Whether You Fall: An Intimate Concert with Tracy Bonham + Julie Heffernan

Doors open: 8:00 PM

Performance time: 8:30 - 9:30 PM

Event concludes: 10:00 PM

In an hour-long set, acclaimed singer-songwriter and two-time GRAMMY nominee Tracy Bonham will perform on piano accompanied by bass player Rene Hart, violinist Ani Bukujian, and cellist Saul Richmond-Rakerd. The performance will take place within Catharine Clark Gallery's presentation of renowned artist Julie Heffernan's painting exhibition,Whether You Fall. The concert will be punctuated by dialogue between Bonham and Heffernan.

Bonham shares her creative works as the singer-songwriter once known for screaming “everything’s fine!”, now lowering the volume without lowering the flame. With the same bite from her mid-nineties alternative rock songs, Bonham explores what goes on underneath the screams. Join Bonham as she responds to the beauty, vulnerability, and rebellion of Julie Heffernan’s abundant paintings with songs from the past and present arranged for piano, vocals, and strings.

As we conclude our eighth year of commissioned performances, BOXBLUR is thrilled to welcome Bonham and Heffernan for this special collaboration. Heffernan's selection of Bonham reflects the spirit of BOXBLUR's mission and continues the tradition of past BOXBLUR collaborations between visual and performing artists, such as with Timothy Cummings and Rufus Wainwright, Amy Trachtenberg and Sarah Cahill, Shinji Eshima and Chester Arnold, EOS Ensemble and Chris Doyle, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company and Kambui Olujimi, and Adji Cissoko with Michael Montgomery and Arleene Correa Valencia, among others.

“Bonham is a unique and versatile vocalist and writer with much more to offer than just that feisty hit” ~The Charlotte Observer

“Bonham, from the beginning and increasingly over time, is a riveting, complicated maker of pop music” ~PopMatters

Two-time GRAMMY nominee Tracy Bonham (b. Eugene, Oregon) is a classically trained violinist and pianist turned alternative singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in 1996 with her debut album,The Burdens of Being Upright. The album catapulted Bonham into the global spotlight, earning MTV fame, an MTV Video Music Award nomination, and heavy radio rotation with her #1 alternative chart-topping song, "Mother Mother," an anthem for disgruntled teenagers.The Burdens of Being Uprightachieved Gold Record status in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.

For the past 28 years, Bonham has continued to evolve as an artist. With seven subsequent albums, each garnering critical acclaim, she has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to her craft as both a songwriter and musician. Her live performances highlight her versatility, as she seamlessly moves between guitar, violin, and piano. Bonham has also reimagined her earlier material, updating it for modern audiences without sacrificing the original passion and fire. As a songwriter, she is increasingly drawn to exploring the vulnerability beneath the surface of her past angst. This introspective shift is resonating more and more with her audiences.

Bonham’s early songwriting was rebellious, a reaction against her rigid classical training. She taught herself to play basic guitar chords and wrote her first album by channeling her emotions in a way she felt was impossible while performing classical pieces by Mendelssohn or Bach. Nearly 30 years later, Bonham's new songs are largely written and performed on the piano. This return to her classical roots has rekindled her love for music, allowing her to draw inspiration from the harmonic structures and melodies of her favorite Romantic composers. She blends these influences with her unique songwriting style, creating a musical fusion that is both fresh and deeply personal. This creative process serves as a vehicle for her ongoing inner transformation.

Tracy Bonham’s recent collaboration with the Eugene Ballet was performed at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, OR, in April 2024. Bonham's collaboration with Julie Heffernan offers audiences a compelling look at how music can expand and enrich the experience of Heffernan's paintings in the exhibitionWhether You Fall, and how Heffernan develops her paintings in ways that resonate with Bonham's lyrics. Heffernan selected Bonham as this year's BOXBLUR performer.

Pictured above: Julie Heffernan, Spill (Ashdod), 2024. Oil on canvas, dimensions: 60 x 54 inches. On view in Julie Heffernan's solo exhibition, Whether You Fall, November 23, 2024 - January 11, 2025.

BOXBLUR Mission Statement:

BOXBLUR emerged from a history of performances at Catharine Clark Gallery. In 2016, this effort was formalized as BOXBLUR, a fiscally sponsored program of Dance Film SF. Annually, BOXBLUR hosts dance films in the experimental category selected by the SF Dance Film Festival, a central component of its partnership with Dance Film SF.

The mission of BOXBLUR is to host and produce socially engaged performances, which are realized in conversation with a visual artist's work. BOXBLUR often collaborates with other organizations that amplify communal values. Notably, it has partnered with museums, cultural and non-profit organizations, particularly in the SF Bay Area, such as the ICA San Jose, Berkeley Art Museums, Fort Mason Center for Arts & culture, Gray Area, Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, Musuem of the African Diaspora, San Francisco Art institute, The LGBT Asylum Project, SF Arts Education Project, Minnesota Street Project, St. Joseph's, Words on Dance, Immersive Arts Alliance, Small Press Traffic, California College of the Arts, Hubbell Street Galleries, Photo Alliance, International Rescue Committee, Oasis Legal Services, Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, and Roots Community Health. BOXBLUR seeks to expand the possibilities for performance in non-proscenium settings.

BOXBLUR events have included musicians and composers such as Rufus Wainwright, Shinji Eshima, Classical Revolution, Clubfoot Orchestra, SF Contemporary Music Players, Sarah Cahill, Phyllis Chen with Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese, Kaveh Rastegar, and EOS Ensemble; dancers and choreographers such as Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Oliver Halkowich, Dance Kaiso, Catherine Galasso, Benjamin Freemantle, Adji Cissoko, Michael Montgomery, and Maya Gurantz; performance artists and actors such as Monique Jenkinson aka as Fauxnique, Viktoria Naraxsa, Marvin K, White, and Ellen Sebastian Chang; master printers, Erin McAdams and Mullowney Printing; a fashion event organized by Leila Talukder; and readings with poets and writers such as Vincent Katz, Forrest Gander, Norma Cole, Yedda Morrison, Cliff Hengst, and Tongo Eisen-Martin.

BOXBLUR has also produced programs off-site at Texas Contemporary with Houston Ballet and Chris Doyle; at sites throughout the US during the 2020 election with Nina Katchadourian's project Monument to the Unelected; and on the SF Bay and Oakland Estuary with Shimon Attie's Night Watch and in collaboration with Immersive Arts Alliance and more than 40 different non-profit organizations and artists. Night Watch received press from many outlets, including on the PBS Newshour by Mike Cerre.

BOXBLUR is supported through private donation and has been funded by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Candy Jernigan Foundation for the Arts, Pew Charitable Trust, and many other individuals and companies.

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Host or Publisher EXiT + Catharine Clark Gallery