Master of Serendipity: artist Priscilla Williams

Mary Mack

Artists are masters of serendipity:
they have an aptitude for making desirable "discoveries by accident and sagacity." (Horace Walpole)  

Sunday Morning

Their creator, is a local artist named 
Priscilla Williams.  Describing her process she says, "when I start...I have an abstract idea, ...however, as I work with the materials my artwork takes on a life of its own." 


Sunday Morning, for example is embellished with black metal curlicues on top of sheet music. The spirals add a dimension to the dress that it wouldn't have if they'd been drawn on. 

Flower Power

This collage is made of metal flowers, colored seeds (I think), feathers and egg shells. The textures are interesting in their juxtaposition. 

Flowers are fragile while aluminum cans are nearly indestructible . And the broken shells are unlike our smooth skin. 

Maybe they represent a person's vulnerability to being broken. (Now I think I'm an art critic!)

I would never think of putting these materials together. 






The curly slices of Coke cans add sparkle to the skirt of the dress at the right. The title is "Can we Dance." Shimmying in this frock would give the dancer bling and jingle. 

I love the whimsey of Lady P's imaginative, recycled creations, and they induced me to return to the library to take more photos.

The collages are rich in texture and invited me to reach out and touch. I resisted!

I contacted Lady P via Facebook, and here's a link to her art page, A Creative Mind. She teaches classes at the Sawtooth School for Visual Arts in Winston Salem, and provides free classes for kids in her own program called Wings. 

I wish her well. 

Music and Art in Marion, Virginia

We recently attended a bluegrass concert at the Lincoln Theater in  Marion, Virginia (population less than 6,000).  The music was as good as we expected. 

The performance was being recorded for a PBS show called Song of the Mountains. We were coached to make noise--applause, hoot, and whistle shrilly--during the breaks.  We were part of the show! Certainly we'll watch the broadcast sometime next year to see if we made the cut.

Unexpectedly, the theater itself was the real star. 

It was built in 1929 as a moving picture "palace". It is a rare surviving example of Mayan-inspired art deco theaters, designed by the Novelty Scenic Studios in New York City. The building is highly decorated with "Mayan designs figures of gods, animals, mythological creatures ... found on the walls, columns, pilasters, brims and ceiling."  My photos don't do justice to the original design or the restoration. 

When it was built Americans were just "discovering" the rich Mayan art of Central America and celebrating it in their imitations of glyphs and pyramids. 


Now, it seems very odd that a rural mountain town would have such an elaborate and culturally-distant tribute. It is to the town's credit that after years of disuse and decay they restored the building and applied to have it added to the National Register of Historic Places.


Interjected into the Mayan theme, are six historical paintings: Columbus arriving in the New World, the American Revolution, the Civil War (featuring Robert E. Lee) , Daniel Boone, Smyth County's cattle industry, and the Industrial Age.  They are a beautiful set, although incongruous with the rest of the auditorium. 

rise of industry in Smyth County

The theater stays busy with local productions of plays, musicals, and a  variety of local, and nationally known, musicians. The night we went, the 600 plus seats were filled with folks from all over the East coast. Here's a link to their performance schedule if you want to enjoy it for yourself. 

If you're within driving distance, I urge you to build a trip around a performance there, a visit to the Heartwood Artisan Center in Abington, and one of the local wineries.

I hope you'll make a comment if you've visited  another place that would fit on the itinerary, because I intend to go again. 

Scottish drummers and Yo Yo Ma

  Despite all the feel-good platitudes that I'm the only one like me in the world, that doesn't make me anything special. And that's okay. 

But I love to be part of the audience for those who truly are exceptional. Dancers, instrumentalists--there's a rare electricity about live performance. I vicariously exult in the beauty talented people achieve. So I add architects to my favorites list.

 a photo by Hilary Gaunt on Flickr.

Once I got a free ticket to a student solo drum recital. I thought it would be a dud, but the young man marched onto the stage dressed in formal Scottish kilt and jacket. He looked dashing and the music was astonishing. I couldn't believe the myriad ways he used drumsticks, or the variety of sound he created with a snare drum. 

As an enthusiastic, but unaccomplished violinist, instrumental music is my favorite. How bad I am makes me appreciate how good they are. Forty years ago I attended a symphony concert of Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," conducted by the composer. He was 70, and energetic for a man I considered "elderly." It was a double thrill since it was the first time I heard his music live. Ah, this is what my professor meant by an esthetic experience.

In December I took my granddaughters to the Nutcracker ballet. This was the best of several productions of that ballet I've seen. This time I was struck by the emotions the dancers conveyed, particularly humor. The little girls were captivated by the sets painted on curtains which rolled on stage and off. Em asked "How did they do that?" when the Christmas tree grew and fog rolled across the stage. 

The Denver (Co) Ellie Caulkins Opera House is a work of art in itself. It is a renovated space in a hundred year old building. The opera house's very modern chandelier collapses and disappears into the ceiling at the rise of the curtain.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License

We were surprised and delighted that the 
foyer's chandelier
is by Dale Chihuily. My granddaughter studied the glass-blower in her art class, and our family has a personal connection to him (albeit distant and weak!) 

We were pleased that our seats in the first balcony put us close enough to hear the dancer's toe shoes tap on stage. We could peer into the pit and watch the musicians. 

I have a goal to be that close when I finally hear Yo Yo Ma play. I want to sit on the edge of my seat and see his infectious grin pointed at my section of the 

concert hall. I want to be able to see the rosin fly off his bow when he attacks a fortissimo passage. I want to clap until it stings, and joy clogs my throat with  tears.

Oh, yes. 

When was the last time you indulged yourself an exhibit, concert or theater that reminded you of the human potential to create beauty?  Where do you find it? 

Keep an eye out for news of Mr. Ma. I fear I've missed my chance for 2014, but if you hear of something within a 500 mile radius--let me know! 

Washed Souls

 “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off of our souls.” - Pablo Picasso

courtyard of the ruins of las capuchinas, a convent

I love to travel because it serves the same purpose. And when I travel I feel bathed in art--the beauty of nature and the creativity of people.

Last week I tried to help you hear the sounds of Antigua, Guatemala. This week I want to share my favorite sights, the colors and textures and designs that dust off my soul. 

Antigua is nestled among four of Guatemala's 29 volcanoes.  They are spectacularly high for those of us in North Carolina whose “mountains” in the continental divide top out at 2,900’. What an impression they make when you turn a corner and wham! there one is.

I haven’t seen them erupt, just puff smoke. But here’s a video of last year’s activity on Volcan de Fuego

 
I’ve been florally deprived for months and flowers were growing over every wall, out of crevices, and in every little plot of land. I couldn’t get enough of them!  Antigua’s blossoms were like a fix for my addiction.

photo by Wanda Easley

Not to be outdone by the natural vegetation, the outside walls of the houses are painted colorfully. A single long wall on any block may have a different color at the property line.

The result looks like a series of solid colored sheets hung on a clothesline. Weathering of the paint, and repainting also produces layers which peel and create an antiqued look. 

This region has one feature unique in all the world--Mayan textiles. They're as colorful as the flowers, but more exotic. Hand-woven, the cloth is primarily made of cotton dyed in deep colors. The designs are geometric, symbolic, and vary in complexity. Many items are embellished with fine embroidery. Not just museum pieces or novelties for tourists, the trades-women still wear traditional clothing. It’s a good draw for selling their crafts.The resourceful women are quick to adapt their skills to new products. I bought a water bottle carrier, and a padded bag for my iPad.


Then there are the street artists. I've purchased watercolors on both trips. There are many high quality art galleries and craft centers too. 

Antigua's beauty starts from the ground up. It is  a living, breathing canvas for both eye and spirit. 

What places do that for you? When was the last time you enjoyed an art museum? a botanic garden? Where would you recommend a person go to shed the dust of daily living?