Double Vision Lecture Series 2009

Double Vision Lecture Series

Sept 14 – Oct 5 2009 @ 6pm, Monday’s Only

Redux Contemporary Art Center was proud to present the latest Double Vision, in a semiannual Lecture Series that was started in the fall of 2008. Boy oh boy did the Redux Double Vision Lecture Series have a great group of artists and professionals for its third event! Instead of losing steam we gained momentum with an eclectic lineup that amazed and amused. Lectures took place at 6pm on Mondays, September 14 – October 5. All lectures were free and open to the public and took place at Redux. Seating was available on a first-come, first-seated basis. Registration was not required.

Double Vision plays an important role in the educational mission of Redux. The lecture series pairs one art related issue against another subject of equal significance from a seemingly unrelated field. Each lecturer delivers a 30-minute presentation; the audience then discusses the possible or impossible relationships between the two. During the first part of the program, speakers are not allowed to make connections between topics, during the question and answer period, anything can happen.

The audience is intimate, appreciative, and intelligent, and the lecturers are accessible, generous and interesting.

SEPT 14

George Read // How value is determined in the art market

A brief history of the extraordinary changes in the way we have valued art, from ancient Greece to the present day. This illustrated talk included paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, artists, dealers, record prices, auction markets, fakes, partial-fakes, and a short analysis of our changing views on what constitutes “quality.” The history includes a description of how the world’s established 2000-year old concept of “value” was rejected and reversed when American buyers came to dominate the international art market, how this applies to art values today, and whether this change was for the better.

About George Read: Harvard graduate, ten years in Europe, ten years as an auctioneer with Sotheby’s, advisor and curator for the US Government, notable estates, and international collectors including; Mrs. Winston F.C. Guest; Mrs. Lee Radziwill; Mr. and Mrs. Oscar de la Renta; Mr. and Mrs. Claus von Bulow; Mrs. Charles B. Wrightsman; Ms. Oprah Winfrey; Mrs. Douglas Fairbanks Jr.; Jack Warner (Warner Brothers); The Art Institute of Chicago; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; Fine Arts Committee, United States Department of State; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Craig Deihl // Methods to the Madness

This lecture explored Deihl’s journey to becoming the Executive Chef of Cypress as well as the history and unique qualities of the restaurant. He talked mostly about meat, including the farms that our beef and pork come from, the relationship to the farmers that we have, how we compost veggie scraps and use the scraps to feed the pigs on the farms and how that connection makes for a better product and environment. Deihl explained the art of utilizing all that we possibly can from those animals through the practice of aging, curing and preserving. His presentation finished with the way the food is displayed on plates, the way it tastes and include samples of salami and other cured meats.

About Craig Deihl: Executive Chef Craig Deihl is undoubtedly one of the nation’s most talented young chefs, and has created a menu that fuses traditional southern staples with flavors from around the globe.  His acclaimed “global fusion” style focuses on fresh, indigenous ingredients combined with international cooking techniques and presentation, which defines his distinctive food. Chef Deihl is a graduate of Johnson and Wales University and a native of Danville, Pennsylvania.  After training for nearly five years at Charleston’s Magnolias Uptown/Down South, he helped launch Cypress in 2001, making it the popular dining destination it is today.  Craig recently published Cypress: A Lowcountry Grille (Gibbs Smith Publishing, 2007) and was a contributor to the Smithsonian Institute’s One Fish, Two Fish, Crawfish, Blue Fish, a guide to sustainable seafood. Given the opportunity to develop his own style, backed by a world-class wine program and first rate amenities, Deihl has developed the restaurant from the ground up, making it a reputable Charleston mainstay, and earning it accolades from the nation’s leading food critics, as well as the local community.  Deihl is inspired by the challenge of playing a prominent role in Charleston’s burgeoning dining scene and influencing the national reputation of the Holy City’s cuisine.

SEPT 21

Marcus Amaker // Escapism: A Life Devoted to Art

This fun and interactive presentation was broken up into three parts: music, poetry and graphic design. Marcus Amaker led the audience in exercises devoted to each medium, and showed how his passion for art shaped who he has become. Included was a brief (and unorthodox) history of each, seen through the eyes of a man obsessed with doing things his own way.

Marcus Amaker was born in Las Vegas and lived in Texas, Japan and Maryland before settling on Charleston in 2003. He started creating art at an early age – his first original music was recorded when he was 8 years old, and he began writing poetry and doing graphic design in high school. Since moving to Charleston, he has continued to devote his life to art, with three published poetry books (Listening to Static and Poems for Augustine in 2005 and The Soft Paper Cut in 2007), seven self-released home studio albums and countless web sites, posters and art projects. As a spoken word poet, Marcus has traveled around the country and performed for national television, with a monthly show on SCETV in the works. Most recently, he became the editor of the Post and Courier’s weekly Preview magazine. Preview reaches nearly 80,000 people on a weekly basis, and Marcus has used the position to expose the Lowcountry to progressive art and artists.

David Goltra, Jr., M.D. // Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology

Dr. Goltra discussed modern techniques in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computerized Tomography (CT) including how images are acquired and interpreted.  He also briefly introduced a few of the spinal procedures that he performs.  Known as Interventional Radiology, Dr. Goltra uses live imaging to guide catheters and wires inside the body to open obstructed vessels, treat forms of cancers, stop internal bleeding, relieve many painful conditions, and help patients avoid more costly and dangerous spinal surgery.

About Dr. David D. Goltra, Jr., MD: Dr. Goltra is the medical director and founder of Charleston Imaging, is a recognized expert in MRI interpretation and interventional spine procedures. After graduating Cum Laude from Ohio State University’s medical program and serving as an AOA Medical Honor Society member, Dr. Goltra completed residencies in Emergency Medicine at the University of Cincinnati and Diagnostic Radiology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), as well as a fellowship in Neuroradiology at MUSC. Currently, he is Board Certified in both Diagnostic Radiology and Emergency Medicine. Dr. Goltra also performed the first Vertebroplasty and the first Kyphoplasty in South Carolina. Currently, he remains one of the few radiologists trained to perform Kyphoplasty.

SEPT 28

Stacy L. Pearsall // A Photographic Journey

For this lecture, Stacey L. Pearsall discussed her photographic journey.  She talked about her time in the military and how it led her to the present.  Stacey discussed some of her experiences, achievements and goals for the future being a photographer in contemporary times.

About Stacy L. Pearsall: Stacey began her work as a photographer for the Air Force over ten years ago at the age of 17. During her time in the service she traveled to over 41 countries and attended S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. She is one of only two women to win the NPPA Military Photographer of the Year competition, and the only woman to have won it twice. During the three tours in Iraq, she earned the Bronze Star Medal and Commendation with Valor for heroic actions under fire. Her work has been published in various media including Time Magazine, New York Times, CNN, BBC, LA Times, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Oscar nominated PBS: Operation Home Coming and GQ Magazine: This is Our War. National magazines such as Pink, Popular Photography and Newsweek have interviewed her, where she shared her experiences as a female combat photojournalist.  She is currently the owner/director of the Charleston Center for Photography, providing many services to photographers in the Charleston area.

Julian Buxton // The Ghosts of Charleston

This lecture explored the idea of ghosts throughout time, what they might be, and if they exist in Charleston.

About Julian Buxton: Julian Buxton grew up along the saltwater marshes around the city. He is a founder of Tour Charleston LLC, a company specializing in The Ghosts of Charleston tour. He is a graduate of Princeton University with a degree in history, as well as the author of The Ghosts of Charleston book.

OCT 5

Nathan Durfee // Narwhals, Carrot Top, and Other Relevant Artistic Thoughts

Nathan Durfee discussed reasons behind his personal style and creative thought process when painting.

About Nathan Durfee: Nathan was born in the small town of Bethel, Vermont on June 26, 1983.  Nathan’s artistic aspirations first showed themselves in the classroom: a self-described “doodler,” moments of boredom became sketches and designs in notebook margins.  After spending his high school years in Nevada, he migrated south to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design to become a traditional portrait artist.  As his current work boldly exhibits, Nathan instead decided to take his art in a unique, wholly personalized, direction. This ability to create both conventional and alternative realities allows him to push and pull his work from the realistic to the abstract with imaginative skill. His fanciful, often abstract, subjects share an organic connection with his informal school day sketching. Despite his uncanny subjects, his paint application is studious and technically informed.  How he paints, he says, is more important than what he paints.  The relation of emotions to brushstrokes is keen: anger will produce a harsher, quicker stroke than a feeling of calm or contentment.  Durfee likes to get his work done in as few sittings as possible, for the less time there is between work periods, the less likely emotions and brushstrokes will vary.  Durfee’s academic side carries over into other parts of his artistic process as well.  An avid chess player, he likes to play before painting; it serves as “a mental warm-up.”  While painting, Durfee listens to lectures on a multitude of diverse subjects, such as philosophy, history, and quantum physics.  It is important to him that his painting (the verb, not the noun) stay as “academic and sophisticated as possible.”

Dr. P. Chris Fragile // Black-Hole Accretion Disks: Laboratories for Studying General Relativity

This presentation had four principle goals: 1. Convince the audience that black holes really exist in our Universe. 2. Discuss some of the phenomena that make them so interesting. 3. Explain accretion disks and why they are so important to understanding black holes. 4. Review some of the research students and Dr. Chris Fragile have been doing on black-hole accretion disks at the College of Charleston.

About Dr. P. Chris Fragile: Dr. P. Chris Fragile received his B.S. from Duke University in 1993. He then spent 4 years serving as an officer in the United States Air Force. Following his tour in the Air Force, he enrolled in graduate school at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, IN. He completed his doctoral work on “Dynamics Around Compact Objects” and received his PhD in Physics in 2001. After completing his degree, Dr. Fragile spent 3 years as a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA. Following that experience, Dr. Fragile spent 1 year as a postdoctoral research at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before joining the faculty in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the College of Charleston in 2005. Dr. Fragile teaches a variety of courses in physics and astronomy. In 2006 he created a new course entitled “Physics in Film” that uses popular media, particularly movies, as a basis for teaching fundamental principles of physics. Dr. Fragile has a wife and two children. He and his family reside in Mount Pleasant.