University Dailv Kansan
Monday, April 14, 1980
5
Pentimento gives Lawrence relaxed oasis of '60s
By SHAWN McKAY
Staff Reporter
"The paint has aged now and I wanted to see what was there for me once, what is there for me now," wrote Lillian Hellman in her book Pentimento.
To patrons of the Lawrence cafe on the corner of fourth and Vermont, the Pentimento stands as a living memorial to Helman's stepmother to see a mixture of both the old and the new.
John Trickey, co-owner of the Pentimento Cafe, said he named the cafe after the philosophy of Hellman's book.
THE 'PENTIMENTO REPRESENTS Hellman's reference to the artistic technique where an older painting shows through a new one, Tricky Jeter
"We took the best of the 60s and the 70s and put them in the new perspective of the 80s," he said.
The atmosphere of the Pentimento is filled with vestiges of the old and displays of the new.
A dine store mannequin wearing a green housedess, a blonde wig and an anti-draft jacket is seated in the kitchen paint. Patrons sip coffee and on tea on cushioned, impressionistic paintings
"The Pentimento is a paradox," one patron said.
"I mean where else can you sit and listen to unknown artists play popular tunes while you play Scrambled and sir tea."
While the cafe may appear a paradox to many, Tricker said it was an intended one.
'WE TOOK THE idea of quality in workmanship and caring about the
surroundings you're in and placed them in the hectic era of the 80s." Trickey said. "We try to create an atmosphere where people can relax and listen to music and poetry.
"Although on a crowded night it may not seem that way."
Pam, a regular customer of the cafe, said she came because "the environment here is right out of the 1980s. The place is really great," she said. "And here comes hese really comfortable可携atable
"This place isn't any alligator bar scene. I mean you can do whatever you want and not feel pressured."
Pam said she frequented the cafe during the week when it was quieter and she could engage in conversations with friends.
"We come here most of the time just to play Scrabble and listen to the music," she said. "Sometimes we bring our homework, but we don't seem to ever do it."
“It’s a nice place to sit and talk and not have to listen to rotten music that’s too loud to talk over.” he said.
The music and entertainment offered at the cafe is provided by local talent.
"We put up a six-week calendar and people come in and sign up for any time they want to perform." Tricker said.
Trickey and his wife, Nancy Moulding, try to make sure that the performers get something for their effort.
"We set up a tip bucket and we guarantee them five dollars in tips and a free meal," Trickey said.
Local belly dancers, mimes, ventrilogues and musicians have taken advantage of the opportunity to polish their skills before the Pentimento audience.
"We have a performer who calls himself Ted, the best Wednesday night and yodles, tells jokes, plays the wash board and the spoons. Where else would a person like that get an audience?"
BOB RHOADS, ANOTHER regular Wednesday night performer, said he enjoyed performing in the cafe's mellow atmosphere.
"I like playing here because there aren't the usual pressures to contend with," he
said. "You don't have to compete with the big din raised by the crowds in the places that serve alcohol, and the tips are pretty good."
Trickey said he and his wife opened the cafe in July 1978.
"Nancy was left some money by her father and we decided that we wanted to do something really nice for the town and to people," he said.
The cafe started as a coffee house with a small menu and expanded, Trickey said.
**W STARTED IT** as an experimental set-up where we tried to find ways of making people responsible for their own mistakes and said, "We get a lot of positive feedback.
"We see people eat in here sometimes three times a day. Then they come back in the evening to play a game or just read a book, and then to find that some people almost live here."
One of the people who frequents the cafe is "Jessie the bag man."
Jessie, customers say, is an elderly man with no place to stay. He carries all of his possessions in a crumpled brown paper bag tucked tightly under his arm.
"Jessie comes in here and the owners see that he gets something to eat or drink," a customer said. "We're really proud of her. She's been tough enough the winter by surviving on the streets."
"Jessie is a part of the place. In here, everyone is a part of the place."
Color photos find art world niche
Color photography has found a niche in contemporary art through its accent on realism, Thomas Southall, Spencer curator of photography, said yesterday.
Sououth lectured on the history of color photography and conducted a tour of the "Color Photographs" exhibit displayed in the Helen Forsman Spencer Museum of Art.
The color medium was long shaded by purists of black and white photography, who saw color photographs as being toogarish and base. Southall said. News photo stories often featured white and white pictures because of their graphic, personalized interpretations.
PIONEERS OF COLOR photography were looking for a different mode of expression. Southall said.
"It was invented by illusionists who wanted to make a substitute for reality," he said.
The first color photographs were simply printed, and the second development he said. Not until 1890 was a color print invented, and even then the process was long and tedious 'like doing stairs.'
In 1903, two French brothers developed the autochrome process, which had tiny color filters on a black and white plate similar to color television screens of today. They printed prints were transparencies, and had to be projected by projection or with a rear light source.
In contrast to the understated tones of autochrome, Kodachrome was invented in
1935 and the age of contemporary photography began.
"The art photographers did not take to it immediately," he said. "To them, it seemed garish."
Color photography did not gain acceptance as art until the 1900s, he said. Elliott later published two books in the 1930s and 1940s, both on public image of color photographs, he said.
"One of the key challenges that photographers in the 70s began to pick up is to incorporate colors into an overall picture and not to just make bold colors on the wall."
After years of tinkering with the potential of color in photography, photographers have started to turn to realism. Southall said
examined in the Spencer exhibit have overcome a limitation of color photography—the potential danger of letting light overpower the picture, Southall said.
Joel Meyerowitz's street scenes capture the "visual drama and ambiguity of the city environment," he said.
The subject of Michael Bishop's photographs are "primarily the urban clutter found by the roadside—bilboards, equipment—things we choose to inure."
John Pfahl has what might be considered a more bold art strategy in his photographs, he said.
THE THREE PHOTOGRAPHERS
The exhibition was selected and arranged by Southall and will be displayed until May 11
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