Shirley Klinghoffer

 

Cancer Survivor Art at Museum of Glass 

Published in the Weekly Volcano, July 16, 2015

Shirley Klinghoffer, “CRT Revisited, 2015,” slumped glass installation. Photo by Duncan Price.

Artist Shirley Klinghoffer is a cancer survivor; she has used her own and others’ experience with this deadly disease to create haunting and touching works of art now on display at the Museum of Glass.

Her large-scale installation pieces are inspired by hospital armatures used as support for women’s bodies during radiation therapy. Alongside one wall and extending outward like a thrust stage in a theater are platforms upon which lie transparent glass shapes barely recognizable as casts from the torsos of women who have undergone radiation therapy. They are disturbing yet beautiful, delicate yet powerful.

Klinghoffer writes, “Discovering beauty in ugly truths is a challenge.”

That is the challenge of her art.

On the wall above these clear glass body forms, written statements from and about cancer patients are projected. Similarly, against one wall is a bulletin board with statements written by cancer survivors and/or their doctors, family members, caregivers and museum visitors. Next to this bulletin board sits a desk with writing supplies. There are no instructions, but apparently anyone who wants to write something to be added to the bulletin board may do so.

On yet another wall is a line of the armatures. They look like woman-shaped life preservers that have been beaten and torn and repaired with masking and duct tape and hunks of foam. They are rough, gray in color, and horrible in their associations. They look like implements of torture. Even though the women whose bodies these armatures supported may now be cancer free, one gets the impression when looking at these that they must not have survived.

"Going through cancer treatment has so many challenges, but somehow along the way we connect with special people and certain objects that become truly meaningful in sustaining us through our journey and become healing objects," Klinghoffer wrote. The exhibition includes a mixed-media wall sculpture of her personal healing object. It is called “Witty in Pink.” It is a sculpture that looks like a flower. It is pink. The center is a large ball with many little nipples on it. The petals are made of vintage tulle. Like the other works, it is simultaneously strong and delicate. Interestingly, she chose the color pink as a symbolic color before pink came to be associated with cancer.

On display along a back wall in the museum’s lobby area is “Vanity,” a mixed-media installation by Joseph Rossano that deals creatively and memorably with the extinction of certain animal species. I would rather not describe these works but would prefer encouraging visitors to the museum to view the work for themselves and be surprised as I was. Rossano’s piece is beautiful and thought-provoking. Be prepared to take some time with it; it is worth the effort.

Shirley Klinghoffer, Museum of Glass, Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., through Oct. 11, admission $5-$15, free to members, free Third Thursday, Museum of Glass, 1801 Dock St. Tacoma, (866) 468-7386 http://museumofglass.org]

Southwest Washington Juried Exhibition at SPSCC

Photo: “Jungle Crossing” acrylic on wood, by Bernie Bleha. Photo courtesy South Puget Sound Community College

Published in the Weekly Volcano July 9, 2015

"Jungle Crossing," painted wood construction by Bernie Bleha. Photo courtesy
South Puget Sound Community College

The Southwest Washington Juried Exhibition at South Puget Sound Community College is better than your average juried exhibition. It’s such a stellar collection of regional artists that I should be able to list the names and leave it at that, and readers would rush to see it.

There are a lot of artists whose work I know well, such as Tom Anderson, Susan Christian, Evan Clayton Horback, Hart James, Becky Knold, Barlow Palminteri and Gail Ramsey Wharton — all of whom I’ve reviewed before — and some I’m not familiar with, such as Bernie Bleha and Eric Sandgren whose work I’ve not seen before, but whose pieces in this show I like a lot.

Sandgren’s cleverly titled acrylic landscape “Raven and Cranes” is a waterfront scene with cranes in the foreground (the type that unloads boats, not the birds). Seen across the water are amorphous and mist-shrouded buildings on the farther shore and a sky with swirling clouds like a daylight version of van Gogh’s “Starry Night” but in soft tones of yellow and violet. It is a beautiful image, but try as you might, I’ll bet you can’t find the raven.

Bleha’s “Jungle Crossing” is a small free-standing sculpture with sensuous frond-like shapes that, on one side, have faces on them — almost hidden pop-surrealist faces that remind me a lot of faces seen in paintings by Nathan Barnes, who runs the gallery at SPSCC (coincidence, or is he influenced by Barnes?). Conceptually Bleha’s piece is a painting even though it is three-dimensional and designed to be seen from two sides, but not from all around. The colors are highly saturated and fiery.

Christian is showing two of her wall hanging pieces made from painted scrap lumber. These are works I reviewed when she showed them at Batdorf & Bronson in April. If you missed that show, I urge you to take this opportunity to see these works at SPSCC.

Nancy Thorne-Chambers is represented by a single figure from her life-sized ceramic diorama, “A Story Place,” which was installed in the former Matter Gallery before they went out of business. The full installation is magical. I hope she gets opportunities to show it in other venues. The single figure of a sporty hare shown here is also delightful, but nothing compared to the full installation.

Also enjoyable are two nice landscapes by Mary McCann and a mixed-media abstract painting by Mia Shulte called “Looking Out,” which has rich colors and an excellent use of shallow space.

Barlow Palminteri’s “Console” is densely packed with realistic images and patterns.

Knold’s “Night Comes” is moodier and more ominous than many of her paintings, and

Horback’s mixed-media and acrylic painting “Subhadra” hangs just inside the door as an excellent welcoming image.

This is a show featuring the best of the best of mostly Olympia artists. There will be an opening reception with artist talks tonight, Thursday, July 9 from 6-8 p.m.

[Southwest Washington Juried Exhibition, South Puget Sound Community College, Kenneth J Minnaert Center for the Arts Gallery, Monday-Friday, noon-4 p.m. and by appointment, through Aug. 26, 2011 Mottman Rd. SW. Olympia, 360.596.5527.]

August Strindberg’s Miss Julie

New Muses Theatre Company presents August Strindberg’s Miss Julie at Dukesbay Theater

Published in the Weekly Volcano July 9, 2015

Miss Julie (Katelyn Hoffman) and Jean (Nick Spencer). Photo by Niclas Olson.

Strindberg’s classic play Miss Julie was extremely controversial when first produced in France at the end of the 19^th century. This newly adapted version by Niclas Olson’s New Muses Theatre Company and performed in Tacoma’s Dukesbay Theater in the Merlino Arts Center building is dark and slightly confusing, but definitely in keeping with the author’s naturalistic style.

By slightly confusing I do not mean that the story doesn’t make sense, but rather that the main characters, Miss Julie (Katelyn Hoffman) and Jean (Nick Spencer), are confused about their own motives, desires, and feelings for each other. During the opening night performance I was swept up with their confusion and felt disoriented throughout much of the play. It bothered me at first that no matter how excited or angry Miss Julie was, Hoffman portrayed her with cool detachment, and it bothered me that I could not get a handle on whether or not Jean loved or hated, idolized or was indifferent to Miss Julie. I thought Hoffman’s strange way of staring off into space and her tightly controlled passion were signs of stifled acting, but I gradually began to realize that she was portraying a strange character with utmost naturalism.

Kristin (Kelsey Harrison) with the dog Dianna (Roxy). Photo by Bethany Bevie

Naturalism to Strindberg meant everything from sets to lighting to acting should be unadorned; i.e., not theatrical. Olson, who not only adapted the play but also directed it and designed the set, created a simple kitchen with heavy wooden tables and simple kitchen implements of a style that would have been used in the day (with the possible exception of the terrycloth wash rags, and I’m not too sure about the beer bottles). His only concession to theatricality was a beautifully painted floor, an even more beautiful scrim at the back of the set, and lighting that is subtle but which becomes strikingly dramatic in a moment when Miss Julie looks up at the rising sun burning through the kitchen window and the light glows on her face.

During the course of a single evening, the spoiled daughter of a French count, Miss Julie, and her father’s valet, Jean, engage in flirting and fighting, an implied sexual tryst, and heated arguments about class, religion, and the roles of men and women. Some of this takes place within the hearing of Jean’s fiancé, the cook Kristin (Kelsey Harrison), whose relationship with Jean is also convoluted and strife-filled.

Miss Julie is haughty and demanding but wishes she could come down to Jean’s level. She dreams of falling from her aristocratic heights, and she demands that Jean the servant tell her what to do and says she will follow his orders. And Jean, who is more worldly and well-read than one would expect from someone in a servant role, vacillates between being subservient and defiant. He asks her to run away with him, but neither of them is really sure they want to. Their seemingly unsolvable conflicts culminate in a tragic end that is strongly suggested but not explicitly stated.

The story is deceptively simple yet filled with complex social, philosophical and moral questions. It is well acted and directed.

Miss Julie runs 80 minutes with no intermission.

Miss Julie, Friday.-Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m. through July 19, added production July 16 at 8 p.m., Dukesbay Theater in the Merlino Arts Center, 508 South 6th Ave., Tacoma, $10, www.NewMuses.com/Miss-­‐Julie.html    

    

Roger Shimomura’s An American Knockoff

Pop Art that Packs a Punch

Published in the Weekly Volcano, July 2, 2015

"American Infamy #5" acrylic on canvas, collection of Jordan Schnitzer, Portland, Ore. Photo courtesy Tacoma Art Museum

The Roger Shimomura painting exhibition at Tacoma Art Museum mines the tradition of pop art and the history of Japanese-American relations to skewer prejudice and stereotype with painfully satirical paintings.

Shimomura, an American artist living in Seattle, was born to a Japanese family shortly before the outbreak of World War II. He and his family were interned in the Minidoka War Relocation Camp in Idaho for two years when he was a small child. Wall text for the show states that his earliest memories are from the camp. Much of the history of his years at Minidoka are illustrated in paintings in this exhibition.

“Far too many American-born citizens of Asian descent continue to be thought of as only American knockoffs,” Shimomura writes. “This latest series of paintings is an attempt to ameliorate the outrage of these misconceptions by depicting myself battling those stereotypes, or in tongue-in-cheek fashion, becoming those very same stereotypes.”

There are self-portraits of the artist in the guise of American icons including George Washington, Superman, Popeye, Mickey Mouse, and a host of comic book characters. We see him fighting other Americans, and we see him fighting Japanese, Chinese and other enemies, all to satirically prove himself a real. In some of these battles — most noticeably those with the Chinese, wherein he appears as Chairman Mao among other apparitions — he is battling the notion that all Asians look alike.

Although most of his images attack stereotypes with humor, his paintings of life in the internment camp are dead serious depictions of too-real history.

The most powerful image in the show, both graphically and in terms of content, is “American Infamy #5.” Painted in a comic-book style, it is a birds’-eye view of the camp with three soldiers on a guard tower in the foreground. Two of the soldiers are holding rifles; one mans a machine gun. In a printed statement, the artist explains that while the government said the machine guns were aimed outside, they were in fact aimed inward at the people living in the camps. Ominous black clouds hang over the camp.  One of the soldier’s faces is black and in shadow, while the other one grimaces. None look toward the viewer. It is a menacing image.

Also powerful is a simple group of 10 small, childlike paintings depicting 10 days in the camp. One of the last ones is called “Santa comes to visit in the mess hall.” Santa is seen in silhouette through a window and behind barbed wire. Next to it is a picture of when a child from back home in Seattle comes to visit and they can touch each other only by reaching through the barbed wire.

The paintings are executed in a style derived from comic books and from pop art. The majority of them are  large, colorful, and beautifully designed, with figures grouped to create abstract patterns that force the eye to move around the canvas. One group of four paintings acknowledges Shimomua’s influences by containing a “brushstroke” borrowed from Roy Lichtenstein and copies of Andy Warhol’s portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor in collage-like compositions with Japanese women in traditional garb.

“Halloween” depicts a group of kids trick-or-treating in Halloween costumes. They are all white except for one African-American, and they are chasing the kid in the Japanese soldier costume like angry villagers with pitchforks and brooms chasing the Frankenstein monster. In a wall text, the artist explains that when they were kids nobody wanted to wear the Japanese costume because they were all taught to hate and fear the Japs. In various forms, some humorous and some not, this is the underlying message of all his paintings.

This is the kind of show that makes Tacoma Art Museum a local treasure.

Roger Shimomura’s An American Knockoff, Tue.-Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Third Thursday 10 a.m. to –8 p.m., through Sept. 13, $12-$14, Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave. Tacoma, http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/

Pug Bujeaud and Christian Carvajal Pick Their Fab 5

Some time ago actor Rick Pearlstein asked fellow actors and directors on Facebook to pick the favorite five plays they’ve been involved with. The responses were many and fun to read. I asked two local theater personalities if I could reprint their responses (originally intended for publication in the Weekly Volcano but now appearing here).

Pug Bujeaud has acted and directed more plays than Carter has little liver pills (who’s old enough to remember that?). Christian Carvajal is also an actor and director, and until recently a theater critic. Bujeaud and Carvajal each graciously shared their comments (slightly edited).

Ryan Holmberg (back) and Dennis Rolly (front) in Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol. Photo Matt Ackerman CrimsonFlick Photo.

Pug Bujeaud
Ten Years ago I directed my first Shakespeare for Theater Artists Olympia. Macbeth. It was the first time I really put my own spin on a concept, WWI never ended and it is modern day. It was a study of what happens to good people living in terrible times. Something I have continued to explore in various shows and writings. I hope to get my hands on this one again someday soon.

Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol was a joy to work on. The script was a find. The cast was full of some of my favorite people who were all working at the top of their game. Ryan Holmberg, Tim Goebel, Chris Cantrell, and Dennis Rolly. The sound design was Matt Ackerman, the first time we actually worked together on something.  And Cecelia Sommerville's   lighting design was sublime. I was especially proud of the opening moments of that show. OLT didn't know what hit 'em.
I have put Reservoir Dogs on the list. And I am going to have to tap both productions. Because well, I directed them simultaneously, so for me it was one very large show. What I was thinking I ...don't really know. But man what a wild ride. A great study in what actors bring to the table, and how they affect the direction a show takes. Same director different actors totally different shows.
Inherit the Wind was one of the first shows I was in back in High School, I never fell out of love with it. When The Evergreen Playhouse gave me a chance to direct it I jumped on it.

from left: Tom Sanders, Michael Christopher and Deya Ozburn in MacBeth. Photo by DK Photography.

There were almost 30 people in this, I think. And the world they built was amazing. I totally believed them as a township. I particularly loved the church rally and the way the congregation was intermingled with the audience the way it moved one emotionally because you were totally a part of the action. I tried very hard to portray both sides of this story without vilifying either side. Keeping my own personal politics out of it. I think I managed it quite well. And Scott Petersen and Dennis Rolly as Drummond and Brady were a joy to watch every night.

So for my final entry on the Five Day Artist Challenge I am going to have to cheat. I gotta have three. I have a three-way tie. Three totally different pieces as my favorite for totally different reasons.
The Weir at The Tacoma Little Theatre was hard, it was frightening, we were swimming upstream for the majority of the rehearsal process. The script is brilliant. It had been on my bucket list for a long time. The final product ... as close to perfection as I can ever hope to come. Just five actors sitting around telling stories and listening to each other. And it was magic, theater at its best. I never got tired of watching them spin their yarns. Special thanks go out to David Wright for saving our collective bacon on that one.
The HEAD! that Wouldn't DIE! with TAO of course. What fun. What a freezing our butts off, what the hell are we doing, lets just jump into the deep end, labor of love. The writing, the music, and the wonderful cast made all of the sleepless nights and near frostbite worth it. Such funny, funny people. And the reception was the frosting on the already tasty cake. So gratifying. Can't wait to do it again in the fall.

Titus Andronicus with Theater Artists Olympia! Titus was a raging blaze of over-the-top, brutal performances. Everyone pushed their comfort zones in commitment to the cause. I am honored that folks trusted me and allowed me to take them to such hard places. I miss this show more than any other. I got to become real friends with a number of people who to this day are some of those closest to my heart. It was an audacious production and boy did that cast embrace it. Special thanks to the amazing Matt Ackerman  for scoring the whole thing. I miss it really all the time.

from left: Robert McConkey, Brian Jansen, David Wright, Ellen Peters and Gabriel McClelland. Photo by DK Photography.

Christin Carvajal

As some of you may very well have expected, this brings us to Frost/Nixon at Tacoma Little Theatre (January 2011).

I'd been wanting to play Nixon in Peter Morgan's riveting play for several years. In fact, after Don Juan in Chicago, I lobbied to have Keith Eisner direct it in the Midnight Sun. So when I heard some yahoo named Brie Yost was directing it for TLT, I decided to squelch my anxiety about some kid fresh out of PLU helming a show about events that transpired before she was born. I auditioned in a 1960s style suit with my hair slicked back. I didn't perform an actual Nixon monologue, but I may as well have. It was pretty on-the-nose, but frankly, I thought I crushed it.

When I arrived at callbacks, I felt even better about my chances. None of these guys looked anything like Richard Nixon, I thought. I got up on stage, did my scenes, and there was an audible mumble of approval. And then ... friggin' Steve friggin' Tarry took the stage, and my dreams jackknifed clean off the 405. I knew he had the part before he finished his first scene. I was so crushed that when Brie offered me another part in the show, I told her it was too small to justify the drive back and forth from Tumwater. Jerk move, I know, but you can understand my feelings.

Brie called a few days later and asked if I'd play another part, ABC News producer Bob Zelnick, instead. Having rethought my letdown and refusal, I said yes. And so it was that I found myself sharing a stage, and dressing room, with Curtis Beech, Charlie Birdsell, James A. Gilletti, Bob Gossman, Josh Johnson, Brian Lewis, Gabriel McClelland, Paul Neet, Duane Petersen, and the inimitable Mr. Tarry. That's a hell of a lot of talent in one dressing room. It's also a lot of warm, smelly bodies and clothes, so after a week of that I bid a hearty adieu and promoted myself to the much more spacious women's dressing room. Luckily, those actresses were game, so I spent the next two months in the half-dressed company of Sarahann Elizabeth Rickner, Alleena Tribble, and Anjelica Wolf (now McMillan). I can tell you I've never had a better time rehearsing or performing a show in almost four decades on the boards.

Consider: I had a couple of fun scenes to perform, including a comically over-the-top impersonation of Richard Nixon. I got to bitch out David Frost and wear an awesome suit selected by Naarah McDonald. Then I got to sit there and emote with no lines for most of an act—which meant limited memorization! I believe that was the show on which I met Nic Olson, who was stage managing for Brie. I found Brie herself to be knowledgeable, passionate, smart, engaging, and in all respects the perfect ringleader for our merry circus. It was, at least from my point of view, a charmed show. It was how I met ASMs Jess Allan and Sergio Americo Vendetti. I'm looking at the program now and realizing how many wonderful people came together behind the scenes to make that show a success. They were all at the top of their game, and crowds were gracious and responsive in post-show Q&As.

Mostly, though, I remember the undergraduate-style camaraderie. I hadn't felt as joyous in my work since ECU. It brought back all the feelings of being in my HOUSE, the place I was meant to be at the time I was meant to be there, and I saw very clearly how my talents meshed with so many others to form something richer than its parts. Four years later, I still consider most of these people dear friends, even the ones who drifted away on distant orbits. Shortly after Frost/Nixon closed, I was able to propose to Amanda Stevens, so I felt I'd been gifted with a two-month-long bachelor party. I would've done that show for years if it'd been an option. Amanda and I were married in May of 2011, and Brie Yost performed our wedding ceremony.

In the years since, actor Carv has had his ups and downs. As I said previously, I loved doing radio shows at Lakewood Playhouse. Performing 12 Angry Men there was a blast, and I have nothing but good things to say about the cast and experience of Angels in America, Parts 1 and 2 at Olympia Little Theatre—directed by Nic Olson. I directed Steve Tarry as the Great Detective in Sherlock's Last Case at Lakewood Playhouse, and Jess Allan as Susannah in Laughing Stock at OLT. Both shows were wonderfully rewarding experiences for me and, I gather, their fine casts.

I intend to direct The Credeaux Canvas somehow, somewhere, by the end of 2016. I might even self-produce in a found space, with attendance by invitation only. Amanda and I are currently rehearsing Tartuffe for Theater Artists Olympia, a rehearsal process that in some ways reminds me of that of Frost/Nixon. Maybe it's all the corsets. (Note: this was written before Tartuffe was performed. See my review here.)