Art Loop Scoop: 3.5.10

It was a beautiful Friday night for the March Art Loop in Wilmo—people all over the streets, and it was a fantastic sight! The hubby and I started our night with a quick stop at Kathleen Buckalew's exhibit at Gallery 919. After soaking in her sharp, luminous infrared and inkjet images of the historic site of the Dupont's Powder Mill Hagley, we headed to Wilmington Library for a performance by vocalist/guitarist Jessica Graae and pianist Margaret Darby.

This dynamic duo collaborated on a diverse program including Rodgers & Hammerstein selections from Carousel, works from Brahms as well as Danish composer Carl Nielsen, and finishing with Spanish Renaissance songs. Jessica’s strong yet soothing vocals blended naturally with Margaret’s skilled playing. Their lilting sound carried throughout the expanse of the building, drawing in a solid crowd of patrons as soon as they entered the doors. Four Brahms’ pieces, in German (and how hard is that to sing?), seemed effortless between the two. In Von ewiger Liebe, voice and piano together would grow then subside, ebb and flow like waves. Both women were so expressive in their performances; they drew me into the emotion of each piece and their enjoyment in playing them. I hope we’ll enjoy them on more Loops to come!

Other highlights of Loop night: The artwork of Carl Lightburn, Sr., at the Grand, with my favorite piece, Madrinas Journey. The abstract of mixed greens, browns, and yellows had a shadowy figure at its center, seeming to stand strong against the swirling winds of color.

Onto Christina Cultural Arts Center and the intricately detailed and impactful mixed media/wood images by Tanya Murphy Dodd; welcoming us through the doors was the rhythmic sound of a drumming class going on upstairs.

Next stop: the New Wilmington Art Association Group Exhibition. NWAA shows are always hopping and this one was no exception, drawing a widely varied crowd. Pieces that particularly struck me: Felise Luchansky’s Redemption, a mixed-media piece composed of S&H green stamps, bingo markers & other 50s kitsch; Esteban M. Pilonieta Vera’s A Hunger Artist (Dedication to Kafka), a found art piece including porcelain, mud, hay and—believe it— horse manure! A bonus with this visit: A tour of the soon-to-be-open Shipley Lofts, which provide affordable downtown housing for artists. We saw two semi-complete units, and the huge windows, open layout and exposed brick really gave the feel of a Manhattan loft. The place was packed with onlookers, all excited about the buzz this place is creating.

End of the night found us sharing a bottle of tempranillo and tapas at Orillas, and that, too, was filled to capacity. Wilmingtonians, this truly is an exciting time for the Arts and nightlife in our city!

It's Kids' Stuff....with the Arts!

WCC SUMMER CAMP
Despite the winter weather, it's time to start thinking about WCC Summer Camp. This year, we will offer two camps, our Annual Summer Day Camp for treble singers who have completed grades 2-8 and a new Advanced Vocal Camp for advanced male and female singers ages 13-18.

This year's Summer Day Camp for singers who have completed grades 2-8 is scheduled for June 21-25. In addition to choral rehearsals and musicianship training, campers learn new skills in recorder and percussion classes and take the afternoons off for some fun activities like swimming and bowling. After one week, we put it all together for a Friday noontime concert for family and friends and follow it up with an old-fashioned cookout. Older singers can apply to be camp interns.

The new Advanced Vocal Camp is designed for the advanced high school singer who is considering a vocal major, minor, or participation in a college-level choir or opera/musical theatre program while pursuing a non-music major. This one week camp emphasizes solo and choral repertoire, performing and auditioning skills, musicianship skills and staging skills. Highlights include master classes with performing arts professionals and a final performance for family and friends.

Campers do not need to be members of the WCC, so bring a friend! Camp brochures, registration forms and financial aid applications are available and enrollment has already begun.

See http://www.wilmingtonchildrenschorus.org/.

OPERADELAWARE'S YOUTH PROGRAM presents DISNEY'S MULAN JR.
Mulan Jr. is based on the Disney production. Music & lyrics by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel, Stephen Schwartz, Jeannine Tesori & Alexa Junge. Adapted and arranged, with additional Music and lyrics by Bryan Louiselle. Mulan Jr. is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). Mulan Jr. is part of THE BROADWAY JUNIOR COLLECTION.

Three shows are available: Friday, March 5th, 7:00 pm, Saturday, March 6th, 4:30 pm & 7:00 pm at the Tatnall School’s Laird Performing Arts Center, 1501 Barley Mill Road, Wilmington, Delaware 19807. Tickets are $10 general or $15 for reserved seating. Available at the door or to guarantee a seat, purchase online at: https:\\operadelaware.ticketleap.com. Directed by Kathy Cammett, with Music Direction by Yoonhak Baek.

See http://www.operade.org/.

An Artist Breaks with Tradition to Find Truth

At six, the artist clearly knows he is not Picasso, and not Chagall: “My name is Asher Lev,” he tells his uncle as the play unfolds. The painter’s quest for powerful artistic expression drives a wedge between him and his Hasidic roots. Guided by his heart and his paintbrush, Asher learns to show the painful truth in his works.

Aaron Posner’s artful adaptation of Chaim Potok’s novel, presented in by the Delaware Theatre Company is a co-production with the Round House Theatre of Bethesda, Maryland. This tightly-wound tale, directed by Jeremy Skidmore, gets to the heart of Asher’s conflict with beautifully acted scenes and well-crafted dialogue. Potok grapples with some heavy thematic material: the artist’s role in society and his responsibility to his own culture.

In a way, the story is a “play within a play”. The age-old Pygmalion theme runs through the story: Asher is mentored by Jacob Kahn (played by Adam Heller), a famous artist who views the young prodigy as his own marble, ripe for sculpting. When Asher realizes he cannot distract his mother from her sorrow by painting the birds and flowers she requests, he is already well on his way to painting the ugly truth, and Kahn guides him in expressing his perceptions of the world, his family and culture on the canvas.

Alexander Strain is moving in his portrayal of the young artist. He conveys with finesse the character’s bewilderment at his talent, wonderment of his neighborhood with its endless subjects for sketching, as well as his devotion to his parents. Though the actor never leaves the stage, he transports us, scene by scene to different locations and times in his life. After his beloved uncle Yitschock dies, Asher becomes unable to paint for three long years. His mother, played by a sympathetic and versatile Lisa Bruneau, bemoans the loss of his art. Bruneau handles her role as a traditional Hasidic wife and mother who is torn by her son’s unquestionable talent and the rift it causes with her rigid scholar husband. As Anna, Kahn’s assistant and manager, Bruneau’s change in posture and behavior was so striking, I had to look in the program just to be sure there wasn’t a forth actor.

Each time Asher parts with a painting, he parts with a piece of himself, and it is painful for him. The audience is completely willing to believe the attic room, which never changes configuration- is his parents home in Brooklyn, his teacher’s studio, and the artist’s childhood bedroom. The painted canvasses stacked along the walls and the spattered paint and the gloomy windows and skylights remind us we are in an artist’s den, and perhaps metaphorically, in his mind. The canvasses he does show us are all blank, allowing the words to paint images for us.

As Asher’s stern father, Aryeh, Heller is unbending and almost cruel. The actor shines as Kahn, the crass mentor, whose thick slab of Brooklyn accent and self-observations bring comic light to the show. Heller’s subtle changes in voice and posture age his characters and help bring to life this story of self-discovery and artistry.

For more tickets and information, and to learn about DTC’s other exciting productions and events go to: http://www.delawaretheatre.org.

Photo Credit: Matt Urban