Category: Art & Theater

Art that tells a story

Hannah Cole Dahar discusses her inspirations

By Zachary Lewis

[email protected]

Hannah Cole Dahar is an artist and art educator whose studio is based in Manchester at Mosaic Gallery.

“Currently… through Dec. 22, Mosaic Art Collective has their small works shows called ‘Small Wonders.’ It’s a great way to come on in and find beautiful one-of-a-kind gifts for people. A lot of local artists and artisans have work of all price points and subjects and styles, so there’s a little bit of everything for everyone,” Dahar said.

Mosaic is also holding a couple of fundraisers. “There are two benefits that we are hosting. One is an ongoing raffle with weekly draws and the money will go directly to benefit the New Hampshire Reproductive Freedom Fund.” The gallery is also looking for unwanted paints and brushes. “The other thing that we’re doing is we are collecting art supplies for children at Waypoint. If you come to Mosaic … during operating hours you can come on in, we will collect the supplies and make sure that it gets to Waypoint.”

Dahar is adept at many artistic media; for the Small Wonders exhibit she has a sterling silver pearl and cast necklace. “I call it Snowdrops,” she said. “Usually, my work is much edgier, but for the holiday season I decided to make something that was a little bit whimsical and fanciful …. You’ve got to have fun too. It’s made out of pearls, sterling silver and chalcedony.”

Dahar said that available time can often determine the direction of her creations.

“When I have more time I love to sit down with a very formal and elaborate painting. If I have a six-hour window, I’m going hyper-realistic scale. The icon paintings, they’re kind of in between. It combines a love of all of the mediums that I love to work with, and history and mythology. Lately I’ve really been getting into people’s stories. Instead of reinventing a historical or mythological people, viewing how they see themselves through their own lens and having them tell their particular story.”

A recent example is about the story of her friend Jen and mockingbirds. Hannah uses various stones and natural materials to construct the piece. “She feels a very strong connection with mockingbirds and she has to be surrounded by mockingbirds. So we made that happen. There’s a tree outside their house where they nest. The neighborhood cat, Sumo, harasses them and unfortunately does their little fledglings in and so that was the story that she chose to tell. I have another one where … I’m incorporating that idea of nests and home and the eggs… .”

She invites everyone to experience what Mosaic and See Saw Art, the gallery next door, has to offer. “My door is always open when Mosaic and See Saw are open. Stop on by and enjoy the space, kind of pick and poke,” Dahar said.

Small Wonders and more
Small Wonders Miniature Art Show
Mosaic Art Collective, 66 Hanover St., Manchester
Now through Sunday, Dec. 22
Wednesdays through Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.
coledahar.com
mosaicartcollective.com

See Saw Art
66 Hanover St., Manchester
seesaw.gallery

Featured image: “Hecate The High Priestess.” Oil on Copper Plated Aluminum in an Architectural Frame. Photo by Zachary Lewis.

Homemade gifts

Where to make your own one-of-a-kind gift

Compiled by Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

Not sure what to give? Make an original gift of your own or give a gift certificate for someone to make their own something special.

• Manchester Craft Market (Mall of New Hampshire, 1500 S. Willow St., manchestercraftmarket.com) On Friday, Dec. 13, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. “In My Cookie Decorating Era” Cookie Decorating Class will be presented by Sweet Treats by Emilee. Included in the ticket price is everything you need to fully decorate six professionally baked sugar cookies, according to the website. Tickets are $65. On Saturday, Dec. 14, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Dash of Creativity will present Macrame Yarn Gnomes. Tickets are $50. On Tuesday, Dec. 17, from 10 a.m. to noon Fluid Art will be presenting their Ornament Class. Tickets are $35. On Friday, Dec. 20, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sweet Treats by Emilee will be hosting a Christmas Cookie Decorating Class. Tickets are $60. Also Dec. 20, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Fluid Art will hold their Fluid Art Christmas Ornaments Class.

• Studio 550 Art (550 Elm St., Manchester, 232-5597, 550arts.com) Participants who make three crafts will receive a $15 digital gift card. This applies to mosaics, paint-your-own, and any of the art-at-home-kits.

Art at Home Project Kits include Watercolor Bundles, which lead purchasers step-by-step through three paintings in a themed bundle with an introductory tutorial video and guided exercises; Open-Ended Clay, which includes a 1 1/2-pound ball of clay and basic tools; Mosaic Coasters, and Paint Your Own Pottery.

The Maker’s Lounge service offers a making session with the final cost to be based on the pieces chosen. Base shapes range from $7 to $80 but most are between $20 and $30, according to the website. All youth must be accompanied by a responsible and watchful adult, and while directions for the steps will be provided, this will be unstructured making time without a guided lesson or teacher, according to the website.

Studio 550’s Handmade Holiday Market will run the week of Monday, Dec. 16, through Monday, Dec. 23. Participants will find pottery, stained glass, ornaments, and more from noon to 8 p.m. The Studio will be closed Sunday, Dec. 22.

• You’re Fired (25 S. River Road, Bedford, 641-3473; 133 Loudon Road, Concord, 226-3473; and 264 N. Broadway, Salem, 894-5456; yourefirednh.com) Walk-ins are always welcome at this pottery painting studio and various daily promotions are held, such as Mini Mondays (half off from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. they provide half off studio fees for children 12 and under), Ladies Night on Tuesday and Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m, Senior Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (seniors receive half off their studio fee) and Teen Fridays (from 5 to 9 p.m. when teens get half off studio fees).

• The Canvas Roadshow (25 S. River Road, Bedford, thecanvasroadshow.com, 913-9217) Workshops include sea glass art, canvas painting and wood crafts. Registration is typically required and closes a few days before the project date. Upcoming projects include: Tuesday, Dec. 17, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.: Cozy Knit Blanket Workshop, $95; Wednesday, Dec. 18, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.: Pick Your Project, $45 to $75; Thursday, Dec. 19, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.: Resin Art Ocean Wave – Trays and Shapes, $55 to $75; Friday, Dec. 20, 6:30 to 9 p.m.: Tumbled Sea Glass Holiday Tree, $58 to $72; Saturday, Dec. 21, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Open Studio/Walk-in (no registration required, kid-friendly); Saturday, Dec. 21, 6 to 8 p.m.: Crushed Glass Ornaments, Snow Globes & Trees, $35 to $60; Sunday, Dec. 22, 2 to 4 p.m.: Sea Glass Creations, $50 to $60; and Sunday, Dec. 22, 6 to 8 p.m.: Resin Art Ocean Wave – Trays and Shapes.

• Creative Ventures ( 411 Nashua St., Milford, 672-2500, creativeventuresfineart.com) Creative Ventures offers multi-session art classes and workshops for all ages, taught by professional artists and art teachers. Call or check the website for the current schedule.

• Currier Museum of Art ( 150 Ash St., Manchester, 669-6144, currier.org) On Saturday, Dec. 14, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. the workshop Tantalizing Textures with Rachel Montroy allows participants to “take a deep dive into the rich textures found within the realm of fiber arts,” according to their website. Inspired by the Currier’s current exhibition, “Olga de Amaral: Everything is Construction and Color,” the class will explore a variety of textile media, including fabric, wool and yarn, to create a dimensional wall hanging, and students will be introduced to basics such as hand sewing, weaving and felting, and then be given the option to focus on one technique or combine them all. No experience is necessary and those with fiber/art knowledge will be creatively challenged. All materials and tools will be provided. Cost is $144 for members, $160 for non-members.

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

Whose Carol is it anyway?

Improv fun with What the Dickens

What would happen if Ebenezer Scrooge were not miserly but instead always looking at his mobile phone? What if rather than sadness that he needed crutches, Tiny Tim’s family mourned his inability to read an instruction manual? Those are some of the audience suggestions received by the cast of What The Dickens, an improv version of A Christmas Carol at Millspace in Newmarket on Dec. 13 and Dec. 14.

Seacoast-based Stranger Than Fiction, an improv group now in its 20th year, uses the Charles Dickens holiday classic as a template for comedy. The show is always different. One night, the Ghost of Christmas Past might have a Mickey Mouse voice; on another he could be Darth Vader. Some touches are written down by patrons as they enter the theatre; others are shouted out during the play.

The show began in 2022, said STF cast member and Marketing Director Dan Schiffmacher in a recent phone interview, with a run at the New Hampshire Theatre Project in Portsmouth’s West End. Last year, STF partnered with Players’ Ring Theatre and did the show there, along with performances in Newmarket and Sanford, Maine.

“We wanted to do something for the holidays, something a little bit different, and one of our members came up with the idea,” he said. “We started to craft [how] to mix what people know about the story and also have elements of improv…. We didn’t want to pre-plan too much, because we still wanted to have that like spontaneity and fun to it.”

Thus the principles of Dickens’ tale remain — a boss, an employee, his family and some ghosts — but the elements change from night to night. For this year’s opener at Portsmouth’s Players’ Ring Theatre, Scrooge’s bad habit was stealing drinks at the pub he owned, where Cratchit tended bar, and one of the ghosts was Ronald Reagan. Other times, the ghosts spoke like Mickey Mouse or Scooby-Doo.

Audience “asks” are often challenging, Schiffmacher noted. When Scrooge & Marley became a Christmas tree company, the ghost character had to come up with a way to transport Scrooge from realm to realm. The solution was to make him climb into the twining machine to be spun ahead.

Sometimes the mundane is quite funny. “When Darth Vader was the Ghost of Christmas Future, he cleared the scenes by force-choking us all off the stage,” Schiffmacher said. “Our director was on the lights, and he turned everything red. It’s a lot of fun when we’re all on the same page and can do that.”

The process of getting audience input is itself entertaining. When last year’s Scrooge character asked for a 1980s movie actor suggestion, response began flying at him immediately, including Bruce Springsteen, as if his videos counted, along with Sean Connery and John Cusack. He ultimately chose Rodney Dangerfield and groused about getting no respect while talking to Marley’s ghost.

Between an animated crowd and the venerable improv group always looking to top itself, each show presents many new opportunities for hilarity. “We’re always trying to find different ways to switch things up, make them a little more fresh,” Schiffmacher said. “Like we’re all different characters — the person who plays Scrooge in the first show won’t play him in the second show. We all shuffle around … everyone has their own approach.”

Schiffmacher joined Stranger Than Fiction in early 2022, after moving to New Hampshire from Chicago. He has more than a decade of improv experience. He noted that anyone with an itch to try improv can take one of the classes the troupe offers.

“There’s a 101 Intro to Improv that starts in January,” he said. “We’re working on the dates; people can find out more on our website.”

What the Dickens
When: Friday, Dec. 13, and Saturday, Dec. 14, 8 p.m.
Where: Millspace, 55 Main St., Newmarket
Tickets: $12 at portsmouthnhtickets.com

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

The Art Roundup 24/12/05

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

• Small works: Pillar Gallery + Projects’ newest exhibit is “NANO” and the show runs until Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the Pillar gallery (205 N. State St., Concord). “NANO” is a juried exhibition focused on smaller works. Visit pillargalleryprojects.com.

• Doo-wop Christmas: SH-Boom: A Christmas Miracle is presented by the Majestic Theatre (880 Page St., Manchester) on Friday, Dec. 6, through Sunday, Dec. 8. The Majestic’s website describes the play as being full of ’60s doo-wop hits and holiday classics. The play is a holiday sequel to one that takes place in 1965 when Denny and the gang achieved overnight fame via the WOPR Radio “Dream of a Lifetime Talent Search” as “Denny and the Dreamers,” according to the website. Now the gang is “reunited” to perform again as a group for the Christmas Bazaar at Wally’s church, but not all is going well. Tickets range from $15 to $22. Visit majestictheatre.net or call 669-7469.

• Holiday comedy: Christmas Belles is a comedy presented by Bedford Off Broadway will run at the Bedford Old Town Hall (3 Meetinghouse Road, Bedford) Friday, Dec. 6, through Sunday, Dec. 15, with shows on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $15, $12 for seniors. Tickets can be purchased at the door or via Brown Paper Tickets. See bedfordoffbroadway.com.

• View on a classic: The Pinkerton Players will present Eurydiceon Friday, Dec. 6, and Saturday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. as well as Sunday, Dec.8, at 2 p.m. at the Stockbridge Theatre at Pinkerton Academy (5 Pinkerton St., Derry). In Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine; she must journey to the underworld after dying on her wedding day to reunite with her father and struggles to remember her lost love, according to the press release. Tickets are $15. Visit stockbridgetheatre.showare.com or call 437-5210.

Symphonic brass

Celebrating the holidays with horns

By Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

Executive Director Deanna Hoying is sounding the horn on New Hampshire Symphony’s upcoming Holiday Brass shows.

“We have our first on Thursday, Dec. 5, at the Rex Theatre in Manchester, and then we follow that on Friday, Dec. 6, at the Coptic Church in Nashua. Both of them are going to be at 7.30 p.m. This is going to be a really fun show that kind of mixes an opportunity to show off our brass section and our percussionists, and we have a mix of what we would call kind of the sacred and the secular, so those really beautiful pieces by Gabrieli,” Hoying said. Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer born in the 16th century.

Brass holds a special place for Hoying. “I’m a brass player, so I’m a horn player, so these are things I kind of grew up with playing. Our guest conductor, David Upham, has picked some really lovely carols from all over the world and then the second half of the show is going to be probably more on the pop secular side with everything from ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ and ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.’”

The show allows this section of the orchestra to really ring out loud.

“It’s a nice opportunity to play some music we don’t always get to play when we do the full orchestra,” she said. This year they’re working with a guest conductor who is based at UNH. “He is their director of orchestra studies there and … I reached out because I knew my music director was going to be tied up in Indiana for much of December … so we’re really happy to have him join us for this show. We get to spend much of the season with our music director, Roger Collier, which we really love.”

At the Rex, “They love the idea of doing a holiday program there,” she said. “The Palace is running A Christmas Carol pretty much through December, so they love the idea of having the holiday brass at that venue.”

And at the Coptic Church in Nashua, “We did our holiday brass show there three years ago. It’s a different set of pieces, but a similar idea,” Hoying said. “It’s a beautiful venue. I remember the first time we did it there. So many people, even Nashua residents, had no idea that church was there. They’d never been in the church before, and they were just blown away. It’s an absolutely gorgeous interior. The setting worked really well for these pieces too.”

Much of the music was written for brass. “Gabrieli wrote a lot of sacred music, and a lot of his work is written for essentially a brass choir, and so there’s something when you start to play that with your fellow brass players that it’s just so beautiful and so moving and particularly when you’re playing in a church, because that’s where he wrote them to be played, it is just beautiful and it is one of those things that I really enjoy,” Hoying said.

“We’ve got French horns, we’ve got trumpets, we have trombones, we actually have a euphonium for this one. This is something that we don’t get to usually play very much because most orchestral music doesn’t use a euphonium, so we’re really excited about that. Of course we have a tuba player, and then we actually have some percussion that are going to join us too. Our timpanist and two percussionists are going to kind of round out the complement. We have about 17 or so musicians on stage, which is nice, but it gives you that nice big full brass sound.”

Music means a lot to Hoying. “The music is very close to my heart. I already played piano and I started playing it and there was just really something about the quality of the sound coming out of the horn that was just really kind of hooked me. There’s so much great stuff that’s been written for the horn, both as a solo instrument and within the orchestra.”

As a former music teacher, Hoying is always encouraging younger ones to find an instrument that speaks to them. “I would always tell kids when they wanted to play an instrument, don’t just settle for something because someone said, hey, you should play this. Try a bunch of things, because you’re going to find that you have an affinity for certain pitches, certain resonance, certain quality of sound, and if you’re going to be practicing this thing, you want to be in love with it.”

Symphony NH Holiday Brass
Thursday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester. Tickets $29 to $39. Info: Rex at 668-5588, symphonynh.org.
Friday, Dec. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary and Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church, 39 Chandler St., Nashua. Tickets $40. Info: 595-9156, symphonynh.org.

Featured image: David Upham. Courtesy photo.

The Art Roundup 24/11/28

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

• Open house: The New Hampshire Antique Co-op will host its annual holiday open house Friday, Nov. 29, through Sunday, Dec. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Visitors will enjoy delicious refreshments and sweet treats, a gift card contest, a scavenger hunt with prizes, and a gallery preview tour of a new fine art exhibition, “Light and Brush: Luminous and Tonal Paintings from the 19th Century to Present,” according to the press release. The event is family-friendly and free. Call 673-8499 or visit nhantiquecoop.com.

• Call for art: See Saw Art (66 Hanover St., Suite 201, Manchester) has an open call exhibition “Presently” with submissions due on Saturday, Nov. 30. All media are welcome — 2D, 3D, video works, performance — and they ask that one to four works be submitted to be considered, according to their website. “Presently” aims to exhibit small works at an approachable price, and traditional fine art paintings, prints and photographs will be considered, as well as ready-made textile, clothing, ceramics and crafts, according to their website, but there is no overall theme. All sizes of works will be considered, but smaller works are preferred due to gallery limitations. The exhibit will run from Saturday, Dec. 14, through Friday, Dec. 22. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, Dec. 14, from 4 to 8 p.m. and a closing reception on Sunday, Dec. 22, from 4 to 8 p.m. Visit seesaw.gallery.

• Call for actors: Auditions for the Community Players of Concord production of The Gods of Comedy will be held Sunday, Dec. 8, and Monday, Dec. 9, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Community Players Studio (435 Josiah Bartlett Road, Concord). They ask that those who sign up become familiar with both of the monologues listed on their website. It is not necessary to memorize the monologues, but participants will be asked to present them at their audition, as well as to cold read scenes from the script, which will be provided, according to their website. There is also a list of character descriptions which might be helpful as you consider auditioning. Questions can be emailed to Director Betty Lent at [email protected]. Visit communityplayersofconcord.org/gods-of-comedy/ for more information.

• Call for more actors: Bedford Off Broadway will hold auditions for their winter show Boeing-Boeing by Marc Camoletti, which will be presented on Fridays through Sundays, March 7 through March 16. The show will be directed by Declan Lynch with Pat Napolitano as stage manager, according to a press release. Rehersals are Sunday afternoons and Monday and Wednesday evenings with tech week starting Sunday, Dec. 2. Auditions will be held Monday, Dec. 9, and Tuesday, Dec. 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Bedford Town Hall (70 Bedford Center Road and 3 Meetinghouse Road in Bedford across from the library), the release said. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script, which calls for two men and four women. Email [email protected] for information.

• Author event: At Balin Books (375 Amherst St., Somerset Plaza, Nashua) on Saturday, Nov. 30, at 11 a.m., author Hattie Bernstein will be speaking on and signing copies of her book Don Quixote’s Hammer. The book asks “What if cancer wasn’t, as scientific consensus holds, a case of errant genes or recalcitrant cells? What if there was a problem in the body’s wiring, an electrical issue that hobbled the impulse transmitted from the brain to the organ, disrupting internal balance, and initiating disease?”Hattie is a journalist who has written for the Boston Globe, was a freelancer for the New York Times, and was the recipient of the third national Media Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism, according to the event’s website. Visit balinbooks.com or call 417-7981.

• Greatest year in the history of film? “1999: The Year in Film”will be the topic of a Zoom discussion from the Derry Public Library (derrypl.org) on Monday, Dec. 9, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Register online to discuss the The Matrix of it all.

• Get in the winter spirit: The black-and-white movie, described as an “anarchic slapstick action comedy” Hundreds of Beavers will screen on Friday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m. at NHTI in Sweeney Hall in Concord. Admission costs $10. See the trailer for the movie, which features a cast of beavers (human-sized mascot-y looking versions of the bucktoothed creatures), at hundredsofbeavers.com.

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