CHEEKWOOD IN BLOOM MARCH 18 - APRIL 23
Beauty this intense can only stick around for a few weeks.
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cheekwood.org 1200 Forrest Park Dr, Nashville, TN 37205
3 nashvillearts.com
Nashvillian of the Year Award Dr. Ming Wang, Harvard & MIT (MD, magna cum laude); PhD (laser physics) Presented by Kiwanis Club International, Nashville, TN The Kiwanis Club of Nashville is proud to announce Dr. Ming Wang, director of Wang Vision 3D Cataract and LASIK Center, world-renowned laser eye surgeon, author, and philanthropist as the 35th recipient of their coveted Nashvillian of the Year Award for 2015. Dr. Wang receives the award by exemplifying the qualities of Outstanding Nashvillian of the Year and the Kiwanis International Vision. Dr. Wang worked diligently to make the world a better place, when he established the Wang Foundation, helping patients from over 40 states in the U.S. and 55 countries, with sight restoration surgeries performed free-of-charge. “It is difficult to know anyone who works as hard giving back to the community and changing the lives of children as much as Dr. Ming Wang,” said Kenny Markanich, president, Kiwanis Club of Nashville. “He has helped countless children through the charitable outreach of his foundation, giving free surgeries to repair their vision.” Dr. Wang actively contributes to the Nashville community as the founding president of the Tennessee Chinese Chamber of Commerce and as an honorary president of the Tennessee American-Chinese Chamber of Commerce. The mission of these two chambers is to help educate Tennessee businesses about China, helping Tennessee to increase its export to China. He is also a co-founder of Tennessee Immigrant and Minority Business Group, an organization that provides support to the diverse cultural and ethnic businesses in our community. For the past 35 years, the 100-year-old civic club has bestowed the annual ac-
colade upon an individual who has gone beyond the expected scope of their abilities for the betterment and benefit of the Nashville community. The selection committee was spearheaded by George H. Armistead, III, one of the three original architects of the award (along with the late Gillespie Buchannan and the late Ralph Brunson). Past winners of note include Martha Ingram, Roy Acuff, Jack Massey, Phil Bredesen, Vince Gill, Tim Corbin, Mike Curb, Frank Wycheck, Darrell Waltrip and Mayor Karl Dean. A program saluting Dr. Wang was held at the Patron Club, Friday, July 29th at 11:30am. Dr. Wang was presented with
a commemorative plaque along a commissioned caricature.
About Kiwanis: Kiwanis Club of Nashville is a local chapter of Kiwanis International. This global organization of more than 660,000 members is dedicated to serving the children of the world. It annually raises more than US$100 million and dedicates more than 18.5 million volunteer hours to strengthen communities and serve children. Members of every age attend regular meetings, experience fellowship, raise funds for various causes and participate in service projects that help their communities. Dr. Wang can be reached at: drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com Wang Vision Cataract & Lasik Center 1801 West End Ave, Ste 1150, Nashville, TN 37203 615-321-8881 www.WangCataractLASIK.com
ADVERTORIAL BY WANG VISION 3D CATARACT & LASIK CENTER
TINNEY CONTEMPORARY
©Sisavanh Phouthavong
L EG AC I ES OF WAR NEW WORK BY SISAVANH PHOUTHAVONG February 25 - March 25, 2017
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
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Columns HUNTER ARMISTEAD | FYEye MARSHALL CHAPMAN | Beyond Words ERICA CICCARONE | Open Spaces 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
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 $6.65 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.
On the Cover Irving Penn
March 2017 24
Mouth (for L’Oréal) New York, 1986, printed 1992 See page 42.
Features
74
10
A New Location and A New Era for Haynes Galleries
18
Nathan Collie Of Birds and Shutterbugs
20
What Is It Worth and Is It Worth It? BB&T
24
Kind of Blue Ted Rose Brings His Rhythms of Jazz Exhibit to the University Club of Nashville
28
Hiding in Plain Sight: Portraits of Nashville’s Elusive Past
74
30 American Watercolor Society Traveling Exhibition
35
35
Jack Spencer On the Road Again
42
Irving Penn Beyond Beauty
48
Illuminating Amy Dean
54
Tiffany Ownbey A New Purpose in Papier-Mâché
60
Sherry Karver’s Voyeuristic Artworks
84
Where’s the Beef? Trey Parker’s Cannibal! The Musical Makes Its TPAC Debut
86
James Garrett’s Venetian Plaster Renaissance Bennett Galleries
Columns
42
48
Danielle Duer love, love illustrated
60
16
Crawl Guide
40
The Bookmark Hot Books and Cool Reads
77
Sounding Off by Joseph E. Morgan
78
Open Spaces by Erica Ciccarone
81
Studio Tenn
82
And So It Goes by Rachael McCampbell
89
Poet’s Corner
90
Art Smart by Rebecca Pierce
96 FYEye by Hunter Armistead 98 ArtSee 100 NPT 105 Beyond Words by Marshall Chapman 106 My Favorite Painting
66
The Mystical and The Real Farrar Hood Cusomato Opens at Space 204
THE RYMER GALLERY presents
Ascend
New works by Adam Thomas
March 3–31, 2017 The Rymer Gallery / 233 Fifth Avenue / Nashville 37219 / 615.752.6030 / www.therymergallery.com
5 T H AV E N U E O F T H E A R T S DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE
A New Location and A New Era for Haynes Galleries
by Margaret F.M. Walker
Joseph McGurl, Skulling, Oil on panel, 10” x 20”
H
aynes Galleries, a Nashville establishment for twentiethcentury and contemporary-realist painting, transitioned on March 1 to operating as a private gallery with art advisory and personal concierge services. As the art market changes, so too must the way that gallerists do business. While technological advances have put the art of the world at anyone’s fingertips, they have eliminated one crucial element—the personal touch. This is where the new Haynes Galleries steps into the picture. Visitors now will see artwork in a home-like space, adding a level of intimacy to the viewing experience and sparking ideas for those looking to buy. As Gary Haynes says, “People enjoy seeing art in a setting conducive to display.” Haynes will continue to host shows for artists they represent and events for groups and clubs in the city in addition to their regular clientele.
Andrea Smith, Ladle with Persimmons, Oil on canvas, 13” x 26”
curious and to hosting events tied to these respective galleries within the gallery.
Not only is the new space a more intimate setting, it is actually twice the size of Haynes’s previous location. Gary Haynes and his staff are excited about the varied possibilities for shows, displays, and gatherings as their focus shifts to become more event-centric and personalized. For one, they will have greater flexibility on the length of shows and in their ability to offer truly custom services for clients. Three galleries called Upstairs at Haynes and two Garden Galleries will lend versatility regarding the types of settings for display within the gallery as a whole. Haynes is looking forward to regular visits from clients and the
Stepping into the new Haynes Galleries, I found it at once both spacious and warm and very inviting, fitting for this emphasis on special events and privately catering to those interested in the art. As Gary Haynes says of the new location, “It’s like visiting a friend; just give us a quick call and make sure we’re here before you stop by.” na For more information, visit www.haynesgalleries.com.
10 nashvillearts.com
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Publisher’s Note
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
VICKI DENABURG
A Great City Deserves Great Art Last year I was asked to present to the Leadership Nashville group. This is a hand-picked group of Nashvillians who undergo a yearlong immersion into the fabric of our city. They dig deep. What works, what doesn’t, what needs to be changed. The aim is simple—to make Nashville a better place to live for all of us, not just some, but all. My presentation was titled “Use It or Lose It” and took the form of a game for the participants to play. Each was given a certain amount of money and a list of art-related events and venues where they could spend their money. At the end of the game, we saw which institutions survived and which were now out of business. Fortunately, it was only a game. The real world is not quite so forgiving. So as the old Arab proverb says, “If you have two pennies, spend the first on bread and the second on art to feed your soul.” I love what Katie Shaw is doing over in East Nashville. Her Red Arrow Gallery continues to bring great new art to Nashville. Her latest show with Mary Mooney is no exception. It’s a wonderful exhibit, and I highly recommend that you pay the gallery a visit. Once again the Frist is right on target with their presentations. The Visitors video installation and the Secrets of Buddhist Art exhibit were enlightening and entertaining. It was gratifying to see the museum packed with visitors. The Irving Penn photography exhibit (see page 42) opens this month, and I will be first in line, penny in hand. There are lots of changes going on in our art community. Change is good.
Fun Flowers, Mixed media on canvas, 24” x 18”
107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net www.yorkandfriends.com Follow us on
at York & Friends Fine Art www.cumberlandgallery.com | 615.297.0296 | 4107 Hillsboro Circle
BENNET T GALLERIES INTRODUCING
ALESSANDRA COLA
Slowly Walking into the Unknown, Acrylic on canvas, 47.5” x 59.5”
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
March Crawl Guide Franklin Art Scene
Murphy, which explores atmosphere, spatial relationships, and surface as characters in themselves.
Friday, March 3, from 6 until 9 p.m.
In the historic Arcade, Watkins Arcade Gallery is featuring a solo show by photography student Amber Woolson, No Spiritual Surrender: Standing Rock, which chronicles the indigenous resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline (or Black Snake, as the tribes call it) near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. “O” Gallery is introducing new artist Jessyca Myers and her whimsical urban paintings and photographer Diane Marsella, who uses aluminum plates to create brightness and depth.
Gallery 202 is featuring plein-air painter Tiffany Foss, who often paints scenes around Williamson County. O’More College of Design and The Arts Company are presenting the works of Denise Stewart-Sanabria in the galleries at O’More. Parks Realty is hosting painter Tim Ross. Check out the work of photographer Jim Booth at Bagbey House. Work by artists Sarah Kaufman and Carol Moon is on view at Historic Franklin Tiffany Foss, Gallery 202 Presbyterian Church. Imaginebox Emporium is showcasing the original illustrations created by Cory Basil for his young-reader novel The Perils of Fishboy. The Cellar on Main is exhibiting paintings by Jean Gauld-Jaeger. The Visitors Center is holding the Franklin Coloring Book launch party where creators Chris Thomas and Caleb Faires will discuss the 60-page coloring book featuring sites in Williamson County. Student work from Williamson County Schools grades K–12 is on display Denise Stewart-Sanabria, O’More College of Design in the Art Gallery at the Factory at Franklin and features a broad spectrum of media and techniques.
Hatch Show Print’s Haley Gallery is showcasing the Single Figure Series, hand-brayered, hand-printed works made with an 1885 wooden typeface that fills an entire 26” x 40” sheet. These blocks were originally used to create large-scale advertisements such as billboards. Works by David Wolske, monoprints by Jim Sherraden, and restrikes from the historical Hatch Show Print collection are also on display.
Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston Saturday, March 4, from 6 until 9 p.m.
First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown
Merrilee Challiss, Julia Martin Gallery
Saturday, March 4, from 6 until 9 p.m.
Sisavanh Phouthavong, Tinney Contemporary
Amber Woolson, Watkins Arcade Gallery
Ky Anderson, Zeitgeist
Julia Martin Gallery is unveiling Merrilee Challiss’s show The Void & The Eye, which represents the artist’s desire to make conscious the awareness that everything is connected. Channel to Channel is showing Ashley Doggett’s A History, contemporary paintings that speak to the historical erasure of African American trauma and violence that black people have faced since slavery, especially black women. For their new exhibit At Home, Zeitgeist is bringing back husbandand-wife team Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi, a.k.a. Sonnenzimmer, and introducing new artists from around the country: Ky Anderson and Vicki Sher from Brooklyn, Rami Kim from Los Angeles, Jessica Simorte from Houston, Sarah Boyts Yoder from Charlottesville, and Amelia Briggs from Nashville via Memphis. COOP Gallery is hosting an opening reception for Accounting the Misplaced by Matthew Weedman. David Lusk Gallery is exhibiting The Leviathan by Hans Schmitt-Matzen. Seed Space is presenting They Were All Talking At The Same Time So I Grew More Ears, an installation of drawing, sculpture, and animation work by Matt Christy. abrasiveMedia is featuring the work of artists Roberta
The Arts Company is unveiling Introducing Tiffany Ownbey, a new artist to the Nashville market who is reimagining ways to present papier-mâché (see page 54). Tinney Contemporary is presenting Legacies of War, an exhibition of new work by Sisavanh Phouthavong, one of the first professional Lao American visual artists and educators of her generation. The Rymer Gallery is exhibiting Ascend, new works by Adam Thomas. The Browsing Room Gallery at the Downtown Presbyterian Church is showing Portals, Boundaries, and Infinite Spaces by Nashville artist Erin
16 nashvillearts.com
Winjum, Ben Griffith, and Bryant Lamont, which served as inspiration for Blue Moves’ dance and multimedia production Muse: Inspired by Nashville Artists. At East Side Project Space Gallery Luperca is mounting a solo exhibition World’s Most Dangerous Artist by Tennessee folk artist Ben Lankford that showcases the artist’s prolific, frenzied work, and is hung salon-style to provide an immersive experience. Fellow folk artist Randy “Toyzini” Toy is taking over the auxiliary space with an installation of his own.
East Side Art Stumble
Saturday, March 11, from 6 until 10 p.m.
Jon Dragonette, Nashville Community Darkroom
The Red Arrow Gallery is opening My Love Divine, a solo exhibition by Kate Krebs. Nashville Community Darkroom is showing Jon Dragonette’s Steadfast, a collection of protest photographs taken in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Washington, D.C. Music & Art @MAIN is presenting Liquid Assets: The Value of Water with featured artist Dina D’Argo along with Dawna Magliacano, Ryan Frizzell, Sammy Laine, and Billy Martinez. Southern Grist Brewery is displaying paintings by Hannah Jo Holgate. At Michael Weintrob Photography Studio and Gallery see work from Weintrob’s
Kate Krebs, Red Arrow Gallery
upcoming book INSTRUMENTHEAD, which is due out in March.
Jefferson Street Art Crawl
Saturday, March 25, from 6 until 9 p.m. Woodcuts Gallery is featuring paintings, digital prints, and shirts by Xavier Payne. In honor of Women’s History Month, The Loft at Ella Jean’s Cafe is presenting a women’s art show. The work of Symphonee Henderson is on display at One Drop Ink. Immediately following the crawl, Art History Class is hosting an evening discussion of James Weldon Johnson titled “It Ain’t Pretty, but It’s Beautiful.” Please check Facebook.com/jsactn for updated information for The Garden Brunch Cafe and Jefferson Street Sound.
BAND TOGETHER BECOME A MEMBER TODAY
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Xavier Payne, Woodcuts Gallery
nathanCOLLIE
by Catherine Randall
Of Birds and Shutterbugs
Black Throated Green Warbler
Yellow Billed Coo Coo
N
athan Collie’s photography is an unusual blend of print, texture, color, and dimension. His innovative use of gampi paper literally pushes the edges of typical photographic technique. This Japanese paper, which consists of kozo, gampi, and Mitsumata fibers gathered from native bushes, is traditionally used for pastel, watercolor, and liquid acrylic artwork—not as photographic paper. The effect, however, transforms simple photos into paper sculpture. Perhaps Collie was predestined to become an innovative nature photographer. After all, his mother is an artist; his father is a songwriter. “I’ve been in a creative atmosphere all of my life,” Collie says. He caught the shutterbug in middle school. “I have always loved nature,” Collie explains. Once he discovered photography he combined the two vocations. His fondness for birds as a central subject is attributed to his grandmother. “She was a birder and taught me about classifications.” Warner Parks, Radnor Lake, and his family farms became, and remain, his raison d’être. The paper’s unique characteristics dictated his choice of medium. “The gampi paper is textured, and each thickness has a different tone.” The various fibers are visible. When it is glued
Mockingbird
18 nashvillearts.com
Yellow Warbler
Barred Owl
to other paper for stability, he “pushes it around” until it accepts the furrows and folds. One photograph, Yellow Billed Coo Coo, is a simple piece that captures the bird hidden on the branches of a sugar maple. The bold emerald leaves frame the tiny creature as the ripples of crinkled paper offer an erratic foundation that gives rise to the twigs and foliage, appearing two-dimensional. The digital photos are printed straight to the specialty paper. The process is part luck and part precision manipulation. “Sometimes the ink from the printer on the gampi paper takes on a life of its own.” The fibers change tones and saturations and force the ink to buckle and dry in waves. Black Throated Green Warbler plays with color more than other images. The paper’s sage green is a perfect backdrop to highlight the canary yellow of the head. In mid step, this bird appears delicate and weightless. The gampi itself in its shrinking creates the feeling of the swell of an air current under wing or swaying branch.
Nathan Collie and Anne Goetze will hold a joint exhibition entitled All About Birds at Warner Park Nature Center in September. See more of Nathan’s work at www.nathancollie.com.
Nathan Collie
Photograph by Anne Goetze
Collie’s creations have a conservation mission as well. In response to the dwindling habitat, Collie hopes his collection will promote and protect the bird population of Leiper’s Fork. na
What Is It Worth and Is It Worth It?
Photography Courtesy of Pall Mall Art Advisors
Insurance… not always the most exciting topic but a necessity for many.
R
or schedule by each item. According to Dennis Kirwin, SVP, Atlanta Regional Executive of PURE Insurance, “Traditionally, appropriate item classifications carry a lower rating because your insurance carrier knows exactly what you are scheduling.” You can, however, blanket your collectibles coverage. Blanket coverage is often on a group of items and likely is written with per-item limits.
ecent developments in the insurance and appraisal industry are providing Nashvillians more opportunities to work with professionals in this area. Recently, at a private event held at The Arts Company and hosted by BB&T Insurance Services, Pall Mall Art Advisors, and PURE Insurance, this topic was explored further with a group of select guests that were truly interested in learning more. Here are some of the topics discussed and corresponding answers.
Can I schedule more than just works of art? Nowadays collectible items are much more diverse than just artwork. Whether you are a new or experienced collector, an appraiser can recommend items that should receive additional attention and care. It might surprise you to know that appraisals can include many home accessories, such as Antiquities, Arms & Armour, Asian works of art, Books/Archives/Manuscripts, Ceramics & Glass, Clocks, Furniture & Decorative Arts, Guns, Jewelry & Watches, Paintings/Sculpture/Print (Impressionist & Modern Art, Contemporary, Old Masters & Drawings, 19th Century), Photography, Rugs & Carpets, Silver, and Sporting Memorabilia.
What is personal lines insurance? Simply put, personal lines insurance covers the dwelling (called “Homeowners”) and also includes cars (called “Auto”). Homeowners is not just the valuation of your home but the contents in it and any other valuable items you may want or decide to add to your schedule. Personal lines insurance protects your home and your possessions as well as your personal liability. Why would I schedule valuable possessions such as art, jewelry, rare books, antiques, wine, or any collectible? Typically homeowners policies limit the amount of protection and perils for collectibles; therefore we recommend homeowners schedule their collectibles, which will require an inventory and appraisal. There are two scheduling options available to homeowners: They can blanket all their collectibles
Kate Molets of Pall Mall Art Advisors says, “Everyone always knows what they have until they have to know what they have. In the event of a fire or major loss, will you be able to prove what you owned or will you be searching through old photos
20 nashvillearts.com
and social media images? Waiting until you are in a moment of distress is the worst time to be making decisions around the tangibles.” Pall Mall Art Advisors are market leaders in valuation services for the purposes of insurance, estate and tax planning. Can I estimate what the value is and then schedule the item on my insurance policy? You can always obtain an estimated quote on an item; however, in order to schedule it and have it covered there must be a professional appraisal. Many carriers offer additional credits with current appraisals that are less than two years old. Kate Molets adds, “It is impossible to make educated decisions about an object without knowing what it is and what it is worth. Inventorying and appraising your valuable possessions is the best way to protect them to insure they provide the best asset and legacy value in the future.”
BNA EXPRESS PARK EASY. FAST. CONVENIENT. A NEW WAY TO VALE T.
So as you start off the New Year in 2017, think about the last time you reviewed your home insurance and valuable items. Insurance can provide you with a restful peace of mind knowing you have the right coverage in place. BB&T Insurance Services is the fifth largest insurance provider in the United States. They partner with preferred carriers like PURE and others like AIG, Chubb, and Cincinnati but work with appraisers like Pall Mall Art Advisors to meet your needs. Pall Mall has a regional director in Atlanta and an estate jewelry appraiser right here in Nashville. They assist in the appraisal process as well as creating an inventory for their clients which can easily be sent to the insurance company for appropriate rating and scheduling. Whether you are fluffing your nest and just starting a collection or you are an experienced collector of art, jewelry, or wine interested in a second opinion, make sure to discuss it with your insurance advisor. Clay Jackson, Regional Insurance President for BB&T Insurance Services, commented, “The explosive growth in Nashville continues to give us opportunities to work with emerging artists and collectors as well as partner with outstanding insurance carriers. From the traditional to the new art, wine, sculpture, and collectibles market, it is always exciting to see what items are being collected by our clients.” na
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Kind of Blue
Photograph by Micah Beard
Ted Rose Brings His Rhythms of Jazz Exhibit to the University Club of Nashville
Ted Rose
“
I was amazed at how the great jazz artists could pile up layers of sound and then take music in unexpected directions,” says Rose. “I started to experiment, trying to find ways to incorporate that kind of rhythm, that kind of structure into my paintings. 24 nashvillearts.com
by John Pitcher
T
ed Rose thought for a moment that he might be losing his mind. It was the mid 1970s, and Rose had just arrived in Abilene, Texas, to start a new teaching gig. A gifted landscape painter with a knack for photorealism, the young University of Tennessee graduate had for years been incorporating the rhythms of nature into his artwork. But in the flat prairie landscape of West Texas, there was no rhythm. There was only static pulse, with cacti and sagebrush stretching out in all directions for as far as the eye could see. “It was like living on a big, brown pool table,” recalls Rose, now an eminent professor and chair of the art department at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. “I thought I’d go completely crazy if had to paint weeds for years and years.” With nothing interesting to paint, Rose started turning on the radio, listening to sounds from far-away stations. Jazz caught his ear. Over the speakers came the audacious Witches Brew, Acrylic on canvas, 50” x 35”
South Beach Mumbo, Acrylic on canvas, 21” x 51”
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chord changes of John Coltrane, the exotic electronics of Miles Davis, the rhythmic complexity of Dave Brubeck. “I was amazed at how the great jazz artists could pile up layers of sound and then take music in unexpected directions,” says Rose. “I started to experiment, trying to find ways to incorporate that kind of rhythm, that kind of structure into my paintings.” Some of Rose’s most successful experimentations are in Rhythms of Jazz, an exhibit on display through March at the University Club of Nashville. The eight large abstract paintings in this show are remarkable for their color, energy, and fluent sense of motion. Blue is a dominant color in most of these works. Surely this must have been a tribute to the most famous jazz album of all time, Miles Davis’s 1959 masterpiece Kind of Blue. Burma-Shave, Acrylic on canvas, 58” x 46”
“Actually, I think that might have been a subconscious reaction to spending ten years in West Texas,” says Rose. “You didn’t see much blue there or, for that matter, much water. The color blue took on a precious quality for me.” But before he could create a blue oasis in his art, Rose needed to develop a painting technique that closely approximated the fluidity and expressive spontaneity of a jazz improvisation. Applying paint directly to canvas makes a statement that is permanent and precise, like a composer writing notes on manuscript paper. Jazz musicians, however, don’t write out their improvisations. They go with the flow. So Rose worked out an ingenious method whereby he first applied his acrylic to large sheets of commercial glass. He would use a variety of tools—brushes, road paving applicators, kitchenware, pool cleaning equipment—to create kaleidoscopic shapes and patterns. Then he would tilt the glass at angles, allowing the paint to flow with the wondrous unpredictability of one of Charlie Parker’s legendary flights of improvisational fancy. Finally, Rose lays unprimed, cotton-duck canvas over the glass and wet paint. When the canvas is later peeled off the glass, the final design is imprinted permanently on the canvas. “The most striking thing about these paintings is the way the paint flows across the canvas,” says Rose. “People should realize that this kind of fluidity could never have been painted directly onto the canvas.”
Celebrate, Acrylic on canvas, 51” x 40”
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The eight large abstract paintings in this show are remarkable for their color, energy, and fluent sense of motion.
Takao’s Japanese Window, Acrylic on canvas, 25” x 77”
Rose’s paintings are indeed remarkable for both their vibrancy and impetuosity. In Blues Tapestry, beautifully shaped rectangles of color overlay curved paths of indigo, cyan, and navy blue. In Witches Brew, a play on the iconic Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, half-crescent shapes seemingly float on a boiling sea of purple, blue, and green.
and hating the assignment.
The works in Rhythms of Jazz are all pure abstraction. Interestingly, Rose didn’t start out painting in that style. Born in Queens, New York, he grew up in a home that valued art and athletics in equal measure. His father was a coach who happened to love both art and jazz. Rose remembers being a miserable student. When he was in sixth grade, his mother asked his teacher if he was actually good at anything. Apparently, he was good at drawing, so his mother went home and stuck a pencil in his hand.
In fact, Rose had already found a role model in the noted Texas sculptor Jesús Moroles. A true original, Moroles had perfected his own idiosyncratic technique for carving granite. No other sculptor worked the same way. After viewing Moroles’s work, Rose set out to discover his own signature technique. He eventually found it on the smooth surface of commercial glass.
“I spent ten hours a day for months trying to paint all of those details,” says Rose. “My dad was a coach, and I had once trained as a gymnast, so I hated sitting still for so long. I had to find another way.”
Now, as a seasoned art professor, Rose leads his students in their own process of discovery. He doesn’t teach them how to draw, because they already know how to do that. He’s also unconcerned about their ultimate choice of medium. “I tell my students if they want to be great artists, it’s not enough to find a medium,” says Rose. “They have to first discover themselves.” na
From that point on, Rose kept drawing, eventually graduating from Lipscomb University, then earning an MFA from the University of Tennessee and a Master of Education degree from Edinboro University. Early in his career, Rose created works that were highly figurative and representational. Indeed, Cal Turner, Jr., the former chairman and chief executive officer of Dollar General, once hired Rose to create a photorealistic painting of his family’s first store. Rose remembers both loving
Rhythms of Jazz by Ted Rose is on view at the University Club of Nashville through Friday, March 31. For more information, visit www.uclubnashville.org. To see more of Rose’s art, please visit www.tedroseart.com.
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Hiding in Plain Sight: Portraits of Nashville’s Elusive Past by Catherine Randall
Robert Oermann and Anna Jaap Explore Our City’s Rich History Nashville Public Library through June 18
T
Dolly Parton Trailer Park, 2016, Archival print on paper, 24” x 30” Not far from downtown, this Murfreesboro Road trailer park was home to Dolly Parton during her early years in Nashville.
he collaboration isn’t exactly an odd couple: Robert Oermann is a Nashville-based music journalist, and Anna Jaap is best known for her abstract paintings, but their subject matter is a bit on the unconventional side of art. The exhibit Hiding in Plain Sight features locations that people drive by every day unaware of their historical significance. The portraits, accompanied by short essays, tell the stories of Nashville’s Elusive Past. Oermann wrote the copy and Jaap photographed the venues. Nashville Public Library Courtyard Gallery is the perfect space for this collaboration. The exhibit runs through June 18. The concept was Oermann’s. He is a history buff, and this collection is the culmination of thirty years of passion for Music City’s unique legacy. By his own admission he is obsessive. “I am a voracious reader. I read two books a week about Nashville history.” Whenever he would come across a reference to one of these hidden artifacts, it was time for a road trip. The pair has worked for the last two years choosing the 39 locations that are featured. When asked about the shift from painting, Jaap clarifies, “Photography is like painting with a camera—it’s using color, composition, and form to tell a story.”
Del Mar, 2016, Archival print on paper, 24” x 30” Twilight at the former Del Mar Hotel on Jefferson Street, where celebrities such as Little Richard, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Lewis, Nat King Cole and Quincy Jones once likely stayed.
With architectural photography, Jaap explains, the time of day, orientation of the building, where the light comes from and at what angle factor into the quality of the image. For example she went to Lookaway multiple times before deciding on the evening glow. The final image of this pinkand-white brick home with an early moon rising above and a single smoke plume rocketing across the sky is truly breathtaking. Jaap says this is her basic process: Just “show up, do your work, and get out of the way. That’s when the magic happens.” Oermann’s narrative completes the history of the home of Nashville’s first professional songwriter—Beth Slater Whitson. Other pieces include the Civil Rights Church, Quonset Hut, and the Omohundro Water Treatment Plant. The photos are printed on archival paper with a tooth-like texture, which reads as acrylic painting. The prints are oversized on purpose, ranging from 12x16 to 40x40. “They really need to be large to give that sense of being there,” Jaap says. “In the end these are not stories about buildings but about people.” na Hiding in Plain Sight: Portraits of Nashville’s Elusive Past is on view at Nashville Public Library Courtyard Gallery through June 18. For more information, visit www.library.nashville.org.
Patsy Cline’s Dream House, 2016, Archival print on paper, 24” x 30” This well-kept ranch off of Dickerson Road was the cherished dream home of country music legend Patsy Cline. 28 nashvillearts.com
HISTORY EMBR ACING A RT
Featured Artist
T I F FA N Y
FOS S
Artist Reception • March 3, 6-9pm 202 2nd Ave. South, Franklin, TN 37064
•
www.gallery202art.com
•
615-472-1134
American Watercolor Society Traveling Exhibition Tullahoma Art Center
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March 10–April 17
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Until the late nineteenth century watercolor painting was not regarded as a true art form. Many considered a watercolor to be merely a sketch before the final work.
Hsiao-Hui Huang, Enchanted with Venice, AWS Silver Medal of Honor winner
by Annie Stoppelbein
T
his year the prestigious American Watercolor Society is holding its 150th Annual Exhibition. Over 1,200 artists submitted to this year’s show from the United States and twentythree foreign countries. A panel of jurors selected 147 paintings to be exhibited at the historic Salmagundi Club in New York City. Of those, forty paintings were chosen by the Jury of Awards to take part in the Traveling Exhibition. For the next year, the forty original watercolors will be on view in museums and galleries across the country. One stop on the tour is Tennessee’s own Tullahoma Art Center in Tullahoma, just an hour south of Nashville. They have hosted this esteemed exhibition every two years since 2006.
Ken Call, Urban Playground, High Winds Medal winner
The American Watercolor Society’s exhibition attracts busloads of people from all over the country to view the watercolors. They come for subject matter that is contemporary and traditional. They come to see classic techniques and new innovations. They come for the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medal winners, who were chosen from the multitude of submissions. They come to view a piece of history.
in the United States and abroad.
Until the late nineteenth century watercolor painting was not regarded as a true art form. Many considered a watercolor to be merely a sketch before the final work. But in 1866 eleven men sought to prove that it was indeed a discipline worthy of display in top galleries and museums. After the Civil War, Americans were searching for a revival of beauty. Watercolor painting was growing in popularity and being taught in school, but still had not been fully recognized. On December 5, 1866, a cold winter’s night in New York City, the American Watercolor Society was formed. They held their first exhibition the following year at the National Academy, in conjunction with the Academy’s own winter exhibition. One-hundred and fifty years later, the society is still working to advance watercolor painting
Each year they receive submissions from all over the world. Artists can apply for the status of Signature Member when they have demonstrated great skill and a consistent style over time. Signature membership is a monumental achievement that essentially groups the artist with such notable members as Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer, and many more. This year’s artists are contributing to a longstanding tradition.
John Patt has been the director for the past five and a half years. According to him, the mission has not changed. He says, “We were founded to promote water media art, and we hold to that mission today through our exhibitions and scholarship programs.”
While the American Watercolor Society is the most recognized international exhibition, and the event of the year for these artists, many other exhibitions are held regularly around the world. Prominent artists in the society convene at such events,
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Susan Weintraub, End of the Day, AWS Gold Medal of Honor winner
Donna Zagotta, Morning in Central Park, Francis Nell Storer Memorial Award winner
Lane Hall, Creekside II, Alden Bryan Memorial Medal winner
which mark the growing international popularity of watercolor painting. China, in particular, has become a hub for traveling watercolor artists. However the American Watercolor Society is unparalleled for their standards of excellence.
mistakes, the American Watercolor Society continues to accept only water-based paint on paper surfaces. The works vary in subject from landscapes to figures to stilllifes and interiors. This year’s Gold Medal winner is Signature Member Susan Weintraub, for her street scene End of the Day. It depicts the intersection of Brighton Beach Avenue and Coney Island Avenue in the neighborhood of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York, where Weintraub grew up. The New York scene will travel with the rest of the exhibition to Tullahoma, Tennessee, which boasts a vibrant arts community itself. The Tullahoma Art Center encourages the advancement of the arts of all kinds and offers classes in everything from sewing to watercolor painting. The center’s volunteers play a crucial role in greasing the wheels of exhibitions like this. After a month in Tullahoma, the exhibition will return to New York City. na
In a show of this caliber and quality, it seems most of the paintings are deserving of awards. How or why the winners are chosen is nothing short of a mystery. John Patt says of the judging process, “Each year the Jury of Selection changes, and jurors are not allowed to speak about paintings. Their thoughts are clearly their own. There is no way to predict what painting a particular juror will be drawn toward.” The standards for submission are stringent to uphold the original goals of the society. To be considered for the annual exhibition, each work is restricted to a maximum frame size of 44 inches, must be larger than 10 by 14 inches, and must be behind plexiglass. The artist must be working in a water-soluble medium on paper, inclusive of watercolor, acrylic, casein, gouache, and egg tempera. Although products have been released to ease the task of watercolor painting, a medium that does not allow for
The Annual International Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society is on view at the Tullahoma Art Center March 10 through April 17. For more information, visit www.tullahomaart.org.
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THE TONY -WINNING BROADWAY PHENOMENON ®
“EYE-OPENING, LIFE-AFFIRMING,
AND UNMISSABLE.” —TIME MAGAZINE
TPAC.ORG/Riverdance 615-782-4040
Groups of 10 or more call 615-782-4060 TPAC.org is the official online source for buying tickets to TPAC events.
APRIL 25-30
PHOTO OF LUKE TREADAWAY BY HUGO GLENDINNING
APRIL 21-23
TPAC.ORG/Curious 615-782-4040
Groups of 10 or more call 615-782-4060 TPAC.org is the official online source for buying tickets to TPAC events.
CuriousOnTour.com Broadway Series sponsored by Presented by
The River Rouge, 2016, Dearborn, Michigan
jackSPENCER
by Carol Caldwell
On the Road Again David Lusk Gallery
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March 14–April 15
J
ack Spencer, modern master of American photography, has two new books of work coming out this spring. The first, titled This Land, captures with consummate artistry the heart-stopping grandeur we take for granted in this abundant country, your land and mine. Jack Spencer is haunted by the vastness of America and its majesty. His photographs have rendered spacious prospects beyond the reach of the interstates indelible for those who have eyes to see. It is those his friend Jon Meacham addresses in the introduction to This Land. He quotes Spencer’s fellow Mississippian Shelby Foote who said, “I want to teach people how to see.” How better to shock people into seeing than by confrontation with an image apprehended through the mind’s eye of a mystic seer? Let’s imagine you or I are invited to join Jack on one of his many junkets across country,
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Mount Rushmore, 2005, South Dakota
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How better to shock people into seeing than by confrontation with an image apprehended through the mind’s eye of a mystic seer? 36 nashvillearts.com
Lost Nation, Iowa, 2008
stopping along the way, popping a bottle of champagne, waiting for the light to get right. From the New York islands to . . . oh, stop it! Let’s just picture the sites we’d be treated to along the way, the books we’d read or listen to, the spats we’d have. Postcards from Ed, one of Jack’s favorite books, would be one way for me to rip through the plains states toward our westernmost territories in wildly high spirits. The postcards are environmental spankings from the cranky iconoclast Edward Abbey, the late prophet of park rangers and rebel desert curmudgeon cut from the same cloth as Jack Spencer, both radical protectionists, each in his own way, of the geographical lay of the land we were lucky as hell to inherit. Both visionary roughriders, Jack and Ed plead with us to hold on to what we’ve got before it’s gone. We’d be listening to all colors of music on the road; Jack is a fine picker and singer. He is known to whip the pants off a bass guitar, and I like to think his best friend, Mickey Raphael, would hitch a ride for a while with us, blowing that plaintive harmonica to the
Bethlehem Steel #11, 2016, Pennsylvania
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“
Jack Spencer is haunted by the vastness of America and its majesty. His photographs have rendered spacious prospects beyond the reach of the interstates indelible for those who have eyes to see.
Swan, Lancaster County, 2016, Pennsylvania
compromised landscape blurring by. A few years back, Jack suggested I ride with him from Nashville to Sun Valley where we both have friends. I thought about it long and hard, I really did. He’d told about some of the great sidebar dives he knows along the way to score superior tamales and knock-your-socks-off homemade whiskey, way out yonder in the wide-open spaces, mile after mile, hour after hour of nothingness and togetherness. All I could imagine if we were to make it as far as the Divide was a ghostly maître d’ calling out, “Donner Party, table for two.”
Half Dome, 2014, Yosemite, California
I mentioned two new books. The second one, titled Mythologies, from Jack’s series Creatura, will feature imagined mythological creatures sprung full-blown from the forehead of Jack Spencer, who begins his creative process, he says, from emptiness, ex nihilo as Carl Jung defined it in his final channeled work Seven Sermons for the Dead. The intersection of time and space is where any original artist begins, time being what moves the mortal to begin the process of imitating the Godhead by creating, and space being the locus of ancient places where other great beginnings myths spring from: Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, from American native people, from Mexico, Hawaii, Africa. This limited edition of twenty handmade books, published by 21st Editions, will be available March 28. na On March 17, at 6:30, Spencer and Jon Meacham will discuss This Land, An American Portrait at Parnassus Books, and the author will sign copies of his book. An exhibit of photographs from the book will be on view at David Lusk Gallery from March 14 through April 15. An opening reception and book signing is slated for Saturday, March 18, from 4 to 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.davidluskgallery.com. To see more of Spencer’s work, visit www.jackspencer.com.
House in Monument Valley, 2008, Utah
Pictured: Tamiko Robinson Steele and Eddie George
A RAISIN IN THE SUN
BY LORRAINE HANSBERRY
FEATURING
EDDIE GEORGE MARCH 25 – APRIL 15, 2017 At Johnson Theater, TPAC
TICKETS: (615) 782-4040 NASHVILLEREP.ORG
SEASON PARTNERS The HCA Foundation on Behalf of
THEBOOKMARK
A MONTHLY LOOK AT HOT BOOKS AND COOL READS
The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit
This Land: An American Portrait
Michael Finkel
Jack Spencer is a local photographer with an international reputation. This gorgeous collection of photographs is the perfect addition to your coffee table. The publication coincides with a showing of Spencer’s work at David Lusk Gallery on March 18. The night before the opening, March 17, come by Parnassus Books at 6:30 and see Jack Spencer in conversation with Jon Meacham.
Need some alone time? Chris Knight sure did—about three decades worth. In The Stranger in the Woods, Michael Finkel tells the story of how Knight, the “last true hermit” in America, survived in the Maine wilderness without proper shelter, a reliable food source, or any human interaction for 27 years. Carve out some time to yourself and read it.
Jack Spencer
Fine Art & Gifts by Olga Alexeeva & Local Artists
www.OGalleryArt.com
615-416-2537
Olga Alexeeva, artist and owner, is available for commissioned works for home and business Art classes by Olga are conducted weekly Olga Alexeeva, Nashville in My Mind, Oil, 24 x 48
FEATURED ARTIST Cynthia Bell
Cynthia Bell, local jeweler and silversmith, is thrilled to be part of Olga Alexeevia’s family of artists. Cynthia’s signature style is simple but bold—heavy gauge, hammered silver— always comfortable and always unique.
Open 7 Days a Week • Monday-Saturday 10-6 • Sunday 11-5 1305 Clinton St. Ste. 120 • Nashville, TN 37203 • 615-416-2537
The Hearts of Men
Exit West
Nickolas Butler
Mohsin Hamid
Nickolas Butler is back with another great novel, this time focusing on the experiences of men at war. The Hearts of Men follows three generations of different battles and the toll they take on the people who fight them. See Nickolas Butler at Parnassus Books on March 16.
Mohsin Hamid’s writing is as vital as ever in his newest book, Exit West. Hamid follows the story of two young lovers trying to survive in an increasingly volatile world. When they have to escape their war-ridden home, they discover a series of portals leading to different cities across the world. Hamid’s book is an essential reflection on what it means to be a refugee and how we define “home.”
Eclectic Home Furnishings and Gifts
2205 bandywood drive in green hills • nashville, tn 37215 www.margischair.com • 615.463.3322
Issey Miyake Fashion: White and Black, New York, 1990
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“
Penn had a consistent fascination with the big themes of life and death. His representations of beauty contain indications of decay.
irvingPENN Beyond Beauty Frist Center for the Visual Arts through May 29
Bee, New York, 1995
by Bob Doerschuk
W
e remember the 1960s in color—swirling, splashy, sometimes messy, and ecstatic. As artists themselves, fashion photographers were presumed to be encouraging, capturing, and taking part in all this action. (Remember Blow-Up?) But as Vogue pumped forth one color-drenched cover after another, its greatest contributor worked patiently in his studio. Rather than capturing young people leaping and laughing or sulking and pouting prettily, Irving Penn arranged his subjects with care. More often than not, he shot in stark black and white against blank or artfully shadowed backdrops. Sometimes his subjects were celebrities. Sometimes they weren’t people at all. Neither were they traditional still lifes but more often meticulous images of cigarette butts, muddy gloves, skulls, or baby chickens in a jar.
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Girl Behind Bottle (Jean Patchett), New York, 1949
Woman in Moroccan Palace (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), Marrakech, 1951
Penn confronted the world on his own terms. Born in 1917, trained at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Design, he worked initially as art director at Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. A few years later he was hired to do page design at Vogue, where he shot his first cover in October 1943. From that point he would build a powerfully influential catalog over more than half a century within and far beyond the strictures of fashion magazines. Now open at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty is the first retrospective of his work since his death in 2009. The exhibition reflects Penn’s primary interest in black-and-white format, though several images confirm his command of color as well. There’s plenty of variation within these parameters, yet, as chief curator Mark Scala points out, there’s unity as well. “Penn had a consistent fascination with the big themes of life and death,” he says. “His representations of beauty contain indications of decay. His close-ups of things like trash found underfoot, which by any normal measure would be considered abject and beneath
Sitting Enga Woman, New Guinea, 1970
Kerchief Glove (Dior), Paris, 1950
Salvador Dali, New York, 1947
Frozen Foods, New York, 1977
Head in Ice, New York, 2002
our attention, he puts into the limelight. He represents them as every bit as worth photographing as a beautiful woman or a piece of couture.” The artist’s spare aesthetic, his avoidance of clutter or distraction, also touches all his work. “He creates a sense of distance and non-participation,” Scala notes. “He treats everything as a discrete object, whether or not it’s an actual person. In his photography, Penn was very attuned to the art world and especially to modernism. Of course, one of the six tenets of modernism is to get rid of all that is not essential. That quality of essentialism is evident in just about all his work. To Penn, ornamentation implied superfluity. But there’s nothing superfluous even in his fashion work.” In his approach to portraits and fashion photography, Penn was criticized for emphasizing composition at the expense of insight. “He is well known for his graphic and sculptural sensibilities,” Scala observes. “That probably comes across more powerfully in his black-and-white work, especially in his palladium prints of physical objects, like Cigarette Butts. But look at the people who sat for him: Truman Capote, Francis Bacon. These are seriousminded people. It’s really hard to know how much the subject is in a portrait. Throughout his life, except maybe in his street photography, he was not looking for random things. He was making each person or thing into what he wanted them to be.” Does Scala have a favorite photo among those at the Frist? “I do love Bee,” he answers, smiling. “That’s such a powerful image. It encapsulates so much of his thinking about beauty and sexuality and pain. An intimation of decay is certainly implied in the beautiful, poetic way this bee seems to be pollinating the woman’s lips. That gets me every time.” na Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty is on view at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts through May 29. For more information, please visit www.fristcenter.org.
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Christ Driving the Moneylenders from the Temple (Detail), 2016, Graphite, gouache, mineral pigment, watercolor, shellac, gold leaf and collage on found vellum, 4.25� x 3.25�
Amy Dean
by Sara Lee Burd
Carol Gove and her painting muse Osiris
M
iniature paintings throughout the history of art all have the same effect: the viewer must look closely and reflect upon the details to connect with it. From delicate drawings made to adorn bibles and other manuscripts by monks in medieval Europe, to small works on paper depicting secular scenes made by Persian artists at the same time, Amy Dean is fascinated with the style and impact these tiny works have. She began making miniatures in the style of illuminated manuscripts as a student at Austin Peay University. She now pursues this small-scale art as an intimate creative space where she can advance her own connections to the narratives she has encountered studying the history of art and literature. Dean had seen illuminated manuscripts and painted miniatures in museums and books, but creating her own works required intensive research and practice. She
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Photograph by Gina Binkley
ILLUMINATING
The Annunciation (Detail), 2016, Graphite, gouache, mineral pigment, watercolor, shell gold, shellac and gold leaf on found vellum, 4.25” x 3.25”
The Adoration of the Magi, 2015, India ink, gouache and watercolor, 11” x 7”
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I found my truth and light when I left the church and became sort of an existentialist, embracing art and literature as a path into self-discovery.
Adam and Eve in Paradise, 2017, Graphite, gouache, mineral pigment, watercolor, shellac, gold and palladium leaf on found vellum, 4.25” x 3.25”
The Expulsion from Paradise (Detail), 2016, Graphite, gouache, mineral pigment, watercolor, shellac and gold leaf on found vellum, 4.25” x 3.25”
The Last Judgement (Right Side, Detail), 2016, Graphite, gouache, mineral pigment, watercolor, shellac, silver leaf and gold leaf on found vellum, 9.75” x 3.5”
credits her mentor Billy Renkl for giving her the tools to make art in this historical tradition: “He gave me my first piece of vellum and taught me how to use gold leaf. He mentioned to me that I could layer gouache by putting shellac in between the layers to help get a dense, rich, illuminated-manuscripttype quality that I wanted to emulate.” With guidance and a push, Dean developed her craft and sought concepts to inform her art making. In her first work on vellum, The Mass of St. Gregory, she used German artist Albrecht Dürer’s 1511 etching as a reference source. Although she didn’t know the significance of the mass represented in the scene, the imagery grabbed her attention and inspired a composition. Like Dürer she positioned the Christ figure on the altar facing St. Gregory, and she included the attendants holding open boxes emitting plumes of incense. However, Dean transforms the static scene of ritualistic devotion into her own. Her artwork reveals an energetic, perhaps ecstatic, spiritual moment with a background of swirling hands and mouths and distorted faces. As she has developed her practice, she realized it wasn’t only the medieval aesthetic that appealed to her. She was attracted to her relationship with the narratives that were told through the centuries-old works of art. “I realized my compulsion to recreate these iconic religious stories is directly tied to my youth that involved a 13-year hiccup with weird, disorienting forms of Christianity that ended up (oddly enough) darkening my mind and restricting my capacity to live freely. I found my truth and light when I left the church and became sort of an existentialist, embracing art and literature as a path into selfdiscovery.” In The Last Judgement diptych Dean presents a frank view of the biblical end of days prophecy when God is said to separate the sinners from the saved. Loosely based on Stefan Lochner’s 1435 painting by the same name and inspirited with the hellish nature of Hieronymus Bosch’s c. 1500 The Garden of Earthly Delights, Dean’s interpretation is wildly playful and grotesque. As she says, “The original significance is still there, but I am drawing attention to the horror of the original scene in a cheeky, contemporary way.” One panel of the diptych features those receiving a “thumbs-up” from God. They are depicted smiling at each other and venerating the god above them. Those on the other panel are given the middle finger by the holy figure casting judgement down across them all. This twisting scene of spectacle is enlivened with sex acts, biting beasts, and aggressive gazes exchanged between the characters as they march on to hell.
this one about Hamlet and make the main theme be around the tragic demise of Ophelia and how she was suffocated by the men who dominated her life at the time.” That Dean goes from drawing lines to forming a feminist cultural critique in a single fluid thought shows how contemplating art enriches her perspective of the world. Dean’s art is not polite or apologetic. It is a true expression of her knowledge, feelings, and attitude. The interpretations she presents through her art provide space for contemporary viewers to reflect upon their own relationships with the stories and imagery that shape our culture. na
Religious texts and imagery inspire Dean, but she also draws from literature. As she sat drawing lines on a blank sheet, she became aware that lessons she’d learned reading Shakespeare’s Hamlet needed to be told through her art. She recalls her capricious yet thoughtful method: “Hey, that looks like it could be Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. I think I’ll do
To see more of Amy Dean’s work, please visit www.amyelizabethdean.tumblr.com.
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artisan fair
may 13,2017 • 7 Pm-11 pM on The Clay lady's Campus 1416 LEBANON PIKE, NASHVILLE TN 37210
Join us at dusk on Saturday, May 13th 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 and musicians, 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
W.
Keep It Simple: Watkins Gets a New and Improved Moniker
registration for summer classes opens April 1st
If you went on the Internet at some point last month to do a little research on Nashville’s premier art college, you might have come away a bit confused. An initial search revealed that the city’s top art school was called Watkins College of Art, Design & Film. Yet when you clicked into the school’s website, you found the institution referred to variously as Watkins College and even just plain old Watkins. This lack of a consistent brand was one of the first things Dr. Joseph (“J.”) Kline noticed when he took over the helm at Watkins as president in the summer of 2015. “I was a complete outsider when I arrived at Watkins, and I saw immediately that there was a real inconsistency in our brand,” says Kline. “In a market as competitive as higher education, you need to have a consistent brand in order to have a consistent message.” So starting in February, the school began a soft rollout of a new brand. Henceforth, the institution formerly known by the somewhat cumbersome designation Watkins College of Art, Design & Film will simply be known as Watkins. Interestingly, the new, streamlined moniker is rooted in the school’s distant past. When Kline and his colleagues decided to pursue the rebranding, they hired a top Nashville advertising agency called GS&F to do the job. The agency did some digging in the history books and found a photo of the school’s original building, which was in downtown Nashville. Etched in large capital letters over one of the entrances was the name WATKINS.
Community Education
“A lot of people don’t know that our school has been around since 1885,” says Kline. “It was important to us that our rebranding maintain a link to our past. Our new brand recognizes the institution’s long connection and commitment to arts education in Nashville.” For more information, visit www.watkins.edu.
Pack of Truck Dogs, 2016, Papier-mâché made from sewing patterns, antique toy truck parts, 8” x 16” x 8”
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by Margaret F. M. Walker
tiffanyOWNBEY A New Purpose in Papier-Mâché The Arts Company
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March 4–24
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he Arts Company has added a new artist, Tiffany Ownbey, to its ranks and is featuring her work this month. It is the Nashville debut for North Carolina’s Ownbey, whose work has been shown around the United States, particularly in the Southeast. Tiffany Ownbey’s works are reminiscent of outsider or folk art. She received formal training in ceramics and printmaking at the Savannah College of Art and Design and has developed a consistent aesthetic that easily goes from two to three dimensions and is grounded in the use of found objects. While there is never an overt message to her work, it does clearly explore people and their interactions. The heads and hands of her sculptures are often exaggerated in size—a visual manifestation of the fact that they are, she says, “our most distinctive parts and, I think, say the most about us.” Each work is thought provoking but in a way that invites contemplation rather than dictating a specific viewpoint. The most distinctive element of Ownbey’s work is its materiality. She skillfully creates papier-mâché sculptures and collages using old sewing patterns, book pages, sheet music, stamps, labels, and just about anything else. Much of it is sourced from eBay and estate sales, though Ownbey said that she has made a trip to the World’s Longest Yard Sale for eight years running in order to find material for her artworks. People are now familiar with her and her work and will even send her interesting materials they come across. Therefore, a number of her works contain layers of history and personal stories within their very fabric. I asked if she ever incorporates photographs, which I imagined for sale by the bundle at yard sales. While photographic paper itself has not yet made an appearance in Ownbey’s papier-mâché, the blind contours for faces of her figures are in fact derived from found photographs. It is always interesting with collaged works how the original life of a material—as a stamp, map, or pattern—coalesces into the larger picture of the artwork. Ownbey’s sculptures, though, incorporate more obviously found objects. Spoons find a new life as play weapons and teacups and flowerpots as hats. The artist once found a 1950s baby carriage that she said was so beautiful she just had to find a use for it, and she eventually incorporated the wheels as the base of a sculpture. Reflecting on this she shared
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Dressage, 2016, Collage on wood panel, hand drawn on sewing patterns, layered with ration stamps, 1940 carnival tickets, blueprints, cap gun caps, cigar bands and other vintage found papers, finished with varnish and wax, 48” x 60” x 2”
Often in Ownbey’s creative process she is working on many pieces at the same time. In doing so, she reflects, her imaginative energy continues to flow. Though her conception towards two- versus three-dimensional works is the same, moving between these two modes of expression regularly keeps fresh ideas in the forefront of her mind. Admirers of her work will notice this, too. The same sheet music that makes up the clothing of one person on a panel may in turn appear as the “skin” of a sculpture. This is, in a way, evidence of her consistency. Ownbey says that “since I have the same mindset towards my two-dimensional pieces as the threedimensional ones, I end up using the same materials.” The final shape matters not with regard to the material at hand, creating an almost cousin-like connection between otherwise disparate works. One of the most curious facets of the two-dimensional work is its simultaneous abundance and lack of texture. The eye perceives layers of torn paper and imagines not only the raised areas of their
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16 Silhouettes, 2016, Collage on wood panel, hand drawn on sewing patterns, layered with various antique papers, covered with varnish and a wax finish, 48” x 36” x 2”
that “it suddenly became an autonomous unit that could easily be moved around.” The spark of discovery and transformation here, finding new purpose for something that first caught her eye just for its beauty, has led her to continue incorporating wheels into many sculptures.
Big Paradise, 2016, Collage on wood panel, hand drawn on sewing patterns, layered with postage stamps, 1940 carnival tickets, blueprints, cigar bands and other vintage found papers, finished with varnish and wax, 48” x 60” x 2”
overlaps but also the vast diversity of feel from one to the next. Yet, in reality, the works are preserved with waxes and varnishes and have a remarkably smooth finish. There is in reality only the idea of texture, creating an interesting juxtaposition between what one sees and what one would in fact feel. Similarly, small inconsistencies—often the product of the source material itself—reward those who are observant. They maintain an element of interest even while the overall picture is straightforward. Perhaps the best example of this is that most of Ownbey’s twodimensional pieces have a whitish background. These are the edges of book pages, though that is evident only because of the occasional bit of type that the artist allows to remain visible. It is a subtle reminder that this material had a former life. Look for these random inconsistencies, this sharing of materials across works, for the exaggerated features and for the overall whimsical world born of Ownbey’s diligent commitment to elevating the craft of papiermâché. na Introducing: Tiffany Ownbey opens with a reception on March 4 from 6 to 9 at The Arts Company and remains on view through March 24. For more information, visit www.theartscompany.com. See more of Ownbey’s work at www.tiffanyownbey.com.
She Happily Lived a Cautionary Tale, 2016, Papier-mâché made from sewing patterns, wire, vintage air mail stamps, old metal casters, 18” x 48” x 18”
Tiffany Ownbey
Elephant Gallery Opens with Aminals Alex Lockwood’s Creative New Space for New Ideas
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Elephant, which got its name from a dream Lockwood’s son had, is meant to house interesting art, regardless of where it comes from. The pieces in Aminals were created during a month-long residency in the space during which Hunter, a self-taught artist from Southern Illinois, produced colorful, unidentifiable beings of various materials. It looks like the show will serve as the perfect introduction to the gallery.
lephant Gallery, a new art space in North Nashville, opened last month with an exhibition called Aminals by Brett Douglas Hunter. The opening marks a transition for gallery owner Alex Lockwood, a local artist specializing in found-object sculpture, who has exhibited his own work in spaces throughout the city. His familiarity with the city’s wealth of creative energy gave him confidence that Elephant would be a welcomed addition. “I’m an artist, I love art work, I love great shows,” Lockwood says. “There are great exhibition spaces in Nashville. There is also, I think, room for more.” Specifically, the location of the gallery is an opportunity to build on what is already here.
“Brett’s ideas travel without filter and with total confidence from his brain to his hand, and they are immediately recognizable as his alone,” said Lockwood. “He is driven to create work like few people I know.” na
“It can serve North Nashville by adding one more creative space to the already lively art scene coming out of Fisk, TSU, and the Jefferson Street galleries,” Lockwood said. “It will also serve as an opportunity to show the neighborhood and the larger city different kinds of work than they see elsewhere.”
Elephant Gallery, 1411 Buchanan Street, is open Fridays from 2-6 p.m. and Saturdays from 12-6 p.m. Aminals will be on view through March 31. For more information, please visit www.alockwood.com. To see more of Hunter’s work, visit www.brettdouglashunter.com.
Aminals by Brett Douglas Hunter
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Notes to Self, 2017, Mixed media, 20” x 30”x 2”
Sherry Karver’s
Voyeuristic Artworks Cumberland Gallery
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March 11–April 22
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The upshot of these narratives is that there is no guesswork for viewers. Those who aren’t sensitive to body language, for example, can read the subjects’ thoughts literally spelled out.
by Karen Parr-Moody
M
an has been trying to make visual sense of his world for almost 40,000 years. Through the earliest of drawings—tracings of hands in a remote Indonesian cave—man was most likely expressing his connection to a particular place, saying, as he does today, I was here. These early examples of figurative art expressed ancient artists’ desire to be part of a larger whole. As the centuries have peeled away to modern day, that desire hasn’t changed. Artist Sherry Karver communicates man’s desire for belonging through mixed-media works on wood panels, using an extra layer to get her points across— words. She places narrative text across certain figures in each painting, creating stories filled with humor and vulnerability. Her narratives are inspired by the appearance, motion, and body language of each subject. The upshot of these narratives is that there is no guesswork for viewers. Those who aren’t sensitive to body language, for example, can read the subjects’ thoughts literally spelled out. “Having text in the work really makes the viewer stop and look at the work a lot longer,” Karver says. “Even people who don’t understand the meaning of a painting can read a little bit.”
Until Then, 2017, Mixed media, 40” x 22” x 2”
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The Sequential Nature of Time, 2016, Mixed media, 40”x 30” x 2”
Middle of the Road, 2017, Mixed media, 30” x 20” x 2”
“It’s a very labor-intensive process from the beginning to the end,” Karver says. “It takes me about a month to make one piece.”
Karver’s upcoming exhibit at Cumberland Gallery is aptly named Thoughts Left Visible. It includes pieces with dreamy titles, such as The Sequential Nature of Time, Background of Our Future, and Until Then. The show will open with a gallery reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 11.
The shiny resin is meant to prompt viewers to contemplate their reflections in the paintings, thus becoming part of the story. And what stories are here. One excerpt is about a divorced mother of three who is trying to get back into the dating world, “doesn’t know the new rules, or even if there are any, and hopes she won’t have to pay for her own dinners. Tried speed dating but couldn’t make conversation fast enough.”
To create this body of work, Karver took photos in metropolitan hubs throughout the world. An Adobe Photoshop devotee, Karver then manipulated the photos. “I might take someone from Paris and put them in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” Karver explains. “Sometimes I’ll put one person’s head on another’s body.”
Another subject is covered in this narrative: “26 yr. old mascot for a football team, gets a little claustrophobic in his armadillo costume.” A museum sculpture says, “Hey is that girl down there looking at my private parts or at this heavy Medusa head I’m holding up.” A woman says, “Shy, slightly insecure massage therapist doesn’t like her job but the pay is good.” A man says, “Finally admitted to her that he wasn’t really a secret service agent.”
Her craft involves printing the finished collages into large black-and-white pieces that she mounts onto wood panels and paints over with colorful oil glazes. The final step is staggeringly in depth: She pours up to two or three layers of high-gloss resin onto each piece, using a torch afterward to render the surface exceptionally glossy.
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Then and Now, 2016, Mixed media, 30” x 40” x 2”
The narratives expose the list of emotions that comprise the human condition while bringing with them the creative quirkiness of a J. Peterman catalog. Karver came away from cities including Paris, Prague, Milan, and Venice admitting that her pursuit of subject material was “a little voyeuristic.” She also had an epiphany after watching Europeans in public: People are fundamentally the same everywhere. “People are people, wherever we are,” Karver says. “People all over have the same thoughts and dreams and desires as the people in New Orleans or Nashville. We’re all the same.” na Thoughts Left Visible by Sherry Karver opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 11, at Cumberland Gallery and remains on view until April 22. For more information, visit www.cumberlandgallery.com. See more of Karver’s work at www.sherrykarver.com.
Sherry Karver in her studio
Single Figure, 26” x 40”
Individual Letters $125 each
Hatch Show Print’s Haley Gallery showcases restrikes of original posters from the collection, as well as contemporary interpretations of Hatch Show Print’s classic wood blocks. VISIT THE GALLERY TODAY
#PressPlayRecord • @HatchShowPrint HatchShowPrint.com • Downtown Nashville
Meditation, 2016, Oil on wood panel, 48” x 36”
The Mystical and The Real Farrar Hood Cusomato Opens at Space 204
Into the Woods, 2014, Oil on wood panel, 48” x 72”
by Megan Kelley
“N
ature is a form of salvation,” and Frontier, Farrar Hood Cusomato’s exhibition of oil paintings, treads between artifact and icon to this idea. Depicted in naturalistic settings or accessing a theatre of drama and meaning, the smooth marks and mystical forms carry a vitality and presence. They speak of passages and crossings: literal journeys through tangled brush and forest, and the psychological boundaries between acknowledgment and growth.
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Channeling, 2016, Oil on canvas, 80” x 90”
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“Being in nature is easy to romanticize, and I oscillate between wanting to be more ‘in’ and recognizing the harshness it demands. Cusomato’s earlier work. These are active, woke participants, their gazes caught in the middle of a personal quest. The decision to engage the scenes through oil paint creates a sense of continuity and cohesiveness. Rather than feeling out of place or transported into their spaces, the figures impart a sense of ownership and authority, inhabiting the landscape or channeling its wisdoms with unassailable confidence, mythic archetypes of the wilderness they have come to claim.
Beginning from collaged sets of staged and found photographs and reference images, the paintings sometimes wait years for the right elements to be discovered and included. Though the figures’ features are typically modeled after family or friends, Hood Cusomato explains that often the figures themselves have actually been “inserts, versions of self-portraits” who inhabit the constucted spaces, equipped with props drawn from Hood Cusomato’s childhood. The hand-me-downs and heirlooms form attempts to create order out of the unknown and make sense through the security of pattern, creating an emblematic vocabulary as evocative as it is familiar, simultaneously comfortable and yet mysterious for its role.
“Being in nature is easy to romanticize,” Hood Cusomato admits, “and I oscillate between wanting to be more ‘in’ and recognizing the harshness it demands. There are decisions that have to be made, dominion that has to be asserted.” The woods within her paintings form grounds for a test, a trial of survival, a proving ground for personal revelation: “What do
After the environments are articulated into oil paint, they do not feel like dream states or the surreal liminal struggles of Hood
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Night Vision, 2017, Oil on wood panel, 24” x 24”
Peaceable Kingdom, 2016, Oil on wood panel, 36” x 36”
you do when confronted with something that doesn’t even concern itself with you,” whose reasons are so removed from any consequence to you that you couldn’t even describe their intentions as malevolent?
Frontier is on view through March 17 at Space 204 in the E. Bronson Ingram Studio Art Building located on Vanderbilt’s campus. For more information, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/arts. See more of Farrar Hood Cusomato’s work online at www.farrarhc.com.
Farrar Hood Cusomato
Photograph by Robin Hood
In their careful depictions, the works themselves pace this conceptual territory somewhere between a cautionary tale and a prayer. A coiled rattlesnake forms the center of a crocheted rug; a child’s plastic toys are scattered across a doily, as if throwing bones for an oracle’s forecast; paper scatters across the borrowed scene of animals gathered in fictionalized harmony, as if making an offering. The body of work murmurs half-understood wisdoms, and together they form a powerful folkloric structure. We know these to be fictional constructions, but like the best fairytales, we also understand them to speak fundamental truths, their power waiting simply to be heard. na
C U S TO M S H O U S E MUSEUM EXHIBIT
Marilyn Murphy: Short Stories March 1 – April 30 Art & Lunch Event with Marilyn April 6 • 12:15pm • Free Admission
A Branch of Anne Daigh Landscape Architect, LLC
HENRY RASMUSSEN The Beckomberga Mask Series
She Sat Next to Herself
Damsel in Distress (Purple Pain) 2012, Acrylic, 73 x 49 inches
Exhibition
Cloud Post
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200 S. 2nd Street In Historic Downtown Clarksville, TN 931-648-5780 • www.customshousemuseum.org Hours: Tues – Sat 10 – 5 • Sun 1 - 5
through
A p r i l 1 4 th
Galerie Tangerine is free and open by appointment Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Located at 900 South Street, Suite 104 Inquiries may be directed to Annette Griffin 615 454.4103 www.galerietangerine.com
The Mazza Co. In Store Event April 21 & 22 ALL THE BEST IN FINE JEWELRY 5 1 0 1 H a r d i n g R o a d N a s h v i l l e , Te n n e s s e e 3 7 2 0 5 6 1 5 . 3 5 3 . 1 8 2 3
Roomful of Teeth Wednesday, March 15 • 8 p.m. • Ingram Hall The genre-defying, Grammy-winning, pan-cultural vocal group brings a mesmerizing program of new music to Vanderbilt’s Blair School. Sure to be an unforgettable evening!
For the complete concert calendar, please visit blair.vanderbilt.edu Presented with gratitude to the parents of a Blair School student for their generous support
2400 Blakemore Ave. Nashville, TN 37212
IRVING
PENN
February 24–May 29, 2017 DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE 919 BROADWAY NASHVILLE, TN 37203 FRISTCENTER.ORG #IRVINGPENNFCVA
Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum with generous support from ART MENTOR FOUNDATION LUCERNE, Sakurako and William Fisher, The William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund, The Lauder Foundation—Leonard and Judy Lauder Fund, Edward Lenkin and Roselin Atzwanger, The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Margery and Edgar Masinter, The Margery and Edgar Masinter Exhibitions Fund, the James F. Petersen Charitable Fund in honor of Tania and Tom Evans, The Bernie Stadiem Endowment Fund, and the Trellis Fund. The C. F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the museum’s traveling exhibition program, Treasures to Go.
Irving Penn. Head in Ice, New York, 2002, printed 2003. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation. © Condé Nast • Irving Penn. Issey Miyake Fashion: White and Black, New York, 1990, printed 1992. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation. © The Irving Penn Foundation • Irving Penn. Bee, New York, 1995, printed 2001. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation. © The Irving Penn Foundation • Irving Penn. Harlequin Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn), New York, 1950, printed 1979. Platinum/palladium print. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist. © Condé Nast • Irving Penn. Leontyne Price, New York, 1961. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation. © Condé Nast • Irving Penn. Truman Capote, New York, 1979, printed 1983. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of The Irving Penn Foundation. © The Irving Penn Foundation
Supported in part by:
danielleDUER
by Gracie Pratt
love, love illustrated
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rtist Danielle Duer puts love on display in an imaginative, vibrant new series. These illustrations, collectively titled love, love illustrated, showcase the bond between spouses, parents and children, siblings, and friends. With intricate designs and a spirit of lightheartedness, Duer strives to create a representation of a person’s true self through her illustrations, noting everything from little-known details to personality traits in her depictions. Fascinated by the difference between who people truly are and who they portray themselves to be, Duer promotes transparency in her illustrations. The series has become an opportunity for people to peel back the veil and celebrate the quirky, dark, fun, remarkable characteristics that make them who they are. It is vulnerability in the face of love. The love, love illustrated series tells the story of people and their most cherished relationships. The series started naturally after Duer began to share her illustrations of imaginary couples and families on social media. When she announced that she had a few spots open for illustrations that could be completed in time for Valentine’s Day the response was overwhelming. She had planned room for 15–20 illustrations. She was commissioned for 80. That was over two years ago. Since then she has illustrated at least 200 couples and families from the U.S., Germany, Turkey, Mexico, New Zealand, and France.
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Danielle Duer
Photograph by Juan Pont Lezica
It is vulnerability in the face of love. The love, love illustrated series tells the story of people and their most cherished relationships.
The Bells, 2016, Inks, 14” x 11”
Unlike paint, which can be layered and painted over if needed, Duer gets one shot with a marker. The curse is that there’s no way to redo any aspect of the piece; the blessing is that her art is forced to be a gut reaction to someone’s story. There is very little censoring or overanalyzing that happens once the marker hits the paper.
“I read all about how husbands met their wives, how couples adopted their beautiful children from different countries, about single women raising two or three kids with strikingly different personalities, and pets they couldn’t live without,” she says. The illustrations are done primarily in marker, a decision which Duer initially questioned. “I wondered if I would be taken seriously as a marker artist.” Though Duer has experience with painting and design, markers felt like a natural choice for these illustrations.
Her illustrations are symbolic, meaningful representations of clients. A couple who had traveled across the globe was outfitted with suitcases in Duer’s illustration, complete with travel stamps representing all of the places they had been.
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The Beards, 2016, Inks, 14” x 11”
Another illustration features a couple with their two children, surrounded by elements of nature in a cool color palette. At the bottom of the illustration, an inscription reads: “When the kids are old enough, we are gonna teach them to fly.” The reason the series has been appealing to so many seems clear. “The illustrations are a way for them to see their own narrative,” she says. It gives them a sense of belonging, a visual moment of gratitude for the people that are most important. “A lot of people wanted to tell their story, but they didn’t know how,” Duer says. Through a series of interview questions, she gets a sense of a family’s history, what kind of things they care about, the people in their life, what they do in their spare time. She finds that the interview process is sometimes as rewarding for her clients as the moment when they hold the finished illustration in their hands. At their core, people want to share their stories. Love oozes off the page when she asks parents to describe their children. In an interview, a mother described her oldest daughter, Olivia, in this way: “She is wise beyond her years and values intangible things in the way that most adults don’t but should. She talks of traveling the world and studying animals and living in a trailer, never wanting material possessions that she doesn’t need.”
The Lisks, 2016, Inks, 14” x 11”
And of her younger daughter: “Everything about Norah has been a surprise since I found out I was pregnant with her. Norah is fierce. Norah is a force. When she is happy, no one else in the world has ever been that happy.” For Duer, the opportunity to capture family members is a weighty responsibility. How do you put the force of Norah’s personality into an illustration? Duer finds a way. “It really is like a love letter,” Duer says of the illustrations. Clients often commission illustrations for loved ones—a gift from children to parents, parents to children, one spouse to another. Her illustrations capture a story, details like French books, a bouquet of roses, or even a favorite pair of shoes revealing a unique personhood and family history. And when the finished illustration arrives in the mail, families are delighted to see their story as art. “They love it because it’s them,” she says. na For more information about Danielle Duer and her love, love illustrated series, visit her website at www.danielleduer.com.
The Coyles, 2016, Inks, 24” x 18”
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SOUNDINGOFF BY JOSEPH E. MORGAN
Photography by Karyn Photography
Much to Hear in Music City
Nashville’s Sugar + the Hi-Lows put their own spin on Johnny Cash’s hits during Under the Lights
The weekend of February 10 was a typically exciting and diverse weekend for Nashville. It began on Thursday with the Nashville Ballet’s production Attitude, which featured two choreographies. The first, the lovely Sergeant Early’s Dream choreographed by Christopher Bruce, was an essay on migration from the British Isles featuring British, Irish, and American folk songs. The dances, similarly, were made up of stylized historical Anglican dance forms from the hornpipe to jig—one could almost hear the sound of clogs. In particular, the closing duet, “Barbara Allen,” danced to DJ Daly’s authentic voice, was quite poignant.
Nashville Ballet company dancer Mollie Sansone gives an emotional performance during “Hurt” in Under the Lights
Overture, followed by Camille Saint-Saëns’ Concerto No. 2 for Piano, played by Spanish virtuoso Javier Perianes and under the baton of Canadian guest conductor Peter Oundjian. Although the Berlioz was not particularly convincing, the SaintSaëns was extraordinary. Perianes’ playing brought out the grace and delicate nature of the first movement’s introduction but retained enough gusto for the last movement to give a blistering tarantella. After intermission, Oundjian took the spotlight with an excellent rendition of Samuel Barber’s shamefully neglected Symphony No. 1, leading our orchestra through the enthralling finale’s passacaglia with marked passion. The evening ended with Ottorino Respighi’s epic Pines of Rome, employing the Schermerhorn’s powerful organ to depict an ancient Roman army marching home. In all it was an excellent event.
The second choreography was by Christopher Stuart and set several songs made famous by Johnny Cash. The performance featured a number of interesting takes on Cash, from the idealistic youth of “I Walk the Line” through the realities of his marriage to June Carter in “I’ve Got You Covered,” and “Ring of Fire.” In particular, Kayla Rowser and Jon Upleger’s duet dance in “I’ve Got You Covered” was remarkable for its grace and numerous lifts. The most powerful take of the evening was the bitter and dark nostalgia of “Hurt” led by the beautiful Mollie Sansone. The plaintive and meditative music of Sugar + the Hi-Lows, featuring Kyle Ryan’s Texas-loud lead guitar, underlined the evening’s Attitude in arrangements that profoundly translated Cash’s angst and anger. In May, Stuart will return to Nashville Ballet with the premiere of Seven Deadly Sins with original music by Ten out of Tenn (which features members of Sugar + the Hi-Lows).
The weekend ended in Murfreesboro on Sunday with an extraordinary collaborative concert between Intersection and MTSU’s Center for Chinese Music and Culture. This performance included The Farewell, a delicate piece by Zhou Long and Chen Yi’s sextet Wu Yu as well as a new composition, If I Was a Batman Queen, by Nashville’s own virtuosa zheng performer Wu Fei. Nashville has one of the most active, diverse, and rich music scenes in the country; no wonder they call it Music City. For more information visit www.nashvilleballet.com, www.nashvillesymphony.org, www.intersectionmusic.org, and www.mtsu.edu/chinesemusic.
On Friday the Nashville Symphony opened their Pines of Rome classical concert with Hector Berlioz’s Roman Carnival
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Photograph by Tony Youngblood
OPENSPACES BY ERICA CICCARONE
Erica Ciccarone is an independent writer. She holds an M.F.A. from the New School in Creative Writing. She blogs about art at nycnash.com.
Photograph by Russel Mobley
Yellow Bird Art Farm Offers Artists and Writers Sanctuary
Russel Mobley, Soft Time, 2011, on the bank of the road outside the Arts Center of Cannon County, Woodbury, TN
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Part sculpture park, part artist residence, part nature sanctuary, Yellow Bird is 175 acres of rolling hills, steep vistas, and hiking trails. There’s also a tea pagoda, cedar sauna, a cob meditation center, and a lake beloved by frogs and turtles. And art. It is placed throughout the land, like the ten-foot red panels that hang suspended in the woods along a trail. Cedar planks engraved with random words dot the landscape, and visitors are invited to engage their spontaneity and move them around. Steel wire orbs by artist Lily Erb mimic geological formations, and a new project, a series of ten geometrical sculptures, will guide
Photograph by David Wood
here do artists and writers thrive? While there’s something to be said for the cultural immersion of a pulsing metropolis, there’s no denying the appeal of seclusion, of sanctuary, and of the artist’s communion with nature as an igniting force. Just an hour southeast of Nashville in Woodbury, Tennessee, Yellow Bird Art Farm provides such a place.
David Wood, Awakening, Reinstalled Spring 2017, large heliotrope earth-art installation inscribed with a poem exhorting us all to wake up before the planet fails
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“I remember when I first saw this land,” Wood says. “I drove around the corner and there it was––this hanging valley. It felt like an outstretched hand, like a gift or an offering.” 78
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David Wood, FireFlash, Ten scarlet wooden ribbons waving in the trees
travelers up a hill to the meditation center. Called Passing TransFigures, the forms could be commemorations of people who have passed, and their ghost-like presence might symbolize the passing from one world to the next. Hiking any one of Yellow Bird’s trails will reveal such surprises.
balancing point in nature and consciousness. Laan and Thomas made the seasonal transition concrete on a chunk of limestone between the barn and the lake. They etched the same east-west line along with the specific star formations that existed on the night of the 2016 equinox, inlaying the stars with copper. Someone who comes across the rock many years from now could, with a bit of astronomy knowledge, know exactly when it was carved. The technique–– etching in stone––looks to the past, but Laan and Thomas think about the future as well, of taking their little girl back in ten years to show her the rock and see how it has changed.
The land’s keeper and curator, David Wood, is an intellectual and staunch optimist––a rare breed indeed. He moved to Tennessee from Warwick, England, in 1994 to teach philosophy at Vanderbilt. He was inspired by places like the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Grizedale, playgrounds for landscape artists and sculptors. He had long dreamed of creating a place where artists could have a benign, creative relationship with the natural world. In 2002, he started looking at land in Tennessee.
It’s this meditation on time that fascinates Wood as well. On one of my trips to Yellow Bird, we rode out on his 4-wheeler so he could show me the site of the Old Home. Hanging on for dear life as dusk began, we cut through one of the many winding trails that weave over and around the land. At the edge of a bamboo grove, a chimney rises no more than four feet high, stones collapsing around it. Just around a corner, a spring gurgles. It reminds us that there was a time––not all that long ago––when we built our homes and lives around the whims of the natural world, rather than bending nature to our own.
“I remember when I first saw this land,” Wood says. “I drove around the corner and there it was––this hanging valley. It felt like an outstretched hand, like a gift or an offering.” He has hosted visual artists, writers, filmmakers, dancers, musicians, and composers of all stripes to stay in the rooms of the Lodge, the Writer’s Cabin, the Stables Cottage, or the vintage Airstream––or to camp in the pasture or under the roof of a big red barn. Blair School of Music’s orchestra makes an annual summer retreat, and due to Wood’s tenure as a professor at Vanderbilt––22 years running––students of art, literature, philosophy, and theology have engaged the bucolic landscape.
“Here we are,” Wood says, “floating on top of this layer of history, this layer of evolution, this layer of geology . . . I’m trying to inhabit it, to understand what this place is in terms of what’s here and what used to be here and how the way it is now is a product of the ancient past.”
The Yellow Bird Artist’s Residency includes a secluded place to work, materials, a workshop, and accommodations. Many create something that will stay on the property as a mark left behind. Last year, artists Silvan Laan and Emily C. Thomas lived in the cottage for three months with their newborn daughter. Together, they learned the contours of the land.
Yellow Bird reminds us city dwellers that we have a deep connectedness to the natural world, including the sky and solar system. I have spent many days now writing at Yellow Bird during an ongoing residency. Among the goats, the dogs, the barn cat Kali, and the artists who move quietly around the land engaging their own practice, I feel aligned with the natural world, and everything just flows. na
The couple’s installation, Virgo Rising, is about re-establishing our natural connection with the environment by way of the stars. During the fall equinox, they stretched a 1300-foot line of solar lights across the undulating landscape, connecting the points of sunrise and sunset. During the equinox, day and night are equal in length; according to the artists, it’s a
Yellow Bird Art Farm is hosting an Open Day in celebration of the Spring Equinox on Sunday, March 19, at 2 p.m., with a bonfire at 6 p.m. For more information on the Spring Equinox celebration and Writer’s Residency, please visit www.yellowbirdartscape.org.
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Photograph by David Wood
Photograph by Leopard Zeppard
A winter vista at Yellow Bird Art Farm
STUDIOTENN
The Cash Legacy Continues Ryman Auditorium
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March 31–April 1
“Momma instilled a natural love for music in Johnny. His roots were grown in faith, and his heart was grown in gospel music, which Photography by Anthony Matula for MA2LA
Rhonda Ponessa at her grandmother’s piano in Dyess, Arkansas
inspired him through his entire career. Our parents taught us about hard work, strong morals, and making the best with what you have, and that’s exactly what Johnny did.” — Joanne Cash Yates (sister of Johnny Cash)
of Fire,” “Walk the Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and many more.
Studio Tenn continues the legacy of Johnny Cash at the Ryman Auditorium March 31 and April 1 with The Cash Legacy: A Tribute to the Man in Black. Artistic Director Matt Logan brings to the Mother Church of Country Music a new set and a new cast, creating a Cash legacy like you’ve never seen before.
Ponessa explained that to understand Cash you must first understand the five tenets that shaped his life: family, faith, redemption, his brother Jack Cash, and Dyess, Arkansas. The small town in which Cash was born and raised played a key role in his musical inspiration. From “Five Feet High and Rising” to “Daddy Sang Bass,” Cash often drew from real-life experiences of his upbringing in this quaint Southern town.
“History can be found at a museum or in a biography, but our Legacy series is much more than that,” Logan said. “This is an exploration through music, a tribute that allows us to bring the cultural arts of Middle Tennessee to the surface while showing that Cash’s music and songwriting continue to live through each of us today.”
Cash’s humble beginnings never seemed to leave him. Even after his immense success, Cash sought refuge in the place he called “the center of my universe,” Bon Aqua, Tennessee. To this day audiences can enjoy concerts at the historic Little Stage (now the Storytellers Museum), where Cash’s Saturday Night in Hickman County guitar pulls once took place. The properties are now owned by Brian Oxley and are known as the Johnny Cash Hideaway Farm and the Storytellers Museum.
Unlike any other show, Studio Tenn’s Legacy series brings accuracy to the personality, essence, and story of each artist. Rhonda Ponessa, niece of Johnny Cash, commented on the uniqueness of The Cash Legacy: “I was cautiously optimistic when first meeting with Studio Tenn,” Ponessa said. “As the hours went by, I could tell that they genuinely cared about telling the true story of a human being and not the story of a star. I’ve never seen any movie, musical, or show bring the story of Uncle Johnny to life in such an authentic way.”
“I love that Studio Tenn really examined Johnny’s roots and never neglected his faith. The Cash Legacy at the Ryman brings it all back full circle, which means the world to our family. I am grateful for their willingness to make my family stand out once again. Johnny would have loved it! With love, always, Joanne Cash Yates.” na
An all-star cast takes the stage of the Ryman Auditorium to showcase the one-of-a-kind music of the Man in Black. Always Patsy Cline star Mandy Barnett, Grammy-Award winner Ashley Cleveland, and many others will feature the remarkable, and perhaps unexpected, relevance and versatility of Cash’s music. Musical Arranger Don Chaffer reimagines The Cash Legacy through updated arrangements of fan favorites such as “Ring
Join Studio Tenn and the Cash family to celebrate The Cash Legacy: A Tribute to the Man in Black on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium March 31 and April 1. For ticket information, please visit www.ryman.com.
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Photograph by Ron Manville
ANDSOITGOES BY RACHAEL McCAMPBELL
Rachael McCampbell is an artist, teacher, curator, and writer who resides in the small hamlet of Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. For more about her, please visit www.rachaelmccampbell.com.
Rachael McCampbell, Auction Night, Pen and ink illustration on paper, 6.5” x 6”
Should Artists Donate to Charity Auctions?
How many charity events have you attended where a
to donate at all because auctions are often not promoted or marketed correctly and their art sells for below market value, which ultimately hurts them, their dealers, their collectors, and the art market in general.
surgeon has donated a hip replacement or a lawyer has donated fifteen hours of their expertise? I’ve never seen that. Most of the time you see artwork donated by artists, who, for the most part, make much less money than those in other professions. So, my question is, why do charities keep asking the lowest-paid freelancers with no health care, retirement plan, or benefits to donate their time and talents, and why do artists keep saying yes?
Having attended many auctions, I’ve seen art shoved into a dark side room where the party goers don’t even know it’s there. Often guests are busy eating, drinking, and talking with their friends when suddenly an announcement is made: “There is 15 minutes left to bid on the art.” Event goers rush into the room where they have only minutes to look at badly lit art and make a decision to bid. The art sells for a song; the artist discovers they devalued the work; the charity gets a pittance, and it’s another case of wasted resources where no one wins. Here are some suggestions to create a happy compromise.
I have spoken with many artists on this topic, and it’s complicated to say the least. Some want to donate because they love the cause. Others believe they will get public exposure. Some feel that even if their $2,000 painting sells for only $100, it’s $100 more for the charity. Some artists refuse
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Artists: • If you donate, choose wisely and give to only a few charities a year. • Don’t give art you don’t like or can’t sell. Donate a good original piece or high-quality reproduction—no rejects. • Set a reserve for your work in advance. If the auction doesn’t meet the minimum, you get your art back. This protects you, your dealers, and your collectors’ investment in your art. • Weigh your options. Perhaps it’s better to sell your work at full price somewhere else and write the charity a check. Remember, “no” is a word too. Charities: • Offer a 50/50 split with artists. That way they make some money and you get what most art galleries make. That’s fair to everyone. It also encourages you to work harder and earn a higher dollar amount by better promotion of your event and auction. • Give artists credit on the invitation and promotional materials. Provide a web presence that exhibits the art they are donating with a link to their website. It’s important that the public see the art multiple times before the night of the charity event. This gives them time to study the work, learn about the artist, and whet their appetite to purchase art at the auction.
For Wall-to-Wall Fabulous!
• Consider asking collectors to donate art. They get a tax write-off while artists can write off only the materials they use to make the art. • Hire an advisor to guide you in marketing, lighting, and displaying the art. A consultant can increase your total fundraising dollars. Because more and more charities pop up each year with art auctions as a component of their fundraising plan, event goers have become inured and often don’t pay attention to the donations at all. Art critic and curator Mat Gleason advises artists to boycott charity art auctions altogether. “Donate cash to a good cause and . . . keep your art career safe from the bargain bin.” To keep the value of an artist’s work up, consistency in sale prices is paramount. Auctions are unpredictable in that way. Artists, please don’t make an emotion-based decision to donate your art. You are not doing anyone any favors by giving your art away to an organization that doesn’t handle it with respect and lowers the value of your work. Weigh the facts, ask questions, write a contract, and make demands to protect you, your collectors, dealers, and even the charity itself by helping them to earn more money for their cause. na If you would like to see a copy of a contract for charity donations or get advice on how to better run your art auctions, please contact me. I can help. www.rachaelmccampbell.com
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Where’s the Beef?
Trey Parker’s Cannibal! The Musical Makes Its TPAC Debut
Words by John Pitcher Photography by Dahlia Katz
I
n 1874, a prospector named Alfred Packer reportedly killed and consumed his traveling companions during a winter expedition in the snowy Colorado mountains. This bizarre mountain man, who bore an eerie resemblance to contemporary maniac Charles Manson, eventually became something of an urban legend in the college towns of Colorado. In fact, the University of Colorado Boulder cafeteria was once called “The Alfred Packer Memorial Grill” where diners were invited to “Have a Friend for Lunch.”
Cannibal! The Musical. Released in 1993, the film quickly became an underground cult classic.
One University of Colorado student who obsessed over Packer during the early 1990s was Trey Parker. A film student with a penchant for irreverence, Parker was already working with fellow student (and future partner) Matt Stone on a series of animations that would one day evolve into the celebrated Comedy Central show South Park. But the cannibal legend took priority. Parker wrote a movie script about those grisly events that included nearly a dozen campy songs written in the style of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma. The project morphed into Parker and Stone’s first film, titled (what else?)
The idea to turn Cannibal into a full-fledged stage production dates back more than a decade, after theatre director and composer Christopher Bond first saw the Parker-Stone film. Bond had already created his own show called Evil Dead The Musical, a Canadian rock production based on the cult movie classic. Not surprisingly, Bond decided to add Cannibal to his theatrical menu.
This month, Nashvillians will get the chance to, ahem, chew over an expanded version of Parker and Stone’s Opus 1 when the theatrical version of Cannibal! The Musical makes its debut at TPAC’s Polk Theater (March 24–26). Fans of South Park and Parker’s Tony Award-winning musical The Book of Mormon will no doubt find Cannibal to be a sonic feast.
“I saw Cannibal and loved it, because it had the same silly irreverent feel as South Park,” says Bond, who spoke to
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Nashvillians will find the Cyclops scene to be of particular interest. Nashville is going to get a shout-out.
Panasonic Theatre in Toronto in 2015. The show proved to be an immediate hit and has been touring ever since. Surely, a big part of Cannibal’s appeal is due to the way Parker and Bond have portrayed the show’s protagonist. In Cannibal, Packer is no bone-gnawing madman. Instead, we find a character who reminds one of Kenny, the sweetly innocent but unfortunate child from South Park who means well but always ends up being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Nashville Arts Magazine during a recent phone interview. “We initially reached out to Parker’s people, and they basically gave us the script and said, good luck.” Bond and his team, writer Trevor Martin and composer Aaron Eyre, immediately faced problems. The film script, for one, was not developed enough to hold its own as a two-act stage musical. Worse, the film didn’t have enough music. So Bond approached Jason Hughes, the manager of Parker’s theatrical rights, for permission to add more scenes and songs.
Similarly, in his stage incarnation, Alfred Packer turns out to be a sentimental young man who is in love with his horse, a somewhat-less-than-loyal animal that Trey Parker named after his former girlfriend Lianne. Packer unwittingly agrees to lead a team of five prospectors to Breckenridge in the Colorado Territory during the dead of winter. Along the way, they are harassed by a trio of ridiculous French trappers. And they briefly find sanctuary with a Native-American tribe, who in Trey Parker’s madcap world happen to be a band of Japanese Samurai. Eventually, Packer and his companions get lost in the snowy mountains. Before they know it, they surrender to starvation and madness.
“Parker’s camp immediately said no,” recalls Bond. “Their response was of course to say the script was perfect as is. But we persisted and talked them into letting us submit some new sample songs. Eventually, they really started getting into some of the new tunes.” Bond’s expanded version of Cannibal kept all of the songs that appeared in the original film. The movie’s signature tune is “Shpadoinkle,” a campy parody of “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” in which Alfred Packer compares everything wonderful in the world to a baked potato. New songs include “Gentlemen of the West,” in which the prosecutor makes his case against Packer, and the not-so-subtle “Meat My Destiny.”
One of the strangest characters in this musical—a true accomplishment in a production of freaks and oddballs—is a grotesque figure called The Cyclops. Turns out this disfigured creature was once a Son of the South. Nashvillians will find the Cyclops scene to be of particular interest. “Nashville is going to get a shout-out,” says Bond. na
“The stage version has more songs, a bigger orchestra, basically more of everything,” says Bond. “The biggest difference you’ll see between the film and the musical is that now everybody is singing.”
Cannibal! The Musical makes its debut at TPAC’s Polk Theater March 24 through 26. For tickets and show times, please visit www.tpac.org.
Cannibal! The Musical made its stage debut at David Mirvish’s
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James Garrett’s Venetian Plaster Renaissance Bennett Galleries
Birch Forest 68, Venetian plaster on panel, 36” x 48”
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I am one of the few artists who encourage people at my shows to feel my work. I never tire of seeing the look of bewilderment from folks who would have sworn they were about to feel texture.
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by Peter Chawaga
S
ometimes an artist’s calling sounds from a place both mysterious and inevitable. While the clarity of a finished piece can make it seem like maker and craft were always meant for each other, origin stories are often more happenstance than premeditated. This paradigm lives in James Garrett, whose circuitous route to the art of Venetian plaster can seem inadvertent, but whose work now appears all but inevitable. Born in London, England, Garrett dreamed of a life outside of his home country since he was a teenager. The opportunity came when his uncle purchased a painting and decorating company in New York City and he was invited to join as an employee. “I flew over with the view of maybe staying a year,” Garrett recalls. “Two years later I was managing a large part of the company. We grew to be one of the top painting and decorating companies in Manhattan, with clients like Jackie Onassis, the Rockefellers, and even Donald Trump.” Because many of Manhattan’s buildings were built so long ago, Garrett’s painting work was inextricably linked to the plastering business, and he had the chance to apprentice with some of the field’s masters. In 1986 he traveled to Trieste, Italy, to study Venetian plaster. When he later applied the technique to a client’s wall, a change came over him.
Coral Storm 3, Venetian plaster on panel, 48” x 42”
“I remember standing there looking at this beautiful wall, burnished to a glass-smooth finish, with subtle movement of color and the kind of visual depth you would see in a piece of marble,” he says. “It was not glossy like paint but had the reflection of a polished piece of granite. I was transfixed. I imagined cutting out a section of the wall, framing it, and hanging it as a piece of contemporary art.” Years later, Garrett began pursuing that vision in earnest. He identified Atlanta as a potential headquarters for work as a fauxfinish artist and moved there in 1994. As an expatriate with a passion for art, he found the South to be a welcoming haven. “Like most places, the South has a rich heritage and culture,” says Garrett. “Whether it’s the music, or the food, or even the way of life, it is celebrated and protected. I would say that for artists either born out of or transplanted to the South, the same applies.” As he mastered the craft of Venetian plaster, its potential for artistic applications called to him. “Had I not had so much experience with this medium and such a deep understanding of its properties or how it reacted and could be manipulated, I dare say I would not be an artist today,” Garrett says. “I think it was more of the case that this medium chose me.”
Winter Tree 19, Venetian plaster on panel, 58” x 64”
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Burst of Spring 2, Triptych, Venetian plaster on panel, 60” x 72”
It seems that hardly anyone would think to seek out the practice of Venetian plaster as an art form without first stumbling upon it for other purposes. Dating back to the 14th century, it is a technique that combines marble dust and lime to create a strong plaster with depth and color. The technique largely disappeared for hundreds of years before becoming popular again in the 1970s as a wall finish for high-end Italian architecture. “It has a silky texture to it, not gritty or sandy like most plasters,” explains Garrett. “It is pure white, so much so that it is impossible to achieve absolute black, as it takes more colorant than plaster to get there.” Garrett applies the plaster in various colors to pieces of wood with custom-built frames. He puts down a thick first coat, then sands it. Subsequent coats absorb into the first one and dry more quickly, eventually becoming silky and polished. In landscape works like those of his Winter Tree series, Garrett must complete a full background before carefully adding foliage with small blades and sculpting knives. Finished pieces are typically between thirty and fifty layers of plaster and give off a misleading rough look. “I am one of the few artists who encourage people at my shows to feel my work,” Garrett says. “I never tire of seeing the look of bewilderment from folks who would have sworn they were about to feel texture.” Nashville’s Bennett Galleries has been a home to Garrett’s work for over six years. To say the least, it provides something that few are used to seeing. “I don’t think we have too many artists who use this technique on display in the area, and I think people love seeing artwork in a style or medium that is out of the norm,” says Emily Cothran, marketing director for Bennett Galleries. “Of course, we did not have anything in the gallery in his medium, so I couldn’t resist.” na Garrett’s work can be seen at Bennett Galleries. For more information, please visit www.bennettgalleriesnashville.com. See more of Garrett’s work at www.jamespgarrett.net.
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Conversations and resistance
POET’SCORNER BY ZAIN MAKEN STUDENT AT PEABODY
When does a leaf change color? Is it in the middle of a night, or in the day when no one’s looking? Is it when the wind gives it wings, Or when it’s completely still? When the new one arrives, a packed luggage in hand, What does the old color say? Does the guest get a single room, And take over each of the others, little by little? How do colors allow themselves to be mixed, Giving up their arms so easily, Embracing the invasion and the invader? Why does the new color leave behind, No trace of the old. When fingers trace a leaf’s texture, Can they feel the resistance (or a lack thereof) that had taken place? Who can see the green inside the yellow, The past inside the future. When the final breeze calls, And leaves begin the descent, Do colors cushion each other in the fall? Does death become easier, enjoyable and graceful with a companion? As time inches on, Leaves tend to lose a lot, Color, Softness, Allowing crevices to appear, Displaying their veins, So neatly tucked in before. And I wonder how, The colors, Fully alive in their death, Look back at their conversations, Their resistance?
Background photograph Fallen Blossoms by Carla Cuiffo
ARTSMART
A monthly guide to art education
TENNESSEE ROUNDUP
Sidney McCarty 3rd runner up, Grace Whitten 2nd runner up, Marquavious Moore 1st runner up, Alexia Buckner 2016 TN State Champion
Students who won their school poetry recitation competition will come to Nashville March 4, 2017, to compete for the state champion title. This year, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will host the competition in partnership with the Tennessee Arts Commission. The event, held at the CMA Theater, is free and open to the public. You do not have to buy a ticket for the museum to attend. The day begins at 10 a.m. CST and ends around 3 p.m. “An epicenter for all things country music, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is one of our state’s greatest assets. With the seamless connection between songwriting and poetry, this partnership will greatly enhance Tennessee’s Poetry Out Loud (POL) program,” says Tennessee Arts Commission Executive Director Anne B. Pope. “We are helping instill in our young people an appreciation for poetry, as well as providing a platform to build self-confidence and master memorization, performance, and public speaking. What better place to demonstrate these skills than in the Museum’s state-of-theart CMA Theater where many musical legends have taken the stage?” The event will be emceed by hit songwriter Victoria Shaw and feature music by bluegrass multi-instrumentalist and fiddle champion Ivy Phillips. Ethan Castelo, Thandiwe Shiphrah, Christian J. Collier, and Claire D. Kolheim will judge the students’ poetry. Hatch Show Print printed the poster designed by
by Danielle Brown Arts Education Special Projects Coordinator Tennessee Arts Commission
Eleanor Billington, Program Manager, Literature & Arts Education Division National Endowment for the Arts, Alexia Buckner, 2016 TN State Champion, Poetry Foundation Program Director Stephen Young
students at Harpeth Hall School . The Poetry Out Loud competition begins in the classroom. Schools host their own local contest and then send the one victor to compete on the statewide level. Tennessee’s state champion will then proceed to the national POL competition in Washington, D.C., to recite against other champions from across the country. POL 2017 is presented by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation in partnership with the Tennessee Arts Commission and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The program seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry, recitation, and performance building on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form.
Poetry Out Loud Awards The state champion and his/her teacher will receive cash prizes and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete for the national championship. The first runner-up will receive a cash prize, and the school will receive a stipend for the purchase of poetry books and supplies. Second and third runners-up will also receive cash prizes. Poetry Out Loud will award a total of $50,000 in cash and school stipends at the National Finals, including a $20,000 award for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion. Visit tnartseducation.org/events/poetry-out-loud for more information.
Photography Courtesy Tennessee State Photography
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Hosts Statewide Poetry Competition
ARTSMART
by Joseph E. Morgan
A unique aspect of the Katrina catastrophe was that it largely played out before our very eyes on national television. In this way, as Hearne has pointed out, “The storm forced the nation to engage with issues of race, socioeconomic status, climate change, and sustainability in a raw and emotionally charged way.” For this initiative, Chatterbird is working with Conexion Americas and Casa Azafran to recruit, facilitate, and present a creative workshop which will empower local high school students to explore how music and the visual arts can be used to highlight these issues of justice and equality.
The Katrina Ballads social justice symposium at the College of New Jersey
The workshop features a morning and afternoon session. In the morning, students will engage in facilitated discussion and use clips from Spike Lee’s documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, as well as Hearne’s oratorio, to learn how art can be a powerful way to make social commentary and spark conversations. In the afternoon, teaching artists from YEAH! (Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities) will lead hands-on sessions with students to help them create art, after which students will be given information on free/low-cost local resources where they can learn and continue their work. Overall, the purpose of the initiative is to bring together “high-school students from different communities to discuss equity and social justice,” and to learn, as Professor Sears states, “how art can be an agent for social commentary and can spark a conversation with history.” The initiative is free and open to any Nashville-area students who want to participate, though the class size is capped at 40. On March 31 and April 1, Chatterbird will be performing Hearne’s Katrina Ballads and selections from his album Outlanders at WELD followed by a Q&A/Talkback with Hearne on his work. The Friday evening concert will begin with an opening set of music by New Yorkbased cellist/singer-songwriter Leah Coloff. For more information or to reserve your spot at the initiative, please visit www.chatterbird.org. 91 nashvillearts.com
Composer Ted Hearne
Photograph by Arthur Kaye
This August will mark the 12th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic landfall in the U.S. Due largely to an incredible storm surge and a series of levee failures, the hurricane and related flooding caused the greatest monetary damage of any natural disaster in the history of the United States, and further, the hurricane has been ranked as one of the five deadliest, claiming over 1,245 lives. In memory of this tragedy, Chatterbird, Nashville’s alternative chamber ensemble, is bringing composer Ted Hearne to Nashville for a residency on the weekend of April 1, during which he will offer a free day-long educational initiative. The initiative was created by Professor Colleen Sears of the College of New Jersey and tied to a performance of Hearne’s oratorio Katrina Ballads, which is constructed from the words of survivors, relief workers, politicians, and celebrities from the hurricane’s aftermath.
Photograph Courtesy of College of New Jersey
Social Justice and the Arts: Chatterbird and the Katrina Ballads Initiatives
ARTSMART
Gale Hinton’s mural in Johnson Elementary School’s Library
the background of a fantastical scene complete Mural Artist Gale Hinton with green rolling hills, lush greenery, and a castle rising above it all. I knew this was something all of the students at my school should witness, so I asked her if she’d be game for an interview. She happily agreed. I set a time to return at lunch with my tripod and camera.
Growing up, the elementary school I attended had one hallway. Our school housed first grade through fifth with two classrooms for each grade. In the middle was the gym/auditorium/cafeteria where in the morning we’d play with a giant parachute, at noon we’d pick at our food and smash ketchup packets with our sneakers under the fold-out tables, and, at Halloween, we’d walk on stage in a parade of costumes. Just off of that multi-tasking room was the best-smelling room in the school: the library. I know I’m not the only one who loves the smell of old books. And our library had plenty of them. Aside from that, the library housed one giant Commodore 64 for the 300-plus students to play endless rounds of Oregon Trail. As you can imagine, libraries have certainly changed since the mid 80s. The books they now house are bold, bright, and, sadly says me, no longer have that musty old-book smell. Recently, our library got an incredible makeover, making it more than just a room that housed books. It became a place where books and their characters jumped right off the page, interacted with one another, and invited library patrons to step inside and join the fun.
Upon my return, Gale had included all of the kids’ favorite book characters into the landscape. There were the Magic Tree House kids, Fancy Nancy, The Cat in the Hat . . . you name it, they were there frolicking in the beautiful scene. While teaching, I’d gathered a bunch of questions from my students for Gale. My favorite was, “Did you paint on the walls as a kid since you do it as a grown up?” I found out that Gale, who paints with the speed of lightning, finishing our school murals in a matter of days, is 74—and proud of it, as she should very well be. She’s been creating magical scenes for 50 years and doesn’t show any signs of stopping. As she and I chatted, I realized how fortunate my students are to have a wonderful librarian who had this vision for her library and the artist who brought it to life. The beautiful murals of Johnson Elementary were created in dedication to T.J. Aiello, Laurel’s husband, who loved art.
My school has an incredible librarian, Laurel Aiello. Recently, she recruited the services of an incredible mural artist, Gale Hinton. With Laurel’s vision and Gale’s talent, the two were able to create a magical environment for all who step foot inside our school library.
Photograph by Juan Pont Lezica
When I walked into school the Friday morning Gale started painting, I found her on a scaffolding 12 feet in the air. She’d been painting for only two hours and already she’d knocked out
by Cassie Stephens Art Teacher Johnson Elementary
To see more images of the mural and my interview with Gale Hinton, visit my blog cassiestephens.blogspot.com and my YouTube channel Cassie Stephens.
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ARTSMART
by DeeGee Lester
Scholastic Arts Competition: Honoring Outstanding Student Achievement
Students submitted 1,465 entries across a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, ceramics and glass, digital art, comic art, drawing/illustration, photography, printmaking, and mixed media. In the 2017 competition, 49 Gold Key Awards, 99 Silver Key Awards, and 203 Honorable Mentions were captured by Middle Tennessee students, in addition to the recognition of five American Vision Nominees whose work qualifies as national finalists in the American Vision Awards in New York. Over $6,000 in combined scholarships has also been awarded to each of these outstanding artists from O’More College of Design, Watkins College of Art, Design and Film, and Nossi College of Art.
American Vision Nominees Jenna Lowe, Olivia Defazio, Grace Hall, Richard White, and Talia Barton
Cheekwood President and CEO. Recognition of student achievement in the arts continues through March 5 with the display of works by Gold Key Award recipients in Cheekwood’s Frist Learning Center Courtyard Gallery.
“For the past 26 years, Cheekwood has been a proud host of the Scholastic Art Competition, which celebrates the impressive works of art being created in our schools,” said Jane MacLeod,
American Vision Nominees Jenna Lowe, Diving Deeper (Drawing/Illustration) Junior, Brentwood High School
Jenna Lowe, Diving Deeper, 2016, Charcoal, 72” x 36”
Jenna Lowe’s pathway to an American Vision Nomination began as a summer project, creating portrait pieces using a mechanical pencil. But when her efforts caught the eye of a friend, she achieved one of the hallmarks of art— capturing a moment that connects art and life. “My friend’s mom liked the detail in the portraits and asked if I could blow up a special photo of her husband’s mother from the 1920s using the same techniques,” Lowe says. “Basically, I make a copy of the original photo in order to grid it proportionally to my larger paper. Then I start drawing according to each box in the gridded photo and go from there. I don’t like the effect of the pencil underneath, so I just start drawing with charcoal.” Following a year in Art I, and through these summer projects, Lowe discovered the joy of realism available to her through drawing/illustration. “I’ve also discovered that art is a way to de-stress with the pressure of AP classes,” she says. She admits that she was unfamiliar with Scholastic before submitting two pieces into the competition, which captured a Gold Key and Silver Key. “I was surprised by the American Vision Nomination,” she says. “It has really boosted my confidence. Now I’ve started looking at ways to put my art out there and make money from it.” 93 nashvillearts.com
Photograph Courtesy of Cheekwood
On February 4, ceremonies for the Annual Scholastic Arts Competition honored the achievements of emerging artists from 262 area schools. For the 26th year, Cheekwood hosted and Tennessee Credit Union sponsored this much-anticipated event. The competition, launched in 1923 by Scholastic Company founder Maurice Robinson, judges student work (grades 7–12) on originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice.
ARTSMART
Richard White, Untitled, 2016, Scratchboard, 10” x 8“
Richard White, Untitled (Drawing/Illustration) Senior, Montgomery Bell Academy “Shocked; I couldn’t believe it,” is the way Richard White describes finding out that his work of art captured a Gold Key and the prestigious American Vision Nomination. “My mom called and told me. I was totally unaware of the competition. My teacher, Erin Valentine, had submitted it. “It began as a class assignment to create a drawing/illustration from an old LIFE magazine photo combined with the image from a painting,” White says. “I chose a picture from a World War II issue, showing U.S. Army troops marching, and combined it with the Diego Velázquez painting The Surrender of Breda (1634–35), making a collage of the two.” In creating the piece, he made a scratchboard of black material and used a blade to reveal the white underneath. Although White admits enjoying art and art history, he sees it as a hobby. His future plans include pursuing business next year at Wake Forest University, and he sees the classical curriculum at MBA as excellent preparation for the rigors of college and development of a broad world view. “I think art helps in understanding cultures and world history,” he says. “My regret is in not taking it sooner in high school.”
Grace Hall, Fish Dinner (Drawing/Illustration) Senior, Hendersonville High School The Irish say, “What’s bred in the bone will out.” Hendersonville’s Grace Hall is living proof. “Art is in my veins,” she says. Both parents studied Visual Arts in New York and her father works as a digital artist. With an eye toward a career in art, Hall, a National Merit Scholar, is making her college selection from several prestigious art schools, including the Art Institute in Chicago. Her recent double Gold Key Awards in drawing/ illustration and printmaking, as well as the American Vision Nomination are testimony to her devotion to creativity and excellence. Fish Dinner was a submission for her AP portfolio, meeting a requirement. “It’s funny that I got the American Vision Nomination for something I don’t regularly do,” says Hall, who appreciated the rigors of the scholastic competition. “I was shocked to be in the top five, especially after seeing the work of all of these talented people.” From an 8th grade experience as a People to People Student Ambassador exploring art in Italy, Greece, and France, to grasping opportunities around her, Hall demonstrates a curiosity and a passion for art. “I like pleasing people with my art, and I’ve gotten to do a lot of things this year, from attending Governor’s School and painting a ceiling board for the U.S. Army, to creating poster art, stickers, and other promotional materials for the funk band Broomstix. It’s all pretty exciting.” 94 nashvillearts.com
Grace Hall, Fish Dinner, 2016, Chalk pastels, 29” x 23”
ARTSMART Talia Barton, Ru (Photography) Junior, University School of Nashville
Talia Barton, Ru, 2016, Digital photography, 14” x 10”
In an era of capturing images with a cell phone, Talia Barton demonstrates the care, attention, and thoughtful process of camera photography. Attracted to photography since her freshman year, Talia admits, “I don’t use the phone for my photography.” She is amassing a collection of cameras, including one from the 1930s. Proof of her experimentation with lighting and effects can be seen in two Gold Key Award-winning submissions including the American Vision Award Nominee Ru. That image of her 11-year-old cousin was part of a series photographed with friends in her back yard that offered eerie images by using lights coming through bamboo. It’s an example of her spontaneity in utilizing what is readily available to her lens. The second winning submission captured shadows on a water tank. She is also proud of a two-part photograph echoing a diptych in painting. Entitled Old Time, it combines an attic pose of a male friend in an old ball gown, matched with a picture of an old building in Vermont—the two images wedded with a color overlay Barton plans to attend college with a focus on science or gender studies, but will continue enjoying photography as a hobby. “I really like the focus on detail, learning new techniques, and my time in the darkroom, which is nice and calming.”
Olivia Defazio, Listerine (Digital Art) Junior, Home School Young people are finding more ways to jump-start their careers. Although Olivia Defazio enjoyed her experience at Summit High School in Spring Hill and the excellence of her teachers and peers in art classes, she opted this year for home schooling and the opportunity to continue art with First Light Academy and her long-time teacher Dennas Davis. “I’ve been going there since I was six, and the switch to home schooling and online classes gives me flexibility and more time to focus on my art,” she says. “Now, I have time to work on commissions, to stop and draw when I want to, and to explore ways to express my own voice through art and music.” Defazio’s American Vision Nomination offers the unusual effect of hand painting on top of the drawing. The subject was based on the story of a prolific Massachusetts arsonist nicknamed “Johnny Cool” who ended up in the witness protection program. “The title, Listerine, is a reference to cleaning yourself,” she explains. In addition to a Gold Key Award and the American Vision Nomination, the piece captured the coveted cover for the Scholastic Awards event. “It’s a funny feeling to walk into the room and see everyone holding your art,” Defazio says. 95 nashvillearts.com
Olivia Defazio, Listerine, 2016, Digital print, 16” x 12”
TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHY BY HUNTER ARMISTEAD
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
FYEYE www.hunterarmistead.com
A Frame of Film, A Line of Words, Capture the Creative Culture of Our City
Sarratt Art Studios NON-CREDIT ART CLASSES AT VANDERBILT
Megan Bosaw Pole Dancer, Aerialist, Painter, Set Designer, and Cheese
Air Born “All good things/are wild and free,” she says in her poem in her Facebook profile. Megan Bosaw, then, is a good thing. I met her four years ago at an opening at the Tennessee State Museum right after she moved here from Seattle. Along with dancing eyes and a viral smile, she had a certain something. I went to see her pole dance several times at the Exit/In and she was terrific. With the perfect body for a dancer (including famous legs), lots of charisma, and great technique, she killed it. Soon afterwards I asked her to be a go-go dancer at a show for my 60s DJ thing. Minutes before the show, she was sorting through a cascade of costumes. After she emerged in a killer tight spangled dress, jaws dropped as she moved about the platform in her serpentine, off-hand way. Bosaw has star power of a kind I have rarely seen. I mentioned this to her and got no reply—I’m not sure if it matters to her. I keep up with her on her very entertaining and popular (10K followers) Instagram feed that consists of Megan having lots of fun all over the place and Megan doing incredible poses, also all over the place (once, on a street sign). Often mixed in are stunning and thought-provoking captions. When not dancing, she’s off to other things, like her gig as a set designer, painting, and “breaking stuff and climbing things and cheese”—and bringing together groups of people like her newest tribe, the Suspended Gravity Circus. I shouldn’t have been surprised when she recently said her body hurts all the time; unfortunately that seems to be the bargain most dancers make. But it doesn’t stop her. As she says in that same profile poem “Alis volat propriis”: “She flies with her own wings.” True, that. On the lift and lightness from a life on her terms. Follow Megan on instagram @meggabo.
POTTERY JEWELRY PHOTOGRAPHY DRAWING PAINTING FUSED GLASS AND MORE We are now registering for Sarratt Youth Art Institute • Ages 5-16 • One week sessions beginning June 5, 2017 • Summer theme is “traveling the world through art” For more information and to register www.vanderbilt.edu/sarrattart/ summer-youth-art-institute
Amanda Adams at CG2 Gallery
Ciara Desiree at The Rymer Gallery
Paul Wakeman, Christina West and Carol Stein at CG2 Gallery
ARTSEE
ARTSEE
Jennifer Jayaram, Sarah Seaborg, Catherine Rusch and Jason Owens at The Arts Company
Mildred Jarrett at Tinney Contemporary
Photograph by Madge Franklin
Susan Tinney
Daniel Toner and Kristin Young at Zeitgeist
ARTSEE
Candace Newson at Julia Martin Gallery
Louisa Glenn and Kim Baldwin at CG2 Gallery
Jesse Parker, Scott Dropkin, Billy Kneel and Genie Lockwood at David Lusk Gallery
Kendra Dinkel and Haley Habegger at The Rymer Gallery
A.J. Combest and Sydney Smith at The Rymer Gallery
Matt Tucker and Sven Ericson at Tinney Contemporary
At CG2 Gallery
Roger Halligan and Jan Chenoweth at The Arts Company
At The Rymer Gallery
ARTSEE
Erin Murphy and Donna Lanham at The Browsing Room Gallery
At Valentina Harper Gallery
Marc Rouillard and Mary Long at Tinney Contemporary
At David Lusk Gallery
Carla Beals and Betsey Usher at The Arts Company
Luke Landry and Olivia Landry at Valentina Harper Gallery
Luke Benda and Paige Miller at The Rymer Gallery
Caroline Gilkas and Brook Vann at The Arts Company
Anne Brown and Shelley McBurney at The Arts Company
Photograph by Madge Franklin
ARTSEE Photograph by Madge Franklin
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN JACKSON
ARTSEE
Courtesy of Chuck Arlund, Arlund Photography
Arts Worth Watching
FROM PAGE AND STAGE Cline isn’t the only woman in the spotlight this month: Writer, performer, and activist Maya Angelou is the subject of And Still I Rise, an American Masters portrait returning Thursday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m. A remarkable 19th-century literary trio is the subject of our Sunday, March 26, lineup. At 8:15 p.m., Sally Wainwright’s (Last Tango in Halifax) To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters tells the story of the women whose collective works were among some of the most controversial of their time. The program is based largely on the letters of Charlotte (Jane Eyre) and was filmed in the Yorkshire village the sisters called home. We’ll also air Wuthering Heights (cue Kate Bush), with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley as Emily Brontë’s fiery Heathcliff and Cathy, in two parts beginning at 7 p.m. and concluding at 9:45 p.m.
Dr. Maya Angelou, circa late ’70s/early ’80s
The Schuyler Sisters (Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy) are among the historical figures showcased in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. Great Performances’ Hamilton’s America includes cast features, interviews with theatre legends, and visits to historical sites. The documentary airs Friday, March 3, at 8 p.m.
PREMIERES AND ENCORES It’s not unusual to find music specials on NPT in March. Tom Jones: A Soundstage Special Event premieres Tuesday, March 14, at 7 p.m. and features the iconic singer performing with Alison Krauss. This month we also have a new Austin City Limits special, Christopher Cross and Friends—those friends being Michael McDonald, Mike Love, and guitarist Eric Johnson—premiering Thursday, March 9, at 7:30 p.m. Hard-rocking sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson headline a 2016 concert in Heart: Live at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on Wednesday, March 15, at 8:30 p.m. In September 1987, Roy Orbison was joined by Jackson Browne, T Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, J. D. Souther, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, and Jennifer Warnes for a comeback concert commemorated in Roy Orbison: Black & White Night 30. Airing Tuesday, March 7, at 7 p.m., with an encore Sunday, March 12, at 8:30 p.m., this new version of the film includes mostly unseen footage from the legendary evening. Travis
Courtesy of Getty
March is Women’s History Month and NPT is celebrating with a new American Masters profile of Patsy Cline, premiering Monday, March 6, at 8:30 p.m. and featuring interviews with Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes, Kacey Musgraves, and others. We’ll have singer Mandy Barnett, known for her stunning portrayal of Cline, in the studio for this presentation as part of our March Membership Campaign. Catch an encore of this program narrated by Rosanne Cash Sunday, March 12, at 7 p.m.
Travis Tritt from A Man and His Guitar, recorded at The Franklin Theatre
Tritt’s A Man and His Guitar was recorded more recently at the Franklin Theatre. This stripped down performance airs Tuesday, March 14, at 8:30 p.m. We’ll end this month with an evening of Latin music at the Hollywood Bowl on Great Performances. Dudamel Conducts Tangos Under the Stars with the LA Phil airs Friday, March 31, at 8 p.m. Stay tuned for Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi at 9:30 p.m. to see the host learn to dance the tango while visiting Buenos Aires. Join us Saturday, April 1, for the Big Yellow Bird Bash at Houston Station! Wear yellow and enjoy a buffet, open bar, and dancing while supporting NPT’s educational, cultural, and civic programming. Tickets and information are available at wnpt.org/bybb.
To make a donation to NPT, go to wnpt.org and click the Donate button or phone during our March Membership Campaign. Watch NPT2, our secondary channel, for more of your favorite programs.
Ann Brontë (Charlie Murphy), Emily Brontë (Chloe Pirrie), and Charlotte Brontë (Finn Atkins) in To Walk Invisible on Masterpiece
March 2017 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
5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 6:00 6:30
Saturday
am Thomas and Friends Bob the Builder Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Ready Jet Go! Sewing with Nancy Sew It All Garden Smart A Chef’s Life Martha Bakes The Mind of a Chef noon America’s Test Kitchen pm Cook’s Country Kitchen Sara’s Weeknight Meals Lidia’s Kitchen Simply Ming Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting Best of Joy of Painting Rough Cut – Woodworking with Tommy Mac Woodwright’s Shop This Old House Ask This Old House Woodsmith Shop PBS NewsHour Weekend Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville
Sunday
am Sid the Science Kid Cyberchase Sesame Street Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Ready Jet Go! Tennessee’s Wild Side TN Capitol Report (March 26) Volunteer Gardener Tennessee Crossroads Nature Washington Week noon To the Contrary pm Born to Explore Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope Travels with Darley Globe Trekker California’s Gold Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi America’s Heartland Rick Steves’ Europe Antiques Roadshow PBS NewsHour Weekend Charlie Rose: The Week
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 5:30 6:00
am Classical Stretch Body Electric Wild Kratts Ready Jet Go! Nature Cat Curious George Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Splash and Bubbles Sesame Street Dinosaur Train Peg + Cat Super Why! Thomas & Friends noon Bob the Builder pm The Cat in the Hat Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Ready Jet Go! Odd Squad Odd Squad Wild Kratts Arthur Martha Speaks WordGirl PBS NewsHour
Nashville Public Television
This Month on Nashville Public Television Patsy Cline: American Masters A new profile of the country music legend features appearances by contemporary performers. Monday, March 6, 8:30 pm Sunday, March 12, at 7 pm
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Albuquerque, Hour 1. 8:00 Ken Burns: America’s Storyteller A retrospective and tribute to Burns with interviews and a preview of his upcoming documentary, The Vietnam War. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Carole King – James Taylor Live at the Troubadour
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7:00 Patsy Cline: American Masters A new profile narrated by Rosanne Cash. 8:30 Roy Orbison: Black & White Night 30 10:00 Nature Super Hummingbirds. High-speed camerawork shows the amazing flight skills of hummingbirds. 11:30 Rick Steves’ Festive Europe
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Charleston, Hour 3. 8:30 Patsy Cline: American Masters Rosanne Cash narrates this biography of the country legend featuring Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes, Kacey Musgraves and others. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Daniel O’Donnell: Back Home Again A new concert special.
7:00 Mercy Street House of Bondage. The Greens suffer a setback; the staff unites to oust their chief in the season conclusion. 8:00 Victoria on Masterpiece Young England. Victoria is about to deliver her first child in the season conclusion. 9:30 Rick Steves’ Delicious Europe 10:00 Start Up Hub Repair. 10:30 Tennessee Uncharted 11:00 Easy Yoga for Diabetes with Peggy Cappy
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7:00 Tom Jones: A Soundstage Special Event The iconic singer is joined by Alison Krauss and performs recent material and his signature songs. 8:30 Travis Tritt: A Man and His Guitar A stripped down performance recorded at The Franklin Theatre. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Christopher Cross and Friends
7:00 Roy Orbison: Black & White Night 30 A newly edited, remastered 30th-anniversary edition of Orbison’s fabled concert. 8:30 Carole King – James Taylor Live at the Troubadour The singer-songwriters’ 2007 reunion concert. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Antiques Roadshow Charleston, Hour 3.
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Tues, March 14, 7:00 pm
Fri, March 3, 8:00 pm
Tuesday
Tom Jones: A Soundstage Special
Monday
Hamilton’s America
Sunday
Nashville Public Television’s Primetime Evening Schedule
March 2017 1
15 7:00 Nature Super Hummingbirds. 8:30 Heart: Live at Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson perform their hard-rock classics in London. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Ken Burns: America’s Storyteller
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7:00 Best Trains Around North America A Great Scenic Railway Journeys anniversary special featuring 10 favorite rail trips. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Patsy Cline: American Masters
7:00 Nature: Spy in the Wild Meet the Spies. 8:00 Africa’s Great Civilizations Empires of Gold/Cities. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Sturgill Simpson Asleep at the Wheel.
Wednesday
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Friday
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16 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Maya Angelou: American Masters And Still I Rise. The life of the author and activist who inspired generations. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Travis Tritt: A Man and His Guitar
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Christopher Cross and Friends An Austin City Limits Live special with Cross and guests Mike Love, Michael McDonald and guitarist Eric Johnson. 9:00 Victoria After-Party Interviews and features from the Masterpiece series. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Roy Orbison: Black & White Night 30
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7:00 ’70s Soul Superstars A My Music special hosted by Patti LaBelle and featuring the Commodores, the Chi-Lites and others. 9:30 Rick Steves’ Delicious Europe The travel host samples wines and cuisine in several cities. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Tom Jones: A Soundstage Special Event
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7:00 Age Reversed with Miranda EsmondeWhite 8:00 Rhythm and Blues 40: A Soul Spectacular 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Carole King – James Taylor Live at the Troubadour
7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 Front and Center 7:30 Volunteer Gardener CMA Songwriters Series. 8:00 Africa’s Great Kip Moore. Civilizations 8:00 Hamilton’s America 10:00 BBC World News Great Performances 10:30 Last of Summer Wine follows the creation of 11:00 AfroPop: The Ultimate Hamilton with interviews Cultural Exchange and features. Omo Child: The River 10:00 BBC World News and the Bush. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Rhythm and Blues 40: A Soul Spectacular
Thursday
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Fri, March 17, 7:00 pm
’70s Soul Superstars
7:00 NPT Favorites
7:00 Burt Bacharach’s Best A My Music special. 8:30 Best Trains Around North America A Great Scenic Railway Journeys anniversary special featuring 10 favorite rail trips. 11:30 Rock Rewind 1968 A My Music special.
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7:00 Daniel O’Donnell: Back Home Again O’Donnell, Mary Duff and guest Derek Ryan in a concert filmed in Ireland. 8:30 Downton Abbey Season 5, Part 9. The Crawleys go to a shooting party and return to Downton for a joyful Christmas holiday. 10:30 Bluegrass Underground The Lone Bellow. 11:00 Hamilton’s America
Saturday
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Season premiere. 8:00 Volunteer Gardener 8:30 Volunteer Gardener 9:00 NPT Favorites 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
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7:00 Nature Owl Power. The specifics of owl flight, hearing and vision. 8:00 NOVA Himalayan Megaquake. The 2015 Nepalese earthquake. 9:00 Secrets of the Dead 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
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7:00 Nature Yosemite. How global changes are affecting one of America’s greatest wildernesses. 8:00 NOVA Secrets of the Viking Sword. 9:00 Secrets of the Dead Nero’s Sunken City. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Eric Church.
Weds, March 15, 7:00 pm
Nature Super Hummingbirds
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Amish Paradise Trouble in Amish Paradise. The 30 families of Pennsylvania’s Weavertown Amish community. 9:00 Amish Paradise Leaving Amish Paradise. A family searches for a new life. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Paleo Sleuths Discoveries challenge long-held ideas.
7:00 Soundbreaking The Art of Recording. The role of the music producer. 8:00 Great Performances Dudamel Conducts Tangos Under the Stars with the La Phil. 9:30 Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi It Takes Two to Tango (Buenos Aires). 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Blue Ridge Parkway: A Long & Winding Road
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7:00 NPT Favorites 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
Independent Lens: Ovarian Psycos Mon, March 27, 9:00 pm
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Visit wnpt.org for complete 24-hour schedules for NPT and NPT2.
7:00 Last Days of Jesus 9:00 Frontline American Patriot. How the Bundy family’s fight against the federal government inspired armed militias and “patriot” groups. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
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7:00 Call the Midwife 7:00 Antiques Roadshow Season 6 premiere. It’s 8:00 Independent Lens 1962 in Poplar. Newtown. The 8:00 Home Fires on aftermath of the Masterpiece December 2012 mass Season 2 premiere. shooting at an This story of a group elementary school. of women in a World 9:30 POV War II English village Listening Is an Act of picks up in June 1940. Love: A StoryCorps 9:00 Inspector Lewis Special. Six animated Entry Wounds. stories from 10 years 10:30 Tennessee Uncharted of StoryCorps. 11:00 Tavis Smiley 10:00 BBC World News 11:30 Scully/The World 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Show
7:00 Antiques Roadshow 7:00 Wuthering Heights Palm Springs, Hour 3. An adaptation of Emily 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Bronte’s classic novel. Chicago, Hour 1. 8:15 To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters on 9:00 Independent Lens Masterpiece Ovarian Psycos. A The famous 19thgroup of young century literary sisters motorcycling women and their genius for confront racism and writing romantic novels. violence. 9:45 Wuthering Heights 10:00 BBC World News 11:00 Tavis Smiley 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:30 Scully/The World 11:00 My Love Affair with Show the Brain: The Life & Science of Dr. Marian Diamond
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7:00 Dead Reckoning: War & Justice The General’s Ghost. International justice after WWII war crimes. 8:00 Dead Reckoning: War & Justice The Blind Eye. The Cold War era. 9:00 Dead Reckoning: War & Justice In Our Time. Sexual violence and genocide. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Reel South Private Violence. Domestic violence.
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7:00 NPT Favorites 7:00 NPT Favorites 9:00 Frontline 10:00 BBC World News Iraq Uncovered. An 10:30 Last of Summer Wine examination of the fight for Iraq’s future, the power of militias, the impact on civilians and the places where ISIS has been pushed out. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Albuquerque, Hour 2. 8:00 Rock Rewind 19671969 A My Music special hosted by Tommy James and featuring vintage TV appearances by Sonny & Cher, Dusty Springfield and others. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
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Mon, March 13, 8:00 pm
Ken Burns: America’s Storyteller
7:00 NPT Favorites
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show The Southern Show. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Downton Abbey Season 6, Part 2. Wedding plans hit a snag; pigs are trouble for Edith. 9:30 Endeavour Fugue. A string of Oxford murders continue. 11:00 Globe Trekker Top 10 South American Adventures.
APRIL
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Musical Masterpieces. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Downton Abbey Season 6, Part 1. Extortion and downsizing threaten Downton Abbey. 10:00 Endeavour Girl. Constable Morse investigates violent murders amid a string of robberies and a young woman’s sudden death. 11:30 Globe Trekker Puerto Rico.
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Doodlebug, etc. ... Does your car have a name? Mine does. I call it Doodlebug. It’s a 2010 silver Prius. In the weeks following my mother’s death in 2014, while cleaning out her house in Spartanburg, my two sisters and I agreed that they would get all the silver that you polish (candelabras, flatware, pitchers, trays, and so on), leaving me the silver that you plug in or drive, as in laptop, iPad, and Toyota Prius. Based on our individual tastes, this seemed a fair settlement and everybody went home happy. The first time I drove Mama’s Prius, the idea to name it Doodlebug just came to me out of the blue. But I imagine there was a subconscious connection.
Williamson County Culture
My mother grew up next to a sand and gravel pit outside Lilesville, North Carolina. As a child, I loved visiting her homeplace. On one such visit, an old African-American man named June, who lived behind my grandparents’ house, showed me how to summon a doodlebug from the ground by leaning over its hole (which looked like an inverted anthill) chanting, “Doodlebug, Doodlebug, come on home. Your house is on fire and your children are gone. Doodlebug, Doodlebug, come on home.” Nine times out of ten, a little gray doodlebug would come wiggling up out of the ground, much to everyone’s delight. I haven’t named all my cars over the years, but a few seemed to beg for a moniker. Like Whitetrash, a white (with red interior) 1960 Ford Galaxie that I bought for two hundred dollars in 1972. This practice of naming cars began in 1957 when I was an eightyear-old tomboy growing up in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Some neighborhood boys and I built our own go-carts or minicars using the wheels from our Radio Flyer wagons (which we’d outgrown), discarded two-by-fours, and steering wheels from a local junkyard. These makeshift cars even had braking systems, which we constructed out of rope, pullies and a hinge. Johnny Dargan, who lived next door, painted his car black and silver and named it Sputnik. Miles Elmore, who lived across the street, named his Bernardine (after the Pat Boone hit). Miles’s car was the only one to have a motor, which he’d removed from an old lawnmower. My car was named Songbird after Sky King’s plane. Which is pretty damn cosmic considering that seventeen years later, I became a songwriter. My late brother was a car enthusiast. At one point, he owned five—each one named after a first lady. But that’s a whole ‘nother story. Marshall Chapman is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, author, and actress. For more information, visit www.tallgirl.com.
BEYONDWORDS
Photograph by Anthony Scarlati
ry Eve st fir ! ay Frid
BY MARSHALL CHAPMAN
MYFAVORITEPAINTING INGE KLAPS, GALLERY MANAGER, CUMBERLAND GALLERY
ARTIST BIO: Lori Field Lori Field is a self-taught artist who began her artistic career as an illustrator and textile designer living and working in New York City. She is well known for her detailed, almost obsessive colored-pencil drawings on rice paper and intricate silverpoint drawings on gessoed paper. Field has shown nationally and internationally and her work is in many collections, including the Montclair Art Museum, the Brodsky Center for Innovative Print and Paper, and the Newark Museum. Field is represented in Nashville by Cumberland Gallery, www.cumberlandgallery.com.
Lori Field, Anna Bollina, 2016, Casein on vintage wood panel, 7 ½” x 7 ½”
A
lthough I work with great art on a daily basis at Cumberland Gallery, it was difficult for me to decide which piece would tempt me to purchase. When I first noticed this miniature portrait by Lori Field, I was amazed by how much meaning and context could be unified in one object. When I found myself showing it to everyone, I decided this was it. It was time to buy my first work of art!
The materials Lori employed are a found vintage Florentine wood panel and casein, a highly resistant type of paint used for murals since antiquity. With its jewel-toned finish and golden details, this referentially charged object also becomes a little everlasting gem. From its formal properties to its social message, the multifaceted nature of this piece makes it essential art for me. Now that I have started my collection, I hope to acquire more work that can stimulate my thoughts as this one has. na
Inge Klaps
Photograph by John Jackson
Anna Bollina is part of an invented mythological world which drives Lori Field’s oeuvre and where “otherness” is emphasized and celebrated. The peculiar nature of the figure is accentuated by an exotic headdress, the enlarged head, and an exaggerated suggestion of character. In this figure inspired by Anne Boleyn—an important and remarkable female figure in European history who was (wrongly, most would argue) beheaded—you sense an attitude that is challenging yet serene and fearless. Regardless of her vulnerability, showed by her open arms, closed eyes, and stretched-out neck, she radiates strength and beauty. Anna Bollina reminds us that we should embrace the full potential and qualities of “the other.” Having recently emigrated from Belgium myself and now experiencing the diverse melting pot that is the United States, the relevance of this piece to me is immediate.
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