OUTDOOR SALONS
Bloomfield Garden Club cultivates artists for backyard performances
As a visual artist and curator, Tina Dillman knows an artist’s need to experience a sense of community with other artists and an audience. To meet it, and satisfy COVID-weary arts lovers eager for live performances, she has organized a series of nine outdoor salons that feature visual art, comedy, dance, music, literature and performance art.
Her monthly salon, the Bloomfield Garden Club, is presented with Bill Julin, a local musician whose latest venture is called Burning Well. In August, September and October, the duo will host outdoor salons on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons in the backyard of Mr. Julin’s Bloomfield home.
The purpose of the series is to provide an experimental platform for local artists to create new work, Ms. Dillman said. Due to the pandemic and the small size of the venue, audiences will be limited to eight people. Tickets are $25 each. The series dates are Aug. 18, 20 and 23; Sept. 22, 24 and 27 and Oct. 13, 15 and 18.
The first performance, by vocalist Elizabeth “Betty” Asche Douglas and saxophonist Rex Trimm, begins at 6 p.m. Aug. 18. Also in August, visual artist Naomi Chambers will present new work, and performance artists John Musser and Scott Andrew will appear together. In September, visual artist Tara Fay Coleman, musician Clara Kent and dancer Shana Simmons will perform. In October, Ms. Douglas and Mr. Trimm return, Jesse Factor and Scott Andrew will perform, and Christiane Leach will present visual artwork.
At each salon, artists will perform or present their work for up to 20 minutes, followed by a question-andanswer and comments session. Snacks and beverages will be available, but guests can bring their own drinks, too. For tickets or more information, go to http://tinadillman.com/the-bloomfield-garden-club/.
Ms. Dillman, founder and director of TD Projects, came to Pittsburgh in late 2018 for an arts writing residency through Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and
Bunker Projects. In June 2019, she became director of exhibitions and programming at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media. She was among more than 40 people who were laid off from the center in November 2019.
A limited number of season memberships are available for $60. Each artist will receive a stipend from revenue generated by ticket sales, memberships and sponsors. Here is more about the artists:
Scott Andrew is a multimedia artist working in queer-oriented video, installation and performance. He earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Carnegie Mellon University, where he is an adjunct assistant professor and a fellow of The STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. He is working with dance artist Jesse Factor and John Musser, who performs in drag.
Naomi Chambers is a painter and assemblage sculptor who earned a degree in studio arts and marketing from the University of Pittsburgh in 2009. In 2017, she opened FlowerHouse, a community art studio and creative space in Wilkinsburg, with her husband and a group of artists.
Tara Fay Coleman is an independent curator, producer and conceptual performance artist from Buffalo, N.Y. She has curated exhibitions for the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Phosphor Project Space and Denison University in Granville, Ohio. She will serve as a guest curator for Seton Hill University’s Harlan Gallery.
Elizabeth “Betty” Asche Douglas, is a visual artist, musician and educator. In 1996, she retired from Geneva College as a professor and head of humanities and fine arts. She owns Douglas Art Gallery in Rochester, Beaver County. She also is a pianist and vocalist with the Betty Douglas & Co. Band.
Jesse Factor works primarily in performance, “channeling divas in exile.” Factor’s repertoire of solo work combines a speculative view of queer histories, appearing recently at the
Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s Alloy Studios as a performance artist in residence in collaboration with multimedia artist Scott Andrew.
Clara Kent is an independent, Afro-indigenous singer-songwriter and emcee from Homewood. She performed at South by Southwest in 2018, BB King’s in Time Square, the Harlem Stage in Brooklyn, WYEP Summerfest 2019 and a 2019 Sofar Sounds Tour.
Christiane Leach, also known as Madame Dolores, is a multiplatform, cross-disciplinary artist who employs sound, vision, text and performance as storytelling tools to create radical, sometimes controversial, cultural engagements. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust commissioned her to write a song and lead Pittsburgh’s inaugural Complaints Choir for the Three Rivers Arts Festival in 2014.
John Musser performs as Veronica Bleaus. In 2019, he curated an exhibit at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana, Ill., called “In Her Closet – How to Make a Drag Queen.” As Veronica, he has been performing in drag and collaborating with visual artists since 2005. Working with visual artist Scott Andrew, he recently staged “The Diva Saga: The Legend of the Worst Drag Queen at Washington College” in Chestertown, Md.
Shana Simmons is a choreographer, dancer and teacher with degrees from Point Park University and Trinity Laban in London, England. She has performed her own works in New York City, Belgium, London, Chicago, Boston and Pittsburgh. She creates for Shana Simmons Dance and has choreographed four collaborative works with The Eclectic Laboratory Chamber Orchestra.
Rex Trimm, a West Coast native, is a glass artist and musician. He is a former member of the band Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and has glass work in the permanent collections of several museums, including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City.