Creative and artistic outlets Several exhibits and performances throughout the year showcased the College’s dedication to the visual and performing arts. Marking the Civil War’s 150th anniversary, the Mandeville Gallery mounted a six-week show titled, “Illustrating the War: Selected Engravings from Harper’s Weekly and Leslie’s Illustrated Civil War.” Among the featured artists was Alexander Simplot, Union Class of 1858. Another exhibit, “African Photography: For Whose Eyes?,” included photographs by 15 internationally renowned African artists as well as 80 missionary postcards and scans from the South African magazine Drum. The Department of Visual Arts presented “The Merchant and the Leviathan: Photographs of a Global Shipping Industry,” at the Burns Arts Atrium, an exhibit of work by James Burleigh Morton ’10, a Watson Fellow.
The Theater and Dance Department’s Stephanie C. Davis Dance Residency featured New York City modern dance troupe Monica Bill Barnes & Company. The residency was made possible by a gift from Sue and Gus Davis ’59 of Orange, Conn., in memory of their daughter. Other highlights of the dance program were a French-themed spring dance concert and the Steinmetz dance performance. Among the major theater performances presented at the Yulman Theater this year were the Clifford Odets play “Waiting for Lefty” and a production of Sara Ruhl’s Tony Award-winning “In the Next Room.” The Music Department’s “Taylor Time!” concert series in Emerson Auditorium featured diverse performers prominent in their fields, from Caribbean-influenced duo-pianists to a Balinese master performer to an Israeli cellist. A four-concert series led by Tim Olsen, associate professor of music, was another highlight. The series showcased the evolution of jazz music in conjunction with Olsen’s History of Jazz course.
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