4B - Thursday, March 15, 2007 {the b-side} 40 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com GALLERY PRVi Ap with BELOVED LOCAL ART INTIMATE RE By CAITLIN COWAN DailyArts Writer Poet Jim Gustafson famously wrote that there's "no money in art." There are, however, other riches that come with a fruitful career in art: veneration, Two Ways love and vision. Ann Mikolowski, the beloved of Looking Detroit painter and late in a Mirror wife of RC Prof. Ken Mikolowski, had all of Trough these in large measure. April28 The Center Galleries At the Center at the College for Cre- Galleriesat ative Studies in Detroit the Collegefor will present a career- Creative Studies spanning retrospective on Mikolowski, a CCS Free alum, opening Saturday and running through April 28. While national recognition for Mikolowski's art was abbreviated by her death in 1999, she has been no less revered oet paint 'IST REMEMBERED IN TROSPECTIVE "She was so loved and so highly regard- ed among the creative community," said Michelle Perron, director of the Cen- ter Galleries, where the exhibit will be shown. "I thought it was time for another critical look at her work." The title of the retrospective, "Two Ways of Looking in a Mirror," is taken from the Robert Creeley poem of the same name. The exhibit will prominently fea- ture for what Mikolowski was especially known: "Two things," Mikolowski said, "waterscapes and miniature portraits." The miniature portraits Mikolowski painted feature a number of artists and writers as well as her personal friends. Though the largest of these measures just three by four inches, they're painted with meticulous attention to detail. The photo- graphic immediacy of each portrait was inspired by Polaroid snapshots Mikolows- ki took of her subjects before she painted them. Mikolowski also captured this same immediacy in her sweeping, emotive land and waterscapes. Among many other bod- ies of water, Mikolowski said "she spent a lot of time on Lake Huron." "She spent the bulk of her career on these major series," Perron said of Mikolowski's work. While the small por- traits and large waterscapes may initially seem to have little in common, Perron said she sees a definite connection. "She considered the waterscapes to be internal self-portraits, and the miniature portraits she painted of her friends and fellow artists represented, in a way, her external life," she said. According to Perron and Mikolowski, the CCS retrospective was a long time in the making. Collecting all of Ann's work 0 0 0 CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: "Big Lake Moon," "John Egner" and "Anne Waldman and Allen Ginsberg." was also a daunting task in itself. "Eleven of the paintings are from my collection," Ken said. The rest of the works included in the retrospective were loaned from other galleries, collectors and individuals spread over the country. Though their artistic lives were always interesting, Mikolowski admitted he and his late wife often struggled. "For 15 years we worked with one part time job between the two of us. She was a painter, I was a poet, and together we ran a press," he said of their life. The publishing company he spoke of is the Alternative Press, which published original hand-printed materials and poet- ry by artists like Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman. While the CCS retrospective will focus solely on Ann's oil paintings, the pair collaborated on many projects for the Alternative Press. "She was the artis- tic half of the operation," he said. The exhibit will run for six weeks after the public opening reception tomorrow from 6p.m. to 8 p.m. Other featured events will take place throughout the exhibit's run, including a poetry reading featuring Andrei Codrescu(whose ownminiature portrait appears on the cover of one of his collections), Ken Mikolowski and Chris Tysh on March 30 at 8 p.m. Michelle Perron will also give a gallery talk at noon April 5. "Intimate" is a the word Per- ron chose to best describe Mikolowski's paintings both large and small. "You're liter- ally drawn in and enveloped by them," she said. "She was a poet with paint." 4 0 TASSI From page 1B and prove to everyone that yes, he has become a man. It might be annoying having people call you "Harry Potter" every time you walk down the street, but it's got to be better than hearing "Hey, was it cold in there or what?" Being taken seriously isn't limited to comedians or typecast children. Many musicians seem like they have something to prove these days. Did you know that in the span of about a year, Justin Tim- berlake will have been in four movies? Seriously, IMDb it. But the craziest part is that he's not even that bad. He was the only redeem- ing part of "Alpha Dog," and his U.S. soldier in "Black Snake Moan" is a fine take on a thin role. Can @ 4111S 1104 S. University 734.665.2244 Free soft drink with any entr6e Free soft drink with any sandwich after 2pm Shwarma, falafel, grape leaves, baba ghanouj, hommos, tabbouli and fattoush. Smoka Hookah 1113 4. Universiy 734.761.9900 Grand Opening Specials Quality Cigars 20% OFF Hookahs as low as $12 Cigars - Cigarettes - Hookahs Gifts & Accessories Walk-in Humidor you imagine if he had married Britney way back when? He'd probably be in his underwear, liv- ing in atrailer and cooking crystal meth. Justin really has been a pleasant surprise as an actor after a string of musicians like Ice Cube and Usher have failed us before. (To be fair, Ja Rule really did speak to my heart in "The Fast and the Furious.") More often than not I'd rather watch Adam Sandler get kicked in the balls than mourn his dead fam- ily, and it's hard to watch Jim Car- rey philosophize about life when I'm picturing him tiptoeing around in a furry green Grinch suit. I think the general rule is to stick with what you know and you'll see the best results. Ryan Reynolds, take note. But actors believing they have more to give will keep trying to show their range, and we'll keep giving them chances. Except when it comes to boy wizards waving their wands around. Hell no. - Tassi can be reached at tassi@umich.edu. U' alum to return with new film Bob dio exe Whi Hollyw get a N cover frivolo "contrc studio release movie Univer i Shaye: Four erhous has shy player chises Rings,' "Night But the By BLAKE GOBLE the University of Michigan when DailyArts Writer Tom Hayden was the editor of The Michigan Daily. It was very halcyon Shaye is not your typical stu- times in Michigan," Shaye said. cutive. The media entrepreneur, who le most graduated in 1960, will return to wood CEOs The Last the University tomorrow with his Vanity Fair new movie "The Last Mimzy," his probing MiZy first directorial effort in more than us internal Tomorrow at 15 years. The film will screen at The oversy" at a 7:30 p.m Michigan Theater at 7:30 p.m. with that hasn't a question-and-answer session to d a decent At the Michigan follow. in years, Theater A Detroit native, Shaye was a sity alum student in the Business school and actually works for a living. a member of acting groups. nder of independent pow- "It was all about football and e New Line Cinema, Shaye girls," he said. "I didn'tplay football aped the studio into a major and I didn't have many girls, but I in the industry, with fran- heard about all of them." including the "Lord of the After graduating in just three "Austin Powers" and the and a half years, Shaye wound up mare on Elm Street" movies. at Columbia University to study e coolest thing about Shaye, law, only to take the radical step of outside of all those founding New Line Cinema in 1967. movies, is the fact New Line was able to build itself that he once up with the quintessential ingredi- walked the ents of a successful studio - luck, same halls managerial intuition, skill and, you do now. most important, some loyal long- "I was at term employees. "One thing you haye to add into the equation is incredible col- leagues, who are incredibly con- tributory to the success of the company," he said. Shaye has also had the fortune of some outstanding creative compa- ny, jumpstarting the careers of Wes Craven, Paul Thomas Anderson, Peter Jackson and Brett Ratner. He also helped engineer Robert Alt- man's second life in the early'90s. Shaye always wanted to work in the arts and movies since he was young, making 8mm short films for fun and work. "It was something that was really in my blood, in my soul, since I was very young," he said. His new film, "The Last Mimzy," is a science-fiction family adven- ture based in part on the Lewis Padgett 1943 short story "Mimzy Were the Borogoves." In the movie, a strange box is found by two young children, Emma and Noah, which supposedly contains toys. The two play with the items only to develop higher cognitive abilities, much to the confusion and astonishment of adults. The toys may in fact be a connection to the future, and Noah and Emma may be mankind's only hope. If you're imagining a poor- man's nostalgic reinterpretation of "E.T." or "Close Encounters," think again. A blue-moon opportunity for Shaye, "Mimzy" is the work of man in touch with his youthful spirit. Shaye considers himself a hopeless romantic for sci-fi, searching for the goodness in society. "I was a science-fiction geek when I was a kid. I may still be a science-fiction geek. When I read the short story I was about 14, and it really resonated with me. It never left my memory," Shaye said. "I'm embarrassed to say (it), but I exer- cised my executive privileges, and I wanted to direct it." With the aid of several screen- writers - including Oscar winner Bruce Joel Rubin, a fellow Univer- sity alum - the film came to frui- tion over a 13-year period and will finally open in theaters next week. "I'm very proud of it being a fam- ily movie, and I've seen audiences appreciate it," Shaye said. "I just hope I don't get a bunch of rowdy college students going out on to the streets because it wasn't what they wanted. But to quote the producer Michael Phillips, it makes you feel good to be a human being." Since theatrically grisly and crass movies like the recent "300" have come to define the college movie, "Mimzy" could be a refresh- ing antithesis. "The Last Mimzy" is another feather in the hat of prolific alum Robert Shaye. 0 4 MIDNIGHT MOVIES EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT JOHN CUSACK JACK BLACK High Fililli SATURDAY, MARCH 17 @ MIDNIGHT FOR MORE INFO VISIT MYSPACE.COM/STATETHEATREA2 I I