Tentative and sketchy

Faculty shows its stuff at SPSCC – with mixed results

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Nov. 26, 2009
Pictured: "She Walked a Tightrope," a charcoal and mixed media drawing by Carol Hannum

I was not exactly thrilled by the faculty art exhibit at South Puget Sound Community College. That’s not to say it’s not worth seeing. There are some very nice stoneware pots by Colleen Gallagher, Jane Stone and others, and some interesting mixed-media drawings by Carol Hannum. But overall the quality of the work seems tentative and sketchy. Even Shaw Osha, a painter whose work I admire a lot, is a big letdown in this show.

Hannum pretty much carries all the weight in this show. The main wall as you enter the gallery is filled with her drawings — eight of them in charcoal and mixed media (some collage and what appears to be watercolor and pencil). Most of these drawings look like children’s book illustrations, and a lot of the titles read like chapter titles or captions for illustrations. Not being a connoisseur of children’s literature, I can’t say if they’re from actual stories or not. Maybe she’s writing a book or illustrating one for a friend.

The drawings are sketchy, with crude line and shading — whether intentional or not, I can’t tell. A childlike quality would be appropriate, but maybe she’s just not a highly polished draftsman. Images are put together in a collage manner with pictures of people, animals, and the settings in which they are placed juxtaposed in random order, often stacked tightly with foreground figures looking like they were stuck on in front of background images creating a claustrophobic and almost haphazard feel that is probably intentional.

The more I think about it the more I think that all the things about these works that can be off-putting (the cramped spaces, the less than polished style) add to their expressiveness.

Two of the best are "No Country for Old Bunnies" (an obvious takeoff on the Cormac McCarthy novel) and "Family Portrait." The family in the portrait is a family of rag dolls “pasted” in front of a pencil drawing of a dog (maybe it’s a dog doll). The bunny in "No Country" is drawn with charcoal; behind him are towering evergreen trees. Both drawings utilize a contrast of black and white images juxtaposed with color images, mostly reds and blues.

She is also showing a couple of handmade books with accordion pages and nice ink drawings, which give more evidence of drawing skill than the mixed-media drawings.

Other artists of interest include ceramicist Joe Batt, who is showing a group of small figures of cartoon creatures in stoneware “painted” with colored pencils. (I wonder how permanent the color is and whether it was applied before or after firing.)

There are also four large charcoal and pastel drawings by Melinda Liebers Cox, ceramics by Sequoia Miller and Robin Ewing, two charcoal figure drawings by Gallagher, and the one oil on paper by Osha. (Almost a year I noted that Osha seemed to be branching out in new directions that I thought were promising, but the painting in this show is headed in a doubtful direction.)

A final note: I’m not a huge fan of ceramics. Unless they strike out in radically inventive directions, a pot is just a pot. The ones in this show may represent the most accomplished art in the show, which seems to highlight the impression I got that the art department at SPSCC must be geared toward hobby artists.

[South Puget Sound Community College, Faculty Art Exhibit, through Dec. 11, Tuesday-Friday noon-5 p.m., 2011 Mottman Rd. SW. Olympia, 360.596.5714]

TMP puts its colorful stamp on ‘Guys & Dolls’

Published in The News Tribune, Nov. 27, 2009

Guys & Dolls
When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, additional matinees Dec. 12 and 19, through Dec. 20
Where: Tacoma Musical Playhouse at the Narrows Theatre, 7116 Sixth Ave.
Tickets: $25 adults, $23 students/military, $18 children 12 and younger
Information: 253-565-6867, tmp.org

A few days before opening night of each mainstage show, Tacoma Musical Playhouse puts on a preview event called Behind the Curtain. It provides an opportunity to become privy to inside information about the upcoming shows. I’ve attended two of these Behind the Curtain events and wish I could go to all of them. I wish every theater would do this because it affords a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the way productions happen and get a free sneak peek before opening night.

On Sunday, I went to the Behind the Curtain for “Guys & Dolls,” which opens tonight.

Typically the event starts with TMP’s managing artistic director Jon Douglas Rake providing a history of the production, complete with insider anecdotes, and musical director Jeff Stvrtecky explaining some of the intricacies of the music – in this instance explaining the use of a fugue, commonly called singing rounds, in the song “Fugue for Tinhorns” and talking about how operatic and gospel conventions are used in other songs. Rake then shows off some of the costumes, introduces the cast and provides a brief synopsis of the show with the cast performing some of the musical numbers. All of this is followed by a question-and-answer session. This time there was a big crowd in the house, and they asked a lot of insightful questions, which prompted more entertaining anecdotes from Rake.

Rake began by telling the audience that “Guys & Dolls” was based on elements from three different short stories by Damon Runyon and that the music and lyrics were written by Frank Loesser. He told stories about Loesser, who fought constantly with the director during rehearsals for the Broadway opening in 1950. He also briefly mentioned the movie version starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra. There was a definite sneer when he mentioned the movie, indicating that if your idea of “Guys & Dolls” is based on the movie you will be seeing something much better at TMP.

He also talked about changes he made for this production such as some references to Christmas themes that weren’t in the original. “As a director I ignore all stage directions” written into the script, Rake said. “I throw those out, ignore them.”

The biggest changes were to “borrow” the Motown version of the great gospel tune “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” and “throw in” a tap dance number on “A Bushel and A Peck.”

Bringing out costumes to show the audience, he explained how all of the costumes were designed to bring out the “essence” of each character as a caricature, explaining that most of the characters have colorful names and giving examples such as these: Harry the Horse (Adam Randolph) wears a horse blanket, and Rusty Charlie (Jon Huntsman) wears rust-colored clothes. Then he showed off the fur stoles and elegant gowns the Hot Box Girls wear in their striptease number, but mischievously teased, “You’ll have to come to the show” to see what they strip down to.

The curtains then opened to reveal a huge cast sitting on stage in front of a fabulous set of painted panels by Dori Conklin representing Times Square at night, with windows and neon signs painted in brilliant yellows, greens and purples on a black background. Later, another curtain was brought on with a painted scene to represent the sewer beneath the city streets painted in glowing orange and blue. Truly beautiful. In this scene, Sky Masterson (Rafe Wadleigh) sings his big number, “Luck Be a Lady Tonight,” and Rake promised that there would be a full-scale ballet in the sewer scene plus some hot salsa dancing in a scene in Havana.

Other highlights in the Behind the Curtain event included a beautiful duet with Wadleigh and Sarah Samuelson as Sarah Brown, Sam Barker’s lead as Nicely-Nicely Johnson on the big gospel tune “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat,” and a very brief but hilariously saucy hip slap by Gen. Cartwright (Diane Bozzo).

The cast and set were wonderful, and the talk back with the audience was lively and informative. Rake seemed to get great pleasure in teasing us about the things we couldn’t see unless we come to the show, such as the big dance numbers and one song, “Adelaide’s Lament,” which he said has been called “a perfect comic song” but could not be performed during Behind the Curtain because Loesser made a legal stipulation that it can be performed only in the show.

The cast and crew of “Guys & Dolls” are teaming up with The Salvation Army in Tacoma during the run of this show. “We just couldn’t resist The Salvation Army connection, and we know that TMP has the most generous patrons in the region,” Rake said. TMP is collecting new and unwrapped toys for The Salvation Army’s Toy ‘n’ Joy program in the lobby between now and the closing performance Dec. 20. “With approximately 4,600 to 5,000 patrons expected to see this production – several matinee performances are already nearly sold out – the cast and crew at TMP are hopeful that we will be able to help The Salvation Army in their mission to bring a smile to the face of every child in Tacoma who may not otherwise receive a gift this Christmas.”

Online auction

I just received a notice from painter Ron Hinson that he is haveing an online auction. This may be your chance to get some outstanding art at a very reasonable price. I've known Ron for years and have favorably reviewed his art on a number of occasions. I own one of his paintings, too.

Here is the notice he sent to me:

On my website are ten painted constructions, all of which are to be auctioned. The web address is: www.ronhinson.net. You will find directions on the web site about participating in the auction. Initial bids are $200. Subsequent bids must be in increments of at least $25. Biding will begin on.November 23. and end on December 18.

Delivery and installation (if desired) of the painted construction is included in the purchase for delivery and installation in the Olympia area. Outside the Olympia area the purchaser must cover cost of delivery (I can deliver the work) and/or installation, which will be the cost of driving to your site. Because detailed instructions for assembly and hanging are provided, the purchaser may hang the artwork. Each construction will be contained in sturdy cardboard boxes, each appropriately numbered and marked. A full scale diagram of the construction is provided for ease of placement on the wall.

A valiant effort in ‘Divorce’

Published in The News Tribune, Nov.20, 2009

Pictured, top: Susan Smith as Elma Blue Williams and Becky Condra as Eleanor; bottom: Nathan Ellis plays Vince and Rebecca Nuce is Elizabeth in Spotlight Players’ “Divorce, Southern Style.” Photos by Bob Yount.


There is something homey about community theater that invites audience members to feel like they have a stake in the performance.

When the borrowed venue for Spotlight Players’ “Divorce, Southern Style,” a church, wasn’t ready opening night because of a previous event, audience members pitched in to help the stage crew put the set together – much to the delight of first-time director Bob Yount.

There was about a 10-minute delay, and then the play got under way with only minor hitches.

The play in question is a frothy comedy by Jennifer Jarrett called “Divorce, Southern Style,” which Dramatist Play Service lists with the alternate title “Winter Chicken.” Neither title seems quite right. Although set in Charlotte, N.C., there is nothing quintessentially Southern about this play; it’s not really about divorce, and “Winter Chicken” is an even more far-fetched title.

The story is about Eleanor Bander’s ill-advised and ineffectual attempt to lure her ex-husband, Walter (John Chapman), into remarrying her 15 years after their divorce. She almost succeeds in convincing him that their marriage had been a happy one despite the fact that all they did was fight.

Two of the major roles and one supporting role were double cast. Opening night these roles were filled by Becky Condra as Eleanor, Susan Smith as Eleanor’s silly alcoholic best friend and neighbor Elma Blue Williams, and Bruce Blocher as the lecherous but good natured optometrist Dr. Fred Abernathy.

Performances by actors in the major roles are uneven, funny in spots but histrionic in others. Condra is especially good at physical comedy. She’s at her funniest in bits wrestling with a vacuum cleaner and forcing her way in between Walter and son-in-law-to-be Vince Sigmon on a crowded couch. And I love her walk as she ascends the stairs in her most alluring pose for her grand entrance the night of Walter’s birthday party. But her verbal delivery is hit or miss, funny in some places, but strained in others.

Smith has an endearing and funny vacant smile that reminds me of Alfred E. Neuman, the old Mad magazine what-me-worry character. It’s an expression that fits the drunken Elma Blue well, but it never changes – that same silly grin is plastered on her face throughout the play.

Similarly, Chapman as the ex-husband has a downturned scowl on his face that seldom changes, although he does display a fairly wide variety of emotions. His affectations seemed stiff and overwrought when he first arrived back home, but he settled into the role nicely as the show progressed.

The best acting came from Rebecca Nuce as daughter Elizabeth, Nathan Ellis as Vince, and Blocher as Dr. Abernathy. Nuce is a fiery bundle of energy, and her character is not only very likeable, but also the most believable character in the play. Ellis is kind of sweet and bumbling as the ever-faithful boyfriend who has stuck with Elizabeth through years of on-again, off-again engagement. Dr. Abernathy is one of the funniest characters in the play as an all-too-obvious, self-styled ladies’ man whose attempts to woo first one woman then another are totally ludicrous.

The smallest role is that of Walter’s girlfriend, Gretchen, played convincingly by Tiffannie Lindskog despite some very unfortunate casting. Gretchen is supposed to be a former classmate of the 50-year-old Walter; Lindskog appears to be a contemporary of the daughter rather than the father.

Cast and crew had large roadblocks to overcome.

Not only were they forced to load in the set at the last minute, which must have added immeasurably to opening night jitters, but also they had to rehearse without a complete set, thereby having to wing it in front of a live audience their first time with an actual set.

They even had to improvise, successfully I might add, around some unexpected prop malfunctions.

Given all of that, plus a script that was only mildly funny, they did a commendable job.

The play runs a little over two hours, including two 10-minute intermissions.

When: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 29 and 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28
Where: Christ Episcopal Church, 210 Fifth St. S.W., Puyallup
Tickets: $10-$14, at the door or in advance at Brownpapertickets.com, keyword “Divorce”
Information: Bob Yount, 253-229-9741

Elek and CUD

Double whammy at Traver Gallery

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Nov. 19, 2009
Pictured: jar from "abstract" series by CUD, courtesy William Traver Gallery

The latest show at Traver Gallery in Tacoma is a double whammy featuring relative newcomer to the Seattle glass art scene Jen Elek and a couple of old-timers, Robbie Miller and John Drury working collaboratively under the name CUD, which they said comes from what a cow chews and refers to work using recycled materials (and concepts).

Elek’s highly colorful glass art processes the associations we carry with traffic lights, billboards and the millions of dots that make up images on television. Her signature form seems to be either arrangements of big glass balls or elongated spheroids that jut out from the wall, either in a solid color, typically black, or in combinations of bright primary colors. The best of her works are the more minimalist pieces such as "Blanket," a grid of 135 spheroids in red, blue, pink, yellow, green, black and white (the form is minimalist but the colors are anything but) and a number of pieces that are solid black.

One of my favorite Elek pieces is, coincidentally, called "FAVORITE." It is a smaller version of Blanket with only nine spheroids tightly packed in a grid, with the one in the lower right corner drooping like a balloon that’s leaking air.

There’s one piece that is extremely ambitious consisting of an entire wall of colorful glass balls in every color of the rainbow and of various sizes. It looks like an explosion of balloons in no particular pattern. I applaud her ambition and technical skill in putting this piece together, but it doesn’t have much aesthetic integrity; it’s just showy. The same can be said for a wall piece with multi-colored blinking lights which, at a nighttime opening party, was blindingly distracting.

Miller and Drury’s collaborative works are much more fully realized artistically and conceptually. Plus, their history as a collaborative team is fascinating. They were pioneers at the Pilchuck School and studio and worked with such luminaries as Benjamin Moore and Dante Maroni. Plus they collaborate from opposite coasts and often without personally touching the materials with which they are working. From New York and Seattle and often using elements created by their students in studio glass classes, they recycle ideas and materials to create semi-abstract glass art pieces that are humorous and aesthetically challenging.

Works on display at Traver include blown glass stumps, a life-size cast glass sawhorse, and giant enamel painted glass Kool Aid jugs. Among my favorites are a couple of pieces from a series called "Hives." These pieces are stacked glass jars (jelly or peanut butter jars) with painted bottoms in a sickly acid green, white and black, and globs of white and black rubber in between the jars. They are funny and gritty and nicely designed. Other favorites include some large jars that are sloppily painted with large swathes of color like abstract expressionist paintings. The paint doesn’t look like fired or baked enamel but like house paint slopped on the surface — paint as paint, raw and pure, not as decoration. Some of the painted jars, however, have smiley faces, which make them gimmicky and cutesy, thereby destroying the raw painterly quality.

There’s a lot of variety in this show, some excellent art and some that is too showy or cute.

[William Traver Gallery, Tuesday-Sat 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m., through Dec. 6, 1821 East Dock St., Tacoma, 253.383.3685]

Rags to riches to rags

Giving it all up for art — the story of Matter in Olympia

Published in the Weekly Volcano, Nov 19, 2009
Pictured: Jo Gallaugher standing next to Marsha Glaziere's sculpture "Salmon Boot." Photo: Amy Nicholson


Jo Gallaugher busted ass to get rich and live the good life of a high-salaried CEO. She pulled herself up from a small town high school dropout and single mother of two to become a successful businesswoman living in a fancy house on a golf course in California.

And then she gave it all up to pursue her dream of running an art gallery in Olympia.

Gallaugher grew up in Kennewick, Wash. At 26 she woke up to the fact that her life was a dead end. She was a single mom who had never made more than five bucks an hour, working in a gas station. She had to do something to change her life, and education was the only solution in sight. It couldn’t have been easy to go back to school and earn a BA, then an MBA, while struggling to support two growing children, but she did it.

She began her climb to the top as an accountant and then Systems Administrator for Planned Parenthood, moved on to Director of Administration for the School of Medicine at the University of California San Diego, and Vice President of Operations for Vericare, a national behavioral health firm. She was CEO for a San Diego based eating disorder firm when she realized she wanted to come back to Washington. She decided Olympia was the place to be because it had an urban feel but without all the traffic backups and other big city hassles. She now lives in Tumwater with her grade school sweetheart and opened her new gallery, Matter, in downtown Olympia in September.

“I was working a million hours. It was eating me up. All I did was work or think about work,” Gallaugher said. In making the move to Olympia, she had to purge herself of a lot of accumulated stuff and realized that what she most wanted to keep was her art and the dream of running her own art gallery. Her own collection was mostly metal art with a lot of work made from recycled materials, and she decided to specialize not in what she thought might sell, but in the kind of art she loves. She began recruiting artists last April. Since then she’s talked to about 500 artists and agreed to work with 65.

Today she has 48 artists in her gallery, including George Kurzman, Christopher Gerber, Don Freas from Olympia; Eric Osborne, Vblast, Russ Morgan from Seattle; Brian Mock, Joel Heidel from Portland; Jason Brown from Bellingham and Don O’Connor from Ellensburg.

Matter features artworks “that incorporate recycled, reclaimed, and responsibly harvested materials” including a balance of functional crafts and fine art pieces. “Customers are surprised at the caliber of the art,” she says.

[Matter, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 5 p.m., Sunday, Monday by appointment, 113 Fifth Ave. SW, Olympia, 360.943.1760]

Bent

We're going to see "Bent" this weekend. I won't have a chance to review it because the last performance is Sunday, but it looks like it's going to be a great show.

Here's the announcement I got from Don Welch, the director:

Nov. 19-21 at 8 p.m.; Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.

In 1934 Berlin on the eve of the Nazi incursion, Max, a drifter, and his lover Rudy are recovering from a night of debauchery with an SA trooper. Two soldiers burst into the apartment and slit their guest's throat, beginning a nightmare odyssey through Nazi Germany. Ranked lower on the human scale than Jews, the men as avowed homosexuals flee. Bent, written by Martin Sherman and directed by Don Welch, is presented by the South Puget Sound Community College Drama Department and is preformed in special agreement with Samuel French INC. The play takes place at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts.

Tickets are $12.50 for the general public and $10 for student, faculty and staff. South Puget Sound students can purchase tickets for $2.50 with their IDs. Tickets are available at the Washington Center box office at (360) 753-8586.

For more information about the performance, call (360) 596-5411.