Mood Music

There’s nothing like music to get you into the spirit of the holidays. Two seasonal concerts held this week—and right after Thanksgiving to start the next round of celebrations—are sure to do just that. Consider this your invitation to each.

What: Middleton Holiday Pops Concert
Who: Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Middleton High School Concert Choir
When: Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Where: Madison Marriott West
How much: Saturday: $25 adults, $22 seniors, $15 students, $8 children; Sunday: $19 adults, $16 seniors, $10 students, $5 children
Why: When the WCO joins forces with eighty student singers from Middleton High School, the result is rich, festive music. Highlights this year include Bridge’s A Christmas Dance ‘Sir Roger de Coverly’, Richman’s Hanukkah Festival Overture and Blake’s The Snowman.

What: Christmas Lights
Who: Oakwood Chamber Players 
When: Friday at 2 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Where: Oakwood Village West Auditorium
How much: $20, $15 seniors, $8 students
Why: If you liked the Oakwood Chamber Players’ 2002 Christmas Lights CD, you’ll probably love hearing them in the intimate performances they’re best known for. Traditional and non-traditional music will feature excerpts from Bohmler’s Visions of the Child, Stevens’ Christmas Medley No. 1 and Jolivet’s Trio for Flute, Bassoon and Harp.

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

December Artist: Coming into Focus

William Wolberg is a doctor and professor emeritus with the departments of surgery and human oncology at UW–Madison. But he’s also an accomplished photographer dedicated to showing the beauty of the southern Wisconsin landscape through its details, shapes and ever-changing light.

A series of Wolberg’s nature photographs is on display through December 30 at the UW Arboretum Steinhauer Trust Gallery in a show called Prairie Portraits.

Wolberg offers some reflections on the challenges and triumphs of his work.

On his interest in nature …

My childhood home in Nakoma had endless woods and pasture as a backyard. As I roamed through the Arboretum, I had the good fortune to observe some of the icons of nature ecology at work. This, together with an interest in hunting and fishing, formed a foundation for my appreciation of the out-of-doors.

On his start in photography …

Because of my scientific interest, I became an academic surgeon and led a very structured and demanding life. The scientific world of academic surgery is objective and discoveries are analyzed statistically. When I ventured into the photographic world and using my scientific background, I naively tried to understand what constituted a perfect photograph. To my disappointment, I found that photographic evaluation defied scientific methodology. The perfect photograph does not exist because photography is subjective and each photograph is seen differently by each person. So I lowered my goals and set to learn not what constituted a perfect photo but rather what made one acceptable.  

On the landscape …

I found that my favorite, landscape-nature, photography ranked way down on the contemporary critics’ hierarchal scale. In contrast, the eleventh century Chinese artists ranked landscapes on top of their hierarchal scale. Why the decreased popularity?

I believe that part of the explanation lies with the observer since photography is communication between the photographer and the observer. Regardless of how the photographer feels, the bottom line is that the perfect photograph exists only in the eye of the beholder. The observers’ feelings are determined to a great extent by the observers’ past experience. I’m attracted to landscape-nature photography because of the intellectual renewal that I experienced during my wilderness treks.

On the success of a photograph …

To quote Ansel Adams, “Either the photograph speaks to a viewer or it does not. I cannot demand that anyone receive from the image just what was in my visualization at the time of exposure. I believe that if I am able to express what I saw and felt, the image will contain qualities that may provide a basis for imaginative response by the viewer.”

My sense of photographic accomplishment comes from the elation that I experience when I discover a new scene, feel its presence, snap the shutter and print the photograph. After this, I can only hope that picture will evoke similar feelings in the viewer.

Photographs are by William Wolberg and courtesy of the UW Arboretum Steinhauer Trust Gallery.

IN THE MAGAZINE: The December issue of Madison Magazine comes out tomorrow. Here’s some of the arts content you’ll find within the pages:
• In our special pet section, learn about Marcia Sparks, a local painter who renders dogs and cats in a vibrant Pop style.
• A profile on Leotha Stanley, who leads the Mt. Zion Gospel Choir each year in the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas Spectacular.
• A poem by Cathy Conger (listen to her poetry podcast).
• Our monthly Overtones section with picks on the can’t-miss performances, concerts, exhibitions and festivals taking place in December.

Comfort Theater

When Danielle Dresden and Donna Peckett thought about Madison’s historic Greenbush neighborhood, a multitude of interwoven elements came to mind. They thought of the tight-knit community, the struggles its residents faced, the families’ stories, the culture, the food.

It was with all of these ideas that Peckett and Dresden, artistic directors of TAPIT/new works Ensemble Theater, created the new play Mangia, Mangia—Family, Food and Life in the Greenbush.

“It’s about food and culture, and how food connects us to culture,” Dresden says.

In the play four actors—women of different generations including Dresden and Peckett—take on a variety of roles. The characters’ stories are interspersed over two acts, without being held to chronology, to offer a slice of life in the Greenbush.

Peckett and Dresden interviewed former residents to get their personal stories of the neighborhood, then sifted, winnowed and sometimes combined elements to create material for the play. They also took inspiration from Catherine Tripalin Murray, who has collected recipes and photos and written cookbooks based on the Greenbush.

A partner in the production is Teresa Pullara-Ouabel of Bunky’s Restaurant, who prepares samples of the recipes featured in the play to share with audiences. The food, along with the storefront theater setting of TAPIT/new works, helps create an intimate, family-style atmosphere.

In addition to showing the role food held for Greenbush families, the play highlights how residents honored their families and culture even through financial hardships.

“I think we have so much to learn from those times and those people, how less is more,” Dresden says.

Dresden and Peckett believe the timing of Mangia, Mangia is appropriate for the current economic challenges. The play serves as a reminder to keep optimism and hope alive.

“There are a lot of lessons to take back from the Greenbush,” Peckett says. “God knows we need something.”

Adds Dresden, “My goal is to evoke and share a rich and wonderful past and recreate—if only briefly—a sense of that community, and to do so long enough for us to learn something to take back with us.”

The two collected many stories through their Greenbush research that they weren’t able to fit into the play. But they’re hoping to offer a production of “leftovers” sometime soon.

Mangia, Mangia opened November 7 and runs through the 23 at TAPIT/new works, 1957 Winnebago St. Tickets are $17 and include food samples, and performances take place Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 4 p.m. For more information, call 244.2938 or visit tapitnewworks.org.

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Memories, nostalgia, personal pasts and shared experiences—all of these elements have helped shape Daniel Ostrov’s glass art and kept him connected to his native Madison.

While he now lives and works in Philadelphia, Ostrov got his start in art growing up on Madison’s west side. He credits Geof Herman, a teacher who leads the ceramics program at James Madison Memorial High School, with getting him interested in three-dimensional art. He recalls spending time after school in Herman’s studio throwing pottery.

And although Ostrov had a love of art—not to mention a natural talent for it—he didn’t plan to pursue it when he entered Tulane University in New Orleans. He wasn’t sure exactly what field he wanted to go into, but he began taking glass classes as electives. And he kept taking them. “I was in the art room a lot,” he says.

Once again he found inspiration in a teacher, this time Gene Koss, head of the glass program. “He’s a pretty intense guy,” Ostrov says. “It’s funny because he’s actually from Wisconsin.”

It was at Tulane that Ostrov began creating large-scale works—something Koss and graduates of the program are known for, and that had long intrigued Ostrov. “I’ve always been interested in making things that were of human scale,” he says. “I’m not really into dainty work.”

But in order to make large glass pieces, Ostrov had to master the medium, not an easy task given its physical and mental demands. “It’s a very intense working process, almost like playing a sport,” he says. “You have to be very focused for a set amount of time. You’re totally focused and totally there. I really like that about glass.”

The medium soon led him to Tyler College of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, from which he earned an MFA in sculpting earlier this year. However, it was anything but an easy journey. The program was demanding and the critiques brutal. “Tyler really broke down a lot of the ways I’d been making work,” Ostrov says.

A benefit was a new way of creating glass art. He wanted to make work that viewers could move through, finding different spaces and vantage points along the way. “It was not easy but I was really going for an idea of making art that was not just observed but experienced,” he says. “I wanted there to be an element of discovery,” he says.

Ostrov also gravitated toward ideas of memories and nostalgia, particularly the longing—but impossibility—of returning to the past. “I became really fascinated with the idea of nostalgia,” he says. “I think of it as longing for the past, longing for homeland—a lot of the ways I think of Madison.”

But in his second year at Tyler, he took on a broader view of nostalgia. In his artist’s statement he writes, “One of the essential human dilemmas is the yearning for, but inability to return to, the past. I see this desire manifest in two ways: the nostalgia for a lived past, as in specific memories from childhood, and the universal longing for a lost age of civilization. I am specifically interested in this longing for ‘the lost era’ because it is a memory shared by many that none actually physically experienced.”

In incorporating these ideas into his artwork, Ostrov turned to nautical imagery. Old wooden boats and waterways reminded him of how people used to travel and trade. This led to thinking about shipwreck imagery, a notion he’s still exploring in his work.

This Friday, November 7 through November 29, Ostrov—along with painter Dennis Nechvatal and needlepoint artist Mary Bero—will showcase work at Grace Chosy Gallery (and a percentage of proceeds will be donated to American Children’s Hospital to buy art for the surgical waiting area). Some work comes from his MFA thesis show at Tyler.

And while Ostrov won’t be at the show’s opening on Friday from 6–8 p.m.—he will be in North Carolina for another exhibition of his work at the Craven Arts Council and Gallery—he will unveil a new piece incorporating glass forms and a steel box. “This one I see as a bit more abstract,” he says. “It doesn’t delve into those themes as much as my thesis show.”

Ostrov has a show going up at the end of January in Brooklyn, New York, and another in Philadelphia in June.

But here’s hoping he creates more memories to share with his hometown.

Images are courtesy of Daniel Ostrov.

Year of the Landscape

If the Madison area is lacking in anything, it’s certainly not talented artists. Fourteen are featured in the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission’s 2009  Art Calendar. For their tenth anniversary calendar, the group has returned to a beloved subject: the local landscape.

Here’s a peek at the art highlighted in the year to come:


January: Cross Country Skiers by Dangy Quisling Myrah
From the icy blues and purples of the trees to the skiers’ vibrant coats, this image makes me want to get out and enjoy the great, chilly outdoors.

February: Down the Valley by Leslie DeMuth
There’s something special about winter sunlight in Wisconsin. Perhaps it’s the way the light plays off the snow.


March: Winter Landscape by Patrick Farrell
This painting perfectly encapsulates March, the way snow and ice turn to rain and clouds. It shows the beauty that’s often overlooked this time of year.


April: Contour Farming—Late April by S.V. Medaris
Pastel seems the ideal medium for conveying the freshness of the local landscape in April. Bright yellowy greens signal the start of the season.


May: Dream Flying Over Koshkonong by Doug Hatch
There’s always an excitement in the air as spring comes into its own, and these streaks of vibrant red seem an embodiment of that.


June: Into a June Evening by Jonathan Wilde
The water in this painting looks particularly refreshing, as humans and animals alike know how humid a June evening can be.


July: Elegant Grasses by Lee Weiss
It’s fun to see an unusual—and beautiful—look at a familiar summer scene.


August: Farm View with Watermelon and Tomatoes by John Sayers
Rich color and strong light pay homage to some of Wisconsin’s most beloved summer treats.


September: Reflecting Pond by Mark Arnold
Mellow greens and blues make for a pleasant meditation on the local countryside.


October: The Marsh by Linda Koenig
October equals orange for many people, and this watercolor celebrates this expressively.


November: Fertile Ridge by Larry Welo
I love how this etching captures the intensity and grittiness of November—certainly not the most delicate of months.

December: To Grandmother’s House We Go by Georgene Pomplun
Who wouldn’t want to take a drive through such gorgeous scenery?


Calendars are $7.50 and available at a variety of Madison-area museums, galleries, municipal halls and retailers. Find a list at culturalaffairscommission.com.

Still want more? Then be sure to check out the Tenth Anniversary Art Calendar Retrospective, on display November 1 through January 31 at Overture Center’s Playhouse lobby. The show celebrates the first decade of the art-filled planners, with ten large frames created by Tandem Press filled with all the images from each calendar. An opening reception is November 10, 5–7 p.m., and this is also when the 2009 calendar will be officially introduced.

Images are reproductions of the artists’ work, courtesy of the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission.

Fit to Print

I got the chance to tour Tandem Press recently, and I couldn’t have visited the artistic laboratory at a better time.

Activity bustled throughout the factory-like building, which Tandem shares with the state’s car fleet facility, on the city’s near east side.

In the organization’s offices, row upon row of framed prints lined the floor, waiting to be picked up and shipped to two major shows Tandem is participating in, the IFPDA Print Fair 2008 held October 30 through November in New York City and Ink Miami 2008, taking place December 4 through 7.

Also adding excitement was the presence of artist Judy Pfaff, an internationally known sculptor and installation artist who also creates large-scale prints—projects Tandem is known for being able to accommodate thanks to its twelve-by-fifteen-foot press and other equipment.

Pfaff, who has come to Madison several times since her first trip in 1992, was working busily on a print even though she and several of Tandem’s master printers had spent the entire weekend here in the cavernous room filled with presses. They were hurrying to finish works that would be sent to the Miami and New York shows.

Tandem employs seven full-time staff members and relies on the help of four students from UW–Madison, with which the organization is affiliated. All work extremely hard, says executive director Paula Panczenko. “I don’t know how they do it,” she says. “They are just amazing.”

But it’s precisely for this type of diligent work and collaboration that Tandem Press was intended (and named).

In 1986, UW art professor Bill Weege proposed that the art department establish a fine art press, one that would be self-supporting through the sale of prints. He wanted students to gain printmaking experience and artists to have the opportunity to experiment with the medium. Tandem opened the following year.

Panczenko says it’s no coincidence that UW–Madison’s printmaking department is now regarded as the best in the country and that its graduates go on to be leaders in printmaking, teaching and making art. “I think Tandem contributes to that,” she adds.

The organization is also proud of the artists who have come to work on etchings, lithographs, photogravure, digital prints and many other forms of printmaking. Included are David Lynch, Art Spiegelman, Gronk, Robert Stackhouse, Miriam Shapiro, Janet Fish, Robert Cottingham, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Sam Gilliam and Sam Richardson.

Next week, Tandem welcomes Nicola López, who will hold a lecture and artist reception November 14 at 5:30 and 6:30–8 p.m. She’ll be followed by Richard Bosman, Joan Snyder and Suzanne Caporael in later months.

This spring, Tandem—which curates exhibitions at the Dane County Regional Airport—will showcase a collection of works that blend science with art. It’s a theme Panczenko anticipates exploring further in the future.

And the organization is also looking forward to moving closer to the UW campus. Plans are in place to relocate to a state-of-the-art facility just east of the Kohl Center. Collaboration with the university will be simpler in the new home, but Tandem will continue building on the successes it has built.

“There’s a great history of printmakers here,” Panczenko says.

The public is welcome to visit Tandem Press Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as by appointment. For more information, call 263-3437 or visit tandempress.wisc.edu.

Images Year of the Dog #10 and Untitled #8 are by Judy Pfaff and courtesy of Tandem Press.

November Artist: Living in the Moment

Paula Swaydan Grebel has considered herself an artist for only a decade. But, really, she’s been one her entire life.

She grew up in California drawing, making art, taking classes in school. “I always did something with the arts,” she says. “It was my way of playing. I would doodle—and I still tend to do that—when I was bored.” Later, she earned a BFA from California State University, Long Beach, where she studied under well-known L.A. artist John Lincoln.

Yet Grebel didn’t work as an artist right out of college. Instead, she took a variety of other jobs, even working as a nurse for eleven years. But still, art was always there. “I never stopped drawing,” she says. “And I had great nursing notes.”

When she noticed herself wanting to draw all her patients, she knew art was calling. And she decided to follow it.

Over the past ten years, Grebel, who lives in Plymouth, Wisconsin, has come to specialize in oil paintings, particularly plein air studies and still-life works. She showcases nearly thirty pieces at an exhibition, In the Moment, running through the end of November at Bungalow 1227.

Her focus on plein air painting was an easy choice. “I love to be outside,” she says. “I love the light and sounds and smells. I love to travel.”

She works outside as long as possible throughout the year—and can even paint al fresco in the winter, as long as the sun is shining, it’s not too windy and the temperature is at least thirty-two degrees, she says.

When conditions aren’t favorable, Grebel moves indoors and switches to still-life work. But she tries to keep the spontaneity of her outdoor art, sometimes throwing random objects on a table to paint or asking one of her kids to choose a subject for her. “I like that chaos,” she says.

Grebel has been complimented on her ability to capture a moment in time in her work. “Part of what helps me is not to pre-plan,” she says. “If you pre-plan on your canvas and grid it out, the moment’s gone.”

She also holds back from using too much detail because she doesn’t like making photo-realistic paintings in which every element is crisply delineated. “That’s telling me too much,” she says. “I want mystery.”

By revealing her impressions of a single moment to viewers, Grebel strives to show the beauty of the world and new ways of looking at it.

“I hope that I create an emotional response of joy or something that’s positive—that it’s a good soulful experience,” she says. “The true job of an artist is to learn to see.”

IN THE MAGAZINE: The November issue of Madison Magazine comes out tomorrow. Here’s some of the arts content you’ll find within the pages:
• A tidbit on the Chicago-based Giving Tree Band, which recorded a green album at the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center this summer. (Read more in this July 2 post.)
• Associate and style editor Shayna Miller’s Window Shopping column on paper goods and artsy gifts at Anthology.
• A profile on Valerie Kazamias, the force behind MMoCA and the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s annual Arts Ball.
• A poem by Andrea Potos (listen her poetry podcast).
• Our monthly Overtones section with picks on the can’t-miss performances, concerts, exhibitions and festivals taking place in November.