Saturday, March 25, 2006
snapshots of culture~une~
I always enjoy the college's juried art exhibition. Not only does it bring out the best work from students, but it also features a nice (and short) awards presentation. The headline would be that our boy Ian (aka, Jackie's man) won a presidential purchase award, a Student Association citation and juror's prize. In all my years of attending, I've never seen that happen before, but there was something unquestionably compelling about his found-art, painted broken windowpane.
But there were wonderful little human snapshots throughout the evening. Two involved the presidential purchase award, where our college president buys artwork for permanent display ... at the price the artists suggest when they submit them to jurying. As the president talked about creativity, a girl off to my right had this kind of mocking sneer on her face. Until the president announced that she was buying one of the girl's pieces. The student blurted: Holy shit! Screw reality TV ... that crap could never produce something this authentic and entertaining.
The president also announced that she was buying a piece from a sweet-looking girl standing in front of me during the ceremony. The girl went up, got her check, and came back shaking, putting her hand over her mouth, on the verge of tears. How much did you ask for it? one of her friends asked, to which she replied, still shocked: A lot! She later said the purchase price would pay about a month of rent. That a work of art had suddenly transformed her life for the better made me incredibly happy for this perfect stranger.
~deux~
Imagine Ani DiFranco and Bjork had a child together (and who hasn't fathered a child with Bjork?) who picks up the violin at an early age and becomes a full-fledged ass-kicker. That person would probably resemble Carla Kihlstedt, the violinist/vocalist who heads 2 Foot Yard, which I had the pleasure of seeing this week.
Teamed with cellist/vocalist Marika Hughes and percussionist/guitarist Shahzad Ismaili -- talented musicians and composers in their own right -- Kihlstedt and company are a formidable force that flourishes in the musical margins. What they produce is actual alternative rock with a bit of chamber music rolled in ... good luck hearing that on your local ClearChannel outlet. You could write a couple of news releases explaining it, but doing so barely scratches the surface.
Their brilliant adaptation of the Carter Family classic "50 Miles" will engage anyone with any musical sensibilities (amazingly, Ismaili played guitar on this one while also kicking the hi-hat and bass drum). More challenging are numbers like "Rooting for the Shy Librarian," an odd but lovely tune that features Kihlstedt's sensual (and somewhat sexy) scatting instead of lyrics. Other songs, like "Fisherman's Daughter," require listeners to make it through a hard shell at first to discover the creamy melodic goodness at its center. I can't adequately describe the music 2 Foot Yard makes, short of saying that I really enjoyed the concert.
... For those who wonder why I think so highly of art and culture, the above is merely a couple of reasons why.
posted by Tim 5:12 PM
