Life is good, Nashville is good

Before I get started here, I’d like to let you read a great write-up by Peter Cooper last week that stressed the current state of the Nashville Symphony that needs all of our help because it deserves it.

http://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2013/06/07/peter-cooper-on-music-its-time-to-start-freaking-out-about-symphony-situation/

Sooooo, on a positive note … watch this-

http://vimeo.com/68149702

After you’ve read about the situation with the Nashville Symphony and how you can think of positive ways to help AND watched Ellen Pryor do her thing to introduce something she holds near and dear to her heart and passions, now you can turn your full attention to the traffic that is about to hit the Frist Center starting this Friday.  It is there where you will find Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles opening like no other art show they’ve had there before.  Just to install the exhibit they had to unhinge the doors!  Seriously, I’m not even much of a car man but I’m super excited about seeing these vintage treasures in a very cool spot.  If you are a fan of cars at all beyond getting from point A to point B, this will be THE show for YOU and all of your friends.  I can’t stress how BIG and COOL this show will be.  Just do yourself a favor and make it a point to drive by, park, and see it with your own eyes.

I won’t keep you long here because I need to get back to homework, reading and writing, for yet another fun semester at Sewanee for the amazing School of Letters program I am honored to be a part of in a small way.  That said, Saturday will be a fun day for everyone who gets out on the town besides visiting me at East Side Story.

Metro Arts Nashville would like to invite you to the dedication of Betty and Lee Benson’s “Anchor in the Storm” at 11am at West Park (6105 Morrow Road).  After you pay your respects to the dedication, you can roll over to Barista Parlor on the East Side to join Barista and Joint at 516 Hagan Street from noon to 5pm.  There will be all the bikes and cars that can gather at this public rally that they can muster.  If you are around, show everyone else what you got.  It’s free to attend.

Then, at 7pm, still on the East Side of town at THE Building (1008 Woodland Street), the general public is invited to attend the launch party called “Eye Decay.”  Produced by Panama Red Arts, admission is again FREE to attend another epic social gathering.  Panama Red Arts is an artist collective founded with the goal of bringing avant-garde performance and visual arts to the Nashville forefront.  Dark, dirty, and sometimes offensive poet, Ben Burr, will be reading from his collections as well as presenting a few short experimental films.  Janelle Bonfour-Mikes will be creating a living sculpture composed during the evening.  There will be other art and artists and you don’t need to make any other plans than coming to The Building … seriously.

I think that should take you right into relaxation this Sunday with your dad for Father’s Day.  He might not ask you to come and visit, but you and I both know your presence is the best gift he could ask for on the fly and surprise.

 

But WAIT!  This just in!  I was just made aware that tomorrow night, Thursday, there will be another epic event available for you for FREE in town.  It will be called “Poetry and Music” from 7-9pm at Centennial Park.  Sponsored by Poet Spot, people are encouraged (this means YOU too) to bring your poetry, instruments, cameras, and creativity (food would be cool too).  It should be a great time.

And speaking of a great time next week (it will be here before you know it), why not make plans for making it out next Tuesday, the 18th, to Fat Bottom Brewing Co. at 7pm to enjoy another East Side Storytellin’ show with me and some very special guests.  On hand will be the author and musician Ralph Murphy alongside the music by the almost famous and certainly will be soon enough because they are that great in that of Carolina Story!  It’s free to attend, starts at 7pm, will be outdoors with good weather, food and spirits and merch available, and art prints to enjoy  as well as paying the price of nothing but your time to get more cultured.  For more information, see-

http://eastsidestorytn.com/east-side-storytellin-15-where-mr-mojo-risin-finally-found-a-brain-and-the-watkins-lady-too/

Now, please go forth and have a great week while being nice to one another.

Enjoy your day.

 

much love,

chUck

 

www.eastsidestorytn.com

www.nashvillesheart.com

 

 

In the eye of a creative tornado

I won’t be too creative here today as my brain and body feel like mush from all of the fun I’ve been having on and off the hill in Monteagle the past two weeks and going steady, but I shall do my best. I guess that is all we can do at this point anyways.

And speaking of doing your best, at least doing something at all for that matter, pick up your internet compatible device of choice and let everyone you know who is an artist of any sort know about Metro Arts and NowPlayingNashville.com’s partnership in offering an enhanced artist directory service for Middle Tennessee! That’s right, the brand stinking new artist profile directory, hosted on NowPlayingNashville.com, will replace Metro Arts’ Artist Registry and offer singers, songwriters, visual artists, poets, performers and musicians the opportunity to create a profile in the directory with bios, photos, contact information and more. Anyone who had seen the old version instantly realized that many people didn’t take the little time it takes to keep their information updated (I think most people had either moved away or moved on to the upper room, God rest their souls), but this one is a great opportunity for a fresh, new start for everyone. And it’s so so so EASY to do and be a part of. You should be ashamed of yourself if you don’t get in on this action to help promote your creativity. Artists are encouraged to create a profile TODAY! Additionally, FREE training sessions will be offered for arists to learn about the directory so there really isn’t any excuse not to take full advantage of this … AND yes, I’m talking about YOU!!!! The FREE training sessions are Tuesday, June 26 @ 5pm and Wednesday, June 27 @ 2pm. Check HERE for more information and get on it already. Did I mention that once signed up all artists can link to their events on the NowPlayingNashville.com calendar to inform the masses of their activities? Yes, I just did.

Now, back to the visual arts in town specifically. This Friday, tomorrow, marks a brand new exhibition at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. From tomorrow-September 30, you will have the opportunity to see Constable: Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum in the Upper-Level Galleries. The exhibition explores the role of the oil sketch in the artistic practice of John Constable (1776-1837)-who just so happened to be a Revolutionary War baby and later played a major role in the history of landscape paintings while becoming one of the most influential British artists of all time. He’s kind of a really big deal. Again, you should come check out the paintings and see if for yourself.

In fact, tomorrow, June 22, at 6:30pm, you can come and see the Curator’s Perspective: “A Conservative Revolutionary: John Constable and Art History” forFREE at the Frist Center Auditorium. First come, first seated, Dr. Mark Evans, Senior Curator of Painting at the Victoria and Albert Musuem in London (not Kentucky) will talk you through all the wonderment that is within this exhibition. And when you walk out afterwards, not only will you be able to see the exhibition he’s talking about, but you can also check out the Metamorphoses: Drawings by Erin Anfinson, Kristi Hargrove, Mark Hosford, and Chris Scarborough (four Nashville artists) in the Conte Community Arts gallery.

Also in the downtown neighborhood and worth the trip if you are near it, don’t forget to check out ARTWORK AMONG US: Portraits by Juan Pont Lezica at The Parthenon East Gallery (on display through September 15th). Guest curated by Channel 4 news anchor Demetria Kalodimos, photographer Lezica has reimagined iconic paintings and sculptures with posing prominent Nashvillians in settings that reference the original artwork. It, like the location, is something quite epic in itself and worthy of the walk-by if anything else for sure. And if you happen to be in the neighborhood on July 5th or August 2nd from 5-7pm, you might be able to fun into some of the people in the pictures during the various receptions to be had on said dates and times (call 615-862-8431 for more information though on that tidbit).

And last but certainly not least for this week, I’d love to share with you two separate links that made my day recently. Both have to do with attending abstract modern art shows and this person’s take on how to critique and understand what the artists were thinking if at all. This was too funny not to share. Enjoy and have a great day and weekend ahead.

Read first:
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/im-sick-of-pretending-i-dont-get-art

And second:
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/frieze-fair-trying-to-get-art

much love,
chUck

www.nashvillesheart.com