Live arts, lively discussion
Polls, Curators, News, Members
HERE AT ARTSMASH, artists and enthusiasts meet up, discuss and sort through Rhode Island's teeming arts scene.
We love puppetry:
UPCOMING: Hear more about this UConn Puppetry Thesis based on an E. Dickinson poem.
By Artsmash's Bob Dilworth:
From an Artsmash Meetup: Ballard Museum of Puppetry
ARTSMASH WAS THERE! Our Indiefest video:.
Last summer
Drone Machine made for Joan of Arc
NEWS: Comparing candidates on the arts. Artsmash RI curator Marianne Messina questions two gov. candidates on the arts. : Check out the videos.
Frank Caprio
Meet the Artsmash team:
Art Curator: Bob Dilworth is Chair of URI's Art Department with an acclaimed career in large format acrylics. Dilworth's series of artist reviews, interviews, discussions and meet-ups started with this piece on Rhode Island painter Brian O'Malley.
ARTS NEWS RI:
IMC's Dubois and Reynolds
Romania's Sibiu International Ballet Competition has chosen two dancers from Newport's Island Moving Co. from an international field that was boiled down to 35 competitors. Perhaps the spirit of Vlad took notice when the two dancers Kristy Reynolds and David DuBois, danced "Dracula" at the Belcourt Castle this past season. In the third of 3 rounds, the pair will perform their dramatic seduction pas de deux from Dracula, choreographed by Miki Ohlsen. Dubois' comment, “How appropriate to be performing a section of Miki’s fabulous 'Dracula' in a theatre in Transylvania.” Artsmash plans to publish updates sent from Romania by coach and IMC general manager, Gregg Saulnier.
News, May 5:
"We need [the arts] so that Rhode Island Doesn't Fall apart."
AUDIO: Hear NEA Champ Amber Johnson recite Shakespeare.
ArtsmashRI helps vet Governor Candidates: ArtsmashRI is representing the arts at a series of meetings with gubernatorial candidates. Sponsored by RI Future and Progressive Democrats, the first meet was Tuesday, April 6, 2010 with Patrick Lynch. Artsmash asked Mr. Lynch to detail his values, commitment, and creative ideas for the arts sector. Next meet will be with Lincoln Chafee. Reports and video links upcoming.
Artists Flood Damage: Artists, if your studio or art works got damaged in the recent RI flooding, you may be eligible for relief through the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, CERF. Two requirements for anyone wanting to be considered: 1. You have earned 50% or your income from your art and 2. You have spent 50% of your time on your art (or craft). For more details, see: CERF.
ArtsmashRI at Arts Advocacy Day Rhode Island Citizens for the Arts rallied arts advocates for a show of support for the arts at the State House, Tuesday March 16. After brief but rousing addresses from Lt. Governor Elizabeth Richardson and RISD president John Maeda, a group of about 60 – 70 arts advocates dispersed to the chambers to meet with representatives and senators and to voice concern for arts funding.
BRING AN EVENT TO RHODE ISLAND BY POPULAR DEMAND
JOIN OUR MEETUP GROUP
FOCUS ON RI ARTS:
 |
Featured member: Providence based artist Josh Baptista has recently been seen at Boston's Space242 and has an upcoming show in Cambridge; see events. Or leave a comment at his Artsmash profile. |
|
|
|
ARTS EVENTS AND REVIEWER COMMENTS:
|
|
Left: Amanda Ruggiero in the Gamm Theatre's production of Mauritius. This tight drama of half sisters attempting to settle both an estate and the past is splashed with suspense as well as humor. October 21 - November 21 at the Gamm. |
|
Fusionworks Fall Dance Concert at RIC, November 19-20 at 8 p.m.
A taste of "2 Sculptors," a show opening September 15 at the Dorrance Hamilton Gallery, Salve Regina.
Splitshot by Bill Martin
|
|
ONE-ACT PLAYS FESTIVAL at ARTIST EXCHANGE
|
|
|
|
VIDEO: LIVE FROM INDIE FEST |
|
|
INDIE FEST: PICTURES ARE IN for the ARTSMASH WALL! CLICK FOR MORE CLOSE-UPS:Check back for video and other pics from the fest. (Feel free to leave a comment .) THANKS TO ALL YOU ARTISTS WHO "DOODLED" ON THE WALL! Next Art Wall event, 3rd week in August at Everyman Bistro. Check back for details. |
|
|
|
|
|
Amaranth Dance Company (below)
|
REVIEW: Great Friends dance festival finale included new choreography and 4 dance companies. Quite a full plate. Our review is in two parts. PART 1. |
Island Moving Company
|
Photo Credit: Doug Roark
| UPCOMING VIDEO: Dan Butterworth Marionettes RISD, Metcalf Auditorium Sunday, July 25 While yes, we're officially over puppet season, we could not miss this performance at RISD of Dan Butterworth's puppet work. If you look at the the workmanship -- and Butterworth makes all his own puppets -- you will see why he was part of the RI Art League exhibit entitled "The Art of Excellence." We were there taking images for y'all! |
|
|
|
WHAT IS THIS?
ARTIST INTERVIEW:Meet Jesse Reno an artist now showing at Montanaro Gallery's cutting edge art exhibit. This painting (left) is called "Measuring and Collecting." NEW VIDEO: Montanaro Opening titled after Reno's work, "Measuring + Collecting," July 17. If you missed the opening, check it out. PHOTO REVIEW:Also, images and a brief review from the event. The gallery will be open for public viewing Fri-Sat, July 23-4, from 6 - 8 pm. Then it's "by appt. only," through August 7. For more info visit their site. |
ARTIST VIDEO: Below. Catch Reno's infectious art devotion:
"If there's not even a concept -- it's like all random lines and colors and then you just come to it -- it's like, to me it's just pure, like, you don't even know what you're doing."
| LATEST REVIEW: In The Late Christopher Bean, a vintage comedy by Sidney Howard, a family shows their true colors when art hustlers come for their heirlooms. At 2nd Story Theatre, playing through Sunday August 1. CHECK OUT OUR REVIEW |
|
Witness the future of dance in RI with these young hopefuls auditioning for Herci Marsden and State Ballet, now in its 51st year.
ARTSBASH ! Moved to August -- Click here and help us make it good.
|
|
Last week FREE BAR PLAYS were set in bars around town. This one comes to you from from the Trinity Brew House basement. The atmosphere was dark, busy, noisy, and the plays used it all as part of the drama. Check out our BARPLAY VIDEO snippet of one boy-meets-girl-in-a-bar story. |
| NEW VIDEO!
Check out the Rhode Island Wind Ensemble. They performed an open air concert at Garden City Gazebo, Cranston (Friday, June 25, 2010). Here's how it went.
|
|
|
Photos: Richard Termine |
UPDATING REPORT: We ended puppet season with a bang, at the O'Neill Puppetry Conference. We met puppetmasters from as far as Germany and we met many of the puppet folk behind Sesame Street. Check our ongoing report. |
|
SPIRIT OF DICKINSON
|
Photo: Richard W. Dionne, Jr. |
LATEST REVIEW: Belle of Amherst
(Left) Christin Goff as Emily Dickinson in 2nd Story Theatre's Belle of Amherst (thru June 27). INTERVIEW:Director Pat Hegnauer |
|
Alex Katz compared the work of artist Janet Alling (above) to the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Meet us for a DISCUSSION:
IF you got to see both Alling's work and Goff's Emily Dickinson at 2nd Story Theatre, tell us what you think. Does Goff's portrayal of Dickinson illuminate Katz's comment in any way?
|
(above) Artsmash has been checking out the Gamm Theatre's Summer Intro to Acting course with Steve Kidd. Kidd is a dynamic coach and this summer's group of "beginners" are doing exciting work. A full house of guests watched the finished scenes at the Gamm Tuesday night (6/15). VIDEO coming soon. |
COMPETITION:(below) If you've been following our reports on Newport Dancers David Dubois and Kristy Reynolds, competing in Romania, the sun has set on their adventure. Though they were cut in the first round, Kristy said some interesting things in her blog -- (perhaps an Artsmash followup). Click image for blog:
|
RISD Collection 2010. New Images are up in our fashion pictorial Report from the Runway Despite this "She Devil" outfit by underclassman Eric Dinges, and a few select costume designs you'll see in our pictorial, this year's senior fashions were eminently more wearable than in some bygone years. |
|
|
|
Steve Jobe's Opera, Joan of Arc
|
| Check out our images from the Artsmash tour of BIMP, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, at UConn.
RIGHT: Haines puppet version of Jacob Marley from A Christmas Carol |
|
FASHION: TEST YOUR FASHION SENSE against the critics.
|
Here's the sneak preview of the RISD Collection 2010 with report from the preliminary judging.Though the final fashion show is over, here's some of the early commentary and controversy. SEE THE FASHIONS; TAKE THE TEST. |
RISD Collection 2010 -- Look for our review of the Runway show, May 22 |
(Check out the Newport Mercury story on Collection 2010.)
IT'S STILL PUPPET SEASON ON ARTSMASH!
|
|
|
Estrella (Jan), O'Brien (Max) |
REVIEW: GAMM THEATRE Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n Roll (through May 30, 2010)
".... Part of the production's strength is in the staging. They've ripped out "back stage" and converted that space to in-the-round seating. And the audience surrounds and sits in on the action." |
| RECENT REVIEW: Fusionworks "Locally Grown" "In a large theater with a remote stage, Pascal Rioult's Wein (1995), inspired by Vienna during the inter-World War period, is a daze of circular patterns. But when viewed only feet from the dancers -- from their facial expressions, glistening body heat and deep, audible breathing – Wein's brutal intensity hits you between the eyes...." |
"Finning," Photo: Allyson Riegstad |
MORE OF PUPPET SEASON:
LEAVE COMMENT: If you sawTheatre Sans Fils at Zeiterion, what did you think of their version of THE HOBBIT?
|
|
VIDEO IS IN
We saw the brief puppet film Harker, based on the old German Expressionist Nosferatu, and attended the puppet workshop. To the left, some of the puppet heads from the film, created by Scott Shoemaker. HERE'S THE PUPPET WORKSHOP VIDEO UPCOMING:
|
REVIEW: COMPLEXIONS CONTEMPORARY BALLET
| REVIEW: Heather Henson's "Handmade Puppet Dreams, Volume IV."
Right: The puppet character Nani, from Sam K. Hale's film Yamasong, which premiered at the Volume IV, Monday April 19, 2010. (Click image for film trailer.) Companion program: Harker, puppet vampire film, May 2 (see above). |
Photo: Rebecca Patterson |
"...productions of Chekhov can put you to sleep in minutes and send you home wondering if his comedies are tragedies misnamed. But director Michael Perlman views Chekhov's shark pool of existential questions from above a surface scintillating with humor..."
|
|
REVIEW: UNCLE VANYA
A Trinity/Brown production playing at Pell Chafee through April 30 |
| VIDEO: Festival Ballet Rehearsing Cinderella. (Production runs Apr. 30-May2) |
|
|
|
RECENT REVIEW: "RILKE, PART 1." A fascinating Apr. 12 concert at Brown by Aurea ensemble. Based on R.M. Rilke's poems and other writings. Aurea presented "Part 2," April 18. |
| VIDEO: FUSIONWORKS Rehearsal footage as the dance company prepares for their upcoming "Locally Grown" show, May 1, 2, 8, 2010. |
|
| ART OPENING: Newport Art Museum
REPORT from the Newport Art Museum Friday, April 9, the opening of "There and Not There: Rust Portraits by Esther Solondz." Visit Solondz' web site for video of her fascinating process. You'll also gain some insights into Solondz' work in the preview article ("Rust in Peace") in Newport Mercury by ArtsmashRI curator Marianne Messina.
Pictured at right: "Louis Riel" rust portrait by Esther Solondz. |
|
While presenting Pippi, Festival Balletwas already working on Cinderella (left). Get an insider's view in our interview/video preview.
|
|
| RECENT THEATER REVIEW: Duchess of Malfi
"...As actors in canine masks growl and "ruff" at the audience, they give us a palpable sense that their humanity is hidden or stifled behind their animal drives..." |
|
Artsmash saw Complexions Conetmporary Ballet
New Bedford, April 16. REVIEW HERE
|
|
REVIEW: Dracula
Artsmash goes to Newport, Belcourt Castle, to film and review Island Moving Company's Dracula. Here's a tasty image. (Shows run Mar. 25-28.) |
| RECENT REVIEWS (week of Mar. 15):
(Right) Diana Buirski as Laura, Wendy Overly as Amanda in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie at the Gamm |
|
|
|
Festival Ballet Providence: Pippi Here's a VIDEO PREVIEW of this popular family ballet.
[(l-r) Alexander Akulov, Ashley Andries, Lauren Kennedy] |
|
|
UPCOMING VIDEO:
|
| REVIEW: Dead Man's Cell Phone at Trinity Rep (thru Mar. 28)
Image: Janice Duclos plays a woman compelled to answer a ringing, abandoned cell phone... "The play flits like a butterfly over token lines about souls and the romantic idea of connecting via secret code from the afterlife. But it never lands anywhere..." READ FULL REVIEW |
|
| VIDEO FEATURE:
|
Rhode Island College mounts a bold Edward II,
Christopher Marlowe's 16th century history play Directed by Frank Toti.
Starring Jeff Church, Joseph Nicastro and Kristina Drager. |
|
|
"...A couple enters: Kristina D'Onofrio lifted by and hugging into Roger Fonnegra. And then D'Onofrio spills onto the floor in what seems like a disgorgement of impulses. Her moves describe a pushing out from and a cocooning into the relationship..." (Festival Ballet -- read full review) |
UPCOMING in ART:
- (Review: RISCA Art gallery opener)
- Review: Doug Bosch and Stephen Fisher exhibit at Bannister Gallery, RIC
CHECK OUT OUR VIDEO, SHOT AT FUNDA FEST:
It's an evening of Black Storytelling, hip-hop and love stories at Brooklyn Coffee and Tea House. VIDEO HERE
| REVIEW: TRINITY REPERTORY COMPANY REVIEW: TWELFTH NIGHT
"...At Trinity Rep, the actors can obviously handle Shakespearean language on auto-pilot, giving them leave to add spice. As the bawdy, drunken Sir Toby, Fred Sullivan adds physicality and notches up the nose-thumb as the kinsman who won't go away. Annie Worden's Olivia pursues Cesario with a randy coquettishness, once her wardrobe evolves from widow's black to saucy red velvet and satin (elegance by costume designer William Lane). Joe Wilson, Jr., tinges the lovelorn Orsino with melodrama. And Brian McEleney (both acting and directing) has perfected Malvolio -- pinched face, upright posture and faux voce blueblood. ..." READ FULL REVIEW. |
[Cherie Corinne Rice, Annie Worden] |
REVIEW: Elemental Theatre's Father, Son and Go.go
| ...Humorous and engaging, all the plays feature particularly convincing acting. Kelley Seigh gives a well-grounded performance as Molly, the woman in RedPop who is not sure she wants to have her baby. Seigh pulls off one scene with incredible timing as she carries on two conversations at once, letting lines with double entendre fall ambiguously between the two men talking at her. This play also features a fun fight scene and some death throes verite by Platt.... READ FULL REVIEW |
[Seigh, Platt in RedPop] |
| REVIEW: 4:48 PSYCHOSIS AT THE GAMM THEATRE
|
PREVIEW: ELEMENTAL THEATRE
|
DISCUSSION QUESTION: 4:48 PSYCHOSIS at THE GAMM
The Gamm Theatre production of Sarah Kane's play 4:48 Psychosis makes clinical depression an in-your-face affair. In a tensile, mercurial performance by Casey Seymour Kim, "the Woman" in 4:48 Psychosis wakes every day at this same early morning hour in a state of dysphoria. Choices by both the production and the playwright have hurled this 4:48 state of mind at us like a weapon. In one of her early morning torments, the Woman repeats an army of word-strings while at the same time trying to pound them out of her head. On a distant screen against the back wall, we watch as the words are typed out, "dab, flash, slash…"
Watching this play, I think we come to realize that like the Woman's linguistic sausage of loosely associated word strings, mental illness isn't something you "figure out." And the play seems to be less about fostering our understanding than questioning how we deal with it. How do we deal with it, as a culture, as individuals? If you saw the production, did you find yourself asking, what would I say or do for this person?According to the Woman, the Doctor (Tom Gleadow) falls short because of his need to "cover his ass." Asking him to drop his shields, the character asks a lot of her doctor. And breaking the fourth wall, Kim asks the same of her audience. As she addresses audience members, she breaks in on our observational distance and brings many questions to mind: Will we block this out? Do we feel the need for a shield? For anyone who feels society should embrace those with mental illness, these are important questions. Feel free to share your responses.
READ FULL REVIEW
OUR PERISHABLE WEEKEND:
- Read our Un-Review of the Unfinished Destefano on the Air,
A Perishable Theater Residency Project -
- Perishable's bi-monthly Blood from a Turnip:
|
|
|
REVIEW: Exhibit Opening at Renovated Warwick Art Museum
| Being back at the Warwick Art Museum for an opening of "Hues and Views," a two-person exhibition, was much like seeing an old friend after many years of absence… Greatly influenced by works by Wayne Thiebaud, Pierre Bonnard, and Antonio Lopez Garcia, the first artist on display (now through January 30) sees her paintings as a way of telling her story. Margaret Owen's pieces are small, no more than ten inches in height or width, but rich, succulent cakes, oranges, apples, and pomegranates convey a captivating tale of social easiness and charm. She asked herself many times, “Why paint oranges over and over?”... Read Full Review of "Hues and Views" |
Margaret Owen art |
|
|
FILM REVIEW: AVATAR Because Avatar is an important film on many levels, let's first dispense with the obvious: Avatar has fun 3-D graphics, lots of war action, decided but elementary politics, a solid but unexceptional story and a soupcon of two-dimensionality within the character roster… For both practical and thematic reasons, the artistry of Avatar cannot easily be separated from its 3-D component. Sitting there in your glasses, you are literally seeing the world through different eyes. And the 3-D lets you literally "see beyond the surface." This is as apt as it gets. What Cameron has done here is to point all metaphors, references, techniques and plot twists, laser-like, to the film's pivotal phrase: "I see you." READ THE WHOLE REVIEW HERE |
REVIEW: The Final Show in the Black Repertory's Afrosonic Music Series
| So how did the Black Repertory mashup between PBS' Low Water and BET's Chachi Carvalho go? Sort of like a wedding party – slow and smooth for the good meal, then breaking loose for the family fiesta. Short by a guitarist, Low Water was a three-piece surrounded by stage; Carvalho's nine-piece Eleventh Island Band was a stage takeover, crowding the stage with horn section, keys, drum kit, conga drums, guitar, bass, and DJ tables. And every instrument was going full tilt. Low Water comes on like a cottage by the lake, phased-guitar dreamy, horse-clop groovy, and Carvalho comes in like urban train wreck... |
|
READ FULL REVIEW: LOW WATER AND CHACHI CARVALHO
|
|
INTERVIEW: JOHN LEITERA, LOW WATER Recent Reviews:
|
| PMO REVIEW: "If you missed the Providence Mandolin Orchestra concert (Saturday, 12/11/09) at Goff Hall in Rehoboth, you missed a local treasure. The internationally appreciated PMO is a unique musical ear-opener. |
|
And Goff Memorial Hall is quite a place to hear a mandolin orchestra. After songs end, a little tail of resonance wags in the air -- an ideal effect for a powerful musical piece called "Lament for Kosovo." At song's end, conductor Mark Davis remains frozen in the fetal self-hug of his final cut-off while the musical residue evaporates, and the audience remains silent, as if stunned…" READ REVIEW; WATCH VIDEO
|
INTERROBANG?!: In the folding chair comfort of Ada books, a tiny but funky second-hand book store at 717 Westminster in Providence, a group of editors held a fun (free wine and hard cider) event. To introduce the second issue of Rhode Island’s indie arts magazine Interrobang?!, poets read their poetry and editors read short stories from the Lulu-printed magazine. Aspiring to attract a national, discriminating audience with “experimental” tastes Interrobang?! can be found both online (http://www.interrobangzine.com) and, thanks to on-demand printing, offline. [READ REVIEW] |
Artist showcased in Interrobang?! #2 |
|
|
THEN AND NOW: Newport artist Jemison Faust has taken a whole new direction in her latest mixed media work. Our Arts curator, Bob Dilworth, says Faust is taking risks and doing so with striking results. View images of then and now (link right) and read the review (link below).REVIEW: BOB DILWORTH ON TIPPING POINT. |
Click here to view Faust, THEN and NOW |
[REVIEW: DOUBLE HEADER AT THE GAMM]
QUESTION: ROMEO AND JULIET AT THE GAMM
| The Gamm production joins some of the finest in creating the sense that within the walls of Romeo and Juliet we are free to experience, or remember, love, in all its “blush,” as more powerful than hate. It’s the love scenes (and Amanda Ruggiero’s delightful Juliet), not the fight scenes, that linger. (That's if you can set aside a chilling scene in which Juliet's father -- Tom Gleadow, invoking the entire tonnage of gender-role history -- threatens to disown her.)... Is the appeal of Romeo and Juliet mostly about “oh to be young and in love”? Or is there some more serious statement about love? If you saw the show at the Gamm, how did the Gamm approach this issue? JOIN THE DISCUSSION |
|
Review: FUSIONWORKS DANCE CONCERT
In a special Thursday performance of Fusionworks’ fall concert, each of the five dances had standout qualities, from the exuberant color and music of “Buenos Dias” to the searing images of “Finning” a premiere by FusionWorks artistic director Deborah Meunier. We also saw Fusionworks director Stephanie Stanford Shaw's “Freedom in the Box.” Set to a spacious piano score with costumes of earthy brown and camo green, Shaw's piece explores ways of reconciling or living with the entrapments caused by a bad decision. It seems the box, or acceptance of the box, calls for grounding. The moves of the six dancers are well-planted -- flat, odd angled feet supporting deep lunges. In an interesting duality between upper and lower body, the grounded frame supports arms and torsos reaching forward and skyward. Balance demands strength.
IF YOU SAW THE CONCERT, RESPOND TO DIRECTOR'S QUESTIONS HERE
|
|
Of note, the company took on the intriguing work, “Wein,” or Vienna, by modern dance innovator Pascal Rioult. Rioult’s piece is a tumble of moves evolving from a simple circular parade. As Meunier has pointed out (between dances in the “Unwrapped” program), the dance’s constant movement in circles evokes Vienna’s architecture -- curved streets, circular parks and semi-circle palaces. Maintaining those circular patterns -- which like buildings on Viennese streets form circles along circles -- is a strenuous dance process, according to Meunier. “We spent two days working only on the circles.” |
[Dancer Karen Swiatocha]READ FULL REVIEW OF "WEIN" HERE.
READ REVIEW OF FUSIONWORKS' FINNING HERE
READ DISCUSSION OF FUSIONWORKS BUSHASCHE ETUDE HERE
CIRQUE MECHANICS: "BIRDHOUSE FACTORY"
[READ A REVIEW of BIRDHOUSE FACTORY HERE.]
If you saw Cirque Mechanics when they came to Providence,RESPOND HERE.
REVIEW: O'MALLY ON THE VERGE
by Bob Dilworth
Check out some artists' responses to this discussion!
Brian O’Malley is an ingenious painter with subtle power and punch, who pushes the image right to the border of full realization. He uses his own images and those excavated from newspaper and magazine headlines as a way to set up ideas for narratives, using them to build structure, develop topic, create mood, and tell his story, allowing the element of chance to take its course. “The Delirium Waltz” shows this. [Continued Here]
A VISIT WITH YORICK'S MARIONETTE THEATER
[Photo: Alexa Kosmider]
"...Sometimes during one play or the other, a hand reaches down onto the stage to lift out a set piece, or reaches out to make the rod-butterfly flit beyond the stage.. Petran relates that people often approach him after the show and say 'We saw your hands.' But Petran deliberately lets his or Novak's hands be part of the show. 'On purpose I show our hands; I like to expose it because once you expose it, that's a contract. It's a deal, and then things can happen'..." [ Check out the article.]
| PIXILERATED: VIDEO ART
|
Digital musician Freida Abtan (photo: L'Etoile Magazine)
|
Visit the First Works schedule, check out something you like, and start a discussion.
Videos
-
Artsmash at Indie Fest
Added by Marianne Messina
-
-
"Fracture" a bar play
Added by Marianne Messina
Photos
© 2012 Created by Marianne Messina.
Powered by 
.
