Britta-Lena Lasko had just wrapped her master’s thesis for the Brooks Institute of Photography—a documentary project following women in Maine’s fishing industry that cast her into the ocean on clam diggers and sea urchin diving boats—and was sharing the results in an exhibit in Maine when she began speaking with a museum curator about bees. Interested, as many local foodies are, in where her honey was coming from, Lasko decided to take on a new project.
 You may feel a slight stinging sensation: Britta-Lena Lasko confronts bees and their keepers (some protected, some not) in a buzz-worthy exhibit of photographs at C&O Gallery that opens with a reception and honey tasting on January 3. |
Two-and-a-half years ago, Lasko took her family to what she calls a "bee tasting" sponsored by the Central Virginia Beekeepers Association. From that day on she started networking with people she met in the club, asking them—in the photographer’s words—if she could "meet them at their houses and see their hives," work that she scheduled around her job at UVA’s development office and a gig teaching cello lessons.
Lasko saw more than hives. She saw beekeepers from across Virginia whose hives suffered from colony collapse disorder and more who combatted mite problems by coating bees with sugar so that the tiny pests would slip off their buzzers’ backs. She met a family of four that visited local schools to advocate for bee respect. She met one man who wore his Ringling Bros. Clown College suit as a beekeeper suit, met another that wore no protection whatsoever and bought a suit of her own.
Now, Lasko’s sweet harvest—a collection of black and white photographs of local beekeepers—is ready for consumption. On January 3, "Bees & Brooms" will open at the C&O Gallery with a reception and an artisanal honey tasting, courtesy of a few of Lasko’s beekeeper friends.
| Video of Britta-Lene Lasko talking about her brooms. |
While Lasko’s bee efforts are confined to photos ("I don’t have bees, because I’m a renter," says Lasko), the evidence of her broom work is all over her home. Curtain Calls has less than a minute to process the long and winding bodies and thickly bundled corn tops of Lasko’s work before Enzo, her tirelessly playful dog, launches himself at Curt’s lap, then runs off to settle down by a pile of long, gnarled wood—handles for brooms yet to be made.
Lasko bought a few of her mother’s brooms (she stresses the artisanal nature of these objects; Curt decides not to use one to shoo Enzo off his leg) and spent time with broom maker Marlow Gates at his Leicester, North Carolina, studio, learning to strip bark, sand wood and weave handles together into what is called a "marriage broom."
Speaking of marriage, Enzo is really attached to CC’s leg, so Lasko takes him to eat dinner while Curt tries to count the brooms in her home. He gets to 18 in three rooms, but there are so many that his eyes begin to confuse them for curtain rods and picture frames. He tries to start over: one broom, two broom, big broom…
Capo-what-a?
Curt recently received an e-mail from a local resident named Kai Safran about Ourspace, a community center that Safran hopes to implement in a space on 414 East Main St., beneath the Tea Bazaar. Spread thinner than Kate Moss due to holiday deadlines but desperate to hear Safran’s plans, CC set up a very short meeting with Safran and a few of his Ourspace associates.
The meeting that followed was akin to The Usual Suspects: Safran’s multitalented crew (including 27-year-old Cara Legal, who teaches capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian fusion of martial arts, dance and sport) meets CC promptly and, in a move that surprised Curt, the members begin introducing themselves to one another. Turns out that many of the people involved had not formally met. Yikes.
Safran arrives late and the meeting quickly turns into a cat-herding session. At one point, Curt loses the role of interviewer entirely, as one of the Ourspacers steps in to ask Safran where he sees the venue a year from now. Out of time, Curt leaves the group of young artists chatting, with more than a bit of concern for the group. (The concern may be unfounded, however: A second e-mail from Safran explained that the group earned a total of $500 from 150 people in a fundraising party held on Friday, December 14. Fear not, dear readers, Curt will keep on the trail.)
Later, CC receives an e-mail from Cara Legal, the capoeira instructor. It could be the exotic pull of the word "capoeira" or Legal’s patient focus during the meeting, but Curt decides to meet with him to talk about his craft.
Legal developed an interest in capoeira at a young age from films like Only the Strong and was hooked; he purchased a berimbau (a traditional string instrument) and travelled to Richmond a few years ago for a capoeira event, where he met Mestre Panão, founder of a performance troupe called Grupo Resistência (www.capoeirava.com).
Now in his fourth year of training with Panão, Cara Legal (his capoeira name, which loosely translates to "cool guy") works with a total of roughly 30 students at Studio 206 and at UVA, and hopes to help Panão establish a following in Charlottesville.
Legal explains the rhythmic demands of capoeira to CC, stressing that the berimbau’s tune "determines whether we play, fight, dance, use more treachery…whether new friends are approaching, danger is approaching." Curt considers the frantic Ourspace meeting and thinks that Legal just might be the person to get the group up and running.
To inquire about Ourspace, e-mail Kai Safran at kaisafran@gmail.com. To become a capoeirista, e-mail cara.legal.resistencia@hotmail.com.
Sam Rockwell loves ATO Pictures
Well, that was the impression CC got when he caught up with Temple Fennell, who helps develop films at the cinematic branch of the media production company launched by Coran Capshaw and a few other familiar names (including Dave "Davedigger" Matthews).
Curt dialed Fennell to congratulate him on the acceptance of two ATO flicks, Savage Grace (by queer cinema auteur Tom Kalin) and Choke (in which Sam Rockwell plays a man who pretends to gag on grub and then cashes in on sympathy), and mentioned that Rockwell seems to pop up in ATO-related films a lot (he co-starred with Curt’s beloved Vera Farmiga in creepy evil-seed flick Joshua).
"We have incredible casting luck," said Fennell. "Sam is notoriously difficult to get to focus on scripts. [But] he mentioned Choke to us when we were doing Joshua."
Let’s make it a hat trick! Fennell mentioned that Rockwell has also committed to End Zone, a football-centric epic adapted from a Don DeLillo novel, that will star Josh "My Best Film Was The Faculty" Hartnett. The film is in preproduction, and Fennell says he hopes shooting will commence in the spring.
Got any art news? E-mail curtain@c-ville.com.