Beth CAVENER James PERRIN Carole A. FEUERMAN Simon ROBERTS Olga KRIMON
SMILE Debuted Statewide in Nashville New and Minimally-invasive Surgery for Myopia (Nearsightedness) is First Major Advance in LASIK Technology in 25 Years, Reducing Dependence on Glasses and Contacts which causes the corneal shape to change, permanently changing the prescription. SMILE has a proven track record of success. It has been used internationally since 2011 and more than 750,000 procedures have been performed worldwide. Dr. Wang noted that currently, the procedure has not been approved to treat large amounts of astigmatism and cannot treat farsightedness and that LASIK is still a better option for a majority of the patients seeking laser vision correction.
The first major advance in LASIK technology in 25 years, the SMILE procedure, was performed in Nashville recently at Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center by its director, internationally renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Ming Wang, Harvard & MIYT (MD, magna cum laude); PhD (laser physics). “We are extremely very excited to be the first again to introduce the next generation laser correction procedure to the state, helping out patients with this new and minimally invasive procedure,” said Dr. Wang. Myopia is a common eye condition in which close objects can be seen clearly but distant objects are blurry without correction. LASIK and PRK have been the main stay treatments for myopia for over two decades. But SMILE, which stands for SMall Incision Lenticule Extraction, has unique advantages over LASIK. The SMILE surgery is minimally invasive as the surgeon needs only to create a small, precise opening to correct vision. No flap is needed. The laser incision is smaller than 5 millimeters for SMILE, compared to approximately 20 millimeters for LASIK. This helps the cornea to retain more of its natural strength and reduces
the risk of rare flap complications. Dry eye after SMILE is also reduced compared with LASIK, as nerves responsible for tear production during the cornea remain more intact in SMILE. One of the state’s first SMILE patients was Margaret Coleman, 34, a manager of the world-famous Bluebird Café, in Nashville, which was prominently featured in the ABC TV drama Nashville, among others. Ms. Coleman has had poor eyesight all of her life, legally blind in both eyes without correction. Ms. Coleman’s 3D Laser SMILE procedure went beautifully and she is thrilled to have her crystal clear new vision and newly gained independence on glasses or contacts and being one of the first patients in the state to receive SMILE! “I am so happy!!!” exclaimed Margaret at her postop visit. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the VisuMax Femtosecond Laser for SMILE procedure for -1 to -8 D myopia with up to 0.5D astigmatism. During a SMILE procedure, a femtosecond laser with precise short pulses is used to make small incision in the cornea to create a discshaped piece of tissue. This tissue is then removed by the surgeon though the opening
Dr. Ming Wang, a Harvard & MIT graduate (MD, magna cum laude), is the CEO of Aier-USA, Director of Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center and one of the few laser eye surgeons in the world today who holds a doctorate degree in laser physics. He has performed over 55,000 procedures, including on over 4,000 doctors. Dr. Wang published 8 textbooks and a paper in the world-renowned journal Nature, holds several US patents and performed the world’s first laser-assisted artificial cornea implantation. He established a 501c(3) non-profit charity, Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration, which to date has helped patients from more than 40 states in the U.S. and 55 countries, with all sight restoration surgeries performed free-of-charge. Dr. Wang is the Kiwanis Nashvillian of the Year. Dr. Ming Wang can be reached at: Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center, 1801 West End Ave, Ste 1150 Nashville, TN 37203, 615-321-8881 drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com www.wangcataractLASIK.com
Contemporary Visionaries A Modern Approach to Outsider Art June 2-28
©Amy Arnold & Kelsey Sauber Olds
Amy Arnold & Kelsey Sauber Olds | Amy Lansburg | Butch Anthony | Charlie Lucas | Justin Robinson
THE
arts
COMPANY
theartscompany.com 5 T H A VEN U E O F T H E A R T S • DOWN T OWN N A S H V ILLE
PUBLISHED BY THE ST. CLAIRE MEDIA GROUP
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Columns HUNTER ARMISTEAD FYEye MARSHALL CHAPMAN Beyond Words LINDA DYER Appraise It RACHAEL MCCAMPBELL And So It Goes JOSEPH E. MORGAN Sounding Off ANNE POPE Tennessee Roundup JIM REYLAND Theatre Correspondent MARK W. SCALA As I See It LIZ CLAYTON SCOFIELD Pocket Lint JILL MCMILLAN Arts & Business Council
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 $6.70 a copy. Email: All email addresses consist of the employee’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.
TINNEY CONTEMPORARY
©James Perrin
HETEROGENEIT Y NEW WORK BY JAMES PERRIN May 26 - June 30, 2018 Opening Reception: June 2nd, 6-9 pm during the First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown
237 5th Ave N . Nashville 37219 . 615.255.7816 . tinneycontemporary.com
5 T H AV E N U E O F T H E A R T S DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE
HISTORIC FR ANKLIN TENNESSEE
202 2nd Ave. South, Franklin, TN 37064 www.gallery202art.com • 615-472-1134
V I C K I S AW Y E R Celebrating ten years of painting from the inspiration, “If birds can build nests, then they can make hats.” Laird of the Highlands
Artist Reception June 1, 6-9pm
On the Cover Beth Cavener Through an Empty Place (The Fox Emerging from Shadow) 2017, Stoneware, paint, wood, 47”h x 67”w x 12”d See page 40.
June 2018 28
Features 20 Brenda Buffett Goes City Surfing Customs House
73 Alice E. Shepherd Through the Looking Glass
22 2018 American Artisan Festival Centennial Park
82 CONVERGE New Space, Art and Ideas
28 Olga Krimon Hits a Nostalgic High Note
Columns 16 Crawl Guide
34 James Perrin Painting in the Post-Digital Age 40 Beautiful Bait: Beth Cavener Evokes Human Empathy through Animal Forms
24 Fresh Paint David Wright
40
47 Contemporary Visionaries: A Modern Approach to Outsider Art 50 Point of View The Illustrated Man
60
54 Building Empathy & Connection Chaos and Awe at the Frist Art Museum
54
46 The Bookmark Hot Books and Cool Reads 68 Art Around Carol A. Feuerman
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78 Arts & Business Council 79 Public Art 80 Art Smart by Rebecca Pierce 86 Theatre by Jim Reyland 89 Poet’s Corner 91 StudioTenn by Logan Treadaway 92 ArtSee 94 FYEye by Hunter Armistead
60 Simon Roberts Internationally Acclaimed Photographer Shows Us the World We Want to See 64 Greg Decker The Nashville Icon Takes a Long Hard Look at “My Inch of Space, My Moment in Time”
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96 NPT 100 Sounding Off by Joseph E. Morgan 101 Beyond Words by Marshall Chapman 102 My Favorite Painting
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LAURA BAUGH 615.330.3051(M) | 615.250.7880 (O) LAURABAUGH3@GMAIL.COM
JUNE 15, 16 & 17 JUNE 15, 16 & 17PARK FREE ADMISSION | CENTENNIAL
FREE ADMISSION CENTENNIAL PARK 150+ Contemporary Craft and |Fine Artists, Live Music All Day, Free Kids Activities Artisanal Wine,Live Craft Beer All & Cocktails 150+Art Contemporary Craft andFood Fine & Artists, Music Day, Free Kids Art Activities Artisanal Food & Wine, Craft Beer & Cocktails AMERICANARTISANFESTIVAL.COM AMERICANARTISANFESTIVAL.COM
BENNET T GALLERIES New Work by
HANNAH LANE
SHERRIE RUSS LEVINE
Cove Reflections Study, Oil on linen, 12” x 12”
TONI SWARTHOUT
Purple Haze, Mixed media on canvas, 30” x 40”
Opening Reception July 14, 2018 6pm to 8:30pm Gratitude, Acrylic on canvas, 48” x 48”
2104 Crestmoor Road in Green Hills, Nashville, TN 37215 Hours: Mon-Fri 9:30 to 5:30 • Sat 9:30 to 5:00 Phone: 615-297-3201 • www.bennettgalleriesnashville.com
Friday, June 1, from 6 until 9 p.m. Experience historic downtown Franklin and see a variety of art during the Franklin Art Scene. Gallery 202 is featuring artist Vicki Sawyer and will have over fifty of her smaller works in the show. Sawyer says this show is a celebration of ten years of painting from the inspiration “If Birds Can Build Nests, Then They Can Make Hats.” Parks on Main is presenting oil paintings by John Cowden, whose collection includes portraits, Nashville landmarks, famous athletes, musicians, and serene seascapes. At Imaginebox Emporium see paintings Vicki Sawyer, Gallery 202 by Cory Basil as well as sculpture and prints. Outdoor Classic Structures is showcasing wood carver/mixed-media artist Essence DeVonne whose subject matters and mediums range from hand-carved pop art cartoons and musicians, to mixed-media butterflies and abstract paintings. Twine Graphics is exhibiting new work by Ryan Rado, which focuses on details of contrast and texture. Enjoy art by Mary Jo Graham at The Cellar. The Registry is displaying paintings by Megan Matthews. Franklin First United Ryan Rado, Twine Graphics Methodist Church is hosting Mary Ann McGinley, whose art is a combination of her love of maps, flowers, and patterns through the use of printmaking and oil paring on wood. Photography by Jen Vogus is also being shown at the church. Photographs by Jen Vogus’s special education students from Centennial High School Transition II are on view as well. Their exhibit, Able Voices: Sharing Who We Are Through Our Photographs, displays images of the people, places, and things that are most important to them. For more information and the trolley schedule, visit www.downtownfranklintn.com/the-franklin-art-scene.
First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown
Saturday, June 2, from 6 until 9 p.m. Enjoy an evening of art under the lights on 5th Avenue. The Arts Company is holding an opening reception for Contemporary Visionaries: A Modern Approach to Outsider Art, a collection of paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media works by artists Butch Anthony, Amy Lansburg, Charlie Lucas, Justin Robinson, and married artist team Amy Arnold and Kelsey Sauber Olds (see page 47). Tinney Contemporary is unveiling James Perrin’s solo exhibition Heterogeneity, a new collection of large-scale paintings (see page 34). The Browsing Room Gallery is presenting Artists at Work: Resident Artists of the Downtown Presbyterian Church, an exhibition of work by DPC artists Tom Veirs, Cary Gibson, Megan Lightell, Lauryn Peacock, Hans Schmitt-Matzen, Sarah Shearer, and Richard Feaster.
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In the historic Arcade, artist Mike Martino is showing new series of screen prints including the screens and materials to make these prints at Blue Fig Gallery. Mary Hong Gallery is exhibiting works by illustrator and artist Guy Gilchrist, known for his work on comic strips such as “Nancy” and Jim Henson’s “Muppets.” A variety of mediums including hand-inked comic strip panels, hand-painted stringed instruments, pen-and-ink drawings, and rare cartoon memorabilia will be included.
Hatch Show Print’s The Haley Gallery is opening Sonnenzimmer’s Shape Song, the collective work of artists Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi. For parking and trolley information, visit www.nashvilledowntown.com/play/firstsaturday-art-crawl.
Uptown Crossing Parking Garage
The corner of West End and 21st Avenues On your way from the First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown to Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston, stop by Uptown Crossing Parking Garage where Brian Tull is painting three large-scale murals. Tull’s painting-turned-mural, The Highway Has Always Been Your Lover, is complete and will remain on view permanently. The murals vary in size, with the largest being around 50’ long by 11’ tall, and the compositions of all feature cars in various landscapes.
Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston
Saturday, June 2, from 6 until 9 p.m. From Hagan to Houston to Chestnut and beyond, Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/ Houston offers a broad range of artistic experience. abrasiveMedia is opening Eyes Up, Nickels Down, a collection of installations by Brian Somerville. Somerville sculpts beasts; layered with humor and personal symbolism, his creatures explore human relationships and the beast within us all. Brian Somerville, abrasiveMedia Julia Martin Gallery is unveiling their annual group exhibition, BEVY, including work by local and international artists Andrew Weir, Beizar Aradini, Bill Miller, R. Ellis Orrall, John Paul Kesling, Keavy Murphree, Megan Watkins, Rachel Wayne, Sharan Ranshi, and Tara Walters. David Lusk Gallery kicks
Richard Feaster, The Browsing Room Gallery
Franklin Art Scene
Sonnenzimmer, The Haley Gallery
June Crawl Guide
East Side Art Stumble
Nick Stull, Red Arrow Gallery
Saturday, June 9, from 6 until 10 p.m.
Take a drive down Gallatin Pike to Red Arrow Gallery for the opening of two solo exhibitions by three artists. Printmaking collaborators Lauren Kinney and Patrick Vincent are presenting large-scale woodcut prints on Japanese paper titled We the Beast. Ohio native Nick Stull is showing All
Smyrna Art Crawl Saturday, June 9, from 5 until 9 p.m. Part of the Depot District Arts Fest, a month-long celebration of the arts, the Art Crawl features works from local artists displayed in the Historic Train Depot, Smyrna Assembly Hall, and the Carpe Artista Training Center. For more details, visit www.depotdistrictartsfest.com.
Germantown Art Crawl Saturday, June 16, from 6 until 9 p.m. Tour the non-traditional art spaces of Germantown to see an array of artworks by a variety of artists. As you make your way through the neighborhood, stop at these key art spots: 100 Taylor Arts Collective, Abednego, Wilder, Bits & Pieces, Bearded Iris Brewing, and Alexis & Bolt. For updates and more information, visit www.facebook.com/ germantownartcrawl.
Jefferson Street Art Crawl Saturday, June 23, from 6 until 9 p.m. Celebrating their two-year anniversary this month, the Jefferson Street Art Crawl offers a unique and inspiring artistic experience. The Garden Brunch Cafe is featuring selected works by local artists, including Joseph Love, Sheree Greider and Kyro Wolf. The visual artwork is a Celebration of Black Music Month with the Jefferson Street Jazz & Blues Festival and PacFest Nashville. Thaxton Waters is bringing back Art History Class with Sitting at the Welcome Table (Post-War Cooking). The history lesson will celebrate black culinary traditions while examining social and economic influences on black health. Viktor Le, a Nashville-based chef and artist, will prepare tastings inspired by the history lesson. The event is hosted by the Susie Brannon McJimpsey Center. Cultural Visions is highlighting Detroit artist LaShun Beal, who works across mediums inviting viewers to join his spiritual journey to create without limits. Woodcuts Gallery and Framing is exhibiting two- and three-dimensional works from Colombia-born and longtime Nashville resident Jairo Prado. One Drop Ink is showing abstract works on feminism and beauty—both inside and out—by Veronica Leto. One Drop will also be hosting Southern Word’s open mic cypher during the art crawl. Please stay updated and view the map at Facebook.com/JSACTN.
LaShun Beal, Cultural Visions Art
Andrew Weir, Julia Martin Gallery
John Duckworth, David Lusk Gallery
off the summer with Vestige, a guest-curated photography exhibition by Sam Easley and Jason Owen featuring work by Caroline Alison, Coriana Close, Kevin Cooley, John Duckworth, William Eggleston, Catherine Erb, Huger Foote, Kristi Hargrove, Shannon Randol, Kathleen Robbins, Jack Spencer, Jeane Umbreit, and William Wegman. CONVERGE is hosting a closing reception for Potential of Clay: Old School Farm Pottery, which showcases the clay work of Old School Farm Pottery, as well as personal work from Founder Julia Whitney Brown, Pottery Teacher and Coordinator Rebecca Blevins, and Studio Assistant Jo Mechan (see page 82). The Gallery at Fort Houston is presenting their Annual Summer Showcase, which will serve as a preview to new work, as well as a retrospective of the first half of 2018. Over 20 visual artists and craftsmen will be exhibited. Zeitgeist is featuring two shows: Public Performance by Simon Roberts brings together works from the photographer’s two series The Last Moment and Sight Sacralization: (Re)framing Switzerland (see page 60). Still We Move by Jered Sprecher is an exhibition of large-format paintings guided by the artist’s urge to form a delicate balance between instability and stability. At Channel To Channel enjoy founder Dustin Hedrick’s exhibit Cobwebs & Catacombs (see page 88). For more information, visit www.artsmusicweho.wordpress.com.
the Water We Have Is All the Water We Ever Had, a series of portrait and figurative-based paintings. Southern Grist Brewery is displaying loosely realistic acrylic paintings of Nashville Predators players by Rodan. For updates on the East Side Art Stumble, visit www.facebook.com/ eastsideartstumble.
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Brenda Buffett Goes
City Surfing Customs House Museum
|
City Surfing, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”
June 1–July 1
WORDS Peter Chawaga
T
hrough her new exhibition City Surfing, local artist Brenda Buffett has demonstrated the power to capture the spirit and energy of an entire cityscape and transfer it to canvas. Buffett’s show is the latest in a yearlong series curated by Nashville Arts Magazine at the Customs House Museum in Clarksville. Her work captures the moveable feast available in Music City through bright, overlapping pastels that create the sense of dynamism one gets from embracing all that Nashville has to offer. “A day or night in Nashville is all about surfing from one fun place to another, a ball game, a new restaurant, an art crawl show, a concert,” Buffett says. “In my abstract paintings, I seek to express the feeling of this vibrant and many-layered community with densely textured, bold, yet nuanced compositions.” Buffett has distilled the energy of the city itself into a series of large-scale (mostly 36” or 40” square) paintings for the show. Using a credit card, potato masher, eye patches, or chopsticks, she spreads color and applies multimedia around a canvas to illustrate the feeling that she gets from her bluffside studio overlooking downtown.
“The acrylic-on-canvas work is all about textures, nuances, patterns, geometric shapes, movement, feelings, and optimism,” she says. “Most hint at a cityscape and are large and vibrant like Nashville. The selection of art features paintings of cityscapes with abstract shapes of buildings.”
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Honeysuckle Hill, Mixed media on canvas, 36” x 36”
This being a June show, Buffett has also incorporated some works that apply the same use of palette and geometry to capture the warmth and tropical ambiences of summer. As a lifelong Nashvillian, Buffett has a style that seems particularly honed to capture what has become one of the quickerchanging cities in the country. “The signature of this community is action and change,” she explains. “The vibrations cannot be captured in static painting. I hope my paintings capture a constant movement, like the energy of the turnaround in SoBro . . . I want visitors to have a sense of place, time, structure—of random form and an urge to reach out and touch the canvas and feel the texture of the art. If they feel a little happier, more alive, and more optimistic about the world, that would please me.” na Buffett’s City Surfing is on view at Customs House Museum’s Peg Harvill Gallery, 200 S. 2nd Street in Clarksville from June 1 through July 1. For more information, visit www.customshousemuseum.org.
Ashley Wiltshire Spotswood
Edge of Day, 40 x 40, oil on board
4304 Charlotte Ave • Nashville, TN 615-298-4611 • www.lequiregallery.com
2018
American Artisan Festival |
June 15–17 Photograph by Jason Lee Denton
Centennial Park
WORDS Donna Glassford
M
Nashville is home to many impressive art collections that feature fine art and craft. A number of collectors joyfully credit their craft addiction to two women: the late Nancy Saturn and Alice Merritt, both best known as the Nashville Godmothers of Craft. These two women championed the unique qualities of hand-made objects and passionately promoted and nurtured craft artists. In 1971, Nancy Saturn produced one of Nashville’s first craft fairs on Bandywood Drive in Green Hills. For 20 years, Alice Merritt was the director of the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (now Tennessee Craft) and oversaw the TACA craft fairs. Every year these shows happen in Centennial Park, yet each event has its own panache. Following in her mother’s footsteps, Samantha (“Sam”) Saturn inherited her mother’s fervor for craft and has assumed the mantle of festival director and curator. According to Saturn, the difference between the American Artisan Festival and other regional craft fairs is “mostly in curating the show. Tennessee Craft and other shows do an incredible job highlighting the
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Patti and Bob Stern, MA BELL, 2018, 3-D Mixed media, 72” x 24”
any of Nashville’s art hounds, aficionados, and collectors eagerly look forward to craft season: late April through October. The American Artisan Festival, now celebrating its 44th year, is held in Centennial Park and traditionally falls on Father’s Day weekend come rain, shine, and heat. Last year, almost 15,000 people attended the festival to purchase artisans’ wares, hear great music, eat delicious food, walk their dog, and engage in artmaking activities. This year’s festival runs June 15, 16 and 17.
Kathleen Doyle-Murphy, Lapis Lazuli bracelet
A Branch of Daigh Rick Landscape Architects, LLC
amazing work of handcraft artists. I think all the shows are strong around here. “For me, the American Artisan Festival is about the highest quality across all mediums. Having spent my entire life attending American Craft Council shows with my mother as a buyer for her gallery, and then later in my own career working to start businesses like Artspace.com, an online marketplace for middle-market contemporary works, I have spent my career around artists and fine art. I have a keen sense of what is accessible as well as the highest quality art. There are 150 artists coming from a wide range of places, bringing an extensive variety of stories and works with them. But the balance between diversity, quality, and accessibility is what I focus on and what makes this show so special.” Ceramics, glass, wood, metal, photography, painting, printmaking, sculpture, jewelry, mixed media, furniture . . . all mediums will be represented, with prices ranging from $25 to $2,500. Jewelry is the biggest seller, which drives 40 to 50 percent of all retail sales. In a new twist to the festival, Saturn has invited a few public artists to create site-specific artworks. Artists are Brett Douglass Hunter, whose installation will feature a family of creatures dotting the entrance, and Beth Reitmeyer’s installation entitled Waves, an interactive large-scale patchwork parachute that looks like a lake. Activities for all ages to enjoy will be live music, tasty food offerings, art-making with the Clay Lady, an up-cycled kids’ art activity led by the Turnip Green team, and a kids’ story hour with Parnassus Books on Saturday and Sunday. Saturn’s daughter Natalie and friends will be hosting a book-making booth where visitors can make prints and create original stories and books. And Jose the Face Painter will be on hand to turn children into artworks themselves! na For more information about the 2018 American Artisan Festival, visit www.americanartisanfestival.com.
A m a n da J oy b rown + K at h e r i n e Wagne r r
u
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T h r o u g h J u l y 6 th, 2 0 1 8 Galerie Tangerine is free and open Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM Located at 900 South Street, Suite 104 615.454.4100 www.galerietangerine.com
No Stronger Bond, 2007, Oil on panel, 14” x 11”
Photograph by Jane Wright
FRESH PAINT
David Wright in his studio
Reflections on a Lifetime of Being an Artist WORDS David Wright
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’ve always thought that historical artists march to a different drummer. We paint something that isn’t here anymore, something from another time. And we try to tell a story. And to get the story right means research. As a painter of historical subjects, I feel it’s my obligation to our present generations and future ones to paint the subject with as much historical accuracy as possible. I try for my work to be as accurate as possible within the parameters of what I know. This can be a moving target—what I think, today, is set in stone as fact may change tomorrow by some new historical discovery. So, I’m always researching, and I’ve spent a lifetime doing it along with my painting. Even so, I’ve made my share of mistakes with some historical detail or another. Comes with the territory, I reckon. I try not to be rigid, but I do want my paintings to be not only good but historically accurate, too. I’ve had a good run, can’t complain. Maybe to be more successful, I could have done a few things differently; worked harder or been savvier business-wise. But all in all, though I’m not considered at the top of the heap, I’ve done well. I have met and become friends with a lot of great artists whom I admire, have quite a few arts-educated collectors who have also become friends through the years, and have paintings in several museum collections. I’ve even won a few awards, which are nice, but are they the most important thing?
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A Moment Away, 2013, Oil on panel, 34” x 24”
Considering the Consequences, 2012, Oil on panel, 24” x 18”
At my age, I still enjoy painting and get just as much satisfaction out of completing what I think is a good painting as I did forty years ago—and that’s what matters. I don’t put in the hours I used to when I was young and full of piss and vinegar. The fire in the belly is still there, but just not roaring quite as high. Other things seem to gain in importance the longer I go: spending time with my family and friends, going places and seeing new things. The end of the tunnel is out there somewhere, roaring down like a freight train. It’s a thought that’s hammered home
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The Team, 2018, Oil on panel, 11” x 14”
So, what is important? Aside from being content with your personal life, making a living is pretty high up there—putting food on the table, providing for your yourself and family. (I’ve never been inclined to live in a garret and paint for art’s sake). It’s important that I’m doing work I am satisfied with. I know that not every piece is going to be a magnum opus, but as artists, we’re able to leave behind a body of work for future generations. Along with people in science, medicine, diplomacy, and philosophy, who all also leave behind bodies of work that are important for future generations, we as artists, whether it’s in the visual arts, music, or literature, hope our work will be a gift to be enjoyed by those who follow us. We don’t know. Maybe our work will be criticized or even ignored. Will anyone know who we were and what we did? Does it even matter?
every time I lose a family member or a long-time friend. It’s a reminder that good health and doing work that means something to you are more important than a healthy 401(k). Every day is a blessing. We should make the most of it. na David Wright is represented by Legacy Galleries (Scottsdale, Arizona, and Jackson, Wyoming) and Lord Nelson’s Gallery (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania). www.davidwrightart.com.
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That What I Dream, 2015, Oil, 30” x 24”
KRIMON
WORDS Karen Parr-Moody
OLGA Olga Krimon
Photograph by Araby Patch
Hits a Nostalgic High Note
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here’s a fascinating word in the Portuguese language: saudade. The Oxford Dictionary calls it “a feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia.” Portuguese writer Manuel de Melo defines it as “a pleasure you suffer, an ailment you enjoy.” Saudade describes the melancholy undercurrent of memory in a way that no other word does. Saudade binds us together in our longing for a past we can no longer fully access. If you haven’t felt saudade, you haven’t lived, because it will break your heart.
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”
Saudade. A feeling of longing, melancholy, or nostalgia. A pleasure you suffer, an ailment you enjoy.
Birthday Cake, 2017, Oil, 18” x 24”
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Olga Krimon creates paintings that elicit feelings of saudade. Her subjects are rendered in spaces carved out of emptiness and solitude; they’re the sort of spaces that make us struggle to remember something ephemeral but real. Hers is serious work, like that of the Russian masters whom she admires: Valentin Serov, Ilya Repin, Nicolai Fechin and Mikhail Vrubel.
know. Yet we feel it. Saudade is in action yet again. “There’s a longing for something,” Krimon says of her work. “And the feeling of ‘I’ve seen it somewhere . . . I’ve seen it in my dreams.’ I can relate to that.” She wants the viewer to absorb the emotion of her work
Take Krimon’s painting Time Out, for example. A boy sits against a backdrop comprised of bold angles and a color palette in largely restrained tones of blue, green, and ochre. The scene depicts the universal method of non-corporal punishment, as the boy has been sentenced to “time out.” The mood is somber.
Time Out, 2018, Oil, 14” x 24”
In Krimon’s painting Silence, the landscape around the female subject is swept away. Where is she? The geography—even the method of travel—has been obscured. The world whizzes past her through the urgency of Krimon’s brushstrokes. But the viewer interprets it in his or her own way. This woman could be on a ferry, traveling to the salttinged air of some distant island. She could be on a wagon, traveling to the golden fields of a wheat farm. We don’t
Silence, 2018, Oil, 48” x 48”
But the pomegranate in the boy’s hand is the painting’s heartbeat, igniting in the viewer a visceral response. The universal experience of eating this particular fruit is one of luxuriating in the wet beads of its seeds. It’s a swoon-worthy experience, that burst of sweet and liquid at each bite. And, like the boy in Krimon’s painting, we surrender to this moment of quiet decadence, the loophole in our “time out.”
After, 2018, Oil, 12” x 16”
and also be drawn into a painting—and kept there—by lines both curvaceous and diagonal. “The pieces I admire most are the ones with a strong composition that give me that longing,” she says. Krimon has an interesting background. She grew up in Communist Russia at a time when art wasn’t a career to which youths aspired. During her teen years, Krimon attended a four-year academic art school in Russia. She loved creating art, but she felt a tug of resistance. “Honestly, I just thought, realistically, what kind of career is there in art?” she says. “It was Russia under Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika of the late 80s. That career was kind of a dead end. A fine-art career didn’t exist, to my knowledge. I didn’t know anyone who pursued it.”
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technology. Yet she continued to paint in her spare time. In addition, she studied drawing with Glen Orbik, an illustrator known for his noir style, and painting with Jeremy Lipking, one of America's most highly regarded realist painters. “Nothing else was making me happy,” she says. “For a long while, I had a double life. I had a corporate life and at the same time I was working with galleries and getting awards. No one in the art world knew I was working corporate. I hid the fact that I was leading a double life.” Eventually, this double life caused fissures to form, and Krimon made what many would consider a leap over a cavern without a toehold in sight: She quit her job. She has since fully embraced art as a career and is represented by Leiper’s Creek Gallery.
Krimon attended Odessa University to study English and literature and become an interpreter. “I took a differing path,” she says. “I just put everything down and became practical.”
“When I quit my job, my whole organization and my boss thought I was crazy,” Krimon says. “And maybe I am. But I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. When it’s not you, it’s not you. You have to do what you have to do. It’s funny how things worked out.” na
It was a choice she would grow to regret. For the last ten years, Krimon has masqueraded in her career, taking on the guise of a corporate employee specializing in information
Olga Krimon is represented by Leiper’s Creek Gallery, www.leiperscreekgallery.com. See more of Olga’s work at www.olgakrimon.com.
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eclandesignllc.com info@eclandesignllc.com
Realizing a client’s visions of custom, one of a kind, hand-crafted folding screens, room dividers and wall art.
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
PERRIN
JAMES
WORDS Audrey Molloy
A Second Measure of Time, 2018, Oil on linen with acrylic resin, plant resin and paint scraps, 72” x 64”
Painting in the Post-Digital Age Tinney Contemporary
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Through June 30
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ontemporary art is increasingly consumed as part of an accelerated infosphere, intensified by semiotic and visual stimulation. In the art infosphere, material interactions are ubiquitously two-dimensional, transpiring within the constraints of a quarter-inch of an illuminated glass screen. Artworks, photographs, signs, and symbols collide in a luminous infinite scroll, boundlessly reproducible—shared—in ever-flattening digital formats. We discover and experience artworks and artists online, but are often unable to interact with their physical presence. In this space, artworks are implicated as visual fiction, incorporeal. So too, bodies and intellectual exchanges often take the form of digital artifacts. It has been the purview of artists, curators, and institutional entities in recent years to try and situate the narrative of contemporary art in an atemporal world. Yet, there is no specific style or ideology for art practices post-Internet, where all eras and influences exist concurrently. Contemporary artists are free to sample, adopt, and reanimate a confluence of traditional and emergent aesthetic concerns based on the availability of visual information. This dissolute convergence of styles, genres, and origins could itself be the unifying thematic of our contemporary moment.
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Divide, 3 panels, 2017, Oil on linen with plant resin, acrylic resin, paint scapings, 64” x 152”
For contemporary painting, the post-digital landscape— where the relationship of humans to digital technologies and art forms rapidly evolves—is rife with self-consciousness. Painting is a medium specifically concerned with vision and touch to relay what it’s like to have an individual mind, a singular body, but these symbolic values are disarmed by digital culture. A contemporary visual experience of painting is preceded by its status as a photographic document viewed online—that is to say, a viewer’s initial interaction with painting is increasingly mediated by its reproduction as a photographic image or high-resolution scan. Our recognition of contemporary painting’s materiality and origin is sublated with photography’s post-digital authenticity.
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newness in painting. This is its strength.
I am thinking of a studio visit I had with Nashville-based artist James Perrin. In conversation regarding relative newness in painting, and the direction of his current practice, he jested, “Hasn’t everything been done before?”
Divide (2017) is a painting by James Perrin currently showing in the artist’s solo exhibition, Heterogeneity, at Tinney Contemporary. It is a formidable work which, upon further consideration, also functions as sort of indexical panorama for painting in the post-digital. Spanning nearly thirteen feet, and comprised of two large square canvases with a thin panel between, the piece is a grand gesture to the formal rigour and history of lyrical abstract painting, but also contains much of the imagery, formal mark-making, and high-contrast range that Perrin has investigated across his oeuvre. A gash of red impasto diagonally bridges the three grey fields, acting as kind of a visual referent that points to the paint chips, glowing suns, pools of water, digital ripples, and graphic pastel lines suspended across its surface. It is an amalgam of artifacts, motifs, and sections of paint mined from Perrin’s own paintings.
And yet, despite the casualness of such a quip, Perrin’s remark vis-à-vis contemporary painting’s ability for novelty is an observation that clarifies the responsiveness of painting to post-digital culture, not its imminent death. It is a fact that painting, as a deeply historic practice, insists on remaining relevant. However, as Perrin’s own work demonstrates, contemporary painting in the post-digital age is unburdened by linear tradition and free to investigate an aggregate of visual and conceptual references—its practitioners are consciously resolved that there can be no substantial
Perrin’s practice, though aesthetically referential to the energetic gestures and non-representational forms of abstract-expressionism, are a physical culmination of digital and painterly compositing. His is a practice cognizant of painting’s material hybridization—its constant vacillation between digital and physical spaces, as a jpeg, a print, a scan—and the repetitive visual possibilities of painting through formal inquiry and digital manipulation. Employing Photoshop to pre-visualize his works, Perrin uses the digital editing software to mask, collage, and multiply photographic
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Removing the Demon From the Rock, 2018, Oil on linen with acrylic resin, plant resin and paint scraps, 84� x 72�
material and sections of his own paintings in a complex series of layers. These digital compositions serve as a type of map from which the artist produces his works. Observed from a distance, these inter-dimensional paintings indeed appear to be digital in nature. Seen most readily in A Last Moment (2017) and Removing the Demon From the Rock (2018), two high-contrast expressionist panels included in the exhibition, Perrin borrows the visual language and strategies incurred from a digital editing space. Enshrouded in dense backgrounds of black, exact filaments of white and pale pink intersect graphically with atmospheric gradients of varying
transparencies. Opaque sections of matte paint are masked and layered by gestural cavities of rendered images—forms which float indeterminately between the dark background and tactile paint-chip surface. The structural use of paint chips on the surface of the painting is a material investigation the artist initially employed in his Walmart Studies (2012) as a topographic overlay on realist paintings of commercial interiors. His recurrent inquiry into the dimensionality of paint denotes a heightened formal awareness of the flatness of the picture plane. Here, barnacles of impasto protrude sculpturally outward from the canvases in an overt testament to the
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physical body of paint. Invariably, the intense working of the canvas by Perrin in these newer works has eschewed the poetic significance that the frenetic accumulations of paint and gesture previously served. Where the highly charged environs of the Walmart Studies inferred symbolic meaning onto the intense aggregate of paint, Perrin’s studied use of paint-palette materials and digital artifacts has positioned these works as evidence for a medium intent on positing form over function. In his review of “The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World” at the Museum of Modern Art in 2013, David Salle writes, “Most if not all art reaches backward to earlier models in some way; every rupture is also a continuity. The ‘reaching back’ might be to unexpected sources, but imprints of earlier achievements are what give art its gristle and grit. What’s different is the mode of seeing.” Perrin’s conflation of digital process with painterly technique is an insouciant insistence on the hybridity of contemporary painting which pervades the works in Heterogeneity at Tinney Contemporary. A Second Measure of Time (2018) is visually divided by both approaches. On the right side of the canvas, Perrin reiterates his fractured motif of reflective water, alluding to painting’s tradition of representational space—the canvas as a window—through the inclusion of a horizon line. A buoyant gradient of orange emanates from the center of the canvas—a near photographic depiction of a setting sun which is partially masked by a cacophony of painterly strategies on the left. Paint scrapings, expressive mark-making, carefully rendered forms, graphic lines, and swaths of daubed paint, as seen elsewhere in the show, intersect in a complex series of layers that recall Perrin’s process.
A Last Moment, 2017, Oil on linen with acrylic resin, plant resin, paint scraps and Tahitian pearls, 72” x 64”
Significantly, Perrin’s work disrupts the symbolism so often attributed to the human conscious in painting by sharing the creative process with technological means—editing software, photographs, high-resolution scans. In this manner, Perrin simultaneously denies the material surface of the canvas and deftly points to it. It is a paradoxical push and pull between technical tradition and contemporary abstraction that underscores the timeliness of these works in current culture. Perrin exemplifies the boundless reproducibility and repetition of visual content in our postdigital infosphere, unbound by style, genre, strategies, or time, a space of constant referral. We are assured that for painting, there is modernity in permutation. na James Perrin’s solo exhibition, Heterogeneity, will be on view at Tinney Contemporary through June 30. Perrin will also be exhibiting work in Chaos and Awe at the Frist Art Museum later this month. For more information, visit www.tinneycontemporary.com. See more of Perrin’s work at www.jameswperrin.com. A Summation of Apperceptions, 2017, Oil on linen with acrylic resin, plant resin and paint scraps, 72” x 64” 38
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Warren Greene & Lisa Weiss June 9 - July 28 Opening reception Saturday June 9th, 6-8pm Artists will be present
www.cumberlandgallery.com | 615 297 0296 | 4107 Hillsboro Circle
Beautiful Bait: Beth Cavener Evokes Human Empathy through Animal Forms The Clay Lady's Campus
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June 20–22
WORDS Margaret F. M. Walker
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ecently, I visited Gray & Dudley, the restaurant in Nashville’s 21c Museum Hotel. I was struck by large, curious, skillful sculptures of animals installed on the walls. There was something compelling and complicated about them, but I was unsure what. After speaking with Beth Cavener, their creator, and becoming more familiar with her oeuvre, I realize why they were so striking. Cavener’s focus is on human psychology and emotions, but animals are the vehicle for carrying her messages. She has worked in sculpture for the majority of her career, and her undergraduate majors in astronomy and physics seem a natural academic companion to creating three-dimensional forms on such a large scale. Her majors were supplemented by many art classes, all spent modeling the human form in clay. For many years now, she has focused on animal forms, but the archetype is in fact still human. Cavener found difficulty creating a universally relatable human form—if it is not the same gender, shape, or race, we may subconsciously distance ourselves from the ideas communicated. Human struggles such as fear, apathy, aggression, and perseverance are at the core of her work, and she discovered that people empathize more universally with these ideas when they are conveyed by animals. What better way to remind viewers of their more primal, instinctive selves? Scale is important to Cavener. A sculpture on human scale such as L’Amante is one we are meant to identify with closely; at two- or three-times size, A Second Kind of Loneliness should evoke feelings of smallness in the viewer; diminutive, child-sized sculptures stir protective and sympathetic instincts. As someone interested in the objectness of art, I find it so important to consider scale when working with images. Medium is the other element often obscured by pictures. I had never before seen sculpture of this size created as a ceramic, which requires incredible finesse of technique to execute. Cavener is generous in sharing her wisdom in great detail in workshops and on her website. The daughter of two educators, it was instilled in her that “teaching is the most valuable thing you can do with your life.” She is coming to Nashville for a few days this month for several events: a lecture at 21c, a workshop at the Clay Lady’s Campus, and a workshop at the Appalachian Center for Craft. The artist’s scientific mind again shows in her willingness to
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problem-solve and experiment, with the firing of each new project still leaving her anxious. She blew up everything for the first few years and now, she says, can at least usually see the difficulties coming. Ceramic allows the clay in which she works, with all its texture, fluidity, and idiosyncrasies, to be the final product rather than something translated into another medium like bronze. The immediacy of fired clay, she finds, makes her sculpture more present and empathetic. While the process is remarkably impressive, it is the final, evocative work that has brought Cavener recognition. Cycles of four to eight sculptures all revolve around a particular idea and are designed for a particular installation. While the work has roots in her own life, providing the drive for a complete vision, she also has the community, history, location, and audience of the installation inform the idea, creating the greatest potential for it to resonate with others. Her current work revolves around self-doubt, which may manifest in behaviors as diverse as withdrawal and bullying. I inquired, “What happens when they get sold, presumably not as an installation set?” Nashville, in fact, has the only full set, The Four Humors, designed for Art Basel Miami and now at 21c. Cavener aptly used the analogy of a family to describe the dispersal of her sculptures after an exhibition. “We grow up in distinct families and locations that we carry with us as we spread out and live our lives. That is what my sculptures do. They take on a new meaning by themselves but always have a tie to the other works.” The sculptures from the 2017 cycle are at first perplexing. Kept, a hare about to break free, is incredibly tense. Beloved
Tribute (Wolf and Monkey), 2017, Stoneware, paint, hand forged steel collars and chain, 46”h x 58”w x 31”d
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Cavener’s focus is on human psychology and emotions, but animals are the vehicle for carrying her messages.
L’Amante, 2012, Stoneware, ink, paint, Japanese style tattoo designed with and painted by Alessandro Gallo, 45”h x 60”l x 44”d
(Rearing Deer) has its antlers wrapped in twine but a patiently enduring look on its face. Caress maintains tension but in such a tender manner, and Tribute is truly curious, with two unlike forms linked by a slack chain, the power dynamic between them unclear. The theme for this series was human relationships, which I began to see in all their variety in these animals. The fox, Through an Empty Place, also from 2017, is about the process of mourning. This animal’s intense stare but timid step out of the shadowy place speak to the wide range of emotions encompassed by this season in life. There is a continuity over time between Olympia, 2006, a suggestively posed, blindfolded goat; L’Amante, 2012, a tattooed rabbit staring us down with the sex appeal and windblown “hair” of a model; and Unrequited (Variation in Peach), 2016, another suggestive rabbit, though not conventionally appealing. The first is modeled after Manet’s groundbreaking 1863 painting of the same title. Yet Manet’s Olympia looks right back at Through an Empty Place (The Fox Emerging from Shadow), 2017, Stoneware, paint, wood, 47”h x 67”w x 12”d 44
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Kept (Variation in Cream and Pussywillow), 2017, Resin-infused refractory material, rope, 24” h x 12” l x 28” w
Olympia, 2006, Stoneware, white porcelain slip, oil blush, cloth blindfold, 27”h x 48”l x 35”d
Beloved (Rearing Deer), 2017, Stoneware, bone, rope, and steel 112”h x 36”w x 48”d
A Second Kind of Loneliness, 2012, Stoneware, paint, paper pinwheel, internal mechanical breathing device, 64”h x 117”w x 22”d
the viewer gazing upon her nude form, whereas Cavener’s Olympia is blindfolded, her sexuality a vulnerability. While L’Amante’s form is less overt, her gaze matches the strength of Manet’s Olympia, challenging the viewer and in charge of her languid form. Unrequited looks for beauty in an awkward pose and a fleshy form. Together, they speak to the not-soeffortless longing to be sexually desirable that many women experience. There is another consistent feature in Cavener’s sculpture: Despite the deep, usually dark, human emotions and struggles they engage, they are executed with great skill and, overwhelmingly, beauty. Cavener calls them her “beautifully baited hooks,” appealing to our instinctual draw to the visually pleasing in order to engage our minds. They are luscious and tactile but also serious, engaging painful ideas, and in a broad sense, the human experience. na Beth Cavener will give a three-day demonstration class at The Clay Lady's Campus June 20–22. Register at www.theclaylady.com. Cavener’s artist lecture is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 21, in the Main Gallery on the lower level of 21c Museum Hotel. Find out more about the artist’s workshop at Appalachian Center for Craft at www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/workshops. See more of Beth Cavener’s work at www.followtheblackrabbit.com.
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THEBOOKMARK
A MONTHLY LOOK AT HOT BOOKS AND COOL READS
The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World Simon Winchester In a world where technology advances so rapidly it is nearly impossible to track, we let out a sigh of relief that we can unplug for a moment to enjoy The Perfectionists. Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author, explores the minds and the tools that brought us from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age. And what does every advance have in common? An obsessive eye for precision.
Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces
The Outsider: A Novel
Calypso
Michael Chabon
Stephen King
David Sedaris
If you’re anything like us, you have been, at one point or another, hypnotized by Stephen King. He has been unsettling and horrifying readers for decades, and The Outsider is no exception. It starts with the discovery of a body and will sweep you away into a tale of suspense and shock unlike anything you’ve ever read. Perfect for reading under the bright summer sun.
At last, a new collection of essays from the makeyou-laugh-so-hard-you-cry wunderkind David Sedaris. But if you think you know what to expect, you’re wrong. In Calypso, Sedaris turns his keen eye to mortality, and the effect is a darkly comic collection that centers around the purchase of his beach house. It’s a hilarious anti-beach read. And, you can meet David Sedaris at Parnassus Books on June 15!
Lovers of lyrical nonfiction can now grace their shelves with this brilliant collection of essays from one of our greatest writers. Centered around the viral piece he wrote for GQ about accompanying his son to Paris Men’s Fashion Week, this book explores the magic of fatherhood. Did someone say Father’s Day?
A L L
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B E S T
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F I N E
J E W E L RY
5101 Harding Road s Nashville, Tennessee 37205 s 615.353.1823 s cindiearl.com
WORDS Kathleen Boyle
Contemporary Visionaries: A Modern Approach to Outsider Art The Arts Company
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June 2–June 28
merican folk and outsider art is riddled with complication, due in part to its lack of representation within art history’s canon. A realm of artwork typically reflective of DIY cultural traditions and/or selftaught visionaries, folk and outsider art meld various aesthetics, often without direct, advanced studio or art-historical information. And, because of this characteristic, there has been for many years a general substandard association—even if not deliberate—that follows suit with this type of art. Adjectives such as “naïve” are frequently linked to these artists, and thus attribute a sense of hierarchy—even if unintended— between fine art and folk and outsider art. (The name of the latter even raises the question, Outside of what?) However, it is easy to overlook synonyms of naïveté that harbor a more positive connotation; words such as purity, earnestness, and unencumbered, words that truly suggest art for art’s sake. Yet even with this authenticity, an apparent question still begs to be asked:
“Does this kind of work belong in a fine art gallery?”
Amy Arnold and Kelsey Sauber Olds, Many Eyes, Basswood, milk paint, 30” x 10” x 8”
Amy Arnold and Kelsey Sauber Olds, Seed, Basswood, milk paint, 34” x 7” x 9”
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come as no surprise, then, to see the gallery kick off the summer with Contemporary Visionaries: A Modern Approach to Outsider Art, an exhibition that highlights substantial contemporary work of the folk and outsider art realm, while also calling into question the relevancy of such categorization in the twentyfirst century. “This exhibition continues The Arts Company’s long-time commitment to presenting folk and outsider artists as an integral part of the contemporary art world,” stated Brown. Curated by The Arts Company’s Gallery Associate Aaron Head, Contemporary Visionaries is a collection of paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media works by artists Butch Anthony, Amy Lansburg, Charlie Lucas, Justin Robinson, and married artist team Amy Arnold and Kelsey Sauber Olds. The artwork selection is diverse, to say the least. The artists reflect sundry backgrounds (age, gender, race, socioeconomics, etcetera) and demonstrate very distinct palettes, a nod to both the infinite possibilities of the human imagination and the open parameters of outsider art. “I really wanted to include different perspectives within folk and outsider art. I wanted to include people who represent the incredible history of folk and outsider work, as well as new arrivals to the scene, and not just people in the South,” remarked Head, who began his curatorial practice primarily with Southern artists. “What often marks Amy Lansburg, Same Words from Another Mouth, Driftwood and various paints on wood, 48” x 30” x 4” really great folk and outsider work is a deep pain, but a creation despite that pain. That is definitely represented in this show by some of the work.” Fortunately for Nashville, a space resides on 5th Avenue that has upheld folk art for decades, exhibiting artists such While this pain that Head perceives is present, the exhibition as Thornton Dial and Lonnie Holley (both of whom are now is nonetheless vibrant and at times even humorous. It’s as highly sought for museum collections) alongside painters, though the artists, untethered by preconceived notions sculptors, printmakers, and photographers of fine art of what their work should or should not be, were able accord. The Arts Company is a gallery that prides itself on to tap into their subconscious to pictorially expose a supporting an all-encompassing, eclectic appreciation of conglomeration of personal experiences and raw emotions creativity, its numerous exhibitions a testament to the innate that drive them to create. curiosity, keen eye, and good taste of gallery owner Dr. Anne Brown. Wisconsin-based Arnold and Sauber Olds, for example, chisel wood sculptures that explore the connections Just as the city’s musicians prove a scope much wider than between humans, animals, and nature. In works such as country music, so too has The Arts Company showcased Seed, a series of three androgynous human faces wear Nashville’s art scene savvy beyond one note. It should
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Arnold and Sauber Olds present their work in a manner reminiscent of Americana woodcarvings, yet their imagery brings a modern freshness to the tradition. Such observation attests to the climate of the folk and outsider artwork selected for Contemporary Visionaries. This exhibition delivers an array of unexpected charm and impressive artistry that surpasses stereotypes of the folk-art tradition. “I want people to realize just how contemporary the work in this genre is—and that people are still making it every day,” explained Head. “A lot of people view folk art as something that can’t be authentically created anymore, since isolation is a primary component of early folk art, and isolation is harder and harder to come by. In America, folk art became a popular term for collectors and artists who were eager for a really solidified and true American vision through artwork, and I don’t think that permeating definition has changed. Folk art by definition should speak directly to all types of
Amy Lansburg, You Couldn’t Take the Magic Out of Her Step, Driftwood, 62” x 10” x 8”
Amy Lansburg, Sometimes You Look for What Is Already There, Driftwood, 25” x 23” x 4”
deadpan expressions as their necks and the crowns of their heads are completely engulfed in a green cloak resembling a vine. In the slender work, each of the perceived cranial forms acts as a foundation for a similar yet smaller rendering, suggestive of a totem pole or matryoshka doll sequence. Thus, humankind fuses with the botanical, each generation stemming from the one prior in a manner that suggests all elements are connected.
people, and I feel that this work does this.” So the question then arises, is it even important to distinguish folk and outsider art from fine art? The answer is, of course, debatable, although Head believes that such differentiation is negligible. “Works by folk and outsider artists are as vital and have as much artistic merit as works by Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Yayoi Kusama, Richard Prince, and should be displayed alongside those works,” Head asserted. “People are finally beginning to realize this, due to amazing efforts by pioneering curators and collectors . . . I think there will be a point where people make no differentiation, and I can’t wait for that.” Contemporary Visionaries blurs the line between fine and folk art, as it challenges the preconceived notions of what either arena was or ought to be. Rather, this exhibition simply celebrates talent in its open-ended navigation of visual art’s evolution. “I was, and still am, so taken by the immediacy of folk art—its complete lack of concern with institutional norms and its emphasis on unfiltered, direct emotion,” stated Head. “What more could you want from a piece of art?” na Contemporary Visionaries: A Modern Approach to Outsider Art opens on June 2 during the First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown, and remains on view through June 28. For more information, please visit www.theartscompany.com.
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Illustrated Man
The
Point of View Photograph and Words by John Partipilo
I
t was a cool busy morning in Sky Blue, a quaint allday breakfast spot in the heart of East Nashville that I frequent. It seems like every time I eat there something unusual or magical happens.
appeared to have lived a lot of life. About a week later, I sent him the image and then he called to thank me. We started talking about the tattoos. What I found out next was fascinating.
Today was no different. I had been chatting with a couple that were visiting from Canada when a man completely covered in tattoos walked in and sat down across from me. I told the Canadians to have a wonderful day. I was completely mesmerized by this man’s image. All I could think about was how I was going to get this photograph. I completely forgot about breakfast. Passion took over hunger. I continued glancing over at him, waiting for him to finish his breakfast, and started thinking about Ray Bradbury’s 1951 novel The Illustrated Man. I casually walked over and introduced myself as a photographer. I asked if I would be able to photograph him. In a kind voice he said, “Give me a half hour; we can meet at my house in East Nashville.” When he met me at the door with his shirt off, he asked, “Do you want me to put my shirt on?” I said no, I want to shoot a portrait of you just like you are. I learned that his name is Christopher M. Mansfield, 35, founder, lead singer, and guitar player in the band Fences, an American indie rock band originally from Seattle. I positioned him up against the wall in his living room and noticed natural light flowing in through the window. I had my Fuji camera, amazing quality of light, and decided to shoot it in black and white, cropping the image in the camera. That’s how I make pictures. I posed him with his arms crossed like an Egyptian hieroglyphic ideogram symbolizing life. To me, he
Chris welcomes tattoo artists to use his body as a canvas for their art. Many of the artists are from around the world, representing different cultures. His tattoos symbolize his romance with cultures. I recognized many of the symbols on his body, because I studied them in college in an archaeology class. I also read Carl Yung’s book Man and His Symbols. The more I looked at his tattoos, the more incredible his visual story became. I took at closer look and saw powerful American Indian symbols such as a bear paw, coyote, a feather, and the four directions. I noticed many symbols written in Hebrew. There were Polynesian and Tibetan symbols. There were names of former girlfriends, some even crossed out. There were lyrics from Bonnie Prince Billy. “Sober” tattooed across his forehand is reminiscent of his choice to stop drinking. For Chris, the process of receiving the tattoos is a form of meditation in pain and silence. I was amazed by his knowledge of the symbols. He told me, “I want to use the world’s symbols on my body. I’m hyper passionate about cultural pictograms.” And like the tattooed man in The Illustrated Man, his tattoos told me about his story, the places he’s been, and the people he’s met. I love how this story and image all came together; it’s all very serendipitous, which is in alignment with my process. I call it Zen Photography. I see something and I want to make a picture. That’s how it works, and I don’t stop until I get the photograph. na To see more of John Partipilo’s work, visit www.johnpartipilo.com.
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Shooting Stars and Jellybean Trees Aaron Grayum
Opening Reception Sunday, June 24 3 – 5 pm Exhibit runs June 24–August 17, 2018 Marnie Sheridan Gallery Access Gallery from Esteswood Dr. The Harpeth Hall School 3801 Hobbs Road, Nashville, TN 37215 615.297.9543 HarpethHall.org
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
DONNA WISENER Featured Artist June 1-30 107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net www.yorkandfriends.com Follow us on at York & Friends Fine Art Pertaining to Red, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”
Nancy Loves Nashville & The Muppets Take Music City Opening June 2 through June 30
Renowned illustrator and author Guy Gilchrist, known worldwide for his work on comic strips such as “Nancy” and Jim Henson’s “Muppets,” is pleased to announce his upcoming exhibit at Mary Hong Gallery.
Opening night blends with Downtown Nashville’s First Saturday Art Crawl from 6-9 p.m., with an artist reception from 5-6 p.m. (Guy will be on hand to sign autographs for the kids.) The exhibit will feature nearly 40 original works by Gilchrist on a variety of mediums including hand-inked comic strip panels, 18 hand-painted stringed instruments, pen and ink drawings, and rare cartoon memorabilia. The highly-anticipated exhibit is Gilchrist’s first public showing since his massive multi-year display at the Nashville International Airport (Feb. 2013—Dec. 2015). This is a family-friendly event.
414 Union St. 615-423-0818 mhgallerynashville@gmail.com
Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga, Tambour II, 2015, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 59" x 59"
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Building Empathy Connection Chaos and Awe at the Frist Art Museum June 22–September 16
Corinne Wasmuht, Bibliotheque/CDG-BSL, Triptych: Oil on wood mounted on aluminum; each panel: 83" x 95", overall: 83" x 285"
WORDS Milena Castro
C
hief Curator of the Frist Art Museum, Mark Scala, has brought together an array of powerful artworks for his latest exhibition, Chaos and Awe: Painting for the 21st Century. Motivated to confront complex topics that have emerged at a global level, Scala has developed a thematic show that introduces a range of philosophical ideas. He explains that he conceived this show considering his own state of mind in recent years. “I’ve been feeling that people have little control of the network of systems that shape their lives, which makes us concurrently more connected and more vulnerable; things like communication technology and the dark web, fake news, international networks of terrorism or shady finance, racism, and extreme nationalism. These things are often invisible, and they can be frightening. At the same time, the complex of ungraspable forces provides hope for new understandings of how seemingly disparate parts of existence are linked, an exhilaration at possibilities that can arise out of the seemingly incoherent present.” The exhibition presents a framework to consider the invisible systems that we may not even sense or be aware of but shape contemporary reality and attitudes toward the future.
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Matti Braun, Untitled, 2012, Fabric dye on silk, and coated aluminum frame, 40" x 32"
Ahmed Alsoudani, Birds, 2015, Acrylic, charcoal, and colored pencil on canvas, 82" x 52" 56
The title Chaos and Awe signifies the dynamic nature of the show. Scala defines the relationship of the terms saying, “The experience of chaos can produce sensations ranging from anxiety to awe . . . awe has to do with a feeling of being transported by something larger and vaster and more powerful than yourself. That can be fear or almost a spiritual feeling.” In the end, the curator concludes that there may not be such a thing as chaos: “Chaos is in the mind of the beholder.” Using the example of a tornado, Scala explains that if your house has been destroyed by one you may feel that life has become chaotic. At the same time, you know that a tornado is a natural event that arises predictably from certain weather patterns, a complicated sequence of events that are wholly indifferent to its consequences for individual people. The disconnection between feelings and rational understanding happens in the social world as well, as emotional experience is often our only way to articulate the immeasurable impact of deep social, historical, economic, or technological forces. While the portrayal of these intangible forces inspires myriad sensations that may or may not be pleasant, the exhibition makes the case that there is value and indeed a (perhaps perverse) pleasure in examining, confronting, and even embracing the tornadic aspects of society.
connecting with the invisible in the world we can make the conscious choice to be frightened or engaged. He says, “We can hide from the unknown, building metaphorical walls, or we can say these are things that we don’t understand, that are perhaps even dangerous, but as a humanistic society, we have the power and responsibility to explore them.” Discussing his curatorial practice Scala notes, “I never come to any resolution to the problems of human consciousness. Instead, all my major exhibition projects are offered as questions that may be unanswerable, but that contemporary artists have nevertheless challenged themselves to address.”
The exhibition takes the viewer through the unknown and mysterious. The trajectory comes from Scala’s belief that by
The paintings in No Place explore the technological sublime. Scala elaborates on this idea: “Many people feel a sense
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In this exhibition he selected artists from around the world, which reveals that many of the same issues of contemporary life are shared universally. Scala explains the fluidity that dominates the conversation: “We are part of a global discourse. People start thinking the experience of being American or British is something that is unlike anyone else’s experience, but I don’t think that is absolutely true. We have our distinct socio-political realities, but we also share the same anxieties, and we share the same hopes.” As Scala researched this exhibition for several years and sorted through ways of presenting the questions of today, seven themes emerged.
of uncertainty, doubt, or anxiety when they think about the Internet and other technological developments as being incredibly powerful forces of connectivity, but they are also potentially destructive, with the capacity to pull things apart and undermine every solid foundation of our lives.” Artist Franz Ackermann’s Untitled uses broad swaths of bright colors and other more detailed visual elements to evoke an urban experience. The objects and composition are so intertwined it becomes difficult to parse what is going on. Is this a scene of the past or the future? Of destruction or unification? The sections Shadows and Collisions both confront the fragmentation of identity that results from historical forces that are deeply ingrained in world cultures, such as racial animus, colonialism, capitalism, war, and migration. Shadows focuses specifically on the subtle perpetuation of racial attitudes as a way of maintaining systemic and unequal power structures. Collisions focuses on intersections and conflicts, mostly focused on the Middle East. Scala has chosen works that portray the disruption that “happens when nations or groups fight over identity, theology, or borders. These abstract notions have a real-world consequence.” Baghdad-born painter Ahmed Alsoudani’s Birds interprets the experience of displacement and homesickness. Images of birds, birdhouses, broken eggs, and a nest suggest the disorder, pain, and loss felt by the migrant. The tone is troubling as the birds show a life cycle that is disrupted by the context of their setting. The conflict expressed in the second and third sections is
Sue Williams, Ministry of Hate, 2013, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 72" x 84"
partially resolved in Interzone. This part of the exhibition encourages contemplation of the interconnections and resilience that can arise through cross-cultural exchange and global migration. The central dichotomies are explained in the exhibition catalogue as “colonized and colonizer, east and west, living and dead, past and present.” Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga’s Tambour II calls viewers to consider the experiences of the Mangbetu people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Represented wearing traditional textiles, their unique head shape recalls the historical practice of performing skull elongation procedures from childhood. While physical deformation is no longer part of the Mangbetu culture, representing these people in this way provides a very specific identification, emphasizing the local impact of global trade. The figures’ bodies are covered in circuit board imagery. While these speak about modern technology overtaking indigenous people, they also carry a specific significance because the Mangbetu people are often employed to mine coltan, a mineral found only in their region, that is used in making electronic devices. Ilunga’s image of hybridity demonstrates the intersection of globalism, technology, and international trade, which has an effect on people at all levels of the economic spectrum. Virtuality, the fifth part of Chaos and Awe, addresses the porous boundaries between reality and cyberspace. Scala explains this tension: “When we wade into the Internet we don’t really know what’s real and what’s not real, but we often suspend criticality to accept the digital as our reality.” Korakrit Arunanondchai’s Untitled (Body Painting 9), and Corinne Wasmuht’s Bibliotheque/CDG-BSL test the stylistic
Korakrit Arunanondchai, Untitled (Body Painting 9), 2013, Acrylic paint, denim, and inkjet print on canvas, 86" x 64" NASHVILLEARTS.COM
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role of painting in transporting the viewer and redefining our notions of beauty.
bounds between abstraction and figuration to suggest a destabilization that occurs as humans see and perceive the world through a technological lens. These and other artists imagine threshold sites, in which notions of truth and fiction are suspended, even irrelevant. The vastness of the human imagination defines the scope of section six, Boundless. The exhibition catalogue posits that “rational thought is only a narrow subset of the mind’s activities.” Works such as James Perrin’s Semiosis of the Sea and Matti Braun’s Untitled feature dynamic, abstract compositions that lead the eye around the surface with the interplay of color and line. The formal elements suggest that the experience contained within the boundaries of the painting would extend outward forever, just as the things we can see or know are only glimpses of much more expansive conditions—like looking at a starlit sky through a window.
Scala explains that visitors to the Frist Art Museum will have space for reflection as they move through the exhibition. He notes that certain images may be enigmatic, as mysterious as the ideas they represent. “If people look at works in the exhibition and say, ‘I don’t feel anxiety or precarity, everything is as it should be’ then I will feel the exhibition will not really have captured the zeitgeist of our times.” Instead he wants uncertainties to stick, revelations to resonate, and curiosity to expand. He proposes, “Ultimately I hope they [museum visitors] will come away with a feeling of empathy and connectedness … willing to acknowledge the importance of the things they can’t describe but that they know are there, and see how artists are tackling some of the sensations and emotions that they themselves may indeed be feeling.” na Chaos and Awe: Painting for the 21st Century will be on view at the Frist Art Museum June 22 to September 16. For more information, visit www.fristartmuseum.
The last section, Everything, is the curator’s attempt to introduce resolutions and raise more questions about the issues presented throughout the exhibition. Scala proposes, “If you start to develop a theory of everything that includes mystical experience, mathematics, science, language, beauty, and love, you must think, How do all these things tie together?” Through a variety of worldviews, topics, and technical approaches, this section is designed to be both cautionary and optimistic. Many of the artworks in this portion of the exhibition call to mind charts or maps, abstract pathways for depicting the unknown. An example is Sarah Walker’s complex pattern painting Tanglement, which provides layers and repeated images that unfold with mystery and suppositions about the
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Mark Scala
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
Sarah Walker, Tanglement, 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 72" x 66"
Scala focused his ruminations on how the nature of painting itself helped inspire these themes. Perhaps an unlikely source for decoding the most pressing questions of today, considering that the history of this medium spans millennia, he explains, “Paint when it comes out of a tube is pure potential. It is nothing but it can become anything . . . something absolutely beautiful, provocative, and moving.” He continues, “How is it that this colored substance can be manipulated to suggest such invisible things as energy, memory, anxiety, and spirituality?” As two-dimensional wall hangings, they provide a focal point, encouraging viewers to think that what happens within the frame is a metaphor for that which is beyond. He goes on to say that “we are so caught up in the virtual world, the temporary, the ephemeral that somehow paintings crystallize, making concrete that which is fleeting.”
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boothmuseum.org Images: © Marty Stuart, John R. Cash, Last Portrait, September 8, 2003, 2003, archival pigment print, 20 x 16”, Courtesy of the artist. © Marty Stuart, Bill Monroe, Last Winter, 1995, archival pigment print, 16 x 20”, Courtesy of the artist. © Marty Stuart, Millie Black Bear, 2000, archival pigment print, 16 x 20”, Courtesy of the artist. American Ballads: The Photographs of Marty Stuart was organized by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN.
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SIMON
ROBERTS
Internationally Acclaimed Photographer Shows Us the World We Want to See Zeitgeist through June 30
Meeting The Duchess, Norfolk, 2013
WORDS Annette Griffin
Z
eitgeist is currently displaying Simon Roberts’s ethnographic photography in a show that examines popular social intentions and ideals. Public Performance brings together two of Roberts’s recent projects, Sight Sacralization: (Re)framing Switzerland and The Last Moment, in a dual offset investigation of what we see and how we show it to others. Sight Sacralization was named for the process described by scholar Dean MacCannell in which “a place is named, then framed and elevated, before being enshrined, mechanically reproduced, and finally socially reproduced across a variety of media.” The show details this moment in Switzerland’s history of landscape tourism, which has been predicated upon the human selection and reselection of winning views and vistas in managed cooperation with the environment. Roberts used the online mapping software Sightsmap to generate popularity heat maps using information from geo-tagged pictures online. Once his locations were determined, he photographed not only the views, but the viewing platforms. The result is airily performative, funny, and exquisite, revealing a fragile human theatre too intent on self-realization to take in much of the scenery. This is an instant in landscape tourism like no other; nevertheless, the movement has always been animated by its seekers and sharers as discourse on issues of domestic importance. The questions What do we want? and What can we get? are highlighted here in careful curations of priority and frequently removed from ethics. The ethics of landscape tourism, of course, encompass movements in competition for resources and recognition, so even someone fully vested in compassionate and “correct” attitudes is bound to find themselves fodder for hypocritically competitive, moralist scrutiny.
As such, the infinity ring of our devotion to landscape dives into a search for oneself. Sure, heritage and the human spirit demand that we desecrate what we most admire in order to enact the highest form of worship; but in a digression from the political savvy of our information age, we’re willing to disregard our carbon footprint for a chance at enlightenment. It raises the questions: Is travel something that was evolutionarily beneficial for humans over relatively short distances, something that we’ve now become too good at? Is it not only our overpopulation, but our mobility, our freedom, that are overburdening ecologies and creating a parasitic system of ironies too radically conservative to confront?
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Mount Pilatus, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2016
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Once his locations were determined, he photographed not only the views, but the viewing platforms.
Gornergrat, Zermatt, Switzerland, 2016
Rhine Falls, Neuhausen, Switzerland, 2016
In countries with large feral populations of dogs and cats, an entire visual mesh exists that cannot be present in a place like Nashville, for instance. One’s eyes are constantly being drawn to knee height, where granular clouds of life dart here and there, in manifold pockets over the expanse of landscape, clumping in places of resource, and dispersing across the edges of human habitation. In The Last Moment, Roberts helps us visualize a different mesh, one that we ourselves enact in a fervency for auto-augmentation. In this series, Roberts has scanned photographs from British print newspapers and noted the presence of each camera, whether they were “a pocket-sized phone camera or a professional digital SLR.” Through a translucent screen, he marks a halo around each device, so that they float in constellated patterns of abstraction; physical 0s and 1s in an unreal, white sky. The mark-making in this series is as much a tribute to tactility as it is a clinical act of disembodiment, where Roberts reveals that our determination to dispel privacy and create a lasting presence beyond our bodies burgeons into a popular preference for mechanical eyes and memory. The axis of The Last Moment is aesthetically and metaphorically disseminated via translucency, as a comment on the “various ways cameras function and are used in today’s societies.” Lenses and split-seconds, hands and mirrors: The passage of light and time is one whose capture seems classic, infinite, but is still subject to all the old laws of physics. Our intimacy with ephemera will never truly protect it, in the same way that our need for definitive understandings rules out the uncanny, uncertain magic of our planet. By that reasoning, perhaps there is value in hyper-documentation. But Roberts reminds us to question our first instincts: Must the places in which documentation occurs act effectively as sets and backdrops? What are we responsible to, in this act? Perhaps, there, translucency is also metaphorical of personal perception: the miraculous, internal understanding of ourselves and equally sublime observance of the exteriors of others, alongside the milky, misunderstood threat of those ulterior poles. Despite all the searching, despite trying to find ourselves in the reflections of what we see, we’re unlikely to get beyond that particular vantage point. na
Sight Sacralization: (Re)Framing Switzerland Part 2, Summer, Video still
Sight Sacralization: (Re)Framing Switzerland Part 2, Summer, Video still
Zeitgeist will continue to feature the work of Simon Roberts through June 30. A reception will be held on June 2 from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information, visit www.zeitgeist-art.com. See more of Simon Roberts’s work at www.simoncroberts.com.
Simon Roberts on location in Switzerland
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Greg Decker
Photograph by Kristine Potter
Dance or Die...
this was said to me by an aging dancer many years ago when I lived and worked in New York City. Fairly blunt. I never forgot it, or forget it. She still dances and thrives, though no longer on stage. Life, sometimes seeming as fragile as a spider web breaking on the brow. And what can I say about aging, or aging gracefully as an artist, which isn’t already bespoken in a thousand poems in a thousand more graceful ways? Not much, I suppose. But lately reflecting on this, a few observations from “my inch of space, my minute of time.”
WORDS Greg Decker
GREG DECKER 64
The Nashville icon takes a long hard look at “my inch of space, my moment in time”
Woman on a Fish (for Joan and Oleh), 2018, Oil on panel, 16” x 20”
Wonder, that thread of wonder which breaks from the brow, that thread of wonder naturally inborn, of which a friend lately said, “You can tell within a half hour if someone is missing their youth, their curiosity, their kindness.” Their wonder. For Emily Dickinson, reading can ring the “bells within.” The term figured lately in a painting for me (etched into the wet paint), and I still love the large luminous books which appear aloft, spreading their wings, in many of Rembrandt’s paintings. There is a Middle English word glede (pr. gledduh—in Wm. Langland’s difficult but wonderful Piers the Ploughman) which means “glowing ember.” Is it glede I see in the western sunset, behind the ragged chasing clouds? Or the glowing ember within the child drawing on a wood panel as his father runs insulation through the studs of new building? The glowing ember within the blood guiding (not just receiving) imagery. Hopefully glede is still extant in myself as I marvel on these things.
run a race in a widening circle of our making? Or a narrowing circle? The sad and irrevocable fact: One loses energy. To hold up physically one must, yes, eat, clean, exercise, stay healthy. Flaubert famously said, “Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” There is no guarantee that aging improves one’s artwork, unless one can meld experience into fresh new adventure; the fortune of aging is the decisiveness of many years of work. As an older painter, I’ve found it really helpful to take breaks, take a walk, get away from the painting, return to the work. Sleep well. Recharge.
Maybe that’s it as well? Marvel or die.
And as an older artist, I find it refreshing to talk with younger artists, to see their work (live, not just on a computer screen). Not that I always agree that something is “awesome.” It would be dishonest if I did, and I think that disagreement is healthy. I see very early works I painted decades ago, and I cringe—about the technique, not the spirit. And I admire the spirit and vitality in the work of many young artists.
Perhaps as artists, musicians, writers, builders of form, we
Doubly refreshing, for me, to spend time with children—
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Horse and Rider, 2018, Oil on canvas on panel, 24” x 26”
Garland, 2018, Oil on canvas on panel, 36” x 24”
Muse and Writer, 2012, Oil on canvas on panel, 10” x 14“
quote: “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” Music keeps me young. Queuing up a hundred symphonies and a thousand songs from the softest to hardest, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Good music keeps me young, bad music keeps me younger. So what do we leave behind? To family, to friends, to strangers who stumble upon these works and make of them what they will? Hopefully a legacy of love, of wonder, a particular wild scholarship?
Red Fish and Moon, 2018, Oil on canvas on panel, 36” x 60”
watch them running, playing games, spinning songs. After a recent portrait demo, a friend’s children made a portrait of each other (very earnestly, with fine results) on their front porch. Kept me young for a week. And I still love Mahler’s
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My biggest inspiration as I age is still my own mother, who has painted wonderful watercolors all her life, has a litany of faithful friends, and who, at the age of ninety-one, is still full of life, humor, insight. And wonder. So. Keep the glede. Embrace the young, and learn from them. Know history. Sleep well. Recharge. And keep the key keys to your heart heart. na See more of Greg Decker’s work at www.greg-decker.space.
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Carole A. Feuerman painting Grande Catalina
Courtesy Evolutionary Media Group
I think it’s interesting when you make something large. It’s more powerful.
ARTAROUND A Local Look at Global Art BY SARA LEE BURD
CAROLE A.
FEUERMAN Refined Hyperrealism
Survival of Serena
A
founding leader of the hyperrealist movement in sculpture, Carole A. Feuerman is an iconic master of the style. Her sculptures strike a balance between visual perfection and narrative intrigue. She uses sculptural materials such as steel, bronze, and resin and is the only woman who has perfected a way of painting her outdoor work to resist weather. Her interior works are coveted for their meticulous details such as her signature water droplets. Read on for her insight into her craft, culture, and motivations.
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SLB: How long has it taken you to learn how to make work that you consider your mature style? CF: Well, it’s taken a lifetime. Nobody taught me how to do this. I didn’t study sculpture. It’s trial and error, and the journey is fabulous. I’m always learning. SLB: What kind of changes have you seen for women in art since you began working in the 1970s? CF: It has changed a little. In those days I remember how hard it was to get into galleries in New York. They never took you seriously as an artist. They thought that women belonged in the house to raise a family. Recently, I gave a lecture to 2,000 women world leaders on how art influences people’s opinions in the world. What I researched is that only 7 percent of all women artists have had solo shows and have their work in permanent collections of important museums and collectors. Only two women have ever had a solo show in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One was Louise Bourgeois, and the other was Louise Nevelson. They were both over 90. There is still a glass ceiling because when I looked for women artists, I had a hard time finding very many that influence people’s opinions. There are so many male artists. In fact, there were many women artists all through the ages, but writers, other magazines, or curators never wrote about them so we never found out about them. SLB: It would be nice to go back and uncover those stories and add them to art history.
The Midpoint
CF: It’s true. I was just at the show at the Met on the figurative art. It was predominately male artists. I counted only a few female artists: Louise Bourgeois, Kiki Smith; I think there was one other. This is now, and no one contacted me. They had Duane Hanson, John DeAndrea, Ron Mueck, and all the hyperrealists were male. There is still room to grow and include more women. We are not there yet. SLB: It must be interesting to see what appeals to people in a global market. CF: It is. A work of mine just sold at an art fair, Art New York. An Israeli man bought a sculpture of a girl in a bathing suit that has a lot of straps. Someone else had bought it about a year ago in America, but then they didn’t want it because they said the straps reminded them of S&M. I was shocked because I never thought of anything like that. I’ve seen it over and over again that Americans get crazy ideas because they are very conservative. I had a show in Turkey a few years ago. My dealer showed a female nude, and I was very worried about showing that in a Muslim country. He bought a white scarf and he wrapped the nude in it. During the show the scarf fell off and everybody liked it better. You just never know.
Brooke with Beach Ball
Monumental Quan
SLB: The sizes of your sculptures vary. What do you enjoy about each? CF: I think it’s interesting when you make something large. It’s more powerful. If the pyramids were small, I don’t know if everyone would go to Egypt. Sometimes when I do something in life-size it frightens people. I like the tabletop size because people can fit them in their apartments. It brings more possibilities for people to purchase. SLB: How do you conceive of a work? CF: I always have a vision and a concept. Mostly all of my sculptures are about balance, survival, perseverance, trust … pretty much all of them. I come up with the content, then I look for a model who can pose so that you can clearly see the content. I may use several models to make one sculpture. SLB: A YouTube video shows your meticulous, laborintensive process. It’s amazing to see how much craft it takes to make your work. CF: It’s very time-consuming because hyperrealism has to be perfect, whereas other art doesn’t have to be so. It’s much harder to make the beautiful people that I do because no one is perfect. The body position, a gesture, a finger in the air, can all make quite a difference. na Double Diver
For more about the artist, visit www.carolefeuerman.com.
SONNENZIMMER
NICK BUTCHER & NADINE NAKANISHI
Cocktail Side, Screen print on paper, 35” x 47.5”
SHAPE SONG JUNE 2 – JULY 29
224 Fifth Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37203 615.577.7711 • HatchShowPrint.com
WORDS Amanda Dobra Hope
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
Through the Looking Glass Alice E. Shepherd’s Glass Creations Take Off at Nashville International Airport, June 4–August 26
“Why fit in when you were born to stand out”
is a quote many artists relate to. In fact, it’s one they must come back to often when their inner world is challenged, but they just can’t stop doing what they know they’re meant to do. People in this position can sometimes feel as if they are floating around in the void, unsure that their purpose is indeed serving a purpose. I call them visionaries. People with such an inner
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Glass seems to be this fragile thing. Metal looks like it’s permanent. There’s this juxtaposition ...
Assimilation #2, 2016, Kiln formed glass, upcycled industrial parts, 18” x 24”
Delicate Balance, 2016, Kiln formed glass, upcycled industrial parts, 9” x 10”
As an almost entirely self-taught kiln-forming glass artist, Shepherd knows that she exists in a very sparsely populated category for artists, but her quest for authenticity helps keep her on track. She becomes very vulnerable, a feeling she says she experiences often in her work, when she shares with me her inner struggle for authenticity. Synthesis #1, 2016, Kiln formed glass, upcycled industrial parts, 21” x 7.5”
passion to do what they do, even when it doesn’t fit in with what’s already being done, exist in a field where few have been, blazing the trail for those behind them. Though they may not feel trendy or as though there is a market for what they produce, it’s almost as if their clear inner vision leaves them no choice but to pursue it. I called Alice E. Shepherd, of Artwork Cubed, a visionary, and I’m not sure what she thought of that, or if she was just too humble to completely agree. Nevertheless, I’m sticking to it. I believe that when the collective experiences of your life set you up to bring something so extraordinary to the world that there’s no niche, even “outside the box” to put you in, you almost have a responsibility to continue to do it. And I think that’s exactly why she does it. “I think what I do is strange; so do others. ‘Why would you do that?’ they’ve asked. I’ve never had an answer for that; I’ve just done it. The pieces are strange. I don’t even know if they’ll sell,” Shepherd recounts.
“When I look at myself in the mirror, I just want to be authentic. I have to dig deep and be honest. It takes a lot of reflection. Why am I doing this and what does it mean? “I was raised by men,” she continues. “I don’t cry a lot. When I work with the glass, all of these pretty things are coming out, and I have to own it. I have to say yes, that came out of me,” she continues. The concepts for Shepherd’s pieces are born from her raw emotions. Her upcoming exhibit Building, Dwelling, Thinking, which will be presented as part of the Flying Solo exhibition at the Nashville Airport from June 4 through August 26, was inspired by her background and love for sustainability, as well as her concern for the proper balance of progress coupled with it. The exhibition consists of her industrial sculpture series, pieces she designed by fusing glass with scrap-metal parts to create something new, beautiful, and contemplative. The series is representative of her own self-reflection, as well as a reflection of the city’s growth and waste.
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Shepherd’s journey with this collection began years ago when her husband first came home with a piece of windshield slag for her to work with. When he started bringing home metal, she just knew she had to fuse it with the glass, physically and metaphorically. “Glass seems to be this fragile thing. Metal looks like it’s permanent. There’s this juxtaposition of metal and glass. Our cars are made of metal and glass, and so are our buildings,” she explains. The fact that she uses all recycled materials and scrap metal also echoes the values of her formative years. “I was raised by mechanics. We used everything and fixed everything. There was no waste,” she recalls. Being that her art is always reflective of her life, the word authenticity pops up again in our conversation. “I like the fact that it’s my work, my life, my art. It doesn’t feel disjointed like some things can. It’s representative of my life,” she says with confidence. As we wrap up, she says the words I’ve been waiting for
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Changing Gears, 2016, Kiln formed glass, upcycled industrial parts, 20” x 8”
the whole time: “If I wasn’t passionate about glass, I’d do something else. It’s expensive and a lot of work, manually and on my feet. But I just never get tired.” Hmm . . . Sounds like a pretty authentic visionary to me. na Building, Dwelling, Thinking by Alice E. Shepherd is on view at the Nashville International Airport from June 4 through August 26. The artist’s reception will be held Monday, June 11, from 4 to 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.flynashville.com. See more of Shepherd’s work at www.aeshep.com. Photograph by Jerry Atnip
This collection, unlike her previous glass collections, really emphasizes the look and feel of industry. In complete paradox to her colorful Seasons series, this body of work is done completely in black, white, and silver.
Missing Link, 2016, Kiln formed glass, upcycled industrial parts, 18” x 6”
Trans-Mission, 2016, Kiln formed glass, upcycled industrial parts, 18” x 14”
“When I look at the work, I see the concern I have with the rapid transformation of a place. I want growth and progress, but we have to be good stewards and do it sustainably,” she says.
ARTS&BUSINESSCOUNCIL
BY TONY SOBOTA
Finding Words
I didn’t start painting so that I could spend my time talking about painting. In fact, I hated talking about my work. But if I wanted both my art and business to grow in the DIY age, I knew I needed more than the right paint and the right brushes—I needed the right words. Enter the Arts & Business Council’s Periscope: Artist Entrepreneur Training program, an intensive interactive workshop series that provides artists with an overview approach to business. While Periscope isn’t tailored for every artist at every level, I found the experience eye-opening. I felt the biggest impact personally during my preparation for the program’s most visible event: Periscope Pitch Night. On Pitch Night, a selected group of Periscope artists had five minutes to share their work in front of a panel of judges and 100+ business professionals—with awards (and prize money) on the line. The competitive nature of the event, along with not wanting to look silly, forced me to dig deep and face the words behind my work. After hours and weeks of preparation (and a lot of help), I finally knew how to tell my story. I made it through my presentation without mumbling too much, and to my surprise I somehow managed to receive top honors! In eight weeks, I moved from hating words to embracing them. Valuing this process has helped me define my work to potential curators, buyers, residencies, grant opportunities, and corporate clients, while giving me the clarity I needed to embark on a new body of work.
INTERIOR
ANTHOLOGY
COLLECTION www.interioranthology.com
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DESIGN 615.920.5501
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Art Up Nashville is a comprehensive fine art service provider dedicated to the professional installation of items such as art and antique objects, heavy mirrors, posters and photographs. No job is too big or small. Our staff consists of museum-trained art handlers who for years have regularly handled precious, irreplaceable items of all classifications for museums and galleries as well as commercial and residential clients. Additionally, our staff is made up of artists who possess a special appreciation for art and whose refined aesthetic sensibilities optimize the clients’ experience.
www.ArtUpNashville.com
Toby Sobota is a Nashville-based visual artist whose most recent series reimagines the rapid development of Nashville as works of art. Tony is a 2017 graduate of the Periscope: Artist Entrepreneur Training program and received the Pitch Perfect award at the culminating Pitch event. Find out more about Tony and his work at www.tonysobota.com.
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PUBLICART BY DONALD “TRÉ” HARDIN, PUBLIC ART & PLACEMAKING COORDINATOR, METRO ARTS
While most of us have heard this phrase, this summer the Metro Arts inaugural temporary public art exhibition Build Better Tables, curated by Nicole Caruth, considers this proverb in the context of the “new Nashville,” where prosperity, growth, and glittering high-rises exist alongside neighbors and neighborhoods who struggle with food insecurity, high infant mortality rates, and housing displacement.
Tattfoo Tan’s S.O.S. Free Seeds Libraries will be installed at local community gardens
In 2017 Metro Arts released the Public Art Community Investment plan as a tool for neighborhood transformation, creative workforce development, and equitable public art practices throughout the city. One of the recommendations stemming from that plan was to have the city’s first temporary public art exhibition. Build Better Tables will feature nine citywide installations that will combine food and art as a means of bringing the community together. “The intersection of food and art doesn't naturally connect people,” says nationally recognized curator and writer Nicole Caruth, but by developing installations from nine different artists, her plan is to do just that. The projects will spark conversation in spaces such as the Nashville Farmer’s Market, community gardens, the Lentz Public Health Center, the West Nashville Dream Center, Nashville Metro Transit Authority buses, and more. In 2012 Caruth started a non-profit, With Food in Mind, to develop art-based approaches to childhood obesity and nutrition disparities in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. With Build Better Tables, she has curated installations throughout Nashville with artists Andrea Chung, Seitu Jones, Tunde Way, Thaxton Waters, Tattfoo Tan, Crystal Z Campbell, Courtney Adair Johnson, Juan William Chavez, Jamal Cyrus, and NORF Art Collective. Caruth believes that these artists can use food to bring people together to discuss issues of affordable housing, gentrification, and access to healthy food. “Everyone
Seitu Jones brainstorms project ideas with Nella Pearl Fierson at Brooklyn Heights Community Garden
understands food on some level and, like shelter, we all need it to survive,” she says. “Food is a great connector of people.” While the exhibition intends to highlight Nashville’s challenges with gentrification and food justice, Caruth points out that working with local and national artists proves that the issue is much bigger than Nashville: “Now that I can stand back and see what the artists are creating, this exhibition isn't about Nashville; it's about inequality everywhere. The growth and gentrification that Nashville is experiencing is a microcosm of a global problem.” The exhibition will launch on June 1, feature events, happenings, workshops, and community meals, and will continue through the end of August. Check www.buildbettertables.com for artist bios, exhibit information, event dates, and artist-inspired recipes.
Photograph by Donald “Tré” Hardin
“
When you have more than you need, it’s better to build a longer table than a taller fence.
Photograph by Tattfoo Tan
Build Better Tables
ARTSMART
A monthly guide to art education
TENNESSEE ROUNDUP
In 2018, teaching artists play an important role in arts education in Tennessee. Combining their extensive arts background with their dedication to education, teaching artists bring innovation and professional skill to the learning experience. Teaching artists offer unique arts opportunities that provide inclusive instruction for all types of intelligences while increasing understanding in arts and non-arts content areas. Artists whose work can be found in Tennessee art galleries, dance companies, or theatrical and musical productions are many of the same 140+ individuals listed on the Teaching Artist Roster. They bring creative experiences into K-12 classrooms through the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Student Ticket Subsidy (STS) grants. STS funds artist fees, tickets, and transportation for students from public schools to work directly with roster artists on field trips and in school settings. It is with these professionals in mind that the Commission presents a Teaching Artist track at the 2018 Tennessee Arts & Arts Education Conference, held June 19–21 at Austin Peay State University (APSU) in partnership with the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA). Striving to provide tailored professional development for all Tennessee teaching artists, a pre-conference and select sessions listed below are designed with the teaching artist field in mind.
Courtesy TN State Photography
Art Education Pecha Kucha Sessions are presented by and for teaching artists. These “bite-sized TED talks” will be centered on lesson plans. Teaching artists will discuss firsthand how
by Meredith Callis Arts Education Special Projects Coordinator
Art Teacher Holly Briggs teaches other educators how to create mandalas at the 2016 Collective Impact Conference
they create the plans and will provide examples of turning their artistic medium into schoolwide arts experiences. Teaching artists will present at the Teaching Artist Showcase and give attendees a snapshot of what they can offer schools. From talented musicians to theatrical historical reenactments, these engaging presentations will give conference goers an idea of what students and teachers experience by collaborating with a teaching artist. Two sessions on the new Tennessee Fine Arts Standards will apply directly to teaching artists. Artists often align their lessons on national and state curriculum arts standards. With new standards going into effect beginning in the 2018–2019 school year, these sessions will provide an overview of changes and how teaching artists can create standards-based lessons while assessing student learning outcomes accordingly. Additionally, artists are invited to join us for this exciting opportunity to gain more information about the STS Grant and the Teaching Artist Roster, while collaborating with other professionals to discuss specific issues and ideas relating to their work as teaching artists. If you or a Tennessee-based artist you know are interested in attending the conference or joining the Teaching Artist Roster, please contact Meredith Callis at Meredith.Callis@tn.gov or visit the Tennessee Arts Education website: tnartseducation.org/ teaching-artists/.
Courtesy TN State Photography
Jen Kintner teaches conference attendees the beginning moves of Aerial Dance at the 2016 Collective Impact Conference
Courtesy TN State Photography
Teaching Artists Gathering at Tennessee Arts Conference
ARTSMART Summertime Learning in the Arts
Courtesy Intersection
Intersection’s Contempo Kids Contempo Kids, created by Intersection Music and designed for students from ages 9–14 at all skill levels, is focused on music creating by encouraging and guiding students to compose original works. While rooted in Western classical music, Contempo Kids explores other styles and musical expressions, notation, and other methods of creation tools and technology.
Photograph by Tim Broekema
Nashville Ballet As Nashville’s preeminent place for dance and dance education, Nashville Ballet offers half-day camp for ages 3–5, Swan Lake full-day camp for ages 6–10, a junior intensive for ages 9–11, and a young men’s intensive for ages 6+. Children develop balance, rhythm, and coordination while learning essential social skills and classroom etiquette along with ballet technique, musicality, and artistry. This summer marks the first-ever Young Men’s Intensive. This week-long program is designed to develop male-specific technique, strength, and camaraderie in a supportive environment.
Photograph by Amber McCullough
Opportunities abound in Nashville for arts-focused summer camps from our vibrant nonprofit arts and culture community. Whether you are a parent in search of a program or a community member looking for a worthy cause to support, here are a few highlights with a little something for everyone.
Southern Word Through the literary and performing arts, Southern Word offers creative solutions for youth to build literacy and presentation skills, reconnect to their education and to their lives, and act as leaders in the improvement of their communities. Summer Studio brings together teen songwriters, singers, producers, beat makers, emcees, rappers, poets, and musicians to produce music tracks. This teen artist community is a unique opportunity to work with adult mentors, collaborate, and produce music with other musicians and writers. Dates: June 25–29. Register at www.southernword.org/ registration. Nashville Children’s Theatre NCT Summer Drama Camps 2018 offer a wide range of one-week classes for ages 4–18, including Core Camps (Storybook Adventures, Drama Makers, Acting, Fairytale Frenzy, Myths and Legends, etc.). Musical Theatre camps offer singing and dancing instruction, and specialty camps focus on improvisation, stage combat, playwriting, and theatre design. Most camps culminate in a sharing onstage for family and friends. Registration fills up quickly!
Photograph by Colin Peterson
Academic gains aside, summer learning in the arts provides opportunities for youth to make new friends, learn new skills, gain self-confidence and experience that ineffable joy of engaging in the arts.
Choral Arts Link’s MET Summer Academy Choral Arts Link works to preserve the tradition and discipline of choral singing by providing opportunities for children to grow artistically through choral training, develop leadership and professional skills, and engage in their own personal and academic success. The Summer MET Academy is offering a oneweek intensive program for students at beginning, proficient, and advanced levels in grades 2–12, to be held at Tennessee State University.
It’s going to be a great summer. So pick up those paintbrushes, clarinets, dancing shoes, beat boxes, soloist chops, scripts, and costumes and jump right in!
by Laurie T. Schell CEO, Arts Education Advocate www.ElevateArtsEd.org
Photograph by Donn Jones
Summers are getting shorter. School calendar creep and twoworking-parent families mean that our kids have less time to be, well, kids. While some believe that shorter summers will mean less of a learning slide between academic years, others say it is the freedom from nonstop schedules, homework, and testing that allows children to experience learning in new and exciting ways.
WORDS Cat Acree
Alysha Irisari Malo and husband Eric Malo
NEW
space art ideas
New Nashville:
How do you make it work for longtime residents and newcomers? Who gets to have a voice? Who is being represented, and how is their story being told? If any organization has the power to answer these questions, it’s CONVERGE. From bridging discussions between neighborhood residents and developers to encouraging artists to collaborate on community-minded projects outside their comfort zones, CONVERGE is the producer, relationship counselor, organizer, and healer for a boomtown with growing pains. Cofounded little more than a year ago by the husband-and-wife team of artist/poet/ curator Alysha Irisari Malo and architectural designer Eric Malo, CONVERGE is a “curated community of artists and creative thinkers who collaborate on interdisciplinary projects that have a positive social impact.” These are broad terms, which means the possibilities for CONVERGE are flexible and seemingly endless. It’s all about new ideas—new ways to interact with neighborhoods, with your community, with the artists around you. It’s about support, communication, and actualizing opportunities on a small scale. Originally, CONVERGE began as an idea to create coworking opportunities in the area. Eric was working from coffee shops; Alysha was working from her studio in their house, and both recognized the desire for collaboration and feedback. Perhaps a shared workspace would provide what they were looking for. But soon CONVERGE became much more.
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Photograph by John Partipilo
CONVERGE CONVERGE
A tabletop full of notes, sketches, and ideas generated at a Neighborhood Design Workshop
Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood is an area that, like so many communities in Nashville, has experienced escalating change over the last five to ten years. Alysha and Eric moved to Nashville from Chicago a decade ago, and like many who live in the area, they wanted to do more than bear witness to changes. “We really want to keep the character of the neighborhood as it is,” Alysha says. “We’ve seen it morph, so we want to have some say in how it changes.” To this effect, one of CONVERGE’s core projects has been their Neighborhood Design Workshops, which bring together residents with developers, architects, and urban planners to discuss ideas for the changing neighborhood. Some workshops have been specific to certain projects, while others have a wider scope, focusing instead on public space, etc. “We try to get neighbors to envision and be proactive about what they want in their neighborhood in terms of built environment and urban planning, to think about what kind of alternatives there are to the norm development,” Alysha explains. Workshop attendees are encouraged to draw, sketch, and share creative ideas. In the last year, CONVERGE has morphed as well, adapting to what community members want and need from the organization. Alysha explains that the Wedgewood-Houston design workshops were their “starting point,” and they have consciously expanded into general cultural programming that benefits communities. “We are doing intentional collaborations,” Alysha explains. “It’s more about listening to what [communities] need and responding. [Topics] could be wellness, urban planning, art, or social concerns like the marginalization of people who have disabilities.”
Photograph by Alysha Irisari Malo
Photograph by Alysha Irisari Malo Photograph by Alysha Irisari Malo
Young students toured the text based show LISTEN during a field trip last May. Their visit included discussing the meanings of the artwork and an exercise on curating an art show
Visitors viewed photos of past projects at CONVERGE’s renovated space during their First Anniversary Celebration in March
Recent programs include working with Julia Whitney Brown of Old School Farm Pottery, which employs people with developmental and intellectual disabilities through the creation of high-quality, handcrafted dinnerware, which is then sold through their organization and featured at Old School Farm Restaurant. In February, an exhibition titled Unplanned Journey presented a powerful film and music installation by local singersongwriter Mary Jennings and local filmmaker Jama Mohamed, which told the stories of families and individuals affected by disabilities and chronic illness. Mohamed told Alysha afterward that he never would have considered a collaboration like that without her direction. In April, CONVERGE worked with Belmont students on an art show called Force of Nature that benefited the Tennessee Environmental Council. And they are working to expand the Neighborhood Design Workshops beyond WedgewoodHouston to more Nashville neighborhoods. “[Other communities] are experiencing a lot of development, and they feel like they need a voice as well, a voice at the beginning of the process, not just a voice at the end to just say, oh, we like that or we don’t, but to really give ideas to the developers,” Alysha says. CONVERGE has the ability to change minds—of neighborhood residents, of developers, of artists—and it seems to stand firmly on the idea that small change can yield major transformation. Alysha explains that the organization itself is small, with eight or so collaborators, and should continue to be a close-knit bunch. Up until recently, she and Eric personally engaged, through one-on-one conversations, collaborators that they thought would be right for the community. They are now officially opening their membership, creating the opportunity for others to become involved. “We need people that are creative but that also are socially engaged and want to collaborate with others,” Alysha says. “[We’re] looking for someone that wants to give back to the community in some way, somebody that already has ideas with a social practice or is interested in getting into social practice work, and needs support to realize their goals.” With CONVERGE and the Malos acting as liaisons, change can be a very good thing. na For more information, visit www.CONVERGE.community and www.facebook.com/ConvergeNashville.
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TENNESSEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
present
plus
6 specials The Phantom of the Opera OCT 24 – NOV 4, 2018
Irving Berlin's White Christmas NOV 13-18, 2018
SEPT 11-16, 2018
OCT 9-14, 2018
JAN 15-20, 2019
Peter Pan & Tinker Bell: A Pirates Christmas
FEB 12-17, 2019
2018-19 season
DEC 13-23, 2018
The Wizard of Oz
Journey to the past.
FEB 8-10, 2019
The Book of Mormon MAR 12-17, 2019
Rock of Ages
APR 12-13, 2019
MAR 19-24, 2019
APR 30 – MAY 5, 2019
JUN 4-9, 2019
JUN 25-30, 2019
2018-19 season tickets today TPAC.ORG/Broadway • 615-782-6560
Some shows contain mature content. TPAC.org is the official online source for buying tickets to TPAC events.
Get your
Groups of 10 or more call 615-782-4060
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CONTACT THE DECUYPER TEAM FOR MORE INFORMATION Allen DeCuyper 615.300.5971 • TNLIC # 257474
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4025 Hillsboro Pike, Ste 601 Nashville, TN 37215 | 615.383.6600 parksathome.com | FIRM# 261044
9TH ANNUAL
PHOTOGRAPHY
COMPETITION
LOCAL & INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR & PROFESSIONAL
FIRST PLACE $500 cash SECOND PLACE $300 Chromatics gift card THIRD PLACE $200 Chromatics gift card Top entries will be featured in the December issue of Nashville Arts Magazine and entrants may be given the opportunity to shoot an assignment for the magazine.
SUBMISSIONS DUE: October 20, 2018 WINNERS ANNOUNCED: December 2018 You may enter as many photographs as you wish for $5 per photograph. See www.nashvillearts.com for details.
THEATRE BY JIM REYLAND
Handmade – Friendships Famous, Infamous, Real and Imagined by Jim Reyland is available at writersstage. com. Also, catch the award-winning STAND – two shows on October 27 at 3 and 7:30 p.m. at the 4th Story Theater at WUMC. jreyland@audioproductions.com
“June is bustin’ out all over!” Nashville’s Diverse Theatre Scene Shines in June
T
he best thing about Nashville’s growing theatre scene is that it comes to us in all forms, from many levels, and it all (well, mostly all) sticks to our ribs and keeps us coming back. Whether it’s theatre, musical theatre, or the comic stuff they make up as they go, jump into June with a selection that’s cool, accessible, epic, and eclectic. There’s a diversity of the arts you’ll find only in the most creative city in the world— Music City USA.
Broadway stars from the east, Encore Theatre Company in Mt. Juliet opens Double Wide Texas June 1–10. Call 615-598-8950 for reservations.
Circle Players has been leading the way for longer than most, and in June, Kamryn Boyd plays Belle in the Circle Players production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, June 1–17 at the Looby Theater. Tickets at www.circleplayers.net.
There are many more quality productions to delight and inspire in June, but space is a cruel master. No worries, they’re easy to find and enjoy; just listen for the roar of the crowd. na
Franklin Improv All Stars on June 9, 7 to 9 p.m. The historic town of Franklin has learned to laugh—really laugh—with the growing popularity of its only comedy troupe, the Franklin Improv All Stars. Tickets at www.franklinimprov.com.
Lenne Klingaman, Desi Oakley and Charity Angel Dawson in the National Tour of WAITRESS
Photograph by Joan Marcus
Gardar Thor Cortes (“The Phantom”) and Meghan Picerno (“Christine Daaé”) star in Love Never Dies
Photograph by Joan Marcus
Perennial favorite Doyle & Debbie continues its historic run at the Station Inn Tuesdays in June. From the fertile imagination of Bruce Arntson, featuring Jenny Littleton and Matthew Carlton, D&D is like Country Music chili, always better the second time with visiting family and friends. Tickets at www.doyleanddebbie.com. Studio Tenn’s Legacy series returns to “The Mother Church of Country Music,” Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium! The Glen Campbell Legacy is a two-night musical tribute June 30 and July 1. Tickets at 615-541-8200. It’s Good to Have You Near Again features Nan Gurley and Stan Tucker. Two old friends reunite for a music theatre cabaret at the Nashville Jazz Workshop on June 21–22. Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com. Explorastory Storytelling presented by Explorastory at the historic Rock Castle visitor’s center in Hendersonville celebrates the storied history of Middle Tennessee on the first Wednesday of each month. June 6 at 6:45 p.m. Bring your own special Middle Tennessee story. It’s all free. Love Never Dies is Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to Phantom of the Opera. Can’t wait to see what happens next? The rest of the story is at TPAC June 19–24. You can also enjoy WAITRESS at TPAC June 5–10 as the award-winning Broadway productions never stop. Tickets at www.TPAC.org or 615-782-4040. Pop Upright: The Tempest June 16. Six Nashville directors stage lively “Upright” readings of the Bard’s plays at surprise locations in and around Nashville. You will be texted the location 24 hours in advance. Cool. Tickets at www.Nashvilleshakes.org. 86
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october 6,2018 • 5 Pm-9 pM on The Clay lady's Campus 1416 LEBANON PIKE, NASHVILLE TN 37210
Join us at dusk on Saturday, October 6th as we kick off the Firefly Artisan Fair — a unique market celebrating the Nashville arts community. Shoppers can enjoy an evening under the stars featuring local artists, food trucks, an interactive art project, artist demonstrations and more.
FIREFLY ARTISAN FAIR IS NASHVILLE’S NIGHT TO SHINE!
CALL FOR ARTISTS Now taking applications www.FireflyArtisanFair.com
www.fireflyartisanfair.com
Channel To Channel Founder Brings Visitors To Cobwebs & Catacombs Cobwebs & Catacombs is the latest exhibition at Channel To Channel, a contemporary art gallery and experimental studio in Wedgewood-Houston. It is a bold, large-scale exploration of portraiture, pattern, texture, and the way that visual art can envelop the viewer. Created by Channel To Channel’s founder, Dustin Hedrick, the show features a tape mural of overlapping faces and sharp, connected geometry rendered in thick black lines, as well as portraits drawn in black marker. Hedrick used ¼” thick black masking tape to outline the mural’s faces until he achieved his desired balance between positive and negative space. Then he trimmed the edges of the tape so that the shapes connected to one another “like a road or river system you might view from an airplane or map.” He projected a photo of this initial mock-up and traced it at a four times scale directly onto the walls of the gallery. He drew the accompanying portraits during the show’s opening reception last month. “Tape requires me to really analyze the contours of the shapes that make up the face,” Hedrick explains. “I started getting involved in masking off my paintings, and I liked the dynamics you can achieve from tape. You have the hard edges masking off certain areas that sharply show the underpainting when you pull the tape off. It creates nice contrast. I decided to simplify and start drawing on simple white surfaces with tape. My attention
then started to focus more on texture, pattern, composition, and contrast.” The show’s name is inspired by the way this process has yielded spider-web connections between lines, as well as the layered faces, which Hedrick says remind him of skulls stacked in the Catacombs of Paris. Cobwebs & Catacombs is on view at Channel To Channel, 507 Hagan Street, Suite A, until June 30. For more information, please visit www.channeltochannel.com.
THE FAIRGROUNDS NASHVILLE #PFSUMMER18 PORTERFLEA.COM
PREVIEW MARKET: FRIDAY, JUNE 29 6-9PM MAIN MARKET: SATURDAY, JUNE 30 10AM-5PM
BY PATRIĆYONNA RODGERS
POET’SCORNER
Patric’yonna Rodgers is a Junior at Overton High School and hopes to change her community and the world through her words. Learn more at www.southernword.org
“What’s Truth?” See I ain’t never been the type to question things But lately my mind has been weeding out these discrepancies And one question that comes to mind is, “What’s Truth?” What’s truth when I see the new hotel being built But we can’t house the homeless? What’s Truth when America wastes millions of pounds of food But we can’t feed the hungry? What’s Truth when it’s easier to buy drugs than fresh food in some of our communities? And What’s Truth When I don’t feel safe in my school anymore and every time I hear a fire alarm I’m running to the door? What’s truth when James Baldwin still speaking relatable And if I don’t have long hair and a flat tummy or white skin I’m deemed incompatible with America’s definition of beauty? And I’ve heard of this thing called the American dream But the American dream don’t seem too pristine because Every time I turn I see someone in poverty And I know change takes time But, change, come on, because we been waiting a while So I’m left wondering, “What is the Truth, America?” Because my people are getting killed by the police and My president trying to tell my Hispanic friends to leave. So from my viewpoint truth don’t look too cute. And, America, I’m not trying to rain on your parade But if we’re really “Home of the Free, Land of the Brave,” Then we have a long way to go to walk that truth
Background photograph by Carla Ciuffo, www.carlaciuffo.art
ART MADE TO MOVE YOU. Chicago-based artist Nick Cave creates work in a wide range of mediums, including sculpture, installation, video, and performance. His creations, bursting with color and texture, are optical delights that can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages and backgrounds. A deeper look reveals that they speak to issues surrounding identity and social justice.
CLOSING JUNE 24
Downtown Nashville 919 Broadway Nashville, TN 37203 FristArtMuseum.org/NickCave #NickCaveFeat
Kids 18 and under are always free.
Nick Cave Feat. is supported in part by Silver Sponsor
The Frist Center is supported in part by
Nick Cave. Soundsuit, 2016. Mixed media, including vintage toys, wire, metal and mannequin, 84 x 45 x 40 in. Courtesy of the Lewis Family. Š Nick Cave. Photo: James Prinz Photography
STUDIOTENN BY LOGAN TREADAWAY
Studio Tenn Presents
The Glen Campbell Legacy: A Tribute to the Rhinestone Cowboy
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June 30 and July 1 Photograph by MA2LA
Ryman Auditorium
adies and gentlemen, the moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. It’s time again for Studio Tenn to take their famous Legacy Series to “The Mother Church of Country Music,” Nashville’s world-famous Ryman Auditorium! Making its inevitable two-night return, the tribute serves as the fifth edition of the series and honors the timeless talents of the Rhinestone Cowboy himself, Glen Campbell. “We’ve been wanting to pay tribute to Glen Campbell through our Legacy Series for years now,” Studio Tenn Artistic Director Matt Logan said, recounting his inspiration for choosing to celebrate Campbell’s career. “His powerful voice, songwriting, and personality won the hearts of country music fans for decades, and Studio Tenn hopes to do the same. We couldn’t be more grateful to bring The Glen Campbell Legacy: A Tribute to the Rhinestone Cowboy to audiences all across Middle Tennessee as a celebration of his legacy, influence, and artistry.” Led by the best of Nashville talent, this year’s Legacy tribute ventures away from its usual classic theatricality to bring audiences a new concert experience unlike any other, all while celebrating one of the most acclaimed country music artists of all time. Logan, who also acts as the director and designer of the concert, spoke exuberantly about Campbell’s impact on country music and the City of Nashville, noting even more how Campbell is an impeccable choice for their illustrious Legacy Series. “Campbell is a cultural icon, and his music has helped mold Nashville into a cornerstone for country music,” said Logan. “He’s a musician whose influence has reached not only audiences from all over the world, but many of the great artists of today like Keith Urban and Vince Gill.” Logan was also excited to reveal new information on the production, mentioning the involvement of those closest to Campbell in the production. “We’ve got some amazing talent already joining us on stage, but audiences will really
Matt Logan and cast rehearse at the Ryman Auditorium
be able to get a closer, more personal look at the artistry of Glen Campbell with many of his family and friends at our side. Names like Ashley Campbell, Carl Jackson, and Steven Curtis Chapman, to mention a few.” Not only has Studio Tenn picked the perfect artist to salute and gathered an unparalleled cast to do so, it is also an ideal fit for the Ryman, one of Nashville’s most acclaimed venues for capturing the talents of country music’s most decorated artists. The venue will house The Glen Campbell Legacy June 30 and July 1 and serves as a prime location to pay tribute to the music and songwriting of timeless artists such as Campbell, who continue to resonate with audiences today. An unmatched event that can’t be experienced anywhere else, The Glen Campbell Legacy is sure to have audiences visiting, and revisiting, the hit songs of Campbell, such as “Galveston,” “Gentle on my Mind,” and “Wichita Lineman” long after the final bows. na The Glen Campbell Legacy takes the stage at the Ryman Auditorium June 30 and July 1 with performances at 7 p.m. For tickets, visit www.ryman.com.
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At Channel To Channel
At Zeitgeist
Chase Jones and Daria King at The Arts Company
ARTSEE
Jason Davis at David Lusk Gallery
ARTSEE
Jana Harper and Emma Morrison at COOP Gallery
ARTSEE
Molly McLemore at Julia Martin Gallery
Ana Carolina Meza Mendoza at The Rymer Gallery
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Guests throw darts and contribute to an interactive painting installation at Watkins fundraiser
Photograph by Sam Angel
Artist Leonard Piha at The Arts Company
Anna Ambrose at David Lusk Gallery
Artist Valerie Lerkulich at Rogue Gallery
ARTSEE
ARTSEE
Watkins President J. Kline with Nashville Acting Mayor David Briley
Lily McLemore at David Lusk Gallery
Photograph by Sam Angel
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN JACKSON
ARTSEE
Samantha Griffith and Tanner Griffith at Open Gallery
Photograph by Sam Angel
Carol Stein, Mark Scala, Brian Downey, Sara Lee Burd, Bill Ivey, Paul Polycarpou at Cumberland Gallery
Jonathan and Lela Grace at Blend Studio
Johnson Phillips, Mimi Corwin, Lucy Corwin, Ted Corwin and Herb Williams at The Rymer Gallery
Anna Armstrong at Zeitgeist
Watkins trustee Waddell Wright and chair of the Fine Arts program Kristi Hargrove
Konrad Magness and Karen Margulies at David Lusk Gallery
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TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHY BY HUNTER ARMISTEAD
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
FYEYE Instagram: @hunterarmistead
Capturing the Creative Culture of Our City
Yovi Veliz Artist, Blogger, Art Community Organizer, Clairvoyant, 4 Years Sober
From Migraines to Mantras Line Noir, the Instagram feed of Yovi Veliz, is a life on display. Veliz calls it her diary. Each day the prolific artist posts one of her works as well as a mix of quotes, most of which reflect a largely upbeat and exuberant life. A few, however, are revelations of her past struggles that brought her to where she is today.
ARRATT GALLERY AT VANDERBILT
The Sarratt Seven June 11 - August 3, 2018 ELIZABETH FRIEND JC JOHNSON MAUREEN O’BRIEN NANCIE ROARK SUSAN MOODY JOHN TOOMEY DAVID HEUSTESS
Raised in Napa as an only child to young absentee parents, Veliz attempted as an adult to capture the love she missed in childhood. In a series of fascinating moves where she successfully reinvented herself each time, Veliz followed men to Key West, Upper New York, and finally to Nashville in 2011, where she became a retail manager. While she was again successful at another job, here the stress landed Veliz in the hospital with an acute migraine in 2013. The next year she “went on permanent leave” from drinking on the job. “I realized then I could never be a part of that world again,” says Veliz, who incredibly turned to painting only in 2015. After joining AA and working the program, Veliz has courageously and generously dealt with her painful feelings and emotions in a different manner.
JC JOHNSON The Tower of London
DAVID HEUSTESS Diana’s Dance
“I am trying to take on my vulnerability and feelings head on,” says Veliz, who now embraces her feelings and transforms them into her art. Not long ago, after a bad breakup, she created 90 paintings with a riding crop. Veliz’s articulate paintings and ink drawings belie her brief experience. In series like Predators in a Pond, Veliz expresses a full-blown faculty for expression. Anthropomorphic figures in ink, created as a way to free herself from the confines of her own traumatic experiences, the work helped her to heal, break her silence, and trust her observations. Veliz seemingly has bottomless inspiration, but not always. “Sometimes I’m running purely on spite,” says Veliz. Follow Yovi on Instagram: linenoir Website: www.yoviveliz.com And look for the launch of the new collective The East Side Artist Society
NANCIE ROARK Untitled Necklace
SUSAN MOODY Untitled
LOCATED ON THE MAIN FLOOR OF SARRATT STUDENT CENTER AT 2301 VANDERBILT PLACE, NASHVILLE, TN 37235 Visit us 7 days a week from 9 a.m–9 p.m. during the academic year. Summer and holiday schedule hours are Monday–Friday 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
www.vanderbilt.edu/sarrattart
Photograph by Colleen Stepanian
Arts Worth Watching Christopher “Quest” Rainey and Christine’a “Ma Quest” Rainey in a scene from Quest on POV
The Art History series Civilizations continues Tuesdays at 7 p.m. This month’s episodes include Paradise on Earth (June 12) about how depictions of nature involve a projection of our dreams, escapes, and idylls.
requiring them to keep their pregnant daughter on life support. First Lady of the Revolution (July 2 at 11 p.m.) tells how Alabamian Henrietta Boggs became first lady of Costa Rica in the late 1940s. The 100-year-old now resides in Alabama.
Imagery is also integral to Ellis Island: The Dream of America with Pacific Symphony, airing Friday, June 29, at 9 p.m. on Great Performances. Conducted by Carl St. Clair, Peter Boyer’s Grammy-nominated orchestral score is an immersive musical story featuring readings by Barry Bostwick, Camryn Manheim and Michael Nouri.
PAGE-TURNERS
INDEPENDENT FILM POV airs Mondays at 9 p.m. and includes Quest (June 18), a cinema verité look at a couple raising a family and nurturing upand-coming hip-hop artists in their North Philadelphia neighborhood. Singing with Angry Bird (June 25) is also about using music to foster community; this time the vehicle is a children’s choir led by a Korean opera singer in Pune, India.
Ben-Hur is considered one of Charleston Heston’s definitive roles, but the real-life story of its author is as fascinating as that of the character. Lew Wallace: Shiloh Soldier, Ben-Hur Bard airs Thursday, June 21, at 8 p.m. and is an account of Wallace’s path from Indiana governor’s son to the Union Army’s youngest major
MUSIC SPECIALS June is also time for an NPT Membership Campaign and that means a slate of music specials along with DVDs, CDs, and ticket offers as thank-you gifts when you make a generous donation to NPT. Fleetwood Mac’s The Dance, debuting June 3 at 7 p.m., is a 1997 performance of the band’s iconic Rumours album. Joe Bonamassa – British Blues Explosion Live is the guitarist’s homage to Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. The concert was recorded in Greenwich, England, and premieres Tuesday, June 4, at 8:30 p.m. Encore presentations of many of NPT’s shows are broadcast on NPT2; enjoy 24/7 children’s programming on NPT3 PBS Kids. To donate to NPT, please call during pledge broadcasts this month or go to wnpt.org and click the donate button.
Adam (Julian Morris) and Flora (Vanessa Redgrave) in Man in an Orange Shirt on Masterpiece
Courtesy of Joshua Sudock
Courtesy of Nick Briggs/Kudos for BBC and MASTERPIECE
Reel South also airs on Mondays and features documentaries highlighting Southern culture. This season’s subjects include 62 Days (June 18 at 11:30 p.m.) about a family fighting a Texas law
Our Sunday, June 17, lineup features two programs in observance of Pride Month. At 9 p.m., Man in an Orange Shirt on Masterpiece follows two love stories, sixty years apart. Linked by family ties and a mysterious painting, the romances showcase challenges and changes in gay life in England. The drama by bestselling novelist Patrick Gale (A Place Called Winter) stars Vanessa Redgrave, Julian Sands (A Room with a View) and Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey’s Lady Edith). Later, at 11 p.m., see an encore presentation of The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin about the Tales of the City novelist on Independent Lens.
general. Later, a chance encounter with 19th-century orator Robert Ingersoll led Wallace to write the bestselling historical novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and also helped him come to terms with his involvement in the Battle of Shiloh. At 9:30 p.m., NPT’s original production Shiloh: The Devil’s Own Day shines light on why Wallace found the battle so hard to shake.
Pacific Symphony performs Peter Boyer’s Ellis Island: The Dream of America on Great Performances
June 2018 Weekend Schedule * 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30
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Saturday
am Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Dinosaur Train Bob the Builder Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Pinkalicious & Peterrific Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Sewing with Nancy P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home Garden Smart Martha Bakes Nick Stellino: Storyteller in the Kitchen Food Over 50 noon America’s Test Kitchen pm Cook’s Country Kitchen Joanne Weir’s Plates and Places Nigella: At My Table Simply Ming Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting Best of Joy of Painting Woodwright’s Shop Rough Cut with Fine Woodworking This Old House Ask This Old House Make48 PBS NewsHour Weekend Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville
This Month on Nashville Public Television A Place to Call Home
The intrigue continues in Season 4 of the Australian drama.
Saturdays at 9 & 10 pm, Beginning June 16
Sunday
am Sid the Science Kid Dinosaur Train Sesame Street Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Pinkalicious & Peterrific Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Tennessee’s Wild Side Volunteer Gardener Tennessee Crossroads Nature Washington Week noon To the Contrary pm In Principle Samantha Brown’s Places to Love Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope Globe Trekker Travels with Darley Two for the Road America’s Heartland Rick Steves’ Europe Antiques Roadshow PBS NewsHour Weekend British Antiques Roadshow *Beginning June 16
Weekday Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 6:00
am Classical Stretch Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr Ready Jet Go! Cat in the Hat Nature Cat Curious George Pinkalicious & Peterrific Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Splash and Bubbles Sesame Street Super Why! Dinosaur Train Peg + Cat noon Sesame Street pm Splash and Bubbles Curious George Pinkalicious & Peterrific Nature Cat Wild Kratts Wild Kratts Odd Squad Odd Squad Arthur NPT Favorites PBS NewsHour
ORIGINAL
Tennessee Crossroads: Weekend Getaway Where to eat, sleep and visit on quick trips. Premieres Thursday, June 7, at 7 pm
Great British Baking Show Season 5 A fresh dozen bakers enter the competition. Fridays at 8 pm, Beginning June 22
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7:00 The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years Ron Howard’s film about the early days of the Fab Four. 9:30 Age Reversed with Miranda Esmonde-White 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 Brit Floyd: The World’s Greatest Pink Floyd Show
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Omaha, Hour 1. 8:00 NPT Favorites 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
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7:00 Fleetwood Mac: The Dance The band performs its Rumours album in this 1997 concert. 9:00 The Highwaymen Live at Nassau Coliseum 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 ’70s Soul Superstars
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Tucson, Hour 3. 8:30 Joe Bonamassa: British Blues Explosion Live An homage to Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page recorded in July 2016 at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, England. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Memory Rescue with Daniel Amen, M.D.
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7:00 Civilizations Paradise on Earth. Artistic depictions of nature. 8:00 NPT Favorites 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
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7:00 Ken Burns: America’s Storyteller The War. A tribute to the filmmaker and a behind-the-scenes look at his Vietnam War series. 8:30 Emmylou Harris at the Ryman Harris and the Nash Ramblers perform a version of their legendary 1991 concert. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Suze Orman’s Financial Solutions for You
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7:00 Nature 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads: Sex, Lies and Weekend Getaway Butterflies. A new NPT original 8:30 Celtic Gold: An Irish shows where to eat, Song & Dance sleep and play on quick Journey trips to East, Middle This special filmed and West Tennessee. at Dublin’s St. Patrick’s 8:30 Brit Floyd: The World’s Cathedral features Greatest Pink performers from Floyd Show Broadway and Performances in London’s West End. Liverpool, Red Rocks 10:00 BBC World News and Amsterdam. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:00 BBC World News 11:00 Joe Bonamassa: 10:30 Last of Summer Wine British Blues 11:00 Brain Secrets with Explosion Live Dr. Michael Merzenich Maria Shriver hosts.
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Wednesday, June 6, 8:30 pm
Wednesday
Celtic Gold: An Irish Song & Dance Journey
Tuesday
Sunday, June 3, 7 pm
Monday
Fleetwood Mac: The Dance
Sunday
Nashville Public Television’s Primetime Evening Schedule
June 2018 1
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7:00 Rick Steves’ Heart of Italy 8:00 Memory Rescue with Daniel Amen, M.D. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 3 Steps to Incredible Health! with Joel Fuhrman, M.D. Avoiding obesity and chronic disease crisis.
7:00 ’70s Soul Superstars A My Music special featuring Patti LaBelle, the Commodores and others. 9:30 Rick Steves’ Tasty Europe 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Easy Yoga for Diabetes with Peggy Cappy
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Keep a Song in Your Heart. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 A Place to Call Home A Nagging Doubt. Sarah makes a shocking discovery in the Season 4 opener. 10:00 A Place to Call Home Bad in a Good Way. Regina weaves another tendril around George.
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6:30 Roy Orbison: Black & White Night 30 The iconic 1987 concert featuring Orbison and guests. 8:00 Young Hyacinth The Keeping Up Appearances prequel. 9:01 Antiques Roadshow Tucson, Hour 3. 10:30 10-Day Belly Slimdown with Dr. Kellyann
6:30 Perry Como Classics: ’Till the End of Time Peter Marshall and Nick Clooney host clips from the crooner’s TV shows. 8:00 Celtic Woman – Homecoming: Ireland 10:00 Memory Rescue with Daniel Amen, M.D.
Saturday
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Tampa. 9:00 POV Brimstone & Glory. Mexico’s National Pyrotechnic Festival. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Reel South First Lady of the Revolution. From reluctant Southern belle to first lady of Costa Rica.
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Oklahoma City. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Providence. 9:00 POV Singing with Angry Bird. A children’s choir in Pune, India. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Reel South Alabama Bound. A Southern fight for gay rights.
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7:00 Civilizations What Is Art (Good for)? 8:00 Great War: American Experience Fighting in the Argonne; the flu rages at home. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Tunnel: Vengence
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7:00 Civilizations The Cult of Progress. The rise and fall of “progress” as an ideology. 8:00 Great War: American Experience The U.S. enters the conflict. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution
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7:00 A Capitol Fourth Live from Washington, D.C., with host John Stamos. 8:30 A Capitol Fourth Encore presentation. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Sleater-Kinney; Heartless Bastard.
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7:00 Nature Pets: Wild at Heart – Secretive Creature. 8:00 NOVA Rise of the Superstorms. What Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria might tell scientists about future storms. 9:00 Wild Weather Experiments that demonstrate how weather works. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Cassandra Wilson.
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7:00 Nature Pets: Wild at Heart – Playful Creatures. 8:00 NOVA Dawn of Humanity. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits The Head and the Heart; Benjamin Booker.
for NPT, NPT2, and NPT3 PBS Kids.
Sundays, Beginning June 24, 8 pm
Endeavour on Masterpiece
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 2017 World Dancesport 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Grandslam Series 8:00 Nashville: The 20th 8:00 The Great British Century in Baking Show Photographs, Tarts. Volume 3 9:00 Great Performances 9:00 Nashville: The 20th Ellis Island: The Dream Century in of America with Pacific Photographs, Symphony. Peter Volume 4 Boyer’s Grammy10:00 BBC World News nominated 10:30 Last of Summer Wine contemporary classical 11:00 A Place to Call Home production. When You’re Smiling. 10:00 BBC World News 12:00 A Place to Call Home 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Home to Roast. 11:00 The Kate Nancy and Beth. Megan Mullaly and Stephanie Hunt.
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 The Great British 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Baking Show 8:00 Lew Wallace: Shiloh Masterclass 1. Soldier, Ben-Hur Bard 8:00 The Great British The Union Army military Baking Show leader who went on to Cakes. A dozen new write Ben-Hur. bakers enter the 9:30 Shiloh: The Devil’s competition. Own Day 9:00 The Great British An NPT original Baking Show production. Bread. 10:00 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 A Place to Call Home 11:00 Foreigner Live at the A Nagging Doubt. Symphony 12:00 A Place to Call Home Recorded in May 2017 Bad in a Good Way. in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Visit wnpt.org for complete 24-hour schedules
7:00 Poldark, Season 2 Episode 3. 8:00 Endeavour on Masterpiece Season 5 continues. 9:30 David Holt’s State of Music Steep Canyon Rangers. 10:00 Breaking Big 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter
July
7:00 Poldark, Season 2 Episode 2. 8:00 Endeavour on Masterpiece Muse. The Season 5 premiere includes a Fabergé egg, attempted theft and a serial killer. 9:30 Secrets of Scotland Yard 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter 11:00 POV Quest.
7:00 Poldark on Masterpiece 7:00 Antiques Roadshow 7:00 Civilizations Episode 1. An encore Omaha, Hour 3. Color and Light. presentation of 8:00 Antiques Roadshow From Gothic cathedrals Season 2. Cleveland, Hour 1. and Indian courtly 9:00 Man in an Orange 9:00 POV painting to modern art. Shirt on Masterpiece Quest. Christopher 8:00 Great War: American Vanessa Redgrave “Quest” Rainey and Experience stars in a drama his wife raise a family 10:00 BBC World News of two love stories and nurture hip-hop 10:30 Last of Summer Wine over 60 years that chart artists. 11:00 City at War: Chicago changes in gay life in 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Journalist Bill Kurtis England. 11:00 BBC World News chronicles how 11:00 Independent Lens 11:30 Reel South American cities, The Untold Tales of 62 Days. A family’s particularly Chicago, Armistead Maupin. fight against a Texas were changed by the life-support law. WWII war effort.
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Hometown Band. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 A Place to Call Home Happy Days Are Here Again. Regina new strategy to get rid of Sarah. 10:00 A Place to Call Home The Trouble with Harry. Gino takes control of his marriage. 11:00 Globe Trekker Tough Trains: Bolivia.
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Irish Show. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Still Open All Hours 9:00 A Place to Call Home When You’re Smiling. Henry’s confession forces James to sort out his feelings. 10:00 A Place to Call Home Home to Roost. George restores order at Ash Park. 11:00 Globe Trekker Food Hour: Southern China.
SOUNDINGOFF BY JOSEPH E. MORGAN
Modern Masters Nashville Ballet On May 4–6 the Nashville Ballet presented an eclectic collection of three pieces hand selected by Director Paul Vasterling from the works of three internationally renowned choreographers, Christopher Wheeldon, Jiří Kylián, and George Balanchine. Nashville’s dancers brought tremendous grace, strength, and innovative artistry to these three very different works.
The evening began with Kylián’s Sechs Tänze Paul Vasterling (Six Dances) to music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Of the three works, Kylián’s was by far the wittiest. It is a work that he referred to as “choreographing doodling,” which included irreverent aspects such as bubbles, powder, wigs, and rolling gowns. In the humor, there is an added sense of the macabre, a very Mozartian expression. In one instance, for example, a dancer appears to be stabbed with a foil and is lamented over, repeatedly, until the action is stylized.
is typically removed because of the intense nature of the dancing required. However, as a testament to the company’s strength, Vasterling retained the movement and the performance was remarkable. The Americanization of this French art was revelatory. The performance was a climax to a fantastic season at the Nashville Ballet. They will return in September with Petipa and Ivanov’s classic Swan Lake. For more information, visit www.nashvilleopera.org.
Brett Sjoblom and Mollie Sansone in Western Symphony
Courtesy Karyn Photography
Photograph by Anthony Matula
at the
The highlight of the evening was the last piece, Balanchine’s masterwork Western Symphony. Dressed in beautiful colorful costumes of cowboys and dance hall girls that evoke the Wild West, Nashville’s company brought Balanchine’s boisterous work to life. Balanchine, the founding choreographer of the New York City Ballet, choreographed the work to American folk tunes arranged by Hershy Kay for its premiere in 1954. Originally four movements, the third movement Scherzo Sechs Tänze featuring Sarah Cordia, Judson Veach, Gerald Watson and Katie Eliason 100
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Courtesy Karyn Photography
The second work of the evening, Wheeldon’s Ghosts, was set to C.F. Kip Winger’s lyrical score, which he had composed for this purpose and which was premiered by the San Francisco Ballet. Winger’s work is quite lyrical, and Wheeldon’s choreography features a number of poignant moments. The meaning is abstract and absolute, particularly in the partnering and the setting of individuals against the group.
The Art of Lying ... I’ve never been a good liar. And believe me, there’ve been times it would have served me well. But it was just never in the cards for me to lie. My older sister, Mary, on the other hand, could lie like a rug. Mary was so good at lying, it almost seemed virtuous. With one hand in the cookie jar, she could look you right in the eye and tell you her hand was not in the cookie jar, and you’d believe her. You’ve probably heard the old saying: “He’d rather climb a tree and tell a lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth.” Well, Mary wasn’t that kind of liar. She simply lied to avoid trouble. And she was quick on her feet, which helps if you’re going to tell those kinds of lies.
BEYONDWORDS
Photograph by Anthony Scarlati
BY MARSHALL CHAPMAN
One time my family and the Ballengers (another family from Spartanburg) were sharing a house at Pawleys Island. It was the summer of 1961. I was twelve and Mary was fourteen. Okay. So one night Mary went out with a bunch of teenaged friends, and when she came back later that night, she reeked of alcohol. Namely, beer. I was standing there watching the whole thing. Mama and Daddy were sitting there with Taddy and Clancy Ballenger, and when Mama smelled beer on Mary, she confronted her. “Mary!” she exclaimed. “Have you been drinking beer? You know you’re not supposed to drink beer!” With all those adult eyes fixed on her, Mary stayed cool. “Y’all aren’t gonna believe this,” she said. “But I was at this party where all these boys were drinking beer. And there was this big dog—a Labrador Retriever, I believe it was. And those stupid boys thought it’d be funny to pour beer all over that poor dog, so that’s what they did.”
Red-Handed Symposium Memorial Day Weekend
•
May 25-27
Featuring Marty Fielding, Liz Zlot Summerfield, Amy Sanders and Ronan Peterson Keynote: Linda Arbuckle Panel: Ben Carter $325 register on-line at www.theclaylady.com (click on the Red Hand)
1416 Lebanon Pike, Nashville, TN, 37210 • 615.242.0346 Hours: M-F 8am-4:30pm, Sat 10am-2pm
No one flinched, so Mary continued. She had them, and she knew it. “And would you believe,” she said, “after they poured beer all over that dog, it ran shaking between my legs?!” Words fail in describing the look that passed between my parents and the Ballengers in that moment—a mixture of disbelief, restraint, and pride. After Mary made her exit, Mr. Ballenger shook his head. “Damn!” he said, “That’s a helluva story. How could anybody make something like that up?” “I’ll be damned if I know,” Daddy said, as he took another sip from his Scotch. Marshall Chapman is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, author, and actress. For more information, visit www.tallgirl.com. NASHVILLEARTS.COM
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MYFAVORITEPAINTING ASHLEY SEGROVES: THE STUDIO 208 AND REVOLUTION DESIGN
ARTIST BIO: Ian Ross A prolific muralist, installation artist, and painter, Ian Ross is a San Franciscobased interdisciplinary artist whose love of the natural world deeply influences his practice. Born and raised in Marin County, he draws from his meditative, solitary experiences in Northern California’s forests and beaches to inform his signature approach to abstract imagery. Ross allows himself to get carried away in an intuitive creative process, channeling the calm he feels while communing with nature through organic shapes. Through his prolific painting career spanning over a decade, Ross has become a central figure in San Francisco’s street art and gallery scenes. Ross is currently represented by Rocha Art in San Francisco, Project Gallery in Los Angeles, and The Studio 208 in Nashville and is focused on his mural and studio practice.
Mural by Ian Ross
www.ianrossart.com
Ian’s mural holds a message. It reminds me that we are all connected and that I am going in the direction of my dream, to experience art everywhere! Nashville is fortunate to share this gift, and this collection of experiences led me to choose Ian’s mural as my favorite painting. I will leave it to your imagination what he listens to when he paints … na www.thestudio208.com
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NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Ashley Segroves
Photograph by John Partipilo
Ian is kind, authentic, and radiates goodness. His layers of paint or sand are glimpses of that energy. See for yourself; visit the mural and find his beach paintings in the sand all over the world. These gifts to the earth are absolutely amazing. You’ll discover shapes, patterns, layers of color and movement. The depth is endless, and finding hidden treasures is delightful!
Photograph by John Partipilo
T
he love affair with Ian’s work began in April 2017. I had the opportunity to host his work in a private art show during the week he was in Nashville. Watching him paint is a treat; perched 25 feet up in the bucket lift, he’s completely in the flow. Painting from sunrise to sunset, then to my gallery to help position the art and lighting for his show . . . painting until the last moment, he barely made his flight.