Gallery Talk for Mark Fletcher’s Critter Talk: A Solo Exhibit

COCA hosted a gallery talk on Saturday, Feb 18th for the current show on display at the ArtPort Gallery called Mark Fletcher’s Critter Talk: A Solo Exhibit. Attendees were able to see the exhibit, mingle with Mark Fletcher and ask him questions about his artwork. He led a discussion of his background, techniques, inspirations and various special projects he is currently involved in.

This exhibit includes examples of Fletcher's paintings, poems and sculpture. It is on display at the ArtPort Gallery from February 1-March 26, 2012. The ArtPort Gallery itself is located in the Tallahassee Regional Airport, 3300 Capital Circle SW, and is open daily from 8:00 am until 11:30 pm. All exhibits are in this space are free and open to the public.

Another gallery talk will be held on Wednesday, March 14th at 2pm. Gallery talks are also free and open to the public.

Robert Stuart relishes ability to meld teaching and theater at Young Actors

COCA Notes from TLH Magazine
by Randi Atwood
2/19/12

Robert Stuart, artistic director at Young Actors Theatre, is a Tallahassean born and bred, but for the two years when he was in first and second grade, his family lived in Pisco, a small fishing village in Peru, while his father, a meteorology professor at FSU, participated in a field study.

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Wakulla commissioner dances when whim strikes

A few artful questions from Wakulla County Commissioner Randy Merritt.

Q:  When was the last time you danced?  

A: A couple of weeks ago, when some friends were over. We were just out in the garage listing to Pandora — it was very impromptu.

Read the rest of his answers

Career in arts, concert halls led MacQueen to Seven Days

COCA Notes from TLH Magazine
by Randi Atwood
2/12/12

Steve MacQueen, director of Seven Days of Opening Nights, considers himself more an audience member than an artist — an arts appreciator, rather than an arts practitioner.

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Cupcake maven lacks rhythm, but she has a taste for the arts

A few artful questions from COCA for Jean Bates, owner of Lucy & Leo’s Cupcakery.

Q:  When was the last time you danced?  

A: The other night in my living room karaoke-ing with my daughter.

Read the rest of her answers

Mark Fletcher creates art to spark new appreciation of nature

COCA Notes from TLH Magazine
by Randi Atwood
2/5/12

Tallahassee artist Mark Fletcher fell in love with the natural world early in life. From the time he was 6 years old, he carried a sketchbook with him everywhere, writing about and drawing everything he saw.

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Commissioner isn’t afraid to dance

A few artful questions from COCA for Alan Brock, chairman, Wakulla County Commission.

Q:  When was the last time you danced?  

A: Yesterday I was dancing listening to old music while babysitting my nephew. I find my goofy dance style to be appreciated the most by the young and young at heart.

Read the rest of his answers

Broadway revelation set playwright on his career path

COCA Notes from TLH Magazine
by Randi Atwood
1/29/12

Growing up in the small town of Moss Point, Miss., James Webb would record movies on his VCR and watch them over and over.

" 'The Color Purple' was one of my favorites," says Webb. "I’d turn it on and choose a character to be that day. I’d play that part, saying all the lines back to the other characters on the screen."

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‘Amistad’ and kids’ artwork are vital for Kelly Otte

A few artful questions from COCA for Kelly Otte, executive director, PACE Center for Girls.

Q:  What movie has most affected you? 

A: "Amistad." I sat in the theater and sobbed. The movie did an extraordinary job of showing the incredible ugliness of slavery in a way that I had nev-er seen. And will never forget.

Read the rest of her answers

Mark Fletcher’s Critter Talk: A Solo Exhibit

This exhibit includes examples of Fletcher's paintings, poems and sculpture. It is on display at the ArtPort Gallery from February 1-March 26, 2012.

Since childhood, Mark Fletcher has drawn and painted animals and plants. In his adolescence, he was also interested in sculpture. By the end of high school he had already built his own kick wheel (for throwing pottery) and two wood-fired kilns (for firing it) in his backyard. It was during his apprenticeship with a ceramic artist in Japan that he really developed his art through the medium of clay.

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He’s the king: Talent show led to long career for Elvis singer

COCA Notes from TLH Magazine
by Randi Atwood
1/22/12

In the early 1990s, Panama City Beach performer Todd Allen listened to a recording of Elvis Presley singing live in Las Vegas. Though he didn’t know it at the time, it was the beginning of an entirely new career for him.

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Doctor is handy with a guitar

A few artful questions from COCA for Dr. Tom Haney, Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic.

Q:  Can you play a musical instrument? 

A: I still play the guitar occasionally.

Read the rest of his answers

Charles Badland explores intersection of art, science

COCA Notes from TLH Magazine
by Randi Atwood
1/15/12

Charles Badland works in FSU’s neuroscience program, which studies the brain and nervous system function and boasts faculty from the departments of biology, psychology and mathematics and the College of Medicine. But Badland isn’t a scientist, mathematician or physician — he’s an artist.

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Lofty Pursuits owner Gregory Cohen collects artwork, builds a dollhouse

A few artful questions from COCA for Gregory Cohen, owner of Lofty Pursuits.

Q:  Do you own any original art? 

A: I’ve been collecting art for years. I have early printed pages by Albrecht Durer, and some illuminated manuscript pages from the 12th and 15th centuries. I also have some more modern stuff: a small Calder print, a Chagall and some pieces from the Brazilian street artist Titi Freak. I also have a large oil painting portrait of my wife and me yo-yoing, based on a photo from our wedding.

Read the rest of his answers

New Art Exhibit: Digital Diversity at the City Hall Gallery

 

 Mystic Trumpet by Ed Babcock

The Council on Culture & Arts is pleased to present Digital Diversity at the City Hall Gallery from January 11-March 12, 2012 as part of the Arts in Public Places program.

The Digital Diversity exhibit, features eleven local artists who push the boundaries of photography using digital tools and techniques. All of these artists are part of the informal group called The Digital Artists’ Guild which is an offshoot of The Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts Artists’ League. From scanography to digital photo collage, the works exhibited in this show demonstrate the endless possibilities of digital media.

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Ryan Harris caught acting bug at Leon High

COCA Notes from TLH Magazine
by Dana Edwards
1/8/12

Standing 6 feet 4 inches tall and sporting ear gauges and dreadlocks, Ryan Harris, 24, says it’s hard to get cast in the Tallahassee theater world. That’s one of the reasons he’s so thankful for the opportunity to play a leading character in Tallahassee Little Theatre’s upcoming production of "The Little Dog Laughed."

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Stringed instruments, George Bernard Shaw dramas hold appeal for Sandy D’Alemberte

A few artful questions from COCA for Sandy D’Alemberte, President Emeritus of Florida State University.

Q: What was the last live performance you saw? 

A: I believe it was Shaw’s “Heartbreak House,” but it was definite-ly one of the Shaw plays at the Niagara Festival in Canada.

Read the rest of his answers

Film society co-founder got his start as an extra

COCA Notes from TLH Magazine
by Randi Atwood
1/1/12

In 1961, when Tallahassee Film Society founder John Fraser was a child in Miami, a movie called "Angel Baby" began filming a block away from his house. His parents, who always had been movie buffs, took their 9-year-old son to the set be an extra. 

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You can spot former commissioner at Legion Hall or monster truck show

A few artful questions from COCA for former City Commissioner John Paul Bailey.

Q: When was the last time you danced? 

A: Last week at the American Legion Hall.

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Pianist plays for singers, dancers and actors

Photo by Mary G. Schaad COCA Notes from TLH Magazine
by Randi Atwood
12/25/11

Sudarat Songsiridej doesn’t remember the first piano lessons her mother gave her at age 3, but she does remember making up tunes when she was almost that young. 

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