“O’ come great farce and sing at my beside” -- Lauren Miller
Meet Da Bee
Bill Reid Ojibway Valley by Dave Gourdoux
Serving The Creative Communities From Chicago To Milwaukee
Free! Issue 5
2014 Senior Thesis Studio Art Exhibit
Jena Thomas Freud's Dog
Carolyn Griffith Magically Delicious
Earthenware Low Fire Clay, Stain, and Low Fire Glaze • 2013
Colored marker on Yupo • 2013
As part of their Senior Studio Art Thesis Seminar course, Carthage College art majors present a capstone exhibition of their work in the H. F. Johnson Gallery of Art and Gallery B. Works in ceramic, print, drawing, sculpture/installation, and painting will be featured by Carolyn Griffith, Clayton Irwin, Merry Gilly, Jena Thomas, Jessica Rinka, and Jenni Perdzock.
Opening Reception:
Saturday, May 10, 2014, 1-4 p.m.
Exhibit Runs:
May 6 to May 16, 2014
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Thursday Evening 6 – 8 p.m. Saturday 1 – 4 p.m.
Coming This Fall A Re-Visioning: New Works in Polymer September 9 - October 25, 2014 Featuring: Jana Roberts Benzon, Heather Campbell, Rachel Carren, Jeffrey Lloyd Dever, Meredith Dittmar, Kathleen Dustin, Rachel Gourley, Alev Gozonar, Lindly Haunani, Maggie Maggio,Laurie Mika, Elise Winters and many more.
For more information on upcoming events, visit
www.carthage.edu/artgallery
A Message From The Publisher By Chet Griffith Dear Chet, While I am aware that you have family responsibilities and a million other obligations, it has come to my attention that you have been less than productive lately. That’s too bad. I’ve heard you mention that you don’t have any time, but I’d like to point out that you somehow found the time to watch several seasons of “American Horror Story.” Congratulations on polishing off the entire series in less than two weeks; that is quite an achievement. I’ve known you for a long time, so let me be 100% honest with you. Watching YouTube clips, playing video games, or sitting and drinking a cup (or five) of coffee are all things that take time, don’t they? It seems to me that you have more time than you might care to admit. We have established that you do, in fact, have time, so what is the problem? You live in a place that is bristling with creative energy. There are opportunities to show/perform all the time, so what’s the hold up? Are you put off that this area has a reputation of having more artists than collectors? Is it that you feel ignored by your city? These are both valid points, and worthy of discussion; however, the last time I checked it wasn’t anyone else’s responsibility to: • Promote yourself or your events • Educate people about the arts • Market your talent • Improve your skill set • Force you to stop being lazy Only you can be responsible for you. I am not telling you this to be mean, but rather because I care. I hope to see a more productive version of you soon! Sincerely, Chet
4 A Message From The Publisher / Left of The Lake
Left of the Lake Issue 5 06 07 09 10 16 21 24 27 28 31 32 34 35 39
New Glasses by Amanda Feldt-Smith Nash by Brandon Minga Nesbit by Katie Dylewski Meet Bill Reid by Peg Rousar-Thompson Ojibway Valley by Dave Gourdoux On Your Left by Janette Louden Comics! by Josh Frazer & Chet Griffith Pod Garden by Agnes Friedlander Your Kid = Picasso by Kelle Dame Untitled poem by Lauren Miller Ecliptical Penance by Jacob Simonsen Smoke Rings by Duke Kruse 2FL: At A Glance by Lisa Adamowicz Kless
Submission Information Cover: Bill Reid
Publisher: Chet Griffith Graphic Designer: Joshua Frazer Editor: Lisa Adamowicz Kless Editor: Peg Rousar-Thompson Managing Editor: John Bloner, Jr. Contact Us At: editor@leftofthelake.com
“The Expulsion of Hades By Clowns” Painted Steel
*Items in Red Denote Artist Features
New Glasses She’s dressed to the nines Impressing his blinded eyes Beauty of darkness Amanda Feldt-Smith
6  From Texas To The Midwest / Left of The Lake
Brandon Minga / Nash  7
W
HM 9–1
R C forthe A
St. • Downtown Kenosha, Wisconsin
Every Saturday through May 10, 2014
(Closed on Dec. , & Jan. , )
Produce, Cheese, Meats, Pastry, Fresh Mushrooms, Chips, Chocolate, Unique Arts & Crafts, Soaps, Prepared Foods, Live Music, and More
T H M A
Every Saturday — 9–2 May O. ,
A E-S M V S
Farm fresh produce Unique arts and crafts Meats, eggs, vegetables, fish, cheeses Fresh baked goods and savory snacks
A M I W 2 Ave. between 54th & 56th St. and Place de Douai
HarborPark • Kenosha, Wisconsin
kenoshaharbormarket.com
Katie Dylewski / Nesbit  9
10  Bill Reid / Left of The Lake
BILL REID By Peg Rousar-Thompson The life-sized dolphin in the front yard should have tipped me off. I should have realized as I walked up to Bill Reid’s front door, that his imagination couldn’t be contained in just an art gallery or studio. His website and even the words of other artists could not have prepared me for the colors and texture of this new world. Entering Bill Reid’s home is a high dive into the creativity pool. I stood in his doorway, gasping like a fish and trying to remember how to swim. Bill’s art is everywhere, mingling with green plants and set off by brightly painted walls. His three dimensional characters decorate the windows, hang over the kitchen table and march along the back of his stove. Bill is a sculptor and a painter. He takes sheets of steel, metal rods, and a brilliant palette, and
creates pieces that reach to the ceiling and others so tiny they can be held in the palm of your hand. His sculptures hold books and mail, they light up and have cranks that turn, secret doors that hide tiny beds. They hold fire and toilet paper, make music, and get shown off each year in Racine’s 4th of July parade. But Bill isn’t just an artist. Bill’s a storyteller. Each piece he creates has its own mythology, its own language. The astronaut being mauled by a mechanical rabbit has a story. The Watermelion that guards the foot of his bed. Bunnski the Rabbit has exotic adventures and the Hawonions have a complete culture that would dazzle any ordinary anthropologist. And if the dolphin on the lawn didn’t make me suspicious, the Reid family cars all parked out in the driveway should have. Bill’s garage Left of The Lake / Bill Reid 11
is overflowing with creative vehicles: his Bee Bomb, hand built on the chassis and drivetrain of a 1988 Ford Escort and street legal, Mowbee Dick (and Mow Baby), a pedal car and tow-behind trailer, the Manta-Ray and the Reidster – all elbow for space. With each piece comes a background and a detailed narrative. A play on words. A personal folklore that bursts from the artist’s imagination and makes each of his creations alive and endearing. You can’t look at this work without wanting to touch, to hear the stories, or drive the cars. Or crawl into Bill Reid’s head and have a look around. Just remember, the dolphin and I both have warned you. For more information on Bill Reid and his fantastic creatures, visit his website at
12 Bill Reid / Left of The Lake
www.beebomb.com. Locally, you can see Bill’s work at RAM in Racine and the Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee. He would be happy to friend you on Facebook, just beware of the Abombinabill Mowman.
An Excerpt From Ojibway Valley By Dave Gourdoux
T
he last time Harry Wolf danced high atop the old truss bridge that crossed the Ojibway River in the Ojibway Valley was in late March of 1926. The river was high with spring snow melt, and occasional chunks of ice floated along the accelerated current. Drunk and spurred on by the white men he’d never met before who offered him whiskey, Harry, even at sixty three years old, was still athletic and acrobatic, still lean and muscular. He easily navigated the beams and cross ties and climbed to the top of the metal structure. At the top, more than two hundred feet above the river, he stood up straight and faced the setting sun. He felt the cold western breeze against his face, it was icy and clean, and he felt it move through his shoulder length iron gray hair. He could hear the sound of a not too distant crow cawing, and he thought of the story his grandfather told him when he was little, how his father before him, Harry’s great grandfather, had the ability to transform himself into a crow, and how as the sun set on the eve of a great battle with the Sioux, flew east into the morning of the next day and saw his own death. “Dance, injun, dance!” someone yelled from below. It always amazed Harry how quickly the crowds would grow. It’d been thirty five years since the first time, and the legend of the drunken Indian who could barely stand on level ground and then turn around and dance a jig or a rain dance up on top of the iron beams, all for a gulp of fire water, grew throughout the region. Harry danced only once or twice a year, but whenever he did, people seemed
to materialize out of the air, standing at the foot of the bridge, craning their necks to see, gasping every time he hopped from one beam to another. Harry looked down. He estimated there were about thirty people watching. A natural acrobat, Harry was born with an innate ability to climb and a sense of balance that only the combination of alcohol and the flat earth could disrupt. Whether it was trees or the rock formations on the east side of West Ridge or the beams atop of the bridge, he loved climbing, the sensation of his feet leaving the ground. The spectators below never understood how exhilarating that sensation was to Harry. They didn’t understand that high up on top of the bridge, the air was clean and he was beyond the reach of the pain and alcohol that on the ground consumed him. He let out a loud hoot and put his hand to his mouth and raised his right foot and started doing his “rain dance,” an exaggerated impression of dances he had seen in the silent cowboy and Indian serials in the movie theater in Neil, Wisconsin. There was nothing remotely authentic about the dance. Harry knew a little bit about real Ojibway dancing, but, even when his mind was polluted with the foulest of rot gut alcohol, it never occurred to him to desecrate those dances by performing them for the ignorant white people staring with gaping mouths up at the top of the bridge. He hopped up and down on one foot, on the same beam, and then he hopped to another beam, all the while putting his hand to his mouth and letting out high pitched hoots. Left of The Lake / Ojibway Valley 17
Then, on the outside beam, he put his hands behind his back, and lifted his left leg out to the left, brought it back to the beam, and raised his right leg out to the right, as if his left leg knocked his right leg into the air, and then he’d bring the right leg down and lift his left leg, never more than one foot touching the beam, and he kept dancing this jig, faster and faster. He’d done this dance countless times before, with the crowd holding its breath at first and then breaking into nervous laughter as he picked up speed. Harry danced his jig, facing the sun on the horizon, bright red, not a cloud in the sky. He heard the crow again, and then he saw it, flying along the river’s edge, a black silhouette against the red sky. He thought of his father and grandfather and great grandfather, and he thought of his own son, and he felt calm. He
18 Ojibway Valley / Left of The Lake
felt sober and at peace with the world. The air was clean and cool and crisp. His right foot came down, and it missed the beam, and that was it. He was gone. The crowd below gasped and screamed at the black outline of Harry’s body against the red sky as it dropped from the top of the bridge into the fast and icy waters of the Ojibway River.
Dave Gourdoux lives in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. You can find his personal blog, “Drivel by Dave” at djgourdoux.wordpress.com. OJibway Valley is available on Amazon.com.
Left of The Lake / Title  19
Janette Louden / On Your Left  21
Photography: Dan Bishop
Discover America’s Largest Craft Collection Learn more about current RAM art exhibitions and events at ramart.org Racine Art Museum 441 Main Street, Downtown Racine
262.638.8300
Coming In 2015
A Community Celebration of Kenoshan George Orson Welles on the occasion of his 100th birthday
actor poet puppeteer painter producer pianist director cartoonist screenwriter bullfighter and magician george orson welles
www.citizenwelles.org
COMICS Chet Griffith
Friends Forever / Josh Frazer
Agnes Friedlander / Pod Garden  27
Your Kid = Picasso Treating your child’s art like it is world famous By Kelle Dame I get really excited when a client wants to incorporate their child’s art into their home décor. I’m talking the kind of excited that is probably annoying to normal, non-décor obsessed people. I just can’t help myself. It’s the one tried and true way of incorporating some fun, original art into your home. Their artwork is usually filled with bright colors and whimsy. The best part is that it makes little kids feel incredibly special. You don’t always have to invest in an expensive frame to show them that their creative side is valued. Its placement and prominence is key. Every season, I fill the frames in my front hallway with my daughter’s work. The thought of spending a near fortune on a frame for a young one’s drawing or painting makes me a little giddy as well. Mainly because my inner child loves that it’s not what you’re “supposed to do” and an awesome frame can really push the bounds of ridiculousness. I mean, if we are framing our kids’ art and celebrating free spirits and all, why not go all out? When it comes to displaying the creations of your little loved ones, it’s the perfect time and opportunity to get creative and throw caution to the wind. It’s also the perfect opportunity to let your kids have some say in their own home. They might not get to pick the living room curtains, but at least they can display 28 Your Kid = Picasso / Left of The Lake
their favorite painting on the mantle or even the kitchen counter. Such a seemingly small thing can be incredibly empowering. Just think, your favorite musician, artist, or inventor is the perfect example of how far a little confidence in self-expression can take a person. What will you do with your child’s creations? Feel free to visit my blog for more ideas on displaying children’s art @ kelledame.blogspot.com.
Left of The Lake / Your Kid = Picasso  29
O’ come great farce and sing at my bedside sing the song of crinkled paper written on photographs I cannot remember How ludicrous of me to assume respect would be given to assume it was deserved The windows go nowhere they open to a white wall where I collect people like postage stamps and when growing bored send them away Someday, not tomorrow, I will be less destructive perilous in a land of forgotten lamps oils akimbo cover the walls Lauren Miller
32  Jacob Simonsen / Ecliptical Penance ( Judgement)
www.leftofthelake.com
34  Duke Kruse / Smoke Rings
by Lisa Adamowicz Kless While their girlfriends are in Europe for one last adventure before they all head off to college, back in Mexico, Tenoch (played by Diego Luna) and his friend Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) meet Luisa, a decade-older woman played by Maribel Verdú. When they both become infatuated with her, they invite her along on a road trip to a “legendary” beach that doesn’t exist. What they seem to think will be a carefree adventure turns out to be much more complicated than they expected, with implications that will linger long after they come back home. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, one of the strengths of “Y Tu Mamá También” is that it often takes its time, lingering in moments. In scenes where the boys and Luisa are driving, filming was done so that the audience feels like they’re a passenger in the car, seeing both violence and beauty as it takes place on the side of the road. Dubbed a “coming of age” movie by many, it would be a disservice to focus only on Tenoch and Julio though. Viewers may wonder about some of Luisa’s motivations and feelings, but by the end of the movie, a revelation is made that helps to put some of it into perspective. The film is as much about Luisa’s journey as it is theirs.
Relationships are tested and strained, things get messy, and there aren’t many clear-cut areas of black and white. It all creates a perfect storm that makes the movie compelling and keeps viewers along for the ride because this is how real life unfolds; nearly everyone should be able to relate to it on some level—even “tu mamá también” (“your mama too”). For more articles by 2nd First Look, visit our website at www.2ndFirstLook.com. You can also find us on Facebook at www.facebook. com/2ndFirstLook.
The soundtrack and glimpses into the political issues in Mexico in the early 2000s add even more layers to an already rich story, and tension is built through how the film mimics real life. Left of The Lake / 2nd First Look 35
Transparent Watercolor Society of America
38th Annual
"Pride of the Prairie"
Marlin Rotach, 2013 Skyledge Award Winner
National Juried
ExhibitioN May 10 - August 10, 2014 Kenosha Public Museum WEst & south GAllEriEs 5500 First Avenue | Kenosha, Wi 53140 | 262-653-4140 | www.kenoshapublicmuseum.org
Left Of The Lake
Coloring Book Appearing June 1st, 2014
www.leftofthelake.com Image by: Ashley Nigl
Submit Your Work To Left Of The Lake Left of the Lake Magazine is published quarterly and accepts work continuously. We welcome submissions from both new and established artists and writers, nationally and internationally, but first consideration is offered to the creative people in our region of Southeast Wisconsin and Northeast Illinois. General Guidelines: • All work must be original and not previously published • No simultaneous submissions Submissions Welcome: • Poetry (maximum of three pieces) • Fiction or Non-Fiction (400 words or less) • Visual Art, Photography, or Comics (maximum of two pieces) How-To Submit: • We prefer electronic submissions, either as an attachment or in the body of an email. Send work to editor@leftofthelake.com and please include your name, address, and a short bio of 30 words or less.
Questions? Contact us! editor@leftofthelake.com Left of The Lake / Submissions Information 39
Downtown Kenosha Making Memories Every Day Downtown Kenosha
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