Something Blue

Something Blue, an evening of solo performance works, one private performance only, opened on June 9 to a sold-out audience. It lived up to its promise of being “a night to remember.”

Inspired by all that is “blue” and a play on the wedding theme “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,” I choreographed/directed the solos as founder and artistic director of Black Horse Theatre – with the exception of Something Blue – Delia by guest artist Victoria Jorgensen, choosing to address the hardships and injustices of the “blue” collar worker, that of domestic worker “Delia,” portrayed by Elvia Hill.
. . .

You can read Victoria Jorgensen’s
powerful “Something Blue – Delia” here.

Something Blue, the interdisciplinary art exhibition, successfully opened on June 10, during Second Saturday ArtWalk. It was both well attended and well received.

With a shared name and shared inspiration as the solo performance works, the exhibition runs through June 30. These collaborations feature international visual and performing artists Sorcha Augustine, Ethan Barbee, Jenny Bleackley, Heidi Brewer, Saumitra Chandratreya, Alice Ferrulo, Mavis Gibson, Elvia Hill, Alex Jones, Victoria Jorgensen, the late Tom Kramer, Dakota M. Kuharich, Bailey Lord, Gia Porras-Ferrulo, Maria Saraceno, Michael Sheehan and Hannah Thompson – with set design by installation artist Victoria Fitzgerald-Vix Fitz, framing by Gilbert Johnson and lighting by Marcus Wehby.

The exhibit is joined by Jenny Bleakley’s Florida Wildflower series, and her book displaying this poem.

 

Cool, Calm & Collected III
excerpt from Jenny Bleackley’s book
The Cool, Calm & Collected Series with Poems

Still tasting the salt
Memories of our union
You leave your mark
A crystal glistening
On my skin

Both projects combined took two years in the making. The greatest lesson learned was the reinforcement of selecting talented yet supportive artists to create a thriving climate. The greatest reward was the recognition by a fellow artisan that there was a sense of “reverence” attached to each work in the curating process of the exhibition.

The most challenging experience was presenting Mavis Gibson’s Untitled work. Mavis shared that the piece was painted on the floor of her studio because of its size. I knew that, without question, I wanted to return it to the floor where it was created. I also knew that I did not want to lay it flat.

After being stunningly framed by Gilbert Johnson, I had three different sized legs attached to three different corners of the painting, placing it on a tilt – keeping with the theme that it was displaced by water. Why shouldn’t the viewer look down and simultaneously sideways? I trembled from the risk of being so bold.

Now the most stressful of all moments in the process of curating this exhibition. Fittingly, Saumitra Chandratreya submitted his fiber piece two evenings before the opening. With the entire exhibit in place, a spot was set aside for his work. However, he had changed his submission.

Equally as exquisite as his original, the piece of fabric houses a blue self portrait of Saumitra amidst the clouds. It was extremely contemporary and so very different from the rest of the aesthetic. We both looked around the gallery dazed. He offered to forfeit his piece, but I refused.

A bolt of nerves traveled from the bottom of my feet upward towards the top of my head. We tried three different locations – three different ways of hanging the fabric. None worked.

As if led by a greater power, I looked across the gallery at the gold gilded Victorian chair that was part of another work’s set, and knew instantly that that was the solution.

I draped the fabric elegantly across the chair and his portrait fell perfectly in place between the folds of the fabric – as if he had been deflated, as if he was resting. The struggle between the old and new – the gold and blue – was sublime.

 

blackhorsetheatre.com

 

“Run! One of the most exciting avant-garde shows that has appeared in St. Petersburg/Tampa area in 2023.” Namaya Art Rat

 

Through June 30
Free
The ArtsXchange
Tully Levine Gallery
515 22nd St. S.
St. Petersburg FL 33712
warehouseartsdistrict.org
Monday-Friday 10 am to 5 pm