Beliz Iristay: Tracing Acculturation at the Lux Art Institute

Beliz Iristay is now showing as the Lux Art Institute Regional Artist in an exhibition titled Tracing Acculturation

You can view this show from outside or make a reservation to visit the exhibition at Lux until Oct 31.   https://luxartinstitute.youcanbook.me/  or you can watch the lovely little video of the show.

During the virtual walk through, Quick Fire questions were asked by Lux Associate Curator, Guusje Sanders. We learned the following: Beliz

wakes up to a double shot of expresso,
get the kids ready for online lessons,
goes to her art studio
goes back at the end of the day to the family.
likes Meditating, walks, beaches.
lives in both San Diego and TJ.  
re-reads Turkish books
cooks Turkish food
would have liked to have met Salvadori Dali
favorite artist is Judy Chicago
would rather explore outer space than underwater
believes you should measure twice and cut once

But her greatest and constant challenge is to create something totally original. Thinking in a different way is a must for her. She guided us through a history of her work including an emphasis on her migration story and her interest in women’s issues. Coming to America, marrying the wonderful Mexican artist Jamex de la Torre and having a child were huge changes for her. She wanted to be a graphic designer but the Turkish government school system makes decision about the future of its students and she was told to go into the field of ceramics after a series of tests. Luckily that worked out for the best. Taking her baggage, (reflected in the continuing series of brick valises) and getting used to the fact that the dust of Tijuana is now her reality, she has taken the very clay of the land to root her work in Mexico.

The hand-made bricks made from this clay are full of imperfections and those very flaws are valuable to her. They contrast with the precise details of Turkish miniature painting which she overlays on them. This exhibition takes a wider look, juxtaposing Chinese Porcelain (in the form of ginger jars) with the Ottoman shapes and decoration and stories of Turkey while still utilizing Mexican clay.

Violence against women in Turkey is a big subject. In her show at MCASD the work Where is she? draws attention to the missing presence of women. Her work for the SD Art Prize exhibition in 2014 was a wall full of lips with a video project on the surface showing a convening of women who contribute to the hostess as a way of saving as a community. What we found out was that lips were intended to be made of clay. But her little 3-year-old son with a friend decided to have a game of breaking all those tiles just two weeks before the show. Beliz bounced back and made the lips from plaster for the show. But those broken pieces of lips are finding their way into new artworks. In the Lux show they are buried in a clay wall but pushing outward, pushing for a voice.  

The Color of Light: Zoom in on the Backstory of Matisse’s Last Great Work

Report by Lonnie Burstein Hewitt

O.P. Hadlock as Matisse and Cecily Keppel as the young nun in the San Diego premiere of “The Color of Light” in January 2018. (Photo by Marti Kranzberg)

When you think of Henri Matisse, what usually comes to mind is one of his paintings, maybe the Red Studio, or one of his late-life cutouts, like the Blue Nudes. But Matisse considered his greatest work to be his last one—the chapel at Vence, in the south of France, that he designed, complete with stained glass windows, murals and altarpiece, just before he died. 

The story behind the chapel, and the aged artist’s relationship with the young nun who inspired it, is the theme of “The Color of Light,” which you can see as a one-night-only Zoomed reading this Friday night, September 25. 

The play, written by Jesse Kornbluth, a New York-based author/journalist/screenwriter, originally premiered at the Tenth Avenue Art Center in downtown San Diego and went on to a New York production in 2019. It’s a winter-and-spring love story that results in a spiritual awakening for the ailing, wheelchair-bound artist and an artistic awakening for the student nurse, confidante and reluctant model, who is dedicated to her religious calling. Matisse, a lifelong atheist, creates what has been called “a jewel box of the spirit” because of his feelings for Monique, aka Sister Jacques-Marie, who becomes his collaborator. 

The Schoolhouse Theater, which staged last year’s production in Westchester County, NY, and is hoping to move it off-Broadway, is now presenting the reading with their original cast, featuring Tim Jerome (an acclaimed Broadway veteran and Tony award nominee) as Matisse and Dominique Salerno (a multi-award-winner for her NYC Fringe hit “The Box Show”) as Sister Jacques-Marie. Having seen and enjoyed the San Diego premiere of “The Color of Light” almost three years ago, I’m looking forward to seeing its latest incarnation. 

Don’t miss your chance to Zoom into this unusual art-and-spirit-infused relationship on Friday, September 25, at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Coast Time. Donations are requested.

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=Q6WCEVFHCCCBQ&source=url&fbclid=IwAR1ZMdiUSkq9vmjddMRuP85VQXS6VoLTZvC3UCbCfjhUK8W2RqtxJQ1dgS8

 

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has written about arts and lifestyle for the La Jolla Light and other local media for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

This Way Out: La Jolla Playhouse Presents a Pair of Portals into Artful Worlds

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt  

Sweaty, smoky, uncertain September. As if the pandemic were not enough, September swept in with record-breaking three-digit temperatures, state-of-emergency wildfires that spread smoke-filled clouds and flakes of ash around the county, and no lessening of social unrest and political dissension.

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If you’re looking for a way out, La Jolla Playhouse is currently offering some solutions—a pair of portals into new worlds imagined by acclaimed local artists that are part of their biennial WOW Festival, which this year has gone fully virtual.

Portaleza

The first portal to open is Portaleza, created by award-winning scenic/costume designer David Israel Reynoso and his team of paranormal visionaries called Optika Moderna. You may have already journeyed through one of OM’s elaborate, immersive productions at previous WOW Fests—“Las Quinceañeras” in 2019 or “Waking La Llorona” in 2017. This one is a private experience you have in your own home, with the aid of your smart phone and the contents of a mysterious package mailed to you several days before your ticket date.

Portaleza will be on view through October 4. Tickets are $20 and must be ordered in advance at LaJollaPlayhouse.org

The Society of Wonder

Portal #2, The Society of Wonder, is the work of Bridget Rountree and Iain McGunn, aka Animal Cracker Conspiracy—a dynamic duo who combine ingenious puppetry, an array of visual arts, and offbeat storytelling in their productions. This one is a six-part series of videos about an ancient society that discovered secret portals to an underground kingdom of hope and inspiration in their own backyards and is about to come to life again—in a whole new way.

Exact dates have not yet been announced, but The Society of Wonder will be launching sometime in mid-September. And wonder of wonders—all six episodes are free. 

*UPDATE, September 18:  I have seen The Society of Wonder—Episode 1, at least—which just started streaming today. It’s only six minutes long and mostly introduces six unusual characters about to dig into a mysterious situation but the puppets are wondrous enough to make you want to follow them anywhere, certainly through the next five episodes. The settings are gorgeous too, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. The plan is to release a new episode every Friday. You can kick off your weekend with this one at https://lajollaplayhouse.org/wow-goes-digital/society-of-wonder/

For more information about both of these portals, see LaJollaPlayhouse.org

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has written about arts and lifestyle for the La Jolla Light and other local media for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

Gerda Govine and Luis Ituarte Miracle in the Midst

By Gerda Govine with photo by Luis Ituarte

We are posting this first hand account of the Valley fires burning right now in Jamul by local residents poet Gerda Govine and artist Luis Ituarte.  At this time over 17,000 acres has burned. The home of this dedicated art advocacy couple is still safe and we hope that the Blanca the Miracle Owl guards over the property until they can return. Gerda and Luis are both grateful to the Red Cross for taking such generous and considerate care of them both and their two dogs! Gerda always takes every challenge as an opportunity and we join with all those that know the couple to wish them health and happiness in the near future.
Patricia Frischer

FIRE LINE DRAWN BY BLANCA THE MIRACLE OWL OF JAMUL

This owl lived in a pine tree on the NE part of our property.  She belongs to a family that started at Gina's place which is at the SW corner of our property.  During the beginning of the fire she flew from the nest she had on our pine tree to her family's nest on Gina's property.  (This is when Luis took the picture).  During her flight she drew a line that is miraculously the line of demarkation for the fire not to cross and it happened.

"We were watching the movie, "Message from the King," on Netflix around 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 5, 2020 when our friend Robert, a Greek Orthodox Priest, called to say there was a fire headed our way and we should get ready to evacuate. We went to the highest point on the property and saw a gigantic black cloud of smoke and flames that had not made it over the mountain.  Luis took some quick photos with a "miracle” shot that he didn't look at until the next day. We left before the evacuation order was instituted. Luis and I packed our bags, two dogs, and two cars and went to the home of Wick and Robin in Dulzura about 35 minutes south of us. We spent Saturday night with them, even though there was no electricity in the whole area.  We went to bed, but did not sleep, not knowing whether or not our home was still standing--a truly gut-wrenching experience I would not wish on anyone.

Luis left early Sunday morning with Robin and he talked his way into Lawson Valley and was allowed to get into our home for a short time. Yes, our home and grounds are still standing with no fire damage. We decided to go back to Lawson Valley Sunday evenings expecting to just enter.  Cal Fire closed the road except for fire-related vehicles.  We kept waiting and hoping.  At 10:00 p.m. we left and spent the night in a “quaint” motel in El Cajon while the dogs had to sleep in one of our cars overnight. On Monday around 11:00 we went to visit Luis' brother Romulo who lives in an apartment complex in El Cajon that does not allow any animals.  We had a great brunch with them, good conversation and lots of laughter.

We went back to Jamul to find a kennel to keep our dogs since we did not want them sleeping in the car overnight.  A friend suggested that we contact the Red Cross operating out of the gym in the local high school.  We did not know what to expect.  We got there and Luis went into the gym.  A while later he came out and said they can help us.  A volunteer sat with us, we provided our ID’s, he asked some questions and filled out a required form.  The upshot, they offered us a hotel room that would accept our dogs and have parking space for both of our cars.  We were relieved.  Next step was for us to wait and within a couple of hours we would get a phone call from another RC volunteer to provide the name and address of the hotel. We were chilling out as children played and conversations with their parents kept popping up. It was comforting.

While waiting in the shaded parking lot with a cool breeze we saw a couple walking, one carrying a camera and another a hand-held mike.  They worked for Channel 10 News in San Diego and asked if they could interview us.  So, Luis motioned to me to do the interview. I grabbed my mask, got out of the car and had a 10-minute interview.  After this we got the phone call from the RC volunteer stating that they had a room for us at the La Quinta Hotel in Mission Beach where breakfast, lunch and dinner would be provided every day at no cost to us.  Our room is a pretty good size for the four of us.  Dinner last night was chicken strips, baked potatoes and broccoli from Denny's delivered to our hotel room. 

Monday night we turned on the News on Channel 10 during the 6 p.m. broadcast. They posted my picture along with shots of other families who had been evacuated and were waiting for word about their lodging. During the 7 p.m. news they aired my entire interview, with some shots of Luis  and I talking inside the car and Chicha and Azul our two dogs who are still trying to figure our what is going on.  How come we can't just run wild?  Why are we on a leash?  How come we can’t be outside all day? Where are the hills and neighbors--horses, dogs, pigs, goats, squirrels, frogs, and the Bobcat? 

This morning, Tuesday, the RC setup a food station in the hotel since more families were assigned late last night and this morning.   At 8:30 a.m. we got a phone call to pick up breakfast. This morning we had an Egg MacMuffin, coffee, water and some treats.  After breakfast we got a call from the RC and they said that as long as the closure of Lawson Valley continues we can stay in the hotel.  What a relief.  Tuesday night  Channel 10 broadcasted additional shots of Luis and I together in the car.

Writing all this out is very helpful.  My mind is full of new and mind-boggling experiences that I will never forget.  So my dear friends and extraordinary poets this is my life "as is."  We are indeed thankful, hopeful and pleased-- like "ducks out of water" but we just keep "quacking." My best to all of you and please stay safe. " 

Momentum 2 presented by Vanguard Culture

 Summary Notes by Patricia Frischer

Gil Sotu

Please note: You can view the full zoom presentation for Momentum 1 and 2 at this link on Vanguard Culture: A Creative Industry Symposium.

Co-host with Vanguard Culture Susanna Pereda Swap
James Halliday– Arts: A Reason to Survive. The arts are always going to be on the forefront of re-building and re-imagining our communities.  

Sean Cassidy – Cassidy International Business Growth Strategist & Futurist. It is important to know how you get access to people especially if you want to make a living in the arts. Now we have infinite opportunities and access to powerful people. Ecommerce is changing the way we live. Space X is putting up satellites to connect us all. The pandemic has accelerated our tech communications by 10 years. Ecommerce in the arts has lagged and to fix that we need collaboration to invent new strategies.  Strategically aligning ourselves means giving up ego. Digital currency is coming worldwide. Live entertainment will use that currency. We can bring ourselves into spaces all over the world. Integrated connections will make that happen. We need to share resources across all industries.

Jodi Cilley – Passionate Filmmaker, Storytelling about community. Young people are drawn to this area and will commit and solidify relationships to make community. Film making is a team sport. The bigger the project the bigger the circle of community that is needed. The audience needs to feel something and be changed. Film immerses the audience. Films shows you in a deep and vital way, how others are living. Watch 150 films they released during the pandemic. Quarantine Film challenge.

Performance by Gill Sotu, who inspires through poetry with Lee Culture. “This is not the time to look away.”

Allison Andrews, Founder of Fashion Week San Diego and APA Business Consulting. History of fashion has led us from fashion mags to social media fashion blogs and influencers, from couture to prêt-à-porter, from dresses to pants for women, from thin only to body acceptability. We are now challenging the norms of the fashion industry. New trends include: Smart Fashion that helps to keep you alive with embedded healthy technology; socially responsible fashion for example upcycling and encouraging anti-child labor laws; and a wide range of alternative materials. Active leisure is now acceptable to wear out of your house. As brick and mortar is dying, online sales are thriving. The fashion industry is always looking for innovation and agents of change.

Ted Washington Publisher Puna Press and performing with Pruitt Igoe. All of his projects are about the people and the community and creating collaborations for communication. Music and poetry combinations for and with all ages and in all locations. Alternate venues are especially essential. Art can be a prompt for poetry. La Bodega has a new space in Barrio Logan but had to stop because of Covid. The pandemic and zoom opened poetry up to a much wider audience like Virtual Palabra. The word will not be silenced. The word lives on. The word travels fast. We are infinitely adaptive.

Performance: Jamie Shadowlight who is an electric violinist collaborating with sounds and sand artist

Matt Carney, he is an Executive Director of the San Diego Ballet. President of San Diego Regional Coalition for Arts and Culture. Dance means fun and funky and being part of something bigger and spectacular. Dance is an expression of being alive. Dance is for everybody and comes from the people. Dance is a body of work. There are social implications and advocacy issues within this medium. We can re-evaluate and think outside of the commercial aspect of selling tickets for example, Disco Riot has a message to vote.

Sarah Austin Jenness, storyteller. Executive Producer of The Moth podcast. In the beginning of The Moth were storytellers who called themselves The Moths as they gathered around a lamp on an outside porch sharing real personal stories told by people in the know. It started as small, curated event, but it grew and grew and became a collective effort. Because of the pandemic it is all virtual now in 30 cities and working with student stories as well as Community and Global workshops in prisons.  Before Covid they were already making podcasts and broadcasting by radio. They realized they are no longer just art, but a worldwide way to connect and deal with social problems. It is artfully presented but practices advocacy on social justice issues. Now it is not just story telling but an exercise in listening. Sarah urges us to hold space for stories and make the world a better place by sharing a story and listening with empathy.

Clement So, Director of Artistic Planning at the San Diego Symphony has a mission of changing lives with music. Listen//Hear is a Covid project to allow people to pay attention to listening. Musical combination from different cultures can bring us together. The music itself actually tells a story and not just with lyrics.  There is the possibility that listening can change lives. Ode to Spring has a message that all men shall become brothers. Music helps us remember the dream. His new directions and collaborations include pivoting to online presentations, more talk to educate the audience and showcasing more lesser known musicians and creating cross medium events in outside spaces.

Performance; Young Artists in Harmony - ARTS in partnership with Art of Elan  Kate Hatmaker mentors this group of young artists. Grateful for the empowerment of the community.

Marketing and Branding Workshop with T Hampton Dohrman presented by Vanguard Culture

By Patricia Frischer

Marketing and Branding Workshop with T Hampton Dohrman:  Tiny Opera House, for small non-profits, https://www.linkedin.com/in/thamptondohrman/

Please note: you can watch the entire session yourself at this link

These are my notes from a recent webinar sponsored by Vanguard Culture. The advice here seems to be geared to beginning business people. There were good links given to check out for inspiration but Mr. Dohrman did not deal with the question of how we define our own idea of success. His assumption was that selling = success and I have found that is not always true in the arts community. This is summed up neatly by his following statement: 

“It doesn’t matter how you think people will respond, only how they actually do. Your job is to be a good tester. “

BRANDING is how it looks. The aesthetics and how people see your organization and how you have value.
Visual identity is logo and all of your graphics but also verbal. You are building trust and credibility. With the right branding you can look more established than you are and bigger! Consider consistency first and then repetition. Use the same colors and same fonts. You need graphics for decisions about logo and color palette, fonts, website, and in the recent past, business cards. You no longer have to hire an expensive graphic designer as you can buy these templates. For inspiration look for an established  company that you aspire to be one with similar values. www.Dribble.com is a place to find a selection of inspiration for logos and it is free. Try www.graphicriver.com for all sorts of templates. Other sites include https://www.fiverr.com/ and  https://99designs.com/

Colors: https://paletton.com/#uid=1000u0kllllaFw0g0qFqFg0w0aF allows you to take one color (you need to know the hex code which you can find with your medicine dropper or get one at https://pixlr.com/) and it creates a professional color palette to go with your colors.

Fonts: You can buy an entire style guide or choose your own fonts. Always use the same fonts everywhere and always use a font everyone can read and is viewable on all devices or use a pdf so the fonts are not changed when you send a document. Google fonts are standard and free and websites all recognize them. https://fonts.google.com/

Your Website is there to drive an action. It needs to be secure and looks professional. Better to learn how to do your own to stay in control and to save money and so  you can use one of the website templates. https://www.squarespace.com/templates/start/topic Others are https://presswizards.com/, or Weebly, Wordpress, GoDaddy, etc. You can use stock photos that you can also buy. www.Shutterstock.com

WORDS: Mission Statement is a short paragraph and shorter still is Elevator pitch but the shortest of all is your tag line. Your origin story should be personal and relatable. Memorize all of these and remember consistent and repetitive.  

MARKETING is more nuts and bolts and all about action and to gain awareness. Start at being good at what you do and believe in what you do. Marketing is basically all about sales. Sales funnel from prospects to customers through a specific order: finding prospects, setting a meeting, submitting a proposal, proposal accepted. This the sales journey. The action might be to drive prospects to the website, click on more to read, sign up for the newsletter, send them a pitch.  Success is defined if they buy.  Write out your process.

Prospects: define your goals to determine how many you need. What is your call to action?  
Response: email list, attend meeting, and send out survey to find out how successful you have been, or try follow ups with phones calls or texts.
Proposal: Make sure this relates to customer i.e. what do they get of value from you.
Buying: This takes time. Repeat contact with prospect has to happen. Use the funnel approach to hone in step by step.

Strategies: Analytics are the cornerstone of this approach.
Email and email list, You can see the customer’s journey down the funnel. You should makes this as targeted as possible and as personal. Lots of statistics will enable you to see how well you are doing. A drip campaign, www.moutic.com  is pre-automated emails based on points to track how engaged the prospect is and these can be timed and trigger based.

Social media can be both branding and marketing. Each platform has a different audience so determine who and where your audience is. If you have a business account on your social media platforms, you can automate and schedule your whole week in advance. Paid advertising can be very specific. Make sure you have a call to action.

Public relations and the press is great as it is free. Create a reason for them to talk about you. Gather a press list. Get to know individuals. https://www.tinyoperahouse.com/how-to-write-a-press-release/

Please note: my own press release guide is mainly for visual arts.

Content marketing. Stories, blogs, podcasts, videos, photos make sure that you remain in front of your prospects. It should be given out freely and reinforce your brand. If you do this then do it regularly..