Square Dance

Once again, Art Fair on the Square proved its place as a quintessential summer event in Madison.

From paintings to photography, metal sculpture to glass art, textiles to jewelry, the annual arts extravaganza was a visual feast.

Here are just a few of the artists whose work jumped out at me as I wound my way around the Capitol Square.

Barns, houses and other rural imagery take on an exquisite, quiet beauty when they’re rendered in pastel landscapes by Chicago artist (and UW–Madison grad) Clare Malloy.


One of Colorado photographer Alan Klug’s specialties is beautiful brown-toned photography of scenes in the United States as well as abroad.


Who knew the humble cow could be such a great muse? Illinois painter Sue Skowronski did, and it’s a pleasure to see the animal from her point of view.


From the vibrant colors to the large scale, David Oleski’s paintings of apples, flowers, a cup of coffee and much more are intriguing, playful and impossible to ignore. I’d love to see more from this Pennsylvania artist in years to come.


It’s hard to know what to expect when you look at a work by Justin D. Miller. And that’s part of what makes exploring the whimsical, fantastical paintings by this Chicago artist so enjoyable.


Eric Lee back-paints sheets of glass, creating bold, colorful and expressionistic glass wall hangings and furniture.


Painting and textile traditions meet in the art of Georgia artist Kathrine Allen-Coleman, who creates mixed-media work that often includes actual dresses.


Urban architecture and natural landscapes alike provide inspiration for Ohio photographer Chris Coffey.

Photos courtesy of the artists’ websites: claremalloy.com, alanklugphotography.com, sueskowronskifineart.com, davidoleski.com, justindmiller.com, presteau.com, thespringgallery.com and chriscoffey.com.

Art for Thought

What is art? For one, it’s probably a question that’s existed as long as people have been making art. Some argue that they know art when they see it. But what about when you don’t think something is art, but you’re told that it is? What if the works of art on display are things you see—and use—in your daily life?

These are just a few of the questions raised and explored in Return to Function, an exhibition at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art that opened in May and runs through August 23.


The show features contemporary artists, many from outside the United States, who create functional objects based on theoretical principles ranging from economics to the environment. Their artwork questions preconceptions about and everyday objects as well as sculpture.

MMoCA’s curator of exhibitions Jane Simon acknowledges the exhibition is among the most challenging the museum has presented. The exhibition catalogue provides an insightful introduction to the concepts presented, drawing interesting comparisons to Marcel Duchamp (who famously exhibited a urinal titled Fountain) and his peers of the early twentieth century.

“This show is a dialogue about art,” Simon says.

The work that greets visitors is Jules de Balincourt’s Personal Survival Doom Buggy, a real doonbuggy stocked with supplies essential to survival in “a post-September-eleventh world,” Simon says.

Also taking on the topic of survival, in very different ways, are François Curlet’s North Park #3, an orange Hermès box and bag with compass embedded in it and a comment on navigating the urban jungle of commercialism, and Ralph Borland’s Suited for Subversion. Borland sought to create a way to protest without getting hurt, with the idea that if a person could safely protest he could ensure his voice would be heard. The heart-shaped padded red suit covers a person’s head and torso. An added detail is a heartbeat that emits from it; the idea behind it was that if police heard a human heart they would recognize that the protester is human.


Several works explore the notion of shelter. Michael Rakowitz’s P(lot) is a temporary shelter that can be set up in a parking space and draw heating and cooling from nearby buildings. Huong Ngo’s Pop-Up Studio, a huge and portable square bubble powered by a simple fan, creates a livable and workable space within its soft walls. And Lucy Orta’s Refuge Wear Habitent is a silver poncho that can be worn, folded up and carried or used as a tent. Some models have a whistle or compass and some can be warmed with body heat.

A few objects are quite small in scale but not in impact. Antal Lakner’s Iners is a series of objects aimed to make people more active, such as an extremely heavy cell phone on display. And then there’s Claire Fontaine’s In God They Trust, a quarter which she has fashioned into a box cutter.

Among the most startling works is DIY (Coffin) by Joe Scanlan, an actual homemade coffin made from three Ikea bookcases. Coffins are typically expensive, Simon points out, so a do-it-yourselfer is quite a democratic gesture. Also poignant is Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga’s Vigamundo: A Migrant’s Tale. The main character of this video game is a migrant laborer; in between levels, statistics about migrant workers flash on the screen.


Visitors have responded well to the exhibition since it opened in May, Simon says, adding that a high school tour especially liked it. She hopes people find the show challenging and eye-opening.

“I hope they understand art can be engaged with issues of the day, even the mundane issues of the everyday,” she says. “It’s not just paint on a canvas.”

For more information on Return to Function, visit mmoca.org.

Photos of Orta, Borland and Fontaine’s work courtesy of MMoCA.

The Mane Event

If you ever doubted that a hairdo could be a work of art, you should have attended last night’s Hair Affair: The Art of Hair at MMoCA. Designers at thirteen area salons proved that hair is indeed a medium with which to create amazing, inspired art.

The event kicked off with a silent auction and cocktails—including the special Red (Mo)Hawk with Prairie Vodka—by Fresco. Guests mingled in the museum lobby and throughout the Young at Art exhibition of works by Madison Metropolitan School District students. Then Overture Center staff introduced the Ahn Trio, three sisters who also perform tonight at Overture’s Capitol Theater. 

But by 8 p.m., the crowd had assembled around MMoCA’s sleek glass staircase where, one by one, thirteen models descended to the bottom donning hair sculptures and complementary outfits. The looks ranged from a tall stack of black tresses tied together with enormous knots from Aniu Salon Spa Yoga to an updo featuring curls interspersed with real 35mm filmstrips by Cinema Hair Studio.

Other highlights: an ingenious interpretation of the state Capitol from The Ultimate Spa Salon and a retro fifties style (accented with a swimsuit and fishnets) by Cha Cha Beauty & Barber. But these are just a few of the fabulous creations that graced the runway.

From the impressive crowd to the hip vibe to the innovative art on display, Hair Affair certainly made Thursday evening a cut above most weeknights.

For more on Hair Affair, check out Madison Magazine associate/style editor Shayna Miller’s blog, Window Shopping.

A Show of Support

If last night was any indication, the slumping economy has done nothing to diminish Madison’s hunger and appreciation for art.

Yesterday evening, the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission unveiled its 2009 Art Poster at Promega’s beautiful and art-filled building in Fitchburg.

The event was an incredible and energetic round-up of members of Madison’s visual arts scene—including many artists featured on this blog—such as painter Georgene Pomplun, Pat Dillon of Bungalow 1227, and staffers from MMoCA and 77 Square.

But the toast of the night was Lee Weiss, the Madison artist who created the watercolor that’s become the thirty-first art poster. Titled September Flora, the image of purple and white flowers in a verdant meadow was inspired by Hoyt Park, which is close to the artist’s house.

Before the poster was revealed, County Executive Kathleen Falk seemed to sum up the mood of the crowd. She thanked Weiss and other artists for providing a means for the community to get lost in art and forget for just a few minutes about current economic troubles. While arts and culture are always important, in times like these they become crucial, she said.

The art posters are available by free-will donation at the Cultural Affairs Commission Office, room 421 of the City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Other distribution sites include the city and village halls of Belleville, Brooklyn, Cambridge, Cross Plains, DeForest, Maple Bluff, Marshall, Mazomanie, McFarland, Middleton, Monona, Mount Horeb, Oregon, Shorewood Hills, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Verona and Waunakee, plus the town halls of Blooming Grove, Dunn, Middleton, Montrose, Oregon, Springfield, Sun Prairie, Verona and Westport. For more information, visit culturalaffairscommission.com.

Image courtesy of the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission.

Focus on Romania

The third annual Romanian Film Festival takes place this week, with screenings of feature films, shorts and documentaries held at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute and UW–Madison’s Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia, or CREECA, the festival showcases films in Romanian with English subtitles—and admission is free.

Festival coordinator Elena Richard recently shared insights into the event, as well as the fascinating history of Romanian filmmaking.

How did the Romanian Film Festival come about in Madison?

Through a series of fortunate events that started when the Romanian Cultural Institute was looking for partners at the UW. CREECA was the department that entered that partnership. The idea of starting the festival was born then. We received incredible support from the organizers of the Wisconsin Film Festival, who also showed some of the most acclaimed Romanian films, like The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and 12:08 East of Bucharest. The small Romanian community in Madison and the large number of non-Romanian citizens of Madison who love film embraced us from the very beginning.

What is the background of Romanian filmmaking? And what’s going on today?

Last year we had an epic movie The Rest of Silence that told the story of the making of the first Romanian long feature film made in 1912. After 1912, filmmaking in Romania went through decades of creating mostly forgettable films with a few very memorable productions. After the late 1940s, the Romanian film industry was coerced into integrating communist ideology in its films, which resulted in producing hundreds of unremarkable propagandistic films reflecting a false reality. The refuge for many directors was to dramatize literary classics or illustrate historical events by bringing epic battles several hundred years old to the big screen. There are titles that are still remarkable and passed the test of time. One of them, Reenactment, which was banned for twenty-two years after its release, unmasks a political system that claimed to put people first, but in actuality destroyed them in an instant in the name of moral re-education. It was one the films we showed last year. Yet another example, Sequences, is part of our program this year and it’s a classic that illustrates the behind the scenes of moviemaking. One of the scenes shows that the conflict between the extras at the shoot—former victim and persecutor—is far more intense than the conflict between the characters of the film.

How has the film festival been received the past two years?

From its inception and first showings, it was received very well, and last year we had the pleasant surprise of having a much larger audience than the previous year. I think the interest for international—and in particular, for Romanian film—in Madison is quite remarkable. The first two editions of our festival brought to Madison a series of very new and well-received films. Romanian film is going through a revival that started approximately ten years ago and which has generated a lot of interest from international critics and audiences.

Tell me about this year’s festival. What films will you be showing and what’s new this time around?

Most of the films are full-length feature debuts: Crossing Dates, Tache, Elevator. Anca Damian (of Crossing Dates) had previously directed documentaries, Igor Cobileanski (Tache) is a well-known director of short films and George Dorobantu (Elevator) is at his very first film. Exchange is the most recent premiere of Nicolae Margineanu, a director that belongs to a different generation. Day Bar and Other Stories is a beautifully filmed documentary made during the year when the city of Sibiu was the cultural capital of Europe. We also showcase a selection of shorts. In 2008 the Romanian short films were the ones that attracted international awards at festivals all over the globe. The program includes A Good Day for a Swim, the recipient of 2008 Palme d'Or for Best Short, and Megatron, the winner of the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Waves, Alexandra and The Fear of Mr. G also created a buzz at numerous festivals. I already mentioned Sequences, a film that is still as modern today as it was in 1982.

What are you most excited about in this year’s festival?

I think it’s the overall selection of films. I am very happy with the mosaic of subjects. I am very excited we can show the documentary Day Bar and Other Stories, a very poetic and profound film that uses no script, just actual confessions of ordinary people in a brilliant way.

What are your goals for the film festival, this year as well as in the future?

I hope it grows to become a familiar presence on Madison’s cultural scene, that it will attract more viewers each year and that we’ll be able to continue to bring intriguing and interesting films.

What do you hope people get from attending the festival and seeing the films?

I hope they gain an appreciation for and an understanding of Romanian culture.

Images top to bottom are from Elevator, Day Bar and Other Stories and Sequences, and courtesy of the Romanian Film Festival.

Loving Local Arts

Valentine’s Day doesn’t seem to fall on a weekend very often. And I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holiday than by showing some love to local arts.

Here are a few ways to fill your Saturday, no matter what type of art you heart (but as always, check ahead to make sure tickets are available for performances).

MUSIC

David Bicknase 7 p.m.–11 p.m. The Cove Lounge, The Edgewater, 666 Wisconsin Ave. 256-9071, theedgewater.com

Cherry Pie 9:30 p.m. The Dry Bean, 5264 Verona Rd., Fitchburg. 274-2326. thedrybean.com

Desperate Ottos 10 p.m. Harmony Bar and Grill, 2201 Atwood Ave. 249-4333.

DJ Vinny T 10:30 p.m. Café Montmartre, 127 E. Mifflin St. 255-5900. themomo.com

Elf Lettuce 10 p.m. Mr. Roberts, 2116 Atwood Ave. 249-1660. myspace.com/mrrobertsmadison

Goran Ivanovic & Andreas Kapsalis 9:30p.m. Restaurant Magnus, 120 E. Wilson St. 258-8787. restaurantmagnus.com

Thriving Ivory and Missy Higgins with Company of Thieves 9 p.m. Majestic Theatre, 115 King St. 255-0901. majesticmadison.com

Little Mama Joe featuring Susan Hofer 9 p.m.–12 a.m. The Brink Lounge, 701 E. Washington Ave., Suite 105. 661-8599. thebrinklounge.com

Umphrey’s McGee 8 p.m. Barrymore Theatre, 2090 Atwood Ave. barrymorelive.com

Umphrey’s Afterparty 10 p.m. High Noon Saloon, 701A E. Washington Ave. 268-1122. high-noon.com

UW School of Music Faculty Concert Series: Parry, Howard and Frances Karp 8 p.m. Mills Hall, Humanities Building, 455 N. Park St. 263-9485. music.wisc.edu

THEATER

A Wake 8 p.m. Broom Street Theater, 1119 Williamson St. 244-8338. broomstreet.org

Jesus Christ Superstar 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Overture Center, 201 State St. 258-4141. overturecenter.com

Kenosha! (Not Quite Chicago) 6:30 p.m. By WhoopDeDoo Productions at the West Side Club, 437 County Hwy M. 442-5806. whoopdedoo.org

Love is in the Air 8 p.m. By Strollers Theatre at the Bartell Theatre, 113 E. Mifflin St. 661-9696 x2. strollerstheatre.org

Proof 7:30 p.m. By Madison Theatre Guild at the Bartell Theatre, 113 E. Mifflin St. 238-9322. madisontheatreguild.org

Steel Magnolias 7:30 p.m. By the Sun Prairie Civic Theatre at the Sun Prairie High School Auditorium, 220 Kroncke Dr., Sun Prairie. 837-8217. sunprairiecivictheatre.com

Those Fabulous Fifties—Part 2 1:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Fireside Theatre, 1131 Janesville Ave., Fort Atkinson. 1-800-477-9505. firesidetheatre.com

Vagina Monologues 8 p.m. Wisconsin Union Theater, 800 Langdon St. 262-2201. uniontheater.wisc.edu

VISUAL ART

A Fairyland of Fabrics: The Victorian Crazy Quilt 12–5 p.m. Design Gallery, UW School of Human Ecology, 1300 Linden Dr. 262-8815. designgallery.wisc.edu

A Show of Affection: Valentine’s Day Gift Special 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Fanny Garver Gallery, 230 State St. 256-6755. fannygarvergallery.com

Everett Kitts 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Absolutely Art, 2322 Atwood Ave. 249-9100. absolutelyartllc.com

From China to Madison: Crossing Cultural Bridges, Mayra Rangel-Capelle & Ana Rangel: Our Mexico, Our Roots and Respite = Relief: 30 Years of Building in Children through Art 10:30 a.m.–9 p.m. Overture Galleries, 201 State St. 258-4177. overturecenter.com/galleries.htm

Dagny Quisling Myrah 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Grace Chosy Gallery, 1825 Monroe St. 255-1211. gracechosygallery.com

Rafael Francisco Salas: Recent Drawings and Paintings 8 a.m.–8 p.m. DeRicci Gallery at Edgewood College, 1000 Edgewood College Dr. art.edgewood.edu

Ann Singsass: Birches and Others 12:30–4 p.m. UW Arboretum Steinhauer Trust Gallery, 1207 Seminole Hwy. 263-7888. uwarboretum.org/about/gallery/

Something Wicked This Way Comes and Barbara Probst: Exposures 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St. 257-0158. mmoca.org

SuperBug: An Installation by Jennifer Angus and John Hitchcock 11 a.m.–9 p.m. James Watrous Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters
201 State St. (Overture Center). 265-2500. wisconsinacademy.org

The Joy is in the Middle: Michael Wodyn, Eternal Return: Brian DeLevie, Abstract in the Representative: Zsuzsanna Nagy and Fictitious Plants: Jsun Laliberte 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Wisconsin Union Galleries, 800 Langdon St. 262-7592. union.wisc.edu/art

Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities and Mannerism in Italy and the Low Countries 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Chazen Museum of Art, 800 University Ave. 263-2068. chazen.wisc.edu

Images of Parry Karp, Jesus Christ Superstar and a work from Mannerism in Italy and the Low Country are courtesy of the UW School of Music, Overture Center and Chazen Museum of Art.

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.

Art Everywhere!

Mark your calendars—Gallery Night is a week and a half away.

The twice-annual event, in which galleries, museums and businesses open to the public to showcase art and offer receptions and demonstrations, is October 3 from 5 to 9 p.m.

This year, fifty-four organizations across town are participating. That number has grown steadily over the years, says Katie Kazan, director of public information for the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, the group that’s organized the event for over twenty years. “I think that’s the clearest indication as to how important this event is to the community,” she adds.

In addition to museums galleries, a unique aspect to Gallery Night is the diversity of businesses that showcase art. Some places, such as frame shops and coffee shops, have a natural connection to the arts, Kazan says. And others are just fun additions.

“Now we have upholstery shops and veterinary services and acupuncture centers,” she says. “We’re really happy that they’re participating.”

And the special events that art part of Gallery Night—from artist meetings to watching demonstrations to listening to live music—attract a broader audience than traditional art events typically do, according to Kazan.

Additionally, a few galleries—such as Absolutely Art and Wisconsin Union Galleries—have artists participating in PhotoMidwest, the biennial photography fest sponsored by The Center for Photography at Madison, with exhibits, lectures and workshops around Madison during the month of October.

Read on for the lineup of organizations taking part in Gallery Night—or find a list and more info on the MMoCA website. Remember, it’s not too early to start plotting your course.

East Side

Absolutely Art
2322 Atwood Ave.

ArtSPACE Twenty-Two-Eleven
2211 Atwood Ave.

Atwood Acupuncture Center
2045 Atwood Ave., Suite 105

Body Conscious PilateSpa
2045 Atwood Ave., Suite 107

Bungalow 1227 1227 E. Wilson St.

Bungalow Pros
229 North St.

Cafe Zoma
2326 Atwood Ave.

Common Wealth Gallery
100 S. Baldwin St.

EVP Coffee
1250 E. Washington Ave.

Lucent Room Studio 305 S. Livingston St.

Morris Altman Studio
1149 E. Dayton St. 


Off-Center Studios 2716 Atwood Ave.

Radiant Glass
100 S. Baldwin St., Suite 100

Reneéglass Factory
100 S. Baldwin St., Suite 100

Spiritual Vibes 2733 Atwood Ave.

The Straight Thread—Furniture Upholstery
2033 Atwood Ave.

Studio Paran 2051 Winnebago St.

Theo Streibel Photography 202 S. Dickinson St.

U-Frame-It Gallery
857 E. Johnson St.

Willy Street Co-op 1221 Williamson St.

Winnebago Studios 2046 Winnebago St.

Downtown

16 Hands Studio
104 King St.

Anthology 218 State St.

Architecture Network, Inc.
116 E. Dayton St.

Broden Gallery, Ltd.
218 N. Henry St.

HYART Gallery 133 W. Johnson St.

Little Luxuries, Inc.
230 State St.

Madison Children’s Museum 100 State St.

Madison Museum of Contemporary Art 227 State St.

Madison Public Library 201 W. Mifflin St.

Raw Materials
408 E. Wilson St.

State Street Gallery 109 State St.

Wisconsin Academy’s James Watrous Gallery
201 State St., 3rd floor in the Overture Center for the Arts

Wisconsin Union Galleries
800 Langdon St., Rm. 507

West Side

The Bohemian Bauble 404 W. Lakeside St.

Century House 3029 University Ave.

Chiripa, Artisan Crafts of the Americas
636 S. Park St.

Douglas Art and Frame
3238 University Ave.

Edgewood College—DiRicci Gallery 1000 Edgewood College Dr.

Fine Earth Studio & Gallery 2207 Regent St.

Gardens Gallery at Independent Living Retirement Community
602 N. Segoe Rd.

Grace Chosy Gallery 1825 Monroe St.

Higher Fire Clay Studio 2132 Regent St.

Hilldale Shopping Center
702 N. Midvale Blvd.

Janus Galleries 2701 Monroe St.

Lakeview Veterinary Clinic 3518 Monroe St.

Ma-Cha Teahouse and Gallery 1934 Monroe St.

Meuer Art & Picture Frame Company 8448 Old Sauk Rd.

Milward Farrell Fine Art 2701 Monroe St.

Orange Tree Imports
1721 Monroe St.

Spirals Antiques & Interiors
1843 Monroe St.

Studio Jewelers 1306 Regent St.

TileArt
1719 Monroe St.

unearthed
 2501 University Ave.


Photos top to bottom are works by Robert Barnes at MMoCA, Paula Swaydan Grebel at Bungalow 1227, Lane Hall and Lisa Moline at the James Watrous Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Connie Frisch-Cherniak at the Wisconsin Union Galleries and Yueh-mei Cheng at Grace Chosy Gallery.

Word Up

Madison’s a lucky city, particularly when it comes to the amount and quality of arts events taking place here throughout the year.

And we can add another great event—for this year and the next, at least—to our roster. The National Poetry Slam hits Madison August 3–9 with a bevy of activities celebrating spoken word and performance poetry.

It’s a big deal that Madison is hosting NPS, also known this year as the Lyrics on the Lake Festival. It’s bringing seventy-six teams that will compete in slam “bouts” at venues across town and plenty of other writers and poets who will take advantage of the myriad workshops and classes offered during the days of the festival.

Those uninitiated with slam poetry will find a powerful introduction next week. Preliminary bouts will take place Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at MMoCA, the Brink Lounge, the Drury and Evejue theaters at the Bartell, the Majestic, the Comedy Club and the Orpheum. Each team, with four or five poets apiece, will have four opportunities to perform and score points, which are given by a panel of five judges selected randomly from the audience. Teams perform two of the three nights. Check the complete bout schedule online.

At the end of the preliminary bouts, the twenty-five highest-scoring teams will advance to Friday’s semifinals. The top four teams from that night will go on to the finals on Saturday at Overture Center.

Workshops and classes will take place Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at UW’s Humanities building. And after the preliminary bouts those three days, the Bartell’s Drury Theater, Café Montmartre, Genna’s and the Mercury Lounge will host late-night events.

Anyone wanting a sneak peak of what they may encounter at NPS should check out the For the Record segment from this past Sunday. Neil Heinen sat down with David Hart, operations director for NPS, Evy Gildrie-Voyles, events director for the Madison Slam Team, and Danez J. Smith, a member of the Madison Slam Team.

Gildrie-Voyles and Smith’s performances at the end of the half hour are sure to make anyone rethink Big Bird and bling—and want to check out as many events as possible next week.

For more information on Lyrics on the Lake, visit nps2008.com.

May Artist: Delving into the Dark

He’s a nationally recognized artist (with work at the Art Institute of Chicago, Whitney Museum of American Art, among many other museums and private collections) and a true Midwesterner (born in North Dakota, raised in Minnesota, and a professor in UW–Madison’s art department since 1997).

The prolific T.L. Solien is also the focus of a new show at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

T.L. Solien: Myths & Monsters, which runs May 17 to August 17, traces the artist from the 1980s to the present through more than sixty of his complex, sometimes familiar and always deeply personal works of art.

Viewers will see the wide-ranging phases of his art-making: His move into three-dimensional and allusionistic paintings. The period when he was starting in academics, unhappily away from his family, and filled his canvases with chaotic and self-deprecating images. His emphasis on pop culture. And his most recent exploration of literature, particularly Moby Dick and Ahab’s Wife.

I recently had a chance to talk with Solien about his work and his upcoming show.

How’d you become an artist and how would you describe your work?

I started going to art classes and being involved in art departments in Minnesota in the late sixties when there was a confluence of pop art and minimalism and conceptual art practice—very aggressive sculpture and very aggressive painting. I tried to make work at that time that was very contemporary, actively contemporary. So my work had a very experimental attitude. I made extreme paintings, extreme sculpture and dealt with avant-garde ideas. And I consider my work to still be that way. 

What guides your choice of subject matter?

My work has been autobiographical for about thirty years. I look at life experiences … and sometimes I use certain characters to represent myself or to represent others. I show moments of lacking courage or moments of challenging religious convictions or family balance topics.

The figures I use in my works are sometimes congested or fractured. Sometimes they come from pop culture sources or my own imagination. I weave them together to suggest psychological conflict.

What attracts you to surrealism or showing your own vision of the world around you?

As a kid, I was confronted with Picasso and Salvador Dali. By the time I was eight or nine years old, those were the people I looked to as artists. They brought very strong suggestive content to art making. I like works of art and my own works to reflect the subjectivity of its maker.

Your work is shown around the country. What does it mean to be a Midwestern artist?

That’s a complex idea. Initially, when I started to show work in the eighties in New York, Midwestern artists were know as parochial regionalist artists. I think I was looked at as a bit of an exotic, as eccentric. European artists whose ideas were similar to mine were also beginning to show work in New York. I was wrapped up by many writers with them.

Right now, I think being a Midwestern artist is neither an advantage or disadvantage. It’s just the nature of one’s work, whether it’s compelling to a dealer. It’s really a global art market now.

What do you hope people get from seeing your show at MMoCA?

I hope that they’re entertained and provoked. I’m just not in the entertainment business or in the business of providing joy to the viewer. I think life is a complex and difficult process and filled with dark moments and light moments. I’m a fatalist and happen to focus on the dark moments. I hope to engage them and seduce them into entering the inner dialogue I’m in.


COMING UP: A few events and performances to check out this week.

Madison theater packs a powerful punch this week, with the Madison Theatre Guild presenting The Laramie Project, about slain gay Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, through April 26 and University Theatre taking on Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.

Christopher Taylor of the UW School of Music continues his Beethoven Piano Sonata Series Wednesday through Friday at Mills Hall, while UW’s Varsity Band performs those same evenings at the Kohl Center. Pianist Ann-Marie McDermott headlines the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s Friday Masterworks performance, and the Canadian indi rockers The New Pornographers take over the Orpheum Theatre Monday night.

Artists Sevki Kuzay and Wilfred illustrate the breadth of abstract painting in a show of new works this month at Fanny Garver Gallery. 

Get your nature fix—check out the wildflowers and watch the moon rise—at the Arboretum Night Walk Saturday evening. And last, but certainly not least, the Dane County Farmers’ Market moves back to the Capitol Square this Saturday, a sure sign that spring is officially here.