Nashville Arts Magazine - July 2016 by Nashville Arts Magazine

PUBLISHED BY THE ST. CLAIRE MEDIA GROUP

www.facebook.com/NashvilleArts www.twitter.com/NashvilleArts www.pinterest.com/NashvilleArts

www.nashvillearts.com

Editorial & Advertising Offices 644 West Iris Drive, Nashville, TN 37204 | 615-383-0278

Editorial PAUL POLYCARPOU | Publisher and CEO paul@nashvillearts.com REBECCA PIERCE | Managing Editor rebecca@nashvillearts.com MADGE FRANKLIN | Copy Editor

Advertising SAM JACO | 615-383-0278 sam@nashvillearts.com

Distribution WOUTER FELDBUSCH | JONATHAN TURNER

Subscriptions & Customer Service 615-383-0278

Business Office MOLLYE BROWN | 644 West Iris Drive, Nashville, TN 37204 Editorial Interns WHITNEY KEEN | Belmont University ASHLEY MCCORMICK | Belmont University Design WENDI K. POWELL | Graphic Designer

Nashville Arts Magazine is a monthly publication by St. Claire Media Group, LLC. This publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one magazine from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office, or by mail for $6.40 a copy. Email: All email addresses consist of the employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first name followed by @nashvillearts.com; to reach contributing writers, email info@ nashvillearts.com. Editorial Policy: Nashville Arts Magazine covers art, news, events, entertainment, and culture in Nashville and surrounding areas. The views and opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are available at $45 per year for 12 issues. Please note: Due to the nature of third-class mail and postal regulations, issues could be delayed by as much as two or three weeks. There will be no refunds issued. Please allow four to six weeks for processing new subscriptions and address changes. Call 615-383-0278 to order by phone with your credit card number.

On the Cover Hush

Blue 2016, 68" x 48" See page 28. Photograph by Rachael Milne

July 2016 Features

10 WXNA Nashville’s Newest Radio Station is Alive and Beaming

Melvin Toledo Still Life in the Real World

Columns

Through Appalachian Eyes: The Fine Art Photography of Benjamin Walls

Going! Going! Gone! At the Auction with Case Antiques

Crawl Guide

The Bookmark Hot Books and Cool Reads

Brick to Canvas: A Survey of International Street Art, Part II

Open Spaces by Erica Ciccarone

Public Art

20 Collaborations in Book Art

Symphony in Depth

American Artists At Home and Abroad

Sounding Off by Joseph E. Morgan

74 The f-Stops Here by Raeanne Rubenstein

37 EMYO Emily Marie York Ozier

Real Magic of Harris III STORY Gathering 2016 Reawakens Wonder and Possibility for Nashville

Olga Alexeeva Celebrating 5 Years at "O" Gallery

Silver Linings The Cloud Paintings of Adam Thomas Capture the Ephemeral

Sean Norvet The Very Precise Feeling of Falling Apart

Shadow May 2016 Tennessee Craft Stand Out Award Winner

Rob Matthews Hope is in the Details

Inside and Out: Collaborations with Unit 2 Transcending Prison Walls

The Greatest: 1942–2016

Poet's Corner

Arts & Business Council

Art Smart by Rebecca Pierce

90 NPT 94 ArtSee 96 Theatre by Jim Reyland 97

Beyond Words by Marshall Chapman

My Favorite Painting

Ready! Nashville’s Newest Radio Station is Alive and Beaming Words by Jesse Mathison Photography by Jen Silver

ashville is a city with an incredibly rich and diverse musical history and a historically strong sense of community. It seems to be one of the more inviting aspects of our city, this sense of community, but in the wake of so much growth and development, it also seems to be greatly fractured. Change is natural, of course, especially following such an economic upheaval as this city has experienced, but the manner in which our city is changing, and the lack of new, community-focused outlets, is a concern. Only five years have passed since WRVU signed off the air, and there has been a noticeable absence of communityoriented radio, or even of a cohesive communal voice, in the intervening years. WXNA seems poised to fill this gap, especially considering that all seven board members were once community deejays at WRVU. There will of course be many differences between the two stations: WXNA will carry no syndicated programming and will offer up 87 new shows, programmed and created here in Nashville, focusing on different aspects of our local culture. Musically speaking, genres will include rock, soul, country, funk, jazz, blues, electronica, and many more. The lineup will also feature a range of talk shows focused on community issues, culture, food, health, and comedy, among numerous other topics. These shows will be led by passionate individuals who want to connect and share with others and foster more dialogue, as well as a greater sense of connectivity. Speaking on the subject, Heather Lose, president of WXNA, urged for community involvement: “We are here to serve our community, and we want people to get in touch and to participate as much as possible. Let us know what you want to hear; let us know what you like. There are so many ways to get involved.” Radio is of course an artistic medium in its own right and provides something inherently unique. This fact isn’t lost on Randy Fox, Program Director for WXNA: “We want to bring back the art of radio, which has, to a large degree, died out.

Set!

We’re live! Heather Lose, Roger Blanton, Jonathan Grigsby, Randy Fox, Ashley Crownover and Laura Powers

A great radio DJ is one part sound-collage artist and one part carnival barker. You’re not just picking songs at random; you’re picking songs that flow into each other, and they tell a story or express an emotion, but you also have to have that gift of gab to connect it. There are some other independent voices in town, but they kind of have a different agenda. One of the points we talked about is that we have all these musicians who are based here in Nashville, and they tour all over the world, and yet you can’t hear any of their records on any local station, and we wanted to provide that service to the Nashville music community. You shouldn’t have to go to Denver to hear Todd Snyder on the radio.” The staff of WXNA (101.5 FM) is working hard to provide a voice for local musicians and music lovers alike. Now it rests on the community to respond. na For more information on WXNA, visit www.wxnafm.org.

Publisher's Note

A Great City Deserves Great Art We take so much for granted in this great country that we often forget how fortunate we are. This email from a reader helped to remind me. Paul Polycarpou, Publisher

Sophia with her Nashville Arts wall

For three years I lived and taught in Central China where one of my students—English-named Sophia— talked her family into taking me under their wing. When I finally returned to America, the separation was painful, but we all Skyped and wrote back and forth every week. One thing I got into the habit of doing was sitting on my porch here in Tennessee flipping through magazines, and when I saw a picture I thought Sophia might like, I’d cut it out. Ninety percent of the images came from Nashville Arts Magazine. Whenever I’d send off a care package to the family, I’d include the cutouts.

China is still recovering from their cultural setbacks in the 20th century, and the state—which has tight control of all media—has a very narrow view of what is art. Sophia reported several times that she loved the imagination of Western artists contained in the clippings and wished she could live in some of the places pictured. When I went back to visit China recently, I was moved to find that Sophia and her mother had decorated patches of her bedroom wall with everything I sent. All to say, your magazine and the artists in it are affecting at least a few minds on the other side of the planet. Tim

July Crawl Guide Franklin Art Scene

Friday, July 1, from 6 until 9 p.m. To mark its 5th anniversary The Franklin Theatre is joining the Art Scene showing artwork by Chris Ousley, Roy Laws, and Laura Neal. At 9 p.m. Nashville Arts Magazine is presenting a special free screening of the documentary Saving Banksy. Join the ribbon cutting ceremony as Jack Yacoubian Fine Jewelry and Art Gallery opens its new location at 300 Public Square on the historic downtown square where artist Bob Gray is exhibiting work from his Painting the Presidents series. Gallery 202 is featuring realistic painter Melvin Toledo (see page 80). At the Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church Jim Ballard is demonstrating his woodturning skills, and Sarah Kaufman is displaying Bob Gray, Jack Yacoubian Fine Jewelry and Art Gallery her mixed-media paintings. Williamson County Archives is hosting emerging artist Martha Booysen. Debbie Smartt is showing her photography at Landmark Booksellers. Imaginebox Emporium is featuring a selection from Cory Basil’s Experiments in Motion series. See Peg Harding’s art at Early’s Honey Stand. Landmark Bank is presenting paintings by Von Derry and John Fisher. Lisa Eisenga is displaying her paintings at Boutique MMM. Bagbey House is presenting work by Margaret Zeigler. Harlin Meyerhoff is exhibiting impressionistic paintings by Linda Watson. The Registry is featuring paintings by Edna Green and Malli Richmond. See live glassblowing demonstrations by Jose Santisteban and Mike Ingram at Franklin Glassblowing Studio. See photography by Tommie Baskis at Williamson County Visitor Center. At Hope Church Franklin, Craft Love is providing step-by-step instructions to help guests make their own wood wall art. See work by Morgan Meredith Pitts at Franklin Antique Mall. Enjoy Carl Jones’s intricate fruit carving at Savory Spice Shop. Pop culture artist Michael Lax is showing at Taziki's.

First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown

Saturday, July 2, from 6 until 9 p.m. The Arts Company is unveiling Americana Art Summer, a group show including photography by Jerry Park, Ed Clark, and Michael Nott, sculpture by John Petrey and Paul Craig, as well as political and patriotic

Brad Sells, The Arts Company

folk art. Tinney Contemporary is exhibiting Brick to Canvas: A Survey of International Street Art, Part II featuring work by Above, Hush, Logan Hicks, Ben Eine, Swoon, Faith47, and Banksy (see page 28). The Rymer Gallery is opening Silver Linings by Adam Thomas (see page 50) and continuing with Golden Gate Meets Music City by Jet Martinez. See Tracings, a exhibition of work by Nashville artist Zack Rafuls, at Penny Felts, Corvidae Collective the Browsing Room Gallery at the Downtown Presbyterian Church. In the historic Arcade, WAG is presenting The Poke Show: Inquiries for the Made-Up Mind, linocut, letterpress, and risograph prints by Watkins alumnus Stephen G. Jones. Corvidae Collective is showing RUBBISH by photographer Penny Felts in which she collaborates with artists Elle Long, Nina Covington, Kara Elisabeth, Jennifer Stalvey, and Blair Colbert to display dresses made out of recycled materials. COOP Gallery is hosting an opening reception for Wrapping, new work by Alice Clements. Blend Studio is exhibiting As Above, So Below by Nicole Maron. See mid-century furniture advertising illustrations by 92-year-old Ann G. Doyle at E.T. Burk. Hatch Show Print’s Haley Gallery is displaying Master Printer Jim Sherraden’s Paper Quilts.

Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/ Houston

Jim Sherraden, Haley Gallery

Saturday, July 2, from 6 until 9 p.m. At Julia Martin Gallery enjoy BEVY 2016, a summer group show featuring William Buffett, Michelle Farro, Brett Douglas Hunter, Devin Goebel, Louisa Glen, Jodi Hays, Seth Prestwood, Olivia Leigh Martin, and Alex Warble. Seed Space is presenting RUNNERS, a multi-media performance and sculptural installation by Brent Stewart and Willie Stewart. Channel to Channel is exhibiting Michael Grine’s Limbic, an eclectic selection of abstract patterns created from found objects, acrylic paint, and aerosol sprays. COOP Gallery is showing Off Kilter / In Time, a two-person exhibit with works by April Bachtel and Mary Laube, guest curated by The Fuel And Lumber Company. CG2 GALLERY is hosting a one-night pop-up show at the Packing Plant, continuing with Part 2 of Summer Selections,

Alex Warble, Julia Martin Gallery

which features works by gallery artists. mild climate is unveiling Triple Stilt, a group exhibition featuring Trisha Holt, Allison Wade, and collaborative work from Hamlett Dobbins and Tad Lauritzen-Wright. For the month of July, Zeitgeist is handing over its walls to Atlanta-based gallery Whitespace, which is presenting an exhibition of invented worlds through architectural plans, graffitied cities, foreboding landscapes, and technological systems. On July 9, David Lusk Gallery is opening a group show featuring work by Catherine Erb, Jack Spencer, and Courtney J. Garrett.

East Side Art Stumble Saturday, July 9, from 6 until 9 p.m. Red Arrow Gallery is opening Light from Light, light sculptures by AmĂŠlie Guthrie, and Holocenia, oil paintings by Olivia Hill. Gallery Luperca is exhibiting TRUMPED UP, a show of contemporary images of Donald Trump juried by Nashville artists Robert Scobey (the showâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initiator), Alex Lockwood, and Tom Williams. Nashville Community Darkroom is showcasing Deadline Today, a monthly pop-up photography scramble. Southern Grist Brewery is featuring artist Stephen Watkins. Modern East Gallery, Main Street Gallery, The Vine, Art & Invention, The Idea Hatchery, The Warren, and Perk & Cork are also participating. Stephen Watkins, Southern Grist Brewery

Through Appalachian Eyes:

by Bob Doerschuk

The Fine Art Photography of Benjamin Walls Tennessee State Museum through October 2

hough born in Bristol, Tennessee, photographer Benjamin Walls has never shown his work in Nashville. Maybe he’s been too busy taking gorgeous pictures of nature’s wonders all across America, on cliffs overlooking the ocean in Australia, or from atop an elephant, presumably to get the right angle on some nearby tigers in the wild.

Fortunately, the Tennessee State Museum corrects that oversight on July 1 when it unveils Through Appalachian Eyes: The Fine Art Photography of Benjamin Walls. Just 36 years old, Walls has assembled a catalog vast enough for the Museum to divide his show into four well-stocked sections: Appalachian, National, International, and Abstract. From intimate images of flora snapped just an eyelash away to lightning-lashed landscapes, all of these works serve his mission to celebrate the natural world. “I look for inspiration, for moments that are almost too good to be true, too incredible to be real,” he explains. “But they are. And I want to capture and share them.” Even at age 6, when he got his first camera by clipping and mailing a coupon from the back of a cereal box, Walls felt the pull of the outdoors. It intensified when he persuaded his parents to allow him and a friend to hike through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Somewhere between being dropped off at Cades Cove and retrieved 11 days later on Interstate 40, he underwent a transformation of sorts.

20 nashvillearts.com

Benjamin Walls on location

Photograph by Benjamin Walls

Elements, the rim of a geothermal pool in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2003

“

I look for inspiration, for moments that are almost too good to be true, too incredible to be real, but they are. And I want to capture and share them.

Algorithm, abstraction of patterns in a glacier stream in Glacier National Park, Montana, 2014

The Smokies, characteristic mountain weather in Newfound Gap, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina, 2015

“What I saw on that hike inspired me so much,” he says. “And I felt for the first time this deep desire to share what I saw with people. I didn’t know any way to do that except through photography.”

When you look beyond the obvious, that’s when you move from documentation into fine arts. I want to transcend documentation. For me, it’s all about the vision.

This epiphany prompted Walls to look at the pictures he’d taken on that hike through more critical eyes. “They didn’t convey to people what I had seen in the things I’d photographed. So I began really critiquing myself. It was difficult, but it drove me to improve. To this day, my favorite question is, could I have done better than this?” Educating himself through trial, error, online resources, and art books at the local library, Walls developed his vision and technique. Except for a single class in enlargement processing at Australia’s Southern Cross University, he mastered his craft entirely on his own. Eventually his pursuit of the world’s hidden beauties led him from the representational to the more elusive. “Sometimes you can distill the essence of something by taking a small but essential portion of it and cropping so much that it goes from reality to a form of abstraction,” he notes. “One of my pieces, Elements, is simply the rim of a geothermal pool in Yellowstone. Also, for a series I’ve been working on called The

21 nashvillearts.com

“

Rime, ice gathered on a single tree on Whitetop Mountain, Virginia, 2011

Stripes, abstraction of a zebra hide in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, Africa, 2016

When the Rains Came, giraffes foraging during the first rain of the season in the Serengeti plains, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, Africa, 2006

Abstract Force of the World, I’ll move the camera parallel to a tree trunk while keeping the shutter open. You can still see the tree but a plethora of tiny details is gone. What’s left is the color of the forest and the way the light goes through it. That’s what I want the viewer to see. “Ansel Adams used to talk about having a vision for a subject,” he summarizes. “When you have that vision, when you look beyond the obvious, that’s when you move from documentation into fine arts. I want to transcend documentation. For me, it’s all about the vision.” na

Autumns Ember, abstraction of the change of seasons from summer to fall in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,Tennessee/North Carolina, 2015

Through Appalachian Eyes: The Fine Art Photography of Benjamin Walls is on view at the Tennessee State Museum through October 2. For more information, visit www.tnmuseum.org. To see more of Benjamin Walls’s work, visit www.BenjaminWalls.com.

Going! Going! Gone!

ch roo b m tinu 0 pla 22,40 d r$ an nd d fo mo y, sol a i d dle 0s a 195 e He a c g r r o Ci Ge by

At the Auction with Case Antiques

here’s a treasured painting on your late grandmother’s wall. You know it’s valuable, but it doesn’t work in your house—and the only market for the artist’s work appears to be overseas. There’s her Art Deco diamond brooch, the silver julep cups, even a collection of old Chinese snuff bottles Grandpa brought back from the War. And as much as you love having them, it’s time to turn them loose. Case Antiques knows this scenario well. For over ten years the Nashville and Knoxville auction and appraisal company has been connecting Tennessee consignors to the global art and antiques market—whether it’s a single item or a large estate. We asked Case Antiques for the nuts and bolts on the going, going, gone.

4 5

Maurice Braun, Untitled, Oil on canvas, sold for $24,780

1 2 3

How do I consign my objects with Case Antiques? People interested in consigning should start by emailing or texting photos or calling us for an initial conversation. Objects accepted for auction may be brought to our office or picked up directly from the consignor. After the auction, the consignor receives a check (minus our commission). What is a cataloged auction? It means every item in our auctions is professionally photographed, researched, and fully described in writing, with condition reports reviewed by our accredited staff appraisers, and published price estimates. Bidding in our auctions starts at half the low estimate, to give some protection to the seller while also offering bidders a chance at a good deal. Do I have to attend the auction to bid? No, but you’d be missing a fun experience! Our preview parties the day before the auction, as well as the auction

itself, are exciting and educational events. However, our online catalogs make it easy to view the items and bid on your computer, tablet, or phone. We are happy to answer questions by phone, email, or text if you’re new to bidding or interested in an individual item. If you win, you can simply pick up your items from our Nashville office (free of charge for readers who mention Nashville Arts!), or have large items delivered to your home for a nominal fee. You mention you have accredited appraisers on your staff. What does that mean? At Case, it’s not just about selling objects of value. It’s about understanding and appreciating the history behind them. Our appraisers (John Case, Sarah Campbell Drury, and Len de Rohan) are academically trained, tested, and vetted through the International Society of Appraisers and the Appraisers Association of America. So in addition to meeting the qualifications for appraisals involving federal tax functions (estates, charitable donation, etc.), our appraisers also bring a wealth of knowledge to the process of cataloging objects and marketing them to potential buyers. What are some of the most significant objects Case has sold? We hold the world auction records for a Tennessee female artist (a landscape with figures by Catherine Wiley, 1879–1958, which sold for $107,880) and for Tennessee and Kentucky pottery (a jar by J.A. Lowe, $63,000, and an Isaac Thomas churn, $55,200, now at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts). And we’ve sold important works of art by international, Tennessee-born artists William Edmondson, Red Grooms, and Beauford Delaney. All of those are special to us because of our passion for Tennessee history and artists. But we’ve also sold Chinese jade and porcelain, a Beatles album signed by all four Beatles, a pistol used by Bonnie and Clyde, George Nakashima furniture, English silver, Meissen porcelain, Presidential items, and paintings by international painters like Basil Blackshaw, Friedel Dzubas, Edouard Cortes, and a wealth of others. na For information on Case Antiques and their July 30 auction, please visit www.caseantiques.com. William Edmondson, Varmint, Limestone sculpture, sold for $46,400

27 nashvillearts.com

Brick to Canvas:

by Sara Lee Burd

A Survey of International Street Art, Part II Tinney Contemporary through July 23

Hush, Trial & Errors, Number 12, 15 layer screenprint, 28” x 20”

Above, Ophelia Legs, Spray paint on canvas, 48” x 36”

ach year Tinney Contemporary invites guest curators into the gallery to add to their already rich repertoire of exhibitions. This year, Tinney Contemporary owner Susan Tinney and director Sarah Wilson asked independent art consultants Brian Greif and his San Francisco-based partner Tova Lobatz. Once the duo decided to include twelve artists, they all agreed to divide the show into two parts. Wilson comments, “We couldn’t say no to the variety and quality of art these curators were bringing.” Brick to Canvas: A Survey of International Street Art, Part II provides an opportunity to see a prominent line-up of international artists whose work is usually concentrated in larger urban environments. Lobatz and Greif consider this exhibition a “survey” because it demonstrates the breadth of urban contemporary style. The current show includes work by artists from England: Hush, Ben Eine, and Banksy; Germany: Above; South Africa: Faith47; and the United States: Logan Hicks and Swoon. The exhibition defies reductive expectations of the genre by highlighting the unique imagery and methods of disparate artists. Lobatz states, “I looked at curating the show in a sociological way . . . in how you introduce this art to a new market. I wanted to give a sampling of what is out there. Everyone I chose has a significance that relates to the background of the medium. Some are more rooted in the traditions of graffiti, others in figurative works influenced by Renaissance style, while others pull from Pop-Art expressions. It’s a little bit of everything.”

Banksy, Bomb Love, Two-color screenprint, 28” x 20”

Brick to Canvas comes just as street art has had an upswing in Nashville, in part because of the Nashville Walls Project. As founders of this mural program, Greif and Lobatz have been working directly with local and international artists to bring new creative expression to downtown. Large paintings by Niels “Shoe” Meulman, Herakut, Adele Renault, and Rone cover the corners and expanses of walls near 5th Avenue of the Arts. “A

29 nashvillearts.com

Swoon, Braddock Steel, Linoleum block print on paper and wood, 24” x 80”

movement, and engagement has risen as a result.” Greif notes that these crossovers from street to gallery affect the buying market, too. “People see not only the end result, but they see the skill and ability of these artists while huge murals are being produced on the street. If you own an original Herakut painting, you can reference it as, ‘the artists that did the dog mural on 6th Avenue by the Hermitage Hotel.’ That has power with buyers.” The graffiti culture that developed in 1970s New York is the starting point of much of the materials, styles, and ideas street and urban contemporary artists incorporate today. As Ben Davis suggests in his essay in 9.5 Theses on Art and Class, “Graffiti began with the practice of getting your name across borders as a kind of rebellion.” It was the artistry of the oppressed who claimed space in their cities and trains by tagging them with their names in their own styles. While the originals developed reputations for subverting authority through vandalism, most street artists today seek legal space to create their work. The visual vocabulary of graffiti and common materials such as spray paint, thick marker pens, stencils, figures, and letters are essential elements of urban contemporary style.

Faith47, Guide to the Southern Stars, Graphite and ink on archival paper, 23” x 16”

level of interest was here in Nashville, but the market here is being driven by the experience people are having with the work. It is refined gallery art, and people are attracted to the raw visceral aspects that are evident in the work done on the streets,” Wilson explains. The murals contextualize the gallery art and enrich Nashville’s experience with the whole

Ben Eine began making a name for himself on the walls of South London by making bold letters that stood out against those made by other graffiti artists. He has proliferated his pop-art-influenced bright color combinations and signature typography across the world from the streets of Paris and Stockholm to the White House when Prime Minister David Cameron gifted a canvas featuring the artist’s work to President Barack Obama in 2010. He’s an essential part of the street art and urban contemporary movements with bonds with the likes of Banksy, but he completely holds his own when it comes to style. Freely drawn marks, drips made with spray paint combined

30 nashvillearts.com

with precise lines and stencils are signature elements of Hush’s figurative works. His traditional portrait-style compositions feature popular culture imagery of women inspired by manga, comic books, and geishas as a basis for his explorations of female empowerment and sexuality. Arrows and bright colors are common elements graffiti artists use to make their names stand out. Urban contemporary artist Above plays with those visual elements to create his own signature. The combination of the flat composition of electric complementary colors and arrows repeatedly depicted on the surface creates a vibrant image that seems to shout, “Hey look, I’m Above.” The influence of graffiti style is less evident Logan Hicks, Nightcrawler, Aerosol on linen, 36” x 48” with some artists. Logan Hicks photographs cityscape, which he cuts into stencils. Spray painted and layered with upwards of 40 stencils, his images appear photorealistic, as though he developed the work with paintbrushes on canvas. His highly accomplished street scenes speak to the talent and creativity it takes to be unique within the varied forms of urban contemporary art. The international market for street art and urban contemporary is growing at a rapid pace. Greif keeps a close eye on the progress of each of these artists financially and creatively. Street artists rise to the top like most artists, through skill, demand, endorsement by galleries, museums, and art dealers. Greif attributes the increased interest to collectors at all levels: “I have clients who buy high-end contemporary art by artists like Calder, Donati, etc., that are now including “street art” in their collection because they recognize not only the beauty of what these artists do, but the historical significance. This is an important major art movement . . . I think if most collectors could turn back time to 1962 and buy an original Andy Warhol soup can from his first show, they would be very happy with the value and significance of that purchase. Buying the right street art now has the potential to be in front of the next great art movement.” Brick to Canvas: A Survey of International Street Art, Part II offers a look at some of the world’s leading artists’ work in the urban contemporary genre. Lobatz says, “It has been a slower buying market, but people are taking their time to enjoy, and having these shows up for several months, and the mural programs, have made an impact.” The successful educational and buying opportunity Greif and Lobatz have brought to Nashville is evident from Wilson’s statement, “People come into the gallery because they recognize the Banksy hanging on the wall. Then they enter and are amazed to see the variety of art and styles by other street artists.” na Brick to Canvas: A Survey of International Street Art, Part II remains on exhibit at Tinney Contemporary through July 23. For more information, visit www.tinneycontemporary.com.

Hush, Star, Acrylic paint, screen print, spray paint and ink on 300gsm Somerset handmade paper, 30” x 22”

31 nashvillearts.com

20 Collaborations in Book Art Nashville Public Library

by Catherine Randall

July 16 – December 31

Jason Lascu, Bang, 2016, Wax, metal, found objects, book board, book cloth, LED lights

hen asked to define “book art,” Britt Stadig hesitates several moments before answering. “I usually get one of two reactions to the term. Either the person doesn’t know what it is at all, or they mistakenly think it is a lower form of art.” It is this confusion that inspired the idea for her collaboration project. “I think artists’ books can be fine art, and that is what my exhibit hopes to demonstrate,” Stadig says.

Andrew Saftel, How Will We Get There?, Pencil, oil pastel, watercolor on paper, found letters, objects and suitcase

20 Collaborations in Book Art made its debut at the Nashville Public Library in February 2014. The work was so well received the decision was made to hold the show biennially. The new exhibition opens on July 16 in the Main Library Art Gallery and runs through December.

Once again Stadig has brought together a variety of artists. They range in age from 10- and 12-year-old sisters Elise and Alex Elliot, to the legendary 83-year-old designer Manuel. Others include: Mel Ziegler, Alicia Henry, Andrew Saftel, Hans Schmitt-Matzen, Gillian Welch, Mark Mosrie, Scott Thom, and Brian Blas. Britt Stadig, fine book binder and print maker, offers her talents to each of the chosen participants and gives them the uncommon chance to explore collaborative art. “The intention of the project was to bring book art to a wider audience and to demonstrate the creative potential within all artists to utilizes book form,” Stadig says. Each book is a tangible and intimate visual narrative. Poet TJ Jarrett paired with Britt Stadig and Katie Baldwin to collectively produce “3 Poems from Ain’t No Grave.” Jarrett’s poems dictated Baldwin’s screen-printing vision.

res, dventu Tasty A y n a for M Thirst arley & the and b y d y r a , L t a e e ed k h a w , N n, a corn hops, e Moo Sun, th floss, Mylar, e h T , ry all Stadig designed all custom broide Lila H per, em Cut pa enclosures and cut-paper illustrations. The

results are stunning to the senses. The interior pages, printed from hand-carved wood blocks, create a watermark effect on the pale-green-linen fabric pages. Actual birch leaves and bark are encased in rice paper and are pleasing to the fingertips. The contrasts of serene images with the meaning of the verse are startling. The last page unfolds in crisscross creases; the eerie image revealed takes the mind a moment to process. A woman’s chocolate-brown legs and feet dangle from recessed branches; the “strange fruit” hangs heavy, each foot seems to sway independent from the other. “I’m really excited to see some of the clearer images in my work shaped into something three dimensional. I try to do that with words but so often fail,” Jarrett says. Stadig’s unique approach to collaboration fosters deep bonds between the artists. “I usually have a hard time even talking about work in progress, let alone showing it before it is finished. Britt is able to draw me out in such a good way, and the work that results is usually very different from anything I would have done myself,” says Scott Thom. na 20 Collaborations in Book Art is on view at Nashville Public Library from July 16 until December 31. For a complete listing of book artists, please visit www.20collaborations.com.

Alicia Henry, Record, Mixed media

American Artists

by Leslie B. Jones

At Home and Abroad Cheekwood through January 1, 2017

Childe Hassam, Outskirts of East Gloucester, 1918, Oil on canvas, 17” x 20”

merican Artists at Home and Abroad currently on exhibit at Cheekwood brings together over fifty works of art that exemplify the important international and domestic influences that made an impact on the development and definition of American art in the 20th century. A few examples from the 21st century, by native Nashville artist Red Grooms, will be included. American Artists at Home and Abroad is divided into thematic spaces, providing visitors an opportunity to view works that relate to each other within close proximity. Evoking a sense of home, the tranquility and familiarity of life in the coastal communes of the North East were represented by artists such as William Glackens, Childe Hassam, and Pauline Palmer through various portrayals of scenic shorelines and maritime activity. The influence of French Impressionism is paramount in the way in which these artists capture outdoor imagery. By contrast, the experience of life in a major metropolitan area is presented by multiple artistic interpretations of a singular city, accounted for on canvas as it morphs before one’s very eyes. Everett Shinn, for example, portrayed destruction as it happens

34 nashvillearts.com

Arthur B. Davies, Idyllic Scene, c. 1912, Oil on canvas, 35” x 30”

with a major fire in action, while Ernest Lawson translated to canvas one of the last bare skylines of New York City. Further, artists like Alexander Calder bring examples that reflect the influence of European abstraction on American artists as they treated the understanding of place with nonobjective or cerebral designs rather than imitating a physical space or being. In journeying abroad, either physically away from home or in an imaginative world, American artists found influence in the individuals they encountered as well as in various cultural elements. Artists like Meyer Wolfe and Robert Henri captured the spirit of their travels through the people that characterized the landscape in which they were visiting, whereas A.C.

Webb, another native Nashville artist, presented narratives through the architecture and edifices of distant lands. Arthur B. Davies journeyed into the depths of his mind as he depicted locations and people that were of another world in his dreamlike scenarios and landscapes. At the epicenters of artistic influence abroad, Italy and France are exemplified through the quick sketch studies of A.C. Webb’s sketchbook to the high-energy Venetian street scenes painted by Maurice Prendergast. The modern ingenuity and bohemian philosophy of early-20th-century Paris, mixed with the inspiring historical settings of the Provence region, provide a full spectrum of France and its great influence as both subject matter and hub of artist activity. Through the depiction of life at home and encounters abroad, these accomplished American artists bring forth differing styles that present a reflection of their experiences in a dialogue that can be communicated only through visual representation. na American Artists at Home and Abroad is on view at Cheekwood through January 1, 2017. For more information, visit www.Cheekwood.org.

Pauline Palmer, Family Gathering, 1919, Oil on canvas, 40” x 40”

Maurice Prendergast, Via Garibaldi, Venice, 1898-1899, Watercolor and pencil on paper, 11” x 14”

Photograph by Emily Gluntz of Fernweh Photography

EMYO in her studio

EMYO

by Gracie Pratt

Emily Ozier admits that her life often looks like an impressionist painting, richly layered with flexible strokes

Every day, Emily Ozier rises at 5 a.m.

She puts on her work clothes: overalls with flecks of paint, soft canvas shoes, and a brightly printed headband to keep her hair out of the way. Tiptoeing through the house so that she doesn’t wake one of her six children, she makes a cup of coffee and enters her studio. With windows facing east, Ozier watches the sun rise over the farm as she paints her first strokes, a routine she likes to call “greeting the morning with art.”

37 nashvillearts.com

Boats Together Cape Cod, 2014, Acrylic on canvas, 48” x 48”

The Green Park London Walk With Me, 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 48” x 48”

The ritual has been in place for years, and Ozier credits her development as an artist in part to the presence of creative discipline in her life as a young girl. “It was as if my future artist self was self-coaching towards a certain amount of sketches each day. I did this without knowing the value it would bring later in life.” She cannot remember a time she did not love art. Her early years were consumed with crafting everything from a “bumblebee house for a bee family” to sketching people she observed. “Creating something was the greatest joy for me as a child,” Ozier says. She began to sign her work with her initials—EMYO for Emily Marie York—the pen name that now defines her work and also grants her a welcome anonymity as an artist. As her artistic development continued, she was given freedom to explore whatever captured her creativity. She recalls having a high school art teacher who allowed her to just paint, instead of assigning certain projects or tasks. “She carefully allowed me to blossom without much stifling or instruction, just critique and the gift of space and time and unlimited materials to use.” Ozier later went on to study with impressionist painter William Schultz in Italy, an experience that solidified her techniques. But her studies went beyond form and style. “We focused on the importance of training one’s eye to really see instead of just training one’s hand to paint. I think that in all of life we must train our eyes to see the gifts that are being given, even in times of darkness or pain . . . to count the gifts.”

St James Park London Play With Me, 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 48” x 48”

38 nashvillearts.com

“

More about capturing a mood than precise lines, her pieces often involve the bold hues of her Cuban American heritage.

Even now, her paintings are birthed out of joy and thankfulness for beauty. “Subject matters for paintings just catch me,” Ozier says about her inspiration for certain pieces. “I am surprised by joy and color, by watching someone sail a boat, by watching children playing at a park, by watching people mill about and gather on a street corner.” She paints these scenes in bright, eye-catching colors, with wispy, feathered strokes. Ozier embraces impressionist style in her work, lush scenes drawn with soft edges and dramatic texture. More about capturing a mood than precise lines, her pieces often involve the bold hues of her Cuban American heritage. She paints what she knows—often scenes that she experiences firsthand—and invites viewers into the experience.

St. James Park London To Sit With You Please, 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 60” x 48”

Inspired by the discarded photographs she found at a Paris flea market, Ozier’s most recent series is proof of her hopeful search for beauty. Viewing the old photographs, Ozier was struck by the thought that these “cast off broken pieces of our lives” are often integral parts of who we are. She defines it as the “beauty of the broken—the most creative, life-giving parts of our story.” In this series, Ozier replicated the scenes of the Paris photos on canvases as large as 36" x 36". Her art goes beyond the pieces she paints and has a profound effect on her as a mother, especially when it comes to “cultivating the appetites of [her] children.” As a mother of six children under the age of 12, Ozier admits that her life often looks like an impressionist painting, richly layered with flexible strokes. “There is discipline to my work, in the underling structure of form and figure, but because of the freedom that those underlying disciplines allow, it feels very light and loose.” Ozier continues, “In the same way, we have a structure to our home of valuing relationships and loving stories. [We read] aloud together daily and usually respond to our experience of story with . . . art. What might look to be very loose and free is actually based on hours of reading the classics aloud, filling our ears and minds with excellent language and poetry.” The blend of discipline and creativity shows up winsomely in Ozier’s art and in her life. Each painting contains vivid, intentional strokes of color and personality working gracefully with a lifegiving creative spirit that finds beauty even in unlikely places. na

Flowers for Mama, 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”

Bennett Galleries, located in Green Hills, is currently featuring several pieces from EMYO’s travel series, works inspired by her time in Paris and London. For more information about EMYO and her work, visit www.bennettgalleriesnashville.com and www.emyoart.com.

39 nashvillearts.com

THEBOOKMARK

A MONTHLY LOOK AT HOT BOOKS AND COOL READS

The Girls: A Novel Emma Cline This debut novel is being compared to Jeffrey Eugenides’s The Virgin Suicides and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, and for good reason. In California at the end of the tumultuous 1960s, Evie, a teenager of recently divorced parents, finds herself feeling adrift. Lonely and looking for direction, Evie befriends an older girl, Suzanne, and becomes entranced by and obsessed with Suzanne’s social circle, a group of people living at “the ranch” nearby who orbit around a charismatic, Manson-like leader with horrifying ideas. You won’t be able to put it down.

The Food and Wine of France: Eating and Drinking from Champagne to Provence Edward Behr Say what you will about food trends, new techniques, and global fusion— renowned food writer Edward Behr is out to prove that French cuisine remains the best in the world. What is it about French chefs and the French culture that makes their food so subtly, sensuously different? Behr goes beyond the obvious— bread, cheese, and wine—to offer a delicious culinary history. Fair warning: Side effects of reading this book may include an intense desire to book a trip to France.

The Dream Life of Astronauts: Stories Patrick Ryan Ann Patchett says, “Patrick Ryan’s stories are comedies that can just as easily be read as tragedies.” Timed around memorable moments in the United States space program—the first moon launch, the Challenger explosion, etc.—these short stories delve into the private lives of people teetering on the brink of hope and despair: a NASA engineer involved in an affair with a woman who may or may not be a murderess; a former mobster at war with the head of his condo board; an aspiring beauty queen trying to make it on the local pageant scene; and more. This is our July pick for our First Editions Club, and you can meet the author, who will be in conversation with Ann Patchett, at Parnassus Books at 6:30 on July 19.

Barkskins: A Novel Annie Proulx Oh, how we’ve waited for this new book from the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author of The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain, Annie Proulx. This epic spans generations, beginning with a pair of young, poor French woodcutters named René Sel and Charles Duquet. Proulx follows the men’s descendants the world over for centuries, with deforestation coming up in the story again and again until the presentday characters find themselves facing potential ecological disaster. Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See) says, “If Barkskins doesn’t bear exquisite witness to our species’s insatiable appetite for consumption, nothing can.”

Shackelford and LeBaron: Two Vibrant Exhibits Customs House Museum through July 31

Carol LeBaron, Life Source, Installation shot, Crouch Gallery, Customs House Museum

House Curator Terri Jordan. “It is a thrill to bring together this family of portraits under one roof,” she says. “And it is always like ‘old home days’ when our team gets to bring Director Emeritus Ned Crouch into the mix.” Crouch, a Shackelford enthusiast, praises the “quiet electricity” that permeates the work and seems to give the subjects a voice that says, “I was once celebrated. I am someone. I am here.”

W. S. Shackelford, Portrait of Two Girls, ca. 1850, Oil on canvas, 35” x 27” Collection of Hank and Mary Brockman

by Ara Vito

he Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, the second-largest general museum in Tennessee, is furthering its vision to “expose the widest audience possible to the creativity and ingenuity of the human spirit” by bringing the historic portraits of little-known painter William Stamms Shackelford as well as the colorful and sustainable designs of contemporary artist Carol LeBaron to the community through July 31. Working the Spirit Close to Home: the Portraits of William Stamms Shackelford will feature thirteen oil paintings by the 19th-century artist, who captured the composed yet arresting essence of many family members, friends, and local figures. Also featured is a replica of Shackelford’s portrait of congressman Cave Johnson, which is owned by the Tennessee State Museum and now hangs in the State Capitol. The exhibition is sponsored in part by the Tennessee State Museum and Austin Peay University of Art and Design and has been curated by Customs

Carol LeBaron: Life Source is on display in the Customs House’s two-story Crouch Gallery. LeBaron, who received her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design, brings a passion for the earth, color, and organic elements to her vivid, tree-like tapestries. “My work is a combination of modern technology and ancient techniques,” she says. “The inspiration for my fine art textiles comes from forms and colors found in nature. I use these elements to create pieces that guide the atmosphere of interior spaces through color and the inherent sound-absorbing qualities of fiber. Because the themes in my work center around the beauty of the natural environment, my working process incorporates green practices of water conservation and natural energy to produce long-lasting, beautiful works of art.” LeBaron’s work is a tribute to the inherent beauty of the natural world and an inventive look at sustainable practice. na The Customs House Museum and Cultural Center is located at 200 South Second Street in Clarksville, Tennessee. For more information, visit www.customshousemuseum.org.

42 nashvillearts.com

Real Magic CMA Theater Master Illusionist Harris III

September 29â&#x20AC;&#x201C;30

Photograph by Rory White

For over 20 years, Harris III has been performing his brand of magic on stages all over the world. Now, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ready to spend the next 20 years setting the stage for creativity to take a bow.

STORY Gathering 2016 Reawakens Wonder and Possibility for Nashville

Welby Altidore

agic tricks are intellectual—you spend time trying to figure out where the catch is, where the sleight of hand happens, the ‘gotcha’ moment—but stories . . .” and here, Master Illusionist Harris III (Harris the Third) pauses, his eyes flashing with light, “stories are real magic. And real magic is not about distraction or deception; it’s about connection.”

Photograph by Brian Cason

by Megan Kelley

Harris III quotes, pulling from the wisdom of Walt Disney. “We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.”

After years performing on stages around the world, it is this deep drive to connect that led to Harris III’s change to fostering a more unusual sense of discovery. He has given himself to the momentum of STORY Gathering, a seven-yearold conference described as a TED focused on creatives and drawing together thought leaders in a diversity of creative industries. What sets STORY Gathering apart is its emphasis on transformation. “It’s not about product,” Harris III emphasizes. “It’s about effect.”

The creation of dialogue becomes the strongest undercurrent: narrative imagination as a collective form of composing possibility. “Something shifted when I opened myself to conversations, to what others brought, instead of just what I gave.” Surrounded by thought leaders and the deeply selfless expression of design thinking at an IDEO conference, Harris III became fascinated not just with the cultural role of story, but with the cultural power of the storytellers themselves. “I’d spent the past twenty years performing on stage under the spotlight,” Harris III describes, “and in that moment, it hit me: I wanted to spend the next twenty years of my life building stages for other people to shine on.”

Less about plugging into the ever-shifting switch of popular tools, the conference instead frames the ability of the storyteller to create context. You wouldn’t hear someone tell you what Snapchat is, but you would hear someone tell you how they used Snapchat as a platform to bring clean water to Africa. It isn’t just about learning how to tell a story, but about how stories raise questions and teaching how all of us can open up to their challenges. “That’s what Storytellers do,”

Taking on STORY Gathering opens a doorway into that world, and the collective and cooperative nature of this process is a large part of how Nashville plays into Harris III’s goals for creating more than just a single impact in creating a new home for STORY Gathering. “Nashville is collaborative; it’s a place where STORY can shine.” Harris III cites the cross-discipline conversations in the city, and the unique intersection of how the growing talent and culture of the city expands the idea

44 nashvillearts.com

Harris III believes that building a tribe of storytellers is fundamental to this change process. “Good storytellers apply narrative and give you a better vision of what the world could look like. Great storytellers take your hand and invite you to create that world with them. It’s not about entertainment; it’s about the role that story plays in shaping how the world looks. It’s not about entertainment, but about what good we can do with it. That’s the season of life that I’m in.”

Howard Lichter from Nike

Lastly, Harris III’s own background in illusionism brings a fresh vision to the concept of live presentation and an underlying theme to hope: “The most powerful illusion is the illusion of the impossible; for magicians—and for those of us at STORY Gathering—there is no such constraint.” na Join these presenters and others at STORY Gathering 2016 on September 29 and 30 at the CMA Theater inside the legendary Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. For more information and hours, visit www.storygathering.com.

Photograph by Anna Naphtali

Carefully curated to exemplify this mission, the spread of presenters for STORY Gathering includes visiting minds such as Dan Goods, a Visual Strategist for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who shapes complex ideas into

universally understood meaning; Nikkolas Smith, a Disney Imagineer whose art and architecture background transforms physical spaces into worldbuilding experiences; and Hannah Brencher, author of If You Find This Letter and tireless creator of crafted sentences whose lines are deeply intimate, revealing, and full of hope. Engaging the embedded talent that defines Nashville, the line-up also honors Jim Sherraden, Master Printer and Archivist at Hatch Show Print, one of America’s oldest surviving printshops to preserve the power of letterpress, and Brad Montague, the co-creator of Kid President, Go! Camp, and other initiatives that move people into action for the common good.

Austin Kleon

45 nashvillearts.com

Photograph by Brian Cason

of creative community. “I want to invest in that community, create a sustainable conversation about what that community can create,” and the idea of Local Gatherings reveals itself in his hands. Monthly inspirational get-togethers pair a local speaker with casual conversation space. Underwritten by the STORY conference, Local Gatherings create a routine of exposing curious minds to other forms, encouraging collaborative dialogues, and building a tribe of creatives in a way that allows for the impromptu spark of expansion.

by Erica Ciccarone

OPENSPACES

Socially Engaged Art Storytelling Project Amplifies Voices of Refugees

“

Photograph by Karla Chavez

I used to look at the spots on my mom’s hands and dread the thought of my own hands one day looking like hers. Now I see those spots as a symbol of her strength and endurance. — Karla Chavez

As Nashville gains value as a cultural space, we must not overlook the city’s rich cultural pluralism in immigrant communities. Nearly 12 percent of Nashville’s population was born outside of the United States; many of these people are refugees and asylum seekers who fled violence and war. With a Thrive grant from Metro Nashville Arts Commission, Tayla Burns and Scott Lyon began 1st Person Nashville, a project that brings a few of these narratives into focus. The two presented the first leg of their project at Red Arrow Gallery on June 7. With 1st Person Nashville, or 1PN, Burns and Lyon act as amanuenses, collaborating with 1PN participants in the creation of text and visual narratives that relate their stories. Khalid, 19, fled Damascus for the U.S. alone in 2013. In the text he composed with Lyon and Burns, he writes that he is studying for the GED but that it’s hard to remain motivated. He had to leave Syria just before his twelfth grade test to escape the encroaching civil war. His family had to stay behind. At this point, his school had been blown up, his friends kidnapped, tortured, and killed. “Sometimes I feel like I have lived a whole life, like I am forty years old, or older,” he writes, “and then, when I feel that way, I have to tell myself — I really don’t believe it — that I am in America, that I am on my own, that I am only nineteen years old.” He awaits his interview for permanent resident status, which has been inexplicably delayed.

Photograph by Tony Youngblood

Karla Chavez, a photographer, emigrated from Mexico to the U.S. when she was just five years old, fleeing domestic violence with her mother and sister. Through Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Chavez learned

Erica Ciccarone is an independent writer. She holds an M.F.A. from the New School in Creative Writing. She blogs about art at nycnash.com.

the power of storytelling, using her voice to advocate for the Dream Act and a campaign for tuition equality. “I think if you expose more stories to people who are in power, then they might have a change of heart,” Chavez says. For now, she is protected under Deferred Action for Adult Arrival, a status that allows her a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from deportation. The most visual story is shown in the captivating paintings of James Makuac, one of 150 Lost Boys of Sudan who were settled in Nashville in 2001. Makuac supports his family in South Sudan, a still unpredictable region that has recently seen a resurgence of violence. “I cannot dwell too long on the sadness of these realities,” he writes with 1PN. “I have work to do. I must tell my story and stories of the other Lost Boys. And not only us.” In a video made collaboratively for 1PN, we see small slices of their current lives: James smiling broadly as his deft fingers cradle a lamp’s light bulb socket, just before it blows out with a poof of smoke; Khalid making coffee in a small kitchen, moving in and out of a stripe of sunlight; Karla frying taquitos with her sister, her nieces and nephews goofing around the kitchen, the faces of all bright with smiles. The project points to the need to emphasize other narratives in our so-called Music City, ones that acknowledge the contributions of those who have sought refuge in Nashville, that prioritize their voices, and that can guide our thinking toward inclusivity. na Learn more at www.1stpersonnashville.com.

47 nashvillearts.com

olgaALEXEEVA

by Stephanie Stewart-Howard

Photograph by John Jackson

Celebrating 5 Years at “O” Gallery

Olga Alexeeva

Olga Alexeeva, Dancing with Stars, 2016, Acrylic, 48” x 36”

lga Alexeeva says she didn’t come to art in a conventional way. An actress in her native Russia, she arrived in the U.S. without knowing the language, but with a deep need to express herself. Her odyssey would carry her through an assortment of creative outlets before she came to painting: dancing, public speaking (via Toastmaster), and other forms. She believed at the time she simply couldn’t paint. But events proved Olga wrong, and today she’s not only well represented here in Nashville with “O” Gallery locations in Marathon Village and the Arcade downtown, but a name the arts community respects for her commitment to her work.

For Olga, the realization of the power of painting came through taking a class at Centennial Arts Center. She says she found the process of self-expression frightening at times, prompting her teacher to hold her hand as she guided the brush. The experience was revelatory; it freed her sense of personal discovery. “There’s an old saying, you cannot find the right path on a paved road,” says Olga. “I did that, I struggled, fought to find my way as an artist, find the truth—I just had to jump in the water.”

48 nashvillearts.com

Developing her skills on her own, Olga worked in her kitchen at night, even as she fought to build a career, opening her Arcade gallery, and bringing her mother and young son over from Russia. The urge to create provides the driving force for Olga’s soul, she says. “Art is a kaleidoscope, a reflection of the variety in life . . . What I want my art to do is catch the light.” She speaks of the epic struggle of light and dark that informs the world, and the importance of reflecting the positive

Each of these artists offers up work driven by a rich inner vision, inspired by the rich panoply of her or his life. When you buy these pieces, as Olga will tell you, you’ll find the thing that speaks to you, that enhances your life and produces the most important aspect of art from her perspective: happiness. na Nashville Arts Magazine will lead an artist conversation with Olga at “O” Gallery in Marathon Village on Thursday, June 30, at 6 p.m. For more on “O” Gallery, please visit www.ogalleryart.com.

She works in a variety of media, including oil, acrylic, and encaustic, as well as mixed media. The result is work rich in vivid color, full of swirling and ephemeral images, layers of meaning reflected in each painting. When she says she experiences her life with zest, she not only means it for her daily existence, but that that kind of indescribable energy is transported into her work. When you visit “O” Gallery, you’ll also have the chance to see the work of other artists, most notably silversmith Cynthia Bell and photographer Raymond Gregory. Bell, a Nashville native, trained with instructors from Vanderbilt and the Middle Tennessee Gem and Mineral Society. She moved her career path from business and finance to jewelry making and is forging an adventurous path alongside Olga.

Raymond Gregory, Out to Pasture, 2014

She works in heavy gauge, hammered silver, handcrafting each element and producing distinctive, powerful pieces appealing to a wide variety of wearers. Gemstones and vintage glass complete the effect of the carefully worked metal. Gregory, hailing from Indiana and raised in Sumner County, has a lifelong passion for photography dating back to early childhood. In December 2013, much like Olga, he committed to “go big or go home,” declaring himself all in for art. Two months later, he had his first street show and sale, where Olga Alexeeva discovered him and brought him into the “O” Gallery. Gregory now shows across Middle Tennessee, shooting art photography alongside weddings, birthdays, and events. In the fall of 2015, he moved to add a professional large format printer to increase the quality factor, enabling him to also produce prints of other artists’ work, using archival ink and media, including canvas (giclée), watercolor, metallic, and photo paper.

Jewelry by Cynthia Bell

49 nashvillearts.com

Silver Linings

by Margaret F. M. Walker

The Cloud Paintings of Adam Thomas Capture the Ephemeral The Rymer Gallery

July 1 – August 2

Rolling In, 2016, Oil on canvas, 48” x 36”

“ A

dam Thomas’s cloud paintings have a serendipitous origin and have evolved in response to popular demand. Thomas has always considered himself a visual artist, but it was not until his mid-thirties that he left the corporate world to pursue a full-time career, which launched quickly with a television appearance in Arizona about his work as a pet portraitist. From there he has expanded his oeuvre, moving into work with oils, painting abstracts, and always returning to subjects in nature. Now based in Chicago, Thomas finds that the atmospheric sky over Lake Michigan is a constant source of inspiration. One day he was bicycling along the shoreline and stopped to stand in awe before a gigantic, black thunderhead. He took a photograph of it and immediately went home to paint this scene of the great lake’s sky and its centerpiece—a majestic and powerful cloud. Thomas mentioned his new artistic inspiration to a friend who was opening a restaurant in Chicago and was quickly asked for a series of cloud paintings for its inaugural décor. He has since become “the cloud guy,” with over three thousand following him on social media. Thomas’s friends and followers often send him pictures of cloud formations they find interesting or reminiscent of his paintings—a source of great joy for the artist. To him, the ease of connecting through social media creates these moments that prove he has inspired his friends to pause, enjoy their surroundings, and look up to admire these great and fleeting natural beauties. Thomas told me the story behind one of his paintings, Lion in the Sky, which is in the exhibition at The Rymer Gallery. As would be appropriate only in 2016, the scene was crowdsourced, albeit by chance. Several friends sent him pictures of the same intriguing cloud formation he was noticing himself out the car window. It was both portentous and beautiful: a bloc of darkness with pockets of light fighting their way

Adam Thomas in his studio

Clouds are subjects that easily blend abstraction and realism and are as laden with metaphors about the human condition as they are with physically impending storms.

through, all accentuated by its reflection in the lake below. While he admits that knowing when a painting is finished is the hardest part of the process, Thomas created Lion in the Sky in a whirlwind week as soon as he arrived home. The picture shows a clearing storm, and as the dark clouds separate to recede over the banks, a bright, white cloud replaces them. He captures the fleeting moment in subtle gradations of gray, and, if caught at the right angle, one might also see the shape of the eponymous lion. I asked the artist if he plays the cloud game, looking for familiar shapes in these bundles of moisture that drift across the sky. Thomas replied that he absolutely does and incorporates this experience into many of his cloud paintings. It is, I suppose, a way to blend his two favorite artistic subjects of nature and animals. It also reflects his own interest in surrealism; Thomas likes art that makes you think. Clouds are subjects that easily blend abstraction and realism and are as laden with metaphors about the human condition as they are with physically impending storms. Herb Williams, the curator of The Rymer Gallery, chose to exhibit Thomas’s work because “the scale and the drama spoke to me. If you really look at his paintings, he gets viewpoints that are unusual—the sky is all-encompassing.” Williams noted, too, the strength and power wrapped up in this subject matter and Thomas’s skill at conveying them in paint. Adam Thomas’s favorite part about his cloud series is the light, which is arguably the most important part of any

51 nashvillearts.com

painting, but it is absolutely integral to one of the sky and the natural formations that diffuse and obscure our celestial light sources. He describes how “it is exhilarating to paint a backlit cloud that covers the sun so you can only see its outline and pockets of light coming out.” This is something to look for in his paintings when you go to see the exhibit at The Rymer Gallery. Other dynamics to spot include the various ways in which he is interested in tension and creates a “push and pull.” It manifests between darkness and light, literally and figuratively, and on the surface of the painting—at times leaving texture as a clear sign of the artist’s hand and at others smoothing it out to erase his trace. Many of the paintings are largely in grisaille, putting an even stronger emphasis on the way light plays within the varying shades of gray. Amidst the nebulous form, you should also play the cloud game yourself, looking for animals and other shapes. And, at the end of the day, let his works inspire you to look up and enjoy the real clouds in the sky outside this July. na Adam Thomas’s exhibit, Silver Linings, opens at The Rymer Gallery on July 1 and remains on view through August 2. For more information, visit www.therymergallery.com. To see more of Adam’s work, please visit www.Adam-Thomas.com. Lion in the Sky, 2016, Oil on canvas, 40” x 36”

Air and Water Show, 2015, Oil on canvas, 48” x 60”

Clouded Vision, 2016, Oil on canvas, 48” x 36”

seanNORVET

by Jerry C. Waters

The Very Precise Feeling of Falling Apart

Waiting for the Pizza Delivery Man, 2014, Oil on panel, 60” x 96”

ean Norvet is a Los Angeles-based artist who is building his creative reputation through oil paintings that he says are “sometimes explosive, sometimes still” and often mashes up elegant photo-realism with two-dimensional cartoon buffoonery. His ability to manipulate paint is impeccable as he captures a range of detail—on canvases both large and small—that expresses ideas pertinent to contemporary societal issues. Through bizarre and offbeat images, Norvet explores ideas centering on topics such as consumerism and the historical “deadly sin“ gluttony, which today is referenced through the phenomenon of foodie culture. Indeed, contained within his hyper-realistic images are messages that vacillate between satire, tonguein-cheek statements, and social commentary.

Inka Essenhigh

Sean Norvet in his studio

54 nashvillearts.com

Photograph by Gabriel Enamorado

Locals Only, 2015, Oil on panel, 24” x 36”

Norvet’s devotion to clarity of form is grounded in his academic training at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, from which he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors in 2013. As a student he learned traditional artistic techniques and was exposed to the history of the visual arts from a worldwide perspective. His exposure to the visual arts universe included lectures about historical masters such as Michelangelo and Salvador Dali and contemporary artists like Francis Bacon, James Rosenquist, and Peter Saul. In viewing Norvet’s canvases it is possible to see the influence of these masters on his art and to experience his unique vision. Norvet’s mastery of conventional painting methods and attention to unified pictorial design appear in Locals Only, Party Supplies, and Waiting for the Pizza Delivery Man. In these works, the artist loads pictorial space with numerous

objects that appear to be unconnected. For example, in Locals Only a cursory view suggests there is no rational relationship between a large number of images that include discarded fast-food containers from Domino's Pizza, KFC, and Pizza Hut, a burning cigarette, a woman strolling in the distance, and a sea gull perched along the horizon. Yet through extended observation there is visual harmony that speaks to contemporary issues such as the prevalence of foodie culture and the phenomenon of collecting and holding onto stuff, known as hoarding. His painted narratives, in fact, sometimes reflect stories that constantly appear on televised talk shows and within reality-based programs. Norvet has stated that painting is an experience through which he is able to “cast a satirical eye on American culture.” And he has also said, “I’m not trying to preach on what’s bad or good. I’m just inviting viewers in to enjoy and have some fun.”

55 nashvillearts.com

The weird worlds existing within Bad Trip Bologna, When you go to IHOP with your Grandpa and he smokes all your DMT, and Party Supplies call to mind horror movies and suggest drug-induced experiences. These works are part of a series that incorporates food products as well as organic material; stylistically, they recall oil paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an Italian 16th-century artist. Because Norvet paints these images on a diminutive scale (some canvases measure 5 by 5 inches square) he is able to reel the viewer into a nightmarish world. This is achieved through filling the canvas space from top to bottom and from left to right with a tremendous amount of material. He also places most of the subject matter against the picture surface, thereby creating a claustrophobic world. And this ‘in your face’ presentation, moreover, references the visual art concept of horror vacui (translated from the Latin meaning fear of empty space) which occurs in classical Greek art, in ancient Arabesque Islamic art, and presently in Outsider Art.

When you go to IHOP with your Grandpa, and he smokes all your DMT, 2015, Oil and spackle on panel, 12” x 12”

The manner in which Norvet manipulates oil paint is immaculate. An exemplary image is When you go to IHOP with your Grandpa and he smokes all your DMT. The detailed execution of the human hand, the coffee mug, and the wine glass in the foreground resembles the polished surfaces of Raphael’s Renaissance paintings and the art of contemporary painters like James Rosenquist and Peter Saul. In addition, the repulsive appearance of the face is based on Norvet’s admiration of Arcimboldo’s art. “I remember seeing one of his portraits a while ago . . . and I had no idea who he was, but I became an instant fan,” Norvet stated in a 2013 interview. Norvet’s composition, Mad Carbohydrates (Arcimboldo takes a trip to the Topanga Mall) is homage to Arcimboldo and is linked to his food portraits from the late 1500s that contain objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and tree branches. Sean Norvet’s provocative images are visual signals that force the viewer to consider a range of excesses prevalent in contemporary American society. na For more information on where to see Sean Norvet’s work, please visit www.cg2gallery.com and www.seannorvet.com.

Party Supplies, 2013, Oil on panel, 20” x 16”

Bad Trip Bologna, 2014, Oil on panel, 8” x 8”

Congratulations to the First Learning Lab Cohort!

Jay Jenkins, Stokkkhome Sin, 2015, Oil on canvas, 42â&#x20AC;? x 36â&#x20AC;?

Metro Arts is pleased to announce that 25 artists have been selected for the Learning Lab artist training program. The Learning Lab is a professional development opportunity for artists to train in civic, public, social, and placemaking practices and will create capacity for neighborhood activation through the arts. Congratulations to the following artists: Rebekah Alexander, Julia Whitney Brown, Kimberly Brown, Lexander V Bryant, Michael Cooper, Tinsley Anne Dempsey, Jake Elliot, Michael Ewing, David Hellams, Robbie Lynn Hunsinger, Elisheba Israel, Jay Jenkins, Courtney Adair Johnson, Megan Kelley, Ariel Lavery, Jessika Malone, Bryce McCloud, Robin Paris, Xavier Payne, Elizabeth Sanford, Tara Thompson, Vadis Turner, Elizabeth Williams, Herb Williams, and Tom Williams. Selected through a competitive application process, the talented and diverse inaugural class represents 14 Metro Council Districts and 17 zip codes. The training takes place through October 2016 and explores fundamentals in community engagement, placemaking, and public art project management. The artists who complete the lab will be eligible for funding for neighborhoodbased public art projects. For more information and updates on the Learning Lab, please visit www.nashville.gov/Arts-Commission/Learning-Lab. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Learning Lab is a program of Metro Arts in partnership with the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville and the Center for Performance and Civic Practice.

PUBLICART

BY VAN GILL MARAVALLI PUBLIC ART PROJECT COORDINATOR METRO NASHVILLE ARTS COMMISSION

SYMPHONYINDEPTH JULY 2016 Ten Years of Schermerhorn Memories In September, the Nashville Symphony will celebrate the tenth anniversary of Schermerhorn Symphony Center. In this month’s “Symphony In Depth” column, musicians and staff of the Nashville Symphony share their favorite memories from the last ten years.

“Opening night of the Schermerhorn was probably the biggest moment in the Symphony’s history. It was the culmination of a vision that we had created with Kenneth Schermerhorn as far back as the late 1990s. Our orchestra had elevated its stature and reputation, and we finally had a concert hall befitting that ascension. What a special night it was!”

“I remember the ‘hard hat’ concert of Joan Tower pieces we played for all of the workers who helped build the hall. All of the orchestra musicians had hard hats under our seats, and at the end of the performance, we put them on and tipped our hats to the audience. And then we all had dinner together afterward! We won our first three GRAMMY® Awards for those very works!”

—Alan Valentine, President and CEO

—Laura Ross, Violin

“For me it is the grand reopening, New Year’s Eve 2010. After seven months of being out of the building due to major flood damage and playing concerts in every venue across town, it was fitting to return to the hall to hear Itzhak Perlman’s performance of the theme from Schindler’s List, evoking devastation and ultimate triumph.”

“Mahler’s Fifth, the night before the flood, stands out. The rain was so bad that some of the orchestra members could not even make it in, and I think we all knew that something bad was about to happen. But we put all of that stress behind us onstage and dove into the music. I think it was the best Mahler performance we have ever done.”

—Carrie Marcantonio, Orchestra Personnel Manager

—Glen Wanner, Bass

“I will never forget the first tuning rehearsal in our new home, playing Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. The music surrounding us from our colleagues was just so beautiful! Former principal oboist Bobby Taylor leaned over and whispered in my ear, ‘Roger, I feel like I am playing in the Philadelphia Orchestra.’ Playing in this hall not only makes my job easier, it is a great joy in my life.”

“The May 2015 performance of Britten’s War Requiem was deeply moving for me. Afterward, a veteran in the audience, who had clearly been moved as well, thanked Maestro Guerrero for bringing this work to the Schermerhorn. It was an honor for us as performers to share a bond with this veteran, and it was a reminder of the great power of music to change lives.”

—Roger Wiesmeyer, English Horn

—Jim White, Nashville Symphony Chorus President

Single tickets for all Nashville Symphony 2016/17 concerts go on sale on Friday, July 22. Visit NashvilleSymphony.org, call 615-687-6400, or visit the Schermerhorn Box Office on One Symphony Place.

shadowMAY

Nash vil Magale Arts zine

The 2016 Tennessee Craft Spring Fair showcased a stellar collection of arts and crafts. One artist cast a huge shadow.

STAND AWAROUT D

by Jane R. Snyder

he undulating shapes found in Shadow May’s ceramics echo the profiles of glacial mountains and distant volcanoes surrounding his hometown on Kachemak Bay in Homer, Alaska. Some forms bring to mind the wingspan of eagles that soar high above that landscape 200 miles south of Anchorage. The artist grew up in a time and place “when kids could still run in the woods for five hours without their parents worrying.” Why name him Shadow? He never got the whole story, but explained that his parents “were pioneers in their own way.” So is their son when it comes to his creative output. As a boy, Shadow lived in the moment, and he still does— each time he lifts a monolithic slab of clay. “What drives me is a need to prove something whether it be in clay or something else; it pushes me to be brave and fearless. It’s such physical work, I can easily move 500 pounds of clay a day or every other day.” Co nfi ne d, 201 3, R aku cla yb od y, s tain les s st ee l, 3 4” x

Shadow’s artistic focus is intense. “I’m a potter through and through, but I’m building with a sculptor’s mentality— wanting to do something that might be significant one day.” His innovative work won the Nashville Arts Magazine Stand Out Award at Tennessee Craft’s Spring Fair in Centennial Park. 18” x

18”

61 nashvillearts.com

Emerge, 2014, Raku clay body, steel, 20” x 42” x 16”

Black Shore, 2013, Raku clay body, 7” x 13” x 7”

He first encountered clay in high school where he spent four years “just exploring and experimenting.” After graduation and a summer job, his ceramics teacher and a guidance counselor helped to line up an apprenticeship for him in Knoxville, Tennessee. Since that experience, the artist said he is “mostly self-taught.” Today, Shadow shares his own expertise by teaching occasional workshops. His functional pottery—mugs, jars, vases, bowls, trays, boxes, and tumblers—seem to be both serious and a bit lighthearted all at once. Many of his glazes actually resemble shadows while others suggest subtle forest or shoreline hues. Sealed joints, slender cutouts, and patterns embossed into his pieces force you to move closer to observe details then wonder what led him to make such unusual but deliberate choices.

“Even my functional pieces are one of a kind but very sculptural. Once I pull a section off and show people it’s a lidded jar, for me that serves a function. A lot of my sculptures, I seal them off because potential customers are often looking for where to put their umbrellas. That will move me to make a whole body of sculptural pieces without any crevices or holes!” His non-functional pieces look as if they are waiting to take another breath before reaching out in your direction. Torn forms, unconcealed joints, and bent slabs may seem fanciful, puzzling, or even inspired by modern dance poses—these imaginative forms will beckon your curiosity and questions. Where does Shadow get his ideas? How does he begin a new piece? Why did he select that combination of thrown pots to gather together? What tools does he like to use?

62 nashvillearts.com

“

Sealed joints, slender cutouts, and patterns embossed into his pieces force you to move closer to observe details then wonder what led him to make such unusual but deliberate choices.

Divide, 2013, Sculptural clay body, 28” x 11” x 10”

Sea Wolf, 2013, Sculptural clay body, 10” x 36” x 8”

Of a man who is “still jumping between potter and sculptor” you might wonder what he is likely to do next. Even Shadow may not know until he puts his hands on the clay that tempts his creativity each day. Given the crowd that overflowed his Tennessee Craft booth, it looks like this artist is well on his way toward being significant. na For more information, visit www.shadowmaystudios.com.

Shadow May

Photograph by Frank Vickery

“My tools are fairly minimal. I use the end of a 2x4 to join sometimes, as well as a small piece of textured plywood. I still use burlap and even utilize a nice crack in my concrete floor. I try to be spontaneous with my tools. Every component, other than the wheel-thrown pieces, is made by techniques I’ve learned without using any tool. Folding slabs of clay allows me to encapsulate each component with air as well as manipulate it like folding or draping ribbon.”

by Elaine Slayton Akin

Photograph by Rob Lindsay

robMATTHEWS

Rob Matthews

Hope is in the Details: Rob Matthews’ Painting Renaissance

ob Matthews is painting again. An artist who once convinced himself that if work is fun, then it’s not work appears to have found himself in a work-related situation that is, in fact, fun. Unveiled back in April at David Lusk Gallery with the show DawnWatchers Watch for the Dawn, his new style I would argue is not altogether unrelated in process and aesthetics, but a fraternal twin, so to speak, to his once-signature painstakingly intricate graphite-on-paper drawings. Born from the same imagination yet inherently divergent, they cannot exist independently. We are seeing the first notable uses of paint, color, and scale (larger than 11x12 inches) from Matthews in the 21st century. Until five years ago, Matthews spent his post-graduate career “hunched over a desk,” as he described during a recent gallery talk, producing labor-intensive graphite drawings—an unexpected turn for an artist with an MFA in painting and printmaking. “A twoyear discussion of materiality and ‘is painting dead’? Nothing like an MFA to cure your painting bug,” he recounted of his Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) program with a lighthearted sarcasm only hindsight can impart. The oldest public art school in the country, VCU wields an unshakable academic rigor and an intimidating classical black-and-brown palette, which Matthews, who just wanted to paint about subjects that mattered to him, found off-putting. In his disillusionment, he abandoned painting for drawing after completing the VCU program.

Matthew Ayariga, Gouache and ink on paper on canvas over wood, 81” x 69”

64 nashvillearts.com

Study for Prophets, 2015, Gouache, sumi ink, etching ink on paper on canvas over wood, 10” x 8”

Study for Prophets 2, 2015, Gouache, sumi ink, etching ink on paper on canvas over wood, 14” x 11”

Over time, Matthews found the sedentary lifestyle precipitated by meticulous drawing to be unsustainable and, thus, the renaissance of painting we see in his work today. DawnWatchers is a combination of painting, yes, but also drawing, etching, and—considering the cut paper technique utilized in many of the works—collaging. While at least one art critic has linked the composition of Matthews’ The End of Time to Picasso’s The Pipes of Pan (1923), the painting’s cut-and-paste surface is just as telling to the artist’s influence from Cubism— think Fruit Dish and Glass (1912) in which Georges Braque invented papier collé—and its allusive patchwork, from the art historical canon as a whole. Matthews taught himself how to draw the human form by studying the oeuvre of Albrecht Dürer because his line hatching was the best produced in a book. Let’s not overlook The End of Time’s compositional resemblance to northern Renaissance marriage portraits, too, such as Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Betrothal (1434)—two evenly weighted main figures flanking an object or two of curiosity (see also Matthews’ Prophets), not to mention the borderline obsessive perfection of detail shared by the two artists. For all his historical references, Matthews is equally present. He is shaken by current events. ISIS activity in Libya and the subsequently propagated Christian beheadings have weighed heavily on the artist for “basically the entire 21st

century,” he grimly quipped. “In 300 years, people will know this happened, but right now, I’m the only one thinking about it two weeks later. Considering how we interpret and dismiss news, I felt it necessary to let this linger.” Dawn-Watchers is the embodiment of Matthews’ meditation on this tragedy, and The End of Time is the anchor. “A beheading is kind of depressing to look at after 30 minutes,” he admitted, so he chose a less gory “not Goya” depiction of the act inspired by the Mediterranean colors of Picasso’s neoclassical period. The head of beheaded Ghanaian Matthew Ayariga discreetly enters the foreground from the bottom left, separated from the blood-red background landscape only by our captain’s jeaned leg. Its clean sever, likewise, detaches us the viewers from feeling—a subtle commentary on our learned callousness toward global suffering. Matthews is the first person I’ve ever heard quote Bible scripture in a gallery. Fully conscious of its unconventionality, the artist read aloud the book of Psalm 130, from which Dawn-Watchers draws its name. “Sometimes you have to intentionally inject hope, because no one else naturally does that,” he followed up. Auto Auto Harp Harp, for example, depicts mirrored figures of a beautiful woman, whose coastside beauty and enchanting musicality evoke a dangerous Siren quality, and poisonous mushrooms (center foreground)

65 nashvillearts.com

Diviner, 2015, Gouache on paper on canvas over wood, 50” x 38”

known for sickening refugees escaping ISIS. Alternatively, the female figures are familiar and welcoming, particularly for Nashvillians who may recognize the figures’ likeness to local artist Elizabeth Williams, and who may find comfort in music. Matthews wanted to dip his toes in the Music City zeitgeist without citing the cliché guitar. He chose the autoharp after seeing it in a book about the Carter family. In The End of Time, the hopelessness of Ayariga’s beheading is balanced by the sheet music for “Quartet for the End of Time,” which was written by French composer Olivier Messiaen while imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II, in the captain’s hands. Based on the Book of Revelation, the masterpiece is unexpectedly optimistic and explores the removal of time as a barrier. Its function in Matthews’ painting is redemptive. The dual presence of hurt and hope is a parallel theme in both Matthews’ work and career. As “Quartet for the End of Time” brings hope to The End of Time, so does painting to the artist’s creative process. na Rob Matthews is represented by David Lusk Gallery, www.davidluskgallery.com. To see more of Rob Matthews’ work, visit www.matthewstheyounger.com.

67 nashvillearts.com

1. Still Life with Sheet Music, 2014-5, Ink and watercolor on paper on canvas over wood, 72” x 60” 2. Still Life with Guitar, Gouache and ink on paper on canvas over wood, 72” x 60” 3. Abdul, 2016, Gouache, sumi ink, etching ink, water-based relief ink on paper on canvas over wood, 14” x 11” 4. Olivier 3, 2016, Gouache on paper on canvas over wood, 14” x 11”

Prophets, 2016, Gouache, ink, etching ink on paper on canvas on wood, 81” x 69”

SOUNDINGOFF BY JOSEPH E. MORGAN

Photograph by Nashville Symphony/Kurt Heinecke

Mahler’s Third at the Schermerhorn

Gustav Mahler once declared that “the symphony must be like the world; it must embrace everything.” The Nashville Symphony closed its 69th season with a performance of Mahler’s Third Symphony, one of his greatest articulations of this ideal. Scored for an enormous ensemble that filled Schermerhorn’s stage, the piece lasted nearly 100 minutes and provided a stirring end to a tremendous season. Maestro Guerrero took the opening instrumental movement at a crisp but unrushed pace appropriate for its “strong and decisive” direction. Mahler’s essay on creation (a march instead of Stravinskian rite), the movement’s exciting fanfares and long kaleidoscopic development were brought together with deft precision and artistry. In the second and third movements, a minuet and a scherzo, Maestro Guerrero gave more rein to the orchestra, and their response was darkly exuberant. The woodwinds in particular seemed to delight in their freedom, articulating the third movement as the composer described it: “. . . there is such a gruesome, panicked humor in it [the scherzo] that one is more likely to be overcome by horror than laughter.” In the fourth movement the activity settled into self-reflection as mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor stepped forward. Referencing the first movement, Mahler has mankind emerge into his world with text from Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra. O’Connor’s warm and alluring instrument effected Mahler’s intent to speak to the ages as she sang “. . . all joy seeks eternity—seeks deep, deep eternity!” The boys of the Blair Children’s Chorus and the women of the Nashville Symphony Chorus were perfectly prepared angels for the fifth movement, as they sang of that same eternity and its place in the afterlife. Ultimately, Guerrero’s attention to detail (and his orchestra’s response) in the final movement filled the evening. His measured dynamics, patience in thematic reference, and cherishing relish at the final fermata were transcendent. As the Schermerhorn thundered in ovation, the faces around me were not marked with the elation of a typical grand symphonic finale, but instead I saw shining eyes and serenity—a much more appropriate result of Mahler’s finishing gentle affirmation of joy. For more information, visit www.nashvillesymphony.org.

Inside and Out: Collaborations with Unit 2

by Peter Chawaga

Transcending Prison Walls Gordon Jewish Community Center

July 15–30

hile metal and concrete keep those deemed unfit for society separated from it, creative expression still serves as an avenue for prisoners to connect, to express, to reach for the things that imprisonment denies them. Inside and Out: Collaborations with Unit 2, an exhibition of several types of art, presents the work of local inmates and collaborators to demonstrate that the creative spirit refuses to be shackled. Organized by Robin Paris and Tom Williams, professors from Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, the exhibit will be hosted in Nashville’s Gordon Jewish Community Center in July. Collaboration began in the summer of 2013 when Paris and Williams were invited by a Vanderbilt University professor to take over a summer course for prisoners at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. They met with volunteer students and faculty to study the country’s legal system, mass incarceration, and the injustices that some prisoners face, then made weekly visits to inmates in Unit Two, a death row. In two initial projects prisoners would add their own creative touches to images brought in by the students or give instruction for them to capture the things they were no longer free to enjoy. In one piece to be exhibited, the message “It has been 25 years Since I have Seen the Stars in the open Sky!” has been floated in ghostly cursive across a photograph of twilight descending behind the tree line. In another, 20-foot-long roses were constructed at a prisoner’s request and photographed in places he could never visit. “I think creating art allows prisoners an opportunity to grapple with their experiences,” said Williams, an assistant professor in art history. “It allows them to reach out to people beyond those walls of prison and to get them to better understand how they could end up on death row.” a for al os rop i, P ah il J Ak

While the inmates, many of whom had already taken up formal art lessons while incarcerated, benefited from the creative outlet, the students who participated in the program discovered new horizons as well.

5 01 t, 2 en um on M

Abu Ali Abdur’Rahman, Landscape, 2015, Mixed media

“There was this reaching across the walls of prison to have an understanding about what it means to be on death row,” explained Paris, an associate professor and chair of photography. “It was a really good experience for our students. We watched it change their lives, change how they thought about things.” Williams recalled one student whose own history as a victim of violent crime made her hesitant to participate in the program. She decided to attend a workshop at Riverbend and speak openly about her past. To her surprise, the prisoners sympathized all too well, explaining that they had been the victims of violent crimes too.

It has been 25 years Since I have Seen the Stars in the open Sky! In September, the work created during the initial summer course was exhibited at COOP Gallery in the Arcade. “That first show was successful,” said Williams, who noted that they were given the chance to exhibit because of a gap in the gallery’s schedule. “It received a good amount of attention.” The original exhibition was followed by five others featuring continued collaboration between volunteers and Riverbend prisoners: a diorama of the prison system, self-designed memorials, personal photographs, and more. Most recently the works were showcased during a six-week stay at New York’s apexart gallery in a show called Life After Death and Elsewhere, beating out hundreds of other submissions for the space.

71 nashvillearts.com

Gary Cone, Reading Has Been My Way to Exit, 2015, Mixed media

“When people visit the exhibitions and they see the work and they hear the stories about who these people are and what this means, it changes their lives and their stereotypes about who might be in prison and why,” said Paris.

Dennis Suttles, Flowers from Death Row I: The Tennessee Capitol, 2015, Pigment print

The Gordon Jewish Community Center will host a compilation of previously exhibited collaborations, art made exclusively by prisoners, as well as pieces from visual artist and professor Barbara Yontz, who has also worked with inmates at Riverbend. “I found the work to be so profound and to shed light on this dark part of our society,” explained Carrie Mills, curator of the Community Center’s art gallery. “I like the idea of art creating conversation, and I think this is a way to bring that conversation into place here.” Face to face interaction is, of course, what penitentiaries have been erected to prevent. But understanding—or at least a willingness to experience an inmate’s point of view—through creative expression can transcend prison walls, societal injustices, even past transgressions. Visitors to Inside and Out have the chance to see prisoners as Paris, Williams, and volunteers in the program came to: as human beings with the need to reconcile and communicate their

Harold Wayne Nichols, A World Without Prisons, 2015; Perspective, 2015; Random Choices, 2015; Viewpoint, 2015

Declicho Besh (“Ironhawk”), Tree (realized in collaboration with artist Sophia Stevenson), 2015, Clay and painted feathers (depicted with Stone for Chief, 2015, clay)

circumstances with the same passion that drives any artist. “The feeling that I got after knowing them for a while is that these men have become sort of realized men,” said Paris. “There’s an understanding and a deepness in them that you don’t always see in people on the outside.” It is the organizers’ hope that by presenting this insight on prisoners and what they’re capable of creating in collaboration with fellow artists, they can affect a lasting change in how we perceive the jailed. “My hope for this show is that it creates a dialogue across prison walls,” said Paris. “That it brings to these communities a little understanding, whether it’s a reconciliation or some kind of realization that it’s not just about punishment. Something else bigger happens here.” na Inside and Out: Collaborations with Unit 2 will be on display at the Gordon Jewish Community Center, 801 Percy Warner Boulevard, between July 15 and July 30. For more information, visit www.nashvillejcc.org.

Photograph by Raeanne Rubenstein

nashvillearts.com

THE f-STOPSHERE BY RAEANNE RUBENSTEIN

ay what you will about the greatest heavyweight in the history of boxing, and you might be just as right as you’ll be wrong. Even his name expresses this mysterious dichotomy. After all, who do you see when you look at this beautiful man, the fearsome yet still humble Cassius Marcellus Clay, or in other words, the immortal legend in his own time, Muhammad Ali? If you ask me, the answer is both. And I should know, as I’ve been fortunate enough to have shot both Clay and Ali (with a camera, of course) on four separate occasions and have been in the presence of Ali other times, as an acquaintance and a friend. So what was he like, you might ask. To me, there is no answer to this question. Ali was flamboyant sometimes, quiet and thoughtful other times. A jokester on occasion, intense other times, and inscrutable when it was least expected. I suppose if I were forced to respond, I’d have to say . . . quiet, nice, and sweet. Surprised? There were so many surprising things about Mr. Ali, I can’t even mention them all. For example, did you know that this young man fought his first amateur boxing match in 1954, at age 12? Or that he had four wives and spawned nine children? Or that this powerful man grew up in Louisville, Kentucky? Or that he died in Scottsdale, Arizona? And lived everywhere else you can imagine? One of the most interesting things about him to me was (of course) his winning boxing career, but even more so were his legendary and unforgettable bouts. Always ready to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” he survived the “Fight of the Century” with Joe Frazier in 1970, “The Rumble in the Jungle” with George Foreman in 1974, and the “Thrilla in Manila” grudge match in 1975. And believe it or not, I was there. FYI, Muhammad Ali retired from boxing in 1981, but through the years he became perhaps the most unforgettable boxer in his own time. Now I look at my photographs of Muhammad Ali and appreciate so many things about him that I completely missed back in the day. His sweetness when he was in my presence and his fierceness when he was in the ring. His generosity with his thoughts and ideas, even suggesting picture ideas for me to shoot, and I loved that! Billy Crystal, who was a struggling comedian when he became friends with Ali, and was a guest at his funeral, said of the boxing legend, “Ultimately, he became a silent messenger for peace, who taught us that life is best when you build bridges between people, not walls.” na

Raeanne Rubenstein Raeanne Rubenstein began her career in photography in London, England, where she succeeded in landing a job right out of college as the American assistant of famed French fashion photographer, Michel Molinare. She soon returned to New York City, where she began her life-long career as a celebrity portrait photographer.

The Greatest 1942–2016

Photographs and words by Heather LeRoy

As the Champ made his final 19-mile journey through the streets of Louisville, I spent the entire morning wandering his neighborhood, making friends with those who knew him and those who spent their whole lives living on his street. Standing on the corner of Louis Coleman Jr. and Kentucky Street, a few blocks from Ali’s pink childhood home, a group of K–6 children held up Xerox photos of the Champ and his inspirational quotes. To the right of me, a father and his daughter held up signs that read, “WITH THE GREATEST RESPECT –YOU SHOOK UP THE WORLD IN LIFE AND IN DEATH – RIP CHAMP.” As the procession neared, helicopters swarmed above, and an old man on a bicycle rode past me shouting, “THE CHAMP IS COMING, I SAW THE HEARSE! THE CHAMP IS FINALLY COMING HOME!” I took off sprinting down the street to get a better view. A man jumped out in front of me in a fighter’s stance: “TAKE MY PICTURE!” We all stood next to each other taking in this monumental moment of peace. A moment where we are all connected by a spirit greater than our color or religion, united by the love of someone who fought for those who didn’t have a voice. When asked how he would like to be remembered, Ali said: “I would like for them to say he took a few cups of love, he took one tablespoon of patience, one teaspoon of generosity, one pint of kindness, he took one quart of laughter, one pinch of concern, and then he mixed willingness with happiness, he added lots of faith, and he stirred it up well, then he spread it over a span of a lifetime, and he served it to each and every deserving person he met.” —Muhammad Ali, Interview with David Frost (1972)

POETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;SCORNER BY CASSIDY MARTIN YOUTH POET LAUREATE

Nashvillian Behind the Downtown Presbyterian Church in the back alley protected and sheltered and hugged and loved by the dried and dirty spray-painted mural I fell in love with this City. A mural with a mountain that looks like a thousand pounds of paint and color. A sun rising over its side to witness this City. My entire self is dedicated to this corner of earth. The sun is starting to notice us. Our home. This City is a family to me, is the back of my hand as I walk down streets from Hume Fogg to Rocketown to the police department as I migrate from NSA to Big Picture to Maplewood armed with nothing but a blue backpack that was a gift from my teacher. Armed with open eyes and mouth, speaking as just another kid wanting to make it. Enveloped in this community. My great-grandmother is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery: She is safe. She is watching like our ancestors.

Cassidy Martin is the 2016 Nashville Youth Poet Laureate, a program of the Mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office, Nashville Public Library, Nashville Public Library Foundation, Metro Nashville Arts Commission, Metro Nashville Public Schools, and Southern Word. Cassidy is a junior at Big Picture High School. Learn more at www.southernword.org.

Gallatin Road is a movie: Weiss Liquor Store bus stop isn’t a spot for teenage girls but the lofts around them are clean and neat and gray like the hair on the old man’s face who offers me an orange from a trash bag bursting with clothes. On the city bus, filled seats and the only one empty is by a woman who doesn’t have much space yet squeezes herself to the side to make room for me. I don’t think she has a home

She was just a woman until they gave her a label.

because I saw her sleeping on a bench yesterday.

Another person that is gum spit out on crosswalks in a place that treats me like family.

Church Street attacks me

How would you treat me if I told you I sleep on the street

on rainy days

instead of bed sheets?

with wet-dog-scented sidewalks right in front of the library

Would you invite me to your table?

where the people are divided

Would you feed me if I could not feed myself?

by the cracks.

Clothe me if my shirt showed more skin than it is supposed to?

Downtown inhales the scent of me,

Smile at me because you know that I’m born on the same

intakes the sight of me.

planet as you? If I showed you

Grown men who have permanent stubble and holey clothes

a dried and dirty spray-painted mural

stare at these thighs

at the bottom of a building

yet hold elevator-clawed doors away from me.

in the back alley

There’s a woman that comes into the library that people call

where

Baby Doll,

because she cradles a plastic Barbie in her arms like she

am protected

birthed it,

and sheltered

reading silently until they close.

and hugged

And she was just a woman with clean clothes and a bright

and loved,

face

where I fell in love

until someone told me

with this city...

they call her Baby Doll.

Would you fall in love with this city too?

Photograph by Hunter Armistead

of a downtown Presbyterian Church

melvinTOLEDO

by Cat Acree

Still Life in the Real World

“I was thinking about studying computers, mostly for working in the movies,” Toledo says during a call to his home. “It looked so cool, but back then I didn’t know anybody that had a computer.” It was only after manga art from Dragon Ball Z grew in popularity in Ciudad Antigua that Toledo began to experiment with pencil drawing, and it was a pleasant surprise to discover he had talent. Beginning in 2000, Toledo studied formal drawing at the School of Fine Arts in Honduras for a year, attending classes every Saturday, while learning to paint super-fast still-life paintings for his uncle, who ran a business churning out commercial paintings for home decorations in Honduras. “Everything was from imagination, painting grapes and apples and pears and vases, just very colorful,” Toledo says. “I was doing like two large paintings, like 24 by 48 inches, a day. It was crazy.”

What are you looking at?, 2016, Oil on panel, 25” x 24”

he oil paintings of Atlanta-based artist Melvin Toledo are all quite traditional, with classic thematic elements positioned carefully in soft light: sunny yellow roses in blue vases, or pears haphazardly spread across a kitchen table. But Toledo wants to laugh, so while he pursues something very familiar in his work—the beauty of the mundane—he invites his viewers in with a quiet sense of humor that we cannot help but enjoy. Toledo’s journey to still-life oil paintings has unexpected beginnings, from a northern Nicaraguan village of 3,000 people, called Ciudad Antigua, where education was sparse and access to TVs rare. It was one of the first colonies built by the Spanish conquistadors in Nicaragua, and it was here he began to play with drawing.

In 2005, Toledo met his wife, an American who was in the Peace Corps in Ciudad Antigua. After they married and moved to the States, Toledo continued painting and seeking to learn on his own. And though he was now free to explore other artistic mediums, he continued to hone his still-life craft. Why? “Most people didn’t go to school [in my town],” Toledo explains. “In my family, I was the first one—and my sisters—to go to high school. My dad was a farmer. My mom stayed at home taking care of the kids, and most of the people there, that’s what they do. When I’m painting now, in a way I paint for them. I like realism because I don’t want people to see the work and ask me what it’s about. A lot of time with paintings, you have to ask what the idea is or what’s behind [it]. I just like the idea that people see my work and can enjoy it the best way they can, without being afraid of not understanding.”

80 nashvillearts.com

Camellias with Pear, 2015, Oil on panel, 24” x 24”

“

I like realism because I don’t want people to see the work and ask me what it’s about.

Baseball and Beer, 2016, Oil on panel, 10” x 8”

Painted directly from life, though frequently aided by photographs, Toledo’s compositions include glasses of wine or beer, books, colorful produce, or beautifully arranged flowers. And often, there is a dash of humor or a reflection of contemporary life. Atop a book may sit an iPhone, earbuds spilling over the edge of the table. A floral arrangement may include a Nalgene bottle instead of a vase. “One of my heroes is Chardin,” Toledo says, referring to the 18th-century French master of still life Jean-BaptisteSiméon Chardin, who captured gentle domestic scenes of kitchen maids and children. “[His paintings] have this very quiet presence, and I love that. But I don’t want my paintings to look like paintings from 400 years ago. I want them to look new and fresh.” Toledo’s paintings typically seek to create harmony out of color, but by mixing traditional subject matter with contemporary objects, he produces a harmony of time—or a harmony of our objects throughout time. Under Toledo’s hand, an iPhone can be as timeless as a glass of wine.

Tulips with blue bottle, 2016, Oil on panel, 20” x 15”

Yellow Roses, 2016, Oil on panel, 18” x 25”

With his figurative work, Toledo captures a different moment in time through portraiture of children. Often painted from memory, these slices of life reflect his own childhood and the games he and his friends would play, like marbles or “spinning tops”—games that seem to be disappearing.

One of his most recent figurative paintings, titled What Are You Looking At?, is an outright hilarious portrait of his nephew. It’s a classical portrait with a landscape backdrop and soft light, but the subject—quite seriously—models a massive paper piñata on his head. Without a doubt, Toledo’s sense of humor is infectious. na This month, Toledo is the featured artist at Gallery 202 in Franklin, Tennessee. To see more of Melvin Toledo’s work, please visit www.gallery202art.com and www.melvintoledo.com.

82 nashvillearts.com

Melvin Toledo in his studio

Photograph by Lauren Toledo

Toledo explains that the Nicaraguan Revolution (1962–1990) was fought in the northern region of Nicaragua, where he lived as a child. “Everybody was very poor . . . so all the kids were outside playing all sorts of games,” he says. “Now that the war [has] ended, the economy is slowly getting better; the streets are getting paved; the houses are looking prettier. They paved the streets, and all the spaces where we used to play are gone.”

“It Takes [at least] Two” – Joint Works Under U.S. Copyright Law

Copyright law can be complicated, especially when it comes to single works created by two or more authors. Not every partnership can be as fruitful as Lennon & McCartney, Lerner & Loewe, or even Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock, so it is important to understand the rights and risks for authors of joint works. This article is a brief overview of joint works in copyright law. The typical situation: My friend and I wrote something together. Who owns it? Under U.S. copyright law, a “joint work” is created when two or more authors make “inseparable” or “interdependent” contributions to a single work, intending for the result to be a joint work. In other words, you and your friend wrote a book; you each wrote a few chapters; the chapters depend on each other, and you intended to put them together in a single work. Congratulations, you have a joint work! This means that both of you own equal parts of the resulting book. This is an important aspect of U.S. copyright law (which differs from other areas of the law)—each author owns an equal share of the joint work. The law does not care if you created 75% of the book and your friend created only 25%. If the two parts are inseparable and you both intended for them to be one work, you each own half the work. So, what are some of my rights as a joint owner? • You can license the work to whomever you want. You do not need the other author’s permission. You cannot, however, offer an exclusive license, because you do not own 100% of the work. • You can update and revise your portion of the joint work for your own purposes. • You have a right and a duty to an “accounting,” meaning that you have to account to your co-author for any profits you made exploiting the joint work (and vice-versa). The co-author, who may not have exploited the work at all, gets half of those profits. Pretty sweet deal! • You both can enforce your rights (read: take legal action) in the work. You do not need the other author’s permission to do this. This can actually get a little tricky if you want to sue an infringer while your co-author simply wants to license the work to the would-be infringer. Co-authors can often find themselves at cross-purposes given their equal rights to the work. This got complicated quickly, how can I avoid this? Sticky situations involving joint ownership can be avoided by determining each author’s rights at the beginning of the relationship. Consulting an attorney and putting these decisions in writing in a contract between the authors is also recommended. There are many ways to reach a beneficial compromise and avoid the potential pitfalls of joint ownership.

Carl Eppler Associate, Frost Brown Todd Carl is an associate in the Intellectual Property practice group at Frost Brown Todd, where he advises clients on trademark and copyright issues, including registration, protection, and litigation. Carl works in both the Advertising and Entertainment Law groups.

ARTS&BUSINESSCOUNCIL

BY CARL EPPLER

ARTSMART

A monthly guide to art education

Artful Education: How Spacesuits and Drones Changed the Way Students Perceived Art and Themselves When I originally thought about art through a school lens, I never imagined handcrafted spacesuits or Pollock-inspired drone paintings, but then again that’s what makes art so incredible: it’s boundless—limitless. It can manifest into anything you want it to be. That’s what we found out over the past two years at Maplewood High School.

“

Let’s be clear: Art isn’t a fringe subject. It’s not something we “make time for.” Unfortunately, Art’s current status as a second-fiddle curriculum in education’s standardization era has played a significant role in the loss of student expression and perceived sense of belonging. I knew all of this heading into the 2014–2015 school year, and as a forward-thinking high school assistant principal, I decided to do something about it.

Basquiats thanks to Red Arrow Gallery) it felt as if we were a catalyst of education’s evolution. Two forward-thinking, cross-curricular projects that involved nearly 300 students—and amassed local and statewide recognition and awards—not only helped shine a much needed light on the inspiring work happening at Maplewood but also sent cultural shockwaves throughout the school. Students stayed after school, showed up during Christmas and spring breaks, and flooded an increasingly crowded Art classroom during the school’s advisory time. My sincere hope now is that our school’s story serves as a testament that Art is education’s lynchpin, the proverbial lever of change capable of redefining school as we know it.

Senior Chavis Vaughn showcases his 21st-century paintbrush

Photograph by Ryan B. Jackson

So, what began as a gamble turned into a full-on, Jerry Saltzapproved Arts integration powerhouse, culminating in two award-winning projects that took both the city and the state by storm. I’ll reference these projects as #MaplewoodMartians and #CreateNotDestroy since their origins and chronological progress can be tracked using both Twitter and Instagram.

Junior Jesse Byrd modifies a Parrot drone, prepping it for artistic flight

Photograph by Ryan B. Jackson

Growing up the son of a starving artist, I witnessed firsthand the impact of a dedicated theatre group on a working-class city like Evansville, Indiana. The cultural currency art provides invigorated not only the playhouse and its players but the city at large, providing an imperative contrast to the mundane and monotonous. Thus, my ambitious goal as an inner-city Nashville educator was to inject as much Art into as many curriculums as academically possible, fusing science with set design, engineering with painting, and physical education with creative writing.

by Dr. Ryan B. Jackson Assistant Principal Maplewood High School

Project Runway alum Amanda Valentine lends her design talents inside the classroom

Photograph by Mike Mitchell

Photograph by Marsha Salee

When we asked our students how to colonize Mars, their interest was piqued. When Project Runway runner-up and East Nashvillian Amanda Valentine came aboard to help students design and construct the spacesuits our Mars engineers would wear, their minds were blown. When we introduced students to drone technology, they leaped at the opportunity to get their hands on the latest controversial gadget. When we empowered them to create unique pieces of art, modifying drones into 21stcentury paintbrushes (showcased beautifully as modern-day

ARTSMART Eddie George and TPAC: Nashville’s Transformers

Eddie George cameo appearance in Dr. Kaboom!

Photograph by Timothy Hiehle

From that beginning, although so much of his focus was on an increasingly successful life in football, George appreciated the role of the arts in his formation as a person.

Former Tennessee Titan-turned-actor Eddie George seems to be able to transform himself at will. Like one of Hasbro’s popular toy Transformers that can shift parts and convert from vehicle to robot to weapon, he appears to move effortlessly from Heisman Trophy winner/NFL star to entrepreneur, from community activist to sports analyst, from philanthropist to stage actor.

“The arts reflects life and is a sharing of life’s stories from generation to generation,” he says. “It is a great vehicle to channel emotion. It can also be healing and therapeutic for the actor onstage and for the audience, who can walk out of the theater transformed.” The power in any art form lies in truth. “In theatre, my life truly translates to the state of that character, that husband, that father, dealing with his own spirituality and nobility,” he says. “That truthfulness will resonate with the audience.” George points out that, unlike athletic performance (the use of muscle, protection, and survival in pursuit of an unforeseen outcome), the actor knows the outcome and uses a very different and refined skill set.

George recalls being introduced to the arts as a child by his mother. “She took my sister and me on Saturdays to the Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia (the city’s oldest African American Theatre and Performing Arts Training Center). She put us in an environment where we could experience all aspects of life.”

Photograph by Mimosa Arts

His latest transformation carries him from Broadway star in Chicago to Arts Education Advocate for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. A TPAC board member and recipient of TPAC’s 2014 Applause Award, George will be a powerful voice in advocating for greater support and strengthening of arts programs to gate keepers including the Metro School Board, school principals and teachers, Metro government officials, state legislators, and with the broader community.

Eddie George performs with students at Robert Lilliard Elementary School

“You don’t push for results on stage,” he says. “You allow the story to unfold, letting go of emotions and words, and trusting the people on the stage.” The ability to enter and see the world through the eyes of another—whether through imagination, play, or performance— expands a child’s world and their capacity for understanding and empathy. Advocating for the opportunity and the right of children to do that is Eddie George’s new challenge and may transform young lives and our community.

by DeeGee Lester Director of Education The Parthenon

Photograph by Drew Cox

Eddie George’s visit to Rose Park Magnet Middle School

Photograph by Mimosa Arts

For more information, go to www.tpac.org.

ARTSMART Cheekwood’s ARTSprouts

It’s no secret that the arts have been dwindling in moral and fiscal support for years. District budgets are cut, schools can’t employ full-time art teachers—let alone afford the supplies necessary to create in the classroom—and programs suffer deeply as a result. Departments that survive have a unique combination of administrative support, a dedicated teacher, or a parent teacher organization willing to raise money. Unfortunately, many schools

Dan Harrell, from University of Tennessee Agriculture Extension, talks to children at Olivet Day Camp about the importance of a plant’s root structure

Photograph courtesy of Cheekwood

Children at Olivet Day Camp make their own Steve Tobin Forest Floor castings

are lacking in more than one of these elements. But can we, as a community, afford to not invest in the arts? With art comes creativity, and creativity provides the unique ability to see many possible answers and interpretations to a question. Skills like problem solving, teamwork, and selfexpression have transformative powers that are valuable in the studio, critical in the classroom, and crucial to success in the workplace. Until our education structure shifts, outreach programs are vital in sparking creative momentum in classrooms that otherwise might not have support. And bringing these opportunities to the community at no cost is essential in lightening an even greater burden: lack of money.

Photograph by Caitrin Williams

With the help of partners and local artists, Cheekwood has created specialized, interactive outreach programs for over 30 years. Stretching to the often untapped schools and organizations in the Middle Tennessee area, children have engaged with

by Brooke Griffith Manager of School and Outreach Programs Cheekwood

Photograph courtesy of Cheekwood

Cut costs, rid the excess, and teach what’s necessary: an unfortunate paradigm that’s the result of an education system built on economic and intellectual standards. As for the arts? They’ve become labeled as educational surplus.

elements from Cheekwood’s botanical gardens and exhibitions at no cost. This June and July, Cheekwood’s ARTSprouts program embraces four local youth organizations with hands-on activities and discussion surrounding gardening and Steve Tobin: Southern Roots. With the help of first-time partner University of Tennessee Agriculture Extension, children are not only learning how to plant a garden, but to make connections between root structures and Steve Tobin’s Steelroots on display throughout Cheekwood’s botanical gardens. By presenting these immersive opportunities, a foundation is built for children to look at different themes creatively to make connections. Advocacy and support for the arts in the education system are vital to our community and culture. Once we begin to see creativity in its full abundance, our children will be able to build and maintain the capacity to think divergently—interpreting and solving future problems with multiple solutions. ARTSprouts is made possible through a grant from the Robert K. and Anne H. Zelle Fund for Fine and Performing Arts and the David and Mary Rollins Advised Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, with additional support from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission and Tennessee Arts Commission. Want your school or organization to benefit from Cheekwood’s outreach programs? Applications for 2017 will go live this July at www.cheekwood.org.

ARTSMART

On Thursday, July 28 (6 to 8 p.m.), the public is invited to witness the empowering impact of the arts as VSA Tennessee hosts its 15th Anniversary at Amberleaf Marketplace in Gallatin, Tennessee. The free event features two performance stages, visual art displays, videos, and activities for everyone, says VSA Tennessee Executive Director Lori Kissinger. “It is also a chance to showcase our artists and take a stroll down memory lane and to see how multifaceted we are as an organization. However, I am mostly looking forward to the chance to say thank you to the many, many individuals and organizations that have supported and partnered with us over the years.”

Resident artist-led projects also abound, such as lead artist Dee Kimbrell’s mural project at the Cohn School. VSA participants visited the Nashville Zoo and learned about environmental concerns and the plight of endangered species, such as the Clouded Leopard. In celebration of the National Parks’ 100th anniversary and the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Nashville Zoo, young artists created a mural based on environmental concerns from recycled bottle caps. Representing the unity for the arts by people with disabilities, the video (part of VSA’s 40 Days Around the World Digital Arts Festival) shows a 2015 VSA Tennessee-led project combining quilt squares from 37 countries into a hand-made quilt, pieced together by 20 Tennessee participants led by MTSU professor Lauren Rudd. Last summer the quilt was presented by Meghan Maynard at the U.S. State Department to former Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith who will send it to U.S. embassies around the world as part of the Arts in Embassies Program. For more information on the July 28 event or VSA programs, visit www.vsatn.org.

Dedicated to the belief that “every person deserves access to quality arts learning experiences,” VSA Tennessee is part of an international organization established in 1974 to bring arts access to those with disabilities. Evolving into VSA (Very Special Arts) in 1985, the organization became (in 2011) the Department of VSA and Accessibility at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The evening includes on-stage performances showcasing winners from 15 years of the Young Soloist Program, as well as the Dulcimer Choir and Movement Connection—a dance company led by Danielle Clement and comprised of young people with Down syndrome who have performed across the state.

Meghan Maynard with Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith when VSA’s international quilt was accepted into the Arts in Embassy Program in Washington, DC

87 nashvillearts.com

by DeeGee Lester Director of Education The Parthenon

Photograph by Joanne Amos

For so many with disabilities, the arts can be their voice, their therapy, their inspiration, their bridge to the community and the wider world.

The visual arts provide delightful surprises. “Souper Bowl” is a collection of soup bowls crafted each year by students from the Tennessee School for the Blind in conjunction with the NFL’s Super Bowl. Under the guidance of art teacher Monica Leister, student soup bowl creations are displayed at a reception at the Clay Lady’s Studios, where guests “vote” by donating to their favorite bowl. All money collected is sent to an orphanage in a designated country such as Haiti or Nepal, while canned goods collected from guests each year are donated to a local food bank. In addition, one bowl is selected as winner of the prestigious Ernest Fitzgerald Award honoring a blind architect.

Photograph by Drew Cox

Students from Cohn High School created a mural made of bottle caps that was given to the Nashville Zoo for their 20th anniversary

Photograph by Lori Kissinger

Empowering Voice through the Arts: Celebrating VSA Tennessee

ARTSMART Splatter Paint the Art Teacher Most of my students are pretty used to my wild and wacky style of art-teaching attire. In fact, if my ensembles don’t meet their high expectations of crazy, I’m often reprimanded. “That outfit is just meh, Mrs. Stephens,” said one fourth grade future stylist. “You can do better.” In short, I get no respect. For our school-wide art show, I knew I wanted to create a special outfit for the occasion. The theme of our art show was a 1950s diner, and I already had prepped the kids to dress in rolled jeans and poodle skirts for the big day. But what was a crazy art teacher to wear? Then an idea hit me like a splat of paint: I could have the kids create the fabric for my creation. I had a giant canvas drop cloth in my vast collection of things-I’ve-never-used-but-cannot-throw-away. All I needed was house paint, brushes, and kids that dig making a mess. And I’m never short on the last one.

Cassie Stephens shows off her Pollock-inspired poodle skirt

I dropped by the Home Depot in Franklin and shared my idea with a super helpful gentleman named Dave. He graciously mixed up small cans of magenta, turquoise, lime green, coral, and plum. Noticing my wild attire, he asked if I was a teacher or a performer (both, actually!). We got to chatting, and when he found out what I had in store for my students and the paint, he arranged for me to have the paint at a discount. When folks make an effort to help a teacher in any way, they aren’t just helping one person; they are impacting the lives of their students. I was thrilled at Dave’s kindness. At school, my young artists were in the thick of art show preparation. To add another layer of crazy to an already busy time, I’d call them in small groups outside. Without telling them what we were up to, I’d simply say, “Take off your shoes, put on an apron, and meet me outside.” When the splatter-painting kids returned with freckles of paint on their arms, laughing and excited, the other kids couldn’t wait to find out what was in store for them.

Johnson Elementary art students splatter paint on canvas

Outside, they gently dipped a brush in any color of their choice and flung it at the canvas. Of course, everyone’s favorite splatterer, Jackson Pollock, was introduced, and the kids quickly decided that this was the best way to make art. By the end of the week, I had a drop cloth that would make Pollock proud.

Photograph by Juan Pont Lezica

Back home, I put the sturdiest needle in my sewing machine and stitched the thick cloth into a 1950s-style circle skirt. This skirt was so thick with paint that it literally stood up on its own! On the night of the art show, the kids were thrilled to see their splatterpainted creation made into a skirt. Not only did they have artwork on display throughout the school but on the art teacher as well! It was a memorable experience and a great way to end the school year.

by Cassie Stephens Art Teacher Johnson Elementary

Art students Madison and Alex with Mrs. Stephens during the annual school-wide art show

Iris Apfel in Iris, a Magnolia Pictures release

If re-immersing yourself in Downton Abbey this summer has whetted your appetite for fine estates, be sure to watch Great Estates of Scotland, Fridays in July at 7 p.m. Among the stops are Kincardine (July 8), a 3,000-acre, 70-room estate near Aberdeen. Grand estates may show well on TV and may be fantastic to visit, but modern life and castles don’t always mix. In this episode the owners work hard to hold on to their home, which like many such places now is also a venue for weddings and corporate events. Inveraray (July 22) is the ancestral home of Clan Campbell, whose blue-andgreen family tartan is one of the most recognizable of plaid patterns. Inveraray Castle will also be familiar to Downton fans as it stood in for Duneagle, home of the Crawleys’ young cousin, Lady Rose. The real castle was inspired by a drawing

Inveraray Castle in Scotland

We’ll close out July with a quick trip to Ireland for Ballyfin: Portrait of an Irish Country House, Friday, July 29, at 7 p.m. For half of its nearly 200-year history, Ballyfin was home to a family of AngloIrish aristocrats, then a Catholic school. A Chicago businessman and art collector later funded an extensive restoration to transform the property into a world-class hotel.

FASHION FLAIR Iris Apfel refers to herself as a “geriatric starlet,” but to everyone else she’s simply a fashion icon. The nonagenarian style maven took Paris Fashion Week by storm this spring, and it’s easy to see why in Albert Maysles’ documentary Iris airing Monday, August 1, at 9 p.m. on POV. The film shows off its namesake’s enviable energy, quick wit and—of course—her extraordinary collection of costume jewelry and unusual clothing. Apfel was already a fixture in the design world thanks to her interior design business and

Fireworks over the U.S. Capitol

Old World Weavers, the fabric company she founded with Carl Apfel, her husband of 67 years. However, she gained far more attention after a 2005 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition drawn from her wardrobe. Apfel then became known for her sculptural layering of beads and bracelets, her fearless mixing of patterns and textures, her signature oversized eyewear, and perhaps most inspiring, her redefinition of age-appropriate clothing. Photographer Bruce Weber, fashion designers and industry insiders, museum curators and others are among those helping to tell Iris’s story in Maysles’ final film. Be sure to look for cameos by photographer Bill Cunningham, longtime New York Times chronicler of street fashion and society and a legend in his own right (and subject of a 2010 documentary). na Don’t take a vacation from supporting NPT this summer. Go to www.wnpt.org and click the donate button to keep the shows and specials you love available on public television. Don’t forget, encore presentations of many of our programs and other favorite shows air on NPT2, our secondary channel.

Photograph courtesy of Capital Concerts/Keith Lamond via Shutterstock

IF IT'S NOT SCOTTISH

by the architect of two other British architectural treasures: Blenheim Palace (Winston Churchill’s ancestral home) and Castle Howard.

Photograph courtesy of B4 Films Ltd

This month NPT brings you the annual Independence Day broadcast of A Capitol Fourth, live from Washington, D.C., on July 4 at 7 p.m. and another season of The Great British Baking Show (Fridays at 8 p.m.).

Photograph courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Arts Worth Watching

Edward Belbusti (creator of sculpture), Cass Teague, Rick Ryan, Steven Murff and Danielle Edwards on 5th Avenue

ARTSEE

Herb Williams with Akiva Art Students at The Rymer Gallery

Photograph by Daniella Pressner

Cheryl Buehring at Landmark Community Bank

Photograph by Tiffani Bing

Honesty Joy, Emiah Edwards and Dewain Whitmore at mild climate

Elizabeth Tarnow and Dani Hoke outside mild climate

ARTSEE

Patricia and Darnell Jones at The Rymer Gallery

At 40AU

Eric Elmore at Julia Martin Gallery

Jack Yacoubian and Jake Wells at Jack Yacoubian Fine Jewelry and Art Gallery

Kelly Harwood and Ira Shivitz at Gallery 202

Photograph by Tiffani Bing

Michael Grines, Joe Nolan, Antonia Oakes, Kara Black and Yikayla Waddle at Channel to Channel

Brandon, Julie and Eden Fordham at Corvidae Collective

Lauren Hart at Julia Martin Gallery

ARTSEE

Charlotte Lefkowitz at The Arts Company

ARTSEE

Mildred Jarrett at WAG

Sonny, Madison Keenan and Von Derry at Gallery 202

Photograph by Tiffani Bing

PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN JACKSON

ARTSEE

Debbie Smartt at Landmark Booksellers

Ron Hughes, Julie A. Harvey and Pat Hughes at Gallery 202

Photograph by Tiffani Bing

At Tinney Contemporary

Photograph by Tiffani Bing

Mary Beth Ballard, Chris Murray, Louisa Glenn and Nieves Uhl at Julia Martin Gallery

At David Lusk Gallery

Mandy Jones and Mary Addison Hackett at Seed Space

Rosemary and Josie in the Kress Building Hallway

THEATRE

Jim Reyland’s new book, Handmade: friendships famous, infamous, real and imagined, is available at Amazon.com in paperback and on Kindle. jreyland@audioproductions.com

BY JIM REYLAND

“There are moments in all of our lives where gargantuan choices are hurled at us. It is in these moments that we must decide to grapple with life or crumble away and hide from it. Giant Squid explores the hope present in choosing the unknown. Giant Squid makes me laugh, question, and investigate my own thoughts and worries.”

Photograph by Taylor Thomas

—Director William Kyle Odum

(From left to right) Lady Alex (Nina Kern) argues with Male Alex (Jake Wallace) and John (Seth Kays) about the importance of going to their friend Claire’s funeral, who recently overdosed

(From left to right) Lady Alex (Nina Kern) and John (Seth Kays) discuss their childhoods and their inability to ever return to the “home” they once had

Giant Squid Takes the Stage at Woven Theatre Don’t you love the process? You wake up one day and think, I might like to write a play. You already live and breathe Theatre, and storytelling will be your own special place in it. What then? You educate yourself, take in everything around you, and put it down on paper. You gather your talented friends, start a theatre company, and together you bring your vision to the world. Then, still tired and poor, you sit back and relax, having done everything there is to do. Wrong. You’re just getting started. Giant Squid, written by Miles Gatrell, a former Belmont student and current MFA candidate at the University of Iowa, is at the starting point of this amazing process. He and his artistic friends are collectively known as the Woven Theatre. Giant Squid follows two sets of young people in their late teens and mid twenties as they struggle to find acceptance and happiness in a modern world. As the play progresses,

society, responsibility, and life-changing decisions pound at the characters’ doors, forcing them not only to confront the harsh realities of growing up but of simply living. Filled with laughs, witty dialogue, and tense moments of conflict, both internal and external, these characters must make choices that will alter the course of their entire lives. I hope you’ll support the Woven Theatre in their efforts to create new and exciting theatre for Nashville. Giant Squid marks the inaugural production of Woven Theatre and is the first of three shows being produced over the coming months. After Giant Squid, Laramie Hearn will direct Decision Height in conjunction with Verge Theatre Company in Belmont’s Troutt Theater. Next up will be Lungs directed by Sam Lowry in the Belmont Little Theatre. na Giant Squid by Miles Gatrell runs July 7–10 at 7:30 in the Belmont Little Theatre under Hail Hall on Belmont’s campus. Tickets are $10 at the door or email wkyleodum@gmail.com to reserve tickets.

96 nashvillearts.com

Eccentricity, anyone? Back in the 1980s, my best friend was Diana Haig. A Sarah Lawrence graduate who’d recently migrated to Nashville from the punk rock scene in New York City, Diana worked for a while in public relations at MCA Records. She later worked at House of David Recording Studio as Nashville’s first female sound engineer. She also wrote songs—we wrote several together—and once produced a variety TV show called Belle Meade Beach that ran on a local cable channel. Diana lived in three different apartments while in Nashville. The one I remember best was in an old house off West End Avenue. Only because of the television sets. You’d walk in the front door and there were thirty or forty of them scattered about her living room like an electronic welcoming committee. Old TVs from the 1950s. Some may even have been operable, but it didn’t matter because they were never turned on. They were just there. One time I called Diana on the phone. “What are you doing?” I asked. Her answer was classic. “Nurturing my eccentricity,” she said. I have always been drawn to eccentrics. A close friend from my Vanderbilt days lives in a house with two pigs. (Real pigs, not the pocket-sized Vietnamese version.) She even had a ramp built so they could sleep in her bed. Perhaps you’re thinking she must live in a trailer park. But nothing could be further from the truth. For starters, her mother was born in the Belle Meade Mansion. And these days, my friend lives in a quiet subdivision in West Nashville next to a private golf course. Oh, and lest I forget, add six cats, a dog, and a couple of hamsters to the aforementioned pigs. My friend likes to surround herself with critters. I once jokingly referred to her as “Elly May with a trust fund.” I’ve heard it said that you have to have money to be eccentric. Otherwise, you’re just plain crazy. There may be some truth to that. But I prefer to think that eccentricity has more to do with creativity and individuality. I recently spent a couple of weeks at a spa in Mexico. While there, I decided to have a pedicure. When asked to choose a nail-polish color, I thought, Why choose one? So I chose ten different colors— one for each toe. na Marshall Chapman is a Nashvillebased singer/songwriter, author, and actress. For more information, visit www.tallgirl.com.

BEYONDWORDS

Photograph by Anthony Scarlati

BY MARSHALL CHAPMAN

MYFAVORITEPAINTING BY ELAINE SLAYTON AKIN ARTS PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

ARTIST BIO: Carly Dahl A native of Monroe, Michigan, Carly Dahl is a practicing artist and the executive director of the Batesville Area Arts Council (BAAC) in Batesville, Arkansas. She also serves on the board of Number, Inc., an arts journal based in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to BAAC, Dahl was the director of Kresge Gallery at Lyon College. She earned her BFA in printmaking from the Center for the Visual Arts at the University of Toledo, Ohio. Dahl’s work represents the ideas and ideals of feminine beauty in society. Her prints and paintings, embellished with hand-drawn details, explore pressures on and identities of women. The images feature blank faces so that the viewer can project herself or others onto the figures. Dahl’s work has previously been exhibited at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock, the Thea Foundation in North Little Rock, and the Marshall Arts Gallery in Memphis. She was also one of 20 artists selected from over 200 submissions for the Memphis Unveil initiative.

Carly Dahl, Untitled, Acrylic on wood, 11” x 10 ”

Upon graduation, I was able to reconnect with the art department of my undergraduate alma mater, Lyon College, where Dahl had started directing the gallery. Through a mutual artist friend, I met Dahl and was introduced to her work at the Delta Visual Arts Show in my hometown of Newport, Arkansas. The pastel colors and simplified forms were immediately attractive, but as I further examined the dressclad women set against overtly feminine floral patterns in various shades of pink and purple, the works’ agreeable appearance became a thin veil for the underlying truth. Dahl’s “perfect” figures symbolize our distorted Western standards of beauty and how women should behave. This particular piece, Untitled, resonates with me because, like all of Dahl’s works, it advances the ever-relevant themes of Vigée Le Brun-style portraits to a modern audience who still grapples with equitable treatment of all people. Dahl’s artistic statement conveys hope that the equality conversation continues and that art can change minds. na

Elaine Slayton Akin

Photograph by Sheri Oneal

n 2010, the same year Dahl relocated to Arkansas from Michigan, I was graduating from the University of Memphis. I had spent the better part of two years researching and writing my thesis on 18th-century portraits of women holding books, culminating with a chapter on Marie-Antoinette en Robe de Velours Bleu (1788) by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. Influenced by the Marian imagery of traditional Education of the Virgin scenes, these portraits are visual testaments to the centuries-held gendered norms of the European aristocracy and the demanding, unrealistic expectations of women.