Annalise Gratovich
Living Arts… you might say it’s THE passion of my professional life.
These days at Austin Classical Guitar we are trying to meet our community where they’d like to be met, with events small and large, education programs for all ages, and smart, varied exciting programming that relates to our lives, our heritage, our histories, or connects us with others’ paths in significant and stimulating ways.
No other event in 2013 is as fine an example of Living Arts than this week’s Les Freres Meduses (LFM) concert (November 9th).
Buy tickets online here, or call us at 512-300-2247!
LFM, Randy Avers and Benoit Albert, are genius guitarists and composers – they did that amazing film score project for us in summer 2012 (check it out here). They will premiere a major new work by our Composer In Residence Joe Williams (Joe & I talk about it here).
But we’re also doing something I’ve been dreaming about for years. We’ve asked a phenomenal Austin artistic talent to create an original piece, a limited-edition print – in response to Williams’ new work. She’ll be at the concert with her amazing work.
The artist is Annalise Gratovich, and I asked her a few questions about this piece and her art in general.
(here’s Annalise at work)
Matt Hinsley: You’ve created this work specifically for the world premiere of Joe’s piece “Memoria” on November 9th. What’s it called, and how does it relate to Joe’s work?
Annalise Gratovich: When speaking to Joe about his work, I realized that he and I share an interest in the themes of memory, loss, and nostalgia, as well as the Eastern European heritage of our families. The characters I created for this work in a way represent the two parts of Joe’s piece. The guitarist embodies the prelude with a certain sadness and longing, and the dancer embodies the more joyful, hopeful fantasy. Being a pair, they interact but are still separate from one another, still distant, almost as if they are reflections or memories themselves. They are both pensive and somewhat dreamy, as if they’re partaking in an event but are, in their minds, somewhere else, home maybe. I’ve decided to call this print “Memoria,” so it shares the same title as his piece of music.
MH: Could you give a bit of insight into your background as an artist and your artistic process – what media to you work in?
AG: I began printmaking at the beginning of my collegiate career and have worked primarily in the medium ever since. I do etchings, woodcuts, and some silkscreen, and have explored letterpress and limited edition books as well.
My work is informed by the myth, culture, and traditional arts of the American South and Eastern Europe, both of which are the lands of my heritage.
I have exhibited extensively in the central Texas area, as well as in Chicago, New Orleans, and Asheville, NC. I have work in private collections across the country, and in the permanent collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, France, and the University of Texas at Austin.
MH: How can people learn more about you – or see more of your work?
AG: My work can be found online on my website. I also have the usual social media: Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr – which I update more regularly with process shots of carving, etching, and printing my new works in progress. Those can all be found through my website.
Here’s Annalise pulling a large print from the press:
And here is one of here amazing works, fresh off the press!
I hope you’ll join us for the concert. You can buy tickets online here, or call us at 512-300-2247 – see you there!
