Salem Observer : arts

Salem woman to take Japanese needlework to national competition

Salem Editor — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:56:00 GMT

Should you be lucky enough to talk “bunka” with Dottie Beal, don’t feel the need to cover the ears of nearby children. Contrary to the slang sound of its name, bunka is a wonderfully expressive art form that Dottie explains is “like stitching brush strokes of color.”

Bunka is the Japanese name for a style of embroidery – painting with thread, so to speak. Using a special punch needle to meticulously pull rayon threads through a preprinted canvas, the resulting artwork is unparalleled in depth and color. As serene as the landscape from which it hails, this precise and pictorial art form is finding roots in this country, with Salem’s Beal showcasing the craft in an exhibit at Derry Public Library.

Beal discovered this style of embroidery six years ago when she watched a demonstration by the woman who would later become her mentor in the technique.

“I had done many types of crafts before but never anything as beautiful as bunka,” she said. “I took to it readily, though one canvas, a scene with a wolf, took a full year for me to complete.”

Subject matter is as varied as the artists engaged in the craft, and Beal finds herself working on a range of imagery.

“Every picture is a learning process for new techniques of adding depth and dimension to the scene,” Beals said.

By varying the pull of intricately dyed rayon fibers, the illusion of depth is added to a two-dimensional art form. Light plays on carefully laid threads with the effect of blended shadows and highlights created within the image, resulting in a three-dimensional effect. The finished product is a stunning yet simple piece of art that invites closer scrutiny to understand the play of light.

The Derry Public Library is featuring selected works by Beal through the month of January. The wolf picture is displayed along with audience favorites: a Japanese waterfall, a winter scene and samurai.

Flowers are a natural subject matter for this detailed technique, and their bright palettes offer a refreshing burst of color to the monochromatic surroundings this time of year.

Beal is headed to Memphis, Tenn., this summer for the national tournament of talent or seminar, as it’s known in the bunka world. She has been perfecting her art and methods for six years now, and her pieces are safely matted and framed behind glass. She’s excited about the trip down south and the opportunity to meet artists from all over the country and to view other styles and methods of this art form. She will compete based on her experience level and length of time doing bunka and would be thrilled to place in her category at this prestigious event, she said.

Awards are icing on the cake, but it is the process of creating that Beal enjoys so much. Give her a good light source and a quiet space in the day, and she is content to sit for a while and make her magic.

“Bunka is therapy for me,” she said.

Cancer survivors work on book to show scars don’t inhibit life

Salem Editor — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:45:00 GMT

By Darrell Halen

The scars from skin cancer treatments made Kim Sanga too embarrassed to wear a two-piece bathing suit in her own backyard. Her husband, Shawn, told her she was crazy and that her scars tell a story.

“It hit me that I shouldn’t be afraid. I should celebrate my scars,” Sanga said.

Now, she and other cancer survivors are doing just that.

Sanga, a Salem resident, has teamed up with a Manchester photographer – a breast cancer survivor – to produce a book, “Beyond the Scars.”

The two women hope to profile 50 to 100 cancer survivors in their book, which will feature photographs and poignant stories.

Sanga has battled skin cancer since she was 18. Now 31, she has 47 scars, from her face to her toes, and 30 more to come.

“You do go through the vain points that you’re embarrassed to be in your own skin,” said Sanga, who has used scarves to cover her neck. “These have been very hard for me.”

When Sanga came up with the idea for the book and contacted the American Cancer Society in her search for a photographer, the organization put her in touch with Kristin Despathy, who had undergone a mastectomy.

Despathy, 30, who owns Rheault Photographers in Manchester and lives in Raymond, used photography to deal with her illness. One of the photos she took of herself that will probably be included in the book reveals the scar, about seven inches long, as the result of her mastectomy.

“That was my way of dealing with it, taking pictures,” she recalled. “That’s how I’ve always dealt with things that are really hard in my life.”

One day, when she was having a hard time and feeling overwhelmed, she went into her bathroom with her camera equipment, taped black felt in the shower, jumped in the shower and starting shooting.

“I wanted to be able to sit down and look at how I felt vs. just feeling it inside,” she recalled. “Actually see it and just get it out. I just felt like it was stuck inside, and I think it was also important for me to do for my family members to see.”

Among those who will be featured in the book are Salem Police Chief Paul Donovan, a cancer survivor; Shonda Schilling, wife of Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling, who has been public about her battle with malignant melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer; Miss Maryland 2006, Brittany Lietz, who battled skin cancer; and a Salem boy who beat a brain tumor and continues to shave his head with his father.

The people who will be profiled – adults and kids – are those who have beat cancer and those who are still battling it. Not everyone will be revealing their scars.

Sanga, who is writing the profiles, and Despathy are still searching for people to profile.

They want to find more diversity: more men, more cancer types and broader ethnicity.

“For somebody who has had cancer, they’re very touched and can relate to it,”

Despathy said of her photos. “For people who were my caretakers, it meant that much more to them. For people who had nothing to do with cancer, I think there’s a bit of shock value at first. When they hear what I’ve gone through, that kind of thing, I think they open up more to it.”

The women hope the book will inspire people.

“We beat it. We got through it with our strength, with our inspiration, support from our family and our friends,” said Sanga. “The whole purpose is to shed some light at the end of the tunnel. You can get there, you can get through it.”

For the women producing the book, their project is therapeutic. They have an almost instant connection with the other cancer survivors they meet.

The women have a publisher lined up, and hope to complete the book in time for Relay for Life, fundraising events held in communities throughout the United States to benefit the American Cancer Society.

They hope to have author book signings and exhibit the photos during gallery tours.

They also hope to bring ACS into their project as a partner and share proceeds from book sales with the organization.

Finding a publisher wasn’t easy. Sanga sent out dozens of queries and book proposals but only two companies showed interest. Some publishers told Sanga that cancer is a subject they didn’t want to touch.

“Now that (my scars) are happening in places where I can’t hide them anymore, this book means so much more,” said Sanga. “We shouldn’t have to be embarrassed or ashamed or afraid.”

Destination: animation – Former Salem resident achieves goal to get Hollywood star in his film

Salem Editor — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:26:00 GMT

BY MATT HERSH

Bryan Waterman’s animation career started as a small project before he left for college. Now, he’s producing his first full-length animated film with a comedy legend.

Waterman, 22, recently announced the “Waterman Movie: Where in the World is Ready Espanosa,” which will feature the voice of comedy star Leslie Nielsen, famous for acting in movies such as “Airplane” and “The Naked Gun,” among others.

Nielsen will provide the voice of a famous explorer who gets lost on a deserted island.

For Waterman, a lifelong Salem resident who grew up watching Nielsen’s films, the project is the biggest opportunity he’s ever had in his career as a writer and producer of the online flash animation series.

“As a kid growing up, I had two goals,” he said. “One was to have my own animated series, and the other was to work alongside Leslie Nielson.”

Though he’s finally realizing these goals, Waterman said he never knew his animation career would take off so rapidly.

It started humbly as an experiment when Waterman placed a five-minute pilot episode of “Waterman: The Animated Series” on Newgrounds.com, where aspiring animators can show off their work.

The cartoon features a fictionalized version of Waterman and other characters based on his friends, family and acquaintances, who find themselves in humorous situations ranging from extreme ping-pong tournaments to trying to save themselves from their murderous armadillo neighbor. Though the characters appear in each one, every episode tells its own story and is full of obscure movie and television references.

“I thought about seven people were going to look at it,” Waterman said. “But within two hours, more than 20,000 people had watched it. Within a week the number was up to 100,000, and I thought maybe we should actually take a crack at this.”

Waterman and his team of friends, who added voices and animation work, went on to produce eight similar episodes, which received a positive reception on the site, winning awards based on viewer ratings.

Throughout the series, Waterman had used the music of Reel Big Fish, one of his favorite bands, “borrowing” it to add life to the cartoon. But when he decided to produce a DVD containing all the episodes, he contacted the band to get their consent.

Waterman said the band members had already heard about his cartoon and enjoyed it. They offered to appear in the next episode where they debuted a new song.

This small taste of fame pushed Waterman to outdo himself. He attempted and successfully completed a 22-minute episode which was met with rave reviews.

“It was the best one we’ve ever done,” he said. “People loved it and we wondered how we could outdo ourselves even more.”

With his sights set on a full-length movie, Waterman decided to seek out Nielsen. The task was more difficult than he could have guessed.

After a year of making contact with every possible connection he could think of from movie studios to small playhouses where Nielson had spoken, Waterman hadn’t gotten far.

Waterman eventually reached Nielsen’s secretary, who promised to discuss the project with the actor. However, she died shortly afterward and Waterman was about to give up hope.

“I thought about other options and considered scrapping the whole project,” he said. “A month later I got an e-mail from Leslie Nielson that read ‘Love the idea, call me tomorrow.’”

The two talked for three hours the next day and agreed to meet in person to discuss the project.

Nielson signed on to the project and recorded his lines at a studio in Florida. Waterman and his production team are working on putting the movie together with the goal of releasing it on DVD by the end of the year.

Though his animation and movie career has only recently begun to yield profits, Waterman said it’s the right fit for him, and he has bigger things planned.

“I’m really hoping the next step will be television,” said Waterman who is also working on two television pilots.

“Hopefully the Waterman Movie will pick up a lot of attention and maybe some one will be interested in one of the pilots we’re working on.”

For more information, visit www.watermanstudios.com.