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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2008 > August > 11
Monday, August 11, 2008
Seven chosen for Texas Biennial outdoor project
Seven artists have been chosen for the Texas Biennial Temporary Outdoor project.
The artists chosen by jurors Michael Duncan and Risa Puelo are Ryah Christensen, Colin McIntyre and Jill Pangallo of Austin; Bill Davenport and Sasha Dela of Houston; Buster Graybill of Huntsville and Ken Little of San Antonio.
The artists are charged with creating temporary, site-specific works of public art.
The locations of the projects are the Great Meadow area of Butler Park, Auditorium Shores, the grounds of Mexican American Cultural Center and Fiesta Gardens. The artwork will go on exhibit March 7, 2009.
The artist-run Texas Biennial smartly partnered with the City of Austin’s Art in Public Places program to produce this innovative effort to bring a new kind of public art to Austin.
And with this roster of artists, we can expect exciting, challenging and forward-thinking projects. Forget those goofy giant guitars that popped up all over town awhile ago.
Davenport, if you recall, was a finalist for the 2007 Texas Prize and created the giant “Stealth Pinata” for the exhibit at Arthouse.
By the way, Austin’s was the first municipal government in Texas to make a commitment to include works of art in construction projects when it established the Art in Public Places program in 1985.
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Review: ‘Twelfth Night’
“Twelfth Night” at the Scottish Rite Theatre is solid, straight Shakespeare. Men are men; women are men; and everyone falls in love and wears pale makeup. The production is period through and through, from the doublets and hose to the jig at the end.
With the focus on Shakespeare as it was mostly originally practiced, the play can either sparkle with his words or turn into a workaday history lesson. This “Twelfth Night” does a little of both.
As Viola disguises herself as Duke Orsino’s servant boy to win his love by wooing his beloved Olivia, the emotion is there, but can feel understated. Likewise, as Olivia’s house is beset by fools, foreigners and puritanical stewards, that’s exactly what you get. Everything is performed well and comically—especially in Judd Farris’ naïve Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Robert Matney’s bipolar Malvolio—but too often just at face value.
The final act, though, absolutely pops. Nathan Jerkins’ Orsino speaks in starts and rushes as he accuses Viola of stealing his Olivia and, in turn, threatens to kill her. Suzanne Balling’s Olivia leaps in to defend Shannon Grounds’ Viola, who is just as quick to sacrifice herself to her love. It’s intense, emotional and wonderful.
There’s no ulterior motive or interpretation, and none is needed. With a performance like that — and one that will hopefully fill the rest of the play — Shakespeare still sparkles.
(“Twelfth Night” continues at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 30 at the Scottish Rite Theatre, 207 W. 18th St. $15. 472-5436, scottishritetheatre.org)
Joey Seiler is an American-Statesman freelance theater critic.
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