Romania Paintings for Livada

Posted on August 26, 2014 by lksukany

When I was on the missions trip with Grace Church serving the Livada Orphan Care ministry in Romania, the beauty of the country inspired me.

During one of my morning quiet times with God, I felt like He gave me the idea to paint scenes from Romania to raise money for orphan child sponsorship. It would serve a double purpose to paint the scenes. On one hand, someone would purchase the painting for the suggested donation price or fundraiser auction. On the back end, when the said person looks at the painting, they are encouraged to pray for Livada and the orphans in Romania.

I was originally going to purchase a large canvas roll and stretchers and stretch my own canvas. Though time consuming, stretching canvas is much cheaper than purchasing pre-stretched canvas…unless there is some sort of deal.

On a random day of the week as I was driving home from work, I had a God moment and turned into Michaels. They did indeed have one of these “deals.” There was buy 3 canvas for the price of 1, so I got 15 canvas for the price of 5, which was around $50.

I mixed gesso with acrylic paint and covered each of the canvas. I like to add a color to the white gesso to create a light or mid-tone, so that when I paint I can add lights and darks.

After the canvases dried, I sketched (from photographs) each of the images using willow charcoal. Because I am working with so many images and mostly landscapes I had to have a way of organizing them. I created a list numbering and naming each piece with the canvas size. I put the names on the back of the canvas on the stretcher bar and also on the photograph source.

I mixed my color palette based on all photographs.

Artist Interview: Micah

Posted on August 12, 2014 by lksukany

Micah Sukany is one of the creators at Paper Opera. He mostly works on the music side of things, though he does write as well.

Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Micah Sukany. I am one-half of The Damsels in Distress. I also write and record music that doesn’t make it as Damsels pieces. I didn’t self-identify as a musician until late last year. When the Damsels started getting money for pieces we recorded for a radio show, I thought, “Okay, I should probably take this seriously.”

What is your music process?
I work best and most often by recording. When recording, I have a musical idea and quickly document that. I generally work from those early, recorded fragments. I think the best things I’ve come up with is when I heard the part before I ever played the part. For “Father Priam” I heard that in my head in its entirety and I had to learn to play it – that’s the first time that’s ever happened.

Recording vs. performing?
Recording is exciting because I work to build upon layers, and I can hear everything. When performing I have to concentrate and be mindful of what I’m doing, so I don’t have time to enjoy or even listen. I’m just focused on keeping the tempo and playing the songs.

What is the biggest challenge of creating music and how do you deal with them?
The biggest challenge of creating music is finishing when I lose interest. I haven’t really figured out how to deal with this, so I have a lot of unfinished work. It’s hard to keep going, practicing, working, and reshaping something to be perfect when I lose interest part of the way through. That is a big struggle.

What do you like about your work?
I like that my work is mine. I write it to please myself. I have always written music for myself. I have always been my primary audience. If I don’t like what it sounds like, then it’s probably not that great. I like to make it. I like that I’ve made it. And sometimes, when it’s a song from a dream, I like to listen to something that came from a dream.

I like that me and L.K. make it together, that it is our music. I like it when people say, “that’s nice,” or “I liked that.” Also, when I hear our music in a recording or video, I think it sounds magical, and I like that we’ve created something mysterious.

What inspires your work?
I got tickets to the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahlers 5th. After that I was pretty fired up to do something better or different. It’s in the music we wrote for KUAR Arts and Letters Father’s Day show. Also, I wrote all of the instrumental recording for “Grown Ups” on the album “Spinning Plates” immediately after watching the Herzog film “Stroszek.”

What are your favorite inspirational places in Arkansas?
I like both the Big Dam bridge and the Two Rivers bridge. I also like driving quite a bit – the drive from Greenbrier to Harrison on 65, Little Rock to Stuttgart on 165, and I40 to Memphis are all great drives.

Who are your musical inspirations?
I really like John Lurie, the Lounge Lizards, and Fela Kuti, Africa 70, The Lovers (they are genuine and earnest both qualities I enjoy), Tasseomancy has a great aesthetic for me, and I’m always going to like folk music and European folk music.

I have always been a big fan of Subpop’s Mudhoney. Mudhoney has always been making the same kinds of music since their 20s, and they keep doing it because they like it, and I’ve always admired that they do what they like. I’ve always admired the people that played on Hearts of Space. I always thought Steven Reich was pretty smart. Like, one idea is interesting for the whole piece.

Beethoven is pretty important, especially for rock bands. Beethoven knew how to write parts.

When I think about what a good band should sound like, I think about Beethoven’s 5th symphony. Some times it’s just a single note played in a particular rhythm – just letting things be simple. Not an accompaniment pattern – just simple, like what needs to be there. It’s elegant. That’s what I think for musicians that are professionals.

What is integral to the work of a musician?
I think the audience is the number one important thing. You can be your own audience. The idea of the rock star or professional musician has distorted what musicians are in a community because they become the sellers of commodities, opposed to storytellers or someone that creates a space in which something happens. If you look at a healthy music community, like bluegrass or classical, the musicians are just as much their teachers and their students. Their identity is connected through other musicians as something they have received and as something they are passing on. The rock star doesn’t give anything in that sense, they just make money.

Discipline and a steady, stable process. The music process involves a lot of listening, internalizing, and applying in new contexts.

And he likes to read poetry!

What is your strongest poetry memory?
I went to a poetry reading at Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts in Springfield, Missouri. Up to that point, I mostly read poetry and didn’t realize that I was missing the sound or music of poetry as well as its drama. It didn’t hurt that the poetry was read by some award winning actors of the stage and screen.

Poetry has been definitive for me. I spent three or four years in undergraduate reading it almost exclusively.

The KUAR Arts and Letters Fundraiser Showcase

Posted on August 1, 2014 by lksukany

The Damsels in Distress were asked to open as a part of a showcase for the KUAR Arts and Letters Fundraiser at Dugan’s Pub in downtown Little Rock last Sunday.

We played with bands Heather Smith, Odyssey, and The Cons of Formant.

Heather Smith band

The Cons of Formant

We wanted to especially thank the Cons of Formant because they brought their own PA, which they let everyone use, they helped us set up our gear, and ran the sound for us. They also used to be our neighbors. Seeing them again brought back the nostalgic “summer nights” memory of sitting on our back deck listening to them play music in their own backyard with their friends singing along.

There was a great turn out and everyone supported the fundraising part as well as the bands. We even had a special guest star appearance by writer Sam Brown, author of “The Last Baby Angel.” Below is a video of Sam Brown reading an excerpt of “The Last Baby Angel” while The Cons of Formant play accompanying music.

The Set List:
Underwater
Picnic
I Don’t Drive
Arkansas
Neutron Rising
French Song
Rare Red Rainbow
D & D
Gailey’s
Mr. and Mrs.
Namesake
Twinkle Twinkle Emo

We often change instruments for each of our songs. Changing instruments can take a minute or two, which ends up being a long time when multiplied by 10 songs – especially in a 35 minute time slot. We ordered our set list so that one person was able to go directly into the next song while the other changed instruments. When we timed the set during practice, it was 34 minutes. At the beginning of the show, we were having some sound issues, so it was cut short, and “Mr. and Mrs.” ended up being our closing song.

Writing, Recording, and Performance
In terms of writing, recording, and performing, the performance is the most difficult for us. Imagine being in front of a room full of people (and if the room is full of people then wow – that is good). They are all talking, eating, and drinking. Maybe only 10 of the people in the room are actually there to see you perform – these are your wonderful, supportive “fans.” As a performer, your goal is to entertain in a way that is non-threatening, confident, and creates a seamless transition from the crowd having a good time with their friends to having a great time listening to the band with their friends. The best possible scenario is that this would happen while making more “fans” with the actual music.

Honestly, the art of performance is a very big part of a band, and it is just not one of our strengths at this point. However, I do think we collected 3 or 4 new fans!

Thank you everyone who came to the show and for your support for the KUAR Arts and Letters radio program. We also wanted to give a special thank you to Dr. J. Bradley Minnick and his wonderful wife Mary Ellen for including us in all of their “taking over the world through the arts” schemes!

Thank you John and Janet with JJ Paquette Photography for coming out and taking pictures of our band!

Artist Studio Series: Katherine

Posted on July 29, 2014 by lksukany

I went to the Katherine Strause art exhibition Arkansas Homemakers: Home Demonstration and Extension Clubs at the Arkansas Studies Institute Butler Center Galleries. There is a piece about this Katherine Strause art exhibition in The Arkansas Times.

I haven’t actually met Katherine Strause in person, but I did feel like I met her here through her art. I was immediately wowed by her paintings – the color, composition, brush strokes, and paint application.

There were so many details I like about Arkansas Homemakers: Home Demonstration and Extension Clubs .

I liked the paint application on the butterfly woman’s face in “4H” as well as the flowers at the bottom right corner of the painting.

I liked the paint application of the foliage on “Home Demonstration Agent.”

I loved the dress pattern on “Feeding Scratch.”

Speaking of loving dress pattern, there were so many great dress patterns in “Does Anyone Still Wear a Hat.” I also really liked the stylistic portraits.

In “Bow and Arrow” the paint application is excellent. The color scheme in this painting and the pinks are delightful. Also the color and patterns on the dress are great.

Specifically, the compositional element of how the yard tools cross on “Smoke” caught my attention.

Because I am a fan of ladies aprons, I liked “Subversives.”

I really enjoyed myself!

Katherine Strause Artist Studio

I contacted Katherine Strause shortly after experiencing the delights of her work. She accepted my Facebook friend request! I asked her if I could post about her show and if she was interested in showing her artist studio. She said yes!!!

Katherin Strause Studio – Katherine writes about her studio below.

“My favorite part of the studio is the isolation. It’s in the attic so only occasionally is there an interruption.”

“I usually have old movies on a little TV. The studio is only used as the studio.”

“My routine would be: have a looming deadline, search for images to use, stretch canvas, prime etc., draw and trace to get images onto the canvas, paint but try not to overpaint which is the hardest part.”

You can see more of Katherine Strause art on her website at www.katherinestrause.com or strause.wordpress.com.

Art for an Anniversary

Posted on July 25, 2014 by lksukany

M and I have been going to the Mary’s Homegroup with Grace Church since 2011. Doug and Sue Mary work with Family Life and so their specialty is marriage studies. They have been great to M and I and have invested their time and prayers in the lives of the couples under their leadership. The Mary’s have been supportive of my art, even coming to my University of Arkansas at Little Rock Master of Arts exhibition in December 2012.

They have been supportive of my mission trip to Romania in June 2014.

I fact, they have us in their home every two weeks providing dinner and a space to spiritually grow.

Their 40th anniversary was this year on July 18th and I wanted to do something that would be special for them. I asked them to send me a picture of their wedding day.