PEROT Museum of Nature and Science

The Dallas Museum of Nature and Science announced what’s believed to be the largest-ever “gift” to a Dallas cultural institution. Groundbreaking for the “PEROT Museum of Nature and Science” will be next year at the corner of Field and Woodall Rodgers in downtown Dallas. KERA Radio’s BJ Austin was there at the announcement was made by museum director Nicole Small. She dropped off this recording of Small, and the Perot family.

Roundup: Money Changes Everything

Artist/designer Brad Oldham and that juggernaut known as Reel FX Entertainment/Creative Studios have landed the $1.4 million contract to create sculptures for the DART rail station in Deep Ellum, set to open in September 2009.

And speaking of big money, how’s $50 mil sound? That’s what the kids of H. Ross and Margot Perot plunked down today as a gift for the new Museum of Nature & Science in Victory Park. Guess what it’ll be called?

In less lucrative news, musician Frankie Campagna, son of Deep Ellum artistic fixture Frank Campagna, is celebrating the fifth anniversary of his band Spector 45 at Club Dada Saturday night; Pegasus News profiles Kitchen Dog Theater co-artistic director Chris Carlos, who’s at the helm of the company’s latest production, Sick; and this weekend’s CADD art fair is underway in Exposition Park.

Finally, be sure to check out Chris Vognar and Mike Merschel’s ongoing blow-by-blow coverage of the enormous book expo in L.A. on the DMN books blog, including Merschel’s encounter with Half Price Books chief Sharon Anderson Wright and possible near-miss of Jessica Simpson.

Maryland Doctor Wins Cliburn YouTube Contest

Christopher Shih, a 35-year-old gastroenterologist from Maryland, has won the first YouTube Contest for amateur pianists sponsored by the Van Cliburn Foundation. He will receive automatic entry into the sixth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, which will be held in Fort Worth in the spring of 2011.

Shih, who received a B.A. in biochemistry from Harvard and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins, competed in the 10th Van Cliburn International Competition in 1997. In the YouTube Contest he received 701 votes out of 2,389 cast. To see and hear his winning performance, click here.

We’ve Got Billboard

This afternoon, the aesthetically pleasing new Art&Seek billboard went up outside KERA World HQ, and we snapped some photos to chronicle the event. Enjoy:

First, they took down the rather faded KERA billboard that had been up for several years …

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Heaven in a Bottle: Echezeaux, Clos Vougeot

The quality of wine from a particular region or even a single vineyard varies from year to year, depending on the weather and other factors. In Burgundy, where pinot noir is the red varietal of choice, 2005 has been hailed as a stellar, perhaps even historical vintage. In just a few hours, you have a chance to taste 10 examples from some of the best appellations in Burgundy as Sigel’s pours wines from Jean-Clause Boisset and his Domaine de Vougeraie. Don’t forget to RSVP.

DIY this Sunday at the African Unity Festival

There will plenty to create this Sunday at the African Unity Festival in downtown Dallas. The festival will take place on the 1st floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library from 1 to 5 p.m. Among the many activities planned are jewelry making with cowry shells, palm leaves and gold. Visitors also can try their hand at Ethiopian basket making, create dolls from raffia and experiment with henna. There will also be African drumming and dance lessons through out the festival, click here for a schedule of events. I can’t make it this week, but the African Unity Festival is sure to be a fun, creative celebration for everyone.

I’ll be back next week at the “The Basics of Bookbinding” workshop taught by artist Jen Rose.

The workshop is scheduled for Sunday, June 8th, 1pm-3pm in the Janette Kennedy Gallery at the Southside on Lamar. There is a $25 fee, but that covers all the supplies needed to create two sketchbooks using unique hand-made paper and the traditional Japanese stab binding techniques. Space is limited, so contact Jen Rose at 214-544-5577 to register.
See you there!

Cathey Miller, Jessica Simpson and college kids

Cathey Miller’s interplanetary folk art first grabbed me when I saw one of her elaborate DIFFA jackets. Now is a good time to discover or catch up with the Pop-influenced artist, whose paintings of empowered ancient/futuristic women are endearingly funny and politically subtle. Miller’s part of a three-gal show that opens tomorrow night at Tractor Beam, and she has a solo show of new work next month at Kettle Art that looks like it might be more overtly political:

Richardson-reared Jessica Simpson is making a country move with this new song. Sounds like the rocked-up twang that’s popular radio fare, so here’s predicting it’ll be a hit despite the playa-hatin’.

In other local music news, seven members of the University of Texas at Dallas Chamber Singers will be performing on a tour of China, and University of North Texas jazz school alum Eric Morones is busy with the release of a new album, movie scoring and writing books.

Still looking for results of last night’s 24-Hour Video Race finals without picking up the phone. Anybody?

“Recapturing Cuba” Recap

Guest blogger Harry Lynch is a director, writer and producer. In 1996 he co-founded Trinity Films with producer Jeff Fraley. The company is based in Austin and specializes in documentaries for theatrical and broadcast release.

Greetings, art seekers. Recapturing Cuba, a documentary produced by Trinity Films, which I directed, and featuring Dallas artist Rolando Diaz, will air tonight. For those who might be interested, I thought I’d offer a recap of its journey from idea to broadcast.

We met Rolando in 2002, when he was first planning to return to Cuba. His family left under rather bad circumstances, forced to surrender all their belongings and savings, and fled to the US penniless. His father died shortly after arriving in Miami, and his mother 10 years later. Rolando’s memories of his homeland were associated with this traumatic transition, and he had previously not cared to return.

Yet around the time of his 40th birthday, Rolando began to study more of Cuban art, and began to notice great similarities to his own work: the subject matter, the color palette, the light, even the brush strokes. He had not studied or worked with these painters, did not even know of most of them until he began to research them. It became apparent that his nearly forgotten island childhood had a profound effect on his art. That, combined with a some new family and personal concerns, had made him decide to return to his homeland.

As documentary filmmakers, we were aware of several other Cuban homecoming films, and worried that one more of them would have a hard time finding a unique voice, and therefore, a broadcast. Thankfully, Rolando turned out to be an intriguing, enthusiastic, energetic and camera-friendly character, with a mission quite different than those other programs: He wanted to go back not only to revisit his past, but to recapture his forgotten memories of Cuba to better understand, and to reinvigorate, his art. That journey would take him to meet some of Havana’s top artists and to discover the thriving Cuban art world. That sounded like a unique perspective for a film!

We actually went to Cuba in advance of Rolando, with state department permission, to scout out the locations he wanted to visit and to meet the artists he had contacted through Jesus Megan, a Havana ‘art guide’ that our producer, Brady Dial, had discovered. We narrowed down the list of artists and secured permissions from the various filming locations. Rolando arrived shortly thereafter, and the events you see in the film took place.

We had raised funding only for the production portion of the film, and did not have the money to edit and score it. So, the footage sat for three years while we produced an IMAX film (Ride Around the World), about the global history of cowboys. The crew for that film exceeded 500, when you take into account all 7 countries we filmed in. Quite a change from our 6 person crew in Havana!

Only after the IMAX was complete did we revisit the footage, and finally secured finishing funds. A little secret — we actually intended for the film to be an hour, but we could only raise funds to complete a half hour piece. (Funding is the strongest determining factor of any film!) This forced us to edit very judiciously, but I actually think the finished film turned out better, including only the best moments.

It was during this completion phase that we partnered with KERA. The station had presented our Making the Modern, about the design and construction of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and were interested in another art documentary. We did not know at that time that it would be the kick-off film for the Art&Seek initiative — though we’re very pleased that it has become such.

A couple of production notes: the still photographs in the film — there are many, though our editor, Jose Flores, did such an expert job of blending them into the flow of the film that they almost seem like footage — were all taken by Peter Larsen, who accompanied us to Havana and has not been thanked enough for his great contribution.

The music was composed by Brian Satterwhite, who we’ve worked with on 4 films now. I had heard the great cellist Bion Tsang on public radio in Austin, and contacted him about perhaps joining us on a soundtrack. When I mentioned this to Brian, he wanted to try to involve him in this one. Bion agreed, as long as the cello could be the featured instrument. And voila: the music you hear in the film, the only Cuban cello music that I know of. (OK, perhaps there’s as Brouwer concerto…)

Brady Dial was the producer of the project, who organized everything from start to finish. And Jesus Megan (both already mentioned) was our guide in Cuba, who set up every meeting with every artist, along with every location. The film would never have happened without their hard work.

We hope you enjoy the broadcast, and that you’ll blog in with your comments.

Welcome to Art&Seek’s Blog!

The Art&Seek blog is creating an online community through discussion of arts events, new works and developments in the cultural world. We focus on what’s happening in North Texas (including Dallas, Fort Worth, Denton, Tyler, Sherman and Wichita Falls). But the blog is also a gateway to art analysis, conversation and exploration across the Internet. Join us!

Our regular contributors include Jerome Weeks, KERA’s arts producer/reporter and other KERA staff; journalist and filmmaker Manny Mendoza, and classical music critic Olin Chism.

We also invite guest bloggers – artists, arts professionals and educators – to join us and help start conversations about the arts in North Texas.
A few examples:
Charles Santos, Executive Director of TITAS
Gail Sachson, art advocate and Vice President, Dallas Cultural Affairs Commission
Sarah Jane Semrad, Executive Director of La Reunion
Lydia Regalado, arts educator, blogger, and fan of skirts
Matthew Bourbon, artist and professor

This blog, its home, artandseek.org, and the Art&Seek initiative are all services from KERA public media for North Texas.

About artandseek.org
In addition to the Art&Seek blog, there’s plenty to check out at artandseek.org:
Featured content from KERA radio, television and our community content partners
Art&Seek calendar of events in North Texas
NPR arts headlines.

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Roundup: Music and Murals

The team of Sergio Garcia, Luke Harnden and Mark Nelson won the second annual Re*Co*Ver mural competition in Deep Ellum over the weekend. Cindy at Fine Line has a video of the finalists’ work and footage of the awards show.

There’s a listening party tonight at the Barley House for the new album by I Love Math, the rhythmic-twang side project of three members of Deathray Davies with Old 97’s drummer Philip Peeples on skins. Quick has a cover-story interview with frontman John Dufilho.

In other side-gig news, Norah Jones‘ punk-metal El Madmo has just put out its first album. Following a reunion, post-New Wave dance act Yaz is coming to Dallas. And Bend Studio has launched a poolside concert series at the Belmont Hotel.

Finally, Texas music, wine and food is set to take over the Mall in Washington D.C. during the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival in June and July. Texas Music magazine has the scoop on who’s performing.