What's Happening This Week (Part 2)

Thursday July 9:
Besides the first of 2 shows by Doug Varone and Dancers (8 p.m. Thursday and Friday in the CFA Theater at Wesleyan - see here) and the opening evening of North End Nights (read here), one can attend the Graduate Liberal Studies Program's Open House/Gallery Talk at 6: 30 p.m. in Zilkha Gallery. For the past several weeks, the Main Gallery has hosted a teacher/student display that is quite impressive. Works by Professors or instructors John Frazer, Keiji Shinohara, Peter Waite and Marion Belanger hang alongside works by students David Beveridge, Dean Passanesi, and Charlice Culvert (her work is particularly striking.) Ms. Belanger will deliver the talk - the event is free and open to the public. The show closes this weekend, so head on over. For more information, call 685-3338.

Also tonight, the Green Street Arts Center has a busy schedule with 3 separate events. At 5:30 p.m., there is an "Arts in the Garden Photo Scavenger Hunt" followed at 7 p.m. by a meeting of the "Flash Forward" photography group. Also at 7 p.m., the GSAC Writers Out Loud group holds a "Literary Open Mic." For more information about any or all events, call 685-7871.

Friday July 10:
There will be a Songwriter Circle event 8 p.m. at The Buttonwood Tree. Scheduled to appear are Lisa Lawrence, Emma Weiss and Krizta Moon (pictured left.) All 3 are based in Connecticut and bring different influences and styles to the program. For more information, go to www.myspace.com/lisalawrence, www.myspace.com/emmaweissmusic, and www.kriztamoon.com. To reserve a seat, call 347-4957.

Boney's Music Lounge, atop Fishbone Cafe, presents the bluesy sounds of Sweet Daddy Cool Breeze at 8:30 p.m. Led by harmonica player/vocalist Wally Greaney and guitarist Mark Easton, the quartet specializes in Chicago-style electric blues. For more information about the band, go to www.myspace.com/sweetdaddylive. For more information about Boney's, call 346-6000.

Saturday July 11:
The Buttonwood Tree welcomes back the Collin Wade Jazz Quartet for an evening of mainstream music with fine improvisations. Joining alto saxophonist Wade will be Matt Smith (guitar), Ian Tait (bass) and Colleen Clark (drums.) To learn more about the band, go to www.myspace.com/collinwadejazz.

Jazz/funk returns to Boney's Music Lounge when the exciting and electrifying Melvin Sparks Trio comes back to town. Guitarist Sparks is ably assisted by organist Matthew O and drummer Bill Carbone (currently a Middletown resident and graduate student at Wesleyan.) They'll "rock the lounge" from 8:30 p.m. to 12 midnight.

GLSP Artist Exhibit at Wesleyan Opens Thursday

GLSP Artists - Exhibit and Opening Reception
We're pleased to announce the opening of a Zilkha Gallery exhibit featuring art work produced by GLSP students in their final projects, and by the faculty who guided them in these projects. Please join us for an opening reception with brief talks by the artists. Let's celebrate the beginning of the summer term together!

Featured GLSP Student Artists:
* David Beveridge, Professor of Chemistry and University Professor of the Sciences and Mathematics
* Charlice Culvert, MALS 2009
* Dean Passanesi, MALS 2009

Featured GLSP Faculty Artists:
* Marion Belanger, Photographer and Lecturer in Graduate Liberal Studies
* John Frazer, Professor of Art, Emeritus
* Keiji Shinohara, Artist-in-Residence
* Peter Waite, Artist and Lecturer in Graduate Liberal Studies
(Please visit http://www.wesleyan.edu/glsp/general-information/newsevents.htt#exhibit for links to their artwork)

Opening Reception Thursday, June 25, 2009
Time: 5:30 - 8:30pm pm
Location: Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery
Main Gallery, Wesleyan University

Admission: Free
RSVP appreciated. Contact Jennifer Curran by email to jcurran@wesleyan.edu or call her at (860) 685-3338.


Exhibit Schedule:
Three weeks only
Thursday, June 25 5:30-8:30 pm
-includes opening reception; rsvps to jcurran@wesleyan.edu appreciated
Friday, June 26, 4-8pm
Saturday, June 27, 10am-2pm
-includes GLSP Open House at 10:30am
Sunday, June 28 10am-2pm

Tuesday, June 30, 4-8pm
Wednesday, July 1, 4-8pm
Friday, July 2, 4-8pm

Thursday July 9, 4-8pm
-includes GLSP Open House at 6:30pm
Friday, July 10 4-8pm
Saturday, July 11, 10am-2pm
Sunday, July 12, 10am-2pm
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009
Time: 05:30 PM - 08:30 PM
Location: Zilkha Main Gallery
Sponsor: Graduate Liberal Studies
Admission: Free and open to the public
Event URL: http://www.wesleyan.edu/glsp/general-information/newsevents.htt#exhibit
For more information: Jennifer Curran jcurran@wesleyan.edu 860.685.3338

Arts This Week (5/11-5/14)

Tuesday Jazz at Public, 337 Main Street, presents MDIII from 6 - 9:30 p.m. Led by vocalist Michael Dunham, the quartet specializes in r'n'b, Brazilian music, smooth jazz and, especially, the Stevie Wonder songbook. The III part of the group consists of Pete Hines (drums), Mike Nunno (bass) and Glenn Masso (keyboards.) Crowds have been quite good lately and so has the music - check it out.



The West African Drumming and Dance Concert at Wesleyan, originally scheduled for last Friday, will take place on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in (weather permitting) the CFA Courtyard. If the rain comes, the show will take place in Crowell Concert Hall. No matter the venue, the program will be visually and aurally exciting. The event is free and open to the public.

The Davison Art Center at Wesleyan reopens Tuesday at 12noon. The excellent Judith Joy Ross photographic exhibition continues through May 24. Gallery hours are 12noon - 4 p.m. every day but Monday. For more information, go to www.wesleyan.edu/dac.

The Ezra & Cecile Zilkha Gallery will reopen on Thursday of this week.

Wednesday evening at 7:30, The Buttonwood Tree, 605 Main Street, presents "Evening Oasis", the bellydancing event that draws performers and audience members from throughout Southern New England. For more information, call 347-4957.

This item from The Russell Library:

The Literary Tea for the entrants of the Edna Ray and Benjamin Shenker Creative Writing Contest will be held on Thursday, May 14 at 7 p.m. in the Hubbard Room of Russell Library, 123 Broad Street. The young writers submitted stories and poems about “The Funniest Thing That Ever Happened To Me!” All contest participants and their families are invited to attend. Refreshments will be served.

The guest speaker is Lisa Sherman who has been a middle level educator and consultant for more than 15 years. She currently teaches 8th grade language arts at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Middletown. She has a passion for empowering young adults to discover their writer's voice and believes that community partnerships, such as the one she shares with Russell Library, strengthen her ability to do so. For more information, call 347-2528, extension 135.

reading, writing, 'rithmetic....and Art!

Every year, I look forward to a particular art show at Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University. While the college students are away on Spring Break, the university allows the Middletown Public Schools to display the work of students from every grade and every school in the system. The galleries are filled with pottery, charcoal studies, paper craft projects and pen and ink sketches, each with a label listing the name and grade of the child, as well as their art teacher and school. You can see a slideshow of some of the work on the school system's website.

We have some very talented young artists in town -- and for the kids, nothing matches finding their own work on the gallery wall.

The exhibit is up through March 15th. The Zilkha gallery is open Monday to Friday, from 12 to 7 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 4 pm. If you've never been, the gallery is easily accessed from the parking lot off Washington Terrace, adjacent to the Veterans Memorial Green.

Week in Preview 2/23 - 2/28 Correction & Addition

Earlier this week, I wrote that the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center would be performing in the Crowell Concert Series at Wesleyan - they are. Not on Friday night, as I mistakenly wrote, but Saturday at 8 p.m. ("Pre-concert Talk" at 7:15.) Pianist & co-artistic director Wu Han (pictured) will lead the ensemble in the program of music by Dvorak and Bartok. Go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa or call 685-3355 for ticket information.

If you are on campus this weekend, do not miss "Stan's Cafe:Of All The People in All the World", the installation in Zilkha Gallery (with satellite sites at Russell Library, the main lobby of Olin Library, and the empty ION storefront of Main Street Market.) Take your time, read the captions,and think about the world and your/our place in it. The show, regretfully, closes after Tuesday March 3 but, happily, the rice used in the various locations will go to food pantries and soup kitchen in the area.

Middletown-based playwright Jenny Lecce is one of 9 writers featured in this weekend's "New Works New Britain" Friday through Sunday in the lovely Trinity on Main, 69 Main Street in New Britain. The plays, all under 20 minutes, feature local directors and actors. Performances are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, go to www.nwnb.webs.com.

Rice: Funny, Moving, Beautiful and Edifying

When I covered the delivery of 4,000 pounds of rice for Wesleyan's most recent installation of Feet to the Fire, Stan's Cafe, Of All the People in the World, USA. I was, frankly, skeptical that piles of rice, representing world statistics, could actually be "art" worth considering.

I was wrong.

I attended the opening of the installation Friday, and was immediately struck by the simple beauty of the piles of rice, where each kernel represents a single human being, spread on a gallery floor, on white sheets of paper containing compelling statistics.

The first two piles of rice you encounter in the exhibit are one which represents "All the people in the world who died today," juxtaposed with the second pile which represents "All the people in the world who were born today."

(Actress and docent, Charlotte Gregory, of Birmingham England, attends a stray grain on a pile of rice.)


The piles of rice, attended by actors in the role of docents, who measure (each pound of rice contains 27,263 grains), assemble and tidy the piles of rice, are spread through the Zilkha Gallery. Others, mainly with historical statistical significance, can be found at the Olin Library on campus. Several other smaller installations will appear throughout the campus, and the city over the 12 run of the installation. And local restaurants have been cajoled into serving special rice dishes in conjunction with the exhibit.

(Wesleyan professor and Feet to the Fire director, Barry Chernoff, and Stan's Cafe director, and creator of Of All the People in the World, James Yarker.)

Statistics for the Wesleyan presentation of the exhibit were compiled by Wesleyan biology professor Barry Chernoff's students in an introductory biology and environmental science course. Eleven thousand pounds of rice will be used in the display, all of which will be re-bagged and donated to local charities and soup kitchens.

The simple beauty of the rice piles is framed by the statistics, which can make the piles seem awesome in the way they reveal numbers - McDonald's customers served in the USA today, or hilarious in their perspective - a single rice grain on a sheet of paper and the caption Morgan Spurlock (the director of Supersize Me).

The piles can also have a big emotional impact, as with the piles which represent all the people who died in the Holocaust, or the one which illustrates all the people who heard Martin Luther King's "I have a dream," speech, which is complete with a representation of the reflecting pool (more on that later).

Some of the piles are whimsical, such as The Hartford Symphony Orchestra, positioned on its sheet of paper like a conductor and and an orchestra, while some are instructive as the large pile which illustrates all the people in Connecticut who drive alone to work and some is shockingly tragic as is the enormous pile which represents all Americans without health insurance.

"I created the piece because I wanted to understand my place in the world, and who I share the world with," explained James Yarker, director of Stan Cafe, and creator of the piece. "I can take one grain of rice in my hand and say, 'That's me.'"

In fact, Yarker explained that people often find themselves in the show, but not quite so explicitly as one woman who approached him at a show in New York and claimed she had found herself. Yarker acknowledged the woman's claim, but she was insistent that she show Yarker the pile which she inhabited. She walked with Yarker to the pile which represented the Martin Luther King speech on the mall in Washington DC and she told Yarker she was there.

"'I was standing right next to the reflecting pool,' she told me," Yarker said. "But the remarkable thing was that she told me she had fallen into the reflecting pool, and she pointed to our exhibit pile, where a single grain of rice had fallen into our representation of that pool. She said, 'There. That's me.'"

The exhibit continues through March 3, and admission is free and open to the public. The gallery will hold family workshops on Sunday February 22, and Sunday March 1, during which parents and children will learn about compiling statistics, and how to measure and display those statistics with rice.

On the Town (Friday through Sunday)

From six-strings to life-size puppets to contemporary creative music, there's much to see and do in Middletown this weekend.

Today at 5 p.m., attend the opening of "Stan's Cafe: Of All the People in All the World, USA", the new performance art/installation at the Zilkha Gallery (there is also a part of the installation in the lobby of Olin Library, Church Street.) To read more about the event, click here for a previous EYE posting or go to www.wesleyan.edu/feettothefire.

The appropriately-named Arlene WOW! returns to The Buttonwood Tree tonight at 7:30 p.m. The New Haven native is a singer-songwriter who slowly but steadily has been making inroads into the national music scene. Her songs speak of love won and lost, of the ups-and-downs of everyday life, and dreams of a better times. To get a taste of her music, go to www.arlenewow.com.

Besides the Greater Middletown Chorale Winter Choral Festival (read about it here), one can choose to go to The Buttonwood to hear the Collin Wade Quartet. The Colchester native, currently attending Western Connecticut State University (whose jazz studies program is the equal of many major schools), is a alto saxophonist with a "sweet"tone and an intelligent approach to creative music. Joining him will be Eric Laursen (guitar), Jake Habegger (drums) and Ian Tait (bass) - the rhythm section has worked together in the post-modern rock band The Files and Fires. The music starts at 7:30 p.m. Click here to get a sample of Wade's fine saxophone work.

The picture at the top of the posting shows the Awaji Puppet Theater Company preparing for a performance. The Company, who practices the ancient from of Japanese puppet theater developed on the island of Awaji, is in the midst of a North American tour and will perform on Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. in the World Music Hall, Wyllys Avenue. With elaborate costumes and precise movements, the APTC tell stories that range from comedic to tragic, from love to sorrow. As you can see from the photo, it takes several people to manipulate the large puppets. For ticket information, call 685-3355 or go online to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa. Click here to see a video of the Company's tour.

On Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m., The Russell House Music Series presents saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase in concert. A mainstay of the Boston creative music scene, Kohlhase is proficient on alto, tenor and baritone saxophones and has worked with the Either/Orchestra, Wesleyan Professor Anthony Braxton's Genome Project and Wesleyan graduate Matt Steckler's Dead Cat Bounce. He also had led his own groups for the past 2 decades and has issued 7 CDs as a leader. Joining Kohlhase will be guitarist Eric Hofbauer, bassist Jef Charland and drummer Mike Connors. The Russell House is located at 350 High Street and, as always, the event is free and open to the public. To find out more about Charlie Kohlhase, go to www.charliekohlhase.com.

Much to Do About (Middle)town

This image of a Russian Schoolhouse in the town of Serpuxov is a work by Wesleyan graduate (2001) Sasha Rudensky. The Russian-born photographer, who received her MFA from Yale in 2008, is now a Visiting Instructor in the Art & Art History Department at Wesleyan. Her first major solo exhibition opens this Saturday at the Ezra & Cecile Zilkha Gallery on campus and will be celebrated with an Open House tonight (Friday January 23) from 5 - 7 p.m. She'll deliver the Gallery Talk at (approximately) 5:30 and you'll get to view the images fromm 2 of her photographic series, "Remains" and "Demons." Regular Gallery hours are 12noon - 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday (12noon - 8 p.m. on Friday and the exhibition is up through February 15. To view more of her excellent work, go to www.sasharudensky.com.

Also on campus tonight, "A Conversation with Tony Kushner" takes place at 8 p.m. in Memorial Chapel. The playwright will discuss his Abraham Lincoln project, his award-winning "Angels in America" and many other topics. For more information about this free event, call the University Box Office at 685-3355.

The Buttonwood Tree has a musical weekend on tap. Tonight, the performance space welcomes the duo of Sonny & Perley. Perley Rousseau is the vocalist and her husband Sunny Daye plays the keyboards. Their program mines the "Great American Songbook", the worldsof Jazz and Latin American music in a delightful and irresistible manner. Over the past 12 years, they've issued 4 CDs and toured venues throughout the Northeast and beyond. The music starts at 7:30 p.m. To get a taste of Sonny & Perley's sound, go to www.sonnyandperley.com. Then, head downtown to catch them live.

On Saturday, The Buttonwood welcomes the high-energy funk, jazz and r'n'b sounds of the Leah Randazzo Group. The septet, lead by the feisty 24-old year vocalist, features a really "tight" rhythm section and a "hot" 3-piece horn section. Randazzo possesses a strong and pliable voice, equally at home in quiet ballads and more raucous songs. The weather is expected to be quite cold on Saturday night; I expect the Leah Randazzo Group will warm you right up. To learn more about the young lady and her band, go to www.leahrandazzogroup.com. For more information about The Buttonwood, call 347-4957.

Visual Treats for the Mind

Walking around the Wesleyan campus the other day, I chanced upon this poster and headed over to the Zilkha Gallery in the Center for the Arts. These 3 artists are all students in the Graduate Liberal Studies Program at Wesleyan and this exhibition celebrates their work.

It's tough to tell looking at this image of a row of trees in Italy just how powerful Ryan Lee's exhibition is. Titled "Slivers", Lee makes a statement about how man treats or, truly, mistreats the environment. 90% of each image is taken up by the sky, a bleached-out tableau and what one sees of the earth often looks desolate or defeated (one image juxtaposes a lonesome stand of trees with a subdivision of lily-white houses.) It's best to view Lee's work without people milling about because one really needs to take the time to take in what he or she is seeing. Ryan Lee graduated from the GLSP this past May and his exhibition was awarded the Rulewater Prize. You can view the works online at www.ryandlee.com.

William Murray's exhibition, "A Soul's Search for Meaning", is a series of monotypes and one painting that draws one in slowly (the way they were created.) The works are abstract but the careful viewer can intuit that the artist quest had a spiritual intent.

Philip Munroe's drawings definitely tell a story. The title of his work "Visualizing Melville's 'The Confidence Man': His Masquerade" and, while there is no text, the artist has imbued each character in his work with personality and emotions.

Both Munroe and Murray are working towards their degrees and these works serve as their final projects. There's not much time left to view the exhibition; Gallery hours are Friday June 27 4 p.m. - 8 p.m. and Saturday June 28 12 noon - 4 p.m. Go take a look.

(Poster photo by Olivia Barrett and image courtesy of Ryan Lee.)