©2006-2007 Medina County Arts Council, Inc.
©2006-2007 Medina County Arts Council, Inc.
July’s Annual Arts Week in Medina County is certainly the week to stay at home to enjoy all the local entertainment. Medina County has many arts activities presented by local arts organizations during the summer months, but this week is especially full of events. The week traditionally has focused on being a lead-up to the ending event - Sunday’s Art-in-the-Park, sponsored by The Medina County Art League.
Arts Council Organized and Supported ProgramsAs in the past, The Medina County Arts Council has arranged Arts Week performances and programs by local artists and entertainers for children and adults on Medina’s Public Square and performances in Brunswick at the Community Recreation Center outdoor stage. The free lunchtime performances on Medina Square and at the Brunswick Rec Center are designed to provide entertainment and learning in the arts for children. The free evening mini-concerts in Medina are focused on adult and family audiences. At press time, a committee was working to schedule mini-concerts in Brunswick Town Center on Friday and Saturday during the early evening dinner hours.
Children’s Programs on Medina Square at 12:00 NoonMonday, July 14: Vocal music specialist Kathy Meyer will stage a folk song sing-along and include music with her autoharp and ukulele. She will be joined in the music by soloist Dyan Beder. Tuesday, July 15: Nate “The Great” Nawalaniec, magician from Hinckley, will entertain with magic tricks and balloon art. Wednesday, July 16: Wadsworth artist Phyllis Baldwin will tell a story, then have the children do drawings that depicts the characters and events of the story. Thursday, July 17: Jeff Wolfe, music performance grad from the University of Akron and master’s degree student at Ohio University, will give a performance on his drums and lead an interactive Drum Circle. Friday, July 18: Jessica Franklin, director of Medina Dance Center, will lead a small group of dancers in a routine and then teach several basic modern and classic steps.
Children’s Programs at Brunswick Rec Center at 12:30 P.M.Monday, July 14: Learn a Hip Hop Dance. Anthony Tadeo will teach Hip Hop dance steps. Tuesday, July 15: Bob Lewis will teach the fun of creative and inventive drawing techniques in the art of cartooning. Wednesday, July 16: Guitarist Jim Gill will entertain with songs and stories. Thursday, July 17: Nate ”The Great” Nawalaniec, magician from Hinckley, will entertain with magic tricks and balloon art. Friday, July 18: Drummer Jeff Wolfe will lead an interactive Drum Circle that appeals to youth and all ages. Jeff has played in the Akron Steel Drum Band and is a graduate student at Ohio University.
Evening Mini-Concerts on the Medina Square at 7:30 p.m.Monday, July 14: Mike Harris, recently retired Medina Library director, will share his longtime music interests and skills. He will do a concert of his favorite guitar music. Tuesday, July 15: Keyboardist Bruce C. Walker and soloists Patti Ann Vojvodich and Laura Theilman, of Walker’s jazz/pop group “Midnight Blue,” will feature Swing and Jazz Favorites. Wednesday, July 16: Conrad Hornung, Karen Hornung, and Irene Loos, the “Grenzenlos Trio,” will sing contemporary American and German music, plus some traditional German folk songs. Thursday, July 17: “Jim Gill in Concert” promises to appeal to adult and family audiences in two ways as the musician also entertains his listeners with comedy and banter. Gill’s daytime performance in Brunswick will be a different show for children. These are also all free performances for the public.
On Friday, July 18: Chalk Art will again precede the regular Friday night Medina Community Band Concert. The band will be conducted by Marcus Neiman. Children and youth will have the opportunity to draw their own art work on the sidewalks around the outside of Public Square. An Arts Council volunteer will have a table to distribute the free chalk. Unless it rains, this artwork is there for visitors to Art-in-the-Park to see on Sunday.
These programs have been organized by the Arts Council’s Arts Week Committee, headed by Roger Smalley, and a Brunswick Art Works Committee, headed by Barb McGreer. At each performance an Arts Council or Brunswick Art Works trustee member will be present to introduce the musicians and artists. Call 330-722-5502 in Medina, or 330-273-8000 in Brunswick for more information.
Art Class in Cartooning at Medina’s Drake CenterTwenty students in grades 4 through 8, enrolled in a special art class in cartooning, will complete their two week class on July 17. The Medina County Arts Council, in cooperation with the Drake Arts Center in Medina, sponsored the class taught by professional artist Jim Gill. Gill, who worked 20 years for American Greetings, currently teaches art privately and as an artist-in-residence for schools through the Young Audiences program in Northeast Ohio. Students will have studied the fundamentals of character construction using simple geometric shapes, how to render expressions that convey emotions, and basic design elements. Gill says “Imagination and a desire to draw is all you require for this four class summer session.” The multi-talented Gill is also scheduled for music performances in the children’s programs and mini-concerts listed above.
The Arts Council Program Committee for the art project includes art teacher Lee Palencar, Chair; Brenda Bandy, a Gifted and Talented Coordinator at the Medina County Educational Service Center, and Judith Parish, retired Buckeye District children’s librarian. All three are Arts Council trustees. Phyllis Griffith works with the committee as the Executive Director of the Drake Center.
Other Concert EventsConcert in Wadsworth - The Wadsworth Recreation Department is sponsoring a concert of Jimmy Buffet style music and “beach music,” called the "Coconuts Island Show," on Thursday, July 17, at the Gazebo in downtown Wadsworth. Starting time for the concert is 7:00 p.m. Concert in Litchfield - The Litchfield Town Band will play one of its regular Friday night band concerts on Friday, July 18, on the Circle at Rt. 18 and Rt. 83. The concert begins at 7:00 p.m. Take your lawn chairs and blankets.
The Ending Weekend Events-July 18 to 20, 2008Brunswick ACT completes run of “M*A*S*H” With a cast and crew of over 20 actors performing the well-known roles of Hawk Eye, Radar, Trapper John, Hot Lips, and others, “M*A*S*H” completes its two-week run on Friday, July 18, and Saturday, July 19, on the Brunswick Performing Arts Center Mainstage, 3581 Center Road in Brunswick. The comedy is produced by Brunswick ACT Community Theatre and curtain time is 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at Buehlers in Brunswick or at the door. The show is based on the popular TV show and movie and is directed by Stayce Nabors. ACT officers working on the show are Shawn Skeabeck, President; Art Fenton, Vice President; Lila Robinson, Secretary; and Ken Chamers, Treasurer.
The 35th Art-in-the-Park fills Medina Public Square on Sunday, July 20This nationally-known juried art show will feature art work by artists selected from all over the country. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. - rain or shine - booths and displays will showcase art for sale. There is no admission charge. Featured artists this year include: Bonnie Gordon, Kathy Lapso, and Michael W. Winston. Senior Co-Chair for the show is Jo-Ann Rettig-Rau. Working with her are Co-Chairs Denise Marabito and Karyn Goldmeier. Sharon Borror is the Art League President, Barbara Johns is Vice President, Stuart Root is Secretary, and Jo-Ann Rettig-Rau is Treasurer.
In conjunction with the show, Main Street Medina merchants will sponsor a “Search for Picasso’s Paintbrush” complete with appropriate prizes. More information is available from Matt Wiederhold of Main Street Medina at 330-952-0910 or info@mainstreetmedina.com.After the successful and well-attended performance of The Oberlin Jazz Septet this past Saturday, the newly formed Main Street Medina announces the first-ever professional artist recital series which will be held at Broadway Street Hall at 144 North Broadway Street in the County Administration Building. Main Street Medina promotions volunteer and local businessman Thomas Sigel, who orchestrated the series, said, “We are excited as a community to bring world-class entertainment to the area. Our goal is to offer a wide-variety of music and make it accessible to everybody. Let people enjoy the Historic District- shop, dine and then experience top-flight performances without having to drive to Cleveland or fly to Chicago or New York.”
The series will open on September 20, 2008 with renowned Russian pianist, Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein. With her remarkable ability to grasp the very essence of diverse musical styles and strength, energy and brilliance, her performances have received critical acclaim in the U.S., Europe, Russia, Hong Kong, and China. Reviewers have consistently ranked her among the foremost piano soloists of today. The New York Times called her New York recital a “radiant success…playing with uncommon clarity and a lovely, melting piano sound”. The Washington Post described her as “a contemporary pianist in the best sense of the word, demonstrating enormous strength but little effusiveness.” A tenured Professor of Piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Zakarian Rutstein’s highly acclaimed recordings have been released by Melodia, Orion Master Recordings, Musical Heritage Society, Albany Records, Compositor Publishing House and SZR Productions. In 1996, Fanfare magazine declared her recording of Sonata No. 5 by Boris Tishschenko, a prominent contemporary Russian composer, to be one of the top five releases of the year. The Medina concert will consist of an all- Russian feast: Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, as well as works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Shostokovich.
On October 25, 2008, The University of Akron Steel Drum Band returns to Medina for a high energy concert. Under the esteemed direction of Dr. Larry Snider and Matt Dudak, the goal of the band has been to preserve and promote the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago: Pan! One of the band’s CD’s, Live at E.J. Thomas Hall, was nominated for a Grammy Award and features a great live recording of a concert with David Rudder, Pan Ramajay, Andy Narell, Cliff Alexis, and Ray Holman (The Dream Team).
The Maidens Four grace the stage of Broadway Auditorium on February 7, 2009. Celtic MP3 Music Magazine calls these four talented sisters from Loudonville, Ohio “an explosion of strings [that] greets the ears”. Offering a mixture of Celtic folk and acoustic music, the sisters are a well-known fixture at medieval faires, Renaissance, Irish and Folk festivals. These four sisters may be from the American heartland but, they have the spirit of the United Kingdom in (their) music and in turn their soul. Performance and personality ignite as these lovely ladies whirl into the Celtic & folk sphere!
Rounding out the season is Ernie Krivda and The Fat Tuesday Big Band on April 4, 2009. This band is one of the most exciting and engaging acts to hit the Midwest music scene in recent memory. The band reflects the electric intensity of their leader as well as his superb musicianship and stylistic distinction. Combining the musical values of the great big bands of yesterday with the dramatic energy of a new century, the nineteen piece “Band That Swings” plays each performance into an unforgettable event. David Dupon from One Final Note.com calls Krivda “a tenor-wielding monster who stalks the southern shore of Lake Erie. He brandishes one of the most distinctive sounds in music.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer said, “Krivda is a master...the Quintessential Cleveland musician…a Cleveland legend.” Ernie Krivda is now in his fifth decade as a jazz performer. He is acknowledged by both his peers and jazz critics as one of the world's great tenor saxophone players and one of the jazz world’s most unique artists. Krivda has toured around the globe and has performed at mainstream venues in LA, Chicago, New York City and Vienna. Krivda maintains a high profile as a composer, with many fellowship awards to his credit. He continues to be the subject of features and articles in international publications such as Down Beat and Jazz Times Magazine and has won countless Cleveland Awards, most recently the prestigious Tri C Jazz Festival Jazz Legends Award.
Subscriptions to this four concert series are available now from Main Street Medina for $80. Single tickets can be purchased beginning August 15 for $25 each. Proceeds will go toward building future Main Street Medina cultural programs. For more information, call 330-722-2541.
The Medina County Arts Council Board of Trustees has announced grant recipients for the upcoming 2008-2009 season.
The 10 organizations and programs receiving grants for this coming year’s activities include: Brunswick Art Works, Westfield Upper Elementary School Ceramics Project, Stage Left Theatre Company, Medina Show Biz Company, Medina Chorus, Wadsworth Community Band, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Brown Bag Concerts, The Drake Center’s Fred Hargrove Children’s Arts Initiative, Robertson Bereavement Center: Hospice of Medina County Grief Arts Project, and Downtown Wadsworth, Inc. Grants awarded to these organizations total $4,250 and are funded through membership contributions and funds from the Arts Council’s annual November fundraiser, The Spotlight Showcase. The 2008 Showcase will be held on Friday, November 21. The 2nd Medina County Idol Contest, also sponsored by the Arts Council, will be held earlier in November, and three to five finalists will appear as part of the Showcase.
Applications for next year’s 2009-2010 grants may be filed in the period between December of 2008 and the end of February, 2009. Applications may be printed out from the Web site: www.medinacountyartscouncil.org or they may also be secured by calling 330-725-6443 and requesting that a copy be mailed to you. All grants will be reviewed beginning in March by the Grant Committee and voted on by the Board later in the spring. The requesting nonprofit organization must have 501(c) status. Profits from any event or special project of the requesting organization must be used to promote the arts.
The Arts Council and our committee for ArtBUZZ are pleased to announce “Cartooning and Humorous Illustration” with Jim Gill, artist and illustrator extraordinaire! Gill has worked for 20 years with American Greetings Company in Cleveland and teaches classes in schools all over northern Ohio as an Artist-in-residence.
This class is designed for boys and girls in grades 4-8 and will be held on two Tuesdays and two Thursdays, July 9, July 10, July 15 and July 17 from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. in the Lower Level Social Hall at the Drake Center for the Arts (222 S Broadway Street in Medina.) With financial support from the Arts Council and an anonymous donor, the fee is only $50.00 and class size is limited, so register now!
“Cartooning and Humorous Illustration” explores the building blocks of effective cartooning, humorous illustration and visual storytelling. Basic drawing principles, including scale, perspective and the reduction of complex images into geometric shapes, will be covered. Rendering facial expressions will coincide with balloon/thought bubble usage. This is a wonderful class for youngster to express their creativity and have a laugh while they’re at it!
For more information and/or to register, call 330.722.5502 or 330.725-6443.
Now get buzzin‘ and sign up!
Click here for a pdf to print, fill in, and mail.
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