Arts DEVOté

Numbers are not my friends
What’s in a number? It’s said that statistics can be twisted to meet one’s needs, so which way do I want to go with this one? The results are in for Arts DEVOté's first ever Addendum to the Chico Public Art Survey … Survey, and the number of responses A.D. received is a whopping one. O-N-E! Can we infer that this is a reflection of Chico’s interest in the arts? Or, are people interested but just shy? Lazy? Is it possible that, for just this one week, a whole lot of people were out of town and didn’t happen to read the column (just this one week)? We’ll probably never know.

No. 1 friend
The sole responder answered the questions at length, but the thread running through the comments can best be summed up with the response to question 3: “Yes, money is being spent [on art]—however, the projects and the process suck.”
There you go. Oh, before we leave this topic, A.D. needs to clarify that just because he didn’t receive any word of the survey as mentioned in the last column doesn’t mean that the survey group didn’t try to send it. A.D. has received assurances they did send this paper e-mails. It’s likely that the CN&R’s ever-vigilant e-mail filters bounced the survey back.

New for summer
Former Chico dude Miles Montalbano—son of Duffy’s/Pageant co-owner Roger Montalbano and bassist for ’90s S.F. post-punks Sister Double Happiness—is premiering his first feature-length film at the San Francisco International Film Festival (Thurs., May 3; see http://fest07sffs.org). Miles wrote and directed Revolution Summer (with soundtrack by his bro-in-law, Jonathan Richman), three stories of young people searching for meaning in the Bay Area over the course of one summer while the country was at war with Iraq. The festival program describes his debut as “the most open-hearted and open-minded political portrait to come down the pike in ages.” You can bet the film will make it to the Pageant soon enough—check on it at www.revolutionsummerfilm.com.

Heavy metal
If you like art, Chico parks and large pieces of metal, maybe you need to bear witness to the Arts Commission’s review of the Oak Way Park Sculpture Selection Panel’s recommendation that sculptor David Brown be awarded the project. On Wed., May 9 at 7 p.m. in the City Council Building, the commission will decide if the $25,000 project should be passed on to the City Council for final approval. It’s art and it’s public, so why not take part? For more metal, check the huge, privately funded, water-themed metal sculpture/sign by Glen Cowan now up at the Hegan Lane Business Park at Hegan and Huss in south Chico.

Weekly Devotions—Art First Saturday edition

• 1078 Gallery: Ohio artist Micaela de Vivero’s eclectic and tactile works (opening, Fri., May 4, 6-9 p.m.).

• Drive-By Gallery: Annual group Puzzle Show (opening, Fri., May 4, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.).

• Crux Artist Collective: The Ninja’s In The House, collaborations by 6-year-old Cohen Morano (son of Aye Jay!) with the likes of Aaron Horkey, Bigfoot and more (opening, Thurs, May 3, 6-10pm).