Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Mandi Nikole Zimmer. A more in depth discussion of her work and methods for the upcoming show at 102: Bistro this Wednesday. You can find Mandi's photography online at mandinikolephotography.com or on facebook. (Do not adjust your internet: This interview is transcript only)

If you would like to be interviewed for Q&Art please contact me at russellpirkle@gmail.com or call nclac at 255-1450.

Can you tell me how this series evolved?

The series was originally done as my senior exhibition. During the summer before my final year I was trying to decide on what photographic series I would display at the exhibition. I had thought about doing something in fashion. I love shooting fashion and had originally entered the photography field with hopes of one day becoming a fashion photographer. I did photography for several years prior to entering LA Tech and was very comfortable in the commercial industry. After much thought, I decided I wanted to photograph something more meaningful. I wanted to tell someone's story or capture the moments of a person's life. I shoot alot of lifestyle photos so environmental photography was not new to me. Finally, I narrowed it down to 3 choices; (1) I would have like to have done 3 families that had children who were patients at the St. Jude's Children's Hospital, (2) military men and women, or (3 ) 3 families during the delivery of their child. I was very interested in telling the story of the St. Jude's Kids, but it was difficult gaining access to the families, physicians, and hospitals to get approval to take the images. I would still like to photograph this series one day if possible. I have done birth photography in the past and it is such an amazing moment in the life of families, but I realized that I wouldn't always be available at just any time for the deliveries. My neighbor, Mr. Harry, used to sit and talk about World War II with my parents when I was young and I would hear him. I didn't really understand much but as I grew older I began to see the sorrow in his face at times and I realized the effects it had on his life. If you ask him today he is reluctant to speak about it anymore. So, I decided I wanted to do environmental portraits of service men and women and the  American Heroes series was born. I was amazed by the response I received. Veteran's and their families were receptive to the idea and the project evolved from there.

Can you tell me what you learned or discovered from the experience of creating the American Heroes series?

I learned about the sacrifices that service men, women, and their families have made over the years to defend our independence. They not only leave their families to fight wars, but they have suffered the loss of friends, family, and loved ones. I realized that the men and women who has fought on the front lines will always carry the memories, good and bad, of what they experienced forever. I don't believe I had ever really considered the sacrifices military families make until I did this series. Many families have given generations to military for the protection of our country. The Dyers, are an example of one of those families. Grandfather and grandson have both made sacrifices to defend the country we all love. I am forever grateful to these men and women who have fought for our nation, because without them I wouldn't have the freedom to live the life I live today. That is why I chose to do this series. I wanted to give honor and thanks to all our military and their families. I also learned that there are many wonderful people in the world. There are still trusting people who are willing to open their hearts, homes, and lives to others. I have been blessed to remain friends with a few of the soldiers and their families. Just recently Mr. Comeaux, The Grandfather, passed away and his daughter opened her home allowing me to become part of the family, celebrating his life. The images I had taken were some the last photographs taken of him and I felt blessed to have been able to document a part of his life and then share it with his family.

On a personal note, I learned something about myself and my goals in the photography field. I have always thought of myself as a commercial photographer because I photograph portraits of children, families, weddings, and fashion. I had earned my reputation through the use of lifestyle images, my ability to use an off camera flash, and my ability to use Photoshop. I had pretty much set my course, but this project changed me. I began to see myself more as an artist. My goals are changing. Yes, I would still like to work in fashion, but I also would like to photograph for Life Magazine, National Geographic, a newspaper. Oh, and yes I want to capture that perfect shot and win a Pulitzer prize.I love shooting environmental portraits. I try to incorporate it into almost every session I do now.

What wars do the veterans photographed represent?

Several of the men fought in World War II.  Mr Harry, the neighbor who inspired the series, is a World War II Veteran. Brandi North, the female soldier, fought in Afghanistan. She was also a victim of 911. I also photographed soldiers who fought in the Vietnam and Gulf War. I also photographed a gentleman who was at Pearl Harbor.

What are your personal connections to the subject matter? What family or friends do you have in the service?

The series was inspired by a neighbor and family friend who fought in World War II. Recently a friend of mine I've known since I was junior high returned from Iraq. Currently I do know people in the service but do not know anyone who is over seas doing battle.

Can you talk about a few of the artistic choices that you've made (in terms of how to shoot the subject) and why?

I chose to photograph these images as environmental portraits. The use of environmental photography allows me, the photographer, to give the observer or viewer a look inside the life of each man or woman as they live their life today. Many of these portraits were done in each Veteran's home. This allowed them to share the environment they live in, their families, and their hobbies or interest.

I am primarily a portrait photographer and the majority of my work is done as what's described as environmental or lifestyle photography. I have done some studio work but I am primarily known for my environmental style and lighting skills. I photograph the majority of my clients "on location." I love to photograph clients in their home but will occasionally chose a place that highlights them as individuals, or a place that is meaningful to them. I use questionnaires to help me learn more about my clients interest and to help me chose the locations used to photograph them.

Warren, The Fireman, was photographed at his place of work. After interviewing with him I decided to highlight his life as a Fireman. To showcase his life as a protector in the service and at home. His love for music was also something that stood out to me so we decided to share some of his life as a musician.

Some of the men are grandfathers who wanted to be photographed with their grandchildren. Mr Comeaux, The Grandfather, was shot in his home with two of his granddaughters. I wanted to portray them as they would appear in their everyday life. I felt I was able to do that because after interviewing with him and his daughter I was able to find out that it wasn't unusual for him to be home sitting in his chair while his granddaughters were playing on the floor near him. I chose to include the wheelchair and medical equipment in the image because it portrayed his love for his wife who had recently been admitted to a nursing home. Just weeks before she would have been sitting with him with the grandchildren playing between them.

I photographed the majority of the images with my 28mm lens, but I also used my 100m and 50mm on several of the images. You were correct about me using a narrow aperture on several of the images, but I was able to maintain a large DOF with the use of my 28mm lens. It was important for me to keep the entire image in focus so the viewer would be drawn into the story of the image and enter the into the life and environment of the subject. About the color - when I originally started the series I envisioned them as either black and white or sepia. I love black and white images and use them alot in my business. When I first presented them in class for critique my instructor suggested I print them in color for my second critique. I was really a little disappointed but took her suggestion. I loved them in color. I do have some prints in black and white though because I feel using black and white sets the mood of the image and highlights the subject being photographed.

NCLAC is supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council, Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Peter Jones, local artist and recently retired Tech Professor of Art. Peter's retrospective is currently on display at Louisiana Tech. [wpvideo kLDdadCX]

I want to start out by asking you about the selection process for the paintings for your retrospective. Specifically about which ones were excluded and why.

I had to pick from what I had on hand. And also I had to make sure I didn't duplicate everything that was in the show that I had at the library that was up from August until October, although I figured it was a different audience. So there's some paintings that were in both shows and some that were not. I also, this summer when I was thinking about this upcoming show, I got a couple paintings from Woodstock from my mother's house, and shipped them down here. Because I wanted to have some of the really early stuff like the '67 landscape from Cape Cod. And the still life with the sewing machine and the eggs, which is one of the earliest serious still lifes that I did in the early seventies, when I turned away from painting from memory and started painting from life again. I did figurative . . . You saw the powerpoint I gave, didn't you?

No I missed that. I was out of town.

Okay. I can show you some slides from that. I was doing these invented, expressionistic figures and landscape. Then I saw the joys of painting a figure from life again. I began this series of full length portraits. And then I discovered there were these still lifes that were appearing around the figures. And I thought, you know, I can do those and arrange them however I want. I don't have to worry about a model. And so I started doing still lifes. And that's where it all got going. But it grew out of a desire to figure out a way in the late sixties to paint at the end of the whole modernist thing. I'm digressing here, I figured at that time, as Hans Breder, my teacher in Iowa said, "Painting is dead. It died when Ives Klein painted a canvas blue." This was in '67. I was taking a drawing class in graduate school. And I thought if painting is dead, hey it's a new ballgame. And so I started doing things that were based on the early clumsy Cezanne figures and landscapes. I figured Cezanne is the genius of early modernism. You can't work from the end of Cezanne. If you're going to work from Cezanne you've got to go back to the beginning. So I did this expressionistic drawing. And I remember running into Guston. I didn't know what he was doing at the time. He was getting into his figurative phase in the late sixties. And I thought, hm, that's interesting. He's doing people killing each other, and I'm doing sort of the same thing. But it was different painting entirely. So I wanted to basically tell a narrative that students could make some sense of, from where I started, the very early work I shipped down from Woodstock. Stuff I did when I was a kid.  The earliest piece I did when I was five years old. So I hung that and then I put the photo right next to it. Because I wanted to make it clear that you don't lose that response to color. I don't remember doing that particular pastel at five. But the one with the India ink lines on it, I vividly remember doing. I must have been six or seven. I remember responding to the black and yellow together thinking wow, this is really cool. And of course years later, I'm painting lemons on black backgrounds. So it's all the same thing, but it becomes harder to paint freely when you know more.  When you're a kid, you don't have to worry about dealing with form, and space, and perspective and all that stuff. You can just design on the picture plane. I was lucky that I had my father who was a wonderful artist and a very good teacher. And he basically encouraged me to make what he called designs. This was 1946-47. The whole abstract movement in America was just getting started. He was coming out of the mural projects for the government, which ended during World War II. And he had done a number of commissions. So he was working with easel painting, but I think drifting towards a more abstract approach. So he encouraged me and really liked what I was doing. So I had this early career as an abstract painter, which I was never able to live up to. When you start trying to paint abstractly, when you don't know enough but you know too much you start trying to paint like somebody else. When you're a kid you just do whatever. As Picasso said, he started off drawing like an old master and then he had to learn to draw like a child. But I just did the usual thing, started off doing kid's stuff. And by the time I was nine I figured I have to learn to draw a horse from memory. I couldn't do that so I quit. Most kids do that. So I wanted to tell a story, but I had to also pick it out of the pictures I had available. A lot of the work I've done over the past thirty years is no longer here. It's sold. So I was trying to piece together a narrative.

There's a reclining nude that's in the retrospective. Is that one of the pieces from when you weren't painting from life?

No, that's painting from life. I was very lucky. I was living in Vermont and designing the state magazine for seven years. I moved up there from Virginia. And trying to raise two kids. I wasn't doing a lot of painting, but I showed a couple of landscapes in a local juried show up there. And I got a note from somebody saying that we have this group, we meet every Friday to draw the model. And so I said aha I need to do this. So for three years, three hours every Friday afternoon, we had forty-five minutes of gesture drawing. An hour of ten-fifteen minute poses. And then an hour of an hour pose. And it was great. To get back into drawing from life. This would have been '76, so it was almost nine years since I left grad school. I had not had the chance to draw the model regularly for those nine years. So I did tons and tons of drawings. And then I started doing these studies on canvas, and that's one of them. But that's painted really fast, because you have an hour to get the pose down. I did a series of those. They really got me on board. Because painting the figure and drawing the figure, it's like playing music. It's like playing scales. It's basic. So I did that until I came down here. I showed a bunch of drawings in a show when I first started teaching here. Joe Struthers gave me a show, so I matted up a bunch of drawings and I had some of these figure paintings as well as some still lifes. Basically when I taught that figure painting class in the spring, I was drawing on that experience. That got me back into the figure. But they're all studies. I tried working on a figure away from the model, and it got too stylized. It ended up looking like a stiff Bronzini. I prefer painting the model from life. Painting it from memory, I don't want to go there again. Although I can do it better from memory than I used to.

Your work sort of has this focus of looking back at the old masters. Vermeer, Chardin.

Mmhm.

If you move past that read of this reflection on art history, what further meanings are there in your work?

Yeah, it's not a pastiche of the old stuff. These are paintings that are done in the aftermath of the big modernist push. And so, they really have to be about self expression. They have to be about finding something fresh and new. They have to be about design. So you can't turn the clock back. There are artists like Jacob Collins in New York who claims that the entire past 150 years have been a mistake. That starting with Cezanne it all started going downhill. And that Bouguereau and the academic painters in the nineteenth century represent the highest evolution of art and we need to return to those. I think that's bologna. You can't turn the clock back. Some of my very favorite artists of the twentieth century are more abstract. I love Paul Klee. I love Matisse. I love Picasso. I love Braque. There's a whole slew of painters that I admire and really respond to. Of the American painters, Guston and DeKooning are artists that I particularly admire. Not so much Pollock, although he's terrific. I never cared much for Motherwell. Klein I like. I started going to art school at the end of that whole abstract expressionist movement. And of course what really confused everybody was the advent of pop art. Which, if you were to get with the whole idea of action painting or abstract expressionism, to have something that is basically manufactured, with silk screens and comic books. It just threw everybody for a loop. And that's about the time people at most of the universities basically stopped teaching. They just let you go. Pinkston and I basically learned to draw on our own. Because nobody was explaining anything. Because it wasn't necessary anymore. Basically I like the dialogue between the abstraction and the representational object. Because the representational object has meaning to the viewer, and the meaning to the viewer may have to do with totally different ideas than it does to me. But that's okay, because as a friend of mine that's a poet says, once you set it out there and send it forth, somebody's going to read it and see something entirely different. And that's fine. That's part of it. You may not have put it there, but all of those readings are part of what the poem's about. I like the fact that what I'm trying to do is make works that people can come back to, and look at again and again and find new things in. One of the things I've been very pleased with in the work that I've sold over the last thirty years is that a lot of the owners of my work, and of course they don't sell for a ton of money, a lot of the owners of my work have come back for a second and a third and a fourth painting. Because they like the experience of living with it. I had a sort of quasi-epiphany at the Dallas museum one time. I went over there, and the middle there's this sort of knave it's like a cathedral. And there's an Oldenburg. I love Oldenburg by the way. But you know, it's this rope that's holding up this great big circus tent, and it's sticking out of the wall. And then there's a giant Motherwell Spanish republic painting. Number whatever. Once you've seen one of them, you've pretty much seen them all. So there were these giant abstract paintings that could only be seen in a museum, because you can't live with them. And basically you see that and say yeah, that's a Motherwell. And what are you going to get out of looking at the 150th iteration of that big black and white painting. Well you can read the caption and yeah, it talks about Motherwell. People in a museum spend more time reading the caption than they do looking at the painting. Then I went upstairs, and there was a Daumier genre painting about this big, mid nineteenth century. And it was a group of men in a print sellers office. Chiaroscuro. And they were these guys. It was a portfolio with prints in it. And it was the most beautiful little picture. I thought, I could look at that thing everyday in the morning and get sustenance from it. Human experience painted beautifully, it spoke to me. I thought, okay I want to paint still lifes like that. I want to paint still lifes that you're going to look at more than you read the caption.

I've heard your work described as a sort of reaction to the de-emphasis of rudiments and basic drawing and painting skills, and also as you talk about now, this restriction of how much content you get to put into a work in the modernist, and maybe you wouldn't describe it that way, but . . . 

Yeah, you know Guston famously said, "I got sick of all that purity. I wanted to tell stories.

What do you think is the state of affairs today in terms of emphasis on craft and mastery?

I think it's an interesting situation. A lot of different kinds of art are acceptable and are respected. We don't have that single narrative anymore. Of course, the art world is still ruled by big money, and so there is a bizarre situation where stuff can be a hundred thousand dollars or stuff can be. This guy with the silver paintings, twenty-seven years old, just got his MFA a couple years ago. And he sold out a show at six to nine thousand dollars a pop. They're reflective silver emulsion paintings with discoloration on them. And they became so popular that someone bought one for ninety thousand dollars, because they couldn't wait for him to paint another one. And then another was put up at auction and sold for 375 thousand dollars. Now, for a twenty-seven year old that's got one thing going for him, to make that kind of money. I don't see how he's going to have a career. And he's a bright guy. He knows what he's doing. And his work is quite lovely. But if he does anything else, are people going to like it? Are they going to pay big money for it? So there is that element of money in the art world that always distorts things. Leon Golub, the social commentary painter said, 'If the art world wants a million dollar painting, it will create it.' In other words, artists do whatever they want. But the market, it's not simply a reward for good and original work. It likes to believe it's sorting things out. But it throws out a lot of good stuff, and keeps a lot of junk. And they're constantly revising the canon, but it doesn't always work out the way it should. There are thousands of artists who were very good at one point who have not been heard of in fifty years.

Can you tell me about the Woodstock community? Of course we all know about the music festival in '69. But tell me a little more in depth about what it was about and how it influenced you.

Yeah, I grew up in a town where everybody that my parents knew was an artist or a writer.

One aspect of your art that we've left out for the most part is your photography, which is interesting because it seems experimental in ways that your painting isn't.

Sure. It's how I can rediscover the joy of discovery that I felt when I was a kid making those abstractions. Because an abstract photograph is still based on reality. It's not an abstract painting. But you can reference abstract painting. I've always loved photography, and I've done it off and on. Basically the only photography I did when I came here in the '80s, besides taking pictures of my kids, and taking pictures of paintings, was Susan and I would document things. I like documentary photography a lot. As the art director of a state magazine, I became very interested in photojournalism. But when I got my first digital camera in the 2000s, I bought it to document my mother's estate. And I thought, I'm going to go out and take some pictures to illustrate some color theory. So I just started shooting color relationships. And I thought, oh that wall looks like the shutters in a Vermeer painting. And this looks like a Diebenkorn painting. And so I shot that. And I was driving home from school and the light was perfect on that and made a perfect half circle. And on a whim, after putting paintings in the Peach Festival show, I framed up a couple of these photos and put them in there. And this thing won first place, and that was bought. And I thought, damn! And then I had to hunt down the people who bought the paintings and go 'that print is not archival, here.' And switch.

Can you tell me about what motivated you to begin your academic career in art history, and then what motivated the shift to art making?

Well it was being in Europe and taking photographs, among other things. But I went into art history because I had majored in fine arts at Ameryst. And, you know, there's no money in art. You either have to teach, or whatever, but you're not selling paintings. Plus I didn't feel like I was good enough at that point. Because if you go into the family business, your parents are adult artists by the time you're a kid. How do you learn this stuff? As it turns out, everybody that I knew in Woodstock whose parents were artists, they all went into the art business. Everybody did. Writers' kids became writers. Artists' kids became artists. And I talked to my advisor at Ameryst, and said go into art history. Don't try to become a painter. He was bitter anyway, because he was a figurative painter, and this was in the fifties and everything was abstract. He was a painter, but he had a Ph.D. in art history so he was the art historian. So I took off, and I graduated. And I spent a year working in New York just to get my feet off the ground, get a little bit older. And I ended up working in a camera store with a friend of mine. And started taking photographs. My father had died when I was fourteen, so he wasn't around to show me anything. But I set up a darkroom. And got out his enlarger and started teaching myself to make prints. And my kid brother who died at twenty-one, he wanted to make films. And so we would go out, he with his movie camera, and me with my 35mm camera, and clamber around the Hudson river in 1962-63. So when I was going to graduate school in art history, which was what I did after I did that stent in the camera store, I was making photographs. I'd been going to the art students' league in the summer and drawing. So I was still tossing back and forth. But going to Europe in '64, I decided I wanted to keep making art. I really would have liked to stay and Europe and make photographs. I wasn't that good a photographer at that point. I didn't have the experience. And I would have been drafted possibly and sent to Vietnam. So I came back and went to grad school. The other thing that took me into that was the fact that my brother was killed in an auto accident at twenty-one. He was the one who was determined to make a film and do all this stuff. And I was the responsible one who was just going to get a job or whatever. And I think I said, you know, I'm going to do what I want to do. So I went out to Iowa, when I got back from Europe, and I enrolled in painting class, and had to start climbing the hill from way down. Because I didn't have nearly as much experience as most of my fellow students. Because I had only been drawing in the summers. And there was very little painting and drawing at Ameryst. It was mostly art history. And these kids out of big ten schools, some of them had come out of programs where they had been making prints and they were really good. Some were not so good. It was an interesting three years. I think it makes sense looking back, but at the time it felt like a strange move. And I remember lying awake one night and saying what am I doing? I'm wasting my time. Staying up until five in the morning feeling depressed and guilty. I got married and spent two years in New York working at a variety of jobs, including a custom photo finishing lab. So I absorbed a lot of New York at that point, went to shows and was aware of what was going on. And when I taught in Virginia at Sullens College, that got me in with colleagues and stuff like that, and my vision started to evolve. But I put it on hold more or less when I was in Vermont because when you have one and three year old kids running around, and you're trying to juggle two careers and do freelance stuff, you don't have a lot of time to make art. So coming to Louisiana Tech was the key. It got me the show in New York because I got the work done. It got me a chance to basically get a second MFA, come down here and hang around Ed Pinkston. Learn how to teach, learn that you can actually teach people how to draw. It doesn't just happen. That was a revelation. So I figured, hell, I can teach people how to paint. So it's been a very gratifying experience. I wouldn't have missed it for anything. And when you get into a classroom and start teaching, you also teach yourself. You learn. So that was for a long time it was just a really nice balance. But it was my brother's death and the photographs in Europe in '64 that tipped me into the creative end.

I think that's all the questions I have. It's difficult to cover everything.

It's good, I enjoyed it.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.

Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council, Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency.  In addition funding for the Holiday Arts Tour is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council and administered by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Ashley Feagin, artist and grad student at Louisiana Tech. Ashley's latest piece is Devour: Daily Consumption and Restoration. You can find Ashley's work and statement at ashleyfeagin.com and learn more about the Devour project on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/add_email.php#!/event.php?eid=214503108615136 [wpvideo F73wC92u]

Let's do this, Russell.

Okay, let's do it.

Start by telling me about the project that we're at right now.

Okay. Devour, the Consumption and Restoration Project, the concept behind it is for everybody to connect on a pscyhological level. The fact that we all struggle with issues with our body, no matter what we look like. And then also that those things resonate in our mind, and they constantly come up. It's stuff that we deal with, but also a topic that you really don't talk about that often. So basically what I wanted to do was make this generic format where people could voice what they're struggling with internally. So for a month I'm eating lunch at this table everyday. And then also I've carved into the table, and I'm asking participants to carve into the table, the negative thoughts that they've had about their body or their image. Either stuff that they feel or they've been told about themselves. Whether they still struggle with it or not. And then every week, like on Tuesday, I go and I sand the table down. I try to get rid of those negative phrases. Hoping to lessen the impact. Because this is something I struggled with. I grew up never as the skinny person. I always was the chunkier girl. And so I was picked on a lot. But it wasn't until college that I started to really become confident in who I was, and not necessarily listen to other people. My image doesn't define who I am. Well, my weight doesn't define who I am. What I intend for this project to do is for people to connect that everybody struggles. And that you can be an amazing, awesome person, no matter what shape or size you are. And that confidence comes not from your outside exterior, but from inside of you.

Could you talk a little bit more about the significance of sanding down the marks?

The sanding down is hoping to reduce what people have actually written on the table. And it talks about, for me, those moments when you gain confidence with yourself, and you become comfortable with who you are. But yet you still have those things resonating inside of you. Because even if I am comfortable with who I am, I still have some doubts that linger on, from things that people have said about me, and that I've thought about myself. WHen I sand down the table, depending on how deep people have actually carved into the bare wood. There's one particularly that says, "I'm scared that I'll never find true love because of my weight." And it was carved in the table really deep. And that was something that, though I didn't write that, I also resonate with that statement. So it's one of the ones that I tried really hard to get off but I couldn't. And now somebody's come back and put ink into the carving, so obviously that's something that's a phrase that a lot of people have identified with.

What have people carved with generally?

Oh goodness. Everything. Keys. Paperclips. Nail Filer. Somebody brought out a knife and really got into it. A nail. Just any sharp object they have.

One interesting thing to me about the project is, these are very personal things that people might not want to share. Why do you think they do share them?

I think because they see that other people are doing it. And they find that connection to another person. Even though the other person is not physically there, the emotion of the other person is left in the table. And so they can connect with that and feel also connected with it. Most people do not carve at the lunch time. They carve outside of the lunch time.

How do you think the act of eating lunch with these people affects the meaning of the piece?

It's been really interesting because when I do eat lunch with people, we get into conversations about people's body. Like, I had lunch with a couple of girls who I consider to be really fit and, quote-unquote, what you should look like as a female, but they still had issues with their body that they struggled with. And I think the fact that the table has two chairs, instead of four or five, also emphasizes that idea of conversation. Like I'm making this a conversation even though people aren't there all the time. This table exists as a conversation. But back to the lunch times, it's really brought people together to discuss these issues. It's been fascinating to see what people are willing to share.

Do you think there's a connection between food and being self-conscious about eating, and then the body image aspect of the project?

I think there is on some level. For instance, another part of the project is I'm documenting what I eat everyday for thirty days. And I'm going to make a calendar, showing what I ate. And it's shown me personally that I'm so busy that I eat fast food a whole lot. So I think there is that connection, but I didn't want it to go into the health route. I wanted to delve into the psychological aspect of it.

Something I was thinking about this morning while I was considering this project, you know the obesity rate in America, and how other countries are becoming fatter as well, and it seems as if this is an issue that needs some kind of resolution. It makes me wonder if maybe ten or fifteen years from now, being overweight won't mean the same thing it does today. What are your thoughts on that?

I think it fluctuates. Because if you look back in early paintings of females, what was considering beautiful was a very curvacious and volumptuous body. Because those people who did have money were able to eat, and those people who didn't have money were skinny. And so our idea of beauty has switched, and I'm curious to see if it will ever switch back. I think that more people are taking the initiative to say this is who I am. Personally, even if I was to work out all the time, I know that I would never be a size one or two or three. It's just not going to happen. And I think that's where this conversation is. No matter where you are, you have to accept how beautiful you are, and how you look. And be confident in who you are. I think it's so important for people to have a mental health before they have a physical health.

What has the experience of doing this project been for you so far? What have you gotten out of it? What has been hard about it?

The thing that I have gotten out of it is the connection with other people, having other people carve something into the table and being like 'oh I was going to carve something like that into the table today!' And also like I said previously, I do eat a lot of fast food. Haha. And I know I'm not getting enough vegetables. And I do love vegetables. But I take them off of my burger. Haha.

What is the point of a daily project? Why is that somehow more meaningful than just doing something just whenever you have time or every few days or something like that?

For me the reason that I was doing it every single day is I wanted to emphasize the daily struggle that people have with these thoughts in their heads. And I also wanted to make myself accessible to people on a daily basis, and I wanted to be able to check and see what's been written on the table. I think that me just checking up on it once a week and having a big meal lessens the impact. I feel like I'm more fully committed to it when I do it everyday as opposed to once a week or something like that.

You were talking earlier about this project, I don't remember your exact wording, but helping people to have a dialogue or a conversation about stuff. I was thinking about this shift from art as this introspective, personal expression type activity, to more about exploring communication. Like, even graphic design is now communication design, and things like that. What are you thoughts about that?

I think there is a push when it comes to site specific art or performance art. One of my personal heroes/art crushes is Marina Ambramovic. And I guess that's why being here daily has been so important to me. Her recent piece The Artist is Present that she did at the MOMA. I forgot exactly how many days it was. I know it was a good couple weeks. She sat in a chair, and she allowed participants to sit across from her. And all they did was stare at each other. And it became a very emotional connection. Because sometimes as artists, all we do is put a piece up on the wall, and we're removed and we allow people to respond to it. But by being there daily, you get to see what your piece is doing. You get to see the interaction and the feedback from people. And I think that's one of the things that also inspired me to be here daily. Is being actually present in the piece and not removed from it. But I think there is a push . . . Also another artist who responded to Marina Ambramovic. I'm going to mess up her name. She's an Asian artist. She did The Artist is Almost Present, where she set up a twitter feed, and she tweeted between the participant that sat down in front of her. And so they communicated via 140 characters. But she was still able to connect to people on a different level. Because ultimately that's what art is about. We want something that's so personal to us to be put into a piece to become a universal conversation. But we are removed from it because we put it up on a wall and then we stand back. So I think artists are wanting a little bit more.

In this piece, there's no mastery or skillset involved. And I think for people outside the art community those pieces are the most suspect or the most open to derision. What makes this piece valid in the same way that a piece that shows mastery would be.

I see the validity in the fact that there have been some elaborate carvings into the piece, if you want to talk about skillset or mastery. That other people are allowed to carve into the table so you get to see their hand and their impression. I also think that the skill mastery conversation is starting to become, and I don't want to say this in a mean way, but it's almost old and dated. Because art has moved past just painting and drawing. And I'll even clump photography into that. There's a lot of media that have no classification now that are still considered art.

In your last two projects, this one and the large piece in the hallway . . . What's it called again?

Shift and Ache.

In both those pieces, you've moved  away from photography. Can you tell me the reason behind that move?

I experimented a lot with installation art in undergrad, and also the beginning of my graduate. For the first six months I didn't take  a photograph. I did installation and mixed media stuff. I believe that I should make a piece in the best way it can be communicated. And so if it doesn't need a photograph, it doesn't need a photograph. And I'm okay with that. I consider myself an artist and not just a photographer, if that makes sense.

Could you tell me about the progression from the other work I'm familiar with of yours, the white photographs, to this work?

This work, I wanted to continue with that installation stuff. I took a class with Nick Bustamante last quarter, and it's been in my directed study with him. And I feel like this work is a lot more personal. The Shift and Ache deals with a specific situation in my life, and this one also. I'm addressing specific issues in my life, and turning those into art pieces. As opposed to having an idea or concept or theme. This is me internalizing what I've dealt with and putting it out there.

Do you see any themes that have been present in the earlier work and the work that you're doing now?

Are you talking about my photo work?

Mhm.

Other people see connections, but I haven't seen the connection just yet. I think that's because my photo thesis work is just at a breaking point now. Maybe later I might. But right now I see them as two separate beings.

Two things that I see, one is the use of the color white, even in the installation piece that's in there. Can you tell me about the significance of that?

Always for me when I use white it's to symbolize purity and cleanliness and unobstructiveness. Just the purest state possible. In the piece in the hallway, I wanted as much of a violent reaction to the dye moving up the fabric as I could. And so, white being completely engrossed in this red dye was the most violent that I could think of.

The other theme that I see throughout is food. In some of your photography and also your personal life as a person. What do you see as the meaning or symbolism of food in your work?

I'm a southern girl, and I came from a really southern family, and a southern mother who loves to cook food. And the table was always this place of family and encouragement, and there was this comfort there. And so food has always had those ideas attached to it. So when I use baking a pie or cleaning up a mess of food in my photographs, that's what I'm connecting to. It's this source of I'm inviting you into this comforting space with me by sharing a meal with you.

How has your family history influenced your work.

A lot. Haha. And that's something right now that I'm dealing with with my photographs. And so when I come to a conclusion about that I'll share it with you, but right now I'm still wrestling with it. Because I grew up with a very southern religious family, and it has impacted my work a lot. I'm sorry, that's a really personal question right now. Haha.

Another really obvious influence is religion. And I'm interested in, one of course how it influences the work and what part it plays. But also I was thinking about, with most of your projects there's a sort of problem or tension that's very personal that's being resolved through the work or explored. Do you see your experience with religion as being approached in a similar way with the works?

Yes, I do. And I believe that religion and the topic of my upbringing, my heritage, is very much a propellant for most of my work. But again, it's one of those things that I'm just starting to realize is making so much of an impact on my work. I was subconsciously doing it, and now it was brought to my attention. It was one of those moments like oh okay, that's really what my work's about. And I'm sorry Russell, I can't give you a better answer than that. Just the fact that I'm seeing those things, and it's really personal. So once I resolve them, I'll be able to.

One interesting aspect about these two pieces, your most recent pieces, they require the context of some sort of work statement to go along with them. What's your feelings about that situation . . .

Project statements? Do I feel like their necessary? I feel like in some situations, yes. Particularly, with this Devour piece. Because I'm wanting people to actually do something, I feel it's absolutely necessary for there to be one. I feel like with photo work, the work should exist on its own, and the project statement or artist statement should just give an extra sparkle to the piece. And with the piece in the hall, a lot of people got that tension that I was trying to imply without even reading the artist statement. With installation work, I'm fifty-fifty. With some pieces I need that artist statement, especially with others' work, to help pull me in. But with other pieces, I can get it without being overwhelmed, without the statement. It really depends on the piece.

Who are some of your favorite artists?

Marina Ambramovic is a big influence right now. Erin V. Sotak. She's a photographer, but she's also an installation and performance artist. She has influenced my photographic works. Of course, I still like the greats like Sally Mann and Diane Arbus. Richard Avedon. I think he was a brilliant man. Jeanine Anthony is another one. Anne Hamilton. She's another good one. Sarah Hobbs. I have a huge list of photographers that I could just rattle off that have been really influential in my own work. But I connect with people that I can tell their person is in them, they're bringing their lives into their photographs.

How has being an artist affected your life as a whole.

Art is therapy. Even if you don't realize it, art is therapy. Because every piece that you put out there is a part of who you are in some form or fashion. So it's a little narcissistic. For me as an artist, it has helped me give a voice, and have a voice. If I wasn't making art, I don't know what I would do. On any level, performance, art, if I was acting, I was playing piano, whatever it is. Those avenues for me, are spiritual.

And, what about the other side? What effect does it have on the viewer? Do you see it as similar or the same or something entirely different?

I think it is an enlightening process to go view art, honestly.

Do you think it's therapeutic as well?

I do. But it's also dependent on how much a viewer is willing to think. If a viewer gives up on a piece of art because they don't understand it, then they're missing out on something that the artist is wanting to say.

You're teaching now. What has that experience been like?

Great. I went into grad school not knowing if I really wanted to teach. I thought about teaching, and it wasn't until that first quarter. Joey Slaughter was the professor I was TAing with. And he gave me a photoshop assignment in a basic design class. And I gave it, and once the students started connecting and making that connection, and I saw their progress. Well, you were in that class! I remember just one day being like 'holy crap I love teaching!' I don't know, I feel like you should always give back, in life in general, and you should help other people out. And if I can give something to other people, like knowledge and art or whatever, then I want to do it. It's this collaboration between teacher and student that is really exciting. Because I learn just as much from the students as hopefully they're learning from me.

What have you found that works, as a teacher?

Games. I know that sounds really weird, but for the first four weeks of class, I start every class with some icebreaker or stupid game. Because you need your class to have some type of camaraderie. We'll get into class and we'll become comfortable with who we sit by, etc. And so when it comes to critique, you don't have that where people aren't comfortable enough to really give feedback. Now on the flipside, it can become where people are so comfortable with each other that they don't want to offend each other. So it's learning that balance of getting the class to become comfortable with themselves. They get real excited. At the beginning of this quarter I had one student tell me, it's like summer camp coming into your class. But I can definitely see that in their critiques, that they're comfortable with each other and they can say 'ok, this is working and this is not working.'

I think that's all the questions I have. Is there anything that you'd like to add?

If you want to come carve on the table and come eat, come eat! And if you can't make it you should come to my thesis show in March!

Thanks for speaking with me, Ashley.

Not a problem.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Dustin Rockwell, owner and operator of Cool Beans Cafe on California Ave. behind the biomedical engineering building, across from Griff's. [wpvideo PhnkGKD4]

You got the red beans and rice already?

Yes. Lunch special!

That's cheap. ($3.99) 

Yeah.

Do y'all make it here?

Yup!

Can you tell me why you decided to open a coffee shop?

I've always wanted to. I found the perfect location, so I went ahead and did it. Other than that, you know, I just had to do something with my life, and this is what I decided to do. I can't really say why.

Tell me what you've done previously career-wise.

Previously, just a bunch of joe jobs. I worked convenience stores. I worked construction. I worked at a tattoo parlor. Nothing like this, I can tell you that. I've always just had a boss and worked a 9-5.

So this is the first business that you've owned and operated yourself. How does it compare to what you expected it to be like?

It's a lot more work, obviously, than I expected. It's just something you've got to have patience with. Got to be creative. You've got to be able to attract the customer to come in. It's just different. It's not the same as working for somebody, you know. Making a pay check. You really have to work for your customer base.

Let me ask you, what all do you serve and offer now?

Coffee. We're doing the lunch specials. Red beans and rice. Tomorrow I'm going to do barbecue. Pulled pork sandwiches. Pizza rolls. All kinds of sodas, chips. Juice. Snickers ice cream bar. Whatever I feel like could be handy for the students to take out and eat on the way to class.

What are your plans for the future?

I want to get more art in here. I want to sell t-shirts. Expand my menu. Just listening to the customers and see what they want, and I'll go get it. Hopefully they'll come back and keep coming back.

You have Ricky Sykes' work on the wall now. How'd that come about? How'd you meet him?

I went to the Turbo Goat. I'm friends with Chris Bartlett. And I saw his work in there, and I thought it was really interesting. So I picked up one of his cards and just called him. And he was really excited about hanging a few pieces in here. So it's just a matter of getting out there and talking to folks.

Do you ride a bicycle?

I do.

What are some of your other hobbies?

I used to be a dj. As a matter of fact, we're going to throw a party up here Saturday night. Other than that, I just like to hang out. Haha. Right now I'm too busy for hobbies, to tell you the truth. I'm up here six days a week, and I'm constantly just trying to figure out ways to get people in the door. So I don't really have much time for a hobby.

Yeah, so you guys open at six, and you're open until . . .

Ten o'clock at night.

How does it compare to working for someone else?

It's very much more stressful. I feel like with just a regular joe job, there's not much room for advance. But I feel like here, if it starts picking up and doing well, it'll really pay off. But yeah, I love it up here. It's like a second home. There's nothing else I'd rather be doing right now.

You're not from Ruston, right?

No.

Where are you from?

I was born in Alabama. Grew up in Crossett Arkansas. And we moved here in 2000. So I've been here for ten or eleven years.

I think it's interesting how you didn't go to college, and now you're working almost literally on college campus. What's that experience been like so far?

So far it's been good. Everybody's been real nice. I like it here. I really do. I'm just thankful that I could get this location. It just kind of fell in my lap somehow. I don't really understand it, but here I am . . . Ok, so let me start from the beginning. The reason all this came about is, like I said, I was a dj. I had a roommate who was helping me, he would set up the speakers and the amps and all that, and then I would perform. Weddings. I did a show at Rabbs. I did a show at 3 Docs, back when it was still Cue Stick. And we were looking for a space to store all our equipment 'cause we had a ton. And it was just sitting at my house. So two blocks up the street up here, I saw space for rent. We checked it out. It was owned by the Flernoys, Bob and Patricia Flernoy. And just talking with them, Bob made a comment, this would be a really good place for a coffee shop, it being so close to campus. And I thought he had a point. It was a good location for a coffee shop. The students could just walk over and hang out. Well I didn't really think much about it. And a week later, my roommate passed. He died. So I was pretty much out of the dj business at that point. I couldn't do it all myself. So I remembered what Bob had said about the coffee shop. So I pursued it down there. We got into it. I made a business plan. We worked out the lease. And we had also talked to some contractors. They were recommending a ten thousand dollar handicap ramp, and a seventy-five thousand dollar fire wall. Which we weren't expecting that, and that was going to be too much for the owners to do. They pretty much wished me the best of luck and sent me on my way. Well, I started looking around at other places. I started looking at other places. I saw this place next door was up for rent. I called Frank Cadarro, we checked it out. He asked me what I wanted to do with it. I told him I wanted to open a coffee shop, and he said no you don't want this spot, you want this spot. I said okay, but I don't know if I could swing the rent. It's kind of up there. But we worked it out. We looked at the budget. We added in the Daylight Donuts and the espresso and all the goods. We felt like we could do it, so I went for it. And here I am. So that's a little more back story on how this came about.

Of course, you're not the only coffee shop in Ruston. What do you feel is different about Cool Beans?

We're so close to campus. We have a drive-thru. And it's not drab and dreary in here. I wanted it to be lively, so I painted it in lively colors. And I don't know, I just thought it would be a really nice place for people to come, hang out, study. Have study groups close to campus. People can just walk over. And I just wanted it to be friendly. A lot of coffee shops, you go in, they just ignore you, or they just take your order and send you on your way. I want to be friendly with people.

What's the most rewarding part of working here and owning the place so far?

So far, just seeing it come to life, you know?  I love it up here. It's a second home. I love talking with the customers.

Do you have a family?

I do. I live with my father. My mother's still up in Arkansas. I've got two sisters. They're both college graduates with families of their own. Hopefully one day I'll be able to afford to start my own family. That's another reason I wanted to do this. I wasn't getting anywhere with the convenience store jobs or any of that. So I had to take a chance with this, and try to be able to earn enough money to start a family.

Tell me about the design of the place. Your logo and color scheme. 

Cool Beans was a saying . . . It was suggested to me just to be Beans. And I thought, oh well, that's good, but I like Cool Beans better. So I went with that. And I took that idea to Rapid Signs, and we kind of played around with it. They came up with a few designs on their own. It wasn't exactly what I wanted. I wanted a character. I wanted a cool bean character. So we googled it, and we found some examples, and the examples that we came up with looked more like a potato than a bean. Haha. So they added the indention to the top of his head and the indention to the bottom. I think they changed the sunglasses around a little. And that's how the logo came about. When I saw it for the first time, the final draft of it, it was perfect. I figured it was catchy enough. Cool Beans. People can remember that. And they see the little bean character, and I hope that sticks out in their head.

Do you want to tell me about the kinds of coffee you have here?

Yeah. The One Love is an Ethiopian bean. It's a medium roast. But our specialty is the Jamaican Blue Mountain. It's a shade-grown bean, so it has more of a complex flavor to it. And they're just really premium espresso beans. The main complaint people have with coffee is bitterness, and it's not bitter at all. It's kind of a mellow, smooth taste. I like it. Everybody else likes it. Marley Coffee is a new coffee company. It's founded by Bob Marley's son. They're picking up speed, doing a lot of advertisement on facebook and twitter. It's gaining popularity.

Are you a Bob Marley fan?

I am a Bob Marley fan. Haha.

As a former dj, I'm sure you have a lot of opinions about music. What are some other people you like?

I've been kind of out of the loop lately. Deadmaus, I went and saw him. I used to love DJ Micro. Franky Bones. Bad Boy Bill. I was also really big into the alternative music scene back in the nineties. That was back when I was a teenager, so that fell right in my demographic. First concert I went to was Marilyn Manson. Haha. I've seen Pantera, and Rob Zombie. But now that I'm in my thirties, I just pretty much listen to classic rock. Haha.

It's strange how that happens.

It is strange how that happens. When I was a kid, it was MTV. Now it's VH1. I guess that's just life. You go through changes all the time.

What's your favorite coffee drink? How do you take your coffee?

I like mine sweet. So I like the white chocolate mocha or the mocha. We still get a lot of people coming in for the espressos or the Americanos. Our ice latte, people love it. People really like the ice lattes. But me personally, I like sweet.

I think that's all the questions I have. Thanks for speaking with me.

Oh yeah man, thanks for interviewing me.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Kenneth Robbins, Director of the School of Performing Arts talks to me about the Tech Theatre department's production of Our Town, opening this Wednesday, October 26th, at 7:30 PM. Our Town will run two weeks, Wednesday through Saturday. For tickets, call 257-3942 or visit the Howard Auditorium lobby between 1:30 and 4:30 Monday through Friday. This interview has been edited for length.

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 Our Town starts next week; can you give me the show times?

 Yes, it starts on Wednesday night, the 26^th of October, and plays that week the rest of the week through Saturday the 29^th. 7:30 PM curtain. And then the next week Wednesday through Saturday, November 2^nd through 5^th.

 And when and where can people get tickets?

 The box office is open Monday through Friday from 1:30 to 4:45. And that's located in the Howard Center for Performing Arts in the lobby. The telephone number is 318-257-3942.

 How much are the tickets?

 Adults, $10. Students with ID is $5. Non-Tech students and senior citizens, $6.

 And they're on sale now, correct?

 Yes.

 Who chose Our Town as the play, and why?

 The faculty chose it last year when we had our discussions regarding our forthcoming season. And I'm glad we did, because it fits in really quite well with contemporary times, matters, and issues.

 In what way?

 In 2001, a very famous theatrical company in Connecticut called the Westport Country Playhouse was looking for something that would address the audience's needs in regards to reacting to 9/11. Which had just happened. And they decided to open their 2001 season with Our Town, because it is the quintessential American play. It revitalizes the whole concept of who we are as Americans. And I find that to be rather effective today, because we're, what, ten years out now. Ten years ago, 9/11 happened. So I think it's time again for us to revisit this wonderful play, all about being proud of being Americans.

 Do you see similarities between the archetypal town in Our Town and Ruston?

 Absolutely. Our Town is Grovers Corners, New Hampshire, but it can be any town anywhere in the world. In fact, this particular play was produced quite commonly in other countries. So I think the universality of the subject matter is very, very effective. Yeah, Our Town is Ruston, Louisiana.

 How's the context over time between when Our Town was written and now changed the meaning of it and how it's received.

 That's an interesting question, because I really can't address that universally. I can just look at it from my personal point of view. I know that revisiting this wonderful play, I first was introduced to it when I was a junior in high school. And I think that still is something of the case throughout the country. You too?

 Mhm.

 I fell in love with it. Not just because of the subject matter, but also for the way Mr. Wilder managed the theatric space. It's a minimalistic approach. And there's no such thing as plot time necessarily. It's the universal time. I think Thomas Wolfe is the one that said “time is nothing more than the coming and going of light.” And in many ways Wilder has accepted that idea. And so we bounce around in time throughout the whole play. It does progress. First act is 1901. Second act is 1904. And third act is 1913. But still, it could just as easily be 2001, 2004, 2013, for that matter.

 It's been a long time since I read the play. I read it in high school or junior high. I know life and death, and life after death is a big theme in the work. How do you think that will relate to the culture in Ruston, the church culture, and also the international and multi-religious culture?

 Even though this play deals very clearly with a religious context, it's not specific. The whole concept seems to be we're all on this planet, and we're all striving to make the best of it as we can. And it doesn't really matter what church you go to, because the universality, the human nature of the play is going to address the concerns and the issues. There are references of course to the congregational church. That's where the marriage takes place in the second act. But all of that is peripheral. It's not a real wedding ceremony. It's a rite of passage. The first act is called Daily Life. Second act Love and Marriage. Third act is Death. Even the stage manager says, some of the things that the dead people say may hurt your feelings. That's just part of it. And that's not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. It simply is. One of the things that Mr. Wilder stresses in his play is the nature of numbers. Over and over, the words millions and billions and thousands and hundreds are used quite readily in the play. The final act, even though we're listening to dead people speak, they're talking about the nature of the universe. And there's nothing more humanistic than that, to be contemplating the fact that we are looking at a star, and it takes millions of years for that light to get from that star to earth. It's quite extraordinary when you look at it released from the constraints of a particular religious idea. And look at it from a human idea.

 What relevance do you see this place as having for young people and for college students?

 Oh, it's extraordinarily relevant. The rite of passage is very clearly defined. One of the wonderful things for me is, as I watch this play, I can remember how it was when I was young. How I felt whenever I felt as if the world was against me or for me or whatever. Because this play captures those essences. It allows us in our memories to return to a nostalgic era. And recognize ourselves in the actions of these young people that we see. Much of the traditions of the so-called American dream are either created by this play or being validated by this play. The American dream of a white picket fence around a home, that's there. The American dream of the girl or the boy next door as being the love of your life, that's there. All of these things are endemic to this particular play. And it's exciting to see the young people, the audience, the cast members, buying into this notion so willingly and so effectively.

 Do you think these traditional elements we're talking about with the American dream, do you think they're realistic, do you think they're unrealistic? How do you see them as coming into play with real life?

 Mr. Wilder's quite clear in his statements about realism. One of the things he was doing in 1937-38 when he wrote this play was responding to the so-called realism that had been taking over the American theatre. Realism to the point that you needed three walls in order to create the image of an American home. He does away with that. He's very clear in his statements of recognizing traditions and conventions as they're being applied and utilized on the stage. And saying, it is nothing more than a convention. We don't really need it necessarily. So he all but discards all of the traditions of realistic theatre. And in their place, he has a bare stage. It's what he calls a platform and a passion. That's all you need. I think there's something else you need, that's an audience. But he says all you need is a platform and someone with a passion on it. And this will result in some very compelling stuff. And in fact, our stage is fair. There are only a few pieces of furniture and that's it. The actors move freely in and around and through the space. And they define the space by how they use it. So realism as you refer to is not necessarily a good thing when it comes to Wilder's plays. It is a constraint. It's convention that has been implied and is no longer necessary. And that's one thing I find exciting about this play. He says look at your conventions. Determine which ones you need to keep, for whatever reason. And if you don't need them, discard them. Use something else. Create a new convention. And I think he did that, in 1938, can you believe that? A convention that we still find revelatory in contemporary 2011.

 I think that's interesting when you take it in the context of the economic culture of today and the bareness of resources.

 That is an interesting observation because the economics of 1938 are being played out today. We were just in 1938 coming out of the Great Depression. And today in 2011 it feels as if we're just now beginning a new depressive era. I hope not. But still, there seems to be this incredible feeling for the nurturing presence of a nuclear family. And that's something that this play is all about, is the nuclear family working side by side for a common goal, for the betterment of the entire community. I would love for this community, for Ruston, to come and experience this play. Because it's about them. It's about us. It's about all of us. We don't get to do that very often, you know what I mean? Oftentimes it feels as if we're not connecting. But in this instance, I feel as if Our Town does connect, and that it is important for us to reach out for the community.

 On that note, can you give me your ideas about what purpose the theatre serves in a community?

 Haha. Well for one thing, it's live. The actors are breathing the same air as the audience. And there's something unique about that. You can go to a movie, and there's some distance there. It's a medium cooled. But when we get into the theatrical space and realize that the person that just introduced me to the theatre, the usher, is also an actor. And the reality is, some members who just came in, they're not actors, but they're being asked to be a participant in this play. Russell, you could be asked to be a cast member, if you want. It's your choice. The playing space for the audience is the playing space for the actor. So the actors come and go through the audience. They intermingle. We're not taking the house lights out for the first two acts. We do for the third act, Death and Dying. But I think that the audience is going to be quite intrigued by this. I hope so. That's our goal, is to intrigue an audience enough to want to come and see it.

 Have you deviated in any way from the original script?

 Oh no. We've kept the script as written. There've been a couple of places here and there where we've cut a line. But nothing significant. There's a moment in the play written where the stage manager says here's some scenery for those of you who insist on having scenery. Well I've decided we don't need that. We're not having any scenery at all. So we cut the line.

 Sorry what was the playwright's name again?

 Thornton Wilder. He's one of the very few writers that America produced that actually won Pullitzer prizes for both drama and fiction. His novel the Bridge of San Luis Rey. And then he won the Pullitzer again for his drama called Our Town. And then again for his other drama called The Skin of Our Teeth. So he's a three time recipient of the highest literary award our country has to offer.

 Can you talk a little bit about a few of the actors in maybe some of the lead roles?

 I've been very blessed by having such a dedicated young group of actors to deal with. They have really devoted themselves to this project without any reservations, at least that I have been aware of. And I hope that I don't become aware of any. Haha. And the young people are just so talented here. That's something I've been impressed by. Not only are they talented, but they're well trained. They're well prepared. They know how to handle a bare stage, which is not easy. Most of our actors today are props actors. They have to have a prop in their hand in order for them to behave properly. But in this instance, there are no props. They have to mime everything. And the only tradition that we are keeping is lighting. And that's because an audience requires the opportunity to see the face of the actor. Therefore we have traditional stage lighting. But other than that, I think we're breaking free. I hope Mr. Wilder would find pleasure. Probably not, because he's seen the play so often he doesn't want to see it again. Haha. Who knows. You know, he played the stage manager on many occasions, on Broadway in fact.

 Talk about the role that you play in the production of this play.

 My job as director is to make sure the play is communicated clearly and unequivocally for an audience. That they can understand the nature of what they're experiencing, so that they can leave it feeling complete or informed or maybe both. At least nostalgic is what I'm hoping for. So I as the director, one of my principle jobs is to be the surrogate audience until the actual audience arrives, in preparation for the actors to do the jobs. The technicians to do their jobs, etc. All of it is aimed toward communication with an audience. And that's the reason we do it.

 Tell me about some of the other people behind the production of this play and their roles.

 I'm very pleased with the opportunity to work with the Associate Dean of Liberal Arts. Bill Willoughby has never been on stage before, and when I suggested to him that I had a perfect role for him, he said I'll do it. And he's been wonderful to work with. Matter of fact, I'm looking forward to him having a chance to play for an audience. That will be a brand new experience for him. So Mr. Willoughby has been a delight. The set design by Mr. Stevens, our technical director here at the university, has realized exactly what I was hoping for, which is a non-descript, black empty space. Hallelujah. It works. The lighting, we'll find out tonight when we add lights for the first time. The costumes, we'll find out next Sunday when we have our first dress rehearsal and the costumes are added. But basically we're saying through costumes, this play is today. This play is not 1901. Though we talk about 1901, the play is 2011. So we'll find out if it works.

 I always like to ask, what advice you have for the audience that comes to the play? How do you get the most out of the experience?

 Come with a clean heart, a clear heart and a clear head. And be willing to accept what is presented before you. And take it home. Chew on it. Spit it out. Share it. Whatever. Just don't prejudge it. Try your best to be open.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Todd Cloe, wood sculptor of benches, rings, and large works for galleries. Todd is also the Woodshop Technician at Louisiana Tech. You can explore Todd's art at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cloe-Studios/116171901774199 This interview has been edited for length.

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 Could you start by telling me how you decided to become an artist?

 I knew from the time I was about a fifth grader that I wanted to really study art. I had always drawn. I made a little soap sculpture of an owl head when I was in third or fourth grade. My dad helped a little bit, but I felt like it was all mine, you know? So I thought, 'This is something that I can do.' Didn't offer art until the sixth grade. And I took an art class and really enjoyed it. Simple stuff, drawing, and little toothpick houses. And then art wasn't offered again until my freshman year in high school. I took art all through high school and really did well. I won a couple of little competitions for the kids. We'd all travel to one of the local universities, and the art professors would assess everybody's work. And hand you a little ribbon. Everybody got a ribbon; some just for participating. Mine happened to be blue and red. So I got a little positive feedback. Then I went to Oklahoma State Tech. It was just a two year program in commercial art. I thought that might be where I wanted to go. My granddad said, “Todd, if you're going to do art, you need to do something people will pay for so you can have a steady job. So commercial art's the way you need to go.” So I did that, did very well. Of course, there weren't any computers until my last trimester there. And this was '82. Hardly anybody knew anything about them, so everybody was learning how to hand-render things. So my drawing skills and my lettering skills got real good. I still use the lettering skills here and there, that I picked up so long ago. I went on interviews, and didn't get picked up by anybody. And thank God, my aunt asked me if I wanted to go to a four year school and study art. I'm like, “Yes!” So I did that, went to Oklahoma state. And I got my BFA in '89.

 Were you still studying commercial art?

 No. I had gone in in commercial art and realized, 'This is a mistake. There's no reason to do this.' So I changed after one semester, and did very well in my drawing classes. I tried to take a drawing class every semester. And eventually I was taking painting classes and doing very poorly. I could not get above a D in my painting classes. And I was there all the time; my stuff was more paint by numbers almost. The drawings were solid underneath, but the actual painting part was very rudimentary. Then I took my first sculpture class. My very first project, he said that it's open, you can use any material, it's just got to be an organic form. I saw this stump in this guy's front yard, and I asked him if I could take his stump away from him. And he said, “Yeah, here let me get the garden hose. And I'll get the ground nice and wet, and we'll pull it out.” It was a cedar stump. So I started carving on that. All I had was a chisel and a mallet. And eventually started buying a file here and there and a rasp where I could get into the tight places. It eventually became a very nice piece, and my sculpture teacher said, “Todd, sculpture is your thing. Don't let anybody tell you any different.” He really enjoyed watching me work on that, because I was just all elbows and sawdust, and sweat. It was a very physical, labor intensive piece. My mother's got that at her house, and she's very proud of it. I did a few more wood sculptures and realized, you know I do this pretty good. I was working nights at the time. I worked for Safeway. I worked nights for ten years, running the night crew. It was a pretty hard thing to go to school all the time, and my grades suffered a little bit. I think I had a 2.9 average when it was all done. I always wanted to go to grad school, but never got real motivated to do that until I got married in '97. My mother-in-law, who's a very generous person, she paid for my graduate program here at Tech. And it was a really good ride. I made a lot of nice big pieces, was really happy about those. And got a lot of positive feedback. I guess that's it in kind of a long nutshell.

 I was thinking about how big a part tools play in your life and your art. Of course, you work as the woodshop technician. And often a big part of the sculptures and benches and rings you make, they almost act as a record of the interaction of the tool with the wood. I was wondering first of all what sort of significance and meaning do you see in that, in the use of tools?

Gosh, man's been fascinated with tools for thousands of years, and I guess I'm really no different, other than I try to do something aesthetically different with the tools. I like to leave tool marks that, like you said, do give a little bit of a history of what's happened to the wood. And my large sculptures are inspired by Native American handtools that I've picked up over the years. Most of them were broken little curiosities. I would take the broken parts and rearrange different parts of different tools, and then blow the scale up and make them really large. The sculptures were inspired by Native American handtools. I would walk these cotton fields and find these pieces of Native American handtools and my mind would wander, imagining what they were used for. So you'll see whenever you look at my work, finger divets that might be six or eight inches across, just trying to kind of keep in scale with the size of the tool maybe. Not necessarily that a giant race of people used these tools, but just more of a design element I guess. When they get that large, they really start not to speak so much about handtools anymore, but they take on their own presence. They command a space, you know. You see them upright, and they just scream come here and look at me.

What are some of your favorite tools to work with?

I love working with the chisel and the mallet. That is just about as personal as you can get with extracting the wood. It's very slow, but the payoff is you can see a mistake before it gets too far along. Whereas if you're using a chainsaw you can really go too far in a hurry and maybe not be able to save something. Speaking of saving things, I've been pretty lucky. I've never had an accident that I couldn't make better than it was whenever I originally thought of it. A lot of times the wood will only let you do what it will let you do. If you try to force something, it typically shows, or it just won't happen. But I have never had nothing but happy accidents. I've lost things and really stressed over it, and then come to find out I didn't need that element of the sculpture anyway. It's better off without it. Getting back to what you're saying though, the chisel for me is a great thing. I really like the chainsaw wheel. It's a little four inch disk with a chainsaw on the outside of it. It grinds a lot of wood in a hurry. I like that. You can't work too fast with the wood. You kind of have to be a very patient person. You can't rush it.

I was thinking about how much time and effort goes into making each piece. They're very heavy pieces of wood oftentimes. It's also just a feat of strength and endurance. I read on the website that during one piece you had to have back surgery in the middle of it. I was wondering, how do you think that affects the value and the meaning of the piece?

 I don't know, other than whenever someone walks up to it, they can just tell. My God, moving this piece is a feat in and of itself. I'm hoping it will affect the value in a positive way. Haha. I like being able to be seen as somebody who really puts a lot of effort into what I'm calling art. That makes me feel good. Because it does take a lot of effort. I'm not saying it's not art if it comes easy. It's just that I can't go there. I have to, it seems, bleed a little bit, and strain myself, to actually reach an end.

 How much of the sculptural pieces you make is planned, and how do you plan? And how much is unplanned?

 Really very few of them are actually ever planned out. I did plan one, but only half of it looks the way it did when I did my drawings. Every one of them have always been, 'Ok, I'll just start with this blank canvas, being a large stump, and just start making marks on it, and kind of drawingthe in the wood with the chain saw. And constantly walking around the piece. Stepping back and looking at it. And taking off some notches here and there. Every single time, something has come about that's worthy of finishing. I do have in mind that 'Ok, this is tool-like. I need to have certain elements in the sculpture.' Some areas kind of have to be concave, and something else may have to be convex. Or there has to be a point or a serrated edge or something like that. So there is some planning, but nothing is ever drawn, or exactly how I draw it is how I'm going to make it. That's never happened.

 When you take the different kind of woods, and then also consider the Native American tool influence, you can think of it either as a geographical element to the pieces, or maybe an interaction between human history and natural history. You know what I mean?

 Right. The bodark tree was revered by the Indians. That's what they made their bows out of. Bodark translates “arc of a bow.” It has a lot of flexibility to it. It will flex a lot more before it snaps than any other hardwood. And I'm sure they experimented with a lot of different kinds of woods for their bows and realized this is the only one that really works great every time. And it's absolutely impervious to bugs. If they get into the heartwood, they will back right out. I used a piece of bodark that was at my granddad's dairy farm. It was a corner post that he and his dad never used. And it laid by the dairy barn for seventy years. You can imagine what's in a dairy, a lot of cow dung everywhere. And the bugs had gotten into the sapwood, but once they got into the heartwood they backed out. So it was a very structurally sound piece. It was in great shape. I made my wife's and my wedding rings out of that wood. Whenever we got married. She has metal allergies. I made us that wooden wedding set out of that wood. I think the wood rings really are a better metaphor for a marriage than a diamond is. Because diamonds are absolutely forever, and marriages rarely ever are. And like a marriage, the wood rings need a little bit of attention. They need some maintenance. You've got to be careful with them. And that's exactly like being married. If you want to maintain that, you've got to do something to protect it, and seal it against the elements that would otherwise ravage it.

 I keep thinking about what it would be like to find one of your sculptural pieces hundreds years from now the way you found the tools that they're inspired by.

 That would be quite a find. I'd like to be there for that. And you know, I've thought about how temporary people are on this planet. And avoiding a fire, everything I make will definitely outlive me. Especially if the sculptures are enjoyed by somebody, they're going to be taken care of. It's a dream of mine to see one of my pieces on antiques roadshow. Haha.

I like to think about the way it portrays our society. Obviously it signifies an appreciation for tradition and other cultures, and leaves out a lot of that stuff that will fade away because it's on a disk, on a harddrive or something.

Right. Not that you can't make art with technology, but to me, if I can't see that somebody has really put some effort into making something, I struggle with validating that it is truly art. I'm sure that's just me. There's a lot of people that can put things together and call it art and sell it for lots of me. But in the end those things fade away, and what stays is something with some permanence. Where there's some record of somebody's toil that they've gone through to create something. I think that that will ultimately survive and outlive all of these other ephemeral artforms that are everywhere.

What do your sculptures convey to the viewer about you?

 I think they can tell that it's somebody with a strong will to start something of that kind of magnitude. I'm hoping they're saying to themselves, 'God, I could never do this. But here's somebody who can.' I hope that they see the finesse that I try to give every square inch. I leave very little untouched. You just have to go around the whole piece many times and address it all. They might think, 'Oh, here's a guy with a lot of time on his hands,' maybe. It does take a lot of time.

 And you really don't have a lot of time.

 I really don't. It's an illusion! Haha.

 Thank you for speaking with me.

 Oh you're welcome. I enjoyed it.

NCLAC is supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council, Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Allison Gilbert Bennett, actress and owner of Stitchville, knitting and fabric shop in downtown Ruston. You can find out more about  Stitchville on Facebook or at Stitchville.wordpress.com. This interview has been edited for length.

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 So, can you start by giving me a rundown of what all you do. I know you own Stitchville, and you're an actress, and you're also a teacher.

 Yes. At Stitchville we have fabrics and yarns for sale. And then I do custom sewing for people. Alterations, and some monogramming, other things like that. We also have a full line of sewing and knitting classes. So even if you've never touched a sewing machine, don't know what a bobbin is. I've got beginning classes for kids and adults. And we go all the way up, I now have a series where you can sew things for the home. And also I've gotten some more patterns in, to learn how to read patterns and sew your own clothes, which people are pretty interested in. So you can pretty much do anything.

 I was reading on your blog about the alpaca adventure. Could you talk about that?

 A couple of customers and I . . . I used to have some handspun yarns. And a lot of people enjoy having that unique, natural, sometimes naturally dyed yarn that really make a statement. So a couple of customers of mine found this alpaca farm out in Tululla or someplace. She contacted them, and we went and met them in Monroe. And they brought sacks of blankets that they had sheared off the alpacas. So we sifted through those for a while, and we've been washing them. And I started spinning mine. It's slow going, but it's interesting. I'm learning a lot about yarn and fibers. I'm realizing why people didn't have a lot of outfits back then, haha, when they had to actually get the sheep and shear it and wash it and spin the wool. It's a labor. But it's kind of fun. I'm actually going to look into starting teaching some drop spindle classes, where people can get the spindle and get some, it's called roving when it's all been prepared to spin. And I'm going to start looking into getting some prepared rovings and teach some spinning classes, so people can make their own handspuns. It's really not hard.

 How did the desire to open a fabric shop come about?

 I don't know. It's something that I've been wanting to do for a while. Years ago, right after I graduated college, which I graduated in theatre here in Tech, I worked at Fabulous Fabrics, which she had a shop here in town. Now she's just in Monroe. I worked in the costume shop at Tech, so I learned a lot about sewing and fabrics and all that. But working at that fabric shop, I got to see all the fabrics, and see what they were doing, people who'd come in, what their ideas were. It got me interested. And after that, my husband and I got married and we moved overseas. He was in the army. And I did a lot of sewing over there. I wanted to open a shop, but we were on an army post overseas, and it was not possible to do it there. So I did a lot of sewing out of our apartment. Just different things. And every time we would come back to the states, I would go and buy a suitcase worth of fabric and bring it back with me. So I started kind of hoarding fabrics. Finally whenever we moved back to Ruston, I'd still been sewing. I couldn't find a job that I wanted bad enough to spend my days there. And I felt like there was a niche in Ruston that needed to be filled. With a different feel of a fabric store. For the people who don't know how to sew. Normal people who don't know how to sew don't walk into a fabric store because it's very overwhelming. So I wanted to create an environment for people who have ideas and just don't know how to complete them yet. It's like taking an art class. You have all these ideas, and you just don't have it in your fingers. You don't think that way. I wanted to create an environment that is both inspiring and just unassuming, I guess. For somebody to be able to walk in and say 'I would like to learn how to do that!' And I can say 'I can help you!' You know. I'm not a person who has a lot of ideas. I am, but I'm a person who likes to talk to people about their ideas and feed off of that. And watch ideas grow into something that you can make with your own hands. I just think there's such a fulfilling thing about starting with raw materials and ending with a finished product. You've got this new skillset now.

 It seems like when I was younger, sewing and knitting weren't really the cool thing to do. And now it seems pretty cool. Am I imagining that shift?

 No, there is definitely a shift of craftiness if you will. It's kind of the same feel as the shift to people more locally. People want to feel like they're contributing to their own lives more. And the things that are going on immediately around them. And I think that shopping locally, and starting to use their spare time in a way that is creative. And not just sitting there playing on your iPad. Which we're all guilty of, and I love my iPad. But you want to feel like at the end of the day you've got something else to show for it. I really push that sewing and knitting are fun. Because a lot of people are like 'oh, I took home ec three times, and it just was no fun.' We don't make things for serious. I would rather throw a sewing party than have a sewing lesson. Haha. And if you're not having fun, take a break. In this day and age, you're not making clothes because it's cheaper, you're doing it because something inside you wants to learn something new. If you're not enjoying it, then you're not going to continue doing it.

 What did you start out making when you were overseas?

 I started out, since I did the costumes at Tech, I got involved in the theatre overseas. So I did most of the costumes there. Alterations. I did a lot of patches on uniforms because we were on an army post. So people would get their rank changed, and I would have to sew the new patch on. That was probably one of the most nerve racking things. Because you have to get it precise. You can't get it crooked. It's regulation, so I would get really nervous about sewing patches on officer's uniforms, because I was just some chick . . And they could get in trouble for it if it was on the wrong shoulder, or off by a half an inch or so. I did that a lot, and it was just word of mouth. And I ended up doing a lot of bags. I started doing my line, Repursables. Because I started off doing reversable and repurposed bags. We would do bazaars and craft shows. So a lot of people on the post knew me, and knew that I was the sewing chick.

 I know you're a mother. How old is your son now?

 We have a two year old, and one on the way in January. So probably around Christmas. I usually get pretty busy around Christmas. After Christmas in January it usually gets pretty slow. So that's good; I think I will probably be slowing down, by necessity.

 What are the advantages to being, say, a working parent or a parent that's active in the community, rather than a stay at home parent?

 When you have children, it's so easy to lose everything that you did for your entire life in your kids. I've seen parents that had an active life, and then they had kids and their life just stopped. I read these stories of parents who haven't had a date in five years, and I think that is so sad. Because you can't lose yourself. It's not good for you. It's not good for your kids to see that you've given up everything that you used to enjoy. Being a parent, especially a working parent, comes with a lot of guilt. Because you want to spend all day every day with your child, because it's your responsibility. But at the same time, you have to go out into the world. And you need to do things in order to make the world run. It's one of those conundrums that you just have to find your own balance. There's a lot of moms who thrive at being stay at home moms. But I feel like you owe it to yourself to continue to do those things that make you happy. Be artist or working or whatever it is.

 Can you tell me how being a mother has changed your outlook or your ideas about art or life?

 I feel that it's more important now, for the next generation. Art is not about losing your boundaries, but it's about finding your boundaries. I was having a discussions with Christianne Dreeling, the Twirling Swirls lady the other day. We were talking about, she has two small kids, and how sometimes in art class they just let the kids kind of teach themselves. Like, find their own artist in them. And I think that's not the way to bring up an artist. You have to know how to do it right before you can go on your own path. And that's something that is in everything in our life. We have to learn it first before we can start making up the things that we want to do. We have to learn how to live before we can go live our lives. It's all a process. And being a mom, you have this little baby where . . . Our two year old is learning how to talk. I've never taught anybody how to talk. You have to think about all these things that you never thought you would have to think about. So you start learning that life really is just a series of processes, and how you have to put one foot in front of the other. And build these foundations. And I think that that's important in being an artist, in life, in being a mother, is going through the process and finding your own process.

 You lived overseas with your husband, you also lived in California working with a theatre company there. I was wondering what are your impressions of Ruston, after having spent time away?

 We chose to come back to Ruston for a few reasons. My husband's now in engineering, and it's one of the best engineering schools in the country. And I don't think either of us are big city people, but it's also important to have a university in the vicinity of where we live because of the energy that comes from young people and their ideas. You can feel the energy of the town. And I think that Ruston now, as opposed to Ruston ten years ago, even when I was in school here the first time, has so much more of that energy. And there's so much more that is happening downtown. And there's just like this, you can feel the energy underneath of all the artists that are here, and the photographers and the sculptors. You don't have to look quite as hard to find it as you used to. It's making its way up and out. And that's really exciting, to be in a town that you know is poised on this jump of growth and entertainment. That energy is exciting. Every day, just drive around, you can find something new to look at and say that's cool I don't remember that being here. Be it new restaurants, the Black Box, things like that. Galleries. Anybody who says you can't find anything to do in Ruston just isn't looking hard enough. Haha.

 Tell me what you have coming up at Stitchville, so far as classes or anything like that goes.

 I've recently put up my schedule of classes, which we've got the learn how to sew series, which I think we've got four or five projects. They're pretty simple, but with each project you learn a new skill set. I've got a sew for your home. Make you own clothes. And I've also got some kid sewing. A lot of kids are interested in it now as well. This weekend, I've got a kids class. We're doing owl pillows. That should be pretty cute. As far as knitting stuff goes, in the beginning of December, we are taking a trip that is open to anybody, up to Hot Springs Arkansas. They're having a Fiber Arts Extravaganza. There's going to be a lot of handspun arts and roving. It's two days. They've got classes, vendors. Fastest knitter competitions. It's fiber arts nerdilicious. We've got about four, maybe six, so far going. We're going to carpool and just go have a fun time. We're all excited about that. So we've got something for the sewers and something for the knitters coming up.

 I should mention you have Halloween and you have Fall fabric here.

 Yes, and my Christmas fabrics are on their way as well. I'd like to do some handmade Christmas type things if people are interested in making gifts to give. They can always get in touch with me on my website or call or drop by. And I'm open to any type of class. Because I don't have all the ideas. If somebody else has some idea they want to do and just need help doing it, that's what I'm here for.

 You and your husband are amateur brewers as well?

 Yes we are.

 Are you going to take part in ARToberfest?

 We are. We have brewed our brew, and I think we're bottling tonight or tomorrow. Whenever we've got time. We had a really good batch, but we drank it all. Haha. So we had to brew another batch for the competition. Luckily it's soon, so we won't have time to drink it all before the evening gets here. It's a fun time. That's another thing that a lot of people are doing. And we're going to have a pretty good competition. I'm looking forward to tasting the beers.

 I think that's all the questions I have. Thank you so much for speaking with me.

 Thank you very much.

NCLAC is supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council, Funding has also been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a Federal agency.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Jonathan Donehoo, designer, photographer, and Director of the School of Art at Louisiana Tech University. You can see Jonathan's work at 102: A Bistro at the solo exhibition "Magical Place Between", opening October 5th at 5pm. This interview has been edited for length.

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 Do you think that the purpose of the photographs as a record of your experiences, and to reactivate your memory of them, do you think that comes through in the photographs?

 It does to me. Because there's not a photograph I have that I can't say exactly where that is. I know the date. What it was like. I remember seeing that and going that was really neat. And you try to share that with others. But if they've not been there, it's just another chair. Just another tree. I guess that comes with traveling and experiencing things firsthand. When I was an undergraduate taking art history, and I'd sit in Renaissance history. It'd be cathedral this, and cathedral that. And they all looked the same. And then when I went there and started actually seeing them firsthand, they are not alike. Suddenly all of that made sense, you know. They were very distinct in their own way. But just looking at slide after slide of one baroque basilica after another, they all look the same. I guess it depends on your interests. It depends on that you've been able to experience it. That's why as a program we go to France in the spring with as many students as we can drag with us. And I think that experience firsthand is so important. And I think the faculty agree and put such a high value on travel, on the experience of travel and the education of travel. I wish we had deep pockets so we could just take everybody over there. Unfortunately we don't. But there's something about seeing it firsthand, experiencing it firsthand. It comes across in some of the pictures. But to me, the pictures mean lots of different things, but a little token of something that happened to me at one time is certainly part of that. As I said, I look at it and I know exactly what that was and what was going on. What was going on behind me, things like that. But that's my own personal worth in them. Other people looking at them certainly would not experience that because they weren't there. What they are taking away from the photograph may be something entirely different. I don't know.

 It seems as if the subject matter of your photography is often architectural. Why do you think that is?

 I think it has to do with space. Space and also the fact that I'm still very uncomfortable taking pictures of people I don't know. It seems like invading their privacy, and I should not be taking pictures of people. I'm not sure I like having my picture taken, especially by people I don't know. So I'm a little self-conscious about that. And you'll notice my pictures, very few of them have people in them. But I think architecture's a wonderful container for that light and dark that I'm interested in. You can do some out in nature, but architecture's just set up for that. An open door into a dark room and things like that. That little transition there. But I've always enjoyed architecture. And maybe it is the impossibility of photographing architecture in a real sense. Because architecture's three dimensional. It is an environment that you walk into. While a photograph is two dimensional, and you can look at as many pictures as you want to of something, but until you walk into that space, you don't really know what it's about. And I think the best example of that would be the Pantheon in Rome. Every art student has studied this. They've seen slides of it, in out around. But until you walk into that space for the first time and just feel that physical lifting that you get just by walking in there, it's just hard to describe that to anyone. So maybe it's just a vain attempt at capturing some little aspect of that.

 While I was preparing for this interview, I was reading your artist statement and bio. I was interested in what you said earlier about the attention to detail in small neighborhoods in Paris. And also, I noticed that as a grad student, you taught beginning and advanced typography. I thought there might be a congruency there. Even when you think about the play with light and dark – light and shadow and you can compare that even to typography, the white and the black.

 I love typography. I always have. I'd love to be better at it. And I don't know where the love of typography comes from. As an undergraduate at the University of Georgia, I had some renowned typographers as teachers. I don't know if they instilled that in me or not, but they helped me see that typography makes a difference. And it's about communication, and that's what type does. It's not about just the shape of a letter. It's how does this shape of a letter and all of the others combine to communicate an idea or a history or some story that people have. And I remember talking to freshman type students and saying typography in a way is like breathing. You use it everyday, you just don't think about it. When it's done correctly, you'll never notice. When it's done incorrectly, then you start noticing because you can't read it smoothly. I think it has a lot to do with communication, and that may come from the fact that I did not grow up in the United States. I was raised in other parts of the world. Communication and other languages was always, for me it was not a big struggle, but I know from my parents it always was. Because you had to learn a new language. So this whole idea of communication. Either visually through photographs. Or through type. Or story-telling, or anything else. All of this I think plays in that. How do you get your feelings, your ideas, your stories across.

 It even seems as if there's an aspect to typography and even the languages, of maybe noticing things that other people don't notice.

 That's just it. Even if you're here in Louisiana, and you've been here a lot of years, things that you become accustomed to, some people coming in from another part of the country, some are surprised or taken aback by something. I remember one time, we lived in a rather large city in South America. And it was not uncommon to have cattle grazing in the neighborhood. Or carts being pulled by Oxen, or something like that. Which, after a while you didn't notice at all. But when people would come to visit, they were just stunned to see cows eating in our front yard. And I remember hearing my father telling people who moved to these places for the first time, you need to take you pictures within the first six months. Because after that you won't even notice that this is unusual. I tell the young faculty that move here from out of state that they should take advantage of those first few years to really explore Louisiana. Go into Arcadiana and stuff, and just explore that because it is so unique. Later on, you just take it for granted. And that's a shame. But I guess that's human nature. You become accustomed to whatever it is around you, good or bad.

 What's the payoff of noticing those things?

 I think it adds a whole new depth to your existence. I would hate to live in just a white room with cheap paneling or something. I guess you get used to that. But it's in the details. It is there, and paying attention to it or just glossing over it. I guess everybody's interests would be in different details. I'm sure if an engineer came in and looked at something, the details they would notice would be different than the details I would notice. I guess it's up to you to do that. As teachers, what I think we try to do is make sure our students are aware that the details are there. Look at it. What are you seeing? I think that's what an artist is. We look at things. We see these things. And part of our job is to help others see these things. A musician hears things. We all hear things, but they hear things maybe we don't. And we see things maybe they don't.

 Why did you move so much as a child?

 My parents moved a lot.

 For work?

 Yes. My parents were foreign missionaries. So we went all over. And it was certainly a different way of growing up. Haha.

 What were some of the most interesting places you lived?

 Well I think everyplace is interesting. Even Ruston is interesting. But as far as being exotic or strange, I grew up in Columbia. I was in Costa Rica. All over.

 Do you think your childhood, your immersion in missionary work and Christianity, do you think that's influenced your life as an artist in any way?

 Probably not in the way people would hope. Haha. No, I think there's probably something in there. There's a part of my life that I consider to be very private. Maybe it was the way I was brought up. I'm somewhat suspicious of those that tend to wave things around a lot. I am suspicious of people who stand on the street corner and pound their chest and things like that. That's just not the way I was brought up. So I think my parents did instill in me certainly a sense of right and wrong, and a sense that especially as an American who has this comparatively great privilege in this world, that for real happiness, you have to somehow return some of that. It's not about more and more. It's about how do you help others get to a certain point. And I look at my siblings, and none of us went into the ministry, but I have one sister who's a teacher. I have one sister who's in medicine. And I have another brother who was in the military. But all of us in some way interpret what we do as giving back. I think we know there are certainly more lucrative jobs than higher education. But it's not about that. What effect do you have on other people's lives in a positive way? And maybe that's what you learn from being raised that way.

 Obviously as director of the school of art you have a positive effect on people's lives. What are your thoughts about the effect your art might have on people's lives.

 Well I hope I do a good job as an administrator. Maybe I just have a certain sickness for filling out forms. Haha. Because I do fill out a lot of paperwork that I don't think most people could stand. But it's just part of the job. And I hope what I do allows others, the teachers to spend more time working on what they do well. But as far as what I would like people to look at photographs, and first of all the people who have been able to travel. They see a picture of something and 'oh I remember things like that.' Bring back those hopefully pleasant memories. Those who have not had a chance to travel maybe go 'you know, maybe I need to go see that. I need to go out and look.' But I'm hoping they understand you don't have to go to Turkey to see this stuff. You can walk around Ruston and see this. You can walk around this building and see it. It's just a matter of looking at it in a certain light. A certain time of day. A certain way the wind is blowing. Just take advantage of that moment. But it doesn't have to be just exotic places. It can be right around you. Everyday life. I walk around the backyard and see things. You hope to just get people to start thinking in a visual sort of way, a creative way. What's different about that.

 I think you're probably at this point the person in the art department that students get to spend the least time with. I'd like to ask a few personal questions.

 Sure. I would say I do hate that. I do miss being in the classroom. Of course, I started teaching when I was very young. I was as old as my students. I was twenty-three. I had five graduate students. They were all older than I was. That was strange. So I grew up with them. They were friends. I've been best man. I'm godfather to their kids. It's just great they still think of me that way. But as I get older, there is that gap, and as I became the director, there's just not enough time to have all the classes I used to. I'm doing all this other stuff. As a director, in a way, I also become the ambassador for the program. It's funny when I meet students and I don't know them but I know their grandparents, or their parents. But I try to be a good voice for the program in my own way. So I've evolved out of one thing and into another. But I do miss that relationship that a teacher has with their students. I get a little bit of it sometimes with student workers in the office, but I do miss it. I recognize a lot of names more than I do faces. What questions do you have?

 Do you have any hobbies?

 I like to cook. Well, I like to eat. Haha. And I figured out a long time ago that if I like to eat, I would have to learn how to cook. I enjoy baking bread. I'm now experimenting with making cheese, artisanal cheeses. It remains to be seen how that's doing. And I do enjoy traveling a lot. I like to see things I've never seen. I like to experience things I've never experienced. I like to read. Nothing too exotic, I don't think. I'm just pretty normal.

 I think it might not be too much of a stretch to say you're an introverted person?

 Oh yeah, that's not a stretch at all.

 I was wondering how that affects working in such a social and communicative field.

 I think it goes back to the way I was brought up. My father is very much like I am. We're very quiet. We're slow to get to know. But my mother was very outgoing. Very social. She came from a very social family in Georgia. The two of them made a great pair. Between the two of them they would lick the platter clean. But I grew up in a social environment. My parents, even though they were missionaries, did a lot of entertaining because of the nature of their work. So I knew what they did and didn't do. So even though I'm not terribly comfortable in those situations, I do know how to do it. And I can do it. And I can bang my way through it. Just what we're doing now is not comfortable. But I've done it before, and I will be doing more things like this in the near future that I'm still lying awake at night about. But it's just part of the job. It goes with the territory. As the director of the school, I speak for the school sometimes. And you just have to put yourself out there, and just overcome that. You do it once, you do it twice, and it gets a little easier. I don't know that it ever becomes comfortable. You hope you don't fumble the ball. I'm afraid of heights. It scares me to death. And my father always taught me when I was young you just have to face your fears. You go do it. So there's not much in Europe I have not been on top of. Once. Haha. I go up there, and I do it, and I get back down off of, you know, the bell tower in Florence. I remember climbing that thing. It was awful. But I did it. I have no desire to ever do it again. You name a building, and I have been on top of it. And it is amazing. I still am afraid of heights. But you face your fears. And life is full of fears. Heights. Public speaking. Taking chances. Whatever it is. And either you can let that control you, and you can just not do it, or you can just take a deep breath and jump out there. I read something, and I'm trying to figure out how to weave this into something to share with students. In times of great stress in a person's life, where the odds are just impossible, you just don't know what you're going to do, you can either turn around and hide, or you can spread your wings and fly like an eagle. It's up to you. You can say no I can't do it, or you can say I'm going to just jump off and try it. And you'd be surprised. You fall sometimes, but if you turn around you know you're not going to do it. Take a deep breath and jump. People have done it for thousands of years. So you just have to take a little faith in yourself and jump.

 Let's conclude by talking a little more about your photography. Tell me about the technical aspects. Do you use digital or analog?

 Both. Honestly though, the last couple years it's all been digital. I remember the first time in the dark room, you put that exposure paper in the developer, and you look at it in the red light. And it's like magic. All of a sudden it appears. And you're going 'that's amazing.' You just get hooked on that. There's something about that process of being in the dark room. And that magic that takes place. But nowadays, and it's good and bad, digital allows you to make changes and alterations in a photograph or an image that you could not do in a darkroom. You could not dodge and burn that well. I think one of the big differences too is, when I was doing just film, I would go someplace, I'd come back and I'd have fifteen rolls of film. And I'd develop it all and process it. But you knew that you had to carefully compose in the camera. You had to think about what you were doing. You had to get the right settings. And so in that sense, it was like a rifle shot, as opposed to now in digital, you go click click click about thirty times and hope that one of them turns out. It's a much more shotgun approach. I still love analog. I still love film. But the reality is you're doing digital now, that's just what you do. And there are things in digital, there's just no way you could do that in analog. And some of the pieces I may or may not put into this show are panoramic pictures, where I took seven or eight pictures and wove them together into one bigger picture. I don't know how you could do that in the darkroom, and not have it obvious what you were doing. It's like anything else. You have a nostalgia for the old, but you still appreciate whatever the new part is.

 Most of your pictures are black and white, and some are color. Could you tell me about the reasons behind your decision?

 Part of it goes back to my first photography class as an undergraduate. I remember my teacher saying 'if it's not working in black and white, odds are color's not going to help it.' You cannot use color as an excuse for a bad picture. So you think about it in black and white. And I guess that's what I did until I started doing a lot of digital work, it was all black and white. And even now I'm surprised how monochromatic my work is. You look at it, even though it may be brown, it's still brown and white. Haha. Sometimes, there's these magic times, like there's this one piece that has color in it because of the sunset that made the whole thing magical. But most of my work is in fact black and white. And I think in this particular show there's a few pieces in color but most of it's black and white. Again, if color's important, I'll put color in it. But most of the time, color's not really what it's about.

 I think that's all the questions I have.

 Ok. You know, I appreciate the opportunity to share this with you. I very very rarely talk about myself or my work, so this is pretty unique.

 Yeah, I really enjoyed it.

 Well I appreciate you doing it.

 Thank you.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Ed Pinkston, who has a show opening tonight (Thursday September 22) at Gallery Fine Art Center in Bossier, with an art talk at 5:30. [wpvideo 7TwXkrwL]

One of the other abiding influences in my work is man-made versus nature, or freedom versus control. Societal issues that we face, laws and regulations. Where you can ride your bike and where you can't. Can you ride at night. Versus childlike freedoms that we all enjoy, especially in this country. A lot of my work is about that, so the way my work begins is it starts out very childlike and spontaneous, and I do the large broad issues in literally broad paint applications with brushes or squeegies or scrapers. And I use a lot of combinations. So I start out with this sense of freedom in my pieces, and then as I go on, I start to constrain or confine and refine them somewhat. And they develop more man-made like rectalinear elements like squares or straight line passages. So I like to have a duality between freedom and control. And in some pieces, the fulcrum is more under one end than the other. Some pieces will have a lot more spontaneity in them. Others will be more sober and controlled. Of course, in art publications, one of the main ways they talk about this is Apollo and Dionysius. The idea of the sober good god versus the party Bacchus god. I always try to keep that dichotomy in mind, and I try to juggle those two and make them reconcile. And that's where my fun comes in is playing off those two extremes against each other and seeing what happens.

Yeah, it seems like the sort of abstract expressionism that you're working from is a really good way to deal with those questions about freedom and self-determination.

I've been greatly influenced by abstract expressionism, but mine are not wholly that. A piece like mine might look a little bit like a Hans Hoffman, but it still has more constraints and more rigidity in it than his pieces did.

It almost seems as if you move through the abstract expressionism in the beginning and start to become more representational with the shapes and lines and things.

That's fair. And sometimes those rectangular shapes are windows and sometimes they aren't. Sometimes they open up a space, and sometimes they're 'don't go there. Stop there.' And that's the way Hans Hoffman used them too. Sometimes they would be a window into the depth of the painting, and other times they would be a confrontational thing that said 'no, you're not going there. You're not going back in space. This is not a landscape.' So sometimes if I see something getting too spatial, I'll do something like that to bring us back up to the picture plane and say 'Whoa, this is all illusion. It's all flat stuff for the most part.'

I read in your statement you used to do figurative and landscape painting. What caused you to move from that to non-representational work?

I don't know. I have always given myself permission to change my stripes. I'm not one of those artists whose work evolves very little over time, maybe just gets better in quality but they do the same basic painting over and over. Or maybe their work gets more expressive or gets bigger or whatever. But I seem to go through cycles of seven or ten years' work. In graduate school, I started out doing abstract expressionism, then I went to hard-edge abstraction. And then when I got out of graduate school, I did abstraction again for a while. Then finally I said I need to get back to realism, that's what I'm teaching in my classes. My drawing classes are all about learning to see. You know, perceptual experiences. Let's get back to that. So I went back to doing drawings and landscapes with charcoal and pencil. And then I decided I wanted to get back to color again, but I didn't want to go back to being a full blown abstract expressionist so I went to pastels. I don't have many pastels to show you. In fact, this one's sold, but this was one of them. After I went to abstraction and things like that, I wanted to come backt o more realistic experience with color. And I said well, pastel would be a good way to do that. I'd never worked with pastels, and I didn't realize how tremendous they were. Not for just bringing out a color experience, but also just for markmaking properties. 'Cause I've taught drawing for so many years and taught a lot with charcoal. I was kind of naïve and slow to realize 'Hey, pastel is just charcoal in color. I can make the same kind of expressive marks. I can break the color surface up into local color. I can break that local color down into broken color. I can do all kinds of things with it. To answer your question, I just don't ever like to be bored. I like to keep going. There is a common thread to my work, but as I shift experiences, some other people have had difficulty seeing that. And then after I did these for a while, I did pastel landscapes and still-lifes. And even abstract pastels for some time. I did those for about ten or twelve years. I had a retrospective at Tech somewhere around 2000, and looking at that show on a whole, there was so much pastel work in it. I said 'I want to get back to painting again. I want to get back to that viscosity and that liquid feel.' And it was just that simple. I just wanted to go back to a more temporal kind of liquid idea, and so I stopped doing the pastels and started doing abstract painting again for the first time in many years. And it was very difficult at first. I don't know if you've done any abstract work yourself. Do you ever do any? But you work without a net, you know. You've got no subject matter to refer to. You've got nothing to bail you out. It's just you and what you know about the principles and elements and things you want to express with them. And I had a real tough time for a couple years when I went back to abstract painting. I just said I can't do this. I'm no good. And I really struggled. But after a while, I slowly started making some gains and feeling like 'well yeah, ok.' Part of my problem wasn't just me, it was my materials. I have never in an enclosed space like this, even using odorless mineral spirits, I've never been able to work with oil paints. I'm very hypocritical: I always made my students use oil paints whenever I taught painting at Tech, we always used oil paints because of the slow drying time and the ability to intermix and rework and things like that. Oil painting's far superior to acrylic. But my head just can't take it. So I've had to use acrylics all these years. And that's a tremendous limitation because of the fast drying time. You don't get that opportunity to rework. At first, trying to do abstraction with acrylic paint, it's tough. But after a time, I started learning how to work with it, and I can use retardants to get a longer drying time where I can go back and rework. But also I just learned how to make my spontaneity work. So the acrylic made me speed up. It made me more spontaneous, because the clock is ticking. And I had to work with it very rapidly. That was part of my struggle. I was part of the problem, but my materials were part of the problem too. But after I got more back into it, both of those sides started to come around, and I started to see results.

I think that's something about abstract art that people who say they don't get it aren't seeing is that rich narrative of the process that's in there. Oftentimes it conveys at least as much meaning as a representational work if not more.

I love to hear you say that. That is exactly right. Abstract painting has its own studio autobiography. It can be just as rich in historical experience or personal experience as any pictoral piece can. Whenever I've been in any kind of group and people have asked me 'what's the best way to understand or explain abstract expressionism?' I've said part of the trouble is people worry about understanding it. I used the analogy of music. Listening to a melody is abstract. There's no lyrics there like a country song. It's like opera, where you don't understand the language. I could listen to an aria in Italian and probably enjoy it more than if I understood Italian, because they might be saying 'I went down to the store, bought a loaf of bread.' Well that's so pedestrian and everything. So the abstractness of music, it's the same kind of thing in the visual arts. You have to enjoy it on that level, just for what it is. And you don't have to read interpretations into it. You can, but you don't have to. So many people feel like they have to understand abstract painting, and I say you just open your eyes. Just like you open your ears to music. One time, when I was in front of a woman's group, and they weren't getting it. I had a real good friend in the audience, and I knew it wouldn't embarrass her. A very nice looking lady who was very well dressed. I said if you wouldn't mind come up here and stand for a moment. And she came and stood beside me. And I said now, what did you do this morning when you got dressed? You made the decision to put this skirt with this blouse. To put this piece of jewelry here. These earrings. You were doing abstract art. You were making decisions about color, line, shape, form, texture. All the things an abstract artist does, you do it every morning. And they said “Oh!” That really broke the ice for them.

I guess one thing about abstract art is, in a lot of ways you have to avoid meaning. You have to avoid representation in order to be non-representational. That has a sort of tyranny to itself, you know?

Absolutely. That's why I fight the spatial issues so hard, because I know any time I do a lot of overlaps, I'm going to start to get a landscape read out of the piece which I probably don't want. Sometimes I go ahead and give in to it and let it go that way. I give myself permission to let realism creep in or pictorial space creep in sometimes. But for the most part, I try to keep it on an abstract plane because of this very pitfall you mention. And you don't want it to lapse too easily back into conventional that's a landscape, that's a still life, that's whatever. I do my best work when I really keep my thinking on abstract and don't let them become to spatial or spatially illusionistic.

Let me ask you about yourself, as an artist who's worked for multiple decades, how do you keep from becoming stagnant and from imitating yourself? And on the other side of that coin, how do you keep from abandoning all the things that you've done before and the progress you've made?

Those are good questions. And they're not easily answered. But I think you know part of the answer is what I do is I change materials and approaches, and that keeps me fresh. On a singular level of individual painting basis, I try to do what Diebenkorn said he used to do. They said how do you begin a new painting? He said 'I begin a new painting as far away from the last painting as I can, because I know what's going to happen as I work. I'm going to gravitate back to what I've done before, to what I am, what I know and all the experience I have.' And he said if you don't you'll wind up repeating yourself. That's what would surprise people a lot of times about artists. This is what drives artists crazy about art historians. Art historians will say 'this must have come from 1892 because it's painted just like this one over here.' No. Maybe that's true, but many times artists will leap back in time as well as leap forward. And a lot of times my paintings are done at the same time and have very little correlation, and that's deliberate. People say these two magenta paintings down here must have been painted at the same time. No, they were painted several years apart actually. What I try to do is the same thing Diebenkorn did. Whenever I started a new painting, I used different materials, different techniques. If I painted real thickly with brushes on the last one, I'll start with glazes on the next one. I'll use scrapers instead of brushes, or something like that. I'll use a very different palette to begin with. I don't usually put down a dominant palette colore first. That just happens. So whatever dominant palette color resulted in the last one, by god it's not going to be in the new one. It's going to start in some place totally elsewhere. And that's why my paints are not organized. In some artists' studios, every paint is perfectly lined up and organized, and they know exactly where everything is. I keep my paints moving around and disorganized to keep me disorganized, to keep me fresh so that I don't revert back, hopefully, too much too soon to what I already know and the methods and techniques and things I know have worked in the past. This color relationship worked with this color relationship last time, let's use it again. No, I don't do that. I try to go to another part of the palette, start with some funky color over here and say what if. So it's just like a child will. I try to put myself in a childlike mode and say let's just try. What if. And then you go from there. Waste a lot of paint. Waste a lot of time. But that's the only way to go. That's the frustration of working abstractly, but it's also the joy. It takes you places that you can't preordain. Some people say do you have any kind of image in your head when you start painting? I hope not! When I'm doing this, absolutely not. Evenwhen I was doing these, I did about forty or fifty of these pastel still lifes. Only two of them were done from life. All the others were made up. You might say well I can tell that from the end result. Haha. But I deliberately tried not to put too much form on my apples or tomatos or whatever I'm using. To stay fresh, I've gotta change. I've gotta evolve, and I've constantly gotta challenge myself and surprise myself to keep from getting into stereotypes.

What happens prior to the beginning of the painting? Is there any sort of planning stage, or do you think there is any subconscious work that goes on?

There must be. You know, you can't ever relax the subconscious. There must be something going on. But I try to avoid that. Sometimes I will have a strong idea I want to try, but who knows where it comes from. It might be just an abstract pattern I saw on a wall in downtown Ruston or something. Or sometimes I say what if I try that color with that color? What will happen? But of course it never turns out that way. Matisse had a good way of expressing that, and you may have heard this story before. They asked him the same question you asked me. When you begin a painting, how does it begin? He says let's just say sometimes I have a real strong idea what I want a painting to be, but it's like I've got a train ticket from Paris to Marseilles. And he says sometimes you get on that train, painting, and sometimes you make it to marseilles just fine and it's turned out just the way you planned it. But more often, before I get to Marseilles, I find I want to take another train. I divert off. Or sometimes, I get to Marseilles, and I realize I don't want to go to Marseilles and I keep going past. That's the way I think about it too. Okay, I may start out with a strong idea that's going to take me to Marseilles. I may get there. I may get there and not like it. Or I may never get there. And all of those are fine.

 I think one thing that most people and probably a lot of artists don't realize too is so often the meaning comes after the work. After you finish making the work, you then think okay, what does this piece mean? What was I actually thinking and trying to do?

That happens all the time. I think it's very common. Art is usually poorly served if you start out with too much meaning. Occasionally we'll get a painting where an artist is really passionate about an idea. Like, say Picasso's Guernica after the bombing in Spain. It turned out to be a good painting. It was a dramatic, forceful editorial, but it was also a dramatic, forceful piece of artwork. A lot of times, when you take that on your shoulders at the very beginning, a load of meaning, it can weigh you down and overrule you. We see that a lot with some of the muralists. The idea would get in the way of a good paintings. Deigo Rivera, people like that were great painters, but their painting would be so weighted down with the monumentality. I'm going to express this about the world's state of affairs. You lose your sense of optics. I don't worry too much about meaning. I know what they mean to me, and what I see in them. But I love it when other people have alternate interpretations of what they mean. And that's where they should be I think. And that should be true of realistic painting as well as abstract painting, whether you use recognizable imagery or not. I like the idea of meaning coming after the fact. People worry, especially in today's culture. You've run into this in school I'm sure. Now it's become very prevalent and very important for an artist to find his voice. For him to be able to articulate verbally what his work is about. Well that, just between you and me, that's all well and good. It's nice if an artist is verbally articulate. What I want is a visually articulate artist. If an artist is articulate enough visually, he doesn't have to open his mouth. I don't need for Cezanne to tell me one thing verbally. Or Matisse. Or Diebenkorn. It's all there. It's visual, not verbal art. We're getting a lot more blurring of that and overlapping in art, with video and god knows what else going on. So many cross-disciplined kinds of art made now. But just talking about a one on one kind of experience of you with the painting or piece of sculpture. If the artist is visually articulate, that's all I need. The meaning will come through from that.

Could you tell me about your process of making a work? When do you like to work? Do you like to listen to music?

I always listen to music. I've gotta have music going. Sometimes the music is a direct influence and many times a subconscious influence as well. So I'm always listening to music. Just like changing my approach and my palette, whenever I start a new painting, I go to a different music. Just to see where that takes me, how it influences me. When do I work? I work best early. I don't work well at night at all. When I was younger I could. But I'm an old man now. And I can't do that. What I do is I have a daily routine. I get up and I go for a two and a half mile walk around the neighborhood. I come back and eat breakfast and I come down here. And that's where I do my best work when my mind and body are really fresh. I literally can't wait to get down here in the morning because I know that's when I'll do my best work. And then as the day goes on, it'll tend to be diminishing returns, or it'll go in waves like that. If you charted it, I'd say in the AM hours I do my best work. But I take breaks too. That's the great thing about having my studio at home. I used to have my studio at Tech. I found out after my teaching duties and administrative duties and committee work and all that was out of the way, I would have to have a big chunk of time before I would go to my studio. Here I don't have to have those big chunks of time. When I moved my studio here, I was amazed how much more work I got done. Because, you know sometimes I could just come down and work for ten minutes. But a lot of times what you'd do is you'd come down and just look for ten minutes. And that's just invaluable. And then you'd go out and do something else. A lot of times I go out and walk in the yard. Especially when I'm struggling with a painting. I always work on that wall, and I can go walk around the yard and eventually I'll wander over to this window and look at the painting from out in the yard out there. And by diminishing it not only in size but also it diminishes it psychologically. I look in the window at that little painting over there from the difference and I say 'what's your problem? Why can't you fix that? What are you afraid of?' I love the in-between times, the broken times, the casual times, that you get when you have your studio at home. My productivity when I'm in my studio at home, boy did it go through the roof. I didn't realize how important those little snippets of time were. One of my favorite stories. Diebenkorn always had his studio separate from his house. He got off in the morning, and he'd come home in the evening. And his wife would say how'd it go dear? He never talked much. He came home one day in abject depression, and she said what is it? And he says I can't paint. It's the worst painting I've ever done. It's terrible. Just terrible. He had a drink, and she commiserated him. And then the next day he gets up and goes back to the studio. And then in the evening he comes back home, and she says 'how'd it go today dear?' He says well, I just sat and looked at it all day, I think it's the best thing I've ever done. Hahaha. Sometimes it's a little something about perspectives. That's what I like about having my studio at home. I can walk away and give my mind and spirit time to refocus and regain my objectivity, whatever that is. So that's what the little journeys I take are meant for, getting away from it, and coming back and seeing it afresh and deciding it's the best thing I've ever done or the worst thing I've ever done. The hardest thing about coming in first thing in the morning is that you have to guage your objectivity. You've been away for many hours. So when I come back in the morning, I can always look at what I'm working on and know whether it's any good or not. So I come down with great anticipation but also a feeling of dread because I know that my objectivity is returned and I'm going to be very critical. And I'm going to say, what were you thinking? That's a piece of crap! I can't believe you liked that yesterday at five o'clock. Or what's really nice but maybe doesn't happen as often is oh! I still like it. If I like it when I come down the next day, that's a good sign.

How often do you work?

Everyday. I was administrator for twenty years, graduate coordinator for twenty years. I always taught a full teaching load. I always taught freshmen. I always taught drawing. Teaching freshman drawing is one of the most demanding courses on the curriculum. It never kept me out of the studio. I don't think I'm a particularly gifted artist. I'm a hard-working, consistent artist. I'm a bulldog. And I still enjoy it immensely, I don't know what I'd do without it.

I know that interpretation is a tenuous and subjective topic, but what advice might you have for how someone should approach your paintings if they want to get a deeper understanding of them?

Just stand back and look. And then look some more. You don't have to ask any deep, penetrating questions. Just look really, really hard. And do what I do sometimes, use a mirror. I've walked many a mile in this studio. The main thing is to get back far enough. Even my smaller work, I judge them from back here. And then I use a mirror all the time to see them backwards, upside down, diagonal on this edge. Anything that helps me see it afresh. For an audience, someone looking at my work, I would just say walk a lot. Stand back a lot. If you don't see anything there, move on to something else. Come back again later. You have to be tenacious and be a bulldog as a viewer to get it too. I would just tell people stand back and do a lot of looking. You don't have to ask a lot of questions. You can if you want to. Just look. People don't have enough confidence in their eyes. Like I said before, it's no different than music. If you enjoy a melody, you know you enjoy it. If you enjoy something visual, you know it. I can try to figure out why I like Mozart, but I don't have to.

I think that's all the questions I have. It was a pleasure speaking with you.

I'm glad you came over. I'm glad to get to know you better.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Neil Keen, co-owner of The Black Box, the new coffee shop/theatre in downtown Ruston. [wpvideo FkiQXNuu]

 When's your opening date?

 Well, we're shooting for this Friday. Don't know if we'll make that or not, but that's what we're shooting for.

 What's your hours of operation going to be?

 Monday through Friday, 7 in the morning to 11 at night, and Sunday noon to 10.

 What sort of theme or idea were you going for with the design of the place?

 Well it's a little more laid back, kind of warehouse chic look. We want it to be different from most places in Ruston, which it is. It's a little more contemporary. But it's still cozy. It's very cavey and dark. Real homey. It's pretty secluded. We've got that nice, solid wall between us and the street. So it blocks out all the sound and a lot of the light. We've got this unbelievable patio back here, which is perfect. So we're just kind of going with that. We wanted to focus on the coffee shop, with the theatre productions, the foreign films and independent films, concerts, things like that.

 Do you have any events lined up yet?

 We've got a few. We don't have anything in stone. We're trying to get open, get situated. In fact, we'll bring the food in two weeks after we open, after we get settled in. Then we'll start looking at our really big opening weekend, have a nice concert.

 Could you give me like a rundown of what you're planning for the menu?

 Truthfully, John Shirley at Campatori Catering is handling all that. He's catering it everyday, so that's completely up to him. So I don't have an idea just yet. It will be sandwich type food. But it will be more lunches.

 What sets the Black Box apart from other businesses of its kind in Ruston?

 Well, I think in the years past with the other things that we've done, we've really focused hard on customer service. Providing a very different atmosphere from what you get anywhere else. And a better quality product. Our products are very high end, and very well made and dispersed. We're just a customer-driven business. We focus on them, and they take care of us.

 Could you give me an overview of the other businesses and things that you've created over the years?

 Well, I had a partner of course that he and I started Frothy Monkey years ago. And I bought him out, and actually passed it back to him. So I've had that for six or seven years. I started Turbo Goat, the bicycle shop. Chris Bartlett took that from me, and he's recently sold it. We had the Bell Jar clothing store, and this will be the next deal. In the meantime, or throughout that time period, I've bought a lot of buildings and refurbished the buildings, either sold them or rented them out.

 And of course, we should mention your partner in this, the Black Box is . . .

 Jackie Cochran of art innovations.

 Is this your first time to work with Jackie?

 I've known Jackie for quite a while, but it is my first time to work with Jackie, yes. I actually bought the building from her. This is the old Art Innovations building.

 What motivates you to do this sort of entrepeneurial work that you do? What do you get out of it?

 I like working for myself. So that's the first and foremost. Myself and my family and my friends have a very strong desire to improve downtown Ruston. There's a lot lacking here. And we've focused really hard, and pumped a lot of money and time and effort, and blood sweat and tears into downtown. It's a constant battle for us. We see things that need to be changed and are really focusing hard on that, and trying to show other people that there are other options out there. Other than the status quo. We're working hard to just try to get people downtime, and improve the atmosphere. Try to keep the students here and keep the money here. It's really super important to support local businesses. That money gets turned over locally so many more times than a big chain store, or anything on the interstate. And we just want to give people options down here.

 How does doing the things that you do in a small town compare you think to trying to do the same sort of things in a larger city?

 Well I've done some of these things in a larger city, and it's much easier truthfully. You've got a higher population density. You've got people that already are familiar with your products that you're trying to sell. They know the benefits of supporting a downtown. Truthfully, it's harder to me to do anything here. We're looking at doing some work in New Orleans. There's a lot of grants. There's a lot of incentives. There's a lot of help to do something. Here, you're pretty much on your own. I lived in Wakeforest North Carolina. The second you walk in and say 'hey, I'd like to open a business here, what do you have?', they present you with a huge packet, hold your hand through the whole process, just really take care of you. We'd like to see improvements here, definitely. We'd like it to be easier to open something that could help turn that local dollar over.

 Can you tell me about what you've learned through your experience in the business world and what advice you might have?

 Well, I've learned a lot. Probably more things not to do than to do. But just to do it is the main thing. Everybody's scared to take that first step. But until you do, you'll never start down that road. If you're interested in it, you've just got to put your head down and keep to it. When problems pop up, you just push through them and hold on tight and hope for the best, and generally things seem to turn out okay. Keep your overhead low. And, like I said, we've picked a genre, we work downtown. And that's what we do. I think you've gotta specialize a little bit. It's a niche market world these days.

 How would someone get started if they wanted to open, say, a shop or any sort of business?

 Research. A business plan. And get your financing. That's the hard part, is getting someone to give you money. I've had some great local banks that have really helped me out by taking a big risk on me. And I've had great relationships with them. But getting that first loan was the biggie. Do your homework. Lay it out in a really organized format, and chase some fincancing.

 I think you're an artist yourself, is that right?

 I am.

 Could you tell me about your art?

 I do a little bit of everything. I haven't done it in a while, but I also just spent about a half a year in New Orleans learning how to blow glass. Which is something that I'm really passionate about. I love it. And I'd like to do that full-time in the near future. So hopefully this is kind of a stepping stone. This will give me a little place to sit and start that and try to grow into a larger scale business.

 Will we see any of your work in the Black Box?

 Eventually, yes. Hopefully by Spring.

 I think it's probably a moot question, since you say you haven't done any art work in a while, but still I'm always curious to know how people incorporate an artist lifestyle into the real world requirements of doing work, and running your business and things like that.

Well, I really like architecture, and the art world. And we do try to incorporate that into the buildings that I do. Just in the design layout. It's different. We don't just do the standard box deal. We like to incorporate friends and students' work, and local artists into everything we do. We've always had artwork up in the coffee shops. Chris, with the bike shop, has art shows there inside the bike shop. So you can incorporate it into whatever you're doing. The glass-blowing is something hopefully the coffee shop can help offset the costs of the material and labor to do that. So we can do anything from wall sconces to chandeliers to anything else we'd like to do. Ornaments, decorations, sculpture type work. And if you notice in there, there's a lot of artwork, sculptural artwork. So I guess that's how we incorporate it.

Given all the difficulties in opening a business in Ruston, and finding customers and things like that, what are the redeeming qualities of Ruston that make it a worthwhile place to live and do these things?

 There are a group of very interesting. And it's nice to see those people on a daily basis or weekly basis and maintain contact with that group of people. There's a lot of good people here. They're well-travelled. They're diverse. I think Ruston is a very diverse place. For a small town in North Louisiana. So I think that's the best part, is getting to see everybody. And just having those relationships.

 Did you go to college?

I'm still going to college. I've been going for a very, very, very long time. I'm going this quarter. I've gone to several colleges.

Tell me about your experience, what you've studied and what you've learned.

 Goodness. Art, geology, mainly art. Architecture. I've had years and years and years of art school. I enjoy it, but I don't plan on working for anybody else. It's just something I do because I enjoy it.

 As a working professional, what value do you see in going to college rather than teaching yourself or going to workshops or associating with other artists in real life situations?

 As someone that doesn't have to support myself with my artwork, I kind of have a different view I think. If I were having to support myself with my artwork, I would definitely be more concerned with the academic route. The degree, the learning plan, and the steps to go through that, to get a job and be able to support myself. As someone that does the art on the side as a hobby mainly. Or even if it were to make money, my main source of income comes from building improvements, property sales, and business ventures like this. So I think I'm a little bit of an odd duck, truthfully. But if I were going to support myself with my art, I would definitely be more concerned with the art program.

 I think that's about all the questions I have. Is there anything else you'd like to say about the Black Box?

 It's just going to be a very different, great place. We're going to have a lot to offer that you cannot get anywhere around. Different music. Theatre venues. The films. It's just going to be completely different. Everybody needs to come check it out.

 And to clarify, you're going to have live theatrical performances, and you're also going to be showing what sort of films?

 Just independent and foreign films. Things you can't run down to blockbuster and pick up.

 What sort of talent are you looking at for the theatrical performances?

 Jackie's heading that up. There are a lot of local guys that like to put on small plays. Jackie probably could answer that better than I could. But it's going to be local. She's coordinating with Tech also to let them do some small productions here. It will generally be local guys and students.

 Okay. Thank you very much for talking with me.

 Thank you.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Russell Moore, talking about Ruston's First Rock & Roll Spectacular at the Dixie Theatre this Thursday and Friday. You can check out the Rock & Roll spectacular on facebook or call 318-255-1450 for tickets or information. You can learn more about Russell Moore's barbershop and hair salon, Rumo's at http://rumosbarbershop.com/ This interview has been edited for length.

[wpvideo VREjBFot]

 Tell me about the Rock & Roll Spectacular that's happening at the Dixie Theatre.

 Well, to tell you about the show is to tell you about a year ago, Lynn Nemey and her Daughter Ashley Nemey James asked me if I wanted to be on the board at of directors for the Dixie Theatre. The Dixie Theatre at this point is overwhelmingly senior citizen, and has a lot of shows that typically cater to that crowd. And basically to make a long story short, they asked me to be on the board to be a part of the new generation. It's trying to pass the torch from one generation to the next, so that the Dixie Theatre can stick around and stay current. And so when they asked me to be on board, I set back and observed a little bit. And then I went to a show at the Dixie. It was a piano player and a guitar player. A descendent of Chet Atkins, and some other person. Anyway, whenever they did their thing, the room was awesome. The crowd was very warm. It was like I went in the room and realized this gem is sitting right here in the middle of Ruston, that people my age and probably ten years older than me just haven't even gone in the door. And it's this amazing space. It's this beautiful building that is just by and large, unused. So when I saw that, I thought what can I give, what can I offer. Well, I'll play music. I've played rock & roll forever. I asked a couple people, how would you feel if I did a rock & roll show, with local musicians? And immediately it was just like a total positive response. And so I started putting it together and here we are. I ripped off the name from an old Beastie Boys, Run DMC concert poster I have in my barbershop. It was called Philadelphia's First All Rap Spectacular. And I thought, 'Hey that's a good name.' So we're calling it Ruston's First All Rock & Roll Spectacular.

 Real quick, give me the dates and times for the show.

 Dates and times. September 8^th and 9^th. Seven o'clock both nights. This show will have the exact same songlist both nights. The first night, if you're a season ticket holder, your ticket will get you in that night. If you're not a season ticket holder, you can buy that night, but everyone who's not a season ticket holder is more or less being funneled to the Friday night show. And the Friday night show will have a pre-party with hors deurves at 5:30 and an open bar provided by Portico. And then the show will be at 7:00.

 And who else will be in the show besides yourself?

 I'll be leading from the drums, if you will. Not necessarily singing. A musician named Bryan Batey, he plays the bass. He went to Tech but he lives in West Monroe now. I got Tim Cripps playing the guitar. Jeff Walpole, who's a Ruston local, is playing rhythm guitar. Todd Whitlock is a Ruston native, he's playing piano. Estevan Garcia is going to do the bulk of the lead vocals. He's a Ruston person. My brother Ross is going to play percussion. And my wife Morgan is going to be doing some singing, and she's from Bastrop and went to Tech. And we have Jake Kite, who was a Ruston High School student and is going to be doing some backup. So everybody is either from or lives in Ruston. Way back when I first started on the Dixie board, I asked what was the vibe, what was the whole culture of the Dixie. What was its mission statement. And their mission statement as they told me was to be a local theatre made up of local performers for local audiences. And I thought, you know, maybe we've strayed a little bit from that. We've got a lot of touring acts who've come through. And I thought I want to keep it local, and everybody, other than the one person who lives in West Monroe, is literally a Ruston resident and native. It is on mission statement of what the Dixie wanted to be, local talent and local crowds.

 It seems as if the show is somehow associated with an organization named Troupe Dixie. Could you tell me about that.

 Yeah. The Troupe Dixie is kind of the brain child of Ashley James, who is a Ruston native. She moved off several years back to Little Rock, and was a part of a local group up there. It was a similar idea. There was an older group of people in the town who were predominant in this one theatre. And it was a younger group to try to pull the younger crowd in to try to cross over generationally. And she came back. her husband and she moved back for jobs. And she came in and said, 'hey, let's get a group together for the younger set.' And we took a vote, came up with names. And the first thing we did, last year in May, was we had the Second City Comedy Troupe come in. And our first event was called the Brew-Haha, because they had an open bar before, and they were a comedy troupe. And they said that they needed a name for that group of people who would be putting on a certain amount of events per year. So we voted, and the name came up Troupe Dixie. The Troupe Dixie's basically just the embodiment of everything we're talking about, passing the Dixie on to the next generation.

 Could you give me an idea of what the song list will look like for the show?

 Yeah, I could tell you every song, but I'm not going to. Haha. 'Cause I want to temp you a little bit. The songs will be from Doobie Brothers. Taking it to the Streets. Layla from Eric Clapton, the original long format Layla with the piano. Some Fleetwood Mac. Some Stevie Wonder. Black Crows. Led Zeppelin. Queen. Several Paul McCartney songs. We have two sets. The first set is kind of a little older feel. And then the second set starts off with this eighties kind of feel. With some Simple Minds. With some Don't You Forget about Me. And Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love. And some Police. Some Pat Benatar. Cyndi Lauper. And then we do a little Lenny Kravitz. And we finish out with some Journey, a little AC-DC, and some Led Zeppelin. So we'll do Rock & Roll by Led Zeppelin will be our big ending song.

 Let me think of how to phrase this. Really, it's in the title, it's the first rock & roll spectacular.

 But not first annual, so as not to jynx ourselves!

 Right. And that's what I'm curious about because, you know, it's really trying to start in this new direction that's so much in line with the Dixie's mission statement, and bringing in parts of the youth and Ruston culture that have maybe been left out of the Dixie before. And using local talent. Do you see this in any way as opening the door to future things at the Dixie that haven't been there before? Is this in some ways like an experiment?

 I feel like it is. Of course, my name's on the poster so I feel like it's a lot of things, but the truth is I hope it opens the door. I hope that the Dixie becomes a very common name. I hope that local bands, or even touring bands, I want it to be the place that's got that magic. You hear about different periods. You hear about Seattle, the different bars during the grunge period. And you hear about the different places like the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport way back in the Elvis and the Johnny Cash days. Those places and those moments in time were magical. Not that I think that we're there yet, but it would be really cool to have this creative moment where we could create something. And typically when you try to create it, it fails. So to be quite honest with you, all I want to do is to sound good and to have a really fun night. That's kind of my singular focus at this point. I don't want to be a rockstar. I don't want to get best show of the year. I just want when everybody leaves to say, ' I had a really fun time.' That was kind of the point of the whole deal, to play good music we all know, that we maybe forgot we knew, and just leave at the end of the night and say 'I had a great time.' If that opens the door to future things, that'd be the biggest compliment you could ask.

 While I have you here, let's talk briefly about yourself and Rumo's. Can you tell me why you started this barbershop, and the process of creating the business?

 If I count correctly, twelve years ago, I was a kid and had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. I was not the college type. Turns out, I might be a little too hyper for that. Just wild energy, tons of energy. Couldn't sit still in a classroom. I finished high school and went to Tech for a little while, and that didn't work out so well. So I played music, and in my head the only thing I was ever going to be good at was music. But you realize really fast you got to pay the bills. By kind of a strike of luck, I walked into a local hair salon in Ruston looking for a job for a few weeks, and the lady hired me on the spot, told me she'd teach me how to cut hair. And that was it. I started doing hair. It's been now twelve years. For the first year or two, I'll be honest, I absolutely hated it and thought it was just the thing I could make a few bucks at while I played my music. But then something clicked and I started doing hair a little better and learning a few things. About that time, a band called me and asked me to come join them on the road and be based out of Alabama. So I moved and did that, and stayed over there for six years. And travelled all over the place and did records. And the whole time, I kept my hair going, I did some hair while I was doing that. And once the band stuff ended, I opened a business in Alabama and learned it was just right up my alley. I don't know how, but I just loved it. And I don't know how it succeeded, but it did. And so we came back, me and my wife. We had a baby and came back, and tried to find a niche market that didn't really exist in Ruston. And the hybrid salon/barbershop thing, I felt was pretty cool. We researched it and saw that all over, especially the West Coast and Northwest, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, they were doing these throwback barbershops, but it wasn't limited to just men. So we gave it a shot and said we're just going to do it. I had a lot of naysayers. Haha. They said it would never work. Women will never go to a place called a barbershop. Nobody's going to get it. Nobody's going to understand. Your music's too loud. Any number of negative comments. So we just did it anyway. And it's been great. It's been over two years now. We have just as many women as we do men. Didn't seem to bother anybody. I feel like we'll be here for a while.

 Tell me about your experience of trying to be successful, and also innovative, and just trying to achieve your dreams in a small town like Ruston, with the sort of environment that Ruston has.

 I think what you're saying without saying it is, 'How do you inspire a place that at times can not be so inspiring?' You don't have to say that, but that's how I took the question. Haha. I'll be really honest with you. I've had this thought for a long time; I've always felt like a left shoe in a right shoe town. Like a person who didn't fit. And yet I grew up here, and I love this town. I have nothing against it. I've always just felt a little funny here. And so in my head I've always just thought if you want to be creative, teach people how to be creative. If you want to innovate, teach your market. Kind of like the big sushi boom in Ruston over the past few years. I heard for years sushi will never work in Ruston. Well you can find sushi on every corner now, because somebody said 'we're just going to do it. We're just going to teach you that you like sushi.' And so they just did it. They put their money where their mouth was. There's so many creative people in this town. There's so many innovators. So many people that just have some wild thoughts, that can be afraid for some reason about this market. And maybe they have some proof that tells them to be afraid, but I haven't seen any of that proof yet. We have an extremely smart, very creative town, that people will respond to a good idea. And that's my philosophy. If a town doesn't get you, teach them. Teach them what a hip, cool place is. When I was in high school, you wouldn't come to Ruston to see a movie because there was no movie theater. We built one and all of a sudden, we watch movies in Ruston. It's a town full of smart people who enjoy the finer things in life. They enjoy arts. They enjoy good shopping. Good dining. Good business. And a lot of times, they'll pay for it in other places. And so there's this big mentality of 'they'll never support it here.' And that's as silly as you can be, if you ask my opinion. It's like 'if you build it they will come.' I'm just naïve enough to think that.

 Do you think it's fair to say there's a sort of cultural renaissance happening in Ruston right now? Just sitting here talking to you, I'm thinking about all the businesses that have either recently opened or are about to open, such as 102 Bistro, the Black Box. It seems as if the number of art shows has been increasing over the past few years. Even this Rock & Roll Spectacular could be seen as a part of that, the youthful awakening in Ruston. I'm not really sure if there's a question in there; would you just like to speak to that?

 Yeah, for sure. Whenever I came back to Ruston, which has been three years. Being from here, going away to a place I really loved in Alabama, but whenever we came back, it was like a breath of fresh air to come back. I don't know if this is any symbol to whatever, but I saw that there were three, and maybe even more, successful marketing and graphic design businesses. Not just in somebody's house, but had a design firm. I mean, my gosh I never heard of a design firm in Ruston. So just that in itself told me, if you can employ and keep busy three different design and marketing companies in Ruston, what that's saying to me is that there's this increased standard, that if you do business, you must do it well. You must have a great logo. You must have a great marketing plan. You must have a great plan of action. And what you're saying about the whole renaissance is, I don't know if it's happening everywhere, but it feels like it's happening in Ruston, is there's kind of this rebuke of the mass media. Things are going local. You have the farmer's market which is a great example of that. The farmer's market didn't exist. It was barely breathing there for a long time, but now that thing thrives and a lot of people really support it. Because it's local, and just the idea that I can buy from you locally better than from a person who sells a tomato in South Florida or where ever. But this whole idea that we can do it. We can do it locally, and we can do it just as good as anybody else. We don't have to outsource. We can stay local. And I'm not trying to stand on a soapbox or anything like that for local whatever, but it just really seems that there's this group of people. And I know what you're talking about, like the bike shop. They've really helped cycling culture in Ruston. And like the Black Box, they're going to really promote local theatre, and local art, and regional film and stuff like that, that really just didn't exist before. It's like okay, we've seen what Hollywood can give us. We've seen what New York can give us. We've seen what Paris and London can give us. But what do we have here? We have a lot of really good stuff here. Why don't we just enjoy our own? And I think that's fantastic. And with that, again, it's kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy in that if we are creative, we will grow creativity. If we are business-minded, we will grow creative business. If we expect fantastic marketing to compete in the business world, we will birth creative marketing. Every new business will say the number one marketing money I can spend is my logo. It's in its imphancy, but it's fantastic. If you look at any new businesses in town, the marketing and the design and the packaging, nine times out of ten it's really good. And that's a great thing. That's something I think we can say for our city that very few other cities can say. I'm sold. I feel like I'm a lifer at this point with this town.

 I think that's all the questions that I have. Thanks so much for speaking with me.

 Yeah, you bet.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Nicole Duet, the new professor of painting at Louisiana Tech University. You can view Professor Duet's art at nicoleduet.com

This interview has been edited for length.

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 So where did you get your BA?

 I got it from Cal State North Ridge. I'm from New Orleans originally. And I went to a few different universities in Louisiana. I went to LSU for a little while. I went to University of New Orleans. And then I did some theatre work in Tulane. And then that summer I made a decision to move out to California to get my Bachelors degree there. And I went to a theatre training program there for a little while, and finished up at Cal State North Ridge.

 When did you decide to do art?

 In my last year at North Ridge. I had electives, liberal arts electives that we could take. And one of them was life drawing. And I had always been interested in drawing as a kid, but never really pursued it. And when I took that class, I just fell in love with life drawing. And I was fortunate enough to have a really good teacher. So it all came down to this one elective that changed my idea about what I wanted to do. So I finished up my theatre degree. But by the time I finished, I had a few more art classes under my built, and I knew what I wanted to do was be a painter, and particularly a figurative painter.

 And then you entered an MFA program?

 Yeah. I took a period of time off in between getting my bachelors degree. I lived in New Mexico for a while. And I studied painting, mostly just by painting everyday on my own. And that allowed me to get experience and practice, and build a body of work. And after that I moved back to California. And at that time I started to apply for graduate programs. That was when I got into the MFA program at Cal State Long Beach, and got my MFA degree there.

 Is that where Bustamante went?

 Yes, exactly. And we met actually, but once. He had already graduated when I started, and I remember crossing paths with him in the hall once as I was moving into my MFA studio. And I think he said something to me like 'well you're coming into the program at a really good time, because there's lots of young people coming in and it's really competitive.' And he was teaching a beginning level class there, and I never saw him again, but I do remember hearing that he got hired at tech. So that was kind of an interesting coincidence.

 Tell me about your experience in between getting your bachelors and getting your masters, so far as trying to be successful in the arts or trying to do something related to the arts as a career or to support yourself.

 The one thing I knew in between finishing my bachelors degree was that I had a whole lot more to learn. So most of that time that I spent not in school was spent painting everyday on my own in my studio. Literally just painting still lifes, getting into the habit of working everyday. And taking that opportunity to practice the things that I felt like I needed to learn in order to be able to make the kind of art that I wanted to make. So that was really my work. I was fortunate enough to be in a situation where I could just do a little bit of part time work on the side, and spend the rest of the time painting in the studio. So when I moved out to California, I started working as an art model in various art classes. And I got to meet a lot of great teachers that way, and I got to see a lot of great art programs that way, some of the big art schools on the west coast, like art center and Pen Otis College. I worked there quite a bit and saw what people were teaching and what students were doing, so most of my work at that time was jobs that would allow me to continue to paint. I did do some gallery work for a while. And it was connected to those early still lifes. I showed my work in Santa Fe for quite a few years, in a gallery off the plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And that was a great experience, gave me a taste of the professional side of making paintings. But somewhere in that time, my ideas about the kind of work that I wanted to make were changing. And so that's what let me gradually transition out of that gallery work into the MFA program, which I took as an opportunity to set aside time to paint and develop a new body of work, which was totally different from the still life paintings I was making. So to support myself while I was a grad student, I started teaching, almost right away. Two careers, one love was teaching, and one love was making paintings.

 You were teaching at what level?

 Well I started teaching a painting class at a school where I studied. It wasn't a school; it was kind of like an adult extension program connected to the animation guild in Los Angeles. This was a place where animators could go and take classes outside of work so that they could build their skills, especially in life drawing and in representational painting. And because that had been my focus for a long time, I went there to study life painting, with some really great teachers who were also really great animators. Once I started going to grad school, I proposed a class to the animation union. I wanted to teach a basic intro painting class. Something that would allow people to learn to use paint without worrying about painting the model, which is very difficult. So I proposed a still life painting class, and that was my first painting class. I had been doing that for about two years when I got into the grad program at Long Beach, and within my second semester of being in the MFA program at long beach, they offered me a life drawing class. So I really did start teaching right away. Sometimes teaching adults, like in that program at the animation union, sometimes teaching foundation level classes to freshmen, which is mostly what they give grad students, which I enjoy too.

 What influence do you think your background in theatre has had on your art?

 I think a couple things pretty directly. My painting is narrative painting, so I'm interested in stories. I'm interested in circumstances, moments that happen between people that are undefinable in words. In theatre, some of the most profound things happen when actors aren't speaking to each other, when there's just an exchange that creates a certain tension or a certain poignance to a moment. And that's the same thing I'm interested in in my own painting. Literally though, like I was telling you I loved building sets, and I love the things that happens when the lights come on in the first dress rehearsal. That crosses literally over into my paintings. A lot of the composition, a lot of the color is based on staging characters within a space. And a lot of the colors are determined by the color of the light that is connected to a mood or a story. And so some of those early things like the transformative quality that light can have on a composition come directly from theatre. Also, theatre oftentimes is about the circumstances and problems that we have in life, big and small, and my painting revolves around those questions too.

 Switching gears entirely, How does it feel to move from a big city, and sort of like the nexus of the Western world like Los Angeles, to Ruston, Louisiana?

 Haha. That is switching gears a lot I think, for me too. Actually it's like switching gears. I'm from New Orleans originally, but I've been in Los Angeles for over half my life. So, in some sense, my primary feeling about it so far is that it's giving me a chance to come home, which I've been actually looking for for a long time. And I think I go through different phases as a painter, different needs, different sides of myself. In Los Angeles, there's obviously all kinds of input, all kinds of art forms and all kinds of influence that a person has that affect the way I make art, and my ideas about art. That can be a good thing, depending on whatever phase I'm in with my work, and it can be an overwhelming and distracting thing. So I think that this move came right at a time when two things were happening. Personally, I was looking for a way to do something from my home state, and professionally, I'm in a phase now where I need less distraction, and more of, I think one of my colleagues here described it as laid back or relaxed in a way, I think I need more of that, haha, to get to the next stage of my work. So it's a change that feels big, but it also feels right at the same time. And my work is becoming much more about growing up here, too, so that's an interesting coincidence as well.

 What are your impressions so far of Ruston and the art scene here?

 I've only had a couple days. I don't know if I can really answer that fully. I'm excited by some new things, Nick was just telling me about the Black Box, and I love the fact that there's the old theatre right across the way. And I saw that there's live music and all that available here. All of those things are things that I would look for back in Los Angeles. And however big or small they are, they're present here too. And that's all really exciting. It seems like, just talking with the people that I'm making friends with here now, it's a pretty vibrant artistic community. And I'm really excited to get to know it more, to see more of what's going on around here and in the outlying areas too.

 In a traditional medium such as painting, and also considering the post-modern climate of theory in which there's no trajectory or continuum of progress, what does innovation in painting look like?

 That's a great question. I think I'm constantly asking that of myself. And I'm constantly asking that of the painting that I see. I might be able to answer that in part by saying what it doesn't look like. There's a lot of work out there that seems to be focused exclusively on a genre or a style, and when you look at it, you get a feeling that it's basically a representation of that look. So that to me easily becomes fixed in a way. So it's not really letting one painting or one idea bump into the next idea and influence the next painting. Innovation is a really difficult thing to define. It can't ever seem like innovation for it's on sake. If you're just taking risks and slapping paint around without a connection to an intention, then that's not innovation. What I like to see, in my own work and in an artist's history, is transformation. Being able to see a through-line is part of it, but finding problems and asking questions that take the style in one direction and then that influences the next style and that influences the next. So I'm not giving you a concrete look or anything. I'm just giving you my ideas about innovation and what I look for, what I hope to see.

 Could you tell me a little bit about your teaching philosophy, or what you've found that works?

 My teaching philosophy is really influenced by those early experiences I was telling you about at the animation union. In different art forms, I've had many teachers in my life, some of whom were the kind of teacher who were all about 'let yourself do whatever you want to do and let's see where it goes from there.' And then I've had other teachers who were very much 'this is step one, step two, step three, step four,' and then you do all those things and you'll get to this point. And those are radically different philosophies. The ones that work for me were the ones that made me feel like I was getting concrete, tangible information that helped me to get to the next level, helped me to have the skills and abilities to do what it was that I wanted to do. When I found that, I realized I had found teachers who were not only teaching me how to be an artist, but they were teaching me how to teach. So my philosophy is influenced by that. It's really hands on. I believe in showing a ton of different kinds of work related to an idea from all different kinds of eras of drawing, painting, and photography. I believe strongly in being able to demonstrate as well as being able to talk your way through an idea with students. And so I work one on one with everyone in my class everyday. That's really important to me. It's a visual world, and so it needs to be dealt with visually in the classroom, whether that's through showing a lot of examples or showing by example, by doing. It's both of those things. And then I also feel that most of what I have been teaching, it's classes at the foundation level. So it's really about skill building and increasing awareness and understanding of what's possible. Another dimension of that level of foundation class that I think is important is creating an awareness in the student of their own ideas. What is your answer to this age old problem? So, fostering, doing whatever I can to engage in a dialogue with students about their ideas, and helping to form those ideas in relationship to the projects. All that's interconnected, all that makes for a well-rounded classroom experience.

 Could you describe for me your ideal student, or what qualities someone needs to be successful as an art student?

 That also goes back to my own early experiences as an art student. I know what worked for me, and I know where I fell short of trying hard enough to achieve what I wanted to achieve. So my ideal student is a person who asks questions a lot. The worst thing, the most uncomfortable thing anyway, is to look out across a sea of empty faces. So if there's a student or two or three or four who ask questions whenever they come to mind, and freely without being self-conscious, that's an ideal situation for me. You have students who come to class already with a little skill, but that isn't even necessarily the ideal circumstance. You can come to class as a student with a willingness to learn and not much else. And I think that's a part of my ideal student. In addition to those personal qualities, the ideal student is someone who's willing to work, someone who's willing to keep their goals in sight, and to suit their choices to their goals. So I really do want to see someone giving everything they have to a class and to a project, personally and in terms of how they handle projects. So if I can see that development from the beginning to the end of a quarter, where something has changed in terms of the way you've handled the materials because you've applied yourself, then that's really exciting to me, no matter what the starting point is. That's someone who's a pleasure to work with. Because they're engaged. They're engaged at the level of ideas and asking questions. And they're engaged with the wonder side of making art, which is the question like what happens when I do this? And how does the amount of time and effort a energy that I put into it physically affect that? It's all this kind of personality that's open on one level to new information, and also willing to try and apply themselves on another level.

 Do you have any thoughts about the role of art in society?

 Yeah. I do. And those thoughts are, just like everything else I've said, are constantly formulating and reformulating in my mind. But I believe that one of the primary roles of art is to keep us connected with what's invisible. It's to make visible what's invisible. It's the deeper questions of life that have been ongoing for as long as there's been records about the questions that we ask as people. Art takes us out of our normal selves and gives us an extraordinary experience, the best art does. Even the art that is not the best does that, because it keeps us thinking in extra-normal ways, beyond 'what do I need to get at the grocery store,' into questions about what it means to be a human in the world. So whether or not you're a person whose art is political or a person whose art is fanciful, or a person whose art is ironic, those art just avenues into the same basic world, which is to teach us about what it means to be human, in this world.

 I think that all the questions I have.

 Thanks so much.

 Sure. You're welcome. It's my pleasure.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Bonnie Ferguson and Chris Seaman, husband and wife and owners of Pastry Moon Soap. You can find Pastry Moon online at pastrymoon.etsy.com and on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pastry-Moon/164089193603580 This interview has been edited for length.

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 Do you want to start by walking me through the soap making process?

 BF - Well, my part is mostly picking out the colors and the scent, and if there's a special decorative part.

 CS - You gotta decide what oils you want. You get your lye. And then . . . Should I tell them the secret part? Haha. Then once you have your oils and your lye, you mix up your lye. You weigh out everything. And then you melt your oils. And you mix them together. And you got soap!

 How many different kinds of soap do you make?

 BF - We're trying to streamline it so it's just a few of the best, but right now we have over twenty different kinds.

 CS - Is it twenty?

 BF - Yeah.

 CS - I was going to say like a dozen. We've made that many, but we're trying to get it down to maybe ten.

 What are some of the most popular ones so far?

 BF - Tea Breeze, Energy - which is a citrus smell. Tea Breeze, it's got tea tree oil and the essential oil of black tea in it. So it has an earthy fragrance. But then the tea tree oil is basically good for anything wrong with the skin. So it just makes this wonderful healing bar. And everybody likes it. We also put oatmeal in it. He likes to grind up the oatmeal very fine. I like it a little bit chunkier. And then Energy is like a citrus blend. People think it's fresh, and some people think it smells like Smarties. Those two are probably the main ones. In fact, I've got one lady that will buy a whole entire batch of Tea Breeze at one time.

 CS - Lavender seems to do alright.

 BF - Yeah, we've made a few batches of lavender. Have y'all smelled our new ones?

 No.

 BF - Come on, let's get them.

 So what are your personal favorites?

 CS - I like Tea Tree ones. I like the Blueberry.

 BF - These are just the new ones. So far, people really like Almond. I think Almond's going to be on our "make forever" list. And Almond is really fun because we put crushed up walnut shells in it. So it's really an exfoliator.

 CS - You didn't get clover.

 BF - That's not one of our new ones!

 CS - Oh yeah, I really like that Palm Citrus too.

 BF - Yeah, people really like the Palm Citrus.

 CS - It might be a tie between the Palm and the Tea Breeze.

 BF - The one that's not really successful is the Tuti-Fruti. I don't know why. It's Strawberry and Energy, but nobody likes it.

 CS - More for us. The good thing is we have extra soap. Don't have to buy soap.

 If people want to buy your soap, where can they go?

 BF - We just got our Etsy. So it's pastrymoon.etsy.com.

 CS - Right now, we have some at Crescent City.

 BF - And Acorn Creek. And then the Etsy. And then our next festival is going to be the Chicken Festival in Dubach. And then it's the Celtic Festival, my favorite festival of all time! Y'all should come.

 Where's that?

 BF - It's going to be at Forsythe Park this year. It should be really great. They're going to have live music, and of course the Highland Games. I think that this kind of deal where you sell stuff at festivals and everything was really along the original plan that I wanted to do, which was to have an artisan trading company, where we could utilize all the things we make. I make hats, bags, purses, jewelry kind of. And Chris dabbles in making other things too. And we really wanted to have an encompassing venue for selling things.

 How did y'all decide to make soap?

 BF - Well, really it was kind of desperation, because we were having a baby, and Chris graduated in biology.

 CS - Which has nothing to do with soap.

 BF - No. And I'm an artist. But we decided to do it because we needed to support our child. It's not a regular job. It's not like working for somebody. But at least we've been able to not die.

 Do you get a different sense of satisfaction out of crafting useful items than you do out of making paintings and drawings?

 BF - Oh yeah. I think I focus on the fact that for me painting and drawing is an emotional expression. So when I paint something, it's just a much deeper more intimate act of creation than is making something deliberately to please someone else's tastes, which a craft is. Nobody makes fifty purses because they like fifty purses. They make fifty purses hoping someone else will like them.

 What reasons are there for people to purchase your soap, or any artisan soap, as opposed to a mass produced soap?

 BF - For one, if you buy a mass produced soap in the store, sure you're contributing to a local business, but you also used a freight line eighteen wheeler truck to ship that soap across the country. And it's been made at a factory where you don't know what they're really putting in there. You can read the label, but you don't really know what that stuff is.

 CS - What more reason do you need than you're spending money in the community which is going to be spent in the community. And like she said, the ingredients in soap . . . Some people don't realize they don't like animal fat in their soap. And they're like 'why is my soap getting all flaky and dry?' I don't know. Maybe 'cause you buy mass produced, cheap two for a dollar soap. Which is a good deal, that really is a good deal. Man oh man, I wish we could make soap that affordable.

 BF - There was this Amish cookbook my mom used to cook from all the time. And as a kid I loved to go through there and see all the pictures. Because they were very artfully done. And there was this picture of this Amish family making their soap. And it just looked so clean! It was these huge blocks of beautiful white soap. And they used that soap for everything. They grind it up to wash their clothes. They scrub the floors with it, the walls. And they wash themselves with it.

 CS - Our soaps are typically larger, too, than the three ounce bars you get at a store.

 BF - That's true. And they make your skin really soft.

 CS - Yes. It's good quality. I don't know how to put it in numbers, but it's much better quality than the mass produced soap you can find at the store.

 BF - Plus most bars aren't even really soap, they're moisturizing bars.

 CS - Yep.

 BF - Like Dove, it's not really soap.

 What's the difference?

 BF - It has no lye in it.

 CS - It's just the oil. Haha.

 BF - Most people don't know that body wash is not really soap. It's body wash. Haha.

 CS - Yeah, it's strange because soap's something that we use everybody. Everybody uses soap at some time or another, hopefully. But people don't realize that it's soap or it's not soap. 'Oh I didn't realize that this squishy hand lotion that I'm putting on isn't soap.' Or maybe they just don't care. Maybe they don't need to know what soap is because they think it's getting the job done.

 Even now I'm wondering what it is the lye does in the soap.

 CS - Well yeah, my little chemistry lesson. I wish I had a little chart. It's basically fat, saturated fatty acids or unsaturated or polyunsaturated fatty acids. But at the end of that, there's a carboxylic group which has some oxygens and stuff in there. And when you mix the lye, it kicks that off of there. And then puts the sodium from the sodium hydroxide. So when you do that, it makes it a lot more waxy, and that's what makes it hard. You get rid of the oxygen and you put that big sodium molecule on there. The biproduct, interestingly enough, is water. It's a simple exchange reaction.

 You mentioned earlier about one motivation to buy artisan soap is to support the community. I'm curious, Do you feel there's a connection between a desire for community involvement and doing something creative like making soap or making art?

 CS - Me personally, I don't think I'm speaking for Bonnie on this part, but in order to be involved in the community, everyone should be able to contribute in some way or another. Maybe someone's really good at weaving. Or someone's really good at sewing or making soap, or carpentry. All that stuff. So I think, yeah, a community really depends on the talent and the diversity of everyone's individual talents that make up that community. Hopefully there's no one else out there that really wants to make soap that's been kind of turned down. They're like 'oh well, it's already being done, so I guess I'll wait.' I'd hate to push someone out of the soapmaking market.

 BF - Well that goat lady makes soap, but we're not pushing her out. We respect her boundaries.

 CS - See I worry that if we make goat milk soap that we'll have to say this does contain animal goat milk.

 BF - We're going to try to make some, but it's for one specific person.

 CS - Yeah, just so people will know that.

 Do you have any advice for anyone else wanting to start a small business or start an arts and crafts type endeavor like this?

 BF - First of all, you have to treat it as if it were a real job. It's no longer a hobby. So you have to treat it seriously. And be optimistic. And you also have to look for your opportunities. You can't just expect it to happen just because you're making a great product or a great piece of work. You have to make yourself a brand. You just do it. It's like the DIY artist lifestyle. Haha. If you don't hustle, it's not going to happen. You also have to plan, be organized. And try to be cost efficient, because if you're going to make a product that costs too much to produce that you can't even start up your business 'cause you don't have the startup money, then maybe you should think of something else to make. Because you have to be able to make a product in order to sell it.

 CS - Write everything down. Keep good books. And don't do something you hate.

 BF - Yeah.

 CS - I didn't say do something you love. Just do something you don't hate. 'Cause sometimes you might have to do something that isn't your most favorite thing in the world, but if you're good at it and it's not terrible, that can be just as good as if you love it. Maybe it'll grow on you.

 Could you tell me about the things you've done to promote yourselves?

 BF - A lot of it is just opportunity. Like we did the Holiday Arts Tour last year, and it ended up we were in a couple different papers. So that helped.

 CS - Word of mouth a lot. As far as advertising, we don't really have the capital to get a lot of advertisements out there.

 BF - And then festivals. And like I was saying about our Tea Breeze soap, people have become addicted to it. Just having good product keeps people coming back and spreading the word.

 CS - Yeah I think the quality of the soap has been our best marketing or advertising.

 BF - Oh yeah, and facebook. We've got a facebook.

 Of course, we've been doing this whole interview with your son Gabe. Could you tell me how being a parent has changed your lives?

 BF - How's it changed my life? Well Chris is going to give you a totally different answer. Haha. I was actually thinking about this earlier. I had to fill out a form, and it was asking about stuff from the beginning of 2010. And I became pregrant in 2010. So I was trying to remember the beginning of the year. And I remembered going to Paris. Didn't remember anything else about my life. Haha. It's changed where, I used to be a lot more nervous person. I didn't know how I was going to occupy myself or occupy my time, or how I was going to plan for the future or anything. And that's changed entirely, complete 180 about my life. Because babies have to have structure, and I give him as much structure as I can. And so that in turn makes me have a lot less anxiety about life in general. And it also just makes me like I will provide for him. Whether it's making soap or making art or painting paintings, whatever I know how to do I'm going to do it.

 CS - Yeah he's a good motivator.

 BF - That's how it's really changed. And that's changed my art personally. Because I used to just make art because it was pretty or something. And now it has to provide. Art has to provide.

 What about you, Chris?

 CS - Well, like I said, he's a good motivator. Before, I was just always looking out for number one. And then a little baby comes along. Well first, Bonnie. You get a plus one, and then you get a plus one. And then you're not just you anymore. You're "us" now. And so everything that would drive you to want to do something for yourself is changed. Not changed, well yeah it's changed. I guess it's a cliche, but a major point in people's lives when they can either deal with the change and accept it or they can go crazy from it and not be able to deal with it. It certainly shows you how to handle stress. Or shows you if you're good at handling stress. Haha. It's like a teacher. Just reflection, everything you can't remember when you were a baby you get to see. Everything you can't remember as a baby, you get to make up these memories, like oh I must have been like this. And he teaches us everything that we forget, I guess. I certainly forgot how to be a kid, so I'm glad he's showing me what it's like to be a kid again.

Well that's all the questions I have. Do you have anything you'd like to add?

 CS - I do like the sense of community that making soap has brought. Because I've met people, especially during the festivals and everything. That's really great. And I don't think there's enough of that. Just people getting out and doing things. It makes me wonder if people even know what community even means anymore. Or if I know what it means anymore! Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I don't know what it means.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Paul and Mary Fran Crook of B & B Theatre. Don't forget to come see RFK this Friday and Saturday at 8pm at the Norton Building. Interview and transcript edited for length.

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This is Q&Art. I'm Russell Pirkle, and today I am interviewing Paul Crook and Mary Fran Crook, professors of theatre at Louisiana Tech and Grambling University respectively, and founders of the B & B Theatre, for which Paul serves as director and Mary Fran as producer.

Could y'all tell me about the show that's coming up . . . next week, is that right?

PC - Next Week. Would you like to do that or should I?

MFC - I will. It's next week, August 19th and 20th at the Norton Building located downtown on Mississippi. Doors open at seven o'clock. The show will begin at eight o'clock. We're trying to avoid as much heat as possible, and are praying for rain to break it out. But again, it is B & B, which stands for Basket and Beverage, so people are welcome to bring a basket of food and their beverage of choice and sit back and enjoy an evening of theatre.

PC - And, decorate their tables!

MFC - Right, decorate their tables, because for this show, which I kind of got inspired by some of the participants who came for Graceland to have a table decorating contest. And the theme is actually patriotism, so bring out your Fourth of July gear and celebrate again. And there will be a prize which is yet to be announced.

PC - That's right. There will be a fabulous prize. We will have a special local celebrity guest judge who will judge the table decorations. And each night he will choose . . .

MFC - Or she!

PC - He or she will choose one table as the winning table, and that table will receive a fabulous prize, fabulous parting gifts.

And the show, that's RFK, is that right?

PC - Yes, that is the name of the show, RFK, written by a man named Jack Holmes.

How did you choose this show?

PC - Mary Fran chose it.

MFC - I actually was given the script by a colleague that I work with at Grambling State University, just to read it. And it was one that once I started it . . . I felt bad because it stayed on my desk for a while, and I had some time so I decided to read it. And I started it, and I couldn't put it down. I was like 'this is such a great play, the history in it.' And I wanted to share it with Paul. And so he read it and felt the same way, and we got together this idea about the B & B Theatre, and we wanted to make it a small cast for the inaugural season. And I thought what about RFK, and you [Paul] play RFK? Because it's always nice, especially for our students to see us actually doing something outside the classroom, showing that we do have some kind of professional work outside. So RFK, I fell in love with it after I first read it, and I'm enjoying the opportunity to get to direct it, especially with my husband. Because this doesn't happen often. Haha.

Ok, so whenever I did the intro, I said that you, Paul, were usually the director . . .

PC - I'm the artistic director of the company. It is weird. I'm the artistic director, and Mary Fran is the producer of the company. But for this show, she's directing the play, and I'm just an actor.

What do you think it was about Robert Kennedy that made him such a unique political figure?

PC - I think a couple of things. One, certainly is his relationship to JFK. The world had a fascination with John F. Kennedy and with Jackie. They were young. They were vibrant. They were passionate. They had big ideas. And Robert was a part of that. And when JFK was assassinated, I think it was natural to look to Robert to carry the torch. But I also don't think that RFK was strictly a coattail rider. He had his own reputation. We see these events in the play. We see his work in the attorney general's office, fighting organized crime, fighting the corruption in the Teamsters' union, his court battles with Sam G. Encana. His court battles with Jimmy Hoffa. We see him come into his own as a political figure, solitary, but he still had a lot of the same qualities that JFK had. He was young. He was vibrant. He was full of new ideas. And that spoke to a generation of people who were looking for change, who were looking for something different than what they had. And it's why anytime a politician comes on the scene who is young, who is advocating change, who is advocating a new direction, they get compared to RFK and JFK. We saw it in 2008 with President Obama's campaign. All of the comparisons between him and JFK and RFK, because here he was, a young guy, 47 I guess when he was elected, he was running on a platform of hope and change. And that tied directly back to RFK, and that resonates with the younger members of a society.

Are there any other actors and actresses in the play besides yourself?

PC - Haha. Unfortunately No. (All laugh) It's just me. It's a one man show. Jack Holmes wrote it actually for himself. He wrote it and did it himself. The first six or so professional performances from workshop performances to off broadway performances to performances in Cincinnati and Boston and other big cities, it was just him. He had a passion for the Kennedy family, and that was what sparked his interest in writing the play. So he wrote it as a one man show, and that's it. RFK is the only character in the play, so it's just me. Talking.

Do you want to speak a little about how this role compares to other roles you've played in the past?

PC - It's a lot more words! Haha. That's a cheesy thing to say, but it's true. Here's the difference: I've done of course big huge shows, and I've had leading role in big shows. I've had small roles in big shows. I've also done a three person show a couple of times. And I've done a two person show a couple of times. And each of those, the fewer actors you get, the more pressure comes on you to bring it as an actor, to be on your game. Because you've got a shared stage. And when you're doing a two person show, and it's just me and you back and forth, man, we both gotta be there. We both gotta go. Take one of those people away, and the pressure just multiplies exponentially. And that's the difficult thing. There's nobody else you can feed off of. There's nobody else up there to share energy with, to share an approach with, to share a communion with. So what happens is the audience takes the place of that other actor. There becomes this give and take between the performer and the audience. And as an actor, I'll be interested to see, having never done a one man show before, how deeply that synergy can work.

MFC - But also, you're playing a historical figure, where your other characters, you kind of built it on your own. But this one, Paul has sat there and researched and listened to clips of RFK, trying to figure out the voice, even to how he says specific words. Because it's been 43 years. That's not a long time ago for a lot of the people who will most likely be coming to see this performance. RFK is still fresh in their memory. JFK, RFK, that whole family is still fresh in their memory. So Paul has really gone a step further trying to recreate Robert Kennedy, not just Paul Crook but Paul Crook portraying Robert Kennedy to the best that he can.

PC - Yeah, and that's a tough part. That's a tough thing, I think. And this is the first time I've played a role who was an actual person so recently in our midst. I've played historical figures in a Shakespearean show. You know, I've played the Duke of York, who was, yes, a real person. But there's nobody alive who remembers the Duke of York. And that's a challenge in this because we're going to have people in the audience that voted for Kennedy. We're going to have people who voted for JFK, or voted against him. Or remember wathing him. Or watched some of the hearings on TV, or saw clips of the hearings. They have a person relationship and a personal memory of him. And I've got to live up to that, which is tough. That's a tough challenge for an actor. And because I'm 42, I was born the year after RFK was assassinated, so all of the research I've done has been relying on youtube clips and stuff I find online to get a feel for . . . How does he sit? How does he walk? How does he talk? Which side did he part his hair on? He had more hair than me, but I'll do the best I can to part it that way. So it's a tough thing.

Mary Fran, could you tell me a little bit about your role as the director?

MFC - Paul made this comment when he was directing Graceland, that with his two actresses, Allie [Allison Gilbert Bennet] and Rebecca [Rebecca E. Taylor], they're just such great performers, that his role comes easy. And it's the same way with directing Paul. It's kind of easy, in a way. I'm just here to be that eye for him. And there are things that maybe he doesn't see that I feel like should be in there, so I've been trying to get him to go that direction. The problem with scripts is that there's always directions in it, and stuff that's expected, but that was also for the first time that it was ever done. But just trying to make sure that I'm getting across what I want the audience to see. And having an audience, it would be nice, because it's just he and I in here and these four walls at times. So just making him get off book, that might help a little bit more, but like he said, it's seventy pages of words. Seventy pages.

PC - Fifty. For the love of God, don't give me seventy!

MFC - Fifty pages of all words.

PC - I couldn't do seventy. Haha.

Could y'all tell me about any other people who have a role in making the B & B Theatre possible?

PC - Yes! One is the North Central Louisiana Arts Council, which has been fabulous. When we had the idea to do this, one thing that we knew is that we couldn't do it ourselves. We had an idea, so we went and we put together a proposal, a presentation, and we went to the Arts Council and proposed it and asked if the Arts Council would be interested in sponsoring this kind of new artistic venture getting of the ground. And one of the things we stressed was, we want this to be a complement to other artistic activites in North Central Louisiana. We don't want to compete. We made very certain when we were choosing the shows and the dates that we weren't going to conflict with anything that RCT was doing, and we weren't going to conflict with anything and the Dixie, and we weren't going to conflict with any art gallery openings that were going on. We want this to be a part of, an addition to the art scene. And so the Arts Council was great. And the Stone family, who helped sponsor it. Kathy Stone, who was at that board meeting, loved the idea and said 'Absolutely. We'll help out in any way that we can.' So the Stone family and the Arts Council. We wouldn't be doing it, if they didn't support us, Mary Fran and I would be sitting at home watching Let's Make a Deal right now. And not rehearsing.

MFC - And the Nortons. They were gracious to let us use the space, provide us with the space at the Norton Building. I've worked with Dean [Norton] before, when I was at the Dixie Center for the Arts, for an event that we had that went with the two. It's just a great space, so definitely the Nortons as well.

PC - Mhm.

MFC - And the community.

PC - Well yeah. And that's the thing. Leigh Anne [Chambers], she helped us out above and beyond her role as the director of the Arts Council. She helped out with Graceland and has been helping out with this. And April. And you. Everybody, the Arts Council has helped getting press releases out, setting up interviews. The Louisiana Tech Department of Theatre has allowed us to use this rehearsal space and some props and some set pieces, which has been really nice. And then, like every theatrical endeavor, it's a communal event, so there are tons and tons of people who help out with it.

You mentioned about wanting to be complementary to the other theatrical and art things that are going on currently. I'm curious, what do you feel about what sort of niche that the B & B Theatre fills that wasn't already?

PC - We look at this as adult theatre is what we say. And everytime I say that I think 'oh my God, it sounds like we're doing porn.' It's not. Haha. It's not that, but it's theatre for adults. Louisiana Tech's theatre department, every theatre caters to a specific audience. Tech's theatre department caters to the campus community, and our season ticket holders, who are typically kind of older members of our community. Ruston Community Theatre targets family audiences. And that's what every good community theatre does. You look at their shows, they're doing shows the whole family can come and enjoy a great evening or afternoon of theatre. They did Annie. A couple of years ago they did Cheaper by the Dozen. And all the shows they have are all fantastic, but they're for families. Likewise, Grambling's target audience is the Grambling campus. What we wanted to provide with the B & B, and the niche we wanted to fill, is theatre for adults to come and enjoy. We don't want you to bring your kids. This should be a date night for the adults, to come out and enjoy. Like Mary Fran said, bring your picnic basket and your dinner, whatever it's going to be. Bring your bottle of wine. Bring your six pack of beer. Bring your whatever. Your two litre of Coca-Cola, whatever it's going to be. But sit back and enjoy shows that are meant to be enjoyed by an adult audience. Whether they're comedy, or whether they're dramas, or what have you. Graceland dealt with mature themes. It dealt with loss. Even though it's a comedy, it dealt with psychological abuse. It dealt with relationships. It dealt with finding yourself. Even though it's a comedy, it was for adults. Same thing holds true with RFK, and this is a theme, we're talking about a past political figure in the United States, not a lot of ten year olds are going to be that interested, I don't think. Haha. But this is for adults. This is intelligently written. It's intelligently directed. I hope it's intelligently performed. And we want an intelligent, mature audience to come and sit back and enjoy an evening of entertainment.

I know you both have a wealth of theatrical experience, but were there any new challenges or experiences involved in creating and running the B & B Theatre?

MFC - With this play specifically, because it is two acts, four scenes in the first act and five scenes in the second act, and there's all these transitions that lighting would really come in handy. So in having a dance background, I'm one that I choreograph everything, I really do. That's how I like to direct. And trying to get all of this to run together, and our hope right now is that we do this without and intermission. We've just got to see if we can. I've got water breaks, you know 'take a sip of water here, take a sip of water there.' But the lighting aspect has been . . . But other than that, theatre can be done anywhere. It's like Peter Brooks said, 'you just need a person walking across the floor and one person watching, that's theatre.' It can go anywhere.

PC - And I think, the only challenge in terms of the theatre company itself is people need to get used to us. It's something new that's in town. When we set out to do this, we said 'alright, we want to bring professional theatre to Ruston. We want to use this first year to see it's successful, if there's an audience for it. 'Cause you never know. There may not be. But We think there will be.' And if this is successful, and if RFK is as successful or more successful than Graceland was, then we'll look to do it again next year. But the other thing, and this goes back to your earlier question about what niche we fill, our goal is we do want this to be, for all intents and purposes, a professional theatre company. The people that we're going to hire to work are people who have worked professionally before. This is not something we take lightly. We're both very serious about it. If we're going to choose a show, and we're going to choose actors for the show, we want to make sure that everybody has worked professionally before, has got that experience. They've got a certain level of training and experience that allows them to work in these conditions. Because one of the biggest differences between what we're doing with the B & B and say what we do at Tech, at Tech we typically will rehearse shows for five or six weeks. Sometimes even seven. And you're looking at rehearsals six days a week, three hours a day. Well, being in the summer, because we're working small, and because we're working with all professionals here, we're rehearsing these in two weeks. And we're rehearsing, depending on however long in the afternoon or evening or morning, whenever we're scheduling our rehearsals, we're putting it together quickly. And there's a pacing to it that you have to have done before and be used to in order for it to work. And if I just pulled a couple of my students, or a couple of Mary Fran's students out, if they had not done this before, they woudn't be able to do it now. There's nothing wrong with that. They just haven't had that experience. So that's why we're looking to make this as smooth as possible so we can get the best product on stage possible.

Do you have any thoughts about the role of theatre in society, and what it offers that say tv and movies don't?

PC - I'll give you the short version of it. Here's the thing. Theatre, like any art form, we are the historical recorders of a society. We are the conscience of a society. We are the commentators for a society. We are the entertainers for a society. Those are all roles that theatre fills. That are important roles, that add to any culture, that add to every sociological setting. These are things that theatre can do. It goes back to that sense of community that we talked about earlier that you don't get with a movie. You don't get with a television. I love movies. I love tv shows. There's nothing wrong with them. The thing, and it's what I tell my students all the time. We're not competing with the movies, or with tv. We can't. Live theatre can't compete. And I don't care what your budget is. I don't care if it is Les Mis. I don't care if it is Miss Saigon and you're landing a damn helicopter on the stage. It's still not going to be as impressive as Platoon or Full Metal Jacket in the movie theater. When you've got all of the special effects, all of the money, all of the camera angles and everything else you can do in the movies, we can't compete with that. And we shouldn't try to compete with that. But what theatre offers is an immediacy, a story-telling connection between artists and audience that is real, that is synergetic. That is Visceral.

MFC - Tangible.

PC - That is communal. And it's an event. And there it is, and we all go. The three of us, we go, and we sit down and we watch a play together. And we have experienced something together. Those of us in that room, both performers and backstage technicians, and audience members, we have all experienced something that no one else has and no one will again. Because it's ethereal. It's one night. The show is performed and then it's done. Even when you perform it the next time, it's not the same as the night before, because you've got a new set of circumstances around it. It's a new audience, and maybe an understudy is in the role or the weather is different or whatever it is. But it's never the same twice. And that is so cool. That is something. To be a part of that, to be a part of that community for those forty-five minutes, or one hour, or ninety minutes, or three hours, or whatever it is, that nobody else has.

MFC - We're true life. You know, the audience members can feel that personal state. They can feel it. They are a part of it. And there's nothing like it. We are true form. We can't stop and cut and paste. A bleep or a dropped line, we can't rewind it. We can't rewind our life either. We are true. Where, yeah, we can cry at movies. We can laugh at television. But there's just something about that synergy that you feel. You can't feel that in front of a screen.

You've already gone a long ways toward answering this question with the last question, but what drew you two to theatre as a career?

MFC - Hahaha!

PC - Me again?

MFC - Sure.

PC - For me it's easy. The short answer is I have no other marketable skills. None. I got nothing. Why are you in theatre? This is it. This is all I can do. I can't build anything. I can't fix anything. I can't go into a kitchen and create a five course meal. I can't build a widget or sell a widget or anything like that. These are the skills that I have, right. It's the only marketable skills I have are acting and directing. That's the short answer. The meatier answer is I direct and I act because there are stories that I want to tell. And this is how I tell stories, is through theatre, through plays. I read a play, I see a play. I read a story, and it speaks to me. And there's something about that that I want to share with other people. And there is a story that I want to tell, that this play helps me tell. That's why I do it. I talk about this when I teach directing classes all the time. As a director, you want to have that connection with the script. It needs to be something that you feel you bring something to it, and you can help tell that story. That's why I do it. It ain't for the money. Haha.

MFC - My true role in theatre is stage management/theatre management. And I got into that when I was an undergrad dance major, and I saw somebody on a headset, and I was curious. What is that? And I realized it's stage management. They control everything. And I like to be in control.

PC - Ain't that the truth!

MFC - But it's so hard for me sometimes to go to the theatre and not sit there and look at the lights, and look at how the props are taken off, and the flow of it. Again, I mentioned about choreographing everything. And always looking at the technical aspects, because I am a technical person. I want to run things. I like to take control. And that's why I got into it, personally.

PC - That's why it works well with her as producer of the company, because she gets to make the decisions.

MFC - Somebody's got to.

PC - That's right.

Do either of y'all have any advice for people interested in being involved in theatre?

MFC - Do it.

PC - Do it, yeah. That's it exactly.

MFC - Don't let anything stop you. You're going to get criticized by everyone. And, you know, whether that be your family, your friends, your professors - other professors, not professors in the theatre department, they're always going to say 'why? why are you doing that? Why do you need a degree?' They're always questioning. And then another question that always comes up is what can I do with a theatre degree. There's more on that list of what you can do with a theatre degree than there is with anything else. There really is. There's so many more opportunities. I tell my students all the other subjects, you sit in your desk and you're taught it. In theatre, you practice it. What other degree do you get the opportunity to actually put it into play?

PC - Welcome to the liberal arts, that's what we do! Liberal arts/humanities rock! (All laugh)

I asked you if you had any advice for aspiring actors. What advice do you have for the audience, to get the most out of the theatre experience, and to cultivate a deeper appreciation?

MFC - Be open-minded.

PC - Get drunk! No, well that too. Haha. We like drunk audiences.

MFC - Come in with an open-mind.

PC - Yeah, and come in ready to participate. Again, it's not sitting in the movie. You're not going to get the most out of any play. Not just ours but whatever play you go to. You are a participant in the action of the evening when you go. Because your energy and your attention means so much to the audience, to those who are out. It's just key. That and a lot of wine. Haha.

Well I think that's about all the questions I have. Thanks so much for speaking with me.

PC - Thank you.

MFC - Thank you.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Debra Faircloth, professional writer and DART Community Advocate. [wpvideo VYhVoLhQ]

This is Q&Art. I'm Russell Pirkle, and today I am interviewing Debra Faircloth, professional writer and Community Advocate for DART (Domestic Abuse Resistance Team).

Could you tell me about some of the things that you've written?

Well, I have written the equivalent of Moby Dick twice a year in progress notes for the past twenty years or so. I write a column for the Ruston Daily Leader about domestic violence. I also do whatever publicity that we need, and in the past year I have begun short stories and other creative fiction again. For a long time I thought that wasn't possible because of work obligations. Then it occurred to me that I was producing a huge volume of work in writing on each and every person that I visited with everyday, and that I could use the same strategies. Even if it's only a paragraph or a page a day, at the end of a year that's still 365 pages.

And, I assume you enjoy writing, doing so much of it. What is it that you enjoy about writing?

Actually, I don't really enjoy writing, Russell. I hate to throw a monkey wrench in the works. If it's something that's really good and meaningful, I find it very painful. But I have a need to write. When I was thirty years younger and in graduate school at USL, back when it was USL, and even further back when I was an undergraduate at Louisiana Tech . . . What is USL today?

ULL.

In those days, people thought that I had some writing talent, and they expected that that's what I would be, that I would write the great American novel, or at least the great Southern novel. And instead I took another turn. I went into the helping professions. I worked psych for a long time, then changed from psych to domestic violence about twelve years ago. And sort of shelved those writing ambitions, and as I approach sixty, I have felt an increasing need to go back and to record the voices of my childhood. Bell Brown calls my writing "down-home Dixie", and that's as good a description of my genre as can be found.

What role do you feel your writing serves? What do you think it does for people?

Well, I don't know. Sometimes it shocks folks. I had somebody tell me the other day that they were surprised that such a nice little old lady wrote such dark pieces. Again, I worked on a lot of psych ward, and I have worked with victims of violence everyday for the past twelve years. And so, I'm puzzled that they would expect anything else. Of course, I gravitated to those areas because of a certain dark side of my own anyway, an appreciation for the sufferings of people who endure extreme mental illness and appreciation for the sufferings of people who are helpless in the grasp of others and so forth.

What percentage of the things you write is almost like true experiences of people that you've come in contact with?

Ninety percent. I want to clarify though, I would never write about any person who's been a client of DART. I would never write about anyone who was a patient of mine when I worked psych. But of course I have my own experiences in that particular regard. Like one of my professors told me years ago, not all that much fiction is all that fictional. Right now I'm working on a ghost story that was inspired by events that actually happened to me when I was a graduate student at USL.

That makes me curious about maybe if there's a connection between ghost lore and abuse and psychological trauma.

Well, yes. In fact, one of my maxims for years and years has been I don't believes in ghosts, but I do believe in psychosis. I acknowledge that psychosis is very real, and the brain can play tricks on us. In fact, if you do a PET scan of a brain of someone who's having a visual hallucination, all of the visual areas are firing. And so, it's pretty clear that the visual cortex sees whether the persons around the individual experiencing the hallucination do or not. And so there is that issue, but I confess to you I have had one or two experiences that I could not explain away, either by my own psychosis or by other phenomena. So, I'm sort of playing with these, trying them on and seeing if I can scare other people. Typically I write, if my stuff fell into a genre at all, there is some tinge of mystery, even if I'm doing something rooted in Grant Parish. And I do miss the voices of my youth. I miss the accents. People don't have accents anymore. Thanks to television, everybody sounds general American for the most part. And so the subtleties of vowel sounds that I heard growing up, the final r's that I heard growing up, all of those are disappearing, and I miss that. I want to record that. I want people to hear my grandfather's voice when he talks about "holping" people, or my next door neighbor, Miss Fanny's voice, when she talks about eating "wallamelon." Those things, even the mispronunciations have become dear to me as time has passed.

Do you think that the traditions, as far as the folklore and local literature and music, are disappearing along with those?

Well, I think generally so. I don't know that there's a very large audience for those things except for academics. That's another reason that I'm devoted to down home Dixie. My family's been here since way before the Civil War, and on a day as hot as this, it sort of makes you wonder about their intelligence, and why they didn't go further north or why the hell they didn't stay back in Scotland, where it was cool enough to breathe. But I am concerned about the cultural norms disappearing. I'm concerned about values and standards disappearing. Again, I work in a world in which every person who walks through that door by definition is a victim of violence.

Could you tell me a little bit more about DART and your role here?

I'd be delighted to. I used to be Counselor here. I left briefly and came back to be Community Advocate. My job is to talk and to write and to get DART's mission out to the community. DART stands for Domestic Abuse Resistance Team. Our sole mission is to keep the residents of North Central Louisiana safe from violence, and if they're already in violent situations, to protect them and educate them. Here's a shocking statistic for you: Louisiana leads the nation year after year in domestic violence homicides. And a specific kind of homicide called "single victim, single perpetrator." That's the kind of murder in which a husband kills a wife, or a dating partner kills another dating partner. These statistics come from the violence policy center in Washington D.C., and the scary thing about that is they don't even consider multiple murders. They don't consider the family destroyer type murder, which we've had a number of times in this area over the past ten or fifteen years. The man who not only wants to take out his wife, but his children, the in-laws, anyone who happens to be around. And sometimes that ends in suicide, sometimes not. So I am stunned at the fact that given all the other virtues that Louisiana has, its joie de vivre, its cuisine, its heavily fundamentalist church culture, that we're also noted for the rate at which we murder the people which we're supposed to love. We have twenty-eight fatalities in this area at DART. One man, our first male fatality, just last year, and four little children, three of whom were toddlers, whose daddies shot them in the head at point blank range. And so, our mission and my personal mission is to change those numbers and change those facts by getting the word out, by shocking and horrifying people, by letting people know they don't have to live in violence and misery everyday. That there really are alternatives. They're entitled to be safe. And we at DART can help make that happen.

Tell me specifically what services and what help you provide.

We work under something called the empowerment model. It's important that you understand that first of all, because we never make anybody do anything. Their situations are too violent. I don't want, let's say for example you came to me as a client, I don't want your death on my hands, so I'm not going to force you to leave an abuser. I'm not going to encourage you to do anything. I'm going to educate you about the laws, about your rights, about your options, and then when you make up your mind what you want to do, then I'll cheerlead you and go along with you and help you get that done, help make that possible. Whether that's a protective order, or whether it's not getting a protective order. Whether it's going to shelter. Whether it's living on your own, just working out a better safety plan. And then going through some pragmatic counseling to help you understand that you don't have to be a victim of violence, and that despite what the abuser said, it really was not your fault. We'll go with people to press charges. We'll accompany to court and sort of translate, because that's a very frightening experience. You know, people see court on television and think it's going to be like a Perry Mason episode, and it isn't like that. It's sometimes faster than people realize what's happening. If they want to go press charges, we'll go along with them to press charges. Whatever.  It depends on the individual needs of the person after we have outlined what their options are and given them some general education on domestic violence.

And what opportunities are there for people in Ruston, or anywhere I guess, to support DART?

Well, we would be delighted if they would give us money, especially since Governor Jindal has launched another round of cutbacks. DART hasn't been hurt too much this year, but of course we have no idea what's going to happen next year. So finanical donations, that would be really wonderful. Right now the thing we need most is help supplying school supplies and school uniforms to our kids. We're not providing or trying to provide school uniforms for every child who comes to us. We're only supplying those people who ask. And right now I have a very short list, but we need people from the community to come in and say I'd like to take care of a child. I'd like to go buy three uniform shirts for a child. Or I'd like to make sure they have all the paper they're going to need. That kind of Thing. So if they would give me a call at 513-9373 I would really appreciate that. I'm the only Deb at DART, so they don't even have to bother about my last name.

Returning to your experiences as a writer, could you tell me a little bit about your writing process?

In earlier years, I used to really suffer. And now, I guess probably as the result of having written Moby Dick in progress notes twice a year for twenty years, when I get an idea I put it down immediately. I sleep with my laptop at the foot of my bed, and whenever I have an idea I work that idea. But I don't force anything. I don't torture my prose anymore. I sort of let it roll off. And after I get a basic outline, then whatever paragraph feels like being worked, that's the one I process and refine. I don't worry about doing it in a linear fashion. If there's a bit of extraneous material that doesn't fit here, I simply cut and paste it down to the bottom of the page, until by the end of a short story I may have a list of stray items. Of course, one of the things I struggle with is giving up that phrase or sentence that you just really love. Well, I'm not married to anything that I write. I finally learned that. As much as I may love that phrase or that fragment, if it doesn't fit here, it does my story no good. It does me no good. So I clip off the ends of those stories and file them in a binder and forget about them until the next time. Maybe there'll be an opportunity later to recycle. I read aloud a lot too. I read my work aloud over and over again, and read for the rhythm as much as anything else, make sure it flows well, that there's music in it.

What do you think makes a good writer?

I haven't the faintest idea. Sometimes I think luck; sometimes I think persistence, just not giving up. I don't know. I tell you what, I've read a lot of crap over the years that I was amazed it got in print. I have no idea how that happened. But I walk into a bookstore, and I see millions of copies of books, and I think 'well, if they did it, then eventually if I'm persistent enough, so can I.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers who want to get published or get work?

Persistence. And if you want to write, you need to read. You need to have the music of good words in your ears, as Gaye Ingram, my old English professor from a thousand years ago used to tell me over and over. Yes, we all have our own styles, but you need to know what's out there. And also you need to study structure and form. Don't let those things fall by the wayside. Those are very important too. First is inspiration, but craft is even more important. You may have a few dazzling sentences or even paragraphs here and there, but I think it's important that a story exhibit true craftsmanship.

Would you like to tell me about some of your favorite books and authors?

One of my favorite off the wall sort of books is Southern Fried Divorce by Judy Connor. That is wet-your-pants funny, and I have in fact suggested it to many women who've come here to DART who were struggling with divorce. It's so extremely funny that I made the mistake of reading it on a plane ride to a mental health conference in Florida, it was the winter time, I had to stuff my muffler into my mouth in order to keep from laughing out loud. People in the surrounding seats were peeking to see what book I was reading. I'm a huge reader of murder mysteries. I love vintage mysteries as much as I do current ones. My current favorites are Patricia Cornwell and Janet Evanovich. Again, lowbrow, but I don't care. I work hard and deserve some recreation. I also like the Arlie Hanks mysteries of John Hess. I've recently been reading Ron Carlson's short stories, and in fact just this morning I picked up Carlson McCuller's collection of short stories. I think it's very important that you read in the genre you want to write in. I'm working in short story right now, but I also have drafts of mystery novels that I hope someday will see the light of day. When I talk to writers at the State Book Fair, I grill them like Sergeant Friday. I don't let them get away with giving me pad answers and passing me off. I want to know who is your literary agent and how did you get that literary agent. Participating in conferences is important. Going to fairs, meeting people. I intend to be at the Tennessee Williams this year, at their resource room. But in order to talk to publishers, agents, and writers. Also, follow the rules. Send in a nice clean manuscript. Don't send in something messy and unprofessional. The days of scribbling odd bits of poetry on a scrap of paper are long gone. That doesn't fly.

In a world with so many important issues and crises that demand so much of our time, why should people still read, and even reading just fictional works? Why is it still important?

Well the obvious reason is escape. But more than that, I think it's important that we stay in touch with our cultural heritage. I was on the dissertation when I left to get a social work degree, and when I would work with people I was horrified that in many cases they didn't know who their grandparents were. They'd never heard nursery rhymes before. They had no sense of the ethos from whence they came. So I think it's important that we stay connected to our culture and to our cultural history. I think that without those, people are rootless and more likely to fall into crises. At least they'll have resources to fall back on when bad times do hit. As long as I've been at DART, I've never been able to get a crafts group together. Very rarely does someone know how to do needlework. I've never been able to get a writing group together in all these years. And I've certainly tried. If people had those resources to fall back on, then they would have something with which to at least comfort themselves. It's not going to make the abuser go away, but at least for a little while you have something you can escape into, something besides the television.

I believe most recently you've been working on children's books. Would you like to tell me a little bit about that?

Yes. Lacey Stinson and I have drafted two children's books. Doodles. One Dog's Adventures in Stories and Songs, about our Scottish Terriers. We're trying to follow the models of Mary Alice Fontenot and the Clovis Crawfish books, who always has a little song and maybe a lesson in Cajun French. Well in this case, the sheet music for the doodles song and then the wild adventures of our Scotties. Heavy on illustration. If you've ever been around a Scottish Terrier, you know that they can get into an incredible amount of trouble. But the most highly polished one is the one that we just finished, If I Were a Cat for Only an Hour, and we're planning on launching it this November at Art Innovations.

I think that's probably about all the time we have. Do you have any closing thoughts or comments?

Not a one, honey. It's been a long day.

Great. Thanks a lot.

Thank you.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week: Doogie Roux, owner of Roux Bikes. This interview has been edited for length.

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This is Q&Art. I'm Russell Pirkle, and today I'm interviewing Doogie Roux. Doogie is the owner of Roux Bikes, and has recently graduated from Louisiana Tech with a degree in Computer Information Systems.

Tell me first of all . . . I think I know about everything you do, but let me go ahead and list them off, and you can sort of fill in the blanks. So you have Roux Bikes, which is like a custom bike service or shop where you make them and they're like art pieces. And you do photography work and video work. And you organized the Bicycle Art Exhibit at Turbo Goat. And you organized the Itty Bitty Bike Race. And you've done some sort of community outreach for Joplin, Missouri. Could you tell me a little bit more about that?

Well, in regards to the whole thing that I did for Joplin. That was a continuation of something that was already existing. Neal King, the local business owner, he's done several things here, the latest project being the Black Box. He was led to help out that whole situation after the storm ocurred. And he partnered with Chris from Turbo Goat, and they did a facebook blast asking for volunteers and donations. I had just recently graduated and wasn't doing a whole lot, so I volunteered to go. And that whole experience, it's hard to coin one term or one set statement to summarize it all, but it was life changing. It wasn't something I could see myself going and doing one time and being done with it. So after I started the virtual bike company Roux Bikes, I said why not use this as an avenue for fundraising and supporting this cause, because I definitely want to continue to support that whole thing. The destruction and the emotional impact that it had on people was tremendous. So the first thing I did was I built a custom bicycle and raffled it off. I did that during the week right before the Peach Festival and through the Peach Festival, and during the Itty Bitty Bike Race and the post-race party. The support and the success of the event was just tremendous. I raised a ton of money, and I was able to deliver some of the itty bitty bicycles from the race and help out the Gonzalez family, a family we had a connection with while we were there. I was able to cut them a check and help them out, because they had some really hard times after the storm. So that's project Joplin. That's it in a nutshell. But I definitely don't think even that portion is it. I could see myself doing some more, following up with that family and helping those people out, because that situation was really tremendous.

What do you see as the connection or the reason that art and creative expression and community outreach and humanitarianism pair together so well?

For me personally, I'm sure I can't speak for everyone else, I think because art and creative expression and community outreach evoke so many emotions, people who operate in such an arena, things like that really touch them. They really can connect with such an avenue. I'll be honest,in operating in these different arenas - business, technology, and the arts, I think a lot of business people aren't as emotionally connected to people as artists could be. I know that's strange coming from someone who's business minded, but like I said, I operate in so many different arenas that I notice a lot of things. When I come to a person that's an artist, and I'm a business person, I read them different. Whereas when I'm a business person speaking to another business person, it's a different perspective. I think a lot of artists are emotional, and I think they can really connect with community outreach, supporting causes a lot better than someone who's in business. And I say that just generally, not to stereotype anyone. It's just kind of a hasty generalization.

As a business person and a person who is pursuing a very functional, useful career, what are your feelings about people who are full time artists and the idea of art for art's sake, and making things like paintings or sculptures that you can't use as opposed to something like a bicycle that you can? Was it a practical choice to pursue a career other than art, or is it a philosophical choice? What's the reason why you're not a full time artist?

I think it's because of, you know they say people can be a jack of all trades . . . And I have a ton of energy. I just can't sit still. So I just have to have something to do, and I think that the whole virtual entity Roux Bikes or doing photography, or doing anything business related, it's an outlet for my energy, it's an outlet for my creative expression, and it's an outlet for a good heart. And I think that's ultimately what it is. I don't feel that I can do just one thing and be set on that. I kind of like juggling multiple concurrent projects in those different arenas, business, technology, and the arts.

Do you find it challenging juggling those, spending as much time as you would like on each?

Yeah, it is difficult at times, but I enjoy it. It definitely makes me utilize my time management skills to the utmost. One minute you may have a photoshoot with someone where you're in charge of it or you're working with someone, like some of the bigger names in photography here in Ruston. I work with them a lot. I say I work with because I graduated so I guess I work with rather than for them now. Haha. But it's a heavy task to manage all of that stuff, and sometimes when you slip up and you don't manage your time very well, some things do suffer. But you really have to be on top of things to keep that from happening.

I ride a bike myself, and I've been really curious lately about what makes the bicycle such a powerful symbol of contemporary culture, and what it represents and what its role in society is. Do you have any thoughts about that?

My thoughts on that could go for days. I'll keep it short. Haha. The bicycle is just another one of those things that people interact with, and it's forever changing. It can go infinitely forward and really far back with its history and its impact on culture through numerous generations. It's comparable to the automobile, because bicycles in the fifties, they have an impact. The style, the lines, the colors. Bicycles today, they have an impact also. And it's one of those things that human beings can experience emotions that you really can't experience with other things. You can experience a flight on a bicycle. You can experience speed. It's just so much. It can evoke so many emotions. And I'm trying not to go off on a tangent, but it's a beautiful feeling to be on a bicycle, breezing through a city, just going fast, going with the flow, breezing through traffic. It's a wonderful feeling. That or you're just in a parking lot, doing some stunts, doing a little flatland, some BMX. Or you're riding with friends. It's unifying. I've riden bikes in who knows how many big cities or how many small towns. And, if you're on a bicycle, and you're just riding, you're guaranteed to meet someone. You're guaranteed to stop and talk to someone. And it's just people from so many different places, so many different mindsets, walks of life. To get all of those to one place and just be riding together . . . The bike kind of, it fades away for a second, and you're just with people. And that's unifying. That's a wonderful feeling.

Let's talk a little about the custom bikes that you build for Roux Bikes. Where does your inspiration come from, and is it a collaborative process between you and the customer, or is it all your own ideas and creations?

It's a little of both of those. Sometimes I have a bicycle that I felt I had an inspiration to build, or I wanted to mimic something old. I like to tell people that I really appreciate old school, but I'm progressive and I have a new school vibe about me. So I say I'm middle school. I like to blend the two. So I might do something randomly like that and have it sitting on hand, maybe something I ride personally or enjoy. But if a customer wants it, if I'm not emotionally attached to it or it's not sentimental, I may sell it to them. But sometimes someone comes to me and says look, I want a bike like this. And we sit and talk. Or if they're somewhere else, we do it through email or facebook chat or skype. So I do something like that, and they'll detail to me the specifics, frame, handlebars, style. It's like a consultation to get something, and then we go from there. And that's usually how it is, one of those two ways or something in between.

In terms of volunteering, what do you think Ruston in particular is in need of?

In terms of volunteering . . . Well that kind of sparked a thought of more of a need for unification. I see a lot of division in Ruston, on many planes. And to keep from offending anyone I won't ellaborate on it, but I see a lot of division, and I think that in a small community like this, it should be a lot more unified. A lot of walls should be torn down, and steps should be taken for people to move toward unification. Through just anything, any event or function. Just being open-minded and doing not just different things, but doing things that some of the smaller people, some of the minorities are into, as opposed to always doing something that facilitates the majority. I think that would definitely be unifying, because it would open peoples minds. It would bring people together. And it would help people to learn that just because you're this person doesn't mean that you have to do this thing. You can open your mind. You can go out. You can learn new things. You can do new things. You can meet new people. So definitely I could see, if someone would volunteer to do that, that would be nice. Haha.

You use a pseudonym, and you have a certain style about you and a large presence in the community, and I'm curious about what role you feel personal presentation plays in things like creative expression and sort of building a scene and a community.

Personal presentation, I like that term. Haha. Personal presentation, it's big. How you present yourself to people, the public, it goes a long way. People have to really, and I'm learning this more and more each day, people have to really accept you for who you are. I know that's cliche and stereotypical, but it's so true. I feel that people, I don't want to compartmentalize. I don't want to give certain people certain aspects of me. I want to give everyone everything about me. And I don't want to have cut myself in sections and kind of hand me out. I want people to take me as I am, because the entities that I represent, they're holistic and they encompass a lot of things. So for me to just give a person one part of me would rob that entity of its presentation. If that makes sense. I have to really convey to that person that this is me, this is what I do, I want you to be a part of it. Or if I don't, it's ok, here's my business, here's the money I'm making, and this is what I want to do. But I need them to understand that the money I'm making, it goes to these events, these causes, these people that I'm helping. So personal presentation, it has to be holistic. That's how I see it. It has to represent the entirety.

I was sort of a late convert to the whole idea of exercise. And you can tell; I'm still not in great shape. But I found that it really made a big difference on the way I thought, and how well I could think. I'm sure you've always been physically active, but what do you think about the connection between exercise and the mental and intellectual side of life?

I think, again, it's holistic. It all goes together. What your body is in good status, when you're eating well and you're active, treating your body right, your mind is in sync with that. And if you lack in any, of course, it's a symbiotic relationship. If your body's doing well, your mind's doing well. You feel okay emotionally, you're positive. You're doing well, you're thinking good thoughts. But when you let the body suffer, when you don't take care of it, again that's holistic. Things start happening. So it's a symbiotic relationship.

What advice do you have for people for taking a more active role in their community? Say, artists for instance, or any sort of business people, I think we would all like to be doing more for our community and be a bigger part and be more involved. What advice do you have about that?

Anyone operating in any arena should go for it, because where ever you are, you want to have an impact. Like I tell people, I don't want to be famous. I don't want everyone to know me. I just want to have an impact on people, on a place. I want to go somewhere and do something. And to know whether or not I should be there, whether or not I should leave, it really depends on how will I be missed. What about me will be essential to that place? For people to be somewhere, especially Ruston, and just not be invested in their community, especially since it's so small. You have to be invested in such a place as this. You have to help people, because everyone needs help. If someone is here, I think they should actively be engaged in the community doing something. It doesn't always have to be money. People think, when you think supporting causes, it's ok, cut them a check, put a dollar in their pocket. Nah, give somebody a ride somewhere. Sit and talk with someone. Give them something. If you have something you don't really need it, give it to someone, help them out. Go to an event and volunteer. Just get out and invest, because when you're in a place like this, that's this small . . . there's more, but more meaningful, there's nothing else you can do but just get out and help your fellow man.

As a jack of all trades to use your words and a high energy person, it seems like you'd probably be a hard fit for any education system. With your experience, is there anything you wished were different? Or maybe even the whole educational system, is there anything you'd change?

With education, I'm pretty sure this is true for a lot of people, but some it may or may not apply to. When it comes to learning, I learn by doing. When I'm doing things, creating things, building things, putting things together, that's when I learn it. If you give me a mountain bicycle, which I'm not very familiar with, and you let me tinker with it or you show me things, you show me how this goes together and how that works, I learn it. But if you give me a powerpoint presentation on how a mountain bike works, I'll probably go to sleep on you. Because I have lots of energy, and I want to get out and do things. Hands on learning is the best learning. Interactive learning is the best. Rather than sit in a classroom and learn about American history, take me to the Smithsonian museum. I worked at the Smithsonian, and it was the best job I ever had, because I learned something new everyday. I was able to touch things. I was able to interact with things, and I think that's the best kind of education. I've mentioned to some people that I could see myself in education at some time in the future, and I think if I was in a classroom, I would actively engage my students in interactive hands on learning. That's what the educational system today lacks. There's just too much involved with the negative aspect of technology, like powerpoint presentations, digital this, visuals that. Get them out and interacting with that technology. Get them out doing things. Especially being an IT major at Tech, there were just a lot of us sitting around in a classroom. And you cannot engage me, you cannot keep me there in that way. I lost interest. I fall asleep. It doesn't grab me. And there needs to be more of that, more interactive, hands on learning in the educational system today.

I think that's about all the time we have for the interview. Is there anything else you'd like to say or any closing thoughts?

I appreciate you coming to me and wanting to do the interview, and I really enjoyed my time here. Today is actually the day I'm leaving. I just want to extend some gratitude and appreciation for everyone here I worked with, collabored on projects with. I definitely enjoyed it, and I definitely don't see this as the end of me being in Ruston and doing things. I can definitely see myself coming back and doing some mini projects or keeping in touch with people.

Well thanks, Doogie.

Thank you.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week:  Nicholas Bustamante, professor of art at Louisiana Tech, and Derek Poole, who is working as Prof. Bustamante's studio assistant this summer. Nicholas Bustamante's work will be featured in a show opening August 4th at the Arender Gallery in Monroe.

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This is Q&Art. I'm Russell Pirkle, and today I'm interviewing Nicholas Bustamante, professor of art at Louisiana Tech, along with his studio assistant Derek Poole.

Let's start with some questions about you, Professor Bustamante, and then we'll move on to your work this summer and your experiences with Derek.

When and how did you first decide you wanted to be an artist?

It wasn't until I was in undergrad. I had very little experience with art until then, and it just kind of opened up my world. It was the first museum I ever went to was on a school field trip. First time actually doing something that I consider art that's not just arts and crafts was as an undergrad. And honestly I just took it because I didn't know what else to take and just found that I was good at it. And I loved doing it.

So did you not start out in the art program at your school?

No, I was undeclared.

What was your work like when you first started, and how has it changed since?

It changed a lot. I started purely abstract as an undergrad student. Absolutely no recognizable imagery. In fact, my senior year as an undergrad, I was doing these very large abstract paintings where I wasn't even using paint brushes. I was just using palette knives and oil sticks. They're huge, they're kind of macho. There's a lot of energy to them. But it wasn't until I went to grad school that I really started to develop the conceptual end to my work. And I found that the narrative became more important. Really, that's what was driving the work, so by bringing in more recognizable imagery, it allowed me to create that more complex narrative, and stay true to what was fueling the things to begin with. Honestly, it was during grad school when during a critique, the professor said 'well that's great that you have all these ideas, but when I look at this, I just see a bunch of scribbles and paint. It doesn't make sense. If that's what is so important, you're not communicating that at all.' So he kind of called me out on my stuff. That's when it started to shift.

Do you have any thoughts about the potentials and limitations of art and painting to convey a narrative that may not be there in other forms of expression such as writing or music?

That's a really good question. I feel like we're kind of at a disadvantage. You put a painting against a two hour film, and it's like how do you compete with this instant gratification, bombardment of imagery. I think us as a culture, it's in us that quick fast pace. Painting is a very very slow process, as far as the interaction between the viewer and the piece itself. In all honesty, I think that moment of reflection, that moment of quietness that a painting or art can give to the viewer, that's something that is lacking or missing in our day to day actions and interactions with imagery, as far as tv, internet or even cinema. It slows you down. It gives you time to reflect. At least with my work, I try to cash in on that. I try to not give the viewer the entire narrative. I want them to put themselves in the piece and reflect on their own experience, fill in that gap. So it requires a lot more than just a pretty thing on a wall.

Could you tell me about some of the themes and subjects you deal with in your work?

Sure. It's hard when you meet somebody for the first time, and they say 'what kind of work do you do?' Where the heck do you start? So I would say it's about protection and captivity. Terror and safety. Love and sorrow. In one word, it's about memory. The way that memory really, and I use this term loosely, haunts us. It influences the decisions that we make. It's something that shapes who we are today, but even besides its shaping who we are, it's always there on your shoulder and the back of your mind influencing you, in what you do or how you interact with people. Or whatever. The work that I started on in grad school started to be based on architectural structures, and I was interested in this idea of the structure becoming a metaphor for the home. And I was interested in the way, and I brought this up in the show at Turbo Goat, there's all this modern day folklore about ghosts, ghost houses, and hauntings. It's a story that a lot of people are interested in. And for me that's kind of a poetic expression of how we're all haunted by memories. These places aren't necessarily haunted. It's us that are haunted. And by making these really out there movies, by pushing it to that extreme, it's safely contained. It's something that, if that's what a haunting looks like, then obviously I'm not haunted. So that's how I use the structures in the pieces.

Why do you think these themes are especially important to you?

I don't know. That's a good question. To be completely honest with you, the reason for me that they're so important, is that in high school, I was in a pretty bad car accident, and I lost a lot of my memory. So a lot of memory that I have now of growing up is from photos, and it's from it being told to me through imagery. So I have this really strange disconnect. So images, especially of past events in my life that I don't remember first hand, have a different kind of significance for me. So obviously that's an underlining thing that got me thinking about this and exploring this.

Could you tell me about what about oil painting appeals to you and how you feel it connects to the subject matter of your work?

Well, my paintings have a lot of layers, and I'm obsessed with the surface quality, almost to a fault. It just takes me forever to do paintings. I like the way that it starts to create history with the work. These places that I go out and I shoot, these abandoned houses, have this evidence of time passing. So that kind of carries through to the work that I'm doing in here, even though they're not all homes. The idea of that residue, building up thick layers then thin layers of the paint. Also, it goes on to very basic philosophy about painting. I think that paintings need to work from a distance as well as up close. And the rich surface quality rewards the viewer when they get close as well. It's that surface that I've really fallen in love with and drool over in the pieces.

Shifting gears here a little, is there anything you can tell me about your philosophy of teaching? What works in your experience?

Expect a lot from the students. If you set the bar too low, then sometimes it leads the students to not push themselves. And I think that's really the biggest thing. Just expect a lot out of them. Make sure they understand. For art students in particular, this isn't necessarily always going to be fun. That they understand the sacrifices that need to happen to make it. And the other part of the teaching philosophy is to help them find their own voice. I think that's really important. Not everybody follows that, but it's like, I want to teach them the skills to get where they want to go, but I don't want to create a bunch of Nicholas Bustamantes. That's the last thing I want to do. I want them to have their own voice and help them develop that, what their passion is. That's what's going to help carry through them. It's going to beat the stats of being one out of ten people that practice art after they graduate. It's what's going to keep them going, that personal connection.

What rewards do you get from teaching?

Oh man. Studio assistants. Haha. No, just having that open dialogue, always being around art, and talking about art. Being able to share that with somebody. Being able to problem solve. Through teaching, I've become a better artist. Because, in an advanced painting class, or a beginning drawing class, I'm problem solving twenty pieces. So it's working that muscle. It's getting me to really be critical and to see things from a different point of view. And I think that always helps me push my own body of work as well.

Tell me about the pieces that you're working on now.

It's again talking about memory. The big difference with the stuff this summer is that I'm using more chairs and furniture as stand ins for the people, rather than just actual empty spaces. So I'm really looking at them, and when I talked to Derek in the studio about laying these out, and what to come up with, I really talk about the chairs having body language as if they're people, and how they're interacting. We're exploring a new vocabulary of symbols. I'm bringing in these paper cup telephones and talking about communication. These bathtubs that for me symbolize, in a way they're talking about a baptismal, this idea of cleaning and purity and rebirth and birth. Another big thing that we talked about when we came in here that I wanted to do was to really push the light, starting to use the light in the paintings as a symbol itself. So, I think that's starting to actually happen in the pieces.

Derek, what part do you play in the creation of these works?

At first, I was doing underpaintings for the works. I started doing the underpaintings in acrylic, but lately I've been using oil.

Professor Bustamante, what about Derek made him especially suited to work with you?

Well, I've had a variety of studio assistants in the past. I would say Derek is the most talented as far as a painter goes. And what I look for in a studio assistant is somebody that's going to take it seriously. In exchange for all the time he puts in, he gets a piece that we work on at the end of the summer, and that's it. I don't pay  him hourly or anything. And he's been in here almost everyday. Sometimes I have to just kick him out. I'm like I'm done I gotta go. It's always interesting because as an artist yourself, art is very solitairy, you do it by yourself. And to have someone in the mix, always at first it's difficult to get used to that. When Derek came in, that first week we were very slowly working, and I was trying to get used to having someone else in the studio. And you try to get used to working on somebody else's work. And now we're just rocking and rolling. I'll start a piece, and he understands over this last month, the process of the painting and how I lay things out, and the palette knife work and all that stuff. So besides laying out the underlying painting for me after I come up with the composition, I feel very confident to hand over a painting and say 'this area needs to be glazed. This needs to be reinforced. This is where I want the light source to come from, the kind of texture i want, and just letting him go. So it's awesome to have somebody in here like that that I could really trust with the work.

And Derek, what made you want to assume the position of Bustamante's studio assistant?

Well, I had a friend of mine told me that Bustamante needed someone. And so I was kind of interested, because I'd had a few classes with Nick, and he's had a big impact on me as far as understanding painting and color and composition, and really conceptually as well. So I felt like it was a good opportunity to learn and to paint. Being able to come up here and paint. And you know, what else would I be doing during the summer.

Aside from lightening the workload, what other advantages have you found to having a studio assistant?

To break up the monotony of the day. Because it is so friggin' hard to maintain a studio practice every single day. I get here at seven-thirty in the morning. I leave at five. Sometimes I'll break for lunch and go home for a half hour. But a lot of times we just eat sandwiches in here. So besides him helping me with the workload, having someone else in here, somebody to take a break with and watch crappy youtube videos for five minutes, or to have a conversation with. That's kind of more of a  personal thing, but I really lean on Derek a lot when it comes to, once I start to polish up some of these paintings, what needs to happen in it. We bounce ideas off one another. At times I feel like some of these are more a collaboration than just my . . . Of course it's my idea, but once we start getting going, his voice is very much heard.

How do you think these pieces would be different if Derek weren't here?

Well, I know for a fact I would have at least ruined one of these pieces. I have a tendency especially when I start off painting in the summer of overworking things and not wanting to call things done. If they're not done, then there's always that possibility of them getting better. That piece, the two chairs in the middle over there, I was convinced that was too open. I needed to bombard it with a bunch more crap. That was one of those times when Derek's like 'no, just leave it. Let it chill for a while. It's almost like a teacher-student reversal, you know. So I think there's a sense of a little bit more of a quietness to some of the pieces, and I think that's been a really big influence of having Derek in the studio.

And Derek, what have you learned from your experience as Nick's studio assistant?

You know, I always wondered how Nick was able to get the surface and build up all these layers. That's always intrigued me looking at his paintings, because I was always kind of blown away. So, I got to learn a lot about his process and his work with layers. Really, I've just gotten to experience that and understand about the evolution of each piece. And also, I guess it's more mondane, but I've gotten to work with the brushes more. I paint a lot looser, and Nick's paintings are a lot tighter, so I feel like it's been a good experience. I feel like it's almost like the opposite of what I would do.

Well that's all the time I have. Thanks so much for speaking with me.

Sure.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week I interviewed Henry McCoy, photographer and owner of the Fine Line, art supply store and print lab. This interview has been edited for length.

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This is Q&Art. I'm Russell Pirkle, and this week I am interviewing Henry McCoy, photographer and owner of the Fine Line Art Supply Store and Print Lab here in downtown Ruston.

How long have you been a photographer?   I started probably in high school. I started taking photography classes then, got interested because of my dad. And then studied that here at Tech, and then finished at Southeastern, in Hammond, Louisiana. And then started a photography business as I was finishing up school.

Was your father a photographer as well?

He wasn't a photographer per se. He just liked to take landscape photos on our trips to Colorado and around the country.

Is your wife a photographer as well?

No, she's not a photographer as well. She wouldn't know the first thing. She studied interior design and architecture here at Tech.

And what does she do now?

Right now she's the visual manager at Dillards in Monroe. She's in charge of all the displays and mannequins and signage, things like that.

Tell me about your work as a photographer.

For the past several years I've just been shooting weddings, portraiture, a little bit of commercial stuff. I'm trying to slowly migrate out of wedding photography and get back into fine art commercial work. I enjoy shooting weddings. I kind of want to get back to stuff I really enjoy doing, that really motivates me to get up at two o'clock in the morning and go find a good spot, stay out there to get a good shot. And that's what I'm working on now. I'm working on an additional fine art website for my stuff to sell prints. My first three prints entered into a show next March at the 102 A Bistro with NCLAC.

Spending so much of your time here running this business, how do you find the time to also be a photographer?

I don't. Haha. I do my photography business as well here, so I'm running two businesses and then trying to do my own stuff as far as my portfolio building. I basically just don't have a social life. I work all the time.

Tell me about the Fine Line. What services and products do you offer?

Right now, we cater a lot to the students at Tech. After Barnes and Noble moved in and did away with a lot of their art supplies, we found it crucial to be here. My wife and I, we were students here, and we knew it was difficult to get supplies so it just happened that we came back at the right time. But right now, yeah, most of our customers are students. We were really surprised by how many local artists were in town. They were knocking on the door before we even opened up. But yeah, we do a lot of art supplies and then large format printing art pieces, just general use posters, things like that.

What are your hopes and plans for the future of the Fine Line?

Eventually I'd like to continue to grow and be a major supplier for Tech and the surrounding community. Right now our shelves are full with the supplies that are on the supply lists for the teachers for their classes. And we'd like to stock the entire store full of just all types of art supplies, for the elementary, middle school and high school students here in town too. I'd like to eventually hire some students to start working, and give me time to go do other stuff.

I understand you're planning to sort of merge spaces with Stitchville, could you tell me about that?

Yeah, Allie over at Stitchville, we've been talking a little bit, and she was looking for more space. We just happened to have a lot of space here, so she's moving in in the next couple of weeks, taking over part of the store up front so she can offer her fabrics and yarns and things like that. I think it'd be a good merger for both of us, being in an arts and crafts industry.

Tell me about your experience of learning how to run a business.

I worked at a place called Baton Rouge Blue Print in Baton Rouge for about seven years. It was a mom and pop store. I was pretty much the only employee at that location that I was working at, and I just kind of picked it up and kept going. Plus doing my photography business. I kind of learned a lot just kind of feeling my way through it. I also took a few business classes while I was in college. Most of those were marketing, things like that. Not so much running and managing a business. A lot of it's just a lot of help from friends and family, and peers that also have businesses. I get guidance from them.

What are some of the challenges and rewards of owning and running the Fine Line?

Challenges? We started this on a lot of prayers. We both left our jobs in Baton Rouge, moved up here. Didn't even have a store front. We found a house, moved here, the place we wanted it's actually still in construction. So we had to search quickly, and you know, work with the teachers to try to figure out what to stock. We've been open for almost a year now, and I haven't drawn a paycheck yet. Everything stays in the business. We're trying to get it to grow before anything happens. Rewards, it's just getting to see all the students and all their artwork that their producing at Tech and Grambling. I started in photography, that's pretty much all I can do. I can't draw or paint to save my life. And when I get to see some of that, it just blows my mind that people can do that kind of stuff.

Let's talk a little bit more about your photography. What are your favorite subjects to photograph?

Mostly, it's probably like every other photographer, you know, old run down places. I haven't really photographed too many of those lately. I'm working on a new project now, it's mostly abstract work. Just trying to think outside the box. I have a couple projects that I've had on my mind for a while, and like I said, I want to get away from the old decrepit places. I did that for my senior portfolio and had a good show of that, but I want to try to explore some of the abstract. And with digital I think it kind of lends itself to that because you can see instant results and figure out what you need to tweak here and there. And then sometimes it's complete chaos, and it doesn't matter what you tweak. There's not a direct outcome that you're looking for. It's just seeing what you can create by doing just letting things happen. And I'm also getting back into film a little bit. That's how I started was film. I started shooting weddings that way, so I'm accustomed to that. I've been experimenting with older cameras, medium format, 35mm film, just trying to feel my way around that again and experiment. That lends itself to a lot of abstract too because you have no clue what you're going to get until you develop the roll. And if I'm hand developing, then you really don't know what you're going to get until you let it dry out and see what happens.

Which do you prefer, film or digital?

Right now, probably digital just because I already have all the equipment. It's cheaper. Aesthetic-wise, I love film. There's just something to it that seems timeless. A good black and white from a film camera . . . You can get a good black and white from digital, but there's just a feeling to it that you know it was shot with film and it has that look to it.

How do you develop your film? Do you do it at your house or do you send it off?

Some stuff, I develop at my house. I can do 35mm medium format at my house. If I have a lot or when I start playing with color, I send that off. If it's something important and I don't want to screw it up . . . I haven't developed film in almost ten years. The rolls I'm testing and just experimenting with, I'll develop myself. If I know I have something good on a roll I may send that off just to make sure it comes back good.

What are your favorite parts of the experience of being a photographer?

The discovery. Every time a new camera comes out or new technology, you're continually learning, experimenting, growing, just finding new tricks, new ways of doing things. I'm not too familiar with painting and drawing, I just know that I don't think much has changed in that industry. I think it kind of levels out after a while, plateaus, but photography is always changing. Like I said, I was shooting film, and then all of a sudden it became digital. And I had to make that transition, learning a whole new format basically. I like that. I like learning stuff and tinkering.

What themes or subjects do you deal with in your fine art photography? What sort of things are you trying to say?

The project I'm working on now, I don't know that it's so much what I want to say, it's what I want people to think whenever they view it. I want them to look at it and see what they get out of it. Like I said, I'm going abstract right now. I took the first photograph and I showed it to a photography buddy of mine, and he couldn't figure out what it was. He's like me, he wants to figure out what it is. He came over and dug through my camera bag, and he was trying to figure out how I did it and what it was, and he couldn't. And that's what I like. People don't necessarily know how I did it or anything like that. I want them to think, not just look at it, and be like 'ok that's a pretty landscape,' you know. What am I shooting? What is it? How was it created? What does it say to you? What does it look like? What's your first reaction to it?

What part does the editing process play in the creation of your photographs?

Not much. I'm not a photoshop guy. I don't like to spend hours in photoshop. When it was film, you had to get it right in the camera. There was only so much you could do in the darkroom. So I don't do a lot of post-processing. Maybe a white balance adjustment, contrast, that's about it. I'm not going in and doing fifteen layers of different levels and toning and things like that. When I shoot it, if I die right there on the spot, somebody can take that card out and the print is ready. They can take that and go. I guess I'm a little more of a purist when it comes to photography. And I don't want to manipulate too much on the computer. Then it becomes digital editing. I want it to be a photograph, not a digital work, you know.

Who are some of your favorite photographers?

Right now, in the portrait world, Dan Winters. He does large format film work with pretty much anybody, and his photographs are simple, they're well lit. They draw you in. They're nothing fancy. They may not look fancy, but I've seen his setups and they sometimes can be extravagant on lighting, but it doesn't look that way when you see the final result. Black and white landscape, Michael Leven, he uses a medium format digital to shoot, just ethereal gorgeous black and white landscapes. And they're not just straight on, this is a landscape. You look at it, and it draws you in to figure out what exactly you're looking at. And the abstract, I don't know right now. I'm actually kind of pulling from a few random paintings and stuff I see. There's a series of photos floating around now where they use time lapse photography, and it looks like an oil painting. It's remarkable. I saw that and saw what could be done and kind of branched off from there to my project.

Returning to the Fine Line, I understand that you're soon going to be able to accept Tech Express. Could you tell me how that came about?

As soon as we opened, we called Tech to find out if we could do Tech Express. It wasn't available at the time. Students have continually asked for it. Our work around for the time being was gift cards that parents could call up here and order and put as much money as they wanted on there for their students, and they could reload them whenever they needed to. Louisiana Tech and the Chamber of Commerce, they worked real hard, and they got it to where pretty much anyone in Ruston now can accept Tech Express. So of course we were on the list, and they called us. And I cut the lady off in mid-sales speech and said 'look, I want it, just send me the paperwork.' So we're really looking forward to that. We should be getting set up for that in the next few weeks before school starts. We're really looking forward to that.

Do you have any closing thoughts or anything you'd like to say?

Not too much. We're really appreciative of everyone that's come in, and the support in the community for an art supply store. We'd like to continue to see it grow and ask everyone for their help doing so.

Thank you so much for speaking with me Henry.

Thank you.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week I interviewed the eighties hair metal cover band Hair Nation, who also perform original music as Angelstorm. Angelstorm is working on a new album, Certified Insane, to be released later this year. The guys in Hair Nation also own and operate a recording studio here in Ruston and are available for recording projects with local bands and businesses.  This interview has been edited for length.

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This is Q&Art. I'm Russell Pirkle, and today I'm interviewing the band Hair Nation. I have with me here John Shadowinds, Nathan Keesler, and Kevin Poland.

Could you guys tell me about Hair Nation?

JS - Kevin and I come out of a recording contract in 2004, music videos, number one hits and all that kind of good stuff. And kind of tired of that kind of lifestyle so we started the eighties tribute Hair Nation, which we enjoy very much. We're now in the studio recording a new album that we're going to be releasing, original album. But we will continue doing the eighties tribute. It seems that everybody enjoys the music from the eighties and there's not very many bands out there to play it. So that's basically what we do. That's where our heritage is from. Our prime was in the eighties.

What band were you in before?

JS - Angelstorm. Now, I've played with Liason, which was a Metal Plate Records recording artist band. Then Angelstorm from 1986 to now. That's what we just got done with in 2004 with Satfire Records. And we're going to release a new album under Angelstorm, here probably Christmas time, just independently. We're not looking to sign any more record labels.

So you're releasing it as Angelstorm.

JS - Yes. We're going to release it independently. I have all the credentials and the licensings to release it myself, or ourselves.

And when was the last album that Angelstorm released?

JS _ 2004. It was Rise from the Ash. It's still in stores from what I understand. It's all over Europe. We bought in Europe and Germany. We've got lots of fans over there that say that they purchased the album and really like it.

How has your music changed over time?

JS - It really hasn't. We are pretty much the same as we were back in the eighties. I know we had some struggle during the nineties because music changed so much. I remember an instance, I wasn't with these guys yet, but I was with a label called Pachyderm records in 1989, and we had a two year contract. We went back in '93 to renew the contract. Well, Nirvana had come out, and that's what they were wanting. And they said 'well, cut your hair and play grunge and stuff', and we wouldn't do it so we walked.

Yeah, it seems like so much of grunge was sort of a reaction against the glam rock and hair metal.

JS - Yeah, it was, and from my experience in it, the record labels just kind of overdid it. And because of that, it's the reason why the record labels are so bad now. There's no good contracts out there anymore. I don't want to disgrace anybody, but it seems that you don't have to be as talented to be successful in music today. Which, what works good for Paul may not work good for Mary, but we are true musicians. I'm in with music theory and very educated. I have degrees in music and what have you. We are very direct in our writing. We use proper cords. We do the five part harmonies. We haven't changed since the eighties. We still write the same style, and I've been endorsed with B.C. Rich guitars ever since 1986, and haven't changed. I graduated from high school in 1985, and I looked just like this. Of course, you know I've got a few more wrinkles now.

Why do you think eighties metal has had such a renaissance, or why do you think it's still so popular today?

JS - Because it kind of picked up, in my opinion, (and y'all can cut in anytime you want), where the seventies left off. It just polished the music from the seventies.

KP - Right at 1980. Haha.

JS - Yeah, it was more, I know for me as a young artist, when you put a band together and went out on stage, you had to give your audience something to remember.

KP - That's right. Something more.

JS - You couldn't be just another band, you know. If you go out and you see these guys are wearing tight leather pants and glittery shirts, and hair up to here, you remember that. And you go in a music store, and 'hey I've seen these guys in the club. I'm going to be this record.' It's all about marketing. It's a marketing tool, the image is just as important as the music.

Yeah and it seems also the whole aspect of live performance and authentic playing is very important too. Whereas maybe it's not so much today.

JS - Well, it's not. But it's still important. I know my way of thinking, I cannot stand to go see a band that looks like they just got off work.

KP - And just stand there. All they're doing is just standing straight up playing their instruments, singing. You just gotta get up on that stage and move around, and have the audience just following you.

JS - I know live, mentally, every human being on earth loves music, listen with their eyes. You go to a concert, you take in a lot. You probably take in more with your eyes than you do your ears. That's very important.

Do you do anything special to get into that sort of mode of being performers and the high energy?

KP - As in before we go on stage?

Sure.

NK - Lots of coffee. Haha.

JS - Yeah, it just comes natural for me.

KP - Yeah, it's natural.

JS - Once I strap on the guitar and see the people out there that came to see us, it's like that. *snaps*

KP - I've never had a case of stage fright before in my life. Even being in little plays in elementary school when I was growing up. I mean, I was up there with a microphone in my hand. Haha. I've always played for the people and to the people.

JS - And it's adrenaline too.

KP - Yes.

JS - You get up there, you got a thousand kids pumping, it just kind of takes over and it's just natural.

KP - What else gets you in the heart is when you're up there singing your songs for these people, and then you see them singing them back to you. It's just awesome.

Could you tell me a little bit about your role as a producer?

JS - Yeah, I have a good ear for music, and as a music lover myself, I can kind of relate to what pleases the public. A good melody in a song. I have people come to me all the time, and that's what I strive for, a good melody in a song. Because psychologically, in every human being, a good melody pleases your mind. It's kind of psychological. I'm not a psychologist, but I understand human behavior as far as music is concerned, and that's what you kind of strive for as a producer. You want to get a good melody that will please a listener. That always brings them back for more.

KP - And a good hook.

JS - Yeah.

And y'all have a recording studio here in Ruston, is that right?

JS - We do. I have about three quarters of a million dollars worth of a recording studio. And we record some of the locals. We're in recording an album now, and we're almost done with it. And I think everybody's going to love it. It's a concept album, and it's going to be released under Angelstorm. And we're going to get it in stores here pretty soon.

How did you come to join Hair Nation, Nate?

NK - John found me in a convenience store one day. *All laugh* I was up there buying a coke and some cigarettes, and a voice behind me goes 'hey man, do you play base?' And I didn't really think he was talking to me at first, but the lady behind the counter just sort of gestured toward him. I turned around, and there he is. And he asked me to come up to the studio, and I did. He liked my performance.

KP - Now he's our family.

JS - Yeah he's a natural. He was destined to play with Hair Nation from day one.

KP - That's right.

JS - I mean, he was a perfect fit.

KP - He's got hair. *all laugh*

What bands would you compare Hair Nation's sound to?

JS - Well, as Hair Nation we play a variety of different bands. I know, personally, when Kevin and I were with Angelstorm, we found a lot of reviews and a lot of magazine and tv interviews, and they always compared us to Iron Maiden. We've even been compared to having radio anthems like Bon Jovi. And there was a couple others that I don't recollect at the moment. Do you remember some other bands that they compared us to?

KP - Well people over in Shreveport have just made a collage of different bands and said 'here's Hair Nation.'

JS - Yeah. But Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi were the main two comparisons. Which was a big honor for me 'cause I love those guys anyway. Haha.

Besides Iron Maiden, who are some of you guys' other favorite performers?

KP - Mine? I went against the norm during the eighties. A lot of people were doing the Guns N' Roses and Poison and those kind of bands. I was going with the European style bands. Iron Maiden, Helloween, King Diamond and Diamondhead. Of course, the good old standards back in the early eighties, Metallica. I've always been a Metallica fan. And yours?

JS - Yeah me, it's always been Wasp and Kiss.

KP - Yeah of course Kiss!

JS - Kiss was, I guess, probably ninety percent of every musician out there has been influenced by Kiss.

KP - Right, I mean it's like a major circus without the clowns.

JS - Oddly enough, Wasp being one of my favorites, in 2002 I flew out to California and auditioned for Wasp and got to hang out with them for the day. That was really nice. And not to long ago, George Lynch of Dachen came to Ruston and came and played on stage with us. That was last October, which was a big honor.

KP - He came into town to do a guitar clinic, and we were there and had all the sound equipment we were running for him, and next thing you know, he's up on the stage with us after he's through and we're jamming on some old Docken songs.

JS - Yeah that was pretty cool.

KP - Oh man, we was walking about five feet off the ground after that.

What songs do you perform the most, and what are some of your favorite songs to play?

JS - Probably one of my favorite songs to perform with Hair Nation would be "You Got Another Thing Coming" by Judas Priest. And one of my other favorites is "Love is On the Way" by Saigon Kick. That'd probably be two of my favorites.

KP - Let's see. "Here I go Again" by Whitesnake. Oh my gosh, it's hard to say because we've got so many.

JS - I know *All laugh*

NK - "Love Gun" by Kiss.

KP - Of course, that came out in the seventies, but it's still a real good standard for us. But to me, I just love performing them all. Like I said, we've got so many of the eighties hair metal songs under our belts, it's really hard to choose from one of them.

JS - Basically, the songs we perform are the ones we've chosen that really influenced us during the eighties. Anthems, you know.

KP - Exactly.

JS - And everytime we play, no matter what song we play, whether it be the first song or the tenth song, the crowd always responds the same. I mean, they're just 'oh I remember that song! Yay!"

KP - I've had several people come up to me after a set, and they'll say 'When you played that one song there, it just reminded me of what I was doing and who I was with back in the day.'

JS - Yeah. And that's really rewarding as a band.

KP - Yeah, I mean it just brings back good memories for different people.

JS - And our original stuff does the same thing. I was always told, when you write a song that makes a person smile, you're really good. If you write a song that changes emotion, you're a master. And we have changed a lot of emotions.

KP - Yes, we have. If you write a song that will bring a tear to one person's eye, you're doing really, really good.

What is it that you love about eighties metal? What do you think makes the eighties hair band metal so great?

NK - It's got a ton of energy to it.

JS - It's got tons of energy. The music from the eighties, and of course the seventies but moreso in the eighties, the musicians of the eighties followed music theory, you know, and if you went to college for music theory and you got that education, you would be a perfect candidate for an eighties musician. Now, I know there's a lot of shortcuts being made now, which I'm not knocking any band out there. I'm glad they're making it and stuff. But there's just not music theory in it anymore. And that's what made the eighties so important. It was just all music theory. That's a big impact on me.

KP - 98% of all the music from the eighties was very theatrical. It was like non-stop anthems from A to Z.

JS - Yeah, that's absolutely right. You go to a concert in the eighties, not only did you hear good music, but you got a good theatrical show. It was all theatrics. Pyrotechnics. The action. A lot of bands, like Alice Cooper, would actually act out the song. Actually have characters come out and act out the song on stage. As well as the musicianship, like I said. It was all based on theory, which that's the kind of musicians we are. We stick to the books, the theory.

What influence do you feel eighties music has had on music since? How do you think it's changed?

JS - Well . . . Me personally, I think musicians have become lazy. They're taking a lot of shortcuts. Shucks, how do you answer that without offending anybody. Haha. Well, let's do it this way. Everything from the seventies and the eighties is still here. Look at Ford and Chevrolet, ok. They're doing replicas of the old mustang, Chevrolet's doing replicas of the old Camaros. Dodge is doing replicas. Everybody wants the old school, just can't get enough of it.

KP - It's going around in a big circle. Everything's coming around.

JS - Yeah.

To what do you owe your success? What advice would you have for musicians today?

JS - Stay true to the musicianship. Stick to theory.

KP - The comradery of your bandmates.

JS - Forget about the money. Don't think about money. Don't think about being rich and famous. Be true to your music, be true to your fans.

KP - Play with your heart.

JS - Your fans are the ones that sign your check. They're the ones that come to the shows and sign your check. Be true to your fans, the music. That's about all the advice I can give. Create an image, have an image. When you walk into a grocery store, you want people to look at you, say 'hey, that guy's a musician.' It's got to be obvious, in my way of thinking. Haha. But that'd be the advice I give. Just stay true to the music and to the fans.

I think that's about all the time we have. Thank you so much for being here.

JS - It's been a pleasure.

KP - It's been a total pleasure.

Q&Art with Russell Pirkle

This week, I interviewed Dave Beckler, owner of The Great Divide Tattoo & Piercing. The interview is a little under twenty minutes.[wpvideo 1sxl1XId]

[Interview and transcript edited for length]

This is Q&Art. I'm Russell Pirkle, and this week I'm interviewing David Beckler, owner and artist at The Great Divide Tattoo & Piercing. I'm at The Great Divide now with Mr. Beckler. David, could you tell me a little bit about The Great Divide?

Well, The Great Divide is a store that my wife and I started in 1995. My wife and I are both college graduates that were not happy with what we were doing, and actually we wanted to have a business together so we could spend more time together. We had both been arists all of our lives, and as everybody know around here, you can't sell a painting, you know. It's hard to sell artwork. And so we decided to teach ourselves tattooing, and it really was just like converting from doing drawings and paintings to learning how to work with skin. I have been doing metalpoint or silverpoint artwork for many years. I don't know if you're familiar with that. I can tell you about that in just a minute, but with that kind of artwork, you cannot make any mistakes. You can't erase any lines. It's kind of how tattooing is. It's a style of art that you just cannot mess up. Once you put a line on that paper there's no erasing it. Once you start shading and shadowing there's no erasing. So you have to make sure that everything you're doing is perfect and exact the first time, which makes it very tedious. Which, going back to metalpoint, that's really my favorite style of artwork. Michelangelo and a lot of the old artists, before they had graphite and graphite pencils, had to use a stylus with this shaft of silver going through it or a shaft of brass or copper or gold. And as we all know, all those metals tarnish, and they tarnish certain colors. So what it is is almost like when you do a painting, and you gesso your canvas. You have a ground that is used to prime a piece of paper or masonite. And it's rabbit glue with some basically powdered white pigment that you mix together, and it's almost like a gluey paste. Well, you spread that accross your canvas. And when it dries, it kind of leaves a very very very finely rough surface, almost like the finest type of emory cloth you could feel, but because that stylus is made out of silver, let's say, that's what we're going to do our basic drawing with, it actually grabs the end of that silver stylus so it scrapes onto that surface. It still feels like you're using a pencil because it's a really fine surface, but when you look at it under an eyeloop or something, you can see it's very porous and very rough.

An interesting thing about tattoo, oftentimes someone comes in with something they've designed or maybe just an idea in their head. Could you tell me about that sort of collaborative process of either altering what they did into something that would work as a tattoo or . . .

Yes I can. And there is definitely a little process that you have to consider when you do a tattoo. As a tattoo artist, whether you're doing a flower or writing somebody's name or doing a lion, or whatever, you have to consider that over time, the line work part of a tattoo spreads. It will double and sometimes even triple in size over a long period of time. So let's say if you were writing the name Dave. Well, let's consider the cursive letter e at the end. The bottom of the line of that e curves up. It curves around. Then you have the top line that curves down. When both of those lines, twenty years from now, are spread that e is not going to look like an e anymore because they're going to bleed together. So you have to consider the size that you need to do any kind of tattoo. And the first thing you do is you look to see where your lines are close together. Say you're doing a celtic knot. Well, when you're doing that celtic knot, you have to do that large enough so that ten or fifteen years from now, those lines are not going to bleed together. So you have to explain that to that customer, because a lot of times people don't understand that. Most folks just think that the tattoo's going to look great forever and not consider looking at other people who have older tattoos to see how they're going to look. We try our best to educate our customers that way, and often that alters the tattoos that they want to get. If somebody was to come in and get a rose with their son's name on it or underneath it the size of a fifty cent piece. It's just not going to work, you know, because it's just going to look like crap in five years even on something that small. That's the largest mistake that people make is they want to get the smallest thing they can possibly get because they're worried about the pain. And then they get back there and they see the pain isn't that bad. And they wish they'd got the tattoo larger, you know. There is definitely a process you have to go through. We have a little, not a questionaire that's written or anything, but we have a little list of questions that we go through with our customers to help guide them to tell us exactly what it is they see in their mind. That's the hardest part, getting that out of a customer. A lot of customers will come in and say 'you know, I want a coy fish'. And I'm like 'well man, there are hundreds and hundreds of ways of doing a coy fish. Do you want a coy fish that's curved and swimming in a natural state? Do you want it black and white? Do you want it in color?' They haven't considered all this. They just know they saw someone else probably with a coy fish so they want a coy fish. But we try to individualize our tattoos as much as we can and do our own drawings. While we have tons of artwork here on the walls, we try to guide people into coming up with their own drawings. If someone was to come to me and say 'oh I really like this unicorn drawing on this wall right here,' I'm going to start questioning them. I'm going to say 'well, would you like that to look a little more realistic because it looks a little cartoony. Because you can have it realistic looking.' And they'll say 'ah, well I didn't think about that.' And so a lot of times I'm just proposing the questions they need to be considering and then letting them answer that question. And I'll take all their information and base that on how to make my drawing. Anyway, it's fun that way. And it makes it kind of a challenge sometimes.

Why do you think tattooing has become so popular today? It seems like more people are getting tattoos now that ever before.

Miami Ink. You know, TV provides. The internet provides information too. And tattooing kind of comes in phases. When we first got into this industry, it was super popular. And I don't think it was because of television. I think it was just, you know, like bell bottom jeans come into popularity every once in a while. I think it just goes through a cycle. It was super super busy, we did tons more tattoos when we first began than we did two years later. It just, you know, slowed down. For instance, one thing we used to never do are wrist tattoos. People now, in the past two years, have been coming in and wanting these little fancy written names right here, which is the worst thing you can do. First of all, because writing small is bad, and second of all the skin on your hand sheds real fast. And so the ink doesn't hold well there. But some famous person had a tattoo like that, and that attracted people and it grew. It's just like, you know, seven or eight years ago, everybody was getting Chinese symbols. They saw somebody in public someone that was famous, some artist or some musician, that had some Chinese artwork on them, and that started becoming popular. We hardly do that anymore at all. It definitely goes through phases. And yes, the business definitely has its peaks and its low points. During the recesion we just had, we're very fortunate that we had a store here that carried us through that. If we'd only had a tattoo shop . . . Well I'll just say this, I know other tattoo shops have employees that had to have other jobs. And they would all tattoo when they could and work their other jobs when they could. Because during the recesion nobody's spending money on tattoos. They have to spend money on food, you know.

What are some of the common reasons that people get tattoos?

Ah man. There's really not a common reason. But I do say that I think once people get their first tattoo, they realize that it's not that painful. It's not that terrible of a thing, and they see that if you come to a place like our shop that's nice and clean like a doctor's office. You know, tattooing has had the stigma with it for so long of being a hardcore evil biker thing. You know, you're some kind of rebel in society, but it's not that way anymore. We've tattooed preachers. We've tattooed many many professors from both universities here. It's a much more accepted thing now, but . . . What was the question?

Let's see. Maybe it was why do people get tattoos.

Oh yeah, as for reasons . . . Man, you might have somebody who comes in who's lost a loved one, they want to have a dedication piece. You might have somebody come in that says 'hey man, I saw some wrestler on TV'. You know, when Bill Goldberg the wrestler was really popular, all these guys wanted to get this tribal tattooing that look like his tattoos. There's many reasons for it. There's many answers to that question. I have a fiance and his wife to be coming in to get matching tattoos as wedding gifts to each other. There's just really many different reasons that people get tattoo work.

What are your favorite tattoos? What do you like to draw, what do you like to see?

I like to do portrait work, because most of the time, people who are getting portraits done, it's not a financial thing for them. So therefore I can really take my time and make a really beautiful picture. There's nothing harder than doing a portrait. It's hard to do on paper, much less on someone's skin. So that's a real challenge to really make it look like that person. As you know, with shading in the face, the least little shade that makes your cheekbone look too high or whatever is going to ruin the whole way the portrait works. But once again that's true with any tattoo, you just can't mess up. But yeah, I just love doing portrait work. I love practicing it. It's just my thing, you know.

What do you think is the most rewarding part of being a tattoo artist?

You work for yourself, you know. Tattoo artists make a hundred dollars an hour, so if you only have to work four or five hours a week, eight or ten hours a week, that makes it better. When you're working that short a time, it's very low stress. I used to work at a paper mill many years ago, and it was a hard, stressful job. And I've worked at other stressful jobs. And I just told myself over the years, one day I want to have my own business so I can work for myself. I kind of had a goal of opening a tattoo shop earlier on in life, but it was just a matter of learning the technique of working with the tattoo process. But yeah man, it's just the satisfaction of working for yourself. And it's the satisfaction of making beautiful artwork that people will buy, you know. I wanted to be able to sell paintings earlier on. I've got a garage full of paintings that I'll never sell because people just don't buy paintings anymore. So, now I have hundreds and hundreds of people out there with my artwork on them that will be on their body the rest of their lives. So I like that aspect of it too.

One thing I was thinking about is how tattoo art is conspicuously absent from, like, art history courses and fine art, even though it's existed for years and years and years. How do you feel about that and the influence that one has on the other?

Well, first of all, I can see how a lot of the art critics don't consider tattoo art as being fine art, and I think that a lot of these television shows like Miami Ink and the other tattoo shows, while they are reality shows and they have their dramatic effects to them, they do show the whole world that you can really get some beautiful artwork. There is some seriously hardcore talent, and I challenge any serious artist to say there's not. Now, with that being said, there's a lot of artists out there that can't draw a stick figure. With some tattooing, you go into a tattoo shop and pick a picture off the wall, all they're going to do, they're going to outline that, they're going to color it in exactly like on there, on that picture on the wall. They're not creating that art. They're coloring in a coloring book picture, in essence. That's why we draw all of our own artwork. That's why we like to do the custom artwork because we can do shading and coloring and use other techniques we know from our other artwork that we can use with tattooing. We also paint, my wife and I both do this and we also paint. And a lot of times the blending of colors from painting transfers over into tattooing, you know. As you're wanting to shade and make that look perfect, you utilize all those techniques from your other art that you do. But I think that it's very under-rated in the art world. I think that art critics. You know, the stigma of tattooing has been so bad over all the years, art critics don't consider it as being professional artwork, which is just totally the wrong way to think because it is. I challenge them to ever try it. I challenge them to try doing metalpoint because it's the same exact thing it's just on paper. You can't mess up, you know. Which makes that a challenge, you know.

I think we're about out of time. Do you have any closing remarks or anything you'd like to say?

I've done some studying on the history of tattoo and the tattoo art. Even in the past fifty years, it has come three hundred sixty degrees to meet classical art. I think now you have tons and tons of painters and people using graphite or whatever that are coming to tattoo because it's the only way they can make a living. When you want to sell a thousand dollar painting, there's not much market for that. At least not in our part of the world. But I have many many people that'll come and get a thousand dollar tattoo. Because they can wear that piece of artwork, and they do realize that you can get just about anything done. I mean, my goodness, we went from getting these little bugs bunny and yosemite sam tattoos in the 1950s all the way now to getting portrait work and collages and you can do overlays of pictures. There's just so many super-complicated styles of tattoo art that I think is great that the internet and television is showing the world. It is an artstyle, and it is not a craft, as a lot of critics all it.

Well thank you very much for being here, David Beckler.

Sure, man. I appreciate your time. Thank you.