Life Drawing Wednesdays. 6-8 p.m. $5. Open to everyone. Join the facebook Figure Drawing group Become a member of the studio — it’s worth it.
SEE MEMBERSHIP FORM ON PAGE 3.
A View From The Top Greg Busceme, TASI Director
WELCOME BACK AFTER OUR holiday hiatus. As all winters go, the staff and residents are girded against the cold, huddled up and wearing everything we own to stay warm. There are dusty heaters blasting hot air into The Studio cavern, which quickly dissipates in the arctic atmosphere. Winter, because of its rarity, allows me to use a jacket and sweater I wore in high school. I have a nostalgia for the sameness of each winter. Long conversations warm around the breakroom table as we slurp Seaport coffee and summon our courage to again dive into the cold and create. The smell of heaters and the silence of fanless days, the first handful of icy clay that numbs your fingers and make you question your vocation — winter . This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of The Art Studio. As you would expect, we are planning a series of events large and small to commemorate this august occasion. “Big deal,” you might say. Let’s look at what a big deal it is. The Art Studio is the only independently run and supported arts organization in Southeast Texas. The Studio owns its facility, paid in full, fair market value years ahead of time at 9.5 percent interest. We got no deal, no ice was cut for us and we had to sacrifice a larger facility and massive square footage.
ISSUE Vol. 19, No. 5 Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Art Studio, Inc. Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andy Coughlan Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tracy Danna Contributing Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . Elena Ivanova Contributing Photographer . . . . . . John Fulbright
The Art Studio, Inc. Board of Directors President Ex-Officio . . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Busceme Vice-President. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angela Busceme Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Roberts Treasurer/Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth Gallaspy Members at large: . . . . . . . . . . . . Sheila Busceme, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elizabeth French, . . . . . . . . . . Andy Ledesma, Stephan Malick, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heather Butler
The Art Studio, Inc. 720 Franklin Beaumont, TX 77701 409-838-5393 www.artstudio.org artstudio@artstudio.org The ISSUE is a monthly publication of The Art Studio, Inc. Its mission is to publicize The Art Studio and its tenants, and to promote the growth of the arts in Southeast Texas. ISSUE is also charged with informing TASI members of projects, progress, achievements and setbacks in TASI’s well-being. Further, ISSUE strives to promote and distribute the writings of local authors in its “Thoughtcrime” feature. ISSUE is provided free of charge to members of TASI and is also available, free of charge, at more than 30 locations in Southeast Texas. Regular features include local artists of note and reputation who are not currently exhibiting at TASI; artists currently or soon to be exhibiting at TASI; Instructional articles for artists; news stories regarding the state of TASI’s organization; and arts news features dealing with general philosophical issues of interest to artists.
Contents “Portrait of Spain” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 4 Metta House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 6 “Macbeth” at LU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7 Joe Winston/Lotus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8 Curtis Schnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 11 Around & About. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 12 Thoughtcrime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 13
Cover photo of Joe Winston by Andy Coughlan
Our angels are individuals who bought a Square Foot for Art, supported our fights against censorship, and for gay rights with a call to action for the prevention of AIDS where we offered prophylactic devices for sexual contact. Our angels are those who supported us in life and in death bequests whether they liked the shows or not. Even when offended, people kept the memberships and support coming. Have you ever been to a Band Nite? It’s our extended hand to all musicians who can’t get a gig that will let them play their own original work. We will. For more than 20 years, young musicians kept evolving as the world of music evolved. From our first tenuous years of challenged bands struggling with two-song sets of three chords each, to years later as funky punk rockers wailed songs of empty angst as anger expressed in bloody mosh pits, deathmetal bangfests and neo-nazi recruiters grew from this anarchistic soup, talking about much of what they don’t know, seeming more like a Jehovah’s Witness in funny clothes or mormon who loves a uniform. We walked them out and sent them on their way. Now we see a
See VIEW on page 15
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS AT THE ART STUDIO FEBRUARY
MARCH
Joe Winston Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 2
NCECA Group Show Opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 2
BECOME A MEMBER OF THE ART STUDIO Membership in The Art Studio, Inc., provides invitations to all exhibitions and one year of ISSUE, the monthly arts magazine of The Art Studio. It also gives free eligibility for members to enter the annual membership art exhibition (TASIMJAE) and participate in various exhibitions throughout the year.
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Volume 19, No. 5
Human Pets at the Royal Court Images of ‘Buffoons’ in the exhibition ‘Portrait of Spain’ at MFAH Story by Elena Ivanova
“And the Infanta frowned, and her dainty rose-leaf lips curled in pretty disdain. ‘For the future let those who come to play with me have no hearts,’ she cried, and she ran out into the garden.” — Oscar Wilde, The Birthday of the Infanta.
WHAT ART LOVER DOES NOT dream of visiting Spain’s Prado? Founded in 1819 as a public museum to showcase the royal art collection and later expanded to comprise a number of nationalized private collections, Museo Nacional del Prado is one of the greatest museums in the world. Masterpieces from this outstanding collection rarely leave their home, but this winter more than 100 works are on view at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, after the exhibition “Portrait of Spain” premiered at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia. Houston is the only city in the United States to host this exhibition thanks to the support of BBVA Compass Foundation. “Portrait of Spain” features masterpieces by the leading Spanish painters from the 16th through 19th centuries — Diego Velázquez, El Greco, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Francisco de Goya — as well as by famous artists from other countries who enjoyed the patronage of Spanish monarchs — Titian, Peter Paul Rubens and Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. As we feast our eyes on superb paintings of these great masters, we also are traveling through time to witness life at the Spanish court in its glamorous as well as its unsettling moments. The exhibition presents such a wide assortment of genres, subjects and artistic styles that it is impossible to do justice to all of them in a brief overview. There are royal portraits, painted with such incredible mastery in regards to surfaces and textures, that silks, brocades and jewelry appear real. Religious images range between extreme naturalism, exemplified in Titian’s weeping Christ carrying the cross, and otherwordly immaterialism, manifested in Murillo’s ethereal Virgin Mary. Still-lifes (called bodegón in Spain, from bodega — “pantry”) are among the most convincing trompe-l’oeil paintings ever created. And Goya’s etchings from the series “Disasters of War” would ben sufficient to bring crowds to the Museum of Fine Arts even if no other works from Prado had been included in the exhibition. The works that I chose to discuss in my review are the portraits of dwarves who played an important role in the daily life at the Spanish court. These powerful life-size images are the first works that visitors see upon entering the exhibition. Several of them are by Diego Velázquez, but some were painted by other court artists. The fashion for keeping dwarves at court was not limited to Spain — it was a popular tradition with all
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European courts dating back to medieval times and continued almost until the end of the 18th century. Considered as rare attractions, dwarves were bought and sold throughout Europe. Their roles at the court were mostly related to entertainment: they added to the carnivalesque atmosphere at ceremonies, provided amusement and companionship for the monarch’s children and, generally, served as jesters. Adorned in beautiful garments, they often appeared in portraits standing next to their royal patrons. Due to their small stature and not uncommon deformity, their presence reinforced the idea of perfection and superiority of the ruling dynasty. Spain, the greatest European power in the 16th17th centuries, was the leader in all matters related to courtly life, including the fashion for dwarves. For example, Philip IV, Velázquez’s patron, retained 110 royal dwarves. It was at the Spanish court that the formula for the royal portrait, which featured the monarch attended by a dwarf, was developed and became a model for emulation for the rest of Europe. The portrait of the Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia and Magdalena Ruiz by Alonso Sánchez Coello (c. 1585-1588) is a perfect example of such a portrait. The daughter of Philip II of Spain, Isabella Clara Eugenia, upon her marriage to Archduke Albert of Austria, became sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands in the Low Countries and the north of modern France. Coello painted her wearing a gorgeous dress of white silk lavishly decorated with gold
embroidery. However, the most important elements of her attire are the jewels, which belonged to her mother, Elizabeth of Valois, and her stepmother, Anna of Austria, and the cameo with an image of her father. These jewels and the cameo are far from being precious accessories: they are symbols of the dynastic continuity. The Infanta’s left hand is resting on the head of her dwarf servant, Magdalena Ruiz in a manner that may be interpreted as both domineering and protective. Magdalena is portrayed in a kneeling position, which even more emphasizes the imposing appearance of the Infanta. The dwarf is twiddling a medallion and, by doing so, is imitating the gesture of her august patron, like court jesters used to do. In her arms, Magdalena is holding two rare New World monkeys which, along with the string of corals around her neck, allude to Spain’s colonial expansion. Apparently, the dwarf herself is just another exotic pet of the Infanta. The monkeys may have an additional meaning. Since the Middle Ages, a monkey was traditionally a symbol of a soul filled with sinful thoughts. If a chained or a leashed monkey appeared in a female portrait, it signified the lady’s control over base desires. In Coello’s painting, it is hard to tell whether the silver chain that runs through Magdalena’s fingers is suspending the medallion or restraining one of the monkeys. Whatever the case, the presence of playful monkeys brings humor and gaiety into the
otherwise stuffy regal portrait. On the whole, the Infanta’s image projects a sense of superiority and almost divine power. Her imperial gaze seems to imply that we, mere mortals, are “dwarfed” in her presence and are expected to act as subserviently as Magdalena. Given the widespread attitude towards dwarves as rare pets, it is especially amazing to see the series of dwarves’ portraits by Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), the court painter of Philip IV. Instead of painting them at the edge of the canvas as “accessories“ in formal portraits of royalties, Velázquez treats them with the same respect as any other sitter. These are individual portraits, with the sitter taking the central place on the canvas. One may say that these portraits of dwarves display more personality than paintings of their regal patrons. The subject of “The Court Jester Don Antonio with a Dog” (c.1650) is of a fine-looking, well-proportioned, albeit diminutive, gentleman. He looks anything but a buffoon, despite the painting’s title. He is dressed in rich clothing and is wearing a sword at his side, like a nobleman. In fact, had he not been standing next to a huge mastiff, we may not realize that we are looking at a dwarf. It was customary for dwarves to be entrusted with the care of animals. Don Antonio exudes intelligence and confidence and seems to be
(Opposite) Alonso Sánchez Coello, THE INFANTA ISABEL CLARA EUGENIA (1566–1633) and Magdalena Ruiz, c. 1585–88, oil on canvas, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. © Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
(Above left) Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, THE COURT JESTER DON ANTONIO WITH A DOG, c. 1650, oil on canvas, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. © Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
(Above) Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, FRANCISCO LEZCANO, THE BOY FROM VALLECAS, c. 1636-38, oil on canvas, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. © Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
See PRADO on page 14
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MEDITATING ON PHILOSOPHY METTA HOUSE OFFERS PATHWAY TO PEACE, CREATIVITY THOSE LOOKING FOR AN escape from the dayto-day chaos of the modern world may find a quiet oasis at Metta House, a new meditation center in Beaumont. Actually, that isn’t true at all. There is no real escape from the technology-filled noise of society. And quiet is only to be found within. That’s where Metta House comes in, offering weekly mediation sessions every Wednesday at 2355 Pecos. The ability to concentrate is like a cone, Kassapa Bhikkhu, Metta House abbot, said. Meditation allows the practitioner to let the levels pass by until the focus is completely in the point. The house is centered around Buddhist philosophy, but Kassapa said that the meditation sessions are open to all, regardless of faith or lack thereof. “I began to dream of an American Buddhist Sangha in 2001,” he said. “I want to help develop Buddhism in this country — not the religious side, but the philosophy — the day-to-day life skills. It caught on and people liked that idea. “I like the philosophy. It’s the day-today living — treating others well, treating yourself well, the consequences of actions — that’s very important.” Most of the people who attend the house are not Buddhists, and they do not push people to become Buddhists, Danny Dubuisson, public relations spokesman, said, adding that he has been involved with Buddhism since 1999 and meditates seriously, but is not a “card-carrying” Buddhist. “Meditation is way to grow spiritually, or just a good, healthy tool to improve concentration, lower blood pressure,” he said. “That’s what’s so nice about this — there’s no pressure.” One of the things Kassapa teaches is that meditation is not just in the moment, it can be taken anywhere — to class, work, family, etc. “When you walk into class, into work — your boss is on your rear end — you can take a few moments, recall, do the breathing exercise, and all of a sudden, all of it is gone. It’s a training — and it works,” he said. There are practical applications for the artist as well.
Story and photo by Andy Coughlan
“It’s very interesting,” Kassapa said. “People have come here for meditation and say, ‘I’m working on a project and I am stuck. My imagination has left me and I’m drowning in a sea of ideas that mean absolutely nothing.’ I say, ‘Why worry about things. Just sit.’ “It can be applied to anything, but it seems people who are more creative in their mindset, they figure things out to be more creative with their colors, shapes, sizes — that dimension of filling out the edges and seeing what things are going to look like. You can turn things around in your mind because you have the concentration and can focus your energy on being creative. “And that comes directly out of the meditation because it feeds it, it feeds you as a person. You are no longer thinking about, ‘Did I turn the stove off? Do I need to iron a shirt?’ That’s what it teaches you, to be more in that moment — to be mindful. And mindfulness training is mediation.” Dubuisson said that mediation helps to free the mind from distractions. “It’s a good tool to initiate your artistic sessions, to relax down in a positive manner,” he said. “And at the same time, if you get hung up and need to break away, it releases you and allows you to go again.” Dubuisson said that when he is meditating, he might hear a siren pass by, causing him to begin to create a story around it. Is it police, fire or ambulance? Is someone hurt? Where are they going? “But once you get the meditation down, you go, ‘Siren,’ and return to the focus.” Kassapa, a Florida native, was at the Buu Mon Temple in Port Arthur for six years. The Vietnamese people were very good and wonderful people, he said, but he noticed that the Americans who came for meditation didn’t participate in the religious side, but they did embrace the philosophical side. “When we had a chance to open up a meditation center in Beaumont, we took it,” he said. Metta House is focused on an American Buddhism. Bhikkhu said he believes this is the first temple/meditation center in America run by Americans. “What we’re trying to create is
Kassapa Bhikkhu walks through the meditation room at Metta House. American Buddhism in the sense that it’s based on American culture,” Dubuisson said. “We’ve had Buddhism — Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese — but it’s based on Asian philosophy and culture. But we’re hoping here to have American Buddhism based on American culture and American celebrations. We’ve had a Thanksgiving celebration. “We’ll also have the traditional Visak, where we celebrate the Buddha’s birth. It’s going to be that, plus.” Kassapa said that it is important for people to be able to pick and choose what is right for them. “It means that much is working for you, and that’s a reason to celebrate,” he said.
Dubuisson said that the different forms of Buddhism interact well with each other. “That’s something that is important to understand,” he said. “The door is open to any culture, any religion that wants to be involved, to learn meditation and to learn something about Buddhism.” A lot of the young people who attend Metta House are students, Kassapa said. “They seem to get it, because they are not looking at formal religious upbringing in the homes anymore, but they know there is a reason for goodness — they are just not sure where
See METTA on page 11
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AMBITION’S CURSE Lamar Theatre to present William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ IT IS A LEGEND among thespians that saying the name of William Shakespeare’s “Scottish Play” in the theater is bad luck, requiring a “cleansing ritual,” such as leaving the theater, turning around and saying “Macbeth” three times before being invited back in. Lamar theater instructor Joel Grothe is not deterred by anecdotes of bad luck, saying he is not superstitious, even though he has some experience of the “curse.” “I do respect the superstitions because a lot of people believe in them,” he said. “The last time I did the play, the king was being played by a Canadian actor named Jon LeBow. The poor guy fell off a ladder working on his house and had to be replaced.” Grothe will direct “Macbeth,” Feb. 28-March 3, in the University Theatre on the Lamar University campus. It is not Grothe’s first encounter with “Mackers,” having played Banquo in an acclaimed professional production in Toronto in 2002. “It’s a play I know really well, and it will be the first play I’ve ever done twice,” he said. “It’s also one of Shakespeare’s better known, shorter plays that, aside from the role of Macbeth, is truly an ensemble piece.” “Macbeth” is a story of ambition and Grothe said that Shakespeare’s plays are as relevant today as when they were written. “Shakespeare, like many Renaissance artists, was asking the big questions about humanity — the ones we never really answer,” he said. “In Shakespeare’s case, it isn’t just the big questions and statements about humanity that he’s asking and making, but how he is phrasing them. “For the play itself, it’s all about where we draw the line with ambition and expectation, but also the negotiation of what’s real and what isn’t.” Natalie Cardona plays Lady Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s most iconic female roles. “I auditioned for the part because of how notoriously known her character is and I wanted the opportunity to explore why that is,” she said. “Lady Macbeth intrigued me and I was so eager to dive into the possible complex mindsets she may possess.” Cardona said it has always been her dream to play an antihero. “As a child, I always cast myself as the villain so that I could trick myself into believing that victory was all mine, right before the sudden shift in the odds leading, inevitably, to my ultimate demise and a most dramatic death scene,” she said. “Villains embark on dark, emotional journeys whose motives are driven by some deep inner struggle that may offer some explanation to how they came to be. “While Lady Macbeth exudes a persona of being cunning, assertive, and vigorous, she is secretly falling apart.” Lady Macbeth’s appeal as a character stems from the assumption that she is a villainous character, Cardona said, but she is more than just black and white.
Story and photo by Andy Coughlan
Daniel Sharpless plays Macbeth and Natalie Cardona plays Lady Macbeth in Lamar’s upcoming production, Feb. 28-March 3. “Macbeth and his wife transcend the standard hero vs. villain and good vs. evil dichotomy because they are not one-dimensional characters and have beguiled audiences into rooting for them,” she said. “Shakespeare leaves a lot of room for audience and actor interpretation in terms of what drives Lady Macbeth. What motivates her? Why is she so obsessed with becoming queen? These are questions I am still trying to answer.” Daniel Sharpless plays the eponymous protagonist. The character is so iconic it brings a unique challenge. “I have watched a lot of movies, I have read cuttings from multiple directors and their vision, but through it all they say make it your own — make it real to you,” he said. “And I would have to agree. If I have no connection to the character, it would never work. It must be me.” Like everyone else connected with the production, Sharpless said that Shakespeare incorporates every feeling a person could have, into every single character on the stage. “(Macbeth) is a story about love, greed, hate, revenge, sacrifice, murder — everything one could imagine is in this play,” he said. “It is everything we deal with today, just with swords and an older style of speaking.” Playgoers expecting the set to be a literal reproduction of a medieval castle will be in for a surprise.
“‘Macbeth’ is about creating an environment where the difference between illusion and reality is hard to negotiate,” Grothe said. “That is the spirit of the play. I believe in the Julie Taymor school of Shakespeare, where you try to create a world that helps tell the story. Our setting is imaginary, created by us, because Shakespeare’s setting for the play was his own imagination. The language needs to be clear, and any other elements of performance or design must be there to advance that clarity further. The play itself is a paradox in this way, because the clearest thing about it is that nothing is clear.” People unfamiliar with the plays are sometimes deterred by the belief that the language is too hard to understand. Grothe said that if the actors understand the language, the audience will be able to be drawn into the work. “Our audiences in America are not used to having to work to watch a film or a play, and in this way the language can be a barrier, but if the actors in Shakespeare engage the audience the way they should, and the audience is willing to go with them, you may not understand every word, but you can follow the story,” he said. The play features a cast of more than 30, comprising both students and faculty. Working on such a
See MACBETH on page 14
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Memories and
PHOTOGRAPHER WINSTON EXPLORES SETX ENVIRONS IN FEBRUARY EXHIBITION
JOE WINSTON GREW UP along the waterways of Southeast Texas and the Bolivar Peninsula. He always felt in tune with the environment and its stories. “People want to know the story,” he says. “That’s important in my work because it is a story. It’s about my experience. And the processes I use are very tactile because I want to pay homage to that experience.” The photographer will present an exhibition of his work, along with guest artist Lotus, Feb. 2-23, at The Art Studio, with a reception 7-10 p.m., Feb. 2. Winston will host a gallery talk at 7 p.m., Feb. 21. Winston said his work explores the same themes that the Pictorialists — photographers including Alvin Langdon Coburn, F. Holland Day, Gertrude Käsebier, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, and Clarence H. White — began working with in the late 1800s. “It was this idea that the photograph could deliver an emotional representation of reality, that it wasn’t simply a mechanical reproduction of exactly what happened,” he says. “I’m still trying, in my own work, to resolve a 160-year-old argument. “I’m still completely engaged in that argument, whereas many of my contemporaries have gone on to multi-media and video, where it gets bigger and bigger and flashier and flashier. It’s my hope I can grab my audience’s attention a few more seconds because the subject matter is subtle, the tonality in my work is relatively subtle.” Winston says he likes for his audience to resolve some of the issues. “It’s one of those things where, if you just look at it and carry on down the road of the pieces, you won’t have seen everything I intended for you to see,” he says. “As an artist, you are always trying to find that perfect resolution to that work of art. But what I’ve learned is, it doesn’t ever get perfectly resolved until someone who didn’t make it looks at it. That’s the final step in a work of art — when somebody in the audience responds to it. Whether I see the shortcomings in the process, or I wished it might have been different, or this isn’t exactly how I set out to make it — now it’s there, it’s mine and I have been able to share it with you. And once you’ve responded, that’s the final resolution.” Once created, Winston says the art assumes a life of its own. He creates and then sets the work loose to find it’s own way. Many times he will never see the work again. “I’ll sometimes see them again because I’ll be invited somewhere, but they are not mine any more,” he says. Story by Andy Coughlan
NECHES RIVER FALL 2010 by Joe Winston
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Waterways CERAMICIST LOTUS QUESTIONS HUMAN IMPACT ON LOCAL ECOLOGY
Joe Winston in his kayak. Winston’s process combines the speed of photography with the hands-on quality of painting. “Photography can be a very quick medium where you make an image and you move on to the next one,” he says. “Whereas, what I enjoy about my processes are that once the image is made, the memory begins to form. Through producing the work and meditating on the image — what I like and what I’m looking for to be delivered — I get to elevate that image from being something that happened in 1/60th of a second to being the memory.” Winston paints photo chemicals onto canvases in a painterly way, before exposing the image and proceeding in a traditional photographic manner. He says this show is the first showing of what he considers to be a transition toward a new direction. “For the last 15 years or so, I’ve been creating silver gelatin paintings, using a negative and projecting it on to a canvas and using the raw material of photography that makes the print, the light-sensitive material, and I paint it on to the canvas and then the negative is projected on to that light-sensitive paint,” he says. “Then it’s a traditional photographic process — developer, stop bath, fix.” The resulting images merge the streaks and drips of traditional painting with the photographic image. A year and a half ago he moved to Houston from New Braunfels. In the process, he had to face the issue that confronts all photographers in today’s technology-driven world. “One of the challenges I have had is how to bring that tactile feel I have through the gelatin paintings through the digital medium — there isn’t a negative to
Photo courtesy John Fulbright
project, there’s no way to for the silver gelatin paintings to make the transition,” he says. “With the digital camera and learning to enjoy that, I wanted to do something that had a tactile feel as well. So I began doing a multi-media transfer process. They’re laser jets that are on canvas, but they are not printed directly on the canvas. “(The laser jet image) becomes much more like a printing plate at that point. So I take my plate, which is the intermediary step, and then transfer it on to the canvas after I have done multiple underlays and working with textures.” Winston says his goal was for the new pieces to reflect the silver gelatin paintings in some way so they are cohesive, “So when you look at them you say, ‘Ha, I see.’” he says. “There’s color and it’s scratchy various things, but it delivers — they read like paintings on the wall as opposed to the traditional photograph behind glass, slick and finished and perfect in every way.” Winston says the tactile quality of the work has always been important to him. He tells a story about going to a former old patron’s house and seeing an old piece of his hanging on the wall. “I started rubbing it down, I had my hands on it,” he says. I hadn’t seen it in probably ten years and I turned around to see the lady who owned the painting with a mortified look on her face. At that moment I realized that, absolutely, that painting was no longer
See WINSTON on page 10
CERAMICIST LOTUS WILL JOIN Joe Winston for The Art Studio’s February show. “I invited Lotus because she is an amazing ceramics artist and is using ceramics in ways that, I think, are really unique,” Winston said. “The connection I have with clay here, the space, I wanted to fill it out. With this latest body of work that she’s putting together, she’s trying to get her audience to resolve a question about our impact on the natural resource as opposed to our need for a thriving economy.” Lotus said, in an email interview, that her passion for gardening and healthy eating led her to create work that promotes an awareness of what one consumes and where that food comes from. She met Winston in 1997 in the ceramics studio at University of Houston where they were both aspiring art majors, she said. “Joe grew up in Beaumont with similar fishing stories and still had the same passion for the outdoors I had as a child and long since given up. “With both of us living near the Gulf of Mexico our entire lives, we have heard yarns from a generational perspective from family and neighbors but also have experienced natural disasters such as Hurricane Alicia and Ike, and seen the human impact of business, industry and population growth on our local environment. “This effect on our local coastal areas conversely impacts us directly through consumption of marine seafood and treated water from our taps, as well as contact through recreational hobbies and the proximity of our homes with our families residing inside.” Lotus says her preliminary ideas draw upon personal experiences and jumbled memories translated through her current passions.
See LOTUS on page 10
FISH STICKS 2012 by Lotus.
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LOTUS from page 9 “For this show, I took these ideas and hand-built two mini-installations and two floor works,” she said. “I really enjoy repetition to show emphasis and create visual mass within a space. For my hand-building I employed the use of vermiculite, a gardening soil additive, to create an unusual texture on and in the clay itself.” Lotus is from the Galveston Bay area and Winston said they share experiences of crabbing and fishing some of the same waters. “Growing up in Dickinson, I fondly remember riding my bike down to the bayou to catch crabs off a little wood pier with a chicken neck dangling on the end of a string and an old dip net,” she said. “It was usually catch and release. Unless my Asian relatives were visiting; then they would cook up the most delicious crab concoctions. “Hot summers were spent taking family trips to Galveston beach where, after playing in the sand and surf, we used baby oil to remove all the sticky black tar from our hands and feet.” It is these memories which inform her work. Winston said Lotus’ work takes his own exploration and love of the area further. “There are some areas of the Bay where you can’t eat the crab, can’t eat the sea trout,” he said. “So (she’s) trying to see how we can keep the economy going with all these people depending on the economy, but not damaging the ecosystem to the point where we can’t eat the fish. “I’m out there eating the fish in the Sabine, the Neches and Galveston, and she’s taken a step back to be a little more critical about it.” TASI is loacted at 720 Franklin in downtown Beaumont. For more information, call 409-838-5393 or visit www.artstudio.org.
SHRIMP BIOHAZARD 2012 by Lotus.
WINSTON from page 9
REDFISH IN HAND FALL 2012 by Joe Winston
mine. That object is someone else’s object of art and it doesn’t matter that I created it.” The father of three says that the old cliché about paintings being like children is apt. “You have to let them go,” he says. “It’s what we do. I don’t have a choice. We joke about putting work together for deadlines and making shows, but really, I have to make something creative on a regular basis.” Winston’s definition of creativity is broad, and includes being out on his kayak. An avid fisherman, Winston draws inspiration from his explorations of the Sabine and Bolivar areas where he grew up. “That’s where I get recharged and where my joy comes from,” he says. “That’s why I create the kind of art that I do. It’s not the kind of art that’s going to cause a scandal or turn the art world on its head, but it comes from a very solitary place within me.” Finding that voice is something he encourages other artists to do. “You have a voice that is unique to you, and as an artist, shouldn’t have to worry about what the trends are, what the latest multi-media is, how much can you can charge the account to make something wall size,” he says. “My art is about recalling the memory of the time and place in which I found that moment of joy, that I had a lens and was in the right spot, and I could trim it down a little bit so there was just what I thought was the representation of it.” Winston finds his inspiration from the elements that mark the area. He says that one of his memories is driving to Bolivar to his family’s beach house as a child and passing by the cutting pens, where cattle were sorted to be taken to market. The very first roll of film he shot was of the pens, after forcing his father to drive him there.
“I wanted to take a photo of the sunset with those cutting pens in the foreground,” he says. “Now those cutting pens are gone (after Hurricane Ike). “Monet had his cathedral and I had the dirty pelican pier house. It was really accessible and when I felt I needed a deep breath, I’d run down there at first light or last light or a winter day or a summer day — and I photographed the dirty pelican pier house for years. I couldn’t necessarily explain it, except I loved the way the light played on the coastline with that building and the pier. I tried to get there as often as I could and to photograph as many different ways because it seemed to change. I mean it didn’t, but through the lens it changed. After Hurricane Ike, it’s not anymore, so that’s when I stopped photographing that micromuse. “I would often find myself on Bolivar just being receptive to ideas. I have been down every dirt road, every shanty I can find and think, ‘Why am I here again?’ And then all of a sudden I am there, I’ve got cameras, I’m in the right state of mind, and something would happen that I’d never seen before, as many times in my life as I’d been there — and that’s what keeps me going back.” The series he is exhibiting in this show began when he returned to Beaumont as a guest artist at Lamar University in fall 2010, to fill in for photographer Keith Carter while he was on assignment. He currently works as an instructor at San Jacinto College. Winston is a keen kayaker and said that kayaking and photography are “two wonderful worlds colliding.” There are places he can go in the Southeast Texas waterways that other photographers don’t care to explore or don’t know about. The kayak became a vehicle to a different landscape. “You’re no longer standing on the shore photographing the water,” he said. “You are in the water in unique places.”
Volume 19, No. 5
February 2013 ISSUE • 11
Boomtown festival set for Feb. 22-23 THE SIXTH ANNUAL BOOMTOWn Film & Music Festival is scheduled for Feb. 22-23. The non-profit event will include independent film screenings, live music, vendor booths, film panel discussion, contests and more. The festival starts on Friday night at the Dishman Art Museum at Lamar University with select film screenings and continues Saturday with more screenings and film panel discussions. The music starts that evening at Tequila Rok on Crocket Street. “All day Saturday, we will have films, vendor booths and live music happening at the Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum as well as more film screenings and panels conducted by film experts at the Dishman Art Museum,” spokesman Bryan Lee said in a release. All-Access passes are available for $15. For the full schedule of events, visit www.boomtown festival.com.
Live Spaghetti Western experience comes to town Feb. 9, 15, 16 WHEN A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER wanders from the night into a small western town, he runs into a slew of crooks, creeps and faces from his past. What drew him there, and will anyone survive to see him disappear back into the night? Ad Hoc Beaumont, in association with Aztec Economy, will present “My Aim is True,” a darkly comic Spaghetti Western, Feb. 9, 15 and 16 at Gladys City Boomtown Museum in Beaumont. All performances are at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, with 30 percent going to the museum. Student tickets are available. The play is rated R. With a mixture of dark humor and operatic mayhem, “My Aim is True” is a theatrical homage to the cinematic works of Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, and the Italian-style Western, a release states. First produced as part of the 2010 Crown Point Festival in lower Manhattan, where it was named one of the top picks of the festival, the event will feature some of the original cast,
along with area actors, on a traveling narrative through the museum grounds. Through staging, movement, costume and music, “My Aim is True” recreates the gritty world of ’70s Spaghetti westerns with humor and pathos. Space is limited and reservations are encouraged are encouraged at myaimistrueplay@gmail.com. The saloon will be open before and after performances with suggested donation beers.
Production designer Schnell to show at BAL THE BEAUMONT ART LEAGUE will present nationallyknown Hollywood production designer and author Curtis A. Schnell’s latest works in the show, “Are We There Yet? Traveling the Art Road,” Feb. 9-27. The show opens with a reception, 7-9 p.m., Feb. 9. “Filling both galleries with more 70 works, he will surprise and amaze with his allegorical works of imaginary mythological history in his ‘King Caractacus’ Celestial Orchestra,’” a BAL release states. “In addition, he will have original artwork from his two art books that demonstrate his wry and whimsical sense of humor.” Schnell became associated with Southeast Texas after sheltering Crystal Beach in-laws after Hurricane Ike. They were neighbors of BAL member Margo Holst who turned his offer of help into a benefit art sale for the Crystal Beach Fire Department in April 2011.
METTA from page 6
goodness comes from,” he said. “It’s because of that that they seem to turn on to Buddhist ideas. Sometimes they have the wrong thoughts, but they are thinking and becoming thinking people. I like that.” He said that the young people who attend the center are not cynical, but they are searching. He said he hopes Metta House can fill a niche. Buddhism does not compete with religion because it is a philosophy that transcends any one religious dogma. “That’s what’s hard for Americans to wrap their heads around,” Kassapa said. “This is a philosophy that is given a religious status because of the success of the
This year he returns to the area with his latest works and books with a show chaired by Holst and D.J. Kava. A member of the Art Director’s Guild and the Director’s Guild of America, Schnell will speak to local theater groups at the Dishman Art Museum on the Lamar University campus, Feb. 10 at 2 p.m. He worked on more than 110 episodes of the TV series “Crossing Jordan,” and has many credits for other TV shows and movies. “For people wanting a sneak preview, you have to pry open the blinds of websites curtschnellart.com and curtschnell.com,” BAL’s release states. “Margo will drop a few teasers from the cartoon book series on BAL’s Facebook page.” DJ Kava says, “When The Art Studio, Inc. started we had East Coaster Lynn Sweat bring some huge Chuck Close paintings. I didn’t even know who he was.
philosophy and the multitude of people who follow that philosophy. But it all boils down very simply to selfinvestigation and coming to terms with the self. “The mediation is a way to observe self in a nonattached manner. Buddhism doesn’t compete with any god-form, because there is no god concept here. It’s about the individual and the individual coming to terms with himself. Once you come to terms with yourself, then you can more compassionately approach others and develop wisdom and greater insight into what your part is and what the world is all about.” The meditation sessions are held every Wednesday at 7 p.m. People may come and go, and there is no set class schedule. “Once people get started they really like to come,” he said. “You’re not forced. It’s not like you get graded on it. It’s a gift you give to yourself.”
Curtis A. Schnell Neither did the local press. We probably had a half million dollars of art in today’s dollars hanging… Curt Schnell is coming. A West Coast artist, he, too, has yet to be universally recognized. Once again the Golden Triangle is on the cusp of presentation.” For more information, visit www.beaumontart league.org.
After the sessions, participants are welcome to stay for a social gathering. Dubuisson said that the session begins with the basics, but at the social, the more experienced practitioners can fill in the gaps. The sessions last half an hour, but participants are encouraged to do 10-15 minutes a day on their own. “Wednesday night is for group encouragement and to learn the basics,” Dubuisson said, but the daily selfmotivated sessions are where the participants grow into it. There is no fee, but visitors are encouraged to pay what they can. Often times, people will volunteer to help clean up on weekends as a way to contribute. “We are not trying to get rich here, just to keep the doors open,” Dubuisson said. For more information, call 409-234-3221, or visit the Metta House facebook page.
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Around & About If you come across any interesting exhibitions, museums or other places on your travels, share them with us. Call 409-838-5393, or contact us through our web site at www.artstudio.org. Be sure to include the location and dates of the subject, as well as any costs.
The BEAUMONT AR T LEAGUE will host the 51ST ANNUAL NATIONAL JURIED EXHIBITION, May 1 through 31, 2013. The deadline to submit digital entries is Feb. 14. The artists whose pieces are selected by a panel of jurists will be notified by letter after March 1. The show’s prospectus is available for download on the League’s Web site at www.beaumontart league.org. ______________ The AR T MUSEUM OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS will hold A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM FAMILY AR TS DAY, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Feb. 9. The event will be held in conjunction with the exhibitions “Sarah Williams: Remote America,” “Edge of Mists: Photography by David H. Gibson,” and “San Angelo Ceramics.” The free event will feature hands-on art activities, refreshments and entertainment. “Night at the Museum” Family Arts Day will encourage visitors to create works of art with mood lighting after viewing the night scene paintings of Williams and the swamp scene photographs of Gibson. Families are encouraged to make clay vessels after viewing a collection of ceramics from the San Angelo Museum of Art. In addition, this Family Arts Day will feature a celebration of Valentine’s Day, President’s Day and Mardi Gras. Festive activities will include decorating Valentine’s Day cookies and making Lincoln hats, Freedom hats and Mardi Gras masks. Additionally, children are invited to visit the “Brass Instrument Petting Zoo,” a brass quintet presented by the Symphony of Southeast Texas at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in the Lecture Hall. Face painting, refreshments and lively entertainment will round out the event. For more information, contact AMSET at 409832-3432 or visit www.amset.org. ______________ The MUSEUM OF FINE AR TS, HOUSTON, is hosting an exhibition exploring the experience of war through the eyes of photographers. WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: IMAGES OF ARMED CONFLICT AND ITS AFTERMATH features nearly 500 objects, including photographs, books, magazines, albums and photographic equipment. The photographs were made by more than 280 photographers, from 28 nations, who have covered conflict on six continents over 165 years, from the Mexican-American War of 1846 through present-day conflicts. The exhibition takes a critical look at the relationship between war and photography, exploring what types of photographs are, and are not, made, and by whom and for whom. Rather than a chronological survey of wartime photographs or a survey of “greatest hits,” the exhibition presents types of photographs repeatedly made during the many phases of war — regardless of the size or cause of
the conflict, the photographers’ or subjects’ culture or the era in which the pictures were recorded. The images in the exhibition are organized according to the progression of war: from the acts that instigate armed conflict, to “the fight,” to victory and defeat, and images that memorialize a war, its combatants and its victims. Both iconic images and previously unknown images are on view, taken by military photographers, commercial photographers (portrait and photojournalist), amateurs and artists. Curators Anne Wilkes Tucker, Natalie Zelt and Will Michels spent a decade preparing the show which explores the complex and profound relationship between war and photography. “Photographs serve the public as a collective memory of the experience of war, yet most presentations that deal with the material are organized chronologically,” Tucker said in a release. “‘War/Photography’ is unique in its scope, exploring conflict and its consequences across the globe and over time, analyzing this complex and unrelenting phenomenon.” The earliest work in the exhibition is from 1847, taken from the first photographed conflict: the Mexican-American War. Other early examples include photographs from the Crimean War, such as Roger Fenton’s iconic The Valley of the Shadow of Death (1855) and Felice Beato’s photograph of the devastated interior of Fort Taku in China during the Second Opium War (1860). Among the most recent images is a 2008 photograph of the Battle Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in the remote Korengal Valley of Eastern Afghanistan by Tim Hetherington, who was killed in April 2011 while covering the civil war in Libya. The museum is located at 1001 Bissonnet in Houston. For more information, visit www.mfah.org, or call 713-639-7300.
RECENT ART STUDIO NEW OR RENEWING MEMBERS Sharon Day Marilyn Ann Manson-Hayes, Glenn, Lana & Roxanne Dr. Bob Rogan Patricia Daugherty Tatum K.R. Wallon Joe Winston Anita Judice in Memory of Paul Judice Memorial for Grace Ralph Wallace: Terry Verboon Carlo Busceme, III
INDIAN DISH FRIDAYS at
BEAUMONT FRIED CHICKEN Corner of 3rd and Calder
Different dish each week Delicious Punjab
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Volume 19, No. 5
February 2013 ISSUE • 13
Thoughtcrime Submission Guidelines and Disclaimer ISSUE solicits and publishes the work of local authors. Poetry, short fiction, scholarly works and opinion pieces may be submitted for review. All works must be typed or submitted on a disk (using approved word processing software), or may be sent to TASI by e-mail. All works are subject for review by our editor, and may be rejected or edited on the basis of grammar, spelling or content. The opinions expressed in “Thoughtcrime” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TASI, its Board of Directors, ISSUE’s editorial staff, or donors to TASI.
A LAGNIAPPE IS A small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase (such as a 13th doughnut when buying a dozen), or more broadly, “something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure.” The Lagniappe Film and Music Festival will be held at various Beaumont locations, Feb. 28-March 3. “We provide more bands, more film and way more lagniappe than you have ever experienced,” the festival’s website states. “LFMF is dedicated to the discovery and advancement of the very best independent films and musicians from around the world. “At LFMF we promote the storyteller. Whether it’s through the medium of the screenplay, poetry, images, film, or music, we believe these stories, ideas, and concepts need and deserve the embrace and exposure LFMF offers. Storytellers’ ideas have no barriers — they are universal stories told through the unique filter of man. Some make us laugh, and some make us cry. We are moved to dance and sing or to sit quietly and let the sights and sounds envelope us in their stories. But in the end, the storyteller is our guide, and we are privileged to be included in their journey. “Lagniappe is excited to provide a unique combination of historic venues, state of the art theaters and outdoor stages. Our programming brings together diverse audiences and introduces them to original and innovative filmmakers, musicians and experiences. “Thousands of attendees are expected to visit the four-day festival and participate in film screenings, master classes, and starstudded gala events. The LFMF is a competitive festival open to U.S. and foreign film. The complete lineup was unavailable at press time. Tickets range from $25 for students to $45 for all-venues access. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.thelagniappefestival.com.
ISSUE 720 Franklin, Beaumont, TX 77701 or e-mail: artstudio@artstudio.org Authors must submit a daytime telephone number along with all submissions. Pen names are acceptable, but authors must supply real names for verification. All submitted works become property of TASI, and whether rejected or accepted, are not returned to the author. ISSUE does not notify of rejection by mail or telephone.
Love
Again
Festival set for Feb. 28-March 3
Send typed works to:
My fingers contain memory that my brain does not They remember the letters and words The periods, commas, semi-colons, spaces The numbers and signs The weight of emotion The nuance of feeling You visited me early this morning You haven’t even knocked on my door until now and This time you didn’t knock You were just there Using me again Moving in on me You didn’t ask entrance You were just there and It was like my fingers remembering Your harshness and totalitarianism Your pretty words punctuating Your ugliness Your assumption of assent Your territorial right instinct You
Came Without
In Knocking
At your entrance My senses remembered Like my fingers remember My body recalled the invasion And memory pushed up on my mind Like keys of my typewriter Push back on my fingers Enabling me to remember Cathy Atkinson
Love, what is love? Is love trust,
Or is it honesty?
Well, honestly love can be deep.
Believe in you and you shall see. Love brings change
and happiness within
Trust in you is where you begin.
Poets? I’m very poetic.
Believe in me, honestly. You won’t regret it.
Hard times? Never let them get to you.
Put all your heart into what you do. Trials and tribulations,
they come and go.
Look him in his eyes and tell him
I love you so.
If you don’t mean it,
It’s better left unsaid,
No need for mim to be mislead.
Nothing like when your heart is torn.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
So when you say love, Make sure it’s love. I got love.
Regina Wilson, poet
Client of Beaumont Hope Center
14 • ISSUE February 2013
Volume 19, No. 5
PRADO from page 5 quite capable of controlling his impressive charge which is almost his size. By contrast, the adolescent boy Francisco Lezcano, called “El Niño de Vallecas” (c.1640) looks physically and mentally impaired. However, this does not diminish the emotional appeal of this painting. It is impossible not to empathize with this pensive and aloof youngster. Dressed in a tabard and green pants, Francisco is portrayed in the landscape, sitting on a bolder and obliviously handling a deck of playing cards. According to the court records, “El Niño de Vallecas” was a companion and entertainer of young Prince Balthazar Carlos. Probably one of the most poignant images in the exhibition is the portrait of Eugenia Martínez Vallejo, (1680), painted by a younger contemporary of Velázquez, Juan Carreño de Miranda. The painting features an obese girl whose extraordinary proportions are additionally emphasized by the magnificent flowered red gown that she is wearing. Her physical anomaly, probably the result of a hormone imbalance, made Eugenia a “high commodity” in baroque Spain, known for its taste for freaks of nature. She was taken to court where she was promptly nicknamed “la Monstrua” (“the monster”) — no negativity implied, just a metaphor. At the direct order of King Carlos II, Juan Carreño created two portraits of Eugenia: one showing her dressed and one in the nude. The former is included in the exhibition “Portrait of Spain”; the latter, currently on view at Prado, presents her adorned with grape leaves and grape clusters, evoking associations with Bacchus1. Looking at this girl who lived more than 300 years ago, I am trying to imagine how she felt living in the relative comfort, maybe even luxury, of the court, being treated as a live toy of royal offspring. Was she content, angry, indifferent? Her unsmiling eyes and pouting lips seem to indicate a hidden temper. Notwithstanding cultural differences between 17th-century Spain and our times, I don’t think that she liked being called “la Monstrua” any more than a modern teenager would. The exhibition “Portrait of Spain: Masterpieces from the Prado” is organized by Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid in association with The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
MACBETH from page 7 scale is exciting, Grothe said. “It’s a lot of traffic control for myself and (stage manager) Hilary Hayes, but it’s a lot of energy coming from very different directions and it creates a great enthusiasm,” he said. “A lot of what I’ve done at Lamar have been small plays with upper level theater students — after a while that can get stale, so it’s great to have a different energy. It’s a great group. “I’m excited for the project. I think it’s a great showcase of the talent in the Lamar community and a great display of the diversity in race, gender, and age on our campus. This show is a great indication of the quality of work we are capable of as a department as well as a university.” Cardona said the play reveals the danger of selfishness. “So much of our society affiliates worth around sense of self, allowing titles and what one owns to define one’s importance” she said. “This selfish ideology can lead to dire consequences. Sacrificing morals in the effort to acquire status or wealth can only strip one of their
Mission Statement Founded in 1983, The Art Studio, Inc. is devoted to: providing opportunities for interaction between the public and the Southeast Texas community of artists; furnishing affordable studio space to originating artists of every medium; promoting cultural growth and diversity of all art forms in Southeast Texas; and providing art educational opportunities to everyone, of every age, regardless of income level, race, national origin, sex or religion.
PURPOSE Juan Carreño de Miranda, EUGENIA MARTINEZ VALLEJO, KNOWN AS ‘THE MONSTER’, c. 1680, oil on canvas, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. © Photographic Archive, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
The exhibition is on view through March 31. MFAH is located at 1001 Bisonnett in Houston’s museum district. For more information, visit www.mfah.org.
The purpose of The Art Studio, Inc. is to (1) provide educational opportunities between the general public and the community of artists and (2) to offer sustained support for the artist by operating a non-profit cooperative to provide studio space and exhibition space to working artists and crafts people, and to provide an area for group work sessions for those artists and crafts people to jointly offer their labor, ideas, and enthusiasm to each other.
1
To see this portrait, follow the link to Museo Nacional del Prado online gallery: http://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/online-gallery/ on-line-gallery/obra/ldquothe-monsterrdquo-nude-or-bacchus/
GOALS 1. 2. 3.
humanity.” With the mixed cast of students and faculty, the production stands apart from a mere class project. “It’s not a grade, not for entertainment or self enlivenment, it is for the people of our generation to be a part of a story that has survived and become a part of who we are today,” Sharpless said. “Anyone can read it, but to see it alive and breathing is another story altogether. “I hope that I will be just as important as the people to the left and right of me on stage, and that this story of all of our lives is justly told.” And if exploring self through subtexts is not your thing, there are other reasons to see the production. “There are sword fights, daggers, and lots of blood,” Cardona said. No one ever accused Shakespeare of not giving the audience what it wants. The University Theatre is located on MLK Parkway on the Lamar University campus. Show times are 7:30 p.m., Feb. 28-March 2, with matinees at 1 p.m. March 1, and 2 p.m. March 3. Tickets are $7 for students. $10 for LU faculty and seniors, and $15 for the general public. For tickets, call 409-880-2250.
4.
To present public exhibitions To provide educational opportunities To provide accessible equipment for artists To provide peer feedback through association with other artists and crafts people
OBJECTIVES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
To present 10 art exhibitions per year To maintain equipment for artists in a safe working environment To provide better access to artists for the public To offer regularly scheduled adult and children’s classes To develop and maintain public activities with all sectors of the community To develop and maintain equipment to aid artists in their work To provide a display retail outlet for artists To expand programming and activities with increased facility space
Volume 19, No. 5
February 2013 ISSUE • 15
VIEW from page 3 broader diversity of music, much like the diversity that came about in the visual arts after the French revolution, as artists exercised their autonomy and no longer needed someone’s permission to make art. We encourage the musicians in this community to meet the world of music, not just the neighborhood of music. As part of our celebration, there will be rare and unusual interviews from 28 years ago with an especially young Tom Wright and other TV celebrities of the ’80s; the clothes alone are worth the look. This will demonstrate that we have been at this for a long time and endured all sorts of devastating events — natural, political and financial. A common thread you will hear is that we provide arts for children. In the earlier interviews, I was determined that children should grow up to be artists. It’s what I taught classes for. I am not of that view today. Art is a teaching tool for children that advances the skills needed to be proficient in math, science and literature. The act of creativity, even when not successful in creating an object, is still viable in the skills that the act imparts. Also, listen to our goals and you will hear they were the same then as they are today. We were the advocate for artists and their success thirty years ago — and we still are today.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED The Art Studio is looking for energetic people who have a few hours a month to help us in the following areas:
OFFICE SUPPORT BUILDINGS & GROUNDS SPECIAL EVENTS • MAILOUTS If you are interested in one or more of these opportunities or if you know of anyone who might be, give us a call at 409-838-5393
WE WANT YOU FOR BAND NITE Hear original music by local musicians at For upcoming gigs, visit the studio’s facebook page
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admission
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INSIDE • JOE WINSTON/LOTUS • THOUGHTCRIME: MUSINGS FROM AREA POETS • ‘PORTRAIT OF SPAIN’ • METTA HOUSE
When you support The Art Studio with your membership, you receive ISSUE, Southeast Texas’ and Southwest Louisiana’s alternative press as well as class schedules, invitations to opening receptions and various Studio functions.
Volunteers These people are the life blood of our organization. WE COULDN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOU! To volunteer, drop by The Art Studio, Inc., or call 409-838-5393. Elizabeth Fontenot Bryan Castino Heather & Adam Butler Andy Ledesma Rhonda Rodman Sue Wright Cyndi Grimes Rhonda McNally Andy Coughlan Ben Jennings Beth Gallaspy John Roberts Beau Dumesnil Karen Dumesnil Sheila Busceme Kailee Viator Haley Bruyn Bryan LaVergne Gabe Sellers Ian Grice Abby McLaurin Samantha Wheeler Scott & John Alexander Heather Adams Terri Fox April Falgout B.J. Bourg Michelle Falgout Dana Dorman Reagan Havens Anna Buchele Nick Wilcox Stacey Haynes
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