Epoch Arts 5-20-2016

LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/GETTY IMAGES

Fabergé: What’s in a Name?

CEO Sean Gilbertson discusses the labor of love.

CARISSA DIXON

Classics Connect Us to Our Humanity Costume designer Rachel Healy discusses the classics and the influence of the arts.

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C1 May 20–26, 2016

Science and medicine is not this grand edifice of truth that we have been marching toward through history.

Sally Fama Cochrane BENJAMIN CHASTEEN/EPOCH TIMES

SAMIRA BOUAOU/EPOCH TIMES

Sally Fama Cochrane

(Top & bottom left) Sally Fama Cochrane at Grand Central Atelier in Long Island City, Queens, on April 8.

(Bottom right) Two women look at Cochrane’s paintings at the RESIDENTS exhibition at Eleventh Street Arts Marble statue of a youth, Greek, early first century B.C., from the Antikythera shipwreck. gallery on April 15.

on Painting Allegories of the Body A glimpse into the atelier art movement

By Milene Fernandez | Epoch Times Staff

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EW YORK—When she paints, Sally Fama Cochrane dives into the chasm between invisible and visible worlds—between the inside and the outside of the body, between numbers and emotions, between cold analysis and comforting storytelling. While some old masters painted allegories of time, wisdom, faith, and themes imbued with Greek mythology or religious morals, Cochrane creates her own allegories inspired by a predominant paradigm of this century—science and medicine.

I’ve always thought that painting was the most important thing that humans did.

Sally Fama Cochrane

Everything she paints has a specific meaning. “I’m interested in everything. My brain is a cabinet of curiosities where I file things that I notice and can bring out later when needed,” said Cochrane about her creative process at Grand Central Atelier where she works as an artist in residence. “I’m a very analytical person, I like data and numbers,” she said somewhat bashfully, as if admitting that liking statistics is quite unusual among visual artists.

When asked how artistry plays into her work, she spoke of using representational techniques to communicate an emotional personal narrative.

See Allegories on C4

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FABERGÉ L A B O R

By Emel Akan | Epoch Times Staff

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abergé is the world’s most iconic jewelry house, and its name is synonymous with the legendary Fabergé eggs. However, it is not just about eggs; it also creates elegant pieces including jewelry, timepieces, and objets d’art.

Sean Gilbertson, CEO of Fabergé, defines it as “labor of love.”

Founded in 1842, Fabergé has been the most respected name in jewelry ever since Peter Carl Fabergé became official goldsmith to the Russian imperial family.

Fabergé changed hands many times since 1951.

A mining magnate, Brian Gilbertson, bought the brand in 2007 with an ambition to restore the name to its historic glory. He also announced the reunification of the brand with the Fabergé family, great-granddaughters of Peter Carl Fabergé.

Fabergé today traces the legacy of excellence in creativity, design, and craftsmanship.

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Epoch Times spoke with CEO Sean Gilbertson, son of Brian Gilbertson, at Baselworld, the largest fine watch and jewelry show in the world.

Gilbertson talked about the intriguing story of Fabergé, unique aspects of the brand, and his business philosophy.

Epoch Times: Could you please tell us the brand’s history and how it all started?

Sean Gilbertson: Fabergé goes back originally to 1842. A gentleman called Gustav Fabergé founded the company. The family Fabergé was originally from France. They had escaped religious persecution in France, moved through Europe, and eventually ended up in Russia.

French Sensitivity With a Russian Soul Epoch Times: Not many people know the brand’s French origin, right?

Mr. Gilbertson: One of the best descriptions of Fabergé is that it has a French sensitivity with a Russian soul. So in many respects, the brand is a combination of French and Russian attributes. In fact, it wasn’t Gustav Fabergé who put the brand on the map. It was his son, Peter Carl Fabergé who really took the business to another level. And Peter Carl Fabergé traveled extensively as a young man around Europe, did a couple of internships, read quite a lot, did a lot of research, learned the trade, learned the craft, and went back to Russia to take the reigns of the family firm.

In 1885, perhaps the single biggest milestone and the start of what has made Fabergé the most legendary brand on the planet was the Hen Egg. It is one of the most remarkably modern looking pieces. Yet it was the first egg made for the Russian imperial family. And that’s how the tradition of imperial eggs started in 1885.

In subsequent years, the firm was commissioned by the imperial family to make one or two imperial eggs every year. And that tradition carried on until 1916 when the last two eggs were completed. And that left a legacy of 50 completed eggs, of which for many years, 8 were missing.

So the whereabouts of only 42 eggs were known.

In 1917, the Russian Revolution struck, and the Bolsheviks took control. The firm of Fabergé came to an end, as a result. All the employees disappeared. A lot of the inventory disappeared, and Peter Carl Fabergé fled Russia and ended up in Switzerland, just outside Lausanne, where he died in 1921. And two of his sons tried to continue the business based out of Paris, and they mostly repaired old Fabergé items.

The dream customer for us is the customer that wants to be actively engaged in the development of the products on a customized basis.

Sean Gilbertson, CEO, Fabergé

MATTHIAS KEHREIN/EPOCH TIMES

How Fabergé Ended Up in the United States Sean Gilbertson, CEO of Fabergé, was actively involved in the acquisition of the brand and name from Unilever.

Fabergé Mosaic multicolored pendant.

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COURTESY OF FABERGE

in Manhattan’s

Mr. Gilbertson: In 1945, they discovered that an Amercian gentleman called Mr. Rubin had started making fragrance using the Fabergé name. So they decided to sue the American gentleman. But at that time, there was no fax machine, no email, no Instagram, no Twitter, no Facebook.

They sued him from France in America. It took six years of litigation and court cases that ended with a legal settlement in 1951. And in that legal settlement, Mr. Rubin effectively got control of the Fabergé name for $25,000. And that’s how the family and name got separated, and how Fabergé ended up in the United States.

In 1964, Mr. Rubin sold Fabergé to a gentleman called George Barrie. Mr. Barrie was the creator of another fragrance called Brut. So Brut by Fabergé was born in 1964. And that continued for many years. …

Mr. Barrie eventually sold it to a gentleman called Meshulam Riklis. Mr. Riklis used Fabergé Egg to build a conglomerate that included other fragrance and cosmetics businesses. And in 1989, he sold Fabergé Inc. to Unilever, which bought Fabergé Egg for $1.55 billion. But at that point, Fabergé Egg also owned other businesses, like Elizabeth Arden.

Unilever issued licenses to a number of different companies to manufacture different things under the Fabergé name. So there was a company in New York that made Fabergé ties. There was a company in Austria making Fabergé spectacles. There was a company in America making museum-quality reproduction eggs, copy eggs.

A company called Franklin Mint in America was making little baskets of Fabergé eggs for $29.95, and Mattel, the toy company, got a license to manufacture 2,000 limited edition Fabergé Barbie dolls. You can still buy the Fabergé Barbie dolls on eBay, somewhere between $1,500 and $3,000.

See Fabergé on C7

The third Fabergé imperial egg at Wartski in London on April 16, 2014.

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Theater Review

RibTickling, ThoughtProvoking Insights Into Humor

By Judd Hollander

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EW YORK—Few show titles better reflect their subject matter than Mike Birbiglia’s one-person effort, “Thank God for Jokes,” running at the Lynn Redgrave Theater through May 29.

The self-deprecating comedian offers a gentle and pointed lesson on the importance of humor, while proving that the joke itself is not nearly as important as the circumstances in which it is presented.

For example, no one likes to be reminded by their boss that they were late to work, much less reprimanded for it in front of the entire office. Yet if someone “happens” to be talking about people who have a habit of being chronically late when, just at that point, latecomers come into the theater, and Birbiglia personally welcomes them before going off on a 15-minute riff on the subject—then it is funny. Hopefully even to those being singled out.

Birbiglia examines the idea of what and when something is funny in other situations as well, including sexual insinuations and the use of four-letter words. The latter are something Birbiglia tries to avoid.

Birbiglia makes clear that most jokes will probably offend somebody, somewhere, at some point. It might be wiser, then, to refrain from telling jokes about Jesus at a Christian college, getting into a discussion about nut allergies on an airplane flight, or trying to deal with a police officer when you’re driving with a suspended license.

But as Birbiglia points out, jokes are important because they tell your side of the story.

Each of the tales he relates is brilliantly

Most jokes will probably offend somebody, somewhere, at some point.

‘Thank God for Jokes’ Lynn Redgrave Theater at the Culture Project 45 Bleecker St. Tickets 866-811-4111, or ThankGodForJokes.com Running Time 1 hour, 25 minutes (no intermission) Closes May 29

crafted into a humorous narrative. Sometimes he happens to be the butt of the particular payoff, and sometimes he just gives his own perspective on a situation that occurred.

He also brings up that the need to be politically correct (though he doesn’t use that exact term) came about because when people were offended about one thing or another, the standard excuse to those upset was “I was just joking.” The offending parties did not do enough to alleviate hurt sensibilities.

The result has been a wide variety of societal rules and regulations over what is and is not considered acceptable. The Charlie Hebdo killings, which Birbiglia references during his performance, is an extreme example of the tenuous situations humorists can find themselves in today.

All of his examples go back to Birbiglia’s main point about humor. As he notes, once you get the joke “it’s like we’re married,” for the audience in question then becomes much more willing to listen to the speaker.

Looking like a perennially unmade bed

OLIVER KING

with his rumpled attire, untucked shirt, and slightly slumped posture, Birbiglia shows himself to be a master of the art of storytelling. He often takes a roundabout route to get where he’s going, but always has a masterful payoff.

Such stories include how Massachusetts became Mousachusetts, with a stop at Catsachusetts along the way, and his hosting the Gotham Awards in 2012, when he quoted verbatim some unflattering things one of the honorees had said previously. (Google Mike Birbiglia and director David O. Russell for more information on what happened in that regard.)

Filled with material guaranteed to make you alternatively groan and roar with laughter, the work never fails to stress the importance of being able to laugh at oneself, in the right circumstances of course.

“Thank God for Jokes” offers a rib-tickling and thought-provoking experience.

Mike Birbiglia’s one-person effort “Thank God for Jokes” is running at the Lynn Redgrave Theater.

Judd Hollander is a member of the Drama Desk and reviewer for Stagebuzz.com and TheaterScene.com

OLIVER KING

(Left) (L–R) Steve Nicolson, Simon Greenall, Will Barton, Matthew Kelly, and Matt Sutton in the break room of a bakery.

(Right) (L–R) Simon Greenall, John Wark, Matt Sutton, and Kieran Knowles in “Toast,” part of the current Brits Off Broadway festival.

Theater Review

The Droll Drudgery of Factory Life

By Barry Bassis NEW YORK—One of the songs in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” is “A Policeman’s Lot is Not a Happy One.” In the U.S. debut of Richard Bean’s “Toast,” the same is apparently true of bakers, at least those who work in an industrial bread plant.

The playwright is best known for the hilarious “One Man, Two Guvnors,” which made a star of James Corden. “Toast,” first performed in England in 1999, is also a comedy but with serious undertones.

When audience members arrive, they are given a glossary. Most of the expressions deal with the work at the bread factory and are probably unfamiliar even to a London audience. For example, if six people are working on a 12-hour shift, a seventh worker, called a “spare wank,” must be available to cover them on their lunch and tea breaks.

The play takes place during 1975 in the canteen of a bread factory in Hull where the seven characters, all men, are laboring on a Sunday.

One of the workers remarks, “I spend all week at work looking forward to the weekend, and when I get there I realize I work weekends.”

The grungy room—vividly designed by James Turner—raises concerns about the sanitary conditions in the factory. The men are union

members, but as the length of their workdays or nights indicates, they have little negotiating power and worry that the plant may close in the near future.

The central character is Walter Nelson, whom his co-workers call Nellie. He is a mixer—the worker who mixes the dough. He started there when he was a teenager and now, 45 years later, he’s a wreck. His clothes are stained with flour, he looks decidedly unwell, and he can barely speak other than muttering “Yah” and “Nah.” He is a portent of what the others will become if they are fortunate enough to keep their jobs.

At the beginning, the guitar-strumming foreman, Blakey, has a phone conversation with his boss, who is not seen or heard but is named Mr. Beckett. The name is an apparent tip of the hat to the author of “Waiting for Godot.” The others wander in for their breaks.

A couple of them engage in roughhousing, and the workers gab about their own wives and girlfriends as well as Mr. Beckett’s extramarital affair with a toothless “lass in custards.”

They drink tea and eat sandwiches that don’t look or sound especially appetizing, such as fish paste or cheese.

Nellie’s wife gives him these every day. As one of the men remarks in colorful language, Nellie works 80 hours a week, and this is the

The character Walter Nelson is a portent of what the others will become if they are fortunate enough to keep their jobs.

‘Toast’ 59E59 Theaters 59 E. 59th St. Tickets 212-279-4200, or 59e59.org Running Time 2 hours (one intermission) Closes May 22

best his wife can manage. She also gives her husband a small weekend allowance for cigarettes. He is wearing a hand-me-down pair of shoes with no laces. At one point, it is revealed that Nellie lost his vest when it was mixed in with the dough.

In a melodramatic scene, the main oven breaks down. Fixing it is life-endangering because to do so requires climbing into the still hot interior.

The play has an air of authenticity since it is based on the author’s own experience working at a bread factory in 1975 when he was 18 years old.

As part of the Brits Off Broadway festival at 59E59 Theaters, “Toast” is another winner from across the pond. Director Eleanor Rhode and all but one of the cast members are from the 2014 revival at The Park Theatre in London by Snapdragon Productions.

And the cast is superb. The Olivier-Awardwinning Matthew Kelly is Nellie, the foreman is portrayed by Steve Nicolson, and the others are played by Will Barton, Simon Greenall, Matt Sutton, Kieran Knowles, and John Wark.

Barry Bassis has been a music, theater, and travel writer for over a decade for various publications.

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Sally Fama Cochrane

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“Prescription,” 2015,

by Sally Fama Cochrane.

Oil on circular panel.

on Painting Allegories of the Body Allegories continued from C1

She recently completed a diptych of the two most common female cancers, breast and ovarian cancer, currently on display at the Eleventh Street Arts gallery. After reading Siddhartha Mukherjee’s biography of cancer, “The Emperor of All Maladies,” she was inspired to create an allegory with a bakery scene to visually represent those cancers.

“So much of the feminine identity is associated with caretaking. The bread baker is the person who feeds the family, the caretaker.

The BRCA gene, which makes women predisposed to breast and ovarian cancer, is actually called a caretaker gene. When the BRCA gene is mutated, it stops taking care of the genome,” Cochrane explained.

The woman on the left side of the diptych that represents breast cancer carries a loaf of bread cut in half on a tray at chest level, reminiscent of paintings of Saint Agatha. The holes in the bread look like a mammogram. The woman on the right side of the diptych that represents ovarian cancer stands next to broken eggs on the floor. Residue of dough that she has wiped on her apron has a pattern similar to that of an ultrasound image—symbolism abounds.

The idiosyncratic, cryptic messages Cochrane infuses in her paintings invite intrigue. Her paintings are like puzzles to be deciphered and her answers to the puzzles can be found in the descriptions she provides on her website. Still she does not want her paintings to be just a collection of symbols. She’s constantly trying to find a balance between what might look too obvious and too subtle in her allegories.

“I also want the overall composition to have an emotive quality that summarizes the theme,

We create stories to explain why something does not work.

Sally Fama Cochrane

so that even if you can’t figure out the symbols, you’ll get a feeling of what the painting is about,” she said. She wants to give that pleasurable sense of discovery to the viewer.

Just a Paradigm She’s fascinated by the stories that doctors tell their patients to explain something that they and scientists are still struggling to fully understand. “It’s all this microscopic stuff that you have to imagine, and it’s the story that is supposed to explain what is happening to you on the macroscopic level,” she said.

She experienced a chasm—between the reality of what is happening in the body and what doctors could not fully explain—when she suffered from a rare disease, called Eosinophilic Esophagitis. Her esophagus would become inflamed and she could not swallow food for days. It took 10 years for doctors to figure out the diagnosis.

“Science and medicine is not this grand edifice of truth that we have been marching toward through history,” Cochrane said. It is a paradigm where there are things that are accepted but then there are anomalies and we create stories to explain why something does not work. “You can look at the data and the numbers, but on the other hand the doctors’ explanation of where those numbers came from is storytelling. You notice that firsthand when you have a hard-to-diagnose and -totreat disease,” she said.

Before studying at Grand Central Atelier, Cochrane completed a bachelor’s degree in the history and philosophy of science, focusing on the study of perception and the history of psychology. She called representative art as possibly the most objective kind of art in existence.

“My personal take of what we do here [at GCA] is that, it is a technology. Technology is an applied science, applied to an industry.

And if you consider the industry to be fulfilling the demand for representational imitative pictures, what we study so hard at is applying the science of the physics of light and perceptual psychology to fulfilling that demand, so it is kind of a technology in its goal of representing something realistically,” she said.

“There is this goal and we can all see when we have come closer to the goal or gotten further away from it,” she added.

For her the process of trying to paint things as accurately as they look is 80 percent painful struggle and 20 percent delightful breakthroughs. “I’ll spend two hours on a painting and it is only in the last moments that I accidentally put down some little brushstroke that suddenly makes what I’m representing look very real and I’ll figure out why. That’s so fulfilling,” she said.

Limitations of Using Photographs Another artist at the atelier mentioned that Cochrane is the go-to-person for explaining the practicalities, from how much medium to use when mixing paint to giving a systematic explanation for why it is better to paint from life than from a photograph.

“The camera incorporates perspective distortions that we don’t notice, but if you try to draw them, you will notice it. For example, just a slight tilt of the camera will cause the forehead or the chin to look too big,” she said.

Also the camera can only capture a limited amount of light and color values, and when the photograph is printed even less information is captured. “If you are copying values from

a two-dimensional photo you tend to just copy from flat to flat and then the painting will look flat too. The benefit of working from life is that it constantly reminds you that what you are painting is three-dimensional and then your painting will look three-dimensional,” she said.

She explained further that our brains overcome the distortions of the projected image on our retina because we know how a threedimensional object looks. That’s how an artist painting from life can make a drawing or a painting look more realistic and not make it look like a photograph.

Childhood to Adulthood Wisdom Since childhood, Cochrane has held a strong conviction that she still holds dear today.

“I know this is irrational, but I’ve always thought that painting was the most important thing that humans did. … I don’t know where it came from, but I had assumed that everyone else thought that too,” she said chuckling.

She would find the significance of historical events based on the lives of artists. “I could only remember what the Counter-Reformation and Council of Trent were about on tests in European history class by remembering the works of Bernini and Caravaggio,” she said.

When she was about 13 years old she made one of her first paintings of her late grandfather, Eric Cochrane, who was a historian, as Saint Jerome. She included her grandfather’s golden retriever in the painting and bushed out the dog’s hair to look like the lion that Saint Jerome took the thorn out of its paw. “That painting has a black background because I was looking at a lot at Caravaggio paintings,” she said chuckling. More recently she completed a portrait of her other grandfather, Eugene Fama, a Nobel laureate in economics.

When she turned 18, she finally realized that not everyone thought painting was so important. She noticed her friends deciding to study law, medicine, and various other fields in college without worrying about not having enough time to paint. She went ahead to study art history initially but found it discouraging.

“The art history classes I took seemed too descriptive, they emphasized and rested too much on what previous art historians had said.

Everyone talks about Botticelli’s line, but it didn’t feel like anyone had actually looked at it and actually described what that meant versus another line,” she said.

She switched to studying the history and philosophy of science and completed that degree with honors at the University of Chicago. That field appealed to her because it blended her interest in perception, and how we have come to understand perception, with the history of science. It was more in tune with her analytical way of thinking. At the same time she took fine art classes part time—staying on course with what she feels is most important.

“Creating representational art combines everything about the privilege of what it is to be human, which is consciousness and self reflection, the ability to perceive the outside world and then reflect upon it, the ability to tell stories and remember stories. … It feels like one of the richest human endeavors to me because it combines all of these things,” she said.

Like looking at a Caravaggio, you can go back to the same painting again and again, decade after decade and get more out of it every time.

“It’s just very human,” Cochrane said.

Cochrane’s work is currently on view in a group show at Eleventh Street Arts gallery in Long Island City, Queens, until June 3.

“This Is New York” is a feature series that delves into the lives of inspiring individuals in New York City. See all our TINYs here: epochtim.es/ TINY or follow@milenefernandez on Twitter.

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The Classics: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Costume Designer Rachel Healy: Classics Connect Us to Our Humanity

By Sharon Kilarski | Epoch Times Staff Practitioners involved with the classical arts respond to why they think the texts, forms, and methods of the classics are worth keeping and why they continue to look to the past for that which inspires and speaks to us. For the full series, see ept.ms/LookingAtClassics Costume designer Rachel Healy believes the classic arts—ballet, classical music, theater, literature, and the fine arts—are a reflection of the truth about ourselves. Through them we are able to better approach and connect to our own humanity.

“All people grapple with the big questions: Why are we here? Why are we connected?” she said in a phone interview on Nov. 25. The classics are vehicles that allow people to find those answers for themselves. “They allow us a place to go home to—inside.”

Healy is a freelance costume designer in Chicago, and she also teaches some of the core curriculum in the arts at Loyola University in Chicago.

In thinking about the importance of the classics, her thoughts turned to her students. Many of them not only lack a foundation in the classics, she said, but they lack knowledge of history.

“They have cobbled together an understanding of history from the Internet,” she said, but none of it comes from life experience: through storytelling or discussion. Few know the history of their grandparents’ era.

For many of her students, even going to the library is foreign. “They don’t have a vehicle to understand art and design,” she said.

It’s too soon to tell how Healy’s students will fare without an understanding of their culture’s history, but she does her best to inspire them. When students are introduced to a classic, which “inherently rejuvenates the human spirit, encourages conversation, relays foundations,” they begin to see themselves as contributing to this conversation.

They begin to consider why they are on the planet and what their own contribution to it might be.

Raised With the Classics Unlike her students, Healy grew up with a love of art and the classics. At home it always seemed as though classical music was playing in the background, and her family visited art galleries and museums. They talked about how the art they saw related to current topics. Art was essential—part of the fabric of home life.

Her training as an artist began at home, too, first in the classical style of drawing.

All people grapple with the big questions: Why are we here?

Why are we connected?

Rachel Healy, costume designer

A scene from “Romeo and Juliet,” with costumes designed by Rachel Healy, at American Players Theatre.

CHARLES OSGOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

Rachel Healy amid her creations, costume and puppet designs, for “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” at Chicago Children’s Theatre.

Her grandmother and mother encouraged her to draw and rely for inspiration on some of the great masters: da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rembrandt.

In “copying the fluid gesture [and] lines of these artists, I learned how to draw the human form. I did this, as most children do, in copywork and from life,” she wrote in an email exchange.

She also was introduced to ballet at a young age. A conductor and his wife, a ballerina, moved to the small town of Evansville, Indiana, where Healy grew up. She studied dance with Jean Allenby, with the Stuttgart Ballet, and considers this training as a complement to her drawing.

“I drew in the same manner as I danced— with the freedom of gesture, and line as a form of expression ... If you are to achieve the poses in classical dance, you must be able to picture it in your mind first and in doing so you can achieve, say, the arabesque line from your fingertips to the point of your toes. It is the same in drawing.”

The Classics as a Touchstone Speaking more specifically about theater, Healy sees that the retelling of classic stories in a live theater setting reflects truths that we need and want to hear.

Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre (APT), known for its classic repertoire performed outdoors, is currently working on “King Lear,” a tragedy it hasn’t produced in 16 years. Healy is designing its costumes.

The story is of an aging king who, in giving up this throne, believes those who flatter him

rather than those who are trustworthy. He assumes he will be able to keep some of his power without all of its responsibilities. He is wrong. He loses everything because of his unwise decision—even his sanity—and many good people suffer.

In reflecting on the suffering of the aged king, who clearly misgauges his impact on the world, Healy looks at her own life. What is she contributing to this world?

“Have I aided in getting a community to have the discussions about how we treat our elderly and how we care for one another at our later stages in life?” she asks herself.

She thinks of the aged and wonders if her life has honored her own parents: “I hope I have honored them by using my artistic talents for the greater good.”

APT is updating “King Lear” to modern times to make even clearer our connection to the story it tells. Healy suspects the play will hit home because, as she says, a great number “of our 40-somethings to 60-somethings are becoming caregivers for their elderly parents. Having entered this phase myself, I find I need support [community support] for a generation of human beings who wish to feel relevant, to have purpose in this phase of life, and who truly are afraid.”

“I sincerely hope I am not the only one looking forward to this classic tale being told. To sit among a group of people in the hills of Wisconsin and see if we can come to some cathartic understanding of ourselves at this moment in time,” she said.

Perhaps this retelling of a classic will allow viewers to reach a home within themselves.

ILLLUSTRATIONS COURTESY OF RACHEL HEALY

Rendering for the costume design for Poet in “An Iliad," at Court Theatre, in Chicago.

Rendering of Frederick, the title character in a world premiere musical based on Leo Lionni’s children’s book.

Rendering of the title character for the upcoming production of “King Lear” at American Players Theatre.

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THINGS TO DO COMMUNITY EVENTS NEW IN MANHATTAN COURTESY OF AMERICAN CONCERN FOR ART AND CRAFTSMANSHIP

American Crafts Festival Lincoln Center Plaza June 4, 5, 11, & 12 Saturdays, noon–9 p.m., & Sundays, 10 a.m.–7 p.m.

380 Juried craft displays selected from every region of the United States.

Continuous entertainment, craft demonstrations. Free.

CraftsAtLincoln.org Spring Family Day May 21, noon Resnick Education Wing at Carnegie Hall Families can participate in songwriting workshops, turn everyday objects into musical instruments in a digital sound playground, join in on sing-alongs, and build instruments and play them in an ensemble. There will also be opportunities to take in professional performances in the marvelous Weill Music Room. Free. RSVP is required.

CarnegieHall.org Sketch & Sip May 25, 6–7:30 p.m.

Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Ave. (at 103rd Street) Sketch and Sip is a sophisticated, participatory experience that combines

drinking and socializing with an immerse tour of critically acclaimed Museum exhibitions. $20 for Museum members, $30 adults, $25 seniors and students.

MCNY.org

Decade of Dance Parade May 21, 1 p.m.

Starts at 21st Street & Broadway; ends at Eighth Street at University Place Dance styles reflect the cosmopolitan legacy of the city and the elastic inventiveness of the form, and include African, AsianIndian, ballet, bhangra, Bolivian Tinkus, Brazilian zouk, breakdance, Chinese, hip-hop, Irish, Indonesian, Jamaican Dance Hall, lindy hop, modern, roller disco, salsa, samba, Tahitian, and tango. “DanceFest” from 3–7 p.m. afterwards in Tompkins Square Park, with dance performances, workshops, lessons, and social dancing.

Free. DanceParade.org

ONGOING IN MANHATTAN Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) Exercises Tuesdays, 1 p.m.–2 p.m. (through June 14) Tompkins Square Library, 331 E. 10th St. A class of five exercises including meditation. Come relieve your stress and anxieties, increase your energy and vitality, and enjoy peace of mind. Free. en.FalunDafa.org Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) Exercises Tuesdays, 6 p.m.–7 p.m. (through June 12, no class on May 31)

Countee Cullen Library, 104 W. 136th St. A class of five exercises including meditation. Come relieve your stress and anxieties, increase your energy and vitality, and enjoy peace of mind. Free. en.FalunDafa.org

ONGOING ELSEWHERE Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) Exercises Wednesdays, 1 p.m.–2 p.m. (through June 15) Coney Island Library, 1901 Mermaid Ave., Brooklyn A class of five exercises including meditation. Come relieve your stress and anxieties, increase your energy and vitality, and enjoy peace of mind. Free. en.FalunDafa.org

VISUAL ARTS ENDING IN MANHATTAN Asian Art at 100: A History in Photographs Through May 22 The Metropolitan Museum of Art The timeline presented in the photographs in this exhibition chronicles the changing face of the Met’s galleries of Asian art as the building’s footprint has expanded, exhibition styles have evolved, and the collection has grown. $12–$25 suggested. METMuseum.org The Power of Prints: The Legacy of William M. Ivins and A. Hyatt Mayor Through May 22 The Metropolitan Museum of Art This exhibition commemorates

Stone lithographic advertising poster detail, China, Ca. 1920

the centenary of the Department of Prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art by celebrating the astounding legacy of its founding curator, William Mills Ivins, and his brilliant protégé A. Hyatt Mayor. Together, during their combined fifty-year tenure, Ivins and Mayor amassed a collection of many hundreds of thousands of prints that is both encyclopedic in its scope and studied in its many areas of focus. $12–$25 suggested.

METMuseum.org

ONGOING IN MANHATTAN Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture Through June 5 The Frick Collection, 1 E. 70th St. One of the most celebrated and influential portraitists of all time, Anthony van Dyck’s supremely elegant manner and convincing evocation of a sitter’s inner life—whether real or imagined—made him the favorite portraitist of many of the most powerful and interesting figures of the seventeenth century.

Frick.org Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World Through July 17 Metropolitan Museum of Art The conquests of Alexander the Great transformed the ancient world, making trade and cultural exchange possible across great distances.

Alexander’s retinue of court artists and extensive artistic patronage provided a model for his successors, the Hellenistic kings, who came to rule over much of his empire. $12–$25 suggested.

METMuseum.org Court and Cosmos: The Great Age of the Seljuqs Through July 24 Metropolitan Museum of Art Spectacular works of art created in the eleventh through thirteenth century from Turkmenistan to the Mediterranean. Approximately 270 objects—including ceramics, glass, stucco, works on paper, woodwork, textiles, and metalwork— from American, European, and Middle Eastern public and private collections will be shown. $12–$25 suggested.

METMuseum.org

PERFORMING ARTS NEW IN MANHATTAN

Look into the East At the gallery of Michael Ayervais

Where Asian art comes to life in a magical setting 40 West 25th St. New York #228-229 | 917-623-2571

COURTESY OF ARSENTIY KHARITONOV

Broadway Musicals of the 1960s May 23, 8 p.m.

Town Hall Tickets, 123 W. 43rd St. There was no decade like it in the history of Broadway; the 1960’s was the fertile field in which the classic form of the musical theater reached its culmination with shows like “Hello, Dolly!” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” And it was also the decade in which Broadway first dipped its toes into the world of rock ‘n’ roll with “Bye, Bye, Birdie” and then went full blast with “Hair!” Broadway by the Year will explore it all with Tony Award winner Bill Irwin and a handful of other exceptional, Tony Award-winners and nominees to be named later. $50–$60.

TheTownHall.org A Midsummer Night’s Dream May 24–29 David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center Enter the enchanted land of

ARSENTIY KHARITONOV ON PIANO May 20, 8 p.m. | Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall A prize-winner of many national and international competitions, pianist Arsentiy Kharitonov has performed in solo recitals and with orchestras in Russia, Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Limited availability. CarnegieHall.org

Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” a lush forest besieged by quixotic love triangles and feuding fairy kingdoms, awash with magic at every turn. $30–$170.

NYCBallet.com La Fille Mal Gardée May 24, 7:30 p.m.

Metropolitan Opera House Frederick Ashton’s final full-length ballet features beautifully detailed characters and poetic lyricism perfectly suited to its story of young love. In this pastoral comedy, a farmer’s widow is determined to marry her daughter off to a wealthy man’s son rather than to the poor farmer with whom she is head-over-heels smitten.

The picture-book countryside setting of maypoles, ponies, and dancing hens add to the bucolic backdrop of this ballet.

From $20. ABT.org Mozart Forever: Fifty Years of the Mostly Mozart Festival May 24–Aug. 27 New York Public Library for the Performing at Lincoln Center Lincoln Center launched America’s first indoor summer music festival as “Midsummer Serenades: A Mozart Festival” in August 1966. The idea was a success from the start, and by 1970 the festival had transformed into Mostly Mozart. Free. LincolnCenter.org

ENDING IN MANHATTAN Ratmansky World Premiere: Seven Sonatas, Firebird Through May 21 Metropolitan Opera House Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky choreographs a World Premiere set to Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade” after Plato’s “Symposium.” This triple bill includes his delicate “Seven Sonatas” with music

by Domenico Scarlatti and the enchanting “Firebird,” performed to Stravinsky’s famous score. From $20.

MetOpera.org Shostakovich Trilogy Through May 23 Metropolitan Opera House In a highly-anticipated return engagement, Ratmansky’s acclaimed full-evening

program, performed to Dmitri Shostakovich’s orchestral works, features Symphony 9, Chamber Symphony, and Piano Concerto 1. From $20.

MetOpera.org SONGBOOK: Broadway’s Future May 23, 6 p.m.

Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center A concert of new music by Broadway composers and lyricists sung by Broadway vocalists, Presented by Arts and Artists at St. Paul and directed by John Znidarsic.

Free. LincolnCenter.org

MUSIC NEW IN MANHATTAN The MET Orchestra May 22, 3 p.m.

Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall The orchestra performs an allStrauss program that includes the tone poems “Don Juan” and “Also sprach Zarathustra,” a work immortalized in the film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Velvet-voiced soprano Renée Fleming joins the orchestra for a selection of songs by the composer, including the beautiful and deeply nostalgic “Four Last Songs.” $26–$170.

CarnegieHall.org The MET Orchestra May 26 at 8 p.m.

Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall One of the great Wagnerians, James Levine conducts The MET Orchestra in selections from “Der Ring des Nibelungen.” Wagner’s epic operatic tetralogy tells a tale of gods and men in music of tremendous power, tenderness, and exquisite color. $26–$170. CarnegieHall.org

Dear Readers If you have an event to suggest, please send details to NYC_Arts@ EpochTimes.com in the format you see here.

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May 20–26, 2016 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochArts PHOTOS COURTESY OF FABERGE

(Left) Fabergé Lady Compliquée Peacock Ruby watch.

(Middle) Fabergé Lady Compliquée Peacock watch.

(Right) Fabergé Visionnaire DTZ 18-karat rose gold watch.

FABERGÉ L A B O R

Fabergé continued from C2 So the group that I work for had the idea that Fabergé was one of the most remarkable brands on the planet. But it was lying there, doing these fairly awful things, and that somebody had to save it and restore the dignity of the brand.

On January 3, 2007, we were able to acquire the Fabergé brand from Unilever.

Epoch Times: How did you connect with the original owners of the brand?

Mr. Gilbertson: Two or three months later, I had the privilege of meeting with two of Peter Carl Fabergé’s great-granddaughters. So the first thing we did was to reunite the name with the surviving family members in order to reconstitute Fabergé, and I think we announced that in November 2007.

In 1885, perhaps the single biggest milestone and the start of what has made Fabergé the most legendary brand on the planet was the Hen Egg.

Epoch Times: Talking about the French origin and the Russian imperial heritage, do you still reflect the combination of the two in each piece you produce?

Mr. Gilbertson: I think one of the amazing aspects of the Fabergé brand and what they did pre-1917 is that it was so diverse. So in many respects, we replicate that today as well.

The Dream Customer

Sean Gilbertson, CEO, Fabergé

Fabergé Emotion Charmeuse Ruby ring.

Fabergé Mosaic blue sapphire pendant.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FABERGE

A Fabergé egg at the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, in this file photo.

LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/GETTY IMAGES

Epoch Times: How are you planning to increase the brand value?

Mr. Gilbertson: One of our first challenges was to make sure we got control of the various licenses that had been issued. All of those licenses today are gone. Our focus today is on hard luxury items, so we don’t do any soft luxury items like leather purses or scarves.

We only focus on timeless jewelry and timepieces. And we never replicate anything from pre-1917.

We often pick up elements, codes, motifs, and design. A great example is the Fabergé Peacock watch. Last year we were lucky enough to win the GPHG (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève) award for it, which is a very prestig-

L O V E

ious award. That was inspired by the 1908 Peacock Egg, made by Fabergé.

Restoring the Brand Epoch Times: So you’re the savior of the soul of the brand.

Mr. Gilbertson: It has certainly been our ambition, that is, to restore the dignity of the brand in the spirit and the ethos of what it did before 1917. But many people think that Fabergé pre1917 was only about the 50 imperial eggs.

That’s clearly not the case. Before 1917, Fabergé made 250,000 individual items. And only 50 were the imperial eggs, which they became famous for. They made cigarette cases, hairpins, cufflinks, combs, letter openers, and many other things. Fabergé made some of the very first ladies’ wristwatches. …

And just as an example, one of the cigarette cases recently was up for sale at Sotheby’s. It was a beautiful, green enamel Fabergé cigarette case. The price estimate was 4,500 to 5,000 pounds ($7,077.50). However, at the auction, it was sold for 32,000 pounds ($45,296). I think that’s the power of Fabergé, to transcend centuries with amazingly crafted, remarkable design.

O F

Epoch Times: Who is your dream customer?

Mr. Gilbertson: I would say the dream customer for us is the customer that wants to be actively engaged in the development of the products on a customized basis.

It is very important. For instance, we use a lot of enamel dials, which is one of the techniques that Peter Carl Fabergé was so good at, and still very difficult to do today. And if you get that right, you get this wonderful three-dimensional depth in the enamel.

When a customer comes in and says: “That’s a beautiful blue enamel. I wonder if you could do one of your watches for me in orange enamel.”

That would absolutely be the type of thing that we very much like to undertake.

Epoch Times: What makes Fabergé so unique?

Mr. Gilbertson: Before 1917, Fabergé worked with approximately 38 workmasters. This is a unique aspect of Fabergé. For most of the items they made, they chose one individual to be responsible for managing the project of making that piece. And the unusual bit was that Fabergé, in addition to putting the Fabergé name on the item, also allowed the workmaster to stamp his initials on the piece. So if you go to Sotheby’s or Christie’s auctions today, you will see Fabergé and you might see August Hollming, AH, for example.

Some of the workmasters are held in higher regard than others, and some of them will earn a premium at the auctions. So that’s a very interesting thing, which we are also doing today.

We have announced at Basel, a watch which we call the Lady Levity. The Lady Levity is also inspired by a clock that Fabergé made in 1908 and it contains a rock crystal in the middle, which gives the impression of the face of the moon. We’ve launched that watch here with the face of the moon in the middle. But the point is that it can be customized. So instead of the face of the moon, we can use the image of customer’s favorite horse, for example.

Epoch Times: Or the Chinese zodiac sign of the monkey?

Mr. Gilbertson: Or the rooster next. That’s an excellent example.

We could do something really spectacular.

And in fact, I’ve got an idea now, which is that the last Fabergé eggs ever commissioned were in 1917. They were for the imperial family, but they were never completed. Because of the Russian Revolution. So it would be quite interesting to do the 2017 Chinese zodiac egg as the 100th anniversary of the last two eggs commissioned.

That is essentially the perfect echo of what Fabergé did pre-1917. And I think that’s one of the things that makes Fabergé truly unique.

The Missing 1887 Egg Mr. Gilbertson: There were 50 eggs that were completed for the imperial family. There were eight missing, and two years ago, one of them was found. It was the 1887 egg; it was the third one ever made. It was bought by a guy at a market in the middle of America. He apparently paid $30,000 for it, and he was planning to melt it down for the gold value because he was a dealer in precious metals. He didn’t know what it was.

And one day, he was flipping through the paper, read a story about Fabergé. He saw an egg-shaped piece and the article mentioned Wartski, who are specialist dealers in pre-1917 Fabergé. It turned out to be one of the eight missing eggs.

Today, there are only seven missing eggs, and reportedly that egg was sold to a customer for $30 million. And today, if any one of those 43 known eggs comes to the auction market, it would be sold between $25 million and $60 million.

Epoch Times: Where are all these elegant pieces made?

Mr. Gilbertson: Today, we work with many workmasters. Those workmasters are based in probably more than 20 countries. So we try to get the best person to do each one of the aspects of the job. … We work all around the globe with people from Hong Kong, Italy, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the U.K. At the end of the day for me, brand value is not necessarily that important. What matters is the underlying creation. And if you get the underlying creation right, the brand value will follow.

The other important thing is, in a world of luxury that has become such a mass market, people have forgotten that 50 or 100 years from now, actually it is the rarity that drives the value. The more you can tell the story of the individual product, the more it adds value to the product itself.

Pamela Tsai contributed to this report.

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May 20–26, 2016 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochArts S I BY L L E ’ S S T Y L E D I A RY

CHERYL STERN

ALL PHOTOS BY THE CELL

of ‘Shoes and Baggage’ on Being a Fashionable Shopaholic on and Off the Stage

By Sibylle Eschapasse This week’s style diary guest is award-winning Broadway actress and writer Cheryl Stern.

Cheryl is performing, in the most fashionable off-Broadway musical at the cell theatre (338 W. 23rd St., between Eighth & Ninth avenues).

“Shoes and Baggage” is a hilarious fashionforward one-woman musical about the high of the buy. It’s a musical she wrote herself about the insatiable urge to purchase and possess beautiful things, and the deeper feelings that propel this behavior. This Broadway veteran takes us on a wild, hilarious, and heartbreaking ride of hunting and spending as she digs deep to understand her own obsession with shopping.

From her escapades in the cast of the starstudded Broadway revival of “The Women” to her stint as coach and host on The Home Shopping Network, Cheryl portrays over two dozen characters, illuminating the secret yet relatable world of retail enslavement. From Chanel, Prada, and Dior, to being a shopaholic in this show, Cheryl Stern shares with us her perspective on style as a woman who certainly loves to shop!

What we wear says everything about who we want to be and how we see ourselves in the world.

Cheryl Stern

Sibylle Eschapasse: Describe your style?

Cheryl Stern: My style has evolved over the years but has always included a mix of trends and what suits my body. I’m five feet tall so I love pieces that are simple, yet fun and unique.

I love sheath dresses, skinny pants, high-low tops with one great piece of jewelry, and a great pump or pointy flat. Sneakers are my thing this spring. Comfort is winning out these days, and they are so cool right now!!

Ms. Eschapasse: What are three accessories you can’t live without, and what’s one item that makes you instantly more confident?

Ms. Stern: I always need a great bag, a great shoe, and watch! Heels make me confident because I feel taller and longer and thinner!

Ms. Eschapasse: Who have been your greatest fashion influences?

Ms. Stern: Coco Chanel, Audrey Hepburn, Ellen Barkin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”!

Ms. Eschapasse: If a close friend were to describe your personality in three words, what would they be?

Ms. Stern: Bright, intense, and loving.

Ms. Eschapasse: How did your style evolve since you were a teenager?

Ms. Stern: I used to be obsessed with what was of-the-moment even if it didn’t suit my body type. I think I have come to terms with who I am and enjoy wearing what flatters me most, regardless of trend.

Ms. Eschapasse: What is the wildest thing you ever wore?

Ms. Stern: A full-on green Spandex snake suit with long red finger nail/claws and five-inch, bedazzled heels on Broadway!!

Ms. Eschapasse: How do you dress on workdays versus weekends?

Ms. Stern: Weekends are often work days for me. Rehearsal clothes are usually leggings and a chic top with ballet flats. I love to dress up after a show to go out for a drink or late dinner.

That’s when the heels and a fun dress come out.

Ms. Eschapasse: Who is your style icon?

Ms. Stern: Elaine Stritch! Because she just wore a white shirt and tights. Iconic! Simple and bold.

Cheryl Stern’s one woman-show on the insatiable need to purchase beautiful things.

Ms. Eschapasse: What does having style mean to you? In other words, please define style.

Ms. Stern: Having style means knowing who you are and how to adorn with flare and ease.

Knowing how to take what’s classic, what’s new, and what’s unique, and mix them effortlessly to create a look that is totally your own.

Ms. Eschapasse: What is one purchase you’re most proud of? What would you pay a lot of money for, and what would you never pay much money for?

Ms. Stern: I love my Cartier watch! Never goes out of style and so chic with everything. I never change watches unless for formal events. I will invest in good handbags and good shoes and

a good jacket, but hate spending too much on trendy clothes.

Ms. Eschapasse: When you go on the red carpet, how do you want your outfit to make you feel? Which designers can achieve that?

Ms. Stern: I want to shine! I want the dress to make me feel slim and free and happy and elegant. I hate constricted or corseted gowns.

I want to feel at ease and alive. A clean line in a great color. I have thin, long legs so I like to feature them. Long dresses don’t do much for me and always make me feel dowdy and short.

Alvin Valley designed a gorgeous opening night dress for me and I talk about it in my show, “Shoes and Baggage”!

Ms. Eschapasse: What do you think of how others dress and what’s your advice to people who would like to develop their personal style?

Ms. Stern: I think about this a lot. Personal style has to come from confidence and self knowledge. If you understand who you are and own that, then I think your style can emerge freely.

What we wear says everything about who we want to be and how we see ourselves in the world. I think it’s important as we age to know what works. The heels can be a little lower and you use less heavy makeup and trendy stuff.

Keep it simple and elegant and fun at the same time. A little whimsy goes a long way. Working too hard to look 20 at 50 is just not pretty.

Let the super minis and sky high platforms go and move on!!

Cheryl’s Favorites Favorite color: Blue! Lots of blue and turquoise. I have blue eyes and my mother started dressing me in blue from day one, and it has stuck.

Favorite perfume: Jo Malone’s Lime Basil Mandarin Favorite restaurant: Pearl Oyster Bar Favorite drink: Vodka Martini Favorite movie: “Baby Boom” Favorite book: “Time and Again” Favorite quote: Don’t work harder, work smarter!

Sibylle’s “Style Diary” is a column that explores style from the perspective of choices, and what that means for different people, with personal advice from some of the most stylish people in New York.

Sibylle Eschapasse is from Paris and now lives in Manhattan. She is a journalist and a contributing writer to various publications. Sibylle is also the author of a children’s book, “Argy Boy!: A New York Dog Tale.” She may be reached at Sibylle.Eschapasse@gmail.com