Buddy JACKSON Kit REUTHER Bill STEBER Steve McCURRY Marianne KOLB
Café and Gallery Open September 1 GALLERY CALENDAR SEPTEMBER Main Gallery Geppe Hernandez Café David Robert Farmerie Nina Covington Robert Giordano Amy Jackson
OCTOBER Main Gallery John Cannon Café Bob Jones Tim Adams
NOVEMBER Main Gallery Billy Martinez (live painting at reception)
Michael Lax Ryan Frizzell Ian Forrester Marisa Ray
DECEMBER Main Gallery Dina D’Argo Café Precious small works by various artists
JOHN CANNON
DINA D’ARGO
GEPPE HERNANDEZ
BOB JONES
DAVID ROBERT FARMERIE
BILLY MARTINEZ
NINA COVINGTON
MARISA RAY
Artist Receptions: 6-9pm on September 17 • October 22 • November 11 • December 10
All receptions include complimentary champagne, hors d’oeuvres and a meet and greet with the artists! www.coppervault.co • 116-118 6th Ave. Springfield, TN 37172 • 615-985-2155
TINNEY CONTEMPORARY
A DECADE IN THE MAKING A TenTh AnniversAry exhibiTion August 6 - September 17, 2016 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
PUBLISHED BY THE ST. CLAIRE MEDIA GROUP
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Columns MARSHALL CHAPMAN | Beyond Words ERICA CICCARONE | Open Spaces JENNIFER COLE | State of the Arts LINDA DYER | Appraise It RACHAEL MCCAMPBELL | And So It Goes JOSEPH E. MORGAN | Sounding Off ANNE POPE | Tennessee Roundup JIM REYLAND | Theatre Correspondent RAEANNE RUBENSTEIN | The f-Stops Here MARK W. SCALA | As I See It JUSTIN STOKES | Film Review
Nashville Arts Magazine is a monthly publication by St. Claire Media Group, LLC. This publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one magazine from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office, or by mail for $6.40 a copy. Email: All email addresses consist of the 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 Dana Oldfather
September 2016 26
Bra 2 2015, Oil, ink and spray paint on linen, 34” x 42” See page 76.
Features 10 Crafting the Perfect Plan 38th Annual Fall Tennessee Craft Fair 22
The Character of a Man An Exhibition of the Works of Tom Seigenthaler
26
Kit Reuther Weights & Modules
30
Walking on Water Susan Edwards Takes a Walk on Christo’s Latest Creation on Lake Iseo
34
Marianne Kolb The Mercurial State of Being
40
Buddy Jackson Beauty & Power
70
Fresh Paint New Work from Marleen De Waele-De Bock
76
Dana Oldfather Sugar, A New Abstract Series Debuts at The Red Arrow Gallery
80 Keep It Warm, Keep It Local At Zeitgeist 88 Evolution: Twin/Jerry & Terry Lynn At Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery 104 Mike Martino The Printing Presses Roll at Blue Fig Editions
30
40
34
Columns
48
16
Crawl Guide
47
The Bookmark Hot Books and Cool Reads
60
Open Spaces by Erica Ciccarone
72
Arts & Business Council
48
Steve McCurry Legendary Photographer Brings the Afghan Girl and Other Stunning Images to the Baldwin Gallery
52
Lloyd Branson A Life in Tennessee Art, 1853–1925
79
Sounding Off by Joseph E. Morgan
56
Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise
84
Symphony in Depth
66
Bill Steber Chasing Time and Ghosts
90
Public Art
92
And So It Goes by Rachael McCampbell
66
94 ArtSee 96 Theatre by Jim Reyland 98
Studio Tenn
100 NPT 113 Beyond Words by Marshall Chapman 114 My Favorite Painting
THE RYMER GALLERY Cultivated
Ted Whisenhunt September 3-30
New Paintings by Shane Miller
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
Crafting the Perfect Plan 38th Annual Fall Tennessee Craft Fair Centennial Park September 23–25
Lisa Mergen - wearable art
Photograph by Tammy Gentuso
by Bob Paxman
Margaret Luttrell, The Vow (Penelope and Odysseus Myth), Encaustic mixed media
Sebastian Coleman, Samurai Series - Orange with Frit, Glass
T
he Fall Tennessee Craft Fair, a Nashville arts staple since 1978, cuts a magnificent, circular sprawl throughout Centennial Park. With more than 200 artisans displaying everything from functional wooden spoons to decorative pottery, jewelry, and leather goods, there is certainly plenty of ground for the visitor to cover. Angela Wiggins, Communications Manager at Tennessee Craft which hosts the annual Craft Fair, serves up a few suggestions for making your day at the fair a breezy walk in the park. “There are a couple of things people can do to get ready to go to the fair,” Wiggins notes. “A lot of people don’t know this, but we have a virtual fair on our website that’s up about two weeks before the fair starts. It’s a map layout of the fair. Every artist who has a booth is on there. And if you are looking for something in particular like pottery, you can search for that. There are images of the artists’ works and their website information so you can find out more about the artists. If you can do some pre-shopping and see the layout, you’ll get around more easily.” A game plan is definitely helpful. “The ideal time to spend at the Fall Tennessee Craft Fair is about four hours, if you really want the full experience,” Wiggins says. “So, dress comfortably and wear good walking shoes. The way we lay out the fair, the shopper is going to see a broad range of crafts. There are paintings and photographs, lots of metal sculptures for walls, and blown glass. We also have an artist who makes bags out of recycled seat belts,” Wiggins adds. Artists hailing from distant points such as Boston and San Francisco participate in the national juried fair. Nashville pottery artist Catherine McMurray, who produces decorative teapots, small mugs, and other items from her Turning Grace Studio, embraces the Fall Craft Fair’s diversity. “It’s really important to your business because you get to share space with these wonderfully creative people from all over the country,” says McMurray, who has taken part in “at least five” previous fairs. “To me, it’s the best fair in terms of layout and the range of artists.” na
Greg Davis, Santaria Sass, Cuba, Photography
To find out more about the Fall Tennessee Craft Fair, please visit www.tennesseecraft.org.
Kit Reuther weights and modules
Sep 2016 516 Hagan Street . Wedgewood/Houston . Nashville . davidluskgallery.com
DLG DAVID LUSK GALLERY
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40 Burton Hills Blvd. Suite 230 Nashville, TN 37215 www.worthproperties.com
615.330.3051 (M) 615.250.7880 (O) Laurabaugh3@gmail.com
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“Big or Small... It’s Worth a Call to Laura Baugh!
Publisher's Note
A Great City Deserves Great Art
Walt Schatz
Some people just make you smile. Walt Schatz was one of them. Nothing would please me more than when he would come over to our offices and help us pick the cover image. He enjoyed doing that. He would ask to see the art that was being featured in that month's issue and he would point out certain aspects of the work and sometimes he would just say, "That's not art, it's wallpaper!" We always listened and took note of everything he said because we knew he was usually right. Just standing next to him made us all feel a lot smarter. We learned so much from Walt. He was an ardent art lover and collector and helped support and nurture the local art community in many ways. I feel immensely privileged to have had him as a friend and mentor. It's difficult for me to write that he is no longer with us; I loved the man that much. Paul Polycarpou | Publisher
SAVE THE DATE
May 4 • 5 • 6
th e H A R DI NG A RT SHOW WATERCOLOR ACRYLIC
CLAY
MIXED MEDIA
PASTEL
PHOTOGRAPHY
SCULPTURE
REPURPOSED ART
OIL
WOOD
COLLAGE
Accepting applications through November 18, 2016 Visit zapplication.org and search “Harding Art Show” Info or questions: www.thehardingartshow.com or artshow@hardingacademy.us
BENNET T GALLERIES invites you to an opening
LAUNCHING ARTIST BRIAN NASH’S NEW CLOTHING LINE BRIANNASH.NET
SEPTEMBER 23, 2016 6PM TO 9PM
ALSO FEATURING NEW ARTWORK BY BRIAN
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
September Crawl Guide Franklin Art Scene
Friday, September 2, from 6 until 9 p.m.
Susan McGrew, Jack Yacoubian
Kelly Harwood, Gallery 202
This month marks the five-year anniversary of the Franklin Art Scene. In celebration, organizers have created a large Paint by Number depicting a local site outside at Gallery 202. County Mayor Rogers Anderson, along with Art Scene originators Kelly Harwood and Michael D’Amico, will paint the first section after the unveiling at 6 p. m., and guests are invited to paint throughout the evening. Gallery 202 is showing new country– inspired paintings by gallery owner Kelly Harwood in addition to a variety of works including his palette-knife florals and landscapes. Jack Yacoubian Fine Jewelry and Art Gallery is exhibiting Susan McGrew’s new series Daybreak and Dusk, which features paintings of Miami and Nashville. Imaginebox Emporium is presenting original illustrations created by Cory Basil for his young-reader novel The Perils of Fishboy. Parks on Main is featuring painting and drawings by Marriann Nelson. The Character of a Man, an exhibition of work by Tom Seigenthaler, is on view at O’More College of Design (see page 22). Enjoy work by acrylic painter Jill Harper at Bagbey House. Franklin Antique Mall is showcasing watercolors by Steve Skrabak. Williamson County Archives is showing oil paintings and portraiture by Betsy Marsch. Landmark Bank is exhibiting work by Cheryl Buehring, the Kona Coffee Artist, and colorful oil paintings by her son, Ryan Buehring. Williamson County Visitor Center is presenting work by encaustic artist Christopher Green. Taziki’s, The Registry, and T. Nesbitt & Co are also participating.
Kim, Stefany Hemming, and more. The Rymer Gallery is exhibiting Cultivated, sculpture by Ted Whisenhunt, and new paintings by Shane Miller. The Browsing Room Gallery at the Downtown Presbyterian Church is hosting an artist-in-residence group Anita Inverarity, Corvidae Collective show featuring Hans SchmittMatzen, Cary Gibson, William Steven Stone, Richard Feaster, and Sarah Jordan. In the historic Arcade, Corvidae Collective is showing Harvest, a collaborative exhibition by U.S. artist Tammy Mae Moon and Scottish artist Anita Inverarity. Open Gallery is unveiling The World All Around, an inaugural solo exhibition by Lauren Roberts, who uses artificial and natural flora to explore the reality of human nature’s relationship to the natural world. 40AU is opening Taking Note, a duet exhibition featuring graphics, visual summaries, and handwritten notes by Megan Kelley and Anjeanette Illustration. WAG is featuring The Poke Show: Inquiries for the Made-Up Mind, linocut, letterpress, and Risograph prints by Watkins alumnus Stephen G. Jones. For those who wish to start crawling early, “O” Gallery is open from noon until 3 p.m. and is showcasing a new collection of textured abstracts by Olga Alexeeva and work by new artists Jamie Erwin, Melody Cash, and Diane Lee. Hatch Show Print’s Haley Gallery is presenting new collaborative work by Master Printer Jim Sherraden and guest artist Jon Langford, celebrating the release of Rhino Records’ Trio: Further Along, a double-LP set of newly remastered material from the Complete Trio Collection by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris.
Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston Saturday, September 3, from 6 until 9 p.m.
COOP Gallery is celebrating its first official exhibition in its new home on Hagan Street with the exhibition FORMS. Created by St. Louis-based artist JE Baker, FORMS traces the artist’s struggle to accept her sister’s choice to live as a homeless person and demonstrates how artistic processes can create
First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown Saturday, September 3, from 6 until 9 p.m.
The Arts Company continues to celebrate its 20th Anniversary with the unveiling of Southern Blues Photography + Music, an exhibit of work by Bill Steber (see page 66). Tinney Contemporary is presenting A Decade in the Making, part two of an exhibition commemorating their 10th Anniversary featuring works by Tinney Contemporary artists Andy Harding, Anna Jaap, Béatrice Coron, Carla Ciuffo, Carlos Gamez de Francisco, Dorothy O’Connor, Eduardo Terranova, James Perrin, Jane Braddock, Patricia Bellan-Gillen, Peri Schwartz, Sky Meredith Bullock, Refinery Nashville
Katie Hargrave, Ground Floor Gallery
new and useful forms to examine our systems of behavior and belief. Julia Martin Gallery is showing Oil & Mud by Emily Holt and Delia Seigenthaler. Ground Floor Gallery is opening Katie Hargrave’s History Repeats Itself, an exhibition that explores the 2016 election season. Fort Houston is exhibiting Robyn C Burns’s Bowiescapes in which she referenced a single photo of David Bowie and listened to a different song of his as inspiration for each piece. Refinery Nashville is featuring self-taught artist Meredith Bullock. Zeitgeist is unveiling Keep It Warm, a group exhibition comprised of twelve local artists and several mediums (see page 80). Seed Space is presenting Opulent Pages, a video and photography installation by Hanita Schwartz, which examines the way different means of representation connect history and identity. Channel to Channel is exhibiting The Denisovans by Knoxvillebased artist Eleanor Aldrich.
East Side Art Stumble
Saturday, September 10, from 6 until 9 p.m. Dana Oldfather, The Red Arrow Gallery
The Red Arrow Gallery is
hosting an artist’s reception for Dana Oldfather’s exhibit Sugar (see page 76). At Gallery Luperca Donna Woodley is exhibiting work from her series What’s in a Name and Yo Mammy. Art & Invention, Nashville Community Darkroom, The Warren, and Southern Grist are participating.
Jefferson Street Art Crawl
September 24, from 6 until 9 p.m.
The Jefferson Street Art Crawl will add a few new stops and highlight a recent mural series on Jefferson Street by artists of the Norf Art Collective. The official art crawl stops include The Garden Brunch Cafe, Woodcuts Gallery and Elisheba Israel, One Drop Ink Framing, Susan Brannon McJimpsey Center, One Drop Ink, and more. Featured artists for this event include Elisheba Israel, Claudyne Jefferson, Donna Woodley, James Threalkill, Frank Fraizer, Omari Booker, and many more! Look for updates at Facebook.com/jsactn.
JACK YACOUBIAN
•Eclectic Furniture & Cabinetry•
F E AT U R E D A R T I S T AT T H E S E P T E M B E R F R A N K L I N A R T S C E N E
Unique Designs from the Studio of Richard F. Gentry
Moon Over Ryman, 30” x 24”, Oil on linen, 2016
For Susan Goshgarian McGrew, a New England native and physician, the artist’s journey began in the 1980’s; first by working with mentors and in workshops then by exhibiting her art professionally in juried group shows. She had her first solo exhibition in 2001 at Cheekwood Museum in Nashville and continues to exhibit her work throughout the region, including a solo show at The Parthenon Museum. In 2011 McGrew retired from medicine to pursue a career in painting full time. She maintains a studio in Nashville but travels extensively with her art supplies, drawing inspiration from many worlds. Her work may be found in private and corporate collections throughout the US.
Zen Desk Console One Board Cherry and Tiger Maple 62” x 22” x 30” $2250
This series is a departure for the artist who is better known for her wildlife and nature paintings. Here she focuses on the human side of life; with natural settings interposed amongst cityscapes. The low light conditions of daybreak and dusk are chosen to show both the awakening of the day and the end of the day. Two cities in which she spends much of her time, Miami and Nashville, are her subject matter.
www.SusanMcGrew.com Visit Our Showroom: 300 Public Square, Franklin, TN 37064 (615) 224-3698 • www.jackyacoubianjewelers.com Mon-Sat. 10am-5pm
HISTORIC DOWNTOWN FRANKLIN
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Americana At It’s Best: The Homestead Table Extinct 1800’s Chestnut Early John Deere Wheel 64”L x 20”W x 34”H $2850
Dazzling Pau Ferro Rosewood With Ebony Accents 2 Drawer Desk 48”L x 26”W x 30”H $2100
Pine Norwegian Rustic Dining Table Superb Character with Rich Inlays 92”L x 40”W x 30”H $3500
1073 Curlee Creek Rd • Readyville, TN 37149 (615) 563-2401 • www.richardfgentry.com
•
FINE JEWELRY & ART GALLERY
The Clay Lady’s Campus
|
October 8
T
he relationship between artist and patron has always been vital. One event aims to make it much more intimate. ARTable is the chance for art enthusiasts to experience the creative process first hand. Attendees get an evening to access artists as they work, transforming raw materials into reflections of their vision, narrating their methods, and answering questions all the while. This year, the event’s fifth, will feature four local artists: Susan Thornton, who works with metal jewelry, Jane McGinnis-Glynn, who works with woven stoneware clay, Leigh Ann Agee, a muralist, and Dave Garrett, who creates flutes. The guests, divided into small groups, visit with each artist for twenty
Leigh Ann Agee, Little Red Riding Hood, 2015, Oil on canvas, 40” x 30”
Sharing the Creative Process at ARTable
Those pieces will be auctioned off at the end of the evening, and other works by each artist will also be for sale, with the proceeds split between the artists and Leadership Donelson-Hermitage, a community-leader mentoring program. Fischer estimates that it has raised around $35,000 for the charity since its inception.
Jane McGinnis-Glynn, Design No. 15, 2015, Clay
minutes before rotating to the next. The artists describe their inspiration and technique to each group as the piece they’re working on comes to life. “Each one of the four artists has an extremely different process,” says Matt Fischer, ARTable’s founder and owner of Hermitage’s Picture This Creative Framing & Gallery. “We generally try to pick artists that have a very interesting and creative process. It should be something that the consumer can become engaged in while it’s happening.”
The inspiration for ARTable came from a transformative experience for Fischer. While looking for work to fill his gallery when it first opened, he traveled to the studio of a favorite artist and was invited to have some lunch and watch as the artist worked.
te rican Flu e Ame v ti a N , arrett Dave G
“That trip turned out to be one of the more significant things that happened to me in my life,” he says. “Because of the music, the food, the atmosphere, the conversation, the wine, all of that allowed me to buy into the process and the artist emotionally, and as a result, there was no way I was going to leave without buying that painting he was working on.” He’s applied that lesson to the benefit of participating artists, Leadership Donelson-Hermitage, and attendees, who enjoy fine food and wine during the evening. This year’s fare will come courtesy of Gondola House Pizzeria, Fast Track Catering, and Ellendale’s. na
Susan Thornton, Bridge Ring, Sterling Silver, Alexandrite and Dichroic Italian glass, 2” x 1” x .5”
The 5th annual ARTable will be held on Saturday, October 8, from 4:30 until 9 p.m. at The Clay Lady’s Campus, 1416 Lebanon Pike. For information and tickets, visit www.leadershipdh.org/artable.
HISTORY EMBR ACING A RT
Featured Artist
K E L LY
H A RWOOD
Artist Reception • September 2, 6-9pm 202 2nd Ave. South, Franklin, TN 37064
•
www.gallery202art.com
•
615-472-1134
Americana Music Festival Various Locations
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September 20–25
S
eventeen years ago, 33 people secluded themselves from the glitz and glamour of the Nashville country music boom to talk about their shared passion for a different kind of music—a music that wasn’t recognized on any Billboard chart or Grammy category and whose name was still years away from making it into any dictionary.
“Americana Music has always been an integral part of the American fabric,” says Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association. “It’s just that in the past decade it’s coalesced as a community. I look at this genre, with its various styles and traditions, from gospel to blues to rock ‘n’ roll to country, as a representation of the art of music, by contrast to the commercial art forms of music that inundate us.”
Nikki Lane at Americana Honors & Awards Show
Photograph by Getty Images/ Erika Goldring
But, Hilly adds, the essence of Americana is celebration rather than opposition. “When you see a Van Gogh, you’re not saying, thank God I saw that because I’m so sick of the billboards on the highway. You’re thinking, this touches me in a way that’s unique. You’re not even thinking about that billboard.” This year’s Festival will feature more than 200 artists performing at a greater-than-ever number of venues, including The 5 Spot, 3rd & Lindsley, 12th & Porter, The Basement, Basement East, The Family Wash, The Cannery Ballroom, and City Winery. Confirmed performers range from up-and-coming innovators from around the world to Bonnie Raitt, Jason Isbell, The Lumineers, Chris Stapleton, Lee Ann Womack, and a bevy of legends and all-stars at the 15th Annual Americana Honors and Awards, scheduled for September 21 at the Ryman Auditorium. The agenda includes a keynote address by celebrated producer T Bone Burnett and a rare appearance by Country Music Hall of Fame member George Strait as he introduces and presents a Lifetime Achievement Award to Jim Lauderdale. “The Festival is our annual fundraiser,” Hilly adds. “In the decade that I’ve been here, we’ve lobbied for and achieved three categories of Americana artists at the Grammys. That helps Americana artists pursue their careers. If you’re selling a painting in a gallery or a song over the radio or on iTunes, no one is going to know about it unless you have an advocate. That’s what we do, on behalf of artists and songwriters. What Sundance is to film, the Americana Music Festival is to music.” na
20 nashvillearts.com
Photograph by Getty Images/ Erika Goldring
This year, on September 20–25, a considerably larger number of people will fill the streets and music venues of Nashville, drawn by that same music. Thanks to the organization that bears that name, The Americana Music Festival & Conference has become a landmark event for all who appreciate the genre’s resistance to commercialism and its adherence to the roots of American culture in its many manifestations.
Americana Honors & Awards Finale Various levels of registration to performances and to the daytime seminars, panels, and networking events can be purchased at www.AmericanaMusic.org. The premium conference registration pass enters attendees into a lottery for limited-ticket admission to an intimate John Prine performance at The Station Inn and other exclusive shows. For more information, visit www.AmericanaMusic.org.
M I D C E N T U RY M O D E R N M E E T S B E L L E M E A D E
4300 Lillywood Drive || $1,999,000 Where function, design and nature find the perfect combination This private, park-like Belle Meade property provides the perfect backdrop for the revival of this mid-century modern home which has been remodeled and restored with the fresh perspective of California South, one of Nashville’s most innovative new developers. Clean lines, dramatic curves, monochromatic bright whites, with accents of cool grey, dramatic black and original wood have been combined to make this one of the city’s most interesting homes. The minimal concept offers a place where the owner may showcase their own individuality and personal style. 4 Bedrooms, 4.5 baths with pool, cabana, full pool bath and outdoor entertaining area. Wolf, Subzero Toto, Nest controls, Rohl plumbing fixtures and the list continues resulting with the yin and yang of architecture and functionality. 1.12 acres. 5,075 square feet. $1,999,000.
Please call or have your real estate agent call Beth for details or showings.
B E T H M O LT E N I A F F I L I AT E
B R O K E R
W I T H
Fr i d r i c h & C l a r k R E A LT Y
LLC .
B E T H @ B E T H M O LT E N I . C O M | 6 1 5 . 5 6 6 . 1 6 1 0 C | 6 1 5 . 3 2 7. 4 8 0 0 O
The Character of a Man
An Exhibition of the Works of Tom Seigenthaler O’More College of Design
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September 2–26
Tom was a business executive, the founder of a public relations firm, and well-known for uncommon perspective. He was a civic leader, deeply involved and invested in the life of his community. He was a family man, husband to his beloved Veronica Strobel-Seigenthaler, and proud father to four daughters. And he was an artist. Those who knew Tom best knew that making art fed his soul and infused everything he touched. His hands were always moving, as if tracking his incessant imagination. His output was prodigious. At work, he drew elaborate doodles in the margins of document drafts. At home, he was, most nights, in his studio. Frequent visitors would wander back to the garage he had converted into an artistic laboratory and invariably find him molding bits of nothing into something resonant with life. He welcomed them, not only into the space but into the work. Surrounded by people—whether those right in front of him or those whose stories he stored in his consciousness—he
most often chose to bring forth the truth or pain or wisdom that lived in their eyes and had worn its way into their bones. He could capture humanity with just a few simple pen strokes. Or in clay, woodblock print, oil, watercolor, wire. Tom never exhibited. He never sold a piece of work. Since his death in 2004, his studio has been a treasure chest filled with his diverse studies in character, unseen by all but a few. Until now. As part of the Franklin Art Scene and throughout the month of September, O’More College of Design is bringing The Character of a Man, a diverse retrospective of more than 40 years of Tom’s work, to the public. It opens on September 2, the date of his and Veronica’s 55th wedding anniversary. The exhibition is, in the words of O’More president David Rosen, “a testament to the character of people that exposes Tom’s character as a human being: his dedication to art, his dedication to family, and his dedication to humanity.” The collection not only contains individual works in diverse media, but notebooks filled with sketches and poems and pieces by other family members and friends whom he inspired and encouraged to work alongside him. In this way, The Character of a Man is about more than a body of work. It is the story of a Nashvillian whose favorite subject—in life and in art—was his fellow human beings. na The Character of a Man, an Exhibition of the Works of Tom Seigenthaler opens on September 2 at 6 p.m. during the Franklin Art Scene at O’More College of Design’s Robert N. Moore Jr. Gallery and runs through September 26. For more information, visit www.omorecollege.edu.
Gangster, 2002, Pen and ink, 15” x 11”
The Doomed, 1983, Pen and ink, 15” x 11”
The Preacher, 1985–2003, Clay, 12” x 30”
T
homas Patrick Seigenthaler lived the entirety of his 65 years in Nashville. He was effusive in his love for family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. In fact, if one trait defined him, it was the delight he took in people. All people. Such was his character.
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
PAIGE MOREHEAD
Bold Statement, Mixed media on wood, 48” x 36”
107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 • 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net www.yorkandfriends.com • Follow us on
at York & Friends Fine Art
“
The spare elegance of the way she puts down paint fascinates me. These works seem to vibrate with their own internal energy that she has been able to capture and put on canvas. —David Lusk
kitREUTHER
by Margaret F. M. Walker
Weights and Modules
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September 6–October 8
Kit Reuther in her studio
I
Opposite Page: Modular Gray & Flesh, 2016, Oil on canvas, 64” x 52” #1331-3d, 2016, Metal, limestone and paint, 59” x 8” x 9”
n her newest body of work, Kit Reuther shifts toward a more architectural abstraction than she has explored before. She cites the constant construction in Nashville’s landscape when reflecting on this new direction. You won’t see a shotgun home or condo complex in these quiet and minimalist works, but the modularity of her compositions and the way that color creates weight echo, in her words, the city’s “architecture in action.”
27 nashvillearts.com
Photograph by Joshua Black Wilkins
David Lusk Gallery
Moon, 2016, Oil on linen, 40” x 40”
Cube & Truss, 2016, Oil on canvas, 70” x 96”
#1332-3d, 2016, Metal, concrete and paint, 61” x 20” x 10”
David Lusk, owner of David Lusk Gallery where Weights and Modules opens on September 6, says of this series, “The spare elegance of the way she puts down paint fascinates me. These works seem to vibrate with their own internal energy that she has been able to capture and put on canvas.” Reuther began working in abstraction around 2005, having been a realist painter prior. She shared how at that time, segmenting the elements of objects in space interested her far more than recreating a scene containing them. It could be solely color or shadow that piqued her interest. Reuther’s interpretation of composition came down to a focus on these facets, bringing her to the present, when a particular shade of white or studies in linearity can be the subject of a series. Lusk says, “Kit always impresses me by her ability to
edit and consider her own work,” reflecting on her gradual shift from realism to increasingly minimalist abstraction. Subtle gradations of color are central to Weights and Modules. Reuther “thinks in white,” and spending time with her artwork will remind one of the great variety our world offers even within this one color. On the whole, these canvases are filled with blues, purples, and greens—cool colors in quiet hues that appear consistently in Reuther’s oeuvre. They are introverted paintings, inviting contemplation from the viewer as much as they reflect the creator’s. Reuther says that “I am looking for ‘oddness’ of both color and composition in my work right now. Whites are never totally pure white, greens are soft and multi-tonal.” A few of these canvases feature a sand color that she has been trying to get right for years. Among these wide expanses of a given color, the canvas shows clear evidence of her hand at work on every inch. The “oddness” appears in small flecks of other colors and bits of texture left to remind us that an individual created these paintings. In this series Reuther has incorporated a hallmark of abstract art—an unwillingness of the subject to stay put within the bounds of the canvas. Instead, color, brushwork, and line flow to the very edge of each piece, overflowing into our own imaginations beyond the physical limits of the work itself. In her own words, “The eye is forced to complete the extension” of the painting. Reflecting on this new trend in her work, Reuther says, “I am becoming more comfortable with overloading the canvas on the edges, while using negative or white space as a counterbalance. I have spent a lot of time looking at Rothenberg’s compositions, where objects appear to float near the edge of the canvas or enter the picture plane at strange angles.”
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Spending time with her artwork will remind one of the great variety our world offers even within this one color.
Strong, linear divisions are central to this series. Many works feature a curve reminiscent of more organic shapes from her previous sculptures. Reuther acknowledges how a line, shape, or idea can carry over to manifest in different ways for years. Far more important to this series, and indicative of her current direction, is the triangle. Non-white colors bound in space by strong, angular lines consistently weight the bottom of these paintings. Reuther suggests that this weighting may point back to the idea of a sculpture’s base or a building’s foundation. Although architectural lines are a hallmark of this series, none are actually created with a straightedge. While the division between two fields of color is clear, the dividing line itself is fuzzy and indefinite, leaving the evidence of Reuther’s hand and creating the internal energy that Lusk identifies.
Green Section, 2016, Oil on canvas, 48” x 60”
Reuther has also created sculptures for Weights and Modules, very rectilinear in their modularity, with precise lines and angles. She has created new boulder sculptures as well, a subject that takes her naturally from organic to architectural inspiration. They are multifaceted and clean, beautiful in their geometry, gemstones in metal. When visiting the exhibition, notice the symbiosis between these two media. The cool metal sculptures readily converse with the surrounding paintings with regard to color, shape, and the division of space. na Weights and Modules is on view at David Lusk Gallery September 6 through October 8. An opening reception is slated for September 10 from 5 until 8 p.m. For more information, please visit www.davidluskgallery.com and www.kitreuther.com.
Elevation: Green & Violet, 2016, Oil on canvas, 60” x 60”
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Photograph by Susan Edwards
W a Su l s a kin Ch n ris Ed to’s wa g La rds on tes Ta t C ke rea s a tio Wa Wa n o lk t n L on er ake Ise o
View toward big island
by Susan Edwards, Executive Director, Frist Center for the Visual Arts
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ecord-breaking auction results and the soaring market for contemporary art have put much of the art of our time beyond the reach of ordinary people. Yet, the indisputable 2016 summer art blockbuster defied convention. The Floating Piers, a site-specific installation by Christo and JeanneClaude on Lake Iseo in the Lombardy region in Northern Italy, attracted over 1.2 million visitors in 16 days, June 18 through July 3. The piers, 16 meters wide, 35 centimeters high, and 3 kilometers long, connected Sulzano on the mainland to Monte Isola and Isola San Paolo, large and small islands in Lake Iseo. The piers were composed of 220,000 polyethylene cubes pinned together and covered with 100,000 square meters of yellow fabric, which extended an additional 2.5 kilometers over the adjacent streets and paths leading to the piers. The piers were held in place by 200 anchors weighing 5.5 tons each.
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Susan Edwards and Simonetta Fraquelli
Evacuated pier to small island
Initially, the piers were open 24 hours per day. Attendance more than tripled expectations. In order to manage the devout pilgrims, it was necessary to suspend train service and limit open hours. Visitors walked long distances and waited for up to five hours for the experience. The Floating Piers was funded entirely through the sale of Christo’s original works of art. There are no postcards, posters, or related products for sale through the artist. At the close of the exhibition, all materials were removed and recycled. The Floating Piers survive in the memories of the 1.2 million visitors. na
31 Aerial view of The Floating Piers
nashvillearts.com
Photograph by Wolfgang Volz/laif/Redux
Beginning in 1962 Christo and his partner Jeanne-Claude worked side by side to create visitor-centered works of ephemeral public art. Christo and Jeanne-Claude assiduously worked outside of the marketplace, were self-funded, never accepted a commission or a grant, and insisted that access to all of their projects be free. Their fully realized projects, such as Running Fence, 1976, and The Gates (Central Park), 2005, were years in the making. Jeanne-Claude died in 2009, but Christo still speaks of her in the present tense. Together they conceived of The Floating Piers in 1970. They researched and pursued other sites including the delta of the Rio de la Plata in Argentina. Twenty-five years later, in 1995, the piers were proposed for Tokyo Bay extending onto Odaiba Park. Both attempts failed because permits were not granted. In 2014, Christo identified Lake Iseo in Northern Italy as a possible site. This time the artist was able to secure the necessary permit. Twenty-six years after conception and 18 million dollars later The Floating Piers came to be. Christo remains an idealist, but he appreciates that the tools of capitalism and industry are indispensable. Working with Project Director Germano Celant, the artist directed a team of engineers, artisans, and craftsmen to assemble and install the piers.
Photograph by Susan Edwards
The Floating Piers were intentionally democratic, participatory, and visitor centered. The piers were visible from the mountains as well as on the roads and walkways around the lake, but they were designed to be experienced through your feet. Many visitors removed their shoes. Regardless, the sensation of walking on water was palpable. By early July, the yellow fabric was a bit worn but no less vibrant against the clear blue lake water. Time of day and weather conditions altered the colors slightly. There were no tickets, no openings, no reservations, and no owners. Walking over undulating waves was visceral, transitory, impractical, and irrational yet transformative.
The Collected Legacy of Red Grooms
by Peter Chawaga
Walter Knestrick Gifts Art Collection to the Tennessee State Museum just logical that the gifting would be done to the State Museum,” Knestrick says. “I think it’s a great opportunity for school children and adults to see back when he started with small wood prints and then to be able to see the three-dimensional, very complex prints that he’s done in the last twenty years.” According to Knestrick, who has served as chairman of the State Museum’s foundation board, plans to make this donation have been in the works for 20 years, ever since he realized he would need a place to store the collection he values at over $1 million and counting. Things moved forward and a formal gift agreement was reached after plans for a new State Museum were announced. Riggins-Ezzell hopes that by combining the gift with pieces by Grooms that the State Museum already has—including the Tennessee Fox Trot Carousel featuring 36 ridable sculptures and 28 painted panels of state icons—and ones it hopes to acquire in the future, the new space will serve as a comprehensive repository for his work to be enjoyed by locals, tourists, and visiting scholars alike. na Jackson in Action, 1997, Three-dimensional lithograph in Plexiglass case
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The State Museum has plans to exhibit the collection in its new space, scheduled to open in North Nashville in 2018. For more information, visit www.tnmuseum.org.
ed Grooms may be Nashville’s most accomplished visual artist. His work—firmly within the pop-art oeuvre, at once sly and frenetic, vibrant and comical—has been exhibited around the world. His pieces live in the collections of 39 museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art. He holds a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Design. A new gift of nearly 300 pieces of Grooms’s graphic artwork and posters to the Tennessee State Museum will finally make it possible for residents of his home state to enjoy a linear record of his prolific career. “This will give the citizens of Tennessee a collection where they can study one of the great artists, perhaps the greatest documentarian of any artist Tennessee has ever produced,” says Lois Riggins-Ezzell, the State Museum’s executive director. The works to be donated come from the collection of Grooms’s longtime friend Walter Knestrick. While students at Hillsboro High School, the two spent weekends painting together, traveling to the city’s lone frame shop to seek out free settings. When Grooms moved to New York City in 1958 to pursue his career, Knestrick took it upon himself to collect every piece of his graphic work. What started out as a way of supporting his friend eventually became a chance to preserve his legacy for generations to come. “I think Red is one of the greatest artists to ever come out of Tennessee, particularly born and raised in Nashville, so it was The Collector, 1999, Woodcut on Japanese paper 32 nashvillearts.com
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People either like my work or they don’t. It often appeals to people who have had difficulties, and they are aware of them. Those that love it do so because it touches something deeply within them.
Marianne Kolb in her studio
marianneKOLB The Mercurial State of Being 34 nashvillearts.com
Widow’s Walk, 2016, Mixed media on canvas, 48” x 39”
by Sara Lee Burd
Photograph by Deario Auston
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arianne Kolb finds beauty and inspiration in the fact that life is interconnected and mercurial. As Kolb has traveled and connected with people across the globe, she has realized that “as human beings, we all suffer somehow, and we all have concerns.” The paintings she makes are exalted expressions of what she has learned by observing people. They acknowledge pain and fear that pervades human life, but also refer to the perseverance and hope that drive the human spirit. Kolb emigrated to the United States from a small town in Switzerland because she felt stifled by the lack of opportunity she had there as a woman. She recalls, “At that time there was not even a glass ceiling for women. It was just a solid rock ceiling.” She did not know at the time that she wanted to be an artist because she had never studied it, but she knew she wanted more than the frustration she experienced as a woman in a patriarchal community. She relates, “People from my village are all the same. They are the same families who have lived there for generations. I wanted something different.” Naturally, when she moved to the United States she did not have the same cultural references as everyone around her. She found herself going out and observing people to learn about American culture. Unlike what she
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Witness, 2016, Mixed media on board, 35” x 25”
sense to her. “Once I see where the painting is going, I follow it—like a jazz ensemble improvises but then all come together in the end.”
Unbossed, 2016, Mixed media on canvas, 44” x 30”
had experienced growing up, she was immersed in a diversity of languages, people, styles, and ways of being. Even after over 20 years here she still steadily watches and listens to those around her. If she feels comfortable, she takes the opportunity to pose questions. “You won’t believe what people will tell you when you ask a sincere question,” Kolb explains. “People can open up and surprise you.” She looks for inspiration in all of her encounters. She remembers colors, sounds, smells, along with facial expressions, body language, and bits of overheard conversations and accesses them to resolve on canvas with paint. Her creative process begins with sitting in the studio and resting her mind until she feels herself in the right state to paint. Instead of setting up to work with a palette for mixing colors and drawings to outline the composition, she simply applies paint to the canvas and pushes it around until it makes
Kolb acknowledges that her process involves revision, and she actively paints and repaints the same canvas until it communicates with her. Sometimes she loses paintings if she pushes too hard. “When my ego gets involved and I want a painting to be a certain way, it doesn’t work. I strive for detached involvement. I try to be involved with the art process without being attached to the outcome. That’s when it is the best.” Although Kolb’s paintings are not about one specific person or moment, they always feature a figure in an indistinguishable location. The boldly presented characters are raw, depicted in varying states of vulnerability. Evidence of the energy and intuition Kolb uses to blend the water-based mediums on canvas remains on the surface as colors roughly blended together and vigorous curved, straight, and diagonal lines. The resulting crudely formed figures exude visceral expressions that define the work. The imagery in her paintings depends on the lessons Kolb has learned from her encounters with strangers. Some works such as Ambitious Nature and A Step Forward present figures with upward gazes that appear wonder filled and quizzical. While others, such as Floating in a Sea of Dreams and Widow’s Walk, rendered with downcast facial expressions and closed-off body positions are wistful and haunting.
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Left to right: Floating in the Sea of Dreams, 2015, Mixed media on canvas, 44” x 30” Royal Blue, 2016, Mixed media on canvas, 48” x 39” Hope Returns, 2015, Mixed media on canvas, 48” x 39”
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You won’t believe what people will tell you when you ask a sincere question. People can open up and surprise you.
Kolb says, “People either like my work or they don’t. It often appeals to people who have had difficulties, and they are aware of them. Those that love it do so because it touches something deeply within them.” The conversations she overhears at her shows inspire her because they are often humble and profound reflections about aspects of lives that may not otherwise find space to be discussed. Kolb mentions that life is full of dualities that we must deal with. She supplies an example from a podcast she listened to about French geophysicist Xavier Le Pichon who studied tectonic plates in the 1970s. She learned that “no matter how devastating an earthquake is, those shifts are necessary in order to keep the world going. The movement releases gases, nutrients, and water needed for the earth to survive. So when you have earthquakes like the one in Japan recently, they cause destruction and suffering, but at the same time, it must happen for us to live on this planet.” With all the troubles facing contemporary society, Marianne Kolb sometimes worries she should be contributing more time to public activism or philanthropic endeavors. However, she finds comfort knowing that her art offers an opportunity to encourage significant feelings of empathy. The paintings she makes channel truths she’s observed about human life around the world. Her work is a shelter from the storm, a place to ponder figures that mirror struggles, insecurities, and hopes that we might recognize with compassion in ourselves and others. Oakland-based Kolb is now represented in Nashville at Bennett Galleries. She looks at this opportunity as a way to maintain her
A Step Forward, 2016, Mixed media on board, 16” x16” 37 nashvillearts.com
career as a professional artist. “The art market is competitive to enter and can be discouraging when the sales don’t come in,” explains Kolb. She quickly reflects that the good moments are when someone calls and says they want to show your work. “Bill Bennett reached out to me about bringing my art to Nashville. I knew that because he loved my art, I could trust that he would be able to sell it.” While it’s important to her to continue working as a full-time artist, it is even more significant to keep financial concerns completely separate from the creative process for her to be able to produce work that she considers art. Making art is how she makes sense of the world, and therefore, she is protective of the work she allows to exit her studio. What comes out she considers true expressions of the concepts she’s learned about human life. That her own life and art are intertwined is clear as she says, “I paint to get up in the morning. My art is who I am and how I survive.” na Marianne Kolb’s paintings are available at Bennett Galleries. For more information about her and her work, visit www.mariannekolb.com and www.bennettgalleriesnashville.com. Thirst, 2016, Mixed media on board, 35” x 25”
Standing in Judgement, 2016, Mixed media on canvas, 48” x 39”
Island Girl, 2015, Mixed media on canvas, 48” x 39”
38th A nnuAl FAll
tEnnESSEE
CRAFT FAIR September 23–25 tennessee Craft hosted the state's first craft fair in 1972. this nashville tradition continues this fall when over 200 juried and award-winning artists from across the nation come together to showcase their work. Come celebrate and shop american handmade fine craft! Enjoy live demonstrations and hands-on kids activities. Community event with free admission and parking. Free shuttle service on Saturday & Sunday (wheelchair accessible)
Fri & Sat 10 am–6 pm • Sun 10 am–5 pm
CEntEnniaL parK
CompLEtE dEtaiLS onLinE at tenneSSeecrAft.org/fALLfAIr Artists left to right: Amber Anne Palo, Jeremy Keller, Stacey Krantz and Peg Martinez
SupportEd by:
Mirror, 2016, Oil, 39” x 24”
by Karen Parr-Moody
beauty& POWER Buddy Jackson
Amor Fati /Love Your Fate The Rymer Gallery
|
October 1–November 1
On October 1, The Rymer Gallery will turn over its entire gallery space Eve Shamed, 2006, Grout, 18” x 11” x 9”
to just one artist. Paintings, sculpture, and gum dichromate prints— art made with the expression of beauty in paint and emotion, art that seeks to make peace with sorrow and accepts femininity as both fragile and powerful—will fill the contemporary art gallery on 5th Avenue of the Arts. The artist is Buddy Jackson, the show is Amor Fati/Love Your Fate. He took some time out from his studio to talk about art, life, growing up, and his fascination with the female form.
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I do these works that I feel are beautiful representations of women, but I don’t think I fetishize them as a male. I try to find the beauty and the power, not just the sexuality. But that’s there, too; that’s part of what makes us all human.
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question is posed to artist Buddy Jackson: Do you have any regrets about pursuing fine art over commerce? He answers swiftly, breezily: “Regrets are stupid, I think. You know? There’s a tombstone on the past; there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.” How’s that for transparency? The question of regret applies intimately to Jackson because, years ago, he threw away, with both hands, a lucrative design firm he owned to pursue first sculpture and then more mediums, including painting and photography. “I’m much more fulfilled now,” he says. “I made good money in my design business. But money just is not enough for me. It’s just not.”
Art is in every room of the house—not just Jackson’s, but other works he loves, including outsider art by B.F. Perkins and Jimmy Lee Sudduth. In his own creations, Jackson is inspired by Auguste Rodin—naturally. Any sculptor who creates figurative work bows at the feet of this master whose female sculptures arch their backs in the throes of ecstasy or bind their bodies in a lover’s kiss. Rodin’s is not only the perfection of sculpture as an art form, but the perfection of the classical female figure. In his own sculpture, Jackson eschews perfection, for he also looks for inspiration from Gaston Lachaise, an early-20th-century
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Iris, 2016, Oil, 21" x 14"
With his wavy, silver hair—nearly as wild as was Beethoven’s— and a tattoo on his left arm that, in Latin, translates to “love your fate,” Jackson looks every inch a man who has chosen the proverbial road less traveled. Fittingly, he presides over a glorious, Miss Havisham-style house in Nashville, a fading beauty in which the historic wallpaper reaches out from the decades, demurely confessing its age in a tear here, a stain there. In the lushly overgrown back yard sits his art studio.
After the Rain, 2016, Gum dichromate, 19” x 15”
Hattie, 2016, Oil, 24" x 18"
Zephyr, 2016, Oil, 20" x 30"
heaving breasts and rounded bellies. His female archetype unabashedly proclaims her strength. Hers is not the fleetfooted vigor of a taut, virginal Diana armed with bow and arrow, but that of a fecund woman with feet planted firmly on the ground, the staunchness of her figure announcing that she is not made for the gods, but for mortals. And she is imbued with the earthly stamina to endure the sturm und drang that mortality entails.
“I do these works that I feel are beautiful representations of women, but I don’t think I fetishize them as a male,” Jackson says. “I try to find the beauty and the power, not just the sexuality. But that’s there, too; that’s part of what makes us all human.” He adds, “Women interest me—their moods, their power. Most of the female figures I do I feel are powerful. And then, also, there’s a sadness, I think, in women. It’s probably just from the way that they’ve been forced into a lesser
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The Cloud, 2001, Alabaster, 20” x 26” x 14”
Lachaise’s works, mostly in bronze, reveal nudes with uneven,
Woe, 2015, Mixed media, 6” x 4”
Humility, 2015, Mixed media, 6” x 4”
Lamentation, 2015, Mixed media, 6” x 4”
sculptor whose muse was the voluptuous Isabel Dutaud Nagle.
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Most of the female figures I do I feel are powerful. And then, also, there’s a sadness, I think, in women. It’s probably just from the way that they’ve been forced into a lesser role in society and in the world forever. And I connect to that.
role in society and in the world forever. And I connect to that.” It is in Jackson’s paintings that we see the melancholy of women emerge, their eyes downcast, their poses standoffish. Such honesty in depicting women comes from Jackson’s anthropological eye for analyzing the complexity of the sexes in society, a world in which women often are seen as “less than.”
Jackson’s deep-rooted sensitivity to the tumultuous dichotomy of the sexes began early, as a boy who preferred to play with girls for their “creativity.” And while his firsthand experience as a man gives him personal insight into the creation of sexism in boys, he’s as sensitive as to how girls are damaged by it. “We’re creating little girls for whom their biggest value in life is how they look,” he says. “And with little boys, their biggest value is how aggressive they are. And that ain’t how it is. That’s caveman crap.” Jackson’s body of work focuses largely on the female figure, whether it is made incarnate through sculpture, gum dichromate photo prints, or paintings. His women represent reality’s splendid array: There’s innocence found in a gangly, long-legged swimmer, fertility burgeoning in another figure’s rounded tummy, and sexuality discovered in yet another’s curvaceous thighs. Yet reality intervenes. On his coffee table is a series he sculpted of women wearing bikinis. They’re gorgeously comfortable in their skin, going so far as to distend their rounded bellies. “She’s so beautiful,” he says, holding one of the figures. “But not on society’s level. If she would have been on a cover of a magazine or on Facebook or Twitter, she would have gotten shamed. Shamed. Not just like ‘That ain’t my cup of tea,’ but like ‘There’s something wrong with you.’ I’ve worked with hundreds of models. I know what women look like. I know what they’re supposed to look like naturally. That’s not what we’re fed.”
Buddy Jackson
In addition to capturing reality, Jackson’s sculptures capture human movement, whether stately or languid or somewhere in between. With his gum dichromate photo prints, he captures an ethereal quality that adds another dimension to his work; the figures seem fleeting, romantic, and mysterious, much like those in the 20th-century photos of Edward Steichen, who used the same printing process. The hazy quality produced by this process simply channels such aesthetics. In Jackson’s depictions, reality is beautiful, as is imperfection, should one choose to accept it. Just like accepting—even loving—one’s fate, messiness and all. na Jackson’s exhibit Amor Fati/Love Your Fate will be on view at The Rymer Gallery October 1 – November 1. Nashville Arts Magazine’s Paul Polycarpou will lead an artist’s talk with Jackson on October 28 at 6 p.m. For more information about Buddy Jackson, visit www.therymergallery.com or contact Sara Lee Burd, www.artconsultantnashville.com.
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Photograph by Gina Binkley
“When you’re a six-year-old boy, the worst thing you could be called would be ‘sissy’,” he says. “So basically, little boys are taught by society—by school, by coaches, by their dads, by their moms, by everybody—that feminine traits are bad. But then we expect these little boys to grow up and respect women. How does that work?”
Historic Academy Celebrates Anniversary with Art Show |
September 15–25
Steve Henry, My Kind of City!, 2016, Watercolor, ink and acrylic, 15” x 10”
Montgomery Bell Academy
Montgomery Bell Academy, a college-preparatory school for boys in grades seven through twelve, will commemorate its renowned 150 years with the 2016 MBA Art Show. The fourth annual show will be held in the campus’s Davis Building, an art wing renovated in 2015 to serve as a state-of-the-art gallery. Organizers estimate that there will be 300 pieces on display from around 65 individuals, be they MBA alumni, those somehow connected to the academy, or other local and regional artists. “It’s a mix, but it’s a way for us to showcase our alumni talent, people associated with MBA in any way, and also local artists as well,” explains Angela Simeone-Rzasnicki, a show co-chair. The school lays claim to a deep roster of graduates accomplished in creative endeavors—including Grantland Rice, Madison Jones, and Samuel Pickering—and it will be drawing from that well to populate the show with members of graduating classes from every decade dating back to the 40s. “MBA is thrilled to hold this upcoming art show for our 150th year because we have asked a number of alumni to participate,” Headmaster Brad Gioia says. “Their art will reflect the depth and talent of artists at MBA throughout the past seven to eight decades.” Particularly notable alumni to exhibit will include photographer Hunter Armistead, sculptor Alan LeQuire, and painter Paul Harmon. “The arts, whether it’s music, or writing, or acting, or visual art, have always been a huge part of our community,” Simeone-Rzasnicki says. “That’s what’s so amazing about the school: It’s always supported these creative endeavors.” The 2016 Montgomery Bell Academy Art Show will be on display on the campus, 4001 Harding Pike, from September 15 to 25. An opening reception with free food and drink will be held on September 15 from 6 to 9 p.m. For more information, please visit www.montgomerybell.edu.
Here I Am
A Gentleman in Moscow
Love Warrior: A Memoir
Commonwealth
Jonathan Safran Foer
Amor Towles
Glennon Doyle Melton
Ann Patchett
Join us on September 15 at the Nashville Public Library for this Salon@615 literary event. Foer is the author of the novels Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (as well as the nonfiction Eating Animals), and his third novel centers around a Jewish family—mother, father, and three sons—in present-day Washington, D.C. Foer gets into deep territory again here, forcing us to consider moral issues and spiritual questions, but he does it while telling an utterly engaging story. You’ll be hooked.
Readers who recommended Rules of Civility to all their friends will be delighted to know there’s a new Amor Towles book to put on everyone’s must-read list. A Gentleman in Moscow tells the story of Count Alexander Rostov, who is sentenced in 1922 by a Bolshevik tribunal to live out the rest of his days in the Metropol, a fancy hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Meet Towles when he visits Parnassus on September 13.
Melton grew her audience on her popular “Momastery” site, which led to her first blog-to-book memoir, Carry On, Warrior, in 2013. In Love Warrior, she returns to autobiographical material, writing in conversational style and with bold candor about the realities of modern marriage and questions of commitment, fidelity, and intimacy. She’ll read to a Nashville audience on September 8 at the War Memorial Auditorium. Tickets on sale now.
It’s the new novel from Parnassus Books co-owner, PEN/Faulkner Award and Orange Prize-winning author Ann Patchett! Commonwealth follows writer Franny Keating from infancy to middle age, beginning at her christening party, where an uninvited guest named Bert Cousins kisses Franny’s mother, Beverly. When Bert and Beverly leave their marriages to wed each other, they create a blended family of siblings and step-siblings who grow up together, bonded by shared experience and a heartbreaking loss. Patchett will sign books and speak at Montgomery Bell Academy on September 12.
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A MONTHLY LOOK AT HOT BOOKS AND COOL READS
Dust Storm, Rajasthan, India, 1983
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Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl, Peshawar, Pakistan, 1984
The thing about photography that appealed to me is the spontaneity of capturing a serendipitous moment.
steveMcCURRY
by Bob Doerschuk
Legendary Photographer Brings Afghan Girl and Other Stunning Images to the Baldwin Gallery Middle Tennessee State University through October 30
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s it premature to equate Steve McCurry’s Afghan Girl to Leonardo’s La Gioconda/Mona Lisa? Not really. In each a female face returns our gaze directly, one with an enigmatic smile, the other with an expression that suggests trials no one of any age should endure. Both draw us back again and again, lured by mysteries we can never unravel.
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Fishermen at Weligama, Sri Lanka, 1995
They also testify to the power of the still image. In this regard, there is a key difference: In Leonardo’s time, artists had no kinetic option other than the ephemera of the stage. But McCurry’s world pulses with videos, television, movies. To accomplish what he has done in this milieu is astonishing on a whole other level.
On August 29 Middle Tennessee State University’s Baldwin Photographic Gallery unveiled a collection of McCurry’s photographs. An Indian holy man with spectacular saffron beard, Shaolin monks hanging casually upside down by their feet, camels treading through a Kuwaiti desert before a furious, fire-filled sky: Each picture commands attention by juxtaposing the universal and the exotic. “I’ve always yearned to see the world,” he explains. “Of course, I love where I live. I have an apartment next to Washington Square in New York, and I’ve walked across the street and photographed there many times. You can absolutely learn and have an adventure at home, whether it’s in New York or Tennessee or Burma. But I like to get outside my comfort zone to find someplace new, someplace visually rich.” Before beginning his ongoing association with National Geographic, before receiving many of the industry’s most prestigious awards, McCurry studied cinematography, filmmaking, and theatre arts at Penn State University. Why, then, does he pursue a more static visual art? “There are several reasons,” he answers. “You can stay with a still image. It’s frozen in time. With video, things move so
Rabari Tribal Elder, Rajasthan, India, 2010 50 nashvillearts.com
Blue Mosque, Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, 1991
fast that any particular moment is lost to the next moment. The other thing about photography that appealed to me is the spontaneity of capturing a serendipitous moment. And of course, photography was much more affordable, especially back then. There was no pre-production or postproduction. You didn’t have a sound element. With film, you had to plan everything out. With photography, you could just walk around and snap pictures.” Portrait Photographer, Afghanistan
Maybe Leonardo described his medium with similar selfeffacement as just a splashing of paint on panel. What’s beyond question is the impact of McCurry’s work. At first view, some of that can be attributed to his lustrous colors—the distant monks in brilliant red robes set against a vast earth-toned backdrop in Mandalay, for instance. Yet McCurry downplays this aspect of his work. “Color is not really that important to me,” he insists. “It’s just that the world is in color, so it’s more logical to shoot the world as it is. But color is much more difficult than black and white because it can give you too much information. If the color isn’t right, it can be kind of jarring. And sometimes you find yourself relying on the color to tell the story.”
Shaolin Monks Training, Zhengzhou, China, 2004
For all the miles he’s logged—four trips to Japan and three to Italy just in the first half of 2016—telling that story, simple and profound, is his real mission. “Whether you’re in Ethiopia or Hungary or Italy or wherever, there’s this common thread of human activity. We do basically the same stuff although we have different religions, different languages, different ways of dressing. We all want to be respected. We all want love. I’m struck by that, and in fact that’s what I look for all the time.” na Steve McCurry’s photography is on exhibit at Middle Tennessee State University’s Baldwin Photographic Gallery through October 30. For more information, please visit www.baldwinphotogallery.com and www.stevemccurry.com.
All images © Steve McCurry Afghan Women at Shoe Store, Kabul, Afghanistan, 1992
lloydBRANSON
by John A. Anderson
A Life in Tennessee Art, 1853–1925 Tennessee State Museum through January 8, 2017
Gathering of Overmountain Men, 1915, Oil on Canvas, 28” x 40”
G
rowing up during a time of historic hostilities, the artist Lloyd Branson surely dreamed of more peaceful times. The Civil War was the backdrop for the boy from Union County but not the vision he believed would become his future. By his early age of twelve, the war had ended and he began experiencing the drama and images of an emerging post-war society. The skirmishes and chaos surrounding his family’s farm were entrenched in his memory, even though the tranquil scenes of nature would eventually return and become the future subject of many of his paintings. Lloyd Branson’s hopeful prospects of becoming one of Tennessee’s great artists grew, and by the age of 16, he was considered to be a child prodigy by a well-known Knoxville physician, Dr. John Boyd. The respected doctor was instrumental in bringing the boy artist to Knoxville where he would receive advanced training from
prominent artists of the time and further his education at East Tennessee University (The University of Tennessee). Lloyd was a prolific portrait artist who was commissioned by many politicians and local society members who admired his ability to capture the dignity of his subjects. By the age of 17, his earliest portraits were in great demand, and along with a group of patrons, these became the financial means by which he would enroll in the New York Academy of Design in 1873. Awards and recognition soon followed. Branson won a first-prize silver medal at the academy in 1873, and throughout the coming decades the accolades would continue. Women at Work, painted in 1891 in Knoxville, was one of his more celebrated and exhibited works. Shortly after it was completed, the painting traveled to New York and was exhibited at the National Academy of Design along with other admired compositions.
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The Nude, 1911, Oil on Canvas, 20” x 30”
Women at Work, 1891, Oil on Canvas, 29” x 45”
“
The discovery of a few dozen paintings led to the gathering of well over one-hundred paintings and historical images of the artist’s life. A Southern Aristocrat, 1896, Oil on canvas, 27” x 23”
The discovery of a few dozen paintings led to the gathering of well over one-hundred paintings and historical images of the artist’s life. The Branson Art Organization was formed and closely held to open a public exchange of information about his life and work as a prominent Tennessee artist. A coordinated effort resulted in The Art of Lloyd Branson – A Family Connection (John Anderson and Sally Branson), a book that would amplify the importance and interest of the artist to others. The Branson Art Organization was instrumental in helping create the first major retrospective of Lloyd Branson’s life, works of art, and his legacy. The exhibition debuted at the East Tennessee History Museum last year under the direction of Senior Curator Adam Alfrey. It ultimately traveled to the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville where it is currently on exhibit until January of 2017.
Beckoning Storm, 1906, Oil on board, 8” x 12”
Lloyd Branson was a hard-working and highly productive artist. In fact, it is believed that his paintings number close to a thousand. One fellow artist who attended the New York Academy of Design said of Lloyd Branson, “He was an American artist who was consumed with an ambition to be famous, and on the altar of art lays everything— even life itself.” One thing is sure. Lloyd Branson loved art because he enjoyed the work above all other occupations. Jean de La Fontaine, a poet and fabulist, said: “By the work, one knows the workman.” This best describes Lloyd Branson, the artist. na Celebrating a Life in Tennessee Art: Lloyd Branson, 1853–1925 is on view at the Tennessee State Museum through January 8, 2017. For more visit www.tnmuseum.org. Hauling of Marble, 1910, Oil on canvas, 37” x 55“
Other highly recognized works followed. Gathering of Overmountain Men, a revolutionary war painting which took seventeen years tocomplete, has gained wide national circulation in print. Hauling Marble, a remarkable painting that depicts a struggling team of horses and a group of dedicated men laboring to transport a huge marble stone by wagon, has also received a wide measure of honors. Along with his fame as an artist, little was written about the range of Lloyd Branson’s gifts and proficiencies as an artful historian, mentor, businessman, and raconteur, yet all of these qualities were part of his makeup. Decades after Lloyd’s death in 1925, a connection would finally be made when a local artist in East Tennessee curiously asked Dr. Aubra Branson if he was related to the artist. That one moment in time began years of genealogical research to discover a relationship between the artist and Dr. Branson. My involvement came about when, as Dr. Branson’s son-in-law, I was asked to pursue more research on the artist and his contributions to the art world.
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Lloyd Branson at easel, 1925
Please join us at a private residence in Forest Hills...
10th visiting
artist series event featuring JAMES McARTHUR COLE FINE ART • LUXURY • INTERNATIONAL • PHOTOGRAPHY
saturday
10.1.16 6-9 p.m. Required RSVP FOR LOCATION SPECIFICS & TO BE ADDED TO GUEST LIST* 615.463.3333
benefiting The Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration featured sponsor Maserati of Nashville
T
he Lipman Group is proud to come together with the local community to raise money for such an exceptional event. Featuring live jazz music, a gallery of art by James McArthur Cole, and a silent auction of wine from Sotheby’s Wine, jewelry, and art from our past nine Visiting Artist Series events, all accompanied by heavy hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.
* We kindly require your RSVP to receive location specifics & be added to our guest list. 615.463.3333 or RSVP@thelipmangroup.com
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Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated.
Vase with daffodil design, ca. 1903
Vase with moon and pine landscape design, ca. 1925
Vase with daffodil design, 1897
Bowl with tiered, abstract leaf design, ca. 1925–26
Pottery studio, Newcomb College Pottery Building, Washington Avenue Campus, New Orleans, ca. 1905. University Scrapbook, University Archives, Tulane University. The pottery studio was where Joseph Meyer (right) turned, glazed, and fired the pottery.
Tyg with pine forest design, ca. 1902
Vase with quince design, ca. 1917
Vase with abstract pitcher plant design, ca. 1931
Cachepot with stylized leaf design, ca. 1931
by Sally Main
Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise Frist Center through November 6
T
he Newcomb Pottery enterprise, in operation from 1895 to 1940, was conceived as an artistic, social, and educational experiment that would provide the women of New Orleans a better life by developing innate skills for which they would receive financial compensation. The goal was to prepare white Southern women of “good social position” for work without “loss of dignity.” The aesthetics and philosophies of the British Arts and Crafts movement, introduced to the United States at the Philadelphia 1876 Centennial Exposition, served as a foundation on which to further these aims and to create Newcomb’s distinctive pottery and crafts. The handmade, utilitarian objects, whose decorative inspiration came from the Deep South’s natural environs, remain unique. During its forty-five years of existence, the Pottery produced approximately 100,000 pieces and provided full- or part-time employment to approximately ninety-five women whose accomplishments are evident in the items they made. Early designs on the Newcomb pottery were influenced by a number of sources such as British crafts societies, design manuals, and selected textbooks and were executed in an array of colored underglazes—blue, green, yellow, and black. By 1900, the art faculty and students settled upon cobalt blue and chromium green oxide washes because the minerals used as colorant were stable and therefore more reliable during a kiln firing. In addition, the program’s co-director Mary Given Sheerer wanted to create an identity for the enterprise, finding a common voice for the many artists. Sheerer also founded the Newcomb ceramics program as part of the already conceived “model industry,” standing apart from other potteries not only because women designed the work but also because they would be formally trained in the applied arts at a Southern college where the items made were informed with Southern motifs using local supplies. Their synergistic talent was first recognized with a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris. Lamp shade with magnolia design, ca. 1902. Hand-cut and embossed brass sheeting with copper rivets and screen
Platter, ca. 1942–48 Plate with Southern Coast violet design, ca. 1896
Success brought growth and opportunity. New crafts programs were added to the curriculum between 1901 and 1913—art needlework, metalsmithing, jewelry design, and bookbinding. With Gertrude Roberts Smith as professor, the needlework classes united the traditional woman’s skill of sewing and the enterprise’s signature naturalistic motifs. It was second only to pottery in sales. Designs of the pottery remained unchanged until 1910 when the Newcomb Art School hired Paul E. Cox, the first academically trained ceramist. His impact was immediate, and his translucent matte glaze was used from 1911 until the Pottery’s closing in 1940. The familiar conventionalized motifs gave way to naturalistic renderings. Popular literature of the late nineteenth century painted the South as an imaginary land of sultry, moonlit nights under a spreading oak draped in moss. The public’s attraction to Newcomb’s “moon and moss” design necessitated a repetition on a similar theme. It began to wear on the decorators, but the motif remained in the Pottery’s Sales Room until the end.
Chocolate pot with pine landscape design, ca. 1909
In its final decade, the College began questioning whether the “model industry” belonged in an art curriculum. After the closing, three art instructors—Kenneth Smith, Francis Ford, and Sadie Irvine—formed an association they called the Newcomb Guild. Still aligned with the Pottery’s aesthetics, the ceramic glazes were named for colors familiar to the Gulf South, such as Lichenware for the algae that grows on wet bricks and Monksware for the bluish-brown robes worn by the religious of Catholic New Orleans. Newcomb’s crafts program had endured a world war, the Great Depression, and the loss of vital personnel to retirement or death, but other changes could not be accommodated. The elements that had brought the enterprise together—the New South, women’s suffrage, the Arts and Crafts movement—belonged to a distant time. Yet whatever their circumstance, the female faculty and students of the Newcomb Art School formed a cohort of women who gained the respect of the local, national, and international community, leaving a lasting mark in American art history. The exhibition illustrates this abiding legacy. na Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb Pottery Enterprise is on exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts through November 6. For more information, please visit www.fristcenter.org.
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INKA ESSENHIGH BETWEEN WORLDS May 27—October 9, 2016
Inka Essenhigh’s phantasmagorical scenes depict the threshold between intuition and spirituality with hallucinogenic intensity. The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is supported in part by
919 Broadway Downtown Nashville fristcenter.org
Inka Essenhigh. Green Goddess II, 2009. Oil on canvas, 72 1/8 x 60 in. Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro, London. © Inka Essenhigh
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.
A
s you read this, Ashley Doggett is wrestling with history. In linotype and woodblock prints, in pen-and-ink sketches, in oils and in thread and etched into copper plates, Doggett pursues the past. In centering the experiences of people of color, Doggett pays homage to America’s tragic legacy of white supremacy and the trauma that is often revised by dominant historical narratives. At the same time, she strides beside this history, as if daring it to repeat itself. Doggett’s work is equal parts gracious and irreverent; her practice is clearly rooted in lessons from the old artistic masters while she borrows from caricature, pop culture, and contemporary artists. The result is never predictable. A senior at Watkins College of Art, Design and Film, Doggett is one to watch. Please describe your work. For the most part, I draw from the world around me and how I experience it as a person of color, especially the past. I use the past as the fundamental foundation for my practice solely for the fact that it defines a lot of us as individuals; our past is what we work from to carve out the future. With that said, my work delivers the commingling of the past, present, and future while using the human body as an allegorical metaphor.
The Retraction of a Superior Gaze, 2016, Mixed media on paper, 24” x 28”
I saw a painting you posted on Instagram of a young black person in white face, wearing a confederate flag. The whiteface comes up quite a bit in your work, as it does in Margaret Bowland’s, who is white. What drives you to this imagery? My new work featuring whiteface stems from a series I’m actively working on called A History, which speaks on the erasure of trauma that black people have faced since slavery, especially that of black women who were used as commodities via chattel slavery. Whiteface being used in this context stands as a metaphoric symbol of the
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Is This All, 2016, Thread and found lace on cardstock, 12” x 9”
Nanny Is Tired, 2016, Thread and found lace on cardstock, 12” x 9”
I Have Never Felt More Alone, 2016, Thread and found lace on cardstock, 12” x 9”
Ashley Doggett Advances Historical Discourse through Contemporary Art
“
For the most part, I draw from the world around me and how I experience it as a person of color, especially the past.
stamp of white oppression on black female bodies, the dehumanization of the figure to be a shadow of itself. Margaret Bowland’s usage of whiteface comes from her stance as an ally in the fight against institutional racism; her model used in those paintings is a black child who will too have to face these same conversations, and yet Bowland’s conversation is quite steeped in white beauty standards and how they’re imposed on black women. Some artists hash out ideas in a sketchbook, while others use social media. You seem to do both. Social media has become a new platform for me to use when it comes to sharing my inspirations and ideas, as I’m able to readily reach an international audience and hear in real time what others are seeing and thinking about my work, something one can’t do by holding a leather-bound sketchbook that only a few locally can see. My work has a foundation in my sketchbooks as well. It’s where I can hash out ideas and converge imagery, subtext, and artists I’m in conversation with.
I know that you identify strongly with the Movement for Black Lives. What does black liberation look like to you? Black liberation looks like my people no longer being murdered simply because we do not wish to adhere to the racially perverse preoccupations of white America. We no longer work in “massa’s fields,” and we will never again appease white America by subscribing to these roles. We will walk down the street with a sense of stronger internal community and be honored with an equal, if not higher, playing field given the tragic history we’ve had to endure for the sake of white America’s dominance. Then we’ll see pervasive freedom. na Doggett’s work will appear in Keep It Warm, a group show at Zeitgeist, September 3–24. Find out more on page 80 and at www.ashleydoggett.tumblr.com and www.zeitgeist-art.com.
Talk to me about the use of derogatory words like “nigger” and “pickaninny” in your work. They are often alongside figures depicted in the blackface style of minstrel shows. What do you hope to communicate to your viewer? I use these forms of iconography simply because I’m reclaiming them. I feel that given the history of my people, it is my right to strip them out of the hands of the oppressor and recontextualize them. They still at times serve their base purpose as well, but the minstrel figure is also one that I’ve given a new identity to as a black artist; like Kara Walker, my reclaiming of these icons has made people reconsider their relationships to them and forces them to engage in a history that people think isn’t still continuing to this day. All in all, it’s an act of protest.
Ashley Doggett
Photograph by Meghan Daughdrill
A History: In a Gleam of a Brilliant Twilight, 2016, Oil on canvas, 23” x 18”
On one page of your sketchbook, it says, “I study the works of the old masters to heighten my own ‘integrity.’” What is the relationship between the “old (white male) masters” and you as a contemporary, black, transfeminine artist? I admire the old masters. They spent hours on end painting masterpieces with skills that I’m working to obtain myself. I enjoy the work especially of Ingres, an artist I look to constantly, but at the same time I am still incredibly ambivalent about the proliferation of a white male canon in art history. It’s one that needs to be abolished, if not rewritten, to include the voices of more people-of-color artists. My integrity as an artist also has been measured by these standards, which at times can be disheartening. I refuse to follow the canon and yet I still borrow from it to make a statement on its lack of people-of-color voices.
Bringing Out the Best for ArtNashville
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Changing public perception can require a big statement. This month, such a statement can be found at Haynes Galleries as it hosts a diverse array of the city’s most acclaimed visual artists for its latest exhibition, ArtNashville.
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While Haynes Galleries is known as a haven of American Realism, to truly include the best that the area has to offer it has expanded its normal scope. ArtNashville aims to be a greatest-hits exhibition, no holds barred. Among an expansive collection there are vibrant, cartoonish works by Red Grooms and Paul Harmon, non-representational art by Abstract Expressionist Anton Weiss, and dramatically affecting photographs by Jerry Atnip, along with the more traditional work of Frontier Realist David Wright, Landscape Impressionist Wanda Choate, and portraitist Michael Shane Neal. By bringing such an eclectic set of luminaries under one roof, Haynes hopes to make an undeniable claim for Nashville as an epicenter for premium visual art, encouraging local sales and a revised national reputation. “We want to make it so that when you’re talking about experiencing Nashville, you’re talking about great music, great food, and great art,” he explains. “That’s the top-of-mind awareness that we would like to have in Nashville as a destination. That’s the ultimate goal, so this is just a meagre start.” ArtNashville is on view at the Haynes Galleries, 600 Division Street, Suite 140, until October 1. For more information, visit www.haynesgalleries.com.
AN ORIGINAL STORY BY LAURIE BROOKS
SEPTEMBER 15 - OCTOBER 2 On sale now! 615-252-4675 / www.NashvilleCT.org
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and 185 More!
Retired mechanic and musician Joe Cole exemplified the resilience of African Americans in the Mississippi Delta
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Music is my passion—it’s how I engage with and understand the world. I live my life to a constant soundtrack, and every creative act I ever do is with music in mind. 66 nashvillearts.com
billSTEBER
by Anne Brown, The Arts Company
Chasing Time and Ghosts The Arts Company
|
September 3–22
B
ill Steber is a photographer who has become captivated by the distinctive culture in the Deep South of the Mississippi Delta—documenting the birth of the blues through his photography and music, featuring the musicians whose music made Highway 61 the source of the culture that produced the blues. Through these images, you immediately recognize the significance of what you are seeing. It is not the norm, not often seen in galleries. This exhibit combines photography, music, and selected artifacts from specific people and places that produced the blues. The Mississippi Delta is an intimate culture. Bill’s photographs offer an insightful look into the sources of the blues musicians: how they work, how they perform, and how they live, work, drink; their Sunday church and outdoor baptisms, their juke-joint nights, and much more. The reality of this environment is gritty. Yet Bill brings out through his lens the elegance, dignity, and grandeur of this legendary region of creativity and artistry. After 20 years of going back and forth between Nashville and the Delta, Bill has made his own artistic transfer into his photographs and his live musical performances. Willie Foster was born in the field on a 9-foot cotton sack when his mother went into labor while picking cotton. She was forced to work although 9 months pregnant
AB: How did this photographic project happen/come about? BS: When people start something that ultimately changes their life, it’s often not their intention in the beginning. What starts out as exploration, curiosity, and fun, whether playing an instrument, going on a first date, or making a few photographs, sometimes becomes an accidental stumble into one’s life’s work. That’s how it started for me in August of 1992. I was on assignment for The Tennessean to photograph the recently completed Natchez Trace Parkway. Returning to Nashville from Natchez, I kidnapped the writer and my friend Joe Rogers, convincing him to go back through the Delta via fabled Highway 61. It was my first trip through the Mississippi Delta, and we stopped at the home of folk artist and blues man Son Thomas in Leland, Mississippi.
His son Pat met us at the door of his shotgun shack and led us into the front room with a full-sized casket containing a sculptured dead woman. A clay skull with aluminum-foil eye sockets and real human teeth grinned back at us from a shelf. (Thomas’s folk art
B.B. King is seen here performing at the club Ebony, an Indianola club he played his entire career and where he met his second wife 67 nashvillearts.com
Master fife player Otha Turner, in his mid 90s, heads the last African fife and drum band in America
reflected his work as a grave digger.) In the back room we met Son, sitting on the bed holding aloft a lit but unsmoked cigarette with an arching two-inch ash. He had recently gotten out of the hospital after being treated for a brain tumor. Son played some songs for us, and I sat in with him on harmonica.
This is the day that changed the trajectory of my life. I vowed to come back and visit as soon as I could. But the following spring when I returned, Thomas was back in the hospital, and by June of 1993 he had died. This lit a fire of urgency to come back as often as I could and document everything and everybody before it was gone or changed completely. I’m still chasing time and ghosts to this day.
AB: What was the initial moment that engaged you as a photographer? BS: My father was a serious amateur photographer, and my grandfather Bob Steber shot his own photos for his hunting and fishing column in The Tennessean, so I was
always around cameras. My dad first put an Instamatic camera in my hand for a fourth-grade field trip. Later I shot photos for the high school newspaper and yearbook.
But I never thought I would pursue photography as a career and an art form until I took my first basic photography class in college. I was introduced to the work of Garry Wiogrand, Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, and dozens of others, and it awakened a latent creativity in me that I never knew I possessed. I had found my means of expression and my life’s work. Thirty years later I still get excited about photography. I think in another thirty I might actually figure it out.
AB: How did you build the trust with this community to capture their intimate lives? BS: I wish I could take credit and say that I possess a unique ability to insinuate myself into the lives of complete strangers anywhere I go, and to an extent that is a necessary skill in documentary photography. But the real truth of it
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Gospel harmonica virtuoso Roma Wilson was born in Hickory Flat, Mississippi, in 1910
AB: As a musician, how did you get involved with the photographs and the music, personally? BS: Music is my passion—it’s how I engage with and understand the world. I live my life to a constant soundtrack, and every creative act I ever do is with music in mind.
When I’m photographing musicians, or a landscape associated with a type of music, I always try to visually depict what the music feels like as I listen to it—tonally, texturally, emotionally. This applies to non-musical subjects as well. Everything in the world has its musical soundtrack.
Conversely, when I’m performing music, I think in terms of visual storytelling. What images does the music conjure? I don’t know the place where the music in my head ends and the photographs begin. It’s all the same to me. na
Bill Steber: Southern Blues Photography & Music opens during the First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown at The Arts Company on September 3 at 6 p.m., and continues through September 22. There will be a special preview and art talk with Steber and Nashville Arts Magazine’s Paul Polycarpou on September 2 at 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.theartscompany.com and www.steberphoto.com.
Jack Owens was also a recipient of a National Heritage fellowship award given by the federal government for his work in keeping folk traditions alive
is that the people I’ve met in Mississippi over the past 24 years are some of the kindest, most open people in the world, and they welcomed me into their lives when they didn’t have any reason to at all. I think people in general are generous with their time if you show a sincere interest in them and their story and are respectful and patient. But I’ve found the people of Mississippi—a population widely regarded as the poorest, least educated, most impoverished in the country—to be some of the warmest, richest in spirit, and generous of heart of any group of people I’ve met anywhere in the world.
Rosetta Patton Brown
Rev. John Wilkins, Hunters Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Como, Mississippi
Fresh Paint
Daniella, 2016, Mixed media on canvas, 60” x 48”
New Work from Marleen De Waele-De Bock
F
or months I have been painting flowers (daisies) for my show at the LeQuire Gallery in Nashville. That body of work was very cohesive, large paintings with geometric lines and abstract texture fields. That period was very intense; my mind was occupied by daisies; there were daisies everywhere I looked. I felt the need for a change, the need for new inspiration.
Luckily finding new inspiration has never been a problem for me. As I tell my students at the O’More College of Design, one has to observe the things and events in daily life and use those as a source of inspiration for their creations. I have always had a keen interest in fashion and design, and it is no wonder that one day this theme would appear in my paintings.
70 nashvillearts.com
Two months ago I was glancing through a fashion magazine and was fascinated by the models, how they are photographed in a virtual world created by the photographer. These models were taken out of their own reality and for a moment put in an environment which is not part of their real life. That thought triggered the idea to use these models and replace them in another setting, my imaginative world. I cut the faces out of the only-a-few-inches photos and enlarge them into oversized copies in dramatic light blackand-white tones. They are now taken out of the environment they were put in. I glue the large faces on canvas and start color painting over them. The light-grey background is ideal for the skin tones. It is sort of a ritual, transforming them completely into the expressions I want to see in my paintings. The surroundings are mostly elements from nature with many flowers, all created out of my imagination. I am guided by the feelings I have at the moment I am painting. Each face brings another color palette into life. Each expression dictates another composition. The result is mysterious; the faces do not laugh but are expressing a rather melancholic mood. The nature settings are not new to me, as I have been painting imaginary landscapes for years. Sometimes they are leaning towards abstract, sometimes more impressionistic. In this
Elena, 2016, Mixed media on canvas, 60” x 36”
regard my new work is a transition from previous work. The technique I am using has become my own, developed through many years of practice. I apply layers of paint, scratch away parts, paint another different color layer over it, and so on. Brush strokes are used as a music instrument to convey emotion and rhythm. There are no straight lines; all is created with curved lines resulting in an organic unity. The face is the focal point of the painting; that’s what attracts the viewer’s attention first. The flowers and nature elements fill the painting and are thus as important in completing the composition of the image. Each painting is named after a fictive girl, starting with the letter A, following the alphabet. By using these fictitious names, I emphasize the absence of any personal connection between the faces and myself. At this point I have no idea yet where or when this new series of paintings will be exhibited. —Marleen De Waele-De Bock Marleen De Waele-De Bock is represented by the LeQuire Gallery in Nashville. Her own BelArt Studio/Gallery at #56 in the Arcade in Nashville is open during the First Saturday Downtown Art Crawl. Follow her on Instagram: Marleen DeBock. On FB: BelArt/Marleen De Waele-De Bock.
Berlinda, 2016, Mixed media on canvas, 60” x 36” 71 nashvillearts.com
Charlotte, 2016, Mixed media on canvas, 48” x 26”
Entity Choice for Musicians
2 016 -17
SEASON
Nashville has so much to offer, musically, across all genres. The city and its visitors directly support music, one of its most thriving industries. Nashville is filled with amazingly talented musicians, and for those musicians that are pursuing music as a career, there are many business decisions to make in addition to the creative choices. Musicians may decide to put together a team to help with business decisions and vision execution along the way. They may choose an attorney, a manager, a business manager, a booking agent, a record label, a publisher, and so forth. Once significant income is generated or there are contracts in place projecting out what expected earnings will be, musicians may need to run their income and expenses through more than a sole proprietorship or social security number. They will have to assess what type of artist they are— solo performer, a group with equal owners, or a group with one or multiple owners with the other band members as hired musicians. They will have to decide if they are going to run business activity through a Sole Proprietorship, a Partnership, a Corporation, or an LLC. A sole proprietorship is the default entity when there is one owner, and the owner has all the risks as well as all the benefits. As a sole proprietor, the individual is personally liable and is taxed at the individual level.
September 9-18, 2016
October 18-23, 2016
January 24-29, 2017
February 14-19, 2017
March 21-26, 2017
A partnership is the default entity when there are multiple owners. Owners share the risks and benefits equally unless there is an arrangement otherwise. Like a sole proprietorship, a partnership’s owners are personally liable and are taxed at the individual level. Touring artists may want to look into setting up a separate entity for touring/merchandise specifically, with the most common entities being S Corps or LLCs. LLCs are partnerships with benefits of limited liability like a corporation. S Corps offer a single level of taxation, and shareholders are taxed at the personal level like a partnership. Both an S Corp and an LLC provide more protection for the owners and shield other non-touring activity from any liability brought on from touring. Most important, musicians should educate themselves on the different entity options and discuss with their team before making decisions so they find the best fit for their scenario.
April 25-30, 2017 Photo by Joan Marcus
ARTS&BUSINESSCOUNCIL
BY STEPHANIE SELF
May 23-28, 2017
PLUS 2
June 27—July 2, 2017
BROADWAY SPECIALS:
November 15-20, 2016
April 21-23, 2017
TPAC.ORG/Broadway Stephanie Self Farris, Self & Moore, LLC www.fsmnash.com/stephanie-self Farris, Self & Moore, LLC (FSM) aims to make a positive, impactful difference in the life of the upper echelon songwriter, national and international touring artists and producers. The boutique firm was formed in 2015 and specializes in business management, financial planning, accounting and human resources.
TPAC Box Office • Groups of 10 or more call 615-782-4060 Broadway Series sponsored by
Event, date, time, guest artist, and repertoire are subject to change. Some shows contain mature content. TPAC.org is the official online source for buying tickets to TPAC events.
Celebrate Our 25th Anniversary September 29
A L L
T H E
B E S T
I N
F I N E
J E W E L RY
5101 Harding Road Nashville, Tennessee 37205 615.353.1823 cindiearl.com
Mistletoe Magic Open House York & Friends Fine Art Gallery
|
October 2
Lisa McReynolds, Solitary Chair, Acrylic on canvas, 30” x 15”
For an afternoon of art, music, wine, and giving, plan to attend York & Friends’ open house on October 2. Lisa McReynolds is the featured artist for the event, but the gallery’s entire stable of artists will exhibit. Not only will all artwork be offered at 20% off, but a portion of sales will be donated to STARS, a nonprofit organization that supports young people through the social and emotional barriers they face. Dubbed Mistletoe Magic, the open house also celebrates the release of York’s Christmas album, Mistletoe Memories, as well as his fourth album, Journey. According to York, making a Christmas album seemed natural because he spent twelve years listening to Christmas music all day, nearly every day. “In 1979, my mother, Joyce, and I wanted to open a store, and with our love of all things Christmas, we decided to open Nashville's first year-round Christmas store, Mistletoe Shop. We filled the maze of rooms with everything imaginable for Christmas from places all over the world, and we played Christmas music throughout the year.” Six years into sharing the business, York's mother lost her battle with cancer. Ron continued the store, with help from his father, but it was never the same. Eventually he shifted his focus to interior design, which ultimately led him to open his first gallery. Mistletoe Magic, an Afternoon of Art, Music & Wine is slated for Sunday, October 2, from 12 until 4 p.m. at York & Friends Fine Art in Belle Meade. For more information, visit www.yorkandfriends.com and www.starsnashville.org.
GOODLETTSVILLE CITY HALL, 105 S. MAIN ST.
SAT., SEPTEMBER 10 10:00AM - 4:00PM
Join us for a full day of non-stop action and fun for all ages as we celebrate all that is Good in Goodlettsville.
PROUD SPONSORS
Featuring Timeless Artisan Creations for Every Room! OF RIVERGATE
Goodlettsville Church of Christ
John Shelby Insurance • Simmons Bank
GASLAMP ANTIQUES & GASLAMP TOO
100 Powell Pl Suite 200 & 128 Powell Pl, 37204 : GasLampAntiques.com Open M-Sat 10-6 & Sun 12-6 : 615-297-2224 / 615-292-2250 Fall Fiesta! Saturday, September 10th, 10-6, BOTH Stores! Seasonal Sales & Refreshments.
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
LISA MCREYNOLDS
10TH ANNUAL
Songs Heart
FROM THE
An Evening of Art and Music Benefitting the Caring Hearts Fund
Concert with Chris & Jan Harris and Jim Weber and Silent Art Auction
FRIDAY
September 9, 2016 7:00 P.M.
The Barn at Loveless, Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 24”
MISTLETOE MAGIC A prelude to the holidays with art, music and wine Sunday, October 2 • 12-4 Celebrate the magic of the holidays with the release of Ron York's CD musical collections:
Mistletoe Memories and Journey
20% off all artwork during the 4-hour event 107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net www.yorkandfriends.com Follow us on
at York & Friends Fine Art
Student Life Center Ballroom Vanderbilt University An evening of original songs and a silent art auction to raise funds for cancer patients in financial need during treatment at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
Tickets: $35.00 per person at vicc.org/songs-heart (includes admission, light dessert buffet, and parking)
�arin� �eart�
White Elephant Diptych, 2016, Oil, ink, and spray paint on linen, 74” x 120”
danaOLDFATHER
by Cat Acree
Sugar, A New Abstract Series Debuts at The Red Arrow Gallery September 10–October 2
F
or self-taught oil painter Dana Oldfather, the success of an artwork begins with contrast. “When the work is strong and the volume is high, that means contrast is working.” Oldfather is speaking via phone from her home in Cleveland, Ohio. Her latest collection of paintings, Sugar, will be on display at The Red Arrow Gallery during September. These candy-colored works are softer and squishier than any previous work by the artist. They’re like graffiti made with ice cream or smooshed cotton candy that somehow learned to fly. “Things are hovering, floating,” Oldfather says. “There’s never really a horizon line. You’re not sure if things are high or if they’re in a puddle on the ground.”
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There is always joy and there is always tension in my work. I don’t think of them as two separate things. It’s one complete thought.
These imaginary objects (or perhaps creatures, or maybe environments) are birthed from contrast, like a chemical reaction between anxieties and joy. Some of the works can radiate feelings of dread and other insecurities, and at the same time, they can be mouthwatering and appealing. They float and tremble, or melt and ooze. “There is always joy and there is always tension in my work,” Oldfather says. “I don’t think of them as two separate things. It’s one complete thought. Like the act of washing a dirty window: there would be no reason to clean it if it weren’t covered in soot and grime. For some reason, though, when we think about the act of cleaning a window, or vacuuming a floor, we focus on the tidying part (or the joy), but the act wouldn’t exist if not for the mess.” Oldfather is the daughter of a professional painter, so art has always been a part of her life. Family dinners were conversations about contemporary art and art history. She was painting with oils by the age of five, but only began to devote herself to the medium in her twenties.
Bootie, 2015, Oil, acrylic and pigment on linen, 24” x 20”
Bra 2, 2015, Oil, ink and spray paint on linen, 34” x 42”
“I didn’t have instruction from anyone, so I failed,” she says with a laugh. “I failed pretty miserably.” It was only when she began to remove all figures from her paintings that she felt it was working, a process that took more than ten years.
“I wanted to be less literal about the emotion that I was conveying with paint,” she explains. “I really wanted to get more at the meat of what human emotion is, and I found that, for me, that was abstraction.” The layering process of her abstract paintings begins on linen, includes a few Helen Frankenthaler-inspired layers of ink bleed, followed by spray paint, homemade polymer pours, and then several layers of thin, solvent-heavy oil paint that is applied with oversize brushes. To create the giant, lumbering mass of the White Elephant diptych, Oldfather used two eight-inch brushes side by side. She describes this work as “tearing ass through a grassy field, or whatever anybody wants it to be running through. But it’s definitely running.”
Think of the last time you heard someone tell a baby, “Oh you’re so cute, I could just gobble you right up.” The tender horror of that statement is fitting for Oldfather’s show. na Dana Oldfather’s exhibit, Sugar, opens at The Red Arrow Gallery with an artist’s reception on September 10 in conjunction with the East Side Art Stumble and runs through October 2. For more information, visit www.theredarrowgallery.com and www.danaoldfather.com.
Oldfather currently lives in Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband and two-year-old son. It was the role of motherhood that “blew the doors wide open” for this current body of work. She speaks frankly about her role as caretaker and how it fits into the life of an artist. “I feel like, as a mother, you are assimilated into some other life,” she says. “You don’t have an identity anymore but to be the outlining edge to someone else’s life. And that’s really hard for me. It was a shock, how much one gives up for a family, and I bounced off that and started making this really urgent, desperate, meaty, visceral work.” In some ways, this need to create is simply another type of motherhood. Oldfather is exerting her power as a creator, and like many artists, she describes her paintings as though they were her children. She describes them as protecting themselves or supporting themselves; they have autonomy.
Peppermint Thighs, 2016, Oil, ink, and spray paint on linen, 60” x 60”
Dana Oldfather
Photograph by Suzanne Price
“You put all this time and thought and preparation into making these little bodies,” Oldfather says, “and I reflect on how bizarre [it was] raising an infant. I’m shocked that any of us make it to adulthood, because children are so fragile.”
Cleft, 2016, Oil, ink, acrylic, and pigment on linen, 48” x 36”
ARRATT GALLERY AT VANDERBILT
Thread Count: Prints on Cloth
Hobnobbing in High Society with the Nashville Symphony’s Parties of Note
Photograph courtesy of Nashville Symphony
JEFF MURPHY
September 7 - October 7, 2016
On Sunday, July 24, around fifty of Nashville’s most dedicated classical music fans gathered together for a festive, convivial occasion in a beautiful early-20th-century home in the trendy Hillsboro neighborhood. There they heard a concert of chamber music performed by members of the city’s symphony orchestra as part of the Nashville Symphony’s series Parties of Note in which classical chamber music is presented in a casual atmosphere in some of the city’s most beautiful houses. Beginning in the late afternoon, after about an hour of festivities which included great conversation, Southern inspired hors d’oeuvres, and a free visit (or two) with John Barleycorn, folks gathered in the house’s generous and well-appointed keeping room where violinists Alison Gooding Hoffman and Jessica Blackwell joined cellist Sari Reist and violist/composer Chris Farrell for the evening performance. The first piece performed was the first and fourth movements of Ludwig van Beethoven’s earliest String Quartet, Opus 18, No. 2. As Beethoven composed it in his high-Viennese classical style, the quartet performed it with grace and fluency, maintaining the work’s polite conversational counterpoint at a level of sophistication worthy of Nashville’s “high society.” Special mention goes to Sari Reist’s charming opening in the humorous fourth movement. The second piece featured for the evening was Chris Farrell’s Second Quartet including all four movements. Farrell’s music is delightfully derivative of several prominent American compositional voices. Bernstein can be heard in the rhythmic gesture, Copland in the harmonic vocabulary, and perhaps Higdon in his formal narratives. The highlight for me was the slow movement, a dark elegy that exposed a powerful intimacy.
LOCATED ON THE MAIN FLOOR OF SARRATT STUDENT CENTER AT 2301 VANDERBILT PLACE, NASHVILLE TN 37235 Visit us 7 days a week from 9 a.m–9 p.m. during the academic year. Summer and holiday schedule hours are Monday–Friday 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
www.vanderbilt.edu/sarrattart
The Parties of Note concert series has been generously sponsored by California Closets, and tickets for this concert were gratis but with a suggested tax-deductible donation in support of the Nashville Symphony’s artistic and educational mission. There are several more Parties of Note planned this season with the next one scheduled for Sunday, August 28. See www.nashvillesymphony.org for more details.
SOUNDINGOFF
BY JOSEPH E. MORGAN
Keep It Warm, Keep It Local |
September 3–24
Will Morgan, God Bless the Child (detail), 2015, Acrylic with charcoal and markers on canvas, 56” x 120”
Zeitgeist
by Jesse Mathison
K
eep It Warm, is a group exhibition comprised of twelve local artists and several mediums, including photography, oil on canvas, and mixed-media composition. For this particular exhibition, Zeitgeist is actively working with emerging artists as a means to better understand the always-changing market, and it is refreshing to see a gallery actively supporting artists who have heretofore largely worked outside of the traditional gallery scene. Participating artists will be David Anderson, Ashley Doggett, Wrenne Evans, Michael Hampton, Aaron Harper, Will Morgan Holland, Juliana Horner, Morgan Ogilvie, Jamin Orrall, Zack Rafuls, Kate Roebuck, and Elise Tyler. Many of the featured artists in Keep It Warm have built their own networks and reputations by participating in pop-up shows and art parties, and some have even constructed their own spaces in which to display work. Currently, some of the most exciting
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The artists in this exhibition are all working artists making beautiful, interesting, and challenging work, but most of them haven't had the chance to show in a traditional gallery setting … until now.
Kate Roebuck, Cobalt and Ochre, 2014, Watercolor and ink on stretched paper, 60” x 46”
Zack Rafuls, Texas Tom Painting, 2014, Mixed media on sheet steel, 12” x 9”
Ashley Doggett, A History: Gone in the Dusk of Time, 2016, Oil on canvas, 23” x 18”
shows in Nashville are being held in warehouses and run-down homes, and it is both encouraging and intelligent for galleries to display this energy for a wider audience. It is certainly important for galleries to embrace innovation and work with emerging trends among local artists. Lain York, Gallery Director, talked about Zeitgeist’s tradition of working with emerging artists: “Keep It Warm follows in a long line of Zeitgeist group shows (Switchyard, Empire Builders, Eponymous, etc.) that have focused on local artists. In the case of the Switchyard series, it was an effort to introduce them to what commercial galleries require of the artists they show and to help us understand changing trends in the studio community. As a gallery that has always pushed the interests of the area studio community, we do so by looking at what we see happening regionally, nationally, and internationally. What we find most interesting is what these artists are looking at and how they are networking, so Zeitgeist’s aim here is to help provide momentum to these artists who are looking to find a new way of doing things, as we know they are the artists we will be working with in the very near future.” Another intriguing aspect of the show will be the interplay of atmosphere and ideas among the artists and how their respective philosophies and aesthetics work together. Anna Zeitlin, Manager of Zeitgeist gallery, discussed the approach towards such exhibitions: “Zeitgeist has always served as a cultivation ground for artists at all levels in their career to
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Elise Tyler, Nightwatch, Photograph
experiment and grow. The artists in this exhibition are all working artists making beautiful, interesting, and challenging work, but most of them haven’t had the chance to show in a traditional gallery setting. With this exhibit, we’re giving these artists the opportunity to present work that has been making the rounds in restaurants, cafes, and artist-run spaces in a contemporary gallery setting, which is a great way for younger voices to challenge the status quo. We have done many group shows like this over the years, and this definitely will not be the last event of its kind.” What will stand out about this show, however, is the state of its surroundings and the place of Zeitgeist within the community. The gallery now resides in the Wedgewood/Houston neighborhood, which for the last few years especially has been steadily growing, and is occupied by various studios and workshops. As such, the gallery is now part of a larger artistic community and wants to push the growth even further.
Morgan Ogilvie, Couple, 2014, Oil on canvas, 40" x 30"
“People seek out Zeitgeist,” continued Miss Zeitlin, “so we know if they are coming in they are interested in discovering new art. Being in a more industrial neighborhood allows for more artist-run spaces, and it’s been great seeing that develop. We live by the credo ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’, and new galleries make the neighborhood a more exciting place for art fans to visit. Nashville has one of the most exciting art scenes in the country, but you need to buy local if you want to keep it here.” Ultimately, this exhibition will provide the artists with a platform to showcase their work in a more traditional setting and to a more specific audience. It is important to see the work of emerging artists in established local galleries and for the galleries to support the artist-run spaces and projects which helped the artists to initially gain traction, as well. Such coordinated efforts will only benefit the artistic community as a whole and should make for an exciting show. na Keep It Warm opens with a reception during Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/ Houston on Saturday, September 3, and runs through September 24. For more information, visit www.zeitgeist-art.com. Michael Hampton, Still from Red Stairs 82 nashvillearts.com
SYMPHONYINDEPTH SEPTEMBER 2016
Photograph by Sally Bebawy Photography
A Rising Composer Returns to the Schermerhorn October 7–8
Gabriella Smith
T
hroughout its 70-year history, the Nashville Symphony has developed a reputation for promoting the work of contemporary American composers. In recent years, the organization has welcomed a long list of distinguished composers to the Schermerhorn—including Jennifer Higdon, Michael Daugherty, and Richard Danielpour, along with hometown heroes like Ben Folds, Béla Fleck, Conni Ellisor, and Victor Wooten—to present new works that have become part of the growing American classical repertoire. Next month, 24-year-old composer Gabriella Smith will add her name to that list. Smith is inaugural fellow of the Symphony’s 2015 Composer Lab & Workshop, a program designed to showcase emerging American composers. The Bay Area native will return to Nashville to hear the orchestra perform the piece that earned her rave reviews at last year’s workshop, Tumblebird Contrails, which will be featured on the Nashville Symphony’s Aegis Sciences Classical Series concerts on October 7 and 8. We asked Smith, who has already compiled an impressive résumé, about her work and more: What does it mean to be the first Composer Lab fellow? I feel so honored and excited to have been selected for this project. I’m really looking forward to working with, learning from, and being inspired by all the amazing musicians of the Nashville Symphony, as well as [music director] Giancarlo
Guerrero and [associate conductor] Vinay Parameswaran. And it means more opportunities to spend time in Nashville! What in particular draws you to orchestral music? My favorite thing about the orchestra (as opposed to smaller ensembles) is that it involves so many people working together to create something beautiful. This mass of people working together creates a powerful energy you can’t get from anything else. What is your composing process? I’m often inspired by nature, by science and math, by other music, by sounds I hear in daily life, or sometimes a cool riff will just get stuck in my head. Once I have a few ideas, I’ll draw a map of the piece with the work’s overall shape and where I want it to go. The next step generally involves me singing (to mimic the wind and brass parts), playing violin (to mimic all the string parts), and banging on whatever’s available (to mimic the percussion parts). I record all of that, layering the tracks on top of each other, and then transcribe it all. I used to write by just trying to imagine all the sounds in my head and writing them down, but I’ve discovered that actually singing and playing as much as possible gives the music a more visceral, tangible quality that I didn’t quite have access to before—and it’s really fun! What’s one of your favorite details about Tumblebird Contrails? There’s this one groove, about a minute in, that was especially fun to write. It involves all of the string players making various percussive noises on their instruments, turning the whole string section into some kind of bizarre drum set. na To hear Gabriella Smith’s Tumblebird Contrails, visit: www. soundcloud.com/nashvillesymphony/gabriella-smith-tumblebird-contrails.
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Concerts at the Schermerhorn 1 0 TH A N N I V E R S A R Y C L A S S I C A L C E L E B R AT I O N
MAHLER’S S ECOND
sept. 22 to 24
CLASSICAL SERIES
sept. 26
peter wolf and the
with the Nashville Symphony POPS SERIES
hony
ville Symp
ash with the N
Sept. 29 to oct. 1
PIED PIPER CHILDREN’S SERIES
oct. 1
PROKOFIEV’S FIFTH
GRIEG’S PIANO CONCERTO WITH CONDUCTOR VINAY PARAMESWARAN CLASSICAL SERIES
oct. 7 & 8
oct. 4 JOHN DAVE ERIC FRANK WECKL PATITUCCI MARIENTHAL GAMBALE
oct. 14
oct. 11
615.687.6400 • NashvilleSymphony.org • 85
nashvillearts.com
WITH SUPPORT FROM
Photography Competition
7th annual photography competition Local and international photographers Amateur and professional
+ First Place $500 cash
+ Second Place
$300 Chromatics gift card
+ Third Place
$200 Chromatics gift card
Top entries will be featured in the November issue of Nashville Arts Magazine and entrants may be given the opportunity to shoot an assignment for the magazine.
Submissions due: October 20, 2016
Winners announced: December 2016
You may enter as many photographs as you wish for $5 per photograph. See www.nashvillearts.com for details.
Evolution: Twin/Jerry & Terry Lynn
by Gracie Pratt
Brother’s Keeper, 2015, Mixed media on canvas, 48” x 64”
Tennessee Arts Commission through September 16
It’s a phenomenon in the art world that two individuals can collaborate simultaneously, so seamlessly that it becomes impossible to tell where one begins and ends on the canvas. With fluid brushstrokes and a rich color palette, the Lynn twins have mastered a style of their own. Their collaborative work began organically. It makes sense that twin boys growing up in a tight-knit family would often play together as children, and as they grew older that play transitioned into more serious endeavors. While students at the University of Memphis, Jerry and Terry took an art class where they were assigned a collaborative art assignment. It was a no-brainer that the twins would pair up for this, and the project “signified a fundamental change in our collaborative paintings,” according to Terry Lynn.
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Annunciation, 2015, Mixed media on canvas, 35” x 31”
W
hen it comes to painting, twin brothers Jerry and Terry Lynn are perfectly in sync. Both boasting artistic accolades and stylistic mastery, they bring their individual and collaborative work to the forefront in a provocative exhibition at Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery through September 16.
you had on hand to make things was a tradition passed on from generations,” Terry Lynn says. “Our painting technique is connected to that tradition of using utilitarian materials in innovative ways.” The Lynn brothers’ individual and collaborative work has a definitive style: themes from the past made modern with hiphop urban influences. They are storytelling pieces—landscapes of cotton fields, religious baptisms in the creek, nights of music and dancing, and family gatherings underneath Southern church steeples. Contemporary techniques bring the historical narrative to the present. The roaring twenties come to life in paintings like Terry Lynn’s Jazzed, with free-spirited strokes resembling modern graffiti. Brother’s Keeper, a TWIN collaboration, offers a stylistically similar approach to a family gathering, drips and scratches of burnt orange texture balanced by the hope of a bright sky. A sentimental piece, Bricks by Terry Lynn, depicts the twins’ granddad: bold blue suit, hands clasped reverently, and lines of wisdom and humor on his face.
Chelsea, 2013, Acrylic on linen, 48” x 30”
The creative process for the twins’ collaborative art often baffles collectors, who assume the brothers must have a defined technique to accomplish pieces that flow so smoothly. However, the brothers insist that there is no one way they create their collaborative art. On the contrary, Terry says, “Sometimes Jerry will start a painting; other times I will come up with a sketch or idea. There is no one way we create. Our twin collaborative art is about working together.” Jerry says that their work together has become a more rare occasion now that they have studios in other cities, and thus, “the collaborative art and time we spend working together is more special.” Whether working on an individual piece or a collaborative work, both brothers find inspiration from the same place: family.
Their opportunity to create and share art with their community and viewers around the world has given the Lynn brothers a sense of gratitude and responsibility. Jerry Lynn says, “I feel extremely blessed and humbled with the idea that I wake up every day and create what’s in my heart and get to share it.” In regard to their community, the twins’ work doesn’t end with their art. Their artistic contribution is only the first step in effecting change in their West Tennessee home. “I am working with individuals and organizations using art as a vehicle to create positive sustainable change in our communities,” Terry Lynn says. He is involved in a variety of projects: working on a film project to share the stories of young people in Memphis, creating an incubator space for art in a downtown Memphis warehouse, and tending a community garden to foster community engagement. “I hope viewers see our stories through the work—the stories of working together to create a better world.” na The Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery proudly presents individual and collaborative pieces by twins Jerry and Terry Lynn through September 16. The gallery, located in Downtown Nashville, is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, visit www.tnartscommission.org and www.lynntwin.com.
Photograph by Larry Kuzniewski
About their childhood, Terry Lynn recalls that they “grew up in the country in Arlington, Tennessee, surrounded by a historical neighborhood [and a] family filled with stories and experiences that have inspired our artwork.” From a young age, they were told stories of their ancestors, which gave them an appreciation for the work ethic and resourcefulness of their community. They were “surrounded by stories of men and women working to achieve the American dream.” This upbringing plays out in the themes of the work and, more subtly, in their materials and techniques. “Using what
Twins, Jerry and Terry Lynn
Witness Walls to Be Installed at Historic Nashville Courthouse
Hand drawing the compositions allowed the artist to develop ideas about juxtaposition, foreground and background, and scale of the historic images.
Photograph by Hood Design Studio
PUBLICART
BY ANNE-LESLIE OWENS PUBLIC ART PROJECT COORDINATOR
Metro Arts has commissioned artist Walter Hood of Hood Design Studio in Oakland, California, to create an artwork inspired by the events and the people of Nashville who created the blueprint for nonviolent protest during the modern Civil Rights Movement. Witness Walls, a set of sculptural concrete walls, will be installed later this year on the west side of the historic Metro Nashville Courthouse. Seeking inspiration, the artist researched Nashville’s Civil Rights story, gathered input from Civil Rights veterans and historians, and drew on his own personal experiences with public school integration and at HBCU North Carolina A&T State University. A recurring theme, the Civil Rights movement as a collective endeavor, guided his design. As the artist explains, “The selection of images for the artwork does not seek to highlight key individuals or singular events in a chronological or hierarchical order. Rather, it strives to embed the visitor in a movement in which the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.”
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Hood was eager to test the graphic capabilities of concrete walls. Using period photographs as a starting point, he uses two resolutions of images in the artwork, abstract compositions, and shadow graphics. The artist’s abstract compositions were first hand drawn by the artist before a form liner was created as a mold for the concrete. Those compositions in exposed aggregate show marching, protesting, and walking to school. Meanwhile, the shadow graphic images depict people sitting, all of them focusing on people’s hands and facial expressions. Both resolutions fade in and out of focus as the viewer moves through the sculpture. As the installation nears completion, plans will be finalized for a dedication event. To receive Witness Walls updates, please email anne-leslie.owens@nashville.gov or call 615-862-6732. For information about all Metro Arts public art projects, please visit www.publicart.nashville.gov or ExploreNashvilleArt.com.
ATLANTA CELEBRATES PHOTOGRAPHY
Tennessee State Museum
505 Deaderick Street
Downtown Nashville
www.tnmuseum.org
615.741.2692
SEASON SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE NOW
Fine Art & Gifts by Olga Alexeeva & Local Artists
www.OGalleryArt.com T H E 2 0 1 6 -2 0 1 7 S E A S O N
OUR HERITAGE MASTERWORKS SERIES WILLIAMSON HERALD
presents Celebrating Musical Treasures with Stephen Seifert, Mountain Dulcimer Monday, September 26th, 7:30 p.m. Monday, October 24th, 7:30 p.m. Celebrating Faith & Spirituality Monday, February 13th, 7:30 p.m. Celebrating Enduring Courage with Jeffrey Williams, Baritone Monday, May 1st, 7:30 p.m. Celebrating Nature’s Beauty PERFORMANCE S HELD AT
615-538-2076 ∙ franklintheatre.com
Olga Alexeeva, artist and owner, is available for commissioned works for home and business Art classes by Olga are conducted weekly
Olga Alexeeva, Goddess of Tranquility, oil, 48” x 48”
FEATURED ARTIST Whitney Hilley Stewart
Whitney Hilley Stewart is a Nashville native and a jewelry maker. Working with metal, wire, fabric, and stone, she creates gorgeous pieces that are fit for any occasion. Her work is currently on display at “O” Gallery in Marathon Village.
Open 7 Days a Week • Monday-Saturday 10-6 • Sunday 11-5 1305 Clinton St. Ste. 120 • Nashville, TN 37203 • 615-416-2537
BY RACHAEL McCAMPBELL
Photograph by Ron Manville
ANDSOITGOES
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.
Syrian Refugee Camp Art
Imagine being 10 years old, living happily in your home,
your city—a place where you feel safe. Then suddenly you are ripped away, taken on a terrifying boat ride to a foreign land with nothing but the clothes on your back and told to live in a tent city with thousands of other internally displaced people surrounded by barbed wire. Shock and horror are two words that come to mind. We are in the midst of an international refugee crisis right now. Wars have displaced approximately 46 million men, women, and children. How do these people, especially children, cope with this change? The arts have soothed broken souls as long as humans have existed. It’s only since the mid 19th century that the healing role art takes has been formally recognized as Art Therapy—where psychology and art merge. Our dreams and subconscious thoughts can be excavated through art often in a way that verbal, cognitive therapy cannot. We may “think” we know how we feel, but our archaic brain, our subconscious, “feeling” mind, knows differently. Without the cerebral brain
filter, our feelings can scream out our most honest, innermost truths—“Help me! I’m terrified!” Nashville’s own Ashley Judd, actor, writer, humanitarian, and now UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, recently witnessed examples of this sort of expressive art when she travelled to visit Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. Ashley told me that the refugees want Americans to know what it looks, sounds, and feels like to endure war and to be forcibly displaced. Jordan generously hosts over 635,000 people who are living in makeshift tent cities in the middle of the hot, windy desert. I asked Ashley specifically about the art she saw there. “They were drawing what was on their hearts and minds—typically imagery of homes, gardens, families, and airplanes dropping bombs, bodily harm, amputations, and a deep longing to return home.” She met with a painting collective in the Azraq camp consisting of people from all walks of life with no formal art training who joined to create art together. She said, “Some were psychosocial educative pieces warning Syrians of the grave dangers of fleeing by boat, showing the closed borders
in Europe. Another piece depicted the three-year-old boy Aylan Kurdi who wound up on the beach dead in Turkey.” She explained further, “The UNFPA understands that addressing the refugees’ emotional needs is as essential as addressing reproductive and sexual health. It’s imperative they be protected now and given what they need to help prepare them for their return home to Syria. It is THEY who will be tasked with rebuilding the land they love from the ground
Photograph by UNFPA/Eddie Wright
Ashley Judd with Syrian refugee family
up—and making art helps them to tap into and build their resilience.” As we looked over the drawings Ashley brought home by some of the artists there, she said something that has haunted me ever since. “I have visited a lot of WWII memorials and museums in Prague where I saw drawings made by some of the 15,000 Jewish children in Terezín, a Nazi concentration camp. And the art [works] in today’s refugee camps are indistinguishable from those made by the holocaust victims.” Sitting comfortably in our homes, it’s impossible for us to really imagine what these displaced people are feeling, but by looking at their drawings and paintings, we can viscerally tap into their current despair, their resiliency, and their eternal hope. na For more information about the UNFPA and Ashley Judd’s work with them, please go to www.unfpa.org.
Roy and Ronda Whittington, Joy Styles and Courtney Puckett (artist) at COOP Gallery
Ellis Eberle and Rivers Hay at Zeitgeist
ARTSEE
Chip Boles (artist), Gary Branum and Tara Bloom at 40AU
ARTSEE
Katie Wolf, Macon St. Hilaire, Amber Briggs and Sara Lederach at Art Truck Gallery in association with COOP Gallery at mild climate
ARTSEE
Shane Miller at The Rymer Gallery
Sarah and Grant Hathaway at David Lusk Gallery
AmĂŠlie Guthrie, Katie Shaw and Olivia Hill at The Red Arrow Gallery
Michael Linn White at Julia Martin Gallery At The Arts Company
At 40AU
Lisa Bachman Jones at The Rymer Gallery
Ron Gobbell and Janet Kurtz at The Arts Company
Photograph by Evan Hurst
Shane Wells and Miller Dew at 40AU
Olivia Hill, Bruce Matthews and Katie Shaw at The Red Arrow Gallery
At Peck + Company
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN JACKSON
ARTSEE
ARTSEE
ARTSEE
James Threalkill and friend at The Arts Company At Channel to Channel
Eric L Hansen at Tinney Contemporary
Anna Lea Ritchie and Cori McGuirk at the Arcade
Susan Tinney at Tinney Contemporary
L Gallery
Jacob Corenflos, Zoe Mazzu and Lilly White at CG2
Shane Doling, Chris Davis and Chloe Cooper at Julia Martin Gallery
Photograph by Evan Hurst
Eleanor Aldrich at Channel to Channel
THEATRE BY JIM REYLAND PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY MATULA
Jim Reyland’s new book, Handmade – Friendships Famous, Infamous, Real and Imagined is available at Amazon.com in paperback and on Kindle. Jim’s new Christmas music comedy, MOTEL NOEL, starring Barry Scott and Jamey Green, opens December 1 at the 4th Story Theatre. jreyland@audioproductions.com
EVITA! TPAC! STUDIO TENN! A Historic Collaboration, Andrew Jackson Hall, September 9–18
“We are so honored and proud to be the first local company ever to design, build, and co-produce a show for TPAC’s prestigious Broadway series,” says Jake Speck, Studio Tenn’s managing director. “This historic collaboration will showcase the incredible creative capacities of both Nashville and New York in a way that’s never been done before.”
“Studio Tenn has long dreamed of doing EVITA, and we are beyond thrilled to have recruited the incredibly talented Eden Espinosa as our leading lady—a role she was born to play,” said Matt Logan, Studio Tenn’s artistic director.
“
Studio Tenn has long dreamed of doing EVITA, and we are beyond thrilled to have recruited the incredibly talented Eden Espinosa as our leading lady.
T
his month it’s going to be a bonafide big deal when the Tennessee Performing Arts Center launches its 2016–17 HCA/TriStar Health Broadway season with a stunning new production of EVITA starring Broadway powerhouse Eden Espinosa (Wicked, Brooklyn the Musical, RENT) as Eva Perón. This exciting new collaboration combines the brightest talents of New York and Nashville and marks Studio Tenn’s first inclusion as part of TPAC’s annual Broadway series. And it’s the first time TPAC has welcomed a local Nashville theatre company into its Broadway spotlight. The production, including sets and costumes, is being built and cultivated from Nashville’s local creative community, with Perón’s life story as inspiration. Kathleen O’Brien, TPAC president and chief executive officer, made it happen. “EVITA is a popular, often-requested title for our Broadway series, and this particular production is a true artistic celebration for the city of Nashville.” Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award-winning score creates a powerful foundation for the life story of Eva Perón: activist, suffragist, and venerated celebrity. Perón captivated a nation as Argentina’s First Lady and inspired others with her dedication to helping the poor. EVITA chronicles her life and work, from her humble beginnings in the rural lowlands of South America through her ascent to fame, fortune, and an untimely death.
We couldn’t have better storytellers. For seven seasons and counting, Studio Tenn, a nonprofit professional theatre company based in Franklin, has led the Nashville theatre explosion with out-of-the-box productions in out-of-the-way places. From the Schermerhorn Symphony Center to the Ryman Auditorium, from the Factory to the Courthouse in Franklin for a groundbreaking production of Twelve Angry Men, Studio Tenn goes where the art form takes them. The company was founded and is led by critically acclaimed Broadway professionals Matt Logan and Jake Speck, whose vision for programming centers on innovative, customdesigned presentations of classic plays and musicals as well as an original “Legacy” series of theatrical concerts celebrating the work of time-honored musicians. It promises to be an unforgettable theatrical experience, and if we’re lucky, a taste of many more collaborations to come. This possibility makes it even more important to support TPAC and Studio Tenn as they take the Broadway stage together for this historical production of EVITA at Jackson Hall. Kathleen O’Brien: “As our creative community grows, we are seeing the exceptional quality of art and music created right here in Nashville and in Middle Tennessee. Studio Tenn’s vision and creative choices are stunning, and audiences will enjoy both the production value and the story of Eva Perón told from a new perspective. I’m thrilled by the opportunity to create a new dialogue about how to produce world-class Broadway theatre here at home for our audiences.” na EVITA will run September 9–18, 2016, in TPAC’s Andrew Jackson Hall. For tickets, go to www.tpac.org or phone 615-782-4040. For group tickets, call 615-782-4060.
Photography by Anthony Matula of MA2LA
STUDIOTENN
Art of the Possible: Studio Tenn and TPAC’s Evita Is a Powerful Partnership Months before rehearsals begin, Studio Tenn is bustling with the sounds of power tools, sewing machines, and interminable show tunes blaring from the rehearsal room stereo—on top of the typical office cacophony of phones, photocopies, meeting chatter, and, inexplicably, the occasional incoming fax. This—yes, all of this—is business as usual for the Franklinbased professional theatre company as they gear up for a large-scale musical, such as the premiere of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award-winning smash hit Evita at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. But this current production-in-progress brings an added fervor that permeates the studio space and all who enter. There’s been plenty of buzz surrounding the announcement of a cast with exceptional Broadway cachet, including powerhouse Eden Espinosa (Eva Perón), Tony Award winner Anthony Crivello (Juan Perón), and Ben Crawford (Che) alongside standout local professional performers. But beyond its tremendous talent roster, Evita will be making history. Produced in a landmark collaboration with TPAC, Evita will be the first-ever locally produced show to be featured on the prestigious HCA/TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC series. In the center’s 34-year history of presenting a Broadway series, this popular subscription season has comprised only national tours. Kathleen O’Brien, TPAC President and Chief Executive Officer, says the organization has been seeking ways to showcase Nashville’s growing national prominence as a creative city. “The quality of art and music that is created right here in Nashville and Middle Tennessee is exceptional, and we want to take advantage of that,” she said. “Great theatre is being produced by a number of local theatre companies, and this particular production is a true artistic celebration for the city. We are looking forward to creating a new dialogue about how to produce world-class Broadway theatre here at home for our audiences.” Studio Tenn caught their institutional eye for the fresh vision
and hands-on artistry driving each custom-made production. The two organizations have courted through various joint efforts over the past several years, including hosting Studio Tenn’s 2012 production of A Christmas Carol in TPAC’s James K. Polk Theater and coordinating school field trips through TPAC Education’s annual Season for Young People for the company’s 2016 production of The Glass Menagerie. As their first official co-production, Evita takes the relationship to the next level. It’s a partnership that, not unlike Eva and Perón’s, is both inspired and calculated—born of genuine mutual admiration as well as unabashed pragmatism. While the design-and-build process is a new narrative for TPAC, it’s no novelty for Studio Tenn for which a central tenet of its mission is to “create compelling musicals, plays, concerts, and experiences through artful storytelling and innovative design.” “Custom design and creation is part of our brand and our standard for every show we do,” said Matt Logan, Studio Tenn’s artistic director and designer. “We will have so many new eyes on Evita, it’s important that we not only tell this story right, but our own story as well.” Jake Speck, Managing Director for Studio Tenn, added, “We are so thrilled and grateful to have this incredible platform to share both our product and our process with a vastly greater audience.” Projected attendance for Evita has already far surpassed any other Studio Tenn production in the company’s six-season history. So begins the first affair between two organizations that have long suspected they might be surprisingly good for each other when it comes to showcasing Nashville’s own among Broadway’s best. na Studio Tenn’s Evita opens the 2016–17 HCA/TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC series on Friday, September 9, in TPAC’s Andrew Jackson Hall. Eleven performances run through Sunday, September 18. For show times and tickets, visit www.TPAC.org or call 615-782-4040.
Attend the 5th Annual Event
Saturday, October 8, 2016 Preview Party: 4:30 p.m. • Event: 5:30 - 9 p.m. At The Clay Lady’s Campus (1416 Lebanon Pike)
Buy Tickets Today At www.LeadershipDH.org/Artable ARTable is a most unique event that brings four extraordinary artists together to share their work and artistic process.
2016 FEATURED ARTISTS Dave Garrett Native American Flute Maker
Jane McGinnis-Glynn Ceramics
Leigh Ann Agee Painter & Muralist
Susan Thornton Metalsmith
Attendees will sit at the artist’s table, enjoy a night with fellow art enthusiasts, indulge in fine food and spirits and have the opportunity to grow their collection of hand-crafted art with pieces ranging from $20 to $1,000.
A portion of proceeds from this event benefit Leadership Donelson-Hermitage, a state-registered non-profit organization
Arts Worth Watching
ARTIST STATEMENTS Be sure to check our late-night schedule for hidden gems like Richard Bresnahan: The Taste of Clay, airing Monday, September 5, at 11:30 p.m. After apprenticing in Japan with a renowned family of potters, Bresnahan returned to the U.S. and built a pottery studio at St. John’s University that has the largest woodfiring kiln in the country. The following week on Tuesday, September 13, at 11 p.m., explore unusual creations in Curious Worlds: The Art & Imagination of David Beck. This film by Olympia Stone (The Cardboard Bernini) reveals Beck’s mastery of miniatures—his miniature scenes contain micro-miniatures—and his preference for sculptures that double as musical instruments, including a row of miniature men in blue suits kicking bells.
When it comes to associating cities with art, Florence certainly comes to mind. In November 1966, the Arno River flooded the Italian city imperiling centuries-old treasures. Franco Zeffirelli’s Florence: Days of Destruction (1966), narrated by Richard Burton, chronicled the damage and inspired volunteers from around the world to help save the art. When the World Answered, based on Linda Falcone and Jane Fortune’s book by the same name, tells the story of the flood, the salvage efforts (some of which are ongoing) and the previously under-recognized contributions of the Flood Ladies, a group of women artists who joined the clean-up efforts. The film airs Monday, September 19, at 11:30 p.m. and includes archival footage and a new interview with Zeffirelli. Photographer Nicholas Swietlan Kraczyna, whose images of the flooded city were among the first to show the damage to the outside world, is also featured.
THE LIGHT FANTASTIC The Olympics are over, but an international competition requiring
Photograph courtesy of Shirley Road Productions
Claire Danes hosts the new season of Art in the Twenty-First Century, airing Fridays, September 16 and 23. Each episode of the four-part series highlights four artists in the eponymous city. Chicago (September 16 at 8 p.m.) includes Nick Cave, an artist known for his part-costume/ part-sound-machine “Soundsuits,” some of which were exhibited in 30 Americans at the Frist Center in 2013. You’ll see more of his work in November 2017 when Nick
Cave: Feat., a new show organized by that institution, opens in Nashville. In Mexico City (September 16 at 9 p.m.), Minerva Cuevas discusses the inspiration for a 2015 exhibition equating capitalism with cannibalism through murals and sculpture referencing chocolate products. The series continues Friday, September 23, with Los Angeles at 8 p.m. and Vancouver at 9 p.m.
Delores Browne, one of the dancers featured in Black Ballerina
Behind the scenes of ART21 with Claire Danes
Russia’s Yuri Simachev and Anastasia Klokotova perform in the World DanceSport GrandSlam Series
stamina, coordination, and stage presence is starting this month on NPT. The World DanceSport GrandSlam Series features 12 couples competing in various dance categories in four countries. The series begins its six-week run Friday, September 16, at 7 p.m. Misty Copeland’s promotion to principal dancer in 2015 brought even more attention to the call for greater diversity in classical ballet. But the American Ballet Theatre performer was far from the first African-American ballerina. Black Ballerina, airing Monday, September 26, at 11 p.m., profiles dancers from several generations, among them Joan Myers Brown, Delores Browne, and Raven Wilkinson. Wilkinson danced with the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo and now mentors Copeland, as you might have seen in Nelson George’s A Ballerina’s Tale on Independent Lens last February. na Support the arts on television by going to www.wnpt.org and clicking the donate button. Encore presentations of many of our programs and other favorite shows air on NPT2, our secondary channel.
Photograph courtesy of Kelly Taub
This month is traditionally the start of the fall arts season, and NPT’s September schedule is appropriately packed with visual art, music, and dance programs to keep you entertained.
Monday
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7:00 Churchill’s Secret on Masterpiece Winston Churchill’s secret life-threatening stroke of 1953. 9:00 Indian Summers on Masterpiece The story picks up three years later in the Season 2 premiere. 10:00 NPT Reports: Choice or Chance? NPT’s school choice documentary. 10:30 American Graduate: Translating the Dream 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
Tuesday
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7:00 Contenders – 16 for ’16 Chisholm/McCain – The Straight Talkers. Presidential candidates Shirley Chisholm and John McCain. 8:00 Frontline A Subprime Education. The for-profit college industry; stemming the drop-out crisis. 9:00 Ted Talks Education Revolution. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Curious Worlds: The Art & Imagination of David Beck
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14 7:00 Forces of Nature Shape. Shapes demonstrate the rules that bind the universe. 8:00 NOVA School of the Future. The new science of learning helps us reimagine the future of education. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Tedeschi Trucks Band.
7:00 9/11 Inside the Pentagon 7:00 NPT Favorites 9:00 NOVA What happened when 15 Years of Terror. Flight 77 slammed into How radical organithe Pentagon. zations use modern 8:00 Frontline propaganda and social The Man Who Knew. media tools. 9:00 America by the 10:00 BBC World News Numbers 10:30 Last of Summer Wine The New Deciders. 11:00 Austin City Limits Demographics and Leon Bridges; Nathandemocracy. iel Rateliff & The Night 10:00 BBC World News Sweats. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:30 For the Love of Their Brother The family of fallen N.Y. firefighter Stephen Siller honors his life.
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Richmond, Hour Two. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Richmond, Hour Three. 9:00 POV All the Difference. Two teens from Chicago’s South Side dream of graduating from college. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Next Door Neighbors: Becoming American An NPT original production.
Wednesday
Royal Wives at War Sunday, September 18 7:00 pm
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POV: All the Difference Monday, September 12 9:00 pm
7:00 Antiques Roadshow 7:00 African Americans: Vintage Richmond. Many Rivers to Cross 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Rise! (1940-1968). Richmond, Hour One. The civil rights era, from 9:00 POV World War II to the The Birth of Saké. A late-1960s. small group of manual 8:30 African Americans: laborers braves unusual Many Rivers to Cross working conditions to A More Perfect Union preserve a 2,000-year(1968-2013). The rise of old Japanese tradition. the black middle class; 10:30 Last of Summer Wine inner-city isolation; Elegy for Small Creathe election of Barack ture and Track Bike. Obama. 9:30 The Highwaymen Live 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Richard Bresnahan: at Nassau Coliseum The Taste of Clay 11:00 Age Reversed with Miranda Esmonde-White
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9/11 Inside the Pentagon Tuesday, September 6 7:00 pm
Sunday
Primetime Evening Schedule
September 2016 1
15 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Eyes on the Prize The Promised Land (1967-1968). The civil rights movement fragments. 9:00 Independent Lens Through A Lens Darkly. African-American photographers. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Time for School Visiting the now-adult students of the seven classrooms in seven countries film.
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Eyes on the Prize Power! (1966-1968). The call for Black Power takes various forms across communities. 9:00 Vel Phillips: Dream Big Dreams A political pioneer. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Shifting Sands: On the Path to Sustainability The creation of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
7:00 The Music of Northern Ireland with Eamonn McCrystal Northern Irish pop tenor McCrystal and guests perform in Belfast’s historic Grand Opera House. 8:30 Tim Rushlow and His Big Band – Live Rat Pack-era hits and Rushlow’s own songs. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Joe Bonamassa: Live at the Greek Theatre
Thursday
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16 7:00 World DanceSport GrandSlam Series Standard Series: The First Four Legs. Ballroom dancers perform in sporting venues around the world. 8:00 Art in the Twenty-First Century Chicago. A new season begins. 9:00 Art in the Twenty-First Century Mexico City. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Infinity Hall Live Melissa Etheridge.
American Graduate Day Saturday, September 17 1:00 – 5:30 PM
9 7:00 NPT Favorites 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine The Wormley Witches. 11:00 Infinity Hall Live Covered.
7:00 NPT Favorites 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Will the Nearest Alien Please Come In? 11:00 Lidia Celebrates America Life’s Milestones. Chef Bastianich in a crosscountry special.
Friday
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Big Bands. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Downton Abbey Season 3, Part 2. The fate of Downton Abbey hinges on a letter from a dead man. 9:30 Grantchester Part 1. A suicide looks more like murder to the vicar-sleuth. 10:30 Bluegrass Underground Dave Rawlings Machine. 11:00 Globe Trekker North East England.
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8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Downton Abbey Season 3, Part 1. The war is over. Lady Mary’s American grandmother is among the guests for her wedding to Matthew.
7:00 NPT Favorites 8:30 I Miss Downton Abbey Treasured moments from the unforgettable series, including new interviews and behindthe-scenes clips. 10:00 NPT Favorites
Saturday
Nashville Public Television
wnpt.org
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7:00 Forces of Nature Motion. The Earth’s movement, from tidal bores surging through the Amazon rain forest to the ruinous power of hurricanes. 8:00 NOVA Great Human Odyssey. A spectacular global journey following our ancestors’ footsteps out of Africa to unravel the mystery of how we got where we are. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits
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7:00 Forces of Nature Color. The origins and energy of color. 8:00 India – Nature’s Wonderland A man who planted his own rain forest; lion-tailed macaques and other distinctive animals. 9:00 NOVA Iceman Reborn. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Alabama Shakes/ Vintage Trouble.
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7:00 Forces of Nature Elements. How chemical elements transformed from barren rock into our planet’s ingredients. 8:00 India – Nature’s Wonderland A journey through India to discover its rich culture and rare wildlife. 9:00 NOVA Killer Landslides. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Angelique Kidjo.
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Tribute to Irving Berlin. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Downton Abbey Season 3, Part 4. New faces try to fit into the tight-knit circle of servants. 9:30 Grantchester Part 3. An old woman dies after telling Sidney someone wants her dead. 10:30 Bluegrass Underground Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen. 11:00 Globe Trekker Tough Trains: Siberia.
OcTObeR
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show America on the Move. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Downton Abbey Season 3, Part 3. Social revolutions: The Irish civil war and the fight for women’s suffrage. 9:30 Grantchester Part 2. Sidney’s former flame throws an engagement party that leads to murder. 10:30 Bluegrass Underground The Suffers. 11:00 Globe Trekker Poland.
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8/11/16 4:31 PM
Nashville Public Television
India – Nature’s Wonderland Wednesdays, September 21 & 28 8:00 pm
30 7:00 World DanceSport GrandSlam Series Standard Series. 8:00 Great Performances Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night 2016. 9:00 Hispanic Heritage Awards 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 David Holt’s State of Music Bryan Sutton & Rhiannon Giddens. 11:30 David Holt’s State of Music Josh Goforth & the Branchettes.
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7:00 World DanceSport GrandSlam Series Latin Series: The First Four Legs. 8:00 Art in the Twenty-First Century Los Angeles. 9:00 Art in the Twenty-First Century Vancouver. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 David Holt’s State of Music Interviews and performances with modern masters of traditional music in the Southern mountains.
Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War Tuesday, September 20 8:00 pm
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Eyes on the Prize A Nation of Law? (19681971). Black activism is increasingly met with violent responses. 9:00 Frontline Prison State. How mass incarceration has affected one Louisville neighborhood. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Daring Journey: From Immigration to Education Four individuals seek the American dream.
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Eyes on the Prize Ain’t Gonna Shuffle No More (1964-1972). A call to pride and a push for unity. 9:00 Independent Lens: American Denial The power of unconscious biases. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 1964: The Fight for a Right
Visit wnpt.org for complete 24-hour schedules for NPT and NPT2
7:00 Contenders – 16 for ’16 Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson. 8:00 PBS NewsHour Debates: A Special Report 2016 Vice Presidential Debate. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow 7:00 Poldark Revealed Knoxville, Hour Two. 8:00 Poldark on Masterpiece 8:00 Independent Lens Season 2 continues. Best of Enemies. 9:00 Indian Summers on Nationally televised Masterpiece debates in 1968 beSooni confronts Aafrin; tween two great public Lord Hawthorne’s interintellectuals, Gore Vidal est in Leena deepens. and William F. Buckley, 10:00 A Craftsman’s Legacy defined a new era of The Puppet Maker. public discourse in 10:30 Mineral Explorers the media. 11:00 Tavis Smiley 9:30 Willie Velasquez: 11:30 Scully/The World Show Empowering the People 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News
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26 7:00 Contenders – 16 for ’16 Romney/Dukakis – The Technocrats. Mitt Romney, Michael Dukakis. 8:00 Frontline The Choice 2016. An analysis of the two 2016 presidential candidates. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Black Women in Medicine Pioneers in various medical fields, including Dr. Jocelyn Elders, the first black female U.S. Surgeon General.
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Politically Collect. 8:00 PBS NewsHour Debates: A Special Report 2016 Presidential Debate. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Black Ballerina Pioneering black ballerinas share their stories.
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7:00 Contenders – 16 for ’16 Dean/Buchanan – The Flamethrowers. Howard Dean, Pat Buchanan. 8:00 Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War A couple’s 1939 mission to help refugees escape the Nazis. 9:30 Frontline Business of Disaster. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Mississippi’s Free State of Jones Citizens of a Mississippi county rebelled against the Confederacy.
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Vintage Boston. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Knoxville, Hour One. 9:00 POV Kingdom of Shadows. The U.S.-Mexico drug war through the eyes of a DEA agent, an activist nun and a former smuggler. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 When the World Answered The 1966 flood in Florence, Italy.
7:00 Poldark on Masterpiece Season 2 premieres. Capt. Ross Poldark, his wife Demelza, cousin Francis and first love Elizabeth return. 9:00 Indian Summers on Masterpiece Aafrin intrudes on a domestic scene; the Maharajah arrives with his latest flame. 10:00 A Craftsman’s Legacy The Yarn Spinner. 10:30 Mineral Explorers 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
7:00 Royal Wives at War A drama about Edward VIII’s abdication. 8:00 Poldark Revealed The writers and cast on location in Cornwall. 9:00 Indian Summers on Masterpiece Aafrin gets a gruesome payback for saving a life; Sooni feels family pressure. 10:00 A Craftsman’s Legacy The Sand Caster. 10:30 Mineral Explorers 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
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mikeMARTINO
by Jane R. Snyder
The Printing Presses Roll at Blue Fig Editions
shows, as well as devoted collectors. Photographs can’t truly capture the thrill of standing in front of his work—or, better yet, holding a print between your hands—to experience how alive they are. “I consider the paper as important a part of the work as the ink. I take into strong consideration the size, texture, feel, and look of the paper, as the borders and negative spaces play an important role. The relationship you have with a piece of paper is unlike anything you have with sculpture or painting. A print is always just a foot and a half away, or closer. It’s a very intimate relationship.”
Thurston, 2016, Woodcut with monoprint, 18” x 22”
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n 6th century BC, Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu counseled, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” One artist who truly appreciates that philosophy is Mike Martino, a printmaker and the founder of Blue Fig Editions, a Brentwood studio where he and his students produce original silk screens, etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, monotypes, and collographs. In the well-organized labyrinth he personally designed and built, Mike talked amidst printing presses, drying racks, rollers, inks, chisels, brushes, and myriad tools employed to turn creative passion into fine art prints. “I’m driven by process, organization, and regimen—very step one, two, and three—about my work, my life, and my studio. I have a real foundation in art and art history, but I’m a traditionalist; I hold true to copper plates, litho stones, and wooden blocks. Part of my goal is to teach people about traditional printmaking.” Since earning a BFA at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and his MFA at Louisiana State, the artist’s personal journey has led him to awards, gallery representation, one-man and group
Whether his images represent foliage, landscapes, or seascapes, there is a being-there-ness about them—you can almost hear trees sway, smell lavender perfuming a breeze, or feel ocean waves splashing against a rocky shoreline. Blue Fig prints range from postage-stamp to poster-size formats, but all are based on energetic pencil drawings that Mike transforms from his sketchbook pages to metal plates, litho stones, or woodblocks. He will often combine printmaking techniques into a single print with obvious delight. “I work out of sketchbooks I fill with silly ideas, or maybe actual drawings, or just the rhythm of things. I often leave my sketches for months or more and then revisit them as fermented memories of the ‘good stuff’ resurface through my memories of the time or occasion.” He never uses any ink straight from its original container, but deliberately hand mixes each hue to create a distinctive palette. A self-avowed perfectionist, this artist is dedicated to getting just the right tones for every composition.
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Photographs can’t truly capture the thrill of standing in front of his work—or, better yet, holding a print between your hands— to experience how alive they are.
Jethro, 2014, Woodcut with monoprint, 22” x 22”
Lilly, 2015, Screen print with monoprint, 28” x 22”
“Even my blacks are warmed by mixing in some purple, blue, or red, even if just a tablespoon,” he explained. “I’ll tint up whites with pink to turn them dusty, but next to all my other colors, black and white always pop off the page.”
“I have a couple of different chop marks that I put on my work to say it’s from Blue Fig Editions. You may make art two days a week, but you have to market yourself, or network, three days a week!” This expressive artist loves to share his knowledge with students both one on one and in small classes. To give back to Nashville’s community, Mike also creates limited-edition prints used by local non-profits to raise funds. na To stop in for a private studio tour, sign up for a printmaking class, or to purchase prints, contact Mike through his website: www.bluefigeditions.com.
Mike Martino
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Photograph by Anthony Scarlati
Realistic about the demands of selling his art, Mike wisely named his business Blue Fig not only because it included a color, but was also memorable, hard to misspell, and easy to search for online.
Eclectic Home Furnishings and Gifts
2205 bandywood drive in green hills • nashville, tn 37215 www.margischair.com • 615.463.3322
FAMILY TIES September 17th - October 15th Opening reception with artists Saturday September 17th, 6 - 8 pm
| www.cumberlandgallery.com | 615.297.0296 | 4107 Hillsboro Circle
Sunday, September 25, 3 – 5 pm OPENING RECEPTION September 21 – October 28, 2016 MARNIE SHERIDAN GALLERY
Spirit Surfaces Abstract Paintings by Mildred Jarrett and Her Students
• Gallery on south side of campus • Access from intersection of Estes Road and Esteswood Drive The Harpeth Hall School 3801 Hobbs Road, Nashville, Tn 37215 615.297.9543 • www.harpethhall.org Artwork: Bravura. Mildred Jarrett. Acrylic on canvas. 36 x 36 inches
COMMUNITY
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REGISTER NOW Offering classes in book arts, clay, creative writing, film, painting, photography, printmaking, and more!
watkins.edu/community-education 615.383.4848 community@watkins.edu
C U S TO M S H O U S E M U S E U M E X H I B IT Women Painting Women August 11—October 23, 2016
Denise Stewart Sanabria, People 58, 55, 56, 57, Charcoal and pastel pencil on plywood Julie Clark Howard, Joy of Light and Life, Organic soft pastels on recycled cotton canvas, 24” x 48”
Karla Tucker, Stardust, Encaustic photography, 16” x 20”
FE ATU R I N G Tonja Sell, The Belgian, Oil-based mixed medium on canvas, 38” x 48”
Ann Piper • Denise Stewart Sanabria • Sharon Rusch Shaver Karla Tucker • Mira Girard • Tonja Sell • Terri Jordan Chantel Lynn Barber • Julie Clark Howard
Customs House Museum 200 S. 2nd Street in Historic Downtown Clarksville, TN • 931-648-5780 www.customshousemuseum.org • Hours: Tues – Sat 10 – 5 • Sun 1 - 5
Pictured: Galen Crawley & Seth Lieber | Photo by: Shane Burkeen
THE LAST FIVE YEARS BY JASON ROBERT BROWN
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8/3/16 3:38 PM
BY MARSHALL CHAPMAN
Politics as unusual ... I have never let politics stop me from loving anybody. If I did, I’d have to stop loving half the members of my family. My father, who voted both sides of the fence, once described my mother’s politics as “to the right of Attila the Hun.”
September 10 • 7 p.m. Steve & Judy Turner Recital Hall The nation’s leading harp ensemble, renowned for its innovative, charismatic, and forward-thinking classical arrangements and new commissions Presented by the Nashville chapter of the American Harp Society and the Blair School
2400 Blakemore Ave. Nashville, TN 37212
For the complete concert calendar, please visit blair.vanderbilt.edu
BLU E FIG EDITIONS
Fine Art Printmaking S C R E E N PR I N T S • L I T H O G R A PH Y E TC H I N G • WO O D C U T S
Daddy always voted for whoever he thought would win. He had to, since he was often in Washington lobbying to control textile imports. He’d vote for Strom Thurmond, then turn right around and vote for the moderate liberal Fritz Hollings, which drove Mama crazy. One time some people approached my father about running for governor of South Carolina. “I can’t and stay married to Martha,” he said. “I’d have to divorce her first.” Mother was known for speaking her mind. People often joked that, compared to Mother, Martha Mitchell was shy and retiring. One of the greatest disappointments of my mother’s life was that three of her four children ended up Democrats. I remember one time during cocktail hour—this was during the 1988 presidential primaries. Anyway, she was sitting in the living room practically in tears as she sipped an Old Fashioned. “I survived the Great Depression,” she began. “And I survived World War II ... (pause) ... But NOTHING ... I mean NOTHING has upset me as much as TWO of my FOUR children voting for DUKAKIS!” (another pause, as she takes another sip from her Old Fashioned) ... and JAMIE VOTED FOR JESSE JACKSON!!” At this point, Mother comes as close as Mother can come to wailing. Jamie was her baby and only son. James Alfred Chapman IV. Eight years later he would die from AIDS. It’s been a strange election year for sure. And I imagine my family a microcosm of America itself—divided and unpredictable. I’m just grateful we’re all old enough now to be respectful of each other’s differences.
Owen, mono-print with screen print, 18” x 22”
• Hand-pulled original prints by master printer Mike Martino • We offer classes and workshops on all printmaking techniques • In-house publishing of fine art limited editions and posters
Blue Fig Editions • Brentwood TN 37027 www.bluefigeditions.com • mike@bluefigeditions.com • 615-942-9844
In closing, I’d like to share something I heard Billy Joe Shaver say one night when we were performing an in-the-round at the Bluebird Cafe. There were four of us singing songs and telling stories, just having a big ol’ time, when suddenly, the subject turned to death. Somebody quoted Woody Allen—”I’m not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Then Billy Joe, being Billy Joe, said, “I have a feeling when I die, I’ll wonder why I didn’t do it sooner.” Which makes me wonder if heaven has politics. Probably not. Probably why it’s called heaven. na Marshall Chapman is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, author, and actress. For more information, visit www.tallgirl.com.
BEYONDWORDS
CHICAGO HARP QUARTET
Photograph by Anthony Scarlati
THE BLAIR SCHOOL OF MUSIC FALL 2016 CONCERT SERIES
MYFAVORITEPAINTING BY MICHAEL SHANE NEAL, ARTIST
ARTIST BIO: James Montgomery Flagg James Montgomery Flagg, born in 1877 in Pelham Manor, New York, was enthusiastic about drawing from a young age and had illustrations accepted by national magazines by the age of 12 years. By 14 he was a contributing artist for Life magazine and the following year was on the staff of the magazine Judge. He attended the Art Students League of New York and studied fine art in London and Paris from 1898 to 1900. Upon returning to the United States, he produced countless illustrations for books, magazine covers, political and humorous cartoons, advertising, and spot drawings. He created his most famous work in 1917, a poster to encourage recruitment in the United States Army during World War I showing Uncle Sam pointing at the viewer with the caption “I Want YOU for the U.S. Army.” Over four million copies of the poster were printed during World War I, and it was revived for World War II. At his peak, Flagg was reported to have been the highestpaid magazine illustrator in America. In 1946, Flagg published his autobiography Roses and Buckshot. James Montgomery Flagg, circa 1910, Watercolor on paper, painted for a magazine
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s an artist, having a sense of connection, a sense of where you come from, helps you identify where you are going. As the old saying goes, “if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” My relationship with my longtime friend and mentor artist Everett Raymond Kinstler has taught me so much, but nothing more important than reverence for the past and the artists who came before. One of those giants of the past was artist James Montgomery Flagg (1877–1960). A mentor of Kinstler’s, Flagg impacted the world of illustration and arguably helped save the world as we know it. His name is not as familiar to us now, but his painting of Uncle Sam’s I Want YOU for the US Army created in 1917 inspired a generation of people and helped win a world war.
Flagg also painted portraits, authored many books, and wrote, acted in, and produced many silent films. The news of his death in 1960 was on the front pages of newspapers nationally, and his obituary filled two full pages in Time magazine under National Affairs. na For more information about Michael Shane Neal, visit www.michaelshaneneal.com. Michael Shane Neal
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
This piece by Flagg is a favorite from my collection. Given to Kinstler by Flagg and then given to me by Kinstler, it is a watercolor on paper, painted for a magazine cover circa 1910. It flows with confidence. Flagg’s elegant, sure, and prolific brush moves effortlessly across paper. The simplicity and beauty of the model, windblown veil, and red dress immediately draw your eyes to the model. Securely fastened to the left portion of the composition, she seems to slip just into our field of view. The work is so simple yet so moving, both in subject and the artist’s virtuosity.