'Dolores Huerta' has left the Smithsonian

Dolores Huerta, 1999, by Barbara Carrasco

Who was Dolores Huerta and why should we care? 

I am certain her image, perhaps the one above, will be on the cover of a U.S. postage stamp some day.

She is a living legend, someone not well-known in today's culture, someone who will gain fame over time.  

This is what you missed at the almost year-long exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery which closed yesterday:  A lady on a mission and brief history of a successful union workers' campaign 50 years ago.

At the exhibition I saw a label with her birth date which I knew had to be wrong for there was no way Dolores Huerta, who was present for the opening, could be 85.  How could the Portrait Gallery make such an error?

I was mistaken.  

There she was in a glamorous, dazzling teal suit wearing heels, a spry 85 last year (b. April 10, 1930), talking about her past, smiling, and answering questions about herself, the movement which became the United Farm Workers, and the 50th anniversary of the grape workers strike in California.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a strong UFW supporter, and Dolores Huerta at the end of Cesar Chavez' 25-day fast, March 10, 1967

 Dolores Huerta worked hard to improve working conditions and pay for field workers in California who were exposed to pesticides, had no toilets or cold drinking water, and lived in substandard housing. The average life span of a farm worker was 49 compared to 70, the U.S. national average life then.

Working alongside Cesar Chavez (1927-1993), Ms. Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association which became the United Farm Workers.  She led rallies, was arrested many times, was beaten by the police, hospitalized, and coined the phrase "Si se puede" ("Yes, we can!).

She led the fight for toilets and cold drinking water in the fields which became part of the first union contract in 1966, and then California state law by 1975, and federal law in 1982.

Had the effort occurred a little later, there is no doubt her name would be as well know now as Chavez' and it may reach that summit yet, among the pages of American history books, for she was and is a leader, a heroine, an iconic figure whose achievements President Barack Obama recognized in 2012 when he placed the Presidential Medal of Honor around her neck.
Ms. Huerta at a rally.

Dolores Huerta at the opening of the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery on June 30, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Dolores Huerta at the opening of the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, June 30, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Ms. Huerta stands beside a 1965 photograph of herself enlarged to introduce the exhibition.The Spanish word on the sign she held means "strike."/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 The United Farm Workers AFL-CIO flag emerged in 1966.  It was designed by Richard Chavez (1929-2011), the brother of Cesar Chavez, and a longtime companion of Ms. Huerta with whom he had four children/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Reflections of artifacts in the exhibition are seen in the case cover which protected the Presidential Medal of Honor bestowed on Ms. Huerta by President Barack Obama in 2012/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Dolores Huerta at the National Portrait Gallery June 30, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Dolores Huerta, left, with her good friend and artist, Barbara Carrasco (b. 1955) who created the image above. For decades Ms. Carrasco was a volunteer artist for the UFW.  The exhibition label copy quoted her: "There are so many icons of men, and icons of women painted by men, that I wanted (as a woman) to create an iconic image of Huerta to recognize her as an equal of Cesar Chavez and, historically, the most important negotiator for the United Farm Workers." /Photo by Patricia Leslie

Dolores Huerta at the National Portrait Gallery June 30, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Dolores Huerta at the National Portrait Gallery June 30, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The mother of 11 children, Ms. Huerta still works tirelessly on issues she believes are important for a just society, those which require attention and warrant effort in today's world to improve conditions for all.  

And to keep up her regimen and good physical condition and appearance, she shared a few secrets:  Go veggie, young woman, go veggie. Eat fish, walk a lot, and dance, dance, dance! As long as you are able.  At least through your 90s.

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Louise Bourgeois' 'No Exit' exits the National Gallery of Art Sunday

Louise Bourgeois, M is for Mother, 1998, gift of Dian Woodner.

A small exhibition of 21 drawings, prints, and sculptures made by the existentialist, abstract expressionist, and sometimes surrealist (a style she rejected for herself) Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) will close Sunday at the National Gallery of Art.  

The title of the show, No Exit, stems from a play by Jean-Paul Sartre, an author Ms. Bourgeois admired and frequently quoted.  Her complex family life, her conniving, philandering father, and her obedient mother give additional meaning to and appreciation of Ms. Bourgeois' art.  See what Wikipedia says about Destruction of the Father (not in the show).  

I can't wait to read her biography and hope it's coming out soon.  (This just in:  a new bio. to be published this fall.  Intimate Geometries by Robert Storr. Only $95. I believe I'll wait for the library's copy. With a title like this, the market will open to mathematicians. )

All the works in the exhibition are from the National Gallery's collection or are promised gifts to the Gallery.  One of Ms. Bourgeois' giant spiders is in the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden.

Louise Bourgeois,  Untitled, 1939-1940, promised gift of Tony Podesta.  Shortly after she immigrated to the U.S. in 1938 and settled in New York, Ms. Bourgeois made this image using crayon, ink, and graphite.  On the bow of the ship and separated from the other figures are bell jars containing a likeness of a female torso which, decades later, Ms. Bourgeois said was "cut off from the world....that's me."

Louise Bourgeois, Germinal, 1967, marble, promised gift of Dian Woodner.  Upon request by the Museum Ludwig in Cologne for a design in chocolate (the museum was founded by chocolate fanciers Peter and Irene Ludwig), Ms. Bourgeois submitted this creation 40 years after she composed it.  The label copy speaks to its "sensual nature."  It reminds me of a cow's udders, but there are 11 protruding figures here, meaning...? Or an artist's palette.  Maybe a serving of thumbs. And look!  There are places where more of the protrusions used to be.  Are they fingers or male parts?  Or, what do you make of them, and why are them important?  You see what art can do!  If her biography were for sale at the entrance to the show, I think it would have sold a zillion copies.  Or, maybe, just a million.  Sign me up!

Louise Bourgeois, La tapisserie de mon enfance - montains in Aubusson (Tapestry of My Childhood - Mountains in Aubusson), 1947.  The artist lived with her family as a child in this region of France, known for its tapestries, antiques which her family helped restore and  Ms. Bourgeois worked on them, too. I can almost make out a person here.  Wearing a blindfold.  Two blindfolds.  In a tent. Or a shroud.  Playing underneath the covers.  You see what art can do!  There is "no exit" from thinking about art.  It evolves and springs into something else to keep you thinking about its meaning, its contents, the style, the artist's background, would you hang it in your house? Does it make any difference to you/ And on they go...

Louise Bourgeois, from left, Untitled, 1952, Spring, 1949, and Mortise, 1950.  The artist called these "personages," meant to be seen in groups, and standing on the floor "like people," isolated and detached.  Rather depressing and sad they are.  Separated from each other and of different materials with no links.   The one on the right may be a fat man from China who eats wood (well, they used to feed their babies milk with plastic pieces), the one in the center, a voluptuous Caucasian who is evolving into a flower, the one on the far left, from ?  Where do you think it is from? Bones from a skeleton, from the body farm of deceased humans left outside to decay (in hidden woods) for study at the University of Tennessee, with families' permissions? (They don't do this unless the families or the deceased give a thumbs up, speaking of thumbs.  These are all connected.) An Earthling. No wonder there is no communication between these "personages."  They don't have any way to communicate!  Just like at a party when there is no one like you.  We stand alone, but we are not/Photo by Patricia Leslie.

What: Louise Bourgeois: No Exit

When: Closing May 15, 2016. The National Gallery of Art is open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. every day except Sundays when it is open 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Where: West Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Seventh streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-842-6941

patricialesli@gmail.com

Critic Sarah Kaufman at the American Women Writers National Museum

Sarah Kaufman at the American Women Writers National Museum at the National Press Club/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Last month the Pulitzer Prize winning dance critic Sarah Kaufman was the featured speaker at a luncheon meeting of the American Women Writers National Museum at the National Press Club, and she talked mostly about her new book The Art of Grace: On Moving Well Through Life which is about saving grace or getting it, or something.

The cover is rather non-descript, not an eye-catcher that makes you stop at the book table to take a second look amidst the competitors vying for attention, and the title is rather lame, too, to match the cover, and I am sorry, Sarah, but the contents ("grace," huh?) are not something to whet a reading appetite, unless a reader needs sleeping aids (which likely means I need lots of it. Grace, that is, not sleeping pills.)

When we see "Grace" on the cover of a book jacket, Sarah, we expect something titillating about Grace Kelly. It doesn't even have to be something new. How high has anything about "grace" ever climbed on the charts?  (But, like all the other celebrity writers, Sarah, I am sure you didn't write this for the money.)

Sarah, do you honestly think the current crop of millennials is interested in holding open doors? (Just ask Metro.)

(Update after a friend's email: I suppose I came to the meeting not to hear about another book (of which I barely knew she had one), but to perhaps glean some insight and information on ways I can become a better writer which, I dare say, explained the attendance of most, if not all, who were there.

Anything unrelated to Grace was only extracted from Ms. Kaufman in Q and A. 

And blurbs, blurbs, blurbs, blah, blah, blah.  So many on so many books.  What do they matter?  

Do you honestly think another staff member from the Post or Huffington Post is going to say anything negative about a colleague's pride and joy?  Come now.  You scratch my book and I'll scratch yours.)

Ms. Kaufman has been the dance critic at the Washington Post since 1996, and won the Pulitzer in 2010, only the second dance critic to win the major prize, and "neither of us is from New York," she said, almost proudly. And New York is a city where she has never lived and seldom visits. (Take that, New York and Big Apple-loving Hirshhorn director.  Why don't you go back where you came from? And take Peter Marks (hasn't won the Pulitzer) with you and maybe Philip Kennicott (won the Pulitzer) since all they seem to write about are the arts in New York.  We got plenty of arts in D.C.)

Married and the mother of three, Ms. Kaufman still looks like a ballerina, but with years of training, she said she has never danced professionally.

Answering a question from a guest about her reading choices, she said that growing up with brothers put her in touch with the Hardy Boys, whose every title she has read. (Nancy Drews, no, never; you hear that Justice Sotomayor?) Ms. Kaufman admires the style of Katherine Anne Porter (won the Pulitzer) "so perceptive" who "really had a sense of the artificiality and hypocrisy of what was going on in that era."

Ms. Kaufman said she had just read (hasn't won the Pulitzer) Jonathan Franzen's Purity and liked it, but devoured (won the Pulitzer) Donna Tartt's Goldfinch: "That thing just flew" (760 pages).

"Belt-tightening" began at the Post about five years ago, and the paper is "tapering down on reviews" since they don't produce the online traffic the newspaper desires, she said.

Ms. Kaufman said she will be writing more "thinking pieces" and advance notices, and invited all there to send her ideas.

"Artists here [in Washington] are getting richer," Ms. Kaufman said, but still, whether it's ballet, modern or jazz, "live form of dance is really having a struggle. The key is young people. The Golden Goose of every dance company" is figuring "how to get young people" in the doors, and the hell with the old for after we are gone, the halls (and printed newspapers) will be no more (Editor's note).

The American Women Writers National Museum was founded by attorney Janice Law and is celebrating its fourth anniversary. It is "a Museum in Washington, D.C. for American Women Authors, Playwrights, Poets, Screenwriters, Journalists."
 
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'Dial 'T' for Thriller' at the Olney

Nisi Sturgis is Margot Wendice in Dial 'M' for Murder at Olney Theatre Center. "Hark!  Who goes there?"  "Honey, may I borrow your phone?"/Photo by Stan Barouh

Once you step inside the theater at the Olney and spy the set, darling, you know it will be a magnificent show, quite enough to suit your fancy and leave you spellbound throughout. 

From left, Nisi Sturgis as Margot Wendice, Cameron McNary as Max Halliday, and Alan Wade as Inspector Hubbard in Dial 'M' for Murder at Olney Theatre Center/Photo by Stan Barouh

Alfred Hitchcock fans will not want to miss the theatre's newest production, Dial 'M' for Murder, every bit the mystery on stage as it was in the master's 1954 movie starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings. (Can you imagine?)

From the get-go and the haunting shadow from the cascading single light shining from above (design by Sonya Dowhaluk) and the pling, pling, pling of the single strings (marvelously composed and played by Roc Lee on a synthesizer), who needs a plot when you can just sit back and admire the living room, a piece of art unto itself with fab 50s Mad Men decor, the sofa, the chairs, the harsh corners, the lamps, the trophy shelves, and the doors (design by Charlie Calvert). 

In true Hitchcock fashion, you must keep up with the key, dearie, or get lost like the rest of us, but it doesn't matter.  Where there's Hitchcock and murder, you know you are in for a treat, even if the wrong man is snuffed out. Director Jason King Jones makes sure shadows of doubt lurk in the minds of attendees.

The mystery begins with Margot Wendice (Nisi Sturgis) and her lover, Max Halliday (Cameron McNary), a foreign correspondent, who quickly reveal their dangerous lies.

Ashley Smith is the handsome (with a touch of George Clooney) and beloved (or is he?) Tony Wendice, the rich and strange husband, thrown overboard for the likes of another man.  Tony enlists an old pal, James Konicek as Captain Lesgate in a blackmail sweep, as Tony's suspicion of the illicit couple grows, and downhill they go.


In the single female role Ms. Sturgis does resemble Grace Kelly, a believable, adoring spouse (no farmer's wife) especially as a white shadow underneath the spotlight in a flowing gown. (I suppose the leading female had to be a blonde, perhaps a Hitchcock requirement.)

Then there is the ubiquitous (almost notorious) Alan Wade as Inspector Hubbard who said at the after-party he has starred in so many Olney shows, he's lost count (about 25), but quite a natural, the man who knows too much.  Look out when he shows up at the torn curtain, at the entrance to a pleasure garden, right outside the rear window through which various characters come and go in their passionate adventures (?).  (You see what I mean about intrigue?)

Who might the victim be?  Leave it to Hitchcock to upset the planned order of things.  

The costuming (by Seth Gilbert) is divine, especially the peach colors wore by Captain Lesgate, and the Fab 50s apparel of Margo who sweeps the stage a la Loretta Young, if anyone young and innocent can recall her television show. 

The pace is fast, also propelled by lighting and music which are skilfully woven with the characters to leave us guessing.

The dialect coach, Zachary Campion, did a splendid job, guiding the actors in natural, unpretentious delivery, and is to be commended for outstanding achievement (is there an award for that?), and is an important crew member, like fight choreographer, Casey Kaleba, able to land strong punches. 

Let's finish with a toast of champagne, shall we?, before we say "bon voyage" (May 1, but look for an extension) to another really good show at the Olney.

 Hear!  Hear!  Helen Hayes nominations: 

Outstanding Lighting Design: Sonya Dowhaluk

Outstanding Musical Direction: Roc Lee

Outstanding Set Design: Charlie Calvert

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play: Ashley Smith

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play: James Konicek

Additional members of the creative team are Elisabeth A. Ribar, production stage manager, and Alexandra Ley, dramaturg. Frederick Knott (1916-2002) wrote the play, which was originally part of a BBC television series with its premiere in London in 1952.

Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832

When:  Wednesday through Saturday through May 1, 2016 at 8 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. and an April 27, Wednesday matinee at 2 p.m.  

How much: Tickets start at $38, with discounts for military, groups, seniors, and students.

Duration: 130 minutes with one intermission.

Refreshments: Available for purchase and may be taken to seats.

Parking: Abundant, free, and on-site

Special performances and events:

April 20, 8 p.m.  Audio described performance for the visually impaired, presented by Metropolitan Washington Ear.

April 23, 2 p.m. and April 30, 2 p.m., Afterwords, post-show discussions

For more information: 301-924-3400
 
patricialesli@gmail.com

Fifth Avenue's 2016 Easter Parade

You think it's easy to wear this thing?  You should try making it.  On Fifth Avenue, Easter morning, March 27, 2016.  

The New York Easter Parade is the greatest fun.  Everyone is happy, smiling, glad to be there in the hum of the crowd where rare glimpses of politicians are allowed. (No wonder everyone is happy!) 

I checked, and the parade is not listed in the New York section of 1000 Places to See Before You Die. It should be.  It lasts about six hours (you don't have to stay for the whole thing), and the participants slowly move south to north on the route, clogged with non-participants/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  On the steps of St. Patrick's on Fifth Avenue/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Okay, all right, one politico (in addition to "Bunnies Against Corporate Greed" which I could not photograph before the wearer disappeared in the crowd).  This woman's "hat" carried the only candidate we saw portrayed all day, New York's favorite son, The Donald.  Said some of the wording: "This is My Wall.  It's Huge.  No One Can Get Through."  "Peak A Boo, Mr. Trump.  It's Me, El Chapo" (Huh? I think the potato head.) "Presenting Donald Trump and His Band Playing Their Hit Song 'Hair.'" In the 2016 Fifth Avenue Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 You think this is a balloon salesman, right?  You are wrong,  That's a hat of many balloons in New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

How about a beard of daffodils?  Yes!  At least, I think that's what they were in New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 All ready for the 1940s in New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade.  His camera case was vintage, too/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Black Easter? In New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This is "Coco" getting ready for New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade.  There were almost as many dressed dogs in the parade as humans.  Really./Photo by Patricia Leslie

And this is Coco's owner in New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 "I got an itch." Honey, I think you got more than that for New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade. Maybe the weight of her hat caused her to lose balance /Photo by Patricia Leslie

Her dress was so tight it was declared off limits on the steps of St. Patrick's for New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 He carried a little dog dressed like he was, in pink, in New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade.  There was a contest over who/what was better dressed:  the people or their dogs.  Yes, everything is going to the .../Photo by Patricia Leslie

  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Egads, Donald built hats for New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 A gator hatched a few eggs on top of her haid for New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade.  The connection?  Maybe she's a Florida fan.  Or, an environmentalist. The gator stayed atop her head and except for  swishing its tail, didn't move much so no one worried about getting bitten.  It was pinned down/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Yee-haw!  Hopalong Cassidy waited for her hoss at New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Thank you, Rockefeller Center, for your purty Easter flowers and decorations for New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A smiling and dancing rabbit at Rockefeller Center for New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 The end.  New York's Fifth Avenue 2016 Easter Parade/Photo by Patricia Leslie