the arts paper march 2015

The Arts Papera free publication of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven • newhavenarts.org March 2015

artists next door 4 horizon recording studio 6 ct gay men’s chorus 9 giampietro gallery 10

TREASURES FROM JAPAN IN THE YALE UNIVERSITY L IBRARY

FUN ON THE T ITANIC : UNDERGROUND ART AND THE EAST GERMAN STATE

CAST ING SHADOWS: INTEGRATION ON THE AMERICAN STAGE

2 • newhavenarts.org march 2015 •

staff

Cynthia Clair executive director

Debbie Hesse director of artistic services & programs

Kyle Hamilton director of finance

Matt Reiniger communications manager

Denise Santisteban events & advertising coordinator

Winter Marshall executive administrative assistant

David Brensilver editor, the arts paper

Amanda May Aruani design consultant

board of directors

Robert B. Dannies, Jr. president

Eileen O’Donnell vice president

Lois DeLise second vice president

Ken Spitzbard treasurer

Mark Potocsny secretary

directors

Daisy AbreuLaura BarrWojtek BorowskiSusan CahanCharles KingsleyKenneth LundgrenJocelyn MamintaJosh MamisDr. James McCoyElizabeth Meyer-GadonFrank MitchellMark MyrickUma RamiahDavid SilverstoneDexter SingletonLindsay SklarRichard S. Stahl, MDRick Wies

honorary members

Frances T. “Bitsie” ClarkCheever Tyler

The Arts Council is pleased to recognize the generous contributions of our business, corporate and institutional members.

executive champions

The United Illuminating Company/Southern Connecticut Gas

Yale University

senior patronsKnights of ColumbusL. Suzio York Hill

CompaniesOdonnell CompanyWebster Bank

corporate partnersAT&TCoordinated Financial

Resources/Chamber Insurance Trust

Firehouse 12Fusco Management

CompanyGreater New Haven

Chamber of CommerceJewish Foundation of

Greater New HavenYale-New Haven Hospital

business patrons

Albertus Magnus CollegeLenny & Joe’s Fish TaleNewman ArchitectsQuinnipiac UniversityWiggin and Dana

business membersBeers, Hamerman &

CompanyBrenner, Saltzman &

Wallman, LLPDuble & O’Hearn, Inc.Griswold Home CareUnited Aluminum

Corporation

foundations and government agenciesCarolyn Foundation

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

Connecticut Arts Endowment Fund

DECD/CT Office of the ArtsEmily Hall Tremaine

Foundation The Ethel & Abe Lapides

FoundationFirst Niagara FoundationThe George A. and Grace L.

Long Foundation, Bank of America, N.A. and Alan S. Parker, Esq. Trustees

The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation

NewAlliance FoundationPfizerThe Wells Fargo FoundationThe Werth Family

Foundation

media partnersNew Haven IndependentNew Haven LivingWPKN

The Arts Council of Greater New Haven promotes, advocates, and fosters opportunities for artists, arts organizations, and audiences. Because the arts matter.

The Arts Paper is published by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, and is available by direct mail through membership with the Arts Council.

For membership information call 203.772.2788.

To advertise in The Arts Paper, call Denise Santisteban at the Arts Council.

Arts Council of Greater New Haven 70 Audubon Street, 2nd Floor New Haven, CT 06510

Phone: 203.772.2788 Fax: 203.772.2262

[email protected]

www.newhavenarts.org

In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, the Arts Council now prints The Arts Paper on more environmentally friendly paper

and using soy inks. Please read and recycle.

Fly on a Wall

An Afternoon at Horizon Recording Studio

4 Artists Next Door

An Interview with Brian Francis Slattery

9 Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus

Ensemble to perform Andrew Lippa’s I Am Harvey Milk

10 Irregular Rendition

Exhibition Mines the Meanings of “Law”

6

march 2015

The Arts Paper

SPRING EXHIBITIONS AT BEINECKE LIBRARYFree and open to the public

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library121 Wall Street, New Haven, Connecticutbeinecke.library.yale.edu

TREASURES FROM JAPAN IN THE YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

through April 2, 2015

FUN ON THE TITANIC: UNDERGROUND ART AND THE EAST GERMAN STATE


CASTING SHADOWS: INTEGRATION ON THE AMERICAN STAGE


• march 2015 newhavenarts.org • 3

Letter from the editor

With this issue of The Arts Paper, we say goodbye to Julie Trachtenberg, who stepped down as the Arts Council’s de-velopment director and joined the marketing team at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. We wish Julie well in her new posi-tion and look forward to seeing her around town. She was a valuable member of our Arts Council team during the three years she worked with us and has become a good friend.

This month, we’re pleased to introduce you to a few new contributors: Lucy Gellman, whose writing you might have seen in the New Haven Independent, and Cara McDonough, whose work has appeared in such publications as The Huff-ington Post and Salon.

To this issue of The Arts Paper, Lucy contributed a piece about Irregular Rendition, an exhibit at the Fred.Giampietro Gallery curated by Lucy Hunter, a Ph.D. candidate in Yale University’s Department of the History of Art, and orga-nized in conjunction with a symposium called The Legal

Medium, which was held at the Yale School of Law in Feb-ruary. The exhibit, as described by its organizers, “extends the keyword of ‘law’ to its full spectrum of uses: legislation, penal code, laws of physics, mathematical principles, uni-versal truths.”

Cara contributed a preview of brownsville song (b-side for Tray), a play by Kimber Lee that opens this month at Long Wharf Theatre. While at its core brownsville song is a story about gun violence, Cara explains in her piece that the work’s “greatest achievement lies in highlighting a world beyond the negative statistics.”

For this month’s Artists Next Door feature, Hank Hoff-man interviewed writer and musician Brian Slattery about his latest novel, The Family Hightower, which, Hank tells us, “asks big questions about the morality of unrestrained capitalism.”

My contributions to this issue of The Arts Paper include an article about an oratorio by Andrew Lippa called I Am Harvey Milk, which the Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus will perform next month. During a January interview, Lippa told me that he’d long related to and admired the late California politician and human-rights activist and that “this was my way of picking up that torch.”

I also spent an afternoon at Horizon Recording Studio in West Haven, watching engineer and music-industry vet-eran Vic Steffens record drum parts for local musician Phil E. Brown. It’s a fly-on-the-studio-wall type of story about a bustling place here in town and its sage-like owner.

Not to be left out, Arts Council intern Cooper Wall con-tributed a piece about EcoWorks, a new organization ded-icated to turning trash into art supplies. Cooper also wrote about the Yale University Art Gallery and Artspace exhibit Odd Volumes: Book Art from the Allen Chasanoff Collection, which he took in before it closed on February 1.

We hope you enjoy the stories presented herein and that you’ll remember to recycle this print publication once you’ve finished reading it.

Sincerely,

David Brensilver, editorThe Arts Paper

march 2015

The Arts Paper

Image: James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Nocturne, from the First Venice Set, 1879–80. Etching and drypoint. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913

YALE UNIVERSIT Y ART GALLERYFree and open to the publicTues.–Fri. 10 am–5 pm | Thurs. until 8 pm (Sept.–June) | Sat.–Sun. 11 am–5 pm 1111 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut | 203.432.0600 | artgallery.yale.edu

Whistler in Paris, London, and VeniceJanuary 30–July 19, 2015

ArtsCouncil_Whistler_final.indd 1 1/27/15 1:53 PM

In the next issue … On the CoverAlbums line the walls of the entryway to Horizon

Recording Studio. Read David Brensilver’s story about the storied studio

on pages 6&7.

NNewHHavenSSymphhony.org

AAnssell AAddamms, Beernnsttein &

bbrubbecckTh ursday, March 12

Shubert Th eater

Celebrate America with works by Bernstein and Ellington,

and a stunning visual tribute to Ansel Adams by NHSO Artist-in-Residence Chris Brubeck.

Trriumpphannt Vooiccess:

Beeetthooveenn’s 9tthhh

Th ursday, April 2Woolsey Hall

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9SCHOENBERG Survivor

from Warsaw

Maroon Bells, near Aspen, Colorado, 1951Photograph by Ansel Adams

(c)2014 Th e Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

William Boughton, music director

The next issue of The Arts Paper will include an Artists Next Door fea-ture by Hank Hoffman about local artist Cat Balco.

march 2015

The Arts Paper


hank hoffman

hat happens when things break down, when the world goes haywire? For author Brian Francis Slattery, that

question is compelling grist for fiction.“You can almost sum up all my books that

way,” he said in an interview at his Hamden home. “There is a thing creating chaos and then it’s a question of how people respond to it and what they do about it.”

Slattery’s fourth novel, The Family High-tower (Seven Stories Press), came out last year. Steeped in history, international eco-nomics, organized crime, and violence, the compelling story ranges from the Roaring Twenties in Prohibition-era America to the post-Communist 1990s in gangster-plagued Eastern Europe. At its center is a dysfunc-tional Ukrainian-American family, the Hightowers, whose patriarch Peter Henry Hightower — born Petro Garko in Cleveland in the last year of the 19th century — is part Jay Gatsby, part Don Corleone.

Nonfiction editing is Slattery’s day job, specializing in public-policy issues — partic-ularly international economics and human rights. But with four published novels and many more short stories under his belt, he is cultivating a successful career as a fiction writer. And he is also a serious musician, playing violin, banjo, and trombone in the eclectic world music/folk band Dr. Cater-waul’s Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps. Dr. Caterwaul recently sold out two shows at Best Video in Hamden playing music from the TV series Twin Peaks.

His first three novels could loosely be characterized as science fiction. His debut, Spaceman Blues: A Love Story (Tor Books, 2007), was a finalist for the Connecticut Book Award. Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America (Tor Books, 2008) gar-nered a nod from Amazon as the best sci-ence-fiction book of the year. Lost Everything (Tor Books, 2012) won that year’s Philip K. Dick Award, given by the Philadelphia Sci-ence Fiction Society.

The latest novel grew out of a sketch Slat-tery had written about the family. “I remem-ber really liking them. I thought this is a fun group of people but I have no idea what their deal is,” he told me. The book began taking shape when Slattery added the element of organized crime, a subject he was keen to write about.

Hightower is the embodiment of the America myth of the self-made man. Mak-ing it big as a bootlegger in the early 1920s isn’t enough. In order to gain entrée into the city’s ruling class — to secure his own legit-

imacy laundering cash through legitimate construction businesses — he creates a fake patrician WASP identity out of whole cloth.

He indeed makes his fortune. But his heirs over the next two generations can’t escape the fact that the family’s founding myth is a lie buttressed by violence. And that’s not the only founding myth Slattery is gunning for.

When Hightower first shows Caroline, his bride-to-be, the huge mansion he is buying, Slattery writes, “It’s so grand it’s hostile; it makes the central myth of our country’s founding seem like the longest, biggest con of the last 200 years. Because if we’re all created equal in this country, then how does a place like this come to exist here?”

The novel asks big questions about the morality of unrestrained capitalism. High-tower’s grandson Petey gets embroiled with Ukrainian mobsters in the 1990s. Among their most sordid activities is organ harvest-ing — acquiring livers, kidneys, corneas, and hearts, often through murder, for the black market.

Organ harvesting was a practice Slattery came across while editing a book about sex trafficking. Slattery sees it as a metaphor, writing in the novel, “There’s a market out there for bodies, parts of bodies. Parts of us. It’s capitalism taken to its logical end, our complete rendering into a commodity.”

Questions about the moral implications of these transactions and about the blurry lines between legal and illegal commerce drove the book, Slattery said. But he doesn’t

see himself as “po-litical.” The tenor of the book was a natural outgrowth of “just trying to answer some ques-tions and putting one foot in front the other and seeing where it goes,” said Slattery.

Why a Ukrainian-Ameri-can family? I asked. Slattery said, “You use the stuff you can actually get at, or come across.” In his day job, he edited a long book about the former Soviet republic’s transition from Communism to a market economy. Slattery found the information on the brief period when “it was a bit of a free-for-all” fasci-nating. His friend Christina Crowder informed him that there was a large émigré community in Cleveland and put him in touch with some of those people.

“The details were there and everybody was generous with their time,” Slattery said.

“With every book, I have this thing where I try and shoehorn in as many true things as possible. They’re too perfect as details,” Slattery said. “In some ways, this book is like a big collage of true things held together by a fictional story.”

The book is rich with details and facts but they never get in the way of the storytell-ing. And Slattery was committed to getting those details and facts right. He invested hours talking with Crowder, who spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe in the 1990s when the transition from Communism to capital-ism was at full boil. He read as much as he could about the topic. But for him, it wasn’t enough.

“There are people who can make up things about places they haven’t been with authority but I’m not really one of them,” he said.

After writing for a couple of months, he reached a point where he realized he had to go to Cleveland or risk getting things wrong. Later on, he faced a similar situation as he crafted his chapters set in Eastern Europe.

“They were not quite as I pictured them,” Slattery recalls. “Of course, the reality is much more interesting.”

To gather the details for scenes set in Eastern Europe, Slattery embarked on a

“week-and-a-half whirlwind,” visiting Kiev in Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova. “I needed to get the flavor of the place, know how it sounded and smelled and looked,” Slattery said.

He compares it to location scouting for a film. Meeting up with Crowder, who hap-pened to be in Romania at the same time, he told her, “I need a town that has this, this, and this in it.” She took him to Negostina, near Romania’s northern border with Ukraine. Negostina features in the novel as the hometown of a highly sympathetic char-acter who meets a particularly gruesome end.

Slattery likens the novel’s structure to that of the movie The Godfather II: “Here’s this giant mess. Now we’ll see how the mess was created. And now we’ll show you how they quote unquote get out of the mess and at what cost.” But he doesn’t think of his books in cinematic terms nor view them as potential film fodder.

“One of the things I love about books is how crazy flexible they can be,” Slattery said. “There’s no budget, no special effects crew to worry about, no constraints like that. You can kind of move the camera around and move the story around in very flexible ways.” n

Learn more about Brian Slattery at bfslattery.com.

Family HistoryBrian Francis Slattery’s Latest Novel is Spurred by Big Questions

Brian Francis Slattery. Photo by Desirea Rodgers.

artists next door

“In some ways, this book is like a big collage of true things held together by a fictional story.”

— Brian Francis Slattery

W

march 2015

The Arts Paper


the ac sounds off on ...

Odd Volumes

cooper wall

’ve always believed that books are inherently art. Maybe it’s my own pride and self-impor-tance as a wannabe writer, but I believe the

artistry that goes into creating a book is of the same importance as that which goes into paint-ings, or sculptures, or any of the myriad other, more traditional mediums.

Until recently, I attributed the vast majority of that art to the author or, at the very least, to the illustrator of the book. It was my belief that it was the words in the book that made it comparable to brush and canvas. Even the metaphorical Holy Grail of book art, the Book of Kells, is important because of its content rather than its status as a book.

A two-part exhibit recently on display at the Yale University Art Gallery and Artspace chal-lenged this idea, showing me that there is a time and a place for judging a book by its cover. Odd Volumes: Book Art from the Allen Chasanoff Collec-tion was a celebration of books as objects rather than as (particularly wordy) vessels. It was an exploration of the book as an artistic medium, tracing bookbinding’s artistic evolution from the 1960s to today’s Kindle- and tablet-permeated world. The books were sometimes broken, found after being discarded, cut up. But they were trans-formed into something new, and often something beautiful.

The exhibit didn’t challenge what a book is as much as it explored what a book can be. The tra-ditional trappings of a book — the binding, cover, and pages — were present in (almost) all of the pieces, but not in the way one might expect. For instance, a traditional book was carved by Megan Williams into a landscape of hills and valleys in her aptly titled work Altered Book Landscape. One of the exhibit’s more striking pieces was Byron Clercx’s Axiom, an ax with a handle made of pages taken from newspapers and works of postmod-ern art criticism and theory. Should that not be enough of a challenge to the concept of a book, the exhibit also offered Mary Ziegler’s The Neces-sity of Friction. The piece itself is simple. Ziegler rigged a copy of How Much is Too Much to be worn down by sandpaper at the push of a button. The grating dissonance from the piece when paired with the worn-down book (and, really, the exhibit as a whole) seemed to pose a question as to whether print is being made obsolete, whether the book as a physical object, rather than some electrons flying across a screen, can exist in mo-dernity.

If I’m being honest, I don’t know the answer to that. I would certainly like to believe that books in their current form still have some staying power. It could be that I’m just clinging tightly to the nostalgia of print and the old-book smell. The physicality of books, like most things, is a process of constant evolution, and I’m sure people were just as suspicious of the printing press as they are now of e-books. But Odd Volumes made one thing clear: Books as an art form will be evolving for quite some time to come. n

Cooper Wall, a student at Bennington College, is an Arts Council intern.

I

books-as-art, on display

Megan Williams’ Altered Book Landscape, 1992. Found and cut copy of Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. Yale University Art Gallery, The Allan Chasanoff, B.A. 1961, Book Art Collection, curated with Doug Beube. © Megan Williams. Photo and caption courtesy of YUAG.

Mary Ziegler’s The Necessity of Friction, 1994. Found copy of Leonard Gross’s How Much is Too Much, electric motor, steel, magnesium, and sandpaper. Yale University Art Gallery, The Allan

Chasanoff, B.A. 1961, Book Art Collection, curated with Doug Beube. © Mary Ziegler. Photo and caption courtesy of YUAG.

Byron D. Clercx’s Axiom (detail), ca. 1993. Found newspapers and theory books on postmodern art criticism with glue and resin, and

metal. Yale University Art Gallery, The Allan Chasanoff, b.a. 1961, Book Art Collection, curated with Doug Beube. © Byron Clercx.

Photo and caption courtesy of YUAG.

march 2015

The Arts Paper


Fly on the Studio Walldavid brensilverphotos by amanda may aruani

ack in November, I spent a day at Horizon Recording Studio in West Haven, laying down drum tracks for a friend and colleague’s forthcoming

album. It was the day before Thanksgiving. Outside, slush fell from the sky. Even with decent driving directions, the unassuming cinderblock structure can be difficult to find, located behind a couple of residential properties at the back of the Horizon Music Group’s “West Haven compound,” as it’s aptly described on the company’s website.

Horizon Music Group is actually an um-brella for several related concerns, including the studio, which is owned and operated by Vic Steffens; HMG Records, a label man-aged by Steffens that showcases regional artists; and the Elm City Music Festival, a music conference that was organized in early November by Steffens, former Sony Music executive Michael Caplan, and other influential industry folks. Elm City Music, a Universal Music Group subsidiary owned and operated by Steffens, Caplan, and a third party and run in large part by Caplan, is part of the mix, though not technically part of Horizon Music Group.

The studio has a lived-in sort of vibe. The brightly lit main recording room is cluttered with equipment and rolling sound baffles. In a way, the room looks like it hasn’t been used in quite some time, when, in reality, it’s in constant use. Maybe that’s because when one first enters the space, he or she sees a room full of equipment, arranged however the previous day’s session required, like the tools of ghosts that left no trace of them-selves.

The control room is cozy and more dimly lit than the recording space on the other side of the massive window that divides the two rooms. Christmas lights strung across the mixing console add a measure of am-biance to the place and a soft couch offers clients and visitors a comfortable vantage point from which to listen to what’s coming through the playback speakers. Before the console sits Steffens, his eyes on the com-puter monitors that show music being made and recorded.

Steffens, a favorite-uncle type with a grey-ing beard and shoulder-length hair that ar-gues with the balding process, is a charming and generous music-industry sage whose vast experience is there for sharing. He’s part beloved professor whose office door is always open and part rock-and-roll veteran who loves to talk shop.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the expe-rience I had with Steffens the day before Thanksgiving, I’d asked if I could return to watch someone else go through the record-ing process — to be a fly on the wall while music was made and recorded. He and I exchanged email, trying to find a date that would make for a good story. After flirting with the idea of watching a heavy metal band from the Cayman Islands record, I

jumped at the chance to hang around while a local jazz musician did his thing. New Ha-ven-based drummer Phil E. Brown was com-ing in to record a drum track. It was right in my wheelhouse.

I got there early, as it turned out, and hung out with Steffens and local reggae musician Fred “Professor B” Brown, who was listening to one of his recently recorded tracks. I asked Fred why he chose to record at Horizon.

“I’ve known Vic for years,” he said.While anyone with a handful of today’s

technology can record an album in his or her bedroom, not everyone knows how to mar-ket that music.

“This is his job,” Brown said. “This is what he knows. He knows the music business.”

Phil Brown, who’s also known Steffens for years, expressed similar sentiments, ex-plaining that Steffens is patient and a “super engineer” whose primary interest is in get-ting the best out of a given client’s project.

“He has a fantastic ear,” (Phil) Brown added.

Steffens’ challenge on this particular Jan-uary afternoon was to record Brown playing over a part he’d tracked 10 years earlier for a song called “Real Dreams,” a funky tune that he plans to include on a forthcoming album of music featuring his band, the Top Notch Ensemble. The song is an instrumental that features New Haven-based guitarist George Baker — who worked with the late Marvin Gaye — on guitar. While Brown wanted to redo his drum part to capture a better sound (a better snare-drum sound, in particular), Baker didn’t want to mess with his guitar part. The problem was that the only thing Steffens had to work with was the CD on which the original version of the song was included. In other words, he didn’t have ac-cess to the individual tracks themselves, and thus he had no way of extracting the original drum part from the recording. Brown had to play along to the CD, superimposing his performance on the one he recorded a de-cade ago.

Asked how he was going to put the new drum part on top of the original in such a way that the latter wouldn’t get in the way or be heard much (if at all) in the final mix, Steffens said, while Brown warmed up on the house drum set, saxophonist Bobby Winters, who’d arrived with Brown, noodled a bit on his instrument, and studio intern Alphonso Dolberry set up microphones, “It’s going to have to be massaged very carefully … to minimize the other drum track.”

Steffens set and started a click track so Brown would know when to start playing.

“I’ll give you a four count, then you’re in,” Steffens told Brown through the talkback system. “Just relax at the beginning.”

After Brown did a first take, I asked Stef-fens what he thought.

“I don’t think it was the take,” he said.Between second and third takes, Steffens

told Brown, “It’s getting better all the time.” In the middle of the third take, Steffens

stopped and told Brown he’d punch him in

Observing a Recording Session in West Haven

B

Phil E. Brown warms up on the house drum set at Horizon Recording Studio.

Join the Arts Council!The Arts Council of Greater New Haven is dedicated to enhancing,

developing, and promoting opportunities for artists, arts organizations,

and audiences throughout the Greater New Haven area. Join us today!

newhavenarts.org/membership

The Arts Paper

Read our feature articles and download the latest edition.

theartspaper.com

Arts Council on Facebook

Get the inside scoop on what’s happening in the arts now!

facebook.com/

artscouncilofgreaternewhaven

Media Lounge

Sample the artistic bounty our region has to offer.Check out this virtual multimedia gallery of local talent.

newhavenarts.org/medialounge

Creative Directory

Looking for something? Find local creative businesses and artists with

our comprehensive arts-related directory.

You should be listed here!

newhavenarts.org/directory

E-newsletter

Your weekly source for arts happening in Greater New Haven

delivered right to your inbox.

Sign up at: newhavenarts.org

march 2015

The Arts Paper


Vic Steffens, foreground, engineers Phil E. Brown’s recording session as Bobby Winters looks on.

before a particularly syncopated transition. “The front was good,” he said, and, focus-

ing on the transition, acknowledged encour-agingly that “that’s the hardest part right there.”

After that take, Steffens ask Brown to play a series of cymbal crashes that punctuate the end of the tune so he could splice them in, if necessary.

“I think we might have enough to make this work,” he told Brown.

To those of use in the control room, Stef-fens said, “It should work. I’ve got to do a little editing.”

Brown came into the control room to lis-ten to his performance and mentioned the syncopations he’d just navigated his way through.

“I don’t know why I played it like that 10 years ago,” he said. “It was just what I felt at that particular time.”

Still, he seemed up for the challenge of try-ing to “duplicate what I did before.” And he seemed satisfied with his performance that day — and confident that Steffens would be able to bring the new drum part forward and push the original track as far down in the mix as possible.

As I took my leave, equally confident that Steffens could do just that, I bid farewell to Fred Brown, Phil Brown, Winters, Dolberry, and Steffens, whom I told I’d talk to and see soon.

I’ve got plans to record some of my own music, I warned him playfully. n

©T

ho

mas

Gir

oir

Ph

oto

gra

phy

201

5

sessionSpring

January 20th – June 13thproviding the finest dance training

in the greater new haven region.

Ages 3 – Adult

New Haven Studio Locations: 70 Audubon Street | 591 Whitney Avenue

177 College StreetGuilford Studio Location:

200 Village Walk

For enrollment and schedule information contact: [email protected] 203-782-9038

www.newhavenballet.org

Department of Economic andCommunity Development

O�ce of the ArtsCarolyn

Foundation

227987 NHB-ARTS-SprQTRbw.indd 1 1/22/15 10:48 AM

cooper wall

t this point in time, it’s almost impossible to avoid the triangu-lar gaze of the recycling symbol.

Everything we recycle is used again, turned into yet another thing we will have to recycle in a purgatorial environ-mental loop. This isn’t to say that the re-use of objects in itself is bad. It is, on the contrary, a rather necessary process if we are to protect the environment. There is an alternative to the cycle of recycling, however, and a more beautiful one. This is the process of upcycling, the reuse of waste in newly constructed objects.

This is exactly what the Art Council’s newest member organization does. Founded in response to rising levels of both greenhouse gases and more terres-trial trash, EcoWorks is an organization that provides artists an alternative to traditional recycling. The organization’s concept is relatively simple: Donations

of waste materials ranging from maps to sheets of metal to upholstery fabric are given to EcoWorks, Ecoworks sells said “waste” to artists, the artists do their thing, and soon waste has been upcycled into art. One man’s trash, after all, is an artist’s next project.

In addition to the upcycling store, Eco-Works offers two other types of services. First, to pair with the junk warehouse, a consignment shop-slash-art boutique selling, as its website puts it, “everything from clothing and jewelry to lawn orna-ments, decorative arts and furniture.” In other words, the New Haven facility is a nearly self-contained version of upcycling, nurturing, and requiring the catalytic abilities of artists. EcoWorks is able to provide the beginnings of artistic works through the warehouse as well as one possible ending to said works through the consignment shop. What, then, of the middle of the process? How does one get from point A to point B?

For the burgeoning artist who is unsure of how to dive into the scrap pile or the experienced upcycler looking for a touch of guidance on a new project, EcoWorks offers a number of events, classes, and workshops. At press time, there is only

one upcoming event listed on the organi-zation’s website (“i.heart.trash,“ a silent auction and concert to raise money for all things trash), but past events have ranged from a traditional art workshop to a compost-pile labyrinth. Literally. These provide a bridge from warehouse to con-signment, providing the last link in the cycle of upcycling.

EcoWorks is almost an artistic micro-cosm unto itself, the beginning, middle, and end to any junk-driven artistic ven-ture. The newest member to the arts council comes with a bit of a pedigree as well. Sherill Baldwin, one of EcoWorks’ founding members as well as its current chair, has more than 25 years of experi-ence in resource and materials manage-ment, including a current job with the state Department of Energy and Envi-ronmental Protection. In all regards, Eco-Works seems like an organization fully dedicated to art and the environment, both individually and as one entity. n

Learn more at ecoworksct.org.

Cooper Wall, a student at Bennington College, is an Arts Council intern.

march 2015

The Arts Paper


organization upcycles garbage

A

Trash to Treasure

“EcoWorks is almost an

artistic microcosm unto itself,

the beginning, middle, and end to any

junk-driven artistic

venture.”

march 2015

The Arts Paper


Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus to Perform I Am Harvey Milk

david brensilver

reg McMahan was in the audi-ence on October 6, 2014, when Andrew Lippa’s hour-long oratorio I Am Harvey Milk was performed

at Avery Fisher Hall, at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. It was the East Coast premiere of the work, and, coincidentally, the very day that the Su-preme Court of the United States made an important statement.

As The New York Times’ Adam Liptak put it in the lede of his October 6, 2014, news story, “Supreme Court Delivers Tacit Win to Gay Marriage”: “The Supreme Court on Monday let stand appeals court rulings allowing same-sex marriage in five states, a major surprise that could signal the inev-itability of the right of same-sex marriage nationwide.”

The final song of Lippa’s oratorio, a finale called “Tired of the Silence,” which uses Milk’s own words — specifically the im-ploring words “come out” — is “what got me in New York,” McMahan said, explain-ing that while he thought the Lincoln Cen-ter audience might be a little jaded, what he experienced that night was a concert hall full of empowered individuals.

“It’s very moving,” McMahan said of the oratorio. “Strictly musically, it’s gorgeous.”

McMahan, the artistic director of the Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus, which will perform I Am Harvey Milk next month at the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School in New Haven, put those comments in perspective, saying, “I’m sort of out all the time,” and “we often forget that it is still an issue.”

“It,” of course, being equality.“I never expected in my lifetime to have

marriage (equality),” McMahan said.

Around the time that the Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus performs Lippa’s oratorio, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in four same-sex marriage cases, with a ruling expected in June. Specifically, the high court will, according to a January 16 order, answer two questions: “Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?” and “Does the Fourteenth Amend-ment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state?”

I Am Harvey Milk received its premiere on June 27, 2014, one day after the United States Supreme Court ruled that a key portion of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional.

Like the namesake of his oratorio, Lippa said he was in his 40s when he got in-volved in gay politics. Milk was the first openly gay politician to hold public office in California, having been elected in 1977 to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. Tragically, less than a year after taking office, Milk and the city’s mayor, George Moscone, were assassinated by Daniel White, who’d recently quit the Board of Supervisors.

Milk was 48 when he died, the same age Lippa was when I Am Harvey Milk

was premiered by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus in June 2013, having been commissioned by that organization and six others.

As a gay man and a Jew, Lippa related to and was inspired by Milk and the move-ment he championed. When in October 2011 Dr. Timothy Seelig, artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, reached out to Lippa asking if he’d be interested in writing a five-minute piece about Harvey Milk — to be performed alongside related pieces by other compos-ers — Lippa, the composer of such Broad-

way hits as The Addams Family and Big Fish, asked, “Can I write the whole thing?”

“This was my way of picking up that torch,” Lippa said.

Composing I Am Harvey Milk was also a way for Lippa to represent gay culture the way he wanted to, and not in the way that many entertainment vehicles have and do. Pointing out that there have been gay characters conceived and portrayed with dignity, Lippa said his interest in gay min-strelsy is minimal.

“I’m not fond of gays portrayed as minc-ing faggots,” Lippa, now 50, said.

Lippa’s husband, David Bloch, worked in marketing for Focus Features when the company produced the award-winning 2008 film Milk, starring Sean Penn. Bruce Cohen, who worked as a producer on that film and on Lippa’s oratorio, is the presi-dent of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, a nonprofit organization that was instrumental in having California’s 2008 ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, overturned via Hollingsworth v. Perry.

“He produced that case,” Lippa said, pun intended, of Cohen.

As much as I Am Harvey Milk was composed to celebrate the life of Harvey Milk and the human-rights movement he championed, it was also written for all those for whom basic human rights seem elusive or unavailable.

Not too long ago, Lippa received an email from a man named Daniel Cords, who’s had the pleasure of performing I Am Harvey Milk with the Seattle Men’s Chorus and who, in 2006, having been treated by his family as though something were wrong with him, tried to kill himself. Cords wanted Lippa to know how much the ora-

torio means to him. Lippa, in response — a piece of correspondence Lippa shared in a column titled “Why I Wrote I Am Harvey Milk,” published on September 29, 2014, by the Huffington Post — told Cords (in part), that in retrospect, “I wrote it for you. I wrote it for anyone who has ever had to hide or keep secret their true nature.” n

The Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus will perform Andrew Lippa’s I Am Har-

vey Milk, starring Jeff Price and Maureen Peitler-Lederman on Saturday and Sunday,

April 25 and April 26, at the Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, 177

College St., New Haven. Visit ctgmc.org for more information.

G

oratorio celebrates late human-rights champion and movement

Kristin Chenoweth and Noah Marlowe in I Am Harvey Milk, with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the All-Star Broadway Men’s Chorus. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

Andrew Lippa. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

“This was my way of picking up that torch.” — Andrew Lippa

lucy gellman

y his second year as a student at the Yale School of Law, Amar Bakshi couldn’t stop thinking about the

intersection of making and legality. The pioneer of Portals, a web-based video project intended “to get everyday people from very different cultures stand-ing face to face and talking,” Bakshi’s thoughts went far beyond the marriage of art and law that had been proposed in his classes and local museums; instead of art law, restitution, or even art as a manifestation of protest, he was drawn by something much bigger. Specifically, by four main domains “in which law is operative and in which artists can use the domain of law”: laws of the human body, laws of the built and natural envi-ronment, laws of the digital world, and laws of the political body.

The brainchild of those thoughts, grace à a grant from the School of Law, the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, and partnerships with several organizations around Yale University’s Campus, was The Legal Medium, a two-day symposium held at the end of February. Its goal, in Bakshi’s words, was to allow viewers to “tease out of this conversation some ways what this is, how you articulate the ways in which law is used.”

“You see a lot of very interesting ar-tistic practices that are not necessarily about law, and that are not necessarily defined by their attempt to shape law, rather they’re defined by their engage-ment with it. It’s not quite social prac-tice, it’s not advocacy, per se, it’s sort of this hybrid amalgam. Materials resist.

Just as paint resists a certain type of pli-ability, so do legal regimes,” he explained in a recent interview.

A cross-campus initiative involving graduate and under-graduate students in history, art history law, drama, philoso-phy, sociology, and political science, the symposium featured artists like Jonah Bokaer, a dancer and choreographer who engages both the laws of the body and the laws — and limits — of the visual when he takes to the stage or studio each day; Mary Ellen Car-oll, who is actively lobbying to turn old cable lines into pub-lic sources of WiFi; conceptual poet Kenny Goldsmith, who advocates “un-creative writing” and uncreative thinking; and, via video, per-formance artist Tania Bruguera, whose staging an open-mic protest outside Cuban government headquarters at Rev-olution Square on December 29, 2014, warranted her arrest in Cuba.

But The Legal Medium, which also fea-tured several academic voices from in-

side and outside Yale, did not stop there. In August of last year, second-year doc-toral candidate Lucy Hunter expressed interest in joining the conversation from

her place in the con-temporary art world, and since she has done so in a very big way. Through March 14, her exhibition Irregular Rendition is on view at the newly opened Giampietro Gallery on Chapel Street. In an interview with The Arts Paper, Hunter explained that she — like Bakshi and other organizers of the symposium — wanted to go further than art law and art as inherently political, and Irregular Rendition does so as it “extends the keyword of ‘law’ to its full spectrum of uses: legislation, penal code, laws of physics, mathematical principles, universal truths.”

In curating the ex-hibition, Hunter was interested in selecting a cohort of nationally and internationally

recognized, politicized, activized, and occasionally even criminalized artists like Timothy Bergstrom, Melissa Brown, Mary Ellen Carroll, Tyler Coburn, Brock

Enright, Coco Fusco, Nicolás Guagnini, David Horvitz, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Alexandra Lerman, R. Lyon, Gordon Mat-ta-Clark, Park McArthur, and Narcissis-ter.

“This is a means for me to have abso-lutely amazing conversations with artists about ideas that feel pressing, and to leave a bunch of questions out in the air that visitors to the gallery will be able to engage in,” Hunter said. “I knew in doing a show about law that it had to be broader than intersections of art and law literally. I felt the kind of questions one could ask or one could come away with could be broadened by artists who have a materially based practice as opposed to a more intellectually based practice, who are literally working with the laws of how, for example, crystals grow (R. Lyon) ... a really wide net of people whose practices I felt were in conversation.”

Her quest to select “artists who were asking questions that were ... playing with the cleanliness or stability of ideas that have to do with law or social norms or social hierarchies,” hits the mark with work that ranges from legally and socially invested to literally unlawful to subverting the law for aesthetic pur-poses.

Like Fusco’s. Probably best known for her repeated artistic performances as Dr. Zira (Planet of the Apes), which cunningly place systems of economic, social, and racial inequality on display, or more re-cently as the “provocateur” in Elia Alba’s The Supper Club (2014), Fusco adds a dimension of socially invested and inter-rogatory work to the exhibition.

Or, on a more unlawful front, New

march 2015

The Arts Paper


Legally Artistic, Like You’ve Never Seen Beforeexhibition mines the meanings of “law”

Narcissister’s Untitled (Bare Breasted), a two-channel digital video installation. Image and information courtesy of the artist and the Fred.Giampietro Gallery.

B

“I knew in

doing a show

about law that

it had to be

broader than

intersections

of art and law

literally.”

— Lucy Hunter

march 2015

The Arts Paper


York-based Enright. While Hunter com-missioned a piece specifically for the exhibition, she chose his work because “hanging in the background” of Irregular Rendition will be his career as a profes-sional kidnapping artist; Enright creates elaborate performances in which his “victims” — who have, after extensive conversations and a meaty contract, legally agreed to be kidnapped — must come face-to-face with their worst fears. “It’s obviously a very thorny intersection of consent and what is potentially a very traumatic experience,” Hunter said of drawing on his work.

In this vein there are also pieces like Mary Ellen Carroll’s Federal (2003), a 24-hour recording of the front and rear of Charles Luckman’s Federal Building in Los Angeles that literally brings into focus the built environment and poli-tics of surveillance. Shot in two films and riveting because of its monotony, the project compels the viewer to call into question the restrictions and laws a country has created by picturing the womb of those restrictions itself.

Hunter’s intuitive sense of what fits under the purview of “law” or “legal” is delightfully broad, and this is where the exhibition finds its sense of propulsion and relative ingenuity. The inclusion of artists like Mierle Ukeles, whose Re-Spect (five photographs, all 1993) orchestrates ballets for largely unused emergency service equipment in Givors, France, is exhilarating, a performance that viewers can almost feel they’re taking part in as they watch fire hoses explode with no fire in sight, emergency vehicles line the banks of Givors’ river, and barges line up with nowhere to go quickly.

“It seems so joyful ... the people who have spent their lives in training to be able to manage a crisis can kind of enjoy their skills outside of a life or death sit-uation, the whole town gathering by the side of the river to watch this parade of performances. To me, the show is looking at denaturalization, to expose or articulate an infrastructure that seems invisible, but is wholly important,” Hunter added.

With this in mind, viewers may also delight at the inclusion of Gordon Mat-ta-Clark, who in name alone conjures a series of sawed, carved, and collaged SoHo buildings that immediately inter-rogate the built environment. His Pier 52: Day’s End, Day’s End Pier 52, and Day’s End (Pier 52) (Exterior with Ice) (all 1975) in the exhibition do the same, leaving the viewer wanting to uncover the possibility of a deeper story of the piers lining the New York waterfront.

And, perhaps, a deeper story of what is legally engaged or motivated in the aesthetic sphere. The show is a jumping-off point, and with Hunter’s guidance, there is only the option of swimming intently — if not without minor discomfort — to an artistic shore where almost anything can happen. n

Visit giampietrogallery.com for

Alexandra Lerman’s NC, 2014 (terracotta, glaze, and wood). Image and information courtesy of the artist and the Fred.Giampietro Gallery.

Untitled work (plaster, plastic helicopter, and crystal) by R. Lyon. Image and information courtesy of the artist and the Fred.Giampietro Gallery.

Classes & WorkshopsA Fresh Perspective Art Studio and Gallery 116 Elm St., Cheshire. 203-444-5705. afreshperspectiveartstudioandgallery.com. Figure Drawing Class with Liz Scott. Have you ever wanted to learn how to draw the human figure or build on your current skills? This class is unique in that it is suited for both the beginner and the more advanced student. You will learn to draw the figure from a live model using charcoal. Model and materials included Fridays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., through March 13. Call for pricing.

ACES Educational Center for the Arts 55 Audu-bon St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/schools/eca. Creative Dramatics. Quality acting classes on Sat-urdays for kids and teens, ages 8-11 and 12-16. Call Ingrid Schaeffer, theater department chair, at 203-795-9011 or email [email protected]. Classes are held 9-10:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Please call or write for more information.

Arts Center Killingworth 276 North Parker Hill Road, Killingworth. 860-663-5593. artscenterkillingworth.org. Winter Art Classes and Workshops for All Ages. Enjoy new art classes and workshops for adults, teens, and children. Programs include drawing and painting classes, numerous craft and jewelry workshops, Saturday morning classes (Just4Kids)

and Get Messy art for preschoolers. Visit website for a full calendar and to register online. Classes ongoing through March.

Artsplace 1220 Waterbury Road, Cheshire. 203-272-2787. cpfa-artsplace.org. Winter Classes for All Ages. Artsplace offers a large variety of art classes for all ages taught by a team of professional fine artists. All levels of stu-dents welcome. All supplies included in class fee. Large parking lot, next to community dog park. Easy access to Route 84 and centrally located in beautiful Cheshire. Visit website or call for information. Typically classes run for seven weeks and are offered Saturdays, and Mondays through Thursdays, through March 28. Prices vary from choice of one-time workshop with fee of $20 to three-hour classes over seven-week session costing $155.

Connecticut Natural Science Educators Yale Pea-body Museum Community Education Center, 230 West Campus Drive, Orange. 203-934-0878. ctnsi.com. Art Classes in Natural Science Illustration. Our classes and workshops focus on all aspects of drawing and painting from nature. We welcome students of all levels and abilities. Classes in beginning and advanced drawing, pen and ink, botanical watercolors, painting birds and mam-mals, and mixed-media painting. Classes offered Monday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., March 1-April 30, at 230 West Campus Drive, in Orange.

Visit ctnsi.com, email [email protected], or call 203-934-0878.

Elm City Dance Collective Center for the Arts at Christ Church, 84 Broadway, lower level (entrance on Elm Street), New Haven. 860-451-9421. elmcitydance.org. Intermediate Contemporary Dance Class. A vigorous dance experience focusing on full-body articula-tion, use of weight, expressing individual artistry, the joys of movement, and dancing as part of a community. Class is intended to be high energy, challenging and fun. Some modern, contemporary, or ballet experience recommended; walk-ins wel-come. Tuesday evenings, 6-7:30 p.m., through April 21. $15 drop-in, $60 five-class pass, $150 10-class pass.

Club Fusion Dance Class. Come get your groove on in this all-out dance party taught in a welcoming follow-along style. Class begins with warm-up and conditioning movements, and then builds to a high-energy dance jam that will leave you sweaty, happy, and energized. No judgment; amazing music; low lights; good people. No dance training necessary; vigorous class. Thursday evenings, 6-7:30 p.m., through April 23. $15 drop-in, $60 five-class pass, $150 15-class pass. Open-Company Class/Advanced Technique. This class will explore dance technique as a foundation for warming up the body to prepare for dynamic and virtuosic movement. We will fall into and out of the floor for a full-body dance experience recruiting

ease in effort, weight, and clarity. Previous dance experience recommended. Walk-ins welcome. No class April 5. Classes offered every Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., through April 26, at the Connecticut Capoeira and Dance Center, 1175 State St., Suite 207, New Haven. Call 860-451-9421 or visit elmci-tydance.org/youth-camps. $15 drop-in.

J.C. ArtGlass Designs 698 Main St. (rear), Bran-ford.203-481-0408. jcartglass.com. Stained Glass Workshop. This two-day workshop will go through all the process required to create your own stained glass artwork. Students with no previous knowledge of cutting glass will create a finished panel of approximately 10” x 18.” Students will leave with the knowledge to be able to create works on their own. March 21 and March 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Payment must be made at time of en-rollment. $150, includes all materials.

Neighborhood Music School 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org. English Country Dance. All dances will be taught by Paul McGuire. Come with or without a part-ner. Beginners welcome. Live music by Marshall Barron, Grace Feldman, Phoebe Barron, Margaret Ann Martin, and musicians from Marshall’s Dance Band Workshops. Fridays, March 6 and March 20, 8-10:30 p.m.

Royal Scottish Country Dance Society Whitney Arts Center, 591 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-

march 2015

The Arts Paper


CALENDAR

The New Haven Museum presents An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven’s Monuments Man through May 9. Pictured: Deane Keller in 1945 near Florence, Italy, with a statue of Cosimo de’Medici. Deane Keller papers (MS 1685). Manuscripts and

Archives, Yale University Library. Photo and caption information courtesy of New Haven Museum.

281-6591. rscdsnewhaven.org. Scottish Country Dancing. Enjoy dancing the social dances of Scotland. Come alone or with a friend. All dances taught. Wear soft-soled non-street shoes. Every Tuesday evening, 7:45-10 p.m., through May. $8 per evening. First night free.

Spectrum Gallery and Store 61 Main St., Center-brook. 860-663-5593. spectrumartgallery.org.Winter Art Classes and Workshops. Enjoy new art classes and workshops for adults in an inspiring gallery setting. Programs include drawing classes, numerous craft and jewelry workshops, and monthly origami circles. Visit our website for a full calendar and to register online. Classes offered through March 31.

Dance12-13 Thursday-Friday New Dances: Faculty Repertory ACES Educational Center for the Arts, 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 7 p.m. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca.

Exhibitions ACES Educational Center for the Arts 55 Audu-bon St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca. ACES ECA Vision: New Work from the Third Quarter. Opening reception: March 25, 5-7 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Artspace 50 Orange St, New Haven. 203-772-2709. artspacenh.org. Vertical Reach: Political Protest and the Militant Aes-thetic Now. An exhibition that uses the current po-litical climate in Eastern Europe as a framework to explore how acts of protest and assembly behave when presented as artistic practice. The show brings together socially engaged works by collec-tives and individuals from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and the United States. On view through May 2. Wednesday and Thursday, 12-6 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 12-8 p.m.

City Gallery 994 State St., New Haven.203-782-2489. city-gallery.org. Neighborhood Walks. Tom Peterson’s exhibition of urban photography, with emphasis on diverse, colorful neighborhoods. The juxtaposition of im-ages provides the viewer with a walking tour that is uniquely American. On view Thursday-Sunday, 12-4 p.m., March 5-March 29. Opening reception: Sunday, March 8, 2-5 p.m.

Fred.Giampietro Gallery 1064 Chapel St., New Haven. 203-777-7760. giampietrogallery.com. Irregular Rendition curated by Lucy Hunter. Staged in conjunction with a symposium at Yale Law School, this exhibit extends the keyword of “law” to its full spectrum of uses: legislation, penal code, laws of physics, mathematical principles, and universal truths. For more information visit thele-galmedium.com/exhibition. On view Monday-Sat-urday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., through March 14. Free. Enrico Riley. With works by Christopher Mir. Opening reception: Saturday, March 21, 6-8 p.m. On view Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., March 21-April 25. Free.

Guilford Art Center 411 Church St., Guilford. 203-453-5947. guilfordartcenter.org. Faculty Exhibition. Exhibit of works in all media by GAC faculty members. On view Monday-Satur-day, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday, 12-4 p.m., through March 8. Free admission.

John Slade Ely House Center for Contemporary Art 51 Trumbull St., New Haven. 203-624-8055. elyhouse.org.

march 2015

The Arts Paper


App DevelopmentWebsites

Mobile Strategy

Call or click to discussyour project.

www.meamobile.com59 Elm Street | New Haven, CT

[email protected]

[ ]

90 seconds to naplesThe "build-your-own," assembly-line-

style, quick-service Neapolitan pizzeria.

We have an unusual mix of authentic Neapolitan pizza with fresh, amazing

ingredients, fast service and an incredible price for the qualit

72 church st - new haven203-777-7727

www.redtomado.com#redtomado | @redtomado

yale institute of sacred music presents

James Taylor · Robert Mealy · Avi SteinHandel: La Resurrezionetuesday, march 24 · 7:30 pm Battell Chapel, 400 College St. at Elm, New HavenPresented with support from the Helicon Foundation

Compagnia de’ ColombariEverything That Rises Must Convergewednesday, march 25 · 7:30 pm Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, 1 Prospect St., New Haven

Yale Camerata · Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor Gabriel Jackson: Passionsunday, march 29 · 4 pm Trinity Church on the Green, Temple & Chapel St, New Haven

All events are free and open to the public; no tickets required. ism.yale.edu

Works by Tom Peterson are featured in Neighborhood

Walks, on view at City Gallery March 5 - March 29.

Image courtesy of Mr. Peterson.

Aspiring dancers participate in a master class during DanceMasters Weekend at the Wesleyan University Center for the

Arts in 2012. Photo by Kenny Beaudette.

114th Annual Juried Art Exhibition of the New Haven Paint and Clay Club. The New Haven Paint and Clay Club is having its annual art exhibition and sale. Opening reception: March 22, 2-5 p.m. Awards will be presented at 3 p.m. On view Wednes-day-Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday, 2-5 p.m., March 22-April 12. For more information about the club, visit newhavenpaintandclayclub.org. Exhibits are always free and open to the public.

Kehler Liddell Gallery 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 203-389-9555. kehlerliddell.com. Appearances and Apparitions. Peek through the lens of two distinct photographic styles — the urban patterns and textures of Mark St. Mary’s work and the haunting landscapes by Alan Shulik — in this exhibit, which is on view through March 22. For more information, visit kehlerliddell.com or call 203.389.9555. Free. The Whole Wide World/Breaking Bread. See two concurrent shows March 26-April 26. Opening

reception: March 29, 3-6 p.m. Photographer Marjorie Gillette Wolfe presents archival pigment photographs in “The Whole Wide World” and painter Frank Bruckmann displays a series of oil paintings in “Breaking Bread.” Visit kehlerliddell.com or call 203-389-9555. Free.

Mary C. Daley Art Gallery 167 Neck Road, Madi-son. 203-245-0401. mercybythesea.org. Time Reconsidered. Photographic triptychs of travel in China by Roy Money. The re-seeing of a 2013 trip to China through the “lens” of Zen practice. On view daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., through March 26.

New Haven Museum 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-562-4183. newhavenmuseum.org.From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven. An exhibition that highlights an astonishing variety of goods that were, and some that still are, produced in the Elm City. Featuring more than 100 objects, advertisements, trade cards, and photographs, with a wide-ranging and sometimes humorous

look at the products made in New Haven. On view Monday-Saturday (and first Sunday of the month, which varies) through May 30. Adults $4, seniors $3, students $2, those younger than 12 admitted free.

An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven’s Mon-uments Man. During WWII, “monuments men” — soldiers whose job it was to protect cultural heritage during wartime — were dispatched, for the first time. Deane Keller of New Haven was among them. The New Haven Museum presents a special exhibit celebrating Keller’s life and his contributions to the preservation of many of the world’s iconic works of art. On view through May 9. Visit newhavenmuseum.org for hours.

Paul Mellon Arts Center Choate Rosemary Hall, 332 Christian St., Wallingford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice. Photographs from the Archives. A curated exhi-bition of photographs from The Choate School, Rosemary Hall, and Choate Rosemary Hall. On view every day, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., when school is in session, through March 7. Free.

Galas & Fundraisers 21 Saturday Shubert Theatre 100th Anniversary Gala Celebra-tion An evening of dinner, dancing, and merriment on the legendary Shubert Stage! Shubert Theatre, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com.

28 Saturday Le Jazz ... Swanky Songs with a French Twist Neighborhood Music School’s signature fundrais-

march 2015

The Arts Paper


Judy Sirota Rosenthal ~ [email protected] ~ www.sirotarosenthal.com

Photography

Intimate and Timeless

The British acid jazz-funk group Incognito kicks off the 2015 jazz series at Southern Connecticut State University’s John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts on March 28.

Photo courtesy of the Lyman Center.

Liz Diamond, left, directs Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the Yale Repertory Theatre, March 20-April 11.

Photo of Liz Diamond by Erik Pearson, photo of Bertolt Brecht by Jörg Kolbe, both courtesy of Yale Rep.

march 2015

The Arts Paper


ing event to benefit City Initiative, a tuition-free comprehensive music educational program serving more than 50 New Haven Public School students and NMS’ financial aid program which serves more than 300 students each year. This Parisian Supper Club event will feature live jazz and cabaret, and more. Roia Restaurant, 261 Col-lege St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.

29 Sunday Cabaret and Silent Auction Join the New Haven Oratorio Choir for a fun-filled afternoon featur-ing the diverse talents of NHOC members and friends. Entertainment, food and drinks, and a silent auction will be featured. Special guests: Dr Caterwaul’s Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps. Don’t miss this event. There will be surprises galore! Tickets will be available at the NHOC website and at the door. Lyric Hall, 827 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 860-742-0621. nhoratorio.org.

Kids & Families

Paul Mellon Arts Center 332 Christian St., Walling-ford. 203-697-2398. choate.edu/boxoffice.Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl and Other Stories. Based on the best-selling stories Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold and Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, this one-hour musical from Theatreworks USA follows the ad-ventures of our favorite bugs. Appropriate for ages 4 and older. Sunday, March 29, 2 p.m. Adults $15, children (12 and younger) $10.

Hamden Arts Commission Thornton Wilder Hall in Miller Cultural Complex, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Ham-den. 203-287-2546. hamdenartscommission.org.Pirate School with Billy Bones. The region’s most popular pirate, featured in New York Magazine’s “Best of NY: Kids,” returns to Hamden. Bumbling pirate Billy Bones, an amiable bumpkin of a bucca-neer with a heart of gold, comes with his treasure chest of classic slapstick comedy, magic, bub-ble-play, music, a rusty bugle, and scads of partic-ipatory fun. Saturday, March 7, 1 p.m. Admission: $2 children, $3 adults.

Music

1 Sunday Music at The Russell House: Stanley Maxwell Stan-ley Maxwell plays original music with intricate group improvisations and has won an Indepen-dent Music Award for Best Jazz Song. The quartet features Andy Chatfield (drums), Mark Crino (bass), Eric DellaVecchia (alto saxophone), and Evan Green (piano). At Wesleyan University, the band will present original acoustic tunes, including several world premieres. 3 p.m. Free. Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, The Russell House,

350 High St., Middletown. 860-685-3355. wesleyan.edu/cfa/events/2015/03-2015/ 03012015stanley-maxwell.htm.

4 Wednesday Live Jazz with Blue Plate Radio Join us in the living room for a free live jazz series, taking place on the first and third Wednesdays of every month, through April. We’ll be listening to local jazz mu-sicians brought to us through Blue Plate Radio, a popular online jazz station. Future dates: March 18, April 1, and April 15. 5-7 p.m. Free. JCC of Greater New Haven, 360 Amity Road, Wood-bridge. 203-387-2522.

6 Friday Yale Schola Cantorum: Vespers Masaaki Suzuki, guest conductor. 5:30 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Christ Church Episcopal, 84 Broad-way, New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu/event/yale-schola-cantorum-vespers.

7 Saturday O.N.E. OnDemand Vote online for your top 10 favorites from Orchestra New England’s list of repertoire, 41 years in the making. Attend the On-Demand concert on March 7 at Battell Chapel as O.N.E. performs the pieces that receive the most votes. 7:30-9 p.m. $20 general admission, $35 reserved seats, $5 student rush tickets at the door. Battell Chapel, 400 College St., New Haven. 203-777-4690. orchestranewengland.org.

Viva Italia! Martha Oneppo, soprano; Terrence B. Fay, tenor; and Alexis Zingale, piano. Works by Bellini, Tosti, and others. Featured are arias from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. 7 p.m. Free. Neighbor-hood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.

8 Sunday Haven String Quartet at George Flynn Classical Concerts The Haven String Quartet joins a dis-tinguished roster of performers in this special shoreline concert series. For more information, visit georgeflynnclassicalconcerts.com or musi-chavenct.org. 4 p.m. William Stanton Andrews Memorial Town Hall, 54 East Main St., Clinton. 203-745-9030. musichavenct.org.

St Luke’s Steel Band The ensemble returns to Hamden to perform “The Joyous Sounds of Steel Drums.” The group’s repertoire includes calypso, reggae, classical, and island folk music. 2 p.m. Admission is $7 general admission, $5 for senior citizens, students, and children 12 and younger. The Hamden Arts Commission, Thornton Wilder Hall in Miller Cultural Complex, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-287-2546. hamdenartscommission.org.

12 Thursday Classics Series: Ansel Adams, Bernstein & Brubeck Celebrate America with works by Bernstein, Ellington, and a stunning visual tribute to Ansel Adams by New Haven Symphony Orchestra art-ist-in-residence Chris Brubeck. 7:30pm-9:30 p.m. $15-$74, students $10, KidTix free with adult. New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-865-0831. NewHavenSymphony.org.

13 Friday Dances, Ayres, and Fantasias Neighborhood Music School faculty concert featuring Julia Blue Raspe, voice and recorders; Marshall Barron, violin; Phoebe Barron, violin, viola da gamba, and record-ers; Rosamund Morley, viola da gamba; Grace Feldman, viola da gamba and violin; and Margaret Ann Martin, keyboards. Works by Orlando Gib-bons and William Byrd. 12:10 p.m. Free. Neighbor-hood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.

Spoken-word and hip-hop artist Sage Francis appears with rap artist Ceschi at Toad’s Place on March 15. Photo of by Joel Frijoff.

The Connecticut-based jazz quartet Stanley Maxwell performs original compositions on Sunday, March 1, at The Russell

House, as part of the “Music at The Russell House” series presented by Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts.

Image courtesy of the artists.

march 2015

The Arts Paper


Ragtime from Joplin to Jelly Roll Featuring Gretchen Frazier, violin; Lawrence Zukof, recorder; Reesa Gringorten, clarinet; Yun-Yang Lin, cello; Margaret Ann Martin, piano; and Art Hovey, tuba. Works by Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, Jelly Roll Morton, and others. 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Neigh-borhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.

18 Wednesday Live Jazz with Blue Plate Radio Join us in the living room for a free live jazz series, taking place on the first and third Wednesdays of every month through April. We’ll be listening to local jazz musicians brought to us through Blue Plate Radio, a popular online jazz station. Future dates: April 1 and April 15. 5-7 p.m. Free. JCC of Greater New Haven, 360 Amity Road, Woodbridge. 203-387-2522.

19 Thursday Music Haven Rush Hour Concert IV Wind down after work with a 40-minute show and a glass of a wine. Explore Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009 (performed by Philip Boulanger) and Xenakis’ Mikka (performed by Gregory Tompkins) in a relaxed setting, and discover what makes the music brilliant. Admission: $8 ($5 students/se-niors). 5:30 p.m. Music Haven, 117 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 203-745-9030. musichavenct.org.

21 Saturday Four-Zando: Four Pianists, No Rules! Featuring Margaret Ann Martin, Vicky Reeve, Laura Richling, and George Melillo. Works by Poulenc, Rachmani-noff, Cornick, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others. 7 p.m. Free. Neighborhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.

Music Haven Presents Join us in welcoming ac-claimed composer Yevgeniy Sharlat as our special guest as the Haven String Quartet presents the music of Sharlat, Shostakovich, and Weinberg. Unitarian Society of New Haven 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. Admission: $20, $10 students, seniors, and Unitarian Society of New Haven members (tickets available at musichavenct.org/concerts). 7:30 p.m. Music Haven, Unitarian Soci-ety of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turnpike, Hamden. 203-745-9030. musichavenct.org.

22 Sunday Scarlatti and Brahms: Eric Trudel, pianist We invite you to an hour-long program with Canadian concert pianist Eric Trudel, who returns to move us with his deep artistry. Free parking. Reception to follow. Bring a friend! 4 p.m. Freewill offer-ing. Bethesda Music Series, Bethesda Lutheran

Church, 450 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-787-2346. bethesdanewhaven.org.

24 Tuesday Faculty Recital: Handel’s La resurrezione James Taylor, tenor, featuring Yale School of Music fac-ulty members. Presented with support from the Helicon Foundation. 7:30 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Battell Chapel, 300 College St., New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu/event/ faculty-recital-handel-la-resurrezione.

27 Friday Franz Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet Faculty concert featuring Mark Rike, violin; Bethany Wilder, viola; Yun-Yang Lin, cello; guest artist Andrea Beger, double bass; and Ingeborg Schimmer, piano. 12:10 p.m. Free and open to the public. Neighborhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.

Contemporary Tonal Music for Trumpet in a Trio Ensemble Featuring Daniel Duncan, trumpet, and guests McNeil Johnston, violin, and Andrew Gor-don, piano. Featuring the music of James Stephen-son III, Erik Morales, and others. 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Neighborhood Music School Recital Hall, 100 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-624-5189. neighborhoodmusicschool.org.

29 Sunday Yale Camerata: Palm Sunday Concert Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor. Gabriel Jackson’s Passion. 4 p.m. Free. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Trinity Church on the Green, corner of Chapel and Tem-ple streets, New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu/event/yale-camerata-palm-sunday-concert.

Special Events 7-8 Saturday-SundayDanceMasters Weekend The Wesleyan Univer-sity Center for the Arts presents “a two-day im-mersion in contemporary dance.” Master classes will be presented by such trailblazing artists as Brian Brooks and the Brian Brooks Moving Com-pany, Wendy Whalen, David Dorfman and David Dorfman Dance, Ronald K. Brown and Evidence: A Dance Company, Diane Walker, Roxane D’Orleans Juste and Limon Dance Company, Stuart Singer and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Al-ison Manning, Bill Hastings, Kate Weare and Kate Weare Company, Raphael Xavier, and Eddie Taketa and Doug Varone and Dancers. Visit wesleyan.edu/cfa/dancemasters for schedule and registration information.

10 Tuesday March Meeting and Artist Demonstration Mark Battista will present “Creating the Expressive Portrait in Watercolor,” using a process of build-ing up form through a succession of washes. He will share his approach to complementing areas of great detail with passages that are much looser and more expressive. Color harmony, edge control, and tips to construct a solid rendering will be addressed. Coffee and conversation at 7 p.m. followed by a brief business meeting at 7:15 p.m. and the artist’s program at 7:30 p.m. Note: If the senior center is closed due to inclement weather, the meeting will be cancelled. Free and open to the public. 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-494-2316. hamdenartleague.com.

Talks & Tours 4 Wednesday “The Nature of Mindfulness,” Book Reading Branford-based writer Jen Payne will read from her new book Look Up! Musings on the Nature of Mindfulness. 6:30-8 p.m. at Branford High School, 185 East Main St., Branford. Books will be avail-able for purchase. Class size is limited to allow for group discussion. Please register through Branford Adult Education (class No. B-547) at erace-adulted.org. Free. 203-483-5353.

Theater

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature film,

the show has won the hearts of millions of peo-ple worldwide. This eye-popping spectacle is filled with unforgettable characters, lavish sets and costumes, and dazzling production numbers including “Be Our Guest” and the beloved title song. March 5-8. Thursday, Friday, and Satur-day at 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Ticket prices vary with seat location. Shubert Theater, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle By Bertolt Brecht, di-rected by Liz Diamond. In the war-torn country of Grusinia, a young servant named Grusha rescues the abandoned baby of a deposed governor and raises him as her own. Years later, the ruler’s wife returns. March 20-April 11. Tuesday-Saturday at 8 p.m., as well as Monday, March 23, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, March 28, at 2 p.m.; Wednesday, April 1, at 2 p.m.; Saturday, April 4, at 2 p.m.; and Sat-urday, April 11, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. University Theatre, 222 York St., New Haven. 203-432-1234. yalerep-tickets.yale.edu.

The Brothers Grimm and A Showgirl Award-win-ning Pantochino Productions presents this wildly imaginative family musical delivering favorite fairy tales performed by the Brothers Grimm themselves. Assisted by a fabulously feathered showgirl, the show features spoofs and goofs on Snow White, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty, among others. March 27-March 29. Friday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday at 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. All seats $18 online, $20 at the door. Milford Arts Council, 40 Rail-road Ave. South, Milford. 203-937-6206. pantochino.com.

New Haven Symphony Orchestra artist-in-residence Chris Brubeck joins the ensemble for a March 12 program at the Shu-

bert Theater that includes a world-premiere performance of a newly commissioned work, his Trombone Concerto No. 1,

Duke Ellington’s The River Suite, Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, and Ansel Adams: America, a work composed by

Brubeck and his legendary father, Dave Brubeck, that will be presented with a compelling visual element.

Photo courtesy of NHSO.

march 2015

The Arts Paper


Call For Artist Members Kehler Liddell Gallery in New Haven is seeking applications from new prospec-tive members. Visit kehlerliddell.com/membership for more information. Artists Shoreline ArtsTrail seeks artists from Branford, Guilford, and Madison for its 14th an-nual Open Studios Weekend, November 21 & 22. Media: pottery, glass, painting, jewelry, sculpture, weaving, prints, photography, textiles, quilts, paper, and wood. See shorelineartstrail.com for year-round benefits/requirements/application/dues. Deadline: March 6.

Artists For Arts Center Killingworth’s 2015-2016 Spectrum Gallery exhibits, including the October Autumn Arts Festival and Gallery Show. Seeking fine artists and artisans in all media. For artist sub-mission, visit spectrumartgallery.org or email [email protected]. Spectrum Gal-lery and Store, 61 Main St., Centerbrook.

Artists The Gallery Review Committee of The New Alliance Gallery at Gateway Community College is looking for artists to submit their resumes and im-ages for possible exhibition in the 2015 and 2016 calendar years. Please send your resume and cover letter, along with a DVD of not less than 20 and no more than 25 images to: Gallery Review Commit-tee, Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., Room S329, New Haven, CT, 06510.

Artists Creative Arts Workshop is looking for an installation artist(s) for its annual August Installa-tion. This installation will be viewable through the two-story street-front windows of CAW’s Hilles Gallery during the month of August. Proposal sub-mission deadline: May 31. For guidelines and more information, please contact the Gallery Coordina-tor at CAW at 203-562-4927 or email [email protected].

Artists Artspace is announcing an open call for artists to submit works to the Flatfile. The Flatfile program is an ever-changing collection of 2-D works by notable local and regional artists. Works from the Flatfile are in rotating exhibitions through-out the year and are also available as a resource to scholars, students, and collectors. The deadline for applying is March 15. To learn more and apply online, visit artspacenh.org/opportunities.asp.

Artists Artspace invites emerging and mid-career artists from all fields to apply for the organiza-tion’s one-year artist-in-residence program. The artist-in-residence will have 24/7 access to a small private studio located at Artspace as well as exhibition opportunities and an invitation to join the organization’s Visual Arts Committee. The dates of the residency are September 1 to July 31, 2016. The deadline for applying is March 15. To learn more and apply online, visit artspacenh.org/opportunities.asp.

Artists Guilford Art Center seeks submissions for exhibition. Pourable containers of all kinds — teapots, vessels, flagons, and flasks — are traditional objects in virtually all cultures and through the ages, used for hospitality, functional, and ritualistic purposes. They have been created and recreated by artists and artisans throughout history and in many media, as objects variously or simultaneously functional, sculptural, decorative, utilitarian, and more. A GAC exhibition will explore what continues to be new and vital about the form of the pourable container and submitted work is encouraged to explore its many aspects. The exhibition is open to 3-D work in all media. Open to U.S. residents. $500 in prizes to be awarded by the juror. Entry deadline: March 16. Each artist may submit up to three works. Entry fee: $25. For more information, visit guilfordartcenter.org.

Photographers Are you a fan of photography? A program of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, the Photo Arts Collective aims to cultivate and support a community of individuals who share an interest in photography through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques, and special events. The Photo Arts Col-lective meets the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven.

Singers The award-winning Silk’n Sounds Chorus is looking for new members from the area. We invite women to join us at any of our rehearsals to learn more. We enjoy four part a cappella harmony in the barbershop style, lively performances, and wonderful friendships. Rehearsals are every Tues-day from 6:30-9 p.m. at the Spring Glen United Church of Christ, 1825 Whitney Ave., in Hamden. Contact Lynn at 203 623-1276 for more informa-tion or visit silknsounds.org.

Volunteers Volunteers are a vital part of Artspace’s operations. Volunteering with Artspace is a great way to support the organization, meet new people, and develop new skills. Our volun-teers provide a service that is invaluable to making Artspace function smoothly. We simply couldn’t operate without the tremendous support of our

volunteers. To find out more about volunteer opportunities, please contact Grey Freeman at [email protected].

Volunteers Learn new skills, meet new people, and be part of a creative organization that gives to the community. Upcoming volunteer opportunities: Jazz NightOut Concert at The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook and October Outdoor Autumn Arts Festival on the Madison Town Green. Teens are welcome and earn commu-nity-service credit. The Arts Center Killingworth is a non-profit arts organization. Visit artscenterkillingworth.org for more details or call 860-663-5593.

Services Art Consulting Services Support your creativity! Low-cost service offers in-depth artwork analysis, writing, and editing services by former arts news-paper editor, current art director of the New Haven Free Public Library, and independent curator of many venues. Call Johnes Ruta at 203-387-4933, visit azothgallery.com, or send email to [email protected].

Birthday Parties Did you know that Creative Arts Workshop is available for birthday parties? Have your birthday party in an art studio. CAW faculty members will lead the party in arts or crafts proj-ects, lasting approximately 1 1/2 hours, leaving time for cake, presents, and memory-making. Choose from a variety of themes and projects. For more information or to schedule a party, call the office at 562-4927. A fantastic idea for children of all ages.

Chair Repair We can fix your worn-out chair seats if they are cane, rush, Danish cord, Shaker Tape, or other woven types! Celebrating our 25th year! Work is done by artisans at The Association of Ar-tisans to Cane, a project of Marrakech, Inc., a pri-vate nonprofit organization that provides services for people with disabilities. Open Monday-Thurs-day, 8 a.m,-4 p.m. 203-776-6310.

Japanese Shoji Screens Designed for Connecticut homes. Custom built for windows, doorways, or freestanding display, they allow beautiful filtered light to pass through while insulating. For a free quote, contact Phillip Chambers at 203-888-4937 or email [email protected].

Private Art Instruction Adults/children (includ-ing home-schooled individuals). Learn drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, and more in a work-ing artist’s spacious light-filled studio in Erector Square, 315 Peck St., New Haven. Relaxed and pro-fessional. I can also come to you. Lessons created to suit individual. Portfolio preparation offered. References available. Contact Liz Pagano at [email protected] or 203-675-1105. lizpagano.com.

Professional Art Installation For residential and commercial work. More than 17 years’ experience in museums, galleries, hospitals, and homes in New York City, Providence, New Haven, Chester, and elsewhere. Rate is $30 an hour, no job too small or large. Call Mark at 203-772-4270 or send email to [email protected]. More information and examples at ctartinstall.com.

Web Services Startup business solutions. Creative, sleek Web design by art curator for art, design, architectural, and small-business sites. Twenty-five years’ experience in database, logistics, and en-

gineering applications. Will create and maintain any kind of website. Hosting provided. Call 203-387-4933, visit azothgallery.com, or send email to [email protected].

Space

Artist Studio West Cove Studio and Gallery offers work space with two large Charles Brand intaglio etching presses, lithography press, and stain-less-steel work station. Workshops and technical support available. Ample display area for shows. Membership: $75 per month. 30 Elm St., West Haven. Call 609-638-8501 or visit westcovestudio.com. Live/Work Space ArLoW (Arts Lofts West). Fabulous lofts in New Haven’s first artist-hous-ing development. We currently have a spacious two-bedroom unit and a spacious three-bedroom unit available. The units contain high ceilings with flexible options for living and working spaces. Great natural light and interior spaces. ArLoW is a mixed-income artist community. The lofts offer: two and three bedrooms, each with one and a half bathrooms, off-street parking, hardwood floors, and washer and dryer hookups. Located in a vibrant community of working artists, galler-ies, performance spaces, cafes, and easy public transportation. Conveniently located near West Rock Ridge (favorite subject of the Hudson Valley School with amazing hiking and bike trails) and Edgewood Park (designed by Frederick Law Olm-sted). One hour and 15-minute drive/one-hour and 40-minute train ride to Manhattan. Monthly rent is tied to income qualifications as follows: Two-per-son gross household income cannot exceed: $51,150; three-person gross household income cannot exceed: $57,550; four-person gross house-hold income cannot exceed: $63,900; five-person gross household income cannot exceed: $69,050; six-person gross household income cannot exceed: $74,150. Please contact Lynn Calabrese C/O Wm. M. Hotchkiss, management agent, at 203-772-3200 x. 20 for a rental application.

Studio Space Thirteen-thousand square feet of un-developed studio space available in old mill brick building on New Haven harbor. Conveniently lo-cated one minute off I-95, Exit 44 in West Haven. Owners willing to subdivide. Call 609-638-8501.

The Tiny Gallery A very big opportunity for very small art. The Tiny Gallery is a premiere space for “micro” exhibitions in the historic Audubon Arts District, located within the lighted display “totem” outside Creative Arts Workshop, at 80 Audubon St., in New Haven. The Tiny Gallery is open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Submissions will be considered on a rolling basis and should include a written proposal, artist statement, and images of artwork. Call 203-562-4927 x. 14, email [email protected], or visit creativeartsworkshop.org/tiny.

The Arts Council provides the job and bulletin board listings as a service to our membership and is not responsible for the content or deadlines.

BULLETIN BOARD

JobsPlease visit newhavenarts.org for up-to-date local employment opportunities in the arts.

Arts Paper ad and calendar deadlinesThe deadline for advertisements and calendar listings for the April 2015 issue of The Arts Paper is Monday, February 23, at 5 p.m. Future deadlines are as follows:

May 2015: Monday, March 30, at 5 p.m.June 2015: Monday, April 27, at 5 p.m.July-August 2015: Tuesday, May 26, at 5 p.m.September 2015: Monday, July 27, at 5 p.m.October 2015: Monday, August 31, at 5 p.m.November 2015: Monday, September 28, at 5 p.m.December 2015: Monday, October 26, at 5 p.m.

Calendar listings are for Arts Coun-cil members only and should be submitted online at newhavenarts.org. Arts Council members can re-quest a username and password by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. The Arts Council’s online calen-dar includes listings for programs and events taking place within 12 months of the current date. Listings submitted by the calendar deadline are included on a monthly basis in The Arts Paper.

march 2015

The Arts Paper


Gun Violence Explored Onstage and Beyond

cara mcdonough

play can be a transformative experience, bringing its audience to a faraway locale or historic date. Sometimes, however, a play hits a

nerve, touching on a subject that is com-pletely timely and familiar to all who see it.

At the heart of brownsville song (b-side for tray) is an act of gun violence; the play, which will be staged at Long Wharf Theater March 25–April 19, follows the aftermath of a gang-related shooting that leaves the work’s protagonist, Tray, dead, and his fam-ily grieving.

It’s an explosive topic in America. Gun violence has been a frequent headline in recent years, even weeks, from incidences like Ferguson that spurred a nationwide conversation on racism to school shootings such as the tragedy in Sandy Hook.

But there is an undercurrent of less-er-publicized acts of gun violence that haunt places like Brownsville, known as

one of the most violent communities in Brooklyn. In these communities — and New Haven is no exception — deaths like Tray’s are, tragically, almost expected.

Brownsville song’s greatest achievement lies in highlighting a world beyond the negative statistics. Playwright Kimber Lee explores Tray’s life through poetic language and scenes set in flashbacks, using his own words, as well as those of his grieving family: his grandmother Lena, little sister Devine, and estranged mother, Merrell.

The play’s subject matter has instigated important political and cultural conver-sations, too, and thanks to a series of un-precedented partnerships, Long Wharf’s production will address issues of gun vio-lence by fostering local conversations on the topic in various forums.

A symposium on gun violence, a serious problem in some of New Haven’s neighbor-hoods, is scheduled for April 9 at 2 p.m. in conjunction with The Community Founda-tion for Greater New Haven. The theater is also working with the New Haven Public Library to host talks and distribute tickets at its various branches.

Furthermore, the theater is drastically reducing ticket prices for these perfor-mances, with tickets starting at $5 and going up to $45.

“One of the biggest barriers to entry to the theater, any theater, is price. We believe in the importance of this story to move our community and to prompt conversation, so much so we want to take away this barrier as best we can,” Long Wharf Theatre’s man-aging director, Joshua Borenstein, said.

The production will therefore not only present the brownsville song story, it will hopefully help those in the New Haven community tell their stories, as well.

“Whatever the play can provide in terms of providing a space where people can be heard and seen would be wonderful,” Lee said. Several groups from the Brownsville neighborhood saw the play at Lincoln Cen-ter Theater in New York City. “That commu-nity’s response was maybe the best bit of feedback I got,” Lee said.

They liked seeing their neighborhood’s best attributes in the play, she said. Paying due attention to the brighter sides of a com-munity that’s known for being home to bad news was one of her intentions.

“I hope that the play has provided a portrait of a community that is strong, and funny, and has a sense of humor and light and life,” she says. “And a community that has to deal with a lot of pain.”

Lee, who boxes, said the idea for the play came from the blog of a female boxer who had lost her son to an act of violence. She thought about what the family was going through, and the fact that no one outside that close-knit community knew the story. The seeds for Tray’s story were sown.

Writing brownsville song came from a strong desire to not let lives like these sim-ply “disappear,” Lee said. While her play certainly gives good reason to discuss the politics of our nation’s gun laws, at its heart, brownsville song is about something much more personal than that.

“I think that at the root of it is this idea of that some lives matter more than others,” Lee said. “With certain lives we say, ‘Well, that’s just what happens in that neighbor-hood.’” The “b-side” in her title is a refer-ence to the lesser-known song on a record.

In brownsville song, she rejects this notion, highlighting Tray’s humanity, his successes — such as his strong drive to save up for college while working at Starbucks — and the family that supported him.

“You see in flashbacks how promising and human and humane and generous he was,” said Long Wharf Theatre’s associate artistic director, Eric Ting, who will be directing the production. “That’s what we love about the play is that he seemed so real.”

Ting said the production features a diverse cast from New Haven as well as seasoned actors from New York City and Philadelphia to reflect Lee’s vision to go beyond the statistics and into the humanity of a community like Brownsville. He said the play reflects the human struggle of those who are trying to live and raise families.

“I think she was responding to the fact that this community of Brownsville has in the larger public consciousness been primarily described through statistics and news stories that look at the violence in the community,” Ting said, “and that don’t en-gage in the very human struggle of people who are trying to live and make things bet-ter for their families.”

Brownsville’s struggles can be seen in New Haven’s community, as well, and this unique and moving play offers a chance to have important public discussions.

“We’re doing a lot to create a dialogue,” Ting said. “We can use the play to create a central, shared experience.” n

Visit longwharf.org for performance details.

play seen as impetus for community conversation

A

Sheldon Best, left, Taliyah Whitaker, and Lizan Mitchell in Lincoln Center Theater’s October 2014 production of

brownsville song (b-side for Tray), directed by Patricia McGregor at the Claire Two Theater. Photo (detail) by Erin Baiano.

Subscribe todaycourant.com/digitalplus

Get unlimited access to courant.com

Discover the benefits of digitalPLUS

Exclusive Hartford Courant reporting Hartford Courant digital edition Hartford Magazine stories + features

New Haven Living stories + features Instant access to back issues Daily + weekly newsletters

member organizations & partners

The Arts Paper


Arts & Cultural Organizations

A Broken Umbrella Theatre abrokenumbrella.org, 203-868-0428

ACES Educational Center for the Artsaces.k12.ct.us203-777-5451

Adele Myers and Dancersadelemyersanddancers.com

Alyla Suzuki Early Childhood Music Educationalylasuzuki.com203-239-6026

American Guild of Organistssacredmusicct.org

The Amistad Committeectfreedomtrail.org

Another Octave - CT Women’s Chorus

anotheroctave.org

ARTFARMart-farm.org

Arts Center Killingworthartscenterkillingworth.org860-663-5593

Arts for Learningyaconn.org

Artspaceartspacenh.org203-772-2709

Artsplace: Cheshire Performing & Fine Artcpfa-artsplace.org203-272-2787

Bethesda Music Seriesbethesdanewhaven.org203-787-2346

Blackfriars Repertory Theatreblackfriarsrep.com

Branford Folk Music Societyfolknotes.org/branfordfolk

Center for Independent Studycistudy.homestead.com

Chestnut Hill Concertschestnuthillconcerts.org203-245-5736

The Choirs of Trinity Church on the Greentrinitynewhaven.org

City Gallerycity-gallery.org203-782-2489

Civic Orchestra of New Havenconh.org

Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre

ccbtballettheatre.org

Connecticut Dance Alliancectdanceall.com

Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorusctgmc.org800-644-cgmc

Connecticut Natural Science Illustratorsctnsi.com203-934-0878

Creative Arts Workshopcreativeartsworkshop.org203-562-4927

Creative Concerts203-795-3365

CT Folkctfolk.com

DaSilva Gallerygabrieldasilvagallery.com203-387-2539

Elm City Dance Collectiveelmcitydance.org

Elm Shakespeare Companyelmshakespeare.org203-874-0801

Encore Music Creationsencoremusiccreations.com

Fellowship Placefellowshipplace.org

Firehouse 12firehouse12.com203-785-0468

Fred Giampietro Gallerygiampietrogallery.com203-777-7760

Gallery One CTgalleryonect.com

Greater New Haven Community Chorus

gnhcc.org203-624-1979

Guilford Art Centerguilfordartcenter.org203-453-5947

Guitartown CT Productionsguitartownct.com203-430-6020

Hamden Art Leaguehamdenartleague.com 203-494-2316

Hamden Arts Commissionhamdenartscommission.org 203-287-2546

Hillhouse Opera Companyhillhouseoperacompany.org203-464-2683

Hopkins Schoolhopkins.edu

Hugo Kauder Societyhugokauder.org

The Institute Libraryinstitutelibrary.org

International Festival of Arts & Ideas

artidea.org

International Silat Federation of America & Indonesia

isfnewhaven.org

John Slade Ely Houseelyhouse.org 203-624-8055

Kehler Liddell Gallerykehlerliddell.com

Knights of Columbus Museumkofcmuseum.org

Legacy Theatrelegacytheatrect.org

Linda S. Marino Artlindasmarinoart.com

Long Wharf Theatrelongwharf.org203-787-4282

Lyman Center at SCSUwww.lyman.southernct.edu

Madison Art Societymadisonartsociety.blogspot.com860-399-6116

Madison Lyric Stagemadisonlyricstage.org

Make Havenmakehaven.org

Mamas Marketsmamasmarketsllc.com

Marrakech, Inc./Association of Artisans to Cane

marrakechinc.org

Meet the Artists and Artisansmeettheartistsandartisans.com203-874-5672

Milford Fine Arts Councilmilfordarts.org203-878-6647

Music Havenmusichavenct.org203-215-4574

Music Mountainmusicmountain.com860-824-7126

Music with Maryaccordions.com/mary

Musical Folkmusicalfolk.com

Neighborhood Music Schoolneighborhoodmusicschool.org203-624-5189

New England Festival of Ibero American Cinema

nefiac.com

New Haven Balletnewhavenballet.org203-782-9038

New Haven Chamber Orchestranewhavenchamberorchestra.org

New Haven Choralenewhavenchorale.org203-776-7664

New Haven Free Public Librarynhfpl.org203-946-8835

New Haven Oratorio Choirnhoratoriochoir.org

New Haven Museum newhavenmuseum.org203-562-4183

New Haven Paint and Clay Clubnewhavenpaintandclayclub.org203-288-6590

New Haven Preservation Trustnhpt.org

New Haven Symphony Orchestranewhavensymphony.org203-865-0831

New Haven Theater Companynewhaventheatercompany.com

Orchestra New Englandorchestranewengland.org203-777-4690

Pantochino Productionspantochino.com

Paul Mellon Arts Centerchoate.edu/artscenter

Play with Graceplaywithgrace.com

Reynolds Fine Artreynoldsfineart.com

Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, New Haven Branchnhrscds.org

Shoreline Arts Alliance shorelinearts.org203-453-3890

Shubert Theatershubert.com203-562-5666

Silk n’ Soundssilknsounds.org

Silk Road Art Gallerysilkroadartnewhaven.com

Site Projectssiteprojects.org

Theater Department at SCSU/Crescent Players

southernct.edu/theater

University Glee Club of New Haven

universitygleeclub.org

Wesleyan University Center for the Artswesleyan.edu/cfa

West Cove Studio & Gallerywestcovestudio.com 609-638-8501

Whitney Arts Center203-773-3033

Whitney Humanities Centeryale.edu/whc

Yale Cabaretyalecabaret.org203-432-1566

Yale Center for British Artyale.edu/ycba

Yale Institute of Sacred Musicyale.edu.ism203-432-5180

Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

peabody.yale.edu

Yale Repertory Theatreyalerep.org203-432-1234

Yale University Bandsyale.edu/yaleband203-432-4111

Creative Businesses

Best Video 203-287-9286 bestvideo.com

Blue Plate Radio203-500-0700blueplateradio.com

Fairhaven Furniturefairhaven-furniture.com203-776-3099

Foundry Music Companywww.foundrymusicco.com

The Funky Monkey Café & Gallerythefunkymonkeycafe.com

Hull’s Art Supply and Framinghullsnewhaven.com203-865-4855

Toad’s Placetoadsplace.com

Community Partners

Department of Arts Culture & Tourism, City of New Havencityofnewhaven.com203-946-8378

DECD/CT Office of the Artscultureandtourism.org860-256-2800

Fractured Atlasfracturedatlas.org

Overseas Ministries Study Centeromsc.org

Town Green Special Services District

infonewhaven.com

Visit New Havenvisitnewhaven.com

Westville Village Renaissance Alliancewestvillect.org

Perspectives … The Gallery at Whitney CenterLocation: 200 Leeder Hill Drive, South Entrance, HamdenHours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-7 p.m. & Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.

On The Spiritual in Art : An Exhibition of Art that Connects Us to Our Inner InclinationsCurated by Debbie Hesse Dates: Through March 15

Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery Location: The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., 2nd Floor, New HavenHours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Visual Riffs: Reinterpreting Jazz MastersOrganized by Debbie Hesse and Sam GoldenbergDates: March 6–April 10Reception: Friday March 6, 5-7 p.m.

Advice from the Arts CouncilDates: Thursdays, March 5 & 12, 1-4 p.m.Location: Creative Arts Workshop, 80 Audubon St., New HavenLet the Arts Council staff help you find exhibition space/opportunities, performance/rehearsal space, and develop new ways to promote your work or creative event. Debbie Hesse, the organization’s director of artist services and pro-grams, will be available for one-on-one consultation. Call (203) 772-2788 to schedule an appointment.

Photo Arts CollectiveThe Photo Arts Collective is an Arts Council program that aims to cultivate and support a community of individuals who share an interest in photography, through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques, and events. The Photo Arts Collective meets the first Thursday of the month at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whitney Ave., New Haven, at 7 p.m. To learn more, send an e-mail to [email protected].

ON AIRListen to the Arts Council’s Arts On Air broadcast every third Monday of the month, live at 12 p.m. on 89.5FM, or stream online at wpkn.org. Hosted by Matt Reiniger, the Arts Council’s communi-cations manager, Arts On Air engages in conver-sations with local artists and arts organizations. Links to past episodes are available on our blog at artnhv. com/on-air.

The Writers’ CircleConnect with writing professionals in the Greater New Haven area. For more information visit us online at newhavenarts.org.March Date: TBALocation: The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., New Haven

For more information about these events and more visit newhavenarts.org or check out our mobile events calendar using the ANDI app for smartphones.

arts council programs

The Arts Paper

Opening reception for On the Spiritual in Art at Perspectives … The Gallery at Whitney Center.

Photo Arts Collective. Hank Paper.

Arts Council Communications Manager

Matt Reiniger, center, with Artspace’s Sarah

Fritchey, left, and Martha Lewis, at WPKN.

Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery. Bruce Gillespie.

the arts paper march 2015

Documents

arts paperamanda

arts organizations

arts matter

floor new haven

arts papera free publication

long foundation

friendly paper

membership information