OUR TOWN: IN PRAISE OF SIMPLE THINGS

Alley Theatre, through Nov. 1 

By HOLLY BERETTO 

Our Town is the first grown-up play I recall paying attention to. It’s also responsible for my first newspaper interview – with Richard Kneeland, who played the Stage Manager in Trinity Repertory Company’s 1986 production. I went to college in the next town over from Peterborough, New Hampshire, which inspired Wilder’s Grover’s Corners setting.  So, there’s always a stirring of connection for me with this play.

“Stirring” aptly describes the Alley’s production. Our Town, at its heart, is a play about the simple things in life, and the need to not only appreciate them but to live them and love them every day that we’re given. It’s a message easily lapsed into cliché. The Alley’s production doesn’t, delivering this look at Americana through the prism of a small New Hampshire town at the turn of the 20^th century with wit, keen observation and great heart.

Guiding us through the evening is the Stage Manager, played brilliantly by James Black. He offers everything from a history of Grover’s Corners to commentary on what will become of its residents, moving us seamlessly along through a day in our town, the courtship and marriage of sweethearts George and Emily, and eventually, death and acceptance. His delivery is by turns wry and gentle, but always sharply moving.

As Emily Webb, Elizabeth Bunch delivers her best in Act Three, the very point where, in lesser hands, Our Town can veer from cliché to downright catastrophe. Her acceptance of Emily’s fate is moving, layered and possibly the best performance I’ve seen from her. Jay Sullivan, as her sweetheart George Gibbs, is steady, making a believable transition from town baseball star to husband and farmer. Josie de Guzman as Mrs. Gibbs and Charlotte Booker as Mrs. Webb offer perfect performances of stalwart Yankee women. Jeffrey Bean’s Doc Gibbs conveys deep understanding and assurance.  John Tyson delivers an achingly poignant and compassionate portrayal as the outcast choir master Simon Stimson. And Emily Neves provides great wonder in her terrific scene, ending Act One.

Director Gregory Boyd deftly brings out the best in his cast, even if seeing some of them in street clothes and not Alejo Vietti’s period costumes isn’t well explained in either the staging or the program notes. Beverly Emmons’ lighting design enhances the deliberately bare set, providing context to the scenes and evoking New England.

Our Town shows us who we are – not always for the better. It shows us our selfishness and self-absorption, even as it reflects our steely resolve. It doesn’t end on a high note – but I’ve always believed, when we look at it hard enough, we find a happy ending.

Photo by  Jann Whaley: Elizabeth Bunch and Jay Sullivan in the Alley’s Our Town.

ROCO: Connecting Cultures Through Music

By ALECIA LAWYER, Artistic Director

When Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “Music is the universal language of mankind,” he might have been talking about Houston’s own River Oaks Chamber Orchestra.  Well, OK, the timing’s not right for him to have been talking about ROCO, but the idea is the same.  Through unique programming and unexpected collaborations, ROCO fulfills its mission of “creating personal relationships through the language of music.”   

Now entering its fifth season, ROCO’s opening concert  this coming Saturday  features a timely focus on music from Iranian composer, Bezhad Ranjbaran, and presents artist/photographer, Soody Sharfi, who will be exhibiting her series, “Maxiatures and Persian Delights” at the reception after the concert.   This concert is also in celebration of Daniel Pearl’s World Music Days that is a worldwide celebration of every genre of music.  Also on the program:  ROCO’s own concertmaster, Brian Lewis will perform the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in e Minor, and ROCO welcomes back guest conductor Joel Smirnoff, former Juilliard String Quartet violinist and now President of Cleveland Institute of Music. 

This season, ROCO’s programming has a particular emphasis on using music as a language that connects multiple cultures.   The first concert features music and art from Iran.  In late October, ROCO will partner with Inprint, Musiqa, Lawndale Art Center, and the Mexican Consulate to present a Musical Ofrenda chamber concert in celebration of Dia de los Muertos.   ROCO’s February concert will include a piece by composer, Chen Yi, in celebration of the Chinese New Year.   And in April, ROCO will present a bi-lingual (English and Spanish) performance of Peter and the Wolf at The Children’s Museum.  Through these programs and collaborations, ROCO hopes to use musical communication to increase appreciation and respect for different cultures. 

The ROCO Experience

Cultural programming is not the only thing about ROCO that’s different.  The ROCO experience is unique among concert performances in that ROCO musicians are quite visibly enjoying themselves onstage and while visiting with audience members during intermission and after the concert.  They are a joyful bunch of professional musicians who come together from all over the U.S. and Canada to perform together as ROCO.  They have no permanent conductor, and their concert program includes pronunciation guides, kids’ games, and detailed write-ups about the music and composers.  The result is an innovative chamber orchestra of all-star musicians, distinguished conductors, and famous composers who present unexpected classics, original compositions, and delightful performances.  

There are many ways to ROCO

ROCO dissolves the barriers between audience and orchestra through a range of musical encounters: 

• ROCO in Concert – The full 40-piece orchestra in performance.  ROCO presents three or four main concerts each season.
• ROCOrooters – An innovative music education/childcare program for kids 10 and under that runs during and after Saturday concerts.  ROCOrooters has been called “one of the most innovative programs in the nation.” 
• ROCO in Recital – A new series called “Dowling Music Presents ROCO in The Recital Room” presents ROCO musicians in solo concerts on Sunday afternoons at the newly-built Dowling Music store.  Admission is free and families are welcome.  Although just launched, this program is proving popular with music teachers and students as well as music aficionados. 
• ROCOco – “Music tasting” events are held in in wine cellars and tasting rooms.  They pair individual ROCO musicians with wine and food in a lively, interactive evening of fun.  This year, for the first time, ROCO presented a “Beer and Brass” music tasting at St. Arnold Brewery.
• ROCO Music Among Friends – ROCO continues the tradition of small ensembles in intimate environments through chamber concerts and collaborations with other arts and community organizations.   Programs include master classes at HSPVA, a Musical Ofrenda celebration of Dia de los Muertos in partnership with Lawndale Art Center, Musiqa, and Inprint, and a bilingual performance of Peter and the Wolf at The Children’s Museum.  
• ROCO performances almost always include surprise pieces not listed in the program, and members of the audience are invited to sit inside the orchestra during main concerts.   Small wonder that audience members form deep attachments to the orchestra; some of them even “adopt” musicians through chair sponsorship and by housing musicians who travel to Houston for performances.    

ROCO Season Opener 

Program
Haydn, Miracle Symphony No. 96
Ginastera Variaciones Concertantes for Chamber Orchestra
Mendelssohn Violin concerto in E Minor, featuring soloist, Brian Lewis
Ranjbaran Awakening for Strings – Dr. Ranjbaran will introduce the piece
 
Saturday, October 10, 2009, 5:00 p.m.
The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Blvd. Houston TX 77019

With ROCOrooters music education/childcare program.  (Reservations required.)

Tickets are $25 general admission, $10 for students.  (No discounts at the door.) 

Sunday, October 11, 2009, 7pm

Chapelwood United Methodist Church, 11140 Greenbay Drive, Houston, TX 77024.

Evans Arts Series — Admission is free.

IL TABARRO/PAGLIACCI – A Review

 

Opera in the Heights

http://www.operaintheheights.org/

By NANCY WOZNY 

When I saw a man strolling down the aisle toward the stage, I figured he was a latecomer. Turns out, he was part of the show and I’m the late one, by some 13 years, because that’s how long it has taken me to check out what all the fuss has been about over Opera in the Heights (Oh!) And from the looks and sounds of their recent productions of Giacomo Puccini’s Il Tabarro and Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, it’s a well-deserved fuss. 

Pagliacci is usually paired with Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, but traditionally, if you needed a third pick, Il Tabarro is the likely it. There’s a chemistry in the Tabarro/Pag match-up; both are stories about jealous, older husbands with straying wives, that end with dramatic crimes of passion. In the Oh! Experience, you get to see the same singers in different roles, which creates a marvelous showcase for this talented group of artists. 

Oh! is all about the quality of singers; sets, costumes and lights are minimal and supplied on an as-needed basis. One doesn’t go to see some slick new designer re-do Aida. You go to hear the nation’s best up-and-coming singers up close and three feet away from your ears. Singers are everywhere, in the aisles, the balcony and off stage. This is surround-sound opera. 

One-act operas generally take a let’s get to the plot lines quickly approach, and Il Tabarro is no different. It’s a quaint tale of a restless young barge wife named Giorgetta who seeks love and adventure elsewhere. Pagliacci tells a similar tale in Nedda’s hope for another life through Silvio, a young peasant. Greek soprano Crystallia Spilianaki bestowed Giorgetta with subtle grace and a sparkling tone. As Nedda, she pulls out a fiercer quality, better suited to the character’s more frivolous ways. 

Baritone Douglin Murray Schmidt commanded the stage as the stern Michele. As Tonio, he’s a devious charmer, and quite convincing in his slick suit in lieu of a Commedia dell’Arte costume in the cautionary prologue. Tenor Scott Six, making his Oh! Debut, also demonstrated dimension playing Giorgetta’s suffering lover Luigi in Il Tabarro and Canio, the jealous clown in Pagliacci. Six knocked it out of the park, or the Heights, in the famous “Vesti la Giubba” aria. George Williams gave a solid performance as Tinca, a deckhand. Nancy Markeloff’s delivered an animated and lively performance as Frugola, Talpa’s wife and a troublemaker. Yoonsang Lee convinced as Silvio, Nedda’s true love in Pagliacci. 

Oh! performs in the cozy Lambert Hall, where every seat is a good one. The audience feels part of the action. Never in my life have I been this close to opera singers. There’s an intimate scale to the entire event. Conductor and Oh!’s artistic director William M. Weibel and the orchestra may be tucked away in the corner, but they too, sounded terrific.

Photo by David Hunt: Kirsten Hoiseth as Nedda, Chad Karl as Tonio in Pagliacci

ART & ANTIQUES: WHAT’S YOUR BID?

Join Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers for an eclectic array of art, antiques, decorative objects and ladies jewelry and furs, at 7 pm, Thursday, October 8 at the Morton Kuehnert auction gallery on Beltway 8 between Kempwood and Hammerly.                

Exquisite Art Glass by master glassblowers Doug Merritt (Vandermark Studios), Eoin Breadon and others, an eclectic assortment of paintings and lithographs, as well as beloved collectibles such as Limoges and Royal Doulton can be seen on-line at www.mortonkuehnert.com and at the auction house between 9 am and 6 pm Monday through Friday, as well as 9 am until 2 pm Saturday.  On-line bidding will be available at www.artfact.com                

“This sale is a great opportunity for new and seasoned collectors alike,” said Luis C. Lopez-Morton, chairman and managing director.  “There are some very interesting paintings and decorative objects that would be a great addition to any collection,” he added. A painting by Columbian artist Jaime Carrasquilla featuring his signature tuba and the beautiful “Sylvan Spring” by the highly collectible Frank Montague Moore (F.M.Moore), are among the interesting paintings to be auctioned that evening. Religious art includes an 8-foot painted Cathedral panel, a French 14 Stations of the Cross and a life-sized Sacré-Coeur statue of Christ.               

“We have a beautiful 19 piece collection of ladies jewelry, including rings, bracelets, necklaces and a pendant” said Patricia Kuehnert-Gillespy, manager of Morton Kuehnert.  “They feature gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, Columbian emerald, pearls and sapphires.  And a full length Ranch Mink coat and a three-quarter length Fox Fur on auction will look great with the jewelry,” she added.               

Kuehnert-Gillespy also said the 20 Royal Doulton figurines (each auctioned separately) are an ideal gift for a daughter or granddaughter “to cherish for a lifetime.” Other assorted treasures include carved African ivory, Dresden porcelain, Majolica, Rookwood, Roseville Bushberry, Sterling Silver Ortega pitcher, a pair of early 20^th century iron gates, Nolan Ryan printers proof by Leroy Neiman and numerous lithographs and oils.               

For more information, please contact Patricia Kuehnert-Gillespy at 713-827-7835 or Luis C. Lopez-Morton at (52) 55.55.20.50.05; or visit www.mortonkuehnert.com and www.lmorton.com

DOMINIC MEETS DIAGHILEV

1909-2009: Collaborators of the Ballets Russes

The Ballets Russes was a revolutionary company that premiered in Paris in the early 20^th century and sparked renewed excitement for the art of ballet, which had been in a period of decline.

Under the leadership of cultural impresario Sergei Diaghilev, the Ballet Russes drew upon the genius of leading artists to create innovative collaborations that brought together dancers, such as the famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova; choreographers, such as Michael Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky, Bronislava Nijinska, Léonide Massine and George Balanchine; composers, such as Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Ravel and Debussy; as well as painters, such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. 

This era has always fascinated choreographer and artistic director Dominic Walsh because of the vision of a total work of art, one in which dance, music, dramaturgy and decor combine to be greater than the sum of its parts. For three evenings starting Oct. 15, to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Ballets Russes and honor the great Diaghilev, Walsh will offer his 21st century take on classics from the era—The Firebird, The Afternoon of a Faun and The Dying Swan along with a revival of his breathtaking Le Spectre de la Rose. Like the original ballets featured in 1909-2009: Collaborators of the Ballets Russes, Walsh’s interpretations will deliver something undiscovered onto the stage that will awaken sensations, ideas, and passion for the arts. 

“I remember looking at old photographs of Nijinsky dancing when I was little,” says Walsh, “and being just mesmerized by his spirit captured in the print. It was probably one of those moments that formed my decision to be a dancer.” 

The highlight of this celebratory program will no doubt be Walsh’s tour de force adaptation ofThe Firebird  created on Paris Opera Ballet etoile Marie-Agnes Gillot and DWDT company member Domenico Luciano. (Etoile is the internationally acclaimed title given to only the most outstanding ballet dancers, translated as “star” in French.) For more information on the performances at the Hobby Center’s Zilkha Hall, go to: www.dwdt.org. 

In Walsh’s version of the ballet, the firebird is what brought a man and a woman together but what has also come to disappear with marriage and children. This existentialist cord that both characters used to possess has been silenced by the need to create a common ground in the household, to establish a series of implicit private domestic laws and find solutions to a more practical way of life. But a letter destabilizes this miserable order of convenience and causes the wife to reconsider her life. 

The  October program will also feature the world premiere of Walsh’s adaptation of The Afternoon of a Faun, the first piece of choreography by the great dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Premiered in 1912 by the Ballets Russes, Faun broke ground with Nijinsky’s famed two-dimensional imagery and stylistic hand gestures, Claude Debussy’s score of the same name that represented a turning point in the history of music with its tonality and harmonic function and, of course, the notorious orgasm scene.

In addition, the program will include a reprise of Walsh’s stunning interpretation of Michel Fokine’s Le Spectre de la Rose that premiered in 2006 as part of Dominic Walsh Dance Theater’s  E_Merging program. With this program, DWDT built on its long tradition of collaboration by working with local visual artists selected by Lawndale Arts Center to produce unique works that meld different disciplines into coherent pieces. With Vaslav Nijinsky as the Spirit of the Rose and Tamara Karsarvina as the Young Girl, the Ballets Russes premiered Fokine’s Spectre in 1911. Walsh uses the original music by Carl Maria von Weber and blends his beautiful movement with dramatic set and costumes by visual artist Katy Heinlein.

Photo by Amitava Sarkar: Walsh’s Le Spectre de la Rose

MARFA GEARS UP FOR WEEKEND OF JUDD

By JOHN DeMERS 

When the going gets great, I get going. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the minute I start home to Houston from Marfa, the world-famous Chinati Foundation is kicking off its annual Chinati Weekend. The event draws modern art lovers from all over America – indeed from all over the world – so of course I won’t be there. But I’ll tell you about it, in case you’re interested in going. 

Next weekend, the Chinati is re-opening of Donald Judd’s Freestanding Works in Concrete, accompanied by exhibitions of drawings by Judd and a selection of his horizontal wall works. The concrete pieces, Judd’s largest and most ambitious outdoor project, have received an extensive conservation treatment over the past two years. To mark the occasion, the foundation is hosting this special weekend featuring a series of talks on these works and their conservation treatment; an exhibition of seldom-displayed Judd works from the museum’s permanent collection; a two-part exhibition by Chinati Artist in Residence Alex Schweder; and a free concert Saturday night by Dan Deacon. 

When Donald Judd started plans for the Chinati Foundation in the late ’70s, he was not only rethinking the concept of the museum as such, he was also embarking on two of his most ambitious works of art. Judd’s 100 works in mill aluminum and his fifteen outdoor concrete pieces were each huge undertakings in terms of their conception, realization, and financial backing, and each took between four to six years to complete. 

Donald Judd created his fifteen untitled works in concrete between 1980 and 1984. Each of the fifteen works has different dimensions and is comprised of between two and six individual units. They were designed for the only level area on the museum’s campus—a stretch of roughly 1,000 meters, or one kilometer, on the east side of the property running on a north/south axis. 

As a result of variations in the original construction methods and insufficient supporting engineering, six of the fifteen works were determined to need extensive conservation, including new footings. With this procedure accomplished, these six works were plumbed for structural stabilization. All fifteen works have received surface treatment, including cleaning to remove general soiling, iron stains, efflorescence and other discolorations. With generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Brown Foundation, the Vaughan Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Friends of Heritage Preservation as well as Chinati’s Friends and Members, the conservation project has been successfully concluded. 

On Saturday at 3:00 PM at the Crowley Theatre, a roster of speakers will discuss the conservation project, give an overview of all of Donald Judd’s work in concrete, and specifically address the installation at Chinati. Participants will include James Lawrence, critic and historian of postwar and contemporary art; Francesca Esmay, formerly with Chinati, currently the Conservator for the Dia Art Foundation; Bettina Landgrebe, Chinati’s Conservator; and Richard Shiff, Professor of Art History and Director of the Center for the Study of Modernism at the University of Texas at Austin. Lectures will be webcast live on Chinati’s website. 

Chinati will present an exhibition of Donald Judd’s drawings made in preparation for the fifteen works in concrete, as well as a selection (drawn from the museum’s collection, though not permanently on view) of his colorful horizontal wall works (the longest running over 21 feet) in aluminum, brass, galvanized iron, and other materials. Often referred to as “progressions,” this type of piece was first introduced by Judd in 1964. Nine works that were made in 1979-80 will be exhibited. 

Chinati Artist in Residence Alex Schweder will exhibit new work in the Ice Plant and the Locker Plant. In recent years Schweder has exhibited examples of what he calls “performance architecture”—exploring the permeability between buildings and the bodies that occupy them—at many different venues in the US and abroad. Schweder’s exhibitions at the Ice Plant and the Locker Plant were designed specifically for those locales, and both invite or allow for the active participation of visitors/viewers. Both exhibitions will be open this Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. The Ice Plant will be open again Saturday night the Locker Plant will be open Saturday and Sunday. 

At 10:00 PM on Saturday night, Dan Deacon will give a free concert under the shade structure in downtown Marfa. The Baltimore-based Deacon is a conservatory-trained musician who has released several albums of beat-heavy electronic music (most recently Bromst on the Carpark label earlier this year) and whose live shows are becoming widely known for their carnivalesque quality featuring a great deal of Deacon-directed audience participation. In Marfa, Deacon will be performing solo (accompanied by his laptop, iPods, electronics, and speakers). The Providence and Baltimore-based band Nuclear Power Pants will open the show. 

Works by Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and John Chamberlain, as well as by Carl Andre, Ingólfur Arnarsson, Roni Horn, Ilya Kabakov, Richard Long, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, David Rabinowitch, and John Wesley will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. 

On Friday, October 9 at 5:00 PM, there will be a preview, with cocktails and live bagpipe music, of Donald Judd’s restored works in concrete, followed by a dinner to benefit the museum. The dinner, catered by Shelley Hudson and Food Company of Dallas, will be held at 7:00 PM in the Arena. Tickets are $300 per person ($200 Big Bend-area residents) and seating is limited. For on-line reservations, please click here. For any questions or concerns, please email benefitdinner@chinati.org or call the Chinati Foundation office at 432 729 4362.

‘THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS’ – A Review

Main Street Theater, www.mainstreettheater.com 

By NANCY WOZNY

Caridad Svich’s The House of the Spirits is a noble adaptation of award-winning Chilean author Isabel Allende’s classic novel. Svich’s play doesn’t completely capture the essence of Allende’s enchanting use of magical realism, but she creates a compelling theatrical experience, such that, by the second act, I was hardly missing Allende’s delicate prose. Svich also distills Allende’s massive epic into a workable story. 

The House of the Spirits chronicles the ups and downs of the Trueba family in an un-named Latin American Country spanning 1920 through the 1970s. Unlike the book, Svich uses Alba, the youngest member of the Trueba tribe, as the sole narrator, lending a cohesive dramatic thread that works well to bring us in and through the multiple frames of reference found in Allende’s dense writing. 

The cast—all strong—is headed up by Sean Patrick Judge, who lends a quiet dignity to Esteban Trueba, a difficult and complex man. Judge gives Esteban a brutal edge and, as he ages, a somber tenderness. Laura Michelle Salas imbues the young Alba with a slight aura of distance, serving to separate her from the brutality of her torture and imprisonment, and sustaining a cool detachment of the storyteller. When she finally enters the action of the play, Salas adds warmth and resolve. Eva De La Cruz’s Clara matures from a magical child to tolerant wife with believability. Luisa Amaral-Smith plays several roles, but is most powerful in her portrayal of Ferula, Esteban’s long-suffering sister. 

Rebecca Greene Udden directs with a soft hand, letting the story unfold in its own timing. Nothing feels forced or rushed; it’s a graceful production. Jodi Bobrovsky conjures a lacy all white world, lending a sense of understated elegance. David Gipson’s lighting design add just enough otherworldliness for us to feel thoroughly transported.

A MUSEUM WITHOUT WALLS

 

Celebrating 10 Years of Houston Excellence

BY STACEY HOLZER

The Museum of Cultural ArtsHouston is a museum without walls, one whose mission is to use art and creativity for social awareness and community development. 

Executive Director Reginald Adams and his wife Rhonda conceived the idea in a conversation about community kids who are unable or simply don’t visit the rich array of galleries, museums, and cultural venues Houston has to offer.  They, along with teams of volunteers and community support, bring the arts to neighborhood schools, churches, recreational centers and other public venues in the form of mosaic sculpture and murals.   This month MOCAH celebrates 10 years of excellence with more than 100 complete projects and a masquerade ball to rival the original which set it all in motion.    

The tradition of mosaic making dates back as far as 4,000 years and spans the world in various cultural traditions.   In Barcelona during the Art Nouveau era, Antoni Gaudi with Josep Jujol, created the magnificent mosaics of Guell Park in Barcelona, Spain.   Adams’ visit to Guell Park sparked the inspiration that brought the mosaics of MOCAH to Houston. An ideal medium for the humidity and climate changes of our city, mosaics also represent the diversity of our culture. Fragmented pieces of multiple odd shapes and sizes all finding their way to some cohesive whole image of place and identity.  Add this concept to the location of learning, and community for a winning combination that enriches our world. 

Adams views his work as fun, conversation, adventure; truly he loves what he does.  What if the purpose of life was to play?   Observing the contrast in the world makes him appreciate life all the more.   Constantly drawing on all that he saw, he knew early on how to shade, depicting objects in the third dimension. Michelle Barnes director of the Houston Community Arts Collective saw potential in his work and let him teach a class with kids.  His philosophy became draw enough of what you see and you will develop a technique you can teach. 

As a self taught artist, he always did what felt good without directive or influence from a formalist school.  Striving to develop his own visual language, Adams began to play with various forms of expression and eventually became a resident artist with Writer’s in the Schools.  As resident artist, he experimented in a vast array of mediums, materials and techniques as he worked with kids and their writing instructor to develop visual projects that would compliment their literary interpretations.   He later worked as project coordinator for Project Row Houses. Here he learned to explore additional materials, and was exposed to less traditional art forms such as sound, installation, exploration of sensory experience and others.  

Adams’ father had a significant role in his life and he admires how well he cared for his family growing up.  A businessman of stature in the community he brought his boys to work exposing them to board room meetings and corporate structure.  In addition, as an expansive soil scientist, he worked on Indian reservations, and could name nearly every single plant, identify tree erosion patterns, and soil type. 

On one particular trip to the Grand Canyon, father and son stood one behind the other viewing the background texture of a north ridge, crisp crystal clear, cotton billowy sky, against thousands of colors in the rocks.  At that moment Adams desire to create was mirrored in the face of god leading to a decade of work that gives back to the community.    

A keen sense of observation, led Adams to begin asking questions.    Who funded this project? What would it take to bring art to kids where they live?   A short time later Adams was working with the Menil Collection, MFAH, and many others painting

murals, building MOCAH throughout the city, funding the projects along the way through various foundation grants and other sources.  What if living in the question was all it takes to change your reality?  

Adams was raised with the belief that if you see an injustice, say something, and if nothing happens, do something about it.  When his son was in first grade in public school he noticed a few things to change and he decided to run for the school board.    Based on his experience with various other boards Adams believed that by becoming a board member he could align with leadership he could make a difference and be an agent for change.  Laws are then passed and legislature is put in place to create change. 

When you are in alignment with a large number of people things happen however when you are out of alignment there is friction or resistance.  Running for the school board brought out the best and the worst in people. Supporters raised funds and worked around the clock yet when the final tallies were in Adams lost the race miserably.  Looking back he was never so relieved in his whole life.  Never was there such an uphill climb to serve resistance.  

This experience is valuable because it provided Adams with the clarity to know what he really wanted.   From that point Adams focus returned to his art through MOCAH.  Adams target is to empower kids by showing them a different way to be in the world.  The community is involved and many who participate engage on various levels crossing cultural and social boundaries.  

So in the end MOCAH makes a difference utilizing allowance, choice, and contribution.  The mosaics and mural pictured above were produced by the students from the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice and students from the YES Academy.  To see how MOCAH can facilitate a project in your community contact Reginald Adams Reginald@mocah.org. Read more about contemporary art at www.visualseen.net