DoubleTake Talks: What Sparks Creativity?
A presentation and panel discussion on three landmark artists in the fields of popular music, science fiction and fine art

With:

Ann Powers, Chief Pop Critic, Los Angeles Times, presenting on Tori Amos
Greg Bear, Author & Chair, SFM Advisory Board, presenting on Ray Bradbury
Michael Klein, Former Director, Microsoft Art Collection, presenting on Beverly Semmes

SEATTLE – EMP is proud to host, as part of its much-discussed and thought-provoking DoubleTake Talks series, a free presentation and panel discussion on the creative process with perspectives from the (seemingly unrelated) worlds of popular music, science fiction and fine art! We invite you to join us for what promises to be a very lively discussion in the JBL Theater on Thursday, July 13th at 7pm when three world-renowned experts in their field come together to find the common places and universal themes when we address: What sparks creativity?

MORE ON THE PANELISTS AND THEIR SUBJECTS: Ann Powers has been writing about popular music and society since the early 1980s. She is the author of Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America and coeditor of Rock She Wrote: Women Write About Rock, Pop, and Rap. She was a pop critic for the New York Times from 1997 until 2001 and an editor for the Village Voice from 1993 until 1996. She has written for most music publications, and her work has been widely anthologized. Formerly a senior curator at EMP, she is now Chief Pop Critic at The Los Angeles Times.

Tori Amos is foremost among the artists who have redefined the role of women in music in the last decade. Her piano-based music revived that instrument in rock and roll, and her complex yet accessible songs have pushed the parameters of song writing. Since the double-platinum success of her solo debut, Little Earthquakes, in 1992, Amos’s albums and tours have reached millions of listeners worldwide. She is the cofounder of the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN). Her ninth recording, The Beekeeper, was released in February 2005.

Greg Bear is the best-selling author of more than 30 books of science fiction and fantasy, including Forge of God, Anvil of Stars, Moving Mars, and Darwin's Radio and its sequel Darwin’s Children. He has been awarded two Hugos and five Nebulas for his fiction -- one of only two authors to win a Nebula in every category - and has been called the "Best working writer of hard science fiction" by The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Bear has served on political and scientific action committees and has advised Microsoft Corporation, the U.S. Army, the CIA, Sandia National Laboratories, and other groups and agencies.

Ray Bradbury began writing science fiction short stories in the 1930s. Known primarily as a short story writer -- his most famous stories make up The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man -- Bradbury is also a novelist, the author of Something Wicked This Way Comes and Fahrenheit 451, among others. He has won nearly every major fantasy award for his fiction, including a Grand Master Nebula Award in 1988.

Michael Klein has enjoyed a diverse career in the arts and has played many roles in that community. A former gallerist in New York City, Michael was most recently the Executive Director of the International Sculpture Center in New Jersey where he oversaw that facility and also acted as publisher of their publication, Sculpture. Prior to that tenure, Michael spent time in Seattle as Curator of the Microsoft Art Collection where he managed all aspects of budget and acquisitions for a collection of now over 4,000 pieces. An independent curator, writer, educator and lecturer, Michael has just signed on as a Senior Faculty member at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York City.

Beverly Semmes’s monumental "soft" sculptures characterize this American artist’s work. As if they came out of a dream where the scale of things is distorted, her meter-long, haute-couture creations hang from the ceiling and spread across the floor in overwhelming quantities of gorgeous fabric. These oversized "dresses" fit no one. Some of them are beautiful and extravagant, some almost threatening or slightly comical. Some seem to mock the extremes of fashion as well as its power and ability to "shape" women, while others appear as surrealistic manifestations suggestive of childhood fantasies. Semmes was born in Washington DC. She received her BFA from Boston Museum School in 1982 and her MFA from Yale School of Art in 1987.

As Artistic Director for Experience Music Project (EMP) and The Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame, Bob Santelli plays an instrumental role in leading the direction of these premier education destinations which focus on the creative process as represented currently in popular music, science fiction and fine art. Santelli is responsible for overseeing the development of all museum content, public programming, and education initiatives, including new exhibits, workshops, lectures, concerts, and special events.

DoubleTake Talks are always free to the public. Reservations open up to EMP/SFM members and TakeFive partner members (SAM, The Henry, The Frye and TAM) three weeks prior to event date and to the public one week prior. Reservations can be made by e-mailing Talks@DoubleTakeExhibit.org or by phoning the EMP Box Office on (206) 770-2702.

Additionally, the DoubleTake exhibition gallery will be open until 11pm for guests to enjoy. Admission is FREE for EMP/SFM members, $4 for TakeFive partner members and $8 for the public.

MORE ON DOUBLETAKE: FROM MONET TO LICHTENSTEIN: Whether you are an aficionado, or interested in exploring fine master works for the first time, DoubleTake: From Monet to Lichtenstein allows you to experience art in a whole new way! History has a way of repeating itself so subtly or so often that we tend not to notice or to forget. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the history of art, specifically in the reception of avant-garde movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. Beginning with Impressionism, which emerged in Paris in the 1860s, each of these movements started as an assault on the status quo. Each outraged the general public, and was supposedly doomed to a short, unsuccessful season. Yet they survived and thrived, gradually losing their radical character and becoming elevated in public perception to the status of “classics.” DoubleTake: From Monet to Lichtenstein explores this cultural phenomenon by pairing Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings with works by leading 20th-century artists – all from the private collection of Paul Allen. These pairings include Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works from masters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Dégas and Vincent van Gogh with modern and contemporary works from such artists as Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. We believe that these comparisons will give Impressionism a new context for modern audiences, resurrecting the power of the artists’ rebellious intent.

For more information, press only:

Bill Hayes
Director of Sales & Marketing
Experience Music Project
206.262.3211
billh@emplive.org