Primetime Wisconsin; 211

[ref tone then music] Welcome to Primetime Wisconsin, the arts and entertainment magazine presented by public television stations of Wisconsin. [Host] Hello, and welcome to Primetime Wisconsin. I'm Carlos Pagan. On tonight's program, a survey of some of the best in the West. The city of La Crosse has accumulated a wealth of sculpture over the years. We'll view some of the latest additions. We'll also have music from an Appleton area native son, Mark Borns, who is building a career in Nashville with his homegrown brand of music. Also in this half hour, the movements of dance provide more than spirit for the soul.

In recent years, the benefits of dance have also evolved into a new creative treatment in family therapy. We'll have a report. Those stories and more coming up. But first up in our program, we'd like to take a few minutes to commemorate the work of a Brown County man who recently celebrated his 95th birthday. Even back in 1910 as a Russian emigre, Leo Ornstein was no ordinary boy. He came to the U.S. with few material possessions, but what he brought us was something much greater: a new vision in music. In the 1920s, he became a leader of what was called Futurist music. Today he's still composing. He lives in De Pere, a community which recently took time to remember Leo Ornstein's contribution. [Ornstein] I've not been able to understand it, and I shall probably die without understanding why I should or heard the things I did. That's in the hands of the gods somewhere. I still do not understand why I hear

The things that I do. Now this morning, why did I hear what I heard this morning which is entirely different from the piece I wrote yesterday morning? I cannot explain that. [Narrator] Leo Ornstein of De Pere, Wisconsin has always heard things his own way. Over 60 years ago, this Russian-born composer left a highly successful international career as a concert pianist to pursue his desire to write music. Labeled a Futurist in the 1920s, Ornstein shook the music world with his avant-garde compositions. Now, his music is considered to be some of the most significant work of the 20th century. [Speaker 1] It's very emotional music, it's very intense music. That doesn't mean it's always wild, but it's just very heartfelt, I think. There's tremendous range to his music. It's not part of the avant-garde by any means, it's sort of ironic that some of his early music was considered very avant-garde. But now, today, I think people would consider it to be more traditional. Style, but it speaks very directly to the people.

[Speaker 2] Leo Ornstein is a significant composer of the 20th century, in my opinion, ah, because his music has a wide range of expressivity. He's an idea man, and, um, most of the music he writes relates to something extra-musical, something outside the music, so that each work is an entity in itself. [Speaker 3] He has written music in his early period that was considered Futurist, avant-garde, and this appealed to a great many young and liberal- I use the word liberal in, of course, the liberal-minded musicians that are continually pursuing something different.

[Narrator] On his 95th birthday, St. Norbert College honored Mr. Ornstein with a Doctorate of Humane Letters at a festival dedicated to his music. Considered a child prodigy, Ornstein moved to America at the age of 15 where he continued his traditional music training. He went on to celebrate a brilliant career as a concert pianist but found himself drawn to another life. [Ornstein] My parents had the usual vision of bags of gold being rolled in, you know, as a pianist. They were not entirely disappointed. For a while,there came a period in my life which- I suddenly realized that there was another life lurking in the wings somewhere for me. [Narrator] It was his wife Pauline who finally convinced him that his future was in writing music rather than performing.

Ornstein has always had a unique style of composition. He hears entire works or large sections in his head in a complete and finished form. He then goes about the task of writing down what he has heard in his mind. Ornstein continues to create in this way on a daily basis. [Ornstein] Suddenly I began to hear things that sounded almost mad to me, you know. And finally I got it on paper and took one look and simply couldn't.... I was just absolutely stunned at what was done on the paper. And then once you see it on paper there's sort of a fait accompli, in other words, the thing has been accomplished and that's it. And you're more likely to be able to rid yourself of what has been going around in your head so that you can go on to the next thing. One has to be very careful not to be enslaved by one's own style. What is avant-garde today is old hat tomorrow. It's substance that we look at, that one is looking for. And that depends upon personal

judgment. Personal critical evaluation. That is the, that is the burden. ..that every artist carries with him, Is to have to make the decision as to what he feels is significant and worth putting down and what he discards[?] either superficial or not. Particularly important to put down. [Speaker 4] It's so immediate, ..... it's so graphic.. if you play three moods and they're called anger grief and joy everybody understands what those things are and so they can assess this experience. You don't have to know any intellectual background. [Speaker 2] Ornstein is a person who has enjoyed life and loved doing many, many things, um, with many different kinds of people, and those are things that he expresses in

his music. [Ornstein] Then I suddenly realized that every human being, that you have an entity that is no one else. Each one, that precious thing, that one individual and no other. And that has intrigued me so much I think it gives me a sort of almost a new verve for living. Because now, when I meet a human being, I stop and realize: here is that one person, only, that is himself or herself. And why we can't be replaced, it cannot be duplicated. [Pagan] Our musical guest this week is well known in Nashville music circles, but he's actually a native son of the Appleton area. His name is Mark Borns. On concert tours

he's opened for headliners such as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. This is a tune he recorded for us on a recent visit home. Let's give a listen to Mark Borns and the Flash Band. [music] You're my, ooh, pretty lady. You're my dancing girl, you're my ballroom queen... [music] [music]

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music]

[music] [music]

[music] [music] [music] [Pagan] It's a nice sound. That's a tune from Borns' first album, and I hear a second LP is already in the works. Homegrown music from Mark Borns and the Flash Band. Looking over this week's calendar of art exhibits around the state, there's lots to take in. Here's what's showing at galleries and museums near you. [music] Our weekly calendar is compiled with help from Wisconsin Trails Magazine, and please call

before you make those long trips to some of those events. On occasion, dates and times do change after we post them. Usually when we feature dance on our program, we highlight the talents of young students or professionals who have dedicated years of study to the art form. Today, we feature dance in a different light. Our next story involves people with no formal dance training, people who are discovering other benefits to dance. It's part of a new movement in therapy that helps people better cope with the stressful world. [Narrator] Dance is the physical celebration of life. Many people think of dance as a fine art, an art that demands training and technique, a discipline only for young professionals. But dance movement has other uses. It can be used to heal. [Instructor] See how far down you can go if you want to touch the floor.

[Narrator] At the Hancock Center for Movement Therapies in Madison, movement therapy offers a way for people to get in touch with themselves and help solve their problems. [Participant] I'm not a type of person that lets things go. I seem to hold onto things, so anything that's ever happened to me that I didn't like, you know, is still in me somewhere. I have a lot of fears. I'm a single parent. It's scary sometimes, and I don't want to be debilitated by them. You know I want to be able to feel like I belong just like anybody else. [Instructor] We're going to take this cloth and wrap it around ourselves. I think, as children, we move very freely in our bodies, and then as we grow older,

often many of the problems because we become much more rigid in our bodies. But one of the things that I think that happens with adults is that their own sense of life in their movement just diminishes. [Narrator] This type of movement is more than physical exercise. It's more than aerobics. Movement therapy helps to make internal connections between mind and body. [Instructor] In dance therapy, I think that mostly we work from the inside out. How do you feel when you're doing that movement? And how far do you want your body to go out here into this space around you? Marie is working on having good feelings about herself. And that involves having good feelings about her body.

[Marie] I'm learning to express myself in an artistic way, um, In my therapy, I move to music, ah It's not your ordinary movements. I mean, it's something that's generated from myself, from my artistic nature. [Narrator] Movement Therapy has also helped Maria and her son Zachary relate better as parent and child. [Marie] I think having a child, having Zachary, and in my particular situation...um, His father left us, and I'm a single parent. And I didn't have a career. It was a rough road and there was a lot of anger,

immediate anger, involved in that. And. through being a mother, I just, you have to do something with that anger. You don't want to perpetuate a cycle of abuse and put it on your child. And there's also a chance to learn about forgiving and forgiveness. [Instructor] I love working with them and with families who come in and they don't know how to play with their kids and they don't know how to get in touch with feelings with the kids. The room is large and the kids kind of start it. One of my goals with him is to acknowledge the feeling, he can own it. He can let us know he's upset and then he can let go of it and continue to be with us. [Narrator] Movement Therapy can have a healing effect on both mind and body, and, in the end, improve our relationships with others.

[Instructor] I'd say the main benefit of this type of movement therapy is getting in touch with myself and learning to love myself. And that alone has enabled me to give some of that good feeling that I get out of that away and pass it on. [Pagan] While dance therapy may help express the inner feelings of some, there are others who would rather express their ideas more publicly. Sculpture is one of those art forms that thrives on public attention and support. In western Wisconsin, La Crosse is a city that takes pride in its growing collection of outdoor sculpture. Here's a short survey of some of their latest additions. [Narrator] A city's public art reveals much about the spirit and personality of a community.

It reflects the values it holds, the quality of life it enjoys, and the sense of pride it has in maintaining a positive appearance for visitors and residents alike. La Crosse is one community that believes that public art, and especially public sculpture, makes a significant contribution to people's lives. A leading advocate of public art in La Crosse is sculptor Elmer Peterson who has created some of the most prominent sculptures in the city. [Peterson] The reason I think that this sculpture might express pretty much what this city is all about and how they feel is because it's accepted. There are certain representatives of the city that accept this sculpture and allow it to exist and pay for it. And so I think this probably is a fairly good expression of

What, how, people feel in the city. [Narrator] In 1981, Mr. Peterson was commissioned by the city of La Crosse to create a sculpture that has subsequently become a symbol and trademark for this community. At the time the commission was made, neither subject matter nor concept had been decided, leaving a considerable amount of artistic freedom to the sculptor. [Peterson] We didn't start off by deciding what to do, in other words, it was wide open. What shall I make? The city had the money, the funds for a sculpture from a bequest. And so I read about the city, read the history, And found out how the city was named so I decide to this....[?] [Narrator] In nearby Riverside Park, a massive steel eagle appears to soar in the breeze along the Mississippi. This is the newest addition to La Crosse's growing collection of sculpture in the public's view. Like other Peterson sculptures, the welded seams

of Corten and stainless steel become a part of the design. Much like the leaded portions of a stained glass window. Despite the thousands of pounds of material used in the piece, the viewer is led to believe that this huge bird could fly if he so wished. A sculpture entitled, "Family," also by Elmer Peterson, reveals one more aspect of the La Crosse community's inner life. Commissioned by the Gunderson Medical Foundation, the work serves as a reminder of the bonds that become so important in times of illness. The fountain sculpture, "Point of Origin" was created for the St. Francis Medical Center by nationally renowned sculptor and La Crosse native David R. Klonne[?]. In warmer months, water rising from the central column serves as the Christian symbol of

cleansing and healing, the rugged arches are reminiscent of the bluff surrounding the city of La Crosse. Bronze arrows around the concrete base indicate the direction and distance of state capitals from the point of origin. This work is only one expression of the intellectual and conceptual side of contemporary sculpture in La Crosse. The formal concerns of contemporary sculpture are well expressed in Stephen J. Fischer's work entitled, "Ribbons V". Its flowing form and curvilinear construction belie the actual weight and mass of this structure. "Ribbons V," housed on the campus of UW La Crosse, was commissioned by the Wisconsin Arts Council's Percent for the Art program. "Reflections" by Paul Granlund combines aspects of traditional and contemporary

sculpture into a single work. The negative images and contradicting planes create contemplative contrasts between inner and outer surfaces, positive and negative spaces. As well as traditional and contemporary forms. These features combined with the expressive qualities of the figure give the viewer much to reflect upon. Another Paul Granlund sculpture, "Damascus Illumination," addresses the spiritual concerns of the La Crosse community. The sculpture depicts the Apostle Paul's encounter with the risen Christ on his journey to Damascus. As in other Granlund works, the artist makes no attempt to disguise his modeling material. It is quite evident that the original was sculpted in clay. Heavy, Welded sheets of Cor-ten steel would seem to be a logical choice of materials for

engineer-turned-artist Louis Arata. This work entitled "Peace and Harmony" housed on the campus of Viterbo College is an expression of the artist's feelings about peace in a time when war seems so prevalent. "Anidonts," another Arata work, is designed to convey a sense of childlike innocence. It's message is not only for the young but also for those who are children at heart. An individual's character, personality, and interests are often reflected in the art he chooses for his home. In the same way, the art La Crosse has chosen expresses the character of a community with diverse interests, concerns, and tastes. A community that has chosen to enhance the quality of life it already enjoys with objects of beauty that make it an even better place to call home.

[Announcer] On the next Primetime Wisconsin, a half hour special featuring five young musicians, winners in the Wisconsin Federation of Music Clubs 1987 auditions. Enjoy this sampling of young Wisconsin talent. Next time on Prime Time Wisconsin. [Host] If you have a story, idea, or comment on any of our segments you see here on our series, we'd like to hear from you. If you have a pen handy, here's our address. Write in care of Primetime Wisconsin, 821 University Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin. Our zip code is 53706. We hope to see you again next week. I'm Carlos Pagan, on behalf of our producers and staff in Menominee, Green Bay, Madison, and Milwaukee. Good

night. Thanks for joining us.