University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 18, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 4, 1998 Page: 3 of 6
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UlEntertainment
University Press • Wednesday, November 4,1998 • Page 3
Sophisticated, light-hearted, imaginative
DISHMAN TO EXHIBIT ‘INTERAACC
nter the Dishman Art
Gallery and get playful!
“Interface,” an exhibition
of sculpture by Michael
Johnson, gives the lower
gallery the feel of a sophisti-
cated playground; and
WScotf
“Visual Sentences,” the paintings
of Elizabeth Holtry in the upstairs
gallery, are similarly light-hearted
and imaginative.
Johnson and Holtry are Waco
artists whose works were shown on
campus earlier this year in the
Dishman Competition. Johnson’s
piece, “Vessel,” which is included
in the current exhibition, was the
first-place prize winner in the earli-
er exhibition and motivated his
being asked to exhibit this current
body of work.
Holtry is a painter, also the
recipient of an award in the
Dishman Competition, and her
work has been shown in invitation-
al exhibitions at Sally Sprout
Gallery and at Hook-Epstein
Galleries, both in Houston.
Johnson is a professor of sculp-
ture in the department of art at
Baylor University. Both artists
earned master of fine arts degrees
from the University of Cincinnati.
Johnson said that his pieces are
playful and toylike, and they are
meant to elicit the desire to inter-
act as the viewer moves through
the gallery.
“The pieces refer to things that
are functional, with handles or
some kind of appendages that
could be seen as useful,” Johnson
said. “They range from human
scale to more intimate scale. Some
are works that are on the floor, that
he on the floor or rest on the floor,
and others are hung on the wall.
“The objects interface with each
other and with the viewer. I want
the work to create a dynamic that
viewers experience as they walk
through.”
The objects are made of wood
and cast rubber, a combination of
synthetic and natural materials.
Johnson said he sometimes uses
the synthetic materials to create a
naturalistic appearance. Several of
his constructions resemble strange
kitchen gadgetry. They are over-
sized and awkward. Some feature
rubber nipples or breast-like forms
that seem incongruous with the
clean, hard-edged forms with
which they are merged.
Holtry describes her paintings
as “panoramic landscapes of the
microscopic world. They are
works based on life science, very
organic forms.
“Some of the images are more
identifiable objects from nature,”
she said. “Most of the objects are
from my imagination.”
She takes it a step farther than a
microscopic image, Karen
Schmittendorf, curator of the
gallery, said, by using fabric and
latex and modeling paste to create
a rich tactile surface.
“She makes it warmer than any-
thing you would see under the
microscope,” Schmittendorf said.
“She says it is ‘an artistic investiga-
tion of the subconscious mind,’ with
fragments from a microscopic world
and from her own imagination.”
Her long, thin canvases feature
sparse compositions punctuated by
areas of intense color and complex
textures and shapes. Inches high
and feet long, the horizontal works
are sometimes arranged as dip-
tychs. Some have a small piece
hung at the end, as a period at the
end of a sentence. A vertical piece
may hang with a smaller work
beneath it, making an exclamatory
statement in what would otherwise
be a great, quiet, empty space.
These works of Johnson and
Holtry are brief, but powerful.
They interact with the emptiness
that surrounds them.
“The work itself demands a
sparse installation,” Schmittendorf
said.
“There is a certain linearity
involved in both (artists’ works),”
Donna Meeks, chair of the depart-
ment of art, said, and both artists
play the organic against the con-
trived. It is significant that they play.
Marcel Duchamp, Claes Oldenburg
and Dr. Suess are smiling.
Text by Laura Scott
Layout by Billie Dorman
‘audience-pleasing’ concert
The grandeur of operatic overture.
The brass and class of John Philip
Sousa. Hot and cold running jazz.
Classical keyboard chemistry. And
the romance of love songs.
Tile Lamarissimo! concert series
returns Nov. 10 with a grand night of
musical entertainment, a once-a-year
experience when Lamar University
faculty artists join forces with the
Lamar Symphony Orchestra in an
evening of rare solo and ensemble
performances.
"‘‘The concert is very special for our
faculty members,” Kurt Gilman, con-
ductor of the Lamar Symphony
Orchestra and a popular Lamarissi-
mo! performer since the series’ incep-
tion in 1990, said. “This is one of the
best events we’re involved in as facul-
ty members. Seldom do we have the
opportunity to perform in solos and
ensembles in a venue of this caliber.
And Lamarissimo! also provides the
orchestra with its largest perfor-
mance opportunity.”
Gilman will conduct the orchestra
in the concert’s opening selection:
The overture from Mozart’s opera
“The Marriage of Figaro.” He then
will conduct the ensemble in accom-
panying a faculty trio from “Figaro,”
with faculty artists to entertain for the
remainder of the evening.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in
the Julie Rogers Theatre in down-
town Beaumont, under the sponsor-
ship of Swicegood Music Co. and
Market Basket.
Faculty artists Robert Culbertson
and Raul Ornelas coordinated the
faculty presentations and also will be
featured as musicians.
“The Julie Rogers Theatre pro-
vides a wonderful setting for this per-
formance,” Culbertson said. “It’s a
terrific auditorium from a musician’s
standpoint, with great acoustics. And
we always have a terrific audience.
As a performer, You’ve got to love
it.”
As with faculty artists’ concerts in
previous years, the performance will
feature light musical fare.
‘“The audience can have fun right
along with us. That’s the important
thing,” Culbertson said. “We want the
audience to really enjoy the evening.
We’re going to have fun, and they’re
going to have fun. We hope they’ll be
out there tapping their feet.”
“The Marriage of
Figaro” is one of
Mozart’s most popular
works, having premiered
in Vienna in 1786.
Gilman said Mozart is
“absolutely” one of his
favorite composers, so he
welcomes the opportuni-
ty to program and con-
duct the two Mozart
selections.
“For this concert, we
always like to have a
bright, fast, energetic opening to the
program,” Gilman said. “We had per-
formed this last spring, and it went so
well we decided to repeat it for
Lamarissimo!” Lamar’s recent opera
gala also featured the selection.
The Lamar Symphony Orchestra
has about 30 members, Gilman said,
“so this would be a Mozart-sized
orchestra. He composed for 30 to 40
members, depending on the piece. So
this one lends itself perfectly to a
group our size.”
“The music is written especially
for three instruments. It was written
for a range of string players, and they
get a lot out of it,” Gilman said. “The
winds have to learn a whole new tech-
nique of playing — to blend with the
string section. So it’s an experience
for everyone. And, of course, the
music is great.”
Gilman eagerly awaits the
“Figaro” trio — “Susanna, What’s
the Matter?” — which marks the first
time in the nine years of Lamarissi-
mo! that the entire orchestra will
accompany an operatic trio.
The Lamarissimo! performance
will introduce several new faculty
members, including Travis Almany,
Lamar’s new assistant director of
bands, as euphonium soloist for
“Fantaisie Brillante” by Joseph
Baptiste Arban. “Our Lamarissimo!
audience that first met Mr. Almany
as a conductor will now be introduced
to him as a performer,” Culbertson
said. “He’s a fine musician, as they
will find out.” Dwight Peirce will
accompany Almany.
Also new to the faculty and to
Lamarissimo! is Jean Wilkinson,
instructor of music theory, who will
perform as a soloist on “Love Is
Where You Find It,” as well as in the
Mozart trio along with faculty artists
Kurt Gilman
Barbara Mathis and Wil-
liam Mouat.
“I think one of the
most fun things we’ll do
this time is this little trio,”
Culbertson said. “I’ve
been wanting to see our
singers get a chance to
work with the orchestra. I
think our audience is really
going to enjoy it.
“The audience will
sample some of our new
faculty as well as our old-
timers who are doing some really
exciting tunes.”
Longtime faculty member Mathis
will pair with Mouat, in his second
year as director of Lamar Opera
Theatre, for Rodgers and Hart’s
“With a Song in My Heart.”
Also among the Lamarissimo!
“old-timers” are Ornelas, a 26-year
member of the faculty, and Wayne
Dyess, a 21-year Lamar veteran.
Their performance of “Cousins,” by
Sousa composer-performer Herbert
L. Clarke, will create a sense of nos-
talgia for the two — both longtime
members of Keith Brion’s New
Sousa Band.
“In the days of John Philip Sousa’s
touring band, around the turn of the
century, the flashy notes of ‘Cousins’
were performed by world-class musi-
cians Clarke on cornet and Arthur
Pryor on trombone,” Dyess said.
“These men were often featured as
soloists with Sousa’s band. Some of
their most interesting performances
would come when the two performed
together, displaying their inimitable
brass-playing skills.”
Ornelas will play cornet and
Dyess, the trombone, to apply their
own brand of brass pyrotechnics to
recreate the glorious old sounds.
Both have performed and toured for
many years with the New Sousa
Band, which Brion organized in
1979.
Their travels included a tour of
Japan with the band in 1996.
Lamarissimo! audiences will remem-
ber Brion as guest conductor of the
Symphonic Band’s opening concert
in 1993,
Betsy Hines accompanies Ornelas
and Dyess on “Cousins.”
Hines, coordinator of keyboard
studies at Lamar, also joins Dwight
Peirce for Randall Compton’s “C.S.
Theme and Variations,” to be per-
formed “for one piano, four hands,
give or take a hand,” according to the
program notes. “This is a really great
little duet,” Culbertson said.
The Lamar Jazz Quintet will per-
form a jazz medley of “Down by the
Riverside,” “I Dreamed a Dream”
and “Take the ‘A’ Train.” Members
of the quintet are Jimmy Simmons,
tenor, alto and soprano saxophones;
John Calderon, guitar; Jim Ellis,
drums; Ornelas, bass; and Dyess,
trombone. Calderon is a senior from
Angleton.
Many of the jazz performers will
return to the stage for the closing
number by the Lamar Brass Quintet,
the concert’s traditional grand finale
featuring the zany antics combined
with superb musicianship that
Lamarissimo! audiences have come
to know, love and give standing ova-
tions. Ornelas on trumpet, Culbert-
son on horn, Dyess on trombone,
and Ellis on drums join two newcom-
ers: students Stacy Clark of Bridge
City, trumpet, and Treyson Stockton
of Warren, tuba.
Clark is making history this year
as the Brass Quintet’s first female
performer, Culbertson notes.
“We’re doing a little travelog
here,” he said, “with South Ameri-
can music and Chinatown music. We
hope to get a choreographer to help
us out.”
The quintet will perform “La
Cumparsita” and “Chinatown” to
conclude the diverse evening of
entertainment.
Being presented as part of Lamar
University’s 75th anniversary cele-
bration, the 1998-99 Lamarissimo!
season will continue with the holiday
choir concert Dec. 1; jazz bands,
March 9; and Cardinal Singers, April
27.
Season tickets to Lamarissimo!,
including the four performances
remaining in the series, are available
from the Lamar University depart-
ment of music, theatre and dance by
calling 880-8144.
Individual tickets to the Nov. 10
concert will be available at the the-
atre box office, beginning at 7:15
p.m. prior to the performance.
Admission is free to Lamar stu-
dents with valid ID.
Workshop
to engage
participants
in ceramic
techniques
Laura Scott
UP staff writer
1
STUDIO
c.
Three days of workshops at The Art Studio,
Inc., will feature premiere ceramic artists Victor
Spinski and Verne Funk and
engage participants in ceram-
ic techniques that include
mold making, slip casting and
hand building.
Spinski is an artist and edu-
cator at the University of
Delaware. An innovator of
ceramic photo processing and
one of the premiere ceramic
artists alive today, he will
demonstrate plaster mold-making and slip-casting
processes.
Funk, a studio artist now living in San Antonio
after a 40-year teaching career, will demonstrate
his hand-building technique. He has been a con-
tinuous participant in exhibitions across the coun-
try, and he recently exhibited “Thirty Year
Review” at Northern Arizona University in
Flagstaff.
“Both artists have a special ability to present
their work in an exciting and informative way,”
Greg Busceme, studio director, said, “and teachers
will benefit from the various skills presented. This
is a unique opportunity to learn more about your
craft from two of the best ceramic artists and edu-
cators in the field and get a glimpse of the fasci-
nating world of ceramics and how it can expand
your teaching horizons.”
Workshops begin on Friday with visits from
local schools and centers, and the day ends with
dinner and entertainment following a slide/lecture
and forum from both artists. Workshops continue
on Saturday and Sunday. Admission for all three
days is $50 for adults, and single-day admission is
$20. Schools and institutions may attend the
Friday workshop from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. by making
reservations. Seating is limited and admission is $5
per child.
A reception opening an exhibition of recent
paintings by McNeese State University faculty
member Lisa Bell-Reinaur will be held on
Saturday from 7 p.m to 9 p.m. The reception is free
to the public.
TASI is located at 720 Franklin. Call 838-5393
to make reservations or for more information.
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Sonnier, Todd. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 75, No. 18, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 4, 1998, newspaper, November 4, 1998; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500599/m1/3/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.