Issue Magazine - November 2014

THE ARTS MAGAZINE OF THE ART STUDIO, INC.

NOVEMBER 2014

FRIENDS SHARE THE DARK PAGE 8 INSIDE: ART OF BELARUS, ‘MONTAGE’ IN PICTURES,’ ‘MY DIRTY LITTLE SECRET,’ AND MORE

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

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

For upcoming gigs, visit The Studio’s facebook page

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

A View From The Top Greg Busceme, TASI Director

THE FIRST FEW COOL days have stemmed the tide of the heat of summer, giving some relief to all who have endured the hell on earth that is the second floor.

If not for rain, which we had in abundance, temperatures would have been worse. That’s how it is in the real world, air conditioning is optional but it’s not your option!

What makes me feel good is watching all these artists working in the heat — not just working in it but accepting it, working through it till the heat is nothing more than a nuisance — not a force to stop all creativity but a blip on their screen.

One day we may get A/C in the studios, but I don’t think it will change the artist’s work habits.

Creativity is independent of your desire to make something. No matter how hot or how cold it is, or how perfect it is, when creativity and desire come together we go and make something! This is what being an artist is about.

Health-wise, it is arguably safer to have open air/fresh air studios than A/C for painters and ceramicists. A/C

ISSUE Vol. 21, No. 3 Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Art Studio, Inc. Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andy Coughlan Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tracy Danna Contributing Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . Elena Ivanova Contributing Photographers . . . . . . Elena Ivanova, . . . . . . . . . . . Tracie VanLaw, Codie Vasquez Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kevin Dodson The Art Studio, Inc. Board of Directors President Ex-Officio . . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Busceme Vice-President. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angela Busceme Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Roberts 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 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 Envisioning Belarus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4 “My Dirty Little Secret” Texas Premiere . . . . . . . . Page 6 Shop-O-Rama Call for Entries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7 Night at the Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7 “Untitled” Photo Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8 Reho at High Street Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 11 Hollywood Acting Coach Workshops . . . . . . . . . Page 12 Montage Festival in Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 13 Thoughtcrime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14 Thoughtcrime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 15 Cover photo: Photographer John Fulbright works in The Art Studio’s darkroom. Fulbright is one of the “Darkroom Friends” who will show their work in November at TASI. See page 8 for more.

filters do not stop the minute particles of silica (clay) that float invisibly in the air. Returning air will bring all the fine silica particles right back to go inside your lungs. These particles are so small they are not affected by gravity, can go through water without getting wet and will pass by mucus or cilia and go right in your bronchia staying there forever. Prolonged exposure to these particles will cause respiratory problems. Many university instructors have silicosis for this very reason. So I am glad we are too poor to get A/C, it probably saved some of our lives.

A long story for sour grapes wasn’t it?

My apologies to Dorothy Sells Clover. I mistakenly called her Doris in my last View from the Top. Dorothy generously spearheads the Poetry Renaissance every third Thursday at The Art Studio and we greatly appreciate her participation.

Thanks to everyone who are sending in their memberships for the coming year. These funds help maintain supplies and material for studio operations like our new outdoor lighting, kiln repair and maintenance.

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS AT THE ART STUDIO DECEMBER

FEBRUARY

Annual Shop-O-Rama Extravaganza Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 6

Kailee Viator Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 7

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.

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4 • ISSUE November 2014

Volume 21, No. 3

———— TRAVEL ————

Envisioning Belarus Ten Centuries of Belarusian Art

Editor’s note: ISSUE contributor Elena Ivanova spent the summer in Eastern Europe doing research for a book. This story is the third in a four-part series chronicling her adventures and the artistic discoveries she made along the way.

ONCE I GAVE A museum tour to Margaret Thatcher. It happened at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg when she was on an official visit to Russia. At this time, she was no longer Prime Minister of Great Britain, which explains why it was me, and not some highstanding official with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was taking her through the galleries, with the bodyguards rushing ahead of us and the British embassy entourage trailing behind us. Every time we entered another gallery, I would start by pointing out some paintings and she, after a polite pause, would say: “And what about sculpture?”

Whether Mrs. Thatcher was particularly fond of sculpture or it was a smart way of keeping the conversation going, this experience made me realize how much sculpture gets overlooked during a museum visit. In most museums, paintings overwhelmingly outnumber sculpture.

Story and photos by Elena Ivanova

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.”

However, instead of standing out, it tends to blend in as if it were a part of the museum décor.

If you have ever watched visitors as they move through the gallery, you may have noticed that most of them walk the perimeter scanning the paintings on the walls and forget to look at the sculptures which are typically displayed towards the center of the room.

Keeping this in mind, I paid special attention to sculpture when I visited the State Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk. To reflect my experience, I included several examples of sculpture to illustrate this article.

The State Art Museum of Belarus is an auspicious-looking building, with its large encyclopedic collection displayed in two wings. The older one looks like a typical Soviet-era museum: tiered rows of paintings with sculptures in the middle of the gallery presented in a palatial setting. The new wing, which was opened to the public just a couple years ago, reflects the concept of the 21stcentury museum: open-plan galleries that connect seamlessly, ample use of glass which allows you to see the floors above and below, and an

— Stella Adler

“Minsk on July 3, 1944” (19451955) by Valentin Volkov, above and “Musicians” (1904)

by Abraham Eisenberg are on display in the State Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk.

Volume 21, No. 3 effective lighting system. I don’t know if the architect has won an award — he surely deserves it.

The museum’s collection includes West-European, Russian and Belarusian art. There also is a growing collection of Eastern art — Japanese, Chinese and Korean. I felt a little nostalgic walking through the “old wing.” The same Russian artists of the 18th- and 19th century whose masterpieces I saw daily when I worked at the Russian Museum two decades ago now greeted me in Minsk. However, now I looked at them with different eyes. I found myself comparing these works to American Western art, with which I had not been familiar prior to my arrival in the U.S. “Zaporozhian Cossack after Battle” (1873) by Evgeny Lanseray (1848-1886) brought to mind cowboys and mountain men by Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. An art connoisseur will marvel at Lanseray’s mastery with which he portrayed the stumbling horse and the pensive figure of the rider who seems to anticipate every movement of the tired animal.

At the same time, for those of us who enjoy a story in an artwork, the artist provided a mystery to ponder. What happened during the battle? To whom belongs the other horse that the cossack is holding by the reigns? Is it a horse of a fallen friend or a defeated enemy?

By contrast, the exhibition in the “new wing” featured artists with whom I was not familiar at all. “Ten Centuries of Belarusian Art” took me on a roller coaster ride through the turbulent history of the people who preserved their cultural identity despite all assimilation attempts perpetrated by their politically powerful neighbors — Poles, Lithuanians and Russians. Art reflected the presence of divergent and often conflicting trends in Belarusian heritage. Russian Orthodoxstyle icons like “Virgin Hodegetria” (16th century) coexisted with polychrome wooden sculptures like “Archangel Raphael” (1st half of the 17th century), which one was likely to see in a Catholic church.

The legacy of Rzeczpospolita, or Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which ruled over present-day Belarus territory in the 17th and 18th centuries, is epitomized in formal portraits of szlachta, the Polish nobility. Stiff and pompous, these characters bear a certain likeness to Van Dyck’s images of English aristocracy. Consider, for example, “Portrait of Alexander Ostrozski” (1670) by Andrzej Stech (1635-1697).

November 2014 ISSUE • 5

The young man is standing in an theatrical pose, legs apart, chest pushed forward, which allows him to show off his fashionable attire - an elegant coat, waistcoat, breeches and a pair of golden shoes. The most colorful of the whole outfit are the puff sleeves richly decorated with red and green ribbons. The matching ribbons also are pinned at the collar of his lace jabot and — what a touch of elegance! — are tied around the knees as garters. In the background, barely visible, a groom is holding a horse by the reigns. The whole appearance of the young nobleman is so ostentatious that I had a momentous association with Shakespeare’s Malvolio when he shows up before Olivia wearing yellow stockings and cross garters.

By the end of the 18th century the political power of Poland waned and finally the territory of the former Rzeczpospolita became integrated into the Russian Empire. Nevertheless, the legacy of Polish culture remained strong in the region. Many descendants of szlachta families became important artists and writers whose works reflected a unique blend of local traditions.

A specific cultural landscape of Belarus created conditions for the emergence of Jewish artists who brought into the limelight life and traditions of East European Jews. A large Jewish population lived on the vast territory of Rzeczpospolita for centuries, yet there had been no visual record of their lifestyle, largely due to the fact that orthodox Jewish tradition forbade graven images.

With the increasing secularization of Jews by the end of the 19th-early 20th centuries, there was a growing number of young men interested in pursuing an artistic career. However, they had no access to art education in Russian cultural centers since the government restricted Jews to the infamous Jewish Pale, which included Russia’s western lands (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus and Ukraine). Many of those young men got their first art training at the private art school of Yuri (Yudel) Pen in Vitebsk. I will talk in more detail about this extraordinary artist and teacher in the next installment. At the moment, let

See BELARUS on page 11

Works on display in the State Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk include (clockwise from top left), “Saturn Women Viewing their Hibernating Caves” by Yazep Drozdovich, “Soviet Belarus” designed by Nikolay Mikholap, and the Russian Orthodox-style works “Archangel Raphael” and “Virgin Hodegetria.”

6 • ISSUE November 2014

Volume 21, No. 3

Comedy based on true confessions to get Texas premiere, Nov. 7-8 EVERYONE HAS A SECRET. It may be a crush on a co-worker or teacher. It may be a desire to try something a little out of the ordinary. It may even be a wish to get revenge on a boss.

Divergent Theater, in partnership with Beaumont Community Players, will present the comedy “My Dirty Little Secret,” by Hollywood-based playwright and acting coach Chambers Stevens, Nov. 7 and 8. Performances will be 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. each night, at the Betty Greenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 4155 Laurel in Beaumont.

“This hilarious show is inspired by online confession sites,” director Ramona Young says. “Four actors play multiple characters, all based on true confessions. Some are funny, some are heartbreaking, some are silly and some are risque. Some secrets will make you blush, but you will have to admit to having thought or done the same thing.”

The play is rated R and no one under 18 will be admitted.

A cocktail mixer will be held before each performance where audience members will be encouraged to write down their own “Dirty Little Secrets.” Several of them will be read, anonymously, during the show, and then shredded on stage.

“Reading audience confessions is great fun and everyone really gets to be a part of the show,” Young says. “The rest of the show is scripted, but that part of the show is totally open — you never know what you are going to get.”

The play, which was recently featured in the Hollywood Fringe Festival, is the second in the inaugural season for Divergent Theater, formerly Outside the Box Productions, and is being presented in cooperation with Beaumont Community Players. Divergent Theater also presented “Gab Fest” in September.

“The goal of Divergent Theater is to present plays and readings that push the boundaries of theater,” Young says.

“It allows Southeast Texans to really have the full experience of what theater can be. Divergent Theater productions can complement the fine theater tradition of this area. “‘People who think that going to the theater may be stuffy will like this show. It is part play, part comedy club.

Most of all, it is really funny and will be a great evening out with friends or partners.”

With two performances a night, Young says that audiences can hit the show early before heading out on the town, or can go have a meal prior to the show and come in ready to enjoy.

“However they choose to see it, the main thing is to come relaxed and ready to laugh,” she says.

Audiences will have the opportunity to meet Chambers Stevens, who will be in attendance at each show.

This is the third play written by Stevens performed in Southeast Texas. In October 2013, he performed his oneman show, “Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind.” His play “Waking Up Naked,” was performed in May by Studio 33.

Recently, Stevens won five first-place awards from Backstage, the national actor’s resource magazine for more than 50 years, for his coaching and writing, and the work of his acting studio. While in Beaumont, he will conduct several workshops for aspiring young actors.

For more information, visit www.divergenttheater.com, or visit their Facebook page.

Volume 21, No. 3

November 2014 ISSUE • 7

Shop-O-Rama Extravaganza Call for entries The Holiday Shop-O-Rama Extravaganza will soon be upon us and we’d love for you to participate.

The Art Studio, Inc. will host its annual art sale that offers one-stop shopping for a unique, funky, artistic and inexpensive gifts created by local artisans.

This event is your opportunity to present your work for sale during this holiday season. All work must be handmade and original by the presenting artist, no kits allowed and work must be constructed with quality and integrity.

• Paintings, illustrations and photographs must be the work of the presenting artist and must be appropriately matted and placed in cradles or other retaining stands, as there is not enough room to hang all flat work. Limited editions of prints are acceptable but photocopy reproduced work is not allowed.

• Tables and displays are the presenting artists’ responsibility. All work must be listed on an inventory form provided by TASI. The artist will assign each work a unique number and description, with a corresponding number and your initials on the price tag on the item being sold.

Live Music

Make Art

• The Art Studio will handle all sales and tax collection in exchange for a 25 percent donation from the artist on all sales of their work.

• All contributing artists must be members in good standing with The Art Studio, Inc., and all work must remain on display for the duration of the show. New work will be accepted throughout the month.

DATES TO REMEMBER: December 2-5: Bring work and set up displays.

December 6: Sale opens noon-5 p.m.

Reception, 7-10 p.m.

(Treat for the food table greatly appreciated) December 19: Final day for sales.

December 20: Unsold work to be picked up by artist.

If you have questions, please call The Art Studio at 409-838-5393, or send us an email through our contact page at www.artstudio.org.

Have Fun

The Tontons Get a taste of the Texas art scene and see demonstrations by special guest artists from the Art Studio, Inc.

Friday, November 14 Adults 21+

Cash Bar

8 – 11 pm $15 Cover

712 Green Ave | Orange, TX 77630 | 409.886.2787 | starkmuseum.org Stark Museum of Art is a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation. ©2014 All Rights Reserved.

8 • ISSUE November 2014

SHEDDING LIGHT Volume 21, No. 3

TASI’s renovated facility offers opportunity to rediscover joys of developing film, prints WITH THE RISE OF digital photography, it seems everyone can lay claim to being a photographer. But a dedicated minority has gathered to explore a process that is more hands on.

The Art Studio, Inc. Darkroom Friends is a group who have joined together to develop and print photographs the old fashioned way, using film and chemistry in a real darkroom.

The group will present the fruits of their labors in the exhibition “Untitled,” opening Nov. 1, and on display through Nov. 29. The show opens with a free reception, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., Nov. 1.

Joe Winston and John Fulbright took on the task of renovating The Studio’s defunct darkroom, with the goal of creating a space where artists could gather and explore the full photographic process. The darkroom was ready for use in the summer of 2013.

“One of the big goals of the darkroom was reaching out to the community,” Winston said.

“We want it to be an educational resource for the entire community.”

The group has held several workshops that cover basic printing and developing, and Winston said the group plans to hold more in the future.

“It’s an environment where, if you are interested in film-based photography, you have all these experts that are part of the community and can teach them,” he said.

Winston, who is an adjunct professor of fine art at San Jacinto College, said he is not anti-digital. But there is a different methodology involved with shooting film. With digital photography, one has an immediate LCD image and can continue to shoot until it is “right,” Winston said.

“I affectionately call that ‘chimping,’” he said.

“With the image you are creating on film, you are slowing the process down, and you are very deliberate where your settings are and your lighting, and approaching it from what I call a pre-visualized aspect.

“Then as you transition into printmaking, it is a tactile experience — it smells a little bit, you get a little bit dirty, you stand on your feet to create it.

“There is a magic that, I think, anyone who has ever been in the darkroom is still a little bit captivated by — how the print is a latent image and becomes a positive through a series of chemical baths. In the end, it is much more archival than most of the inkjet prints that are available at the mid-level. You can produce a lot of black-andwhite prints for much less than you can a color inkjet image.”

Over the past 10 years, Fulbright said, most photographers have gone digital.

“And they have lost the interface with the print and figuring out what to do with the image after you create it,” he said. “Digital has made Story by Andy Coughlan

photography work. In the past, in the history of photography, we’ve been trying to solve a lot of problems with photography and the cameras.

Now it seems we’ve got them all solved.

Everyone is getting really good at making images because everyone has infinite chances to get it right. It’s very inexpensive and very egalitarian, most everyone can afford a digital camera and everyone is on Facebook, so the way we share the image has changed and mutated.

“But throughout the years, everyone has started to miss the art of printmaking. There’s a lot of interpretation that can go on in the darkroom. It’s expressed in different ways. All of those tweaks that are available in Photoshop are based on real-life actions.”

There is a romantic feel to getting back to basics, Fulbright said, adding that part of the appeal is the community that builds around a darkroom.

“Part of the appeal is having a group of people working together for the same goal of getting prints on the wall and having a show,” he said.

“That’s what Darkroom Friends is all about — getting prints on the wall, instead of sharing them online, which is a solitary experience. Looking at photographs on a gallery wall is a group experience and very much more stimulating.”

Will Stark said the darkroom community is a “perfect storm.”

“The youth coming in, I’m sort of in the middle and I worked with John since I was the age of the younger people, and Joe and them have been printing for 25 years — that is what you call the perfect storm, being in between that,” he said.

“And we also have the resources of paper and space, and a lot of things that are going to make this a wonderful thing.”

Winston and Fulbright decided that a show would raise awareness of the darkroom’s existence. The work in the show is all hand made.

Some of the work may involve digital at some point, but they are all hand-made photographs originating in the darkroom — film based.

Winston said he actually uses digital negatives and then contacts them with a 19th-century albumen process. The process involves combining the albumen of egg white with silver nitrate.

“It’s a silver process that pre-dates the use of gelatin and is actually a superior binder for the silver and salt,” he said. “There’s an aesthetic look that the albumens have. It’s really an interesting process to go back and visit with 20th-century technology.

“We’re making our own albumen using farm eggs and buying chemicals online, so we’re making our own compounds.”

Winston said that using farm eggs instead of store bought is more than just a philosophical idea.

“There’s really very few resources that are current, and reading historical texts, it was pointed out that at that time they did not have refriger-

ON DARKROOM FRIENDS Volume 21, No. 3

ation,” he said. “Using unrefrigerated fresh eggs compared to production modern eggs may have some effects in the highlights.

“This is still highly experimental for me. I’ve been working in this process for about two years.”

Photographers are playing with ambrotypes and tintypes, applying their skills to what were considered outdated techniques, Winston said, adding that the film process appeals to people whose professional life may have revolved around film and shifted into the benefits of digital photography for speed and efficiency.

“One of the great things about photography in the darkroom and film right now, is that it has been relieved of its commercial burden,” he said. “No one is fighting deadline and processing film to get a 5x7 printed so it can be re-sized and dropped into a layout. Film is solidly in that art form now, as much as its printmaking predecessors were. No one is out there carving photograveures to get it into the New York Times Sunday edition.

In that way, it is really an exciting new time for darkroom and film-based photography, because it’s back to being very experimental.”

“Not only do you have these technology advances of the 20th and 21st centuries, but now you aren’t trying to make a deadline or make a dollar off the image, you can go back and experiment with some of these pre-silver gelatin processes. It’s really liberating.”

November 2014 ISSUE • 9

Photographers scheduled to show in “Untitled” include, clockwise from above, Will Stark, Beth Rankin, Nathanial Welch, Joe Winston and DL Kava.

Once the “digital revolution” came, Fulbright said the market was flooded with film cameras as people switched.

People started to get into medium format cameras, which he said offers a different experience to standard 35 mm cameras.

Some photographers turned to toy cameras, and lomography came along, which allowed people to shoot pictures in a more intuitive way — also, shooting film exclusively as a statement against the digital revolution.

“They thought that images could be created spontaneously without a bunch of looking and checking — the most creative images could be made without a lot of thinking,” he said. “Not knowing what you got is an integral part of the creative process. Being able to look at the images as you are shooting them affects how you shoot, and not always in a good way.

“Sometimes you might stop and say, ‘I got it,’ and miss out on the magic at the end of the roll. You’ve got yourself covered. The first part of the roll is doing your idea. The second part of the roll is reacting to what just happened. And the last third of the roll is generally about having fun with it and breaking some of the rules.”

The idea of taking time over the image plays into the old argument between painting and photography, which Winston said is still very much alive — the idea that painting takes time whereas one can get an image from a one-hour

photo shop, and even more instantaneously now with digital.

“The photos in the November show have all been labored over,” he said.

“They’ve been crafted from beginning to end with the intention of being fine art.

It’s not a commercial byproduct.

Particularly with the 19th-century processes, we are in charge of everything, from raw minerals to hand-made rag papers.”

Digital technology now has its own identity, Winston said, and that has allowed artists of all forms to explore new ideas in their chosen media.

“Photography has its own identity back, separate from commercial applications,” he said. “As an artist, it’s really exciting, and the educator in me really embraces the technology — I love being able to do them both.

“I love getting into the darkroom and using painterly techniques to create images, because I am still so interested in the idea that is conveyed through these processes — the emotions that you experience — as opposed to slick and glossy that came out of the latest and greatest printer. I think there is so much room for all of it.”

Shooting film is exciting in its own

See FRIENDS on page 10

10 • ISSUE November 2014

Volume 21, No. 3

FRIENDS from page 9 way, Fulbright said, because you don’t really know until the film is developed and the print is made.

“There’s choices all along the way and there’s time to reflect,” he said. “It affects the final output. The only way to really see your image is to make a really decent print of it. Than that perfect print, which you struggled for an extra 30 minutes on, usually you give that one away to your client. Rarely have I kept my best print.”

Fulbright said his current “best prints” will be on The Art Studio gallery walls.

“And if you like, you can buy it,” he said, laughing.

Winston said that The Studio’s darkroom offers a space that is unique.

“One of the things that’s inspirational to me is that there’s no other place like this, there’s not a place like this in Houston,” he said. “There’s a place in New Orleans dedicated to all printmaking, including photography, but a darkroom open to the community is a really rare bird.

“I want the people of Southeast Texas to be proud of that. That’s my heart and that’s reason we are doing the show.

Stark said he has previously done photography in Houston in a space that charged $160 a day, and a space in New York that cost $360 a month.

“To have this opportunity, I have seen different classes of darkroom and this is on par with both of those at a much better price — and also people within a network that I can work with,” he said.

“Honestly, you can shoot whatever you want to shoot, but as far as making a print, if you have that expertise, that’s priceless. If you have someone you can call upon, and work between brothers, that’s a very powerful thing.”

Like Winston, Fulbright emphasizes the unique opportunity The Art Studio’s darkroom offers.

“The sense of community is more important now than ever,” he said. “I’ve tried to do it at home and it’s too messy — you don’t want to sleep where you are using all these vinegary smelling chemicals.

“Then there’s the dialogue about, ‘What kind of paper are you using?’ Everyone is always honing their craft. That’s where The Art Studio comes into play.

Not every town is lucky enough to have an Art Studio.”

The membership fee to become a Darkroom Friend is $35 a month, which covers the cost of utilities. Members supply their own paper and chemicals.

For more information, call 409-838-5393.

Works by photographers Marilynn Tennison, top, and John Fulbright will feature in “Untitled” at The Art Studio in November.

HOLIDAYS SPARKLE PEOPLE OF ALL AGES are invited to enjoy the magic of millions of twinkling lights and dazzling holiday displays at Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center, view significant art exhibitions at the Stark Museum of Art, and tour The W.H. Stark House.

Shangri La Gardens invites families and friends to take evening strolls beginning Dec. 11, from 6-8 p.m., to view hundreds of new lights, Christmas trees decorated by area groups and businesses, and holiday-themed displays.

Dreaming of a Green Christmas at Shangri La Gardens on Saturday, Dec. 13, is a special day to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus, make wreaths, design holiday table decorations and engage in family holiday activities. Some of the events require pre-regis-

IN

tration and calling early to make a reservation is recommended. Call 409-670-9113 or email info@shangrilagardens.org.

Visitors to the Stark Museum of Art can tour the newest traveling exhibition, “Women, Art & Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise.”

The exhibition features more than 125 objects — iconic pottery as well as textiles, metalwork, jewelry, bookbinding and historical artifacts. In coordination with the floral imagery used in some pieces in the traveling exhibition, the Museum will present “Flowering Pages: Illuminated Books of Hours.”

Guests will have the rare opportunity to see an exhibition of imagery contained in hand-crafted prayer books from the 15th and 16th centuries.

ORANGE This exhibit will be on view through Jan. 10 and will highlight the significant ways in which flowers were used as symbols, decoration or part of a story.

The W.H. Stark House will feature tours on all floors and be decked out with holiday-themed items and Christmas décor. The Carriage House of The W.H. Stark House will engage visitors with their exhibit, “Reflecting the Times: Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco.” The exhibit highlights these three turn-of-the-century art movements and showcases jewelry, pottery and other pieces collected by Miriam Lutcher Stark. Group tours are available by request and the last tour during regular operating hours begins at 4 p.m.. To request a tour, call 409-883-0871.

Volume 21 No. 3

November 2014 ISSUE • 11

High Street Galler y to host Allison Reho, Nov. 7

Painting by Allison Reho

BELARUS from page 5 me mention that the Art Museum in Minsk features an extensive collection of paintings by Pen and many of his illustrious students, including several works by Chagall as well as Pen’s portrait of his most famous pupil.

“Musicians” (1904) by Abraham Eisenberg (1879-1956) is a poignant document of Jewish life at the time when pogroms and numerous other forms of oppression were the norm. The sculpture portrays three klezmer musicians who are huddled together as if trying to stay warm against the cold. It seems that they have just finished playing and are now taking a quick break before resuming their performance. One of them is in the process of lighting a cigarette while his companion, with an umbrella stuck under his arm, is holding up a match. The way they almost crouch to create a protective environment in order to achieve this simple task suggests rainy or windy weather.

Dressed in long coats and hats, they look cold and tired. This mundane scene is laden with symbolism: in the hostile world, the trio has to confront troubles far greater than inclement weather.

Unexpectedly for myself, I found a lot of interesting works in the galleries that housed Soviet-era art. Predictably, there were a few large-scale Socialist realist paintings and sculptures in which robust-looking men and women engaged in war-time and peace-time activities.

“Minsk on July 3, 1944” (1945-1955) by

THE HIGH STREET GALLERY will host an exhibition of watercolor self-portraits by Allison Reho, 7-10 p.m., Nov. 7. The gallery is located in Victoria House, 2110 Victoria St. in Beaumont.

“High Street Gallery is committed to spotlighting up-and-coming Southeast Texas artists,” Olivia Busceme, gallery director, said.

Entry is free and the work will be for sale.

Refreshments will be provided at the event.

Reho, a Beaumont native and Lamar University alumna, has created a series of paintings that impose the artist’s self-evaluation.

“My own physical being is the source of imagery entirely throughout this body of work,” she said. “The work is a reflection not just of the physical self, but how the internal self — who I am and how I deal with outside influences — manifests exteriorly.

“Self-image is how one views herself, whether in positive or negative light. Selfimage is the obsessiveness of which side one teeters on within those boundaries of positive

Valentin Volkov (1881-1964) features a jubilant crowd greeting Soviet tanks as they drive among the ruins of the city liberated from the Nazis. There is not a single reference in the enormous picture to the horror of the preceding four years, during which one fourth of the Belarusian population lost their lives.

Mourning the dead was an unpopular subject that distracted people from daily work and could lead to questioning why things happened the way they did.

The gigantic vase titled “Soviet Belarus” (1955) designed by Nikolay Mikholap (1886-1979) is a perfect example of the celebratory style which was particularly popular in post-war years.

Abundantly decorated with stucco molding, painting and color glaze, the vase bears an uncanny resemblance to Cornucopia. Its central section features large oval medallions with the patricianlooking profiles of Lenin and Stalin, in mat gold, wrapped around with laurel wreaths. From a distance, the deep green color of the base looked like malachite, however, upon closer examination, it turned out to be faience. A band of the traditional red-and-white Belarusian pattern, the same as on the state flag, and the coat of arms at the top clearly identify the vase as a symbol of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus. Once again, I was reminded how much the Soviet Union looked back to the Roman Empire for inspiration.

At the same time, some works from the Soviet era were a surprise and a revelation. Paintings by Yazep Drozdovich

and negative realms. Within these different lights she is revealed in different shades, tones, and values — where one thought might reign heavier than another.

Reho said some of her influences are Van Gogh’s self-portraits and Alexander Calder’s “Circus.”

“All the little annoyances that may occur with the finicky material become crucial to the whole art — expressing how it should evolve, they provide other issues to face, though not created by the artist, I now create the solution,” she said. “This thought is rooted in Dadaism, or perhaps in some hope that we do not have a say on everything created.

“When one can look at herself in the mirror without only noticing her imperfections, but can really look at herself and enjoy knowing herself, then she will find happiness in her being. ” For more information, email victoriahousetx@gmail.com, or visit the High Street Gallery Facebook page or www.nakeddads.com.

“Zaporozhian Cossack after Battle” by Evgeny Lanseray, is among the works on display in the State Art Museum of Belarus in Minsk.

(1888-1954) literally opened my eyes to a new world. An artist, historian, writer, scholar and teacher, he was often called “our little Leonardo de Vinci” by his friends. In the early 1930s he developed his own cosmic theory which he expressed in visionary paintings like “Saturn Women Viewing their Hibernating Caves” (1932). The artist’s contemporaries must have rolled their eyes when confronted with such pictures of happy aliens. Ironically, Socialist realist paintings portraying happy “builders of

Communism” were no less fantastical, regardless of the general opinion that they were drawn from life.

Our tour of the State Art Museum of Minsk is over, but our exploration of Belarusian art continues. In the final installment of my travelogue, we will visit the beautiful city of Vitebsk that fueled the imagination of Marc Chagall as well as many other talented young men who made their first steps in art at the school of Yuri Pen.

12 • ISSUE November 2014

Volume 21, No. 3

Hollywood acting coach to conduct Beaumont workshops for kids, adults ACTING COACH AND AUTHOR Chambers Stevens will bring his Hollywood expertise to Beaumont in October with a pair of Disney 101 workshops for aspiring young actors, and an advanced commercial workshop for adults.

The workshops, hosted by Divergent Theater (formerly Outside the Box Productions), are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8, 9 a.m.-noon for 2nd through 5th grade, and 1 p.m.-4 p.m. for 6th though 12th grade.

The advanced commercial workshop for adults will be held, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 9.

The workshops will be held in the Assembly Hall at All Saints Episcopal School, 4108 Delaware in Beaumont.

Cost is $75 for each workshop. Advance reservations are required. Reserve a spot online at divergenttheater.com or go to facebook.com/divergenttheater.

“Chambers has a gift with children and teenagers,” coordinator Ramona Young said.

“When he is coaching them on auditioning and different acting styles that are currently en vogue in Hollywood, he is super high energy. His energy reminds me of early Jerry Lewis. He’s fun, he does voices, he connects on their level — he’s just hilarious. Kids love him.”

He will teach students how to focus on the laugh, how to make an impression, and the difference between single camera and multi-camera auditions.

Stevens is an expert on the Disney style and has a multitude of clients on the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

“Because of the tax breaks that Texas now has in place a lot of my clients are auditioning for films and television shows that are being shot in the state,” Stevens said. “I have a number of young actors from California who have been flown in to work on shows in Texas. These Californians are not better ‘actors’ than the kids in Beaumont. But they are better auditioners.

“So that is what we will focus on — making them fantastic auditioners. The best audition gets the part.”

Stevens is an established coach and the author of seven books of monologues, scenes and commercials for young actors. He is married to Betsy Sullenger, producer of the Disney Channel hit “Liv and Maddie,”and recently won in five catagories “Best in L.A.” awards from Backstage, the national magazine for the film and television industry.

The advanced commercial workshop will cover how to make an impression, and the difference between a comedic commercial and a dramatic one.

Young said that participants will learn about all facets of the audition and acting process.

“Chambers will instruct them on what skills they need to work on to be an effective auditioner,” she said. “There’ll be some techniques on memorization and how to make your audition stand out.

There will also be scene and monologue work.

“A lot of the stuff will be effective for not only auditioning on the professional level, but also for kids who are planning for auditions for college acting programs or even local theater.”

Stevens, who is making his sixth trip to Southeast Texas, said he enjoys working with young actors.

“Kids are the best,” Stevens said. “They are so full of creativity and energy. Their imaginations are powerful so they can throw themselves in to any scene. Plus they are so hungry for help from someone who knows what they are doing.”

Among Stevens’ coaching clients are Jae Head, who played S.J. in “The Blind Side,” Kiernan Shipka, who plays Sally Draper on “Mad Men” and Riley Griffiths, who plays Charles Kaznyk in “Super 8.”

“Once when I was in Beaumont, I got a kid an audition for a Broadway show — so no telling what will happen,” Stevens said.

For more on the workshops, visit www.diver genttheater.com or www.facebook.com/divergenttheater.

For more on Stevens, visit www.chambers stevens.com.

Volume 21, No. 3

November 2014 ISSUE • 13

‘MONTAGE’ HIGHLIGHTS SETX ARTS The Southeast Texas Arts Council hosted the first Montage Arts Festival, Oct. 17 and 18. The festival was held on the grounds of the Betty Greenberg Center for the Performing Arts, home of Beaumont Community Players.

Street performers, including musicians, dancers, face painters and medieval knights, joined more than 30 vendors to promote the arts in Southeast Texas. The event opened Oct. 17 with a theater festival, and concluded with the Fest-Illusion costume contest.

ISSUE Andy Coughlan

Costume contest photo courtesy of Codie Vasquez

ISSUE Tracie VanLaw

ISSUE Tracie VanLaw

14 • ISSUE November 2014

Volume 21, No. 3

Thoughtcrime Happy Day (Part 2) Part One had Mr. K visit to a hobby shop and was upset by a “Have a Blessed Day” departure greeting.

Pretending to be a devil, gives bagger LeRoy a $20 dollar tip. He died the next day. A month later when he returns the manager wants to see him.

I wanted something only they had. Wandering back to the art supplies, Lottie, a big middle-age black woman blocks my way. “Everyone knows you here. We saw the tapes on how you cursed LeRoy.” “What do you mean cursed, I gave him 20 bucks for gas.” “He didn’t take the ‘Devil Money’ & ran out gas coming to work the next morning and was run over in the fog. The boss is going to talk to you.”

“Tell me quick is he bumping one of the employees?”

She hesitated, “Maybe Louise upstairs in accounting but they’re discrete. Jose saw them once in the back parking lot when he went to the dumpster.” “Thanks.” She grinned and her eyes sparkled.

Then he shows up nervous, never having to handle a devil. “Please sit” “No I must stand, back problems you know. Do you want to fund one of my art projects?” This of course puts him aback. “No, no I want you stop tipping my employees.” “I give money to anyone I care to.” “No, I must insist.” “Why, don’t you give them enough?”

I go into the contortion routine with my eyes fixed on him. Then slowly rotate around eventually focusing on the overhead offices. I roll the eyes back briefly refocus and say, “You have a money woman here.” He blanches, I return to normal. I really didn’t know where to go from here so just slipped a fresh $20 it into his pocket and whispered into his ear, “Satan Loves You.” Walking out Lottie bumps into me, “How did it go?” I look into eyes filled with concern and mischief. “Satan

loves him and gave him a Twenty,” and she broke into a hardy laugh. I turned and walked out imagining her break tales. It was a happy day again.

Mission Statement Email to Louise: Subject: Mr. K Mr. K arrived and was immediately ID’d. He was intercepted near the frame shop and taken into one of their spaces below our offices. He wouldn’t sit and I asked him to stop tipping our employees, taxes etc. Then baited me on a couple of items and gave me a $20. Want to go get a drink and hear the story on Mr. K? +++

@

PURPOSE

At a nearby bar Louise hears the story, ready to leave he pops the new $20 on the plate but before they leave the waitress returns saying its counterfeit. “The police have been called.” “Bring me a double.” In 20 minutes the police arrived and he was in a most pleasant state. It was not easy to explain the Mr. K story and the Twenty but said his store certainly has tape of him.

They scanned the bill and in few minutes gets a report from the Secret Service discovering it was a real collector’s item released a couple of days ago. “Sorry for your inconvenience, sir” and left.

Buzzed, relieved & exhilarated he jumps in his car and accelerates on to the freeway right in front of an 18wheeler. His car spins, sliced nearly in half by a freeway sign and bursts into a hellish fire and death.

He had a “blessed day.”

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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.

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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.

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

Volume 21, No. 3

November 2014 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.

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The Pine Tree Effect Mid the Pine Trees of East Texas, In Old Cherokee...

The school song. Always touching, a little nostalgic during the singing. But this isn’t about school songs or nostalgia or touching. It’s about pine trees in East Texas. I don’t know about pine trees anywhere but East Texas.

Pine trees. Tall, towering, stifling, choking. I heard a story last night, second or third hand, about a woman who is in a half-way house and was said to be crazy. She said sometimes she’s a pine tree and sometimes she’s a palm tree. When she’s a pine tree, she’s in a prison; when she’s a palm tree she’s free, floating, moving. The storyteller relating this tale made the comment that she isn’t crazy, she’s just lived in East Texas too long and the pine trees got to her, as they do everyone.

More than once in my life, I’ve had to flee the pines. I mean they are pretty and majestic trees.

Scattered here or there they’re quite nice and bearable. But they symbolize oppression. Webster’s definition of oppress (the verb) says that it means to suppress, to crush or burden by abuse of power or authority, to burden spiritually or mentally and that oppression, the noun is an unjust or cruel exercise of power or authority, a sense of being weighed down in body or mind. The adjective oppressive means unreasonably burdensome or severe, tyrannical, overwhelming or depressing to the spirit or senses — Pine trees.

Luckily, I live at the edge right now. There are pine trees, and lots of them surrounding me, but I’ve chosen to live in a neighborhood that has remnants of towering palms, oaks and flowering trees like magnolias, tulip magnolias, crepe myrtles and red buds. But mind you, I’m only at the edge of Tropical Zone 9, where the pine trees begin and the palm trees cease.

Only a couple of miles from here, at a definite point, the pine forests begin and the people get whackier. It’s the pine trees, I tell you, the pine trees.

I live in East Texas where red necks and religious fanatics abound, with beer, pick-up trucks complete with rifles mounted in the back window, short sighted, narrow minds and bibles. There seems to be a large number of these people inhabiting the woods surrounding this mini-metropolis. Racists and bigots, violence and abuse. If they’re not guzzling alcohol, they’re pounding the bible and telling me if I refuse to succumb and adhere to their theology I am bound for hell.

I say they are in hell. The pine pollen has gotten to them. It layers this fine yellow dust over everything, after a couple of years of suffering the real physical effects of this (red-rimmed eyes, sneezing, wheezing, runny noses), it finally imbeds the brain and I swear

some kind of chemical reaction takes place. A noble study of science would be a study of the brain of East Texans. Mandatory autopsy for East Texans. Remove the brain and define the chemical reaction to yellow pine pollen dust. They would find a yellow brain. Then it is up to them to discover the reaction produced in the brain after prolonged exposure to the above described conditions. Find out whether it has become an imprint in the chromosomes. Is there treatment available? Congress would immediately began to fund research for development of treatment.

Part of my childhood was spent in the deep forests of pines in East Texas. My memories are definitely in the shadows and make me wonder, what really happened? Why am I so afraid to look at the memories? Are there monsters and bogey men in there? These people with their brains weighed down with pine pollen from year after year exposure, are lazy, dull, ignorant, and very narrow minded. My exposure was to the church people. My daddy was a Methodist preacher, having made the decision to enter the ministry after I was born. He attended school during the week, and came home and preached on the week-ends. The conference appointed him to churches, but being in the process of becoming a minister, his appointments were to small churches in small towns, usually a circuit where he was responsible for more than one congregation.

Each congregation was small, very small. He held services at the rural church early on Sunday morning. There might be anywhere from 5 to 10 people in attendance. This practice was a hold-over from circuit rider days, when a minister rode a circuit on horseback, holding services for rural people. I met some people who, for generations, lived deep in the piney woods.

The most memorable was old Joe. He was somewhat of a hermit, definitely nth-generation deep piney woods. We moved into town, population of at least 200, and settled into the parsonage. Well, as soon as the new preacher arrives, everyone has to look him over. The parsonage was right next to the church.

This one was rather nice, fairly new and modern for the times. Commonly, the congregation would greet the new preacher and his family with a “pounding”.

Everyone would bring a pound of some food stock. It was warm, nice, neighborly and welcomed. Anything free was manna for a student-pastor with a family.

Old Joe, who was a member of the rural church, hadn’t shown his face yet. One morning, during the week while Daddy was away at school, Momma was working in the kitchen. Suffice it to say she was startled when this grimy, bearded woodsman shoved her out of the way and slung a dead pig in the sink. He’d come to “pay the new preacher” with a pig. Momma, who was a country girl anyway, and had seen plenty of

Cocon du Phinx A Sleepy Acrostic Alone, you are, inside yourself, Spun warmly under silken sheets, Lost in pale incipience.

Entirely not what you began Existence as, and yet a Pleasant ways from ending all.

Jesse Doiron

pig slaughtering, was nevertheless aghast and beside herself at this intrusion.

We went and visited Old Joe one time and although I was a very young child, I vividly remember that visit. He was incredible to me. He looked to be ancient and ageless. He looked as if he hadn’t seen water and had forgotten how to make soap years and years ago. He had long, bushy, twiggy hair all over his face and head. His body was clothed in dirty rags and rough, stiffened leather shoes that didn’t match and didn’t have laces. And never socks. For some reason, maybe he went barefoot, I remember his feet, especially his toenails. They were long and dirty. His fingernails had a claw-like effect like the toenails.

Old Joe lived in a lean-to. It was deep in the woods and was some boards slapped together with tin laid across the top for a roof. There was an area that resembled a porch. A tub hung on a nail, and a fire burning out front. I felt I was in a scene from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. During that visit he gave us a jar of something. Maybe it was pig’s feet. We received many gifts of canned goods through the years, but I don’t think Joe’s ever got opened. I remember my childhood wish for snow and momma and daddy would chastise me in the name of Christian charity. “Remember people like old Joe. Why, they would freeze to death!” I still have visions of Joe’s lifeless eyes staring up from his death-bed in the frozen ground whenever snow is in the forecast.

If the pine pollen doesn’t get you, then dealing with victims of it will. It creates people who are unjust, cruel and who exercise excessive, brutal power. It produces tyrants who overwhelm the spirits and senses, and burdens them spiritually and mentally. I know. I live about ten miles west of a notorious lair of the Ku Klux Klan. If your brain isn’t susceptible to the pine pollen chemical reaction — good. But that doesn’t protect you from dealing every minute with those people who were not as fortunate as you. You can’t escape, living here. In one way or another, you still contend with the pine tree effect.

The lady who says she’s a pine tree shouldn’t be termed and treated as crazy. She was raised amid the pine trees of East Texas. She certainly pegged it right when she perceives herself as a pine tree. She has simply become her oppressor. Gently remind her of the reality of who she is and where she is. Help her put her feet on the ground and her soul back into her body. Explain to her what a metaphor is and applaud her beautiful artistry in the use of it. Tell her she has a poet’s soul. I urge the people that are dealing with her to recognize the problem and treat the issue. And the issue is not her craziness. The issue is the Pine Tree Effect.

Cathy Atkinson

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