Must-see show

The Helm Gallery shows excellent work by Chauney Peck and Whiting Tennis

published in the Weekly Volcano, Nov. 1, 2007

I’ve been following the evolution of Chauney Peck since the late ’90s when she showed up in a group show at the old Commencement Art Gallery.

Back then she was doing paintings that were expressive, spatially open and gestural. Then she evolved into a sculptor of large, painted wood constructions that looked something like giant kids’ jigsaw puzzles — a typical example being the big, cartoonlike boat she displayed at Ice Box Gallery last year. That boat and similar constructions presented an interesting twist on tradition: Paintings in the Renaissance tradition used perspective to create an illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface; in her painted constructions, Peck created an illusion of flat space in three-dimensional objects.

Her vinyl paintings on paper at The Helm bring together many of the visual concerns dealt with in her earlier works. She paints clumps or piles of urban debris — cast-off clothing, toys, furniture, the accumulated crap of a wasteful consumer society. Everything is piled together into a single shape surrounded by white space. Her compositions are highly structured and architectural in the way of Cezanne when he broke the forms of nature down to their essential geometric shapes. Her painting style — with flat, unmodulated colors and flowing lines — reminds me a lot of Jacob Lawrence.

As a typical example, “Cerrado” pictures a pile of furniture with blue cloths (perhaps referring to the blue tarps that were so prominent in New Orleans after Katrina), a lightbulb reminiscent of Picasso’s eye-bulb in “Guernica,” a red bucket and overturned patio furniture. The whole structure is a single form that has a dramatic thrust from a clutter of objects lower right to the lightbulb upper left. The colors are bright and flat, and the whole assemblage of objects is held together by careful placement and by the zippy white lines that tie the parts together.

Showing with Peck is Whiting Tennis, whose paintings and sculptures deal with many of the same subjects and are similar in style. The two are so similar in both style and outlook that it would be easy to assume that everything in the gallery was created by the same artist. They are a perfect match.

In fact, I thought Tennis’ “Blue Hamburger” was by Peck until I read the inventory sheet. “Blue Hamburger” is a painting in acrylic and collage on canvas of a Third World tent city, a cluttered amalgamation of thrown-together shacks and tents constructed of discarded materials. As in Peck’s paintings, all of the objects are clumped together to form a single organic shape on a white background. The differences are to be found in Tennis’ use of simulated wood-grain texture and his limited palate. Peck’s primary colors give way to mostly whites and grays in Tennis. But both employ the ubiquitous blue tarps. Tennis’ work is also grittier. Life seems harsher in his world. Whereas Peck also depicts poverty amidst plenty, she presents it in a playful, Hello Kitty style.

The most powerful works by Tennis are two rather large sculptures: “The New Green” (wood, paint and Visqueen) and “Boogeyman” (plywood and hot metal tar). “The New Green” is an enigmatic structure that looks something like a strangely shaped doghouse painted a sick, milky green. It is a self-contained structure that is compelling because of its mystery. What could its function possibly be? “Boogeyman” is identical in shape but completely covered in shiny black tar to give it the menacing look of some kind of military apparatus or a mechanized Darth Vader mask.

This is truly an excellent show. It closes Wednesday, Nov. 7, so I urge you to see it right away.

[The Helm, Chauney Peck and Whiting Tennis, Wednesday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., through Nov. 7, 760 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.627.8845, www.thehelmgallery.com
]

Ta dah!

Diane de la Paz reviewed my new book for the latest edition of the Weekly Volcano, which hits the streets today.

She writes: “The Wives of Marty Winters” opens with a stunning description of the Seattle Pride Day rally, where we meet Marty and Selena and move with them through a harrowing scene.
Then it turns far back in time to when Marty found Maria at an Olympia High School dance.
… (“Wives” is) a saga about how the past haunts a man and how homophobia affects his family.
… Marty and Selena’s gay son is attacked and brutally beaten, but he survives, unlike Clayton’s own bisexual son, Bill, who was assaulted in 1995 and committed suicide a month hence. Bill was 17.
… “Wives” is overwritten in spots, but it also pulses with vivid, authentic scenes and delicious moments. The story rolls like a train through Marty’s life … –Diane de la Paz, The Weekly Volcano, Nov. 1, 2007

To read the complete artical, to go http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/2007-11-01/culture-vulture/1298/

My newest novel is out!

Finally! My newest novel is out!

The Wives of Marty Winters

The official publication date will be this Saturday, Nov. 3, which is also the day for Tacoma Word and the launch of the ClaytonWorks Publishing website.

I will be selling and signing copies at Tacoma Word, the celebration of Puget Sound literary artists Saturday, at Freighthouse Square in Tacoma. Complete information is available at
http://bpnw.blogspot.com/2007/09/tacoma-small-press-event.html

A book description, brief excerpt and purchase information will be available on our new ClaytonWorks Publishing Web site at
http://www.claytonworks.com/Publishing/index.html

To get a signed copy, call or e-mail me at 360-556-4259
alec@alecclayton.com

The story:

Gay rights activist Selena Winters is shot in the head while giving a speech at the Seattle Pride celebration. She is rushed to the hospital and a blood clot is removed from her brain. Family members gather to wait and see if she will ever regain consciousness.

Gathered at her bedside are:
Marty
their daughter, Marianne
their son, William and his life partner, Jake;
and Chloe, their transsexual housemate.

Family conversations lead back to old conflicts and to memories of Marty's first wife, Maria, and the night they met at a high school dance in Marty's hometown of Olympia, Washington.

After a whirlwind courtship and a few brief months of marriage, Maria dumps him and takes off he knows not where.

Marty's obsession with finding Maria leads him not to her but to a strange religious commune in Nashville, Tennessee in the summer of 1970 where he meets his second wife, Maria, who is now in a coma.

The Wives of Marty Winters is not so much a mystery based on the shooting of Maria, her eventual fate, and the search for the shooter as it is a love story and a family saga covering half a century in the lives of Marty and his friends and family members.

‘Damn Yankees’ musical bats .666

published in The News Tribune, Oct. 26, 2007
pictured: Chris Serface, left, Sam Pettit and Gloria Thorpe, photo by Kat Dollarhyde


Damn Yankees” is a lighthearted musical comedy that has lost little of its luster since first opening on Broadway in 1955. Now, half a century later, its prime appeal may well be to people who are nostalgic for the days when the word “damn” was considered risqué and when sports scandals were not everyday events.

Now playing at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, “Damn Yankees” combines the Faust legend with the story of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 “Black Sox Scandal” and wraps it all up with a tender love story.

Joe Boyd, played with restraint and heartfelt sincerity by Mike Wilkinson (who recently retired from Bellarmine Prep after 34 years as a drama teacher) is an aging baseball fan who harbors dim memories of his days of glory on the diamond. Joe dearly loves the Washington Senators (perennial losers) and hates the seemingly unbeatable New York Yankees. He’d do anything to see the Senators beat the Damn Yankees. He’d even sell his soul to the devil.

Oops! Did he say that out loud? Yes, he did. And the devil, in the guise of a slick salesman named Applegate (Sam Pettit), hears him and promises that not only will he make the Senators win the pennant, he will restore Joe’s youth and make him the star player who carries the team to victory. But Applegate has a momentary soft spot – or moment of madness – and he agrees to an escape clause; Joe can back out of the deal up until Sept. 25.

So old Joe Boyd becomes young Joe Hardy, aka Shoeless Joe, the greatest baseball player of all time. Young Joe is played by Matthew Posner, a newcomer to the South Sound.

One of the most wonderful moments in the play comes early on when Joe Boyd becomes Joe Hardy while singing the sweet lament, “Goodbye Old Girl.” Wilkinson begins the song with a soft and sweet voice tinged with a little gravel, sounding like a mellow tenor who may have smoked a few too many cigarettes. Then, at one point during the song, Posner takes over with a beautifully resonant baritone that shakes the walls of the Narrows Theatre. The change seems almost magical, even though there is no trickery involved, and the power of Posner’s voice is awe inspiring.

Young Joe Hardy becomes the hero of the Senators, but being a baseball superstar is not as satisfying as he thought it might be. He misses his wife, Meg (Diane Bozzo), and tells Applegate that he wants out. But Applegate doesn’t want to let him escape. He brings in an assistant to sway him, the irresistible seductress Lola (Sheri Tipton-Hasson). Tipton-Hasson acts the part of Lola with a brash and earthy sexiness reminiscent of Mae West and sings with an equally brash and growling voice, but her dance moves do not have the pizazz they could.

Pettit steals the show with his slyly understated winks and nods as the lovably evil Applegate. Whenever he is on stage, all eyes are on him. The same can be said for Chris Serface, who plays the Senators coach. Both Pettit and Serface are so natural onstage that, watching them, I get the feeling they are teasing the audience while poking good-natured fun at themselves and the whole of musical comedy.

And Bozzo is so good as Joe Boyd’s wife that she seems not to be acting at all but simply living the part. There are no histrionics on her part. Everything she says and does is understated and matter-of-fact, and she sings with power and conviction. Her duets with Wilkinson and her trio with the two Joes are among the most moving moments in the show.

The humor is infectious, and catchy tunes the likes of “Whatever Lola Wants” and “You Gotta Have Heart” make “Damn Yankees” a thoroughly enjoyable show. The only disappointment to me was that the dancing was not as spirited as I would like. That’s a shame, because Jon Douglas Rake is an excellent choreographer and the show is based on dance numbers originally choreographed by the legendary Bob Fosse. But on the night I saw it, the dance numbers all seemed to lack snap and sizzle.

Fortunately, Pettit and Serface and Tipton-Hasson have plenty enough snap and sizzle in their acting.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
WHERE: The Narrows Theatre, 7116 Sixth Ave.
TICKETS: Adults $23, students/military $21, children 12 and younger $16
INFORMATION: 253-565-6867, www.tmp.org

Don’t look

Beware of Bil Fleming’s installations at the Capitol Theater

published in the Weekly Volcano, Oct. 25, 2007
pictured: “The Projectionists’ Gardens,” interactive sculptural installation by Bil Fleming

I first became aware of Bil Fleming’s art when he had a really nice drawing in a juried show at South Puget Sound Community College last year. Now he offers two interactive sculptural installations in the Capitol Theater: “The Projectionists’ Gardens” and “Reverse Psychology.” Depending on your state of mind and your expectations, you may see these works as threatening, thought-provoking or purely entertaining.

Set in the alcoves to the left and right of the stage area, they are available for viewing only when the lights are up before and after films and concerts at the theater.

“The Projectionists’ Gardens” is a Rube Goldberg construction of viewer-activated wheels on a conveyor belt made from old plastic shopping bags — a garden of potted plants with wooden stalks growing out of plastic pots and flowers made from bicycle wheels, a clock, CDs, and a satellite dish. It is brilliantly lighted within the space of the alcove and looks theatrical. Viewers can activate the mechanism and control the speed by pumping a handle that turns all the wheels. It is playful and rather clunky — and surprisingly attractive. Apparently children love it. I was told that prior to a recent film children were lined up all the way across the stage-front area waiting their turn to pump the handle.

Fleming says it is also based on the idea of a gyre. Gyres are areas of ocean currents such as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which are vortexes in which floating debris collect. A lot of plastic shopping bags get caught up in gyres. By using recycled materials and referencing gyres, Fleming’s work calls attention to the vast amount of waste material that litters the planet.
“Reverse Psychology” in the alcove on the opposite wall is a psychological challenge to the viewer. The face of the alcove is filled with a temporary wall of white particle board upon which is hung a chandelierlike lampshade made of an old colander. It casts light in dramatic beams, and within the beams of light the title of the piece is printed. Below this is a peephole with the printed instruction: DON’T LOOK and a crank handle with the printed instruction: DO NOT TOUCH — obviously intentional challenges to the viewer.

I dare not divulge what happens if you disobey the rule and look into the peephole or dare to turn the crank. Suffice it to say you may well be in for a shock. The concept behind this piece is an investigation into human psychology. We are all taught to obey signs. But do we have natural tendencies to disobey, to test the limits? Which is stronger — our conditioning or our curiosity?

Is this all just a big joke? Maybe. But Fleming’s credentials indicate seriousness of intent. He is a member of the Northwest Designer Craftsmen. Last year his work was purchased by the city of Seattle for the Portable Works Collection, and he won the People’s Choice Award and the Best Form and Function Award at ReStore’s Seattle Recycled Art and Fashion Show. Yes, it is playful; yes, “Reverse Psychology” is a bit of a put-on; yes, the messages conveyed are simple and not exactly layered with meaning. But does all of that make these pieces any less important as works of art? There are certainly precedents in historically important works such as Marcel Duchamp’s “Large Glass” and “Fountain” and “Étant Donnés,” also known as the peep show. While not as provocative or as avant-garde as Duchamp, Fleming is nevertheless entertaining, and if you’re going to a show anyway, you might as well take a look at “The Projectionists’ Gardens” and “Reverse Psychology.” But don’t look in the peephole.

Fleming’s installations can be seen through Nov. 29, and he says there are negotiations in the works to extend the run.

[Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. S.E., Olympia]

Repeat worthy

Tacoma Art Museum hosts quality shows

published in the Weekly Volcano, Oct 18, 2007

pictured: "Twilight Confidences," 1888, by Cecilia Beaux
Photo: Rick Echelmeyer, courtesy Tacoma Art Museum

I visited the Tacoma Art Museum again last week. Having already seen most of what's on display, I went back to see what I'd missed and re-view shows I've already written about.
Guess what. Mary Randlett's Puget Sound landscape photographs are still as hauntingly beautiful as ever, and the quilts of Gee's Bend are as strong as I had expected (the preview article I wrote being based on photographs). And Cecilia Beaux's portraits are better than I expected — even if they are among the most eclectic paintings I've ever seen.

Beaux is an artist who was lost to history until very recently. A 19th-century portrait painter, Beaux suffered from having to compete with the likes of John Singer Sargent and Thomas Eakins — and from being a woman. Her sex was the biggest hurdle between Beaux and fame. With possibly the sole exception of Mary Cassatt, women artists were belittled or ignored until feminists in the late 20th century forced historians to take another look at them. Beaux was not in any of the art history books I studied, and until TAM announced the show "Cecilia Beaux, American Figure Painter," I had never heard of her. And then when I saw the photographs that accompanied the show announcements, I thought she was just copying Sargent's style.

That wasn't quite right. As I saw when I finally visited the exhibition, she copied everyone. Sargent may have been her greatest influence, but there are also paintings that look like Cassatts and Renoirs and one that looks almost like a copy of Whistler's "Arrangement in Grey and Black," aka "Whistler's Mother." All right, astute readers may note that "Whistler's Mother" is wearing a black dress and the woman in Beaux's "New England Woman" is wearing a white dress. But that's nitpicky; the composition and the expression are the same.

There is also a painting called "Twilight Confidences" that looks a lot like some of Gauguin's paintings of women in Britanny. This is a beautifully composed painting.
As with many paintings from the 19th century and earlier, viewers will probably marvel at the realistic detail of Beaux's paintings, but to me what make these paintings really wonderful are her compositional strength and her use of light.

The Gee's Bend quilts are displayed in a smaller gallery, which is a shame. The gallery is too crowded. It is unfortunate that the quilts had to be stacked on the walls and that the few that are hung where you can see both sides have to be so high that you have to strain your neck to see them. Ideally they would have all been hung on wires at eye level and in a much larger gallery, but that would have been impossible.

The women of Gee's Bend are all self-taught artists working in traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation, and every one of them seems to have been born with an unerring sense of design and color. The patterns are bold and exciting, and the color combinations are simply amazing.

Finally, I returned to the small exhibition of Mary Randlett photographs. Randlett, who lives in Olympia, has been photographing the people and places of the Pacific Northwest since 1949. Few artists, whether with brush or camera, have been able to capture the unique veiled light of the Northwest the way Randlett has. Her black and white photographs are quiet, contemplative and serenely beautiful.

If you have not seen all of these shows at Tacoma Art Museum, you are missing something very special.

[Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt, through Dec. 9; Cecilia Beaux, American Figure Painter, through Jan. 6, 2008; Veiled Northwest: Photographs by Mary Randlett, through Jan. 27, 2008; Tacoma Art Museum, $6.50-$7.50, free to children 5 and younger, free third Thursday, Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m., third Thursdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., 1701 Pacific Ave Tacoma, 253.272.4258, www.tacomaartmuseum.org]

Superb ‘Sweeney’ mixes song, murder

review: "Sweeney Todd" at Capital Playhouse
Published in The News Tribune, October 19, 2007

pictured: Jarrod Emick as Sweeney and Jennie May Donnell as Mrs. Lovett
- ensemble cast
photos by Glenn Raiha

If there was ever any doubt that Olympia’s Capital Playhouse has become a fully professional theater, those doubts should be put to rest by its production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” starring two Equity actors, Tony Award-winner Jarrod Emick as Sweeney and Jennie May Donnell as Mrs. Lovett.

Emick’s career includes starring roles on Broadway in “Les Miserables,” “Miss Saigon,” “Damn Yankees,” “The Rocky Horror Show” and “The Boy From Oz.” He won the Tony Award in 1994 for best featured actor in a musical for his work as Joe Hardy in “Damn Yankees.”

Revising her 1999 role as Mrs. Lovett at Capital Playhouse, Donnell is a longtime local favorite most recently seen as Mona in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” This is not her first go-round with Sondheim, either. She played Old Lady/Blair Daniels in the first national tour of Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George” and has acted and directed in theaters worldwide.

Subtitled “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Sweeney Todd” is a dark and frightening story of a ruthless mass murderer set to music. It is not suitable for children, and even many adults may find it hard to watch – even those who come to the theater knowing what to expect. I spoke to lighting designer Matt Lawrence before the play started, and he said that even after sitting through tech rehearsals the play was scary to him – as it is supposed to be – and he would not let his 11-year-old son see it.

The sets are stark and relatively bare, with a lot of the dramatic and eerie lighting effects coming from behind and underneath slatted boards. The costumes and makeup seem to be right out of “Night of the Living Dead.” Actors have ghostly white, charcoal-smeared faces. The dark shadows on Emick’s thin face make him look as if his skin is stretched across. His visage is truly frightening.

The story is based on a 19th-century legend of Sweeney Todd, formerly known as Benjamin Barker, who was falsely accused of murder and spent 15 years in a penal colony. Returning to London, he rents a room from Mrs. Lovett, who runs a bakery and is reputed to be the worst baker in town. He learns that his wife has poisoned herself after being raped by Judge Turpin (Zach Schwartz), the same judge who imprisoned him, and that his daughter Johanna (Erica Penn), now a young woman, is Judge Turpin’s ward.

Todd kills a man who recognizes him and threatens to blackmail him, then disposes of the body with Mrs. Lovett’s help by grinding him up and cooking him in her meat pies. Mrs. Lovett’s meat pies suddenly become popular, and Sweeney goes on a killing spree, adding more and more meat to her pies. All of this mayhem is put to powerful music sung by voices both operatic and sweet.

Emick’s voice has the strength of a Pavarotti but is lower in pitch and with a guttural resonance that is perfect for such a dark and heartless character. He plays Sweeney as a man consumed with unremitted anger. Director Jeff Kingsbury and Emick worked together to form this interpretation of Todd’s character. “I’ve never seen ‘Sweeney Todd,’” Emick said in a press release, “so I’m not coming with any preconceived ideas as to how the role should be done.”

Donnell’s Mrs. Lovett provides slight comic relief. She is the most complex and well-rounded character in the play, and Donnell plays her with a range of emotion from teasingly flirtatious to as brutal and cold as Todd himself.

Other than a few light touches from Donnell, the only humor comes from Adam Randolph, a young actor who plays multiple characters and holds his own with these much more seasoned professionals. His multiple appearances in a single scene as various murder victims are simultaneously funny and horrifying.

Another actor who does an amazing stint in this play is 16-year-old Eddie Carroll as the complicated and creepy Tobias. Also outstanding for her vocal range and believable characterization of a beggar woman is Sara Flotree.

Loosely based on the 2005 revival featuring Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone, this production takes place in an intimate “asylum” setting, with the actors staying onstage throughout, and features a full orchestra offstage, rather than actors playing instruments, as is common in some performances.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 27
WHERE: Capital Playhouse, 612 E. Fourth Ave., Olympia
TICKETS: $27-$33 adults, $21-$27 seniors and 16 and younger
INFORMATION: 360-943-2744, www.capitalplayhouse.com