EVOLVED
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O V E R 10 0 S P E C I A LT Y S H O P S & R E S TA U R A N T S HILLSBORO PIKE, I-440 EXIT 3
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NASHVILLE, TN
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SHOPGREENHILLS.COM
THE NAS HV I LL E SY MPH O N Y PR E S E N TS
DUELING PIANOS
October 25-26 S CHE R M E R H O R N SY MPH O N Y C E N T E R Sibling pianists Christina and Michelle Naughton will leave you in awe when they tackle Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos. The orchestra will also perform two breathtaking choral works by Beethoven and Vaughan Williams.
BUY TICKETS 615.687.6400 NashvilleSymphony.org
CLASSICAL SERIES
Lawrence S. Levine Memorial Concert
TM
October 2O13
Spotlight...................................................................................................................13 The Great Unknowns Johnny Lee Park...............................................16 Russ Harrington The Man Behind the Fame.............................................40 Kirsten Stingle Stories in Sculpture................................................................ 46 NPT Arts Worth Watching..........................................................................................50 Jubilee! African American Art Shines at the Van Vechten Gallery.................. 54 Jim Sherraden Making Impressions..............................................................61 Photography Competition............................................................... 67 Roy Overcast Ribbons of Clay...................................................................... 72 The Interview Bill Ivey Interviews Mayor Karl Dean................................... 75 Southern Festival of Books A 25-Year Celebration of Books......80 The Cumberland Society of Painters ............................. 82 Sarah Jarosz Build Me Up From Bones........................................................ 86 Chip Cooper Positive Negative Space.........................................................90 Field Notes Jeff Hein ........................................................................................ 94 ArtSmart A Monthly Guide to Art Education................................................... 98 Galen Fott An Animated Life........................................................................ 102 Hispanic Heritage Month............................................................. 106 Appraise It.......................................................................................................... 116 Theatre.............................................................104 Critical i............................................................ 110 On the Town.................................................... 112 Beyond Words..................................................117 My Favorite Painting....................................... 118 on the cover : Sam Middleton, Untitled (Amsterdam), Collage and mixed media, at the Van Vechten Gallery at Fisk University. Read the cover story on page 54.
Published by the St. Claire Media Group Charles N. Martin, Jr. Chairman Paul Polycarpou, President Ed Cassady, Les Wilkinson, Daniel Hightower, Directors Editorial Paul Polycarpou, Editor and CEO Sara Lee Burd, Executive Editor and Online Editor, sara@nashvillearts.com Rebecca Pierce, Education Editor and Staff Writer, rebecca@nashvillearts.com Madge Franklin, Copy Editor Ted Clayton, Social Editor Linda Dyer, Antique and Fine Art Specialist Jim Reyland, Theatre Correspondent Contributing Writers Emme Nelson Baxter, Beano, Lizza Connor Bowen, Judy Bullington, Nancy Cason, Marshall Chapman, Jennifer Cole, Melissa Cross, Greta Gaines, John Guider, Beth Hall, Beth Inglish, MiChelle Jones, Demetria Kalodimos, Nicole Keiper, Beth Knott, Linda York Leaming, DeeGee Lester, Joe Nolan, Joe Pagetta, Karen Parr-Moody, Robbie Brooks Moore, Currie Powers, Ashleigh Prince, Alyssa Rabun, Sally Schloss, Molly Secours, Daniel Tidwell, Lisa Venegas, Nancy Vienneau, Ron Wynn Design Tracey Starck, Design Director Photographers Jerry Atnip, Hollis Bennett, Lawrence Boothby, Sophia Forbes, Donnie Hedden, Peyton Hoge, Rob Lindsay, Jennifer Moran, Anthony Scarlati, Bob Schatz, Meghan Aileen Schirmer, Pierre Vreyen Budsliquors9.16.09.indd 1
9/16/09 1:55 PM
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A NEW IS COMING TO DOWNTOWN FALL 2013 Lexus of Nashville is opening a 9-acre, state-of-the-art facility in downtown Nashville. Situated along I-65 at the Metro Center exit, the modern facility promises convenience, comfort, and efficiency. With an extensive inventory of exquisite new and pre-owned vehicles, a 42-bay Service Center, and a team of skilled product specialists and certified technicians, we are creating an entirely new automotive experience in downtown Nashville.
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H AY N E S G A L L E R I E S PRESENTS
NEW WORK: NEW DIRECTIONS .
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publisher's note
Art Creates a City
I
don’t know about you, but I for one was sad to see those art deco cars leave the Frist. I went back several times to
experience the show again and the sense of fantasy and wonder that only perfectly formed sheet metal can evoke. And while I had a favorite, the Bugatti belonging to the Shah of Iran, I could in a pinch see myself driving off in any one of them. Oh well.
Featured Artist
Brian HiBBard
This month we publish the winners of our fourth annual amateur photography competition. We had double the entries this year and even had submissions from London, Dubai, India, Iraq, and Canada. The quality of the work submitted reassured us that there is a long line of talented amateur photographers waiting in the wings to push this art form to new heights. You can see the winners on page 67. Mayor Karl Dean agreed to sit down with author and arts advocate Bill Ivey to talk about all things Nashville. So if you want to know where the city is heading and how we’re going to get there, read the interview on page 75. Kudos to Jed Hilly and his team for pulling off an extraordinary night of music, both old and new, at this year’s Americana Honors & Awards show. On the Ryman stage music legends Dr. John, Stephen Stills, and Duane Eddy rubbed musical shoulders with newcomers like the Milk Carton Kids, who were sensational, and South Carolina duo Shovels & Rope. The show, which had the look and feel of a smooth, rich bourbon, went without a musical hitch as awards were presented by the likes of Ry Cooder, Billy Bragg, and master of ceremonies Jim Lauderdale. But ultimately it was us, the audience, that were the winners. Where else in the world can you go and hear music of this caliber? Thanks to all for another unforgettable Nashville highlight. Paul Polycarpou Editor in Chief
Horse #455 48”x48” mixed media on board
Editorial & advertising Offices 644 West Iris Drive, Nashville, TN 37204 Tel. 615-383-0278 Advertising Department Cindy Acuff, Beth Knott, Keith Wright All sales calls: 615-383-0278 Distribution: Wouter Feldbusch Subscription and Customer Service: 615-383-0278 Letters: We encourage readers to share their stories and reactions to Nashville Arts Magazine by sending emails to info@nashvillearts.com or letters to the address above. We reserve the right to edit submissions for length and clarity. Business Office: Theresa Schlaff, Adrienne Thompson 40 Burton Hills Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37215 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.
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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
25th Annual
southern festival of books A Celebration Of The Written Word
design by www.cagefreevisual.com
October 11-13, 2013 War Memorial Plaza Nashville, Tennessee www.HumanitiesTennessee.org
Leiper’s Fork West&Company
w w w.thewestandcompany.com
COME VISIT OUR NEW SPACE
Marc Civitarese, From Your Memory, oil and wax on linen, 45”x 35”
proud participant
213 Third Avenue North • Nashville, TN 37201 615.352.3006 www.galleryonellc.com
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40 Burton hills Blvd., suite 230 • (615) 250-7880 Worthproperties.com
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615-330-3051 • office: 615-250-7880 • Laurabaugh3@gmail.com
3X3 in Leiper’s Fork David Arms Gallery, The Copper Fox, and Leiper’s Creek Gallery will join together once again to host their second 3X3 art event. Set in historic Leiper’s Fork with fire-pit gatherings, twinkling lights, fine art, and crafts, the evening promises to be enchanting. Leiper’s Creek Gallery will showcase work David Arms Gallery by Michael Madzo. Sometimes difficult to describe, Madzo’s art features luminous hues, vivid subjects, and his trademark technique of sewing bits of paintings together, creating a synthesis of traditional and textile art. The Copper Fox will feature one-of-a-kind artisan jewelry by Kristi Hyde. Each piece is made by hand and finished with polish and patina. Integrated into her jewelry are gemstones and pearls, leather, silk, and various precious metals. Her modern vintage pieces are sculptural and fluid with a lovely organic feel. David Arms Gallery will present new works by the artist. About his work, Arms says, “I never portray life as easy, but as a journey worth walking Leiper's Creek Gallery to its fullest. Even amid wars, hate, and brokenness, there is reason to rejoice. Amid anxiety there is reason to be still and trust. In this body of work I deal with all of these issues while at the same time seeing light in the darkness.” 3X3 in Leiper’s Fork takes place Saturday, October 5, from 6 to 9 p.m.
The Copper Fox
For more information, visit www.Leipersforkart.com.
The Great Unknowns
public art
Johnny Lee Park Dystopian Mixed Media by Jennifer Anderson fter his introduction to drawing in art class in elementary school, Johnny Lee Park became intrigued by the hard, cold lines of architecture and motor vehicles. Drawing buildings and cars, he became interested in hyperrealism and felt strongly that if you couldn’t pull it off one hundred percent you shouldn’t do it at all. Behind his quiet demeanor lies a stubborn, complex, analytical mind.
Photo: tiffany bing
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During his college years studying for a management degree he became drawn to graphic design, printmaking, etching, and lithography and went on to include future study in figure drawing. The creative epiphany came at a printmaking openportfolio night after which he went on to a graduate degree in printmaking. Today he continues to share his love of learning and his vision as an artist with his students as a college-level instructor in graphic design, photography, and fine arts. His work incorporates painting, drawing, printmaking, and photography to create dystopian abstract works of art. An ongoing theme he explores is the seductive yet horrifying dependence that technology foists upon us by contrasting the humanity of the intimate studies of women with heavy industrial realism in disturbing yet compelling ways. The piece titled Suffer is the first in the series he is currently working on. It features mixed media and the impact of negative energy resulting from pending job loss and a life in transition. The eloquent and mesmerizing pain is immediate upon viewing. For more information on Johnny Lee Park and his work contact jenniferjanderson@yahoo.com.
Take a Tour of the Public Art Collection by Caroline Vincent, Public Art Manager, MNAC
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id you know that since 2007 when the first Percent-forArt public artwork was installed, Ghost Ballet for the East Bank Machineworks by Alice Aycock, Metro Arts has commissioned and installed nearly 30 new works of public art? AND there are 10 additional artworks in the process of being commissioned! It’s a very exciting time to live in Nashville, and our mission is to make sure every citizen has Christopher Fennell's Tool Fire the opportunity to experience on display at Shelby Bottoms Pedestrian Bridge the creative life, whether that is through experiencing public art on your daily commute or actively participating with an artist to create a public artwork or maybe by serving as a citizen selection panelist. Why not take advantage of the world-class art collection that is right in your backyard? We have a handy map on our website publicart.nashville.gov that links you right to each artwork site. In addition, we have crafted several tours you can take by bus, walking, driving, or biking. Once you’re out there, let us know what you think via email, Facebook (Metro Arts), Twitter, or snail mail. Tag us in your postings #publicart #nashville #metroarts. We’d love to see you enjoying the art! You may also get involved by signing up on our website to participate in future public art selection panels, community meetings, or meet-and-greets with the artists. If you are an artist, check out our website to find out more about upcoming opportunities to create art for your city.
Suffer, 2013, Mixed media, 40" x 30"
For more information, visit www.artsnashville.org.
Mother and Child by Andy Warhol
300 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203 www.galerieravin.com 615.242.3001
The Highwaymen by Kelley Ryan
spotlight
A Day in the Park Mark your calendar for the 5th Annual Art in the Park on Saturday, October 5, in Springfield. Presented by Willow Oak Center for Arts & Learning and Springfield Parks Department, this highly popular festival features art and crafts, live music, good food, and a Kid Zone.
The Nature of Wood Sculpture and Turnings by Olen Bryant, William Kooienga, & Brenda Stein with Woodcuts by Alan LeQuire & Jim Sherraden William Kooienga
The juried event includes over 50 booths of original arts, crafts, pottery, handmade jewelry, original paintings, sculpture, textiles, woodwork, Native American-style crafts, and other unique items. Enjoy musical performances by classic rockers Long Run Band, jazz by Derrell Payne & Seven, flute by Seth Andress, acoustic guitar by Bennington, and show tunes by Robertson County Players. The 5th Annual Art in the Park takes place Saturday, October 5, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at J. Travis Price Park, 4155 Wilkes Road, Springfield, Tennessee. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/willowoakAITP.
Bootstraps Fashion Event
Celebrity hosts will be country music’s Danielle Peck and Titans wide receiver Damian Williams. Banquet attendees Jason M. and Kaneesha D. Martin The presenting sponsor is ZUUS Media, and the Fashion Show will be presented courtesy of Nashville women’s boutique, Jamie. Milton White, Style and Media Director for The Fashion Office, will once again serve as Fashion Producer of the event. The Bootstraps Foundation’s mission is to award scholarships to deserving young men and women across Middle Tennessee who, despite severe obstacles and hardships, have achieved success in high school. Proceeds from the evening will go to fund Bootstraps scholarships. For more information, visit www.Bootstraps.org.
© susan walker photography
On Thursday evening, October 17, the Bootstraps Foundation will host its second annual “Passion for Fashion” Cocktail Party, Silent Auction, and Fashion Show in the Ballroom of the Hutton Hotel.
Brenda Stein
Opening Reception
Saturday, October 12, 6-8pm 4304 Charlotte Ave • Nashville, TN 615-298-4611 • www.lequiregallery.com
spotlight
Davishire Interiors Same Space, New Look
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fter twenty-eight years in the same location, Davishire Interiors decided it was time to put their expertise to work on their own place and give it a facelift. Now they are hosting a daylong celebration to show us the results! “We’ve always done eclectic looks, whether it’s traditional with modern accessories or contemporary with antique accents, and now our showroom reflects that,” explained Davishire proprietor Shirley Horowitz. “It looks completely different. It is not so cluttered, and it has a more homelike feel, which is something we always try to do for our clients, even if we are furnishing an office.” The new look has a monochromatic color scheme with clean lines and very inviting living areas that expertly blend traditional, transitional, and contemporar y furnishings and original art. About the only thing that hasn’t changed is the quality of their offerings. Davishire still has both antique and new furnishings, one-of-a-kind accessories, handmade items, and an art collection worthy of a museum. Celebrate with Davishire Interiors on Thursday, October 24, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 2106 21st Avenue South. For more information, visit www.davishire.com.
Introducing
our new showroom
Celebrate with us! Thursday, October 24 9 until 9 Beautiful Furniture, Fine Art, Unique Accessories
2106 21st Ave S. • Nashville, TN 37212 (615) 298-2670 • www.davishire.com
Photo: bo may
spotlight
From left: Rahsaan Barber, Denis Solee, Jeff Coffin
All proceeds from this lively event benefit the Jazz Workshop, which is a cause near and dear to this year’s entertainers.
Photo: MArk alberhasky
Kirk Whalum was a board member, teacher, and a frequent performer at the Jazz Workshop while he lived in Nashville. Evan Cobb teaches at the Jazz Workshop, coordinates the Summer Jazz Camp for youth, and runs the monthly jam sessions. Sandra Dudley, a Belmont University faculty member, has taught at the Jazz Workshop for many Kirk Whalum years and recently joined the Board of Directors. The Honorary Chairperson for the event is Ken Roberts, longtime friend and supporter of the Jazz Workshop. In the past the event has featured foods from around the world, but this year John Howard of Sargent’s Fine Catering has created dishes from the country of “Jazzmania!” Food stations include: Hey Mambo Italiano featuring Flank Sinatra and Louis Primavera; Way Down Yonder in New Orleans offering Satchmo Gumbo and Red Garland Beans and Rice; Birdland including Struttin with Some Barbecue and Nat King Cole Slaw; and Sweet and Lovely desserts.
Lipman Brothers will provide complimentary wine and beer. Back again this year is the ever-popular live and silent auction, which includes vacation packages, event tickets, dinner packages, in-home concerts, original art and more. The signature feature of the silent auction is Small Works, a collection of small canvases by some of the area’s best artists. Sponsors for Jazzmania 2013 include Van Heusen Music Corporation, the Nashville Symphony, Nashville Arts Magazine, Sargent’s Fine Catering, Seale Keyworks, UPS Stores of Belle Meade and Bellevue, Lipman Brothers, The Factory at Franklin, WMOT 89.5FM, Jazzy WFSK, McLemore Auction, Moonlight Sound Company, and Parker Designs. Tickets for Jazzmania 2013 are $100. Corporate sponsorships and V.I.P. seating packages are also available. All proceeds from Jazzmania support the operation of the Jazz Workshop, outreach programs, and a youth scholarship established in memory of the late Stephen McRedmond, beloved friend and supporter of the Jazz Workshop. Jazzmania 2013 takes place Sunday, October 20, from 4 to 8 p.m. in Jamison Hall at The Factory at Franklin. For more information, visit www.nashvillejazz.org.
Photo: bo may
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et ready for the Jazz Party of the Year featuring dynamic and creative saxophonist Evan Cobb, supreme vocalist Sandra Dudley, and internationally renowned saxophonist Kirk Whalum!
Rod McGaha
22 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
crawl guide
Jack Yacoubian
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n Friday, October 4, enjoy the Franklin Art Scene from 6 to 9 p.m. Gallery 202 will showcase jewelry by Anne Rob and paintings by Susan Truex. Damico Frame & Art Gallery will present Thrills and Chills. Boutique MMM will host painter Teresa Townsend Hargis. Bob Parks Realty will exhibit work Cynthia Birdsong by Dorsey McHugh. T. Nesbitt & Co. will feature work by Laine Barley. Foyers and Beyond will show mixed-media work by Cynthia Birdsong. O’More College will launch Outsider Art: The Spiritual and Mysterious Folk Art of the Self Taught.
Je welrY & fi n e arT GallerY hundreds Of desiGns
Over 32 Ye ars O f e xperien ce & fa m ilY Ow n ed fO r Th ree Gen er aTi O ns Visit Our Showroom: 114 Third Ave., So. • Franklin, TN 37064 (615) 224-3698 • yacoubian901@yahoo.com
Historic Downtown Franklin
TOP PICKS
2013
F a l l i s u s h e r i n g i n n e w s t y l es and trends. Here are a few of K e i t h ' s f a v o r i t e s & n e w a r r i v a l s , w h i ch I'm sure will end up in some of Nashville's H O T T ES T H O M ES!
Foster & Pullen Gas Lanterns Early 1900's, Bradford England 2 Lanterns Available $1,775 Each
Iconic John Stuar t Mid Century Modern Chairs New York - Grand Rapids $625 Set of 4
A n t i q u e L e a t h e r Tr u nk Circa 1900, American $375
Antique French Grille Cast Iron Coffee Table $1,400
. N A S H V I L L E 6 1 5 . 3 5 0 . 6 6 5 5 W W W . G A R D E N P A R K . C O M
On Saturday, October 5, head downtown for the First Saturday Art Crawl from 6 to 9 p.m. The Arts Company will open Three Artists/Three Exhibits, photography by Chip Cooper (see article on page 90), and painting by Joan Griswold and Brett Weaver. Tinney Contemporary will unveil With Wings, new work by Jeanie Gooden. The Rymer Gallery will present Synthetic Harmonies, new paintings by Whitney Wood Bailey. Tennessee Art League will open five new exhibitions. Gallery One will highlight new and long-term artists. At the Arcade, L Gallery will showcase paintings by Carol Lena Saffell. Picture This will open New Orleans: Remembered, Revisited, Remixed by Ken Walls. WAG, Watkins Arcade Gallery, will present Indefinite Beauty by Luisiana Mera and Ecdysis by Jason R. Reed. OPEN Gallery, curated by Lipscomb University students, will present work by Nicole Wilson.
Amanda Joy Brown
The Wedgewood/Houston Art Crawl takes place on Saturday, October 5, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Ground Floor Gallery will launch Delineated by Amanda Joy Brown with an artist’s reception. Fort Houston will feature Hard Times, with embroidery artist Davey Gravy and photographer Nicole Irene. Cheekwood will join this crawl during Artober with a Pop-Up Gallery Libby Byler featuring work from More Love: Art, Politics and Sharing since the 1990s. On Saturday, October 12, visit Second Saturday at Five Points in East Nashville from 6 to 9 p.m. where Bryant Gallery will open Garments by Libby Byler with an artist’s reception. NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 23
Art for Elephants Online Auction October 1–26 to benefit The Elephant Sactuary
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he Night of the Elephant is offering
dimensional constructions involved making a silkscreen print, hand coloring it, and then attaching cuttings from a second sheet with adhesive foam. Several of his works with related biographical books are included in the auction.
work by a wide-ranging group of artists in its upcoming online auction and fundraiser. According to chairperson Patsy Weigel, the sale will feature pieces by internationally known artists such as John Baeder and Paul Harmon, new work by Steffon Hamulak and Kaaren Engel, and unusual offerings by James Rizzi and Thomas Rowlandson. There’s even a cartoon elephant alphabet by award-winning artist Daniel D’Umuk Aguila.
The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee is the nation’s largest natural habitat refuge developed specifically for African and Asian elephants. Since 1995 twenty-four elephants have found sanctuary in Tennessee, and Elephant Sanctuary officials hope to raise enough money to eventually rescue 100 elephants.
A pair of works by Thomas Rowlandson, born in the eighteenth century, has been donated to the auction. Rowlandson was known for what were then called comic prints. The J. Paul Getty Museum says that “Rowlandson’s depictions of life in Georgian England exposed human foibles and vanity with sympathy and rollicking humor.”
The Elephant Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA).
Open to all, the online auction begins October 1 and continues through October 26, the evening of an invitationPaul Harmon, When Their Ancestors Were Kings, 2013, Enamel and acrylic on paper, 30” x 22” only, black-tie event also Known for more contemporary benefitting the Elephant Sanctuary. humor, James Rizzi (1950–2011) was an American pop artist famous for his childlike style and zany images. His threeTo view and bid on auction items, visit www.elephants.com.
James Rizzi, Once Upon A Time In a Land of Make Believe, 3D Lithograph, 16” x 48” 24 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
LIGHTS OUT. EXHIBIT CLOSING NOVEMBER 10
Tuesdays*, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays until 11pm *LIGHT will not be open on October 8 or October 22.
1 917 Overton Lea $2,100,000 6 5004 Hill Place $3,800,000 2 Stillhouse Hollow Farms $10,000,000 7 110 Lynnwood $2,750,000 100 acres (up to 800 acres available) 8 308 Deerwood $2,250,000 Rick French 604-2323, Cathie Renken 500-8740 3 1160 Manley Lane $2,690,000 9 939 Tyne $4,495,000 4 21 Northumberland $4,890,000 10 434 Grayson $2,950,000 5 521 Westview $3,450,000 Rick French 604-2323, Tim King 482-5953
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RICK FRENCH 615-604-2323c
615-292-2622o
BROKER
FRENCHKING.COM
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spotlight
The Bookmark A Monthly Look at Hot Books and Cool Reads
One Sunday Afternoon, 2013, Hand-pigmented papers on canvas, 48” x 48”
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Inhabiting Wonder at Bennett Galleries
nhabiting Wonder, new works by Anton Weiss and Lisa Jennings now on display at Bennett Galleries, is an exhibit not to be missed. The show is an incredible cross section of each artist’s current processes and includes sculpture, metal on panel, and paintings.
The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri
One Summer: America, 1927 Bill Bryson
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Namesake comes an extraordinary new novel, set in both India and America, a tale of two brothers bound by tragedy, a fiercely brilliant woman haunted by her past, a country torn by revolution, and a love that lasts long past death.
The author of A Walk in the Woods and At Home transports readers to one amazing season in American life, the summer of 1927. Bryson captures its outsized personalities, events, and weirdness with his trademark eye for detail and humor. Meet the author at the Southern Festival of Books on October 12.
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants Malcolm Gladwell
The Goldfinch Donna Tartt
In this show, the work of each artist complements that of the other. Weiss’s abstract expressionistic paintings with their bold use of color convey a remarkable strength, while Jennings’s paintings and sculptures have an organic, ethereal feel created from torn hand-pigmented paper, found wood, found stone, and welded metal resembling twigs and leaves. Inhabiting Wonder will be on display until October 31 at Bennett Galleries, 2104 Crestmoor Road. For more information, visit www.bennettgalleriesnashville.com.
In the tradition of his previous bestsellers The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, and What the Dog Saw, Gladwell challenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages by drawing upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling. Remnant 001, 2011, Metal on panel, 60” x 72”
The author of The Secret History and The Little Friend brings us a novel filled with unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense that plumbs with a philosopher’s calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. Donna Tartt will be appearing at Salon@615 on October 22.
For more information about these books, visit www.parnassusbooks.net.
28 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
at Cumberland Gallery
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he group exhibit at Cumberland Gallery this month, Unique Visions, presents an array of artists’ interpretations of subjects such as social history and the myth of the self. The seven participating artists— Julie Blackmon, Craig Cully, Andrea Heimer, Mark Hosford, Marcus Marcus Kenny, Double Vision, 2010 mixed Kenney, Will Smith, and media on canvas, 24" x 24" Fred Stonehouse—work in varied mediums and have different methods of communicating their critiques of the human condition. From humor to sarcasm to horror, these artworks will give you something to think about with a rich visual feast to enjoy. Unique Visions opens at Cumberland Gallery with an artists’ reception on October 19 and will be on exhibit until November 23. An Artober event featuring Sideshow Fringe actors is scheduled for October 24 from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information visit www.cumberlandgallery.com.
Historic Dulcimer Collection David’s Dulcimers: Instruments from the Schnaufer Collection will be one of three musicoriented exhibits opening at the Tennessee State Museum this month. This collection of historic dulcimers was owned by David Schnaufer (1952–2006), dulcimer virtuoso and Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music faculty member. He Dulcimer genius David Schnaufer, 1996 donated it to the museum shortly before his death.
courtesy of Blair School of Music
Unique Visions
Schnaufer devoted his life to recording, performing, and teaching the instrument. He assembled his collection through antique-store finds, private purchases, and trades. With instruments dating from the early 1800s to the late 1900s, it traces the development of the dulcimer. The collection includes a variety of hourglass-shaped dulcimers, a Scheitholt, which is the German predecessor of the mountain dulcimer, and some rectangular-shaped music boxes. David’s Dulcimers: Instruments from the Schnaufer Collection, will be on view through December 29. For more information visit www.tnmuseum.org.
Building BRIDGES
Vikki Nordstrom, Aspen Afternoon, Watercolor, 12” x 18”
Building BRIDGES Through Art, a watercolor and mixedmedia art show, will benefit Bridges Domestic Violence Center, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to assisting victims of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. The exhibit will feature work by artist Gail Mcdaniel and her students. The reception will include a silent auction, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to BRIDGES, and 20 percent of the proceeds from the art sold during the rest of the month will also be donated to BRIDGES. The Building BRIDGES Through Art event is Saturday, October 12, from 6 to 9 p.m. at CharacterEYES Eyecare and Optical Boutique in downtown Franklin. www.bridgesdvc.org. 30 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
spotlight
Wicked Carving: Lundy Cupp Pumpkin Carver I n October, carver and sculptor Lundy Cupp puts commissions on hold and steps away from wood to devote his time to carving pumpkins. Four years ago he developed his unique technique, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I have taken my craft into the world of pumpkin carving and discovered that this fun and unique way of carving pumpkins captures the imagination of the young and old. The fact that this art form comes around only one month out of the year and the pumpkins last only a week or so seems to add to this fascination,” explains Cupp. To make his pumpkins last longer he doesn’t gut them. Instead he scrapes off the orange shell and uses clay-sculpting tools to carve the faces. It takes one to two hours to create a pumpkin, but the more complicated ones can take significantly longer. Cupp says, “ . . . the weirder the better. I’ve found the stranger the pumpkins the more people like them.” In addition to corporate events, celebrity parties, and individual orders, Cupp will give a pumpkin-carving demonstration at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 19. For more information visit www.lundycupp.com or www.cheekwood.org.
For Sale: The King of Desks Q
ueen Victoria, John D. Rockefeller, Joseph Pulitzer, and presidents Grant, Garfield, and Harrison all owned a Wooton Patent Cabinet Office Secretary. The Smithsonian Institution purchased a Wooton desk in 1876, and it has been in use since. The Wooton Secretary is a writing desk, filing cabinet, letterbox, and safe all in one and boasts 110 drawers, pigeonholes, and compartments under one lock and key. These elaborate desks were designed and patented by William S. Wooton in 1874 and merged fine hand craftsmanship with the new technologies of the Industrial Revolution. The design of the desks provided an ingenious solution to help the businessman organize. The Wooton Secretary shown here is made from burl walnut and birdseye maple and stands about five feet tall. Though the exact date of manufacture is uncertain, there is sufficient evidence to suggest it was built during or before 1880. It is in excellent condition and being offered for sale by a local artist and collector. For more information, contact Nashville Arts Magazine at (615) 383-0278 or info@nashvillearts.com. 32 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
spotlight
Gatsby’s Choice A
s the Art Deco automobiles of Sensuous Steel leave the Frist Center, we thought you might enjoy seeing a piece of jewelry from that era. This stunning, platinum Art Deco-design brooch from the 1920s features 19 marquise diamonds with a total weight of three karats, 12 baguette diamonds with a total weight of 3.5 karats, 46 round brilliant diamonds with a total weight of 6.5 karats. If that doesn’t leave you breathless, consider the brooch’s total weight of 13 karats. In addition, this beauty is also a versatile piece of jewelry. Often called a dress pin, it features a clip in the back so it can be worn as a necklace or a brooch. It is priced at $55,000. This Art Deco brooch is being offered by E. J. Sain, a premier retailer of fine watches, rings, and jewelry since 1920.
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spotlight
Tulips To Die For A
ppearances can be deceiving. In fact, the most beautiful objects often hide deadly intentions. This is the inspiration for a suite of paintings entitled Romantic Notions presented by artist Terri Jordan at the Emporium Arts Center gallery in Knoxville. Jordan’s narrative, figurative portraiture plays upon the idea of contradictions surrounding appearance by pairing beautiful women with common but deadly flowers and plants.
characteristics of the flowers.” Jordan has exhibited in group and solo shows in New York and the Southeast, and her paintings are in collections in the U.S. and Europe. The Agora Gallery in New York City has said of Jordan’s paintings, “Much like Matisse’s women, Jordan’s figures are symbolic statements of serenity, beauty, and ornament. More restful than Matisse’s women, however, Jordan explores a more understated realm of existence and privacy.”
The artist says of her suite: “We often A percentage of the sales from this gravitate towards pretty things, covet exhibit will go toward holiday gifts for them, and need to have them based patients of East Tennessee Children’s on appearances. We fill our homes and Hospital. Romantic Notions will be on yards with bright-colored plants and Terri Jordan, Of Sleep and Promise, Oil, 20" x 20" display October 4 through 25 at The flowers, often unaware that some of the loveliest ones are also Emporium Center gallery in downtown Knoxville. the most deadly. And even when we’ve heard the myths and facts, For information on the gallery, visit http://www. the consequences, human nature still temps some to put beauty theemporiumcenter.com/galleries.html. To explore works first. I tell stories in almost all of my work, but I try to be subtle by Terri Jordan, please visit http://fineartamerica.com/ about it. I hope that after they see the pretty woman [people] art/all/terri+jordan/all. will try to see the symbols of death, or at least think about the
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spotlight
Hatch Goes to London
W
hen Jason Brown, new resident to Nashville from London, England, looked for an idea for his first transatlantic, curated show it was obvious. Hatch Show Print had yet to have a UK exhibition. For the iconic Nashville letterpress shop this was way overdue. As co-curator of Hatch Show Print: Nashville Calling at London’s Chelsea Space, Brown takes 120 posters, Jim Sherraden monoprints, and historic ephemera to a new audience. “Donald Smith, Chelsea Space director of exhibitions, and Jim Sherraden have been tremendous partners in this endeavor,” says Brown. “The opening will be a Nashville event in London, serving Tennessee food, Jack Daniel’s cocktails, and entertainment with a special performance by Nedski & Mojo—Ned Luberecki and Stephen Mougin, two of Nashville’s finest.” A Hatch poster has been designed for the show, and a book with an essay by Sherraden will be given to exhibition attendees.
Hatch Show Print: Nashville Calling opens in London November 12 and runs through December 14. For more information, visit www.chelseaspace.org.
O
Artober Nashville
ur city offers an incredibly diverse wealth of art, and during the month of October hundreds of events will showcase this talent. Nashville’s third Artober celebration includes music, theatre, dance, visual arts, festivals, family events, classes, workshops, poetry and literary readings, and film and video screenings.
Photo: Jamie Hernandez and Nossi College of Art
The most ambitious Artober Nashville event is set for October 5 and 6 at The Hermitage, when artist Myles Maillie and hundreds of volunteers will put the finishing touches on the Community Box Mural Project, a stacked-box mural structure consisting of more than 3,000 painted cardboard boxes. Organizers hope to set a
Participants paint boxes for the Community Mural Project
Photo: Reed Hummel
“Our goal is to connect Nashvillians to the arts; to make sure every citizen has the opportunity to experience the creativity that is thriving in our communities today. Artober Nashville is both a celebration to showcase our artistic diversity and an effort to make certain we all participate in some creative activity during the month of October,” said Jennifer Cole, executive director of Metro Arts. Nashville Opera performs Carmen
world’s record for the largest cardboard mosaic. Back by popular demand is the $10 Artober VIP Discount Card. Throughout the month, discounts and special offers will be available from the Belcourt Theatre, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens & Museum of Art, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Dance Theatre of Tennessee, classes at Fort Houston, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville Ballet, Nashville Children’s Theatre, Nashville GLBT Chamber of Commerce, Nashville Opera, Nashville Symphony, Picture This Creative Framing & Gallery, Tennessee Performing Arts Center, and the Tennessee State Museum. Artober Nashville is being held in conjunction with National Arts and Humanities Month, designated by Americans for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.artobernashville.com.
36 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
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Russ Harrington The Man Behind the Fame
Photography: hollis Bennett
photography
Loretta Lynn: This was shot right after the flood in 2010 at my Nashville studio. We used an old Cadillac and roses that had been destroyed when my street became a river.
by Martin Brady
I
t’s been more than thirty years since Russ Harrington started making a living as a photographer. Launching his career in 1982, the
Nashville native cut his professional teeth doing headshots, department-store advertising, weddings, and model shoots. A few breaks along the way, and by the early ’90s Harrington had embarked on an amazing stretch of his career that now finds him at the top of the heap of Nashville’s music industry photographers. Harrington continues to seek out new horizons, mainly in New York and Los Angeles, to gain entry into other areas of show-biz photography. But for now there are plenty of laurels to rest on, and the Tennessee State Museum is honoring Harrington with an exhibit called Shooting Stars: Celebrity Portraits by Russ Harrington, on display October 11 through December 29.
Brian Setzer: We shot this at a bar in Los Angeles for the album Wolfgang’s Big Night Out. Brian has to be one of the coolest guys around. NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 41
The sixty-two Harrington works are drawn from his portfolio of promotional, editorial, and artistic portraits, including more than 600 album and CD covers, an oeuvre that encompasses iconic pictures of Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson, Keith Urban, and dozens of other country and Christian music artists. The exhibit, curated by Renee White, will also feature Loretta Lynn’s dress from the cover of her 2004 Van Lear Rose album produced by Jack White. “Celebrities become models,” he says. “It’s really amazing, and they’re lovely to work with. What I always say is you have to manage their time–that’s the most important thing. They’ve got a million things
Hank Williams, Jr.: I love this daylight shot of Hank. The smoke from the Cuban cigar made for a killer image.
Brooks & Dunn: My prop stylist friend Shelia B and I got permission to spray the interior of this old Airstream a wild yellow color. This was a difficult shot to get, but it is one of my favorites for sure.
to do that week, so it’s important to be prepared and have things up and lit and ready to go. I’m known for that. It's especially important with Reba and stars of that caliber. We do a whole pre-light day with a model, so when Reba walks onto the set–Boom!" Shooting pretty pictures is one thing, then; playing on-the-spot psychologist quite another. “Some artists don’t want to do a shoot, but they know they’ve got to,” Harrington says. “If they’re having a rough day, then we go quickly, have things lined up, make sure the food is good—make it as painless as possible. It’s unbelievable how many days they’re on the road; then they get a day off and the label throws a photo shoot on them. So you worry that they hate your
Robert Plant: I’m glad my finger was on the button when Robert just reached over and tried to take a bite out of Alison Krauss. What a great moment.
42 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Grace Potter: Sometimes all you need is one hard light and a cool pose.
NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 43
“In the digital world,” he says, “people just put a lens on the camera and put it on automatic without going back to their roots and understanding optics and focal length and aperture and depth of field. That’s why a lot of stuff just looks the same now. “Back in the day, I had a case with about twenty different films in it and I could pick the palette. It was, like, this needs to be black and white, or green, or vivid color, and it was like being a painter. I had three or four camera systems, some faster or slower. I really miss those days.” Some of Harrington’s favorite images are a delightfully spontaneous, unposed moment caught between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, plus almost anything with Brooks & Dunn. “I shot the first meaningful image where Ronnie Dunn was smiling,” says Harrington. “He loved that picture. It was pivotal. We’re good friends now.” Harrington has his artistic mantras—keep the subject moving, look for the angle, etc. If his subject is photogenic and the location is great, he can hardly not come up aces. “But I like to think they hire me for my beauty lighting,” he says. “You want people to say, call Russ, ’cause every time the phone rings it could be your biggest job ever.” Shooting Stars: Celebrity Portraits by Russ Harrington opens at the Tennessee State Museum on October 11 and will be on display until December 29. Admission is free. For more information visit www. tnmuseum.org. Heather Headley: What a stunning woman . . . makes for an easy day for sure.
guts—and then they call you at the end of the day and say that was the best shoot ever.”
“Well, that’s the goal,” he chuckles. “The ideal thing is to see the wardrobe before the shoot and to plan backdrops and sets, but most of the time that doesn’t happen exactly as you hope. There’s a lot of improvisation, depending on the job.” Harrington is just old enough to remember the pre-digital days of his art. He even used to develop his own photos and send around expensive portfolios by courier to promote his work. The computer has changed all that.
Photography: hollis Bennett
Harrington gets huge results, whether he’s shooting half days or full days, in color or black and white, an album cover, or a People magazine spread. There’s lots of planning, right?
44 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Russ Harrington
flow erS for
e v ery
occASioN
601 8th Ave South Nashville, TN 37203 615-736-5200 ilexforflowersnashville@gmail.com www.ilexforflowers.com
Photography by Brett Warren
artist profile
Kirsten Stingle
stories in sculpture
“
Riding Solo, 2012, Mixed media with porcelain and vintage foundry mold, 18” x 8” x 27”
There has to be sincerity, but you have to laugh at how seriously we take our own lives.
”
Adaptation, 2013, Hand-built porcelain stoneware with multiple layers of underglazes, slips and stains. Mixed media: porcelain stoneware, alligator skull, vintage wheels, leather straps, 21”x 25” x 21”
Nice Kitty, 2012, Mixed media: porcelain stoneware, antique wooden foundry mold, vintage clock chain, 25” x 15” x 15”
K
irsten Stingle’s work is whimsical and seductive, dark and post-apocalyptic. Each ceramic sculpture
is a carefully arranged homage to the female point of view, to humanity’s universal struggles, and to an aesthetic that can only be described as Steampunk. By tossing in a handful of flotsam and jetsam, the look is uniquely her own. Still, Stingle’s work is even more than the sum of these parts because it articulates so much at once. Here’s what we know about such complexity: Stingle doesn’t believe that her chosen medium of ceramics demands that she simply turn out beautiful vases. A vase is lovely, but a figural ceramic sculpture? That is a different type of wet dust altogether.
Photography: Jerrry atnip
Riveted, 2013, Mixed media: porcelain, vintage riveter, roof nails, vintage wheels, jackal skull, 19" x 21" x 8"
by Karen Parr-Moody
The discipline of ceramics can straddle the line between artisan and art, which proved to be a dilemma for Stingle when she embraced the medium and launched her artistic career. “Ceramics sort of take hold in the craft world, and it’s hard to find a niche in the fine-art world,” she says. “People are used to seeing ceramics as a pot, something that sits on a shelf quietly and gives them that beauty. Whereas mine, through telling a story, is trying to evoke a response from the viewer.” There is nothing quiet about the stories Stingle’s sculptures tell. Take Riveted as just one example. Stingle was inspired to create this piece after discovering an old riveter machine at the Antique
NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 47
Archaeology store in Nashville. An image of the iconic Rosie the Riveter sprang into her mind as she mulled over the strength women can summon to “get the job done.” As a double entendre, Stingle also thought about the word “riveted” and the idea of being transfixed by an awe-inspiring subject. So she took that riveter machine and built from it—as she does for many of her figures—a mechanized form of transport, what she calls a “machine creature” complete with a coyote skull at the helm. It looks like something a Mad Max character might straddle to traverse the dusty, post-apocalyptic plains. Does this figure, she of the flaming-red Medusa hair, look intense? Yes. Is she hunched over her machine, eyes squinted and teeth clenched as though she might hurl a spiked iron ball? No. This figure steps back a pace from that particular brand of intensity, possessing instead a more nuanced strength. Yes, she grips her post-apocalyptic machine firmly between her thighs. But her face describes the rapture that belongs to a saint while her hands are posed as delicately as those of a dancing geisha. Despite being a true warrior, as Stingle explains, this figure boldly confronts the possible future with a sense of wonder. This dance between the delicate and the intense is key to Stingle’s work. Stingle, who never formally studied art, achieved a B.A. in theatre at Ohio University and a master’s degree in public affairs from Columbia University. Her undergraduate studies in drama boldly temper the physicality of her sculptures—particularly the
face, hands, and feet. While she spent her childhood viewing opera and ballet with her mother, an experience she credits as formative, it was her degree in theatre that emphasized the importance of gesture. To that end, Stingle spends a lot of time working on every figure’s face, hands, and feet. “So much of the emotional powerhouse that tells the story is in those three areas,” she says. When she builds each figure, by hand and without the use of molds, Stingle creates details in the face, hands, and feet with a straight pin. To deepen the color, she uses many layers of underglazes and slips. It is only after firing the figure that she finishes it through a variety of methods, including carpentry, sewing, fabric staining, and welding. Through each piece Stingle tells a story, which is a skill she gleaned from her past career in public policy. Before abandoning that career to sculpt full time, she held a position in which she gathered the stories of families trying to make the transition from welfare to work. In doing so, she uncovered the roadblocks such people came up against. “It just sort of showed me how it’s the same thing we’re all dealing with,” she says. “How do we provide a better life for our family? The power of the story moved me.” Stingle also tosses in heaping tablespoons of sly humor to lighten the tone of her tales. In the figure Escape there are objects,
Horseplay, 2013, Mixed media: porcelain stoneware, antique sewing machine, vintage roller skate strap, 22" x 8" x 24" 48 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Harnessing Dreams, 2011, Mixed media: porcelain stoneware and vintage clock chain, 24” x 17” x 13”
Endangered, 2013, Mixed media: porcelain stoneware, fiber, vintage millinery feathers, 26” x 11” 10”
which seem to be balloons, tied to a woman’s waist. Upon closer inspection one discovers that they are, in fact, bombs. “I could express it in a heavy-handed way, or I could express it in a funny way,” Stingle says of her stories told through sculpture. “They’re not high Shakespearean dramas. They’re more burlesque. You have to poke fun a little bit, but at the same time you’re trying to be true to the story you’re telling. There has to be sincerity, but you have to laugh at how seriously we take our own lives.” Stingle is represented by the Copper Fox Gallery www.thecopperfoxgallery.com. www.kirstenstingle.com.
Conquest, 2013, Mixed media: porcelain stoneware, antique barn trolley, turkey skulls, vintage glass button, 27” x 19” x 13”
Defiance, 2012, Mixed media, porcelain stoneware, vintage chain, dog collar, leather, 13" x 18" x 18" NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 49
Arts Worth Watching T
hroughout its 40-year history on public television, making it the longest-running showcase of its kind on television, Great Performances has provided viewers nationwide with an unparalleled showcase of the best in all genres of the performing arts. In celebration of this extraordinary legacy, and to mark its 40th Anniversary, a stellar roster of diverse alumni gathered at Lincoln Center last November to share their personal stories of what Great Performances has meant to them, with reminiscences and performances by Julie Andrews, Audra McDonald, Don Henley, David Hyde Pierce, Josh Groban, Itzhak Perlman, Peter Martins, Patti Austin and Take 6, Met Opera star Elīna Garanča, and Michael Bublé. The show, Great Performances’ 40th Anniversary, comes to NPT and PBS stations nationwide on Friday, October 18, at 8 p.m.
Musical performances and anecdotes are interspersed with highlights from some of the most memorable Great Performances of the past, grouped by genre: musical theater, rock, classic and contemporary drama, classical music, dance, jazz, opera, and the pop standards from American Songbook. NPT’s dedication to great documentaries on Monday nights at 9 p.m. continues this month with two stellar films apiece from P.O.V. and Independent Lens. On Monday, October 7, P.O.V. brings you Brooklyn Castle, the story of five aspiring young members of Brooklyn public school I.S. 318’s renowned chess team, winner of more than 30 national championships— the most of any school in the country. On Monday, October 14, director Michael Apted returns with 56 Up, checking in on the same subjects that he has profiled since Seven Up in 1964. Highland Hospital, a vital part of the city of Oakland, California, and the surrounding county, sees 250 patients in its emergency room every day. Waiting Room, via Independent Lens on October 21, profiles the hospital as it battles its way through seismic shifts in the nation’s healthcare system and weathers a national recession. In the first of a two-part special, brought to you by Independent Lens beginning on October 28, The Graduates examines the many roots of the Latino dropout crisis through the eyes of six inspiring young
students who are part of an ongoing effort to increase graduation rates for a growing Latino population.
In 1959 when it premiered on Broadway, Lorraine Hansberry’s groundbreaking A Raisin in the Sun was the first play to depict the strength and humanity of an African-American family as they strive for a piece of the American dream by buying a house in a white, working-class neighborhood in Chicago. More than fifty years later, playwright Bruce Norris created Clybourne Park, a sardonic Pulitzer Prize-winning prequel and sequel that takes place in the same Chicago house and revisits the questions of race, real estate, and gentrification in America. Inspired by both plays, Kwame KweiArmah, artistic director of Baltimore’s Center Stage, penned and staged a third play, Beneatha’s Place, which follows two of the Raisin characters to Nigeria and its post-colonial struggles. With A Raisin in the Sun Revisited: The Raisin Cycle at Center Stage, coming to NPT on Friday, October 25, at 8 p.m., viewers get a behind-thecurtain look at the history and legacy of Raisin and the backstage challenges of mounting the two issue-driven plays simultaneously. The Emmy-nominated and Peabody Awardwinning Craft In America returns for a fifth season on Friday, October 25. Its first episode, Forge, profiles exceptional artists who are working in what may be the only tangible example of “alchemy” we have—the forging of metal magically transformed by fire.
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
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 Cooking with Nick Stellino Cook’s Country noon America’s Test Kitchen Bringing it Home with Laura McIntosh Martha Stewart’s Cooking School 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
October 2 013
Nashville Public Television
Mind of a Chef In the first eight episodes of season two, Chef Sean Brock of McCrady’s and Husk spotlights southern cooking with heritage varieties of rice, beans and grains.
Thursday, October 10 8:30 PM
Sunday
5:00 am Sesame Street 6:00 Curious George 6:30 The Cat in the Hat 7:00 Peg + Cat 7:30 Dinosaur Train 8:00 Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood 8:30 Super Why! 9:00 Tennessee’s Wild Side 9:30 Volunteer Gardener 10:00 Tennessee Crossroads 10:30 A Word on Words 11:00 Nature 12:00 noon To the Contrary 12:30 The McLaughlin Group 1:00 Moyers & Company 2:00 Washington Week with Gwen Ifill 2:30 Expeditions with Patrick McMillan 3:00 California’s Gold 3:30 Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope 4:00 America’s Heartland 4:30 Rick Steves’ Europe 5:00 Antiques Roadshow 6:00 PBS NewsHour Weekend 6:30 pm Charlie Rose: The Week
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
A Chef’s Life Go inside the life of Chef Vivian Howard, who, with her husband Ben Knight, left the big city to open a fine dining restaurant in small-town Eastern North Carolina.
Thursday, October 10 8:00 PM
The African Americans Many Rivers to Cross Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. presents this six-hour series chronicling the full sweep of African-American history, from the origins of slavery on the African continent through more than four centuries of remarkable historic events up to the present.
Tuesday, October 22 7:00 PM
Frontline League of Denial The NFL's Concussion Crisis In a special investigation, FRONTLINE joins prize-winning journalists Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada to reveal the hidden story of the NFL and brain injuries, drawn from their forthcoming book.
Tuesday, October 8 8:00 PM
wnpt.org
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7:00 Last Tango in Halifax 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey, Series Two – Part One. 10:00 Masterpiece Classic The Paradise, Part Two. This adaptation of the beloved French novel by Emile Zola is a rags to riches story of a young woman seduced by the dangerous charms of the modern world. 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Inside Washington
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Hartford, CT – Hour Three. 8:00 Genealogy Roadshow Austin. 9:00 POV 56 UP. Director Michael Apted has returned to find the group settling into middle age and surprisingly upbeat, through marriage and childbirth, poverty and illness. 11:30 BBC World News
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7:00 Last Tango In Halifax 8:00 Masterpiece Classic The Paradise, Part One. This adaptation of Emile Zola’s novel is a rags to riches story of a young woman seduced by the dangerous charms of the modern world. 10:00 Bluegrass Underground Yonder Mountain String Band. 10:30 Closer To Truth 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Inside Washington
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7:00 Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle Truth, Justice, and the American Way. Explore the dawn of the comic book genre and trace the evolution of the characters and their ongoing cultural impact worldwide. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Harvesting the High Plains
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7:00 Latino Americans Pride and Prejudice/Peril and Promise. Prejudice and Pride. The creation of the proud "Chicano" identity and an examination of the past 30 years. 9:00 Frontline Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club
Tuesday
16 7:00 Nature Saving Otter 501. On a typical late summer day a baby sea otter washes up on the beach in Monterey, California -- hungry, lost, injured. 8:00 NOVA Making Stuff Faster. 9:00 Raw to Ready Komatsu. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Phoenix.
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7:00 Earthflight, A Nature Special Presentation 8:00 NOVA Megastorm Aftermath. A follow up one year after Hurricane Sandy. 9:00 NPT Reports: Children’s Health Crisis Prevention. 9:30 NPT Reports: Children’s Health Crisis Mental Health. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Juanes / Jesse & Joy.
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7:00 Earthflight, a Nature Special Presentation Asia and Australia. 8:00 NOVA Inside the Megastorm. After a 1900 storm blew a boatload of sponge divers off course. they discovered a 2,000 yearold Greek shipwreck. 9:00 Quest for the Lost Maya 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Jack White.
Wednesday
17 7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Chef’s Life Strawberry Stay at Home. 8:30 Mind of a Chef Seeds. Brock’s journey to find Jimmy red corn led to a search for lost crops. 9:00 Doc Martin 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Next Frontier Engineering the Gold
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18 7:00 Music City Roots: Live from the Loveless Café The Jim Lauderdale Bluegrass Band, The Blue Dogs and Honeycutters perform. 8:00 Great Performances Great Performances’ 40th Anniversary. 9:30 Light: Bruce Munro at Cheekwood 10:00 BBC World News 10:00 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company
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7:00 Music City Roots: Live from the Loveless Café 8:00 Great Performances The Hollow Crown: Henry IV, Part Part 2. In the aftermath of the Battle of Shrewsbury, Northumberland learns of the death of his son. The Lord Chief Justice attempts to separate Falstaff from Prince Hal. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Moyers & Company
Friday
7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:00 Music City Roots: Live 7:30 Volunteer Gardener from the Loveless Café 8:00 Chef’s Life Celebrated female blueSweet Corn & Expensive grass band Della Mae Tea. kicks off this wide-rang8:30 Mind of a Chef ing night of Americana Southerners. Sean Brock music from the Loveless exposes the world to Cafe. Southern cuisine. 8:00 Great Performances 9:00 NPT Reports: The Hollow Crown: Children’s Health Crisis Henry V. The French ambassador brings a chalObesity. lenge from the Dauphin. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company 11:00 Who Cares about Kelsey?
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Pioneers of Television Superheroes. In-depth interviews with Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, Lynda Carter, Lou Ferrigno, William Katt and others. 9:00 Pioneers of Television Miniseries. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Theodore Roosevelt: A Cowboy’s Ride to the White House
Thursday
Television worth wa tchin g.
7:00 In Performance 7:00 Antiques Roadshow at the White House Vintage San Francisco. Musica Latina. Gloria Es8:00 Genealogy Roadshow San Francisco. tefan joins President and 9:00 POV Mrs. Obama as they welBrooklyn Castle. This come a host of today's public school, that most celebrated Latino serves mostly minority American performers. students from families 8:00 Frontline living below the poverty League of Denial: The line, is a powerhouse in NFL’s Concussion Crisis. junior high chess comThe hidden story of the petitions and having won NFL and brain injuries. more than 30. 10:00 BBC World News 10:00 Last of Summer Wine 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:00 Cardboard Bernini
Monday
6
Superheroes! A Never-Ending Battle Tuesday, October 15 7:00 PM
Sunday
Primetime Evening Schedule
October 2013
5
19 7:00 Lawrence Welk Show 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Café Out with the Cold. 9:00 Miranda Job. Miranda heads to the gym and, after a fuchsia-face-inducing workout, decides it's perhaps not quite for her. 9:00 Old Guys 10:00 Globe Trekker Buenos Aires City Guide. 11:00 Doc Martin
12 7:00 Lawrence Welk Show 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Café Afternoon Tease. Sarah chases some literary agents, and the Dobsons spark a heated debate about jam and cream. 9:00 Miranda Teacher. 9:30 Old Guys 10:00 Globe Trekker Southern Mexico. 11:00 NPT Reports: Children’s Health Crisis
7:00 Elton John in Concert A collection of old hits and new titles in a new concert. 8:30 Café There’s No Place Like Home. 9:00 Miranda Date. 9:30 Old Guys 10:00 Globe Trekker Around The World Panamericana: Incas & Inquisitions. 11:00 Quest for the Lost Maya
Saturday
Nashville Public Television
wnpt.org
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7:00 Secrets of Selfridges 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey, Season Two, Part Four. 9:00 Masterpiece Class The Paradise, Part Five. 10:00 Bluegrass Underground Beausoleil Avec Michael Doucet. 10:30 Closer to the Truth What’s in a Resurrection? 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Inside Washington
7:00 Secrets of the Tower of London 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey, Season Two – Part Three. 9:00 Masterpiece Classic The Paradise, Part Four. 10:00 Bluegrass Underground Steeldrivers. 10:30 Closer to the Truth Is Free Will an Illusion? 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Inside Washington
5
7:00 African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross In the Fire (1861-1896.) Examine the most tumultuous and consequential period in African American history: the Civil War and the end of slavery, and Reconstruction's thrilling but tragically brief "moment in the sun." 8:00 Jim Hendrix: American Masters 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine
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7:00 African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross The Age of Slavery (1800-1860.) After the American Revolution, was a time of tremendous opportunity. But for most, this era represented a new nadir. 8:00 War of the Worlds: American Experience 9:00 Frontline The Retirement Gamble. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moving with Grace
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7:00 African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross The Black Atlantic (1500-1800.) The truly global experiences that created the African American people. 8:00 NPT Reports: Aging Matters End of Life. 9:00 Frontline Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria. 10:00BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Held Hostage
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Masterpiece Classic The Paradise Sunday, October 6 8:00 PM
2
Nashville Public Television
Raw to Ready Wednesday, October 16 9:00 PM
7:00 Lawrence Welk 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Café Fragile – Handle With Care. Everyone wants to know how Sarah's meeting with the literary agent went. 9:00 Miranda Excuse. A Pride And Prejudice party 9:30 Outnumbered 10:00 Globe Trekker Around the World – Pacific Journeys. 11:00 Doc Martin
NOVEMBER 1
7:00 Music City Roots: Live from the Loveless Barn Performances by The Dirt Daubers, The Owsley Brothers, The Memphis Dawls, Gypsy and Humming House. 8:00 Great Performances Moby Dick from San Francisco Opera. Jay Hunter Morris stars as Captain Ahab. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Moyers & Company
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7:00 Lawrence Welk Show 8:00 Keeping Appearances 8:30 Café A Note to Follow. 9:00 Miranda Holiday. Miranda decides she needs to be a bit reckless and wild and so decides to book a holiday at the local hotel down the road. 9:30 Old Guys 10:00 Globe Trekker Around the World – Pacific Journeys. 11:00 Doc Martin
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7:00 Music City Roots: Live from the Loveless Café Robin & Linda Williams, Scott Miller, The Whiskey Gentry, Japanese country queen Tomi Fujiyama and Tiller's Folly take the stage. 8:00 Raisin in the Sun Revisited 9:00 Craft in America Forge. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Moyers & Company
Nature Saving Otter 501 Wednesday, October 16 7:00 PM
7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Chef’s Life Cracklin’ Kitchen. 8:30 Mind of a Chef Louisiana. Sean and historian and food writer John T Edge visit Middendorf's Restaurant, where cooks create a catfish chip. 9:00 Doc Martin 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart
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7:00 Nature Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom. 8:00 NOVA Making Stuff Colder. 9:00 Raw to Ready Mack Truck. A heavy hauler vital to commerce must operate in every condition from sub-zero cold to triple-digit heat. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits Vampire Weekend/Grizzly Bear.
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7:00 Tennessee Crossroads 7:30 Volunteer Gardener 8:00 Chef’s Life Pimp My Grits. 8:30 Mind of a Chef Rice. Sean visits Anson Mills, where Glenn Roberts is blazing a trail to reintroduce the world to the Carolina Rice Kitchen. 9:00 Doc Martin 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Serengeti Mara – A Memoir
23
7:00 Nature Animal Odd Couples. 8:00 NOVA Making Stuff Wilder. 9:00 Raw to Ready Bentley. It's a century-old obsession to find the right raw materials to build a car that is fit for both king and race car driver. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Austin City Limits The Lumineers / Shovels & Rope.
Visit wnpt.org for complete 24 hour schedules for NPT and NPT2
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Junk in the Trunk 3. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Dallas, TX – Hour Three. 9:00 Independent Lens The Graduates/Los Graduados. The challenges facing many Latino students. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 American Graduate Translating the Dream. 11:30 American Graduate: Graduation by the Numbers.
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Miami Beach, FL – Hour Three. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Dallas, TX – Hour Two. 9:00 Independent Lens The Graduates / Los Graduados. This twopart special examines the many roots of the Latino dropout crisis through the eyes of six young students. 10:00 BBC World News 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 Last Will & Testament
21
7:00 Antiques Roadshow Miami Beach, FL – Hour One. 8:00 Antiques Roadshow Miami Beach, FL – Hour Two. 9:00 Independent Lens The Waiting Room / Let Me Down Easy. Highland Hospital, in Oakland, California, is stretched to the breaking point. 10:30 Last of Summer Wine 11:00 BBC World News 11:30 Plainspirits
20
7:00 Secrets of Henry VIII’s Palace 8:00 Masterpiece Classic Downton Abbey, Series Two - Part Two. 9:00 Masterpiece Classic The Paradise, Part Three. 10:00 Bluegrass Underground Ben Sollee. 10:30 Closer to the Truth Why is Free Will a Big Question. 11:00 Tavis Smiley 11:30 Inside Washington
exhibit
Walter Williams, Roots – Southern Landscape, Mixed media on wood board
Jubilee!
African American Art Shines at the Van Vechten Gallery by Cass Teague | Photos by Jerry Atnip
V
ictor Simmons is a very happy man these days. He is
responsible for the art that moves through the galleries at the historic Fisk University campus in North Nashville. As curator of both the Carl Van Vechten and Aaron Douglas galleries there, as well as overseeing the university’s art collection all over the campus and beyond, he is in the midst of a very exciting time ten years into the job.
101-piece Alfred Stieglitz Collection, donated by Georgia O’Keefe, was going to be shared with the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, as part of a well-chronicled financial arrangement to benefit the university, he began the task of reshaping the collection’s historic home—the Carl Van Vechten Gallery—for a new generation with a different kind of identity that would be inclusive of, but not exclusive to, the Stieglitz Collection.
When it became very clear to Simmons that Fisk University’s
“This is a great opportunity for Fisk and a new beginning for the
54 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
gallery. It’s a real turnaround for us,” says Simmons. The Stieglitz Collection for decades has occupied the greatest part of the space in the university’s Van Vechten Gallery, a free-standing, twolevel building, and with its departure this summer, Simmons and his colleagues have put in motion a plan to display some of the incredible pieces from the institution’s vast repository of over 4,000 works of American, African American, and worldwide art, including paintings, photographs, and sculptures, some of which have been recently acquired, and many which have not been on exhibition for decades and, in some instances, have never been publicly displayed. In contemplating this inaugural exhibition at the repurposed Van Vechten Gallery, which chronicles the progression of African American Art from the founding of the University in 1866 through the present, Simmons chose a “big tent” approach. A recurring theme presented itself: that of Jubilee as a celebration of beginnings, freedom, and creativity. “I started out looking at about 800 works,” says Simmons. “There are some that are absolute classics—the Aaron Douglas works, the Henry Ossawa Tanner masterpiece The Three Marys. You cannot do an exhibition like this and not include these works. I began to divide the piles into the must-haves, the ought-to-haves, the hope-to-haves, and the willget-to-haves. And then I started to think about what themes I wanted to address. Three years gave me a lot of time to do research with the help of students and others . . . to create a concept . . . themes and sub-themes. We homed in on Heroes, City and Country, Acknowledging Africa, and Religion and Spirituality.” Jubilee! occupies both levels of the Van Vechten Gallery. On the Arthur Leroy Bairnsfather, George Washington Carver, Oil on canvas
“
A group of people who came out of slavery and within a very short period of time begin to reflect on who they are, what their history is, how they fit in this country, as well as, how they want to claim it and shape it.
”
first level, Albert Alexander Smith’s Raising of the Bell and William Edward Scott’s Haitian Market, a coming together of the sacred and the profane, set the tone for the caliber of the exhibit. William Doring’s portrait of Maggie Porter, who was born into slavery, attended Fisk, and traveled the world singing with the original Jubilee Singers, is a poignant reminder of the historical legacy the university holds in African American culture.
Albert Alexander Smith, Raising of the Bell, Oil on canvas
Works by William Henry Johnson such as Harlem Rooftops, Malvin Gray Johnson’s The Sailor, Romare Bearden’s The Last Supper and Easter Sunday, Leroy Bairnsfather’s George Washington Carver portrait, and Building Thee More Stately Mansions by Aaron Douglas NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 55
Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Three Marys, Oil on canvas
will leave you spellbound. Also featured are works by Hale Woodruff, Leonard Baskin, Leon Hicks, Stephanie Pogue, and Tennessee siblings Beauford and Joseph Delaney. The lower level of the Gallery is dominated by more modern works, large abstract paintings, repoussé, and a large hanging installation. Dean Mitchell’s Hatshepsut from Budweiser’s The Great Kings and Queens of Africa series, one of several available to the gallery, is on display along with the artistic visions of Ted Jones, Greg Ridley, and James Miles. William T. Williams' Do You Think A Is B? is displayed along with Nelson Stephens’ Imani Impulse. Simmons sees the Van Vechten Gallery as an integral part of Fisk’s educational mission for its students and the community. “We are a university and we teach, so our collection is not just for the aesthetic enjoyment, but for what we can do to support the education of our students.” He believes the gallery is in a unique position to tell a story of American and African American art in a depth that most galleries
Claude Clark, Market Place, Oil on canvas
56 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
and museums in this country simply cannot. “Fisk has been collecting these things and been a home for these kinds of things almost since the beginning of its history, which is incredible when you think about that. This is an incredible story to tell. A group of people who came out of slavery and within a very short period of time begin to reflect on who they are, what their history is, how they fit in this country, as well as how they want to claim it and shape it.
“
...our collection is not just for the aesthetic enjoyment, but for what we can do to support the education of our students.
”
“Fisk is a pioneer . . . right in the forefront” of the development of on-campus art and galleries in the South, not just at HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). “Artwork Number One is the 1873 portrait of the Jubilee Singers,” says Simmons, commissioned by Queen Elizabeth, who gave Nashville the name Music City, USA in response to hearing the Fisk Jubilee Singers. “Fisk was African American art; it was ground zero, and it forms the foundation of why we’re so strong today. The real story to tell is the way that Fisk graduates continue to support the gallery, a world-class collection.” The exhibition continues throughout the year at Fisk. Jubilee! is currently on display at the Carl Van Vechten Gallery at Fisk University. For more information visit www.fisk.edu.
Aaron Douglas, Building Thee More Stately Mansions, Oil on canvas
William Edward Scott, Haitian Market, Oil on canvas
NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 57
ABSOLUTE ONLINE AUCTION The Scott King Collection of
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“Always the Bride” 16x12 oil on board
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Month of October: Belle Meade Plantation Art Gallery 5025 Harding Pike, Nashville Roy Overcast clay works available at these Middle Tennessee Locations: Belle Meade Plantation Visitor Center Gift Store, Nashville Music and Molasses Festival Oct.19-20, 2013, Ellington Agricultural Center, Nashville Cannonsburgh Historic Village, Murfreesboro Midtown Gallery, Nashville Oakland Historic Home, Murfreesboro Sam Davis Home, Smyrna The Clay Lady Artist Gallery, Nashville Travellers Rest Plantation and Museum, Nashville
Roy Overcast Pottery...A Tradition in Tennessee
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Whether your field is the arts, healthcare, services, or manufacturing, choosing Merrick Printing will help you maximize your yield! 5-2013_MPC_LOGO.pdf
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MERRICK PRINTING Merrick Makes It Happen.
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Photography by Bob Delevante
artist profile
Jim Sherraden
Making Impressions
by Jason Brown
J
im Sherraden is a gracious and modest man. Since the age of 16 he has been determined to make a living in the creative arts, and now success has brought him recognition as both a lyricist and a printmaker. As another historic property of the Country Music Hall of FameÂŽ and Museum, Hatch Show Print will move across Broadway to its new home in the expansion of the museum in October. Sherraden is preparing for the arduous move and passing over the daily management of the shop into the safe hands of Celene Aubry. He will remain as Master Printer.
I’m in his home studio surrounded by the ephemera, blocks, inks, and tools of an artist who has dedicated his career to the old techniques. For almost thirty years he has been the manager, chief designer, archivist, and curator of Hatch Show Print, turning it from a letterpress shop in decline into a world-renowned business while at the same time preserving its history. Former employees have moved on to found the Isle of Printing, Fat Crow Press, and Sawtooth Printhouse, keeping the traditions of printmaking very much alive in Nashville.
Temari, Woodcut, 6" x 6"
His time spent working with Fjeld in Norway gained awards and an opportunity to discover the woodcuts of Munch, Kirchner, and other European Expressionists. This experience inspired the series of intricate, black-and-white Scandinavian woodcuts that are still in production today and are available at LeQuire Gallery on Charlotte Avenue. In 1992, test prints through the presses led to the discovery of an overlaying of images, text, and color. Influenced by Dutch artist Hendrik Werkman, a contemporary of Mondrian and Escher, and urged on by old friend and sculptor Alan LeQuire, he explored the
Aztec Plain, Woodcut, 11" x 6"
It was while studying for an English degree that he enrolled in a printmaking course, and he “devoured it, fell in love with it.” This resulted in his first Artist Book published in 1982. Following a positive review in The Tennessean, Sherraden submitted to various magazines, achieving further success with publication in the literary art magazine New Blood, sharing space with the poet and writer Charles Bukowski. His most recent Artist Book Blades of Trees (ed.18), a collaboration with Celene Aubry, is a combination of woodcuts old and new and a nod to Walt Whitman, with whom he shares a birthday. Partnerships are essential to Sherraden. In early ’80s Nashville he was introduced to both the archives of Hatch and the Norwegian singer/songwriter Jonas Fjeld. He had a source and inspiration for his artworks and a melody writer for his lyrics, which he believes taught him discipline, making him a better printmaker. “It’s knowing when you are done and working within a confined space.”
Three Faces, Linocut, 12" x 12"
62 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Hands Hills Houses, Woodcut, 11" x 8"
possibilities of the monoprint. This creative exploration coincided with a movement in graphic design against the perfection of digital type. Visits to the print shop from the seminal graphic designers Charles Spencer Anderson and David Carson resulted in Carson’s inviting Jim to design a cover for his alternative rock ‘n’ roll magazine Ray Gun. Since the first series of monoprints, Sherraden has gone on to design and print over 2,500, each signed and numbered. The monoprints are a collaboration between Jim, the work of previous designers, and a print shop with over one hundred years of history. The iconic blocks and photo plates featuring images of Elvis, carnivals, and advertising slogans were used as themes. Small blocks of eyes, mouths, and shoes were elaborated upon and recarved by Sherraden, then used in repetition to make patchwork designs. Collectors of the traditional Hatch Show Print poster were soon visiting lower Broadway in search of new monoprints.
Photography by Bob Delevante
Green & Blue Quilted Cuban, Woodcut/linocut, 14" x 14"
5 x 5 Quilted Cuban, Woodcut/linocut, 17" x 17"
“I print in the warm months and cut blocks in the cold months.” Having acquired some antique Cuban, pre-Castro wood blocks, Sherraden took the small designs and incorporated them into his own art. “Hatch drives you to have a central theme.” The successful Cuban series with images of houses and hills, flora and fauna was inspired by the balance found in quilts, Native American art, Moroccan pottery, and Dutch tiles. He unveils to me his latest piece from this series. It’s a patchwork design with woodblock prints cut, arranged, and mounted on a multidimensional wood base, then hand finished with a brayer. Over thirty-three years of printmaking have given him the confidence and lack of fear to add these finishing touches and use his own work this way.
Majorca, Woodcut, 13" x 13"
64 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Crazy Quilt, Woodcut/watercolor, 42" x 44"
The Crazy Quilt is his most challenging project to date. In the true tradition of quilting, fragments of his woodcut prints are painstakingly pieced together and supported top and bottom by a wooden dowel. This extremely labor-intensive process results in a grand but light-handed and seemingly fragile artwork measuring 43” x 43”. Sherraden promises similar pieces in the future. I’m handed an exquisitely cut woodblock from his new series based on the Temari Ball, a complex construction of Kimono threads popularized in Japan. These delicate woodcuts will be hand finished in watercolor for showing at LeQuire Gallery along with other new, multidimensional quilted pieces. New ideas continue to flow from Sherraden. He references the
woodcuts, gathers fresh blocks to cut, and sees larger pieces ahead. As he walks me to my car and thanks me for my time, I’m thinking about his songwriting awards, Silver Medal from the Nashville Chapter of the American Advertising Federation and the Distinguished Artist Award from the State of Tennessee. The new Haley Gallery within the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum will feature his monoprints. New woodcuts by Jim Sherraden can be seen at LeQuire Gallery in the group show The Nature of Wood: Sculpture and Turnings by Olen Bryant, William Kooienga, and Brenda Stein with woodcuts by Alan LeQuire and Jim Sherraden. Opening reception Saturday, October 12. www.lequiregallery.com
NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 65
“ The Dury’s staff consists of actual photographers...” Ever since I bought my first item from Dury’s almost 4 years ago, I have trusted no one else with all of my equipment needs. The Dury’s staff consists of actual photographers with a vast array of technical as well as performance knowledge and they are quick to help me find the right solutions for all of my shooting needs. A few months ago, it was time for me to upgrade cameras and the staff at Dury’s showed me the new Canon 5D Mark III. Simply put, the new Canon 5D Mark III is the best camera that I have shot with to date. I now have the capability to shoot at extremely high ISO’s with little or no noise as well as up to 6 frames per second with a very quiet shutter. Not to mention, the new autofocus system works flawlessly even in the most trying situations! This camera will make even the most discerning photographer very happy as the files that come out of the camera are simply breathtaking.
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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2013 SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2014 Grades PreK3 – 12 Developing scholars with integrity and balance in an inclusive Christian environment for grades PreK3 through 12. For a personal tour of the campus, please call (615) 369-4488.
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1 Nashville arts magazine Photography Competition 2013 st
Thomas Keller, Brentwood, TN, The exposure was made through a dust-covered windowpane. The story: sometimes, those who wish to help others find themselves also abandoned. A benevolent light picks out the subject while the ladder offers hope and a way to reach higher.
First Place ($500 cash) • Second Place ($250 Dury’s gift card) • Third Place ($250 Dury’s gift card)
H
undreds of photographs filled the submission inbox for this year’s amateur photography competition sponsored by Nashville Arts Magazine and Dury’s. We defined an amateur as a person making less than 30 percent of their income from photography. The photographs arrived from around the world— London, Dubai, India, Iraq, and Canada—but despite the global interest in the competition nine of the ten who placed are from Nashville. Judges Norman Lerner, Jerry Atnip, Christine
Rogers, John Guider, Anthony Scarlati, Stacey Irvin, and Lawrence Boothby were charged with the task of culling the photographs. Over the course of a day filled with discussion, tough decisions, and dramatic cutting, the top ten emerged.
2
3
nd
Lyle Jackson, Nashville, TN, Sea Oat Leaf After years of shooting sunsets and waves, I’ve turned my attention elsewhere. These are sea oat leaves along the shore.
This year’s editor’s pick is an image that stayed through to the last round. We enjoyed the whimsy of the moment captured and just had to include it.
rd
NashvilleArts.com
Sally Bebawy, Nashville, TN, Incomplete Portrait It doesn’t do her justice, but this is a picture of Mrs. Samia Metry, my lovely mother. When times change, she’s always gracefully strong. October 2O13 | 67
Honorable mentions
Judit Pap, Nashville, TN, Starry Night The image is called Starry Night because Van Gogh and his work are a great influence on how I see art, and I wanted this image to be a tribute to him. I made this image with my iPhone and processed it in Lightroom.Â
Neal Bowen, Antioch, TN, Singapore Smoke A smoke break on a long walk through Singapore with my Indonesian cousin-in-law that I just met.
Sarah Faith Taylor, Nashville, TN, Solitude It seems I breathe best in the middle of nowhere. It’s just me and the birds. 68 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Rita J Maggart, Nashville, TN, Oh Dorothea After I took this photograph of a Dorothea Lange image, I found that my hands were caressing her head and neck. I am a big fan of her work.
Graham Gerdeman, Nashville, TN, A terraced vineyard in Switzerland. Hundreds of intersecting lines and angles and almost shocking, yet soothing, primary colors. The ivy below seems to be clawing its way up to the grapevines above (who wouldn’t?), separated by stone and a road that looks like it was slashed there by a sword. And a bright-red sentry.
Kim Whilhite, Paoli, IN, On Guard The photo is of wild horses on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I enjoy photographing the horses and capturing their strength and beauty.
EDITOR's CHOICE Graham Gerdeman, Nashville, TN, This shot was taken from aboard the ferry on Lake Geneva as it pulled in to dock. The surreal beauty of the scene was stunning. The boy, man, and swan on a small beach were seemingly oblivious to one another. A single shot was taken just as the boy flung his rocks into the lake.
NashvilleArts.com
Mike Gannon, Nashville, TN, Late Night Dinner I pulled into a Wendy’s on the way home. When I looked in the steamed-up window, I knew I had to get the shot.
Kato Kinder, Nashville, TN, Lost and Forgotten This photograph was taken while I was walking through the Santa Cruz Mountains, listening to a coyote howl nearby. I was drawn to the curved line, texture, and play of light and shadow as the afternoon sun was beginning to disappear and the cool ocean breezes were starting to lift. October 2O13 | 69
NaSHville Jazz WOrkSHOP Upcoming events Saturday, Oct 5, 7pm Beegie Adair Trio
Saturday, Nov 2, 7pm Beegie Adair Trio
Friday, Oct 11, 8pm Snap on 2&4 w/ Imer Santiago
Friday, Nov 8 Snap on 2&4 w/ 3rd Coast Vocals
Sat, Oct 12, 10am-5pm Germantown Street Festival 5th Ave. Jazz Stage Sunday, Oct 20 JAZZMANIA Friday, Oct 25, 8pm Snap on 2&4 w/ Rod McGaha Sat, Oct 26, 4-5pm Jazz By the Book at Parnassus Books
Friday, Nov 22, 8pm Snap on 2&4 w/ Roland Barber Saturday, Dec 7, 7pm Beegie Adair Trio Friday, Dec 13, 8pm Snap on 2&4 w/ Lori Mechem & Don Aliquo
The Great Pumpkin Party Featuring
Mark your calendars for Jazzmania 2013, the Jazz Party of the Year!
Special musical guests
kirk Whalum, Sandra Dudley, & evan Cobb
Sunday, October 20, 4-8pm
TREATS!
Jamison Hall, the Factory at Franklin
Oct. 29th 5:00 till 8:00 & Oct. 30th 10:00 till 5:00
For Tickets and Complete Schedule, visit nashvillejazz.org or call 615.242.Jazz (5299)
One attendee will receive a gift of Armenta Jewelry valued at $2,500.00 A L L
NaSHville Jazz WOrkSHOP 1319 adams Street Nashville, TN 37208
T H E
B E S T
I N
F I N E
J E W E L RY
5 1 0 1 H a r d i n g R o a d N a s h v i l l e , Te n n e s s e e 3 7 2 0 5 6 1 5 . 3 5 3 . 1 8 2 3
O C TO B E R 1 1 , 2 0 1 3 – J A N U A RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 3 0 Amer i ca n s i s organ i zed by t h e R u bel l Fam i l y Collection, Miami PLATINUM SPONSOR:
THE FRIST CENTER FOR THE VISUAL ARTS IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY:
Rashid Johnson. The New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club (Thurgood) (detail), 2008. Lambda print, Ed. 2/5, 69 x 55 1/2 in. Rubell Family Collection, Miami. Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE 919 BROADWAY FRISTCENTER.ORG
pottery
Roy Overcast Ribbons of Clay by Wendy Wilson | Photography by Rob Lindsay
R
oy Overcast started making pottery because he thought it looked easy. An art student at MTSU, he happened upon other art students in a pottery studio and told himself it would be a piece of cake. “I didn’t realize how challenging and frustrating it is,” he recalls. But Overcast is not one to walk away from a challenge. He stuck with it, and now has been at it for forty-four years. Overcast, who has an exhibit this month at Belle Meade Plantation, has enjoyed an unusually successful career combining his artistic talents with business savvy. A Shelbyville native, he was the son of an auto mechanic and housewife who taught him the value of hard work and being smart with money. Years ago, he owned a production studio at 12th Avenue and Linden, where he had more than a dozen people working for him and made clay works for Cracker Barrel, Bloomingdale’s, and Opryland Hotel. Overcast also has been a regular at the spring Tennessee Association of Craft Artists Fair at Centennial Park since it started in 1972, never missing a single year. He makes it a point to be up and walking around his tent talking to potential customers as they survey his work.
Pottery ready for glazing
“He has repeat customers, often famous ones, that make it a tradition to visit him every fair,” says Teri Alea, executive director of the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (TACA). “He is fun to have around and has a lot of knowledge and experience.” Today he works alone in a studio at his Brentwood home, which he has shared for twenty-eight years with his partner Ralph Dipalma. Nestled in a woodsy area, the home is filled with Overcast’s artwork as well as that of other potters and also basket weavers. He has two cats, Guapo and Leiko, and credits Leiko with helping him develop his signature lopsided coffee mugs. One day, Leiko knocked over a tray of unfinished mugs and instead of considering them ruined, Overcast liked the effect. He started making some of his mugs that way on purpose.
His coffee mugs will be in the Belle Meade exhibit, as well as honey jars, platters, pots, and jugs and winged vases inspired by the sculpture Winged Victory at the Louvre. Besides working in his home studio, Overcast gives demonstrations for children at historic sites and parks and teaches a class at The Clay Lady's Studio. The students are adults with varying skill levels looking to unwind from stressful jobs. Like he once did, they wrestle with throwing on the wheel, centering and pulling up the clay. But once that’s accomplished, Overcast says, they can be flexible, have fun, and even turn mistakes into design elements. “You can create and do anything with it,” he says. An opening reception for Roy Overcast will be held Thursday, October 3, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Art Gallery at Belle Meade Plantation in the visitor center gift shop. The exhibit runs October 3 through October 31. The gift shop is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no fee to visit the gift shop. Belle Meade Plantation is located at 5025 Harding Pike, Nashville 37205. For more information visit www.royovercast.com and www.bellemeadeplantation.com.
Michael Griffin
That Ancient Dance Oil on linen 30� x 30� One Man ShOw at harpeth Gallery
reception for the artist: tuesday, October 15th 4-7 pM harpeth Gallery is located at 4102 hillsboro pike in Green hills
615.428.7227 | michaelgriffinstudio.com michaelgriffin44@yahoo.com
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Photography: Jerry Atnip
The Interview Mayor Karl Dean Sits Down with Bill Ivey to Talk About Art, Growth, and Gridlock Ivey: Let’s start with your school years. Was there any kind of arts scene? Dean: When I was in high school, they offered art history. But
it wasn’t certainly a focus of the city. There wasn’t a large arts community in Gardner, Massachusetts. My main cultural reference was always the library. It was in an old house, which was converted into the public library. It was a house where encyclopedias would be in an old dining room. It was a beautiful place; I spent a lot of time there. I always felt I got a good education when I was in Gardner. Ivey: You went to college in New York, at Columbia—a beautiful campus on the Upper West Side . . . Dean: It was a huge change going from a city of 17,000 to a city
of 8 million. And Columbia is right in the city. So obviously you need to take advantage of the different cultural institutions. I did. I went to Lincoln Center. I would go to plays. You could get standing-room tickets back then—before Broadway prices really took off—for around ten dollars.
I went to museums frequently; Columbia really encouraged it. Columbia is one of the holdouts that have a whole system based upon humanities. You have a literature requirement, which is a year. You have a semester of art humanities, a semester of music humanities. In Central Park, I loved the sculptures and statues of famous people. I still love walking through Central Park. Ivey: That whole experience with Columbia, obviously, was of value to you. How do you feel about forcing young people today to be more engaged in arts and humanities? Do you think that we’re drifting in the wrong direction with STEM and test scores? Dean: It’s a complicated issue. I certainly think it’s important for kids to have a strong basic education, and I think STEM is part of that. But I don’t regard the arts as an educational frill. I don’t know how a person could be well rounded and achieve all that they can achieve unless they’re exposed to the arts. I don’t think a person has to necessarily be making art, but that opportunity needs to be available.
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You’ve got to understand the role of art in history and in literature, or you just have huge blanks. And for me, it’s important that our schools offer both visual arts and music.
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If we don’t do that, and if we don’t continue to make that part of education, we’re going to be a far less rich society than we are. Ivey: On your watch, Nashville has really emerged as a national, maybe even an international, creative center. Dean: One of the things that really struck me when I was running
for mayor was that the music industry is so important to our city; it means so much to us in so many different ways. Obviously, it’s huge in creating jobs and creating wealth and expanding our tax base. But it really makes our city unique. Richard Florida has written about the “creative class,” and
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I really think cities that are going to do very well over the next couple of decades are going to be cities that attract creative people, because they bring all the energy, and they bring the ideas.
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The other thing I think has been a big success is our initiative for affordable housing for artists. The Ryman Lofts, which is sixty units, is for all types of artists. There are visual artists there; there are quilt-makers; there are obviously lots of musicians and songwriters. I’d like to live there. Ivey: Just to follow up, where do you think we are in terms of the standing of arts in elementary and secondary education? Do you think it’s a question of playing defense against the push toward sort of core disciplines and standardized testing? I mean, or is it advancing? Dean: I think it’s defense. There are two dangerous convergences
going on right now. We’ve gone through this recession, and local government is obviously still feeling it. Local governments, when they make decisions about what they cut in school, tend to look at arts as one of the first things to go. Then you have this increased interest in core education, STEM, the importance of testing, and it could be seen by advocates of testing that arts only take time away from teaching core subjects. One of the things that the music industry wanted to do was to give back to the city, and their focus was education, so we created this program Music Makes Us. I think because of Music Makes Us, Nashville stands out. We’re being recognized as a city that is actually investing more in music education; we’re not pulling back. Over a period of time, we will have innovative music education programs at all levels of public education and an opportunity for any student who wants to play an instrument, and to pursue music, and also to have that appreciation factor, where you get that well-rounded student. And I think that’s really one of the most important things that we’ve done. Ivey: What do you think about using your influence, or even public policy, to get arts more engaged in completely different sectors of the economy or of the community?
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...If you’re not busy being born, you’re busy dying. And Nashville is always busy being born; we’re rethinking and doing things differently, and art is just a huge, huge part of that.
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Photography: Jerry Atnip
Folks are coming to Nashville and their “capital” is their ability to create a song, their ability to perform a song, to produce a song, to do lighting, to manage a tour. Any mayor who thinks about how cities evolve would die to have that presence and influx of creative people—it’s just a huge asset.
For example, transportation. Could the Amp (bus rapid transit) have the arts all over it? Dean: I certainly would envision the Amp stations having public
art. Just as we’ve done with our bike racks, we have put a lot into having artistic bus stops. I try to ride the bus a few times a week every week, and it’s a good time to appreciate art or to appreciate things around you or to look at things in a different way. Ivey: How do you feel about urban architecture? You have the new convention center that turned out (something of a surprise to me) as a pretty aggressive piece of architecture. Dean: I was obviously involved in the very beginning. One of
the fears everyone has about a building that big in a city is that it becomes a box, or that it kills pedestrian interest in walking around it, or it’s just not friendly. And that was on our minds at the very beginning. My goal was to have something that did not appear to be a box, or what you see a lot—a nice front to it and then three sides are just walls. We spent a lot of money on art for that building; it certainly would not be nearly as attractive inside if you had all those barren walls and you didn’t have the variety of thought-provoking art pieces. People who see it see a unique building and a special building, and I think that helps sell the building to conventions.
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Photography: Jerry Atnip
Ivey: One of the things that come up from time to time would be a zoning issue that might make it hard to come up with an adaptive use, to put something of a gallery or performing arts organization into something that was originally built for another purpose.
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I’m no expert on this, but there are pop-up store fronts and galleries and things, and obviously there are certain safety standards that have to be met by any building that the public’s involved with, but we should be creatively thinking of ways to make it possible to use those buildings but also then to encourage the creation of art communities.
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For the visual arts in particular, anybody starting off (there may be some rare exceptions) is not going to be coming in with a lot of money. I mean, there’s not going to be a huge capital investment, and I would hope that the city would do what we can to make it work. And then, if it does work, you get this energy, and somebody else comes in and you’re saving neighborhoods; you’re saving buildings; you’re making the city more appealing.
Ivey: Let’s talk a little bit about the major cultural institutions. You’ve got the Country Music Hall of Fame, Cheekwood, the Frist Center, Nashville Symphony, Ballet, Opera, and so on. What do you think they owe the city?
Bill Ivey is director of the Vanderbilt University US-China Center for Education and Culture and is a principal in Global Cultural Strategies, a policy consortium.
What should they be bringing to that total mix of the arts in Nashville? Dean: I think they all do an outstanding job in providing
opportunities for Nashvillians and visitors to our city to experience all different forms of really great art. These institutions are true partners in the community, especially in a way that is special to me—providing educational opportunities for children and youth. You’ll often see the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Frist, and our other great cultural institutions with educational booths at community events. The Symphony does terrific programming where they bring in instruments for students to try out. Just like a good corporate citizen who’s involved in the city, they are involved in furthering arts and culture in Nashville and enriching the lives of our citizens. They do it for fundraising and to promote memberships, but they also do it because being engaged in the community is the right thing to do. Ivey: And what about the opposite? What do you think the city owes them? Is there some special kind of responsibility to our six or seven big institutions?
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Dean: Right. At various times the city has been involved with
different arts projects. Mayor Bredesen was clearly very involved with the Frist; he was very involved with the Hall of Fame project. Mayor Purcell was involved in the land for the Symphony. Those are all things that, when the city can be supportive and find ways within its financial constraints, have a lot of appeal to me, because I think they offer a lot for the city. The Arts Commission has its own formulas as to how they disperse grants, and they’re not going to be in the position to be the major benefactor of any one of those institutions. But I want to be supportive as I can. Just think about it, we just went through this whole thing with the Symphony.
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Losing the Symphony would have been a really big deal. It would have been a real black eye for the city. It would have been a bad thing, and so I take that pretty seriously.
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Ivey: Let’s talk a little bit about the TV show Nashville. You have to be one of the people on the very front lines of how the world perceives Nashville through that TV lens. Dean: I always tell them that my life is nowhere near as interesting as the mayor’s life on that show . . . But from my perspective, number one, it’s an important thing for Nashville in terms of the music industry because of the attention it brings, but also to Nashville’s role, which I think will increase in time, as a center for film and for production, which I think also has a positive effect on the arts community. Nashville is seen each week by some 7 or 8 million people, in the United States, and then it’s seen in 15 countries. In terms of putting our city out there as a place to visit, I could never even dream of doing a budget where you could pay for that. And the city looks great on the show. Nashville’s a great city to begin with, but it’s especially attractive in the helicopter shots at the beginning and the various places around town. It also reflects a bit of the diversity of the music scene here now. The Avery character is a rocker, and Nashville has in reality become a very strong rock community with the Kings of Leon and Jack White and the Black Keys, and then you have the Symphony, and you have the country music and everything else. It’s a good thing for the city; I mean, it’s a good thing for the city. Ivey: You’ll be known probably as a transportation and education mayor. What are some of the other things that you want as part of your legacy? Dean: The thing I care about the most is education. It’s the
hardest issue, and it’s the hardest one to have an impact on, so that’s what’s most important to me. If I had to pick a favorite thing (whatever I’m working on generally is what I get obsessed with), I really love the program we’ve done with the libraries and the schools, called Limitless Libraries, where we’ve opened up all the public library resources to our schools. We recently opened a new, transformed school library at Wright Middle School, which is just a beautiful thing. I think the library should be the coolest building in the school. To me, it’s everything, because no matter whether you’re doing arts or whether you want
to be a mathematician or you’re going to be a political scientist, it’s where you go to dream that anything’s possible; all the good stuff is all around you—the books. That means a lot to me. I’m pretty passionate about transportation. If we don’t get transit right as a city, if we don’t move forward, I think we get left behind. The cities that we’re most compared to are clearly Charlotte and Austin, and we’re literally a decade behind them when it comes to transit. All the studies show that in five years the commute on West End will essentially double. That’s just leaving everything alone and saying we’re not going to change anything. The Amp will make that drive in 17 minutes. I perceive that people are nervous about change, but this is one of those things where there is no status quo to preserve because if we do nothing, there will be gridlock. Traffic will get worse and worse and worse. It’s not going to be frozen in time. This city’s growing; it’s going to continue to grow, and so the choice is do we recognize that we have to do something and then start taking affirmative steps to protect our future or not?
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I love cities, and I think cities will ultimately work only if people can get around and be connected to each other. Transit is vitally important for that.
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Ivey: In your career in public service, have you always had an interest in art as something that is meaningful or did it “click in” at some point? Dean: I think it’s always been meaningful. When I go to a city,
I almost always go to the museum. When I was writing my little bit [for Nashville Arts Magazine] about my favorite painting (that I own, not in the world), it got me thinking about my relationship to art. Here in my office, I’ve got Thomas Moore, Abe Lincoln, Neil Young, and then I have one Carl Yastrzemski. [He gestures to paintings and framed photographs.] My relationship to art is almost more motivated by my interest in history and in literature. I don’t know if I have a great visual sense. I think when I react to a piece, it’s more what it makes me think about or what it means in the context of other things. Ivey: You’re comfortable having Nashville as a creative center and as an arts city being part of your legacy? Dean: Definitely. I don’t think I deserve that, but what a great
thing to even have your name mentioned in the same sentence with arts and creativity. I’ve had the good fortune of being mayor during a lot of positive things that have happened in Nashville. I’ve also had the opportunity to serve when we had the deepest recession since the Depression and the biggest flood since who knows when, so there have been real restraints on what you can do fiscally. I would like to do more. There are lots of institutions doing really creative things that I think it’d be great for us to support if we could. Any great city has got to embrace arts and creativity; if it doesn’t, it won’t be great. I’m a big believer in the Bob Dylan line that if you’re not busy being born, you’re busy dying. And Nashville is always busy being born; we’re rethinking and doing things differently, and art is just a huge, huge part of that.
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ith thirty-three years of experience serving Nashville, Stitch-It & Co. is bringing a new dimension of clothing to the menswear market. After five years of research and development, we are proud to present Custom- made suits and shirting. Loring & Co. Besopke will bring the same attention to detail, style, quality, and fit expected from the Stitch-It name. At Stitch-It & Co. we believe it takes an artist’s eye to ensure a proper fit. Proper fitting and style require artistic qualities much like those utilized by sculptors or portrait artists. You can be sure that a Stitch-It Bespoke suit will be a work of art.
W
Jeff Loring, owner Call for an appointment.
4101 Hillsboro Cir Nashville,TN 37215 (615) 292-3008
“Self Portrait” by Michael Shane Neal michaelshaneneal@gmail.com
A 25-Year Celebration of Books by Tim Henderson, Executive Director of Humanities Tennessee | Photography: courtesy of Humanities Tennessee
A
s the leaves begin to change colors and the summer heat begins to wane, large striped tents and crates of hot-off-the-press novels will overtake Legislative Plaza for the Southern Festival of Books, a fixture of fall in the South.
For three days each October, more than 250 of the nation’s top authors annually flock to the Athens of the South to lead book talks, sign their latest bestsellers, and mingle among the more than 20,000 book lovers in attendance. This year’s event marks the monumental 25th anniversary year of the festival on October 11–13 at Legislative Plaza and the Nashville Public Library. The annual festival dates back to 1989 and has since fondly been coined A Celebration of the Written Word. It is among the oldest of literary festivals in existence and one of the most influential, inspiring the creation of similar events across the nation. Each year, the festival continues to grow, and this one is no exception. This year’s exciting lineup of authors includes notables such as
Albert Gore, Bill Bryson, Chuck Palahniuk, and Rick Riordan, as well as Southern favorites such as Ron Rash, Sena Jeter Naslund, and Clyde Edgerton. As a nod to the festival’s noteworthy anniversary, seven authors that participated in the first Southern Festival of Books in 1989 will return for the 2013 festival: Roy Blount Jr., Allan Gurganus, Bobbie Ann Mason, Jill McCorkle, Cathie Pelletier, Lee Smith, and Alana White. While the rooms of Legislative Plaza and the Nashville Public Library host book talks throughout the weekend with a record-breaking 312 authors and performers in attendance, the plaza itself will come to life with exhibitor booths and happenings at the popular activity stages. The Chapter 16 Stage will become a platform for Tennessee writers, readers, and performers to share their works, while the Café Stage will reflect Music City’s claim to fame, featuring a stellar lineup of popular musicians and local favorites. As the love of reading is often born in the heart of a child, the
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Southern Festival of Books pays special attention to children’s activities throughout the weekend. The Youth Stage highlights storytellers, musicians, poets, songwriters, hands-on crafts, and classic book characters to encourage reading, creating, and sharing stories. Special features at this year’s anniversary event include a visit from the Wimpy Kid Bus that allows fans to view Diaries of a Wimpy Kid trailers, grab some Wimpy Kid goodies, and take photos with the colorful cast of characters depicted on the bus. There will also be a birthday party for another classic turning 25 this year— Waldo, of Where’s Waldo fame. The next scene to be on the lookout for Waldo will be on Legislative Plaza as the pages from this popular series come to life in Nashville and festival attendees have the chance to participate in a Where’s Waldo scavenger hunt. Visits from acclaimed children’s book authors will be scheduled throughout the festival, including Kevin Henkes who plans to bring his well-known friend Lilly (and her purple plastic purse). The weekend is guaranteed to be a hit among readers of all ages, celebrating the written word and bringing the pages of the nation’s best works to life right here in Nashville. It’s an event 25 years in the making that has kept the love of literature alive in our community and introduced generations of new readers to the joy of reading. In honor of all the nights you’ve stayed up late flipping pages to see what happens next, Humanities Tennessee invites you to the 25th annual Southern Festival of Books for the next chapter in a series of great festivals. Festival hours are Friday, October 11, noon until 6 p.m.; Saturday, October 12, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, October 13, noon until 5 p.m. www.humanitiestennessee.org.
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The Cumberland Society of Painters Juried Exhibition October 3 – November 1 at Richland Fine Art by Sally Schloss Photograph: Jerry Atnip
I
n a recent interview on NPR, the figurative artist Eric Fischl, now 59, disclosed his frustration about what had been taught to him in college— abstract art and modernism, to the exclusion of everything else. He said he
never felt completely satisfied by it. When he discovered representational art he found a conduit for expressing the deepest emotional parts of himself, and even though it was out of fashion, he began his lifelong career committed to this form of self-expression. Today his paintings sell for millions.
Anne Blair Brown, Before the Rush, 2013, Oil on canvas, 16" x 20 82 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Anne Blair Brown, Show Chair
The Cumberland Society of Painters was formed eighteen years ago with the mission of promoting their passion for traditional painting through teaching. The eight members of the society can easily identify with Fischl’s experience and ardor, having faced similar journeys; rejecting art teaching practices of the 1960s and ’70s and embracing traditional art in all its manifestations: plein-air, figurative, cityscape, landscape, seascape, and still life. They discovered each other through their shared respect and love for such historic painters as John Singer Sargent, Sorolla, and Anders Zorn, to name but a few. In a collegial way, they have been learning from and inspiring each other and practicing what they preach. “We traveled and painted together,” said Paula Frisbee. “We did workshops together. We were all former students of Dawn Whitelaw and had become friends. Driving back from a trip together, we had the idea that if we formed a society, we could promote our ideas.” Roger Dale Brown, Rock Walls and Creek, 2013, Oil on canvas, 24" x 30"
Member artist Roger Dale Brown expresses it this way: “Art is a process, and we all continue to study and work to improve. Our members are all students of art and want to pass along the information we have to the next generation of painters.” In her artist’s statement, Anne Blair Brown uses the word intimacy to portray the connection she feels in the process of making art. “Painting from life creates an intimacy with the subject that I just can’t get from a photograph.” Paula Frisbee is trying to “catch the light” as well as document what she sees before it disappears from the world. When I see light falling against a woman’s face,” says Michael Shane Neal, “shadows of lavender and blue cast by a rose bush in the garden, or a twinkle in the eye of an elderly man that gives insight into his youth of long ago, I am driven to interpret the world around me in paint.”
Dawn Whitelaw, Brief Encounter, 2013, Oil on canvas, 16" x 20"
On October 3 through November 3, the Cumberland Society of Painters will hold their first juried exhibition at Richland Fine Art
Kevin Menck, Trout Stream, 2013, Oil on canvas, 12" x 24"
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Pam Padgett, Boothbathed, 2013, Oil on canvas, 11” x 14”
in Green Hills, featuring twenty-two artists from across the country. The society members will also have their own work on display. The nationally known, Californiabased artist Peggi Kroll-Roberts is the exhibit judge. Her work will also be shown. It will be a feast of talented, highly skilled painters who represent the breadth of traditional art excellence in one major exhibit. “We talked about wanting to showcase traditional artists for a long time,” said Dawn Whitelaw. “We want to shift the perception about the Southeast, and Nashville in particular, to our being a serious, major contributor to the national art scene. It is our hope that we can make this an annual tradition.” Coming full circle, Pam Padgett speaks to what she sees as a growing desire in people to learn to paint. “The academy is still neglecting to teach people the disciplines of drawing, creating perspective, and atmosphere—the fundamental rules of line and composition. If you want to break the rules later on, then at least know the rules. The best thing we can do to advance traditional art is to teach it. Exhibits like the one we are mounting in October help educate people. When they see the range of what is being done, what can be done, and when they emotionally connect, they get it. And it’s fun. Painting is hard fun. If all the electricity were to go out tomorrow, the artists wouldn’t complain. It would just give us an excuse to get out in the world and paint.” The Cumberland Society Juried Exhibition 2013 is open October 3 to November 1 at Richland Fine Art. For more information visit www. cumberlandsocietyofpainters.org and www.richlandfineart.com. 84 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Paula Frizbe, Barrett Park, 2013, Oil on canvas, 14” x 11”
music
by Holly Gleason | Photography by Buddy Jackson
S
arah Jarosz, 22, has never heard Miley Cyrus nor listened to “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke’s controversyladen song that was named Song of the Summer 2013.
banjo explains. “[Studying poetry] set me free. When I came back to songs, I was in a freer place. I didn’t feel that pressure to fit into a structure.” Her previous records—2008’s Song In Her Head and 2011’s Follow Me Down—were etched interiorscopes that felt like a dusky alto cross of Shawn Colvin and Alison Krauss. With Bones, Jarosz’s acoustica has found an integration that provides a heavier kind of weightlessness, and her voice has grown richer, deeper in places, brighter in others.
With her wide-open face, equal parts Modigliani Madonna and low-light Vermeer, she’s very serene about this fact. Having just completed Build Me Up From Bones, her third album, and her degree at the New England Conservatory, Jarosz’ attention has been on music— just not the pop culture zeitgeist. Music, not sensationalism, is what matters to the young woman who signed a record deal at 16, was nominated for a Best Country Instrumental Grammy for “Mansinneedof” a year later—and has New York Times economic columnist Paul Krugman writing her mash notes in lieu of his usual Friday morning op-ed piece.
Recording on her school breaks during the final semester of NEC, Jarosz and myriad-Grammywinner Gary Paczosa worked from a trio template rather than stacking layers of overdubs. Space became a full-blown presence in the arrangements.
“I’m not on a crusade to bring back art for my age group,” she offers. “But I’ve been doing this music and following music through my life—and trying to push beyond what I know.” That push is what balanced her recording career with the prestigious NEC, where she absorbed the classical structure of Ravel, Stravinsky, and Debussy, as well as intense studies of contemporary American poets Charles Olson, Adrienne Rich, Gertrude Stein, and Ann Marie Waldrop.
Sarah Jarosz Build Me Up From Bones
It can be felt. Her own work, especially “Rearrange The Art,” “Over The Edge,” and “Anything Else,” more than hold their ground with a plucked cello and voice rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate” and Joanna Newsom’s staccato wow “The Book of Right-On.”
“Poetry is a completely different process than [writing] lyrics,” the woman who’s proficient on mandolin, guitar, and clawhammer
“We went in with a real vision. Including the trio I play with was a big thing sonically; that energy comes through. There were also a lot of give and take moments where I play something, then [violinist] Alex [Hargreaves] will play something from the energy . . . or [cellist] Nathaniel [Smith] will.”
As for her voice, once so shimmeringly haunted on Radiohead’s “The Tourist” recorded with the Punch Brothers, that deepening has a sultriness that transfixes. “A voice can change a lot in four years. I took private voice lessons at NEC with Dominique Eade, studying technique and the different ways I can use my instrument. And in a way, Gary, a voice teacher in the studio, he’s always pushing me to breathe in certain ways.” Jarosz, who balances her love of Wilco and the Decembrists with her parents’ love of Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, and Bob Dylan, is subtly weaving the jazz she picked up at NEC—Ornette Coleman,
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Billie Holiday, and Abbey Lincoln—into her evocations and explorations of what melody can carry. Blazing a progressive musical future with strong roots, she recognizes she’s lucky to have a label that both supported her desire to get her degree and allowed her to find her way musically. “When I started, I had the freedom to be the artist [I wanted to be] and follow that vision. I normally say [it’s] Americana, or I can say it’s folk or acoustic. I don’t think it fits in bluegrass, when people try to put that tag on it . . . And it’s evolving. “That’s what I want to do: to transform myself while still being me, pushing the boundaries every time and getting out of my comfort zone. In some ways, texturally and sonically, I’ve never recorded anything this sparse.” That evolution, which has attracted guests ranging from co-writers Darrell Scott and Jedd Hughes to Dan Dugmore and Crooked Steel’s Aoife O’Donovan, will find the Austin, Texas-born songwriter able to truly tour for the first time. Moving to New York’s Upper West Side, her adventure continues. “My audience has been middle-aged NPR people,” she confesses. “In the last year, it’s been getting younger. There are musicians in my scene and musicians from other scenes, and it’s so energizing. I feel like I can be anything; getting out of my comfort zone.” She pauses. “I’ve done the four years, gotten the bachelor of music degree. This is real. It’s my life now. I’ve graduated, turned 22, and come to Nashville to finish this CD. Now it begins . . . ” "Build Me Up From Bones" on Sugar Hill Records is available at all music stores and online. For more information about Sarah Jarosz visit www.sarahjarosz.com.
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Architectural Soliloquy #4
photography
positive negative space
chip Cooper by Daniel Tidwell
A luminous full moon balances on the tip of a spire . . . a massive sphere is poised atop a triangle . . . twin spires keep watch at sunset, while cascading steps and scalloped roof lines laze in the stark midday sun. These bold visual ruminations on architectural planes are part of Chip Cooper’s evocative new series of work An Architectural Soliloquy on view at The Arts Company in Nashville from October 5 through November 15, 2013. Cooper is perhaps best known as a color photographer. For years, through a series of photographic essays, he has documented the landscape, architecture, and people of the Southern United States. “Most of my career has been devoted to photographing a sense of place,” says Cooper. “Through the numerous shows and photography books I have done, I have tried to define the South” . . . using “landscapes, details, and abstracts, as well as people, to help tell the story.” In recent years, Cooper’s focus has shifted from the Southern landscape to the streets of Cuba. In 2012 he published Old Havana: La Habana Vieja in collaboration with Cuban photographer Nestor Marti. His Cuban photos are richly saturated with color, reveling in the vibrant atmosphere and street life of Havana. Cooper began working with Marti in 2008, walking the streets and capturing the essence of old Havana in what Philip D. Beidler describes in the book as a “dance of the photographers. Working together, working separately . . . one finding a shot, the other facing elsewhere, both finding a subject simultaneously, yet working completely different angles,” writes Beidler. Cooper’s newest project will focus on Cuban peasants, enabling him “to shoot both landscape and street, and I could not be more excited.”
Architectural Soliloquy #12
Architectural Soliloquy #8
The current show of black-and-white architectural photography had its genesis in a series of conversations with Arts Company owner and curator Anne Brown. Brown and Cooper took a wide-ranging look at the scope of his work, which includes commercial work, book projects, and fine art photography. Much to Cooper’s surprise the works that kept coming to the fore were the black-and-white images in his portfolio—specifically photos from a commercial shoot at a vacation community on the Florida coast called Alys. For Cooper, the new series of photos has been a throwback to his photographic roots—in particular to the work of Paul Strand and Walker Evans, whose works Cooper cites as major influences. In many ways color photography can be more forgiving than the more exacting medium of black and white, where the tonality and richness of color have been stripped away. Cooper has been amazed at the range of color that can be achieved though a black-and-white pallet. “It has been exciting for me to not use color as the primary item to sustain an image but to rely upon light, contrasts, shapes, and lines,” he says. “The negative and positive space can now become the essence within the image, a very quiet feeling letting shapes and textures dominate the image.” It’s difficult to look at contemporary black-and white-photography without thinking of some of the giants in the field such as Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange, Robert Frank, or Ansel Adams. The photographs that comprise Cooper’s Architectural Soliloquy have been stripped of the humanistic visions of photographers like these.
Architectural Soliloquy #14
What one is left with is the pure formality of the composition— elegant, visually ravishing images from a manufactured reality. Chip Cooper's exhibit An Architectural Soliloquy is on exhibit at The Arts Company until November 15. For more information on Cooper visit www.chipcooper.com and Architectural Soliloquy #2
www.theartscompany.com. NashvilleArts.com
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Hank, Fame and Pain, 2013
Jim Sherraden
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Every First Friday... Friday, October 4, 6-9 p.m. More than 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, but a $5 wristband provides unlimited transportation on trolleys circulating during the event.
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The Rais ing of La zaras, 2006, Oil on Canvas, 102” x 78”
Facing the Mob, 2006, Oil on Canvas, 60” x 48”
Field Notes
A Local Look at Global Art
Jeff Hein
Classical to Contemporary by Betsy Wills
I
spend an awful lot of time trolling the Internet searching for artists to feature on my blog, Artstormer. The parade of still lifes, wacky recycled
sculptures, photographs, and abstract acrylics would make your head spin. I say this to underline the jaw-dropping, heart-stopping reaction I had when I first encountered the work of Jeffrey Hein. There is no mistaking the fact that he is a modern-day master. His works are anything but derivative, although he employs the most classical techniques. His subjects are painted from life, meaning no photographs or modern-day camera obscura devices are employed. Moreover, he has spent years studying the skeletons and muscle tissues of the human body (think Leonardo here!).
Convenient Charity, 2011, Oil on canvas, 64” x 40”
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.
Aside from his obvious skill, he injects each work with brilliant composition, color, and nostalgia. Some of his work is religious in nature, while other pieces are brightly adorned subjects that seem to harken back to the ’70s. Many of his subjects are dressed in outfits that appear to be both flammable and fashion backward. Just thinking about them makes me want to do “the Hustle.” After stalking him on the Internet, I finally tracked down his phone number in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he runs a highly respected atelier. Jeff’s commitment to painting from life rather than photographs differentiates him from most other artists but also limits the number of pieces he can produce each year, putting him in the “slow food” category of visual arts. Fortunately I was able to get on his waiting list and now, four years later, have a wonderful portrait of my daughter.
94 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Consumed, 2010, Oil on canvas, 96” x 72”
The Beamans, 2011, Oil on canvas, 64” x 52”
artist bio Jeffery Hein is primarily known for his photorealistic paintings, but he also draws, sculpts, and makes films. He received his degree from the University of Utah and continues to work in Salt Lake City. In 2007, he opened the Hein Academy of Art, a small school modeled after the masters’ workshops of the Italian Renaissance. The curriculum focuses on academic art training and building skills that enable young artists to bring together creative ideas, good design, and solid craftsmanship. Hein’s early work consisted mostly of portraits, but his latest series reveals his interest in narrative painting and traditional themes from the history of art. He is represented by Wendt Gallery and has exhibited across the globe: USArtists Show in Philadelphia, Bridge Art Fair London, and the New York Armory Show. For more information about Hein and his work visit www.jeffhein.com.
Death of Caroline Reeder, 2007, Oil on canvas, 50” x 56”
Girl in Orange, 2010, Oil on canvas, 48” x 60” NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 95
Courtesy of www.britten100.org
Blair concert series 2013-2014
The Vanderbilt Choral Department presents a centenary tribute to one of the 20th century’s most significant composers,
Benjamin Britten This concert event takes place at West End United Methodist Church, home of the largest pipe organ in Tennessee. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 29 West End United Methodist Church (2200 West End Ave.) VanderBilt Symphonic choir, Blair chamBer choir, Blair children’S choruS & VanderBilt community choruS Tucker Biddlecombe, conductor Polly Brecht, organist All concerts at the Blair School of Music are free and open to the public unless specifically stated otherwise. For complete details about all the upcoming events at Blair, visit our website at blair.vanderbilt.edu
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NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 97
a monthly guide to art education
State of the Arts by Rebecca Berrios, Community Engagement Manager, Metro Nashville Arts Commission
A
rtober Nashville is celebrating its third anniversary and has already grown to be one of the largest arts and culture celebrations in the South. For the entire month of October artists, businesses, organizations, art lovers, and patrons come together with one goal in mind: to celebrate and experience the richness and diversity that makes Nashville a cultural mecca. Last year over 350,000 Nashvillians participated in the festivities that included nearly 1,000 arts and cultural events of every kind. Befitting National Arts and Humanities Month as designated by Americans for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, Artober Nashville allows the creative sector to celebrate and collaborate.
Josh Rowe makes a portrait for Our Town
To further our interests in engaging every Nashvillian in the arts, this year Metro Arts is offering an Art of the Word workshop series as a pilot program to provide a neighborhoodfocused arts-education initiative. Neighborhoodbased arts activities foster a more inclusive and accessible environment for cultural experience and participation and ultimately a more vibrant environment for the arts to flourish.
The Art of the Word workshops are free to the public and will be hosted at the Southeast Branch Library. Professional artists will teach bookmaking, creative writing, calligraphy, and printmaking techniques to teens and adults. Students will be invited to display their work in a virtual gallery exhibit that will be displayed on www.artsnashville.org.
The workshop series will end on October 17 with the new Our Town: A Portrait of Nashville project. This public art project is also funded by Metro Arts and features printmaker Bryce McCloud, who helps participants draw and make a portrait via his mobile printmaking art cart that he then transforms into an original letterpress print. Workshops are free and open to the public, and supplies are included. Pre-registration is required for calligraphy, spoken-word, and sketchbook workshops. No previous experience is required. This series is made possible by an Arts Education Community Learning grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission and support from the Nashville Public Library. For more details and to register visit www.artobernashville.com.
Singing with Many Voices by Lisa Venegas
E
ducators know: Singing is not only a joy for children; it also has many other benefits. Kelly Corcoran, Director of Chorus and Associate Director of Orchestra for the Nashville Symphony, says, “The benefits of singing cannot be argued. We know that singing in a chorus, no matter your age, has a positive impact on health, offers up a community of support and friendship, and opens our eyes and ears to different cultures, times, and places. Choral singing for children in particular can bolster confidence and change a young person’s life!” Which is why, on August 13, Choral Arts Link (CAL) hosted more than forty area educators and music-education advocates in downtown Nashville to discuss the importance of enhancing and adding music development programs. CAL, a not-for-profit organization created by local, retired music educator Margaret Campbelle-Holman, offers Middle Tennessee students the opportunity to develop artistic and leadership skills through choral training and provides teachers and music-education supporters with the knowledge and professional network necessary to build upon present music programs in Davidson County public schools. To learn more about CAL and its programs, please visit www. choralartslink.org.
On October 8, Stephanie Pruitt, amazing poet and the founder of www.NoStarvingArtist.net, will present Write Your World. In this workshop teens will read, listen to, write, and perform poems and spokenword art. On October 10, artist and art educator Lesley Patterson-Marx will teach teens how to make their own sketchbooks using everyday materials such as duct tape. The Art of Chinese Calligraphy will be offered to adults on October 15 by Jen-Jen Lin, founder and director of the Chinese Arts Alliance of Nashville.
Laurie Schell, Walter Bitner and Marty Monson at Choral Arts Link reception
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Nashville School of the Arts: Passionate Expression by DeeGee Lester | Photography by Tiffani Bing
T
elevision has given us a skewed image of schools for the arts as places of high-energy young people with egos on steroids, trampling one another on the road to stardom. “The reality is different,” says Oceana Sheehan, Assistant Principal for Nashville School of the Arts. “I don’t see a lot of competitive behavior being played out here,“ Sheehan says. “We’re building a community in the classroom in which students develop as individuals as well as a part of the whole. Our teachers do a great job of taking students who come to us from different places—the thirty-three Metro middle schools, as well as private and home-school learning environments—and help them to create a cohesive unit that can collaborate, problemsolve, and build a performance.”
John Pagonis, Advanced Piano
Executive Principal Dr. Gregory Stewart elaborates. “Professional ability with regard to quality instructional expertise abounds at NSA. The education professionals employed here are masters at developing and utilizing extrinsic motivators towards an intrinsic desire for student achievement. Our philosophy is an overshadowing belief that the integration of artistic passion in addition to academic development affords undeniable comprehension and mastery throughout every area of study.”
Savannah Vawter, Advanced Ballet
performed onstage with the world-famous Chieftains. From the Battle of the Bands and talent shows to competitive classes such as the Swing Band, the Pops Ensemble, and a new capstone dance piece in which students audition and create their own dance company and choreography, the arts repeatedly provide a more enriched educational experience. Beyond the immediate educational value, NSA teachers and students see the long-term benefits for Nashville, with the school providing a powerful springboard for growing arts in the community. Sheehan easily expresses the greatest value of the arts: “It connects with the heart.” For more information, visit www.nsahs.mnps.org.
NSA students are selected through a rigorous audition process. That process is competitive. For the current academic year 850 students auditioned for 180 slots. Each of the 690 NSA students is passionate about their art—acting, dance, music, and visual arts— and each is focused on exploring ways to express and communicate that passion. Some will become professionals; others will teach, while others will apply their creativity and skills for innovation to business, technology, and other fields. These students must meet the curriculum standards expected of all MNPS high school students. And then they must go beyond what is expected. With eighty performances each year, it is not unusual for students to rehearse for hours after the close of the school day. Such devotion to their craft requires students to overcome a variety of challenges including transportation to/from rehearsals, the need for additional performance venues, and the need for greater access to state-of-the-art technologies. Still, NSA students can “wow” us. Last year, NSA Madrigal Singers
Jennifer Halteman, AP Studio Art
NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 99
Teacher Leaves Lasting Impression on Wariner by Rebecca Pierce
M
ost people know that country music singer and songwriter Steve Wariner has fourteen number-one hits and has won numerous awards for his music and humanitarian efforts. What most don’t know is that he studied art extensively in high school, and, before he became Dottie West’s bass player, he had plans to further his art instruction at Ball State University. This month the country music favorite will be a part of three music-oriented Steve Wariner exhibits at the Tennessee State Museum. Wariner’s Watercolors: Paintings by Steve Wariner will showcase his favorite paintings. Growing up in an artistic family gave Wariner an early start in expressing his creativity, but it was his high school art teacher, Gordon Morrison, who took a chance on him and encouraged him to pursue art. “It is so very important for teachers to really encourage creativity in students. I can’t imagine not having Gordon in my life. My freshman year, he saw something in me and suggested I change my study hall so I could be in his class for two periods, which I did for four years. His class was one I couldn’t wait to get to. He ended up really trusting me too. Sometimes he would give me the keys to his car and tell me to go up to Potter’s Bridge, one of those old covered bridges, and paint,” Wariner explained. “I’ve never done a proper arts show, so this is going to be great. I would give anything if Mr. Morrison was still around to come to my show.” In September, Wariner released his newest album It Ain’t All Bad. “It isn’t great grammar, but it is great music,” he says. Wariner’s Watercolors: Paintings by Steve Wariner will be on view October 11 through December 29 at the Tennessee State Museum. For information visit the museum’s website at www.tnmuseum.org.
Churchwell's Monday Mix: Learning is FUN! by DeeGee Lester | Photography by Tiffani Bing
C
an you imagine the impact on your own educational experience if museum professionals had visited your school every week, bringing with them all sorts of interesting objects to explore and sharing their expertise and enthusiasm? That’s the weekly experience of students at Robert Churchwell Elementary Museum Magnet through an innovative program called Monday Mix. Moving beyond the confines of traditional education, second-year principal Jahi Rohrer points out that “students are exposed to myriad learning experiences that enrich the core curriculum, broaden their horizons, and beckon for a more critical and creative eye.” Educators and curators from organizations as varied in scope as Fort Negley, Belle Meade Plantation, the Parthenon, and Mr. Bond the Science Man converge on the school for two hours each Monday to interact with eager young minds. It’s a noisy invasion of animals, antique toys, and art for hands-on exploration amid the “oohs” and “aahs” and occasional “what’s that?” And it’s an early introduction to the rich variety of resources available to them as they continue through Metro schools. The program enriches children and fulfills a major goal of teachers. “Every teacher wants to send students forward with a love for learning, problem solving skills, and a motivating fascination for the world,” says science teacher Anna Handy. “At Robert Churchwell, we have the opportunity to actually show our kids that learning happens in varied settings, in varied ways, and that the world, and specifically Nashville, is an intriguing place. The Monday Mix gives our students an opportunity to interact with artifacts, demonstrations, animals and more from inspiring organizations and adults in the Nashville community.” Most importantly, Rohrer points out, children learn that “Learning Is Fun!”
Moore's Barn, Pen and ink, watercolor, 13 5/8” x 19”
For more information, visit www.mnps.org/Page52689.aspx.
100 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
by Wendy Wilson
tudents from across Middle Tennessee will get a taste of Latin American dance this month when New York’s Ballet Hispanico comes to TPAC. The group will perform October 23, 24, and 25 for school students in Metro and neighboring districts as part of the TPAC Education season. The annual series is designed to make students more curious about the theatrical arts and see how performances relate to what they’re learning in social studies, literature, and other classes.
Photo: Christopher Duggan
S
Founded in 1970, Ballet Hispanico is a Manhattan-based dance organization that runs a dance school as well as an extensive outreach program that sends dancers across the globe to showcase their talents and teach others about diverse Latino dance traditions. Choreographers represent the styles of a variety of countries, including Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela among others. The hour-and-fifteen-minute performance at TPAC will feature a fusion of classical, Latin, and contemporary dance. “It’s not traditional ballet at all,” says Eduardo Vilaro, artistic director for Ballet Hispanico and a native of Cuba. “It’s a whole new experience.” After the performance, students will have a chance to ask the dancers questions. Vilaro says he loves to engage with students, who often are overwhelmed by the athletic ability of the dancers
Photo: paula lobo
and the costumes. More than anything, Vilaro wants his audience to gain an appreciation for the multi-dimensionality of dance, which contrasts to the two-dimensional world of television and computer screens that is generally more familiar to students.
Ballet Hispanico
Roberta Ciuffo West, TPAC’s executive vice president for education and outreach, says students will be encouraged to learn, as well as to celebrate with the dancers the vibrancy and passion of their art. “Often a choreographer can capture and convey powerful messages—including those of a specific culture—just as well as an author or composer,” she says. For more information, visit www.tpac.org/education.
Cheekwood: Oh, Baby! by DeeGee Lester
A
rt’s pure joy has never been so obvious. The “play group” has never been so playful. Cheekwood’s innovative Baby Art Experience combines both in a delightful program for babies 12 to 24 months. Every artist must thrill and every neatnick must cringe at the sight of a room full of smiling, laughing, diaper-clad babies covered in paint. No worries. These kids are “dressed for mess,” according to Kelly McGinnis Terrell, Cheekwood’s Youth and Community Coordinator. “All of the materials and supplies are non-toxic and washable for quick cleanup. You can leave the mess at Cheekwood.”
Photo: paula lobo
But this is more than just “play in the paint.” Each week offers a theme, incorporating something new; offering babies a variety of experiences with art. One week may offer printmaking with toy cars or stamps, while the next may involve the color and sound of art made with water bottles covered with bubble wrap that pops when rolled over paper.
The half-hour Thursday morning classes “give babies a unique opportunity—a sensory, fine-motor art experience as well as the opportunity to interact with other little friends,” Terrell says. Classes began in September and will continue through May 2014. Although registration is encouraged, walk-ups are welcome. To register, or for more information, visit www.cheekwood.org.
NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 101
Photograph: John Guider
Photo: Erika Goldring
artist profile
Galen Fott
An Animated Life by Joe Pagetta
I
t’s what you find, and what you do with what you find, that is the art form,” says Galen Fott, animator, puppeteer, actor—
and many more things—over an iced power tea in a Hillsboro Village coffee shop on another schizophrenic Nashville summer day. “Looking for perfection is kind of silly.”
Fott is discussing his latest project, Cosmo Swazzle and the Perfect Hat, an interactive animated film he is developing with illustrator David Vordtriede for tablet and touchscreen devices. In the film, Cosmo, a young puppeteer, is preparing for the Ted Todman Talent Time show, to be broadcast live on TV that night. Cosmo plans to debut his new puppet, Gus. “The puppet is perfect,” says the voiceover narration. “He can dance! He can sing! But Cosmo is certain it needs one more thing.” That one more thing is the perfect hat, and that’s where you, the interactive viewer, come in. “You have to make a choice for him, and depending on which way you go, that’s the way the story goes,” says Fott, describing the film’s multiple possible endings. “So perfect is what you make it.”
Still from Cosmo Swazzle and the Perfect Hat 102 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
There’s a little of Fott in both Cosmo and Gus, and a lot of Fott in the film’s framework. Born and raised in Clarksville, Tennessee, Fott got a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Memphis in the ’80s before acting in regional theatres throughout the country. In Houston he met the woman who is now his wife; they moved to New York City in 1990, and Fott continued to
operating what were very high-tech puppet/costumes. “Like in Big Bird, my hand was held up over my head, operating the bear's mouth and eyes,” recalls Fott. “Inside the bear's nostril was a tiny camera, connected to a monitor strapped to my chest. This was the ONLY way to see; there were no peepholes in the costume or anything! A great experience.”
Still from I Want My Hat Back
perform in regional musical theatre. But New York has a way of sending you down different streets, sometimes in search of different hats, even if you don’t know it. “I would walk by the Henson townhouse (aka the “Muppet Mansion” on East 69th Street) and think wow, there it is. I’ve always wanted to do that. How do you do it?” Fott wrote a passionate letter to Henson Associates, got in, and his puppetry career began. Jim Henson had passed away by then, and legendary Muppeteer Frank Oz was not as active in the Sesame Street day-to-day, but the gig was still a
It was also in Florida that Fott’s old friend from New York, Brian Maffitt, enlisted him to create training materials for digital animation software. Fott got the animation bug, and in the early aughts, moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to study computer animation at VanArts. On his return to the states a year later, he founded Bigfott Studios, where he has gone on to create over a dozen animated films with Weston Woods Studios, adapting some of Scholastic’s most popular children’s books. Among them are Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend, I’m Dirty, The Gym Teacher from the Black Lagoon, and most recently, Jon Klassen’s I Want My Hat Back, which had its world premiere last month during a retrospective of Bigfott’s films at the Belcourt Theatre. In a career that has included wearing a number of hats, from actor and singer to puppeteer and animator, Fott has had his share of highlights, including a memorable time directing Joanne Woodward’s voiceover—he’s also worked with Stanley Tucci, Sean Hayes, and Steve Buscemi—but the biggest thrill remains satisfying that compulsion to perform. “It threads all the way through to animation,” he says. “It’s an impulse to perform, to create characters, to create something other than yourself. You’re somewhat limited as an actor by your voice, by your physical being. With a puppet you can go a little beyond that. The puppet can look like anything, but you still have your voice. With animation, the sky is the limit. If anyone can draw it or model it on a computer, you can bring that character alive.” Galen Fott’s video puppetry work was recently seen in the Wishing Chair Productions/Country Music Hall of Fame production String City: Nashville’s Tradition of Music and Puppetry at the Nashville Public Library. Learn more at www.bigfott.com and www.grundoon.com.
Still from I Want My Hat Back
dream come true. He started like most young puppeteers do, doing right hands of characters and background characters. He worked on the 25th Anniversary Special on ABC, an attraction for Sesame Place, and the "Don't Forget to Watch the Movie" policy trailer for Sony and Loews theaters. He also got to work on the "Lights, Camera, Imagination" 3D movie shown at Sea World and Busch Gardens parks and got to assist on workshops with Jane Henson (Jim’s widow), Kevin Clash, and Rick Lyon. A singing gig led Fott from New York to Orlando in the mid ’90s, where he continued to do some work for Henson, most notably in the personal appearances of two different bears: one the title character from Bear in the Big Blue House, the other the Coca-Cola Polar Bear, built and maintained for Coke. As the latter, he toured Central and South America,
Still from Cosmo Swazzle and the Perfect Hat NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 103
Photo: John Jackson
theatre
Kevin Hamrick, Jackie Johnson-Tidwell and Vali Forrister of Actors Bridge Studio
Hey, my father has a barn...
Not one but two new theatre spaces to play in!
CBB has 56 seats theatre-style (or 33 in a cabaret setup)
by Jim Reyland
D
epending upon whom you ask, you’ll hear a variety of ideas on what it takes to produce quality theatre.
Some will say you need a great script delivered by wonderful actors with an amazing set. Others will speak about strong direction and a comprehensive marketing plan. The truth is that you need all these things, but none of them are necessary if you don’t have a place to play. You need a theatre space. You need a place to go and set up lights. Fortunately, Music City’s long-suffered lack of ready theatre spaces has just gotten a little better. Two arts organizations, Actors Bridge Ensemble, and Metro Parks, have recently acquired new spaces to further support our ever-growing theatre arts community. Actors Bridge Ensemble, a long-standing part of Nashville’s theatre arts scene, has set up their new studio at LeQuire Gallery at 4304 Charlotte Avenue. LeQuire Gallery is owned by Alan and Andrée LeQuire. Alan is
best known for his colossal sculptures Athena Parthenos, the largest indoor sculpture in the Western hemisphere, and Musica, one of the largest bronze figure groups in the world. Actors Bridge Studio at LeQuire Gallery will house acting classes, rehearsals, First Time Story Nights, and Act Like a GRRRL workshops. Their professional theatre season will continue to take place at the Belmont University Troutt Theater complex and at the Darkhorse Theater. “We have spent more than a decade at Neuhoff in Germantown. We loved being pioneers in the neighborhood along with Lori and Roger from the Nashville Jazz Workshop. While we will miss our Neuhoff family, we are so excited to be joining the amazing creative vibe happening on Charlotte,” said producing artistic director Vali Forrister. Carolyn German and her amazing team over at the Metro Nashville
104 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Photo: rick malkin
CBB recently provided space to Tennessee Performing Arts Center Education’s partnership with Theatre Tout a Trac’s production of Pinocchio. A few of Nashville’s finest actors were part of the reading, which was translated from the show’s original French. Here Pinocchio (Mary Tanner Bailey) becomes wary of the sly Fox (Patrick Waller) and Cat (Keri Pisapia).
Parks Music and Theater Department have also announced a new theatre space. The Centennial Black Box Theater, with fifty-six seats theatre style or thirty-three seats cabaret style, is located inside Centennial Park, in the Centennial Arts Activity Center. It is designed specifically to serve small audiences with unique performing arts opportunities, including play readings, avant-garde music experiences, intimate theatre offerings, vocal cabarets and much more. Carolyn says, “We currently create our own programming and bring in outside offerings. We anticipate that by early 2014 we will have the ability to rent the space for other organizations to use.” Updates and latest show information can be found at www.nashville.gov.
Photo: John Jackson
Actors Bridge offers ongoing actor training in the Meisner Technique plus supplementary classes in audition technique, acting for the camera, and voice and movement. Classes have begun at the Charlotte location. To see the Actors Bridge studio visit www.vimeo.com/72199407.
Hayley Rose Mauer, Lara Giordano and Abel Munoz The film version of Jim Reyland’s new play, STAND, performed across Tennessee in 2012 as 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 consider a donation to support Room In The Inn! jreyland@audioproductions.com
Tennessee Women’s Theater Project Presents: Voices of Nashville Voices of Nashville: Immigration and Community is an original documentary theatre play by Christine Mather and Sara Sharpe. It explores the experience of immigration in our region through the eyes of Nashville’s new Americans. The playwrights interviewed a number of immigrants of different economic and educational levels and blended their stories into composite characters. Voices of Nashville follows the immigrants' experiences before and since their arrival here and brings into focus the talents, the aspirations, and the creative and cultural energy that they bring to the community. See Voices of Nashville October 4–20, 2013, at the Z. Alexander Looby Theater. Tickets are Adults $15, Students and Seniors (60+) $12. All seats $10 Thursday evening. www.twtp.org. Following the Looby run, TWTP will present Voices in community centers, churches, social organizations, and schools across Middle Tennessee.
Photo: Courtesy of The Frist Center
Destellos Culturales
Hispanic Heritage Month By Cat Acree
T
he landscape of Nashville’s population is changing, and fast. Nashville has a Hispanic population of over 60,000,
composing 10 percent of the total population, and it’s growing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, from 2000 to 2010, Davidson County’s Hispanic population increased by over 130 percent. With Americans observing National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, there is no better time to celebrate the city’s diversity, specifically the histories, cultures, and contributions of Americans with Latin American heritage.
Nashville’s celebration of Hispanic heritage. Previous standout events at TPAC include a free performance by Sones de México, specializing in regional folk music and dance styles from various regions of Mexico, and a performance by Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitian, which Cisneros describes as “the Britney Spears of mariachi.” The Frist’s exhibit Exploring Art of the Ancient Americas: The John Bourne Collection featured archaeological artifacts from the ancient Americas, including metal works, sculptures, and jewelry that “are so beautiful in
A number of initiatives throughout Nashville have creatively and actively provided the Hispanic community with outlets for cultural expression and opportunities for engagement with the arts. Cheekwood’s Día de los Muertos celebration, now in its fourteenth consecutive year, is a distinguishing highlight in
Photo: Courtesy of Cheekwood
According to Ramón Cisneros, publisher of La Campana, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in Nashville, art is the key. “The globalization of the city is something we have to prepare for,” Cisneros says. “One of the other things that [could keep us] behind is our capacity to be inclusive and to accept other people. I think art is the common language. It’s very easy to talk to people through art.”
Cheekwood, Dia De Los Muertos
106 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
The Frist has also featured Destellos Culturales, a nonprofit, local folkloric ballet company composed of dancers of all ages. The Nashville Symphony has featured the dance troupe Ballet Folklórico, a visual feast from Colombia, and the Gipsy Kings, to name a few.
“I am overjoyed by the Human Effigy Pendant, John Bourne Collection way these entities have reached out to different ethnic groups in Nashville, especially our Latino population,” Cisneros says. “They have found ways to bring art to every segment of Music City’s rapidly changing demographic.” To understand how important these initiatives are for the Nashville Latino community, Cisneros says frankly, “If you were living in South Korea, and they bring, I don’t know, Jackson 5 or Rascal Flatts or something like that, that’s the kind of thing it did for the people.” But it goes much deeper than providing Hispanic communities with elements of home. It is important to note that these initiatives serve a dual purpose: They not only benefit a growing minority population, but they also deliver the art and history of Latin American cultures to the rest of the Nashville population. Here in Nashville, our cultural institutions are dedicated to celebrating Hispanic heritage.
“
Destellos Culturales
The Frist Center
Music at the Frist: Pablo Garzon and Friends Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month September 27, October 3, October 4 • 6 to 8 p.m.
Experience the splendor of Hispanic music with lush rhythms of tangos from Argentina, bossa novas from Brazil, pasillos and bambucos from Colombia, joropos from Venezuela, waltzes from Peru, boleros from Mexico, and guaranias from Paraguay, among others. www.fristcenter.org
TENNESSEE ART LEAGUE and HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE First Saturday Art Crawl, Downtown Nashville Hispanic Visual Art Showcase October 5–26
A curated show by Bolivian professor and artist Jorge Mendoza featuring work by local and international artists.
The Frist Center
Destellos Culturales Performance Sunday, October 6 • 2 p.m.
I think art is the common language. It’s very easy to talk to people through art. – Ramón Cisneros
Photo: The Frist
Photo: ©The walters art museum, Baltimore
nature that they have turned into art pieces.”
Destellos Culturales de Nashville is a folkloric ballet company and nonprofit that promotes appreciation, participation, and patronage of the arts. www.fristcenter.org
”
TPAC
Ballet Hispanico
October 23–25 • 10:30 a.m. Open to grades 5–12. These performances guide students through a variety of Latin, classical, and modern dance that evoke the rhythm and spirit of Latino culture. www.tpac.org
salsa restaurant and The Latin American Chamber of Commerce Masquerade Latino Dance Party
TPAC Sones de Mèxico
Photo: Courtesy of TPAC
Saturday, October 19 • 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Featuring the best mix of salsa, bachata, merengue dance music. Masquerade Prize. www.salsarestaurantnashville.com
Cheekwood 14th Annual EL DIA DE LOS MUERTOS Fall Festival Saturday, November 2, 2013 • 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Enjoy a day filled with traditional arts and crafts, music, and dance filled with cultural significance. www.cheekwood.org
Eclectic Home Furnishings and Gifts 2205 bandywood drive in green hills nashville, tn 37215 www.margischair.com 615.463.3322
tune in to nashville’s burgeoning visual art scene
The Arts Company theartscompany.com
Local Color Gallery localcolornashville.com
The Parthenon parthenon.org
Bennett Galleries bennettgalleriesnashville.com
Midtown Gallery & Framers midtowngallery.com
The Rymer Gallery therymergallery.com
Bryant Gallery bryantgallerynashville.com
Richland Fine Art, Inc richlandfineart.com
Tinney Contemporary tinneycontemporary.org
Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art cheekwood.org
Sarratt Gallery at Vanderbilt vanderbilt.edu/sarrattgallery
Two Moon Gallery twomoongallery.com
Cumberland Gallery cumberlandgallery.com
Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery arts.state.tn.us
Frist Center for the Visual Arts fristcenter.org Gallery One galleryone.biz LeQuire Gallery lequiregallery.com Leu Art Gallery belmont.edu
Tennessee Arts League & Galleries tennesseeartleague.org Tennessee State Museum tnmuseum.org Tennessee State University: Hiram Van Gordon Gallery tnstate.edu/gallery
Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery vanderbilt.edu/gallery Williams 19th &20th Century American Art Galleries williamsamericanart.com York and Friends Fine Art yorkandfriends.com Zeitgeist zeitgeist-art.com
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First Saturday Art Crawl
Picture This on 5th, #44 Downtown Arcade
October 5 • 6PM to 9PM FEATURED KEN WALLS New Orleans: Remembered, Revisited, Remixed Something wicked this way comes to Picture This on 5th
4674 Lebanon Pike, Hermitage • 615-889-5640 • www.picturethis-gallery.com
Critical i by Joe Nolan
N
ot everybody likes collage. In fact, it seems like
people either love it or they hate it. Such dichotomies are common when it comes to various practices and techniques in the visual arts. Like performance art and abstract painting, collage is simultaneously reviled and praised for its defining characteristics—its borrowed imagery, its cut-and-paste textures. I happen to love collage in all of its forms across every discipline, so it was easy for me to enjoy Tom Judd’s recent exhibition at Cumberland Gallery. Judd’s work presents found objects and the artist’s own oil painting
Tom Judd, Tulips, 2009, Oil on canvas, 36” x 38½”
in compositions that juxtapose seemingly unrelated imagery into spare narratives that connect the various elements into tiny story arcs that aim to capture fleeting moments and memories. It’s not overly conceptual, but his work has a pleasant nostalgia that doesn’t droop into pure sentimentality, and his varied materials and techniques give his art a purposeful sensibility that is sometimes lacking in the work of less-discerning practitioners of visual assemblage. Judd’s Washington includes a black-and-white copy of a photograph of the titular first president on the text-covered pages of a book. The elements are assembled on a gray-blue canvas that Judd paints over with a gorgeous, sinewy flower that culminates in a voluptuous red blossom. The piece is “framed” with lengths of vintage wooden yardsticks. Washington is my favorite of the show, but History Explained is the exhibition’s most ambitious work. In this assemblage of hardback book covers, Judd paints over History with a background of blocks of color that highlight the painting’s subject: an Asian elephant waving its tail. The pachyderm’s form is separated from itself by the quadrants formed by the book covers, and I was immediately put in mind of the Indian story of the blind men trying to describe an elephant from their limited points of view. Judd gives us a simple allegory for the pasted-together story of history in the form of a very well crafted work of art. Judd shares Cumberland gallery for this Recent Works show with Washington artist Jim Phalen. The two bodies of work complement each other extremely well, and the overall effect is a quiet, lovely display of colorful figures and textures that feels like the perfect goodbye to a sleepy summer art season just as Nashville begins to move into an autumn art schedule that promises to be both frantically busy and intensely challenging. Cumberland Gallery will be upping the ante themselves with the opening of Unique Visions, which will be their contribution to the city’s Artober celebration. For more info about Tom Judd visit www.tomjuddart.com, and for Jim Phalen visit www.jimphalen.com. Find exhibit Jim Phalen, Red Wall, 2013, Oil on panel, 38” x 23”
information at www.cumberlandgallery.com.
110 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
NeLLie Jo ...is art!
Photography by Nellie Jo Rainer
The Factory in Franklin • 230 Franklin Road Afternoon Appointments • 615-519-0258 www.nelliejoisart.com
Thursday-Saturday, October 24-26 l
Dozens of new artists, fun for kids, and a cool new pop-up market!
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artclectic13ad2_Layout 1 9/13/13 11:24 AM Page 1
Thursday, October 24
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Patrons Party 6:00–9:00 p.m. Make reservations at artclectic.org $125 per person
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Friday, October 25
Young Collectors Party 6:00–7:00 p.m. Make reservations at artclectic.org $30 per person Community Party 7:00–10:00 p.m. $20 per person at the door
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Saturday, October 26
Free and open to the public 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Popclectic Pop-up Market Arts, crafts and foods by USN friends and family 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. Free family art activities all day
artclectic.org usn.org
on the town with Ted Clayton
I
lex for Flowers was the setting for a lovely afternoon cocktail gathering in celebration of their one-year anniversary. Host
couple Jane Dudley Gene Kamarasy and and Dewayne Lee Robinson - Ilex Party Johnson were front and center welcoming Jane and Billy Coble, Lee Robinson and Gene Kamarasy, Johnna Watson, David White, Nancy Russell and Patsy Weigel, Tony Rose Sr., Shirley Harvey, Holly Anderson, Janice and Newt Lovvorn, Elaine and Bruce Sullivan . . . yes, you got it—the A-Plus social peeps. Congratulations to Jane and Dewayne. I’m looking forward to many more brilliant cocktail gatherings in the near future!
Sandra Lipman and Eleanor Willis – Sunday in the Park Kickoff
Chairs Sylvia Bradbury and Ann Dobson – Sunday in the Park Kickoff
Frank Bass and Larry Wieck – Sunday in the Park Kickoff
Tis the season to kick off all the glorious events that will take place in the next few months in the fall social season. Topping the list was the launch of Sunday in the Park, which will be held later in October in the Warner Parks. Chairs Sylvia Bradbury and Ann Dobson, quite the duo indeed, greeted committee members Sandra Lipman, Clare Armistead, Laura Landstreet, Rosie and Reed Trickett, Larry Wieck, Ellen Martin, Frank Bass, Amy Marsalis with hubby, Keith Simpkins, and Larry Trabue. Jeannette Whitson hosted this evening of summer delight, both poolside and in her knockout killer of a house, designed by the hostess. The highlight of the evening was the look on the faces of fellow patrons when Cathy Jackson and I emerged from the powder room together, and no, Clay was not present. A super great kick-off to what Nashvillians feel is the leading fall event, where they can show off in their new fall attire.
Great Balls of Fire: Jason Bradshaw, Theresa Menefee, and Bob Deal—just when I thought they could never top TPAC Gala
Chairs Jason Bradshaw, Theresa Menefee, Bob Deal – TPAC Gala
Janice Lovvorn, Billy and Jane Coble, Elaine Sullivan - Ilex Party
2012, here they come again with a rock and rolling TPAC Gala 2013. This year’s themed gala was Million Dollar Quartet, the hit Broadway musical inspired by the spontaneous recording session when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis met at Sun Records in Memphis in 1956. “The Queen of Rockabilly” Wanda Jackson with her band the Dirt Dobbers brought the house down after a delightful dinner, and the dessert—a miniature, chocolate baby grand piano—rock-and-rolled me over! The Applause Award Honorees were Dale Allen and Nissan North America. Toe tapping to the ’50s and ’60s hit tunes were Elizabeth and Lynn Greer, Anna and Gif Thornton, Jana and Ansel Davis with Kate Grayken (dressed to kill with cowgirl boots), Stephani and Ed Ryan, Barbara and Jack Bovender with son and daughterin-law Richard and Sara, Michelle and Stephen Frohsin, Dana and Bond Oman, Elaina and Ansel and Jana Davis, Kate Grayken, Chrissy Ronnie Scott, Cathy and Bill Hagerty – TPAC Gala and Doug Hall, Rhonda Small and Eleanor Whitworth, as well as Jonathan Pinkerton. And the décor! Phillipe Chadwick outdid himself with the table décor. Great balls of fire were reproduced with arrangements
Sara, Richard, Barbara Bovender – TPAC Gala
112 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Gif and Anna Thornton, Lattie Brown and David McQuiddy – TPAC Gala
Grant and Suzanne Smothers, Meredith and Scott Burns, Michelle and Stephen Frohsin – TPAC Gala
Kix Brooks, Caye David, Barbara Brooks – Jalan-Jalan
of rose balls with flames shooting from the center of each table. Chandeliers were embellished with old 45s and sequined guitars . . . Well, all I can say is that this evening would have made Johnny, Jerry Lee, Carl, and Elvis mighty proud. Only at TPAC! Anita and Larry Cash along with Marci and Stephen Houff hosted the first-ever patrons gathering for this gala at the Houffs’ lovely home a few weeks prior to the gala. Nashville’s best-kept secret, Jalan-Jalan, hosted a most impressive cocktail preview party of owner Caye David’s new shipment from Southeast Asia. After her first visit to Bali in 1996, Caye fell in love with the people, the antiques, and the textiles of the area. This event was held at Caye’s three-thousand-square-foot showroom, where entering is like stepping into another world and culture, viewing creative vignettes showcasing museum-quality artifacts and textiles. Speaking of textiles, Caye’s collection of Indonesian ikat and other hand-woven fabrics is the largest private collection in North America. Caye scours several islands each year for one-of-a-kind treasures. Keith Merry, Kelley and Reid Estes – Jalan-Jalan
John Hallman, Ellen Torrence, April Crook, Caye David – Jalan-Jalan
One of my favorites at this annual party is the supremely fantastic salmon that Caye has flown in and prepared to perfection by Brooks and Bert Mathews. Enjoying this Asian fare were Kelley and Reid Estes, Barbara and Kix Brooks,
Keith Merry, Tom Repass, Stacey and Taylor Rhodes, Kathy Dozier (Kathy purchased an Indonesian cowbell—now do you think the Asian cows respond to an Asian bell better than a American bell? LOL), Leigh Hendry, Mary Ed and Stephani Ryan – TPAC Gala Anne and Steve Nyquist, Lynne Holliday, and Caye’s lovely daughter April Crook. I must mention that Caye and I were in the original graduating class at O’More College of Design, and I am just amazed at how much knowledge, taste, and culture we came away with! OK, the rest of my column is going to read like Food & Wine magazine. First off was a birthday celebration of my friend Darren Cioffi, a local philanthropic kind of guy. Being a fan of Food Network’s Chopped, where chefs face off against the clock using mysterybasket ingredients, Cioffi decided to give the concept a Nashville and charitable twist, as well as a birthday celebration, all in one evening. The chefs—Chef Jay Daigle of Flemings, Chef Abe Tsavalakoglou of the Music City Tippler, Chef Garrett Pittler of Chelsea Bistro, and Chef Toffer Jacob of Opryland—all were competing for their charities of choice. I was honored to be a judge along with Heather Byrd and Leigh Nash, seated in the kitchen of Boxwood Hall, Cioffi’s antebellum Brentwood home.
Ronald and Brenda Corbin – TPAC Gala
Marci and Stephen Houff – TPAC Gala
Not my usual Sunday evening fare: I was served alligator, emu, molé with seaweed, just to give you an idea, while the one hundred guests enjoyed heavy hors d’oeuvres from the four participating restaurants, Dana and Bond Oman – accompanied, of course, by wine TPAC Gala from J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines. After the judges chopped the first three chefs, the winner was Chef Garrett Pittler. I must share with you that for the final course, the dessert, the mystery-box ingredients given to the two remaining chefs included a cigar! Chef Abe decided to smoke while preparing his dessert course. Chef Garrett blew the cigar smoke into a crystal wine glass, quickly turned it over and placed it on the service plate in front of the judges, and instructed them to smell and take in the smoky,
NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 113
programs that educate and inspire, as well as supporting culinary scholarships. The chefs were Chef Richard Jones of Green Door Gourmet, Nashville; Chef Wally Joe of Acre, Memphis; Chef Daniel Lindley of St. John’s Restaurant, Chattanooga, and Chef Coby Lee Ming of Harvest, Louisville. This dinner was . . . well, let me just give you an idea of my favorites: for Hors d’oeuvres, Honey-whipped Goat Cheese Mousse and Macerated Figs on Brioche. Course One favorite, Yuzu-glazed Salmon on MisoCorn Puree. Course Two, Jolly Barnyard Chicken with Eggplant, Jerusalem Artichokes, Heirloom Peppers, and Arugula. Course Three, Smoked Pork Confit and Pork Belly Rillons. Course Four, Amaroo Hills Emu Fanloin and Pate with Eucalyptus Honey Brioche (for never having emu in my life, I sure got my share that week), followed by the Dessert favorite, Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cremeaux. Winning Chef Garrett Pittler – Chopped
Host Darren Cioffi and Ashlie Mothershead – Chopped
Pam and Jeff Kuhn – Chopped
woody fragrance before consuming his incredible dessert course. Now that is talent, folks. Happy Birthday, Darren. What a great Nashville evening, and may there be many more to follow. By the way, Chef Garrett’s charity of choice was Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. My culinary journey continued with an evening at the Grange Barn at Green Door Gourmet Farm, hosted by Sylvia and Al Ganier. The “Golden Harvest Dinner” was a benefit honoring the James Beard Foundation, which celebrates, nurtures, and honors America’s diverse culinary heritage through
Anna Mowry, Chef Richard Jones, Pam Tillis – Golden Harvest Dinner
Kem and Marilyn Hinton, Ellen and John Lea – Golden Harvest Dinner
Pam Tillis was the evening Celebrity Host, welcoming Ellen and John Lea, Jane Haynes, Marilyn and Kem Hinton, Lisa and Junius Ellis, Gayle and Bob Patterson, Judy and Tom Foster, Steve Sirls and Allen DeCuyper. It was a great culinary evening honoring James Beard. I do think I shall use my Weight Watchers free pass this week, for stepping on the scales after this week is not going to happen! Cheers!
114 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
Emily West, Christian Staehely, Leigh Nash, Stephen Wilson – Chopped
Kathy Konrad, Phillip Sibley, Audrey Hinson, Jack Hinson – Chopped
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Mail P.O. Box 1523 Franklin, TN 37065 October 2O13 | 115
appraise it
Joseph Wolins (American, 1915–1999)
B
orn in 1915 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Joseph Wolins initially studied art at New
York City’s National Academy of Design in 1935 under Leon Kroll. However, his greatest artistic influences came from the opportunity to study in Europe in 1937. There he became particularly influenced by the works of the Italian Renaissance painters Piero della Francesca and Giotto. That travel also afforded him the unique opportunity to study the then-contemporary European art exhibited at Paris’s 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (International Exposition Dedicated to Art and Technology in Modern Life). Among the modern works being exhibited, for the first time, at that Paris exposition were Picasso’s Guernica, Calder’s Mercury Fountain, and Fernand Léger’s The Transfer of Forces.
Joseph Wolins died on November 3, 1999, in New York. His paintings and drawings appear frequently at auction, and his work is well represented in the permanent collections of museums worldwide, including the Smithsonian, New York City’s Metropolitan Museum, and the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. This portrait was acquired by the owner through a family member and is more figurative than most of his known body of work. This calm beauty would carry an estimate of $200 to $300 at auction.
Untitled, circa 1955, Pastel on paper
All photos by Jerry atnip
Upon returning home to the New York area, Wolins became associated with the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project of 1935–1941 (WPA). While the art of the WPA era is frequently associated with traditional regional views and social realist imagery, such as the shantytowns of the Great Depression, Wolins’s approach typically involved experimentation with aspects of Cubism, Impressionism, and Modernism, obviously inspired by his time abroad. In the following years Wolins had numerous one-man shows and participated in many group shows, receiving honors and awards along the way.
116 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
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 by Marshall Chapman
The FinesT GiFTs For
Things seen in traffic . . . Photo: Anthony Scarlati
All occAsions
FeATurinG
don’t know if it’s other cities or just Nashville. But lately I’ve been noticing a lot of unusual things while stuck in traffic. Take yesterday, for instance. I was inching along Harding Pike (just before it turns into West End Avenue) in late afternoon traffic, minding my own business, when I noticed a man driving a burgundy motorcycle with a matching sidecar containing three Yellow Labrador Retrievers, who, in their goggles (and matching red scarves), looked like they were having the time of their lives! I couldn’t believe how well-behaved these dogs were. They could’ve easily jumped out of the sidecar, but there they sat, ecstatic to be moving through traffic in the open air. Like they were thirsty and the air was water.
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At one point, the man and his dogs were directly in front of me, so I snapped a photo of them using my iPhone. The photo came out okay, but it didn’t show the goggles. So I tried maneuvering my car, accelerating to get in front for a better angle. But then another car slipped in between me and the man with the dogs, which had me thinking I might lose them altogether. Then I saw the man make a right turn onto a side street. Imagine my surprise when I, too, took a right turn down that very same street.
6025 Highway 100 in Westgate Center www.ibizafinegifts.com | 615.279.8000
At this point, I began to wonder if I was stalking this man and his dogs. When the man took another turn down another street, and I, in turn, followed, I knew the answer—Yes! The man then turned into a driveway which curved around to the back of a house. I too turned into the driveway, but then I stopped and got out of my car and trotted around to the back of the house.
1932–2012 ®
“Sir, do you mind if I take a picture of your dogs?” I asked, trying to be as polite as I could. I mean, when you’re stalking and now trespassing on someone’s property, it’s best to be polite. Fortunately, the man was polite in turn, and I got my picture of the dogs in their goggles. www.tallgirl.com
Mixed Media, 42” x 39”
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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
NashvilleArts.com
October 2O13 | 117
My favorite painting
“
My grandmother’s love for art and the joy of finding something that spoke to her inspired my love affair with the art experience.
”
Maggie Bond Product Manager, Nfocus Magazine
Photo by Anthony Scarlati/location courtesy of Husk Restaurant
M
y favorite painting is . . . not actually a painting but a needlepoint tapestry of the famed Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, embroidered by my late grandmother, Gertrude Frank. She was an avid art lover and inspired me to
begin collecting at a young age. My grandparents’ home was an archive of their adventurous travels, documented by their collection of art. As a child I would sift through their hotel and restaurant matchbooks from afar—the real kind with wooden matchsticks carefully placed in origami-like boxes. Each represented a journal of stories and often was accompanied by a work of art from a market or an artist’s studio—paintings, ceramics, works on paper and more. My grandmother’s love for art and the joy of finding something that spoke to her inspired my love affair with the art experience. She had wonderful advice about collecting: “Every year, buy at least one piece of art that you love. Not something that matches a room, but something you love, that really reaches out to you.” I began following this advice at seventeen and now have a treasury of pieces I’ve acquired from memorable times. Some favorites include a Russ Faxon bronze from the 2003 Artists for Oasis fundraiser, a hand-screened lampshade from a boutique in Florence, Italy (interesting bringing that back on the plane), a dozen or so pieces from lovely characters in Jackson Square, New Orleans, a Jennifer Padgett painting from Ron York’s gallery York & Friends, and two Jack Spencer pieces from Carol Stein’s Cumberland Gallery, purchased fifteen or so years ago. The latter two were a gift from my grandmother.
Gertrude Frank, Moulin Rouge: La Goulue by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Wool needlepoint, circa 1970, 24" x 30"
118 | October 2O13 NashvilleArts.com
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