[artist friend spotlight] : Dorothy Hoover

My oldest friend, Dorothy Hoover, happens to be a crazy-talented artist. You are not surprised? Neither am I. Dorothy was my first introduction to all kinds of culture - I took ballet lessons because she was, got interested in theater because she took acting classes, started listening to music other than Seal & No Doubt (cringe) because one day she brought me an Ani DiFranco tape. We used to be mistaken for (and say we were) sisters. So now, she is a mega-artist living in Los Angeles, studying set design at CalArts. Being mainly a poet, I'm consistently amazed when artists put their imaginations into 3 dimensions. Dorothy's work has been seen in a number of venues in LA - most recently she designed the set for A Theatre@Boston Court's production of Camino Real and was a major player in the design of the wish-I'd-been-there art happening Sneaky Nietzsche. Dorothy's work is especially resonant with me because it's so literary. She's not just an "Oh, this play takes place in a field, so let me paint a backdrop with a field" set designer. She's sensitive to language, she doesn't leave it all up to the actors, but creates something like a visual language, letting the script itself resonate within the form of the set. Don't ask me to explain this further, just think about following her blog from now on, (which she runs with our friend Phil, also an artist & smarty) which I hope & pray she will fill with more pictures of her work. Or, better, check out her most current project, an adaptation of Anne Carson's Autobiography of Red. Here's a peek:



Also, Dorothy is classy. She is classy cook and a classy dresser, & the last time I saw her, she was wearing gold sneakers. Now that's classy.