San Diego Weekend Arts Events: Memories, Counterpoints, Boundaries and Chekhov

Speaker 1: (00:00)

In the arts this weekend, we have classical music on a boat, a tap, dancing, and piano collaboration, a new play, and plenty of visual art. Joining me with all the details is KPBS arts, producer and editor, Julia Dixon Evans. Julia. Welcome.

Speaker 2: (00:15)

Hi Jade. Thanks for having me tonight at

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The LA Jolla music society, a worldly now tap dancer and piano duo will grace. This stage performing an impressive repertoire of compositions. Tell us about Conrad TA and Caleb

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Tyr. Hey, this is tap dancer, Caleb Tyr, who is absolutely mesmerizing to watch. And then his frequent piano player, collaborator, Conrad TA. They routinely do performances together. I've I've watched a few and sometimes it feels like the dance is informing the music more than the other way around. And they recently had a performance video collected in the library of Congress. It's a performance set to a solo piano arrangement of Gershwin's Rapsody Lou, and even just listening. You can hear how, how the floor and the tap dancing becomes part of the music team. And they're performing at the music society's baker bound concert hall, and they'll do a set that starts with Bach some original compositions, some jazz avant garde music and the Gerwin as well.

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Conrad TA and Caleb Tyr will perform counterpoint tonight at 8:00 PM for a new art exhibition at city college's city gallery for artists were chosen because of how drawing has a role in their work though, the results aren't always drawing. Tell us about this one, right?

Speaker 2: (01:50)

This is a group of four regional artists. There is Tatiana Ortiz, Rubio, who she works in large scale murals most of the time, but a lot of her works use charcoal. So there's definitely a sketch element there. Another artist is Dakota new who has these life size foam core cutouts. Some of them are, are wearable that he tapes to his body, but most of them in this exhibition are arranged as standing paper, doll type sculptures in a sort of play scape inside their room. And the drawings on these are pre do fantastical and kind of grotesque to there's Vicki Walsh, who has this sort of layered portraiture using oil paint, but in transparent layers to make this realistic skin effect. And her works are beyond realistic. It's like taking a close up to the extreme and exaggerating the flaws or even making a face larger than life. And finally, Catherine MOWA, she is known for her large scale black and white botanical or tree drawings. So yeah, all of these works start with are somehow informed by drawing, but the exhibition has painting sculpture and mural as well.

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Selected drawings opens on Saturday and runs through March 1st in the theater, a new play opens at Cignet called life sucks. It's a retelling of a play by checkoff. Tell us about this one. Yeah, this is

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A play by playwright, Aaron poner and it's a retelling of two checkoffs uncle Vaya from 1898. Aaron poner kind of made a career out of adapting. Classic works into these absurd contemporary takes, including an adaptation of checkoffs, the Seagul. I can't say the full title on the radio, but it was stupid blank bird and Cigna produced that one to you in 2016, but in life sucks, it's basically a really dysfunctional dinner party with a complicated gathering of ex friends, former lovers, current lovers, long lost in-laws and more. And plus there's a dash of murder mystery. Mm.

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Life sucks. Just open ATS Cignet theater, and it will run through FA February 27th. The Houseman quartet returns to the Berkeley ship at the maritime museum on Sunday for a concert. Tell us about this performance. Yeah,

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This is part of their Heden voyages series, where they're making their way through all of Heden string quartet compositions, and for these concerts, which are quarterly. They also pair those with other composers. So people who were writing quartets around the same time as Heden, but also contemporary composers. And for Sundays selections, they have picked French romantic composer, Jermaine Thai fair, and a composition. She wrote in 1919, and then in composition by contemporary multidisciplinary artist, Leila OU she is an Avan classical and electro pop performer and composer. And they're gonna play her piece if the stars align, which is stunningly gorgeous,

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The Haman cortets Hiden voyages stars align takes place Sunday at 2:30 PM at the maritime museum fondly a new exhibition at the LA Jolla historical society, invited artists to come in and explore their archives, then make new works art with that. Uh, tell us about memory choices, artists transform the

Speaker 2: (05:26)

Archive. This one is all put together by curator Elizabeth wreckage, who also runs herein, which is a new local visual arts journal. And she invited seven artists to Rumage through the LA JOA historical society's archives. And they each made new works inspired by what they found and it's alled to be a study of memory and history, and also a way of making those things history. Collective. I have seen glimpses of a few of the pieces so far. They're incredible. Janelle ILAs has built a wood frame structure. It's adorned with tangled branches and Palm Frans. Joshua Marino has, has made a series of powerful sketches. Alice Weiss is working with this massive found banner about a daily Matia. There's gonna be a mixture of disciplines and also scopes there's sculptures, there's smaller wall pieces, and some people are working directly with the archival content and some of them are more conceptual

Speaker 1: (06:30)

Memory traces opens this weekend with gallery hours on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4:00 PM. It's on view through may a 15th, you can find details on these and more arts events or sign up for Julia's weekly KPBS arts newsletter@kpbs.org slash arts as always check with event organizers for last minute changes or important COVID protocols. I've been speaking with KPBS arts editor and producer Julia Dixon Evans. Leah. Thanks.

Speaker 2: (06:58)

Thanks so much Jade.