The Work of Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier - Self Portrait

A few weeks ago Charley and I attend a taping of This American  Life beamed live into our local movie theater. It was fantastic! It included all the wonderful elements you usually get on the radio show, plus dynamite visual elements like dance and film. The show was great from start to finish, but if I had to pick a favorite part it would have to be the segment about Vivian Maier, who, until that evening I'd never heard of. I find her photography and her story fascinating. 

Vivian Maier may be one of the greatest street photographers of the twentieth century, but until recently her work and talent were undiscovered.  She spent most of her life working as a nanny for several families in the Chicago area. She was a loner and a hoarder who was known to speak her mind. In her free time she strolled the streets, snapping  thousands of photos with her Rolleiflex—photos that she never shared with anyone. No one saw the beautiful, haunting images she captured until 2007, when over 100,000 of her negatives were discovered in a storage locker auction. 

Here are some of her amazing photos: 

London for a Week

Last month we had the opportunity to visit my cousin, Natascha, and her husband, Duncan, in London. It was amazing! We had a fabulous time. Here are the highlights:

• We visited lots of museums: the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Modern, and the Natural History Museum...and the Tower of London.
• We eat tons of incredible food. The highlight was dinner at Roast where I eat a rabbit, cider, and Herefordshire snail pot pie...amazing!
• I was introduced to the delights of the Full English Breakfast, which consists of (for those of you who don't know) piles of breakfast meats, eggs, tomatoes, baked beans, and black pudding...total heaven! And can I just say, black pudding is magical? I'm totally obsessed with it. Happily, I've already located a store on Salt Lake that sells it.
• We saw oodles of amazing art. We saw the Lucian Freud Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and a Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern. Both exhibitions were fantastic and once in a life time experiences. 
• Natascha and I attended the Royal Ballet's production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was spectacular, but sadly our seat were not very good. We had a great time anyway. 
• And most importantly...I got to hold an owl!! A real live owl!! Talk about once in a life time.

Me and an owl!!

Baby owl at the Natural History Museum

Mews houses in my cousin's neighborhood (South Kensington)

Tower of London

View from the inside of the Tower of London out

Charley with wings

Natascha and I in Hyde Park

Charley and I in Hyde Park

Pretty London street

Our wonderful hosts

London scenery

Charley's Latest Show

Charley currently has a show at Coda Gallery in Palm Desert, California. I flew down there last weekend for the opening and then the two of us drove back through Las Vegas, where we had a mini vacations (more stories to come).The opening was successful and so far eight paintings have sold…I’m so proud of my talented husband!

Here are some photos I took at the opening:

The Work of Andy Goldworthy

Recently, Charley introduced me to the work of an amazing artist – sculptor, photographer and naturalist, Andy Goldworthy. His work is so moving, so breathtaking, I had to share it with you.

Andy Goldworhty uses natural, found objects, like leaves, flowers, sticks, rocks, and even ice to create large scale sculptural installations in nature. His work is made from nature and becomes part of the natural environment, where is subject to nature’s forces and often only lasts in the photographs he take of it. The end result is magical and, for me, very emotional. This is what he says about his work and process: "I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and ‘found’ tools--a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that there is something to be discovered. Here is where I can learn."

Charley and I watched an amazing documentary about him and his work called “Rivers and Tides.” It is available for streaming from Netflix, and I highly recommend you watch it. Here’s the trailer: 

Ballet West's Dracula

Last week I attend the opening night of Ballet West’s production of Dracula. Originally staged by Ben Stevenson and the Houston Ballet, the production had a lot of buzz around it, and I was extremely excited to see what was sure to be a fantastic spectacle…and what a perfect way to get in the Halloween spirit.  

Sadly, I was a little disappointed. This was my third time see seeing Ballet West perform. My first impression was not good. I saw Swan Lake back in 1994 and I hated it. I thought the dancers were mediocre at best. My second impression was much better…it was quite good in fact.  Last year I saw their tribute to the Ballet Russes and I loved it. I thought my first impression must have been result of my youthful ballet snobbery. But Dracula did not impress me overall. Don’t get me wrong, some things were great…but some things were really bad. Here’s my review:

The Story: B

The story was a little thin…but most classical ballets have a flimsy plot. So you can’t really fault it there.

The Music: A++

The music, composed by Franz Liszt, was wonderful and the orchestra was fantastic. That may have been the best part of the evening.

The Choreography: C-

The ballet was choreographed by Ben Stevenson (former Artistic Director at the Houston Ballet). For the most part I found the choreography to be an interesting mix of classical and contemporary ballet and I found it refreshing. But…and this a big but…some of it was awkward and just plain awful.  

In the third act, Flora, Dracula’s head wife had a solo and it was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen on a stage (and I’ve seen some weird things including bad performance art). It reminded me of a combination of bad interpretive dance and the Mad TV character Stuart..."Look what I can do!” I actually cringed on several occasions.

The Costumes: A+

The costumes were wonderful. I especially enjoyed the gowns worn by Dracula’s wives and how the flowing skirts were incorporated in the choreography.

The Special Effect: A-

This is one of the elements I was most excited about. This ballet incorporates a lot of aerial work…Dracula and his wives can fly! And it was very cool, but the rope work was at times a bit jerky. The lighting and dry ice were dreadfully creepy…great!

The Dancing: B-

I have two thought about the dancing. First, I think the dancers might have been struggling a little with the unusual choreography. And second, I think they needed more rehearsal. The Corps de Ballet seemed to be out of sync with each other on several occasions and a few of them even seem to forget the steps…really not good. There were also several noticeable stumbles.   

That being said, a few of the dancers really stood out in a positive way. Katherine Lawrence danced the role of Svetlana, and she was lovely. Aidan DeYoung dance the role of Renfield and I think he stole the show.

Overall Grade: B

Now that I’ve expressed my opinion I have to ask you to take it all with a grain of salt. As an ex-ballerina I may have some snobbery left in me. And my background may have skewed my opinion of the performance. Growing up in a major metropolitan area I had the opportunity to see, take class with, and even perform with the worlds most talented dancers. And for a short time, I was privileged enough to train at one of the worlds best (and most famous) ballet schools (The Bolshoi in Moscow). So, my expectations are always high…maybe too high.

All-in-all it was a good night and I had a great time. I will definitely attend more Ballet West performances. 

300 Plates

Last week Charley and I attended a really fun event here in Salt Lake – The 9^th annual 300 Plates Fundraiser and Exhibition at the Art Access Gallery. This exhibition is held every year to raise money for Art Access. Art Access is a non-profit organization the works to provide inclusive arts programming for Utahns with disabilities and those with limited access to the arts.

The 300 Plates Fundraiser and Exhibition is a great event and it was lots for fun to attend. This year 102 established and emerging Utah artists participated (including Charley)…some contributed more than one plate. Each artist created work on an 11- by 10-inch recycled metal printer’s plate. The plates were hung in a large grid pattern – the plate in the first square of the grid was priced at $75, and the prices went up in $1 increment from there – the last plate was $375.

A small selection of paintings were also place in a silent auction, with bids starting at $500. Charley’s plate was in the silent auction…I’m so proud!

When we arrived at the event we received color coded wristbands (I’ll explain in a minute) and the gallery was open for 1 hour for everyone to view the plates and make a note of which one they might like to purchase.

Then the gallery was only open for three minute intervals – here’s where the colored wristbands come in. So, wristbands were pulled at random from a hat (and actual top hat) and the colors were called out. When your color was called you’d have three minute’s to go through the gallery and place a sticker with you name on it below the plate you wanted…if someone else hadn't gotten to it first. My color was called towards the end, but I was still lucky enough to get one of the plates that both Charley I liked…and great little shadowbox with a robot in it (artist, Derek Mellus, used the plate to form a 3-D box). Charley wasn't so lucky. His color was called dead last and everything he like was sold by then.

There was also live music and food from the Himalayan Kitchen…yum! It was a really fun evening.

Back in the Studio

Charley spend the first part of the winter setting up two new studios in Salt Lake. He’s renting space for acrylics, were he starts all his work. And he built a studio in half of our garage for when he’s working in oil. He had to frame it out, insulate it, update the electric and added power, and added a ventilation system. It was a big job that took longer than I expected. But now it’s done and he's been back to painting since February.

Last week I visited him at his acrylics studio where he’s got about ten new paintings in the works. Here are some pictures:

Holiday Painting Exchange

Last weekend Charley and I hosted the first annual Holiday Painting Exchange of Secret Society of Utah Artists (name pending). The group was organized by Charley as a way to share work with each other. Here’s how it works. Every year, each of the 8 artists involved will draw the name of one of the other artist and paint them a painting. The painting should reference the artist it’s being painted for in some way – their work, their personality, or whatever. Then artists and spouses get together to exchange the painting and for some merriment. After 8 years each artist will have a complete collection of each other work.

The inaugural year was a great success. I prepared a wonderful meal of ham and other treats…and much merriment was had! It was a great thrill to have a house full of amazing art and artist.

The artists:

The art:

The spread:

New Mexico

I recently traveled to New Mexico with Charley. He was part of a group show at Giacobbe-Fritz Fine Art in Santa Fe, so I went do for the opening. I’d never been to Santa Fe before so I was excited to experience the food, architecture, art and desert…and it did not disappoint. Well we were there we ate several delicious meals (including sushi with a New Mexico flare -- complete with chillies), drank Aztec sipping chocolate, visited an Indian casino, explored old Route 66 and, of course, looked at lots of art.

View photos here.