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5th AVENUE OF THE A RTS D OWNTOWN N ASHVILLE
Regular 5th Avenue gallery hours: 11-5:00 pm, Tuesday-Saturday
www.theartscompany.com
April 5-May 9 rEVOLution of Joy, paintings by Tres Taylor and textiles by Lillis Taylor & Nashville Celebrity Fashion, paintings by Devin Crane ©Tres and Lillis Taylor
www.therymergallery.com
April 5 - April 26 As You Style It New painting by Celeste Repone and Marcus Durkheim ©Celeste Repone
www.tinneycontemporary.com
March 22-April 26 Cactus Petals, Fluctuating Asymmetry, and Crimes of Passion Carlos Gamez de Francisco ©Carlos Gamez de Francisco
6-9 pm
TM
PUBLISHED BY THE ST. CLAIRE MEDIA GROUP
Charles N. Martin, Jr. Chairman Paul Polycarpou, President Ed Cassady, Les Wilkinson, Daniel Hightower, Directors
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COLUMNS
PAUL POLYCARPOU Editor and CEO
JENNIFER ANDERSON The Great Unknowns
SARA LEE BURD Executive Editor and Online Editor sara@nashvillearts.com
MARSHALL CHAPMAN Beyond Words
REBECCA PIERCE Education Editor and Staff Writer rebecca@nashvillearts.com MADGE FRANKLIN Copy Editor DESIGN TRACEY STARCK Design Director ADVERTISING CINDY ACUFF cindy@nashvillearts.com
TED CLAYTON Social Editor JENNIFER COLE State of the Arts LINDA DYER Antique and Fine Art Specialist SUSAN EDWARDS As I See It ANNE POPE Tennessee Roundup JIM REYLAND Theatre Correspondent
BETH KNOTT beth@nashvillearts.com
JUSTIN STOKES Film Review
KEITH WRIGHT keith@nashvillearts.com
BETSY WILLS Field Notes
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 for free, or by mail for $5.00 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 Visa or Mastercard number.
A2O14
FEATURES
COLUMNS
13
Spotlights
36
24
Julia Martin Gallery
pril
on the cover:
Norman Lerner, I Dare You, Archival pigment print Article on page 54
The Bookmark Hot Books and Cool Reads
Southern Nouveau
36
Film Review
32
Crawl Guide
38
The Great Unknowns
34
Art See
44
J.D. Simo
by Jennifer Anderson
39
Man on Fire
54
40
64
Norman Lerner Still Developing
59
Arts & Business Council Art and the Business of Art
42
Connie Cathcart-Richardson
Under the Radar by Molly Secours
The Face of Fashion
43
Unplugged by Tony Youngblood
62 Jason Brown Q&A
46
Looks Like Rain
48
Finding the Common Chord
88
74 Carlos Gamez de Francisco Brings Masters Technique to Modern Art
John Seigenthaler
92
Susan DeMay O’More Alumni Show House
98
Poet's Corner
Critical i
100 Field Notes
111 Beyond Words by Marshall Chapman
112 On the Town by Ted Clayton
Colorist in Clay
96
88
Louis Vuitton “Monogram” Trunk
Tom Keller
Life Imitates Art, Art Imitates Life
NPT
110 Appraise It
Nashville 6 A.M.
90
50
William Wray
Interview
85
Book Review You Gotta Go to Know
70 Folds & Vasterling
79
As I See It In a Fraction of a Second . . .
64 John Scarpati
74
38
Public Art by Anne-Leslie Owens
114 My Favorite Painting
Sarah Neal
102 Theatre by Jim Reyland
105 ArtSmart
79
109 Auschwitz Photography and Ballet Commemorate Yom HaShoah
NashvilleArts.com
110
April 2014 | 7
Featured Artist
BRAD ROBERTSON
PUBLISHER ' S NOTE
Art Creates a City
P
hotography has always intrigued me. How a moment
in time can be captured and revisited forever is still a mystery to me. Still I do not need to know how a radio works to enjoy music. This month we celebrate photography and the geniuses behind the lenses that create the images that stay with us, sometimes forever. Norman Lerner, one of my all-time favorite photographers, mentioned to me that he was working on a new body of work. I casually suggested that he might send a few for me to look at. I should have strapped my seat belt on when I opened his email because I was totally unprepared for the emotional rollercoaster that his work set me on. He’s famous for his black-and-white photography, but what I was now looking at was an explosion of color that formed itself into the most compelling images I had seen in a long, long time. Even my computer was rejoicing as one after the other the images downloaded in spectacular fashion. The work is new, innovative, and thought-provoking, and, I might add, beautiful to look at. Not bad for an artist whose photographs were gracing the covers of national publications in the 60s. I am thrilled that his work is on our cover this month.
Untitled 31201
Mixed Media on Canvas 48” x 48”
Norman Lerner, story on page 54
John Scarpati is another photographer whose work continues to take new twists and turns. From the New York Dolls to his stunning portrait of Norman Lerner taken for us, John is part traditionalist, part rock and roller, and part surrealistic painter, and thrives on double the legal quota of creative mojo juice. Visit his work on page 64. Susan Edwards picked a photograph by Henri CartierBresson for her “As I See It” column this month. This legendary photograph taken in 1932 is the ultimate moment frozen in time. Did Cartier-Bresson wait patiently for this moment to happen or did he just happen to be at the right place at the right time? We might never know. What we do know is that it is an image that continues to fire our imagination just as a great painting, concerto, or literary masterpiece would.
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
And talking of concertos, I hereby proclaim Itzhak Perlman as a master thief! Why? Because he stole our collective breath away with the most sublime rendition of the Beethoven concerto at the Schermerhorn. It would seem that I and everyone else in the audience was at the right place at the right time. Thank you, Itzhak! Paul Polycarpou Editor in Chief
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GLOBAL EDUCATION CENTER CELEBRATES
The Art of Poetry POETRY-INSPIRED ART ON EXHIBIT DURING APRIL Viewings by appointment 615-292-3023 A WHOLE-DIFFERENT TONE: 12 ARTISTS, ONE POEM Fine Art Sale & Artist Reception Friday, April 11, 6:30-9 PM 4822 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville ROOTS, RHYTHM & RHYME Father Ryan HS, April 26, 7-9 PM VISIT WWW . GLOBALEDUCATIONCENTER . ORG
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“It’s worth a call to Laura Baugh. I’m never too busy for you!” GNAR Award of Excellence Life Member and 8 time Diamond Award Recipient
: 615-330-3051 • : 615-250-7880 • Laurabaugh3@gmail.com
Beneath the Blossoms 6th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival
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April 12
ince 1912 when the mayor of Tokyo donated 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, DC, cherry blossoms, or sakura, have symbolized the friendship between the U.S. and Japan. Today, sakura matsuri, or cherry blossom festivals, are celebrated every spring throughout America. Nashville’s 6th annual Cherry Blossom Festival will be a daylong, family-friendly celebration of Japanese culture, beginning with the Cherry Blossom Walk hosted by Sister Cities of Nashville at 9 a.m. followed by the ceremonial opening of the festival at 10 a.m. The Main Stage on the steps of the Courthouse and two more intimate stages will feature live Japanese music and dance, taiko drumming, a cosplay contest, martial arts demonstrations, and the new Pups in Pink Parade benefiting the Nashville Humane Association. This year’s festival will also include cultural lectures and exhibitions, the Ginza Marketplace, and Artist Avenue, and a variety of activities for children. Several local Japanese restaurants will offer A Taste of Japan. The Festival benefits the mission of the Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival Committee to plant 1,000 cherry trees—100 each spring over 10 years—to help beautify Nashville’s landscape. So far, trees have been planted around Nashville Public Square, Riverfront Park, James Robertson Parkway, Morgan Park, Centennial Park, Inglewood, Richland Park, Shelby Park, Fannie Mae Dees Park, and the 51st Avenue North community. The Nashville Cherry Blossom Festival takes place Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at Nashville Public Square Park. Parking is available throughout downtown with $3 all-day parking in the underground public parking garage at Public Square. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.nashvillecherryblossomfestival.org.
Picturing Warhol PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT AT CLARKSVILLE’S CUSTOMS HOUSE by Joe Nolan
MAY 1-3, 2014
THURSDAY, MAY 1 6 p.m. — 9 p.m.
m
FRIDAY,
MAY
10 a.m. — 9 p.m.
2
m
SATURDAY, MAY 3 10 a.m. — 6 p.m.
steve penleY
Proudly featuring artist
artshow.hardingacademy.org 170 Windsor Drive, Nashville
FIND US ON FACEBOOK FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
S
tir-crazy Nashvillians looking for an artsy day trip during the warming weeks ahead should consider cruising to Clarksville for an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s Polaroid portraits of the rich and famous. While many of the images for Warhol’s painted silkscreens of glittering celebrities were lifted from newspapers and magazines, the portraits he was commissioned to create always began with a photography session with the man himself and his Raeanne Rubenstein, Andy Pensive in Polaroid. In addition to Doorway, 1974 his celebrity portraits, Sessions with Andy: Warhol Photography from the University of South Carolina Upstate includes party pics, snapshots from movie sets, and the uptight goings-on at his silver-painted studio space, The Factory. In his later career, Warhol transitioned from creator to recorder, relying on his tape recorder, his Polaroid, and his infamous diaries to capture the people and energy within his New York scene. Warhol’s work continues to inspire and upset, and the artist seems super hot again right now with exhibitions in Britain, Japan, and the U.S. Warhol is the subject of two shows in Florida right now, and Cheekwood will open an exhibition of his iconic painted silkscreens of flowers in June. Warhol famously said that in the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes, Andy Warhol, Lauren Hutton, 1982, Polaroid photograph and one can only imagine what he’d have thought of reality television, viral videos, and celebrity Twitter rants. I wonder if Kim Kardashian has ever been to Clarksville? Sessions with Andy: Warhol Photography from the University of South Carolina Upstate will be on display at the Kimbrough Gallery at the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center in Clarksville through May 4. For more information, visit www.customshousemuseum.org.
GREELY MYATT “having said that” DLG APRIL 2014 DAVID LUSK GALLERY
516 Hagan St . Nashville . davidluskgallery.com
39th Annual Harding Art Show
Valentina Ramos, Azure Treasure, 2011, Mixed media, 8” x 8”
B
eginning in 1975 as a modest gathering of artists, the Harding Art Show has become one of the largest exhibitions of fine art in the Southeast. This year’s event will showcase 71 artists from 13 states and include 29 new artists. More than 5,000 pieces of original art and handmade items, ranging in styles from whimsica l to traditiona l to contemporary, will be on display. Georgia-based Steve Penley will be the featured artist. Influenced by television, pop culture, and comic books, Penley uses broad, colorful brushstrokes to render images of American Steffon Hamulak, Independence Day, history and its icons. “I 2012, Acrylic on canvas, 48” x 36” loved the show last year and had a great time interacting with the crowd. I am looking forward to this show because it has given me a whole new wealth of inspiration imagining how I will interpret Southern icons, Music City, and its artists,” Penley said.
The Harding Art Show takes place on the Harding Academy campus. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on May 2 and 3. There will be a Preview Party on May 1, from 6 to 9 p.m. For more information, please visit www.artshow.hardingacademy.org.
electric sit/stand desk starting from $695
Fisk and the Arts: A New Renaissance by Cass Teague
in the Aaron Douglas Gallery. Curated by recent graduate Rhea Beckett, the exhibit will feature the work of students, including Elizabeth Coleman, Georgetta Bundley, Andreia King, Asia Adams, Jazmine Green, William Kirkpatrick, Ryan Oliver, Ashton Stansbury, Matthew Bartwell, Jasper Fulcher, Raven Ward, Yazjae Pressey, Franklin H. Sims, Audrey Tillis, Natara Coaxum, Maya Johnson, Maria Ragland, and Tracy Egbas.
F
isk University’s 85th Annual Spring Arts Festival Fisk and the Arts: A New Renaissance, runs through April 5, 2014. Since 1929, the festival has presented performances in dance, theatre, music, literature, and art by students, alumni, faculty, and guests. Notable contributors have included luminaries such as Countee Cullen, Arthur Spingarn, Martin Luther King, Jr., Pearl Buck, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Margaret Walker, Carl Rowan, Ossie Davis, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Roland Hayes, Miriam Makeba, Quincy Jones, and Cannonball Adderly. This year Barbara DuMetz, Fisk alumna and internationally renowned com me rc i a l photo g r aphe r, w i l l exhibit in the Van Vechten Gallery. “Photographic images have shaped social, political, and economic views around the world,” says DuMetz, whose
Elizabeth Coleman, Untitled, 2013, Mixed media, 14” x 12”
reception and gallery talk are slated for Friday, April 4, at 5 p.m. Fisk: A Legacy, the Annual Student Art Show, opens at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 3, NashvilleArts.com
On Thursday, April 3, in Jubilee Hall, alumna Nikki Giovanni will present An Afternoon Chat at 1 p.m. and An Evening with Nikki Giovanni at 7 p.m. The Fisk Stagecrafters will perform The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 Wednesday, April 2, through Friday, April 4. The Fisk Jubilee Singers® close the festival Saturday at 7 p.m. in the University Chapel. Events are free and open to the public. For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.fisk.edu. April 2014 | 17
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Bancroft • 5.65 Acres 30 Bancroft $5,800,000
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Brentwood Antebellum 631 Hill Road $4,200,000
Greenbrier • 68.83 Acres 7137 Swift Road
Belle Meade • Pool 1109 Belle Meade Blvd
$3,750,000
Green Hills • Pool 3540 Trimble Road
$3,500,000 • 1.03 Acres
Leipers Fork Area • 30 Acres 5195 Old Harding Road
Franklin • 59.73 Acres 3755 Perkins Road
Belle Meade • .83 Acres 1216 Canterbury Drive
Burns • 173 Acres 4081 Hwy 96 $3,250,000
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Belle Meade 4420 Warner Place $1,750,000
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Steve Fridrich 615-321-4420 • Steve@SteveFridrich.com
N J F F
T
he inaugural Nashville Japanese Film Festival (NJaFF) will take place April 4 through 6 at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film. With the goal of celebrating all aspects of Japanese culture through the medium of film, NJaFF will present some of the best in Japanese cinema. The lineup includes Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams, Noriko’s Dinner Table, the riveting followup to the cult classic Suicide Club, Hafu, Legend of the Millennium Dragon, and the award-winning What the Snow Brings. Special events include an opening-night reception on Friday, April 4, with remarks by Consul-General Motohiko Kato and a seminar on Japanese cinema featuring Watkins professor Scott Hallgren. For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.nashvillejapanesefilmfestival.org.
Film still from What the Snow Brings
Duane Chambers, Tree Squared, Digital art on metal, 16” x 24”
New Online Art Brokerage Service
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or Matt Fischer, proprietor of Picture This in Hermitage, 2014 brought to fruition a new endeavor he’d long considered: art brokerage. The new service is designed to make buying and selling art online risk-free and easy. According to Fischer, “I have thought about this for some time, because people are always bringing in pieces they want to sell. Once we got started, things just took off. Then artists started 20 | April 2014
calling us about selling their work, and so now we have over 500 pieces on our site.” Fischer offers three very affordable listing options and shortterm contracts so artists and collectors alike can try his services with minimal effort and investment. For more information, visit www.picture-thisgallery.com.
NashvilleArts.com
TACA Is Now
Tennessee Craft
PHOTOGRAPH BY TAMARA S. GENTUSO
As Tennessee Craft, the nonprofit hopes to build upon its success of the past and to further engage all those interested in handmade work, from emerging talents and casual Pinterest followers to master craftsmen and expert collectors.
“ T h rou g hout ou r c u lt u re w e have seen a renewed interest in handcrafted, artisan work. With such support for today’s makers, we knew this was the perfect time Weaver Paula Bowers Hotvedt’s to reintroduce ourselves as the 2013 display connecting point for artists and the public,” says Executive Director Teri Alea. “We are confident that our new look and increased dedication to Tennessee’s fine craft tradition will shine a spotlight on amazing talent across our state while growing the amount of direct support, high-profile events, and educational opportunities we offer.”
Antiques • Ancient Modern Design • Accessories
PHOTOGRAPH: JERRY ATNIP
A
fter nearly a half-century the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (TACA) has changed its name to Tennessee Craft. Since 1965, the organization has promoted and preserved Tennessee’s fine craft tradition. With more than 600 members throughout the state, TACA serves as the connecting point for local, independent makers and their audiences through craft fairs, exhibitions, and educational programs.
Jalan-Jalan
Celebrating sixteen years as Nashville’s most unique showroom Open Fridays and Saturdays 10-4 and also By Appointment 2503 WINFORD AVENUE • NASHVILLE, TN 37211 WWW.JALANJALANANTIQUES.COM
The rebranding also unites the organization’s six regional chapters, serving rural and urban areas to offer programs for area artists and residents. As champions of the “buy local” movement, their exhibitions, studio tours, holiday sales, and workshops will now work collectively to raise awareness of craft across the state.
PHOTOGRAPH BY TAMARA S. GENTUSO
Mark your calendar now for Tennessee Craft fairs in Centennial Park May 2 through 4 and September 26 through 28. Learn more about upcoming events at www.tennesseecraft.org.
NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 21
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her work for years. “It could’ve and should’ve been a little creepy, but it was one of the most moving moments of my life,” Martin remembers. “The next morning when I came back to the gallery to straighten up, I noticed a small graffiti tag on the concrete right out front written with the same oil paint marker. I’ll never wash it off.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN GUIDER
Julia Martin, Morning Glories, Oil on canvas, 30” x 30”
Julia Martin Gallery
Southern Nouveau by Veronica Kavass
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ometimes a small business is larger than the character behind it, but in certain situations it is the other way around. Such is the case with Julia Martin Gallery. No one else could (wo)man that gallery-in-a-house. Her pluck is the vital element of the atmosphere. When the building owner, Loney John Hutchins, showed the space as a potential studio for her to paint in, she studied the multi-room layout and decided to provide a place where other artists could show and sell their work. Martin tested her newfound gallery dealer career by hosting an opening exhibition of her own work. A risky move for a number of reasons but it proved to be a success when she sold out the entire show on opening night. Nashvillians are moonstruck by her romantic portraits of girlish women who stare directly at you from the limbo worlds they are floating in. Are Martin’s girls happy or sad? Some possess that come-hither look, while others give the impression of being in a trauma-induced trance. Toward the end of the night, Martin’s husband introduced her to a young man who had hopped a train from California to attend the opening. He handed her a turquoise-colored oil paint stick with a red feather inside it and a note written down the side. Apparently he had been following 24 | April 2014
NashvilleArts.com
Evidence that Martin was born for this role can be seen in the way she emphasizes details. For example, she wanted people to be able to taste her little world so she designed a signature Peach Basil Nectar syrup with Sarah Souther of Bang Candy for the gallery. The label features one of her paintings and shares commonalities with Privat-Livemount (famous for his art nouveau depiction of the Green Fairy). Martin plans to continue the thematic potations. Next month, for the ceramic artist David Kenton Kring’s opening, she is partnering with High Garden Tea in East Nashville to mix a signature blend of Earl Grey that will be available exclusively for Kenton’s show to complement his Face Mugs and Bandit Cups. “I felt like the luckiest 14-year-old girl on Earth when my windowsill was infested with ladybugs,” Julia explains when I ask her why she devoted herself to art. “I felt it again when I saw them on the windowsills of what is now Julia Martin Gallery. Magic. I’m a believer.”
David Kenton Kring, Old Sad Songs, Ceramic, cone 5, terra sigillata, iron wash, underglaze, polyurethane, 23” x 10” x 9” each
David Kenton Kring’s opening at Julia Martin Gallery will be on April 19, 6 to 9 p.m. For more information visit www.juliamartingallery.com.
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rawn in part by a sense of warmth and community, Londoner Jason Brown settled on a life in Nashville. Now he’s establishing a project that does credit to our city, one that is intimately tied to a sense of community. Appropriately enough, the project is called Reinvention. This project is focused on mail art. As such, it is essentially tactile. It is open to anyone, and participation is free. Accepted mediums include painting, collage, mixed media, rubber stamps, or any object that can be sent through the postal system. There will be no jury selection, and submitted works will be neither returned nor sold. All works will be shown on the blog nashmailart.blogspot.com and also featured in an exhibition later this year. The deadline is June 1.
Indian, Carol Curtis, Watercolor, 30 x 22
Numerous submissions have already arrived from all over the globe, and with the project just begun, it seems there will be a very diverse return. France, Norway, and England are represented, and there have been responses from Luxembourg, Colombia, and Japan, to name but a few. It is shaping up to be a very fun and interesting project, one that is refreshingly focused on a sense of community. For more information, contact nashmailart@gmail.com. Submissions can be mailed to: Jason Brown, P.O. Box 160417, Nashville, TN 37216 USA.
For more on Jason Brown, see page 62.
Daffodils, Carol Curtis, Watercolor , 8 x 8 This image is also available in 18 mesh stitch- painted Zweigart needlepoint canvas
carolcurtisart.com
THE B EST V ALUE
IN
April 12 – May 12
S UGARTREE!
oil on canvas
107 ADAMS PARK
LesLie Lockhart
5 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths • Three Car Garage • 5,428 Sq. Ft.
Opening reception April 12th 5:30-7:30
$799,000
betsy moran
615.485.4475 betsy@betsyrealestate.com 4535 Harding Road #110 Nashville, TN 37205 615.202.7777 www.cpcanashville.com
CPCA_0414.indd 1
3900 hillsboro Pike | Nashville, tN 37215 615-739-6573 | paullequireandcompany.com
3/13/14 12:58 PM
ART gallery
TENNESSEE ART LEAGUE
CORY BASIL
GIFT
GUEST ARTIST
OPENING RECEPTION April 5 6 pm New ColleCtioN: Where The GhosT MeeTs The Muse
shop
hundreds of Tennessee arTisTs represenTed! • Art • Gifts • Art Classes
Cory will also sign copies of his latest novel, The Perils of Fishboy, complete with over 60 original illustrations, some of which will be on display.
219 5th Ave N
Nashville, TN 615-736-5000 www.tal5.com • www.Facebook.com/tnartleague
Concert Performances by ETHEL at OZ
PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES EWING
Documerica and ETHEL+
Patricia Halbeck, Violinist, 2013, Graphite on paper, 22” x 36”
Clarksville Celebrates Arts in April
D
owntown Clarksville’s first-ever Arts in April celebration on April 12 promises to please with creative activities from art classes to exhibits, music, and performance.
9 a.m. – 12 p.m. The Downtown Artists Co-op (DAC) and Clarksville/Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Development Council will host a workshop on portraiture led by Brad Reagan. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Arts and crafts studio Horsefeathers will offer guests the opportunity to work with pottery, woodcrafts, and canvases. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. The Customs House Museum and Cultural Center will offer free admission to four exhibits: the Wonderful Wizard of Oz exhibit, an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s photographic portraits, installations by women artists in celebration of Women’s History Month, and the new exhibit Becoming Clarksville. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sue Lewis, curator of education for Customs House Museum, will lead a family craft project entitled Animals in Art and Literature. 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. The Framemaker will present a gallery talk covering the principles of drawing by Dr. Patricia Halbeck, professor at Austin Peay State University.
T
he New York-based ensemble ETHEL consists of two violins, a viola, and a cello that take a contemporary approach to the traditional string quartet. On April 11, the original players (Ralph Farris, Dorothy Lawson, Kip Jones, and Tema Watstein) will perform Documerica at OZ. The show is comprised of five commissioned compositions inspired by photographs taken for the Environmental Protection Agency in the 1970s. P ro j e c t ion a r t i s t D e b or a h Joh n s on w i l l pro v id e accompanying visuals that incorporate the EPA’s archive of images collected over ten years. The multimedia performance delivers a touching overview of the American landscape and society’s at-times-paradoxical relationship with it through stunning vistas of rural and urban environments. ETHEL+ is a new project for the ensemble, which will have its world premiere on April 12. For this unique concert the group goes local by incorporating Nashville-based musicians, images, and animations submitted through an open call to residents. ETHEL will perform at OZ, 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased online at www.oznashville.com.
2 p.m. The Roxy Regional Theatre will present A Woman Called Truth, a one-act play chronicling the life of Sojourner Truth through her own words. 3:30 p.m. The L & N Train Station Painters will host a reception for folks to view their work as well as artwork by West Creek High School art students. For a complete schedule and more information, visit www.artsandheritage.us. NashvilleArts.com
PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHANIE BERGER
1 – 2 p.m. DAC Artist Judy Morgan will work with all ages to compose an abstract painting on a small canvas, using tape and paints. DAC Artist Bob Privett will show how to combine common geometric shapes to make a drawing of a human cartoon figure.
April 2014 | 27
April 12 – May 12
oil on canvas
LesLie LockHarT Opening reception April 12th 5:30-7:30
ETHEL’S DOCUMERICA Directed by Steve Cosson
“...vital and brilliant” -The New Yorker
Friday, April 11, 2014 at 8pm Tickets: $50
ETHEL+
World Premiere performance inspired by Your Nashville
“The potency of an amplified edgy rock band...” -STRINGS Magazine
Saturday, April 12, 2014 at 8pm Tickets: $50
A DESTINATION FOR INNOVATIVE CONTEMPORARY ART EXPERIENCES
OZNASHVILLE.COM
BRAVE NEW ART 6172 Cockrill Bend Circle, Nashville, TN 37209 | (615) 350-7200
3900 Hillsboro Pike | Nashville, TN 37215 615-739-6573 | paullequireandcompany.com
Welcome Hannah Lane Gallery
H
annah Lane recently moved from New Orleans to Nashville after traveling to Tennessee much of 2013 and falling in love with the city she now calls home. She recently opened Hannah Lane Gallery in the historic Arcade, where she exhibits her work in the front and has a working studio in the back.
Vast Unknown, 2014, Mixed media on canvas, 10” x 10”
Lane’s love of nature was a huge factor in her choice to set up shop here. “My work is about color relationships imagined as well as observed in nature.” She is intrigued with the beautiful mountains surrounding Nashville and spends as much time as she can hiking and observing the landscape. Lane experienced her first Downtown Art Crawl last month and was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who dropped in and the encouragement she received. She sees a huge potential for growth here, both personally and in the local art scene. For more information, visit www.hannahlane.com.
NASHVILLE SYMPHONY PERFORMS:
CONCERT SPONSORS
BEETHOVEN’S FIRST PIANO CONCERTO
ALL MOZART!
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, AT 8 P.M. SATURDAY, APRIL 19, AT 8 P.M. Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor Jeremy Denk, piano
FRIDAY, APRIL 25, AT 8 P.M. SATURDAY, APRIL 26, AT 8 P.M. Christopher Seaman, conductor Benedetto Lupo, piano
Berlioz - Corsaire Overture Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 1 Richard Strauss - Ein Heldenleben
Mozart - Symphony No. 25 Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21 Mozart - Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”
CONCERT SPONSOR
BUY TICKETS AT:
NashvilleSymphony.org 615.687.6400
With Support From
CLASSICAL SERIES
PHOTOGRAPH: CLIFF WHITTAKER
Downtown Clarksville’s
Arts in April
PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF FRAZIER
URE NURT YOUR IVE CREAT SIDE!
April 12
Paint a picture. View an art exhibit.
Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, the comedy stars Brad Brown, Chris Campbell and Jaye Phelps, a new addition to the cast.
Nashville Shakes Brings Complete Works to Belmont
T
he Nashville Shakespeare Festival will present one of its most popular productions, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), at Belmont University’s Troutt Theater April 10 through 13.
Take in a play. Commission a quick sketch portrait.
“For people who love Shakespeare this show is very funny, and for people who hate Shakespeare it’s even funnier,” said Denice Hicks who is directing the 90-minute parody of all 37 Shakespeare plays. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Shakespeare’s 450th birthday than to have three guys do all of his plays at the same time.” This will be the fifth time Hicks has directed the show, but because it is updated with contemporary references and localized humor, the performance is always fresh. Evening performances are scheduled for April 10, 11, and 12 at 7:30 p.m. Matinees are slated for April 12 and 13 at 2:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.nashvilleshakes.org. 30 | April 2014
Listen to music. Enjoy the day.
To get a complete schedule of the day’s activities, go to www.artsandheritage.us. To get to Clarksville, take I-24 north 40 miles to Exit 11.
NashvilleArts.com
2014 A TRULY UNIQUE AND INTIMATE CULINARY EXPERIENCE Nashville’s most notable chefs from the city’s premier restaurants will come together to
chefs have to offer.
“Nashville’s most exclusive restaurant that is only open one night a year.” Nashville Division
PHOTOGRAPH BY RON MANVILLE
Sunday, April 27th, 2014 GAYLORD SPRINGS GOLF LINKS 18 SPRINGHOUSE LANE NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 6 PM - WINE RECEPTION AND SILENT AUCTION 7 PM - DINNER – CITY CHIC ATTIRE
PRESENTING SPONSORS: Robert W. Herring, Jr. and Pharmacy Care of Tennessee
For donation and sponsorship information, please contact AJ Miller at 615.970.1690 or ajmiller@liverfoundation.com or visit us at:
ADDITIONAL SPONSORS:
Brian Owenby Ravello
Kristian Morgan Cafe Fontanel
Paul Ent Watermark
SPONSORSHIP TABLES STARTING AT $5500 Tableside for guests of ten
Chef Reesor Sambuca
Richard Garcia Sam Buchannon Findley’s Irish Pub Kate’s
Todd Alan Martin Tree House
Trey Cioccia The Farmhouse
Jenny Barnhill JJ’s Winebar
Chef Donald Counts Chef David Bolton Gray’s on Main Stoveworks/Kirwan’s
CRAWL GUIDE
James R. Threalkill – Regions Bank
The Franklin Art Scene takes place on Friday, April 4, from 6 until 9 p.m. in historic downtown Franklin. Jack Yacoubian Jewelry and Fine Art will exhibit work by painter Susan McGrew and glass artist Grant Garmezey. Gallery 202’s featured artist will be plein-air painter Tiffany Foss. Regions Bank will showcase paintings by internationally acclaimed artist James R. Threalkill. The Savory Spice Shop will present whimsical, mixed-media works by Nashville artist and art educator Cindy Birdsong. The Heirloom Shop will show Laine Barley’s Outdoor Art, a series of acrylic and mixed-media pieces. O’More College of Design will hold a book signing for O’More instructor and artist Susan DeGarmo’s book ManyPaws: The Years of Change. Stites & Harbison will exhibit work by Eugene Smith, who has a passion for painting nature’s beauty. Boutique MMM will present oil paintings by Maia Ketterbaugh. Bob Park Realty will host sculpture artist Janel Maher. T. Nesbitt & Co. will feature artist and photographer Lindsay Castor. Merridee’s will show the work of impressionistic painter Wanda Wright. The First Saturday Art Crawl Downtown takes place on Saturday, April 5, from 6 until 9 p.m. The Arts Company will present two exhibitions focusing on the art of fashion: Nashville Welcomes Fashion, bold paintings by L.A.-based artist Devin Crane, and rEVOLution of Joy, an installation by Tres Taylor with a window installation by designer Lillis Taylor. Tinney Contemporary will ex hibit photog raphs, videos, and paintings by Carlos Gamez de Francisco (see page 74). The Rymer Gallery will open As You Devin Crane – The Arts Company Style It featuring new 32 | April 2014
paintings by Celeste Rapone and Marcus Durkheim alongside new crayon sculptures by Herb Williams. Tennessee Art League will host guest artist Cory Basil and his new collection Where the Ghost Meets the Muse. In the Arcade, WAG will present Seven Types of Play, an exhibition of works in various media from students Mika Marcus Durkheim – Agari, David Anderson, Aaron The Rymer Gallery Harper, Blake Holland, Zack Rafuls, Alexine Rioux, and Kayla Saito. Hannah Lane Gallery will be exhibiting her new work (see page 28). BelArt Gallery will show paintings by Marleen De Waele-De Bock. L Gallery will feature paintings by abstract expressionist Carol Lena Saffell. Art & Music @ Wedgewood/ Houston will take place Saturday, April 5, from 5:30 until Hannah Lane – 8:30 p.m. Zeitgeist will present Hannah Lane Gallery Trace Element from painter Lars Strandh and the collaborative project Harmony of the Spheres from Phillip Andrew Lewis and Phillip Andrew Lewis – Zeitgeist Kevin Cooley. David Lusk Gallery will open Having Said That, a solo sculpture exhibit by Greely Myatt. Julia Martin Gallery will exhibit works by mixed media artist Megan Kimber. Seed Space will exhibit Matt Gilbert’s Font Flowers and Travis Janssen’s multi-media installation Conversion. Threesquared will show Rebecca Drolen’s latest series of photographs Hair Pieces.
Rebecca Drolen – Threesquared
NashvilleArts.com
On Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m., UnBound Arts will host Third Thursdays at The Building featuring new works by visual artists Julie S ol a a nd Me l it a Osheowitz. A musical col l aborat ion b y Sergio Webb, Amelia W hite, and Don Gallardo will start at 8:30 p.m.
AUCTION
AT THE GALLERY Sat., April 26 & Sun. April 27 at 1917 Church St., Nashville, TN 37203
WE C A N RE M O U N T YO U R D I A M O N D IN ONE OF THESE MOUNTINGS
Begins at 2 pm both days
ALL ITEMS AVAILABLE TO PREVIEW APRIL 21-25
O V ER 35 Y E A R S O F E X P ER I EN C E & FA M I LY OW N ED F O R T H R EE G EN ER AT I O N S FE AT U R ED A RT I S T O F T H E M O N T H
SUSAN MCGREW
Please pre-register at
www.mohseningalleries.com, under “Auction” & choose your preferred session in the form provided.
FROM THE MASAI MARA TO THE SERENGETI
REFRESHMENTS SERVED DURING AUCTION
AUCTIONEER DAVE WATKINS & ASSOC. Co. Registration #4700, TN License #2277
Mohsenin Galleries
In the Crater II, 16” x 20”, oil on canvas, 2013 6,000 Sq. Ft. Of Beauty 1917 Church Street Nashville, Tennessee 37203
ALSO SHOWING: GL ASS ARTIST
GR ANT GAR MEZ Y
(615) 866-9686 Mon.-Fri., 10 am to 5 pm, Sat. by appointment www.mohseningalleries.com info@mohseningalleries.com NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 33
Dane Carder and David Lusk at David Lusk Gallery
David Lusk Gallery
David Lusk Gallery
See Art See Art See
Joy Fauntleroy, Christian Fecht, and Jonathan Litwiler at David Lusk Gallery
Allison and Noah Henry at David Lusk Gallery
Ted and Arlon Strickland and David Lusk at David Lusk Gallery
Savannah Stephens at Julia Martin Gallery 34 | April 2014
Greyson and Eric Malo at Zeitgeist
David Lusk Gallery NashvilleArts.com
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN JACKSON
John and Betty Jane Baringer at David Lusk Gallery
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE ARTS COMPANY
Anne Brown with The Music City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at The Arts Company
Zeitgeist
See Art See Art See Emily Leonard and Sloane Southard in front of the Biscuit Love food truck at Zeitgeist
Debe Dohrer and Dr. Alan Fry at Zeitgeist
Kay West, Maggie Donavan, Lisa Donavan, Julia Martin at Julia Martin Gallery
Mike Hester performing at Track One
Travis Janssen, Rachel Bubis, Elizabeth Kurtz at Track One NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 35
Film Review
The Bookmark
PHOTOGRAPH BY ABDO EL AMIR
A Monthly Look at Hot Books and Cool Reads
For more information about these books, visit www.parnassusbooks.net.
One Man’s Folly: The Exceptional Houses of Furlow Gatewood JULIA REED
Flash Boys MICHAEL LEWIS The best-selling author of Moneyball, The Blind Side, and The Money Culture among several other books, Michael Lewis also writes for magazines such as Vanity Fair and is one of the most popular business journalists of our time. As he did in The Big Short and Liar’s Poker, Lewis again takes on Wall Street with this newest book. Starling Lawrence, Mr. Lewis’s editor, said in a statement: “Michael is brilliant at finding the perfect narrative line for any subject.”
Under Magnolia FRANCES MAYES Readers may know Frances Mayes from her popular books about her time in Italy—including Under the Tuscan Sun—but they may not know she spent her early years in Fitzgerald, Georgia. With this new memoir, Mayes goes back to that time, steeping her words in memory, landscape, and the sounds and tastes of a Southern upbringing. She shows us where her love of travel began, recounting how she grew from a spirited child to a university student and left the South for California. Anecdotes highlight a real-life cast of characters including Mayes’ family members and other important figures in her life.
Seeds of Hope JANE GOODALL Before her work with chimpanzees, legendary naturalist and bestselling author Jane Goodall’s passion for the natural world began in the backyard of her childhood home in England, where she climbed her beech tree, made elderberry wine with her grandmother, and tended a garden she still enjoys today. In her elegant new book, she unveils the secret world of plants: their healing potential, their hidden beauty deep within areas such as the African Gombe forest, and their future tucked away in the Millennium Seed Bank, where one billion seeds are preserved.
Director Marco Wilms on the set of Art War
by Justin Stokes
E
very year, the Nashville Film Festival presents films that entertain, enrich, challenge, and change their audiences. And while the ten-day festival promises to be the biggest and best it’s ever been, one particular film holds a sort of importance that can be described only as meta art. Art War, a film by Marco Wilms, recounts the efforts of creative persons during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Following the effects of the cognitive dissonance created by religious and political propaganda, the documentary follows the initiative of artists who have turned paint and canvas into a weapon against corruption and violence, creating a sort of anti propaganda to empower those oppressed by the regime Director Marco Wilms and break the mob mentality of those clouded by fear. Through Wilms’s video diary of Egypt’s dark confessions, we can see how music can mobilize revolutionaries, how painted murals can bring war criminals to justice, and how a single photograph of a woman’s sexuality can both inspire and repulse so many. ©ALFRED STEFFEN
Julia Reed knows the South, and she knows style. Born in Mississippi, now living in New Orleans, she is a regular contributor to Elle Decor and Garden and Gun magazines, as well as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Condé Nast Traveler. In her latest book, she explores the personal property of antiques expert Furlow Gatewood in Americus, Georgia—a meticulously restored collection of dwellings and outbuildings set amid picturesque grounds where his beloved dogs and peacocks roam. Students of architectural tradition will appreciate how Gatewood incorporates styles ranging from mid-nineteenth-century Gothic to Palladian. Designer Bunny Williams contributes the foreword.
What makes this film so relevant to the festival are not the metaphorical dangers encountered from the theater, but the literal, physical dangers encountered by those who refuse to remain silent. Acts as seemingly benign as paintings on a wall or wearing certain clothes become defiant answers to the questions begged by violence and misinformation. And since art is expression of the self, the honest communication of these artists shows that bullets don’t stop ideas but drive them further. Tickets for the screening of Art War, as well as the entire schedule of the Nashville Film Festival, can be found via their website www.nashvillefilmfestival.org. The festival runs April 17 through 26 at the Regal Cinemas Green Hills Stadium 16 Movie Theater.
HISTORY EMBR ACING A RT
NEW WORKS BY TIFFANY FOSS
202 2nd Ave. South, Franklin, TN 37064 • www.gallery202art.com • 615-472-1134 Visit Us During “Franklin Art Scene” April 4, 6-9pm NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 37
The Great Unknowns
Mayor Ben West and Diane Nash–a moment in civil rights history, 2013, Acrylic on canvas, 16” x 20”
F
by Jennifer Anderson
In high school, feeling constricted by the size of her images, she burst out in a fit of large-scale creativity by finding a building and making her art on the wall. However, one person’s art is another person’s vandalism, and she was encouraged to try a summer workshop at the local Memphis College of Art. There she found that there were other forms of art and ways to express it, and she looked toward art as a larger canvas that can encompass great ideas.
PHOTOGRAPH BY TIFFANI BING
ree and wild as a child, Camilla Spadafino received her call to art in the form of a vein of clay found in a mud puddle. She dug it out and made a pot for her mother, an early education teacher who encouraged all three of her girls to express their feelings by drawing them on small pieces of paper. Having an uncle who was a well-known regional artist meant that the creative culture was alive and well in her family, and it was encouraged from a young age. Camilla was always the one asked to draw and create using her skills in sewing, decorating, storytelling . . . any method she chose.
Camilla Spadafino
Throughout her college years she struggled to come to terms with creativity as a life choice. As an elementary teacher, she incorporated art into her curriculum, in turn educating her students and herself in the technical process of making art as well as helping others. A local artist’s group project focused on selfportraits has manifested itself in an abundance of art making, which has become an ongoing portrait series. Spadafino is currently painting the faces and situations she sees each day in her East Nashville community. Her series titled Miss Camilla’s Neighborhood will be on view at East Nashville Family Medicine. For more information contact unboundartsnashville@gmail.com.
Trees Are Inspiration for Public Artworks at New Bellevue Library
B
by Anne-Leslie Owens
everly Stucker Precious of Indianapolis and Brenda Stein of Nashville have been selected for public art projects at the new Bellevue Branch Library. Precious’s sculpture for the library’s outdoor gathering space and Stein’s suspended sculpture for the library’s interior will both be installed this fall.
Bellevue woodturner Brenda Stein has been selected to create an artwork using hackberry trees salvaged from the library site.
Beverly Stucker Precious’s sculpture Great Beginnings refers to opening sentences from literature interwoven through a dichroic glass and steel Brenda Stein, Rise Above, Installation “learning” tree. The artist plans to include fragments of first sentences suggested by patrons of the Bellevue Library. Created using dichroic glass, the leaves on the tree will be multi-colored and reflective, changing in color with the angle of the light and the perspective of the viewer. Precious designed Great Beginnings to involve the Bellevue Library community while providing an iconic backdrop to the many activities that will take place on the library grounds.
Titled Rise Above, Stein’s design concept is a suspended sculpture featuring birds and leaves, symbols of community resiliency and the limitless possibilities that libraries represent. Above the circulation desk and the tech commons, more than one hundred birds will gracefully soar together past the clerestory windows. In the children’s area, a mobile of wooden hackberry-shaped leaves will provide an engaging canopy above the interactive play area. To view the entire Metro Arts public art collection online, please visit publicart.nashville.gov. Information about
the
individual
artists
may
be
found
on
their respective websites, www.bevprecious.com and www.brendastein.com.
Happening at The Hampton Inn, Green Hills
2 FASHION TRUNK SHOWS - MAGID BERNARD Thursday & Friday April 3rd & 4th 10am to 5pm
- GALLANT Wednesday, Thursday, Friday April 23rd-24th-25th 10am to 5pm
Tom Jurlka Trunk Shows 0414_8th.indd 1
NashvilleArts.com
3/20/14 1:25 PM
April 2014 | 39
YORK & Friends fine art Nashville • Memphis
Nashville’s Newest Leading Source for Tennessee Art
A BC asked Van T uc ker, business leader and ar tist consultant, to share advice for artists who seek to advance their careers. Art and commerce have always been strange bedfellows. I recently met with a very busy photographer who expressed frustration that, while he felt his work was inspired, his business was not growing. During our conversation, it became clear that his work was exceptional, in part because that is where he had focused all of his energy. He believed that if he produced compelling work, the money would follow. The reality is this: You must balance your creativity with business principles if you want a successful business . . . of any kind. Artists cultivate business skills in many ways, but I’ve found three strategies that resonate most clearly: Understand and balance your internal and external motivations.
What do I mean by internal and external motivations? Internal motivators are the powerful drivers behind creativity—inspiration, challenge, purpose, or creative flow. They spark our imagination and artistic skill. Income, reputation, recognition, and opportunities are external motivators and fundamental drivers for any business. Balancing the two is key to building powerful creative businesses. Learn as much about your business as you do your art.
POLLY COOK Venus & Adonis, 29 x 21, Ceramic tile on wood
107 Harding Place • Tues-Sat 10-5 615.352.3316 • yorkandfriends@att.net • www.yorkandfriends.com Follow us on at Ron York Art
40 | April 2014
Goal setting and balance can start you on your journey, but, for many artists, business training, mentor relationships, and peer accountability make all the difference. That’s where Periscope comes into play. The Arts & Business Council’s new Periscope: Artist Entrepreneur Training Program provides the tools to organize, plan, and sustain a creative business through instruction, mentoring, and idea exchange at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Put in the work.
As an artist, it is easy to spend hours developing your craft and shortchange other types of organizational work. If you want to earn a living as an artist, it is equally important to prioritize business development. Art and commerce are not such strange bedfellows when you find the right balance. Van Tucker has over thirty years of professional experience in the financial services industries and has a rich history of civic and community involvement. Email Tucker at van.tucker@ymail.com.
NashvilleArts.com
UNDER THE RADAR PHOTOGRAPH BY SHAE ACOPIAN DETAR
by Molly Secours
TAMARA SAVIANO “Ringleader” of Tamara Saviano Media
N
avigating the edges of the entertainment world without losing one’s center is an art form that Tamara Saviano has managed with grace. The cover photo for her recent memoir The Most Beautiful Girl—a heart-wrenching tale of an alcoholic dad and the healing power of music—is an original painting by Julyan Davis depicting a curly-headed woman in blue jeans, balancing herself on the left side of the railroad tracks with outstretched arms. How appropriate for a young (liberal) Wisconsin girl who spent the first two decades of life treading gingerly around a physically abusive parent. In the foreground there is a slightly bent tree trunk, and one gets the sense, after reading the book, that poise and balance are rewards for allowing suppressed grief to emerge. In the midst of sadness, rage, and addiction, Tamara’s early memories of music once shared—long before she was disowned—are what fuel and inform both her passion and her healing. Although some know Tamara as the publicist who stands beside some of Nashville’s most esteemed music-eratti—including Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Radney Foster, Marty Stuart, Beth Nielsen Chapman and others—she’s much more than a side woman. As a producer, manager, booker, former music television producer, and music journalist, she has a career as open armed as the girl tiptoeing through Davis’s painting.
public and what was next for her. “It is more emotional than I expected,” she answered, “but people seem connected to my story, and I think over time it may bring some peace to have shared it publicly. And I’ll just continue writing a biography about the legendary songwriter Guy Clark.” Staring into the painting I imagine the curly-haired girl at the end of the track on the edge of the woods with arms reaching skyward. For more information about Tamara Saviano and to purchase her book, visit tamarasaviano.com. Molly Secours is a writer, filmmaker, and founder of Lasting Legacies Video. www.lastinglegaciesvideo.com
Ironically the likeness to Tamara is purely coincidental. “My friend Bill Lloyd pointed out the painting to me at Tinney Contemporary Gallery because he thought the image looked like me,” said Saviano. The curly hair and railroad tracks reminded her of the Wisconsin woods where she spent many hours alone daydreaming about her future. And, after further inquiry, Tamara discovered the painting was inspired by the folk song “Tom Dooley”—which gave her chills considering she won a Grammy in 2004 for co-producing the Best Traditional Folk Album Beautiful Dreamer, a tribute to Stephen Foster. I asked the girl with outstretched arms, unaccustomed to putting herself in the spotlight, what it was like to have made her wounds 42 | April 2014
NashvilleArts.com
Regi Wooten at Free Form Friday
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANDON DANIEL GREER
Unplugged
Stirrings from the Nashville Underground by Tony Youngblood When you think of Nashville Metro Parks, you probably picture trees, statues, and a place to walk your dog. You might be surprised to learn that Metro Parks also champions the arts. Performing Arts Program Coordinator Mike Teaney says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nashville has an extremely diverse and creative culture. We feel it is our duty to reflect and encourage that culture, which is the heart and soul of the community.â&#x20AC;? Metro Parks provides facilities for dance, music, theater, and visual arts. The most recent addition is the Centennial Black Box Theater (CBB) at Centennial Park. Teaney says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We wanted to create a space where smaller and more unique activities could take place. The idea was originally Carolyn Germanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the supervisor of the Metro Parks Music and Theater Department. Quickly many of the cultural arts staff members got involved, and a room at the Centennial Arts Activity Center was converted into CBB.â&#x20AC;? The 56-seat theater now hosts monthly play readings, a cabaret series, a young performers program, and Music Through Sign, a program which gives people with disabilities an opportunity to perform in front of a live audience. Teaney himself curates Free Form Friday, an avant-garde series where â&#x20AC;&#x153;anything goes as long as it is different. The one stipulation is that it has to be something you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find many other places. Improvised music, of course, lends itself very well to that theme. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still trying to get a film/video presentation of interesting and perhaps bizarre shorts. There is a freshness that the event creates. You feel like you are part of something new and unique to that moment in time. These experimental works are like the frontier. It is here where new ideas are explored and different approaches are taken. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t, but it is of extreme importance to challenge yourself and an audience to push forward.â&#x20AC;?
Pyramid George, 2013
Jim Sherraden
Inspired by the pyramid motif on the reverse of the U.S. dollar bill, the image has been recarved from the 1930â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s era George Washington woodblock at Hatch Show Print.
H A L E Y G A L L E RY JOIN US FOR THE
NATIONAL POSTER RETROSPECTICUS
3!452$!9 -!9 s 0 - s (!4#( 3(/7 02).4
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN SCARPATI
The next Free Form Friday is May 16th @ 8PM in the Centennial Black Box Theater. For more information visit www.bit.ly/1j3o5SO. Tony Youngblood is the founder of the Circuit Bendersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ball, a biennial celebration of free culture, art, music, and the creative spirit. He created the open-source, multi-artist, scalable â&#x20AC;&#x153;art tunnelâ&#x20AC;? concept called M.A.P.s (ModularArtPods.com) and runs the experimental improv music blog and podcast www.TheatreIntangible.com.
STEP INSIDE Our Story
TH !VENUE 3OUTH s $OWNTOWN .ASHVILLE s (ATCH3HOW0RINT COM Hatch Show Print is another historic property of the Country Music Hall of FameÂŽ and Museum, a section 501(c)(3) non-profit education organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964.
PHOTOGRAPH BY HOLLIS BENNETT
Man on fire J.D. SIMO ROCKS THE HOUSE
by Walter Carter
I
n his bell-bottom jeans, long-sleeve T-shirt with horizontal stripes, shoulder-length hair, and a guitar style that harkens back to the days of psychedelic jam bands, J.D. Simo could almost be mistaken for one of the established rock musicians who have relocated to Nashville—except that he’s only 27 years old. And, most important, his artistry is rooted in Nashville. 44 | April 2014
SIMO (rhymes with “I know”), the power trio that he fronts, is made up of transplants from Phoenix, Boston, and Akron, all of whom came to Nashville for the music scene—not the country music scene but a broader, wider-ranging music scene that threatens to make Nashville live up to its reputation as Music City.
NashvilleArts.com
fairgrounds.” Simo called his father and asked for help. Simo doesn’t recall his father’s exact words, but the message was clear: Go to hell.
PHOTOGRAPH BY DEREK MARTINEZ PHOTOGRAPHY
In a sense, Simo did just that. For a successful musician, one form of hell would be having to play on the streets for tips. Simo and a friend went down to Lower Broadway and set up on the sidewalk near the popular honky-tonk Robert’s Western World. “I don’t remember what I played,” he said, “and I don’t remember how much we made, but it was enough that I could give the woman I was renting the room from something, and I bought some milk and cereal and so I could eat.”
“I saw The Blues Brothers, and I fell in love with Steve Cropper,” he recalled. Cropper appeared in the movie reprising some of the masterful guitar licks that helped put Stax records on the map. “Then it was an obsession with music. When you start researching music, one artist leads you to forty others, which leads you to hundreds of others. “There was a mini-series that debuted in the early 1990s called The History of Rock and Roll, which was brilliantly put together. A five-part, two-hour-each series that documented every major facet, like Bill Haley and the birth of rock and roll through the folk boom and the British invasion, the Motown/Stax/girl groups/Phil Spector pop music of the 60s, all the way through the New Wave thing. I would watch it obsessively and then go to the record store and buy the records they were talking about. At one point it was all about learning about Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan, and then learning about the Byrds and the Lovin’ Spoonful, and learning about Jimi Hendrix, and on down the line.”
“
I , I , .
”
a friend in Nashville, noted guitar tech Zac Childs, told him he would be able to make a living playing music in Nashville quicker than in Austin. Much like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, explaining that he moved to Casablanca for the waters, Simo soon found he had been misinformed. “I’d been here about seven or eight months,” he recalled. “I was about to be kicked out of the place where I was renting a room, which was a terrible squatter-type place over by the
Fortunately for Simo, Nashville is full of musicians with backgrounds and aspirations in virtually every style of music. In 2012 with bassist Frank Swart and drummer Adam Abrashoff, Simo put together a CD, and after a year of working the club circuit, they have signed with Earache Records. Among Earache’s roster of grindcore, death metal, crust punk, and other subcategories of really hard rock bands, SIMO’s psychedelic rock might seem out of place, but to J.D., no style of music is out of place. “At the core of me, I love every style of music there is, and I’ve tried to take bits and pieces of everything,” he explains. “But if you take me and distill it down, it actually goes back to Steve Cropper. It’s very simple and just emotional.” For more information about J.D. Simo visit www.simotheband.com.
PHOTOGRAPH BY DEREK MARTINEZ PHOTOGRAPHY
Simo plays loud and hard in the tradition of the guitar gods of the 60s and 70s, with soaring lead lines and crunching rhythms. Ironically, that is the antithesis of the musician who first attracted him to guitar as a kid growing up on the north side of Chicago.
Over the next few years, Simo played the part of a honky-tonk guitarist, ripping hot country licks out of a Fender Telecaster in the Nashville clubs. While the music sounded right, anyone could see that the kid in the polka-dot shirt, with a short winter coat and a scarf, would never fit in with the cowboy hats. Even as he began to land session work during the daytime, burnout was inevitable.
By 2006, Simo’s writing and performing had expanded beyond traditional blues, and he looked for a new home base with a stronger music scene. He was considering Austin, but NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 45
As I See It
In a Fraction of a Second . . .
O
n an overcast day in 1932, French photographer and co-founder of the Magnum Photos cooperative Henri Cartier-Bresson captured a scene Behind Gare Saint-Lazare using a 35mm Leica camera. The iconic photograph could easily be seen in retrospect as emblematic of, if not a metaphor for, Cartier-Bressonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s entire career and philosophy, which he codified twenty years later in a book titled The Decisive Moment (1952). The portability of the hand-held Leica camera was instrumental for the development of photographic practices in the 1930s, and Cartier-Bresson was a theoretical pathfinder for the street photographers, photojournalists, and documentarians coming into prominence at the time as well as to subsequent generations. Scholars have debated whether he was the first advocate for image Ă la sauvette (image taken on the run), if the moment he describes is decisive, climactic, or dumb luck, and even whether such spontaneity will survive in the digital age. What is indisputable, however, is the enduring appeal of countless photographs by Cartier-Bresson and specifically Behind Gare Saint-Lazare. A leaping figure is frozen mid-air, a split second before gravity will eviscerate the mirrored surface of the standing water. Much of this gritty Parisian construction site is seen in duplicate: the foreground figure, another in the background, the iron fence, the rooftops, the posters. Even the fallen ladder repeats the lines of the adjacent railroad tracks. Replication and repetition, intrinsic to photography, here suggest a conscious or unconscious reference to the medium. Ver tica l, horizontal, diagonal, and parallel lines, curves, arcs, triangles, and rectangles come together in what Cartier-Bresson called the marvelous mixture of emotion and geometry. He was trained as a painter and was well schooled in classical art, but he is most often linked to Surrealism because of the movementâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theories regarding chance 46 | April 2014
Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1932, Behind Gare Saint-Lazare
encounters and the subconscious mind. We cannot miss the underlying visual organization or the communicable ideas present in Behind Gare Saint-Lazare, nor can we minimize the significance of a single moment in 1932 when Cartier-Bresson pointed his camera through a fence behind a Paris train station and snapped the shutter.
Susan H. Edwards, PhD
Executive Director & CEO, Frist Center for the Visual Arts NashvilleArts.com
FLOW ERS FOR
E V ERY
OCCASION
Cymbidium Orchid Photography by Brett Warren shot in the Ilex studio
601 8th Ave South Nashville, TN 37203 615-736-5200 ilexforflowersnashville@gmail.com www.ilexforflowers.com
Book Review
Nashville Couple Learns
How to Live Large on the Ocean
A
s Shawn Mullins alluded to in his 1998 song “Lullaby,” everyone in Nashville has a plan. In 2011, singer, songwriter, artist, and film production professional Chris DiCroce had a plan, too: to get out of Nashville. To do so, he needed to quit his job, sell the West Nashville house—and everything in it—that he shared with his longtime girlfriend Melody Puckett, and buy a sailboat. Because DiCroce and Puckett planned to live on that boat. By Memorial Day of 2012, that’s just what they did. DiCroce has detailed that whirlwind journey and new life on a thirty-five-foot boat in a recently published e-book You Gotta Go to Know, available now via Amazon. As of this writing, it’s currently ranked #1 in the e-commerce site’s sailing category. “The one thing I didn’t want to do was write another sailing story full of technical details and storm tactics,” says DiCroce via email from the coast of Fort Lauderdale where he and Puckett are currently docked. “While I did touch on all of that when discussing our choice of boat, I wanted to discuss the process and emotions around making the decision. Some [hardcore sailors] felt that I glossed over the sailing details, but I personally feel that there are hundreds of fantastic sailing adventure stories that one can read.”
Chris DiCroce and Melody Puckett 48 | April 2014
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW ARNOLD
Part sailing adventure, part self-help book on living your dream, You Gotta Go to Know follows along with every step as DiCroce learns to sail at the Yacht Club and Marina in Hermitage, travels
to check out potential boats, takes boats apart and puts them back together, and, together with Puckett, drains his bank account and posts anything even remotely saleable on Craigslist. Through six chapters, from the first, “How It All Started,” to the last, “Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow,” DiCroce chronicles his and Puckett’s attempt to make the transition from landlocked to living life on their own terms. “We may end up rich; we may end up in ruins,” he recalls telling his partner in the closing chapter. “But I promise you one thing. It will never be boring.” While he’s living his dream, the Philadelphia native who spent twenty-two years in Nashville still has great affection for Music City. “I miss my friends and the Sylvan Park and East Nashville neighborhoods where I lived,” he says. “I miss having a local coffee shop like Ugly Mugs and Dose to walk to, and the Family Wash. A lot of people ask, ‘Don’t you miss having a house?’ or ‘Don’t you miss your stuff?’ My answer (surprisingly) is not one bit. I miss having a place to keep a nice guitar—it’s not the best environment for a great old guitar—but other than that, I’m really happy in my 115 square feet.” You Gotta Go To Know is available now as an e-book on www.Amazon.com.
NashvilleArts.com
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April 2014 | 49
Arts Worth Watching PHOTO COURTESY OF MAGNOLIA PICTURES
Green Hill, Alabama. From his early work with Alabama’s Drive-By Truckers to his solo work fronting the 400 Unit to 2013’s outstanding album Southeastern, Isbell has emerged as one of America’s finest contemporary singers and songwriters of recent years. So it’s no surprise that he was tapped to perform as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. Taped at the Allen Room, Live from Lincoln Center: Jason Isbell: Moving Forward airs Friday, April 11, at 9 p.m. and includes Isbell performing songs from Southeastern and more.
Located alongside the Tennessee River just a couple of hours’ drive from Nashville, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, is the unlikely breeding ground for some of America’s most creative and defiant music and some of the most important and resonant songs of all time. Coming to NPT this month via Independent Lens, Muscle Shoals profiles the man at the heart of the Muscle Shoals movement and the architect of its sound, FAME studios founder Rick Hall. Overcoming crushing poverty and staggering tragedies, Hall brought black and white musicians together in Alabama’s cauldron of racial hostility to create music for the generations. He also helped gather The Swampers, the house band at FAME that eventually left to start their own successful studio, who created what is known as the “Muscle Shoals Sound.” An official selection of the 2013 Nashville Film Festival and airing on NPT on Monday, April 21, at 9 p.m., the documentary by director Greg “Freddy” Camalier includes interviews with Gregg Allman, Bono, Clarence Carter, Mick Jagger, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Keith Richards, Percy Sledge and others who bear witness to Muscle Shoals’ magnetism, mystery, and why it remains influential today.
There are very few places left on television for ballet, and this month NPT is your source for an outstanding contemporary production. Starring Marc Petrocci and Valerie Harmon and taped last year at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, Peter Pan by the Milwaukee Ballet comes to NPT on Friday, April 18, at 8 p.m.
Jason Isbell grew up just up the road from Muscle Shoals, about twenty miles away, in
Austin City Limits this month on Wednesday nights at 11 p.m. has Bonnie Raitt, Nine Inch Nails, Gary Clark, Jr., The Civil Wars, and Norah Jones.
50 | April 2014
April is a great month for independent documentaries on NPT. In addition to Muscle Shoals, there is Brothers Hypnotic on April 7, a profile of the eight men in the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble forged into a band as kids by their father, jazz maverick Phil Cohran. On April 14, it’s the broadcast premiere of the Community Cinema selection The Trials of Muhammad Ali by director Bill Siegel (The Weather Underground). On April 28, the month wraps up with an encore broadcast of Revenge of the Electric Car.
NashvilleArts.com
Weekend Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 5:00 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 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 Electric Company Angelina Ballerina Curious George The Cat in the Hat Peg + Cat Dinosaur Train Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Super Why! Sewing with Nancy Martha’s Sewing Room Garden Smart P. Allen Smith Simply Ming Cook’s Country noon America’s Test Kitchen Bringing it Home with Laura McIntosh John Besh’s Family Table Martha Bakes Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting Best of Joy of Painting Woodsmith Shop The Woodwright’s Shop Rough Cut with Tommy Mac This Old House Ask This Old House Hometime PBS NewsHour Weekend pm Tennessee’s Wild Side
ThisMonth
April 2 014
Nashville Public Television
Sunday
am Sesame Street Curious George The Cat in the Hat Peg + Cat Word World Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Super Why! Tennessee’s Wild Side Volunteer Gardener Tennessee Crossroads A Word on Words Nature noon To the Contrary The McLaughlin Group Moyers & Company Washington Week with Gwen Ifill Globe Trekker California’s Gold Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope America’s Heartland Rick Steves’ Europe Antiques Roadshow PBS NewsHour Weekend pm Charlie Rose: The Week
In this five-part series, examine the conflict through the lens of the Western Campaign, which dramatically shaped the final outcome of the Civil War. Narrated by Emmy-nominated actress Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey). Thursdays, April 3 - May 1 8:00 PM
Daytime Schedule 5:00 5:30 6:00 6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 1:00 1:30 2:00 2:30 3:00 3:30 4:00 4:30 5:00 5:30 6:00
am Classical Stretch Body Electric Arthur Wild Kratts Curious George The Cat in the Hat Peg + Cat Dinosaur Train Sesame Street Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Super Why! Sid the Science Kid Thomas and Friends Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood pm Caillou Super Why! Dinosaur Train Martha Speaks Clifford the Big Red Dog Peg + Cat The Cat in the Hat Curious George Arthur WordGirl Wild Kratts pm PBS NewsHour
Nashville Public Television
Domestic Violence Nashville Responds
Aging Matters Overview
Discover how Nashville is responding to its domestic violence victims, and how it can do better.
Take a look at how aging impacts all of us, how our needs change as we get older, and what support systems we have in place to meet the needs of older citizens.
Friday, April 11 7:00 PM and 8:30 PM
Friday, April 25 7:00 PM
wnpt.org
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Kansas City, Hour Three. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Minneapolis, Hour One. 9:00 Independent Lens The Trials of Muhammad Ali. Ali’s battle to overturn the five-year prison sentence he received for refusing U.S. military service. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Shark Island Whaler The Real-Life Sequel to Moby Dick.
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7:00 Call the Midwife Sister Julienne and Trixie assist a pregnant prison inmate who’s worried that social services will deem her an unfit mother and take her baby. 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Mr. Selfridge, Season 2 – Part 3. The start of WWI spurs enlistment fever. 9:00 The Bletchley Circle 10:00 Film School Shorts 10:30 Closer to the Truth 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
7:00 Call the Midwife Trixie is upset when Sister Julienne promotes Jenny to “acting sister, “ but their relationship is eventually restored. 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Mr. Selfridge, Season 2 – Part 2. All await Churchill’s appearance. 9:00 Secrets of Selfridges 10:00 Film School Shorts 10:00 Closer to the Truth 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Kansas City, Hour Two. 8:00 In Performance at the White House Women of Soul. Aretha Franklin, Janelle Monae, Jill Scott and others perform. 9:00 Independent Lens Brothers Hypnotic. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Stagecoach Bar: An American Crossroads
Monday
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The Bletchley Circle Sundays, Starting April 13 9:00 PM
Sunday
Primetime Evening Schedule
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7:00 Pioneers of Television Standup to Sitcom. How America’s top standup comics made the transition to the sitcom format. 8:00 The Address At a school in Vermont, students grappling with an array of learning challenges use the Gettysburg Address as a tool for success. 9:30 Lincoln@Gettysburg 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Growing Up Green
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7:00 The Dave Clark Five – Glad All Over, A Great Performance Special N e v e r- b e f o r e - s e e n footage from Clark’s personal archives join performances by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury of Queen and more. 9:00 Frontline Secret State of North Korea. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Coexist
7:00 The Story of the Jews with Simon Schama A Leap of Faith. Jews weave their energies into modern life in Europe. 8:00 The Story of the Jews with Simon Schama Over the Rainbow. 9:00 The Story of the Jews with Simon Schama Return. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Living On: Tennesseans Remembering the Holocaust
Tuesday
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16 7:00 Nature Touching the Wild. 8:00 NOVA Inside Animal Minds: Dogs & Super Senses. 9:00 Your Inner Fish Your Inner Reptile. 200 million years ago reptilelike animals were in the process of evolving into shrew-like mammals. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Gary Clark, Jr./Alabama Shakes.
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17 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Civil War: Untold Story River of Death. Union and Confederate forces clash in what will become the biggest battle of the Western Theater. 9:00 Doc Martin Nobody Likes Me. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Clearing the Smoke: The Science of Cannabis
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Civil War: Untold Story Bloody Shiloh. In February 1862, Union forces, led by Ulysses S. Grant, establish a foothold in southern Tennessee. 9:00 Doc Martin Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Wilderness: The Great Debate
Thursday
4
18 7:00 Aging Matters: End of Life Personal stories of families and interviews with scholars, doctors and medical ethicists help examine the complicated experience of dying. 8:00 Peter Pan from the Milwaukee Ballet 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company 11:30 Rhythm Abroad Spain.
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7:00 Walk in the Park with Nick Molle Birds Without Borders. 8:00 John Glenn: A Life in Service 9:00 Live from Lincoln Center James Naughton: The Songs of Randy Newman. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company 11:30 Through the Eye of the Needle: The Art of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz
Friday
7:00 Nature 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 Domestic Violence: My Bionic Pet. 7:30 Volunteer Gardener Nashville Responds 8:00 NOVA 8:00 Civil War: Untold Story 7:30 Domestic Violence: Inside Animal Minds: A Beacon of Hope. Living in Fear Bird Genius. RevolutionThousands of slaves flee 8:30 Domestic Violence: ary science of is revealnorthward. Are they still Nashville Responds ing hard evidence about slaves or are they now 9:00 Live from how animals understand free? Lincoln drafts a Lincoln Center the world around them. proclamation. Jason Isbell: Moving For9:00 Your Inner Fish 9:00 Doc Martin ward. Genetic legacy and The Tameness of a Wolf. 10:00 BBC World News human DNA, 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company 11:00 Cosplay! Crafting 11:30 Rhythm Abroad 10:30 Last of Summer Wine a Secret Indentity Tahiti, French Polynesia. 11:00 Austin City Limits Nine Inch Nails.
7:00 Nature White Falcon, White Wolf. On Ellesmere Island, the race is on for two species to raise their families. 8:00 NOVA Wild Predator Invasion. 9:00 Secrets of the Dead Carthage’s Lost Warriors. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Bonnie Raitt/Mavis Staples.
Wednesday
5
19 7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Easter. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 The Café Diminishing Returns. 9:00 Miranda A New Low. 9:30 Chef’s Life Cracklin’ Kitchen. 10:00 Globe Trekker Globe Trekker Food Hour: Spice Trails. 11:00 Doc Martin Nobody Likes Me.
12 7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Los Angeles. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 The Café Deal or No Deal. 9:00 Miranda Let’s Do It. 9:30 Chef’s Life Pimp My Grits. 10:00 Globe Trekker Myanmar. 11:00 Doc Martin The Tameness of a Wolf.
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show April Showers. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 The Café Fragile – Handle with Care. 9:00 Miranda Before I Die. 9:30 Chef’s Life Strawberry Stay at Home. 10:00 Globe Trekker Alps & Lapland. 11:00 Doc Martin Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.
Saturday
Nashville Public Television
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7:00 Call the Midwife Tom, the local curate, asks Trixie to join him for a day of cricket. 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Mr. Selfridge, Season 2 – Part 6. Members of the staff are dying at the front. 9:00 The Bletchley Circle Uncustomed Goods, Part 2. 10:00 Film School Shorts 10:30 Closer to the Truth 11:00 Tavis Smiley
7:00 Call the Midwife The midwives discover that a young down syndrome woman is six months pregnant, leading to difficult decisions. 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Mr. Selfridge, Season 2 – Part 5. 9:00 The Bletchley Circle Uncustomed Goods, Part 1. 10:00 Film School Shorts 10:30 Closer to the Truth 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
The Address Tuesday, April 15 8:00 PM
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7:00 Pioneers of Television Breaking Barriers. 8:00 Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle – A Voces Special Presentation Part political expose, part narrative deconstruction, an ivestigation of a prominent Civil Rights era journalist. 9:00 Frontline Prison State 10:00BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Real Rail Adventures: Switzerland
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7:00 Pioneers of Television Doctors and Nurses. Television’s long love affair with doctors and nurses shows no signs of letting up. 8:00 American Masters A Fierce Green Fire. An exploration of the environmental movement spanning 50 years. 9:00 Frontline Solitary Nation. 10:00BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Rebels With A Cause
1
7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Civil War:Untold Story With Malice Toward None. Sherman’s march across Georgia to Savannah is a psychological blow to the Confederacy. 9:00 Doc Martin Hazardous Exposure. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Aging Matters: Overview
MAY
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7:00 Nature Love in the Animal Kingdom. Animals dance, sing, flirt and compete with everything they’ve got to find a mate. 8:00 NOVA The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies. 9:00 Nazi Mega Weapons Super Tanks 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Norah Jones/Kat Edmonson.
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Civil War: Untold Story Death Knell of the Confederacy. Grant routes the Confederates just outside Chattanooga. 9:00 Doc Martin The Practice Around the Corner. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Ocean Frontiers: The Dawn of a New Era In Ocean Stewardship
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7:00 Nature Snow Monkeys. 8:00 NOVA Inside Animal Minds: Who’s the Smartest? Some of the cleverest creatures seem to be those who live in complex social groups. 9:00 Your Inner Fish Your Inner Monkey. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits The Civil Wars/Punch Brothers.
Visit wnpt.org for complete 24 hour schedules for NPT and NPT2
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Anaheim, Hour Three 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Minneapolis–Hour Three. 9:00 Independent Lens A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power, and Jayson Blair at the New York. The shocking story of Jayson Blair, the most infamous serial plagiarist of our time. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Anaheim, Hour Two. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Minneapolis – Hour Two. 9:00 Independent Lens Revenge of the Electric Car. In 2006, thousands of new electric cars were purposely destroyed by the same auto companies that built them. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Thunder on the Mountain
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7:00 Antiques Roadshow Anaheim, Hour One. 8:00 Independent Lens Muscle Shoals. In Muscle Shoals, Alabama, FAME Studios founder Rick Hall brought black and white together in a cauldron of racial hostility to create music for the generations. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Skokie: Invaded But Not Conquered
20
7:00 Call the Midwife Jenny’s patient Leah is struggling to cope with her mother’s agoraphobia, as well as her own pregnancy. 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Mr. Selfridge, Season 2 – Part 4. 9:00 The Bletchley Circle Blood on Their Hands, Part 2. 10:00 Film School Shorts 10:30 Closer to the Truth 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Scully/The World Show
3
Nature Touching the Wild Wednesday, April 16 7:00 PM
Nashville Public Television
7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Music Memories. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 The Café There Were Three in the Bed. 9:00 Miranda The Perfect Christmas. 9:30 Chef’s Life The World is Your Oyster. 10:00 Globe Trekker London City Guide 2. 11:00 Doc Martin Hazardous Exposure.
2 7:00 Earthflight: A Nature Special Presentation North America. Snow geese, pelicans, and bald eagles fly over the Great Plains, the Grand Canyon, Alaska and the Golden Gate Bridge as they encounter and engage with bears, dolphins, bison, and fish. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company 11:30 Rhythm Abroad Alberta, Canada.
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show Those Were The Days. 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 The Café Connection Failure. 9:00 Miranda Just Act Normal. 9:30 Chef’s Life Tomatoes … You Say Heirloom, I Say Old Timey. 10:00 Globe Trekker East Texas. 11:00 Doc Martin The Practice Around the Corner.
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7:00 Aging Matters: Overview 8:00 Great Performances Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty. This fairy tale about a princess cursed to sleep for 100 years was adapted into a beloved ballet by Tchaikovsky and choreographer Marius Petipa. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company 11:30 Rhythm Abroad Switzerland.
54 | April 2014
NashvilleArts.com
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN SCARPATI
S ti l l D evel opin g
ramatically transfigured faces are the focus of the latest work by photographer Norman Lerner. Some of his subjects appear to be high-fashion models striking a pose, while others are of more mysterious origin, depicted in various states of repose or reaching out at the viewer, as if to escape the picture plane. The images have been modified by Lerner to flatten out his subjects’ features to various ends. In some images the flattening gives them the quality of a kabuki actor in a Japanese woodblock print. In others Lerner employs patterns to flatten the images, as in one dramatic picture where the face is obscured through vivid orange, red, and blue calligraphy, hooding the eyes and putting a graphic veil between subject and viewer.
Norman Lerner’s Stunning new body of work revealed by Daniel Tidwell
D
Lerner says that he has always been fascinated by faces. “If you look at my early street photography you can see the interest in faces early on.” For example, Grand Central Waiting Room from 1952 “is essentially a group portrait of twenty or more people . . . waiting, many just waiting perhaps for trains, to get out of the cold, or sitting with nothing else to do. Every face has a story to tell even if it is an attempt to hide a story with a mask,” according to Lerner. Many of these new images have a striking affinity with the pop-graphic work of Patrick Nagel, who was known for creating deco-influenced images from photographs. While Lerner acknowledges surface similarities with Nagel he feels that his work is coming from a different
I See, Archival pigment print
place—the product of an intuitive process. “I think my work, in certain ways, is more demanding emotionally . . . combining reality with artifact. The work . . . drives itself, leading me into unknown
territories. If I tried to recreate one of the images in exactly the same way, I could never do it, because the journey takes many turns and perambulations. It would be impossible.”
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Why?, Archival pigment print
Are You Sure?, Archival pigment print
Lerner cites Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, Martin Munkácsi, and Edward Weston as early influences. “I have always studied other artists, and the influences have been wide and dissimilar,” says Lerner.
“
T . . . , EVERYTHING . I , I I .
”
Lerner’s reinvention of his work at age 86 brings to mind the way that de Kooning evolved his painting late in his career, creating a much more graphic body of work than his more painterly abstract expressionist works. “I hate repeating myself,” says Lerner. “It becomes boring. It’s exciting working on new things . . . makes life interesting. I am always asking questions and seeking answers, and that is why my work is always changing from street photography to fashion to the figure. The beat goes on . . . I am a wanderer.”
Who Am I?, Archival pigment print 56 | April 2014
A selection of Norman Lerner’s work will be on exhibit April 5 to May 9 at The Arts Company in preview of his upcoming retrospective later this year. For more information about the show and Lerner, visit www.theartscompany.com and www.normanlerner.com. NashvilleArts.com
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Coming, Archival pigment print
I Know, Archival pigment print NashvilleArts.com
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H AY N E S G A L L E R I E S P R E S E N T S
CELEBRATING THE PORTRAIT AS ART APRI L 18 TO MAY 24, 2014 R E C E PTI ON: AP R IL18, 5:00 TO 7:30 PM
JOSEPH DOLDERER. B.1985.MISS ELLIE. OIL ON LINEN. 30 x 24 INCHES INQUIRIES: GARYHAYNES@HAYNESGALLERIES.COM OR PHONE 615.430.8147 OR 615.312.7000. HAYNESGALLERIES.COM GALLERIES: ON THE MUSIC ROW ROUNDABOUT IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE AND SEASONALLY IN THOMASTON, MAINE
CONNIE C -r athCart
iChardson
PHOTOGRAPH: BRETT WARREN/BRETT WARREN PHOTOGRAPHY | MAKEUP: TIM EVANS/NORDSTROM | DRESS: AKRIS PUNTO PRINT SHEATH DRESS/GUS MAYER
the FaCe oF Fashion Nashville Fashion Week • April 1–5 by Lily C. Hansen
“I
will probably always refer to it as our fashion community rather than industry,” states Nashville Fashion Week co-founder Connie Cathcart-Richardson. The stylist and fashion editor unifies local industry folks, a disjointed web of designers, models, stylists, and photographers. She is a connector and caretaker by nature. Her passion is “collecting” other creative types, and as a result, the multitudes she has mentored affectionately refer to her as “Mama Connie.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANNON MORTON
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANNON MORTON
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANNON MORTON
In her former life the Brentwood native worked at Image Design, the advertising firm where she was a partner for fifteen years. The position afforded private schools and everything she “deemed important in life” until her quarter-life crisis at age 45. She closed the firm to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of life, and that journey led to an interest in the local fashion community. In 2007 her friend and visionary Robert Campbell gave her a surprise gift. He had registered the name “Nashville Fashion Week” and merely requested the liberty to “play” if she ever put
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an event together. In 2010, she and Campbell, now Marketing & Communications Consultant at OZ, co-founded the all-volunteer event along with SouthComm publisher Mike Smith, former Marketing Director at The Mall at Green Hills Scott McClure, Yelp Nashville’s Marcia Masulla, and Belcourt Marketing and Development Director Cindy Wall in an effort to make their shared vision a reality.
Throughout the year she works closely with her partners and local boutiques to scout fashion’s next superstars. She is intuitive in her approach and “knows it when [she sees] it.” Joining the lineup this year are local emerging designers East Nashville’s Poni Silver of Black by Maria Silver, 16-year-old Catland Freeze of Cat-Land Forever Couture, and O’More College of Design alumni
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANNON MORTON
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANNON MORTON
From the overarching theme to selecting talent and venues, Cathcart-Richardson volunteers half her year to bringing Fashion Week to fruition. To coincide with this year’s “Fashion as Art” concept the locations will alternate from Fifth Avenue of the Arts to performance venue OZ. The intention is to always show off Nashville’s eclectic architecture, ambience, and entertainment. “We certainly like the funky and unusual,” Cathcart-Richardson explains, “and taking existing spaces where you wouldn’t normally throw an event.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANNON MORTON
Megan Chapman and Aja Blumanhourst of Soluna. Although many local designers aren’t quite boutique-ready, the opportunities are plentiful, including exposure, industry connections, and displaying a level of seriousness about their craft. Most enticing is the Nashville Fashion Forward Fund, an endowed fund administered by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee with proceeds from Nashville Fashion Week. It is based on the godmother of all grants, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, and offers one ambitious candidate a financial gift to further their dreams each year. The Fund ensures that sustainable focus on philanthropic support and experiential professional growth within the Middle Tennessee fashion community will continue for years to come.
60 | April 2014
Cathcart-Richardson modeled as a teenager herself and beams when discussing model casting and coordinating this part of the process. “My favorite part is the pre-runway-show prep and pouring myself into those amazing young ladies,” she praises. “They are my calm in the midst of the craziness.” Whereas New York Fashion Week caters to buyers, bloggers, and trendsetters, Nashville’s intends to create a level of interest. Local designers often complain that there is lack of cohesion and NashvilleArts.com
collaboration in the industry; expansion is foreseen as impossible due to lack of fabric sourcing and production houses. “When we first started, there were about twenty people in this whole town who seemed to care about fashion at all,” Cathcart-Richardson recalls. Yet four years later she believes the event is capable of laying groundwork for a legitimate industry. “I’ve been thinking more about where we want to take this,” she muses. “This event can be a tool to facilitate Nashville opportunities so all of these talented people don’t think they have to move to New York.”
The goal this year is to leverage the event to present the bigger picture. Just as the city once boomed because of music, banks, and healthcare, she believes fashion, if economically supported, can do the same for Nashville. Spearheaded by Avenue Bank founder and creative consultant Van Tucker, data is being accumulated to accurately discern who makes up fashion’s support system. “We’ve had to look closely at Fashion Week’s market to make sure we’re bringing in the right designers and boutiques for the event,”
PHOTOGRAPH BY ERIC WINTON PHOTOGRAPHY
While fashion and entertainment have long walked hand in hand, many designers have felt a lack of support from Music City. Recent success stories like Leona designer Lauren Leonard and AMAX runway model Binx are inspiring, yet both have moved beyond city limits to accomplish their dreams. Cathcart-Richardson firmly believes Nashville’s cosmopolitan status, celebrity residents, and consistent press will one day make setting up shop in the South possible. After all, they finally eroded the sartorial misconception that everyone’s uniform includes plaid, blue jeans, and cowboy boots.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANNON MORTON
explains Cathcart-Richardson. Their goal is to translate facts and numbers to a solid business plan. There has been talk of an “incubator,“ based upon models in New York, Chicago, or Denver, which would supply the designers with the education, structure, and resources they crave. The spirited and savvy women are mutually convinced that a legitimate industry could produce capital and creative entrepreneurs. Just as Fashion Week mixes a diverse crowd of artists and appreciators, Cathcart-Richardson feels Nashville’s fashionphiles, floating on their separate islands, need assistance in coming together. “My goal is to bring together everyone bouncing around on their own lily pads because I believe that by working together Nashville fashion can be a force to be reckoned with,” concludes Cathcart-Richardson.
“
T N ’ N Y.
”
Please visit www.nashvillefashionweek.com for more information about Connie Cathcart-Richardson and Nashville Fashion Week.
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62 | April 2014
Cup and Saucer - Albert Irvin; Cigarette and Ashtray - Sarah Staton; Pretzel - Claes Oldenburg
Collector, Cur ator, International Man of Intrigue
NashvilleArts.com
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN GUIDER
Jason Brown
Q&A
What’s your mantra?
Get on with it. What’s it like being you these days?
If you stepped inside my head you’d hear carnival music. It’s a fun ride. What is your most treasured possession?
Possibly my 1936 “Picasso” postcard that I’ve been researching for many years. What is your greatest regret?
What characteristics do you most like about yourself?
I feel strongly about not having regrets. Of course I have made mistakes but no regrets.
Honesty, attention to detail and my work ethic. I enjoy my imagination and like to spend a lot of time lost in it.
What music do you listen to?
Classic Country, Americana, and Bluegrass.
And what do you like least?
My inability to fit into smaller clothes. I can also be impatient. Next question, please! Who would you most like to meet?
I’m sorry I never got to meet my Uncle Arthur. He perished in a plane crash coming back from his honeymoon. A tragic story. What about you would most surprise people?
I accidentally met Pope John Paul ll as I was trying to find a bathroom in the Vatican. I greeted him with a “Shalom.” He was very gracious. Who has most inspired you?
My friends and artists that I’ve worked with along the way. Without them I have nothing to collect and nothing to curate.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
One of them was taking Hatch Show Print to London for the first time. It was a big success! What is your greatest extravagance?
Since my first paycheck it has always been art, manuscripts, and travel. You have five minutes left to live. What are you going to do?
I would be in the Picasso museum in Antibes in the South of France looking out the window at the Mediterranean with a fatty, salt-beef bagel in one hand and a Rusty Nail cocktail in the other and smile and think . . . it’s been fun. What do you want to be remembered for?
Who is your favorite artist?
Being interested and interesting.
The British artist Prunella Clough, who could turn an old pipe into a thing of beauty. Locally, I find Robbie Hunsinger, Jim Sherraden, and the performance artist Matthew Marcum very interesting.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
What are you most proud of?
Are you happy with where you are heading?
My three-year Cab Gallery project that gained international recognition and the invitation to become a member of the Chelsea Arts Club.
I have no idea where I’m heading, but I’m happy to take the journey.
Why Nashville?
As long as I’m doing something I like, I’m happy.
I first visited fourteen years ago for the incredible music; then I met Lori and the rest as they say is . . .
What film have you seen recently?
More of a natural ability with other languages.
What other profession would you consider?
What do you like most about the city?
I enjoyed Saving Mr. Banks. I was fortunate to meet Robert Sherman in London. A talented man.
The sense of community and the collaboration. The potential is enormous.
What was the last book you read?
What do you like least?
Factual Nonsense by Darren Coffield. A great read with references that inspired me.
It’s growing so fast, which is great, but I hope it retains the small-town charm that drew me here.
Contact brehmancollection@gmail.com. NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 63
LOOKS LIKE RAIN Iconic Music Photographer JOHN SCARPATI Shines a Light on the Dirty Little Secret of Digital Manipulation The Storm — I’d always wanted an opportunity to do something inspired by Magritte. Then one day the phone rang, and suddenly I found myself shooting cover art for The Storm. You wouldn’t believe how many umbrellas we went through in search of the perfect black — John Scarpati 64 | April 2014
NashvilleArts.com
PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL WEINTRAUB
"I really wanted to be a painter. I really wanted to be a rock star. Ultimately, I became neither of these things—and both."
by Michael Dukes
I
s today’s technology blasting open the doors of creative expression or simply providing shortcuts for the lazy and unskilled? Here’s one industry veteran’s surprisingly pragmatic take. As your eyes scan the prints adorning the oversized walls of Scarpati’s Belmont Boulevard studio, two truths quickly emerge. First, the sheer volume of his body of work is difficult to comprehend. The guy has created images—lots of them—for some of the biggest names in music. He served as the go-to photographer for Hollywood’s most outrageous punk and glam trailblazers. Top country artists? Check. Stadium rockers? Yep. Smart young indie pop/rock/alt upstarts? Been there, done that.
The second thing you notice is that there’s something about each shot that effortlessly pushes it at least a few degrees left of center. While Scarpati always finds a new way to get there, every concept cover and portrait manages to feel like a window into its own parallel universe. Clearly, many of these surreal slices of life couldn’t have occurred as actual events. Or at least we hope not. Take the Rush cover featuring a kid aimlessly kicking a human skull past a wall of giant dice. Or the nude woman who seems strangely placid amidst hundreds of live scorpions, even as some make their way across her bare thighs (done for the German band Scorpions, naturally). Then there’s the plasticine-walled room he
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did for the New York Dolls, a cover so unabashedly pink that Apple used it in a worldwide ad campaign promoting new iPod colors. Meanwhile, back here in the real world, Scarpati has finally agreed to sit for a rare interview. The trappings of his workspace speak to the delicate balance between old technology and new: along one wall, restored antique Hollywood movie lights cluster in the shadows like a group of wise elders. Yet high above, in the wide balcony that serves as digital command center, a humming network of custom-built computers feeds a sprawling row of oversized monitors. In a city where digital slicing and dicing has become an accepted part of the daily grind in recording studios major and minor, there’s still little agreement on where to draw the line separating art and science. So what does a top music photographer think? “If a vocal performance or guitar solo is amazing, and there will never be another that can match it but there’s one bad note, why would you not use technology to allow you to go with the best take?” Scarpati asks.
Eyes — When you look into someone’s face, the eyes do most of the real communication. So the minute you take that element away, something else has to take its place. In this case, it was the scars.
“
T ’ ’ — , , . T ’ .
”
“It’s no different with photography. In the old days, when a collar was turned up or a stray hair popped out, a stylist would run in, and it’d ruin the momentum. Now, if everybody’s in the zone and you’ve got magic happening, there’s no reason to stop for little things you can fix later.
Fear of God — If you know the band Fear of God, you’re probably thinking this shot looks a whole lot like one of their album covers. Except the actual cover features their lead singer. This is a test version. 66 | April 2014
Snow in June — Shot for a Canadian band called Northern Pikes. They have a wicked sense of humor and were totally on board with the Hollywood casting approach as opposed to putting themselves on the cover.
NashvilleArts.com
Fate’s Warning — This was done for Fate’s Warning. It would have been so easy to take the whole thing very dark and monochrome. But the minute we added the quilt, everything came together.
“If I get a perfect shot of an artist, but the angle of one of her hands looks a little funny, and there’s a better hand three frames down, I don’t have any problem adding that hand to the hero shot. You just can’t let yourself fall back on technology as a substitute for capturing the moment. The key is making sure you’ve gotten the stuff that can’t be done digitally—the personality, the body language, the expression. That moment where they’re really giving you something.” And what about the rest of the process, after the studio has cleared out and the lights are unplugged?
“I rea l ly end up using Photoshop on ever y image. It’s like mastering an album. You want to record a track well and do a nice mix, but why would you stop short of going into the final tool? “Look, I’ve been compositing digitally since the 80s. I started using computers for color correction and retouching even before Photoshop. It’s not a new concept. The basics have never changed, even before computers. Maybe we’re not doing it really slowly with stinky chemicals any more, but it’s still the same workflow and process.
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“The trouble comes in when people just push a preset button and are satisfied with the look. You don’t have to stick with those. Most adjustment layers are incredibly heavy-handed on their default settings. No grace, style, or nuance. You need to add in these effects as their own separate layer and dial them in or out in the areas that might need them. Sometimes just a little bit is the right thing.” Asked for one piece of advice he can offer those who would follow in his footsteps, Scarpati reflects over a sip of oily black espresso.
“I . I . S I ’ . S . S .” ZACA — This cover shot for Asphalt Cowboy was done while I was still living in L.A. But clearly I was already dreaming about the land of banjos, fiddles, and smog-free skies. Toddzilla — First in a series of shots spotlighting some of Nashville’s more interesting off-the-radar personalities. While some call him Toddzilla, to others Todd is known as the Prince of Music City. New York Dolls — Sometimes the very thing that makes a shot work is the thing that scares people most. The record label called when they first saw this and said they liked everything but the pink. I’m not kidding.
For more about John Scarpati visit www.scarpati.com.
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L O O K I N G
E A S T
WESTERN ARTISTS A N D
T H E
AL L U R E OF J A PA N
THROU G H
M AY
11
See how many of the most well-known Western artists, including Monet, Van Gogh and Matisse, were influenced by the style of Japanese art and culture. P LAT IN U M S P O N S O R :
This exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
T HE FR IST CE N TE R F O R T H E V I S UA L A R T S IS S U P P O R T E D I N PA R T BY:
S U P P O R T IN G S P O N S O R S :
DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE 919 BROADWAY FRISTCENTER.ORG
Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission
Claude Monet. The Water Lily Pond (detail), 1900. Oil on canvas, 35 1/2 x 36 1/2 in. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Given in memor y of Governor Alva T. Fuller by the Fuller Foundation, 61.959. Photograph Š 2014 MFA, Boston
Folds and Vasterling Finding the Common Chord
by Mary Unobsky | Photography by Nancy Lee Andrews
W
hen different artistic disciplines intersect there is a creative combustion that often occurs, producing a unique hybrid. Nashville Balletâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Artistic Director and CEO, Paul Vasterling, has been intrigued by pop piano virtuoso Ben Folds ever since they worked together on the 2012 Ballet Ball. In the following Q&A session Nashville Arts Magazine (NAM) gets the opportunity to eavesdrop on their collaboration.
NAM: What is your version of how the two of you met? PAUL VASTERLING: Jennifer Puryear, a board member of the Ballet and the Nashville Symphony, thought we should meet, and we had a drink together one evening at the Hermitage Hotelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Oak Bar. Concurrently, I had been talking to Giancarlo Guerrero about co-commissioning a piece of music for the ballet and symphony to use in a joint project, and the idea of a Ben Folds composition bubbled to the surface.
my head, and I start noticing things about people, and I think, I’ll use that. I start seeing how people interact, and it becomes more intense when I get in the studio. I start recalling what I’ve noticed, certain aspects of a relationship, other images or specific gestures, and I put it out there where I start to shape it. BF: For me, it’s usually circumstantial. It’s like if someone pours out puzzle pieces on the floor and says make something, that’s cool. It’s like refrigerator-magnet poetry. Sometimes you have to hunt for the parts and find what you’re compelled to hear, but I find what I need to. Sometimes you have to search, but usually it’s there. NAM: Does living in Nashville make it easier to access other artists in other fields and interact with them? PV: Definitely. My impulse is always musical, so being in Music
Paul Vasterling and Ben Folds
BEN FOLDS: Jennifer Puryear, Paul, and I went to dinner, and
they had the idea for the concerto. It was conceived as “this will be for ballet,” that I was composing something for Paul to choreograph. NAM: How would you describe the piano concerto? PV: My take on it is Ben Folds meets the classical masters, including Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, and George Gershwin. The three movements each have many interesting textures and beautiful melodies building to a climax and then easing off into nothingness.
City makes it so simple. There are great musicians within our reach every moment. Being able to access them and finding that they are genuinely interested and not overly protected is very Nashville. BF: Nashville has more creative resources, like the puzzle pieces. We have amazing musicians, studios, instruments, recording equipment . . . it’s all here. It’s a great time in music history that all of that is here. From that point of view, absolutely. The Ben Folds Project will be performed with the Nashville Symphony May 2–4 at TPAC’s Jackson Hall. For more information visit www.nashvilleballet.com.
BF: I don’t think I’d be the dude to describe it. To me, I’ve done what I do when I write a pop song. But I had to lift a lot more weight. A pop song is three minutes long; a concerto is twenty minutes. The components are different, but the concepts are the same. I’d say it has pushed my piano playing. I’m definitely operating at the top of what I can do with this right now. NAM: Where does creativity come from? PV: For me it comes from the connections people make with
each other, and creativity spontaneously emerges from that. So Ben and I, together with the dancers and musicians, make this thing that never existed before. It’s pretty magical, and it makes sense for me because my creativity happens with dancers in the room. It’s a real intimate relationship that begins there, and when I step away from it I realize it wasn’t me, it wasn’t you, it was us. BF: I’m really lucky. I think that everyone is creative; some people just did or didn’t get the memo that it’s OK to be that way. In the right state of mind a steady flow of creativity happens. A relaxed, open state of mind helps that creativity. If you’re uptight and not open to things, it’s hard to be creative. NAM: What are your main creative triggers? PV: My main triggers are musical. I steep myself in it, and I try
to find the impetus of it, my impression of it. What the music means . . . Is it dramatic? Is it emotional? Does it tell some sort of a story? What’s the connection? Then I get the piece in 72 | April 2014
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Les Petites Femmes et le Pistolet à Percussion II, 2013, Ink, acrylic, and graphite, 36” x 24”
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Theft of the ‘Ruspoli’ Gemstone and the Diamond Pins of Queen Marie Antoinette, 2013, Archival inkjet print on canvas, 24” x 36”
Carlos Gamez de Francisco Brings Masters’ Technique to Modern Art
By Karen Parr-Moody
here the aristocracy resides, for all time, in strict profiles on canvas like insects suspended in amber. Idea lized in Renaissance portraits, they are the doges with stiff collars, the women with impossibly long necks, the dukes in their wedding finery. In profile they resist communicating directly with the viewer. These impeccably dressed subjects decline to be explored but instead demand awareness of their place at the center of the historic universe.
Window, Antonio del Pollaiuolo’s Portrait of a Lady, and Piero della Francesca’s Portrait of Duke Federico da Montefeltro.
The sitters in the oil paintings and watercolors by Carlos Gamez de Francisco, with their lavish frippery and their profiles reminiscent of ancient portrait medals, borrow much from such Renaissance portraits. In them one sees the echoes of Filippo Lippi’s Woman with a Man at a
These sitters eschew the solemnity of the ideal and, in doing so, evince a hint of the vulnerable. Such paintings are a beautiful homage to the voice of reason in the face of blind allegiance to autocratic powers.
T
Despite possessing similar DNA, however, Gamez de Francisco’s subjects maintain a modernity that renders them open to psychological exploration. Their foreheads are not unnaturally high; their lips are not pursed; their clothing does not constrict—and they are touched by the gossamer wings of insects, a Surrealistic touch.
French Radical Fashion II in 1789, 2010, Oil on canvas, 24” x 18” NashvilleArts.com
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Gamez de Francisco, who is represented by seven galleries worldwide, also has twenty works in the esteemed collection of the 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, the city to which he immigrated five years ago. The show at Tinney Contemporary will, in many ways, continue the theme of Gamez de Francisco’s 2012 series French Radical Fashion in 1789. Make no mistake about the date; it is consequential. In it, Gamez de Francisco ties France under Louis XVI to notions about Cuban politics, the rigidity of court life, and the burgeoning democracies seeded by the French Revolution. “I was thinking about the Cuban revolution,” Gamez de Francisco says of his work for this show. “When you live in Cuba you ask, Is this a revolution? A revolution is a symbol of change, and in fifty years in Cuba you don’t see any change. So how is this a revolution?”
Youngest Daughters and Heiresses of Humbert III of Savoy, 2012, Ink and acrylic, 5” x 13.5”
Are they revolutionary? It’s possible. After all, the Cuban-born Gamez de Francisco knows a thing or two about revolution. Nonetheless, while making a modern statement, Gamez de Francisco borrows from the great masters’ techniques. He compares this to perfecting the discipline of ballet. “When you go to see the ballet, the concept, the idea, is important,” he says. “But if you don’t have the technique, the knowledge, you won’t be able to be a good ballerina. I think the same is so with art.” Hailing from Holguín, Cuba, the 26-year-old Gamez de Francisco began deconstructing and reconstructing Renaissance portraits in his own mold several years ago, and his next show is a continuation of that theme. The exhibit, Cactus Petals, Fluctuating Asymmetry, and Crimes of Passion, is set to debut at Tinney Contemporary Gallery in Nashville on March 22. In addition to paintings, photographs, and three videos, the exhibit also includes a silk dress designed by the artist in which the fabric is printed with his paintings.
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NashvilleArts.com
An Angry Mob of Parisians, 2010, Oil on canvas, 48” x 22.5”
His works also tip a hat to the city of Louisville. It was named for Louis XVI, a supporter of the American Revolution. The idea of revolution also plays into Gamez de Francisco’s photography, in which he captures figures reminiscent of courtiers. They don the white wigs and grand costumes of the idealized aristocracy, but Gamez de Francisco redefines the boundaries of expectation with the setting, a Colonial-style Cuban hotel in ruins. As a non-human subject, this oncebeautiful hotel underscores what it is to retain dignity in a vanquished country. “Everything looks so destroyed,” Gamez de Francisco says. “That was the idea, because I was taking reference from the French period. With the French royalty, everything was so extravagant. But I was doing the opposite; I was taking a scenario of all these destroyed Cuban buildings.” Gamez de Francisco, in choosing such disparate inspirations as aristocracy and ruin, takes a nuanced view of human nature. He chooses not to err too far on the dark or light side of existence. In doing so, he has achieved transcendence—which one might argue is the very essence of Renaissance spirituality and painting. Carlos Gamez de Francisco is represented by Tinney Contemporary. His exhibit Cactus Petals, Fluctuating Asymmetry, and Crimes of Passion will be on view March 22 to April 26. For more information visit www.tinneycontemporary.com and www.carlosgamezdefrancisco.com.
French Radical Fashion II in 1789, 2012, Oil on canvas, 8” x 10”
Plateau Phases in a Neoclassicist Nymph, 2013. 40”x 59.5” NashvilleArts.com
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Interview
John Seigenthaler
P B I , , - N.
Bill Ivey: You became a reporter in the early ’50s, right?
BI: You’ve been a reporter, editor, publisher, and led the startup of USA Today . . . JS: Right. BI: What’s changed? JS: Well, I think technology has played a major role. Journalism
today and for the future, it’s going to be online. The number of paid digital subscriptions is up eight percent this year, and eight percent last year over the year before. So it’s up sixteen percent in two years. The New York Times is up thirty percent, but it’s all online. I make a little speech now in which I say, old values of accuracy and fairness and depth are vital if there’s going to be credibility and accountability in the world of journalism online. It’s really become crucial, I think, as people come to understand that the future of print journalism is online, and to the extent that that’s true, old values are crucial to any sense of accountability or credibility. In content, there’s sort of a new development that’s evolving, and it could be dangerous. That is, content analysts are now becoming focused: “We’re going to find out what the reader wants and give it to them.” Nothing wrong with that, except that there’s an awful lot of news the reader doesn’t want, that the reader has to have, and that includes not only international affairs, but also it includes the product of investigative reporting. You lose that, you lose the thrust of what the founders had in mind when they gave us the First Amendment. They wanted some institution that was free and loose; you look back on it and you have to admire their vision. They knew they were inviting self-criticism when they gave you those forty-five words that said, “Congress will make no law . . . ” The pressure from content analysts to give the reader what the reader wants and to assume that investigative reporting will be healthy and aggressive . . . There’s a dichotomy there that might have a negative influence.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN GUIDER
John Seigenthaler: 1949.
BI: If we just take your last few sentences, you could have been talking about USA Today in 1982 or ’83. If you look at an old front page of USA Today it foreshadows a lot of what we see on a newspaper site today. JS: Oh, you know it did! I went up [to Arlington, Virginia] maybe five months before we launched: September 15, 1982. We understood it was going to be a different type of newspaper and that it was going to accommodate itself to the readers. It was really well researched—reader research. I remember a big dispute: “Do we need a crossword puzzle?” Something as narrow and small as that. Is it really important to have the same feature in the same spot every day? Yes it is, and yes it was. USA Today set a standard of saying “a place for everything and everything in its place”—to do it and stick to it. I remember [Tennessean editor] Frank Sutherland said to me once, “You taught me many things, but the thing I most remember is, ‘Don’t take anything away from the reader.’” BI: Are you optimistic? JS : I’m really optimistic. I hear people of my generation, and
maybe the generation below, constantly harping about what’s not in the news. It’s only because they’re not online.
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PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN GUIDER
BI : What about politics and government? I mean, you worked with the Kennedys in Washington in the early ’60s . . . JS: I’m less optimistic about politics. You know, I voted twice for
President Obama. But in some ways, he’s been a disappointment. I don’t know that he’s responsible; I mean, you know, the gridlock. Part of it has been the emergence of the Tea Party that says, we’re not going along with anything. When you hear leaders in the Senate and the House say, we’re going to block him on every single initiative that he takes, it’s discouraging. It makes you long for the days of Howard Baker or Tip O’Neill, where bipartisanship was important to the process of making government work. I voted for him twice, but I could say, “You’re the community organizer president of the United States,” a community organizer as president of the United States who thinks he could bring everybody together. To have a president with that attitude at the very moment that the Tea Party emerges and says, hell no, we won’t go on anything . . . Those two forces together really have not contributed to the sort of politics that I grew up in. The whole attitude in those days though was bipartisanship. Bipartisanship was the rule, and it’s not today, and it’s so discouraging and disheartening and frustrating . . . and maddening at times. You know, you really get pissed off because government is just not working. Having been there and seen it work, I think there’s more hostility in politics today than there was then, more anger. You know, conservatives and Republicans don’t want to get near each other, and you think of Tip O’Neill and Reagan or Howard Baker, [who] would reach across party lines to an incumbent president and be helpful to him. There’s none of that now. I mean, Mitch McConnell doesn’t even pretend to be friendly to the president. Maybe Boehner makes an occasional bow, but it’s cold up there. BI: Do you see a way out? JS: I think in this next congressional election or the one after
it, people are going to get fed up. It’s finally going to be nauseous, 80 | April 2014
and it’s going to be so disgusting that there’s going to be a move politically. It’s going to mean that one party dominates both the White House and the Congress. I’m not sure that’s as healthy as it should be. I’m more likely to blame Mitch McConnell or John Boehner than I am Barack Obama; he has tried to bring them all together. But I don’t see the fire in the belly . . . I mean, Lyndon Johnson was marvelous, better than anybody, and I don’t think it takes a bridge or a dam, but it does take an overture, and it does say, look, I know this is threatening to you; it may hurt you in your election, but can’t we work out something that will make it less painful to you, if you give me the vote?” Horse-trading is a pejorative; it’s necessary. It’s crucial—vital if you’re going to have politics that works. There’s just been too little compromise, and I think the voters are going to change some of that. BI: What about social justice issues? You worked with the Department of Justice in and around civil rights issues in the early ’60s. Where are things now? JS: Think of all the bloodshed. Forty people lost their lives, at least forty that I know about. The laws that had to be overcome presented the challenge and helped make the movement successful. It’s tougher today to identify discrimination. I read in the paper that the state legislature wants to move in on Sex Week at the University of Tennessee. Now, the administration of the University of Tennessee has seen this as a way to help students help themselves, educate themselves on venereal disease, premarital pregnancy, a whole list of valuable, worthwhile ways to help kids understand that that three letter word, S-E-X, is not a dirty word. I mean, the state legislature used the word outrageous! “We must stop this outrageous Sex Week.” I wondered, when was the last time these guys had been on a college campus? I’ve got a sixteen-year-old junior in high school as a grandson; you think he doesn’t know anything about sex?
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COURTESY OF JOHN SEIGENTHALER
So it’s something like [the] same-sex marriage or gay and lesbian world . . . That’s where the division is today, and that’s where we really need to focus attention, because that’s where there’s the most danger of discrimination. The whole world has changed because so many young people who previously would not come out of the closet now are out, and many of them are embraced with love and affection by their parents. Now, I know there are many whose parents, out of a sense of morality or frustration or desperation, are alienated. I think the next big challenge is for this society to come to grips with the reality of where the next generation is. BI: You’ve lived and worked North and South; how do you see the South’s relationship with the rest of the country? How do Tennessee and Nashville fit in? JS: Anybody who says there’s no difference, North and South,
hasn’t lived South. It’s probably not a majority, but there’s a hard-rock-fundamentalist religious segment of this society that really has difficulty with adjusting to social change. You know . . . “God really made us two separate races; we know that. God didn’t intend for us to miscegenate, and Jesus really wasn’t brown, he was white. And so we can’t, we just can’t do this!” I exaggerate that a little bit, maybe, but not much. You know, the Klan was under a fiery cross. It was a religious movement, and it was a Southern terrorist organization. In a real sense it was a religious movement. I just think there is in the South an undercurrent of religious fundamentalism that makes it difficult for us to adjust to change, particularly if it involves sexuality. God telling us what’s right and wrong about sex is much stronger [than] when we were just talking about race. BI : The thing that you probably looked at harder and longer than anything is Nashville. I wonder if you would say a little bit about how you see Nashville. Is this the city you saw on the horizon when you became editor of The Tennessean back in the early ’60s? JS: It’s not. I can remember when there was a skyscraper called
then Bronson Ingram, and then we got a mother; we got Martha [Ingram]. And you can just look back and track the role that those people played. I came back in 1962, and the issue immediately confronting us was metropolitan government. We [The Tennessean] had been for it in 1958. Then the Banner had been for it, and then it failed (failed in the county, passed in the city). [Mayor] Ben West had been for it then; now Ben’s against it, and the Banner’s against it, and we’re for it, and [new mayor] Briley is for it but not very aggressively. And it passes.
John, Willie Nelson, Roy Acuff and Harry Browning
COURTESY OF JOHN SEIGENTHALER
Then you had liquor by the drink. And I would look at those two elections—the metropolitan government election and the liquorby-the-drink election—as two very progressive moments when the community’s instinct for progress came to the fore. There was real opposition in both those elections, and it seemed to me that the community somehow pulled itself together and made the right decision in both cases. In the liquor-by-the-drink election, we were for it, strong editorials. We were attacked and criticized. Then, about ten days before the election, Nashville’s leading Baptist layman [and business leader], Maxey Jarman, walks into the office and says, “John, I have a letter here, and it’s an open letter.” I opened the letter, and it said, “I hereby endorse beverage alcohol to be served in restaurants in Nashville.” Plastered it on the front page, and it passed.
COURTESY OF JOHN SEIGENTHALER
Life and Casualty and one called National Life that were bookends for the rest of the business community in Nashville. I remember Nashville for a long time as being a community that always had a godfather, and I could identify the godfather. I could identify Sam Fleming, and then Bill Weaver, and then Pat Wilson, and
Working at The Tennessean with Frank Sutherland and Wendell Rawls
John riding with Robert Kennedy to a speech and discussing it with him NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 81
BI: How’s your First Amendment doing? JS: The challenges to the First Amendment are always there. But
the reality is that every time you try to take away a right of free expression from any segment of the citizenry, there is a powerful reaction in favor of supporting the First Amendment. It seems to me that the new technology—the “E-World” where there is more free speech than I ever envisioned in my life—has ingrained support for free expression. You know, there are moments when I think the Amendment’s almost not necessary, it’s become so much a part of the culture of the society. There almost is nobody to fight with anymore about rights of free expression. BI: Mayor Dean wants to change the name of the Shelby Street Bridge; how do you feel about having a bridge named after you? JS: You know, it’s the silliest damn idea. Well, my grandson called:
Gran, I hear they’re gonna name a bridge for us. And I said yes, Jack, and I told that to Dolores, but she said—the City Council may object to this, but she said—don’t worry about it; we’ll just change your name to John Shelby. It’ll be all right.
I used to ask people to look at leadership as if it were a steel rod: When a crisis arose, heat would be applied to that steel and it would bend a little bit, and then it would become rigid again, and then there would be another crisis and it would bend again. It always amazed me that the leadership of the community had the good sense, whether it was race or liquor or something else, to come together and propose a positive way out. Part of it was, I think, without doubt, good solid political leadership. I mean, you can just take this string of mayors—good, strong, intelligent, progressive political leadership, combined with a business community that was flexible and willing to bend and willing to change and willing to adjust—and that has kept this city on the cutting edge of change. I can remember when people went downtown to church on Sunday, they’d get to Fifth and Broad, and they’d be pissed off because there was debris everywhere from the Opry the night before. It was that “hillbilly music,” and the idea that anybody from the country music field would ever be on the Chamber board, that was an outlandish idea. The community gradually came to understand the value of “hillbilly music,” before they called it “country.” We were the Athens of the South; we weren’t Music City USA. Now we’re Music City USA. 82 | April 2014
Celebrating their 21st year, victim advocacy group YOU HAVE THE POWER will honor humanitarian John Seigenthaler with the 2014 Powerhouse Award for his compassion and dedication to victims and social justice. The city is partnering with YOU HAVE THE POWER for a special dedication to Seigenthaler on April 29 at the Shelby Street Bridge, where, it’s expected, the bridge will be renamed in his honor. The Powerhouse Award celebration will follow at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Doors open at 5 p.m. For information about the Powerhouse Award and reception visit www.yhtp.org. For more information about John Seigenthaler and the First Amendment Center, visit www.firstamendmentcenter.org.
John talks with Bill Ivey
NashvilleArts.com
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN GUIDER
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN GUIDER
SEIGENTHALER HONORED WITH 2014 POWERHOUSE AWARD
NeLLie Jo
Antique African Art for the Discriminating Collector Artworks include statues, masks & ceremonial regalia from all major ethnic groups of Sub-Saharan Africa. B A 615.790.3095 williamdarrellmoseley@yahoo.com G 427 Main Street Franklin, TN 37064
M P.O. Box 1523 Franklin, TN 37065
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411 Bridge Street • Franklin, TN 37064 615-519-0258
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6:38 A.M.
NASHVILLE An ongoing early morning look at our city.
Words and photography by Tom Keller
6
6 A.M.
A.M.: A cold, dawnless day breaks over Nashville. Spring should be creeping in, but the Lions of March insist on a final, frigid attack. Buses leave City Central in precise, military rows; drivers and a scattering of riders head for all points in the city. Cars, overnight guests, use the last of the clemency granted them before the meters are enforced. I had expected the city to be bustling at this hour, like those “Great Cities” documentaries of the 1920s: merchants preparing their merchandise, laborers on their way to factories and worksites, gathering at cafés, queuing at transit terminals. But the city hasn’t shaken itself awake yet. Even the homeless are staying in the shelters this morning. Lingering in a warm bed before facing the cold day? Or, perhaps those early-morning, picturesque throngs are mostly replaced by computers and cars inching through 8 o’clock traffic. NashvilleArts.com
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6:31 A.M.
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In any event, their absence provides a time of stillness as streetlights and signs dim, then wink out. Buildings transform from silhouette to glass and stone. Mountainous peaks of the new, central city contemplate t h e i r p r e d e c e s s o r s b e l o w. Po w e r f u l monoliths, streaked with light and shadow, form cubist designs in the sky. On the street, ordered avenues present ornamented facades, classic or gracefully utilitarian, of nineteenth-century remnants. Photographing them is a contemplative undertaking; I cease to feel the cold as I see form, revealed and hidden, color and reflection illuminating the face of the city. I sense the faded dynamism of the old architecture giving way, now, to powerful new styles taking their place. The hour has passed quickly and, once beginning, I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really felt the cold. Photography opportunities everywhere . . . I may be leaving too much behind. I make my way to my car quickly, before the parking meters are enforced. To contact Tom Keller please email him at tpkeller2@juno.com.
Critical i By Joe Nolan
O
ne of the biggest events of Nashville’s winter art scene was the opening of David Lusk Gallery. The premiere show featured gallery stars from Lusk’s Memphis roster as well as new artists represented by the Nashville satellite. It was a strong show overall, punctuated by some real standouts. Photographer William Eggleston’s Graceland prints turn the mythic music manse on its ear, offering a troubling take on the wages of celebrity. One photo pictures a piano—its bench is pushed aside, and it is bathed in the dark humor of a white spotlight. Looking at the image, one can’t help but think about the hole Presley left in the world when he died in 1977. Another shot pictures graffiti on an exterior wall: “I love you tender” and “Linda loves Elvis” stand out in all capital letters in bold, black marker. Ted Faiers taught at Memphis College of Art, and his inclusion on the walls at Lusk’s premiere created another point of connection between the new gallery and its Bluff City sister. Faires’ Bonnie and Clyde depicts a snarling killer pointing a gun at the viewer, and it looks like the printed cover from some lurid crime novel from the late 1960s—it was painted in 1968. The piece brought some sexy sleaze to what could have been a more staid display.
Ted Faiers, Bonnie and Clyde, 1968, Woodcut, 16” x 24.5”
Sculptor Greely Myatt’s Dammit is a similarly irreverent piece from another Memphis artist whose work in the exhibition also pointed to Lusk’s West Tennessee legacy. From a distance, Dammit looks like a scoop of vanilla ice cream dropped in the corner of the gallery, its narrow, pointy, sugar cone pointing up toward the ceiling. On closer inspection, the “cone” has an obvious wood grain, and the ice cream is clearly inedible. Myatt doesn’t care about your sweet tooth; he’s selling food for thought.
acrylic and ink drawings set crude cartoons in belligerent narratives filled with smoking, drinking, and violence. In The Boulevard #56, a shirtless muscleman punches some hapless victim in the face, and the blow registers messy blotches of red on the paper. It almost looks like Hildebrand’s images are drawn on paper bags, and every one is shot through with a grungy, filthy quality. In other words, they’re beautiful.
A fellow writer referred to another Lusk highlight as “Tyler Hildebrand’s illustrated world of dysfunctional bliss.” The artist’s
For more about David Lusk Gallery please visit www.davidluskgallery.com.
Greely Myatt, Dammit, 2012, Plaster and cedar, 7” x 6” x 3”
William Eggleston, Graceland, 1984, Dye transfer print, 14.5” x 22”
88 | April 2014
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Exhibit features the work of the advanced senior artists who will display their Advanced Placement concentration series, a body of work based on a theme.
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Christiane Baumgartner, 1 Sekunde from portfolio of 25 prints, 2004, Woodcut
Gerhard Richter, Teydelandschaft, 1971, Offset photolithograph
Life Imitates Art Art Imitates Life by Ruth Crnkovich
H
istory’s Shadow: German Art and the Formulation of National Identity explores the connections between art and identity in Germanic culture over the course of five hundred years. Most historians will agree that establishing a single, cohesive German cultural identity has been especially challenging given that it has been fairly recent that the country now known as Germany formed firm geographic boundaries post Franco-Prussian War. On view are numerous Old Master works from medieval artists such as Michael Wolgemut, Albrecht Dürer’s teacher, as well as Dürer himself. Several small, intricately carved prints by sixteenth-century artists from the Kleine Meister (Little Masters) group are featured in this show. German culture was profoundly impacted by the two world wars at the beginning of the last century. The devastating effects of war on culture are depicted in the art of Käthe Kollwitz. Artists who served in the war created works inspired by political views of the times: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Erich Heckel, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, founding members of the group Die Brücke (The Bridge), George Grosz, and Conrad Felixmüller. Subsequent to WWII Nazi occupation, a vitriolic attack on “degenerate” art had a huge impact on artists and their practice, resulting in an austere form of sanctioned art. Sculptor Arno Breker, favored artist by Adolf Hitler, was commissioned to create a number of works for the Third Reich. Another example of art from this era is an imposing propaganda-art poster created by Franz Würbel for the 1936 Olympics. Boundaries changed again at the end of WWII when the country was split into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), further complicating Germany’s sense of national identity and culture. Artists born during the time of war, such as Erwin Bechtold 90 | April 2014
Albrecht Dürer, The Lamentation (detail), 1511, Woodcut
and Hans Laabs, are widely known in Europe but lesser known worldwide. Gerhard Richter, one of the most prolific and important contemporary artists of the twentieth/twenty-first century, references his identity through the use of old family photographs. Interesting works by conceptual artist Thomas Lochner and selections from Christiane Baumgartner’s 1 Sekunde are highlighted in the exhibition. For more information about History’s Shadow: German Art and the Formulation of National Identity, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/gallery.
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Judy Nebhut photographer
“The Beginning”
JudyNebhut.com JNebhut@gmail.com 615-665-2081
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Textured Pedestal Bowl, ca. 1998
Susan DeMay
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANTHONY SCARLATI
Colorist in Clay
by Alyssa Rabun
I
n a mahogany dresser drawer, Susan DeMay arranged clay shards, casting, and found objects into a shadow box that depicts her life as a mother and artist. “The head casting is my own child’s face,” DeMay said, motioning towards the focal point of her work Walk a Mile in My Shoes. “I started this autobiographical piece when preparing for my retrospective at Vanderbilt, and it turned into an experience in writing my last chapter as a mother in the country.”
He Loves Me? He loves me NOT, 2013, Mixed media: Plexiglas, rubber fittings with screws, string attachments with found objects, fired trimmings inside. Earthenware vessel by Edward Belbusti.
Although she is widely known for her dual career as a Vanderbilt clay professor and studio artist, DeMay’s autobiog raphica l panel ser ies revea led intimate, provocative details of motherhood and broken relationships. Her international audience, who follows and collects her stoneware pottery, caught a glimpse of the woman behind the kiln and has noticed a thematic shift in her work.
Observatory, 2014, Box: Glazed white slabs with thrown and extruded components and cut-outs. Figure: Stained, glazed and sandblasted pinch pots, draped slabs, and appliqué details
“Even though she’s moved away, my daughter still has a large impact on my life and work,” said DeMay, who describes motherhood as the main influence on her work. “The difference is, when I was a mother at home I was entrenched in country life, making works like the leaf series and egg series that are reflective of a long chapter that revolved around Mother Nature. Now I am shifting my emphasis to a more metropolitan perspective.” In her seasoned career, DeMay has experimented with and produced wall works and vessels with colorful electric-fired glazes that employ rural narratives. Recently, she has started new mixed media, slab, and abstract works with an urban angle, communicating a shifting lifestyle through her medium. In Observatory and Pyramid, she explores construction and architectural elements with hard-edged slab. “I’m intrigued by construction sites where we can see only the bones of a building,” said DeMay. “I start with pancakes of clay and roll them out to an even slab, then stand the slabs upright and begin to blend several clay-forming techniques. I am researching different architectural structures to complete the box construction series.” DeMay’s technique as a colorist has also shifted. In her earlier leaf and landscape series, she blended earthy and subdued tones. Her latest works achieve a bold richness with a bright, almost-neon palette.
Vegetated Roof, 2014, Glazed and stained stoneware
Ex-Box Game: Navigating Rough Terrain, from Shadow Box Series: My Compartmentalized Life, 2013, Mixed media: wood, clay, plastic, metal, leather, grouted tile NashvilleArts.com
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Going Nowhere Fast from Shadow Box Series: My Compartmentalized Life, 2013, Mixed media: Clay, wood, plastic, metal, rubber, and grouted tile
Walk a Mile in My Shoes from Shadow Box Series: My Compartmentalized Life, 2013, Wood, ceramic, concrete, and rubber
“I looked at modern painters when I was an undergraduate at Eckerd College. I was heavily influenced by Paul Klee, who tries to generate a response from the viewer to color use. The color choices I make depend on the work itself, but many palettes have followed me throughout my life,” said DeMay, who contrasts a pale white with vibrant blue in Observatory. In addition to conceptual series, DeMay maintains a studio, Made by deMay, in Smithville, Tennessee, with up to nine assistants, works as a full-time professor, conducts glazing workshops in the region, and participates in exhibitions across the Southeast. “I’m consumed by my art,” she said. “There’s a natural flow with my life and art. My studio life in Smithville and my metropolitan life in Nashville shift alongside my work, but there is some sort of flow.” For more information about Susan DeMay please visit www.susandemay.com.
Abstracted oval vessel textured with found objects, glazed and electric-fired, late 1990s 94 | April 2014
Bedazzled, 2014, Lidded vessel, textured stoneware, stained and glazed, electric-fired NashvilleArts.com
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A Collection of Still-Lifes with Flowers
YEOMANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S IN THE FORK
A Rare Book & Document Gallery Located in Historic Leiperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fork, TN
Blue Still-Life with Rose
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R ARE BOOKS & DOCUMENTS BOUGHT AND SOLD Wednesday thru Saturday 10-5 | Sunday 1-5 4216 Old Hillsboro Road | Franklin, TN ph: 615.983.6460 | fx: 615.515.9060 www.YeomansInTheFork.com
O’More Alumni Show House: A Historic Home’s New Lease on Life by Laura S. Holder
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uilding upon last year’s success, O’More College of Design and Traditional Home magazine have teamed up to present the 2nd Annual O’More Alumni Show House, open to the public April 4–27. This year’s show house blends the best of old and new, incorporating fabulous modern interiors with an inspiring preservation success story. Nestled on three lush acres, the restored ca. 1904 Dozier House is a stately Victorian mansion in Franklin’s celebrated Hincheyville, a neighborhood so rich in historic homes that the entire district is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Once an elegant Victorian showplace, the home’s fate took a downward turn when converted to commercial use in the 1930s. Left vacant for a decade, it sat quietly among its beautif u l ly maintained neighbors, waiting for someone to offer a lifeline. Thrive Homes did just that. Recognizing the potential under years of neglect, the firm spearheaded a stellar renovation, removing choppy additions, restoring historic details, and incorporating the latest modern conveniences. 96 | April 2014
O’More’s renowned alumni, who read like a Hall of Fame lineup of Nashville’s interior designers, transformed the interior—not just restoring former glory but surpassing it. The home retains many original features, including handcrafted moldings, soaring ceilings, and a glorious wraparound porch just made for leisurely gatherings. Inside, each room is chic, unique, and luxurious. O’More’s designers seamlessly incorporated the best of twenty-first-century living into this classic setting. And who could have imagined that a descendant of one of the home’s previous owners would design custom pieces for the home a century later? Doug Regen’s wood-and-concrete tables, made from recycled materials, are a perfect complement to this restoration. This home is a must-see for anyone that appreciates thoughtful renovation, superb interior design, and opulent living. O’More’s partnership with Traditional Home brings national visibility to this event, and all of Franklin benefits. The O’More Alumni Show House is located at 1009 West Main Street in downtown Franklin. Tickets are $20 and available at the door. For more information, visit www.omoreshowhouse.com. For more information about Doug Regen, visit www.dougregen.com.
NashvilleArts.com
POLK PLACE ANTIQUES
The Finest in American Period Furniture
The Ochres of Autumn 25.5” x 40” Oil on Linen Available at
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5701 Old Harding Pike
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April 2014 | 97
Poet’s Corner
DISASSOCIATION:
Negotiation on Being On your star sheets you squeeze every muscle together, zip self up from the ankles. Ceiling’s most perfect light-tit glows, you are water and air-proof until you sneeze. Undissolving is against it— a travel-in-reverse through the up-current of a stare bending a spoon. Undertow your self, then speak so it anchors you. – Sarah Neal
Sarah Neal will read selections of her poetry at the Poet’s Corner at Scarritt-Bennett on April 24 at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. For more information visit www.scarrittbennett.org.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN JACKSON
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Warhol
A rare collection of Andy Warhol polaroids & photos by Raenne Rubenstein
Women
Sixth Annual Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s History Month Exhibit features contemporary female photographers and an installation by artist Sher Fick
Wizard
Wizard of Oz memorabilia from the collection of Dr. John Olson, with an interactive exhibit from Great Explorations Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Museum
Now showing at Lexus of Nashville New Metro Center location
21 BLUE GULF DR. â&#x20AC;˘ SANTA ROSA BEACH, FL 850-267-2022 â&#x20AC;˘ 615-400-0621 WWW.JUSTINGAFFREY.COM
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is produced and toured by Great Explorations Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida Š 2010. This project was supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services .
www.CustomsHouseMuseum.org Call us at (931) 648-5780 200 S. 2nd Street, Clarksville TN 37040
Morbid, Oil on wood, 24” x 24”
Sentinel of Liberty, Oil on wood, 24” x 24”
Field Notes
A Local Look at Global Art
William Wray Super Heroes by Betsy Wills
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’ve loved super heroes since I was a kid. I’d imagine having their extraordinary powers as I’d go about my everyday life. I must admit that I still sometimes wish I had a super power or two to help when I’m in a tough situation. I never thought about it the other way around until encountering William Wray’s paintings. The paintings show what it would be like if super heroes were regular folks dealing with boredom, exhaustion, and even waiting in line. These works are a testament to the strength we all have to get through the mundane. Not every day is a super day, but we all have super powers to keep going along about our lives brandishing a smile . . . as often as possible. Betsy Wills admits that she is blissfully ignorant when it comes to art curation and selection. She is, however, an avid art lover and collector and maintains the popular art blog artstormer.com. Wills is proud of the fact that her art does not match her sofa.
Partners in Crime, Oil on wood, 32” x 24” 100 | April 2014
NashvilleArts.com
Catwalk, Oil on wood, 42” x 24”
See the Show, Oil on wood, 24” x 24”
Artist Bio – William Wray William Wray studied painting formally at the Art Students League in New York. His work reveals his connection to both abstract expressionism and re a l i sm — something he calls realistic expressionism. His classical training informs his technical skills and ability to render figures in space, but he is also attracted to the energy achieved through the loose brushstrokes and colorful juxtapositions of expressionism. Wray has won numerous awards for his art and has participated in exhibitions around the country. He lives and works in California and finds inspiration in traditional California regional painting for its focus on subject matter that normally is considered outside the realm of fine art. Work from his Superheroes series is available at Launch Gallery in Los Angeles (exhibit opening June 19) and J. Willott in Palm Desert. For information about Wray visit www.williamwray.com, www.jwillott.com and www.launchla.com.
Tips, Oil on wood, 24” x 24” NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 101
Theatre
Jennifer Richmond and Jack Chambers in the MRS. ROBOT story from the world premiere of Nate Eppler’s SEXTAPE (& OTHER STORIES), Playhouse Nashville’s inaugural production of full-length material in February 2013
A Place to Play! Playhouse Nashville Continues Its New Play Revolution with ULTRASOUND by Jim Reyland | Photography by Britanie Knapp
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s theatre companies go, Playhouse Nashville, having been on stage only since 2011, is relatively new to the party. They do, however, show up with a cool four-pack of talented principals (Chris Bosen, Nate Eppler, Garret Schneider, and Lauren Shouse) and a sense of fun and artistry that is sure to entertain you long after the neighbor calls the cops. But perhaps the most impressive thing about Playhouse Nashville is their unwavering dedication to new works, new plays, and new playwrights. It is, after all, what you do when you love something; you feed it. You help make sure it, “Theatre,” has an endless supply of new and compelling works to make it fat and happy for generations to come.
Megan Murphy Chambers as assassin John Wilkes Booth who chases Abraham Lincoln across time only to stumble upon a Lincoln impersonator at a Red Roof Inn in the adult relationship comedy SEXTAPE (& OTHER STORIES) 102 | April 2014
“The New Now,” is how Playhouse Nashville describes themselves. But it’s not just a tag line; so far they’ve backed it up with 90 new plays by 51 new playwrights presented over 14 evenings at the Ten Minute Playhouse. They have also produced full productions of Nate Eppler’s comedic anthology SEXTAPE (& OTHER STORIES) and Kenley Smith’s Southern Gothic crime thriller DEVIL SEDAN. NashvilleArts.com
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Jack Chambers & Jennifer Richmond in SEXTAPE (& OTHER STORIES)
“We’ve dubbed this year New Plays for New Audiences. We’re presenting premieres of three new plays beginning in April with Garret Schneider’s ULTRASOUND—a play originally developed during the 2013 Ingram New Works Lab at Tennessee Repertory Theatre,” said Nate Eppler. “In August, we’ll stage our original comedy inspired by the world of 1950s space-alien sci-fi movies. We’ll finalize and announce our October production sometime this summer in keeping with our desire to get the freshest play available in front of our audience. The season concludes in December with another edition of the Ten Minute Playhouse.” So what about Garret Schneider’s ULTRASOUND? As the curtain goes up, Jolene and Maddy are at a crossroads. They’ve stopped trying to have a child, and while Jolene moves on, Maddy learns she is pregnant. It’s from this divide that the play truly begins, with Maddy determined to move forward, with or without Jolene, and Jolene being so lost that she calls her daughter from the future to help get Maddy back. That’s right—her daughter from the future. What?
“In fact, it has already begun as DEVIL SEDAN moved from our professional premiere last August to Chicago in October after a DePaul University theatre instructor saw the Playhouse Nashville production and asked Kenley after the show if she could bring the script to the Windy City.” Artists from all over the globe have moved to Nashville. They continue to add to our creative glow. We are a publishing, film, television, and music city, with the visual and theatre arts not far behind. Just being in Playhouse Nashville’s space and watching this troupe apply their magic with thick, progressive strokes is a real treat. It’s also an open window into our future. Photographs courtesy of Playhouse Nashville Playhouse Nashville has set up shop at 1933 Elm Hill Pike— Home to the Street Theatre Company, another tireless theatre company led by Cathy Street. They are the perfect partners. ULTRASOUND by Garret Schneider opens April 5 and continues through April 13 at 7:30 p.m. Get your $20 tickets at www.PlayhouseNashville.com or at the door.
In addition to new plays, Playhouse Nashville will offer special events including playwriting workshops and readings. They’ll also work hard to help their writers take works to the allimportant next level. “In the coming years we’ll see a shift towards Nashville exporting what’s created on stages here,” said Bosen.
The film version of Jim Reyland’s new play, STAND, performed across Middle Tennessee in 2012 as part of The Stand Project, is now available to stream at www.writersstage.com. Watch The STAND Film starring Barry Scott and Chip Arnold and directed by David Compton. And please consider a donation to support Room In The Inn. jreyland@audioproductions.com
Jack Chambers, Wilhelm Peters, Megan Murphy Chambers, and Jennifer Richmond in SEXTAPE (& OTHER STORIES) NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 103
Francois
1932–2012
LET THE TRANSFORMATION BEGIN!
presenting
®
THE PERILS OF
By Scott Cherney Based on Characters Created by Jann Harrison Original Music and Directed by Deanne Collins Orchestration by Ken Williams Mask Created by David Knezz
TN C ollege of A pplied T eChNology – April 12 Woody ’ s s TeAk h ouse – April 19, MAy 3 & 17, June 7 & 21 T he l ookiNg g lAss C lArksville – April 26 d Ave & B usTer ’ s – MAy 15, June 19
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30” x 24”
mixed media
Visit our Nashville area location by appointment - (815) 347-9698
Contact Gerard Vanderschoot, exclusive Regional Representative of the work of International artist Matt Lamb for the Nashville, Dallas, and Chicago regions (815) 347-9698 • jerryvanderschoot@gmail.com • www.mattlamb.org
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NashvilleArts.com
ART SMART a monthly guide to art education
STATE OF THE ARTS by Jennifer Cole, Executive Director Metro Nashville Arts Commission
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PHOTOGRAPH: JERRY ATNIP
ach year the NCAA orchestrates a miracle. Actually, it is a bit of madness, March Madness to be precise. This year, thousands of basketball fans from around the country will descend on downtown to experience the Women’s Final Four April 6–8. They’ll eat out, honky-tonk, and watch some amazing hoops. When the last whistle blows, the Nashville Sports Council estimates that fans will have a 25-million-dollar economic impact. But for years, the Local Organizing Committee and the Ohio Valley Conference have been focused on a different kind of impact. Each city that hosts a Final Four event is tasked with thousands of details, but perhaps the most important is the creation of a community legacy platform. In Nashville, the Legacy Programs include a women’s leadership luncheon, a Girl Scout badge, a sports journalism mentoring program, and more than 100 arts and cultural activities focused on engaging middle school youth. For the last two years, more than 30 area nonprofit arts and education organizations have collaborated to create a Student Legacy program that links Nashville students with art, music, and cultural literacy.
Finally, the Belcourt Theatre will finish out the community programs by offering educational middle school screenings and public screenings of films that showcase the power of women’s athletics. Films like David Fine’s 2011 documentary Salaam Dunk or Angela Gorsica Alford’s Grannies Got Game. Check out their website www.belcourt.org for show times and details. From the beginning the Local Organizing Committee thought it was critical to show how central creativity is to our city and particularly our young people. As Elizabeth DeBauche, Commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference, puts it, “The beauty of the Women’s Final Four is it not only provides an opportunity for the participants to create cherished memories that will last a lifetime, but through the Legacy Program it allows for many young people to ignite their passions and develop dreams that will shape their future lives.” We’ve set the bar high for future Final Four locations, and I hope we have shown the power of linking art and sport. As Nashville contemplates more major bids for sporting events like the FIFA World Cup, NCAA tournaments, or maybe, just maybe, a Super Bowl bid, I hope this programming paves the way to continually linking sports and arts together in a way that connects kids to their own creativity and uniquely tells the story of our great city. To see more about this programming please go to www.ncaa.com/womensfinalfour.
TRASH TO TREASURE
In January and February, more than 100 students at eight area middle schools worked with poets and songwriters in residence from the Country Music Hall of Fame™ and Museum and Southern Word to produce original works. Sixteen student works were chosen to be featured this month in the Metro Arts/Metro Transit Authority Poetry in Motion® program that features the work in 150 buses during National Poetry Month (and the tournament). Starting in February, every branch library in the city unveiled basketball-based literacy programming, from making your own jersey to film screenings to story times featuring women in sports. Olympic swimmer turned children’s author Amanda Beard led a book signing and reading on March 19, and on Friday, April 4, at 6:30 p.m., Parnassus Books will showcase an evening with photographer/author Robin Layton about her book hoop: the american dream. To get in the game, go to www.bit.ly/1fILh0S.
Blair Ely with Haitian children on her mission trip
Mission Work Inspires Student Art
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he artwork of Blair Ely, a senior at St. Cecilia Academy, is inspired by the mission work she does in Haiti. In a journal entry, Ely wrote about how the images she saw affected her. “No picture or film can accurately depict nor prepare your mind for the sights you will see in Haiti. Endless piles of trash and human waste, crumbling buildings at every turn, and masses of people everywhere. Though scary at the start, the painful process of etching these images in my mind helped make me the person I am today.” cont’d
NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 105
CARPET ART Walkin’ the Floor by Demetria Kalodimos
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he next time you plug in the vacuum . . . think of it as more artistry than drudgery.
When art educator Christina Daskalopoulos found herself waiting for a plane in Nashville, she also found unlikely inspiration . . . wall to wall at BNA. This patchwork of abstract commercial carpet squares led to a few quick snapshots and u lt i m at e l y a c l a s s ro om challenge to v isualize “aut u m n .” Blair Ely, Vocal Arrest, 2013, Dry pastels on salvaged cardboard, 19” x 26”
Amidst the devastation, Ely sees beautiful faces. Her portraits of Haitian children offer a paradox to the devastation. Ely’s art is drawn on old pieces of cardboard rescued from campus trash, using dry pastels to tell the stories of these young people. “The background in Haiti is torn up, but the people, they are the things that really shine and make it overall something that is beautiful. They celebrate life even if it’s coming from a hard background,” Ely said. The mission work Ely does in Haiti is a collaboration with twin sister, Brooke, and friend Emma Hall. The three developed a project called “Be Happy Haiti.” During spring break last year, they set up a dental clinic to serve over twenty schools in the area of LaVallée, Haiti. During winter break, they returned to expand the clinic’s services. Emma, Brooke, and Blair have assumed all of the fundraising responsibility for the clinic. Their goal is to raise $150,000 in the next five years. Ely was the recent recipient of the prestigious Silver Key award in the annual Scholastic Arts competition and also took second place in the Renaissance Center art competition.
“I showed the photos to my students and told them they were looking at a carpeted floor. But our task was to “borrow” the idea of pattern, repetition, and transition from the carpet and translate it to a painting. “I think each student’s piece c apt u res subt le elements of the season and reveals a very personal interpretation, f rom st r i k i ng ly acc u rate falling leaves to delightfully abstract imagery.”
Lavina, 2013
Daskalopoulos even challenged her youngsters to represent the feel of fall, to somehow visualize the “unseen wind” as Vincent Van Gogh did in his Starry Night (no tornados allowed). “They traced, cut, arranged, mixed colors, painted, and problem solved . . . (that pesky wind thing).
For more information, visit www.stcecilia.edu.
And they enjoyed making discoveries, like how to stretch color by controlling the amount of paint, tint, and shade, and how neutral gray can impact the intensity of a color palette. In the very best school art programs, there is truly art education taking hold. A far cry from tracing hands to make turkeys. Blair Ely, Les visages d’Haiti , 2013, Dry pastels on salvaged cardboard, 28” x 36” 106 | April 2014
Katie, 2013
NashvilleArts.com
The work is sophisticated, inspiring, sublime.
HUNTERS LANE HIGH SCHOOL BAND The Rewards of Dedication by DeeGee Lester | Photography by Tiffani Bing
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eenagers often shrug and ignore adults who tell them hard work and dedication pay off. But members of Nashville’s Hunters Lane High School’s band believe those words. In less than a year under first year band director Will Brooks, the little marching band of 22 members has grown to over 72, including majorettes and color guard, and every senior band member won a college scholarship. “When I first got here, I wanted to build an environment that helps kids take pride and ownership,” Brooks says. From the beginning, he told his students, “If you have the dedication to show up every day and listen to the things that I tell you to do, and you are motivated to want to do better, we cannot fail.” That “can do” attitude quickly attracted support for the MTSU graduate. Fellow Hunters Lane faculty member and baseball coach Clayton Dahl was immediately impressed by the rookie Brooks’ talent and motivational methods. So much so that one weekend, Dahl came in and painted the nondescript band room walls a bold orange and blue, with the words “Dedication” and “Motivation” in bold letters beneath shelves of previous band trophies. The result surprised Brooks and thrilled band members when they returned to school. “Will is an outstanding musician in his own right, but he’s really making a difference,” Dahl says. “He’s motivating them; he’s putting in his work, and the kids are responding.”
The response from young band members has been first-place awards in all four competitions they have entered this year, including Battle of the Bands and the TSU Homecoming parade. Their hard work also set them up for the ultimate goal—college scholarships. Through one of his students, Brooks connected with Steven Johnson, also in his first year as band director at Concordia College in Selma, Alabama. As both men built a vision for their bands and worked to increase band size and to develop talent, they began exchanging information. On a trip to Nashville, Johnson had the opportunity to see for himself the quality of the Hunters Lane Band and offered scholarships to all nine seniors. The scholarships will cover the difference in college costs after Pell Grants, offering students a free college education. The connections between Hunters Lane and Concordia remain strong, assuring high school musicians similar opportunities over the coming years. The lesson has been learned. The members of Hunters Lane Band are believers. Hard work and dedication are rewarded. For more information about Hunters Lane High School band visit www.bit.ly/PUKZ23.
Hunters Lane Band members cheer for their director Will Brooks NashvilleArts.com
April 2014 | 107
Akiva Art Students Commemorate Yom HaShoah by Rebecca Pierce | Photography by John Guider
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om HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, takes place on April 28, and four 5th and 6th grade art students from Akiva School are presenting a commemorative art project they’ve been planning and assembling for almost four months now. The collaborative art installation is on display at the Gordon Jewish Community Center’s gallery. Art Instructor Meredith Eastburn explained the concept. “A bird carries our woven tapestry of hope and prayers to God. Dark clouds remind us of the past so that we will Never Forget, but we find light and hope in God and the human community that weaves us all together.” Adena Rosenbloom, 6th grade “The weaving represents our message to God, and the bird is flying out of the dark clouds and into the light. The bird is a collage made of torn magazine pictures. We hope to be able to make it interactive with people either adding to the weaving with strips of fabric or having them add paper with words of hope and peace in different languages to it.”
Chana Tiechtel, 5th grade “Yom HaShoah is a day of remembrance of the Holocaust. It is an important day to remember because over 6,000,000 people were killed. Before we started this project we did a lot of research. In this research we looked at sculptures, weavings, paintings, and art of the Holocaust and started to get our ideas.”
Grace Cleveland, 5th grade “My favorite part is weaving. I like weaving potholders, so Ms. Meredith let me tear up fabric pieces, and 6th grade students helped. During the process we began to understand our identity more deeply. We have family all over the globe, and that influences our artwork. We weave our personal touches into our own heritage.”
Maya Shavit, 5th grade “We read about a bird carrying our prayers to God, and it inspired us to create our own bird. We also did not want to make our artwork very dark and gloomy, so we made our bird flying away from a dark cloud (representing the Holocaust) trying to get to a light cloud (representing a brighter future) with our message of hope.” 108 | April 2014
The artists hope Holocaust survivors will see how much work and emotion they put into their remembrance project. “We know it was a horrible thing, and we are trying to see the hopeful things about them and their survival.” The students’ installation will be on view in the Sig Held Gallery at the Gordon Jewish Community Center during April. For more information, visit www.nashvillejcc.org and www.akivanashville.net.
NashvilleArts.com
Auschwitz Photography and Ballet Commemorate Yom HaShoah
INSPIRATION THROUGH POETRY
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hile researching their project, Grace, Adena, Maya, and Chana read from the book I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942–1944. In particular, they were drawn to the power of the beauty and hope in the following poem, written by an anonymous child in 1941.
BIRDSONG
He doesn’t know what birds know best That the world is full of loveliness. When dewdrops sparkle in the grass And earth’s aflood with morning light, A blackbird sings upon a bush To greet the dawning after night. Then I know how fine it is to live. Hey, try to open up your heart To beauty; go to the woods someday And weave a wreath of memory there. Then if tears obscure your way You’ll know how wonderful it is To be alive.
Örjan Henriksson, Auschwitz Building IV, 2012
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uring the month of April, the Gordon Jewish Community Center’s (GJCC) Sig Held Gallery will debut the works of noted international photographer Örjan Henriksson of Sweden. On April 28, as part of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Akiva School will host a collaborative performance by Örjan Henriksson and the Dance Theatre of Tennessee. The exhibit, titled Auschwitz KZ I-II, consists of thirteen stark, black-and-white images made during a trip to the notorious camp. Henriksson spent days wandering the camp trying to get a feel for the horrors that transpired. He is quick to point out that his work is not meant to be a documentary, but rather a work of fine art that uses light and composition to capture the textures of the surfaces. Henriksson wrote, “The surfaces speak their own messages. It is my hope that the photographs draw the viewer closer and ask the viewer to look and listen to the messages these surfaces convey. In this way, I hope to honor those who have suffered and died in this indescribable horror and insanity.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARTIN O’CONNOR
Nor what I want to sing about,
During long hours alone in the camp, Dancers Brian Williamson and Henriksson was overwhelmed by the Jennifer Drake silence and wondered what sort of sounds came out of the camp. He commissioned his friend Pär Gunnarsson to write a piece to be played on the cello, “the instrument closest to the human voice.” Dance Theatre of Tennessee (DTT) will perform dance movements based on Henriksson’s haunting photographs and Pär’s composition to commemorate Yom HaShoah. Presenting different vignettes with the art and music directing the narrative, DTT hopes to inspire reflection on this significant time in history.
Detail of weaving for Yom HaShoah art installation
Auschwitz KZ I-II will be on view at the GJCC Sig Held Gallery during the month of April. The performance by DTT will take place on April 28 at 7 p.m. at Akiva School. A reception and artist’s talk will follow from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at GJCC. For more information, please visit www.nashvillejcc.org.
Appraise It
Louis Vuitton “Monogram” Trunk (French, circa 1898–1904)
I
t was the turn of the twentieth century; the destination a luxury hotel in Aix-les-Bains, home to the famed hot sulfur springs located at the foot of the Alps in Southeastern France, and this traveler would be arriving in style with their Louis Vuitton trunk. In 1837, a 16-year-old boy from the French village of Anchay, Louis Vuitton Mallatier, now commonly simply referred to as Louis Vuitton, began his craft as an apprentice in a Paris trunk-making shop. In 1854, he founded his own trunk-making company. Unlike the round-topped or “domed” trunks which were in fashion at that time, Vuitton’s trunks featured flat, wood-slatted tops and bottoms. His design allowed for efficient stacking, and his innovative canvas sheathing made his creation’s lighter and more waterproof than the traditional leather. Air tight with a purportedly theft-proof patented tumbler lock and a clever array of drawers, cubbyholes, and baskets, the trunks quickly found their way into the first-class suites of steamships and railway trains.
Wood Slats and Black Metal Corner Bands, Interior Label #154010, 23.5” x 18 x 20.25”
While most of the features of the trunk stayed the same over the years, Louis Vuitton was continually challenged to introduce new canvases, simply to keep ahead of his imitators. His first trunk featured a solid-color gray canvas, the “Trianon” (1858–1876), which was followed by the “Raynee” canvas (1876–1888), a pattern of brown and beige stripes. In 1888 came the introduction of “Damier” canvas, a checkered pattern that was offered in two color schemes. It was after Louis Vuitton’s death in 1892, when control of the company passed to his son George Vuitton, that the now-iconic LV “Monogram” canvas was introduced and patented. George drew his inspiration for the canvas from the drawings of the Aesthetic Movement of the late Victorian era. From that highly popular design period, he chose a flower and quatrefoil device, to go with the LV monogram, to grace the company’s signature canvas.
Rarely are vintage examples of these retired travelers found in mint condition with all interior parts intact, but when they are found, their retail cost can go into five figures. Having purchased this trunk for $800 over twenty-five years ago, the owner may be pleased to know that on the current auction market very similar examples, from the same time period, are fetching $2,800 to $4,000. However, this is a case where I would insist that the owner get a second opinion from a dealer that specializes in LV trunks. As with all antiques and collectibles, condition is always the key factor. Restoration and special features are determinants in the current fair market value. There are examples of custom-made trunks that command prices in the $10,000 to $30,000 range. Past the contributing factors of provenance and condition, I am not confident that I know all the nuances that contribute to commanding higher prices.
As objects, this luggage blurs the lines of status symbol and functional sculpture. Actively collected, the many forms of LV trunks and suitcases are being repurposed today into household furnishings such as nightstands and coffee tables, simply by adding a sheet of glass to the top surface. 110 | April 2014
PHOTOGRAPH BY JERRY ATNIP
In 2010, the Louis Vuitton Company collaborated on a largely pictorial coffee -table book entitled Lou i s Vu it ton : 10 0 Legenda ry Tru nks. I t contain s t he history of the company with many archival photographs.
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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 appraise one of your antiques, please send a clear, detailed image to info@nashvillearts. com. Or send photo to Antiques, Nashville Arts Magazine, 644 West Iris Dr., Nashville, TN 37204.
Beyond Words
& The Factory
by Marshall Chapman
Historic Downtown Franklin
How closed captioning saved the day . . . Whenever my husband and I watch
PHOTOGRAPH BY DEBBIE SMARTT
PHOTO: ANTHONY SCARLATI
Friday, April 4, 6-9 p.m.
Nearly 30 galleries and working studios in a 15-block area, featuring artists at work, live music, wine and more! There’s no cost to attend
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a movie or program on TV, I have this annoying habit of shattering the mood when I can’t understand what’s being said. “What’d she just
say?” I’ll blurt out. “Roll it back! This could be important!”
I can’t help it. I’m a writer. I love words. I want to hear the dialogue. Chris figures we can understand what’s happening, even if we can’t understand what’s being said, if we just keep watching the action. I have some theories about my DCD (Dialogue Comprehension Disorder). For years, I played rock & roll at a high volume, which may have affected my hearing. But no, that’s not it. Because whenever I watch an old movie like Casablanca or reruns of The Andy Griffith Show, I understand every word that’s spoken. Which has me thinking technology might be the culprit. Have you ever noticed, when watching sports on TV, how you can’t understand what the announcers are saying because whoever is mixing the sound has the crowd noise too loud? Not to mention all the sound effects they add. Bells and whistles and whatnot. I don’t want to hear that crap. I want to hear the announcers! Okay, so one recent Wednesday night, Chris and I were watching a new episode of Nashville when, as usual, my DCD flared up. If it wasn’t Scarlett (played by Australian Clare Bowen) trying to talk Southern, then it was the music, which is terrific but which often drowns out the dialogue. So Chris and I are sitting there, and I’m going crazy. “What’d she just say?” I blurt out. “Dammit! This is important! Roll it back!” As Chris patiently hit the rewind button, I was struck by an idea. “Hey, do you think Nashville has closed captions, like with movies?” Chris soon found a setting on the screen with a menu of options that included “Setup.” “Oh, click that,” I said. Then, “Oh my God, I can’t believe Nashville has closed captions . . . just like movies!” For the next hour, as Chris and I watched Nashville (with closed captions), world peace seemed attainable. www.tallgirl.com
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April 2014 | 111
On the Town with Ted Clayton The year, 1929; the location, the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel; the cost, $5 per person; the event, the first Academy Awards Presentation. Some 270 patrons attended this first organized awards ceremony for a seated dinner followed by the award presentation that took all of fifteen minutes. Thank you very much, but I did not cover this first Awards event. Douglas Fairbanks was MC, and the movie of the year was Wings, the only silent film ever to receive an Academy Award. The Academy statuette, Oscar, was designed by MGM’s art director Cedric Gibbons in 1928. Oh by the way, the fare for a movie ticket of the day was twenty-five cents. Clare Armistead, Donnie and Elizabeth Nichols – Ballet Ball
co-star Vincent Dreffs, leading lady Sonata with hubby Randy Rayburn (Randy received the 2014 Papa Joe Lightman Award), Paul Kuhn, Natasha Corcoran with Jeff Nunnally, Dawn Mangrum with leading man Chase Cole, and nominated best couple of the year Stacey and Taylor Rhodes.
Roger Moore, Guy March, Brian Jackson, Christopher Nold – Belcourt Oscar Night
The year, 2014; the location, the Belcourt Theatre, Nashville; the cost, $$$ per VIP patron; the event chairs, Holly Hoffman and Amos Gott; the event, the 86th Annual Academy Awards Presentation at the Belcourt. Yes, right here in good ole Nashville patrons walked the red carpet, entering a tented area, which was Belcourt Avenue, designed as the lobby of a fine hotel with maybe somewhat the look of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in the day. Guests mingled during cocktails, bidding on a super silent auction and checking their seats in the VIP theatre setting prior to the viewing of the show on the big screen. Behind the main screen in the main theatre was the VIP Green Room Lounge—sleek, banquet-style seating at bistro cocktail tables, and a heavy and delicious buffet. In the VIP Lounge, my friend Jackson Brown informed me that his first appearance on stage was here at the Belcourt Theatre when he was in a tap-dancing recital at age five. Jackson went on to tell me he performed with a pair of twins, and he learned never to perform with twins Paul Kuhn, Sonata and Randy for they are what folks look Rayburn – Belcourt Oscar Night at. Not to be shown up, the lovely starlet on Jackson’s arm, Tish, chimed in, telling me that she made her stage debut on the same stage, only a few years after Jackson. Lordy, lordy. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Tish was Mother Goose. When interviewing superstar Bette Midler I asked how she was preparing for her part of the evening, and she looked up at me with a somewhat surprised look and said, “Silly man, I keep calm and be divine!” Others being nothing but divine at this annual red-carpet event were Megan and Bruce Barry, Stephanie Moore, 112 | April 2014
Speaking of celebrated films, the 1989 movie Road House starring Patrick Swayze came to mind recently as I was visiting what The New York Times has recognized as the #1 American dive bar here in Nashville—Santa’s Pub. My buddy Steffon Hamulak sort of bet me I would never set foot in such a place. Well, did I prove him wrong! Out and about on a Tuesday evening last month, my nephew Will Clayton and his buddy Hunt Baker (my bodyguards, lol) and I did make an appearance at the Pub for the performance of the punk band Bloody Drug Shenanigans. The interior had that sort of cozy dive feel to it, with a lot of Santa. No cover charge, little food, lots of Bud, and karaoke nightly, cash only. OK, I admit I did not see a lot of my regular A-Plus socials, nor the valet parking guys from PMC, Jim and Janet Ayers, Kristy and Jon Ayers but all in all Santa’s Pub – First Bank Celebration was an adventure like no other I have had in a long while. It did get me out of my social comfort zone, and, as we all realize, art comes in many forms! P.S., Santa’s is open seven nights a week, 3 p.m. till 3 a.m. What a great after party after the ball this year: “Swans with Santa!”
Roland Jones and Susan Short Jones, Douglas and Ashley Henry – Ballet Ball
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Have you ever just wanted to stop midway on Abbott Martin Road in Green Hills, put the car in park, and have someone else take it? Well, that was Frank and Julie Boehm, Craig and Nichole Huseby the scenario for the – Ballet Ball Grand Opening of First Bank’s Green Hills Branch. Janet and Jim Ayers were the host couple of the evening, showing left to right, upside down, and all around the wonderful Tennessee art that is housed in this branch office. There is one large piece that is framed in a Lucite shadowbox effect that houses archival prints of original bank ledger sheets from 1916–1947, images referencing the function and philosophy of banking from the early twentieth century into the beginning of the contemporary era. This piece of art is from one of the first banks in West Tennessee that Jim acquired. From custom chandeliers to photographs of the original Green Hills, First Bank is most entertaining and educational. Bank president Chris Holmes with his lovely wife, Susan, were on hand welcoming Betty and Winfield Dunn, Brenda and Ronald Corbin, Nancy and Billy Ray Hearn, Debbie and Bill Tate, Nashville’s Art Icon Anne Brown, Lew Connor, Colleen and Ted Welch, Joyce and Steve Wood, Rachel and Gary Odom, Joyce and David Hitt, Kristy and Jon Ayers, and Susan and Luke Simons. Now, as you most likely have guessed, this was not your normal bank branch office opening. There were no balloons, Chairs Sarah Reisner and no hot dogs with Coke, no noise Suann Davis – Ballet Ball makers, no bank-giveaway pins and paper clips, but a marvelous buffet with tenderloin, full cocktail bars, a musical trio, great art, a pop-up living room under tent, and lovely gift-wrapped boxes of cookies as favors. I did feel somewhat guilty for not having a First Bank account, but I took care of that the day of the event. I must say, leaving the bank after opening my account I left empty handed—no toaster. Now that is showing my age! First Bank is my bank, and it rocks! (Way too much Santa’s Pub.) Pretty in pink was the Laura Turner Hall for the celebration of the 25th Ballet Ball. Co-chair Sarah Reisner told me that she and Suann Davis were a great pair to chair the 25th Anniversary Ball for they both love beauty and classical design, both in entertaining and in life. Beauty and a class act these two women achieved, in pink. Yes, pink it was. With a hightech play of lighting, the hall looked as though it had been wrapped in a soft-pink, lace overlay— truly a beauty. Pink carpet ran the length of the hall with pale-pink Jacqueline Hutton and Laurie Eskind tablecloths and pink-and– Ballet Ball white floral arrangements
Elizabeth and Lynn Greer, Marsha and Chuck Blackburn, Nancy and John Cheadle – Ballet Ball
by the Tulip Tree. It just had the feeling of a graceful ballerina, and ballerinas were abundant, performing as patrons entered the hall to be seated for dinner and again after. The highlight of the evening was the performance by Kellie Pickler, followed by the marvelous sounds of the Pat Patrick Band. You just cannot beat a Pat Patrick evening! Honorary Chairman Ronnie Scott with his lovely wife, Elaina, welcomed patrons including many of the former Ballet Ball chairs. Elizabeth Nichols whispered to me that she felt so nostalgic this evening for she and Clare Armistead organized the first Ball Gala twenty-five years ago. Speaking of the first ball, which at the time was known as the Masked Ball, another talented designer and I designed the decor at the Vanderbilt Plaza. I shall never forget Clare telling me how important it is to see the guests sitting across the table, so she wanted and received a low bowl of roses as table decor that year. Joining Ronnie, Elizabeth and Clare, Sarah and Suann were past chairs Dallas Wilt, Amy Joyner, Lucie Carroll and Jacqueline Hutton, Kindy Hensler, Mary Jo Shankle, Jay Joyner, Susan Short Jones, Donnie Nichols, Patsy Weigel, Meredith Weigel and Ashley Henry, Nancy Cheadle and Sandra Lipman, Emily Noel, Melanie Baker, Rene Ward, Julie Boehm and Marsha Blackburn, Laurie Eskind and Elizabeth Greer, and many more of the Social A-Plus Crowd. I must say all the ladies and gents were beautiful and handsome. There is one patron that never lets me down: Nichole Huseby. Nichole finds the most wonderful vintage gowns, and she did again for this ball. Her Ballet Ball gown was an off-the-shoulder, aqua-blue brocaded gown that she told me that her Fairy Godmother Maggie O’Neill recreated for her. When one thinks of a ballerina and ballet, graceful and classical beauty comes to mind, and that’s exactly what Ballet Ball 2014 was indeed!
Lucie Carroll, Owen and Amy Joyner – Ballet Ball
Anticipating spring sometime in 2014, I wandered out to the Nashville Fairgrounds to the Lawn & Garden Show, where Wine and Roses was the theme this year. Wine a-flowing, flowers a-blooming, fountains a-flowing—a great treat on a cold and damp Nashville weekend. Thanks to Deb Varallo, Randall Lantz, Sharon Eden, and Tammy Algood, I had myself a great time and was so pleased to run into my landscape professor from the old days at O’More College, Duncan Callicott. He still shudders when he sees me! Happy Spring to All!
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April 2014 | 113
My Favorite Painting
D R . R OB S TEIN Orthopedic Surgeon (Retired), Wine Connoisseur, and Bread Maker
PHOTOGRAPH BY JERRY ATNIP
M
y wife, Carol, owner of Cumberland Gallery, had been following the career of John Alexander. She introduced me to his imagery, and we decided to acquire a work by him. Finding an image that we both liked proved to be a Herculean task. Finally we were sent images of new work and one stood out. We flew to NYC to see the piece in person and to meet the artist in his studio. The work, titled Guardians of the Sacred Palace, embodies the kind of art we like to collect. It is narrative, asks many questions, and is mysterious. What are the animals guarding? We never see the “Sacred Palace” that the guardians protect. Why does it need protection—and from whom? The demons and religious icons only add to the mystery. Looking at the work from twenty feet away enables you to see the depth of the imagery that you can’t appreciate when you are up close to the painting. Alexander is particularly adept at creating a lush environment that draws me in and yet also outlines a menace that can be frightening. I keep coming back to the narrative aspect and the unanswered questions that are always there. The “Sacred Palace” may be a metaphor for other unidentified palaces in our lives. Ultimately, I respect the technical expertise that Alexander uniquely is able to create. We have had this painting for over thirty years; I see it every day, and I never tire of looking at it.
ARTIST BIO
JOHN ALEXANDER John Alexander has lived in New York since 1979 but has deep roots in Texas. Born and raised in Beaumont, Alexander grew up in the varied South Texas landscapes—muddy bayous, Gulf Coast wetlands, and oil refineries. His paintings reveal his connection to the natural world and his anxiety about its destruction. Alexander’s beautiful and haunting images are highly collected by individuals and leading art institutions, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In 2013, Alexander received the Guild Hall Lifetime Achievement Award. For more information about John Alexander please visit www.johnalexanderstudios.com. John Alexander, Guardians of the Sacred Palace, 1987, Oil on canvas, 77” x 83” 114 | April 2014
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The FACTORY S H O P,
D I N E
AT FR ANKLIN &
U N W I N D
Join us Friday, April 11th at 6:30 pm in Jamison Hall at The Factory as we Celebrate the Promise. For tickets and more information visit www.miriamspromise.org or call (615) 292-3500.
ONE on ONE Pottery Wheel lessons $40 in the
FACTORY AT FRANKLIN call Mike Ingram
812-455-4652 for details
Advantage Model & Talent • Always In Bloom • Amish Excellence • Annette Charles Fashion Boutique • Antiques at the Factory Art Row at The Factory • Artisan Guitars • Boiler Room Theatre • Essy’s Rug Gallery • Fancy Vents • Franklin Farmers Market The Glass Touch • Gro-Nails • Gulf Pride Seafood • Happy Tales Humane • ISI Defensive Driving • J. Chastain Photo Jeremy Cowart Photography • Journey Church • Little Cottage Children’s Shop • Mark Casserly Architectural Woodworking Music City Dog House • Nature’s Art • O’More College • Saffire • Second Impressions Clothing South Branch Nursery Southgate Studio & Fine Art • Springtree Media Group • Stoveworks • Stonebridge Gallery • Studio Tenn Theatre Company The Sweet Shoppe • Tala Jewelry • Third Coast Clay • Timberwolf Designs • Times Past & Present • Tuscan Iron Entries
www.factoryatfranklin.com |
230 FR AN KLIN ROAD
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615.791.1777
Your Legacy, 2014
Photograph 24 x 36 inches
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