Exposing Artists' Inspiration

Last week, I joined a small group of media folk to preview the Delaware Art Museum's summer exhibit, “Exposed! Revealing Sources in Contemporary Art”. What a treat! It was wonderful to hear the Curator of American Art, Heather Campbell Coyle, talk so enthusiastically about the pieces and the fascinating background information she amassed in her research for the show.

First in our tour was the oldest piece in the exhibit: a 1964 offset lithography piece by Eugene Feldman entitled Friend's Wife (Mrs. JFK). The stark, grainy image grabs you, revisiting the raw emotion in the original Eddie Adams photo of Jackie O at Kennedy's funeral.

As expected (and to my delight), there is a series of large Warhols lining the wall. The seven colorful screenprints of Mao, 1972 come from a 10-piece portfolio. I've been enamored with all things Andy Warhol since I was a teenager (thanks to junior-high art teacher, Mrs. P.), so of course I was thrilled to see these extraordinary works, on loan from a private collection. They’re classic Warhol—irreverent, campy and powerful.

Another piece that struck me was the enormous 60-piece Deluxe by Ellen Gallagher, an African-American artist whose expansive creation features the techniques of collage, laser etching, clay, and crystal embellishment, incorporated into ad pages of Ebony magazines from the 1960s. You could literally spend hours with this piece and not take in every meticulous detail. It is a breathtaking and brilliant commentary on culture, beauty and media imagery.

Coyle’s favorite pieces include the Gallagher and a series by Richard Prince, based on pulp fiction nurse novels from the 1950s and 1960s. She noted that she enjoyed discovering the “backstory” to these artists’ inspirations, how they derived information and images from pop culture, poetry and media, and made it their own. “It adds a richness to the story if you know what the artist started with,” she said.

You can also read Coyle’s blog on the exhibit at http://exposed-exhibition.blogspot.com/.
Don’t miss this exhibit, on view until October 4.

See http://www.delart.org/.

Modern Millie: Thoroughly Entertaining!

Starry-eyed aspiring actresses, an evil conniving villain, and an unlikely hero who saves the day: Thoroughly Modern Millie at the New Candlelight Theatre in Arden has it all. This rousing production, set during the 1920s, runs through October 10. The show is beautifully staged, choreographed and performed.

Millie Dillmount, sung beautifully by a sympathetic Erica Scanlon Harr, is a small town girl following her dreams to New York City. Her odyssey lands her in a fleabag motel, which is merely a front for a “white slavery” ring funneling unsuspecting young women to Hong Kong via a laundry hamper. Micki Sharpe, who also directs the show, plays the hysterical, conniving Mrs. Meers, slipping in and out of her fake pigeon English when necessary. Bun Foo and Ching Ho, unwilling cohorts in her slave trade, are played by Reza Mirsajadi and Brian Peeke respectively. They are side-splittingly funny as they sing their numbers in Mandarin, with the subtitle translations overhead.

As Millie’s dream of marrying her boss goes hopelessly wrong, she meets and falls in love with Jimmy Smith, played by the handsome and lithe Justin Damm. The wealthy Muzzy Van Hossmere is expertly sung by Jillian Pirtle. Megan Pisors’ portrayal of the slightly clueless Dorothy Brown is charming. As the big boss Mr. Graydon, actor Patrick O’Hara almost makes us want to like his bumbling, womanizing character.

Be sure to see this heart-warming show, filled with snappy dance numbers, whirling secretaries’ desks and flapper dresses.

See www.newcandlelighttheatre.com.

More Artful Excitement in August

Weekends in August are usually so quiet in most cities, but Wilmington on August 14 was quite the exception. I found myself revisiting the notion of human cloning as I struggled to get from one exciting event to the next. Several new exhibits had opened on the Art Loop, ArtFest was exploding on Market Street, and the Delaware Humanities Forum was concluding its Interpreting Dreams series.

Philadelphia-based Melinda Steffy is the Art Loop’s featured artist this month. Her exhibit "Vegetable/Mineral" is hanging in the lobby and along the classroom corridors of the Music School of Delaware. Though these hallways are a slightly cramped venue for some of her larger, more colorful works, the marriage of music and art is a vibrant one. How wonderful to think a student or teacher might pause after a cello lesson to look at Sequence I-III. (see photo). Steffy related to me she had an ancestry of quilters. The idea of using found objects such as old lace, or discarded plastic colored barrettes in her work continues this tradition. These objects retain their original meaning within the framework of the piece. Her show “Remnants and Residual Memories” runs from August 21 to October 4 at the Connelly Center Art Gallery at Villanova University.

See www.melindasteffy.com.

Walk into the 2nd floor gallery of the Carvel State Building, and you see the photographs and captions, all beautifully blown-up and mounted. Take a few steps closer and you are drawn into the captivating and tragic tale of homelessness in our city. Valerie Miller of the Delaware State Housing Authority worked in conjunction with Friendship House, Inc. to coordinate this Photovoice project. Eight men, all over the age of 55 and living in Andrew’s Place shelter, took photos of various locations or situations familiar to them. Underneath each picture, a caption explains things a person who isn’t intimately familiar with homelessness might not notice or understand. One photo, entitled Budget Motel shows rows of empty Budget rental trucks open in the back. The caption explains that the workers from Budget leave them open because they know the homeless crawl in there to sleep. Another photo shows a woman who had just looked for food in a trashcan, and the caption relates just how common this practice is for the homeless. In reading the captions and viewing the photos, we gain a glimpse into the hardscrabble life of the homeless and destitute in our city and country. The Photovoice exhibit will be at the Carvel Building until August 28.


See www.artsdel.org/services/mezzanine.shtml.