ArtSake

We compile a monthly list of presentations, honors, publications, and events featuring past and present MCC Artist Fellows & Finalists. As you’ll see, the news is good - not just about these award-winning artists, but also about the breadth and vitality of contemporary arts throughout the Commonwealth.

The Rice/Polak Gallery in Provincetown exhibits dozens of intriguing contemporary artists, including numerous from Massachusetts. MCC fellows/finalists upcoming at Rice/Polak include Joshua Meyer (Painting Fellow ‘10), whose Intermingle: New paintings by Joshua Meyer is on exhibit August 13-August 26, with an opening reception Friday, August 13, 7 PM. Following that exhibition, Julie Levesque (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ‘05) and Jane D. Marsching (Photography Finalist ‘03) will both have solo shows, August 27-September 10, 2010, with a reception on Friday August 27, 7 PM.

Steve Almond (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ‘08) visited Here and Now on WBUR radio to discuss his summer music picks, and those of callers-in.

David Binder’s (Photography Fellow ‘01) documentary Calling My Children is screening at the Woods Hole Film Festival August 3rd at 1:00 PM.

Liza Bingham (Painting Finalist ‘10) is among the artists in Free Association, a summer group exhibition for Associate Members of Kingston Gallery in Boston. The show runs August 4-29, 2010, with an opening reception Friday August 6th, 5:30-8 PM.

Steven Bogart (Playwriting Finalist ‘09) directs a new production of Cabaret, opening at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge on August 31. The production features local performing artist Amanda Palmer (of Dresden Dolls fame) as the Master of Ceremonies.

Jessica Bozek’s (Poetry Finalist ‘10) new poetry chapbook Squint into the Sun has been released by Dancing Girl Press.

Lorraine Chapman’s (Choreography Fellow ‘04) dance company is among those performing and participating in the Massachusetts Dance Festival, which seeks to successfully establish dance artistically, financially and operationally, throughout the state. Lorrain Chapman The Company will perform at the Boston Ballet on Saturday, August 21, 2010, at 8 PM, and at the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 8 PM.

This July, Janet Echelman’s (Crafts & Sculpture/Installation Fellow ‘09) Biennial of the Americas was unveiled in Denver. The work is suspended between the Greek Theater and the Denver Art Museum in Denver’s Civic Center Park.

Christopher Faust (Painting Fellow ‘10) is among the artists in On the Road, an exhibit of artwork inspired by the road, running through August 27, 2010, at the Suffolk University Art Gallery at NESAD. The show was curated by Gallery Director James Hull.

Jane Gillooly (Film & Video Fellow ‘07) will screen Today the Hawk Takes One Chick on August 16, 7 PM at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, as part of the DocYard series of contemporary documentary films. Also, Jane received a pre-production grant from the LEF Foundation for her film-in-progress The Suitcase of Love and Shame.

Dawn Lane (Choreography Fellow ‘10) has a new website, at dawn-lane.com. Read an ArtSake article about Dawn’s recent honor in Washington D.C.

Rebecca Meyers (Film & Video Fellow ‘09) has been hired as film coordinator for ArtsEmerson. Rebecca will program films related to ArtsEmerson’s live performing arts series, as well as “other independent, repertory and foreign films, a student-curated series, classics, and regular screenings of films for children.” (News via the HubArts blog.)

Caleb Neelon (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ‘07) is among the artists in The Boat Show, an exhibition in the Drive-by Gallery in Watertown. Drive-by is the new gallery of Beth Kantrowitz (formerly of Allston Skirt Gallery) and Kathleen O’Hara (formerly of OH+T Gallery).

Liz Nofziger (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ‘05) created a site-specific installation at an abandoned bar called The Artery. The installation treats the inside of a bar as the inside of a body in an immersive multimedia environment. The installation is in the old Artery Lounge space on 26 Holden Street in North Adams, MA, through October 17, 2010. See Downstreet Art for more information, including gallery hours.

Congratulations to Nancy K. Pearson (Poetry Finalist ‘10), who won the 2010 Spoon Review Poetry Review’s Editors’ Prize.

Cynthia Morrison Phoel (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ‘04, ‘10) has two August reading events featuring her recently published short story collection Cold Snap: Bulgaria Stories. She reads at the BigTown Gallery in Rochester, VT, on Sunday, August 15, 5:30 PM. Then, she visits The Provincetown Art Association and Museum in Provincetown on Monday, August 23, 7 PM.

Work by Daniel Ranalli (Drawing Fellow ‘10) will be on exhibit at DNA Gallery in Provincetown, August 13 - September 1. The show, which also includes work by Tabitha Vevers and Peter Hutchinson, was curated by Russell LaMontagne & Richard Baiano.

Monica Raymond’s (Playwriting Finalist ‘07, Poetry Finalist ‘08) poem “The Miraculous” is part of the exhibit “Sinners, Saints, and Censorship: A Quills Art & Poetry Exhibition” at the Central Square YMCA (Durrell Hall), Cambridge, running through August 8th, 2010. The free art show will be up for 45 minutes before, and about 30 min. after, each performance of Bad Habit Productions‘ Quills (attendance of the play is not required to see the exhibit).

Anna Ross (Poetry Finalist ‘10) interviews poet Marie Ponsot in Guernica Magazine.

Sunanda Sahay (Traditional Arts Finalist ‘10) has an exhibition of traditional Indian Madhubani paintings at the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, running through September 6, 2010.

Jo Sandman (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ‘84) will lead a talk and conversation on her work selected for inclusion in the exhibit Out of the Box: Photography Portfolios from the Permanent Collection of the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln. The exhibition, which runs through October 30, 2010 and was organized by independent curator Leslie K. Brown, is a fascinating selection of photographs from the DeCordova’s collection. Bring your cell phone for an audio tour of the exhibition by Leslie Brown and Gus Kayafas of Palm Press. Jo’s talk is on Saturday, August 7, at 3 PM.

Sarah Slifer (Choreography Fellow ‘10) will perform a new duet with dancer Jimena Bermejo Black in an evening of pieces called Body of Eyes: a dance party/performance, at Club Oberon in Harvard Square, Cambridge. Sarah’s new duet, “5 light-years 3 seconds now,” looks into grand-unified theories and human perception. New scientific theories are postulating many spatial dimensions and sometimes two time dimensions; Sarah is attempting to find these dimensions and play around in there. The performance takes place on August 11th, at 8 PM.

Lewis Spratlan’s (Music Composition Fellow ‘88) opera Life Is a Dream has its world premiere in July and August, at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico.

Leslie Williams (Poetry Fellow ‘10) has won the 2010 Robert H. Winner Award from the Poetry Society of America, and her book, Success of the Seed Plants, won the 2010 Bellday Books Prize and will come out in October. Congratulations!

Helena Wurzel (Painting Finalist ‘10) is in the group show Missive at the Russell Projects in Richmond, VA. The show runs through September 4th.

Past Fellows Notes
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
Apr. 2010
Mar. 2010
Feb. 2010
Jan. 2010

Are you a past fellow or finalist with an event, honor, or other bit of news you’d like to share? Tell us about it.

Images and media: Joshua Meyer, SMILING AT THE CEILING (2010), oil on canvas, 38×42 in; Janet Echelman, BIENNIAL OF THE AMERICAS (2010), public art installation, Civic Center Park, Denver, CO; Jo Sandman, toned gelatin silver photograph using medical x-ray as source material; Helena Wurzel, TEA FOR ONE WITH LUCINDA WILLIAMS (2009), Acrylic Paint and Paper Collage, 22×30 in.

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Exported (temporarily): If you spent last Wednesday searching up and down Massachusetts for master balafon player Balla Kouyate, here’s why you couldn’t find him. Balla, a recent Artist Fellow in Traditional Arts, was in D.C. performing at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and later at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. Our sibling blog, Keepers of Tradition, has the scoop on this unique honor.

Exported (less temporarily): Jason Schupbach, the state’s very first creative economy industry director, is also D.C.-bound, but for more than a visit. He’s been named Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts. Jason, who’s also the former director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s ArtistLink project, introduces himself in a Q&A on the NEA Art Works blog. Full of surprises: who knew Jason has a cheese-themed video blog?

Exported (virtually): Evan Garza, who recently served on our Painting panel in the Artist Fellowships Program and is an editor at large at New American Paintings and curator/gallery manager at Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, is guest blogging at the Art21 blog.

And: the New Yorker’s Book Bench blog talks with Cambridge author Allegra Goodman (on the occasion of the publishing of her Cambridge-set short story “La Vita Nuova”).

Imported: we recently covered Hannah Barrett (Painting ‘04) and her artistic partnership with the historic Gibson House in Boston. Another historic Massachusetts site, Hancock Shaker Village in the Berkshires, has caught the contemporary artist-in-residence bug, and is hosting a master woodworker from Syracuse.

Locally made (and played): at the Huntington Theatre blog announces an intriguing series of site-specific audio plays by its Huntington Playwriting Fellows. A sampling: Kirsten Greenidge “eavesdrops” on two sisters outside the Co-op in Harvard Square, Martha Jane Kaufman slips between different types of “tea parties” at the Boston Harbor, and Ken Urban orchestrates a meet-up (set up online) at an MBTA station.

Looking for perfect synchronicity between a documentary subject and its screening venue? Just follow the green arrows behind Fresh Pond Cinema. A free rough-cut screening of Foreign Parts, a documentary by Verena Parvel and J.P. Sniadecki, will take place at Aladdin Auto Service, 162 Alewife Brook Parkway in Cambridge, on Saturday, May 8th at 6 PM (reception at 7 PM). Verena Parvel will be on hand to discuss the film, about a New York junkyard under the threat of demolition.

Arts blogger Greg Cook continues to do yeoman’s work (not that I understand precisely what a “yeoman” does - but I mean it as a compliment), covering the region’s highs, such as art inspired by Boston’s recent aquapolypse, and lows, such as the sad news of the impending closure of the Judi Rotenberg Gallery on Newbury Street.

New to the whole artist/gallery partnership process? The GYST blog has your starter kit: everything you ever wanted to know about galleries.

Finally, we thought you might enjoy this quote from writer James Arthur, from the Ploughshares blog, on the notion of “experience” as a writer:

At 19, I interpreted experience as mild psychedelic adventures and having a girlfriend. At 22, after a lackluster undergraduate career, I felt that I needed more job experience: more experience of what I then called “the real world.” At 27, I was in an MFA program, and I knew that a writer is someone who sits at a desk and writes.

Yep. To paraphrase what the wise man - or was it the massive transnational corporation? - once said: “Just do it, artists.”

Image: Balla Kouyate on balafon and Markane Kouyate on talking drum. Photo by Maggie Holtzberg.

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A few months ago, our sibling blog Keepers of Tradition highlighted a video with singer-songwriter Kristin Andreassen. The video (which you can watch, below) features Boston schoolkids, Kristin’s irrepressible music, and a great premise. Intrigued by the video - and also by Kristin’s singular blend of songwriting, percussive dance, and ebullient wit - we asked the singer-songwriter about her music, her eclectic background, and the unique demands on the life of an inventive musical artist.

ArtSake: The video for your song “Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color for Your Eyes” features 2nd graders from the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton. Can you talk a little bit about how that video came about?

Kristin: I have an awesome connection in Boston with a woman named Lindsay O’Donovan. She’s my friend & bandmate Aoife’s mom, and she’s an amazing supporter of local musicians and music programs for kids. One day I told Lindsay I wanted to make a music video for “Crayola” and I wanted to include kids but I wasn’t sure how. I especially wanted to work with kids (usually city kids) who know a lot of rhymes and hand rhythms, and who haven’t yet forgotten how to play pattycake (I always insist I didn’t make up any complicated body percussion for “Crayola.” I just remember what I used to do on the playground!).

So Lindsay introduced me to her friend Megan Howe, a teacher at the Conservatory Lab School in Brighton. The school focuses on music as a teaching tool, so it seemed like a great fit. I would pay for the video and hopefully create a fun real-life musical experience for the kids, and the school would allow me to take over the schedule of this second grade class for a day and a half and put them to work on my project.

I was really impressed with the school’s flexibility in general. First I went to meet the kids and we sang the song together. Then Megan incorporated it into her music curriculum and they sang the song every day getting ready. They also practiced their breakdancing moves from dance class the year before (seriously, they studied breakdancing in school!). So when Ballard (my music video director) and I came back to film them, they were totally on board with the song and the project in general.

ArtSake: Earlier in your career, you spent five years as a performer/company member with the Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble in Maryland. Do you still perform as a dancer and how does it interplay with your work as a songwriter?

Kristin: After Footworks, I joined a stringband called Uncle Earl. I mostly play guitar and sing in that band but at least one time during every show I’ll still pull out a clogging number. I’ve also managed to make it back for some kind of Footworks reunion show once or twice a year, but I have to admit I’ve been feeling out of practice.

My dancing has been incredibly influential in my songwriting – in the first songs especially. Even though I knew some piano and some chords on the guitar, I didn’t really play any instruments well enough to accompany myself when I started writing. So my very first songs were a capella, accompanied by rhythm only. (”Hello Where Are You?”, “Like the Snow,” “Faith,” “Crayola” are a few like that.) I eventually found chords for those songs but it was after the fact. These days I write more often on guitar or piano, but I think the rhythmic influence is still there.

I’m also really interested in putting together a show of original songs illustrated with dance. One time I commissioned my friend Emily Crews (from Footworks) to choreograph dance to six or seven songs (modern and percussive). We tried it once but I want to do it again with a “real” stage (wings and some lights… deluxe stuff like that).

Check out the Kung Fu/clogging extravaganza Streak o’ Lean, Streak o’ Fat, which Kristin helped create.

ArtSake: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe you’ve worked as a train porter, lived on a bus while touring as a dancer and musician, and spent two winters in the Canadian arctic working on a school-based Internet project (I detect a theme of travel and exposure to the elements). Would it be fair to say you’ve had an eclectic past? And would it furthermore be fair to say that eclectic past has insinuated its way into your music?

Kristin: Eclectic? Oh, yes, you can use that word. I’ve never really followed “the rules” in my career. That’s not out of rebelliousness… it’s more about my ignorance (or innocence?) of the rules in the first place. I didn’t start dancing professionally till I was out of college (with a degree in history) and I think I didn’t know enough about the industry to think I was too old! Plus, in folk music there are a lot less rules to begin with. It’s the kind of music you really can play all your life and you’re less likely to feel like you to have to retire when you get old and wrinkled ;-).

ArtSake: Are there any other unique experiences that no list of your work history should be without?

Kristin: Well, recently, my friends found out that in high school I was a co-host of a call-in public access tv show in Hillsboro, Oregon called Homework Hotline. Does that count? I mostly did people’s math homework for them live on TV. I don’t even know why I’m admitting that here but I think it’s hilarious.

ArtSake: Your compositions seem to have equally strong relationships with American folk traditions and contemporary music. Can you talk a little bit about the way tradition and invention come together in your art?

Kristin: After dancing, the first music I really focused on playing was American old time music. I’m grateful for that now, because no matter what the songwriting fad of the day might be, I feel like I’ll always have a folk musician’s ingrained sense of what a truly timeless song sounds like.

When I started writing, I remember being self-conscious about not wanting to put too much of myself in my songs. What I love about traditional music is that it’s direct and honest without really being “personal.” I think good pop music has that same quality. There’s poetry there if you want to look for it, but on the surface it’s friendly, and maybe even danceable. I go for that in my writing.

But I also think I used to self-censor a little too much. I would only play the songs that I felt could stand on their own (i.e., songs that could be sung by somebody other than me the songwriter). I would keep my more introspective or abstract songs to myself. In the last few years, I’ve loosened up on that.

I noticed that some of my favorite songwriters in the world tell very specific and personal stories in their songs. There’s just a certain quality in either the writing or the delivery that makes it transcend self-obsession (I’m thinking of Leonard Cohen, Dan Bern, Jeff Lewis, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon…). So I realized it’s not impossible to write in a very personal way and make it universally appealing. It’s just a skill… and now I’m working on it!

ArtSake: I was interested to see your New Song Club promotion, where subscribers receive a new original song every month. You seem to be a natural at making use of technology to reach audiences. Did you have to force yourself into the world of YouTube clips, digital distribution, and multiple web presences, or was it a natural fit?

Kristin: Oh my goodness, my friends have had to drag me kicking and screaming onto Facebook. I just set up an account last month. Back in the day, I was pretty quick to get a web site, e-mail lists and even MySpace but I think some time about a year ago I had a total technology meltdown. I was counted up the time I spent on the computer (bookings, promotion, e-mails, social networking) and compared that to the time I spent playing music and I got really depressed.

I can’t tell you how many musicians I’ve known who, as soon as they get a little bit successful, can’t find any time to play music anymore because of all the administrative work it takes to be a “middle level” touring musician. The curse of the self-employed lifestyle is that while you seemingly have control of your schedule, you’re also never really “off duty.” It’s so easy to just keep e-mailing and posting and blogging all night.

On the other hand, the computer can be really great for creativity if you’re using it to find material, or watch other peoples’ performances. YouTube is just amazing for that. And as an old time musician, it’s so easy to find the old “obscure” tunes that in another era we would have had to make a trip to some archive in Washington, DC to hear.

The Song of the Month Club is a combination of two technologies – recording (which I love) and sending the recordings out to online club members. The second part is a chore, I have to admit. But I like getting the immediate response to my recordings – as opposed to waiting and putting out an album and hearing people’s reactions sometimes years after the song was written.

Ambivalence. There. That’s my verdict on technology in music.

ArtSake: Have you changed anything about the way you make or market your work in response to the recent economic downturn?

Kristin: I moved out of my apartment! I know this sounds dramatic but seriously, I found myself facing a year of less show bookings than at any time in my music career. My band Uncle Earl had signed on for an eight-week bus tour with three other bands, organized by an established music management group. I was counting on that income to cover some months of more creative work that won’t pay off for a while (I’ve been producing an album of children’s music).

But with the economy, a lot of venues cancelled or wouldn’t commit to hiring the tour and it was shortened from eight to three weeks. I just decided that the best way to lower my expenses was to go visit my family (in Oregon) for a few months and then sublet from friends who were on tour when I was back on the east coast. It’s actually been fine for me, because I don’t own a whole lot of “stuff” and I enjoy traveling, but it definitely was a decision directly influenced by loss of work due to the economy.

ArtSake: What’s next for you?

Kristin: I’m really excited about the children’s record I’m producing. It’s called Jumping Through Hoops: Songs of Bravery and Courage, and the songs have mostly been written by my friend Kari Groff-Denis, a child psychiatrist in New York City. The songs cover issues kids face like sadness, bullying, divorce, moving to a new town, making mistakes, etc. It feels good to be making music with a very specific purpose. It’ll be useful for mental health professionals, but I also think it’s good music that adults will like too.

Kristin Andreassen is a singer-songwriter, musician, and dancer. Along with her solo work (her album Kiss Me Hello came out in 2006) , she is a member of the old-time string band Uncle Earl and the “folk noir” vocal trio Sometymes Why. As a dancer, she toured, performed, and taught dance with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble. Recently based in Boston, she is currently touring and producing a CD of music for children.

Listen to Kristin’s November 2008 appearance on public radio’s Prairie Home Companion.

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Today (Tuesday, October 13, 2009) is the deadline for Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship applications in the Drawing, Painting, and Traditional Arts categories.

Artist Fellowships = unrestricted, anonymously judged, competitive grants in recognition of artistic excellence, for Massachusetts artists.

Find out more in our program guidelines and apply online.

As a reminder: fellowship applications in Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry will be accepted December 1, 2009-January 25, 2010.

Images: Reese Inman, ESCAPE III (2007), electric burn marks on paper, 18×36in; Sandra Allen, HOWL, (2006) pencil on paper, 45×34 in; Stephen Mishol, TAMP (2008), Vinyl paint on paper, 27 1/2 x 19 3/4 in, photo credit: Clements/Howcroft Photography.

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Fabulous
Pronunciation: \’fa-by?-l?s\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin fabulosus, from fabula
Date: 15th century
Definition: 1: Georgia Mae Harp’s cowgirl yodeling. 2: Georgia Mae Harp’s outfit. 3: Georgia Mae Harp’s white guitar.

You can find out more about the fabulousness of Carver, Massachusetts’ very own Georgia Mae Harp, as well as other homegrown talent who sing and play New England Country and Western music, on the Keepers of Tradition blog.

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On the Keepers of Tradition blog, Massachusetts state folklorist Maggie Holtzberg has distilled some of the techniques she learned at a recent meeting of folklorists on how best to preserve digital multimedia. Archiving work (as well as preserving and providing access to those archives) is the bread and butter of folklorists, but since so many artists are now either working in digital media or documenting their work that way, any artist might be interested to hear some of the best practices Maggie took away from the meeting. Here are a few tips on preserving your digital media:

Multiple copies of files in varying formats keeps material safe. For example, store a recent field recording or photo shoot in several places: on a server, on two external hard drives, and on a CD.

Don’t write on a CD! The top surface of the CD is susceptible to damage, not just the bottom. If you must, write with a water-based, permanent pen on the inner plastic circle of the CD. Avoid “sharpies” as they might interfere with the top (lacquer) layer of the CD.

Store CDs in regular sized jewel cases, not fiberglass or paper sleeves. Store them vertically, not horizontally. Buy CDs in jewel cases, not in spindles.

Migrate, migrate, migrate. Dale Hecker of Harvard University Libraries reminds us that “Digital materials are surprisingly fragile. They depend for their continued viability upon technologies that undergo rapid and continual change.” This is true for analog as well as digital materials. Afterall, who can use a floppy disc anymore, let alone play a wax cylinder or a 78 recording? If your archive is full of DAT (digital audio tape) recordings, as ours is, make sure you copy them onto the latest technology and back them up on a server. Scan slides and create TIF files as your preservation master files. Then create “use” files for editing, printing, and emailing.

Metadata matters. It is important to include information about the information that has been collected. Describe the context, content, format, and authorship of the material. Who conducted the interview, where, and when? Is this interview part of a project or collection? What kind of camera, microphone, or sound recorder was used? What software? Is the material restricted in any way?

Read the full post.

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If the Red Sox can begin to stretch those underutilized muscles in spring training down in Florida, we here in the throes of a frosty winter can too. There’s some interesting dance performances coming down the pike from past MCC fellows and finalists that we thought you might be interested in knowing about.

First stop, for school vacation week, is Opposites, an interactive performance designed for ages K-4 to teach kids about modern dance using the concepts of opposites, presented by Prometheus Dance. It’s this coming Thursday at 2:00 at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center. There will be live percussion by Francisco Molina, as well as six members of Prometheus Dance and narration by Tommy Neblett (choreography fellow ‘08).

In March, get ready for the world of Sultans. With more than 15 dancers, Mavi Dance (Hale Pinar Zengingonul & Giorgi Shandize, choreography finalists ‘08) along with the flamenco dancer Clara Ramona, aerial dancer Gina DeFreitas, and the Brookline Academy of Dance, will perform works from Turkey, Georgia, Caucasia, India, Spain and Middle East. Mavi Dance will present the new folk ballet piece Harem set to original music by Dr. Mehmet Ali Sanlikol. Be sure to check it out at the Boston University Dance Theater on March 14-15. Here’s a link to a past Mavi Dance performance.

And in April, Neena Gulati (choreography finalist ‘08) and the Triveni Ensemble will present A Garland of Rhythms blending the complexity of ancient Indian classical dance rhythms with modern choreography and African drums. It’ going to be on April 5th at 3:00 pm at Hellenic College, Maliotis Cultural Center. Here’s a clip from a past performance by Neena.

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Sitting in our dark rooms, snowed in.

As you may know, this blog is hand-cranked by the folks at the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. On Friday, the day of the first snow storm (and the day I meant to write this post), Governor Patrick instructed non-emergency state workers not to come in. So I was home Friday, and the post got a snow day.

Anyway, we’re back in the office, so… to the art! There’s a fascinating interview with 2008 ICA Foster Finalist Rania Matar (Photography Fellow ‘07) in the most recent Big RED and Shiny, where she discusses her photographs in war-torn Lebanon and why she was drawn to go back.

Via Practicing Writing: good news, web writers - you can now be the Best Americans. (In that writers who’ve been published in web-based literary journals are eligible for inclusion in the Best American Short Stories anthology. I’m not saying you can necessarily be better than the best Americans overall, such as the American Ninja or National Arts Council member Lee Greenwood. But you know, of writers.)

Check out Lloyd Schwartz’s NPR review of the CD of Scott Wheeler’s (Music Composition Fellow ‘05) opera The Construction of Boston. Schwartz calls the recording of Boston Cecilia’s 2002 performance “close to an ideal realization.” The work uses the text of Kenneth Koch’s poem of the same name, an ode to the building of Boston. “I think anyone who loves cities will be charmed by this inventive and moving work,” says Schwartz.

In the ’60s, David Wheeler’s Theatre Company of Boston included Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, and Al Pacino in its acting troupe. But the standout was Paul Benedict, who recently passed away in Martha’s Vineyard. The Globe has an excellent obituary (and check out the tributes in the comments section, too). And the Playgoer, the eponymous blogger shares his personal memories of Mr. Benedict.

In The Public Humanist, filmmaker Larry Hott argues that, along with visual skills, film & video artists ought to be able to string a few words together, to get ahead in their field.

Via the NY Times: according to an NEA report, supply of non-musical plays is outstripping demand. But is this on an aggregate demand curve or a marginal utility curve? And have all exogenous variables been considered? Or could it be, as the UK’s Guardian Theatre Blog suggests, that “demand” for art can be helped along, as with the NEA’s Big Read program for literature. A Big See, anyone?

Via Publishers Weekly, Dennis Lehane, scribe of such iconic Boston tales as Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, will edit Akashic’s forthcoming Boston Noir anthology of mystery stories.

The roster of artists for President-elect Obama’s inauguration is shaping up. Elizabeth Alexander will be inaugural poet (Mass. connection: she studied with Derek Walcott at BU), and Cambridge master cellist Yo-Yo Ma is among the musical performers. (Based on the musicians and the instruments they play, Alex Ross takes a stab at guessing the musical selection.)

A handful of calls to artists…
Wellfleet Harbor Actor’s Theatre is accepting submissions of features, shorts, documentaries and student films that have some connection to Cape Cod for a juried festival called the 2009 Cape Cod Filmmaker Takeover. Chosen films are screened at WHAT’s Julie Harris Stage, the audience votes, and the grand prize winner participates in the Provincetown International Film Festival. Submission must be postmarked by January 23, 2009; guidelines and submission criteria here.

Central Productions has an open call for submissions for the 8th Annual Boston Cinema Census, showcasing innovative works by emerging New England filmmakers. The BCC is hosted by the Brattle Theatre. Deadline Feb. 10, 2009. Check here for details.

Visionary drawings conveying a dwelling/structure/architectural concept can be submitted to Kidspace @ MASS MoCA’s March 2009 Exhibition Cribs to Cribbage and the publication Visionary Architecture. Interested artists should procure a submission form (find out how here), then use the form to create your drawing and submit by January 15, 2009. Selected drawings will be compiled in Visionary Architecture.

And finally…
In case you missed the excellent traditional arts performances in conjunction with the Keepers of Tradition exhibition at the National Heritage Museum, you can check some of them out at the MCC YouTube Channel. (Perhaps during the next snow storm?)

Image: Timothy Horn (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ‘05), WATERSPORTS (Installation, 2002), mixed media, variable dimensions. Timothy’s works are currently on exhibit in In Pursuit of Beauty at the Montserrat Gallery at the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, through January 24. Read the Boston Globe’s review.

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Fiber artist Adrienne Sloane sent us the above image of jewelry depicted (in an unfinished form) in her recent Studio Views. It’s called the Inaugural Necklace and Bracelet (and if anyone can get them into the First Lady-elect’s hands, let us know!).

Speaking of -elects… via Modern Art Notes is the news that former Whitney and SFMOMA director David Ross has posted on Twitter ten arts policy recommendations for the new administration. Included are “1. Support and sign bill giving artists tax incentives for donating their work to museums… 2. Create a new public work program for artists and writers… 8. Consider the creation of a cabinet-level post for culture.”

Now I know it’s not a race. But the Commonwealth’s very own Ploughshares is totally number one yeah wooo hooo! when it comes to Pushcart nominations for literary journals.

At the Boston Handmade blog is an update on their storefront at Downtown Crossing. Anyone surprised to hear that the gallery of lovingly and inventively created handmade goods by local artists and artisans is, in short, hopping?

In the Mass Humanities Public Humanist blog, art historian Jack Cheng explores how “I could do that” isn’t necessarily a slam against a piece of art.

In the unlikely event that whoever stole Ariel Kotker’s hand-sculpted nail from her Northampton Center for the Arts show is also an ArtSake reader: return it, Mr/Ms. Naughty. Seriously, that was not cool. To say nothing of the time it took to create, this piece of art any work of art - deserves more respect than that.

A filmmaker who took part in the The Content + Intent Documentary Institute at MASS MoCA shares how the residency shaped her efforts to build a grassroots audience for her film. (Incidentally, the residency is a five-day workshop to help documentary filmmakers enhance the community engagement and impact of their films-in-process.The next one is in March ‘09.)

The publishers of Play: A Journal of Plays have created an online magazine to accompany it, called Device. Notably, playwright/MacArthur Genius Sarah Ruhl has contributed a series of short essays on topics like “On the Loss of Sword Fights” & “And what of gut-roiling aesthetic hatred?”

From our sibling blog, Keepers of Tradition, comes the fantastic news that the Keepers of Tradition exhibition of Massachusetts art and folk heritage at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington has been extended through June ‘09!

Via Our Daily RED: a panel has recommended Harvard University expand it’s commitment to the arts. Was Marjorie Garber’s op-ed about universities becoming society’s great patrons of the arts prophetic?

And finally, in St. Paul, MN, they’re doing a version of A Christmas Carol in Klingon (with English subtitles). “Scrooge has no honor, nor any courage. Can three ghosts help him to become the true warrior he ought to be in time to save Tiny Tim from a horrible fate?” goes the plug. I found it via playwright Adam Szymkowicz’s blog in a post titled “what we have in MN.” And I’m saying: why don’t we have this in MA? Get on it, local Klingon Assault Groups!

Image: Adrienne Sloane, INAUGURAL NECKLACE AND BRACELET (2008)

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At ecoTheater, a fascinating blog about environmentally sustainable approaches to theater, Mike Lawler worries about the carbon footprint of traveling throughout the country to work with different theater companies. He introduces the quagmire in a discussion with an often-traveling sound designer and continues the conversation here and here.

At the Public Humanist, blog of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, filmmaker Larry Hott discusses how the goals of funders can affect what documentaries get made.

Our sibling blog Keepers of Tradition calls our attention to Club Passim’s Iguana Fund, a professional and artistic development opportunity for musicians.

Want to tick off writer Erika Dreifus in a writing workshop? Do this.

At Soho the Dog, Boston composer, pianist, and conductor Matthew Guerrieri points out that the craters of the planet Mercury share names with great artists in history, including composers.

As a post-post-script to our Alternative Deliveries ramble and its post-ramble, here a couple of the discussions about presenting your own work that are flaring up around the web-o-sphere.

• Playwright Gary Garrison encourages playwrights to produce their own work
• Reb Livingston hilariously, irreverently writes about adventures in DIY poetry, such as publishing your own poetry book for $500 and how she made all her publishing dreams came true with her first collaborative chapbook and anthology
• Scott Kirsner argues that creative forms of distribution including making the film available on your own website should go hand in hand with its participation in film festivals

Image: Rob Dobson, BASKET #143 (2004), Salvaged materials, 13 in. x 15 3/4 in. x 15 in.

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