Culture Briefs
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Upcoming Theater Performances, Sketch Comedy, Ethnic Nights
New Play Festival: UGA students have been turning out an astonishing amount of dramatic writing in recent years, not simply in quantity but in quality of an impressive level. Clearly it’s high time to feature a sampling of some of the best work by current students and recently graduated alumni. There are seven playwrights and four directors. The whole thing is overseen by executive director John Patrick Bray, a UGA professor who is also a notable playwright himself. It’s an eclectic collection of plays, but Bray has noticed an emerging theme of the supernatural, family connections (and the lack thereof), and babies both born and unborn. He's joined by two PhD students (Geoffrey Douglas, Seth Wilson) and an MFA acting student (Ami Sallee) in directing the seven plays with a strong ensemble of student actors.
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AthFest Educates Selects Lou Kregel as its 2016 Theme Artist
Local colorist and pattern designer Lou Kregel has been officially named as the theme artist of the 2016 AthFest Music & Arts Festival and AthHalf Half Marathon. Her artwork will be used on the event websites, merchandise, signage and as cover art of the 20th anniversary AthFest 2-CD set.
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Ray Lee Wins Solo Show Award at 'Reciprocal II: OCAF Members at UNG'
Georgia Strange’s “Residue” has the added benefit of an olfactory component. Viewers can experience the work from two feet away with their eyes closed. There is a familiar smell that perhaps you can’t quite put your finger on. The smell of almost used up bars of Dial soap.
From a distance, the work looks like one of those scraps of paper watercolorists create as they mix color samples. The bars of soap, which are nailed in tidy rows to a white board, have a luminous quality and appear to have subtly different values and color saturations.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t track Ms. Strange down to ask her more about her oddly appealing work at this week’s opening reception for "Reciprocal II: OCAF Members at UNG." But I did get to chat briefly with Ray Lee, the lucky winner of a future solo show that night.
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The Colorful Home of Athens Textile Artist Susan Hable Smith
Photo Credit: Barbette Houser
Susan Hable Smith in her art lined entry; the sofa is upholstered in Hable Construction fabric.
The brass fox knocker on the azure blue door hints at the surprises that lie within the Cobbham home of designer Susan Hable Smith. Inside, Moroccan textiles, bold wallpapers, pairs of diminutive chairs, assorted opera props, funky photographs and quirky ceramic eyes are arranged artfully in a visual feast.
On one of those sunny, warm surprise Saturdays in February, the artist was sharing her home with supporters of WUGA. The back door was wide open, welcoming the breeze and revealing camellias in full bloom and tea olives beginning to flower. The large kitchen table offered up heaps of pimiento cheese and other specialties by Marti’s at Midday.
It was plain to see that this Texas to New York City to Athens transplant has mastered the Southern hospitality thing.
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Leonard Piha’s Art Celebrates Family, Memory and More at Athens Academy
Photo Credit: Barbette Houser
Leonard Piha with his painting "My Dad."
Leonard Piha’s “Celebrating Painting and Sculpture," now on view at Athens Academy, is a celebration of many things: family, memory, Jewish life, the natural world and more. With its bold colors, recycled materials and often childlike simplicity, the show as a whole has a playful quality and is fun to view.
At the reception for the show on Sunday, the artist emphasized that he was not a trained painter, but was now feeling compelled to paint. He did say, rather modestly, that he had a lot of experience mixing colors. Piha has been the art teacher at Barnett Shoals Elementary School since 1998.
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Athens 'Feels the Vern' at Reception for Beloved Local Vernon Thornsberry
Photo Credit: Barbette Houser
Detail from "The Rumble", a large scale work in charcoal on canvas.
I have known artist and musician Vernon Thornsberry for many years now, mostly from late nights on the dance floor at the 40 Watt or the Go Bar. I know his gentle smile, his easy humor, his grace and his kindness.But on Saturday night, at the reception for “The Work of Vernon Thornsberry,” I realized that I don’t really know him at all.Walking into the Old Firehall on Prince Avenue, my jaw dropped when I saw the work on display. The impact of seeing a room full of Thornsberry’s paintings was overwhelming—because the beauty of each work is so very quiet. They whisper. But when 27 of them are shown at one time, their power is undeniable. They knock you over.You realize that this soft spoken man, this sweet guy on a scooter, this “Athens personality” is also an extraordinary painter. -
Artists Flock to Celebrate “Love in All Its Many Forms” at KA Artist Shop
Photo Credit: Barbette Houser
Kristin Ashley, owner of KA Artist Shop, ready for guests before the opening
From the Daler Rowney Artist Inks laid out in a neat and tidy spectrum of color to the origami-like modern chairs that beckon you to sit around a crafting table and create something with your hands, everything at the Kristin Ashley Artist Shop in downtown Athens speaks of seduction. Rows of colorful papers tempt and appeal. “Pump Action” fat paint markers entice with their girth. And on a recent Thursday night, many Athens area artists just couldn't get enough of the store’s latest exhibit: "Love in All Its Many Forms."
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This Weekend in Theater: The Mandrake, Back to the Summer & The Moore, The Merrier
Photo Credit: C. Adron Farris III
Drew Atkinson as Callimaco and Hannah Klevesahl as Calfucci in University Theatre's production of Machiavelli's The Mandrake.
The Mandrake: Who runs the world? Girls! Specifically, girls dressed as boys who are treating girls like sex objects. And those girls are literally puppets. This mad, mad world is University Theatre’s innovative take on Machiavelli’s misogynistic comedy where the end justifies the means as long as you get what you want—assuming you are a man. Or a woman playing a man in this case.
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