#florida prize in contemporary art

[longlistshort]

Work by Elliot and Erick Jiménez (photographs, left) and Reginald O’Neal (paintings, right)

Sculptures by Akiko Kotani, Paintings by MJ Torrecampo

Work by Denise Treizman

Work by Amy Schissel

Photography by Peggy Levison Nolan

Work by Magnus Sodamin

Work by Yosnier Miranda

Work by Cara Despain

There is some really impressive work currently on view for the 2023 Florida Prize in Contemporary Art at Orlando Museum of Art.

From the museum site about the exhibition-

The Florida Prize in Contemporary Art is organized by the Orlando Museum of Art to bring new recognition to the most progressive artists in the State. Each year OMA’s curatorial team surveys artists working throughout the State before inviting ten to participate. One artist will receive a $20,000 award made possible with the generous support of local philanthropists Gail and Michael Winn.  Artists range from emerging to mid-career, often with distinguished records of exhibitions and awards that reflect recognition at national and international levels. In all cases, they are artists who are engaged in exploring significant ideas of art and culture in original and visually exciting ways.

This year’s artists are-

Denise Treizman (@denisetreizman )

MJ Torrecampo (@mjtorrecampo )

Akiko Kotani

Peggy Levison Nolan (@peggylevisonnolan

Amy Schissel (@amyschissel )

Reginald O’Neal (@_reginaldoneal_ )

Elliot & Erick Jiménez – (@elliotanderick )

Cara Despain (@caradespain )

Yosnier Miranda (@occurrences)

Magnus Sodamin (@magnificentmagnus )

Over the next few posts I will be adding more photos and details about the artists from the exhibition.

This exhibition will close 8/27/23.

[olympic-paris]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

August 27

1943 – Luis Caballero Holguin, born in Bogota on this date (d.1995) was a painter, watercolorist, pastellist and lithographer. Caballero is known for depicting masculine fugures, and his works often include both erotic and violent imagery.

Caballero was raised in a conservative Catholic household. He studied at the Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia) in 1961-62, where he met and was influenced by etcher artist Juan Antonio Roda and art critic Marta Traba. He continued his academic studies in Paris at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, graduating in 1964. It is during this time that he discovered Willem Dekooning and Francis Bacon. Back in Colombia, in 1968, he won First Prize at the First Ibero-American Biennal of Medellin.

Caballero returned to Paris where he found more freedom in 1969 and lived there until 1995, when he returned to Bogota for a special exhibition of his work at the Luis Angel Arango Library.

His figurative works are usually large scale mixed media oil, ink, watercolor washes on either canvas or paper, sometimes incorporating fabrics or rope in a limited range of muted sepia colors, often representing male nude figures, in a contemporary style marked by classic training.

His work was briefly censored by those who considered it “obscene, pornographic and immoral”, even though Caballero himself said: “Maybe the creative impulse is the same as the erotic impulse,” and: “I paint the bodies I would like to possess.” 

He died in June of 1995 at the age of fifty two.

1947 – The Washington Post editorializes in favor of an expanded sodomy law for the District of Columbia, complaining that the city had become 'more or less a haven for sexual perverts and degenerates.'

1952 – Today's the birthday of Paul Reubens, (d.2023), best known for his character Pee-wee Herman, he starred in the television series Pee-wee's Playhouse from 1986 until 1990. He also starred in an HBO special called The Pee-wee Herman Show, the 1985 movie Pee-wee's Big Adventure and the 1988 movie Big Top Pee-wee.

In July 1991, after deciding to take a few years' sabbatical from Pee-wee, Reubens was arrested for indecent exposure in an adult theater in Sarasota, Florida. The arrest set off a chain reaction of national media attention that changed the general public's view of Reubens and Pee-wee. The arrest postponed Reubens's engagement in big projects until 1999, when he appeared in the big-budget Mystery Men and Blow and started giving interviews as himself rather than as Pee-wee. He has since gone on to take roles in darker themed movies like Blow. Reubens appeared as the Pee-wee Herman character for the first time since 1992 at Spike TV's 2007 Guys Choice Awards in June 2007.

1961 – Tom Ford is an American fashion designer. He is well known within the fashion industry for his legendary turnaround of Gucci, one of the most influential fashion houses in the world.

Ford was born in Austin, Texas. After graduating from the Parsons School of Design in 1986, initially having studied architecture, he took design jobs with Cathy Hardwick and Perry Ellis. In 1990, he was recruited by Gucci to design women's ready-to-wear, and Ford later moved on to become the chief director for Gucci. Ford called french editor Carine Roitfeld and photgrapher Mario Testino and asked them to help him revamp the old fashioned house. His own film star looks probably helped re-invest Gucci with its lost glamour. By 1999, Ford had helped propel Gucci into a fashion powerhouse. When Gucci acquired the house of Yves Saint Laurent, Ford was named the creative director of that label as well.

Tom Ford is openly gay, and he and his partner, journalist Richard Buckley, have been together since 1986. Buckley was the former Editor in Chief of Vogue Hommes International. Buckley was diagnosed with cancer in 1989 and after his recovery the two moved from New York to Italy.

In 2004, Ford stepped down or was asked to step down from both of his positions, amid rumours he wished to direct films. Following his departure from Gucci (and YSL), Ford opened the fashion house, Tom Ford. Ford began with accessories; his line of eyewear was the first to become successful. The Tom Ford line now covers menswear, beauty, eyewear, and both men and women's accessories. In 2006, he also established a fragrance line called Tom Ford Beauty.

He gained a lot of publicity when in 2007 he stripped down for a new boxing-themed photo shoot in the November issue of Out magazine and jumped in the shower with two burly boy models. (The above is a "before" shot.) Ford said he made sure to compliment his fellow models' natural endowments in the shower but assured the mag that it didn't make the pair uncomfortable. "They sense from me that I'm not going to give one of them a blow job," he said. "I just don't do that."

In March 2005, Ford announced the opening of his film production company, FADE TO BLACK. In 2009, Ford made his film directorial debut with A Single Man, which was based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. The film stars Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult and Matthew Goode. The screenplay was adapted by Ford and David Scearce. Ford also produced the film, which premiered on September 11, 2009 at the 66th Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Lion. Colin Firth, who plays the protagonist George, was awarded the Volpi Cup as Best Actor for his performance and was also nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit Award and Screen Actor's Guild award. He won the BAFTA for Best-Actor in a Leading role. Julianne Moore was nominated for Best Supporting actress at the Globes. Tom Ford was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards in 2009 including Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay.

1964 – Stephan Elliott is an Australian film director and screenwriter.

Elliott began his career as an assistant director working in the boom of the Australian film industry of the 1980s.

His feature films, Frauds, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Welcome to Woop Woop were all officially selected to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, with "Priscilla" winning the Prix du public as well as an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, among numerous other accolades.

In 2004, Elliott was involved in a skiing accident which saw him hospitalised for several months. He credits the accident with rediscovering his sense of humour. This may go part way to explaining why, in 2007 Elliott worked with Fred Nassiri to create one of the most expensive music videos of all time. Shot in over 15 countries, with seven directors the song "Love Sees No Colour" aspires to spread a message of peace and love.

His latest film Easy Virtue, was written with co-writer Sheridan Jobbins, and is based on the Noël Coward play of the same name. He is currently in the post-production stage of his next film, A Few Best Men starring Xavier Samuel and Olivia Newton-John.

Other writing credits include 'the book' (i.e.: the script) for the stage play of 'Priscilla' which premiered in 2007 at Sydney's Lyric Theatre in Star City to excellent reviews.

Elliott came out as gay during his presentation at the inaugural AACTA Awards in Sydney on 31 January 2012.

"I've been offshore for many, many years for another reason," he said. "Basically it was because I was scared of who I was. I basically was scared that I was gay. Even after Priscilla I stayed offshore basically because I was frightened of my family. And tonight I'm coming out."

1994 – Jendrik Sigwart is a German Musical singer and actor, who appeared on Eurovision Song Quest.

Jendrik was born in Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. He grew up in Hamburg-Volksdorf, Hamburg, Germany and is the second eldest of four siblings. As a teenager Jendrik learned to play piano and violin. He also plays the ukelele. Later he studied Musical singing and acting for four years at the Institute for Music at the University of Applied Sciences of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany.

While he was a University Student he discovered his own homosexuality.

Jendrik Sigwart appeared in various musicals, including German productions of My Fair Lady, Hairspray and Peter Pan.

Since September 25 2016 he ihas been publishing his own Music on YouTube, where he was found by German Eurovision Song Contest Representatives of NDR, Hamburg. In February 2021 NDR announced that Jendrik Sigwart will be the Singer for Germany on the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands.

As of May 2021 Jendrik Sigwart has been in a stable relationship with his Boyfriend Jan Rogler for more than 4 years.

[sfacgalleries]

Artist Talk: Miguel Arzabe and Daniela Rivera from San Francisco Arts Commission on Vimeo.

Wednesday, June 26, 2024 | 6:30pm SFAC Main Gallery

Join exhibiting artists Miguel Arzabe and Daniela Rivera for a conversation about their work and process. Moderated by Matthew Villar Miranda, curatorial associate at Berkeley Art Museum.

This program is planned in conjunction with the exhibition Praxis of Local Knowledge on view at the SFAC Main Gallery through August 17, 2024.

About the Panelists Miguel Arzabe is a visual artist who lives and works in Oakland. He had recent solo shows at Shulamit Nazarian Gallery (Los Angeles, CA) and Johansson Projects (Oakland, CA). Arzabe’s work has been featured in such festivals as Hors Pistes (Centre Pompidou, Paris), Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (Montreal), and the Geumgang Nature Art Biennale (Gongju, South Korea); and in museums and galleries including MAC Lyon (France), MARS Milan (Italy), RM Projects (Auckland), FIFI Projects (Mexico City), Marylhurst University (Oregon), the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, the CCA Wattis Institute, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Arzabe’s work is held in public collections such as the Harn Museum in Gainesville, Florida, Albuquerque Museum of Art, Oakland Museum of California, the de Young Museum, San Francisco Arts Commission, the State of California, as well as numerous private collections. He has attended many residencies including Facebook AIR, Headlands Center for the Arts, Montalvo Arts Center, Millay Arts, and Santa Fe Art Institute. He holds a BS from Carnegie Mellon University, an MS from Arizona State University, and an MFA from UC Berkeley. In 2022 Arzabe was awarded the San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Award. In 2023 he was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and and a Golden Foundation Residency. In 2024 he was a SECA award finalist.

Born in Santiago, Chile, Daniela Rivera received her BFA from Pontifcia Universidad Católica de Chile in 1996 and her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, Boston in 2006. She is currently Professor of Studio Art at Wellesley College. She has exhibited widely in Latin American cities including Santiago, Chile, as well as in the United States. She has been awarded residencies at Loghaven, Headland Center for the Arts, Surf Point, Proyecto ACE in Buenos Aires, Vermont Studio Arts Center, and the Skowhegan School of Paintings and Sculpture. And she has been the recipient of notable fellowships and grants including from The Chiaro Award, The Rappaport Prize, Now + There, the Massachusetts Cultural Council Award, VSC, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, The FONDART in Chile, and the Saint Botolph Club foundation Distinguish Artist Award. Recent or upcoming exhibitions include: New Worlds, NMWA, Washington DC, 2024, Donde el Cielo Toca la Tierra, Matucana 100, Santiago Chile, 2024, Praxis of Local Knowledge, San Francisco Art Commission, San Francisco, Labored Landscapes; Where The Sky Touches the Earth, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fragmentos para una Historia del Olvido/ Fragments for a History of Displacement, The Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA (2018–2019); En Busca de los Andes, solo exhibition with Proyecto ACE, Buenos Aires, Argentina (June 2019); Sobremesa (Karaoke Politics), a public art project developed as her Now + There Accelerator Fellowship.

Matthew Villar Miranda (he/they/siya) is Curatorial Associate at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. In their former position as Visual Arts Curatorial Fellow at the Walker Art Center, they worked on exhibitions by Julie Mehretu, Pao Houa Her, Paul Chan, and Pacita Abad. They serve on the Board of Stakeholders Museums Moving Forward (MMF), a Ford and Mellon Foundation-funded initiative of an intergenerational, cross-institutional coalition of art museum professionals committed to advancing equity across the museum field. In 2021, they co-curated the Art for Justice Fund-supported exhibition Undoing Time: Art and Histories of Incarceration at the Arizona State University Art Museum (ASUAM). They received their BA in History of Art from UC Berkeley (2013) and graduated among the inaugural class of ASU-Los Angeles County Museum of Art Master's Fellowship in Art History (2021).

[lboogie1906]

Njideka Akunyili Crosby (1983) is a leading contemporary artist. A typically large-scale painting by her sold for $3 million, just a few months after she had won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award worth $624,000. Born in Enugu, Nigeria to J. C. Akunyili, a surgeon and university professor, and Dora Akunyili, a pharmacology professor and government administrator. Her mother won the government’s immigration green card lottery, she was able to move to the US and earn her BS in Biology and Studio Art with honors at Swarthmore College. She attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Yale University where she earned a MFA.

She populates her large canvasses with relatives, friends, politicians, and pop culture figures and uses common objects, plants, toys, cookware, snack foods, family photographs, and bottled drinks, to convey a sense of intimacy and both the ordinariness and nobility of every day of life in her native and adoptive countries.

A stint as artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem led to her first solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Her studio is in an industrial area south of downtown Los Angeles, She has had exhibitions at Art + Practice and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her paintings have been exhibited or added to the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University; Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Arts, and the National Portrait Gallery in DC. Her work has been featured at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, Pérez Art Museum in Miami, Florida; the Baltimore Museum of Art; Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, and the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

She had won the prestigious MacArthur Foundation grant, she had received, among others, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s James Dickey Contemporary Art Prize, the Next Generation prize at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Financial Times Woman of the Year award.

She married Texas-born artist Justin Crosby, they have one child. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[writemarcus]

Artistic ways to mark Black History Month in Central Florida

By MATTHEW J. PALM | mpalm@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

PUBLISHED: February 8, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. | UPDATED: February 9, 2024 at 3:22 p.m.

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As the nation observes Black History Month, there are plenty of ways in Central Florida to mark the occasion artistically. The following plays, concerts and art exhibitions below shine a light on Black history, celebrate Black heritage or give voice to contemporary Black artists in writing, painting and musical composition.

The arts always provide food for thought; these offerings allow for reflection and celebration along with entertainment.

Theater

Playwrights’ Round Table, for the third year, presents its Black History Month Showcase. Six short plays by Black writers are included in the production, which runs Feb. 9-18 at Imagine Performing Arts Center in Oviedo Mall (tickets are $12-$20 at ImaginePerformingArtsCenter.org).

In Marcus Scott’s “Call and Response,” a young man is confronted after falsely sending emergency responders to someone as a joke, a practice called “swatting.” Michael Hagins contributed two works: the dark comedy “Man Bites Dog” and “First Date,” which is humorously described as “Making a connection can be hard, especially if your kids are assaulting Chuck E. Cheese.”Thao Tran and Chuck Roberson perform a scene from “Technical Support” by Amaris Gagnon, part of Playwrights’ Round Table’s Black History Month Showcase. (Courtesy Daniel Cooksley via Playwrights’ Round Table)

Amaris Gagnon also wrote two of the plays. “Mother of the Apocalypse” looks at a nurse at a fake abortion clinic, and “Technical Support” asks where lonely people come from.

Finally, in Krystle Dellihue’s “White Coat,” a young man on the cusp of achieving his dreams suddenly has to make a very difficult decision with his girlfriend. The cast of “A Raisin in the Sun” at Rollins College prepares for the production with a West African movement and traditions workshop from Julie Coleman.

(Courtesy Rollins College) Rollins College in Winter Park presents a classic title with “A Raisin in the Sun” taking the stage at the Annie Russell Theatre Feb. 16-24 ($20, rollins.edu/annie). Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 masterpiece follows a multigenerational Black family as it navigates prejudice. Felichia Chivaughn directs.

Turning to African heritage, the MAC Boys tackle “Ruined,” Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play set during civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where strong Mama Nadi owns a bar that draws characters from different sides of the conflict. The play will be performed at Orlando Family Stage, where the MAC Boys spotlight stories and works of and by people of color. It runs Feb. 22-25 with tickets ($20) at OrlandoFamilyStage.com.Julian Brown plays the djembe, an African drum, in Orlando Family Stage’s “Giraffes Can’t Dance.” (Courtesy Michael Cairns via Orlando Family Stage)

Also at Orlando Family Stage is the theater’s own production of “Giraffes Can’t Dance” for youngsters and their families. Based on the children’s book by Giles Andreae, the show is set on the African savannah and features a look at African musical heritage. Julian Brown plays the show’s djembe drummer; the djembe is a goblet-style drum originally from West Africa.

The show itself, adapted by Black playwright Gloria Bond Cunie, is a sweet look at feeling different and friendship as African animals prepare for a big dance. Director Ke’Lee Pernell leads the creative team for “Giraffes Can’t Dance,” which runs through Feb. 25. Get tickets ($15 and up) at OrlandoFamilyStage.com — and check out the theater’s ongoing salute to Black playwrights at Facebook.com/OrlandoFamilyStage.

Joy Allen, from left, Adourin Jamelle Owens, Jordan Sophia, Dayla Carroll and Julian Brown star in “Giraffes Can’t Dance” at Orlando Family Stage. (Courtesy Michael Cairns via Orlando Family Stage)

Music

The Sanford Jazz Ensemble salutes Black musicians in its Black History Month Concert at 3 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Ritz Theater in Sanford. Featured singer Ron Stark will perform Motown songs by Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops and The Temptations, while the band will play songs by Michael Jackson, Grover Washington, Earth Wind & Fire and Tower of Power. Tickets ($27.50) are available at ritztheatersanford.com.

The 89th Bach Festival will acknowledge a significant moment in Black artistic history when its orchestra performs Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor as part of its “Sanctuary Road” program Feb. 17-18 (tickets $15 and up; bachfestivalflorida.org). When the Chicago Symphony Orchestra played the work in 1933, it was the first time a symphony composed by an African American woman was performed by a major American orchestra.Composer and musician Florence Price, photographed by G. Nelidoff in Chicago, Illinois. (Courtesy University of Arkansas Libraries)

As for “Sanctuary Road,” it highlights a grimmer era of Black history. That work by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell sets the stories of enslaved Americans to music. It’s based on William Still’s 1872 book of slave narratives, “The Underground Railroad.”

Composer James Lee III was inspired by a more modern moment in Black history, the Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.” His “Shades of Unbroken Dreams,” written 60 years after King’s famed 1963 speech, is part of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Brahms Third Symphony” program Feb. 24-25.Composer James Lee III was inspired by Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.” (Orlando Sentinel file photo)

“Shades of Unbroken Dreams,” co-commissioned by the Philharmonic, is making its Florida premiere in the Steinmetz Hall performance (tickets: $20 and up at drphillipscenter.org). Composer Lee even matched the cadence of King’s speech in parts of the music.

“For me, this ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and this concerto is really a vehicle through the arts that can really stimulate one to think about what is their role?” Lee told the BBC about the work. “How can they participate in helping to achieve this dream 60 years later?”

Timucua Arts Foundation will present “Timucua Amplifies Black Voices,” a weekend of music and spoken word, Feb. 16-18 at its venue, 2000 S. Summerlin Ave. in Orlando. Performers include Solomon Jaye, Britton Rene Collins, Brandon Martin, the Jarred Armstrong Trio and the DeAndre Lettsome Quartet.

Jaye is a vocalist and high-energy tap dancer, while Collins combines pantomime, poetry, gesture and improvisation in theatrical percussion performance. Martin will present a vocal recital, “Voices of Justice.”

Get more information on the individual performances and tickets at timucua.com/events/tag/black-history-month.

Art

Orlando City Hall’s Terrace Gallery will host a Black History Month art exhibition through March 31, featuring works by African Americans. From 10-11:30 a.m. Feb. 12 the public is invited to meet some of the artists. Regular gallery hours are 8 a.m.-9 p.m. weekdays, noon-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The gallery is on the first floor of city hall, 400 S. Orange Ave. and admission is free, 12-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.Purvis Young is among the artists on view at the Mennello Museum of American Art in Orlando. (Orlando Sentinel file photo courtesy of Skot Foreman)

And finally, the city’s Mennello Museum of American Art is currently exhibiting “Self-Taught Black Artists in the American South.” Thirteen artists are featured in the exhibition, which highlights examples from the Mennello’s permanent collection alongside works from a 2023 acquisition from the Polk Museum of Art. Artists represented in paintings and sculpture include Mary Proctor, Alyne Harris, Purvis Young, Jesse Aaron and Mose Toliver.

The Mennello Museum, at 900 E. Princeton St. in Orlando, is open 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays, noon-4:30 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $5 or less. Get more information at mennellomuseum.org.

Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Find more entertainment news at OrlandoSentinel.com/entertainment

[finishinglinepress]

FLP POETRY BOOK OF THE DAY: Jupiter Moments by Barry Ballard

ADVANCE ORDER: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/jupiter-moments-by-barry-ballard/

JUPITER MOMENTS: represents those “moments of transcendence” in our lives that bring #hope and #rebirth to us in a seemingly hopeless world. Using the blank-verse #sonnet form; Ballard uses the sonnet as an “IF-THEN-CLAUSE;” if the Octave is true; then the Sestet must be true. These sonnets by Ballard mark a path of light for us, in a seemingly dim world.

Barry Ballard was born in Holt, Michigan. After returning from Vietnam, he studied theology and philosophy, receiving an M.A. from Texas Christian University in 1983. Barry Ballard’s sonnets have appeared in Smartish Pace, Rosebud, Hollins Critic, and National Forum. Recipient of the “Explorations award for Literature” from the University of Alaska and the “Boswell Poetry Price” from Texas Christian University, Ballard also published five additional chapbook collections, four of which are award winners: Green Tombs To Jupiter (Snail’s Pace Press Prize for 2000), A Time To Reinvent(Creative Ash Press Prize for 2001), First Probe To Antarctica (Bright Hill Press Prize for 2002), and Plowing To The End of the Road (Finishing Line Press Award for 2003). He lives and writes from Fort Worth, Texas.

PRAISE FOR Jupiter Moments by Barry Ballard

“That centered place from which Ballard writes sonnets,… a spiritual journey that all serious readers are willing to take… Being on that path though, finds that it is well-worn and with many forks. Inspired reading!”

–Stellasue Lee, Editor, Rattle

“Barry Ballard is one of our most gifted sonneteers. He might be the last poet left who constantly worships in the temple of the sonnet.”

–Virgil Suarez, Florida State University

“In this deft and soulful collection, Barry Ballard writes with a sculptor’s care, a sense of each line as a palpable, meaningfully weighted and invited, marked by imaginative wit, beautiful in itself, and essential to the visionary whole. It is a testament to his art that the voice never sacrifices its ring of authenticity and meditative grace to the hesitations of form, that the current ideas sings with such a convincing and subtle music.”

–Bruce Bond, American Literary Review

“These days, seeing a well-wrought sonnet on the page is about as rare as seeing a mint-condition ’62 Corvette on the highway. Ballard’s is an art just that beautiful. Whether exploring the dangers of the South Pole or simply fishing for the right words, these poems strike straight to the truth. You just can’t go wrong with craft of this vintage, or a poet of this quality.”

–Jack B. Bedell, Louisiana Literature

“As a maker of sonnets, Barry Ballard has few contemporary peers. The sheer quality and extraordinary output of his work are astounding; it is a heightening experience of the best sort to read him. The clarity of voice and the authority of moment and, above, all, the surety of control place him solidly among the few of this new century who know that form and feeling are important and that it does take both to write good poetry.”

–Jim Barnes, Chariton Review

“Barry Ballard is consistently good and prolific, so for those of us who love his work, his voice is a gift.”

–Virgil Suarez, Florida State University

“Barry Ballard offers a series of twenty-four, ‘elemental’ sonnets refreshing in their content and serious in their consideration… poems, consistent in their reflection of real life and true feeling. Ballard’s voice sings from and to the heart of human existence.”

–W. Dale Hearell, Editor, RE:AL, The Journal of Liberal Arts

“Plowing To The End Of The Road is terribly intelligent book of sonnets from one on our most skilled poets. This is a complete collection of poems that poets hope to write… in this volume Barry Ballard has written such a book.”

–Stephen Reichert, Editor, Smartish Pace

Please share/please repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry #read #poetrybook #poems #sonnet #hope #rebirth

[maugustyniuk]

Here Are the 2022 YoungArts Winners in Dance

A massive congratulations to the 21 promising dance artists who've been named YoungArts winners for 2022!

These dancers—all between the ages of 15 and 18 and/or in grades 10 through 12—were selected for this honor through an anonymous adjudication process. Now, they'll get to spend the next week immersed in online classes and workshops, including a master class with West Side Story associate choreographer and Juilliard faculty member Patricia Delgado. As if that weren't enough, these dancers are also now eligible for nomination as U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts—which, FYI, is a pretty big deal.

It's time to meet (in alphabetical order by last name) the 2022 national YoungArts winners for dance! We bet you'll recognize more than a few familiar faces among their ranks.

Emmy Cheung (Modern/Contemporary)

Emmy Cheung is a senior in high school from Irvine, California. She started dancing at the age of three at West Coast School of the Arts under the direction of Paula Kessinger and has trained in the styles of ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern, tap, and hip hop. Furthering her training, she currently attends the Orange County School of the Arts in the Commercial Dance Conservatory. Other additional programs of training consist of Laguna Dance Festival, American Ballet Theatre, and Backhaus Dance summer intensives. Achievements include being named Spotlight Music Center's Non-Classical Dance Grand Prize Finalist in 2021. These training grounds allowed her to develop a passion for dance by being constantly inspired by her teachers and fellow dancers. She would like to thank mentors Chalatorn Ujamras and Zak Schlegel for their support and guidance throughout the years.

Michael Dascomb (Tap)

Michael Dascomb is a tap dancer from New Hampshire who loves performing, improvisation, and everything in between. He began dancing at age three at his mother's dance studio where it was clear he had a knack for dance—in particular, tap dance. He is now a member of two tap dance companies: Speaking in Taps and Touché Taps. Michael has created two solo shows under the direction of Derick Grant. Additionally, he has attended tap intensives, conventions, workshops, master classes, and festivals to hone his technique, improvisation, and performance skills. Michael appreciates a great challenge and loves polyrhythms, complex rhythms, odd meters, and intricate patterns in tap dance. This goes hand-in-hand with his love for Rubik's cubes, Hanayama puzzles, logic games, brainteasers, and building things. Beyond tap dance, Michael is an accomplished martial artist who has earned his 1st-degree black belt in American Kenpo before the minimum age of 16.

Joel Dichter (Ballet)

Joel Dichter took his first ballet class from Krista King-Doherty in New Mexico when he was three years old. He danced competitively in Minnesota and narrowed his focus to ballet in 2013. While in Minnesota, he attended World Ballet Competition in Orlando, Florida, received a bronze medal, and performed in their gala. He attended Master Ballet Academy in Arizona for two years, where he performed prominent roles in Slawomir Wozniak's productions. Joel competed at Youth America Grand Prix for three years, receiving 1st place regionally in 2016 and 2017 and the regional Youth Grand Prix in 2018. He danced in the YAGP finals in 2017, 2018, and accepted a scholarship at Académie Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo, Monaco. His summer training has included the School of American Ballet, Houston Ballet Academy, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Next Generation Ballet. Joel completes his training with Luca Masala and staff as a diplôme in June 2022.

Mason Evans (Modern-Contemporary)

Mason Evans has been a dancer for ten years. In Florida, he spent all of his childhood years since the age of eight training at his home studio, Performance Edge 2. After his mother piqued his interest in dance, Mason joined and loved it immediately. Entering high school, Mason had the opportunity to train at A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, where he further honed his technique and gained real-world dance experience. Since being at Dreyfoos, Mason has worked with a plethora of different professional dancers and broadened his mind to the possibilities of dance. Evans has also had the opportunity to tour with the national dance convention, New York City Dance Alliance, as their national title winner in 2018 and 2021, which helped him develop new imperative skills. Mason’s objective as an artist is to move whoever his viewer is, to communicate a story, and move his audience.

Ryan Evans (Modern-Contemporary)

Ryan Evans is from Wentzville, Missouri and attends Holt High School. Ryan has been a dancer for fifteen years. Ryan started dancing at his mother's dance studio in Saint Charles, Missouri. His main styles of dance were ballet, jazz, and contemporary. His mother closed her dance studio in 2017, and Ryan changed studios. Ryan decided to travel an hour and a half every day to train at a new studio named Columbia Performing Arts Centre in Columbia, Missouri. At this studio, he worked on refining the skills he already had. Ryan began learning and loving the concert side of dance compared to the commercial side he trained in the rest of his life. Ryan is still training at Columbia Performing Arts Centre, refining his skills for his college career coming up next fall.

Selena Hamilton (Modern-Contemporary)

Selena Hamilton is from Norwalk, California and has enjoyed the art of dance for the past 11 years. She currently trains at Project 21 in Yorba Linda, under the direction of Molly Long. Selena has worked with numerous choreographers including Teddy Forance, Will Loftis, Brian Friedman, and Tricia Miranda; also under the direction of Emmy Award-winning choreographers Tessandra Chavez and Tyce Diorio. She has performed in Debbie Allen’s Hot Chocolate Nutcracker, competed on "World of Dance" on NBC, appeared on "The World’s Best" on CBS, "Lip Sync Battle" on Nickelodeon, in a Honda commercial, worked as an assistant for CLI Online Studios and appeared on the cover of Dance Spirit. Honors include: YoungArts Finalist (2022), YoungArts Merit winner (2021), Spotlight Finalist (2021), Radix Coreperformer winner (2017 & 2019), The Dance Awards 1st runner-up. Selena hopes to pursue a professional dance career after high school.

Aaliyahmarie Key (Ballet)

Aaliyahmarie Key is a fifteen-year-old high school junior who began her pre-professional ballet training at the age of nine with Maryland Youth Ballet. In addition, she has served as a student teacher assistant, and has been afforded numerous performance opportunities. In 2021, she became a national gold medalist in both ballet and contemporary at the Maryland regional level of the NAACP ACT-SO Competition and went on to earn the gold in ballet at the national level. Aaliyahmarie also made the top 12 in contemporary and third place in ballet at the Youth American Grand Prix's Winston-Salem Regional Competition. She ultimately became one of the top 35 dancers to make the final round at the national level.

Nicholas LaMaina (Modern-Contemporary)

Nicholas LaMaina is from West Palm Beach, Florida and is a current first-year dancer at The Juilliard School. He is a 2021 graduate of Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, where he attended as a dance major. He is also a former student of That’s Dancing, a local studio in Lake Worth, Florida. Nicholas has attended The Juilliard Summer Dance Intensive (2019, 2020) and The Jacob's Pillow Contemporary Ballet Summer Program (2021). He has experience in ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, percussive dance, and has a great interest in choreography. He most recently has had self-choreographed work in a Juilliard Student Choreographic Workshop (2021).

Arayah Lyte (Modern-Contemporary)

Arayah Lyte, a young dancer and artist from Chicago, Illinois, began dancing at age four at the Mayfair Academy of Fine Arts. She is currently a student at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and is a member of the school's Repertory Company. She is also a member of the Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Youth Ensemble in Chicago. Lyte has participated in several summer programs including intensives with Interlochen Arts Academy, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and The Juilliard School. Her training spans across genres, but she found her true love for art through dance in modern and contemporary styles. Her interest in creating art with movement started early on as she learned the beauty of storytelling in dance. Enamored with the marriage of story and motion, dance became transportive for her. Continuing into the collegiate level, Lyte aims to expound on her dance education and love for the art.

Kayla Mak (Modern-Contemporary)

Kayla Mak grew up in Rye Brook, NY and is of Japanese, Chinese, and Cuban descent. She studied at Westchester Dance Academy and Ballet Academy East and is now earning her BFA in Dance at The Juilliard School in New York, under the direction of Alicia Graf Mack and associate director Mario Alberto Zambrano. Kayla currently trains in ballet, modern, classical pointe, and contemporary pointe. Her inspiration for dance sparked at the young age of four, while watching New York City Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. She soon became involved in competitive dance, where she was able to gain exposure to stage performance. As she matured, she grew a love for concert dance. For the past two summers, she has attended San Fransisco Ballet Summer Intensive, Arts Umbrella Summer Intensive, Ellison Ballet Summer Intensive, and Complexions Summer Intensive. In the future, Kayla dreams of becoming a professional dancer in a company.

Chase Rogers (Ballet)

Chase Rogers, a ballet dancer, started dancing on a competitive hip-hop team at the age of five. He first started ballet when he was watching a class and copying all the moves through the doorway. The ballet teacher swept him into class, told his mom to buy him some ballet shoes, and Chase has been loving ballet ever since. Chase trained at his local studio for a few years before transferring to American Ballet Theatre's new school at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. There, he was blessed with amazing teachers and an environment rich in opportunity. Chase performed in ABT's Sleeping Beauty, Harlequinade, The Nutcracker, and the Mariinsky Ballet's Don Quixote. Currently, Chase is training at San Francisco Ballet School. When he is not dancing, he is studying in an online program that allows him a flexible schedule to complete high school and devote his days to ballet.

Taylor Moxey (Modern-Contemporary)

Taylor Moxey is from Miami, Florida and started her dance career at the tender of age of six. She has been homeschooled since the fourth grade, which allows her the flexibility to devote time to her passion for dance and the arts. She is currently 15 years old and trains with the Miami Dance Collective's Pre-Professional Senior and Conservatory Program under the direction of Marie-Louise Gaschler, Kristin Douthit Richards, Eduardo Iglesias, and Miami City Ballet Principal Katia Carranza. Taylor trains in all forms of dance but especially enjoys contemporary, ballet, modern, and composition. She has worked with an array of professional choreographers such as Peter Chu, Jenn Freeman, Mat Aylward, Matt Luck, Loren Davidson, Emmy-nominated Chloe Arnold, Martha Nichols, Micaela G. Taylor, and many more. She was also accepted into the 2020 Alvin Ailey summer intensive program. Taylor believes dance is a joyful expression of her inner thoughts and emotions.

Erin Park (Modern-Contemporary)

Erin Park is 15 years old and in 10th grade at Chino High School. She is from Chino, California and trains in contemporary dance. Dance started out as a hobby and after school-activity at six years old but quickly became a passion and inspiration her life. She has worked with numerous artists such as Bret Easterling, Corey John Snide, Ethan Colangelo, Micaela Taylor, Peter Chu, and RubberLegz. She has also been a semifinalist in the Music Center Spotlight's program and is currently touring with the New York City Dance Alliance as a Teen Outstanding Dancer.

Simone Peterson (Modern-Contemporary)

Simone Peterson dances with Precision Dance Academy and Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. They were born in Houston, TX and began dancing at the age of three as an elective with the local preschool after begging their parents to dance. Their interest in dance first began when they saw videos and TV shows featuring dancers and that is when they knew they wanted to dance forever. They are currently traveling with the Hollywood Vibe Company and preparing for the upcoming Kinder High School Spring Dance Concert.

Natalia Scuilla (Jazz)

Natalia Scuilla is originally from Fort Myers, Florida, and was raised in Frisco, Texas. She began dancing at two years old and one could say it was love at first class. At first, she dreamed of a career in ballet. As passion joined her love for dance, Natalia chose to forgo the traditional school experience and attend a rigorous online program to allow more time to refine her skills. While spending most of her training at The Dallas Conservatory, Natalia developed a deep appreciation for all genres of dance that has now flourished into her pursuit of a career on Broadway. Natalia has been part of Tremaine Performance Company Program, which has afforded her the opportunity to assist and train with artists currently in the industry and to perform in shows across the nation. For Natalia, dance is home and the stage allows her to express herself through art.

Malavika Singh (Classical Indian Dance)

Malavika Singh is a senior at West High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her passion for dance was kindled at the age of four when she was enchanted by Ballet West’s Nutcracker and enrolled in ballet and contemporary classes. She began learning Odissi, an East Indian classical-dance form, at twelve years old when she participated in Nrityagram’s summer workshop. Falling in love with the art form, lifestyle, and the people, she continued traveling to Nrityagram every summer and winter during her school holidays, learning under her gurus Bijayini Satpathy, Surupa Sen, and Pavithra Reddy in the guru-shishya tradition. For the past two years, she has been training under guru Bijayini Satpathy virtually, enjoying every minute of it. Dance has become Mala’s preferred form of community exploration and connection, as she immerses herself in a multitude of art forms and expands her exposure to different cultures, and ways of life.

Reva Srivastava (Classical Indian Dance)

Reva Srivastava, a senior at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, CA, has received Kathak training since age seven from her guru Anupama Srivastava, disciple of Padmashri Shovana Narayan. Reva's dance is marked by sensitive expressions, rhythmic virtuosity, strong technique, grace, and nuanced artistry, truly embodying the essence of the Lucknow Gharana style of Kathak. She has almost 100 stage performances, 25 awards, and critical acclaim to her credit. Reva strives to share her passion for Kathak as a teaching assistant and camp counselor at InSyncKathak Dance School, co-presenter at lecture-demonstrations at UC Santa Cruz, Drive Leader and virtual dance instructor raising funds for Family Giving Tree, advocate for arts diversity through her video series InSyncWe D.A.N.C.E., and Founder of the Indian Classical Dance team at school. Reva has also trained in lyrical, jazz, and ballet for the past decade and has won many awards as a soloist.

Megan Stuart (Irish Step Dance)

Megan Stuart began dancing at four years old for the Corda Mor School of Irish Dance in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She quickly realized her passion for dance and now, at seventeen years old, is known across the world for her championship success. Megan works tirelessly every day to become the very best dancer she can be. She attends a distance school to better accommodate her competition and training schedule. Some of Megan’s greatest achievements include winning the 2020 All Ireland Championships, winning the Mid America Championships seven times, and becoming a three-time World Medal Holder. Perhaps most meaningful to Megan are the connections she has made with others through Irish dance and the purpose she feels when she performs. Getting to share in a collective love of Irish dance with others is what drives Megan’s heart for dancing.

Dylan Szuch (Tap)

Dylan Szuch is a 16-year-old tap dancer. He has been dancing for seven years and began his tap dance journey around age nine. He lives in Wilmington, North Carolina where he teaches and takes class at Techniques in Motion school of dance. He is also a member of the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble (NCYTE) under the direction of Gene Medler. Dylan has had the opportunity to attend multiple festivals and intensive programs all across America and Europe. More recently, he has been working virtually with Derick Grant, on developing as an improvisational artist in his Improv Labs, and with Brenda Bufalino on developing his skills as a whole. What Dylan loves most about tap dancing is getting to express himself artistically to a public eye, which he does locally by busking in the streets of downtown Wilmington and by attending local Jazz Jams.

Natalie Wong (Modern-Contemporary)

Natalie Wong, a native Texan, is currently pursuing a BFA in Dance at The Juilliard School. She trained at Dance Institute in diverse styles, including ballet, jazz, contemporary, hip hop, and tap. Natalie’s artistic journey originated in competition dance, where she discovered her love for performance. Natalie was introduced to concert dance through her participation in summer programs at American Ballet Theatre and The Juilliard School. She was equally dedicated to academics and service while at Vandegrift High School, where she ranked #14 of 671 graduates and was named an AP Scholar with Distinction. Natalie was voted Freshman Homecoming Princess, and served in executive officer positions as a member of Student Council, National Honor Society, PAL (Peer Assistance Leadership), and National Charity League. In the future, she hopes to dance with a contemporary ballet company, and merge her love for art and academics by researching dance anthropology.

Kailyn Yi (Modern-Contemporary)

Kailyn Yi began dancing at the age of three. She currently lives in Irvine, CA and attends Orange County School of the Arts in the Commercial Dance Conservatory, where she trains in ballet, jazz, tap, modern, contemporary, hip hop, and musical theater. Kailyn previously trained at Westside Dance Project under the guidance of Jessie Riley and continues to train in ballet with Carolyn Lovett. She has participated in many performances such as OCSA Commercial Dance Winter Show and Westside Dance Project's InsideOut. Kailyn has had the opportunity to work with renowned choreographers such as Yusha-Marie Sorzano, Bret Easterling, Spenser Theberge, Michaela Taylor, Corey John Snide, RubberLegz, and Ethan Colangelo. After graduation, Kailyn aspires to attend a university to major in dance and nutrition.

from Dance Spirit https://ift.tt/3G6miZH

[woundgallery]

Beverly Pepper In the Pasture 2001 Artist book with solid bronze sculpture casing

Book Accordion folded, intaglio with Poem In the Pasture by Jorie Graham Open: 12 inches x 18 feet-7 inches Closed: 12 x 8-1/2 x 1 inches Edition: 60

Sculpture Solid Bronze Cast 13 x 10-1/2 x 4 inches Edition: 10

“Separately, sculptor Beverly Pepper (1922-2020) and poet Jorie Graham (b. 1950) are vigorous and revolutionary forces in contemporary arts and letters in the U.S. and abroad. Together as mother and daughter, they are a formidable team. Pepper has bequeathed her creativity, intellect and drive to Graham. The mother's gift for transforming elements of the earth into a poetry of the visual blossoms in the daughter's fertile fashioning of language into an architecture of the soul.

Pepper's large scale sculptures are found in plazas and parks around the world, and her record of exhibitions and collections is distinguished; she holds honorary doctorates from Pratt Institute and the Maryland Institute of Art.

Graham was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1996 for her book The Unified Field; she is a recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant; in 2017 she received the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets; and is currently teaching at Harvard University.

IN THE PASTURE

Beverly Pepper's sixteen foot long hand-colored photogravure richly enfolds the stanzas of Jorie Graham's elegiac poem In the Pasture into a bound book that is in turn secreted in the belly of a bronze sculpture. Reminiscent of Neolithic monuments, the bronze's deep relief and earth colors recall the furrows and clods of worked soil. Sensual and rigorous, personal and universal, In the Pasture reflects on culture and nature and the struggle of the self to find meaning in the world.”

---INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN ART AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA, TAMPA

[ein-bleistift-und-radiergummi]

James Lesesne Wells Woodcut ‘Oh! Oh! Don't Racine!’ ca.1930s.

(James Lesesne Wells was a leading graphic artist and art teacher, whose work reflected the vitality of the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia on November 2, 1902. His father was a Baptist minister and his mother a teacher. At an early age, he moved to Florida with his family. His first experience as an artist was through his mother, who encouraged him to help out with art instruction in her kindergarten classes. At the age of thirteen, he won first prize in painting and a second prize in woodworking at the Florida State Fair.

Wells studied at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania for a year before transferring to Columbia University in New York, where he majored in art. His exposure to an exhibition of African sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum of Art was an inspiration to him. He was also greatly influenced by the woodcuts of Albrecht Durer and the German Expressionists — Ernst Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Otto Muller, and Emile Nolde. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he saw prints as a major art form.

After graduation, Wells created block prints to illustrate articles and publications such as Willis Richardson’s Plays and Pageants of Negro Life. His work was included in an exhibition of "International Modernists" in April 1929 at the New Art Circle Gallery owned by J.B. Neumann.Later in 1929, he was invited to join the faculty at Howard University as a crafts teacher. He taught clay modeling, ceramics, sculpture, metal and blockprinting. It took him two years to convince the school that he and linoleum cutting belonged in the College of Fine Arts.

In 1931, he won the Harmon Gold Medal for his expressionistic painting Flight Into Egypt. Neumann continued to exhibit Wells’s work along with those of the German expressionists and American Arthur Dove. Art dealers Curt Valentin and Andrew Weyhe also showed his work. During the Depression, Wells served as the director of a summer art workshop in an old Harlem nightclub. His assistants included such famous artists as Charles Alston, Jacob Lawrence, Palmer Hayden and Georgette Seabrooke.

The fine arts serigraph was developed during the Depression by the Works Project Administration to make art more accessible to the masses. Prints were also seen as a way of communicating African-American history and concerns. Therefore, between 1933-1934 Wells decided to devote himself almost exclusively to printmaking. He said: "Becoming aware of the social and economic conditions of the time and the awakening of the 'New Negro,' I felt that the graphic arts would lend itself readily to the projection of ideas about these issues."

One of Wells’s strongest supporters was Alain Locke, author of The New Negro and Negro Art: Past and Present. When Wells’s The Entry in Jerusalem and The Ox-Cart were purchased by the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., Locke wrote that "his inclusion in one of the most authoratively chosen collections of modernist art in the country ranks Wells as an ultra-modernist and a successful one."Wells was an innovator in the field of printmaking. After World War II, he spent a sabbatical year working in Stanley Hayter’s Atelier 17, the most innovative center for etching and printmaking in the country. During the 1950s and 1960s, he continued to teach and won many art prizes.

Wells joined his brother-in-law, Eugene Davidson, president of the local NAACP chapter, in protesting segregation in lunch counters, stores, and the nearly all white police department and as a result, was often harassed. This persecution probably accounted for some of the religious themes in his work.)

(via eBay)

[longlistshort]

Above is Cara Despain's installation for the 2023 Florida Prize in Contemporary art at the Orlando Museum of Art. Her work feels especially timely with the recent release of Oppenheimer, a film about the scientist who led the effort to create the first atomic bomb. Her installation for this show is captivating- eerie glowing green glassware  surrounds the entrance to a mesmerizing video installation, Test of Faith, where atomic explosions fill three walls as a Mormon hymn plays.

The museum's information on the artist and her work-

Miami-based artist Cara Despain was born and raised in Salt Lake City, and the experience of growing up in the West informs much of her work. Through video, sculpture, photography, and installation she critiques a range of issues pertinent to the region that are also internationally relevant. These issues stem in part from the nineteenth-century concept of Manifest Destiny, the belief that Providence intended for American civilization to extend across the continent and benefit from all its yet untapped resources. That philosophy gave rise to such virtues associated with the character of the American West as optimism, independence, and self-reliance. It also engendered an unchecked hubris which has sometimes had tragic consequences. Among these unintended consequences are the human and environmental costs of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing from 1945-1962 which polluted vast areas of the West and inflicted disease and death on many of the region's residents. Being from this region and having family that lived there during those tests, Despain has long had a deep concern about lingering effects of this exposure for the people downwind.

Despain's two-part installation begins with six cabinets of glowing green glassware. This inexpensive Depression-era glass was popular for its vibrant green color. As a bonus, the glass is fluorescent and glows hauntingly in the dark under ultraviolet light. This seductive coloration is ominous, though, being produced by adding small amounts of uranium oxide to the glass mixture. While now we would not consider using radioactive dinnerware, Despain is demonstrating our once innocent relationship with this toxic element that made the atomic age possible.

The domestic, fragile uranium glass flanks the entrance to Test of Faith, an immersive video installation that is menacing and enthralling. The room is filled with a series of atomic explosions edited from vintage nuclear test footage from the Nevada Test Site, which was less than 150 miles from where her family in southern Utah originates. Projected simultaneously on three walls, billowing clouds in swirling tones of blue, green, and yellow build to a crescendo then fade before the next explosion. To heighten the darkly supernatural sensation, Despain shows each mushroom cloud divided in mirror form like Rorschach inkblots and we are left to see within these abstract patterns our own fears and trepidations. Accompanying this vision of cosmic destruction is the sound of the Mormon hymn "Love One Another" rising and falling in step with each detonation. The digitally altered synthetic timbre of the song completes the experience of facing the apocalypse and is reference to the insidious appeal to the assumed patriotism and obedient nature of the largely Mormon and ranching populations in the fallout region to support the testing.

Today, nuclear weapons testing may seem like a remote episode in American history associated with the Cold War and the once alarming spread of global Communism. Despain's work is intended to remind us that the nuclear threat is still present, with more nations than ever expanding their arsenals or developing and testing new weapons.

[umusetxsu]

Augusta Savage - Women in Art

During the 1930s, Augusta was well known in Harlem as a sculptor, art teacher, and community art program director. Born in Florida, on February 29, 1892, she was the seventh of fourteen children of Cornelia and Edward Fells. Her father was a poor Methodist minister who strongly opposed his daughter’s early interest in art. My father licked me four or five times a week,” Savage once recalled, “and almost whipped all the art out of me.

In 1919 a local potter gave her some clay from which she modeled a group of figures that she entered in the West Palm Beach County Fair. Her work was awarded a special prize and a ribbon of honor. Encouraged this success, she hoped to support herself by sculpting portrait busts of prominent blacks in the Florida community. When that did not materialize, she moved to New York.

In New York, Savage enrolled at the Cooper Union School of Art where she completed the four-year course in three years. During the mid-1920s when the Harlem Renaissance was at its peak, she lived and worked in a small studio apartment where she earned a reputation as a portrait sculptor, completing busts of prominent personalities such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. Her best-known work of the 1920s was Gamin, an informal bust portrait of her nephew, for which she was awarded a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship to study in Paris in 1929. In 1931 Savage won a second Rosenwald fellowship, which permitted her to remain in Paris for an additional year. She also received a Carnegie Foundation grant for eight months of travel in France, Belgium, and Germany.

Following her return to New York in 1932, Savage established the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts and became an influential teacher in Harlem. In 1937, she was appointed the first director of the Harlem Community Art Center and was commissioned by the New York World’s Fair of 1939 to create a sculpture symbolizing the musical contributions of African Americans. Inspired by the lyrics of James Weldon Johnson’s poem Lift Every Voice and Sing, "The Harp" was Savage’s largest work and her last major commission. She spent almost two years completing the sixteen-foot sculpture. The Harp was exhibited in the court of the Contemporary Arts building where it received much acclaim. The sculpture depicted a group of twelve stylized black singers in graduated heights that symbolized the strings of the harp. No funds were available to cast The Harp, nor were there any facilities to store it. After the fair closed it was demolished as was all the art.

The Harlem Community Art Center closed during World War II when federal funds were cut off so, in 1939 Savage made an attempt to reestablish an art center in Harlem by opening of the Salon of Contemporary Negro Art. She was founder-director of the small gallery that was the first of its kind in Harlem. That venture closed shortly after its opening due to lack of money.

Savage was the first African American to be elected to the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. She believed that teaching others was far more important than creating art herself, and explained her motivation in an interview: “If I can inspire one of these youngsters to develop the talent I know they possess, then my monument will be in their work. No one could ask for more than that.”

[tigerstrikesasteroidnetwork]

NY / After Our Bodies Meet

Cyriaco Lopes, Sunset (documentation of a performance), 1997, Inkjet Print, 4” x 6″

After Our Bodies Meet January 9 – February 14, 2021 The gallery will be open every Sat & Sun from 3 – 6pm and by appointment

Tiger Strikes Asteroid New York is pleased to present After Our Bodies Meet, a group exhibition curated by Daniel Johnson, featuring works by Margrethe Aanestad, Daniel Arturo Almeida, Dalia Amara, Cyriaco Lopes, and Randy West.

In the novel Tar Baby, Toni Morrison wrote, “At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.” Exploring themes of love and memory, the artists in this show have created works that grapple with how we relate to each other and ultimately posit the question: What is enough? Whether through the investigation of familial bonds as with Almeida and Amara’s work, romantic love in West’s series, or the nature of being in the work of Aanestad and Lopes, the works in this show evoke an ethos of delicateness and a celebration of impermanence.

Margrethe Aanestad

is a Norwegian-born artist (1974), living and working in Brooklyn, NY and Stavanger, Norway. Aanestad studied fine arts at the Rogaland Art College and graduated with a BA from the University of Stavanger in Culture&Art Management (2000). She works in drawing, painting and sculpture, and has exhibited internationally at galleries including Open Source Gallery, NY; Torrance Shipman, NY; Dimensions Variable, Miami; Interface gallery, CA; Kunsthall Stavanger (Norway), Abingdon Studios, England. Since 2001 she has worked independently to initiate, produce, and curate projects at the art scene in Stavanger, where she also co-founded and co-directed the artist-run, non-profit, space Prosjektrom Normanns (2011- 2020). She is one of the co-founders and co-owner of the creative studio/working space ELEFANT (est 2013-). Aanestad serves on the advisory board of Kunsthall Stavanger and Open Source Gallery (NYC). Currently she is working on a commission for NYU/Clive Davis Institute, and will soon enter a 3 month-residency at Residency Unlimited, NY.

Daniel Arturo Almeida

(b. 1992. Caracas, Venezuela) is a cultural producer and artist working through photography, installation, archiving, journalism, and public engagement. His practice chronicles intimate and collective stories that shape belief systems and hierarchies of power in the Americas. The product of generational migrations, Almeida researches images, music, anecdotes, and documents portraying national pride, nostalgia, and collective amnesia. The work observes shared culture through loss, decadence, hope, and empathy. He has exhibited in The U.S.A in various institutions, galleries, and festivals, including La Salita Project, Columbia Teachers College, Project for Empty Space, Satellite Art Show, Doral Contemporary Art Museum, and the SVA Chelsea Galleries, among others. Almeida holds an MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts (2020) and a BFA in Painting and Installation from Florida International University (2017). He currently lives and works in Queens, NY.

Dalia Amara is an American-Jordanian multidisciplinary artist in New York working in photography, video, performance, and sculpture. Amara was raised in the US, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, and UAE. She received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and her BFA from Columbia College Chicago. Amara has lectured, screened, and exhibited in New York, Toronto, and online at White Columns, Gallery 44, and Selena Gallery. Her work has been reviewed in The New Yorker, Artnet News, and The Art Newspaper.

Cyriaco Lopes is a New York-based Brazilian artist has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, the Museum of Art of São Paulo (MASP), El Museo del Barrio in NYC, the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles in Paris, Casa Degli Artisti in Milan. His work has been curated by artists such as Lygia Pape, Janine Antoni, and Luciano Fabro. He is the winner of the NYC World Studio Foundation Award, the Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis Project Award, the São Paulo Phillips Prize of trip to Europe. He received grants to attend the London Project residency and Skowhegan. Lopes is an associate professor of art at John Jay College / the City University of New York. He also teaches in the Stetson University low residency M.F.A. of the Americas in Poetry in the Expanded Field.

Randy West (born 1960 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American fine art photographer, perhaps best known for his distinctive and avant-garde scanner use of the photographic medium, as seen across several series of his work. West is also on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts, and a director of the school's Master of Fine Arts program for photography, video, and related media. West has been represented by the Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York and the Craig Krull Gallery in Los Angeles. He has had solo exhibitions at Jan Kesner Gallery, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, the Houston Center for Photography, and as part of the Here Theater Project. His work has also appeared in group exhibitions, including exhibitions with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the International Center for Photography, the San Diego Contemporary Art Museum, the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, and the Marlborough Gallery.

Daniel AnTon Johnson is an artist with a diverse practice based in photography, language, film, and video. His work examines how technology shapes notions of identity within popular culture and contemporary visual media. Focusing on authorship and representation, Johnson’s practice explores cultural and visual literacies and how they form worldviews. Johnson has taught and lectured at School of Visual Arts, Adelphi University, Rutgers University-Newark, and Columbia University, and mentored teens at ICP and The Harlem School of the Arts. Johnson holds an MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts, and an MA in English from Washington College. He currently resides in Brooklyn.

photos by Daniel Johnson

[globalarts-blog]

THE SOUTH BEACH CHAMBER ENSEMBLE presents BLACK VOICES An Evening of Music and Thought

with guest speakers Allison Matulli and Darius Daughtry Hosted by Nicole Henry

WHAT: The South Beach Chamber Ensemble presents a FREE Livestream broadcast of the South Beach Chamber Ensemble performing chamber music by African-American and African-French composers, with poetry and performance by Allison Matulli and Darius V. Daughtry

The program comprises four works:

Joseph Bologne: String Quartet #1 in C major (1771) Jessie Montgomery: Strum (2012) DBR: String Quartet No. 1, “X” (1993) George Walker: String Quartet #1(1946)

WHO: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) was a champion fencer, classical composer, virtuoso violinist, friend of Mozart and conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris. Today the Chevalier de Saint-Georges is best remembered as the first known classical composer who was of African ancestry; he composed numerous string quartets and other instrumental music, and opera.

Jessie Montgomery is an acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator. She is the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, and her works are performed frequently around the world by leading musicians and ensembles. Her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, language, and social justice, placing her squarely as one of the most relevant interpreters of 21st-century American sound and experience.

Daniel Bernard Roumain (“DBR”) is a prolific and endlessly collaborative composer, performer, educator, and social entrepreneur. “About as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets” (New York Times), DBR has worked with artists from Philip Glass to Bill T. Jones to Lady Gaga; appeared on NPR, American Idol, and ESPN; and has collaborated with the Sydney Opera House and the City of Burlington, Vermont. He has been acclaimed as a violinist and activist.

George Theophilus Walker (1922-2018) was an American composer, pianist, and organist, who was the first African American to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for “Lilacs” in 1996. Over the course of five decades, he balanced a career as a concert pianist, teacher, and composer. In 1946, Walker composed his String Quartet #1. A string orchestra arrangement of the second movement of that work received its world premiere in a radio broadcast that was conducted by pianist Seymour Lipkin. Originally titled "Lament", Walker later changed the title to “Lyric for Strings.” It has been one of the most frequently performed orchestral works by a living American composer.

The performers:

The South Beach Chamber Ensemble was founded in 1997 by Michael Andrews. It began with a free concert of Haydn and Dvorak Piano Trios at the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach. Our Music in Beautiful Spaces series has been supported by Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council and the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs for more than 20 years. The ensemble is one of the only arts organizations in south Florida dedicated to offering affordable chamber music programs to new audiences while showcasing local musical talent. Music in Motion: Miami to Rio, August and September 2005, was a great success. Our performances of Villa-Lobos, Copland and Mendelssohn at the Villa-Lobos Museum, Rio de Janeiro and Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, were well received in both countries. Music in Motion: Miami-Argentina-Brazil, September 2007, included concerts and student programs in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Buenos Aires, Miami Beach and Miami Shores.  

Tony Seepersad, violin Ericmar Perez, violin JT Kane, viola Michael Andrews, cello

For more information visit http://sobechamberensemble.org/

WHEN: Sunday, December 6, 2020 from 6:00 – 7:30 PM Eastern Time (USA)

VIEW:  http://sobechamberensemble.org/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/sobechamber/ YOUTUBE:https://www.youtube.com/user/sobechamberensemble

Directly from the Miami Beach Woman’s Club, founded in the wake of the devastating 1926 hurricane, by some of Miami Beach’s most renowned and influential women, with the intent of fostering neighborly friendship and community. Today in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, the organization will host this exciting concert devoted to the contributions of the African diaspora to the literature of classical music. The mission of the Global Arts Project is to provide greater access to live performing arts.

Black Voices is part of the Artscape “Safe & Sound” Streaming Series Produced by The Global Arts Project & Collins Park Neighborhood Association

[alexandersonlife]

@saicceramics We are so excited to announce our lineup of visiting artists & critics for the Fall 2020 Semester! Stay tuned for details and dates! All visiting lectures will be online via Zoom this semester.          Ayumi Horie is a full-time studio potter from Portland, Maine who makes functional pots, mainly with drawings of animals. In 2015, she awarded a Distinguished Fellow grant in Craft by the United States Artists and is the first recipient of Ceramics Monthly’s Ceramic Artist of the Year award. She has taught workshops and given lectures at many universities, art centers and residencies in the U.S. and abroad. Her work is in various collections throughout the US, including the Museum of Art and Design in New York City.    @ayumihorie      Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy (She/Her) is a New York and Los Angeles-based curator, writer, and arts administrator focusing on contemporary art and craft, with a special interest in increasing the visibility of artists of color. She serves as Assistant Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York. She also manages MAD’s Burke Prize, a contemporary craft award, and curates its accompanying exhibition. She holds a BA in Art History from the University of Florida with minors in Anthropology and Ceramics and an MA from the Bard Graduate Center, New York in Decorative Arts, Design History & Material Culture. Vizcarrondo-Laboy was born and raised in Puerto Rico.    @angelik.wiki      Alex Anderson recently graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, he received an MFA in Ceramics in 2018 after earning a Fulbright Grant in affiliation with the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou in 2015. His work has been exhibited in galleries and institutions internationally and across the United States, including a recent solo exhibition, Little Black Boy Makes Imperial Porcelains, at Gavlak Gallery in Los Angeles.  @100alexanderson      Pictured clockwise from L to R Ayumi Horie,(photo courtesy of Michael D. Wilson), Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy, Alex Anderson          SAIC CERAMICS - “Clay is our medium, revolution is the goal.” ⁣     🌟🌎⁣      #saicceramics #alexanderson #ayumihorie #angelikvizcarrondolaboy (at School of the Art Institute of Chicago) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZoru5lJht/?igshid=evvo6k26s5nl

[art-now-usa]

Wild Orchid, Daria Bagrintseva

This artwork won the International Prize 'The Best of Modern and Contemporary Artist' in 2015. One of the founders of the prize, Prof Dr Salvatore Russo says: "Her painting is full of expressive and communicative force, ir's a set of meditations on liberating function of the color and drawing, on the power of a modern and refined figurative, to achieve the desired objective. The work of Daria Bagrintseva, stron of its beautiful handwriting and the intense chromaticism, moves within channels of visual and mental suggestions." A traditional Irish band called Colcannon chose this painting for decoration of the new album. Mick Bolger, the head of yhe band, says: "We are in the process of recording our newest CD and I started looking for artwork for it this morning. The album is to be called 'Wild Orchid'. A quick Google search revealed your painting of the same name. As soon as I saw it, I knew I need go no further. 'Wild Orchid' painting belongs to the 'Miami Art Deco' series. It is a balance between figurative and abstract painting. The paintings in this set fit perfectly into both contemporary and traditional interiors. I created this series inspired by the spectacular, vivid, unusual and diverse architecture of Miami. The paintings reflect the cheerful and noisy night parties in the style of The Great Gatsby, passing among the splendor and luxury of nature in Florida, its tropical plants and flowers, colorful and noisy birds and animals. I used acrylic, gold and metallic paints, as only with them I can do to achieve the desired effect of brightness, ricnhess, color intensity and lightness. ---------- Orchids are the largest family of blooming flowers with over 25,000 species and over 100,000 varieties. They are often grown as houseplants, or added to floral displays. But, not all orchids are tropical beauties. Wild orchids grow worldwide and can be found on every continent except Antarctica. These flowers have earned the reputation as difficult to grow, probably due to their need for filtered light and high relative humidity. Many varieties, such as the moth orchid (Phalaenopsis) are surprisingly easy to grow as a houseplant. The orchid has been held in high regard since ancient times. It symbolizes: Love Beauty Fertility Refinement Thoughtfulness Charm Orchids (Orchidaceae family) earned their name from the Greek word orchis, meaning testicle. Their fleshy underground tubers were thought to resemble testicles, at least that’s what Greek botanist Theophrastos thought at the time. The phalaenopsis orchids, commonly referred to as moth orchids, earned their name from mistaken identity. When Swedish Naturalist Peter Osbeck spied them in his field glasses while visiting Java in the mid-1750s, he thought they were a cluster of moths. Although they were not officially named for another 75 years, the common name Osbeck spied them in his field glasses while visiting Java in the mid-1750s, he thought they were a cluster of moths. Although they were not officially named for another 75 years, the common name moth orchid has endured. The ancient Greeks thought orchids were a symbol of virility. In fact, they were so convinced of the connection between orchids and fertility that they believe orchids with large tuberous roots symbolized a male child, while orchids with small tubers symbolized a female child. The Aztecs reportedly mixed the vanilla orchid with chocolate to create a tasty elixir that was thought to promote power and strength. Although the Victorians didn’t use orchids as magical elixirs, they did collect and display them as a sign of luxury and a means to exhibit their refined taste. Orchid plants and flowers range in size and shape. Many grow in the understory of tropical forests, producing delicate blooms in a wide array of colors. While some are tiny plants, only a few inches tall, others like the Vanilla orchid grow on towering vines. The Vanilla orchid is native to Mesoamerica where the Totonaco Indians cultivated it. According to ancient Totonaco legend, the vanilla orchid sprung from the blood of Princess Xanat when she and her lover were beheaded for disobeying her father’s wishes. Although the Chinese have cultivated orchids for over 3,000 years, it was not until the 1600s that visitors to the Far East brought orchids to Europe. By 1802 orchids were raised from seed and by 1856, the first cultivated hybrid was developed. While all orchids symbolize love and beauty, the color of the orchid can change the intended meaning of the flower: Blue – Orchids come in every color but true blue, but there are blue tinted orchids. These orchids represent rarity Red – Red orchids symbolize passion and desire, but can also symbolize strength and courage. Pink – Pink orchids symbolize grace, joy and happiness and can also symbolize innocence and femininity. White – White orchids represent reverence and humility, innocence and purity, and elegance and beauty. Purple – Purple orchids symbolize admiration, respect, dignity and royalty. Yellow – Yellow or orchids represent friendship, joy and new beginnings. Orange – Orange orchids symbolize enthusiasm, boldness and pride. Green – Green orchids are thought to bring good fortune and blessings. They represent good health, nature and longevity. Meaningful Botanical Characteristics of the Orchid Flower In Chinese medicine, the orchid is used as an herbal remedy to ease coughs and lung diseases; treat kidney, lung and stomach deficiencies; and treat eye diseases. The fragrance of orchid flowers is used in perfumes and beauty products. The beans of the Vanilla orchid are dried and used as flavoring for sweet drinks and confections. It is a popular flavoring for ice cream, soft drinks and in cakes. The orchid flower’s message is difficult to dismiss. This exotic flower brings beauty and grace to any occasion with flowers that appear to float in the air. They add a flair for the unusual to floral bouquets, or simply used as potted plants as centerpieces during special occasions. And, as if that were not enough, orchids give the world the sweet flavor of vanilla, too. http://www.flowermeaning.com/orchid-flower-meaning/

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Wild-Orchid/341145/2538179/view

[sulamichiephotography]

Five contemporary portrait photographers

Roe Ethridge -

Roe is a commercial and art photographer born in 1969 and based in Florida. He sees his work as blurring the line between these two forms of photography, creating work that is non specific but that has a deep message at the same time. I love the portrait below because the model is doing an unusual facial expression, not the typical relaxed face seen in the majority of portraits. I also enjoy the tight crop in on their face, we get a very intimate view of the person. Their hair frames their face and gives the picture an overall warm hue. 

Nadine Ijewere -

Nadine Ijewere is a 27 year old fashion and portraiture photographer in south-east London. Her work focuses on diversity of people, caused by her Nigerian and Jamaican heritage. She wants her work showcasing a new standard of beauty and demonstrating different cultures in the fashion industry and she has been successful, having her work shown in magazines such as Vogue, Allure and I-D. The photo below is focused on the model’s features, drawing us in and forcing us to admire their beauty. The blue of the background sky and sea compliments the model’s brown eyes, hair and skin. 

Ailera Stone -

Ailera is from Lithuania but now lives in London, working as a fashion and portrait photographer. She is inspired by her love for other forms of media like books, music and films. She can bring these worlds to life through her work, making her models look like the main character in a story. She has been featured in many magazines. The flares and bokeh in the portrait below gives the image that fantasy, magical element which I think is a clever way to use light to make a portrait more artistic. I could try this with my own portraits as I own a crystal which I could place in front of my lens. 

Diane Sagnier -

Diane Sagnier is a fashion and lifestyle photographer based in Paris. She recently won the Picto Young Fashion Photography prize. She is a big fan of natural light for her photography, and stays clear of studio settings which is unusual for a photographer of her time. I think her work is very diverse so I picked two of my favourite images. The first is for a musicians first music release and the second is for a magazine. Each is beautiful in it’s own way - I love the background of the first image in black and white with the low angle, making the model seem powerful, and I love the soft warm tones in the second, obviously shot in front of a window. 

Réhahn -

Réhahn is a fine Art and documentary style photographer. He visited over 35 countries before making Vietnam his home. He is most known for his portraits of people across Asia, where he captured their character, diversity and culture which he is drawn to. In doing so he brought hundreds of people’s stories into the light, being recognised by magazines such as The National Geographic, seen on TV, and has been in exhibitions. I chose this image below as I think the framing of the girl off to one side is extremely effective. It allows us to see more of the background, while also making her more prominant. It is similar to Nadine’s image but instead here the blues are much more vibrant, complimenting the girl’s dark hair and brown skin even more.