Film art in its second century still contends with basically divergent perspectives, even as its technological and stylistic maturation make possible the realization of ever more imaginative visions. How can a filmgoer appreciate the value of a film when most films bring such impressive visuality to theaters?

Clapp believes it’s important for folks to pay attention to film detail in order to develop a more complex understanding of their own reality. He also believes that writer/directors create better films. Clapp brings his own artist’s sensitivity to select films for his series. Consequently, those who attend these films not only enjoy a relaxed presentation, but they also find the time for discussion of those films’ qualities.

The next film in this series is Early Summer by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. Upcoming films include Federico Fellini’s famous La Strada and Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries. All of these directors have been included in Janus Film’s 2006 DVD box and book Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films. The book sees La Strada  (1954) “as an international phenomenon.” I cannot sufficiently stress how being in the presence of such great films improves both one’s sensitivity to the medium and one’s acuity with respect to reality—the illusive medium of our own lives.

As an art community, Chattanooga shows harmony in that the director of the library, an artist himself, takes time to help people appreciate the complex art of film. Clapp was once apprenticed to an artist, and he became a portrait painter. His college studies included film. Clapp began as assistant director of the library in 1989, and he has been director since 2002. Clapp’s “Flick’s Café” series started about a year and a half ago.

Clapp’s deep appreciation of film covers a broad range. He also follows his interests in plays and poetry. He finds film a poetic medium because of its emphasis on image and montage. Although Clapp believes better films tend to be made by writer/directors, he dislikes the term “auteur”, because its usage tends toward elitism. If one pays attention to film, one can find a good deal of quality across the board.

As more and more film is produced, the hierarchical perceptions concerning film become less important. This profusion of film also impels viewers toward a better awareness of this medium. Film has a rich history and knowledge of that history can be invaluable when one enters the digital theater.

“Flick’s Café” events take place in the main auditorium at the central library downtown. Films are shown through DVD projection in a comfortable environment. There is a suggested donation of $1 for the film. Desserts are also for sale, and coffee is provided. Although some films may contain mature themes, the movies shown at “Flick’s Café” can be watched by kids. Also look for the Sunday afternoon film showings, now that the library has Sunday hours.

Flick’s Café 1950’s Film Series
$1 suggested donation
6 p.m. doors open, 6:30 p.m film starts
Tuesday nights through January 5
Hamilton County Bicentennial Library
(central downtown)
1001 Broad Street
(423) 757-5310. www.lib.chattanooga.gov

Yet the longevity of these overly performed farces appears to correspond to the playwrights’ mastery of witty one-liners, irony which buzzes around an issue and then—like a wasp—stings with such force that the truth hurts. They also have a coherent story with a beginning, middle, and end.

In comparison, Paul Rudnick’s Regrets Only shines with wit and humor, but falls short in establishing a coherent theme, a main character, or appropriate questions for the audience to wrestle with after the lights go down.

When Hank Hadley (played by John Hammons), a famous fashion designer, loses his long-time lover, Mike, Hank visits his friends the McCulloughs for support and companionship. But when Jack McCullough (played by director Patrick Sweetman) and his daughter, Spenser (played by Lizzie Chazen), agree to help the president of the United States write legislature to protect “traditional” marriage, Hank begins to evaluate not only his friendship with the McColloughs but also his past relationship with Mike, whom he never married, nor had the desire to. Tibby McCullough (played by Anne Swedberg), Jack’s wife and Hank’s long-time friend, becomes the catalyst of the play’s conflict, as Tibby is pulled in opposite directions by her contrasting loves for Jack and Hank.

Chattanooga Theatre Centre’s production of Regrets Only is performed in the round with a set showing a wealthy American family’s living room. The set design was appropriately simple, as the one-liners provided ample color to the performance. Director Patrick Sweetman utilizes multiple entrances and exits by having the maid, Myra (played by Marcia L. Parks), interrupt her employers at inopportune times with critiques reminiscent of Dorine from Tartuffe.

Under Sweetman’s direction, this production offers a cast of impressive relationships and overall good comedic timing. Hammons and Swedberg portray longtime friends with a mutual appreciation for the other’s emotional support in a world that misunderstands them both—Hank as a homosexual and Tibby as a brainless socialite, concerned only with fashion and cocktails. Swedberg communicates confidence and humor, providing Hammons an excellent companion to give and take ironic quips about marriage, men and women, and social conventions.

Chazen brings her unique style to the newly engaged Spencer McCullough who, in Spencer’s words, has gone “Bridezilla.” Chazen’s portrayal is energetic and interesting. There were only a few times when her line delivery and physicality became caricature. Sweetman’s portrayal of Jack McCullough seemed too often one-level, as he emphasized the humor in his lines while neglecting the potential for variation in his character’s personality.

Nancy Hammons, as the stereotypical elderly rich white woman Marrietta Claypoole, who feels no guilt in spending exorbitant amounts of money on furs, booze, and the best seats in the house, brings an impressive, dynamic quality to her character. In the last act, Marrietta, hurt by Tibby’s critique of her as a pedantic and condescending mother, decides to treat her daughter as an adult. Hammons convinces the audience that she has heard, changed slightly, but continues to defy despair even after realizing her failure as a mother. This is farce, after all.

And finally, Parks as the eccentric and, often plot-driving Myra brings energy and much humor to the play with her comedic timing and physicality. Her Irish accent is impressive as well.

Humor often highlights humankind’s magnificent ability to maintain a discrepancy between what one says and what one means, between what one promises will be done and what one actually does, and finally between what is hoped for and what the situation actually allows. Portrayed by the talented cast of The Chattanooga Theatre Centre, Rudnick’s Regrets Only possesses many instances of these hilarious ironies. Yet comedy often attempts to bring some resolution—Wilde’s Jack finds that for all of society’s lies  (which he adds to), it sometimes stumbles upon the truth; and Moliere’s Orgon finally recognizes and is purged of the hypocrite Tartuffe.

For resolution, Rudnick offers a laugh in both the face of all who would prevent gay marriage and those who hope for it, simply acknowledging that it is a complex question that challenges the presuppositions of many Americans. But what is the audience member supposed to take from the theater, except the frustration that comedy can become a gimmick, tricking people into affirming ridiculous and contradicting ideas, yet not illuminating them through humor and then suggesting a conclusion, an action, or a stance. But then again, laughter does help the heart, right?

Regrets Only
$15
8 p.m.
November 13, 14, 20, 21
Chattanooga Theatre Centre,
Circle Stage, 400 River Street
(423) 267-8534.
www.theatrecentre.com

“Z” and “Pinky”, featured performers of the Sadistic Scenic City Sideshow, will engage in a live collaboration with Neon Viking Funeral and Secret Guilt to present sideshow acts with a dynamic, improvisational, electronic ambience. Having seen these acts individually, I greatly anticipate their interactive combination. This seems a natural melding of unnatural performance sure to propel the whole presentation into new levels of the weird.

Additionally, Emotron will bring his own improvisational music and performance mix to this party. Hard to define, but stunning in its impact, Emotron works within an “anti-beauty” concept that mixes his original music, performed with a sequencer, with a vulgar regard for “fierce theatrics” songs combined with rants and strange stories, often other people’s stories told in his own way, combining verbal weirdness with raw music into memorable bits.

According to Z, the emphasis of this whole show will involve an exploration of the unusual, delving into negative energy and transforming it into positive energy. The interaction of the audience, whose imagination will be provoked by unconventional acts, will contribute to performative renewal. Audience members are encouraged to come in costume and to bring an open attitude.

Mose Giganticus will bring their keyboard-driven, futuristic post-punk sound. Their minimalist approach produces a larger sound than might be expected, moving the audience into motion. Their approach will add another dimension to the complex musical range of this show.

I spoke with Jerry Reed Jr., who along with Chris Griffin, makes up Neon Viking Funeral. They will combine with Tony Levi, who is Secret Guilt, to provide an interactive soundtrack to the Sideshow performance. I’ve been very impressed with Neon Viking Funeral’s ability to rip away mundane mystical expectations and to lead listeners into unfamiliar aural territory.

There remains some confusion regarding the term “noise” with respect to music. “Noise” as a communication term designates anything that interferes with communication. However, the aesthetic of electronic music is founded on the range of sound, and that range includes noise; for example, white and pink noise generators form a part of electronic instrumentation. Further, electronic music itself maybe shorthanded as “noise.” Jerry Reed doesn’t mind that appellation, but he would remind listeners that noise is just a part of “valid electronic music expression.”

Although some avant-garde musical strategies predate electronic music, the explicit lack of scales and melodies in electronic music’s arrangements of sounds has caused it to be derided as “noise.” Jerry considers this label just slang for the strange freedom and complex discipline of electronic composition.  Sometimes this music has a scary effect, because the familiar conventions of ordinary music are absent. The interactive electronics that will improvise with the Sideshow performances should provide great enhancement.

Be sure to look for other Subterranean Circus events at the upcoming Chattacon and ConNooga events.

“Dystopia”
$7
10 p.m.
Friday, November 6
JJ’s Bohemia, 231 E. MLK Blvd.
(423) 266-1400. www.myspace.com/jjsbohemia

Johnston Foster’s found material sculptures combine humor with complex concepts to produce effects that stun and satisfy. Christine Gray’s work, including paintings and painted gourd constructions, appears more cerebral as it invites viewers to contemplate the sources of imaginative vision. My strongest impression of this show reminded me how playful concentration strives toward expression that not only realizes complex forms, but also illuminates the impulse that provokes the artist to project such visions.

Foster and Gray are both faculty artists at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. They appear at the Cress Gallery as part of the UTC John and Diane Marek Visiting Artists Series. Comments that I encountered during the reception expressed excitement. I think that this is a particularly exemplary show for art students as well as the viewing public. Flashes of brilliance combining whimsy with depth remind me of innovative works lately at the Hunter’s NYU show and at the “Collaborations” exhibition at the Chattanooga African American Museum.

These artists, each in their own way, produce synthetic works that merge what are often seen as divergent forms: realist and expressionist modes. Christine Gray, a native of Austin, Texas, presents a small series of painted gourds and steel constructions. The natural gourds are connected to steel with oils, using an intricate and energetic dynamic, as in “Black Zap” (2009). The painting connects the abstract to the real.

Gray also develops playful titles for her works that enhance their presence, a kind of extension of her method, probably best seen in her paintings. She creates constructions of relatively simple materials. These real constructions inhabit her paintings, but, unlike a still life, her use of paint not only tends to alter these constructions, but also to connect these constructions to more abstract fields of light and texture. A fantastic cosmic energy drives the imagination forth from her constructed frames, indicating how the mundane remains connected to universal forces.

There is a common design known as “God’s Eye,” where a cross of wood supports a colorful diamond of yarn. Some of Gray’s frames involve wooden sticks that support yarn in open structures, suggesting portals to otherworldly energies, often combining light and darkness and the clarity of optics with abstract play. The effect often seamlessly merges the real and the unreal, a synthesis of the continuum of aesthetic vision. Brava!

Johnston Foster’s surreal construction “Altered Beast” (2008), a dynamic strangeness of plastic feathering and other forms, vividly shows how a “static” piece can project great energy. His “Mob Scene” resembles the mob at Frankenstein’s castle, yet, paradoxically, proves in its onslaught to the viewer that the effect of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I found layers of subtexts reaching from the whimsical to the disturbed detritus of good times.

In “Good ‘N Plenty” (2005), a rubber cornucopia spews forth a wealth of consumer wishes. The excited “Big Tipper” (2008), a two-headed turtle, spills off its back a feast worthy of The Satyricon’s Trimalchio. The massive concentration of found materials, much plastic pretending to be real, call to mind a number of contexts that underlie our precarious existence. All this play reveals the drive to revelation. Do not panic—it’s only art!

The Pulse’s Stephanie Smith spoke with Christopher McElroen, co-founder and Executive Director of CTH, to find out more about the company and their version of the Beckett classic.

Stephanie Smith: Tell me a little more about the creation of CTH. I read that the company grew out of the success of a Shakespeare workshop that [you and Alfred Preisser] taught at the Harlem School of the Arts in the fall of 1998?

Christopher McElroen: I never had a grand design to go to Harlem to design a theatre company. It came out of the classes I was teaching. There was a real hunger and desire for the work in the community.

SS: I know CTH is beloved by the critics, but what has been the community response?

CM: It’s always been positive. Most of the artists are residents of Harlem. The response has been strong or I don’t think we would have lasted 10 or 11 years.

SS: I had the opportunity to meet one of your company members, Katori Hall, a few years ago at the Chattanooga Festival of Writers. She spoke very passionately, not only about writing but about her strong connection to Harlem.

CM: Yes, Katori was a student at the Harlem School of the Arts. Her writing grew out of that. She has a very strong point of view.

SS: How do actors become company members?

CM: Anybody we choose has to be passionate and committed. What we are trying to create is something as important and as immediate as possible for as diverse an audience as possible. We try to be creative.

SS: How do you choose material?

CM: We look for anything we think our audience and artists would respond to. We look at what’s happening in the world. When we chose Waiting for Godot, New Orleans was very much in public eye. We just took the basic idea of people waiting and chose the most emblematic play about waiting to reach a diverse contemporary audience.

SS: What was the response when you toured Godot in New Orleans?

CM: Nearly 10,000 people showed up to see the play over the course of project. The community really took on a sense of ownership of the play. To have a play draw 10,000 people to a street corner—that doesn’t happen every day. We were really pleased by the response.

SS: Is there a continuing relationship with the city of New Orleans? Is that why you’re touring the show?

CM: Well, our stage manager was born and raised in New Orleans and several others have connections there. We wanted to continue to shed light on the struggle that still exists within the city and continue the dialogue that surrounds it. We are attempting to dialogue through theatre.

SS: So, how do you go about contemporizing these classical pieces—Shakespeare, Chekhov, Beckett?

CM: We don’t hold the text as sacred as other people might. And certainly we’ve found an audience for it, probably because we don’t treat them [the plays] as museum pieces.

SS: For people who might not know the play or who may have heard “It’s a play about nothing!”, how do you generate interest in your production?

CM: We’ve taken a pedestrian and optimistic approach. We’ve stripped away all the existential baggage and made it about two guys waiting for another guy. We’ve tried to fill the moments with hope and humor. [The result is] an educating and surprisingly funny evening of theatre. If they come, they will not be bored.

The Dorothy Patten Fine Arts Series presents
Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Waiting for Godot
$22 adults / $15 students
7:30 pm
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
UTC Fine Arts Center
Corner of Vine and Palmetto Streets
(423) 425-4269. www.utc.edu

“persona/anima” not only presents various styles of figurative artwork, but it also provides interactive activities and a series of events to promote thought about identity—who and how we are.

Jessica Martin, curator, emphasizes how interaction plays an integral role in this show, both within this exhibit and during upcoming events that will play with aspects of identity. Jessica and Katie Waddell created a playroom within this exhibit, complete with painted wallpaper and company kitsch, with accessories, so that folks can “dress” and take Polaroids of themselves for display on an adjacent wall. (It’s not so long since Polaroid announced it would no longer be producing its film, so this experience now presents a rare opportunity.)

Three dresses by Kimara Dawn adorn the main gallery window. “Morgan Le Fay,” “Augustine,” and “Charmaine” will come off their stands when models present them during the “Model Mingle Cocktail Event” next week. Other designers involved include Allison Burke, Young Monster, Bridget Miller, Leo Handmade, Sondra Aten and Collective Clothing. In this case, interaction will involve the models’ presence among the guests, rather than their “presentation” to the guests. “Personae” up close.

“persona/anima” exemplifies efforts to contextualize art within environmental freeplay. The act or art emerges into a social context. “Persona” represents a commonplace in the perfomative arts; for example, “cosplay.” Carl Jung defined the concept of “anima” along with its gender-specific counterterm “animus” as “a spontaneous production of the unconscious,” comparing anima to the oriental “maya”, “spinner of illusion.”

“Anima/animus” internal projections arise from the unconscious at its interface with the “collective unconscious,” Jung’s term for the deeper brain structure that we all share. These projections underlie social interaction in such a way that they provide a powerful context for individuals who are granted confidence, but, paradoxically, who are largely unable to relate to others, particularly other genders. Sometimes these projections will match up well, a basis for love.
The recent showing of the film Glen or Glenda at 55Here presents an interesting example. It’s probably fair to say that “Glenda” represents an “external projection” of “Glen”’s internally projected anima, highly controversial.

Of the artwork on view, Matthew Grady’s three pieces, “The Entertainer,” “Adept of the Cold Flame,” and “Chivalry” are based on Tarot designs and incorporate comic book-style graphics. These images convey shock, provoking the viewer to consider deeper issues, the difficult conscious terrain of the anima.
Michael Woods’ “Repose,” thick with color, presents an odalisque figure, an image of deep stillness, inviting contemplation, even as this white figure appears to contemplate the viewer.

Mia Bergeron’s tactile charcoal backgrounds put into relief two nuanced faces. “Fear” and “Pause” are rendered with a paradoxical exactness where precise expressions convey depths.

Tara Harris’s mounted digital prints “Where We Can Eat For Free” and “That’s Just Untrue” extract moments with stylistic range, suggesting imponderables of our days.

Daniel Wroe’s “Um-Glow?” brings an element of humor to its mini-installation of mixed media faces that interact with each other. “Has Someone Just Turned On the Light?” drolly ambiguous, these characters remind us that serious art can be fun.

There are more pieces to discover and more events to attend, with interactivity offering viewers more creative opportunities. Will you play, too?

persona/amima
Free
55Here, CreateHere, 55 E. Main Street
(423) 648-2195. www.createhere.org

Model Mingle Cocktail Event
Wednesday, October 19, 6-8 p.m.

A Creation of Character Luncheon Featuring Garry Posey and Kim Jackson
Wednesday, October 21: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Costume and Mask Party
Friday, October 30, all day.

“The opening of the UTC Fine Arts Center not only gave UTC students new arts facilities and classroom space, but I would argue that the UTC FAC may have been one of the earliest catalysts for revitalizing the arts in Chattanooga,” says Bob Boyer, Patten Series Director. “In fact, the Patten series was the first and most visible contribution of the FAC to the Chattanooga arts scene.”

The series was named after Dorothy Patten, Chattanooga’s most influential and important performing artist. Its proposed vision was “to present an eclectic series of performers of national reputation and superior talents which will augment the artistic presentations of Chattanooga’s professional symphony, opera and theater…it will serve to broaden and deepen the artistic life of our community.” From its first season of performances, featuring such renowned international artists as Marcel Marceau and The Vienna Boys Choir, to this 30th anniversary season, featuring Classical Theatre of Harlem and Red Priest, the Patten Series has continued to forward its mission, presenting exciting performances by artists of all genres unlikely to be seen elsewhere in Chattanooga.

The following is a brief description of the 30th anniversary season:

Nagata Shachu
Friday, October 2 at 8 p.m.
For more than 10 years, this Japanese drum (taiko) ensemble has toured the world, entertaining audiences with an ancient art form by producing a wide spectrum of sound, from thunderous and primal to subtle and intricate.

Waiting for Godot
Tuesday, October 27 at  7:30 p.m.
Classical Theatre of Harlem rocked the U.S. with their revival of the Samuel Beckett classic when they reinterpreted it for New Orleans after the nation’s lack of response to Hurricane Katrina.

Urban Bush Women
Monday, November 16 at 7:30 p.m.
This award-winning African American dance ensemble has taken its message of female experience and cultural/social responsibility all over the world for 25 years.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet
Tuesday, January 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Founded in 1994 by two Alvin Ailey virtuosos, the company has been invited to appear in all of the major European dance festivals with their thought-provoking work.

The Holly Hofmann/Mike Wofford Quartet
Sunday, February 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Holly Hofmann is the premiere jazz flutist in the country. Together with pianist Mike Wofford’s quartet, they produce some of the finest jazz heard anywhere.

Romeo & Juliet
Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 3 p.m. and Monday, March 29, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
One of America’s most acclaimed touring repertory theater groups, The Acting Company, returns to Chattanooga to present Shakespeare’s most recognized play.

Red Priest
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
This acoustic foursome is the only early-music group in the world to have been compared in the press to the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers, and Cirque du Soleil.

UTC Fine Arts Center Patten Series
$22 individual tickets
All performances in Fine Arts Center, Vine & Palmetto Streets.
(423) 425-4269. www.tickettracks.com
For more information, visit www.utc.edu and search for “Patten Series”

Maria Price works as a project manager for the Fandom Girls Collective.  Besides Maria as “Wonder Woman,” the 2010 Fandom Calendar Girls include Maria Vixen (Miss Fandom), Constance Jessica Nicole, Mel, Corrine, Ch4otic Neutr4l, Kel, Bambi, Lynn, Leslie, Alice and Gizmo. Distinct Images Photography, one of the calendar’s sponsors, has produced the calendar photos, which are charming and very well composed.

Each girl has a role in this calendar’s production, aside from their “cosplay” roles, in creating the calendar pages. All are local Chattanooga girls.
To create “cosplay” characters, people employ different strategies, much like Halloween; some will work to develop the exact detail of a particular character, while others derive with style a particular genre look.  Maria Price cannot recall when she didn’t like to dress up, and her version of Wonder Woman wondrously leaps into life from the pages of the classic comic.

Cosplay presents a form of performance art that anyone can do. The enactment of a cosplay persona builds confidence and camaraderie in the case of our fandom girls; the whole effect becomes enhanced by their cooperation with each other. On a larger scale, conventions and events, like the upcoming tournament at Dicehead, build exuberance and community among the participants. This cosplay participatory culture has something in common with people’s increasing interest in tattoos.

Recently, at the Third Annual Tattoo Convention here, Jessica Brown, who has her upper arms inked with “Dream” and “Delerium” (two of the “Endless” from Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” comics), shows how characters can be a part of our personal personas. One of the calendar girls, Gizmo, uses ordinary ink to create various forehead designs that look like tattoos, while contributing to the evolution of her own persona.

The proceeds from calendar sales will go to the Mary Ellen Locher Foundation, a scholarship fund for secondary education for children who have lost a parent to breast cancer or who are children of breast cancer survivors.

Maria Price emphasizes that so many people are affected by breast cancer, directly or indirectly. To me, this type of performance art, which brings images to life, seems partiucalrly appropriate in this context. So get your calendars, and enjoy the baked goods and company at the gaming event.

Fandom Girls Calendars are available at their web site, www.fandomgirls.com.  But how much better to get them at the their personal appearances, and, of course, at the upcoming ConNooga.

Fandom Girls 2010 Calendar Signing and Bake Sale
2 – 6 p.m.
Saturday, September 26
Dicehead Games and Comics
6231 Perimeter Drive
(423) 553-1960

Rose Martin, executive director of the museum, explains with simple eloquence that these works “make you feel.” During my first encounter with this exhibit, I was quickly struck by the directness of the works and by the artists’ clear devotion to the substance of their work. Carmen Davis, curator of this exhibit, has presented the works with a kind of “woven” approach. Where one finds something new, near it are other pieces that echo works encountered earlier in one’s tour.

Most of the works are figural, employing a wide variety of media with a surety of effect. Bisa Butler’s quilt of “Marvin Gaye” (2008) applies dye and fabric like print to provide a stunning likeness. Somewhat more expressionist, Phyliss Stevens’ quilt “Red Hot Afternoon” (2005) projects a tactile sense of frank eroticism. Frank Frazier, who was present at the opening reception, employs various media and collage in his three-dimensional jazz archetype “Ubuntu” (2007). Much simpler, but breathtaking, Chukes’ ceramic sculpture “Gypsy” blends the tactile with color into startling presence.

In fact, “presence” plays a significant role in this collection. The term “aura” explicitly connects a work to its setting, like the Statue of Liberty in New York’s harbor. Experiencing the work in its setting remains paramount. In the “Collaborations” collection, the presence of these works intimately engages the viewer. Of all the senses of the word “collaboration,” the most essential sense involves the relationship between the work and the viewer. You are an essential part of this collaboration. You complete the meanings inherent in these pieces.

The sublime collage by Ariston Jacks, “X+Isador=Saturn” (2009), with its glassed-in portions, plays with this sense of setting by giving it mobility, surely paradoxical. Elements of the collage “Witness” by Leroy Johnson (2007) seem almost childish, but the horror of youth provides a powerful spiritual force. Children themselves are the subject of Kirsten Williams’ “The Bringers of Light” (2008), children advancing to futurity, spiritual progress.

“Dancin with Possibilities” by Kevin Cole (2008) rushes the viewer with exuberant joy through the seemingly impossible expressionist wood construction. There are also a number of lithographic works, including John Biggers’ “Hazel” (2000) and Samella Lewis’ “Together We Stand” (2007). The sense of history and political struggle remains an important part of the presence of “Collaborations.”

Terrific paintings engage the eye; “Harlem August Rain” by Tafa (date uncertain, 1999 or 2000) and “The Long Walk Home” by William Tolliver (1989) work the oil medium so that their clear subjects verge on abstraction. “Hard Times” by Dean Mitchell (2009) and “Blue Collar” by Mario Robinson (2006) share a commonality of subject and tone, but they push their respective media, watercolor and pastel, into powerful renderings. “Not Alone,” by Marjorie Williams-Smith (2008) paradoxically possesses a unique quality of such elegant abstraction, sublime play!

A very interesting sense of the term “collaboration” can be found in the painting “Refugees” by twins Jerry and Terry Lynn (2008), in which stillness of effect emerges from a very dynamic use of color. I watched Jerry and Terry produce a performance portrait of “Algebra” from Atlanta during the Heritage Festival as “artists in motion.” More wonderful artistic play!

Such a delightful array of works in numerous styles can be found here. Go, and complete this great collaboration.

“Collaborations: Two Decades of African American Art”
$5
10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Monday-Friday
Noon – 4 p.m. Saturday
200 E. MLK Blvd.
(423) 266-8658. www.caamhistory.org