Ceramics show a precursor to weekend of sculpture

Figure by Magda Gluszek

PANAMA CITY — The new art exhibit at Gulf Coast State College, “Raconteurs,” is a collection that bridges the visual and verbal worlds. Viewers are challenged to witness how narrative impacts the creation of physical objects.

The exhibit features work by internationally recognized artists Ben Carter, Carole Epp, Magda Gluszek and Jill Foote-Hutton. As contemporary makers with the wealth of history and materials at their disposal, each artist is actively engaged in mining their daily experience to generate narratives.

“Even in our most primitive state, we see a compulsion to record our history and call forth the future through visual narrative,” said Foote-Hutton. “Recording our history anchors us as individuals while also placing us within a tribe. The narrative of our journey makes us visible to ourselves. Fables and mythologies are catalysts, expanding our definitions of self and the world we populate.”

The exhibit will run through the weekend of April 15-17, when GCSC will host its second annual Ceramics Symposium featuring Carter, Epp, Gluszek and Foote-Hutton as presenters. The theme for this year is “Word and Object.”

“This is a great opportunity for attendees to learn from a diverse group of professional artists,” said Pavel G. Amromin, assistant professor and gallery director in the Division of Visual and Performing Arts at GCSC. “Together, they will share the ways story impacts and informs their creative process, studio output and their efforts to capture the contemporary story of American Ceramics.”

Art by Carole Epp

The symposium will be in GCSC’s Amelia Tapper Center, 5230 West U.S. 98, Panama City, and will consist of interactive workshops, lectures, panel topic discussions and demonstrations.

During the artist demos, the audience will see a variety of construction methods while panelists cover topics including narrative as a leaping-off point for form and decoration; the power of the frozen moment in sculpture; the vessel as a format for stories in the round; and development of character iconography.



“I reference symbols of my native Virginian identity, such as the dogwood flower, white picket fence and whitewashed brick,” said Carter, who creates utilitarian wares that commemorate and continue family traditions. “These nostalgic decorative motifs are familiar and accessible, conveying the graciousness of Southern hospitality. Through the act of use, my forms serve a commemorative role, highlighting the cultural importance of communal dining on the family structure.”



Flask by Ben Carter

Epp’s work demonstrates celebration and query. Her frozen moment vignettes present “humanity through a subversion of our utopic projections of ourselves,” she said. Pairing religious icons, news headlines, pop culture and kitsch, she lures viewers into a mirror reflecting an uncomfortable reality. She shows how to “investigate the things that are wrong and appreciate the things that are really right.”

“Beyond the work in the exhibition, there would be a void without addressing the role of storyteller both Carole and Ben take on outside of their visual art practice,” Foote-Hutton said. “Since 2012, Ben has produced and hosted the podcast ‘Tales of a Red Clay Rambler,’ featuring interviews with artists and culture makers from around the world. Carole has hosted the blog ‘Musing About Mud’ since 2005, where she provides a platform to showcase contemporary ceramic activity.”

Gluszek employs the figure to examine a collective sense of self. Her work pushes the viewer away with uncomfortable stares and awkward postures, while simultaneously pulling the viewer in to her projected stories with a candied palette.



Symposium 2015

“The figures are experimenting with different modes of self-representation,” Gluszek said. “They alternate between appearing submissive and threatening. It is indistinguishable whether they make these alterations for a self-serving purpose or for the pleasure of the viewer.”

Foote-Hutton’s work is a contemporary exploration of the power of personal narratives and collective mythologies. She employs the concept of the Monster (or Other) to engage a conversation about the disparities of what we think and what we do, about the distance between two human beings, and the nature of lightness and darkness.

“Monsters embody empathy for our own human frailties,” Foote-Hutton said. “Their literary history makes them the perfect vehicle to coax new stories from hearts and imaginations.”

 

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• ‘RACONTEURS’
• Where: Amelia Center Main Gallery, Gulf Coast State College, 5230 West U.S. 98, Panama City
• When: Opens March 7, runs through April 17; gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday
• Admission: Free and open to the public
• Details: GulfCoast.edu/arts

Undercurrents: Honoring Rosie, establishing a legacy

Rosie

• The Amelia Center Honors: Rosemarie O’Bourke
• When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17
• Where: Amelia G. Tapper Center for the Arts, Gulf Coast State College, 5230 W. U.S. 98, Panama City
• Tickets: Free admission; online reservations at GulfCoast.edu/Arts suggested to guarantee seating
• Details: Call 850-872-3887 or email jhedden@gulfcoast.edu

 

PANAMA CITY — I first met Rosemarie O’Bourke, or “Rosie,” many years ago, when I started reporting on education for The News Herald and the Gulf Coast State College theatre was undergoing a massive renovation. But I finally got to know her when my son entered the college’s Performing Arts track.

Next week, Oct. 17, the college will celebrate Rosie’s career and legacy following her recent retirement as chairwoman of the Visual and Performing Arts Division — a department that started when she first arrived at the college, about 30 years ago.

“The Amelia Center Honors is an event celebrating the numerous contributions Rosie O’Bourke has made to arts and education in this community and the positive impact she has had on so many students during her career,” said Jason Hedden, who assumed his role as chairman of the GCSC Visual and Performing Arts Division upon Rosie’s retirement. “The entire community is invited to share in this exiting evening of entertainment.”

The special ceremony will feature performances and tributes by students, alumni, colleagues and community members. NYC-based performer and alumnus Matthew Holtzclaw will serve as guest emcee. Formal attire is requested.

The Amelia Center Honors, as it goes into the future, will become an event to honor others who contribute extraordinary value to the area’s cultural life.

In 2013, I sat down with Rosie in her office, which was decorated with University of Florida and Gator items, and we talked about her life and career.

Born in Cuba, she came to the U.S. in 1961 at age 13 as one of the “Peter Pan” children. The Miami Catholic churches had arranged passage for Cuban children and placed them in foster homes and orphanages to get them out of Castro’s regime.

“I didn’t speak any English or any such thing,” she said. “My brother and I went to live with a family we knew, friends of our parents. We were lucky.”

Rosie completed high school and college in St. Petersburg, graduated from UF with a master’s in music, took a second master’s degree in theater from St. Louis University, worked in a playhouse in Cleveland while getting her MFA, married and had three kids.

The first show she produced at GCSC (still “Community” College at the time), was “Bye Bye Birdie,” with choreography by her longtime collaborator and friend Jenny Freed. The last one she directed, a career-long dream, was “Les Miserables.”

But retirement doesn’t mean she’s far from the footlights. She plans to spend more time at a family cabin in North Carolina, but also to work with children, teaching and producing children’s theater and choral performances. Arts education is as important to her now as ever.

“My soapbox is keeping the arts in our schools,” she said. “Kids really need it, and research shows they do better in all the other subjects if they’re (exposed to) the arts. My students have gotten so much from the arts — self concept, energy, compassion. They had to learn to be team players, to accept other people, and no matter what field you go into, you have to be a team player.”

As the team gets together next weekend to honor its coach, mentor, and fellow player, they’ve had occasion to reflect on how they got where they are — and who helped guide them along the path.

“Rosie has had a profound impact on my life and career,” Hedden said. “For over 20 years, she has believed in me, more than I believed in myself. That unwavering support has given me a confidence that has led to many of the personal and professional successes in my life.”

That’s a legacy anyone would be proud to count. Congrats, Rosie, for a career well spent, and best wishes for many years of creativity and inspiration to come.

Peace.

PC Creative Con Photo Blog Part 2

This time it's pictures with me in them, I'm afraid...

 

 

 

 

 

Quick updates

Here is my column this week, which looks at the Sketch Crawl in Panama City and some of the words being sold at Floriopolis as part of the Space Between Words exhibit.

And here's my column from last week, which basically looked at the upcoming Summer Theatre Program at Gulf Coast State College.

Watched the first two episodes of a new sci-fi/space bounty hunters TV series, KillJoys, which has a sort of Firefly element. Extremely low budget, but interesting. I'll watch more of it when it hits TV this summer on Syfy.



I'm still doing the Fiction Fest at Friday Fest on June 5. We're adding new authors, and getting background on them in updates to the event page; check it out.

Received a rejection note this week (from a horror publisher I submitted my initial CALIBAN novel to) that managed to make me feel good about the work despite the "no." The note included the chain of comments from each of the publisher's reader/editors. Such as:
...First several pages well written, story seems cool if he can pull it off...
...Pass but ask if he has anything else. I'm just not that into Cthulhu and Lovecraftian stuff. ...
... we appreciated your style and strong writing skills, and invite you to submit other works if you have them.

As I said on Facebook, it's a weird feeling, knowing they liked the story (and my telling of it) but decided to wait for something else. I'll take this one as a win, despite the obvious. Thanks for the consideration, and just you wait until you see what else I have in store...

Peace.

Exhibits, contests explore ‘The Space Between Words’

FLORIOPOLIS | Contributed Photo

Artists are building a model replica of Beck Avenue in historic St. Andrews “out of words” as part of “The Space Between Words” exhibit currently running at the Floriopolis gallery and art center.

MY STORY CHOSEN AS 'STORY OF DISTINCTION' 

PANAMA CITY — You may have become adept at reading between the lines, but understanding and confusion come from the same place: the space between words.

Floriopolis, the arts and culture co-op in historic St. Andrews, is in the midst of a long-term interactive exhibit on that subject, which includes art on display, a short story contest and more. Heather Parker, the artist and creative director behind the Floriopolis, announced this week the winners of “The Space Between Words” short story contest.

“We had 16 entries and sent them all on to the judges,” Heather said. “The panel of three judges used a point system to narrow down the finalists and select an overall winner. We are looking into ways to include entries in other parts of our summer exhibit ‘The Space Between Words,’ so if you are interested in options that may come up, or have ideas to share, please do let us know.”

The winning story is “The Boy and His Beach” by D.A. Robin. Its 1,733 individual words and punctuation marks will be “sold” for $25 each to people who want to have the words, phrases and/or marks tattooed on their bodies (cost includes cost of the tattoo by Panama Fox). The project is a fundraiser for the non-profit gallery.

It’s amusing to consider a story being carried into the world in such a fashion.

“The winning story gives us the words to use for our community tattoo project and fundraiser,” Heather said. “We’re including punctuation in the ‘word count,’ for a total of 1,733 ‘words’ to sell. We won’t be releasing the winning story in its entirety for quite some time, focusing first on selling the words, phrases and punctuation, allowing buyers to make their own connections and participate in this large, ambitious project.”

Other stories in the contest also received note:

•Stories of Distinction were “Flashback” by Amy Topol, and “Whisper in the Night” by Tony Simmons (that’s me!).

•Honorable Mentions went to “The Space Between Words” by Gary Dearman, “Epilogue for a Corpse” by Samantha Neeley, “Tammy Fell Down” by Linda Morgan, “Tattoo Therapy” by Julie Werner, “Paul Clifford” by Dr. Dan Finley, and “Buddy” by Craig Bush.

For more information on the exhibit, the contest, and the tattoo portion of the project, drop by Floriopolis at 1125 Beck Ave. in Panama City (open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday-Friday), call 850-249-9295, or visit Facebook.com/Floriopolis.

Words and pictures also get close examination in the following contest and exhibit:

Poetry Month Contest

We can all use a little more poetry in our lives, and to that end the Bay County Public Library in Panama City (NWRLS.com) is holding a contest to mark National Poetry Month. Prizes will be awarded to the top three poems, all of which will be displayed in the library for a year. Here are the simple rules:

 Submit only one original poem.

 Poem can be printed in pencil, pen or typed. If it’s handwritten, make sure it’s legible.

 Put your name and a working phone number on the entry so you can be contacted.

 Place your poem in the container in front of the library’s National Poetry Month book display.

Librarians will judge the poems and announce the winner(s) at the end of April. It should go without saying, but don’t submit someone else’s poem as your own. Librarians will be checking for copyright infringement.

For more information, stop by or call the Reference Desk at 850-522-2107. The library is located at 898 W. 11th St., Panama City.

Posters Without Borders

Gulf Coast State College’s Visual & Performing Arts Division is opening an invitational exhibition, “Posters Without Borders” with a free lecture and public reception today. The exhibit was organized by Eric Boelts of Colorado State University, Antonio Castro of the University of Texas at El Paso, and Erin Wright of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Participating artists represent more than 20 countries around the world including Zimbabwe, Israel, Cuba, Mexico and Bulgaria. The exhibit explores the topic of immigration and raises questions such as: What is the meaning of nationality? What are the causes for immigration? What is the effect on the host country? What is the immigrant experience?

Wright will present a curatorial lecture 1-2 p.m. Friday in the Amelia Center, Room 128. An opening reception for the exhibit will be 5-7 p.m. Friday.    The exhibit will be on display in the Amelia Center Main Gallery, Room 112, until April 23; gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Admission is free and open to the public. For details, contact Pavel Amromin at pamromin@gulfcoast.edu

In any case, remember to use your words.

Peace.

Artist's Touch: Breathing Life into Feats of Clay

Meghan Sullivan at Floriopolis

PANAMA CITY — Meghan Sullivan says she has to stay in motion. A sculptor and potter, she works in terra cotta, making tiles, plates and figures. She also teaches drawing at Gulf Coast State College and the Visual Arts Center of Northwest Florida.

“I really like the tactility of making things,” she said during a conversation at the Floriopolis gallery in St. Andrews. “I don’t think I could sit in an office all day long and be happy.”

This year’s artist-in-residence at GCSC, Meghan grew up in Boston, the youngest of six children.

“My parents always had art around us,” she said, adding that her father worked for the city Arts Council. “We had these handmade plates, and we would fight over who got which one, because siblings fight about everything.”

Girl and Frog tile by Sullivan

Her older sister attended a free after-school arts program while in high school, and when Meghan was old enough, she joined the program because “I wanted to be like her.” She spent the four years of high school receiving six hours of art classes each week.

Meghan attended the Massachusetts College of Art, which was across an alley from her high school. It was affordable, and she could live at home. In her freshman year, she took a pottery class that changed her life.

“It was the most challenging class I had taken up to then, and I was compelled by it,” she said, and by graduation, she was creating ceramic figures.
She took a job working 40 hours a week throwing plates, bowls and cups, then got a residency just outside the city, teaching and doing figurative sculptures. She applied to the University of Florida and was accepted as a post-baccalaureate student.

“It was my first time away from Boston,” she said. “It was very hot, and the first time a lizard came into my house I freaked out. But I really liked living in Florida.”

Meghan eventually got into grad school in Nebraska, earned her master’s degree, and joined the AmeriCorps to pay off some of her massive student debt. In that capacity, she worked with elementary schools in blighted neighborhoods, building community gardens with children and organizing big awareness campaigns and events.

She also did creative projects and volunteered as a bike mechanic at a co-op. Finally, she was offered a job with the city. “But I knew if I stayed there another year, I would end up living in Lincoln, Neb., for my entire life,” she said. “I really missed ceramics, and I was teaching but I wasn’t teaching art.”

Conversation by Sullivan

That’s when she learned about GCSC’s Artist in Residence program. She arrived in Panama City in time for the 2014 spring semester, and was invited to remain through the 2015 school year. She was already familiar with Tammy Marinuzzi and Pavel G. Amromin, assistant professors in the college’s Visual and Performing Arts Department, who were also in Gainesville when Meghan was a student there.

“We shared a car ride once,” she said. “I knew how they drove, but I didn’t know them that well. But I’m a figurative artist, they’re figurative artists, so we kind of feed off of each other.”
A solo show of her work will open at GCSC Feb. 27 and be on display through March. Meghan’s artwork is shaped by her personal experiences, according to a statement on her website (MeghanSullivanCeramics.com) — specifically, being part of a large family and growing up in an urban environment. She calls herself “a storyteller,” for whom the journey is as important as the destination.

“While my background has influenced the tone and content, it is not straightforward autobiography,” she said. “One specific instance in a larger experience is used and extrapolated from in order to create the final composition. ... While the conclusion may not be clear, the meaning of my work is found in the pondering of it.”

Back to school time for adult learners

Jim Barr, coordinator of Education Partnerships at Gulf Coast State College, poses with Barbara and Stan Guterman, who donated $1,000 to the Education Encore Scholarship Fund.

• EDUCATION ENCORE
• When: In-person registration is 8 a.m. Jan. 16; classes are six consecutive Fridays, Jan. 23 through Feb. 27
• Where: Gulf Coast State College, 5230 U.S. 98, Panama City
• What: Non-credit enrichment classes for adults
• Cost: $88
• Details: Online at GulfCoast.edu/EducationEncore; call 872-3823; or email Jim Barr at jbarr@gulfcoast.edu

PANAMA CITY — With Spring Break on the horizon, it’s time for the winter to start winding down — but that just means Education Encore is about to heat up. The winter session of Gulf Coast State College’s adult education program begins Jan. 23, with in-person registration taking place Friday, Jan. 16.

As I’ve noted in the past, I have had the pleasure — and the challenge — of teaching a writing course for the program, helping students ranging in age from 30 to 80 and ranging in experience from beginner to retired journalist. I have never yet met someone who is as bad a writer as they think they are, but I have met a few who were much better than they ever suspected.

The program, which meets on six consecutive Fridays, offers more than 80 non-credit classes, which are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors will open at 7 a.m., and the fee for Panama City participants is $88, which includes four classes on each of the six Fridays. (Classes offered at the GCSC Port St. Joe campus, at a fee of $66, meet each Wednesday for six weeks.)

For details on the program and to see a list of classes, visit GulfCoast.edu/EducationEncore, call   872-3823 or e-mail Jim Barr, coordinator of Education Partnerships, at jbarr@gulfcoast.edu

“The goal of Education Encore is to provide a learning environment that is fun, lively and offers diversity, insight and wisdom — in which adults explore new ideas,” Jim said in an email to participants. “If you have been to college, this is an opportunity to re-live the college experience. If you have not attended college, this is an opportunity to live the college experience. Just as exercising the body keeps one physically fit, exercising the mind keeps one mentally fit.”

The program’s motto is “No Stress, No Tests, No Grades, Just Fun,” though some classes (like mine) encourage participants to work on projects throughout the week. (All good writing is re-writing, you know.)

Established in 1991, originally designed for retired senior adults, the program and the courses offered have evolved over the years. All ages of adults are welcome, and many of the courses are the result of requests and suggestions from students.

Some of the winter courses offered include bridge, quilting, Digital Image Editing, drawing, Heritage Skills for Modern Times, jewelry, Spanish conversation, Birding for Beginners, civil law, Firearms Safety,  History and Training of Navy Seals, line dancing,  storytelling, Fishing Florida Waters, History of Seminole Tribes, financial planning, Understanding Islam, Zumba, acrylic painting, photography, sign language, gardening, musical theatre history, sea life, interior decorating, journaling, Tai Chi, aquatic exercise, car maintenance, astronomy, fitness, physics, a capella harmony, gourmet cooking, yoga and many more.

In fact, writing has been such a popular subject, this year the program will offer four different classes for students to explore. Sherry Anderson will teach Writing Memoirs and Creative Non-fiction; Pat Sabiston has Journaling: A Powerful Tool to Write a Life Story; Michael Brim offers Fear and Fun of Writing Fiction; and I will be discussing the intersection of Writing and Life.

Maybe I’ll see you there?

Peace.

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This is my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald this week.

She’s got skin in this game

Nicole Desiree Hays/Game Show Network

One of the contestants on this season of the Game Show Network’s reality competition series “Skin Wars” counts Panama City as her “second home,” and credits Gulf Coast State College’s theater program for encouraging and supporting her love of performance art.

Nicole Desiree Hays, 30, now lives outside of Tampa and runs her own business, CirqueVille Entertainment, which provides everything from simple face-painting for birthday parties to stilt-walking balloon artists, fire-twirlers, human statues, burlesque acrobatics and more.

“It’s kind of hard, and you have to be versatile, for sure,” Nicole said by telephone Wednesday afternoon. “I’m just happy to be able to create and make a living doing what I love to do.”

Nicole, who I met some years ago when she was in theater productions with my son at Gulf Coast, got into body-painting after modeling for local artist Amanda Stiffler. “She showed me everything about body-painting,” Nicole said. “She became a real mentor to me.”

Two years ago, while pursuing her master’s degree in entrepreneurship, Nicole took a class in body-painting, and that teacher recommended her to a producer for “Skin Wars.” The producer talked to her about the show more than a year and a half ago, and Nicole was called to an audition several months later. Of about 25 who auditioned, 10 were brought to Los Angeles for the February 2014 shoot.

“The cast was awesome,” she said. “We took care of each other, really had each other’s backs. Yes, we were in competition, but everybody grew really close.”

The producers wouldn’t let contestants keep art supplies in the shared house, so they couldn’t work on concepts they might try to use on the show. Nicole said the housemates found a unique way of getting around that prohibition.

“Artists draw all the time, no matter what,” she said. “They took away our supplies, so we used condiments in the kitchen to do art on pots and pans.”

“Skin Wars” is hosted by actress and model Rebecca Romijn, who knows something about body-painting from her time portraying the mutant Mystique in the “X-Men” movie franchise. Romijn was also the first model to be body-painted for Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue.

“I adore her,” Nicole said of Romijn. “She’s the most down-to-earth person, and she complimented my outfit one episode. I couldn’t believe it.”

One of the judges is RuPaul Charles, who shot to fame as a drag performer and also hosts “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Although the contestants are not allowed to talk with the celebrities at length, Nicole said, RuPaul kept the experience lively with his quick wit and energy.

Nicole couldn’t talk at length about the elimination aspect of the show, which is halfway through the current season, but she bragged on the talents of her castmates. Each episode, the contestants receive a challenge and limited time to complete it, then one is eliminated by a panel of judges. The finale will feature three finalists competing for a cash prize and a career-launching opportunity.

Nicole said her greatest challenge in an episode that has been broadcast was when she was tasked to create a new superhero in only a few hours. The guest judge for the episode was Lynda Carter, who portrayed Wonder Woman in the 1970s TV series.

“I thought I had a really great story behind mine,” Nicole said, as the design incorporated an item that her grandmother gave her, “but they weren’t able to use the backstories. I guess there wasn’t time to tell everyone’s story. I did a full glitter bodysuit, but really shot myself in the foot. That was the first time I was in the bottom three, which was terrifying.”

Originally from Van Buren, Ark., Nicole describes herself as “the black sheep” of her family of conservative dentists and doctors, in part because she chose the Bohemian lifestyle of an artist. She first came to Panama City on a college Spring Break trip and decided to stay.

“I called home and said, ‘Send my stuff,’” she recalled. “I felt like an orphan. But I met so many amazing families, and Gulf Coast was such a great start for me.”

Peace. 

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‘SKIN WARS’

What: Elimination competition between body-painters

When: Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Game Show Network (repeats throughout the week)

Details: SkinWars.gsntv.com

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This is my Undercurrents column this week for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald.

GCSC summer program reworks ‘Miracle’

Cover Artwork

PANAMA CITY — Summer has found Gulf Coast State College students molding something new out of a “miracle” story.

The GCSC 2014 Summer Theatre Project, taught by Associate Professor of Music Scott Kirkman and Associate Professor of Theatre Jason Hedden, is called “From Page to Stage, the Making of a Musical.”

In the six-week course, students formed an artistic team to adapt the novel, “Miracle of the White Leaves,” by Dr. Stephen Dunnivant, dean of GCSC’s Advanced Technology Center, and his daughter, Gina Dunnivant, with art by Gina Ricci. Students were tasked to produce a play script, create original music and design concepts for costumes, sets and props with a goal of preparing a workshop production at GCSC in the autumn semester, as well as a “world premiere” in 2015 at the Marina Civic Center.

“We've been trying for years to have them perform a free show for our elementary grades at the Marina Civic Center,” said Jennifer Jones of Bay Arts Alliance, who has been sitting in on workshop presentations this summer. “I’m a big advocate for adding the ‘A’ for ‘Arts’ into the STEM curriculum.”

“Miracle of the White Leaves” is the tale of a monk, two children, and the youngest daughter of Europe’s greatest king, destined to bond with unexpected allies no larger than your finger. Together, these unlikely heroes plant the seeds to unite a continent and save civilization in its darkest hour. Originally a screenplay, the elder Dunnivant refashioned the tale into a novel.

“It’s really fantasy-oriented, set in the time of King Charlemagne, so it also has the historical element,” Jones said of the work.

>>Link to the Amazon page for 'Miracle of the White Leaves'<<

The summer program was open to GCSC students and community members with interest and skills in writing, storytelling, singing, songwriting, instrumental music, acting, dance, choreography, design, photography, costuming, videography, sound recording and visual art. The entire process was documented on video.

>>See a promotional video about the project<<

“We had 18 students registered in the class and two community collaborators,” Hedden said. “We will do a workshop production for fourth- and fifth-grade ESE students from Bay District Schools, and then the world premiere for 2,000 third-graders in April 2015.”

The show at the Civic Center will be part of the Very Special Arts Festival, an annual enrichment activity for students with learning challenges, Jones said. The Civic Center will also host a finished, full-scale musical production for the general public.

“The 2014 Summer Theatre Project has been, by far, the most fascinating, exciting, memorable college experience I’ve ever had,” said participant Jenny Hammond, who received her associate of arts degree in Liberal Arts at GCSC this year, graduating Magna Cum Laude. “I am so happy to be a part of something that will touch so many others if only for 50 minutes of their lifetime. It will be something that stays with me for years to come.”

Jacob Walsingham, a Mosley High School student dual-enrolled at GCSC this summer, said the class taught him that it can take “a lot of trial and error to make your ideas come to life.”

The Dunnivant family lives in Panama City Beach. Before joining GCSC, Stephen Dunnivant taught middle school grades in Bay County, where he has lived for more than 35 years. He has worked at Gulf Coast for more than 17 years.

The son of a musician, his early years were spent traveling from the mountains of upstate New York to the cotton fields of Arkansas. He credits his mother, Evelyn Audrey Beardsley, with instilling in him the joy of reading.

“Like so many sons, he grew up listening to stories from his mother,” Stephen Dunnivant’s Amazon biography states. “One day, an uncle in Arkansas sat in awe watching Audrey read to her children. He told her later that he had never seen anyone do that before. While this was the 1960s, sadly, many parents still do not read to their kids.

“As it was in the 8th and 9th century so long ago, education is the only enduring escape from poverty and ignorance.”

Peace. 

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(This is my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald this week.)

‘Tyr’ pressure rises under the lights, behind the curtain

Zinszer and Powiliatis (Photo by Me)

PANAMA CITY — It’s been a while since I stood on the stage at the Martin Theatre. On Wednesday evening, as I watched women painting backdrops and arranging lights, their voices mingling among the curtains, I tried to recall which show was in preparation back then.

And really, it didn’t matter which one. There’s an energy in those lights and among the flowing curtains that permeates all activity. A sense of pressure rising. Even Mike Stone, slouching on a stool and studying lines, seemed ready to break into action at any moment.

Mike’s wife, Pam Sutton, is directing “Pericles, Prince of Tyr,” a lesser-known play from William Shakespeare, which will be presented for one weekend (July 17-20) at the Martin. She has set the action in the 1930s and transplanted it from the Mediterranean to various cities in the U.S., including Miami and New Orleans. Segments of the play originally presented as narration will be projected in the form of scratchy news reels.

“We wanted it to be set far enough distant that it’s not now, but is something that the audience can relate to,” Pam said. “The play itself is supposed to be an antique fable.”

Pam invited me by to see the sets in progress and meet some of the actors, like Allen Walker, who is portraying Pericles. This isn’t the first starring role for Allen, 32, a Latin teacher at Arnold High School in Panama City Beach. In recent years, for instance, he’s become associated with the name “Soldier Riley,” playing the hero of local author Michael Lister’s novels in performances at Gulf Coast State College.

“He starts off very cocky, sure of himself,” Allen said of Pericles, “but he’s brought low several times. The scenes are very short, which limits the time to portray him before the next disaster happens.”

Allen joked that Pericles gets shipwrecked so often that you would think people would stop letting him on their boats.

Anthony Powiliatis, 20, a GCSC student, is the self-proclaimed “po-liatist” person you’ll ever meet. This is his 24th show, including productions at the Martin, Kaleidoscope Theatre, GCSC, Bay High, Jinks Middle, and the late Sherlock’s Mystery Dinner Theatre. He said the antics behind the curtain are his favorite thing about doing theatre.

“It’s a war backstage,” he said. “We pantomime killing each other, or all the drama stereotypes we do.”

One of his foils is Elizabeth Zinszer, 19, a technical theater major at GCSC, who plays Pericles’ daughter. We shared a laugh when we realized that, about eight years ago, she played the child of Macduff, Thane of Fife, in “The Tragedy of Macbeth” — when my son was playing Macduff under the direction of Stone and Sutton’s daughter, Liz. Even my son’s “daughter” is grown up now.

“I’ve never read one of Shakespeare’s plays that is like this, a mix of tragedy and comedy — it’s all over the place,” Elizabeth said. “It’s kind of like a puzzle, almost.”
Daniel LaMere, a 16-year-old virtuoso, has chosen era-appropriate music and will be playing it live throughout the show.

“This has taught me to do preparation really fast,” Daniel said, explaining he had three weeks to ready the score. “It’s testing my abilities to learn. I freaked out at first, but I learned I can do this.”

As you will live, resolve it you.

‘PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYR’
Where: The Martin Theatre, 409 Harrison Ave., Panama City
When: 7:30 p.m. July 17, 18 and 19; 2 p.m. July 20
Tickets: $10 adults, $5 students and senior adults
Details: 763-8080

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(This is my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald this week.)

River Readings Photo Blog

Carrie Fioramanti talks about Mandalas and Meditation.

Heather Clements demonstrates hoop dancing.

Me sitting with a group of conference-goers who took me out to lunch.

The group without me. Thanks, guys!

The participants worked on a mandala throughout the day.

Panel on Mindfulness: Michael Lister, Lynn Wallace, Carrie Fioramanti, David Lloyd.

Aaron Bearden talks about being great. My notebook and mandala in the foreground.

Still waters run deep

PANAMA CITY — The river has long been used as a metaphor for life and love. We talk about its depth, its currents, its headwaters and tributaries, the sources and measures by which we understand it.

We imagine a full life as the river overflowing its banks, or an empty one as the merest trickle traversing a cracked bed of sediment. We gaze ahead over rapids and obstacles, anticipating the river’s ultimate fate, flowing into and becoming one with the vast and unknowable ocean.

Writers and artists in the midst of a productive cycle say things like “the work is flowing,” as if some fount of creativity has sprung forth to guide their efforts.

And that’s where River Readings comes in.

I’ve been invited to participate in the quarterly River Readings conference at Gulf Coast State College on Saturday. Founded by local author Michael Lister, the event is a day of presentations, panels and workshops on creativity, spirituality, health, wholeness, purpose, goals, dreams, love, life, compassion, parenting, environmentalism, growth and relationships.

“I’m always inspired by what is shared at River Readings,” Michael said. “It’s so helpful to hear how others are thriving in their creative and artistic endeavors, as well as in their relationships and businesses.”

The concept behind River Readings is “Checking Life’s Depth and Flow.” The event brings together writers, artists, counselors, thinkers, theologians, teachers, musicians and spiritual leaders in thoughtful discussion and insightful interactions.

“This year’s theme will be mindfulness and meditation,” said Carrie Fioramonti, an adjunct professor at GCSC, promoting the event on Facebook. “I usually present yoga and visualization techniques, but this year I want to share a new interest: mandala meditation. I have made many meaningful and lasting friendships at this conference.”

The event will take place in the Language and Literature building at Gulf Coast State College, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free (though a donation is requested to help offset costs) and all sessions are open to the public.

Michael said his intent is to provide visitors with inspiring, informative and enlightening in-depth discussions on how to have more productive, successful, and ultimately, happy lives.

(For more information, contact Michael at MichaelLister@mchsi.com or visit RiverReadings.com)

Paul McAuliff, a local musician and a previous River Readings presenter, called the event “one of the finest celebrations of the arts in Bay County. Check it out and nourish your soul.”

Peace.

Below is the schedule for the River Readings sessions:

9:15 a.m.: Living Your Quiddity: Michael Lister

9:55 a.m.: Mandala Meditation: Carrie Fioramonti

10:15 a.m.: Feeding the Brain New Data: Tony Simmons

11:15 a.m.: The Process of Becoming Great: Aaron Bearden

12:00 p.m.: Lunch

1:15 p.m.: Mandala Meditation: Carrie Fioramonti

1:30 p.m.: Hoop Dance Demo and Talk: Heather Clements

2:00 p.m.: Patience, Fear, and Uncertainty: Tony Buoni

2:45 p.m.: Mindfulness: Dave Lloyd, Lou Columbus, Lynn Wallace, Michael Lister, Carrie Fioramonti

3:30 p.m.: Integrity, Creativity, and the Daily Grind: Aaron Bearden, Tony Simmons, Tony Buoni, Lynn Wallace, Michael Lister, Dave Lloyd, Heather Clement

(This was my Undercurrents column for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald this week.) 

BooksAlive 2014 Photo Blog (Part the First)

Tomorrow is BooksAlive, the annual festival of books in Panama City. I'm wrangling author Bill Roorbach, who is a pretty chill dude, and whose latest novel is even now being adapted as a series for HBO. So here are some pics of our day:

Bill teaching my Education Encore class at GCSC in the a.m.

Cynthia Graubart, Patti Callahan Henry and Cassandra King at Friday's luncheon in PCB.

Bill talked to two groups at Mosley High in the afternoon.

 Friday evening was a get-acquainted gathering for the authors, volunteers and library folks at the Harbor House social room in St. Andrews.

Debra with John Corley, author Chuck Barrett and writer Ruth Corley

Ruth with Hal and new author, Milinda Stephenson 

Library Foundation president Marilyn Fennimore tries to get the crowd's attention.

Me with author Pat Conroy and literary publicist Kathie Bennett.

I'll be posting photos from the Saturday events late Saturday night (or possibly Sunday). It's at FSU-Panama City tomorrow from 9 a,m, to 4 p.m., and the author sessions are free. Come check it out and say hello.

Something Like a Dream I Had...

PANAMA CITY — The stage goes dark and a spotlight picks out the lone figure bending under the weight of her despair. She begins, quietly at first but with growing intensity, to sing about a dream of a life worth living.

Susan Boyle famously leaped from obscurity to international renown in 2009 for her rendition of the song “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables.” It’s a song of desolation and hopelessness, sung as the character Fantine loses her job and drifts into prostitution, illness and death.

In the Gulf Coast State College production of the musical, opening Friday to a sold-out theater, the role and the song is performed by GCSC student Leeah Taunton.

“Fantine is a tragic character,” Taunton said. “She’s iconic for the women in poverty back then and the things they had to go through. She dreams of a life that she has always wanted and longed for, but unfortunately she doesn’t get that.”


As Clinton McCormick explains, that’s because people couldn’t change their stations in life in the days before the French Revolution. McCormick, as Jean Valjean, stands taller than just about anyone else on the stage — and it’s a suitable visual metaphor.

“Jean Valjean is the ultimate underdog,” McCormick said. “He got sent to prison just for stealing food to feed his family. … He’s given this chance by God to make something better out of himself. Back in this time period, this never happened. If you were poor, you stayed poor.”

McCormick said playing Valjean was the chance of a lifetime because he’s a symbol of hope and endurance, the struggle to make a better world one soul at a time: “It shows the goodness a man has in his heart. You hope to be this man in your own personal life. It inspires me to be a better person.”

(Which makes his struggle also, if you consider it, a fitting metaphor for the community college experience as well.)

Valjean’s nemesis is the police officer Javert, whom we first meet as the overseer of a group of convicts. Javert gives Valjean his parole papers and sends him off into the world, warning Valjean that he will always be a criminal in the eyes of the law and society.

“He’s often villainized, but he’s not a bad guy,” said Stephen DeVillers, who portrays Javert. “He is a good guy, he’s just strict to the letter of the law.”

DeVillers has played the lead in a number of productions at Gulf Coast, but he said “Les Mis” is like no other show he’s done: “It’s the biggest show we’ll ever see, probably, here — probably the biggest show I’ll ever do. It’s just been awesome doing this show.”

Taunton echoed his experience, saying her favorite thing about the production is the complexity and challenge: “It’s the most difficult show I’ve ever been in. The challenge every day — it’s very rewarding.”

Not everyone lives the dream they dreamed. Not all can change their station. But that doesn’t make the challenge less rewarding. It’s the journey, after all, and not the destination.

Peace.

(My Undercurrents column this week for PanamaCity.com and The News Herald.)

Flashback Friday: Logging on to 'Internet'

(In 1994, I blew readers' minds with the idea of easy access to a global information filing system by which anyone at a community college might be able to access info all over the planet in only a few minutes. I know, it's difficult to believe now, but about 20 years ago this whole "Internet" thing sounded like sci-fi. Here's the story from The News Herald's Dec. 14, 1994 edition.)

GCCC will offer students access to the information superhighway

From July 25, 1994

Gulf Coast Community College is not just "surfing the Internet," it's ready to hang-ten, according to one of the school's on-line professors.

For years, computers on campus have been integrated into a closed network. But recently they have joined the Florida Information Resource Network, creating a gateway onto the international Internet.

During a recent meeting of the District Board of Trustees, Professor Joe Howell described the highlights of the system and the advantages Internet access will give to faculty and students in the future. Howell demonstrated how easy it is for someone sitting at a terminal in Bay County to access information sources around the world.

 In less than a minute, he had at his fingertips computer files in Iowa, Sweden and Asia — including professional journals, research information, job listings, electronic mailboxes and computer bulletin boards.

There was even a file on "UFO and Alien Information" — although he quickly skipped past it.

Howell accessed the U.S. Department of Education database and found an excerpt from his own doctoral dissertation on file. He looked at job listings in the Chronicle of Higher Education by reading the expensive journal on-line.

"In the not-too-distant future, we want Gulf Coast Community College to be a server site on the Internet," Howell said. "If someone wants an academic calendar, a catalog, they can get it through the computer system."

The cost would be very small with the appropriate software in place, he said.

Now, 30 terminals on campus have access to the Internet. In the future, open terminals may be installed in public areas such as the college library, so students could use the available wealth of information throughout the world.

"The challenges are doing it faster and better and using it in the instructional process," Howell said.

Meteorology students, for instance, could reach into public-access NASA files for satellite photographs less than four minutes old. They could gather information on a city's weather patterns and create forecasts in class.

"We can do that today," Howell said. "This is not science fiction."

Another challenge may be blocking student access to objective or offensive materials that can be found through the Internet. But Howell said no matter what safeguards are put in place, "some enterprising young person" will no doubt find ways to bypass them.

The ramifications of having so much electronic information at one's fingertips could make facilities like libraries — which are expensive to build, equip and staff — anachronisms, college President Bob McSpadden said.

"What role will a facility with 80,000 hardback books play in the future? A museum?" he said.

The project was made possible by a $12,000 grant from the George G. Tapper Foundation.

Howell said he had always wondered just what was meant by the term "information superhighway." The Internet, he said, puts anyone in the information fast-lane.

McSpadden said he thought trustees "would be astounded by the information" now available to the college. He was right.

"It has created a world of excitement," McSpadden said. "And its capabilities will carry us well into the future."