Art And Artists

Colonial Players' production of Steven Dietz's "Inventing van Gogh" provides an intriguing set of mysteries about the existence of a mythical last self-portrait by the artist, the man himself and the modern art scene. First-time CP director Michelle Harmon rates high marks for meeting the challenges that arose during production. She had signed on to direct "Radio Golf" by August Wilson, which ended up being pulled from the schedule "because of rights issues. " "Inventing van Gogh" was chosen as a replacement.

Submit notices via email: messenger@patuxent.com ; fax: 410-332-6336; or mail: Baltimore Messenger, 501 N. Calvert St., Third Floor, Baltimore, MD 21278. Include sponsor or host, date, time, address of event, contact name and phone number. Deadline is noon the Thursday before publication. Arts and Museums The Walters Art Museum - 600 N. Charles St. 410-547-9000, http://www.thewalters.org. • Drop-in Art Activities: Text Messages, every Saturday and Sunday in November, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Free.

"Fairfield Porter: A Life In Art" by Justin Spring (Yale University Press, 383 pages, $35) Treasured as a realist by many people who find abstraction distressing, Porter may be the most misunderstood of major American modern painters. That his work is splendid is hard to doubt -- but his aesthetic impact and influence went way beyond his painting. His writing on contemporary art and artists qualifies as enduringly important. Justin Spring has gone to commendable lengths to present the spirit and mind of a deeply troubled, brilliant man. The result is an extraordinarily valuable exploration of modernity in America.

Submit notices via email: messenger@patuxent.com ; fax: 410-332-6336; or mail: Baltimore Messenger, 501 N. Calvert St., Third Floor, Baltimore, MD 21278. Include sponsor or host, date, time, address of event, contact name and phone number. Deadline is noon the Thursday before publication. Arts and Museums The Walters Art Museum - 600 N. Charles St. 410-547-9000, http://www.thewalters.org. • Drop-in Art Activities: Kid Geniuses.

There was triple-decker talent at Maryland Art Place's "Out of Order" party. All three floors of the West Saratoga Street art center were jam-packed with art and the artsy. More than 300 art lovers made the scene, groovin' to the tunes of Baltimore bands Love Riot and the Swingin' Swamis; marveling at the marionettes of Black Cherry Puppet Theater; and bidding on some 200 creations by local artists.Among the partygoers were MAP executive director Jack Rasmussen; assistant director Julie Cavnor; party co-chairs Abby Lattes and Chris Hartlove; committee members Dean Alexander and Max Glanville; MAP board president Suzi Cordish; participating artists Paul Moscatt, Lois Borgenicht and Marian Savige; Tamara Nelson, MIX 106 radio news director; Philip Klein, senior partner at Klein Enterprises; and Mary Jo Gordon, owner of Galerie Francoise.

LEROY COMEGYS REMEMBERS GROWING UP IN Baltimore during the 1940s and '50s in a house filled with music and art: his mom's piano playing, his dad listening to jazz recordings, and the paintings and drawings his parents hung on the walls of their home -- among them sketches of black people by American artist Reginald Marsh for his famous painting of New York's Coney Island Beach. Those early experiences, which sparked a lifelong love of art, help explain why Comegys, 62, is so enthusiastic today about sharing his passion with others.

Name: Chris MassieSchool: Thunder Hill Elementary SchoolHome: ColumbiaAge: 10His accomplishments: The fifth-grader has won a scholarship to study art at the Maryland Institute of Art. His scholarship, worth $180 for 10 weeks of lessons, will enable him to learn more about 19th century and 20th century art and artists.Chris turned in a portfolio containing 10 pieces of his work, including still-life drawings, batiks and animation, to be considered for the scholarship."He's a very talented kid," said his art teacher, Janet Baird.

Even the casual collector of folk art may be inspired to learn more on the subject. Richard Edson hands out a two-page bibliography to those who visit his Folk Art Gallery in Bolton Hill and recommends the library at Maryland Institute, College of Art as a prime research spot.Here are some other sources:* The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington is presenting a major exhibition of folk art in "Passionate Visions of the American South," which opened yesterday. The Corcoran is located at New York Avenue and 17th Street Northwest, Washington.

Art -- A Sex Book, by John Waters and Bruce Hainley. Thames & Hudson. 208 pages. $29.95. Beginning with its cover, which is not presentable in a family newspaper, this remarkable book is not for the prudish or squeamish. Hainley is a curator, writer and scholar. John Waters is Baltimore's indefatigable archangel of the outrageous. This is a serious and seriously unorthodox work of art scholarship and criticism. The text is presented throughout as a conversation between the two authors, talking of the works --175 reproductions of art works, 147 of them in color -- and of aesthetic concepts, both concrete and abstract.

Why stop at painting the town red? The galleries at Maryland Art Place covered the color spectrum at "R&R -- A Rare and Raw Evening," its annual benefit exhibition and auction. As they sipped wine and nibbled on hors d'oeuvres, partygoers perused creations by Maryland artists. Dinner came with a side order of a live -- and lively -- auction, as guests eagerly bid on works of art between bites. Among the 250 art lovers attending were: Mike Lewin, honorary event chair; Martha Macks, Allison Parker and Max Weiss, event committee members; Karen Bokram, MAP board chair; Suzi Cordish, Diane Hutchins and Flo Lipitz, board members; Mary Ann Mears, board emeritus; Jack Rasmussen, MAP executive director; Greg Barnhill, managing director of Deutsche Banc Alex.

Colonial Players' production of Steven Dietz's "Inventing van Gogh" provides an intriguing set of mysteries about the existence of a mythical last self-portrait by the artist, the man himself and the modern art scene. First-time CP director Michelle Harmon rates high marks for meeting the challenges that arose during production. She had signed on to direct "Radio Golf" by August Wilson, which ended up being pulled from the schedule "because of rights issues. " "Inventing van Gogh" was chosen as a replacement.

A month after the annual Artscape drew record crowds to the streets around Penn Station and MICA, the Inner Harbor Art Festival will make its debut, spread out in two areas: the Power Plant near the National Aquarium and Power Plant Live a couple of blocks north. The free outdoor event will be held Aug. 22 and 23. Announcing the new venture at a news conference Monday morning in front of the Power Plant, Mayor Sheila Dixon described as "phenomenal" the group of 150 artists, regional and national, who will be offering more than $15 million worth of creative work for sale.

In Megan Hildebrandt's amusing painting of Mary Pickersgill, the famed flag-maker stares wryly as she sews the Stars and Stripes. C. Lee's affectionate photograph of his late mother hangs beside it. It is an odd juxtaposition: the humorous Pickersgill next to the tender, loving parent. Such juxtapositions are common at the Creative Alliance's The Big Show. The show, which opens tomorrow, provides a forum solely for members' artwork, an "in-house" celebration of art. "I think that we want, as an organization, to just present the kind of collected creativity of our members and the artists of Baltimore in the best possible manner, so we hang the art and show it in its best light," said Creative Alliance artistic director Jed Dodds.

In Studio 702, Billy Joel sings "The Piano Man" as Baltimore native Brian Glazer Gerber swirls red paint around a large canvas he has stretched across the floor. In 904, writer Sarah Richards types notes to herself for a tale about the "camping trip from Hell" that she'll relate this month as part of the popular storytelling series at Center Stage, "The Stoop." Open House 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday. Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, 15 S. Eutaw St. Visitors can register for a drawing to win a work of art donated by the tower artists.

Dee Krasnansky guided a hot glue gun around the base of a miniature pine tree, then applied a piece of fluffy white material. On a papier-mache hill behind the tree, a purple marshmallow Peep on Popsicle-stick skis stood poised to coast down the incline. Below, another purple chick on wire skates glided across an aluminum-foil pond, while a yellow sibling carrying a red bag of tiny gifts prepared to march through snow. Krasnansky and Barbara Becker paused to examine their work. Titled Lit Chicks, the scene depicted the four seasons and featured chicks toting small cardboard books throughout the year.

LEROY COMEGYS REMEMBERS GROWING UP IN Baltimore during the 1940s and '50s in a house filled with music and art: his mom's piano playing, his dad listening to jazz recordings, and the paintings and drawings his parents hung on the walls of their home -- among them sketches of black people by American artist Reginald Marsh for his famous painting of New York's Coney Island Beach. Those early experiences, which sparked a lifelong love of art, help explain why Comegys, 62, is so enthusiastic today about sharing his passion with others.

The galleries of Fells Point have banded together. Their mission: to heighten exposure for the city's artists through regularly scheduled open houses. This creative camaraderie, known as the Fells Point Art Loop, began just a few months ago as the brainchild of Saints and Sinners tattoo artist Jim Judeikis. Judeikis, who co-owns the Fells Point ink shop that doubles as a fine-art gallery, wanted to pump up the publicity for his shop and other local art spaces. "I just thought that if all the galleries in Fells Point would come together, then the artists would get more exposure and ... could actually sell some of their work," he said.

A short five years after its inception, the Columbia Festival of the Arts is recognized as an important cultural happening, not just for Howard County but for the entire Mid-Atlantic region. Perhaps only Baltimore City's Artscape is a comparable event in the metropolitan area.The 10-day Columbia festival, which opens today and continues through June 27 at various venues around town, has made stunning progress since its 1989 debut.Just consider logistics and statistics. The initial gathering was run with a paid staff of three, 100 volunteers and a budget of $200,000, and was attended by about 6,500 people.

Dads in the great outdoors The Oregon Ridge Nature Center hosts the "Native American Games With Dad" program Saturday and Sunday and the annual Council Picnic on Monday. Take Dad to learn Native-American games on the weekend, then come back on Monday night for an evening of picnicking, fishing, canoeing and swimming, followed by a campfire by the lake with s'mores and guitar-playing. The center will provide charcoal and grills, but guests must bring their own food to barbecue. The "Native American Games With Dad" is from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center, 13555 Beaver Dam Road in Cockeysville.

In an intriguing 1967 book, The Success and Failure of Picasso, critic John Berger argued that the artist's inventive genius largely abandoned him after the stunning breakthroughs that led to the invention of cubism during the years 1908-1914. After the 1930s, Berger wrote, Picasso's capacity for formal invention gradually waned, leaving the by-then world-famous artist with little more to occupy himself than rehashing old formulas that over time became increasingly repetitious and stale.