Sarasota Trifecta, Part 1 - American Moderns at the Ringling Museum

How often do you plan multiple events for a given day that all end up being terrific?   The stars just aligned last Sunday when Susan, Steve, and I headed to Sarasota for a day of art, theater, and--of course--food.  Our first stop was the Ringling Museum to see "American Moderns, 1910-1960:  From O'Keefe to Rockwell."   All of the works in the show are on loan from the Brooklyn Museum of Art, which I've come to realize is a vastly underrated institution.  Susan and I allotted an hour to see the show, which consists of 53 paintings and four sculptures.   The exhibit has so many great works that that was not nearly enough time.

Detail from The Visit
by Max Weber (1919)

We plunged into the first room of the show and found a docent with a small group looking at Max Weber's The Visit.   She had a fun and casual attitude lacking in many docents that invited an exchange of ideas.  You won't be surprised to hear that this portion of the show dealt with Cubism and Picasso's influence on artists of the period.  I am always drawn to faces and love the fellow on the left who looks like he's ready to hit the jazz clubs with his hat and cane.  The beaded necklace that his companion is wearing is a nice touch.  We talked a bit about the symbiosis of art and music and took a look at Weber's The Cellist before moving on.   There were some other fantastic works in this room, including Henry Alfred Maurer's Head of a Girl, that I would love to spend some time with.

The Sand Cart by George Bellows (1917)

Our stop in the room organized around the theme of Modern Structures focused on George Bellows' The Sand Cart.   I missed exactly how this work fits into the theme but Bellows is certainly known for his gritty urban scenes.  (Think The Art of Boxing.)   Seeing the show with Susan, who's an artist, was lots of fun.  She gets her nose right up to the painting to study the brush strokes and colors.  She pointed out how Bellows used a couple of well-placed strokes of yellow to give the sense of sunlight reflecting off the green boat and marveled over the colors of the paints (which weren't just squeezed out of a tube at that time).   It would have been interesting to look closely at every painting with her, but time was short and Georgia O'Keefe was calling.

Green, Yellow and Orange
by Georgia O'Keefe (1960)

Two O'Keefe works appear in the portion of the show focusing on Nature Essentialized.   While O'Keefe's painting Two Yellow Leaves is the work the Ringling chose to publicize the show, I prefer the aptly named Green, Yellow and Orange.  As people talked about what it reminded them of (an egg yolk?  an embryo?), the docent shared that O'Keefe intended this to be a view from an airplane of her home in New Mexico and the winding roads surrounding it.   The colors in O'Keefe's painting shimmer and give the work a sense of movement.   Some of the works in the exhibit were done in an impasto style, with heavy layers of paint giving a sense of texture.   There are many thin layers of paint in O'Keefe's work, with the effect being one of translucence rather than texture.

The Tattooist by Norman Rockwell (1944) and
the model for the work

The show includes a lone Normal Rockwell painting, The Tattooist.  I am not the biggest Rockwell fan (although the Rockwell Museum is a must see if you're in the Stockbridge, MA area).  His work, especially from The Saturday Evening Post, is often too "motherhood and apple pie" for my taste. (Having said that, Rockwell's later works include a surprising amount of social commentary.  How can you not be bowled over by Rockwell's The Problem We All Live With that features an African American girl in Detroit being walked to school by U.S. Marshals?)  The Tattooist is a fun work, however, and harkens back to a time when it was actually unusual for people to have tattoos.  

With that, it was time to head off to Florida Studio Theater to see South Beach Babylon.   There are many works in the exhibit that I would love to see again.  Happily, I might have the chance, since the American Moderns show is running through September 8th.  Perhaps I'll see you there.

Trop Rock Jim Morris Style at Isles Yacht Club

Jim Morris 

Jim Morris is known as Southwest Florida's own version of Jimmy Buffett.  And there's no doubt that Morris' music -- which he composes himself -- carries on Buffett's trop rock tradition.  Going to the Nav-A-Gator to see one of Morris' performances is always fun.  But when you have the chance to hear him perform in a bit quieter venue, you can really appreciate how funny his lyrics are.  This week Morris, together with steel drummer/percussionist John Patti, appeared at the Isles Yacht Club.  It was a real treat.

John Patti

The evening featured a lot of music from Morris' new CD entitled "The Man Who Offered the Moon" (a copy of which is now in my hot little hands).  Morris interspersed his songs with explanations of their back stories.  As a corporate guy in his former life, Morris often sings about moving from that world to a life where "you work hard at doing nothing all day."  In "Your Girlfriend Says Hello," a working stiff has taken off for Cabo and realizes that he's not going back to the rat race.  When he calls his boss to give him the news, he also shares that "your girlfriend says hello." (Big laughs from the crowd at this lyric.)   Jim came up with the idea for "Yankee Strangers," one of his oldies but goodies, when he picked John Patti up at the airport and was taken aback because John was wearing jeans.  The song cautions the ladies against succumbing to the overtures of men who visit from "the land of long pants" and, later, "the land of shoes and socks."   (Let's admit it -- if the stranger looked like John Patti, you wouldn't really care what he was wearing.)

Joanne Collins had no
trouble with her kazoo

Morris played some audience favorites, including the "Nav-A-Gator" song.   Those of us at Table 22 played the kazoos that Bruce and Dorrit brought along for the occasion.  (For the record, I am a terrible kazoo player.  I just can't seem to figure out how to hum rather than blow, and the water from the kazoo's recent washing kept spewing out at me like a fountain.)

After surveying the group, Morris declared that he thought we could handle the off-color lyrics from two songs off his new CD.  He told us that he'd written "Tonight I Just Came Here to Drink" for the guys and "Mr. Right" for the women.  In the first, a bunch of guys are out for an evening of drinking and camaraderie but one of the men keeps being distracted by a beautiful woman who's "undressing him with her eyes."  My favorite stanza about the woman goes:

"Those legs, oh those legs,
Stop pointing them at me
I see you're from Brazil,
Or at least you appear to be."  

Jim, you naughty songwriter!  (For the record, none of the audience members went into cardiac arrest upon hearing this.)

In "Mr. Right," Morris sympathizes with the plight of the single woman looking for that perfect guy.

"I know who you're looking for,
And I can tell you he's not here.

He's got looks like a handsome movie star,
A body that's just insane,
The money of a Wall Street banker,
And a rocket surgeon brain.

It's not hard to figure out
I'm not that kind of man.
But I've got a giving heart,
And I'll help out out if I can."

Then comes the chorus:

"I won't be the man
To kiss and hold you tight
And you won't find me dancing
Through your dreams every night.

I'm not the guy they sing about
In those lovey-dovey songs
Why don't you just do me

'Til Mr. Right comes along?

You're welcome to me

'Til Mr. Right comes along."

Really, who could refuse such a generous offer?

As you can probably tell, it was quite a fun evening.   Morris has written and recorded 162 songs, and during the course of a given gig, he performs about 35 of them.  There are different iterations depending upon whether he's playing solo, with Patti, as part of his trio, or with the entire Bamboo Band (which I've yet to see perform).  So there's little risk of getting bored hearing the same old thing when you go to a Morris concert.  If you want to catch Jim at a venue near you, you can find his performance schedule at http://jim-morrismusic.com/   A good time is sure to be had by all.

Art Takes Flight at the Regional Southwest Airport

Welcome Return by Peter Zell

On my recent trip to Rochester, something unusual happened:  I arrived at the airport 90 minutes before my departure time.  Anyone who’s flown out of the Fort Myers airport (RSW) knows that getting checked in and through security there is a completely different animal from, say, braving the Continental terminal at Newark Airport.   As I was walking to my gate wondering what to do with my extra time, I noticed a Leoma Lovegrove painting on the wall.  Then I saw a work by Peter Zell.   What was going on? 

Having those few extra minutes gave me the opportunity to enjoy the most recent exhibit of the Art in Flight program, a collaboration between the Port Authority of Lee County and the Lee County Alliance for the Arts.    In fact, I even had time to give Krista Johnson, director of Exhibitions at the Arts Alliance, a call to find out a bit more about the program. 

You're Home by Doug McGregor

The current exhibit is called "Honor, Country & Heroism."  One of the purposes of the exhibit is to provide returning soldiers with a warm welcome home.   The show includes a variety of works by local artists that share the themes of patriotism and appreciation for our troops.  A number of the works were done by veterans -- a nice touch.    

James Henry Taylor by Krista Johnson

One of my favorite works in the show is Johnson's own submission, entitled James Henry Taylor.   When Johnson was organizing the show, she realized that she could create a work using the jacket from her father's WWII Navy dress uniform.  When I commented on how small the jacket was, Johnson shared that her father joined the military as a scrawny 16 year old. He ended up in the Philippines just as the war was ending.  Johnson remembers her father talking about his disappointment at not having been able to make more of a contribution to the war effort.  He was thrilled when he heard her idea for developing a piece for the show using his jacket.

"Honor, Country & Heroism" will be on display at the Fort Myers Airport through October 15th, when it will move to the Arts Alliance for a two week stint (that just happens to coincide with Veterans’ Day).  Next up is "Oh, the Places We Will Go," a show featuring the work of Lee County students.  It promises to be fun, and if you buy one of the works from the show, a portion of the proceeds will go back to the Lee County school district's arts education program.

The next time your plans include a trip out of RSW, take a look around as you head towards your pat down by TSA.   It's the artistic equivalent of stopping to smell the roses.  

Rochester Round-Up

It is official:  Rochester gets a bum wrap.  It is a great place to visit -- and probably even a great place to live if you don't mind a wee bit of snow and cold weather.  Rochester has an active arts scene, beautiful places to bike and walk, gorgeous lakes within easy driving distance, and a lot of history.  Here's a quick round-up of some highlights from my trip:

Let's Have Tea  statues of
Frederick Douglass and Susan B.
Anthony by Pepsy M. Kettavong

Susan B. Anthony House:  Like a mother feeding her infant who sneaks in a spoonful of peas between bites of applesauce, Maggie always gives me a history lesson when I visit.  Last year we toured the Harriet Tubman House in nearby Auburn, and I came away with a greater appreciation of the Underground Railway.  This year's history station stop was the Susan B. Anthony House. For me, the house itself served merely as a backdrop for the stories about her life and work. (Old dusty furniture isn't really my thing.)  I learned that when Anthony was a young girl, her teacher refused to instruct her how to do long division because a woman would never need to know such an advanced level of math.  When Anthony's father, a middle class mill owner, learned about the exchange, he started a school for his and the other mill workers' children where they could all learn equally.  Go, Dad!  I was also reminded that in 1872, Anthony and several other women were permitted to register to vote and to cast their ballots in the Presidential Election.  The women and the election officials who allowed this sacrilege to occur were arrested. At Anthony's trial, the judge issued a directed verdict against her, reading an opinion from the bench that he had written before the trial even started.   So much for listening to Anthony's arguments that the recently passed Fourteenth Amendment, which gave all citizens the right to vote, applied equally to men and women.   And a final "fun" fact:  the reason Susan B. Anthony is always shown in profile is because she had a lazy eye.  Even suffragettes have their moments of vanity.

From Tom Otterness'
Creation Series

Memorial Art Gallery:  The Memorial Art Gallery has added a sculpture park to its premises since my visit last year.  Most of the sculptures in the park are from the Creation Series by Tom Otterness.   The theme of the series is a woman sculptor carving a male from a block of stone.  The sculptures are kind of interesting but also kind of odd.  Although Otterness is well known for his public sculpture installations, he is perhaps even better known for having killed his dog on video (the aptly titled "Shot Dog Film") back in 1977.   He issued an apology for his actions in 2007.  
  

Mushroom House in Pittsford:  It's hard to believe, but people actually live in this house (which is comprised of multiple mushroom shaped dwellings).  The house was built in 1972 and was intended to combine art and nature.  If you want to see what the interior looks like, here's a link:  http://jhjarchitecture.com/MushroomHouse/pictures.html,   While I could never live in this house (among other things, how could you hang any art?), it is on the market for $1.5 million.  Give your broker a call if you're interested!

I haven't even mentioned experiencing the "Ring of Fire" at Conesus Lake or having lunch with Raffaele Ponti, the new maestro of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, and his family or playing bridge at the Chatterbox Club.  (I know--you wish I'd regale you with some of the interesting hands that we played, but I'll have to leave that for next time.)   Once again, Maggie and I were busy making plans for our next get-together as she drove me to the airport.  I am already looking forward to it!

6 x 6 x 2013 at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center

Some of the walls at the
RoCo 6 x 6 x 2013 show

My friend Maggie missed her calling as an excursion guide.  This is my second trip to Rochester to visit Maggie and husband Charlie, and she once again jammed our schedule full of fun and interesting adventures.   We both fancy ourselves to be culture vultures, so some type of art or theater is always on our agenda when we get together.  Our primary arts outing this visit was to the Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo) to see its sixth annual 6 x 6 exhibition.  The concept is simple:  invite people from all walks of life to create 6 x 6 works of art and contribute them to RoCo to exhibit and sell.  The price tag for each work is a mere $20.  This year over 6,000 art works were contributed by people from all 50 states and over 50 countries.  RoCo's fundraising goal was to sell at least 2,000 of the pieces (raising a cool $40K for its coffers), which it had more than achieved in the month the show had been open before I saw it.

While Maggie had explained all this to me, it was hard to understand  how much of an impact 6,000 little works of art make when you walk into a space.  Art was everywhere, and this Modigliani-esque painting was one of the first pieces that caught my eye. Unfortunately, the painting had a purple dot under it which indicated that the work was sold.  At the opening night reception for the show, attendees had the chance to purchase raffle tickets.  Towards the end of the evening, 20 names were called out with short intervals between winners.  If your name was called, you had won the right to dash through the gallery and put purple dots on the works you couldn't live without.

Maggie didn't attend the event (this year, that is --she won't miss it next year), but we envision it going something like this.  At 7:30, Polly Purchaser's name is called.  She runs to one wall and puts the sold dot on a work while simultaneously pulling off the number tag.  She then runs to another wall and completes the maneuver again.  It is now 7:31 and Bob Buyer's name rings out.  Bob now starts running around doing the same thing.  Polly can continue to buy art while John makes his selections.  By 7:50, Polly and Bob have finished up their purchasing but there are still several raffle winners purple dotting the works they want.  At 8:00, the gallery opens up to sales by all comers.  It sounds like mass chaos but lots of fun.

The exhibit has one additional twist:  all of the works are identified only by number. So people familiar with the Rochester art scene might think that they've purchased a 6 x 6 by one of their favorite local artists, but they won't know for sure until long after their money is safely put away in the cash register.  It's one of the ways that RoCo promotes egalitarianism among artists (and the reason why none of the artists whose works are shown here are given credit for their work).

Since my visit to RoCo occurred five weeks into the show, I didn't know if I would find a work that I wanted to purchase.  It took quite a while to make my way around the gallery, one piece of wall at a time.   All I can say is that people are incredibly imaginative and talented.  There are works on canvas and works on paper.  There are paintings done in oils and watercolor and crayon and pencil.  There are photographs and collages and three dimensional works.  There are works clearly done by accomplished artists and works clearly done by children.  Eventually, I found a work still available for purchase that wanted to go home with me.  (I was buyer number 22,953.)

Notes from the Coast #4
by Ge Ho Jo

On July 5th, the names of artists whose works had sold were disclosed to purchasers.  Since my purchase was after this date,  I was able to find out immediately that the work I bought was painted by Ge Ho Jo from Witter, Arkansas.  It is entitled "Notes from the Coast #4" and the medium is acrylic on vinyl wallpaper with a found photo.  I would love to know how someone from Arkansas ended up contributing to the show.  RoCo provided me with the artist's contact information in addition to the details of the 6 x 6 so I might actually get in touch with him.

 Maggie has been inspired to make at least one piece for next year's show, and if I can overcome my fear of trying to do something artistic, I might give it a try as well.   Here's a link to the works included in this year's show if you're interested in seeing the wide variety of what was included in the exhibit.  http://www.roco6x6.org/6x6x2013.php  Maybe you want to submit one yourself!  Either way, if you're in Rochester next June, make sure that you make time to visit the RoCo's 6 x 6 x 2014 exhibition.

Creating a Play List with the Charlotte Players

A version of this article appeared in the June 27, 2013 edition of Florida Weekly:

Charlotte Players Executive Director
Sherrie Moody

As Executive Director of the Charlotte Players, Sherrie Moody’s goal is simple:  to provide quality theater to residents of Charlotte County.  The implementation of this goal, however, is a bit more complicated.  With the line-up for the 2013-2014 season hot off the press, we thought it would be interesting to find out how the Charlotte Players go about deciding which shows will find their way to the stage.  

Amazingly, the selection process for the main stage productions has been the same since the  Charlotte Players’ inception in 1961.  At the end of each season, theatergoers, directors and actors are surveyed to find out what they’d like to see on the program.  Online research is done as well to find out what shows other community theaters across the country are producing.  Eventually a list of approximately 100 plays is compiled.  Perusal scripts are purchased, and a play reading committee, consisting of five or six people, reads all of the proposed plays and whittles its choices down to six or seven.  The Board of Directors, Moody, and assistant Melissa Cripps then make the final decision.  

Needless to say, there are a multitude of factors to consider.  Moody says that, “The name of the play is crucial.  If our audience doesn’t respond to the title, we won’t be able to fill the theater.”   Dearly Departed is an example of a show whose name didn’t resonate, leading to a lot of empty seats.  Moody went on to say that, “Sex sells.  If we have the word “sex” in the title of the show, it’s sure to sell out.  I sometimes wish that I could just throw the word into the title.  How about Sex and the Wizard of Oz or Sex with Annie?” Moody also shared that every season the Charlotte Players get a message on their answering machine to the effect of, "This is X.  I NEED to get tickets to that sex show!"   (Note that Sin, Sex and the CIA  is the name of the play slotted for January 2014.  Order your tickets now!) 

Having said that, Moody shared that the Charlotte Players’ audience actually tends to be on the conservative side.  Expletives don’t go over well nor does this audience want the Lord’s name to be taken in vain.  When the occasional play has pushed these boundaries, Moody has heard about it. 

Moody with future
Charlotte County thespians

The local talent pool also has to be kept in mind.  It’s harder to find actors than actresses for shows, especially musicals.  And here’s a shocker—it’s more difficult to find men than women to play bit roles.   Picking a production with characters who are 25-40 is potentially problematic given local demographics and the work/family demands on actors and actresses in this age group.   

Each year the Charlotte Players include at least one musical in their repertoire.   Moody has learned that people want to see tried and true shows that will send them out of the theater humming a tune. With the cost of producing a musical running $40,000+ (compared to $22-25,000 for comedies and dramas), it’s doubly important to choose a show that will be an audience favorite.  Moody has no concerns that Hello, Dolly, with its spectacular costumes and big numbers, will be a hit this season.   

Cut now to the Charlotte Players’ new black box theater, Langdon Playhouse.   Last year was the first season for this stage, which seats 50-75 people compared to 480 at the Cultural Center Theater.   Moody, Cripps, and Board President Steve Pignataro have responsibility for choosing the shows for this venue.  The same considerations—and more--go into this task.   The intimacy of the theater is a significant dynamic.   One or two actors are all the stage can comfortably hold, and scenery needs to be kept to a bare minimum. 

Over time, Moody hopes to bring “edgier” productions to the Langdon stage.   Last year’s season opened with Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.  It was the first production by the Charlotte Player that had an openly gay character.    When you consider that the Players have put on over 250 shows in the organization’s history, you realize how significant a statement that is.  

Like a good mother, Moody refused to pick a favorite play from this season’s line-up.  Her advice to theatergoers is to be willing to try something different.  Don’t just go for a play you’ve seen before or whose name sounds familiar.  Push the envelope a bit.  The Charlotte Players have a seat waiting for you. 

Painting Churches at the Banyon Theater

I don't have many rules about writing for this blog.  It is, after all, my own space so any rules that exist are both self-imposed and self-monitored.   But if I read a book or see a play that my mind keeps returning to, I write about it here.  Writing functions as an exorcism of sorts, freeing up space for more useless information to collect in my head.  Last week-end I saw Painting Churches by Tina Howe at the Banyon Theater in Sarasota, and it has stuck with me.  This semi-autobiographical play about a daughter who returns home to help her parents move out of their family home was quite thought-provoking.

Jenny Aldrich as Fanny and
Don Walker as Gardner

In the opening scene, we find Fanny Church packing her family silver to take to her new home.  She proudly tells us about her grandmother's Paul Revere spoons that the Metropolitan Museum of Art offered to purchase for $50,000.  Fanny is sporting a jaunty red hat that we learn she purchased at a thrift shop for 85 cents.  The ambiguity is immediate--has the family fallen on hard times or is this just a case of a rich matron who likes a good bargain?   In the background, we hear husband--and poet laureate--Gardner banging away on a typewriter as he works on his latest project.  Eventually, daughter Margaret appears on the scene--home for the first time in a year--with her own agenda of painting a portrait of her parents while helping them pack.

From the start, the family dynamics were painful to watch.   Nobody seems able to actually hear what the others are saying.  When Margaret shares the news that she is going to have a one woman show at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York, her parents seem more interested in eating their snack of Goldfish than in sharing in her happiness.  When her mother does engage, she talks about how her own mother was the "real talent" in the family, with no apparent concern or understanding of the impact her comments have on Margaret.  As the play goes on, we learn that this is only the latest in a long history of interactions that makes us understand why spending time at home might not be Margaret's top choice of places to be.

Olivia Williamson as
Margaret

That isn't to say that Margaret has been the ideal daughter.  While Margaret has been off living her own life, Fanny has had to deal with her husband's deteriorating health alone.  Gardner wanders in and out of situations and conversations at random.  Even when he's in the room, he's often off in his own world thinking about his poetry and the "book" that he's working on.  Margaret clearly has no concept of what has been happening with her parents.  She is quick to judge her mother when she makes comments about Gardner that aren't particularly kind without realizing the deep frustration and sadness that her mother must constantly feel.   (As an aside, Fanny and Gardner Church are played by a couple who are married in real life.  I can only imagine this glimpse into their potential future must not have made for the easiest roles to play.)

The play did have some humor, especially when it came to Fanny and Gardner's contemplation of how they'd like to sit for their portrait.  Perhaps as the couple in American Gothic?  Maybe a Pieta pose?  Or how about the Creation of Man?  My friend Carolyn and I particularly enjoyed Fanny's reference to dressing up in a black dress and posing like "in that famous Sargent painting."  (Carolyn and I are both on the board of the Visual Arts Center and the reference was to John Singer Sargent's painting of the mysterious Madame X.  Sargent is the featured artist in the VAC's Fine Arts Festival which will be held in November.)  

As the play drew to a close, Fanny and Gardner danced in the foreground as Margaret looked on.  The scene perfectly captured their lives as less than a cohesive family unit.

I'm sure that one of the reasons Painting Churches has lingered with me is because I visited my own parents last week to help out while my mom recovered from some knee surgery. We are a much closer family than the Churches -- dysfunctional, I'm sure, but in a wholly different way. But it's a fact that my parents are getting older.  And it's also a fact that I'd rather stick my head in the sand and live my own life than help them deal with the issues of aging.  Painting Churches was a reminder to me of the importance of family and to appreciate the time that we have together.  The trick, of course, is remembering that in the moment when you are driving each other crazy!  With a family vacation scheduled for August, I'll get the opportunity to practice.