DRACULA

The Atlanta Ballet doesn't put on Dracula every year, so it is always a treat to see this, my favorite among their productions--This wonderful interpretation is dark and sensual and hyper-theatrical--lots of moody smoke and anguish and blood and lust with a cool wolf carcas (and a child sacrifice!)--I attended the night of Friday the 13th at the new venue for the ballet, The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, a great match for the company--Just before the show, a handsome and earnest young guy proposed to his fiance in front of the entire theatre--Of course everyone was delighted--

The gifted Jonah Hooper (one of the tallest of the principle dancers)was an imposing and mysterious Dracula, his style both sinuous and athletic--He totally inhabited the role, putting his interpretation and the rich red robes of the charactor to perfect use--After the performance, patrons went upstairs for a cocktail reception with the dancers--it was a great evening with great art--

I do love ballet (like Edward Gorey--but I don't go as religiously he did in New York), and we have one of the better companies in the country here in Atlanta--I encourage everyone to go see one of the performances of the Atlanta Ballet--it's a treat and nourishes the soul--yes, I am serious!--

Firebird, a classic, is coming up March 26-28th, and in April-Don Quixote!--

Tara-Lynne Pixley

Box Luncheon.

Atlanta Ballet Events

Recently the Atlanta Ballet had their annual boxed lunch for the Corps de Ballet in one of the upstairs dance studios at their headquarters on West Peachtree in Atlanta--Typically, boxed lunches are more spartan than, for instance, the fall luncheon at the Piedmont Driving Club, which kicks off the new season each year--For this occasion, lunches are literally served to partrons in boxes, though of course the food, while less elaborate, is pretty fantastic, and good wine was available (yum)--Merry Carlos chaired the lunch, and the theme was Dracula, one of the company's most anticipated productions--

My talented friend Gailen and I created the table coverings for the luncheon--she had the idea of using scrim to create textured, wispy-looking table cloths on which we could stencil a pattern--I created a simple, yet graphic design that looked sort of grand and stylized and menacing at the same time, if such is possible--Another friend, Catherine Walthers, created the flower arrangements for the table--blood red roses--

After the lunch, we went downstairs to another, larger studio, to watch the company practice a key scene from Dracula--That was the best part of the afternoon, really--My two favorite dancers were there, John Welker and Jonah Hooper--Both alternate in the title role--The original choreographer for this particular ballet, Michael Pink was in town and put everyone through their paces--what a treat--

To see the company rehearsing for Dracula, check out Tara-Lynne Pixley's excellent photos--

Project Verse

Achipilipes by Shane Allison

There is a fantastic online magazine of art, prose and poetry with a gay sensibility called Limp Wrist Magazine, edited by Dustin Brookshire--Limp Wrist is debuting a Project Runway-style verse competition open to poets, would-be poets, and poetic posers out to prove themselves--

It's a free open contest--interested parties check out the details on Dustin's Blog. Check out Limp Wrist as well.

New Poems

I have two new poems just published in Revista Arte Y Mundo, an online art and literary journal--one is called rob, and the other, bird--check them out at :

http://rharteymundo.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/timothy-p-wright-poems/

Edward Gorey for beginners

Used to be, it was all about goth and dark glamor, but now emo is all the rage (still glamorous, still somewhat dark)--when I was in college, I remember being all angsty and morose and painting my nails black on occasion, wearing my black top-hat, and indulging in small books filled with wonderfully drawn works of gothic whimsy and despair by Edward Gorey (American, 1925-2000)--Thing is, I still love his books to this day--Gorey was an amazingly gifted illustrator who used pen and ink to illustrate his works, elevating that medium to a new level of sophistication--his books were small in size and often no more than 40 or 50 pages, each filled with meticulous line drawings of characters and creatures caught up in either droll, macabre, or inexplicable events while living in a strange Edwardian world of gloom and whimsy--I was taken with the sense of dark inevitability in each book, and Gorey's wicked (and I mean wicked) sense of humor--he illustrated books by other authors as well, and did the opening animation for Mystery! on PBS--Gorey loved the ballet (as do I), and attended many performances of the New York City Ballet--He was eccentric in his dress, often seen wearing a long fur coat and tennis shoes (this mode of dress appears on male characters in many of his books)--he published quite a few illustrated works, and first editions are now highly sought-after and expensive--luckily, Harcourt Brace and Pomegranate Books have been reprinting some of them in hardcover, and the more recent ones are available at cover or less--I would encourage anyone who likes the eccentric, macabre, or deliberately obscure to check him out--his works are small gems, and he was a master at his craft--Unfortunately he has no equal writing at this time, but he has influenced a host of other writers and illustrators--

Here are three Gorey titles I recommend for the uninitiated:

The Gashlycrum Tinies (very dark, very funny)

The Curious Sofa Author listed as Ogdred Weary, get it?-- (wonderfully naughty, and macabre)

Amphigorey Again (a delicious variety of works)

Also check out:

http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/

http://www.goreyography.com/

Ribbon Book Event

Ribbon: The Art of Adornment event January 11th

This upcoming weekend on Sunday afternoon, I will be signing my book, Ribbon: The Art of Adornment along with my co-author, Nicholas Kniel, at the Merchandise Mart here in Atlanta. The signing will take place between 11:00 and 2:00 at the Daniel Richards showroom. The showroom is located at the Merchandise Mart in building 2, on the 16th floor, in suite 1634. Those of you attending the show, please come by to see us.

Check out the book: http://www.gibbs-smith.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2266

A Glance back--A few more pics from the holiday--

A glance back at Christmas--

Christmas is my favorite holiday--along with Halloween and Thanksgiving, and New Year's...gee, seems I generally like most of holidays doesn't it?--Something about being festive and eating and drinking, yes definitely good drinks...whatever--I love Christmas because it is beautiful and magical and a time when we all try to be something extraordinary: good to others and joyful and filled with a sense of hope--not that we aren't good generally, or happy (not usually joyful, though, are we?), or hopeful, but something about Christmas nurtures kindnesses big and small and asks us to believe in things beyond us, and take joy in even the tiniest things--a moment, a smile from a stranger, the cap of snow on a fire hydrant, the smell of fir and pine--and then of course, there is the shopping, and the transformation of towns and cities into festive yuletide villages or jazzed-up cosmopolitan centers full of holiday sparkle--the tree lightings and great windows in department stores--One thing I have always wanted to do was spend Christmas in New york, a magical city any time of year--I will one day, but until then, my friend Marie B. sent me this narrated slideshow by the NY Times' wonderful Bill Cunningham--it is a real treat-- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/12/27/fashion/20091227-street-feature/index.html#

Fascinating: Marcel Proust

Though I have by no means read a great deal of his work, or even a significant amount (just starting), I am nonetheless fascinated by Marcel Proust and the French society he lived in during the late 19th and early 20th century and "chronicled" in his celebrated writings--His name has also become attached to a famous set of questions, Called The proust Questionnaire--In Vanity Fair magazine (an essential read each month) a short version has appeared for years--The Questionnaire is fascinating; it asks one to reveal personal thoughts and observations, and is very revealing, even to one who takes it--I chronicled my own responses to the questionnaire in my journal--it definately makes you think-

-Here are a two links, one to the questionnaire, one about Proust: http://hoelder1in.org/Proust/fill_questionnaire.html (you don't have to post if you don't want to) and http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/proust.htm

Here are two REALLY COOL books I have acquired that YOU should look for, too:

The Proust Questionnaire By Carter/Jean-servat, published by Assouline, ISBN: 2843237065.

The World of proust as Seen by Paul Nadir edited by Anne-Marie Bernard, published by MIT Press, ISBN 0262025329.

Inspiring: Marcel Proust--

Hurry--Proust is at the door--

Please respect the copyright of this image--do not reproduce without permission.