Alex BEARD Bob GRUEN Rail Yard GRAFFITI
Jeff SCOTT Price HARRISON Paul Anthony SMITH
NINA KUZINA G A L L ERY 4231 Harding Pike • Nashville, TN 37205 Stanford Square, across from St. Thomas Hospital 615-321-0500 • 615-483-5995 ninakuzina@comcast.net • www.ninakuzina.com Open Daily 10 am - 6 pm
SMILE Debuted Statewide in Nashville New and Minimally-invasive Surgery for Myopia (Nearsightedness) is First Major Advance in LASIK Technology in 25 Years, Reducing Dependence on Glasses and Contacts which causes the corneal shape to change, permanently changing the prescription. SMILE has a proven track record of success. It has been used internationally since 2011 and more than 750,000 procedures have been performed worldwide. Dr. Wang noted that currently, the procedure has not been approved to treat large amounts of astigmatism and cannot treat farsightedness and that LASIK is still a better option for a majority of the patients seeking laser vision correction.
The first major advance in LASIK technology in 25 years, the SMILE procedure, was performed in Nashville recently at Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center by its director, internationally renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Ming Wang, Harvard & MIYT (MD, magna cum laude); PhD (laser physics). “We are extremely very excited to be the first again to introduce the next generation laser correction procedure to the state, helping out patients with this new and minimally invasive procedure,” said Dr. Wang. Myopia is a common eye condition in which close objects can be seen clearly but distant objects are blurry without correction. LASIK and PRK have been the main stay treatments for myopia for over two decades. But SMILE, which stands for SMall Incision Lenticule Extraction, has unique advantages over LASIK. The SMILE surgery is minimally invasive as the surgeon needs only to create a small, precise opening to correct vision. No flap is needed. The laser incision is smaller than 5 millimeters for SMILE, compared to approximately 20 millimeters for LASIK. This helps the cornea to retain more of its natural strength and reduces
the risk of rare flap complications. Dry eye after SMILE is also reduced compared with LASIK, as nerves responsible for tear production during the cornea remain more intact in SMILE. One of the state’s first SMILE patients was Margaret Coleman, 34, a manager of the world-famous Bluebird Café, in Nashville, which was prominently featured in the ABC TV drama Nashville, among others. Ms. Coleman has had poor eyesight all of her life, legally blind in both eyes without correction. Ms. Coleman’s 3D Laser SMILE procedure went beautifully and she is thrilled to have her crystal clear new vision and newly gained independence on glasses or contacts and being one of the first patients in the state to receive SMILE! “I am so happy!!!” exclaimed Margaret at her postop visit. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the VisuMax Femtosecond Laser for SMILE procedure for -1 to -8 D myopia with up to 0.5D astigmatism. During a SMILE procedure, a femtosecond laser with precise short pulses is used to make small incision in the cornea to create a discshaped piece of tissue. This tissue is then removed by the surgeon though the opening
Dr. Ming Wang, a Harvard & MIT graduate (MD, magna cum laude), is the CEO of Aier-USA, Director of Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center and one of the few laser eye surgeons in the world today who holds a doctorate degree in laser physics. He has performed over 55,000 procedures, including on over 4,000 doctors. Dr. Wang published 8 textbooks and a paper in the world-renowned journal Nature, holds several US patents and performed the world’s first laser-assisted artificial cornea implantation. He established a 501c(3) non-profit charity, Wang Foundation for Sight Restoration, which to date has helped patients from more than 40 states in the U.S. and 55 countries, with all sight restoration surgeries performed free-of-charge. Dr. Wang is the Kiwanis Nashvillian of the Year. Dr. Ming Wang can be reached at: Wang Vision 3D Cataract & LASIK Center, 1801 West End Ave, Ste 1150 Nashville, TN 37203, 615-321-8881 drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com www.wangcataractLASIK.com
TINNEY CONTEMPORARY
NANO.STASIS COSMIC GARDEN NEW WORK BY CARLA CIUFFO August 26 - September 30, 2017
237 5th Ave N . Nashville 37219 . 615.255.7816 . tinneycontemporary.com
5 t h Av e n u e o f t h e A r t s Downtown nAshville
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Columns HUNTER ARMISTEAD FYEye MARSHALL CHAPMAN Beyond Words ERICA CICCARONE Open Spaces LINDA DYER Appraise It RACHAEL MCCAMPBELL And So It Goes JOSEPH E. MORGAN Sounding Off ANNE POPE Tennessee Roundup JIM REYLAND Theatre Correspondent MARK W. SCALA As I See It
Nashville Arts Magazine is a monthly publication by St. Claire Media Group, LLC. This publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one magazine from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office, or by mail for $6.65 a copy. Email: All email addresses consist of the employee’s first name followed by @nashvillearts.com; to reach contributing writers, email info@ nashvillearts.com. Editorial Policy: Nashville Arts Magazine covers art, news, events, entertainment, and culture in Nashville and surrounding areas. The views and opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are available at $45 per year for 12 issues. Please note: Due to the nature of third-class mail and postal regulations, issues could be delayed by as much as two or three weeks. There will be no refunds issued. Please allow four to six weeks for processing new subscriptions and address changes. Call 615-383-0278 to order by phone with your credit card number.
HISTORY EMBR ACING A RT
Roots of Love
Featured Artist
C H A N DR A
A DK I N S
Artist Reception • September 1, 6-9pm 202 2nd Ave. South, Franklin, TN 37064
•
www.gallery202art.com
•
615-472-1134
THE RYMER GALLERY 10th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION “Bad artists copy, good artists steal” by Herb Williams
Featuring works by Lisa Bachman, Michael Brown, Gordon Chandler, Caleb Charland, Sam Dunson, John Jackson, Shane Miller, Will Penny, Woodrow White, Herb Williams & Liz Winnel
September 2 - 30, 2017
5TH AVENUE OF THE ARTS
DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE The Rymer Gallery / 233 Fifth Avenue / Nashville 37219 / therymergallery.com
On the Cover
September 2017
Jeff Scott
Elvis’s Gold Bedside Telephone 2003, Chromogenic photograph, 60” x 50”
Features
72 Art All In 4th Annual ArtCamp Is a Clarion Call for the Arts
18 Facets of Light-Based Jewels: COOP Gallery Gathers Gems from Local and International Video Art
76 Shadyville in Nashville 78 Alex Blau & Lain York Redefine Edge and Form
23 Price Harrison She’s Not There: New Photographs
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78
26 Tags, Throwies, and Pieces Harvesting Graffiti History at Rail Yard Studios
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36 32 Elvis Photographer Jeff Scott Takes Aim at the Everyday Regalia of the King 36 Paul Anthony Smith At mild climate
88 Nashville Opera’s Tosca 90 Fashion of the Arts
38 Catherine Erb Thin Air Comes to David Lusk Gallery
Columns
40 Demetrius Oliver: Aeriform
16 Crawl Guide
42 Abstract Naturalism New Work by Alex Beard
62 The Bookmark Hot Books and Cool Reads
42
80 Open Spaces by Erica Ciccarone 84 Poet’s Corner 86 As I See It by Liz Clayton Scofield 94 Theatre by Jim Reyland
76 48
Soul of Rock ‘n’ Roll Legendary Rock Photographer Bob Gruen Will Sign Books at Two Old Hippies
50 Alex Hall American Beauty
100 Art Smart by Rebecca Pierce
104 ArtSee 106 FYEye by Hunter Armistead 108 NPT
56 Carla Ciuffo Nano.Stasis Cosmic Garden
112 Appraise It by Linda Dyer
69 Notes for Notes Making Connections and Building Communities through Music
113 Beyond Words by Marshall Chapman 114 My Favorite Painting
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Publisher’s Note
A Great City Deserves Great Art Working as guest editor this month at Nashville Arts has been a pleasure. Calling writers, photographers, and artists to offer compensation for and promotion of their creativity reminded me how important these freelance opportunities are for driving the arts. I heard joy in their voices, and their passions shined through as they explored unique approaches to their assignments. It’s exciting! Sustaining the arts community in Nashville requires at minimum public participation and economic stability in the creative sector. My experience at Nashville Arts has instilled within me just how integral the magazine is for those efforts. Each month new artists are featured, providing space for conversation and growth for those who appear on the pages and those who read them. To loyal readers, this is not news to you. This month’s cover features a Chromogenic photograph by Jeff Scott. The subject is Elvis’s golden phone. Worn from use, the obsolete object recalls times past and the very human side of the king of rock ‘n’ roll who died 40 years ago. The talent that is being shown in town this month by local and international artists should get you out of the house and into the galleries, theaters, streets, and museums. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this issue. We hope it inspires you as much as it inspired everyone who participated in its making. I leave you with a question to consider as you peruse: What do you want to do to support the arts this month? Sara Lee Burd | Art consultant and writer
p U t
AArSHVILLE N
T h e E x p e c t a n t | 2013 | 40 x 30 inches
Art Up Nashville is a comprehensive fine art service provider dedicated to the professional installation of items such as art and antique objects, heavy mirrors, posters and photographs. No job is too big or small. Our staff consists of museum-trained art handlers who for years have regularly handled precious, irreplaceable items of all classifications for museums and galleries as well as commercial and residential clients. Additionally, our staff is made up of artists who possess a special appreciation for art and whose refined aesthetic sensibilities optimize the clients’ experience.
www.ArtUpNashville.com
J O H N PA U L K E S L I N G B ro k en Mi c
Galerie Tangerine is free + open by appointment Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM 615 454.4103 Located at 900 South Street, Suite 104
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duncan@artupnashville.com 615-975-7577
BENNET T GALLERIES New Artist
CATHY HEGMAN
On the Edge Acrylic and cold wax, 30” x 40”
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
Michael Poindexter Damico Frame & Art Gallery
September Crawl Guide
Franklin Art Scene
Friday, September 1, from 6 until 9 p.m. Experience historic downtown Franklin and celebrate the Franklin Art Scene’s 6th anniversary while enjoying a variety of art. Gallery 202 is featuring encaustic artist Chandra Adkins. O’More College of Design in partnership with The Arts Company is showing art by Marilyn Artus at the Robert Moore Gallery on campus. Work by winners of the first annual Art & Photography Contest hosted by Damico Frame & Art Terrell Thornhill, Twine Graphics Gallery will be displayed at Outdoor Classic Structures during a special celebration of the contest and the Art Scene’s 6th anniversary. Finnleys welcomes visual artist Hannah Pickering who specializes in abstracts, hand-lettering, and illustration. Jack Yacoubian Jewelry is presenting a variety of paintings by Susan Goshgarian McGrew. Franklin-based artist Terrell Thornhill is exhibiting his reductive screen print fine art and demonstrating his printing processes live at Twine Graphics on the Square. Williamson County Visitor Center is featuring the thoughtprovoking images of fine art documentary photographer Anthony Scarlati. See a range of artistic styles by William Bell at Williamson County Archives. Take in Mandala art in Massood Taj’s show Visual Meditations at Williamson County Enrichment Center.
First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown Saturday, September 2, from 6 until 9 p.m.
Enjoy an evening of art under the lights on 5th Avenue. The Arts Company presents The Art and Legacy of a Gee’s Bend Quilt Collection, a new series of handmade museum-quality rugs based on original quilts created by a group of AfricanAmerican women from Gee’s Bend, Alabama. A selection of work by new artist Alex Beard is also on view (see page 42). Tinney Contemporary is unveiling a new exhibition by Carla Ciuffo entitled Nano.Stasis Cosmic Garden (see page 56). The Rymer Gallery is hosting its 10th Anniversary Exhibition featuring works by Lisa Bachman, Michael Brown, Gordon Chandler, Caleb Charland, Sam Dunson, John Jackson, Shane Miller, Will Penny, Woodrow White, Herb Williams, and Liz
Amiee Stubbs, UltraViolet Gallery
Winnel. The Browsing Room Gallery at the Downtown Presbyterian Church is featuring No Wrong Way by Memphis artist Lacy Mitcham. The exhibition is made to transform the space and give the viewer an experience of one installation containing Mike Martino, Blue Fig Gallery multiple objects made out of materials that are unusual for sculpture but are common in everyday life. In the historic Arcade, UltraViolet Gallery is opening photographer Amiee Stubbs’s new exhibit Dogs and Cats of Italy. Blue Fig Gallery is exhibiting Mike Martino’s monoprints. These original hand-pulled mono-prints are a unique painterly way of making screen prints on handmade paper. See work by emerging artists at “O” Gallery. For parking and trolley information, visit www.nashvilledowntown.com/play/ first-saturday-art-crawl.
Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston Saturday, September 2, from 6 until 9 p.m.
From Hagen to Houston to Chestnut and beyond, Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston offers a broad range of artistic experience. Zeitgeist is hosting an opening reception for Alex Blau’s Night Swimming and Lain York’s Ghost collection (see page 78). At COOP Gallery, Mike Kluge—also known as MKAV—is opening Sum + From - Non, an algorithmic-based video installation (see page 18). In partnership with COOP, at 5:00 p.m. Seed Space is screening Jonathan Rattner’s The Interior, an “observational film” that follows dogsledder Brent Sass through rural Alaska (see page 18). While at Seed Space, enjoy the exhibit Demetrius Oliver: Aeriform (see page 40). mild climate gallery is showing Paul Anthony Smith’s exhibition Untitled (More Heat III) a photographic show Elise Drake, East Side Project Space that contains five inkjet prints (see page 36). Fort Houston is featuring New York-based painter David Head. Ola Mai Designer Leslie Stephens is hosting a total fashion takeover of Julia Martin Gallery. At East Side Project Space in the Packing Plant, Gallery Luperca is presenting the sculptural, photographic, and video installation work of Brooklyn artist Elise Drake in the exhibition Guilty Pleasures. Shadyville by Eleanor Aldrich and Heather Hartman is on view at Channel to Channel (see page 76). See Nina Covington’s Rise, mixed-media photography that explores the artist’s journey through healing and the triumph of will at abrasiveMedia. For more
doors of its new location at 625 Hart Lane and is offering tours of their new lab and workspace. For updates, visit www. eastsideartstumble.com.
Germantown Art Crawl
Saturday, September 16, from 6 until 9 p.m. Tour the non-traditional art spaces of Germantown to see an array of artworks by a variety of artists. As you make your way through the neighborhood, stop at these key art spots: 100 Taylor Arts Collective, Abednego, Wilder, Bits & Pieces, Bearded Iris Brewing, and Alexis & Bolt.
Jefferson Street Art Crawl
Saturday, September 23, from 6 until 9 p.m.
David Head, Fort Houston
information, please visit www.artsmusicweho.wordpress.com.
East Side Art Stumble
Saturday, September 9, from 6 until 10 p.m. Take a drive down Gallatin Pike to Red Arrow Gallery for the opening of McKay Otto’s solo exhibition ever wide open ever, which includes surface and 3-D light box glow paintings, sculpture, and a darkroom installation. The Green Gallery at Turnip Green Creative Reuse is presenting The Four Corners Retrospective and Auction, an exhibit featuring the inclusion of recycled, reused, and found materials in mixed-media
Start the Jefferson Street Art Crawl early this month by helping Woodcuts Gallery & Framing celebrate their 30th year! Vickie Yates will emcee this milestone event called Visionary, which is being held to celebrate the contributions of Woodcuts Gallery & Framing to Nashville’s art community. Work by James Threalkill, Michael McBride, Jamaal Sheats, Omari Booker, Essence DeVonne, Ludie Amos, and X Payne among others will be featured. One Drop Ink, Garden Brunch Cafe, and The Loft at Ella Jean’s Café are also participating. Stay posted on event details at Facebook.com/jsactn.
McKay Otto, Red Arrow Gallery
artwork by Eva Sochorova, robert bruce scott, Randy L Purcell and Lisa Haddad. Southern Grist Brewery is showing work by Ryan Rado. Nashville Community Darkroom is opening the
The Four Corners, The Green Gallery
James Threalkill, Woodcuts Gallery
WORDS Megan Kelley
Facets of Light-Based Jewels:
MKAV, Excerpt from “Jeux”, March 2017, Digital video
COOP Gallery Gathers Gems from Local and International Video Art
I
n a unique partnership bridging Nashville’s exhibition spaces, COOP—the curatorial collective and the gallery that houses their commitment to contemporary work—brings three key showcases of video art. The partnership tackles the medium of video in three ways, expanding the dialogue not just in three formats of engagement—a screening of a local filmmaker, internationally acclaimed; an interactive exhibition created in a hyper-local context; and an international exhibition of video art juried by and for Nashville—but in three unique Nashville spaces as well: COOP Gallery, SeedSpace, and Elephant. “This is one of the few times COOP has been able to have an active work share with other galleries in Nashville,” curator Morgan Higby-Flowers explains. The partnership brings different perspectives and audiences to the experiences, as well as allowing for a thorough look into the medium. “It spreads it out a little,” says Higby-Flowers, noting that the extended schedule honors the possibilities of video by giving audiences time to digest the different facets of artists’ approaches.
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At COOP Gallery, Mike Kluge—also known as MKAV— opens with Sum + From - Non, an algorithmic-based video installation that starts from a sine wave and, as it is affected by a real-time system embedded at the gallery, builds into what Kluge describes as “a massive orchestration.” Known for his multi-media installations, Kluge utilizes sound, light, video, and interactivity to construct spatial environments that alter with and absorb the viewer. With installations functioning as both analog and digital spaces, Kluge seeks to “inspire and entertain emerging forms of media” through his installation works, shifting what might be a simple synthetic encounter into what becomes instead a deeply personal construction. Often as the audience member affects the space, leaving imprints of their actions behind, they are in turn affected by the ripples of previous visitors. “When a participant leaves an MKAV installation, my hope is that they are stimulated by possibility, touched by imagination, and eager to experience it all again.” As part of the partnership, September also highlights a screening of Jonathan Rattner’s The Interior, an
Jonathan Rattner, The Interior film still, 2016
“observational film” that follows dogsledder Brent Sass through rural Alaska, through COOP’s partnership with SeedSpace. The award-winning film pairs Rattner’s poetic sensibilities with minimal dialogue and cinematic approaches, allowing the viewer to become immersed in the vast spaces of both the Alaskan wilderness and the human soul. It is a strong introduction to the spirit behind COOP’s later showcase, Microcinema, a competitive art film festival. Opening at Elephant Gallery in North Nashville, Microcinema features a selection of short video works from independent artists from all over the globe. Juried by Nashville-based artists Jonathan Rattner, Jon Warren, and Morgan Higby-Flowers, the chosen films themselves are similarly diverse, collecting a range of narrative themes, experimental shorts, and documentary films into the ninety-minute schedule. With community access in mind, the screening is free and open to the public, with hopes to continue conversations within a global context of video. na Mike Kluge’s work is on view through September at COOP Gallery, located at 507 Hagan Street in Nashville. COOP is open Tuesday through Thursday from 2 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.coopgallery. org or contact info@coopgallery.org to arrange a viewing. The Interior screens September 2, 5 p.m., at Seed Space, 1201 4th Avenue S., Suite 117 in Nashville. Microcinema will be screened at 7 p.m. on September 16 at Elephant Gallery, 1409 Buchanan Street in Nashville.
Mixed Media, 18” x 24”
Jon Langford
LOST SOULS:
JON LANGFORD NEW PAINTINGS AND PRINTS SHOWING SEPTEMBER 2 - OCTOBER 3
Mike Kluge
Photograph by Steve Voss
OPENING RECEPTION: SEPTEMBER 2 • 6:00 - 9:00 pm
#PressPlayRecord • @HatchShowPrint HatchShowPrint.com • Downtown Nashville
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Photograph by Rory White
Price Harrison
She’s Not There: New Photographs Dane Carder Studio
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September 7–30
WORDS Cat Acree
A
fter Price Harrison has designed and built one of his serene, white-box buildings, there’s a real possibility that a tree could fall on it. Or the owners could sell, and it could waste away. Perhaps no art is more aware of its own decay than architecture. To cope with the immeasurable, Harrison takes to the street to photograph a world left to crumble. “If you make a record or photograph, you always have the original, and it never changes,” says Harrison, who is best known for the sleek, flawless, asymmetrical balance of his buildings, as with Silver Space, his office/recording studio/personal gallery in Green Hills. (He’s also a
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
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Country Club Fireworks, 2017, Archival pigment print, 12” x 18”
guitarist; this is Nashville.) “Architecture’s not like that. From the minute you walk away, it’s starting to fall apart.” And so Harrison prowls forgotten corners and overlooked alleyways. He’s been taking photos longer than he’s been an architect—first film, now digital—and much of his photography reflects his other work, with the same asymmetrical balance of light, color, and composition. But while the framing might be just right in these photographs, it’s the pervasive decay and the rare, disengaged human presence that urge a deeper look. All of Harrison’s photographs have a surrealist edge, but the fourteen included in his first solo show, She’s Not There, are his strangest. From the bizarre, cinematic unreality of Country Club Fireworks to the missing heads of Cheerleaders, there’s something weird about these quotidian slices of life. The people—who are no more important than any other object in the frame—are oblivious, maybe even missing. This is where the show’s title comes from: Someone, at some point, built that building, made that airplane, hung that flag, or placed a chair in that specific spot. “Whoever was involved in making what you see is gone,” Harrison explains.
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Consider the setting of Jerry Rigged, shot at Los Angeles’s Manhattan Beach. It’s a scene of a pink fence and bluecarpeted stairs in such a state of disrepair that, if you used them, “you’d die.” On the morning he captured the shot, a hazy mist diffused the light in such an unusually ephemeral way as to sever the moment from its own reality. If you went to those stairs today—which are probably still exactly the same—you wouldn’t recognize them. “It’s confusing to me,” Harrison says. “It doesn’t look the same as the day I was there. It’s kind of freaky.” Closer to home, Springwater was shot when Harrison was in the namesake bar for a sound check, when fluorescent lights illuminated a scene of empty white chairs and mustard- and red-vinyl benches. “The actual room was very mundane and probably was an aggregate of years and years of just throwing stuff in there,” Harrison says. “We need another seat here!” It’s probably for the best that few see Nashville’s institutional Springwater bar when it’s well lit—but in Harrison’s photograph, it is vacant but not void, familiar but not recognizable. As well as being Harrison’s first solo show, She’s Not There is also the first exhibition at the brand-new Dane Carder
Fallen Indian, 2017, Archival pigment print, 12” x 18”
Inside Job, 2017, Archival pigment print, 12” x 18”
Springwater, 2017, Archival pigment print, 12” x 18”
Attendant, 2017, Archival pigment print, 12” x 18”
Studio. Before partnering with David Lusk to form David Lusk Gallery, Carder had a studio and gallery space in Fort Houston for almost seventeen years. Dane Carder Studio is of similar spirit to his old space, with a working studio as well as an exhibition space. He considered Harrison the ideal artist for the studio’s inaugural show. “As fantastic an architect as he is—and photographer—not many people know about his photo work,” Carder says. “That’s one of the beautiful things about having a space and being able to open it up.” A new space for photos of old spaces—sounds like some asymmetrical balance. na Price Harrison’s exhibit She’s Not There: New Photographs opens with a reception from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on September 7 at Dane Carder Studio, 438 Houston Street, #262, Nashville, and remains on view until October 30. For more information, plerase visit www.danecarder.com. Jerry Rigged, 2017, Archival pigment print, 12” x 18”
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Tags, Throwies, and Pieces Harvesting Graffiti History at Rail Yard Studios
WORDS Robert Hendrick PHOTOGRAPHY Jerry Atnip
On a coal-black night, danger tastes like diesel fumes mixed with the acrid stench of nitrate fertilizer. Out of the brush, three masked figures slip onto the tracks. They’re trespassing and putting their lives at risk in more ways than they can imagine. As the expression goes, “People don’t get hurt on the railroad; they get killed.” Police and railroad workers—people with a right to be there— are looking for them. They may be more forgiving than the thugs engaged in their own illicit activities. Wafting fumes or the embers of a lit cigarette could betray their location. Retribution would be swift and violent. Everyone is on edge. They’re here to bomb a train. That’s slang among graffiti artists for defacing railcars.
Graffiti artist Troy Duff and Rail Yard Studios owner Robert Hendrick
TASK by TASK, 2010, Harvested original graffiti from a boxcar
T
he upcoming exhibition at Rail Yard Studios, Project Boxcar, evolved from a team effort. Troy Duff and I met when he moved back to Nashville from Los Angeles. Despite Duff’s background as a graffiti writer and mine as a railroader, we became unlikely friends. Pursuing an interest in exploring the incorporation of graffiti into my custom artisan tables, and with Duff’s assistance, we did just that. A couple of graffiticovered tabletops developed into a whole new effort. For Project Boxcar we gather burners, original works of vandalism that have traveled thousands of miles on the rails. Composed under cover of night, by artists high on adrenaline for fear of discovery and subjected to challenging weather conditions, freight art possesses a raw, uninhibited, and imperfect character. History credits a young Philadelphia man named CORNBREAD as the first graffiti writer in the 1960s, but it was kids like TAKI183, STAYHIGH149, and TRACY168 that experts cite among the first to tag subway cars. The numerals at the end of their names stood for 183rd, 149th and 168th Streets—all in the heart of the Bronx—an urban wasteland of vacant lots, abandoned buildings, gangs, and lost hope in the 1970s. After tagging a car, the young vandals would seek out a nearby bench, thereby forever linking the term benching to the spectator aspect of graffiti. Then in 1985, New York declared war on graffiti in what would come to be known as The Buff. It took until 1989 for
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city officials to declare the metro train system graffiti-free after countless dollars spent enforcing the struggle. That led writers to take their art to the rails of the neighboring freight yards, where they sought out burners, or cars that would travel long distances across the country. Many early purists of the graffiti movement look down their noses at freight writers as less daring, but the danger remains high. We’ve started doing what we call harvesting—selecting, marking, and preserving pieces of graffiti from railcars headed for scrap. An act of historic preservation to some generates controversy among some in the graffiti world, however. Graffiti artists typically object to the harvesting of their work. They argue the importance of viewing their work in the context of where it was made and that the temporary nature defines the art. We understand and empathize but disagree when it comes to what we are doing with Project Boxcar. Either we harvest it or it’s scrap metal within twenty-four hours. We provide a last-minute reprieve from death row. Duff boasts, “For thirty years, the railroad has wiped it off, painted it over, or sent it to scrap. They’ve destroyed some stunning artwork, but they’ve failed to stop the artistic bombing of trains.” From my standpoint, if those vandals don’t like harvesting, maybe we’ve found a way for the railroads to return fire in this war.
Anarchistic by nature, the graffiti culture breeds contradiction and controversy including inner conflict over whether to preserve or not. In Saving Banksy, graffiti artist Ben Eine says he wouldn’t want his work harvested, then reflects a second before admitting that two hundred years from now, he’d like to know that some of his work still existed. On the popular “Legends Thursday” podcasts, modern graffiti artists are prone to swoon over older writers’ work that they see while out benching and the importance of preserving it. It’s a fact; graffiti stands as the first significant art movement since Pop Art. Through Project Boxcar, we’re preserving freight graffiti before it’s destroyed. My role is to establish provenance by uncovering it and putting it in the context of the graffiti movement. Every piece in this exhibition has a story. Project Boxcar showcases examples of three basic types of written graffiti: tags, throwies, and pieces. Tags are a name scrawled in a single color in about three seconds. They occupy one or two square feet of blank space and serve to test a can of paint or establish/promote an Troy Duff and Robert Hendrick, Ella, Spray paint on salvaged coal car
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artist’s identity like a dog marking a tree. The piece from BONK, a Baltimore-based artist, exemplifies this style, and it sports a halo and underline embellishment common among graffiti artists. Just as hobos will mark a car, graffiti artists will tag with white oil bar like The Tesla Kid and BETOR monikers we harvested. The BETOR tag has a local connection to writer Ronald “Ronnie” Bobal who passed away in December of 2016. Throwies or throw-ups take a bit longer. They generally consist of two colors—often balloon letters composed of a light color outlining the word and then filled with a dark color on top to define the letters. Exploding in color and style, masterpieces (or pieces among the initiated) can
Troy Duff, KREST, Green spray paint on salvaged Autorack railcar doors
For thirty years, the railroad has wiped it off, painted it over, or sent it to scrap. They’ve destroyed some stunning artwork, but they’ve failed to stop the artistic bombing of trains.
B’Zone, Mercenary Bear King, Harvested original freight graffiti
cover anything from an entire rail car down to just a few square feet of space. TASK, one of the largest harvested masterpieces in Project Boxcar, legibly spells out the artist’s name in bold peach and yellow hues. The piece incorporates elements of a comic book action accent like POW! or BAM! I tracked down the artist and learned that TASK executed it on a rainy day, thus explaining some of the runs in the paint that lend the piece character. Getting up close and personal with the work makes the Project Boxcar exhibit compelling. Viewed at a distance, the harvested works have a tight, finished look. Moving in, the lines fade to soft edges with paint runs, inadequate paint coverage, and other gritty, rough imperfections. For me, viewing the burners from three feet compares to looking up close at the works from the great Dutch painters. You can see the lines, like brush strokes in a Rembrandt or Van Gogh painting. The exhibit places some of Duff’s carefully crafted work alongside the harvested sections of railcar graffiti. A writer for over 30 years, he represents one of the grandfathers
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of the local graffiti movement. Recently, Duff has been cultivating a new abstract design style that draws on the shapes and forms in his lettering. For this work, he has set aside his days of scrawling his moniker on a train or two while growing up in 1980s Nashville. The difference in style between the burners and Duff’s contemporary work is striking, and it’s no wonder that many artists view their freight writing as sketches, or as practice for a larger purpose. na Project Boxcar opens Friday, September 29, at Rail Yard Studios at 57 Willow Street. For more information, visit www.railyardstudios.com and www.troyduffart.com.
About the author: Robert Hendrick founded Rail Yard Studios as well as multiple technology and healthcare IT startups. With an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design and an MFA from The Ohio State University, he has a passion for both art and design. An avid traveler, he worked and studied in both Europe and Australia.
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
ANNA CARLL
Elemental Series: Botanical #7, Mixed media on panel, 40” x 60”
RON YORK
POLLY COOK
Overture, Acrylic on canvas, 12” x 12”
Try, Try Again, Acrylic on canvas, 12” x 12”
107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 • 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net www.yorkandfriends.com • Follow us on
at York & Friends Fine Art NASHVILLEARTS.COM
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ELVIS
Photographer Jeff Scott Takes Aim at the Everyday Regalia of the King
Cinema (Elvis on Bicycle), 2001, Photogravure, 32” x 41”
Elvis’s Gold Bedside Telephone 2003, Chromogenic photograph, 60” x 50”
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We tend to think of Elvis as this rebellious figure, but he actually had a deeply ingrained respect for authority.
WORDS John Pitcher PHOTOGRAPHY Jeff Scott
L
eonard Bernstein, the famed conductor of the New York Philharmonic, knew a thing or two about cultural trends. His unorthodox, provocative statements often raised eyebrows. But one pronouncement he made in the late 1960s caused a real stir. During an animated conversation with a Time magazine editor, Bernstein declared that Elvis Presley was, without question, the most influential cultural force of the 20th century. Time’s stunned editor protested. Surely Bernstein, a paragon of high-brow seriousness, must consider creators like Picasso and Stravinsky to be more important than the garish hillbilly from Tupelo, Mississippi. But Bernstein persisted. Elvis changed everything, Bernstein said. He changed our sense of fashion and our hair. And he completely changed our sense of musical syntax and grammar. In so doing, Elvis had managed to tap directly into the America soul, and nothing would ever be the same again. Bernstein wasn’t the only cultural figure to recognize Elvis’s preeminence. John Lennon also worshiped the King, noting that “before Elvis, there was nothing.” Since his death in 1977, Elvis has achieved legendary status, which in turn has made it easy to forget that he was once a living, flesh-and-blood human being. Jeff Scott has made it his mission to discover the real Elvis. A photographer and
filmmaker who recently relocated from Austin, Texas, to Nashville, Scott is the author of Elvis: The Personal Archives. The book documents the artwork Scott created in the early 2000s after he received from Presley’s estate unprecedented access to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s personal effects. For Scott, the project was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. “I’ve been fascinated with Elvis my whole life,” Scott tells Nashville Arts Magazine. “As a kid, I would dress like him and was teased for it. Later, as an artist, I became concerned that we might lose sight of Elvis the man. Elvis has been put on a pedestal. He’s become an icon. I thought the best way to find the real Elvis was to examine the things he used, the things that were important to him in life.” What Scott discovered was a complex man whose personal obsessions often contradicted his public image. The work that perhaps best illustrates this dichotomy is Object of Authority. The work superimposes Elvis’s pearl-handled Colt 45 handgun on top of his honorary narcotics officer badge, the latter a prized possession that the King received after visiting President Nixon in 1970. “We tend to think of Elvis as this rebellious figure, but he actually had a deeply ingrained respect for authority,” Scott says. “He was fascinated by police officers and collected
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Object of Authority, 2001, Photogravure with chine-collé, 41” x 32”
police badges. He was also fascinated with guns and loved doing target practice with his friends in the backyard of Graceland.”
some of his favorite possessions with gold. His grand piano, for instance, boasted a golden sheen. And he spoke to his intimates on a gold telephone.
Naturally, Elvis’s favorite gun was a lethal emblem of authority. The weapon, with its turquoise pearl handle, is the kind of sidearm one would expect to see on a flamboyant general like Douglas MacArthur—or on a rags-to-riches rock star.
“The gold telephone was in Elvis’s bedroom, and it was special to him,” Scott says. “He wouldn’t talk to just anybody on that phone, only to loved ones like his mother and his wife, Priscilla.”
The trappings of success were obviously important to Elvis, who grew up as an impoverished child in the poorest state in the union. So, when he achieved stardom, he embellished
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The Presley estate allowed Scott to see everything. Interestingly, some of the most revealing items were among the most seemingly banal. These included his toiletry kit, immortalized in a photo Scott titled Hai Karate Still Life.
Images copyright Jeff Scott, 2017
There was nothing regal about the accoutrements of the King’s personal hygiene, all mundane items that were readily available at any Memphis five-and-dime store. That said, Elvis’s comb and razor have his DNA on them. “You don’t get any more human, any more real than that,” says Scott. Another everyday item that left an impression on Scott was Elvis’s Tennessee operator’s license. Clearly, for a man who drove a commercial truck before acquiring a fleet of Cadillacs, an operator’s license was a thing of importance. “The license is very personal, because it has Elvis’s signature on it,” says Scott. “It’s also striking because it expires the same year Elvis died.”
Perhaps the most revealing thing about Elvis’s possessions is the percentage of them that he gave away. “At the end of the day, Elvis gave away to friends more things than he kept,” says Scott. “He was, essentially, a very generous man.” na Jeff Scott is represented by Tinney Contemporary, www.tinneycontemporary.com. See more of his work at www.jeffscottstudio.com.
Elvis’s Tennessee Drivers License, 2003, Chromogenic photograph, 50” x 60”
Elvis’s Hai Karate Cologne Still Life, 2003, Chromogenic photograph, 60” x 50”
TV with Bullet Hole, 2006, Photogravure with chine-collé, 32” x 41”
Elvis’s Gibson J-200 Guitar, 2003, Chromogenic photograph, 60” x 50”
At first blush, Elvis’s possessions—clothes, guns, badges, guitars, cars, toiletries, documents—may seem unrelated. But they share a commonality. “They are all extremely worn,” says Scott. “Elvis really loved and used his things.”
WORDS Jerry C. Waters
Paul Anthony Smith
P
aul Anthony Smith’s exhibition Untitled (More Heat III) is a photographic show that contains five inkjet prints. More Heat III suggests an exhibition loaded with images that are sizzling hot, visually and thematically. However, Smith’s pictures in terms of imagery and content are serene and peaceful. For instance, upon entering the gallery space the viewer will encounter Untitled (Fence III) which is from a series of images Smith shot in his Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood. From a distance, Fence III, a modernistic image, calls to mind Claude Monet’s nineteenth-century impressionistic garden scenes that he painted in Giverny, France. Smith’s print depicts a chain-link metal fence that appears to be intertwined with green foliage and multi-colored floral forms. Yet, on close inspection, that which is floral is actually
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Untitled (Fence 3), 2017, Oil stick on inkjet print
Untitled (Fence 1), 2017, Oil stick on inkjet print
At mild climate through September 23
an overall pattern of cool blues, violets, and greens—hues that float throughout the pictorial space. And in contrast to these soft hues, which are applied with oil sticks upon the print surface, are bright splashes of red, white, and orange. Thematically, Fence I speaks to the notion of barriers that either separate or unite communities. Fencing as an idea relates to American politics today and ongoing discussions about controlling the flow of people who enter the country illegally along the Southwestern border. The proposed solution is to build a wall—in essence to fence people out. Also Included in the exhibition are two black-and-white portraits. One depicts a woman photographed at a West Indian Day parade in Brooklyn, New York, and the other shows the face of a male Jamaican soccer team goalie.
Both employ Smith’s signature method of “picotage,” which involves meticulously plucking select areas from the picture surface, resulting in textural patterns. Untitled (More Heat III) is a remarkable showing of images that Smith has pulled from found and shot photographic images, and the exhibition illustrates the artist’s interest in pictorial design and structure. Smith’s excellent picture-making skills are matched by his abilities as a master cook. In conjunction with his opening reception at mild climate gallery, the artist grilled his special brand of jerk chicken and vegetables outside while gallery patrons explored his artwork inside. While grilling for his guests, Smith also was willing to discuss his art and his rich life experiences, including his formative years in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, where he was born, as well as his student years in Miami, Florida, where he studied at the New World School of the Arts. Later, Smith received a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, followed by his move to Brooklyn, New York, within the past five years. His recent exhibitions include a solo show at Atlanta Contemporary and group shows at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum in Durham, North Carolina, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Seattle Museum of Art. The warmth this writer expected to see and feel through Smith’s More Heat III exhibition also appeared through the creative spirit of the artist as well as through the intellectual curiosity of the gallery visitors who appeared in early August for the Wedgewood-Houston art crawl. na
Untitled, 2017, Unique picotage on inkjet print
Paul Anthony Smith’s exhibition Untitled (More Heat III) is on view at mild climate through September 23. For more information, visit www.mild-climate.net.
WORDS Bob Doerschuk
Catherine Erb Thin Air Comes to David Lusk Gallery September 5–October 7
W
hat could be more breathtaking than a series of photographs taken from the window seat of an airliner? If the clouds are right, the view can be unforgettable. But what if the Plexiglas you’re looking through is kind of smudged, as it often is? Or cracked? Even better, insists Catherine Erb, whose images of clouds and brilliant skies are on display from September 5 through October 7 at David Lusk Gallery. “I love that!” she enthuses. “I love dirty, nasty glass that I can put in front of my lenses and filters so it’s like I’m shooting through a veil. I mean, we all look at life through our own veils, so why not play with that?”
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This philosophy is more apparent in some of her more earthbound work, viewable at CatherineErbPhotography.com, where the edges of her pictures and often the human beings who seem to stray into them transform into almost abstract elements in an otherwise representational image. But you can see it at the Lusk show, too, where her billowing nimbuses grow more intriguing the closer you draw to them. That’s because her aim is not to just depict her subjects— clouds, fishing lures, steeples, flowers—or freeze them as if to say she’d defined their stories. “For me, each of these images is the beginning of a quest,” Erb explains. “For example, my cloud series is all about having higher thoughts. Clouds fascinated me when I was a child. I used to lie on the ground
Cloud Study 32 (Clouds over Water), 2016, Mixed media photo encaustic, 36” x 80”
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Clouds fascinated me when I was a child. I used to lie on the ground and change their shape in my thoughts.
and change their shape in my thoughts. “When I started these pictures years ago, I didn’t know they were going to become a body of work,” she continues. “But I began to think about how cool it was that I thought I had that much power as a child. What took that power away from me? Then I realized I still have that power. My thoughts still are powerful. They may not change the shapes of clouds but they can change the shape of our lives.” Born in Memphis, Erb explored art as a child before being enrolled at the All Saints Episcopal Boarding School in Vicksburg, Mississippi. A teacher there suggested that she shift her attention from painting to photography. Was it because he noticed that she had some primal fascination with the medium? She hesitates, laughs, and answers, “No, I think it was probably because I was disruptive in his class. So he stuck me in the darkroom.” Cloud Study 28, 2016, Mixed media photo encaustic, 36” x 36”
Whatever the reason, Erb sensed immediately she had found her métier. Initially she looked at photographs as wordless entries in a journal, again not to chronicle where she had been as much as to preserve the resonances of her experiences. While this remains vital to her, she has expanded her intentions to use her work as primarily a process for self-discovery. “All of my work now is a meditation,” she says. “I like to shoot in the moment right after my eye has seen something but before my brain can identify it. It’s a moment without judgment. I try to expand that moment as much as I can.” An enthusiastic user of digital technology, Erb notes that her love of the darkroom informs her meticulous approach to personalizing her pictures. She prints each photo on watercolor paper, which she attaches to birch boards. Then she adds as many as twenty layers of encaustic wax. Thus she converts a sea-and-cloudscape at the David Lusk Gallery show into nearly a tintype. The effect is to suggest timelessness: This photo might have been forgotten for years in someone’s attic—or snapped through a portal opening toward eternity.
Cloud Study 32 (Clouds over Water), 2016, Mixed media photo encaustic, 36” x 80”
For all the attention she pays to craft, Erb can’t really explain what inspires her to distort or enhance the details in her photos. “It’s all based on what I’m working through at any given time,” she says. Then she laughs again and adds, “But I’ll be so happy when I can figure that out for myself. That’s when we’ll all hear angels singing!” na Catherine Erb’s exhibit Thin Air is showing at David Lusk Gallery September 5 through October 7. An artists talk with Alyssa Rosenheck and Catherine Erb is slated September 20 from 6 until 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.davidluskgallery.com. See more of Erb’s work at www.catherineerbphotography.com.
Catherine Erb in her studio
WORDS Audrey Molloy
Demetrius Oliver: Aeriform Seed Space through September 23
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eed Space gallery debuts Demetrius Oliver: Aeriform, an installation which poetically ruptures the dimensionality of sculpture through deft aesthetic gestures. The New York-based artist is best known for his use of prosaic materials in improvisatory and site-specific installations about atmospheric phenomena—in what he refers to as a process of suggestion. Aeriform is a continuation of Oliver’s metaphoric consideration of everyday materials to envision abstract experiences.
Instrument (detail), 2015
In this site-specific installation, Oliver reinterprets material and sculptural elements occurring in his previous work within the constraints and limitations of the gallery space. The motif of a storm shutter reoccurs in this work as an obstructing barrier; Oliver has nailed a clear industrial storm shutter to the exterior of the doorframe, effectively barring entry into the exhibition space. Its thickly corrugated surface disperses light from a single fixture above. Immediately on the other side of the ridged shutter, an iridescent cast-resin air turbine sits just below eye level on a thin steel pedestal—its lowest shelf is occupied by a chrome turbine of the same size. In a poetic and frustrating conflation of screened visibility and limited physical access, Oliver, through disabling the only function of the doorway—a mechanism for transitioning into a new space—has transparently rendered the entrance symbolic and obsolete. Viewers spatially orient themselves several feet from the entry of the gallery, viewing Oliver’s sculptural intervention in the context of its extended environment, an action which effectively shifts the physical domain of the gallery beyond the space it normally occupies. An astute example of Oliver’s penchant for materiality, the use of the storm shutter curiously situates Aeriform as both photographic and sculpturally resonant. Sealing the work along a two-dimensional plane, the shutter visually flattens the physical space the work occupies, but in its translucency recalls the foreseeable depth of the room beyond. Likewise, the close proximity of the figurative sculpture to the other side of the shutter denotes a sense of unresolved confrontation—compelled to approach the sculptural piece that dominates the frame, we are unable to occupy the same space, and our vision is impaired by a screen. Oliver’s poeticism in Aeriform derives from a series of concise denials: The space is un-enterable; the doorframe is closed; the storm shutter mediates our pure vision of the sculptural work behind it, and the air turbines do not move. His allusion to the conduction and preservation of
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Instrument, 2015, 142” x 185” x 162”
air through the turbines and the sealed storm shutter denotes an expectancy, or resolve, of possible functionality, yet it is motionless and unburdened by real-life application. The final resonance of Aeriform is like much of Oliver’s work—singular, lyrical, and with imperceptible depth. na Demetrius Oliver: Aeriform is on exhibit at Seed Space through September 23. For more information, visit seedspace.org.
Opening Reception September 23rd, 6 - 8PM Artist will be present 4107 Hillsboro Circle | 615 297 0296 | www.cumberlandgallery.com
Postcards from Hog Ranch, 2017, Limited edition print with original ink embellishment, 23” x 34”
Laura Nugent in her studio 42
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WORDS Margaret F. M. Walker
Abstract Naturalism New Work by Alex Beard The Arts Company
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February 3–22
W
hether working in paint, ink, video, or prose, Alex Beard is in all things a storyteller. These tales take many forms—straightforward and narrative or meandering and conversational—but at the root all are about nature, animals, and man’s relationship with them. The selftermed “abstract naturalism” that makes his visual art so distinctive is about “the interconnected way that things in nature move and operate in concert with each other.” Beard has found that focusing on animals as a metonym for nature and approaching his subject with abstract forms that twist and weave create opportunities for viewers to dig deeper into both his compositions and wider issues of conservation. Beard’s artwork usually begins with a gestural line or splatter of ink. From there shapes take form. While these compositions are flattened in the manner characteristic of abstract art, there is depth in the overlapping and weaving of forms and patterns otherwise recognizable as belonging to distinct animals. The embellished print of The Painting of Life is an excellent example of this. For instance, the form of the zebra on the lower right is broken up by that of alligators, monkeys, and more. Similarly, the central giraffe shares its bit of the scene with a dolphin, antelope, and something tusked. After deciphering the colors and
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The Painting of Life, 2017, Limited edition print with original ink embellishment, 22” x 34”
patterns we associate with animals, one will step back to observe the overwhelming movement within this work dominated by curves and swirls. This fluid motion acts as a compositional reminder of how all of these animals are connected, and the curvy continuation of the design onto the mat brings it out, asking for our involvement as well.
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The technique is to start with abstract expressionism and to then pull nature back out of it. This is a story that does not have an ending. It asks: Why are we here? What are we? How do we perceive ourselves in relation to our surroundings? It is a conversation we’ve been having for thousands of years ...
While the swirling lines in Beard’s works are created freehand, many have their roots in the Golden Spiral. Of it, the artist writes in the introduction to A Brush with Nature that “the eye is naturally drawn to the diminishing point of the spiral and so can be used as the underpinnings of good composition. That is to say that if the most dramatic moment of a painting falls where the eye wants to go on its own, the result is likely to be more dynamic.” It makes all the more sense for Beard’s naturalist inclinations, too, since Golden Spirals and their cousins—the Fibonacci Spiral and the Nautilus Spiral—occur naturally in everything from rhinoceros horns to flower petals to the geometries of hurricane winds. The Suyian Swirl incorporates this compositional effect, where necks, horns, trunks, and tails all work in tandem to form this natural shape and remind us of where it can be seen in the world around us. Yet Beard balances this heavily mathematical element with whimsical paint splatters as well. Take, for instance, the crest itself of Red Crested Crane, which purposefully lacks the precision found throughout the rest of the work. The artist’s choice to place it compositionally in the middle top of the image, betwixt two raised wings, adds further upward energy to the piece. In this work, the expressive crest is reflective of Beard’s often non-narrative storytelling,
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of which he says, “The technique is to start with abstract expressionism and to then pull nature back out of it. This is a story that does not have an ending. It asks: Why are we here? What are we? How do we perceive ourselves in relation to our surroundings? It is a conversation we’ve been having for thousands of years, one in which the viewer brings something to the table.” When admiring the intricate detail of a work such as this and the thoughtful geometric abstraction of others, one may think of medieval illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells. This visual connection is conceptually apropos, as much of Beard’s work has revolved around making and illustrating books and they inform much of his artistic thought process. Some of Beard’s visual art, video, and literary creations are connected with his Watering Hole Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving intact systems, helping save endangered wildlife and Earth’s remaining wilderness. His art, whether directly related to the foundation or not, is all focused on these same principles and on continuing this conversation. He says of the relationship that “it’s a way to contribute to a cause I care about, using the tools and skills that I have.” na
Alex Beard
NASHVILLEARTS.COM
Photograph by Todd Ritondaro
The Suyian Swirl, 2016, Oil on canvas, 40” x 30”
Enjoy a preview of Alex Beard’s art at The Arts Company in September. His solo exhibit Abstract Naturalism: An Exhibition of Art & Nature is scheduled for February 3 through February 22, 2018, at The Arts Company. See more of Beard’s work at www.alexbeardstudio.com. For more information, visit www.theartscompany.com.
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NEW
INSTANT
FULL COVER CONCEALER COVERS COMPLETELY. FEELS LIKE NOTHING. INSTANTLY BRIGHTENS DARK CIRCLES.
Visit our team of professional makeup artists at our new Bobbi Brown Counter for a How To lesson and personalized face chart—our treat.
615.297.0971
EXT. 5023
D RESSING D OWNTON AT T H E N E W LY R E S TO R E D C H E E K WO O D M A N S I O N
EXTENDED THROUGH SEPT 17 DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND Journey back in time with the costumes of Downton Abbey®. Exhibition is included with admission or membership, but timed entry is recommended. Reserve your time today! Exhibition produced by Exhibits Development Group in cooperation with Cosprop Ltd., London. Downton™ and Downton Abbey®. ©2017 Carnival Film & Television Limited. All Rights Reserved.
cheekwood.org | Co-presented by:
The Clash
WORDS John Pitcher PHOTOGRAPHY Bob Gruen
SOUL OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL Legendary rock photographer Bob Gruen will sign books at Two Old Hippies 48
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ob Gruen might have made a convincing slacker. As a young man, he had no real career path, no ambition. Sure, he enjoyed photography, and he loved rock ‘n’ roll. But that was it. And that was enough. A card-carrying member of the Baby Boom Generation, Gruen came of age during the halcyon days of rock. He began going to concerts and visiting festivals like Woodstock. He struck up friendships with musicians. Once he started focusing his beloved camera lens on his favorite stars, everyone, including the rockers, took notice. Turns out Gruen had a knack for revealing rock ‘n’ roll’s soul. “I was never nervous around rock stars, so they weren’t nervous around me,” Gruen tells Nashville Arts Magazine. “Consequently, they could relax and be themselves, and that resulted in some great photos.”
John Lennon
Tina Turner
Nashvillians will get the chance to see many of these photos for themselves on September 13 from 5 to 6:30 p.m., when Gruen makes a stop at Two Old Hippies to sign some of his most popular photography books. Gruen was chief photographer for Rock Scene Magazine in the 1970s, and during his tenure he chronicled many of rock’s signature stars.
wearing his “New York City” T-shirt. He also took an equally renowned photo of Lennon giving the peace sign in front of the Statue of Liberty.
Traveling the rock circuit, he photographed major acts like Led Zeppelin, The Who, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Elton John, Aerosmith, Kiss, and Alice Cooper. He was also on hand to document emerging punk and new-wave bands like the New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Ramones, Patti Smith, and Blondie. His photo of Sid Vicious eating a hotdog, with globs of mustard smeared around his mouth like a yellow goatee, is now part of the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Gruen’s long association with Lennon provided him with many fascinating insights into both the man and his legendary rock band. For decades, many Beatles fans have sought to assign blame for the group’s breakup. They’ve pointed fingers at Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney. Gruen believes the dissolution was natural and inevitable.
Without question, Gruen’s most important photographs were of John Lennon. He met the ex-Beatle in 1971, shortly after Lennon and Yoko Ono moved to New York City. Lennon, himself a gifted visual artist, admired Gruen’s photographs. He also liked Gruen’s easygoing manner. Before long, they were fast friends. Their closeness produced some of rock’s most iconic photographs. Gruen took the famed photo of Lennon
“I talked John into taking that photo around the time the government was trying to deport him,” Gruen says. “That photo became a symbol of peace and liberty.”
“John and I were walking in Central Park one day when a group of people called out, ‘When are you going to bring back the Beatles?’” Gruen recalls. “John immediately replied, ‘When are you going back to high school?’ The Beatles was John Lennon’s high school project with Paul McCartney. They grew up, got married, and went their separate ways. That’s life.” na Gruen will sign some of his most popular photography books on September 13 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Two Old Hippies. For more information, visit www.twooldhippies.com. See more of Gruen’s photographs at www.bobgruen.com.
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Self-Portraits Across 50 States
here has always been something romantic about the open road. The potential for lifechanging experiences, for adventure, for inspiration draws us to the highways and to points unseen on the horizon. For Alex Hall, a Nashville-based painter and photographer whose contemporary surrealism has been exhibited in The Rymer Gallery, Blackbird Gallery, and Art House, the call of the unknown came from a realization that he had been missing what it held.
Riding The Wave, Kanab, Utah
Teton Range, Wyoming
WORDS Peter Chawaga PHOTOGRAPHY Alex Hall “My goal to see all 50 states before I turn 30 began when I was backpacking around Europe a few years ago,” Hall recalls. “I met many people who were from various places around the world who had actually seen more of the United States than I had. That lit a fire in me to see more of the country that I was born in and live in.” The fire was so strong that it pushed Hall to sell his belongings, buy a van, and convert it into a camper so that he could drive through the entire country—2,680 miles wide, 1,582 tall, and 50 states deep—and come back home with a new perspective. He spent 153 days covering nearly 20,000 miles, stopping at 27 national parks, 11 national monuments, and some of the biggest and smallest cities in the country. In addition to a big, bold check mark on his bucket list, Hall hoped to return with a collection of photographs that would capture the essential, mottled beauty of the country and the allure of the open road.
Salt Flats, Utah
“Over the past few years I have found myself traveling for inspiration,” Hall says. “In doing so, I have seen so many things that make me stop and appreciate the beauty of what is around us. I wanted to document these moments not only for myself, but also to share with others. There is something extremely special about being able to take a photograph of a specific place during an exact moment in time and then be able to share it with people.” The resulting collection is a testament to the majesty that draws so many to our nation’s highways: bright-orange canyons against a crystal-blue sky, pink clouds swirling above white-capped mountains, a river running through a dense forest of deep-green pines. “There were a couple of moments on my trip where the beauty that surrounded me really invoked an indescribable sense of fullness,” explains Hall. “One that stands out to
Jordan Pond, Maine
me was while I was visiting Yosemite National Park. I had decided to drive up to Glacier Point to photograph the sunset over Yosemite Valley. I set up my camera about an hour before sunset and I waited, snapping photos as the sun went down over the horizon … Then, all of a sudden, for three or four minutes the entire sky lit up in vibrant pinks and deep purples. It was as if someone decided at the last second to paint a masterpiece in the sky only for a select few people who stuck around to see if the wait would pay off.” Of course, the journey wasn’t all halcyon skies and purple mountains majesty. The ethereal moments were more than earned by the hardships of the road. Hall’s bike was stolen, he got sick, and the van needed maintenance. Plus, there is the inevitable loneliness that comes with solitary travel. But through all of that, Hall’s goal of seeing the country and capturing something of its magnetism kept him driving, to the benefit of his identity as an artist.
View of New York City from the van
select the ten strongest and create large-scale prints for potential exhibition. He hopes that beyond gaining a sense of the country’s beauty, viewers will be inspired to wrap themselves up in it more directly, maybe even answering the call as he did.
“I am now more confident with who I am as a person and an artist,” says Hall. “After traveling alone for five months, I really got a chance to know myself on a different level … Even during the hard times, more often than not, I would surprise myself with the way I persevered and pushed forward to achieve what I set out to do, and with that came a sense of confidence and pride that I think changed me forever.”
“I hope that when people view my photographs they can see proof of how amazing the world is and, more important, want to become an active part of it,” Hall says. “Perhaps they can feel just a fraction of the raw beauty that I have seen firsthand. I hope the images spark a sense of adventure in them to live life experiencing new things and to visit new places. I hope that the images provoke people to get away from their TVs and cellphone screens, away from their work stresses, to see what else is out there.” na
Of the thousands of photographs he took, Hall plans to
See more of Hall’s work at www.alexhallart.com.
Horseshoe Bend, Arizona
New World Order 2, Oil on canvas, 36” x 48”
Since 9/11
Political Portraits by Kim Strifert September 9, 2017 • 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. September 10, 2017 • 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
2305 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37204 • (615) 460-1161 • eartandsoul.com
Hidden, 2017, Polished one inch acrylic with French cleats, 12” x 11”
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WORDS Bob Paxman
Carla Ciuffo
Nano.Stasis Cosmic Garden Tinney Contemporary
| September 2–29
Harmony, 2017, Polished one inch acrylic with French cleats, 12” x 11”
Anemone, 2017, Polished one inch acrylic with French cleats, 12” x 11”
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here’s something equally sinewy and dangerous in the latest work by photographer Carla Ciuffo, Nano.Stasis Cosmic Garden, opening September 2 at Tinney Contemporary. The stark, dynamic images that form the center of her series represent Ciuffo’s continuing experimentation with nanofiber, a substance whose previous use remained confined to the medical field. But during the past couple of years, Ciuffo has utilized nanofiber to create pieces that merge art and science, two fields generally considered intellectual rivals. Ciuffo’s ongoing search for a different medium provided the catalyst. “I was doing a show at Tinney in 2014,” Ciuffo, sitting inside East Nashville coffee house Sip Café, begins. “At the end of the show, I was talking with Susan [Tinney] about needing another medium to work in. Susan said she was good friends with [Professor] Kit Parker at Harvard University. He had just invented this new technology of nanofiber. At the time, I knew nothing about that. It was often used for organ regeneration and wound healing, and he was developing it for burn victims in the Army.”
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Woman in Blue, 2017, Polished acrylic with floating museum back frame, 48” x 48”
She contacted Parker, a Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at Harvard. Parker was receptive to the idea of nanofiber as artistic medium and invited her to study at the university lab. Ciuffo served as a visiting artist at Harvard for two years. “I was the first lay person to actually go to the lab,” Ciuffo notes. She worked closely with graduate student Nina Sinatra to develop “nanofiber canvases.” Ciuffo learned how to “catch” the fibers from the rotary-jet spinning device that Parker had developed, based on, unbelievable as it may sound, the cotton-candy machine. It was a particularly arduous process. “We had to experiment in many different ways,” Ciuffo recalls.
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Of course, when you’re an artist who prefers the large format, “nano” technology, by its very name, can make for a potentially ill fit. “What I wanted to show was this enormous universe, and the lab students would always ask me what part of ‘nano’ didn’t I understand?” Ciuffo says with a brimming laugh. So, how to produce pieces large enough to display? It took a bit of teamwork and, certainly, technical knowhow. “We took little swatches of the nanofiber canvases and loaded them onto discs,” Ciuffo explains. “We used Harvard’s electron microscope to take SEM photos and blew them up. That’s how we were able to create the cosmic universe.”
Swept Away, 2016, polished one inch acrylic with French cleats, 10” x 10”
Endless, 2016, Metal print with aluminum back frame, 24” x 24”
Large- and small-format acrylic artwork constitute this new collection and further represent Ciuffo’s exploration into stasis, a state of stability. “This is really showcasing the nanofiber,” Ciuffo says. “People will get an idea of how strong and tough the fibers are, even though they appear very thin and delicate. It’s an almost cloud-like, very bouncy material. I’m enchanted by it,” she adds with a dreamy smile. “These are all acrylics. It’s my favorite medium to work in.” Though the pieces are constructed with a medical fiber, there’s nothing cold or antiseptic about the Cosmic Garden images. If you look closely enough, you will at times detect a hidden image, on the order of an artistic Rorschach test. “That isn’t really intentional,” Ciuffo says. “But I love hearing different people’s interpretations. It’s always fun to know what people see.” In exhibit pieces such as Nano Universe or Swept Away, it appears that the central object might be attempting to escape its own limited space, almost reaching out for freedom. There’s a discernible tension, often a key element in any visual-art medium. Ciuffo would tend to agree. “What is interesting about the Stasis series,” she says, “is that they are sort of whimsical. There is something childlike about them. But there is also an element of danger. They can be a little ominous at the same time.” Each piece in the series also takes on its own unique atmosphere. Woman in Blue has a slightly smoky quality, while Lace, as the title suggests, is more fibrous-looking. “The smaller pieces, like Anemone, look like they are underwater,” Ciuffo notes. “There is something aquatic about the material.”
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During the past couple of years, Ciuffo has utilized nanofiber to create pieces that merge art and science, two fields generally considered intellectual rivals.
Ultimately, the merging of art and science remains the theme behind Nano.Stasis Cosmic Garden. “That is what I really want to emphasize,” Ciuffo says directly. “One of the show’s leading narratives is how art and science were successfully combined in a collaboration. In the show, I’m demonstrating the vast universe of those fibers and the narrative that came from that collaboration.” Ciuffo’s two-year “incredible journey,” as she terms it, has now resulted in her major exhibit, opening during the Art Crawl in downtown Nashville. “The people at Harvard were amazing, and we had so much fun together,” Ciuffo raves. “Over the course of a couple years, we discovered so many things together. They were excited about the way I was thinking about nanofiber.” And the payoff? Ciuffo answers simply, “We ended up contributing to each other’s lives and work. It was a wonderful experience.” na For more information, visit www.tinneycontemporary.com. See more of Ciuffo’s work at www.carlaciuffophotography.com.
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Tennessee State Museum Alan Shuptrine: Appalachian Watercolors of the Serpentine Chain
On View through October 1, 2017 505 Deaderick Street
Downtown Nashville
Free Admission
615.741.2692
tnmuseum.org
THEBOOKMARK
A MONTHLY LOOK AT HOT BOOKS AND COOL READS
Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook Alice Waters
Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel
Dinner at the Center of the Earth: A Novel
The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve
Jesmyn Ward
Nathan Englander
Stephen Greenblatt
At the core of this novel is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the relationship between a secret prisoner and his guard. More than just a political thriller, Dinner at the Center of the Earth weaves together the lives of disparate characters and asks big, universal questions that arise during conflict. Don’t miss Nathan Englander when he is at Parnassus Books on October 5.
Enter Adam and Eve, biblical parents to all humans. Fast forward to The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve, a sweeping, investigative look at one of our oldest stories, the alleged root of our deepest fears and greatest desires. From theology and philosophy to art and literature, Greenblatt uses his keen eye and singular, illuminating prose style to unweave the diverse legacy of this single fable in a remarkable book.
A powerful, heart-wrenching odyssey set on the Gulf Coast Alice Waters is synonymous of Mississippi, this novel is with the idea that food can be the latest masterpiece from a an agent of global change. This writer who is not afraid to strip beautifully packaged memoir, America bare and examine hard loaded with stories, recipes, and pictures, is perfect for anyone with truths. Full of painful realities and with a vein of magical an interest in not just food itself, realism throughout, Sing, but how it brings us together Unburied, Sing is the book we as people. And especially have been waiting for. Don’t in Nashville, a burgeoning miss Jesmyn Ward when foodie town, we all have a little she is at Parnassus Books on something to learn from Alice September 12. Waters’ captivating journey.
EXPLORE • LEARN • CREATE Community Art Programs at Vanderbilt ADULT CLASSES FOR AGES 18 + Online registration/sales for both programs opens August 1, 2017 Dance classes begin the week of September 4, 2017
www.vanderbilt.edu/sarrattart
Art studio classes begin the week of September 11, 2017
http://studentorg.vanderbilt.edu/ danceprogram
Through October 15
The exhibition was organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Seattle Art Museum. It was made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Donald M. Cox, the Wolfensohn Family Foundation, and an anonymous donor.
DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE 919 BROADWAY NASHVILLE, TN 37203 FRISTCENTER.ORG #ANCESTRALMODERNFCVA
Supported in part by our Picasso Circle Members and
Dundiwuy Wanambi. Wuyal with Dhulaku the Euro (detail), 1991. Natural pigments on wood, 64 5/8 x 9 x 7 1/4 in. Promised gift of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan to the Seattle Art Museum. © Dundiwuy Wanambi. Courtesy American Federation of Arts
Woodworker Doug Lawrence
Courtesy Tennessee Craft
Courtesy Tennessee Craft
The Fall Tennessee Craft Fair Promotes Newcomers with Emerging Makers Tent
Textile artist Jessica Hagar
While always a draw for Nashvillians seeking out unique crafts and award-winning artists displaying their work, the fair is also a haven for developing creators who are seeking a foothold in the city’s art scene. The event will feature an Emerging Makers Tent to showcase the work of those who are beginning their craft career, working in a new medium, or exhibiting at the fair for the first time. “Part of Tennessee Craft’s mission is to encourage, develop, and promote crafts and craftspeople in Tennessee,” said Jessica Jain, the membership manager for Tennessee Craft. “We responded to feedback that many artists were interested in exhibiting at the fair, but were unsure if they were experienced enough to be successful. The Emerging Makers Tent offers such artists a more affordable way to sell their artwork at our fairs and gain the confidence and practical skills to be successful.” The tent provides an exhibition space to those new crafters who may not otherwise have a place to display their work and it gives attendees the chance to connect with artists in a more intimate way, as they interact with one another. “In the Emerging Makers Tent, fair attendees are not only able to meet the artists like they do on the main tent circle, but they are also able to see the camaraderie between the artists, no matter their craft medium or chapter affiliation,” Jain explains. As another effort to boost the careers and confidence of emerging makers, Tennessee Craft hands out a variety of awards, determined by a guest juror. Artists take home awards for Best Emerging Maker, Best Display, Best Fresh Idea, and Best Collaboration.
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Jeweler Trey Geary
Photography by Sally Bebawy
This month will bring the 39th Fall Tennessee Craft Fair, an annual weekend of handmade art, one-of-a-kind wares, and onsite artists at Centennial Park.
“I look back on my experience in the Emerging Maker’s Tent as a giant step forward in my career,” says Trey Geary, who won the Best Fresh Idea Award last year. “Tennessee Craft has connected me with a wide range of customers who would not have otherwise seen my work. They have also connected me with artists who inspire and encourage me.” With an opportunity to see attendees and their reactions up close, emerging artists have a vital opportunity to hone their crafts and focus on the things that might best serve their careers. “I saw that a newly designed line of small bud vases was selling quickly during the fair, with several fair-goers buying three or four at a time,” recalls Colleen Williams, who won the Best Emerging Maker Award last year and will exhibit again this month. “Refinement and continued development of those pieces have been awarded a Judge’s Choice Award, a First Place Award, a Best in Ceramics Award, and even a Best in Show at various art fairs in 2017.” The Fall Tennessee Craft Fair will be held on September 22 and 23 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on September 24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Centennial Park, 2500 West End Avenue. For more information, please visit www.tennesseecraft.org.
AmericanaFest Wants to Change the Music Industry
This month, Nashville will host the 18th annual AmericanaFest, a music festival and industry conference put on by the Americana Music Association, a trade organization advocating for American Roots music like folk, country, and bluegrass. The event is not your typical summer music festival. It carries a focus on creative contributions over music industry sales. Think more Sundance Film Festival, less Bonnaroo. “AmericanaFest was a response to the commercial music industry focusing more on the almighty dollar than the artistic value of the music,” explains Jed Hilly, the association’s executive director. “AmericanaFest was a response to shine a light on those artists that the commercial industry was ignoring. It wasn’t easy to go against the stream at first, but in the last five years especially, we’ve seen our event grow beyond our dreams, more than tripling in attendance and, significantly, reaching mainstream fans with the quality music they have been yearning for.”
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Rhiannon Giddens at the 14th Americana Honors & Awards in 2015
on the business of music and really is a must-attend event from that perspective for an artist, an agent, or an A&R rep,” Hilly says. Among the fifty daytime events planned are a panel on recording artistry curated by Rodney Crowell, Joe Henry, and Rhiannon Giddens, as well as a 60th anniversary celebration of Royal Studios in Memphis featuring artists who worked on historic recordings there. Put together, the performances and conference are a concerted effort to improve, or possibly reset, the way our culture values musical art by offering a different avenue for accessing it. “Discovery is critical to our human existence,” Hilly says. “Where would we be without these artists, without these songs we love? We need an industry and community that support art, that support artistry, or we lose our soul.”
This year’s performers lineup features almost 300 artists, including Deer Tick, Drive-By Truckers, and Lee Ann Womack. There will also be the annual Honors & Awards Show at the Ryman, which this year will welcome Van Morrison, The Lumineers, Iris DeMent, and others to the stage.
Though the event has grown to include AmericanaFest NYC and AmericanaFest U.K., Nashville remains the cultural hub for this particular brand of music. “Nashville is, at its core, the home of Americana, the essence of that place where blues, country, gospel, bluegrass, and rock and roll collide,” says Hilly. “It’s in the water here . . . Nashville once was Country Music City, now it’s Music City, and I think Americana has a lot to do with that.”
Beyond presenting underexposed and artistically focused acts, AmericanaFest directly advocates for industry change through an accompanying conference. “The conference is primarily focused
AmericanaFest will be held from September 12 to 17 with events throughout the city. For more information, please visit www.americanamusic.org.
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Getty Images
Van Morrison
Photograph courtesy of the artist
September 12–17 at Various Nashville Locations
Molly Tuttle
1938 Martin 00-42
GUITAR LOVE FIND IT AT
2017_AF_NA_List_AD_9x11.15_press copy.pdf
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PHOTOGRAPHY Anthony Ross Tyler
WORDS John Pitcher
Notes for Notes Making Connections and Building Communities through Music
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t has long been known that music is the universal language. Notes for Notes, the national nonprofit that’s opening a flagship music studio at East Nashville’s Boys and Girls Club, believes music is also a powerful tool for social good. Since its founding a decade ago at a teen center in Santa Barbara, California, Notes for Notes has empowered thousands of young
people through music. The program introduces children and teens to the various mysteries of the music industry, from songwriting and instrument playing to sound mixing and recording. Arguably, though, the most important lessons learned in Notes for Notes studios are not about music. “Of course, we want young people to be good musicians,” program co-founder and CEO Philip Gilley tells Nashville Arts Magazine. “But at the end of the day, it’s more important to us how they grow as people than how well they play an instrument.” That sentiment has been the driving force behind the program from the beginning. Notes for Notes got its start in the mid-aughts, when Gilley was serving as a mentor in the Big Brothers and Sisters program in Santa Barbara. Gilley wanted to make a connection with his “little brother” and pass on something meaningful to him. At first, Gilley, an accomplished guitarist, thought about introducing the boy to his instrument. The child, however, wanted to learn the drums. This seeming dilemma inspired Gilley to start a nonprofit, one that would provide access to multiple instruments and recording equipment. Along with his friend Natalie Noone, daughter of music icon and Herman’s Hermits frontman,
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Peter Noone, Gilley approached a Santa Barbara teen center about a collaboration. Gilley and Noone would provide some of their own used music gear if the center would provide a space for a studio. The center agreed, and Gilley and Noone opened what was then called MusicBox Studio in March 2007. The experiment might have ended there but for a serendipitous encounter. One day, Roderick Hare, a board director with the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, was visiting the teen center on other business when he saw the studio. Turns out Hare had envisioned a similar kind of studio some twenty years earlier when, as a college freshman, he had also served as a mentor in the Big Brothers and Sisters program. Gilley’s studio was modest, but Hare was nevertheless impressed. The project had potential. “I invited Phil out and laid it on him,” says Hare. “I told him that studios like this could be opened around the country, wherever there was a Boys and Girls Club. Finally, I told him if he’d make this his life’s work, I’d raise the money. We’ve been at it ever since.” Naturally, the first location Notes for Notes planted its flag outside California was Music City. In 2011, the program opened a small studio in the Andrew Jackson Boys and Girls
Club near Watkins Park. A second Nashville studio was later opened at the Preston Taylor Boys and Girls Club in North Nashville. In the years since, the program has shifted into high gear, opening similar studios in San Francisco, Detroit, Brooklyn, Austin, and Atlanta. Notes for Notes expects to have twentytwo studios in operation around the country by the end of this year. The organization’s Nashville connections have played a critical role in the expansion. In 2014, the Country Music Association agreed to support Notes for Notes growth nationally. Gibson Guitars also threw in its support, as did other groups such as the Hot Topic Foundation. Interestingly, the organization’s first two Nashville studios are among the smallest in the fleet. Its third Nashville studio, opening later this year near Cleveland Park, will be the organization’s biggest. The studio will occupy four rooms and be filled with state-of-the-art equipment, allowing young musicians to mix, record, podcast, and perform. Like all the group’s studios, it will be staffed by a full-time director. Use of the studio and equipment is free with a Boys and Girls Club membership. “Nashville has been critical to our organization’s success,” says Hare. “It deserves to have this first-class studio.” na For more information, visit www.notesfornotes.org.
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WORDS Megan Kelley
Art All In
4th Annual ArtCamp Is a Clarion Call for the Arts Nossi College of Art
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he 4th Annual ArtCamp brings creatives and art advocates together at Nossi College of Art for a whirlwind day of speakers, interactive activities, and conversation surrounding the arts. ArtCamp—an “unconference” whose casual style is built on dialogue and whose power thrives on connection—serves as a central rallying point for artists, advocates, and appreciators alike to gather, this year under the thematic banner of Art All In.
ArtCamp offers a variety of ways to engage other artists in the Nashville creative class
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Photograph by Leigh Anna Thompson
The theme represents not only an acknowledgement of the creative foundations of Nashville, and as a clarion call for the power of art to manifest change and shape communities, but a recognition of the many ways and faces in which this foundation and power emerge, engage, and appear.
If you are an artist, ArtCamp is a great place to network. If you enjoy art, ArtCamp is a great place to find new artists.
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ArtCamp thrives on ideas of inclusion; Smith hopes the forum provides a place for recognizing “all of the pillars” of the community, “as well as the hidden joists: those artists who hold up their corners of Nashville, often by the skin of their teeth.” Smith acknowledges the hard work and passion these artists invest in their day-to-day: “These people keep popping up, not because they’re part of some larger program or coordinated effort,” but because, Smith points out, their practices extend in some way outside of the studio, to include, engage, and build the communities they create within. Uniquely, ArtCamp creates a place for looking ahead: Pulling people from diverse fields of experience, mediums of working, and methods of sustaining their practice, the annual gathering collects and amplifies their
voices into a central place of dialogue, allowing artists to get a bigger sense of the context they work within. “It helps us in the community identify where artists are, what they need, and what they are talking about.” ArtCamp is for more than just artists, however. “If you are an artist, ArtCamp is a great place to network,” Smith says. “If you enjoy art, ArtCamp is a great place to find new artists.” ArtCamp’s themes, too, speak to a broader audience, with over twenty different breakout sessions, including presentations from visual and performance artists, makers, appreciators, and educators. This year’s keynote features Paul Polycarpou, publisher of Nashville Arts Magazine, following on the heels of last year’s keynote address by Mayor Megan Barry. Livelihood and Community are this year’s two main session categories. “There’s an inward and outward journey that everyone goes through, especially artists,” Smith explains. “These are the different ways that an artist is sustained.” The
idea of ArtCamp reinforces the importance of less-tangible support: “In Community, too, are the people who support and challenge you. Where creatives are purposefully alone, a sense of belonging to a diverse and passionate community can contribute to their creative process—and livelihood.” It’s a complex and interwoven conversation, one whose ripples start in places like ArtCamp and spread through the roots of Nashville’s year to come. “Nashville’s renaissance includes new development, new businesses, and all those things that are making us a driving economic force in this state,” Smith says. “And that same renaissance is bringing a new level of recognition of the importance of the arts to the culture and fabric of our community. ArtCamp strives to connect all portions of our city around the importance of art and artists.” na Hosted by Nossi College of Art, ArtCamp is held Saturday, September 30, starting at 9:30 a.m. Tickets include lunch and are available at www.artcampnashville.com for $15 in advance, $20 at the door.
Chris ‘C H R I S O L U X’ Thompson inspiring ArtCamp 2016 attendees at his session “Get off your ass! Push it harder in art.”
Photograph by Leigh Anna Thompson
At the ArtCamp Arts Fair non-profits and other arts organizations share information and resources with attendees
Photograph by Leigh Anna Thompson
Photograph by Amanda McCadams
Thaxton Waters giving an ArtCamp 2016 session entitled “If these neighborhoods could talk.”
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2017-18 Harpeth Hall Fine Arts Performance Season
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August 30 – september 2 FOOTLOOSE
Return to the rockin’ rhythms of the 80s in our 20th collaborative musical with Montgomery Bell Academy. This anticipated performance is based on the celebrated film musical Footloose. Learn more and purchase tickets online. OctOber 26 – 28 THE WINTER’S TALE
Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale follows the story of childhood friends and deals with all-consuming jealousy, broken relationships, and a touch of magic. Learn more and purchase tickets online. NOvember 16 – 18 CHIAROSCURO COLLECTIONS
The Harpeth Hall Dance Company presents Chiaroscuro Collections in which depth of color is explored in various genres of dance. Learn more and purchase tickets online. December 4 WINTER ORCHESTRA CONCERT
Harpeth Hall String players from grades 5-12 unite to perform works of the season. Admission is free and open to the public. December 7 WINTER CHORAL CONCERT
An evening of music ranging from classical to rock, this concert features grades 5-12 choirs and includes the Rolling Tones, Harpeth Hall’s a cappella group, and Lads & Plaid, a combined choral group with singers from Harpeth Hall and Montgomery Bell Academy. Admission is free and open to the public. FebruArY 2 – 3 JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH
Harpeth Hall’s Middle School Musical is a delightfully offbeat adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl adventure that will resonate with audiences of all ages. Learn more and purchase tickets online. mArch 1 – 3 SPRING SHOW
Upper school theatre students collaborate on the content and design of the annual Spring Show. Admission is free and open to the public. mArch 13 DRAMA CLUB SHOW
5th and 6th graders are featured in the always-charming spring Drama Club Show. Admission is free and open to the public. April 26 – 28 SPATIAL LANDSCAPES
Harpeth Hall’s spring dance concert highlights a variety of physical and emotional configurations through multiple genres of dance and student choreography. Learn more and purchase tickets online. mAY 1 SPRING CHORAL CONCERT
The Spring Choral Concert features Grade 5-12 choirs, performance by the Rolling Tones, and a musical farewell to our senior singers. Admission is free and open to the public. mAY 3 SPRING ORCHESTRA CONCERT
The Spring Orchestra Concert features selections inspired by the instrumental musicians in grades 5-12 and senior farewells. Admission is free and open to the public.
www.harpethhall.org
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 s cindiearl.com
With a keynote address by Paul Polycarpou, Nashville Arts Magazine publisher.
Artists teaching Artists. More than 20 different breakout sessions including presentations from visual and performance artists, makers, appreciators and educators.
September 30th 2017 at Nossi College of Art $15 pre-order or $20 at the door. Lunch included with ticket price. artcampnashville.com
@artcampsocial
@artcampnash
Shadyville in Nashville Channel to Channel
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September 2–October 26
WORDS Karen Parr-Moody Heather Hartman, Rising Burst, 2017, Oil, acrylic, and gouache on paper and polyester mesh, 15” x 16”
Heather Hartman, Vestige, 2017, Oil, acrylic, and gouache on paper and polyester mesh, 32” x 120”
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hat most of us glance at fleetingly, artist Heather Hartman examines intimately. The natural world’s minutiae—a fogged-up pane of glass or sunlight woven through tree branches—is rendered through layers of paint on her polyester mesh canvases.
This month, Hartman joins her studio mate, Eleanor Aldrich, in an exhibition of their paintings entitled Shadyville. The show opens on September 2 at the Channel to Channel art gallery in Nashville’s Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood. It closes on October 26.
“A lot of what I paint tends to be what I’ve gathered from the periphery of my life,” Hartman says. “These are not things that people would focus on—like the weird shadows in the corner or the way that dew streams off a car windshield in the morning.”
In its earliest incarnations, art was representational. In modern abstract art, however, a fluidity of representation makes reality teeter like a top. Abstract art is never precise in its depiction of forms.
Hartman does focus on such ephemera, parlaying it into artworks that remind one of “bokeh,” the aesthetic quality of a photograph that contains out-of-focus points of light. Her paintings—produced in a mélange of oil, acrylic, and gouache paint on paper—possess bokeh’s ethereal quality. Accentuating the appearance of diffused light, Hartman finishes each painting by obliterating marks with a large brush.
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True to that philosophy, both Hartman and Aldrich infuse otherwise-realistic subjects with an abstract aesthetic. In Aldrich’s portraits, the faces are obscured. And one would never guess that Hartman is painting minute objects we overlook every day. In their artists’ statement, Aldrich and Hartman sum it up: “Shadyville is a place where atmosphere, light, and shadow obscure the landscape and faces are always hidden. It is a
place of waiting, of gathering, and of things concealed.” “I have done a lot of portraiture and figurative painting in the past,” Aldrich says. “Faces have become less interesting to me. I’m really allergic to preciousness. “To make a face, it’s problematic in that it has to be quickly painted and generalized, so it feels generic and unspecific,” she adds. “Or if it’s based on a person, it brings that person’s individuality to the painting, which I’m not particularly interested in.” Aldrich creates her mysterious subjects’ bodies by building up thick oil paint and covering it in crosscontour marks. Her hallmark? The lowly lawn chair, in which her “aesthetic memories of growing up in this kind of run-down little town in Arizona” are perfectly encapsulated. “The lawn chair references modernism and the grid,” Aldrich says. “Yet there’s a human presence pressing against it. I find that really interesting and poetic, how the everyday—or even the banal or sad disgustingness of a human body—is pressing against this sort of high art.” The two artists met at a Knoxville-based space for artists’
Eleanor Aldrich, The Mirror, 2016, Oil and enamel on canvas, 40” x 30”
collaboration called the Vacuum Shop Studios. It soon became clear that they were philosophically intertwined. A frequent topic they discuss is their fascination with material transformation, whether those materials are Aldrich’s silicone and construction caulk or Hartman’s polyester mesh used as a canvas. “We think a lot about taking these materials and transferring them into something that gets at a more mysterious or sublime kind of experience,” Hartman says. “We both feel that is important to our work, that sense of material transformation and something becoming something else through the process of making the painting.” There is perhaps no better summation of this idea than the word Shadyville. The work of these two artists certainly marks the spot where shadows become somehow illuminating. na
See Shadyville by Eleanor Aldrich and Heather Hartman at Channel to Channel from September 2 through October 26. For more information, visit www.channeltochannel.com. See more of Aldrich’s and Hartman’s work at www.eleanoraldrich.com and www.heatherhartmanart.com.
Eleanor Aldrich, Softball Player, 2017, Oil and enamel on canvas, 40” x 30” NASHVILLEARTS.COM
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WORDS Catherine Randall Berresheim
Alex Blau & Lain York Redefine Edge and Form
September 2 through October 28
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he upcoming exhibit at Zeitgeist not only plays to this gallery’s mission to host local and world-class artists alike, this fall season’s pairing also highlights truly cutting-edge experimentation. Featured painters Alex Blau and Lain York’s collections are a perfect example of the innovation that springs from risk. Each artist’s exhibited work challenges tradition. Indeed these paintings are a study in dualities—the opposing and complementary ventures in design, form, pattern, and mediums. Both artists explore the vibrational rhythm of line. “It’s about getting back to gesture drawing,” York says. Blau is exploiting the contrast between stark, almost-artificial color and sharp, repeating lines. Blau’s collection Night Swimming demonstrates her obsession with geometric shape and pattern. The painting Are We There Yet? is composed with the uncommon material choice of automotive airbrush paint. Smoky mists of magenta smear into yellow as they bleed into each other
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Alex Blau
and then are suddenly cut diagonally with stencils made of adhesive auto-detailing tape. “I manipulate the tape to mask out a section and then spray,” Blau says. The depths she creates fascinate her. “I see shadows of layers, see how they float slightly,” she says as she points out the optical illusion. Blau even coined her own phrase to describe the technique: “mis-registration.” All the paintings create abstract layers where even the same blue becomes tones of itself. Bold boomerangs or swirls of candy-colored ribbons focus the eye or pull the perspective ever deeper. A clear topcoat only accentuates the design. The series is a complete departure from her earlier work of small, meticulously crafted textile design in quilt-like patterns. Lain York’s Ghost collection is part painting and part sculpture. The plywood birch wood surface is not only the canvas that holds the “paint”—the wood-grain pattern acts as a topographic map that becomes the amber backdrop for his flowers and bees. Nine uniform, shallow boxes with threeinch-deep profiles hold calligraphy-like strokes of white. The
Photograph by Anna Zeitlin
Lain York
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Photograph by Anna Zeitlin
Zeitgeist
Lain York, Ghost 4 (foodpatch), 2017, Correct tape on birch plywood, 48” x 48”
Lain York, Ghost 2, 2017, Correct tape on birch plywood, 48” x 48”
like Blau, has departed from his previous work, which combines layers of taped lines, intricate carvings, and the graphite gesture drawings to the minimalistic version in this collection.
medium is not paint, however; it is actually correction tape. Yes, the kind you get at Office Depot to erase your typos. “I wanted to find the simplest and the most immediate mediums I could and use them in the same manner,” York says. He likes the unpredictable nature of his medium, the quality of the broken line, and the way he has to wrestle with this tool to follow his sketch. “Eradicating the lines almost activates them,” York explains. Indeed the eye is drawn to the interruptions.
The narrative is what’s important here: “The idea is one might pair a bee with the flower, addressing the symbiotic association between them.” na
Alex Blau, Cannonball, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 24” x 24”
Alex Blau, Flamethrower, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”
The exhibit at Zeitgeist opens September 2 and runs through October 28. For more information, visit www.zeitgeist-art.com.
Although the birch wood is soft and easy to carve, he,
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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.
Photography by Keep3
BY ERICA CICCARONE
Photograph by Tony Youngblood
OPENSPACES
U.S. History Meets Black Pop in XPayne’s Don’t Tread on Me! I
f you traveled down Jefferson Street in the month of August, you’ve been approached by artist XPayne. Not by the man himself—who is lanky, soft spoken, and appears unassuming—but by his intense work that took over six billboards along the historic corridor of black cultural and entrepreneurial heritage. Part campaign and part advertisement for his August exhibition, Payne’s billboards are sleek and sexy with broad appeal without sacrificing the thoughtful intensity and interest
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in symbolic icons that we’ve seen from Payne in the past. Claiming the term “Black Pop” for his work, Payne employs a flat style, bright colors, and bubble letters straight off a candybar wrapper to depict iconic figures like Tupac, Janet Jackson, and the boom box-toting Radio Raheem from Do the Right Thing—an image that won Spike Lee’s attention when actor Bill Nunn died. Other times, Payne creates Africanized portraits of characters like Bart Simpson to see himself in the television shows and comics he loved growing up and to show us that black families are no different than white ones.
Payne designed the project in Metro Arts Commission’s Learning Lab last year, a series of workshops that trained artists in civic practices, and his proposal won funding from the commission. The August show and billboard campaign is called Don’t Tread on Me!, and Payne takes the Black Pop theme to another level by recontextualizing historical images, using two as major points of departure. In the first, Payne appropriates an image with loaded historical and contemporary significance: the Gadsden flag. Designed by Revolutionary War army general Christopher Gadsden, the flag depicts a coiled snake lying in wait, the words DONT TREAD ON ME! emblazoned beneath it. The territorial significance in its historical context is clear, but the Tea Party appropriated it for their small-government ideology. Payne reappropriates the snake and words as a message of resistance to the encroaching gentrification of Jefferson Street. The once economically thriving corridor was bisected by Interstate 40 in the 1970s. Though residents and business owners fought it all the way to the Supreme Court, they watched their community’s economy fizzle after it was built. The words Don’t Tread on Me! have become an anthem, harnessing the ideals of the American Revolution and demanding that our founders’ vision be finally realized for black Americans. “It’s influenced by hip hop culture,” says Payne. “The goal of rap battles is to take what someone else has said, put it on its head, and flip it around to decontextualize it.” The second point of departure in the series is the iconic photograph of the men of Black Wall Street. Taken outside a brick building in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the 1910s, its 50-someodd suited merchants, landowners, and entrepreneurs, at most just one generation removed from slavery’s chains, hold themselves with utmost dignity. Those in the front row sit on a carpet that’s been brought to the sidewalk for the occasion of the photograph.
Believing that economic progress could be attained only if the black community of Tulsa shared resources, the entrepreneurs bought land and leased it to other ambitious African Americans. The area thrived during the oil boom of the 1910s. Payne points to a man in the center of the photograph who stands with his hat tucked under one arm, a hand on his hip. He holds his suit jacket out just enough to reveal a dapper vest, a high collar, and ascot tie. He embodies selfdetermination, personal agency, and individualism—the very foundations of his young country. “I look at this and think, I want to be this guy,” says Payne. But in 1921, a white mob rioted, burning the district’s thirtyfive blocks to ash. The state government dropped fire bombs from the sky and murdered hundreds of members of the fledgling community. Though the Black Wall Street pioneers had followed the American Dream playbook to a T, they watched their community and fortunes burn to the ground. Photos of the aftermath are devastating: Buildings are reduced to ash, bodies lie in heaps, hundreds stand in chains. But Payne chooses the photograph of the resplendent men for his collage. He ornaments them with meticulous gold crowns and red boutonnieres, stacks of little green dollar bills at their feet. In the top corner, there’s an American flag. The colors red, black, and green stand in for red, white, and blue, a motif Payne employs for the Tennessee state flag as well. “My thing is to get people who wouldn’t normally attend the art crawl to see something and be like, this is for me,” says Payne. He succeeds. The work hits you before you realize you should be paying attention. The simplicity makes the ideas easy to disseminate, but it doesn’t dilute Payne’s empowering message. na Find out more at xpayne.com and follow him on Instagram @xpayneart.
Fine Art & Gifts
by Olga Alexeeva & Local Artists
ARRATT GALLERY AT VANDERBILT
Coming Home, All Fired Up Suzanne Sidebottom September 4 - 29, 2017
www.OGalleryArt.com
Olga Alexeeva, artist and owner, is available for commissioned works for home and business Art classes by Olga are conducted weekly
Cleaned Out the Studio
Dad's Baseball Memories
LOCATED ON THE MAIN FLOOR OF SARRATT STUDENT CENTER AT 2301 VANDERBILT PLACE, NASHVILLE, TN 37235 Summer and holiday schedule hours are Monday–Friday 9 a.m.–4 p.m. www.vanderbilt.edu/sarrattart
Olga Alexeeva, Lady in Gold, Acrylic, 36” x 24”
615-416-2537
Open 7 Days a Week • Monday-Saturday 10-6 • Sunday 11-5 1305 Clinton St. Ste. 120 • Nashville, TN 37203
POET’SCORNER BY GRAY BULLA
Photograph by Deborah Bulla
Gray is the 2017 Nashville Youth Poet Laureate and a student at Nashville School of the Arts. Learn more at southernword.org.
a poem about glass How many bottles did you smash before you cut your hand? I want to know how long it’d take to count the pieces. I want to know how many of those you emptied yourself and how much money you poured down the drain. I want to know what you named your first car (and your second and your third and your eighth) and if any of your heartbreaks ever shared their names. Did you ever convince him to do it? The answer will never matter to them anyway; it was only blame they wanted. I want to know if flying through your windshield felt the same as smashing those bottles and if it did why you would have ever stopped; if the shards stuck in your teeth tasted anything like stepping barefoot around the kitchen floor; if the red flashing of a police car that night could ever compare to the way the skin of your index finger split open in slow motion, left alone to heal itself. Did the sweat drip into your eyes that night, or did your vision blur for something else? Did you get the chance to apologize for their broken mailbox? Or for the afternoon traffic you caused? Pick up the bottles and try just to breathe.
Background photograph by Carla Ciuffo
ASISEEIT BY LIZ SCOFIELD
Liz Clayton Scofield is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, thinker, all-around adventurer, and nomad. They hold an MFA from Indiana University, Bloomington. See their art at www.lizclaytonscofield.com.
Liz Clayton Scofield, Now What, 2017, Multimedia performance documentation
If you build it, they will come … if it’s convenient.
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’ve recently returned to the Nashville area after a five-year hiatus. Of course, of course, I can jump in the conversation: “Oh, how the city has changed!” highlighting the city’s constants even more. I moved to Nashville for my undergraduate studies in 2006, and I remember a conversation with a friend shortly after: “You know, it’s not just Music City anymore. Nashville really is the next Art City.” And of course, no Nashvillian will forget The New York Times 2013 declaration of Nashville as “It City.” I left It City in 2012 to pursue an MFA from Indiana University, Bloomington. I continued regular involvement in the Nashville community over the years. Like broader Nashville, the arts community has changed. I witnessed
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and participated in the emergence of a vibrant scene in Wedgewood-Houston. I saw artist-run spaces become sandwich shops. I saw condos sprout like kudzu. Plant it and run, my grandmother would say. By the time I finished my MFA, I was essentially priced out of Nashville. Rents have risen above a comfortable artistbumming-it level. In a cost-benefit analysis, why pay so much to live in a third-tier arts city? On that surface, Nashville has less and less appeal for young and emerging artists finding a place to settle even momentarily to develop their practices. What can Nashville do to draw young artists, to nurture its current artists, and to develop a robust art community? I’ve
Nashville has worked to offer more opportunities for its artists: 21c is a great resource. Periscope offers training for artists, but with a focus on entrepreneurship. THRIVE is a program that provides small grants to artists for social practice projects through Metro Arts. These resources provide support to a continually emerging arts community. There are many programs in Nashville that are doing a wide range of great work to support and grow our artists and invest in the community. That work builds the foundation for continued growth. I began writing this to consider the need of an MFA program in Nashville. Watkins College actually now offers a lowresidency MFA program. This is great growth, but a lowresidency program isn’t an embedded community that a traditional MFA offers. As Nashville artist Mary Mooney said: “I know a lot of artists, but I don’t feel like there’s a space where people who are making more conceptual work with the goal of having a connection or conversation meet and discuss and critique. It feels like there’s this barrier here where if you have your MFA—it’s real. You’ve done a certain amount of work. There’s a credibility with that. I want that credibility. I want to do that work, but it’s at odds with my life and where I want to [be].” Nashville needs to support and nurture artists outside of commercial, institutional, or social demands. We need educational opportunities to develop rigorous practices without having to leave. After all, this entire industry of art depends on artists and the exploitation of their labor. Our universities do provide great resources, but these can feel inaccessible. However, even if there were MFA options in Nashville, artists likely should still leave to pursue their best educational option. I wouldn’t encourage Nashville artists to get their MFA in Nashville just because it’s geographically convenient if it’s not an established, developed program. Artists need nourishment, and that nourishment requires time and space. Community and critical discourse and collaboration feed artists. Artists need places to congregate as a community, wander, climb trees and play in fountains together, break bread or break donuts. If a city wants its creative communities to flourish, it has to feed them. With the value of an MFA already controversial, an MFA from a newly established program seems even more questionable. Instead of trying to be other cities, why not create a new program that is specific to Nashville’s community? An established Nashville arts institution with its own space, time, resources, community, and yes, budget,
creates a residency program that hosts national and international artists. This residency would bring emerging and established artists that have demonstrated rigor and investment in their own practices. Local artists would be invited into this community. This residency should be developed as a uniquely Nashville experience that creates space and provides opportunities for artists to congregate. What does an MFA offer after all? It gives time, space, and access to mentorship and rigorous discourse, while immersed in a community of artists seeking similar depth of exploration and development of their practices. (I would advise anyone desiring an MFA for job opportunities to reassess.) Instead of waiting for institutions to develop the programs to sustain us, artists can show up and build the community that nourishes our specific needs. But this requires dedication and investment. It requires artists and the surrounding community to show up even when it becomes inconvenient or uncomfortable. Challenge each other, and don’t throw in the towel if someone gets critical. Support each other and keep showing up. Does Nashville need an MFA program? Maybe instead of focusing on catching up, let’s jump ship and figure out how we can get ahead in a way only Nashville can offer, before Nashville gets too expensive for all of us, and we all go live in Ashland City. (It’s beautiful, by the way.) na
Mary Mooney, Open Secrets, 2017, Acrylic on acrylic glass, metal frame, 40” x 30”
had many conversations about how to solve local artists’ frustrations. An art fair! More collectors! Entrepreneurship! Microgrants! An art boutique hotel! Commissioned murals!
WORDS Joseph E. Morgan
Nashville Opera’s Tosca TPAC
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October 5 and 7
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n October 5 and 7 at TPAC, the Nashville Opera is producing Giacomo Puccini’s violent, political, and beautiful Tosca. The story centers on its title character, an opera singer attempting to live the life of an artist in Rome under a Napoleonic-era dictatorship. There is no grey area in this work. The protagonist, Mario Cavaradossi (who will be played by tenor John Pickle), is Puccini’s strongest hero. A revolutionary artist, his cause is as noble as it is hopeless. The antagonist is Scarpia (baritone Weston Hurt), a man whose deeds are so vile that he must prevail. Between them is one of the most famous and difficult soprano roles in the repertoire. For the title character, Nashville has cast Jennifer Rowley. Last spring she debuted at the Met as Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac, and in January 2018, she returns to the Met to perform Tosca. We took the opportunity to ask her for a sense of the character Tosca and her motivations: “The back story of Tosca tells you a lot about her motivation. We have to remember that she is actually quite youthful. Adopted, raised and educated by monks in a monastery, her days were full of religion and music, and she was discovered to have an incredible musical talent at a young age. In the opera, she is already a celebrated star of the opera stage, but a young star . . . she can’t be more than 20–21 years old. This backstory makes Tosca a much more complicated character than some crazy jealous diva. Probably in love for the first time, Tosca is also newly famous and desired by not only the public, but also by men—something that would be very new and strange to her. Tosca is completely honest in her motivations, even though she knows how to use her youth and beauty. With Scarpia, and in the decisions she makes, she is motivated by how she can get herself and Mario out of this terrible situation, while also remaining faithful. This makes “Vissi d’Arte” (her famous Act Two aria) a truly ambivalent moment with a deep sense of doubt and questioning of her faith.”
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Willam Joyner as Cavaradossi and Erika Sunnegårdh as Tosca
Since 1900 the role of Tosca has been the measure of an Italian soprano. It has been called Puccini’s most Wagnerian score, and yet the soprano line couldn’t be more Italianate. Concerning the many classic performances of Tosca, is there a specific singer or performance that you admire? “For me, Maria Callas was the perfect Tosca. It was as if the role was written for her. She was the absolute epitome of how to mix drama and vocalism, and this role is as much about acting as it is about singing. What I love the most about Callas as Tosca is that you can tell that she knew the orchestral score and used orchestral writing to influence her acting choices. She allows the music to fuel the drama, and, particularly in the Royal Opera production with Gobbi, it is spectacular to watch.” Along with Tosca’s “Vissi d’Arte,” Nashville audiences should listen for Cavaradossi’s wrenching aria “E lucevan le stelle” in Act Three; critics have been raving over Pickle’s interpretation. In all, if the evening goes off as expected, we’ll leave the theater as Puccini intended—shocked and heartbroken. na For more information, visit www.nashvilleopera.org.
Courtesy of Nashville Opera
You will leave the theater as Puccini intended—shocked and heartbroken.
Nashville Opera (Tosca) Rebecca in Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna coral gown with chiffon cape (Hero); Alaia pewter leather tassle bib necklace (AshBlue); Stuart Weitzman gold sandals (Shoe Salon at Jamie).
WORDS Milton White
T
he best part of fall is that it represents a new season of fashion and a new season of plays and productions from our favorite performing arts organizations. What better way to celebrate the upcoming 2017–2018 season than to look through the eyes of fashion? Speaking of: On the fashion front we have several events to look forward to! The Dressing Downton exhibit at Cheekwood continues through September 10th. Nordstrom will host a St. John luncheon and fall 2017 runway show on September 13th from 12 to 3 p.m. Haymaker & Co. will celebrate its 3rd anniversary on September 14th with a party in store from 5 to 8 p.m. I will curate and host All About Evening, my bi-annual gown and dress event at Jamie from September 14th to 23rd. The 25th Annual Pearls of Wisdom Fashion Show will be at Richland Country Club on September 16th. The 5th Annual Chic Awearness event that benefits Gilda’s Club will take place at Prima on September 25th. American Cancer Society’s Best Dressed Ball is November 11th at Prima. Nashville Fashion Alliance will present NFA Honors: Art & Commerce on November 16th at Marathon Music Works.
FASHION OF THE ARTS
Nashville’s performing arts calendar has something for everyone! Our editorial celebrates that influence. What follows is a complete list of the 2017–2018 season. Nashville Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty (September 23–24), Lizzie Borden with The Raven (October 26–28), Nashville’s Nutcracker: Celebrating 10 Years! (December 2–23), Attitude Light: The Holocaust & Humanity Project (February 9–11), Family Day at the Ballet (April 15), Modern Masters Kylian, Wheeldon & Balanchine (May 4–6), Emergence in Creative Collaboration with The Bluebird Café (June 1–3). Nashville Children’s Theatre: The Hundred Dresses (September 24–October 1), Mr. Popper’s Penguins (October 26–December3), Cinderella (December 14–21), The Snowy Day & Other Stories (January 18–February 11), Mockingbird (March 1–18), Dragons Love Tacos (April 12–May 13). Nashville Opera: Tosca (October 5 & 7), Maria de Buenos Aires (November 10–12), Hercules vs. Vampires (January 27), Susannah (April 6–8). Nashville Rep: Sense & Sensibility (September 9–23), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (October 14–November 4), A Christmas Story (November 25–December 22), Smart People (February 10–24), Inherit the Wind (March 24–April 21). Studio Tenn: The Battle of Franklin (September 7–22), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (December 1–17), Doubt : A Parable (February 15–25), Grease (May 10–20). TPAC: Part of the Plan (September 8–24), Fun Home (October 10–15), An American in Paris (October 31–November 5), The King and I (January 30–February 4), Cabaret (February 27– March 4), Wicked (March 28–April 22), Love Never Dies (June 19–24).
Fashion Editor: Milton White, The Fashion Office (www.thefashionoffice.com) Photographer: Christopher March (www.chrismarchphotography.com) Models: Rebecca, EYE Model Management (www.eyemgmt.com); Andrew Morstein, Nashville Opera; Anne Elizabeth McIntosh, Nashville Rep; Judson Veach, Nashville Ballet; Tamiko Robinson, Nashville Children’s Theatre; Catherine Birdsong, Nashville Children’s Theatre; Brent Hyams, TPAC; Taylor Novak, Studio Tenn Make-up Artist/Hair Stylist: Kenzi Leath Photographed at the home of Sylvia Roberts, the iconic Nashville house
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1 Nashville Opera (Tosca)
Nashville Opera tenor Andrew Morstein is our Scarpia to Rebecca’s Tosca. Andrew is in Zegna navy tuxedo, Eton white tuxedo shirt, and Brackisk feather bowtie (Oak Hall). Rebecca is in Theia ruby metallic off the shoulder gown (Jamie); Judith Bright garnet earrings and garnet and gold bracelets (Judith Bright), Everything Visual disco vintage necklace (Absolution). Olsen double candlestick and candles (Absolution).
2 Nashville Ballet (The Sleeping Beauty)
Nashville Ballet’s Jason Veach has awoken our Sleeping Beauty, Rebecca. Judson is in an Ermenegildo Zegna navy check suit, Eton white and navy check button down shirt, Eton paisley tie, Robert Talbott pocket square (Oak Hall). Rebecca is in Forever Unique nude strapless jumpsuit (Hero); Boundkit aquamarine, fluorite, chalcedony, rose quartz, and blue quartz necklace, Cluse rose metallic watch (AshBlue).
3 Nashville Rep (Sense & Sensibility)
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Our Dashwood sisters are Nashville Rep board member Anne Elizabeth McIntosh and model Rebecca. Anne Elizabeth is in Julie Brown NYC smoke ultrasuede dress with ruffles (K.McCarthy); Baroque freshwater pearl necklace with Makure gold and diamond rondel; The Mazza Company x pearl earrings, The Mazza Company pearl and gold bracelet (Cindi Earl Fine Jewelry); Chanel dark beige accordion handbag, Stuart Weitzman nude peep toe with gold cork platform heel (The Private Label). Rebecca is in Waverly Grey multi faux fur vest (K. McCarthy); 360 Cashmere leopard print pullover (Emerson Grace); Luisa Cerano forest velvet cargo pants (Jamie); chain fringe necklace (Absolution); Prada green and blue metallic cork wedge sandals (The Private Label).
4 TPAC (American in Paris)
TPAC COO, Brent Hyams, is an amazing Jerry Mulligan to Rebecca’s Lisa Dassin. Brent is in Bevilacqua blue striped shirt, Bevilacqua tweed vest, Liberty of London paisley bow tie, Raleigh black jeans (Haymaker & Co.). Rebecca is in Chanel fuschia metallic pullover with removeable turtleneck, Balenciaga silver open toed shoe with black detail (The Private Label); The Row ink pants (Jamie); Wilbur & Gussie grey satin clutch (AshBlue).
5 Studio Tenn (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe)
Rebecca is a wicked White Witch while Studio Tenn actor, Taylor Novak makes a badass lion, Aslan. Rebecca is in Powder almond dyed mink vest with pearl dyed golden island fox (Mink Links); Brandon Maxwell ivory layered blouse, Minxx white leggings with mirrors (Jamie). Taylor is in My Tribe camel coat with faux fur collar (Jamie); W.R.K black short sleeve Henley, J Brand chocolate jeans, W. Kleinberg bison belt (Haymaker & Co.) Shannon dog tag, Blo Vintage chain and whistle (Absolution).
6 Nashville Children’s Theater (The Hundred Dresses)
Nashville Children’s Theatre‘s Tamiko Robinson and Catherine Birdsong are the OG Plastics (aka Mean Girls) to Rebecca’s Wanda. Tamiko Robinson is in Chanel royal blue sleeveless knit dress, Jimmy Choo purple glitter sandals, Chanel pink and pearl earrings (The Private Label). Catherine is in Theia persimmon halter dress with ruffles (Jamie); Manolo Blahnik chartreuse sandals with crystal details, Emporia Armani fuschia suede handbag with black feathers (The Private Label). Rebecca is in Etcetera denim dress (The Private Label).
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THEATRE
Photograph by Dan Harper
BY JIM REYLAND
Jim Reyland’s STAND, starring Barry Scott and Chip Arnold, voted Best New Play by the Scene, returns to Nashville October 27 and 28 at the 4th Story Theater, WUMC. Writersstage.com has details. Three public shows only, to kick off our third national tour.
Theatre That’s Larger Than Life! There’s a massive white tent rising like a pointy marshmallow off Briley Parkway near Opryland. If you happen to catch it in your peripheral vision, your first thought might be that it’s an old-fashioned tent revival or maybe that the circus has come to town. In very familiar ways, they both have. This impressive structure is the temporary home to Odysseo, a multiemotional experience that promises to send the senses racing and deliver the spectacular with soul. Like a tent revival wrapped in a circus, Odysseo will inspire and thrill the heart. Odysseo has performed its unique magic in major cities all over the world, and it makes its final stop (for now) in Nashville, August 30 through September 10.
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Photograph Courtesy of Cavalia, Inc.
Cavalia’s Odysseo
Odysseo creator and artistic director Normand Latourelle (Cirque du Soleil) marries the equestrian arts, stage arts, and high-tech theatrical effects at never-before-seen levels. Some 10,000 tons of rock, earth, and sand are trucked in and then sculpted to create the vast space of freedom where humans and horses come to play together. Sound like a big production? Odysseo’s white big top is the size of an NFL football field. The 17,500-square-foot stage, larger than a hockey rink, and the 50-foot-wide backstage area offer vast playgrounds for more than 30 cantering horses. The show features 65 horses of 13 different breeds: Appaloosa, Arabian, Canadian Horse, Hanoverian Cross, Holsteiner, Lusitano, Paint
Horse, Percheron, Quarter Horse, Selle Français, Spanish Purebred (P.R.E.), Thoroughbred, and Warlander. There are 50 artists—riders, acrobats, aerialists, dancers, and musicians. There are 350 costumes and 100 pairs of shoes and boots. An artist may have no more than 30 seconds to do a quick costume change between numbers. At times during the show, they juggle 15 simultaneous wardrobe changes. A staff kitchen tent prepares more than 300 meals daily. So if big-top theater is your thing, if you’d like to experience a new wave of cool live from your theater seat, check out Cavalia’s Odysseo, August 30 through September 10. For more information, visit www.cavalia.com.
We Are All “Part of the Plan”
It’s a perfect fit. Music City had vital significance in Fogelberg’s rise to fame as a singer/songwriter. Nashville is where he recorded his first album at Quadrophonic studios (now Round Hill) with famed Muscle Shoals producer Norbert Putnam 45 years ago and wrote “Part of the Plan,” his first hit single. He performed at Exit/In, War Memorial Auditorium, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Ryman, and he penned “Run for the Roses,” the unofficial theme for the Kentucky Derby. Nashville is also woven into the fabric of the creation of this musical— Nashville is where Dan’s widow, Jean Fogelberg, and Norbert Putnam met the writers of “Part of the Plan” to discuss and green-light the project six years ago. Many well-
known local musicians, such as Garth Brooks, name Dan Fogelberg as an inspiration for their music and their careers. If ever there was a Music City Musical, Part of the Plan is it. Adding to the Music City ties, JT Hodges, an Academy of Country Music artist well known in Nashville, is starring in the production, along with One Flew South founding member Chris Roberts, Belmont University’s Erica Aubrey, and Benjamin Hale. When it all comes together, it’s Part of the Plan. Come out and support this unique and emerging theater art. na For information about tickets, visit www.tpac.org.
Photograph by Erika Chambers
Art doesn’t happen without a good idea. Theatre lives because of new works, and the music industry begins and ends with a great song. This fall TPAC brings them together in a new theatrical piece that celebrates the songs of one of our greatest troubadours Dan Fogelberg. From September 8 to September 24, TPAC will host the World Premiere of Part of the Plan a new, original musical that interweaves 20 iconic songs by the late singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, including his hits “Leader of the Band,” “Longer,” and “Same Old Lang Syne.”
Local country artist JT Hodges in the staged readings for Part of the Plan, which took place last September at TPAC. JT Hodges will reprise his role as Jake in the show when it opens September 8. NASHVILLEARTS.COM
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FRIDAY .................... 10am - 9pm SATURDAY ......... 10am - 9pm SUNDAY ................. 11 am - 6pm Enjoy 3 days of Delicious Greek Food, Music, Traditional Folk Dances, Specialty Booths, Kid’s Area & Tours of the Church! 4905 FRANKLIN ROAD & TYNE BLVD
Dane Carder Studio presents
Price Harrison She’s Not There: New Photographs 438 Houston St. #262 / 615.598.5600
Sept 7-30 / Reception Sept 7, 5:30-8:30
PRESENTS
Visionaries: Celebrating 30 Years of Woodcuts SEPTEMBER 23 • 4 - 6PM
Jefferson Street Art Crawl to follow
James Threalkill, Michael McBride, Jamaal Sheats, Omari Booker, Essence DeVonne, Ludie Amos, and XPayne
1613 Jefferson Street • Nashville, TN 37208 • (615) 321-5357 • Follow us on
and
@WoodcutsGallery
Photography Competition
8th 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 December issue of Nashville Arts Magazine and entrants may be given the opportunity to shoot an assignment for the magazine.
Submissions due: October 20, 2017
Winners announced: December 2017
You may enter as many photographs as you wish for $5 per photograph. See www.nashvillearts.com for details.
SAVE THE DATE
May 3 • 4 • 5
Watercolor • Acrylic • Pastel • Oil Sculpture • Wood • Clay • Mixed Media Photography • Collage • Repurposed Art Accepting applications through November 15, 2017 Visit zapplication.org and search “Harding Art Show” Info or questions: www.thehardingartshow.com or artshow@hardingacademy.us
Blair Precollege Festival of Music Sunday, September 10 • 1:00-5:00 p.m.
2400 Blakemore Ave. Nashville, TN 37212
An afternoon of musical fun and games for the whole family! Kindermusik playdates, a musical instrument petting zoo, African-style drumming and dancing, backstage tours, face-painting, and lots of live performances!
ARTSMART
A monthly guide to art education
The Greek word theater has been defined as “the place to behold” or “the seeing place”—taking moments of the human experience and shining upon them the light of truth. The words of the playwright are completed only when placed in the hands of the actors, who stretch the dialogue, imbue it with meaning, and share the words with the audience. For children and young people accustomed to film, television, and viewing so much of the world through their electronic devices, the opportunity, there in the dark, to see a live stage production offers an intimacy and a magic they experience nowhere else. Now in its 38th year, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s HOT series has brought the magic of theater to 1.8 million students. “The goal is to create an opportunity for every age,” says Roberta Ciuffo West, Executive Vice President for Education and Outreach. “Productions in any given year can run the gamut from real world or historical to whimsical, but even the whimsical, like this season’s The Polar Bears Go Up, deals with solving problems (in this case, without words) that are relevant to the age and understanding of the student.”
Photograph by Drew Cox
The 2017 fall lineup opens and closes with productions from Franklin’s Studio Tenn. The historical drama The Battle of Franklin: A House Divided connects students with the realities of the Civil War in Tennessee (September 6, 13, and 20), while the C.S. Lewis classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
by DeeGee Lester Director of Education The Parthenon
One Morning I Left
(November 30, December 1 and 5–7) delights and charms with the tale of Narnia. Between these two productions, students can hear the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers (October 26), explore the creative process of dance movement with New Dialect Dance (November 2), and visit the “dark side” with Shakespeare’s masterpiece Macbeth (November 6–9). November also offers The Polar Bears Go Up (November 13, 14, and 17), and fairy-tale favorite Sleeping Beauty (November 28, 29, and 30). In-school tours include STAND (October 2–26) and a one-man tour de force with Mark Cabus playing 18 roles in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (November 27 through December 15). High school students will have the chance to see the dress rehearsal of Nashville Opera’s Tosca (October 3). “We want Nashville and Tennessee—especially our young people— to have equal opportunities to learn, explore, and grow through the diverse artistic and cultural perspectives presented on our stage. With all of our programs combined, TPAC Education provides a variety of rich opportunities for children to better understand themselves and the world around them,” says Ciuffo West. “I know that every child and every teacher engaged in TPAC Education has the same opportunities for growth. That’s what I love the most about our work.”
Contact www.tpac.org/education/hot/SeasonforYoungPeople for ticket information.
Photography by Sebastián Cerpa
STAND
Courtesy of TPAC
TPAC HOT Series: Perspectives
by Amanda Dobra Hope
ARTSMART
Brian Nash, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital
The Keith Haring Museum, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”
The Rothko Museum, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”
my inventory that she could install in the hospital’s main lobby. I wanted them to be a cohesive exhibit, and I wanted them to educate people about art, as well as be joyful,” Nash explains. “I created eight new pieces and asked her to choose the six she wanted, but she loved all eight, so I threw in the other two as well!” Nash continues.
The Jackson Pollock Museum, 2017, Acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”
If you ask artist Brian Nash what he wants people to feel when they see his work, his answer will unequivocally be “happy.” As it turns out, that’s also what he wants from his life. Nash, who already has permanent installations depicting rabbits, squirrels, and the like at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, is continuing to spread the joy with his new exhibit in Vanderbilt Hospital’s main lobby. The exhibit, featuring pieces from his appropriately named Museum series, came about at the request of Jenny Lewis, the Vanderbilt staff member who previously made sure the Children’s Hospital was adorned with his joyful creations. “After seeing my Museum series, Jenny [Lewis] asked me for six paintings from
The paintings are jovial in nature and depict Nash’s take on iconic artists he admires, as well as his thoughts on how art influences its admirers. In each picture, the viewer’s clothing is influenced by the pieces they are looking at, illustrating the inevitable ways that art shapes our society. Nash adds, however, that we can be affected by art only if we are open to the experience of it. As a contrast, if you look closely enough, you’ll notice that each of his paintings contains the same two women in business suits, seemingly unaffected from piece to piece by what they are taking in. Although they dutifully attend all of the gallery openings and pretend to be interested, they are too worried about maintaining the status quo to really be internally moved by the art they appear to love. The educational component involves Nash providing a short biography for each of the artists honored in his Museum series to give hospital patients, employees, and visitors something interesting to learn about art, while bringing them joy at the same time. “I want to cheer people up in a place where they wouldn’t necessarily be cheery,” he says. In our talk, I met a man of gratitude who is extremely thankful for the ability to make a living doing what he loves. A man who lives by his father’s motto, “Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life,” and who wants the same for others. A happy man, spreading happiness through art. Sounds like a win for all those who choose to be affected by him.
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by DeeGee Lester
Global Education Center: Third Root of Mexico
Invisible Mexico exhibit at monOrchid Gallery in Phoenix
Finally recognized as the third root of Mexico—along with Spanish and indigenous influences—Afro-Mexicans are at last claiming and celebrating their cultural heritage. Denied and invisible for so long, these people were not even included in the Mexican census counts until 2015. As an integral part of the international community in Nashville, Ellen Gilbert, Executive Director of the Global Education Center, and her staff are aware of the historical disconnect between many Mexicans and African Americans. Over the years, she has seen how stereotypes often play out in our community and has witnessed the real need for Afro-Mexicans to reassert their pride and culture. Gilbert says that with the new recognition of that community, “I thought, this is a perfect conversation for Nashville.”
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Photograph by Hakeem Khaaliq
Invisible Mexico exhibit at monOrchid Gallery in Phoenix
Photograph by Jimaral Marshall
While researching and Googling exhibition and performance possibilities, she and her staff discovered Afro-Latino poets, performers, filmmakers, and photographers from Mexico and across the region (Cuba, Puerto Rico, etc.), enough to do something each month for a powerful 2017–18 season. The nine-month project kicks off the fall portion of the series with award-winning multidisciplinary artists Hakeen Khaaliq and Queen Muhammed Ali in a digital augmented reality photo essay showcasing isolated descendants of the African Diaspora who reside in Mexico’s rural Pacific and Gulf Coasts. “Khaaliq’s project, Encuentro Phoenix [September 14–17], mixes the physical with the virtual, superimposing a computer-generated image onto images of the real world, as seen through a headset or mobile device,” Gilbert says. “Displaying information overlays and digital content tied to the physical objects and locations featured in the photos, the viewer is immersed in a singular experience of cultural dialogue.” The following month, acclaimed poet Xánath Caraza presents a reading (October 6) followed with a writing workshop (October 7). The recipient of numerous international awards for her books of poetry, Caraz’s presentation will be followed by a Q&A session moderated by Dr. Avery Dickens de Giron, Executive Director of Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American Studies.
The fall portion of this unique series rounds out with music. In November, the documentary Camilo Nu & The Third Root Movie Screening takes the audience on a musical journey with the Afro-Mexican guitarist, discovering the similarities between traditional Mexican music and that of Southern Europe and the Arab and African cultures through the varied rhythms of Flamenco, Andalusian, Sufi, Berber, and Sub Saharan music and dance. Additional monthly programming begins in February through the spring, further awakening Afro-Mexicans to the pride and significance of their unique heritage while building bridges of understanding throughout the Nashville community.
For reservations or information on these and other Global Education Center classes and programs, go to www.globaleducationcenter.org.
by DeeGee Lester
ARTSMART
Nashville Children’s Theatre: Enchanting Fall Season Nashville Children’s Theatre’s delightful fall lineup weaves together a trilogy of stories of hope and transformation. Each play is a reminder to children that we never really know what a person is capable of achieving; that behind what we see each day may be a life quietly transforming itself.
Ernie Nolan, NCT’s Artistic Director
Photograph by Reed Hummell
“Because theatre mirrors the world we live in, I want NCT to be a place where everyone has a story. In addition to current patrons who might have memories of visiting our theatre as a child, it’s my hope our work engages new audiences with our 2017–18 season,” says Ernie Nolan, NCT’s Artistic Director. In The Hundred Dresses (September 14–October 1), viewers can simultaneously see the cruelty of bullies, the silence and guilt of bystanders, and how hidden truths and talents reveal a surprising young heroine. The play, by William Kent Williams, is based on a popular book by Eleanor Estes. “While written in 1944, The Hundred Dresses is an incredibly topical play for young audiences, especially those in Nashville. Statistics show that 100 people a day are moving to our incredible city. This play is an opportunity to discuss with young people how we might welcome new Nashvillians. Eleanor Estes’s moving story asks us to reflect on whether we will choose to be a friend or a foe to those that look or sound different from us.” The centerpiece for the fall lineup (October 26–December 3) is a charming musical production, Mr. Popper’s Penguins. “At the heart of Mr. Popper’s Penguins is a story about believing in the power of possibility,” says Nolan. “Through ingenuity, hard work, and moxie, Mr. Popper’s dreams come true. This production allows NCT to celebrate the magic of live theatre. It also offers the opportunity to showcase the amazing homegrown talents of puppet designer Brian Hull, our NCT resident designers Scott Leathers and Patricia Taber, as well as our cast of singers and dancers. This tuneful charmer is getting a one-of-a-kind production here at NCT.”
Photograph courtesy of NCT
To close out the fall season (December 14–21), NCT brings back a classic. “This holiday we are also bringing back Scot Copeland’s witty and effervescent adaptation of Cinderella. It’s an NCT original production that has quickly become a classic for our audience. Featuring many favorite NCT actors, it’s an enchanting and memorable night at the theatre for the whole family.”
Cinderella
For more information, go to www.nashvillechildrenstheatre.org.
Sinclair Tucker, Nicholas Schurman, Nick Woods, and Ashley Atterberry at Fort Houston
Carrie McMahon, Nilo, and Blake at Fort Houston
Mary Smith, Tori Cunningham, and LaToya Robinson at The Arts Company
ARTSEE
At Zeitgeist
ARTSEE
Photograph by Madge Franklin
At The Arts Company
Tom Turner, Janet Kurtz, and Ron Gobbell at The Arts Company
ARTSEE
Leila and Kurtis Anderson at Tinney Contemporary
Wendy Paro and Taro at East Side Project Space
At Open Gallery
Brent LaFever, Jennifer Crescuillo, and Meredith Edmondson at Fort Houston
At David Lusk Gallery
Malia and Scott Tripp at David Lusk Gallery
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Greg and Amber Reifschneider at The Rymer Gallery
Mike Gracey and Nina Estoesta at The Arts Company
Zoey Dodge and Lexie Roland at Open Gallery
At The Rymer Gallery
Beth and Jon Henry at The Browsing Room Gallery
At Fort Houston
Meghan Lamb, Austin, Heather Johnson, and Kelsey Smith at Zeitgeist
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIFFANI BING
ARTSEE
Skeeter Biscuit, Mary Wilson-Sjerps, Von Derry, and Helen Hoyt at Tinney Contemporary
Jenn Stookey and Coley G. at The Arts Company
ARTSEE
ARTSEE
At Tinney Contemporary
Artist Sharyn Bachleda and Liz Lowenstein at Open Gallery
Ashton Hardwick and Ora Bransford at The Rymer Gallery
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TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHY BY HUNTER ARMISTEAD
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
FYEYE Instagram: @hunterarmistead
A Frame of Film, A Line of Words, Capture the Creative Culture of Our City
mmhmm mmhmm is Raelyn Nelson (right) and Hannah Fairlight (left). They are wild—wildly talented, envelope-pushing, clever as the dickens. Raelyn, from Nashville, is a single mom with twin boys, Aiden and Brody, 10, and a girl, Vivian, 7. Hannah, from “the Midwest,” is married and has a 2-year-old boy, Rory. They are both solo artists; mmhmm is their joint project. I first saw them by chance at the Crying Wolf. You can’t ignore them—way too much going on. Oh—and the chaps. Rather than interviewing them, I had them interview each other: When did music become what you do? H: Around 18, when I moved to New York, and all I wanted to do was play in clubs and make it in music. R: After I stopped nursing my kids … so 26ish? Whom do you miss the most? H: My mom. R: My dad. What are you reading right now? H: Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die by Willie Nelson because Raelyn told me to. R: Just Kids by Patti Smith because Hannah told me to. Why music? H: Music is my best language, and it’s one of the best things I have to share with people. R: I just love music. It makes me feel good. I just wanna play music all the time! What would you consider a conservative outfit? R: Pants, button-down blouse. H: Nudie Suits? How did you get the name? H: There are no noes in mmhmm. R: And you can’t say mmhmm with your mouth open. Why is mmhmm important to you? H: We say what we want. We write about sex and politics … When we’re up there together, we’re free. We aren’t limited in ways we might be with our solo bands. We’re breast friends. R: Awwwww … you’re my beat buddy. mmhmm: www.themmhmmband.com Raelyn: www.raelynnelson.com Hannah: www.hannahfairlight.com Follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
Shop our Galleries
Monday - Friday 10:00 AM - 4:00 AM and Saturday 10:00 AM - 2:00 AM Get an early start on holiday shopping! Visit us to find one-of-a-kind items for everyone on your list. 1416 Lebanon Pike, Nashville, TN, 37210 • 615.242.0346 Hours: M-F 8am-4:30pm, Sat 10am-2pm
Ballet Hispánico performs on Lincoln Center at the Movies
EXCHANGE PROGRAMS National Hispanic Heritage Month
Ceramic artist Magdalena Pedro Martínez in her studio, from Craft in America: Neighbors
Craft in America returns at the end of the month with Neighbors, a look at shared aesthetics across the Mexican-American border. Airing Friday, September 29, at 9 p.m., the episode features Los Angeles artists Jaime Guerrero (glass) and Judy Baca (murals); Mexican ceramicists Magdalena Pedro Martínez and Carlomagno Pedro Martínez; as well as silver and jewelry designers from both countries.
EXTRAS
A new season of Bluegrass Underground begins Saturday, September 9, at 10 p.m. with The Mavericks. Season 7 also includes Chris Robinson Brotherhood (September 16).
It’s beginning to look a lot like . . . well, not really, but why wait till the last minute? Cirque Dreams Holidaze airs Thursday, September 14, at 8 p.m. The extravaganza is billed as cirque show, Broadway musical, and family Christmas spectacular all in one, and with 20 acts (including acrobats!), 300 costumes, and multiple production numbers, it couldn’t be anything else. Snowmen, gingerbread men, ornaments, and Santa are some of the holiday-themed aspects of the show, a touring production of which is coming to Opryland this fall. Early next month we’ll air Swim Team, an inspiring documentary about three young athletes with autism. We selected Swim Team to receive NPT’s Human Spirit Award at this year’s Nashville Film Festival. Look for the film Monday, October 2, at 9 p.m. on POV. And finally, in addition to wonderful shows on-air, we’re hosting a number of free advance screenings of programs coming to NPT this month and next. Find more information at wnpt.org/events.
Please continue to show your support for NPT by contributing at wnpt. org. Enjoy encore presentations of many of our shows on NPT2, our secondary channel; and 24/7 children’s programming on NPT3 PBS Kids.
Visual development art for Bambi (1942), watercolor on paper. From American Masters: Tyrus
Courtesy of Tyrus Wong
Disney fans should also note that the second part of Walt Disney: American Experience airs on Tuesday, September 5, at 7 p.m. On Friday, September 8, at 9:30 p.m., Oregon’s Animation Magic visits the Portland-area studios of several key stop-motion artists, among them Claymation creator Will Vinton and LAIKA studios.
begins Friday, September 15. On that night, we’re presenting Ballet Hispánico at 8 p.m., a Lincoln Center at the Movies special featuring two of the company’s iconic works. CARMEN. maquia is an update of Bizet’s beloved opera, while Club Havana by Cubanborn choreographer Pedro Ruiz is set in a nightclub. Later, at 9:30 p.m., Salsa! The Dance Sensation examines the sultry Latin dance genre infused with Caribbean and African accents. Narrated by singer, songwriter, and record producer Willy Chirino, the film goes inside the cultural phenomenon that stretches from stage to schools to senior centers.
Courtesy of Mark Markley
If you love animation, you’re really going to enjoy NPT this month. American Masters’ profile of Tyrus Wong airs Friday, September 8, at 8 p.m. and includes interviews with Wong, who died last December at the age of 106. Wong was a talented painter who exhibited at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York and with Picasso and Matisse in 1930s Paris. But his greatest influence may have come through his work in the motion picture industry, namely his vision for Disney’s Bambi—celebrating its 75th anniversary this year—and his set design for Warner Brothers, including Rebel Without a Cause, The Wild Bunch, and April in Paris. Wong’s art combined elements of Chinese calligraphy, which he learned at the insistence of his father, and landscape paintings. Later, he turned his hand to dinnerware, kites, and stunning midcentury Hallmark greeting cards.
Courtesy of Paula Lobo
Arts Worth Watching
September 2017 Weekend Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30
5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 6:00 6:30
Saturday
am Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Thomas & Friends Bob the Builder Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Splash and Bubbles Curious George Nature Cat Sewing with Nancy Sew It All Garden Smart The Great British Baking Show Martha Stewart’s Cooking School noon America’s Test Kitchen pm Cook’s Country Kitchen Hubert Keller: Secrets of a Chef Lidia’s Kitchen Simply Ming Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting Best of Joy of Painting Baby Makes 3 American Woodshop This Old House Ask This Old House A Craftsman’s Legacy PBS NewsHour Weekend Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville
This Month on Nashville Public Television
Sunday
am Sid the Science Kid Cyberchase Sesame Street Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Cat in the Hat Curious George Nature Cat Tennessee’s Wild Side Volunteer Gardener Tennessee Crossroads Nature Washington Week noon To the Contrary pm Born to Explore Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi Family Travel with Colleen Kelly Globe Trekker California’s Gold Fringe Benefits America’s Heartland Rick Steves’ Europe Antiques Roadshow PBS NewsHour Weekend Charlie Rose: The Week
Weekday Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 6:00
am Classical Stretch Body Electric Ready Jet Go! Wild Kratts Thomas & Friends Curious George Curious George Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Splash and Bubbles Splash and Bubbles Sesame Street Sesame Street Super Why! noon Peg + Cat pm Dinosaur Train Ready Jet Go! Bob the Builder Nature Cat Wild Kratts Wild Kratts Odd Squad Odd Squad Arthur NPT Favorites PBS NewsHour
ORIGINAL
Cirque Dreams Holidaze A holiday extravaganza with acrobats and music. Nashville Public Television
Thursday, Sept. 14, 8:00 pm
School Discipline: NPT Reports Town Hall A community discussion about discipline in schools.
Friday, Sept. 29, 8:00 pm
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Seattle, Hour 2. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Seattle, Hour 3. 9:00 POV My Love, Don’t Cross That River. At 89 and 98, a couple faces the reality of their aging romance. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 9/11 Inside the Pentagon
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7:00 Great Fire Episode 4. King Charles finally takes action. 8:00 Endeavor on Masterpiece Harvest. A 2,000-year-old body reveals a new lead. 9:30 Yellowstone in Four Seasons 10:00 Start Up Dinner and Apps. 10:30 A Craftsman’s Legacy The Sword Smith. 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Rapid City, Hour 3. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Seattle, Hour 1. 9:00 POV The Grown-Ups. Four middle-aged friends with Down syndrome yearn for greater autonomy. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Richard M. Sherman: Songs of a Lifetime .
7:00 Great Fire Episode 3. Thomas returns to rescue Sarah and David. 8:00 Endeavor on Masterpiece Lazaretto. Odd happenings at a hospital. 9:30 Cheekwood: A Masterpiece by Man & Nature 10:00 Start Up Camping Goods. 10:30 Articulate with Jim Cotter Feminist Fatale. 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
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7:00 Martin Luther: The Idea that Changed the World Hugh Bonneville narrates. 9:00 Frontline Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. The only bank charged in the 2008 financial collapse. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Osiris REx: Countdown to Launch An asteroid-bound spacecraft.
7:00 Walt Disney: American Experience Part 2. Creating Cinderella, Mary Poppins and Disneyland. 9:00 Frontline The Man Who Knew. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 The Arab Americans The contributions of immigrants from the Middle East, North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
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7:00 Earth’s Natural 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads Wonders 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Living Wonders. 8:00 Cirque Dreams 8:00 NOVA Holidaze Death Dive to Saturn. A holiday extravaganza The Cassini space with acrobatics, probe’s mission comes production numbers to an end. and more. 9:00 The Farthest – 9:00 Tales from the Royal Voyager in Space Wardrobe 11:00 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 11:30 Austin City Limits 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 2014 Hall of Fame 11:00 Tolkien & Lewis: Myth, Special. Imagination & the Quest for Meaning
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Thursday
7:00 Earth’s Natural 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads Wonders 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Wonders of Water. 8:00 Carol Burnett: 8:00 NOVA The Mark Twain Prize Killer Landslides. 10:00 BBC World News 9:00 India: Nature’s 10:30 Last of Summer Wine Wonderland 11:00 Great Performances 10:00 BBC World News Dudamel Conducts a 10:30 Last of Summer Wine John Williams 11:00 Austin City Limits Celebration with the Beck. La Phil. Guests include Williams and violinist . Itzhak Perlman.
Sunday, September 10, 9:30 pm
Wednesday
Yellowstone in Four Seasons
Tuesday
Monday, September 4, 9:00 pm
Monday
POV: The Grown-Ups
Sunday
Nashville Public Television’s Primetime Evening Schedule
September 2017 1
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7:00 No Going Back: Women and the War 7:30 Third Rail with OZY 8:00 Ballet Hispanico Two iconic works from the country’s premier Latino dance company. 9:30 Salsa! The Dance Sensation 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Infinity Hall Live Rob Thomas.
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7:00 Secession: Tennessee Civil War 150 7:30 Third Rail with OZY 8:00 Tyrus Wong: American Masters Tyrus. The life of the Disney illustrator who brought Bambi to the screen. 9:30 Oregon’s Animation Magic Stop-motion artists in Portland. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Infinity Hall Live Dave Mason.
7:00 Tennessee Civil War 150: Civil War Songs & Stories 8:00 Richard Linklater: American Masters A profile of the Oscar-nominated filmmaker. 9:30 On Story Deconstructing Billy Wilder. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Infinity Hall Live Blind Pilot.
Friday
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Songs from the Movies. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Poldark on Masterpiece Season 2, Episode 7. Demelza reaches her breaking point. 9:30 Travels with Darley Wales: Isle of Anglesey & the Coast. 10:00 Bluegrass Underground Chris Robinson Brotherhood. 10:30 The Songwriters Bill Anderson. 11:00 Globe Trekker Tough Boats: The Arctic.
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Lawrence Welk’s Premiere Show. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Poldark on Masterpiece Season 2, Episode 6. Ross and the free traders sail into a trap. 9:30 Rick Steves’ Europe England’s Cornwall. 10:00 Bluegrass Underground The Mavericks. 10:30 The Songwriters Ray Stevens. 11:00 Globe Trekker Myanmar.
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show America’s Wonderland 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Poldark on Masterpiece Season 2, Episode 4. Francis goes missing. 9:30 Poldark on Masterpiece Season 2, Episode 5. Ross does Elizabeth a favor. 10:30 The Songwriters Guy Clark. 11:00 Globe Trekker Food Hour: The Story of Beer.
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7:00 Finding Your Roots The Impression. The fourth season begins with Larry David and Bernie Sanders. 8:00 The Vietnam War Déjà Vu (1858 – 1961). 9:30 The Vietnam War Riding the Tiger (1961 – 1963). 11:00 BBC World News
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for NPT, NPT2, and NPT3 PBS Kids.
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 Nature 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Nahedi: One Little 8:00 Pioneers of Elephant. Television: Primetime 8:00 NOVA Soaps Secrets of Shining 9:00 Pioneers of Knights. Television: 9:00 Frontline Superheros 10:00 BBC World News 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Paul Simon.
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7:00 The Vietnam War 7:00 The Vietnam War 7:0 The Vietnam War The History of the A Disrespectful The Weight of Memory World Loyalty (March 1973 – Onward). (April 1969 – May 1970). (May 1970 – March 1973). A brutal Nixon begins American POWs will Vietnamese civil war withdrawing troops; finally come home – rages. Later, Americans antiwar protests to a bitterly divided and Vietnamese on all reignite with tragic country. sides search for healing consequences. 9:00 The Vietnam War and reconciliation. 9:00 The Vietnam War A Disrespectful 9:00 The Vietnam War The History of the Loyalty The Weight of Memory World (May 1970 – March 1973). (March 1973 - Onward). (April 1969 – May 1970). 11:00 BBC World News 11:00 BBC World News 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Austin City Limits 11:30 Vocies from Vietnam: 11:30 Guadacanal: Island Florence + The Reflecting at the Wall of the Big Death Machine; Andra Day.
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7:00 The Vietnam War This Is What We Do (July 1967 – Dec. 1967). Casualties mount as the Johnson Administration forecasts victory. 8:30 The Vietnam War This Is What We Do (July 1967 – Dec. 1967). 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Balancing the Scales How women lawyers challenge cultural bias.
Visit wnpt.org for complete 24-hour schedules
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Boise, Hour 3. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Detroit, Hour 1. 9:00 POV Swim Team. Autistic teens compete on a swim team. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News
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7:00 To Be Announced 8:00 Poldark on Masterpiece The Season 3 opener. 10:00 Start Up Barn to Be Wild. 10:30 A Craftsman’s Legacy The Table Maker. 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
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7:00 The Vietnam War The Veneer of Civilization (June 1968 – May 1969). Public support for the war declines; soldiers on all sides witness terrible savagery and unflinching courage. 9:00 The Vietnam War The Veneer of Civilization (June 1968 – May 1969). 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Next Door Neighbors Hablamos Español.
7:00 The Vietnam War Things Fall Apart (Jan. 1968 – July 1968). North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launch surprise attacks before the Tet holiday; unrest in the U.S. 8:30 The Vietnam War Things Fall Apart (Jan. 1968 – July 1968). 10:00 Start Up Chillin’ with Goats. 10:30 A Craftsman’s Legacy The Jeans Maker. 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
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7:00 The Vietnam War 7:00 The Vietnam War 7:00 The Vietnam War 7:00 The Vietnam War Déjà Vu (1858 – 1961). Riding the Tiger The River Styx Resolve The Ken Burns series (1961 –1963). JFK (Jan. 1964 – Dec. 1965). (Jan. 1966 – June 1967). begins. French colonial wrestles with deeper Fearing South An antiwar movement rule of Vietnam ends; involvement in South Vietnam’s collapse, begins at home while the country is divided Vietnam. LBJ escalates U.S. U.S. soldiers and into two in Geneva. 8:30 The Vietnam War military involvement. Marines discover this 8:30 The Vietnam War Riding the Tiger 9:00 The Vietnam War isn’t their fathers’ war. Déjà Vu (1858 – 1961). (1961 –1963). The River Styx 9:00 The Vietnam War 10:00 Start Up 10:00 BBC World News (Jan. 1964 – Dec. 1965). Resolve Market Climbing. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News (Jan. 1966 – June 1967). 10:30 A Craftsman’s Legacy 11:00 An American 11:30 Managing Risk in a 11:00 BBC World News The Ski Makers. Conscience: The Changing Climate 11:30 Austin City Limits 11:00 Tavis Smiley Reinhold Niebuhr Sea level rise in 2015 Hall of Fame 11:30 Scully/The World Story Louisiana’s coastal Special. Show The man behind the region. Serenity Prayer.
Monday, October 2, 9:00 pm
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7:00 Crisis of Faith Slavery and religious interpretations of its morality in the Civil War era. Amy Grant narrates. 7:30 Third Rail with OZY 8:00 School Discipline: NPT Reports Town Hall 9:00 Craft in America Neighbors. Shared aesthetics across the U.S./Mexican border. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Front and Center Cheap Trick.
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7:00 Shiloh: The Devil’s Own Day 7:30 Third Rail with OZY 8:00 American Masters Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer’s Journey. 9:00 Craft in America Borders. Mexican and American craft artists. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Front and Center Shawn Mendes.
30 7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Easy Listening. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Poldark on Masterpiece Season 2, Episode 9. Season conclusion. 9:30 Rick Steves’ Europe West England. 10:00 Bluegrass Underground 10:30 The Songwriters Sonny Curtis. 11:00 Globe Trekker Tough Trains: Bolivia.
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Down on the Farm. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Poldark on Masterpiece Season 2, Episode 8. Lady luck pays a visit. 9:30 Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi Hogmanay in Scotland. 10:00 Bluegrass Underground 10:30 The Songwriters Tom Douglas. 11:00 Globe Trekker Food Hour: Southern China.
BY LINDA DYER
Photograph by Jerry Atnip
APPRAISEIT
Linda Dyer serves as an appraiser, broker, and consultant in the field of antiques and fine art. She has appeared on the PBS production Antiques Roadshow since season one, which aired in 1997, as an appraiser of Tribal Arts. If you would like Linda to consider appraising one of your antiques, send a clear, detailed image to info@nashvillearts.com. Or send photo to Antiques, Nashville Arts Magazine, 644 West Iris Dr., Nashville, TN 37204.
The Bird of Washington, or Great American Sea Eagle, 1827, (Plate 11) After James Audubon (American, born Haiti, 1785–1851) By Robert Havell Jr. (American, born England, 1793-1878) Hand-colored etching & aquatint on watermarked J. Whatman / Turkey Mill paper, 39” x 29”
John James Audubon’s obsession with birds started at an early age. He was an amateur naturalist and self-taught artist of reportedly boundless energy, who was most content traveling through the U.S. frontier on foot and horseback in search of his next subject. Early on, he had a vision for a book, to paint birds as he observed them in the wild. It is important to know that all that Audubon accomplished in his art was without the aid of reference books, binoculars, or cameras. But he was a portrait artist that ultimately had to kill his subjects to study all their details and then apply his keen observational skills and appreciation of the natural world to accurately position his deceased subjects for their portraits, while always managing to capture the energy and excitement of the active states of his avian subjects. His paintings were just the first step in a long production process. This passionate man, happiest in the wilds, was forced to travel to England in search of an engraver who shared his vision and had access to wealthy subscribers who would purchase the formidable portfolio of engravings that were to be meticulously translated from Audubon’s original paintings. The production process was laborious: Robert Havell had to mirror-image copy, by hand, the shapes, shadings, and textures of the artwork onto copper plates. Once the engraving plate was completed, black ink on white paper images were produced. These engravings would then be passed to a team of colorists who would hand-paint the prints, using watercolors. Through this artreproduction process, the combined talents of Audubon and Havell allowed hundreds of people in the early 1800s to own Audubon images. Audubon’s Birds of America, first published in series form and released between 1827 and 1838, has long been considered one of the greatest books ever printed. Audubon’s passion for his subjects is palpable in his field notes that accompany the images. In his time, the publication’s greatest sales success came from England, where it had been marketed as an idealistic vision of the wilderness of the New World, to a public who would never see these birds in real life.
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Engraving originally part of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America; from Original Drawings. London: Published by the Author, 1838
The Sea Eagle, at auction, would carry an estimate of $7,000 to $8,000 on today’s market. Audubon doubleelephant-sized prints will always be loved. They are poignant reminders of the wildness Audubon knew, respected, and treasured. na
BEYONDWORDS
Photograph by Anthony Scarlati
ry Eve st fir ! ay Frid
BY MARSHALL CHAPMAN
Shut up! We’re going to the Masters ... My mother always instructed us to do what she said, not what she did. She forbade us to say “Shut up.” She thought it rude and abrasive. But sometimes extreme measures call for extreme actions, and rules get broken. The year was 1959. I’m sitting at my desk in my third-grade classroom at Pine Street Elementary School in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Pine Street was and still is one of the finest public elementary schools in South Carolina. Founded in 1929, it continues to operate in the original building—one of those grand old school buildings with architecture that inspires learning. Any renovations and restorations over the years have managed to preserve and blend with the orginal architecture.
Williamson County Culture
In 1959, the hallways at Pine Street had super high ceilings and that, combined with the polished terrazzo floors, made for a great reverb sound. Like the sound coming out of Sun Records in Memphis at that time. In fact, I once got sent home from Pine Street for singing Elvis Presley’s “Too Much” in one of those hallways, having excused myself to go to the restroom while classes were in session. But it was worth it. The sound in that hallway had me thinking I was Elvis Presley. Anyway, so I’m sitting at my desk, when suddenly I hear the distant sound of high heels clicking down the cavernous hallway outside our classroom. The sound got louder and more echoey as it neared. And the clicking was so intense and purposeful, I instinctively knew those high heels could only belong to one person—my mother. When the clicking stopped, I glanced up to see Mother’s six-foot frame filling the doorway. Without knocking or anything, she just marched in and whispered something into Mrs. Simkins’s ear. (Mrs. Simkins was my third-grade teacher.) Then walked over to my desk and grabbed me by the arm. As soon as we were outside the doorway, I began to protest. “Mama?” I said. “I’m not sick.” “Shut up!” she said. “We’re going to the Masters.” So off we went to Augusta, which is about a hundred and ten miles from Spartanburg. This was April 2, 1959. Arnold Palmer was the defending champion and a nineteen-year-old Jack Nicklaus was making his Masters debut. But I didn’t know that at the time. All I know is we followed Ben Hogan because Mama said he was the best player from tee to green. Marshall Chapman is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, author, and actress. For more information, visit www.tallgirl.com.
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MYFAVORITEPAINTING CATHERINE BARGNESI, DRAPERY MAKER
ARTIST BIO: Frank Albert Cooper Frank Albert Cooper (1901–1988) was a writer, teacher, and historian by trade, and he was also a prolific painter and sculptor. He graduated from Colgate University, then went on to graduate studies at the University of Rochester. He moved to Plattsburgh, New York, where he bought a large parcel of land on Lake Champlain. He walked down to the lake through uncleared forest and built his house from rocks and trees that were there, leaving most of his property covered in old evergreens. He worked as a history teacher at the local high school, then at the university nearby. He had two historical books published, one of them called Mr. Teach Goes to War. He enjoyed painting and sketching and made many sculptures. His artwork filled his house, and he also made paintings for many neighbors and friends.
Frank Cooper, Sister of the Bride, 1972, Oil, 24” x 18”
M
y favorite painting is Sister of the Bride by Frank Cooper. Frank was a very old man who lived near me when I was young. He used to talk with me for however long I wanted to visit, hours sometimes, and his wife would bring us cookies and milk.
As I got to know this painting, I loved the simple color palette, and it reminded me of impressionist paintings and Art Deco colors. Then one day I looked at the painting and realized that the woman looked just like a young Ruth, and that one of the men in the background looked just like a young Frank! And I imagined that long ago he met his wife at her sister’s wedding. I love this painting because it reminds me that we are always recognizable from birth to death by those who love us, by those who know us by our nature. It seems that art should be a subtle sort of record-keeping, and I like to think this painting is documentation of a beautiful spark. na 114
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Catherine Bargnesi
Photograph by Sheri Oneal
My father gave me this painting for Christmas one year, years after Frank and his wife, Ruth, had passed away. It took my breath away. I had never seen this one, though I had seen many of his other paintings. He was a known artist in my hometown.
N A S H V I L L E R E P E R T O R Y T H E AT R E P R E S E N T S
B Y K AT E H A M I L L BA SED ON THE NOVEL BY JANE AUS TEN
T I C K E T S S TA R T AT $ 4 5
SEPTEMBER 9-23, 2017
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