179365cover 5/9/07 11:29 AM Page 3 ALABAMA Volume XXII, Number 1ARTS State Arts Awards Issue 2007 179365cover 5/9/07 11:29 AM Page 4
Members Alabama State Council on the Arts
REBECCA T. B. QUINN CHAIRMAN Huntsville RALPH FROHSIN, JR VICE CHAIRMAN Alexander City
JUDGE VANZETTA PENN MCPHERSON SECRETARY Montgomery
EVELYN ALLEN Birmingham
JULIE HALL FRIEDMAN Fairhope JIM HARRISON, III Tuscaloosa
FRANK HELDERMAN Florence JULIAN W. JENKINS Anniston
ELAINE JOHNSON Dothan
DORA H. JAMES Opelika
VAUGHAN I. MORRISSETTE Mobile
DYANN ROBINSON Tuskegee LEE SENTELL Montgomery
CEIL JENKINS SNOW Birmingham
CAROL PREJEAN ZIPPERT Eutaw
Opinions expressed in AlabamaArts do not necessarily reflect those of the Alabama State Council on the Arts or the State of Alabama. 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 1
ALABAMAARTS In this Issue 2007 State Arts Awards Volume XXII Number 1 Greetings from the First Lady STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 2 Patsy Riley, First Lady of Alabama
Celebrating Forty “Years of Alabama Arts” 3 Al Head, Executive Director, ASCA
Roberta Gamble 5 Arts Icon Brings Broadway to a Small Town Angie Long
Nall 9 An Artist’s Pilgrimage Jeanie Thompson
Kathy Chan 15 A Lifetime of Artistic and Philanthropic Achievements Dr. Wilson Luquire
Thomas Hinds 19 A Commitment to Community Music Making Dr. Mark Benson
Paul Looney 23 Thriving on the Creation of Dreams Mark Hughes Cobb
Jerry McCain 27 Bluesman Anne Kimzey
The Quilters of Gee’s Bend 31 Superstars of American Folk Art Joey Brackner 36 Year of Alabama Arts Exhibitions 2007
On the Cover: A red camellia provides the focal point for Alabama Arts by Nall, recipient of the 2007 Alabama Distinguished Artist Award. The mixed media piece was completed in 2005 and is 39 1/2” x 31” x 4”. From the collection of the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
Library of Congress Card No. 74628447 STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 1 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 2
Greetings from The First Lady
When Bob and I were raising four bright children in rural Clay County, we felt it was important to stimulate their interests in the arts. We frequently drove them to plays, concerts and arts festivals in the major towns of East Alabama as well as going to Birmingham and Atlanta on occasion. The extra effort paid off. Our son and three daugh- ters participated in choral groups and school plays in high school and broaden their horizons when they moved on to college. I helped organize an arts council that has brought more cultural opportunities to our home town of 2,000 of the sweetest people on earth. Our state has always been known for its storytellers, authors, actors and singers. Tallulah Bankhead, Harper Lee, Truman Capote, Zelda Fitzgerald, W.C. Handy, Erskine Hawkins, Dinah Washington, Hank Williams, Nat “King” Cole, the Commodores, Jim Nabors, Lionel Richie, Winston Groom, Fannie Flagg and the Alabama band— just to name a very few—have fans around the world. This awards program and the “Year of Alabama Arts” participate in the cultural affairs of Alabama. I encourage highlight the amazing wealth of talent that we should you to do the same. appreciate throughout the year. Birmingham is home to You will enrich your life and move our state closer to the largest free art museum in the Southeast. The realizing the potential of our citizens while we foster a new Alabama Shakespeare Festival is revered throughout generation of talent that will bring more joy to the world. America. Symphonies, dance companies and art museums abound in our cities. Most recently, the terms “American Patsy Riley Idol” and world-class folk art have become synonymous with Alabama. The amazing quilts coming from the isola- tion of Gee’s Bend have delighted the international art world. Events with the interesting names such as Panoply, Kentuck and Bluff Park have reputations far beyond their First Lady of Alabama local environs. Our state has so much to be proud of and to share with the rest of the world. I am delighted to support efforts of the Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel and the Alabama State Council on the Arts to expand audiences of the myriad of art festivals and concert series open to the public. These events improve the quality of life in our communities and elevate the appreciation of arts among all generations. As busy as my husband and I have been since he became governor, we set aside time in our schedules to
2 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 3
Celebrating Forty “Years of Alabama Arts”
by Al Head
gramming. Statewide arts his year, 2007, is significant for a number of rea- service organizations sons. It is the 40th anniversary of the creation of have been established Tthe Alabama State Council on the Arts. The and supported so that Council was established by legislation in 1967 to support the quality and quantity the diversity of artistic expression and otherwise pro- of arts opportunities mote the rich cultural resources of Alabama. This year is could be maximized in also the “Year of Alabama Arts” having been proclaimed all parts of the state. so by Governor Bob Riley. The focus on the arts Cultural diversity has statewide is a partnership between the state Bureau of been funded and cele- Tourism and Travel, the State Council on the Arts and brated. Traditional arts the multitude of artists, arts organizations and arts-alive and folklife, so identified communities in every part of Alabama. The year 2007 is with Alabama, has been also a time when the Council calls attention, through a preserved, presented and long-standing awards program, to some talented, dedi- documented for the cated and giving individuals who have made significant enjoyment and enlightenment of generations to come. contributions to the arts landscape of Alabama and, in The Council has also begun providing grants for the many cases, far beyond. building and renovation of art facilities. It’s not too much In the forty-year history of the Council, 13,305 to say that the State Council on the Arts has had a signif- grants have been awarded, totaling over $68,600,000. icant impact on the growth of the arts in Alabama over Education programs reaching hundreds of thousands of the last forty years. students in schools and alternative arts spaces have been So, what is the “Year of Alabama Arts” about? Why supported. Major cultural institutions have been awarded would dedicating a year for such an “enterprise” be need- on-going operational support, making outreach, touring, ed, desired or deemed important? Well, the state does education and outstanding professional programs possible. have an incredible number of outstanding artists, in every World-class artists have been given fellowships and show- genre of work. It has an exciting array of arts programs case opportunities. Community festivals, exhibitions, con- throughout the year and in all regions. Alabama has art- certs, plays, and the widest range of performances have rich communities that are exciting to visit and live in. been given financial support at critical junctures in pro-
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 3 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 4
Unfortunately, the arts in Alabama may also be a best kept secret, taken for granted by too many Alabamians and simply not known about by out-of-state folks. With this undeserved obscurity in mind, 2007 becomes a great time to show off the state’s cultural resources and brag about people, places and things that make the arts in Alabama so engaging. The “Year of Alabama Arts” logo, an image taken from the Pine Burr Quilt (official state quilt) by Qunnie Pettway of Gee’s Bend, is being proudly displayed at programs, in publications, in windows and on banners as part of celebrating the unique quality of life we enjoy in the state. Speaking of celebration, the Council’s award pro- gram is designed to be just that. It is a time for the arts community to gather and pay tribute to a group of special people who, in different ways, make our state a better place to live. The recipients of the 2007 awards represent artists, educators, patrons and community leaders who have had a major impact and have made positive change a reality. Their highlights of effort range from interna- tionally acclaimed exhibitions to performances that bind entire communities, and from famous stages reserved for luminaries to classrooms filled with young people who represent our future. The awards event, however, is also a rallying time for all those visionaries, volunteers, support- ers, public officials and creators who can, and do, make the arts happen in Alabama. Recognizing special people among us from time to time inspires others to pick up the flag and follow those who lead and made a difference. Awards on the one hand say, “thank you and well done,” but also to others, “follow in these footsteps, much still needs to be done.” To all of the 2007 recipients we extend a “hearty congratulations.” To the rest we issue the challenge, “let’s do more to support the arts and artists of Alabama.” We do have a lot to be proud of and to celebrate.
Al Head is the Executive Director of the Alabama State Council on the Arts
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THE JONNIE DEE RILEY LITTLE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Roberta Gamble ARTS ICON BRINGS BROADWAY TO A SMALL TOWN
by Angie Long
he’ll tell you she’s been lessons, I don’t know.” Her given too much credit earliest stage memories go for her accomplish- back to Central Avenue S Grammar School. “It was ments. Many would tell you otherwise. Those who have 1931, and I played ‘Dawn sat in her classroom and Delight, Queen of the been directed by her on Fairies,’” Gamble remem- stage; the fellow arts enthusi- bers with an impish smile. asts who have been inspired The Peacocks also put by her vision and “joie de on their own productions, n i
vivre” all agree: this is one l with Mrs. Peacock making f e H the costumes and the chil- remarkable woman. n o r a
Roberta Peacock h dren creating their own S
y b Gamble, better known as props. Later, at Robert E. o t o h
“Miss” Bobbie, was chosen as P Lee High School in The Greenville Advocate Jacksonville, Gamble Citizen of the Year for 2007. Gamble’s love of dogs and language led her to link up with former student and served as student director long-time friend, Priscilla Davis, a noted photographer, to create the delightful In 2006, the stage of the Ritz and well-received book,“Southern Dogs.” of her senior play. The 17- year-old high school grad, Theatre in Greenville—a Council for the Arts. The Florida truly bitten by the acting bug, left theater that would “likely be a park- native, born to Scots immigrants Florida to come to the University of ing lot” without Roberta Gamble, and raised in Lakeland during the Alabama in Tuscaloosa to study her fans say—was named in her depths of the Great Depression, speech and theater. “I had lots of honor during her surprise 80th birth- learned to love all things artistic at marvelous roles those first two day gala. She served what she an early age. “My mother was inter- years,” she recalls. “Unfortunately, I describes as 12 “wonderful, life- ested in theater, music and dance. In ended up having to take all my changing” years on the board of the spite of those difficult times, we took required courses my junior and Alabama State Council for the Arts. lessons in tap dance, piano and what senior years, which meant I had to This year, Gamble has been they called ‘elocution’ back in the stop being on stage so much.” chosen to receive the Johnnie Dee day,” Gamble recalls. “Where my Riley Little Lifetime Achievement parents came up with the 75 cents a A member of the National Award from the Alabama State week it must have cost for those Collegiate Players, Gamble played
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 5 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 6
their husbands and children directed by other people, not by off to work and school. me,” Gamble recalls. Gamble’s primary focus, she “In the early ’60s, I was teach- says, was caring for the cou- ing history all day long—and direct- ple’s only child, Eugenia ing beauty pageants.” (Genie). “My daughter had She may not have actually a lot of health problems as a been teaching drama, but Gamble child, and I certainly want- certainly had a dramatic effect on ed to be there for her. I’d her history pupils. “I never really have to say I’ve had a bit of liked history until I took Miss a ‘checkered career,’” Bobbie’s class,” former history and Gamble says with a wry y e
l drama student Sara Killough n a
t smile. Gamble eventually S
Torruella of Foley recalls. “She made n
n went to Troy State e l the subject come to life for us. G
y University and obtained a b Reading the poignant story of o t
o teaching certificate, becom- h
P Rachel and Andrew Jackson aloud ing a history teacher at to us was just one way Miss Bobbie Gamble shares a triumphant moment with husband Greenville High School. Arthur “Bub”Gamble, following his victory at a enlivened the topic.” By the late Greenville Country Club tournament in the 1950s. “There was no drama depart- 1960s, speech and drama had been the lead in “Antigone” during her ment at the high school when I first incorporated into the GHS curricu- college days. She also served as a started teaching. We had some mar- lum, and added to Gamble’s roster graduate assistant in Alabama’s velous senior plays, but they were speech and theater department. The striking, dark-eyed brunette envi- sioned a glittering career on the Great White Way. Instead, courtship and marriage to a Greenville native, retired Circuit Judge Arthur “Bub” Gamble, brought her to the small south Alabama town she has called home for nearly 60 years—a town without much of a theatrical history. e l In her early years in b m a G
Greenville, Gamble did some a t r e b
social work; however, according to o R
f o a former co-worker, most of the y s e t r
soft-hearted Gamble’s salary went u o c
o
to items needed by her clients. She t o h also hosted a local radio show, P Gamble poses with an exuberant group of her Greenville High School students from the early ‘80s. “Betsy Camp Calling,” chatting During her time at the school, she directed 17 plays and musicals and hundreds of scenes for drama festivals. with housewives who had gotten
6 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 7
of classes. By then, public schools in “Imagine a quiet, shy Alabama had undergone a dramatic bookish girl like me— change—integration. Gamble says actually singing, dancing she has never been an overtly politi- on and acting on stage in cal person. Nevertheless, the front of hundreds of peo-
teacher, whose husband prosecuted ple,” Torruella, who per- e l b m
civil rights cases as a district attor- formed in the chorus of a G
a t
ney during the turbulent ’60s, says the early ’70s production r e b o R
she believes support of public educa- of “Oklahoma,” marvels. f o
y
tion and integration “was the right s e
Frank Phelps, who t r u
thing to do.” o c
played Emile DeBecque o t o
She proved it in her actions as in Gamble’s 1985 produc- h P she put on the first integrated stage tion of “South Pacific,” A radiant Gamble poses in her Greenville High School classroom in 1982. production in the city, the musical says this of his teacher “Hello, Dolly” in 1970. “I did not and director: “The dictionary Miss Bobbie did with high school realize it at the time, but Miss describes a mentor as a ‘wise, loyal kids was phenomenal.” Bobbie was teaching us great life advisor,’ but for someone like Miss From “Hello, Dolly!” to the lessons that went far beyond the Bobbie, that doesn’t even begin to “The Sound of Music,” from stage production experience,” says fill the bill. She would put on a show “Oklahoma!” to “Annie, Get Your Gamble’s former student Nancy with 80 or 90 people involved…what Gun” and many other shows, Miller Idland, executive director of the Greenville Area Arts Council. “By bringing black and white stu- dents together and demanding the very best that each of us had to offer, she was teaching us we could achieve great things by working together.” Gamble recalls watching with pride as students from all walks of life came together to paint props, work on scenery and grab a sandwich together. “It was just a beautiful thing to see them all, black and white, working together and having
a good time. Thank goodness we had g n o L
forward-thinking administrators who e i g n A
saw what theater could do for stu- y b
o
dents, male and female, black and t o h white alike.” Gamble’s efforts P inspired some students to do more Gamble is surrounded by the young cast members of “Urban Cowboy” during the after-show reception of the Greenville Area Arts Council production in February 2007. The Greenville Area Arts Council, for which than they ever thought they could. “Miss Bobbie” has been a guiding light, is in its 25th year bringing quality productions to small-town Alabama.
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 7 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 8
Gamble directed her Old Gym mayor, looks back to the early ‘80s, Over the years, the Ritz’s origi- Players at GHS in many memorable recalling a small band of arts sup- nal, vibrant Art Deco décor has performances, not to mention mak- porters searching for a home for such been restored, its stage enlarged and ing a 16 mm comic silent movie and a theater. new dressing rooms added. New guiding her students through “hun- The Ritz Theatre downtown, heating and cooling and new seating dreds of individual scenes” for drama once a stylish Art Deco movie were installed. Reception and con- festivals along the way. Browse house, had been closed for several ference rooms and additional through Gamble’s old photos of her years by then. Nothing was playing restrooms now flank the theater as directing days, and you will notice on its stage “except rats, pigeons and part of the Ritz complex. something frequently missing— roaches,” Kennedy says. “I think The theater is home to several people thought we had quality GAAC productions each lost our minds. The year, featuring shows normally only place was an absolute seen in much larger venues. This wreck.” Gamble, spring, the GAAC is putting on an Kennedy and crew saw all-singing, all-dancing musical the possibilities beneath fundraiser showcasing local talent. the cobwebs and dust Idland is directing the show, but and persevered. Even says she is looking to her beloved before an arts council mentor Miss Bobbie to show her
n was officially formed, the way. “Miss Bobbie is designing n e B
n
i future members could the costumes for this show and v l A
y be found investing doing a fabulous job. Even in her b
o t
o sweat equity in fixing 80s, her enthusiasm and leadership h P up the “uninhabitable” is alive and well,” says Idland. In March 2006, Gamble was honored with a surprise 80th birthday gala at building. After the city “Miss Bobbie is the reason there is the Ritz Theatre. A show was mounted with many former drama students purchased the theater in a GAAC. Hundreds of people have and GAAC members singing, clowning and sharing their love for “Miss” Bobbie. A fabulous cake re-created the exterior of the Ritz and featured 1982, the new benefited from her constant com- signs from the many shows she put on in Greenville. Greenville Area Arts mitment to bringing the arts into Council truly kicked our community.” Gamble. “I was usually in the bal- into high gear, preparing for the cony working the spotlight. It saved Alabama Shakespeare’s touring pro- on hiring someone else to do it, and duction of “Romeo and Juliet” a Angie Long is an award-winning I wanted to keep the focus on the scant three months later. “We taped Lifestyles reporter kids. I wanted it to be their time to up those seats with the springs shine,” Gamble says with a shrug. shooting through and went on with for The Greenville Advocate Even as she was directing students in the show,” Gamble laughs. Kennedy and a member top-notch productions that drew calls his friend the “steamroller who attendees from other cities, Gamble begged and cajoled and pushed to of the Greenville Area was dreaming of an arts council and get the money and supplies we need- Arts Council. a community theater in Greenville. ed to give us the ‘new’ Ritz Theatre.” Charlie Kennedy, a noted Twenty-five years later, those efforts Greenville musician and former have certainly paid off.
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THE DISTINGUISHED ARTIST AWARD Nall An Artist’s Pilgrimage by Jeanie Thompson
museums and private collections rom the Mobile Museum worldwide, including the of Art to the newly- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, opened Troy Cultural F which acquired several of Nall’s Arts Center, from the harbor line engravings for their perma- of the Principality of Monaco nent collection, and the Musée to the sacred Basilica of St. des Beaux Arts, Nice. Francis of Assisi, Nall, hon- ored as the 2007 But one must look beyond Distinguished Alabama this artist’s impressive biography Artist, has made his mark in a to find the essence of Nall, an singular way. artist and an Alabamian who is A multi-talented fine fueled by a personal quest. Nall artist, Nall has traveled the would like the world to know world, studying diverse cul- that Alabama, his home state tures and exploring art, and a place known as the cradle architecture and indigenous of the Civil Rights Movement, craft. Although classically produces some of the richest l l a
N artistic and intellectual talent in
trained, Nall is not a con- f o
y
s the world.
ventional artist who follows e t r u o
tradition regarding the use of c Like many young pilgrims,
o t o
media, style or subject. h Nall had to first leave his contro- P Always a seeker, he has fol- versial home to find it. Born in Nall has traveled the world studying diverse cultures and exploring art of lowed his own path which has the body and spirit. His latest projects have taken him to the home of Troy, Alabama, in 1948, Nall, led him to remote locations in Giacomo Puccini and the sacred Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. graduated from the University of North Africa, India, the Forum in Monte Carlo. These two Alabama in 1970, fled the state, Middle East, South America and large-scale works were featured on and took up residence in Paris to Mexico, but brought him back to official Monaco postage stamps in study the great art of Europe. Unable his roots in Alabama. December 2005. Also, under the to speak French, Nall auditioned for Nall has contributed to projects High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince and was admitted to the Ecole des all over the world. After H.S.H. Albert II, Nall has seen his work Beaux-Arts in Paris and later was an Prince Albert II of Monaco saw installed in the Monaco Cathedral apprentice of Symbolist painter Nall’s mosaic work, he commissioned and above the Monaco harbor, situ- Salvador Dali, who advised him to Nall to create two monumental ated next to the Theater Princess “Draw from life, draw again and flower mosaics for the Grimaldi Grace. Nall’s work is in numerous again…” He financed his life and
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 9 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 10 l l l l a a N N
f f o o
y y s s e e t t r r u u o o c c
o o t t o o h h P P H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco and Nall cut the ribbon of the monu- From the book, Alabama Art, Nall juggling twelve Alabama artists. mental bronze Peace Frame in September 2006.
education in Europe with return trips Nall invites apprentices to spend Alabama Art debuted in the home in the summers to paint and time at the N.A.L.L. Foundation. perched village of Tourrette Sur sell his work. His career as a painter Proceeds from Nall’s various projects Loup, France, a few miles from and master engraver flourished and help finance the opportunity for Vence, in the summer of 2000. he published many of his engravings. young artists, many from the South, Alabama Art, published by Black By the early 1990’s Nall had to apprentice with Nall in Vence. Belt Press, won the Mary Ellen purchased the studio of Jean In 2000 Nall launched a pro- Lopresti ARLIS/Southeast Dubuffet in Vence, where he later ject he christened “Alabama Art” Publishing Award for “Best Art met and married his wife Tuscia. which started as a way for him to Book” in the Southeastern USA. Envisioning a place where artists show his French friends and neigh- The phenomenon of Alabama Art might live and work near the French bors a bit about his home state. took on a life of its own, traveling to Riviera, Nall and Tuscia purchased After gathering a core of photogra- other venues in Alabama under the the grounds of the former Karoly phers including Kathryn Tucker auspices of Troy University. Foundation, and transformed it into Windham and Chip Cooper, he was In 2005, Nall and Dr. David the N.A.L.L. (Nall Art and Life encouraged by others in Alabama Bronner, Chief Executive Officer of League) Foundation as a haven for arts to include more artists. The the Retirement Systems of Alabama artists, writers and musicians. In group show of 13 featured both fine (RSA), conspired to take the vision 1997 Nall opened his museum at the and outsider artists, with familiar of Alabama Art to New York City. Foundation, which includes a studio, Alabama names like Frank Dr. Bronner invited Nall to bring living quarters and grounds. Fleming, Clifton Pearson, Yvonne the entire Alabama Art 2000 exhibi- Imbued with a strong work Wells, Charlie Lucas, and Jimmy tion to 55 Water Street, a ethic and the desire to pass it on, Lee Sudduth. Manhattan financial district building
10 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 11
owned by RSA. During a gala evening, Alabama artists and writers, state dignitaries, and a host of Alabama and New York friends enjoyed an evening of Alabama Art. A concurrent retrospective exhibition of Nall’s work at the National Arts Club included finely detailed drawings from his early Alice in Wonderland series, botanical l l a N
paintings and prints, complex f o
y mosaics, graphite portraits encased s e t r u
in elaborate frames, intricate line o c
o t
engravings and watercolors. For the o h P opening night event at the National The Puccini Festival located in Torre de Lago Puccini, Tuscany, Italy, commissioned Nall to design sets and cos- Arts Club, Nall and Tuscia hosted a tumes for La Fancuilla del West (The Girl of the Golden West), known as Puccini’s “American opera,”in Summer recital featuring Puccini Festival 2005. Nall was the first American to be invited to participate in Sculpting the Opera. musicians who performed selections bronzes and icons making use of ear- exhibited for hundreds of thousands from La Fancuilla del West, and lier works on paper that made up of Assisi pilgrims. revealed a glimpse of Nall’s upcom- what came to be called Violata Pax, Violata Pax was on view from ing costumes for Puccini’s or Wounded Peace, which would be May - August 2006 at the Basilica of “American Opera.” La Fancuilla Del West represent- ed perhaps the most challenging commission of Nall’s life to that point. At the request of the Puccini Festival in Torre de Lago Puccini, Tuscany, Italy, Nall designed sets and costumes for the Festival’s 2005 pro- duction of La Fancuilla Del West for the 51st season. l l a
Soon after, Nall was introduced N
l f l o a
y N
to Father Vincenzo Coli, the head of s f e t o
r y u s o
the Franciscan Monks in Assisi, e c t
r o u t o o
Umbria. After viewing and being c
h P o t
moved by Nall’s etchings and earlier o h
P An elegant, large format art book called works, Father Coli stated that he Nall’s massive retrospective Alchemy,a simply Nall—Violata Pax, documents the believed the Alabama artist under- 400-page book with text by Hugues de la conception, design and installation of Violata stood the “wounds of humanity” and Touche published in summer 2006, is the Pax, Nall’s major liturgical work installed in the sacred Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi; in was therefore an appropriate artist to most complete compendium of his life and work to date, documenting his work from the Cathedral of Monaco; in Menton, France; create liturgical work for Assisi. Nall early Paris student days to the present. in Pietrasanta, Tuscany, Italy, and finally in then created the monumental Mobile, Alabama.
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 11 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 12
St. Francis of Assisi. At the same time, a set of the monumental works were installed in the piazza of Piestrasanta, Tuscany, Italy, with Nall’s work filling the adjacent Duomo Agostino. Further, a retro- spective exhibition in Menton, France, and an installation of Violata Pax icons in the Monaco Cathedral, completed the summer pilgrimage of Nall’s work. l l a N
To commemorate this work a f o
y
large format art book about Violata s e t r u
Pax’s genesis was produced, and o c
o t
Alchemy, a scrapbook of Nall’s more o h P than 30-year career, was also pub- The monumental bronze dove representing “wounded peace,”or Violata Pax, lished. In August 2006, Violata Pax, was installed in the upper Basilica in Assisi in spring 2006 at the invitation with a new monumental bronze of Father Vincenzo Coli, head of the Franciscan Monks. Nall’s giant dove has called “Bible Belt,” Alabama Art and part of her face blown away and one foot is deformed—symbolizing the wounds of humanity embodied in one creature of nature. other works were exhibited at the Mobile Museum of Art. In order to promote the 2007 Puccini Festival season and Nall’s participation designing sets and cos- tumes for the maestro’s La Rondine, the monumental bronze dove and frame were recently installed at the Pisa airport, the hub through which many festival-goers arrive. Travelers to Pisa Airport find the Violata Pax monumental dove and frame in the grassy courtyard, with images from l l a N
Nall’s interpretation of Puccini’s f o
y Opera—in the airport interior. This s e t r u
summer during the opera festival o c
o t
season, the city of Piestrasanta will o h P dedicate a square where one of Icons from Violata Pax were recently installed in the Pisa, Italy airport to publicize Nall’s 2007 Nall’s monumental frames will per- season collaboration with the Puccini Festival. manently reside. While his European associa- tions continue to grow, Nall has plowed new ground back in the
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USA. In early 2007 Nall spent two months in Miami as a featured artist during the Art Basel and Miami Art Fair, represented by Westwood Galleries of New York, NY. He was Artist in Residence at Miami Dade l l Community College, the country’s a N
f o
largest community college, and had y s e t
r The icon called "Genocide" poignantly
work installed in five locations of u o c
evokes the wounds of humanity that o the college. t o Father Coli saw in Nall's drawings. h No matter where he travels in P Originally created for the Italian com- the world, Nall takes Alabama with memoration of La Shoa in 2005, "Genocide" references man's ultimate him. In this way, Alabama’s indige- inhumanity to man. Barbed wire nous artistic talent becomes better from concentration camps, a cup of l
l water that the thirsty prisoner desires,
known and opportunities may be a N
and human skulls in the border all f o
created for other artists to work y touch us with their veracity. St. s e t abroad. In the coming year, young r Francis is depicted at the top of the u o c icon, interceding to request forgiveness o
musicians and artists from Alabama t o
h for humanity's sins. will travel to study with the Puccini P Festival master teachers and the arti- sans of Piestrasanta. In exchange, Puccini Festival performers are expected to tour Alabama perform- ing arts venues. Why would an artist of immense talent and unprecedented drive extend his energies to promote his fellow artists abroad and at home? The reason probably lies in the fact that Nall is an omnivorous consumer of human energy and love. His own art feeds upon this energy, and he gives back tenfold to all who sur- round him. During the summer of 2006, Nall’s two monumental bronzes were installed in the n o s
Thankfully, Nall can always Piazza of the Duomo Santo Agostino in p m
Pietrasanta, Tuscany, Italy. Here, the giant o come home—to Alabama—again. h T
e
Peace Frame, embellished with symbols and i
He and Tuscia maintain a residence n a e
mosaic work, frames another edition of J
y
in Fairhope where he has a private b
Nall’s dove of “wounded peace.” o t o
studio. They travel with their h beloved dogs Shorty and Rosina, P between Vence, Monaco and Fairhope, continuing their pilgrimage
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 13 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:17 AM Page 14
to new venues for Nall’s artistic vision. When they are not mounting new shows or researching materials for his art, Tuscia and Nall participate in charitable events such as the Sacred Music Festival of the Monaco Cathedral and auctions to raise funds for animal shelters in Vence. Even as an honoree in the 2007 Governor’s Arts Awards, Nall encom- passes a vast amount of human energy and enterprise. Speaking from his studio in Vence, Nall mused about what it means to receive the Distinguished Artist Award during the Year of Alabama Arts. “I think this award certainly has been won not just by me but by all my friends and supporters,” he said. l l
a “I want to accept it for all the peo- N
f o ple I’ve worked with throughout my y s e t r
u career—all the museums, galleries, o c
o
t clients, the Jack Warners, the Red o h P Blounts, the Mobile Museum of Art, the A generous, public man in many ways, Nall craves moments of introspection and nurturance provided by Huntsville Museum, the Birmingham his family and his homes in Europe and Alabama. Four-legged friends Shorty and Rosina travel extensive- ly with Nall and Tuscia who raise money for homeless animals as part of their many charitable endeavors. Museum of Art, the Montgomery This spring Nall and Tuscia are sponsoring the Blessing of the Animals in the Cathedral of Monaco with a Museum of Fine Art. And I want to sacred music concert, proceeds from which go to aid the children of Darfur. accept it for all the other artists who were part of Alabama Art. I proudly receive it for all of my artist friends and all the other friends and associates who have been with me in my career.”
Jeanie Thompson is executive director of the Alabama Writers’ Form and a faculty member of the Spalding University Brief Residency MFA Writing Program (Louisville, KY)
Material from Westwood Gallery’s website was used with permission for this article.
14 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 15
THE GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARD Kathy Chan A Lifetime of Artistic and Philanthropic Achievements by Dr. Wilson Luquire
“Carpe Diem, Seize the Day. wholeheartedly in whatever they traveler, gourmet cook, volunteer, This is my philosophy about believe in.”—Kathy Chan, 2007. organizer, instigator, and philan- life. I believe it also applies Linguist, artist, musician, thropist are but a few of the words to civic and community work. One dancer, fashion designer, humanitar- that could be used to describe Kathy should live fully, work hard, and help ian, international jeweler, world Chan. She is both an artist who has produced numerous creations in sev- eral genres for the world’s stage, as well as being a major philanthropist providing millions of dollars to vari- ous worthy causes, including educa- tion/scholarships, cultural and artis- tic gifts, and human services gifts. Her contributions over the years have been so numerous that only a few select highlights can be present- ed in this article. Kathy Chan was born in Shanghai, China. Her family immi- grated to Brazil when she was only nine years old. As a teenager in Brazil, Kathy met her husband Tony. At that time, he was a London college graduate on holiday in Brazil. Tony soon returned to England to pursue his doctorate degree. Kathy dropped out of her high school and followed him to n a
h England, claiming she needed to C
y h
t perfect her English. Before long, the a K
f
o two were married and their first son
y s e t
r was born in England. From u o c England, the two moved to Turkey. o t o h
P It was there that their second child, Kathy Chan painting in her studio. a daughter, was born.
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 15 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 16
Following Turkey, Tony and Kathy moved to California, where Tony taught at the University of California. In San Diego, Kathy obtained her GED allow- ing her later to attend Purdue University. While living in California, their third child, a son, was born. In 1970, Tony and Kathy moved for the last time, and came to Huntsville. After seeing her children off to school, Kathy enrolled at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and earned two degrees, one in French and a second in Fine Art. Utilizing her artistic instinct, n a h C
Kathy taught herself how to make fine jewelry. Within y h t a
K five years, she won her first of many international awards
f o
y
s for jewelry design. Kathy, her husband Tony and their Pei- e t r u
o Ling Chan Charitable Trust have made many remarkable c
o t
o contributions to society, providing literally millions of h P dollars to scholarships, university programs, civic pro- Kathy Chan at the University of Alabama in Hunstville’s 25 Anniversary. grams, education programs, and other cultural and humanitarian programs. Kathy elaborates on how her background has helped to shape her artwork: “Since childhood, I have lived in many different countries, and for this reason my jewelry has a multi-cultural flavor. When I design, sometimes I simply extract only the essence of a form—an oriental influence, or sometimes the design is very colorful—a South American influence, other designs are very styl- ish—a European influence. The past also inspires my work at times. I love to create works with granulation, an Etruscan influence. It accents my jewelry design, and is a modern twist on an ancient technique.” Kathy has managed to make quite a name for her- self, despite relatively little formal training in the field of jewelry design. As she says, “My experience with jewelry n a h
C designing comes from experiments and natural instinct. I
y h t
a am a self-taught artist in the field; but in many ways, not K
f o
y having a formal training has been an advantage for me. s e t r
u The horizon is wide and there are no limits in my mind o c
o t about what I am able to do. I am very involved with my o h P designs from the time of conception to production, and Kathy Chan’s first International Award-winning jewelry piece from even marketing. I have a real passion for jewelry making 1986: a topaz, pearl, diamond and gold pendant-necklace, which transforms easily into five different necklaces and three different from start to finish. For this reason, each piece has a life brooches.
16 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 17
of its own, whether it is a very Kathy Chan’s artistic creativi- intricately detailed design or just ty knows no bounds. As she a simple, bold one.” says, “People often ask me if I Her prominence on the simply dream up my designs. world’s jewelry stage is evi- Actually, the answer is “no!” I denced by the numerous cita- find inspiration for my cre- tions and awards that she has ations from all of my sur- received for many, many years roundings, everyday. Every in competitions and cities all waking second brings a deluge
n of new ideas to my mind.
over the world. She has a h C
Whether it is the softest whis- received dozens of prestigious y h t a
K per of the wind or an enor-
awards which have covered f o
y
s mous earthquake, a fresh
three decades. Among them are e t r u
o flower in bloom or a busy
14 International Award c
o t
o bumble-bee working, nature
Winning entries, which include h her work as an artist working P provides me with endless Kathy Chan models one of her creations, a metallic fabric dress, at a inspiration. As long as I am with precious metals, pearls and fundraiser for the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, holding an emu egg gemstones. These 14 Award adorned with South Sea pearls, jade, and citrine. able, I hope to continue to Winning Pieces will be included transform these inspirational in a 2007 exhibit entitled “The World of Kathy Chan” at wonders into beautifully crafted and jeweled pieces of fine the Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts in art.” Kathy continues, “Just like a poet or a writer, I am Gadsden, Alabama. This exhibit will also feature several also encouraged by everyday happenings. Instead of other jewelry creations, paintings, and dresses designed recording history in writing, I record history with the by Kathy Chan. expressions of my jewelry. All my jewelry creations are breathtakingly beautiful, Kathy Chan’s work is full of symbolism and mean- and some include a very ing. She has created several pieces to commemorate deep symbolism and philos- various historical events including the Space Shuttle ophy about life.” Challenger explosion of 1986, the Reaching out for Democracy “Tiananmen Square Event” of 1989, the Kathy has been and California Earthquake of 1989, the Huntsville Tornado continues to be involved of 1989, and the Persian Gulf War of 1991. According extensively in Huntsville to Kathy, “In this short lifetime of ours, it is important civic activities and has n a
received several “Volunteer h
to me to leave an impression and do something posi- C
y h
of the Year” awards. She ini- t tive. Consequently, my designs are filled with symbol- a K
f o
tiated the Chinese school
ism, purpose, and meaning. My goal has always been to y s e t
for children in Huntsville, r
make my unusual creations as strong and as flawless as u o c
designed the logo for the o possible, while at the same time making a quiet and ele- t o h gant statement to the beholder. I strive to achieve Huntsville Arts Council, P among my design concepts a harmonic balance of com- and has helped organize and International Award-winning Black fort and high quality with durable precious materials support charitable events for South Sea pearl, diamond and seed many non-profit organiza- pearl brooch by Kathy Chan. This and impeccable workmanship”. design was the only American winner in 1991.
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 17 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 18
literally hundreds of guns, current decade. In 2001, she provid- which, without her support, ed three unique works of jewelry to would still threaten us all. be displayed at the UAH Salmon When she learned that the Library. In 2002, she was named an n a h
C Police Department was out of Alumni of Achievement by UAH,
y h t
a money to buy back more avail- and helped sponsor a performance of K
f o able guns, she immediately pro- the Shanghai Ballet. Bliss Magazine y s e t r
u vided the buy-back money. featured Kathy on its cover in 2003. o c
o
t Around this same time, Kathy This same year, she also donated a o h P created a sculpture in honor of $6,000 necklace to be raffled in ben- Tony and Kathy Chan with Yo-Yo Ma in Huntsville, 2005. UAH’s 25 years of autonomy, efit of the Huntsville Museum of and received the UAH Art, and was awarded a certificate tions, including the Huntsville Outstanding Alumna of the Year from the Huntsville International Museum of Art, the Huntsville Award. In 1998, she participated in Cultural Organization. In 2004, Botanical Garden, the Huntsville the “Behind Bars For Good” Kathy designed a pin given to mem- Symphony, the Huntsville Hospital bers of the Millennium Society of Foundation, the Huntsville Chamber Huntsville Hospital. Kathy and her Music Guild, the University of husband Tony sponsored a concert in Alabama in Huntsville, the Mary G. Huntsville featuring superstar cellist Hardin Center for Cultural Arts in Yo-Yo Ma the following year. In Gadsden, the Savannah College of 2006, they were both recognized for Art and Design (Savannah, donating $100,000 to the Gadsden Georgia), Hospice of North Cultural Arts Foundation. In March Alabama, the American Red Cross, n
a 2007, the opera Lucia di h
the Constitution Village Park, and C
y Lammermoor was performed in h t
many other organizations too numer- a K
f honor of Kathy Chan, along with an o ous to mention. y s
e auction of her work. Clearly, Kathy t r
Her history of community u o
c Chan is a very deserving recipient of
o t
involvement is quite extensive. In o
h this award, and her works will surely P 1986, she designed and constructed continue to benefit North Alabama the set for the Grand Finale of the Kathy Chan appears on the cover of Bliss Magazine in 2003. and the world for years to come. Armed Forces Celebration “Partners in Peace.” The friendship bridge that Muscular Dystrophy Association was a part of the set was used by Bob fundraiser. The National Conference Dr. Wilson Luquire Hope in celebration of his 80th of Community and Justice honored birthday. On June 11 and 12, 1989, Kathy for her race-relations work in Dean of the Library Kathy supported and guided Chinese 1999. This same year, she again University of Alabama students in a march in Washington donated $10,000 to support the in Huntsville D.C. to demonstrate against blood- Guns for Life gun buyback program shed and oppression in China. In in Huntsville. 1993-1994, she provided interest, Kathy Chan’s artistic and phil- money, and support for the Police anthropic works continue into the Department to be able to buy back
18 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 19
THE GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARD Thomas Hinds A Commitment to Community Music Making by Dr. Mark Benson
n an age when we read all too often about reduced support for Ithe arts and failed orchestras, the story of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra qualifies as a genuine suc- cess. Newcomers to the orchestra’s concerts are often surprised to learn that the ensemble is a community orchestra, comprised primarily of volunteers, rather than professional players. The level of playing far exceeds the standards of most com- munity orchestras in the country because of the commitment Music Director Thomas Hinds has made to the orchestra, and the commitment to music making he has inspired in its members. Born in Oklahoma and raised in Minnesota and North Carolina, it was not at all obvious that Thomas Hinds was destined for a career as an orchestral conductor. “My par- ents were musical,” he says, “but they didn’t listen to much classical music. They sang in the choir and loved to listen to jazz. They taught . r my brothers and me how to sing J
, n o s
when we were very young, and trot- t r e b
ted us out to entertain guests.” In o R
d i v
sixth grade, Hinds heard his first a D
y
live orchestra performance when the b
o t o
North Carolina Symphony gave a h P young person’s concert at his school. Maestro Thomas Hinds prepared to lead the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra.
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 19 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 20 . r J
, n o s t r e b o R
d i v a D
y b
o t o h P Rehearsal for Broadway Under the Stars, a free outdoor concert held on the grounds of the Blount Cultural Park at Summer's end.
“I knew then that classical music Symphony Orchestra, with whom he noted conductor Sergiu Celibidache was something I wanted to learn,” performed for the next ten years. at the prestigious Munich he recalls. Later, Hinds learned the Midway through his tenure with the Philharmonic Conductor’s Course. trumpet—“in order to play like orchestra, he began to investigate Eventually, he earned conducting Harry James”—and also the bassoon, seriously the possibility of becoming engagements with Birmingham’s Red the orchestral instrument that a conductor. Mountain Chamber Orchestra, would become his major instrument “With a pristine ignorance Johnson City (Tennessee) in college. about how to go about it,” Hinds Symphony, the Southern Regional In 1966, Hinds enrolled at the says, “I began to explore everything Opera Company, and the University of North Carolina at that might be useful in a conducting Birmingham Civic Opera. Chapel Hill to major in physics. He position. At one time or another, I Thomas Hinds was named explains, “My father was an engineer volunteered to be music librarian for music director and conductor of the and my mother was a pilot, so it a ballet company; orchestra contrac- Montgomery Symphony Orchestra seemed natural to major in science. tor, backstage chorus director and in 1983. Only seven years old at the Eventually I realized that my real general gofer for an opera company; time, the orchestra was still trying to love was music, and that I had better and technical assistant with the find its identity. “We wanted to give it a try while I was still young Alabama Symphony. I even drove build an orchestra that represented enough to pursue it. My parents were the technical truck when the orches- the people of Montgomery,” says horrified when I announced that I tra went on tour.” He also began Hinds, “and it was decided not to had changed my major, but they studying with noted conducting move toward a fully professional eventually got used to the idea.” teachers, including Charles Bruck at orchestra, but to keep the ensemble After graduating, Hinds spent a few the Pierre Monteux Domaine School a volunteer organization.” Helen years as a free-lance musician, but in in Maine, and Harold Farberman at Steineker, the Symphony’s long-time 1972 he won an audition for a bas- the American Conductor’s Guild manager comments, “We knew it soon position with the Alabama Institute. In 1981, he studied with would be a slower road, artistically,
20 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 21
but Tom’s expertise on the podium opportunities—exactly what a young brought out better music each year.” professional musician needs.” Thus Hinds also had some ideas the Fellowship program has benefit- about how to speed up the process of ed many young professional players, making the orchestra better. First, most of whom have gone on to the Orchestra initiated a scholarship careers as professional musicians and program to assist its players in pay- teachers in the United States or ing for private lessons. Second, a abroad. In return, the Fellows have Youth Orchestra was created, offer- given Montgomery audiences high . r J
quality performances, greatly enrich- ing the opportunity for high school- , n o s
ing the cultural climate of the city. t age players to perform symphonic r e b o R
music. The Montgomery Symphony Hinds is the first to admit that d i v a
currently includes several “gradu- successes of this kind are not com- D
y b
ates” of that orchestra. pletely his own doing. “I work with a o t o h It was Hinds who suggested the Board of Directors that is the envy of P Thomas Hinds perfecting each note. Symphony’s Fellowship program, in my conductor colleagues,” he says. which national auditions are held Steineker adds, “Tom and the board each year to select a young, profes- have always been on the same page. sional violinist or cellist to be the They look at the orchestra and its orchestra’s principle players. “I mission and they see the same thing.” wanted our community to hear how Hinds prefers to ask questions and music sounded when played at a pose suggestions rather than make very high level,” he remarks. It was demands, and his self-effacing per- also his belief that young profession- sonality has endeared him to board als leading the string sections would members and audiences alike. lead by example and instruction, An attitude of cooperation is and inspire a commitment to excel- also evident in the relationship lence in performance among the between Hinds and the orchestra’s orchestra’s members. This is exactly members. Hinds sees music making . r J
what has happened. In addition, as a collaborative venture. His man- , n o s
each the Symphony’s Fellows are ner in rehearsals is that of a teacher t r e b o
featured every year in a solo perfor- who suggests ways to improve, and R
d i v
mance with the orchestra, and in who guides players through the a D
y b
three solo recitals. process of getting things right. He is o t o
quick to praise a job well done, h “We knew we could offer young P professionals things that full-time whether in concerts or rehearsals. It Thomas setting the intensity and mood. orchestras couldn’t. Since our is this atmosphere of shared music rehearsal schedule is relatively light, making that brings 70 volunteers they have time to practice and travel back to rehearsal week after week, to other important events and com- season after season. petitions. And we could provide The spirit of cooperation them with regular solo performance between the conductor, the board,
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 21 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 22 s t r A
e h t
n o
l i c n u o C
e “I know that my real legacy is t a t S the Montgomery Symphony a m a
b Orchestra,” explains Hinds. “I think a l A
e we’ve created a heritage of commu- h t
f o nity music making in Montgomery. y s e t r
u A heritage is not only what we’ve o c
o
t been given, but what we hand down, o h P and it makes me happy to see sons Thomas Hinds conducting the Montgomery Symphony at the free outdoor pops concert on the and daughters of symphony members grounds of the Alabama Archives and History building. continue the tradition, playing in and the orchestra’s members has led Despite the many opportuni- our orchestra.” to many successful artistic endeavors. ties that come his way, Hinds Thomas Hinds will receive a A performance of Beethoven’s Ninth remains devoted to the Montgomery Governor’s Arts Award this May for Symphony in 1994 involved 285 Symphony. “It’s the people,” he says. the musical legacy he is still in the instrumentalists and singers in the “How can you not love to come to process of creating. He is grateful most ambitious musical performance work with players who give so for the recognition, and even more in Montgomery’s history. The annual unselfishly of their time in order to grateful for the opportunities he “Broadway under the Stars” pops con- make music?” His motivation is the has received: “The people of cert brings thousands of River Region same today as when he first took the Alabama gave me the opportunity music lovers to a free outdoor concert position nearly twenty-five years to do the thing I really wanted to on the grounds of the Blount Cultural ago: “When I first heard the orches- do with my life, and for that I can Park each year. The Orchestra’s tra, I knew there was the potential never thank them enough.” Blount-Slawson Young Artists com- for playing great music, and I want- Congratulations, Tom, on receiving petition is one of the most prestigious ed to be the one to bring it out.” He an award richly deserved. competitions for teenage performers still gets more satisfaction in the in the United States. orchestra’s achievements than he does in the applause he receives for Success in Montgomery has led Dr. Mark Benson is to other opportunities for Hinds. In himself. “My most rewarding 1992, he was named the very first moments are probably not the same Associate Professor of Music and conductor of the Gadsden ones our audience might expect,” Head of the Department Symphony Orchestra, a post he held he says. “I remember the concert of Fine Arts concurrently with the one in on which we played Gustav Montgomery for several years. He Mahler’s Fourth Symphony and at Auburn University Maurice Ravel’s Scheherazade, and has been invited to conduct the Ft. Montgomery. Worth Civic Orchestra, the thinking ‘this sound is the right Queensland (Australia) one for Mahler,’ and ‘this is the He has played in way to play Ravel.’ I remember the Conservatory Orchestra, and many the percussion section of the others. Most recently he was musical concert when I realized that the director for the Alabama orchestra now knows how to play Montgomery Symphony Shakespeare Festival’s highly Beethoven, and the rehearsal when for eighteen years. acclaimed productions of Man of La the orchestra achieved the perfect Mancha and Beauty and the Beast. sound for Debussy.”
22 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 23
THE GOVERNOR’S ARTS AWARD Paul Looney Thriving on the Creation of Dreams by Mark Hughes Cobb
ven though Paul K. sprung from humble Looney’s hair is beginnings. Ethinning, it’s tempt- “If I had looked ing to crawl slowly over at the original board the skull growing out of and told them we’d be that thicket just to see if where we are now, he possesses more eyes they would have
than the norm. s laughed me out of the w e N room,” Looney said Because this one a s o o l
head, nearly throbbing a shortly after announc- c s u T
ing his 2002 retire-
with animation as it is, e h T
f ment from the organi-
doesn’t seem wide enough o
y s e
t zation.
for the scope of his vision. r u o c
o “They used to
When he paints, fig- t o h ures in vivid hues sprawl P laugh at me and my across canvases larger Paul Looney with his paintings at Kentuck Galley, in Tuscaloosa, November 1999. acorns. But it’s about possibili- than life; larger than some people’s heady, thriving thing of beauty— ty, thinking to the future; the idea walls, as he found when trying to comic and tragic—with supporting that you’re stable but you’re growing, give his outsized works homes. tendrils sunk deep in the community. and you’re going to be here for a When he designs for a show, When Looney changed the long, long while.” the sets soar up to the rafters and out name from Tuscaloosa Community Looney was there for a long, to the wings, suggesting they live on Players to Theatre Tuscaloosa about long while, from shortly after gaining outside the confines of the theater. 20 years ago, he crafted a symbol for his master’s in directing at the the group: an oak tree with spread- Where Looney sifted the soil of University of Alabama in 1980, until ing branches. A lot of folks who a burgeoning community theater, he 2002, when he became artistic direc- worked with or for him over the saw a mighty oak. tor emeritus of the group, which by years thought the real face of then had a permanent home, with Theatre Tuscaloosa, with the Theatre Tuscaloosa could be as sim- theater, rehearsal spaces, offices, a nurturing of Looney, with sweat, late ple as Looney’s smiling mug, but the shop and more, and the largest pro- nights and wrinkled foreheads, with vision didn’t end at his own ego. fessional staff and season of any per- cries for help—“Babes, our ox is in No, the former advertising forming arts group in the area. the ditch!”—and the ever-present company artist and sometime painter urgent demand “Louder, faster, fun- Looney often tells the tale of crafted symbolism of a life force with nier!,” grew from that vision into a how he and the late Charlie Dennis, deep roots and sheltering branches, then manager of downtown
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 23 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 24
baritone and expressive body lan- for almost two decades has been Paul guage, he’s been called on over the B. Crook, now assistant profesor of years to fill roles requiring over-the- acting and directing at Louisiana top presences in shows such as Tech University School of the “State Fair” and “Lend Me a Tenor,” Performing Arts. on those rare shows when he wasn’t “Paul is crusty, ornery, frac- directing and designing. tious, loud, belligerent, opinionat- As a director and producer, he ed—and those are his good points!,” kneaded actors, both trained and Crook said. s
w raw, into new shapes. He sought
e Seriously, Crook said passion is N
a
s experts in music and costumes, and,
o the word that most sums up Looney, o l a
c with Dennis, designed and built s whether in painting, directing, chat- u T
e many of the dazzling sets that first h ting with pals or watching a T
f o
caught people’s eyes to show them,
y Crimson Tide basketball game. s e t r in another Looney trademark u
o “In a world full of those who go c
o phrase, that “this ain’t amateur t
o through the motions and become h
P night in Dixie.” Paul and Susan Looney at the Bean-Brown Theatre bogged down in the mundane repeti- at Shelton State, home of Theatre Tuscaloosa. Susan Building on the “town and tion of their lives and work, Paul and Paul were featured in a series of stories on cou- gown” model, he drew on both UA manages to attack and consume all ples who worked together. and community talent. One of that he does with an overwhelming Looney’s top go-to actors and dirtors passion,” Crook said. Tuscaloosa’s Bama Theatre, where the group held most of its perfor- mances until 1998, shared a desk, sitting knee to knee and dreaming aloud about the future. At the time, the TCP was struggling to put on one or two per- formances a year, with varying degrees of success. The Bama, origi- nally a movie palace built in 1938, was slowly undergoing renovations, and even when niceties such as a s w
working furnace were going, was e N
a s
never quite suited to the complexi- o o l a c
ties of live theater. s u T
e h
Looney joined the staff in T
f o
y
1980, with a background in per- s e t r u
forming and directing for o c
o t
Birmingham’s Town & Gown and o h UA’s theater program. With his rich P Paul Looney working on vocal harmonies with the Basically Broadway Singers, rehearsing for a performance at the Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame, an event that he helped create.
24 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 25
Married for 40 years to Susan, a dancer and choreographer with whom he’s worked on numerous shows and in the offices of Theatre Tuscaloosa (she’s business manag- er), the Looneys made the group their child. “They’ve babied it, disciplined it, fed it and it has grown into an exemplary organization,” said Tina Fitch, who last year took over the job as executive producer of Theatre Tuscaloosa. “Paul has some crazy ideas and approaches to the work, but no mat- s w e ter what, you never question that his N
a s
o concern is always for the health and o l a c s
u well-being of this organization.” T
e
h Rebecca Tingle, Executive Director of the T
f Paul and Susan Looney com-
o Tuscaloosa Dancers collaborated with Paul
y s
e Looney on a production for the Nutcracker mitted more than just their time to t r u
o in November 2001. Paul taking a break dur-
c the group over the years, Fitch said,
o
t ing those rehearsals. o
h making investments more literal to P keep it going, although they’d never admit that, she said. “He has never blinked an eye in investing in its future,” Fitch said. Theatre Tuscaloosa has grown into the second-largest arts organi- zation in Alabama, with a half-mil- lion dollar budget, said board presi- dent David Ford, because Looney engaged interest from all parts of s
w the community, from wealthy arts e N
a
s supporters to powerful politicians to o o l a
c hard-nosed businessmen. s u T
e
h “Paul has essentially created this T
f o
y organization from nothing and taken s e t r
u it to a height that the board never o c
o t dreamed was possible,” Ford said. o h P Backstage with Broadway star, Rebecca Luker at a performance of The Music Man in New York, In 1998, the group realized one March 2001. of Looney’s biggest dreams by mov-
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 25 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 26
ing into a permanent home at Painting is, by nature, a private Shelton State Community business, while theater is, by College. Theatre Tuscaloosa necessity, collaborative. He had long been in partnership enjoys the solitude, but no one with the college, so when the can doubt he thrives on the new campus started going up, group dynamic. Looney drove fund-raising to And though he threatens with build a theater and fine arts every new show that this will be complex onto the building’s his last, no one who knows him south end. fears that he’ll be able to stay out (Looney proved so adept of the theater long, or that the at fund-raising, that when he echoes of “Hey babes!” will ever
retired from Theatre s die down from the halls of the w e N
Tuscaloosa he took over a new a Bean-Brown Theatre, the house s o o l
post as director of advance- a that Looney built. c s u T ment for Shelton State. He’s e h T
f
since retired from that job to o
y s e
devote full time to painting.) t r u o c
Under Looney, the o Mark Hughes Cobb t o h group added touring and out- P Editor, Tusk Magazine reach programs, including the One of Paul Looney’s last performances as an actor. Paul Looney with professional Stage Centre Nathan Gunter in State Fair. Afterwards, Paul focused his energies on Writer, Tuscaloosa News directing plays. Company, and the Second and Tuscaloosa Magazine Stage program for developing actors and directors. And even though technically Looney also helped create the retired, he “ain’t gone 10 toes up Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of yet,” still directing for the group. His Fame to honor the state’s home- most recent shows were this spring’s grown talent, from Tallulah “Amadeus” and Theatre Tuscaloosa’s Bankhead to Rebecca Luker to Jim first world premiere, for the musical “Gomer Pyle” Nabors. “A Dickens of a Carol” in December. A typical Theatre Tuscaloosa As he edged toward handing season now includes five or six main over the reigns—he’d brought in a stage productions, with comedies, professional staff of full-time shop, dramas and musicals in a mix costume, box office and management designed to both please and chal- people—Looney returned to his first lenge. He’d throw up a chestnut like love, even before Susan: painting. “The Music Man” in hopes that He’s since had a couple of solo audiences would let the glow carry exhibits at the Kentuck Gallery, and over into an edgier work such as taken sabbatical’s at Nall Hollis’ Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.” French countryside retreat.
26 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 27
THE ALABAMA FOLK HERITAGE AWARD Jerry McCain Bluesman by Anne Kimzey
he Alabama Heritage Award in 1995 pre- Folk Heritage sented at the Alabama TAward, given Sampler Stage. His home- every two years, is the town of Gadsden has also state’s highest honor for recognized McCain’s contri- the folk and traditional bution to the community’s arts. The 2007 recipient musical roots by featuring is blues musician and him in performance with the Gadsden native Jerry Etowah Youth Orchestra. “Boogie” McCain. Born Jerry McCain earned the in 1930, McCain has nickname “Boogie” when he played blues harmonica began playing harmonica on for more than 70 years. the streets of Gadsden at the He is a true representa- age of five. Several of his tive of the blues tradi- uncles played the harmonica, r
tion in Alabama, or as e and his mother and aunt g r e
b played guitar in the church,
he says it, “I am Jerry u a r G
but his real musical influ-
Boogie McCain. I ain’t e v e t
S ences were the blues musi- Coca-Cola, but I’m the y b
o cians he heard on the juke- real thing!” t o h McCain said that P box at his father’s barbecue nobody is above the stand when he was growing Jerry McCain carries 16 harmonicas (several in each key) in his harmonica case. blues—that if you live long up in the 1930s and ’40s. He enough, you're going to get them. wide. He has toured Europe several began imitating the sound of blues “The blues come from wanting, not times, performs at national blues fes- legends Sonny Boy Williamson and getting; needing, not having. That’s tivals and has been featured on the Sonny Terry. It was the music of where the blues come from, see, cover of Living Blues magazine. Little Walter that inspired McCain blues is a feeling. And it’s not just In spite of national and inter- to launch his own recording career. about a woman leaving a man or a national attention, only in more He made his first commercial man leaving a woman,” he recent years has McCain gained recording in 1953 on the Trumpet explained. Perhaps because he recognition in his home state. He label in Jackson, Mississippi and has speaks the language of the blues so has performed regularly at since recorded on a variety of labels, well, this harmonica master and Birmingham’s City Stages festival such as Excello, Rex, Okeh and songwriter has attracted fans world- where he received the Musical Jewel. In the late 1980s and ’90s he
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 27 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 28
made several CDs with Ichiban Records and released This Stuff Just Kills Me in 2000 on Jericho. Most recently he worked with Music Maker Recordings to issue two CDs, Unplugged and Boogie is My Name on his own label, Boogiedown Records. He recorded his best-known song, “She’s Tough,” in 1960, which was covered by the Fabulous Thunderbirds. n o
x Back in the early days of his i D
e i career McCain traveled from town to b b e
D town on what was known as the
f o
y
s “chitlin’ circuit,” performing in juke e t r u
o joints all over the South, but always c
o t
o returning to Gadsden. All the while h P This photo was taken for an overseas tour in the 1970s. he was developing his own perform- ing style. “I used to play like every- body. Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Sonny Terry. Anybody that played harmonica,” said McCain. “Now I did that for years in the ’50s, in the ’60s, and then in the ’70s I started to changing my style.” Then in the ’80s, I got my own style.” McCain said that all blues har- monica players had started sounding like to him, so he began modeling his harmonica breaks after the musi- cal phrasing of jazz horn players and guitar players. “Most harmonica play- ers don’t hit those licks,” he said. In performance, he enjoys r
e interacting with his fans, sometimes g Jerry McCain plays blues r e
b leaving the stage and moving u
harmonica in an outdoor a r G concert at Montgomery’s through the crowd as he plays to e v e Old Alabama Town. t S individual audience members.
y b
o Another crowd-pleasing technique t o h P he has perfected is playing the har-
28 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 29 r e g r e b u a r G
e v e t S
y b
o t o h P Jerry “Boogie” McCain takes a break from performing on the “Alabama Jubilee” tour in Boaz, Alabama.
monica with his nose. “I play the harmonica with my song,’ but if I don’t write it down, it’ s gone. I have been nose better than a whole lot of people play with their in bed and songs go through my mind that’d be good mouth,” he said. songs. And I’ll say, ‘I’ll do it in the morning.’ When I get Jerry McCain learned to play music by ear, and he up in the morning it’s gone. It comes and it goes. If you composes, as he puts it, “by mouth.” He has the gift of don’t write it down while it’s coming, then you’ll lose it,” being able to write and arrange tunes in his head, which he explained. he then dictates into a tape recorder for someone else to He prefers to write songs that tell a story and many transcribe. He is adept at improvisation and has been of these stories are borrowed from his own experience. known to make up tunes while performing on stage. True to the blues tradition, his songs have a personal side “People see me the next time I play and say, ’sing that to them, but they also provide social commentary and
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 29 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 30
criticism. Often they reveal his wit and humor. Jerry McCain writes about the world around him, as in his song “Burn the Crack House Down” on his album Love Desperado. “Everywhere you go is crack,” he said. “I just put that song together on account of all this crack all over the world. Most of my songs tell a story. I don’t like to write a song, just to be writing a song to make some money. I must tell a story. I have to tell a story.”
Anne Kimzey is a Folklife Specialist for the Alabama State Council on the Arts. n o x i D
e i b b e D
f o
y s e t r u o c
o t o h P McCain has performed for many years at Birmingham’s City Stages.
30 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 31
THE ALABAMA LIVING LEGACY AWARD The Quilters of Gee’s Bend Superstars of American Folk Art by Joey Brackner
“Legacy” can be defined as “a gift that is handed down from a predecessor.” A “liv- ing legacy” would be such a gift that is dynamic and continues to enrich the lives of its beneficiaries. The Alabama State Council on the Arts is proud to present the Living Legacy Award to the Quilters of Gee’s Bend. This group of African-American artists lives in Boykin, a small com- munity also known as Gee’s Bend where women have quilted for at least 175 years. All indications are that quilting will continue here for r e g
many more years. The Gee’s Bend r e b u
quilters occupy an important place a r G
e
in the story of their unique commu- v e t S
nity and have brought great acclaim y b
o t
to themselves, their community and o h P the state of Alabama. Nettie Young, Priscilla Jenkins and Katherine Millhouse at the opening of the “Quilts of Gee’s Bend” exhibit at the Every once in a while the Mobile Museum of Art. world discovers Gee’s Bend, where nomic potential of the Bend’s quilt Bend. They worshiped God, created the Alabama River makes a sweep- making. In the early twenty-first families, sang songs, grew crops and ing curve in northern Wilcox Century, these same quilters have made quilts. County. Antebellum planters with been celebrated in landmark exhibi- their enslaved workforce discovered The Gee’s Bend community tions in some of the nation’s most that the rich soil would grow cash began as a plantation taking its prestigious museums. Earlier this crops. One hundred years later, New name from the first landowner, year, the United States Postal Deal idealists sought to make the Joseph Gee. In 1845, Mark Pettway Service introduced their popular community an important economic acquired the property. He was a large series of stamps based on Gee’s Bend experiment. In the 1960s, the fash- slave owner as were other planters quilts. But throughout these times, ion industry joined with Civil along the Alabama River. After the rhythms of life continued among Rights activists to harness the eco- emancipation, the freedmen and the few hundred occupants of Gee’s
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 31 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 32 e s h t e
f v i s o k h
o c y r s o A e B
t r y d r u o a o o r c b
w i , n L i e
s T c
e i f l e o b R
u y P n s
e h t o m r J a
u y h o b c g
n i o o t t m o o r i h h P B P A scene from the Freedom Quilting Bee, ca. 1980. Medalion quilt by Loretta Pettway. women of the area took the sur- American art forms of quilt making their case for an African-American names of their former masters. To and congregational hymn singing quilt aesthetic. However, there are this day, Pettway is one of the most were re-formed in the multicultural localized folk traditions in African- common last names in Gee’s Bend It antebellum South. Whites and American quilt making representing was during this early period that blacks sang and quilted, sometimes that community’s idea of what a Bend residents first began to quilt. separately and other times together. quilt should look like. Women of African-American quilting, After the segregation of races fol- these locales, many in the Black Belt like Sacred Harp singing, is synony- lowing emancipation, African- of Alabama, such as Gee’s Bend, mous with Alabama. Both art tradi- American Sacred Harp singing produce quilts with large patterns, tions have evolved, survived since diverged into a different style than accept some asymmetry in pattern the early nineteenth century, and its white counterpart. Some believe and overall shape and use bold col- have brought recent positive recog- this divergence may have also ors with strong contrast. Quilts made nition to the state. Alabama is the occurred in quilt making. primarily to exhibit precise quilting touchstone for the current national To say that there is an stitches do not seem to be part of revival of Sacred Harp, an archaic “African-American” style of quilt their style. hymn singing tradition that boasts a making is too simplistic because By its impressive sample size, zealous following. Its well-organized African-American textile artists are the landmark exhibition The Quilts conventions and singing schools so diverse in their backgrounds. of Gee’s Bend did a lot to suggest that have brought it into the twenty-first Quilt scholars Eli Leon and Maude the aesthetics described above do century. Quilting, another commu- Wahlman, among others, have sug- characterize quilt making in at least nal exercise, has also survived, gested a link between African- one African-American community, changed and prospered through the American quilts and West African, Gee’s Bend. The exhibition organiz- twentieth century and into the printed cloth patterns. Other schol- ers are to be commended for their twenty-first. Both traditions are, like ars, such as Cuesta Benberry, suggest effort in assembling this large show. most southern traditions, a result of that scholars have arbitrarily chosen The depth of this community’s tradi- cultural contact. The Euro- quilts with these attributes to make tion is underscored by the historic
32 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 33
Wilcox County photo ca. 1900 by local photographer Edith Morgan, published on the inside cover of the accompanying catalog/book The photo shows a woman airing out four quilts on a fence. The quilts look similar to those exhibited in the show including the ubiquitous house- top pattern. Through the years, traditional quilt making has maintained its basic procedure. Most practitioners take r e g
pieced tops and quilt them with r e b u a
other women. Today, more people r G
e
quilt alone but the tedious work of v e t S
quilting the top, batting and back y b
o t
goes by more quickly and pleasantly o h P in a group. Nevertheless, the folk Qunnie Pettway and her daughter Loretta Bennett with their Pine Burr quilt. process of face-to-face training in a complicated art tradition has been maintained in both the black and white communities of Alabama. As with all folk art traditions, improvi-
sation occurs within learned practi- I W O -
cal and aesthetic boundaries. In the g A n i S t F l i
,
case of quilts, the practical bound- u n q
o i n s i a
aries are a three-part quilted cloth v i m D o
s w h construction of a size that will cover e p h a t r
g f o
a bed. Aesthetically, the pieces satis- o
t o o t h o fy what a quilt should look like P
h p &
e s t among a group of women who share h t n i
r s P e
c , s a demographic profile. Part of the a l s p e r e r g
-
folk process is the introduction of n
. o ] C C
f new ideas that can be accepted or L o
D
y r D a -
rejected by the group. Folk artists do r 3 b i 6 L 3
. 5
not live in a vacuum and are not n 2 i 0 e - t s 6 h immune to the national and interna- 4 t 3 o F R S
r tional movements of art. These influ- U - u h C t L r [
A
ences can affect their work but if the n y o i b t
c o e folk process persists, their products t l l o o h C will still reflect their community tra- P ditions. At Gee’s Bend, these tradi- Sewing a quilt, Gee’s Bend, Alabama.
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 33 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 34
ers living in the north. Bloomindales sold their quilts and then in the early 1970s, the Bee went under contract to Sears to produce pillow shams. While the Freedom Quilting Bee helped bring much needed money into the community, it also . s k
o directed the efforts of textile artists o B
d
o away from their traditional style of o w n i
T work. After a dormant period, the
f o
y
s Bee has recently been reorganized. e t r u
o The book The Freedom Quilting Bee c
, t t
e by Nancy Callahan is an excellent n r A
t history of this group. t a M
y Outside interest in the culture b
o t
o of Gee’s Bend continued. In the late h P Quilts on the clothesline, Mary Lee Bendolph’s yard, Gee’s Bend. 1970s, the Birmingham Public Library and the Alabama tions persisted through some very Rights movement. As a result, the Humanities Foundation sponsored hard times. ferry service from Camden was dis- photographer John Reese and story- A series of foreclosures on continued in 1962 to discourage voter registration. Another form of teller Kathryn Tucker Windham to Bend residents during the early part follow in the footsteps of Rothstein eat Depression led to an intimidation during this period was of the Gr and Sonkin. The duo collected pho- experimental government program threatening one’s job security. It was tos and oral histories and produced to buy the land and resell it to the this economic threat that eventually an exhibit on Gee’s Bend. A decade families. Services and a cooperative led to the formation of the Freedom later quilters from the Bend were cotton gin were established to help Quilting Bee. participants in the 1990 Alabama Bend residents control their crops The Bend’s quilts were first Folklife Festival that was produced from field to market. The Roosevelt noticed nationally when the by the Alabama State Council on administration also sent the photog- Freedom Quilting Bee in nearby the Arts and the Alabama Folklife raphers Mary Post Wolcott and Alberta was organized in 1966 with Association in conjunction with the Arthur Rothstein to document the the help of the Reverend Francis second City Stages. From Fields of community. Folklorist Robert Xavier Walter, an Episcopal priest Promise, a public television docu- Sonkin came to record African- and Civil Rights activist. The idea mentary made in 1993 by John American folk music there in 1941. was to build upon the cooperative DiJulio, Bruce Kuerten and Mike The Rothstein photo of Lucy ideas of the 1930s to help produce a Trend of Auburn University Mooney teaching her granddaugh- much needed income stream in the explored the history of the Bend and ters Lucy and Bertha Pettway 1960s through the 1980s. The quilts included interviews with scholars beautifully illustrates the folk made by Bee employees, including and Bend residents. process of learning. many Bend quilters, were exported The most recent documenta- The political power of Gee’s throughout the US, aided, in part, tion of the Bend, the exhibitions Benders was feared during the Civil by a network of expatriate southern- and books Quilts of Gee’s Bend
34 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:18 AM Page 35
(2002) and Gee's Bend: The tions. The second exhibition Gee’s quilt pattern, most associated with Architecture of the Quilt (2006) curat- Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt the late China Grove Myles, a for- ed by a team headed by William, makes of point of including more of mer member of the Freedom Quilting Paul and Matt Arnett, and organized the younger generation of quilters Bee was selected as the basis for the by the Museum of Fine Arts, and of including essays by some of logo of “2007, The Year of Alabama Houston, has been the most success- the artists. Arts.” The pattern continues to be made by Gee’s Bend quilters as part of their living legacy to us.
Joey Brackner Director, Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, Alabama State Council on the Arts y e z m i K
e n n A
y b
o t o h P Mary Lee Bendolph addressing the crowd at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival on August 31, 2006.
ful in presenting the genius of this These recent exhibits have community of artists. The exhibition brought the community together and venues have included Houston, afforded the quilters an opportunity Whitney Museum of American Art to not only travel to various exhibit in New York, the Mobile Museum of openings but also be guest artists at Art, the Jules Collins Smith Museum art festivals and symposia around s k o o
and many other great American B Alabama and the nation. On d o museums. The efforts have also o Thursday, August 31, 2006, the w n i T
received much print and national f
Quilters of Gee’s Bend were honored o
y s
broadcast media. In describing the e t
by the United States Postal Service r u o
60-piece exhibition The Quilts of c at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival o t o
Gee’s Bend, the New York Times h
in a special ceremony celebrating the P referred to the quilts as being “some issuance of ten 2006 postage stamps "Housetop" variation by Louisiana Pettway, of the most miraculous works of based upon Gee’s Bend quilts. A few modern art [that] America has pro- weeks later, the ferry from Boykin to duced.” This first show featured the Camden reopened. work of 42 women of four genera- It is fitting that the Pine Burr
STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 • ALABAMAARTS • 35 179365Insides 5/9/07 11:19 AM Page 36
YEAR OF ALABAMA ARTS EXHIBITIONS 2007
ALABAMA ORIGINALS: A SENSE OF PLACE (May 10-June 29) is the featured exhibition in the Alabama Artists Gallery for the 2007 Celebration of the Arts. It showcases photography by artists from throughout Alabama and addresses themes connecting with Alabama land, community, people and custom. This exhibition is in the series of Alabama Artist Gallery presentations organized for the Year of Alabama Arts to celebrate the diversity and strength of the state’s artists.
PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS IN THE SERIES: UP-COMING EXHIBITIONS IN THE SERIES:
ALABAMA ORIGINALS: SELF-TAUGHT/CONTEM- July 13-August 31 ALABAMA ORIGINALS: CON- PORARY FOLK ART. Works by artists producing art out- TEMPORARY CRAFT. Fine craft pieces using materials side the fine arts arena with a variety of materials from such as clay, fabric, fiber, metal, wood and glass to house paint to found objects. reflect both utility and sculptural form.
ALABAMA ORIGINALS: CLASSICAL APPROACHES. September 9-November 2 ALABAMA ORIGINALS: Art using traditional techniques in painting, sculpture, EXPANDING PERSPECTIVES. Art expressions using a printmaking and drawing as means of personal expres- variety of materials and techniques to address broad sion. contemporary ideas.
ALABAMA ORIGINALS: VISUAL ARTS ACHIEVE- November 16-January 11, 2008 CARRY ON: MENT. Award winning art by Alabama middle and TWENTY YEARS OF THE ALABAMA FOLK ARTS APPREN- high school students. TICESHIP PROGRAM. Expressions of the preservation of folk skills by master folk artists teaching their art form to apprentices.
The Alabama Artists Gallery, located at the offices of the Alabama State Council on the Arts in the RSA Tower in downtown Montgomery, 201 Monroe, provides an on-going showcase of the work of Alabama artists in all media. Hours are M-F from 8 am-5 pm. For additional information contact Georgine Clarke, phone: 334-242-4076, ext 250; email: [email protected]
36 • ALABAMAARTS • STATE ARTS AWARDS 2007 179365cover 5/9/07 11:29 AM Page 5
Alabama State Council on the Arts Staff AL HEAD Executive Director
BARBARA EDWARDS Deputy Director
RITA GRAY ALLEN Grants Assistant
JACQUELINE BERRY Executive Assistant
GEORGINE CLARKE Visual Arts Program Manager
YVETTE DANIEL Performing Arts Program Manager
WANDA DEJARNETTE Grants Officer
DIANA F. GREEN Art in Education Program Manager
JOHN MEYERS Gallery Assistant
BARBARA REED Public Information Officer
RANDY SHOULTS Community Arts, Design, and Literature Program Manager
DEXTER SMITH Security
VINNIE WATSON Programs Assistant
Alabama Center for Traditional Culture JOEY BRACKNER Director JACKIE ELY Administrative Secretary
STEPHEN GRAUBERGER Folklife Specialist
ANNE KIMZEY Folklife Specialist
Alabama State Council on the Arts • 201 Monroe Street, Suite 110 • Montgomery, Alabama 36130-1800 Phone: 334-242-4076 • Fax: 334-240-3269 www.arts.state.al.us
179365cover 5/9/07 11:29 AM Page 2 ALABAMA Volume XXII, Number 1ARTS State Arts Awards Issue 2007
The rich quilting legacy of four generations of African-American women in rural Alabama was celebrated when the U.S. Postal Service issued the Quilts of Gee's Bend commemorative postage stamps at the American Philatelic Society's (APS) annual convention and philatelic exhibition. These stamps are sixth in the American Treasures Series, and feature the ingenuity and improvisational style of the Gee's Bend quilters.
The 10 Quilts of Gee's Bend self-adhesive stamps feature photographs chosen by art director Derry Noyes. The quilts were created between 1940 and 2001.
th PRSRT STD ANNIVERSARY U.S. Postage PAID 40 Permit No. 109 Montgomery, AL
ESTABLISHED 1967
2007 Celebration of the Arts Awards 201 Monroe Street, Suite 110 Montgomery, Alabama 36130-1800
Phone: 334-242-4076 Fax: 334-240-3269 Email: [email protected] Website: www.arts.state.al.us