Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 13, 1991 TAG: 9104130064
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jeff DeBell
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It's a very haunting picture," juror Lowery Sims said. "It has that elusive quality you can never explain."
The five juror's awards went to a watercolor by Jane Hunter, a mixed media sculpture by Steve Bickley and photographs by Craig Sisson, Bob Sulkin and Eileen McCaul.
"I was really struck by how much good photography there was," Sims said. "I was struck by how strong and pure the photographic statements were."
Sims is associate curator of 20th century art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
She said she had been favorably impressed by the slides from which she selected the show, and was not disappointed when she saw the actual work.
"There were absolutely no regrets, no surprises," she said. "I think you could very comfortably put any of this work in a gallery show in New York."
The show opened Thursday at the Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts and will remain in place through May 26. It is presented jointly by Artemis and The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge.
Photographs of selected pieces are included in Artemis XIV, a literary journal focusing on writers and artists of the Blue Ridge Region.
Roanoke poet Laddie Fisher has received her first royalty check - for the grand sum of 88 cents.
It represents her share of the sales of an anthology titled "A Place for the Genuine" between last October and December. The book was the second volume in series titled "The Poets Domain" and published by Road Publishers of Fairfax Station.
Fisher shared in the royalties with 36 other poets whose work is in the book.
"Might I say that while I have sold poems, had them published in a number of anthologies, this was my first royalty check," she said. "Its total of 88 cents makes it a treasure."
The Roanoke Valley's classical music audiences are accustomed to Victoria Bond's work as conductor of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. They're less familiar with the another of her talents, that of composer.
The next season will help change that, as two Bond compositions are to be performed.
One is her opera, "Gulliver," which will be given a workshop performance in October by Southwest Virginia Opera. The other is "Hot Air," a piece that was commissioned by the Renaissance City Winds of Pittsburgh.
The group will appear as part of the Roanoke Valley Chamber Music Society's 1991-92 series and will play "Hot Air" as part of its concert.
"The Boys Next Door," which opens next week at Mill Mountain Theatre, is not "that play about homosexuals," as one of several callers to the theater put it. It's a play about a group of mentally handicapped men who live together.
The caller presumably was referring to "The Boys in the Band," the acclaimed Mart Crowley drama of some years back.
If you approve of cooperation among independent performing arts organizations, you'll love the upcoming Southwest Virginia Opera production of "Otello."
It's being directed by Jere Hodgin, artistic and executive director of Mill Mountain Theatre. John Sailer, also of Mill Mountain, is designing the sets and lighting. The choreography is by Diana Gonzalez, artistic director of Roanoke Ballet Theatre.
Victoria Bond, who is SVO's artistic director and will conduct the orchestra, is of course known best as conductor of the Roanoke Symphony. Craig Fields will serve as chorus master. Besides being the opera company's resident director, he heads the Blacksburg Master Chorale and teaches at Virginia Tech.
Felice Proctor also teaches at Tech. She's doing the costumes for "Otello."
Besides demonstrating the possibilities of cooperation, the production is a reminder of the copious talents hereabouts.
Work by Fincastle glass artist James Madine is included in the fifth "Feet of Glass" Exhibition in Baltimore. Twenty-seven artists are represented in the national biennial show, which continues through April 26 in Gallery 409 at the Blake Cultural Center.
Madine specializes in a glassblowing technique called lampworking. His medium is borosilicate crystal. His entry in the Baltimore show is called "Salamander's Evening Snack."
by CNB