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| Activist Art Honors London Bombing Victims at Moxie's in Chico Music, Theatre, and Art will come together for one night, Friday, August 26th at Moxie’s Café and Gallery, 128 Broadway, Chico. “All Things Are Connected” is the theme of local performance and visual artist, Phil Dynan, as he co-hosts a reception at Moxie’s with fellow artist, Anastasia Nelson. Nelson, a UCD Fine Arts graduate, will be opening her exhibit, enititled “Dream Intersections”. A unique blend of music and art, the reception will begin at 6 pm. Sara Michelle, singer-songwriter from Santa Cruz; Tom Blodgett, local singer-songwriter, and Joe Dynan, local singer-songwriter will all be on hand for the reception, playing original music and performing duets. Their musical styles range from pop rock to underground political ska. “All Things Connected: My Last Thoughts on Earth”, a short play, will be performed once, at 7:30 PM. The play is a tribute to the people who died in the July 7th London bombing and is also largely connected to Dynan’s visual art. This 5-person piece of performance art involves the conductor and four passengers on the Number 30 bus. As the five characters interact with each other, they discover that, despite their being randomly thrown together, they share some rather serendipitous connections. The play builds to a powerful and surprising finish, as all the pieces are connected. Anastasia Nelson’s work, Dream Intersections” will be featured on Moxie’s “brick wall” (Dynan has the “white wall”). Her piece “Stripes Hill”, used in publicity for the exhibit, is indicative to some degree of the rest of her work in that it explores spatial, color and form relationships that entwine in captivating imagery involving shadows and light. However, the brilliant color in “Stripes Hill” is one part of the spectrum represented in the overall content of the show. The other pieces are more subdued in color, but sometimes more complex in their play on “dream intersections” found in the treescapes. "The Dream Intersections, developed as a symbolist exploration of the abstract realism present in my mind at the intersection of awake consciousness and dreamtime.” Nelson says of her paintings. “Originally, they began as my midnight paintings, when anything that moves me from within can flow in dreams without waking restrictions. They began to take a life of their own as the dreams developed and multiple levels and then the paintings moved into the daytime. The goal in this series is to invite the viewer to explore the paintings' paths on a variety of levels depending on each viewer's individual perspective, from 'O' pretty, to Wow what life symbolism'. And to top it all off the sculptural elements in the paintings are burnished with metallic paints that flash with shapely light as you walk by and make every angle and viewing unique." Dynan brings two faces to Moxie’s. On one hand, his large acrylic paintings immediately stun the viewer with their bold colors. The underlying motivation is evident once the viewer moves beyond the bright, joyful colors. For instance, “All Things Connected” is dedicated to human-rights activist, Marla Ruzicka, who died in a roadside bombing in Iraq. Another painting, “Question 30: Is there a God?”, addresses both questions of worship and the London bombings and includes a Route Map of the Number 30 London bus. “The painting implies that those who question the existence of God are a tiny minority in the face of what I see as a world that at times appears littered with mindless hordes who worship without thinking. Religion seems to be the cause of an awful lot of violence ” Dynan explains. The other face that Dynan exposes at Moxie’s will come as a softer and, for some, a gentler expression of the working artist’s craft. “On the Edge: Photo Art” features colorful and carefully captured images places like Kendall Hall, Trinity Hall, Tehama County’s Red Bluffs and the Black Rock Desert (of Burning Man fame). “As a working artist for over thirty years, I have explored a lot of different avenues. It has been a challenge for the publishers and critics who wanted so badly to put me in a box. The truth is, aside from being a full-time artist, I’m just like everyone else – my life changes and moves in different directions. I paint political paintings, photograph local scenery and write youth novels about the war in Iraq. I have a lot of different interests. I can “paint to match your furniture”, but I am driven to do a lot more.” Diversity, it seems, will be the hallmark of this evening at Moxie’s. Singer-songwriters Sara Michelle and Joe Dynan have been playing regularly in Santa Cruz and at The Blue Sky Room in Dunsmuir. Sara Michelle has a captivating and unique vocal style, while Joe can swing from Improvisational Jazz on the piano to pop rock with his guitar. Tom Blodgett, known world-wide for his song, “Donde Esta Mi Gato?”, also has recorded the sometimes politically-inspired, sometimes Beatles-inspired CD, “Can’t Please Everybody”. Tom is also involved in the local “Department of Peace” formation committee. “All Things Connected: My Last Thoughts on Earth” is a five person play lasting about 25 minutes. Among the players is Leisa Faulkner, international human rights activist, just back from projects in Haiti and Switzerland. Dynan, Nelson, Blodgett and another mystery guest round out the cast of the short play. An evening at Moxie’s, Friday, August 26th, promises to be a highly entertaining and stimulating mix of music and art. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |