2012 May Nashville Arts Magazine

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30 | May 2O12 NashvilleArts.com | ArtNowNashville.com

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M any of us dream of taking a trip that will somehow change our lives, but few of us are able to let our

travels affect us to such a degree. It’s different for artists—for them exposure to new environments often takes their work in entirely new directions. That’s what happened when edie Maney—she prefers all lowercase letters for her first name—looked over her photographs from an extended trip to Australia and New Zealand in February 2011. She wanted to paint something based on the images, but since she doesn’t work in a representational manner, she found a way to translate the scenes into her abstract style.

edie ManeyArt Down Underby MiChelle Jones

The resulting ten paintings of Australia and New Zealand on My Mind constitute the largest series she’s ever done and are an intriguing interpretation of green and purple vineyards, ice-blue glaciers, muddy shorelines, and turquoise waters—even an Aborigine playing a traditional horn. Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell’s “Georgia on My Mind” inspired the series name. (Maney’s previous series include a collection of paintings in a palette of creams, browns, and grays produced while listening to different versions of “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”)

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He learned lost wax casting—a multi-step process that starts with clay and ends with molten glass being poured into a silica mold—and began working with Pyrex at the torch to create delicate wine goblets and flowing chandelier arms and intricate statuary. He sailed through graduate school and was off to Italy, continuing his studies under the masters on the island of San Servolo, a few miles off of Venice.

“The American glass movement started in the 1970s, but the very lucrative and very secretive Italian glass guild had existed for centuries,” he explains. “Through history, glass there had equated to gold, and here I was learning what had been passed down to them.”

Now, Santisteban is paying it forward at the Franklin Glassblowing Studio, teaching advanced French casting techniques to Vanderbilt students and introductory workshops for beginners—each leaving with a hand-crafted ornament at the end. The space also serves as a gallery for his own work, the sunlight dancing around displays that illustrate his capabilities. One recent customer commissioned a massive Venetian chandelier; another ordered thirty identical lost wax castings of a corporate logo. Some come for abstract sculpture, others for art glass wall sconces.

And on the first Friday of every month, as part of the Franklin Art Scene’s Downtown Tour of the Arts, Santisteban is delighting crowds around the furnace as he demonstrates his craft in a ballet of heating, spinning, blowing, and twisting, adding layers and details over and again until the work is ready for the patient cooling of a specialized kiln. It’s a magical process, and watching him in motion, it’s clear that this is what Jose was meant to do.

“Twelve years is what it took—working in glass—to make a career out of it,” he says wistfully, “but I feel good about my path.”

www.franklinglassblowingstudio.com www.franklinartscene.com

I t was a vast texas landscape abundant with the smell of

gunpowder, the sound of hoof beats, and those John Ford Stagecoach skies which seemed to go on forever that influenced the young, impressionable robert Christian Kristoffersen. Later, his name evolved into Bobby Kris when he got an edgy rock-and-roll record deal in Dallas in the early ’60s. Eventually, he emerged as Kris Kristoffersen, a fine art photographer who began to make a name for himself around the same time another Kris Kristofferson was culturally captivating America in records and film.

"If I had been on Wheel of Fortune I guess I bought the wrong vowel," observes Kristoffersen, wryly noting the ‘e’ and the ‘o’ difference between the two surnames.

“My father and grandfather were both gamblers, outlaws if you will, and Dallas was wide open in the ’30s, with its own type of violence and killings,” says Kristoffersen. But coming of age in the Lone Star State gave him a certain swagger and savoir-faire characteristic of a gun-fighter from another era, and, oddly enough, one of his first jobs was just that—as the original sharpshooter hired at a then-newly minted Six Flags Over Texas amusement park. “I always played the outlaw, except on Thursday, when I got to be the sheriff, and I did it for about seven years.”

Kris KristoffersenLevels of Freedomby Mary unobsky

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43His friends at the time were young country singer Johnny Western and his pal Roger Miller, long before the latter wrote “King of the Road” and “Dang Me.”

Following the suggestion of a friend and to partially cure a broken marriage, Kristoffersen started photographing American Indians and, in particular, Indians that he felt had made a difference somehow. This led to other subject matter that represented different levels of freedom to this transplanted Texan. He has successfully captured World War I and II aircraft, cowboys and rodeos, sideshows and carnivals, hobos, and Civil War soldiers, some in sepia tones which look like granulated prairie dust and others a bit more romanticized yet remaining fiercely independent. This wholly American photographer, with his passionate love of history, went to Jamestown, Virginia, in 2007 to photograph the 400th anniversary celebration of our founding colony. The Tall Ships series is a powerful and graceful result of Kristoffersen’s love affair with wooden ships.

“Photography, at its best, captures the truth . . . moments in time that are fleeting, that you’ll never see again . . . things the naked eye doesn’t even catch. When I’m working, I’m totally in the moment. It’s an out-of-body experience where I’m going on instinct, feelings, and vibes, in heavy concentration where I’m one with the process. It’s a kind of Zen moment, and I’m in the zone,” muses Kristoffersen.

kristoffersenphoto.com

”“I have always been drawn to lost and gone places. Perhaps I should have been born in a different era. The past sings to me.


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the images were all shot at the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, at Chesapeake bay.

Fifty tall ships were invited from all over the world. i recorded them in both digital format and film. i shot for over three days.


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A yankee-born Chicagoan paints about generalizations and tribulations of southern culture in america—with success? I

approached my conversation with John Reed about his career and series titled Images of the South with a playful skepticism. Although he brings to the table an impressive resume as a seasoned curator, museum and gallery preparator, art handler, stained-glass artist, and inspired painter showing in galleries from Chicago to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, I questioned his understanding of sweet tea and hospitality when his mind was muddled with drinking “pop” and cheering for Da Bears. Somewhere in his journey across the Mason-Dixon in the mid ’70s, however, Reed submitted to the slower pace and iconic drawl and has been a prominent member of the Nashville arts community ever since.

The winner of prestigious honors including the Merit Scholarship Award at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Who’s Who Among American Colleges and Universities Award, Reed credits his successes to a varied and fruitful career. Although he holds a BS in Studio Arts from Tennessee State University and received a post baccalaureate certificate in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he did not start out as a painter. Initially, Reed studied at the Appalachian State Center for Crafts, where he focused his work on stained- and hot-glass art and enjoyed working with diverse shapes and textures.

In his charming yet established tone, Reed described his career shift from glass work to painting saying, “I was taking classes for fun at Appalachian State’s Center for Crafts under Curtiss Brock, head of the glass department. Brock encouraged me to pursue a degree in studio arts. I began at Tennessee State University where I took Painting 101 and haven’t gone back since.”

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top to bottom: Montgomery, Oil, charcoal, acrylic, paper on board, 38” x 68” Servitude, Oil, charcoal, acrylic, paper on board, 40” x 40” March Against Fear, Oil, charcoal, acrylic, paper on board, 41” x 40”


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Reed was drawn to the instant gratification of paint, but after having worked two-dimensionally for several years, he started to miss the contoured textures of his glass-working roots. He began looking for ways to abstract images in order to draw greater interest to the paintings and encourage a dialogue between the viewer and the piece.

Seven years ago, Reed stumbled upon the art of cutting paintings and then piecing them together again, a unique technique of ’weaving’ multiple images into a single composition. With this style he first creates two separate paintings based on found imagery, including newspaper photographs or magazine images. He then cuts his two paintings into strips and laces them together into one quilted piece.

In choosing material, Reed is drawn to images that speak to issues and concerns present in his artistic pursuit. He stresses the search for meaning and personal aesthetic in painting as a methodology worth surrendering to, both for the artist and viewer.

Take, for example, Plight of the Poor and Forgotten from Reed’s Images of the South series. Aligned with the show’s charge “to represent the common lives, emotions and struggles of the people who forged the strength in today’s Southern culture,” Reed was drawn to a photograph by Dorothea Lange. An influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, Lange photographed a downtrodden family hitchhiking during the Great Depression. Reed abstracted the original image by painting only the wife and child. He then cut the pieces and wove them together again with an updated black-and-red color palette. Plight of the Poor and Forgotten provides a commentary on the downtrodden in the American South and addresses the proverbial struggle for single parents within this social context.

In Uprising, Reed adapts a newspaper photograph of a group of security officers who were fired upon by an angry mob to focus on one officer’s reaction to the chaos. The officer’s face speaks to how strongly he was affected, and his expression is highlighted by the checkerboard backdrop. The striking element of this piece is Reed’s ability to add a unique yet plausible dimension. In so much of his work, he helps the viewer re-engage in the various layers of tales from the American South.

A selection of pieces from his Images of the South series will be on view at the Bryant Gallery All Stars Show opening on May 12. If unable to catch this show, visit Picture This Gallery and Framing Studio in Hermitage, where Reed’s influence as the Gallery Director is considerable.

johnreedart.com www.picturethis-gallery.com www.bryantgallerynashville.com

The Debate, Oil, charcoal, acrylic, paper on board, 38” x 55”Till Death Do Us Part, Oil, charcoal, acrylic, 41” x 41”

Plight of the Poor and Forgotten, Oil, charcoal, acrylic, 41” x 40”

Uprising, Oil, charcoal, acrylic, paper on board, 40” x 41”


65Over at the far end of the Franklin Scene Art Crawl, at Damico Frame and Art Gallery, visitors can view original art and photography. Nearby on Columbia Avenue, Jose Santisteban of Franklin Glassblowing Studio literally heats things up with live demonstrations of his surprisingly affordable craft, which he honed under the tutelage of Venetian masters (see story on page 34). At the opposite end of the Scene, from his front porch on Second Avenue, painter and stained-glass artist Paul Crommelin lures people into his home studio and gallery space with a serenade of live jazz guitar played by beret-wearing musician Kurt Egar. Charitably, and typical of the jovial Crommelin, he allows other artists to set up in the rooms of his small home rent-free for the evening, only asking them to bring some wine and eats for the visitors.

Customary maps of the Art Scene are available on the Franklin Trolley or any participating location or can be printed from the monthly event’s website. Visitors can park in available lots and walk to any of the hosting art locations. Or attendees can hitch unlimited trolley rides to stops along the Scene’s Art Crawl. The trolley, which runs the entire three hours of the event (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.), costs five dollars. Trolley attendants happily dispense small plastic cups of wine or bottles of water. Each participating merchant and gallery also spreads a table of appetizers for guests—a popular feature for scene-goers. Area restaurants are open for sit-down meals, per usual.

Abstract, representational, gallery, or merchant, world class or beginner on the way up . . . Art Scene visitors have a variety of choices in art and venues to mix it up in this friendly, historic-downtown monthly event where history plus art equals a thriving community.

www.franklinartscene.com

Kelly harwood with featured artist stephanie hurly

Glassblowing demonstration with Jose santisteban


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W hen you travel anywhere in the world and mention Nashville, you get a positive reaction from even the most casual music fan. Music City is a worldwide magnet for music lovers and those who want to get into the music business.

Nashville’s strong and diverse community of world-class musicians and music business professionals is a big reason for its lasting success as a major music center. However, we didn’t get there overnight.

From the first Nashville-published hymnal in 1824 to the 1870s tours of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the “Athens of the South” has always had major cultural credibility. The Ryman Auditorium, built in 1892, was soon known as a fine concert hall as well as a church. The birth of WSM’s Grand Ole Opry radio show in the late 1920s quickly had a huge impact on fans, but also on countless musicians, who were inspired to come to Nashville and pursue their dreams.

Music City Businessby dave Pomeroy, bassist/Producer, President, Nashville Musicians association, aFM local 257

”“In a tight economy, the quality and efficiency of Nashville musicians are even more essential and are our strongest selling points. Nashville continues to grow as we find new ways to adjust to the challenges of a changing business.

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I f there’s a word that best describes the work of KaWs (brian donnelly), it would be collaboration. Even from his early days as a graffiti artist in Jersey

City, New Jersey, it never seemed as if his work on trains and billboards, and later bus and subway station advertising, was nihilistic or boastful. Rather, he appeared to be suggesting a collaboration with designers and architects. They just didn’t know it yet. It was a strategy—and some would say with graffiti, a risk—that paid off. Even recent work appropriating the characters from The Simpsons, The Smurfs, or SpongeBob Square Pants, in which they become The Kimpsons, Kurfs, and KAWSBOB, appear honest and reverential. As he told fellow artist Gary Panter in a 2009 interview, reprinted in KAWS: 1993–2010 (Rizzoli), “I think that anyone I make reference to can see that there’s a care put into what I do. I’m not trying to fool anybody. I’m not trying to make a fake copy.”

KAWS has since gone on to collaborate with Lucasfilm, Nike, commercial photographers, numerous designers and musical artists—among them Pharrell and Kanye West—has had several museum and gallery exhibitions, and opened his own store in Japan, OriginalFake, in which he offers limited-edition toys and clothing.

An exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, DOWN TIME, presents new paintings that incorporate his cartoon imagery, sculptures of his most notable characters, and a retrospective of some of his toys and commercial photography collaborations.

In the Silfly Plaza outside the museum sits the large sculpture Companion (Passing Through), presenting KAWS’s Companion character, a Mickey Mouse-like creature, in repose, referencing Rodin’s The Thinker. It’s a solemn piece to confront in its scale, especially at night, and seems to comment on the transient nature of pop culture itself, which is striking when considering that KAWS’s main intent may be to have his work remain with us. In another essay in KAWS: 1993–2010 (Rizzoli) by Monica Ramirez-

KAWS: DOWN TIME at the High Museum of Art Atlantaby Joe Pagetta

Gone and Beyond

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Down Time

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M clemore auction Company in Nashville will hold a historic auction of the works of american illustrator

John alan Maxwell on May 15. Though his name may not be as familiar as Norman Rockwell’s, Maxwell was one of the most successful illustrators in the country from the 1920s to the 1950s. Until this month, nearly all of his works have been divided into two repositories. One of these collections is housed in the Carroll Reece Museum at East Tennessee State University. The other is a comprehensive and painstakingly curated collection of over two hundred works amassed by art enthusiast Malcolm Ratliff. William and Stephen McLemore were offered the opportunity to handle the sale of the Ratliff collection by the heirs of his estate. William McLemore relates, “This has been in private hands for so long, and the public has not had the opportunity to see it.” Stephen adds that some of the works may never have been offered for public view.

Maxwell was born in Virginia but moved to Bristol, Tennessee, with his family as a child. He moved to New York City as an adult, where he studied at the Art Students League. Maxwell became part of the renaissance in American popular art in the mid twentieth century. He worked as a commercial artist during the heyday of illustration and design in the U.S. His work appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Life and Esquire during the decades that set the standard for graphic arts. He also executed cover art for a wide range of fiction classics. Stephen McLemore says, “He had a very distinctive style. It was of the day, but it was distinctive.”

When asked about the collection, Stephen enthuses, “The thing that jumps out to me are his colored-pencil works. There are some well-known illustrations he did for popular fiction in the fifties and sixties, and they truly speak for those times. As you look through his large collection, he certainly has themes that he focuses on again and again. He must have had an insatiable appetite for work, because of the sheer volume of the collection. He had a significant volume of work as an artist and an illustrator for hire.” William agrees, “He was very prolific, and he worked at a very high level commercially,” adding, “The works are even more compelling in person.”

For more information on the auction visit http://bid.mclemoreauction.com/cgi-bin/mndetails.cgi?mclemore149 or call 615-517-7675. the May 15 auction is an absolute auction and will be held online. those interested in purchasing works are encouraged to view them in person prior to the auction date. all originals will be sold individually.

John Alan Maxwell [1904-1984]Ratliff Collection Set for Auction

AT THe AuCTION


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A recent episode of 60 Minutes on CBS featured a section on the contemporary art market and its skyrocketing performance, despite the depressed economy. The report, which examined the Art Basel Miami Beach festival, stated that contemporary art sales are outperforming other commodities with an estimated $5.5 billion in sales last year alone. That astounding figure includes only auction prices and does not reflect popular art fairs and private sales.

The playing field for artists seems to expand beyond our wildest imagination. Works by Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, or Jeff Koons sell for millions of dollars, for example. Factors involved in this current trend include the popularity of contemporary art in wealthy nations such as Russia, China, and countries in the Middle East. Far from the erratic fluctuations of the American stock market, dollars generated by contemporary art climb without limit. Large expos and auctions, like Art Basel Miami Beach, draw crowds of multi-billionaires from around the globe. Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale in May will be no exception. One work from the sale, Francis Bacon’s Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror, is projected to fetch as much as $40 million.

Contemporary Art Market

AT THe AuCTION

Fire-Color 1, yves Klein, dry pigment and synthetic resin on panel, est. $30-40 million

photo: courtesy sotheby's

Francis bacon, Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror, Oil on canvas, 78" x 57 7/8" est. $30-40 million

2012 May Nashville Arts Magazine

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