CricketToes

Skylight's Walk of Shame Teaches Timeless Lessons

The tragic saga of the Skylight Opera Theatre's precipitous and noisy fall from grace has been going on sans letup for the past couple o' weeks and the end appears to be nowhere in sight. The ruckus over five firings--particularly that of the much beloved artistic director William Theisen--carried out in darkest night while devoted artists, donors and subscribers slept peacefully and then announced via email on June 16 without satisfactory explanation has created a toxic, perhaps deadly atmosphere for the theatre's executive committee of the board of directors and managing director Eric Dillner.

So why won't Milwaukee journalists, bloggers, artists, concerned audience members, and opera supporting money givers just shut the hell up and let the whole kerfuffle go away? Because Skylight's administrative overseers have magnificently bungled every opportunity they've had to make their poor handling of a very sad situation even marginally palatable to anyone, making many cry, "Eew, what's that?! We're not swallowing that tripe."

The silence that emanated from the theatre for over a week while Miltowners aplenty clamored for a reexamination of the firings and those with the freedom to exercise their right of speech called for Dillner to resign--Tom Strini and Jonathan West just to name two--was altogether deafening and telling. And it is exactly in moments like this that one can fairly and rightly wonder how folks who can demonstrate so little savvy in human and public relations even get appointed/voted/hired to positions of leadership in any business, not just the arts.

In a massive stroke of dig-yourself-a-deeper-grave genius, Dillner gave his first interview about the furor to the national rag known as Stage Directions, ignoring local pleas for clarification outright and giving the metaphorical finger to the community Skylight serves. And to that we say, "Dude, that's cold. Cold and unwise."

Finally, on June 24, Dillner, board president Suzanne Hefty, her predecessor Howard Miller, and marketing director Kristin Godfrey agreed to speak with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's music and dance critic Strini, theatre critic Damien Jaques and assistant features editor Jim Higgins. Okay, now we're gettin' somewhere, right? Well, not really.

The results of the interview were, um... The word "underwhelming" comes to mind--also, the strains of "Cry Me A River" kept playing in my brainpan--but that may be too generous of a response, so we'll go with a parlance we don't use often or lightly on this here blog: WTF? Saying that the "... the artistic vision of the Skylight hasn't changed at all" is like saying, "Nothin' to see here, people, move along," as they shuffle the curious crowd down the sidewalk and away from a massive pileup with numerous casualties, all the while oblivious to shouts of "I'm an EMT! I can help! Listen to me!"

As Tony Clements has already pointed out on his blog:

"hefty, dillner and miller knew the decision would be so unpopular they didn't even inform the rest of the skylight's board of directors. and someone might remind hefty and miller that the artistic vision for the company comes from the artistic director. what's dillner going to do from now on, ask himself WWBD (what would bill do?)

after completely gutting the company of its entire artistic staff – the resident music director, the artistic associate/company manager, and the artistic director – it's almost sick-making that the words 'artistic vision' would even come out of hefty's mouth."

And Strini's assessment is nothin' to sneeze at either:

"I met them and past president Howard Miller for 90 minutes last week. A signal of their cluelessness in this matter: They actually uttered the phrase ‘stay the course.’ More than once.

Stay what course?

They are heading into a 50th anniversary season with almost everyone in the Milwaukee theater community furious at them. They have no resident music director. They do not know whether they have a stage director for three main stage shows and two studio shows."

Gee golly, could it get any worse? Yes. Yes, it can.

Yesterday Strini posted the news that the center of the storm himself, William Theisen, has agreed to come back to direct four shows as a freelancer next season, but he's not dancing for joy over it:

"In a phone conversation Tuesday, Theisen said his decision to direct for the company in no way endorses his firing, carried out by the executive committee of the board of directors and managing director Eric Dillner.

'I don't feel very celebratory about the company,' Theisen said. 'I will try to stay neutral and do the job at hand. I'm doing what's best for me, and others need to do what's best for them.'"

Right on, brother! Time ya started lookin' out for yourself. Course, the fact that you're a highly regarded talent who's been treated with nary an ounce of respect by the people who were supposed to be your biggest supporters and you've now stated publicly that, in effect, you're heart just ain't in it, well, that could be just the shovelful needed to bury the Skylight for good. Rest assured, it won't be your fault. That honor will go to those who've worked the hardest to earn it.

So, kids, what lessons can be learned from Skylight's epic tragedy laid out before us, huh? Well, to be honest, they are the same lessons that can be found in most any children's book, and let me just say that it's taken me quite a few years to consistently put these things into action myself, folks, so I offer them up with the best of intentions and not a smidgen of arrogance:
1. Open and honest discussion often leads to understanding and empathy.

2. If you're in trouble, talk to those closest to you and to those who have a stake in your decision making, and don't be afraid to ask for help and/or ideas.

3. If you do something wrong and/or handle a tough situation in a terrible manner, admit your mistake quickly and humbly.

4. Whatever you do, do something, for even the smallest effort is still an effort that can nudge everyone forward.

5. And for Pete's sake, never-ever underestimate the power of The Internets™--pretty sure the Brothers Grimm came up with that one first.

Here ends today's session o' learnin'. Now go get yourself a stiff drink!

Related:
Skylight's Slash-and-Burn Remedy Ignites Firestorm

New Collection Gives Krazy Kat Lovers Seven Years

It is a rare thing indeed when aficionados of the 2D art so humbly referred to as the comic strip and critics who normally opine on what's subjectively and divisively called "high art" come to an agreement on anything, but one work dating from the first half of the 20th Century has continually managed to do just that: George Herriman's Krazy Kat.

Should you doubt the truth of what I've stated above, thinking, "Cricky, you're even more of a nutjob than I thought," I point you to art critic Gilbert Seldes' gushing tribute "The Krazy Kat That Walks By Himself" included in his 1924 tome The Seven Lively Arts and E. E. Cummings--or e. e. cummings if you're the fancy type--who wrote an introduction to a collection of the strips published in 1946.

Since Herriman's death sixty-five years ago, numerous publishers have taken up the task of collecting and reprinting the Krazy Kat strips, which ran from 1913 to 1944. Those brave enough to press their printers into the service of reprinting the full page strips have done so in a one- or two-year per volume format, including the now defunct Eclipse Comics, the equally dead Kitchen Sink Press and the still kicking Fantagraphics Books. With such a hiccupy history, it's no wonder that some reprint editions of the early strips have slipped out of print, making their price tags climb at an exponential rate. So what's a Krazy Kat lover to do?

Enter editor extraordinaire Dan Schierl, our pal for the ages and devotee of all things good about comics and graphic novels, and his one volume collection Peregrinating the Highway of Dreams--the kompleat public domain Krazy Kat sunday strips 1916-1922. Published under Colbeck Labs and currently available for purchase through Lulu, this book is a remarkable collection of Herriman's weekly full page strips originally published between April 23, 1916 and December 31, 1922, which makes 'em all public domain.

The premise of Krazy Kat can be quickly summarized thusly: A friendly, warm hearted cat of indeterminate gender--Krazy Kat--is in love with a suspicious, brick throwing mouse--Ignatz--whose violent tendencies toward the feline are sometimes thwarted by a concerned, badge wearing dog--Officer Pupp--who's in love with the friendly, warm hearted cat--Krazy Kat. It's the greatest illustrated love triangle of anthropomorphized critters ever!

With its deceptively simple story line, slapstick humor, unusual layout, and heavy combined use of the vernacular and the poetic, Krazy Kat didn't receive a five star rating from the public during its 30 year run--"too weird" was the popular consensus. But what general readers of the funnies missed, many artists and intellectuals got and praised. It also didn't hurt that an all-important publishing magnet of the time, William Randolph Hearst, loved it and refused to let it die. Hearst, as you may or may not be aware, was the Rupert Murdoch media mogul of his day and he was just as loony.

Anyhoo, as a huge fan of Krazy Kat, Dan has worked extremely hard in his efforts to search for, gather and compile these early strips so that others may enjoy seven consecutive years of Herriman's surreal work in just one volume and at a reasonable price. Some of the out-of-print reprint editions sell for upwards of $100 these days and that's for only one year's worth of strips. Outrageous.

Even the best of friends find communication through the Internets™ to be highly effective, so I asked Dan a few questions about his motivations and the process of pulling the book together. I don't normally go for Q&A formatting, but in this case I believe Dan's exact words make for a highly interesting read. Also, it's got tons of nerdy-cool appeal and we all dig that, right? Yes indeedy!

Cricky: Can you describe the process of searching for and gathering the strips?

Dan: I saw myself as an archivist, not of the original, physical copies of the work, but of the comic strips themselves. They've been in the public domain for a very long time, but have been difficult to see all of them together in one place. The project started when I found some of the strips online. There were small collections of the Sunday strips, but after seeing these I said "yeah, but i want to see ALL of them!" I was able to get my hands on some of the Eclipse reprints in paperback, but I found the printing to be not so good--lots of smudged words. But they were able to give a timeline--which strips were printed when. I found some of the strips by looking through old newspaper archives...i was able to find out which papers carried Krazy Kat (primarily papers owned by Hearst), and then tracked down libraries that had these old papers on microfilm.

Mostly, I did this for my own amusement. But once I had most of the public domain strips gathered in one place, it occurred to me that other people might want to see these, as well.

Cricky: What kinds of challenges did you face in the process?

Dan: One was keeping everything in chronological order...different sources might date a certain strip on different days. Apparently it was up to the individual editors on which days strips ran, so they did get out of order sometimes. Also, it was a little disturbing to notice, late in the process, occasional repeats of strips. When George Herriman was on vacation and hadn't worked ahead, often times the editors would just throw in an old strip as a replacement. As Herriman once pointed out, "All my stuff is pretty much the same, so nobody will notice anyway!"

And yeah, lots of cleanup in Photoshop...

Cricky: How much work was it to get all the strips to a high quality, print worthy image value?

Dan: Getting the strips to match in quality, size etc wasn't really difficult, but it was tedious. Early in the strip Herriman did a lot of experiments with half-tone shading, which didn't always reproduce well when scanned, printed, and then scanned again. I did the best I could to make the results presentable.

Cricky: The strip was launched in 1913, correct? If so, why did you decide to start your reprint collection in 1916?

Dan: The strip started as a daily in 1913, but also became a Sunday strip in April 1916. When I started collecting these, I noticed that these were all in black and white, and assumed that either I was looking at cheap reprints, or that color sunday strips were a more recent innovation. However, it turns out neither of these was true--I dunno how far back the color sunday comics tradition goes, but it was in place already by 1916. However, newspaper editors were already hesitant to print the strip, and really balked when the sunday strip showed up (since the editors never really understood the strip, they assumed nobody else did, either), Hearst decided that Krazy Kat sunday strips would run in the Theater section of the paper, and hence, in black and white. I guess the assumption was that only more refined folks read the Theater section, so they would probably understand the strip better than the folks that just read the Comics section. As it turns out, it was finally moved to the comics page and in color in 1936.

So there ya have it, people. A project that could only stem from the admiration and devotion of a true fan, and now available to you in either paperback or as a download.

Buy your copy of Peregrinating the Highway of Dreams--the kompleat public domain Krazy Kat sunday strips 1916-1922 now and grin a Krazy Kat grin!

RIP Michael Jackson

There is very little we can say about the passing of one of the greatest entertainers this planet has ever produced, save for this: May your lonely and largely misunderstood soul find the solace that proved to be so elusive in this life.

The Umali Awards: A Celebration of One Man's OCD

Renato Umali, musician/composer/artist/University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Film Department lecturer, will be presenting his annual and completely nutty Umali Awards at The Green Gallery West tonight. Birthed in 2001, the awards and ceremony are intended to be, in his words, "a celebration of life as lived by Renato Umali," and why the hell not, eh?

Categories covered include Best Dining Out Experience, Best Day and the much coveted DIWITTYs--a.k.a. Day In Which I Talked To You--a Top 10 list of folks that the data mad artist has logged the most days chatting and commiserating with during the twelve months of 2008.

To say that Umali conveys obsessive-compulsive traits as he meticulously documents and charts his daily activities, meetings, chance encounters, and perceptions of the world is to make an observation of monumental understatement. He is full-on OCD, and loved by many for his rare and artistically inclined scientific experiment.

The 8th Annual Umali Awards Ceremony will begin at 7:30PM tonight, Friday June 26, The Green Gallery West, 631 Center Street on the 3rd Floor, with an after-party at Bremen Cafe in Riverwest. Semi-formal attire is requested. Those showing up in a t-shirt and shorts will be promptly marked down in Umali's ever-present notebook as Never-Ever Recipients of a DIWITTY, regardless of how many times he speaks with them in the future, imprinting their reputation with a massive indelible black stain forever.

Link (Thanks, Tamiko!)

Help Provide AWEsome Art for Kids

Over the summer months of 2002 and 2003, my hubby Kevin worked for a remarkable arts organization that not only talks the good talk but walks the good walk when it comes to bringing the invaluable experience of hands-on creativity to Milwaukee neighborhoods: Artists Working in Education (AWE). This summer AWE will continue to carry out this important and tons o' fun mission to the grand delight of tots, tikes and tweens in local parks and playgrounds through its Truck Studio program.

Beginning on June 29 and running for six whole weeks, the AWE Truck Studio mobile arts program will be camping out at 20 Milwaukee parks and playgrounds, offering kids 4 to 14 the chance to fill their afternoon hours with creative, positive, mind-opening projects each weekday for free, cutting heavily into their lazin' around time and effectively silencing the time-honored complaints of "I'm bored" and "There's nothin' to do" and the ever popular "I burned all the ants living within a three mile radius with my magnifying glass. What am I gonna do now?" You parents and guardians who wish to exist in a whine-free environment for at least part of the summer need to get your kiddies to one of these sites, and let nothing stand your way.

In order to offer this fantastical artsy program to Miltown kids for free AWE is always in need of financial support and donations, and your opportunity to give 'em a monetary hand is happening this Thursday, June 25, from 5 to 8PM in the Marcia Coles Community Room at the Lake Park Pavilion, 3133 E. Newberry Boulevard. There you can hobnob for the good at the book launch, signing and reception for Mary Nohl: Inside and Outside by Barbara Manger and Janine Smith.

No event is complete without grub and grog, so there's gonna be appetizers, wine and other beverages, and everyone will have a crack at winning some Mary "the Witch of Fox Point" Nohl memorabilia and a behind-the-scenes tour for two of the Nohl collection at the John Michael Kohler Art Center--dinner and conversation with the charming and generous ghost of Ms. Nohl not available. Proceeds go to benefit AWE.

To see if there's still space for you, call 414-933-3877. Tickets are an easy $25, and those who'd like an autographed copy of the book only need pony up another $25. Do it for the kids!

Link (Thanks, Sally!)

Skylight's Slash-and-Burn Remedy Ignites Firestorm

As many of you know by now, the Powers That Be at Miltown's 50 year old Skylight Opera Theatre placed themselves squarely in the center of a firestorm--or shitstorm, for those who prefer messier imagery--last week when they unceremoniously crap-canned--couldn't resist--artistic director William Theisen, company manager Diana Alioto, box office manager Kelley Arlt, assistant box office manager Jason Hames, and night custodian Ralph--sorry, Ralph, I couldn't find your last name in any of the resources I dug through for this post, but if I had you'd have gotten full billing, man. Though the financially troubled theatre has made other personnel cuts over the past months due to the bad economy, this last round has gouged deep wounds that are clearly not going to heal quickly, if at all.

While the reaction of the theatrical community, supporters and donors of Skylight, and interested members of the general populace has been laced with rumors as to the actual underlying reason for the elimination of these five positions, particularly that of artistic director, what really sparked the inferno is the fantastically horrific way in which it was handled--à la closed door session--proving once again that poor communication and/or silence is the sure path to follow if your goal is to commit suicide without making it look like suicide so your beneficiaries can cash in on the insurance money.

The incident has solicited so much backlash that it's brought Jonathan West--a.k.a. Artsy Schmartsy--out of semi blogger retirement and he's making his thoughts known fairly freely and almost as if he isn't the current managing director of the Sunset Playhouse--a position that makes him an insider of traditional theatre, which commonly translates into towing the line and cheering like a manic Pom Pon girl who knows that she's taken her anorexia too far but just can't stop starving herself because the other girls will blackball her or beat the hell outta her or both. Welcome back to healthy side, Artsy! And, no, those weighty words of analysis don't make you look fat.

Anyhoo, the list of those joining the fray grew by leaps and written bounds with Ben Turk, Kurt Hartwig, Tony Clements, and a whole plethora of commenters on their respective blogs. ThirdCoast Digest also picked up the story, as is their duty. As for those still entrenched in the foxholes of old media, both Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's music and dance critic Tom Strini and theatre critic Damien Jaques posted items, to which we say, "Hey, thanks for doing your job!"

As the story gained attention, the Skylight's resident music director, Jamie Johns, headed up an effort to get the people responsible--i.e. the Executive Committee, including relatively new managing director Eric Dillner--to come clean and reconsider their job cutting decision. Johns was then promptly fired for, and I quote the termination letter he received and Artsy published, "insubordination and attacks on the Skylight Opera Theatre." Well, well, ain't thems some strong words? I gotta tell ya, kids, I didn't even know the term "insubordination" existed in the lexicon of those working in the arts. I mean, if ya want complete and total obedience from drone-like underlings, the Army's been lookin' high and low for folks who think just that way. (Please do not leave comments whining that I don't support the troops, 'kay? I’m simply pointing out that that's how the military currently goes about its business.)

Very quickly, a petition was created and a protest/celebration was organized and carried out last Friday morning on the doorstep of Skylight. Power to the Peeps!

Response? Board prez Suzanne Hefty posted a letter telling everyone and anyone with concerns to call managing director Dillner, who's now slated to take over the responsibilities of artistic director, making his title a very long and ponderous one. Nothing like relying on a disinterested party to give ya the straight dope, eh? Many have called and, to my knowledge, none have received a callback thus far.

Rebuttal? Robert L. Beal, a two-term board member, decided to fast-track his planned resignation and issue it immediately. His letter is right on and, truth be told, a pretty sad read.

Today, in a show of outright clear thinking--theatre gods, save us!--MJS' Strini penned the outline of a credible scenario that would have helped the musical theatre and Dillner avoid this whole PR debacle. But the failure of not being open and transparent from the beginning--not to mention the continued stonewalling--has left both to face a stark reality that may lead them into a pit of despair, where they will loving stroke a commemorative plaque honoring the Skylight's 50th Anniversary Season of 2009–2010 while wistfully insisting, "I coulda been a contender," Gilbert and Sullivan style.

BYO Booze May Be Back for Jazz in the Park!

You cannot keep the jazz and hooch lovin' peeps of Miltown down, and news that Democratic State Assembly Representative Leon D. Young introduced a bill yesterday that would allow Jazz in the Park goers to bring alcoholic beverages in with 'em is the 100% proof you need. So what happened on the legislative floor? It passed with flying bottles and cans!

Back in January of this year, East Town Association Inc. was told by the Milwaukee Police Department that it was violating Wisconsin Statute 125.32(6)(a) by letting people carry-in their own wine, beer and other legal mood-enhancing liquids to the free Thursday night summer concerts at Cathedral Square. East Town's response? It caved like the bell of a tuba accidentally sat on by an elephant--believe you me, that tragedy happens more often than you'd think.

Anyhoo, if passed by the Wisconsin State Senate and Governor Doyle, the bill will make it legal for Jazz in the Park as well as other park event and festival organizers holding a Class B liquor license to make their own carry-in beverage policies. Hurray!

We have yet to attend one of the concerts this season, but it appears that either folks haven't heard about the BYOB ban or their livin' life on the edge as we've seen scores pass by our windows with six-packs and bottles o' vino clutched tight in their little hands. If the men and women in blue decide to actually enforce the current and completely ludicrous law until the new bill passes, every Thursday night could turn into a HIlarious Keystone Cops scene, punctuated with shouts of "It's a raid! Everyone scatter!" in 4/4 time.

(via BizTimes Daily and Today's TMJ4 News)

Related:
No More BYO Booze to Jazz in the Park

Sing & Rejoice for Naked Boys in Miltown!

It's been four years since the hard-nosed nakedphobes of the Milwaukee City Vice Squad closed down a scheduled run of the Off-Broadway musical hit Naked Boys Singing! at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center (MGAC) on a trumped-up permit violation charge, turning our beloved town into a prudish laughingstock worldwide. This weekend, though, we can stand proud once again as a parade of undressed males takes to the stage for two shows at Turner Hall, baring their undeniable talent for all to hear and see. Whoozzah!

Naked Boys Singing! premiered ten years ago and has been staged in cities all over the planet, including--wait for it--London's King's Head Theatre--hehe--this past May. There's even a film version of the show that was released in 2007, so ya know it's worth your eardrum and eyeball time.

Prancing, dancing and vocalizing before the footlights in their altogether, the cast performs tongue-in-cheek, lighthearted fare in celebration of the male nude form. Shame is a dirty, dirty word here, kids, and audience members should leave their conscious and subconscious repression at the door.

Here's a tantalizing, SFW video clip for ya:

Nice, huh? Thankfully you won't be frustrated by blurring technology of the unmentionables when you see the revue live.

Naked Boys Singing! hits the Turner Hall Ballroom tonight and tomorrow, June 19 and 20, at 8PM. Tickets are $35 for general admission and $45 for prime seating, and proceeds will go to help MGAC cover the costs it's had to shoulder since it ever-so appropriately brought suite against the city in federal court late last year for violating its free speech rights. Stay strong and naked!

Link

Let's Talk About Race on the Radio

As all dedicated readers of the Cricky Chronicles know, both Kevin and I are consummate and avid public radio listeners--if you've recently stumbled upon our little blog and hadn't a clue about that, welcome to the insider loop! Our devotion stems from the fact that we are constantly and happily stupefied on a daily basis by the amazing quality of in-depth news and discussions broadcast on the airwaves and on the mighty Internets™ by publicly funded stations as they tackle challenging issues that barely register on the radar of mainstream media. And when these topics are taken up by the not-so Clear Channel News the coverage is often so shoddy, so sensationalist and/or so rife with vitriol that it becomes a highly impotent combination of the pointless and ignorant. You call that journalism? Ha!

In a prime example of the important work done by public radio stations, WUWM Milwaukee Public Radio began airing its 7-day long Project Milwaukee: Black and White series last Thursday, presenting stories, interviews and conversations about race relations in Miltown during the Morning Edition, Lake Effect and All Things Considered time slots. They even hosted a standing room only public forum last night at the Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory--that's The Domes to you and me. Well, boy howdy, thank you! Let's give it up for WUWM, people!

Plenty of great pieces have been produced for this series and all are or soon will be available for your eager-to-learn ears here, but I'm gonna point ya to some that really stand out. Also, they have an artsy lean to 'em and that's somethin' we can all groove to, right? Right on.

First on my must-listen list is Recollections of Life in Bronzeville, a story that profiles 80 year old Sylvester Sims. In the piece, Sims talks about growing up in the Milwaukee's old 6th Ward--peeps in the know call it Bronzeville--and the discrimination he faced in general and as a young, budding African American artist in school. Despite these challenges, Sims has lived a long life as a gifted and accomplished painter/illustrator with a remarkable portfolio. Be sure to check out the slide show of his work on WUWM's Flickr photostream.

My next pick is Racial Divides in Music, a Lake Effect interview with Laura Snyder, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) double bassist, and Bruce Cole, Development Librarian for the Jean Cujé Milwaukee Music Collection at Marquette University and player of the skins. Both share vivid memories and valuable insights into the racial schism that still sadly exists in the varied and vast music scene. Snyder and Cole have an easy conversational chemistry, making for a very interesting interview.

Coming in at #3 is Diversifying the Future of the Ad & Design World, an interview with our good bud Jonathan Gundlach--Whoot!-and his fellow OnRamper Temo Xopin that aired this morning. Cricky posted a profile of OnRamp last week on this here bloggity blog, giving y'all the scoop on the program that's doin' its damnedest to bring more minorities into the commercial creative industry.

And my final selection--drum roll, please--is by far the most honest and most engaging of all the pieces in the series: Segregation in Milwaukee's Visual Arts World. Featuring the fantastically outspoken Della Wells, founder of African-American Artists Beginning to Educate Americans About African-American Art (ABEA) and board member of the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend, the enormously talented artist and muralist Reynaldo Hernandez, and Dr. Walter Sava, Executive Director of the Latino Historical Society of Wisconsin, this is one conversation you don't wanna miss, kids! To the predominantly white leaders of the large and medium arts institutions, organizations and foundations, you need to listen to this discussion--and I mean really listen--because this is the naked truth, people, bringing you the message that if you continue to operate in an ego-filled delusion that you hold all the cards you will find yourselves in a desolate land, left abandoned by minority artists and those of us who stand with them, and that will be a very, very cold place indeed.

Okay, so, some mighty good stuff on WUWM, eh? The only criticism I have to offer has to do with the choice of using the words "Black and White" in the title as the series clearly and rightly covers race-related issues across the spectrum, including Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans. Can it be that even the super smart folks of the shiny world of public radio haven't yet gotten the memo that using such definitive language excludes members of other races who have a vested interest and long history in this community and this nation? Go figure.

I don't wanna browbeat the good folks at the station too much over this 'cause I really do love and appreciate their work, but it was a poor decision and the negative consequences of choosing to use language that is not well thought-out, particularly in the name of an otherwise inclusive and worthy project, leaves many to wonder if they have a place at the table or if they should even bother to listen. The name of anything--whether it be a business, a product, a service, a blog, or a community project--is your first communication with the world and that moment of connection should not be wasted.

The best illustration of the negative perceptual impact this type of language choice can have comes in the words penned by author Richard Rodriguez in his book Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father:

"I used to stare at the Indian in the mirror. The wide nostrils, the thick lips. Starring Paul Muni as Benito Juárez. Such a long face--such a long nose--sculpted by indifferent, blunt thumbs, and of such common clay. No one in my family had a face as dark or as Indian as mine. My face could not portray the ambition I brought to it. What could the United States of America say to me? I remember reading the ponderous conclusion of the Kerner Report in the sixties: two Americas, one white, one black--the prophecy of an eclipse too simple to account for the complexity of my face."

Point beautifully and powerfully made, sir.

'Nuf said? Okay then, I give ample kudos to WUWM! Thanks for all you do to keep our brains from turning to mush.

Link

Related:
OnRamp to Diversity
Not Just Another Art Panel Discussion

Image of the Word in Black & White

For centuries, visual artists have turned to poets and writers for inspiration, internalizing the language and imagery crafted by their literary counterparts in an effort to express their own interpretation of the ideas and emotions conferred. It is a difficult and admirable challenge to undertake, made even more so by the knowledge that history is littered with the bodies of honorable attempts, most felled by the general and dreaded reaction of "Meh." Just for the record, kids, any artist who believes that death by apathetic response isn't the worse creative fatality possible is an incurable nutjob and you should run away from him/her double-quick.

Every once in a while, however, an artist emerges who successfully strives to transform the power of the word into the power of the visual, carrying the task out with a true and honest vision. Just such an artist is Milwaukee photographer William Zuback.

Currently in mid-creation of his interactive Book Passages Series, Zuback is collecting excerpts submitted by his blog readers. Upon acceptance of each passage, he diligently studies the words and concepts therein, presenting his photographic rendition for all to view and comment on when finished.

I met up with Zuback last week at what's quickly becoming my default casual interview space, Rochambo on Brady Street--oh, how I loves me a single shot cappuccino in the afternoon! There we discussed his process and his plans for the project.

A quick profile may be in order for those unfamiliar with Zuback's work and finding themselves distracted by curiosity. He graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California over twenty years ago, but for the past seventeen years he, like so many artists past and present, has had to maintain the tricky balance of making a living, having a family and keeping engaged in the creative pursuit. It should come as no surprise then that one priority had to take a temporary backseat to the other two--a free and hearty shout-out to the first who correctly guesses which aspect of life was shouting, "Are we there yet?" Now, though, Zuback is ready to focus on his artistic photography and he's making a stellar show of it with his Book Passages Series.

He started the project by choosing an excerpt from Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster--Zuback's a big, big fan--the surreal story of a man with no memory trapped in a locked room that's filled with clues about his life and identity. Zuback then posted his visual interpretations of the passage, asking people for constructive criticism--inarguably one of the hardest things to come by--and to submit passages of their own choosing.

While chatting, Zuback offered up the intel that if he hasn't read the book from which the selection comes he rarely seeks it out, preferring instead to deal with the excerpt as it is and without further context. He admitted to some conceptual struggles--and who can blame him, eh?--and did find it helpful to read more of the surrounding text on at least two occasions.

Many of the photographs in the series include the use of models and Zuback expressed enormous gratitude to the hard working souls who've volunteered to sit, stand, walk, and emote their hearts out under the oh-so hot lamps o' light. Though a few of the subjects are friends of the photog, most are models-for-hire who made the decision that this project is worthy of their valuable time and talent. Some have driven nearly 100 miles to be shot for this series and all have done for it free. And right here is where we give the plug for the source of most his subjects, Model Mayhem.

Thus far, Zuback has thoroughly pondered and digested eight excerpts, including fiction and nonfiction, for the series and he often produces more than one black and white image per passage. His attention to detail, lighting and composition is quite frankly stunning, and he manages to do so without cluttering up or weighing down the intensity of the visual impact.

Zuback's plan is to interpret a minimum of twenty-five excerpts through his photographic lens for the Book Passages Series and he's asking folks--yes, you!--to give him more suggestions, so click on over his blog to peruse what's been created to date, comment with a little helpful critique and submit your own handpicked selection.

The ultimate goal is to have a show of the entire project and galleries interested in exhibiting the completed Book Passages Series should contact Zuback wmzuback at backtothezu dot com. Best to do it today, my friends, 'cause work this good draws plenty of competition.

Link (Thanks, Bill!)