sUMMER 2012 VOLUME 28 NUMBER 3 ART BARN AND FINCH LANE GALLERY | THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SALT LAKE CITY ARTS COUNCIL 2012 TWILIGHT CONCERT SERIES TABLE OF CONTENTS Click story below to go directly to it. CONTINUES TRADITION OF MUSICAL EXCELLENCE The Salt Lake City Arts Council is pleased to announce the 2012 Twilight Concert Series as it returns to Pioneer Park with another amazing line up. This year marks the 25th Twilight Concert Series anniversary of the series, which will run Thursday evenings, July 5 through August 30. Mixed Media Exhibits in June Featured performing artists include Beach House, Raphael Saadiq, My Morning Jacket, Passion Pit, Iron and Wine and COMMON. New Exhibition Season Announced The Twilight concerts have become an iconic event shaping the cultural landscape of Baddley & Wing Exhibit in August Salt Lake City. Last year, each concert averaged 33,000 visitors and saw tremendous success in its second year at Pioneer Park. As the popularity of the Twilight Concert Art at Pioneer Precinct Series has grown, so has the cost associated with its production. In order to sustain success and continue making improvements to this popular event, the Salt Lake City City’s Public Art Program Arts Council will now be charging a small admission fee of $5 per concert. Season passes Artist-In-The-Classroom Spotlight and individual tickets will be available online starting June 1 at 10:00 a.m. via the local ticketing agency, www.24tix.com. Additionally, physical pre-sale tickets will be available Brown Bag Concert Series Begins at all Graywhale locations throughout the valley. City Arts Grants Apps Available Calendar Mixed Media Exhibits Open June 22 A variety of media will be featured in new exhibits by four artists beginning mid-June at the Art Barn’s Finch Lane Gallery. Three of the artists, Catherine Downing, Tawni Shuler and Nancy Steele- Makasci will exhibit their art as a group show; Vance L. Mellen will also feature his mixed media paint- ings and a video presentation. All Gates open at 5:00 p.m. and the shows begin at 7:00 p.m. at Pioneer Park located at 350 four artists are from Utah County. West 300 South in downtown Salt Lake City. To complement the music, the Twilight The exhibits, free and open to the Market offers food, beverages and locally made crafts, with something for every taste, public, will open on Friday, June 22, from pizza to pasta, from vegetarian to barbecue, from cookies to gelato. The Twilight with an artists’ reception from audience can enjoy the artists’ work and purchase such handcrafted items as jewelry, 6:00-8:00 p.m., and continue clothing, soaps, and ceramics. through August 3. The exhibits will … continued on page 2 Seating is first come, first served, and a person must be present at all times to reserve … continued on page 2 Table of Contents Page 1 continued from page 1 … continued from page 1 … seating. Standing room only in the immediate stage area; no chairs or blankets in the also be open during the July 20 immediate stage area. No alcoholic beverages can be brought into the venue. Beer Gallery Stroll from 6:00-9:00 p.m. and wine are available for purchase on-site. Pets and smoking are not allowed; service Artists Downing, Shuler and Steel- animals are welcome. Artists performing on the 2012 Twilight Concert Series are: Makasci title their exhibit The Power n of Place and explore their individual JULY 5 BEACH HOUSE /THE WALKMEN relationship to ‘place’ incorporating n Beach House is Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand and Bloom, painting, mixed media and print- the band’s fourth full-length album, was released on May 15th. making. “Not necessarily traditional Like their previous releases Beach House in 2006, Devotion in landscape,” note the artists, “we 2008, Teen Dream in 2010, it further develops their distinctive have broadened our approach to sound yet stands apart as a new piece of work. The landscape include: culture, habit, artifact, of Bloom was largely designed on the road, between the countless sound checks and dialogue. We are interested in all myriad experiences during two years of tour. Throughout this period, melodies, chords, aspects of our environment and the rhythms, words and textures surfaced in moments of their own choosing. These sponta- traces it leaves in and around us. We neous ideas were later gathered and developed in Baltimore, Maryland, where the band intend to make the ‘sense of place’ a lives and works. As a complete work, Bloom transcends the banality of simple emotions participant in a dialogue of discovery and arrives at a realm of honesty and complexity. It soberly reveals how frightening and and insight about who we are in our temporary, yet beautiful, our existence is. relationship to where we live.” n The Walkmen are the great New York band of their genera- All three artists serve on the faculty tion, and with Heaven, their upcoming release due out May 29, of Utah Valley University (UVU) and they have delivered their third killer album in a row. Although portray their own unique perspec- frontman Hamilton Leithauser argues that, “our biggest accom- tives and use of media as applied to plishment is just being here,” they are making the best music the theme of this exhibit. of their career. Their spot at the top of the bill at the Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival– curated by the band The National–demonstrates the respect in which they are held by the current wave of bands making music in the city. All five members of the band now have kids now and if the impact of parenthood is hard to pin down in a single lyric; there is definitely a new openness and emotional honesty to the songs. Heaven is a definitive statement of purpose and commitment, from a band at the peak of its powers that is finally winning the recognition it deserves. JULY 12 n RAPHAEL SAADIQ / SUPPORT ARTIST TBA n Since Raphael Saadiq’s early days with the groundbreaking 80s soul trio Tony! Toni! Tone!, the Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter and record producer has carried the torch for old school R&B. In addition to releasing critically acclaimed solo albums like Ray Ray and Instant Vintage (nominated for five Grammys), during the last two decades Saadiq has worked behind the scenes as a cele- brated producer, collaborator and sideman for acts like D’Angelo; John Legend; Joss Stone; Catherine Downing, Red Fish, mixed media, 2012 The Roots; A Tribe Called Quest; Stevie Wonder; Snoop Dogg; Earth, Wind and Fire and the list goes on and on. Now, at the peak of his creativity, Saadiq is finally ready to soak up the About her art, Catherine Downing spotlight alone with his 2011 release, Stone Rollin.’ The new songs are firmly planted in notes, “The reality of the world as classic R&B, and nod to Saadiq’s heroes like Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, Little Walter and we think about it is different from Sly Stone. However Saadiq offers his own contemporary spin, one born out of a combina- the reality of the world as we feel it. tion of his recent touring experiences, as well as inspiration derived from indie acts that I try to follow feeling. The world is hold regular rotation in his iPod. More recently, Saadiq was regarded as one of TIME maga- mysterious and I want that mystery zine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” to bleed through the ‘process’ of JULY 19 n NAS / SUPPORT ARTIST TBA painting . I want to make images n Born Nasir Jones, son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas dropped out of school in the that make “our minds remember”. eighth grade, trading classrooms for the streets of the rough Queensbridge projects. … continued on page 3 … continued on page 3 Table of Contents Page 2 continued from page 2 … continued from page 2 … Despite dropping out of school, Nas developed a high degree of Images that ground us back to literacy that would later characterize his rhymes. Beginning with ‘place’ as well as to ourselves. his classic debut, Illmatic (1994), Nas stood tall for years as one Images should function as ‘pivotal of New York City’s leading rap voices, outspokenly expressing a moments’, as we shift when we look righteous, self-empowered swagger that endeared him to critics at them into the feeling reality of and hip-hop purists. Throughout all of his career’s ups (the acclaim, popularity, and the world. I want an image strong success) and downs (the expectations, adversaries, and over-reaching), Nas has continu- enough to take root in the psyche ally matured as an artist, evolving from a young street disciple to a vain all-knowing and change us in some small or sage to a humbled godly teacher. Such growth made every album release an event and large way . Ultimately my work prolonged his increasingly storied career to epic proportions. Nas is set to release his is about relationship, and the shifts tenth studio album, Life Is Good, this upcoming July. that occur as we look or dream or travel through our lives. My hope JULY 26 n BAND OF HORSES / SUPPORT ARTIST TBA is that at least some of the images n Band of Horses formed in 2004 after Ben Bridwell’s previous are potent enough to become ‘living band, Carissa’s Wierd, decided to split up. The band initially moments’ for the viewers them- received attention from legendary Sub Pop Records after selves.” Downing has exhibited in opening for Iron and Wine in the Seattle area.