3 Contact Madeline Rardin, rardimr@millsaps.edu
A RTS & L IFE
Drummond, Ledbetter, Hewitt display unique collections of talent By Allie Jordan
Drummond’s exhibit “Loosening My Grip,” features a Staff Writer variety of mediums such as oil paints, oil pastels and colAs the spring semester laged letters on stonehenge. comes to a close, seniors Sue Drummond’s works hope to Carrie Drummond, Jade “provide a space onto which Hewitt and Samantha Ledviewers can project their own better are prepare for their fithoughts and experiences.” nal Senior Art Exhibit gallery However, Drummond contalk in the Lewis Art Gallery. nected with her art through Their diverse and intuitive exploring her personal reart exhibits will be displayed lationships with others. Her until April 17, and the gallery work attempts to emotiontalk featuring a discussion ally affect the audience with with the artists will be held on her skillfully crafted color Friday, April 14 at 2 p.m. schemes and drawings. After asking artist SamanUpon viewing the stutha Ledbetter about her inspidents’ creative stylings, they ration for her series of pieces will not only give insight broadly entitled “Geometric into the artist’s inventive Identity and the Flower of intuition but perhaps inLife,” she responded, “I needsight into larger-scale pated a vehicle for my own proterns and lessons within life. jections.” Ledbetter artistically Though these students’ exapplied this geometric pattern hibits will be gone in just a of creation to her work with short while, another Senior Photo by Genny Santos the message in mind that, “if Art Exhibit featuring stuwe can remember that there Students are invited to tour the first installment of the 2012 senior art exhibit. dents Lura Glatzer, Ksenyia is an infinite pattern to evHewitt, on the other hand, convey the message that, “Even are constructed in both black Savelyeva and Masaki Fang will erything in front of us, we can sticks to photographic stylings though we have consistently and white and color and feature be displayed April 23- May 12. recall that we, too, are limitless.” in her exhibit, “Ends of the Spec- lost in our lives, in numerous portraits of cafeteria workers, Ledbetter’s art features bright trum.” Hewitt’s work features a facets, those losses are about the Millsaps students and military watercolors, acrylics and inks series of portraits that hope to experience.” The photographs personnel. on yupo mediums.
Mississippi on the big screen By Kristen Lucas Staff Writer
Are you a sucker for romantic comedies? Do you dig a groovy music video? Or are you dying to watch a documentary on a screen larger than your laptops? The 13th annual Crossroads Film Festival is coming to Madison’s Malco Grandview Theater April 13-15. The festival will screen over a wide variety of short and feature length films, over 30 music videos, and host workshops, filmmaker question and answer sessions, after parties and more. Nina Parikh teaches Beginning Filmmaking at Millsaps and works for the Mississippi Film Commission. She describes how Crossroads has evolved. “As one of the 6 co-founders of the festival and society and still an active volunteer, I’m amazed at how much we’ve grown in 13 years. When we started, we were turning over every rock in the state to put Mississippi films on the screen. This year we’re showing about
140 projects, about 70 of them have a Mississippi connection and over 20 of them were shot in the state,” says Parikh. Chris Myers has been volunteering with Crossroads for six years and currently serves as the festival’s art director. “What I always tell people is that if you like good movies, you’ll love the festival. First, like a wine-tasting, it’s easier to compare films when you can watch several at the same time. Second, with filmmakers and actors in attendance at the festival, our guests are able to take a step behind the scenes and gain a deeper understanding of the process. We always have question and answer sessions after our films, and the discussions are frequently very interesting. My advice to those who have never attended is to pick a block of short films that sounds interesting to you. You’ll get a good sampling of lots of styles and subjects,” says Meyers. “The goals of both the festival and the society are to bring independent film to central Mississippi and to promote and encourage film-making
within the state and region. The festival provides an outlet for independent filmmakers that wouldn’t exist otherwise in the area,” states Myers. “I’m definitely encouraged by the Crossroads venue to make something for a larger audience to see. And seeing your work on the big screen is a thrill,” says Dr. Smith. Dr. Steve Smith will be premiering his music video “The Jackson Rag” at this year’s festival. “I’m writing and recording music all the time anyway. This is an interesting way to use music, and editing video with music can be extremely satisfying,” says Smith. The Jackson Rag was made entirely with resources available to students at Millsaps: a digital video camera from the library and Final Cut editing software on one of the digital art lab’s Mac computers. This will be his second time to bring his work to Crossroads. “The Halls of Montezuma’s Academe,” a short film shot entirely on the Millsaps campus, screened at the festival in 2005. Jade Hewitt is a senior art ma-
jor who plans to pursue a career in film. She said, “Crossroads is an amazing film festival, and I was so lucky to have the opportunity to show my films there for the past two years. The festival gets bigger and bigger every year, and as a filmmaker, you want as many people to see your films as possible,” says Hewitt. Last year, Crossroads screened “Ice Baths.” Hewitt’s short experimental film about what is feels like to take an ice bath. “It was great to see the reactions from the audience - some people were appalled, some were shaking, and some were just stunned that people sit in almost freezing water,” More than just an opportunity to screen her own films, Crossroads allows Hewitt to engage with other filmmakers “As a filmmaker, one of the best ways to learn is to watch other peoples’ films. This year, Crossroads is showing “Rites of Spring” and “The Skinny,” which look really good. I always attend the block of Mississippi
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