12 minute read
Terry Barnes
Imagine having your favorite Highlands/Cashiers vista just a few steps away – always, no matter where you live. Terry Barnes, esteemed photo-artist/technician, can produce anything from a parlor-sized delight to an entire wall-full of visual wow. You choose your image and size. Terry prints it on canvas. Once installed, step back and savor Mother Nature’s beauty any time your heart desires, even if you’re taking a monumental Whiteside, a raging Cullasaja, or a jaw-dropping view on the Blue Ridge Parkway back home with you hundreds of miles away. Terry is a veteran artist who knows how to negotiate a photo studio as well as the business of Art. While a lot of creatives struggled with the Covid challenge, Terry benefitted. He discovered paring down his venues to smaller galleries and showplaces homed-in on his true audience. Terry says, “Sometimes in large galleries there’s too much to see and people get art-drunk in an ocean of choices. Small venues are more inviting and work better for my style and my clientele.” Galleries and Covid are more compatible now that vaccines and masking are available. Still, incorporating an online market is a smart and safer sales addition. Terry laughs and says, “I’m on Instagram now, though I’m still mastering the mysteries of hash-tagging.” Even with Terry’s adaptations to an ever-changing market, his core strengths continue to define his work as they have since his career launched in the 1980s. “Getting the balance of nature,” Terry shares, “is to show as much compelling information as possible in the image. I want to make every part of the photo interesting. That’s become an instinctive part of my process.” His goal is to make the image so interesting that the viewer’s eye is encouraged to explore the entire photo, fore-, mid-, and background, along with contrast, textures, forms, and especially the light, for it is the key to every dramatic landscape. I asked Terry to rank four motivations (money, intellectual challenge, the emotional experience, connecting with Nature) as things that
Terry Barnes Photography
For artist Terry Barnes, it’s all about bringing the beauty home.
keep him behind the camera every day. He answered without hesitation: 1. “The experience with Nature. Going early. Staying late. I get enveloped in it, and it’s like it’s there just for me at that particular moment.” 2. “Emotion: that internal stirring that’s provided for me and thus, my viewers.” 3. “The intellectual challenge, especially keeping up with the latest technology.” 4. “The money. It’s important, but I would be shooting every spare minute no matter what.” To see more of Terry’s work, visit TerryBarnesphotography. com. Instagram: TerryBarnes. You can take a live, masked visit to Gallery 441 in Dillard, Georgia, and 828 Cafe in Franklin. Terry is a member of the North Georgia Arts Guild.
by Donna Rhodes
Happening at PAC
Epic operas and the astonishing sweep of art and culture driven by Napoleon and Modigliani are on the bill at Highlands Performing Arts Center.
Verdi’s Don Carlos
March brings back Great Art on Screen to the PAC. Save your Friday evening at 5:30 P.M., March 4, for Maverick Modigliani. Marking the centenary of the death of Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), this documentary feature is the story of a remarkable talent that transcended stereotypes. From his origins in Livorno, Italy, to the Paris of Picasso and Brancusi that became the center of modernity, to his love for his wife and frequent subject of his portraits, Jeanne Hébuterne, the film depicts the life and work of an avant-garde artist who has become a contemporary classic. At 5:30 P.M. Friday, March 18, we’re screening the documentary Napoleon: In the Name of Art, which explores the complex relationship between Napoleon, culture, and art. Host Jeremy Irons brings audiences on a tour from Milan to Paris for a look at Napoleon’s imperial iconography and architectural style and to reflect upon the relationship between power and art. Saturday afternoons bring the MET Opera to the PAC. On Saturday, March 12, at 12:55 P.M. the MET Opera will present Live via Satellite Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. The exhilarating soprano Lise Davidsen makes her Live in HD debut in one of her signature roles, the mythological Greek heroine of Strauss’s enchanting masterpiece. The outstanding cast also features mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as the Composer of the operawithin-an-opera around which the plot revolves. Marek Janowski conducts. This will have a run time of three hours. At noon on Saturday, March 26, we’re offering Verdi’s Don Carlos. For the first time in company history, the Met presents the original five-act French version of Verdi’s epic opera of doomed love among royalty, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a starry cast, including tenor Matthew Polenzani in the title role, soprano Sonya Yoncheva as Élisabeth de Valois. This masterpiece receives a monumental new staging by David McVicar that marks his 11th Met production, placing him among the most prolific and popular directors in recent Met memory. This will have a run time of 5 hours, 14 minutes. Highlands Performing Arts Center is located at 507 Chestnut Street.
by Mary Adair Trumbly, Highlands Performing Arts Center
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Something new in ‘22
Highlands Playhouse unveils an ambitious calendar of performances and presentations. For complete information, visit mountaintheatre.com.
We’ve hunkered down for nearly two years and at last, Highlands hibernation is history. Well, history enough to join with fellow-theater lovers in a rousing Cole Porter chorus. Maestro, if you please - Birds do it; Bees do it; Even educated fleas do it; Let’s do it; Let’s fall in love. We’re talking fall-in-love all over again with The Highlands Playhouse and its new programming name: Mountain Theatre Company, aka MTC. The eye-popping’, jaw-droppin’, be-boppin’, show-stoppin’ 2022 season is the culmination of months of planning by the board, staff, and Mountain Theatre Company Executive Artistic Director Scott Daniel. The team is ready for what’s likely to be the best season in 83 years of regional entertainment spectaculars. Four mainstage productions are on the performance horizon: Jersey Boys, Sentimental Journey, Brooklyn: The Musical, and a new annual tradition; Home for The Holidays. In addition to these mainstage productions, audiences will be able to enjoy first run feature films, the wildly popular Curated Cinema Series, and the inaugural presentation of Corked! A Musical Wine Tasting playing in tandem with the Highlands Food & Wine Festival. MTC also introduces new ticket bundles for 2022’s 84th season. Patrons can now purchase bundles to use as they choose for both the mainstage productions and feature films. Sponsors and ticket bundle holders receive early access to mainstage tickets and seating reservations on March 15, with tickets available to the public on March 30. “The Highlands Playhouse has been our family home for the past 83 years,” says Director Scott. “It’s become a landmark bursting with Highlands history in which we present shows, live and cinematic, all year ‘round. We promise phenomenal presentations as we continue to build on almost a century of success.” So fasten the seatbelt on your favorite throne (yes, this year you’ll feel like royalty) in the historic Highlands Playhouse, ‘cause 2022’s Mountain Theatre Company promises a wild and wonderful ride. Visit mountaintheatre.com for more information.
A Festival of Musical Masters
The Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival launches its 2022 season in spectacular fashion – Three Concertmasters. for more information or to purchase tickets for the season or for individual concerts, call (828) 526-9060, email hccmfnc@gmail.com, or visit h-cmusicfestival.org.
David Coucheron
Elizabeth Pridgen David Kime
Martin Chalifour
Coming off of its extraordinary 40th season, successfully staged in the midst of a pandemic, the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival is preparing a 2022 season with the same mixture of globally-recognized musical superstars and supremelytalented newcomers. This formula has sustained the festival since its inception, and it’ll carry it through this year – sustained by performances, special programs, salons, and the immensely popular Feasts of the Festival. The season launches with Three Concertmasters on Friday, July 1, and Saturday, July 2. This premiere performance will showcase the talents of David Coucheron of The Atlanta Symphony; Martin Chalifour of The Los Angeles Philharmonic; and David Kim of the Philadelphia Orchestra; with Elizabeth Pridgen on piano. The festival will celebrate Independence Day with American Salute on Sunday, July 3, in Highlands at PAC. This suite will feature selections about America and works by American composers.
The regular Concert Series are held Fridays and Sundays at the Highlands Performing Arts Center – 507 Chestnut Street; Saturdays and Mondays at the Village Green Commons in Cashiers on Frank Allen Road. “In addition to our regular concerts we will again be featuring a variety of fun additional programs and events, many free, including an Interlude Concert, our annual Family Concerts and Ice Cream Social including a new one in Cashiers; classes with the Center for Life Enrichment in Highlands, and of course our popular Salons and Festival Feasts,” says William Ransom, the festival’s Anna and Hays Mershon Artistic Director. The complete schedule is taking shape as The Laurel goes to press, so for more information or to purchase tickets for the season or for individual concerts call (828) 526-9060, send an email to hccmfnc@ gmail.com, or visit h-cmusicfestival.org.
by Luke Osteen
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DINING
Pages 76-87
Rachel Lewicki
Fresh, Flavorful Surprises
Tucked away a half-block from Highlands’ Main Street like, yes, a secret garden, The Secret Garden Courtyard Market serves up fresh selections every day. For more information or to place an order, call (828) 305-7509.
It’s probably a coincidence that we’re featuring The Secret Garden Courtyard Market and Modern Fast Food in our March Issue. It sure doesn’t feel like a coincidence, though. Throughout this magazine, you’ll find paens to the arrival of Spring and its promise of fresh starts and the almost giddy sensation of freedom after the last two years of Covid restrictions.
The Secret Garden, tucked in the courtyard on Highlands’ Oak Street, is new on the local culinary scene and it’s offering fresh takes on classic bistro fare – soups, salads, sandwiches, and tapas dishes made for quick sampling shares with your dining companions. You can eat your selections inside, at a cozy counter space, or outdoors at the tables and patio chairs of the courtyard. Though our visit was in the middle of February, Tricia and I managed to hit one of those glorious sunny days when the wind halts and you can almost taste Spring, so we opted to carry our selections to a picnic table in Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park. There’s something about eating outdoors that sharpens the senses, and The Secret Garden’s dishes ricocheted around our palates like a pinball. We’d chosen The Basic Chick, a freshlymade chicken salad on a croissant; and The Porker, a beguiling concoction of shaved ham, Jarlsberg cheese, and pickles, slathered with homemade honey mustard and served on ciabatta.
Both were impeccable in their flavor and presentation. We ate with embarrassing haste and minimal conversation, which I suppose is the highest compliment you can pay a meal.
But let me step back from this and once more focus on The Secret Garden itself. In addition to its daily selections of soups and sandwiches, the place is filled chockablock with gourmet items you can take home – soup mixes, dips, sweets and savories, exotic chips, and pickles. It’s important to single out those chips and pickles. They were part of our take-out lunch, and they’re proof of The Secret Garden’s commitment to fresh, flavorful surprises. Appearing alongside our sandwiches were the startling Carolina Kettle Southern Twang Salt & Vinegar Chips and Carolina Kettle’s Mama Gin Dill Pickle Chips. Both will challenge and enhance your understanding of Potato Chip Character and Taste. And DJ’s Pickles’ Silly Dilly Pickle Chips? Well, they’re loaded with fresh dill, slightly sweetened, and complimented by a touch of garlic and red pepper flakes. Pay close attention and you’ll detect just a hint of clove and turmeric. Who knew?
And Tricia opted for Unicorn Tears’ Mad Tasty Pure Sparkling Water. Now that may not sound special, but then you read the label and discover that it contains 20 mgs of hemp extract, which is as close to a walk on the Wild Side as you’re going to get one block from Main Street.
And at the center of all this is owner/chef Rachel Lewicki. When she’s not in the kitchen preparing the day’s fare, Rachel is behind the counter, chatting with her customers and ringing up their selections. But I mention her because she’s part of that precious community spirit that I feared we may have lost over these past two years of Covid-cramped routines. It’s the sensation you get when you take a seat at The Zookeeper Bistro in Cashiers or Bella’s Junction Cafe in Scaly Mountain. Rachel grew up in Highlands and she delivers all of that warm, local charm in generous dollops. You can chat about the day, exchange little bits of news and gossip, or just revel in the neighborliness of it all. You can phone in your order at (828) 305-7509.
by Luke Osteen photos by Susan Renfro
