Worthington's Got Talent Update!

Hi All,

Here's some exciting news about the talent competition we're hosting in the Fall.

There will be two categories of Talents that the judges will consider during the show: Singing and Other.

The event's sponsor, Worthington Realty is providing AMAZING prizes for the individuals that place 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

1st = $3,000 *
2nd = $2,000
3rd = $1,000

*If the first place winner is a singer they ALSO receive one song session in a Nashville, TN recording studio.

If you were on the fence about submitting your talent, I suggest you fall on the side of submitting. You could cheat yourself out of $3,000!

Just click on the link to the April posts that's to your right and then the "Worthington's Got Talent! Do You?" post and you'll be taken to the blog post with the Talent Form. Hope to see your lovely talents in the Fall!

Schools Out For Summer Art Camps!

It's about that time (I think, high school was a few years ago...), when parents are finalizing their child care plans for the summer. While I don't know where you should keep your kids all summer (basements are cool right?), I do know what to do with them for a week.

Many studies and articles show that a learning free summer will have negative effects on your child's development. While summer is a time for kids to take a break from the classroom, it doesn't have to be a break from learning all together. In fact, it can be a time where they learn in ways school doesn't always offer.

That's where the MAC comes in.

The MAC is hosting a variety of art camps this summer for children entering first grade as well as high schoolers that children of any skill level would benefit from and enjoy.

Although all of our camps will stimulate and develop your children's creative skills and critical thinking in a fun-filled environment, each camp offers a different artistic focus and with that fosters different combinations of skills.

Allow me to introduce you to the 5 Art Camps at the MAC this summer and the many benefits they offer your children.

BalletMet American Girlfriend Adventure
For a week your child will bond with her American Girl Doll and friends over the many cultures these beautiful dolls are connected to through dance and arts & crafts.

Benefits:
-Learning about and appreciating different cultures and traditions
-Logic and reasoning
-Self confidence
-Improve memory
-Dexterity

Camp Creative
A full day camp for children 6-12 years old, Camp Creative offers participants an opportunity to explore visual, performing, and literary arts.

Benefits:
-Self confidence, especially through overcoming performance anxiety
-Self discipline and motivation
-Respecting alternative viewpoints
-Improving language and memory
-Team building
-Visual processing
-Strengthen attention skills
-Logic and reasoning

ARTventure
For children entering 1st grade all the way to 8th grade, this half day camp taught by CCAD instructors will give your child a space to engage in drawing, painting, sketch book journaling, mixed media and 3D designs.

Benefits:
-Self confidence
-Self discipline and motivation
-Developing a sense of craftsmanship
-Articulating vision
-Strengthen attention skills
-Improve memory
-Visual processing
-Dexterity

Intro to Filmmaking
From young adults entering 9th grade to college undergrads looking to develop their filmmaking skills, this one week music video class will help develop the skill set needed for storytelling through film.

Benefits:
-Accept responsibility
-Learn how to complete a task from start to finish/ goal setting
-Self confidence
-Self discipline and motivation
-Articulating vision
-Strengthen attention skills
-Visual processing

BalletMet Around the World in Dance
Ages 4-6 will spend the week learning about other cultures through their traditional dances and songs. At the end of the week the campers will put on a show for their families.

Benefits:
-Learning about and appreciating different cultures and traditions
-Self confidence, especially through performance
-Self discipline and motivation
-Improve memory
-Visual processing
-Team building

And those are the Art Camps the MAC is offering throughout the summer.

 Remember our camps aren't the only way to continue your child(ren)'s learning this summer. Sign them up for a library reading program, get them involved in a team sport, or start a family game night! There are so many fun ways to keep their brains fueled outside the classroom.

Grease Gets Inter-MAC-tive

While I acknowledge that title is a horrible pun, I will not apologize. If it's the reason you're reading these words, it did it's job.

This Sunday at 3pm the Get Reel Film Series Presents: Grease Sing-Along, a remastering of the musical-turned-movie classic that includes stylized lyrics at the bottom of the screen to help viewers like you mock Sandy with Rizzo in "Look At Me I'm Sandra Dee" or get down with the T-Birds in "Grease Lightning."

From what I understand, they not only added lyrics, but other more campy elements like birds and hearts  around characters in love, giving it a little bit of a Who Framed Roger Rabbit cartoony humor to the film.

As fun as the movie sounds, it's the least of all the fun the MAC has planned for guests this Sunday.

Before the movie plays, audience members who prepared their unique version of a hand jive will get a chance to impress the rest of the audience with their creativity and talent by performing on the Bronwynn stage for about fifteen seconds (about two rounds of their jive) while "Born to Hand Jive" plays on the speakers.

Everyone who participates will get free admission to the show and whoever is the crowd favorite gets a special to be determined prized. If you're intimidated by the idea of getting on the stage, let me set the scene for you. You won't be in front of that many people, definitely less than a hundred. You won't be on the stage for very long. Your jive doesn't have to be complicated.

I've also heard a rumor that students who recently played in their schools production of Grease will come in costume and perform a song.

It's just one more way the MAC wanted to celebrate the delightful, overly nostalgic, quaint experience of a Grease Sing-Along. So come out, show off your jive and sing along.

The MAC's Portrait Painters Group or My Farewell Before Running Away to Paris to Model

Ten days ago that title would have been a pretty funny gotcha. Today it's just okay.

Yesterday afternoon Lauren, our Director of Programming and Outreach told me the Portrait Painting group that meets every Wednesday in the lobby from 7-9pm needed a model. Their scheduled model had to cancel at the last minute.

A few hours before coming into the MAC, my evening plans had been cancelled. I've meant to visit the Portrait Painting group for a few weeks now, but something always comes up. Some might call it coincidence, others fate, whatever you call it, I was in.

The group is open to everyone. You bring your own materials and some money to pay the model. The more people that show up, the less money you have to pay. You can paint with oils, draw with pastels, pencils, charcoal. The point is to give you a space to practice your craft.

I didn't get a chance to interview Michael, the man who currently organizes/runs the group, so more extensive knowledge about the group will come in a later post. I thought I'd just share with you my brief experience as a model, what a few of the pieces look like.

Don't be surprised if you see my profile on the side of a coin someday.

Also, I'm not sure if they're still there, but many of the Portrait Painter regulars have some of their work on display at the Rivage Atlantique at 652 N. High Street. If you're interested in having a portrait of yourself or someone else, it's a good place to go see the range of artistic styles these artists exhibit, if you can't make it out on a Wednesday.

As a model I just had to sit, without moving very much, for about twenty minutes at a time (And was paid to do it!). Doesn't sound hard right? Well, except for the first session, it wasn't too difficult. The first twenty minutes, I felt very tense. I didn't want to slouch and was afraid my chin would dip while I was reading my book.

My eyes kind of hurt from the strain of trying to read while the book was at chest level and I couldn't tilt my head, so then I would stare straight ahead and just practice breathing and meditation techniques I learned last year for anxiety. Trying to be comfortable and relaxed and not move very much made the first twenty minutes feel long.

I promise I was more excited to be there than this picture would have you believe.

But I told Michael I'd try 25 minutes and see how that felt. The second session felt a lot better. I figured a way of reading my book, so I wouldn't have to worry about blocking any artists view of me (cue hair toss) while also not straining my eyes. I also decided to spend more time meditating, since I haven't been practicing as much as I told myself I would, December 31st. The rest of the sessions felt about the same.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of their art. Everyone seemed to be using different materials and truly their styles were unique. I plan on coming out and doing some sketching of my own in the future. And who knows maybe I'll get another shot at modeling.

Worthington's Got Talent! Do you?

The McConnell Arts Center of Worthington Presents: Worthington's Got Talent Sponsored in Part by Worthington Realty

That's right, the McConnell Arts Center is hosting a show of talent to rival America's favorite televised talent show.

In a community with such strong ties to the arts, I imagine there is Talent being served at the dinner table, doodling the margins of homework papers, bashing and clanging up the basement stairs, and warming up the refrigerator door of every third house on each block.

And when I say "Talent," I don't just mean a beautiful voice, or nimble string strumming fingers or smooth foot work, I mean whatever you're good at.

Did you get an A+ on a poem you wrote for school? Talent. Did your best friend's mom tell you, your stick figure dogs remind her of cave man drawings? Talent. Did you make a short video of your friends pretending to rob a bank? Talent. Did your baby sister laugh at a joke you told during breakfast? Talent. Can you juggle?!?

TALENT!

If you have a PASSION you can't help but do because you LOVE IT, this is your chance to share it with your community!

Everyone a part of the Worthington Talent Show wants to hear all about it.

Now that I've convinced you to apply, let me give you the guidelines:

- ALL ages are encouraged to apply. If you or someone in your act is a minor, you will need parental permission to participate.

- Bring your talented pets. As long as you have proof their shots are up-to-date and your skilled animal is well behaved in large groups, it's invited.

- You have to be available the day of the talent show.

Intern Talks: Melinda Rosenberg's Works in Wood Exhibit

If you've been at the MAC at all since March 7th, there's no way you've missed our current main exhibit: Works in Wood by Melinda Rosenberg. Simple, yet magnetic woodwork made from found woods like barn siding as well as pine and poplar, Rosenberg's pieces amaze me. I'll do my best to explain why after letting you know a little bit more about the artist.

Melinda Rosenberg is a Worthington resident who has shown her art in Chicago and all over Ohio. She's studied at The Ohio State University and Fu Jen University in Taipei, Taiwan where she studied Chinese Language. Based off what I've read on her website, Japanese culture influences her work, especially the use of visuals tricking the viewer's perception in order to make them stop to look again.

In the statement section of Rosenberg's website she discusses her work and inspiration in a way that is as compelling and stimulating as the art itself. She reveals the intention behind her work's "quiet yet interesting" shape and specific arrangements. Many of her pieces are part of a set and arranged with its sister pieces.

Bear Torso (2013)

When it comes to perceiving the art, the arrangement is as important as the details within each separate artwork. Rosenberg explains, "when comparing two similar things, perception becomes more acute. Differences become noticeable. The more subtle the difference, the more nagging the similarities."

It was great to read what her intentions are because even without her language and ideas to frame it, I've experienced that shift in my perception when looking at them.

Except for her more whimsical sets in the lobby (which still contain her creative use of found material, and attention to shape, texture, and color), Rosenberg's exhibit is geometric and shape driven. In some of my favorite sets, she creates sharp, uniform shapes and subtly, or not so subtly, defies them.

Raw Edge - Group 2 (2012)

The piece at the bottom of this set, is one of my favorites, mostly because it bothers the crap out of me. The symmetry of the reddish barn siding, the strip of poplar, and two black triangles is disturbed by the jagged edges thrusting from the side. While my desire for symmetry is flared, I love that raw edge and how the asymmetry strikes me.

Rosenberg does beautiful things with texture and color. In the arrangement below there are so many different textures, patterns, shapes, and details going on. Far from overwhelming or overstimulating me, the display simply captivated me with the many ways she constructed a book's cover spread like wings, the pages fluttering.

Books 1-9 (2012)

This exhibit is my first experience with woodworking as an art form and I'm hooked. Her pieces are disruptively simple and fully engaging. If I had the hundreds of dollars necessary to keep one in my home I would.

Sunday, April 14th, 2-3pm, she will give an Artist Talk that is FREE to the public. I want to hear more of what she has to say about her works shape, arrangement, and what she hopes the viewers notice.

I Wish I Was At The MAC: MUV-ing Along

This weeks event is the Thursday Night Concert Series: The James Gaiters MUV-Ment. Like all our TNCS events it'll begin at 8pm and you can buy your tickets here or at the door.

Before I continue, I have a confession to make:

I know next to nothing about jazz music. Last month, I got the bright idea to post an interesting and fun jazz fact on our twitter page each day of Black History Month. It was difficult, not because there wasn't any interesting facts about jazz, but because there were too many.

You could say jazz to 100 individuals and they might all have a different idea of what that word means. As a fledgling listener, I can't define the entire genre for you; but thanks to a few of my jazz enthusiast friends, I can give you a better understanding of free jazz, which seems to be the kind The James Gaiters MUV-Ment plays.

One friend give me this:

"Telling a story is hard. We've all got that one friend who tells amazing stories! I mean about anything, getting groceries, eating potato salad, and POW normal stuff becomes out of f**king control. That's really all there is to jazz, besides practicing 7-8 hours per story."

Translation:

Being a good freestyle jazz musician is like storytelling in that you pluck out the notes of a song/chord/melody and use them to play the music the way only you would and it makes your listeners feel and understand you. Just like a good storyteller takes the instances of their day or knowledge and rearranges or reforms it in their voice to capture our attention and wonder.

You have to love what you do and practice a lot to tell a story in any form.


*disclaimer: Eddie Bayard (MUV-Ment member) is not featured in this video, sadly*

That's the music you can look forward to on Thursday.

From what I've read about the band, both James Gaiters and saxophonist, Edwin Bayard are influenced by saxophone legend, and free jazz pioneer, John Coltrane. Gaiters and Coltrane definitely share a similar musical background.

Both grew up in spiritual music homes. Gaiter's mother was a concert pianist and organist for the church where his father was a pastor. Coltrane's father played multiple instruments and both his grandfathers were leaders of a church. Both men submerged themselves in jazz, but connect their spirituality with their music.

While jazz may be their home, like most legendary Jazz musicians I read about last month, both men have played and written music for many other genres. James Gaiter Jr of The James Gaiter MUV-Ment has played gospel, classical, country, rock, folk, and blues.

It's hard to put a finger on Jazz. Even one of my friends who deemed it one of his favorite genres had a hard time telling me what it was that makes Jazz so different from other genres. He kept coming back to a word I've often scene connected to Jazz: Soul.

Not to say other genres of music don't also contain a piece of their composer or translate feeling. There's something in the way Jazz goes for the throat. There's just something about Jazz.