It is that time again... Every second Thursday of the month, ELAB members and friends get together for a multidisciplinary critique: from 7-9 pm at 464 Gallery.We start with a featured presenter, and have a lively in-depth discussion about their work. We then mini-critique any work willing guests bring in: a piece of art, music, writing, video, etc, by circulating and placing post it note comments.
Through this process we gain encouragement, guidance, new sources of inspiration and best of all, a network of creative types who support and encourage each other.
This month's ArtLab:
Featuring dancer and writer Shannon Callan
Thursday November 11th, at 7 pm
464 Amherst StreetBuffalo, NY
There is plenty of street parking and always room for new faces. Come enjoy food and drink for both body and brain.
To whet your appetites...
A Conversation with Shannon Callan:
Interview by Tara Sasiadek
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Shannon Callan, and I do lots of things. Artistically, I’m a dancer and a writer. I’m also a freelance PR and marketing consultant with an interest in arts management.
What are you hoping to get out of the critique this month?
I’m bringing in a couple vignettes that I’ve been working on that are going to be part of a much larger piece of writing, maybe novel length? Basically, I keep having ideas for things and writing little stories down, and I know they will all fit together, but I don’t know how yet. I really appreciate harsh, thoughtful critique of my writing, but I guess in a lot of ways I’m just wondering how people will react, and if anyone can see patterns or help me figure out where this is going, maybe brainstorm. I’m a verbal processor, so I’m sure whatever happens it will be awesome.
Vampires or pirates?
1. Pirates 2. Ninjas. Vampires…like 65 on the list. They’re kind of lame.
Author's note: The opinion of interviewees does not reflect the official position of ELAB on Pirates, Ninjas, or Vampires. Please do not sue, pilliage, stealth-attack, or eat us.
What is your favorite aspect of being a performing artist?
Well, to answer more generally, one of the most meaningful things to me about the arts is that we all have these things inside of us that need to get out: pain, processing, euphoria, grief, meaning, stories, all the little building blocks that make up our shared humanity.
The thing that’s great about performing is that when you’re doing that, when you’re getting those things out in front of other people, they see themselves in the story you’re telling, and they feel a release because they identify with what you’ve pulled out of the depths of yourself. It makes people more free. That is why everything I do with all of my art is about telling stories; It's about bringing out what’s inside.
Nightmare scenario: Taxes are at a record high and you have to give up one of your five senses. Which do you choose?
Other nightmare scenario: when I read this question, I tried to name all five senses and couldn’t do it without google. Also, everyone knows it’s the sixth sense we can’t do without.
Have you ever created a performance on commission?
Ha ha, no. But I could if you wanted me to…
Favorite type of candy?
Chocolate, duh. More specifically, anything from Chow Chocolat. Their chocolates will change your life.
What piece of music or composer would you love to work with someday?
I have a lot of friends who are really into choral music, so, in my dancing, I’ve really been jiving with pieces by Eric Whitacre. I love stuff that’s really strange and I love how Whitacre is so outside the box of what many think choral music has to sound like.
As a writer, I am currently going after all the Flannery O’Conner, William Faulkner and Salman Rushdie I can get my hands on. O’Conner for her crazy, “Christ-haunted South” themes, Faulkner for the stream-of-consciousness madness, and Rushdie because he owns magical realism, which I am really attracted to as a motif. Can we invite them to the Artlab?
(Authors note: Flannery O’Conner, William Faulkner and Salman Rushdie are hereby permanently invited to any and all future ELAB activities.)
If you had unlimited funds and 6 months free of all obligations, what ambitious visionary project would you tackle?
Actually, I would really love to be in a play. Acting is something I’ve always been drawn to, but my hopes and dreams were crushed at a young age, so I find the whole thing super-intimidating. I would also love to write a play and direct it.
Also, the Alt Theatre did a production last season that was a combination of original poetry, music, and dance pieces, and I would love to do something like that. Can I do all that in six months?
(Author's note: Of course you can. Just make sure that you go to the bathroom first.)
Favorite take out?
I used to really love the Falafel Bar, but they keep closing all their locations that are close to me. Jerks.
What is the last thing in the world you want me to ask you?
“Do you write fiction or non-fiction?"
Author's note: Faithful readers, now you all know what to ask Shannon first on Thursday!
How autobiographical is your work?
Hmm... memory is a deeply personal, experiential thing, and who’s to say that I’m not remembering things completely wrong. If you take the basis of a personal memory and embroider it with details for the sake of your story, it is still “true,” but what if you create a fictionalized account that needs to be crazy and made up to convey the spirit or feeling of what actually happened to you- and what about your obligations to your readers to know if what you’re telling them happened or not and what about…uh…erm, MILLION LITTLE PIECES! I don’t know! Leave me alone!!!!” End scene.
Where and when can we see more of your work?
That's a good question. Honestly, at the moment, I don’t have a lot of venues for sharing what I do, so if any one has any ideas or needs a writer/dancer/arts manager/cookandbaker/actress/set painter/babysitter/panini-presser/gelato-taster, uh…give me a call? Or maybe I should just start a blog…
Author's note: Definitely. Let us know when you do so that we can follow it!
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