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29 July 2002
This is such a cool Web site! We appreciate your including Thomas Struth in your calendar. Attached is a schedule of upcoming exhibitions.
Ellen Key
Public Relations Manager,
Dallas Museum of Art
Please help this online magazine survive by becoming a Supporting Member, you get a web page with up to 6 images, access to all DARts pages, monthly Rambles from the Editor, participation in the decisions that change this site, and other benefits. Or by becoming a DARts Subscriberr, you get access to all DARts' pages, monthly Rambles and participation. |
9 July 2002
JR,
Thank you for noticing my work at the show and putting it on the page! Your photo is much better than what they had on the Bath House site, which was way too small. I know, my work really is very strange, but I guess I see so much strange stuff, it has to go somewhere.I have to tell you though, your work on these pages is what made me get busy and work more on my "other" art. I've really been "away" from the fine art scene, spending all my energy focusing on my illustration work. And I love that work, but you know, artists have to make their own art or they feel like they are missing out.
So I started looking at art sites during my off times for inspriation. That's when I found Dallas Arts Revue. What a great way to see what everyone is doing and to become familar with all the area artist's styles. If I cannot make a show, I can usually find something written up about it on your site. It helps me feel like I'm in touch and helps focus me for the times when I can work on my own projects, usually the weekends.
Thanks JR.
ST
9 July 2002
Hi JR,
I haven't told you how much I appreciate what you have done in keeping Gerald Burns memory alive. Pages on DallasArtsRevue were great. Don't know if you have seen anything on the series WordSpace is doing at Undermain this summer. It is on our website. I think I sent you the poster. If not I will. On Friday August 16 I am going to do another Remembering Gerald Burns.
Would like to make it a bit more theatrical which is possible at Undermain. We have lights etc and a stage. I would like to add something abt Gerald's connection to the Unibomber [ Gerald figured out it was a Harvard classmate of his, a year before the FBI did. ] & make videos of him with lions, doing magic etc more a part of the piece.... Jerry Kelley is not going to be in town but I am trying to get him to do a short video of the 10 (12?) things Burns said one needs to know/do to write a poem.
Searcy and I will be getting together soon to talk about what we are going to do and I am going to see if Catherine Owens might help us stage the thing. Just getting started. I enjoy Dallas Arts Revue and appreciate the important service you are providing to the Dallas arts community with it.
Bob Trammell
15 June 2002
Hey I love your description of D-Art in it's latest carnation. After being a member for 15 years or so, I now have no desire to re-enlist at all. I felt the same way about DARE once the MAC got started. But now that D-Art is so goofy, I may have to re-join the MAC just to show support for something legit. It's just so much easier to be independent, have fun / call your own shots, than to get caught up in all the red tape, with bigtime wanna be's, all their petty political BS and insatiable volunteer needs.
Frank
Enjoyed Kathy's write-up/send-up of DVAC's latest "membership show." (DVAC is "that other gallery on Swiss," mine being on Swiss too.) But you are giving them waaay too much free publicity. Let 'em just simmer in their own juices, and don't waste your pixels on 'em. What else can you expect from a place who has Exxon as a major sponsor... and is proud of it?
Cheers,
Michael CrossAnother Cross letter is above.
29 May 2002
Strange you should send a note just now......last night ( Monday ), out of the blue, I decided to surf your web site. Your writing style made me feel right at home, but most of the names of the artists you were writing about, I've never heard of.
Some of them may have been born the day I left Dallas back in the 80's. Ye Gods. I feel so far removed from the art... the artists..... the happenings in Big D. Luckily, I don't feel removed from art. I'm still making 'it'. I still think about it. I still consider it a verb. However, my favorite response to the question, "Are you an artist?" is "No. I'm just a human being trying to live an artistic life."
Every year that response becomes even more significant. I'm still keeping my eyes and mind wide open. I look for the beauty and connectedness and continuity in all things. Time does go faster now, and I find I don't have near enough of it to explore and experiment and create. Thank goodness old people don't need as much sleep as they did when young. I'm picking up a few hours a day that way!
The time I gain is split between art and politics. Not the politics of art - which I used to find interesting - but the politics of this country I live in. Most of the time, it sucks. But at the same time, it can be mesmerizing. It is human nature at work....and what a work we are. We're poopin in our own messkit and don't seem concerned in the least. Why is
that? What makes people vote into office a person who does not have their interests at heart. What is this fatal attraction so many folks are displaying for fascism.Love, T.J.
26 May 2002
This is not tough although your website leaves alot to be desired. ALLLLL I want to know is when was the bath house built?
You provide everything that people want to know to rent or give money.......just the facts would be great.
RD Franks
2 May 2002
God, thanks, I needed that. Gerald [Burns] and I were friends for years in Portland. (I worked on Salt Lick with Jim Haining, and still hang out from time to time with Michael Lally -- though not as often as any of us would like -- since we both live in the NY area.) I talk with him now only slightly less often than I did then, when we used to stay up until 3 in the morning talking and drinking 40s of Olympia beer or whatever other swill we could afford. He taught me how to make omelettes without a spatula, and still gives great advice.
Again, many thanks,
Maggie
12 April 2002
Thank you for this publication. Your photographs are often the only way that I can see much of this work (due to family and school obligations). I also really appreciate being able to hear what's going on in the Dallas art world.
Jeanne Cain
4 April 2002
Dear Sir/Madam:
Just a note to tell you how glad i was to find your website, very informative and for an artist, exciting to search. I just wish Houston would get their *!@# together and have something like this ......... hmmm maybe it's up to me.
Your Pal,
Antonio
28 March 2002
It's great — link will be in.
ac
Since I'd learned about Gerald Burns' death on AC's feature on NPR's All Things Considered, I'd E-mailed Andrei Cordrescu at his Exquisite Corpse website, hoping he'd link my story about Gerald. His short note is here, because he's a literary hero of mine, and I'm thrilled to have his succint letter. Other brushes with greatness were when John Cage asked me to stop taking photographs with my loud Nikon cameras at a performance at the Dallas Museum, and when Ram Dass talked briefly with me about zoom lenses before one of his lectures in the early 1970s.
27 March 2002
JR,
Just a note to let you know I think you're doing a great job running the REVUE. You provide great information in your publication that is more up-to-date and reliable than The Observer or the Morning Newsweek or any other publication
around. It helps me to know what shows I want to see and whats going on.I want to support your efforts by sending you my $50.00.
Keep up the great work!
Norman Kary from the Kary Pictures Studio
22 March 2002
Hi JR,
Thanks so much for the great EASL Garden page! You made us look so good! It made me smile!!
Cheers,
Lil
25 February 2002
J.R.,
Thanks for passing the letter along.One thing I attempt to do with my art, hopefully more successfully than not, is elicit some kind of visceral response from the audience or viewer; a response that bypasses cognitive process to turn the inside out, and reveals the hidden parts of our true inner selves that we try to ignore or hide. This man "brwstrfred'" is actually a big fan of mine, and whether he knows it or not, almost completely understands my art. I am complemented by his observations.
Sorry 'bout the funding you lost....
Ken
25 February 2002
I am a sculptor in California. I look at a large number of art related sites. Your site is very sharp. You have good information and it is fun to read.
Dan Dykes
24 February 2002 If I knew how to hack you I would shaddock is an insult to the word art Please get him off for a big funding (sic) Brwsrfred@aol.com
Your point is typical of low minded people. Apply your life to a more worthy cause. Stop being selfish and help someone who need (sic) it your intended donation will go elsewhere.
What a sad state of what people call art. My garbage collector would refuse to pick up such.Taking time to answer your gutter coments only makes me sure of where the foundations ( sic ) funding will now go.
THAT WAS NO JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would not joke about funding as the money comes from a foundation fund and must be reported. Sorry you missed out. Removal of such trash from your web site may change funding in th future. Glad you read your mail. I hope this is bright enough for you.
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10 February 2002
Thanks to your publicist email artist art shirer, went to see recent additions to arts revue site. glad to see it growing and evolving. Also good, because I had never seen many of the artist mentioned. DallasArtsRevue.com definitely makes the Dallas art scene look more vital than lack of coverage seen in dallas morning news.
Dwayne
Dallas Arts Revue has no publicists. except me. However, we encourage individuals to distribute our URL http://www.dallasartsrevue.com -- to people you / they think might enjoy this site. -JRC
20 February 2002
J.R
This is an outstanding article about Sherry Owens' show. The photos look great, and your text is great. She is an amazing artist and friend. Thank you for honoring her work.
Patricia B. Meadows
11 February 2002
JR
Your descriptions are hilarious. Many share the mixed feelings about new Center Director, Joan. She has put lots of great exhibits together; I wonder how many disgruntled Dallas artists saw them. My gosh, they were way way out there in Arlington!
I had some other thoughts about our new "Contemporary" Dallas Art Center. What was the thinking when that big castle of a building was designed? It is really a strange piece of architecture. Can it stand as a symbol for Contemporary Art in Dallas? Not so much the inside, but the outside gives no hint of a "modern" or "contemporary" place. When I drive past, it reminds me of something trying to be from the middle ages.
I have really good memories of the former D'art - the old so-called dilapidated building. Fond, fond memories of the people (Sherry, Katherine, and Patricia) and the older, non-pretentious space, even with all the flaws.... and that old building (even with the slanted floors and all) allowed room for artists to "rent" space for exhibits. No such provisions in the new big Art Castle.
Well, we will see. I am, however, looking forward to working with Joan and staff on the upcoming show, Texas Mud, an exhibit of clay works from throughout the state, an exhibit I and other clay artists proposed more than a year ago while Katherine [ Wagner ] was still Director.
Yes, you can propose exhibits at DVAC or the Contemporary - no one can keep you from making proposals - in the past or now - where did anyone get the idea you could not propose exhibits? Of course, it would help if there was a "call" for proposals and ideas from the art community. No imaginations have to be numbed by anyone or any place; if you think you have a good idea for an exhibit, why not send it Joan's way? Maybe more artists should do that rather than remaining puffed up about new changes taking place.
The Clay exhibit, Texas Mud, will be up this November - (the exhibit was given the name by Joan; some question whether calling our art "mud" will help uplift the concept of contemporary works of clay) but maybe the works themselves can do that. Anyway, it is exciting that the Exhibition Committee and the Texas Commission for the Arts are funding such a show.
Thank you, JR - your recent "ramblings" influenced me to do a little written rambling myslef, but words don't flow quite as easily for me.*... so let me get back to scratching out my feelings on clay. I look forward to your next ramblings!
Marty Ray
8 February 2002
Hi JR
Thank you for the words vivid, electric and powerful in your review of the Modalities show at Brookhaven. That was a fine way to start the day.
Mary Vernon
7 February 2002
JR,
Thanks for the ramble. I like a ramble better than a calendar anytime. I, too, have been keeping up with the hit counters on the members pages and have noticed the "first page hits" phenomena. For myself, I would prefer to keep the two page set-up. I hope some of the others go for a single page so we can see what happens.
I don't know what you could do ( that you are not already doing ) to attract more audience. The site is definitely a well cultivated and pruned one ( how do you like having your work compared to a shrub? I personally love topiary ), navigation is easy, content is interesting and to the point, graphics keep getting better ( must be the new camera ), and seems like Kathy is invigorating your critical skills ( although you know I trust your criticism 'cause I know you'll tell me what you really think ). Which is why I enjoy your reviews.
Even if I am not familiar with a particular artist or his/her work, reviews are always a blast 'cause JR tells it like he sees it, sorta the "scorched earth" approach to art critique, beholden to no man or woman. Which is the way it should be.
Ken
Paid DARts members get, among other perks, a monthly Midnight Ramble from the editor of this E-rag. The first was a goofy calendar with several errors. The second was a longish ramble about things DARts. No tellin' what the next one will be, but it will very likely ramble.
JRC
4 February 2002
Had theater 3 tix so missed the hearts show at the bathhouse. So grateful you went and reviewed it so fast. Will really make a point of getting over there now, ...and to the pantyhose show at 500X! Love the way you review... don't overintellectualize.
Sandy
4 February 2002
I am so glad I found your website. I find myself going to it on almost a daily basis for different reasons. I look forward to adding some of my artwork. You are doing a GREAT service for the art community of Dallas!
Danna Jackson
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