A weekend for photo buffs, jazz lovers

Riley Woodford is the Empire's Arts & Entertainment editor. He can be reached at rileyw@juneauempire.com.

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Jazz at the Alaskan Bar, a presentation on photography and an exhibition of new paintings herald the coming of a full roster of arts events this month.

I'd recommend the presentation Saturday by Anne Wilkes Tucker for anyone interested in visual art and photography. Tucker is the curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and is credited with building one of the finest photography collections in the country at the Houston museum. An art historian and expert on the history of photography, she has invested hundreds of millions of the museum's dollars in fine art photography in her 25-year career there.

Saturday evening Tucker will show slides of images in the Houston collection and talk about her work as a curator, what the museum has collected and why. The Houston collection spans the entire history of the art form, and Tucker's talk also will address history - not only important photographers but critics who championed photography as an art form.

Tucker is in town this week to select the Alaska Positive 2002 exhibit. She'll study the 250 or 300 entries submitted and cull them down to 50 or so for the show, which opens in early October. Submissions for Alaska Positive closed at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5.

Tucker's presentation at 7 p.m. at the state museum is a rare chance to gain insight into an art form from an acknowledged expert. I remember a couple of years ago when the Alaska State Museum was putting together the last Alaska Positive photography exhibit. A Juneau photographer called and wanted help deciding which of his photographs to enter in the contest.

"What does this judge like? Is he going to favor Alaskana themes like the last one or avant garde stuff like the one before that?"

I didn't recommend pandering, but I could sympathize. A few years earlier, I had submitted an image for the biennial contest, a black-and-white scenic still life of skunk cabbage and ferns. That was the year of the avant garde judge, and that show was dominated by images that were gessoed, painted, manipulated, cut apart and reassembled.

I put that question to Tucker. She advised that photographers submit their favorite recent work.

"It is much better to put in the images they love, that come closest to saying what they wanted," Tucker advised. "They should submit the image that realizes a vision."

Painter Charles Whipple has been busy the past three years realizing his visions on canvas with oil paints. He debuts his work this month at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council gallery with an opening reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6.

Whipple is a late bloomer. He started painting nine years ago at age 40 and he's dedicated. He's enthusiastic and delighted to talk about his work. Most of his paintings are life-size portraits of women, some nudes and a triptych landscape.

Whipple's show marks the first new exhibit in months at the arts council gallery. The gallery is open weekday afternoons for folks who prefer to drop in and look at their leisure. Friday will be a chance to meet the artist and talk to him about his work.

The music scene offers one of the first opportunities in months to hear live jazz. Jazz bassist and guitarist Ford James left Juneau this spring for the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Central California. He's returned for a visit and put together a gig with pianist Robert Cohen and drummer Clay Good for Friday and Saturday at the Alaskan.

The trio will play jazz standards. James said saxophonist Wayne Norlund and drummer Andy Engstrom may sit in as well.

James released a fine CD this spring, "Sunlight," featuring his original, contemporary instrumental jazz compositions. He said he's working with the arts council to stage a concert next May to showcase his original music.

For rock and roll, Marlintini's Lounge has brought the Vancouver, B.C.,-based rock band Monkeywrench back to Juneau for the month of September. The band performs Thursdays through Saturday evenings, and guitarist Norm Gordon will sing and play acoustic guitar solo every Monday night.

Fans of foreign film may want to see "What To Do In Case of Fire," a new German comedy filmed in Berlin. A brief summary: When a homemade Molotov cocktail explodes years after activists first planted it in a West Berlin building, the former members of a radical-left collective get together to reminisce, take stock and brainstorm about avoiding jail time.

The film shows Friday through Sunday at the Gold Town Nickelodeon.

Riley Woodford can be reached at rileyw@juneauempire.com.