Hufreesh Chopra- ART ROCKETEER

 These magnificent eyes are devoted to revealing the unseen.

Hufreesh Dumasia Chopra was born and raised in India, and has faced many challenges in her quest as an artist. Her father passed away when she was young, and her mother had to work very hard to support her and her brother. She had to learn to overcome adversity from the beginning. Her mother saw to it that Hufreesh was well educated and received formative exposure to art and dance, which she still loves and lives today. 

 Hufreesh has traveled and painted all over the world, even Huntsville, Texas!

She has traveled all over the world, showing her works and gathering friends, and inspiration for her paintings. With considerable delight she explains how she met her husband, and came to this country and began the inevitable adjustments to her new environment. But it was all worth it. Her husband Praveen brought her to the Silicon Valley of California, where she has found acceptance and encouragement; a place where she can continue making her art. Hufreesh has found a nurturing environment, with convenient art centers, museums and galleries, and more importantly, people who understand her. Still, she is committed to break new ground, and grateful for the opportunities in front of her. Today she is painting with skill and passion, always evolving and looking into the future. She is enjoying the taste of personal fulfillment. 

 There are unmeasured lifeforms under the sea...

That fulfillment has been a long time coming, and the result of blessings from above and hard work. She has endured because she was conditioned early in life to deal with adversity, and now she is a woman with a mission. She sees herself as an “adventurer,” and finds fulfillment in trying to express herself through her paintings. It is an other-worldly mission. “Life is more than what we can perceive by our senses” she says with conviction. “When I make a work of art, it is like shooting a rocket into space...”

From her friendly eyes and ready smile, we can rest assured her “rockets” are missiles of love and altruism. Hufreesh loves the spiritual interaction which happens between her art and its audience. She hopes to help connect her viewers with their own exploration of those powerful intangibles beyond our senses. Her art is not merely self-expression but, in her mind, truly finds its purpose when it reaches others. “If art is not seen, it does not exist!” 

 Hufreesh had to lay out her most recent quad on the floor so it could be pieced together... she likes to make diptics and triptics  and quadriptics?

Hufreesh is not so caught up in themes or particular messages. They take care of themselves as she puts down what she feels at the moment. Sometimes others add to her experience by interjecting their own interpretations of her works. Once an 11 year-old boy explained what a particular painting was about... “It shows me the chaos caused between the energies of love and anger,” he confessed. There is no doubt this was no ordinary 11 year old, but then this was no ordinary art.

Still, connecting with art lovers is not the same as financial independence. Hufreesh has had to learn the hard way about the importance and the difficulty of selling her works. “When you are an artist... you are struggling.” She stated as a mathematical equation. She did not want to have to worry about the art market, selling... the commercial side of her vocation. “I thought it should come to me...” Hufreesh enjoyed success in her native India, and soon was responding to invitations to exhibit her works all over the planet. She has traveled extensively and exhibited all over Europe, and found Italy, especially Rome, to be her spiritual home, as if she had been there before. She was amazed at her sales in Germany, where the German people proved to be amazingly open to her spiritual rockets.

 The Inner Sun

But after all those miles, Hufreesh has discovered a deeper truth; She never needed commercial success to find fulfillment or happiness. She believes that a person can find joy in whatever they may do. True happiness is a choice.

 Finding new ways to express eternal truths.

Hufreesh is working on her paintings and also envisioning her next body of works. She folds a painted canvas into a lovely accordion, to show the sculptural quality of the folds... which come alive with her strokes of color. She feels herself moving away from the traditional rectangular canvas, and talks about adding metal forms to her latest painting, to create depth and visual and tactile stimulation. 

  This short video shows some of Hufreesh's experiments to break away from the age-old "box"

Hufreesh does not believe that an artist is straddled with just one style for his whole life... the opposite of the insistence of many art galleries, who bank on consistency from their artists. Hufreesh will never yield to that kind of restriction to her adventure.

 Hufreesh is sort of an "art pioneer."

Hufreesh will soon leave Navasota, Texas and put it all behind her. She will gladly return to her love and her new California home and her evolving art. It has been a time of challenge and growth, tempered with disappointments and delightful serendipity. But she had hoped to exhibit and even sell her works more, and to have some teaching opportunities in the community. Although she is humbly grateful for her opportunity here, there may have been opportunities lost on both sides.

That dysfunction has been no biggie. The greatest kind of rejection, or even contempt, is being ignored. But most artists run into this daily. And she feels far from ignored.  Moreover, her Eastern upbringing makes her resilient and philosophical. Being in a solitary habitat has helped her appreciate what she has, to better know herself, and to foresee where she must go and what she wants to do next. 

 Chopra is fascinated by the forces of nature... the powers in the universe.

As her rockets go off in the future, they will be fired by the soul-search she experienced while living in the Horlock Art Center, in Navasota, Texas. 

If you want to know more about Hufreesh, you can explore her art at her website:  www.hufreesh.com

Navasota plays a significant role in the development of emerging artists. The art community of the Brazos Valley needs to embrace these journeymen and women so that role has an especially positive and lasting legacy.

Ashton Hall: Down and Dirty

 Ashton Hall is a rare package in the art world. She is young, quite aggressive in her business strategies, very talented in her field, and blessed with super-model good looks. My conclusions after our interview were that she should go far. Maybe even television. She will get interviews, contracts, and other opportunities because of her appearance, but unlike many, she will be able to capitalize on them because she is as fierce as she is beautiful.

I would love for P.C. correctness-sake to ignore the issues of superficial qualities which should not matter. But I am an artist, and visuals are everything. And they do matter and we know they do. But as Jesus quipped, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” It will be up to Ashton not to mess it all up. And there is the rub.

"The Wheel of Fortune"

Ashton is kind of... complicated. In a good way!

Can a lovely young person with her life in front of her, with so much going for her, instinctively make those correct choices and decisions which could take her to the “top”? They often do not.

It is not usually the “blessed,” artistic savants who make it. Things come too easily for them. The real artists I know achieved decent careers with tough persistence and the ability to ignore and overcome adversity. I know plenty of artists, making it as such, who had the gift of determination, but were perhaps less talented than some of the fabulously gifted students I have taught who lacked personal drive or inspiration. Those who lack discipline, motivation or self-direction fall by the wayside like mud off of a four-wheeler in the Brazos bottom.

 Ashton Hall: "I'm good at design... can I say that?"

So let me introduce you to another artist you wish you had met. Her mud will stick. Ashton Hall grew up in a “blue-collar” home, with small-town values and exposure to traditional Midwestern American culture. She is energetic and passionate about her art, and has a hungry soul. A conversation with her reveals many hours of thought and investigation in our world... and beyond. And she has gained a wisdom beyond her years.

Ashton pursued a career in graphic design, and found that she could do it, but it did not begin to utilize all of her talents. It was, as she says (and take no offense ), a “normal person job.” Still it was a very beneficial training, giving her skills she will always utilize, as artists today are forced to implement technology to be competitive. She has tried many jobs in fact, but she has always been brought back to pushing around pigments. Painting is what she was born to do.

She came to Navasota to get away from the hometown where she grew up, to discover herself beyond the boundaries which have always contained her. And she came with few expectations, and mostly just a sense of adventure. Ashton had decided to try to make it as an artist. 

Horlock House Study

The completely restored Victorian house built in 1892, home of R. A. Horlock and his family for over seventy years... Now the home to resident artists, like Ashton.

Here Ashton explains how she painted the house on a hot day
 with oil pastels. A freezer was involved!

Here in Navasota, at the Horlock Art Center, she found an environment to begin a foothold in her life-choice. Free rent, for six months, bills paid, adequate space to create large works... peace and quiet... removal from the tyranny of the urgent. To a large degree she found what she was looking for, because Ashton will make the best of any situation.

 Ashton Hall painting "plein air" near huntsville.  It's just a fancy French term for out-of-doors.

Ashton promotes herself as a “plein air” artist, which suggests the interpretation of her subjects firsthand... without photography, studying and translating her subjects directly onto canvas from life. But she adds an infusion of other “isms.” She fearlessly utilizes her experience with stagecraft, abstract expressionism, fauvism, and modern color therapy to dazzle her audience. She might be called a disciple of color. Her art “is all about the color.” Ashton believes that color, and especially color used effectively by an artist has powerful effects on people. She believes people have no idea how important color is in creating a positive environment... or a negative one. Thankfully, she said “people gravitate to the colors they need.”

These are actually scientifically proven facts about the psychology of color. This young artist is starting out with that kind of savvy. Ashton harbors many edgy paradigms, some of which might make the average person nervous. She believes in heady concepts of “Divine right timing,” and the “law of attraction”; things, people, events that are supposed to meet or happen cannot avoid collision. We used to call that fate. She is committed to follow the path of her fate to what she calls the “highest excitement.” None of us should pursue careers, hobbies or relationships which do not hold a significant degree of excitement for us. If we do, it will not work... and our culture is full of people in denial of this law... and miserable for it. She explains that “Life is as exciting as the degree that you challenge yourself.”

 A delightful study in color therapy by Hall is the centerpiece in one of the Victorian parlors. 

Ashton loves the art part of art, and gets down and dirty. But she does not shrink from the business end, understanding one supports the other. Her paintings are instinctively designed by a mind that automatically balances self-expression with the science of subliminal appeal. She is having a wonderful time working her magic, exercising her freedom, and making contact with numerous fans. Her regular sales reflect her remarkable gift of positive energy, where her artistic journey always attracts hitchhikers. Her works are affordable, soulful, and... dare I say it, mentally healing.

Mental health is essential to physical healing. Ashton takes stock in that. We all need art, even though most people have no appreciation for it. Thus it is a no-brainer to say, you need your vitamins and you need art. And hers is an excellent place to start your collection.

 Ashton takes a break from a small mural commission.

Ashton is optimistic about art and her future in it, as she has observed the historic cycles in the economy and the evolution of artistic tastes. She believes they will improve. She is presently planning her next exhibit in the Trout Art Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin. And she is contemplating starting a mural painting service, where she can most logically achieve basic financial survival. Ashton is willing to do whatever it takes. That, for her, will be the key to success.

You have less than a week to catch her and her colors in Navasota. Jump aboard. Be careful where you sit... it may be muddy in here. 

You can see more of her art at:

her blog: 

http://ashtonhallartist.blogspot.com

OR (temporarily out of order) 


 https://flickr.com/people/ashtonhall artist/

OR (also out of order!)


https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/ashtonhall artist/sets/72157630980012966/ 

OR THIS WORKS!

find her on facebook at:

 https://www.facebook.com/AshtonHallArtist/

Legendary Names Sing to Preserve a Legend with the Blues Country Band!

Joe Tex II in Navasota

The Navasota VFW Hall hosted its second fund-raiser for the proposed Joe Tex statue and this time I was lucky enough to attend. I took so many photos... and then my computer crashed... and it took me this long to get around to looking at, cropping and posting them!

Jett McFalls: Play that funky music white boy!

This was a very special night for me... getting to see Joe Tex II perform again... I'm so glad he found me painting on the street on that Saturday afternoon and reminded me about the concert.. I'm getting where I crash every evening at around dinner time and rest is all I care about. But I promised him I would be there... even if it was going to go past my bedtime...

           Archie Bell

 

There were several warm up acts, all very good, and I did not know most of their names so I need help with that... SOME of the entertainers were Joe's kinsmen Neil Tex and Wymon "Bodacious" Armstead, formerly of Navasota, and David Karoska, Mark Powell, Carlos Sanchez, and Eugene Jones.  I did recognize one familiar face however, Richard Lipscomb, grandson of Mance Lipscomb playing bass... But the big news of the night for many of us was to get to see Archie Bell. Archie Bell and the Drells were hot on the radio when I was just as little kid, and getting to see this Texas legend sing in person was a real privilege. And baby, he is still hot!

Bell is a veteran performer and instinctively knows how to give a photographer what he wants, hence my shots of him were primo...

Joe Tex II, not so much, frolicking around in the crowd just like his dad did, IN THE DARK, and I hate using a flash... but he gave a great show. When he belts out Show Me there is no doubt what tree his little acorn fell out of.

Blues Country Band: Jett, George, Dave and Smokey

 

BUT, perhaps the greatest surprise of the evening and one of great pride for me personally was when I learned about the band hired to back these two great performers... no less than the Blues Country Band, formerly the Blues Alley Cats, who jammed and honed their sound in our weekly music jams at Blues Alley for a couple of years. They have ARRIVED!

Blues Country Band (The Faux Drells!?) poses with Joe Tex II and Archie Bell.

 

Blues Country did their own set and backed up two great acts as well, so they really earned their keep. Anyway, all of this was to raise money to help pay for a proposed sculpture monument of Joe's father, Joe Tex, the famous soul singer of the sixties and seventies,  who lived and died right here in Navasota.

 

Thanks to Joe Tex II & Carlos Sanchez for all the names of the musicians.

Woolscapes and Other Discoveries in Navasota: Horlock Gallery

There are three new artists occupying the historic Horlock House on Washington Avenue in Navasota, now dubbed the Horlock Gallery and History Museum. In an effort to make the house relevant to the community, the City of Navasota has transformed the house into an artist’s gallery and living quarters for three lucky artists who are selected every six months. 

Right now the house is occupied by Lisa Urban of Salina, Kansas, Catherine Kaleel of California, and Mick Burson from Waco. These artists were juried and selected from a large number of aspiring artists around the country, who applied for the opportunity. They recently hung individual exhibits of their artwork in various parlors of the spacious Victorian house where they now live and work. After their opening Saturday, two of them graciously agreed to talk some about their stay as artists-in-residence in a small town in Texas…

Lisa Urban speaks enthusiastically about her art and her stay in Navasota.

Lisa Urban is just a little excited about it all… Here is some video of our interview... (sorry, you have turn up the volume all the way!)

Lisa has entered into a journey uniquely her own, producing what I like to call "Urban woolscapes" from lighted set-ups which she creates...

The focus of Lisa Urban's studies is wool, weavings, yarn... arranged in dramatic ways, such as the still- life above...

The lighted still-life might inspire a major work of surrealism, such as this one, or the smaller studies surrounding it.

Lisa explains the steps in her artistic process...

Lisa talks about the Horlock Artists-in-Residence project...

Mick Burson was more laid back, and yet his message was very similar. Both artists seemed to be truly appreciative of the opportunity to work in this environment... 

Rather than focus on a family of related subjects, Mick is constantly looking for that element which he has not considered before, that which the rest of us might never consider, a path less taken.

Burson went on to explain that for him a main point or satisfaction of his art is this freedom… to explore and produce whatever he wants… such as the “obnoxious” timeline with paintings stacked one on top of the other, rendered with latex house paint, some of them partially made from concrete, nails and metal scraps... and then inserted into a minimalist twelve foot column reaching all the way to the ceiling. Mick Burson likes to explore boundaries and use the materials and the space, wherever it is, which he finds in front of him. This is a man who appreciates the little things in life...

Mick takes things as they come. He left (for instance) his studies at the University of North Texas in Denton to engage in this unique six-month program in Navasota.  He tries to use things which he finds in his everyday life in his art, and he does not let the business or commercial aspect of art affect his artistic journey.

Portraits by Catherine Kaleel

Catherine Kaleel has a couple of different forms of artistic expression. One is a stunning portrait technique, with a true gift for capturing a human likeness. The other is an almost photo-realistic approach to rendering studies of relatively obsolete modern objects, such as random cassette tapes or power tools. The contrast between the two is arresting; the nobility and power of the human soul juxtaposed against the ultimate refuse of planned obsolescence. She fittingly studies her humans with a fresh, lively, almost impressionistic style, and yet the manufactured items with technical precision.

Her portraits are exceptional. They might be called her "bread and butter" business, while she develops her artistic vision based somewhat on the story inanimate objects can tell, or perhaps the stories we subjectively attach to them. A little older than the other two, Kaleel has worked in the art world for a decade and welcomes the chance to get a change of scenery and the stimulation of hanging out in a new environment.

A stroll through the galleries at the Horlock House seems to produce a recurrent theme by these different artists from different places in the United States, and that is re-purposing, or recycling. The popular causes instilled by our American educators are surfacing in the paintings by their students, in paintings portraying discarded material culture, or paintings done with recycled materials, or paintings showing the intrinsic beauty of everyday craft and construction materials.

This is an old theme with an new look, truly reflecting the resourcefulness of the American spirit, hearkening back to when tramps made lamps from popsicle sticks and grandmas wove gorgeous rugs from discarded cotton rags. Now the latest generation of artists reminds us of that pioneer eye, then governed by necessity, which craved and created beauty and utility, and gave new meaning to everyday things.

Halloween? No A Hallowing... NAVASOTA THEATER ALLIANCE

 Working for Dr Harris, this devoted nurse became worried about transmitting deadly diseases to her own children.

"We live and die with the choices we make..."

Said nurse Tribble after a lifetime of sacrificially serving the Navasota community as a nurse. And The Navasota Theater Alliance made a great choice in this instance. Once again Lanterns and Legends at Navasota runs away with all of the awards for Best Halloween Season Production, Best Wardrobe, Best Scripts, Best Set Design, Best Organization... and Best Bang for the Buck. 

These are my awards, but why not?

After doctoring during the tragic and bloody Civil War, this doctor gave up medicine after the helplessness he felt during the 1867 Yellow Fever epidemic.

I know a little about art, music, theater... and I will place my awards against any other opinionated person and argue successfully that this may be the most moving, the most significant, the most useful art ever produced in Navasota... or anywhere nearby. There were probably fifty cars in the makeshift parking lot at the Oakland Cemetery, now hallowed ground for a new set of reasons, telling me lots of folks agree with me... They were nearly sold out at every performance.

Even the crowd will give you the creeps out there in the cemetery at night.

This years' theme was "The Brave in the Grave," and that was well illustrated by the characters who emerged from the cemetery darkness to tell their touching stories; A stoic woman who lost her brother and her child in the world wars; An army sergeant killed in action; A newspaper publisher who fought in the Texas revolution, barely escaping the Mexican holocaust, only to to see his newspaper building burned twice, and lose a daughter while quite young and have to report her death in his newspaper.

Joseph Lancaster was a southern firebrand- who often had to put out his own fires.

The courage of our forefathers makes us seem to cower in comparison.

Ranger Bob Werner comes to life as a ring tailed tooter.. and shares his experiences as police chief in Navasota.

Lanterns and Legends is a theatrical hit, on any level... and makes most other Autumn events seem trivial and a waste of time... But that's just my opinion. You will, and should see it for yourself to prove me wrong. 

But if you do... watch your step!

Lanterns and Legends runs through Sunday afternoon...

Chris Strachwitz- Of Mice and Men... and Monuments

Mance Lipscomb on stage again... in a viewing of This Ain't No Mouse Music.

Chris Strachwitz, by agreeing to be the subject of a documentary, has inadvertently introduced our favorite son Mance Lipscomb to the world at large, once again. Mayor Bert Miller and I got wind that the legendary record producer was going to be in Houston at the showing of the documentary film on is life. I’m talkin’ Rice University. It was a must go.

Chris is the adventuresome folk music enthusiast who discovered Mance Lipscomb and recorded his music and made him the famous blues celebrity that he became. As one admirer explained, Chris was able to do it all, from “womb to tomb.” And he did it for Mance first and then for hundreds of others. And he did it in blues, conjunto, zydeco and many other music languages.

In This Ain’t No Mouse Music, Chris Strachwitz is celebrated as the treasure he was and is to the music world. He came to Texas looking for Lightnin’ Hopkins, discovered Mance Lipscomb in Navasota in the process, and with the encouragement of fellow searcher Mack McCormick, made Mance his first artist to be released on Arhoolie Records. What followed was a rich, bountiful harvest of various samplings of regional folk music that became the most extensive collection of American folk music ever produced. I do not think that is an overstatement. 

Chris also witnessed Texas farm labor traditions first hand before the Civil Rights Movement, and actually visited with the legendary Tom Moore, subject of many blues recordings... Here is a short anecdote about Mance and the somewhat subversive song he was often asked to sing, the Tom Moore Blues...

What Chris Strachwitz has done, and has been very beautifully captured in the documentary, is to search, find and preserve the very heart and soul of America.

Bert Miller meets Chris Strachwitz.

That might not be an overstatement either, or at least it comes from my heart and soul. Bert and I were glowing like two fireflies as we went home afterwards. I had given Chris a copy of the Navasota Examiner. The one which pictured my new mural featuring Mance on the front page. I told him Hell had frozen over.  He seemed to be smiling with true joy. Bert had shaken his hand and spoke to him officially as a representative from our humble town, which will always be in debt to him for what he did.

A veritable WWII refugee from Poland, young and totally objective Chris Strachwitz came from California and captured our most precious music, so that someday, when he was old, we would finally be listening. It was a great feeling to hand him evidence, second generation fruit which he had not planted, that his work has left a permanent ripple in our Brazos Valley culture. The wall on Blues Alley certainly proved that we value Mance more than ever, and that Chris Strachwitz got through to the most deaf of ear. That must feel good to know that.

At the end of the documentary, Chris walks along in a glorious musical parade celebrating his career. Unlike Mance and so many of his musicians, he has lived to be appreciated and even be venerated and to taste the sweet nectar of validation. It felt good to be a part of that. We cannot undo the past.  But we can sure enjoy getting it right every once in a while.

CLASSIC SHOTS OF A CLASSIC FESTIVAL

OF CLASSIC CARS!

Sometimes everything works out. After you have done things a few times and work out the kinks, and if you get lucky, the weather cooperates... Navasota had a perfect classic car show this year that will become the standard by which its future car shows will be compared.

Councilman Grant Holt beams from his stunning red convertable.

My favorite was this 1940 Ford street rod.

These youngsters certainly found their favorite... the restored Navasota firetruck.

There was superb rock music by Suede. There were activities for children, food and drinks served by the Navasota Diamonettes.

Years of diligence have paid off, and the Navasota Kiwanis Club, and especially Jon McNally are to be congratulated for this glorious event. Look at this picture! I could not find a bad angle. They deserve some kind of trophy... and it would look something like this...

It was sad to see these beauties depart. But the shear beauty of the perfect day will keep us smiling for months.

So put this event on your bucket list!

STUNNING- GLORIOUS- IDYLLIC. And the cars were cool too! :)

Surely, a sign of things to come.

"Lanterns" sheds light on legends' potential

 

Lanterns and Legends was well attended on its last day. It proved to be a great fit for Navasota. Everyone was talking about "next year"  before the first one was complete. That kind of enthusiasm is hard to muster in places like Navasota where so much is going on, and so much has been tried.

You know it's a winner when you sell a bunch of tickets and everyone is smiling at the end of the day. And I think they will be smiling about this event from now on.

Earlene Rainey was so cute in her peach dress, I had to stick in another shot of her in the daylight.

 

"Looking back, I would not have changed a thing," sighs Jane Levy (Teri Gerst) about her life with Myer Levy.

And looking back... that goes for this event as well. The planning and execution was as good as it gets for a first time event. The QUALITY was there. And these shots I took are priceless! This is a perfect attraction for Navasota to get behind and propel as a major autumn people mover, as well as an opportunity to tell the story of the town.