Arts Artifacts Art After Dark
Sample from a smorgasbord of local art during ARTS Obispo’s monthly art walk in downtown SLO on Jan. 7, from 6 to 9 p.m. • Apothecary Tattoo: 2976 South Higuera St. 786-4622— Showcasing an eclectic collection of local artists in various media: photography, paint, ink, and skin. Info: apothecaryofarttattoo.com. • ARTS Space Obispo: 570 Higuera St., suite 165 (SLO Creamery) 544-9251—HAPPY IN PUBLIC, a public reading, celebrates the written word. Organized by Reading In Public. Info: readinginpublic.com or artsobispo.org. • Baxter Moerman: 1118 Morro St. 305-8118—Featuring local artist Amber Elizabeth and her Western-style bronze sculpture, etchings. Info: amberelizabeth.com or baxtermoerman.com. • Body Centered Therapy/Energy In Motion: 1023 Nipomo St., suite 50 (Soda Works Building) 3055197—See exotic destinations travel photography by Shantel Beckers. • compact: 1166 Higuera St. 2353256—Daniel Dove, oil paintings. Opening Jan. 7, 6 to 9 p.m., runs Jan. 7 to 29. Info: compactgallery.net. • Frame Works: 339 Marsh St. 542-9000—ART ECO, an exhibition featuring art made from reclaimed materials. Info: sloart.com. • GALA Center: 1060 Palm St. 541-4252—New works by Steven deLuque are on display until Jan. 23. Info: ccgala.org. • History Center of San Luis Obispo County: 696 Monterey St. 543-0638—The Catch honors the history of local fishermen, through the photos of Thom Halls. Info: historycenterslo.org. • Kevin Main Jewelry: 720 Higuera St. 547-0662—Featuring Ed E. Powell’s photographs. Info: kevinmain.com. • Linnaea’s Café: 1110 Garden St. 541-5888—See color-filled canvases by Shirley Pittman. Meet the artist during Art After Dark. Info: linnaeas.com. • The Photo Shop: 1027 B Marsh St. 543-4025—Montaña de Oro is a fine art photography group premier exhibit to benefit California State Parks, 6 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 7. Info: photoshopslo.com. • Picking Daisies, Beautiful Napkins for Everyday Use: 570 Higuera St., suite 120 (SLO Creamery) 783-2434—A cutting-edge fiber arts group shows art quilts and fiber art pieces through January. Info: pickingdaisiesinslo.com. • San Luis Obispo Museum of Art: 1010 Broad St. 5438562—See 100 years of California Watercolors, glass artist Evan Chambers-constructed objects, and pavonine glass, plus “Overture” portrait paintings by OPAG members. sloma.org • Stephen Patrick Design: 888 Monterey St. 544-3326—Featuring talented local artists: J. Salazar, C. Boisvert, B. Vakhshori, and more. Canvas, furniture, jewelry, botanicals, and photography. • Steynberg Gallery: 1531 Monterey St. 547-0278—Tilta-Whirl: Carnival Time shows paintings by Tracy Taylor and photographs by Barry Goyette. Also exhibiting The Peace Library. Info: steynberggallery.com. Δ —Anna Weltner
➤ Starkey [25] ➤ Clubs [29]
➤ Art Bash! [35]
➤ Film [30]
BY ANNA WELTNER
The artsy-fartsy year in review It’s 2010 in dance moves, brush strokes, talking pictures, and other pretty things January
• Our 2010 Volunteers issue was totally an arts issue in disguise, starting with a cover story by thenArts Editor Ashley Schwellenbach on volunteerism on the boards of directors of several prominent art institutions. Typography nerds descended on Cal Poly, and Cal Poly English professor Kevin Clark released a book of poems titled SelfPortrait with Expletives.
February
• Minority monsters? Slutty puppets? The Tony award-winning Broadway show Avenue Q was in town, performing hits like “If You Were Gay” and “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist.”
March
• Veteran actor Alan Arkin talked film with Ashley Schwellenbach. Arkin (The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming; Edward Scissorhands; Little Miss Sunshine; Get Smart) received the King Vidor Award for Excellence in Filmmaking. The interview coincided with the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, which screened more than 100 films in 10 days. • Flammable stage props and paint thinners staged a potential fire hazard at Cambria’s little Pewter Plough Playhouse. The Cambria Fire Department temporarily closed the venue for lack of a sprinkler system, and the PPP had until July 31 to raise $32,000 for the new system.
April
• World Rhythm and Motion Studio, after having been displaced for the third
IMAGE BY NEAL BURTON
time in its 10-year existence, found a new home for its aerial, belly, Irish, Tahitian, and African dancers at 207 Suburban Road in San Luis Obispo.
May
• New Times Executive Editor Ryan Miller inspired local writers and artists to create short stories and pictures based on cards from his beloved Mexican loteria deck. The Bell, the Flowerpot, the Rat, and many more came to life at a reading and display of art at the SLO Little Theatre. • Bravo debuted a new reality TV show called Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, pitting 14 artists from around the country against one another. Among the competitors was Santa Maria photographer Mark Velasquez. Though appreciative of the exposure, Velasquez criticized the show for trying to compare several dissimilar styles and media: “It’s like judging apples, oranges, and a guava.”
July
• The Central Coast’s Gay and Lesbian Alliance celebrated LGBT history and pride with events like Pride in the Plaza and a drag show at SLO Brew (then Downtown Brew) on July 9. New Times interviewed Comedy Central’s “Queen of Mean” Liza Lampanelli, who brought her stand-up act to the PAC on July 10. • Actor Emma Duncan, who tackled the one-woman show The Belle of Amherst in 2008, returned to Cambria—and her solo role as Emily Dickenson. “Things that ARTS continued page 21
THE VIOLIN New Times Executive Editor Ryan Miller inspired local writers and artists to create short stories and pictures based on cards from his beloved Mexican loteria deck. Pictured is “The Violin” by Neal Breton.
NAKED NOO-NOO The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival screened more than 100 films from March 12 through 21. Among them was Bomber (pictured), “about an English couple and their sensitive, artistic son, who they don’t know what to do with.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOMBER
Arts
ArtsYearInReview PHOTO BY STEVE E. MILLER
2010: A Year in Quotes ‘I couldn’t learn it, because I was 69ing with puppets, which is pretty funny.’
Jacqueline Grabois, Avenue Q puppeteer, on learning puppet sex scenes
‘The drag queens were sitting in a bar. Judy Garland had died. It was a very sad time. They were crying in their beer. The police had harassed the community for years and at that point it was the queens who said, “We’ve had enough.” That was the start of the gay movement.’
Tommi Rose, Central Coast Pride drag show emcee, on the Stonewall riots
‘My theory is that if you’re pissing someone off, you’re doing something right.’ Mark Velasquez, photographer
‘We were gonna get nude, but we’re too old.’ Anne Laddon, painter and Studios on the Park founder, on the self-portrait show Who Do We Think We Are?
‘We are fluid, we are floating, and we need to stop time and triangulate.’ Jean-Francios Podevin, illustrator and graphic artist
‘I just hated people with rolling suitcases. And then I got one.’ David Sedaris, author and humorist
IMAGE BY HENRY RASMUSSEN
SUSPENDED MOTION, DISBELIEF Pictured is Hailley Cooper, a suspended motion instructor who teaches aerial dancing at World Rhythm and Motion Studio. After much uncertainty, the 10-year-old studio found a new home in April.
ARTS from page 20
were moving to me then are less so now,” Duncan said of her renewed approach to the piece. “And things I didn’t really understand are deeply affecting.”
September
• Luther Whiteman’s Central Coast classic The Face of the Clam was re-released on Sept. 18. Originally published in 1947, Whiteman’s book is “a fictional account of the exploits, adventures and philosophies of the Dunites, a community of revolutionaries, thinkers, poets, wanderers, and bootleggers who lived in the Oceano dunes in the ’20s and ’30s,” New Times reported. • Six final contestants of New Times’ Photography Wars contest were
ABESINOS LEGALES, NUNCA MAS Santa Barbara painter Henry Rasmussen’s pieces have been “perforated with an old pen, brushed with acrylic and oil sticks, spray painted, splashed with thinner, squeegeed, sanded and scraped, sewn into, and carved with a kitchen knife,” wrote thenArts Editor Ashley Schwellenbach in her cover story “Expressive squeegee.” The eclectic painter’s show at Steynberg Gallery explored themes like organized religion and political strife in Germany and Argentina.
announced, and stunning images from their shoots were published in a cover story. Their challenges had names like “Forest of Flying Daggers” and “Art of War,” an interpretation of Sun Tzu’s iconic text. ARTS continued page 23
Arts
ARTSYearInReview PHOTO BY MARK VELASQUEZ
PHOTO COURTESY OF CAL POLY ARTS
GET MET In October, the Metropolitan Opera began broadcasting live to the PAC, a first for the Central Coast.
ARTS continued page 21
October
LUST In May, photographer Mark Velasquez competed on Bravo’s reality TV show Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.
• This writer joined New Times editorial staff as arts editor—following Ashley Schwellenbach’s promotion. Her first story covered ARTS Obispo’s Open Studios tour. • A Photography Wars victor was announced: Brittany App of App’s Photography won the contest with a nine-vote margin. • New York City’s Metropolitan Opera began broadcasting live to the Performing Arts Center—a first for the Central Coast.
PHOTO BY E.F. KITCHEN
December
• Painter Tracy Taylor and photographer Barry Goyette created an art show at Steynberg Gallery inspired by the county fair. Tilt-a-Whirl put a darker spin on the fair, highlighting the discrimination faced by fair workers, known as carnies. Δ Arts Editor Anna Weltner can be reached at aweltner@newtimesslo.com. ARTWORK BY JEANETTE WOLFF
THE GOOD RIDE Rumor had it the Studios on the Park artists intended to cast aside their clothing and create nude self-portraits for the collaborative show Who Do We Think We Are? But the artists got naked in another sense, creating deeply personal selfportraits in a wide variety of media and sitting for stony-faced photographs, their faces free of makeup, for the September show. Pictured is Jeannette Wolff’s “The Good Ride”.
LADY ROISIN Photographer E.F. Kitchen’s Suburban Knights show was part of this writer’s first cover story as arts editor.