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INNOVAtheatre Brings For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf to Dayton This February

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Dayton’s artistic pulse is set to thrum with poetry, movement, and powerful truth-telling as INNOVAtheatre presents For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, the iconic “choreopoem” by celebrated playwright Ntozake Shange. This landmark piece of American theatre arrives at the Edward A. Dixon Gallery in downtown Dayton for a limited run February 20-22, 2026, offering audiences an intimate, unfiltered exploration of Black womanhood.

Originally premiering in 1976 and coined a choreopoem — blending poetry, dance, music, and drama — Shange’s work follows seven women through interwoven monologues that traverse love, trauma, resilience, reclamation, and sisterhood. Each performer embodies a color of the rainbow, using vivid language and evocative movement to bring their stories to life. Themes in the piece are rich and deeply human, confronting issues from abandonment and violence to joy and collective healing.

INNOVAtheatre’s production features a mature, sophisticated ensemble that promises to honor the emotional depth and narrative courage of Shange’s vision. Performed within the evocative space of the Edward A. Dixon Gallery — itself hosting Resilience, a Black History Month art exhibit — this staging invites audiences into an immersive experience that blurs the line between gallery and stage.

Performances run:

  • Friday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m.

  • Saturday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m.

  • Sunday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m.

Tickets are available now, with general admission offered on a first-come, first-seated basis. Patrons are encouraged to be mindful that the production contains mature themes, including discussions of mental health, domestic violence, loss, and strong language, and is recommended for ages 16 and up.

This presentation not only honors a seminal work in American theatre but also underscores Dayton’s commitment to bold storytelling and inclusive cultural programming. Whether you’re a longtime fan of Shange’s choreopoem or experiencing it for the first time, this production is poised to leave a lasting impression long after the final bow.

Dayton Artists United: Jess Montgomery

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Dayton Artists United is excited to have the opportunity to sit down with Jess Montgomery to discuss her book The Widows, published by Minotaur Press. The Widows is a historical mystery inspired by the life of Ohio’s first female sheriff,  and has been nominated for an Ohioana Book Award. 

Since 1942, The Ohioana Library has recognized Ohio authors for outstanding books published in Fiction, Nonfiction, Juvenile Literature, Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature, and Poetry categories, and an additional award for books about Ohio or an Ohioan.

Founded in 1929 by Ohio First Lady Martha Kinney Cooper, the Ohioana Library collects, preserves, and promotes the works of Ohio authors, artists, and musicians. The Library’s non-circulating collection includes books by or about Ohioans; sheet music;  clips on notable Ohioans; collections of the papers of Ohio authors and artists; scrapbooks of material created and collected by Ohio civic and cultural organizations. 

Check out the Ohioana website, as they will be releasing information about the 2020 awards, including special links to author readings and updates. The Ohioana Book Festival has moved online this year and features more than one Dayton area writer on it’s program. 

Jess Montgomery is the pen name of author and newspaper columnist Sharon Short. Find out more about her numerous books and awards by visiting her website, and by catching more of our interview, as we post more segments on Dayton Most Metro.

Dayton Artists United: Amy Williams

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DAU—Amy Williams, thank you for sitting down to talk to me.

AW—That’s OK

DAU—Talk to me about your philosophy of art.

AW—My philosophy. I think you have to follow your vision. Art is selling a feeling. Visual art either touches the viscera or it doesn’t.

DAU—so who are your favorite artists?

AW—Oh I don’t know.  I am still thinking about the emotional cost. As a viewer, If you want to buy a work,  it’s because it touches you,  eases your pain or inspires.

DAU—What about people who buy work to match their décor?

AW—Basquiat threw people out of his studio for that.

DAU—but some pictures are pretty, you want them because they are pretty. Turner landscapes, Degas horses.   

AW—But from the artists point of view they were emotional. I like Cy Twombly. His works are beautiful. But he was in this element where each mark he made was an experience. His works have a spiritual element that reflect a connection to something larger than himself.

DAU—Are you the only artist in your family?

AW—My brother draws. My mom is creative. She did a picture once that my brother took to school and got a good grade on.

DAU—Wow! Did your mom know?

AW—I don’t know. I don’t remember.

DAU—Are you from a large family?

AW—yes, 3 brother and two sisters. I am right in the middle, the oldest girl. 

DAU—and do they support your being an artist?

AW—They are. Although they worry. Very protective of the girls. I wanted to go to Europe to study, and they didn’t want me to. They have not always been on board with the whole artist experience. It wasn’t the art. It was all the other stuff.

DAU—When did you know you were an artist?

AW—I think I always wanted to be an artist. I remember being 6 or 7 years old and watching my brother draw and wanting to do that. Art is always calling me. There are so many distractions. I let things sidetrack me. I don’t recognize the diversions—I get caught up in stuff and then…well, art is always calling me. Some people describe it as a sickness.

DAU—What will it take to let it claim you? Or to claim it?

AW—I can’t answer that. It’s the thing we all struggle with, balancing doing the thing we need to do  and the thing we want to do.

DAU—Is art the thing you need or the thing you want?

AW—oh, both, I guess, at different times. I tried to turn it to something else. I tried graphic design.

DAU—so you went to school for graphic design?

AW—well not at first. I started classes at Sinclair. I had a great teacher there. Curtis Barnes—he really pushed my boundaries. He made me look at the spaces in a painting as well as the color. There was this painting in green and yellow inspired by a book jacket. It made me want to paint. I think it was called Venus Rising. My favorite works are the ones that come from that connection—now that I think about it, I spend a lot of time thinking about that spiritual element. Even when I am not painting.

DAU—and graphic design?

AW—It was just a thing I tried. I always come back to art.  I got a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Miami. I had good teachers there. Dana Saulnier. Very intuitive artist. Big huge abstracts, but with deeper meaning, very expressive of grief and loss.

DAU—so you went to school in Dayton and then Miami, are you from Dayton?

AW—Dad retired from the air force here in the late 70’s.  I lived in Huber Heights. When I started at school I came into Dayton. It’s not a big town, but it felt so different from Huber Heights. At first, I felt like I didn’t know people,  I missed neighbors and connections.  But you start to know people. You live here, and you get a sense of community. I think Dayton gets a bad rap from the surrounding areas—I think you live outside it, and you drive through it, you don’t see how connected it is. We watch out for each other. We are a community.

DAU—And now you have Wholly Grounds, and you’re a big part of the community.

AW—Thanks for saying that. The coffeehouse was a compromise with my partner—he wanted to open a bar. So, we opened a coffeehouse with a liquor license.

DAU—I think it’s wonderful. Thank you for all you do to support Artists United. Its great to have to gatherings here, and to see the local art on the walls, and you have live music. It’s very welcoming.

AW—And that’s what I want. I want people to come here and feel inspired. I want to be a part of the neighborhood.

DAU—Are you South Park or Oregon?

AW—We’re South Park, on this side of the highway. But I love the Oregon district. There are so many things I like about Dayton. My neighborhood is one of them.  Riverscape. The festivals! I really love the reggae festival. And the Lebanese festival. And the Blues Festival.

DAU—so, all these festivals–is it the music or the food ?

AW—the belly dancers.

DAU—I forgot the belly dancers.

Since our interview, Covid-19 shelter-at-home orders have stopped Artists United from meeting at Wholly Grounds, but they are open for carry-out. Amy and her partner Tony are grateful for the community support they’ve received during this shut down and look forward to having artists back in house. 

Dayton Artists United: Caitlin Cartwright

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Caitlin Cartwright is a social change artist whose vibrant narrative works combine painting, drawing, and collage to explore the stories that connect people of all cultures and ages. Although her intimate works deal with themes of loss and isolation, each piece also contains elements of community, comfort, and hope

DAU—I’ve read your bio and some other online interviews. You’ve lived all over.

CC—I have moved around a bit. I am from Dayton. I grew up here.

DAU—and you moved, when?

CC—When I was 16, I moved to Cincinnati to attend the School for the Creative and Performing Arts.

DAU—That’s a great school.

CC—Yeah, it is. I had a great time there.  From there I went to The Maryland College of Art.

DAU—OK, I understand moving for school and college, but how did you get from Baltimore to Madagascar? 

CC—Honestly, I just started sending email to places asking if I could come. This orphanage/community center/arts organization in Madagascar answered that I could come, but I couldn’t stay there.  Would I be interested in teaching at the school down the road, where this person knew they needed someone? After some email exchanges, I committed. I went to Madagascar, I taught English at the school, and as my second job, I did art projects with the orphans and street kids at the center. I painted a mural there, and just recently, I found out is still there. It’s cool to think about it.

DAU—What was it like to live in Madagascar?

CC—It was a challenge. Intimidating. Not a lot of people speak English there. The primary language is Malagasy, which I didn’t speak at all. And Madagascar was colonized by the French, so there is French spoken there, which I did not speak well.

DAU—You were so brave.

CC—I was young; it was a youth thing.

DAU—So how long did it take you to get proficient in Malagasy?

CC—It took about 7 months before I felt like I was able to hold a conversation.

DAU—And did you keep in touch with people there?

CC– There is one woman, she was my lifeline because she spoke English. We have kept in touch.

DAU—So, how long were you in Madagascar? And do you still speak Malagasy?

CC—I was there a year, and no, the vocabulary disappears after a while. I was listening to some music recently, and I could get some of the words.

DAU— And what came after Madagascar?

CC—I joined the Peace Corps and worked in Namibia. It’s beautiful there. I lived mostly outside. 90% of my time was spent outside.  I had a hut, but it was mud with a metal roof, and full of gaps—it was like being outside. It was like camping. And the sky there was huge…there’s no light pollution, you know, so at night the sky is so full of stars and they’re so bright. It made me feel—-I don’t know—-it was spiritual. It was a spiritual experience.

DAU—It sounds amazing. What kind of work did you do there?

CC—I helped start a girls after-school club. We collected materials to recycle and make into baskets to sell. 

DAU—And when you came back to the U.S.?

CC—Well, I wanted to do something with the community building I had been doing overseas. I thought I would get an advanced degree and grow my skill set. For some reason, I saw the community building and the art as separate,  I had been sort of compartmentalizing—at least in my mind. In practice, they overlapped a lot.

DAU—So, you did both?

CC—I am doing both.

DAU—As part of that degree you went to India?

CC—I did. India was a smack in the face.

DAU—In what way? You’d traveled quite a bit. 

CC—It still was a shock. You go to places, and you take your world view with you, you know. I come from such a place of privilege; and there I just realized it. I  was confronted by it daily. 

DAU—Tell me about that.

CC—I worked on a project that documented artists work. I would go to the artists’ houses and meet with them. There was one man who did the most beautiful metal work. I went to his house, and it was a room, more like a closet, and he and his wife and three daughters lived and worked there. His daughters weren’t going to school, because their work was good, and it sold, and it brought in money. So, no school.      

DAU–I read about your project there, you’re writing was just beautiful. You talked about the caste system and the “voiceless people defined by their positions.” Another thing you said I liked was that “while artists are responsible for the beauty we see everywhere in India, they are relegated to the ugliest and most marginalized parts of society.” One of the things that really struck me about this was that by documenting their work, both you and they felt that you were “validating their existence.” That spoke to me on a larger scale, about artists in general.

CC—I know what you mean. In graduate school, in a critique, if someone “got” your work, it was a toss up whether you felt understood or exposed.

DAU—It’s probably a different feeling for artists than writers, but I hope my work will stand on its own, but I also feel like I need to explain it.

CC—Oh, I know what you mean. I always struggle with what to put on the show card. How much is too much? And yet, I love to hear the back story on works I am looking at. It adds a dimension.

DAU—And how about when someone tells you how a work makes them feel, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

CC—so far, it’s mostly good. I want people to feel things. I want my work to be evocative, visceral.

DAU—And what are you working on now?

CC—Well, I am working on a project I submitted to the Montgomery County Artist’s Opportunity grant. I was awarded funding to create a body of work responding to how our community came together after last year’s tornados and the Oregon District shooting. I want to depict that sense of community, to convey that strength and hope.

DAU—How large a body of work?

CC—Five paintings.

DAU—And do you have a deadline? Are you going to show them?

CC—I am, but I don’t know when now. It’s all up in the air. I finished the collaborative piece of the project before we were confronted by Covid-19. I worked with community members at We Care Arts on creating art about the events of last year, just letting them express themselves, and how they felt. It was a powerful experience, I really bonded with the groups as we worked. Some of the pieces are astonishing, and I plan to include their imagery in my work, with their permission, of course.    

DAU—Talk to me about We Care Arts. You are director of programming there?

CC—I am, and I love it. It is the perfect place for me. I’ve always felt torn between community building and art making.  We Care Arts is the intersection of the two.  I don’t have to compartmentalize, I can promote art and healing, and community all at once.

DAU—And how are you coping with the Covid-19 shut down.

CC– I miss my people so much since we’ve been sheltering at home. We actually shut down on March 13, before the order came from the governor’s office. So many of our clients are in that vulnerable population. Many of them were self-isolating even before we decided to close. A big part of what I am doing every day is keeping in contact with my clients. Many of us were already feeling isolated, art is how we make connections.

We, the staff, are all doing everything we can to make sure  our clients have what they need. We’re posting videos online and sending out cards. We are all checking on each other. 

DAU—I liked that Amy Acton encouraged us to think about our mental health.

CC—I love her! I am so proud of us, of Ohio.  I think we’re doing an amazing job of pulling together. I love that she talked about mental health. At We Care Arts, we know the impact the arts have on mental health. It’s why I think it’s so important that there are artists offering free online art classes and videoconferencing, it’s a way we can look out for each other.

DAU—Is We Care Arts offering online classes?

CC—On our web page we’re posting client pictures into our Arts at Home gallery.  On our Facebook page, we’re posting video of art projects and things to keep our clients engaged. You can get to those things through the We Care Arts website or on Facebook, tagged with  #WCAathome

DAU—I want to go back to something you said before. Talking about when We Care Arts shut down, you said, “Many of us were already feeling isolated,” did you mean because of Covid-19 or before Covid-19.

CC—Oh, before. At We Care Arts, we cope with all kinds of challenges: developmental disabilities, cognitive impairments, addiction, depression and a whole spectrum of issues. Alone is our journey.

We all feel like no one understands us, no one can see how we feel. Some feel that more than others. But when we share through art, we connect through art.  We feel less alone because we can look at the art and see there are people who feel like we do, who know what alone is. The Covid-19 shelter at home isolation is a public enactment of how many of our clients feel all the time: alone, anxious, and uncertain about the future. It’s why we keep reaching out to each other. We need the reassurance that we will break out of this aloneness.

DAU—And when we break out? What are first things you are going to do?

CC—What won’t I do? I’m craving some Thai food, I’d like to sit down at Thai 9. I’d like to go to the Sky Bistro. I’m excited to go to the DAI summer Jazz series. I really hope that gets to happen! I went last year. My partner Duante Beddingfield sang there, and I got to go. It was such a beautiful experience. The space is so beautiful.

DAU—Caitlin Cartwright, thank you so much for talking to me. I hope we get to eat together in person soon.  I look forward to going with you to the Summer Jazz Series, and to seeing your paintings on display.

Dayton Artists United: William Cunningham

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Photo by Alex Kamanandi

Artist United interview with William Cunningham, artist and curator of The Orphanage Gallery, 73 N. Dutoit St., Dayton Ohio 45402

DAU—So, Bill, are you from Dayton?

WC—I am. I lived other places, like Atlanta back in the early 90s and I travel a lot, so I get to see many different things.

DAU—What do you like about Dayton?

WC—I’m kind of funny about Dayton. I know a lot about Dayton and its history. I used to run Gallery 257 back in the late 80s, it was located where Press Coffeehouse is now.

But Dayton frustrates me. The Dayton art community frustrates me. There is so much potential there and it languishes as it has no supporting infrastructure for artist cultural production.

DAU—Talk to me about that. What do you mean by infrastructure?

WC—Mostly, I mean exhibition space. There is not enough open exhibition space for the artists we have, and we have a tremendous number of artists here in Dayton. As artists, we need places to see lots of various styles of art. We don’t get to go see each other’s work as it evolves over time,  unless you drop by another artist’s studio, which are usually not open. Most artists have to get a show for their work to be seen. It’s hard here to get shows.

There are few galleries that will show newer artist work or even established artist work for that matter. Let’s say an artist creates say 30-40 works, maybe 5 of those are actually show-able.  Art is a process, and not everything you turn out is your best work, work that as an artist you would be willing to show. Sometimes you have something to say and it doesn’t come across in the first 20 attempts. Or in 20 works the language for the work is not developed enough to be understandable for the viewer. But if you could get those five-good works into a group show for example, you could start to build up to something in the form of a conversation based on the viewer feedback of the work.

DAU—So, if someone came to you and said “Bill, we want to foster the arts in Dayton, and we need some guidance.”

WC—I’d tell them  1) Set up an exhibition space that is open for emerging artists. A pop-up sort of thing. Something that turns over rapidly, once a week or once every two weeks. Just a wall with two works on it would work to increase visibility of an artist work. By alternating the space so there is something new every week, say 50 weeks a year this way there is always new energy in the art space. 2)  Have a looser curatorial process, don’t try to control what hangs to much let other people sign-up to curate shows of other artist work. This really helps as one person should not be allowed dictate what is good or bad. 3)  Don’t control the artists. Don’t put your finger on them and tell them what kind of art they have to show. But do guide them in matters like pricing. Every gallery is different every art space is also different over time pricing patterns will develop which provides a range which art sells well at that venue.

DAU—I’m hearing that you don’t like to be told what to do.

WC—Hell No! Anybody will tell you that. I’ve been called a renegade. I’ve been called worse than that. I speak my mind. I’m not going to say I like something if I don’t and there are a lot of things I don’t like. Some of the things I don’t like are based on my experience. Like, I’ve got a bias against juried art shows. I hate all juried shows.

DAU—Why is that?

WC—Most of the juried shows collect submission fees and then they give out a prize that’s worth a fraction of the money they collect. The rest goes to paying for the show usually in a space that is already paid for. It’s a cash machine that exploits the artists. It’s really nothing more than a cash grab scam that preys on artist. And the jurors are laughable in most cases. They get someone that’s high profile, not high profile in the art world, but someone that people recognize, or a person in the government to walk around and give out a prize to the winner based on what? And then the emerging artists have to explain to that person about the value of their art and what it’s about. Then the show just becomes a personality contest.

Some time ago, I had a work in an abstract show. The juror comes in, he’s all pompous and talking about “post-modern abstraction’ in this way that showed he has no idea what he was talking about. He walked around and talked down to all the artists. Then, he awarded the prize to landscape painting. A landscape, a plen air landscape at that,  with a duck at a pond.  A landscape painting won in an abstract show! Turned out the person who won was related to the juror,  go figure.

Most jurors are friends of the curator—it’s a scam to make money as they oftentimes get paid as well. How does a young artist know which juried show is legit? At the galleries I run we will never do a  juried show.

DAU—No juried shows ever?

WC—Well, there is an exception. We were in ArtFest in Beavercreek last year. That was a juried show done right. The judges were people who knew what they were about. Michael Roediger; Director and CEO of Dayton Art Institute,  (3rd year as a judge), Lisa Seibert; with Dayton Local (4th year as a judge), and Amy Kollar Anderson; Internationally recognized artist, MCACD 2018 grant recipient. Samantha was one of the staff members for ArtFest. And, in my opinion,  this show was fair in its judging.

The booth I worked with won Best Interactive. We showed Front Street artists and had a second half that gave away spun art t-shirts. I ran the gallery side, which also had a little gallery that was interactive. All the works inside were free, provided by artists in the area. It was a good event.    

DAU—Samantha? You mean Samantha Mang?

WC—She’s part of ArtFest. She’s good people.

DAU—She’s co-curating the Artists United group show with you.  Thank you for that. I really liked what happened at the Artists United gathering where you offered The Orphanage for a group show.

WC— You wanted a show. I have an art space. I like what Artists United is doing. It’s like what The Orphanage does in some ways.  Artists United doesn’t charge a fee to be a member, right? The Orphanage has a zero-profit gallery model: $0 submission fees and $0 commission fees. Our mission is to provide a place for artist to show and sell work. Sales of  any work from an artist help support the artist. Our rules are simple: the artist must be present at the show’s opening. The artist, especially emerging artists, needs to mingle with other artists and art patrons. See there’s the network thing we have in common. Artists need to meet people in the public places away from the art studio. How else are they going to sell art? The gallery is supported by the art community attending the shows. We don’t handle any sales of artists’ work: the artists sell their work. But last year, at the galleries, artists sold over 600 works. We don’t take a cut all of that money, it all went into the pockets of the artists.

Let’s say you’re an artist, and you have your work in a group show, like the Artist United show that is coming up. You meet people, maybe you sell some art. If people like your work, they’ll  come to your studio. When you’ve built an audience, you can host an open studio event. People buy more art at events.  Group shows at The Orphanage broaden the exposure for everybody involved. This Artist United show already has 45 artist signed on and I expect a few more before it opens.

One of pieces from Pseudo Bibliography of Imaginary Friends a series of work from a couple of years ago where Bill Cunningham mixed two forms of bad art vintage snapshots and public domain clipart to create a new work.

Also, when you have your work in a group show, like the upcoming Artists United show on March 6, you see the work of other artists. You get to talk to each other about art. I love to talk to other artists about art. When artists talk about art, they don’t put a value on it, like “Hey, that could win a prize at a juried show with that work.” No, they talk about the work. The process. What brush did you use to get that effect? What inspired this thing? These sorts of things. Which helps artists expand what they are already doing. As they gain new information, their work becomes better, even if they do not use the ideas they learned about. The conversations, the exposure to other artists still had an influence on them. 

When artists participate in a group show they learn how a gallery operates. How to interact with the public. How to price their work. They watch what sells and what doesn’t. They look at how the show is put together—why did some works hang together? There are a lot of things that aren’t being taught. We have great art programs here. Sinclair has a strong art department, so does Wright State, so does the University of Dayton. The University of Dayton is the only one that teaches the business in some of its art classes.

The starving artist concept is a myth and based in propaganda. We need to stop selling it. Let’s stop charging $80,000 per year to teach kids how to copy some dead artists. We don’t need more academic art that says nothing. I want to look at art that says something. Art that says something I have never thought about before. Even if the work is reductive,  I am looking at art. Folk art, unschooled art, raw talent with things to say. These are the works that end up in museums. Original thoughts. Fun art. Art should be fun. It should be interesting. It should have something to say.

Art schools should teach how to mount a show, how to preserve work, how to pack and ship something like a painting. How to pay the bills as an artist. Every artist has a market. How do you find yours? This is what The Orphanage is exploring. It’s an entirely new gallery model.

DAU—How did you come to start The Orphanage?

WC–We had the space, in between the studios the hallway was just wasted space. We decided to treat those walls as pop-up art space in the beginning. The early shows at The Orphanage were all new local painters who had never shown work before. Those early group shows let more artists gain the art showing skills and gallery skills I mentioned earlier. These shows let them meet each other and broaden their networks. People coming to the gallery got to see some stuff they’d never seen before. We showed some of the Front St artists who hadn’t shown before. We introduced them to each other and the public. Since opening Front St. has energy. People are coming to see what’s new each month. There was a time when first Friday had only 20 people walking around now some of the shows have almost 1000 people. It’s growing all the time.   

Front St. used to be a factory, the space where The Orphanage is was the daycare center, so it seemed right, you know, to start showing new artists here. We do 12 shows a year, one a month. We’re open, technically open, not just unlocked, three days a month: First Friday, Saturday After First Friday  and Third Sunday. Last year we sold 600 works, and that doesn’t include the Christmas gift show.  Most of those 600 works sold during First Friday,  and the rest for the most  were Third Sunday. This year we have some big Saturday events in the works. I expect that day will pick up as well.

All in all,  I would say around 450 plus works sold during those 11 First Fridays last year. This year, since January and February are slower, I can say the number of works sold has doubled from last year. The Gallery is actually two galleries The Orphanage and Us and Them. Us and Them also contributed to those numbers and sold about 150 works last year. Us and Them only shows new artist work. But look at those numbers and tell me people are not buying art in Dayton. 

Photo by Alex Kamanandi

DAU—Those are impressive numbers. You’ve talked about The Orphanage, let’s talk about you for a bit. Tell me about your work.

WC–  Me? I do a little of everything. I’ve done sculpture, painting, writing. I’m well known in stage magic and mentalism. I’ve been an artist all my life, I have been doing art all my life. I didn’t study art in school. I studied history, philosophy, psychology, anthropology and archeology, but I couldn’t walk away from art.  I started buying and collecting art before I was 18. Art has always been there, in my life. Art makes me ask the question – why? Why spend your life thinking about whether you should do something or not? Art says, “why not?” So, do it.  Art is all about doing stuff, as an artist. Doing, not talking about it. 

DAU—Tell me some of your favorite artists.

WC–Peter Gallo, Mike Cockrill, Chris Martin, Thomas Nozkowski, Stanley Whitney. These are NY painters for the most part. I also like the work Sharon Butler, she writes a great blog called “Two Coats of Paint,” you should read that.

I like NY for art. The cost of living there is astronomical. That’s one thing about Dayton, you can live here. Of course, it effects your thinking. If your living in NY and  have to make 8-12 grand a month to pay for your studio and living expenses, you don’t mess around. You work in your studio; you network and talk to people in the industry. Art is a business, there’s no way to take the money out of it and still eat.

But art is more than a way to make money: it’s a cultural commentary, its documentation, its ideas in action. That’s why I love The Little Gallery, which is a micro gallery movement that is free to use by anyone who likes art.  The Little Gallery motto is make art, take art, leave art.  I built these galleries with two other artisans,  Greg Seitz and Cayman K. We’ve placed eight in the surrounding communities. These galleries are helping people by giving them an outlet for small works and getting people to collect art. All of the works at The Little Gallery are provided by artists for free.

DAU—Greg and Cayman K are artists here?

WC—Yeah, Greg Seitz is here in The Orphanage, Cayman K is across the way in The Front St complex. Anyway, the first Little Gallery is hanging outside The Orphanage on the building.

If you want art, it’s around and some of it can be found for free. A small work by a local artist you picked up at a Little Gallery is way better than going out and buying some formulaic painting that looks like something Picasso did, something that has been copied for 90 years. The work does not always need to be big to have importance and wall power. Some of the works I have seen in The Little Gallery have these traits.

DAU—But, just a bit of argument here. Sometimes people want something that is just pretty, and maybe matches their couch.

WC—No! If you start down that road, you’re done, and it will cost you more in the long run. Let’s say,  you have a gorgeous oriental rug, you don’t put a crap coffee table on it. You get a better table. Don’t just put something pretty on your wall to fill a space. Put Art on your wall.  Look at art, not pretty pictures. I am not saying art can’t be pretty. It can be pretty, but it shouldn’t be a pond and a duck pretty. It has to be authentic. It elevates you, having art around you makes you better, more thoughtful, more a part of the world. If you surround yourself with crap, all you’ll be able to see is crap. You won’t be able to see the difference. Treat yourself as something valuable, surround yourself with art.

85% of people think art is expensive. This way of thinking needs to be changed.  There is work you can buy, here at The Orphanage gallery, at every show, that is not expensive.  The sale of those works helps local, emerging artists. There is work you can take from The Little Gallery that is free and you’re welcome to take it just because you like it. People can have real art in their life. Speaking of which, Samantha Mang, who we spoke about earlier, just added a dozen of small salt paintings to the Little Gallery.  Those are available right now, for you to just take if you like them.

DAU—Bill, how can people find you?

WC—I’m on Facebook Bill Montana Artist and the William Cunningham Page and Instagram @bllmontana

DAU–William Cunningham, Thanks for taking the time to talk with me.  Thanks for the work you do for emerging artists and for hosting The Artists United group show, March 6 at The Orphanage. 

Dayton Artists United: The Blue Heron Trio

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The Blue Heron Trio is a jazz band in Dayton, Ohio. Elisha Frontz is their vocalist, Phil Myers plays saxophone and guitar, and Dave Santucci is on keyboard.  Dayton Artists United had the pleasure of visiting with them in their studio at the Davis-Linden building.

DAU—You’ve been together 9 years. I’ve read your bio on your website, “three close friends came together,” tell me about that.

Phil—I guess it started with me. There was this gala at St. Christopher Church in Vandalia and the organizer approached me about kicking off the fundraiser with some music. “It would be great to have live jazz, he said.” I don’t know how he even knew I played an instrument, but I said yes and then I said, “Hey Dave, you busy.”

Dave—And there you go.

Phil—We played about a 30 minute set. It wasn’t too bad.

Dave—They asked us back the next year. We asked Elisha, “Do you want to sing? Do you like jazz?”

Elisha—I always loved jazz. I’d been wanting to do jazz forever. I’d been doing punk, and it was fun, but I’ve always loved jazz. I was thrilled.

Phil—We’d all been doing other stuff, performing in special projects with Nick Atkinson called ArtistPlaylist.  Elisha and I were covering the Pixies album Doolittle when I asked her join Dave and I.

DAU—And now you’ve been together 9 years. Where did the name Blue Heron come from?

Dave—That was me. I was walking along the path by Carillion Park, along the river and I saw a heron flying and watched it land. The Great Blue Heron looks so majestic at a distance, and so crazy up close.

Elisha—That describes us.

DAU—Let’s talk about your first album, named for the band. It’s a great compilation of your best covers, but I want to talk about the original tune, 1913. It’s a gorgeous song, really evocative.

Dave—Thanks.

Elisha—Dave came up with the melody and the arrangement. He does this amazing sort of mumbly talk to fill in where the lyric goes.

Dave—I put the shape of the lyric there, you know, sort of counting syllables in the tune.

Elisha—Then I picked apart the mumbles and started to write down what I thought would fit in those spaces.  At the time I was reading a book about the 1913 flood, because it was the 100-year anniversary. The book was written right after, about the experiences of people who were there. Patterson changed his entire factory space to accommodate flood refugees and to make rescue boats. I took inspiration from that.

Dave—So, when I went to work on the song, I was just thinking about the melody and filling in the lyrics, kind of loose.

Elisha—And I listened to it and wrote it out…”here’s what I think you said,” and I kind of polished the mumbles.

DAU—I like that “polished mumbles.”

Dave—The mumbles just give me a structure for the song. When coming up with a melody, if you just play it without an ear to how it will be sung, it can be difficult to connect the lyrics to the melody once you finally have them. I try to capture the spirit behind singing the lyrics, even if there aren’t actual words yet.

DAU—So you record yourself?

Elisha—Right, and then we decode the mumbles, fit the ideas together.

Phil –and build out the harmony.

DAU—and which of you does the background vocals?

Phil—both Dave and I.

DAU—And its been a long time between your first album and your second.

Elisha—Yes.  It’s hard to justify putting out an album in a world where people stream music for free. But, it is very rewarding to have a really nice product.

Phil—That first album was —not rushed—but the project was put together fairly quickly.  The first album was created so that we could get people acquainted with how we sound, what we do.  We took a lot more time with the our second album, Other Side of the Tracks.

DAU—so it raises the bar?

Elisha—I think in general, we try to raise the bar all the time.  Since we started Blue Heron Trio, each of us has sought more musical instruction. Dave did a lot of work in a local jazz studio, and Phil started taking vocal lessons.

Phil—That’s true.  I realized if I was going to sing behind Elisha, I better not suck. And the harmonies on 1913 are kind of high. There at the beginning I approached it every time as if I might not make it.

Elisha—I am really proud of you. As we get older it’s harder to learn new information.

Phil—Elisha learned to play the bass.

DAU—really?

Elisha—Yeah, I play on a few things.

DAU—So do you see any holes in your repertoire? I mean, I have a song list here.

Phil—Let me see it—oh we don’t play a bunch of these anymore. The Scientist—off the list; Tainted Love—off the list. The song list isn’t static. We each bring things we’d like to try. Like Round Midnight, or Rock songs converted to a jazz arrangement.

Elisha—Or Freebird.

DAU—You’re kidding?

Elisha—No, so many people heckled us at concerts, yelling out “Freebird,” so we tried it once or twice—it didn’t feel good.

Dave—And it has to feel right. That is really why we do this. Some of the gigs feel really good. Like the one we had at a retirement home in Indiana that specialized in dementia care. The residents’ response was really fulfilling.

Elisha—and weddings. We like weddings.

Dave—There was one wedding where the couple had timed-out our sets and arranged digital music to play between our sets. Everything was timed-out and ran perfectly.  It’s rare that things stay on schedule with a wedding. That was a great gig. And the groom was so happy that he cried.

DAU—Do you have to learn songs for weddings? Like “this is our song, will you play it.”

Elisha—Sometimes. We have done it.

Phil—Usually when people hire us, it’s because we already play a song they like. 

Dave—looking at the song list, I don’t see any holes in our rep. I would like our music to take on a more modern approach. Arrange them in a more modern way. Like “Unforgettable, ” that’s a familiar song, but our arrangement is ours.

Elisha-It’s funny you should say that. When I am playing the original versions of the songs we have covered, sometimes my kids will say “Is that the original? I like yours better”. They could be flattering me, but they’re teenagers, so I take the compliments when they come.

Dave—When we decide on a song, I do a basic arrangement. I play with the things that capture my attention.

Elisha—Then we personalize it, sometimes unintentionally, by building around the parts that Dave has focused on.

Phil—I don’t— didn’t— know a lot of vocal jazz. I played sax in the army, most of what I’m familiar with is instrumental. I’d like to think that I approach the songs with a fresh perspective. I don’t have to unlearn anybody else’s version.

Elisha—In contrast, I research every song thoroughly. I listen to every previous version so that I know other people have done with it.  Then I blend together the aspects of the versions I like the best.

DAU—Talk to me about rehearsal. Is your schedule dictated by upcoming gigs?

Elisha—We try to practice pretty frequently, no matter what the gig schedule. We play 20-30 gigs a year and because we play a lot of events like wedding and Holiday parties, we have seasons where we’re busier.

Dave—And then we practice more. We want to get better all the time

DAU—are there particular things you want to improve?

Elisha—For me, it’s patter!

DAU—you mean the talk between songs?

Elisha—Yeah. My son says that I’m embarrassing.

DAU—Do you all have kids?

Phil—I do, Elisha does.

Elisha—Phil’s kids aren’t at all embarrassed by him. They think he’s cool.

Dave—and Elisha’s daughter sings with us. She did some background vocals on Other Side of the Tracks, and she tends to perform on our open studio nights.

DAU—You have an open studio coming up.

Dave— February 7 at the Davis- Linden Building 

DAU—Tell me some things you like about Dayton.

Phil—I like the restaurants. Really great things happening with food in Dayton right now. I like Wheat Penny and Amber Rose.

Dave—I like how the food community is evolving, actually the whole community. It feels like we’re on the move in a good way. So much is happening here. The Brightside is hosting a Battle of the Bands, Yellow Cab is having concerts—they just put in a new stage…there is a lot happening. Music artists in the community have a place to work, to make music.

Elisha—I love the tradition of innovation; things are invented here. It makes me feel like Dayton is always looking toward the future. And we have a solid sense of preservation and conservation too. The park system here is amazing. 20 minutes in any direction and you’re surrounded by nature.

Phil—and we’ve got sports. I am a sports guy. I appreciate that we’ve got a great minor league stadium here. My wife and I always buy a Dragons game package.

Dave—you took me to a couple of games.

Phil—and the University of Dayton. The Flyers games are great to go to—it’s exciting to have so much so available.

DAU—If you could see any band, what concert would you like to see?

Dave—Living or Dead?

DAU—Anybody.

Dave—Oscar Peterson, Gene Harris, Diana Krall, Cory Henry, Snarky Puppy, Pink Floyd, The Who.  Hmnn…I guess I’ll leave it at that.

Phil—Glen Hansard, Damian Rice. Rice is like the poster child for minimalism. I saw him live in Indy and he had a guitar, a microphone, and 2 lights.

DAU—Last Question—What has been your favorite gig so far?

Dave—I love playing at Second Street Market.

Elisha—We’re doing that again on April 18th.

Phil—And the Square is Where, those are fun.

Dave—And the DAI.

Elisha—One of my favorites was at the Miami Valley School. We played for the Middle Schoolers who were learning about jazz.

DAU—OK, last question. I want to ask about your new CD.

Elisha—Other Side of The Tracks

Phil—We spent a lot of time on this one. We asked other artists to contribute. Nick Atkinson added percussion, Elisha’s daughter Penny does backing vocals, and Chris Suttle from In The Red Recording and Encore Studio did a fantastic job with the production.

DAU—I love the photos on the cover.

Elisha—My daughter, Penny, took the photograph on the cover. The one of us on the back was taken by my friend Kelly Crabtree.

DAU—The release was in October?

Phil—October 10

Elisha—The launch party was very magical, very personal. We had it at the Brightside, surrounded by our friends.

DAU–and if someone wanted to get your cd, they would …

Elisha —The easiest way to get either album currently would be to see us live and buy it at the concert.  However, our first album is available on all the major music streaming services (like Apple Music and Spotify), and Other Side of the Tracks will be available at all those places soon, as well.

Blue Heron Trio performs all over the Miami Valley and beyond at concert, festivals, and special events.  Look for them at 2nd Street Market on April 18, as well as lunch time appearances at Dayton’s Court House Square as part of the Square Is Where series. The trio is going to be performing as part of several summer concert series, including the upcoming Dayton Art Institute’s Jazz & Beyond concert series, where you can see them on July 9.  They are also playing at the Eichelberger Amphitheater in Huber Heights on August 22.  For more information and upcoming performances check out their FaceBook page or their website at www.blueherontrio.com.

  

Dayton Artists United: Neal Gittleman

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Photo credit: Andy Snow

Neal Gittleman  has led the Orchestra to new levels of artistic achievement and increasing national recognition. During his tenure, the DPO has received nine ASCAP Awards for adventurous programming, the prestigious Governor’s Award for the Arts, and the DPAA now joins four other U.S. orchestras as a recipient of a prestigious Music Alive grant from NewMusicUSA, supporting Stella Sung’s three-year term as the Alliance’s Music Alive Composer-in-Residence.

Before coming to Dayton, Gittleman was Assistant Conductor of the Oregon Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Syracuse Symphony, and Music Director of the Marion (IN) Philharmonic. He also served ten seasons with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, first as Associate Conductor and then as Resident Conductor.

Son of an English professor and a public school music teacher, Neal is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Yale University in 1975 and then studied with Nadia Boulanger and Annette Dieudonnй in Paris, with Hugh Ross at the Manhattan School of Music, and with Charles Bruck at both the Pierre Monteux School and the Hartt School of Music, where he was a Karl Bцhm Fellow.

At home in the pit as well as on stage, Neal has led productions for Dayton Opera, the Human Race Theatre Company, Syracuse Opera, and Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theatre. He has also conducted for performances of Dayton Ballet, DCDC, Rhythm in Shoes, Milwaukee Ballet, Hartford Ballet, Chicago City Ballet, Ballet Arizona, and Theatre Ballet of Canada.

When not on the podium, Neal is an avid player of golf, squash and t’ai chi ch’uan and does yoga, too. He and his wife, Lisa Fry, have been Dayton residents since 1997.

Neal recently took the time to chat with Dayton Artists United.

DAU—Neal Gittleman, you’ve been interviewed a lot. Is there any question you’ve always wanted to be asked that hasn’t been?

NG–“What’s the secret of comedy?”  Actually, that’s a component of one of my favorite jokes.  People who know the joke will understand…  (I suppose that’s a way of answering your question with a “No.”  But looking backwards from further down the line, your “What’s your favorite Metropark?” is a pretty good question that I’ve never been asked before!)

DAU—You and the DPO have won multiple ASCAP awards for adventurous programming. Thinking about programming,  what’s your starting point. Do you start with a piece or a theme, give me an idea of your process when you are putting a program together? 

NG–Every concert program is different.  Sometimes (but rarely) a theme comes first.  Sometimes I build a program around a particular piece, asking myself, “What other piece—or pieces—fit well with _______?”  But no matter where I start, the bottom-line question is, “What music can we play on this concert that can make for an involving, engaging listener experience?”

DAU—What has been your most challenging piece to date?

NG—That’s probably down to two fairly recent performances:  Richard Strauss’ opera Salome (with Dayton Opera in May 2019 and Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla (DPO, October 2019).  They’re both incredibly complex pieces, where a conductor has to concentrate at 100% for a 90-minute stretch.  They’re both very difficult for the musicians, which means the conductor needs to be continually high alert, ready to step in with the look, a cue, or a particularly clear beat that any musician might need at any given moment.  But both Salome and Turangalîla are very beautiful pieces, so all the incredibly hard work that goes into performing them is well worth it!

DAU—Everyone has a song that bugs them. What is your least favorite song?

NG—Funny you should ask that, because it just came to mind recently.  A couple of weeks ago the DPO had a “Nat and Natalie” pops concert, with two guest artists who sang songs from the Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole repertoire.  Great singers, and a great concert (which I got to enjoy from the audience, since DPO Associate Condcutor Pat Reynolds was on the podium).  And also great because if I have a least-favorite song, it’s a Nat King Cole song:  “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer”.  Fortunately, it wasn’t on the set list!  And one of my favorite songs (also by Nat King Cole) was on the set list:  “Straighten Up and Fly Right”.  Plus I got to know a new favorite song:  Natalie Cole’s heartbreaker, “No Plans for the Future”. 

DAU—Part of your adventurous programming has been the Halloween concerts, and you dress up in costume. What is your favorite Philharmonster costume?

NG–Each Philharmonster costume is always linked either to some schtick or to a particular piece.  So, the costumes that involve flying (Superman, Spiderman) are always fun.  Yoda is another perennial favorite (partly because my old conducting teacher kind of looked like Yoda).  Another one that was really fun was the PhilharMonster concert where the premise of the whole show was that I was Mozart, sharing with the audience my favorite pieces by my fellow dead composers.  For that one, I was in full Mozart regalia (wig, etc.) but about 20 minutes before show time the stagehands brought me out onstage in a coffin.  Then I had to lie there in the coffin until the concert started…and leap out.  Lots of deep breathing and maybe even a catnap.  But nothing dramatic like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill…

DAU—Speaking of how you dress for concerts, it’s an odd thing for a performer to spend his time onstage with his back to the audience.  Do you ever worry about what you look like from the back?
You know, “Does my backside look big in these pants?” sort of thing.

NG–Not really.  But as my hair has thinned over the years, I sometimes joke about the “spotlight” that I shine up at the patrons in the balcony!

DAU— Are you a Harry Potter fan? You know, the wand chooses the wizard…does the baton choose the conductor? Do you have more than one baton? Do you have a favorite? Does it have a name?

NG—Yes, I’m a Harry Potter fan.  More of the books (all of which I’ve read) than of the movies (only three of which I’ve seen).  But for me, it’s definitely that I choose the baton, rather than the other way around.  I tried many different ones over the years before I found one that was perfect—mostly because it was custom made for me by a baton maker.  I sent him one of the batons that I was using, plus another one that I liked but wasn’t quite right, and said “Can you make me something that’s like Baton A, but has a handle like Baton B?”  He sent me a demo, I suggested some tweaks, and we had a “NealG Model”. I had him send me a bunch of them, which was a good thing, since he went out of business or died or something several years ago.  So unless I work until I’m 107 years old or I go on a jag of baton-breaking, I should be set baton-wise for the rest of my career.  On a practical basis, just in case of breakage, I carry three batons in my baton case.  One’s “the good one”, which I only use for performances.  Then there are two others that I use in rehearsals and as just-in-case spares. 

DAU–You’ve lived in Dayton for 25 years, what is your favorite thing about the Miami Valley?

NG—If I had to pick just one favorite thing in the Miami Valley it would be the Schuster Center.  Having the Schuster Center, with its world-class acoustics, as the Philharmonic’s home was an absolute game changer.  And it’s great in every way.  Great for concerts.  Great for Broadway.  Great for opera.  Great for dance.  Great for the audience.  Great for the stagehands.  Just simply great. 

DAU—What is your favorite Metropark and why?

NG—I love to play golf, and Community is my “home course” (and the course closest to my home), so I supposed my favorite Metropark is Hills and Dales.  But each year my wife and I vow to walk in each and every Metropark.  I don’t think we’ve ever hit all of them, but we have committed to make 2020 the year that we pull it off. 

DAU—We have lots of public art in Dayton, much of it celebrates the great inventions in our patent history, which of the “patent project” pieces resonates with you and why?

NG—I’m not sure if these count as “patent pieces”, but two of my favorite pieces of public art in the region are Flyover on Main Street in Downtown Dayton and Michael Bashaw’s Wings/Lift Compounded (Defy the Impossible) on Shafer Avenue in Oakwood. 

DAU—You once said in a Daytonian of the week interview that Dayton needed to build a stronger sense of community, to develop greater pride and solidarity. The catastrophic events of the last year have built our community and we’re all together, have you any thoughts about what we can we do to sustain and build on this community feeling? What can artists do to help sustain and build community?

NG—The “problem” with the solidarity communities forge in the wake of tragedy is that once the tragedy starts to fade in the collective memory, the solidarity starts to fade, too.  So I hope people remember the sense of unity that we’ve felt at times in 2019, hold on to it, and build on it.  All artists can do is what we always do—try to speak to people through the art we do and try to bring people together through our art. 

DAU— You’ve conducted, and guest conducted in cities all over. Have you seen anything in your travels that you think Dayton should emulate?

NG—It’s more the other way around.  I’ve seen plenty of things in other cities where I thought, “You should be more like Dayton.”  (Of course, as a diplomat, I kept those thoughts to myself.)  Dorothy was right:  there’s no place like home.

DAU–Dayton and the Five River’s Metroparks are working to make use of Dayton’s rivers. Have you ever boated down the Miami?

NG—Never.  Canoeing or kayaking on the Miami would probably be fun.  Though I’m not sure if I’d trust my paddle skills…

DAU—You have said before that music should be “interesting, Involving,  and  transformative,”  as an artist, working in a collaborative, how do you keep that goal in front of you when you’re working on the details of performance? 

NG—You hit on it in the question.  For me, the performance is mostly about the details.  Getting a piece’s details right means getting the piece right.  And by “details”, I don’t just mean the little stuff.  The long arc of a piece of music is a detail, too.  But I think that the performer’s job is to work the details and make the interesting/involving/transformative happen by attention to the details and by absolute and fierce dedication to the performance itself.  Audience can sense when an orchestra and conductor are giving their all and when they’re “phoning it in”.  I don’t think we’ve ever phoned it in, and I hope we never do!

DAU—The DPO often collaborates with other community organizations—besides the formal collaborations of the DPAA. What collaboration was the most unexpected? What collaboration would you like to see happen in the future?

NG—Well, there’s never an artistic collaboration that’s unexpected, because they take so much planning.  But sometimes something turns out to be so magical that it is, strictly speaking, unexpected.  The one that sticks out the most in my mind was doing Bolero with Rhythm in Shoes in May 2010.  It was our last performance together before RiS disbanded.  I had come up with the crazy idea that we do Bolero with Sharon Leahy doing the snare drum part as a tap solo and where each phrase of the melody would be a snippet from one of the many dances in RiS’s history.  Sharon loved the idea and it was just incredible.  It nearly brought me to tears every time I saw it in the studio, and although I had my back to the whole thing in performance, I could tell that it was doing the same thing to the audience.  As for the future, I think it would be great fun to do a DPO/Rhythm in Shoes redux performance.  But beyond that, I wonder the best future collaborations are the ones you haven’t imagined yet…  Short-term, I’m really looking forward to our upcoming collaboration with Wyclef Jean.  “A Night of Symphonic Hip-Hop” sounds like a lot of fun to me!

DAU—Being the director of the DPO is more than just conducting the orchestra—you are a manager, a financial planner, a fundraiser, a performer, and I don’t know how many elements to the job there are. What part of your job is the most challenging? If you could go back in time and offer yourself advice about your job, what would say?

NG—-That one’s easy to answer.  The most challenging part of my job is time management.  The music work—studying scores and preparing for rehearsals and concerts—is critically important.  If we’re not giving great performances, then none of the fundraising or PR or planning is going to matter.  All that is important, but I always have to make sure I’m carving out time to get the music work done.  Sometimes it works out just fine.  Other times I’m getting up in the middle of the night to get some music work done while the phone isn’t ringing and my e-mail in-box isn’t dinging at me every few minutes.

DAU–Thank you,  Neal Gittleman, for sharing your time with us,  it’s been a real pleasure!

Dayton Artists United: Ben Baugham

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Dayton Artists United Interviewed Artist Ben Baugham at Ghostlight Coffeehouse, where he currently has work on display.

DAU—I haven’t seen you since the Artist United event last July, catch me up. What have you been doing?

BB—A little of everything, drawing, teaching.

DAU—Where are you teaching?

BB—I’m teaching at Clark State University, a class that combines learning to draw with art history. We immerse ourselves in the work of an artist, like Michelangelo, for example. We look at his work, we read his journals about his work, and we work like that. It’s a very renaissance way of learning.

We also talk about art as a vehicle for communication, where there is a sender and a receiver. The artist is an active part of the communication, even when he is not present with the work. We talk about the communication in Michelangelo’s work. How he painted on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel while there were services being conducted in Latin below him. The people in the church may not have understood the service, but they looked up and saw Michelangelo’s work, it communicated with them as an interpretation of the service.

DAU—I want to take that class. That is a unique way of teaching drawing.

BB—I have strong opinions about art and art making in the workplace. About art in general. I think there are two kinds of art. Service art and product art. I think most artists make both, do both at different times in their careers. Service art is focused on the viewer. How does the viewer respond to the work? It ties the artists to the viewers response in a personal way. The artist finds identity in the response of the viewer. That can be a very dangerous thing, it causes us, artists, to take critiques of our art as a personal critique. I tell my students all the time, “You are so much more valuable than what you create.” There is a romantic idea that an artist is fed by a viewer’s response—if the viewer likes it, the artist is in some way validated. No, an artist is fed when a work sells. Which brings me to product art. Product art is the art which exists without the artist—the product speaks for itself. There is an old-fashioned phrase people use, they say, “The piece spoke to me.” The distinction between the voice of the artist and the voice of the product is useful to me. It allows me to get better. It’s a catalyst that forces me to improve and takes me out of the equation at the same time. I think of Michelangelo, on his back, painting for something greater than himself.

DAU—You have been interviewed before. In 2017 you were interviewed for your chalk drawings in the Oregon District. In those days you were an ink and chalk  artists.

BB—Still am. It’s a great medium, both immediate and ephemeral. You chalk something, you create something,  and it is beautiful, or expressive, and then it rains. It’s a good metaphor for art, for life. I chalked all over the Oregon District after the shootings last summer. I handed out chalk to everyone I met, and we all drew. It was very healing, to be together, just creating. Chalk is underappreciated.

 

DAU—You are doing your bit for chalk. I know you competed at the Yale Chalk Festival.

BB—Yeah, that was fun. I won first place in people’s choice and in general in 2019.

DAU—Congratulations! An award-winning artist! And you’re a musician too, from a family of musicians.

BB—I am from a family of musicians. I can make music, but in a low-key way. When you’re surrounded by music, by instruments, you just kind of do it. My family is very innovative, very good at making what we need. I think growing up in a family that improvises and creates is a very practical art education. You make what you need, and the making of it gives you joy. Soon the question becomes not “how do I get what I need?”  but “how do I find joy?”

DAU—And do you find joy in your work?

BB—In the creation of it. The showing of it can be a different thing. When you put your work up and people criticize it, and they critique it on all kinds of grounds. Sometimes, when people are looking at my work they will say “where did you study art.” That is not a response to the art, it’s a response to the artist. But the art should speak for itself. I tell my students all the time, “The art is not you.”

Artists create art for themselves, for all kinds of reasons.  After the shootings, I came straight to the Oregon District to create. Something bad happened. But people came, then more people came. They were overcoming their fear, they were making art everywhere. There was a near spiritual aspect to the creation, like a church service. We were determined to reclaim our space, to protect those businesses and lift up the fallen. You could feel the determination in the quiet industry of the artists.

DAU—That event has inspired a lot of artists responses. Some people have said they would rather not see art created from such an event—they want to move on and have no reminders.

BB—But that is an artist’s job. Our basic function is to realign society. We talk about work having impact. What is “impact?” It’s a collision, a disruption—its something that hits you hard. Strong artists want to hit hard enough to change the direction. Artists create art for themselves because it gives them joy, but that act of creation can show the world as it could be, as it should be, and that is how artists create for the world. The two are not mutually exclusive. Art changes the world.

DAU—I want to back up and touch on something you said before. You said people ask where you’ve gone to school. I think that is because you are young and seem so knowledgeable.

BB—Thank for that. I went to a small private school. A very intensive education. I have taken classes at Sinclair. They have a great design program there. I want to give a shout out to Professor Jeanine Kincheloe, who teaches design drawing, she’s amazing. And I am taking some business classes there. I want to design art seminars with other artists. I am working on a business plan and building a portfolio of artists that want to participate. We’ll build a stable of artists who can teach or do certain kinds of work and match them with clients, sort of a matchmaker service. And I want to engage more verbally in the art world. I want to give talks and engage more in the philosophy of art.

DAU—If your talks are based on the History of Art curriculum, I’ll sign up. 

BB—I look forward to it.

 

For more info on Ben Baugham/Boy Blue:

Instagram: boy_blue

Facebook:  Boy Blue

 

Dayton Artists United: Cydnie Deed-King

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Cydnie Deed-King is a visual artist, mother, teacher and gallery curator. She grabbed a coffee with Dayton Artists United to talk about art and being an artist.

 

DAU—How long have you been an artist?

 

CDK—My whole life. My entire family are artists. Both my parents and my sister Taylor are artists.

 

DAU: How is that? I mean, artists work to express an individual point of view. That seems like it would be harder in a family of artists.

 

CDK—I don’t know, it hasn’t seemed harder. In some ways its easier. We had an exhibition recently,  at Tend and Flourish, all of us together. That was really empowering, watching people react, placing our works together. They are really quite different. My sister does portraits. I do nature inspired scenes. Our works are unique but placed together they showed our bond.

 

DAU—In other artist interviews, the artists have expressed the difficulty in claiming the title artist, some say they feel like an imposter. Did growing up in a family artists make it easier to claim the title artist?

 

CDK—I have always felt like an artist, but I struggle with the business of art. I have sold work. That’s hard, it’s like giving away a baby, and I know what I am talking about, now that I am a mother. Each work is unique, an original. I won’t have that experience again, even if I paint the same subject. So, it’s hard to let them go, but I hug and kiss them goodbye and put on a happy face. They are going to a good home. Sometimes, people send me a picture of where they have put the work. I can see where it lives. Sometimes they write and tell me how much they love it, how people always admire it. That is nice. My work in someone’s house.

 

DAU—Have you sold a lot of work?

 

CDK—I have let go about 100 pieces. My husband reminds me that there are very famous, revered artists that never sold a work, or only one work in their lifetime. Being an artist has all these things attached to it. When you tell people, you are an artist you can see them thinking “You won’t be famous until you die.”

 

DAU That’s a scary thought.

 

CDK—For me its not about being famous. Its about living in art, about being inspired.

 

DAU—What inspires you?

 

CDK—Nature. Human connections to nature. No matter how much we try to separate ourselves from it, we’re connected. We’re meant to be one. In my imagination people are botanicals, and I show that in my work. Although, just lately I have been working more with digital images, blending nature and technology.

 

DAU—What artists do you admire?

 

CDK—Living artists? Local Artists?

 

DAU—Any—who do you admire and why?

 

CDK—I really admire Jes McMillan, the mosaic artist. She has helped me so much. She’s mentored me on how to put a show together. She’s given me opportunities and continues to invite me to participate. On January 11, the exhibition Women Strong Soul Session opens at Tend and Flourish., I have a work in that show.

 

DAU—This article doesn’t go online until after Jan 11th—how long will the works be on view?

 

CDK—Until the end of February. It’s a great exhibition. There are talented women in Dayton.

 

DAU—Other artists you admire?

 

CDK—Julie Mehretu. She’s a New York artist that does these larger than life drawings. She shares her process in the work, it’s amazing. And my sister, Taylor Deed. Her work is so bold. She uses herself as a model, her face appears in the works. I admire her versatility, the emotion she portrays on the faces. She’s powerful.

When it comes to dead artists, Leonardo DaVinci. He never stopped. He didn’t limit himself to one thing but followed his curiosity. I find him so interesting. He was a vegetarian, and ambidextrous. Someone recently interpreted his notebooks, they copied and flipped them—because he wrote backwards—and I love reading them they are so detailed and so random. On one page he wrote “learn to draw the muscles of the shoulder” and “make soup” right next to each other. He never stopped learning.

DAU—Let’s talk about Dayton.

 

CDK-I have only lived here about 5 years. I came from St. Louis. It’s interesting to move from a large city to a smaller one. Everything is so close. And I love the park system. The Metroparks are great. I haven’t visited them all, but I want to. Other things about Dayton….I love Young’s Dairy. And I love the art scene. There is a lot happening here.

 

DAU—Talk to me about the art scene.

 

CDK—The Contemporary showed me the art scene in Dayton. I started there as a volunteer, and now I am a curatorial assistant.

 

DAU—What does that involve?

 

CDK—A little bit of everything. I help marketing events, hanging works, I write up materials: I help everybody. I’ve learned so much working there. Eva has a great curatorial eye, so working with her I’ve learned how to look at art not just for its own sake, but also for how it fits a show idea or its marketability. There’s a lot to think about in that respect. If you want to sell your art, you have to have saleable art. How big is it? Huge works are hard to sell to an individual.

 

DAU—Let’s change direction a bit—if you could add anything to the Dayton art community—if price were no object—what would you add?

 

CDK—An amusement park for artists! A big workspace with all kinds of cool equipment. Something large. That would be fun!

 

What we need, though, really need is something to teach young artists about the business of art. There is more to being an artist than creating pictures. You have to be an entrepreneur. We need to be taught to mount our work. We need to learn how to respond to a call for artists—does my work fit the show?

 

The Contemporary did something like that—it was called the ArtSource Fellows program. It engaged about 25 artists in a business of art program. I enjoyed it and learned a ton. Eva talks about bringing it back, she wants to foster artists. Unlimited funds would help that!

And since we’re dreaming, we need a massive art store with good pricing. There is an art supplycoming, I read about it. Hue House. Its going to be near the Catfe. We need that.

 

DAU—What would you like people to know about art?

 

CDK—I live by this mantra: “Support living artists, the dead don’t need it.” We’re out here trying to make a living.

DAU—Time for another subject shift. If your life was made into a movie, who would you want to play you?

 

CDK—Lupita Nyong’o or Michonne from The Walking Dead, you know, Danai Gurira. Yeah, either one of those would be good.

 

DAU—Tell me one scene from your life that would have to be included in the movie.

 

CDK—Meeting my husband, Alex. We met on the 1st day of college at freshman move in. The RA made us play a getting-to-know-you game of musical roommates. He called out things like “back to back” or “head to head” and you had to stand with a different partner each time with those parts of you touching. Alex and I were paired for ‘head to butt.” We’ve been together for eleven years, married for five.

 

DAU—And what would our movie be called?

 

CDK—Oh, that’s hard. If my life were a movie, it’d be called “Art of Madness” because I feel that a lot of artists go crazy on some level, such as internalizing everything around them, questioning their abilities, their decision to become an artist—and some even go so far as to take their own lives unfortunately. However, even out of all that inner turmoil or “madness” if you will, something beautiful comes from it, and it’s something that will make someone else stop in their tracks to take a second look. All artists (the ones that I know anyway) have a method to their own kind of craziness and use it to fuel their art. I definitely went through several moments where I questioned everything about myself as artist and whether or not I did the right things at the right time. I felt like I was going crazy, but I worked through my mental roadblocks and created art that was better than ever!

 

DAU—I believe it. I’ve seen your work. Cydnie Deed-King, Thank you so much!

 

CDK—Thank you.

 

DAU-Cydnie Deed- King is showing at Tend and Flourish until the end of February and also atArt at the Trace https://www.centervilleohio.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/2304/

starting February 1.

She will be artists of the month for the City of Centerville in August.

Her website is www.artisticspyder.wix.com/cydnie-deed

Instagram: @cydnie_ld_king

Email [email protected]

 

To read about other Dayton United artists, click here.

Dayton Artists United: Yetunde Taiwo Rodriguez

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Yetunde Taiwo Rodriguez is a textile artist and designer. Her medium of choice is block printing. She says “this work is directly connected to who I am as a person. I would design blocks, carve, print, and sew even if I never sold another piece.

My work arose from a desire to see my aesthetic reflected in a way I had not previously seen it. At the time I started creating textile prints, I saw a limited scope of African inspired design represented in home decor. As a lover of color, I wanted lots of joyful color in eclectic combinations!”

 

Visual artist Yetunde Taiwo Rodriguez sat down with Dayton Artists United at Reza’s Coffeehouse on Wayne Avenue to talk about creativity, Dayton and making it as an artist.

DAU: Thanks for meeting. Tell me about yourself.

YTR: I was born in Nigeria and came to the states when I was 13. I was in the Navy for five years. I lived in Virginia until 2007 when we moved to Dayton.

DAU: Have you always been an artist?

YTR: Yes. No. I have a degree in graphic design, but when I got out of college, I took the first job I was offered, in customer service, and it kind of put me in a path I didn’t plan. I haven’t ever held a “graphic design job.” Over the years I have done a variety of creative things, like made and sold soaps, but I didn’t call myself an artist until later. I have always seen patterns, and everything I do has to be visually pleasing to me. I started making my own print designs, indulging my passion for home décor and incorporating African designs. I had not seen that aesthetic anywhere, especially not in home décor textiles, at that time. I started block printing and screen printing as a way to bring my ideas to life. I make designs that draw on who I am as a person, and pulling in all the color I loved.

DAU: And now you are creating and selling textiles?

YTR: Yes, and I love it. The printmaking evolved from my artist side. I love seeing things in my hands that I imagined. I like asking myself “what if” and following that curiosity.  And I feel like I’ve come around to what I am supposed to be doing. I am an artist. I claim this work and it has claimed me. Its work I love doing. But it is work.  It takes a lot of work for an artist to make it. I have a web page, an Etsy shop, an Instagram page and sell stuff at events like the Craftin Outlaws show in Columbus. I teach workshops too, and am teaching at Midwest Craft Con. February 28 to March 1, 2020. As an artist, if you want to sell your work, you have to keep up on posting and reaching out for opportunities to share your work.  To be successful as an artist, to earn your living from your work , discipline and hard work are more important than talent.

DAU: Talk to me about being an artist in Dayton.

YTR: I moved here with my family in 2007, and it took me awhile to love Dayton. It’s not an easy city to know. It’s a good city for artists, there are lots of arts events and it’s central to the arts events all over the state. I live on the west side and am excited to be part of changes happening there. I was artist-in-residence at the Northwest Branch Library in the summer of 2019. I am working with architects Matt Sauer, Alexandra Bohler, and Hannah Peterangelo on designs for the Gem City Market. I am working on decorative pieces for inside and a mural on the exterior of the market. I am really excited about this project. I think the west side needs development and investment.

DAU: I agree! I drive around the neighborhood and imagine what I would do for us if I won the lottery.

YTR: One of the things I love about the Gem City Market project is how the input of the people who live in the neighborhood have been actively sought. I worry that someone will just come in and tear down and replace the things we have. I want to live in a nice neighborhood. Everybody wants to live in a nice neighborhood, but I think we’re all afraid of what will happen if too much development comes in.  I don’t want to be driven out by gentrification. 

DAU: I love my neighborhood too. I live in the University Row district, not far from you. I am so excited that I will be able to walk to the grocery!

YTR: I think Gem City Market will make a big difference to the west side. I have just been looking at the city. I drove a woman around, an architect who just moved here. I was showing her the city, talking about the different neighborhoods and all that Dayton has to offer. I think showing the city to someone else really helps me appreciate what we have. You go on day to day, working, running from one thing to the next and you don’t think about the impact of things you’ve done, like a mural or a design. Artists make such a difference to this city. I am glad to be part of that.

DAU: Talk to me more about Dayton. What is your favorite thing to do here? 

YTR: There is so much to do here. I love all the coffeehouses. I like Reza’s, Wholly Grounds and Ghostlight. I am really sensitive to spaces, its part of the whole design thing, I think. I like how these spaces invite me to be part of them. I like that the owners include local art. My family and I just went to the Dayton Art institute, and I think we’re lucky to have such a beautiful museum. Dayton has a lot to offer. My family has been granted some wonderful opportunities here that we might not have had so easily in a bigger city. I want to help other people see that. I advertise classes on Airbnb for visitors and locals. When people visit Dayton, they can book a workshop where they make their own textiles with block printing . Its really fun to connect with visitors and make art. I will also be giving a series of talks at the Dayton Metro Library between February and March. Check out the most recent Library Highlights publication, you just might see me there!

DAU: So, what’s next?

YTR: I am going to network with more artists this year. I want to help grow our artists community.

  

Dayton Artists United: Valerie J. Lewis Coleman

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Best-selling author and award-winning publisher, Valerie J. Lewis Coleman serves experts and professional speakers to magnify and monetize their message by publishing quality books. With over fifteen years of experience in the book business, she helps aspiring authors navigate the mysterious labyrinth of self publishing to leverage their expertise and make money.

 

AU—Valerie, you didn’t start out in writing and publishing. Can you tell us something about your first career?

VJLC—Prior to launching Pen of the Writer, I worked as a senior industrial engineer for Delphi Automotive Systems (formerly General Motors) in Dayton. Over the course of my twenty-six-year career, I saved the company millions of dollars by improving systems, eliminating wastes and reducing costs.

AU—And now you’re an author, motivational speaker and publishing expert who helps writers get from idea to book in hand. Let’s talk first about your books.

VJLC—Yes. When the plant closed in 2007, I transitioned my problem-solving skills to the book business to help aspiring authors save thousands of dollars, mountains of frustration and hours of research by showing them how to make publishing quick, easy and affordable.

My first book, Blended Families An Anthology, released in 2006. Published to provide biblical principles and practical tools for struggling stepfamilies, this book has transformed marriages in several countries, been #1 on Amazon.com and topped several other best-sellers’ lists.

In 2007, I taught the basics of how to write, publish and market bestsellers to inmates and high school students. When the programs ended, both groups asked, “What’s next?” Their inquiry led to the release of my second compilation, Tainted Mirror An Anthology. It’s filled with powerful stories of overcoming restrainers like addiction, abuse and attitude that keep us from reaching our potential.

The Forbidden Secrets of the Goody Box-relationship advice that your father didn’t tell you and your mother didn’t know is my first novel. The Goody Box Book released in 2010 topping several bestsellers list. I travel the country empowering women who struggle to experience a fulfilling relationship by revealing the secrets needed to attract and keep lasting love.

I extracted the relationship advice captured in the novel to create a companion workbook: I Love Myself Journal. Women can assess themselves to discover why they attract men they’d rather repel and how to experience genuine self-love.

Self-Publishing Made Easy Journals are step-by-step guides I published to transition writers to authors. Passionate Writing provides insight into avoiding the eleven common writing mistakes, overcoming writer’s block and creating believable characters your readers love…or hate. Purposeful Publishing outlines the elements of effective cover design, how to hire professional editors and cost-saving strategies that have saved my clients and me thousands of dollars.

The Wait of Success: How to Become an Overnight Success in 7300 Days is a compilation of business owners, doctors and educators sharing their journey to success. It debuted in 2017 as a Dayton Book Expo bestseller.

Oh, The Things I Can Be When I See Me is my first children’s book. Based on conversations with my granddaughters, this picture book provides examples of historical pioneers and modern-day trailblazers who have done what they hope to do and look like them. Things I Can Be launched October 2019 and the eBook became a Kindle Top 50 Bestseller a few days later.

AU—Your experience in publishing led to you helping aspiring authors write, publish and market bestsellers. What secret about publishing can you share to help readers understand how you are able to help them?

VJLC—Most authors are right-brain dominate, which is where creativity, emotions and feelings reside. Great for writing; however, the business of writing is a left-brain function consisting of fact-finding, competitive analyses and strategic planning. As a result, many independent—or self-published—authors never recoup their financial investment. My research has identified the top three reasons:

  1. Overpaid for services. I know an author who spent $15000 for 100 copies of their book. That’s $150 per book…at cost! It’s impossible to be profitable when you spend that kind of money to publish. In an effort to recover some of the loss, authors tend to inflate the retail price. This pricing strategy reduces book sells because consumers can choose from millions of competitively priced options (Amazon alone has over 12 million titles). Why would someone pay $20 for your book, when a similar title is available for $12…with free shipping?
  2. Poor quality. As I speak at conferences, I often hear aspiring authors complain about the cost of publishing (editing and printing are the most expensive expenses). To cut corners, they edit themselves or have a friend do it. Awful. It’s difficult to edit your own work because your brain and eyes play tricks on you. And if your friend isn’t proficient in industry standards, editorial parameters or reader expectations, you will lose more in sales than you save in editing. Authors who are not skilled in graphic design try to save money by doing their own covers. Another mistake that can plummet sales and forever tarnish your image in the industry.
  3. Didn’t have a marketing plan. I like to compare a book launch party to a funeral. Family and friends rally around you with support: financial and/or emotional. However, after the service and repass, the support wains. People get back to their lives and you hear crickets. If you don’t have a marketing plan that starts at least three months before the book releases and continues until you’re ready to retire, your sales will be dismal. The average self-published author only sells 75 copies for the life of the book. That’s not enough to cover production costs, let alone, make a profit.

I serve authors to achieve the same success my clients and I experienced: national—and sometimes, international—exposure, media attention and of course, increased book sells. At the time of this posting, I published 134 authors; more than half are best-sellers, and mentored thousands in various aspects of the book business. My services cover a spectrum to meet clients’ needs:

  • Do-it-yourself options include the Self-Publishing Made Easy Journals and Because Your Words Matter Virtual Mastermind, which launches next year. Clients who want to publish multiple titles for themselves or others, opt for this approach as well as,
  • Show-me-how-to-do-it. These services includes private mentoring, group mentoring and training at live events.
  • Just-do-it-for-me is book publishing. Since many of my clients are professional speakers and experts, they do not have the time—or desire—to master the intricacies of book publishing. They hire me to do the work for them.

AU—One of the things I love about your message is how direct you are talking about publishing as a business. For example, you advertise your workshops using the words “magnify and monetize your message.” I have found that most artists, and especially authors, are a little uncomfortable talking so frankly about the money side of creativity. Is that your experience?

VJLC—Absolutely. It goes back to right-brain dominance. Artists and authors tend to focus on creating versus business management. Adding to the fear of asking for money is another right-brain personality trait: introversion. Another factor is that women are less likely to brag on themselves than men. I’m not sure what’s the root cause of this disparity, but I bet it has something to do with gender biases in child rearing.

AU—But your business isn’t just about money, it’s also about message. Your new bestselling children’s book, Oh, The Things I Can Be When I See Me, has a very positive message. Talk to me about the book.

VJLC—Experts say that a child’s personality, esteem and confidence are formed by the age of seven years. To me, every conversation with a child is an opportunity to teach. Whether basic life skills, kindness or career aspirations, we have to encourage our babies to be the best they can be. With bullying, hate and other negative influences, I want to spread the message of dreaming big, staying focused and following your heart. I also use the book as a tool to teach my granddaughters entrepreneurism and money management. I plan to offer a scholarship to deserving girls who may not have funding for college.

AU—You have been a great supporter of Artists United’s efforts to connect Dayton creatives, thank you for that! What do you think needs to happen for more writers to see themselves as part of Artists United?

VJLC—Before anyone will invest their time, money or efforts, they have to know, like and trust you. Since you are an amazing advocate for artists, Curtis, they need to know the benefits of connecting with you. You will have to be consistent, frequent and deliberate with social media posts, emails and in-person meetings. My most-effective strategy is phone calls. It helps introverts come out of their shell without having to leave the comforts of home. By the way, I’m an introvert who struggles with face-to-face interactions; however, I have adapted to ambivert strategies to get the job done.

AU—You hosted a writer’s retreat in November. What’s next?

VJLC—Yes! Free Your Mind and the Words Will Follow Writers Retreat was amazing. I reserved a private lodge in the mountains of Kentucky. I helped attendees relax, rejuvenate and release their creativity with techniques that stimulated mind, body and soul. They left energized, empowered and expecting greater.

The year of perfect 20/20 vision marks my eleventh year hosting citywide book events in Dayton. The Pen of the Writer (POWER) Book Fest, held in conjunction with The Indulge Event (another decade-long citywide event), is the Saturday before Mother’s Day. The event includes workshops for aspiring authors, activities for children in the POWER Kids area and scores of authors signing books.

To effectively serve more people, I have to replicate my efforts. Because Your Words Matter Virtual Mastermind will consist of online courses, interviews with subject matter experts, checklists, resources and group mentoring with me.

I am working on several book projects for clients. My goal is to publish ten new Queen V Publishing titles next year.

AU—Is there anything else you’d like to share?

VJLC—The book business can be difficult to maneuver; however, with hard work, consistency and expert guidance, you can experience great success. Although technological advances have simplified publishing, I encourage you to proceed with caution. Predatory service providers overpromise and under deliver causing many hopeful writers to give up on their dreams. If you’re ready to make quantum leaps toward the success of your book, schedule a complimentary discovery session with me at https://penofthewriter.as.me. I look forward to serving you to meet and exceed your publishing objectives.

AU—Thank you for taking the time to speak to us.

Dayton Artists United: Samantha Mang

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DAU—Samantha Mang, tell me about yourself.

 

SM–Oh Gosh. well, I am an army brat. 

 

DAU–In an air force town, you’re an army brat?

 

SM–Yep, dad is a retired Lt. Colonel. Mom is a retired Drill Sgt. 

 

DAU–so, you’re not from Dayton?

 

SM–No, but I feel like I’m from here, or Centerville, really. I got here when I was 12. Before that we’d moved nine times. Having said that, I have to admit that, when I was younger, I wanted to leave here for someplace else. I might have even said “escape here” in those days, because I wanted something more exciting. And my older brother died here, and my feelings about Dayton were all tangled up with grief. 

 

DAU–I can see how that would influence your feelings. 

 

SM–Yeah, you know, but I read this thing recently I really liked. It said, “its ok to breakdown, just don’t unpack your bags and stay there.” It’s advice I’m trying to follow. I realize now how much brother shaped me. I can think of him, and how he liked to draw, and how private he was about his drawings–I drew too, but not like him. It’s funny. I won awards for drawing in high school, but that never imprinted on me as a thing I did. My older brother was an artist, my grandmother was an artist, my uncle is an artist. Me, I graduated HS and went to college for Early Childhood Education, then changed to social work.

 

DAU–So, how did you come back to art? 

I always do things backwards. I had a child. I quit my job to stay home with my son. After 4 months I was looking for something to do. I took a social work job, but that wasn’t right either. Then I went to this sip and paint event. I loved painting. I bonded with the person teaching the class and got recruited to teach classes. When that business sold, I opened my own business, Hang Loose Painting, as a place to teach painting and raise funds. Then I went to Front Street.

 

I told you my uncle is an artist. In my teens, I spent some time with him in his studio in Pennsylvania. He does copper plating and makes these huge structures. His studio is in an industrial building with a big freight elevator. It is such a happy place. 

 

So, I walked into Front St, and there was this big freight elevator. I was astonished! Here was the happy place. I actually took a picture in front of the elevator. Then I went upstairs. I HAD NO IDEA. I mean it, all caps emphasis with periods in between. I.HAD.NO. IDEA.

The community there. I wandered up and down the halls, feeling the undercurrents of energy, feeling the welcoming scents and sounds. It was a happy place. It was familiar.

Then I  saw Mike Elsass working in his studio. He was surrounded by people, painting and talking. He looked up and said “come paint with me.” He seemed to be talking only to me. I painted under him for two years. I started off carrying things, then organizing things, then mixing paint. All the time I was absorbing and absorbing. Mike is still one of my strongest mentors and supporters. I have my studio down the hall from his, and still occasionally help out in his. 

 

DAU–Your work is very different from Mike’s.

 

SM–Our life situation is different, we come to the work from different spaces. But I’ve learned so much from Mike. Before I painted with Mike, everything I did was intentional. I thought about the work and where it was going all the time. Mike taught me to think about the moment, to focus on the moment and relax. He taught me to push the mediums, to experiment, to let the work happen.

 

DAU–You’ve come a long way in two years. You’re selling work from your studio, you’re running your business and you’ve just curated your first show. 

 

SM–Yes, that was so much fun. Curating is a good place for intentionality. The show “Then and Now” at The Orphanage gallery featured 23 female artists. They submitted an early work and a recent work, the juxtaposition was supposed to inspire reflection. Certainly, viewers could see the progression. We charged a small exhibition fee to cover advertising and the costs of the opening reception. It was so exciting for me to see 23 women artists of varying backgrounds (and areas of the Dayton Region) come together to support and learn from each other.   And it’s more than just the show. Multiple people connected through this event and continue to work together to share skills and build each other up. Artists from the suburbs now paint in their downtown studios…….downtown artists have started visiting studios in the suburbs. ALL stemming from the connections made by their efforts at ONE event. It is very rewarding to me, to be able to create opportunities for people to grow and succeed. It is humbling that people share with me and invite me along in their journey. It’s amazing. I feel lucky to get a front row seat in watching their successes unfold .I think it was a successful event, people were talking about it and we had good sales from it. I’d like to put together another show. 

 

DAU–In your copious free time? Aren’t you also on the board for ARTfest? 

 

SM–Yes. That is Tabitha Peters-Guidone’s fault. I met her at Decoy Arts. First she asked me to submit something for ARTfest and then she asked me to join the board. 

 

DAU–Talk to me about ARTfest. 

 

SM– ARTfest is an annual  community event in Beavercreek that happens at the end of September. The idea is to showcase the art of our area. I’ve noticed that the suburbs and the city are really separated. At artfest, we try to connect our communities through art. It’s really exciting.  I am currently working with the ARTfest Board on hammering out exciting new details for 2020. Follow https://www.facebook.com/infusionartofthemiamivalley/ to stay updated on dates, deadlines, and more!

 

DAU–Tell me something you like to do in Dayton.

SM–My husband and I are looking forward to ice skating by the river during the holidays.  When we can get a sitter, we like to have lunch or dinner at Blind Bob’s, and usually find ourselves playing arcade games at Ned Pepper’s by the end of the night.

We have a young family and have been members of the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery for the past 6 years. That’s a great place for kids.  We like taking our kiddo to the Dragons games. Before it got too cold,  y husband and I got to spend a morning whizzing around Dayton on the new spin scooters.  That was really fun. We are looking forward to the Dayton Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Schuster Center and taking a glass workshop with Ohio Valley Glass after the first of the year.  It’s not hard to find things to do in Dayton. Our community is very welcoming. 

 

DAU–And what’s next for you?

 

SM—Having experimented with the use of salts in my work part of this year, I am excited to expand and enlarge my Salt series.  Currently the largest salt work I have is a 16″ x 20″ triptych on stretched canvas. I want to create a larger work, maybe double that size. Something that reflects my experiences with floatation therapy. I go to Gravity Spa – the only spa in Dayton that offers flotation therapy.  Floating in a tank of water saturated with over 1000 lbs of epsom salt promotes relaxation and overall physical and mental well being similar to the Dead Sea. It is one of my favorite ways to relax and relieve chronic pain. The epsom salt in the tank makes you buoyant and has a ton of benefits for the body.  I am thrilled that they’ve given me access to some salts to use in my work. Creating a work incorporating the same salts that provide me with so many benefits feels like a double dose of relaxation and healing!

 

Other 2020 goals, good question for this time of year! I want to show my work in Dayton,  I recently became a member of Dayton Society of Artists and am excited to get involved with their 2020 calendar of events. I hope to focus on drawing in 2020 – that will be a challenge.  I actually find drawing tedious and sometimes frustrating. But I believe strongly that it betters my skills as a painter and that’s beneficial. Plus it’s good for all of us to have some form of a little discipline, don’t ya think?

 

I will be looking into curating a show or two this year.  I don’t know when or where yet, but I really enjoyed curating the group show “Then and Now” at The Orphanage Gallery. Curating gives you a different view of art, you know. I turn back to my own process with fresh eyes. And then, there is all the other work and interaction of artists to enjoy. 

 

DAU–Sounds like you’ll be busy. Thanks for making time to talk to us. 

 

SM–Thank you and Artists United for helping artists connect with each other. I really enjoyed the last gathering at Wholly Grounds.

 

DAU–Then, I hope to see you Wednesday, December 11 from 6-8 for the next Artists United gathering. Spread the word. Artists in all media, not just visual artists, are invited to discuss art, the artists community, and the future of the arts in Dayton. Artists Create: Artists United Create Change. 

 

     

Dayton Artists United: J.E. Irvin

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J. E. Irvin grew up in Struthers, Ohio, in the industrial north area of the state. The oldest of seven children, she spent her childhood caring for her siblings and reading her way through the shelves of the local library. She completed her undergraduate BA at Ohio University, earned an M.S. in Education from the University of Dayton and an M.A. in Spanish from the University of Cincinnati. Her stories have won numerous awards and appeared in a variety of print and online publications. A career educator, Irvin taught high school for 38 years and served as adjunct faculty in Spanish at Wright State University for four years. Her interests include canoeing, gardening and travel.

DAU-First, let’s talk about your new book. The Strange Disappearance of Rose Stone, available from Amazon and other fine retailers. It must be bittersweet to finish. I mean, of course you want to tell the story, but you live you with your characters for some time. When you’ve finished a book, do you miss the characters? 

 

JI – It’s interesting you should ask that. When I finish a book, the characters reside in me like beloved family members who show up at Thanksgiving dinner to provide an update on their lives. There are some who never come back home. Others insist there is more to tell. In the case of the protagonist from The Dark End of the Rainbow, Xandra Byrd, her story is actually just beginning. I have a series planned for her, but first I have research to do. I’m looking for a criminology student at Sinclair to inform me about the program and allow me to shadow him/her for a few days.

 

DAU-I know your Uncle Joe was an inspiration for a character in one of your books. You’ve also said that you never have trouble writing, that you have so many ideas. Talk about inspiration. And yes, this is a thinly disguised “where do you get your ideas” query.  

 

JI- Sometimes my head feels like a pot of stew, all these characters bubbling around, asking for their shot at the spotlight. I keep a file of interesting news articles, lines of dialogue, titles. The most demanding ‘voice’ is the one that gets my attention. Sometimes it’s a theme that inspires me, a contemporary issue, but most of the time, it’s a what-if question that keeps me in my writer’s chair. Since I’ve transitioned from short stories to novels, many of my ideas are still waiting to be addressed. The list is so long, I’ll never finish it!

 

DAU-One of the things I admire about you is your involvement in your community. You are spearheading an effort to make sure local school districts have lunch funds. Can you share the impetus behind this effort?

 

JI-In mid-October, I saw a TV news story about a New Jersey school that was ‘lunch shaming’ students who owed lunch debts. The report left me in tears. As a teacher and a mother, I couldn’t bear the thought of children going hungry or being shamed because their parents couldn’t or wouldn’t pay the bill. I lamented this to my husband, who quite calmly told me,” Do something, Jan.” I wondered if this problem existed locally. I found out that some districts receive federal funds to provide breakfast and lunch for their students, so they may not need food assistance. But those schools may need things like socks and shoes. As I contacted the district where I live and surrounding communities, I learned that, indeed, this was a huge problem, even in those areas seen as affluent. I created a group called “Take A Kid To Lunch” and asked my social media friends to join me. We now have over fifty members, two districts have set up donation accounts, and more are being contacted. The group will remain anonymous (no actual contact with the children). Speed and efficiency is more important than tax deductions, so I didn’t set up a non-profit. Donors send what they can to the schools. It is a quick way to make sure children are not humiliated and that they get to eat. For more information, contact me at [email protected] or request to join the group Take A Kid To Lunch.

DAU- You also have an upcoming event Christmas in Springboro, November 23 and 24. You are featuring a nice group of authors there. Can you tell us about that?

 

JI-I believe very strongly in being a good literary citizen. One way to do that is to support and encourage local authors. Five years ago I proposed to the Springboro Area Historical Society, of which I am a member, that we hold a MEET THE AUTHORS event in the Museum during the Christmas in Springboro festival. 2019 will be the fifth such annual event. This year twelve local authors will be at the Museum Saturday, November 23, and Sunday, November 24, to meet patrons, sell and sign their books. We have authors of children’s books, paranormal romances, mysteries, memoirs. I post brief bios of the featured writers on my facebook page every few days. More visitors to the Museum increase the Society’s profile in the area, and the more people who meet the authors, the greater the fan base created. Besides, books make great holiday gifts!

 

DAU-In previous interviews, you’ve revealed that you’re an outdoor girl. What outdoor experiences or places would you recommend for visitors to the Dayton region?

 

JI-Dayton has a wealth of beautiful areas to explore. For hiking, I recommend Dayton Metroparks, all of them, and for watersports, the lakes and rivers that are part of our region’s great resources. If one is interested in a little travel, spots like Caesar’s Creek, Paint Creek, and Cowan Lake offer interesting canoe, kayak, and fishing opportunities. And Springboro has scenic, recreational, and historic trails to explore.

 

DAU- I’ve read that you sometimes begin your story process by asking yourself “what if?”  and that your stories often center on secrets. What if I asked you what it is about secrets that you find compelling?

 

JI-Secrets intrigue, confuse, bewilder, and fascinate us. Although I can’t go into detail here, a long-held secret in my own family haunts me. Those who knew the truth are now gone, but I still hypothesize about what really happened. One day I may write that story. So it is with those other what-ifs. What we don’t know is what feeds our curiosity, at times to our own peril. These are the building blocks of a good story – mystery, surprise, suspense, and romance. Every secret contains one of more of these elements.

 DAU– Is there any question you always wished an interview would ask and how would you answer. 

JI-I guess the questions I would most like to answer revolve around the issues raised in the books. I love a good discussion. Not all the issues I raise are resolvable in an absolute sense. Why do I use children and teens as heroic figures in my stories? Because, as a teacher, I witnessed the resilience, hope, and strength of young people, and I want to believe that their journeys, as dark as they may be, mean goodness and truth will prevail in the end.

 

J.E. Irvin’s first novel THE DARK END OF THE RAINBOW won the Jeremiah Healey Mystery Fiction Contest at the Key West Mystery Writers Fest. Her second novel — THE RULES OF THE GAME — was published in late 2016. Her third novel, THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROSE STONE, has just been released. 

 

Dayton Artists United: Julie Riley

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Julie Riley is a Dayton visual artist with a studio at Front St. She sat down with Dayton Artists United at Wholly Grounds Coffee House, (825 Wayne Ave, Dayton, OH 45410,) for an interview on Friday, November 8, 2019.

DAU–Tell me about a book you’ve read that you like.

JR–I’ve been reading The Art Spirit by Robert Henri. He was a student of the Ashcan School in NY and an organizer of “The Eight,” a group of artists that protested the exhibition practices of the Academy of Design. The book consists of notes to his students explaining processes and helped them….. discover themselves. Such an interesting book. Also, I am a descendant of his, which makes it personally interesting.

 

DAU–What do you want people to take away from your work?

JR–I like to hear they have an emotional connection—-when someone reacts emotionally—-well, its powerful when someone finds personal meaning from something I’ve done. There was a painting I did, a large work, of three ice creams. This couple loved it because it reminded them of getting ice cream at the Greene together. They are a military family and they buy local art wherever they live. They lost their house in the tornado and they are buying art to replace things they lost, and they bought my work. It means a lot.

DAU–Talk to me about the Dayton Arts Community

JR—-Dayton is…well it’s surprising the number of artists we have here. It’s hard to meet other artists though,  we’re kind of divided up, because we’re all in our studios on First Friday–even at Front St–where we’re all in the same building–I hardly get to visit other studios. You want to be in your studio when people are touring. If you’re selling and marketing work, people want to meet the artist. But I like being part of an artists community, being at Front St with other artists is very helpful.

DAU–Thinking about your work, what piece or pieces would you like to have represent you in a museum in say, the year 3020?

JR–I don’t know. Maybe I haven’t done it yet. I am still evolving to the style I want to get to…When I came back to painting, a 56 year old introvert, people said it was too late. But you never know when your last day is. I could have 30 years of painting in me. I could die tomorrow. I asked myself what I would regret. I would regret not having tried to paint. I gave myself three years. The first year I sold 69 paintings. In the second year I’ve sold enough to have a few little extras. But you have to work hard and focus. I spend at least 40 hours a week in my studio. I treat it like my full time job. I set goals and work toward them. And I use my marketing background, 25% of my time is spent on sales and marketing. But 75% of my time is spent painting, and I am making a living doing something I love. You can make a living if you make the effort.

DAU–So, is that the wisdom you would pass to a young artist?

JR—-I tell any artist that asks my advice about painting to draw, draw, draw. Being able to draw will help you so much when you move into painting. And get instruction, in art, but also in business and marketing. An artist has to be able to promote herself. You need to know how to manage yourself, so that you earn from your work.

 

DAU–You came back to art at 56. What did you come back from?

JR–I left art and went into software for 30 years. Then both my parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I left my job,  I made a conscious decision to care for them. Dad has passed,  and mom is in memory care.

I decided to go back to work. I could have gone back to software, but I thought, well that is always out there as an option.

But I’ve learned from this. You know, mom is sleeping 23 and a half hours a day. I sit with her some every day, I want to be there when she opens her eyes. Sometimes she has just a moment of clarity, and I’ve learned it’s important to seize them. It’s hard, mom is just skin and bone, and it’s hard to see her like that.  I don’t feel bad about being the one to take care of them, I feel lucky. Its helped me be more caring toward everyone. And it’s taught me, you have to seize your moments.

DAU–Do you think your experience of dementia informs your work?

JR –I don’t know. I do these birds, you know. My mom was birder, like a real birder that would get up and go out at like 3 in the morning trying to spot a particular bird. In the memory care where she is now they have an aviary, and there is one particular bird she likes. I took some pictures of it and painted it for her.  My thoughts are of her when I paint birds. And my dad was an artist. He gave it up because of a thing with his parents. His mom used a painting he gave her as a drop cloth when she painted her house. She was not a nice woman. He never painted again. But he doodled, and some of his doodles find their way into my work.

DAU–So, your dad was an artist, and you’re related to the artist Robert Henri and his cousin Mary Cassatt. Did that make you feel like art is in your blood?

JR—-It’s a neat thing to look at the family tree and see all those people listed with their professions as artist. It isn’t a motivating thing. I didn’t become an artist because of them, but it feels like a support. They did it. I can do it. Maybe someday, one of my descendents will see my name on ancestry.com and the profession next to my name listed as artist. Maybe that will empower them to paint.

DAU– You said that an artist has to set goals. Is that one of yours, to be known as an artist?

JR—-I wouldn’t say I want to be famous. I would like to grow. Maybe have my work in a show outside of Dayton, grow my audience. I am talking to some people. I am working on that goal. Having that happen would be great.

DAU-Thank you Julie Riley for talking to us.

JR— Thank You