Found Photographs at Tacoma Community College

Published in The Weekly Volcano, Jan. 22, 2015

"The Over Examined Life" by Sharon Styer

Who doesn’t enjoy browsing through old photographs from days gone by? In addition to the enjoyment that is inevitable when looking at vintage photos, the “Found Photos” exhibition in the gallery at Tacoma Community College is filled with creative expression in a variety of media from photos to paintings and drawings inspired by found photos, to sculpture, assemblage and collage incorporating old photos. There are stories behind many of the images that are included on wall labels along with copies of the original found photos.

“And then what happened?” by Robert Koch

Behind the counter as you enter are three acrylic and pastels by Robert Koch taken from old photographs of unknown families. The drawing is loose and emphatic with faces and figures rendered in a cartoonish style. There is a dynamic interplay between sketchy lines and modulated color areas. The line quality and especially the agitated background in “And then what happened?” looks like a de Kooning painting. This painting depicts a group of people, presumably friends or family members, chatting with great animation. Both the title and the facial expressions indicate they’re gossiping.

Becky Frehse is showing three photos that are colorized or otherwise manipulated and mounted in unique boxes such as a photo of uniformed theater ushers in a hard-case coin purse with a mirror. The one I best enjoyed of hers was “Luncheon on the Grass,” a lampoon or homage to Manet’s famous painting of the same title (but alas, without the nudes). It is a group of friends picnicking on the grass circa 1940s in front of a vintage car with trunk and door opened. The photo was found in an antique store.

I also thought Jennifer Chushcoff’s “Seasons, Winter, Summer” parts one and two were terrific little pieces. Each features a photo of a woman standing in her back yard in winter (heavy coat, snow on ground) mounted on a translucent acrylic box. Each image has little window “cut-outs” through which you can see the same woman in summer. 

In Sara Waldo’s large painting with mounted photos we see three identical images of an aeronautical engineer holding a model of a rocket he designed. Bursting from each image is a “rocket-blast” splash of bright color, red, yellow and orange, poured onto raw canvas.

Sharon Styers’ group of five photo-collages are eerie or perhaps funny surrealism (depending on your point of view). In “The Morgan Bridge Explosion” we see a group of people in colorful contemporary dress lined up to watch a ballet in the air of men in business suits, actually many differently sized images of the same man walking in air above the bridge at night with floating bubbles above his head. We see the man walking in air as in time-lapse photography. In her “The Over Examined Life” we see a logger sawing a woman in half. These, along with Koch’s three paintings, are among my favorites in a show that features a lot of excellent art. OK, maybe they’re not all excellent art, but they all feature intriguing images. Most of the pieces can be appreciated in multiple ways, as visual structures with imaginatively interpreted stories,   and as nostalgia — so many of these images are bound to stir memories. Beyond appreciation of art, they provide the fun of speculating about what the people in the pictures might have been doing and what might have happened next.

 Be sure to take time to read the accompanying wall labels and study the art carefully. You’ll be glad you did.

"Found Photographs," noon to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, through March 20, Building 5A, entrance off South 12th Street between Pearl and Mildred, Tacoma, visitor parking in Lot G.

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean at Olympia Little Theatre

Jodie Chapin, Jack Seiner and Brittany Wilcox.

I have always thought Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean was one of the neatest play titles ever. It’s like quirky poetry in my head. When first performed in 1976 it was more than quirky, it was revolutionary. The use of flashbacks with characters at different ages 20 years apart appearing on stage simultaneously was certainly radical, as was the inclusion of a transgender character. The film version by Robert Altman was astounding when I saw it in the early 1980s. Now, some 40 years later, it doesn’t seem so radical. I left the theater with mixed reactions and I am still sorting those out a bit.

Dean’s last film, Giant, was filmed near the town of McCarthy, Texas, where Mona (Erin Quinn Valcho), Sissy (Nicole Balducci Pate) and their friends formed a fan club called "Disciples of James Dean” in 1955. Twenty years later they gather for their annual reunion at the Kressmont Five-and-Dime. A familiar-looking stranger arrives and forces them to reexamine their fondest memories and their current relationships.

Erin Quinn Valcho, Kendra Malm and Nicole Balducci Pate. Photos by Jess Thomas

The script by Ed Graczyk is admirably inventive and well structured. In the complicated set-up in the first act Graczyk’s script manages to get traverse necessary exposition that could easily be boring by dropping intriguing hints here and there. James Dean is long since dead, yet they keep referring to a very much alive person named Jimmy Dean (not to be confused with the country singer of the same name), who is either the dead actor’s ghost or someone named after him. There are hints that this Jimmy Dean may be James Dean’s son. And then a young man keeps showing up just outside a screen door and then running off. Could this be James Dean’s son or his ghost? He even appears with a bloody face about the time the women mention the car wreck that took Dean’s life.

I loved Paul Malmberg’s set, even down to the sloppily painted green door and window frames. The set is the rundown diner, which is not so much true to the 1950s but timelessly cheap, with — in 1975 — cut-out magazine ads from 1955 and James Dean photos and movie posters taped to the walls.

The acting was uneven. Valcho was suitably nervous and sad as the adult Mona, who increasingly throughout the play seems on the verge of a mental collapse, and Brittany Wilcox does a yeoman’s job of portraying the teenage Mona.

Both Pate as the middle-age Sissy and Jodie Chapin as the young Sissy were over the top, which troubled me because they came across as trying too hard to be outlandish, but that was the nature of the character they played.

Diana Purvine seemed natural as the older proprietor of the diner, Juanita. She regretfully did stumble over some lines opening night. Hopefully she’s got them down pat for future performances.

Malm turned in an excellent performance overall, but her mannerisms seemed stuffy or like she was struggling to seem confident, and I could not tell if that was true to the character or not.

Assistant director John Pratt warned the audience in his curtain speech that the flashbacks could be confusing. They were not except for the briefest of moments and then it became clear what was going on. When characters from 1955 and from 1975 were on stage together one group froze while the other group spoke. That was very well done, and I particularly liked it that only Mona, Sissy and Joe (Jack Steiner) were played by two actors each, while Stella May (Margaret Morris) and Edna Louise (Jean Kivi-Thomas) interacted with their friends in both time periods. This was challenging, but it worked thanks to good blocking and timing by director Kathryn Beall.

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Note: In the lobby after the show I spoke with fellow theater critic Christian Carvajal and actor Kendra Malm. We speculated as to whether or not it was the first time sex reassignment was discussed in a play. None of us knew the answer, but I suspect Malm was right when she said it was probably the first time it was taken seriously in a play. I have since searched for the answer online and the closest to an answer I could come was to find a list of transgender films starting with The Christine Jorgensen Story and Myra Breckenridge, both in 1970.

WHEN: 7:55 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 1:55 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 1

WHERE: Olympia Little Theatre, 1925 Miller Ave., NE, Olympia

TICKETS: $10-$14 ($2 student discount), available at Yenney Music Company, 2703 Capital Mall Dr., (360) 943-7500 or http://www.brownpapertickets.com/

INFORMATION: (360) 786-9484, http://olympialittletheater.org/

Glengarry Glen Ross at Lakewood Playhouse

Published in The News Tribune, Jan. 16, 2015

From left: W. Scott Pinkerston, Frank Roberts, Kyle Sinclairand Jim Winkler in "Glengarry Glen Ross at Lakewood Playhouse. Photo by Kate Paterno-Lick.

Every year at this point in their season Lakewood Playhouse take a chance on a less-than-mainstream show, knowing that while ticket sales will likely be less than those of their more tried-and-true shows but in the conviction that gutsy and more controversial shows deserve an airing. Their “outside the box” show for this season is David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross,” winner of a Pulitzer Prize, Tony and Olivier award, and controversial primarily for its liberal use of adult language.

Four ruthless and desperate real estate agents in the office of Mitch & Murray are locked in a no-holds-barred battle to be top dog, each trying every sleazy trick imaginable to sell worthless plots of land while an office manager they despise (Kyle Sinclair) holds valuable leads for only the top closers and a representative from the home office (Mike Slease) berates them so vehemently as to put the most vicious of drill sergeants to shame. Two of the agents conspire to break in and steal confidential files from the office and sell them to a rival agency, and a police detective (Dave Hall) is called in to investigate.

Much of the first act is taken up with exposition. In three scenes we see first the hatchet man from the main office challenging the salesmen and telling them how worthless they are; and then two of the salesmen, Moss (Alan Wilkie) and Aaronow (James Winkler) plotting to steal from the office; and finally the top dog, Roma (W. Scott Pinkston), cajoling a rather wimpy James Lingk (Frank Roberts) into buying land he neither wants nor needs nor can afford.

This first act is filled with anger and bleakness. Then in the second act everything boils over and a lot of lusty humor is injected into the otherwise depressing story.

Lakewood Playhouse’s in-the-round stage configuration is ideal for this production. The desks in the Mitch & Murray fill the floor and the audience is up close and drawn into the action. John Munn’s direction and the acting of the entire ensemble cast are outstanding. You forget these actors are playing parts as they become the cutthroat characters they portray. How can anyone watch this without simultaneously hating and admiring Roma and feeling the deep sadness in Joseph Grant, a veteran of many shows at Lakewood Playhouse, turns in one of his best performances ever as Levene, once a top dog and now sadly out of touch with modern sales methods.

Two of the actors, Hall and Pinkston, retired from acting 18 and 13 years ago respectively, and this is a comeback performance for each. Their acting abilities seem to have ripened throughout those years. Pinkston’s wide range of expression is truly impressive, and Hall, who says very little, is nevertheless convincing as the police detective.

Slease is also a well-known and popular Tacoma area actor. He plays the man from the home office with bravado. His tirade in act one is cringe-worthy.

Winkler is also a Playhouse veteran who has been away for a decade, last appearing on this stage in “The Guys” in 2004. We’re told in the program that he studied under the great Stella Adler in Hollywood and New York, and that experience shows in his portrayal of Aaronow.

“Glengarry Glen Ross” is not an easy show to watch. It is anything but a feel good show. Anyone who is easily offended by tough adult language should avoid it. But for people who appreciate taut drama and great acting, this is the show to see.

alec@alecclayton.com

Check Alec’s blog at alecclayton.blogspot.com for reviews of other area theatrical productions. Upcoming reviews include “Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean”

at Olympia Little Theatre and The Great Gatsby at Tacoma Little Theatre.

WHAT: Glengarry Glen Ross

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Feb. 1

WHERE: Lakewood Playhouse, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood

TICKETS: $25.00, $22.00 military, $21.00 seniors and $19.00 students/educators

INFORMATION: 253-588-0042, www.lakewoodplayhouse.org

Matter Gallery to close

 Published in The Weekly Volcano, Jan. 15, 2015

Interior Matter Gallery. Photo by Gabi Clayton

Pat Tassoni's lamps at Matter Gallery

Matter Gallery in Olympia is closing at the end of the month. At least in their present location. The owners of this artist-run gallery say they are looking into options for reopening in another location, but at least for the foreseeable near future they are history. And what a history.

Jo Gallaugher stablished the gallery in downtown Olympia in2009. She started out with 48 artists 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, in Gallaugher’s words “incorporate recycled, reclaimed, and responsibly harvested materials” including a balance of functional crafts and fine art pieces.

Today they represent more than 100 artists and is one of the most popular South Sound galleries among fellow artists and arts patrons, having been named best gallery in Olympia by the Weekly Volcano’s reader poll in 2011, 2012 and 2014. In its five years of operation Matter has surely provided more exhibition opportunities for local and regional artists than any other gallery in Western Washington.

Gallaugher moved to Seattle in March 2014, and ownership of the gallery was taken over by a small group of owner-artists who ran it as a cooperative venture. Shortly before Christmas they announced — on Facebook, naturally — that their last day in business at the Washington Street location would be Jan. 31. The final straw was a rent hike hitting in the slowest months of the year, which the Facebook posting said was “more than we can sustain as a small gallery featuring green/sustainable outsider and non-traditional art. We are not giving up, we just need to fall back, regroup and as Jude put it, ‘hibernate to incubate’." (Jude is co-owner Jude Manley.) I recently spoke with Manley, who said they have looked into some possibilities for a new location.

Gallaugher said: “I was inspired to create Matter when I saw the work of Olympia artists George Kurzman, Jude Manley, Pat Tassoni, Bil Fleming, Christopher Gerber, Ruby Re-Usable, and Jennifer Kuhns. Some I saw at ArtsWalk, some were recommended to me by patrons. Throughout the following five years, many other very special artists joined Matter. While I found it to be very hard work, it was incredibly rewarding to be surrounded by inspiring artists and artworks — and wonderful patrons. I came to know so many as friends, delivered work to their homes, called when new work from their favorite artists arrived. Conversations with patrons… that’s what I miss the very, very most.”

Not many businesses of any kind offer that kind of personalized service.

Gallaugher went on to say: “It’s been a tough road for all storefronts downtown this past year, and the artists who took the reins when I moved to Seattle in March have done a remarkable job. I respect their decision to rethink how Matter will operate, leaving this particular venue. I have faith that Matter patrons will support Roxanna, Pat, and Jude (and all the artists) so that a positive transition takes place. Quarterly pop-up galleries… who knows? Matter will continue to exist… it will simply be in some other form.”

Artist Steven Suski said, “For me it was great having my art at Matter to validate artists who make art out of junk or recycled material. Matter’s art pushed my boundaries of what art can be made of and what can be art. Matter's closing is a real loss of diversity for Olympias art community.”

Operating an art gallery is a tough business. Since I have been reviewing art in Olympia and Tacoma I have seen more than a dozen fine galleries bite the dust. If Matter is not able to reopen in some other location it will be a great loss to the area.

When I visited last week there was more empty space than I have ever seen there. Some of the artists have already picked up their work. But others are staying until the end, and the gallery is offering a 25 percent discount on all artwork through Jan. 31.

Matter Gallery, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m.

Sunday and Tuesday, closed Monday, 422 Washington St. SE, Olympia, 360.943.1760]