.

“Doing that project, doing one photograph and trying not to make it the name of the town — I mean Ding Dong, what are you going to do with that kind of thing — it made me enlarge my subject matter. It made me find significance in smaller things that I, at the time, didn’t know the significance of. It led to so many other opportunities, because that book went around the country.”

After the success of Uncertain,” Carter said he decided his next project would focus on East Texas on the corridor of the Sabine River and its stories.

“I thought, ‘What I have here is white Anglo-Saxon protestants, African American imagination, Hispanic culture and mythology, Vietnamese industry, rednecks, Cajuns — everything in a rural microcosm, with all of our histories,’” he said. “I likened them to things that happened everywhere in the world. The same kinds of stories — they were just having

them in small communities.

“The other thing, and this is important, those first couple of projects, Blue Man” and “Uncertain to Blue,” I did those primarily because I could. I didn’t need tons of money or grants. I could get this work

done. That was a big difference. It was something that I felt compelled to do.

“The irony is it’s led me all over the

See CARTER on page 13

ISSUE photo by Andy Coughlan

“Fireflies,” left, is the photograph that Keith Carter said changed his life when it was published. Carter looks through his new anthology, above. The photo on his left is a 1979 portrait of his late wife Pat.

MAKING A KILLING

6 • ISSUE March 2019

Volume 25, No. 6

Documentary and satirical horror examine cost of high-end art market

Warning: The following contains spoilers.

THE HIGH-PROFILE ART market is fertile ground for intrigue and drama with its cast of gallerists, critics and bigmoney collectors. The lowest form of life, it seems, and certainly the least rewarded, are the artists.

Two recent movies have turned their lenses on the market — the documentary “The Price of Everything” and the satirical horror “Velvet Buzzsaw.” Both have a lot to say, with the documentary being more interesting and the fiction being just a lot of fun.

However, there are themes that bind the two films together. “The Price of Everything” is a brilliant guide to the major players, and all the aforementioned heavy hitters are represented.

The title comes from collector Stefan Edlis, who smiles as he looks at the camera and says, “Lots of people know the price of everything and the value of nothing,” borrowing from Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan.” By contrast, “Velvet Buzzsaw” follows a group of dealers and critics who completely understand the value of what they have — although in this case, they do not understand the malevolent spirit that infuses the art they are seeking to profit from, with ghastly results.

Story by Andy Coughlan

Larry Poons, above, is the unlikely hero of “The Price of Everything,” a documentary that looks at the high-end art market. Art critic Morf Vanderwalt (Jake Gyllenhaal), below, is confronted by the robotic concept piece “Hoboman” in the horror satire “Velvet Buzzsaw.”

Of course, no one wants to see the real collectors, critics and gallerists murdered, but “The Price of Everything” offers some context to the satire. As in “Buzzsaw,” the artists are the heroes of the documentary,

especially 81-year old Larry Poons, once a darling of the New York scene but now reduced to an afterthought — “They think I’m dead. It’s not my fault,” he says. Poons’ “dot’ paintings of the early 1960s saw him associated with the Op Art movement, but when he shifted his style, he found he was no longer marketable.

That is the key to documentary. How are the pieces marketed for maximum value? It’s a symbiotic process between galleries, critics and collectors, with the artists having little to do with it — although one notable exception is Jeff Koons, but more of that later.

Amy Cappellazzo, of Sotheby’s Auction House, is shown preparing a sale. She carefully prepares a catalogue, meticulously looking for “comps,” works of comparable style or genre that already have an established value. It’s like watching a house-flipping show on HGTV, albeit with much higher values — Gerhardt Richter

points at a painting in the auction showroom, saying, “It’s not good when this is the value of a house, it’s not fair. I like it, but it’s not a house.”

In “Velvet Buzzsaw,” the artists are just commodities to be promoted, used and fought over. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the splendidly-named critic Morf Vanderwalt — “Critique is limiting and mentally draining,” he says. His reviews for “Artweb” can make or break careers, and Gyllenhaal is all affectation and caricature.

Gallerist Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo), was once in a punk band but has sold out.

Now she wheels and deals, although there are moments when she seems to be sympathetic to the art.

Her counterpart in the documentary is far more sympathetic. When Cappellazzo waxes lyrical about a Gerhardt Richter painting it is clear she loves the work.

Her job just happens to be maximizing the value.

March 2019 ISSUE • 7

Volume 25, No. 6 In “Buzzsaw,” Rhodora’s assistant Josefina, stumbles across the “outsider” art of Vetril Dease, a neighbor who lives and dies alone, and steals his work — which he had expressly insisted be destroyed. It is when certain players seek to profit from the work that mayhem ensues and art becomes killer — although, as Rhodora says, “All art is dangerous” — but “Velvet Buzzsaw” takes that sentiment literally.

John Malkovich plays Piers, an older established artist whose star is on the wane, and Daveed Diggs plays Damrish, an up-and-coming street artist. They are merely pawns to be played as the galleries seek to one-up each other. Rival Jon Dondon wants to steal Piers from Rhodora’s Haze Gallery, while she sets her sights on the younger street artist, stealing him away from the cooperative intent on bringing art to the people.

The basic tension in these two films is the battle between the art-for-art’s-sake and art-for-finance “gangs.” The question is which one speaks for art? And what is art, anyway? When Jon Dondon steals Piers away from Haze, he visits the artist’s new studio. When Dondon sees a stack of black plastic bags in the center, he comments, “This is remarkable.” “It’s not art,” Piers says, dismissively, as he walks by the

Jeff Koons shows off his studio in “The Price of Everything.” trash pile. It is a hilarious moment in the film that is full of little nuggets for the selfaware art lover.

“Buzzsaw” opens at Miami’s Art Basel show, complete with all the standard art tropes. There are abstract paintings, giant assemblages, slick pop-art sculptures.

There is even an automaton, “Hoboman,” who limps around on crutches wearing a ragged suit of stars and stripes. It is a parody of heavy-handed social conscience art,

especially when it recites the chorus opening lines of the Depression-era song, “Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?” More ominously, it says, “I can’t help you,” as Morf dismisses the work as derivative — “No originality, no courage.” His review kills the work’s value, dooming it to obscurity in storage.

In “The Price of Everything,” we are treated to the king of commodification, Jeff Koons, who along with Damien Hirst,

Rene Russo plays gallerist Rhodora Haze and Jake Gyllenhaal is critic Morf Vanderwalt in “Velvet Buzzsaw.”

has built a career on self-promotion, creating what art historian Barbara Rose calls a “luxury brand.” Koons, appropriately, had a career as a commodities broker before entering the art world.

Known for his works that explore cultural “kitsch” (although is his work a commentary or simply kitsch itself?), Koons is shown in his studio where an army of workers faithfully reproduce old masters, upon which the artist will attach a reflective globe. He talks delightedly about a suspended steam train that reflects human breathing with its whooshing in-and-out pistons, which he could probably make for $25-$50 million.

Fittingly, Koons collaborated with another luxury brand, Louis Vuitton, on a series of handbags featuring works by old masters such as Leonardo and Van Gogh.

Personally, I find Koons’ work neither original nor clever, but he, probably more than any other artist, has made commodification an art form in itself.

So the world of “Velvet Buzzsaw” has the same premise as “The Price of Everything.” Art needs to be seen and, in order to be seen, someone has to buy it, presumably. The reality is that most of the artists whose work sells for huge sums do not see that money. It is a sell-on price. The documentary mentions that some collectors, who may own multiples of a particular artist, are willing to pay a high price at auction to set a value for their collection. Art is worth as much as someone is willing to pay, but who can pay it? Art is effectively squeezed into the possession of the few.

Richter says he prefer to see his work in a museum and available to all.

Pulitzer prize-winning critic Jerry Saltz acknowledges that he is unlikely to see the auctioned works again. “What I’m doing in those showrooms is saying goodbye, for the rest of my life, to every work of art I’m seeing, because all of it now is too expensive for any institution to buy.”

Vetril Dease’s work is infused with evil and kills, yet at the end of “Velvet Buzzsaw,” we see his work is being sold by an unemployed man who, based on earlier reports, found the art abandoned. Are we to believe that this art, which is sold cheap to a young couple who see it hanging on the chain fence and simply like it, will take a toll on the man or the couple? I think not.

The work is not sold for exorbitant sums,

See MOVIES on page 14

8 • ISSUE March 2019

Volume 25, No. 6

‘Janet, take my hand, we have an art event to get to!’

TASI MARCH EXHIBIT TO BOLDLY GO TO WAY-OUT SPACE FRONTIERS

OUTER SPACE IS AN infinite dimension of time and distance. It is a boundary between light and shadow, between science and superstition — and between the pit of humanity’s fears, and the apex of imagination and knowledge.

“Capsula Stellis Iter in Nave: Have Space CapLayout by sule Will Travel,” debuting March 2, is another Andy promising spectacle brainchild of Beau and Coughlan Karen Dumesnil as a follow-up to their “Acquae Obscura” show in 2014, Unlike the “Twilight Zone” paraphrase above, “Capsula Stellis Iter in Nave” is an “happening” — part art show, part performance and all party — that both Dumesnils say has been in the planning for a couple of years. Sci-fi, steampunk, cosplay or costuming is encouraged.

“Capsula Stellis Iter in Nave is Latin for ‘have space capsule will travel,’” Beau said. “This event is what I call an ‘art happening’ and is presented from the concept of artists that have been exploring outer space and have come back with numerous artifacts, alien life forms and specimens.”

Art happenings came out of the New York art scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s when a group of artists would come together with different mediums and express a theme or maintain a continuity of theme.

Dumesnil’s call for artists to submit works emphasized that any medium would be considered and displayed — two- and three-dimensional art, digital multimedia and performances.

“Think along the lines of the old Explorers Club from the Victorian era where these gentlemen of upstanding character would sit around and brag about all the wonderful things they killed,” Beau said. “They went on in the deepest, darkest jungles of Africa, Madagascar and Indonesia and have exhibitions of what they found and tell the stories of their experiences.”

At the Acquae Obscura show, the theme visited the Neches River and all of its secrets and “critters,” Beau said.

“Capsula Stellis” came to fruition with discussions between him and his wife Karen.

“That show was a rave hit, it was a blast and I had people

Story by Stephan Malick

March 2019 ISSUE • 9

Volume 25, No. 6 come up to me that had been to art shows their whole life and tell me is one of the best experiences they’ve ever had,” he said. “So Karen and I began to think about another experience we could create to get as many people as possible to help create and see.”

Karen said creating an experience is the most engaging way to get people involved in an art show.

“We want to create experiences,” she said. “And that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to create an experience like no other. The more artists we can get to get involved will make it more interesting for everyone.”

An element of this experience is not just what will be happening at The Studio’s physical location, but what will be happening within another space — cyberspace.

In what will be a first for TASI, the event will transmit outgoing streams of the opening and artists located from around the world will be streaming their content in.

“This whole program is going to be uploaded through my Twitch TV channel and also Space Capsule’s (heard locally on Lamar’s KVLU 91.3 FM) Twitch channel,” Beau said.

Patrons and artists will participate either as someone who’s coming to view the show or someone who’s contributing artwork, and Dumesnil says all will have an experience to value.

“We value the experience out of events and, hopefully, people will enjoy this event because not only can they interact in the environment at The Studio, but they can be a part of environments elsewhere at the same time.”

Additionally, Karen and Beau say they want patrons to also stream from their own social media channels.

“We want this to be a totally interactive event,” Beau said. “We can have 400 people at The Studio, but online we could have 4,000.”

To accommodate this, TASI is upgrading its internet and Wi-Fi capabilities through the exhibition areas and offices to increase bandwidth for live streaming.

“Our goal is total immersion, not only to transform the setting of The Studio’s physical space,” Beau said.

“We want to transform the dimension of The Studio in space and time through interacting with the world outside of The Studio.”

The Dumesnils plan for guest artists streaming in and creating art during the opening night.

“The Studio is going to be transformed into an alien contain-

Beau and Karen Dumesnil

ment area for people to walk around and interact,” Beau said. “We are going to have at least three interactive stations for people to engage outside the physical gallery.

“We’ll have UK artist Studioj7 (twitch.tv/studioj7) streaming on his Twitch.tv channel creating art live and we’ll have another artist (twitch.tv/ipaintcreatures) based in San Francisco — he has done work for LucasFilm. What they create will be based on the interaction from the people at the show and online.”

An important feature is BYOD — bring your own device. Information will be available during the show to connect to the various apps and streams. Dumesnil said people can connect now to his Twitch.tv channel, twitch.tv/dorklordz, in advance to prepare.

See SPACE on page 10

10 • ISSUE March 2019

SPACE from page 9 “What I adore, and I love and cherish so much about being a curator for a show like this, is I have no idea what I’m going to get,” Beau said. “I have to take all these things and I have to arrange them around the room and around the space, and then I have to move things around and move things here and move things there.

“I don’t want to reveal too much what is behind the curtain. I want people to be curious. I want them to be surprised.”

A TARDIS will be in residence as one of the interactive stations.

“A TARDIS is like the window to the universe” Beau says. “People will go into the TARDIS and look at the face cam and you can talk to the people that are watching from twitch on my channel or on Space Capsules channel you’ll be talking about them and listening to ambient music going off at the same time and there’ll be a couple of cameras set up in the space in the gallery space to show what’s going on.”

Dumesnil says an effort like this not only requires multiple artists but a literal crew to put it on.

Beau refers to himself regarding the event as Capt.

“BeauBeau” and Karen is chief mate. The crew is rounded out with chief engineers Jason Miller, Matthew Myers, Kyndal Watkins and Sarah Bellian.

The group will transform and navigate visitors into an alien containment area that will feature a lightshow and create a force field in which the exhibition will display captured “specimens” in the immersive environ-

Volume 25, No. 6 ment.

The force field will by synced up with Space Capsule’s playlist and be used as sort of a mission control for the containment area.

“This all will be uploaded to the streaming broadcast and people can interact with others on the channel,” Beau said. “The multistream will join with the two live artists and will make this a truly international show.

“Monitors will be placed in stations around The Studio and people can use their own device bring your own device to interact too.

“There will be poetry and the puppet show, and one artist is going to be drawing people of their spirit karma animal, and studioj7 is going to be demonstrating how to create cosplay costumes and games workshop armor.”

Beau is a tug boat captain and has been known to stream from out on the water “An online community is just as meaningful as a face-to-face community,” he said. “It’s just a bit different and you can reach out to so many different people.”

He added that all the streams will be moderated to ensure the content is appropriate for all audiences.

“Our streams are pretty PG-13,” he said.

“I want as many people as possible to see these demonstrations and conversations and to be able to participate in a way that is enjoyable and positive.”

Karen is going to be the moderatorin-chief throughout the event.

“We want people to participate and ask questions and get involved in what is happening during the streams,” she said.

Both say that art communities have the technology and the ability to broaden the value artists provide.

“Recently we were

having a debate openly and online about artists,” Beau said.”How do we create value as an artist? Well, the local community determines the artist value at this, right?

“So, in order to expand or increase the amount of value for artists, you have to increase the reach of that artist. And what better way for an artist to reach a wider audience?”

Karen said this is also a way to attract and interest younger audiences.

“Streaming is one way to bring younger people into The Studio because they have the ability to stream and are familiar with the technology, “ she said. “They learn there is a space for their art and interests. They have an avenue to do that. It keeps us relevant, if nothing else.”

Beau and Karen say this is more than just another art exhibition.

“There’s so many levels of why we’re doing this undertaking in the fashion that we’re doing it — to expand the reach of The Studio beyond just the confines of downtown Beaumont,” Beau said.

‘After School Special’ call for LU alumni

March 2019 ISSUE • 11

Volume 25, No. 6

The DishMAn ArT MUseUM and Lamar University’s Alumni Association have an open call for entries for “After school special,” The second juried art exhibition specifically for Alumni.

To qualify to enter one must have had completed at least 30 credit hours at Lamar (alumni- no degree) and one may be of any major, not just Fine Art. Last year’s show was juried by Lynne Lokensgard, LU Distinguished Professor emerita and featured 10 artists from a full range of graduation years and mediums.

One of the artists included in last year’s exhibit was Justin Varner ‘15 who now teaches art at houston Community College.

“Being a part of the show was exciting in a nostalgic, Groundhog Day sort of way,” he said in an email interview. “some of my competitive fire i had as a student at Lamar was re-ignited, while my vulnerability and yearning for acceptance from my former professors was also present.

“My experience at Lamar in the early 2000s helped shape me as a confused twenty year old who wanted to be an artist. The professors were dynamic and different with useful and intriguing theories and practices. All of them were very accessible, almost familial. My classmates

were unique, odd and talented. i have always told people that the Golden Triangle produces bizarrely talented and original people. i did my best to inhale as much of the environment as i could when i was there. Being part of the show brought back many of these thoughts and feelings.”

Last year’s artists were eric Adams, Megan (Crosby) Badger, Amy (Tolbert) Faggard, sunni Forcier, David iles, Ken Mazzu Amy richard, Caleb sims, Valerie Yaklin-Brown and Varner.

This year’s After school special will be juried by the Clint Willour, Texan art collector and past curator of the Galveston Art Center. There will be eight to 10 artists featured, space permitting. entries may be submitted at Lamar.edu/alumnishow.

The show is open to all media. entrants must submit five to seven images from a specific body of work, and up to two different applications.

Video artists may submit 1-2 entries and must supply the equipment necessary to show their videos during the exhibition. The Dishman does not provide video projectors. Video work should not exceed 5 minutes. sculpture should not exceed a 5x5-feet footprint and should not be higher than 7 feet. entrants of sculpture can enter up to four works. each work should also in-

The LAMAr UniVersiTY FrienDs of the Arts will present Le Grand Bal 2019, March 30, co-chaired by rusty Chemino and Dean Terrebonne. The theme of the event is new Orleans inspires LU, and the evening promises to be filled with southern elegance and a twist of the Crescent City.

The evening will begin with a silent art auction at the Dishman Art Museum with a White Linen night theme based on the annual event held every year in the Arts District in new Orleans. Patrons will then go to the setzer student Center for a social followed by a Commander’s Palace style celebra-

tion for dinner. no trip to new Orleans would be complete without a visit to the French Quarter, so in celebration of the beloved Vieux Carré, guests will dance the night away with sounds from still Cruisin’.

“For many years rusty and i have enjoyed the White Linen night event in new Orleans, and our favorite restaurant is Commander’s Palace,” Terrebonne said. “We wanted to share these experiences with patrons of this event and introduce a less formal attire, but not casual — thus, changing up the dress code this year to southern elegance.

Story by Michele Cate

The opening reception of the 2018 After School Special at the Dishman Art Museum. clude specific instructions for assembly or display if necessary. if the work is wall mounted, the entrant must enter five to seven images. entrants should include a 150 word artist biography. Art work entry files must be jpg or png files. Videos may be submitted in mp4, wav, or avi formats. Artists should include the title of the work, year the work was made, size, medium of the finished work (painting, sculpture, pigment print, gelatin silver print, etching, video, etc.). Full requirements are on the website.

if you have ever been to an art thesis defense at the Dishman Art Museum ,you might be familiar with that nervous feeling that seniors can work themselves into when talking about their art in front of peers and professors. “After school special” might feel a bit like that to alumni — except maybe more fun and less cold sweat.

The exhibition will open June 14 with a free reception.

“We thought it was a perfect fit with the art portion of the evening at the Dishman. it is our desire to raise as much funds as possible to benefit the fine arts students and provide an enjoyable and memorable evening for all who are able to join us.” each year, Le Grand Bal committee members select an artist honoree, as well as honorees recognized for their contributions to the arts. This year’s contributing honorees are sandy and Joseph Fertitta, and the featured guest artist nominee is musician Gary Weldon. The Fertitta’s have long been contributors to the fine arts in the

Beaumont area where they share their talents to help make our community a better place.

Weldon graduated from Lamar University in 1974 with a Bachelor of science degree in music. he is an accomplished musician and soughtafter performer on trumpet and harmonica. individual tickets are $250 and are on sale now.

All proceeds benefit the fine arts programs in the College of Fine Arts and Communication.

For more information, visit www. lamar.edu/legrandbal.

ISSUE contributor Michelle Cate is a Lamar University art graduate.

LU Friends of the Arts to present Le Grand Bal, March 30

12 • ISSUE March 2019

VIEW from page 3 seeing the project, we have a proposal for repairing all the roofs on both buildings.

Both metal buildings will receive a completely new sheathing of metal along with a substantial amount of insulation to make the summers not so summery.

The main roof will also have a considerable face lift, with new underlayment drafted for more efficient water drainage, a thick layer of dense fabric, metal sheathing and an insulation layer rated at a 33R. This will assist us in relieving the unbearable heat developed by the solid concrete roof in the midst of summer.

As you may guess the price tag is going to be big.

But considering the roofs will last 25-30 years, I feel it will be worth it. Artists will have more time to work and with the heater upstairs winter won’t be very bad either.

We are looking at $140,000 to complete this project. We already have a positive response to our proposal for around $40,000, and the rest is certain to follow. This project is so important for the future of the studio and it’s ability to sustain itself over the next few decades. Ultimately, we hope to install solar

Volume 25, No. 6 panels and windmills to help reduce the energy used, and to use technology to advance the development of The Studio to better serve this community.

I received an email from Veera Tervola at Arizona State University who conducted a survey about volunteerism at The Studio a while back. Fifteen years later, they are back to see where we are with volunteers and how they helped. In gathering information for her, I was quite impressed by what I saw.

Looking at July and September of 2018, I found that July accounted for 114 hours of community service time from at least 17 volunteers.

Even better, September brought us 153 hours of service and constituted 56 members of our volunteer force.

Many thanks to the Blue Key and Beta Key Clubs of Beaumont United High School for their muchneeded assistance and energetic enthusiasm that makes the work so much more enjoyable.

Without the community service programs, a lot of projects would not get done or would take twice as long to complete.

You don’t have to be young or energetic to help the mission of The Studio and be a part of a growing organization. Most jobs are simple tasks, unskilled and boring.

Our membership show is fast approaching. Affectionately known as TASIMJAE (The Art Studio, Inc. Members Jurored Art Exhibition), it is the premier exhibition of the year for The Studio. A juried show is one that invites a judge to select the works that will be presented. In our case, each artist will enter two works to be judged and the juror will accept one, both or none. This can be quite daunting to new artists, but is something we all have to go through.

Critique is the means by which we receive feedback about our creations. Much like an editor or proofreader might help us to clarify or improve what we are trying to convey, critiques can help us realize the finer points of our work.

It is always helpful to remember that the juror is one person with a limited time to select a show. They may choose a theme evident in the show, or a style or even a material. So don’t take it personal.

Another point I want to make is there is no age limit on either of our group shows — TASIMJAE and The Alternative Show held in June. Everyone is eligible to exhibit. I feel that young people are creative geniuses. The purity of thought and spontaneous imagery combines to offer the unique perspective of an unadulterated mind.

We all should be so lucky.

SUPPORTS THE ART STUDIO, INC.

info@signinternational.com 409.832.0117 7398 College St. in Beaumont

Volume 25, No. 6

TASIMJAE CALL FOR ENTRIES

March 2019 ISSUE • 13

THE ART STUDIO, INC. MEMBERS JURORED ART EXHIBITION

Submissions accepted March 26-30, noon to 5 p.m.

Pick up a prospectus from The Art Studio at 720 Franklin in Beaumont or call 409-838-5393.

CARTER from page 5

world, it’s opened up areas, led me to things I never expected — but it’s because I paid attention, primarily, to roots. And everybody has them.”

Carter’s career has seen him travel the globe. One striking photograph in the book is of a man, his head shrouded in a ball of light, with a swirling wisp of what seems like smoke rising above him. It was taken in Havana, Cuba, but could easily have been taken around the corner from his Beaumont home.

“If my photographs are successful, to me, you’re not exactly sure where it was made — it’s not based on the place,” he said. “It’s not based on a great city. The Eiffel Tower is the Eiffel Tower — you know where you are. But if I walk down the street in London and I made a photograph that was universal, you wouldn’t know where it was — it’s about us all.”

Carter’s past books have generally centered around a theme or timespan, so “Fifty Years” is a different way of presenting his work.

“Basically, I’m thrilled and pleased with everything,” he said. “I gave this a lot of thought. There were decisions, to be made, such as not to include my color work because the bulk of my work has been black and white, but I have a significant interest in color, too. There was decisions along those lines.

“There were other things, too. I did a whole series of photograms. When my wife, Pat, became ill, the medicine she had to take made her eyes tear up, so we went into the darkroom and blotted her face with photographic paper, and they actually came out. They were photograms of tears, shadow pictures, and shadow pictures are the very first images we have in the history of photography. I think now I wish I had included some of those — they’re pretty esoteric but I thought they were significant in the anthology of 50 years.”

On the early pages of the book, one is confronted by

“Paisley,” a close-up portrait of a dancer, her face full of freckles. Carter offered an insight into his process.

“The first time I saw her, I didn’t pay attention to her, she was just a little thin waif,” he said. “And the second time I looked at her, I noticed her face — it was the freckles. Things photograph differently than they look to the eye. Portraits, depending of the lens you use, photograph differently, have different spatial relationships. In her case, it was those wonderful freckles. It’s not a pretty face at first, it’s haunting face.

“You pull the camera in close, and I use short depth of field so there’s very little in focus in the background. You tell them not to smile and after a time, the eyes begin to change — the eyes always change. And if you don’t talk to them too much, they start to become themselves rather than what they think you want. That’s what happened with her.”

The photograph titled “1972” was shot in Beaumont sculptor David Cargill’s studio and features Carter’s wife Pat just before they got married. Carter said he forgot about the negative for 40 years until Hurricane Rita. As he was sorting through a damaged storage area, Carter found a cache of negatives in polyurethane sleeves from the ’70s that had been water damaged and were stained and mildewed. He decided to develop the negative anyway.

The resulting image has a surreal quality.

“That’s basically time, moisture, weather, silver that all combined to make something new,” he said. “The distressing part of it, I wish I could replicate. I tried all kinds of things. I buried negatives, I burned them. I tried everything but I couldn’t get it to work.”

There are many images that particularly resonate for him, such as “Fireflies,” the photograph that established Carter’s reputation and changed his life, he said. A 1979 portrait of Pat is another favorite. And “Wedding Ring,” which features a 91-year-old man who is dying and his 88-year-old wife’s hand resting gently on his head to comfort.

“But they are more emotional for me than objective,”

“Paisley” by Keith Carter he said.

As Carter leafs through the pages of “Fifty Years,” the stories he has sought to tell combine to become another story — his story.

“I look back at this (book) and I’m just amazed at the mystery of it all, how it evolved,” he said. “While it’s evolving you don’t think about it. It’s just what you do or need to be doing. Then you look back and you think, ‘My goodness.’”

“Keith Carter: Fifty Years” is published by University of Texas Press. Cost is $65.

14 • ISSUE March 2019

Volume 25, No. 6

Around & About

If you come across any interesting exhibitions, museums or other places on your travels, share them with us. Call 409-838-5393, or contact us through our web site at www.artstudio.org. Be sure to include the location and dates of the subject, as well as any costs.

The ART MUSEUM OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS will present JOOYOUNG CHOI: BIG TIME DREAMING IN THE AGE OF UNCERTAINTY, March 16 through June 2.

The exhibition will delight visitors with a mixed media, site-specific installation inspired by Choi’s ongoing investigation of her Cosmic Womb mythology.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Choi was adopted at the age of one and grew up in Concord, N.H. with American parents. In 2007, she was reunited with her birth family.

As an adopted child and one of the only Asians living in her New Hampshire community, she grew up feeling different and lonely — her imagination became her creative salvation.

Choi is a “world building artist” who lives

MOVIES from page 7 nor bought as a commodity, but simply because the couple like it. The purity of purpose — art-for-art’s-sake — may keep them safe.

Similarly, Piers, who settles in Rhodora’s beach house with instructions to simply do what makes him happy, and Damrish, who rejects the gallery and returns to the cooperative, are both spared. Damrish can walk away because he sees the value of the cooperative, the communal creativity. He is tempted off the path but returns to the way, and as such is saved. That sentence sounds very biblical, but there is an argument to be made for the “spiritual” satisfaction of the creative process.

The tendency is to ascribe hero status to the artists and to paint the marketers as villains, but that is overly simplistic. The 1973 Scull auction is credited with kicking the modern art market into gear. In a clip from that time, Robert C. Scull says, “Ownership is involvement, and with art it’s probably the most exciting kind of involvement — of course, owning a nice share of IBM is involvement, too.”

He is correct that ownership is involvement, and for someone to support an artists

and works in Houston. She uses puppets, props, home videos, toys and drawings inspired from her childhood to explore her ongoing and fictional world, the Cosmic Womb.

Choi’s installation will resemble a dreamlike, make-believe world; viewers will enter the Cosmic Womb, which will include soft sculptures and video stations, as well as puppets and mixed media paintings.

The artist will participate in a week-long residency at AMSET during her installation, interacting with museum visitors throughout the process. Choi will also teach a flowermaking workshop to guests prior to her installation, inviting them to enter her world.

AMSET will also present a documentary film about Choi and her work as part of our interpretative programming.

by actually parting with their hard-earned cash is a wonderful way to show appreciation for the work. But the sell-on is the gray area.

Art Historian Barbara Rose says Robert Rauschenburg was incensed because the artists got nothing out of it, except the $600 for the original sale (the documentary implies the Port Arthur-native’s piece sold for $85,000). In a clip from the sale, Rauschenburg “playfully” pushes Scull and says, “You need to send me flowers.” Scull replies, “For what?” Rauschenburg says, “It’s a great mark up. I’ve been working my ass off for you to make that profit?” Sculls says, “You’re right.

How about yours that you’re going to sell now? I’ve been working for you, too. We work for each other.”

Of course, artists want exposure for their work, but that can be a double-edged sword.

Nigerian-born Njideka Akunyili Crosby, who works in Los Angeles-based, is an up-andcoming artist who is certainly marketable.

Her work is stunning, and she talks about the pressure to produce either too much work to chase the money or to retain the drive to continually evolve rather than stick to a tried and true method of success. Collector Holly Peterson talks about Crosby’s piece at auction. She would like to buy it but her limit is the

AMSET is located at 500 Main St. in downtown Beaumont.

For more, visit www.amset.org.

NEW AND RENEWING MEMBERS

Melanie Dishman Anita Judice Stephen Kuritz Debbie Lavergne Steve and Jo Rita Lyle Heather and Mark Petkovsek Gail Showalter

$300,000 reserve. The gallery is nervous, she says, “And I don’t want to be that kind of jerk…who goes so high and out-prices the artist and contributes to, potentially, a crashand-burn situation for that artist.”

The documentary shows Crosby watching bemused as the auction on a laptop as her piece “Drown” eventually sells for $900,000.

The work was originally sold it in 2012 and it was “flipped” as she says.

At the end of “Buzzsaw,” we see Piers happily creating patterns on the beach as the waves wash them away. Near the end of “The Price of Everything,” Poons walks by the Louis Vuitton store with Koons’ handbag line on display. In the next scene he walks into a gallery showing his recent work.

The contrast could not be more stark. Instead of the slick, ostentatiously glib designs, Poons’ abstracts are full of vitality and color.

They trigger an emotional response among the gallerygoers, as well as from the viewer — a feeling of joy that comes from a labor of love on its own terms.

So what is the result of all this? Each film ends with an “artist” at peace with his creativity. That’s really all that matters, I suppose.

“Velvet Buzzsaw” is available on Netflix.

“The Price of Everything” is available on HBO.

Mission Statement Founded in 1983, The Art Studio, Inc. is devoted to: providing opportunities for interaction between the public and the Southeast Texas community of artists; furnishing affordable studio space to originating artists of every medium; promoting cultural growth and diversity of all art forms in Southeast Texas; and providing art educational opportunities to everyone, of every age, regardless of income level, race, national origin, sex or religion.

PURPOSE The purpose of The Art Studio, Inc. is to (1) provide educational opportunities between the general public and the community of artists and (2) to offer sustained support for the artist by operating a nonprofit cooperative to provide studio space and exhibition space to working artists and crafts people, and to provide an area for group work sessions for those artists and crafts people to jointly offer their labor, ideas, and enthusiasm to each other.

GOALS 1. To present public exhibitions 2. To provide educational opportunities 3. To provide accessible equipment for artists 4. To provide peer feedback through association with other artists and crafts people OBJECTIVES 1. To present nine art exhibitions per year 2. To maintain equipment for artists in a safe working environment 3. To provide better access to artists for the public 4. To offer regularly scheduled adult and children’s classes 5. To develop and maintain public activities with all sectors of the community 6. To develop and maintain equipment to aid artists in their work 7. To provide a display retail outlet for artists 8. To expand programming and activities with increased facility space

Volume 25, No. 6

Thoughtcrime Submission Guidelines and Disclaimer ISSUE solicits and publishes the work of local authors. Poetry, short fiction, scholarly works and opinion pieces may be submitted for review. All works must be typed and may be sent to TASI by email or by messaging the ISSUE Facebook page.

The opinions expressed in “Thoughtcrime” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TASI, its Board of Directors, ISSUE’s editorial staff, or donors to TASI. Send typed works to:

“The Meaning of Flowers”

(a found poem from A Book of Pot Pourri) chaste love; secret love Acacia

forsaken celibacy

Bachelor’s Buttons

I change but in death Bay

alas for my poor heart Carnation

I love

Chrysanthemum I wound to heal Eglatine

unfading memory

Everlasting Flower

praiseworthy fire

Fennel

Fleur de Luce true love

Forget-Me-Not

Jesse Doiron

ISSUE 720 Franklin St. Beaumont, TX 77701 or e-mail info@artstudio.org

Authors must submit a daytime telephone number and email along with all submissions. Pen names are acceptable, but authors must supply real names for verification. All printed works are protected by copyright. The author retains rights to any published work. ISSUE does not notify rejection by mail or telephone.

Hope Springs Eternal With odds always against me like a steadfast cement wall, I am not deterred.

I persist, I push on, I plow through

like a fledgling flower bursting from a concrete slab.

Hope springs eternal for without hope,

behind the barrier I'd stay,

scratching and pawing to no avail.

But that's not me.

The shower and the power of hope keeps me,

sustains me,

nourishes me,

driving me on and on continually.

March 2019 ISSUE • 15 Oh, September Oh, I’ve been runnin’ I’ve been hidin’ Days, I can’t be countin’ Ways, I’ve been missin’ Oh, September don’t you know?

I’ve still found nowhere to go…

The dust of sorrow Will come tomorrow It chokes my chest My mind won’t rest Again comes the morning light Glowing beams push away the lonely night Oh, September don’t you know?

I’ve still found nowhere to go…

Oh, I’ve been runnin’ I’ve been hidin’ Days, I can’t be countin’ Ways, I’ve been missin’ The storm was comin’…

And we weren’t seein’…

The darkness took you…

I watched you leave…

Oh, September don’t you know?

I’ve still found nowhere to go…

Time is passin’…

And I’ve been missin’…

I heard you callin’…

I came crawlin’…

Only then the wind was blowin’…

I knew what,I was knowin’…

Hope springs eternal

Oh, September don’t you know?

I’ve still found nowhere to go…

Dorothy Sells Clover

Stephan Malick

720 Franklin, Beaumont, Texas 77701

Non-Profit Org U.S. Postage PAID Permit #135 Beaumont, TX

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

INSIDE • ‘CAPSULA STELLIS ITER IN NAVE’ • THOUGHTCRIME: MUSINGS FROM AREA POETS • ‘KEITH CARTER: FIFTY YEARS’ • ART MARKET MOVIES

When you support The Art Studio with your membership, you receive ISSUE, Southeast Texas’ and Southwest Louisiana’s alternative press, as well as class schedules, invitations to opening receptions and various Studio functions.

Volunteers These people are the life blood of our organization.

WE COULDN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOU! To volunteer, drop by The Art Studio, Inc., or call 409-838-5393.

Elizabeth Fontenot Bryan Castino Heather & Adam Butler Rhonda Rodman Sue Wright Rhonda McNally John Roberts Beau Dumesnil Karen Dumesnil Sheila Busceme Kailee Viator Stephan Malick Terri Fox Michelle Falgout Stacey Haynes Joe Winston John Fulbright Mark Jacobson Nathaniel Welch Gina Garcia Jack Hays Tyler Hargraves Aslinn Garcia Paisley Polk Zoe Williams Rana Matthews Caroline Badon David Granitz Latasha Hagan James King Madison Rose Stuckey Dawn S. Fischer Madison Bonds Chris Garcia Taylor VanDevender Jaycie Henderson Nathan West Kay O'Neal Olivia Busceme Chad Barrows

JOIN US

FOR ART OPENINGS ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH

THIS MONTH:

OPENING RECEPTION IS MARCH 2, 7-10 P.M.

This project was funded in part by the B.A. & E.W. Steinhagen Benevolent Trust through the Southeast Texas Arts Council.

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