Weekend Arts Agenda: ‘Sanity Ceremonies’ November 08 2013

Also, there are some photos of people in pyramids that you need to see.

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  • Bobbi Jo Brooks Photography.
  • Helen Hale in “Sanity Ceremonies”



This weekend is your last chance to learn way too much about choreographer and dancer Helen Hale. Her one-woman show, Sanity Ceremonies, is a multimedia exploration of fundamental artistic questions. Where does she come from? “Of what mettle am I made?” Ceremonies looks for answers, marrying dance, video animation, costuming, and other forms. As Hale explains, “I’m stretching my choreographic modes to communicate the humor, eccentricity, and absurdity of my life and to provide a playfully honest portrait of the day to day struggle to not just make it through, but to be brave and go big.” Hale’s camp tells me that audience response so far is initially incredulous and then ecstatic, a product of the production’s many facets (and faces). The show is at 8 p.m. both Friday and Saturday at 7 Stages.

The weekend’s agenda, after the jump.

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FRIDAY

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  • Courtesy Jackson FIne Art and the artist
  • Tierney Gearon, “Untitled,” 2012



The contemporary photography of Atlanta native Tierney Gearon can appear almost unnecessarily bright - she even shoots her subjects inside see-through colored chambers - and yet the pieces still shimmer and sometimes seem to glow. You may also recognize her name from The New York Times Magazine’s Hollywood Issue, for which she shot a slew of portraits last year. Gearon’s newest exhibit, COLORSHAPE, opens today at Jackson Fine Art from 6-8 p.m. On Saturday, Gearon will appear again at Jackson for a book signing, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., with her children’s book Alphabet Book.

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Sam Parker will open a new solo show at the Nelson Street Gallery. Cosmic Dancer “is an exploration of personal symbols and universal forms,” an explanation only as important as knowing everything else possible about Parker, which includes foremost the fact that he’s a bit of a journeyman. A tattooist, Georgia State MFA grad, and onetime Loaf cover artist. Opening reception from 7-11 p.m.

SATURDAY

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  • Courtesy {Poem 88} and the artist
  • P. Seth Thompson, “Dave’s Final Mission,” 2013



{Poem 88} will host P. Seth Thompson for an artist talk about his exhibit, The Last One, on display there until the end of December. This matters for two reasons: 1) Thompson’s exhibit is anchored in larger notions of the multiverse as it has been bent around the conventions of television and film. (Notice the St. Elsewhere reference.) And 2) the pieces are opaque enough to deflect easy analysis, but not so stubborn as to not be worth the effort. The talk starts at 2 p.m.