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Visual Arts: Performance: Dance: Books:
Figures,
Cities & People
This exhibition at Maude Kerns Art Center through Feb. 13 of work by Mike Leckie, Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin, and Edward Vliek is not to be missed. The human figure never ceases to fascinate. It is part of the narcissism of our species, an impulse that fuels our curiosity about every aspect of ourselves as human beings: We are primed to find the human body not merely sexually but also aesthetically pleasing, as evidenced in art since prehistoric times. Eugene sculptor Mike Leckie stands among artists who devote themselves to exploring, understanding and rendering the beauty of the human form to the human eye. "I'm in love with form," Leckie said. "What people see now is the result of 30 years of devotion to line, form and volume." Leckie's is a classicist approach, with roots harking back to ancient Greece all the way through Rodin to Paul Manship. "I understand the historical classical figurative tradition," Leckie said. "As a kid it was already what drew me, and now I'm making modern pieces in that tradition." Unlike many contemporary neoclassicists, he is interested as much in male as female figures. Equally at ease with additive (clay) and subtractive (marble) processes, Leckie is also experienced in bronze-casting techniques. Marble is his stone of choice for its crystalline structure and aliveness. "I seem to understand it intuitively," Leckie says. "And marble sings when you work on it — it's like a humming coming out of the stone." During a visit to Europe when he was an adolescent, Leckie was struck by the power of form shown emerging from marble in contrast to wholly finished pieces. "I always leave an unfinished part in a marble piece for the public to relate to what the piece was before it was carved. Michelangelo knew to leave chisel marks and rough stone in places." Leckie's marble figures exude energy as if they'd risen out of the stone through their own power, with female curves simultaneously conveying movement and solidity (Victory, Tiger Rock Girl). In contrast, Leckie's bronzes from clay originals exhibit a softer, sober demeanor — gracefulness emphasized rather than strength (Reluctant Goddess, Helen, Lilly), sometimes a hint of vulnerability (Facing the Wind, The Price). However, when Leckie casts together fragments only from these clay originals, creating what he calls "museum fragments" in reference to incompletely recovered ancient statuary, he provides them with a new edge, tension and interest. Missing parts create space for the viewer's imagination to roam, speculate, create stories. We are inevitably drawn to fill out the intentional voids. Incompleteness has here a function similar to that of stone areas left untouched in the marble pieces. Whereas the complete bronzes evoke a predominantly aesthetic response, the fragments involve us psychologically and emotionally as well. (The explanatory notes that accompany the sculptures are thus an unnecessary distraction and detract from pieces that require no verbal support.) The sculptor recently started sand-casting glass, which will be shown on Leckie's third OPB special this spring. Classical antiquity provides theme and style for Leckie's glass pieces, which feature the faces of classical goddesses adorned with Bacchus' grapes. There are definite Art Nouveau and Art Deco overtones. Though the figures stand on their own, these pieces would also work wonderfully as architectural sculptures. Leckie's other exhibited works include a series of porcelain low-relief collages. Best-known for his photographic documentation of the Oregon dunes, Edward Vliek now presents black-and-white travel images from Italy, with classically composed views of architecture and cityscapes as well as portraits of people he encountered, such as a grocer with a giant squash and wonderful expression or the remarkable profile of a bride posing for another photographer. In Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin's crisp gelatin-silver prints of Romania, aesthetic considerations such as composition are enriched by genuine love and interest for the people portrayed. The Transylvanian villagers whose life and ancient rural customs she shared a full year are never treated as curiosities or relics, nor are they aestheticized, sentimentalized or romanticized. Instead McLaughlin's gaze balances matter-of-factness with warmth as she documents a vanishing lifestyle. From children to elders, the faces she shows are intensely real and hence deeply moving. Even when they pose in their best clothes, the villagers remain genuine in a way rarely achieved in our more image-conscious culture. Accompanying documentary texts are informative, tinged with the same warmth and humor as the photographs. Given such level of quality, it is odd that mats and photographic paper don't match in tone, detracting from the rustic wood-frames hand-carved by Vasile Apan (Romania). Both prints and text deserve book format for excellent artistic and ethnographic value.
Helping
Kids The Laura Kemp Band reunites this Saturday at Sam Bond's to kick off the Monthly Benefit for Friends of KRVM series. After the Jan. 31 performance, the Sam Bond's concerts will be held the first Sunday of each month beginning in March. Friends of KRVM is a nonprofit support organization for KRVM 91.9 FM founded last spring after 4-J slashed funding — $70,000 — for its student-operated public radio station. The station is much loved for its eclectic music, community news announcements and the opportunity it allows students who may not fit in anywhere else to have a voice on the air, or gain technical experience working in the station. Faced with demise, the station sent out an SOS to its listeners, which resulted in a fund-raising drive that brought in $75,000 last spring and $60,000 in fall. The station was formerly eligible to receive Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) grants, because it employed at least five people. But the 4-J cuts slashed jobs, meaning after this year, it will not be eligible for those funds. Meanwhile, however, CPB generously allowed the station $79,000 to last through this budget year, which ends July 1. In July, 4-J, which pays the bills throughout the year, will bill KRVM for its expenses, and KRVM hopes to meet them, with its fund-raising and CPB funds. But if funds fall short, there's still hope. KRVM Development Director Bobbie Cirel says the Friends of KRVM funds will be used to "fill in the gaps when that bill comes in." Friends of KRVM Board President Roka Walsh is involved with the efforts to save the station not just to support public radio, but also because the station helps so many kids. "To be at the station in fall and to see kids come out after spending their first time in the studio on air, so pumped, their confidence just skyrockets," she says. Cirel adds, "Any time you help kids feel good about themselves in a genuine way, you're helping the future." Other musical acts in the benefit series include John Shipe and Friends in March and Anne Weiss in April. For more information, see www.friendsofkrvm.org. Donations are also accepted at the KRVM station on an ongoing basis.
Also on Saturday night, over at the EMU, you can catch the second annual Carnaval Brasil!, featuring Samba Já, Edson Oliveira's Sun Bossa, Brazilian dancers, gigantic human puppets, a capoeira demonstration (a unique Afro-Brazilian mixture of martial arts, dance, self-defense, music and gymnastics), costumes and masks, and more. The event is a fund-raiser for Students Helping Street Kids International (SHSKI), the Eugene-based nonprofit organization that brings global education and community service together in an academic program for street kids in Brazil and Tanzania. SHSKI was founded in 1997 by Bob Crites, a former Peace Corps worker in Brazil. The organization matches American students in schools from the elementary through the university level, with a child in Brazil or Tanzania who is living in extreme poverty. Through student donations and fund-raising, money is sent to an adopted child and used for tuition, books and school uniforms. Andrea Callahan, deputy director of SHSKI, says, "Helping a specific child who lives in a world so different from our own fosters cross-cultural exchange, social awareness, and community service. It also fosters a sense of altruism and kindness." The students in the other countries are chosen by local leaders, who look for children who "shine," says Callahan. "They demonstrate strong characteristics of intelligence, self-discipline, and the desire to learn and succeed. They show a drive to make something different of their lives." For more information on SHSKI, call 686-1396. See Calendar for specific times and varying ticket prices.
Dancing
Roots
Fundamentalist Christians notwithstanding, when God breathed life into Adam's clay, men and women acquired the ability to dance. Dancing is the most human of the lively arts, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem is arguably the most human of American ballet companies. Its 44 dancers perform with a warmth and heart, not to mention technical skill, that inevitably rocks whatever theater in which they are dancing. From South Africa, where in 1990 it was the first American company to perform for a post-apartheid audience that included Nelson Mandela, to Eugene's Silva Concert Hall, where the company performs at 8 pm on Wednesday night, February 4. DTH brings to the stage dancing that is as stylistically versatile as it is theatrical. The company was founded in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell, the first African American to become a principal dancer in a major ballet company. Mitchell was a spectacularly fine dancer who originated roles in such George Balanchine masterworks as Agon and A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which he developed the role of Puck. Because of Mitchell's background and training with Balanchine, the Russian-American choreographer whose centennial is being celebrated this year, DTH has neo-classical ballet technique as its platform. Writing of the company's first performances of Agon, the New Yorker critic Arlene Croce said that "the possibilities of black classicism" were crystallized in it, and the dancers were "revitalized and released." While Balanchine works are on the company's Seattle program, where it heads next, the Eugene program demonstrates the company's neo-classical roots in rather different style than the master's. Robert Garland's "Return" is performed on pointe to the recorded singing of James Brown and Aretha Franklin. "South African Suite" is a joint choreographic venture created by Mitchell and DTH dancer Augustus Van Heerden following the company's South African tour. Performed to music by the Soweto String Quartet, the suite of dances blends Anglo-European classical art and cultural iconography with the same brilliance accomplished in the company's Creole Giselle, staged by Frederick Franklin in a Louisiana bayou, and Firebird recast in a tropical paradise. The program closes, as it often does, with Dougla, a Caribbean wedding celebration involving the entire company in a lavishly costumed signature work, which makes a "joyful noise" with dancing that is the breath of life itself. In a perfect world, DTH would be recognized not as a "multi-cultural" company practicing art as a social program but rather a 31-year old dance company that is one of the best in this country if not the world. But this is not a perfect world. Mitchell is commendably committed to changing people's lives with the practice of art, which he has certainly done, and educating the public, which is certainly needed. His endeavors have been recognized with many honorary degrees, and in 1993 he was one of the youngest recipients of the Kennedy Center Awards for "an extraordinary lifetime of contributions to American culture through the performing arts." The company is in town for only a short time, but there are several opportunities other than Wednesday night's performance to discover what this justifiably world-famous company is about. On Feb. 3 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm in Studio One at the Hult Center, a principal dancer will offer a master class in jazz dance at the intermediate to advanced levels. The class is free with a performance ticket, $10 without; reservations are required. Please call Darrel Kau at 682-2057. Two free public events: From 7 to 8 pm Feb. 3 at the Eugene Public Library's Bascom-Tykeson Room, company staff and performers will discuss the company's history and show video footage of the repertoire. And before Wednesday night's performance, dancers will discuss the evening's choreography in a pre-show session from 7 to 7:30 pm in Studio One.
Reconciliation
EVERY WAR HAS TWO LOSERS: William Stafford on Peace and War. Edited and with an introduction by Kim Stafford. Milkweed Editions, 2003. Paperback, $16. Kim Stafford knows his late father, former Oregon poet laureate William Stafford, in ways not open to most of us. William named Kim his literary executor, which is both a privilege and a great responsibility. Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace and War is a new collection of William's pacifist writings, edited and introduced by his poet, teacher, pacifist son. "I first thought of my father as a poet," Kim Stafford said in a recent telephone interview. "But my understanding of his work has evolved. Now I see he was a seeker, who used writing in both his private life and his public life to accomplish many things. Poems were his currency." Stafford speaks on "Poetry and the Life of the Seeker" at 7:30 pm on Feb. 3 in the Knight Library Browsing Room. A public reception follows. A limited-edition letterpress broadside from Knight Library Press will be for sale as well as books for signing. Stafford directs the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis and Clark College in Portland. He has taught at Lewis and Clark 25 years, and before that studied 12 years at the UO, where he earned three degrees, culminating in his 1979 Ph.D. He's spending his working life in academia, and he is passionate about making poetry matter. "Poems can result in action," Stafford said. "We can learn to live our lives in a different way because of poetry. We should ask of the university: Is it a closed system? Or is it expanding, moving us into the world? Where's the Big Bang?" Stafford said he had recently heard L.A. performance artist Snowbird say, "Poetry will always be essential in society, because poets don't make enough money to lie." Stafford is also clear about the difference between being opposed to war and being an active peacemaker. "'Anti-war' is not as strong as 'reconciliation,'" he said. "War has a strong story-line. It is visible. The work of peacemakers is inclusive and sustained. It's what my father called 'the patient, worthy job.'" Likewise, Stafford insists that Every War Has Two Losers is not about the ethics of war. "It is about the impracticability of war to solve problems," he said. "A pacifist doesn't have to solve the historical predicament to make a personal choice to practice and advance reconciliation. Even in World War II, some soldiers leveled with their officers: 'I won't kill. Put me somewhere that I won't have to kill.' They made a separate peace." William Stafford was a conscientious objector in WWII, and one of the most moving chapters in Every War is "The Mob Scene at McNeil." Kim Stafford said there were 700 soldiers for every CO in that war. "The story of the COs is the hidden part of the story," he said. "It wasn't known. It was very inconvenient to let it be known." William's experience on a Sunday afternoon, March 22, 1942, in McNeil, Ark., expresses some of the inner strength — and the sense of humor — required to be a peacemaker during "the good war." "It takes such an intricate succession of misfortunes and blunders to get mobbed by your own countrymen — and such a close balancing of good fortune to survive — that I consider myself a rarity, in this respect, in being able to tell the story from the subject's point of view," Stafford wrote. He was reading Whitman's Leaves of Grass, another CO was writing a poem, and a third was painting a picture of a decrepit building when some men from town gathered around them, began to mutter and quickly became belligerent. The eight-page story is beautifully written and suggests William Stafford might also have found success as a prose writer had he not so loved the poetic form to express his thoughts. Stafford included the story in his 1947 master's thesis with the title "Peace Relic." (William Stafford's thesis has been re-published by OSU Press as Down In My Heart: Peace Witness in War Time.) Kim Stafford said Every War doesn't have one big answer to our current predicament. "It asks questions. It begins meditation and the search for reconciliation. It's a packet of seeds. It can contribute to the next paradigm the world is moving toward."
Sandy Tilcock, director of the Knight Library Press, and her student interns have created a black-on-black diptych broadside for the words of William Stafford and an unpublished poem by Kim Stafford. The broadside contains a central image of a Zen Buddhist symbol for the circle of enlightenment, an enso. The polymer plate with the relief image of the enso is quite lovely by itself. The original graphic was created by Marilyn Reaves. Tilcock gave me this description of an enso — a sumi painting of a circle: "The circle contains both the perfection of the expressive moment and the imperfections of the ink, page and brush. … Spiritually it may symbolize the emptiness of the void, the endless circle of life and fullness of the spirit. It may represent the moment of enlightenment, when the mind is free to let the body or spirit create. …Each esno shows the expressive movement of the spirit in time." "It was challenging to work with the words of two writers," Tilcock said, "trying to have something that works for both but also be different for each." Originally, Tilcock planned to print on gray paper, but black paper kept coming up. Tilcock and her three interns spent the better part of four or five days mixing different inks, before creating a silver and black ink mix that works on black. Tilcock was resistant to the idea of a black-on-black broadside, but "Never be afraid to change your mind," she said. The black paper selected had to be dampened so that the image didn't look like a shiny gloss on top of the paper. After the damp paper dried, the paper "looked like someone came in and scraped it," Tilcock said. It has body, and the image is in the paper. However, "It's more labor-intensive to have to dampen the paper and press wet," Tilcock said. "But once I decided to embrace my darkness, it all fell into place," Tilcock said. "I was reluctant to take that step, to leave the safe grays and embrace the black. But I am very satisfied with what we've chosen." Kim Stafford will not see the broadside until the day of the reading, Tilcock said. "It's very scary," she said. I don't think she has a thing to worry about. ––LW
BOOK NOTES Jan. 29 - March 4: From her acclaimed memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi will read at 7:30 pm on Jan. 30 at Annie Blooms Books, Portland. …Kim Stafford reads from Every War Has Two Losers and discusses "Poetry and the Life of the Seeker: William Stafford on Peace and War" at 7:30 pm on Feb. 3 in the Knight Library Browsing Room. …Diane Hammond reads from her novel, Going to Bend, at 7 pm on Feb. 5 at UO Bookstore. Free. …Elizabeth Engstrom speaks on "How to Write a Well-Crafted Sex Scene" at 6:30 pm on Feb. 5 at Baker Downtown Center. $5 non-members. …Romance and mystery writer Carola Dunn speaks at the "In the Mood for Valentine's Day" celebration at 7:30 pm on Feb. 6 at the Downtown Library. …Elijah Wald reads from Escaping The Delta, on the life of the bluesman Robert Johnson, at 4pm on Feb. 8 at Tsunami Books. …Classical scholar and military historian Victor Davis Hanson speaks on "War and the West, Then and Now" at 8 pm on Feb. 11 in Alumni Lounge, Gerlinger Hall, UO campus. …UO Law professor Steven Bender reads from his new book, Greasers and Gringos: Latinos, Law and the American Imagination at 7 pm on Feb. 12 in UO Bookstore. …Ursula Le Guin reads from The Lathe of Heaven, this year's Readin' in the Rain selection, at 7 pm on Feb. 13 at First Methodist Church (1376 Olive. Free. …Fundraiser (donations requested) for Readin' in the Rain finds Le Guin at a community book signing from noon- 4 pm on Feb. 14 at New Zone Gallery (Broadway and Willamette). Bring no more than one book to be signed, please. …Writers and aspiring writers meet with Le Guin from 1 - 4 pm on Feb. 15 at McNail-Riley House (13 and Jefferson). Register Jan 15 (302-8084 or 689-1650). $50. …Marjorie Sandor (Portrait of My Mother, Who Posed Nude in Wartime) and Kathleen Tyau (Makai) will read at 7 pm on Feb. 17 in the Downtown Library. …Laurie Drummond reads from her new story collection, Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You, at 8 pm on Feb. 19 in Knight Library Browsing Room. …Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations with God) speaks at 7pm on Feb. 20 at South Eugene High School. $20.… Robert H. Kono (The River of Time) reads at 1pm on Feb. 21 at Borders Books. …Joe Kurmaskie, Portland cycling and travel guru, reads from Riding Outside the Lines at 7 pm on Feb. 25 in 100 Willamette Hall, UO campus. …Leslie Leyland Fields reads from her memoir, Surviving the Island of Grace, at 7 pm on March 2 in Knight Library Browsing Room.
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