gf a rt X-Ray Vision
experimenting with infrared photography
A United Front
Front Cover
Over
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Sound Waves performs with Juilliard musicians
AP Art 101
preparing for the final step in your GFA art career
Featured Artists for Winter Behind the Scenes of the Winter Showcase
VOLUME 1 NUMBER 1 WINTER 2010
A student run, student organized publication presenting the finest that GFA’s artistic community has to offer
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Message from the Editors
Music @ GFA
7 Playlist 8 Album Reviews 9 Juilliard Comes to GFA
Theatre @ GFA 11 13
The Man Who Came to Dinner Winter Showcase
Art @ GFA 15
AP Art 101
Photo @ GFA 27
Infrared Photography
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Fresh Faces
Art Contributors Photo Contributors Sydney Huffman Sam Brown Sophia Babun Katherine Norbom Ashley Hutchison Claire Schwimmer Greg Tartaglione Fred Mezidor Sophie Briand Maggie Sherin Ivy Wappler
Allie Anderson Kiera Wood Cole Vanacore Emily Fontana Harrison Thompson Ryan Eckert Grace Backe Caroline Vanacore Brian Hirschfeld Conner Downey Maggie Harwood Frankie Garafalo Music Contributors Olivia Taylor Matt Fisher Nikki Bergschneider Sam Mauri Maggie Harwood
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Editors Editors In Chief Alison Hutchison & Sam Ratcliffe Art Editors Fred Mezidor & Brooke McGrath Photo Editor Grace Backe Theatre Editor Elizabeth Woodson Music Editors Evan Bieder & Will Conroy Layout Editor David Morgan Mr. Hafey 4
Welcome to the Issue The GFA Art Magazine was an idea that began at the senior retreat. We pitched to the senior class and while our presentation went well, it wasn’t until school started that we began to generate our interest. We were approached by our future editors, students who study the arts and wanted to show their peers’ work. Our goal in creating the art magazine was to showcase the talents of GFA’s art department. It is arguably one of the most talented departments of the school, though it is often overlooked. Each of our editors is passionate about their subject, and wishes to express that passion through their articles and pieces exhibited in the magazine. We all put in a large effort to make this magazine what it is. Everyone’s efforts are admired because without them, this magazine wouldn’t be possible. We are very proud to give you the first ever edition of GFA Arts. In this edition of GFA Arts we bring you work from senior AP artists, photographers with a keen eye, our local thespians, and jamming musicians. We hope you enjoy it.
music @ gfa Albu m Reviews Playlists JuilliarD at GFA 6
Playlist Amie
Home (RAC Remix)
Mango Tree
At the Bottom of Everything
Lover’s Carvings
Here Before
The Gardener
For No One
The Rabbit, The Bat, and The Reindeer
Dance Anthem of the 80s
Comptine d’Un Autre Ete L’Apres Midi Piazza, New York Catcher Yabb Tiersen
Belle and Sebastian
Alameda
Animal
Like a G6
Damien Rice
Bright Eyes
Sufjan Stevens
Regina Spektor
Elliott Smith
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Bibio
The Beatles
Neon Trees
Angus and Julia Stone
Vashti Bunyan
Dr. Dog
Far East Movement ft. The Cataracs & Dev
Album Reviews Buddy Guy’s Living Proof Buddy Guy
Classic blues gets a revamp courtesy of the legendary Buddy Guy. His new album tells stories of breakups and failed relationships, and his humor, charm and wit shine through on these creative tracks. His intriguing combination of blues and rock showcases his talents, trading licks with greats like Santana and B.B. King. The influence for rock staples like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix comes out swinging with his new album, which will appeal to classic blues fans and modern rock fans alike. Recommended tracks: “Thank Me Someday” and “Where the Blues Begins.” -Matt Fisher
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West’s latest and greatest album hit stores November 22, 2010 selling over 510,000 copies in the first week. This album really has it all: classical influences, simplistic piano, African drums, and of course the auto tune that West made famous. Fantasy is an album that I love and that I’m sure my neighbors are growing to hate (but what do old people know about hip-hop?). Unlike Kanye’s last album, 808’s and Heartbreaks, West puts everything on the table with a maximalistic approach that revolutionizes hip-hop. There were even some surprising featuring artists such as John Legend and even a hilarious bit by Chris Rock. This album is so versatile and even those who are not fans of hip-hop or rap will find something to enjoy about it. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is definitely an album that everyone should have in their library. -Sam Mauri
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Neutral Milk Hotel
This album has been one of my favorites since I first discovered it about three years ago and Neutral Milk Hotel is one of the few bands I never get tired of. Released in 1998, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea received critical acclaim and sold over 300,000 copies, a rare accomplishment for an indie label. Headed by lead singer Jeff Mangum (vocals, lyricist, guitarist) followed by Scott Spillbane (horns, guitar), Jeremy Barnes (drums), and Julian Koster (saw, banjo, accordion, guitar, bass) Neutral Milk Hotel created a truly unique self described “fuzz folk” sound that probably doesn’t appeal to everyone. However, I would encourage anyone to at least look them up as this band strongly influenced and changed the type of music I now listen to. -Nick Corroon
GFA Plays with Juilliard Jazz This fall, the GFA Jazz Ensemble was awarded the opportunity to work with the Juilliard Advanced Diploma (AD) Jazz Ensemble. We participated in a two hour workshop during the school week, which was followed by a performance at the Pequot Library in conjunction with the annual Pequot Arts Festival. GFA has an excellent relationship with Juilliard, and in the past has hosted visiting lecturers and other workshops. Prior to the Jazz Ensemble’s workshop the AD group lectured the wind ensemble regarding their experiences as professional musicians, improvisation, and how to incorporate your own unique voice into your playing. The members of the GFA Jazz Ensemble, Will Conroy, Evan Bieder, Rex Tavello, J.T. Becker, and Jon Bauerfield, were thrilled about this chance to further our musicianship and learn from the esteemed performers which included Matt Jodrell, Patrick Cornelius, John Chin, Yasushi Nakamura, and Luca Santaniello.
The workshop got off to a bit of a rough start with the AD students criticizing our group’s lack of cohesion. However, after we warmed up, we began to communicate with one another and the Juilliard musicians became more passionate about the workshop. The workshop then morphed into a more individualized session with the drummers and bassists discussing different rhythmic styles, the horn players conversing about spirited, emotionally driven improvisation, and the pianists and guitarist working together on different chord progressions and styles of improvisation. By the time the workshop ended we had all made connections with the musicians and could already hear the improvement in our playing as a group. The following Saturday night, our group preformed in our much anticipated joint performance with the AD students at the Pequot Library. We played three jazz standards which included Have You Met Miss Jones?, a Richard Rogers swing piece, Corcovado, a bossa nova tune by Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Red Clay, a soul/funk
Written by Evan Bieder and Will Conroy song by Freddie Hubbard. Each piece was met with enthusiastic applause and we all felt a great sense of accomplishment for our performance. After our set, the Juilliard Advanced Diploma Jazz Ensemble gave a phenomenal performance which displayed their talents in multiple styles of Jazz. The group maintained the composer’s vision of the pieces while also interpreting them with their own unique approach. We savored the honor of playing with such esteemed musicians. Fortunately, we will have the opportunity to learn from respected, professional musicians once again as the GFA Juilliard relationship continues this coming summer with a Summer Jazz Camp on our campus.
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A F G
The Man Who Came to Dinner Winter Showcase
A Elizabeth Woodson
Sophia Babun and Elizabeth Woodson
The Man Who Came To Dinner
Photography By: David morgan
Tucker Pearson, Greg Tartaglione & Elizabeth Woodson
A Complete Theatre Package Offered at GFA At Greens Farms Academy in the Upper School, we have something unique in the Theatre Department. We have a professional actor/ director, Stephen Stout, who has been on the professional stage, on and off Broadway, and now devotes his time to teaching everything he knows about the business to his students. And he has reinvented a wonderful theatre program for GFA. For example, Mr. Stout launched “Advanced Theatre: Play Writing.” This class, offered to the Upper School students, studies the basics of theatrical script writing and then requires each student to write a play. During the next term, the play can be produced in the studentrun, written and directed Winter Showcase, another of Mr. Stout’s creations, which takes place every January. Finally, Mr. Stout submits certain plays to The New York City International Fringe Festival competition. Two plays were selected for production in the summer of 2008. Mr. Stout seized this moment for
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another teaching opportunity. He offered a summer theatre course at GFA for students to study, act in and stage manage these plays selected for the Fringe Festival in New York City. But Mr. Stout was also interested in the facilities and opportunities we had right here in the arts Mecca of Westport. So this year, he took the entire GFA theatre troupe to the Westport Country Playhouse to produce GFA’s fall play, “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” Stage Manager, Brian Hirschfeld and Assistant Director, Caroline Jamison, were working alongside the professional backstage crew at the Westport Playhouse, as well as directly with our own professional, Stephen Stout. For many of the thirty-eight theater students involved, this was their first exposure to working on a professional stage. Many of Greens Farms Academy’s theatre graduates go on to pursue theater at the university
Written by Elizabeth Woodson
level. Deepali Gupta, (GFA ’08) is studying at Brown University. While at GFA, Deepali starred in every upper school musical production including The Boyfriend and Bye, Bye Birdie. She has gone on to Brown University where she has been in many productions and is currently writing a musical. But it all started in the Eighth Grade at GFA with Mr. Stout when he devised the class “Beginning Theatre” for the eighth graders in order to introduce them to the Upper School theater department before their arrival to upper school. GFA is unique in Fairfield County in its ability to provide its theatre students with a one-stop shop. No wonder every year, nearly all of the Upper School thespians go on to do some sort of theatre work at the university level.
Winter Showcase
THE WRITER
Nikhil Lai
Writing my play mainly involved choosing the right diction to best illuminate the meaning of the play. My play was based on existential questions that I felt needed honest answering so I went about first drafting salient questions to be explored. As a writer, I wanted to make sure that my play would appeal to the diverse audience, especially young and old. Therefore, I tried to write an age- neutral play that could be digested by any viewer. Moreover, in comparison to the other plays, my play was quite short. Therefore, I had to make absolutely sure that each word was both necessary and potent. In fact, writing a play is a work of art, so I had to keep refining the work until it was polished. My primary objective when writing the play was to make sure that after finishing the play, the viewer could still vividly recall the beginning of the play. In other words, I wanted the play to be memorable at every point and also to have a continuity to it. I believe that I achieved these objectives to the best of my ability and hope to have fun writing more plays soon!
THE DIRECTOR
Abby Steckler
Directing Disconnected Reconnected has been an amazing experience. Ally Paul wrote such a brilliant and unique play with a fascinating situation and multi-dimensional characters. The play involves six people, patients, visitors, and a nurse, being trapped in an darkened hospital elevator. The play is lit only by cellphones to make the scene appear beautifully eerie. We experimented with different levels of brightness and different angles to focus on certain characters. During rehearsals, I have learned so much more about this play and its message. An actor may say a line differently than usual, and suddenly a whole new side to their character is revealed. Part of the magic of theater is watching a play evolve during a rehearsal process. Our wonderful cast has made my role as director relatively easy. Their talent and dedication have infused this already fantastic play with energy and life. I have had so much fun working on Disconnected Reconnected and I cannot wait for audiences to experience it!
THE ACTOR
Siena D’Addario
I was first approached about the play Disconnected/Reconnected last year. I was really excited because my character, Arin, is a somewhat deranged girl. She spends most of the scene on the floor in the fetal position rocking back and forth. This character might sound a little bit hyperbolic and cookie cutter “insane girl”, but the way our writer Ally Paul and our director Abbie Steckler helped me bring her to life, gave the character a more realistic edge. The play is truly a mind warping moment in time, and the actors playing each role help to add something that the short play needs, whether it’s a laugh, a surprise, or a song. The important details about this character that made me so anxious to act this role were how crazy the character Arin is, but moreover how she is able to bring a group of strangers together in an unexpected way.
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ARt@ GFA
AP Art 101: Tips from the Pros Written by Sydney Huffman For the aspiring underclassman artists at GFA, AP studio art seems miles away. Sitting in the art room, I wonder whose work decorates the walls of our large studio. Piled on ledges, tacked to walls and perched on window sills are the masterpieces of AP artists before me. But as is the case with all GFA students, the acronym, AP, sends shivers down my spine. But is there a reason to stress about AP art? Greg Tartaglione, one of the AP art students this year, answers the questions that linger in each student’s mind about the grand understanding of AP studio art. Greens Farms Academy is a treasure trove for student produced art and the entire collection of art in Mrs. Stock’s art room are all student done. Typically, Mrs. Stock will give an assignment with specific directions, however, in AP, the students pick their own subject and medium. Greg says, “There is a critique every Monday and after every critique you pitch a new idea for a piece for the upcoming week to Ms. Stock and if she likes it then you get to work.” There is an obvious emphasis on creativity in are imperative for this course. Even this class, with only one limitation, the small lessons, such as not rush“The AP Art exam requires a draw- ing through projects are important, ing portfolio so all the pieces you “there are some things that just do for the class must be drawn or aren’t going to get done well if painted,” explains Greg. you try to speed through them as Along with the AP Art exam, I have discovered on various projthere is a requirement of twenty ects.” four pieces total to show both For all aspiring AP artists, diversity and concentration. When Greg’s best advice would be, “work asked about the workload for the over the summer.” He recomclass, Greg answered, “It’s honmends pushing through the laziestly pretty brutal.” However, the ness of summer break because students are well prepared for the if you don’t, “you will absolutely class. regret it when Katherine Norbom As GFA has created this has brought in two finished oil path for the art students, it seems paintings and isn’t rushing to get logical that they would be preher first pieces done like you art pared for such a big commitment because she has an artillery under and time-consuming class. The les- her belt and you have nothing. “ He sons taught in the studio one, two also suggested taking art classes and advanced alternative classes and buying your own materials
over the summer to experiment with new ideas and techniques. His second piece of advice is to “write down your ideas now.” Using all your creativity now will benefit you when you have to render up idea of AP projects every week. Greg follows up by saying, “In AP Art you will be striving to find a muse and you will be sorely disappointed when you don’t get anything.” Last but not least, Greg tells all the art students to listen to all the wisdom and advice of Betty Pia, who is a model for the Advanced Alternatives class. He says, “she is a beautiful and elegant and wonderful woman with a million and three stories to tell and you can learn so much more from her than just how to draw a live model.”
Art
Katherine Norbom '11
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Piece
Sophie Briand '13
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Sophia Babun '11
Greg Tartaglione '11
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Sophia Babun '11
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Piece
Ashley Hutchison '13
Piece
Katherine Norbom '11
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Piece
Claire SchwiMMer '11
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Piece
Fred Mezidor '11
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Photo @GFA
Conor Infa Red
I N F R A RED
Photos & Writing By: Conner Downey
I first became interested in infrared photography because of the new world that I created inside of my camera. Photography is essentially a way for each person who makes pictures to share their perception of the world with the viewer, and infrared is an additional way of creating this individualized world. Infrared technology allows the photographer to allow only infrared light through the lens of the camera. That means that none of the visible light will be seen and all colors will appear white. The exception is the sky, which looks dark red. My favorite effect is that it can turn a luscious green landscape into a picturesque winter wonderland. I’ve fooled many people into thinking that my photographs of Fairfield in the spring were actually taken in the winter. Then they catch on and realize that there would be no leaves on the trees during the winter. However, this trick of the light never ceases to amaze. As I mentioned, the sky in infrared photography is red, so I use Photoshop to change the color back to a familiar blue sky. Another fascinating effect of infrared is how it makes people look ghostly, with pale skin that sometimes fades into the backgrounds. And, in addition to giving people a ghostly look, it removes all the pigment from clothes, turning decorative deep colors into a pale white fabric. All of these effects together create a unique picture that leaves the viewer stunned. Photography is one of my passions, and infrared photography lets me experiment in a completely new way.
Photos
Cole vanacore '14
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Allie Anderson '13
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Kiera Wood '12
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grace backe '11
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Brian Hirschfeld '12
Caroline Vanacore '13
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Emily Fontana '13
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Ryan Eckert '12
Harrison Thompson '12
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Fresh Faces
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Ivy Wappler Olivia Taylor
Maggie Sherin
Frankie Garafalo