Food & Drink
Performer Jody Kuehner Goes Solo
Nancy Guppy duets with newly solo performer Jody Kuehner
By Nancy Guppy June 16, 2014
This article originally appeared in the July 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
!–paging_filter–pBest known for over-the-top alter ego Cherdonna Shinatra, hilarious and talented performer Jody Kuehner usually takes the stage in a surreal sort of drag, with a gigantic wig and alarming eye makeup. After working for years as a duo with Ricki Mason (as Cherdonna and Lou), Kuehner has recently struck out on her own, and will present her first solo evening-length performance as Cherdonna this October at Velocity Dance Center. This month, she stays behind the scenes as a choreographer for Velocity’s annual Strictly Seattle series (7/25–7/26; a href=”http://www.velocitydancecenter.org” target=”_blank”velocitydancecenter.org/a).brstrongbrimg src=”/sites/default/files/newfiles/0714_cherdonna.jpg” style=”float: left; margin: 10px;” height=”525″ width=”350″LOCATION: /strongPorchlight Coffee Records on Capitol Hill on a hot spring afternoonbrstrongJody’s Order:/strong Decaf lattebrbrstrongNG: /strongDescribe Jody Kuehner the artist. brstrongJK:/strong Dance artist, first and foremost. Lover of the abstract and nonsensical. nbsp;brbrstrongNG:/strong Is comedy important to your creative work? nbsp;brstrongJK:/strong Incredibly important. But I never go in saying, “I’m going to make this section, and it’s going to be funny.” It just happens. nbsp;brbrstrongNG:/strong Who is Cherdonna? strongbrJK: /strongShe is a persona that I describe as “aggressively sweet.” She feels her feelings at all times—she doesn’t filter anything—and she totally connects with her audience. There is no separation between the stage and the audience. brbrstrongNG:/strong Cherdonna has a solo show this fall—what can we expect to see? nbsp;brstrongJK: /strongAn incredible visual landscape. [Seattle designer] Mark Mitchell is making my costumes, and we’re working with macramé and wool—’70s materials—and I’m hoping to carpet the entirety of Velocity, floor to ceiling, so everything is just yarned out. nbsp;brbrstrongNG:/strong How do you begin work on a new piece? nbsp;brstrongJK:/strong I try out a lot of things and I throw a lot of things away. Sometimes I’m like, “Oh God, I’m not keeping anything…sure hope I like something by the time the show begins!” And I always do. nbsp;brstrongbrNG: /strongHas there been a point in your life when something shifted or clicked?brstrongJK: /strongA click I’ve had this year has been around the feeling that if I’m still self-producing at age 40 or 50, then I’m not successful. That’s changing for me because what else would I do? Would I really not dance? No. I can’t not dance. So I’m starting to feel differently about success.nbsp; nbsp;brbrNancy Guppy showcases Seattle artists on her show, Art Zone (a href=”http://www.seattlechannel.org/artzone” target=”_blank”seattlechannel.org/artzone/a)./p
Follow Us
Finding Place in Pictures
Artist Sky Hopinka’s first solo museum exhibit in the northwest showcases his creative approach to language and identity
“I had cassette tapes and workbooks, but it was hard because I was living in Washington, and my tribal language has roots in Wisconsin,” Sky Hopinka says. Learning alone, he could listen to prerecorded Hocak phrases and practice writing letters and words, but an essential component was missing — another person to speak with. Photo
Feeding Ghosts to Free Them
Artist Tessa Hulls creates a revealing graphic novel to help her deal with childhood trauma
Seattle artist Tessa Hulls’ new graphic novel Feeding Ghosts is a deeply stirring narrative of loss, mental illness, and intergenerational trauma. She says that she wrote it to answer this question: What broke my family? Much of the book is about repetition, and how three generations of women in Hulls’ family were emotionally crippled by
