Each week, arts writer Meredith Moss highlights the people and events making arts news in our region. If you have news you’d like to share, please contact Meredith: MMoss@coxohio.com
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Here’s one way to celebrate Kwanzaa this year: The Ohio History Connection and the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center (NAAMCC) are currently presenting, “Black Heritage Through Visual Rhythms,” the museum’s second annual juried art exhibition. It’s presented in conjunction with the African American Visual Artists Guild.
The mixed media exhibit showcases more than 100 pieces of artwork created by prominent artists from Ohio and across the United States.
“We put out a national call for artists and had great response, almost every state is represented in this year’s show,” says Clifford Darrett of Dayton, who is on the exhibit committee for the Guild and the Museum. “You’ll see photography, fabric art, sculpture, three-dimensional work, paintings, drawings.”
Judges for the show include Bing Davis, Pheoris West and Tuliza Fleming. Fleming is a native of Yellow Springs who is currently a curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African-American History and Culture.
West is an Associate Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University whose work has appeared at the Philadelphia Museum, Boston Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center. Davis, one of Dayton’s most well-known artists, has been creating and promoting local art for over 50 years and helped create a number of art organizations including Genesis III, the African American Visual Artists Guild and the Dayton Chapter of the National Conference of Artists, an organization that works to develop African American and African culture internationally.
“There’s a lot of creativity and good craftsmanship in this exhibit,” said Davis. “As judges we were also able to display our own work although it was not part of the competition.”
The Best of Show award went to Kelly and Kyle Phelps of Centerville for their ceramic sculpture called “The Dream.” The First Place two-dimensional award went to to James Pate of Dayton for his charcoal drawing entitled “The Mic Generation.”
Charles Wash, executive director of the NAAMCC, said the current exhibition is a great opportunity for the museum to showcase the exceptional talents of African American artists from Ohio and beyond.
The art exhibit runs through Feb. 28 and many of the items are available for purchase. For more information on this and other programs at the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, call (937) 376-4944. In May 2014, the Ohio Historical Society changed its name to the Ohio History Connection.
The museum, located at 1350 Brush Row Road on the Central State University campus, is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $3 for youth ages 6-18. Central State University/Wilberforce Students are admitted free.
Dayton’s Big Read comes to the big screen
Lots of folks in the community read the book “Wild” when it was Dayton’s 2014 Big Read.
Now the true-life story, written by Cheryl Strayed, has come to the big screen. It traces the author’s 1,000 mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail following the dissolution of her marriage and the death of her mother.
The film, which scored 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, was praised by The Neon’s manager Jonathan McNeal when he first saw the film at the Toronto Film Festival. He immediately predicted Witherspoon would receive “nominations galore” for her portrayal of Cheryl Strayed.
Katy Kelly, a University of Dayton librarian who serves on the Big Read committee, says she was very excited to see the film when it opened. She thought the drama of the story would make a good movie.
“I liked the book very much, although it wasn’t what I expected,” Kelly said. ” I thought it was just going to be a book about hiking, and instead it’s more about a woman’s emotional journey — looking at her past experiences and how they shaped her into the woman she became while on the hike.”
Kelly agreed that Witherspoon’s performance was “great” although she said she was disappointed at some of the things the movie omitted including some of the people she met on the trail.
Brent and Amy Anslinger of Miami Twp. have hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and saw the film when it opened.
“Because we’ve hiked the trail, we view it from a different perspective,” says Brent. “It was fun to see the gear, and although it was mostly filmed on private land in Oregon, there were a couple scenes on the PCT itself. The fun part was that we were taken back into that world where you are running into people who show you hospitality, we call those people trail angels.”
One “trail angel” the Anslingers encountered was Meadow Ed, who was also one of the characters in the film.
“This is the first film where someone I knew was depicted as an actor,” says Brent, who says the film was accurate, showing the trials and tribulations encountered by hikers “from being hungry to running out of water in the dessert.”
Brent cautions those who think “Wild” is simply a hiking film to be aware that it is R-rated with flashback scenes that involve drugs and sex.
“What’s realistic,” he adds, “is that a lot of people go on long-distance hikes because they want to find themselves. “
Nicholas Hoult will lend his acting talents to Muse Machine
Nicholas Hoult, the British actor slated to appear with Charlize Theron in Warner Bros.’ “Mad Max: Fury Road” (out in May) will lend his voice to Muse Machine for the upcoming production of “Oliver.”
Hoult is best known for his roles in the X-Men franchise, “Warm Bodies,” ” Jack the Giant Slayer” and “About A Boy.”
In recent years, Hollywood actors Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney have also been involved in Muse productions.
Says Hoult via e-mail: “I was only too thrilled to be asked — having gotten my acting start at such a young age and seeing the wonderful career it’s turned into it — I’m very grateful. It’s brilliant there’s an organization in Dayton that provides an outlet for all of these fantastically talented children to perform and, most importantly, have fun.”
Muse Machine’s “Oliver!” runs Jan. 15-18, 2015 at the Victoria Theatre. For tickets contact (937) 228-3630 or ticketcenterstage.com.
Carillon music continues through Jan. 7
If you’re looking for an unusual type of entertainment this holiday season, consider a visit to Deeds Carillon where the Sounds of the Season are regularly being played on Deeds Carillon through Jan. 7.
It’s the largest set of bells in Ohio and one of the Miami Valley’s best-known landmarks.
You’ll be treated to songs like “Silver Bells,” Jingle Bells” and “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Christmas music is being played daily at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 and 5 p.m. In addition, “Jingle Bells” is played daily at 9:30 a.m.
According to Alex Heckman, director of education for the park, the bells are the realized dream of a gifted and public-spirited Dayton woman, Edith Walton Deeds (1869-1949), who found in it the expression of a lifelong love and talent for music.
Deeds Carillon is located at 1000 Carillon Blvd. at the entrance to Carillon Historical Park, a museum complex of 30 exhibit buildings, including a 20,000 square foot Heritage Center of Dayton Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship. The park is open 360 days of the year.
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