NATURE, THEATER, OPERA AT THE BEACH
The Hermitage Artist Retreat is hosting a beach event this Friday, October 30, on their beachfront campus, 6660 Manasota Key Road, Englewood. The free event begins with open studios at 5:00 pm and continues on the beach, at approximately 5:30 pm, with a varied program of artists whose specialties include science, story-telling, theater and opera. Visitors need only bring their beach chairs or blankets and any refreshments they would like to enjoy. In case of questionable weather, check the Hermitage Facebook page or call 941-475-2098, ext. 6.
“We are off and running with exciting programs from our artists-in-residence,” explained Executive Director Bruce E. Rodgers. “Some of the artists have visited before and others are experiencing the wonder of the Hermitage for the first time. We look forward to seeing and hearing about their work.”
There will be two open studios, with distinctly different programs. In one, Los Angeles interdisciplinary artist Danial Nord will show video of his projects and talk with guests in the 3-D studio. According to his website, Nord’s award-winning work reinterprets the familiar language and trappings of mass communication. His manipulation of color, light, form, moving image, and sound catches viewers in a cycle of seduction and confrontation. His large-scale installations were recently featured in “State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now” at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and in the 2013 California-Pacific Triennial at the Orange County Museum of Art. He has exhibited around the US and abroad at World Expo 2010, in China and in Belgium. His exhibitions have been covered by the LA Times, LA Weekly, ARTFORUM, Artweek, Afterimage, and NPR.
In the Hermitage House opera creators Elle Kunnos de Voss and Mikael Karlsson will show videos of their opera projects. At 5:30, they will continue the presentation and discuss the work on the beach. Kunnos and Karlsson are the first recipients of the American Opera Projects (AOP)/Hermitage Opera Genesis Fellowships. Their current work and collaboration, The Echo Drift, is a monodrama about a female prisoner and a moth, slated for a co-production by AOP and the PROTOTYPE Festival in 2017.
“Canopy Meg” is the nickname for Dr. Margaret Lowman, Chief of Science & Sustainability at California Academy of Sciences. Previously she served as Director of Selby Gardens and is well known to full-time residents. Beginning at around 6:00 pm, Dr. Lowman will read a passage from her book of nature writings, in tandem with Ethiopian Scientist Tizezew Sisay, who will read the passage in Amharic.
Writer and performer Jon Spelman and playwright Marisa Smith will bring comedy and drama to the beach. Spelman has written and performed stories of Abraham Lincoln for the Forbes Theater in Washington, DC, and has been commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution and the Kennedy Center. He has performed in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, England, Mexico, Austria, Japan, Israel, and France, and at over three thousand other locations in North America. Spelman has been called “World-Class” by the LA Times, and “a stunning wordsmith and a riveting performer” by the Washington Post. Locally he is known as the Founder of Sarasota’s Florida Studio Theatre.
Marisa Smith is a playwright as well as co-owner and publisher of Smith and Kraus Publishers, the leading publisher in the United States of theater books for the trade with over 600 titles in print. Her play, Saving Kitty, ran this summer at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge, Mass, where reviewers urged, “Don’t wait another minute to get a ticket to the funniest show in town right now…” She and Jon will read some comic scenes from her plays.
“This is a beautiful time of year to visit the Hermitage and enjoy great art by renowned artists,” remarked Co-Founder and Program Director Patricia Caswell. “These artists each have fierce intellects tempered with engaging personalities. Come engage with them!”
For more information visit the website at www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org or call
941-475-2098, ext. 5.
