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Bruce Kirkwood talks no regrets, music and his debut album

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Foothills Focus Executive Editor

Bruce Kirkwood studied accounting at The University of Southern Mississippi but something else was tugging at his heartstrings.

Music.

“It was hard to pass up my passion,” Kirkwood said about pursuing a music career. “I knew I’d have a lot of regrets if I chose accounting.”

A professional violinist, the North Phoenix resident released an EP, “Valley Vibes.”

The Chicago native, who was raised in Gulfport, Mississippi, is experienced in playing a variety of styles and presenting a fusion of a classical and contemporary sounds. Thanks to his talents, he has performed for various prestigious organizations and events such as the Houston Rockets, Iyanla Vanzant, Archdiocese of New York, National Urban League, Mayo Clinic, Essence Festival and Oprah Winfrey Network. With a collective social media following of over 100,000 people, he commits to using his global presence to motivate, empower and bring hope to the world.

He does so through his weekly Facebook Live performances, and motivational content on social media.

see KIRKWOOD page 21

THE FOOTHILLS FOCUS | THEFOOTHILLSFOCUS.COM | OCTOBER 27, 2021

Hidden in the Hills artist studio tour returns

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Foothills Focus Executive Editor

Hidden in the Hills is celebrating its silver anniversary the last two weekends of November with free, self-guided tours featuring 191 artists at 45 private studios in the Desert Foothills communities.

Coordinated by the nonprofit Sonoran Arts League, the event is Friday, November 19, to Sunday, November 21, as well as Friday, November 26, to Sunday, November 28.

Londoner enthralled by desert landscape

Michele Corsini has always loved to create. She was born in London and was influenced, in part, by her Italian father, who was a skilled mosaic craftsman. She “ran away” to art college in 1983 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in fine arts, painting, from St. Martin’s School of Art in London in 1987. Then, in 1988, she joined her high school friend, Mark De Simone, in a true adventure. They moved to the United States.

“I ran away again, this time to Phoenix,” she said. “And upon arriving with Mark, my first thought was, ‘What was this land?’ I was enthralled by the harsh beauty of the desert landscape. I was only in my 20s, and here I was in this wonderland of majestic landscapes, harsh vegetation and resilient animals. It was truly an adventure like no other.”

She and Mark spent much of their first year in the United States exploring the Southwest and Mexico. They bought an old Volkswagen bus and traveled to remote areas to hike and mountain bike.

“In those early years, we would brew our own dark beer and make our own whole-grain bread because we couldn’t find it in Phoenix,” Corsini recalls.

Eventually the two good friends fell

see ARTIST STUDIO page 24

Mixed-media collage artist Mimi Damrauer works in her studio. (Photo courtesy of Sonoran Arts League)

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KIRKWOOD from page 19

“This window of time is set aside weekly as an opportunity for people to step away from the negativity of social media and join a personable environment where positive energy and motivation is generated and transferred freely throughout those present,” Kirkwood said.

Kirkwood moved to Arizona to pursue his dream.

“My reason for choosing Phoenix was because it had become my second home after making over a dozen trips to perform here during a two-year span,” he said.

“It was a great choice, too, because the Valley is a better market for business and was near other great markets like Vegas and LA. My agent/manager lives here and that was a tremendous incentive.”

His manager is Marion Kelly, the Mayo Clinic’s director of community engagement, department of public relations, and the co-founder of the Diversity Leadership Alliance. “We met in November 2018 at a conference in Mobile, Alabama,” Kirkwood said. “He was there representing the Mayo Clinic and I was there performing.”

Kelly invited Kirkwood to perform in Phoenix, and the violinist fell in love with the desert, mountains and music scene. The pandemic and his subsequent slower schedule allowed him to pull off the move to Phoenix.

“Coming from Biloxi, there are far more resources and connections here,” he said. “It was about time for me to move. COVID was slow, so it allowed me to go ahead and make that move. I have no regrets.”

He still has ties to the south, however. He recently held a virtual benefit for New Orleans after it was hit by Hurricane Ida. Kirkwood wanted to “meet a need and be a part of the solution.”

“So many people sit back, see it as entertainment or something to look at and say, ‘Wow,’” said Kirkwood, a Hurricane Katrina survivor. New Orleans is an hour from where he was raised.

“Many people don’t take that next step and help people rebuild and recover. We’re raising funds for the Greater New Orleans Foundation. My heart goes out to the devastated residents of the birthplace of jazz, who are once again forced to rebuild their communities.”

He’s still collecting money through GoFundMe and all funds will be donated directly to the Greater New Orleans Foundation and allocated for purposes such as erecting temporary shelters, distributing food and water, providing medical care to the more than 4 million residents without power and other necessities. A violinist for about 20 years, Kirkwood is looking to Phoenix and Kelly to “catapult” him to where he wants to go. He yearns to continue to grow and make

Bruce Kirkwood, who grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi, is raising money to help those suff ering from the aftereff ects of Hurricane Ida. Kirkwood sur-

vived Hurricane Katrina. (Photo courtesy of Bruce Kirkwood)

more connections.

“I love the musician community around here,” Kirkwood said. “There are great musicians and quality music opportunities at a very high level here. It’s new to me to have that locally. I’m really getting plugged in and making those connections to take things to the next level. That’s happening so quickly.”

Bruce Kirkwood

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Winning the race of your life

CHURCH COMMUNITY CONNECTION Pastor Ed Delph

Foothills Focus Columnist

Recently, I turned 72 years old. My desire at this stage of my life is to finish strong.

What is finishing strong? A bit of internet humor says, “Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will sit in a boat all day, drinking beer.” Now don’t get it wrong here. Beer isn’t the issue. Sitting in a boat all day, every day, to the exclusion of everything or everyone else is. After all, nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool. Foolish, all-consuming trivial pursuits divert us from finishing strong.

Did you know that the Bible mentions more than 1,000 leaders? Dr. Robert Clinton, whose life is devoted to the art of leadership, has studied almost all these leaders. From among this group, he has narrowed the field down to 100 prominent leaders. But, first, he wanted to know how many finished strong in their personal, family and church lives.

After careful study, Dr. Clinton found the Bible gave enough information about only 49 of the 100 leaders to determine how they finished. So, he broke these leaders into four groups: 1) cut off early, 2) finished poorly, 3) finished so-so, 4) finished well.

You may or may not recognize some of the names, but let’s try to understand what these four basic categories of finishing life represent for us.

In his book “Finishing Strong,” author Steve Farrar quotes Dr. Clinton’s results: “Cut off early means that they were taken out of leadership by assassinations, killed in battle, prophetically denounced or overthrown.” Those cut off early include Abimelech, Absalom, Ahab and Josiah. Some of these leaders were good, but most were terrible. Most have a rather tragic story that explains their finish.

Farrar goes on to explain the other three categories. “Finished poorly means they were going downhill spiritually or in their competency during the latter part of their lives. Typical examples of finishing weak were Gideon, Eli or Solomon. In other words, these leaders were barely able to crawl across the finish line. Either that or they were carried across the finish line.

“Finished so-so means they did not do what they could have or should have done. They didn’t complete what God had for them to do.

“They were pretty good guys like David, Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah, but they didn’t finish strong. They were in the middle of the pack.

“Finished well means they were walking with God at the end of their lives. They were strong in faith, family, and community.

“Examples are Abraham, Job, Joseph, Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, Elijah, Daniel, John, Paul, and Peter to name a few.”

This category is where we hope to be at the end of our life, right?

The first three groups of leaders were as gifted and called as the fourth group, but why didn’t they finish well? Farrar observes, “All of these leaders were gifted, and all had very impressive strengths. So how come they didn’t finish strong? The answer is this. They all didn’t finish strong because they didn’t survive the ambushes in life. Getting through life’s ambushes is what separates the professionals from the amateurs. Men and women who get through the ambushes are generally the ones who anticipate the ambushes.” This thought is worthy of our consideration.

Consider King Solomon. Even though he had more wisdom than anyone else in his generation, he didn’t anticipate some ancient and potent ambushes. What were the ambushes? Too many women ambushed him. Money ambushed him. A neglected family ambushed him. Ouch! Many leaders have suffered the shipwreck of betrayal and sex, extreme love of money, and so busy leading that they didn’t invest time with their families.

There were consequences to those ambushes. Solomon had more than 700 wives and 300 concubines. Farrar says, “No wonder he didn’t finish strong. He was exhausted.” Solomon had so much money that there was silver lying on the streets of Jerusalem. Solomon’s wives turned his heart against the Lord, and his son Rehoboam split the nation of Israel shortly after Solomon died. I get the feeling Solomon didn’t spend much time with his son.

Let me add the ambush of pride and status in Solomon’s life. A good self-image is one thing. Excessive pride is another. The 19th century Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle said, “The greatest fault is to be conscious of none.” As a result, experts often end up as “ex-spurts.”

Let’s get smart. There are ambushes everywhere. Life is like a race. It’s how well you finish life that counts. In a football or rugby game, a team can have a terrible first half but play strong in the second half. Some teams start strong, have horrible second or third quarters, and then win in the fourth quarter.

The same is true in life. If you are living, and I assume you are or wouldn’t be reading this column, even those whose life has been so-so in the first, second or third quarter can finish strong in the fourth quarter. Remember, you are not racing others so much as you’re racing yourself.

It’s your race to win or lose. God is always there to help you finish.

While life’s ambushes may open the door to calamity, God’s grace closes the door. So, let us live in such a way that when we die, even the undertaker will be sorry!

Ed Delph is a noted author of 10 books, as well as a pastor, teacher, former business owner and speaker. Ed has traveled extensively, having been to more than 100 countries. He is president of NationStrategy, a nonprofit organization involved in uplifting and transforming communities worldwide. For more information, see nationstrategy. com. Ed may be contacted at nationstrategy@cs.com.

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ARTTIST STUDIO from page 20

in love, married, and had three children. Early in their marriage, they bought 18 acres by Lake Pleasant and began learning about sustainable living systems. They built a straw bale house on the western edge of Cave Creek. It’s been their home for 21 years.

“America has been very good to us,” she said. “It has been a liberating experience, and we have learned that there are huge opportunities if you can prove yourself.”

Corsini’s career has evolved since she moved to America. She had a successful faux finishing business in the 1990s, and she indulged in elaborate projects, including byzantine mosaic murals, large-scale commissioned oils and sophisticated wall finishes.

She scaled back on her business when she had her children, but her passion for painting was reignited when she began working on small plein air pieces in 2011.

“I had been volunteering in the school, but I wanted to get back to painting,” she said. “I worked out a schedule where I would drop my kids off at school, go paint outside, and then pick them up. I love the immediacy of the format, and over this time period, I have honed my skills. I’ll set up anywhere a scene entices me — on the side of the road, balancing on rocks, in a wash or on a rooftop.”

The Sonoran Desert and central Mexico inspired Corsini. Years ago, she and her husband bought a second home in Guanajuato, a city known for its colonial architecture.

“We fell in love with it because it reminds us of Europe,” she said. “We spend our summers there because it is a higher elevation and much cooler. Our yard is full of giant agaves and other beautiful plants and trees that I love to paint.”

Corsini’s work ranges from large-scale oil paintings and charcoal drawings to small, soft pastel plein air paintings and abstract mixed-media pieces.

“I very much see my work, over the years, as a coming back to familiar themes, but every time with new eyes and expertise. The wonder of coming to this desert land from a very tame, conquered landscape has never been lost on me. That our trees and plants can survive this harsh environment and still sing with color every spring is a marvel. I love to celebrate that and probably always will,” she said.

During Hidden in the Hills, Corsini will exhibit her new work at Judy Paxton Bruce’s Studio No. 4 in Cave Creek. And her daughter, Anna Lucia De Simone, will exhibit watercolor paintings during the event at Youth Art Studio No. 1, at the Sonoran Arts League’s Center for the Arts in Stagecoach Village.

Pivoting to paper collage during pandemic

Mimi Damrauer returns to Hidden in the Hills for her fifth year, energized by her time in her studio. The talented mixed-media collage artist creates large, bold, colorful wall art from small, hand-painted pieces of paper fabric that she paints and sews together into a whimsical or abstract design. Her vibrant pieces often resemble primitive folk art.

Damrauer grew up in Ohio surrounded by creativity. She credits her mother for teaching her and her sisters about

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Plein air painter Michele Corsini paints a giant agave in Mexico. (Photo courtesy of Sonoran Arts League)

art and cooking. By age 9, she was teaching herself how to sew at home and taking art lessons at the Toledo Museum of Art.

“The inklings of a business were planted,” recalls Damrauer, a North Phoenix resident. “That lead to my whimsical style of painting, stitching, drawing and hand-cut wobbly designs.”

The self-taught artist moved to Arizona in 2016 and is inspired by her surroundings, including everything from sidewalk cracks to scenery from road trips.

Recently, she felt the need to get back to basics and simplicity.

“As I go through my life, I appreciate how to edit and make my life less complicated. I see objects in their simplest forms, and my style is all about editing what I see down to recognizable images,” she said. “I am simply striving for good design. In a world that can be so busy and overwhelming, I hope that my artworks are pleasing and joyful to look at.”

ARTIST STUDIO from page 24

The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound, positive effect on her work, as it forced her to spend more time in her studio.

“I was ready for a change, and during the lockdown, I tried to make the best of the situation by taking classes online, exploring new techniques and just playing,” she said.

“I had so much fun that I developed a completely new technique of making my own medium to sew,

which I call paper fabric.” Damrauer experimented with acrylic paint on a strong construction-like paper and created fabric to sew on a sewing machine. She cleaned out her studio, which was full of fabric from all over the world, and she spent time learning more about the tools she had accumulated over the years. She even took the time to create her own tools and homemade stamps.

“My hand-designed papers are painted, stamped and resisted to get a wide variety of color and designs,” she explains. “Each piece of paper has at least two to four layers of colors.”

She adds that she uses stamps to pull color and shapes out or put lines and squiggles back in. She then cuts the paper into 3-inch squares to create her background.

“I like the scale of that, and I find it to be fun because it’s always changing. There is always something interesting to look at in every square,” she said.

With dozens of hand-painted paper squares to choose from, she then begins to sew.

“I am able to control the color and shading as I build my final design,” she said. “The end result is a simple design that is more complicated when you look at the composition.”

When her designs are finished, she mounts them on wood panels and applies varnish with sun protection.

Her obsession is “Arizona Barnyard,” which includes animals and scenery that she is surrounded by — horses, chickens, cactus and mountains. She also recently added Matisse-inspired shapes to create abstract pieces.

During Hidden in the Hills, Damrauer will exhibit her new work at Sandy Pendleton’s Studio No. 21 in Cave Creek.

“I believe my work resonates with others because it is happy, bright and simplistic. I’m having so much fun creating my designs,” she said. “I just want to share that joy with others.”

Mixed-media collage artist Mimi Damrauer works in her studio. (Photo courtesy of Sonoran Arts League)

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Gail Haire: Perfection can be achieved

BY SHEA STANFIELD

Foothills Focus Contributing Writer

Author Antoine de Saint-Exupery observed, “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add but nothing left to take away.” It parallels artist Gail Haire’s journey into the land of fine art painting that started in Springfield, Illinois.

Raised in an artistic family, Haire was influenced by them and her art instructors/coaches she has worked with as an adult.

“My first career was business-to-business sales,” she said. “Happily, painting is my second career.

“It started with a strong desire to find out if I had any creative ability. I began looking for art instructors and was fortunate to find artists that were equally talented in instruction. I took workshops and individual lessons for several years. This taught me to ‘see,’ developing my realism painting style with an understanding of color, composition and form.”

She started with oils and expanded

see HAIRE page 29

“Dusk,” by Gail Haire. (Photo courtesy of Gail Haire)

Arizona Musicfest brings the likes of Kenny G and Sergio Mendes to town

BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI

Foothills Focus Executive Editor

Arizona Musicfest unveiled its starry lineup of exceptional artists to celebrate the return of live indoor concerts in North Scottsdale.

Following the challenges and disappointments of last season, Musicfest has regrouped and renewed its commitment to bringing the joy of music.

In its largest season, Musicfest will produce 30 concerts between November and April.

“As our community emerges from the difficulties of the last year, we are honored to engage and entertain audiences with exceptional performances that will uplift and reunite friends, neighbors and artists around our shared love of music,” said Allan Naplan, Arizona Musicfest’s executive and producing director.

Featured artists include Paul Anka, Bernadette Peters, Kenny G, LeAnn Rimes, Sergio Mendes, Sarah Chang and Emanuel Ax, as well as Pink Martini, Broadway’s John Lloyd Young and the Texas Tenors. The season also features the Festival Orchestra, comprised of musicians from some of the nation’s finest orchestras. For tickets, call 480-422-8449 or visit azmusicfest.org.

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THE FOOTHILLS FOCUS | THEFOOTHILLSFOCUS.COM | OCTOBER 27, 2021

Carol Brook: You can’t use up creativity

BY SHEA STANFIELD

Foothills Focus Contributing Writer

The poet Maya Angelou observed, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

Artist Carol Brook discovered this phenomenon as a youngster growing up in small-town Nebraska. Brook discovered “art” when she created doll clothes which, in turn, led to her designing her own wardrobe.

“In high school, I based my clothing designs on photos I saw in magazines,” Brook said.

“We could not get the latest styles from off the rack where we lived.”

Brook gained a reputation among her peers for creating anything she saw or imagined. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in teaching and photojournalism.

Following her creative intuition, she

see BROOK page 29

“Reclining Lady,” by Carol Brook

HAIRE from page 26

into watercolor. She moved to Arizona to be with family.

“I visited often and always knew I would eventually retire here,” said Haire, who lived here for a few years before retiring.

Upon arriving in her new Scottsdale home, Haire joined the Cave Creek-based Sonoran Arts League. League members get together weekly for breakfast to share their work, ideas, resources and insights.

Here, Haire was inspired to move into a more interpretive style in her work. She explains the process for one of her pieces.

“I was reviewing pictures from a hike I did in the Grand Canyon,” she said. “I found I was drawn to the simplicity of the lines, shapes and the contrasts of light and shadow.” Bringing the subjects to their most basic shapes and forms became the motivation for Haire’s work.

Haire’s oil paintings could be interpreted as a modern-day variation of the iconic Works Progress Administration (WPA) National Park silkscreen series of the 1930 and 1940s — simple, elegant lines, masterfully composed, brilliantly colored and breathtakingly beautiful.

The peace they bring to the environment for dreaming is unmatched. Her watercolors are stunning for their soft shapes, gradual shadows and subtle detail.

Haire’s work may be experienced firsthand at On The Edge Gallery in Scottsdale, which provides an opportunity to purchase a piece for your collection.

For more information, visit gailhaireart.com, scroll through the available work, enjoy the contrasting styles.

BROOK from page 28

launched a career in the hospitality industry in Nebraska and crisscrossed the United States several times, working for major hotel companies and independent resorts.

“I found a variety of opportunities during this time to push my limits on creativity in business and personal projects, as well as assisting with enrichment events at my son’s school,” Brook said. In 1992, she moved to Scottsdale, where she found a vibrant community of creatives and ample opportunities to attend arts-related events.

The turning point came via a fortune cookie message just before her 2019 retirement.

“A ship in the harbor is safe, but that’s not why ships are built,” Brook said.

She pivoted and spent her time working with leather and fiber arts in her second career.

“Today, I work with a variety of leathers and fiber in designing my artwork, but my passion is sculpted free-form leather vessels,” she said.

Her pieces are created from vegetable-tanned leather.

“The leather has the longevity and beauty only an artisan-created product can sustain,” she said. “The original fibers of the animal hide add to its character making each piece a unique individual with the addition of dyes, stains and paints.”

Brook is a member of the Sonoran Arts League and exhibits several times a year in league-sponsored shows and events. She and her husband, Mel, also an artist, work from their Scottsdale home studio, known as Brook Art Studio.

They are participating in the annual Hidden in the Hills Studio Tour in November. For more information, visit sonoranartsleague.org.

Brook’s artwork may be viewed on Facebook @BrookArtStudio.

Brook Art Studio accepts private viewing appointments. For more information, email Brook on carol.melbrook@gmail.com.