We had big dreams 20 years ago; some of them came true

An obituary in The New York Times on July 10 noted the death of Ralph W. Burgard, calling him “a leader in the movement to create arts programs in communities around the country.” He died July 3 at his home in Duxbury, Mass., at age 81, of complications associated with cancer.

The New York Times remembers him as a founder and first director of the national organization, Arts Councils of America, and as author of “Arts in the City,” a 1968 book that put forth his premise that decentralized, local cultural institutions could transform not just towns and cities, but also neighborhoods in larger urban areas. He later formed his own planning company, Burgard Associates, and helped establish arts programs in a number of cities, using that model.

In Augusta, we remember him as the consultant who worked with our local and regional arts organizations and numerous focus groups to develop a five-county Cultural Action Plan in 1988. Over a year’s time, more than 250 of us met with Ralph Burgard and his associate Peter Spackman in various planning committees. Out of that process came a fully restructured and re-energized Greater Augusta Arts Council and an award-winning arts-in-education program that was based on his framework but developed and implemented by our own arts council leadership.

Two decades later, some – but certainly not all – of the ideas envisioned during that planning process have taken hold in Augusta. Working in collaboration with noted South Carolina landscape architect Robert Marvin, Mr. Burgard supported the clustering of arts institutions along the riverfront to help create the critical mass needed to revitalize the heart of the city.

While their “cultural arts corridor” may not have developed exactly as envisioned, we do have the Augusta Museum of History, the Morris Museum of Art, Fort Discovery National Science Center, and Springfield Village Park all within easy walking distance of each other along Reynolds Street. The Golf Hall of Fame and Gardens never reached its intended goal, but it may yet prove to be a viable part of the riverfront cultural landscape.

Over on Broad Street, art galleries, antiques shops, restaurants and cafes with sidewalk tables are flourishing, and we have the Augusta Common, our green space linking Broad with Reynolds, as home base for numerous festivals and events. There are Petersburg boats on the canal, people living in lofts downtown, new hotels and First Fridays. The Imperial Theatre, home to opera, ballet and bluegrass concerts, has new seats and an eye-catching marquee. We can see edgy dramas in an intimate setting at Le Chat Noir and view an acclaimed collection of Southern art at the Morris Museum. There are new nightclubs and a growing number of venues for local and regional music. We are on track to launch a major regional arts festival – Westobou – in September.

The major element still missing is a real performing arts theater. And we do not have a united arts fund. But we do have cultural organizations that have weathered various crises and turnovers. Like the upscale shopping galleria at Port Royal, which rose ahead of its time, struggled and folded but later became space for Fort Discovery at the base of its condominium tower, Augusta’s arts groups seem to have the capacity to reinvent themselves and emerge with new energy and purpose.

Some of the changes taking place in metro Augusta are being generated by people too young to know there ever was a Cultural Action Plan. That’s a good thing, because local energy and local creativity are the keys to making such things happen, and youth certainly helps with the energy side of the mix.

Maybe some of Augusta’s changes would surprise Ralph Burgard. Twenty years ago, he probably could not have envisioned a statue of James Brown with a camera that can snap your picture and send it to a website. But he would have loved the idea.

Picturing reality with a touch of mystery – or maybe a bit of a twist

Part of a museum curator’s job is to explore and evaluate what’s going on in the art world. For Jay Williams, curator at the Morris Museum of Art, that means keeping up with emerging artists from the South. We’ll get to see one of his discoveries when “Realist Paintings by Bryan LeBoeuf” opens Saturday in the Coggins Gallery at the Morris.

The young artist from Houma, La., first came to Mr. Williams’ attention in 2005 through an exhibit at the 511 Gallery in New York. It’s really not that rare to find an artist from the South exhibiting in New York galleries, and although the Southern connection was interesting, that alone wasn’t what made the artist worth watching. It was his solid painting technique coupled with a narrative element reflecting some of the quirkiness of classic Southern literature. The connections between art and storytelling traditions in the South have always interested Mr. Williams. “There’s a tinge of strangeness, a sense that something is slightly skewed, that’s strong in Southern literature and really true in Southern culture,” he said.

In Bryan LeBoeuf’s narrative paintings, the stories are open-ended, and it’s up to the viewer to make sense of it all – or not. “He paints in a style that is realistic without being superficial,” Mr. Williams said. “He is not just describing appearances. He paints recognizable images, but they are more metaphorical.”

The artist admits he is “a narrative person by nature,” but his scenes are fictional and not autobiographical. However, his landscapes and interiors do come from childhood memories and experiences of growing up in Louisiana. “The people I use for models in my paintings are not the characters being depicted in the paintings. It’s very much like casting people for specific roles they will play in the work,” he has said.

Apart from the intriguing subject matter, Bryan LeBoeuf’s paintings also reflect his sound academic training (M.F.A. degree from the New York Academy of Art). His technique, according to Jay Williams, “is both meticulous and traditional, incorporating beautifully painted surfaces, careful composition and almost baroque lighting effects.”

He has been featured in solo and group shows in New York, has won a couple of prestigious awards, and several of his works have been acquired by the Forbes Collection. The show opening Saturday at the Morris is his first solo museum exhibition.

The artist will be in town to talk about his work at the museum’s Art at Lunch event Friday, August 1 at noon. The program, including lunch catered by the French Market Grille, costs $10 for museum members and $13 otherwise. For reservations, call 706-724-7501 by July 30. www.themorris.org

A couple of other reality shows:

Charles A. Johnson, commercial artist turned landscape and still life painter, is featured this month at Sacred Heart Cultural Center. Sacred Heart’s gallery is a narrow, brick-walled corridor accessible from the ground floor entrance at the back of the historic building. It’s an unlikely but popular exhibit space adjacent to the gift shop, making it attractive to tourists and visitors. Johnson is a former Augustan who graduated from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., and later worked at Fort Gordon, the Savannah River Site, Lily Tulip Co. and various advertising agencies before retiring and taking a turn toward fine art. And speaking of gift shops, the artist is the father of Kelly Boyd, manager of the museum store at the Morris.

This week is your last chance to see “A Place Not Unlike Your Own,” paintings by Washington, D.C. artist Brett Busang at the Fire House Gallery in Louisville, Ga. That show closes Sunday, July 27. www.galleryafire.com