artists next door 4
site projects 9
green light project 10
incarceration stories 12
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ya l e center for british art
May 2016
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The Arts Paper may 2016
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Artists Next Door Frank Brady, “Dream Director”
staff
board of directors
Cynthia Clair executive director
Eileen O’Donnell president Rick Wies vice president Daisy Abreu second vice president
Debbie Hesse director of artistic services & programs Nichole René communications manager Lisa Russo advertising & events coordinator Christine Maisano director of finance Winter Marshall executive administrative assistant David Brensilver editor, the arts paper Amanda May Aruani design consultant
Ken Spitzbard treasurer Wojtek Borowski secretary
directors Laura Barr Susan Cahan Robert B. Dannies Jr. James Gregg Todd Jokl Mark Kaduboski Jocelyn Maminta Josh Mamis Greg Marazita Rachel Mele Elizabeth Meyer-Gadon Frank Mitchell John Pancoast Mark Potocsny David Silverstone Dexter Singleton Richard S. Stahl, MD
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Site Projects Rick Lowe Champions Socially Engaged Art
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Green Light Project Organization Plans Nonreligious Holiday Sculpture
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honorary members Frances T. “Bitsie” Clark Cheever Tyler
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Incarceration Stories Collaboration Raises Questions, Onstage
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 Total Wine & More Yale University senior patrons Knights of Columbus L. Suzio York Hill Companies Odonnell Company Webster Bank Wiggin and Dana WSHU corporate partners Alexion Pharmaceuticals AT&T Cannelli Printing Edgehill Realtors Firehouse 12 Fusco Management Company Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven Metropolitan Interactive University of New Haven/ Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts Yale-New Haven Hospital
business patrons Albertus Magnus College Gateway Community College H. Pearce Real Estate Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tale Newman Architects business members Brenner, Saltzman & Wallman, LLP ChameleonJohn Duble & O’Hearn, Inc. Griswold Home Care The Lighting Quotient United Aluminum foundations and government agencies The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven Connecticut Arts Endowment Fund DECD/CT Office of the Arts Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation The Ethel & Abe Lapides Foundation First Niagara Foundation NewAlliance Foundation Pfizer The Wells Fargo Foundation The Werth Family Foundation media partners New Haven Independent New Haven Living WPKN
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The Arts Paper may 2016
Letter from the Editor Staring out a window from the fourth floor of the Yale Center for British Art in late March, I thought about how fortunate I am to be constantly learning. I was at the YCBA to get a behind-the-scenes tour with architect George Knight, having talked with several members of the center’s staff about the conservation work the building has undergone over the past year and a half—the third phase of a larger, 10-year project. If there’s a frustrating aspect of telling that story here in The Arts Paper it’s that we don’t have the print space to tell the whole thing in the fascinating detail that it deserves. It’s the story of ideas, really, about how art should be experienced and in what kind of frame, which is how the YCBA’s director, Amy Meyers, described the building. “It’s the most beautiful frame,” she said, explaining, by way of Knight, that it’s the “largest and most complex work of art” in the collection. What an excellent way to think about a space that was so sincerely conceived with the visitor in mind. It’s been fascinating to learn about the conversations and considerations that led to Louis Kahn being chosen to design the center. It’s been stimulating to understand the careful and thorough research that went into formulating a plan for the physical management of the building, research that connected the conservation team to Kahn’s original intentions. And it’s been an intriguing exercise to think about the fact that the YCBA, which is still a relatively young building, was approached by the conservation team, in no uncertain terms, as a rare and precious object. And it is, isn’t it?
Telling the story of the YCBA’s conservation project has ultimately been about people. It’s about the folks who created the place and its reason for being, and it’s about those who’re in charge of its care and stewardship. By extension, it’s about the artists who’re the very reason the place exists, and it’s about the stories they tell through their work. See what I mean about telling the whole story? Impossible. Fortunately, though, that’s because we have other stories to tell—about other things we’ve learned. Hank Hoffman sat down with hip-hop poet Frank Brady to learn what inspires him and how that’s shared with members of a younger generation. Lucile Bruce talked with the folks at Site Projects about MacArthur Fellow Rick Lowe’s upcoming visit to New Haven to talk about socially engaged, community focused art. Lucy Gellman spoke with staff at the Connecticut Mental Health Center and at Theatre of the Oppressed NYC about a collaboration that will result in a play about and by area residents who have histories of incarceration. And I chatted with Yale Humanist Community Executive Director Chris Stedman about his organization’s effort to place a nonreligious sculpture on the New Haven Green during the holiday season. In addition to those stories, we’re thrilled to present three poems that were originally published in the Elm City Echo, a publication that features work by the city’s homeless community. I am grateful to the publication’s editors, Julia Hamer-Light and Abigail Schneider, for giving us permission to reprint content from the Elm City Echo here, in the pages of The Arts Paper. I encourage you to seek out and read
On the Cover
The editor at work. Photo by Debbie Hesse.
the Echo, about which you can learn more on page 5. And now we turn our focus to June. And if it’s June, it’s time for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. In the next issue of The Arts Paper, we’ll take a look inside and behind the scenes of this year’s festival. I hope you enjoy the stories presented herein as much as I enjoyed bringing them to you, and that you’ll remember to recycle this print publication once you’ve finished reading it.
The Long Gallery at the Yale Center for British Art, after conservation and reinstallation of artwork. Photo by Richard Caspole. See story about the YCBA on pages 6, 7, and 8.
In the Next Issue …
Sincerely,
David Brensilver, editor The Arts Paper
In the June issue of The Arts Paper, we’ll celebrate the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, which takes place June 10-25. Among other compelling programs, this year’s festival will present Steel Hammer, a theater work by SITI Company, in collaboration with composer Julia Wolfe and the performance group Bang on a Can All-Stars, that takes as its inspiration the legend of John Henry. Photo by Richard Termine.
The Arts Matter. The Arts are Necessary.
Tchaikovsky, Brahms & Lash
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Help raise thousands of dollars for YOUR Arts Council. The countdown has begun. Join us online for
Thursday, May 19, 2016 | 7:30pm | Woolsey Hall TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique” BRAHMS Concerto for Violin in D Major LASH Lash/Voynich Project: Mvt 2: Astronomical WILLIAM BOUGHTON conductor BENJAMIN BEILMAN violin The NHSO pairs Tchaikovsky’s final and most dramatic Symphony with Brahms’ Violin Concerto, featuring New Generation Artist Benjamin Beilman. The NHSO also premieres “Astronomical,” the second movement of the Lash/Voynich Project. BEINECKE RARE BOOK & MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
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The Arts Paper may 2016
artists next door
The Dream Director hip-hop poet frank brady spurs students to realize their dreams hank hoffman
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verybody has dreams. But how does one make those dreams come true? Spoken word poet and educator Frank E. Brady preaches, “The dream is free but the hustle is sold separately.” As dream director with The Future Project at Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, Brady acts as a facilitator to help individual students and groups achieve their goals. The Future Project—founded in 2011 by Yale University graduates Andrew Mangino and Kanya Balakrishna—is a national organization with the mission of working with high schools “to unlock the limitless potential of every young person in this country.” The organization works through embedded dream directors, like Brady, who act as part social entrepreneur, part community organizer, and part life coach. Brady employs his own biography, poetry, charisma, and work ethic to encourage collaborations and partnerships. He fosters engagement both within the school community and between the school and the larger community beyond. In an interview at Wilbur Cross, he was constantly name-checking the other teachers, administrators, and students who make his work possible. As part of his dream director responsibilities, Brady runs empowerment workshops. He teaches what he calls “21st century skills”—collaboration, communication, and critical thinking—along with “social and emotional skills”—self-management,
Frank Brady. Photo by Felix Ramon for Born Relentless Clothing & Lifestyle Brand.
self-awareness and responsible decision making. The Future Project emphasizes experiential learning. “As students build projects, they learn skills along the way,” Brady said. Brady counsels hard work and deter-
Frank Brady at Yale University, during the school’s Annual Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Photos by Karen King, Karen King Photography.
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mination and lives by his own words. Just 28, he has carved out a career as an entertainer, teacher, and empowerment speaker. Brady has been featured on hip-hop shows, declaimed his poetry at the 41st annual legislative conference of the Congressional Black Caucus, wrote and delivered a poem for the 2011 World Peace Summit in Hartford, and appeared on TV networks BET, CNN, and NBC. On his 2011 Dreams Tour, he presented his poetry at colleges around the country, and spoke at conferences and conventions. “Poetry for me is the epitome of what it is to express lived experience and transfer that to others in a way that’s engaging and dynamic,” Brady said. “Everything I do is an expression of my art. From the way I interact with people to the work I do, I treat it as a performance.” The genesis of his interest in poetry was the example of his mother Louise Brady, a nationally awarded poet. While he has since come to appreciate written poetry, Brady confessed he initially found it “corny” and, more important, didn’t feel what he was reading related to his own life experiences. But for Brady, a love of hip-hop preceded his immersion in spoken-word poetry. Exposure to hip-hop poetry—along with a couple of encouraging high-school teachers—galvanized his creative efforts. A key moment was when he was given a platform at age 18 to deliver a poem for the Brotherhood Leadership Summit organized by the Christian Community Commission. He recalled the experience as “electrifying.” “It’s like grenades were going off in your joints and electricity’s in your veins,” re-
membered Brady. “When you connect with your story and the emotion behind it, it’s very powerful.” The performative aspect of spoken word touches something visceral, “connecting your head to your heart” according to Brady. “Once your thinking connects to what you’re feeling and that comes out on paper and then you memorize and internalize it, then let it out for the world to hear—that’s where the power is,” declared Brady. “You’re marching to the beat of your own drum. You create your rhythm whatever that may be.” Among the themes of Brady’s poems are the struggles of Black and Brown people, love, pain, and the transformation of pain into power, inspiration, pop culture, and music. Two of his most popular pieces— videos are available on his website—are “Genocide” and “Financial Aid.” Brady began the latter poem in 2009 when he was having his own struggles with a financial-aid office. “When I do that in front of college audiences, it just hits,” Brady said. “They say, ‘I’m dealing with that now!’ Having to resend the paperwork four or five times, or the loan didn’t come in.” Storytelling is also an important element of Brady’s poetry. In “Financial Aid,” he is telling his own story. But as an empathetic listener, he draws on others’ stories, as well. “I’ve always been open to listening and learning from anybody. A homeless person on the street can give me an ‘aha moment,’” said Brady. “That enforces my art—meeting people, understanding and learning their life stories.” An emcee, poet, and beatboxer, Brady
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Poetry from the Elm City Echo Frank Brady. Photo by Kassad Mayo of CollectiveNHV.
has cachet that helps him reach students. “Kids’ ears are [tuned] to entertainment, the whole culture of entertainment,” Brady noted. “Having had significant experience, like being on TV and working with some bigname celebrities, I bring that understanding of why entertainment is so important to them,” Brady continued. “I use that as a tool to educate and a tool to draw kids into what I do.” Brady doesn’t only connect with his students through his energetic charisma. At 28, he has been in their shoes, and not that long ago. “My background and the things I’ve gone through as an adolescent is similar to what kids are currently going through,” noted Brady.
“Everything I do is an expression of my art.” -Frank Brady The son of a single mother, Brady grew up in urban New Rochelle, New York. His youth was spent in the shadows of the projects. Friends were gang-affiliated; Brady almost got sucked into that life. He had anger issues, was tagged as emotionally disturbed. “Because of my background, I was one of those kids who wasn’t expected to amount to a lot,” Brady recalled. There were a lot of barriers to overcome, just as there are for many of the students he mentors. “Now my goal in life is to be a living testimony,” he said, noting that his Christian faith is fundamental to how he lives his life. The burdens he overcame heightened his sense of empathy. He can tell students that he knows, “When you’re in the midst of it, it’s hard to see your way out of it.” There is hope, though. “I try to do my best to show that your dreams are not only possible but achievable,” Brady asserted. “If you are willing to put in the hard work and dedication to make your dreams become a reality, it’s possible.” n Learn more about Frank Brady at frankebrady.com.
• may 2016
The Elm City Echo creates economic and expressive opportunities for those experiencing extreme poverty and homelessness. As a street periodical, all of its content is produced and sold by members of New Haven’s homeless community. When you buy the Elm City Echo, 75 percent of your dollar goes directly to the vendor who sold you the paper. The remaining 25 percent is reinvested in the production of the Echo, whose operating expenses receive additional support through the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project and the Yale Undergraduate Organizations Committee. If you would be interested in buying a copy, vendors tend to sell copies during the afternoons and weekends on Chapel Street near the New Haven Green and on Cross Campus at Yale University. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email the editors, Julia Hamer-Light and Abigail Schneider at elmcityecho@gmail.com. Preceding language by and courtesy of Elm City Echo editors Julia Hamer-Light and Abigail Schneider. The following poems by Grace, Jessica, and Sidney were originally published in the Elm City Echo. Yvonne’s poem is a recent submission to the Echo. All four poems are reprinted here in The Arts Paper with the permission of the Elm City Echo’s editors. We encourage you to seek out, read, and support the Elm City Echo.
Unconnected By Sidney What if Why not Maybe so Still, it’s not happening. Could be Just might Very soon Still, it’s not happening. You Me Still, it’s not happening. Wisdom Sidney If there’s a sun in the sky, then let it shine with heat and warmth. If there’s a sky up about, then let the rain fall out of the clouds. If there’s love amongst us, then why is there war upon us now?
Yvonne reads her poem Good-Bye during an event at Yale University celebrating the publication of the 10th edition of the Elm City Echo. Photo submitted.
Good-Bye By Yvonne Dear Mr. Crack, We met several years ago and I am writing to say good-bye! We’ve had good times and bad times, but I’m afraid this is the end! You have destroyed everything that has ever meant anything to me—from cars to homes to family members and relationships. You were like a vicious cycle in my life, a fungus in my mind! So, needless to say, I am gladly bowing out gracefully. You introducing me to Mr. Heroin was an even bigger obstacle in my life because I fell in love with him instantly. He also robbed me from raising my children and doing things I thought were impossible for me, taking me out of character to a point of no return. However, my spirituality was a lot stronger than my drug. My father God had a different plan for me. I am now Hep C. C.O.P.D. and my health isn’t the greatest but, I will fight this battle until I win and become a successful part of society once again and live life on life’s terms. Victory will be mine.
Glass By Jessica Perfectly transparent is the sharpest of matter. Can cut and slice whatever it comes in contact with, But how oh so magnificent is its flawless transparency Can cure or hurt brilliant and small radiant and common. Place it in the ocean, and it will tumble. Through every Tide it will manifest, rounding and smoothing, Rounding and smoothing, then what
[Untitled] By Grace Age 14 was my first line of blow, Moved to crack, never took it slow. Raped and molested just trying to numb the pain, Life wasn’t easy, it always seemed to rain, Dazed ’n confused the razor became a friend Slitting my wrists is where it began How did this happen, when will it end. I’ve needed a way out for oh so long, That’s the only reason I bought that gun. 16 years old one bullet to the brain, could have ended it all, yet I’m still here in pain. Now living this life day by day Praying to G-d to just save me anyway.
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Revisiting Kahn’s Vision british art center reopens after completion of conservation project david brensilver
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n a Wednesday morning in late March, George Knight pulled back a louver, exposing a window and opening the fourth floor of the Yale Center for British Art to the outside world. Through the window, and through the building’s skylights, a steely light poured into the space. A few days earlier, the center’s director, Amy Meyers, had described that natural, filtered light as extraordinary, an element of the building’s design that along with the natural materials of the building’s interior—white oak, travertine, and linen— and the space’s carefully calibrated artificial light, lets the artwork stand out and be the primary focus of a visitor’s experience, one that was thoughtfully conceived by architect Louis Kahn more than 40 years ago. This month, the YCBA will reopen after being closed to the public for a year and a half while the third phase of a decade-long conservation project unfolded inside. The larger effort began in 2010 with renovations to the exterior Lower Court and the Lecture Hall Lobby and continued in 2013 with a conservation project in the center’s Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts. The most recent project focused on the public spaces inside the building and its mechanical systems. Through it all, Knight and his firm Knight Architecture, whose offices are just a handful of blocks away, used as his guide a detailed management document called Louis I. Kahn and the Yale Center for British Art: A Conservation Plan (Yale University Press, 2011), which was put together by the London-based architects Peter Inskip and Stephen Gee. Guiding that effort from New Haven was Constance “Cecie” Clement, the YCBA’s deputy director. Much of the research for the plan was conducted by Inskip and Gee at the Louis I. Kahn Collection—the architect’s archive—at the University of Pennsylvania.
Renowned architect Louis I. Kahn in the footprint of the Yale Center for British Art. Kahn died in March 1974, shortly after this photo was taken. Institutional Archives, Yale Center for British Art.
The YCBA opened in 1977, three years after Kahn’s death. It was his last building. His first, the Yale University Art Gallery, sits across the street, one of two architectural bookends of a monumentally important career. Jules Prown, the Paul Mellon Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at Yale (his office is in the YCBA), was the center’s founding director and recommended Kahn for the job of designing a home for the collection that Yale alumnus Paul Mellon gave the school, along with building and operating funds. Early in the process of creating the center (which was originally to be called the Paul Mellon Center for British Art and British Studies), Prown asked Mellon about his architectural preferences. “I’m not going
The Long Gallery, after conservation and reinstallation of artwork. Photo by Richard Caspole.
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to live in the building,” Mellon told Prown, the latter said. Mellon was familiar with I.M. Pei’s designs and likely would have identified Pei as his architect of choice, had it been up to him. At the time, Pei was working on two building projects that Mellon was funding: the Paul Mellon Arts Center at Choate Rosemary Hall, from which he’d graduated, and the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C. Prown, of course, knew Kahn’s work—in particular the YUAG, where he’d been curator, though he said recently that he wasn’t very enamored with that building. Pei’s work, he felt, was a bit heavy handed. And Philip Johnson’s designs, which Prown also looked at with an eye toward choosing an architect to design the YCBA, was “fussy.” Prown knew Richard Brown, the founding director of the Kimbell Art Museum, a building Kahn designed in Fort Worth, Texas. Brown, Prown said, had interesting ideas about light and giving visitors “a sense of the outside world.” Prown liked the process of installing an exhibit in a well-designed room—one that catered to Mellon’s preference for a domestic feel—and wanted to use properly filtered natural light to illuminate works of art at the YCBA. As Kahn’s reputation grew, so, too, did the importance to him of natural light. In conversations with Brown, Prown said, “The dominant thing was light.” It wasn’t lost on Prown that the Kimbell and the Phillips Exeter Academy Library, both Kahn designs, represented a vision that was important to Mellon—that the center be equal parts museum and research institution. When Meyers was named director of
the YCBA in 2002, 25 years after its doors were first opened to the public, she realized that she was responsible for stewarding the health of a great modern building. It was evident that there was a growing number of building issues that needed to be addressed. The space was busier than ever, with more people working and teaching there then there were a quarter century earlier, and the building’s mechanical systems had matured to the point of needing serious updates and upgrades. A massive project was looming. And Meyers wanted to go about it in such a way that would respect Kahn’s vision. Meyers had last worked as the curator of American art at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, California. The library is home to the Stowe Papers, an archive of documents related to the historic Stowe House and gardens in England. When that property faced a major restoration project, Inskip was tapped to conceive a plan, for which he consulted the archive at The Huntington. Meyers followed the process closely, immersing herself in the culture of conservation plans. Such plans are uncommon here in the United States. The plan for the YCBA is the first of its kind in this country. Clement called the management document a guideline for the treatment of a living, breathing organism and its future. According to Inskip, such plans have been developed over the last 15-20 years, starting with buildings in Australia—the Sydney Opera House being one of those. Inskip and his firm, Peter Inskip + Peter Jenkins Architects, developed the first ones in England for historic buildings and
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broadened the practice to address the needs of modern buildings. If you were conserving a precious art object, Inskip explained, you’d do a lot of research. You’d establish its cultural significance, see where that’s being harmed, and work out a plan to protect it from those vulnerabilities. Through such study of the YCBA, at the Kahn archive at the University of Pennsylvania, Inskip said, “we were able to see what Kahn’s vision for it had been.” Originally, it’s worth pointing out, Kahn produced a design for a much larger building than exists today. When the costs for that project came in, Inskip said, Mellon paid Kahn to revise his design. “I think it came out very much a better building,” Inskip said, “probably Kahn’s best building. It has an integrity that the other buildings don’t have.” The YCBA was under construction when Kahn died in March 1974. All but some minor details had been designed and construction costs in the United States were escalating. Those involved with the project needed someone to make decisions on the ground and hired architect Marshall Meyers, who’d only recently left Kahn’s office to start his own firm with Anthony Pellecchia. “Marshall was a great protector of Louis’ ideas,” Prown explained. During that transition, and in one in 1976 that saw Edmund Pillsbury succeed Prown as YCBA director when Prown stepped down to return to teaching,
some finishing details were altered. The design of pogo walls, which subdivide the space, weren’t exactly what Kahn had envisioned, for example. “When they were first executed,” Inskip said of the pogos, “they omitted certain elements of them.” There’s no evidence as to why, he said. “It must have been costs.” Knight said the pogos that were executed reflected curatorial predilections and budgetary concerns. Because the pogos that were in place used to go all the way to the floor, the continuity of the space was interrupted. Today, Clement said, “they appear to float” and have “a more temporary feel to them.” Knight, who said the pogos “had drifted significantly from the design Kahn had drawn,” explained that the new ones are based on a drawing Kahn made in 1974, a finding the conservation team made while studying pertinent materials in the Kahn archive. The pogos in the center today, which are installed on the 20-foot-square grid on which the building is designed, are “very much the product of that research,” Knight said, a
detail that reflects Kahn’s vision. “It was the architect controlling (how) the space would be subdivided” to maintain the desired intimacy, Inskip said. Of Inskip’s exacting study of Kahn’s intentions, Knight said, “We benefitted enormously from that research.” A critical aspect of the building that Knight studied in his approach to the third phase of the larger conservation project was its life-support system. The challenge, in updating the mechanical systems, was determining “how to accept all those alterations without damaging the architectural fabric of the building,” Knight said, pointing out that Kahn is known as an architect who used anatomical imagery in considering a building’s design. “The building is a body,” Knight explained. The conservation team performed “complex surgery without disfiguring the patient,” Betsy Kim, the YCBA’s head of communications and marketing, quoted Knight as saying. They replaced the body’s heart (its electrical system) and its lungs (the air handlers) without altering the architectural presentation. Still, while “Kahn was a genius with systems,” Knight said,
“It’s the most beautiful frame.”
—Amy Meyers
no one in the mid-1970s was thinking too much about sprinkler systems, and no one, certainly, was thinking about providing Wi-Fi access. Similarly, he said, issues of accessibility weren’t considered the way they are today. In addition to replacing the seats in the Lecture Hall, after plans to reupholster them proved impractical, Knight incorporated accessible seats and a guardrail. While Knight focused on the space, (Amy) Meyers’ curatorial team reimagined how the center’s artwork would be presented. Hung chronologically, the collection tells the story of Britain in the World. The densely hung pieces in the Long Gallery, the fourth-floor study space bookended by work areas, one of which has been made into a classroom, are arranged salon-style, in thematic groupings (woodland scenes, etc.) that create what Scott Wilcox, the YCBA’s deputy director for collections, described as “interesting juxtapositions.” An abstract painting by 20th century artist Ivon Hitchens hangs on the “woodlands” wall alongside works than span centuries. Before deciding to arrange works thematically in the Long Gallery, the curatorial team, including Matthew Hargraves, had considered simply presenting a cross-section of the collection. “We abandoned that as being
continued on page 8
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Families ~ Events ~ Community
Photography Judy Sirota Rosenthal info@sirotarosenthal.com www.sirotarosenthal.com 203-281-5854
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Kahn continued from page 7 a little too restrictive and in the eyes of my colleagues a little too boring,” Wilcox said. Hanging works in thematic groupings gives the center flexibility. “Each wall is sort of an entity to itself,” Wilcox said, explaining that a wall or theme can be changed without altering the rest of the presentation in the gallery space. “By returning to the dense hang,” Clement said, “that honors the original intent,” which had been lost in the face of past curators’ preference for less-dense hangs. In a holistic sense, the Long Gallery supports the center’s effort to “tell the story of British art, but in a way that puts it in a more global context,” Wilcox said. The chronological hang throughout the rest of the space tells the story of Britain developing as an empire and its historical place in the world. “It’s easy to think of the story of British art as simply a story of a handful of artists who tend to be male and tend to be white and tend to paint pictures of a certain idea of Britain and a certain class of the British,” Wilcox said. “We wanted people to be aware that there’s a broader story here.
“As a collection of a national school, you’re always trying to think of issues of relevance,” he explained. With the third phase of a decade-long conservation project complete, Meyers and her staff have, in a way, celebrated Kahn’s extraordinary vision. “The entire institution was created of a piece,” Meyers said. “The building is purpose-built for this collection and its functions.” “The building is our largest and most complex work of art,” Knight quoted Meyers as saying. With its light-filled interior courtyards that draw one’s eyes skyward, and its muted steel and glass exterior, it is just that, a proud if modest space, outside and inside. “It’s humanly scaled,” Meyers said of the building. “There’s no contest between the architecture and the works of art.” In fact, the building is “in conversation with the work.” “It’s the most beautiful frame,” she said. The Yale Center for British Art reopens to the public on May 11. To mark the occasion, the center will present Modernism and Memory: Rhoda Pritzker and the Art of Collecting, featuring works given to the YCBA by the Libra Foundation, an organization created by Pritzker’s family. Visit britishart.yale.edu for more information. n
ya l e center for british art
Modernism and Memory: Rhoda Pritzker and the Art of Collecting May 11–August 21, 2016
1080 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT 877 brit art | britishart.yale.edu David Holt, Coastal Watcher (detail), 1963, oil on panel, Yale Center for British Art, Gift of the Libra Foundation, from the family of Nicholas and Susan Pritzker, © Estate of the Artist
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A pogo wall in the fourth floor exhibition space. Photo by Jason Holtzman.
Everything Is Dada Through July 3, 2016
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 1111 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut | 203.432.0600 | artgallery.yale.edu Free membership! Join today at artgallery.yale.edu/membership.
Image: Suzanne Duchamp, Chef d’œuvre accordéon (Accordion Masterpiece) (detail), 1921. Oil, gouache, and silver leaf on canvas. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of the artist to the Collection Société Anonyme
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Rick Lowe Visits New Haven site projects hosts public conversations with renowned artist lucile bruce Every so often, an artist comes along whose work has the power to change the way we think about things. Rick Lowe is one such artist. Lowe, a visionary public artist who practices art as community and neighborhood revitalization, visits New Haven May 12-13 for a series of public conversations hosted by Site Projects, the city’s “public art people” (siteprojects.org). For Lowe, the line between art and life is blurred or even non-existent; one flows naturally into the other. In a video produced by the MacArthur Foundation in 2014, the year he won the organization’s prestigious fellowship, Lowe says, “The long-term goal of the work I do is to try to empower people in their communities, or whatever social context they’re in, that they too are creative … and can exercise their power as creative practitioners within their own neighborhoods.” Lowe is the co-founder of Project Row Houses, a nonprofit arts and culture organization in the northern Third Ward, one of the oldest African American neighborhoods in Houston, Texas. He moved to Houston from his native Alabama in 1985. He doesn’t simply know the northern Third Ward; he lives there and is part of it. Project Row Houses (PRH) was born in the early 1990s when Lowe, working with a group of fellow artists, organized the purchase and restoration of 22 dilapidated shotgun houses from the 1930s. The group, according to the PRH website, “sought to establish a positive, creative and transformative presence in this historic community.” But here’s where it gets interesting: Lowe saw the houses as works of art. He imagined their restoration as a creative collaboration. He was inspired by the paintings of American artist Dr. John Biggers (19242001) depicting archetypal African and African American figures juxtaposed with row houses exactly like the ones in Houston (and similar to Biggers’ own childhood home). Lowe and fellow artists were also influenced by the German artist Josef Beuys (1921-1986), a pioneer in the field of social art who once said, “Only art is capable of dismantling the repressive effects of a senile social system that continues to totter along the deathline: to dismantle in order to build a social organism as a work of art.” * In renovating the shotgun houses, Lowe sought to create a living John Biggers painting. Retaining and amplifying the visual and architectural character of the houses, PRH turned them into studios for artists. From there, the community grew. Today PRH provides exhibition spaces for art related to African American culture; offers temporary housing for single mothers pursuing higher education; hosts free academic tutoring every Monday night for students of any age; offers “comprehensive and progressive” art instruction to youth in grades 3-8; and incubates small business
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Rick Lowe at Project Row Houses in Houston. Photo by the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
including a food cooperative and a radio station. PRH programs are built around “Five Pillars” inspired by the work of Dr. Biggers and his principles concerning the components of row-house communities: art and creativity, education, social safety nets, architecture, and sustainability. PRH blends and mixes categories like paint: art, historic preservation, affordable housing, community development, human empowerment. All are practiced here, but art prevails as the central organizing framework, the prime mover from which everything else flows. Lowe prefers Beuys’ term “social sculpture” to describe his work at PRH and elsewhere. “We are extremely fortunate to have Rick Lowe coming to New Haven,” Laura Clarke, executive director of Site Projects, said “We’re asking ourselves what public art is, what it can do, and how it has changed. Three years ago, when we started thinking about organizing a symposium, his name kept coming up.” “One of the most interesting things happening with public art right now is that artists are embedding themselves in communities,” Selby Nimrod, senior project manager at Site Projects, elaborated. “Rick Lowe was in the vanguard of doing that in the early 1990s. We wanted to bring him and his ideas into New Haven as a catalyst for conversation.” Clarke observes an “amazing energy” in New Haven for art right now and she hopes Site Projects can help to kindle it. “Rick Lowe’s work is so beautifully subtle. He goes into things with a very open mind,” she said. “He doesn’t press his vision onto a place. Like with a novelist, the plot starts forming and the characters start to speak
to him—that, in a way, is what he does.” She noted that Lowe has critiqued the “creative place-making” approach—supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and other major funders for several years—as mistaken in starting with “place” as the conceptual origin for public art projects.“He says, you have to start with people. “What’s so exciting to me is how he translates all of this into art ideas,” she continued. “He’s using art as part of a strategy for empowering people to be creative and to do what works for themselves.” All are welcome to attend the three Rick Lowe events. Site Projects offers all of its programs free of charge. Clarke and Nimrod said they have no preconceived idea about what could be done in New Haven with Lowe’s ideas. They’re bringing him to help facilitate a local conversation and to inspire people. “New Haven doesn’t have shotgun houses, but we do have something very interesting, our own vernacular wooden-frame buildings,” Clarke reflected. “With all of the very best intentions and smartest policy makers, we took urban renewal funds and tore down half the city.” The chapter she refers to in New Haven’s history—urban renewal—was, in a sense, the antithesis of choice and creative empowerment. Rick Lowe’s freedom, open-mindedness, and deep listening and observation skills suggest a completely different approach to community development—not “through the arts” as the catch phrase goes, but specifically, an approach that is led by the artists who live here. n
Schedule of Rick Lowe Talks Rick Lowe: An Introduction Thursday, May 12, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Ives Public Program Room New Haven Free Public Library 133 Elm St.
Community Engaged Art + Social Sculpture Lecture followed by Audience Q&A Thursday, May 12, 6-8 p.m. Auditorium at Co-Operative High School for the Arts, 177 College St.
Break Bread: Community Lunch + Roundtable with Rick Lowe Friday, May 13, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Coogan Pavillion, Edgewood Park, Enter from West Rock or Whalley Avenues All events are free. Reservations strongly encouraged. More information: siteprojects.org projectrowhouses.org
* theartstory.org/artist-beuys-joseph.htm
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Humanist Community Fundraises for Green Light Project campaign supports nonreligious public sculpture for holiday season david brensilver
D
uring his first winter in New Haven, a year and a half ago, Chris Stedman noticed something absent from the holiday decorations on the New Haven Green. While he can “appreciate the beauty” of the tree, nativity scene, and menorah that typically dominate the season, Stedman said, “I felt like there was something missing, something universal, a nonreligious work of art.” To that end, Stedman and the Yale Humanist Community, of which’s he’s executive director, in addition to being a fellow at Yale University’s Davenport College, have conceived a plan to place an interactive light sculpture on the green during each holiday season, one that welcomes people of all worldviews. Since April 2, an Indiegogo campaign has been accepting donations toward the realization of the project. The crowdfunding campaign ends on May 11. The Green Light Project, as it’s called, comes with a price tag of $119,550, according to a report issued in March by the YHC, with $55,000 of that earmarked for the sculpture’s design and construction. A request for proposals went out in November and East Haven resident Edwin “Ted” Salmon, who’s the vice chairman of that town’s Arts Commission and owns and operates the Branford-based fabrication company EWS 3-D, was awarded the commission. “I’ve been applying for a lot of public pieces in the last few years,” Salmon, a local sculptor who studied art at the University of Kentucky, said, explaining that he’s interested in finding ways to merge his art and his business. Salmon’s sculptural work has been exhibited in Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, and New York. Locally, he’s shown his sculptures in shows organized by Artspace, The Institute Library, and the Greene Art Gallery in Guilford. For the YHC, Salmon has designed a lighthouse with LED lighting that warms in color as people approach. A steel and Plexiglas obelisk that could be 16 feet tall and will have nine sides—one for each of New Haven’s squares—represents a beacon of and a monument to hope. How much money is raised through the Green Light Project’s Indiegogo campaign will determine the complexity of the installation, which will include a time capsule to be opened in 2138, the 500th anniversary of City of New Haven’s founding. “We’re dreaming really big,” Stedman said, “but we’re also trying to be realistic about this. We don’t want to set our expec-
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tations low and we don’t want to settle.” Stedman, who describes himself as a humanist and an atheist, laments the cultural polarization that happens around the holidays and the “War on Christmas” narrative, which he’s addressed as a guest on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox News show, The O’Reilly Factor. Ultimately, Stedman wants to change the narrative during the holiday season, not by excluding certain religious symbols, but by adding new, nonreligious ones. Stedman grew up in a nonreligious environment but became a born-again Christian at age 11, when he was looking for something with which to identify. Stories presented in such iconic books as Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family, John Hersey’s Hiroshima, and Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl had him wondering how people can treat one another so inhumanely. The church, he said, provided a safe space and some answers. About three years into his involvement with the church, realizing that he’s gay, Stedman began to see the church’s conservative ideology as being harmful to him. At Augsburg College, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, his teachers pushed him to figure out why he’d become a Christian in the first place, which was about finding a sense of community. “Eventually,” he said, “I realized I wasn’t religious.” With his 2012 memoir, Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious, he told the story of finding his own authenticity and making connections between nonbelievers and believers alike. After continuing his studies at the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago and at the University of Chicago, he began working as a Humanist chaplain at Harvard University. In organizing the Green Light Project fundraising effort, Stedman called on Jeff Devereux, whose consulting firm Breakfast Lunch & Dinner—a “social enterprise”— works to foster a “collective culture” in which people from diverse backgrounds have opportunities to participate in the wider culture around them. The firm’s work, Devereux said, intersects with the practice of community organizing. He and his colleagues feel a strong connection to the reasons Stedman and the YHC have embarked on the Green Light Project. Simply: It represents an opportunity for different segments of the community to come together. “We should have the opportunity for the wider community to feel connected,” Devereux explained. “We’re trying to create something that everyone can connect with,” Stedman said. n
Chris Stedman discusses the “War on Christmas” narrative on Bill O’Reilly’s Fox News show, The O’Reilly Factor. Screenshot submitted.
Visit the Green Light Project online at glpnh.com and the Yale Humanist Community at yalehumanists.com. Find the Green Light Project’s online crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo.com. Learn more about Ted Salmon at edwinsalmon.com and visit Breakfast Lunch & Dinner online at breakfastxlunchxdinner.com.
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“We’re trying to create something that everyone can connect with.” —Chris Stedman A rendering of Edwin “Ted” Salmon’s Green Light Project sculpture, as it will appear being approached by people on the New Haven Green. Image courtesy of the artist and YHC.
Before you write your success story
YOU HAVE TO FIND YOUR VOICE.
MFA IN CREATIVE WRITING 32 MFA GRADUATES HAVE PUBLISHED BOOKS Summer Residency at Enders Island: July 15 - July 24, 2016
fairfield.edu/mfawriting • may 2016
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Art and Social Justice Meet Onstage creative collaboration seeks to instigate cultural change lucy gellman It doesn’t take much prompting to get Richard Youins, a staff member at the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health (PRCH) and a local jazz musician, talking about the racial divides in New Haven. Born and raised in the city, the Hillhouse High School graduate greets questions about recent and long-simmering racial tensions, socioeconomic stratification, and neighborhood divisions with a sort of no-nonsense frankness, painting the topography of the city in a mix of fact and opinion that is impossible not to listen to. One, he’ll say: There are too many black bodies moving through Connecticut’s prison system. Two: If you have served time in prison and try to seek social services, some people—a lot of people—will act like you don’t deserve them. Three: streets like Broadway are mini, unspoken Berlin Walls, barring some of New Haven’s citizens from professional opportunities on the other side. His list goes on. So when Lucile Bruce, a communications specialist at the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC) and a longtime believer in seeking restorative justice through the fine and performing arts, approached him and Al Gamble, a member of PRCH’s Recovery Speaks public-speaking program, about the Returning Citizens Theater Project, which will merge the worlds of interactive theater and prison re-entry, he was enthralled. So was Gamble, ready to jump into a planning process unlike anything they had done before. That’s the main idea behind Bruce’s newest brainchild, a collaboration between Theatre of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC), the Connecticut Mental Health Center and the CMHC Foundation, and the PRCH. Funded by the Mayor’s Community Arts Grant Program, the collaboration will engage between 20 and 25 formerly incarcerated
Mike Gonzalez, left, and an audience member, during a Concrete Justice performance of Park Bench Prophet: Beggar with a Cause, at Bregamos Community Theater in Erector Square. Concrete Justice is Theatre of the Oppressed NYC’s longest-running troupe and is comprised of actors who’ve experienced homelessness. Photo by Max Freedman.
New Haveners in an intensive TONYC residency on June 8-9 of this year, culminating in performances at Bregamos Community Theater’s Erector Square headquarters. “This was about giving an opportunity to a group of people to share their stories who don’t typically have that opportunity,” Bruce said. “To share those stories and have a forum.” An organization like TONYC, she added, “is very special” because it so seamlessly dovetails with the CMHC’s mission. Founded by Katy Rubin in 2011 as an extension of the Jan Hus Homeless Theatre Troupe (now called Concrete Justice), TONYC exists as a “response to a real need from communities in crisis for social change.” In more than 60 public perfor-
Maaji Newbold, in a Concrete Justice performance of Park Bench Prophet: Beggar with a Cause, at Bregamos Community Theater in Erector Square. Concrete Justice is Theatre of the Oppressed NYC’s longest-running troupe and is comprised of actors who’ve experienced homelessness. Photo by Max Freedman.
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mances per year, it achieves that with its wholly interactive approach. “Jokers” or facilitators invite audience members onstage after each play, which leads to a brainstorming session with actors. What follows, Rubin said, is a critical analysis of the problems presented in the play—all of which reflect the actors’ real-life turmoil— and the ways that a community might try to solve them. “The best thing for us is to have a joint group like this,” said Rubin of the CMHC collaboration. “To be able to problem solve together is powerful. We want to bring out challenges facing the New Haven community so that they can bring up the biggest questions: gaps in housing service, work, healthcare. What are ways broader community can help?” For those two days in June, she added, that will mean sending “joker” John Leo to New Haven, where he’ll lead a training session on play development, work with CMHC and PRCH staff and a cast of 20, and facilitate a public performance, brainstorming session, and talkback. It’s something Bruce is already excited for, she said at an end-of-March planning session. It’s also where Youins and Gamble, who will hand-pick a group of 20 New Haveners with histories of incarceration, come into the equation. For the two native Elm City residents, the undertaking felt new—but also acutely necessary. It wasn’t so much the technical side of the project— soliciting interest among mental-health and re-entry networks, and wading through forms that interested participants fill out— that excited them initially. It was the potential to heal communities. “It’s a five-fold experience that we’re expecting,” Youins said at the end of March.
“It’s to bring some truth to light. It is to share it within our community and be a part of our community. It’s also to do some healing, and show some camaraderie among those who have experienced these things. If you’ve never done theater before, this is your great opportunity. “You have a lot of people that have been incarcerated, are incarcerated, and come out still incarcerated,” he added. “It’s not only because of the challenges of checking the box when you do a job application, but also the emotional and mental trauma. It’s really trauma. If we can share this and say: I’ve been through that. I know that. I’ve seen that, I’ve felt that, I’ve heard it—that part of this is a unique project. Art has the capability to transform.” Together, the two are looking for a “diverse” group of participants that comprises, in Youins’ words, “blacks, whites, Hispanics, gays, straight, lesbians, the whole community.” Once they find that cohort, they and Bruce will have a pre-performance meeting at the end of May, and then jump into the residency in the beginning of June. The long-term hope, Bruce said, is something like one of TONYC’s legislative sessions, public performances attended by lawmakers, legislators, and neighborhood advocates at the end of which a community agrees on what legal measures it is going to try to push forward. “It opens up this question about your own power, and your own capacity to affect change, and to change your own world based on what you do and how you interact,” she said. “Instead of victimization, it opens up this whole series of choices that you can make. It’s empowering. You have power. It makes that really clear.” n
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CALENDAR Photographs by Phyllis Crowley, including Golden Pier (pictured), are featured in the City Gallery exhibition Strata, on view May 5-29. Image courtesy of the artist.
Classes & Workshops ACES Educational Center for the Arts 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca. Acting Classes for Kids and Teens. Pantomime, improvisation, theater games, movement and the staging of a one-act play. Age groupings: 7-11 and 12-15 years. Performance at end of session. Saturday classes ongoing through May 7. Call Ingrid Schaeffer at 203-795-9011 or email ingrids@ optonline.net for more information. 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Elm Shakespeare Company Southern Connecticut State University, 501 Crescent St., New Haven. 203-874-0801. elmshakespeare.org Teen Troupe Spring Classes. Immerse yourself in great theater! Become the Shakespearean actor you can be! This 10-week class combines training and rehearsal to build an acting ensemble and creates a fully realized performance of a Shakespeare play! Teens only! Ages 13-18 Saturdays, through May 22, with performances on the final two afternoons. See website for details. 12-4 p.m. Suzanne Siegel Studio 2351 Boston Post Road, Bldg. 2, Suite 210, Guilford. 203-215-1468. suzannesiegel.net. Painting Workshops. Watercolor workshops with
Brooklyn-based guest artist Elizabeth O’Reilly, and more. Ongoing through June 30. See workshops page on website. $250-$350. Connecticut Natural Science Illustrators Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, 170 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-695-1215. ctnsi.com. Winter/Spring Art Classes. Come take an exciting art class with at the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven. We are offering Basic Drawing, Scientific Light on Form, Drawing and Painting Birds and Bird Models, Basic Watercolor, Basic Colored Pencil, and Drawing Flowers and Butterflies. To register, visit ctnsi.com, email ctnsi.info@gmail.com, or call 203-695-1215. Classes ongoing through May 12 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Nature Art Classes. Join us for an exciting spring of art classes focused on nature. Basic Watercolor, Drawing and Painting Birds, Nature Journaling, Drawing Butterflies in Colored Pencil, and more. Classes offered through August 12. Monday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Private Art Instruction For adults and children. Learn in a working artist’s studio. Ideal for artists, homeschooled youngsters, and those with special needs. Portfolio preparation offered. Draw, paint, print, and make collage in a spacious light-filled studio at Erector Square in New Haven. Relaxed and professional. I can also come to you. Lessons created to suit individual. References available. Email lizpagano@snet.net.
Exhibitions Case Memorial Library 176 City Road, Orange. 203-891-2170. orange.lioninc.org. Spring Eternal. This exhibit presents contemporary watercolor and oil paintings by local artist Cheri Miller-Weymann and artistic floral photography by Hedi Minow-Pike at Case Memorial Library. Artist reception: May 5, 5-7 p.m. On view May 5-30. Monday and Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m-5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. City Gallery 994 State St., New Haven. 203-782-2489. city-gallery.org. Strata. Photographs by Phyllis Crowley. These large-scale panels refer to geological layers of earth, water, and organic growth, and include manmade objects. Combining images creates a different sense of space and time; the traditional split-second slice of the world is replaced by a narrative without a story. On view May 5-29. Opening reception: Saturday May 7, 4-6 p.m. Hours: Thursday-Sunday. 12-4 p.m. Free. College of East Asian Studies Gallery at Mansfield Freeman Center Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, 343 Washington Terrace, Middletown. 860-685-2330. wesleyan.edu/ceas/exhibitions. “Light of the East”: The Beauty of Movement in Silence. Prominent Korean digital artists Youngho Kim and Jisong Lee examine the “beauty of movement in silence” through photography and video in their first exhibition outside Korea. On view through May 22. Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4 p.m. Free! Davison Art Center Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, 301 High St., Middletown. 860-6852500. wesleyan.edu/dac/exhibitions/index.html. Philip Trager—Photographing Ina. Following a retrospective exhibition in 2006 of his internationally renowned images of architecture and of contemporary dancers, Philip Trager ‘56 created the book Photographing Ina. This exhibition reveals Trager’s first series in color photography—an unexpected and tender meditation on photographing, on perception, color, and light. On view through May 22. Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4 p.m. Free!
Julia Rogoff will demonstrate “Nontraditional Approaches to Observational Painting” during the Hamden Art League’s May 10 meeting. Pictured is Rogoff’s painting Clouds Parting, Old Saybrook. Image courtesy of the Hamden Art League.
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Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, 283 Washington Terrace, Middletown. 860-685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/ galleries/zilkha-exhibition/index.html. Thesis Art Exhibition. Zilkha Gallery showcases the work of the Class of 2016’s thesis students in the
Department of Art and Art History’s art-studio program. Each student is invited to select a single work from his or her senior thesis exhibition for this year-end showcase of drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and architecture. On view through May 21. Reception May 21, 2 p.m. Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 12-5 p.m. Free! Monotype Guild of New England 86 Park St., Attleboro, Massachusetts. 508-222-2644. mgne.org. Fourth National Monotype/Monoprint Juried Exhibition. Location: Attleboro Arts Museum; juror: Andrew Stevens, curator of prints, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Cash prizes totaling $1,800. Prospectus and easy online entry via website. On view through May 7. Opening reception: April 7, 7-9 p.m. Museum hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 10 a.m. - $30 members, $45 non-members. Membership information is online. Good News Cafe 694 Main St. South, Woodbury. 203-266-4663. ¡Salud! A solo exhibition of monotypes by Oi Fortin. Several of the prints in this exhibition are from my recent series titled Catalan, an homage to the Spanish masters, in particular Antoni Gaudí. In these prints I’m trying to capture the sensuality of Barcelona and its environs, and the light that suffuses its citizens as they work and recreate. On view through May 3. Free. Kehler Liddell Gallery 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 203-389-9555. kehlerliddellgallery.com. Personal Visions. See the Personal Visions of artists Joe Saccio and Tom Edwards at Kehler Liddell Gallery. Opening reception: May 1, 3-6 p.m. Featured pieces pay homage to Italian painter Piero Della Francesca and author Gabriel Garcia Marquez in this eclectic collection of Saccio’s mixed-media sculptures and Edwards’ paintings, drawings, and prints. On view through May 29. See website for gallery hours. Free. Madison Art Society Madison Scranton Memorial Library, 801 Boston Post Road, Madison. 860-399-6116. 41st Annual Juried Show. The Madison Art Society is hosting its 41st annual juried show May 2-27. This year’s juror is James Magner, an avid plein air painter from Connecticut and Chatham, Massachusetts. Opening reception: Thursday May 12, 5-7 p.m. Free. New Haven Lawn Club 193 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-777-3494. debralee.cook@gmail.com. Alternate Perspectives. Twenty architecturally ori-
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ented watercolor paintings by Daniel Rosner (emeritus professor, ChE/Yale) and 18 intriguing images by Bridgeport-based photographer Penrhyn Cook will be on display at the NHLC (Lower Rotunda, adjacent Terraces and Grille Room). Artist reception: Tuesday, May 17, 5 p.m. On view May 10-July 11. Open daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Free admission. New Haven Museum 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-562-4183. newhavenmuseum.org. Fun, Fascinating, and Made in the Elm City. From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven highlights an astonishing variety of goods that were, and some that still are, produced in the Elm City. The exhibition runs through September 3 and features more than 100 objects, advertisements, trade cards, photographs, and more, with a wide-ranging products made in New Haven. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday, 12-5 p.m. Free first Sundays, 1-4 p.m., free of charge. Vauiso Connecticut Greenhouse Growers 75 Hosely Ave., Branford. 203-488-1430. Sway. Shift: Sea Garden. A community-enhanced installation project by Debbie Hesse. On view: May 10-June 15, during daily retail hours, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Special public reception: Wednesday, May 18, 4-6 p.m. Whitney Humanities Center 53 Wall St., New Haven. 203-432-0670. whc.yale.edu/gallery-whitney. Painting in Time: Discovery, Analysis, and Interpretation of a Roman Shield. The current exhibit presents a multidisciplinary study of one of the site’s most unique artifacts and one of archaeology’s rarest finds—a wooden Roman shield painted with scenes
The New Haven Ballet will present the premiere of an original neoclassical ballet by former New York City Ballet dancer and Tom Gold Dance founder/director, Tom Gold. The work is set to Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, performed by violist Dan Stone. The premiere will take place at 1 p.m., on May 21, at the Shubert Theater. Pictured here, Gold works with New Haven Ballet dancers. Photo by Mike Franzman.
from the Trojan War. On view through June 15. During fall and spring term the Gallery at the Whitney is open to the public Monday and Wednesday, 3-5 p.m., or by appointment. Free.
Yale Institute of Sacred Music 409 Prospect St., New Haven. 203-432-3220. ism.yale.edu/calendar. Between Clock and Bed. Exhibition curated by Jon Seals (MAR ‘15). Works by Laura Mosquera, Natalija Mijatovic, Kirsten Moran, Stephen Knudsen, Kenny Jensen, and Ronnie Rysz. On view through June 2. Open weekdays, 9 a.m.-4p.m. through June 2. Free and open to the public.
Music 1 Sunday Chinese Music Concert The Chinese Music Ensemble presents traditional and contemporary repertoire under the direction of Joy Lu. 7 p.m. Free! Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. 860-685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa.
2 Monday Ebony Singers Spring Concert An evening of great gospel music by the 100 members of Wesleyan University’s Ebony Singers under the direction of Marichal Monts ‘85. Come to sing, clap, and be encouraged. 8 p.m. $7 general public; $6 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, non-Wesleyan students; $5 Wesleyan students. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. 860-685-3355.
3 Tuesday The Elm City Ramblers at Anna Liffey’s Irish Pub & Restaurant The Elm City Ramblers is a 12-member folk/bluegrass ensemble of Neighborhood Music School students led by folk legend and NMS faculty member Phil Rosenthal. They gather to play at Anna Liffey’s Irish Pub (around the corner from NMS) the first Tuesday of every month! Come and see these fine singers and pickers who will play all kinds of songs you’re sure to like. 7 p.m. No admission fee. Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org. South Indian Music Student Recital Students of adjunct assistant professors of music B. Balasubrahmaniyan and David Nelson perform their annual recital of music from the Karnatak tradition of South India. Performances will feature vocal and instrumental music, percussion, and solkattu (spoken rhythm). 7 p.m. Free! Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. 860685-3355.
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WesWinds Spring Concert The Wesleyan University Wind Ensemble performs an exciting array of pieces for winds and percussion. 8 p.m. Free! Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. 860685-3355.
5 Thursday Annual Organ Romp Wesleyan University organists and their friends get together for an evening of musical jokes and old and new music—from ABBA to Antonio Vivaldi. Costumes, dancing, video—one never knows what they will combine. Watch for the poster. 10 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Memorial Chapel, 221 High St., Middletown. 860-685-3355.
6 Friday Toneburst Electroextravaganza The Toneburst Laptop and Electronic Arts Ensemble performs new works for live-electronics under the direction of assistant professor of music Paula Matthusen and premieres works written by ensemble members. 8 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, World Music Hall, 40 Wyllys Ave., Middletown. 860-685-3355.
7 Saturday Spring Concert The New Haven Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Heejung Park, will perform Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 and Weber’s Bassoon Concerto featuring Carl Gardner, MM ‘16 Yale School of Music, as the soloist. Students from the Fair Haven School’s music program will join the orchestra in the overture. 3 p.m. Free admission and ample parking. Fair Haven Middle School, 164 Grand Ave., New Haven. 203-799-2240. newhavenchamberorchestra.org. Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem The New Haven Oratorio Choir will perform Brahms’ beloved masterpiece with soloists and Brahms’ double piano score. 8 p.m. $20 general admission, $15 students and seniors. New Haven Oratorio Choir, Church of the Redeemer, 185 Cold Spring St., New Haven. 860-339-6462. nhoratorio.org. West African Drumming and Dance Concert An invigorating performance filled with the rhythms of West Africa featuring choreographer Iddi Saaka with guest master drummers and students in the West African Dance classes. Master drummer Abraham Adzenyah, who retired as adjunct professor of music in December, returns for a farewell concert and reunion. 3 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University
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Allison Miller by Shervin Lainez.
Katie Bull by James Spione.
Ben Allison by Jim Hershman. Daniel Levin by R. Cifarelli. Firehouse 12’s Spring Jazz Series features performances by Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom (May 6), Ben Allison (May 13), The Katie Bull Group (May 20), and the Daniel Levin Quartet (May 27).
Center for the Arts, CFA Courtyard, 283 Washington Terrace, Middletown. 860-685-3355.
8 Sunday Greater New Haven Youth Ensemble Concert Join us for our Greater New Haven Youth Ensemble Concert at Battell Chapel, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase at the door. Adults $10, seniors $5, children (younger than 12) $5. Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
14 Saturday Renee B. Fisher Competition Winners Concert 7:30-9 p.m. Free. Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
20 Friday Music Haven Presents: Quartet Roulette The Haven String Quartet presents the music of W. A. Mozart, Anna Clyne, and Ludwig van Beethoven. 7:30 p.m. Admission: $20; $10 students, seniors, and Unitarian Society of New Haven members. Tickets available at musichavenct.org/concerts. Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. 203-745-9030. musichavenct.org.
• may 2016
7 Saturday Second annual “Feet to the Fire” Riverfront Encounter Festival Spend an afternoon at the second annual festival, featuring world music bands, performance- and visual-art installations, a kids’ activity zone, and environmental-education exhibits, as well as a craft fair and farmer’s market. 12 p.m. Free! Harbor Drive, Middletown. 860-685-3355.
21 Saturday Radio Days: Another Octave Takes to the Airwaves Featuring well-known classics and lesser-known gems from the golden age of radio, the Radio Days broadcast will sample the fare of composers including Duke Ellington, Dorothy Fields, Ella Fitzerald, the Gershwins, and Cole Porter. The Andrews Sisters and the McGuire Sisters will appear; jazz and swing will rule the airwaves in our mock “studio.” 7 p.m. $15-$30. Tickets available through AnotherOctave. org. Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. 203-672-1919. anotheroctave.org.
Special Events
19 Thursday Tchaikovky, Brahms, and Lash The New Haven Symphony Orchestra pairs Tchaikovsky’s final and most dramatic symphony (No. 6) with Brahms’ Violin Concerto, featuring NHSO New Generation Artist Benjamin Beilman. The NHSO also premieres “Astronomical,” the second movement of Hannah Lash’s Voynich Symphony Project. KidTix and Blue
Artist & Artisan Market. May 6, 7-10 p.m.; May 7, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Whalley Avenue and Fountain Street, New Haven. 203-285-8539. westvillect.org.
6-7 Friday-Saturday 19th Annual Westville Village ArtWalk ArtWalk is a free, annual community-based arts festival that features live music, art exhibitions and demonstrations, interactive art-making for kids and adults, theater performances, studio tours, a (ticketed) local beer tasting, food trucks, and a 30-plus vendor
10 Tuesday May Meeting and Artist Demonstration Julia Rogoff: “Non-traditional Approaches to Observational Painting.” Local artist and teacher at Creative Arts Workshop and Guilford Art Center, Rogoff will selectively build up layers of observation through mixed media, bold colors, and gestural expressiveness. The artist views working from observation as a “superhighway of infinite possibilities” for new ideas and fun. Refreshment and socializing at 7 p.m.; brief business meeting at 7:15 p.m.; artist demonstration at 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-494-2316. hamdenartleague.com.
NEIGHBORHOOD MUSIC SCHOOL
create CONNECT MUSIC, DANCE, DRAMA
AND
Radio Days: Another Octave Takes to the Airwaves Featuring well-known classics and lesser-known gems from the golden age of radio, Another Octave will sample the fare of composers Duke Ellington, Dorothy Fields, Ella Fitzerald, the Gershwins, and Cole Porter. The Andrews Sisters and McGuire Sisters will appear in our mock-up of a radio studio, and our live audience will be right there with us. 7 p.m. $15-$30. Tickets available online at anotheroctave. org. Another Octave: Connecticut Women’s Chorus, Unity Church of Greater Hartford, 919 Ellington Road (Rt. 30), South Windsor. 203-672-1919. anotheroctave.org.
Star Tickets are sponsored by Frontier. 7:30 p.m. $15-$74. KidTix and Blue Star Tickets available. $10 student tickets with ID. New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. 203-865-0831. NewHavenSymphony.org.
DA N C E SING P L AY
INDIVIDUAL LESSONS GROUP CLASSES ENSEMBLES: BAROQUE TO ROCK PRESCHOOL EARLY CHILDHOOD ALL AGES WELCOME
100 audubon : new haven re g i s t e r 2 0 3 . 6 24 . 5 1 8 9
NeighborhoodMusicSchool.org
newhavenarts.org • 15
The Arts Paper may 2016
formed and developed by well-known theaters and organizations all over the country, and he’s been the recipient of numerous honors, including a Richard Rodgers Award, an NEA Art Works Grant, and a MacDowell Fellowship. 6:30-8 p.m. Free. Neighborhood Music School, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.
6-7 Friday-Saturday
The Best Video Film and Cultural Center presents Sambeleza on May. 6. Photo by Hank Hofffman.
15 Sunday Acrylic Artist Bill Colrus Demonstration Artist Bill Colrus will present an acrylic painting demonstration in conjunction with the Madison Art Society’s 41st annual juried show. The demonstration will be held at 1:30 p.m. The public is welcome to attend. Free. 801 Boston Post Road, Madison. 860399-6116.
26 Thursday Poetry Night The Guilford Poets Guild will share poems inspired by artwork in the Madison Art Society’s 41st annual juried show. The event celebrating both art and poetry is open to the public. 6:30 p.m. Free. 801 Boston Post Road, Madison. 860-399-6116.
Talks & Tours 3 Tuesday A Celebration of Silent Sounds Celebrate the writing excellence of students in the Middletown Public Schools, grades 6 through 12, and hear their winning submissions of essays, short stories, and poetry from the annual literary magazine Silent Sounds. 6:30 p.m. Free! Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Ring Family Performing Arts Hall, Washington Terrace, Middletown. 860-685-3355.
5 Thursday Breaking and Entering: Hip-Hop, Theatre & Community Aaron Jafferis’ musicals, including Stuck Elevator, How to Break, and Kingdom, have been per-
Westville ArtWalk Studio Tours Guided tours of artist studios in Westville led by Paul Clabby, former curator, John Slade Ely House Center for Contemporary Art, and Steve DiGiovanni, adjunct professor, Norwalk Community College. Artists include Gar Waterman, Frank Bruckman, Alice Steinhardt, Steve DiGiovanni, John Keefer, Sigrun Mueller, Noe Jimenez, Susan McCaslin, Lotta Studio, and Don Wunderlee. Friday, May 6, 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 7, 2 p.m. Contact Lizzy Donius to reserve a space on a tour. lizzy@westillvect.org or (203) 285-8539 Free. Westville Village Renaissance Alliance, Westville Village, New Haven. 203-285-8539. westvillect.org/ events/artwalk-0.
Theater Jersey Boys “Too good to be true!” raves the New York Post about Jersey Boys, the Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award-winning Best Musical about Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, and Nick Massi. This is the story of how four blue-collar kids became one of the greatest successes in pop-music history. May 3-May 8. Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com.
Bulletin Board Policies and Rates The Arts Paper Bulletin Board Listings Policies and Rates, effective with the December 2015 issue. Call for Artists and Volunteer listings are FREE and must be art related. Services and Space Listings must be arts related. Listings are limited to 350 characters (this includes spaces). All listings must be paid in advance for publication. Classes & Workshops listings should be posted to our online calendar page and is a membership privilege.
RATES Organizations/Businesses
The Arts Paper advertising and calendar deadlines:
Member organizations and businesses are entitled to three complimentary classified listings in The Arts Paper per year. Listings are also posted on the Arts Council’s website, newhavenarts.org. Rates: $15 per listing, three listings for $30. Listings must be paid for in advance.
The deadline for advertisements and calendar listings for the June 2016 edition of The Arts Paper is: Monday, April 25, at 5 p.m.
Artists Individual artist members are entitled to one complimentary classified listing per year. Rates: $10 per listing, three listings for $25. Listings must be paid for in advance.
The deadline for the July-August 2016 issue of The Arts Paper is Tuesday, May 31, 5 p.m.
Non-members Rates: $20 per listing, three listings for $50. Listings must be paid for in advance.
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 communications@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.
Please note that the size limitation of listings is 350 characters with spaces. The Arts Council reserves the right to edit your listing for length or content. The Arts Council provides these listings as a service to the community and is not responsible for the content or deadlines. Call for Artists/Volunteers are free and open to all arts organizations, educational institutions, and creative businesses.
To submit a Bulletin Board listing please email your listing to: communications@newhavenarts.org. Through May 21, Dianne Wiest stars in the Yale Repertory Theater’s production of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, directed by Artistic Director James Bundy. Photo by Serge Neville.
16 • newhavenarts.org
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The Arts Paper may 2016
BULLETIN BOARD Call For Artist Members The Kehler Liddell Gallery in New Haven is seeking applications from new prospective members. Visit kehlerliddell.com/ membership for more information. Artists The Smithtown Township Arts Council seeks entries for juried fine art exhibition Of A Botanical Nature at the Mills Pond Gallery. This is a call for original artwork that reflects the beauty and uniqueness of flora (realistic or representational style). Plants and all aspects of plant development such as seed pods, leaves, fruits, and flowers are appropriate. All media considered except photography and computer-generated art. Entry deadline: May 12. Exhibit dates: June 18–July 20. Juror: Wendy Hollender. Open to local and national artists. Prospectus at stacarts.org/exhibits or email gallery@stacarts. org. 660 Route 25A, St. James, NY, 11780. 631862-6575. gallery@stacarts.org. $45 for three entries. Cash awards for first and second place. Artists The Smithtown Township Arts Council invites submissions for its upcoming juried fine art exhibition Animals in Art—Our Partners on the Planet at the Mills Pond Gallery. Juror/judge Tim Newton. Artists are encouraged to share their artistic vision of animals, both domestic and wild. Artwork may include any animals that live on land, in the sea or in the air, and can range from realism to surrealism to abstraction. Open to American artists ages 18 or older. All media considered except photography and computer-generated art. Entry fee $45 for up to three images. Awards: $1,000 Best of Show, $500 second place, $250 third place. Prospectus at stacarts.org/exhibits/show/96 or email gallery@stacarts.org. Entry deadline: June 3. Exhibit dates: July 30-August 24. 660 Route 25A, St. James, NY, 11780. 631-862-6575. gallery@ stacarts.org Artists Jaden Events is accepting applications for the Thames River Art & Craft Show. It is a two-day, juried show held on the beautiful coastal campus of Mitchell College in New London on June 25 & 26, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. both days. We have a special Referral Refund promotion to help with booth costs. This is an outdoor show, rain or shine, and 10x10-foot white (or light tan) canopies are required. Please visit our Facebook page or website for more information (facebook.com/ThamesRiverArtAndCraftShow) or jadenevents.com. Accepting applications until June 10. Artists For Arts Center Killingworth’s 2015–2016 Spectrum Gallery exhibits, including the 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 resumes and images for possible exhibition in 2016. 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. Artists 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 Work-
• may 2016
shop, 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 203-562-4927 x. 14, email gallery@creativeartsworkshop.org, or visit creativeartsworkshop.org/tiny. Artists, Artisans, and Crafters The Westville Village Renaissance Alliance (WVRA) is looking for artists, artisans and crafters for its 19th Annual ArtWalk on Saturday, May 7, in New Haven. ArtWalk is a community-based arts festival that spans three blocks in Historic Westville Village and Edgewood Park every Mother’s Day weekend. ArtWalk features a full day of live music, art exhibitions and demonstrations, interactive art-making for kids and adults, theater performances, walking tours, and a 30-vendor Artist & Artisan Market. ArtWalk traditionally draws between 8,000-10,000 visitors. We are always on the lookout for unique artwork and hand-crafted products to add to the mix! Visit westvillect.org to download the application form. Filmmakers The New England Underground Film Festival is seeking entries for its sixth annual edition, to be held October 8 at the Best Video Film and Cultural Center in Hamden. The festival welcomes narrative, nonfiction and experimental works, either feature-length or short subjects. The final deadline for submission is August 20. More information can be found on the festival website, newenglanduff.webs.com. Instructors Are you a maker who loves to share your knowledge? If yes, MakeHaven has been looking for you. We are hiring instructors to teach: fabrication, woodworking, 3D printing, sewing, mechanics, brewing, arduino, electronics, cooking and other maker activities. What could you teach us? makehaven.org. Musicians The New Haven Chamber Orchestra has openings in the violin, viola, and bass sections for the 2015–2016 season. The orchestra rehearses on Tuesday evenings at the Fair Haven School, 164 Grand Ave. Rehearsals begin after Labor Day. To sit in on a rehearsal or to audition, contact the orchestra via email at info@newhavenchamberorchestra.org.
composers, with two main concerts per season (December and May). Our 2015–16 season will include works by Tavener, Gardiner, and Brahms. An audition consists of meeting with Artistic Director Daniel Shaw, doing some general vocalizing and performing a one-to-two-minute unaccompanied selection chosen by the singer. An audition may be scheduled at that time, or go to our website, nhoratorio.org, to learn more about NHOC, and follow the link there to schedule an audition. Volunteers, Artists, and Board Members Secession Cabal, a New Haven-based group of outsider artists working in theatre, film, visual art, and other mediums seek people for our board, sponsors, volunteers with fundraising experience, and artists in all mediums who agree with our mission and create radical, brave work. Volunteers/board members/sponsors: Please send a brief introduction. Artists: Please email a letter of interest/introduction with examples of your bravest work. More information at art-secession.org. Volunteers Volunteers are a vital part of Artspace’s operation. 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 Shelli Stevens shelli@artspacenh.org.
Creative Services Art Installation Specialists, LLC An art-handling company serving homeowners, art professionals, offices, galleries, and museums. We offer packing, long-distance or local shipping, and installation of paintings, mirrors, plaques, signage, tapestries, and sculpture, as well as framing, pedestals, exhibit design, and conservation. Contact Paul Cofrancesco at (203) 752-8260, Gabriel Da Silva at (203) 982-3050, e-mail: artinstallationspecialistsllc@gmail.com, or visit artinstallationspecialistsllc.com.
Creative Services Video recording with Sony, photography and pictures for sale, personalized/ custom greeting cards, paper banners “done by hand,” mutant portraits, slideshows, host of Oasis D’Neon Video Magazine, New Haven history (artists, musicians), proofreader, writer, teacher, raconteur, driver/transporter, logo/ poster/sign design, model, interior/exterior painting. For more information, email oasisdneon@gmail.com. Historic Home Restoration Contractor Period appropriate additions, baths, kitchens, and remodeling. Sagging porches, straightened/leveled, wood windows restored, plaster restored, historic, molding and hardware, Vinyl/aluminum siding removed, wood siding repaired/replaced. Connecticut and New Haven Preservation Trusts. RJ Aley Building Contractor (203) 2269933. jaley@rjaley.com. Web Design & Art Consulting Services Startup business solutions. Creative, sleek Web design by art curator and editor for artist, design, architecture, and small-business sites. Will create and maintain any kind of website. Hosting provided. Also low-cost in-depth artwork analysis, writing, editing services. 203.387.4933. 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. Individual Studio space also available. Call (609) 638-8501 or visit westcovestudio.org. Studio Space Spacious three-car garage with open floor plan. Has its own heat and electricity and would make a really nice art studio. Great location in the Mt. Carmel/Hamden Center area (just off Whitney Avenue, near Eli’s Restaurant.) $495/month, plus utilities. Call Charlie at (203) 415-3393.
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.
Art Mentoring The goal of art mentoring is to give artists individual feedback on their artwork and help them to focus and develop a cohesive body of work. More information at suzannesiegel.net. “I’ve taken many classes and workshops with Suzanne over several years. I totally enjoy her style of teaching. I’m about to use several adjectives to describe Suzanne, and I’m selecting them with great thought,” said Anne Coffey. “She is calm, creative, prepared, a problem-solver, and very encouraging. Suzanne has helped me greatly to progress in my art.”
Studio Space for Dance, Performing Arts, Events Hall A 1,500-square-foot space with adjoining rooms in a turn-of-the-century mansion in a historic district. Hardwood floors. Vintage stage with curtains. Mahogany woodwork and glass doors. Ample natural light. Chairs and tables on premises. Contact whitneyartsctr@ aol.com.
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 held every Tuesday, 6:30–9 p.m., at the Spring Glen United Church of Christ, 1825 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Contact Lynn at 203-6231276 for more information or visit silknsounds.org.
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.; Friday 8 a.m.-3 p.m. (203) 776-6310.
Please visit newhavenarts.org for up-to-date local employment opportunities in the arts.
Singers New Haven Oratorio Choir invites auditions by choral singers (all parts). We are a chamber ensemble rehearsing weekly (Wednesday nights) at Church of the Redeemer, New Haven, under the leadership of Daniel Shaw. We perform a varied repertoire of sacred and secular classical music, including contemporary
Creative Events/Crafting Parties Our beautiful light-filled space in East Rock is the perfect spot to host an intimate creative gathering or party. We’ll work with you to provide the programming, snacks, drinks, and decorations that will make your event memorable. Rent our space for up to three hours. thehvncollective.com.
Jobs
newhavenarts.org • 17
The Arts Paper may 2016
CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2016
yale institute of sacred music presents
Practicing Empathy
Collaborative performance/discussion developed by little ray
Featuring dancers courtesy Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Co. with
julia easterlin, songwriter and vocals samora pinderhughes, piano pawan benjamin, bansuri and sax saturday, may 14 · 7:30 pm jake goldbas, drums Discussion follows Yale University site tba
and Yale students
Photo Credit: Souki Mehdaoui
800-394-9982
albertus.edu
Free; no tickets required. Originally developed with Bill T. Jones at Grace Farms UPDATED CAST and VENUE INFORMATION at ism.yale.edu/empathy
SPRING-TIME TO GET OUTSIDE AND PAINT SALE Storewide Savings all May Long on Pleine Air and Watercolor Supplies including... Princeton Brushes Buy 3 & Get a
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3rd One FREE Stretched Canvas Buy 3 and Get a 4th One FREE
We wanted to be in a vibrant community. And we wanted to feel like our health care would be taken care of for life. Since we have about 50 years of living in this area, enjoying things like restaurants, theatre, friends, and music, Whitney Center was the perfect place for us. Steve & Georgia Jennings, residents since 2014
So Much More Than An Art Supply Store! Art & Craft Supplies Cards & Games Novelties & Creative Gifts Journals & Notebooks Fine Writing Instruments Decorative Papers Amazing Custom Framing & Ready-Made Frames 1144 Chapel Street New Haven Open 7 Days 203.865.4855 HullsNewHaven.com
18 • newhavenarts.org
Write your next chapter at Whitney Center. Learn more about our Life Care senior living community. Call 203.883.4109 or visit WhitneyCenter.com to schedule a personal appointment. 701202
may 2016 •
The Arts Paper member organizations & partners
Arts & Cultural Organizations
The Choirs of Trinity Church on the Green trinitynewhaven.org
ACES Educational Center for the Arts aces.k12.ct.us
City Gallery city-gallery.org 203-782-2489
Alyla Suzuki Early Childhood Music Education alylasuzuki.com 203-239-6026 American Guild of Organists sacredmusicct.org Another Octave CT Women’s Chorus anotheroctave.org Arts Center Killingworth artscenterkillingworth.org 860-663-5593 Arts for Learning Connecticut www.aflct.org Artspace artspacenh.org 203-772-2709 Artsplace: Cheshire Performing & Fine Art cpfa-artsplace.org 203-272-2787 Ball & Socket Arts ballandsocket.org Bethesda Music Series bethesdanewhaven.org 203-787-2346 Blackfriars Repertory Theatre blackfriarsrep.com Branford Art Center branfordartscenter.com Branford Folk Music Society branfordfolk.org
Civic Orchestra of New Haven civicorchestraofnewhaven.org Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre ccbtballettheatre.org College Street Music Hall collegestreetmusichall.com Connecticut Dance Alliance ctdanceall.com Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus ctgmc.org 1-800-644-cgmc Connecticut Natural Science Illustrators ctnsi.com 203-934-0878
Greater New Haven Community Chorus gnhcc.org 203-624-1979 Guilford Art Center guilfordartcenter.org 203-453-5947 Guitartown CT Productions guitartownct.com 203-430-6020 Hamden Art League hamdenartleague.com 203-494-2316 Hamden Arts Commission hamdenartscommission.org Hillhouse Opera Company hillhouseoperacompany.org 203-464-2683 Hopkins School hopkins.edu
The Second Movement secondmovementseries.org
Creative Businesses
New Haven Theater Company newhaventheatercompany.com
Theater Department at SCSU/ Crescent Players southernct.edu/theater
Foundry Music Company www.foundrymusicco.com
Make Haven makehaven.org
One True Palette onetruepalette.com
University Glee Club of New Haven universitygleeclub.org
Hull’s Art Supply and Framing hullsnewhaven.com 203-865-4855
Mattatuck Museum mattatuckmuseum.org
Orchestra New England orchestranewengland.org 203-777-4690
Vintanthromodern vintanthromodernvintage.com
Toad’s Place toadsplace.com
Long Wharf Theatre longwharf.org 203-787-4282
New Haven Symphony Orchestra newhavensymphony.org 203-865-0831
Lyman Center at SCSU www.lyman.southernct.edu
Meet the Artists and Artisans meettheartistsandartisans.com 203-874-5672 Melinda Marquez Flamenco Dance Center melindamarquezfdc.org 203-361-1210 Milford Fine Arts Council milfordarts.org 203-878-6647 Music Haven musichavenct.org 203-745-9030
Pantochino Productions pantochino.com Paul Mellon Arts Center choate.edu/artscenter Performing Arts Academy of CT artsinct.org Play with Grace playwithgrace.com Reynolds Fine Art reynoldsfineart.com
Wesleyan University Center for the Arts wesleyan.edu/cfa West Cove Studio & Gallery westcovestudio.com 609-638-8501 Whitney Arts Center 203-773-3033 Whitney Humanities Center yale.edu/whc Whitneyville Cultural Commons 1253whitney.com
Community Partners Department of Arts Culture & Tourism, City of New Haven cityofnewhaven.com 203-946-8378 DECD/CT Office of the Arts cultureandtourism.org 860-256-2800 Fractured Atlas fracturedatlas.org
Creative Concerts 203-795-3365
Hugo Kauder Society hugokauder.org
Musical Folk musicalfolk.com
Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, New Haven Branch nhrscds.org
CT Folk ctfolk.com
The Institute Library institutelibrary.org
Neighborhood Music School neighborhoodmusicschool.org 203-624-5189
Shoreline Arts Alliance shorelinearts.org 203-453-3890
Yale Center for British Art yale.edu/ycba
The Amistad Committee ctfreedomtrail.org
DaSilva Gallery dasilva-gallery.com 203-387-2539
International Festival of Arts & Ideas artidea.org
New Haven Ballet newhavenballet.org 203-782-9038
Shubert Theater shubert.com 203-562-5666
Yale Institute of Sacred Music yale.edu.ism 203-432-5180
Town Green Special Services District infonewhaven.com
East Street Arts eaststreetartsnh.org 203-776-6310
International Silat Federation of America & Indonesia isfnewhaven.org
New Haven Chorale newhavenchorale.org
Silk n’ Sounds silknsounds.org
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History peabody.yale.edu
Visit New Haven visitnewhaven.com
EcoWorks CT ecoworksct.org
Jazz Haven jazzhaven.org
New Haven Free Public Library nhfpl.org
Silk Road Art Gallery silkroadartnewhaven.com
Elm City Dance Collective elmcitydance.org
Kehler Liddell Gallery 203-389-9555 kehlerliddell.com
New Haven Oratorio Choir nhoratorio.org
Susan Powell Fine Art susanpowellfineart.com 203-318-0616
Center for Independent Study cistudy.homestead.com
Elm Shakespeare Company elmshakespeare.org 203-874-0801
Chestnut Hill Concerts chestnuthillconcerts.org 203-245-5736
Firehouse 12 firehouse12.com 203-785-0468
• may 2016
Gallery One CT galleryonect.com
Knights of Columbus Museum kofcmuseum.org Legacy Theatre legacytheatrect.org
New Haven Museum newhavenmuseum.org 203-562-4183
The Bird Nest Gallery thebirdnestsalon.com
New Haven Paint and Clay Club newhavenpaintandclayclub.org 203-288-6590
The Company of Writers companyofwriters.net 203-676-7133
Yale Cabaret yalecabaret.org 203-432-1566
Yale Repertory Theatre yalerep.org 203-432-1234
New Haven Preservation Trust nhpt.org
Westville Village Renaissance Alliance westvillect.org
Yale School of Music music.yale.edu 203-432-1965 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., and Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.
Knack
Perspectives... The Gallery at Whitney Center. Knack. James Spielman.
Curated by Debbie Hesse Knack brings together artists, artisans, and teachers who are affiliated with regional service organizations that support artistic practices through training programs, workshops, and community interaction with the goal of promoting creative self-expression, job creation, wellness, and community integration. The exhibition features art created by affiliates of Chapel Haven, Universal Arts, Opportunity House, Fellowship Place, Marrakech, East Street Arts, Play with Grace, and Vista Live Innovations. Dates: May 13-September 6 Opening reception: Saturday, May 21, 3-5 p.m. Free and open to the public.
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.
Mono is Many Curated by Debbie Hesse and Jennifer Van Elswyk Artists have always been drawn to the seductive appeal of the monoprint for its immediate, painterly quality. A low-tech printmaking approach, monoprints offer an artist a unique opportunity to explore color, composition, repetition, and variation from a fixed image. Mono is Many is an exhibition that explores the many ways artists are adapting this technique, through their unique visions and experimentation within the medium, to investigate contemporary concerns. Dates: May 5-June 17 Opening reception: Thursday, June 2, 5-7 p.m. Free and open to the public.
Katalina’s Bakery Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery. Mono is Many. Paul Theirault.
Location: Katalina’s Bakery, 74 Whitney Ave., New Haven Hours: Monday-Friday: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Mother{ing} and Child Curated by Nichole René Visit Katalina’s and share your own interpretation of what mothering looks like to you on our community family portrait wall. Who ‘mothers’ you best? Your aunt, an uncle, your biological mother, mother Earth? What does ‘motherhood’ in today’s society look like? This show is an extension of April’s show, Family Reunion: Psyche, Spirit, and Humanness. Dates: Through May 31
Advice from the AC Need help finding exhibition space/opportunities, performance/rehearsal space or developing new ways to promote your work or creative event? Schedule a free one-on-one consultation with Debbie Hesse, the organization’s director of artist services and programs, by calling (203) 7722788. Walk-ins are also welcome. Dates: May Art Advice sessions will take place on May 5 and May 26, 1-4 p.m., at the Whitneyville branch of the Hamden Public Library, 125 Carleton St., Hamden.
Arts On AIR Listen to the Arts Council’s Arts On Air broadcast on Monday, May 16, during WPKN’s Community Programming Hour, 12-1 p.m. Hosted by the Arts Council’s communications manager, Arts On Air engages in conversations with local artists and arts organizations. Listen live and online at wpkn.org.
Writers Circle May Writers Circle: Exploring Fiction and Artistic Activism with Arts Paper Editor David Brensilver. David will discuss his experiences having a novel published and practicing “artistic activism,” using the written word to advocate creatively for animals. RSVP required: maywriterscircle2016.eventbrite.com For more information, please visit newhavenarts.org and the Arts Council’s social media pages for information about Writers Circle Events. To be added to the Writers Circle email list, please email Communications@NewHavenArts.org. Date: Thursday, May 12, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Location: The Happiness Lab at the Grove, 756 Chapel St., New Haven
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 email to photoartscollective@gmail.com.
For more information on these events and more visit newhavenarts.org or check out our mobile events calendar using the Arts, Nightlife, Dining & Information (ANDI) app for smartphones.
Katalina’s Bakery. Mother{ing} and Child. Nichole René.
Perspectives... The Gallery at Whitney Center. Knack. Rosa Carmichael.
Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery. Mono is Many. Aspasia Anos.