Arts & Literature

Howell Upchurch – From Filmmaking to Guitar Making, Part of Five Stories to Brighten Our Spirits

Published

5 years ago

June 10, 2020

Patrizia Winsper

The Bright Side of Lockdown in Peachtree Corners

We can all relate to the surreal feeling brought on by the coronavirus as we struggled with being caught in this bizarre new world that was difficult to believe yet impossible to ignore. We couldn’t help but feel shocked as it unfolded — it was unprecedented — although there had been a dreadful buzz in the air heading straight for us from miles away.

As our nation is sieged with controversy, climbing death rates, trepidation and uncertainty, I wanted to find some uplifting, local COVID-19 stories that would serve to brighten our spirits. This is part 2 of 5 stories to be posted.

Upchurch films with a drone for the City of Peachtree Corners.

Peachtree Corners resident and Videographer Howell Upchurch has been in the film business since he was 25 years old. His most recent project with the city is a video tribute to commemorate America’s fallen soldiers at the Veterans Monument on Town Center, to be viewed on Memorial Day in lieu of having a ceremony — a coronavirus safety precaution.

As many can relate, when the pandemic struck, his professional projects completely shut down. He knew he’d be inoperative for at least two months and decided he wanted something tangible to show for this time.

Rather than join his acquaintances on Facebook who divided into warring camps, Trump vs. Pelosi, Upchurch turned to a creative outlet to find his way out of the darkness.

Videographer Howell
Upchurch poses with a custom
guitar he built during the Covid-19
lockdown.
Photos courtesy of Howell Upchurch.

It Only Takes One Finger to Play a Guitar

Upchurch took up the guitar two years ago. Though he doesn’t consider himself a gifted guitarist, he enjoys playing the blues. The Allman Brothers and Eric Clapton are among his favorite artists.

“When I met Ric Seymour, former guitar player of Wet Willie, he set me on course to really start taking it seriously,” Upchurch shared. “I enjoy playing along with backing tracks. If there’s a song I like, I turn up the guitar and jam with it. I feel like I’m playing with the Rolling Stones.”

You Can’t Play the Guitar All Day

Upchurch soon decided that building a guitar would be a good break from playing one.

He had gifted a guitar kit to his son which they built together. Woodworking has always been a hobby.

“I’ve built boats, decks, furniture, the chair I’m sitting on, but the guitar was different,” he said. “It’s very fine woodwork. Once you finish building it, it has a real purpose.”

From his basement workshop, Upchurch has constructed both acoustic and electric guitars, with plans to build more and even try his hand at other instruments like the violin. He’s eager to expand his hobby as his growing skills allow.

“I’d like to continue on a much grander scale, make it very à la carte. When I do my next acoustic, I’ll start out at a very non-kit, raw material level,” Upchurch explained.

Upchurch calibrates the frets on a custom guitar to make sure they’re equal.

Guitar Making Made Me a Better Musician

Upchurch described a special bond with an instrument you make yourself: “The instrument becomes an extension of you. It sounds the way it does because you made it that way. You speak through the instrument.

“As I got into building it, I learned how the instrument makes the sounds that it makes, which immediately made me a better guitar player,” he said. Previously, Upchurch would take his guitar to a luthier who would set it up to get the best sound out of the instrument.

“When you start building guitars, you learn how to do all that yourself. After a while your knowledge of music, scales, fretboards all interrelate with intonation and harmonics. That’s what makes a great instrument,” Upchurch explained.

Post-Lockdown PTC — More Than Just a Place to Work

Upchurch would like to see music lessons offered by the city, “Playing music brings people together. The city is considering a Cultural Arts Center to be built behind the Veterans Monument. That would be a good place for lessons,” Upchurch suggested.

He feels guitar building would also bring the community together. “We could start a Guitar Building Clubwhere we can help each other and share ideas. I’d like to share some of what I’ve learned and encourage others to build.”

According to Upchurch, the new Town Center buildings in chrome and glass can be turned into a cultural center with a focus on music. “The city government is focused on technology, business, a Smart City, driverless vehicles and drone delivery. But there should be an equal amount of emphasis placed on developing the cultural aspects of our city,” he said.

Jamming in the Corners

When conditions safely allow for it, Upchurch would like to expand his musical network from virtual jam sessions with friends in Virginia to playing with musicians in town. Evoking the street musicians of New Orleans and Paris, he proposed we encourage local musicians to gather on Town Center to play informally, adding a touch of musical identity and charm typical of iconic cities.

“We have great bands around here, even high school bands like Norcross and Wesleyan. We should bring them out more to perform before an audience. I’d love to see Peachtree Corners’ cultural and musical development parallel its technology and industry development,” Upchurch said.

Commissions

As things slowly open up again, Upchurch plans to continue his guitar making hobby. A custom guitar can take one to three months to build. An acoustic guitar takes longer to make than an electric guitar.

Upchurch said he would want to learn about your personality, your musical abilities and preferences before setting out to create an instrument for you. “You’re trying to make something that’s appropriate for the individual. You can actually build a guitar to suit someone’s size and personality,” he explained.

The choice of wood is determined by the genre of music one wishes to play because the type of wood affects the sound. Mahogany for example, produces a higher pitched sound.

To view his custom guitars, find Howell Upchurch on Facebook. Or contact him via email at howell@mindspring.com

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Patrizia Winsper

Patrizia hails from Toronto, Canada where she earned an Honors B.A. in French and Italian studies at York University, and a B.Ed. at the University of Toronto. This trilingual former French teacher has called Georgia home since 1998. She and her family have enjoyed living, working and playing in Peachtree Corners since 2013.

Around Atlanta

The High Museum to Showcase “Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind”

Published

1 month ago

December 12, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Oil on paper artwork by Terry Winters. A large red circle with smaller blue circles on top of it and gold/yellow accents. All of it on a dark brown background.

The special exhibition of the Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection will run January 17 through May 25, 2025

In the mid-1970s, artist and Georgia State University professor Medford Johnston, along with his wife and collaborator Loraine, began collecting works by artists who were in the vanguard of contemporary art. Today, they hold one of the finest collections of postwar American drawings and related objects of its kind, now numbering more than 85 works.

In 2025, the High Museum of Art will present Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection, featuring their collected works, which is a promised gift to the museum. Featuring artists such as Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Elizabeth Murray, Martin Puryear, Ed Ruscha, Al Taylor, Anne Truitt, Stanley Whitney and Terry Winters, among others, the exhibition will demonstrate how establishing the parameters of an art collection requires infinite patience, focus, discipline and a keen eye.

“The Johnstons have been friends of the High for a very long time. They’ve also built an impressive collection featuring works by many of the 20th century’s most significant abstract artists,” said the High’s Director Rand Suffolk. “We are honored that they have promised to leave their collection to the Museum where it will be preserved for future generations — and we are delighted that they are sharing it with our audiences now, hopefully inspiring the next generation of art collectors and supporters.”

A curated collection

The Johnstons’ story is a testament to, in the words of the High’s Wieland Family Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Michael Rooks, “knowing the difference between what is right and what is almost right” when building a collection.

Although the Johnstons acquired several paintings and objects when they first began collecting in 1972, they quickly narrowed their focus to drawing, primarily by artists working on the frontlines of abstraction in the mid-1960s during a time of great innovation and experimentation.

Ink drawing by Anne Truitt, rectangular lines and shapes made with black ink on off-white background — Anne Truitt (American, born 1921), *Ink Drawing ’59 [11]*, 1959, ink on paper, The Johnston Collection. © Estate of Anne Truitt / The Bridgeman Art Library / Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.

Rooks added, “Med and Loraine’s collection struck me at once by its single-minded focus on a specific moment in time, which was essentially the time of their contemporaries. The artists in their collection are like close friends to the Johnstons — in fact many are or were. What is equally astonishing about the collection is the Johnstons’ dogged pursuit of quality. Their in-depth knowledge of each artist’s practice combined with their understanding of specific qualities to look for — or more appropriately, to hold out for — will be a revelation to emerging collectors.”

The Johnstons have built their collection with the High in mind as the benefactor of their passion and discernment. For them, their collection “is a labor of love, pursued over more than 50 years, and we are delighted to be able to help the High Museum document and celebrate these important artists working during the same decades as our lives.”

About the exhibit

Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection will be presented in the Special Exhibition Galleries on the second level of the High’s Stent Family Wing.

The exhibit is organized by the High Museum of Art and made possible through the generosity of sponsors:

Premier Exhibition Series Sponsor Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Premier Exhibition Series Supporters Mr. Joseph H. Boland, Jr., The Fay S. and W. Barrett Howell Family Foundation, Harry Norman Realtors and wish Foundation
Benefactor Exhibition Series Supporters Robin and Hilton Howell
Ambassador Exhibition Series Supporters Loomis Charitable Foundation and Mrs. Harriet H. Warren
Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters Farideh and Al Azadi, Mary and Neil Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Jones, Megan and Garrett Langley, Margot and Danny McCaul, Wade A. Rakes II and Nicholas Miller and Belinda Stanley-Majors and Dwayne Majors.

Support has also been provided by the Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, John H. and Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy Riley Special Exhibition Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition Fund, RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund and USI Insurance Services.

About the High Museum of Art

Located in the heart of Atlanta, the High Museum of Art connects with audiences from across the Southeast and around the world through its distinguished collection, dynamic schedule of special exhibitions and engaging community-focused programs.

Housed within facilities designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, the High features a collection of more than 19,000 works of art, including an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American fine and decorative arts; major holdings of photography and folk and self-taught work, especially that of artists from the American South; burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, new media and design; a growing collection of African art, with work dating from prehistory through the present; and significant holdings of European paintings and works on paper.

The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process.

For more information about the High or to purchase tickets, visit high.org.

Top image: (from the collection) Terry Winters (American, born 1949), Orb, 2020, oil on paper, The Johnston Collection. © Terry Winters, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.

Around Atlanta

City Springs Theatre Company Presents the Hit Musical Jersey Boys

Published

7 months ago

July 3, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

The megahit musical Jersey Boys is making its regional premiere with the City Springs Theatre Company in a five-week run.

The megahit musical Jersey Boys makes its regional premiere in City Springs Theatre Company’s (CSTC) first-ever, five-week run at the Byers Theatre in Sandy Springs.

Directed by Atlanta’s-own Shane DeLancey, and choreographed by Meg Gillentine, Jersey Boys tells the rags-to-riches story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The show details their remarkable journey from the streets to the top of the charts, to their 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Leading the cast of Jersey Boys is Haden Rider as Frankie Valli. Rider is a City Springs Theatre Company veteran, with recent roles in both Legally Blonde (Emmett) and Fiddler on the Roof (Perchik).

Presented by Resurgens Spine Center, Jersey Boys runs from July 12 through August 11, and shines a special spotlight on home-grown talent, as the show’s four leading men are all Atlanta-area residents.

With phenomenal music, memorable characters and great storytelling, Jersey Boys follows the fascinating evolution of four blue-collar kids who became one of the greatest successes in pop-music history.

“City Springs Theatre Company is very proud to be the first in the southeast region to present Jersey Boys,” said CSTC Artistic Director and Tony Award-winner Shuler Hensley. “Our audiences have been asking for this particular show since we opened. The production is truly stacked with talent onstage and off, and we’re pulling out all the stops to bring audiences an experience that will rival any previous version of the show.”

Jersey Boys premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2005, prior to its 13-year Broadway run, from 2005 to 2017. There have been productions of the show in Las Vegas, UK/Ireland, Toronto, Melbourne, Singapore, South Africa, the Netherlands, Japan, Dubai and China.

Jersey Boys features a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, and lyrics by Bob Crewe.

Individual tickets to see Jersey Boys are on sale now ($42 – $108), with discounts for seniors, students, groups and active and retired military personnel.

CSTC’s Box Office is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Call 404-477-4365 or visit CitySpringsTheatre.com for more information.

This production contains adult language and is recommended for mature audiences.

Performance schedule:

Arts & Literature

Local Students Show Off Their Artistic Creations

Published

8 months ago

June 2, 2024

Peachtree Corners Magazine staff

Courtney Escorza, Colleen Nikopour, Laura Hwang, Jennifer Jackson, Norcross. Laura ELizabeth Martin, Payton Hirschmann, Paul Duke HS

From May 11 through May 18, the Norcross Gallery & Studios kicked off a fantastic exhibition, Reflections at Rectory, which showcased the works of 36 rising stars: AP and IB art students from our local high schools.

The opening reception celebrated their creativity and dedication. Gallery director Anne Hall presented a dozen awards generously sponsored by the community, a testament to the local support for these young artists.

One prestigious award, the Terri Enfield Memorial Award, holds special significance.

Established by Terri’s daughters, it recognizes not just artistic excellence, but also leadership, work ethic and the spirit of collaboration. Last year’s winner, Aidan Ventimiglia, even played a part in selecting this year’s recipient Jasmine Rodriguez.