SEPTEMBER 2014 NEWSLETTER
Director’s Notes Welcome to the 2014–2015 Academic Year
W
elcome to our new students, to our new parents—welcome to a new school year, a school year when change will become the norm, and students will discover that they are in a place where how they imagine something is the opening of their eyes to both an outer and an inner world where the embodiment of that imagination can be the beginning of a life lived fully, richly and deeply. Welome to a school whose very being celebrates the individuality of each student and what they can offer to an ever changing culture of excellence. Welcome to a year where the daily struggle to DO requires a commitment that cannot be found in a textbook but only in the Self. Welcome to the daily struggle to solve the problem your way, not someone elses way, and having done that, day after day, to know that the reward is the YOU that this struggle has created. That’s what education is: the drawing out of what is unique inside you. Here, at The Fine Arts Center, you are constructing the most important thing you will ever do: building a self, a person who can function in an increasingly complex world with the ability to see problems from many perspectives, a person who can, in collaboration with others, arrive at a solution that is, at once, not only imaginative, but a solution that respects the individuality of those involved and those affected. Remember, you have been chosen to be part of this highly successful school—chosen from nearly 900 applicants—where students go to the best schools with significant scholarships; where you are taught by a professional faculty who will challenge you daily and, for that matter, who themselves will be challenged by daily. This happy friction of ideas, this creative collision of ideas generated by an imaginative faculty interacting with focused and talented students will produce yet another record group of students of which we can all be proud.
Table of Contents School News......................... 3 Alumni News........................ 5 Gallery News........................ 6 Dance...................................... 8 Visual Arts............................. 10 Architecture.......................... 13 Theater................................... 14 Music...................................... 16 Digital Filmmaking.............. 18 Creative Writing.................. 19 FAC Partners......................... 19
The School District of Greenville County, W. Burke Royster, Superintendent
Fine Arts Center Dr. Roy S. Fluhrer, Director Dr. Roy S. Fluhrer, Director
102 Pine Knoll Drive Greenville, SC 29609 864.355.2572 www.fineartscenter.net
Open House, Thursday, September 18 at 6:30 On Thursday, September 18 at 6:30 we will hold our annual Open House for our parents—those with us for the first time and those parents of returning students. This is an opportunity to meet your student’s teacher, see the state of the art studios, walk through an amazing building with an art collection valued at over a million dollars, and capture the spirit that has made this school so successful. You will come to understand why last year’s graduation class of 88 students generated 10.8 million dollars of college scholarships and are now attending 46 colleges and universities throughout the United States. Please plan to join us---it is one of our favorite evenings! 2 The Fine Arts Center Newsletter
The School District of Greenville County does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, sex, color, handicap, religion or national origin in its dealings with employees, students, the general public, applicants for employment, educational programs, activities, or access to its facilities.
School News
“We artists are also complicit in supporting the phony idea that the arts make our lives richer. When we continue listing all the things we can’t have or that we can’t do without artists, it becomes clear that artists don’t simply make our lives richer, they make our lives possible. The arts are not an add-on to anything. In our modern society, they are at the heart of everything. Instead of fighting a battle to simply include the arts, the fight should be to enable our artists to work at the highest possible levels. The issue is not whether we want art; the issue is really whether we want great art or lousy art.” Jim Campbell, former Drawing, Painting and Graphics teacher at The Fine Arts Center and, 2014 graduation speaker A transcript of the full speech can be seen here:
College Day, September 26, 2014
T
he Fine Arts Center’s College Day is scheduled for Friday, September 26, 2014. College Day has been a excellent opportunity for students to learn more about general college admissions requirements and college programs available in their arts disciplines.
In addition to the College Day activities, the Fine Arts Center has planned for Open Studio/College Night from 6:30-8:00 on the evening of September 26th. College representatives will have the opportunity to visit studios to hear performances and view student work.
This year we have invited representatives from more than 100 colleges and universities, and we are expecting approximately 100 representatives to attend our program. All participants will have an opportunity to ask questions concerning their interests in arts education and careers during two sessions on September 26th. The morning session will begin promptly at 9:15 AM, and the afternoon session will begin at 1:30 PM. Parents are encouraged to accompany students to the morning and afternoon sessions.
A new element to the program this year is a financial aid workshop held in the Fine Arts Center Recital Hall beginning at 6:30 on the evening of September 26th . The speaker for the program will be Michelle Jordahl, financial aid counselor at Maryland Institute College of Art. Ms. Jordahl will present information about the financial aid process from completing the FAFSA through accepting a financial aid award.
Please mark your calendars for College Day, September 26, 2014. Summer Edition, May 2014 3
School News
T
he Students on the steps are those who attended summer programs in Creative Writing, Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts. Many were supported by grants from the school’s foundation, others from the Partners, still others by scholarships and support from their parents. We were missing some film students and Hannah Patsoski from the morning Strings class. Some wonder why we are so successful—this is but one of the reasons.
From left to right, first row: Brandon Barney, Elizabeth Watkins, Ana Huff, Kim Lee, Carolina Gaillard, Julia Brooks Second Row: Abby Sherlock, Quinn Jones, Amari Brazil, Lauren Hurley, Olivia Hopkins Third Row: Sydney Parker, Lindsey Hudson, Leah Wade, Kiersten Rist, Ellen Kilby, Lucy Quattlebaum Fourth Row: Rachel Spitzmiller, Jotham Rosen, Katherine Woo, Yu-Jung Jeon, Ellie MacPhee Fifth Row: Hunter Strasser, Wendel Donald, Josh Barua, Hattie O’Dell, Ezekiel Ring Sixth Row: Vivian Purcell, Sophie Harris, Coley Gibson, Patrick Stephenson, Sam Painter 4 The Fine Arts Center Newsletter
Alumni News Theatre
Theatre alum, Trey Snow (’12) spent the summer with Shakespeare at Winedale at the University of Texas in Austin. Many may remember Trey’s Petruchio from Taming of the Shrew that he did here. Well, surprise, surprise! Trey played Petruchio at Winedale, too. Way to go, Trey! Alums Lauren French, Shaleigh Phillips (’11, Performance), and Will Dameron (’11, Tech) spent their spring semesters at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Lauren went as study abroad through Clemson, while Shaleigh and Will attended through Coastal Carolina, which sends students every year as part of their BFA training.
September 13. Amongst the pieces the Chanté Piano Trio will present is FAC faculty member Dr. Jon Grier’s composition Times in a Place, written in the spring of 2014. Digital Filmmaking
FAC Film alum Ryan Collins recently screened his first feature film, Bar Songs, at Fish Eye Studios on Augusta St. August 29th. Former film student Julia Vickerman, who now works as a television animator, can be seen on the Community Season 5 DVD discussing their animated episode G.I. Jeff. Her work can also be seen on Yo Gabba Gabba and Good Vibes.
JP McLaurin (’13) attended the SITI Company training (Saratoga International Theatre Institute) at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. There he trained in the Suzuki Method, in Viewpoints, and in Theatre Composition with world-renowned director (and former professor of Teri’s at Columbia University) Anne Bogart. The SITI Company is an internationally-recognized theatre company, and they train every June at Skidmore. Hand-picked theatre students of all ages, from around the world, attend this training yearly.
Recent graduate Dallas Freeman, along with JP McLaurin (’13) began working with local radio man and voice over artist, Stanley Fisher. Through weekly classes and one-on-one coaching, Dallas and JP now have complete voice over demos, ready to send out. Dallas has already booked paying work, while JP will be sending his out this fall. You may be hearing them on TV and radio very soon! Music
Former film student Rory Scovel, who now stars in the TBS show Ground Floor, made recent guest appearances on the shows Inside Amy Schumer, Nerdterns, Zach Stone is Gonna be Famous, Just for Laughs and on the NBC show Undateble. In the past Scovel has been a featured guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Conan and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The Chanté Piano Trio (composed of FAC alumni Paul Aguilar, Stephen Hawkey, and Maria Parrini) have been chosen as one of two finalists in North Carolina Public Radio station 89.9 WDAV’s Young Chamber Musician Competition. The ensemble will perform in the live finals concert at Davidson College on Saturday, Summer Edition, May 2014 5
The Sheffield Wood Gallery Closes Sculpture by ZAN and welcomes Red Sail to the Fine Arts Center Permanent Collection The Sheffield Wood Gallery recently closed Sculpture by ZAN, an exhibition that ran from May 16 through August 28, 2014. Sculpture by ZAN included a selection of sculpture by local artist Zan Wells whose works can be found throughout the Southeast. Sculpture by ZAN displayed a range of Wells’s smaller-scale works to her life-size projects, such as Seated Girl. The selection also displayed Wells’s interest in taking an experimental approach to art by showcasing works such as Red Sail and Sails, both pieces that are a part of the Red Sail Series.
Sheffield Wood Gallery Announces 40th Anniversary Series: Ties that Bind: FACS In honor of the year-long celebration of the Fine Arts Center’s 40th Anniversary, the Sheffield Wood Gallery will hold a four-part exhibition series that will showcase the four main pillars within the Fine Arts Center Visual Arts Community: Faculty, Alumni, Community, and Students. The series entitled Ties that Bind: FACS begins September 5, 2014 and will run throughout the school year through May 27. The first installation, Ties that Bind: Faculty, honors both former and current Visual Arts faculty who have contributed to the success of the students who have attended the Fine Arts Center over the past forty years. Combined, these teachers have contributed over 150 years to the Fine Arts Center, making it one of the top high school visual arts programs in the country. Ties that Bind: Faculty is currently on display, running from September 5 through October 31, 2014. The Ties that Bind: Faculty Reception will be on Thursday, October 9 from 5:30-6:30pm.
Artists featured in Ties that Bind: Faculty: Alexia Timberlake Boyd
Rod Fincannon
Donna Shank Major
Katy Bergmann Cassell
Greg Flint
Ryan Roth
Jim Campbell
Eliška Mörsel Greenspoon
Rebecca Stockham
Bob Chance
Glenda Guion
Susan Willis
Debbie Cooke
Kelly King
After working closely with the Sheffield Wood Gallery and learning first-hand how the Fine Arts Center is an integral part of the education of young aspiring artists, Wells graciously gifted the Red Sail piece to the Fine Arts Center Permanent Collection. It is now on display for visitors, students, and faculty to enjoy on a daily basis*. The second part of the Ties that Bind: FACS series will be an exciting exhibition that will showcase artwork by successful and celebrated alumni who are continuing to create artwork today. By displaying these works side-by-side, visitors to the Sheffield Wood Gallery can see the dynamic contribution the Fine Arts Center has made to the arts community throughout the years and world-wide. Ties that Bind: Alumni will be on display from November 10, 2014 through January 23, 2015. The Reception will be Thursday, December 18, 2014 from 5:30-6:30pm.
Gallery News 6 The Fine Arts Center Newsletter
Ties that Bind: Community will not only provide the Sheffield Wood Gallery and Fine Arts Center the opportunity to honor and thank the local artists who support the programs at the FAC, but it will also allow students and visitors to learn more about their own local arts community. Students are often strongly influenced by the art that they see and interact with on a daily basis, and the Upstate area has a flourishing arts community in which students have the opportunity to be involved. Ties that Bind: Community will be on display from February 2 through March 27, 2015 with a reception on Thursday, March 26, 2015.
The final exhibition for the academic year, Ties that Bind: Students, will allow the students in the Visual Arts Program here at the Fine Arts Center to demonstrate just how successful these four pillars in arts education are by displaying their own work. The work that will be in this show will come from students who will go on to attend some of the best schools in the country and earn thousands of dollars in scholarships to do so. Ties that Bind: Students will run from April 13 through May 14, 2015 with a Reception on April 23 from 5:30-6:30pm.
The Ties that Bind 2014-2015: Call for Entries for FAC Alumni:
• FAC reserves the right to disqualify any work that is not consistent with the quality of the digital image.
No entry fee. Maximum of three entries. One detail per entry allowed, for a maximum of six entries total. Digital files, high-resolution JPEG images no larger than 1MB each. Images should be sent as an email to theFACGallery@gmail. com. Files should be labeled with your name and title. (Ex: rfluhrer_selfportrait.jpeg) Include in the body of the email: • Title, materials, date, insurance value • Your contact information with email, phone, address • One paragraph statement about submitted images ( no more than 350 words) • One paragraph artist bio (no more than 350 words) *Due to space all submissions may not be accepted. Current FAC visual arts faculty will curate the show. Eligibility: • All submitted work must be made within the last three years. • Recent graduates must submit work that has been made since graduating the FAC. • All work must be suitable framed/mounted or wired for installation. • Three-dimensional work must be less than 100lbs or be installed by the artist.
Delivery/ Return of Work: Selected work must be hand delivered or shipped to the Fine Arts Center by October 24. The artist is responsible for picking up the work or providing return shipping via prepaid mailing label. Work left will become part of our permanent collection. Liability: Artists are responsible for insuring work while in transit to and from the exhibition. The Fine Arts Center will insure all work while on site for the exhibit. By submitting your work, you agree to allow the Fine Arts Center to use those images to promote the exhibition and the Fine Arts Center.
2014–2015 Schedule of Events: Ties that Bind: FACS Ties that Bind: Faculty: Reception: October 9, 2014, 5:30–6:30pm Dates: September 5– October 31, 2014 Ties that Bind: Alumni Reception: December 18, 2014, 5:30–6:30pm Dates: November 10, 2014– January 23, 2015 Ties that Bind: Community Reception: March 26, 2015, 5:30–6:30pm Dates: February 2– March 27, 2015 Ties that Bind: Students Reception: April 23, 2015 Dates: April 13– May 27, 2015 2nd Biennial Greenville High School Art Teachers Invitational May 22–September 4, 2015
Schedule for Alumni Exhibition: September 26: All submissions must be emailed to theFACGallery@gmail.com. October 6: Artists will be notified of the juror’s selections. October 24: Deadline for selected work to arrive at FAC. November 10: Exhibition opens December 18: Opening reception, 6:00 pm January 30 – February 6: Return shipping to artist begins/deadline for pick up of work
*The Sheffield Wood Gallery is open weekdays from 8:30am-5pm. If you have questions about Sculpture by ZAN, Ties that Bind: FACS, or the Fine Arts Center’s Permanent Collection, please contact Gallery Coordinator Rebecca Owens at rdowens@greenville.k12. sc.us or leave a message with the front office at 864-355-2550.
Summer Edition, May 2014 7
FAC Dancers attend summer dance intensives 1. Lauren Hurley with Jared Matthews, ABT in NYC 2. Laurn Hurley at her audition at American Ballet Theatre in NYC as seen on Facebook 3. Kiersten Rist in Boston 4. Ellen Kilby at her audition at The Rock School in Philiadelphia 5. Lucy Quattlebaum at her audition at The Rock School 6. Sam Painter in Charlotte at the Charlotte Ballet Summer Intensive 7. Jan Woodward attends performance by Ballet National de Marseille.
3
1
2
7
4 7 6 8 The Fine Arts Center Newsletter
5
Dance
Greenville Dance Festival Photos of guest faculty for Greenville Dance Festival: 1. Brian McGinnis (Lar Lubovitch Dance Company), 2. E.E.Balcos (Faculty UNC-Charlotte), 3. Nadirah,Rahman (African Dancer from Asheville, NC) 4. Jackie O’Toole (Faculty Johnson C. Smith UniversityCharlotte, NC).
3
1
2
4 Summer Edition, May 2014 9
Visual Art Students summer news Visual art students took full advantage of great summer enrichment opportunities this year. Hattie Odell spent five weeks at the San Francisco Art Institute in Califor-
nia for six college credits and focused on drawing and sculpture, especially installation art. Patrick Stephenson and Elizabeth Watkins attended Pratt Institute for four weeks and four college credits to study drawing and industrial design respectively. Highlights included trips to museums and galleries in New York City to see contemporary art such as the Brooklyn Museum. Anna Huff spent three weeks at the Kansas City Art Institute for three college credits and enjoyed working independently on large-scale fabrics while focusing on textiles. Sophie Harris attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to study
figure painting for two college credits and especially enjoyed oil painting and free admission to the museum. Vivian Purcell spent one week in Italy with her Mauldin High art class and was amazed by the Sistine Chapel above all else. Vivian also studied metals and drawing at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia where she enjoyed meeting the professors. Jordan Hughes attended the Columbus College of Design in Ohio to build her art portfolio.
Four students attended Explore the Arts, organized by Design instructor Donna Shank-Major, here at the Fine Arts Center for one week: Amari Brazel combined metal and glass with Metals Instructor Katy Bergman Cassell, and Kim Le studied printmaking with Stephen Chapp, while Camila PÊrez and Lauren Haswell volunteered to help instructors teach art to the elementary age students. Many students were fortunate to see notable artworks on family or school trips: Finley Buchanan explored ancient classical ruins in Greece and Italy; Hannah Rodgers saw Botticelli›s famous Renaissance painting, Venus, while in France and Italy; Julia McCall spent a day at the famous Louvre museum in Paris on her trip to France; and Kaitlyn Pyle visited the Olympic Sculpture Park on a trip to Seattle, WA. Finally, two students took advantage of art opportunities here in Greenville. Carolina Gaillard volunteered to clean glass pieces and help install a glass sculpture by Graham Campbell at the downtown Certus Bank, and Zeke Ring helped his father, sculptor Nick Ring, create two ten-foot statutes of Joseph commissioned by a church in Indianapolis, IN.
Visual Arts 10 The Fine Arts Center Newsletter
Herb Parker Sculpture & Garden Area Needs Plants! The Herb Parker Sculpture and Garden area needs your help! The sod has been planted and now we need trees, plants, and benches for this unique landscape and drawing garden located just outside the Design and Metals studios. Parks McLeod, owner of McLeod Landscape Architects, LLC, created a beautifully landscaped space for Fine Arts Center students to use for inspiration. Please consider donating any of the plants listed in the drawing or contact Donna Shank for more information.
Drawing, Painting & Printmaking Teacher Spends Summer in Vermont The Fine Arts Center’s drawing, painting, and printmaking teacher Ryan Roth was awarded an Artist Residency at The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont for one month this past June. The Vermont Studio Center is the largest international artists’ and writers’ Residency Program in the United States, hosting 50 visual artists and writers each month from across the country and around the world. VSC provides an optimal creative atmosphere for artists and includes a distraction-free, quiet space and time to work, a private studio, a private bedroom, three excellent community meals daily, the companionship of professional peers, a dedicated staff, all of whom are artists and writers, and interactions with renowned visiting artists and writers. (www.vermontstudiocenter.org) Mr. Roth says, “The experience was life changing and rewarding. I was able to make new artwork, make new acquaintances, and enjoy Vermont in the summer.” Mr. Roth would like to thank the Fine Arts Center Partners, Metropolitan Arts Council, and the Fine Arts Center Foundation for their generosity and support in this endeavor.
Roth part of group exhibition in New York City Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking instructor Ryan Roth was proud to be a part of a group exhibition entitled I’m Your Man at the ISE Cultural Foundation located in fashionable SoHo, the heart of New York City’s fashion and art world. The show, curated by Lauren Kalman and Millie Tibbs, ran from May 9 through June 28, 2014. I’m Your Man explored performance art focusing on the construction of masculine identity. The exhibition was purposefully and directly curated as a reaction to high profile feminist art exhibitions like Wack! and Global Feminisms that have directly addressed the same question in regards to performance-based art exploring feminine identities. I’m Your Man questions the ideology that the white male is the understood norm by bringing to light his place of privilege, and therefore subjective perspectives, expectations, and advantages that are attached to the male body. Kalman and Tibbs quickly decided to use a photograph (shown here) of Roth’s Business Werewolf piece as the promotional image for I’m Your Man. Business Firing Clown was also displayed in the exciting performance-based show.
Summer Edition, May 2014 11
Photography News Flash Powder Retreats In July Mr. Fincannon was invited to the Flash Powder Project Retreats in Highlands North Carolina. The Flash Powder Project was created by David Bram of Fraction Magazine and Jennifer Schwartz of Crusade for Art in an effort to help photographers who are looking to to strengthen and package a portfolio of work and develop a plan to strategically launch a project. The retreats are invite only and are limited to 4 photographers per retreat. David, Jennifer and the participating photographers share a house for an intensive, immersive experience. Photographers participate based on their work, experience and willingness to share and explore as a group. The intimate nature of the retreat is designed to foster community and create dialog around the work, as each participant brings different perspectives and ideas. From photography professors, to commercial shooters, to MFA and PhD candidates, to photographers new to the fine art world, the retreats have hosted talented artists from all areas of the field. The experience was a great opportunity for Mr. Fincannon to focus on developing his work out-
Flash powder participants. Honey Lazar, Audra Melton, Rod Fincannon, Justin Cook side of the classroom and create a plan to share his recent projects with galleries and collectors. In addition to his own personal professional development, the retreat introduced Mr. Fincannon to methods that he plans to bring to the classroom for his photography students. Special thanks to the Fine Arts Center Partners and the Community Foundation for helping fund this incredible opportunity.
Society of Photographic Education The Society of Photographic Education Southeast Regional Conference will be held in Greenville North Carolina on October 9-12th. The conference will be a gathering of photography educators and students from throughout the southeast. Most of the major college and universities the have photography programs will have representation and a few of our advanced photography students are planning to attend. Mr. Fincannon will be presenting at this years conference and will also serve as a portfolio reviewer.
Visual Arts 12 The Fine Arts Center Newsletter
King to be Featured in Upcoming Exhibits Kelly King was invited to participate in “Exquisite Corpse”, a collaborative drawing exhibit held at the Artisan Gallery in Belleville Wisconsin that opened June 6. Her work will also be exhibited in “The Intimate Object X” an invitational show opening in October at Charlie Cummings Gallery in Gainesville, Florida and “Talk to Me: Cups that Communicate” at Signature Contemporary Craft in Atlanta Georgia.
Architecture Instructor and Students Participate in Monumental Move Recently Catherine Smith, our Art of Architecture Instructor, was selected to be the architect of record for the preservation, renovation and new additions to the Wilkins House, circa 1876. The house was recently moved a quarter mile from its original foundation on Augusta Street and to its future home on Mills Avenue. A couple of the new first year class joined in the crowd of spectators on moving day. The home is of Italian Renaissance style architecture and a true Greenville treasure. Fortunately a group of like-minded folks across the city and state were able to band together to help save this most magnificent structure. The construction will take approximately two years to complete and will preserve the integrity of the original home as well as update it with some more modern conveniences.
Architecture Summer Edition, May 2014 13
Theatre
THEATRE STUDENT NEWS Several of our students attended programs over the summer: Senior Quinn Jones attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts summer acting intensive. The program consisted of 3 weeks of instruction in acting, movement, voice, on-camera acting, and scene study on the campus of NCSA. Junior Mattie Harris-Lowe attended ComiCon in San Diego with her family for the second time this summer. Senior Freddie Colton began studying voice over with graduates Dallas Freeman and JP McLaurin with local voice over artist and radio man, Stanley Fisher.
1
3 6
5
4
14 The Fine Arts Center Newsletter
40th Anniversary Performances: An Evening of New Plays by FAC Alum, David Garcia Oct 2 @ 7pm We performed three of David’s plays two years ago, and had a staged reading of six new plays the year before. David is a valuable part of our FAC community, and we are happy to support his new material. 1st Semester Presentations for Beginning and Advanced Ensembles Dec 8 @ 7pm
6
Advanced Theatre Ensemble Production with guest director, Adam Knight (show TBA) March 13, 14, 20 & 21@ 7pm 2nd Semester Presentations for Beginning and Advanced Ensembles April 28 @ 7pm Generation to Generation Concert May 1@ 7pm Artisphere at the Peace Center Amphitheatre May 9 @ time TBA
2
THEATRE FACULTY NEWS Theatre Performance teacher, Teri Parker Lewis, studied on-camera acting technique this summer—with help from the FAC Partners— at Screen Artists Co-op in Asheville, NC. The class was ten weeks long and met twice a week for three hours. Hopefully, this experience will equal great filmed auditions for students from now on! Thank you to the Partners for their support.
1. Trey Snow playing Petruchio at Winedale 2. Lauren French doing a hand stand in Italy 3. JP McLaurin at the SITI Company Intensive 4. Abby Sherlock with her ensemble at Boston University 5. Mattie Harris-Lowe at ComiCon 6. Guest director Adam Knight 7. PM Theatre students with David Garcia
THEATRE DEPARTMENT NEWS This year looks to be quite an exciting year. We have several performances in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the FAC, as well as our typical semester showcases. Stage combat certification: An exciting opportunity for our advanced students! FAC Alum Fulton Burns will be with us Oct 3, 6-9 teaching staged combat. With the PM students, Fulton will be offering a certification course. This certification is for unarmed combat, costs $30 for 20 hours of instruction, and is good for three years. Students participating in the certification process will need to stay at the FAC until 6pm all five days in order to receive the full 20 hours. This is an opportunity we have been working on for several years, and I am proud it is happening for the first time during our 40th Anniversary year. Fulton will be doing some basic combat work and other physical acting with the AM students during his residency. Guest artist: Another exciting opportunity! FAC Alum, Adam Knight, will be with us Jan 27 – March 13 as part of our 40th Anniversary year. Adam is a professional director and theatre producer, living in NYC and working nationally. His theatre company, Slant Theatre, produces exciting new work in NYC, and has recently celebrated its 10th year. Adam will be with us, directing the PM class in a major production, and working with the AM students on scene work. This will be an exciting and valuable time for both our students and Adam. We will be announcing the production title shortly. Summer Edition, May 2014 15
The 2014-2015 Season of the Young Artist Orchestra the Orchestra-in-Residence at the Fine Arts Center FAC Music Faculty Member Dr. Gary Auguste Robinson, Music Director & Conductor YOUNG ARTIST CONCERT #1: “Time Travelers” The Young Artist Orchestra and The Philharmonic Thursday, October 16, 2014; 7:30 PM, Peace Center’s Dorothy Gunter Theater One 20th-century composer writes a Romantic flute concerto while another looks back to the 17th and 18th centuries for inspiration. Meanwhile, the works of two early Classical composers are re-fitted with up-to-date orchestral vestments. Jump into the time machine and travel with The Philharmonic, the Young Artist Orchestra and YAO Principal Flute Andrew Simmons as they perform the music of Reinecke, Fauré, Sammartini, Piccinni, and Rimsky-Korsakov. YOUNG ARTIST CONCERT #2: “Epic Elgar” The Young Artist Orchestra and The Philharmonic Saturday, January 17, 2015; 7:30 PM, Peace Center’s Dorothy Gunter Theater The Young Artist Orchestra and YAO cellist Michael Hartman tackle one of the most important – and monumental – compositions by Sir Edward Elgar: his Concerto for Violincello and Orchestra in E minor. The YAO continues its Fauré “mini-cycle” in a performance of that composer’s best-know work, Pelléas et Mélisande, op.80: Suite, while The Philharmonic performs works by Paul Whear, Giovanni Paisiello, and Piotr Ilych Tchaikovsky. MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATION CONCERT “Let’s Build an Orchestra” FAC Percussion/Winds & Brass students; the Young Artist Orchestra and The Philharmonic Wednesday, January 21, 2015; 10:00 AM, Peace Center Concert Hall WINTER ORCHESTRAS CONCERT Chamber Strings, Sinfonia, The Philharmonic and the Young Artist Orchestra Tuesday, January 27, 2015; 7:00 PM, Riverside High School
16 The Fine Arts Center Newsletter
STUDENT NEWS
SPRING ORCHESTRAS CONCERT Junior Sinfonia, Chamber Strings, Sinfonia, The Philharmonic and the Young Artist Orchestra Tuesday, April 28, 2015; 7:00 PM, Peace Center Concert Hall YOUNG ARTIST CONCERT: #3: “Shoulder-To-Shoulder” The Young Artist Orchestra and members of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra Saturday, May 9, 2105; 7:30 PM, Peace Center’s Dorothy Gunter Theater The Young Artist Orchestra and members of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra rally behind YAO Concert Master Katherine Woo in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s virtuosic Concerto for Violin, op.35, TH 59 in D major. Following intermission the combined forces explore the expressive landscapes of Franz Schubert’s Symphony 8 in B minor (Unfinished), and conclude the evening with a built-in encore: Dvorak’s “Festival March” Op.54a.
Violinist Katherine Woo will appear on the National Public Radio program “From the Top”. She will perform Fantasie Brilliante on themes from Bizet’s Carmen by Jenö Hubay. The virtuoso showpiece will be performed with the assistance of pianist, and “From the Top” host, Christopher O’Reilly. Katherine can be heard with the Boston-based show on tour at the Peace Concert Hall in Greenville, SC on Thursday, November 6. The performance will be broadcast nationally later this year. “From the Top” can be heard Mondays at 7:00 pm on South Carolina Public Radio and is also available as a podcast. Strings Chamber Music students participated in several prestigious summer music programs. Katherine Woo attended the Aspen Music Festival studying with Masao Kawasaki, violin faculty member at the Juilliard School. Michael Hartman, Samuele Parrini, and Rachel Yi studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts program “Chamber Music on the Hill”. Ellie MacPhee and Jotham Rosen attended the Kinhaven School of Music in Weston, Vermont. Yu-Jung Jeon performed at the Texas State International Piano Festival and the Cooper Piano Festival at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Melvina Kuoshu studied at the International Piano Festival at Lee University. Julia Babayan and Olivia Massey attended the “Beyond the Notes” workshop at the University of South Carolina. Melvina Kuoshu, Lydia Mulfinger, Marc Pitrois, and Jotham Rosen were
chosen as finalists in the Clemson University Orchestra’s Young Artist Concerto Competition. Pianist Melvina Kuoshu won honorable mention.
FAC Theory Students Set the Standard The results are in, and the Fine Arts Center’s 2013-2014 AP Music Theory students did extremely well on the College Board AP Theory Exam. 100% of the 18 students taking the test passed the test with a score of 3 or higher; the national passing rate was 63%. The average FAC score was 4.33 on the AP scale of 5; the national average was 3.07. Congratulations all!
Music Summer Edition, May 2014 17
Digital Filmmaking This past June Digital Filmmaking student Jay Biediger was hired by the Film 2 student Whitaker State Department of Education to run a live camera feed for the Education White was on the red carpet at the and Business Summit which was held at the TD Convention Center. Greenville premiere of Cinema Purgatorio, an independent feature Also in June, Film 3 student James Wiley was commissioned by the film written and produced by his Year of Altruism Committee to produce a film showcasing an art installafather and step mother Chris and tion by renowned street artist Andrew “Gaia” Pisacane. Gaia’s installation Emily White. Whitaker’s student can be seen at 307 Falls St. Wiley’s film can seen at http://youtu.be/ film Between Heaven and Hell ZgF8Y77Ci-4 appears in the movie during a film festival sequence. In July, Film 2 student Sam Wickert traveled to India with the non-profit organization Rice Bowls (http://ricebowls.org) to work as cinematographer, editor and visual effects artist for a short film about a 7-month old baby found on the side of the road. Rice bowls provides food for 52 orphanages worldwide in 8 countries. Wickert was also recently chosen as a top 200 finalist in Project Greenlight. Project Greenlight is a television series that gives first-time filmmakers a chance to direct a feature film. It is produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Sean Bailey, and Chris Moore.
Digital Filmmaking 18 The Fine Arts Center Newsletter
Film 2 student Karly Klaeser recently had an opportunity to attend the 66th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles where she met the producers of Breaking Bad, the cast of Modern Family and The Help’s Octavia Spencer.
Creative Writing This summer FAC Creative Writing seniors Coley Gibson and Julia Brooks, and junior Lindsey Hudson attended summer writing programs at some of the most prestigious schools in the country. Julia and Lindsey both attended the Iowa Young Writer’s Workshop, a two-week residential program held at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. The Workshop accepts approximately twenty-five fiction writers and twenty-five poets every year from an application pool of over 1,500. While there Julia took a multi-genre class with Amy Butcher, an essayist and memoirist who earned her MFA from the prestigious Iowa Workshop and now teaches at Ohio Wesleyan University. Her debut
The Fine Arts Center Partners is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and increasing the visibility of the Fine Arts Center of Greenville County Schools, South Carolina’s oldest public high school program for the performing, literary and visual arts. The Partners is an entirely volunteer-run organization, allowing us to donate 100% of all funds raised directly to the school to help fund the extraordinary arts education offered there. Partners membership is open to parents of past and present FAC students, FAC alumni and all community members who wish to promote the goal of the Fine Arts Center: to provide advanced, comprehensive arts instruction to students who are artistically talented and wish to participate in an intensive, pre-professional program of study in music, dance, theatre, visual art, creative writing or digital filmmaking.
memoir, Visiting Hours; A Memoir of Friendship and Murder, is due out in April from Blue Rivers Press. Lindsey, who attended the second two-week program of the summer, took a multi-genre course with Adam Fell, the author of two poetry collections, Dear Corporation (2013) and I Am Not A Pioneer (2011), both published by H_NGM_N Books. Coley was a student at the Kenyon Young Writers’ Workshop at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, another highly competitive two-week residential program. While there Coley took a multigenre workshop with Andy Grace whose book Shadeland was the winner of the 2008 Ohio State Journal Award in Poetry and
was published by OSU Press. She also took a class on the sonnet taught by Richie Hofman whose first collection of poems, Second Empire, won the 2014 Beatrice Hawley Award and is forthcoming from Alice James Books in November 2015. He is currently a Creative Writing Fellow in Poetry at Emory University in Atlanta. Creative Writing Instructor Sarah Blackman was invited to join the editorial board of the new literary magazine The Cherry Tree as a senior fiction reader. The Cherry Tree is the first journal to be produced by Blackman’s undergraduate alma mater Washington College. The first issue is expected out in February.
FAC students study with world-renowned guest artists and attend seminars and summer intensives, many of which are funded through assistance from the school. FAC graduates attend the most prestigious arts colleges and universities, and alumni have found successful careers on Broadway, as working artists and in other professional settings. Some have even returned as instructors at the Fine Arts Center. The Partners are proud to contribute to the future of the Fine Arts Center and that of arts education in Greenville. Join us by subscribing to our email updates, making a donation, attending our annual gala fundraiser, or volunteering your time. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like to help.
Fine Arts Center Partners facpartners@gmail.com www.fineartscenterpartners.org Find us on Youtube & Facebook
Creative Writing / Partners Summer Edition, May 2014 19
On the covers: At the last spring’s final Strings Chamber Music Concert, local artist, Mark Mulfinger— an artist represented in our permanent collection—was observed by Dr. Fluhrer drawing in his sketchbook. He asked Mark it he could have the sketches and reproduce them for our first newsletter. The ‘cellist is Stephen Hawkey, the violinist, Paul Aguilar, both of whom have graduated. Mark’s daughter, Lydia is a current student in the Strings Chamber Music program.