Author: The Hippo Press

On The Job – Barry Poitras

Martial Arts Instructor

Sensei Barry Poitras teaches at Granite State Kendo Club (52 E. Derry Road, East Derry). Kendo and Iaido are two traditional Japanese martial arts that focus on swordsmanship. Poitras has achieved the rank of Godan (fifth degree black belt) in Kendo and Rokudan (sixth degree black belt) in Iaido, which are advanced levels requiring years of practice. Practices take place on Sundays at the Club: The first and third Sunday of the month has kendo kata from 1 to 2 p.m. and kendo practice from 2 to 4 p.m.; the second and third Sunday of the month has Iaido practice led by Sensei Barry Poitras and then kendo practice from 2 to 4 p.m. Call 235-6229 or visit granitestatekendoclub.com for more information.

Explain your job and what it entails.

Sensei basically is the title. I teach kendo and iaido, which is basically a Japanese martial art, Japanese swordsmanship. Kendo is fencing with armor. You use a two-handed sword, bamboo, and you wear armor, and you score points. Iaido is a little different. It’s drawing the sword with imaginary opponents, so you do all these sword draws, cuts, re-sheathing kind of movements, but imagining opponents. They’re kind of like sister arts, they work together… .

How long have you had this job?

I’ve been studying and teaching for over 37 years, somewhere around there…

What kind of education or training did you need?

It’s an interesting kind of pursuit. You have to find an instructor, which obviously back then was extremely difficult. It was such a rare sport in, not only the United States, but even just New England. I started basically with the Boston Kendo Group right down in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1992-ish range. Then I slowly got my training through the folks down in New York who were mostly Japanese sensei. … I started my school, pretty much, in 1994 in Acton, Massachusetts. And when I moved to New Hampshire, I started up here, and now I’m helping out the Granite State Kendo with their program.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

We wear traditional Japanese hakama and keikogi. Basically, kendo players wear a blue, indigo blue hakama, which looks like a long skirt. Basically, it’s pleated pants. a heavy kote,indigo dyed blue top, and then the armor basically is headgear, breastplate around the lower abdomen, hand and wrist protection, and then a sort of a tare; it wraps around the hips and groin. …

What is the most challenging thing about your work and how do you deal with it?

I think the most challenging thing is even today, kendo in the United States is probably played with under probably 4,000 people nationally. … If you get to a higher level, you’re going to need to travel. I need to go to New York. Nationally I go to national seminars in basically all the country as well as Canada. …

—Zachary Lewis

Five favorites
Favorite book: Autumn Lightning by Dave Lowery
Favorite movie: The Billy Jack movie — that was it. I was hooked. I said that’s what I want to do, and I walked into a karate dojo, and never changed, never turned, never walked out.
Favorite music: I’m actually a guitar player. Right now I’m actually doing a lot of blues music, so I’d say anything blues.
Favorite food: Sushi
Favorite thing about NH: I love the mountains, being able to access the mountains because I’m an avid hiker. I love the accessibility to the seashore. And I think the life in New Hampshire, the music scene, is one of the favorite things I love.

Kiddie Pool 25/01/02

Family fun for whenever

Skates of all kinds

• Remix Skate Center (725 Huse Road, Manchester, 912-7661) has a Little Kids Scoot & Skate roller skating event on the calendar for Saturday, Jan. 4, at 9 p.m. Remix has three-wheeled scooters available, and skate rental sizes starting at little kids size 10, for this beginners’ event. Non-skaters are welcome on the rink. Bring your own safety gear. See skateremix.com for ticket information.

• The ice arena at JFK Coliseum in Manchester (303 Beech St.) has public skate in January on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. See manchesternh.recdesk.com for more activities and events at the Coliseum.

• Everett Arena in Concord (15 Loudon Road) has public ice skating Sundays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., $6 admission (free for age 3 and younger), $6 skate rentals and $5 helmet rentals. See concordnh.gov for details and info on other activities at the arena.

Movie day

• Chunky’s Cinema Pub (707 Huse Road, Manchester) will host Little Lunch Dates for Children on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 11:30 a.m. for parents (or grandparents or guardians) and their preschool children. The screening will be of Little Giants (PG, 107 minutes), which stars Rick Moranis and Ed O’Neill. The movie will be shown with the lights slightly dimmed and admission is $5. Chunky’s says “this is a worry-free lunch without the fear of disturbing others. So come, relax, and enjoy a movie with your little one.” No passes are allowed and there is reserved seating. Visit chunkys.com for more information

Save the date!

• The Majestic Academy of Dramatic Arts will presentDisney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr.at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway, Derry) on Friday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 25, at 2 and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Jan. 26, at 2 p.m. The classic story tells of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a young prince under the spell of an enchantress. Majestic’s production stars children and teens of The Majestic Academy of Dramatic Arts under the direction of Becca Antonakos-Belanger with musical direction by Emily Benjamin. Tickets range from $12 to $16. Call 669-7469 or visit majestictheatre.net.

• The Concord Community Players Children’s Theatre Project’s Winter Vacation Theatre Camp for young actors ages of 8 through 14 of all experience levels is open for registration with half of the slots already filled, according to their website. The day camp runs from Sunday, Feb. 23, through Friday, Feb. 28, and registration is only possible by mail, according to the same website. The play will be The Story of Hansel and Gretel. The performance on Friday, Feb. 28, will be at 6:30 p.m.at the Concord City Auditorium with the day for camp attendees involving tech and dress rehearsals as well as a pizza party for cast and crew. Registration is $215. Visit communityplayersofconcord.org for more information.

The luminous and the tonal

Paintings capture the glow at NH Antique Co-Op

By Zachary Lewis

[email protected]

New Hampshire Antique Co-op will be presenting its exhibit “Light & Brush: Luminous and Tonal Paintings from the 19th Century ​to Present” until March.

“The show is on luminous and tonal paintings,” said Jason Hackler. He is the manager and co-owner of the Co-op. “The luminous movement, you know, was founded in the 19th century. The paintings themselves, these luminous paintings that were painted by the likes of Fitz Henry Lane, Albert Bierstadt, William Frederick De Haas, Asher Durand, some of the greats of the time.”

The artwork is electric. “The paintings really have their own inner sort of glow. I mean, some of them you feel like you need to put sunglasses on or they capture such a moment in the way they’re able to create the time of day, remember a sunrise, a sunset.”

“We’re also featuring contemporary artists, Erik Koeppel, William Davis and Dennis Sheehan. Their works capture a feeling, a time and place, and almost an emotion in a landscape. Some of the works you find very calming just standing in front of them. It’s sort of this kind of zen moment,” Hackler said.

Hackler talked about the styles’ history. “Tonal works really started in the late 19th century, where the luminous painting started a little bit earlier. There’s certainly crossovers with the two styles … we have examples of these done in like the Barbizon style, Impressionist style, and that earlier sort of Hudson River school, White Mountain school style.”

He also talked about the beginning of luminism. “The movement really started in Europe and then came to this country early on.”

Luminous art, especially the American version, is about the “wonder of nature, and the mystery of nature and our surroundings, pride of country … the early American luminous is really talking about the amazement and awe of our country, and looking at these grand scale landscapes,” he said.

One of Hackler’s favorites is a more modern piece titled “Autumn in the White Mountains.” “Erik Koeppel has one of the largest known paintings of this type. He was commissioned to do it for the Jackson Historical Society here in New Hampshire. Standing in front of the painting is pretty awesome…. The painting itself measures 78 inches by 135 inches.”

The exhibit is put forth through a community effort. “We’re fortunate to be able to network with collectors from all over the country and different ways to acquire these paintings.”

If one of these paintings lights up your world, you’re in luck. “All of the paintings are for sale. A number of paintings that have already sold … some will rotate in. There’s occasionally [a] new addition. We have a wonderful painting by Sanford Gifford. It’s a painting that’s been in the museum for a long time, which has sold, but we’ve been fortunate where he’s allowed us to keep it on exhibition. There will be some rotation in the show as some works sell. So it’s something that isn’t completely static.”

The entirety of the space is around 20,000 square feet and contains many pieces of art to get lost in. “There’s paintings and artwork throughout. The Tower Gallery holds approximately 40 paintings. The upstairs gallery has probably another 100 paintings on view,” he said.

“Each piece of each painting or sculpture or object that I have is something that I relate to. It might remind me of a certain time or place, something that was special in my life, might be an artist I have an association with, whether it’s a contemporary artist who I know and like very much or an artist from the 18th, 19th century who I’ve always admired or might have had and my art history and everything else. It’s just so enriching being surrounded in your own home with works of art,” Hackler said.

Light & Brush: Luminous and Tonal Paintings from the 19th Century ​to Present
Where: New Hampshire Antique Co-op, 323 Elm St., Milford
When: Now until March 2025. Open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Info: nhantiquecoop.com, 673-8499

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Follow the sun

Installation at 3S changes hour by hour

The art of Christina Watka relies on space and time, which is why the main gallery at 3S Artspace is ideal for her “Noticing Light” installation running through the end of the month. It’s dominated by a hanging sculpture of multicolored and shaped glass spanning two-thirds of the expansive room. The rest is taken up by “Kinship Compositions,” a display of works from metallurgy artist Margaret Jacobs.

Watka’s piece takes on different characteristics as morning moves into afternoon and early evening, thanks to large doors of latticed glass letting in outside light, along with gallery bulbs hung from the high ceiling. This dynamism is something that drives the Maine-based artist.

“That’s kind of what brought me to installation art,” she said by phone recently. “I had always been fascinated with light; it started seeping into the work I was making. The first real studio I ever committed to was on the Hudson River in Dobbs Ferry, New York. I had these west-facing windows, and I got blasted by light all the time. I could almost get a sunburn it was so bright in that room.”

3S Artspace is the ideal environment to express her current vision, she continued. “I decided to place this large installation exactly where the band of light curves around the room and then shoots through the entire thing,” she said. “It refracts and reflects … ‘kaleidoscopic’ is the best word to use. It sprays the light all around the room and completely changes it.”

Sound is another component at play in “Noticing Light,” via a series of field stones placed on the gallery’s floor. Each has a hole drilled in it. Cupping an ear while hovering over each reveals spare, ethereal music played by Andrew Halchak, who is Watka’s husband.

The stones once held up an 18th-century barn the couple own in Cape Elizabeth.

“I went through the property and hand-picked the ones that felt good,” Watka said. “Andrew is learning how to do dry stone walling — he’s just this jack of all trades. He helped me figure out how to make this idea come to life.”

The musical selections are “modern, minimal, classical compositions” provided by friends of the couple. “I’ve always been interested in … inviting people to embody themselves in a new way,” Watka said. “It’s really fascinating to have people in a gallery setting getting down on the floor to experience something different.”

It also provides a way to use her theater background. “Inviting people into spaces in a new way … to think of art and think of themselves and think of their time here in a different nuanced way,” she said. “And the music feels like an expression of time too. This very minimal thing can put you in your body, in the place in a different way.”

The looping nature of the music is similar to Watka’s other work.

“A lot of my installations are a repeated shape over and over again, and the process I have in making it is really meditative as well … but it’s also a really intimate experience,” she said. “I like inviting people to the payout if you allow yourself to be vulnerable and lay down on a gallery floor, instead of just standing and doing what you do in other galleries — looking at the wall, you know?”

Watka began working on the installation a year and a half ago. Early on, she was aware that it might arrive at a fraught moment, and welcomed that possibility. “A lot of artists are being called to making lighter work, that just brings you to where you are,” she said. “I think of that in my work all the time, making something that’s in direct response to the actual moment … it just makes sense.”

Noticing Light – Works by Christina Watka
When: Through Jan. 28.
Where: 3S Artspace, 319 Vaughan St., Portsmouth
More: 3sarts.org and christinawatka.com

Featured photo: “Noticing Light” by Christina Watka. Photo by Michael Witthaus.

The Art Roundup 25/01/02

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Baroque Beatles: The Concord Community Music School hosts Bach’s Lunch: “A Baroque Beatles Renaissance,” a lecture, on Thursday, Jan. 2, from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. “Travel through time” as Cody Switzer and Emily Adams discuss similarities between the music of the English Renaissance (which includes John Dowland, William Byrd and Thomas Morley) and that of The Beatles. They will discuss how lute songs, as well as the music of Lennon and McCartney, translate well to solo voice and guitar, with plenty of musical examples and stories, according to the press release. This event is free and open to the public, “thanks in part to the generosity of the Walker Fund.” Visit ccmusicschool.org.

• History of the American poor house: Stephen Taylor presents “Poor Houses and Town Farms: The Hard Row for Paupers”on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 6:30 p.m. at Charlie’s Barn Loudon Community Building (29 Village Road, Loudon). Early Northeastern colonies followed the lead of England’s 1601 Poor Law, which led to the establishment of alms houses and poor farms and, later, county institutions. Taylor will examine how paupers were treated in these facilities and how reformers eventually succeeded in closing them down. Call 783-0307 or visit nhhumanities.org.

• New on staff: TheBarnstormers Board of Directors announced the appointment of Jordan Ahnquist as the new Artistic Director of The Barnstormers Theatre heading into their 2025 season. In addition to working as a director and actor over the past 13 years, he worked closely with the board and artistic staff, finding new grant opportunities, enhancing patron engagement, and contributing to the theater’s growth in the role of Development Associate, according to the press release. Visit barnstormerstheatre.org or call 323-8500.

• Landscape show: Starting on Friday, Jan. 3, The New Hampshire Audubon at the McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road, Concord) will be hosting the exhibit “Painting the Natural Landscape Exhibit” from artist Diane Crespo. It will run until Saturday, Feb. 22, according to the NH Audubon calendar. Crespo is a landscape painter living in southeast New Hampshire and she earned her BFA from New Hampshire Institute of Art in 2011, according to the event’s website. Prior to pursuing a fine art degree she painted only with pastels, and now she paints primarily in oils and pastels and commonly paints over acrylic under-paintings or tonal under-paintings with oil paint, according to the website. Her paintings can be viewed at Diane Crespo Fine Art (27 Front St., Exeter; dianecrespofineart.com). Visit nhaudubon.org or call 224-9909 for more information on the exhibit.

• On stage: The Players’ Ring (105 Marcy St., Portsmouth) will start the new year with Whispering to Dostoevsky Friday, Jan. 3, through Sunday, Jan. 19. The play was written and directed by Richard McElvain, who said in a statement, “The Players’ Ring feels like a good place to give my wacky play a first full production. … It’s a ‘big play.’ At the readings audiences gave it standing ovations with tears in their eyes. I’m very curious to see if that will be the case with a full production.” Find out for yourself on Thursdays at 7 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; as well as Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets range from $26 to $29 and the show is included in subscription packages. Visit playersring.org or call 436-8123.

Two views

See Saw Art features a two-artist exhibition

Compiled by Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

From Saturday, Jan. 11, through Sunday, Jan. 26, a two-artist exhibition will be held at See Saw Art in Manchester that will feature selections from Ian Trask’s “Strange Histories” and Ryan Swedenborg’s “Winks” collection. An opening reception will be held Jan. 11 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Amy Regan is the heart and soul, owner and operator, of See Saw Art. She is no stranger to the gallery world.

“I opened See Saw Art in September of 2022, and I have been in volunteer arts curation and my community organizing in a way in Rochester, New Hampshire. I helped found and still operate and run the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts.”

Regan was compelled to do more with art and to bring it a bit closer to home.

“So around 2022 I was thinking, ‘I really love working in Rochester, but I’m here living in Manchester,’ and I wanted to try out a different sort of idea, where it was a little bit more of a commercial gallery and in a different city. When I started looking for studio spaces or places to have a gallery, I stumbled upon the Mosaic Art Collective, which was just absolutely perfect. It’s a great space … on Hanover Street, and it is really approachable for me to have, essentially, a smallish studio space. I discussed it with the owner, Liz Peroni, who instantly understood that I wanted to run a little gallery in that space. I’ve been really lucky to work with them and to have the two exhibition spaces in Mosaic Arts Collective,” Regan said.

See Saw Art holds two types of exhibits. “Mostly I’ll do invitational exhibitions, which is what I have coming up in January. I will pair artists together that I think are interesting and would kind of make a good conversation. I’m doing anywhere from two to 10 artists.”

Regan loves to include artists from different walks of life and backgrounds, and one way of finding them is by holding an exhibit where anyone can submit their artwork.

“Every once in a while, around six months or so, I’ll do an open call exhibition,” she said. “I just finished, it was a really short show in December, but I just did a 40-artist, 62-piece exhibition for our December show, ‘Small Works at Approachable Prices.’ So, kind of between those two styles, an invitational and a group exhibition are the ones that I’m typically running at See Saw.”

The exhibition in January is with an artist Regan discovered at one of her open calls, Ryan Swedenborg, and an artist she has worked with before, Ian Trask.

Trask is based in Brunswick Maine. “His work is vintage slide viewers that he has made custom platforms that they live on. They plug in so the light lights up. So he has made really intricate and unique for each slide viewer a style and a sculpture essentially. And when you look through the slide viewer, he has composed an image out of slides, so it could be three or four sort of stacked on one another of all different scenes. He was gifted a donation of slides from the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, which is a pop-up art family based in New York City,” she said.

A side viewer made out of wood, metal, a lighter, and a collection of other colorful materials.
Ian Trask Love Bug Slide Viewer. Courtesy photo.

Ryan Swedenborg is originally from California and is working toward a master of fine arts degree at the Maine College of Art and Design in Portland. “Ryan submitted to the open call I did in December. I reached out and said, ‘Hey, I love your work. Would you be interested in being paired with Ian in January?’ So it’s fun to be able to book shows based on that. They are working in ceramic, so we have a number of small ceramic sculptures that are going to be coming in, and she calls them the Winx Collection. It’s ceramic work created in appreciation of moments when nature winks back at you. So they’re really sweet, small sculptures.”

Regan finds joy in the curation of the exhibit. “So between the two artists, which are honestly pretty different ideas, that becomes my fun job of making sense and curating and installing an exhibition that is engaging and thought-provoking between the two works.” She also hosts artist talks on See Saw Art’s Instagram page.

But the real joy for Regan is using art and her gallery spaces to bring harmony to the community. “It’s artists from all communities. It’s a really great silo-breaker. You know, everybody can stand in front of a piece of artwork and whether you love it, or you don’t get it, or you hate it, you still have an opinion about it. It’s really interesting to me that people can get together and celebrate each other, discuss artwork, see where those ideas would come from. Part of my fun and part of my joy is making a space that’s really approachable and that is very welcoming…. So as much as it’s an experiment to showcase the artist, I also want to make sure that the patrons feel really supported and want to come in and check out and see what’s going on at See Saw,” Regan said.

‘Layers & Moments’ opening reception
Where: See Saw Art, 66 Hanover St., Suite 201, Manchester
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 5 to 7 p.m. Exhibit open through Sunday, Jan. 26.
More: seesaw.gallery

Featured photo: Ian Trask Love Bug. Courtesy photo.

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