Corrales Society of Artists “Art in the Park” events return

Art in the Park, a series of fine arts and crafts shows sponsored by the Corrales Society of Artists and the Kiwanis Club of Corrales, today announced their schedule for 2007. Show dates will be the third Sunday of every month, beginning in May and continuing through October. Dates are: May 20, June 17, July 15, August 19, September 16, and October 21.

This third season of shows will feature local painters, sculptors, photographers, potters, and metalworkers, as well as some of New Mexico’s finest crafts artisans. Hours will be 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at La Entrada Park (northwest corner of Corrales and La Entrada Roads). Parking and admission to the shows are free. Events will include live music, food, art demonstrations, and free youth art workshops in this cool and shady country location.

The Corrales Society of Artists is a coalition of local artists dedicated to exhibiting the talented and skilled artists living in the Corrales area, as well as raising awareness of the arts and arts education. They boast over fifty members working in various media, ranging from painting to colored pencil, photography to fabric art, and are fast building a reputation as one of the premier art associations in New Mexico. For more information, please visit their website at www.corralesartists.org.

Adventure Dog Bowl, painted art dishware, by Michelle Cook

Accordion Cat Platter, painted art dishware, by Michelle Cook

Canine Conga, by Marjie Bassler

Bride of Honkyfest comes to Bernalillo

Michelle Cook and Marjie Bassler, two Albuquerque artists poised on the brink of hysteria, plunge into the abyss with Bride of Honkyfest, the sequel to last year’s highly-entertaining Honkyfest art exhibit.

Cats and dogs provide endless inspiration for Cook and Bassler’s fun and lively functional ceramics, prints, and paintings, with horses and other animals appearing for good measure. Add lots of bright colors and you have humorous artwork at its finest to bring cheer to your environment. And it has no greenhouse gas emissions! Michelle and Marjie’s work has the Companion Animal Seal of Approval. Dogs smile and even the most critical cats nod with appreciation. It’s a must-see exhibit for people who love animals and love to laugh.

Bride of Honkyfest opens Saturday, May 5, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Art Gallery 66, located at 373 North Camino del Pueblo (North 313). The exhibit runs through May 31. For more information, call 867-8666.

Backstage at the bank

Everyone has a “backstage,” and for the five bank tellers in Mark Dunn’s new comedy, it is the break room where they can prepare for the day, relax for a few minutes, and gossip about their jobs and husbands. We get to eavesdrop on their joys and sorrows over a period of eight days in “Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain,” the next production at the Adobe Theater. It makes a fascinating evening. Albuquerque playwright Dunn is a favorite of community theaters, and his other works done at the Adobe are “Belles” and the entertaining “Judge and Jury.” If you wonder about the title, “Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain,” you will just have to come to see this slice of Mississippi life, opening on June 1.

“Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain” by Mark Dunn will play at the Adobe Theater, 9813 Fourth Street NW, from June 1-24 with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $12, seniors and students $10. For information or reservations, call 898-9222.

Call for artists

Downtown Action Team’s GO! Art Festival is looking for artists to participate in our outdoor art festival. GO! to www.DowntownABQ.com to download a prospectus for more information. If you have any questions, email at goartists@DowntownABQ.com or call our Artist Recruitment Manager at (505) 261-0075. We are also looking for entertainers, sponsors, and volunteers. GO! 2007 is scheduled for September 28, 29, and 30. For more information, call the Downtown Action Team at (505) 243-2230.

Call for artist entries for the Placitas Artists Series visual art shows

The Placitas Artists Series, Visual Arts Division, is calling for artists to exhibit their work for the 2007-08 season. Four artists, ages eighteen and over, are selected by jury for each month, from September 2007 through May 2008. The works must be original, not from kits or copied. All media are acceptable. Each month there will be three artists whose work hangs on the walls of the gallery, and a fourth artist, whose work is free-standing or sits on a table (e.g., sculpture, weavings, jewelry, pottery, etc.).
The application deadline has been extended to May 15.

Notification will be by July 15. For a prospectus, send a SASE to Dianna Shomaker, 161 Camino Barranca, Placitas, NM 87043 or visit online at www.Placitasarts.org.

String quartet closes Placitas Artists Series twentieth anniversary season

—JACKIE ERICKSEN, BOARD MEMBER, PLACITAS ARTIST SERIES
On Sunday, May 20, Willy Sucre and Friends will perform a program of string quartets. Violist Willy Sucre will be joined by violinists Krzysztof Zimowski and Anthony Templeton and cellist Dana Winograd. Zimowski is concertmaster of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and Templeton is its principal second violin. Dana Winograd received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in performance from the Julliard School in New York, has performed at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony, and has performed on Broadway (both in the pit and onstage) in “Phantom of the Opera” “Cats,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and others, and has played backup for such luminaries as Rod Stewart, Lyle Lovett, and Manhattan Transfer. She is principal cellist of the Santa Fe Symphony.

The program should include String Quartet No. 8, by Villa Lobos, and String Quartet in E minor, op. 44, No. 2, by Mendelssohn. The concert is generously sponsored by James Rogers and Cynthia Snowden.

Preceding the concert, a reception will be held for March exhibiting visual artists Sondra Diepen, a photographer and painter currently specializing in flowers; Renee Brainard Gentz, who does fabric constructions and collages; Anna Goodridge, who creates landscape and abstract works in oil, pastel, and collage; and landscape oil painter Ted Hogsett.

The concert will take place at 3:00 p.m. on May 20 at Las Placitas Presbyterian Church; the artists’ reception begins at 1:30. Tickets for the concert will be available at the door one hour before the concert, or may be purchased in advance at La Bonne Vie Salon and Day Spa in Homestead Village Shopping Center in Placitas; at Gatherings, 9821 Montgomery NE in Albuquerque; or online at www.PlacitasArts.org. Prices are $18 for general admission and $15 for seniors and students.

This project is made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The facility is completely accessible, and free child care is provided for families with children under six. Las Placitas Presbyterian Church is located six miles east of I-25 on NM 165 (Exit 242). For more information, call 867-8080.

Lifelong student of Chopin performs free piano concert in Placitas

—SIGNPOST STAFF
Wendy Day will perform an all-Chopin piano recital on May 6 in Placitas. This free concert will be held at 3:00 p.m. at Las Placitas Presbyterian Church. Wendy Day is an accomplished pianist who has extensive musical training from Oberlin College in Ohio and Mannes College of Music in New York, where she studied under her most influential teacher, Hans Neumann. She has played concerts at the Outpost Performance Space and Keller Hall in Albuquerque, as well as other venues nationally.

While Wendy appreciates the music of Beethoven with its peaceful moments and silences, and other composers’ music as well, this concert will be the music of Chopin only, as he was the composer of choice for her by her musical parents when she was growing up.

Brian King wrote about Wendy in a 1998 Albuquerque Arts feature story:
“.... Her mother gave up a part of her life for this pursuit, withdrawing from her own playing, in order to guide Wendy’s course more intensively. She dominated every aspect of her daughter’s practice, calling out commands.... She insisted on her child playing Chopin, while banning the likes of Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach.

“In 1984, she moved to Albuquerque and eventually to Placitas. Seeking, essentially, a new identity, she began to concentrate on ‘building technique.’ Her playing, to this day, reflects the years of practice, the intense study under Hans Neumann, as well as the influence of her mother. The result is a style that reflects a deep understanding of the subtle moods of Chopin, and the emotive power of the piano.”

Wendy continues to play all-Chopin concerts, practicing for them in the early morning hours of her quiet Placitas home.
Las Placitas Presbyterian Church is on Highway 165 in the village of Placitas, six miles east of I-25.

Photographers show at O’Hare’s

O’Hare’s Grille & Pub in Rio Rancho is featuring two photographers now through June 2. Lifelong photographers Sandra Layne and Tim Nadeau will have seventeen works on display at the pub for the next six weeks. Originally from Mississippi and Louisiana, Sandra has been in New Mexico since 1973. She got caught up in the Southwest scenery, which led to her starting her own studio and framing business called “Eyecatcher,” at the Fair Plaza Shopping Center in Albuquerque.

Sandra has won numerous awards with her photography, which hangs in many offices in Albuquerque, across the United States, and in several foreign countries.

Placitas resident Tim, a registered nurse at UNM, is “old school”—self-taught beginning with his tour of duty at Travis Air Force Base in 1971. With his college degree in Communications, he applied the skills learned from fieldwork as a television photographer and photojournalist. Tim has continued as a freelance photographer and writer. “I only recently have turned my camera towards the artistic side of life,” Tim reports. “The skills required for the different facets of photography keep the challenge of taking a good picture alive for me.”

O’Hare’s is located at 4100 Southern Boulevard SE in Rio Rancho and is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. It offers a large selection of spirits and ales and pub fare favorites.

“EchoTaps Worldwide” planned for May 19 at Santa Fe National Cemetery

Hundreds of volunteer brass players are needed to perform the twenty-four notes of “Taps” on May 19, Armed Forces Day, at 11:00 a.m. local time, at national cemeteries, state veterans’ cemeteries, and American Battle Monuments Cemeteries overseas.

“Each day, America loses about 1,800 of its veterans, primarily those who fought in World War II and Korea,” said Leslie Hampton, a Navy veteran of Vietnam and a member of Bugles Across America. “To honor them and their service, it is important that our nation preserves the tradition of a live bugler to play final military honors.”

In Santa Fe, players will form a line through the National Cemetery and perform a cascading version of “Taps.” Brass players of all ages are encouraged to perform at the cemetery. Schools and other organizations are also invited to participate as performers or supporting volunteers. More information and a sign-up sheet are available at www.echotaps.org.

The first large “EchoTaps” event was held in May 2005, when 674 brass players from thirty states lined forty-two miles of road between Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira, NY and Bath National Cemetery in Bath, NY. Playing “Taps” in cascade took nearly three hours from the first note played at Woodlawn to the final note sounded at the national cemetery in Bath. On Veterans Day 2006, players performed “EchoTaps” at fifty-two national and state veterans’ cemeteries across the nation in preparation for the upcoming worldwide event this year.

For additional information about volunteering to play “Taps” at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, please contact Wesley Jones at (505) 988-6400, ext. 14 or by email at Wesley.Jones1@va.gov.

The spirit of Frida Kahlo captured in La casa azul

The Vortex Theatre will present La casa azul, a play directed by Valli Marie Rivera, in May.

La casa azul, by Sophie Faucher, inspired by the writings of Frida Kahlo and translated by Neil Bartlett, is not a traditional bio-play but rather a passion play celebrating the Mexican painter's life. Motivated by Kahlo's art and her dramatic intimate diary, Faucher sketches a portrait of the inner workings of Frida's mind. Besides the diary, the author used letters, postcards and other documents to capture the spirit of Kahlo and Diego Rivera's life and times. La casa azul was Frida's home, her sanctuary and her workplace. Her place of birth and death. Faucher creates a theatrical rendering of her extraordinary life, where Kahlo's story, paintings, and images portray a life of struggle—with love, with her body, with her country and, most of all, with her art. In the face of obstacles, what Frida gives us is not surrender, but an intense love and reverence for life.

La casa azul is a multi-level theatrical experience where the audience and actors will share the insights and excitement of Frida's passions, pains, struggles, and triumphs. A collage of provocative images, festive Mexican music, puppetry, and theater dance intertwine in a whirlwind around Frida Kahlo's colorful life. The play depicts Frida's life as a celebration of hope and strength, pain and joy. This production is a tribute to her life in celebration of the centennial of her birth.

Performances for La casa azul will be from May 11 to June 3, Friday and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 6:00 p.m. At the Vortex Theatre, 2004-1/2 Central Ave SE. Reservations: vortex@hubwest.com or 247-8600.

Duke City Shootout Digital Filmmaking Festival accepting scripts for 2007 festival

The Duke City Shootout, the only digital filmmaking competition in the world where screenwriters race to shoot, edit, and premiere their twelve-minute film in seven days, is now accepting script submissions from filmmakers and screenwriters around the world for next year’s festival, which will be held in Albuquerque July 20-28, 2007.

Representatives of New Mexico’s Digital Filmmaking Institute and renowned screenwriters from around the country will select the seven best scripts to be produced and ultimately compete for the Palm de Grease, the festival’s most prestigious award. The Shootout will fly the seven winning screenwriters to Albuquerque, where they will be given a cast, a high-definition digital camera and lighting equipment, a production crew, post-production facilities, transportation, and even a professional mentor—a $50,000 value, everything they will need to bring their script to life.

Last year, more than 270 scripts were submitted to the Shootout, and for the first time, Shootout movies were made available on-line via file-sharing giant BitTorrent. Past festival participants have included script judges Morgan Freeman, Peter Fonda, and Phillip Kaufman; producers Ellen Sandler (Everybody Loves Raymond), Michael Steinberg (There's Something About Mary), Linda Goldstein (Whale Rider); directors Jay Roach (Austin Powers), Dan Mirvish (cofounder of the Slamdance Film Festival), Jim Mercurio (Hard Scrambled), Jack Hill (Foxy Brown), Anthony Drazan (The West Wing); Patricia Cardoso (Real Women Have Curves); actors Donal Logue (Grounded For Life), Talia Shire (The Godfather); editor Barry Alexander Brown (Inside Man); and cinematographers Alan Walker (Roseanne) and James O'Keeffe (Timecode).

A script by Toronto writer-director Ralph Lucas has been selected as the first of seven movies to be produced at the 2007 Duke City Shootout. His script, The Next Best Thing to War, was selected from entries submitted to the Screenwriting Expo 5 Contest, sponsored by Creative Screenwriting magazine.

Script submission requirements include a cover page, including name of author, address, telephone number; twelve-minute script (i.e., twelve pages); and entry fee of $35. The deadline for entries is May 18, 2007. There are two ways to submit scripts:

• Mail hard copies of script, including check or money order payable to the Digital Filmmaking Institute, to Duke City Shootout, P.O. Box 37080, Albuquerque, NM 87176
• Submit electronically and pay by credit card, at www.withoutabox.com.

For more information and updates on the 2007 Shootout, visit www.dukecityshootout.org, or e-mail questions to info@shootdfi.net.