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West Coast Perspective

Pecha Kucha Night is back for its sixth Buffalo event at Artspace’s Gallery on June 14 beginning at 8 pm. Pecha Kucha was conceived in 2003 in Tokyo as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each - giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.

As Wired Magazine surmised, "The key to the success of the Pecha Kucha evenings springing up across the world over the last few years -- from Bogota to Buffalo -- is simplicity."

Eli George

The JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition is a biennial event that began in 2004. This year’s performances include a lot of community outreach programs to follow along with the ten world-class musicians as they progress through the semi-final and final rounds.

In 2004, JoAnn Falletta, conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) and a classical guitarist, and Don Boswell, President of WNED, brainstormed the idea together. The BPO and WNED then partnered to produce the first one. According to Wendy Diina Ceppaglia, co-chair of the competition, “The event made such an impact in our community and in the international guitar world that it returned in 2006.”

The first year just had two semi-final rounds and one final round. In 2006, after being part of Gusto at the Gallery, Ceppaglia says, “[It] really opened our eyes to the community outreach po…

buffalorising

There is still time to register for the 2008 Art Alive competition/exhibition, which will take place on June 7 from noon to 2PM.

Submit your entry form to the Albright-Knox by June 2, and let them know which work of art you'll emulate this year. There have been some very clever past entries, some that may inspire you, that can be viewed here. As you can tell from the pictures, the entries are typically very creative and some take feats of endurance that typify the idea of suffering for one's art. The bright side is that there are cash prizes to be won and a lot of fun to be had.

For those of you not inclined to use your eye for detail to the ends of actually being a work of art, this exhibit is a lot of fun to view. Remember that it takes place, rai…

Eli George

Now in it’s 21st year, Artists & Models has come in many different incarnations. The annual event, held by Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, has run since 1984. There was a three-year hiatus when Hallwalls was in between places when moving from the Tri-Main Center to The Church at Delaware and West Tupper, but it has been the only interruption to the yearly craziness.

Artists & Models Affairs have held different themed events, last year’s being called “Nocturminal,” held at the Central Terminal. Polly Little, development director for Hallwalls says, “We’ve been tempted, but we’ve never used the same name twice.” This year must be especially tempting because the event returns to the Central Terminal, but it does indeed have another name: Unhinged.

The event lasts from 9 PM till 2 AM on May 31st and features 33 one-night only installations by more then 4…

Eli George

As the first and leading U.S. Performing Rights Organization, when the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) decides to give you an award, it’s kind of a big deal. The ASCAP was established in 1914 and has the world’s largest repertory featuring 8.5 million copyrighted works of every style and genre from more than 315,000 songwriter, composer, and music publisher members.

Now, the organization, which is owned and governed by its writer and publisher members, have decided to honor the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s (BPO) director, JoAnn Falletta. Tomorrow, May 22nd, Falletta will be the recipient of the prestigious award at the ninth annual ASCAP Concert Music Awards at The Times Center in NYC.

The award recognizes those who represent the diverse spectrum of the concert music world. Falletta is a conductor, communicator, recording artist, …

Jerome Lindberg

In conjunction with the Central Library's Get Graphic program, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman will give a presentation on graphic novels entitled "Comix 101" Thursday, May 22 at the downtown branch. The event will begin at 4PM.

Get Graphic takes advantage of young adults' interest in graphic novels by creating programs that involve graphic novels and historical events. This past spring, the program used Spiegelman's classic graphic novel Maus to educate buffalo high school students on the Holocaust. The novel is centered around Spiegelman's father and families experience. By using the medium of graphic novels, Spiegelman is able to deal with controversial issues while at the same time pointing out the absurdity of situations, and Maus has a human quality despite the main characters being drawn as animals.

Spiegelman has been an influence on the comic …

Elena Cala Buscarino

Nathan Naetzker said, "The only thing worse than being a painter, is being a poet." This was his off the cuff response to the lifestyle of his past. "I've spent a lot of time in places from San Francisco to Brooklyn where I was forced to wash my dishes in the tub. Dirty places where security and was an issue and doors and windows didn't meet."

Not so now. "I feel like I died and went to heaven," Naetzker says of his new apartment in Artspace, the year-old, Midtown Buffalo artist's residence that consists of 36 units in the Breitweiser Building at 1219 Main Street, as well as 24 new builds behind it. With nearly 30 projects either completed or underway nationally, Artspace has become America's leading nonprofit real estate developer for the arts.

Naetzker, who paints in a variety of styles from…

Eli George

B. West Studio at 148 Elmwood Avenue has presented many exhibits to raise funds for different programs like the Crisis Advocate Program (Oct. 2006), the Crisis Services Rape Program (Apr. 2007), and the Crisis Services Homeless Outreach (Oct. 2007). Most recently in March of 2008, Autistic Services, Inc. rented out the gallery to put on an exhibit created by their students in their arts program. Now, with the Allentown Arts Festival on the horizon, the gallery is opening its doors to allow area artists to use the gallery space during the festival.

Laurie Tanner, director of the B. West Studio, says, “We’re trying to keep it kind of organized on a submission basis. We’re trying to attract more diverse artists. It’s kind of an alternative. It’s so close to the festival.”

Artists would pay a $25 fee to display their artwork in the space. The gallery will collect no com…