Curb 2007

curb AWAKEN YOUR SENSES WITH WISCONSIN ARTS

AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN’S THEATRE

PUTTING MILWAUKEE’S YOUTH IN THE SPOTLIGHT

funky KEEPIN’ IT

STUBBLEFIELD HEATS UP MONDAY NIGHTS

A BAD REPUTATION OVERCOMING BODY ART STIGMAS

art-chitecture

chefs PLATING PALATES OF EDIBLE ART

THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF TALIESIN

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2007

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

INS

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INSIDE

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features

30 Wright in Wisconsin

Taliesin through the eyes of Frank Lloyd Wright

32 Edible Art

36 A Theatrical Oasis

African American Children’s Theatre spotlights Milwaukee youth

TASTES

5 Bottling Up Success

SOUNDS

departments 13 We Want the Funk

EXPERIENCES

SIGHTS

Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Wisconsin chefs create masterpieces in the kitchen

Exploring the ingenuity behind Wisconsin wine

Legendary drummer Clyde Stubblefield heats up Monday nights

21 Tattoo Taboo?

9 Pop Art

A look at how Clary’s Popcorn crafts creativity

17 Worth the Wait

Soaking up Wisconsin’s outdoor music venues

25 A Way with Words

Authors bring Wisconsin to life

Redefining body art

26 Majestic Makeover

39 Enchanted Estate

43 Hand-crafted Healing

Broadway’s time capsule in rural Wisconsin

Revamping a Madison classic

Art therapists create change

10 Aged to Perfection

Four generations of cheesemaking

12 Delectable Designs Wedding cakes as canvases

18 Voices of Change

Wisconsin’s Spoken Word movement makes waves

29 Menace to Masterpiece

Local graffiti artists defy stereotypes

44 Green Piece

Connecting art and the environment

fall 2007

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letter from the

EDITOR Growing up, I was always at odds with art. I held the stereotypical view that art was too abstract, and I was frustrated that some people “got it,” and I didn’t. Why waste my time with something that didn’t benefit me? For years, I stuck by my cut-and-dried definition of the arts and cautiously kept my distance. But that forever changed the day my dad took me to a concert of a popular pianist. The final 10 minutes of the show, the musician graced the black-andwhite keys non-stop, his fingers moving rapidly and with intensity. When he defiantly played the last note, the audience broke from their awe-struck silence into a deafening applause that lasted for minutes. It was electrifying. During that moment, I realized I hadn’t just seen and heard the music; I had felt the power behind it and the thrill of the crowd. Under the trance of his performance, I hadn’t merely observed art; I had experienced it. Here at Curb, we want you to feel that same kind of electricity when you flip through our pages. Wisconsin arts are not only for the eyes; they’re for every one of the senses, and Curb’s engaging stories show you how to experience the best this state has to offer. Whether it’s tasting the textures and nuances of flavor in a beautifully prepared dish (“Chef as Artist” by Amanda McGowan, page 32) or walking through the precisely planned and detailed architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin (“Wright in Wisconsin” by Maya Carroll, page 30), Curb enlivens your senses, introducing you to the creative forces behind Wisconsin arts and strengthening your connection to the state. Enjoy the experience of Curb.

Curb Editor

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curb CONTRIBUTORS PUBLISHER

EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR LEAD WRITERS

Katy Culver

Elli Thompson Abby Wucherer Vanessa de Bruijn Andy Erdman Jennifer Evans

COPY EDITORS

Jill Klosterman Shira Nanus

MARKETING DIRECTOR PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES

Alaina Wendlandt Marissa Klaff Courtney Davis Sarah Fortin

ONLINE EDITOR ONLINE ASSOCIATES

Maya Carroll Christina Endres LaRissa Grover Heather Sliwinski

ART DIRECTOR

Erin Zwaska

PHOTO EDITOR

Matthew Wisniewski

PRODUCTION EDITOR PRODUCTION ASSOCIATES

Kris Ugarriza Lauren Maggio Amanda McGowan

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ONLINE.ORG

A virtual world of ways to further awaken your senses with Wisconsin arts. Visit Curb online for expanded articles, exclusive content and additional interactive features. You can also subscribe to the magazine and contact staff. Curb Magazine is published through generous alumni donations administered by the UW Foundation. Copyright © 2007 Curb Magazine

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ur

nt also azine

tastes what’s inside 5 Bottling Up Success

The ingenuity behind Wisconsin wine

9 Pop Art

Clary’s popcorn crafts creativity

10 Aged to Perfection

Four generations of cheesemaking

12 Delectable Designs Wedding cakes as canvases

c BOTTLING UP SUCCESS By Abby Wucherer

Bill and LaVerne Vetrano’s first venture into cranberry wine left them picking stray pieces of fruit from their hair and off the walls. The hard, dry little fruits resisted efforts to crush them using a traditional grape press and de-stemmer, instead ricocheting out of the machine in all directions, like freshly popped popcorn. After some trial and error, Bill Vetrano said he

realized the only way to get the cranberries to behave was to freeze them. “You got to freeze them first and then it gets a little mushier, a little easier to deal with,” he explained. Winemaking in Wisconsin requires a certain kind of ingenuity and the drive to explore beyond traditional grape wines like those produced in states where the growing conditions are more favorable to the age-old art. In

America’s dairyland, the products are sweeter, the hunt for local fruit more elusive and the process more reliant on the creativity of the winemaker.

Fruit wines set Wisconsin’s wine market slightly apart from the rest of the country. The Vetranos have developed 15 different recipes, many of them fruit wines made from Wisconsin ingredients. With strawberries from Hubbleton, cherries from Fort Atkinson, cranberries from fall 2007

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Vetro Winery, in its fifth year, produces many varieties, including Spirit Hill Wine, a combination of cranberries, strawberries and grapes. Photos by Matthew Wisniewski/Curb

The Ingenuity behind Wisconsin Wine Warren and blackberries from Black River Falls, the Vetranos have found a way to bottle many of Wisconsin’s most distinctive flavors. At Vetro Winery, the Vetranos only brew single fruit wine, with the exception of their award-winning Spirit Hill, a combination of cranberries and strawberries blended with grapes. “I think that’s a huge difference,” Bill Vetrano said. “It’s strange, and a lot of people will come in and we’ll give them a little taste of strawberry and they’ll say, ‘Wow! You can taste strawberries.’ And I’ll say, ‘Yeah, I thought that was the point.’” Despite their many other fruit wines, the Vetranos also make grape wines, often with grapes literally grown in their backyard. The tiny vineyard isn’t easy to maintain, though. When Bill Vetrano planted an acre and a half of his land with Concord and Niagara grapes four years ago, he said he didn’t realize how much time and

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energy he would have to spend maintaining the fragile vines. Certain grapes simply can’t be found in the state. Vetrano orders his merlot, chardonnay and zinfandel from California. Kyle Gomon, owner and winemaker of Mason Creek Winery in Pewaukee, imports most of his grapes from California and New York. Even so, Gomon has teamed up with two local vineyards to make ice wine, a sweet dessert wine made from grapes frozen on the vine, and port, another sweet dessert wine with origins in Portugal. Those sweet wines come in high demand. When he opened his winery in 2000, Goman carried more dry wines but has since begun to make more sweet wine, such as his Cranberry Wine, a sweet red with a tart finish.

they make is fruit wine out in Wisconsin,” Bill Vetrano said. “But that’s what people seem to like. People seem to like it sweeter, too, whereas out in California, it’s drier.”

“I convinced my wife I wasn’t half crazy for wanting to do this for a living.” -KYLE GOMON WINEMAKER

“I’ve noticed in California they always say, all

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A wine’s flavor is a complex combination of scent, acidity, sweetness and bitters. More than 1,500 different kinds of grapes can be used in winemaking, Gomon said, and hundreds of different yeasts are used to ferment those grapes, or other fruits, into wine. Consequently, creating a new wine involves limitless choices. Gomon’s only blended grape wine—an original recipe made from merlot, cabernet and zinfandel called “‘47 pickup”—has a biting sharpness to its finish and demonstrates an experiment in blending flavors. Taste, however, varies for each drinker. Although some flavors are unmistakable to the knowledgeable palate, different wines can suggest different flavors depending on the person. “It’s really based on what you’re used to eating as a child growing up and so you’ll taste different things,” Gomon said. Wine is nothing if not an experience. Bill Vetrano’s first encounters with wine came when his grandfather, Michael Vetrano, and father, Joseph

Vetrano, both made wine for friends and family, sharing it at holidays and family gatherings. As an adult, he continued the family tradition, making wine as a hobby, until the monsignor at the Vetranos’ church convinced the couple they had something special. Vetro Winery has been open for five years, a testament to the Vetrano’s love of wine and sharing it with others. Even though the winery is becoming successful, the Vetranos maintain this love of community in which their wine is rooted. When a new recipe needs to be tested or a bottle of tasting wine finished off, it goes to the neighbors. Gomon followed a similar route. A co-worker’s beer-making hobby appealed to Gomon, so he decided to try his hand at wine. He made wine in his home for eight years before best-in-show awards at amateur competitions made him consider selling it to the public. “I convinced my wife I wasn’t half crazy for wanting to do this for a living,” he said. Mason Creek Winery, which began in the Gomons’ sunroom in 2000, has relocated twice and now produces about 30,000 bottles of wine annually at Lyndale Farms, a small group of shops in Pewaukee. Despite its challenges, the Wisconsin wine market is far from cutthroat. Bill Vetrano said many times, wineries from different parts of the state will recommend Vetro Winery to groups of travelers, and he and his wife will do the same. “That’s what’s nice about Wisconsin winery people,” he said. “We’re not in competition.”

The Vetranos’ backyard vineyard will eventually produce an estimated five tons of grapes each year.

“Everybody has their own individual way and tastes,” LaVerne Vetrano agreed.

Five Steps to Tasting your

Wine

Want to taste wine like a pro? Here are five easy steps to unlocking the full range of flavors in your wine glass. Keep in mind, it isn’t necessary to follow these steps every time you take a drink.

1. See. A wine’s color can tell you a lot about it. “A white wine will darken with age, a red wine will lighten,” said Kyle Gomon, owner of Mason Creek Winery in Pewaukee. 2. Smell. About 85 percent of your sense of taste is through your sense of smell, so inhaling your wine’s aroma will help you anticipate its flavor. 3. Sip. Take a small mouthful of wine

and let it roll from the tip of your tongue, over the top and down the sides. First, the wine will hit your sweetness receptors. As it rolls over the top of your tongue you will get a sense of its thickness, or body. Lastly, as it flows down the sides of your tongue, you’ll be able to taste the bitter flavors.

4. Swirl. Allow the wine to hit all the different parts of your mouth to fully appreciate as many flavors as possible.

5. Spit. This mainly applies to wine judges, Gomon said, who need to stay sober throughout a competition. Feel free to swallow your wine and savor the experience. That variety is what distinguishes Wisconsin from California and other wine centers. The flavors, sweeter and diverse, represent a different philosophy: one based in ingenuity and elbow grease. The struggles that small Midwestern wineries undergo in order to practice and perfect their art create a distinct flavor. “Good wine is a wine you enjoy,” Gomon said. “Some people take wine a little too seriously. It’s just meant to be enjoyed, and it’s a drink to share with your family and friends.” c fall 2007

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pop art

Clary’s Popcorn crafts creativity

Caramel corn is one of many masterful flavors at Clary’s Old Fashioned Gourmet Popcorn. Photo by Matthew Wisniewski/Curb

By Shira Nanus

It’s

a beautiful Wednesday morning in Madison, and Ken Clary, owner of Clary’s Old Fashioned Gourmet Popcorn, is heating up the kettle at his 105 State Street location. Soon the sounds and smells of fresh white popcorn fill the store. As the popcorn begins to spill over the sides of the kettle, the warm aroma of light butter and a pinch of salt wafts onto the street outside as the first customers of the day begin to arrive. Clary, a middle-aged man with a warm smile, receives them with an ease borne of years of successful business.

Clary has been popping in the 100block of State Street for nearly 14 years. The store’s first location was in McFarland; a year later, Clary moved to Madison on West Mifflin Street. Business wasn’t great, but when Clary was presented with a location on State Street, he thought he’d give popcorn one last try. “I was coming in on a prayer here, trying to keep my head above water,” Clary said. “I was 100 steps from this door to that door, and it was like day and night.” Clary’s State Street locations, a second at 511 State St. run by Anette Pfeiffer, now bustle with excited customers every day. Anyone who has tried Clary’s delectable treat can vouch for its flavor and freshness, and he has put years of suggestions and experimentation into improving the flavor of his from-scratch recipes. It all starts with the kernel: Clary uses a hybrid white hull kernel that produces light, fluffy white popcorn. Clary said his white popcorn is by far his best-selling product—“Just like ice cream, vanilla’s the biggest seller. I think it’s true here, too.” And just like an ice cream parlor,

Clary’s offers many tantalizing flavors. Clary said he has the largest variety of flavored popcorn in town, and he is always adjusting his many varieties. Clary carries cinnamon corn, white cheddar corn, peaches ‘n’ cream corn—more than 20 different products in all. “It’s all scratch recipes,” Clary said. “This gives us leeway and we can do some experimenting. Different flavors, more combinations of current flavors and also coming up with other products.” The best part, however, is that Clary masterfully creates flavors to correspond to each vibrant color of popcorn. A friend suggested adding flavor to the colored corn years ago, saying Clary’s rainbow popcorn was an eye-appealing product and that would be even better if it also had flavor. Clary found the idea intriguing and soon began adding flavors: orange popcorn is orange flavored, red is cherry, yellow is banana and so on. A product like rainbow corn takes time and dedication; each flavor of colored popcorn needs to be made

separately. Pfeiffer makes the rainbow corn at the 500-block location, leaving the door open for customers to smell the different flavors as she prepares them in a special seven-hour process. Pfeiffer prepares the flavors in a certain order as well, starting with the lightest color— white (vanilla)—and ending with the darkest—green (lime).

When Clary entered the popcorn business, his vision was to perfect every detail from temperature to time to the specific amount of each ingredient. For him, the art of popcorn making goes beyond merely color coating white corn. It is about being original and innovative with his product and continuously perfecting this process to ensure the best quality of popcorn. With Christmas around the corner, Clary and Pfeiffer have spent time creating Clary’s green and red Christmas popcorn mix. As always, Clary encourages everyone to stop in and ask for a taste, and to experience the excitement Clary’s popcorn offers. c fall 2007

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Carr Valley Cheese produces more than 60 varieties of cheese. Photos by Jill Klosterman/Curb

AGED TO PERFECTION

Four Generations of Cheesemaking By Jill Klosterman

S

id Cook is not a cheesehead.

Sid Cook is a cheese master—the reigning king of dairyland, and the fourth of his bloodline to ascend to professional cheesemaker status.

But Cook did not achieve his Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker crown via nepotism. Rather, Cook blended pure heartland ingredients with the

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built knowledge of heritage, science and art to create a cheese experience. “There are a lot of people who make cheese, but not a lot of cheesemakers,” Cook said, adding emphatically, “I am a cheesemaker.” In the cheese industry, the distinction between makers of cheese and cheesemakers is critical. Those who make the product do so via a

completely computerized process, interacting with machines rather than dairy products. Think Kraft, and you’ve got people who make cheese, according to Cook. “Most of the cheeses that are in the grocery store are made in commodity plants where the cheese goes through a rubber hose into a tank and you don’t see it until it comes out in a cardboard box,” he said. “It’s done very efficiently, by time, it’s all

computerized, and they produce in three or four days what we produce in a year.” Cheesemakers, on the other hand, are proficient in both artistry and grading. True masters regularly evaluate cheese quality, defects and maturity through a sensual process no computer can match. Grading starts with a visual inspection and continues with an assessment of smell, taste and texture.

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Curb

recipes have incubated well beyond four generations. “Many of the recipes we use are those that I learned from my dad and he learned from my mother’s dad and are generational,” he said. “Those are very traditional, but we also do some things that are very innovative and unusual. ” Among his proudest innovations, Cook mentioned a natural-rind sheep-milk cheese whose “mellow, complex and sweet” qualities reflect his daughter Marisa, after whom he named the cheese.

Carr Valley Cheese features traditional family recipes along with some new and unusual creations. At Cook’s Carr Valley Cheese, a group of 12 licensed cheesemakers—whose collective experience in the industry spans nearly two centuries—oversee the production and grading of each cheese specimen. “We have a tremendous amount of depth and breadth,” Cook said. “We have two Masters [who] have completed a 15-year program and have been making cheese for 80 years between them. We have two other cheesemakers that have another 85 years of experience. And we have the other eight that have been licensed for an average of six years between them.” All three Masters at Carr Valley Cheese completed the Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Program, billed by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board as “the most ambitious and rigorous advanced training program in the country and the only Master program outside of Europe.” Compared to his fellow masters, Cook stands out as an innovator, according to Cathy Hart, director

of cheese company communications for the WMMB. “He’s developed so many artisanal cheese varieties—that’s really his niche, to continue looking to refine and innovate with different types of cheese,” she said. To Cook, history and heritage constitute key ingredients in any artisan cheese, as the ability to predict cheese maturity requires an immense flavor memory. That’s why, Cook said, Carr Valley Cheese develops new varieties by blending family tradition, Wisconsin heritage and European influence in each of more than 60 varieties of cheese, 20 being Cook’s own American originals.

Today, a door separates store from factory at the La Valle cheese plant. Decades ago, when Sid’s father Sam Cook ran the family business, the swinging door served as a passageway between home and factory. The cheese plant always captured Cook’s fancy, and he mimicked his father’s every move. “I was always out in the plant because growing up, the cheese factory and the house were connected,” Cook said, the dairyland memory accentuated by a thick Midwestern accent. “Ya know, every morning at breakfast I’d be sitting there and the door would be opening and shutting, and my dad would be in and out of the plant and there was always that activity going on.”

In the eyes of the Cook family, tradition and heritage play a key role in the art of cheese-making. “Even though there are a lot of people starting up cheese businesses, they don’t have the flavor memory and aren’t familiar with the science of it to make subtle adjustments in texture or flavor,” Cook said. “It’s really just a depth of knowledge that makes it happen.” But at a basic level, he said over the thunder of machinery, cheesemaking starts with fresh cow, sheep or goat milk, as well as mixed milk. “First, we pasteurize the sheep’s milk and add cultures to the milk and ripen it,” he said of his famed Black Sheep Truffle cheese, which won first place at the 2006 American Cheese Society Competition. To culture the milk, factory workers heat pasteurized milk in a vat with starter bacteria, promoting fermentation and thereby growth of lactic acid. Specific culturing processes are responsible for producing “eyes”—holes— in cheese. Some bacterial compounds react with the milk to create pockets of gas, creating bubbles as with Swiss cheese. Cook continued the tour of

“True cheesemakers work by learning what the cheese is doing, not by the clock that’s ticking,” Cook said. “For example, a grocery store cheese labeled ‘sharp’ or ‘aged’ is usually only aged six, nine months. But ours is totally different. We age it from four years, six years, eight years, 10 years. You’re going to get a lot more flavor and a lot more taste.” Moreover, he said, Cook family

RIGHT: To Sid Cook, family heritage is key to creating cheese of unparalleled quality. fall 2007

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the warm, damp and sweet-scented plant, with the eagerness of a first timer. Dipping into a vat of fresh curds for a sample and punctuating a wide grin, Cook explained the steps in cheesemaking. After adding enzymes, cutting the milk with wire knives and heating it to slow culture growth, factory workers measured and pressed the freshly coagulated curds into wheels. With the curds cut, “We drain the whey from the cheese and add the salt and then the truffle,” Cook said, again referencing Black Sheep Truffle cheese. The amount of whey drained amounts to both an economic and artistic decision, as it determines its vending longevity and flavor. “The tricky part is [getting] the right amount of truffle to cheese ratio,” Cook said. “We want to achieve both a sheep cheese flavor and not overpower it with truffle. We want the flavors to compliment or dominate—this is the balance.” The last step in the process is ripening or curing, and depending on the cheese, additional spicing may come into play. Apple Smoked Cheddar is generously hand rubbed with paprika, accentuating the flavor developed by the apple smoker. “We purposefully make [cheeses] unusual so that there’s a twist or a

nuance at some point to differentiate them from other cheeses,” Cook said. “They’re just a little different from anything else, even the cheddar.”

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Photo by Vanessa de Bruijn/Curb

Flavorful twists and turns differentiate Cook’s cheeses from any other, according Heather Porter Engwall, director of national product communications for the WMMB. Even when a new variety makes its debut in Carr Valley cheese stores, Cook leaves room to adjust ingredients in order to strike the ideal flavor balance. Such variations lend credence to Cook’s skills, developed over time, which allow him to create vastly different varieties of cheese with just a few staple ingredients: milk, lactic acid, enzymes and salt. “Very few people can just walk into this business and make edible cheese—cheese with the right smell, taste, texture, appearance,” Cook said. Sam Cook, Sid’s father, agreed: “You have to get the right ingredients, you have to have the right temperature and you have to do it right,” he said, adding, “Sid does it right.” Indeed, in the cheese industry, haste begets people who make cheese, while heritage nurtures true cheesemakers. c

Producing the best cheese requires following a complicated, multistep process.

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An extravagant wedding cake designed by Carl Loeffel.

Delectable Designs Wedding Cakes as Canvases

By Vanessa de Bruijn In an all-white chef ’s outfit, Carl Loeffel emerges from behind a glass counter where another worker is decorating an autumn cake in browns and ambers. The bakery is a mom-and-pop sort of place, complete with handmade signs detailing coffee flavors. Even after washing, a handshake reveals telltale remnants of orange coloring on hands that Loeffel says are rarely free of frosting. The case behind the counter is filled with wedding cakes, each one sitting in separate layers. One is what Loeffel calls a more dated cake, adorned with heavy, detailed loops and bows—a sort of “baroque palace” of wedding cakes. The other cakes are smooth and shiny, much more simplistic in what is called “rolled fondant style.” One cake is decorated with thin brown swirls to match the artwork on a wedding invitation, and the other is skillfully covered with detailed renderings of dress embroidery made of pearly white buttercream frosting. Loeffel has owned his own bakery,

“Carl’s Cakes,” on the east side of Madison since 2004. Averaging around eight to 15 weddings a week during their busy season, Loeffel spends every Saturday morning consulting with brides and their families and, of course, creating masterpieces. Committed to using his own delicious recipe of buttercream frosting, Loeffel has had to adapt his technique to fit the ever-changing styles in the cake-decorating business. From the elaborate styles of the 1970s to the new smooth and simple look, he can never rest. “It is art, you can’t get around that idea of it,” Loeffel said. “People don’t come up to you and say ‘Oh Carl that’s a gorgeous donut’ or ‘that Danish is just beautiful I just loved it,’ they don’t do that—but they say that about wedding cakes. It makes a difference in their lives.” c To read more about wedding art, including ring and bouquet design, visit our website at www.curbonline.org.

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sounds

what’s inside 13 We Want the Funk

Legendary drummer Clyde Stubblefield heats up Monday nights

18 Voices of Change

17 Worth the Wait

Soaking up Wisconsin’s outdoor music venues

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Wisconsin’s Spoken Word Movement makes waves

WE WANT THE FUNK

Photos by Matthew Wisniewski/Curb

By Christina Endres

It’s a Monday night at the King Club, and the people have gathered to praise the pulse of a shining red drum set. The dance floor is thumping, the disco ball is twirling, the music is hot and the crowd is satisfied because they’ve found the place where one night a week, worries and inhibitions get left behind and an otherwise diverse group of people come together in the name of funk.

Every Monday night, internationally known drummer Clyde Stubblefield, who spent part of his career in James Brown’s band, takes his throne behind the drum set and lays down his famous funky beats for the eclectic crowd at the King Club in Madison. Along with the Clyde Stubblefield Band, Stubblefield creates an atmosphere overflowing with energy and enthusiasm and rooted in rhythm and blues. The event, called “Funky Mondays,” is where

a globe-trotting musician like Stubblefield can have fun and play to his home crowd and where music and dance lovers can appreciate the enjoyment of having a renowned musician give a show in an intimate setting every week. “I challenge anyone to find a Monday night like that anywhere in the Midwest,” said Tristan Gallagher, co-owner and booking manager for the King Club. “I mean, it’s going off every Monday night, and it’s Monday night for God’s fall 2007

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sake. How can that be? It’s because Clyde is great, the band is great, and they pack a nine-piece band onto that little stage and just roll it down.” Ben Jones, 21, who recently went to Funky Mondays for the first time, said the big sound coming from that little stage kept him dancing all night. “The atmosphere, the band, everything was so intimate, so relaxed and so fun that I had no inhibitions to dance,” Jones said. “I really felt like I wanted to dance to every song, no matter what the tempo was.”

Stubblefield works the drums on a Monday night.

Stubblefield and Skaggs have been playing at the King Club for about 20 years. Stubblefield moved to Madison in 1970, after visiting the city twice while on tour with James Brown. After one of those gigs, Stubblefield visited his brother, who at the time was bartending downtown. He liked the people and the pace of the city, and his impressions brought him back permanently about two years later. He met Skaggs years later, and the two joined musical forces. Eventually, Stubblefield asked for a weekly gig at the King Club, and Funky Mondays was born. Stubblefield said people always ask why he

“I was sick and tired of seeing all the taxis and honking horns and cops and people everywhere, and I said, ‘I want a place where I can be comfortable and lay my head down and not worry about the noise and look out the door and see rabbits hopping in my backyard,” Stubblefield explained.

Madison’s King Club is a treat for locals.

When he’s not propelling bodies from their seats to the dance floor at the King Club, Stubblefield plays at different venues and travels across the country for gigs, playing with other bands or with the FunkMasters, a band he heads with fellow drummer Jabo Starks. Almost every Monday, though, he’s back in Madison, on stage at the little club on King Street. Stubblefield said he enjoys playing at the King Club because he’s very comfortable and can use the night as almost a rehearsal to improve and try new things for his gigs during the week. “This club is our home,” Stubblefield said. “We love it. We love the owners, we love the employees and we love all the people we work with … This is where we can make all our mistakes and don’t have to worry about it.”

King Club patrons get down to the funk.

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The Clyde Stubblefield Band keyboardist, Steve Skaggs, agreed completely: “This is our home-field advantage.”

doesn’t live in a bigger city with a larger music scene, and he always has an answer for them. “I was sick and tired of seeing all the taxis and honking horns and cops and people everywhere, and I said ‘I want a place where I can be comfortable and lay my head down and not worry about the noise and look out the door and see rabbits hopping in my backyard,” Stubblefield explained. Gallagher says he and his wife, Lisa, who co-owns and manages the King Club, are proud that Stubblefield calls their club home. Stubblefield is known internationally for his funk beats; he has a pair of drumsticks in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame and is one of the most sampled drummers in the world. Musicians from Madonna to U2, Sinead O’Connor to the Roots have sampled Stubblefield, according to Gallagher. “The beats that Clyde lays down are so great, and you’ll see him playing

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them every Monday night … When you see someone who’s a real pro at what they do, it’s such a pleasure to watch them doing it,” Gallagher said. “You realize you’re a witness to greatness.” Stubblefield, however, is quick to point out that he’s not the only one up there making the crowd move on Monday nights. He calls this band his favorite to play with and hopes that someday they’ll be able to tour with him and the FunkMasters. “I might take a job with a band, but it’s a thing where I’m just playing. I’m not trying to improve anything and get better; I’m just playing what’s natural,” Stubblefield said. “But with this band, I try to improve constantly, and when I try to improve, everybody else tries to improve, and then sometimes they outdo me.” The band consists of Skaggs on keyboard, Bryan Husk on saxophone, Joe Wickham on guitar, Dave Goplen on bass, Alex Leong on trombone, Pete Nelson on trumpet, Paula on congos, and vocals by Carolyn Black, Kari Daley and Charlie Brooks. The group is a mix of musicians who have been with Stubblefield for years, as Skaggs has, and those who have only joined in the past few years. Regardless of their age or time with the band, though, every member has the most important thing in common: They know how to get funky. Skaggs puts the band’s mission each night plainly. “We either kick ass, or we have fun trying.” This mentality has paid off for the band. The laid back but energetic vibe and high quality music produced by the Clyde Stubblefield Band have created a crowd of loyal followers and are constantly converting new ones. Walk into the club on a Monday, and the fact that the event attracts all kinds becomes obvious. There’s the group of dressed up college girls, the twentysomethings that immediately hit

the dance floor upon entering the club; the business man that begins the night conservatively observing from the back and gradually loosens his tie and begins to jive; and the older fans who come every week to see their friends and keep those old dancing shoes from getting dusty.

Trombonist Alex Leong gets into the groove.

“Usually when you book somebody else, you get their crowd coming, and the crowd all tends to be the same demographic,” Gallagher said. “On Clyde’s nights, it’s everybody. Black, white, gay, straight, men, women, students, professionals, retirees, everybody. And it’s because of the universal appeal of the kind of stuff Clyde does, the quality of the musicianship.” From regulars to newcomers, most everyone who comes to Funky Mondays is alike in the sense that they understand just how special the experience is. Nicole Relyea, 26, said she went to the King Club almost every Monday for a year, until a day job required her to cut back a little. She comes not only for the music, but also for the sense of camaraderie that comes out of it. “There are a lot of regulars that come here,” Relyea said. “You get to know the crowd, and you come to hang out.”

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Relyea also said Funky Mondays are unique because they offer a place for people to dance to music that isn’t the typical rap, hip-hop or house music usually played at clubs. On Mondays, she said, there’s everything from funk to soul to R&B to old school rock. It’s clear by the ratio of people sitting to people dancing that much of the audience appreciates the fact that the King Club provides a venue for oldfashioned boogying. The appreciation goes both ways; Skaggs said the band feeds off their enthusiastic fans.

Stubblefield is one of the most sampled drummers in the world.

“The whole dance floor is crazy,” he said. “It’s incredible … we’ve had some great crowds here.” fall 2007

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Worth The Wait

SOAKING UP Wisconsin’s Outdoor

Music Venues

The band leads the crowd for a night of hipshaking. Jones attributed some of the relaxed but electric atmosphere to the club itself. “The King Club is like no other bar in that it’s just a dance floor and a bar and a stage, and the stage is right on top of the dance floor,” he said. “They seem to want to create this atmosphere, this intimacy between the band Dave Goplen and the audience, where there plays bass for isn’t really a distinction between the band. the two, it’s just everybody having a good time, and some of them happen to play instruments.” “The crowd members were all very different types of people, but once [the band] started playing, it seemed like everybody was extremely comfortable, not worried about the differences between the people, and just listening to the funk,” he added.

“The whole dance floor is crazy,” he said. “It’s incredible … we’ve had some great crowds here.” Looking out at the crowd from the curved black leather booths lining the dance floor, it’s clear that something unifying is going on. The people on the dance floor have become one pulsing object, the band is enveloped in the groove and life outside the King Club seems distant. Here, there’s just the band on stage, the crowd on the floor and behind it all, Stubblefield at the drums, keeping it funky. c

Photos from Summerfest archives

By Andy Erdman

Wisconsin music junkies are like caged animals, starving and anxious for the outside, held captive by their unforgiving and often unpredictable climate—a climate that freezes and frustrates without prejudice and puts a stop to outdoor music for months at a time.

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But what at face value seems like a disadvantage for the state’s music lovers is anything but. Wisconsin’s bitter winters and the months spent cooped up inside make the rejuvenation ushered in by spring and summer that much more attractive, especially when it comes to outdoor shows. Fortunately, there is no shortage of outdoor venues to visit during the Midwest music season. And generally, every season the most prominent venues host dozens of concerts and music festivals with the knowledge that here, unlike places such as California, time is of the essence. For a peek at some of the best outdoor music venues in the state, visit our website at www. curbonline.org. c fall 2007

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SOUNDS

Voices of

Change

Wisconsin’s Spoken Word Movement Makes Waves

Photos by Matthew Wisniewski/Curb

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By Kris Ugarriza A dark-haired young woman approaches the stage. Her legs seem to be struggling against an invisible mass as she gets closer to the mic stand. Her hands reach over to the black wireless microphone and gently pull it toward her chest. Then, time stops. Her eyes peer into the crowd and a strong and provocative voice surrounds the room.

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“Hey baby, I’ve got a riddle for you…” Kelsey Van Ert is one of 15 students who are part of the first college program in the nation to fuse the arts, community leadership and academic excellence. The goal of the First Wave Spoken Word and Urban Arts Learning Community at UW-Madison is to foster social change by bringing together talented teenagers who excel as poets, disc jockeys, singers, dancers, actors and visual artists. The program allows this group to gain an invaluable college experience while developing their talent and using it to help change the culture of the campus. Writing lines about racism, beauty, alcohol, individuality and death, these students engage in an art form that has become known as “Spoken Word.” Through Spoken Word, personal and societal issues are brought to the forefront, and these students use their hip-hop influences to promote cross-cultural understanding, empowerment and education. c fall 2007

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Cafe Costa Rica Central-American Cuisine with a Jamaican Twist

141 S. Butler St. Madison, WI 256-9830

open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner

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sights what’s inside 21 Tattoo Taboo?

26 Majestic Makover

25 A Way with Words

29 Menace to Masterpiece

Redefining body art

Local authors bring Wisconsin to life

Revamping a Madison classic

Graffiti artists defy stereotypes

TATTOO TABOO? By Lauren Maggio Houstin Smith prepares a design on carbon copy paper and fills three tiny cups with varying shades of black and gray pigment. The canvas in front of him is bare and smooth, eager to be inscribed for the first time. Smith dips his pen into the center ink cup, leans in and situates himself, ready to begin drawing. But before touching his pen down to start the first line, he

What’s to be afraid of?

Smith, who has been into art his whole life and works at Blue Lotus in Madison, says no other art form compares to tattooing.

“The skin is a living thing, unlike paper. You can’t erase. It’s like a sponge and if you go over it too long or too many times you can tear it up,” said Jesse Siewert, a tattoo artist at Blue Lotus. “It’s a moving, living canvas that’s fragile and will scar if you do something wrong.”

“No matter how much you paint or sculpt or draw, use acrylics, oils, pastels—anything— there’s nothing else like the technical aspect of it or the form of application,” he said. “Sometimes it still freaks me out.”

Once associated mainly with sailors, gangsters and criminals, tattooing has now extended to fall 2007

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reminds his canvas to relax and breathe deeply.

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SIGHTS

4GFG¿PKPIBody Art

Photos by Matthew Wisniewski/Curb

Tattoo art has improved over time through the use of different pigments, allowing for a more dynamic design that is less prone to fading over time.

almost every social class. In doing so, the scope and complexity of its art has evolved to meet new client demands.

Though practiced for centuries around the world, a social stigma dogged tattooing in America through most of the 20th century. Health code issues and underage concerns prevented tattoo licensing in Milwaukee County until the mid-1990s. The disapproval of tattoo clientele had many surrounding areas following suit on the ban for fear that the “rebels” would be drawn from Milwaukee to their communities to get inked. Bill Hanson was one of the first to break the status quo by opening his shop, Black Dragon Tattoos, in Waukesha. With nearly 30 years of professional experience, Hanson

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has witnessed the evolution of tattoos from a rebellious statement to a mainstream trend.

“We had a reputation situation that took years and years to overcome,” Hanson said. “There was a stigma of who had tattoos and why.” In the 1960s and 1970s the tattoo scene was still very much underground but was expanding to people without military background or criminal records. Chinese and Japanese-themed art emerged, bringing more color, intensity and symbolism than the all-black sailors’ anchors and line drawings of the past. Hanson said as the 1980s dawned, tattoos entered the workplace as professional women, such as nurses and secretaries, requested small, color pieces with intricate designs. With raised standards and

expectations, tattoo artists had to work more imaginatively, encouraging the advancement of tattooing as an art form. “It used to be you’d see the shops with flash drawings up on all the walls in three colors,” Siewert said. “These guys couldn’t really draw, [the tattoos] were really simple and basic. Now we look at the tattoos and they look like oil paintings on skin.” In the same way the artistic quality of tattooing has improved, the social view of tattoo artists has progressed. Thanks to the growing tattoo industry, the presence of popular shows and art programs focusing on tattooing, tattoo artists are no longer confined to the big top.

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/Curb

“One hundred years ago or so tattooists were like sideshows and at circuses; they weren’t considered artists in the least. But now there are people tattooing who are art school grads and they’ve become known as tattoo artists,” Siewert said. Though art school is an option for getting started, artists Hanson, Siewert, John Kid and Barry Jaeger all said apprenticing is the best way to get into tattooing. Hanson, who opened his shop about 20 years ago, compared a tattoo apprenticeship to how artisans in the middle ages learned their trades. The artists have inherent artistic ability, but learning the intricacies of working on a living canvas is something an artist would have to pick up from a mentor and with practice. “There are tattoo schools, but it’s best to learn from someone who’s been doing it; to get real-life experience,” Siewert said. “Someone is letting you permanently adorn their body with something. And it’s something you’ve never done before.” As an art form, tattooing

differs from other forms of expression–both the artist and the client drive the resulting artwork. The client generally provides the subject of the art while the artist enhances it with his personal touch. “Really anybody in the shop can do anything, but everyone has their own specialties or is inclined to do a certain kind of art,” Siewert said. “Like if someone came in and wanted a cross, everyone could do it for them, but each artist would produce a completely different cross.” Some customers are more particular with their requests, while others leave the design open to interpretation by the artist. The artist uses discretion to modify the design into the best possible tattoo. Jaeger said he’ll compromise with a Black Dragon client to get a workable design, but if the client won’t take his advice, he won’t do the tattoo. In the end, he said, it’s his product that will be walking around and he wants to be proud of it. Siewert said it’s up to the artist to know what is going to transfer well to skin. “Some people don’t

Although clients often provide the subject of a tattoo, the artists modify the design to make sure it transfers well onto skin. understand when something is not going to translate well into this medium,” Kid said. “Not everything works for every medium, just like anything else. Designs have to meet certain criteria to be a tattoo.” Each artist has his own tattoo niche and partiality for color or black and gray, and according to Jaeger, each constructs workable designs he can be proud of. Despite the work and skill artists put into their tattoos, they’ve found people looking to fit in since the creation of popular tattooing shows lead some to question the process’ artistic value.

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“It’s hard not to take it so personally that some people aren’t so into the art as I am,” Kid said. “It’s really a one-on-one situation where you’ll be talking to someone and they don’t understand the art behind it.

Tattoo artists agree tattooing has become increasingly mainstream over the past two decades. fall 2007

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But I don’t really expect people to, and I think that’s one of the reasons I like it.” This popularization, and perhaps devaluation, of tattooing has led some expressive souls to new forms of body art. Within the past two years, Blue Lotus introduced the practices of branding and scarification. Branding is burning a design into the skin so it will scar. Scarification is the process of cutting a design in the skin, which is then covered with Vaseline and Saran wrap so it can heal in a damp environment, resulting in a more dramatically raised scar. Branding and scarification are likely to be more painful and subjectively less visually appealing than other forms of body art, but Kid hopes these processes are the next step for people who think tattooing has become too mainstream.

“The skin is a living thing, unlike paper. You can’t erase. It’s like a sponge and if you go over it too long or too many times you can tear it up.” -JESSE SIEWERT TATTOO ARTIST

“It definitely takes a certain kind of breed,” he said. “It’s a more organic modification: your body grows into it. You’re not adding anything like pigment or metal, and some people like that.” These new processes, styles and designs show body art’s continuing evolution from something that was once shunned to an art form more accepted and perfected today. “Everyone’s looking to take the next step and with advancements in technology they can,” Kid said. “Twenty years ago a septum piercing [the part of the nose between the nostrils] would be pretty much unheard of. Now you probably can’t walk down State Street without seeing one.” c

A Way with Words Local Authors Bring Wisconsin to Life By Andy Erdman In a tiny room in the Wisconsin Historical Museum, an audience of no more than a couple dozen anticipated the poets’ presentation—particularly the readings of Ellen Kort, Wisconsin’s first poet laureate. Kort, a soft-spoken teacher, writer and poet, was honored with the title in 2000. As part of the Wisconsin Book Festival, Kort and three other Wisconsin poets regaled those in attendance with stories, life experiences and most importantly, readings of award-winning poetry. Kort’s poetry spoke of farms and family. It spoke of rivers and bears and the earth. Her poetry spoke of Wisconsin.

Experiencing Wisconsin is often as easy as reading a book, poem or play written by someone who has lived in the state. Its influence carries over in each author’s characters, language and imagery. This intangible perception that Wisconsin is distinct and authentic has influenced many Wisconsin writers—consciously or not. It’s a sense of pride in where one lives; it’s a feeling that where one lives should and must be shared with others.

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To read up on more Wisconsin authors, visit our website at www.curbonline.org

“I’ve traveled to a lot of different places, including New Zealand, which I’m very fond of,” Kort said when asked about her poetry’s emotional connection to Wisconsin. “But I don’t know if I could ever leave, and that’s shown in my writing about the land and my experiences here.” Kort’s work reflects a concept known as “sense of place.” A sense of place, as described in “Saving America’s Countryside: A Guide to Rural Conservation,” are “those things that add up to a feeling that a community is a special place, distinct from anywhere else.” To Kort and many other writers, Wisconsin has an intangible uniqueness, one that lives in the landscape and the people of the state.

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski/Curb

Walter T. McDonald discusses “Finding Freedom: The Untold Story of Joshua Glover, Runaway Slave,” a book he co-authored about a runaway slave jailed by Wisconsin abolitionists.

fall 2007

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SIGHTS

Majestic Makeover

Revamping a Madison Classic By Heather Sliwinski The smell of fresh paint covers the pungent stench of stale sweat. Shiny faux-wood floors hide the sticky stains of spilled mixed drinks. Acoustic melodies and soulful lyrics replace thumping bass-driven dance beats. A psychedelic purple motif is painted over with rich crimson and gold. Teens no longer gyrate in a single, claustrophobic mass beneath a DJ, but bob their heads perched on high stools and sing along word-for-word, eye-to-eye with the performer on stage.

The renovated Majestic Theatre, with fresh coats of red and gold paint, gives off a classic vibe. Photos by Matthew Wisniewski/Curb

When Madison’s Club Majestic on King Street turned off its lights earlier this year, it made way for two new owners to turn this historic theater from skank to swank. The grand reopening in September 2007 unveiled the Majestic Theatre as perhaps the closest the theater has been to its original name and purpose—a live music and performance venue—but with necessary refurbishments to the décor and set-up. At its first opening in 1906, an evening general admission ticket for the Majestic Theatre cost a shy 15 cents. Its stage featured vaudeville acts performed by the “Majestic Players.” When films became a growing presence in the

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entertainment industry, the Majestic turned into a movie palace to fend off closure. After a short term as an “art house” theater showing international and American movies, it reinvented itself again as the trendy Club Majestic. But the dance club feel the setting gave off was not in sync with the Majestic’s revived use. New floors, a bigger dance floor and a new paint color made the list of renovations owners Matt Gerding and Scott Leslie wanted to make when they bought the theater in June 2007, but not without keeping the Majestic tradition alive. “When people walk in, [they] can see the history,” Gerding said. “There’s sort of this awe walking in. It makes it a special experience for people.” The former Club Majestic owner left the theater covered in garish purple and cramped for space unfit for live bands. After fresh coats of lush red and gold and several space changes, the Majestic has a classic feel, not what Gerding called a “funky dance club vibe.” Structural changes made by the owners aid in the concert-going experience. Ahead of the merchandise booth lie the stage, dance floor and theater

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seating. The floor-level row of seating was knocked out along with a DJ booth to create a bigger dance floor area in front of the stage. What’s the best seat in the house? Walk straight to the bar. The owners shortened it for standing room against the railing above the dance floor. The balcony provides extra seating and areas to mingle. What once was the artist dressing room tucked behind the balcony seating area has morphed into an extra bar with tables set along windows overlooking the historic King Street district and the Majestic marquee. The artist dressing rooms moved above the stage, a better placement for famous artists who no longer have to walk through the crowd to reach the stage. The two dressing rooms, one each for the opening and headlining bands, have all the comforts of home to cater to the artist: fridges stocked with refreshments, cozy couches and TVs. Fancy dressing rooms come in handy when hosting the likes of

pop star Mandy Moore and indiesensation Ben Lee on opening night. According to John Paul Roney, lead singer of Madisonbased band We The Living, Madison hasn’t seen a similar big-name lineup since Luther’s Blues shut down in 2005. When the club closed its doors, he said, it left a hole in the Madison music scene not just for famous artists, but also for small acts who could not book a big show. The Majestic seems to be filling that void, already having booked Elliot Yamin, Mat Kearney and We The Living early on. However, big names will not translate to overcrowding and long lines. The Majestic comfortably holds 300, with a maximum crowd of 600, and the renovations make a special concert experience possible for every attendant. “It’s an intimate experience seeing a concert at the Majestic,” Gerding said. Roney and his bandmates celebrated the release of their first album

“Heights of the Heavens” “To be in November at the Majestic. Roney in a place that’s chose the Majestic aesthetically beautiful because he loves coming back to makes it great to perform. A Madison and big part of it for performers is understood getting into the mindset...Playing a renovated theater’s posiin a beautiful place means you’ll tive effect on perform better.” an artist. “To be in a place -JOHN PAUL RONEY that’s aesthetically WE THE LIVING beautiful makes it great to perform,” he said. “A big part of it for performers is getting into the Now having mindset … Playing in a beautiful access to a projecplace means you’ll perform better.” tor, the owners would love to show Gerding and Leslie have replaced films at the theater inspired by its the club funk with the theater’s years as a cinema. Calling them former regality. They have refined “Brew and Views,” the Majestic it without losing its original design. would play cult classics, like Rocky They may have built a theater Horror Picture Show, a long-runprimed for live music, but they ning showing in the theater’s past. hope to recreate some traditions The Cherry Pop Burlesque might of the Majestic that aren’t musiceven hit the stage one day. related. Gerding and Leslie have already reintroduced dance parties reminiscent of Club Majestic. Every Friday night the Majestic hosts “Soundlab,” spinning hits with an indie and retro theme for a crowd more hipster than hip-hop. Clearly, the Majestic isn’t resting on its title as the oldest running theater in Madison. After reshaping itself for every trend, the theater is going back to the basics it was built on 101 years ago, making the Majestic Theatre into a venue worthy of its royal name–known not only for what it has been, but also for where it’s going. c

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Majestic Theatre has transformed into a more spacious venue, with extra seating and more standing room. fall 2007

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Mother F Madison graffiti w

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Menace to

Masterpiece

“Graffiti can be area since the a kind of community introduction beautification. It can play a of the wall. role in improving the space we “As a way live in and getting young people to prevent the [illegal] involved in the community.” graffiti that we all agree is -SARAH DOLLHAUSEN problematic, CO-FOUNDER, we should T.R.U.E. SKOOL embrace the idea of having [free] walls all over the city,” Hain said. Mother Fool’s graffiti wall rotates images as often as once a week to create a constantly changing mural on the side of the coffee shop. Dollhausen said she sees this turning of gray walls into masterful works of art as playing a large role in community building.

Mother Fool’s Coffee House in Madison features a rotating graffiti wall.

Graffiti Artists Defy Stereotypes By Courtney Davis

cities now allow graffiti artists to express themselves legally.

Even as a 12-year-old, Eliot White saw himself as an artist and it got him in trouble. After seeing the sketches of one particular graffiti artist, something about the art form spoke to him as an urban youth. Soon he was on his way to perfecting his technique everywhere, even drawing on his dresser and spray painting the inside of his closet, much to the displeasure of his mother. As he grew older, his mother wasn’t the only one who disapproved of his means of artistic expression. In fact, it is against the law.

Back then, you had to develop your style either by tagging or with illegal murals,” White said. “Now it’s different because people like myself are trying to offer alternatives.”

Since White’s childhood, however, graffiti art has transformed. Once only found in alleyways and under bridges, graffiti now adorns walls of businesses, community centers and private homes and is more culturally accepted worldwide. Free and commissioned spaces in Wisconsin

White and fellow co-founder Sarah Dollhausen head T.R.U.E. Skool, a Milwaukee-based non-profit organization that supports hip-hop culture and graffiti art as tools to achieve cultural change. T.R.U.E. Skool connects artists who create custom graffiti with interested patrons and holds gallery shows where the public can buy graffiti artwork. “Graffiti art has definitely become much more accepted,” Dollhausen said. “It’s gone from young people on the street stealing spray paint to people paying thousands of dollars to commission artists to do murals.” Dollhausen said misperceptions about graffiti often stem from of-

Photo by Matthew Wisniewski/Curb

ficials connecting the term to criminal activity and a lack of knowledge in general about the art form. Part of T.R.U.E. Skool’s mission involves preventing illegal graffiti through education. They hold how-to classes and abatement and juvenile offender programs that teach young adults the difference between vandalism and graffiti art. “Although there will always be the underground aspect to graffiti, what we teach is not about tagging or vandalism,” Dollhausen said. John Hain, the owner of Mother Fool’s Coffee House in Madison, said although the community was mainly supportive of his Graffiti Mural Project that provides free wall-space for local graffiti artists, some people had reservations. However, contrary to area residents’ concern that the wall might spur vandalism elsewhere in the community, Hain said he has noticed a decrease in illegal graffiti in the

“Graffiti can be a kind of community beautification,” she said. “It can play a role in improving the space we live in and getting young people involved in the community.” Dollhausen said graffiti art also encourages discussion about social issues and has long had its roots in the climates of social change. Murals created at Mother Fool’s and by T.R.U.E. Skool have featured statements about political candidates, patriotism and racism. Artists use the sheer size and location of graffiti art to get their message heard. “They [graffiti artists] are putting up the message ‘You aren’t listening to us, you aren’t hearing what we’re saying,’” Dollhausen said. “When you see graffiti, you can’t ignore it.” Whether making social change or simply making the world a prettier place to look at, White, Dollhausen and Hain all agreed that graffiti art deserves a chance to be seen and heard, and they are doing their part to make sure it is. c fall 2007

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Wright in Wisconsin

Taliesin through the eyes of Frank Lloyd Wright By Maya Carroll

Driving through the countryside of southern Wisconsin in late summer, enjoying a playful breeze through the open window, the mood is noticeably lighter. The winding country roads are lined with lush green foliage crouching beneath a brilliantly blue sky. In the distance, rolling hills are plowed and ready for harvest, with their stacks of hay curled up in bundles, much like an impressionist painting. The scene is reminiscent of a faraway land, meticulously captured on canvas. Perched on the brow of the hill, Taliesin served as the summer home of famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, and his family for 48 years and is still lived in today by private owners. Taliesin, which means “shining brow” in Welsh, is a sight for the eyes and a feast for the senses. With its many wings and terraces reaching out along the crest of the hill, the building embraces the site rather than overpowering it. The master bedroom overlooks a deep ravine created by glaciers thousands of years ago, now majestically overgrown with balsam and birch trees hugging a glassy, silver lake. As natural as the surroundings seem, each sight within the grounds of the 600-acre estate has been carefully planned and orchestrated by a single man. With a keen eye for detail, the artist and architect were one within Wright.

Organic Architecture Wright preached the beauty of native materials and insisted that buildTALIESIN ings grow naturally from their surroundings. He loved the Tours begin at the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor hill in Spring Green where Center, open 9 a.m. to 5:30 he once played as a young p.m., May 1 through October boy and knew instinctively that a building built on top 31. Cost varies by tour. of the hill would destroy its Call toll free at natural setting.

(877) 588-7900 for reservations.

Wright went beyond designing buildings, making sure even the plants and flowers of Taliesin matched his vision.

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“I knew well by now no house should ever be on any hill or on anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it,” Wright wrote in his autobiography.

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RIGHT: Wisconsin’s natural beauty inspired Wright’s designing of the 600-acre Taliesin estate.

Photo courtesy of Taliesin Preservation Inc.

Wright emphasized bringing the elements of nature within the home and living as one with his surroundings. He used materials unique to the area around Spring Green to build Taliesin, including wood from the local lumberyard, limestone quarried from a mile away and even plaster mixed with sand from the rivers in southern Wisconsin. Wright blended textures to evoke the feeling of being within nature while inside his dwellings, and his emphasis on aesthetic beauty didn’t fall short of touching upon a single corner of the house. “The lines of the hills are the lines of the roofs; the slopes of the hills, their slopes,” he wrote. Even the light wood walls were built in the shade of broad eaves, creating shadows and depth to reflect the flat, sandy stretches of the river below. Instead of using a brush and oil acrylic paints, Wright used construction, plywood and the nature around him to create his masterpieces.

A Visionary Sometimes sacrificing function for beauty, Wright’s homes are a vision for the eye but often an inconvenience for the owner. Wright favored the evolvement of his work and liked to redesign the layout and functions of the space while living there. Until his death in 1959, he never stopped adding to or changing Taliesin, the longest ongoing architectural project of his career. “The hardest part is the fact that he experimented with his designs a lot and was changing them all the time,” said research specialist Keiran Murphy, responsible for many of the preservation projects at the Taliesin site, now called Taliesin Preservation Inc.

After fires destroyed parts of Taliesin twice, Wright did not hesitate to explore with new materials and means of construction, recycling plywood to construct tables and planting old plumbing pipes in his garden as trellises. “Frank Lloyd Wright was a true visionary,” Murphy said. “He was going for a certain look and figured technology would catch up to him. I admire the way he invented means which allowed for his visions and artistic impulses to take flight.” Wright was one of the first in his time to install hydraulic water control, which he employed in the waterfalls at the base of the hill to direct the flow of the water toward his gardens and ponds. His experimentation of altering the landscape blended effortlessly with his designs and architecture. Always looking at the details, Wright strongly opposed the electrical posts erected on his land and ordered they be buried underground and out of sight - something that did not become routine in rural America until many years later. From the moment a visitor enters the Taliesin

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland Center in 1867. Wright eventually became famous for his open, “organic architecture” that stressed the relationship between a building, its owner and its natural surroundings. He often created specially designed internal fixtures and used innovative materials in his masterpieces that are located mainly in Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

site, Wright is in control of every aspect involved in the experience. On the path up to the hill, where the house sits, a waterfall serves as a beautiful greeting with the hum of falling water and the smell of freshness. Beyond the path lie views of graceful valleys and the verdant orchards Wright planted himself. The entrance to Taliesin is designed with low ceilings, forcing one to duck down and move forward into the main opening of the room toward the expansive vistas and brilliant view that lie beyond its glass walls. He manipulated the lighting, the ceiling height and the floor, and took it upon himself to design the furniture, the light fixtures, the flooring and the china to be used within that specific dwelling. He even went as far as designing a wardrobe of gowns for a woman living in one of his houses, so she wouldn’t clash with the interior decoration while hosting parties.

Art-chitecture Walking in and around the buildings of Taliesin Preservation Inc. feels akin to visiting a historic site, a labyrinth of courtyards and gardens created by an artistic genius. Like a great painter or a sculptor, Wright chose to arrange the elements in his finished works to send a message to the viewer and evoke a feeling of relief. As the late afternoon sun casts its long shadows across the courtyards and terraces at the Taliesin site, Wright’s vision as an artist comes into sharp focus. From the low, elongated wings that form the roofline of the sprawling structure that embraces the hilltop to the gently rolling valleys with their vineyards, orchards and golden corn, this artist’s masterpiece is on display to soothe the mind while stimulating the senses. Taliesin stands as a monument to Wright’s artistic sensibilities and his need to work in concert with nature to create structural works of art. c

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chef as ARTIST By Amanda McGowan

Visualizing how a dish will look and then creating it into a tasty masterpiece makes cooking an art form. Chefs, as artists, combine flavors, colors, textures and ingredients to create dishes that not only taste delicious, but also engage diners in a sensory experience. Through their cooking, Wisconsin’s chefs explore the art of visual taste and provide diners with an artistic experience in every bite.

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Imagine. A fresh, clean plate in front of you. First, you pool the deliciously savory sauce at the base of the plate, its dark brown color sharply contrasting the bright white plate. Then, add the fresh, steamed—yet still crisp—vegetables: peppers, beans, corn, all locally grown and bought. The rainbow of the Wisconsin-grown produce looks vibrant atop the brown sauce, making the white edges of the plate pop. Next, add the centerpiece—a perfectly grilled, medium-rare steak with a pink and slightly cool center, browned and steaming on the outside. The grill lines are fresh, and the meat’s natural juices are oozing out, mixing with the sauce and vegetables to create a tantalizing aroma and impeccable taste. Top the dish off with a little green garnish, and it’s ready to eat. You dig the steak knife into the meat and cut off your first bite. Now on your fork, you take the piece and roll it around the plate, soaking in the sauce and catching vegetables along the way. You bring the piece up to your mouth, about to indulge in this brown, yet bright, chewy, sauce-smothered concoction that will satisfy a growling stomach and craving taste buds. Did you see it? If your mouth is drooling and your stomach churning hungrily, you pictured what Leonardo Guevara, executive chef at Restaurant Magnus, sees at the grocery store, shopping for different vegetables and meats while thinking of how to combine and use them. You visualized dinner.

delicious, but also engage diners in a sensory experience of sights, smells and textures. Through their cooking, Wisconsin’s chefs explore the art of visual taste and provide diners with an artistic experience in every bite.

The Art of Taste: “100 percent, hands down flavor” “I always admired the fact that like every artist – like people who can just open their mouth and sing beautiful songs or people who can pick up an instrument and play

like herself, are self-taught. She was finally able to see herself as a chef. She creates art by mixing ingredients, flavors, textures and colors to create food people want to eat. Wright accomplishes her art by looking at a dish from many perspectives. First, she uses the best ingredients she can find—mostly grown on local farms around Madison—and enhances the experience of eating a food in its natural form. “For instance, if you are making a dessert with apples, you want the

To create a dish, many chefs describe visualizing it and then using their mental picture to apply the techniques to create a taste. beautiful music – I admired the fact that chefs could take raw ingredients and create something natural out of it,” said Barbara Wright, chef and owner of The Dardanelles, a Mediterranean restaurant in Madison. When Wright opened The Dardanelles 11 years ago, she felt uncomfortable being called “chef ” because she lacked formal culinary training. However, she slowly began to realize that not everyone has attended culinary school and many people,

apples to stand out in the dish. You don’t want to cook them to mush,” Wright said. “The second thing you have to think about is the visceral pleasure of eating it. It’s crunchy. It’s sticky. Is it savory? The things you want people to come away with after they eat the dish.” According to Juan Urbieta, executive chef at Ristorante Bartolotta in Wauwatosa, the key to the art of cooking is learning the basic techniques of mixing the components of food to create a flavorful dish.

“For me, the art of cooking is 100 percent, hands down flavor,” Urbieta said. “An artist is somebody who puts their own signature on whatever they’re making. First thing you have to learn is the techniques, you have to learn the basics. You apply the techniques and now you’re ready to create something fun, something cool.” To create a dish, many chefs describe visualizing it and then using their mental picture to apply the techniques to create a taste. Shinji Muramoto, chef and owner of Restaurant Muramoto and Sushi Muramoto in Madison, compares the mental preparation of a dish’s taste to painting a picture. “Sometimes I explain to my cooks that creating a taste is just like mixing different colors,” Muramoto said. “You need to know what kind of color you want in your head. And like blue plus yellow makes green, taste is the same. First, you need to know what kind of taste you’re looking for, then you need to pick what else you need to use and how to mix them up.”

The Art of Presentation: Eye Appeal As chefs artfully intersect flavors and ingredients to create taste, the visual presentation of a dish is essential to its success.

Visualizing how a dish will look and then creating it into a tasty masterpiece makes cooking an art form. Chefs, as artists, combine flavors, colors, textures and ingredients to create dishes that not only taste LEFT: Chef Shinji Muramoto owns restaurant Muramoto and Sushi Muramoto, both in Madison. RIGHT: Muramoto equates creating a dish’s taste to “mixing different colors” to make a painting.

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A curried crab cake sits atop a pool of bright orange pumpkin soup at Sushi Muramoto.

“I think food has to look attractive to the eye because when it sits down in front of [people], that’s the first thing they see,” said Charles Lazzareschi, executive chef at the Madison Concourse Hotel. “Layering flavors, layering foods. You have textures. Crispy, crunchy, soft. It’s all going together in the same plate.” Just as artists who create paintings or drawings want to catch a viewer’s eye, chefs use techniques to present food in a visually appealing way to diners, Lazzareschi said. Placing an odd number of different foods on a plate is one such technique that makes food stand out on the plate. Wright added chefs use a diametrical art philosophy to present textures of food. A spicy dish could be paired with a cool yogurt atop. Or the crunchy outer texture of a crème brŭlèe dessert gives way to a creamy, smooth filling. In his presentation, Guevara focuses on how the taste and color of ingredients work together, using contrasting colors, shapes and flavors of ingredients to make his mental visualization of the entire dish a vibrant reality. For example, he describes a dish using halibut. “The contrast of the green, white and yellow fish and some SouthAmerican peppers,” he said. “It’s art.” For some chefs, a dish is like a rainbow on a plate. Guevara prefers to pool sauces on the bottom of the plate, then layer an array of colorful vegetables before placing the fish or meat on top. The diversity of colors on a dish is what brings the dish to life and allows for innovation and creativity that makes cooking an art form, Lazzareschi added.

The contrasting textures of a dish complement its visual presentation at Restaurant Magnus.

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“Colors, you can look at a plate and say ‘what does that need? What does that need?’” he said. “Well, it needs some red, but I don’t want to use tomatoes, I’m sick of tomatoes. What else do we got?”

Although it’s a complex combination of colors, textures, flavors and placement that make food visually appealing, diners must be able to evaluate the plate in front of them and understand how they should go about eating it. “It’s got to be practical also,” Lazzareschi said. “When you look at it, is it, ‘what the hell is this guy thinking?’ Or, ‘this is beautiful’.”

Wisconsin Dining: Experience the Art “Every chef has their own idea and their own philosophy, and their own style,” Guevara said. “That’s why I think it’s unique to go explore different restaurants.” And dining in Wisconsin is changing. Especially in Madison, Muramoto added, diners are seeking out a new, different experience in restaurants and a new perception of food. “I’m just different from everybody else,” Muramoto said. “I was born in Japan. I grew up in Japan, so I know something different to cook than all other cooks. It doesn’t mean I’m good, just different. That’s something new to Madison, I think that’s why I’m doing so well.” Lazzareschi said people are becoming more educated and interested in food, especially with the increase of restaurants in the Madison area. “They’re learning and they’re developing and there are a lot of good restaurants making good meals,” he said. “People are starting to understand what good food is.” Wave Kasprzak, chef and co-owner of The Dining Room at 209 Main in Monticello, attributed the change in Wisconsin dining to the availability and diversity of ingredients now available to restaurants. While locally sustainable ingredients, such as produce grown on state farms, thrive among Wisconsin restaurants, chefs are able to obtain any ingredient they need to create their art.

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“The world is really getting smaller,” Kasprzak said. “We might get someone who’s visiting from the East coast say, ‘I’ll never order fish in Wisconsin, you can’t get fresh fish in Wisconsin.’ Well, that’s a big lie. We can get fish 24, 48 hours out of the water anywhere in the U.S.” Diners in Wisconsin should try going into a restaurant, even into a local diner down the street, with a new outlook and perception about the food served. The chef cooking the dish is, in fact, creating art to be appreciated and enjoyed.

fresh,” agreed the best way to maximize the dining experience is to let the chef create food freely. “Like a painter already knows what it looks like before it’s done, that’s what you do when you cook,” Johnson said. “You already know what you want to do. That’s the best way to do it, to just say whatever the chef says is good today. They know what’s fresh that day.”

“When people come into a restaurant for an experience, they should just be open,” Wright said. “They should just be ready for that new experience.”

Chefs in Wisconsin are creating art before our very mouths. How the flavors, colors, textures all combine to create a dish is an experience for diners – an experience Wright still says American society misses too often and Wisconsin independent restaurants are trying to re-establish.

Kasprzak recommended ordering multiple appetizers, entrees and desserts. Although it could be too much food for one sitting, try a little bit of everything and take it home for later.

“I’m all about reclaiming our food traditions,” she said. “I’m very concerned about the generation of kids who started out with Pop Tarts for breakfast and ended up with McDonald’s for dinner.”

Dining can be more than a meal. It can be an artistic experience. The vision a chef starts with, how a plate will look, is realized in the final presentation. For a new take on food, ask the chef to do a tasting menu. In a tasting menu, Urbieta explained, instead of guests choosing their meals, a chef cooks a multi-course meal. Every course has different textures and flavors, including meat, vegetable, cheese and more in miniature portions presented beautifully.

Dining can be more than a meal. It can be an artistic experience. The vision a chef starts with, how a plate will look, is realized in the final presentation. The essence of the art of cooking lies in how the chef gets from a mental picture of a dish to presenting it to a guest for a visual taste experience.

“The chef is creating something that is your print,” Urbieta said. “They express something different. You can understand how cooking is a form of art when the chef creates the menu.”

“What you can imagine has to be executed, and that’s why chefs are artists,” Wright said. “You can think a whole bunch of stuff and read a whole bunch of books and know a whole bunch of stuff, but whether or not you can get what you envisioned onto that plate and have it taste good, and turn out the way you want it to, that’s the challenge.” c

Scott Johnson, chef at Captain Bill’s in Middleton, whose cooking philosophy is simply “fresh, fresh,

A chef’s final product begins as a mental picture at Sushi Muramoto.

Combining colors, tastes and textures makes a culinary dream a reality at Sushi Muramoto.

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a theatrical

OASIS By Jennifer Evans

African American Children’s Theatre spotlights Milwaukee youth.

After school in Milwaukee’s central city, children and adults shuffle through the labyrinth hallways of a 55,000 square-foot building. They hustle with instruments and other necessary props in tow. Breaking free from the confining walls of the classrooms, the squeaks and squawks of instruments spill out into the hallways, colliding with the sweet harmony of a children’s choir. One group of children makes its way through the massive Milwaukee Youth Arts Center toward the Sondheim Room, the nightly gathering place of the African American Children’s Theatre. Contrasted against the sprawling backdrop of the complex, the room is considerably quiet.

children an escape from the violent streets of Milwaukee, first in her family and then in her community. AACT became the solution. ************ For as long as Clark can remember, she has considered herself a performer. “As a kid, I made everyone perform,” Clark said. “Every holiday, I’d organize all of the kids to put on a show. It was extremely important to me. When mom started getting Thanksgiving dinner ready, I started preparing our show.”

Seated at a table equipped with a sign-in sheet, money box, bowl of fruit and hand sanitizer, Constance Clark, known to students as Aunt Connie, and her sister, Caroline Lenyard, anticipate the children’s arrival. The smile on Aunt Connie’s face eases the harshness of the classroom’s cold white walls and hardwood floors.

From her directing of early holiday performances for family and friends to high school choir and drama groups, Clark evolved into a skilled performer. By the mid- to late-1980s, Clark began performing professionally on a regular basis in community theater, as well as recording voice-overs for radio and television commercials. With future plans of acquiring additional training in singing and acting, Clark was confident her career in the arts was beginning to take off.

The smile is the physical manifestation of the children’s theatre’s founding ideal. Just as Aunt Connie’s presence softens the chill of the room, AACT was born as an answer to the harshness of the streets. Having lost two young nephews to gun violence, Clark set out to offer

But in spring 1989, Clark’s dreams were suddenly interrupted. While visiting her daughter hundreds of miles from Milwaukee, Clark received startling news that her nephew, Brian, was dead at the age of 24, after a gun his friend was holding misfired and struck Brian in

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LEFT: Asia Williams dances to her own beat.

RIGHT: Imani Smith helps lead the AACT group in a song.

This is Asia’s first year participating in the African American Children’s Theater.

Amirah Harrel says she looks forward to evenings spent at AACT.

the head.

“I thought we would do the one show, and then I’d be done with it,” Clark said. “But, after the first performance, the kids insisted we keep meeting. And each time we performed, more kids came.”

“Brian was the life of our family,” Clark said. “When you lose someone like that, it’s senseless.” Less than one year following Brian’s death and long before those wounds could even begin to heal, Clark’s nephew, Jeffrey, 24, was gunned down in Milwaukee on his way home from work. As the shock and numbness over the sudden deaths of the young family members gave way to a deep and painful sense of loss, Clark’s tightlyknit family began to fray. The deaths of Brian and Jeffrey seemed too much for some family members to bear. Clark said some of the young family members “took the wrong path,” ultimately ending up in jail. Others fled from the merciless city Clark’s family had called home for decades. “We were a nice quiet family and suddenly, it was all blown up,” Clark said. Clark’s family recognized the need to come together in order to survive the tragedy that was tearing them apart. Weekly Sunday meetings provided an opportunity for the family to find support from within. As the adults met to discuss their feelings, the children used their time to work on a variety of different projects. Among these projects, the children decided they wanted to do a show. Clark, being the only family member with any theater background, became the children’s first and only pick for director. Soon after, Clark began organizing informal Sunday afternoon rehearsals in the events room at the Milwaukee Enterprise Center, where she worked part time. Clark helped the kids learn how to recite poetry and choreograph dances for their performances. A few months later, the children’s group—composed of all family members—performed at a talent show at Milwaukee’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center.

With the overwhelming interest from parents and kids in the community along with contributions from several donors, Clark began to offer after-school theater training classes to the children of Milwaukee. To join Clark’s classes, students need no prior experience, just a desire to learn and support one another. The early coining of the group, the “African American Children’s Theatre” by a young high school student who desperately wanted to associate the term “African American” with a positive message, helped solidify the group. From the early days of the program, AACT has created a welcoming, supportive environment for the children of Milwaukee. Over the years, Clark and other local artists have helped train hundreds of children in basic techniques of the theater, building upon each student’s individual interests and skill levels. ************ Slowly, one by one, students begin to file into the Sondheim room for evening practice. Many of the children, coming directly from school, walk briskly into the classroom hunched forward to offset the weight of heavy backpacks. Any residual frustration from the school day appears to be shed as backpacks drop to the floor and shoes are quickly slipped off in preparation for class. To offer the children a foundation in the musical arts, Clark hires talented professionals from the Milwaukee area to train AACT students for two hours every Tuesday through Thursday. Dr. Wallace Cheatham, AACT music director, teaches children to sing and composes music for upcoming AACT shows; Betty

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Linked hand-in-hand, AACT students work together to complete an acting exercise.

Salamun, a local choreographer, coaches children on how to execute controlled body movements to tell a story; Samantha Montgomery, a local actress and theater educator, offers students the fundamentals of acting and acting theory. Although each professional leads the classroom differently, they share a similar mannerism in their respect and patience with the AACT students. The instructors do not yell, they do not patronize and they are not rushed. If a student’s technique is off, they are not singled out. The group works together to achieve perfection. “AACT gives kids an outlet… a chance to be themselves without judgment or ridicule…It gives kids the opportunity to be themselves, flaws and all,” Montgomery said. “We know everyone has weaknesses… We try to turn them into strengths.” Long before the group prepares for nightly practices, Clark frequently insists they carry on the long-held AACT tradition of joining together at a table placed in the middle of the classroom.

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Like a family gathered together to share a meal, each student and adult finds a welcoming seat at the table. Although there is no feast, the gathering of the intimate group relishes the time to share with each other the events of the day. The conversations are meant to be private —creating a trusting environment where students can feel free to share

structure into our classes.” In the nearly twenty years since Clark founded AACT, the children of inner-city Milwaukee are still surrounded by violence, poverty and crime. According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau, more than 40 percent of all children in inner-city Milwaukee live in poverty. Amidst

Like a family gathered together to share a meal, each student and adult finds a welcoming seat at the table. their joys, frustrations and fears. To Clark, the lesson of support holds as much weight as any lessons taught by her talented team of dancing, vocal and acting coaches. For Angie White and Toni Martin, former AACT students, the experience of participating in AACT throughout their childhood continues to influence their lives each day. “One of my first memories of the theater was the friendships that were built there,” White said. “Aunt Connie said to me, ‘Angie, this is your family.’ And she built that

such hardships, AACT provides a valuable haven. “As an urban theater in inner-city Milwaukee, many [AACT students] live in rough neighborhoods and deal with violence and other stuff daily,” Martin said. “The theater provide[s] an escape.” “Everyone comes to AACT with a story. Some of these are the saddest stories you’ll ever hear,” White said. “But personally, I can assure you that when you get on that stage, people are supporting you. For three to four hours, regardless of

what’s going on at home or outside, you get to be a kid and to do something you love to do. This feeling… the service of it, you cannot accurately put it into words.” Despite experiencing a few growing pains over the years to keep the program up and running, AACT’s mission lives on today. This year, Clark is teaming up with the Milwaukee Public School system to offer scholarships for students to attend AACT. Additionally, next year marks the beginning of a fiveyear musical series, “The Legacy of African American Women and Men of Courage,” which explores African American history. Clark said she looks forward to her students presenting the positive messages of African American history to the public next year and for years to come. It is a message Clark dedicates to the memory of her young nephews. “I’m not guiding [AACT], but I’m doing this in memory of my nephews,” Clark said. “If everyone counteracts crime by starting something in that person’s honor, we will begin building another generation.” c

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experiences what’s inside 39 Enchanted Estate

Broadway’s time capsule in rural Wisconsin

44 Green Piece

Connecting art and the environment

43 Hand-crafted Healing Art therapists create change

ENCHANTED ESTATE

Photo by Matthew Wisniewski/Curb

By Jennifer Evans

As the sunny days of summer grew short in the small southeastern Wisconsin town of Genesee Depot in late August 1983, George Bugbee lowered the window shades in each room of the estate of former Broadway legends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Moving from window to window, Bugbee, Alfred’s brother-in-law, forced the sunlight from the rooms once filled with the voices and laughter of well-known 20th

century actors and actresses; rooms where theatrical lines and everyday dialogue merged as one; rooms once filled with a smoky haze from chain-smoking actors and a fireplace that burned year round. When Bugbee finished, he locked the door behind him and retreated up the hill to an old Swedish cottage on the Lunts’ estate, where he would stay until his death some 12 years later. Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne ruled the

American stage from the early 1920s through the 1960s. After falling in love, marrying and spending years acting in separate plays, Lunt and Fontanne took a significant pay cut in signing with The Theater Guild. However, this was in exchange for two requests: the couple would only perform together and they would spend every summer away from the theater, retreating with family and friends to the home they created in Genesee Depot. fall 2007

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Broadway’s Time Capsule in Rural

Wisconsin

Hundreds of miles from Broadway, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne would prepare for the upcoming season in their studio on the Ten Chimneys estate. Photo by Michael David Rose

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Although they withdrew from the theater for a few months of the year, the Lunts never truly left the stage. As with their acting, the Lunts sought perfection in the design of Ten Chimneys. They commissioned theater-set designer Claggett Wilson to hand-paint murals rich with symbolism throughout the house, employed locals to cut out and paint pieces of wallpaper to add depth to walls of the house and collected furniture and decorations as they traveled the world. Each room of the estate became their very own stage. The Lunts used theatrical lighting techniques to create a desired ambiance; thematic designs repeatedly layered throughout the house, and paintings, stage props, antiques and gifts from friends to create a meticulously crafted scene.

“If you think about what kind of conversations probably took place [there], it’s just sensational and amazing.” With the amount of detail that Fontanne and Lunt poured into their estate, they enthusiastically welcomed well-known actors and actresses, writers, theater critics and more to Ten Chimneys. Celebrities such as Katherine Hepburn, Carol Channing, Lawrence Olivier and Nöel Coward could be seen playfully splashing in the pool or gathering around the Lunts’ dining room table in formal evening wear. “Remember, these were theater people, so dinner probably started at 8 or 10 and it probably went on to 3 or 4 in the morning,” said Martin Dable, former paperboy of the Lunts and volunteer docent at Ten Chimneys. “So, that dining room is a very special place. It’s a really busy place, but if you think about what kind of conversations probably took place [there], it’s just sensational and amazing.” On stage, Lunt and Fontanne believed acting should appear more natural and sought realism in the delivery of their lines. Together, they became the first pair to master overlapping dialogue, express physicality on the stage and turn their backs to the audience during a performance. They offered a conservative American audience their very first look at a physical stage fight, theatrical infidelity and ménages à trois. The more critics gasped in response to the Lunts, the louder audiences roared. And after each show they starred in had its run on Broadway, the Lunts took their

performances on the road. The pair recognized theater did not only belong on the stage in New York or other major cities, but also in the barns and church basements of small towns across the country. “The Lunts believed in bringing theater to the masses… and taking their plays out into the hinterland, out into places like Omaha, Nebraska and Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” said Dan Cummings, a retired theater manager and Ten Chimneys docent. After George Bugbee closed the shades at Ten Chimneys, creating what Laurette Greenhalgh, a docent volunteer at Ten Chimneys, calls a “time capsule,” the dormancy of Ten Chimneys became too much for the old estate to bear. Behind locked doors and shaded windows, Ten Chimneys slowly began to deteriorate.

Ten Chimneys was sealed for more than a decade before Wisconsin native Joe Garton fell in love with the estate. Photo by Michael David Rose

arts, welcomes the public. Docents guide twohour tours through the 18-room main house as well as the rest of the estate, offering patrons a However, when Wisconsin businessman and film short glimpse into what it felt like to be a guest at Ten Chimneys. According to Cait Dallas, Ten historian Joe Garton stepped into Ten Chimneys Chimneys curator of collections, what visitors see for the first time in 1994 with Bugbee, neither at Ten Chimneys are “things chosen by the Lunts’ drooping wallpaper nor rotting curtains could own hands.” Claggett Wilson murals adorn the stop Garton from falling in love with the estate. walls at the “When they “Lynn and Alfred’s correspondence was still front door, opened the a china there… their briefcases. Play scripts with house, they tea set sits had drawers patiently their handwritten notes were there…” full of clothes, on the from stockings and slips and scarves still labeled small table in the garden room, a game of solitaire by Alfred where everything should be,” Greenappears temporarily interrupted in the drawing halgh said. “Lynn and Alfred’s correspondence room of the main house, a bathrobe lies neatly was still there… their briefcases. Play scripts with on a guest bed, a simple, worn arm chair once their handwritten notes were there…” known only as “Alfred’s chair” rests in the corner of the library, and Meissen china and Stuben Through years of hard work and a million-dollar crystal place-settings decorate the Lunts’ dining loan, Garton, his staff, a team of restoration room table. experts from around the world, and hundreds of volunteers pieced back together and breathed “I think it’s a great story, and I think the new life into Ten Chimneys estate, awakening the Lunts would truly appreciate all of the stories of Lunt and Fontanne. drama involved in saving this place,” Dallas said. “And the drama created each day to Now, years later, Ten Chimneys, one of only ten keep it open and allow guests to enjoy it. It national historical landmarks dedicated to the is very dramatic.” c fall 2007

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Hand-Crafted Healing

Art Therapists Create Change By Vanessa de Bruijn

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small round mass skewered on a thin metal rod slowly rotates over red, glowing embers. With each turn, the embers glow a bit brighter, the perpetual movements of the crank ensuring that each side of the object is equally exposed to the glow. The mass isn’t a delicious marshmallow, but rather a papermâché model of the Earth cooking over a plastic fire in the atrium of the Science Center art gallery at Edgewood College. The installation is a piece in an exhibit called “Artistic Expressions on Global Warming: Recognizing the problem, Evoking response, Envisioning solutions,” sponsored by the Wisconsin Art Therapy Association. Wisconsin art therapists conceived, organized and created this exhibit as a tool to translate the processes involved in art therapy into a socially and politically conscious message about the earth. For the group that put the exhibit in motion, art therapy is a process that

is integral in creating a larger understanding. Art therapy offers a solution to traditional “talk therapy” and allows participants to engage in a creative process that integrates various art forms with principles of psychology. Working with art allows patients to stimulate the visual, artistic parts of the brain, and therapists believe it releases thoughts and feelings that simply cannot be expressed in words. “Just the act of thinking about the problem consciously, I believe, has an impact both on the individual and on anyone who comes in contact with the art piece,” said Linda Danielson, the artist who came up with the idea for the exhibit. Danielson was inspired to take action after seeing Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth.” She then tapped into her base of artist friends and asked them to get involved with a project that she hoped would bring the healing effects of art therapy into the arena of global issues. Artists featured in the exhibit used an array of media that runs the gamut from magazine clippings to trash to elephant dung paper (yes, elephant

“You Have the Power to Stop This,” by Heidi Endres, represents human destruction of the earth, through global warming.

Michele Burnie painted “Barefoot”: beautiful and beneficial “to illustrate the disconnection between people and nature.” Photos by Vanessa de Bruijn/Curb

dung). Nothing is enclosed in inaccessible glass cases like you might see at a stuffier, classical art museum. This experiential focus reinforces the principles behind art therapy—that understanding comes from doing and experiencing. Catherine Quinn, programming chair for the Wisconsin Art Therapy Association, found that the process of creating her pieces helped her cope with her own uneasy feelings about the future of the planet. Choosing photography as the base for one of her contributions to the exhibit, Quinn transformed old photos through a process that, for her, symbolized the changes occurring in the ecosystem. Quinn submerged the photos in bleach and allowed it to distort and eat away at the objects and images in the photos. She then dropped vivid watercolor paints onto the photos, allowing them to morph into new images. Quinn is one of many local art therapists who have taken the impetus to explore their field and push the boundaries of creative healing. In addition to her involvement with the WATA, Quinn said she conducts community art sessions and private art therapy sessions at a studio near her home and contracts with VSAarts of Wisconsin for individual artist-in-residency programs as well as classes for individuals with disabilities. These ventures alone show that art therapists are no longer satisfied with a narrow definition of their field or title. “We can’t just stay in our ‘little’ world of art therapists,” Quinn said. c

fall 2007

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Green Piece:

Connecting Art and the Environment

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Edgardo Madanes created “Choose” out of willow for the Forest Art Wisconsin project. Photo by Andy White

By Elli Thompson A walk along the Raven Nature Trail in Minocqua provided view after view of Northwoods beauty: smooth and shiny leaves rustling softly in the breeze, the chirping of birds echoing through the trunks and branches of the forest. A turn around one corner, however, revealed a scene of startling contrast. Large, looming chainsaws hung suspended from tree branches. Below them, more of the machinery sat heavily on randomly placed wooden posts. A small bird perched on one of them, picking at its rough surface. But this clash between nature and industry wasn’t the result of man’s destruction—quite the contrary. The chainsaws—actually wooden

casts covered with coats of suet birdseed—were artfully created as a part of the Forest Art Wisconsin project, a unique “gallery” created in summer 2007 under Ute Ritschel, a German professor-in-residence at UW-Madison. A dizzying array of art that closely connects to nature peppers the state: art made from natural materials, art made from recycled products or junk left on the wayside, and art made within a natural environment. But when focusing on the messages behind their vibrant, even quirky, façades, the lines between these different art forms begin to blur. With environmental and social topics spanning across fields of study and arising in everyday conversation, artists have contributed to the dis-

cussion in their own way—visually. Crafting the meaning For Green Bay artist Colleen LaBrosse, other people’s trash makes up the majority of her projects. An avid bicyclist, LaBrosse finds much of her material as discarded debris on the roadside. Nearly any object has the potential to be art in her eyes, no matter how obscure. “Some people’s junk that [they] just throw out or that falls off their car I just find and think, ‘Ooh, this could be a part of a bird,’” LaBrosse said. LaBrosse constructs many of her works with a specific message in mind. One of her pieces features a Barbie doll attached to a scale, addressing body image issues rife in

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Photo courtesy of Forest Art Wisconsin

Madison artist Jennifer Angus created this piece to show the invasive nature of lady beetles. American society. More than that, her creative process itself holds meaning. “I get to ride my bike, make art and clean up the city, one piece of junk at a time!” LaBrosse said in a post on her MySpace page where she showcases her work. “What could be better?” Likewise, Emily Kircher, an artist in Madison who uses recycled materials, keeps conscious of people’s effect on the environment. After studying biology as an

undergraduate at Marquette University and environmental toxicology as a graduate student at UW-Madison, she opened her craft business, giving new life to old materials.

Julia Taylor, a graduate student of art at UW-Madison who contributed to the Forest Art Wisconsin project, shared the sentiment that creating art in or with nature provides a wholesome and basic connection to the earth—something missing from most indoor art.

“I try to educate people that these things I’m using were castoffs, so think twice about things you don’t want anymore,” said Kircher, who sells her art at craft shows around the Midwest, including the Dane County Farmer’s Market in Madison. “They’re not necessarily garbage just because you don’t want [them].”

“When you work with natural materials—and it may be cliché to say—but you just come close to the very basic ideas of the use of materials that are around you,” Taylor said. “It’s feeling like you are the first man on the earth. ... You just feel very close to nature.”

Experiencing the meaning

Roy Staab, an environment site installation artist working from West Allis, tries using “only the main elements of nature” in his artwork. For his piece, “Bluebird,” Staab used willow already near a site in a shallow riverway on the Wisconsin River in 1999. Skimming the surface of the water, the willow strands formed a symmetrical, gracefully curved structure resembling the wings of a bird.

“What I notice about our modern society is how much time we spend inside of the building or inside of the studio,” she added. She marvels at the idea of a person’s physical interaction with nature-based art—an experience where “they can come very close, they can touch, they can see the texture, they can ask questions” about a display. Art involving nature offers a dual pleasure: Nature enhances art’s physical beauty, while the art draws people closer to nature. The unrestricted setting adds a matchless element to the interpretation. Finding the meaning Environmental awareness has been on the minds of artists for many

years, according to Jane Simon, curator of exhibitions at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, and it has transformed with time and carries meaning relevant to the here and now. “I don’t think it’s obvious to people how environmental issues intersect with artistic practice,” Simon said. Audiences, too, have become increasingly aware of environmental issues and evermore open to art that strays from the mainstream. And for those wanting more, inventive art that addresses their concerns may not be so difficult to find after all. “It’s not like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Simon said. “I think it’s everywhere.” Just as the forest on Raven Trail in Minocqua revealed stunning art from among the foliage, so does the whole of Wisconsin elicit artistic masterpieces that reflect the state’s natural beauty, promote its protection and convey other social messages. Although closely tied to nature, such art is not intended to be camouflaged in the thick of the innumerable art forms out there. Rather, it seeks to visually leap from Wisconsin’s arts scene, shining light on relevant issues while capturing the eyes and minds of its audience. c

Staab’s formations respond directly to the specific environment around him. “Nature takes [my art] and moves it and adjusts it and that’s OK,” Staab said. “When it does fall “I don’t think apart, it doesn’t leave anything. You think it’s obvious to people about time, but how environmental iswhen you work with nature, you sues intersect with artistic have no control.”

practice.”

-JANE SIMON MUSEUM CURATOR Pieces of white cloth create a spiraling web of art among the trees of Raven Trail. Photo by Andy White fall 2007

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WEB READY

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> generation flex: building ballet > sounds & scenery: outdoor music venues > designing your day: wedding artistry > creating for a cause: ena carroll’s art > words as waves: urban voices ignite > authoring change: actor’s writing inspires

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