Arts Encounters at the Beninis: July 2007

JOSÉ MARÍA ROLDÁN "Pepe de Sevilla", JOSÉ MARÍA ROLDÁN III, and JOSÉ MARÍA ROLDÁN IV l Austin, Texas | The Spirit of Flamenco

José María Roldán, “Pepe de Sevilla” was born in Seville, Spain. Pepe was first introduced to flamenco at a very young age during his baptismal celebration in Seville where the singer “Niño de Jerez” sang among others. “Niño de Jerez” later known as “Manuel Torre” was one of the greatest flamenco singers of all time. Pepe arrived in Mexico City in 1949 where he sang at “La Gran Tasca”, “El Colmao”, “La Bodega”, “Rincón de Goya”, “Venta de los Titeres”, “Rio Rosa” and “Plaza de Toros”. He traveled throughout Mexico on tour with his Flamenco group “Los Majaretas de Triana” and in Ciudad Juarez was contracted for 4 years at the famous restaurant-bar “El Alcazar” where he was accompanied by great guitarists such as: Roberto Rojas Barrales, Manolo Parra, Gustavo Reza “El Buzo”. From 1957 to 1971 Pepe owned the famous “Bar Sevilla” in El Paso, Texas, which was the meeting place of many great intellectuals and Flamencos of the time including: Agustín Castellón “Sabicas”, Antonio Triana, Luisa Triana, Maestro Manolo Matos, Miguel Galvez “El Niño de las Cabezas”, Juan Perrín, bullfighter John Fulton Short, Nobel Prize winner Pearl Buck and Flamenco Dance Company of Jimenez-Vargas to name a few. Pepe is currently being accompanied by his son-Flamenco Guitarist José María Roldán, III. Pepe recently relocated to the Austin area with his son and family.

José María Roldán, III was born in El Paso, Texas. Flamenco has been an integral part of his life since his early childhood, especially during the years he lived in Seville Spain. José María began studying the flamenco guitar during his late teens with guitarists such as the virtuoso Lionel James, Pepe Marco, and his cousin Manuel Antonio Roldán from Seville. In recent years, José María’s main focus has been the accompaniment of singers and dancers. He has worked with many great flamenco artists such as: flamenco singer José María Roldán, “Pepe de Sevilla” (his father); guitarists Lionel James, R.J. Fox, and Lewie Booth; flamenco dancers Sonia Santamaía, Coral Citron, Andrea Del Conte, Vanessa Alvarado, and Margo Torea. José María has performed in theater productions, hotel and casino venues, corporate events, and on television. Additionally, he and his group performed at the 2005 American Folk Festival in Bangor, Maine, and at the famous Feria de Abril, in Seville, Spain. He was a member of the faculty of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Dance Department as a flamenco accompanist. Besides performing and accompanying dance classes, José María also teaches flamenco guitar to a limited number of students. José María collaborated with his father and a wide array of flamenco artists to form “The Spirit of Flamenco” to present a traditional “tablao style” interpretation of pure flamenco. José María just moved to the Austin area with his family.

José María Roldán, IV “Joey”, began to study flamenco dance at age three. Joey danced in many shows with The Spirit of Flamenco before deciding to retire at age six! Joey, now eleven years old, recently showed interest in the cajón, a Peruvian percussion instrument widely used in flamenco since the early 1970’s. He is now regularly performing with The Spirit of Flamenco as the groups percussionist, where he can put his understanding of flamenco rhythms to use to help drive the group’s beat.

FEATURED SPEAKERS ARCHIVES PRESS AND MEDIA PHOTO GALLERY VISITING LINKS COMMENTS
FEATURED ARTISTS: Saturday - Sunday \| July 28th and 29th, 2007 \| Presentations are both days, beginning promptly at 1:30 pm \| Free of charge


SAM YEATES \| Austin, Texas\| Painting Yeates received a BFA in Drawing and Painting from North Texas State University in 1974 and taught painting in a private school in Dallas 1975-1976. He moved to Austin soon after and became involved with the lively music scene there. After doing music promotional art involving poster and album covers he did freelance illustration and was under contract to Lone Star Beer for several years. Through Lone Star, his poster were seen all over the world. Yeates taught at Austin Community College from 1987 through 1993 and became involved with the growing video Game industry in the early 1990's. Through all this time, Yeates continued to paint and is currently represented in Texas, New Mexico and Ohio galleries. Several themes currently run through my work. For the most part they are figurative and deal with our perceptions of relationships, fantasy and otherwise. One such theme is the fool and angel. In this series. I see the fool as the manifestation of misplaced desire for the unattainable, the angel. For more information, visit http://home.grandecom.net/~syeates.

MATTEO CALONACI \| Instito d'Arte in Florence \| Poggibonsi, Italy \| My Life as An Artist Matteo Calonaci, born in 1984 in Poggibonsi where he currently lives, is nephew of the famous Tuscan sculptor Giuseppe Calonaci. Matteo is arriving from Italy mid-July for a month-long internship at The Benini Sculpture Ranch. He is an advanced student at the Instito d'Arte in Florence. During this time in Texas , he will complete a stylized head, in several stages, beginning the carving into a styrofoam block, then creating the model with clay, creating a mold and then preparing the finish materials. Artists or students wishing to learn his technique are invited to come and watch or work with Matteo during the process.



RANDY JEWART \| Austin, Texas \| Austin Green Art: Creating Sustainability Creating Sustainability There’s no denying that “green” is here to stay. The impetus to act to preserve environmental conditions on Earth that support human life will only increase as the tangibility of the destructiveness of our current civilization necessarily increases. We call this impetus cultural evolution. Sustainability is the collective focus on moving human social and physical systems into a balance with nature. This communal enterprise is the purvey of all human beings. Human creativity is at the heart of this movement. A moment by moment questioning and awareness of the impact of all of our actions is required. The constant innovation to modify all human systems – cultural and economic, on all levels at all times to work within the constraints of the local landbase is the new human mode of being. The scale of change required in terms of the numbers of people and the degree of change required of communities worldwide is staggering. Perhaps surprisingly however, the laws of nature dictating how this change must take place are mirrored deeply in the foundations of the religions and social systems, which form the basis of contemporary society. Upon inspection this should not be too surprising, since we are part of nature. Cultural diversity and biodiversity are fundamentally linked values deep-rooted in each individual. The notion of deep ecology, the interconnectedness of all living beings, is woven into all the creation stories of all religions. Perceiving humanity’s role as the steward of this interconnectedness of nature is not a stretch, it’s merely a stripping away of accumulated layers of socialization. We call this communal, never-ending fun game green art: • keen observation and celebration of nature (including individual human-beings!) • re-use materials • promote collaboration – listen, value diversity, synthesize, relatedness • resist mono-culture • resist destruction of nature • resist waste – time, energy, materials, food • become indigenous • promote love of learning • celebrate impermanence and natural cycles • everyone is creative • expand the concept of family – we have a lot of love to give • question everything • be a gardener • programs are designed as fractals • play For more information, visit http://www.austingreenart.org. To view one of Randy's sculptures, click here: http://sculptureranch.com/sculpture-jewart.htm




JOSÉ MARÍA ROLDÁN "Pepe de Sevilla", JOSÉ MARÍA ROLDÁN III, and JOSÉ MARÍA ROLDÁN IV l Austin, Texas \| The Spirit of Flamenco José María Roldán, “Pepe de Sevilla” was born in Seville, Spain. Pepe was first introduced to flamenco at a very young age during his baptismal celebration in Seville where the singer “Niño de Jerez” sang among others. “Niño de Jerez” later known as “Manuel Torre” was one of the greatest flamenco singers of all time. Pepe arrived in Mexico City in 1949 where he sang at “La Gran Tasca”, “El Colmao”, “La Bodega”, “Rincón de Goya”, “Venta de los Titeres”, “Rio Rosa” and “Plaza de Toros”. He traveled throughout Mexico on tour with his Flamenco group “Los Majaretas de Triana” and in Ciudad Juarez was contracted for 4 years at the famous restaurant-bar “El Alcazar” where he was accompanied by great guitarists such as: Roberto Rojas Barrales, Manolo Parra, Gustavo Reza “El Buzo”. From 1957 to 1971 Pepe owned the famous “Bar Sevilla” in El Paso, Texas, which was the meeting place of many great intellectuals and Flamencos of the time including: Agustín Castellón “Sabicas”, Antonio Triana, Luisa Triana, Maestro Manolo Matos, Miguel Galvez “El Niño de las Cabezas”, Juan Perrín, bullfighter John Fulton Short, Nobel Prize winner Pearl Buck and Flamenco Dance Company of Jimenez-Vargas to name a few. Pepe is currently being accompanied by his son-Flamenco Guitarist José María Roldán, III. Pepe recently relocated to the Austin area with his son and family. José María Roldán, III was born in El Paso, Texas. Flamenco has been an integral part of his life since his early childhood, especially during the years he lived in Seville Spain. José María began studying the flamenco guitar during his late teens with guitarists such as the virtuoso Lionel James, Pepe Marco, and his cousin Manuel Antonio Roldán from Seville. In recent years, José María’s main focus has been the accompaniment of singers and dancers. He has worked with many great flamenco artists such as: flamenco singer José María Roldán, “Pepe de Sevilla” (his father); guitarists Lionel James, R.J. Fox, and Lewie Booth; flamenco dancers Sonia Santamaía, Coral Citron, Andrea Del Conte, Vanessa Alvarado, and Margo Torea. José María has performed in theater productions, hotel and casino venues, corporate events, and on television. Additionally, he and his group performed at the 2005 American Folk Festival in Bangor, Maine, and at the famous Feria de Abril, in Seville, Spain. He was a member of the faculty of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Dance Department as a flamenco accompanist. Besides performing and accompanying dance classes, José María also teaches flamenco guitar to a limited number of students. José María collaborated with his father and a wide array of flamenco artists to form “The Spirit of Flamenco” to present a traditional “tablao style” interpretation of pure flamenco. José María just moved to the Austin area with his family. José María Roldán, IV “Joey”, began to study flamenco dance at age three. Joey danced in many shows with The Spirit of Flamenco before deciding to retire at age six! Joey, now eleven years old, recently showed interest in the cajón, a Peruvian percussion instrument widely used in flamenco since the early 1970’s. He is now regularly performing with The Spirit of Flamenco as the groups percussionist, where he can put his understanding of flamenco rhythms to use to help drive the group’s beat.


BETTYE HAMBLEN TURNER \| Miles, Texas \| The Longhorn Bulls: Stainless Steel and Carbon Steel Galahad, a new longhorn sculpture by Bettye Hamblen Turner arrives for ARTS Encounters. Turner will provide a brief overview of the creative process of this stainless steel and carbon steel longhorn, third in the series of her longhorns. "The Longhorn bull series continues to evolve. The concept for Galahad necessitated new materials, a major equipment purchase, and several new helpers. The rhythm of my creative process has shifted and expanded as well. I continue to be inspired by the power and grace of these marvelous animals."