Best Not To Stare...

Circuit Boards, Bakelite and Rack Panels Energize the Art Circuit

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:38:53 +0000

When not capturing moving images, Charles Jevremovic–DP for Sister Mary Martha’s Martyrology–works with phenolic resin board, copper, ceramic resistors, paint, bakelite, circuit board panels and various other materials from the pre-digital era to channel his creative energy into a very different sort of art.

A wide range of his work in now on view at the Artpost Gallery in downtown South Bend. through December 18. It just might make you regret tossing that old tube radio that was gathering dust in the basement.

Mom

admin — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:29:23 +0000

Evelyn Elizabeth O’Keefe
August 13, 1926 – September 14, 2011

Married 62 years.

9 Children. (Loretta not pictured. That’s me in the back with the white shirt and the skinny tie.)

19 Grandchildren.

5 (and counting) Great Grandchildren

My Mom.

It’s been a tough year.

Cleo Has Left the Building

admin — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 17:19:56 +0000

Cleo Has Left the Building

Cleopatra, Queen of the St. Joseph River

If there is a God, Cleopatra Walker O’Keefe is sleeping peacefully beneath a celestial desk, feet twitching, eyes moving rapidly beneath closed lids, as she pursues an impertinent squirrel across an endless grassy dreamscape. Cleo left us early Saturday morning after 13 amazing years. In her final week, the bone cancer moved aggressively into Cleo’s lungs and then her spine, leaving her unable to stand and breathing with difficulty. This was the same dog I once watched from the kitchen window as she sprinted across the yard to leap, with perfect timing, to knock a running squirrel off the top of our six-foot privacy fence.

We knew it was time.

Cleo lived a wonderful dog’s life. She had uncontested sway over a yard infested with wonderfully elusive squirrels and rabbits, a house requiring her constant vigilance to rebuff the daily incursions of persistent mail carriers, a doggy Bill of Rights entitling her to two walks a day, rain, snow, sleet or shine, lakeside vacations, and a biscuit before bed.

I know it’s a cliché–I know everyone says it about their own dog–but Cleo was the world’s best dog. And she was the best kind of a dog: a mutt, although one with an exotic bearing that allowed us to pass her off to credulous strangers as a purebred “Egyptian Shorthair”. It leaves a hole in our hearts to no longer be among her loyal retainers.

Goodbye Cleo.

World’s best dog.

Witches and Wisps… Birnam Wood Comes to Azeroth

admin — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 20:21:14 +0000

Who knew?

There is a place where Shakespeare fans and World of Warcraft gamers intersect: Dana and Reggie’s Ministry of Shakespeare.

Lovers of the Bard: Dana Vagg and Reggie "Pooh Bear" Batusik

Dana is, as you know, our beloved Sister Mary Martha and Reggie is her Pooh Bear. Reggie is also a big-time World of Warcraft gamer and recently did a guest appearance on a WoW blog called The Instance, hosted by Scott Johnson and Randy Jordan. The co-hosts gave the Ministry of Shakespeare a shout-out at the end of Reggie’s segment. As it turns out, many of those orcs, healers, wisps, hunters and steampunks have a hankering for Hamlet as well. The result of that shout-out was over 5,000 hits to the Ministry of Shakespeare site in a little over a week, and over 300 unique visitors a day for 6 days running. Now, if only those gamers could discover Sister Mary Martha’s Martyrology…

Check out Reggie’s interview here: The Instance #214

Not Pooh Bear

The audience is out there.

Really.

Raken Leaves is My Hero

admin — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:05:57 +0000

When I was in art school in Detroit my dream was to one day move to New York City and live the life of an ‘artist’. During the day, I’d agonize over each brush stroke in my Lower East Side loft. At night, I’d rub shoulders with hard drinking Abstract Expressionists in the Spring Street Tavern. I did spend 5 or 6 years in NYC, but I turned to the dark side–screenwriting and film–and never did get very close to living that dream. One of my art school classmates was Raken Leaves, a talented sculptor with mad weaving and upholstery skills. (Back in the day, Raken created the sets, props and costumes for DANCE FOR A MINOTAUR. You can check out a video of a dress rehearsal on my ‘Detroit… Paris of the Midwest’ page.)

Raken has been living in New York and making art since our art school days. She and her husband Julius Klein, an artist and musician, have a storefront combination upholstery shop and art gallery on the Lower East Side. Here’s some of her work:

Another Angel Gets His Wings

admin — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 16:55:56 +0000

Some Context…

So, I’m shoveling snow, a lot of snow. (See above.) Guy walks by, smiling.

SMILING GUY: Don’t you love the snow?

ME: WTF?

SMILING GUY: Hey, snow is incredible: you can go skiing, sledding, you can make snow angels.

ME:

I hit him with the shovel. I’ll bury him in the Spring when the snow melts.

God willing.

A Martyr for Her Art? A Hoosier in Hollywood?

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:51:47 +0000

Cassandra Nwokah plays St. Margaret of Antioch in Episode 3 of Sister Mary Martha’s Martryology. It was Cassandra’s first time working in front of a camera. It was also her first time attempting to emote in a damp, dungeon-like cellar while covered with dragon slime. Her performance blew us away.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Immediately after graduating from IU South Bend this fall, Cassandra got on a bus and moved to Los Angeles.

The bus looked remarkably like a limo...

Along the way, Cassandra stopped off in Colorado to visit with Sister Mary Martha’s Dana Vagg–apparently to renew their wedding vows–and record an episode of The Ministry of Shakespeare with Dana and Reggie.

How will we tell Reggie?

Since arriving in L.A., Cassandra has had some amazing adventures. I think the bearded guy in the red suit is a famous producer. (He also looks a lot like the guy who stops by every year around this time to give me a stocking with a bunch of coal in it. Is he in the energy business?)

St. Margaret meets St. Nick in the City of Angels

Martyrologists on the March

admin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:36:24 +0000

I fund my bad habits and regrettable life choices by working as a Producer for the wonderful folks at Grass Roots Media in South Bend. It just so happens, our DP for Sister Mary Martha’s Martyrology–Charles Jevremovic–is also our DP at Grass Roots. (What are the odds?) Charles has done it again, shooting a series of videos for the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County documenting the collection of George Rickey kinetic sculptures that, until recently, graced the streets of downtown South Bend. The pieces were edited by the very talented Andrea Rogers.

Additional videos from this series:

Annular Eclipse

Two Rectangles Horizontal Joined Gyratory

Two Planes Vertical Horizontal IV

Return to Planet Lulu

admin — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:52:19 +0000

I was fortunate on my first directing project–LULU TAKES A LOVER–to recruit some very talented people who actually knew what they were doing. (Because I sure as hell didn’t.) I’ve heard from a few of them recently about their recent projects:

In MEDITATIONS ON TRAFFICKING, directed by Noel Olken, Krissy Shields (Lulu in LULU TAKES A LOVER) plays an actor struggling to fully comprehend the plight of her character in a play about trafficking, who encounters the real thing. The movie was recently released on DVD after obtaining finishing funds through Kickstarter.

Meditations on Trafficking

Virginia Smith (Ms. Calder in Lulu Takes a Lover) now teaches directing at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Her latest effort, a musical entitled LOCAL WONDERS, opened November 27th at Chicago Dramatists.

Virginia Smith

Local Wonders Musical

North of the border…

admin — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 20:08:23 +0000

The Indiana border that is…

Danny Mohill (Editor of Sister Mary Martha’s Martyrology episodes 2 & 3) and Charles Jevremovic (DP on episodes 1, 2 & 3) collaborated on a video for the 50th anniversary of the Kalamazoo Nature Center:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Charles also shot and edited a video of “I Am Running” for Ann Arbor-based performance artist Amanda Krugliak:

Click here to view the embedded video.