Firstindigo&Lifestyle

21-century art

  • Wrapped Snoopy House by Christo

    Wrapped Snoopy House by Christo

    It can feel a little overwhelming when a familiar, child-like, popular-culture-like object joins a family of ‘art’.  This type of partnership occurs sometimes. I was in California recently, and had time to visit Charles M. Schulz–museum in Santa Rosa for the first time.

    Particularly, seeing a detailed exhibition of the techniques, how Snoopy animations were made was very enlightening. So was the Wrapped Snoopy House-project, which took me by surprise. The Story of the Wrapped Snoopy House began in 1975, when Schulz met Christo, as the first witnessed Christo’s project presentation to the Sonoma County’s board of supervisors. Christo was looking for support for his famous Running Fence-project, which came to be the 24 and half mile, 18-foot high white nylon curtain that zigzagged over the hills of Sonoma County, and landed into the ocean at Marin-Sonoma. Any event, Schulz and Christo became friends, and one testimony of their lasting friendship is the Wrapped Snoopy House, which is exhibited in the Schulz-museum.

    Collage for  Wrapped Snoopyhouse, 2003 Christo. Pencil, drop cloth fabric, polyethylene, pastel, charcoal, enamel paint, wax crayon, rope and twine.  (Gift of Christo and Jeanne-Claude)
  • Paula Jaakkola’s music with wings

    Paula Jaakkola’s music with wings

    Exporting music and arts to different parts of the world belong to cultural heritage. Arts are sustainable and renewable part of culture. Some artists choose to live in another country to gain inspiration, to start a new career, and desiring to make it there. Each story is different. Finnish musician, singer, songwriter and composer Paula Jaakkola has lived in New York City since 1999. She is a graduate from the University of Helsinki’s Musicology program in 1999, and from The New School in 2002 where she studied jazz vocals. Recently Paula was in Finland recording her new album.

    Paula, how has the recording experience been so far?

    PJ: The first recording sessions in Finland this past December were fun and inspiring. We started with 3 songs of mine. The musicians Ape Anttila, Jaska Lukkarinen and Marzi Nyman are extremely talented artists and I am fortunate that they are excited to play my music. The recordings continue this spring in Finland and in New York so there is still a lot to be done.

    What other plans do you have for the near future?

    PJ: In the somewhat near future I am preparing for the CD release party for the fall of 2013. The plan is to work hard to get exposure for the album, make music as much as possible and hopefully tour a lot as well.

    What is your favorite song?

    PJ: This is a hard one as I don’t have a favorite song. There are so many. But lately I have been touched by Sia’s “Breathe Me”.

    How do you collaborate, arrange the songs with other musicians?

    PJ: If I am doing a gig with musicians and they haven’t played with me before I usually send them music charts along with MP3’s that are the demo versions of the songs. They get an immediate idea of the mood and style of the song. At the rehearsals we refine the ideas. I don’t always have a very clear idea what the drummer and the bassist should play so I always welcome honest input from the musicians.

    As to the album collaboration it is a bit different. I send my demo audio files to the producer. He arranges them further, maybe changes the form a bit, adds more instrumental ideas and grooves. He sends me MP3’s to listen to and I might have more ideas to add. It’s lots of back and forth as we work long distance and deal with e-communication. The fact that he is in Finland makes the process a bit challenging but so far it has been working. When the arrangements are ready the musicians will come to the studio and play their parts and usually bring their own additional ideas as well. It is a very organic process where everyone has the freedom to bring their creativity on the plate.

    You have performed in many venues in New York City, what is your favorite?

    PJ: I really liked the Living Room in the Lower East Side but it just closed, which is very sad. I also like Somethin’ Jazz Club in Midtown where I have been playing a lot recently. It is a super mellow venue. I have sung a few times at the legendary Joe’s Pub but those occasions haven’t been my own shows. My goal is to be able to have my own concert there sometime in the near future. It is a beautiful space with a really good sound system.

    What is the most inspirational Kalevala poem to you, how did Finnish National Epic Kalevala inspire you?

    PJ: Kalevala inspired me a lot when I was co-leading a Finnish world music group Kaiku. We used some Finnish folk poems as basis to our songs. I really cherish Kalevala’s mystical world. I like the part where the wizard Väinämöinen plays his “kantele” (traditional Finnish string instrument), starts singing and makes all the people and forest animals enchanted and trance induced. Music is his ultimate power and wisdom.

    Here are some of Paula’s up-coming performances in New York City:

    Friday, March 15, 10pm
    at Zirzamin
    90 W Houston St
    (btwn LaGuardia and Thompson)

    Friday, March 29, 7pm
    at Somethin’ Jazz Club
    212 E. 52nd St. 3Fl. (btw/ 2nd & 3rd Ave.)

    Paula’s website: www.musicwithwings.com/

    Her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulaandmusic

  • Chinese Watersleeves

    Chinese Watersleeves

    Shuixiu is Chinese. The word can be translated literally to ‘water sleeves’. The sleeves are amazing part of the costume, or dress, which a Chinese stage performer wears. Not only are they made of fabric and is part of the costume, but the word refers to performer’s extraordinary skills to perform various movements with the sleeves.

    Water sleeves are ‘double white-silk sleeves attached to the cuffs of a costume’. The long sleeves can express performers’ mood. Overall, the gesture variation that one can perform with the sleeves, are hundreds. These include movements of ‘quivering, throwing, wigwagging, casting, raising, swinging, tossing, whisking, rolling, folding, crossing and so on’.

    Water sleeves can be used for many functions. For example, the sleeves wigwagging in front of face means a fun; one hand pulling another water sleeve sidewards indicates politeness or bowing; sadness and shyness are expressed by one hand pulling another water sleeve to cover the face; wiping tears and whisking dirt on costumes by water sleeves; raising and put up two persons’ water sleeves to embrace each other; water sleeves also indicates the music band when the singing performance starts (cultural-china.com).

    Here is a Female Dancer, a sculpture from Metropolitan Museum’s collection. It depicts fine water sleeves being a fine example of dance in the Chinese sculpture. This model is earthenware with pigments, and it is from the Western Han dynasty (206 b.c.–9 a.d.), 2nd century b.c. China. More information about the sculpture on the museum website here.

    Female Dancer, the Western Han dynasty (206 b.c.–9 a.d.), Metropolitan Museum of Art.