Still lives with stories

A number of months ago I ran into Jill Evans Petzall at an airport event hosted by Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation. At that time we briefly discussed her upcoming multimedia show in the lower level of the Kranzberg Gallery at the Sheldon Galleries in Grand Center. 

The exhibit, which opens Oct. 6, uses digital art and community interaction to explore the relationships we have with photographs of our bodies, and the role our snapshots play in our lives. As Petzall explained to me Monday, the show is a hybrid mix of digital photography, sounds of visitors’ recorded voices, serious aesthetic and cultural issues, humor, and serendipity. 

“The show is about our relationship to our cameras,” said Petzall, an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and media artist who lives in Clayton and belongs to Central Reform Congregation. “Regardless of whether we’re taking selfies, or shooting pictures of relatives at birthday parties or documenting our travels, we have increasingly begun to rely on our cameras to become our memory, as proxy of proof of the experience and the sole arbiter of what we did.”

The exhibition actually has several parts, including an interactive one that encourages visitors to become storytellers, recording how the 50-plus images in the show affect them. 

“I have already gathered over 100 stories from a wide variety of people — stories they invent and have recorded with me about the images,” said Petzall. “The stories I’ve curated are full of fun, irony and especially insight — and none is like any other.”

Once the show opens, Petzall hopes to set up interviews with visitors and record them, too, so that their stories will also become part of the exhibit.

Petzall spent three months in Southeast Asia shooting images for the show, which fall into two categories. One is what she calls tourist shots, where tourists actually turn themselves into “metaphorical” still lives. The other is of Asian storefronts in which the mannequins all have Caucasian features and are posed as Caucasian movie stars. 

“I wanted to build a whole conundrum around that,” she said. “I am using the human body as a still life throughout this entire exhibit.” 

Appropriately named “Still Lives with Stories,” the exhibition will kick off with an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct 6, which is free and open to the public. The show runs through Jan. 20. 

At 6 p.m. on Oct. 10, Petzall will talk about the concept and process of the exhibition. Admission is free but reservations are required. Contact Paula Lincoln at [email protected] or call 314-533-9900. 

Go to thesheldon.org for gallery hours.

Riegel returns

My friends at the Millstone Institute asked me to remind readers that Deborah Grayson Riegel, founder of the Jewish Coaching Academy, will return to St. Louis Nov. 12-14 to lead training programs targeted to different leaders in the Jewish community and St. Louis region. 

Riegel is an internationally recognized expert in communication skills and professional coaching. She contributes to Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Bloomberg Business Week and The New York Times. She also serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business and her clients include American Express, Google and Kraft. 

She will present the Coaching Academy on Monday or Tuesday, Nov. 13 and 14, for business professionals and nonprofit leaders here. Her sessions include lectures, interactive activities, small and large group discussions, coaching demonstrations and practices, and personalized feedback. All programs run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at RISE Collaborative Workspace in Clayton. 

In addition, Riegel will offer a separate session of the Coaching Academy weaving in Jewish values on Sunday, Nov. 12 for the Millstone Fellows, Fellows Alumni and representatives from Jewish organizations.

To register, go to MillstoneSTL.org/Coaching. Cost for participation is $450 for business professionals and community volunteers and $395 for full-time nonprofit professionals. For more information, including scholarships and group rates, contact Marci Eisen at 314-442-3810 or [email protected]. 

No curbing my enthusiasm

Since this week officially kicks off the 2017 fall TV season, I thought it OK to share that what excites me most is the return of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” starring Larry David, on HBO Sunday night (Oct. 1). 

No quibble: David is an acquired taste. But I admire his process of doing what interests him when it interests him and eventually coming back to projects he likely needed a break from. Like “Curb,” which returns after a nearly six-year hiatus. That’s pretty, pretty good news for devoted fans like me.

David, who serves as one of the show’s executive producers, writers and its star, unabashedly weaves his Jewishness and Jewish themes into most every episode regardless of who it bothers or insults — which as it turns out, tends to be mostly other Jews. At this summer’s TV Critic Association press tour, David, joined by co-stars Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin and J.B. Smoove and executive producer Jeff Schaffer, explained he was bringing back the show in part because he missed it and also, so people would stop bugging him about it.

“The amount of uncomfortable situations [real Larry David] has been in these last six years,” Schaffer told the L.A. Times, “you’re going to see it all. It’s like we’re sitting in the Ft. Knox of awkward.”

So I guess you see why I’m excited. Social assassin and cultural misanthrope Larry David is back, along with his sidekicks and nemeses, for what promises to be a lot of laughs in this 10-episode, ninth season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” starting Sunday on HBO at 9 p.m. CST.