ARTS Tuesday, March 3, 1992 The Michigan Daily Page 5 Crawford shakes 'Booty' Harpsichordist Penelope Crawford explores an assortment of Baroque tunes with funny names by Liz Patton Where does travel begin? With suitcases, of course. Ann Savageau takes you away with The Armchair Traveler. Ann Savagau takes i on the road The Armchair Traveler The Clare Spitler Works of Art February 21, 1992 "Art is the only Nyay to run away without leaving home," Twyla Tharp once said. Residential College pro- fessor and artist Ann Savageau has done some running away of her own kind with her latest exhibit The Armchair Traveler, which displays 12 mixed media works on the theme of travel. Whether they're the five pieces depicting actual locations or the seven imaginary places, they all begin - where else - in a suitcase. Suitcases collected from various garage sales open to display detailed works comprised of unique composi- tions of wood, canvas, earth, bones, snake. skins, stones and/or pho- tographs. Savageau admits "I never know exactly how it's going to come out. I like the risk and challenge of not knowing what's going to hap- pen." Age-old baggage tickets dangle from the handles of many of the an- tique suitcases. Even the gallery it- self captures the flavor of travel through displays of airline tickets, travel brochures, stamps, postcards and travel journals which Savageau has been collecting for years. Many of the pieces include lad- ders, representing the desire to search or suggesting an escape to a distant, fantasy place. "Ladders turn life, they suggest the future," adds Savageau. One piece even has a "Ladder Burial Ground with tiny ladders placed among pieces of bone and earth. Savageau explains, "Lad- ders are symbolic much like bridges providing connection. This also sug- gests human connotations of connec- tion." Having grown up on a farm in Colorado, Savageau became inter- ested in natural history at a young age. In college, her anthropology major sparked a fascination with ru- ins, especially mythical and South- western ruins. One piece from The Armchair ANAb 1& Traveler entitled "Facial Land- scape" depicts desolate areas stripped by the gold mines in Colorado with topography designed in the shape of a face. She utilizes a technique she began in Australia a few years back. She began to use colored earth as a medium instead of paint, which is actually a very old tradition. The integration of natural objects has since become a signifi- cant part of her work. The theme of spoiling the land is as prevalent as the ladder motif in the exhibit. While "Landscape" de- picts an area mined to death, Sav- I never know exactly how it's going to come out. I like the risk and challenge of not knowing what's going to happen.' -Ann Savageau Artist ageau also highlights the tourist as vandal, seen in "Looted Ritual Site, Andean Plateau." Savageau remains intrigued by our culture's esteem for travel to exotic places, and the strong empha- sis on tourism as an escape from the mundane and familiar. She suggests that the notion of exotic depends on one's perspective; any place can be exotic to an outsider. One work entitled "Atwood, Illinois," (where many of her rela- tives lived and farmed), captures four generations in a highly original manner. The piece tells human his- tory with its narrative content, re- flecting Savageau's own delightful talent of storytelling. Having spent many summers in Atwood as a child, the piece evokes the rich pleasures of living in a small town. The tribute to great-grand- parents and grandparents includes items typical of each generation including a Victorian doll, an old marble and a photo of Grandma in a corn field. Overlaying an old photo- graph is an inscription on acetate. Penned by Savageau's grandmother, a letter asks three questions on living a good life. As a child of 11, Savageau lived in Iran for two years. The piece, "Iran" depicts these travels. She in- cludes photos taken with a brownie camera. Savageau has also included a storybook "Jube Dos" retelling a traumatic memory -- a pet's violent death. "That was my introduction to cruelty ... It was very cathartic to do a piece on it." Savageau says she finds an ob- ject, reacts to it and then uses it in her work. "Artifacts" displays fast- food collectibles discovered in Mc- Donald's and Burger King parking lots. She found fossils alongside plastic trinkets, so she painted the modern objects to resemble the old ones. They are delicately arranged in an elegant suitcase resembling a box of specimens of insects or shells. While Savageau sees a certain comedy and disillusion in tourism, she admits that "Travelling has been very important material for my work ... it is a summing up of things in life." Her complex pieces of art al- low one to relive and reinterpret her travels. And, as Savageau adds, "There is always latitude for perso- nal interpretation." The Armchair Traveler will be on exhibit at Clare Spitler Works of Art throughout March from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. every Tuesday and by arrange- ment. Call 662-8914 for more in- formation. - Julie Komorn You thought songs had funny names today. Well there was a guy in seventeenth-century France named Frangois Couperin, who titled dozens of keyboard pieces with cute little names like "The Mysterious Barricades," or "The Satyrs." The one to be performed by School of Music pro- fessor Penelope Crawford at Kerrytown tonight is called simply "Le Trophle," or "The Booty." The name fits - it is a hidden treasure of sorts. Many gems of old music are hidden under the accumulated years of history. And Couperin hid the names of these splendid harpsichord pieces by grouping them under the uninspiring rubric "ordres." The rest of Crawford's program has more usual Baroque sorts of titles, such as Partita, Galliard, and Sonata. There weren't any really standard generic ti- tles back then (like symphony or concerto), because musical norms were in such a state of flux. One big change during the seventeenth century was the differ- entiation between vocal and instrumental music. Mu- sic was beginning to be written for a specific instru- ments, without the assumption that musicians would simply use whatever instrument was on hand. One result was an explosion of brilliant keyboard music. For the harpsichordist in particular, said Crawford, there is an incredible variety of musical styles to explore from this period. The composers themselves were exploring, creating an idiom, and for a performer it can be a challenge to handle the changes between such different styles. Crawford's concert will include pieces of many nationalities: an English Pavane by Byrd, a Dutch theme and variations by Sweelinck, an Italian toccata by Frescobaldi, and a German partita by Bach. "To have all those wildly different aesthetics on one pro- gram requires as much quick shifting as I can mus- ter," she says. The program is a sort of an introduction to the ma- jor keyboard genres as represented by some of the most important figures of the Baroque. Crawford de- cided to explore the seventeenth-century music in the first half of the program both to expand her own range and to get others to hear it as well. "Previously I was much more familiar with eigh- teenth-century repertoire," she said. "This is for my own satisfaction, both for a learning experience and because I like the music. And some of the places I'm playing, I'd like to introduce the music to people I'm sure haven't listened to much of it at all." J. S. Bach, of course, nearly everyone knows and loves. And although he was from Italy, Domenico Scarlatti's music practically represents another na- tionality: Spanish. He spent most of the latter part of his life in Portugal and then Madrid, and many of his sonatas show exciting instrumental effects remi- niscent of Spanish guitar playing. William Byrd, on the other hand, wrote with charming tunefulness and smooth harmonies, with no shocking dissonances or other startling effects. Frescobaldi? Italian passion. Couperin? French con- trolled elegance. Sweelinck? Netherlandish brilliance. This music was all written in the days before the modern steel-frame piano was invented, and the harp- sichord was the hottest keyboard instrument around. It is possible to play this music on a piano, of course, and it often has been done. But today, with the idea of "authenticity" in the performance of early music, it is accepted that there are many things a harpsichord can do that are difficult or impossible on a modern piano Such as? "Speech-like qualities," answers Craw- ford without hesitation. "One simply cannot do enough subtle things with articulation on a piano to bring the speech-like and rhetorical qualities to life," she says. "The modern piano has such a long singing sound, the sound doesn't die fast enough, so articulations sound chopped off. A good pianist could achieve a similar result, but it's hard work, and the results sound unnatural. "Another thing is the whole dynamic question in early music," says Crawford. "For early keyboard music it can become awfully artificial in pianists' hands. Here they have this instrument that has all these dynamics, so what do they do with it? Often what they choose to do is totally out of keeping with the aesthetic of that music. "The piano has such tremendous dynamic range that it's impossible not to use it. For early music, ter- raced dynamics (sudden changes from uniform loud to uniform soft) and other techniques can create the illusion of varied dynamic levels. You can recreate the articulations, you can recre- ate the instrument, but you can't have the setting. You'll just have to imagine that the Kerrytown Con- cert House is a ducal court somewhere in Italy. PENELOPE CRA WFORD performs at the Kerrytown Concert House tonight at 8. Tickets are $1O-$5, Students $5. Call 769-2999. Reservations suggested. who what where when What is one to do? Spring break has wrapped itself up, and while the rest of the University seems to be back in the swing of things, you can't quite manage to get yourself to crack open that book on the agro- ecology of the lower Huron flood plain. Well, we want to let you know that your plea has not fallen on deaf ears. We have scoured the files, the press releases, and all the other pa- pers to find, well, not a whole hell of a lot. But the search wasn't entirely in vain. Our man on the street has turned up the latest episode of the Ann Arbor Poetry Slam. Strap on your best verse and mosey on down to Club Heidelberg at 8 p.m. tonight. Open mike readings open the agenda, immediately followed by the actual Slam competition. But that's not all you get for your $3 entrance charge. Karen Malfy, Sandra Vallie, and Brian Wallace (three organizers of Granite Line Writers) are featured guests. Ring Club Heidelberg at 995- 9857 for dress code, menus, direc- tions, or more info, but not, we re- ally must insist, just to chat. And do you know who's the best band on Sub-Pop? You probably have your own opinions, but you're all wrong because it's really Afghan Whigs. Their complex, extremely rockin' music and twisted, sarcastic lyrics make them one of the most exciting bands around today. And now that they have a video on MTV's 120 Minutes, you might have even heard them. They're play- ing tonight at St. Andrews Hall for five measley bucks at the door. Doors open at 9. Forced to grow up on the tough streets of Livingston, NJ, Tequila Mockingbird guitarist Jeff Gordon learned the blues the hard way. His solo show at the Blind Pig tonight should be a showcase of the 19 years of pain and misery buried in his soul. The T-Mocks are still together, so don't worry. You can catch them at Scorekeeper's tomorrow to benefit Hillel. 6TH AVE. AT USER Now Hiring Display Account Executives 1 I For Spring/Summer & Fall Terms Dear Kristen, What can I say except we are docking in Cape Town tomorrow and that 10 days of information straight from Archbishop Tutu under my cap has humbled me. Now I can see Apartheid for myself with new eyes. Sorry, but I have to run for the final game in the volleyball tournament h1 _ _ M f''1 Af i Gain valuable business experience while selling advertising to local and regional businesses. You'll be responsible for managing your own account territory. You'll work for a student-run organization, and become a professional representative of the newspaper to the University community. l QUALIFICATIONS " Good organizational skills Good communication skills " Positive attitude " Dependable " Ambitious RESPONSIBILITIES " Sell advertising space and service accounts " Meet and communicate with a variety of person- alities " Generate new business " Explain rate card & POSITIONS AVAILABLE Account Executive " 40 hours per week in S/S terms - 15 hours per week in F/W terms - 2 term commitment A c .4 fA A - & E--. .A.. APPLICATION DEADLINE is Friday, March 6. Pick up applications in the m , I I I I II I