ArtSake

One measure of a vibrant local literary scene is the way it branches out to artists throughout the world. Russian writer Ludmilla Petrushevskaya visits Massachusetts this week with her book There Once Lived a Women Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales, and the book has interesting ties to Massachusetts. Genre-defying Northampton author/publisher Kelly Link has called the book “thrilling, delicious, and shuddersome.” But its ties go deeper than its promo blurbs: the stories were translated by Cambridge resident Anna Summers (along with Keith Gessen).

Anna graciously agreed to a nano-interview, and if the book’s title suggests an author with a mischievous sense of humor, Anna’s responses suggests a translator who’s game.

ArtSake: What are you working on these days?

Anna: My daughter, Niusha, who is 10 months old.

ArtSake: Were President Obama to create a cabinet post in the arts, whom should he appoint as Secretary?

Anna: George Scialabba, the essayist and reviewer, assuming that he would consider giving up his chair at Harvard.

ArtSake: Who wins the poets vs. prose writers paint ball war?

Anna: What’s paint ball?

On Thursday, November 12, 7 PM, a Russian-language event featuring Ludmilla Petrushevskaya reading There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby will take place in Room 101 of Boston University’s School of Communication building, 640 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. Tickets: $5 at the door.

On Friday, November 13, 7 PM, a reception welcoming and honoring Ludmilla Petrushevskaya will be held at the Pierre Menard Gallery, 10 Arrow Street, Harvard Square. There will be a reading of her book, which will be available for purchase and signing. This reception is free and open to the public.

Anna Summers was born in Moscow in 1976. She was educated there, then took her doctorate in Slavic Studies at Harvard University in 2007.

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Recently, we nano-interviewed author Lucy Honig, and in looking into the Drue Heinz Literature Prize (which she won in 1999), we were pleased to discover that the 2009 winner lives right here in the Bay State, too - Anne Sanow of Provincetown, who won the award for her short story collection Triple Time.

Drue Heinz judge Ann Patchett said that Anne’s stories (which explore expatriates and natives in contemporary Saudi Arabia) reminded her “why writers are willing to judge contests” (which resonates with those of us who are often asking writers to judge contests).

Currently on the road for book readings and numerous award festivities (along with the Drue Heinz, she recently won the Nelson Algren Award), Anne poked her head into ArtSake’s webby window to share her thoughts on longhand experiments, on-the-spot abridgements, and that awf’ly nice compliment paid to her by the man in the bolo tie.

ArtSake: Who wins the poets vs. prose writers paint ball war?

Anne: Prose writers, of course — the poets would need to take too many breaks to write down how they feel about it all, making them sitting ducks. I wouldn’t want to get into it with the painters, though.

ArtSake: Computer, longhand, or typewriter?

Anne: Longhand for experimentation — and I’m particular about where it goes. I carry around a small Moleskin for random things and notes, and use those larger black-and-reds (I get them from Pearl River Mart in New York) dedicated to specific projects. I cannot write in anything that isn’t college ruled.

I use the computer for serious, lengthy composition because it puts words into type so quickly; seeing it helps me visualize prose rhythm as well as hear it, and this is an important part of the whole process for me. I also like to re-type entire stories or sections when I revise.

ArtSake: Do you ever revise your work on the spot during live readings?

Anne: Yes — sometimes it’s only while reading in front of an audience that I realize a certain beat or repetition or omission is going to be more effective. I’ve also skipped entire paragraphs of exposition to keep the momentum going (or when someone in the audience looks to be falling asleep!). Active listening is quite a different experience than reading alone, so I don’t think that what’s printed on the page is necessarily sacred.

ArtSake: What’s the most surprising reader response you’ve ever received?

Anne: I gave a reading at a bookstore/cafe in Buffalo, Wyoming, when I was there for a month at the Jentel Artist Residency program. Afterwards this elderly gentleman (he was 80 if he was a day) wearing a checked western shirt with a bolo tie, pressed jeans, and cowboy boots came up to me and said, “That was a right nice job you did there, missy!” It was definitely memorable.

Anne joins Ann Patchett (the judge for the Drue Heinz award) for the Drue Heinz Literature Prize Reading and Award Ceremony, Wednesday, October 14, 7:30 PM, at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA. Next month, she’ll join poet Nancy K. Pearson for a reading at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown (where both writers were fellows), on Saturday, November 21, 8 PM.

Anne Sanow was born and raised in California and moved to Saudi Arabia for two years following her high school graduation. Her stories have appeared in Dossier, Kenyon Review, Shenandoah, Crab Orchard Review, and Malahat Review, among other publications, and have been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize. “The Grand Tour,” one of the stories in her story collection Triple Time, won the 2009 Nelson Algren Award from the Chicago Tribune. She currently lives on Cape Cod.

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When he selected her to win the 1999 Drue Heinz Literature Prize, Charles Johnson said that Lucy Honig’s fiction “brim(s) over with memorable characters” and has “a heart big enough to embrace the world in all its complexity and ambiguity.” Her new novel Waiting for Rescue, about a Boston writing teacher haunted by the events of 9/11, has found its share of admirers, too - check out reviews in Boston Globe’s Short Takes and the North Shore Art Throb.

Want to hear her read from the novel, in person? Events are upcoming in Cambridge and Gloucester. Want to read her snappy, economical answers to a handful of light-hearted questions? Read on.

ArtSake: What writer do you most admire but write nothing like?

Lucy: Colette.

ArtSake: Computer, longhand, or typewriter?

Lucy: Computer. For first drafting, the faster the better; my gut sense speaks to the keyboard with relatively little interference from brain or fingers.

ArtSake: How many revisions does your work typically go through?

Lucy: 4.5.

ArtSake: What’s the worst day job you’ve ever had?

Lucy: Typist in the basement of a Paris perfume shop.

Lucy will read from her novel at Porter Square Books in Cambridge on Wednesday, October 14 at 7:00 PM, and at The Bookstore of Gloucester on Thursday, October 29 at 7 PM.

Lucy Honig is the author of the novel Picking Up and the story collections Open Season and The Truly Needy and Other Stories. Her work has been published widely, featured in two O. Henry Prize collections and in The Best American Short Stories. She is the recipient of the 1999 Drue Heinz Literature Prize and lives in Massachusetts.

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Why does ArtSake love oatmeal boxes, shoe boxes, and toy cameras? Because they can be transformed into mighty pinhole cameras. For those that don’t know, pinhole cameras take photographs without the use of a lens (or a cell phone for that matter) and they have the capacity to create amazing images that rival any digital counterpart. ArtSake recently caught up with Susan Mikula, a photographer who has created some exquisite images using a pinhole camera and discontinued monochromatic Polaroid film. We asked Susan a few questions about her work.

What artists’ work do you admire most but photograph nothing like? I am not a painter, but I am moved most by painting — and I think about the visual world in terms of the thick or thin application of paint, that physical texture, that movement.

When I need my eyes to be refreshed I visit my dear old favorites at the museums. It is always painting that sets me right. The brush strokes and lines, like de Kooning, the fierce slashes and color like Mitchell, the precise ambiguity of Homer’s sober palette.

Living artists that I have art-crushes on include Charlie Hunter, TJ Walton, Maggie Mailer, and both Maloney’s - Paul and Bob.

If forced to choose, would you be an instamatic Polaroid camera or large format 8×10 camera? Polaroid! But not just any Polaroid. Maybe an SX-70 Alpha in a leather case or a white plastic Swinger at the beach in 1968. Polaroid was almost as good as Barbie at giving their cameras cool outfits to wear.

Do you live with any animals? Oh, in the hilltowns of Western Mass., we all live with way too many animals — red squirrels, daisy-eating groundhogs, arboreal weasels, moles, voles, minks, moose, you name it. I do love the critters, but admittedly, I love them best when they are outside rather than inside the house. Inside, we have an enormous dog who barks at floppy hats but not skateboarders and considers commands to be suggestions.

How do you know when to push the shutter? Old cameras — especially old cheap cameras — have little personalities you need to get to know. I try to learn each one, what the lens really sees, how it sees it — I try to get to know each camera so well that it becomes like a body part for me. I think about a project for a long time before I start taking pictures — both the intellectual point of it all and the worldly mechanics — but then knowing the camera intuitively means that I can act quickly at the moment the shot is finally composed. Its a long slow process that has a short, sharp, deliberate ending.

Thats how it works. Except sometimes its not like that at all and it happens in a frenzy — that, I cant explain.

What films have influenced you as photographer? The Misfits, Slaughterhouse-Five, Hud, and anything by Terrence Malick or Zhang Yimou.

What are you currently reading? I am always reading lots books at once. Right now, its some non-fiction: Art and the Power of Placement by Victoria Newhouse; some high-strung fiction: Lush Life by Richard Price; some poetry: Say Uncle, by Kay Ryan; and always one book just for the beauty of the sentences: The Signal by Ron Carlson.

Susan’s upcoming exhibition bearings at the TJ Walton Gallery in Provincetown will showcase her most recent pinhole work consisting of large and medium sized digital Duraflex prints face-mounted to Plexiglas. TJ Walton Gallery is located at 148 Commercial St, in Provincetown, MA. Exhibition Dates: October 9 November 1, 2009. Opening Reception: Saturday, October 17, 6 - 8 PM. Gallery Hours: Monday - Thursday 10 AM - 8 PM; Friday - Sunday 10 AM - 9 PM. Gallery phone number and email: 508.487.0170; tjwaltongallery@mac.com

Image credit: All photographs by Susan Mikula. From top to bottom: bearings #7, 30″x23″; bearings #18, 36″x28″; bearings #13, 36″x28″.

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ArtSake recently caught up with the painter Rick Berry to ask him about his work.

What artists’ work do you admire most but paint nothing like? Heres the problem. Any artist Ive ever admired, known or anonymous, has affected my work, my choices. Its impossible for me to not do things because of this. Heres an example: One could look at the paintings and say, Well thats nothing like Jackson Pollock, and not know about how often I sling turp and paint directly at the formative surface searching for lyric geometries; the painting may wind up sharply figurative but all that movement? Just go back to its initial musical chaos, and youll find a painter that I paint nothing like.

What is the most surprising response to your art you have ever received? Tears.

How do you know when your work is done? Sadly, I often dont and overshoot the mark. Theres a saying around the studio, just because you can, doesnt mean you should. Boy, is that true. A baroque display of skills doesnt make a painting. Ill see, be snake-fascinated by, something thats happening in the surface and begin to auger in. Im quite sure that Ive got chops that are going to make this area even better but the better I make it, the more it recedes in freshness and the marks lose their initial force and authority. Simply kills me.

The only recourse is to wreck the painting creatively; sling and scrape. Strangely, this often works but its painful to get there.

What do you listen to while you paint? Tons of rocknroll but hardly exclusively. I get on classical jags, folk and country, techno weirdness auto-hypnosis, you name it.

Lately, and I never thought Id say this, Ive been salting the mix with opera. This is in part because of being in embedded with OperaBoston but I was already knocked out by some things Id heard this direction. All this certainly can kick you into action. Quick incomplete list: Chris Whitley, The Pearl Fishers, Duke Ellington, Ralph Vaughan Williams, The Gorillas, Shostokovich, Billie Holiday, Red House Painters, Gary Numan You see how it is.

The unauthorized biography of your life is titled: The Civilizing of Big Pink.

What are you currently reading? Bill Gibsons Pattern Recognition, McKibbons Enough, Gaimans Coraline

Do you have any pets? You know, there is something that deigns to live here. Doesnt come when you call and carries a full set of knives concealed within tempting pet-able fluff. We dont know why we like it but we do. The house imp, that knows all the secret places.

Seeing in the Dark: Pattern Recognition/Discovery in the Marks, The Figurative Works of Rick Berry opens today at the Sharon Arts Exhibition Gallery. The show runs through August 30th.

Image credit: Photos of paintings courtesy of Rick Berry.

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If you’re interested in writing flash fiction - and by that I mean very short (like, under 1000 words short) stories - well then cut the frabbajabba and grab some readin’ matter, because a group of intrepid flash fictioneers have roamed the wilds of short shortness to develop the new Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. The book, which features exercises, story examples, and essays on the form from such writers as Steve Almond (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction ‘08), Stace Budzko, and Jayne Anne Phillips, is the centerpiece of an event on June 11 at Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Mass., with appearances by Steve and other contributors, as well as the book’s editor Tara L. Masih.

Tara, a freelance editor and writer (and past finalist for an MCC Artist Fellowship in Fiction/Creative Nonfiction), also wrote the Field Guide’s introduction, the first comprehensive examination of the short short story and its origins.

She kindly agreed to a flash Q&A with us, weighing in on the magic of pen-on-paper, autobiographical writing (or lack thereof), and of course, flash fiction.

What’s the most embarrassing sentence/line of poetry you’ve ever written?

“Crystal rings true, but cut glass gives a dull thud.” Forgive me, it was high school. But sadly, I remember this bad line better than some of my more recent poetry.

Computer, longhand, or typewriter?

Longhand first. Like Hemingway, I still like to feel and hear the scratch of the pen (not pencil) across the pad of paper. For me, it is writing, not typing, that frees the creative juices. Mark Helprin, in a short story, has a wonderful paragraph about the pen taking on the role of a runaway horse, and the writer becoming the farmer being dragged through the fields unharmed. That is the magic that comes only from the process of handwriting. But after one or two drafts, I do move to the necessary evil of typing on the computer. I must say, however, that as my typing skills have improved from the two-finger method, and I’ve learned MS Word, it is a great way to re-think and re-edit. It’s as if the pen and pad are the foundation, and the typed drafts the actual building that begins to house the story and the characters. Moving from one different type of material to the next frees up another part of the creative brain that allows for different sentence structuring and details. In my case, anyway.

Do you ever revise your work on the spot during live readings?

Gosh, never! It’s hard enough to do a reading well with what I have in front of me. And by the time I get to the reading stage, the work’s been edited so many times, I don’t want to change a word or a piece of punctuation. Including this answer.

What’s the best day job you’ve ever had?

The best day job I ever had was working for Bedford Books in Boston. It’s where I learned all the skills that helped me branch out as a freelancer and then develop and edit this Field Guide.

What’s the most surprising reader response you’ve ever received?

“I love that story about your father.” When I told the woman it was fiction, that the character was not my father, she burst out, “Don’t tell me that! It was better when I thought it was real.” People seem to have a pathological need to have writing be autobiographical. Maybe they don’t trust that there can be truth in fiction. Or they can’t be swept away by it as much if they don’t think the events really happened. BTW, I got that same response to the same story several times. I’ve stopped correcting folks, unless a character or situation is an extreme one I for sure don’t want myself or my family to be associated with. And I apologize often to my poor, embarrassed parents…

Any advice for writers interested in foraying into flash fiction?

Reading is fundamental. Look for the Sudden Fiction and Flash Fiction anthologies. All the collected stories went through a rigorous screening process to be included. It’ll give you an idea of the range of creativity flash offers and an idea of what to strive for. Also, check out the online flash magazines such as Vestal Review, Ghoti, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Night Train. Take a workshop. Local colleges, conferences, and writing associations now offer courses and seminars in flash fiction. Finally, of course, read The Field Guide. It’ll teach you about the history of the genre, and present tips and advice from many of the best writers, teachers, and editors of flash in our country - and beyond (one contributor lives in the UK). But most of all, have fun with it. Some writers use flash as a sort of escape from the constraints of writing longer prose.

Tara joins Steve Almond, Stace Budzko, Pam Painter, Jen Pieroni (Quick Fiction editor), and Rose Metal Press publisher Abby Beckel for an event at Brookline Booksmith on Thursday, June 11, 7 PM.

Tara L. Masih has taught at Emerson College and was an in-house editor for Little, Brown’s college division and Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press. She now freelances for companies such as Ballantine Books and Harvard University Press. Her writing has won awards, and two flash fiction chapbooks (Fragile Skins and Tall Grasses) were published by The Feral Press in 2006. She was a regular contributor to The Indian-American and Masala magazines, in which her essays on the topic of race and culture were often featured.

Interested in having a work of flash fiction published on Tara’s website? Learn how.

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Ilana Manolson (MCC Painting Fellow ‘08) took a few moments to talk with ArtSake about her work and life.

What artists work do you admire most but paint nothing like? I really like Joan Snyder’s work because I feel like it is deeply personal, rich, and extremely brave work. And in my studio I have written on the wall, simplify, focus, and be brave. Her work, although I feel like it is nothing like mine, does that in a very personal way.

What is the most surprising response to your art you have ever received? The response wasn’t to my artwork, but to the way I identify what I do. Recently I went to a doctor because I was concerned I was having an allergic reaction to a tick repellent I use when I am out in the woods and swamps preparing for painting. When I explained to the doctor that I was working outdoors because I am a landscape painter, she asked, with complete seriousness, What color do you paint the landscape? It reminded me of the gardeners in Alice in Wonderland painting the roses for the queen.

How do you know when your work is done? Great question, and one I ask myself every day. It varies with each piece, which is why I spend as much time subtracting as adding. I often have to let a piece rest, and be what might feel initially a bit underdone, so that it doesn’t suffer from being taken to the point where one more mark turns the whole thing over fussy. I haven’t always managed that - my studio storage area is full of work that has been overdone.

What do you listen to while you paint? I’ve been working very hard preparing for a show in New York and so I’ve needed a lot of music which keeps me dancing. Recently I’ve been listening most to Jane Goldman’s The Jane Gang.

What films have influenced you as an artist? Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was fascinating because it gave such a strong sense of the vision of a paralyzed man, and for me, it is very meaningful to be able to step into someone else’s vision in some way.

If forced to choose, would you be a magic marker, a crayon, or a #2 pencil? I would be all of the above, and more, because my work is about different mark making and it’s sort of a dance, as I let each mark become its own expression and interweave with the others.

What are you currently reading? I have a mountain of reading growing next to my bed, and one of my current favorites from that stack is Swamp Walker’s Journal by David M. Carroll. And I’m looking forward to reading Tracy Winn’s (MCC Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ‘08) stories in Mrs. Somebody Somebody.

The unauthorized biography of your life is titled: Finding the Fixed in the Fluid

Do you live with any animals? Three birds, two teenagers, and a whole lot of squirrels who think they would make better use of my studio than I do.

What has the MCC Painting Artist Fellowship meant to you? I’m sure I’ve spent the money more than once it’s encouraged me to choose art materials more freely, to explore more. And it’s connected me with other artists, across disciplines, through events and lectures that I wouldn’t otherwise have been invited to participate in.

Ilana has her first New York solo exhibition upcoming at the Jason McCoy Gallery on June 1 through July 24. For more on Ilana’s work, you can also view her website.

Photo Credit: All images courtesy Ilana Manolson.

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We caught up with Diane Arvanites & Tommy Neblett, the co-artistic directors of Prometheus Dance (MCC choreography fellows) to find out what’s doing with this dynamic artistic duo.

What are you excited about these days?
Tommy - Learning to horseback ride.
Diane - School’s out, our garden and gyrokinesis.

What artist do you most admire but work nothing like?
Tommy - Pina Bausch
Diane - Wim Vandekeybus

Have you ever revised your work on the spot, during a performance (intentionally, I mean)?
Diane - It depends on the evolution of the piece.

The unauthorized biography of your life is titled:
Tommy - He Did It His Way

What’s next?
Tommy - Studying to become a Certified Dog Trainer.
Diane - Learning to fence.

Tomorrow and Saturday nights Prometheus Dance has a world premiere of WARP at the ICA (music composed by John Kusiak and music by Arvo Part). They will also be performing Tabula Rasa. Run to the ICA to see their work. Get to the performance early, and you will have an added bonus of a pre-performance talk by dance critic Debra Cash. Tickets available at the ICA and ArtsBoston.

In the meantime, see an excerpt from Devil’s Wedding by Prometheus Dance.

Photo Credit: Image courtesey of Prometheus Dance.

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The nationally acclaimed artist Paul Goodnight is having an exhibition of his drawings and paintings at Wheelock College and the Towne Art Gallery. We recently caught up with Paul to ask him a few questions.

What artists’ work do you admire most but paint nothing like?

My daughter. There are several others: John Biggers, Romare Beardon, John Wilson, Leonardo Da Vinci, Caravaggio, and William Tolliver.

If forced to choose, would you be a magic marker, a crayon, or a #2 pencil?

I always love my pencil.

What is the most surprising response to your art you have ever received?

Silence.

The unauthorized biography of your life is titled:

Rated PG. As in Paul Goodnight.

Do you live with any animals?

Myself.

How do you know when your work is done?

When all the numbers are filled in.

Like what does your work MEAN?

It means I have a job.

The exhibition runs from March 17April 17. Gallery Hours: noon-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday. Artist Reception: Saturday, April 11, 2-4pm.

Artwork Credits: All painting and drawings by Paul Goodnight. French Horn, 25×32, pastel on paper; Trumpet to the 2nd Power, 23×27, pastel on paper; Dancer, 45×54, oil on canvas.

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Remix, a solo exhibition of works by Reese Inman (Drawing Fellow ‘08) opened yesterday at Gallery NAGA in Boston.

The show features paintings and drawings Reese created through a fascinating process: 1. Design computer software to produce patterns of dots, 2. Select the most intriguing patterns, 3. Then painstakingly render the patterns by hand. What with her emphasis on minute details, we thought Reese would be the perfect candidate for a similarly minute nano-interview.

MCC: What are you working on these days?

Reese: I’m in the programming phase of developing a group of new drawing algorithms, and am also developing a new body of paintings mixing algorithmic output (represented as paint droplets) and digitally blurred photographic imagery. Some of the paintings and a selection of burn drawings are on view at Gallery NAGA, Boston through March 28.

MCC: What’s the most surprising response to your art you’ve ever received?

Reese: During an open studio event a couple of years ago, a scientist introduced himself and told me that one of my paintings looked very much like a DNA microarray image. At the time, I didn’t know what a DNA microarray was, and had never seen an image of one. The next day, he emailed me a couple of images, and he was right - that particular painting actually did resemble a DNA microarray image!

MCC: Like, what does your work MEAN?

Reese: My work explores and reflects on everyday human interaction with computers. There’s a dialogue between me and the computer in which I write an algorithm, the computer runs it with a good deal of freedom (via random number generation), and then I render the output by hand. Computer process typically has the effect of concealing the programmer, but the hand rendering reinserts visual evidence of human involvement, while staying true to the composition created by the computer.

The opening reception for Remix is tonight (Friday, March 6), 6-8 PM, at Gallery NAGA in Boston. Remix runs through March 28. Along with showing at Gallery NAGA, Reese is part of the group show Blogpix at Denise Bibro Fine Art in New York, March 5-28. Read more Fellows Notes.

Images: Reese Inman, DIVERGENCE II (2008), acrylic on panel 30 x 30 in; Reese Inman, REMIX IV (2009), acrylic on panel, 40 x 80 in. See more images at reeseinman.com.

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