Review: Wicked, the Musical

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Long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz. One - born with emerald green skin - is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch makes for the most spellbinding new musical in years.

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That's how the synopsis reads on the website for Wicked, the musical. And, like most synopses, it is woefully inadequate. The difficulty of writing a review or a synopsis is to avoid giving away too much of the plot so that people will still want to see it. This musical is about the origins of evil, what it means to be good, the mislabelling of people, tolerance, and of course, love and conflict.

I'll be honest...I'm very picky about what musicals I like. The genre has always baffled me. When I was a child, I enjoyed watching them, but had a quirky way of looking at them. I'd watch them and instead of paying attention to the performers, I used to stare at the people who would walk around in the background while the performers did their stuff. I used to wonder why these people didn't seem to notice the well-choreographed numbers and singing around them and walked around like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Then, I would imagine what it would be like in real life if suddenly, you were waiting for a bus, or standing in line somewhere, and half the people around you broke into some musical number complete with dance choreography. Imagining this is actually how I got through countless waits in line. It could also be the reason, I love the musical Dancer in the Dark, starring Bjork (but that's a review for another time). Generally, I like musicals with some conflict and not the mindlessly optimistic ones. I also prefer musicals with generous amounts of dancing, having been a long admirer of the dance.

Wicked fulfilled all my needs in a musical. There was a lot of dancing in a variety of dance styles, the songs were beautiful and well-performed, the set was magnificent, and the talent involved was stunning. The musical also had an ample amount of conflict and even tackled a big philosophical subject: what is the nature of evil and conversely, what is the nature of good? And, as far as the L. Frank Baum book, "The Wizard of Oz," and the subsequent movie that we're all familiar with, no sacred cows were sacrificed.

The story explores the lives of two women who came from different backgrounds. Galinda (later to become Glinda the Good) obviously comes from a priveleged background and charmed life, while Elphaba is despised by her own father and others because she has had the unfortunate circumstance of being born emerald green. Galinda and Elphaba are assigned as roommates in college, and as anyone who's had that experience can attest, it's not always a good match. Galinda is a vaccous, shallow, but popular woman, and Elphaba is smart and sassy, and not at all into what Galinda is into. She has been made to be consciously aware of her limitations her whole life, while Galinda cuts a swathe easily through any room and gains the admiration and sympathy of her peers. Galinda has an inflated view of herself and has appointed herself Elphaba's savior. Elphaba participates in a cause to defend the animals who have been forbidden to speak or have opinions or freedoms out of her obvious identification with them.

Galinda is not Elphaba's ONLY self-appointed "savior." Madame Morrible, the college's headmistress wants to take her under her wing since she shows an aptitude for sorcery, which also brings her the attention of the Wizard. Morrible and the Wizard have less than noble motives for using Elphaba's talent for sorcery, while Galinda moves from "loathing" her and making her into a project, to becoming her friend (though, in the end, she wouldn't admit this in mixed company).

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Something has changed within me.

Something is not the same.

I'm through with playing by the rules

Of someone else's game.

Too late for second-guessing,

Too late to go back to sleep,

It's time to trust my instincts

Close my eyes: and leap!

It's time to try Defying gravity.

I think I'll try Defying gravity.

And you can't pull me down!

-- Elphaba in the song Defying Gravity

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The treatment of Elphaba by Galinda, Morrible, and the Wizard prompt her to reject their rules of their "game." Elphaba chooses to defend the animals and fight Morrible and the Wizard. Galinda must walk the borderline because of politics. These relationships beg the discussion about what evil is. True, there are some individuals that are clearly "evil." But, a large number are clearly labeled as such because they are misunderstood or refuse to play by society's social mores. This is Elphaba's fate. She is misunderstood from the beginning because she is green and labeled evil by the authorities, because she won't participate in what she believes is immoral...and they have enough authority to convince the land of Oz that Elphaba is wicked.

I'll be the first to admit that I identify more with Elphaba than Galinda. Even when I was young, I would watch the performance of Billie Burke as "Glinda the Good Witch" in the film and found her to be vaccous and somewhat sanctimonious. And, while I found Margaret Hamilton's performance as the "Wicked Witch of the West" to be somewhat scary, I found it more endearing and entertaining by the end of the film. There was always something likeable inside the character to me: that crazy laugh and hunched pose, the way she dramatically waved her fingers, her dark humor, and her habitat in the forbidden forest. I guess I saw her as more multi-dimensional than Glinda. Apparently, so did the writer of the story behind Wicked.

Without revealing too much about the plot, there are "cameo" appearances by Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion (whose origins are all explained). There is a love triangle between Galinda, Elphaba, and Fiyero, who is initially Galinda's kindred spirit and effervescent suitor. There is also a lot of humor and the tightest story I've seen or read in a long time: considering the author was tackling a sacred classic and the two main characters aren't explored much in the original novel or film. The story is clever, fun, meaningful, and touching all at the same time.

The performance we attended included actors Stephanie Block (Elphaba), understudy Emily Rozek (Galinda/Glinda), Derrick Williams (Fiyero), and David Garrison (the Wizard). Stephanie Block did a fantastic job playing Elphaba, but in my opinion, it was Emily Rozek that stole the show with her interpretation of the character of Glinda. I swear that I knew girls like that in college. She played Glinda in such a way that one could despise her, be annoyed by her, and still find her quite affable at the same time.

left: David Garrison; right: Derrick Williams

Finally, the set is magnificent in terms of construction, color scheme, and animatronics. Words simply aren't ample to describe the set. One spectacular part of the set is the talking giant, mechanical head of the Wizard. The costuming was a creative mix of Gay 90s attire mixed with derivations of the costuming from the original film. As a lover of the original film, I found it to be a tribute to the story, though I can see why some purists and those who prefer to believe in the polarity of good and evil would find it to be sub-par. Hopefully, most can put aside their preconceived notions and opinions and see Wicked as its own story.

* Lyrics can be found here.

© Stephanie Lewis, 2005

Robert & Shana Parke-Harrison

I watched a program called Art Close Up on AETN tonight. The program featured a photographic couple named Robert & Shana Parke Harrison. He and his wife Shana actually work as a team when producing the work. She acts as a director and they both work on the concept and execution together. They work in a staged photographic format rather than a candid format, and though I am less of a fan of staged photography, I find this work to be quite beautiful and poetic. The program presented an art critic who described the work as representations of the "every man" and his struggles. I'm not sure this assessment quite encapsulates the broadness of interpretive possibilities but it is a good start. There are also statements about mankind's relationship to the environment within the photographs. The program was particularly insightful because it revealed their process(es) which they apparently have kept guarded for some time. If you're a photographer intrigued by layering and collage, staging, and process in general, this couple of artists are the ones for you.

It's hard to pick a favorite one from the site,
but this piece called "Forest Bed," comes pretty close for me.

Girls' Night Out

Cindy Sherman's work was only a small part of the exhibit at the St. Louis Contemporary Museum of St. Louis. The most notable piece was Doll Clothes, a three-minute silent animated video from 1975, which was being exhibited for the first time. In the film, the artist "appears as a paper doll that has come to life and tries on clothes stored in their clear plastic sleeves" (Andrea Green, Curatorial Assistant). In the exhibition catalog, Author Catherine Morris states "Rather than make a film in which she actually appears, Sherman chooses to make a film about photographic representation of herself in arrested moments of movement. The removal of herself as subject, while retaining her body as a backdrop for an imaginary construction, characterizes that her mature work has begun." I personally saw that this video piece was a very distinct foreshadowing of all of her identity pieces to come. Cindy Sherman is a particularly salient example of an artist who latches onto a theme and explores it throughout their artistic career in various ways so that in the end, it is FULLY explored.

The rest of the exhibition space was filled with work by two generations of female artists working today in an exhibition entitled Girls' Night Out. The work was primarily photography and video. One particularly good artist/filmmaker to me was Salla Tykkä, who was born in 1973 and lives in Helsinki. Her photographic stills were not as stiking as a film of hers that was included in the exhibition. The film was called Thriller, and read like a bizarre dream of a pre-pubescent girl. There is gazing in windows and gazing out of windows. There is a man searching for the girl, and in the end, leaving her alone in her bed. At one point, the girl finds a gun while chasing after the man, and shoots a sheep with it, while another girl burns brush outside the original house. The setting is a forested area after rain and on a cloudy day. Throughout the short film, the theme song from the movie Halloween is playing. Overall, the film is a disconcerting exploration of the themes of "coming of age," or "loss of image" from a clear, albeit surrealistic, feminine perspective. Here is an article on Salla Tykkä in The Guardian by Adrian Searle for further reading.

Cindy Sherman at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis

This coming Saturday, I get to see this exhibit. I'm very excited since I have NEVER seen a collection of multiple Cindy Sherman pieces in one place. To me, Cindy Sherman is to contemporary photography as Lon Chaney was to film. Her transformations of self are amazing, intriguing, and sometimes disturbing. She morphs so easily into the various identities women find themselves possessing or being possessed by. Look in future entries for my review of the exhibit. My boyfriend and I are also going to see the musical "Wicked" at the Fox Theatre and I will be reviewing that as well.

Why Have There Been No Great Women Comic-Book Artists?

I read this article the other day. The title naturally caught my eye. The author of the article seeks to understand why no women comic book artists have been featured in an exhibit called "Masters of American Comics" in Los Angeles. The exhibit will begin display this month at the Museum of Contemporary Art and the University of California's Hammer Museum.

The author of this article, Carly Berwick, explores three possibilities: Women not having the support, the overall role of women in the culture in the past, and the different tastes in the content of comics between men and women. Berwick cites writer Linda Nochlin in her essay, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" who says that "True female genius...had been curtailed by social conditions--the "overwhelming odds" against it--for want, as Virginia Woolf so succinctly put it, a room of one's own: a studio, some time, a helpmate, some ready admiration, all the factors that helped Pollock be Pollock and Picasso be Picasso." There is probably a great deal of truth to this statement. I know on a personal level, I have a supportive partner who understands my non-reproductive creative urges and I have no children. A lot of women have children, not-so-supportive partners, and are often the caretakers of aged parents and parents-in-law (around 70% of caretakers of the aged are female). So, women have a lot of obligations often and have to meet the needs of a variety of people, traditionally. All this caretaking drains energy and art-making takes a lot of energy. And, perhaps, traditionally, the male "masters" saw female "masters" more as mistresses and those mistresses allowed themselves to be treated thusly.

The traditional roles of women began to change in the 1970s and women began to flood into the labor and creative markets. The roles listed in the preceding paragraph are now optional and women aren't as "trapped" as we perceived them to be in the past. Having children is optional and a woman is not labeled "barren." She can choose to have a partner or not and does not become an old maid, spinster, or pariah for choosing not to. A woman now has almost the same earning power as a single man (well, about 76 cents on the dollar) and can support her own art habit. Men are also experiencing a change in their mindsets about what it means to be a supportive partner. They are tossing aside the antiquated idea of the "king of the castle" that fathers and husbands had in the past and being more cooperative and contributing directly to the rearing of children in terms of personal interactions and not merely breadwinners.

In Berwick's article, New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast states, "I think women--in general--like comics that are more verbal and personal and perhaps, more based in everyday experience." "Artbabe" and "La Perdida" creator Jessica Abel states that "Shoju, girls' manga, is structured like sitcoms....It's funny, light, and really appealing to a 12-year-old girl. That's all anybody was trying to get across all those years when people were discussing why girls weren't reading comics." Berwick also states, "the appeal of "male" comics to women--and of "women's" comics to male readers--was limited until the genre began to evolve beyond such distinctions, becoming more narrative and more focused on recognizable realities and emotions than on fantasies about spaceships and superheroes." The difference between men and women in terms of taste in content of comic books is an interesting justification for the lack of "master" female comic artists. Do women and girls really prefer "verbal," "personal," "sitcom-like," "narrative," and "realistic" content in their comics? Can that really be generalized? Why are male tastes considered the standard while female tastes are considered the deviation? Does this mean that men and boys prefer "stoic," "impersonal," "epic-like," "non-narrative," and more "fantastic" content? If so, why? Why do a lot of male created comics often include the theme of fantastic heroism?

These are all intriguing questions. To be sure, the answers are more complicated than "women have been kept down by men." What do you think? Why are women under-represented in the world of comics?

Robert Frost: The Road Not Taken (1915)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

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When I was in 7th or 8th grade in a little Lutheran grade school in Ellisville, Missouri (suburb of St. Louis), we had a pastor who taught us English literature. Fortunately, he was more than qualified and very passionate about the subject. He had us read some of the greatest short stories by O. Henry, Shirley Jackson, etc. He was a big fan of Hemingway (which I never really developed into-- I did enjoy "The Short, Happy Life of Francis MacComber," however). He had us read "The Old Man and the Sea." He had us memorize 600+ vocabulary words and their definitions one semester. The other thing he had us do was keep a poetry notebook. He exposed us to some of the greats: Carl Sandburg, e.e. cummings, Robert Frost, etc. Then, he had us write our own examples of various types of poetry (cinquain, limerick, sonnet, haiku, free verse, etc.) and illustrate our own bound book of OUR collected works, which I still have to this day.

We must have spent two weeks on the above poem. It made an indelible mark on my psyche to the extent that whenever I make major decisions, I can still hear it recited in my head. 'Convenience' and 'ease' are American watchwords for our culture and it seems to be embedded in everything we say or do, our choices for entertainment, how we acquire our material goods, and on and on and on. I am always refreshed when students go the extra mile or try something different on an assignment in my classes. It is ALWAYS rewarding for them as well as myself.

There have been several times in my life when I have chosen the road not taken (or less traveled by) and they have definitely been ways that lead on to ways. I'm glad I took the risks to choose art instead of psychology as the field of my career choice. I'm glad I chose a spontaneous road trip to Alaska instead of staying and working a 40-hour-a-week two weeks out of my summer in 1995. I'm glad I majored in painting in grad school with minimal experience at the time in painting and a background in drawing and printmaking. I'm glad I took the Arts Center job a few years back, even though I had never done anything like it. All of these were scary decisions and vast unknowns, but yielded extremely fruitful results.

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I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Me and You and Everyone We Know

A few weeks ago, I watched this provocative and poetic little film about the quirkiness of human behavior, love, and growing up. Of course, that summary is inadequate. Here is a link to the film's website. The film is probably not for all as it involves some controversial subject matter, but a good film nonetheless.

The filmmaker, Miranda July, is a visual artist in her own right. On her site, mirandajuly.com, you can find interactive activities. One of the more interesting and fun pages is the "Learning to Love You More" page that provides the websurfer with "assignments" to complete and turn in which are then shared with the rest of the audience. These "assignments" have limitations and criteria. Some examples of "assignments" are as follows:

#50 Take a flash photo under your bed. Here is Rebecca Croft's photo:


#53 Give advice to yourself in the past. Here is Julia Henderson's response:

"Advice to Julia K.Henderson at age 10.
1. Math will never be your strong point. Ms.Bell knows you are smart, but stop worrying about what she thinks!
2. Concentrate on your art, it s beautiful.
3. Love the fact that you are a choir geek ! You love to sing and it s wonderful.
4. You have beautiful hair and flawless skin, stop worrying about being chubby. The cushioning will redistribute and be wonderful assets soon.
5. Relax a little. The world is not going to fall apart if you stop telling it what to do. Promise."

There are 51 more of these "assignments" and the results are fun to look at if you decide not to participate. Some are even potentially therapeutic if you do decide to participate.


© Stephanie Lewis, 2005

Will My Little Cousin Grow Up to Look Like 'Dwight' from "The Office"?

What do you think? They have the same hairline and bald spot now. It's uncanny.

5 x 5 a Big Success!

The Arts Center raised $9,200. Here is an article from the Sunday paper.

I'm Glad my Childhood is Not on Video

I think my younger sister's cohort was one of the last group of kids to not have their childhoods on VHS or DVD. I think I saw myself on someone's 8 mm film once when I was 12 and that was enough. It was very wierd seeing myself. Today, it's quite commonplace. I've often wondered how it has changed people's perceptions of the world and interaction with others, having seen themselves on film and having a different sort of self-awareness than most of us have gazing in a mirror. It is interesting to ponder--especially in post-Springer world.

I stumbled onto this gem this morning. The question is, do you think that THEY or this guy will be potentially more embarrassed in the future? The other question is, why did they choose an 80s dance repertoire for their medley? Another scary thing is that my childhood music is now considered "classic" or "oldies." It had to happen eventually.

My Trip to Chi-Town

I flew out of XNA on November 9 in the morning. One of my students whom I've been carpooling with, used to work for the airlines and graciously gave me one of her buddy passes AND drove me to the airport, AND loaned me her cell phone for the trip. She'll never know how grateful I am. My flight to Atlanta, and then to Chicago was uneventful.

Once I got my rental car, I was reminded anew how similar the Chicago highway system is similar to St. Louis's (my hometown). So, Chicago is always somewhat familiar to me even though I don't spend much time there.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by my cousin's wife and four year old daughter. She calls me "Aunt Steph" even though we are really second cousins--because her dad is really like a brother to me. However, she didn't recognize me right away--four year old memories being what they are. Later that afternoon at the dinner table, she leaned in and said, "So. My dad says that your a good artist." I said, "Hey! I thought you didn't know who I was!" She laughed. I said, "Some think so." She said, "My grandpa's a good artist too." This brief discussion was basically par for the course between me and Maddie during this trip. We spent loads of time playing pretend games and drawing too. It was also the first time I met my new little cousin Kayla.

I drove downtown the day of the reception and arrived about 3 hours before the event so I could wander around. I first went to find the gallery, and when I got there, I took photos of the art on the walls while the room was empty. After leaving the gallery, I found this novelty and poster store and spent most of my time there, killing time. Then, I grabbed a bite to eat a few blocks away from the gallery. I had this strange waiter who kept looking at me like he knew me--or at least like I had another eye in the middle of my forehead. It was rather strange. I asked if there were any discarded papers and he brought me one, so I parused that and tried the crossword.

It was about 15 minutes until five when I walked down to the gallery. People were already there, even though the snacks and drinks weren't ready yet. I immediately met with Karen Egerer, the organizer of the event/exhibition through Heartland International. Karen introduced me to Michael Ensdorf, the Director of the Gage Gallery at Roosevelt University, and Gregory G. Knight, the Director of Visual Arts at the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and Chief Curator of Exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center. Susan Aurinko, Director of FLATFILE Galleries and also the third juror, was unable to attend.

I spent some time talking about my piece with Michael. He had an interesting interpretation on it. Interesting, not because I can't see his point, but because I didn't really have the particular issue in mind when I made the image. We talked about how the multiplicity of interpretations is an asset and not a liability and opens dialogue. As the evening progressed, I found out that not only did we have similar jobs, but also similar philosophies--just in two different places in the country.

As the evening progressed, I met artists who were in the exhibition with me as well as other artists who often engaged in some conspicous self-marketing. I admired their moxy and walked away with several of their cards. I spent most of the evening talking to a financial planner from Mass Mutual, of all places. He had some intriguing ideas about politics and was planning to write a novel at some time in the future. He and I also chatted at length with one of the other artists and her daughter about the state of the world and politics.

After the reception was over, Michael invited me to go to dinner with he and his wife's friends at the Park Cafe. We all had great philosophical discussions about art, education, creativity, motivation and all the other deep things artists, arts educators, and arts administrators talk about when they are together. The ambience of the restaurant was also very nice and the food was nearly perfect. After dinner, Michael made sure I made it safely to my car in the parking garage and I dropped him off at his car.

The rest of the time I was in Chicago, I went to Ikea with my cousin-in-law and we had lunch. I had Swedish meatballs for the first time in forever. We wandered the store for the afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed all the efficient Swedish (and Scandinavian, to be honest) domestic engineering. That evening we had some yummy pizza and I spent some time with my cousin.

The next afternoon, I flew back to Arkansas.


Here are some artists who presented me with their cards:

Roland Kulla
Andrea Harris
Andrea Harris also promoted BettyAnn Mocek.
Renee McGinnis

Finally, here are some images from the gallery:

freedom::response Exhibit Highlights

I should be writing about my experience in Chicago sometime this week, but I thought I'd share some image highlights with you in the interim. Here were three that stood out to me in the exhibit of 29 pieces.

Self-Portrait, by Andrea Harris, oil and wax, 24" x 24"

The Supremes, by Nancy Calef, oil, 36" x 48"

Arwa-India, by Anni Holm, photograph (image comprised of fingerprints)

Jim Torok

Here is a funny image by Jim Torok that I discovered in this month's Art in America.


You can read about him here.

Dreams, Nightmares, and Memories

My advanced painting class is working on their fourth painting: "paint a dream or a memory." The assignment also includes nightmares, "out of body experiences," hallucinations, and other levels of "consciousness (or "unconsciousness," as it were)." These things are nebulous things to capture in the mind, much less in paint. One of my favorite dream/nightmare images is Dorothea Tanning's "A Little Night Music."



This work has always captivated me. I believe GOOD art asks questions of the viewer and doesn't merely provide the answers or is "eye candy." I think GOOD art is a seduction of sorts. This painting has a series of strange juxtapositions that make it quite compelling: the child, partially clad, leaning against the doorway; another, with her back turned to the viewer--her hair is flying straight into the air; the giant sunflower in the red-carpeted hallway that leads the viewer's eye directly to another room with the door propped open and a mysterious light emitting from the opening; and stairs that run off the format with a dominant, activating diagonal running through the center of the composition. It's quite a disorienting image. It could be a dream, a memory, a salacious nightmare, or an allegory of puberty. What makes this image so compelling and such GOOD ar,t is that its possible meanings exist on so many different levels.

Read a summary of the piece at the Tate and check out other work by Dorothea Tanning.

The Wonder Horse

The other night at the 5 x 5 exhibition, one of my former students presented me with a gift. He was one of my first students at NWACC. A few years ago, in my drawing class, I had students bring still life items for the class to draw from. One day, he showed up with the Wonderhorse. I had very nostalgic feelings about the Wonderhorse that he brought. It was the EXACT model I had when I was small. I spent hours upon hours riding the spring-mounted horse in my basement when I was a child until I got too big to ride it.

Two nights ago, toward the end of the exhibition, he came waltzing into the room with the Wonderhorse under his arm. He had tied a bow around its neck and handed it to me. The horse was somewhat worse-for-wear, having a broken leg in an attached ziploc bag and the rear, a wooden support, and the wooden hand grips missing. I stood around for a few minutes with it under my arm surrounded by the inquisitive glances of the exhibition attendees. Later, I carried it out of the ACO and took it home with me.

I was a little concerned about what I was going to do with the horse since my house is very full of art and artifacts. I decided I'd put it in a prominent place on top of my kitchen cabinets under a 9-foot ceiling. I now see it immediately when I walk in the room and am reminded of happy times in my childhood. It was a very nice and thoughtful gift.

R.C. Gorman 1931-2005

Andy Warhol portrait of R.C. Gorman

About 11 years ago, I worked for a frame store that also sold numbered fine art prints. That year, R.C. Gorman was very big. I could see the decorative appeal of the work, but I didn't know much about him as a person or an artist. His nickname was "The Picasso of American Indian Art." I'm not sure what that nickname is referring to-- his style of art or his prolific art-making. He died Thursday, November 3.

The Third Annual 5 x 5 Exhibition

The party went well last night. There were a lot of new faces and positive energy. It was interesting to see how switching to silent auction affected the crowd's behavior. They seemed to come in more slowly and hold back on their bidding until the end. It was much more casual then the first come, first serve rush. It was nice that the food and wine were donated. Both were excellent in presentation and taste.