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Student Artwork, Tarot Decks and More
SIX NEW EXHIBITIONS AT THE LYNDON HOUSE ARTS CENTER
By Jessica Smith arts@flagpole.com
Living With Grief During Holidays
ADVICE FOR ATHENS'LOOSE AND LOVELORN
By Bonita Applebum advice@flagpole.com
With six different exhibitions currently
on view, the Lyndon House Arts Center’s
fall programming presents a wide range of
ideas and experiences. Closing this week on
Nov. 12, the series “Collections from Our
Community” presents a wide assortment
of tarot decks and crystal skulls owned by
Carrie Slayton, who first began seriously
collecting in 2020, after the first round of
COVID stimulus checks were distributed.
With over 200 tarot decks in her collec
tion, Slayton actively seeks out-of-print,
Halloween and darker themed decks, as well
as unique ones from Etsy and Kickstarter
artists, instead of tra
ditional Rider-Waite
decks.
Currently on view
through the end
of November, “The
Ties That Bind: The
Paradox of Cultural
Survival Amid
Climate Events”
includes photography
by Tamika Galanis
and sculpture by
Anina Major. The
two artists met while
attending an artist
residency on St.
Helena Island, SC,
during which they
examined cultural
identity and sustain
ability through environmental relation
ships. Galanis and Major, both from The
Bahamas and now based in Atlanta and
New York City, respectively, re-examine
the connections between people and places
through their work. A virtual conversation
with Major and Galanis will be held Nov. 10
at 4 p.m. Held in conjunction with UGA’s
Spotlight on the Arts, a gallery talk and
basket weaving workshop will be offered on
Nov. 19 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
On view through Jan. 14, “RE-“ is a
biennial show of works by students in
kindergarten through 12th grade in the
Clarke County School District. Celebrating
creative youth and spotlighting the impor
tance of art education, the exhibition fills
both floors of the atrium with everything
from photography and painting to collage
and sculpture. Following the challenges
of pandemic learning, this year’s theme,
“RE-,” prompted teachers and students to
reflect, readjust, reimagine, restart, reset,
remember, rethink, rebuild and so on. In
collaboration with the Athens Downtown
Development Authority, a series of street
light banners featuring youth artworks will
be installed throughout downtown.
Three additional exhibitions recently
opened on Nov. 8 and will remain on view
through Mar. 4. On display in the center’s
front lobby case, “The Same, Yet Separate”
by J Taran Diamond shares an unusual
collection of objects thoughtfully created
in response to local sites with compli
cated histories including Lake Lanier, the
Camak House and the Ware-Lyndon House.
Diamond, a metalsmith and interdisciplin
ary craft artist currently pursuing an MFA
at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, investi
gates how racial violence has been histor
ically ingrained within the landscape and
material culture of the South, and how this
violence causes a disparity of experience
between white and Black people encounter
ing these objects and materials.
“By exposing the pervasiveness of
anti-Blackness within the material culture
of the American south, I aim to expose
the reality of anti-Black violence and Black
intergenerational trauma as ongoing con
ditions, and seek catharsis for my own
experience as a Black
person navigating a
world built through
and around the subju
gation of my people,”
says Diamond in their
artist statement.
Diamond will offer a
3Thurs Artist Talk on
Jan. 19 at 6 p.m.
A tradition of
the annual Juried
Exhibition, the
Lyndon House Arts
Center selects one
promising artist and
invites them to return
and present a solo
show of their work.
This year’s recipient
of the Arts Center
Choice Award is Bess Carter, a local artist
who graduated from The Dodd and now
works as an art teacher at Oconee County
High School. Finding inspiration in family
and her “everyday beautifully imperfect life
as a mom to four great kids,” her paintings
focus on bright, eclectically furnished inte
riors and still life paintings. Carter will host
an artist talk and reception on Feb. 16 at 6
p.m.
Spotlighting Kate Burke, Rebecca
Kreisler and Sylvia Schaefer, “A Pattern of
Moments” connects three bodies of work
that share a feminine sensibility. From the
delicately stitched embroidery by Burke,
to the dizzyingly three-dimensional folded
paper by Kreisler to the comforting geo
metric quilts of Schaefer, all three artists
create their labor-intensive pieces through
repeating a singular process multiple times.
Kreisler will offer a free workshop to make
three-dimensional star-shaped ornaments
on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m.
In addition to new exhibitions, the
LHAC and Lyndon House Arts Foundation
will also celebrate the latest installment
of its ongoing artist edition series with
a print sale on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 5:30
p.m. Harold Rittenberry Jr. has designed a
new work entitled “RAYS OF JOY, LOVE”
with printmaker Amanda Burk of Flat File
Print Shop. The 18-inch-by-18-inch screen
print features mermaids, birds and several
other silhouettes that frequently inspire
Rittenberry’s large metal sculptures. Prints
are $100, with proceeds benefiting the
foundation, and can be purchased online
the following afternoon if supplies last. ©
“Barbie Dreamhouse” by Bess Carter
My father died last year, and as I navigate
the stages of my grief, guilt has probably
been the toughest one to handle. It’s been a
year and a half, and the hurt isn’t as sharp
as it used to be. I have more good days than
bad ones lately, save for the occasional,
intense sob session while scrolling through
his Facebook page. But the guilt becomes
worse when I realize that I don’t hate the
way our family has changed. I’ve thought
about this a lot, and even as I attempt to
describe it to you all, my mind is also sup
plying all the reasons that it’s OK to look
forward to the holidays at home, even if
my dad won’t be there. Enjoying the peace
of my family home doesn’t mean that I’m
happy my dad isn’t part
of that anymore.
I definitely
resented some of
his ways and
attitudes
His palate was adventurous in a way that
mine is not—he loved lamb and oysters
but hated hearts of palm, which is fully
opposite of my own tastes. Regardless, we
never refused to try anything that the other
cooked.
I won’t be able to share this pudding
with my dad, and I can’t be mad at anyone
about that. It is what it is. I’m not a very
religious person at all, and it’s most helpful
for me to accept that he is gone and our
lives must move on. I don’t believe that
we’ll be reunited in an afterlife, though
I fully understand why some people do.
What a comforting thing to believe, right?
There was always going to be a Christmas
where Dad wouldn’t be here with us, and
it doesn’t serve me to ache
and long for the
way things
used
to
be.
when he was
around, and it
makes perfect sense
that I would still harbor
some of those resentments now
that he’s gone. His death didn’t absolve him
of his worldview or the way he imposed it
on his family at times.
Last year, I knew that our first Christmas
without him would be rough. I wanted to
shake up our usual Christmas day festivities
(open presents, eat holiday lunch, go visit
nearby relatives and eat their lunch, too),
so I decided to get us some Victorian-style
crackers. We sat at the table that morning
with our coffee and were startled by how
dang loud those things popped, and we
really enjoyed sharing the jokes and gifts
that were inside. And of course, I felt like
the worst daughter in the world for intro
ducing something so fun to our family
on the first Christmas where our father
couldn’t participate.
This year I’ve decided that I’m going
to keep the Dickensian theme going and
make a Christmas pudding (wish me luck),
which should tickle the hell out of my very
Southern, very American mom. Daddy liked
old-school fruitcake, so I imagine that a
pile of dried and fermented fruit and bread,
dotted with beef suet and soaked in brandy,
might not offend his sensibilities too much.
I’m here now,
and I intend to
be here now. My
father will always be a
part of my life, and continu
ing to live it does not disrespect his mem
ory. How could it?
Daddy’s gone, and I still have Applebum
family fish to fry. I have Applebum cous
ins who shamelessly cape for Kanye West
because they think that celebrity worship
will somehow make them rich by asso
ciation. Other Applebums are hitting up
family elders for shoe money while claiming
it’s for bills. One cousin is finally substance-
free and living on the farm where he works.
Another cousin is claiming the entire fam
ily is against them because no one would
keep their kids so they could go see Lil
Boosie a few months ago. Most of this is
not my business, and I will NOT be getting
involved, but it’s fun to be old enough to
get the scoop on family drama and judge it
all from a distance. Daddy will be present
in my heart when I slip the young ones a
twenty or go take a walk with my cousins.
I have to keep living, and I’m allowed to
enjoy that living while it’s happening. ©
Need advice? Email advice@flagpole.com, or use
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advice.
10 FLAGPOLE.COM ■ NOVEMBER 9, 2022