The Art Studio, Inc. - Issue Magazine

THE ARTS MAGAZINE OF THE ART STUDIO, INC.

OCTOBER 2013

WORLD OF EXPERIENCE PAGE 8 INSIDE: AD HOC THEATER, REVEALING WOLS, BODMER PRINTS, AND MORE

Details coming soon.

Check The Art Studio’s website at www.artstudio.org or www.facebook.com/theartstudioinc or better still, become a member and be part of this fantastic celebration.

SEE MEMBERSHIP FORM ON PAGE 3.

A View From The Top Greg Busceme, TASI Director

I WAS 29 OR 30 when I first met Bonnie Madden. She was director of the school volunteer program and I was an aspiring artist who was interested in education and outreach. I found my place within the schools, demonstrating pottery to elementary students pre-K through fifth. Each week I would go to a new school and perform my show, about 25 minutes long, about 12-16 times a day.

I didn’t like it at first. The children smelled like children and the room was usually a dull and dingy art/music/storage room with me and 60 children at a time until I saw everyone.

I went to almost every school that year.

I was later approached by Millie Hartel with BISD’s arts-related curriculum program that actually paid a group of artists to work the schools. I showed the shorewood prints for a semester or two, and then went to pottery demos once again.

For the next 10 years I was constantly in the school system, and later continued doing freelance demonstrations and workshops in Beaumont and Silsbee schools.

One point of this little history is that I put myself in a place I didn’t think I could handle and I learned to do it. Talking to first through third graders is challenging. I’m never sure what they are going to say and usually I needed a translator.

This was an important niche for me and The Studio. I learned to have fun doing my

ISSUE Vol. 20, No. 2 Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Art Studio, Inc. Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andy Coughlan Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tracy Danna Contributing Writers. . . . . . . . . . . . Elena Ivanova, Distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chelsea Henderson The Art Studio, Inc. Board of Directors President Ex-Officio . . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Busceme Vice-President. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angela Busceme Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Roberts Treasurer/Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth Gallaspy Members at Large: . . . . . . . . . . . Sheila Busceme, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elizabeth French, . . . . . . . . . . Andy Ledesma, Stephan Malick, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heather Butler

The Art Studio, Inc. 720 Franklin Beaumont, TX 77701 409-838-5393 www.artstudio.org artstudio@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 Ad Hoc’s “Penetrator” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4 Wols at the Menil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 6 Julie Lee’s Natural World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8 Karl Bodmer Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 10 Around & About. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 12 Stevens Show World Premiere. . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Thoughtcrime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 15 Cover photo of Julie Lee

by Andy Coughlan

demos, and I actually began to look forward to meeting the kids and the teachers as I showed up at each school year after year.

Just including the junior high and high schoolers, I’ve seen some of these kids five or six times in their lives.

I came to love what I did and how it affected the young people as I gave messages of hope and perseverance, determination and values. It wasn’t the clay so much — I can throw blindfolded — but it was what I was telling them as they were mesmerized by the spinning ball of clay. That was the magic.

I would leave the schools with a sore back and shoulders, yet exhilarated by the energy that the young people were sending me, sharing with me.

I soon felt like I was getting the bigger benefit, I enjoyed the work so much. Health issues and age began to take over and teaching jobs at Lamar University took precedent over kindergartners.

The other point to this story is what you can do to be a part of this niche. You may find yourself with an opportunity that you never thought of before. You may find someone asking you to come see their children in an overlooked elementary school.

You will find hundreds of knee-high toddlers who will love everything you do and

See VIEW on page 12

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS AT THE ART STUDIO OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

The Natural World of Julie Lee Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . October 5

“Blue and Permanent”: Paintings by Abigail McLaurin Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 2

BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ART STUDIO 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.

Name(s) Address City/St/Zip Phone

email

Credit Card Type: Visa MC Amex Disc Number

MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO:

THE ART STUDIO, INC.

Exp Date Day Phone

email SUGGESTED MEMBERSHIP AMOUNT

Individual: $35 Family/Group: $50 Friend/Business: $100 Sustaining: $250 New?

Renewal?

Patron: Angel: Benefactor Life Member: Artist?

$500 $1,000 $2,000 $10,000

for office use pd in comp issue thanks

If yes, list medium

The Art Studio, Inc. 720 Franklin, Beaumont 77701

$

4 • ISSUE October 2013

Volume 20, No. 2

PENETRATING PERCEPTION

Jody Reho, left, and William “Gator” Armitage play Max and Alan in “Penetrator,” to be presented at The Art Studio, Inc., beginning Oct. 10.

AD HOC

THEATER TO OFFER CHALLENGING EXPERIENCE

IN THE MIDDLE OF what seems to be a surging theater scene in Southeast Texas, one company is setting out to confront audiences’ perceptions of what theater can be by offering challenging subject matter in unconventional settings.

Beaumont’s Ad Hoc theater group will present “Penetrator,” Oct. 10, 11, 12 and 19 at 7:30 p.m., with a special midnight performance Oct. 18, at The Art Studio, Inc. Tickets are $15 and $10 for students.

Described as pitch-dark comedy, the show centers around a pair of roommates, Alan (William “Gator” Armitage) and Max (Jody Reho), in their Beaumont Old Town house. They are regular guys who work and make their way through the world in relative contentment until Woody (Michael Mason),

Story and photos by Andy Coughlan

Max’s childhood friend, comes for a visit.

“Some of the interesting things about this show, apart from the fact that it’s part of this ‘In-Yer-Face’ theater movement, is that it is happening immediately,” Mason said. “It’s taking place in October 2013, on the day that you see it. It is a real-time experience.

“It allows the audience to feel this out and know that it is in Beaumont, it can happen in Beaumont, and they probably know characters like this.”

Alan and Max are average bachelors, slightly directionless, who are hard-working, beer-drinking, and just enjoy hanging out.

“They are totally satisfied with their lifestyle,” Armitage said.

When Woody shows up, things begin to shift.

“He’s just getting back from Afghanistan,” Mason said. “You’re not immediately aware that something’s off, but the show progresses from that point. The two roommates, and the audience, realize

that something is wrong with this guy. He’s been changed by war.

“Some of the things that I’m interested in, thematically, is the juxtaposition between these two guys living in Beaumont — going to work, going to bars, hitting on chicks — and this man who’s been in Afghanistan, seeing things that you or I won’t ever see, and the meeting of these two worlds.”

Mason said that the genre switches as the play progresses.

“It starts out as a black comedy, and then once this other character is introduced, you go from this naturalistic, black comedy structure to a thriller, a whodunit, a ‘What the hell’s happening?’ sort of dark drama,” he said.

Armitage said that when the visitor is introduced, it is like a coil or spring tightening.

“Whenever he shows up the level of tension starts to grow,” he said. “It changes from a semi-

Volume 20, No. 2

October 2013 ISSUE • 5

lighthearted, comedic piece to a very volatile envia show in the space we were in.” yes.” ronment.”

Armitage interjects.

Ad Hoc said The Art Studio fits into their misMason said the structure of the show will be “I want this in,” he said, laughing. “I told him sion to present not only unconventional shows, but familiar to people that I had an idea to do a David Mamet show and also in unconventional spaces.

“I hope it will pull the audience in as they say, ‘I Michael said, ‘Mamet’s terrible, we should do these “The script dictates the spaces we are looking for know that guy’ or ‘I am that guy’ or ‘My kid is friends plays.’” a lot of the time,” Armitage said. with that guy,’” he said. “It’s familiar characters and Mason said the real story is that he returned to While “Penetrator” deals with mature subject then it just sort of flips.

Beaumont from New York and heard that the other matter, Mason said he really believes people will “I’m hoping the beginning will pull people in and two were doing plays. He was invited to a party at the enjoy the experience. then they will go on this tense rollercoaster ride. I Beach House and the rest is history.

The play lasts just over an hour with no intermisthink they will like it and not like it, too, but they will “Michael had the material and we had the sion. have had an experience they will be able to talk space,” Armitage said, adding that they were also Seating is limited. To make a reservation, email about. I’m interested to see exactly what people interested in exploring and presenting new work. penetratorplay@gmail.com think.”

“We just said yes — whatever those scripts were, Named for the book of the same name by Aleks Sierz, the “In-Yer-Face” movement, which came about in the 1990s in England, aims to create a visceral, violent, provocative, intimate theater experience.

“A lot of the stuff Ad Hoc has been doing has been skirting on the edge of that,” Mason said.

“That’s what I have been interested in, what theater can be — sort of intimate and poetic.”

The play features a series of abstract video interludes with a provocative voice over that suggest to the audience that something is happening or about to happen.

The play, written by Anthony Nielson, is based on a true story.

“A few crazy things happen, but it is based on a reality that happened to a playwright who then dramatized it,” Mason said.

The dynamic between the two friends is changed when Woody “penetrates” their comfortable existence.

“It’s like throwing a handful of change into a dryer that’s been running smoothly,” Armitage said.

“Or bricks,” Mason adds.

Reho said that Alan and Max have a relationship that has evolved so they are almost a couple.

“They are roommates who depend on each other for their own debauchery,” he said. “They push and pull each other. It is a strong friendship but it might be based more on circumstance rather than something that’s a healthy, fruitful relationship — they are sounding boards for each other’s bullshit.”

Armitage said they are almost like Oscar and Felix from “The Odd Couple.”

Armitage and Reho were roommates in the past, and they see some parallels in the characters and their own experiences.

“A lot of what spoke to both of us, the familiarity we had with these characters, the bickering with each other, the enabling and supporting,” Reho said.

“This is a much different version of that relationship.”

Armitage said it is a challenge to not fall into versions of themselves.

“You have to remind yourself that these are characters, even though some of the dialogue is so freakishly spot on to conversations that we probably had,” he said. “You still need to search and dig, and find out who these people are and represent them appropriately.”

Ad Hoc grew out of Aztec Economy, a group in Brooklyn that Mason worked with.

“I wanted to bring a little of that to Beaumont, that stuff I was obsessed with,” he said.

Armitage and Reho were roommates at the “Beach House” in Beaumont’s Old Town when Mason returned to Southeast Texas.

“Mason came back into town and has something wrong with him that he can’t stand not to be doing Jody Reho, above left, Michael Mason and William “Gator” Armitage rehearse a scene from “Penetrator,” to be presented at The Art theater constantly,” Reho said, wryly. “He asked to do Studio, Inc., beginning Oct. 10.

6 • ISSUE October 2013

R E V E A L I N G W O L S

Volume 20, No. 2

MENIL RETROSPECTIVE PUTS ‘STATELESS’ ARTIST UNDER MICROSCOPE WHO IS WOLS? It is poor journalism to begin a story with a question, especially, as in this case, if one does not intend — or, indeed, is unable — to offer a suitable answer.

But Wols — a retrospective of whose work is on display at the Menil Collection through Jan. 24 — defies easy answers.

Wols, born Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze, was an artist’s artist, but he did not seek to be a “professional” artist, in the sense that he was not concerned with the business side of the art market. He chose to focus on the nature of art.

Wols (pronounced voles) has been largely neglected by art historians and critics because he doesn’t fall into an easily defined “label.” Wols is clearly influenced by — or influenced — the art movements of the early to mid 20th century, but he does not fall into any particular movement. In this sense, he reflects one of his artistic heroes, Paul Klee — an exhibition of whose work Wols saw in Dresden in 1926 — another artist who is hard to pigeonhole.

Wols’ work reflects his love of nature.

The shapes echo plants and seeds, as well as microscopic forms. Wols believed that the truth of existence could be found in the microscopic rather than the larger world.

His work rewards careful and repeated looking. It is rich with texture and color, the multiple layers revealing themselves, drawing the studious viewer deeper into the image.

Wols’ paintings are at once both expansive and minutely detailed. They force the viewer to stop and explore the delicate and the visceral.

Wols believed the small things are important, and it is the large things — politics, money governments — that are insignificant.

In the small gallery that houses his watercolors from 1948, one finds delicate pieces that are fluid and organic. Even though they are not large, they evoke the

Review by Andy Coughlan

Wols, above, OISEAU/BIRD, c. 1949. ©2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. The Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Hickey-Robertson, Houston. Top row from left: Wols. MILLE PROBLÉMES DANS LA TÉTE. 1938-1939. ©2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris; COMPOSITION (Gutbrod A-603). 1944-1945; IT’S ALL OVER, 1946–47. Oil, grattage, and tube marks on canvas, 31 7/8 x 31 7/8 inches (81 x 81 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Paul Hester.

Volume 20, No. 2

“scale” of much larger pieces. Yet they also are microbial, reminiscent of viewing bacteria and other organisms on slides seen through a powerful microscope. The fine detail draws one in and forces a slow contemplation.

The small hatch marks found in many of the pieces are the strongest examples of Klee’s influence.

“Suppository” reflects Klee’s style with a brilliant shock of white thrown in.

The title, and the composition, speak to Wols’ sense of humor.

The “organisms” in the watercolors are both familiar and other worldly.

Wols’ is a world of suggestion, of prodding to consider the infinite in the infinitesimal. If the whole room was passed off as illustrations to an early medical text book, one would not be surprised.

These organisms could also just as easily be poised to make their way out of the primordial ooze or some alien life form.

“Rotating Details” reminds one of a joyful dancer — fragmented yet full of joie de vivre. One gets the sense that Wols really does have a sense of wonder at the essence of our existence within the natural world.

The Klee influence is at its most pronounced in the early watercolors from around 1940. They are also the most obviously Surreal, especially the distorted figures in “Le Musician” and “The Circus.”

In 1946, he started painting with oils. He made 40 in his first year. He had a show in 1947, which, while it was a sensation for other artists, was not a huge success among the public.

However, Dominique de Menil saw the show and became a keen collector of his work.

Working in oils helped Wols see things differently. He was able to break away from the controlled nature of watercolors and become free to be more fluid and textured. It is in his oils that one really sees Wols’ attention to detail and sheer exuberance at the

Wols, SELF PORTRAIT.

October 2013 ISSUE • 7 nature of existence.

In “Oiseu (Bird),” one sees an explosion of lines, that may represent feathers. The piece echoes Chaim Soutine’s images of flayed meat, or even reflects Francis Bacon’s twisted and distorted portraits.

“Manhattan” incorporates a pattern of drips that are reminiscent of the island’s grid of avenues and streets.

It is important to remember that the titles were given to the pieces by other people. Wols did not care to explain his work with a title.

There are critics who liken his abstracts to Jackson Pollock, but where “Jack the Dripper” used his entire body to paint large canvases, Wols’ pieces are much smaller and he was very much a wrist painter, controlling the drips — yet another contradiction that permeates his work.

Born in 1913 in Dresden, Germany, young Alfred was exposed to the arts from an early age by his upper-class family. Although an inquisitive child, he was not a strong student.

He began his artistic career, if it can really be called a career, by doing photographs.

In the 1930s he received a telegram where his name was mistakenly changed to “Wols.” He chose to become two people. He was the citizen Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze, but he was also the artist Wols.

In 1938, he visited a Surrealism exhibition. There he came to understand that one could use fragments of reality to uncover a deeper meaning and truth of existence.

He lived in Paris with his wife Gréty, and during World War II, as he was German, he was briefly interred in a camp in Aix en Provence. Although citizen Schulze was born in Germany and lived in France, Wols, the artist, declared himself to be a stateless person.

He returned to Paris after the war and exhibited a show of watercolors on Sept. 22, 1945 — it was not a success.

Wols spent most of WWII trying, unsuccessfully, to emigrate to the United States. Although he never made it across the Atlantic, his work echoes the Abstract Expressionism that was taking root there.

A pioneer of lyrical abstraction, Wols built his images through layers of drips, stains, scratches and bold brushstrokes. He rejected geometric abstraction — rarely using conscious lines — and sought a feeling of connection to the natural world.

Wols was fascinated by nature. He kept exotic fish and was always collecting objects, from stones to frogs. He said that, “The nature is the art,” and sought to reveal what is “hidden” in nature.

He did not like to give his pieces

Wols, above, MANHATTAN, C. 1947. ©2013 ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK/ADAGP, PARIS, Houston. Photo: Paul Hester.

titles, as he preferred to see the world on its own merits and expected the viewer to see his art the same way.

He was a rebel, often refusing to title or date his work. He even boycotted the opening of an exhibition of his work, returning later with his dog, to whom he carefully explained each piece.

Wols did not have formal training as an artist — he enrolled in the Bauhaus but never actually attended — although clearly, he is not a primitive, folk painter, but carefully selftaught — although he was inspired by African and other “primitive” art.

With careful study and a rudimentary knowledge of 20th century art, one can gather, in his work, an overview of multiple movements.

Wols’ work is both derivative and unique. Much of his work reminds one of something — Gorky, Klee, Dubuffet and the Abstract Expressionists — yet it is more forward thinking than referential. He is like many things, yet also

not really like anything else.

It is reasonable to say that Wols is everything and nothing. Like the title of one of the pieces in the Menil Collection, is work is “All Over,” and full of dichotomy — visceral yet controlled. His work is easy to relate to, yet also elusive and hard to define.

While that is the key to his work, it contributes to his largely being overlooked — until now. For the critic, or even the reviewer, it is like trying to explain the unexplainable, to put a label on work that defies definition.

If ever there was a time to draw on the old maxim, “I don’t know anything about art, but I know what I like,” it is with Wols. He offers something for everyone, both the artist and the uninitiated, on multiple levels.

Just keep looking, and all may be revealed — or not.

The Menil Collection is located at 1515 Sul Ross in Houston.

For information, visit www.menil.org.

8 • ISSUE October 2013

Volume 20, No. 2

Artist explores objects’ experiences in October show JULIE LEE’S WORLD IS in balance. Natural objects and man-made castoffs combine their experiences to tell their stories, and to create new stories for the willing viewer.

Lee’s constructions will be on display in the exhibition “The Natural World of Julie Lee,” Oct. 5-26, at The Art Studio, Inc. The show opens with a free reception, 7-10 p.m., Oct. 5.

Lee’s constructions form a balance between the industrial and the natural world for which her show is named. The title reflects her personal “natural world.”

“What I do is about the materials, not about any bigger concept or theory, it’s about the materials,” she says. “I think they’re beautiful, and I put them together in a way that is beautiful to me and honors the materials.

“It makes me remember the excitement I felt when I found that thing, when I made recognized it — when I made that connection.”

Lee said she goes to flea markets and sees things other people have bought and thinks, “I want that.”

“But then I have to say, ‘No. If it was meant to be mine, it would be in my buggy,’” she says. “So with that confidence that I am going to find what I am supposed to find, I can relax and let that process happen. Then it is exciting and it’s all the time.”

Lee pulls out a pile of crepe myrtle branches she found on the side of Story by Andy Coughlan

Volume 20, No. 2

October 2013 ISSUE • 9

Julie Lee, pictured in her studio, far left. She shows off a crepe myrtle branch, left, that she interprets as a spine. It is part of her “Branch Taxidermy” series. “Exotic,” above, is a typical example of one her constructions made from found objects.

the road while on her way to work. She points out the bends of the wood, likening them to knees.

“These are muscular,” she says. “These are what I call ‘branch taxidermy.’”

She pulls another branch out and says it is a spine. Lee teaches yoga and says she is always preaching the benefits of stretching the vertebrae.

That is what she sees in the wood.

“It’s not a straight line — there’s bumps and cracks, but it’s still functional,” she says.

Lee plans to display the “branch taxidermy” in one installation at her show.

Born in Memphis, Tenn., she moved to Southeast Texas when she was one, when her father, a structural steel detailer, was transferred for work.

She says she got her sense of construction from him.

“If we built a dog house it would be the place you would go for shelter in a tornado more so than your house, because it was 5,000 pounds — it was just crazy heavy and solid,” she says. “That’s one thing that, even though I use found materials, it has to be structurally sound. I don’t want anything that’s not going to stay. If it’s a fleeting thing, I might keep it for a little while and enjoy it, but I’m never going to use it.”

“I’m built to last,” she says with a smile.

Married for 35 years to Gerry, she attended Lamar University and got a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1981.

“I had no idea I wanted to do it,” she says. “My last semester at Lamar they held a job fair and all these different government agencies came out and the Texas Department of Health was there. They

were interviewing for a job in Tyler, but I told them my husband worked at a refinery and it was a really good job, so we weren’t going to move. I put in my application anyway, and it turned out they transferred the position to Beaumont so I got the job.”

The job involved traveling the 12 counties she oversaw. She worked for the state until Hurricane Rita hit. She said her house had a lot of damage and she didn’t want to travel so much while she and Gerry fixed the house.

She worked briefly for the Southeast Texas Food Bank before taking a job with the health department in Orange County. After three years she moved to her current job as the City of Beaumont’s environmental health manager.

“I’m here in Beaumont to stay now,” she says.

Lee says that she didn’t have a specific career in mind when she worked toward her degree, but when she talks, it is clear that the things she enjoyed about her studies are the same as those that permeate her artwork.

“I just loved biology, I liked the natural sciences, I liked chemistry — I liked mixing things together and ending up with something else,” she says. “I guess I was naïve and just expected something to show up — and it did, so I wasn’t wrong.”

When Lee was a child, her grandmother had a ceramics shop in Memphis, and she would always get to paint things, she says.

“I’ve always been inclined to work with my hands,” she says. “I’ve always been more inclined to do physical things rather than being a bookish person. Instead of being someone who wants to sit at a computer, I would rather spend hours in the yard.”

When she was in seventh grade she won first place in an art show for making flowers out of rocks and coloring them with crayons.

“A big part of my job is observation,” she says.

“As I did that work over the years, I developed my observations skills so that I can scan a table, for example, and I can see most everything on that table at a glance. But not everything will catch my eye. It’s

what is different that will catch my eye.

“If I’m scanning the ground, for example, there’s grass, grass, grass — wait, there’s a stick. There’s something about that stick and I will pick it up. What is it about that stick? Is it the texture of the bark, is it the absence of the bark, is it a bend in the stick, is it the color? There’s something about that stick that, for want of a better word, I recognize.”

Lee said that recognition gives her a connection to the object. She takes the found object home, where it joins a plethora of detritus, both natural and man-made, in her studio, waiting to reveal its purpose to her.

“I live with my stuff and the older and more banged up it is, the better I like it,” she says. “I am heavily into rust and dust. I like things like that because they are experienced and they bring that experience with them, even though it may be unknown.”

Lee picks up a weather-beaten board from an old bed frame.

“I never slept in that bed, I don’t know anything about the bed, but I know it is probably around 100 years old, it’s put together with pegs and there’s a craftsmanship to that,” she says. “That’s a goal I have for myself. I want to last that long.

“I don’t mind that it’s scratched up, that it’s faded in places — that’s part of its experience. If I had tried to scratch it, it would look like I had done it on purpose. And I’m not interested in that. That’s not an experience, that’s a finish. I don’t want a finish on it, I want it to be itself in all its imperfection — it’s perfect to me.”

Lee has appeared in several group shows over the years, and showed her work at the Mosquito Café in Galveston, but this show is a coming out party, she says.

“I tend to sanctuary build. When you are in my front yard, you might think it is just an average

See LEE on page 13

10 • ISSUE October 2013

Volume 20, No. 2

‘Over There I Had Friends’ KARL BODMER’S PRINTS FROM THE JOURNEY TO THE INTERIOR OF NORTH AMERICA IN 1832-34 AT THE STARK MUSEUM “The fourth society [of the Hidatsa], that of the “Dogs,” wear in their dance a large cap of colored cloth, to which a great number of ravens’, magpies’ and owls’ feathers are fastened, adorned with dyed horse-hair and strips of ermine; they have a large war pipe made from the wing bone of a swan.

The costume of these... dogs is shown in the portrait of Pehriska-Ruhpa.”

— Maximilian Prince of Wied

On June 24, 1833, the steamship Assiniboin of the American Fur Company arrived in Fort Union, a remote outpost on the Upper Missouri River. As usual, the arrival was met with celebratory rifle shots, roar of cannons and loud shouts of the crowd as clerks, traders and hunters of many nationalities, accompanied by their native women and children, hurried to the river. The ship brought long-awaited goods: pork, hams, flour, sugar coffee, wine and other European luxuries from St. Louis to the “gentlemen of the fur company” who lived as trappers year-round in the American wilderness. A few days later, the Assiniboin would start its return voyage to St. Louis carrying on board its annual load of fur pelts, which amounted to 25,000 beaver pelts, 40,00050,000 buffalo hides, 100,000 muskrat pelts, 20,00030,000 deer hides and thousands of other animal pelts.

However, on this day of June, it was not only the company men who walked ashore in Fort Union.

Among the passengers of the Assiniboin were three European travelers who came to these faraway lands in order to describe and record nature and life of native people. The leader of the group was Maximilian Prince of Wied, a prominent scholar, who traveled under the name of Baron von Braunsberg. Notwithstanding the aristocratic blood and the scholarly reputation, he looked hardly like a person of distinction to the crowd at Fort Union, being described by one of the company men as a nondescript, “toothless” individual, dressed in greasy pants and a black worn-out coat.

The Prince was accompanied by a seasoned hunter, taxidermist and plant preparator David Dreidoppel and a 23-year old Swiss artist Karl Bodmer. Despite his young age, Bodmer was already known as an accomplished artist with a keen eye for detail, having published a highly praised edition of prints featuring views along the Mosel River. Based on this reputation, as well as on the facts that Bodmer spoke German and, being young, was able to withstand the strenuous journey, the Prince hired him to document flora, fauna, people and cultural

Story by Elena Ivanova

Karl Bodmer (1809-1893), artist, René Rollet (1809 – 1862), engraver, Bougeard, printer. Pehriska-Ruhpa, MOENNITARRI WARRIOR IN THE COSTUME OF THE DOG DANSE. 1841, aquatint, mezzotint and etching on paper (hand-colored), 22 7/8 x 17 1/8 inches, For Illustrations to Maximilian Prince Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America. Stark Museum of Art, Orange, TX 91.121.20

artifacts during their expedition.

Today, “Maximilian, Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America During the Years 1832-1834,” is an invaluable source of information about the native peoples the travelers encountered as they navigated the Missouri River all the way to Fort McKenzie, which was located in what is today the north-central region of

Montana. Some tribes, such as the Mandan and the Hidatsa, were almost wiped out during the smallpox epidemics only five years after their visit. Other tribes changed their original ways of life due to the displacement, assimilation by other tribes, and westward migration of Euro-Americans. Modern scholars especially appreciate Maximilian’s work for its accurate and objec-

Volume 20 No. 2

tive description of local customs and traditions, as well as for a meticulous study of flora and fauna.

One of the greatest merits of this two-volume publication is the pictorial atlas that comprises 81 color plates featuring portraits of native people, ceremonial dances and scenes from life. These highquality prints were made from drawings and watercolors created by Karl Bodmer who spared no energy documenting every step of the journey from the moment the travelers set foot on the American continent. His portfolio counts 400 drawings and watercolors. It resides now at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, together with the Prince’s diaries, letters and other important documents.

Apart from their artistic merits, Bodmer’s prints are highly esteemed for their ethnographic and anthropological accuracy. Unlike many of his contemporary artists, whose images of American Indians often resemble figures in the paintings of European old masters, Bodmer relied on his observation and draftsmanship. His images are an eye witness testimony to the people he met and the places he visited.

Knowing how well known and highly valued the prints and the book are in the art world today, it may come as a shock that their debut in Europe was rather unglamorous. Published in German in 1839-41, in French in 1840-1843, and in English in 1843, “Travels” remained little known outside scholarly circles for the first 50 years. One of the reasons was the high price of the book, which was the equivalent of a skilled laborer’s annual income. Most of the copies were sold by subscription, a customary marketing technique of the time. The expenses incurred by the publishing and selling of the book almost ruined Prince Maximilian and caused friction between him and Bodmer who was contractually obligated to oversee the sales in France and England.

No more successful than the publication of the book was the exhibition of Bodmer’s watercolors in Paris in 1836.

Despite the exceptional mastery of execution and the fact that it was the first European exhibition to present Native Americans painted from life and authentic western scenes, the public showed little enthusiasm.

It is interesting to compare the lukewarm reception of Bodmer’s exhibition with the success of George Catlin’s Indian Gallery. A self-taught artist, Catlin dedicated his life to recording American Indian lifestyles and traditions. Among many trips he made in order to paint native people, he traveled to the Upper Missouri and visited the same places as the Prince and Bodmer, only one year earlier. In 1839, Catlin brought his “Indian Gallery,” which numbered 500 paintings, on a tour of European capitals.

The showman and entrepreneur, Catlin

October 2013 ISSUE • 11

used various marketing techniques to enhance the appeal of his paintings, such as delivering public lectures during which he shared personal recollections of life among the American Indians. The most successful of these techniques proved to be the staging of a show by an America Indian group whom, by a stroke of luck, he met and hired on the spot in London.

Although ultimately Catlin was unable to recover his expenses and went bankrupt, he attracted crowds to his “Indian Gallery” in London, Brussels, and Paris. Prince Maximilian and Bodmer were keenly aware of Catlin’s popularity and attempted to emulate some of his strategies in promoting their book. The success of their rival must have been hard to swallow, especially since they had seen Catlin’s work in St. Louis in the late spring of 1834 and considered it to be of mediocre artistic quality.

What happened in the aftermath of the great adventure and the disappointing attempts to promote the book and the artwork? Prince Maximilian dedicated himself to editing his notes and attending to the collection of artifacts, both natural and ethnographic, which he brought from North America. The University of Jena awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1858. Other academic institutions paid tribute to his research by appointing him

RELATED EVENTS Brian “Fox” Ellis, performer, naturalist and educator, will present a oneman performance titled “Travels in the Interior of North America: Prince Maximilian and Karl Bodmer” at the Lutcher Theater in Orange, Nov 7 at 6:30 p.m. as a member. Over 50 Linnaean names of families and species derive from his discoveries. The best-known species named in his honor is Leopardus wiedii, or margay, a spotted cat native to the South American rainforest.* Of North American species, he was the first to describe the red-eared slider turtle, the western chorus frog, and the spring peeper (frog). He died in his castle in 1867.

As for Bodmer, he had an unexpected twist in his artistic career. After experiencing hard times when he had to beg the Prince for money (to Maximilian’s credit, he often consented to his friend’s pleas), he moved on. In 1849, he joined two young artists, Jean-Francois Millet and Charles Jacques, and settled in Barbizon, a small place outside Paris. For the next 45 years, he could be spotted painting en plein air in the Fontainebleau Forest.

Bodmer died in 1893 at the age of 84.

Although he received positive notices in

This event is hosted by the Stark Museum of Art and is offered in conjunction with the exhibition Tales and Travels.

For tickets and additional information, visit the museum’s website at www.starkmuseum.org. press, he never achieved the same level of mastery in his Barbizon-style landscape paintings as he demonstrated in his North American works. With age, he became increasingly reclusive. Did he think about the times he traveled in the American wilderness? It seems that he remembered the greatest journey of his life with nostalgia. He once said to a colleague, “In Europe I have acquaintances, but over there I had friends.”

Prints by Karl Bodmer from the series created for the book “Maximilian Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America During the Years 18321834” are featured at Stark Museum of Art in the exhibition “Tales and Travels” through Jan. 11, and in the permanent galleries.

The Museum is located at 712 Green Avenue in Orange. For information, visit www.starkmuseum.org. * Prior to his journey to North America, Maximilian traveled to Brazil in 1815-1817.

Karl Bodmer (1809-1893), artist, Charles Beyer (b. 1792; active 1806-1820) and Friedrich Salanthé (1793-1858), engravers, Bougeard, printer VIEW OF THE STONE WALLS ON THE UPPER MISSOURI, 1840, aquatint and etching on paper (hand-colored), 18 x 24 1/16 inches, For Illustrations to Maximilian Prince Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America. Stark Museum of Art, Orange, TX 91.121.28.

12 • ISSUE October 2013

Volume 20, No. 2

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 BEAUMONT ART LEAGUE will host its annual MEMBERSHIP SHOW, Oct. 12-26.

The opening reception will be held Oct. 12, 7-9 p.m..

“If you are a member and an artist, this is the show for you,” gallery director Sarah Hamilton said.

“If you are not a member, please consider joining BAL. Membership rates are affordable and being a part of this non-profit arts organization allows you the opportunity to exhibit your work in our monthly judged art competitions.”

Entries will be accepted Oct. 2-5, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Memberships may be purchased at time of entry.

This year’s judge is Lamar University graduate printmaking student Maurice Abelman.

Artists may submit up to three entries. Cost is $10 per entry.

“October is all about showcasing the work of our members who are the backbone of this organization,” Hamilton said. “We love to see the variety of work that the artists bring to this annual show.”

BAL is located at 2675 Gulf St. in Beaumont.

To download a prospectus, visit www.beaumontartleague.org. ________________ The BEAUMONT COMMUNITY PLAYERS will present the hilarious non-stop comedy BOEING BOEING, beginning Oct. 18 and running for three weekends.

The show is written by Marco Camoletti and translated by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans.

Directed by Donny Avery, this hysterical 1960s French farce centers around American bachelor Bernard who has everything he could ever want — a successful career, a lavish apartment in Paris, and three air hostess fiancées — American sweetheart Gloria, Italian kitten Gabriella, and German spitfire Gretchen. He keeps track of them all with the help of a timetable which never steers him the wrong way — until now.

Mayhem ensues when all three air hostesses arrive to stay at the same time. With his friend Robert also visiting and his housekeeper Bertha, he’s going

K R O W T R A

to need all the help he can get.

Lots of physical comedy and great characters are sure to make this a comedy you’ll be laughing about days later.

To buy tickets, visit www.beaumontcommunity players.com. ________________ The ART MUSEUM OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS’ annual fundraising event, the ART OF BEER will be held 6-10 p.m., Oct. 9.

“Beer lovers and those new to the brew will find dozens of the finest specialty and seasonal libations from around the world paired with complementary food dishes, cheeses, beer floats, entertainment and much more,” Monique Sennet, AMSET spokeswoman said in a release. “It is here that beer lovers find the newest unique specialty releases not readily available elsewhere.”

“Art of Beer 2013 will also include musical entertainment by Mad Maude and the Hatters.

“We are excited to once again be bringing such a wide selection of craft beer to many Southeast Texans,” Art of Beer chair, Jeffrey Wheeler said. “Art of Beer continues to offer patrons a whole new array of the best beer from across the globe carefully selected and paired with amazing food dishes.”

Admission is limited. Tickets are $50 for AMSET members or $60 for non-members, and can be purchased online at www.amset.org or by calling 409-8323432. ________________ The BEAUMONT ART LEAGUE will host LITTLE HANDS, BIG ART, a series of Saturday art classes during October and November for children and teens ages 6-15.

“These engaging classes are a fun, affordable way to give your child professional art instruction and have some spare time to yourself for four Saturdays,” organizer Abigail McLaurin said. “In October (5, 12, 19, and 26), we’ll be covering portrait painting and 3-D printmaking, and the students’ work will be displayed at a public exhibition on the evening of Oct. 26.

L L SE UR O Y

@

JOIN TODAY!

In November (2, 9, 16, and 23), classes will include abstract sculpting and how to make your own pop-up books. The students’ work will be displayed Nov. 23.

Each month costs $160, with all supplies included.

Classes are from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

To register, call BAL during gallery hours (WedSat, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.), or print the pdf brochure from the website at www.beaumontartleague.org, and mail it in with payment.

RECENT ART STUDIO NEW OR RENEWING MEMBERS John Alexander Milton & Hester Bell Kathy Boudreaux Anthony & Karie Busceme Carlo J. Busceme III Michael S. Cacioppo Rev. S.J. Culotta Avril Falgout Sandy & Joseph Fertitta Shirley Fischer Suzanne & Lee Roy Garrett Harriet Garth Katy Hambright Emily Hardesty Linda K. Hartman Patsy L. Herrington Mark Jacobson Ralph & Virginia Jordan Stephen Kuritz Richard & Sandra Laurette Debbie Lavergne Trang Le Doug Mattingly Sharon & Roger McCabe Neches Engineers Joyce Philen Pat A. Riley Texas Coffee Co.

VIEW from page 3

AC X T SE ORG .

everything you are. They will hang on every word you say with unconditional love. Take that opportunity. Give yourself to the children and show them something wonderful that you do.

Finally, those children that I first saw are now in their late 30s and 40s. Every so often someone will walk up and tell me what that demo meant to them. It could have been a little note of encouragement, one of my many stories or me being goofy, but they remembered, “don’t give up” or some other phrase I oft repeated.

It is in those moments that you realize how much of an effect you can have on children and how farreaching that effect is.

Don’t give up, little children — you are going to grow up one day.

Volume 20, No. 2

October 2013 ISSUE • 13

LEE from page 9 house. But when you go through the gate you are in my sanctuary. My job is stressful, it is a regulatory job and I work a lot of hours — so there’s nothing here to do with work, except my cell phone. It’s a release.”

But Lee said she realized that she tended to keep ever ything at the house, which was a problem for her as an artist.

“When I do that, I don’t grow,” she says.

“That’s why I started entering shows — to get feedback and to challenge myself, to go to the next level with things. I don’t want to make the same thing over and over again — there’s no point to that.”

Lee said that showing the work is part of the experience of the art. The piece has a life of its own once she lets it go.

“To me, the finding, the collecting and the assembling is the art part — putting it in the show is the evidence that it happened,” she says.

It should be no surprise to viewers to learn that she is a fan of Joseph Cornell, who became famous for his constructions.

There is also something Victorian about the display boxes she makes, which makes sense when one thinks of her as a picker uncovering the histor y of the objects.

One of her pieces incorporates an old aquarium, a stick and some beads, which hang like “butterfly eggs underneath a branch.”

“When you put glass over something, it gives it a precious dimension,” she says.

“Even an old pine knot. If you put it under glass, ever yone thinks, ‘Oh my, that must be the pine knot from Abraham Lincoln’s cabin in Illinois.’ It mystifies it.”

Lee picks up a scrap of a dress with a strip of buttons.

“I couldn’t quit looking at them because of the color — they’re glass, they’re heavy and they’re not chipped or cracked so someone obviously took care of them,” she says.

“I kept thinking about them — what do they look like, what do they remind me of? I just kept carr ying them around and one day I was out in the yard pulling weeds and I saw, underneath a branch, butterfly eggs — that’s what they are.

“Butterfly eggs have a stem with a little round piece at the end and they’re in a row.

They are the most delicate thing you can imagine, but they are there. If you have a thunderstorm and the branches all clash together, and go back out and check after the storm, they are still there.

“And that’s me — still standing.”

Maybe Lee doesn’t see a grand concept in her work, but the pieces themselves ser ve as an autobiography of sorts. Strength and fragility combine to reveal a person who is comfortable in her own “Natural World” — a world which we get a glimpse of this month.

The Art Studio is located at 720 Franklin in downtown Beaumont.

WE WANT YOU FOR BAND NITE Hear original music by local musicians at

, t r A e n i F Food e n i F Two Magnolias r e s t a u r a n t in the Art Museum of Southeast Texas

Weekday lunch, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Wedding Receptions • Rehearsal Dinners • Meals to go For upcoming gigs, visit The Studio’s facebook page

$5

10 % di scoun t f or art ists 500 Main Street in downtown Beaumont, Texas

admission

All ages welcome • 21 and up BYOB and have your ID.

409-833-5913 www.2magnolias.org • www.facebook.com/TwoMagnolias twomagnoliascatering@gmail

14 • ISSUE October 2013

Volume 20, No. 2

Hollywood actor/comedian to bring ‘Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind,’ world premiere one-man show to SETX BEAUMONT — MOST OF US HAVE had brief brushes with a celebrity. Maybe a star is in town shooting a movie and we whip out our cell phone to take a discreet — or not so discreet photo.

Maybe they pop up in odd places we don’t expect to see them.

But when one lives in Hollywood, the brushes with celebrity are more frequent, and often bring hilarious results.

Actor/comedian Chambers Stevens has a file full of anecdotes from 40 years in show business and will premiere, “Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind,” his latest one-man show, at the Logon Café, Oct. 18 and 19.

Tickets are $15 and are available online at outsidetheboxbeaumont.com.

Stevens said the idea for the show came from a “close encounter” with Steven Soderbergh at a screening of the movie director’s documentary “And Everything is Going Fine,” about humorist Spalding Gray. Soderbergh told Stevens about a film, “Personal History of American Trash,” where Gray pulls scripts of plays he had been in from a box, and proceeds to tell anecdotes about his experiences in those plays.

“I thought that would be a perfect idea now,” Stevens says.”No one would care about plays, but because I live in Los Angeles, it would be cool to talk about celebrity encounters.”

He describes the show as being like “sit-down comedy.”

Stevens is one of the top acting coaches in Hollywood, and his wife is a producer for Disney, so he has more than his share of run-ins with the rich and famous.

“I’ve worked with them, known them — and run into them at the supermarket,” he says. “I have stories that are funny, sad, hilarious and even angry.”

Stevens grew up in Nashville, so many of his stories involve country music stars.

“It started when the Mandrell sisters moved in next door when I was 10,” he says. Johnny Cash sponsored my Little League baseball team, and Faith Hill was in the first acting class I taught.”

In the show, Stevens shuffles a deck of 100 cards, each with the name of a celebrity. He pulls out a name and his natural talent for storytelling kicks in. No two shows are the same.

An Emmy-nominated author and playwright, Stevens has been lauded for his previous shows. His previous oneman show, “Desperate for Magic,” won

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 non-profit 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

CHAMBERS STEVENS

the Backstage Garland award. The Los Angeles Times wrote, “Star shines in ‘Desperate for Magic’ The dude is worthy! Way!!!” The paper also called him a “kinetic explosion.”

Beaumont-based Outside the Box Productions is putting on the show.

“We at OTB have had the opportunity over the past six years to become very familiar with Chambers’ works,” Ramona Young, OTB artistic director, says. “Chambers is a frequent visitor to Beaumont. He comes every year to host acting workshops for children, teens and young adults where he teaches them how to break into the business. “‘Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind’ is due to open in Los Angeles in 2014, and Chambers wanted to try it out somewhere. When I suggested he bring it here first, he jumped at the opportunity.”

Stevens said that he hopes students will see the show.

“When I was 18 or 19 I first saw Gray, Eric Bogosian, Whoopi Goldberg, and they inspired me,” he says. “Maybe (students) will be inspired to tell their own stories.”

Stevens says that he travels a lot and no matter what plane he gets on, people are reading about celebrities.

“That’s what this show is, a deeper version of People magazine,” he laughs.

Young says the show is the latest in Outside the Box’s mission to bring different shows to Southeast Texas audiences.

“It is so exciting to be part of a real theatrical renaissance in the area,” she said. “The Logon is a great place to do shows and the Reader’s Theater we held there in August was a sell out. It proved that audiences are hungry for new, exciting and unconventional theater.”

For more on Chambers Stevens, visit www.chambersstevens.com.

1.

2.

3.

4.

To present public exhibitions To provide educational opportunities To provide accessible equipment for artists To provide peer feedback through association with other artists and crafts people

OBJECTIVES 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

To present 10 art exhibitions per year To maintain equipment for artists in a safe working environment To provide better access to artists for the public To offer regularly scheduled adult and children’s classes To develop and maintain public activities with all sectors of the community To develop and maintain equipment to aid artists in their work To provide a display retail outlet for artists To expand programming and activities with increased facility space

Volume 20, No. 2

October 2013 ISSUE • 15

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: ISSUE 720 Franklin, Beaumont, TX 77701 or e-mail issue@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 of rejection by mail or telephone.

Training the Tree There’s an oak in the middle of a tallow stand, the only true tree of the bunch, and this fine fellow is the one that’s hunched, while the others got his light. Bad luck to fall in with the wrong lot. At first, they make the spring seem right good fun, but when it comes to sun, they bend you down and rob you of your height. Young oak’s not wise, and tallows tend to drunkenness, promiscuity, and incest. I’ve seen them taking on whole fields with milky seeds — bastards — weak. They live too fast. They’re soft and lose their leaves in such a

Full Moon at Sunrise Last night I went and gratefully sat at the feet of the Kween.

A High Priestess who braids the fullness of life given Into a masterful presentation of kindness and compassion and calling.

She is the enduring Leading Lady, Light fills her dying carcass Full of rosy cheeked mysteries.

Spirit swells her weak body with quiet dignity, Magnifying her still as the Pretty Lady.

At last I had audience with her majesty, the Krone.

I am already on fire, and when we visit she just Pours on the fuel and I Walk away, a blazing ball of tongues, My power ignited, Loosening the words I’ve been looking for.

Cathy Atkinson

Sommeil

show — all at once — hot reds and stained with every

It is important to sleep Sometimes, one can forget that

color down the line, then, drop one night.

Oak tries to hold on long enough to see the light, but February’s short on that

Life is a series of frantic excursions A whirlwind of events Planning, creating, Veering wildly from chore to adventure Adrenaline fueled and exhilarating until…

Ceasing Madness gives way to stillness Solitude Silence And in those moments of nothingness There is found Serene beauty Peace

and long on cold. It leans against him hard, so by next spring he’s done lost more to tallows and their broods. This year, I’m not allowing it. All around the spade-shaped leaves, I’ve chopped a jaded space, enough for me to tie a rope around the oak and pull him back so he can stand up straight to reach the sun. I know I’ll have to keep on it — the tallows being rabbits with their kits. Oaks aren’t wise until they’re grown, but once they’ve tasted summer from the top, they make the neighbors

Until waking Blinking Deep breath and off again

small, and all that silliness around

Andy Coughlan

Jesse Doiron

seem what it is — not wise, not wise at all.

Poetry Renaissance held third Thursdays at TASI WHEN DOROTHY SELLS CLOVER decided to write poetry, she didn’t just sit in the corner of her home and write.

She published a book of her work and took to the street fairs to spread the word.

As she developed a network of fellow writers she looked for a place where they could share their work and discuss the poetry.

Dorothy turned to The Studio and now hosts Poetry Renaissance, held the third Thursday of every month, where poets and poetry lovers can meet and discuss everything poetic.

“Our format is really just getting started,” she said.

“We are trying to make it different from ones I have been to before.”

Dorothy said they used to do it in the round, where each person did one poem each.

“It just kept going round, but with more people it gets complicated,” she said.

She said that people sign up to do a poem and they work it out from there.

The reading starts at 7 p.m., but Dorothy said people trickle in throughout the evening. The event lasts until 10 p.m. with an intermission.

“We’ve got some pretty good poets in Beaumont,” she said. “Out-of-town poets are more spoken word, in-

your-face kind of poets.”

Dorothy said the feedback is an important part of the group.

“I like the fact that we have discussions,” she said.

“I want audience participation, to get in their heads — ‘How did you write that?’”

It is important for people to have a comforting place to read, as poetry is really personal. Dorothy started writing seriously in 2010.

“All my friends were starting their lives and I was in a rut — I had one child, no grandkids and I had been in the same job for 25 years.”

She said she decided that she needed to find something creative to occupy her time.

“The next night I started to write,” she said. “It sparked me. My friend, Derek Toussaint, read me some of his poetry and I thought, ‘I can do that.’”

Dorothy, who works for a school district, said she shared her poems with some of the teachers. She heard one had written a book and decided to do the same.

The result was her self-published book, “Cornucopia.”

“When you don’t know, you don’t know,” she said, with a smile.

She sells her books at street events such as First Thursdays at the Mildred Building. Dorothy also

believes in being proactive and does readings at schools.

The idea for Poetry Renaissance came from discussions with friends.

“I like the back-and-forth banter,” she said.

Friends suggested The Studio would be the perfect place to host a reading.

“I called (director Greg Busceme), and he said he would get back to me,” she said. “I didn’t hear from him for several months, and then one day he called and said, ‘Dorothy, come on down.’”

Content is not limited, but Dorothy prefers her poetry “tastefully done.”

“I try to gauge my audience,” she said.

Participants may read their own poetry or other people’s. It is all about the opportunity to discuss the craft, she said.

“We had one girl who sat and wrote a poem during the meeting, and shared,” she said.

Attendees are not required to read if they don’t want to.

“People can just come and listen,” she said. “We need an audience.”

Cost is $5.

For information, call 409-363-3444.

720 Franklin, Beaumont, Texas 77701

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

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

INSIDE • JULIE LEE’S NATURAL WORLD • THOUGHTCRIME: MUSINGS FROM AREA POETS • AD HOC ‘PENETRATES’ THEATER • BODMER PRINTS ON VIEW

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 Andy Ledesma Rhonda Rodman Sue Wright Cyndi Grimes Rhonda McNally Andy Coughlan Ben Jennings Beth Gallaspy John Roberts Beau Dumesnil Karen Dumesnil Sheila Busceme Kailee Viator Haley Bruyn Bryan LaVergne Gabe Sellers Ian Grice Abby McLaurin Samantha Wheeler Scott & John Alexander Heather Adams Terri Fox Avril Falgout B.J. Bourg Michelle Falgout Dana Dorman Reagan Havens Anna Buchele Nick Wilcox Stacey Haynes

ISSUE

JOIN US

DISTRIBUTION POINTS DOWNTOWN

FOR ART OPENINGS ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF THE MONTH THIS MONTH:

THE ART STUDIO, INC.

720 FRANKLIN

ART MUSEUM OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS

500 MAIN

BABE DIDRIKSON ZAHARIAS MUSEUM

1750 IH-10E

BEAUMONT CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

801 MAIN

(IN CITY HALL) BEAUMONT ART LEAGUE (FAIRGROUNDS)

2675 GULF ST

BOOK BAZAAR

1445 CALDER

THE CAFE

730 LIBERTY

JERUSALEM HOOKAH CAFÉ

3035 COLLEGE

NEW YORK PIZZA & PASTA

790 NECHES

SETAC

701 NORTH STREET, STE. 1

STARBUCKS

EDISON PLAZA

TEXAS ENERGY MUSEUM

600 MAIN

SOUTH END/LAMAR UNIVERSITY CARLITO’S RESTAURANT

890 AMARILLO @ COLLEGE

DOS AMIGAS

1590 FRANKLIN

LU ART DEPARTMENT

DISHMAN ART MUSEUM OLD TOWN

ANNA’S MEXICAN BAKERY

2570 CALDER

BEAUMONT FRIED CHICKEN

7TH AND CALDER

JASON’S DELI

OCTOBER 5-26 GALLERY RECEPTION IS OCT. 5, 7-10 P.M.

112 GATEWAY SHOP CNTR

KATHARINE & CO.

1495 CALDER

RAO’S BAKERY

2596 CALDER

SIGN INTERNATIONAL EXPRESS

2835 LAUREL

SUNRISE

2425 S 11TH

SWICEGOOD MUSIC CO.

3685 COLLEGE

THE TATTERED SUITCASE

2590 CALDER

CENTRAL/WEST END BASIC FOODS

229 DOWLEN

BEAUMONT VISITORS BUREAU

IH-10

COLORADO CANYON

6119 FOLSOM

GUITAR & BANJO STUDIO

4381 CALDER

LOGON CAFE

3805 CALDER

PACESETTER

COLONNADE CENTER

RED B4 BOOKS

4495 CALDER

REED’S LAUNDRY STUDIO 77

6025A PHELAN @ PEYTON 6372 COLONNADE CENTER

THIRSTY’S

229 DOWLEN PARKDALE

RAO’S BAKERY

4440 DOWLEN ORANGE

STARK MUSEUM OF ART

712 GREEN AVE.