Newsroom

DuJour on Ballroom’s 10 Year Benefit Festivities

April 10, 2013

Fairfax Dorn. Photograph by BFANYC.COM

“New York gallerygoers, on-the-cusp artists and fashion notables flooded Chelsea’s Center 548 on Monday for a night of performances—both musical and non—and art auctions to benefit Ballroom Marfa, the highly-esteemed nonprofit space for contemporary art, film and music based in Marfa, Texas. Over 40 artists, including Liz Cohen, Solange Azagury-Partridge and Maryam Amiryani, participated in the silent and live auctions held during cocktails and dinner, respectively—some creating new pieces for the event.

The gallery celebrates 10 years of supporting exceptional artists, filmmakers and musicians, but the benefit (which raised $765,000 this year) extends beyond Texas’ art scene: Fairfax Dorn, Ballroom Marfa’s co-founder and executive director, told DuJour before dinner, “We’re going to continue doing what we’ve been doing, but also expand our Marfa dialog,” the forefront of which is a focus on climate change and environmental issues through programs involving grants and partnerships in New York this fall.”

Read more and peruse the photo gallery at DuJour.

Happy Birthday Ballroom

April 8, 2013

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From the Desert to the City: Ballroom Marfa Celebrates 10 Years

Monday, 8 April 2013
Center 548 · West 22nd St. · New York City

Ballroom Marfa’s Co-Founders, Virginia Lebermann and Fairfax Dorn, along with the Board of Trustees, kindly request that you mark your calendar and make plans to join us in New York City to commemorate ten years of presenting art, film, performance and music in West Texas and beyond. The event will feature both a live and silent auction by world-renowned artists from Ballroom’s past and future as well as musical performances throughout the evening.

CO-CHAIRS:
Co-Founders: Fairfax Dorn and Virginia Lebermann, Sue Hostetler, Matthew Day Jackson, Jenny Laird, Charles Ruger, Allison Sarofim, Anne-Cecilie Engell Speyer, Gordon VeneKlasen and Leo Villareal

CO-SPONSOR: BARCLAYS

6:30 pm Cocktail reception and silent auction
Harmonica by Norris Bennet and Boxing by Skender Halili
Performance by Tuna Nut

8:00pm Dinner with performance by Mick Barr

Live auction hosted by auctioneer Jamie Niven, Chairman Sotheby’s of The Americas

Starting March 27th, pre-bid online and preview works at www.paddle8.com/auctions/ballroommarfa

10:00pm After-party with special performance by YACHT, followed by DJ set from Saheer Umar

Download Ballroom Marfa 10 Year Benefit Invite

Continue reading …

Anthony Elms at Marfa Book Company this Thursday

April 2, 2013

Anthony Elms

Ballroom Marfa is pleased to present a lecture by Anthony Elms at 8pm at the Marfa Book Company on April 4, 2013 at 8pm.

Anthony Elms is Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, and is also the editor of WhiteWalls, an independent publisher distributed through the University of Chicago Press. Previously he worked for Performa 11 and was Assistant Director at Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago for five years. His writings have appeared in Afterall, Art Asia Pacific, Art Papers, Artforum, Cakewalk, May Revue, Modern Painters, New Art Examiner, and Time Out Chicago, and he has also written essays for numerous catalogs and collections. He has independently curated exhibitions as well, including: Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago’s Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-68 (with John Corbett and Terri Kapsalis); Interstellar Low Ways (with Huey Copeland); Can Bigfoot Get You a Beer? and A Unicorn Basking in the Light of Three Glowing Suns (both with Philip von Zweck). Elms has also taught visual arts seminars at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received a BFA in painting from Michigan State University and an MFA from the University of Chicago, and he continues to exhibit as an artist. His group exhibition White Petals Surround Your Yellow Heart is currently on view at the ICA Philadelphia.

New Growth: Now Open!

March 10, 2013

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More photos to come next week … thx to Rob Crowley for these teasers.

Theresa Jordan is a minister’s daughter and the fianc of Pastor LandrisI asked him, do you continue on in life after such a devastating loss.
We found that this perception of variety in one activities has the same effect on happiness and satisfaction.
3, as Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel aren going to fall out of the top two.
Use your body, find your health and restore that energy of your youth.

Vo is graduating from Chapman this week with a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, at the age when most students are just beginning college.
Anam The Good Muslim: Bangladeshi Islam, Secularism and the Tablighi Jamaat.
Junior squads are meant for athletes that are in ninth and tenth grade, while the varsity squad is reserved for upperclassmen, occasionally allowing younger girls to join the squad if they are very talented.

Leo Villareal Launches The Bay Lights

March 4, 2013

Ballroom contributing artist Leo Villareal‘s massive Bay Lights LED sculpture goes live tomorrow. Connersmith has everything you need to know on how to watch online or on scene …

CONNERSMITH is delighted to announce LEO VILLAREAL’S monumental LED sculpture, The Bay Lights, in San Francisco, CA.

The Bay Lights will go live on March 5th, 2013 at 8:30pm PST and be on view through 2015.

Grand Lighting ceremony online: CLICK HERE

Information on the artist: CLICK HERE

Villareal’s awe-inspiring Bay Lights sculpture will transform the western span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge in to the world’s largest LED light sculpture. Measuring over a mile and a half long, with 25,000 LED nodes affixed to nearly five miles’ worth of vertical suspension cables, Bay Lights is eight times the scale of the Eiffel Tower’s 100th Anniversary lighting. The Bay Lights will be seen over 50 million people in the Bay Area with many more viewing it online nightly through 2015.

Second Jeff Mangum Show Added!

February 22, 2013


Jeff Mangum live in Athens, GA in 1997

Ballroom Marfa and Tiger Mountain are pleased to announce that we have added a second Jeff Mangum performance on March 31, 2013. Doors for this later show will open at 10pm at the Crowley Theater in Marfa, Texas.

Mangum is the singer and principal songwriter of the legendary band Neutral Milk Hotel. Tickets for the 7:30pm Marfa show are sold out.

Tickets are $20, and are available from the Ballroom Marfa online shop and at the gallery starting at 12pm CST on Friday, February 22, 2013.

Please note: No photography and no recording permitted during the show, including cell phones. $1 from each ticket goes to benefit Children of the Blue Sky. Special thanks to Jennifer Bell, Daniel Chamberlin, the Crowley Theater, Rob Crowley, Tim Crowley, Marfa Recording Company and Jack McFadden. Photo of Jeff Mangum by Corey Greenwell.

Scenes from Ballroom Marfa’s Valentine’s Dance featuring Gary P. Nunn + Primo Carrasco & Friends

February 19, 2013

Valentine's Dance with Gary P. Nunn, 15 February 2013. Photo by Lesley Brown. Gary P. Nunn show, 15 February 2013. Photo by Lesley Brown.

Scenes from Ballroom Marfa’s Valentine’s Dance with Gary P. Nunn, 15 February 2013. All photos by Lesley Brown.

The Gary P. Nunn performance was made possible by the generous support provided by Janie and Dick DeGuerin.

Special thanks to David Beebe, The Big Bend Sentinel, Biff Bolen, Primo Carrasco, Ross Cashiola, Daniel Chamberlin, Rob Crowley, Dirk Fowler, Cristina Garces, Marfa Public Radio, Marfa Recording Company, Tom Michael and Gary Oliver.

Beer generously donated by Big Bend Brewing Company.

Primo Carrasco & Friends, 15 February 2013. Photo by Lesley Brown.

Primo Carrasco & Friends, 15 February 2013. Photo by Lesley Brown.

Lots more photos after the jump!

Classic Gary P. Nunn from 1974

February 15, 2013

The Lost Gonzo Band featuring Gary P. Nunn, performing his “London Homesick Blues” in 1974 at Willie’s Second Annual Independence Day Picnic in College Station, Texas. HISTORY.

Don’t miss Gary with Primo Carrasco & Friends here at Ballroom Marfa tonight! 7pm doors; 8pm show. Tickets $10 at the door. [en español]

Baile de San Valentín con Gary P. Nunn + Primo Carrasco & Friends

February 13, 2013

Gary P. Nunn poster, designed by Dirk Fowler

Por lo que parece, la historia de amor más duradera en la vida de Gary P. Nunn es con el estado de Texas.
Aunque él nació en Oklahoma, su trabajo se caracteriza por la creación de canciones inspiradas en su
profundo afecto por el Estado de Lone Star. El legendario compositor ofrecerá en breve su repertorio a los
residentes de una de las ciudades más románticas del Trans-Pecos. Únete a nosotros aquí en Marfa, en el
día del Baile de San Valentín el Viernes, 15 de febrero 2013.

Nunn es conocido por su canción “London Homesick Blues” una balada cantada desde el punto de vista
de un músico country varado en Inglaterra, suspirando por los armadillos, la música country y las mujeres
atractivas con las que Texas es a menudo asociada. Esta canción fue convertida en éxito por Jerry Jeff
Walker y David Allan Coe, y más tarde, inmortalizada como tema musical de larga duración para la PBS,
escaparate de la música en directo de la Austin City Limits.

Integrado en la región, Nunn encontró su lugar tocando el teclado con The Fabulous Sparkles, una banda
de garaje con nombres tan destacados en la escena del West Texas de los 60 como Joe Ely y Jimmie Dale
Gilmore. Después de mudarse a Austin para obtener la licenciatura en farmacia en la Universidad de Texas,
Nunn se involucró en el emergente country independiente tocando el bajo para Michael Martin Murphy y
Willie Nelson.

En poco tiempo se sintió en casa con la Lost Gonzo Band, volviendo con Jerry Jeff Walker en 1973 con
Viva Terlingua!, un disco que ocupa con Honky Tonk Heroes y Shotgun Willie un lugar dentro de los clásicos de la música country progresiva. Es también un homenaje conmovedor como era de esperar a uno
de últimos enclaves del auténtico espíritu Big Bend.

Nunn haría otros tres álbumes con Lost Gonzo Band y luego comenzó a actuar bajo su propio nombre
en los años 80. En consonancia con el espíritu que lo definió desde el principio, él dio un nuevo enfoque
práctico a su carrera en solitario, evitando grandes discográficas, lanzando su propia música y dirigiéndose
hacia registros cercanos a Campfire Records, un sello discográfico independiente con base en San Antonio
con quien ha publicado nueve álbumes.

Como declaró en Amarillo Globe-News el año pasado,

“He sido independiente desde el primer día … Hubo un tiempo en el que uno no podía grabar un disco a
menos que tuviera un contrato discográfico, pero yo dije, ‘¿Por qué ?’ Así que siempre he hecho mis propios
discos

“Realmente, en mi mente, siempre he tratado de trabajar para una industria de la música en Texas, y
siempre he tratado de ser un ejemplo para los que vienen después, para que sepan cómo las cosas pueden
hacerse de manera independiente. “

Su obra más reciente One Way or Another de 2012 cuenta, con su primera actuación “Couldn’t Do
Nothin’ Right”, una de sus canciones más conocidas por ser el single del álbum de debut de Rosanne Cash
en 1979.

Nunn nunca ha escondido su amor por Texas, y el ex gobernador de Texas, Mark White lo nombró
Embajador Oficial de la Humanidad en 1985. En 1995 fue incluido en el Paseo de la Fama de West Texas,
y en 2004 en el Salón de la Fama de Texas.

La atracción por esta tierra va más allá de patriotismo y el compositor se ve apoderado por una pasión de la
que todo el público podrá disfrutar y sentir cuando Nunn y su banda se unan a nosotros aquí en Marfa para
una noche de amor en el West Texas con motivo del día de San Valentín.

Gary P. Nunn tocará en Ballroom Marfa a las 8 pm del 15 de febrero. Entradas $10 en la puerta.