SRQ DAILY Feb 19, 2021
Friday Weekend Edition
"We all have a shared identity no matter the time or place and I think for The Ringling, it's important that we offer works like this to give people a space to reflect on that idea."
In the wake of civil unrest over racial disparities, the conversation about equality made its way into places and spaces where it had not previously been. This included the worlds of visual and performance art. Many organizations released revamped mission statements that added “inclusivity” or “diversity” as central to their mission while others hired diversity specialists or made greater efforts to seek out artistic works by BIPOC artists. But when the conversation made its way to The Ringling, it found ears that have been engaged in listening for a long time.
Two of those ears belong to Ola Wlusek, The Ringling’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. “I feel like our audiences might not be aware that we have a history of showing Black artists in group or solo exhibitions,” she says, “and it goes back to the 80s.” In those days, The Ringling celebrated Cuban, Afrocuban and other hispanic artists in what were historically more Eurocentric spaces. That was before Wlusek’s time, but in her efforts to continue that legacy, she helped put together a film exhibition called “For Real This Time.”
The exhibition includes films in a variety of styles that grapple with the current state of attitudes towards race and inequality. Just yesterday, the museum concluded its run of John Sims’ Recoloration Proclamation, which chronicles Sims’ decades-long work in dismantling the explicit and implicit racism of the Confederate flag. Today, the exhibition begins screening Egungun: Ancestor Can’t Find Me by Cauleen Smith, an experimental filmmaker whose work contains strands of Afrofuturism and is the recipient of numerous awards and grants throughout her long career.
Though Smith is based out of California, she actually conceived of and shot the film while enjoying a stay at the Rauschenberg Foundation’s artist retreat on Captiva Island in 2016. While there, Smith dug into some of the pre-Columbian history of the region and found herself thinking alot about ancestors. In her walks on the grounds, she found herself collecting objects like feathers and shells, and she later used those objects as the basis for a costume for the film’s lead character. Dressed in these local artifacts, Smith created a masked Yoruban Egungun character that combines elements of the prehistoric Calusa peoples of Florida with elements of a West African culture.
The abstract video, shot on 16mm film, depicts a mystical figure covered in shells and seaweed hiking between a seaside wilderness and a suburban pool carrying a spade or staff. The character, seemingly in search of its own resting place at the bottom of the pool or the bottom of a shallow hole in the ground, looks like an amalgamation of many spiritual figures and motifs. “She talks a lot in her interviews about how we all have a shared identity no matter the time or place,” says Wlusek, “and I think for The Ringling, it’s important that we offer works like this to give people a space to reflect on that idea.”
The film runs through March 11th in the Monda Gallery. 
The Ringling, 5401 Bay Shore Rd., 941-359-5700
Kliph Nesteroff’s interesting upbringing in a Russian pacifist community in British Columbia is nearly as much of a mouthful as his new non-fiction book’s title: We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy.
Kliph, a true classic movie and comedy fan, honed his concern for the underrepresented on the streets of Vancouver Canada, working as, for all practical purposes, a social worker. Here, he judiciously chronicles the plights of several Native American comedians and entertainers. That’s the nutshell description of a well researched history lesson of how horrendously Native Americans have been treated across time. Certainly not new news, but like any harmful racist deed must be remembered in order for evolution to continue.
A figure who is the focus of several chapters is Will Rogers, both Senior and Junior. The former being a Mark Twainesque political witticist and the latter jumping into politics as an American Congressman. Both men used their wit and intelligence to skewer and wrangle politicians to treat Natvie Americans as equal citizens. Nesteroff pulls no punches in his honesty of some Native Americans who wrongly punched down; Rogers, Sr. being one, who caused a boycott of Gulf Oil after his use of a racist slur on a radio broadcast.
Many of the stories have an uplifting against all odds conclusion. Charlie Hill, for instance, gained fame on comedy as the first Native American comedian to not only land late night shows such as Richard Pryor’s 1970’s Network show as well as Letterman and Leno’s, but even more importantly, to garner non-stereotypical choices that were respected in the entertainment industry.
Roxanne Baker is a Bookseller at BookStore1 Sarasota. Bookstore1Sarasota was opened in 2011 with one mission: to bring a high-quality independent bookstore to the Sarasota area. Their passion for the joy of books inspired them in the beginning and continues to drive them today. They offer a shopping experience curated with their customers in mind, and are gratified by the long-term relationships they have built with those who have come through their door: patrons and authors alike.
Bookstore1, 12 S Palm Ave, Sarasota, 941-365-7900. Photo credit: Jim Herrington/Cover courtesy of Simon & Schuster.
To help lift the spirits of community members as well as theater fans wherever they may be, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe is pleased to offer streaming video of “Aunt Rudele’s Family Reunion.” Viewers will laugh out loud as WBTT founder and artistic director Nate Jacobs dons a dirty-blond wig, glasses and heels to portray Aunt Rudele, the busybody relative who knows no boundaries but always knows best. This hilarious one-man (one-woman) show stars and was written by Jacobs (with contributions from Julian Olf, who directed the show). While attending the Stevens family reunion, Aunt Rudele introduces her kinfolk through songs, dances, prayers, sermons, and verbal duels. Her observations are searing and laugh-out loud funny. In the Southern tradition, this show serves up a main dish of laughter with a side order of down-home wisdom. Filmed during a two-night run in 2016, “Aunt Rudele’s Family Reunion” will be available from February 12 through March 28
The Sarasota Concert Association (SCA) today announced “Musically Speaking,” a free, three-concert virtual series featuring preeminent classical musicians in unique performances, highlighted by informal conversations with the artists. World-acclaimed pianists Garrick Ohlsson and Kirill Gerstein launch the series with a duo piano performance and conversation on Thursday, February 25, at 7 p.m. Violinist Samantha Bennett and percussionist George Nickson will share their unique artistry on Thursday, March 11, at 7 p.m. The world-renowned chamber orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, concludes the series on Thursday, March 25, at 7 p.m. Conducting the conversations with the artists is Charles Turon, a musician, educator, and SCA board member. The series is free, but registration is required. Each link will be viewable for seven days.
Art Center Sarasota’s 2021 exhibition season continues with four exhibits, through March 5. “Skins In It: Work by Neil Bender and Cynthia Mason” features an installation of multimedia works that explore the experience of the body. “Found Forms: Sculpture by Carl Abbott” features the vibrant sculptures of this renowned architect. The 2021 “Black Muse” exhibition features work from artists of African descent throughout the state of Florida. The 2021 “Student Black Muse Exhibit” features work from students from Booker, Riverview, Sarasota, and Northport high schools and Booker Middle School in commemoration of Black History Month. “Staying Connected” is an open, juried exhibition of work in all media juried by Debra Markley, a photographer and fine arts teacher at Sarasota High School, and Anita Wexler, a painter and teacher at Sarasota High School. All exhibits are available to view online. Personalized docent-led Zoom tours are also available upon request; small groups are encouraged.
Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota's silver anniversary fundraiser, ‘A Sterling Affair,’ happens online on Wednesday, March 3, at 5:30 p.m. The event, produced by Artist Series Concerts FRIENDS, the volunteer arm of Artist Series Concerts, will spotlight exclusive video performances by Young Concert Artists accordionist Hanzhi Wang.T plus three exceptional young area musicians: pianist Marco Jimenez; cellist Gabriel McDerment; and flutist Molly McWilliamshe suggested minimum donation to attend the event is $25 per person.
After a short season in 2020 because of COVID, Ring Sarasota is excited to be back with Season 11, Highways & Byways, premiering on February 21, 2021 at Pine Shores Presbyterian Church. Not your traditional handbell choir, Ring Sarasota’s 16 musicians utilize 14 pairs of Mallets, 95 Handbells, 70 Chimes, and one Keyboard during their performances.
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is pleased to present Saitō Kiyoshi: Graphic Awakening. The exhibition will open Mar 14, 2021 and run through Aug 15, 2021 in the Ringling’s Searing galleries. Comprised of recent donations of artworks by Saitō from Charles and Robyn Citrin to The Ringling and other collections, Saitō Kiyoshi: Graphic Awakening is the first comprehensive exhibition of this artist’s work in the United States. The exhibition focuses on prints Saitō created in the 1940s and 50s, arguably the most vibrant period of his career, and includes several rare, early designs.
Big Wave Cotton Candy revolutionizes an iconic childhood treat.
Click here to read the full article in SRQ's February edition.
Our 10th annual Superhero event features a 1-mile fun run, a 5K, and a 10K on Saturday, February 20 from 7:30am to 11:30am at Nathan Benderson Park. We hold the race to show support for children in our community who come from hard places. We believe these kids, and the loving adults who advocate for them, are our community's heroes. Join us as a walker, runner, sponsor, or volunteer.
Anna Maria Island Privateers will be hosting their annual Thieves Market on Saturday, February 20, Saturday, March 20 and Saturday, April 17 from 8am to 3pm. This year we are celebrating our 50th Anniversary and are working very hard to make each Market more spectacular and fun. Booth space will be 14’ wide x 35’ deep. Coffee and a continental breakfast will be provided by the Privateers for our vendors to enjoy. Vendor set-up begins at 6am. All to be held at GT Bray Recreation Center. We will try to accommodate special requests for medical necessity, but most spots are on a first paid first served basis. Donation per spot per Market is $50 and there are no refunds. Online registration and payment are requested and recommended should you want a spot reserved or you can pay by check or cash if using a paper application, the link to that is below.
The 23rd Annual Thunder By The Bay Music & Motorcycle Festival is a three day event held at the Sarasota Fairgrounds from February 19 to 21 to benefit Suncoast Charities for Children. Bring your lawn chair and enjoy continuous live music with featured headliner Molly Hatchet performing Saturday - February 20th. This years Festival includes a “United We Ride – America Strong” charity motorcycle ride, 17 Class Bike Show, Stereo “Sound Off” contest, burnout contest, great food, and much more. Dry & full service camping is available on site. Daily gate admission is $5 - 12 and under free. For more information visit: thunderbythebay.org.
Exploring Watercolor Class with Gail White on Fridays February 19 through March 26 from 9:30am to 12:30pm. This class is friendly and supportive, and offers guided instruction and demonstrations. The lessons include: design aspects of planning a composition, use of photo references and live setups, watercolor techniques and discussion of color usage and properties of various pigments. This is an online course. When you register (and are paid in full), a Zoom link will be emailed to you. If your teacher has additional handouts, those will also be emailed to you.
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Maid to Mistress will play at the Sarasota Opera House on February 19 at 7:30pm, February 21 at 1:30pm, February 24 at 7:30pm, February 27 at 1:30pm, March 2 at 7:30pm, and March 4 at 7:30pm. A wealthy bachelor grows impatient with his saucy young maid and resolves to find a wife to care for him properly. The maid has other ideas and schemes to get the promotion she desires - bride and mistress of the home. Tickets start at $25 and online streaming is also available.
Presented in partnership with Sarasota Art Museum on February 20 at 5pm. Hermitage Fellow Richard Kennedy presents a movement and listening workshop that explores alternative methods of self-actualization, performance ritual, and collective action by subverting the audience performer dynamic—collapsing the hierarchy of seeing through text, gesture, and composed epic failure; inviting the audience to engage with existing architectures to forge new paths of activation in and of the body. How can we remain activated in isolation? What does it mean to be together? How have the times forced us to reimagine performance to be alone yet together, and how will these new tools be integrated into live performance moving forward? Kennedy is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working between Berlin and Brooklyn. He has choreographed for SSION & Chino Amobi as well as collaborated on projects with NOWNESS, Nicopanda, and Hercules & Love Affair. Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 South Tamiami Trail. Registration information to be released soon; additional information will be available at HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
Compassionate Self Care Boxes Workshop with Judy Lyon on Friday, February 19 from 1:30pm to 4:30pm on Zoom. This workshop will focus on developing the skills to honor and care for ourselves. Many of us give so much to others and we sometimes disregard our own needs. Self-care is vital to our overall well-being. This class will include many ideas to promote self-care. First, we will create a container to hold our techniques learned today. These are collaged boxes, created from a cigar box (or other) magazines and Mod Podge or glue. We will create cards for Self-Care Methods, Laughter Exercise Cards, Mantra or Prayer cards, as well as choosing tokens and self-care symbols which will all be held in the box. Whenever you are feeling stressed you will have a handy tool to turn to for support and comfort. This is an online course. When you register (and are paid in full), a Zoom link will be emailed to you. If your teacher has additional handouts, those will also be emailed to you.
Opportunities abound for astronomy fun in February. Join us at one of these evening viewing sessions in The Bishop’s North Plaza, and you can use our telescopes (and the help of our astronomy experts) to view the stunning Orion Nebula, the jewel-like Pleiades star cluster, and the beautiful double-star Almach. On Saturday, February 20 (with a rain date on Sunday, February 21) we're hosting two sessions to stay within social distancing guidelines, one opportunity from 7pm to 8pm and another from 8:15pm to 9:15pm. Cost is $8 per person for members of the Discovery Society; $10 per person for all others. Masks are required for staff and guests, and we will adhere to social distancing measures.
Join us for an online reading of America In One Room, a new work in progress by playwright Jason Odell Williams, on February 19 at 3pm. When eight strangers receive an invitation to the America in One Room convention, promising debate on a wide range of topics, they are hesitant to participate. However, as each personality files into the aptly-titled Liberty Room, their insecurities, strengths, weaknesses and hopes for the future are put on full display. Inspired by the 2019 convention of the same name, America in One Room dissects recent headlines and our nation’s past to answer the question: what does it mean to be an American? Following the reading, stay for a chance to give feedback and ask questions of the playwright. FST is requesting a suggested donation of $10 to attend this event. Reservations are limited to one per order, per device. Attendees will need to download the Zoom mobile or desktop app to participate in this event.
Asolo Rep continues its season in association with Goodman Theatre and Seattle Rep with the launch of a rolling world premiere of Cheryl L. West’s provocative and poignant new play with a bright future: Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer. Originally commissioned and developed by Goodman Theatre and Seattle Rep, Fannie tells the impassioned story of American civil rights activist and hero, Fannie Lou Hamer. Running February 20 to March 3 at 7pm and directed by Henry Godinez (Resident Artistic Associate at Goodman Theatre), Asolo Rep will start the “roll,” followed by productions to be announced at Goodman Theatre and Seattle Rep. E. Faye Butler, who gave a tour-de-force performance as Queenie in Asolo Rep’s 2013 production of Show Boat, will portray the title role in this deeply moving one-woman production.
Collage & Mixed Media Workshop with Elena DeLaVille on February 18 and 19 from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. This workshop is a fun and hands-on course that will introduce you to the different materials available today for collage and mixed media. You will experiment with different papers, fabric and found images - working with them and then adding paint. We will explore the materials that are used in the making of collage pieces and with that information you can choose the materials that are ‘right’ for you. The instructor will cover Content and composition, Creating a Personal Visual Vocabulary, The principles of design, Adhesives and assemblage techniques to use in your project, and How shape, value, color, movement, size and pattern will help to unify your work and find your ‘voice’. This is an online course. When you register (and are paid in full), a Zoom link will be emailed to you. If your teacher has additional handouts, those will also be emailed to you.
The Perseverance rover is scheduled to land on Mars on Thursday, February 18. On Saturday, February 20 from 10am to 2pm, we'll be celebrating Perseverance and its mission to explore whether life ever existed on the Red Planet. Visitors can enjoy space- and engineering-related games like an outdoor obstacle course around the solar system, a scavenger hunt, a new limited-time Planetarium show about Jezero Crater — the crater Perseverance will be exploring — flight experiments, and more at The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature at 201 10th Street West, Bradenton. Event activities included in the price of admission.
Fine Art engages our imagination to dream or see beyond our current reality, to be inspired. Inspired to Imagineer will run from January through February 2021. Dabbert Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 5pm and by appointment.
Dabbert Gallery, 46 South Palm Avenue
In collaboration with the Sarasota Architectural Foundation, the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation and the AIA Gulf Coast Chapter, this exhibit will examine the unique history of architecture in Sarasota from the time of Native Americans to the present and will run from January 12 until April 17, 2021. Timed reservation information will be available soon.
Joseph's Coat Skyspace is a triumph of technology, engineering, and aesthetics. The Skyspace, created by internationally-renowned artist James Turrell, is a gathering place for contemplation, and sustained experience. At sunset, a sophisticated system of LED lights is employed to change the color of the space. In doing so, the artist changes the context in which you view the sky and can radically change your perception of the color of the sky and its spatial relation to you. As you gaze up at the sky through the 24-foot square aperture in the ceiling, you are invited to contemplate light, perception, and experience. Joseph's Coat is a unique experience. Tickets are $10 for non-members and free for members and will be available 30 days prior to each event.
Since 2004, Embracing Our Differences has used the power of art and prose to promote diversity. One way it accomplishes this is through its annual, juried international outdoor art exhibition consisting of 50 billboard-sized works of art, each accompanied by an inspirational quote. The response to the call for artwork and inspirational quotes brought 15,912 entries pouring in from 128 countries and 48 states. Students from 412 schools around the world submitted artwork or quotes to the juried exhibit. The winning quotes and art will be showcased in the 18th annual exhibit, January 20 through April 1, in Sarasota’s Bayfront Park.
As we enter the festival’s 12th year, we are especially proud to present a premier line-up of 21 remarkable and diverse films that will impact, provoke, and move you. They are documentaries, narratives, tragedies and comedies, mysteries and love stories. Most have won awards and will have special meaning to our community of viewers. All films are being held virtually. During this time of COVID we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our Sponsors for their continued support of the Jewish Film Festival. In doing so, you are fulfilling our Federation’s mission and the tenet of Tikkun Olam – repairing the world, ultimately, helping to provide our community much needed enjoyment. The Jewish Film Festival is one of many programs also sponsored by The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee. The yearly Film Festival that attracts so many movie-goers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, is all about strengthening Jewish life in Sarasota-Manatee. We hope you will leave energized, inspired and moved by the rich traditions and culture of Judaism found in movies celebrated around the world. See you at the movies.
Madeby Gallery hosting Disney Fine Artist - Ringling College of Art and Design Alumnus Tim Rogerson and the original Tinker Bell Margaret Kerry. Zoom Virtual Opening Reception on Wednesday, February 10 from 5:30pm to 6:30pm. Margaret, a Sarasota resident, will be sharing her amazing journey of how Walt chose her to be the original Tinker bell model for the Disney Animators’ in her book, "Tinker Bell Talks." Tim will be taking us on a tour of his magical Disney artwork. Originals, giclees and prints will be available for purchase. Tim has created exclusively for the show, his newest original of Tinker Bell, titled "Pixie Pose." The show runs from February 10 through Friday, March 12.
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