THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511220233
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA
LENGTH: Long : 160 lines
UNDER THE GLARE of fluorescent lightbulbs, the distinction between art and audience at the Water Street Art Foundry is well-defined.
Visitors finger beaded jewelry for sale in one area, and the stiff fabric of cloth Christmas decorations in another. Artisans politely listen to unsolicited, mostly positive critiques of their work.
Their boutiques and studios are marked by green plastic lawn chairs brought in to supplement seating among four overstuffed couches encircling the center of the large room.
Slowly, everyone takes a seat around the carpeted common space, many patrons nursing foam cups of coffee or soda. Parents bend their children's ears for one last reminder to enjoy, but behave, tonight.
Then someone kills the lights.
Now, with only strands of miniature white bulbs, a few dark-shaded lamps and a sole track light to illuminate the place, the delineation is dulled.
Now the art is drawn from the audience for the Second Saturday Coffee House, a sort of open-mike night for the area's culturally inclined.
``I think our crowd is down, but our talent has never been better,'' foundry owner Valerie Carpenter tells the crowd of about 35 who have braved blustery conditions to reach the downtown artisans' den.
Before intermission, all of the chairs and any available stools will be filled with about 70 people, from large families to couples to the curious.
Emcee Valerie G. Van Opynen opens with a poetry reading to loosen up the audience and about a dozen individuals and groups signed up to perform.
Van Opynen then is joined by guitarist John Lee, a coffeehouse regular, for a song set to the Johnny Cash tune ``Folsom Prison Blues.'' A part of it goes:
People don't stay out late
They'd rather watch TV
Than get their butts up off the couch
To hear some PO-E-TRY
There's lots of singin'
Real good music, too
So, hey folks, watcha say now?
I leave it up to you.''
This snippet says a lot about why the coffeehouse exists, and why so few still know about it.
The monthly series started when the foundry first opened in July.
``The coffeehouse has been an idea since the foundry's conception,'' Carpenter says. ``It's always been an integral part of what we're trying to do here.''
What Carpenter and the other 12 foundry artists want is to serve as a cultural hub for Elizabeth City and the vicinity.
``My vision for this space is that we can bring the arts together and also bring the arts and the community together,'' says Carpenter, a mother of one who also teaches art full-time in the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank schools.
Carpenter bought the 8,000-square-foot facility on Water Street, next to a private club called Sweetbriars, and converted the former crafts store into a gallery.
The former Texan used to have a teeny art studio called Lavender Loft, and the color is still pervasive in Carpenter's new digs, including her office walls, studio furniture and foundry bathroom.
She and the other artists hope to provide something different for both the creative and the culturally challenged. The coffeehouse, with a growing audience, appears to be fitting the bill.
``My hope is that anyone doing anything creative in the community will let us know,'' she says. ``I haven't done it yet, but I'm hoping to make contacts with the literary and dramatic and music communities.
``We want to have the information here so that people, when there is something going on in the community, will know to come here. There're a lot of creative people in this community, but there seems to be a breakdown in getting the people to know what's going on here.''
On this particular Saturday, members of the Encore Theatre give guests a sneak preview of their upcoming production.
The quartet is followed by 19-year-old Christian Walz, a repeat performer who strums his guitar while singing original songs scribbled in a spiral notebook.
``I felt very rushed this time for some reason,'' the Hertford teenager says during an intermission. ``I felt more prepared last time.''
Nearby is another teenager who later will recite his poetry, held inside a blue binder he keeps close to him at all times.
``It's something for kids to do,'' Walz says. ``Instead of going to parties and getting drunk, they can come here and relax. And maybe get some ideas, too.''
Although the material isn't always serious, the audience is expected to be sober. Among the rules: No alcohol.
Others include no vulgarity or nudity, no smoking and a 10-minute limit on performances.
A quintet's rendition of the ``Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald'' late in the evening threatened that time restriction, but the female vocalist lost track of the lyrics and the music died abruptly.
The coffeehouse is technically free, but $2 donations are encouraged to help cover the costs of the refreshments and the emcee's fee. Carpenter likes to call it a ``love offering.''
In another room, David Silva of Cypress Internet Resources gives demonstrations on how artists can advertise on the World Wide Web.
``There's a funny relationship between computers and artists,'' he says before his presentation. ``They don't want to have anything to do with them until they use one.''
The second half of the coffeehouse includes several more guitarists - some encouraging audience sing-alongs - and various readings.
While guitars are the instrument of choice, there are exceptions. Van Opynen is a flutist, and another performer belts out a few numbers on a bagpipe.
Linda Hawes offers dramatic readings of the prologue to Shakespeare's ``Henry V.'' Then she takes a seat in the ``dragon's chair,'' illustrated by airbrush artist Robert Ricobaldi, to read her own short story on local theater.
She finishes, as do all the others, to gracious applause. ``I belong to Overactors Anonymous,'' she jokes to a friend on her way back to her seat.
There's more Gordon Lightfoot, some James Taylor and even Bach's ``Ode to Joy,'' performed by Van Opynen on the flute.
Coffeehouse entertainment here is usually pretty eclectic.
Former county commissioner W.C. Witherspoon gave a reading once. Young cheerleader wannabes flaunted their aerobic acumen on a previous evening.
The coffeehouse hit a high note last month when two musicians brought down the house with their hammer dulcimer playing.
``I swear, I think this is the best music we've heard,'' coffeehouse regular Jerry Morgan says between acoustic numbers. He is the last of the sign-ups to take the spotlight.
The evening ends about three hours after it began, with Van Opynen reading another poem.
This one's called ``To the Coffee Friends of a Lifetime,'' and as you leave the foundry, smiling and thanking the foundry folks for providing such a good time, you feel that is indeed just what you are. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Jim Roberts, 25, of Elizabeth City, plays the bagpipes at the Art
Foundry Coffee House talent show.
Christian Walz, 19, of Hertford, found the Art Foundry Coffee
House's talent show the right place to share two original
compositions.
Sean Hatfield, left, reads the names of a ticket drawn during talent
show night from the basket held by Valerie Carpenter.
Guitarist Jon Lee, 51, of Elizabeth City, does a practice run with a
youthful percussion section before going on stage.
\ by CNB