XL Cover Story

Holiday Arts Shopping Guide

Buy Austin, buy creative: This holiday season, take shopping hints from artistic Austinites

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Horseplay with a Macy's elf

Art imitating life . . . that then imitates life once again.

When actor Martin Burke first took the stage nine years ago in "The Santaland Diaries," there was plenty about the role of an out-of-work writer who takes a job as an elf in Macy's Santaland with which Burke could identify. Burke had been supporting his theatrical ambitions with a series of retail and restaurant jobs. Like David Sedaris' elf who is terrified — and horrified — by the abusively rude parents who drag their children to see the department store Santa Claus, Burke had been on the receiving end of abuse from awful customers.

"I couldn't wait to finally have a voice for my frustrated awe and dumbfoundedness with bad public behavior," he says of his first go-around in the now-popular Zachary Scott Theatre production.

But night after night, and eventually season after season as Burke reprised his performance for five years before taking a two-year hiatus, he came to realize that the directive behind Sedaris' play was not so much sardonic as heartfelt.

"The message is delicate and has to be told with finesse and immense compassion," he says. "I understand the show on a deeper, more respectful and compassionate level now."

Burke finds himself returning to one line from the script again and again: "Remember, the most important thing is that you try and love each other as much as you possibly can."

And his take on the meaning of the Christmas hyper-commercialism so questioned by Sedaris' elf? "I think Christmas is, ultimately, for the kids," Burke says.

Hence, we invited the 38-year-old to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum Shop where he could indulge his inner buckaroo and romp with a herd of plushy Texas animals ($9.50-$16.50) and a stick pony ($18).

After all, whether you're a sardonic elf or not, who doesn't want a pony?

— Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum Shop
1800 N. Congress Ave., 936-8746, www.thestoryoftexas.com.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m. Sundays
Holiday sale: Today through Saturday, save 20 percent off items in the museum shop.

Martin Burke in 'The Santaland Diaries'
When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays through Jan. 7 ( 5 p.m. Dec. 9, 16 and 23).
Where: Whisenhunt Arena Stage, Zachary Scott Theatre, 1510 Toomey Road.
Cost: $34-$38
Information: 476-0541, www.zachscott.com.

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A Dog day with David Lutes

It's hard to label the types of pieces that fill Yard Dog Folk Art. When owner Randy Franklin opened the small South Congress Avenue gallery 11 years ago, he specifically featured folk art from the American South. Now, the artists whose work Franklin shows hail from all over North America. And in the case of U.K.-born, Chicago-based musician Jon Langford, who paints nostalgia-informed portraits of country music icons, Yard Dog's artists come from even farther afield and sometimes have other creative careers.

For that matter, what is American folk art? Is it only the creation of people with no formal or academic art training? Or is it really more about a certain aesthetic — an unabashed homage to Americana, expressed in both content and material?

David Lutes defies classification, too. Though he wound his way through law school, the Texas native emerged in 2003 as Plumtucker — a singer/songwriter whose music is a blend of blues, roots rock and jazz glazed by pop and country ballads. "Eclectic," is how Lutes describes his music, adding that it's also "ultimately in praise of Americana."

Not surprising, then, that Lutes delighted in practically everything in Yard Dog. He revered the energy found in the small paintings ($700-$1,200) by Mose Tolliver, the octogenarian Alabama artist who passed away this fall. He loved the musical heroes that guitarist Lamar Sorrento painted as gawky cartoon figures ($250-$300). And he couldn't take his eyes off the enigmatic tableaux of people in evening wear crafted by Scott Griffin with encaustic on metal ($225-$800).

"I admire this kind of art because there's an authenticity, honesty and openness to it," he says. "There's got to be breathing room — a way for listeners and viewers to find their own way into great art and music."

— Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

Yard Dog Folk Art
1510 S. Congress Ave. 912-1613, www.yarddog.com.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Plumtucker
www.plumtucker.net
Recent release: 'Lightning Wheels' (Blueroot Music)
Next gig: 9 p.m. Saturday, Flipnotics Coffeespace, 1601 Barton Springs Road

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A young filmmaker with Moxie

We have three words for you, Austin: Do it yourself.

That's what designer Kayci Wheatley did when she tired of making her original clothing and selling it wholesale to boutiques. In 2003 she opened a store in South Austin — with the Austintatious title Moxie and the Compound — intent on featuring the wares and products of local designers.

Now in a hip new location at West Mary and South Fifth streets, Moxie stocks artful clothing for adults, children and infants along with original jewelry, household decorations, handbags, accessories, stationery and cards, fine art prints, lamp shades and oh, just about all manner of stuff made by more than 30 designers.

That same kind of DIY sentiment fuels the Austin School of Film, where young filmmaker Anthony Crespo got his training.

Started in 2003 when Austin Cinemaker Co-op and the Center for Young Cinema combined their energies, Austin School of Film provides both the educational and oftentimes expensive practical resources (computers, cameras) for aspiring film and video artists to realize their dream as 21st-century creators. Film and video-making classes for adults and youth complement the school's summer film camp, youth feature film project and regular screenings and workshops.

Crespo leveraged the opportunities offered at the film school. After completing a rigorous course in Apple's video editing software program, Final Cut Studio, Crespo took an equally rigorous exam to receive official certification (the school is the only year-round Apple Authorized Training Center in Central Texas).

The bashful 19-year-old can now not only take well-paying professional editing gigs, but make slick, short videos on his favorite pastime — flatland freestyle bicycling. "It's like dancing in place with BMX bikes," he says. He's also got another interesting, if not exactly lucrative gig — editing a short film shot by his actor-father Luis Olmeda (who showed up most recently in "Prison Break" and also starred a few years ago in the Austin-made movie "Rock Opera.")

"He's letting me do all the editing," Crespo says. "I like putting things together, making things finished."

At Moxie, Crespo took a shine to a colorful silkscreen ($20) of an icon from Austin's creative past: artist/musician Daniel Johnston's famous "Hi, how are you?" graffito on the Drag. "Now that's cool," he said.

— Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

Moxie and the Compound
909 W. Mary St. 441-6699. www.moxieandthecompound.com
Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, noon to 8 p.m. Thursdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays.

Austin School of Film and Media Arts Center
906 E. Fifth St. 236-8877, www.austinfilmschool.org
Next gig: Introductory seminar to Apple Final Cut Studio software, 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday and Dec. 9. Free (registration required). Ten percent discount on regular classes if purchased in December.

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Praise from a trusted source

Jennifer Wijangco exudes urban sensibility. Born and raised in Houston, Wijangco studied art history and finance at the University of Texas before earning a master's degree in arts management. For a time she worked as a fundraiser for the Museum of Modern Art while that New York institution was in the midst of a $858 million capital campaign.

Now, as deputy director of the Texas Cultural Trust, Wijangco has crafted a new strategy to attract younger professionals who want to support the arts. Aimed at those interested in expanding their social network by supporting creative endeavors, StrataTX launched two weeks ago at a hip membership party at the Design Center warehouse, complete with a show by alternative-theater company Yellow Tape Construction.

As urban and Austin-focused as StrataTX might be for now, Wijangco is quick to remind that the trust is there for the entire Lone Star State. In addition to presenting the glamorous Texas Medal of the Arts and the prestigious Young Master art scholarships, the Texas Cultural Trust raises money for a variety of statewide artistic support agencies including Texas Commission of the Arts, Texas Film Commission and Texas Music Office that in turn offer programs in all 254 Texas counties.

"Video game creators, advertising and graphic designers, film producers — professionals in creative industries really understand how important a solid arts education can be," she says. "This new membership group — and the trust — are really about expanding to support all things that incorporate creativity."

When we took Wijangco and her far-reaching creative sensibility to Georgetown gallery Annarella, she was immediately smitten with the watercolors of Rockport-based Christopher St. Leger. Probably because she's dabbled in watercolor her entire life (and she continues to create collage artwork), Wijangco has absolute admiration for "the control and precision the watercolor demands," she says. St. Leger's everyday urban landscapes — allies, freeway flyovers, towering office buildings — also intrigued her.

Likewise the abstractions of longtime Lorena resident Jerry Allen Brem. Wijangco appreciated Brem's thick application of paint and studied arrangements of color blocks. "I like when the hand of the individual artist is evident," she says.

— Jeanne Claire van Ryzin

Annarella
800 S. Austin Ave., Georgetown, (512) 864-9822. www.annarellaonline.com.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Sundays

StrataTX
www.strataTX.org, 478-5289
What: A Texas Cultural Trust membership group for young Texans (roughly ages 25 to 40) interested in supporting and promoting a creative economy.
Memberships: Individual, $125; groups of two or more, $100 per person.
Next gig: Texas Medal of Arts Austin kick-off party in February