artspace 6 new haven museum 10
andrew wolf 12
artists next door 14
The Arts Paper a free publication of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven • newhavenarts.org
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January | February 2015
The Arts Paper january | february 2015
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Framing Political Protest Artspace Exhibit Expands on Yale Conference
staff Cynthia Clair executive director Soonil Chun director of finance Julie Trachtenberg director of development Debbie Hesse director of artistic services & programs Matt Reiniger communications manager Winter Marshall executive administrative assistant Denise Santisteban events & advertising coordinator David Brensilver editor, the arts paper Amanda May Aruani design consultant
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board of directors Robert B. Dannies, Jr. president Eileen O’Donnell vice president Lois DeLise second vice president Ken Spitzbard treasurer Mark Potocsny secretary directors Daisy Abreu Laura Barr Wojtek Borowski Susan Cahan Charles Kingsley Kenneth Lundgren Jocelyn Maminta Josh Mamis Dr. James McCoy Elizabeth Meyer-Gadon Frank Mitchell Mark Myrick Vivian Nabeta Uma Ramiah David Silverstone Dexter Singleton Lindsay Sklar Richard S. Stahl, MD Rick Wies honorary members Frances T. “Bitsie” Clark Cheever Tyler
New Haven Museum New Haven’s Industrial Heyday Explored
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Q&A with Andrew Wolf Meet New Haven’s Director of Arts, Culture, and Tourism
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven promotes, advocates, and fosters opportunities for artists, arts organizations, and audiences. Because the arts matter. The Arts Paper is published by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, and is available by direct mail through membership with the Arts Council. For membership information call 203.772.2788. To advertise in The Arts Paper, call Denise Santisteban at the Arts Council. Arts Council of Greater New Haven 70 Audubon Street, 2nd Floor New Haven, CT 06510 Phone: 203.772.2788 Fax: 203.772.2262 info@newhavenarts.org www.newhavenarts.org
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Artists Next Door Fethi Meghelli’s Social Consciousness
The Arts Council is pleased to recognize the generous contributions of our business, corporate and institutional members. executive champions The United Illuminating Company/Southern Connecticut Gas Yale University senior patrons Knights of Columbus L. Suzio York Hill Companies Odonnell Company Webster Bank corporate partners AT&T Coordinated Financial Resources/Chamber Insurance Trust Firehouse 12 Fusco Management Company Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven Yale-New Haven Hospital
In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, the Arts Council now prints The Arts Paper on more environmentally friendly paper and using soy inks. Please read and recycle.
business patrons Albertus Magnus College Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tale Newman Architects Quinnipiac University Wiggin and Dana
business members Beers, Hamerman & Company Brenner, Saltzman & Wallman, LLP Duble & O’Hearn, Inc. Griswold Home Care United Aluminum Corporation foundations and government agencies The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven Connecticut Arts Endowment Fund DECD/CT Office of the Arts Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation The Ethel & Abe Lapides Foundation First Niagara Foundation The George A. and Grace L. Long Foundation, Bank of America, N.A. and Alan S. Parker, Esq. Trustees The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation NewAlliance Foundation Pfizer The Wells Fargo Foundation The Werth Family Foundation media partners New Haven Independent WPKN
neighborhood music school 100 audubon street, new haven, ct 06510 203-624-5189 neighborhoodmusicschool.org
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PERFORMANCES n INSTRUMENT PETTING ZOO MINI-LESSONS n ONLINE REGISTRATION FOR SPRING NOW OPEN
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
Letter from the editor Regularly, during the course of the five years I’ve worked as the editor of The Arts Paper, I’ve spent time in the Arts Council’s offices talking about books, films, and music with the organization’s finance director, Soonil Chun, who’s retiring and relocating to California. We’ve introduced each other to that which inspires us, and we’ve shared an interest in, among other subjects, the works of Charles Bukowski. Our discussions about things we’ve read, watched, and listened to have been nourishing. After all, what is the point of finding inspiration in art if not to share those experiences with others? Frequently, during staff meetings, Soonil has told us about an event she’d recently attended and what about that event captured her imagination. Whenever I shared something with Soonil, she’d later make time to tell me about her experience with that book, film, or piece of music. I’ll miss those in-person conversations and will make an effort to continue them via email. While our lives are busy and complicated, they can’t be too hectic to share what
we’ve been reading, watching, and listening to. Doing so is good for the soul, I think. And it’s good for the artists whose work is being shared and recommended. Soonil is truly one who approaches art without judgment or preconceived bias. In that way, she is an artist’s best friend. This issue of The Arts Paper includes well-wishes for Soonil from a handful of former and current Arts Council employees. We could fill many more pages with words from many others. What’s important is that Soonil knows how much she’s enriched the many lives she’s touched. With this double issue of The Arts Paper we meet, by way of Hank Hoffman’s Artists Next Door feature, visual artist Fethi Meghelli. We also get to know, by way of a lengthy Q&A-style interview (the entirety of which will be published on the Arts Council’s blog) Andrew Wolf, the City of New Haven’s director of arts, culture, and tourism, who’s enthusiastic about his role as the town’s civic-engagement leader. Steve Scarpa contributed to this issue a story about local author Nicholas Dawidoff, who wrote a book about spending a season embedded with the New York Jets’ coaching staff. Steve also contributed an article about the New Haven Museum exhibit From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven, which celebrates the heyday of New Haven’s manufacturing sector. Amanda May Aruani contributed a piece about Seen
Change! a site-specific play, about the Shubert Theater’s rich history, created by A Broken Umbrella Theatre. And I’ve written about Vertical Reach, an exhibit at Artspace that explores protest art and has been organized in conjunction with a conference scheduled to take place in April at Yale University’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. I’ve also written a few words about two new CDs that were released this past fall by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. I plan to recommend those recordings to Soonil. We hope you enjoy the stories presented herein and that you’ll remember to recycle this print publication once you’ve finished reading it. Sincerely,
David Brensilver, editor The Arts Paper
In the next issue …
On the Cover
In the March issue of The Arts Paper, we’ll take you inside the Horizon Recording Studio in West Haven.
Fethi Meghelli’s The Olive Trees are Gone (detail). See Hank Hoffman’s Artist Next Door feature on Meghelli on pages 14 & 15.
Spring session January 20th – June 13th
providing the finest dance training in the greater new haven region.
Ages 3 – Adult New Haven Studio Locations: 70 Audubon Street | 591 Whitney Avenue 177 College Street Guilford Studio Location: 200 Village Walk
Intimate and Timeless
Photography
Judy Sirota Rosenthal info@sirotarosenthal.com www.sirotarosenthal.com 203-281-5854
©Thomas Giroir Photography 2015
Austin, TX 2014
For enrollment and schedule information contact: administrator@newhavenballet.org 203-782-9038 www.newhavenballet.org
Department of Economic and Community Development Office of the Arts
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
Farewell, Soonil arts council’s longtime finance director retires What follows are well-wishes to Soonil Chun, who is retiring from her position as the Arts Council of Greater New Haven’s finance director, from a handful of current and former Arts Council employees.
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hirty years ago, Soonil Chun came to the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. For the last three decades, Soonil has given generously of her time and talents to the Arts Council. I have no doubt that each and every person who has had the pleasure of working with the remarkable Soonil has been inspired by her exuberance for arts experiences, seemingly endless energy, and life itself. She has masterfully managed Arts Council finances, tracking our income and expenses, preparing reports, and assisting with budgeting. Over the years, many Arts Council treasurers and finance committee members have relied on her knowledge and careful financial analysis, grateful for her expertise. I have been extremely fortunate to have a person of her integrity and skill in this important role. How gratifying to know our finances are in such good hands. Soonil contributes far beyond the list of her responsibilities, supporting and assisting with many Arts Council events and activities. She is much, much more than a director of finance. I would call her “Mother Soonil,” but her youthful spirit and physical fitness belie her true age. Who else would celebrate retirement with a cross-country bike trip? She’s our resident Arts Council historian, a lifelong learner, a master of sushi and rum cake, a voracious viewer of documentaries, and a bicycling enthusiast. A loyal and dedicated member of the Arts Council team, Soonil can always be counted on to lend a helping hand or a listening ear. As you will read here, she is beloved and will be missed terribly. We wish her a happy, healthy retirement as she creates a new life chapter in California. Thank you, Soonil. It’s been a privilege and joy to work with you. – Cindy Clair, executive director, Arts Council of Greater New Haven
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he best word to describe Soonil is passionate. If she likes something or wants to try something, she goes in all the way, whether it’s being almost a groupie fan of Neil Young, taking a tai chi or Italian language class, or cycling, which has now been a lifelong passion of hers. Soonil has been a great stabilizer for the Arts Council, takes her work seriously, and will always give 100 percent. She has seen the ups and downs of the organization and I know she will miss it all, but she also realizes that things are changing here and her life is changing – she deserves this retirement for sure. She is forever young in my mind. I miss her as a colleague and will miss her friendship. – Bobbi Griffith, former member of the Arts Council staff
S
, no red carpet
Soonil at play
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needed.
oonil never does anything with half a heart. Back in the ’90s she went to see Les Misérables and for months afterward, she played the music in her office daily, read the book from cover to cover, talked about it everywhere, and went to see the show numerous more times. She made herself an authority on every aspect of the story and shared it with everyone she could, always wanting others to enjoy what she enjoyed. Not long ago, when she took up cycling, she didn’t just join the local cycle club; she became treasurer of the organization, led bike trips everywhere, traveled by bicycle across Kenya and the southwestern United States, and soon will go from coast to coast across this country. She is committed to constant lifelong learning, and often I marvel at her focus and energy. I worked with Soonil for four years and witnessed
Soonil at the 2014 Arts Awards. Photo by Judy Sirota Rosenthal.
firsthand her enjoyment of life and her desire to share her passions many times over those years. She has been an inspiring role model and friend, and I count myself lucky to be in her life. – Maryann Ott, former member of the Arts Council staff
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have had the pleasure of working with Soonil for the past 15 years. One of the great things about her is her passion for learning – whether it’s her love of documentaries or the time she took an Italian pastry class, she is always learning and sharing her knowledge with the rest of us. Her presence at the Arts Council will be deeply missed. – Winter Marshall, Arts Council staff member
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ith serene presence, a strong work ethic, and collaborative spirit, Soonil has been the Arts Council’s master number cruncher, producer of infinite budgets, guardian of the archives, cheerleader, music expert, and sushi chef. With thoughtfulness and enthusiasm, Soonil has championed the creativity of countless artists in our community. It is no surprise that those in the arts community count Soonil among their most treasured friends. – Barbara Feldman, former member of the Arts Council staff
and his printing partner, Thomas Palmer. Soonil had determined that there were several sets of these portraits owned by the Eakins Foundation and that the sets were for sale for $10,000. She also suggested that we show the exhibition at the Arts Council and asked, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could get someone to buy it for our public library in New Haven?” The turnout at the opening was enormous. Soonil wanted to make sure that the library’s director was there as well as the president of the library’s board, Mike Morand from Yale. Soonil and Mike introduced the library’s director to two very generous men, Bill Curran and Sumner Crosby. Mike said “Maybe if Yale, Bill, and Sumner each contributed $3,000 we could buy the set from Eakins for $9,000.” And the rest is history! Isn’t it wonderful that the Arts Council has had such an imaginative, creative, and clever woman who has contributed so much to the vibrant arts scene in New Haven as well as keeping the Arts Council on the financial straight and narrow! – Frances “Bitsie” Clark, former member of the Arts Council staff
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he dean of the Yale School of Art in the 1990s was the photographer and printer Richard Benson. In 1998, Soonil told us at a staff meeting about American Portraits, Harlem Heroes, an exhibition at Yale University of photographs by Carl Van Vechten that were hand gravured by Benson
Soonil at w
ork, gateke
eper of the
lockbox.
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
the ac sounds off on ...
New CDs from the New Haven Symphony orchestra performs works by augusta read thomas, william walton david brensilver
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n 2010, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra released its first recording in 30 years, a CD that included William Walton’s Violin Concerto, performed by Kurt Nikkanen, and Walton’s Symphony No. 1. This past October, the NHSO followed that up with a new recording of Walton’s music and a CD of works by Augusta Read Thomas, who was a composer-in-residence with the orchestra from 2009 until 2011. In February 2014, the NHSO performed a concerto of Thomas’ music at Woolsey Hall in celebration of the composer’s 50th birthday. On that occasion, the orchestra recorded four of the works that appear on A Portrait of Augusta Read Thomas. The disc begins, though, with Two E.E. Cummings Songs, a pair of pieces commissioned and premiered in 2008 by the San Francisco Girls Chorus. For the NHSO’s new CD, the pieces were recorded by the Elm City Girls Choir, under the direction of Rebecca Rosenbaum, at Woolsey Hall on March 2014. Set to text by the beloved American poet, Thomas’ songs are charming and show off the musical sensitivity of the choir. The next work on the CD, Thomas’ Hemke Concerto Prisms of Light, received its world-premiere performance at the NHSO’s February 27, 2014, concert. It’s a work that features the orchestra as much as the solo instrument — an alto saxophone, played by Frederick Hemke. Consisting of four movements without pause in between, the concerto is a study in color and timbre — much of which is provided by the orchestra’s percussion section.
“Thomas’ songs are charming and show off the musical sensitivity of the choir.”
and viola, and a 2013 choral work called Spells. The former was recorded in January 2014 at Sprague Memorial Hall, while the latter, which features text “arranged” by Thomas (the liner notes include the language “indebted and in homage to Gerard Manley Hopkins” (the 19th century British poet), was recorded by the New York Virtuoso Singers at Merkin Concert Hall, in New York, in March 2013. A Portrait of Augusta Read Thomas is an excellent recording of compelling music. Under the musical direction of William Boughton, the NHSO has been committed to performing and promoting the works of contemporary American composers. And Augusta Read Thomas is one such artist whose music is worth celebrating. The orchestra’s relationship with the composer and that explicit commitment do seem present on this recording. The performances are superb and serve Thomas’ stunning and colorful music well. Likewise, the NHSO’s performances of Walton’s music, as captured on the second recording to result from the orchestra’s “Walton Project” with the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (the Beinecke is home to the composer’s archive), are spirited and earnest.
Walton’s Symphony No. 2, which was commissioned and premiered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1960, is a three-movement work that was judged by many critics at the time to be stodgy. Listening to the NHSO’s recording without scrutinizing musical trends of the period, one is treated to a piece of music that deserves a bit more appreciation. The NHSO’s reading of Walton’s Viola Concerto is the highlight of this CD. Composed in 1929 for Lionel Tertis but premiered later that year by Paul Hindemith — who later joined the composition faculty at the Yale School of Music — after the former opted not to play the piece, the concerto is performed masterfully on this recording by Roberto Díaz, president of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and former principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. (It’s worth pointing out that Díaz has also been a member of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra.) The concerto is played by Díaz with equal measures of grace and authority, and the orchestra’s accompaniment is sophisticated and complementary. The new album of Walton’s music also
features two works that have been (rather fairly) dismissed as rip-offs of Edward Elgar: Walton’s “Spitfire” Prelude and Fugue, written as part of the composer’s score for the 1942 British wartime propaganda film The First of the Few, and Crown Imperial, a piece composed for Edward VIII’s coronation and used instead for that of George VI, after Edward abdicated the throne. Each is unabashedly nationalistic. The “Spitfire” fugue benefits from a magnificently played violin solo, while Crown Imperial sounds just as one might expect it to, given the purpose of its creation. Still, the performances are quite strong, In the Walton CD’s liner notes, Boughton writes: “My time in New Haven has offered me the wonderful opportunity of studying Walton’s manuscripts in Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, with each visit bringing me closer to this great composer, developing a greater appreciation and understanding of his music.” Boughton’s dedication to works by contemporary American composers and to the music of William Walton is laudable. More important, the NHSO’s readings of the pieces on these CDs reflects the orchestra’s commitment to its mission. Several years ago, around the time that the orchestra released its first CD of Walton’s music, Boughton said, “The world doesn’t need another Beethoven cycle.” While celebrating that monumentally important composer is always in order, promoting the works of those who’ve followed helps keep the art of composition alive. n Visit newhavensymphony.org for information about purchasing the orchestra’s recordings. David Brensilver is the editor of The Arts Paper.
Other performances that were recorded during the NHSO’s February 27, 2014, concert include Thomas’ Prayer and Celebration, an adagio for chamber orchestra composed in 2006 that offers a nod to Barber’s Adagio for Strings and to the slow movements of Mahler’s symphonies, according to the disc’s liner notes; a 2008 work for soprano, harp obbligato, and orchestra called Absolute Ocean (the NHSO is joined by soprano Tony Arnold and harpist Jennifer Hoult); and a 2010 piece for strings called Of Paradise and Light. The CD also includes a performance by violinist Katie Hyun and cellist Mihai Marica of Thomas’ 2006 piece Silent Moon, which was originally composed for violin
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
Framing Political Protest Artspace Exhibit Expands on Yale Conference david brensilver
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ast summer, the folks at Artspace were invited by Marijeta Bozovic, an assistant professor in Yale University’s Department of Slavic languages and Literatures, to be part of a conference in April called “Political Violence and Militant Aesthetics After Socialism.” Given the situation in Ukraine, Martha Lewis, Artspace’s educational coordinator, said, “It started to make sense to do something.” That something is an exhibition titled Vertical Reach, which, Lewis said in November, is “about protest and freedom of speech.” The conference at Yale, Bozovic said, will explore leftist — and even militantly leftist — art practices following the discrediting of socialism in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism in the 1990s. It brings together artists and scholars, including some who participated in Manifesta 10: The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, which took place last year in St. Petersburg, Russia, and others — like the St. Petersburg-based collective Chto Delat — that did not participate in Manifesta 10, as a way of protesting the armed conflict in the region. In addition to artists, including poets, working in Russia and Eastern Europe, Bozovic wanted to involve like-minded individuals working in and around New Haven. She connected with Lewis and Sarah Fritchey, Artspace’s visual arts coordinator and gallery manager, and, with them, worked to piece together an impressive group of participants.
“The whole idea of protest as spectacle became a focus for us.” – Martha Lewis During a telephone conversation in November, Bozovic said it was her hope that through the partnership with Artspace, the subject matter being explored at the conference and in Vertical Reach “will reach a much wider community than it would have had it been either a Yale academic conference or an Artspace show.” While the focus of “Political Violence and Militant Aesthetics After Socialism” is on practices in Russia and Eastern Europe, Vertical Reach has been curated with an eye toward drawing parallels with work being done here. Vertical Reach, Lewis said, is “about protest and freedom of speech.” And, while the Artspace exhibit is tied to the conference at Yale, Lewis and Fritchey very much wanted to define the exhibit on their terms — to put the exploration of political protest in art into a gallery frame. “The whole idea of protest as spectacle became a focus for us,” Lewis said.
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The question for Lewis and Fritchey became: Can art practice look like activism? The curators are also interested in how protest art conceived and practiced in one place can inform and fuel strategies in another part of the world. The morning after a grand jury declined to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the August 2014 shooting death of Ferguson, Missouri, teenager Michael Brown, Fritchey said the verdict “changes the terms of what the show means.” At press time, Fritchey and Lewis had confirmed the participation of Chto Delat, Zuzanna Janin, Zbigniew Libera, Yael Bartana and Artur Zmijewski, Laura Marsh, and David Livingston. Fritchey had been interested in showing Livingston’s work since she saw video from his Big Dick series — performance pieces in which the artist, who lives in New Haven and has work in Artspace’s Flatfile collection, visited public places carrying as an extension of himself a giant, flaccid, textile penis. The work Livingston has in Vertical Reach is from his recent performance-art series, The Candidacy, a project commissioned by Artspace in which he delivered a stump speech that critiqued and satirized the election process in this country. The Candidacy introduces us to a candidate from the nonexistent 31st ward running for New Haven’s Board of Alders. Livingston’s stump speech is a combination of meaningless political speak and stream-of consciousness nonsense. Promises like “we will give and we will take away” are woven together with phrases like “acid-dropping” and “Ebola face.” To Fritchey, the cynical message of Livingston’s stump speech and fictional campaign is that “hope is a substitute for what you hope I will give you.” Livingston’s campaign signs are ink blots that resemble Rorschach tests more than anything else. His fictional campaign began, actually, with the ink drawings. Interested in creating art that would represent “voids” — works that might represent the “opposite” of his phallic sculptures — Livingston started drawing black “voids” in ink, but soon grew frustrated that the pieces didn’t seem to mean anything. “I couldn’t articulate what they were,” Livingston said. Still, he kept making them, and was eventually struck with the idea that he could place the drawings in situations where people would wonder what they meant. “I started thinking about subjective meaning versus direct meaning,” he said. From there, he started thinking about protest signs. He was reading Carl Jung and thinking about “the collective unconscious.” And he started thinking about voters seeing what they want to see in campaign signs and hearing what they want to hear in stump speeches. After delivering his stump speech on one particular occasion, Livingston said he was approached by a man who’d been sitting nearby
Work by local artist Laura Marsh is part of Vertical Reach. Photo courtesy of Artspace.
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
Make.Art.Work Supports Artists’ Careers ac staff
A campaign sign designed by Livingston for his fictional run for New Haven’s Board of Alders as a candidate representing the nonexistent 31st ward. Photo courtesy of the artist.
David Livingston introduces himself to voters during his fictional campaign for New Haven’s Board of Alders. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Livingston’s campaign signs on Election Day. Photo courtesy of the artist.
in his car. “Great speech,” Livingston said the guy told him. It was unclear whether the man wasn’t really listening or if he thought the speech was great in a satirical way. That kind of ambiguity interests Livingston on an artistic level. “Art is about something that’s in between words,” he said. Initially, the point of The Candidacy was to communicate something with his signs that couldn’t be easily summed up with words. “It’s hard not to be frustrated and apathetic as a voter,” he pointed out. “There’s a sense of not being in control as a voter at all.” His aim with The Candidacy became, in a way, to say nothing while communicating something. And while The Candidacy wasn’t initially conceived as a form of political protest, Livingston said, “Once I took it out into the street it started to feel more like a protest piece.” Still, he said, “I don’t want it to be a self-righteous protest piece.” When he thinks about global problems, he said, he feels privileged in a lot of ways and is sensitive to the fact that on some level we’ve all contributed to the way the world is. “I want to also critique myself as much as I’m critiquing society,” he said. He’s interested, he said, in his own psychology and how it relates to larger problems.
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“I don’t want to be above it all,” he said. “I want to explore what is going on with all of us.” In addition to pieces from Livingston’s The Candidacy and local artist Laura Marsh’s American flag installation that she presented at Artspace’s City-Wide Open Studios festival in October 2014, Vertical Reach includes works by major Eastern European figures, among them Polish artist Zuzanna Janin, whose 2013 video A Trip to Fear (part of a larger project called Koniec/The End) was the result of a trip to Russia — undertaken in part in solidarity with the activist group Pussy Riot — and a visit to an area where Janin’s grandfather spent time in a gulag. Language on the Warsaw-based Jewish Historical Institute’s website explains that “A Trip to Fear is an act of solidarity with feelings of shame, fear, humiliation, unnecessity, exclusion. It is also a personal and artistic journey into the depths of memory.” Polish artist Zbigniew Libera, who designed the provocative Lego Concentration Camp — one set of which (he made seven sets) was shown in 2002 at the Jewish Museum in New York as part of an exhibit called Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Art — contributed to Vertical Reach a series of staged photographs titled Final Judgment, which was part of Judgment Night, a 2014 joint show with Israeli artist Roee Rosen at the Labyrinth Gallery in Lublin, Poland. Vertical Reach also includes a 2009 video by Israeli artist Yael Bartana and Polish filmmaker Artur Zmijewski called Demonstration Against War in Gaza. According to language on the Warsaw-based Avant-Garde Institute’s website, the piece “was created in response to the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. Criticised for ‘ordinary documentariness’ and lack of artistic values, the project was rejected by the show’s curators.” In November, Lewis and Fritchey said Vertical Reach would showcase works by 12-15 artists (fewer than 20) and would include programs — a poetry event with conference participants from Eastern Europe and a karaoke night — organized in conjunction with the conference at Yale’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, which is scheduled to take place April 19 through April 19. The exhibit will be on view February 20 through May 2 at Artspace. n Visit artspacenh.org for more information about Vertical Reach and slavic.yale.edu for information about “Political Violence and Militant Aesthetics After Socialism.”
How do artists build lives that are balanced, productive and sustainable? Many artists work hard to hone their technique, laboring day and night in the studio. Not as many artists tend to the business side of their careers. Make.Art.Work., a comprehensive career-training program, was created to support the working visual artists, helping them focus on their goals and the business and entrepreneurial skills needed to reach those goals. Launched in 2013 by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County, and the Greater Hartford Arts Council, this program is made possible with support from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. For the past two years, the program was structured as a series of thematic workshops led by guest presenters in each of the three communities. Artists who opted to join a cohort committed to attend six workshops and benefitted from several coaching sessions. Feedback from the workshops was extremely positive, but the artists who participated in the cohorts dug deeper, finding immense value in the added learning through coaching and the peer support. One cohort member commented, “It was so valuable to be connected to like-minded people, serious artists.” Some artists made career leaps as a result of Make. Art.Work.
An artist reported that the significance of the program was “having art become primary rather than secondary” in her life. For 2015, Make.Art.Work. will take a different shape. Mid-career artists are invited to apply for a cohort program, a sixth-month intensive peer-learning experience. Though fewer artists will be able to participate, they will experience more in-depth learning in a small supportive group. Cohorts will meet for six three-hour sessions, January through June. The New Haven cohort will meet at Artspace. Sessions will address topics including goal setting, time management, promoting and selling work, financial and legal issues, and funding one’s career. The coach/ facilitator will be Ryan Odinak. The program will culminate this coming summer with an exhibit of the artists’ work. To apply, artists should complete the application available online at makeartwork.org. Applications will be accepted on a rolling-deadline basis. Artists are encouraged to apply early as cohorts will be limited to 15 participants. The final deadline is January 5. n
Join the Arts Council! The Arts Council of Greater New Haven is dedicated to enhancing, developing, and promoting opportunities for artists, arts organizations, and audiences throughout the Greater New Haven area. Join us today! newhavenarts.org/membership The Arts Paper Read our feature articles and download the latest edition. issuu.com/artscouncil9 #ARTNHV Blog The Arts Council of Greater New Haven is pleased to announce the launch of our new blog, #ARTNHV. The blog covers all things art in the Greater New Haven area. artNHV.com Arts Council on Facebook Get the inside scoop on what’s happening in the arts now! facebook.com/ artscouncilofgreaternewhaven Creative Directory Looking for something? Find local creative businesses and artists with our comprehensive arts-related directory. You should be listed here! newhavenarts.org/directory E-newsletter Your weekly source for arts happening in Greater New Haven delivered right to your inbox. Sign up at: newhavenarts.org
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
A View from the Jets’ Sideline local author chronicles an nfl season
He sat in on strategy sessions, observed practice, watched the draft, and even had the opportunity to call a few plays in a preseason game. He had a unique level of access to the coaches’ world. “All the sounds around me fell away and it was intoxicating steve scarpa to be in control of these fast, powerful men, to make what was about to happen on a atch an NFL football game on field far below take place. I felt a little like Sunday. The same scene plays a puppet master: I spoke, they moved,” out repeatedly. A grizzled coach Dawidoff wrote in the book, talking about stands on the sidelines, staring at a laminated sheet of plays, a veritable diner menu the moment where his defensive play call resulted in a Jets interception returned for a of football options. He talks into his headtouchdown. set. Cut to the quarterback, staring back at Dawidoff, a 51-year-old New Haven resithe sideline. He trots back to the huddle, dent, had been interested in writing an intibarks at the behemoths surrounding him. mate book about a big, emblematic public They set up at the line of scrimmage, the endeavor. Dawidoff had previously written quarterback calls out his signals, and his about New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan offensive machine launches into motion. Linemen spring into action, receivers dance for The New York Times Magazine. Seeking to stake out their own identity in the face free, and the quarterback drops back in of the popular New York Giants, the team the pocket. His pass falls to the ground, untouched, and the sequence begins again. invited Dawidoff to follow them around for the 2011 season. Because Dawidoff was enIt’s a seemingly chaotic frenzy of motion, tering a cloistered, carefully ordered world, all triggered by a line on a laminated card. he felt he needed to do so quietly and, Nicholas Dawidoff wanted to know what above all, humbly. He was a sponge, soakwas on those cards. “There is a strange ing up all the information he could. “I didn’t and ironic dichotomy. Here’s this spectacle have a lot to offer, so it would have been being watched by 80 million people. It’s easy for them to get rid of me,” he said. “I hidden in plain sight. I wanted to know what was on that sheet and how it worked,” didn’t want to do anything that would be a distraction.” Dawidoff said. “It was part of the appeal. It He embedded himself primarily with the was something simultaneously public, condefensive coaching staff, sitting through spicuous, and a popular entertainment in meetings (a player spends far more time in America, but also sequestered and secret.” a classroom than he does on the field), and His recent book about the men who run watching endless hours of film. Every play professional football teams, Collision Low is dissected and the players are mercilessly Crossers: Inside the Turbulent World of NFL graded. The coaches are in pursuit of perFootball, came out in paperback this past fection. fall. The book chronicles the year Dawidoff “Even football coaches can’t really see spent with the New York Jets coaching everything because the game is so fast,” staff, learning what goes on behind closed Dawidoff said. doors over the course of a single season. He learned that pain, both physical and mental, is a fact of life in the NFL. Disappointment and loss are constant. Anxiety about job loss is real. The best laid plans of driven, skilled men get washed away weekly and through all of that the players and coaches often develop bonds with one another that are as strong as those in any family. “One coach told me that only about 10 percent of the time everyone does what they are supposed to do. The game is an intricate series of physical stratagems,” he said. Dawidoff didn’t grow up a football fan. His game was baseball, a passion he chronicled in his memoir of growing up on Willow Street in New Haven called The Crowd Sounds Happy: A Story of Love, Madness and Baseball. The sport suited his demeanor — it’s a Image courtesy of Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group.
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Nicholas Dawidoff. Photo by Koren-Angell Studios, courtesy of Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group.
game whose appeal lies in its openness and accessibility, and in its leisurely pace, one perfectly suited for writers. He’d already written a biography of one of the game’s more eccentric figures, the catcher-turnedspy Moe Berg. Football, with its bursts of carefully choreographed violence and its weekly ritualistic spectacle, took Dawidoff a bit of getting used to. While his childhood interest in baseball allowed him to
“The game is an intricate series of physical stratagems.” - Nicholas Dawidoff deal with some of his fears and concerns, placing him among heroic men performing feats he could only dream of, his connection to football is quite different. Dawidoff roots for the people he knows in the game. He ended his time with the Jets with more than 8,000 pages of notes. “The way to organize that amount of material is thematic,” he explained. The themes could be as obvious as how the offense deals
with the defense in practice, or as complicated as players coming from single-parent families. Once the work of cataloging the material was done, Dawidoff said a surprising number of interesting ways emerged to shape the narrative. It was all about distributing the information in a way that would generally mirror the nature of the subject matter. “The structure of the book didn’t feel like a football season. It felt like going through a unified group endeavor that is at once universally regimented and completely unpredictable,” he said. Dawidoff’s next project is quite different from his work with the Jets’ coaches. He’s spent the last three and a half years following the 90-year-old photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank, whose book The Americans is considered a seminal work in American photography. “He’s an artist’s artist. I know that’s a cliché, but I really feel that way. He’s such a special person. It’s been a privilege to talk to him,” Dawidoff said. Echoing Samuel Johnson, Dawidoff said there is a special quality that makes an exceptional biography, whether it is the story of one year in the lives of a group of football coaches, or the life of a photographer. “The really good biographies are about people whose lives, there’s something more so about those lives. They are deeper and more profound versions of other people’s lives” he said. n
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
New Site-Specific Play Celebrates Shubert’s History, People amanda may aruani
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ew Haven’s uber-inventive theater company, A Broken Umbrella Theatre, is back to dazzle audiences this February with its new site-specific show, Seen Change! The performance will move audiences, physically, if not emotionally, visiting sites along College Street including the former Taft Hotel and the legendary Shubert Theater. “It’s a keep your shoes on, keep your coat on, roving experience,” promises Rachel Alderman, an ensemble member and the theater company’s board president. “It will be a real adventure for the audience.” According to Alderman, Seen Change! is a “‘let’s put on a musical’-style adventure that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Shubert. “We are really interested in the lore, and the legacies, and the emotional connections that everyone has that has been to the Shubert,” Alderman said. “People have Members of A Broken Umbrella Theatre during a company retreat where they developed ideas for Seen Change! Photo courtesy of Rachel Alderman. really deep emotional connections to the Shubert and were trying to celebrate that. Seen Change! A Broken Umbrella Theatre’s ecutive director, John Fisher, in a statement sented in part at the Shubert but probably “(Audience members) will see refernot on the venue’s iconic stage, will reach 10th production, will be staged provided by Alderman. “Working with this ences in the narrative that hint at stories capacity around 100. February 18-20 and February 25-28. talented group of artists is a great way to that have happened at the Shubert or “It will definitely be a more intimate exTickets are available at shubert.com. shine the spotlight on one of New Haven’s about the Shubert,” she explained. “It won’t perience at the Shubert than you’re used most innovative theater companies.” actually be us acting out My Fair Lady, but to,” she said. n For more information about A Broken The show will feature original music you’ll definitely get hints of it.” Umbrella Theatre, visit abrokenumbrella.org. written to mimic the “golden era” of musiIn researching the Shubert’s history, Alcals when the Shubert became famous. derman and her colleagues have been comIn addition to references to shows like piling facts, articles, and old playbills, as My Fair Lady and Brigadoon, Alderman well as anecdotes from the Shubert’s staff said the focus of Seen Change! is all of the that Alderman calls “wonderful gems.” people “in the wings” who make theater “(The Shubert history) is a total goldpossible. mine, we have so many amazing stories to “We are also celebrating the technicians pull from,” she said. and the staff with this show,” she said. “It One of these is the infamous world takes many different types to make theater premiere of My Fair Lady. According to Almagic happen.” derman, the story goes like this: There was While audiences regularly get to see the a giant snowstorm, some cast and crew “magic” happen on opening night, they didn’t show up at the theater, but the aurarely know about the hot mess that has dience did. One of the stars, Rex Harrison, led up to it. Seen Change! is a piece of medidn’t want to go on stage. Still, somehow, ta-theater that will let audiences in on all the show did go on. the chaos and calamities. This was the jumping off point for Seen “It’s a behind-the-scenes look,” AlderChange! man said. “It’s all about the importance of “The Shubert Theatre is delighted to be the community that brings a show to life.” working with A Broken Umbrella Theatre Alderman speculated that the audience on their new work,” said the Shubert’s exfor each performance, which will be pre-
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
Made in New Haven Explores City’s Industrial Heyday nineteenth century goods, manufacturing history on display steve scarpa images and captions courtesy of new haven museum
opment was one further casualty of the city’s urban renewal efforts in the 1960s. City officials saw the vacant factories across the city and demolished them, t one point in New Haven’s hismaking the way for more development. tory, it was possible that most “They had a vision of old brick factories of the goods one owned came being torn down because they were anfrom factories in the city. Clocks. Tools. tiquated, and they would replace them Carriages. Musical instruments. Guns. with something shiny and new,” Fox said. Beer. Toys. Tomato sauce. Corsets and As a result of the demise of industry underwear. The list is varied and endless. in New Haven, the population became The New Haven Museum has an exsmaller. The people in Wooster Square hibit on display which chronicles that who worked at the nearby factories aspect of the city’s history, hinting at the moved to East Haven and North Haven. human drama beneath the most ordinary The neighborhood between Wooster objects. It’s the story of a city trying to Square and Fair Haven was razed to find itself, in some regard, presented make room for factories that never through a collection of artifacts. The excame. hibit, titled From Clocks to Lollipops: Made Each piece in the exhibit offers its in New Haven, is on display at the New own, tiny human story. A beautifully Haven Museum through May 30. “We all carved wooden chair from the 17th cenknow we are in a post-industrial world tury offers a glimpse into the kind of now,” guest curator Elizabeth Pratt Fox artisanship found in the city at that time. said. “To look back on how New Haven It was the kind of furniture only available adapted over time to change is interestto the wealthiest people in town. “That ing.” chair would have been a very expensive The city, from its 17th century foundpiece of furniture,” Fox said. ing, had a long history of fine artisan There’s a set of 19th century dentures craftwork. Starting in the 1820s, New on display that could be in the exhibit Haven began to move toward an indusfor their grotesque shock value, until trial footing, aided by its port and one realizes that after the Civil railroad. Raw materials came from War, maimed veterans needed all over the world to New Haven, prosthetics of all kinds. New where they were reshaped into Haven started manufacturing goods and send back out. In some the needed pieces, including cases, New Haven became the pridentures. mary place where a particA six pack of Hull’s beer ular good was created. recalls New Haven’s An example was the history of brewing carriage. “We were aland cigar-making. ways part of the global Beer became a economy, whether we city staple in the thought of it that way 1840s during the or not,” Fox said. first wave of imMost of the inmigrant migration dustry in New from Germany. Haven sprung up Kegs were initially in and around the sold to German Wooster Square neighbeer halls that borhood, fed by the waves were springing up of immigrants who took up around town. At residence there. Not only one point, eight did the factories provide breweries were services and employment, attempting to they became part of the fabserve the demand. ric of daily life and created “You have a change an identity for the city as a when people started whole. Fox said that to this drinking at home,” day longtime New HavenFox said, pointing toers can point to family ward the evolution from members who worked in kegs to individual cans the factories and have and bottles. vivid memories of the An ornate parlor organ neighborhoods surcan also be found in rounding the plants. the exhibit, looking “What makes New for all the world like Haven somewhat something no one unique is that they would be possibly didn’t concentrate be able to afford. on [manufacturing] The B. Shonany one thing,” Fox inger Co. made said. pianos, organs, Industrial develSteele and Emery trade card for Czar Baking Powder, circa 1880. and melodeons
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Illustration for George B. Hoggson’s Artificial Limbs, 1889, from The Industrial Advantages of the City of New Haven.
Healey and Bigelow advertisement for Kickapoo Indian Worm Killer, circa 1895, from the Kickapoo Indian Dream Book.
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
for home use. Possession of one was a sign of civility and affluence in a 19th century household. The company died in the Great Depression because its middle-class market collapsed. The last thing people needed was an expensive organ when buying dinner was a concern. The Candee Rubber Company imported rubber from Brazil with which to make shoes, a tiny pair of which are on display in the exhibit. They are a set of little girl’s shoes, a reminder that at the end of every transaction there is a person with a need or a want. Some manufacturing is still done in New Haven today, but that sector is a far cry from what it was at its peak. The city’s investment is in biomedical development. But in a small factory on East Street, Space Craft is making precision components for the aerospace industry, one of which is on display, as well. “We’ve become a different sort of city than we were then. We are evolving,” Fox said. “We are still producing things, we are just producing different kinds of things.” n For more information about From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven, visit newhavenmuseum.org.
A Marlin Firearms Company advertisement.
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Treasures from Japan in the Yale University Libraries January 16–April 2, 2015 Fun on the Titanic: Underground Art and the East German State January 16–April 11, 2015 Casting Shadows: Integration on the American Stage January 16–April 18, 2015 Free and open to the public Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library 121 Wall Street, New Haven, Connecticut beinecke.library.yale.edu
88 Notch Hill Rd. • N. Branford, CT 06471
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
Q&A with Andrew Wolf a conversation with new haven’s director of arts, culture, and tourism david brensilver Q: You grew up and attended college in New Haven and later worked at the Federal Trade Commission, CBS, at the United Nations Environment Programme, and at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. Would you share the circumstances that brought to back to New Haven and to City Hall? A: I did indeed “grow up” in New Haven during the remarkable anything-is-possible years of the Dick Lee model city national spotlight. New Haven was in transformation mode. Community Progress Inc. was established and the Ford Foundation along with the federal government positioned New Haven as a “World’s Fair” back-to-the-future example of modernity. As a kid attending Barnard, which was then a Southern Connecticut State College laboratory school, I watched with wonderment as Yale commissioned truly inspiring signature architectural/modernist gems that commenced for me a lifelong fascination/passion for all-things design-, art-, and architecture-inspired. I have had the honor (truly) of working for the federal government when consumer protection
was a spirited aspiration; with the legendary Frank Stanton, founding president of CBS, on educational-reform initiatives, following [that] an exciting consultancy at the United Nations Environment Programme during the time when the world’s first Earth Summit was being organized (resulting in the Kyoto Accord), and heading west to manage the iconic Pacific Design Center designed by New Haven’s celebrated Cesar Pelli. So yes, all roads do seem to intersect with New Haven and here I am back in my hometown. I have known Mayor Harp and her amazing children for years (we met during the Democratic National Convention held in Los Angeles in 2000). When our newly elected mayor called and we spoke about a return to assist in her efforts to re-energize the significance of culture in our city as a “calling card” to increase tourism and tax-revenue with “originality” and a distinctive “style” that makes this city so unpredictable and upbeat, I was flattered and also very mindful that it was the moment to “give back” to a community that had given so much to me and my family through the years. To assist Mayor Harp and the team she was recruiting is one of those unique “moments” which, to this day, with so many arts professionals now impacting
the agenda, remains an intensely gratifying personal and professional experience. Q: Of your appointment, you’ve said, “This is a Tony Harp effort to transition New Haven as a global destination.” What role does the city’s arts sector play in that transition? A: Mayor Harp is steadfast in her commitment to positioning New Haven for the innovation economy. Part of the “plan” is for city departments to coordinate efforts to consider what is popularly called “best practices” to achieve a livable and efficient city where quality-of-life dynamics do matter. To achieve this aspiration, the cultural infrastructure of this historic city will be a vital and essential “pillar” in the now-emerging economic renaissance of this small city that definitely thinks “big.” Mayor Harp anticipates a new era where New Haven is a “destination” for entrepreneurs — regardless of the time they spend here. For several months we have been meeting with delegations visiting the city to express our desire to work with exceptional global entrepreneurs to advance the city’s vast cultural and infrastructure assets. Competitive marketing challenges confront every city (par-
Andrew Wolf, left, being introduced by Mayor Toni Harp as the City of New Haven’s director of arts, culture, and tourism. Photo courtesy of the New Haven Independent.
ticularly older, urban municipalities) today. The steadfast and talented team in the Harp administration possesses the global experience and discipline to position New Haven as a showpiece of the creative economy we seek to reinforce and expand. Within City Hall is the recognition that we serve a critical role as “catalyst” to motivate the best outcomes from our non-profit, investment, and business sectors. Across America (with the exception sadly of Washington, D.C.) the days of we-versus-them is coming (by necessity and scarce resources) to a blunt end and when-
Ju upit ter’s s Pas ssio on:
Mo oza art t Sym mph hon ny No. 41 1 Thursday, January 15 Woolsey Hall Music by Mozart, Dvorak, Stravinsky & Barber Hye-Jin Kim, violin Amanda Hall, soprano
Pa arfu um de la Nuit t Thursday, February 19 Woolsey Hall Music by Bizet, Ravel, Berlioz & More
203.8 865.0 0831 x20 Have enSym mpho ony.o org NewH 12 • newhavenarts.org
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
ever an artist, craftsperson, place-maker, or non-profit calls, my task is to go the distance to advance evidence-based best practices to achieve stimulating outcomes and (always) workforce development. That is the charge of Mayor Harp and I can see terrific outcomes emerging. Q: You mentioned that the mayor wanted an “outside perspective” in terms of a new director of arts, culture, and tourism. What’s the benefit of appointing someone who’s had professional experiences in other cities (while being a native of this town)? A: I am the first to acknowledge that New Haven has an incredible inventory of talent — staggering really given our population. When Mayor Harp suggests an “outside” perspective, it is really a call-to-action to survey best practices nationally and internationally on how we can achieve increased funding (recurring income) for our non-profit arts community with pro-bono guidance and engagement (by the business, service, and university sectors) whenever/wherever possible. There are so many constraints today that City Hall (with reduced budgets and staffing) seeks novel partnerships like never before to promote and achieve innovative outcomes, with the status quo no longer acceptable in a city as diverse as New Haven. Q: You’ve talked about your role being that of a promoter of “civic engagement.” What
does that entail — and how might that approach involve the city’s artists and arts organizations? A: I am hopeful that our Cultural Affairs Commission can advocate and achieve with our Board of Alders and other funders an increased allocation for the annual Mayor’s Community Art Grants — to demonstrate that we seek to empower our non-profit arts sector with the funding that results in artistic spirit and expression throughout our city. Part of the civic role is indeed celebration of achievement and notable cultural landmarks — again, Mayor Harp’s outreach to achieve a global reputation as a sure-bet city on the rise even after almost four centuries of continuous inventiveness, artistic expression, and cultural uplift. How a city of 128,000-plus continues to “supply” and innovate for a region and state with such artistic merit and talent is fantastic! Not to simply beat the drum (part of civic engagement, too) about this creative city, but civic engagement also empowers us to observe via song, dance, performance, digital design, and even “light” (our holiday tree) the moments in our city and nation where a spotlight is appropriate to remind ourselves collectively and individually what the social contract we each have with each other is all about. We are also keenly aware of identifying grant opportunities for our non-profit community that (due to the all-too recent economic crisis) do not have staff to identify these grants.
Q: Since you began the job in April 2014, you’ve had a chance to listen to various constituents. What have you heard from folks in and around New Haven’s arts sector? A: Again, we cannot minimize or play-down the egregious impact of the “Great Recession,” which, for the national arts community, was a cardiac arrest. Even after decades of searching how to fund and promote the inherent role of the arts and culture (and
funding) in our society, legislators still take an ax to the arts and education budgets first. Our New Haven arts community held on for this roller-coaster ride and came out still standing. I can sense the emotional and artistic upheaval the national subprime tsunami caused our community. Scale and institutional “memory” (i.e. talent that cannot be easily replaced or replicated) do matter, and New Haven’s Continued on page 23
yale institute of sacred music presents
handel: Judas Maccabeus
Great Organ Music at Yale
David Hill, conductor Saturday, January 24 · 7:30 pm St. Mary’s Church 5 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven
Music by Sowerby, Howells, Whitlock, Widor, & more Sunday, January 25 · 7:30 pm Woolsey Hall, 500 College at Grove, New Haven
yale schola cantorum
david higgs, organ
jonathan dimmock, organ
Sweelinck: Master of the Dutch Renaissance Sunday, February 8 · 5 pm Marquand Chapel, 409 Prospect St., New Haven
All concerts are free; no tickets required. ism.yale.edu
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
artists next door
On the Move
fethi meghelli’s social consciousness finds expression in artistic process
Above: Fethi Meghelli’s One Day We Will Speak the Same Language. Below: Sunrise.
hank hoffman images courtesy of the artist
I
n many of Fethi Meghelli’s drawings, paintings, and prints, people are on the move. Refugees, displaced persons, those fleeing war — they huddle together or fill boats, searching for a sanctuary of peace and beauty. Meghelli’s sense of justice was forged by the anti-colonialism of the Algerian revolution of the 1950s and early 1960s and the post-May 1968 political fervor in France. Meghelli understands the experience of the emigrant. Born in Algeria when it was still a French colony, he spent his early school years in Morocco, where his father went in search of work. The family returned to Algeria in 1962 after the revolution secured national independence. Meghelli earned his bachelor’s degree in art in Algiers. He decamped to Paris in 1968 — a year of global upheaval — on a five-year scholarship for his M.F.A. at the National School of Fine Arts. He emigrated from France to the United States in 1974 when his wife got a job at a high school in New Haven. “From Algeria to France, I had my political education,” Meghelli tells me in an interview at his Erector Square studio. “A social consciousness of what is happening around me is a profound influence on all my work.” In works like those that make up his “War Series,” Meghelli per-
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forms an act of witness, motivated by anger at oppression and profound empathy for the victimized and powerless. On one wall of his studio, Meghelli displays a boldly colored work in progress. As yet untitled, the piece depicts a crowd of refugees on the march. But as Meghelli points out, like many of his works there are multiple narratives at play. “They’re not stories from A to Z,” Meghelli explains. “They’re elements of different stories” that are occurring at the same time. Migrants streaming from the background to the foreground, a plane flying overhead. A building in flames and another under construction. A musician strumming a guitar. A doctor holding a newborn baby. Does the baby represent an image of hope? “Exactly. So we go back and forth between life, the process of leaving, and also, of course, death,” Meghelli says. “All these things are part of nature.” Meghelli is often labeled as a political artist, which is accurate but shortchanges the extent of his artistic vision. He is open to a wealth of influences. Childhood memories of his mother and grandmother telling stories; art history in its many diverse manifestations from Picasso to folk and so-called “outsider” artists to the works of non-Western cultures; poetry; the beauty of nature; the healing power of music. Much as the refugees in his imagery are on a quest for a bet-
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
“I’m a very intuitive artist. I follow my intuition and I swear by it.” -Fethi Meghelli
ter life, Meghelli is on a constant quest to try new things and challenge himself as an artist. “I’m not a creature of habit,” he says. “It would be too rigid to use the same approach again and again.” At the heart of his quest is a commitment to artistic process. “In order to sustain the energy of being an artist, you have to produce,” Meghelli says. “The more we produce, the more we learn from those experiences. It’s always trial and error. Even the errors are sometimes an asset — what I call ‘happy accidents.’ “Spontaneity is important in my work. I have to push, push, push and see how far I can go,” he says. There are few dead ends for a process-oriented artist like Meghelli. Artist proofs from one work or series can be cut up and recycled for use as collage elements in future works. Incomplete works get set aside to be returned to later. Such was the case with a drawing shown during City-Wide Open Studios expressing his anguish and anger over the war in Gaza. “The Gaza piece was a few years old but hadn’t been finished,” Meghelli says. “I had the basic elements in there and just elaborated on it, made a lot of changes
Fethi Meghelli. Photo by John Hefti.
until I said, ‘This is it.’ “I always try different media and see what happens. Sometimes I make discoveries that I didn’t know were there,” Meghelli explains. “That’s why process is important. You have no clue what the image is going to end up looking like. That’s for us to discover and make it happen.” He quotes Picasso: “I don’t search. I find.” In his studio, products of this quest — some finished, some still in progress — testify to Meghelli’s omnivorous approach. Lithographs, drawings, collage, masks fashioned from found objects, clay figures. The clay figures comprise a small doll-like community of people and animals, some of which are painted in bright colors. They are, in essence, what Meghelli found — to paraphrase Picasso — when he took a pottery class at Creative Arts Workshop (where Meghelli also teaches). He made some pots and plates but wanted to go beyond that. It wasn’t until he started playing with
the clay that his subject revealed itself. “I felt like I was 7 or 8 years old,” Meghelli recalls. “We lose, as artists — some of us — the spontaneity [of children]. I’m beyond that, just doing my own thing.” For Meghelli, each media he works with has a different meaning. He finds — there is that Picasso again — what the media prompts him to express. “I have a variety of different objects I find at yard sales, on the sidewalk, even in dumpsters,” Meghelli says. “Those pieces of junk for me become a treasure.” An example: After picking up several lengths of bamboo at a yard sale, Meghelli cut them in half lengthwise and painted them in bright colors, creating a joyfully organic and geometric abstract sculpture. “The trick with all different media and different approaches is knowing exactly when to stop,” Meghelli says. “I’m a very intuitive artist. I follow my intuition and I swear by it.” An individual work might be finished. But the process goes on. n
Fethi Meghelli’s A History of Violence.
Fethi Meghelli’s Dreaming.
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CALENDAR
The Yale University Art Gallery presents Whistler in Paris, London, and Venice, January 30 through July 19. James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s Black Lion Wharf, from the Thames Set (a series of 16 etchings of scenes on the Thames and other subjects), 1859. Etching. Gift of J. Watson Webb, B.A. 1907, and Electra Havemeyer Webb. Photo and crediting information courtesy of YUAG.
Classes & Workshops ACES Educational Center for the Arts 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/schools/eca. Creative Dramatics. Quality acting classes for kids and teens offered on Saturdays, through May. Ages 8-11 and 12-16 years. Call Ingrid Schaeffer, chair, theater department, at 203795-9011 or email ingrids@optonline.net. Classes are 9-10:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Please call or write for more information. Arts Center Killingworth 276 North Parker Hill Road, Killingworth. 860-663-5593. artscenterkillingworth.org. Winter Art Classes and Workshops for All Ages. Enjoy new art classes and workshops for adults, teens, and children. Programs include drawing and painting classes, numerous craft and jewelry workshops, Saturday morning classes, Just4Kids, and Get Messy art for preschoolers. Visit our website for a full calendar and to register online. January 1-March 31. Please see online calendar for details. Artsplace 1220 Waterbury Road, Cheshire. 203-272-2787.cpfa-artsplace.org. Winter Classes for All Ages. Artsplace offers a large variety of art classes for all ages taught by a team of professional fine artists. All levels of students welcome. All supplies included in class fee. Large parking lot, next to community
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dog park. Easy access to Route 84 and centrally located in Cheshire. Visit website or call for information. January 12-March 28. Classes run for 7seven weeks and are offered Saturdays, and Mondays through Thursdays, January 12March 28. Price varies from choice of one-time workshop with fee of $20 to three-hour class lasting for the duration of the seven-week session costing $155. 9 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Branford Folk Music Society First Congregational Church of Branford, 1009 Main St., Branford. 203-488-7715. folknotes.org/branfordfolk. Hammered Dulcimer Workshop with Karen Ashbrook. Simple accompaniments and an arrangement of a beautiful tunes from the Isle of Man (one of the seven Celtic nations) featuring pedal tones and descending bass lines in 3/4. Sound and PDF files will be available in advance for the melodies. Email mail@karenashbrook.com. Concert follows workshop at 8 p.m. on January 10. $30. Workshop participants may attend the 8 p.m. concert for a Branford Folk Music Society member rate of $12. 3:30 pm-5:30 p.m. Guitar Workshop on Celtic Jig Accompaniment. In standard guitar tuning taught by Paul Oorts. Work with right hand techniques, modal accompaniment, and chord substitutions for the left hand to achieve that contemporary Celtic flavor. Email mail@karenashbrook.com. Concert follows workshop at 8 p.m. on January 10. $30. Workshop participants may attend the 8 p.m. concert for Branford Folk Music Society member price of $12. 3:30-5:30 p.m.
Connecticut Natural Science Illustrators Yale Peabody Museum Community Education Center, 230 West Campus Drive, Orange. 203-934-0878. ctnsi.com. Classes in Natural Science Illustration. We have a great line-up of art classes for winter and spring 2015. Classes are open to all levels. We are offering Beginning Drawing, Watercolor, Painting Hummingbirds, Scientific Light on Form, Drawing and Painting Gems and Minerals (advanced), and Secrets of Trees in Winter. Classes offered Monday-Saturday, January 6-February 22. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Creative Arts Workshop 80 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-562-4927. creativeartsworkshop.org. Winter Workshops. Creativity starts here! Explore your creative side with visual arts classes and workshops for all ages and experience levels in book arts, design, drawing and painting, fiber, jewelry, photography, pottery, printmaking, and sculpture. Register online now! Class size is limited. Classes offered January 19-February 27. Guilford Art Center 411 Church St., Guilford. 203453-5947.guilfordartcenter.org. Winter Semester at Guilford Art Center. Winter semester of classes begins the week of January 12: Pottery, blacksmithing, metalsmithing and jewelry, sewing, weaving, painting and drawing, photography, kids’ classes, and more. Day, evening, and after-school class times available, as well as weekend workshops. Classes offered through January 12. Tuition assistance available. Joomchi and Beyond Workshop. Students will learn
the history, practice, and role in Korean society of this unique and traditional way of making textured handmade paper, as well as techniques and reinterpreted adaptations of the contemporary art form. It can be incorporated into surface design, collage, or sculptural objects. Workshop offered February 28-March 1. Tuition $250, members $225, fee payable with tuition $30. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Neighborhood Music School 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org. English Country Dance. All dances will be taught by Paul McGuire. Come with or without a partner. Beginners welcome. Live music by Marshall Barron, Grace Feldman, Phoebe Barron, Margaret Ann Martin, and musicians from Marshall’s Dance Band Workshops. Classes offered January 9, January 23, February 6, and February 20. 8-10:30 p.m. $10. Spring Open House. This free event on January 24 includes an “instrument petting zoo,” where kids can try real instruments. Special interactive activities and free classes, including dance (jazz, creative dance, ballet, and modern) and early childhood music and movement classes. Interested in private music lessons? Placement consultations and free mini-lessons for ages 5 and older. Free and open to the public. 12-3 p.m. Royal Scottish Country Dance Society Whitney Arts Center, 591 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-281-6591. rscdsnewhaven.org. Scottish Country Dancing. Enjoy dancing the
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social dances of Scotland. Come alone or with a friend. All dances taught. Wear soft-soled nonstreet shoes. Classes offered Tuesday evenings, January 5-May 18. $8 per evening. First night free. 7:45-10 p.m. Spectrum Gallery and Store 61 Main St., Centerbrook. 860-663-5593.spectrumartgallery.org. Winter Art Classes and Workshops. Enjoy new art classes and workshops for adults in an inspiring gallery setting. Programs include drawing classes, numerous craft and jewelry workshops, and monthly origami circles. Visit our website for a full calendar and to register online. Classes offered January 1-March 31.
Dance February 22 Sunday Ailey II The company performs a diverse repertory of Alvin Ailey’s timeless classics and thrilling new works by outstanding emerging choreographers. 5 p.m. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com.
23 Monday Ailey II School-Time Performance The dancers of Ailey II present a special school-time performance that is educational and entertaining. Includes a talkback following the performance. 10:15 a..m. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-5625666. shubert.com.
Exhibitions ACES Educational Center for the Arts 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca. Inspiration: New Work from the Second Quarter. Open studios and reception. January 14. Snow date: January 20. 5-7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Artspace 50 Orange St, New Haven. 203-7722709. artspacenh.org. Connecticut (un)Bound. A collaboration between Yale University Art Gallery and Artspace that features eight Connecticut artists who have been
commissioned to create work in response to the Allan Chasanoff Book Arts Collection at YUAG as well as objects from the collection itself. On view through February 7. Case Memorial Library 176 Tyler City Road, Orange. 203-795-3695. Visions Near and Far. An exhibition that features 24 color pictures by photographer John O’Neil and 24 watercolor paintings and prints by Daniel E. Rosner (professor emeritus, chemical engineering, Yale University), will be on view in the Gallery Room during the month of February. Opening reception: Thurs, February 5, 5-7 p.m. On view February 2-February 28. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; open till 8 p.m. on Monday and Thursday and until 4 p.m. on Saturday. City Gallery 994 State St., New Haven. 203-7822489. city-gallery.org. Passiones – New Work by Jennifer Davies. This exhibit expresses the artist’s passion for experimenting with a variety of paper pulps, but especially Japanese kozo. The kozo she processes from the plant to obtain either a long fibered pulp for making paper, or pigments, and sews the lacy stalks together. The work refers to textures and designs in nature. On view January 2-February 1. Opening reception: Sunday, January 4, 2-5 p.m. Artist will be in the gallery for an informal talk on Sunday January 25, at 2 p.m. Gallery hours: Thursday-Sunday, 12-4 p.m., or by appointment. Free. Creative Arts Workshop 80 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-562-4927. creativeartsworkshop.org. CAW Winter Student Show. The student show features new work by students of all ages and experience levels and showcases the breadth of creativity that is fostered at CAW – from the earliest explorations of young artists to the skillful application of technique by experienced students. The exhibition serves as inspiration for visitors to explore their own creativity. On view February 1-February 26. Opening reception: Sunday, February 1, 2-4 p.m. Free and open to the public. Fred.Giampietro Gallery 1064 Chapel St., New Haven. 203-777-7760. giampietrogallery.com. Zachary Keeting and Anahita Vossoughi – Rockless Volume. The gallery will be celebrating the opening of its new space located directly across from the Yale University Art Gallery at 1064 Chapel
St. in New Haven. The first exhibition at this new location will feature new work by Zachary Keeting, Anahita Vossoughi, and Loren Myhre. Opening reception: Saturday, January 10, 6-8 p.m. On view January 10-February 21. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. Irregular Rendition. Curated by Lucy Hunter Staged in conjunction with a symposium at Yale Law School, Irregular Rendition extends the keyword of “law” to its full spectrum of uses: legislation, penal code, laws of physics, mathematical principles, and universal truths. For more information please visit thelegalmedium.com/exhibition. On view February 24-March 14. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. Kehler Liddell Gallery 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 203-389-9555. kehlerliddell.com. Cowboys and Cattle. A photography exhibit by Jean Perkins. Opening reception: January 18, 3-6 p.m. Lecture “On Fire: the Photographic Story of the Burning of the Flint Hills of Kansas,” with Larry Schwarm, professor of photography, Wichita State University, January 24, 3-4 p.m. On view January 15-February 15. See website for gallery hours. Free. LaGrua Center 32 Water St., Stonington. 860535-2300. galleryoneCT.com. The Artists of Gallery One. An exhibition of a wide variety of media and styles from representational to abstract, including painting, sculpture, and works on paper. Featured artists include David Brown, Ashby Carlisle, Catherine Christiano, Bette Ellsworth, Gray Jacobik, Judith Barbour Osborne, T. Willie Raney, Victoria Sivigny, Mary Fussell, and Jill Vaughn. On view January 6-February 28. Call for hours. Reception: Friday, January 9, 5-7 p.m. Free. New Haven Museum 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-562-4183.newhavenmuseum.org. From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven. From the Colonial era to the present, New Haven has produced an astonishing array of goods including carriages, auto parts, guns, corsets, clocks, and candy, just to name a few. More than 100 objects, ads, photos, and more from the museum are featured in this fascinating look at the production of consumer goods in New Haven over the past three centuries. On view through May 30. Adults $4, seniors $3, students $2, children younger than 12 admitted free. Free first Sundays: 1-4 p.m.
GuitartownCT Productions presents Italian guitarist Beppe Gambetta at the Spaceland Ballroom in Hamden on February 28. Photo courtesy of Chris Wuerth.
Paul Mellon Arts Center Choate Rosemary Hall, 332 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice. Photographs from the Archives. A curated exhibition of photographs from The Choate School, Rosemary Hall, and Choate Rosemary Hall. On view January 5-March 7. Open every day, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., when school is in session free Perspectives ... The Gallery at Whitney Center 200 Leeder Hill Drive, Hamden. 203-772-2788. newhavenarts.org. On The Spiritual in Art. This exhibition, presented by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven and curated by Debbie Hesse, features artwork by Colin Burke, Leah Caroline, Jessica Cuni, Kathryn Frund, Kayla Kirsch, Eva Lee, Evie Lindemann, Gerald Saladyga, and Aicha Woods. The exhibition includes a crowd participation component. The general public is invited to send images that convey gratitude to 200gratitude@gmail.com. On view through February 15. Gallery hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-7 p.m., and Saturdays, 1-4 p.m. Free. Spectrum Gallery and Store Arts Center Killingworth, 61 Main St., Centerbrook. 860-663-5593. spectrumartgallery.org. Kindness of Strangers Holiday Show. This exhibit spotlights images in all mediums that visualize acts of kindness and giving between people or among people and our animal friends. The exhibit includes work by figurative painters, photographers, sculptors, and crafters. The store is full of unique pottery, art glass, knitwear, and jewelry. Runs January 1-January 11. Open Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Call for extended holiday hours or visit the website. Free. Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., 2nd Floor, New Haven. 203-772-2788. newhavenarts.org. More Than a Face. This exhibit is curated by Marissa Rozanski and features artwork by Corina Alvarezdelugo, Janice Bielawa, Jessica Cuni, Anne Doris-Eisner, Oi Fortin, Barbara Hocker, Fethi Meghelli, Irene K. Miller, and Thuan Vu. More Than A Face aims to reinterpret the ideas of self-portraiture by highlighting the symbols used in works of art that speak to the nature of the artist. On view through January 2. Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Free.
Yale Repertory Theatre presents the world-premiere production of Danai Gurira’s Familiar, on stage January 30 through February 1. Photo courtesy of Fox International Channels.
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Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History 170 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-432-5050. peabody.yale.edu/exhibits/farmers-warriors-buildershidden-life-ants. Farmers, Warriors, Builders: The Hidden Life of Ants. The word is small — and so are they — but their
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world is enormous. With complex and wildly diverse lifestyles, ants are everywhere, living lives mostly hidden from plain sight. But what if we could see into their world — on their level? What would we learn? And what similarities would we find between them and us? On view through January 4. Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 12-5 p.m. $5-$9.
Galas & Fundraisers January 2 Friday Celebration of American Crafts Sale Save 25 percent on all fine contemporary crafts by artists from across the country. Jewelry, glass, ceramics, fiber, wood, sculpture, furniture, toys, and more. Sale takes place January 2-January 5, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday 1-5 p.m. Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-562-4927. creativeartsworkshop.org.
February 2 Monday XOXO: A Sale of Valentines. This Valentine’s Day, Hallmark’s got nothing on Creative Arts Workshop. A sale of handmade cards, boxes, pottery, and small prints created by the Studio Binders, Studio Potters, and Printmakers of Creative Arts Workshop. Proceeds benefit CAW. Sale takes place February 2-February 26. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-562-4927. creativeartsworkshop.org.
Kids & Families ACES Educational Center for the Arts 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca. Open House. For high school students interested in the visual, literary, or performing arts. Schedule a tour or shadow visit today! January 15. Snow date: January 22. 6:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Neighborhood Music School 295 Treadwell Ave., Hamden. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org. Magical Musicals Workshop. This fun workshop designed for children ages 5–12 will engage families in developing a “mini-musical” by writing original lyrics and songs, based loosely on the storyline of children’s books Curious George and Horton Hears a Who. Instructors are NMS drama department head Stephen Dest and voice instructor Matthew Harrison, who both teach at NMS’s Audubon Arts program. January 24 (Curious George) and February 14 (Horton Hears a Who). 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. No reservation required. Thornton Wilder Hall Miller Cultural Complex, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-287-2546. hamdenartscommission.org. The Tanglewood Marionettes. An underwater fantasy
Dael Orlandersmith stars in her latest play, Forever, at Long Wharf Theatre through February 1. Photo by Kevin Berne.
based on Chinese folklore, it tells the tale of an intrepid grandmother who journeys to the bottom of the sea in search of the elusive Dragon King. Colorful sea creatures add to the exciting adventure. Saturday, January 24, 1 p.m. $2 children, $3 adults. Bubblemania. Internationally known comic “bubble-ologist” Casey Carle returns by popular demand. The audience will see giant floating spheres up to six feet in diameter, soap film tubes stretching more than 25 feet, intricate bubble sculptures, and bubbles that can encase people. Saturday, February 21, 1 p.m. Admission: $2 children, $3 adults.
Music January Free Live Music Weekly Mondays: The Pasofino Social Club (Latin). Tuesdays: The Red Planet (rock, honky tonk, blues, jam). Wednesdays: The Hakins Jazz Collective. Free. 9-12 p.m. Series continues through January 28. The Owl Shop, 268 College St, New Haven. 203-624-3450. owlshopcigars.com.
4 Sunday Greater New Haven Youth Ensembles Winter Concert Neighborhood Music School’s Greater New Haven Youth Ensembles present a winter concert at Battell Chapel. All four auditioned ensembles will perform. 2 p.m.: Concert Band and Symphonic Wind Ensemble. 4 p.m.: Concert Orchestra and Youth Orchestra. January 4. Tickets are available for purchase at the door. $10 adults, $5 seniors and children 12 and younger. Battell Chapel, Yale University, 400 College St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
9 Friday
The Yale School of Architecture presents Archeology of the Digital: Media and Machines through May 1. This pictured work by Asymptote Architecture (Hani Rashid, Lise Anne Couture) is a trading floor visualization project of the Virtual Trading Floor, phase 2.3 documentation, 1997–1999 Electrostatic color print, 13 November 1997, © Asymptote. Photo and crediting information courtesy of the Yale School of Architecture.
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Scenes and Songs featuring Rebecca Faulkenberry ‘03 (Broadway roles: Mary Jane Watson in Spiderman and Sherrie in Rock of Ages) and other alumni from stage and screen. 7:30 p.m. Adults $20, senior citizens 65 and older and non-Choate students $15. Choate Rosemary Hall, Paul Mellon Arts Center, 332 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice. Mary Mary The groundbreaking duo of Erica Campbell and Tina Campbell broke through in 2000 with the pioneering crossover hit “Shackles (Praise You).” This chart-topping sister act has
never wavered from defying convention to fulfill its mission: sending uplifting messages through music and words that are relatable to everyone. 8 p.m. Prices vary by seat location. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com.
10 Saturday Pink Floyd Experience Starring Robbie Wycoff. 8 p.m. Prices vary by seat location. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com. Karen Ashbrook and Paul Oorts Multi-instrumentalists Karen Ashbrook and Paul Oorts present a musically warming treat in the midst of winter of music including Celtic, Belgian, French, Appalachian, English, and Jewish compositions. Karen performs mainly on the hammered dulcimer and her husband, Paul, plays harp guitar, 10-string cittern, mandolin, and musette accordion. Workshops precede the show. 8-10:30 p.m. $15 general public, $12 members, $5 kids 12 and younger. Branford Folk Music Society, First Congregational Church of Branford, 1009 Main St., Branford. 203488-7715. folknotes.org/branfordfolk.
15 Thursday Classics Series: Jupiter’s Passion Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, along with works by Stravinsky, Barber, and Dvořák, come together for a night of strings on fire. 7:30- 9:30 p.m. $15-$74, students $10, KidTix free with adult. New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Woolsey Hall, 500 College St. (at Grove St.), New Haven. 203-865-0831. NewHavenSymphony.org.
21 Wednesday Scene to Song: Studies in Musical Theater Snow date: January 22. 6:30 p.m. Suggested donation: $5 individual, $20 group. ACES Educational Center for the Arts, Little Theatre, 1 Lincoln St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca.
24 Saturday Yale Schola Cantorum – Handel: Judas Maccaabeus David Hill, conductor. Presented with members of the Yale Baroque Ensemble with support from the Yale School of Music. 7:30 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, St. Mary’s Church, 5 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu.
Open House This free event includes an instrument petting zoo, where kids can try out real instruments, with assistance. Free classes, including dance (jazz, creative dance, ballet, and modern) and early childhood music and movement for ages 5 and younger. Interested in private music lessons? Free placement consultations and mini-lessons for potential students. 12-3 p.m. Free and open to the public. Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
25 Sunday Music Faculty Concert Music Faculty Concert featuring Elizabeth Kitson-Arnold, flute, and Sara Kohane, piano, in a performance of virtuosic flute repertoire. 4 p.m. Suggested donation of $15 benefits the Student Music Lesson Scholarship Fund. Choate Rosemary Hall, Seymour St. John Chapel, 66 Curtis St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice. Great Organ Music at Yale: David Higgs Music of Sowerby, Howells, Whitlock, Creston, Widor, and others. 7:30 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu/event/ great-organ-music-yale-david-higgs. Neighborhood Music School Rock Fest Performances by NMS Rock Ensemble students and private lesson solos. Original student music plus songs by The Pretenders, The Dream Academy, Depeche Mode, Concrete Blonde, Duran Duran, and The Eurythmics. 1-5 p.m. Free. The Spaceland Ballroom, 295 Treadwell Ave., Hamden. 203-6245189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org. Galvanized Jazz Band The ensemble, with regional personality Joel Schiavone on banjo, presents “An Afternoon of Dixieland and Authentic New Orleans Jazz.” Voted the best jazz band in the state by Connecticut Magazine for at least six consecutive years. 2 p.m. Admission is $7 general admission, $5 for senior citizens, students, and children 12 and younger. The Hamden Arts Commission, Thornton Wilder Hall, Miller Cultural Complex, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-287-2546. hamdenartscommission.org.
30-31 Friday-Saturday Choate’s Winter Vocal Festival Enjoy the talent of
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Choate’s vocal students in this fun festival of song. 7:30 p.m. Free. Choate Rosemary Hall, Paul Mellon Arts Center Recital Hall, 332 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice.
31 Saturday Guest Artist: The Thirteen Matthew Robertson, conductor. 5 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Christ Church Episcopal, 84 Broadway St., New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu/event/guest-artist-thirteen.
25 Wednesday
18-19 Sunday-Monday
Recital Featuring solo instrumentalists and vocalists. Snow date: February 26. 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. ACES Educational Center for the Arts, Little Theatre, 1 Lincoln St., New Haven. 203-7775451. aces.org/eca.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy of Environmental and Social Justice The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History will open its doors once again in honor of Dr. King and his efforts to ensure environmental and social justice among all people. The weekend’s activities will include world-class performances and educational activities for visitors of all ages. Sunday, 12-4 p.m.; Monday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, 170 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-432-5050. peabody.yale.edu/events.
26 Thursday
February
Student Instrumental Ensembles Concert Choate students play the main stage. 7 p.m. Free. Choate Rosemary Hall, Paul Mellon Arts Center, 332 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice.
6 Friday
28 Saturday
Yale Voxtet With Hilary Summers. Music by Judith Weir and others. 7:30 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Marquand Chapel, 409 Prospect St., New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu/event/ yale-voxtet-hilary-summers.
13 Friday Student Choral Concert Seymour St. John Chapel, 66 Curtis St. 7 p.m. Free. Choate Rosemary Hall, Paul Mellon Arts Center, 332 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice.
13-15 Friday-Sunday Yale Opera’s Marriage of Figaro Mozart’s comic opera is performed in Italian with English supertitles. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Prices vary by seat location. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com.
14 Saturday Super-Fiddler Lissa Schneckenburger A winsome, sweet-voiced singer who brings new life to old ballads and a skillful, dynamic fiddler who captures the driving rhythm and carefree joy of dance tunes old and new. Schneckburger is accompanied by guitarist Bethany Waikman, a contra and square dance musician. 8-10:30 p.m. $15 general public, $12 members, $5 kids younger than 12. Branford Folk Music Society, First Congregational Church of Branford, 1009 Main St., Branford. 203-488-7715. folknotes.org/branfordfolk.
15 Sunday Student Chamber Music Recital 3 p.m. Free. Choate Rosemary Hall, Paul Mellon Arts Center, 332 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice.
19 Thursday Classics Series: Parfum de la Nuit Treat your Valentine to a tour of Rome, Spain, Greece, and the countryside, all with a French accent. 7:30-9:30 p.m. $15-$74, students $10, KidTix free withadult. New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Woolsey Hall, 500 College St. (at Grove St.), New Haven. 203865-0831. NewHavenSymphony.org.
22 Sunday Student Recital Enjoy music by Choate students. 3 p.m. Free. Choate Rosemary Hall, Paul Mellon Arts Center, 332 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-6972398. choate.edu/boxoffice. Song Extravaganza We present baritone Christopher Grundy and pianist William Braun in an hour-long program of song cycles old and new. Free parking. Reception to follow. Bring a friend. 4 p.m. Freewill offering. Bethesda Music Series, Bethesda Lutheran Church, 450 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-787-2346. bethesdanewhaven.org. Raymund Santino: That’s Amore – Italian and American Songs Suntino’s mastery of beloved Italian songs, and his magnetic personal charm, have made him one of the region’s most popular performers. 2 p.m. Admission is $7 general admission, $5 for senior citizens, students, and children 12 and younger. The Hamden Arts Commission, Thornton Wilder Hall, Miller Cultural Complex, 2901 Dixwell Ave. Hamden. 203-287-2546. hamdenartscommission.org.
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New Haven Chorale: A Night at the Opera The chorale welcomes Connecticut Concert Opera’s maestro Doris Kosloff and soloists for an exciting, fun-filled visit to the operatic stage, with works by Gounod, Leoncavallo, Puccini, and Verdi. Popular choruses like “Va, pensiero” and “Brindisi,” and the “Final Trio and Chorus” from Faust, will punctuate an evening of operatic gems and surprises. 7:30 p.m. $20 general, $15 seniors, children and students with ID admitted free. New Haven Chorale, Battell Chapel, Elm and College streets, New Haven. 203776-SONG. newhavenchorale.org.
Special Events January Artistry: American Craft for the Holidays One-ofa-kind, handmade crafts by more than 300 American artists, including ceramics, glass, jewelry, fiber, ornaments, accessories, toys, specialty foods, and more. Works fill the center’s shop and gallery in a bountiful and festive display. New works are added throughout the show, so visitors can return to snag a new “find.” Open through January 4. Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and Sunday, 12-5 p.m. Free; proceeds from sales benefit exhibiting artists and Guilford Art Center’s educational and community programs. Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St., Guilford. 203-453-5947. guilfordartcenter.org. Artwork by Lorene Sholl Longtime Madison resident and painter Lorene Sholl works primarily with acrylics, both on canvas and on paper. Lorene has exhibited at many of the shoreline’s summer art shows. She has studied at the Guilford Art Center, Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, and at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme. lasholl36@comcast.net. On view through January 15. 2-4 p.m. Docent-led tour every Saturday, 2-4 p.m. Free. Evergreen Woods, 88 Notch Hill Road, North Branford. 203-488-8000. EvergreenWoods.com.
4 Sunday Open Arts Day at Guilford Art Center Our studios will be open with instructor artists demonstrating and offering hands-on art projects. Try out an art form you want to learn more about: pottery, drawing, sewing, blacksmithing, metalsmithing, classes for kids, and more. Take advantage of last shopping day at Artistry: American Craft for the Holidays. All works on sale. 1-3 p.m. Free. Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St., Guilford. 203-453-5947. guilfordartcenter.org.
February 4 Wednesday Creative Writing Readings: “Minding Winter” Poetry, fiction, memoir, and excerpts from plays. Free and open to the public. 7 p.m. Snow date: February 5. Doors open at 6:55 p.m. ACES Educational Center for the Arts, ACES Educational Center for the Arts, 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 203777-5451. aces.org/eca.
Manic Productions presents singer-songwriter Melanie Martinez at The Space in Hamden on January 22. Photo courtesy of ICM Partners.
10 Tuesday February Meeting and Artist Demonstration Milford, Connecticut, artist Dean Fisher will present an oil painting demonstration called “Still Life: Forms Bathed in Light.” Fisher is an instructor of painting and drawing at the Silvermine Art Center in New Canaan. His paintings are executed in a loose, confident style and convey the effects of light on his subjects, whether figurative, still life, or landscape. Coffee and conversation at 7 p.m. followed by a brief business meeting at 7:15 p.m. and the artist’s demonstration at 7:30 p.m. Note: If the senior center is closed due to inclement weather, the meeting will be cancelled. Free and open to the public. Hamden Arts Commission, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-494-2316. hamdenartleague.com.
21 Saturday Symposium – Afro-Christian Festivals of the Americas: Bridging Methodologies and Crossing Frontiers. Symposium organized by Cécile Fromont. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, 409 Prospect St., New Haven. 203-4325062. ism.yale.edu/event/ symposium-afro-christian-festivals-americas.
11 Sunday Look Up! Musings on the Nature of Mindfulness (Book Reading) Join Branford writer Jen Payne for a cozy late-afternoon of knitting, spinning, and books at Madison Wool on January 11 from 4-6 p.m. Jen will read from her book Look Up! Musings on the Nature of Mindfulness, with a conversation about how we find balance today’s frenetic world. Books available for purchase the night of the event. 4-6 p.m. Free. Madison Wool, 56A Wall St., Madison. 203-245-5921. madisonwool.com.
24 Saturday “On Fire: the Photographic Story of the Burning of the Flint Hills of Kansas” Visit the Kehler Liddell Gallery for a special lecture, “On Fire: the Photographic Story of the Burning of the Flint Hills of Kansas,” with Larry Schwarm, distinguished professor of photography, Wichita State University. 3-4 p.m. The lecture is part of Cowboys and Cattle, a photography exhibit by Jean Perkins. Free and open to the public. Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 203-389-9555. kehlerliddell.com.
26 Thursday The Art of the Cocktail Come in out of the cold for Guilford Art Center’s fourth annual winter cocktail fundraiser, featuring “dueling” bartenders concocting imaginative cocktails while guests enjoy finger foods, music, and a silent auction. Proceeds benefit Guilford Art Center’s educational programs. 6-9 p.m. $50. Guilford Art Center, 411 Church St., Guilford. 203-453-5947. guilfordartcenter.org.
13 Tuesday January Meeting and Artist Demonstration Featured artist will be Lily Kok-Forbush. She will demonstrate Asian brush painting in a program titled “Capturing the Spirit of Chinese Symbolism.” The artist taught Asian brush painting at Creative Arts Workshop and is well known for her brush paintings and watercolors. Coffee and conversation at 7 p.m., followed by a brief business meeting at 7:15 p.m. and the artist’s program at 7:30 p.m. Note: If the senior center is closed due to inclement weather, the meeting will be cancelled. Free and open to the public. Hamden Arts Commission, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-494-2316. hamdenartleague.com.
(unless the first Thursday is a Holiday). 7-8:30 p.m. Photo Arts Collective, Kehler Liddel Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 203-722-2788. newhavenarts.org/programs/photoarts.html.
Talks & Tours January 8 Thursday Monthly Meeting of the Photo Arts Collective The Photo Arts Collective aims to cultivate and support a community of individuals who share a passionate interest in photography through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques, and special events. Meetings take place the first Thursday of each month from September to June
February 19 Thursday Literature and Spirituality – Thomas Troger: Song that Blesses Earth Hymns, carols, and poems. Lecture and reading followed by book-signing. Presented in collaboration with Yale Divinity Student Book Supply. 5:30 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Marquand Chapel, 409 Prospect St., New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu/event/ literature-spirituality-thomas-troeger-0.
Theater Irving Berlin’s White Christmas Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, the stage adaptation of the beloved classic film, is full of dancing, romance, laughter and memorable hits like “Happy Holiday,” “Sisters,” “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” and the unforgettable title song. This holiday musical promises a merry and bright theatrical
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The Arts Paper january | february 2015
experience for the whole family! January 1-January 4. Thursday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.; Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 p.m. Prices vary by seat location. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com. A Night at the Improv Snow date: January 9. 7 p.m. Tickets: $10. ACES Educational Center for the Arts, 55 Audubon Street, New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca. Don Juan Driven by desire, Don Juan travels the world, seeking pleasure through romantic conquest. He defies every authority he encounters. No moral code, religious belief, or social institution is safe from his scathing attack. What lies underneath the furious bravado of this man? January 27-January 31. 8 p.m. with a matinee performance on January 31 at 2 p.m. $10-25. Yale School of Drama, 222 York St., New Haven. 203-432-1234. ysd-tickets.yale.edu/ single/PSDetail.aspx?psn=12889. Peter and the Starcatcher This prequel to Peter Pan will have you hooked from the moment you let your imagination take flight. Peter and the Starcatcher, the innovative and imaginative musical play, takes a hilarious romp through the Neverland you never knew and answers the century-old question: How did Peter Pan become “the boy who never grew
up?” January 29-February 1. Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Prices vary by seat location. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203562-5666. shubert.com. Familiar By Danai Gurira, directed by Rebecca Taichman. In a snowy Midwestern suburb, Marvelous and Donald are preparing for the marriage of their eldest daughter. Clashes erupt within the family when the first-generation American bride-to-be insists on observing a traditional Zimbabwean wedding ritual. January 30-February 21. Every Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. Special instances: February 2 at 8 p.m., February 7, February 11, February 14, and February 21 at 2 p.m. Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St., New Haven. 203-432-1234. yalerep-tickets.yale.edu. Seen Change! When an apprentice inadvertently defies age-old theater superstition, everything goes wrong for an out-of-town musical on its final day of rehearsal. Calamity and chaos abound in A Broken Umbrella Theatre’s newest work, Seen Change! February 18-February 28. Wednesday-Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, February 28 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Visit shubert.com for details. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. abrokenumbrella.org.
David Edgar’s Pentecost Choate’s theater program presents David Edgar’s Pentecost. A fresco painting is unearthed in an abandoned church in Eastern Europe. The discovery causes a dramatic struggle as representatives from the worlds of art history, religion, and politics stake their claims for the ultimate prize. February 19-February 21 at 7:30 p.m. Adults $15, senior citizens 65 and older and non-Choate students $10. Choate Rosemary Hall, 32 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice.
Arts Paper ad and calendar deadlines
Ten Minute Play Festival Students have 24 hours to write, rehearse, and perform a play. February 28. Snow date: March 1. 7 p.m. Tickets: $5. Little Theatre, 1 Lincoln Street, New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca.
The deadline for advertisements and calendar listings for the March 2015 issue of The Arts Paper is Monday, January 26, at 5 p.m. Future deadlines are as follows: April 2015: Monday, February 23, 5 p.m. May 2015: Monday, March 30, 5 p.m. June 2015: Monday, April 27, 5 p.m. July-Aug. 2015: Tuesday, May 26, 5 p.m. Sept. 2015: Monday, July 27, 5 p.m. Oct. 2015: Monday, August 31, 5 p.m. Nov. 2015: Monday, September 28, 5 p.m. Dec. 2015: Monday, October 26, 5 p.m.
Xanadu Jr. Pantochino Teen Theatre’s inventive, sparkling musical mash-up of disco and mythology. Book by Douglas Carter Beane, music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar. Based on the Universal Pictures film. Features local teen actors directed by Bert Bernardi and Jimmy Johansmeyer, with musical direction by Justin Rugg. For reservations, call 203-937-6206. February 28-March 1. Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. All seats $10. Milford Arts Council, 40 Railroad Ave. South, Milford. 203-9376206. pantochino.com.
Calendar listings are for Arts Council members only and should be submitted online at newhavenarts.org. Arts Council members can request a username and password by sending an e-mail to info@newhavenarts.org. The Arts Council’s online calendar includes listings for programs and events taking place within 12 months of the current date. Listings submitted by the calendar deadline are included on a monthly basis in The Arts Paper.
BULLETIN BOARD The Arts Council provides the job and bulletin board listings as a service to our membership and is not responsible for the content or deadlines.
Call For Artists For Arts Center Killingworth’s 2015-2016 Spectrum Gallery exhibits, including the October Autumn Arts Festival and Gallery Show. Seeking fine artists and artisans in all media. For artist submission, visit spectrumartgallery.org or email barbara@spectrumartgallery.org. Spectrum Gallery and Store, 61 Main St., Centerbrook. Artists Open to all media. Call for artworks that act as independent agents and explore the cross-section of analog and digital media for Creative Arts Workshop’s juried art show Intelligent Objects: Empathetic and Smart Art. The art in this exhibition need not be kinetic or sculptural; it is open to any combination of traditional and new media. This exhibition explores artistic objects – or their 2D and 3D representations – that appear to be responsive to our existence, or at least demand an empathy, if not an emotion. Juror: George Fifield. Exhibition dates: May 1-June 5. Two prizewinners awarded joint exhibition in 2016. creativeartsworkshop.org/smartart. Artists Creative Arts Workshop is looking for an installation artist(s) for the annual August Installation. This installation will be viewable through the two-story street-front windows of CAW’s Hilles Gallery during the month of August. Proposal submission deadline: May 31. For guidelines or more information, please contact the Gallery Coordinator at CAW at 203.562.4927 or email gallery@creativeartsworkshop.org. Artist Members Kehler Liddell Gallery in New Haven is seeking applications for new visual arts members. For more information please visit kehlerliddell.com/membership. Craft Artists Guilford Art Center is seeking contemporary craft artists to participate in Craft Expo 2015, one of the oldest and finest outdoor craft shows in the northeast. The juried show, to be held on July 17-19, is open to crafts made by hand or with the use of appropriate tools, by an individual and/or with help from a limited number of assistants/apprentices. Works must be
20 • newhavenarts.org
handmade in the United States or Canada and be of high quality, well-designed, and convey artistic originality and vision. Event benefits Guilford Art Center’s educational programs. Visit zapplication.org. Entry deadline is January 11. $40 entry fee; $60 late fee. Also visit guilfordartcenter.org. Photographers Are you a fan of photography? A program of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, the Photo Arts Collective aims to cultivate and support a community of individuals who share an interest in photography through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques, and special events. The Photo Arts Collective meets the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Singers The award winning Silk’n Sounds Chorus is looking for new members from the Greater New Haven area. We invite women to join us at any of our rehearsals to learn more. We enjoy four part a cappella harmony, lively performances, and wonderful friendships. Rehearsals are held on Tuesdays, 6:30-9 p.m., at the Spring Glen United Church of Christ, 1825 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Contact Lynn at 203-623-01276 for more information or visit silknsounds.org. Volunteers Learn new skills, meet new people, and be part of a creative organization that gives to the community. Upcoming volunteer opportunities: Jazz NightOut Concert at The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook and October Outdoor Autumn Arts Festival on the Madison Town Green. Teens are welcome and earn community-service credit. The Arts Center Killingworth is a non-profit arts organization. Visit artscenterkillingworth.org for more details or call 860-663-5593. Writers and Illustrators The Children’s Literature: Tassy Walden Awards statewide competition is open to unpublished Connecticut writers and illustrators of children’s books. Postmarked submission deadline: February 2. Submission guidelines and entry form available at shorelinearts.org or by calling 203-453-3890.
Services Art Consulting Services Support your creativity! Low-cost service offers in-depth artwork analysis, writing, and editing services by former arts newspaper editor, current art director of the New Haven Free Public Library, and independent curator of many venues. Call Johnes Ruta at 203-387-4933, visit azothgallery.com, or send email to azothgallery@comcast.net. Birthday Parties Did you know that Creative Arts Workshop is available for birthday parties? Have your birthday party in an art studio. CAW faculty members will lead the party in arts or crafts projects, lasting approximately 1 1/2 hours, leaving time for cake, presents, and memory-making. Choose from a variety of themes and projects. For more information or to schedule a party, call the office at 562-4927. A fantastic idea for children of all ages. Chair Repair We can fix your worn-out chair seats if they are cane, rush, Danish cord, Shaker Tape, or other woven types! Celebrating our 25th year! Work is done by artisans at The Association of Artisans to Cane, a project of Marrakech, Inc., a private nonprofit organization that provides services for people with disabilities. Open Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m,-4 p.m. 203-776-6310. Japanese Shoji Screens Designed for Connecticut homes. Custom built for windows, doorways, or freestanding display, they allow beautiful filtered light to pass through while insulating. For a free quote, contact Phillip Chambers at 203-888-4937 or email pchambers9077@sbcglobal.net. Professional Art Installation For residential and commercial work. More than 16 years’ experience in museums, galleries, hospitals, and homes in New York City, Providence, New Haven, Chester, and elsewhere. Rate is $30 an hour, no job too small or large. Call Mark at 203-772-4270 or send email to livepaint@aol.com. More information and examples at ctartinstall.com. Web Services Startup business solutions. Creative, sleek Web design by art curator for art, design,
architectural, and small-business sites. Twenty-five years’ experience in database, logistics, and engineering applications. Will create and maintain any kind of website. Hosting provided. Call 203387-4933, visit azothgallery.com, or send email to azothgallery@comcast.net.
Space Artist Studio West Cove Studio and Gallery offers work space with two large Charles Brand intaglio etching presses, lithography press, and stainless-steel work station. Workshops and technical support available. Ample display area for shows. Membership: $75 per month. 30 Elm St., West Haven. Call 609638-8501 or visit westcovestudio.com. Studio Space Thirteen-thousand square feet of undeveloped studio space available in old mill brick building on New Haven harbor. Conveniently located one minute off I-95, Exit 44 in West Haven. Owners willing to subdivide. Call 609-638-8501. The Tiny Gallery A very big opportunity for very small art. The Tiny Gallery is a premiere space for “micro” exhibitions in the historic Audubon Arts District, located within the lighted display “totem” outside Creative Arts Workshop, at 80 Audubon St., in New Haven. The Tiny Gallery is open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Submissions will be considered on a rolling basis and should include a written proposal, artist statement, and images of artwork. Call 203-5624927 x. 14, email gallery@creativeartsworkshop. org, or visit creativeartsworkshop.org/tiny.
Jobs Please visit newhavenarts.org for up-to-date local employment opportunities in the arts.
january | february 2015 •
The Arts Paper january | february 2015
small city BIG ART The 2014 Arts Awards
The Arts Awards luncheon.
Bob Dannies, president, Arts Council’s board of trustees.
Cesar Pelli, Winner, C. Newton Schenck III Award for Lifetime Achievement in and Contribution to the Arts.
Shelly Saczynski, sponsor, The United Illuminating Co./Southern Connecticut Gas; Dotty Weston-Murphy, sponsor, Community Foundation for Greater New Haven; and Peter Noble, Arts Award winner and coordinator, Pequeñas Ligas Hispanas de New Haven.
• january | february 2015
ac staff photos by judy sirota rosenthal The 2014 Arts Awards celebration took place December 5 at the New Haven Lawn Club. With the ballroom filled to capacity, the event honored five pillars of the arts community: Karyl Evans, Kellie Ann Lynch, Barbara Pearce, Pequeñas Ligas Hispanas de New Haven, and Winfred Rembert. Cesar Pelli received the C. Newton Schenck III Award for Lifetime Achievement in and Contribution to the Arts. As the pictures included here illustrate, it was an afternoon of wonderful energy with incredibly talented people that make New Haven truly the “Greatest Small City in The Arts Awards winners (clockwise from top America!” left): Kellie Ann Lynch, Peter Noble, Karyl Evans, On behalf of the Arts Winfred Rembert, Cesar Pelli, and Barbara Pearce. Council’s board of trustees, the organization thanks the sponsors that made the Arts Awards so successful: Bank of America, Cannelli Printing, Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Carlton L. Highsmith, Edgehill Realtors, Lyme Academy College of University of New Haven, People’s United Bank, Terry and Martha Maguire, United Illuminating Company/ Southern Connecticut Gas, Yale–New Haven Hospital, and Yale University. We would also like to thank Andy Rubenoff for his inimitable piano playing, the folks at the New Haven Lawn Club for their flawless service, Val Ramos for his passionate music, Judy Sirota Rosenthal for capturing our guests and the event’s lively atmosphere, Michael Morand and Ron Ebrecht for their engaging repartee, and the five jury members who selected a memorable group of artists. n
Cesar Pelli and Cynthia Clair, executive director, Arts Council of Greater New Haven.
Barbara Pearce, Arts Award winner and President and CEO, H. Pearce Company Realtors; Terry and Martha Maguire, sponsors.
Kellie Ann Lynch, Arts Award winner, with Elm City Dance Collective colleagues.
Lois Delise and Eileen O’Donnell, second vice president and vice president, respectively, of the Arts Council’s board of trustees.
Winfred Rembert, Arts Award winner.
Karyl Evans, Arts Award winner.
newhavenarts.org • 21
The Arts Paper member organizations & partners
Arts & Cultural Organizations ACES Educational Center for the Arts aces.k12.ct.us 203-777-5451 Adele Myers and Dancers adelemyersanddancers.com Alyla Suzuki Early Childhood Music Education alylasuzuki.com 203-239-6026 American Guild of Organists sacredmusicct.org The Amistad Committee ctfreedomtrail.org Another Octave CT Women’s Chorus anotheroctave.org ARTFARM art-farm.org Arts Center Killingworth artscenterkillingworth.org 860-663-5593 Artspace artspacenh.org 203-772-2709 Artsplace: Cheshire Performing & Fine Art cpfa-artsplace.org 203-272-2787
The Choirs of Trinity Church on the Green trinitynewhaven.org
Fred Giampietro Gallery giampietrogallery.com 203-777-7760
City Gallery city-gallery.org 203-782-2489
Gallery One CT galleryonect.com
Civic Orchestra of New Haven conh.org Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre ccbtballettheatre.org Connecticut Dance Alliance ctdanceall.com Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus ctgmc.org 800-644-cgmc Connecticut Guild of Puppetry ctpuppetry.org Connecticut Natural Science Illustrators ctnsi.com 203-934-0878 Creative Arts Workshop creativeartsworkshop.org 203-562-4927 Creative Concerts 203-795-3365 CT Folk ctfolk.com DaSilva Gallery gabrieldasilvagallery.com 203-387-2539
Bethesda Music Series bethesdanewhaven.org 203-787-2346
Elm City Dance Collective elmcitydance.org
Blackfriars Repertory Theatre blackfriarsrep.com
Elm Shakespeare Company elmshakespeare.org 203-874-0801
Branford Folk Music Society folknotes.org/branfordfolk
Encore Music Creations encoremusiccreations.com
Center for Independent Study cistudy.homestead.com
Fellowship Place fellowshipplace.org
Chestnut Hill Concerts chestnuthillconcerts.org 203-245-5736
Firehouse 12 firehouse12.com 203-785-0468
22 • newhavenarts.org
Greater New Haven Community Chorus gnhcc.org 203-624-1979 Guilford Art Center guilfordartcenter.org 203-453-5947
Lyman Center at SCSU www.lyman.southernct.edu Madison Art Society madisonartsociety.blogspot.com 860-399-6116 Madison Lyric Stage madisonlyricstage.org Make Haven makehaven.org Mamas Markets mamasmarketsllc.com
Guitartown CT Productions guitartownct.com 203-430-6020
Marrakech, Inc./Association of Artisans to Cane marrakechinc.org
Hamden Art League hamdenartleague.com 203-494-2316
Meet the Artists and Artisans meettheartistsandartisans.com 203-874-5672
Hamden Arts Commission hamdenartscommission.org 203-287-2546
Milford Fine Arts Council milfordarts.org 203-878-6647
Hillhouse Opera Company hillhouseoperacompany.org 203-464-2683
Music Haven musichavenct.org 203-215-4574
Hopkins School hopkins.edu Hugo Kauder Society hugokauder.org The Institute Library institutelibrary.org International Festival of Arts & Ideas artidea.org International Silat Federation of America & Indonesia isfnewhaven.org Kehler Liddell Gallery kehlerliddell.com Knights of Columbus Museum kofcmuseum.org Long Wharf Theatre longwharf.org 203-787-4282
Music Mountain musicmountain.com 860-824-7126 Music with Mary accordions.com/mary Musical Folk musicalfolk.com Neighborhood Music School neighborhoodmusicschool.org 203-624-5189 New England Festival of Ibero American Cinema nefiac.com New Haven Ballet newhavenballet.org 203-782-9038 New Haven Chamber Orchestra newhavenchamberorchestra.org New Haven Chorale newhavenchorale.org 203-776-7664
Creative Businesses
New Haven Free Public Library nhfpl.org 203-946-8835
Theatre 4 t4ct.com 203-654-7711
New Haven Oratorio Choir nhoratoriochoir.org
Trinity Players/ Something Players 203-288-6748
New Haven Museum newhavenmuseum.org 203-562-4183 New Haven Paint and Clay Club newhavenpaintandclayclub.org 203-288-6590 New Haven Preservation Trust nhpt.org New Haven Symphony Orchestra newhavensymphony.org 203-865-0831 New Haven Theater Company newhaventheatercompany.com Pantochino Productions pantochino.com Paul Mellon Arts Center choate.edu/artscenter Play with Grace playwithgrace.com Reynolds Fine Art reynoldsfineart.com Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, New Haven Branch nhrscds.org Shoreline Arts Alliance shorelinearts.org 203-453-3890 Shubert Theater shubert.com 203-562-5666 Silk n’ Sounds silknsounds.org Silk Road Art Gallery silkroadartnewhaven.com Site Projects siteprojects.org
University Glee Club of New Haven universitygleeclub.org Wesleyan University Center for the Arts wesleyan.edu/cfa West Cove Studio & Gallery westcovestudio.com 609-638-8501 Whitney Arts Center 203-773-3033 Whitney Humanities Center yale.edu/whc Yale Cabaret yalecabaret.org 203-432-1566
Best Video 203-287-9286 bestvideo.com Blue Plate Radio 203-500-0700 blueplateradio.com Fairhaven Furniture fairhaven-furniture.com 203-776-3099 Foundry Music Company www.foundrymusicco.com The Funky Monkey Café & Gallery thefunkymonkeycafe.com Hull’s Art Supply and Framing hullsnewhaven.com 203-865-4855 The Owl Shop owlshopcigars.com Toad’s Place toadsplace.com
Yale Center for British Art yale.edu/ycba Yale Glee Club yale.edu/ygc Yale Institute of Sacred Music yale.edu.ism 203-432-5180 Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History peabody.yale.edu Yale Repertory Theatre yalerep.org 203-432-1234 Yale School of Music music.yale.edu 203-432-1965
Community Partners Department of Arts Culture & Tourism, City of New Haven cityofnewhaven.com 203-946-8378 DECD/CT Office of the Arts cultureandtourism.org 860-256-2800 Fractured Atlas fracturedatlas.org JCC of Greater New Haven jccnh.org Overseas Ministries Study Center omsc.org
Yale University Bands yale.edu/yaleband 203-432-4111
Town Green Special Services District infonewhaven.com
Young Audiences of Connecticut yaconn.org
Visit New Haven visitnewhaven.com Westville Village Renaissance Alliance westvillect.org
january | february 2015 •
The Arts Paper january | february 2015
Andrew Wolf Continued from pages 12 & 13 impact with respect to the arts was far more intense and demoralizing than other, far-larger metropolitan areas where individual philanthropy and the growing tech sector picked up where banks and traditional corporate funding sources left off. Add to this walk on the wild side the fact that the federal government has retreated in leading the way with respect to funding for the cultural literacy and legacy of our nation and you get the picture. So we again re-group and City Hall reaches out to figure out ways to be helpful in marketing, convening, and achieving successful outcomes. The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven (thanks to Will Ginsberg and his team) has been valiant during this transition period. We inch forward with new ideas [about] how to achieve cooperation and collaboration. Relational marketing is being attempted like never before. We cannot look back but wow, this last cycle of slashing arts funding and losing corporate and government support definitely took a toll, which is why we recruit a next wave of cultural entrepreneurs to locate (place-making) in New Haven, and with our city’s economic development team (Matt Nemerson), small jobs booster (Jackie James), and
our New Haven Free Public Library (Martha Brogan), we are providing the training and mentoring that will reverse (hopefully indefinitely) this sad recent chapter. Q: Tell us about New Haven Festivals, which you’ve described as “platform for the arts groups in Connecticut to benefit.” A: New Haven Festivals is a 501c (3) that Economic Development Commission leader Ginny Kozlowski champions with a board (my title is executive director) that is a perfect example of private-public partnering in the arts. To allow the city to raise funds and to program events with an outside non-profit partner this enterprise was established in the previous administration and is a true innovation in civic engagement. Concerts and other civic events can be funded with donors knowing that there is board supervising the organization’s mission, programming, and allocation of resources. We hope to use this platform as a beneficiary for revenues generated from increased programming in the months and years ahead. Q: How can the City of New Haven best support its arts sector? Are there opportunities for artists and arts organizations to work with various city departments to address issues import-
ant to you, the mayor, and New Haven’s residents? A: We are all on this wonderful journey together. We can best promote our vibrant, passionate, and creative arts sector by promoting events and milestones like never before. I am convinced that social media can and will be an effective tool in our multi-spirited marketing arsenal. It is a singular pleasure to participate in any way possible to achieve these diverse artistic outcomes in this truly individualistic city. Since arriving on the job, I learn daily how many artistic voices there are in this city and feel so honored that Mayor Harp invited me (and entrusted me) to assume (using a musical metaphor to conclude) an orchestra conductor’s advisory role — to go the distance in act and deed to achieve harmony by all players and participants in our collective effort to promote New Haven like never before. n
The above Q&A interview with Andrew Wolf, the City of New Haven’s director of arts, culture, and tourism, was conducted by email following an in-person conversation in November. What is presented here is an edited (for reasons of available space) version of the interview. The full and much longer Q&A is available at newhavenarts.org.
“We cannot minimize or play-down the egregious impact of the “Great Recession,” which, for the national arts community, was a cardiac arrest. … Our New Haven arts community held on for this roller-coaster ride and came out still standing.” – Andrew Wolf
Public lecture series
the center
will be closed January 2015 through February 2016 to conserve
its renowned building, designed by
louis i. kahn (1901–1974)
For updates and feature stories: britishart.yale.edu
1080 Chapel St. | New Haven, CT | Free admission
A History of Dutch Painting in Six Pictures
Fridays at 1:30 pm January 23–February 27, 2015
John Walsh, b.a. 1961, Director Emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los angeles, and specialist in Dutch paintings, gives a series of lectures that explores the art of the Dutch Republic during its extraordinary flowering in the 17th century. all are welcome.
Yale Universit Y art GallerY Free and open to the public | artgallery.yale.edu/programs Image: Jan Steen, The Card Players, ca. 1660. Oil on panel. Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection
• january | february 2015
newhavenarts.org • 23
The Arts Paper arts council programs
Perspectives … The Gallery at Whitney Center Location: 200 Leeder Hill Drive, South Entrance, Hamden Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-7 p.m. & Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.
On The Spiritual in Art Curated by Debbie Hesse Dates: Through February 15 Public Reception: Saturday, January 17, 3-5 p.m.
Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery Location: The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., 2nd Floor, New Haven Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery. Left: From Comedy & Tragedy, Audrey Kantrowitz . Right: From More Than a Face, Anne Doris-Eisner.
More Than a Face Curated by Marissa Rozanski Dates: Through January 2
Comedy & Tragedy Curated by Debbie Hesse Dates: January 13 – February 27
Advice from the Arts Council Dates: Thursdays, January 8 & January 15, 1-4 p.m. Location: John Slade Ely House Center for Contemporary Art Let the Arts Council staff help you find exhibition space/opportunities, performance/rehearsal space, and develop new ways to promote your work or creative events and activities. Debbie Hesse, Director of Artist Services and Programs, will be available for one-on-one appointments. To schedule an appointment call: (203) 772-2788.
ON AIR
Photo Arts Collective. Hank Paper.
Listen to the Arts Council’s Arts ON AIR broadcast every third Monday of the month during WPKN’s Community Programing Hour. Hosted by the Arts Council’s communications manager, Arts ON AIR engages in conversations with local artists and arts organizations. Links to past episodes are available on our blog at artnhv. com/on-air.
Make.Art.Work.
Apply now for Make.Art.Work. Applications are available at makeartwork.org. Selected artists engage in a sixth-month intensive peer learning experience. Cohorts will meet for six three-hour sessions January through June. Specific dates and additional info can be found on the website. Applications will be reviewed and accepted on a rolling basis. Apply early as each cohort will be limited to 15 participants. Final deadline: January 5.
ArtSpot! Arts & Culture Happy Hour Date: January 28, 5:30-730 p.m. Location: Shubert Theater Details at newhavenarts.org.
The Writers’ Circle Visit newhavenarts.org for information on the next Writers’ Circle session.
Perspectives ... The Gallery at Whitney Center. Gerald Saladyga (detail).
For more information about these events and more visit newhavenarts.org or check out our mobile events calendar using the ANDI app for smartphones.