14 The Daily Tar Heel Thursday. March 24, 1988
Creating
Staff writer
The sky reminds her of stained
glass that changes texture and
bursts forth at a light beam's
gentle persuasion, "a beautiful
sunset with strikes of pink and
blue."
Stained glass work assumes a.
character completely different
from most artistic creations, says
Chapel Hill stained glass artist
Barbara Corodesky.
"Stained glass will change
depending on how it's hung," she
said. "A painting always remains
the same."
Corodesky's fascination with
stained glass, however different it
may seem, is understandable to
those who browse through the
Womancraft store on west Frank
lin Street. There, among the works
of other female artists, her glit
tering stained glass works are
exhibited and sold.
Quaid sizzles, 'D.OA' fizzles
By RICHARD SJ&ITH
Staff Writer
D.O.A.
Starring Dennis Quaid. Meg
Ryan, Charlotte Rampling and
Daniel Stern. Directed by
Rocky Morton and Annabel
Jankel.
it hardly seems worth criticizing
a film from Touchstone Pictures
- they all do so well. "Good
Morning, Vietnam," for example, is
riding the top of the movie charts
for the ninth consecutive week
and has just reached the $90
million mark. "Three Men And A
Baby" is still packing theaters after
four months of release.
"D.OA" will most likely do the
same, for it is certainly typical of
the Touchstone product, the main
characteristics of which are slick
ness, great packaging, big names
and, well, the downright Disney
appeal on which Uncle Walt used
to pride himself.
"D.OA," for its part, has been
forceably given the Touchstone
stamp, it is a story already into
its second remake. The first
"D.OA" was in 1946 and starred
Edmond O'Brien. The first remake
was retitled "Color Me Dead," a
much less successful '60s film. And
now, re-written by Charles Edward
Pogue ("The Fly") and directed by
Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel
(creators of "The Max Headroom
Show"), "D.OA" regains its name
and stars Dennis Quaid and Meg
Ryan.
And, for sure, its a great idea
A man is poisoned by a slow
working toxin and has 36 hours or
so to work out who was respon
sible for his own murder. The
problem is that the supense over
the poisoning of Professor Dexter
Cornell (Quaid) is built up so mar
velously that when we discover
aleidoscoplc visio
From red stained glass hearts to
stained glass picture frames, night
lights, mirrors and kaleidoscopes all
varying in colors and forms, the
skilled hand of the artist behind
such works is apparent.
Yet, Corodesky, who has studied
stained glassmaking for eight
years, considers herself a hobbyist
rather than a professional. As a
hobbyist, she says, Womancraft
offers her "a very nice opportun
ity to work on my craft."
womancraft, which resulted
from the women's movement, is
the oldest craft cooperative in
Chapel Hill and has a membership
of both professional artists and
hobbyists.
All the Womancraft members
help each other as artists, Coro
desky said.
"They (the members) offer a
fresh perspective to each others'
works and are supportive," she
says. "It's like being part of a large
who did it and the trivial reason
why, it's anticlimactic and we end
up feeling cheated.
But Morton and Jankers superb
direction makes "D.O.A" really shine
and this alone makes it a must
see. Scenes dovetail beautifully in
a way reminiscent to the work of
the Coen team ("Blood Simple,"
"Raising Arizona"). The angry bang
ing of fists on a garbage tip at the
close of one shot becomes the
desperate door-rapping in the
opening of the next. When people
die in "D.OA" (and a lot of them
do), they do so shockingly and
spectacularly. The music, mostly
searing guitars and driving rock,
adds to the film's fast-pace. Every
ploy is used to get the audience
caught up in Quaid's plight.
But this is ultimately the film's
downfall; the film seems to prom
ise more than it delivers. The final
scenes are just one big, fat
anticlimax.
But Quaid is very good; in fact,
he's possibly the hottest property
in Hollywood. His role is largely the
same as it has been in his last two
movies; the police detective who
doesnt play exactly by the rules
in "The Big Easy" and the lobbyist
in Washington who takes the law
into his own hands in "Suspect."
But this is of little matter. The man
just sizzles on screen.
in "D.OA" Quaid is -an English
professor who has little regard for
his profession or his students. His
character is not particularly likable
- which makes his poisoning all
the more plausible but it's
difficult to dislike him for too long.
Meg Ryan, who co-starred with
Quaid in last year's "innerspace," is
his much too wide-eyed sopho
more sidekick who might as well
have 'crush' written across her
chest the way she looks at him.
Both Quaid and Ryan have their
family."
Customers also play an impor
tant role in generating that thriv
ing spirit. Their earnest pleasure in
her work gives her as much joy
as she finds in stained glass making.
"it's a wonderful high," she says.
"It's a nice feeling when somebody
buys something you've created."
Just as her stained glass designs
vary - from hearts to blue larks
to white and red roses to cream
colored cats to pink tulips - so
do her customers.
Those attracted to her works
come in all ages and from all
backgrounds. Men and women as
well as hobbyists and professionals
seem to enjoy them, she says.
But, ironically, Corodesky's love
for art was not enough to keep
her in art school. After pursuing
a degree in the fine arts, she said
she decided against studying art
and went into education.
However, stained glassmaking
fair share of dud lines. Although
the film makes a gallant effort to
sidestep cliches, it dodges some
and gets sledgehammered by
others. Lines like "I don't get off
on this Rambo shit" follow dread
ful efforts like "Goddammit, Gail,
don't run out on me." The dialogue
in the final scenes is unforgivably
stilted, and certainly the final line
should have been cut or changed,
anything would have been better.
This is as close as Touchstone
have come to making a great film.
As it stands, "D.OA" just has to join
a growing list of box-office-busting
but mainly mediocre films
from the new Disney studios.
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spurred her interest and she took
classes in the craft, she says.
She served as an elementary
school educator and administrator
for 20 years. "I enjoyed it (educa
tion)," she says. "But now I have
more of an opportunity to be
involved in the craft areas."
Since returning to art, Coro
desky said she has noticed a revival
of stained glassmaking and its
introduction as a fine art and
craft.
Many universities now offer a
degree in fine arts that includes
a course in stained glassmaking,
she says.
The process of stained glassmak-
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glass
ing is a bit difficult to describe,
Corodesky said.
First, patterns must be drawn
and glass selected. From there,
patterns are traced on the glass,
the glass is cut and then both glass
and pattern are joined with a
substance called lead cane.
Some people have set specific
time limits on this process, but she
finds it impossible to do so. "it all
depends on the design, whether
it will be flat or three-dimensional."
So, at Womencraft, Corodesky's
skill and enjoyment in stained
glassmaking continues to thrive. "I
really do love it," she says. "I can't
see myself doing anything else."
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