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August 11, 2022

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Arts Arts Portal Lead Arts Arts Top Story

It’s a Wrap! Academy Art Museum First 24-Hour Race Winners

August 8, 2022 by Val Cavalheri
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The first 24-Hour Video Race is in the can! Sponsored by Academy Art Museum (AAM) in partnership with the Chesapeake Film Festival, the submitted films were screened at AAM on Friday July 29th and winners were announced.

Jackie Royer, Ray Remsch, and Chris Pierce People’s Choice Award

The competition began on July 22 when registered filmmakers of all expertise and ages were sent the following elements in an email, which they had to incorporate into their film.

Theme: Transformation
Prop: Water
Dialogue: “How refreshing”

They were then challenged to write, shoot, edit, and score an original short film. The film had to be between 1- 7 minutes in length and had to be submitted within a 24-hour period.

Award-winning filmmaker Francisco Salazar designed the event for AAM and a panel of judges, including Chesapeake Film Festival Director Cid Collins Walker and Martin Zell, Board of Trustees President, selected the winners. Cash prizes and a trophy were given to:

Best in Show – Adult $250
Black and White and Hot All Over: Stephen Haynes,

Best in Show – Student/Family (at least 50% of the filmmaking team had to be under 18) $150

Water!: Ian Hasselgren, (Student/Family)

Ian Hasselgren

Lemonade: Mac Mirabile, (Student/Family)

Additionally, a People’s Choice Award was selected on Friday by attendees and an award was also given to: The Driver’s Seat, Ray Remesch, (Adult) who also won $100

Jennifer Chrzanowski, AAM’s Development Manager, said “The judges were excited and surprised at the quality of the submissions. Everything about them, including the editing and acting, was very unexpected and very welcomed.”

Meanwhile you can judge for yourself: https://vimeo.com/737544972

 

 

Filed Under: Arts Portal Lead, Arts Top Story

Looking at the Fickle Mirror at the Academy Art Museum

August 3, 2022 by Cecile Storm
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Fickle Mirror, the new exhibition at the Art Academy Museum, is timely and relevant. In a world of selfies and personal branding, Warhol and Rembrandt feel ahead of their time in how they were obsessed with their own image. In addition to the household names, Curator Mehves Lelic has assembled a coterie of emerging and exciting new artists for this exhibition.

Artists examining their own persona leads us to question our own identity and how we perceive ourselves. Jackie Milad (the currently artist in residence at AAM) shares her identity in a less obvious way than the self portrait, but her DNA is undeniable in her bright, and visceral work.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about the Academy and “Fickle Mirror” please go here. 

 

Filed Under: Arts Portal Lead, Arts Top Story, Spy Top Story

At the Troika Gallery: Raoul Middleman – A Life Well Painted

August 1, 2022 by Spy Desk
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‘Raoul Middleman, 1935-2021- A Life Well Painted’ runs through August 29th at Troika Gallery. This comprehensive exhibit mirrors Raoul’s intimate relationship and his provocative and prolific work with the gallery for 25 years. His megawatt personality and encyclopedic knowledge of painting placed him among the finest of American artists. The art world was saddened to learn of his passing last October at the age of 86.

Raoul was instrumental in the early days of Troika Gallery, inspiring Laura Era, Dorothy Newland and Jennifer Heyd Wharton in creating the gallery in 1997. The four artists had a strong friendship and Raoul would visit the gallery for an energizing talk or a painting demonstration. He is remembered for his portrait of artist Kevin Fitzgerald on the sidewalk in front of the gallery and was known to portray other prominent Talbot County residents with his oils. The Avalon Foundation presented a talk by Raoul during Plein Air Easton in 2019.

Known for figure studies, landscapes and still lifes, Middleman’s work depicts the gritty underside of life. “People think landscapes are bees and flowers. I like marginality. I like things on the edge-the forgotten artifacts, the partially legible vitality. I set up and paint right on the spot. My paintings are all about being there,” Raoul would comment. His paintings hang in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Art and The Baltimore Museum of Art as well as privately held collections.

Tiger Lillies by Raoul Middleman

American University Museum described Middleman as a “Baltimore maestro whose nudes are not pretty- they are sagging, dimpled, and real. His cityscapes reveal the underbelly of post-industrial rot, his narrative paintings give contemporary life to his personal obsessions. They are intelligent, messy, and utterly masterful.”

Raoul Middleman had a degree in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University. He attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Skowhegan School of Painting and The Brooklyn Museum Art School. He was an established artist in New York City and Paris. Middleman returned to Baltimore, his native city, where he and his artist wife Ruth raised a family. Since 1961 Raoul served as a faculty member of the Maryland Institute College of Art. He has been a mentor and teacher to many artists including oil painter, Kevin Fitzgerald, of Troika Gallery.

Whether an art collector, art lover, or an art browser, Troika Gallery encourages you to stop in and see Raoul’s oil paintings. Professional Artist and Owner, Laura Era, along with Gallery Manager Peg Fitzgerald, welcome your visit and will happily address your questions on art and tell wondeful stories of Raoul!

Located at 9 South Harrison Street, in Historic Downtown Easton, Troika is open Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm and by appointment, 410-770-9190, www.troikagallery.com.

 

Filed Under: Arts Top Story

Spy Preview: Author Bryan Christy on Life, Journalism, and Novels

July 28, 2022 by The Spy
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It is pretty hard to find someone on the Mid-Shore that has had such a remarkable professional life as Bryan Christy. Lawyer, reporter, and now author, the full-time resident of Talbot County plans to talk about these different career paths as the featured lecturer at the Oxford Community Center on August 2.

From a kid growing up in a funeral home family (think Six Feet Under) who would grow up to be a lawyer, award-winning journalist, and finally a rising star in the crime novel genre, Bryan has made it a habit to go against the grain of traditional professional expectations.

Bryan expects to talk about this remarkable journey at the OCC next week, but the Spy thought our viewers would enjoy a sneak preview.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about the Oxford Community Center please go here. Bryan Christy’s books can be purchased here.

 

Filed Under: Arts Portal Lead, Arts Top Story

Spy Arts Diary: Joan Mitchell, Fabulous Forgeries, and BSO News

July 24, 2022 by Steve Parks
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It’s not that I didn’t believe Mary Carole McCauley in her excellent story in The Sunday Sun just after the opening of the eye-popping Joan Mitchell retrospective at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA). I’d just seen Guarding the Art, a show curated by museum security staff members, and couldn’t resist asking one of the security guards if anyone had asked them something along these lines: “I didn’t know Joni Mitchell painted?”

Satisfying my curiosity, a couple of security guards verified the Joan v. Joni confusion among some of those viewing this show. Apparently, a few of Joni’s fans never realized that the singer, perhaps best known for her colorful “Big Yellow Taxi” single, was also an artist who considered herself a painter first and a musician second (although these days, she rarely sings in public due to a brain aneurysm).

Joan Mitchell in her Vetheuil studio with two of her 1983 paintings

The other Mitchell — Joan — whose monumental-scale, multi-panel abstract paintings explode with colors off entire walls of several galleries that struggle to contain the power of her brushstrokes, suffered lifelong mental health challenges. Possibly breaking Woody Allen’s record, she was treated by the same psychoanalyst for 30 years who died a decade before Mitchell succumbed to cancer in 1992.

Born in 1925 to wealthy parents in Chicago, Mitchell had the advantage of skipping out of Smith College to study art in Paris. It changed her life and might’ve changed the lives of many women artists who came after her, especially in the abstract movement that was the focus of her career. Perhaps reflecting jealousy over the attention and success of such female contemporaries as Helen Frankenthaler and Baltimore’s Grace Hartigan – Mitchell criticized them as “those two bitches.” Not to mention male counterparts to whom she was later compared, including Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Willem de Kooning, Mitchell was not genuinely recognized in her 67-year lifetime. But in 2021, nearly 20 years after her death, her 1962 painting 12 Hawks at 3 O’Clock sold for $19.5 million at auction. Not that Mitchell necessarily needed the cash, but the affirmation of her artistry might’ve been nice.

This is a not-to-miss retrospective and afterward, take the time to stroll through the museum’s sculpture garden and then reserve a table for lunch at Gertrude’s elegant café. Joan Mitchell’s exhibition continues at BMA through August 14. But if you can’t make it there, don’t despair. In the fall, the show opens in Paris, Mitchell’s expatriate home. (Hey, it’s worth the voyage. Tell them you heard about it on Talbot Spy.)

I recommend starting Mitchell’s show with her first diptych, The Bridge. This 1956 abstract makes the relatively obvious one-side-to-the-other connection. It may not be realistically observable, but let your mind’s eye, enhanced by a bird’s-eye perspective, decipher the imagery.

Mitchell’s moods, reflected in both mind and place, depending on her mental state and physical surroundings, are evident in artistic periods skillfully delineated by BMA curator Kathy Siegel. It is most apparent in the brilliant sunny yellows of her Sunflower VI triptych painted near the French village of Vetheuil, where she bought a home once owned by Claude Monet with inheritance from her mother. Compare that vividness to her later darker period, 1987-89, represented in part by No Birds, suggestive of Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows, reflecting his torments while living in a creative frenzy, like Mitchell’s, near Arles.

This is a not-to-miss retrospective and afterward, take the time to stroll through the museum’s sculpture garden and then reserve a table for lunch at Gertrude’s elegant café. Joan Mitchell’s exhibition continues at BMA through August 14. But if you can’t make it there, don’t despair. In the fall, the show opens in Paris, Mitchell’s expatriate home. (Hey, it’s worth the voyage. Tell them you heard about it on Talbot Spy.)

JOAN MITCHELL
Through August 14, Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays, until 9 p.m. on Thursdays; artbma.org

***

About this time last year, Daniel Weiss served as competition judge of the 17th annual Plein Art Festival Easton. And now he’s back, this time judging Fabulous Forgeries at downtown Easton’s Troika Gallery during the week of the 18th annual Plein Air Festival. His encore comes barely a week after Weiss announced his intention to retire from one of the most prestigious art jobs anywhere on the planet.

Daniel Weiss judges paintings in the Fabulous Forgeries at Troika Gallery

“Leading the Met has been an extraordinary honor,” Weiss understated in his retirement announcement, giving the board of directors about a year’s notice before leaving his post as president and CEO of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. In May, he gave a personal tour of the Met to an Easton Elementary School art teacher, Anna Matachik, who conducts after-school programming for her students related to the Avalon Foundation’s annual Plein Air Festival.

So what brings Weiss back to Easton and Plein Air year after year? For one thing, he and his wife Sandra have a home in Oxford where they’re likely to spend more time than occasional weekends starting next June. For another, he’s a distinguished art scholar and appreciator who recognizes that Easton’s Plein Air is a premier art happening of its kind.

Meanwhile, you can see Weiss’ winning selections of the Fabulous Forgeries daily throughout the festival and during regular gallery hours through late August, when favorites among audience-choice voters will be announced. The so-called “forgeries” are honest copies of famous-artist paintings by Troika’s roster of regional artists whose works are regularly up for show and sale. The Judge’s Choice award went to Laura Era for her Watching the Breakers after Winslow Homer. Weiss also recognized Mark Hiles as the Most Believable in the show for The Brook after John Singer Sargent and Deborah Elville as the Most Creative for her Irises after Van Gogh.

Troika Gallery, 9 S. Harrison St., Easton. “Fabulous Forgeries” and “Raoul Middleman, a Life Well-Painted,” through August 29, troikagallery.com. Plein Air Festival Easton, through July 24 at various locations in and around Easton. pleinaireaston.com

***

When the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra introduced its next maestro, it became the first major American symphony orchestra to hire an African-American as

Conductor Jonathon Heyward

its music director. Jonathon Heyward, 29, will succeed Marin Alsop starting in the fall 2023 season. When she took the BSO job in 2007, Alsop became the first woman to lead a major American symphony orchestra, loosely defined as one of the top 25 in the nation in terms of size and reputation.

Heyward, a native of Charleston, S.C., originally studied and played cello, but turned his attention early toward conducting, winning podium positions with orchestras in England and Germany. In the U.S. he won acclaim as guest conductor for symphony orchestras in Atlanta, Detroit and San Diego, catching the attention of the BSO search committee tasked with finding a worthy successor to Alsop.

Heyward won rave reviews in his BSO debut in March with a challenging program embracing both diversity and classical tradition. Before his five-year contract as music director begins, Heyward will conduct the orchestra at its main concert venues in Baltimore and Bethesda, Md., as music director-designate near the end of Alsop’s tenure.

Heyward’s appointment comes on the heels of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra’s announcement last month of Michael Repper, 31, as music director, succeeding Julien Benichou.

***

The Loston Harris Trio plays at the Carlyle

Chesapeake Music will present a treat for jazz lovers at the sumptuous Ebenezer Theater when they host the Loston Harris Trio, the resident jazz ensemble of Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle in New York City. Bemelmans Bar is famous for headlining greats like Bobby Short, Eartha Kitt, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Elaine Stritch, and John Pizzarelli..

The Loston Harris Trio will perform for one night only. Expect to hear Harris’ soulful vocals and piano virtuosity accompanied in his trio by Mike Lee on tenor sax and Gianluca Renzi on bass. Together they play their interpretations of great American classics. Harris combines familiar jazz riffs with gospel and blues as you’d expect of a protege of Ellis Marsalis, father of his famed family of musicians, including Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Harris is also reminiscent in his vocal and piano stylings of another elder Marsalis protege – Harry Connick Jr.

The Loston Harris Trio concert, 8 p.m. August 13, Ebenezer Theater, 17 S. Washington St., Easton. chesapeakemusic.org

Steve Parks is a retired New York arts journalist now living in Easton.

 

Filed Under: Arts Portal Lead, Arts Top Story

Dancing on the Mid-Shore: A Chat with Dance Academy’s Shari Smigo

July 23, 2022 by Val Cavalheri
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Shari Smigo, owner and Director of Mid Shore Dance Academy (MSDA), hadn’t really considered owning a dance studio. She had taken ballet classes as a youngster and danced through high school and college. She even danced while working full-time. But then kids came along, and dancing and family became too much of a balancing act. Suddenly, the idea of having a dance studio began to make sense. It was something she could do during the evenings when her husband was home and could be with their four kids. 

Shari Smigo, owner and Director of Mid Shore Dance Academy

So Mrs. Shari (as she is known at her school) chose a safe way to start by teaching at the Academy Art Museum, where there would be no overhead or rent for her to worry about. But 13 years ago, after outgrowing the space, she took the plunge and opened a location in Easton. At the time, she was the only teacher to the thirty kids attending the school.

As the business grew, she added additional instructors, more studio space, and even a new location in Centreville. She still considers expanding, but not without the proper staff. “Here’s the thing,” says Mrs. Shari, “I limit myself because of the caliber of stock of instructor that I prefer to have. I want them to have more than, ‘Oh, I took ballet once a week until eighth grade, and I’m now ready to teach.’” She’s proud that her teachers have a mix of pre-professional/university training and professional performance experience; even prouder, some are former students, including one of her daughters. “Some have done great things,” she said. “such as dancing with the Washington and Joffrey Ballet. Many dancers have continued their dance training at various prestigious universities, including both of my daughters.”

The caliber of instructors is only one of the reasons why MSDA is successful. The studios offer a variety of options to dancers from 2 ½ years of age and up in Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Hip Hop, Contemporary, and Jazz. But it is ballet that is the basis of all they do. “I believe in that classical foundation, although we teach a broad range of things,” says Smigo. We are aware that not everybody wants to be a ballerina, they may love to dance, but ballet may not move fast enough for them.”

Whatever the format, all this dancing is really good for a child’s mental and physical development. It is why performing arts is at the top of every list of the best extracurricular activity for a child or a teen. It also builds self-confidence and creates lifelong friendships, added Mrs. Shari. “I think the biggest thing I see with those that have been together for a long time is that they grow, function, and work as a group. If one person doesn’t get a particular step or choreography, somebody else does. So they start to share a brain, for lack of a better word. It’s one of the neatest things to watch them grow into these cohesive groups.”

COVID, of course, put a pause to that development. “We’ve definitely seen a difference in the kids,” she said. “They didn’t have the opportunity to learn or practice for a while, and they lost some of those skills. Children benefit greatly from being engaged in a group activity, goal setting, and teamwork. Something we missed during the pandemic. It’s a relief to be together again.”

However, some changes instituted during the COVID restrictions have been kept. Before the pandemic, MSDA had a couple of observation weeks where parents could come in and watch their children practice in the studio. It would get very crowded, and with COVID, this no longer was appropriate. So now, the studio live streams the classes in the waiting room while parents wait. It’s turned out to be beneficial for both parents and their children. “It’s good for the younger kids,” says Mrs. Shari, “who may be a little unsure. So we tell them, ‘Mommy’s right out there and seeing you,’ and it gives them that little confidence boost. Then for the ones that may not be paying attention in class, it’s also a reminder that Mommy’s watching them. Of course, for the parents, it gives them an understanding of the formal dance world that not everyone gets to see.” 

Embracing technology appeals to–what Mrs. Shari calls–her tech geek side. One area where she says she ‘gets lost for days’ is music selection from streaming services. Dance studios years ago would hire a pianist who would play a melody with the appropriate tempo to go with the exercise during classes. There is a certain nostalgia for dancers who were part of the live music generation.

“Every once in a while, when I take a workshop, and they use live music, my heart just sings, and I grin like the village idiot the whole time. Yeah, I miss live music. But we’ve gone from records, cassette tapes, and CDs to services like Spotify, which will give me anything I want. If I’m looking for music that goes with pirouettes (turns across the floor), there will be a long list of options, and I spend hours listening to pop tunes or musicals that have been transcribed–I guess that’s the best word–into a dance class format.”

So for those interested in the available programs, most classes are offered in four 8-week sessions, culminating in a June recital. They also do a showcase for family and friends and a smaller holiday show with the performance company students (who are selected through an audition process). However, depending on how COVID will be in the fall, she hopes to expand that to a larger group of dancers. The troupe is open to performing at other opportunities as well.

If all of this seems like fun, it is. It’s difficult not to feel the passion for dancing evident when Mrs. Shari speaks about “her” kids and her commitment to their development as dancers. But it’s more than that. She also hopes to instill in them a lifelong appreciation for the arts. “I am so lucky,” she says, that I get to do what I love. I love to teach, and I love to work with the kids. I love all of those aspects of it.” 

For additional info: https://www.midshoredance.org

Val Cavalheri is a recent transplant to the Eastern Shore, having lived in Northern Virginia for the past 20 years. She’s been a writer, editor and professional photographer for various publications, including the Washington Post.

Filed Under: Arts Portal Lead, Arts Top Story

Looking at the Masters: Gardens and Fountains of the Villa d’Este

July 22, 2022 by Beverly Hall Smith
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Gardens and Fountains of the Villa d’Este, Tivoli

Pirro Ligorio (1512-1583), Italian painter, architect, garden designer, and classical scholar, was a well-known and respected artist in 16th Century Italy. Today his name is much less familiar to us than Michelangelo’s; however, when Michelangelo died in 1564, Ligorio was named architect of Saint Peter’s. He served as the Vatican’s Papal Architect under Paul IV and Pius VII. Beyond architecture and painting, Ligorio restored the Aqua Vergine, the ancient roman aqueduct that brought fresh water to Rome. The garden he designed for the Villa d’Este in Tivoli was and is praised as one of the most extraordinary gardens in the world. It was designated in 2001 a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Tivoli is on the western slopes of the Sabine Hills, east of Rome. Its location close to Rome, the beauty of the hills, and the high waterfalls made Tivoli a desirable location for Emperor Hadrian to build his sumptuous villa (118 CE) away from the busy center of Rome. Tivoli also was the site of the great ancient temple complex built to honor Hercules Victor, a god who protected the Tiber River.

A former 9th Century Benedictine convent, built on the site of a Roman villa, became the site for the Villa d’Este. The site and the title of Governor of Tivoli were a consolation prize given to Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este (1509-1572) by Pope Julius III when Ippolito failed in his bid to become Pope. The son of Lucrezia Borgia and grandson of Pope Alexander VI, Ippolito was made archbishop of Milan at age 10, and Cardinal at age 30. He was a patron of the arts and sponsor of the composer Palestrina, the sculptor Cellini, and the poet Tasso. He also was a passionate collector of antiquities. The small and undistinguished so-called palace did not suit one of the wealthiest ecclesiastics of the 16th Century.

The view from the convent into the valley was spectacular and included a view of Hadrian’s Villa.  Renovations of the villa were begun in 1550. The primary architect was Giovanni Alberto Glavani.   

Gardens of the Villa d’Este at Tivoli” (1760) (Charles Joseph Natorie)

Cardinal Ippolito d’Este commissioned Pirro Ligorio in 1565 to design a classical Roman program for the paintings in the rooms of the villa and the garden. He also supervised the construction of the gardens. The gardens covered 35,000 square meters (8.65 square acres). The new villa and garden were intended to exceed anything the Romans had built. The garden is laid out in a grid pattern with three major walkways ascending the hillside. Cross walks allowed access to all parts of the garden.

The drawing “Gardens of the Villa d’Este at Tivoli” (1760) by Charles Joseph Natorie, the Director of the French Academy in Rome from 1751 until 1775, captures one of Natorie’s favorite spots to bring young French artists to draw. The palace structure can be seen above the three fountains: the arched Water Castle, the smaller Fountain of the Organ inside the arch, and the Fountain of the Dragon with a large cascading waterfall beside it. Walkways, ancient urns, columns, and a lion fountain sprouting water can be seen below. Villagers in contemporary dress are depicted along with two men in Roman togas at the lower right corner. The Avenue of Cypress trees can be seen at the upper left.  Mostly reality but part fantasy, the gardens were inspirational for all who drew or painted them.

 

“Viale delle Centro Fontane in the Garden of the Villa d’Este, Tivoli” (1731) (Isaac de Moucheron)

     Ligorio’s first task was to secure the water necessary to supply his elaborate garden design that consisted of 51 fountains and grottos, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins, fed by 2900 feet of canals, channels, and cascades. The Aniene River that runs from Tivoli to Rome, and the Albuneo and Ercolaneo Rivers supplied the necessary water for the elaborate system he and the engineers devised. There were no pumps, only gravity to move the water. 

The color print of the “Viale delle Centro Fontane of the Garden of the Villa d’Este, in Tivoli” (1731) (Isaac de Moucheron) depicts the beginning of the central downward axis of the garden. The Avenue of 100 Fountains runs diagonally from the right side of the drawing. Visitors walk across the wide concourse and pass through two short columns with potted trees on top. In front of the closer column, a large sphinx spouts water from her nipples. The visitor walks farther to the left where a parapet holds two statues of Roman goddesses. On either side of the parapet are semi-circular stairs that lead to the next level of the garden. De Moucheron depicts gardeners at work and a few visitors enjoying the spectacular vistas of the gardens and hills.

Avenue of 100 Fountains

The 100 fountains were under construction from 1566 until 1577. The avenue was lined with three tiers of fountains with sculptures placed on the marble wall depicting episodes from Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Three hundred spouts feed the three parallel canals. The garden above was planted with fruit trees, and the upper water spouts were sculptures of fleurs-de-lis, eagles, obelisks, and ships, drawn from the d’Este family coat-of arms. The spouts of the lower canal are grotesque masks, a favorite of Ippolito’s. Many of the features have decayed or been removed over the centuries. 

Fontane Dragons” (1772-30) (Isaac de Moucheron)

Isaac de Moucheron (1667-1744), a Dutch painter and interior decorator (wall painter), came from a family of painters. After he returned to the Netherlands from his travels in Italy, he became famous for his Italian landscapes that were much in demand by the wealthy Dutch to decorate the walls of their houses. Several of his sketches from Italy were of the fabulous gardens of the Villa d’Este. The color print “Fontane Dragons” (1772-30) depicts the Villa set between the lush variety of trees and Ligorio’s elaborate stairways that surround the Fountain of the Dragons, below the Avenue of 100 Fountains. 

A major theme of the villa wall paintings and gardens, as designed by Ligorio, is the 11th labor of Hercules. He succeeds in gathering the golden apples from the Garden of Hesperides, overcoming the 100-headed dragon that guards them. A d’Este family historian traced the family’s origins back to Hercules. Ippolito and Ligorio intended the villa’s garden to replicate the Garden of the Hesperides, the most beautiful garden in mythology. “Fontane Dragon,” the major feature in the central axis of the garden, tells of Hercules’s triumph in the combat of good and evil. Given a moral choice as a young man, Hercules could live a long but easy life, or a short life of virtue and fame. Hercules chose a life of virtue. 

One side featured a statue of Hercules with his club and the other side statues of Mars, the god of war, and Perseus, who slayed Medusa. The 100 dragons were placed on an island in the middle of the fountain. After Pope Gregorio XIII visited the Villa in 1572, Ippolito had the design changed to four winged dragons, the symbol of the Pope’s family. Amidst the center of the dragons, a jet of water shoots up so high that it can be seen from anywhere in the garden. Two dolphins spray water across the pool. Water kept under pressure was suddenly released, and the sound was like fireworks or cannon fire. 

Ligorio removed the ancient art from the nearby Villa of Hadrian in order to place pieces throughout the palace and the gardens. Muret, a friend of Ippolito reflected on the theme of the fountain: “The same apples that Hercules took away from the sleepy dragon, now belong to Ippolito, who, grateful for what he received, wanted that his garden was considered sacred by the author of the gift.”

“Oval Fountain in the Villa d’Este Gardens, Tivoli” (1760) (Hubert Robert)

The Oval Fountain was one of the first fountains Ligorio designed (1565-1570). “The Oval Fountain” (1808) (1.28” x 1.77”) was drawn by Hubert Robert (1733-1808) with red chalk and graphite. Robert was one of “the masters” of 18th Century French art. His clientele included Catherine the Great of Russia. Nicknamed “Robert of the Ruins,” he specialized in landscape paintings, some true to the scene, but many creative compilations of ancient ruins. One of the best paid painters of his time, he also was commissioned to designed porcelain and furniture, and he was appointed Designer of Gardens by the King of France to design the gardens at Versailles. His knowledge of the gardens of the Villa d’Este influenced strongly his work at Versailles.

The Oval Fountain

The Oval Fountain, designed by Ligorio (1565-1570), is a large stone basin set against a semicircular wall. The series of niches once contained statues of Nereids (sea nymphs), goddesses of the sea who protected the oceans’ treasures and sailors, and who possessed the power of healing. Water jetted into the fountain from the vases the Nereids held. While they are no longer in the niches, fan sprays spout from the vases. The bottom of the basin is decorated with ceramics in the shapes of lilies and eagles from the d’Este coat of arms. 

The two mountains that rise from the top of the fountain represent the Tiburtine mountains. Grottoes in the mountains once held statues representing the Ercolaneo and Aniene rivers. Centered above the oval is the figure of the Tiburtine Sibyl, who hold her son’s hand. She is the goddess of the Tiber River, a major source of fresh water for Rome. The fountain also is known as the Tiburtine Fountain.  Water flows from the fountain from the Sibyl’s breast, a symbol of continuous abundance. The statue of the Tibertine Sibyl is important to Ippolito’s papal ambitions. She prophesied that a Roman Emperor would hand over the Roman empire to the Christian religion. The Oval Fountain was called the “Queen of Fountains.”

These are but three of the fountains he designed.  Ligorio’s gardens at the Villa d’Este inspired the grand gardens at the Palace of Versailles and the Alhambra Garden in Spain, among others. Ligorio certainly deserves the title “Master Gardener.” 

Alas, Cardinal Ippolito died in 1572. He had been expelled from the church by Pope Paul IV for simony, the sin of profiting by the selling of church offices and relics.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts. 

 

Filed Under: Arts Top Story

Plein Art Notes: ‘Meet the Artists’ by Steve Parks

July 20, 2022 by Steve Parks
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Jill Basham in her studio

Jill Basham of Trappe anticipated a sky that would develop like an old-fashioned photograph in the darkroom magic trick of dunking glossy paper into a pan of chemicals. The sky above Harris Creek didn’t look much like the one Basham was painting at the moment. Nor that of most others spread out along the shoreline in the hours leading up to Plein Air Easton’s “Meet the Artists” party Saturday evening at historic Langdon Farm between Sherwood and Tilghman Island.

Basham has been a regular at the Plein Air Easton Festival, now in its 18th year, since 2012. “Events like this can make painting a career for us. Absolutely,” she says. Basham’s paintings can be appreciated – and purchased – at Trippe Gallery in Easton year-round. But the roiling turbulence of gray and atmospheric gloom on her canvas did not reflect the sunny sky-blue interrupted by cotton-ball puffs of white clouds that I saw, shading my eyes.

“I’m anticipating a thunderstorm,” Basham explained.

Jill Basham’s framed Langdon Farm View oil painting

Just up the creek from Basham’s easel, a Plein Air first-timer from Wisconsin was painting a beach-and-estuary vista with a treeline anchoring the horizon. Marc Anderson’s sky was as yet undefined. “A bunch of my friends have painted here and did pretty well,” he said. “So I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m told that people here really appreciate art.”

Debra Huse of California should know. This is her 14th year at Plein Air Easton. She won a “Best Light” award one year and a quick-draw prize another. (Sort of sounds like a scene from “Gunsmoke,” except the “weapon” is maybe a watercolor brush.) “Waterways and boats, architecture and agriculture, you find beauty everywhere,” Huse says as she’s painting a tree she cannot identify. “It’s deciduous,” I offered unhelpfully.

Christine Lashley of Reston, Va., says, “It’s wonderful to be able to do what we do. I

prepare for a festival like this a week ahead. It’s kind of like a concert performance. When it’s on, you’ve gotta bring it.” She’s doing a sky-meets-water-and-lawn scene, trying like Basham, to forecast what the sky will look like by the time her painting is mounted for show-and-sale under the sponsoring Avalon Foundation’s tent. Yes, it’s almost a live concert event.

Kim VanDerHoek, also from California – yes, it’s a big state, but in the smaller world of plein-air vagabonds, she and Huse know each other – is a big fan of Easton’s festival. “It’s an incredible show. And they treat us really, really well. They help out in any way they can,” she says as members of the Avalon staff pull up in one of the ubiquitous golf carts to ask if Kim needs a bottle of water. “They believe that artists can do their best work if they feel appreciated. We get that here. Even the watermen notice us. ‘Oh, you must be here for Plein Air,’ one of them said as I painted near a dock.”

Moving away from the shoreline, I encountered a very different painting style. Beth Bathe of Lancaster, Pa., was creating an up-close, impressionistic interpretation of a tree branch in an apple orchard near the Langdon Farm pool and enclosed standalone dining room. She was going for a monochromatic image with strokes of green-to-red shine on immature apples. This is Bathe’s eighth year at Plein Air Easton. “I sold ten paintings last year,” she said and would sell another on this day. “It’s like the most prestigious event of its kind in the country,” she says, adding that a friend who didn’t make the final roster of artists this year got a call just hours earlier allowing him to enter due to another’s cancellation. “If you get that call from Plein Air Easton, you get here if you possibly can.”

Prices set by the artists are not negotiable, as a share of the sale goes to Avalon Foundation’s support for its myriad arts programs.

When Jill Basham’s Langdon Farm View went up under the party tent next to the circa 18th-century manor house, her sky looked just like the one then hovering overhead with the portend of an ensuing downpour — which ensued. Her painting sold for a whopping $5,400. Christine Lashley’s similarly anticipatory Cloud Progression went for $2,100. Debra Huse’s Artist Paradise, depicting an unnamed tree, fetched $1,500, while Beth Bathe’s An Apple a Day impressionist painting went for $950. I’m no pricing expert. But I consider that a steal. The barns near the entrance were one of the most popular subjects of the one-day sale of fresh paintings. Renaldo Dorado’s Langdon Farm Life watercolor, first up under the tent, sold for $1,800.

But this was just a preliminary. Now the Plein Air Easton competition begins with artists spread out to sites they have, no doubt, already selected around Talbot County or nearby regional sites. Their paintings go on view day by day this week at the Waterfowl Building in downtown Easton with the smell of wet oil permeating the gallery space. Winning entries will be exhibited at Academy Art Museum across the street starting on Saturday. Those will likely be dry by then.

Steve Parks is a retired New York arts writer and editor now living in Easton.

Plein Air Easton Festival

Art show and sale, Waterfowl Building, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 40 S. Harrison St. Easton

Quick Draw Competition, in and around downtown Easton, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday

Artisan’s Market, outdoors near Waterfowl Building, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday 

Competition and Winner’s show and sale, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, Academy Art Museum, 106 South St., Easton
Local Color exhibit and sale, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Christ Church, 111 S. Harrison St., Easton, 
pleinaireaston.com

Judge’s Choice: Walters Art Museum CEO Julia Marciari-Alexander discusses her choices for Plein Air Easton competition winners, 2 p.m. Sunday, Waterfowl Building

—xxx—

Pictures: Jill Basham in her studio

Filed Under: Arts Portal Lead, Arts Top Story

Spy Diary: The Arts at Home and Away by Steve Parks

June 25, 2022 by Steve Parks
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Royalty has come to the Nation’s Capital just in time for Independence Day. King Tut makes his first visit to the United States in 25 years with what is described as a “cinematic immersive” Smithsonian exhibition. But what’s a quarter-century in the short life and 3,300-year afterlife of the legendary child pharaoh? Beyond King Tut: An Immersive Experience celebrates the centennial anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s fabled Valley of the Kings. 

Instead of the don’t-touch artifacts in standard museum displays of mummy paraphernalia, this National Geographic show deploys replicas and high-definition projections to take you inside Tut’s tomb. Beyond that, as the title suggests, you’ll catch glimpses of the ancient world outside – from the Great Sphinx to a sunrise ascent over the Pyramids of Giza and a two-millennium time trip to the 1922 unearthing of Tut’s resting place constructed and accessorized with his quest for immortality in mind. Timed admission tickets: nationalgeographic.org/tickets/events

Re-emerge into the here-and-now literally outside on the National Mall, and depending on the time of your visit, you can stroll through the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival on your way to the Constitution Avenue side of the Mall to take in the Independence Day Parade featuring floats, marching bands, and giant balloons. Other highlights of the D.C. Fourth include a 3 p.m. Musical Celebration at the National Cathedral and, of course, fireworks starting at 9:09 p.m. bursting across the skies over the Mall. (For the best view, fireworks cruises on the Potomac depart from Washington Harbour at 7:30.) The Capitol Fourth Concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol itself is best seen on PBS since post-Jan. 6, 2021 security makes in-person attendance problematic.

Among July 4th observances on this side of the Bay, Ocean City offers free beach entertainment all through the holiday weekend with family-friendly movies, including Sing 2 on July 1st, and games at the 27th Street beachfront or near the Carousel Hotel and fireworks on the night of July 4th. Just up the coast in Delaware, Rehoboth Beach celebrates one day early with fireworks at 9:30 on Sunday, July 3rd, preceded by a concert on the beachfront bandstand. There’s even a small chance of a President and First Lady holiday sighting. 

***

Get ready for the next big art event in Easton by checking out galleries all over the Midshore. Although most painters who enter the Plein Air Festival starting July 15th select vistas in Talbot County, a few go further afield to neighboring counties. Here’s a gallery sampler for the month.

In Cambridge, you might be intrigued by the Hookers, Strippers & Dyers exhibit – but it’s not what you think. Artists Betty Burbage and Elissa Crouch practice the traditional folk art of rug hooking, which also involves dying and stripping fabric into colorful strands woven into whatever patterns the artists imagine. The show runs only through July 3rd at Main Street Gallery www.mainstgallery.net. Despite its name, the gallery’s location is 518 Poplar St.

Nearby on High Street, the Dorchester Center for the Arts dorchesterarts.org brings Outside In with its July exhibit of works by self-trained “outsider” artists. Among them are Mose and Annie Tolliver and Howard Finster – whose imaginative creations have appeared in Baltimore’s Visionary Art Museum and Smithsonian’s American Art Museum in D.C. Ed Krell of Hooper’s Island, who specializes in large-scale chalk artworks, demonstrates his technique in a free Second Saturday reception, 5-7 p.m. July 9th, with music by Marianne and the Misfits, also from Hooper’s Island.  

An untitled piece by Ed Krell

In Chestertown, MassoniArt, massoniart.com which has expanded to a street-level gallery on Cross Street near the original second-story High Street space, splits its Summer Gallery Artists Exhibition on July 1st between the two locations. A few doors down on High, the Artists’ Gallery theartistsgalleryctown.com opens Shore Delights by Nancy Thomas with a First Friday reception on July 1st, introducing a month-long tag-sale show. 

Get in the plein-air mood at Adkins Arboretum adkinsarboretum.org near Ridgely with botanist Anna Harding’s vibrant color-pencil Wake Up . . . We Need Everybody drawings opening July 5th at the visitor’s center gallery. Then take a forested stroll through the site-specific Re-Vision installation by Howard and Mary McCoy.  

Circling back to Easton’s arts district along Harrison Street, Trippe Gallery thetrippegallery.com hosts a First Friday reception for artist David Csont, 5-8 p.m. July 1st. Next, the gallery celebrates the Plein Air Festival’s opening day with a Variations exhibit of paintings by 15 artists inspired by the same photograph taken by gallery co-founder Nanny Trippe. Among them is Nancy Tankersley, a Plein Air Easton founder.  Also on Harrison, Troika Gallery troikagallery.com continues its summerlong Raoul Middleman, A Life Well Painted show and sale of works by the late Baltimore painter and one-time Plein Air Festival celebrity artist.  

Meanwhile, around the corner on Goldsborough Street, Studio B Art Gallery studiobgallery.com hosts a Plein Air workshop starting July 11th at various Talbot County outdoor sites led by painter Jove Wang. A free reception toasts the opening of Masterstrokes: Visions of Jove Wang exhibit, 5-8 p.m. July 15th at the gallery.   

Steve Parks is a retired New York arts writer and editor now living in Easton.

 

Filed Under: Arts Portal Lead, Arts Top Story

David Goodrich: Climate Scientist on Two Wheels

June 18, 2022 by James Dissette
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Next Wednesday, June 22nd at 6 pm, The Bookplate “Authors and Oysters” author series will continue with climate scientist David Goodrich, author of “A Voyage Across an Ancient Ocean: A Bicycle Journey Through the Northern Dominion of Oil. The event will take place at The Retriever in Chestertown.

Goodrich, former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Observations and Monitoring Program, will discuss his unique journeys across the country by bicycle as he observes the landscape through the lens of a climate scientist.

Goodrich says that bicycling lends to an immersive experience in the environment and gives him time daily—during his 60 miles a day—to reflect on critical environmental conditions that are a growing concern for all of us.

Seeking to understand how misinformation and politicization can distract us and perpetuate the denial of the emergency we face, one of his first bike trips took him from Delaware to Oregon. Along the way, he talked to countless people to understand what climate change meant to them.

The trip inspired him to write his first book, A Hole in the Wind, part travelogue, part history, and a lot of science. A Voyage Across an Ancient Ocean continues his exploration through the Badlands of South Dakota and across the prairies to the tar sands and oil reserves of Alberta, Canada, the proposed and canceled Keystone XL Pipeline location.

Currently, Goodrich is working on a new book about his bicycling Harriet Tubman’s freedom path from Cambridge to St. Catherine’s.

This video is approximately seven minutes in length.

Come to the Retriever on Wednesday. He has some great stories about his travels and the people he met along the way. For more event details, contact The Bookplate at 410-778-4167 or contact@thebookplate.net. This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required. Save the date for the next Authors & Oysters event with Brett Lewis on July 6th. The Retriever is located at 337 ½ High Street, in Chestertown, Maryland.

Filed Under: Arts Top Story

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