The Booklovers

 

I came up to Michigan with several goals in mind, high amongst them is getting into the practice of doing more reading.  Back in the day I was quite the voracious reader but haven't exactly been flexing that muscle as of late, with the exception of whatever might be the newest David Sedaris book.

That being said, I shipped an ambitious box-full up to camp and hope to knock out quite a few over the course of the summer… that's what days off and beaches are for, right?  Many thanks especially to the two Catherine's (Couturier, my boss / Roberts, my aunt) for suggestions and loaning!

I'll certainly have more to say about some of them later but thought this would be the perfect time to empty out one of my favorites folder dedicated to our lexicological repositories (how's that for a pretentious euphemism for "book"!)

 

Self-described interdisciplinary artist Guy Laramée creates absolutely stunning sculptures out of books, inspired by nature, the death of his mother, history and a myriad of other topics.  Hooks-Epstein, can you PUH-LEASE do a show?!? [found via io9]

Ryoanji

 

Untitled / Stupa (Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary)

 

 

Toronto, Canada's Type Books created this stop-motion short entitled "The Joy of Books" to champion the continued creation and purchasing of physical books (as opposed to the burgeoning eBook business). [found via BoingBoing]

 

 

Spanish artist Alicia Martin has created several site-specific installations in her Biografias series using 5,000+ books cascading from various windows of multistory buildings. Talk about word vomit!! [found via BoingBoing]

 

The artist inside one of her creations

 

 

Last March a staff member of the Scottish Poetry Library came across a beautifully carved art piece and an accompanying note written to the library's Twitter handle (@byleaveswelive):

It started with your name @byleaveswelive and became a tree.… … We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books… a book is so much more than pages full of words.… This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas….. a gesture (poetic maybe?)

Many believed this was just a "one-off" creation until another one showed up some time later at the National Library of Scotland, leading to many creations being found for months to come in many of Scotland's great institutions.  There's a really fantastic review of the entire story, including photographs of all the discovered pieces, here.  Was the mystery ever solved?!? [found via io9]

 

National Library of Scotland: from Ian Rankin's Exit Music / National Museum of Scotland: from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World

 

 

To round out our literary themed post let's take a look at the Oscar winning animated short film from this years' 84th Annual Academy Awards. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessermore, by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg, is described thusly by the production team: "Inspired in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, 'Morris Lessmore' is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor."

 

First up on my reading list, you ask? Neil deGrasse Tyson's Space Chronicles!

 

Artist: The Divine Comedy / Album: Promenade

La Boheme

 

Well hello there! Long time no… read?  Admittedly, I've been quite absent from the blogosphere (that's a thing, right?) lately and will do my best to rectify the situation over the course of the Summer.  To be honest, though, I imagine only about five of you have really noticed, so no harm no foul in the grand scheme of things.  Chronologically, posts are going to move a bit circuitously until I catch up with the backlog from these past couple of months so hang in there with me if you haven't completely let go already.

Many of you may remember I spent the Summer of 2010 and 2011 touring with the Blue Lake International Youth Symphony Orchestra and Choir singing solos in Mendelssohn's Elijah and Brahms's Requiem, respectively.  This year they are embarking on their European tour performing Verdi's Requiem and, while I was very grateful for the invitation to be a soloist, it is not a role that I am exactly capable of singing.  Fear not, Blue Lake lovers, because it happily worked out that I am back at BLFAC singing in their production of Puccini's La Boheme!  As opposed to going on a tour, we will put on two shows each session, amassing to eight performances over two months for a total of 5,000+ attendees over the duration of the Summer.

During the second year of my master's degree at the University of Michigan (this would be pre-blog, for those of you who are wondering why I've never posted about it before) I was lucky enough to perform the role of Schaunard in the same opera.  It remains one of my favorite times on stage because there really was a synchronicity in the production: from our fabulous director, Kay Walker Castaldo; the undeniable genius of Martin Katz leading from the pit (as well as Clinton Smith assisting and even conducting one of our performances); hair and make-up by Erin Kennedy-Lunsford; and a roster of singers who seemed to be nothing but appropriately cast in their respective roles.  I think out of the whole of the operatic canon, Schaunard is the closest to my actual personality—I know him, I love him, and I could play him for the rest of my life… but what would be the fun in that?! (In fact, I'm not playing him in the production this Summer, which threw me for a bit of a loop when first learning it again).

But enough silly words… you came here for pictures, right?  Following are a sampling of photos from our production. Enjoy!

Obvs we did an updated version… don't think they had electric guitars back in the day!

 

 

Roomies: Andrew Harris (Colline), Steven Tompkins (Rodolfo), Wes Mason (Marcello)

 

 

Rhea Olivacce (Mimi) / Amanda Ramos (Musetta)

 

We were all fortunate enough to be joined on stage by the ridiculously talented George Shirley (in the role of Alcindoro and Benoit), a professor of voice at U of M who can count among his litany of accolades as being a Grammy award winner, the first African-American tenor to sing at the Metropolitan Opera, and all around bad-ass performer.  To have shared the stage with him is an honor I will carry with me through the rest of my career.

 

Professor Shirley, giving his absolute BEST Karl Lagerfeld!

 

Additionally, I was thrilled to have a whole cadre of Texans in the audience for the show! My parents, brother and sister-in-law, uncle Sid and cousin Hannah, and close close friend from Baylor made the trek up to Michigan to see the performances.  I'm still so grateful for each and every one of them!

Steven, Dad, Matt, Joanie, Me, Mom, Drew!

 

Stay tuned… more to come!!

Artist: Charles Aznavour / Album: Greatest Hits

Send a Picture of Mother

 

Happy happy Mother's Day internet land!!  In conjunction with the gallery I've put together a collection of photographs that are appropriately themed.  But FIRST… in celebration of my own mom:

… because she loves me even after posting pictures like this!

 

Elliot Erwitt: Mother and Child, New York City

 

Ida Wyman: Mama, Papa, Billy

-

Edward Steichen: Mother and Child – Sunlight

_

Dorothea Lange: Migrant Mother

 

Gordon Parks: Mother and Child, Harlem

 

Martin Elkhort: Where's Momma

_

Ruth Orkin: Mother and Baby

 

Rita Bernstein: Expecting

 

Now CALL YOUR MOTHER!!!!

 

Artist: Johnny Cash / Album: At Fulsom Prison

Subway Song

 

Good morning, world!  Monday's are my day off and I couldn't think of a better way to start (yes, I slept in a bit) than with this video I saw on Gawker.  In an advertising spot for their local classical station, the Copehagen Philharmonic  performed Grieg's Peer Gynt to some unsuspecting passengers on the metro.

Look at the smiles!

 

Artist: The Cure / Album: Boys Don't Cry

Move Closer

 

Spring has already done sprung at the John Cleary Gallery and for our last show Catherine and I decided to put up a "Masters of Photography" wall that is appropriately nature themed.  You've got your Ansel Adams, Robert Mapplethorpe, Henry Gilpin and finally Brett Weston:

For only $130,000 all this can be yours!

 

Now, Catherine (@clearygallery) is really quite Twitter savvy and has been known rub tweets with the best of them, including Emmy© award winning actress, Holland Taylor (@hollandtaylor).  My fellow Texans should note that, in addition to her stint on Two and a Half Men, she has also crossed the country in recent years portraying former Texas governor Ann Richards to fabulous reviews.  Click here to watch a clip and here to read more about the play itself!

Many people may not know it, but the inspiration for one of Brett Weston's most famous works is la diva herself and we got a hold of his first artist proof.  Don't believe me? Let's take a closer look, shall we:

You betta WORK that bridge, Holland!!!

 

Oh and also, as a bit of Twitter self-promotion myself… you may now follow me at @ub_sessed :)

 

Artist: Tom Jones / Album: The Complete Tom Jones

Loveliest of Trees

 

The last Friday of April is set aside annually in celebration of National Arbor Day, a holiday which encourages the planting and caring for of trees and other foliage.  According to our good friend, Wikipedia, it originated in Nebraska during the early 1870's and has since spread to a global level.

What better way to celebrate the greenest of holidays with a vertically integrated product: trees make paper, photographs are printed on paper, photographs on paper look FABULOUS on your walls!  See the logic there?

So in honor of the 140th Arbor Day here is a small forests' worth of the photography world's best trees!

Mitch Dobrowner: Wind Swept Tree

 

 

Maggie Taylor: Oh, Happy Day      |      Jerry Uelsmann: Untitled, 1969

 

 

Josef Hoflehner: Elephant Hill Pathway      |    Jeffrey Conley: Snow Covered Branches

 

Takeshi Shikama: Central Park #21

 

Jeri Eisenberg: Magnolia, No. 9

 

 

Susan Burnstine: Forever    |    Michael Crouser: Girl and Tree

 

Brett Weston: Holland Canal

 

   

Charles Grogg: Juniper Bonsai  |  Jefferson Hayman: Tree in Central Park  |  Keliy Anderson-Staley: Plum Tree

 

David Fokos: Haybales, Ripsa, Sweden

 

Henry Gilpin: Trees, Reflections    |    Dan Burkholder: Tree in April Snow, Catskills

 

Niniane Kelley: Palm

Brad Moore: Roosevelt, Huntington Beach, California

 

Pine-ing for any of these images?  Don't have a collection and looking for one to take root?  Already have one but looking to branch out?  Want me to stop with these ridiculous tree jokes? Don't be such a crabapple! Come into the John Cleary Gallery or give us a call and we'd love to help find that perfect photograph for you.

 

Artist: Bryn Terfel / Album: The Vagabond and Other English Songs

Black and White World

 

As many of you may have noticed whilst Googling your favorite celebrity gossip or low-cal recipes, today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of French photographer Robert Doisneau, a titan in the world of black-and-white photography and all around bad-ass image capturer. 

Google's Doisneau "doodle"

 

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I've made a post (well over a month, I know) and I thought I'd ease back into things with a quick "best-of" of Doisneau's images.  Many of his works are iconic and I encourage you to check out more of his work either online or stop into the John Cleary Gallery and see them in person!

 

La dame indignee, 1948

 

Danse

Jacques Prevert au Gueridon, 1955

 

Le menage de monsieur Barre, 1955

 

 

Mademoiselle Anita and Pablo Picasso

 

Les helicopteres, 1976

 

Le baiser de l'Hotel de Ville (The Kiss), 1950

 

Artist: Elvis Costello / Album: Ten Bloody Marys and Ten How's Your Fathers