Art – Page 6 – Ted Mills

More than Zero : Ojaiyes brings Zero Mostel to life with One Man Show

March 1, 2013November 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

FROM TOP : From left, Steve Grumette, director, and Howard Leader Howard Leader as Zero Mostel Frank Eller photo — FROM TOP :
From left, Steve Grumette, director, and Howard Leader
Howard Leader as Zero Mostel
Frank Eller photo

I have done quite a few plays, and I wanted a challenge,” says Howard Leader.

The actor has gotten what he wanted. Tonight he stars in a one-man show based on the life of Zero Mostel, the gregarious but tormented star of such films as “The Producers” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” as well as the original Tevye in the Broadway production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

This new production of Jim Brochu’s award-winning 2006 stage play, “Zero Hour” opens tonight at Ojai Youth Entertainers Studio, directed by Mr. Leader’s frequent collaborator, Steve Grumette.

Reach Out and Touch – ‘Object’ at Wall Space gets 3-D with photography

March 1, 2013November 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Wall Space Gallery owner Crista Dix continues to confound expectations of what a gallery of photography can mean in this latest show, “Object.” The gallery has only been in the Funk Zone for a short time, but it has been tweaking minds since it opened. “Object” may be the most tactile of the shows so far.

The three artists are all women: Sue Van Horsen, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Yvette Meltzer. All use photography as a tool, and explore its chemical uses. One makes you rethink surfaces, one mashes a 2-D art form into 3-D sculpture, and the other plays with the concept of abstract art.

Old School – Street photographer Ricky Powell’s work comes to Fuzion

November 30, 2012January 7, 2016 tedmills Leave a comment

A day after our walk-n-talk interview on the rainy streets of Santa Barbara, street photographer and rabble-rouser Ricky Powell sends me a thank-you note. His email signature is longer than the message, all separated with slashes like a telegram: Ricky P. / The Lazy Hustler / Funky Uncle / Horny Dog Walker / KooL Substitute Teacher / Bummy Sophisticate / Illy Funkster. All these titles he’s bestowed upon himself, but perhaps Lazy Hustler fits the best.

A very brief selection of Mr. Powell’s work now hangs at Akomplice/Fuzion on State Street through the rest of the year, documenting how Mr. Powell was at the right place at the right time when hip-hop exploded in the mid-’80s.

Behind the Curtain: We Celebrate the people that keep the arts moving in SB

December 31, 2010July 9, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

For those of us in the entertainment print trade, we know at lot of these people by name, if not face. They keep the wheels greased and the machines running; they send out the press releases and they make the artists accessible; they keep the books balanced and the funds raising; they make sure that everything feels effortless. For the general public, that means they’re invisible for the most part; and they don’t want you to know how much effort goes into being effortless. But they are always on top of the list of the “without whom” section.

So now it’s time to bring a few of these people out in to the light and give them the recognition they deserve, for photographers to backstage crews. They are our Behind the Scenes Superstars.

Fishmas Comes but Once a Year – Alternative X-mas market and party is coming to Helena Avenue

December 10, 2010July 10, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The Christmas tree gets a makeover this weekend at Fishbon's Fishmas Bazaar. Courtesy photos — The Christmas tree gets a makeover this weekend at Fishbon’s Fishmas Bazaar.
Courtesy photos

“Christmas has become, for a lot of people, an opportunity to put pressure on themselves, a pressure to perform around their families and work,” says John Lawrence, one of the organizers of Fishbon’s Fishmas Bizarre. “It’s a stressful time.”

Well, there will be none of that this weekend in the three-day holiday event on the corner of Mason and Helena Avenue. Instead, the Fishnet Gallery will have home-made, artist-designed Christmas trees, arts-and-crafts vendors, food carts and a nighttime made of music, skits, DJs, fire spinners and aerialists. This is not your average mall-located Christmas adventure, either. It’s an artist collective run wild with yuletide fun.

Forces of Nature – The team behind ‘Ruckus’ returns for a free show at CAF

November 26, 2010July 1, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Back again so soon? Some readers may remember Anaya Cullen and Marko Pinter from September’s issue, when they caused a “Ruckus” over at Center Stage Theater, where they were one-third of that evening’s show of multimedia performance. For this Thursday’s forum Lounge at Contemporary Arts Forum, the two return with their still-unnamed company for “Gravitational Forces,” a longer, more ambitious piece.

Returning to mix sound, video and dance are Kaita Lepore and Steven Jasso, who Cullen considers as much a part of the company as the two creators. For “Dichotomous” and “Ruckus,” Cullen remained behind the scenes. But for “Gravitational Forces,” she returns to the stage as a performer. Santa Barbara audiences will know Cullen from her previous performance work for SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre, though currently she is the costume designer for State Street Ballet.

POINTS of VIEW – SBCAF’s new two-painter exhibition finds an experiment in alienation

October 22, 2010July 7, 2021 tedmills Leave a comment

AT TOP, 'POD 3,' PAUL WINSTANLEY; ABOVE, 'EPIPHANY MODEL: THE PHOTOGRAPHER 2,' PETER ROSTOVSKY — AT TOP, ‘POD 3,’ PAUL WINSTANLEY; ABOVE, ‘EPIPHANY MODEL: THE PHOTOGRAPHER 2,’ PETER ROSTOVSKY

The “Parallax” view is a fixed point that seems to move when seen from two slightly different viewpoints. The perspectives from a left eye and a right eye are one example. The works of Paul Winstanley and Peter Rostovsky represent it as well, as the two artists who make up Contemporary Arts Forum’s new show — opening Saturday — look at similar things in very different ways.

Wistanley focuses on lonely, alienating interiors, from corporate offices to university common rooms. Rostovsky’s work ranges over many subjects and mediums, but this show will focus mostly on his “mediated landscapes.” Both artists provide new ways of looking at the world around us, and CAF’s publicity provides a tasty hint of the artists’ overlap: Rostovsky’s “Curtains” and Winstanley’s “Veil 15.” Both feature curtains, the former deep, red and mysterious with hints of the theater, while the latter is white, translucent and divided into sections by the window panes behind.

We Have the Technology – ‘SonicSENSE’ invites the viewer to play with its art

October 1, 2010June 27, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

'SONICSENSE TOUCHSENSE,' (detail) BARNEY HAYNES AND JENNIFER PARKER — ‘SONICSENSE TOUCHSENSE,’ (detail) BARNEY HAYNES AND JENNIFER PARKER

Forget the signs at the museum telling you not to touch the art. When “SonicSENSE” sets up its exhibition for this coming week’s First Thursday Forum Lounge at Contemporary Arts Forum, it wants interaction. Play away — who knows what will happen.

One piece features a small corridor made out of piezo speaker film, a very thin, shiny metal paper. As the viewer walks through this narrow space, the displaced air ruffles the fabric, producing a ghostly sound between a rumble and a breath. Spooky, but intriguing.

Studio Sessions – Artist tour allows a look behind the curtain

August 27, 2010June 11, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

From landscapes to abstracts, artwork has been at many times inspired by Santa Barbara and its environs, either as a subject or simply as a place to work. Painters, sculptors and multimedia artists live and work invisibly in plain sight. The woman at the farmer’s market buying a basket of vegetables for the week may be going home to finish a huge canvas. The windows looking out from the Riviera may be artist studios. For those who join the Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour this weekend, all will be revealed. Secret locations will be open for exploring, and one may just catch the art bug.

Now in its ninth year, the weekend-long open house features over 40 artists who live and work in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria. Some work downtown. Others work off in the wilds, or as wild as we get here.

Full Exposure – Artist James Gilbert knows our intimate details, whether he likes it or not

August 27, 2010June 11, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

'DELICATE STANDARD' — ‘DELICATE STANDARD’

Whether you have a Facebook account or a Twitter feed or nothing at all, the changing ideas of privacy affect us all. We let people know where we work, where we live, our beliefs and opinions, what we eat and drink and where we are this very minute. And the thing is, younger generations see no problem with it. Full transparency, they vote.

You could say that “transparency” is also the operative word in James Gilbert’s work, which comes to Contemporary Arts Forum this Thursday as part of First Thursdays. Instead of paintings or video or dance, viewers will encounter Gilbert himself right when they walk in, high above the desk, sewing underwear out of plastic, a material that leaves little to the imagination. Don’t worry, you don’t have to wear it. But visitors will have an opportunity to hang their ‘wear all around the gallery. That’s a lot of tighty whiteys. The work is “accumulative sculpture,” he says.