Feature: Pucker Gallery (BOSTON, MA, USA)
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: Art, Interviews, Travel | Tags: America, art, Boston, Brother Thomas, ceramics, charity, Gallery, pottery, Pucker 2 Comments »FOREWORD: When visiting Boston, MA, last month, I was completely enthralled by its thriving arts scene. There were art galleries and museums and theatres and street musicians everywhere.
One of the most exciting places I found was Newbury Street. It has everything you want from high end boutiques to Japanese supermarkets, but it’s their (sometimes inconspicuous) art galleries that really fascinated me. And so I decided to embarked on a quest to visit and put together a complete guide to incorporate every single one of them.
While that is still a work in progress (I’ve been to all 28 of them, but please bear with me as I write them up), I would in the meantime like to feature one gallery that made a particularly strong impression on me. The interesting thing about art galleries – or any place, for that matter – is that you can tell a lot about them just by the people who greet you. Overall, the gallery directors and staff I met are mostly lovely people, but Mr. Bernard ‘Bernie’ Pucker stood out especially.
I was both astounded by his seemingly infinite knowledge of art, and touched by his sincerity. He spoke gently but passionately. He is a man infatuated with art, and in love with life. And he wore a bow-tie.
Pucker Gallery will of course still be included in my upcoming guide. However, as I do not wish for its story to be limited by space in the guide, I decided to make this a featured article instead. I would like to express my thanks to Bernie and his gallery staff (Allison McHenry in particular) for their time and patience in showing me around and talking me through each piece of work with such tender loving care.
* ** *** ** *
PUCKER GALLERY
ADDRESS: 171 Newbury St, Boston, MA, 02116
WEBSITE: www.puckergallery.com
Mr. Bernard ‘Bernie’ Pucker. Photo from puckergallery.com.
‘When I first opened the gallery – it used to be called Pucker Safrai – in the basement space here back in 1967, there were no shops below street level,’ Bernie Pucker told me with a gentle, reminiscent smile. ‘The whole street was mostly residential. Nothing like what you see now.’
In order to attract visitors, he created an outdoor courtyard at the bottom of the stairs with a little help from an architect friend. The result resembles a mini peace garden in the urban landscape, complete with a working fountain.
‘We hoped that the sound of running water would attract people to look down to see where it is coming from.’
Bernie eventually bought the whole building in 1979, and the magnificent but unassuming five-storey gallery we see today was complete. During its first 20 years of business the gallery mostly showcased and sold traditional art pieces, such as works by Picasso and Matisse. But then Bernie was introduced to renowned Canadian-born ceramics artist Brother Thomas (Thomas Bezanson) one regular day in 1983, which ended up changing his outlook and interests entirely.
‘A customer needed to borrow our toilet,’ Bernie chuckled at the memory. ‘We got talking and then he started telling me about a great ceramics artist he knew, and asked if I wanted to meet him.’
Brother Thomas was the kind of artist who would create 1,200 pieces of work and then smash 1,100 of them because they were good, but not good enough. He became an influential teacher and close friend to Bernie, and introduced him to the beauty of pottery. The two corresponded by fax everyday for the next 23 years until Brother Thomas passed away in 2007.
Brother Thomas wrote beautifully, Bernie told me. ‘There would be lines of poetry embedded in his writings. They were simple, but powerful.’
A photograph of Brother Thomas, surrounded by a few of his works. Photo by Gwen Pew, Apr 12.
These lines, along with photographs of his works, were published in a beautiful, non- year specific diary planner Bernie named ‘Celebrate the Days’ in 2000.
Over the years, Pucker Gallery has sold over 1,600 of Brother Thomas’s breathtakingly exquisite pots and vases. They now have about two-thirds of the artist’s legacy in their stock, and holds an exhibition displaying a selection of them every two years.
Those aside, the gallery also deals in a wide range of art in other media, including powerful oil paintings by artist and Holocaust survivor Samuel Bak, Roger Bowman‘s watercolour and gouache works, as well as authentic South African beer pots Bernie discovered in his travels to the country.
Most recently, Paul Caponigro‘s unique black-and-white photographs were added to their already huge collection. Bernie had initially been reluctant to display any photographic works, but was so captivated by the surreal and almost painting-like quality of Caponigro’s pictures that he now not only sells them, but bought some for himself, too.
Outside of art-selling, Bernie and his wife Sue started a charity project in 2008 called ‘Save the World.’ As a part of this ambitiously-named venture, they would hold evening events at the gallery and invite the CEOs of nonprofit organisations dedicated to helping children in America to attend. The gallery provides a ‘spiritual space’ (as Bernie likes to call it) for them to meet and hopefully come up with ways to make a difference to the lives of people less fortunate than us.
‘Nobody really needs art when there are wars and hunger out there,’ Bernie admits. ‘But art energises and enriches people’s lives, and we should do our part and give what we can.’
It is incredible to experience how much effort Bernie and his team must have put into creating such a soothing atmosphere at Pucker Gallery. There is a sense of calm there that is hard to find in the modern world, especially in such a bustling city as Boston.
The gallery captures the essence of what art embodies, and it is one of the most inspirational places I have ever been to. Oscar Wilde famously wrote in the Preface to Dorian Gray that ‘All art is quite useless,’ but Bernie Pucker has, with clear visions and hard work, fairly and squarely proved him wrong.
Watch this space for my upcoming Complete Guide of all the Newbury St. Art Galleries!
‘Verve 2012’ Review (BRADFORD, UK)
Posted: May 5, 2012 Filed under: Stage | Tags: stage, theatre, Bradford, dance, contemporary, Verve, Cultural Olympiad, Akram Khan Leave a comment »WHAT: Dance (Contemporary)
WHERE: Bradford Alhambra (map)
WHEN: 25th Apr, 12; check their tour schedule for other shows
WHO: Northern School of Contemporary Dance
WEBSITE: www.nscd.ac.uk/view.aspx?id=103
MY STORY IN A NUTSHELL:
- Contemporary dance is tricky as its intentions are not always clear to the untrained audience.
- Dancers of Verve 2012, the postgraduate performance company of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, are agile and passionate, but the choreography themselves were a bit of a hit and miss.
- Divided into four opening acts (two I liked, two not so much) and the main pièce de résistance – Akram Khan’s ‘Vertical Road,’ which is part of the Cultural Olympiad programme in Yorkshire.
- ‘Vertical Road’ itself is a powerful piece, with brilliant use of lighting and a beautifully haunting musical score.
Dancers in Akram Khan’s ‘Vertical Road’. Photo by Chris Nash and Brian Slater.
MY FULL STORY [first published on digyorkshire.com on 1st May, 12]: The tricky thing about contemporary dance is that their plots are usually a lot more abstract than traditional ones such as, say, The Nutcracker. It’s a lot harder to convey their concrete meaning, and so instead the focus tends to shift from content to form. Which is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but unfortunately it means that they are not always fully comprehensible to the standard, untrained mortal.
As far as the actual dancing goes, I was very impressed with Verve 2012, the postgraduate performance company of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. The dancers embody a great sense of youth and maturity that make them wonderful to watch.
The actual performances themselves, though, were a bit of a hit and miss.
The show was composed of five individual parts – four opening acts, and the main pièce de résistance. The first sketch, Let Go by Milan Kozánek, basically had six dancers rolling and writhing on the bare floor, picking up stones and moving with them. Their movements were graceful, but unfortunately it was almost impossible to decipher what they were really doing.
Similarly, the third act, For Dear Life by Jordan Massarella, was meant to suggest that ‘Sometimes sadness is the key to happiness,’ according to the programme. That is an interesting motif, but again the choreography fell short of fully delivering its message.
But it’s not all bad. James Cousins’s Dark in the Afternoon, a duet between two male dancers, was much more powerful. The combination of their sometimes synchronised, sometimes disjointed movements suggests a desperate attempt of (mis)communication. Their strength and elegance was in perfect balance.
My favourite sketch, though, was without a doubt the final act of Part One. Choreographed by Lea Anderson MBE, co-founder of The Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs dance companies, Dynamo was a blast.
It involves nine wide-eyed, lipsticked ladies in bright 1950s dresses twirling and running and skipping around the stage, taking turns to be puppets and puppeteers. Their mechanical movements resemble a series of stop-motion vintage posters come to life. It sounds bizarre, but it worked. It was fun and jarring at the same time, and definitely a very colourful visual treat.
But it was Part Two that most of the crowd had been waiting for. As part of the Cultural Olympiad programme in Yorkshire, Vertical Road is a piece by acclaimed choreographer Akram Khan designed to explore the relationship between humanity and nature. It was inspired by the Sufi tradition as well as Persian poet and philosopher Rumi.
Light and shadow inter-played brilliantly in this performance. The use of fine powder to create an illusion of smoke gave it a magical effect, which worked well with the eight dancers’ flowing, neutrally coloured costumes. Despite not having a coherent narrative, it managed to remain captivating throughout. The choreography was strongly supported by Nitin Sawhney’s specially commissioned musical score, which was both haunting and compelling.
Although the show began with some uncertainty, it did gain momentum as the evening went on. I must admit that I was still rather perplexed by the whole thing at the end, but the dancers’ focused, agile and passionate energy nonetheless made it well worthwhile.
‘Northern Arts Uncovered 2012’ Recap (LEEDS, UK)
Posted: April 30, 2012 Filed under: Art | Tags: art, emerging artists, England, exhibition, Gallery, leeds, North 2 Comments »WHAT: Art exhibition
WHERE: Leeds Gallery (map)
WHEN: 21st Apr, 12
WEBSITE: www.northernartsuncovered.co.uk
Take a look at the rest of my photos from the exhibition HERE.
MY STORY IN A NUTSHELL:
- Northern Arts Uncovered is one of the newest additions to Leeds’s independent art scene. It was founded by Helen Brady and Victoria Rosso, and aims to support up and coming local artists.
- I loved the huge range of media on display, which includes everything from oils to photography.
- The works of emerging artists and students were deliberately juxtaposed – but they were all of very high quality anyway.
- My favourite pieces were Pippa Dyrlaga’s dizzying paper cuttings and Nicole Viner’s quirky ‘Mad Giraffe.’
MY FULL STORY: The independent art scene in Leeds is spreading like wildfire. It seems like there’s no stopping it, despite the wind and rain trying to do their worst. Sorry Nature, but Art wins.
After hosting exhibitions such as the first ever Leeds Print Festival and ‘Access All Areas: 20 Years of Back to Basics,’ Leeds Gallery recently paused its current show, ‘Leeds Through a Lens,’ to make way for a one day event dedicated purely to emerging talents.
Northern Arts Uncovered is a brand new project founded by Leeds University graduate Helen Brady and producer/designer Victoria Rosso, who studied at Leeds College of Art. Its aim is to provide up and coming local artists with a platform to showcase their works in public. All profits made from the event went to Art Fund, a charity supporting the art industry in the country. Although neither Helen nor Victoria have ever curated an art exhibition before, the show was a huge success.
The thing I loved most about it was the variety of media on display. There were oil paintings, photography, book illustrations, textiles, prints, ink drawings, paper cuttings and more. It was a jungle bursting with a combination of colour, imagination, and talent that you rarely get in such mixed styles outside large galleries. There was no strict theme – just a bunch of great works beautifully juxtaposed against each other.
Art-admiring. Photo by Gwen Pew, Apr 12.
‘We deliberately mixed the works of emerging artists and students,’ Victoria explains, saying that they did not want or see the need to make a clear distinction between the two.
Helen and Victoria received an overwhelming number of entries from artists all over England after they opened up the submission area on their website. After an arduous decision process, they eventually whittled it down to the 24 artists whose works were displayed on the day.
Many of the artists were present at some point during the exhibition, and I had the honour of meeting Omnipresent Art – aka Okey Ebizie. His works are interesting in that they differ so much from one another. While his prints are mostly inspired by hip hop, his textile works are more preoccupied with simple pattern and bright colours.
Pattern design and prints (top) by Omnipresent Art. Photo by Gwen Pew, Apr 12.
It’s hard to choose a favourite in such a varied exhibition, but Pippa Dyrlaga’s paper cutting piece is probably the one I found most intriguing. Beautiful, dizzying and creepy in equal measures, the work clearly reflects the amount of time and patience the artist must have spent on it.
Mind-boggled. Paper-cutting piece by Pippa Dyrlaga. Photo by Gwen Pew, Apr 12.
Another piece I liked is ‘Mad Giraffe’ by Nicole Viner, a 21-year-old Design student at Leeds Met. There is a sense of lightheartedness about it that almost borders on the absurd – but it makes you smile nonetheless.
Nicole Viner's 'Mad Giraffe' - whatcha lookin' at?! Photo by Gwen Pew, Apr 12.
Overall I really enjoyed the exhibition. It was definitely worth the trek down. Not only were the works on display thought-provoking and well executed, I also like that Northern Arts Uncovered helps to debunk the notion of “high art” by supporting these young artists and making their works accessible to all. Great stuff.
Mixology Event at Call Lane Social (LEEDS, UK)
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: Drinks | Tags: bar, Call Lane Social, cocktails, Culture Vulture, England, mixology, nightlife, Tiki Leave a comment »WHAT: Mixology class
WHO: Culture Vulture
WHEN: 26th April, 2012
WHERE: Call Lane Social, 38 Call Lane, Leeds (map)
MY STORY IN A NUTSHELL:
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A specially designed drink just for The Culture Vulture God(dess)! Photo by Gwen Pew, Apr 12.
Culture Vulture teamed up with Call Lane Social to host an evening of mixology for bloggers in Leeds.
- The bar is lovely, but then we were led to their upstairs area, Tiki Hideaway, which has an island escape theme. It is complete with bamboo walls, pufferfish lampshades and surfer music. Bring on summer!
- Tiki bars began in post-war America when ex-soldiers who served in Polynesia decided to bring some island spirit back home with them. Tiki Hideaway, which is owned by the lovely Phil and Mel Harrison, opened a year and a half ago. It is the only Tiki bar in the city at the moment.
- This was my first time having a go at cocktail mixing, but Andy Gilpin, the barman, talked us through the process step-by-step. We made an ‘Amputated Zombie,’ which is their signature drink, and the uniquely designed ‘Culture Vulture God’ in honour of the evening’s event. The drinks mostly consist of various types of rum and a blend of fruit juices.
- Overall it was a really lovely evening both to catch up with my fellow bloggers, as well as to get the low-down of bartending. It has reminded me once again how much I love this city, so big thanks to Emma from Culture Vulture, and all the staff at Call Lane Social (Andy in particular) – I’ll be back for more!
The gorgeously escapist-themed Tiki Hideaway. Photo by John Tudor.
MY FULL STORY: With England’s April showers fully living up to its name and a pile of work sitting on the desk desperately trying to catch my attention, there is only one thing I can do. Cocktails.
To make it even better, the lovely Culture Vulture has teamed up with Call Lane Social to host an evening of mixology for Leeds bloggers. It didn’t take a lot of persuasion for me to get down there. Tucked away in the trendy part of Call Lane, the bar is a warm, lively place with low lights and great music. But there’s more.
After a bit of mingling, we were led through a secret doorway and up a dark flight of stairs. That, as it turned out, was a magic portal. We emerged on the other side and found ourselves in a bamboo-walled Tiki bar hut somewhere on a Pacific Island at sunset. Surfing music hummed in the background. There were puffer fish lampshades above the bar. All of a sudden, the rain and work felt miles away. Even England felt miles away.
Welcome to Tiki Hideaway, a slice of paradise that is the first and currently only Tiki bar in Leeds.
The concept of Tiki bars first began in post-war America, when ex-soldiers who had served in Polynesia decided to bring back a bit of island spirit with them. These escapist-themed bars proved to be immensely popular and soon took the US by storm. And now the idea has travelled across yet another pond.
Me with my self-made 'Amputated Zombie'! Photo by Rebecca Liburd (@reallynicefood).
Phil and Mel Harrison, who are also the owners of Verve (my ultimate favourite bar in Leeds, which I shall write up a review for some day) and Reform, opened Call Lane Social and Tiki Hideaway about a year and a half ago. Although Tiki Hideaway is the most thematic of all their bars, the couple’s signature style is evident in all these places – soft lighting, cosy setting, friendly staff, and fabulously fresh and delicious cocktails. Which brings us back to the reason that we were all standing around with barely containable excitement.
‘Shall we make some cocktails then?’ asked Andy Gilpin, the lovely Alhoa-shirted barman.
We gathered round the bar. After some debate, we agreed to begin with the classic.
‘It’s called the Amputated Zombie.’
Admittedly I wasn’t entirely convinced by the name – it’s not exactly the first thing I would associate with such an escapist heaven. One sip of the drink later, however, I was completely sold. It was delicious.
Andy started off with a demonstration, but then it was our turn. After a few brave souls had a go, I decided to pluck up my courage and went for it. Of course, I was secretly absolutely thrilled to be on the other side of the bar for the first time, but I am also the sort of person who walks into door frames and falls up the stairs – yes, up – so I was slightly nervous. Still, behind the bar I went.
Bizarrely, I instantly felt brilliantly confident once I got there: look at all those bottles of alcohol standing there smiling, eagerly waiting to make you happy! And I could touch them!
To make the Amputated Zombie, I had to pour a few shots of three different rums into a glass. I then added a blend of fruit juices and a spadeful of ice. Andy hammered a shaker over it, and I did a little excited jiggle. This was the moment. Here we go.
‘The best way to do it is to put it over your shoulder, so that if the glass flies out it will hit the wall of alcohol, rather than take anyone’s eye out,’ Andy suggested.
Shaking it turned out to be easier than I had thought. I didn’t have a cool cocktail-shaking face, of course, but it did the job. I lined another glass – a chalice in the shape of a Tiki head – with some syrup, and then strained the mixture into it. It looked like a sunset in a glass. I adorned it with strawberries, kiwi, and a paper umbrella before Andy added the final touch – he doused a lump of sugar with rum, placed it carefully on my kiwi slice, and set it on fire.
The almighty 'Culture Vulture God'! Photo by Rebecca Liburd.
Ah, who doesn’t love a good dose of pyro?
The best thing about it all was that my cocktail, sweetened by a dollop of triumphant smugness, tasted almost as good as the one Andy first made. I have always preferred more juicy-tasting drinks, so this one was right up my alley. I also liked the slight undertone of spice from the rum, which gave it an extra va va voom.
After a break, we were given the chance to make a second drink – the uniquely designed Culture Vulture God. This one was a bit simpler, and required no shaking. All we had to do was pour in the rum, the juice, add in some cactus syrup, ice, and stir. After that was done, Andy once again got his flamethrower, and lit it across the top of the glass as he sprinkled crumbs of honeycomb and cocoa powder over it. The result was a beautiful crackling mini fireworks display. More pyro!
As you can probably imagine, I was extremely happy by the end of the evening. It was a lovely opportunity both to see my blogger friends, as well as to get the low-down on bartending. Not to mention all those tasty cocktails I had!
Once again I was reminded of how much I love Leeds. The city which used to just be the place I go to uni at has now almost become home. I’m always kept entertained by great people, great events, and great places. What more can I ask for?
A big thank you to Emma from Culture Vulture, as well as all the staff at Call Lane Social (especially Andy), for this wonderful event. I can’t wait to go back to the bar and sample all the other exotic cocktails on their menu!
Greg Balla, Actor in ‘Blue Man Group’ (BOSTON, MA)
Posted: April 20, 2012 Filed under: Comedy, Interviews, Music, Stage, Travel | Tags: Blue Man Group, Boston, comedy, Greg Balla, theatre Leave a comment »
Greg Balla, Blue Man. Photo by Gwen Pew, Apr 12.
‘I’d be lying if I say I never get bored. It’s still a job,’ Greg Balla says. But then he leans forward and breaks into a sunny smile. ‘Though as far as jobs go, it really doesn’t get any better than this!’
Greg is one of those lucky people who found employment almost immediately after he graduated from New York’s Fordham University in 2008. He started off as an electrician, but now gets paid to be painted blue, drum on pipelines, and regurgitate marshmallow sculptures from the depths of his mouth onstage every night.
‘The best thing is that once the latex skull cap and blue face paint is on, I just become a Blue Man who has no ego and sees the world for what it is. This chair isn’t a chair to a Blue Man,’ he says as he strokes the seat of the bar chair next to him. ‘It’s a sheet of smooth, leathery material with bits of wood structured around it.’
‘Being a Blue Man is really liberating. It removes my identity and frees me from the constraints of being Greg Balla. When I first started doing this I was really conscious of the face paint. It’s greasy and sticky and smells like lipstick!’ he continues. ‘But now I’ve gotten used to it and don’t even notice it anymore. It’s become my second skin.’
As he spoke, I was struck by the passion with which he describes everything. His words are accompanied by a lot of hand gestures and an excited glint in his eyes. He smiles a lot, and occasionally pauses to apologise for ranting too much. There is something almost childish in the way that he bounces on his seat slightly, as though his enthusiasm just cannot be contained.
And then it hit me. Although the man sitting in front of me is not blue, bald or mute, Greg is still a Blue Man through and through. Not only has he fully come to terms with what his character is about, he has even aligned himself with it.
"Blue are the people here that walk around,
Blue like my corvette, it's standing outside.
Blue are the words I say and what I think.
Blue are the feelings that live inside me."
- Eiffel 65, 'Blue (Da Ba De)'
Photo by Gwen Pew, Apr 12.
‘Being a Blue Man has changed the way I look at the world,’ he says with a sort of wisdom that only a child can understand. ‘I’m now hyper-aware of everything and have a better appreciation for things we don’t normally see.’
‘As kids we’re free, but as we grow up we adopt all these social masks in order to fit in. The point of the show is to encourage them to unmask themselves.’
The Blue Man Group, as I mentioned in my review, manages to create a level of interaction with the audience that is rarely seen onstage. The fourth wall is completely shattered as the actors clambered over the ponchoed crowd and peered deep into our eyes (and, in some cases, handbags).
‘We try to connect with the people, which means that we have to be very sensitive to them and figure out what kind of show they want,’ Greg says. ‘There’s a template to the show and we have the dots – A, B, C, D – but the audience has to help us join those dots. Sometimes we get a tamer lot, perhaps because it’s the Sunday morning performance, while other times the people just want to party. We try to accommodate that.’
In order for the actors to fully focus on the audience, the actual mechanics of the show itself have got to be solid. Although a magician never reveals his tricks, Greg was more than happy to share the stage secrets when he kindly offered to give me a backstage tour.
I was amazed by how cleverly it all works. From the tubs of blue face paint lined up on the wall ready to be splashed on, to the tubes used to connect bottles of paint to the drum sets, to the colour-coded pipe-drums (each colour represents a different note), everything is meticulously planned out.
I also noticed that there was a certain sense of pride and familiarity in the way that Greg showed me round the labyrinth of corridors and rooms. He talked me through each prop and process as though the place were his home, and introduced me to everyone we walked past like they were family.
How the colour-coded pipe-drums look from stage. Photo by Gwen Pew, Apr 12.
And that is what sums up the true spirit behind the Blue Man Group. It is their understanding of how humans connect with each other on a primal level that makes them so enchanting to watch onstage. The Blue Men may not communicate with spoken words, but as Greg puts it, they have a very basic yet powerful language that is able to transcend social boundaries and bring everyone together.
‘We just want everyone to have fun,’ says Greg with his signature grin. ‘The best thing is when you get a Dad there with his kids, and the kids are having a great time while he’s just sitting there looking stern and being Dad. But then at the end of the show when the toilet paper starts shooting out and the giant balls come down, I’d look at him again and see that he’s completely changed. He’d be laughing and joining in and loving it!’
‘That’s what we’re trying to achieve. That’s what we’re all about.’
* ** *** ** *
The Blue Man Group is currently touring the US and showing in Boston, New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Orlando, Berlin, Tokyo, and on board the Norwegian Cruise Line. Check their website for more details but this is one show you should go back to again, and again. And don’t even think about missing it!
