friday, november 17, 1978
page 8
daily nebraskan
arts & entertainment
A rtistsews 'love affair with circus ' into s culptures
Review by Peg Sh eld rick
"My work is to be experienced-handled, played with,
worn, sat on, talked to, moved, laughed at, poked,
squeezed, fondled, slept wjth and loved." x
Not many artists encourage that sort of thing. But Lee
Ridge is basically a softie. So are her creations.
"Soft Circus" is the name of her show at the Haymar
ket Art Gallery (9th and 0 streets), and that name sums it
up nicely. The medium is soft sculpture and the exhibi
tion is a three-dimensional, three-ring extravaganza of
cloth and sequins.
It has everything a real circus has, from the fat lady
to the trained seal, but the difference is that the perfor
mers are fabric sculptures. You can't really call them
stuffed animals. For one thing, they aren't all animals, and
for another, that name conjures up the kind of plush
toys you see in the department stores.
Ridge's circus is not just a collection of toys, it's a
novel and effective array of portraits skillfully stitched
rather than painted or sculpted.
Charming circus
The circus folk include a ring master, a "brass" band
(complete with soft sculpture notes), a pair of gypsies, a
trapeze artist, and a child-size clown. Some have em
broidered faces, some have more dimensional, sewn-in
features, and all have a great deal of charm. There is even
a car full of clowns.
The animals range from a mellow lion to a nearly life
size horse named Umberto. The works are often funny,
sometimes subtle. They have a sort of gaiety and liveli
ness that wouldn't come across in conventional sculpture.
"I've chosen a circus theme for this exhibit because of
a life-long love affair with county fairs and circuses," ex
plained Ridge in her written commentary on the show.
"I like the tempo, the assault on the senses. My family has
always expected me to run off with the carnival. Per
haps I shall."
Popular on coasts
Ridge has been "working in soft sculpture seriously
for two years." The form is popular on the coasts but rel
atively new to the Midwest. She has worked at everything
from costuming to puppetry at the Lincoln Playhouse.
Her puppetry has been fun and has gained her the most at
tention locally. In a phone interview she said she liked the
puppeteer work for the opportunity it provided to work
with a wide spectrum of people, but that she prefers the
soft sculpture work.
"This is more personal," she said. "It's more me. I
like this work better, but I don't like the isolation that is
necessary. As an artist, you either work or you socialize."
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Photo by Mark Billingsley
A circus full of soft sculpture clowns and animals waits to be cuddled, snuggled, teased, and enjoyed at the
Hay market Art Gallery.
Ridge began sewing at age two and has been at it ever
since. She can create her sculptures without even making
a pattern. She sews the way other people doodle.
Let it be
"I kind of like to let things be born," Ridge said.
"They turn out better for me. It's sort of like putting
your zen in gear. . .sometimes you fail miserably. If
they're failures, that was how they were born." She never
corrects her work as others do by reworking.
"If it looks like it could be improved, I might make it
over."
The production time for her creations varies, depend
ing on the ratio of hand work to machine work. Hand
work takes much longer.
Prices tend to be somewhat beyond the student
budget, anywhere from $6.50 for a small tiger to $135
for Umberto the Horse. The show, which will run
through November 17, has sold out.
"All of it was bought by adults-I mean big adults,
sixty years old," according to Julie Wilson of the
Haymarket. Only a few of the pieces were purchased with
kids in mind. A child psychologist from Omaha ordered a
large clown for the office. But the entire band went toa
gentleman in his sixties."
Obviously, Ridge's works have the unique ability to
bring out the child in everyone.
"I think we're all children," she said. "Why do we have
to stop playing at a certain age? People play ball all their
lives."
Ultimately, "Soft Circus" is more than a group of so
phisticated stuffed animals and dolls. Each character has a
personality all his or her own. Together they comprise
a world with an appealing reality all its own. It's a kind
of art that can be very cheering at this time of year.
Lee Ridge's works are truly "such stuff as dreams are
made of."
Album puffed with pretense, but fun if salt grain taken
By Jeff Taebel
After listening to Jeff Wayne's The War
Of The Worlds for the first time, I had two
reactions. The first was that it was an in
credibly pretentious, overblown piece of
fluff and the second was that it could
prove to be a lot of fun if taken in the right
frame of mind.
After hearing the album a few more
times, I came to the conclusion that each
of these impressions held some truth.
album review
Jeff Wayne's main claim to musical
fame until now was as the producer on
David Essex' hit single of 1974, "Rock
On." Wayne's production work on "Rock
On" earned him a New Musical Express
award for the best produced pop single of
1974.
In 1975, Wayne began work on a
musical version of H.G. Wells' classic
science fiction novel. The finished product
is a star-studded two record set which is
one of the most unusual rock albums of
1978.
Wayne wrote all the music for the al
bum as well as handling the production and
orchestration with help on the lyrics from
Gary Osborn and Paul Vigrass.
Impressive cast
Doreen Wayne wrote the script, which
was adapted form Wells' book. For "ac-to-s."'
Wayne recruited an impressive cast,
fairing Richard Burton, Julie Covington
nf Godspell, David Essex of "Rock On"
and Philip Lynott of Thin Lizzy.
The vocalist cast includes Justin Hay-
ward of the Moody Blues, Chris Thompson Chris Spedding and Jo Partridge on guitars,
of Manfred Mann as well as Covington, Es- Herbie Flowers on bass, Barry Morgan on
sex and Lynott. drums and Ken Freeman and Jeff Wayne
The band behind the headliners includes on keyboards.
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The War Of The Worlds ' long soliloquy
sets the tone for the album. This is
followed by a short song called "The Eve
of War." The rest of the album is mostly
composed of dialogue spoken over repeat
ed musical themes. This is probably just as
well since the lyrics are not as powerful
as the narratives.
Builds tension
The background music for the dialogue
is not particularly inspiring, but it does
build tension at the right places and con
tains some memorable licks.
Richard Burton is excellent in the lead
role of the journalist, and Philip Lynott
also turns in a fine performance as the de
ranged country parson.
David Essex is quite believable in his
portrayal of in idealistic artillery man. But,
Julie Covington is the weakest link in an
otherwise outstanding cast.
Covington seems ill at ease in her role as
Beth, the parson's wife. However, she is a
much better singer than an actress on this
album. Her duet with Lynott on "The
Spirit of Man" is one of the musical high
lights of the album.
With a few exceptions. The War Of Vie
Worlds is a lot of fun when listened to in
the proper frame of mind. i.e. taking it all
with a grain of salt.
The pretension and fluff come in when
Wayne and his cohorts try to do too
much with the music and lyrics. Things be
gin to sound constiained. like in the "sur
prise" ending, a sloppy epilogue that
sounds it it were takced on as an after
thought Wawie said that The War Of The Worlds
nl the tirM n, 1 scries of similar works,
li lie ,an continue to recruit nood drama
tists and work out a tew of the hugs in Ins
SMnpwntmg. the coming series should be
quite interesting.
