Rio Brazos & PCPC

I would like to praise two institutions for their wonderful and tireless efforts on behalf of art and artists. The two organizations I am referring to are Tarleton University and Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas.

This past year has been the first time I have had the extreme pleasure to be associated with either organization, and I cannot express adequately with words how much I was impressed with both groups.

Park Cities Presbyterian Church recently concluded their second annual PCPC arts festival. Their festival’s theme, based on biblical creation, was entitled “Beginnings – Genesis.”

The opportunity to participate in a faith based art festival was one that I looked forward to for reasons I will delve into at some later point. I was; however, pleasantly surprised to find not only the quality of the art very high, but also the treatment of the art and the artists was impeccable.

The Cross Timbers Art Council and Tarleton State University sponsor the Rio Brazos Juried Art Exhibition. The exhibit is held each year at Tarleton’s Langdon Center in Granbury. These gracious hosts go above and beyond, not only in their efforts to expose the public to the highest quality art, but also to revere and honor the artists.

There is still time for you to enter artwork in this year’s juried exhibit. The deadline is August 18th 2008. You can see the prospectus at
http://www.tarleton.edu/~langdoncenter/RBAE/RBAEindex.html

The Dark Knight Redemption

I do not plan to give anything away. Spoilers, as they call them are not my goal. I may even be a trifle late with this to qualify as a substantive review, but I believe that I am suppose to add my unique perspective to the voices already singing the praises of Christopher Nolan’s new Batman movie “The Dark Knight”. I know you may be saying, “isn’t this particular column supposed to be generally directed at art and the artistic process?” The simple answer is unequivocally YES, and that is why I need to say the following.

I have not always been on board the “Batman as best hero” train. In my younger days I preferred to dream of having super strength, speed, etc. The Batman TV series did nothing to elevate my esteem of the, what I considered rather second-rate comic, character. In fact it was not until I read the Frank Miller’s series “Batman, The Dark Night Returns” that I developed an appreciation for the Batman. Tim Burton’s movies crept up to the edge of the darkness that Miller portrayed in his graphic novel, but ultimately fell back into the campy pablum of the TV series.
Christopher Nolan has properly embraced the darkness that makes the Batman/ Bruce Wayne personas so intriguing. I found myself watching “Batman Begins” over and over without tiring of any scene. This same embrace is apparent and runs the whole length of his new movie, “The Dark Night” with one minor exception. This exception might possibly serve as the underlying theme of this movie, though I do not pretend to know the mind of Nolan. “The Dark Knight” portrays a microcosm of the world in the guise of Gotham that is abjectly dark, overrun with evil, violence and terrorism. And yet, it is peppered with people throughout who remain hopeful, and in their hope they reach out to help others. There is so much violence (non-graphic to obtain PG-13 status, but still prevalent) and so much going on that it could almost slip by unnoticed. There almost toward the end of the movie a bright and shining example of the potential goodness of all men blazed into my awareness. A convict, played by Tommy (Tiny) Lister, makes the ultimate in sacrificial decisions. It is this and actions like it that define true heroism. That is what I went to see and Nolan did not disappoint.