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Dayton Artists United: Jess Montgomery

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Dayton Artists United is excited to have the opportunity to sit down with Jess Montgomery to discuss her book The Widows, published by Minotaur Press. The Widows is a historical mystery inspired by the life of Ohio’s first female sheriff,  and has been nominated for an Ohioana Book Award. 

Since 1942, The Ohioana Library has recognized Ohio authors for outstanding books published in Fiction, Nonfiction, Juvenile Literature, Middle Grade/Young Adult Literature, and Poetry categories, and an additional award for books about Ohio or an Ohioan.

Founded in 1929 by Ohio First Lady Martha Kinney Cooper, the Ohioana Library collects, preserves, and promotes the works of Ohio authors, artists, and musicians. The Library’s non-circulating collection includes books by or about Ohioans; sheet music;  clips on notable Ohioans; collections of the papers of Ohio authors and artists; scrapbooks of material created and collected by Ohio civic and cultural organizations. 

Check out the Ohioana website, as they will be releasing information about the 2020 awards, including special links to author readings and updates. The Ohioana Book Festival has moved online this year and features more than one Dayton area writer on it’s program. 

Jess Montgomery is the pen name of author and newspaper columnist Sharon Short. Find out more about her numerous books and awards by visiting her website, and by catching more of our interview, as we post more segments on Dayton Most Metro.

Dayton Artists United: Amy Williams

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DAU—Amy Williams, thank you for sitting down to talk to me.

AW—That’s OK

DAU—Talk to me about your philosophy of art.

AW—My philosophy. I think you have to follow your vision. Art is selling a feeling. Visual art either touches the viscera or it doesn’t.

DAU—so who are your favorite artists?

AW—Oh I don’t know.  I am still thinking about the emotional cost. As a viewer, If you want to buy a work,  it’s because it touches you,  eases your pain or inspires.

DAU—What about people who buy work to match their décor?

AW—Basquiat threw people out of his studio for that.

DAU—but some pictures are pretty, you want them because they are pretty. Turner landscapes, Degas horses.   

AW—But from the artists point of view they were emotional. I like Cy Twombly. His works are beautiful. But he was in this element where each mark he made was an experience. His works have a spiritual element that reflect a connection to something larger than himself.

DAU—Are you the only artist in your family?

AW—My brother draws. My mom is creative. She did a picture once that my brother took to school and got a good grade on.

DAU—Wow! Did your mom know?

AW—I don’t know. I don’t remember.

DAU—Are you from a large family?

AW—yes, 3 brother and two sisters. I am right in the middle, the oldest girl. 

DAU—and do they support your being an artist?

AW—They are. Although they worry. Very protective of the girls. I wanted to go to Europe to study, and they didn’t want me to. They have not always been on board with the whole artist experience. It wasn’t the art. It was all the other stuff.

DAU—When did you know you were an artist?

AW—I think I always wanted to be an artist. I remember being 6 or 7 years old and watching my brother draw and wanting to do that. Art is always calling me. There are so many distractions. I let things sidetrack me. I don’t recognize the diversions—I get caught up in stuff and then…well, art is always calling me. Some people describe it as a sickness.

DAU—What will it take to let it claim you? Or to claim it?

AW—I can’t answer that. It’s the thing we all struggle with, balancing doing the thing we need to do  and the thing we want to do.

DAU—Is art the thing you need or the thing you want?

AW—oh, both, I guess, at different times. I tried to turn it to something else. I tried graphic design.

DAU—so you went to school for graphic design?

AW—well not at first. I started classes at Sinclair. I had a great teacher there. Curtis Barnes—he really pushed my boundaries. He made me look at the spaces in a painting as well as the color. There was this painting in green and yellow inspired by a book jacket. It made me want to paint. I think it was called Venus Rising. My favorite works are the ones that come from that connection—now that I think about it, I spend a lot of time thinking about that spiritual element. Even when I am not painting.

DAU—and graphic design?

AW—It was just a thing I tried. I always come back to art.  I got a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Miami. I had good teachers there. Dana Saulnier. Very intuitive artist. Big huge abstracts, but with deeper meaning, very expressive of grief and loss.

DAU—so you went to school in Dayton and then Miami, are you from Dayton?

AW—Dad retired from the air force here in the late 70’s.  I lived in Huber Heights. When I started at school I came into Dayton. It’s not a big town, but it felt so different from Huber Heights. At first, I felt like I didn’t know people,  I missed neighbors and connections.  But you start to know people. You live here, and you get a sense of community. I think Dayton gets a bad rap from the surrounding areas—I think you live outside it, and you drive through it, you don’t see how connected it is. We watch out for each other. We are a community.

DAU—And now you have Wholly Grounds, and you’re a big part of the community.

AW—Thanks for saying that. The coffeehouse was a compromise with my partner—he wanted to open a bar. So, we opened a coffeehouse with a liquor license.

DAU—I think it’s wonderful. Thank you for all you do to support Artists United. Its great to have to gatherings here, and to see the local art on the walls, and you have live music. It’s very welcoming.

AW—And that’s what I want. I want people to come here and feel inspired. I want to be a part of the neighborhood.

DAU—Are you South Park or Oregon?

AW—We’re South Park, on this side of the highway. But I love the Oregon district. There are so many things I like about Dayton. My neighborhood is one of them.  Riverscape. The festivals! I really love the reggae festival. And the Lebanese festival. And the Blues Festival.

DAU—so, all these festivals–is it the music or the food ?

AW—the belly dancers.

DAU—I forgot the belly dancers.

Since our interview, Covid-19 shelter-at-home orders have stopped Artists United from meeting at Wholly Grounds, but they are open for carry-out. Amy and her partner Tony are grateful for the community support they’ve received during this shut down and look forward to having artists back in house. 

Dayton Artists United: Caitlin Cartwright

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Caitlin Cartwright is a social change artist whose vibrant narrative works combine painting, drawing, and collage to explore the stories that connect people of all cultures and ages. Although her intimate works deal with themes of loss and isolation, each piece also contains elements of community, comfort, and hope

DAU—I’ve read your bio and some other online interviews. You’ve lived all over.

CC—I have moved around a bit. I am from Dayton. I grew up here.

DAU—and you moved, when?

CC—When I was 16, I moved to Cincinnati to attend the School for the Creative and Performing Arts.

DAU—That’s a great school.

CC—Yeah, it is. I had a great time there.  From there I went to The Maryland College of Art.

DAU—OK, I understand moving for school and college, but how did you get from Baltimore to Madagascar? 

CC—Honestly, I just started sending email to places asking if I could come. This orphanage/community center/arts organization in Madagascar answered that I could come, but I couldn’t stay there.  Would I be interested in teaching at the school down the road, where this person knew they needed someone? After some email exchanges, I committed. I went to Madagascar, I taught English at the school, and as my second job, I did art projects with the orphans and street kids at the center. I painted a mural there, and just recently, I found out is still there. It’s cool to think about it.

DAU—What was it like to live in Madagascar?

CC—It was a challenge. Intimidating. Not a lot of people speak English there. The primary language is Malagasy, which I didn’t speak at all. And Madagascar was colonized by the French, so there is French spoken there, which I did not speak well.

DAU—You were so brave.

CC—I was young; it was a youth thing.

DAU—So how long did it take you to get proficient in Malagasy?

CC—It took about 7 months before I felt like I was able to hold a conversation.

DAU—And did you keep in touch with people there?

CC– There is one woman, she was my lifeline because she spoke English. We have kept in touch.

DAU—So, how long were you in Madagascar? And do you still speak Malagasy?

CC—I was there a year, and no, the vocabulary disappears after a while. I was listening to some music recently, and I could get some of the words.

DAU— And what came after Madagascar?

CC—I joined the Peace Corps and worked in Namibia. It’s beautiful there. I lived mostly outside. 90% of my time was spent outside.  I had a hut, but it was mud with a metal roof, and full of gaps—it was like being outside. It was like camping. And the sky there was huge…there’s no light pollution, you know, so at night the sky is so full of stars and they’re so bright. It made me feel—-I don’t know—-it was spiritual. It was a spiritual experience.

DAU—It sounds amazing. What kind of work did you do there?

CC—I helped start a girls after-school club. We collected materials to recycle and make into baskets to sell. 

DAU—And when you came back to the U.S.?

CC—Well, I wanted to do something with the community building I had been doing overseas. I thought I would get an advanced degree and grow my skill set. For some reason, I saw the community building and the art as separate,  I had been sort of compartmentalizing—at least in my mind. In practice, they overlapped a lot.

DAU—So, you did both?

CC—I am doing both.

DAU—As part of that degree you went to India?

CC—I did. India was a smack in the face.

DAU—In what way? You’d traveled quite a bit. 

CC—It still was a shock. You go to places, and you take your world view with you, you know. I come from such a place of privilege; and there I just realized it. I  was confronted by it daily. 

DAU—Tell me about that.

CC—I worked on a project that documented artists work. I would go to the artists’ houses and meet with them. There was one man who did the most beautiful metal work. I went to his house, and it was a room, more like a closet, and he and his wife and three daughters lived and worked there. His daughters weren’t going to school, because their work was good, and it sold, and it brought in money. So, no school.      

DAU–I read about your project there, you’re writing was just beautiful. You talked about the caste system and the “voiceless people defined by their positions.” Another thing you said I liked was that “while artists are responsible for the beauty we see everywhere in India, they are relegated to the ugliest and most marginalized parts of society.” One of the things that really struck me about this was that by documenting their work, both you and they felt that you were “validating their existence.” That spoke to me on a larger scale, about artists in general.

CC—I know what you mean. In graduate school, in a critique, if someone “got” your work, it was a toss up whether you felt understood or exposed.

DAU—It’s probably a different feeling for artists than writers, but I hope my work will stand on its own, but I also feel like I need to explain it.

CC—Oh, I know what you mean. I always struggle with what to put on the show card. How much is too much? And yet, I love to hear the back story on works I am looking at. It adds a dimension.

DAU—And how about when someone tells you how a work makes them feel, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

CC—so far, it’s mostly good. I want people to feel things. I want my work to be evocative, visceral.

DAU—And what are you working on now?

CC—Well, I am working on a project I submitted to the Montgomery County Artist’s Opportunity grant. I was awarded funding to create a body of work responding to how our community came together after last year’s tornados and the Oregon District shooting. I want to depict that sense of community, to convey that strength and hope.

DAU—How large a body of work?

CC—Five paintings.

DAU—And do you have a deadline? Are you going to show them?

CC—I am, but I don’t know when now. It’s all up in the air. I finished the collaborative piece of the project before we were confronted by Covid-19. I worked with community members at We Care Arts on creating art about the events of last year, just letting them express themselves, and how they felt. It was a powerful experience, I really bonded with the groups as we worked. Some of the pieces are astonishing, and I plan to include their imagery in my work, with their permission, of course.    

DAU—Talk to me about We Care Arts. You are director of programming there?

CC—I am, and I love it. It is the perfect place for me. I’ve always felt torn between community building and art making.  We Care Arts is the intersection of the two.  I don’t have to compartmentalize, I can promote art and healing, and community all at once.

DAU—And how are you coping with the Covid-19 shut down.

CC– I miss my people so much since we’ve been sheltering at home. We actually shut down on March 13, before the order came from the governor’s office. So many of our clients are in that vulnerable population. Many of them were self-isolating even before we decided to close. A big part of what I am doing every day is keeping in contact with my clients. Many of us were already feeling isolated, art is how we make connections.

We, the staff, are all doing everything we can to make sure  our clients have what they need. We’re posting videos online and sending out cards. We are all checking on each other. 

DAU—I liked that Amy Acton encouraged us to think about our mental health.

CC—I love her! I am so proud of us, of Ohio.  I think we’re doing an amazing job of pulling together. I love that she talked about mental health. At We Care Arts, we know the impact the arts have on mental health. It’s why I think it’s so important that there are artists offering free online art classes and videoconferencing, it’s a way we can look out for each other.

DAU—Is We Care Arts offering online classes?

CC—On our web page we’re posting client pictures into our Arts at Home gallery.  On our Facebook page, we’re posting video of art projects and things to keep our clients engaged. You can get to those things through the We Care Arts website or on Facebook, tagged with  #WCAathome

DAU—I want to go back to something you said before. Talking about when We Care Arts shut down, you said, “Many of us were already feeling isolated,” did you mean because of Covid-19 or before Covid-19.

CC—Oh, before. At We Care Arts, we cope with all kinds of challenges: developmental disabilities, cognitive impairments, addiction, depression and a whole spectrum of issues. Alone is our journey.

We all feel like no one understands us, no one can see how we feel. Some feel that more than others. But when we share through art, we connect through art.  We feel less alone because we can look at the art and see there are people who feel like we do, who know what alone is. The Covid-19 shelter at home isolation is a public enactment of how many of our clients feel all the time: alone, anxious, and uncertain about the future. It’s why we keep reaching out to each other. We need the reassurance that we will break out of this aloneness.

DAU—And when we break out? What are first things you are going to do?

CC—What won’t I do? I’m craving some Thai food, I’d like to sit down at Thai 9. I’d like to go to the Sky Bistro. I’m excited to go to the DAI summer Jazz series. I really hope that gets to happen! I went last year. My partner Duante Beddingfield sang there, and I got to go. It was such a beautiful experience. The space is so beautiful.

DAU—Caitlin Cartwright, thank you so much for talking to me. I hope we get to eat together in person soon.  I look forward to going with you to the Summer Jazz Series, and to seeing your paintings on display.

Dayton Artists United: Brian Mathus

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Visual artist Brian Mathus gave Artists United a serial interview that started in February and was updated this week.

DAU: OK, Brian Mathus, tell me about yourself.

BM—Well, let’s see. Fun fact. I’ve lived on both sides of the country. I lived in Virginia from the time I was 2 until I was 17, then I moved to Portland.

DAU–Portland Oregon?

BM: Yep. And it’s just like you imagine it. It’s where I found my peeps, people like me. It’s so creative there, and everybody is doing their own thing. They have this guy out there that rides a unicycle in a Darth Vader mask.

DAU—I’ve seen the video!

BM-I lived in Portland until I was 30, and then moved to Dayton.


DAU: Where you became an artist?

BM–I think I was always an artist. I just didn’t know how to be one. I made my first work when I was 17. It was a large-scale work called “crabs in a barrel.” I didn’t know how to stretch a canvas, so I just stapled it to the wall. I gessoed it and got gesso all over the floor. When it came time to take it down it was gessoed to the wall. It actually came off with pieces of the wall on the back. 

Years later I worked a frame shop and this woman who worked there help me stretch it into a frame. She complained the whole time about how “this wasn’t how you were supposed to do this.”

DAU—where is it now?

BM—I think it might be at my parents.

DAU—And you’ve been painting ever since? How many works do you think you’ve created?

BM—I don’t know. Over a 1000? I’ve started taking pictures of my work. I’ve sold some, maybe 70 pieces, that I never made a record of.

DAU—So, 70 pieces. Is that a lot? Is it, quit your day job and be an artist full time?

BM—Oh no, no, I’d love to be an artist full time, but I have to have that regular paycheck. I have kids. They’re expensive. I have got to have a day job. I paint houses.

DAU—with murals?

BM—I have made murals. They are expensive, but they aren’t a regular paycheck either. I am a house painter. And a painter. Not at the same time. 

DAU—Have you done any murals in Dayton?

BM—There’s one in Miamisburg, and one in Huber Heights.

DAU—What do you think needs to happen for more artists to make a living from their art?

BM—We have to get rid of the old way of having artwork sell. Very few artists sell paintings priced over 1000. I worked at a gallery in Portland, actually, I helped build a gallery in Portland. All the artists, the small people, got together to make a cooperative gallery. We were trying to sell high end product.  But there was this TV show….. I watched the art market there become saturated and choke out the little guy.

DAU—Well—there’s not a tv show about how odd Dayton is, yet.

BM—True, but the market can become saturated without a tv show. Bill Cunningham has convinced me that producing mid-priced work on a regular basis is a better foundation for a shot at being a working artist. 

DAU—Bill Cunningham at The Orphanage?

BM—Yeah, I just had a show there

DAU: How did it go?  Talk to me about being an artist in Dayton.

BM—The show went well. I sold some work out of it. Being an artists in Dayton has been interesting, it’s a different environment. It is very easy and difficult to be an artist here. It’s very cheap to rent space and have work up. 

DAU: Talk to me more about Dayton. What is your favorite thing to do here?

BM—Take the kids places, the art museum is pretty good and the city is fun for playing Pokémon go.

DAU—Who is your favorite artist and why?

BM—Either Francis Bacon or Rothko, both had the ability to make you feel something that was transcendental, though one represents the sublime and the other represents the letting go of inner angst. 

DAU—What was the last book you read?

BM—Sex before Dawn

DAU—If I were going to make a movie about your life, who would you want to play you?

BM—CalebCity, that dude is hilarious.

DAU—What would the movie be called?

BM—An Ordinary Life, although I’m pretty sure people could find not ordinary things.

DAU—What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever done, seen, painted—take your pick.

BM—Getting shot with a taser and that was a weird sensation.

DAU—If you could have anyone in the world in your studio as a model, who would you like to paint? 

BM–Bjork

DAU: So, what’s next?

BM—More art. I’ve got a series of nudes I’m working on because a woman volunteered. She’s into bondage, I don’t know if that is in my wheelhouse, but it might be interesting. I was working on a series of representation for black people, but models are hard to come by at times. I want to do multiple figures and put some meaning into my work. I have ideas to play with, but nothing solid. But that’s how it always is.

DAU–Since conducting this interview, Ohioans have been ordered to “Shelter at Home, ” I reached out to Brian for an update on how the Covid-19 situation has affected his life.

BM– Well I’ve been laid off so I’m teaching the kids during the day. So far, keeping my hands busy has given me a sense of purpose. I’ve built a lot of canvases. I’ve been able to get some depth in my drawing, because I don’t have to work. I don’t feel the pressure of “I have to get this done today or I’ll never have a chance again.”

I’m not bored at home. But I keep wanting to do landscapes. I’ve tried, it’s too hard.  The people who are outside seem to have no sense of boundaries. I’m guessing a lot of people need more human contact then they are getting.

I do feel this pressure to create meaningfulness, but anything can have meaning if you peel away the veil of routine and look with fresh eyes.

 

  

Dayton Artists United First Group Show Kicks off Friday

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A group show of work by the members of Artists United Dayton opens Friday, March 6, 2020 at the Orphanage Gallery, 73 N. Dutoit St. Dayton, OH. The group show at the Orphanage Gallery is offered by Bill Cunningham and curated by Bill Cunningham and Samantha Mang. The show features work by more than 40 visual artists, and because Artists United is a network for artists in all media, the show also includes writers, a fashion artist, musicians and a magician.  The opening is Friday March 6, and the show will be open on March 7 for Saturday after, and March 15 for third Sunday. 

Curtis Bowman

My name is Curtis Bowman. I am a member of Artists United Dayton and I’d like to share with you how  Artists United Dayton came about. Artists United is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, CA. It was founded by my friend Holly Million. Holly is a filmmaker. When she started making films, she discovered that there are things she needed, location contracts, employment contracts and forms for use of copyright. She thought these things would be easy to find. She was shocked to discover that there was no central clearing house of filmmaker forms—not even on the internet.

In 2016, Holly Million started talking to artists. She talked about sharing opportunities. She talked about sharing resources. Many artists were taken aback, many artists were excited. Many artists couldn’t believe there could be a network of artists willing to share information and opportunities.  But Holly kept talking. She talked about artists as the catalyst of the creative economy. She talked about shaking off the scarcity mindset that keeps each individual artist thinking they have to hoard what they have because there is never enough to go around. She talked about the power of the arts to heal, to strengthen, to unify.

Artists United was founded on December 6, 2016.

When Holly told me about Artists United, I told her “come to Dayton. We have a great artists’ community here. I have been a grantwriter in Dayton for more than 2 decades. I have worked with a lot of artists. We’ve got the goods!” Last year,  she came. In July 2019, Holly Million traveled to Dayton for a week . She toured artist’s studios. She premiered her latest film *A Permanent Mark.* She spoke to Dayton’s film community at a Film Connections Meeting. She attended an Artist’s United Networking event hosted by Jes McMillan in The Mosaic Institute Studios at Tend and Flourish, a collaborative retail and studio space on Brown St. At that event, attendees video-conferenced to an Artists United member in New Orleans.  Every where she went, Holly talked about artists, the power of the arts and the creative economy.

Artists United’s Dayton chapter was on its way. The artists have  been having monthly gatherings, an open meeting for artists to meet and talk to each other, at Wholly Grounds Coffeehouse, which is owned by an artist, Amy Williams.  Amy puts up local art, and kindly offers Artists United space to meet. At the January meeting, the group was tossing around the idea of having a show. Bill Cunningham stood up and said, “I have space available.” Artists began to sign up on the spot. A show was born.  It sounds simple, and it was. But behind the scenes, there is Bill Cunningham and Samantha Mang, who have put a ton of work into organizing the show.

I founded the Artists United Dayton chapter with Jes McMillan, who is chapter captain. But Artists United Dayton has become its own thing: artist driven and artist run. The goal of Holly Million’s  Artists United was to build a worldwide network of artists.  She’s done it. Artists United has 35,000 members worldwide.  My goal for Artists United Dayton has been to connect our thriving network of artists to each other and the world.   It’s about artists—all artists. filmmakers, writers, visual artists, dancers, musicians, magicians—it starts with the artists. When artists lift each other up, when we share resources and opportunities, we enrich ourselves and our community. There is no fee to be a member of Artists United, its not a club, or a school. It’s what you make it. And the Dayton Artist Community can make it great. We’ve got the goods.   

 

Last July, Dayton pulled out all the stops to showcase its artistic talent. On March 6, at the Orphanage Gallery, we’re doing it again. The Artists United group show will remain up until after third Sunday, March 15.

Join Artists United by email to [email protected]

Look for us on Facebook, Artists United Dayton Ohio,  at https://www.facebook.com/groups/351991622115865/

Join in the next gathering at Wholly Grounds Coffeehouse, 825 Wayne Avenue, Dayton, Ohio on March 11, from 6pm to 8pm.

Dayton Artists United: William Cunningham

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Photo by Alex Kamanandi

Artist United interview with William Cunningham, artist and curator of The Orphanage Gallery, 73 N. Dutoit St., Dayton Ohio 45402

DAU—So, Bill, are you from Dayton?

WC—I am. I lived other places, like Atlanta back in the early 90s and I travel a lot, so I get to see many different things.

DAU—What do you like about Dayton?

WC—I’m kind of funny about Dayton. I know a lot about Dayton and its history. I used to run Gallery 257 back in the late 80s, it was located where Press Coffeehouse is now.

But Dayton frustrates me. The Dayton art community frustrates me. There is so much potential there and it languishes as it has no supporting infrastructure for artist cultural production.

DAU—Talk to me about that. What do you mean by infrastructure?

WC—Mostly, I mean exhibition space. There is not enough open exhibition space for the artists we have, and we have a tremendous number of artists here in Dayton. As artists, we need places to see lots of various styles of art. We don’t get to go see each other’s work as it evolves over time,  unless you drop by another artist’s studio, which are usually not open. Most artists have to get a show for their work to be seen. It’s hard here to get shows.

There are few galleries that will show newer artist work or even established artist work for that matter. Let’s say an artist creates say 30-40 works, maybe 5 of those are actually show-able.  Art is a process, and not everything you turn out is your best work, work that as an artist you would be willing to show. Sometimes you have something to say and it doesn’t come across in the first 20 attempts. Or in 20 works the language for the work is not developed enough to be understandable for the viewer. But if you could get those five-good works into a group show for example, you could start to build up to something in the form of a conversation based on the viewer feedback of the work.

DAU—So, if someone came to you and said “Bill, we want to foster the arts in Dayton, and we need some guidance.”

WC—I’d tell them  1) Set up an exhibition space that is open for emerging artists. A pop-up sort of thing. Something that turns over rapidly, once a week or once every two weeks. Just a wall with two works on it would work to increase visibility of an artist work. By alternating the space so there is something new every week, say 50 weeks a year this way there is always new energy in the art space. 2)  Have a looser curatorial process, don’t try to control what hangs to much let other people sign-up to curate shows of other artist work. This really helps as one person should not be allowed dictate what is good or bad. 3)  Don’t control the artists. Don’t put your finger on them and tell them what kind of art they have to show. But do guide them in matters like pricing. Every gallery is different every art space is also different over time pricing patterns will develop which provides a range which art sells well at that venue.

DAU—I’m hearing that you don’t like to be told what to do.

WC—Hell No! Anybody will tell you that. I’ve been called a renegade. I’ve been called worse than that. I speak my mind. I’m not going to say I like something if I don’t and there are a lot of things I don’t like. Some of the things I don’t like are based on my experience. Like, I’ve got a bias against juried art shows. I hate all juried shows.

DAU—Why is that?

WC—Most of the juried shows collect submission fees and then they give out a prize that’s worth a fraction of the money they collect. The rest goes to paying for the show usually in a space that is already paid for. It’s a cash machine that exploits the artists. It’s really nothing more than a cash grab scam that preys on artist. And the jurors are laughable in most cases. They get someone that’s high profile, not high profile in the art world, but someone that people recognize, or a person in the government to walk around and give out a prize to the winner based on what? And then the emerging artists have to explain to that person about the value of their art and what it’s about. Then the show just becomes a personality contest.

Some time ago, I had a work in an abstract show. The juror comes in, he’s all pompous and talking about “post-modern abstraction’ in this way that showed he has no idea what he was talking about. He walked around and talked down to all the artists. Then, he awarded the prize to landscape painting. A landscape, a plen air landscape at that,  with a duck at a pond.  A landscape painting won in an abstract show! Turned out the person who won was related to the juror,  go figure.

Most jurors are friends of the curator—it’s a scam to make money as they oftentimes get paid as well. How does a young artist know which juried show is legit? At the galleries I run we will never do a  juried show.

DAU—No juried shows ever?

WC—Well, there is an exception. We were in ArtFest in Beavercreek last year. That was a juried show done right. The judges were people who knew what they were about. Michael Roediger; Director and CEO of Dayton Art Institute,  (3rd year as a judge), Lisa Seibert; with Dayton Local (4th year as a judge), and Amy Kollar Anderson; Internationally recognized artist, MCACD 2018 grant recipient. Samantha was one of the staff members for ArtFest. And, in my opinion,  this show was fair in its judging.

The booth I worked with won Best Interactive. We showed Front Street artists and had a second half that gave away spun art t-shirts. I ran the gallery side, which also had a little gallery that was interactive. All the works inside were free, provided by artists in the area. It was a good event.    

DAU—Samantha? You mean Samantha Mang?

WC—She’s part of ArtFest. She’s good people.

DAU—She’s co-curating the Artists United group show with you.  Thank you for that. I really liked what happened at the Artists United gathering where you offered The Orphanage for a group show.

WC— You wanted a show. I have an art space. I like what Artists United is doing. It’s like what The Orphanage does in some ways.  Artists United doesn’t charge a fee to be a member, right? The Orphanage has a zero-profit gallery model: $0 submission fees and $0 commission fees. Our mission is to provide a place for artist to show and sell work. Sales of  any work from an artist help support the artist. Our rules are simple: the artist must be present at the show’s opening. The artist, especially emerging artists, needs to mingle with other artists and art patrons. See there’s the network thing we have in common. Artists need to meet people in the public places away from the art studio. How else are they going to sell art? The gallery is supported by the art community attending the shows. We don’t handle any sales of artists’ work: the artists sell their work. But last year, at the galleries, artists sold over 600 works. We don’t take a cut all of that money, it all went into the pockets of the artists.

Let’s say you’re an artist, and you have your work in a group show, like the Artist United show that is coming up. You meet people, maybe you sell some art. If people like your work, they’ll  come to your studio. When you’ve built an audience, you can host an open studio event. People buy more art at events.  Group shows at The Orphanage broaden the exposure for everybody involved. This Artist United show already has 45 artist signed on and I expect a few more before it opens.

One of pieces from Pseudo Bibliography of Imaginary Friends a series of work from a couple of years ago where Bill Cunningham mixed two forms of bad art vintage snapshots and public domain clipart to create a new work.

Also, when you have your work in a group show, like the upcoming Artists United show on March 6, you see the work of other artists. You get to talk to each other about art. I love to talk to other artists about art. When artists talk about art, they don’t put a value on it, like “Hey, that could win a prize at a juried show with that work.” No, they talk about the work. The process. What brush did you use to get that effect? What inspired this thing? These sorts of things. Which helps artists expand what they are already doing. As they gain new information, their work becomes better, even if they do not use the ideas they learned about. The conversations, the exposure to other artists still had an influence on them. 

When artists participate in a group show they learn how a gallery operates. How to interact with the public. How to price their work. They watch what sells and what doesn’t. They look at how the show is put together—why did some works hang together? There are a lot of things that aren’t being taught. We have great art programs here. Sinclair has a strong art department, so does Wright State, so does the University of Dayton. The University of Dayton is the only one that teaches the business in some of its art classes.

The starving artist concept is a myth and based in propaganda. We need to stop selling it. Let’s stop charging $80,000 per year to teach kids how to copy some dead artists. We don’t need more academic art that says nothing. I want to look at art that says something. Art that says something I have never thought about before. Even if the work is reductive,  I am looking at art. Folk art, unschooled art, raw talent with things to say. These are the works that end up in museums. Original thoughts. Fun art. Art should be fun. It should be interesting. It should have something to say.

Art schools should teach how to mount a show, how to preserve work, how to pack and ship something like a painting. How to pay the bills as an artist. Every artist has a market. How do you find yours? This is what The Orphanage is exploring. It’s an entirely new gallery model.

DAU—How did you come to start The Orphanage?

WC–We had the space, in between the studios the hallway was just wasted space. We decided to treat those walls as pop-up art space in the beginning. The early shows at The Orphanage were all new local painters who had never shown work before. Those early group shows let more artists gain the art showing skills and gallery skills I mentioned earlier. These shows let them meet each other and broaden their networks. People coming to the gallery got to see some stuff they’d never seen before. We showed some of the Front St artists who hadn’t shown before. We introduced them to each other and the public. Since opening Front St. has energy. People are coming to see what’s new each month. There was a time when first Friday had only 20 people walking around now some of the shows have almost 1000 people. It’s growing all the time.   

Front St. used to be a factory, the space where The Orphanage is was the daycare center, so it seemed right, you know, to start showing new artists here. We do 12 shows a year, one a month. We’re open, technically open, not just unlocked, three days a month: First Friday, Saturday After First Friday  and Third Sunday. Last year we sold 600 works, and that doesn’t include the Christmas gift show.  Most of those 600 works sold during First Friday,  and the rest for the most  were Third Sunday. This year we have some big Saturday events in the works. I expect that day will pick up as well.

All in all,  I would say around 450 plus works sold during those 11 First Fridays last year. This year, since January and February are slower, I can say the number of works sold has doubled from last year. The Gallery is actually two galleries The Orphanage and Us and Them. Us and Them also contributed to those numbers and sold about 150 works last year. Us and Them only shows new artist work. But look at those numbers and tell me people are not buying art in Dayton. 

Photo by Alex Kamanandi

DAU—Those are impressive numbers. You’ve talked about The Orphanage, let’s talk about you for a bit. Tell me about your work.

WC–  Me? I do a little of everything. I’ve done sculpture, painting, writing. I’m well known in stage magic and mentalism. I’ve been an artist all my life, I have been doing art all my life. I didn’t study art in school. I studied history, philosophy, psychology, anthropology and archeology, but I couldn’t walk away from art.  I started buying and collecting art before I was 18. Art has always been there, in my life. Art makes me ask the question – why? Why spend your life thinking about whether you should do something or not? Art says, “why not?” So, do it.  Art is all about doing stuff, as an artist. Doing, not talking about it. 

DAU—Tell me some of your favorite artists.

WC–Peter Gallo, Mike Cockrill, Chris Martin, Thomas Nozkowski, Stanley Whitney. These are NY painters for the most part. I also like the work Sharon Butler, she writes a great blog called “Two Coats of Paint,” you should read that.

I like NY for art. The cost of living there is astronomical. That’s one thing about Dayton, you can live here. Of course, it effects your thinking. If your living in NY and  have to make 8-12 grand a month to pay for your studio and living expenses, you don’t mess around. You work in your studio; you network and talk to people in the industry. Art is a business, there’s no way to take the money out of it and still eat.

But art is more than a way to make money: it’s a cultural commentary, its documentation, its ideas in action. That’s why I love The Little Gallery, which is a micro gallery movement that is free to use by anyone who likes art.  The Little Gallery motto is make art, take art, leave art.  I built these galleries with two other artisans,  Greg Seitz and Cayman K. We’ve placed eight in the surrounding communities. These galleries are helping people by giving them an outlet for small works and getting people to collect art. All of the works at The Little Gallery are provided by artists for free.

DAU—Greg and Cayman K are artists here?

WC—Yeah, Greg Seitz is here in The Orphanage, Cayman K is across the way in The Front St complex. Anyway, the first Little Gallery is hanging outside The Orphanage on the building.

If you want art, it’s around and some of it can be found for free. A small work by a local artist you picked up at a Little Gallery is way better than going out and buying some formulaic painting that looks like something Picasso did, something that has been copied for 90 years. The work does not always need to be big to have importance and wall power. Some of the works I have seen in The Little Gallery have these traits.

DAU—But, just a bit of argument here. Sometimes people want something that is just pretty, and maybe matches their couch.

WC—No! If you start down that road, you’re done, and it will cost you more in the long run. Let’s say,  you have a gorgeous oriental rug, you don’t put a crap coffee table on it. You get a better table. Don’t just put something pretty on your wall to fill a space. Put Art on your wall.  Look at art, not pretty pictures. I am not saying art can’t be pretty. It can be pretty, but it shouldn’t be a pond and a duck pretty. It has to be authentic. It elevates you, having art around you makes you better, more thoughtful, more a part of the world. If you surround yourself with crap, all you’ll be able to see is crap. You won’t be able to see the difference. Treat yourself as something valuable, surround yourself with art.

85% of people think art is expensive. This way of thinking needs to be changed.  There is work you can buy, here at The Orphanage gallery, at every show, that is not expensive.  The sale of those works helps local, emerging artists. There is work you can take from The Little Gallery that is free and you’re welcome to take it just because you like it. People can have real art in their life. Speaking of which, Samantha Mang, who we spoke about earlier, just added a dozen of small salt paintings to the Little Gallery.  Those are available right now, for you to just take if you like them.

DAU—Bill, how can people find you?

WC—I’m on Facebook Bill Montana Artist and the William Cunningham Page and Instagram @bllmontana

DAU–William Cunningham, Thanks for taking the time to talk with me.  Thanks for the work you do for emerging artists and for hosting The Artists United group show, March 6 at The Orphanage. 

Dayton Artists United: Cayman K

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Artists United Interview with Cayman K, a visual artist.

DAU—So Cayman K, are you from Dayton?

CK—I’ve been here a long time. My family lived in California. I was born in Las Vegas, but lived in California until I was about 7, I guess. We all migrated here, and now some of the family has moved on to Florida.

DAU—too cold here for that California blood?

CK—Maybe! I know I like hot weather.

DAU—and you mostly grew up here?

CK—Yeah, I went to Wayne High School. I went to Sinclair.

DAU–did you study art?

CK—yeah, and general education classes.

DAU—Since you’ve lived in Dayton a long time, tell me some things you like about it.

CK—The restaurants. Lucky’s, Lynn’s Bistro, Thai 9, the Trolley Stop.

DAU—and Wholly Grounds.

CK—and Wholly Grounds! I also like the culture of the city.  Art in the City is a great event. And there’s gallery spaces, like Sideshow  at The Yellow Cab, and The Orphanage. I think Dayton is so receptive to art. It’s a great city. 

DAU—So when did you know you were an artist?

CK—I’ve always been an artist. I have always drawn and created stuff. I have this comic book I drew in pencil, its written in like my third-grade cursive—it’s not in great shape—but it’s about my dog. I made my dog a superhero. Then, I knew I wanted to be an artist.

DAU—And that was it?

CK—It wasn’t that linear. You know how it is, you go to those family dinners where everyone is asking you what you’re doing and how are your classes. You kind of say things, like “It’s good, A’s and B’s,” but what you really mean “I dropped that class because it was too hard.” Your family worries you won’t be able to make a living, so you tell them stuff to make them  less worried.

DAU—And they worried about your being an artist?

CK—Yes, a little. I don’t mean they haven’t been supportive. They have. It’s just that being an artist didn’t seem like a workable job. Once I started selling stuff and making money, they got less worried.

DAU—Cayman K is the name you use for your artwork. How did having a “pen name,” come about.

CK—Cayman K comes from a position of whimsy, having fun for fun’s sake. People nowadays are pretty serious. My art is fun. My art is not political, or controversial—it’s spontaneous. I make it for its own sake. Like most of my work is devoid of background, just a cut-out. I made a character, a cowboy cactus. He’s just random.

I think the world is more divisive. People are willing to write people off. There’s a disconnect. Even if you don’t like each other, do we have to be so hyperbolic?   My art isn’t part of that. It’s playful.

Spike the Gator

DAU—Talk to me more about your art.

CK— I found something that I am really liking doing. I’ve been making art out of salvage wood, inspired by folk art. I have a day job.  I drive for a delivery service.  I drive allover and see a lot of stuff. I see the signs that people put up in their yards, and their garden gnomes. When I go into my studio, I let my mind run over those things, I see them altered. I play with them. I create these characters that exist in one plane. I leave the interpretation of what they mean to other people. It nothing subversive.

DAU—It’s interesting to me that you say your art isn’t subversive, but you call it a “cut out.” In all the spy books, you know,  a cut out is an operative that has no connection to either end of the message. That sounds subversive. And you have a pseudonym you use as an artist, which seems sort of like a spy with an alias. Also, you talk about Cayman K as separate from your everyday self, like an alter ego.

CK—Not a spy. He is different from me, I guess. I started Cayman K as an homage to my grandmother. She always supported me, and she died last year.  I told you how I would tell my relatives stuff at holidays. I told my grandma I was going to be an artist, and I was going to have a studio and do really great work. I was just blowing smoke. I mean, I wanted— I want— that stuff. But I wasn’t doing anything to make it happen. My grandma believed me and believed in me. She always loved anything I did, even when I was just messing around. The name I use, it lets me work. It gives purpose and makes me less serious. It’s cathartic. I am really turning out the work now.

DAU—Do you see the contradiction in being more purposeful and less serious?

CK—Yes, but I am not talking about subject matter. Or maybe I am, but I am not talking about only subject matter. I mean, I was blowing smoke before, and now I am not. I was lazy about working, and I invested working with so much import that I couldn’t work. So, I am working more, I am turning out more work. But I am also less inhibited about how I work. I am not investing every piece with such import that it prevents me from finishing it. I work a lot and I am a lot more productive. There’s a style difference too, you can see it if you follow an idea from work 1 to work 20. 

DAU—and now you have a studio.

CK.—I do. When I started working with salvage wood last year in March, I was just making it work. I had always fooled around with being creative. But the visual arts always appealed to me most. And the wood, it seemed like the right thing for me. So, I started with the salvage wood thing, making it work. I had a folding table and a jigsaw on the patio of my apartment. My early stuff was large, and the works were rough—it’s nearly impossible to make a small piece with a jig saw. But it was so appealing. I took some things to shows, sold some. People liked it; they liked the playfulness of the pieces. I like the playfulness.

DAU—And Cayman K lets you be playful?

CK—Cayman K is playful. He captures an element of my personality, the part of me that I showed my grandmother, maybe. I don’t let Cayman K take on serious stuff. He has a lightness that he needs to keep.  I choose deliberately to avoid cultural controversy in my Cayman K work. I don’t make personal stuff under our name—my personal work is less considered and more intentional. Cayman K exists in a place of imagination, where I don’t take myself seriously. The world is in a shambles, but Cayman K picks up the pieces and makes art. He turns his salvage wood into characters like the giant gator. With Cayman K, I can recapture the state of being I felt when I drew my comic book in 3rd grade.  It’s not sentimental, it doesn’t have any messages—it’s just a purely creative place.

DAU—Is that why you helped create The Little Gallery?

CK—Sort of. I got the idea from a guy in Wisconsin that I follow on Instagram. Dickie, that guy, shared how people were engaging in the art share. I thought it was interesting. I showed it to Bill Cunningham at The Orphanage Gallery. Bill contacted the guy. We had a lot of email exchanges. He sent us some art.  We sent him some art. Bill, and Greg Steiz, in The Orphanage, and I built The Little Gallery. Actually, we built a couple of them. There’s the one outside The Orphanage, and there’s one in The Heights Café in Huber Heights. There’s like eight of them now.

DAU—You put work in The Little Gallery. Bill showed me one, a little purple sculptured head.

CK—I do put work in The Little Gallery, but that one isn’t mine. I took it from the Huber Heights gallery and brought it down. I think the idea of the art exchange is that the art should move around, so lots of people can look at it. It’s one of the things I liked about Artists United when I came to the gathering, the idea of exchanging work.

DAU—That’s one of the things that appealed to me too. It’s why I do what I do for Artists United. Your exchange with Dickie in Wisconsin is like what we did last summer. Artists in Dayton created 3 artworks, and a few artists worked on them. Then they traveled to Pittsburgh, where more people worked on them. They were supposed to go on to Brooklyn, but that event was moved, so it hasn’t happened yet. I’m excited that the collaborative works artists in Dayton and Pittsburgh made last summer will be on display in the group show at The Orphanage. Are you putting a work in the show?

CK—Yeah, I am. I think the show is going to be great. There are a lot of things going up—I think we’re up to almost 50 artists. There is going to be a range of stuff to see. There are so many points of view. You’ll see my work—it’s standout. I’m not saying it standout better, I‘m saying its standout bright. My work is bright. Really bright and quirky. It doesn’t have any message or anything, it’s just loud.

DAU—Another contradiction. Your work is the quiet shouting man.

CK—I guess so. I hadn’t really considered the contradictions before. I’m focused on the color, the fun. I take my inspiration from things I see. I’ve been inspired by anime, in terms of color, I mean. Although,  I’ve done some of that pop-culture thing, you know making work with cartoons and things like that. It’s how I discovered how to talk to people. I would make these pop-culture works and show at festivals—set up a booth. People would come in and talk to me about the work. Cartoons get people to come in. Then, I got comfortable talking to people. It’s the driving force behind selling a lot of pieces, networking—talking to people face to face.

DAU—And you sell online?

CK–  I’ve tried online sales, I still do some, but face to face is the best way I’ve found to sell art. Networking is vital for artists. Twenty five percent of my income comes from my art now, since March. I’ve been able to upgrade the studio. I added a band saw and a belt sander. I can make more work, better work because I have better tools. As an artist, there is so much to manage. You have to make the work, you have to manage yourself, and market yourself. There is no one more self-directed than an artist.

DAU—That isn’t the image most people have of artists.

CK—I know. People think we sit around and dream. We’re inspired to create, and then we create.  You can’t be a working artist and fool around. As a creative person, you have to grow your art. You have to indulge your creativity, but that comes from work, not fooling around.  I still fool around with other things–music a bit, and writing. I like writing, its more ethereal than visual art. But visual art is my creative place. Those other things are fun, and they contribute to my art. I think of things while I am fooling around. But, in my studio, I am working. And not just making art but selling.

DAU—So, Cayman K is an expression of your personality. He is the playfulness of your art, but he is also work.

CK—Yeah. I think he is.

DAU—And what does your family think now?

CK—I think they are relieved I have a direction. I am making money. They can see I’m serious. My fiancé is really supportive. There’s a barrier to people thinking you’re serious when you’re an artist. Having the person closest to you believe you are serious helps you see yourself as an artist.

DAU—And how can people get in touch with you?

CK—They can see my stuff at my Front St studio. I’ll have a piece in the Artists United Show at The Orphanage in March. I’m on Instagram @caymankart and Facebook Cayman K Art.

DAU—Cayman K, thank you for taking the time to talk with me. I think your grandmother would be proud.

ArtsDEEP Connects Schools and Artists

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Culture Works, the united arts fund and arts service agency for the Dayton region, has launched an online portal to connect schools to the arts. Culture Works believes that creating and maintaining a vibrant and attractive community filled with quality arts brings both measurable and immeasurable value to the citizens in its service area. Dorie Watts, Manager of Strategic Initiatives, says “arts and culture reflect all the best and most beautiful parts of who we are, they enrich our lives. Culture Works wants to make sure that our youth have access to those riches.”

ArtsDEEP, a searchable online database, is how Culture Works is helping to bring the arts to area youth. The database, connects teachers to arts programming through a searchable directory. “The database is up and rolling, it’s all about getting the word out to the users now.” Watts says. “A database is only as good as the information it houses, and we want our database to be comprehensive. Culture Works is offering free user workshops for teachers and provider workshops for artists and arts organizations to make that happen.” 

The next provider workshop is Thursday, February 20, 2020 from 6 PM – 7 PM at Wholly Grounds Coffeehouse, 825 Wayne Ave Dayton, Ohio 45410. Amy Williams, a local artist, and an owner of Wholly Grounds is a supporter of local arts programs. She hosts the monthly Artist United Gatherings and exhibits local artists work. “As soon as Culture Works called me about the workshop for providers, I wanted to help,” Williams said.  “Hosting the workshops helps me too. I want Wholly Grounds to be an art hub, a place where creative people feel inspired, a place where creative people share opportunities.  ArtsDEEP is a great opportunity for artists and art organizations to publish their programs. I wish we had an educational program to upload,” said Williams.  Provider workshops are open to arts groups, arts organizations and individual artists. ‘You don’t have to know everything about your programming to attend a workshop,” says Watts. “The workshop walks you through what the schools need to know. If you are thinking about a program you might like to offer, the workshop will help you decide whether your programming fits school parameters.”

The first providers began to upload programming in October. Jes McMillan of The Mosaic Institute was among the first to post programs. “I love the idea of a searchable arts database,” McMillan says, “I’ve been advocating for an online arts directory for a long time. I wasn’t thinking specifically about educational programs, but when I found out that Culture Works was offering a searchable education database, I jumped at the chance to add The Mosaic Institute.” The Mosaic Institute has offered educational programming for five years.  “I am excited about having another way of getting our programs out there,” McMillan said. “The user interface is straightforward and easy to use. I created a login and filled out my provider profile. Culture Works sent me a provider access code, and I started uploading programs.”

Amber Harris-Reed has specialized in bringing the history of powerful African American women to life through reenactment for over 35 years. “I  gave a performance for teachers to demonstrate the kind of programming the portal will house. I did Harriet Tubman,” Harris-Reed said. “The teachers were very excited when I told them that I offered different character portrayals.”   Harris-Reed has performed throughout Ohio and Indiana, and as far away as California. “I have lots of characters I can do, my goal is to teach students about these remarkable African American women, their lives, the times they lived in and their mark on history.”  Amber Harris-Reed’s provider page on is up on the ArtsDEEP portal, and offers details about her performances of Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and Coretta Scott King. 

The Decoy Arts Center has also been uploading programming to the ArtsDEEP portal. “What I like about the ArtsDEEP platform is that it’s fully engaged in connecting schools with artists, art educators and art experiences to bring into the classroom,” says Kristin Bailey, program director at the Decoy Arts Center. “I believe it is especially important for outreach where art programs might not be available. ArtsDEEP can provide access to those looking to supplement.” Bailey says, “It’s a great tool for k-12 school programs.”

The database makes provider programming available to more than 50 school districts in Dayton and the surrounding areas. “In the Dayton area, we have a thriving arts community: an opera, a symphony, multiple professional dance companies, a fine arts museum, thriving theaters and many small arts organizations,” says Lisa Hanson, Executive Director of Culture Works, “and many of these organizations, and individual artists too, offer educational programming, outreach, and enrichment activities for free or at a greatly reduced fee, but teachers and the organizations that serve youth have limited resources, and limited time. It takes time to research what’s out there. This database not only shows available programs, but shows educators planning details like cost per student, curriculum areas covered and the grade levels that the programs best serve.”

The ArtsDEEP program was developed in collaboration with school districts, universities, teachers, administrators, parents, arts groups, art organizations and individual artists through-out the Miami Valley. As artists and arts advocates, Culture Works believes that art experiences will change the way our youth view the world, increase their happiness and foster creativity. “The goal is to increase the number of “touches” there are between the schools offered the platform and participating arts organizations, “ says Dorie Watts. “There is overwhelming evidence that the arts improve academic performance, lower the number of disciplinary disruptions, raise self-esteem and lower stress. Every time arts programming is added to a class curriculum, it’s a win.”

The ArtsDEEP,  the education exploration portal, is  provided by Culture Works through the generous support of The Dayton Foundation, the Mathile Family Foundation, Vectren/CenterPoint Energy Company, the Reynolds & Reynolds Associate Foundation, Lockheed Martin, and the Montgomery County Arts & Cultural District. If you are interested in ArtsDEEP portal workshops for users or providers, or if you have questions about the ArtsDeep portal, contact Dorie Watts at  [email protected]

Dayton Artists United: The Blue Heron Trio

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The Blue Heron Trio is a jazz band in Dayton, Ohio. Elisha Frontz is their vocalist, Phil Myers plays saxophone and guitar, and Dave Santucci is on keyboard.  Dayton Artists United had the pleasure of visiting with them in their studio at the Davis-Linden building.

DAU—You’ve been together 9 years. I’ve read your bio on your website, “three close friends came together,” tell me about that.

Phil—I guess it started with me. There was this gala at St. Christopher Church in Vandalia and the organizer approached me about kicking off the fundraiser with some music. “It would be great to have live jazz, he said.” I don’t know how he even knew I played an instrument, but I said yes and then I said, “Hey Dave, you busy.”

Dave—And there you go.

Phil—We played about a 30 minute set. It wasn’t too bad.

Dave—They asked us back the next year. We asked Elisha, “Do you want to sing? Do you like jazz?”

Elisha—I always loved jazz. I’d been wanting to do jazz forever. I’d been doing punk, and it was fun, but I’ve always loved jazz. I was thrilled.

Phil—We’d all been doing other stuff, performing in special projects with Nick Atkinson called ArtistPlaylist.  Elisha and I were covering the Pixies album Doolittle when I asked her join Dave and I.

DAU—And now you’ve been together 9 years. Where did the name Blue Heron come from?

Dave—That was me. I was walking along the path by Carillion Park, along the river and I saw a heron flying and watched it land. The Great Blue Heron looks so majestic at a distance, and so crazy up close.

Elisha—That describes us.

DAU—Let’s talk about your first album, named for the band. It’s a great compilation of your best covers, but I want to talk about the original tune, 1913. It’s a gorgeous song, really evocative.

Dave—Thanks.

Elisha—Dave came up with the melody and the arrangement. He does this amazing sort of mumbly talk to fill in where the lyric goes.

Dave—I put the shape of the lyric there, you know, sort of counting syllables in the tune.

Elisha—Then I picked apart the mumbles and started to write down what I thought would fit in those spaces.  At the time I was reading a book about the 1913 flood, because it was the 100-year anniversary. The book was written right after, about the experiences of people who were there. Patterson changed his entire factory space to accommodate flood refugees and to make rescue boats. I took inspiration from that.

Dave—So, when I went to work on the song, I was just thinking about the melody and filling in the lyrics, kind of loose.

Elisha—And I listened to it and wrote it out…”here’s what I think you said,” and I kind of polished the mumbles.

DAU—I like that “polished mumbles.”

Dave—The mumbles just give me a structure for the song. When coming up with a melody, if you just play it without an ear to how it will be sung, it can be difficult to connect the lyrics to the melody once you finally have them. I try to capture the spirit behind singing the lyrics, even if there aren’t actual words yet.

DAU—So you record yourself?

Elisha—Right, and then we decode the mumbles, fit the ideas together.

Phil –and build out the harmony.

DAU—and which of you does the background vocals?

Phil—both Dave and I.

DAU—And its been a long time between your first album and your second.

Elisha—Yes.  It’s hard to justify putting out an album in a world where people stream music for free. But, it is very rewarding to have a really nice product.

Phil—That first album was —not rushed—but the project was put together fairly quickly.  The first album was created so that we could get people acquainted with how we sound, what we do.  We took a lot more time with the our second album, Other Side of the Tracks.

DAU—so it raises the bar?

Elisha—I think in general, we try to raise the bar all the time.  Since we started Blue Heron Trio, each of us has sought more musical instruction. Dave did a lot of work in a local jazz studio, and Phil started taking vocal lessons.

Phil—That’s true.  I realized if I was going to sing behind Elisha, I better not suck. And the harmonies on 1913 are kind of high. There at the beginning I approached it every time as if I might not make it.

Elisha—I am really proud of you. As we get older it’s harder to learn new information.

Phil—Elisha learned to play the bass.

DAU—really?

Elisha—Yeah, I play on a few things.

DAU—So do you see any holes in your repertoire? I mean, I have a song list here.

Phil—Let me see it—oh we don’t play a bunch of these anymore. The Scientist—off the list; Tainted Love—off the list. The song list isn’t static. We each bring things we’d like to try. Like Round Midnight, or Rock songs converted to a jazz arrangement.

Elisha—Or Freebird.

DAU—You’re kidding?

Elisha—No, so many people heckled us at concerts, yelling out “Freebird,” so we tried it once or twice—it didn’t feel good.

Dave—And it has to feel right. That is really why we do this. Some of the gigs feel really good. Like the one we had at a retirement home in Indiana that specialized in dementia care. The residents’ response was really fulfilling.

Elisha—and weddings. We like weddings.

Dave—There was one wedding where the couple had timed-out our sets and arranged digital music to play between our sets. Everything was timed-out and ran perfectly.  It’s rare that things stay on schedule with a wedding. That was a great gig. And the groom was so happy that he cried.

DAU—Do you have to learn songs for weddings? Like “this is our song, will you play it.”

Elisha—Sometimes. We have done it.

Phil—Usually when people hire us, it’s because we already play a song they like. 

Dave—looking at the song list, I don’t see any holes in our rep. I would like our music to take on a more modern approach. Arrange them in a more modern way. Like “Unforgettable, ” that’s a familiar song, but our arrangement is ours.

Elisha-It’s funny you should say that. When I am playing the original versions of the songs we have covered, sometimes my kids will say “Is that the original? I like yours better”. They could be flattering me, but they’re teenagers, so I take the compliments when they come.

Dave—When we decide on a song, I do a basic arrangement. I play with the things that capture my attention.

Elisha—Then we personalize it, sometimes unintentionally, by building around the parts that Dave has focused on.

Phil—I don’t— didn’t— know a lot of vocal jazz. I played sax in the army, most of what I’m familiar with is instrumental. I’d like to think that I approach the songs with a fresh perspective. I don’t have to unlearn anybody else’s version.

Elisha—In contrast, I research every song thoroughly. I listen to every previous version so that I know other people have done with it.  Then I blend together the aspects of the versions I like the best.

DAU—Talk to me about rehearsal. Is your schedule dictated by upcoming gigs?

Elisha—We try to practice pretty frequently, no matter what the gig schedule. We play 20-30 gigs a year and because we play a lot of events like wedding and Holiday parties, we have seasons where we’re busier.

Dave—And then we practice more. We want to get better all the time

DAU—are there particular things you want to improve?

Elisha—For me, it’s patter!

DAU—you mean the talk between songs?

Elisha—Yeah. My son says that I’m embarrassing.

DAU—Do you all have kids?

Phil—I do, Elisha does.

Elisha—Phil’s kids aren’t at all embarrassed by him. They think he’s cool.

Dave—and Elisha’s daughter sings with us. She did some background vocals on Other Side of the Tracks, and she tends to perform on our open studio nights.

DAU—You have an open studio coming up.

Dave— February 7 at the Davis- Linden Building 

DAU—Tell me some things you like about Dayton.

Phil—I like the restaurants. Really great things happening with food in Dayton right now. I like Wheat Penny and Amber Rose.

Dave—I like how the food community is evolving, actually the whole community. It feels like we’re on the move in a good way. So much is happening here. The Brightside is hosting a Battle of the Bands, Yellow Cab is having concerts—they just put in a new stage…there is a lot happening. Music artists in the community have a place to work, to make music.

Elisha—I love the tradition of innovation; things are invented here. It makes me feel like Dayton is always looking toward the future. And we have a solid sense of preservation and conservation too. The park system here is amazing. 20 minutes in any direction and you’re surrounded by nature.

Phil—and we’ve got sports. I am a sports guy. I appreciate that we’ve got a great minor league stadium here. My wife and I always buy a Dragons game package.

Dave—you took me to a couple of games.

Phil—and the University of Dayton. The Flyers games are great to go to—it’s exciting to have so much so available.

DAU—If you could see any band, what concert would you like to see?

Dave—Living or Dead?

DAU—Anybody.

Dave—Oscar Peterson, Gene Harris, Diana Krall, Cory Henry, Snarky Puppy, Pink Floyd, The Who.  Hmnn…I guess I’ll leave it at that.

Phil—Glen Hansard, Damian Rice. Rice is like the poster child for minimalism. I saw him live in Indy and he had a guitar, a microphone, and 2 lights.

DAU—Last Question—What has been your favorite gig so far?

Dave—I love playing at Second Street Market.

Elisha—We’re doing that again on April 18th.

Phil—And the Square is Where, those are fun.

Dave—And the DAI.

Elisha—One of my favorites was at the Miami Valley School. We played for the Middle Schoolers who were learning about jazz.

DAU—OK, last question. I want to ask about your new CD.

Elisha—Other Side of The Tracks

Phil—We spent a lot of time on this one. We asked other artists to contribute. Nick Atkinson added percussion, Elisha’s daughter Penny does backing vocals, and Chris Suttle from In The Red Recording and Encore Studio did a fantastic job with the production.

DAU—I love the photos on the cover.

Elisha—My daughter, Penny, took the photograph on the cover. The one of us on the back was taken by my friend Kelly Crabtree.

DAU—The release was in October?

Phil—October 10

Elisha—The launch party was very magical, very personal. We had it at the Brightside, surrounded by our friends.

DAU–and if someone wanted to get your cd, they would …

Elisha —The easiest way to get either album currently would be to see us live and buy it at the concert.  However, our first album is available on all the major music streaming services (like Apple Music and Spotify), and Other Side of the Tracks will be available at all those places soon, as well.

Blue Heron Trio performs all over the Miami Valley and beyond at concert, festivals, and special events.  Look for them at 2nd Street Market on April 18, as well as lunch time appearances at Dayton’s Court House Square as part of the Square Is Where series. The trio is going to be performing as part of several summer concert series, including the upcoming Dayton Art Institute’s Jazz & Beyond concert series, where you can see them on July 9.  They are also playing at the Eichelberger Amphitheater in Huber Heights on August 22.  For more information and upcoming performances check out their FaceBook page or their website at www.blueherontrio.com.

  

Dayton Artists United: Neal Gittleman

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Photo credit: Andy Snow

Neal Gittleman  has led the Orchestra to new levels of artistic achievement and increasing national recognition. During his tenure, the DPO has received nine ASCAP Awards for adventurous programming, the prestigious Governor’s Award for the Arts, and the DPAA now joins four other U.S. orchestras as a recipient of a prestigious Music Alive grant from NewMusicUSA, supporting Stella Sung’s three-year term as the Alliance’s Music Alive Composer-in-Residence.

Before coming to Dayton, Gittleman was Assistant Conductor of the Oregon Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Syracuse Symphony, and Music Director of the Marion (IN) Philharmonic. He also served ten seasons with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, first as Associate Conductor and then as Resident Conductor.

Son of an English professor and a public school music teacher, Neal is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Yale University in 1975 and then studied with Nadia Boulanger and Annette Dieudonnй in Paris, with Hugh Ross at the Manhattan School of Music, and with Charles Bruck at both the Pierre Monteux School and the Hartt School of Music, where he was a Karl Bцhm Fellow.

At home in the pit as well as on stage, Neal has led productions for Dayton Opera, the Human Race Theatre Company, Syracuse Opera, and Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theatre. He has also conducted for performances of Dayton Ballet, DCDC, Rhythm in Shoes, Milwaukee Ballet, Hartford Ballet, Chicago City Ballet, Ballet Arizona, and Theatre Ballet of Canada.

When not on the podium, Neal is an avid player of golf, squash and t’ai chi ch’uan and does yoga, too. He and his wife, Lisa Fry, have been Dayton residents since 1997.

Neal recently took the time to chat with Dayton Artists United.

DAU—Neal Gittleman, you’ve been interviewed a lot. Is there any question you’ve always wanted to be asked that hasn’t been?

NG–“What’s the secret of comedy?”  Actually, that’s a component of one of my favorite jokes.  People who know the joke will understand…  (I suppose that’s a way of answering your question with a “No.”  But looking backwards from further down the line, your “What’s your favorite Metropark?” is a pretty good question that I’ve never been asked before!)

DAU—You and the DPO have won multiple ASCAP awards for adventurous programming. Thinking about programming,  what’s your starting point. Do you start with a piece or a theme, give me an idea of your process when you are putting a program together? 

NG–Every concert program is different.  Sometimes (but rarely) a theme comes first.  Sometimes I build a program around a particular piece, asking myself, “What other piece—or pieces—fit well with _______?”  But no matter where I start, the bottom-line question is, “What music can we play on this concert that can make for an involving, engaging listener experience?”

DAU—What has been your most challenging piece to date?

NG—That’s probably down to two fairly recent performances:  Richard Strauss’ opera Salome (with Dayton Opera in May 2019 and Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla (DPO, October 2019).  They’re both incredibly complex pieces, where a conductor has to concentrate at 100% for a 90-minute stretch.  They’re both very difficult for the musicians, which means the conductor needs to be continually high alert, ready to step in with the look, a cue, or a particularly clear beat that any musician might need at any given moment.  But both Salome and Turangalîla are very beautiful pieces, so all the incredibly hard work that goes into performing them is well worth it!

DAU—Everyone has a song that bugs them. What is your least favorite song?

NG—Funny you should ask that, because it just came to mind recently.  A couple of weeks ago the DPO had a “Nat and Natalie” pops concert, with two guest artists who sang songs from the Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole repertoire.  Great singers, and a great concert (which I got to enjoy from the audience, since DPO Associate Condcutor Pat Reynolds was on the podium).  And also great because if I have a least-favorite song, it’s a Nat King Cole song:  “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer”.  Fortunately, it wasn’t on the set list!  And one of my favorite songs (also by Nat King Cole) was on the set list:  “Straighten Up and Fly Right”.  Plus I got to know a new favorite song:  Natalie Cole’s heartbreaker, “No Plans for the Future”. 

DAU—Part of your adventurous programming has been the Halloween concerts, and you dress up in costume. What is your favorite Philharmonster costume?

NG–Each Philharmonster costume is always linked either to some schtick or to a particular piece.  So, the costumes that involve flying (Superman, Spiderman) are always fun.  Yoda is another perennial favorite (partly because my old conducting teacher kind of looked like Yoda).  Another one that was really fun was the PhilharMonster concert where the premise of the whole show was that I was Mozart, sharing with the audience my favorite pieces by my fellow dead composers.  For that one, I was in full Mozart regalia (wig, etc.) but about 20 minutes before show time the stagehands brought me out onstage in a coffin.  Then I had to lie there in the coffin until the concert started…and leap out.  Lots of deep breathing and maybe even a catnap.  But nothing dramatic like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill…

DAU—Speaking of how you dress for concerts, it’s an odd thing for a performer to spend his time onstage with his back to the audience.  Do you ever worry about what you look like from the back?
You know, “Does my backside look big in these pants?” sort of thing.

NG–Not really.  But as my hair has thinned over the years, I sometimes joke about the “spotlight” that I shine up at the patrons in the balcony!

DAU— Are you a Harry Potter fan? You know, the wand chooses the wizard…does the baton choose the conductor? Do you have more than one baton? Do you have a favorite? Does it have a name?

NG—Yes, I’m a Harry Potter fan.  More of the books (all of which I’ve read) than of the movies (only three of which I’ve seen).  But for me, it’s definitely that I choose the baton, rather than the other way around.  I tried many different ones over the years before I found one that was perfect—mostly because it was custom made for me by a baton maker.  I sent him one of the batons that I was using, plus another one that I liked but wasn’t quite right, and said “Can you make me something that’s like Baton A, but has a handle like Baton B?”  He sent me a demo, I suggested some tweaks, and we had a “NealG Model”. I had him send me a bunch of them, which was a good thing, since he went out of business or died or something several years ago.  So unless I work until I’m 107 years old or I go on a jag of baton-breaking, I should be set baton-wise for the rest of my career.  On a practical basis, just in case of breakage, I carry three batons in my baton case.  One’s “the good one”, which I only use for performances.  Then there are two others that I use in rehearsals and as just-in-case spares. 

DAU–You’ve lived in Dayton for 25 years, what is your favorite thing about the Miami Valley?

NG—If I had to pick just one favorite thing in the Miami Valley it would be the Schuster Center.  Having the Schuster Center, with its world-class acoustics, as the Philharmonic’s home was an absolute game changer.  And it’s great in every way.  Great for concerts.  Great for Broadway.  Great for opera.  Great for dance.  Great for the audience.  Great for the stagehands.  Just simply great. 

DAU—What is your favorite Metropark and why?

NG—I love to play golf, and Community is my “home course” (and the course closest to my home), so I supposed my favorite Metropark is Hills and Dales.  But each year my wife and I vow to walk in each and every Metropark.  I don’t think we’ve ever hit all of them, but we have committed to make 2020 the year that we pull it off. 

DAU—We have lots of public art in Dayton, much of it celebrates the great inventions in our patent history, which of the “patent project” pieces resonates with you and why?

NG—I’m not sure if these count as “patent pieces”, but two of my favorite pieces of public art in the region are Flyover on Main Street in Downtown Dayton and Michael Bashaw’s Wings/Lift Compounded (Defy the Impossible) on Shafer Avenue in Oakwood. 

DAU—You once said in a Daytonian of the week interview that Dayton needed to build a stronger sense of community, to develop greater pride and solidarity. The catastrophic events of the last year have built our community and we’re all together, have you any thoughts about what we can we do to sustain and build on this community feeling? What can artists do to help sustain and build community?

NG—The “problem” with the solidarity communities forge in the wake of tragedy is that once the tragedy starts to fade in the collective memory, the solidarity starts to fade, too.  So I hope people remember the sense of unity that we’ve felt at times in 2019, hold on to it, and build on it.  All artists can do is what we always do—try to speak to people through the art we do and try to bring people together through our art. 

DAU— You’ve conducted, and guest conducted in cities all over. Have you seen anything in your travels that you think Dayton should emulate?

NG—It’s more the other way around.  I’ve seen plenty of things in other cities where I thought, “You should be more like Dayton.”  (Of course, as a diplomat, I kept those thoughts to myself.)  Dorothy was right:  there’s no place like home.

DAU–Dayton and the Five River’s Metroparks are working to make use of Dayton’s rivers. Have you ever boated down the Miami?

NG—Never.  Canoeing or kayaking on the Miami would probably be fun.  Though I’m not sure if I’d trust my paddle skills…

DAU—You have said before that music should be “interesting, Involving,  and  transformative,”  as an artist, working in a collaborative, how do you keep that goal in front of you when you’re working on the details of performance? 

NG—You hit on it in the question.  For me, the performance is mostly about the details.  Getting a piece’s details right means getting the piece right.  And by “details”, I don’t just mean the little stuff.  The long arc of a piece of music is a detail, too.  But I think that the performer’s job is to work the details and make the interesting/involving/transformative happen by attention to the details and by absolute and fierce dedication to the performance itself.  Audience can sense when an orchestra and conductor are giving their all and when they’re “phoning it in”.  I don’t think we’ve ever phoned it in, and I hope we never do!

DAU—The DPO often collaborates with other community organizations—besides the formal collaborations of the DPAA. What collaboration was the most unexpected? What collaboration would you like to see happen in the future?

NG—Well, there’s never an artistic collaboration that’s unexpected, because they take so much planning.  But sometimes something turns out to be so magical that it is, strictly speaking, unexpected.  The one that sticks out the most in my mind was doing Bolero with Rhythm in Shoes in May 2010.  It was our last performance together before RiS disbanded.  I had come up with the crazy idea that we do Bolero with Sharon Leahy doing the snare drum part as a tap solo and where each phrase of the melody would be a snippet from one of the many dances in RiS’s history.  Sharon loved the idea and it was just incredible.  It nearly brought me to tears every time I saw it in the studio, and although I had my back to the whole thing in performance, I could tell that it was doing the same thing to the audience.  As for the future, I think it would be great fun to do a DPO/Rhythm in Shoes redux performance.  But beyond that, I wonder the best future collaborations are the ones you haven’t imagined yet…  Short-term, I’m really looking forward to our upcoming collaboration with Wyclef Jean.  “A Night of Symphonic Hip-Hop” sounds like a lot of fun to me!

DAU—Being the director of the DPO is more than just conducting the orchestra—you are a manager, a financial planner, a fundraiser, a performer, and I don’t know how many elements to the job there are. What part of your job is the most challenging? If you could go back in time and offer yourself advice about your job, what would say?

NG—-That one’s easy to answer.  The most challenging part of my job is time management.  The music work—studying scores and preparing for rehearsals and concerts—is critically important.  If we’re not giving great performances, then none of the fundraising or PR or planning is going to matter.  All that is important, but I always have to make sure I’m carving out time to get the music work done.  Sometimes it works out just fine.  Other times I’m getting up in the middle of the night to get some music work done while the phone isn’t ringing and my e-mail in-box isn’t dinging at me every few minutes.

DAU–Thank you,  Neal Gittleman, for sharing your time with us,  it’s been a real pleasure!