Photograph by Brian Davis / Courtesy American Federation of Arts
Skiing ensemble, 1930s, © FIDM Museum
Opening Lecture: Gathering the Girls Together: Behind the Scenes of Sporting Fashion
The Dixon Gallery & Gardens, 4339 Park
Sunday, July 24, 2-3 p.m.
One hundred and 25 years ago, a couple hundred miles away in Atchison, Kansas, Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, and 83 years ago, she disappeared somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, sparking conspiracy theories galore — from Earhart being abducted by aliens to her spying on the Japanese at FDR’s request. I guess it’s easier to think that such a badass in life met a fate of badass proportions, instead of low supply of fuel or foggy skies. Regardless of her fate, Earhart was a trailblazer, unafraid to push the boundaries of social mores in the twentieth century.
Also, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the girl had style, not to discredit any of her other very awesome accomplishments, but, man, could she work a fit. She even created a clothing line called Amelia Fashions for “active women.” (Some of Earhart’s designs incorporated parachute silk and textile from airplane wings in their materials! 😱) It's a shame that Earhart’s endeavors on the fashion runway were far less successful than the ones on the airplane runway (well, maybe excluding that last expedition, no offense to Ms. Earhart). Remember, this was a time before athleisure, but if you’re into that kind of sporty, twentieth-century fashion, you should check out the Dixon’s exhibition and lecture for “Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960,” which happens to coincide with Amelia’s big 125! So go on and celebrate her b-day in style.
The exhibition explores women’s athletic and spectating attire from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with 65 ensembles for a range of activities from promenading and yachting to basketball and motorcycling. On Sunday, Kevin L. Jones, curator at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, will speak on the show and the history of sporting fashion. Plus, complementing this exhibit is “Flowerful: Fashioning the Armored Feminine,” which features a selection of couture gowns and charcoal drawings of fantastical women by local artist Romona Sonin, whose subject matter, as the Dixon writes, “walk[s] the line between toughness and softness, contemporary and timeless, and edge and grace.” And I’d say Amelia Earhart would fall precisely in that category (or lack thereof?).
“Flowerful”' will be on display until October 23, and “Sporting Fashion” will be on display until October 16. Admission to the Dixon is free.
photograph courtesy playhouse on the square
Shanktown
TheatreWorks@The Square, 2085 Monroe
Performances through July 24
I think my favorite conspiracy theory is that Amelia Earhart survived her world flight, moved to New Jersey, and assumed a new name and identity as Irene Craigmile Bolam. In fact, McGraw-Hill published a whole book about this sequence of events, only to be sued by the real Bolam who said something like, “I’m not Amelia Earhart, and I can prove it.” And prove it, she did. Turns out some guy saw Bolam, a banker, at a gathering of retired pilots and thought she looked too much like Earhart not to be her. Logically. But what a great story that would’ve been, like something straight out of a Greek epic, like Odysseus returning home but wanting no glory for overcoming the near-death moments he faced to get there. If only this writer had the smarts to market his story as fiction and change a couple names and facts, he could've gone places.
But you know who did have the smarts to twist the model of a Greek tragedy into something more modern? Playwright Mary Donnet Johnson, who wrote Shanktown, which features a homecoming of sorts, with characters of different ages, races, economic classes, and abilities all drawn to the same little house outside of Nashville. Set in December 2019 with the 2020 presidential election looming over the characters’ heads, this play, Playhouse on the Square writes, “is an emotional processing arena that holds the potential for everything from hate to hope.”
Playhouse on the Square will have its final performances of Shanktown this weekend, with shows on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets ($40) can be purchased online.
photograph courtesy dreamfest weekend
DreamFest Weekend
Overton Park Shell, 1928 Poplar
Friday-Sunday, July 22-24
Obviously, Amelia Earhart isn’t the only famous person to have disappeared after taking flight. I say “obviously,” but I didn’t actually realize this until today. There's Glenn Miller — ever heard of him? I hadn’t, but maybe I would’ve known about the musician if he hadn’t disappeared while flying to Paris in 1944. I mean, according to Wikipedia, he was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best-known big bands and scoring 16 number-one records and 69 top-10 hits — that’s more than Elvis Presley and the Beatles did in their careers. Maybe I’m just uneducated when it comes to music history or maybe Miller was gone too soon. Either way, I know I gotta expand my musical horizons, and it seems like this weekend’s DreamFest is the perfect start.
A free event for all ages, the three-day festival aims to promote Memphis artists in a range of genres. A full lineup can be found here, and there will be music, food, voter education, a kids corner, community conversations, yoga, and more. Friday happenings begin at 4 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday happenings starting at 2 p.m.
photograph courtesy urbanart commission
Yoga in the Park With Public Art
Audubon Park, 4145 Southern
Saturday, July 23, 10 a.m.
There’s one place in this world that I couldn’t be caught dead flying over — quite literally, seeing that the people who fly over there tend not to get found, dead or alive. And that place, my friends and foes, is the Bermuda Triangle. We could go into the natural explanation behind why so many aircraft and ships might have disappeared in this Devil’s Triangle, but I don’t understand it and quite frankly would rather explore the paranormal — specifically the way it might be a wormhole that sucks the objects around it into a parallel universe. Still, I don’t understand much about wormholes; in fact, I know nothing about them, but I imagine them to stretch the space-time-continuum (whatever that is) the same way yoga stretches the body. I also don’t know much about yoga if you can’t tell. Do you?
Well, whether or not you know anything about yoga, I can bet that you’d enjoy the UrbanArt Commission’s free 45-minute, outdoor, low-stakes yoga class under Greely Myatt’s sculpture Everybody’s Talkin’. Wear comfortable shoes and breathable clothing. Bring your own mat or use one from DRIP Yoga Mats (mats are limited). Oh, and you can never go wrong with bringing your own water bottle. Donations are appreciated. Register here.
photograph by Holtermonster
Bedtime Stories: A Kid’s Literary Adventure Night
Malco Summer 4 Drive-In, 5310 Summer
Saturday, July 23, 7 p.m.
After I learned about Amelia Earhart in fifth grade, I couldn’t care less about Charles Lindbergh, who made the first solo transatlantic flight. Amelia was cool, and Lindbergh’s picture in my U.S. history textbook gave me the creeps. But what I did find fascinating was the Lindbergh baby getting kidnapped, and I used a few hours of computer time at home looking up more about said baby’s kidnapping and subsequent murder. Talk about a bedtime story for a 10-year-old Nancy Drew-wannabe.
At least it wasn’t as dark as Young Sherlock Holmes, with its plot-line about a cult with a penchant for human sacrifice, or as sad as Hook, with its reflection on losing your inner child, or as upsetting as The NeverEnding Story with its Nothing, a manifestation of the loss of hopes and dreams. As it happens, those three films, not the story of the Lindbergh baby, are reserved for this weekend’s Time Warp Drive-In, where movie-goers can watch all three for $25/car.
