Cold Comfort

Today feels like fall has officially arrived, and it appears the chiller weather is here to stay.

While I could bemoan the temperature drop, this weekend I’m going to regard it as an invitation to step into Overture Center and be whisked away by the Madison Symphony Orchestra for a few hours. While escapism via the arts is fun any time of year, I think it’s enhanced when the word beyond the theater is cold and dark.

MSO has a rich program in store this weekend, a concert of Copland, Elgar and Holst featuring guest conductor Chosei Komatsu and cellist Alban Gerhardt. Performances are Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Music director and conductor John DeMain met Komatsu in 2007 at the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, where he is artistic director; he’s also music director of Japan’s Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra. This weekend serves as Komatsu’s Madison debut, and he will open with Aaron Copland’s An Outdoor Overture, a work DeMain describes as an embodiment of the American spirit.

The second work, Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, will showcase the talent of guest performer Gerhardt, a young German cellist quickly making a name for himself in Europe and beyond. On the MSO website, DeMain describes how the cellist and concerto are a natural fit. “I’m excited to bring back Alban Gerhardt, one of the most sought-after European cellists, for the Elgar Concerto. It’s not just one of the most important cello concertos; it’s also a great audience favorite because of its delicacy and melancholic beauty.”

And a highlight is sure to be Gustav Holst’s The Planets, one of the most popular classical music works—and considered to be inspiration for John Williams’ Star Wars music. Dramatic and powerful, it showcases a range of emotions. Says DeMain, “It will be thrilling to hear this work performed live in Overture Hall, where all of its moods will blossom.”

As much as I enjoy an evening or afternoon musical getaway, I particularly love that in Madison anyone who wants to can have this experience. It’s not just for music lovers of a certain age or income level. In fact, MSO is making it easy and fun for young adults to attend concerts with its Club 201. Under this program, a joint effort between the Symphony and Madison MAGNET targeting Madisonians ages 21 to 39, classical music lovers can get discounted tickets and an invitation to a post-concert party at a local hotspot. After this Friday’s concert, Club 201-ers will head to Fromagination for wine and a Wisconsin cheese tasting.

But what if you don’t fall into the young music aficionado category? Or you’re already booked up this weekend? Well, there’s another related program open to public tomorrow. An Open Dress Rehearsal takes place 7–9:30 p.m. at Overture Hall. It’s free but only 250 spots are available and advance reservations are required (call 257.3734).

Here’s a look at the rest of MSO’s 2008–2009 Season:

November 7–9: Barber, Brahms, Tormis and Shostakovich featuring conductor Anu Tali and violinist Sarah Chang.

December 5–7: Christmas Spectacular featuring conductor John DeMain, soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine, tenor Gregory Turay, the Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Youth Choirs, Mount Zion Gospel Choir and Madison Area Concert Handbells.
• Club 201: Holiday Party. December 5 at Barriques.

January 16–18: Mozart, Sibelius and Prokofiev featuring conductor Daniel Hege, violinist Hanning Kraggerud and narrator James DeVita.
• Open Dress Rehearsal. January 15, 7–9:30 p.m.

February 6–8: A Feast of Beethoven featuring conductor John DeMain and pianist Olga Kern.
• Club 201: Beethoven & Beer. February 6 at Café Montmartre.

March 6–8: Borodin, Stravinsky and Dvořák featuring conductor Yoav Talmi and violinist Julian Rachlin.

April 3–5: Wagner, Saint-Saëns and Brahms featuring conductor John DeMain and pianist André Watts.
• Open Dress Rehearsal. April 2, 7–9:30 p.m.
• Club 201: Spring Romance. April 3 at Fresco.

May 1–3: Verdi Requiem featuring conductor John DeMain, soprano Karen Slack, mezzo-soprano Kristine Jepson, tenor Arnold Rawls, bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen and the Madison Symphony Chorus.

Photos of Gerhardt and Komatsu are courtesy of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

Water Works

Sometimes a stroke of bad luck turns out to be a very good thing.

For Henry Drewal, a professor of art history and Afro-American studies at UW–Madison, his blessing in disguise took place in Ghana in 1975. A specialist in Yoruba art—which he first became interested in while working in Nigeria with the Peace Corps in the sixties—he had just received a grant to conduct research in Nigeria. But when the border closed unexpectedly, he found himself stuck in Ghana.

That’s when he began to notice shrines, temples and statues dedicated to Mami Wata, a water deity believed to bring health, wealth and good fortune. “Everywhere I turned, she was there,” he says.

Intrigued by what he saw, Drewal quickly adjusted his plans.

“The more I stayed there the more I saw how vibrant Mami Wata worship was,” he says. “So I stayed and worked on that topic.”

And he’s continued working on the topic for over thirty years. All of this research has culminated in Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas, an exhibition exploring five hundred years of the visual culture and history of water deities.

Drewal curated the exhibition, which was organized and started at the Fowler Museum at UCLA in April. From October 18 to January 11 it will be showcased at Madison’s Chazen Museum of Art. Then it will travel on to the National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC; the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia; and the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.

The exhibition reveals the great diversity of media used to honor Mami Wata. Sculpture, masks, costumes, paintings, prints and multimedia works show the many faces of water spirits. And that the works come from west and central Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil and the United States show how widespread worship of Mami Wata has become.

“There are other visual and belief histories with movement across time and space,” Drewal says. “But water has always intrigued us, especially the sea.”

Not surprisingly, the nature—and imagery—of Mami Wata worship changed as it traveled and was met with new influences. For instance, in the fifteenth century European ships and coins made their way to Africa, merging images of mermaids with hybrid aquatic creatures found in indigenous rock paintings, masks and sculptures.

“It really starts to flourish in Africa at this first contact,” Drewal says.

As enslaved Africans were moved across the Atlantic, their traditions became part of local spiritual practices. And the image of the snake charmer was incorporated into Mami Wata visual culture in the late 1800s after a German poster reached West Africa; it was soon interpreted as an African water spirit. Later, traders from India brought prints of Hindu gods and goddesses to Africa, where they were adapted into female and male water spirits.

While his research on Mami Wata is intensive, Drewal is not the only scholar interested in the subject. In fact, he invited many of his colleagues to write articles for the exhibition catalog. And he’s also about to publish a large edited volume with forty-six contributions from academics, priests, artists and photographers offering unique perspectives on Mami Wata. The book will include a DVD with images, music, poetry and film clips.

And while many Madisonians likely aren’t familiar Mami Wata, Drewal thinks the city is a natural host for the exhibition.

“We live on an isthmus,” he says. “We live between two bodies of sacred water.”


The Chazen is holding a variety of events related to Mami Wata. For more information, visit chazen.wisc.edu.

October 17: A Carnival of Water Creatures
• “Mami Wata’s Big Splash!” Lecture by exhibition curator Henry Drewal. 6 p.m., room L140. Free admission.
• Mami Wata Costume Reception in Paige Court, 7–9 p.m. $8 members, $12 nonmembers, $5 UW students with I.D.

October 18: Celebrate Water Spirits!: A Family Day 12–4 p.m. Free admission. Children under 12 should be accompanied by an adult.

Sunday October 19: Exhibition Catalogue Signing 2:15 p.m. In conjunction with the Wisconsin Book Festival, curator Henry Drewal will give a brief reading and sign exhibition catalogues.

Docent-led Drop-in Tours
Tuesdays, 4 p.m., November 11–December 16. Meet in Paige Court.

Lectures on Water Spirits
• October 23: “Arts for Water Spirits in HaitianVodou.” Lecture by Marilyn Houlberg, professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 6 p.m., room L150.
• October 30: “Mermaids and End-Time Jezebels: New Tales from Old Calabar.” Lecture by Rosalind I. J. Hackett, distinguished professor in the humanities (professor of religious studies), University of Tennessee. 6 p.m., room L150
• November 25: “Undercurrents: Secrecy, Initiation, and other Sightings of Mami Wata below the Radar.” Lecture by Amy L. Powell, UW–Madison Ph.D. student in art history. 6 p.m., meet in Gallery VII.
• December 4: “Osun and other Yoruba Water Divinities in the African Diaspora.” Lecture by Bolaji Campbell, assistant professor, Rhode Island School of Design. 6 p.m., room L150

Artists Talks
• November 13: “An/atom/y of a Story,” Obiora Udechukwu, professor of art, St. Lawrence University, N.Y. 6 p.m., room L150.
• November 20: “Cool Women and Hot Combs,” Sonya Clark, chair of Craft/Material Studies, School of the Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University. 6 p.m., room L150.

Water Matters: A Lecture Series
Organized by the UW Aquatic Sciences Center and the Department of Art History to enhance public awareness and understanding of water resources in a changing climate. Free and open to the public. For more information call 608 262-0905 or visit aqua.wisc.edu.
• October 21: MadTown Singers. Keynote address: “The Sacredness of Water,” Patty Loew, associate professor of life sciences communication, UW–Madison. 6 p.m., room L150.
• October 28: “Conversations on Race, Privilege, and the Environmental Movement,” Carolyn Finney, assistant professor of geography, University of California at Berkeley, and Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees, artist/activist. 6 p.m., room L150.
• November 6: “History of Wild Rice and its Restoration,” Anthony Kern, associate professor of biology, Northland College. “The Past, Present and Future of Great Lakes Fisheries,” Jim Kitchell, director of the UW–Madison Center for Limnology. 6 p.m., room L150.
• November 11: “Water and the Law: Two Wisconsin Ojibwe Cases,” Larry Nesper, associate professor of anthropology and American Indian studies, UW–Madison. 6 p.m., room L150.
• November 18: “Wisconsin Groundwater Resources,” Anders W. Andren, director of the UW–Madison Aquatic Sciences Center. “Global Warming and its Implications for Wisconsin/Great Lakes Waters,” John J. Magnuson, director emeritus of the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. 6 p.m., room L150.

Film at UW Cinematheque
Free admission. 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue. Doors open at 7 p.m. Titles subject to change. Find more info at cinema.wisc.edu.
• October 24: Mammy Water (La Pêche et le culte de la mer), 1953, and the documentary Le Niger. 7:30 p.m.
• October 25: Faro, la reine des eaux (Faro, Goddess of Water), 2007. 7:30 p.m.

Film at the Wisconsin Union
Free admission. Contact 262-1143 or union.wisc.edu/film for more info.
• November 8: Lady in the Water, 2006. 11:59 p.m. Union South, Main Lounge.
• November 10: Big Fish, 2003. 7:30 p.m. Memorial Union, Play Circle
• November 20: Incident at Loch Ness, 2004. 7:30 p.m. Memorial Union, Play Circle

Jazz at the Chazen
November 21: The Onus Trio. 7–9 p.m., room L150.

Images are courtesy of the Chazen Museum of Art.

Hit the Road

Cora Hardin has a vision for Open Art Studios, the annual event in which artists throughout the Madison area open their workspaces to the public.

Someday, Madisonians will eagerly await OAS posting its line-up of artists online. They’ll flock to the site to see who’s participating and to plan out their route to visit as many artists as possible. And the studios tour will attract art aficionados and novices alike—just as the Wisconsin Film Festival appeals to film buffs and the casual movie watcher, says Hardin, this year’s coordinator of the all-volunteer event.

While OAS is in its sixth year—it takes place Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an exhibition at Overture Center running through October 10—it has a ways to go before reaching this level of buzz, Hardin admits. But she believes it can happen, especially as more people learn about the event and check it out.

This year, 136 artists will showcase art ranging from paintings to pottery, jewelry to glasswork. Because the event is not juried, there are no limits to what the artists can feature. “They can show anything they want,” Hardin says.

The tour affords opportunities to see a wide variety of art, see where the work is created and talk with the artists. Some studios also have activities for visitors.

Visit maoas.com for an artists directory and tour map, Hardin suggests. You may be surprised at how close to home art is being created. “You can go to one or two studios in your neighborhood,” she says. “It’s fascinating because you never would think your neighbor does this.”

And here’s an introduction to four artists participating this year:

Helen Klebesadel 

Why are you participating in Open Art Studios?

The Open Studios creates an opportunity for individuals to meet, talk to and learn about the artists who share their community. I participate in the Open Art Studios to give the Madison community a chance to come in and see how and where I do my creative work. I enjoy having the opportunity to talk about my art with people who are interested enough in it to make the effort to come to my studio. By dedicating one weekend a year to opening the doors of my studio I can share my art and my work space with those who follow my art, and introduce myself as an artist to those who don't know me yet. It also guarantees that I will clean my studio at least once a year.

I have participated in the Open Art Studios every year since they started except for one year when I was teaching art workshops in Alaska.

Tell me about your art.

While I work in a number of mediums the artworks I am best know for are highly rendered, often large scale, representational watercolors with narrative themes. My work often draws on subjects associated with women or the environment or both.

What are three words you’d use to describe your work?

Beautiful, layered, meaningful.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the creative work of the artists who were not recognized as such, but whose art surrounded me as I grew up in rural Wisconsin: quilters, lace makers, gardeners and other people who made art for daily use. I am also inspired by the natural world and the search to understand ourselves as a part of nature, realizing that what we do to it we do to ourselves and vice versa.

Part of open studios is giving the public a glimpse of the art-making process. What do people commonly misunderstand about your art?

Sometimes people think my quilt paintings are photographs of quilts I've made. I also think some people think of art in general as entertainment while I understand it as representing important intellectual and creative thinking about everything we value in the world represented visually.

What do you hope people get from meeting you or seeing your work?

I hope people come away from experiencing my art and talking to me with several possible reactions. I hope my art gives the viewer a place to pause in deep pleasure for a long time; I hope it makes them stop and reconsider what surrounds them every day through new eyes; I hope they understand art making as an important contribution to our culture and I hope it makes them want to make a larger place in their own lives for the creative process.


Cate Loughran 

Why are you participating in Open Art Studios?

I am the person who originally brought Open Studios to Madison. I lived in California for eleven years, until 2001. In California Open Studios is a way of life. From San Francisco, to the Sierras, to Napa Valley they are established and very popular. I simply created a structure that fit the Midwest and began talking to people about the idea. This was in 2003. Now it is n popular annual art event. This makes me proud. I am participating because I want to use this forum to show the public my new body of art.

Tell me about your art.

I consider myself a visionary. I view my artwork as inspiring, uplifting, and peaceful. I work with nature, both mother nature and the human nature. I paint, photograph, draw and most of the time work in the world of mixed media. I like the freedom to use whatever techniques necessary to create the most perfect image. I like the freedom to work with landscape and portraiture and floral and any other genre I wish.

Generally my process is collecting images, which include my photographs, drawings, paintings, and others as well. An idea strikes me, somehow... I then proceed to find the images that will best illustrate the idea. This part of the process is something like making a collage, but with the computer, via Photoshop. I have used up eleven photographs in one image; sometimes I use one. After I refine the image, I print it on cotton paper, usually Arches hot press watercolor paper. I then go into the piece with soft pastel, sometimes watercolor and even glitter. I spend sometimes days working the image after the print stage. This makes the image one of a kind, even though there is a printing process involved.

What are three words you’d use to describe your work?

Illuminated Realism is a term I coined to describe my work. Sometimes simply beautiful, other times metaphysical, always reverent to nature and the human condition. There is a surrealistic edge to my work, but my message is always straightforward.

What inspires you?

Nature, both human and mother nature, inspires me.

Part of open studios is giving the public a glimpse of the art-making process. What do people commonly misunderstand about your art?

People sometimes don't realize they too can be artists...

What do you hope people get from meeting you or seeing your work?

I want people to feel lighter, more hopeful about life. I want my work to inspire optimism this.


Karen Calkins Ragus 

Why are you participating in Open Art Studios?

I am participating in the MOAS because I think it is important for the public to see how art is made and what the artist goes through to do it. There are hundreds of decisions that an artist makes to complete a work of art.

I have been part of the MPAS before. I was in the first two shows and I participated last year.

Tell me about your art.

I would say that I am an abstract painter and print maker. I work in water media for the paintings and oil inks for the printmaking. I am unlimited in size for the paintings but my etching press limits the size of my prints.

What are three words you’d use to describe your work?

The three words that describe my work are … abstract, mysterious and exciting.

What inspires you?

Shape, line, texture, color and all the elements of design inspire me … not objects, except for the human figure.

Part of open studios is giving the public a glimpse of the art-making process. What do people commonly misunderstand about your art?

There is no accounting for any one’s taste in art or anything else for that matter. The person who might say, “Oh, I could do that” isn't the person who would like my work. For the most part, the average person doesn’t know how the artist gets to abstract. The artist first takes a long road through representational work.

What do you hope people get from meeting you or seeing your work?

I want people to have an experience you can’t get from a book or the media. “Open your eyes and your mind and see what you are not used to.”


Nick Wroblewski 

Why are you participating in Open Art Studios?

I am participating in the Open Art Studios because I am new to the Madison area, recently moved here from Minneapolis. This will be my first time. I am quite excited to show my space and work because I have expanded my operation to a larger studio space, including a 40” x 72” printing press, large drying rack, ink brayers, etc. It is my way of introducing myself and my artwork to Madison.

Tell me about your art.

I make woodcut block prints. The images are usually inspired by the natural world, presently I am very interested in the larger dynamics of nature such as the ways the hydrological cycle churns, the ways that animals move, migrate, and reproduce. I am drawn to forms that express movement in nature: the way a landscape possesses a “gesture” or a stark horizon line defines sky and earth. My prints are multi-colored, large-scale images that contain plants, animals, and landscapes.

What are three words you’d use to describe your work?

I would describe my work in three words as dynamic, vibrant and organic.

What inspires you?

I am inspired by the gradation of the sky during a setting sun. By the way lines of woodgrain mirror the subtle wisps of cirrus clouds. By the way the forces of nature absorb water, purify it, and release it back. By the way the moon draws water not only through the tides but also through the ground and up to the tips of plants. I am also inspired by how nature solves the most complex of problems in the most elegantly simple ways. I am not inspired by the net result (chain stores) of capitalism. One would get the sense driving across America that creativity and imagination have all but dried up. What is so mind-blowing about a Cabela's Super Store? How about the arial dynamics of a hummingbird?

Part of open studios is giving the public a glimpse of the art-making process. What do people commonly misunderstand about your art?

The process that I use to make my prints is sometimes hard to grasp. I generally print the final piece from two blocks of wood. One block is the background (negative space) and the other is the foreground (positive). I also print each color individually from light to dark. I am able to print more than two colors from two blocks because I use a technique called “reduction.” In a reduction print, one carves away the area that was previously printed that is to remain the last printed color. All the texture that is left is then inked and printed on top of the last color and so on down the line until most of the block is carved away. This concept of carving away what you want to keep usually is one of the crazier concepts to grasp when describing my technique. One also has to be very familiar with seeing the negative space around an object as opposed to the object itself.

What do you hope people get from meeting you or seeing your work?

I hope folks who come by the studio are able to get a sense of how a multi-block woodcut is made. They will be able to see the tools, the rollers, and the press and to hopefully see examples of the blocks that were used to make a specific image. Also, I really hope that viewers can see my work and get a sense of the whole, i.e the “spirit” of animals interacting, the "gesture" of a landscape, or the simple beauty of color as a way to define space.

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.

October Artist: Drawn to Create

Robert Schultz became an artist for three compelling reasons: He was good at drawing, always liked it and never stopped.

Perhaps it’s this natural and straightforward progression that imbues Schultz’s drawings, which are showcased starting this Saturday at the Chazen Museum of Art, with such directness and honesty.

To be sure, there’s nothing simplistic about Schultz’s work. Working primarily in graphite, and sometimes in silverpoint, his drawings are meticulously detailed and render the body with scientific accuracy while also revealing the beauty of the human form.

Schultz is represented in galleries in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, and has had shows of his work across the country. Yet he calls Madison home. Indeed, it has been since he was three years old, and he also received his art education at UW–Madison and has worked from a studio overlooking State Street since 1981.

It’s from this perch that Schultz sometimes finds inspiration for his work. “You feel everyone around you,” he says. “It’s nice to people-watch here. You never know what you’re going to find and end up drawing.”

Schultz regularly works eight- or nine-hour days in his studio, stopping only to eat a quick lunch, take a ten-minute break or go teach his life-drawing class at MATC. He likes having an entire day to work, to bring an idea out in a drawing. “Most days I never leave here,” he says. “It’s really fulfilling. The day just goes right by me.”

What Schultz does within those days at the studio can result in drastically varied drawings. One day it could be an anonymous nude with a long strip of cloth wrapped around his leg. And on another, it’s a study of a girl with a tough, confident expression, a ribbed tank top and lots of metal jewelry.

Such concepts for drawings didn’t always come easily for Schultz. The first year and a half out of graduate school was rough as he struggled to find ideas and the right way of expressing them. “Then once I got it, I really got it,” he says. “It just clicked and one idea would lead to another would lead to another.”

His greatest period of change occurred in the late 1980s as hard edges gave way to more gradation of light and shadow. He also began incorporating more texture, particularly in his depictions of skin, he says.

One thing that never changed, however, was Schultz’s dedication to drawing. He never regarded it as a means to become a better painter, as some artists do. Painting always seemed messy and felt like work, he says.

Over the years, Schultz’s drawings have been showcased in over twenty-five solo exhibitions. He’s finished and framed over four hundred pieces and creates about twelve to fifteen a year now.

Despite the work that goes into each drawing, Schultz doesn’t have a problem saying goodbye. If someone purchases a piece, that means the work resonated with the buyer, and the transaction helps validate the art, he says. “If they don’t sell, I feel like they’re failures,” he says.

And selling work is simply one step in a work’s journey. “They’re always mine,” he says. “It’s just that they’re on someone else’s wall.”

Schultz believes he’s at his peak, technique-wise, in creating art. The challenges now are to not repeat ideas and to get even better.

“You end up competing against yourself,” he says.


Robert Schultz Drawings, 1990–2007 runs September 20 to November 16 at the Chazen Museum of Art. An opening reception is Friday, 6–7:30 p.m. And on September 27 at 1 p.m., Schultz will present a studio talk and drawing demonstration.

Photos are courtesy of the Chazen Museum of Art.

Global Grooves

A Hungarian ska group. A Bulgarian wedding band. An Indian electric guitarist.

To say the least, offerings at the Wisconsin Union Theater’s fifth World Music Festival are eclectic. But they’re also stylistically and culturally diverse, and representative of the festival’s goal.

“We have a mission, which is to bring music that is unfamiliar to Madison,” says Esty Dinur, chair for artistic selection. “We’re part of the university, so we see what we do as educational—but in the most fun way.”

Held September 12 to 20 at the Memorial Union Terrace and other venues across the city, the free music festival draws musicians that might not otherwise perform in Madison. Often, the artists are popular in their own countries but haven’t yet traveled to the United States, Dinur says. But once they perform here, as well as at other festivals in the region, many return—and find enthusiastic and full audiences waiting for them.

While organizers never choose a “theme” for the festival, some connections emerge organically as the event comes together, Dinur says.

This year’s festival boasts several bands from Eastern Europe, including the Plastic People of the Universe, a band from the Czech Republic inspired by the Velvet Underground that formed in 1968 and performed in opposition to the Soviet occupation. “It’s amazing to have them,” Dinur says. “It’s their first time touring in the United States.”

Also performing are Hungarian pop-ska band Little Cow; Reelroad, a Russian folk revival band that started out in 1999 playing Irish folk music; and Kabile, a six-piece traditional Bulgarian wedding band.

Dinur expects electric guitarist Prasanna to be a hit with audiences. “He’s known as the Indian Jimi Hendrix,” she says.

Also exciting are “four acts from the Muslim world,” Dinur says. She’s looking forward to presenting Mamak Khadem of Iran, Gaida Hinnawi of Syria, Baba Zula of Turkey and Etran Finatawa of Niger.

Through these and other acts, the festival does more than simply bring good music to Madison, Dinur believes.

“It’s kind of a political statement—make music, not war.”

Concert Schedule:

Friday, September 12
Memorial Union Terrace (rain: Wisconsin Union Theatre)
• Dragon Knights and World Percussion Ensemble, 5 p.m.
• Prasanna, India, 5:30 p.m.
• Dragon Knights, 7 p.m.
• Mamak Khadem, Iran, 7:30 p.m.
• Dragon Knights, 9 p.m.
• Nation Beat, Brazil/USA, 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 13
Memorial Union Terrace (rain: Wisconsin Union Theater)
• Dragon Knights, 4 p.m.
• Little Cow, Hungary, 4:30 p.m.
• Dragon Knights, 6 p.m.
• Plastic People of the Universe, Czech Republic, 6:30 p.m.
• Dragon Knights, 7:15 p.m.
• Reelroad, Russia, 7:45 p.m.
• Dragon Knights, 9:15 p.m.
• Maraca, Cuba, 10 p.m.

Sunday, September 14
The Annex
• Weapons of Mass DeFunktion, 6:30 p.m.
• Little Cow, Hungary, 7:30 p.m.
• Plastic People of the Universe, Czech Republic, 9 p.m.

Thursday, September 18
Memorial Union Terrace (rain: Der Rathskeller)
• Student and Community Showcase, 5 p.m.
• Kabile, Bulgaria, 8:30 p.m.

Friday, September 19
Memorial Union Terrace (rain: Wisconsin Union Theater)
• Gaida Hinnawi, Syria, 5:30 p.m.
• Dya Singh, India, 7:30 p.m.
• Baba Zula, Turkey, 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 20
Willy Street Fair
• Chiwoniso, Zimbabwe, 1:45 p.m.
• Zazhil, Mexico, 3:45 p.m.
• Etran Finatawa, Niger, 5:45 p.m.
• 17 Hippies, Germany, 7:45 p.m.

Visit the World Music Festival website for recent additions, musician bios, and a full schedule of events including classes and workshops.

Photos of Reelroad, Prasanna and Baba Zula are courtesy of the Wisconsin Union Theater.

Going for It

In these anxious days when nearly everyone’s feeling a financial pinch, a trip to the theater might be just the thing to take our minds off our troubles. Better yet would be to see a musical about a group of down-on-their-luck guys who turn unemployment into unexpected opportunities.

Mercury Players Theatre kicks off its season with The Full Monty, a musical about six British men who lose their job in a steel mill and take inspiration from Chippendale dancers to raise some cash.

Director Pete Rydberg offered some insight into his—as well as music director JS Fauquet and choreographer Cindy Severt’s—plans for the production. 

How does the musical fit into the types of productions your company typically takes on—or how is it a departure?

Full Monty is one of the most mainstream productions Mercury Players has done in a long time, and it was certainly a discussion topic at our artistic committee meetings. First and foremost we put the artistic integrity of any possible production, and all three of us (myself, JS and Cindy) felt we could make a really exciting production of the show, and the company has the people and material resources to pull it off. It is without question the largest budget and one of the largest casts Mercury has had in a long time. And while it is a more recognized title than most of our other productions, it is still a new opportunity for area theatergoers who are likely only familiar with the screen version, which is a horse of a very different color. We also have a twelve-year-old lead—and Mercury rarely chooses pieces with young actors (last year’s Pillowman is the only other instance I know of, and the role in that show was fairly small).

What’s your approach to Full Monty?

It’s musical theatre, not a play—as I continually remind my actors. I like to direct “straight” theatre, but musical theatre is a completely different style of performance, so training actors to think outside of “realistic acting modes” is challenging. There is a technical precision that absolutely must be there in a musical that is not always as necessary or even desired in non-musical performances. There is more artifice, a demand for larger suspensions of disbelief, and the proscenium space does not allow for as much on audience-performer intimacy.

We began choreography workshops in May, and then focused June on music and choreography—both of which are extremely challenging for this particular production. Musically this is a huge challenge for both actors and musicians. There are times when all six of the leads will be singing their own line of melody creating a dissonant sequence—which is electrifying to hear in the audience but for performers on stage can sound “off” or “wrong” because, of course, it is dissonant.

As for the larger scope of the play, it is all about regular people finding ways to transcend their day-to-day—the six male leads transform from pathetic, antagonistic jerks and losers to a unified group of friends who, with the bond of their friendship behind them and the opportunity of doing something truly daring, achieve the improbable. The women in the show have a challenge as characters in charge of the household incomes and traditional male social roles. They must find a way to balance their relationships with these men who feel they have nothing to give back. The men feel like losers, and treat their respective partners poorly because of it. And the women need to find a way to overcome their significant others’ personal obstacles.

Most importantly, I have worked on making sure that while the show has many intensely dramatic moments, that it remained a musical comedy, as intended.

How close are you sticking to the original musical or the 1997 film?

I watched the film about ten years ago and not since. The musical adaptation takes a lot of liberties with the original film—resetting it in Buffalo as opposed to Sheffield or wherever it was in Britain, and adding/deleting a couple characters, but the basic storyline remained the same. As for the differences with the original production of the musical, I always throw those considerations out the window. The original was a multi-million production with hydraulic settings, etc etc. The Bartell demands different considerations, and I only have thirty grand—and I say “only” as comparison; again, it’s the most expensive show Mercury has ever produced. That is not to say that throwing money at a production makes for a good show—that is where Cindy, JS and I come in. The three of us discussed dozens of potential follow-ups to Reefer Madness [a musical Mercury Players produced last fall]. It had to be a fit for Mercury Players, and more importantly it had to challenge the music director, choreographer and myself. I have steered a couple scenes that played fairly realistically in the original production into more “fantasy” sequences, which ties in well with the overriding themes of hope, dreams and impossible situations. It has proven to be an immense challenge, but a very rewarding one.

Are there parallels to be drawn between the challenges the characters of the play face and what it’s like to work in the arts in the current economy?

I would say there are parallels to be drawn between the challenges of the characters in the play and the challenges we all face trying to live in the current economy. Who doesn't have a friend out of work? Who doesn’t know someone who has been laid off because their job went overseas? We are at a low time in our economy, which is the story of those in the musical. We have chosen to set it in 2008, as opposed to ten or fifteen years ago because of that resonance. This is a story we will all be able to relate to—and have a laugh at the same time.

What are your goals for the show and what do you hope audiences get from seeing the production?

I want the audience to be standing on their feet cheering for these characters at the end of the show. I want them to see the men go from losers to winners, to see and feel that regular schmoes like you and me can be more than we ever dreamed of if we just have the bravery to do so. I want to give that to the audience in a polished production—which is a lot to achieve with a twenty-plus-person cast and a two-hour show. But we are well on our way. The set looks fabulous, all my little bells and whistles are falling into place, and the choreography and music are almost ready to go. I want people to leave the theater feeling uplifted and humming the music as they walk away from the Bartell. The largest sell in Madison is audience word of mouth, so I hope if we do our job and deliver a polished, entertaining evening of theater, that people will come again, and tell their friends to check it out as well.


The Full Monty runs September 4 to 27 at the Bartell Theatre, 113 E. Mifflin St. Performances are 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $20, $15 for students and seniors, and $12 for groups of ten or more. 661.9696 x 5, mercuryplayerstheatre.com

Photos courtesy of Colm McCarthy.