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> On Tuesday, violinist Maria Bachmann of Trio Solisti chats with us. We preview Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre's Romeo & Juliet, along with a live performance of the score by Mercury Baroque. And Houston writers, Laurie Clements Lambeth & Greg Oaks, read us some of their work. Trio Solisti
Presented by Houston Friends of Chamber Music
Tuesday, February 9, 8pm
Stude Concert Hall
Rice University
Entrance 18 off Rice Blvd., Houston, TX
Romeo & Juliet
Choreographed by Dominic Walsh
Presented by Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre
In collaboration with Mercury Baroque
Thursday, February 11, 8pm
Saturday, February 13, 8pm
Sunday, February 14, 2pm
Wortham Center’s Cullen Theater
500 Texas Ave., Houston, TX
832.251.0706
WWW.DWDT.ORG WWW.MERCURYBAROQUE.ORG Poet Laurie Clements Lambet & fiction writer Greg Oaks
Presented by the NANO Reading Series
Tuesday, February 9, 7:30pm
Kaboom Books
3116 Houston Ave., Houston, TX
Free admission WWW.NANOFICTION.ORG WWW.KABOOMBOOKS.COM |
| > On Monday, we preview Matthew Gutschick's play, The Incredible Flying Machine, to be presented on Wordsmyth Theater's Reading Series. Rising opera star Blythe Gaissert & pianist William Hobbs perform arias for us! And we check out David Fulton's exhibit, Abbey Road, at the New Gallery. The Incredible Flying Machine
By Matthew Gutschick
A staged reading presented by the Wordsmyth Theatre, in conjunction with the Actor’s Gym
Monday, February 8, 7pm
Main Street Theater – Chelsea Market
4617 Montrose Blvd., Houston, TX
Free admission
WWW.WORDSMYTHTHEATER.ORG Sing for Hope: Under the Golden Moon
A benefit concert for Bering Omega Community Services
Featuring mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert & pianist William Hobbs
Monday, February 8, 7:30pm
Houston Community College Northwest
Northeast corner of the intersection of I-10 (Katy Frwy) & Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Tollway), Houston, TX
David Fulton: Abbey Road
On view through February 16
New Gallery / Thom Andriola
2627 Colquitt, Houston, TX
713.520.7053
Free admission WWW.NEWGALLERY.NET |
The Front Row, Monday, 02/08/2010 February 8, 2010 Rising opera star, mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert and pianist William Hobbs perform arias and songs from Sing for Hope: Under A Golden Moon, a recital they give tonight, benefitting Bering Omega Community Services... > click here for more The Front Row, Friday, 02/05/2010 February 8, 2010 Visual artist Robert Pruitt shows us The Forever People, his current exhibition of works that imagine an alternative black identity, on view at the Hooks-Epstein Gallery. And, we hear from pianist Roger Wright as he plays selections from his Houston recital in the Geary Performance Studio... > click here for more The Front Row, Thursday, 02/04/2010 February 4, 2010 Today, jazz bassist Ben Allison, founder of New York’s Jazz Composers Collective, and members of his band, Man Size Safe perform live for us previewing their weekend concerts for Da Camera and the Jewish Community Center of Houston... > click here for more The Front Row, Wednesday, 02/03/2010 February 3, 2010 Artistic Director Michael Zuraw and guest artist Eric Avinger perform Manuel Ponce’s Sonata for Guitar and Piano, one of the selections included on the program, Sin Fronteras - Without Borders: A Celebration of Mexican Chamber Music, to be presented Friday evening by the Aperio: Music of the Americas series... > click here for more The Front Row, Monday, 02/02/2010 February 2, 2010 Today, we have a live performance by Moores School of Music faculty artist, pianist Tali Morgulis, and her colleague, Israeli-American clarinet virtuoso, Guy Yehuda. They play pieces by Schumann, Brahms, Muczynski and Bernstein on a Channing Concert this evening at First Unitarian-Universalist Church, and Friday night at the University of Houston... > click here for more The Front Row, Monday, 02/01/2010 February 1, 2010 Journalist and best-selling author, Elizabeth Gilbert, talks with us about her new memoir, Committed, in which she chronicles the year-long period in her life when she traveled East Asia with her Brazilian boyfriend while she wrestled with the fact that, in order for them to be together, she was going to have to overcome her strong objections to the idea of getting married again... > click here for more The Front Row, Friday, 01/29/2010 January 29, 2010 Bass-baritone Timothy Jones and pianist Brian Connelly join KUHF's Chris Johnson for a conversation about Franz Schubert’s lyrical song cycle, Die schöne Müllerin - The Fair Maid of the Mill and the 1825 Graf piano that they will use in this Sunday's recital presented by Context... > click here for more The Front Row, Thursday, 01/28/2020 January 28, 2010 Renowned soprano Patricia Racette talks with us about her role-debut as the passionate Tosca. Director John Caird joins her to share insights into Houston Grand Opera’s new production of Puccini's drama, which continues this weekend at downtown Houston’s Wortham Center... > click here for more > click for 100 past stories |
January 19, 2010
When you stare into Sarah Williams' nightscape paintings, it's almost as if your eyes begin to adjust to the night sky -- as if your pupils are actually dilating to let in more light: soft shapes appear (a lamp post or tree in the distance); shadows present themselves on a dark pavement; the horizon seems to shift; and subtle colors emerge from dusk.
Population 4,769 is Sarah Williams' second show and first solo exhibition at the McMurtrey Gallery (on view January 16 - February 13, 2010). I met the artist on Saturday afternoon, just before the Opening. She thoughtfully led me through this body of work, which focuses on scenes from her rural Midwestern roots (hometown: Brookfield, Missouri), along with some Texas locations. Based in Denton, Ms. Williams is a recent MFA graduate of the University of North Texas and currently an adjunct professor at UNT.
Brooks Street, 2009, oil on board, 18" x 18"
Kirksville, 2009, oil on board, 18" x 30"
"Being raised in a small town and then moving to an urban setting for my education has made me aware of the seemingly mundane, anonymous scenes existing on the periphery that tend to be ignored. Strong emotions can be prompted by place. ... Important aspects to my current work are the feelings related to the atmosphere of the environment depicted. Whether it be the soupy blackness of the sky, a faint glow on the horizon or the wet pavement after the rain, these are very much part of the distinctiveness of a place." (Sarah Williams)
Sarah Williams with Callio, 2009, oil on board, 30" x 30"
I also like this comparison, stated by Robert Jessup: "Her paintings often depict lonely places, the air thick with isolation and dread, like an image by Hopper crossed with a scene from a Cohen brothers' movie."
Indeed, there is a sense of loneliness/anonymity that intersects with the warmth of light and the specificity of location and weather.
In her snowscapes, like Callio, you take in scenes of fresh tracks on packed snow, red bows of Christmastime, evidence of deer season, buildings hiding in long winter shadows and the absence of people (tucked indoors, out of the cold).
When you exhale, you feel you'll see your breath.
Tune in for an interview with artist Sarah Williams in the coming weeks on "The Front Row"!
Images courtesy of the artist & the McMurtrey Gallery





