show review: pan am

"It's true! Americans love the 1960s - as seen from all the outpouring on Mad Men - Quick! Let's pump out several 1960s shows too!"

I'm sure that's what the producers of Pan Am and The Playboy Club were thinking. It's also a possibility that if you copy someone's idea, you might not get as far as they do. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Pan Am, it takes place in the early 60s with four Pan Am flight attendants. This is when flight attendants were practically models and flying in on plane got you more than just free peanuts. The idea of this show is not bad, I have to admit. I was genuinely excited to watch the pilot and hoped that it could fill the huge Mad Men hole in my heart.

Any time period film or show has one essential - make the period authentic. If the settings are authentic and true to that period, you're half way there. Build a strong plot after that and you have the beginnings to a sustainable show/film. However, mess up that period, and you've already lost. Thus are my feelings towards Pan Am.



Over the last few weeks as I've been researching the set design for Mad Men, I came to understand the part of the reason it has such a huge fan base is because the costumes and furniture aren't set pieces. Almost every piece of furniture and costume has been found as an authentic vintage piece realistic to that time period. It would make sense that in the 1960s, not everything is contemporary and on the cusp of trendy, as there were still chairs and dresses floating around from the 50s and sometimes 40s. The designers behind Man Men incorporated this truth.

In regards to Pan Am, I think they spent more of their budget creating virtual buildings, planes, and airports than they did on having genuine 1960s settings. One of the characters, Bridget, is seen wearing her long wavy blonde hair down in an almost 2000's beach wave style. In another scene bottled water clearly from our era is sitting on a table in a diner. The virtual effects aren't even good. They look futuristic, almost dreamy, and reminiscent of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Everything is too clean, too manufactured. There was a short clip of Maggie's (Christina Ricci) apartment and it seemed to be the only believable setting. We nearly cheered when we saw it!

Bridget shown with long waves
Modern bottled water seen on the table

So even if the set and costume design was lackluster, but the writing and acting was superb, I'd still be watching the show. Here I am, disappointed again. Seemingly trying to nail a good plot, the story line is all over the place. The lives of four women interwoven together with men, 1960s expectations and wait, THE CIA?! That's right! Good ole' espionage to keep the interest up. Soap opera meets futuristic retro meets spies.

I'm not usually so passionate about matters such as these, but I can't help it. My hopes were very high for Pan Am and I was really disappointed. Have you watched Pan Am yet? What are your thoughts towards it?



photos found here and here.

interview: charmaine olivia. modern history.

ophelia. 40" x 40" oil & ink on birch panel.


Last week I was honored to interview the talented Charmaine Olivia. We had a great talk about the genesis of her passion for creating art, and the depth behind her unique hand.

Taught by her aunt as a cute, seven year old girl, Charmaine began her life's journey as an artist. She grew up on the coastal town of San Diego and the sea breeze is a fundamental part of her work. Even now that she has moved from SD, you can see the impression it has left on her work. Huge ships, anchors, pirate hats. Please don't make the mistake of overlooking her artwork from its nautical themes. These paintings and drawings have a deep dish full of mystic and poetry.

These tattoo covered, beautiful women stem from the fantastic dreams of Charmaine Olivia. They have been woven out of elaborate stories and tales of adventures unseen. These ladies each play a part of the artist's life, and wait patiently in line to be blended together in paint. After Charmaine began to name them, her attachment to each lady grew all the more.

When I first looked over her online porfolio, I was enamored by her large wood panels. They are vibrant in color, laid across rich wood grain and grab you. However, after talking to Charmaine, I find myself enraptured by her silhouette drawings. She describes these portraits as a "non-traditional spin on something very traditional". A modern retelling of history and renewed details of an ancient story. Laden with Charmaine's tattoos and an almost sensual pose, these ladies challenge the school of thought from the previous centuries. One hundred years ago there would never have been silhouette portraits depicting young, dignified women with lace and tattoos. Presently, that happenstance is considerably more likely to happen. The depiction of this change in culture and the release of Puritan values makes for a very beautiful canvas of reflection.

Another thing you may notice about Charmaine Olivia's artwork is the multiple eyes some of her lady friends have. She explained that they just happen, without her understanding, and that the pieces are never complete without them. When she told me this, my heart leaped! I have heard this amongst several artists and find it to be a very healthy and necessary wonder for artists to be able to grow and develop their talents. I call it an Artist's Open Window. "An action performed, stroke painted, person embodied, symbol included, in repetition with no current understanding to the reason behind their actions. It belongs in the piece, incomplete without it, intertwined in the elaborate fairytale of the artwork. The mystic enchantment and union of artists." Charmaine's eyes are a place where she can insert her own wonderment and curiosity in her work.





Please visit Charmaine Olivia's site for more examples of her work, updates on projects she's currently working on, and her commercial work. Charmaine Olivia is an artist and illustrator currently living in San Francisco, California. Her spirit animal is a mermaid.

interview: margery amdur. numbered perfume.

I would like introduce you to the beautiful and enchanting work of Margery Amdur. Not long ago I was also introduced to her work through the art gallery at my university where two pieces of hers were being shown. The delicate designs and use of color grabbed my attention, and I hope that it will grab yours as well.

Amdur is a Professor of Fine Arts at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey about four miles away from Philadelphia. The pieces I have pictured here at the ones shown in the Ernest G. Welch Gallery at Georgia State University, though currently she is working on a commission to do large scale floor pieces for the Philadelphia Transit's subways.

During a lovely phone conversation with Amdur, I was able to get the low down on her progress as an artist and the influences that have brought her work to where it is today. If you visit her site, you'll be able to actually see the metamorphasis. But wait. Let's take a moment...

What do you see when you look at this work?

Think for a while. Look at it.

Think of them like gardens.

Look at the peaceful, almost predictable swirls, then whoa! A blast of color! Another one! These gardens of tranquility are filled with chaos! And that balance of chaos and tranquility is precisely what Amdur is trying to reflect in her work. This world that we live in is filled with balance of extremes. A rushing train, a butterfly garden, Times Square, Yosemite. You got it. She even expressed that in her own life, she can be both merry and stimulating and also earnest and reflective. I can definitely relate and I'm sure that the rest of you can as well.

How often in our lives do we have perfume on our wrists and briars on our ankles? Originally inspired by the sparse landscape of New Mexico while living there, Amdur used very subdued colors (if any) for a long time. After spending some time easing life's spurs with Van Gogh paint-by-numbers, she was teased and swooned by daring, vibrant colors. Ah, the perfume. So she blended the experiences. Life is a bundled package and even with it's ups and downs, there is loveliness.

With consideration to her new public arwork, she also likes to tie in the ideas of bringing "modest domestic work into public work". These floor pieces that she has been commissioned to do resemble closely the Van Gogh paint by number works that she has been doing, but with greater intesnsity. These beautiful, and typically three dimensional artworks will be layed down as a type of floral garden, a hard carpet in a world of fast transit and rush hour. How beautiful is that?