A night at the museum
Courtesy artsBHAM
The Birmingham Museum of Art will host its annual Art on the Rocks series on the Friday nights of June 23, July 21 and Aug. 18. The multi-genre event, now in its 13th season, was founded to bring people together on summer evenings in the Magic City by featuring food, drinks, artists, performers, downtown Birmingham businesses and more in the museum.
On tap for June’s Art on the Rocks is Opera Birmingham, Bollywood dance by Aastha Dance, five-minute portraits by artist LG Waldo, a breakdance performance by Jordan Brown and a work of art constructed live by Flux, an artist collective from Mobile.
In the museum’s café, DJ Gina T will share music, and Steel City Pops will offer eights flavors of frozen sweets. The Cakerie will be on hand to decorate two cakes, which guests can then vote on for a chance to win one.
The signature drink for the evening is the Monet Mule, created by local mixologists and inspired by a painting of Claude Monet that hangs in the museum’s collection. Cash bars also will be available throughout the museum.
Opera Birmingham will fill the galleries with singing as part of its Opera Shots pop-up concert series. Introduced as a way to take opera to unconventional settings, such as local breweries, and to challenge stereotypes of the art form, Opera Shots features members of the Opera Birmingham Chorus and guest artists performing favorite opera, musical theater and jazz selections.
Aastha Dance will “take you on a small trip to India” with their Bollywood dance performance, says director Aastha Shastri. She describes Bollywood dance as a “tasty hodgepodge” of traditional and contemporary styles. Shastri’s students, who range from children to adults, perform at various festivals and events throughout Birmingham.
“It’s our first year at Art on the Rocks, and we are pretty excited,” she said.
If you’ve never had your portrait painted before (or even if you have), you can check out local artist LG Waldo’s five-minute portrait booth. First inspired to create five-minute portraits last year, it’s now a frequent part of her work. The catalyst of the idea was an invitation to be a live painter at a music festival. She was concerned about taking her oil paints to the event because “anything could happen to them.” Instead, she opted to bring watercolors and acrylics to paint portraits of visitors.
“It was an experiment,” she said. “I gave myself five minutes to make each picture. It turned out that people did respond to my portraits, so now I paint them regularly.”
How does she paint so quickly? It’s a skill called gesture drawings she learned in art school.
“Sometimes we were only given 10 seconds to make each drawing,” Waldo said. “I really enjoyed this type of working because the speed caused my analytical, critical mind to quiet. I like that I get to use this technique now professionally.”
When Waldo paints one of these portraits, she tells the subject to pick a spot to stare at for five minutes.
“I like to think of my portrait booth as a five-minute opportunity where anything can happen,” she said. “Some people meditate for five minutes. Some people see if they can hold the dab dance posture for five minutes. Some people sit with their friend and talk for five minutes. It’s really very fun to see what happens. People are so fun to paint.”
Tickets for Art on the Rocks are $20 for members and $30 for nonmembers. For more information and to see more about July and August’s lineup of performers and artists, go to artsbma.org.
Art on the Rocks
WHEN: 7-11 p.m. Friday, June 23, July 21 and Aug. 18
WHERE: Birmingham Museum of Art, 2000 Rev. Abraham Woods Jr. Blvd.
June: LG Waldo, Flux, Jordan Brown, Aastha Dance, Gina T, Opera Birmingham, The Cakerie, Steel City Pops.
JULY: Ben Sollee; The Underhill Family Orchestra; Jeanette Andrews, magician; David Nuttall, Artimaps; DJ Love Deluxe and more.
AUGUST: AROVA Contemporary Ballet, Sidewalk Film Festival and more.