Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Music and Dance Combine at N.C. Symphony Performance by STEPHANIE CRIDER Since 1932, the North Carolina Symphony has been enthralling audiences with fi ne musical compositions and fi rst class entertainment. They perform 175 concerts annually throughout the state in varied settings and communities of all sizes. Whether it is a concert hall, a gymnasium or a park, the symphony is constantly and consistently reaching out to North Carolina residents to share with them the beauty and art of musical performances. They’ve partnered with other arts organizations like the Playmakers Repertory Company and the North Carolina Museum of Art to produce things like the four-concert series Crossing the Atlantic which examined cultural and musical dialogues between America and Britain and featured the work of Robin Holloway, James MacMillan, Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon, among others. On Thursday, Feb. 3, the North Carolina Symphony will perform at Reeves Auditorium at Methodist University as part of their Dance in Music Series. The orchestra will play several pieces including Debussy’s “Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun” and “Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.” Renowned soloist Valentina Lisitsa will perform Saint-Sans’s “Piano Concerto No. 2”. Lisitsa was born in Kiev, Ukraine to a family of non-musicians. She began playing the piano at the age of three and had her fi rst solo recital when she was four. Although she is quite talented and music came easy to her, she had no intention of becoming a full-time musician. She had her sights set on becoming a professional chess player. “With a minimum of practice time, she sailed through the Kiev Conservatory, winning competitions along the way, by relying on her extraordinary sight-reading abilities and photographic memory. Valentina attributes her effortless technique to hours of mindless repetition of the most Valentina Lisitsa diffi cult passages while simultaneously devouring a book that interested her, which she kept open on her music stand. This way, she explains, she was able to convince her family that she was practicing,” according to the North Carolina Symphony. After meeting fellow student and her future partner, Alexei Kuznetsoff, at the Conservatory, Lisitsa began to think about music more seriously. The fi rst major enterprise undertaken by the young couple turned out to be not only a great success but a turning point in their lives. They decided to prepare for the most important two-piano competition in the world — The Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition. In one year of intense work they achieved something which ordinarily takes decades — becoming a seamless unity as a duo-piano team. Their reward, in addition to winning fi rst prize in the 1991 Competition, was an opportunity to move to the United States and launch a career as one of the most highly-esteemed piano duos in the country, beginning with their orchestral debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in New York. The dance portion of the evening will include Polovtsian Dances from Borodin’ opera Prince Igor. The Polovtsy were nomadic invaders of Russia who, in the opera, capture Igor. The show starts at 8 p.m. Visit http://www.ncsymphony.org/ for tickets and more info. STEPHANIE CRIDER, Staff Writer. COMMENTS? stephanie@ upandcomingweekly.com Scrimshaw Artist Brings Unique Works to City Center Gallery by JHANA LEWIS In being asked to do this article, I was introduced to the both beautiful and little known art of scrimshaw. I, like most people, had never heard of the practice, probably due to the fact that it was most popular in the mid-1700 and early 1800s, but is now getting some of the recognition it deserves. Scrimshaw is the act of carving images into the surface of the bones or teeth of sperm whales, the baleen of other whales and sometimes the tusk of the walrus. After the picture is carved, the image is then highlighted with some sort of pigment or ink. The making of scrimshaw began on whaling ships between 1745 to 1759 on the Pacifi c Ocean, and was widely popular until the late 1800s. Scrimshaw is derived from the practice of sailors on whaling ships creating common tools, where the byproducts of whales were readily available to them. The term originally referred to the making of these tools, only later referring to works of art created by whalers in their spare time. Early scrimshaw was done with crude sailing needles, and the movement of the ship, as well as the skill of the artist, produced drawings of varying levels of detail and artistry. Originally, candle black, soot or tobacco juice would have been used to bring the etched design into view. Today’s artists use fi ner tools in various sizes, mostly borrowed from the dental industry. Some would ink their work with more than one color, and restrained polychromed examples of this art are now popular. The work of whaling was very dangerous at the best of times, and whalers were unable to work at night. This gave them a great deal more free time than other sailors and since whale bone was ideally suited for the task, and was easy to work and plentiful, the development of scrimshaw took off and stayed popular for many years. The market for whale teeth, (which was sought by Chinese traders for use in the Pacifi c Islands), was fl ooded after a narrative by an American sailor revealed both the market and the source of the teeth survived until the ban on commercial whaling. The practice survives as a hobby and as a trade for commercial artisans, such as Kenneth L. Baldwin. Kenneth Baldwin is a Cincinnati Ohio native, and is both a musician and artist that has worked in many different ventures including painting, book and magazine illustration and of course, the art of scrimshaw. Graduating from Cincinnati Art School of Advertising, he worked in advertising and commercial art until joining the WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM US Navy as an illustrator; it was there that his love of scrimshaw fi rst began. “During my time in the navy I became quite interested in naval history and I remember seeing pictures of scrimshaw in history books, and was instantly attracted to its beauty and the craftmanship of it.” His work has been displayed in multiple galleries, museums, and with private collectors in the United States and in Europe. Along with his love of art, he has also been blessed with the talent of composing and performing music pieces. Since the early 1990s Kenneth has served as a primary songwriter and instrumentalist for several acoustic ensembles and also as a soloist and his compositions have been used on National Public Radio stations across the country. Recently retired from the service and a new Fayetteville resident, Kenneth has been busy since he arrived, writing a one-act play, children’s book concepts, and a project consisting of a collection of new compositions for a recording of original American Civil War era songs. Hank Parfi tt, founder, director and past President of The Downtown Alliance says, “We’re very excited about presenting this installment by Kenneth Baldwin, it is truly unique. I do not think that Fayetteville has ever seen such an exhibit, and I think that people will really enjoy it.” Kenneth has seen a great response to his work from the public. “I think people are fascinated by this true American art form. It’s a delicate and meticulous process, and people are always interested in the time that it takes and care that it takes to create this art. Scrimshaw has been around a long time, but it’s not a well known art form, although it is seen often on knife handles and similar items.” When asked about the sometimes controversial usage of rare materials, Baldwin states “I rarely use whale teeth or walrus tusks any longer, but use the more environmentally friendly faux ivory. Other times I use Mastedon and Mammoth tusk, once they have been dried and prepared, which really adds to the carvings antique look and feel. You have a chance to view Kenneth Baldwin’s art and sample his music this month at the City Center Gallery and Books on Jan. 28, located at 112 Hay Street, Fayetteville N.C. 20301. For more information call City Center Gallery and Books at 678-8899. JAN. 26 - FEB. 1, 2011 UCW 9