artists next door 4 horizon recording studio 6
ct gay men’s chorus 9
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The Arts Paper a free publication of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven • newhavenarts.org
TREASURES FROM JAPAN IN THE YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
FUN ON THE TITANIC: UNDERGROUND ART AND THE EAST GERMAN STATE
March 2015
CASTING SHADOWS: INTEGRATION ON THE AMERICAN STAGE
The Arts Paper march 2015
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Artists Next Door An Interview with Brian Francis Slattery
staff Cynthia Clair executive director Debbie Hesse director of artistic services & programs Kyle Hamilton director of finance Matt Reiniger communications manager Denise Santisteban events & advertising coordinator Winter Marshall executive administrative assistant 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 Uma Ramiah David Silverstone Dexter Singleton Lindsay Sklar Richard S. Stahl, MD Rick Wies honorary members Frances T. “Bitsie” Clark Cheever Tyler
Fly on a Wall An Afternoon at Horizon Recording Studio
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Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus Ensemble to perform Andrew Lippa’s I Am Harvey Milk
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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Irregular Rendition Exhibition Mines the Meanings of “Law”
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 Carolyn Foundation 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 New Haven Living WPKN
SPRING EXHIBITIONS AT BEINECKE LIBRARY Free and open to the public Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library 121 Wall Street, New Haven, Connecticut beinecke.library.yale.edu
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TREASURES FROM JAPAN IN THE YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
FUN ON THE TITANIC: UNDERGROUND ART AND THE EAST GERMAN STATE
CASTING SHADOWS: INTEGRATION ON THE AMERICAN STAGE
through April 2, 2015
through April 11, 2015
through April 18, 2015
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Letter from the editor With this issue of The Arts Paper, we say goodbye to Julie Trachtenberg, who stepped down as the Arts Council’s development director and joined the marketing team at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. We wish Julie well in her new position and look forward to seeing her around town. She was a valuable member of our Arts Council team during the three years she worked with us and has become a good friend. This month, we’re pleased to introduce you to a few new contributors: Lucy Gellman, whose writing you might have seen in the New Haven Independent, and Cara McDonough, whose work has appeared in such publications as The Huffington Post and Salon. To this issue of The Arts Paper, Lucy contributed a piece about Irregular Rendition, an exhibit at the Fred.Giampietro Gallery curated by Lucy Hunter, a Ph.D. candidate in Yale University’s Department of the History of Art, and organized in conjunction with a symposium called The Legal
Medium, which was held at the Yale School of Law in February. The exhibit, as described by its organizers, “extends the keyword of ‘law’ to its full spectrum of uses: legislation, penal code, laws of physics, mathematical principles, universal truths.” Cara contributed a preview of brownsville song (b-side for Tray), a play by Kimber Lee that opens this month at Long Wharf Theatre. While at its core brownsville song is a story about gun violence, Cara explains in her piece that the work’s “greatest achievement lies in highlighting a world beyond the negative statistics.” For this month’s Artists Next Door feature, Hank Hoffman interviewed writer and musician Brian Slattery about his latest novel, The Family Hightower, which, Hank tells us, “asks big questions about the morality of unrestrained capitalism.” My contributions to this issue of The Arts Paper include an article about an oratorio by Andrew Lippa called I Am Harvey Milk, which the Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus will perform next month. During a January interview, Lippa told me that he’d long related to and admired the late California politician and human-rights activist and that “this was my way of picking up that torch.”
I also spent an afternoon at Horizon Recording Studio in West Haven, watching engineer and music-industry veteran Vic Steffens record drum parts for local musician Phil E. Brown. It’s a fly-on-the-studio-wall type of story about a bustling place here in town and its sage-like owner. Not to be left out, Arts Council intern Cooper Wall contributed a piece about EcoWorks, a new organization dedicated to turning trash into art supplies. Cooper also wrote about the Yale University Art Gallery and Artspace exhibit Odd Volumes: Book Art from the Allen Chasanoff Collection, which he took in before it closed on February 1. 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 The next issue of The Arts Paper will include an Artists Next Door feature by Hank Hoffman about local artist Cat Balco.
Albums line the walls of the entryway to Horizon Recording Studio. Read David Brensilver’s story about the storied studio on pages 6&7.
William Boughton, music director
Ans sel l Adam ms, Be ern nst tein & brub bec ck Thursday, March 12 Shubert Theater
Whistler in Paris, London, and Venice January 30–July 19, 2015
Celebrate America with works by Bernstein and Ellington, and a stunning visual tribute to Ansel Adams by NHSO Artistin-Residence Chris Brubeck. Maroon Bells, near Aspen, Colorado, 1951 Photograph by Ansel Adams (c)2014 The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.
Tr riump phan nt oic ces s: Vo Be eet tho ove en’s 9t th Thursday, April 2 Woolsey Hall BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 SCHOENBERG Survivor from Warsaw
YA L E U N I V E R S I T Y A R T GA L L E RY Free and open to the public Tues.–Fri. 10 am–5 pm | Thurs. until 8 pm (Sept.–June) | Sat.–Sun. 11 am–5 pm 1111 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut | 203.432.0600 | artgallery.yale.edu Image: James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Nocturne, from the First Venice Set, 1879–80. Etching and drypoint. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913
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artists next door
Family History Brian Francis Slattery’s Latest Novel is Spurred by Big Questions hank hoffman
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hat happens when things break down, when the world goes haywire? For author Brian Francis Slattery, that question is compelling grist for fiction. “You can almost sum up all my books that way,” he said in an interview at his Hamden home. “There is a thing creating chaos and then it’s a question of how people respond to it and what they do about it.” Slattery’s fourth novel, The Family Hightower (Seven Stories Press), came out last year. Steeped in history, international economics, organized crime, and violence, the compelling story ranges from the Roaring Twenties in Prohibition-era America to the post-Communist 1990s in gangster-plagued Eastern Europe. At its center is a dysfunctional Ukrainian-American family, the Hightowers, whose patriarch Peter Henry Hightower — born Petro Garko in Cleveland in the last year of the 19th century — is part Jay Gatsby, part Don Corleone.
His first three novels could loosely be characterized as science fiction. His debut, Spaceman Blues: A Love Story (Tor Books, 2007), was a finalist for the Connecticut Book Award. Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America (Tor Books, 2008) garnered a nod from Amazon as the best science-fiction book of the year. Lost Everything (Tor Books, 2012) won that year’s Philip K. Dick Award, given by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The latest novel grew out of a sketch Slattery had written about the family. “I remember really liking them. I thought this is a fun group of people but I have no idea what their deal is,” he told me. The book began taking shape when Slattery added the element of organized crime, a subject he was keen to write about. Hightower is the embodiment of the America myth of the self-made man. Making it big as a bootlegger in the early 1920s isn’t enough. In order to gain entrée into the city’s ruling class — to secure his own legit-
“In some ways, this book is like a big collage of true things held together by a fictional story.” — Brian
Francis Slattery
Nonfiction editing is Slattery’s day job, specializing in public-policy issues — particularly international economics and human rights. But with four published novels and many more short stories under his belt, he is cultivating a successful career as a fiction writer. And he is also a serious musician, playing violin, banjo, and trombone in the eclectic world music/folk band Dr. Caterwaul’s Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps. Dr. Caterwaul recently sold out two shows at Best Video in Hamden playing music from the TV series Twin Peaks.
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imacy laundering cash through legitimate construction businesses — he creates a fake patrician WASP identity out of whole cloth. He indeed makes his fortune. But his heirs over the next two generations can’t escape the fact that the family’s founding myth is a lie buttressed by violence. And that’s not the only founding myth Slattery is gunning for. When Hightower first shows Caroline, his bride-to-be, the huge mansion he is buying, Slattery writes, “It’s so grand it’s hostile; it makes the central myth of our country’s founding seem like the longest, biggest con of the last 200 years. Because if we’re all created equal in this country, then how does a place like this come to exist here?” The novel asks big questions about the morality of unrestrained capitalism. Hightower’s grandson Petey gets embroiled with Ukrainian mobsters in the 1990s. Among their most sordid activities is organ harvesting — acquiring livers, kidneys, corneas, and hearts, often through murder, for the black market. Organ harvesting was a practice Slattery came across while editing a book about sex trafficking. Slattery sees it as a metaphor, writing in the novel, “There’s a market out there for bodies, parts of bodies. Parts of us. It’s capitalism taken to its logical end, our complete rendering into a commodity.” Questions about the moral implications of these transactions and about the blurry lines between legal and illegal commerce drove the book, Slattery said. But he doesn’t
see himself as “political.” The tenor of the book was a natural outgrowth of “just trying to answer some questions and putting one foot in front the other and seeing where it goes,” said Slattery. Why a Ukrainian-American family? I asked. Slattery said, “You use the stuff you can actually get at, or come across.” In his day job, he edited a long book about the former Soviet republic’s transition from Communism to a market economy. Slattery found the information on the brief period when “it was a bit of a free-for-all” fascinating. His friend Christina Crowder informed him that there was a large émigré community in Cleveland and put him in touch with some of those people. “The details were there and everybody was generous with their time,” Slattery said. “With every book, I have this thing where I try and shoehorn in as many true things as possible. They’re too perfect as details,” Slattery said. “In some ways, this book is like a big collage of true things held together by a fictional story.” The book is rich with details and facts but they never get in the way of the storytelling. And Slattery was committed to getting those details and facts right. He invested hours talking with Crowder, who spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe in the 1990s when the transition from Communism to capitalism was at full boil. He read as much as he could about the topic. But for him, it wasn’t enough. “There are people who can make up things about places they haven’t been with authority but I’m not really one of them,” he said. After writing for a couple of months, he reached a point where he realized he had to go to Cleveland or risk getting things wrong. Later on, he faced a similar situation as he crafted his chapters set in Eastern Europe. “They were not quite as I pictured them,” Slattery recalls. “Of course, the reality is much more interesting.” To gather the details for scenes set in Eastern Europe, Slattery embarked on a
Brian Francis Slattery. Photo by Desirea Rodgers.
“week-and-a-half whirlwind,” visiting Kiev in Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova. “I needed to get the flavor of the place, know how it sounded and smelled and looked,” Slattery said. He compares it to location scouting for a film. Meeting up with Crowder, who happened to be in Romania at the same time, he told her, “I need a town that has this, this, and this in it.” She took him to Negostina, near Romania’s northern border with Ukraine. Negostina features in the novel as the hometown of a highly sympathetic character who meets a particularly gruesome end. Slattery likens the novel’s structure to that of the movie The Godfather II: “Here’s this giant mess. Now we’ll see how the mess was created. And now we’ll show you how they quote unquote get out of the mess and at what cost.” But he doesn’t think of his books in cinematic terms nor view them as potential film fodder. “One of the things I love about books is how crazy flexible they can be,” Slattery said. “There’s no budget, no special effects crew to worry about, no constraints like that. You can kind of move the camera around and move the story around in very flexible ways.” n Learn more about Brian Slattery at bfslattery.com.
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the ac sounds off on ...
Odd Volumes books-as-art, on display cooper wall
I
’ve always believed that books are inherently art. Maybe it’s my own pride and self-importance as a wannabe writer, but I believe the artistry that goes into creating a book is of the same importance as that which goes into paintings, or sculptures, or any of the myriad other, more traditional mediums. Until recently, I attributed the vast majority of that art to the author or, at the very least, to the illustrator of the book. It was my belief that it was the words in the book that made it comparable to brush and canvas. Even the metaphorical Holy Grail of book art, the Book of Kells, is important because of its content rather than its status as a book. A two-part exhibit recently on display at the Yale University Art Gallery and Artspace challenged this idea, showing me that there is a time and a place for judging a book by its cover. Odd Volumes: Book Art from the Allen Chasanoff Collection was a celebration of books as objects rather than as (particularly wordy) vessels. It was an exploration of the book as an artistic medium, tracing bookbinding’s artistic evolution from the 1960s to today’s Kindle- and tablet-permeated world. The books were sometimes broken, found after being discarded, cut up. But they were transformed into something new, and often something beautiful. The exhibit didn’t challenge what a book is as much as it explored what a book can be. The traditional trappings of a book — the binding, cover, and pages — were present in (almost) all of the pieces, but not in the way one might expect. For instance, a traditional book was carved by Megan Williams into a landscape of hills and valleys in her aptly titled work Altered Book Landscape. One of the exhibit’s more striking pieces was Byron Clercx’s Axiom, an ax with a handle made of pages taken from newspapers and works of postmodern art criticism and theory. Should that not be enough of a challenge to the concept of a book, the exhibit also offered Mary Ziegler’s The Necessity of Friction. The piece itself is simple. Ziegler rigged a copy of How Much is Too Much to be worn down by sandpaper at the push of a button. The grating dissonance from the piece when paired with the worn-down book (and, really, the exhibit as a whole) seemed to pose a question as to whether print is being made obsolete, whether the book as a physical object, rather than some electrons flying across a screen, can exist in modernity. If I’m being honest, I don’t know the answer to that. I would certainly like to believe that books in their current form still have some staying power. It could be that I’m just clinging tightly to the nostalgia of print and the old-book smell. The physicality of books, like most things, is a process of constant evolution, and I’m sure people were just as suspicious of the printing press as they are now of e-books. But Odd Volumes made one thing clear: Books as an art form will be evolving for quite some time to come. n
Megan Williams’ Altered Book Landscape, 1992. Found and cut copy of Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. Yale University Art Gallery, The Allan Chasanoff, B.A. 1961, Book Art Collection, curated with Doug Beube. © Megan Williams. Photo and caption courtesy of YUAG.
Mary Ziegler’s The Necessity of Friction, 1994. Found copy of Leonard Gross’s How Much is Too Much, electric motor, steel, magnesium, and sandpaper. Yale University Art Gallery, The Allan Chasanoff, B.A. 1961, Book Art Collection, curated with Doug Beube. © Mary Ziegler. Photo and caption courtesy of YUAG.
Byron D. Clercx’s Axiom (detail), ca. 1993. Found newspapers and theory books on postmodern art criticism with glue and resin, and metal. Yale University Art Gallery, The Allan Chasanoff, b.a. 1961, Book Art Collection, curated with Doug Beube. © Byron Clercx. Photo and caption courtesy of YUAG.
Cooper Wall, a student at Bennington College, is an Arts Council intern.
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Fly on the Studio Wall Observing a Recording Session in West Haven david brensilver photos by amanda may aruani
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ack in November, I spent a day at Horizon Recording Studio in West Haven, laying down drum tracks for a friend and colleague’s forthcoming album. It was the day before Thanksgiving. Outside, slush fell from the sky. Even with decent driving directions, the unassuming cinderblock structure can be difficult to find, located behind a couple of residential properties at the back of the Horizon Music Group’s “West Haven compound,” as it’s aptly described on the company’s website. Horizon Music Group is actually an umbrella for several related concerns, including the studio, which is owned and operated by Vic Steffens; HMG Records, a label managed by Steffens that showcases regional artists; and the Elm City Music Festival, a music conference that was organized in early November by Steffens, former Sony Music executive Michael Caplan, and other influential industry folks. Elm City Music, a Universal Music Group subsidiary owned and operated by Steffens, Caplan, and a third party and run in large part by Caplan, is part of the mix, though not technically part of Horizon Music Group. The studio has a lived-in sort of vibe. The brightly lit main recording room is cluttered with equipment and rolling sound baffles. In a way, the room looks like it hasn’t been used in quite some time, when, in reality, it’s in constant use. Maybe that’s because when one first enters the space, he or she sees a room full of equipment, arranged however the previous day’s session required, like the tools of ghosts that left no trace of themselves. The control room is cozy and more dimly lit than the recording space on the other side of the massive window that divides the two rooms. Christmas lights strung across the mixing console add a measure of ambiance to the place and a soft couch offers clients and visitors a comfortable vantage point from which to listen to what’s coming through the playback speakers. Before the console sits Steffens, his eyes on the computer monitors that show music being made and recorded. Steffens, a favorite-uncle type with a greying beard and shoulder-length hair that argues with the balding process, is a charming and generous music-industry sage whose vast experience is there for sharing. He’s part beloved professor whose office door is always open and part rock-and-roll veteran who loves to talk shop. Having thoroughly enjoyed the experience I had with Steffens the day before Thanksgiving, I’d asked if I could return to watch someone else go through the recording process — to be a fly on the wall while music was made and recorded. He and I exchanged email, trying to find a date that would make for a good story. After flirting with the idea of watching a heavy metal band from the Cayman Islands record, I
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jumped at the chance to hang around while a local jazz musician did his thing. New Haven-based drummer Phil E. Brown was coming in to record a drum track. It was right in my wheelhouse. I got there early, as it turned out, and hung out with Steffens and local reggae musician Fred “Professor B” Brown, who was listening to one of his recently recorded tracks. I asked Fred why he chose to record at Horizon. “I’ve known Vic for years,” he said. While anyone with a handful of today’s technology can record an album in his or her bedroom, not everyone knows how to market that music. “This is his job,” Brown said. “This is what he knows. He knows the music business.” Phil Brown, who’s also known Steffens for years, expressed similar sentiments, explaining that Steffens is patient and a “super engineer” whose primary interest is in getting the best out of a given client’s project. “He has a fantastic ear,” (Phil) Brown added. Steffens’ challenge on this particular January afternoon was to record Brown playing over a part he’d tracked 10 years earlier for a song called “Real Dreams,” a funky tune that he plans to include on a forthcoming album of music featuring his band, the Top Notch Ensemble. The song is an instrumental that features New Haven-based guitarist George Baker — who worked with the late Marvin Gaye — on guitar. While Brown wanted to redo his drum part to capture a better sound (a better snare-drum sound, in particular), Baker didn’t want to mess with his guitar part. The problem was that the only thing Steffens had to work with was the CD on which the original version of the song was included. In other words, he didn’t have access to the individual tracks themselves, and thus he had no way of extracting the original drum part from the recording. Brown had to play along to the CD, superimposing his performance on the one he recorded a decade ago. Asked how he was going to put the new drum part on top of the original in such a way that the latter wouldn’t get in the way or be heard much (if at all) in the final mix, Steffens said, while Brown warmed up on the house drum set, saxophonist Bobby Winters, who’d arrived with Brown, noodled a bit on his instrument, and studio intern Alphonso Dolberry set up microphones, “It’s going to have to be massaged very carefully … to minimize the other drum track.” Steffens set and started a click track so Brown would know when to start playing. “I’ll give you a four count, then you’re in,” Steffens told Brown through the talkback system. “Just relax at the beginning.” After Brown did a first take, I asked Steffens what he thought. “I don’t think it was the take,” he said. Between second and third takes, Steffens told Brown, “It’s getting better all the time.” In the middle of the third take, Steffens stopped and told Brown he’d punch him in
Phil E. Brown warms up on the house drum set at Horizon Recording Studio.
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before a particularly syncopated transition. “The front was good,” he said, and, focusing on the transition, acknowledged encouragingly that “that’s the hardest part right there.” After that take, Steffens ask Brown to play a series of cymbal crashes that punctuate the end of the tune so he could splice them in, if necessary. “I think we might have enough to make this work,” he told Brown. To those of use in the control room, Steffens said, “It should work. I’ve got to do a little editing.” Brown came into the control room to listen to his performance and mentioned the syncopations he’d just navigated his way through. “I don’t know why I played it like that 10 years ago,” he said. “It was just what I felt at that particular time.” Still, he seemed up for the challenge of trying to “duplicate what I did before.” And he seemed satisfied with his performance that day — and confident that Steffens would be able to bring the new drum part forward and push the original track as far down in the mix as possible. As I took my leave, equally confident that Steffens could do just that, I bid farewell to Fred Brown, Phil Brown, Winters, Dolberry, and Steffens, whom I told I’d talk to and see soon. I’ve got plans to record some of my own music, I warned him playfully. n
Vic Steffens, foreground, engineers Phil E. Brown’s recording session as Bobby Winters looks on.
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Trash to Treasure organization upcycles garbage cooper wall
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t this point in time, it’s almost impossible to avoid the triangular gaze of the recycling symbol. Everything we recycle is used again, turned into yet another thing we will have to recycle in a purgatorial environmental loop. This isn’t to say that the reuse of objects in itself is bad. It is, on the contrary, a rather necessary process if we are to protect the environment. There is an alternative to the cycle of recycling, however, and a more beautiful one. This is the process of upcycling, the reuse of waste in newly constructed objects. This is exactly what the Art Council’s newest member organization does. Founded in response to rising levels of both greenhouse gases and more terrestrial trash, EcoWorks is an organization that provides artists an alternative to traditional recycling. The organization’s concept is relatively simple: Donations
of waste materials ranging from maps to sheets of metal to upholstery fabric are given to EcoWorks, Ecoworks sells said “waste” to artists, the artists do their thing, and soon waste has been upcycled into art. One man’s trash, after all, is an artist’s next project. In addition to the upcycling store, EcoWorks offers two other types of services. First, to pair with the junk warehouse, a consignment shop-slash-art boutique selling, as its website puts it, “everything from clothing and jewelry to lawn ornaments, decorative arts and furniture.” In other words, the New Haven facility is a nearly self-contained version of upcycling, nurturing, and requiring the catalytic abilities of artists. EcoWorks is able to provide the beginnings of artistic works through the warehouse as well as one possible ending to said works through the consignment shop. What, then, of the middle of the process? How does one get from point A to point B? For the burgeoning artist who is unsure of how to dive into the scrap pile or the experienced upcycler looking for a touch of guidance on a new project, EcoWorks offers a number of events, classes, and workshops. At press time, there is only
one upcoming event listed on the organization’s website (“i.heart.trash,“ a silent auction and concert to raise money for all things trash), but past events have ranged from a traditional art workshop to a compost-pile labyrinth. Literally. These provide a bridge from warehouse to consignment, providing the last link in the cycle of upcycling. EcoWorks is almost an artistic microcosm unto itself, the beginning, middle, and end to any junk-driven artistic venture. The newest member to the arts council comes with a bit of a pedigree as well. Sherill Baldwin, one of EcoWorks’ founding members as well as its current chair, has more than 25 years of experience in resource and materials management, including a current job with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. In all regards, EcoWorks seems like an organization fully dedicated to art and the environment, both individually and as one entity. n Learn more at ecoworksct.org.
“EcoWorks is almost an artistic microcosm unto itself, the beginning, middle, and end to any junk-driven artistic venture.”
Cooper Wall, a student at Bennington College, is an Arts Council intern.
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Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus to Perform I Am Harvey Milk oratorio celebrates late human-rights champion and movement david brensilver
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reg McMahan was in the audience on October 6, 2014, when Andrew Lippa’s hour-long oratorio I Am Harvey Milk was performed at Avery Fisher Hall, at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. It was the East Coast premiere of the work, and, coincidentally, the very day that the Supreme Court of the United States made an important statement. As The New York Times’ Adam Liptak put it in the lede of his October 6, 2014, news story, “Supreme Court Delivers Tacit Win to Gay Marriage”: “The Supreme Court on Monday let stand appeals court rulings allowing same-sex marriage in five states, a major surprise that could signal the inevitability of the right of same-sex marriage nationwide.” The final song of Lippa’s oratorio, a finale called “Tired of the Silence,” which uses Milk’s own words — specifically the imploring words “come out” — is “what got me in New York,” McMahan said, explaining that while he thought the Lincoln Center audience might be a little jaded, what he experienced that night was a concert hall full of empowered individuals. “It’s very moving,” McMahan said of the oratorio. “Strictly musically, it’s gorgeous.” McMahan, the artistic director of the Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus, which will perform I Am Harvey Milk next month at the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School in New Haven, put those comments in perspective, saying, “I’m sort of out all the time,” and “we often forget that it is still an issue.” “It,” of course, being equality. “I never expected in my lifetime to have marriage (equality),” McMahan said.
Kristin Chenoweth and Noah Marlowe in I Am Harvey Milk, with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the All-Star Broadway Men’s Chorus. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
I Am Harvey Milk received its premiere on June 27, 2014, one day after the United States Supreme Court ruled that a key portion of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. Like the namesake of his oratorio, Lippa said he was in his 40s when he got involved in gay politics. Milk was the first openly gay politician to hold public office in California, having been elected in 1977 to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. Tragically, less than a year after taking office, Milk and the city’s mayor, George Moscone, were assassinated by Daniel White, who’d recently quit the Board of Supervisors. Milk was 48 when he died, the same age Lippa was when I Am Harvey Milk
“This was my way of picking up that torch.” —
Andrew Lippa
Around the time that the Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus performs Lippa’s oratorio, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in four same-sex marriage cases, with a ruling expected in June. Specifically, the high court will, according to a January 16 order, answer two questions: “Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?” and “Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?”
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was premiered by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in June 2013, having been commissioned by that organization and six others. As a gay man and a Jew, Lippa related to and was inspired by Milk and the movement he championed. When in October 2011 Dr. Timothy Seelig, artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, reached out to Lippa asking if he’d be interested in writing a five-minute piece about Harvey Milk — to be performed alongside related pieces by other composers — Lippa, the composer of such Broad-
way hits as The Addams Family and Big Fish, asked, “Can I write the whole thing?” “This was my way of picking up that torch,” Lippa said. Composing I Am Harvey Milk was also a way for Lippa to represent gay culture the way he wanted to, and not in the way that many entertainment vehicles have and do. Pointing out that there have been gay characters conceived and portrayed with dignity, Lippa said his interest in gay minstrelsy is minimal. “I’m not fond of gays portrayed as mincing faggots,” Lippa, now 50, said. Lippa’s husband, David Bloch, worked in marketing for Focus Features when the company produced the award-winning 2008 film Milk, starring Sean Penn. Bruce Cohen, who worked as a producer on that film and on Lippa’s oratorio, is the president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, a nonprofit organization that was instrumental in having California’s 2008 ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, overturned via Hollingsworth v. Perry. “He produced that case,” Lippa said, pun intended, of Cohen. As much as I Am Harvey Milk was composed to celebrate the life of Harvey Milk and the human-rights movement he championed, it was also written for all those for whom basic human rights seem elusive or unavailable. Not too long ago, Lippa received an email from a man named Daniel Cords, who’s had the pleasure of performing I Am Harvey Milk with the Seattle Men’s Chorus and who, in 2006, having been treated by his family as though something were wrong with him, tried to kill himself. Cords wanted Lippa to know how much the ora-
torio means to him. Lippa, in response — a piece of correspondence Lippa shared in a column titled “Why I Wrote I Am Harvey Milk,” published on September 29, 2014, by the Huffington Post — told Cords (in part), that in retrospect, “I wrote it for you. I wrote it for anyone who has ever had to hide or keep secret their true nature.” n The Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus will perform Andrew Lippa’s I Am Harvey Milk, starring Jeff Price and Maureen Peitler-Lederman on Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and April 26, at the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, 177 College St., New Haven. Visit ctgmc.org for more information.
Andrew Lippa. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
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Legally Artistic, Like You’ve Never Seen Before exhibition mines the meanings of “law”
Narcissister’s Untitled (Bare Breasted), a two-channel digital video installation. Image and information courtesy of the artist and the Fred.Giampietro Gallery.
lucy gellman
B
y his second year as a student at the Yale School of Law, Amar Bakshi couldn’t stop thinking about the intersection of making and legality. The pioneer of Portals, a web-based video project intended “to get everyday people from very different cultures standing face to face and talking,” Bakshi’s thoughts went far beyond the marriage of art and law that had been proposed in his classes and local museums; instead of art law, restitution, or even art as a manifestation of protest, he was drawn by something much bigger. Specifically, by four main domains “in which law is operative and in which artists can use the domain of law”: laws of the human body, laws of the built and natural environment, laws of the digital world, and laws of the political body. The brainchild of those thoughts, grace à a grant from the School of Law, the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, and partnerships with several organizations around Yale University’s Campus, was The Legal Medium, a two-day symposium held at the end of February. Its goal, in Bakshi’s words, was to allow viewers to “tease out of this conversation some ways what this is, how you articulate the ways in which law is used.” “You see a lot of very interesting artistic practices that are not necessarily about law, and that are not necessarily defined by their attempt to shape law, rather they’re defined by their engagement with it. It’s not quite social practice, it’s not advocacy, per se, it’s sort of this hybrid amalgam. Materials resist.
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Just as paint resists a certain type of pliability, so do legal regimes,” he explained in a recent interview. A cross-campus initiative involving graduate and undergraduate students in history, art history law, drama, philosophy, sociology, and political science, the symposium featured artists like Jonah Bokaer, a dancer and choreographer who engages both the laws of the body and the laws — and limits — of the visual when he takes to the stage or studio each day; Mary Ellen Caroll, who is actively lobbying to turn old cable lines into public sources of WiFi; conceptual poet Kenny Goldsmith, who advocates “uncreative writing” and uncreative thinking; and, via video, performance artist Tania Bruguera, whose staging an openmic protest outside Cuban government headquarters at Revolution Square on December 29, 2014, warranted her arrest in Cuba. But The Legal Medium, which also featured several academic voices from in-
side and outside Yale, did not stop there. In August of last year, second-year doctoral candidate Lucy Hunter expressed interest in joining the conversation from her place in the contemporary art world, and since she has done so in a very big way. Through March 14, her exhibition Irregular Rendition is on view at the newly opened Giampietro Gallery on Chapel Street. In an interview with The Arts Paper, Hunter explained that she — like Bakshi and other organizers of the symposium — wanted to go further than art law and art as inherently political, and Irregular Rendition does so as it “extends the keyword of ‘law’ to its full spectrum of uses: legislation, penal code, laws of physics, mathematical principles, universal truths.” In curating the exhibition, Hunter was interested in selecting a cohort of nationally and internationally recognized, politicized, activized, and occasionally even criminalized artists like Timothy Bergstrom, Melissa Brown, Mary Ellen Carroll, Tyler Coburn, Brock
“I knew in doing a show about law that it had to be broader than intersections of art and law literally.” — Lucy Hunter
Enright, Coco Fusco, Nicolás Guagnini, David Horvitz, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Alexandra Lerman, R. Lyon, Gordon Matta-Clark, Park McArthur, and Narcissister. “This is a means for me to have absolutely amazing conversations with artists about ideas that feel pressing, and to leave a bunch of questions out in the air that visitors to the gallery will be able to engage in,” Hunter said. “I knew in doing a show about law that it had to be broader than intersections of art and law literally. I felt the kind of questions one could ask or one could come away with could be broadened by artists who have a materially based practice as opposed to a more intellectually based practice, who are literally working with the laws of how, for example, crystals grow (R. Lyon) ... a really wide net of people whose practices I felt were in conversation.” Her quest to select “artists who were asking questions that were ... playing with the cleanliness or stability of ideas that have to do with law or social norms or social hierarchies,” hits the mark with work that ranges from legally and socially invested to literally unlawful to subverting the law for aesthetic purposes. Like Fusco’s. Probably best known for her repeated artistic performances as Dr. Zira (Planet of the Apes), which cunningly place systems of economic, social, and racial inequality on display, or more recently as the “provocateur” in Elia Alba’s The Supper Club (2014), Fusco adds a dimension of socially invested and interrogatory work to the exhibition. Or, on a more unlawful front, New
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York-based Enright. While Hunter commissioned a piece specifically for the exhibition, she chose his work because “hanging in the background” of Irregular Rendition will be his career as a professional kidnapping artist; Enright creates elaborate performances in which his “victims” — who have, after extensive conversations and a meaty contract, legally agreed to be kidnapped — must come face-to-face with their worst fears. “It’s obviously a very thorny intersection of consent and what is potentially a very traumatic experience,” Hunter said of drawing on his work. In this vein there are also pieces like Mary Ellen Carroll’s Federal (2003), a 24-hour recording of the front and rear of Charles Luckman’s Federal Building in Los Angeles that literally brings into focus the built environment and politics of surveillance. Shot in two films and riveting because of its monotony, the project compels the viewer to call into question the restrictions and laws a country has created by picturing the womb of those restrictions itself. Hunter’s intuitive sense of what fits under the purview of “law” or “legal” is delightfully broad, and this is where the exhibition finds its sense of propulsion and relative ingenuity. The inclusion of artists like Mierle Ukeles, whose Re-Spect (five photographs, all 1993) orchestrates ballets for largely unused emergency service equipment in Givors, France, is exhilarating, a performance that viewers can almost feel they’re taking part in as they watch fire hoses explode with no fire in sight, emergency vehicles line the banks of Givors’ river, and barges line up with nowhere to go quickly. “It seems so joyful ... the people who have spent their lives in training to be able to manage a crisis can kind of enjoy their skills outside of a life or death situation, the whole town gathering by the side of the river to watch this parade of performances. To me, the show is looking at denaturalization, to expose or articulate an infrastructure that seems invisible, but is wholly important,” Hunter added. With this in mind, viewers may also delight at the inclusion of Gordon Matta-Clark, who in name alone conjures a series of sawed, carved, and collaged SoHo buildings that immediately interrogate the built environment. His Pier 52: Day’s End, Day’s End Pier 52, and Day’s End (Pier 52) (Exterior with Ice) (all 1975) in the exhibition do the same, leaving the viewer wanting to uncover the possibility of a deeper story of the piers lining the New York waterfront. And, perhaps, a deeper story of what is legally engaged or motivated in the aesthetic sphere. The show is a jumping-off point, and with Hunter’s guidance, there is only the option of swimming intently — if not without minor discomfort — to an artistic shore where almost anything can happen. n Visit giampietrogallery.com for
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Alexandra Lerman’s NC, 2014 (terracotta, glaze, and wood). Image and information courtesy of the artist and the Fred.Giampietro Gallery.
Untitled work (plaster, plastic helicopter, and crystal) by R. Lyon. Image and information courtesy of the artist and the Fred.Giampietro Gallery.
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CALENDAR
The New Haven Museum presents An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven’s Monuments Man through May 9. Pictured: Deane Keller in 1945 near Florence, Italy, with a statue of Cosimo de’Medici. Deane Keller papers (MS 1685). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. Photo and caption information courtesy of New Haven Museum.
Classes & Workshops A Fresh Perspective Art Studio and Gallery 116 Elm St., Cheshire. 203-444-5705. afreshperspectiveartstudioandgallery.com. Figure Drawing Class with Liz Scott. Have you ever wanted to learn how to draw the human figure or build on your current skills? This class is unique in that it is suited for both the beginner and the more advanced student. You will learn to draw the figure from a live model using charcoal. Model and materials included Fridays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., through March 13. Call for pricing. ACES Educational Center for the Arts 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/schools/eca. Creative Dramatics. Quality acting classes on Saturdays for kids and teens, ages 8-11 and 12-16. Call Ingrid Schaeffer, theater department chair, at 203795-9011 or email ingrids@optonline.net. Classes are held 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)
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and Get Messy art for preschoolers. Visit website for a full calendar and to register online. Classes ongoing through March. Artsplace 1220 Waterbury Road, Cheshire. 203272-2787. 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 dog park. Easy access to Route 84 and centrally located in beautiful Cheshire. Visit website or call for information. Typically classes run for seven weeks and are offered Saturdays, and Mondays through Thursdays, through March 28. Prices vary from choice of one-time workshop with fee of $20 to three-hour classes over seven-week session costing $155. Connecticut Natural Science Educators Yale Peabody Museum Community Education Center, 230 West Campus Drive, Orange. 203-934-0878. ctnsi.com. Art Classes in Natural Science Illustration. Our classes and workshops focus on all aspects of drawing and painting from nature. We welcome students of all levels and abilities. Classes in beginning and advanced drawing, pen and ink, botanical watercolors, painting birds and mammals, and mixed-media painting. Classes offered Monday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., March 1-April 30, at 230 West Campus Drive, in Orange.
Visit ctnsi.com, email ctnsi.info@gmail.com, or call 203-934-0878. Elm City Dance Collective Center for the Arts at Christ Church, 84 Broadway, lower level (entrance on Elm Street), New Haven. 860-451-9421. elmcitydance.org. Intermediate Contemporary Dance Class. A vigorous dance experience focusing on full-body articulation, use of weight, expressing individual artistry, the joys of movement, and dancing as part of a community. Class is intended to be high energy, challenging and fun. Some modern, contemporary, or ballet experience recommended; walk-ins welcome. Tuesday evenings, 6-7:30 p.m., through April 21. $15 drop-in, $60 five-class pass, $150 10-class pass. Club Fusion Dance Class. Come get your groove on in this all-out dance party taught in a welcoming follow-along style. Class begins with warm-up and conditioning movements, and then builds to a high-energy dance jam that will leave you sweaty, happy, and energized. No judgment; amazing music; low lights; good people. No dance training necessary; vigorous class. Thursday evenings, 6-7:30 p.m., through April 23. $15 drop-in, $60 fiveclass pass, $150 15-class pass. Open-Company Class/Advanced Technique. This class will explore dance technique as a foundation for warming up the body to prepare for dynamic and virtuosic movement. We will fall into and out of the floor for a full-body dance experience recruiting
ease in effort, weight, and clarity. Previous dance experience recommended. Walk-ins welcome. No class April 5. Classes offered every Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., through April 26, at the Connecticut Capoeira and Dance Center, 1175 State St., Suite 207, New Haven. Call 860-451-9421 or visit elmcitydance.org/youth-camps. $15 drop-in. J.C. ArtGlass Designs 698 Main St. (rear), Branford.203-481-0408. jcartglass.com. Stained Glass Workshop. This two-day workshop will go through all the process required to create your own stained glass artwork. Students with no previous knowledge of cutting glass will create a finished panel of approximately 10” x 18.” Students will leave with the knowledge to be able to create works on their own. March 21 and March 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Payment must be made at time of enrollment. $150, includes all materials. 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. Fridays, March 6 and March 20, 8-10:30 p.m. Royal Scottish Country Dance Society Whitney Arts Center, 591 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-
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Exhibitions ACES Educational Center for the Arts 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca. ACES ECA Vision: New Work from the Third Quarter. Opening reception: March 25, 5-7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Artspace 50 Orange St, New Haven. 203-7722709. artspacenh.org. Vertical Reach: Political Protest and the Militant Aesthetic Now. An exhibition that uses the current political climate in Eastern Europe as a framework to explore how acts of protest and assembly behave when presented as artistic practice. The show brings together socially engaged works by collectives and individuals from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and the United States. On view through May 2. Wednesday and Thursday, 12-6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 12-8 p.m.
Works by Tom Peterson are featured in Neighborhood Walks, on view at City Gallery March 5 - March 29. Image courtesy of Mr. Peterson.
281-6591. rscdsnewhaven.org. Scottish Country Dancing. Enjoy dancing the social dances of Scotland. Come alone or with a friend. All dances taught. Wear soft-soled non-street shoes. Every Tuesday evening, 7:45-10 p.m., through May. $8 per evening. First night free. 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 through March 31.
Dance 12-13 Thursday-Friday New Dances: Faculty Repertory ACES Educational Center for the Arts, 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 7 p.m. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca.
City Gallery 994 State St., New Haven.203-7822489. city-gallery.org. Neighborhood Walks. Tom Peterson’s exhibition of urban photography, with emphasis on diverse, colorful neighborhoods. The juxtaposition of images provides the viewer with a walking tour that is uniquely American. On view Thursday-Sunday, 12-4 p.m., March 5-March 29. Opening reception: Sunday, March 8, 2-5 p.m.
yale institute of sacred music presents James Taylor · Robert Mealy · Avi Stein
Handel: La Resurrezione
tuesday, march 24 · 7:30 pm
Battell Chapel, 400 College St. at Elm, New Haven Presented with support from the Helicon Foundation
Compagnia de’ Colombari
Everything That Rises Must Converge wednesday, march 25 · 7:30 pm Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, 1 Prospect St., New Haven
Yale Camerata · Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor
Gabriel Jackson: Passion sunday, march 29 · 4 pm
Trinity Church on the Green, Temple & Chapel St, New Haven All events are free and open to the public; no tickets required. ism.yale.edu
Fred.Giampietro Gallery 1064 Chapel St., New Haven. 203-777-7760. giampietrogallery.com. Irregular Rendition curated by Lucy Hunter. Staged in conjunction with a symposium at Yale Law School, this exhibit 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 visit thelegalmedium.com/exhibition. On view Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., through March 14. Free. Enrico Riley. With works by Christopher Mir. Opening reception: Saturday, March 21, 6-8 p.m. On view Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., March 21-April 25. Free.
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Guilford Art Center 411 Church St., Guilford. 203453-5947. guilfordartcenter.org. Faculty Exhibition. Exhibit of works in all media by GAC faculty members. On view Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday, 12-4 p.m., through March 8. Free admission.
72 church st - new haven 203-777-7727 www.redtomado.com #redtomado | @redtomado
John Slade Ely House Center for Contemporary Art 51 Trumbull St., New Haven. 203-624-8055. elyhouse.org.
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Aspiring dancers participate in a master class during DanceMasters Weekend at the Wesleyan University Center for the Arts in 2012. Photo by Kenny Beaudette.
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look at the products made in New Haven. On view Monday-Saturday (and first Sunday of the month, which varies) through May 30. Adults $4, seniors $3, students $2, those younger than 12 admitted free. An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven’s Monuments Man. During WWII, “monuments men” — soldiers whose job it was to protect cultural heritage during wartime — were dispatched, for the first time. Deane Keller of New Haven was among them. The New Haven Museum presents a special exhibit celebrating Keller’s life and his contributions to the preservation of many of the world’s iconic works of art. On view through May 9. Visit newhavenmuseum.org for hours. 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 every day, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., when school is in session, through March 7. Free.
Galas & Fundraisers 21 Saturday Shubert Theatre 100th Anniversary Gala Celebration An evening of dinner, dancing, and merriment on the legendary Shubert Stage! Shubert Theatre, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com. The British acid jazz-funk group Incognito kicks off the 2015 jazz series at Southern Connecticut State University’s John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts on March 28. Photo courtesy of the Lyman Center.
114th Annual Juried Art Exhibition of the New Haven Paint and Clay Club. The New Haven Paint and Clay Club is having its annual art exhibition and sale. Opening reception: March 22, 2-5 p.m. Awards will be presented at 3 p.m. On view Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday, 2-5 p.m., March 22-April 12. For more information about the club, visit newhavenpaintandclayclub. org. Exhibits are always free and open to the public. Kehler Liddell Gallery 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 203-389-9555. kehlerliddell.com. Appearances and Apparitions. Peek through the lens of two distinct photographic styles — the urban patterns and textures of Mark St. Mary’s work and the haunting landscapes by Alan Shulik — in this exhibit, which is on view through March 22. For more information, visit kehlerliddell.com or call 203.389.9555. Free. The Whole Wide World/Breaking Bread. See two concurrent shows March 26-April 26. Opening
reception: March 29, 3-6 p.m. Photographer Marjorie Gillette Wolfe presents archival pigment photographs in “The Whole Wide World” and painter Frank Bruckmann displays a series of oil paintings in “Breaking Bread.” Visit kehlerliddell. com or call 203-389-9555. Free.
28 Saturday Le Jazz ... Swanky Songs with a French Twist Neighborhood Music School’s signature fundrais-
Mary C. Daley Art Gallery 167 Neck Road, Madison. 203-245-0401. mercybythesea.org. Time Reconsidered. Photographic triptychs of travel in China by Roy Money. The re-seeing of a 2013 trip to China through the “lens” of Zen practice. On view daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., through March 26. New Haven Museum 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-562-4183. newhavenmuseum.org. From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven. An exhibition that highlights an astonishing variety of goods that were, and some that still are, produced in the Elm City. Featuring more than 100 objects, advertisements, trade cards, and photographs, with a wide-ranging and sometimes humorous
Photography Intimate and Timeless
Judy Sirota Rosenthal Liz Diamond, left, directs Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the Yale Repertory Theatre, March 20-April 11. Photo of Liz Diamond by Erik Pearson, photo of Bertolt Brecht by Jörg Kolbe, both courtesy of Yale Rep.
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~ info@sirotarosenthal.com ~ www.sirotarosenthal.com march 2015 •
The Arts Paper march 2015
ing event to benefit City Initiative, a tuition-free comprehensive music educational program serving more than 50 New Haven Public School students and NMS’ financial aid program which serves more than 300 students each year. This Parisian Supper Club event will feature live jazz and cabaret, and more. Roia Restaurant, 261 College St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
29 Sunday Cabaret and Silent Auction Join the New Haven Oratorio Choir for a fun-filled afternoon featuring the diverse talents of NHOC members and friends. Entertainment, food and drinks, and a silent auction will be featured. Special guests: Dr Caterwaul’s Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps. Don’t miss this event. There will be surprises galore! Tickets will be available at the NHOC website and at the door. Lyric Hall, 827 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 860-742-0621. nhoratorio.org.
Kids & Families Paul Mellon Arts Center 332 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice. Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl and Other Stories. Based on the best-selling stories Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold and Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, this one-hour musical from Theatreworks USA follows the adventures of our favorite bugs. Appropriate for ages 4 and older. Sunday, March 29, 2 p.m. Adults $15, children (12 and younger) $10. Hamden Arts Commission Thornton Wilder Hall in Miller Cultural Complex, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-287-2546. hamdenartscommission.org. Pirate School with Billy Bones. The region’s most popular pirate, featured in New York Magazine’s “Best of NY: Kids,” returns to Hamden. Bumbling pirate Billy Bones, an amiable bumpkin of a buccaneer with a heart of gold, comes with his treasure chest of classic slapstick comedy, magic, bubble-play, music, a rusty bugle, and scads of participatory fun. Saturday, March 7, 1 p.m. Admission: $2 children, $3 adults. Spoken-word and hip-hop artist Sage Francis appears with rap artist Ceschi at Toad’s Place on March 15. Photo of by Joel Frijoff.
Music 1 Sunday Music at The Russell House: Stanley Maxwell Stanley Maxwell plays original music with intricate group improvisations and has won an Independent Music Award for Best Jazz Song. The quartet features Andy Chatfield (drums), Mark Crino (bass), Eric DellaVecchia (alto saxophone), and Evan Green (piano). At Wesleyan University, the band will present original acoustic tunes, including several world premieres. 3 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, The Russell House,
350 High St., Middletown. 860-685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events/2015/03-2015/ 03012015stanley-maxwell.htm.
4 Wednesday Live Jazz with Blue Plate Radio Join us in the living room for a free live jazz series, taking place on the first and third Wednesdays of every month, through April. We’ll be listening to local jazz musicians brought to us through Blue Plate Radio, a popular online jazz station. Future dates: March 18, April 1, and April 15. 5-7 p.m. Free. JCC of Greater New Haven, 360 Amity Road, Woodbridge. 203-387-2522.
6 Friday Yale Schola Cantorum: Vespers Masaaki Suzuki, guest conductor. 5:30 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Christ Church Episcopal, 84 Broadway, New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu/ event/yale-schola-cantorum-vespers.
7 Saturday O.N.E. OnDemand Vote online for your top 10 favorites from Orchestra New England’s list of repertoire, 41 years in the making. Attend the OnDemand concert on March 7 at Battell Chapel as O.N.E. performs the pieces that receive the most votes. 7:30-9 p.m. $20 general admission, $35 reserved seats, $5 student rush tickets at the door. Battell Chapel, 400 College St., New Haven. 203777-4690. orchestranewengland.org. Viva Italia! Martha Oneppo, soprano; Terrence B. Fay, tenor; and Alexis Zingale, piano. Works by Bellini, Tosti, and others. Featured are arias from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. 7 p.m. Free. Neighborhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
8 Sunday
The Connecticut-based jazz quartet Stanley Maxwell performs original compositions on Sunday, March 1, at The Russell House, as part of the “Music at The Russell House” series presented by Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts. Image courtesy of the artists.
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Haven String Quartet at George Flynn Classical Concerts The Haven String Quartet joins a distinguished roster of performers in this special shoreline concert series. For more information, visit georgeflynnclassicalconcerts.com or musichavenct.org. 4 p.m. William Stanton Andrews Memorial Town Hall, 54 East Main St., Clinton. 203-745-9030. musichavenct.org.
St Luke’s Steel Band The ensemble returns to Hamden to perform “The Joyous Sounds of Steel Drums.” The group’s repertoire includes calypso, reggae, classical, and island folk music. 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 in Miller Cultural Complex, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-287-2546. hamdenartscommission.org.
12 Thursday Classics Series: Ansel Adams, Bernstein & Brubeck Celebrate America with works by Bernstein, Ellington, and a stunning visual tribute to Ansel Adams by New Haven Symphony Orchestra artist-in-residence Chris Brubeck. 7:30pm-9:30 p.m. $15-$74, students $10, KidTix free with adult. New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-865-0831. NewHavenSymphony.org.
13 Friday Dances, Ayres, and Fantasias Neighborhood Music School faculty concert featuring Julia Blue Raspe, voice and recorders; Marshall Barron, violin; Phoebe Barron, violin, viola da gamba, and recorders; Rosamund Morley, viola da gamba; Grace Feldman, viola da gamba and violin; and Margaret Ann Martin, keyboards. Works by Orlando Gibbons and William Byrd. 12:10 p.m. Free. Neighborhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
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10 Tuesday March Meeting and Artist Demonstration Mark Battista will present “Creating the Expressive Portrait in Watercolor,” using a process of building up form through a succession of washes. He will share his approach to complementing areas of great detail with passages that are much looser and more expressive. Color harmony, edge control, and tips to construct a solid rendering will be addressed. 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. 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-494-2316. hamdenartleague.com.
Talks & Tours New Haven Symphony Orchestra artist-in-residence Chris Brubeck joins the ensemble for a March 12 program at the Shubert Theater that includes a world-premiere performance of a newly commissioned work, his Trombone Concerto No. 1, Duke Ellington’s The River Suite, Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, and Ansel Adams: America, a work composed by Brubeck and his legendary father, Dave Brubeck, that will be presented with a compelling visual element. Photo courtesy of NHSO.
Ragtime from Joplin to Jelly Roll Featuring Gretchen Frazier, violin; Lawrence Zukof, recorder; Reesa Gringorten, clarinet; Yun-Yang Lin, cello; Margaret Ann Martin, piano; and Art Hovey, tuba. Works by Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, Jelly Roll Morton, and others. 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Neighborhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
18 Wednesday Live Jazz with Blue Plate Radio Join us in the living room for a free live jazz series, taking place on the first and third Wednesdays of every month through April. We’ll be listening to local jazz musicians brought to us through Blue Plate Radio, a popular online jazz station. Future dates: April 1 and April 15. 5-7 p.m. Free. JCC of Greater New Haven, 360 Amity Road, Woodbridge. 203-387-2522.
Church, 450 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-7872346. bethesdanewhaven.org.
24 Tuesday Faculty Recital: Handel’s La resurrezione James Taylor, tenor, featuring Yale School of Music faculty members. Presented with support from the Helicon Foundation. 7:30 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Battell Chapel, 300 College St., New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu/event/ faculty-recital-handel-la-resurrezione.
19 Thursday Music Haven Rush Hour Concert IV Wind down after work with a 40-minute show and a glass of a wine. Explore Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009 (performed by Philip Boulanger) and Xenakis’ Mikka (performed by Gregory Tompkins) in a relaxed setting, and discover what makes the music brilliant. Admission: $8 ($5 students/seniors). 5:30 p.m. Music Haven, 117 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 203-745-9030. musichavenct.org.
Contemporary Tonal Music for Trumpet in a Trio Ensemble Featuring Daniel Duncan, trumpet, and guests McNeil Johnston, violin, and Andrew Gordon, piano. Featuring the music of James Stephenson III, Erik Morales, and others. 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Neighborhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
21 Saturday
29 Sunday
Four-Zando: Four Pianists, No Rules! Featuring Margaret Ann Martin, Vicky Reeve, Laura Richling, and George Melillo. Works by Poulenc, Rachmaninoff, Cornick, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others. 7 p.m. Free. Neighborhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
Yale Camerata: Palm Sunday Concert Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor. Gabriel Jackson’s Passion. 4 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Trinity Church on the Green, corner of Chapel and Temple streets, New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale. edu/event/yale-camerata-palm-sunday-concert.
22 Sunday Scarlatti and Brahms: Eric Trudel, pianist We invite you to an hour-long program with Canadian concert pianist Eric Trudel, who returns to move us with his deep artistry. Free parking. Reception to follow. Bring a friend! 4 p.m. Freewill offering. Bethesda Music Series, Bethesda Lutheran
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“The Nature of Mindfulness,” Book Reading Branford-based writer Jen Payne will read from her new book Look Up! Musings on the Nature of Mindfulness. 6:30-8 p.m. at Branford High School, 185 East Main St., Branford. Books will be available for purchase. Class size is limited to allow for group discussion. Please register through Branford Adult Education (class No. B-547) at erace-adulted.org. Free. 203-483-5353.
Theater Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature film,
The Caucasian Chalk Circle By Bertolt Brecht, directed by Liz Diamond. In the war-torn country of Grusinia, a young servant named Grusha rescues the abandoned baby of a deposed governor and raises him as her own. Years later, the ruler’s wife returns. March 20-April 11. Tuesday-Saturday at 8 p.m., as well as Monday, March 23, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, March 28, at 2 p.m.; Wednesday, April 1, at 2 p.m.; Saturday, April 4, at 2 p.m.; and Saturday, April 11, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. University Theatre, 222 York St., New Haven. 203-4321234. yalerep-tickets.yale.edu. The Brothers Grimm and A Showgirl Award-winning Pantochino Productions presents this wildly imaginative family musical delivering favorite fairy tales performed by the Brothers Grimm themselves. Assisted by a fabulously feathered showgirl, the show features spoofs and goofs on Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty, among others. March 27-March 29. Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. All seats $18 online, $20 at the door. Milford Arts Council, 40 Railroad Ave. South, Milford. 203-937-6206. pantochino.com.
27 Friday Franz Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet Faculty concert featuring Mark Rike, violin; Bethany Wilder, viola; Yun-Yang Lin, cello; guest artist Andrea Beger, double bass; and Ingeborg Schimmer, piano. 12:10 p.m. Free and open to the public. Neighborhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
Music Haven Presents Join us in welcoming acclaimed composer Yevgeniy Sharlat as our special guest as the Haven String Quartet presents the music of Sharlat, Shostakovich, and Weinberg. Unitarian Society of New Haven 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. Admission: $20, $10 students, seniors, and Unitarian Society of New Haven members (tickets available at musichavenct.org/ concerts). 7:30 p.m. Music Haven, Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. 203-745-9030. musichavenct.org.
4 Wednesday
the show has won the hearts of millions of people worldwide. This eye-popping spectacle is filled with unforgettable characters, lavish sets and costumes, and dazzling production numbers including “Be Our Guest” and the beloved title song. March 5-8. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Ticket prices vary with seat location. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-5625666. shubert.com.
Special Events 7-8 Saturday-Sunday DanceMasters Weekend The Wesleyan University Center for the Arts presents “a two-day immersion in contemporary dance.” Master classes will be presented by such trailblazing artists as Brian Brooks and the Brian Brooks Moving Company, Wendy Whalen, David Dorfman and David Dorfman Dance, Ronald K. Brown and Evidence: A Dance Company, Diane Walker, Roxane D’Orleans Juste and Limon Dance Company, Stuart Singer and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Alison Manning, Bill Hastings, Kate Weare and Kate Weare Company, Raphael Xavier, and Eddie Taketa and Doug Varone and Dancers. Visit wesleyan.edu/cfa/dancemasters for schedule and registration information.
march 2015 •
The Arts Paper march 2015
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 Artist Members Kehler Liddell Gallery in New Haven is seeking applications from new prospective members. Visit kehlerliddell.com/membership for more information. Artists Shoreline ArtsTrail seeks artists from Branford, Guilford, and Madison for its 14th annual Open Studios Weekend, November 21 & 22. Media: pottery, glass, painting, jewelry, sculpture, weaving, prints, photography, textiles, quilts, paper, and wood. See shorelineartstrail.com for yearround benefits/requirements/application/dues. Deadline: March 6. 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 The Gallery Review Committee of The New Alliance Gallery at Gateway Community College is looking for artists to submit their resumes and images for possible exhibition in the 2015 and 2016 calendar years. Please send your resume and cover letter, along with a DVD of not less than 20 and no more than 25 images to: Gallery Review Committee, Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., Room S329, New Haven, CT, 06510.
Arts Paper ad and calendar deadlines The deadline for advertisements and calendar listings for the April 2015 issue of The Arts Paper is Monday, February 23, at 5 p.m. Future deadlines are as follows: May 2015: Monday, March 30, at 5 p.m. June 2015: Monday, April 27, at 5 p.m. July-August 2015: Tuesday, May 26, at 5 p.m. September 2015: Monday, July 27, at 5 p.m. October 2015: Monday, August 31, at 5 p.m. November 2015: Monday, September 28, at 5 p.m. December 2015: Monday, October 26, at 5 p.m. 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 mreiniger@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.
• march 2015
Artists Creative Arts Workshop is looking for an installation artist(s) for its 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 and more information, please contact the Gallery Coordinator at CAW at 203-562-4927 or email gallery@creativeartsworkshop.org. Artists Artspace is announcing an open call for artists to submit works to the Flatfile. The Flatfile program is an ever-changing collection of 2-D works by notable local and regional artists. Works from the Flatfile are in rotating exhibitions throughout the year and are also available as a resource to scholars, students, and collectors. The deadline for applying is March 15. To learn more and apply online, visit artspacenh.org/opportunities.asp. Artists Artspace invites emerging and mid-career artists from all fields to apply for the organization’s one-year artist-in-residence program. The artist-in-residence will have 24/7 access to a small private studio located at Artspace as well as exhibition opportunities and an invitation to join the organization’s Visual Arts Committee. The dates of the residency are September 1 to July 31, 2016. The deadline for applying is March 15. To learn more and apply online, visit artspacenh.org/ opportunities.asp. Artists Guilford Art Center seeks submissions for exhibition. Pourable containers of all kinds — teapots, vessels, flagons, and flasks — are traditional objects in virtually all cultures and through the ages, used for hospitality, functional, and ritualistic purposes. They have been created and recreated by artists and artisans throughout history and in many media, as objects variously or simultaneously functional, sculptural, decorative, utilitarian, and more. A GAC exhibition will explore what continues to be new and vital about the form of the pourable container and submitted work is encouraged to explore its many aspects. The exhibition is open to 3-D work in all media. Open to U.S. residents. $500 in prizes to be awarded by the juror. Entry deadline: March 16. Each artist may submit up to three works. Entry fee: $25. For more information, 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 area. We invite women to join us at any of our rehearsals to learn more. We enjoy four part a cappella harmony in the barbershop style, lively performances, and wonderful friendships. Rehearsals are every Tuesday from 6:30-9 p.m. at the Spring Glen United Church of Christ, 1825 Whitney Ave., in Hamden. Contact Lynn at 203 623-1276 for more information or visit silknsounds.org. Volunteers Volunteers are a vital part of Artspace’s operations. Volunteering with Artspace is a great way to support the organization, meet new people, and develop new skills. Our volunteers provide a service that is invaluable to making Artspace function smoothly. We simply couldn’t operate without the tremendous support of our
volunteers. To find out more about volunteer opportunities, please contact Grey Freeman at greyf@artspacenh.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.
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. Private Art Instruction Adults/children (including home-schooled individuals). Learn drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, and more in a working artist’s spacious light-filled studio in Erector Square, 315 Peck St., New Haven. Relaxed and professional. I can also come to you. Lessons created to suit individual. Portfolio preparation offered. References available. Contact Liz Pagano at lizpagano@snet.net or 203-675-1105. lizpagano.com. Professional Art Installation For residential and commercial work. More than 17 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 en-
gineering 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 609-638-8501 or visit westcovestudio.com. Live/Work Space ArLoW (Arts Lofts West). Fabulous lofts in New Haven’s first artist-housing development. We currently have a spacious two-bedroom unit and a spacious three-bedroom unit available. The units contain high ceilings with flexible options for living and working spaces. Great natural light and interior spaces. ArLoW is a mixed-income artist community. The lofts offer: two and three bedrooms, each with one and a half bathrooms, off-street parking, hardwood floors, and washer and dryer hookups. Located in a vibrant community of working artists, galleries, performance spaces, cafes, and easy public transportation. Conveniently located near West Rock Ridge (favorite subject of the Hudson Valley School with amazing hiking and bike trails) and Edgewood Park (designed by Frederick Law Olmsted). One hour and 15-minute drive/one-hour and 40-minute train ride to Manhattan. Monthly rent is tied to income qualifications as follows: Two-person gross household income cannot exceed: $51,150; three-person gross household income cannot exceed: $57,550; four-person gross household income cannot exceed: $63,900; five-person gross household income cannot exceed: $69,050; six-person gross household income cannot exceed: $74,150. Please contact Lynn Calabrese C/O Wm. M. Hotchkiss, management agent, at 203-7723200 x. 20 for a rental application. 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.
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The Arts Paper march 2015
Gun Violence Explored Onstage and Beyond play seen as impetus for community conversation cara mcdonough
A
play can be a transformative experience, bringing its audience to a faraway locale or historic date. Sometimes, however, a play hits a nerve, touching on a subject that is completely timely and familiar to all who see it. At the heart of brownsville song (b-side for tray) is an act of gun violence; the play, which will be staged at Long Wharf Theater March 25–April 19, follows the aftermath of a gang-related shooting that leaves the work’s protagonist, Tray, dead, and his family grieving. It’s an explosive topic in America. Gun violence has been a frequent headline in recent years, even weeks, from incidences like Ferguson that spurred a nationwide conversation on racism to school shootings such as the tragedy in Sandy Hook. But there is an undercurrent of lesser-publicized acts of gun violence that haunt places like Brownsville, known as
one of the most violent communities in Brooklyn. In these communities — and New Haven is no exception — deaths like Tray’s are, tragically, almost expected. Brownsville song’s greatest achievement lies in highlighting a world beyond the negative statistics. Playwright Kimber Lee explores Tray’s life through poetic language and scenes set in flashbacks, using his own words, as well as those of his grieving family: his grandmother Lena, little sister Devine, and estranged mother, Merrell. The play’s subject matter has instigated important political and cultural conversations, too, and thanks to a series of unprecedented partnerships, Long Wharf’s production will address issues of gun violence by fostering local conversations on the topic in various forums. A symposium on gun violence, a serious problem in some of New Haven’s neighborhoods, is scheduled for April 9 at 2 p.m. in conjunction with The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. The theater is also working with the New Haven Public Library to host talks and distribute tickets at its various branches. Furthermore, the theater is drastically reducing ticket prices for these performances, with tickets starting at $5 and going up to $45.
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18 • newhavenarts.org
Sheldon Best, left, Taliyah Whitaker, and Lizan Mitchell in Lincoln Center Theater’s October 2014 production of brownsville song (b-side for Tray), directed by Patricia McGregor at the Claire Two Theater. Photo (detail) by Erin Baiano.
“One of the biggest barriers to entry to the theater, any theater, is price. We believe in the importance of this story to move our community and to prompt conversation, so much so we want to take away this barrier as best we can,” Long Wharf Theatre’s managing director, Joshua Borenstein, said. The production will therefore not only present the brownsville song story, it will hopefully help those in the New Haven community tell their stories, as well. “Whatever the play can provide in terms of providing a space where people can be heard and seen would be wonderful,” Lee said. Several groups from the Brownsville neighborhood saw the play at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City. “That community’s response was maybe the best bit of feedback I got,” Lee said. They liked seeing their neighborhood’s best attributes in the play, she said. Paying due attention to the brighter sides of a community that’s known for being home to bad news was one of her intentions. “I hope that the play has provided a portrait of a community that is strong, and funny, and has a sense of humor and light and life,” she says. “And a community that has to deal with a lot of pain.” Lee, who boxes, said the idea for the play came from the blog of a female boxer who had lost her son to an act of violence. She thought about what the family was going through, and the fact that no one outside that close-knit community knew the story. The seeds for Tray’s story were sown. Writing brownsville song came from a strong desire to not let lives like these simply “disappear,” Lee said. While her play certainly gives good reason to discuss the politics of our nation’s gun laws, at its heart, brownsville song is about something much more personal than that.
“I think that at the root of it is this idea of that some lives matter more than others,” Lee said. “With certain lives we say, ‘Well, that’s just what happens in that neighborhood.’” The “b-side” in her title is a reference to the lesser-known song on a record. In brownsville song, she rejects this notion, highlighting Tray’s humanity, his successes — such as his strong drive to save up for college while working at Starbucks — and the family that supported him. “You see in flashbacks how promising and human and humane and generous he was,” said Long Wharf Theatre’s associate artistic director, Eric Ting, who will be directing the production. “That’s what we love about the play is that he seemed so real.” Ting said the production features a diverse cast from New Haven as well as seasoned actors from New York City and Philadelphia to reflect Lee’s vision to go beyond the statistics and into the humanity of a community like Brownsville. He said the play reflects the human struggle of those who are trying to live and raise families. “I think she was responding to the fact that this community of Brownsville has in the larger public consciousness been primarily described through statistics and news stories that look at the violence in the community,” Ting said, “and that don’t engage in the very human struggle of people who are trying to live and make things better for their families.” Brownsville’s struggles can be seen in New Haven’s community, as well, and this unique and moving play offers a chance to have important public discussions. “We’re doing a lot to create a dialogue,” Ting said. “We can use the play to create a central, shared experience.” n Visit longwharf.org for performance details.
march 2015 •
The Arts Paper member organizations & partners
Arts & Cultural Organizations A Broken Umbrella Theatre abrokenumbrella.org, 203-868-0428 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 Arts for Learning yaconn.org Artspace artspacenh.org 203-772-2709 Artsplace: Cheshire Performing & Fine Art cpfa-artsplace.org 203-272-2787 Bethesda Music Series bethesdanewhaven.org 203-787-2346 Blackfriars Repertory Theatre blackfriarsrep.com Branford Folk Music Society folknotes.org/branfordfolk
• march 2015
Center for Independent Study cistudy.homestead.com Chestnut Hill Concerts chestnuthillconcerts.org 203-245-5736 The Choirs of Trinity Church on the Green trinitynewhaven.org City Gallery city-gallery.org 203-782-2489 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 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 Elm City Dance Collective elmcitydance.org Elm Shakespeare Company elmshakespeare.org 203-874-0801 Encore Music Creations encoremusiccreations.com Fellowship Place fellowshipplace.org
Firehouse 12 firehouse12.com 203-785-0468 Fred Giampietro Gallery giampietrogallery.com 203-777-7760 Gallery One CT galleryonect.com Greater New Haven Community Chorus gnhcc.org 203-624-1979
Knights of Columbus Museum kofcmuseum.org Legacy Theatre legacytheatrect.org Linda S. Marino Art lindasmarinoart.com Long Wharf Theatre longwharf.org 203-787-4282 Lyman Center at SCSU www.lyman.southernct.edu
Guilford Art Center guilfordartcenter.org 203-453-5947
Madison Art Society madisonartsociety.blogspot.com 860-399-6116
Guitartown CT Productions guitartownct.com 203-430-6020
Madison Lyric Stage madisonlyricstage.org
Hamden Art League hamdenartleague.com 203-494-2316 Hamden Arts Commission hamdenartscommission.org 203-287-2546 Hillhouse Opera Company hillhouseoperacompany.org 203-464-2683 Hopkins School hopkins.edu Hugo Kauder Society hugokauder.org The Institute Library institutelibrary.org
Make Haven makehaven.org Mamas Markets mamasmarketsllc.com
New Haven Ballet newhavenballet.org 203-782-9038
Shubert Theater shubert.com 203-562-5666
New Haven Chamber Orchestra newhavenchamberorchestra.org
Silk n’ Sounds silknsounds.org
New Haven Chorale newhavenchorale.org 203-776-7664
Silk Road Art Gallery silkroadartnewhaven.com
New Haven Free Public Library nhfpl.org 203-946-8835 New Haven Oratorio Choir nhoratoriochoir.org 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
Meet the Artists and Artisans meettheartistsandartisans.com 203-874-5672
New Haven Symphony Orchestra newhavensymphony.org 203-865-0831
Milford Fine Arts Council milfordarts.org 203-878-6647
New Haven Theater Company newhaventheatercompany.com
Music Haven musichavenct.org 203-215-4574 Music Mountain musicmountain.com 860-824-7126
International Silat Federation of America & Indonesia isfnewhaven.org
Music with Mary accordions.com/mary
Kehler Liddell Gallery kehlerliddell.com
Shoreline Arts Alliance shorelinearts.org 203-453-3890
Marrakech, Inc./Association of Artisans to Cane marrakechinc.org
International Festival of Arts & Ideas artidea.org
John Slade Ely House elyhouse.org 203-624-8055
New England Festival of Ibero American Cinema nefiac.com
Musical Folk musicalfolk.com Neighborhood Music School neighborhoodmusicschool.org 203-624-5189
Orchestra New England orchestranewengland.org 203-777-4690 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
Creative Businesses Best Video 203-287-9286 bestvideo.com Blue Plate Radio 203-500-0700 blueplateradio.com Fairhaven Furniture fairhaven-furniture.com 203-776-3099
Site Projects siteprojects.org
Foundry Music Company www.foundrymusicco.com
Theater Department at SCSU/ Crescent Players southernct.edu/theater
The Funky Monkey Café & Gallery thefunkymonkeycafe.com
University Glee Club of New Haven universitygleeclub.org
Hull’s Art Supply and Framing hullsnewhaven.com 203-865-4855
Wesleyan University Center for the Arts wesleyan.edu/cfa
Toad’s Place toadsplace.com
West Cove Studio & Gallery westcovestudio.com 609-638-8501
Community Partners
Whitney Arts Center 203-773-3033 Whitney Humanities Center yale.edu/whc Yale Cabaret yalecabaret.org 203-432-1566
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
Yale Center for British Art yale.edu/ycba
Overseas Ministries Study Center omsc.org
Yale Institute of Sacred Music yale.edu.ism 203-432-5180
Town Green Special Services District infonewhaven.com
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History peabody.yale.edu
Visit New Haven visitnewhaven.com
Yale Repertory Theatre yalerep.org 203-432-1234
Westville Village Renaissance Alliance westvillect.org
Yale University Bands yale.edu/yaleband 203-432-4111
newhavenarts.org • 19
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 : An Exhibition of Art that Connects Us to Our Inner Inclinations Curated by Debbie Hesse Dates: Through March 15
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.
Visual Riffs: Reinterpreting Jazz Masters Organized by Debbie Hesse and Sam Goldenberg Dates: March 6–April 10 Reception: Friday March 6, 5-7 p.m.
Advice from the Arts Council
Opening reception for On the Spiritual in Art at Perspectives … The Gallery at Whitney Center.
Dates: Thursdays, March 5 & 12, 1-4 p.m. Location: Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New Haven Let the Arts Council staff help you find exhibition space/opportunities, performance/rehearsal space, and develop new ways to promote your work or creative event. Debbie Hesse, the organization’s director of artist services and programs, will be available for one-on-one consultation. Call (203) 772-2788 to schedule an appointment.
Photo Arts Collective The Photo Arts Collective is an Arts Council program that aims to cultivate and support a community of individuals who share an interest in photography, through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques, and events. The Photo Arts Collective meets the first Thursday of the month at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whitney Ave., New Haven, at 7 p.m. To learn more, send an e-mail to photoartscollective@gmail.com.
ON AIR
Photo Arts Collective. Hank Paper.
Listen to the Arts Council’s Arts On Air broadcast every third Monday of the month, live at 12 p.m. on 89.5FM, or stream online at wpkn.org. Hosted by Matt Reiniger, 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.
The Writers’ Circle Connect with writing professionals in the Greater New Haven area. For more information visit us online at newhavenarts.org. March Date: TBA Location: The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., New Haven
Arts Council Communications Manager Matt Reiniger, center, with Artspace’s Sarah Fritchey, left, and Martha Lewis, at WPKN. Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery. Bruce Gillespie.
For more information about these events and more visit newhavenarts.org or check out our mobile events calendar using the ANDI app for smartphones.