ARTS & CULTURE

from Valdosta Magazine - Fall 2022

by Showcase Publications

VSU Distinguished Alumni

Ar s & CULTURE

Story by NARCI DROSSOS / Photography By JAVON LONGIELIERE PHOTOGRAPHY

Story by NARCI DROSSOS / Photography by GANDY PHOTOGRAPHERS

HANNAH GANDY SAYING YES TO Art

For an artist who’s so young, Valdosta’s Hannah Gandy exudes the confi dence that comes from success. One could say she has been building a career in art since she was a small child observing her parents, professional photographers. Learning the mastery of composition and light was an early task that came naturally to her. Embarking upon art as a career, however, took a leap of faith, as Gandy decided to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Valdosta State University. There’s the question for many would-be artists: how can I make a living in art? Gandy has found the ways. If there’s a secret to her success, it is that by simply saying “yes” – she has found a wide variety of fulfi lling work opportuni-

Right: Recent commissioned projects have allowed Gandy to challenge herself with mixed media. For these projects, Gandy enlisted the assistance of her younger sister, Halle, a student at VSU. For Dr. Sonya Merriman, plastic surgeon, they created a one-of-a-kind portrait of a woman’s face using empty Botox vials. Below: For Lowndes High School's grand opening, the Gandys built a big framework on which to mount the refl ective pieces they “broke” to create a unique mosaic design.

ties.

Commissions for a variety of projects have come her way through “word of mouth” and social media – satisfi ed customers refer her to others. Gandy observes that a demand for art, and more specifi cally the joy it brings, grew during Covid shutdowns. People at home want to enjoy joyful moments, such as portraits of special places and family members. For these customers, Gandy notes, “Working with watercolors is a daily medium; I love using it to create pet portraits, which help families remember them when they are gone,”

The commission-based art business she created has continued to thrive. She enjoys teaching watercolor classes in the community at a variety of venues and events, for all ages. At one recent adult event, Gandy featured a painting of an oyster shell as the object lesson. Gandy adds: “Everyone enjoyed the chance to relax and totally focus on learning something new.” At paint parties, adults can rediscover the creativity they enjoyed as children, perhaps even unlock their own talents. Children’s parties might feature whimsical animals like a gira e or rabbit. Evident in the photos of these events is pure joy on the faces of the artists. Recent commissioned projects that allowed Gandy to challenge herself with mixed media are one for Dr. Sonya Merriman, plastic surgeon, and another for LeAnne McCall, Lowndes High School principal. For these projects, Gandy enlisted the assistance of her younger sister, Halle, a student at VSU.

For Merriman’s o ce, they created a one-of-a-kind portrait of a woman’s face using empty Botox vials. The sta refers to the large sparkling portrait as “Ms. Fancy” and she has a prominent display space in the lobby. The class of 2022, as seniors, wanted to give a gift to commemorate their school’s history and new construction as they celebrated the grand opening this year. The Gandys built a big framework on which to mount the refl ective pieces they “broke” to create a unique mosaic design. Surrounding this legacy Viking in the center are the tools of construction hardware – nuts, bolts, and washers submerged in a transparent resin – integral in bringing the new LHS to its fruition. These striking, organic art pieces will endure.

Homes are also a popular subject for commissions; they make perfect wedding, birthday, and holiday gifts. Not

Ar s & CULTURE

Left: In October, Hannah was juried into the Georgia Color 4th Annual Plein Air Competition hosted by Chateau Elan in Braselton.

only are they framed and hung in homes, but images can also be printed and shared as stationery. Making use of her photographic skills, she prefers taking her own photos for commissions; but, Gandy observes, “Painting in plein air allows me to paint a scene with emotion and visual poetry that a camera can’t always capture.”

Gandy loves the fresh air and immediacy of painting en plein air. In October, she was juried into the Georgia Color 4th Annual Plein Air Competition hosted by Chateau Elan in Braselton. Also in October, she participated in the High Cotton Plein Air Paint Out in Thomasville. Then, back in Valdosta, the Turner Center for the Arts hosted their annual ARToberfest Plein Air competition. Understandably a bit tired, she almost didn’t participate, but once there, she took advantage of the time she had to set up, relax, and focus on the aspects that compel her as a plein air artist – the peaceful natural landscape, the changing light, the quiet moment to appreciate the beauty. And her dedication paid o ; her painting of a palm tree entitled “Within the Art Park” was awarded fi rst place. What Gandy fi nds so appealing about the plein air work is that “It’s about the beautiful moments. You can see something gorgeous in overlooked, even strange places. That prospect might change quickly. The artist gets to recognize it and bring it to light.” She enjoys traveling with a French easel and a suitcase of paints to capture the outdoor moments and work with likeminded colleagues.

Although Gandy graduated with her BFA in May 2022, she still takes classes and attends workshops, and most importantly, responds to opportunities to keep honing her art with “yes.”

Gandy credits her family and the local community of artists like Steven Walker and Mary Vanlandingham for their encouragement and support. Especially, she says, her internship with Walker helped build the path for her artistic journey. He taught her by example that one can indeed “make a living” and thrive making art.

To learn more about this versatile artist, see Hannah Gandy Fine Art on Facebook, @hannahgandy.fi neart on Instagram, or at her website, www.hannahgandy.com. | VM

Ar s & CULTURE

NOVELS

A QUIET LIFE

by Ethan Joella (2022)

Bookpage praised Ethan Joella's fi rst novel, A Little Hope, which was a "Read with Jenna" bonus selection, as "poetic\... moving but never maudlin." The same can be said for A Quiet Life, which opens in an icy, snowy, small town in Pennsylvania. Chuck Ayers is an elderly, quirky gentleman who's been recently widowed. He and his wife were snowbirds, going to Hilton Head every winter. Now missing the routines they shared as an empty nest couple, he sits alone, unable to move forward. He welcomes the visits of a couple of concerned friends who drop by with meals, even asking to borrow their dog at one point.

There is a newspaper delivery lady who barely makes ends meet while she wonders where her young daughter is. Chuck observes her from his window. There was a waitress hoping to go to veterinary school at the diner where Chuck and his wife ate frequently. He wonders what became of her. These answers unfold and interweave slowly but compellingly.

Joella subtly connects these three characters in surprising ways. There are no incongruous twists or unfathomable directions their lives take; rather, these very human characters remind us how easy and fulfi lling it is to simply be kind.

KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE

by Deanna Raybourn (2022)

Here’s an irresistible (if unlikely) tale of Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie, ladies in their 60s who led their lives as international assassins for a clandestine organization, known as the Museum. They exacted “lethal justice” when assigned. Forced into retirement, the story opens with the women united by their former employers for an all-expense paid celebratory cruise. Each has time to relax with about one cocktail on deck before they suddenly realize that they are now marked for execution themselves. They must come out of their short-lived retirement and go rogue to save themselves.

Once recruited as young women with nothing to lose, they had been brought to a mysterious old British castle and trained in the versatile arts of killing. The narrative often fl ashes back to cases that the crew worked together through the years, highlighting the sacrifi ces that they had made as young women eschewing the typical career paths of the late 1970s. There are escapades upon escapades here, and the adventures are pure escapist fun. Raybourn is a well-known Edgar Award-nominated mystery writer. She lives in Virginia.

BOOKR

EVIEWS

THE WHALEBONE THEATRE

by Joanna Quinn (2022)

There’s something appealing about a novel set in early 20th century England – especially when it features an orphan child’s point of view, a decaying old manor house named Chilcombe near the cli s of the English Channel, and a 60-foot whale washed up on the shore. Cristabel Seagrave, the indomitable orphan who lives with her half-sister known as “The Veg”, and fi rst cousin, Digby, claims the whale as her own, but soon learns that by law it belongs to the king, who leaves it there.

As the title would indicate, the children make a playhouse from the whale’s skeleton, and it is this “theatre” that becomes the heart and soul of this narrative. You cannot help but be charmed by the child’s world represented here so imaginatively: no cell phones or television — barely even a radio or phonograph (the latter comes in the 1940s). These are children left to their own creative devices. They are all the family they need, even as time goes by and World War II rears its head. Cristabel and Digby become British secret agents on separate missions in Nazi-occupied France — a more dangerous kind of playacting. “The Veg” becomes Flossie, and as war threatens to tear the family apart, she accomplishes much more than simply keeping the home fi res burning at Chilcombe.

Debut author Joanna Quinn has an immediate bestseller with The Whalebone Theatre, which was selected jointly in October by two major book clubs: “Read with Jenna” and Her Majesty, the Queen Consort, Camilla’s “The Reading Room.”

Narci Drossos describes herself as a compulsive reader, saved in her youth by a summer bookmobile librarian who ignored the bi-weekly limit of fi ve books; thus, allowing her in one summer, to go from Harriet the Spy and Nancy Drew to David Copperfi eld and Jane Eyre. She holds three degrees from Valdosta State University and has been teaching English at Valdosta High School for over 30 years. Follow Narci on Instagram (@novels_with_narci) and feel free to share your thoughts with Valdosta Magazine: Email criddle@showcasepublicationsga.com or on Instagram (@ valdostamagazine) using #VMbookreview.

Check out these masterful covers. Who doesn’t “judge a book by its cover”? Whether one shops online or browses paper copies in libraries and bookstores, covers can be enticing works of art that tell their own memorable stories.

FLIGHT

by Lynn Steger Strong (2022)

Released November 7, Flight appropriately opens its narrative on December 22, as married adult siblings (with their spouses and children) prepare to gather in upstate New York to decide how to dispense with their late mother’s Florida home, where they had previously met for Christmas. Alice and Henry are hosting his siblings – Martin with his wife, Tess, and Kate with her husband, Josh. And there are children, so it seems messy. There’s also a subplot of a single mother fi ghting opioid addiction nearby, if that’s not complicated enough sounding at the holidays.

Everyone knows how interesting a house full of family can be. Although there are powerful confrontations that resonate, events don’t unfold in as fraught a manner as one might expect. Kirkus aptly calls Flight “a quiet domestic novel that soars.” The birds featured on the cover become an important motif, as Henry sculpts them in his studio.

Set across just three days, Strong’s prose — which features wonderfully realistic dialog — is compelling and highly rewarding. While not promoted as a holiday novel, it’s perfect for the season of giving. Strong has written two previous novels, Want and Hold Still, published numerous works of nonfi ction in major media outlets, and teaches writing at Columbia.

NONFICTION

FEN, BOG & SWAMP

by Annie Proulx (2022)

Astute readers will know Proulx from her novels like The Shipping News and Barkskins, or for her short story “Brokeback Mountain” that became an award-winning fi lm. Among her honors are the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner. Fen, Bog & Swamp is her second work of nonfi ction. Its subtitle is “A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis.” This is not lighthearted, but it is interesting and informative. Just released in September, it was named to The New Yorker’s “22 Best of 2022” list.

Part ecology and part history, Proulx exposes the relentless and consequential draining of wetlands. Well documented with extensive footnotes, this book is highly readable. One fascinating section notes the anecdotes in the journals of botanist-traveler-writer William Bartram and likens them to her own experiences in the New Hampshire woods. She quotes his experiences of waking up in the Lower Altamaha “to the terrifying screams of owls vibrating around me … in dreadful peals through the dark, extensive forests” to her own recognition of “lovelorn owls … whooping and caterwauling.” The notes on trees and plants now or near extinction are poignant. Proulx makes an urgent plea for conservation.

BUZZ BOOK

- February 7, 2023 release STONE BLIND

by Natalie Haynes

Haynes breathes unexpected life into the characters of Greek mythology that you thought you knew. Everyone knows the short version of Medusa, the vengeful monster who turns helpless souls into stone for fun, right? Wrong. Delving into the mythic origins of Medusa’s story, Haynes tells an artfully nuanced version of a young girl assaulted by a powerful man who is then punished for her defi ance with transformation.

There’s so much clever wit in Haynes’s prose. There are Gorgons, Titans, and nymphs as sympathetic beings just trying to live their lives without the “divine” intervention of those pesky gods like Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and Athena. You know: “Immortals! They’re just like us!” Not really. But it’s fun to be on the journey, despite its inherent brutality.

If you liked similar bestselling retellings of mythology like Song of Achilles and Circe (by Madeline Miller) you might like this one. Haynes has written and recorded seven series of “Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics” for the BBC and has written for The London Times, the Independent, the Guardian, and the Observer. Her bestseller, A Thousand Ships, tells the story of the Trojan War from female perspectives and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020. | VM

BEAUTIFUL MUSICAL THEATEROpera the Story by JOHN RIDDLE / Photos on this page by PAUL LEAVY

“We are living in operatic times. Forget what you've heard about opera being remote and elitist. Opera is also the art form that, perhaps more than any other, specializes in heightened emotion, and in fi nding ways to communicate it," Anne Midgette, classical music critic wrote of opera.

While the VSU Opera program has been performing for over 20 years and is the only live opera program in the south Georgia region, the leadership behind the program is working hard to broaden its appeal and build interest in the beautiful musical theater that is opera, as Midgette suggests.

Coordinating that e ort is Dr. Tamara Hardesty, Associate Professor of Voice and Chair of Voice Area, who serves as the Director of the VSU Opera. Her background as a professional opera singer makes her uniquely suited for the role. Hardesty has lived in New York and performed at the Kennedy Center and on two national tours, as well as other opera companies across the country. She still performs with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra.

Hardesty is working closely with the opera conductor, Maestro Ken Kirk, who leads the all-student orchestra, to stage entertaining shows that have an appeal to a broad audience.

“We present operas in English for the voice students to learn the art form, and so that the audience can understand what's going on,” Hardesty explained. “I think that's something

Ar s & CULTURE

that can sometimes hold people back from attending opera, but our shows are very accessible.”

The opera’s next scheduled show will be Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte being performed January 20 – 22. The performance will be preceded on Thursday, January 19, with a special event for new and renewing sponsors called “Backstage at the Opera.”

In April, the opera will present an “Opera After Dark" a fundraising dinner to help fund the ongoing programs and activities of the opera. “Opera companies, even the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the top opera company in America, barely break even with ticket sales and rely heavily on sponsorships to thrive,” Hardesty explains.

So, for music and theater lovers if you haven’t attended the opera mark your calendars for their next performance in January. “If you like music and you like theater and you like musical theater, you will like opera too,” Hardesty says. VSU OPERA PRESENTS MOZART’S Cosi fan Tutte

WHAT IS MOZART'S COSI FAN TUTTE ABOUT?

THE TITLE MEANS "ALL WOMEN ARE LIKE THAT."

Mozart and his librettist (a person who writes the text of an opera), Lorenzo da Ponte, seem to be making a misogynistic statement that women are fi ckle and change their a ections easily. In this romantic farce, there's a bet to see if the fi ancés of the two gentlemen will be faithful while they pretend to go o to war.

The men come back in disguise, and each try to seduce the fi ancé of the other. After some protest, the women surrender to their own romantic urges. The men then reveal the trick, the women are truly sorry, and you will have to come see the show to see if they marry and all live happily ever after. (see next page for ticket information)

This show features fancy 18th-century costumes with corsets and white wigs, designed by Chalise Ludlow, Assistant Professor and Costume Designer for VSU's theatre department. The sets and lighting are designed by Koryn Weiman, Facility Operations Coordinator.

Dr. Tamara Hardesty, Associate Professor of Voice and Chair of Voice Area, and Director of the VSU Opera, with Ken Kirk, conductor for the VSU Opera and leader of the all-student orchestra.

Ar s & CULTURE

BELOW: Two of the main characters in Cosi fan tutte are Kelsie Painter, soprano, who will be singing the role of Fiordiligi and Isaiah Ricks, Two of tenor, will be singing the role of Guglielmo. the main Photograph by Kelly Soroka. Costumes by characters Chalise Ludlow, Assistant Professor of Theatre in Cosi fan and Resident Costume Designer and Technician tutte are for VSU's Theatre Program.Kelsie Painter, soprano, who will be singing the role of Fiordiligi, and Isaiah Ricks, tenor, who will be singing the role of Guglielmo. Photograph by Kelly Soroka.

VSU OPERA 2023 PRESENTS MOZART’S COSI FAN TUTTE

This silly romantic farce with the most divine music in the history of opera poses the question: Can women be faithful? The answer: women are just like men! Come enjoy the Opera and fi nd out if there is a happily ever after for these couples!

WHITEHEAD AUDITORIUM, FIRST FLOOR OF VSU’S FINE ARTS BUILDING.

January 20th – 10:00am youth performance* January 21st – 7:30pm evening performance January 22nd – 3:00pm matinee performance

* The free (age-appropriate) youth concert is open to school age children and includes educational materials for teachers and parents.

Tickets or youth performance reservations, call 229-333-2150 Monday - Thursday 9am - 4pm or Friday 9am - 2pm

$25- General Admission $20- VSU Faculty & Sta $20- Active & Retired Military $5- Children VSU Student free with VSU ID

BACKSTAGE AT THE OPERA exclusive preview event for Friends of the VSU Opera, January 19, 6:30 pm.

To fi nd out more about how to become a Friend of the VSU Opera, please call 229-333-2150. SCAN QR CODE FOR MORE INFO

Opera After Dark DINNER THEATER FUNDRAISER The VSU Opera will host a dinner theater fundraiser on Thursday, April 13, 2023. The theme this year is “Lift Every Voice” and will combine traditional opera favorites with new and diverse repertoire featuring students and new voice faculty.