Hot damn!

VIEW FROM THE INSIDE: A work in progress by Chandler O'Leary at Anagram Press

It’s Art at Work Month in Tacoma

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Oct. 29, s009

Photo courtesy Chandler O'Leary

Titles usually need to be short. Otherwise it should be called Art at Work and at Home and Where You Play Month. Art is everywhere in T-town for the month of November. Visual and performing art, parties, lectures, readings, exhibitions, Art Slam, classes and workshops, studio tours. And it all starts tonight with an opening celebration at Tacoma Art Museum.

The opening party features live music by the Tacoma Youth Symphony, poetry by William Kupinse and Tammy Robacker, hors d’oeuvres, desserts compliments of Bates Culinary Arts Program, and a no-host bar. The main event will be recognition of the AMCOT Awards. It’s from 6 to 9 p.m., and it’s free.

The studio tours are Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 7-8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with 75 artists opening their studios to the public. There will be demonstrations and, in some instances, hands-on art activities. Following are examples of a few of the participating artist studios.

Holly Senn is fast becoming Tacoma’s premiere sculpture/installation artist. Her work using cast-off books as material is intelligent, provocative and well designed. Visitors to her studio will be able to create their own collages using pages from old books.

Bill Colby, printmaker. See how woodcuts and etchings are made and ask the artist why blue is his favorite color.

Chandler O’Leary, printmaker, book artist and proprietor of Anagram Press. See how she makes her prints and make your own small keepsake print on an antique Kelsey platen press.

Oliver Doriss, glass artist and owner of Fulcrum Gallery, named Best Tacoma Gallery two years in a row by this critic as well as by a poll of Weekly Volcano readers. Doriss’ studio is in the gallery so you get to see where he works and see the latest show at Fulcrum in one stop.

Carlos Taylor-Swanson and Steve Lawler are both fine art woodworkers and furniture makers. See their work at Madera Fine Decorative Furnishings.

Tacoma Community College. You can be an art student for a day, make a cast aluminum block tile or throw your own pot on a wheel. TCC art faculty will be on hand to guide you ($5 material fee required).

The husband and wife team of C.J. Swanson and David N. Goldberg open up their home studio. See how they work separately but side-by-side and see if you can spot ways in which they influence one another. Where do you draw the line between stylized imagery and pure abstraction and why is Goldberg’s latest work morphing toward more recognizable imagery?

Some studios are open both days and some one day only. Schedules, maps and descriptions are available in the Art at Work brochure available at many venues around down and online.

The other big event is Art Slam, Nov. 18 from 6:30-9 p.m. at the Rialto Theater. Art Slam is a fast-paced live projection of artwork on a big screen to the accompaniment of music and live spoken word performances.

Finally, there will be an Arts Symposium at University of Puget Sound Wyatt Hall Nov. 14 and 15 with workshops for artists on how to market your art, legal issues, budget management and other issues on the business end of art.

For more information and complete schedule of Art at Work month, click here.

Actors tackle challenges of ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’

Published in The News Tribune, Oct. 30, 2009
Pictured: Luke Amundson as Mitch Albom and Elliot Weiner as Morrie Schwartz. Photos by Dean Lapin

Morrie Schwartz’s wisecracking saves “Tuesdays With Morrie” from being maudlin. But the play now being performed at Lakewood Playhouse is still a tearjerker.

Based on a true story and written by Jeffrey Hatcher and Mitch Albom, this two-character play recreates the last four months in the life of Schwartz, who died of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, as witnessed by Albom, his former student who visited him every Tuesday as his body degenerated.

The disease is horrible. There were tears in the eyes of Lakewood Playhouse audience members as well as in the eyes of cast members Luke Amundson as Albom and Elliot Weiner as Schwartz. But it is also a funny play and a nuanced character study.

Schwartz and Albom are the only characters, so they are both on stage almost the entire 80- minute, no-intermission play, and both actors express extreme emotions, subtle personality traits and, in Schwartz’s case, a steady degeneration of bodily functions. These are the kinds of challenging roles actors salivate for, and Weiner and Amundson are up to the challenge.

The role of Morrie Schwartz is certainly a dream role for any actor. In his portrayal of the dying professor, Weiner gets to dance, wittily retort to Albom’s often inept questions, express heartfelt emotion, laugh, cry and portray the loss of muscle control. His dancing is not smooth, but he is, after all, an aging professor, not Fred Astaire. His sincerity, his smart-alecky digs at Albom, and the way he portrays the progression of the disease are absolutely believable.

The role of Mitch Albom is not so obviously an acting tour de force. In many ways, Albom is little more than a foil for Schwartz to play off of. But in subtle and less obvious ways he is a huge challenge for an actor, because Albom starts out as a detached and aloof man who is unable to express emotion or connect with other human beings in any meaningful way, and then he is gradually transformed by Schwartz’s goading and example into a more caring person – but never a man who can easily express his love.

Throughout the play we see Amundson reaching out and pulling back. He is stiff, unable to relax. At first it might seem that the actor is trying too hard, but as the character’s personality is revealed, we realize that that stiffness is integral to his character. Amundson can’t be natural because Albom can’t. Even when Schwartz brings Albom to tears in the most emotionally wrought scene in the play, Amundson keeps his emotions in check, and you can feel how tightly he is wound. That’s more than acting; that’s becoming the character.

Director Brie Yost notes in the program that the set by Hally Phillips is kept simple and unadorned to keep the focus on the actors. This was a good idea, but it didn’t quite work. The set looked rough, unfinished and too obviously a stage set rather than a living room. Two windows on the back wall looked to be hanging by ropes against a backdrop rather than part of a wall. A more realistic set would be better, as would be no set at all but rather just the few needed pieces of furniture against a blank backdrop. This set falls somewhere in between and therefore directs too much attention to the fact that it is a set.

Similarly, while the black-box setting with seating on three sides provides the kind of intimacy this play needs, if the furniture had been farther from the back wall, the intimacy would have been greatly enhanced. As it was, when the actors were in the corners of the stage, some in the audience had to crane their necks to see them. There was a talk back with the actors and artistic director Marcus Walker after the play opening night, providing those who stayed insight into the art and craft of performing this play as well as into the true lives of Morrie Schwartz and Mitch Albom. They indicated they might do a talk back after every performance. Actually Weiner, reverting to character as Schwartz, wisecracked that they were taping the talk back and would play it after every performance.

I recommend this performance and also recommend that you stay for the talk back.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 8WHERE: Lakewood Playhouse, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood $13.50-$21.50; rush tickets every Saturday 15 minutes prior to curtain; pay what you can, Nov. 5; actor benefit performance Nov. 7TICKETS:INFORMATION: 253-588-0042, www.lakewoodplayhouse.org

Blessed hilarity ensues in musical 'Nunsense'

The News Tribune / The Olympian

I've seen “Nunsense” before but never like this. This performance is not only rolling-in-the-aisles funny and deliciously irreverent, it rocks.

Director, musical director and choreographer Troy Arnold Fisher says: “For us to swallow the campy dialogue, stock melodies and extremely corny story line, the five women performing on stage have to knock our socks off with their talent and energy.” They do. Absolutely.

These actors are all talented. They sing, they dance, they tell risqué jokes with a knowing wink, and they quickly go from anger to sweetness to unbridled silliness.

Even the most restrained of these actors – Brenda Amburgy in the guise of Sister Mary Regina, Mother Superior of the Little Sisters of Hoboken – shouts over Sister Mary Hubert, stepping all over her lines during their many arguments, but then quickly and hilariously turns to sweetness and light when she realizes there’s an audience watching. As does the imperious Sister Mary Hubert. Mostly the mother superior tries (unsuccessfully) to maintain her dignity, but loses it completely when she reverts to her former life as a circus performer.

Carolyn Willems Van Dijk is appropriately loud and silly as Sister Mary Leo, and she shines when displaying her special talent as a ballerina.

Also loud (holding high notes incredibly long times) is Heidi Fredericks as the brash and streetwise kid from Brooklyn, Sister Robert Anne. Fredericks plays her with a rubbery face and outlandish physicality. Plus she displays a considerable talent for impersonating a host of pop stars while twisting her habit into a whole catalogue of props.

A surprise guest actor who is listed in the program as Georgina Spelvin plays Sister Mary Hubert the domineering Mistress of Novices. She has a majestic stage presence and convincingly conveys sarcasm, sweetness, anger and arrogance. And she belts out a rocking gospel tune, “Holier Than Thou,” that brings the audience to its feet rocking and clapping and blinded with tears of laughter. (If a video of this song were posted online there would be a million hits overnight).

And finally, a comic star of grandiose proportions emerges in the person of Stephanie C. Nace in the enviable role of Sister Mary Amnesia. Small, wiry and energetic with a jaw that drops so low it seems to come unhinged, she’s like a combination Imogene Coco, Carol Burnett and Dolly Parton, with facial contortions to rival those of Jerry Lewis in his prime. Plus she sings wonderfully. Her great big country and western song “I Could’ve Gone to Nashville” is a real foot-stomper.

By now most people should be familiar with this show and its various spinoffs. It is not so much musical theater as it is a Vaudeville show with song and dance wrapped inside an endless stream of puns and double entendres, all of which poke lighthearted fun at the Catholic Church. The absurd story line revolves around dead sisters in the convent freezer, and the entire play is presented as a fundraiser to get money to bury them.

Warning: There is a lot of audience participation in this show. No matter where in the theater you sit you are liable to be personally engaged by a crazy nun. You might even be asked for a kiss. And before the play is over I can guarantee you’ll be clapping and stomping your feet in time to rocking gospel music.

By the way, since the cat is long since out of the bag I can reveal that the surprise guest celebrity actor is Jeff Kingsbury in drag again and funnier than ever.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 31
WHERE: Capital Playhouse, 612 E. Fourth Ave., Olympia
TICKETS: $31-$37 for adults, $26-$32 for ages 60 and older and youths (16 and younger)
INFORMATION: 360-943-2744, www.capitalplayhouse.com

Vital Signs

Joe Feddersen retrospective at TAM

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Oct. 22, 2009
Pictured: Joe Feddersen, "Urban Indian Series #95," 2003. Monoprint, 37 x 20 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Froelick Gallery, Portland, Oregon.
Joe Feddersen, "Mary Ann 8," 2007. Reduction linocut, 19 x 14 ½ inches. Courtesy of the artist.

I was knocked right out of my socks when I walked into the Joe Feddersen retrospective exhibition at Tacoma Art Museum. The first thing to catch my eye — and how could it not — was a monstrous wall-size print of multiple overlapping zig-zag patterns in brilliant colors and textures comprised of 500 square panels that seemed to frantically dance across the wall. And I’m talking a big, big wall. The piece is called "Okanagan IV," and it goes ceiling to floor and stretches across 58 feet of wall space. And, as if that were not enough, there’s a similar but somewhat smaller piece on the opposite wall that’s merely 90 panels and only 20 feet long. The beauty of these, beyond the sheer size, is due to the vibrancy of the patterns within patterns.

Feddersen retired this year from teaching art at The Evergreen State College. This show includes some 60 works stretching over a 13-year period and includes prints, collage, baskets and glass. All of Feddersen’s artworks are based on simple geometric patterns from his Native American heritage that combine traditional and contemporary approaches to design.

In some respects these works are like class projects for Design 101: Take a simple pattern and make 30 variations on it, and investigate all the ways you can apply these patterns to various media. It’s the kind of project he, as a teacher, most likely assigned to his students. In Feddersen’s hands the results are visually stunning.

"Urban Indian Series #95" (the title makes me think of Sherman Alexie) is a monoprint combining two dissimilar images. On top is a network of lines in red, green and black that meander like a PacMan game or like the squares and rectangles in a Mondrian painting. The bottom half is a patterned stickman figure on a yellow background. The top half represents an urban landscape, and the Indian figure on the bottom seems to be holding it up — an Indian Atlas. I particularly like the way the two halves are so utterly dissimilar yet work together as a balanced whole.

"Mary Ann 8" is a linocut with squares, zig-zags, diamonds, bars and a giant X over a bright blue background. This is one of the most jangled works in the show, as most of the others are more logically ordered, yet there is a kind of tricky order to this one, too. Each color is obviously on a separate plane — white over yellow over red over light blue — but then these patterned planes are disrupted by dark blue bars and diamonds that weave over and under the other patterns.

Personally I like the prints better than the baskets and glass vessels, but they’re all fascinating. The only ones I didn’t like were a few that used reflective metallic colors. I found those to be gimmicky and showy, and the reflective properties detract from the overall unity.

This is a show worth spending a lot of time with.

Feddersen will also exhibit his Pattern Recognition show Nov. 16-Jan. 13 in the Evergreen Gallery inside the Daniel J. Evans Library Building at The Evergreen State College. He will lecture on his Pattern works Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 11:30 a.m. inside Evegreen’s Lecture Hall 1. More details can be found at www.evergreen.edu/gallery.

[Tacoma Art Museum, Joe Fedderson: Vital Signs, through Jan. 10, Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., $8-$9, free Third Thursday, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.4258]

Glimpses, Stares

We were recently asked to help a writer self-publish his memoir. He did not want editorial help, and he did not want us to design his book. He simply wanted technical help to get his book uploaded to CreateSpace, the print-on-demand arm of amazon.com. He had very precise ideas about the wording, fonts, where paragraph breaks and page breaks were to go and so forth.

The writer used a pen name, not out of shame or to protect his identity, but for literary reasons -- not that he actually said that to us, but I easily surmised it when I started reading the book. The pen name he uses is Leo Blackwater, and the writing constantly, effortlessly and seemingly unconsciously slips back and forth between first person and third person. I said, Leo said. She told me, she told Leo, and so forth. Leo is the writer's alter ego. Sometimes he speaks in his own voice and sometimes he observes Leo telling his story. This switching is part of the character/writer's personality, an aspect of his mental illness.

The book is Glimpses, Stares: a memoir by Leo Blackwater. It is described as 15 years in the life of a gay man coming to terms with his sexual orientation and depression. I have barely begun reading it, but what little I have read is fascinating, well written, and very realistic. I can't wait to dig deeper into this book.

I'll review it when I've finished it. Stay tuned.

The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later

Oct. 12, 2009, 7:30 p.m.
Seattle Repertory Theatre, Free
(seating is first come, first-served,
doors open at 6:30 p.m.)

Seattle Repertory Theatre presents The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later written by Tectonic Theatre Project members Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Steven Belber. This free staged reading is an 80-minute epilogue to The Laramie Project, the groundbreaking play about the murder of 21-year old gay man Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.

The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later focuses on the lasting effects of Shepard’s murder on the small town. The epilogue was written after the members of the Tectonic Theater Project returned to Laramie to find out what had happened since their initial visit. The reading will be held concurrently in over 100 theatres across the globe including all 50 states, Spain, Hong Kong and Australia.

Producing Artistic Director Jerry Manning will direct the Seattle presentation, which will feature actors Marianne Owen, Suzanne Bouchard, Sarah Rudinoff, Gretchen Krich, Troy Fischnaller. This event is free and open to the general public. Seating is first-come, first-served. Tweeters and bloggers who want to post during the show are encouraged to sit in the balcony.

Recommended for ages 14 and above for mature themes.

I just got this invitation to the Matter Grand Opening and wanted to share it.

Please join us for our
Grand Opening Celebration
Friday, November 6th, 6 - 10pm

Artists will be on-site
Live music provided by the KNOT Jazz Quartet
Sparkly refreshments served

matter!
An edgy, new gallery downtown Olympia
featuring 60 west coast artists using reclaimed
and responsibly harvested materials


Matter Gallery
113 Fifth Avenue SW
between Capitol & Columbia
Olympia, WA 98501

Gallery Hours
Tues thru Sat 11 - 7
Sundays Noon - 5
Mondays by Appointment

www.matteroly.com
360.943.1760