Arts 2012 | Bates

Arts 2012

COVE R An actor, singer and dancer, Ashley Booker ’12 was one of the student performers in the Bates production of Home, Among Other Transitional Places during Short Term 2012. Integrating dance, drama, poetry and video, Home was adapted from a libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Directed by Senior Lecturer in Theater Katalin Vecsey and with choreography and video design by Assistant Professor of Dance Rachel Boggia, Home was the first origiVase set, soda-fired stoneware with platinum-based nal mainstage theater-dance luster, by Paul Heroux. Photograph by the artist.

collaboration from the Department

of Theater and Dance, formed after the creation of a dance major at the college in 2011. An artist in residence at Bates, Joseph worked with faculty and students at the start of the production.

“It’s so rare to be able to work with the playwright or originator of a text,” Boggia reflects.

“We’re stronger together,” says Odelle Bowman, executive director of L/A Arts, the local arts agency for Lewiston and Auburn.

“I’m a collaborator by nature. If we operate from generosity of spirit, then, when we least expect it, one of us will have something the other needs. And vice versa.”

Over and over again, we’ve seen the truth of Odelle’s words and the many benefits of working together.

The very existence of this Arts | Bates booklet is one such demonstration. It’s a product of the Bates Arts Collaborative, a consortium of faculty, staff and students that has transformed the campus arts community. The collaborative has worked together to raise the profile of the arts, forge new relationships and initiate such bold undertakings as the annual Bates Arts Crawl (returning again in January 2013).

Cooperation across disciplines is much in evidence this fall, centered around the innovative Museum of Art exhibition Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography. Performances of the play 1000 Airplanes on the Roof by Thomas Holmberg ‘13 will be embellished by images from the exhibition, as well as new music by Bates composer Bill Matthews.

Another Bates composer, Hiroya Miura, premieres a piece inspired by Starstruck in a December concert by the Momenta Quartet.

Performing excerpts from ancient Greek poetry and drama, Aquila actors will strike up discussions with residents about themes relevant to their lives: war and the personal struggles reflected in these classic plays.

Coinciding with Aquila’s residency is a visit by Brian Turner, a veteran of U.S. Army service in Iraq who has earned renown as a poet. The college’s Language Arts Live program presents a reading by him on Sept.

27, but L/A Arts and the Lewiston Public Library also have a hand in bringing him to Lewiston. He will read at the library on Sept. 28.

Yet another collaboration is helping make these community efforts possible. The Arts Collaborative received a programming grant from the college’s Harward Center for Community Partnerships — the office that facilitates community-based learning and service work — to support four residencies.

Along with Aquila and Turner, they are visits by photographer Dawoud Bey, who was here early in the year, and choreographer Tiffany Rhynard — both artists known for work that strengthens the bonds of community and citizenship.

As a pianist, I can say that it’s the collaboration between the players on the stage and their listeners that brings a performance to life. And so the final collaboration I’d like to talk about is the one you’re considering right now, as you contemplate learning more about — perhaps even joining — the diverse and dynamic world of the arts at Bates.

I’ll simply say: You’ll be glad you did.

Moreover, Bates has always looked beyond campus in its efforts to advance the arts, joining hands with artists and presenters in Lewiston-Auburn and farther afield.

For several winters, dancers from Bates and the region have joined forces downtown for the aptly named F.A.B. concert. Just last May, Mikey Pasek ’12 and Megan Murphy ’13 rallied Twin Cities students and entrepreneurs for “College Night in Town,” a new celebration of food, the arts and great times that was a smashing success.

— Jim Parakilas, Chair, Bates Arts Collaborative

and James L. Moody, Jr. Family

Professor of Performing Arts

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And Odelle’s voice on this page is no coincidence.

The long relationship between Bates and L/A Arts has gained a new intensity in recent months, as you’ll see in late September. That’s when we’ll jointly present the famed Aquila Theatre, known for performances that rekindle the original excitement of stage classics.

Aquila’s residency includes two performances at Bates (see Theater + Dance), but another highlight takes place at the Lewiston Public Library. If all performance is about communication, Aquila will give its audience a stronger voice than usual through Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives: Poetry-DramaDialogue.

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Take jazz. “The story of jazz is a microcosm of the broader history of race in the U.S.,” says Dale Chapman of the music faculty.

“Jazz artists developed models of musical interaction that can be seen as responses to the changing dynamics of social possibility.”

Gina Fatone teaches Indonesian gamelan, percussion music very surprising to Western ears. “The very structure of gamelan music, in which a single melody is divided up among players, requires a degree of selflessness and cooperation that’s infrequent in our culture,” she explains. “It’s a different way of being in the world.”

But music also opens up worlds we already know. Even after a lifetime hearing music played behind films and video, students still find much to learn in Hiroya Miura’s course Music and Cinema — the subtle ways that music, as he says, can be “a sneaky manipulator.”

Bill Matthews’ course Computers, Music and the Arts unlocks the newest musical tools. “Computer music allows students with no traditional musical background to make compelling work,” Matthews says.

Whatever a student’s musical passion, it has a channel at Bates.

Departmental ensembles run the gamut — choir, orchestra, fiddle and jazz bands, a Caribbean-based steel pan band, as well as the gamelan orchestra.

Student players and singers grow through one-on-one instruction — with the caliber of the applied music faculty exemplified by artist-in-residence Frank Glazer, a pianist of international acclaim whose 2012–13 concert season (see below) surveys his three decades at Bates.

The Olin Concert Hall also presents visiting artists both emerg-

Hiroya Miura leads the Bates College Orchestra in performance. ing and famous, from classicists like Jeremy Denk to R&B singer Francine Reed. And Bates music reaches the community through BatesDowntown concerts featuring local musicians and the Rollin’ to Olin programs for school kids (see Bates College Museum of Art).

PLAN TO ATTEND Listed concerts take place in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St., Lewiston.

Most concerts are free. Purchase seats for ticketed events: batestickets.com.

This is a listing of concert highlights.

Events may be changed, canceled or added — confirm concert information before you go: bates.edu/events/concerts • 207-786-6135 • olinarts@bates.edu

SEPTEMBER Sept. 14 Frank Glazer Retrospective, Program I Friday at 7:30pm An artist in residence at the college since 1980, internationally renowned pianist Frank Glazer dedicates this season to a survey of music from his most cherished Bates programs.

Tonight: music by Handel, Mozart, Debussy, Chopin and Beethoven — the Pathétique sonata.

Free, but tickets required

Sept. 29 An Evening of Chamber Music Saturday at 7:30pm Four friends — pianist Jim Parakilas of Bates, violinist Mary Hunter, cellist Steve Witkin and violist Heather Cook — perform music by Mozart, ^ Fauré and Dvorák, including the beloved “Dumky” piano trio.

Free, but tickets required

Jennifer Boxley

Music

Music is a universal part of human experience. Nearly everyone finds meaning in music — and for nearly everyone, music is also a means for better understanding other people.

Appearing at Bates on Oct. 13, singer Francine Reed “can do it all” (allmusic.com).

year ago, the openhearted, fullthroated Reed is keeping the golden age of R&B alive. Co-presented with L/A Arts.

Admission fee

Oct. 21 Alexandre Tharaud Pianist Sunday at 7:30pm “Tharaud is unfailingly responsive to melodic nuance,” wrote the BBC Music Magazine. “But there is also immense power . . .” A program of Scarlatti, Ravel, Chopin and Liszt.

Admission fee

NOVEMBER Nov. 2 Europa Galante Friday at 7:30pm This Baroque music ensemble from Italy is known for renditions of music by Vivaldi, Handel and Scarlatti, among many others.

Admission fee

Nov. 9 Frank Glazer Retrospective, Program III Friday at 7:30pm See Sept. 14. Tonight: Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales, along with music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin.

Free, but tickets required

Nov. 10 Bates College Orchestra

OCTOBER Oct. 6 Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Saturday at 7:30pm Directed by Hiroya Miura.

Free, but tickets required

More About Frank Glazer Born in 1915, this renowned pianist first performed in the 1920s. His book A Philosophy of Artistic Performance appeared in June 2012.

Nov. 30–Dec. 1 Bates College Choir

Dec. 4 Momenta Quartet

Friday–Saturday at 8pm Directed by John Corrie.

Free, but tickets required

Tuesday at 7:30pm Momenta performs both classics and today’s works — such as tonight’s premiere, commissioned from Bates composer Hiroya Miura in conjunction with the Museum of Art exhibition Starstruck.

Admission fee

Dec. 2 Frank Glazer Retrospective, Program IV Sunday at 3pm See Sept. 14. Tonight: The program takes a modernist turn with Copland, Gershwin and Barber, along with music by Franck and Brahms.

Free, but tickets required

Dec. 5 Bates Jazz Band Wednesday at 7pm Directed by Tom Snow.

Free, but tickets required

Saturday at 7:30 pm One of America’s most compelling pianists, Jeremy Denk is among the CMS players in a Parents & Family Weekend program featuring music

by Bruch, Brahms and Dohnányi.

Admission fee

Friday at 7:30pm See Sept. 14. Tonight: Schoenberg’s Six Short Pieces, along with music

by Schubert, Brahms and Chopin.

Free, but tickets required

Oct. 13 Francine Reed Blues, Gospel and Jazz Saturday at 7:30pm A hit at the Olin Concert Hall a

Two photos: Simone Schriger ‘14

Oct. 12 Frank Glazer Retrospective, Program II

Bates makes music: At left, Tom Snow leads the Bates Jazz Band. At right, singer Julia Hanlon ’14.

Theater+Dance

Above, Hanna Allerton ’15 plays Nora and Sam Metzger ’14 plays Torvald in the Bates production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.

Boundaries offer opportunities in the Bates Department of Theater and Dance.

Students feel the fire of creating new work, but also fuel themselves by studying dance and drama made by others. They learn to harmonize mental and physical

discipline to give the performing mind a perfect expressive instrument. They discover the history, theory and literature of the stage, as found in diverse cultures.

For instance, Bates students can study theater in Budapest and London — or encounter the Chinese

“We were all expected to work at a high professional level, even in the fun, relaxed atmosphere that Bates can be.”

— Andrew Haserlat ’05, actor-director-stage designer stage right at Bates, through a course taught by Xing Fan. “The Chinese concept of acting embraces song, speech, dance, acting and combat,” says Fan. “Students quickly realize that we’re dealing with a different type of performance tradition.”

Shlesma Chhetri ’12 performs during Asia Night 2012.

In theater and dance alike, visiting artists bring new worlds of experience. Coming to the signature course Dance Repertory Performance this autumn is Tito Del Saz, artistic director of the Nikolais Louis Foundation for Dance, who will teach Alwin Nikolais’ masterpiece “Tensile Involvement.” The course also welcomes activist–movement artist Tiffany Rhynard and hip hop specialist Robin Sanders. continued

Seven times since 1999, faculty members Katalin Vecsey and Martin

Photo: Simone Schriger ‘14

Andrucki have brought students to study theater and film in Hungary and the Czech Republic during Short Term, Bates’ spring semester. Benefits

ArtsProfile Amna Ilyas ’13 “Music has always been one of my greatest passions,” says Amna Ilyas ’13, who has studied and performed traditional South Asian music since age 6.

Bates opened new musical worlds to Ilyas — and she has been a broker for cultural exchange at Bates. “Never having been out of Pakistan, and living in a small city, I did not have much exposure to nonnative forms of music,” she says.

But here, she has performed with the College Choir and with the Gamelan Orchestra, learning both Western and Indonesian musical practices. At the same time, she has found ways to share her own music with the Bates community.

Ilyas has performed on campus at Asia Night and the International Coffee House.

She describes performing the Hamd and Naat (Islamic songs praising God and the Prophet Muhammad) in the College Chapel as a “spiritually touching moment.”

“I have grown up singing these songs and they are very close to my heart,” she says. “I never expected that I would get an opportunity to sing them at Bates.”

“Amna’s willingness to share the music of Pakistan speaks directly to the Bates mission of engagement with the wider world,” says her adviser Gina Fatone, associate professor of music.

At home in Pakistan during summer 2012, Ilyas conducted ethnomusicological research on the Hamd and Naat, which she intends to turn into an honors thesis this year. She hopes her work will create broader awareness of the genres beyond South Asia — just as Bates has broadened her own musical scope.

“It is only the liberal arts education at Bates that has given me confidence and freedom to explore my interests and study musical areas that are totally new to me.”

of the experience include exposure to repertory theater, which is more common in Central Europe than here.

Photo: Jason Smikle/Mainstream

Theater+Dance

ArtsProfile Dawoud Bey Photography, says Dawoud Bey, “is a way of bringing the human community into a conversation with itself. It’s a way of allowing the viewer to see some piece of themselves through an intimate visual description of another human being.”

Bey, a master of photographic portraiture, will share his sense of art and social awareness with the campus and the Lewiston-Auburn community as an artist in residence at Bates during Short Term 2013.

The residency, organized by the Bates College Museum of Art and funded in part by a Harward Center grant dedicated to the arts, will be Bey’s third visit since 2010.

“Bey is known for projects that seek to connect people as much as portray them,” says museum Director Dan Mills. The photographer hopes to create a studio in an empty section of a former textile mill — once part of Lewiston’s economic engine.

Bey points out that photographer Lewis Hine, known for images of child labor that were an important force for labor reform in the early 20th century, shot some of his work in the Lewiston mills.

Photographing today’s residents “will provide an opportunity to talk about history, and community both past and present,” he says. “I want the history of the space to wrap itself around the current population.”

Bey began his photography career in 1975 with the acclaimed series Harlem, USA (a retrospective of which was on display during summer 2012 at The Art Institute of Chicago). In later years, he became known for his work photographing youth.

An exhibition based on Class Pictures, a series depicting students from across the country, toured nationally in 2011. His book Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey was published by Aperture in 2007.

“Dawoud is a stunning artist whose photography seeks to challenge our assumptions and bridge our differences,” says Roland Davis ‘92, a former Bates staffer who helped bring Bey here in 2012.

“He demands that we look closely at our preconceptions about people, because often there’s so much more than what we see.”

“Visiting artists expanded our visions of dance, our ideas, our knowledge,” says dance alumna Marlee Weinberg ’10. “And they are lifelong contacts for those pursuing dance as a career,” adds Bates dance director Carol Dilley.

In theater this fall, guest artist Peter Richards will direct both actors and dancers in Charles Mee’s Big Love. The renowned Aquila Theatre will present selections from its touring repertoire during a residency co-produced by Bates and the local arts organization L/A Arts.

All in all, faculty and students produce more than a dozen plays, dance concerts, films and other projects each year. And additional performances by such student groups as the Robinson Players, Sangai Asia and Dynasty offer a dynamic reflection of the cultural diversity at Bates (see More of the Arts at Bates).

Seven times since Photo: William Federking

PLAN TO ATTEND Performances take place in Schaeffer Theatre, the Black Box Theater downstairs and in Pettigrew Hall’s Gannett Theater — all at 305 College St. See a complete schedule of dance and theater productions, and purchase tickets: batestickets.com Except as noted, admission is $6 for the general public and $3 for senior citizens and non-Bates students.

Learn more: 207-786-6161.

Bates Dance Festival The Bates Dance Festival is known internationally as a

Vecsey and Martin Andrucki have brought students to study theater and film in Hungary and the Czech Republic during Short Term, Bates’ spring

dance. For six weeks each

semester. Benefits

a community of dance

of the experience

students, teachers and

include exposure to

artists who gather for

repertory theater,

training, creative residencies and performances.

which is more

Dance artists thrive on the

common in Central

festival’s egalitarianism and

Europe than here.

commitment to providing a safe, supportive space for creative experimentation.

Three distinct training programs serve more than 340 participants of all ages.

A requirement for the Bates dance major is enrollment for at least one summer of the festival, providing an intense immersion in professional dance.

Photo: Authur Fink

members Katalin

presenter of contemporary summer, Bates becomes

Performances are enhanced with free lectures and demonstrations. In 2013, featured artists include the Bebe Miller Company and Bridgman/Packer Dance.

Above: Bates dancers perform Lauren Christianson’s senior thesis piece in 2012.

Top: Bates Dance Festival artists Angie Hauser and Chris Aiken.

1999, faculty

Learn more: batesdancefestival.org

OCTOBER

Friday and Saturday at noon Featuring new works in progress and the return of Alwin Nikolais’ seminal “Tensile Involvement,” a dance making inventive use of giant elastic bands.

Schaeffer Theatre Free, no reservations

Oct. 25–27 1000 Airplanes on the Roof

By David Henry Hwang

SEPTEMBER Sept. 27 Cyrano de Bergerac

By Edmond Rostand Thursday at 7:30pm As part of the residency co-sponsored with L/A Arts (see Welcome), Aquila Theatre performs this classic story of unrequited love. Cyrano is beautifully funny, poignant and often heart-wrenching; one of the most famous romantic adventures in world literature.

Schaeffer Theatre $15 (limited number of free tickets for Bates students)

Sept. 28 Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives: Poetry, Drama, Dialogue

Thursday–Saturday at 7:30pm Thomas Holmberg ’13 takes on this challenging solo performance of alien encounter. Directed by Kati Vecsey of the theater faculty, featuring new music by professor Bill Matthews, and incorporating images from the Museum of Art astrophotography exhibition Starstruck.

Schaeffer Theatre

NOVEMBER Nov. 1–5 Big Love

By Charles Mee Thursday–Saturday, Monday at 7:30pm Saturday and Sunday at 2pm A modern adaptation of The Suppliant Maidens by Aeschylus, brought to life by New York-based guest director Peter Richards.

Schaeffer Theatre

Photo: Authur Fink

Theater+Dance

Aquila Theatre

Oct. 5–6 Parents & Family Weekend Dance Concert

Friday at 7pm The horrors of war are just as relevant to military veterans today as they were 2,500 years ago. Aquila Theatre invites a community conversation through excerpts from Homer’s Odyssey, Sophocles’ Ajax, Aeschylus’ Persians, and Euripides’ Herakles and The Trojan Women.

Lewiston Public Library 200 Lisbon St. Free, no reservations

Sept. 29 Taming of the Shrew

By William Shakespeare Saturday at 7:30pm Beautiful Bianca cannot be courted until her elder sister Katherina finds a husband, but she scares off any suitor that comes near. Enter Petruchio, hired to seduce and “tame” Katherina. A timeless battle of the sexes performed

by Aquila Theatre.

Schaeffer Theatre $15 (limited number of free tickets for Bates students) Above, Singha Hon ’14 portrayed Mindy and Caitlyn DeFiore ’12 was Meredith in Alan Ball’s play Five Women Wearing the Same Dress.

DECEMBER Dec. 3 Dance Composition Showing Monday at 5pm A presentation of new student choreography from the course Introduction to Dance Composition.

Plavin Studio

Dec. 4 Directing Class Projects Tuesday at 7:30pm See Nov. 13.

Schaeffer Theatre

Dec. 5 Voice and Speech Performance Wednesday at 7:30pm Students in Senior Lecturer Katalin Vecsey’s voice and speech course perform their final project.

Gannett Theater

Dec. 7–9 Collected Stories

By David Margulies Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm Sunday at 2pm A play exploring a moral dilemma: Can one person’s life can be the material for another person’s art?

The cast features Mary Meserve, director of Human Resources, and Elizabeth Danello ’14.

Black Box Theater

Nov. 10–12 Bates Dance Company Saturday at 5pm Sunday at 2pm Monday at 7:30pm Presenting new work by Memphis hip hop artist Robin Sanders; Tiffany Rhynard, whose work “interlaces the parameters of activism and art”; and Rachel Boggia, assistant professor of dance.

Schaeffer Theatre

Nov. 13 Directing Class Projects Tuesday at 7:30pm The last in a series of plays from New Mexico’s FUSION Theatre Company, founded by Dennis Gromelski ’88. The plays are directed by students in Professor Paul Kuritz’s directing course.

Gannett Theater Top center: Bridgette Chandhoke ’14 performs a piece she created. Above: Bates dancers perform Alwin Nikolais’ “Tensile Involvement” in 2004.

Art+Visual Culture

In the photos above and on the next AVC page, students majoring in studio art install their work in the Bates College Museum of Art for the 2012 Senior Exhibition.

In his painting courses at Bates, explains Robert Feintuch, “I show students how artists tend to teach themselves by falling in love with other artists’ work.

“Art is made in response to other art, as much as in response to life,” says Feintuch, an internationally known painter. “So it’s important for students to begin to look widely, to educate themselves visually.”

Complementing studio art in the Department of Art and Visual Culture is the curriculum in history and criticism. Here, in courses ranging from Abstract Expressionism to The Art of Zen Buddhism, visual culture becomes a lens to examine history, society, religion, gender and sexuality — and much more.

Six faculty in studio practice prepare students to work in painting, drawing, photography, ceramics, sculpture, printmaking and art installation. Five other faculty members teach courses on the visual cultures of Africa, Asia, the Islamic world, Europe and the Americas from ancient times to today.

While preparing students for careers throughout the field, the art and visual culture faculty also contributes insight into both analytical practice and studio work to the larger college curriculum.

Lectures by visiting artists and historians, many of them alumni, are open to the public. Speakers have included video artist and Whitney Biennale star Kate Gilmore ’97, Harvard University art conservator Christopher Sokolowski ’90, and Helen Evans, the Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Pianist Frank Glazer, Photo courtesy of Andrew Haserlat

artist in residence, has celebrated some remarkable anniversaries at Bates, including the 70th anniversary of his New York debut, in 2006, and the 80th

ArtsProfile Andrew Haserlat ’05 Andrew Haserlat ’05 is speaking after an exciting evening on the job.

Directing a New York City production of Bye Bye Birdie, he spent an evening rehearsal choreographing the show’s biggest number. “I was so excited because I was able to tell a story through all three of my favorite mediums: acting, singing and dance,” he says.

That versatility made Haserlat a legend in Bates theater circles. As props master for the theater department, “he took pride in researching and fabricating a ’60s hearing aid, for instance,” says Michael Reidy, senior lecturer and managing director in theater and dance.

“A few times he would wear as many hats as possible in a show — directing, designing the production, starring in it,” says Reidy. And Bates, says Haserlat, fully supported this voracious exploration of his interests.

His education in one particular discipline, though, helped Haserlat land a most prestigious role: playing the Scarecrow in a production of The Wizard of Oz that visited more than 75 U.S. cities in 2010–11. (He did a second national tour, playing Harry in My Fair Lady, in 2011–12.)

Where others seeking the role played up physical comedy, Haserlat, looking at the Scarecrow’s relationship with Dorothy, worked with the director over a series of callbacks to sculpt the character.

“Using acting skills that I learned at Bates, I developed the Scarecrow into more than just a simple someone,” he says.

If Oz looms largest on Haserlat’s action-packed resume, it’s the sum of all the parts that may be most impressive. He’s a member of a relatively rare species in New York: someone earning a full-time living in theater.

And again, that ties back to Bates, he says. “We were all expected to work at a high professional level, even in the fun, relaxed atmosphere that Bates can be at times.

Now, when I get into a project, I want to give it 115 percent.”

anniversary of his first performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1, in 2009.

Glazer was 13 when he first performed the Mendelssohn.

Art+Visual Culture

ArtsProfile Laura Faure “I feel that I’m very much a choreographer in a way,” says Laura Faure, “and the Bates Dance Festival is my choreography.”

A teaching and performing festival considered one of the nation’s top three, her summer masterpiece this year celebrated its 30th anniversary and Faure’s 25th as executive director. And what a work it has been.

During her tenure, the BDF has doubled in length to six weeks and expanded from 50 students to 340. Rivaling anything in the major cities, the festival performance series features both emerging dancers, such as Kyle Abraham, and national names like Bebe Miller and Larry Keigwin.

The festival bears Faure’s distinctive stamp, Keigwin says. He ought to know. He has grown up professionally here, starting out as a student, ultimately performing with his acclaimed Keigwin + Company as part of the 30th anniversary festivities.

Faure fosters an environment where creativity thrives, he says. “Laura is very aware of positive reinforcement and the possibilities of maturing in a non-competitive environment.

“She brings a playful and creative spirit that is unlike anywhere I have ever been.”

Trained as a dancer, Faure had an early career marked by variety (including a stint in farming) and an interest in the interactions between dance and other spheres. “I’ve always been interested in connecting the dots, and in how seemingly divergent things come together,” she says.

So when the offer to direct the festival came along, in 1987, it was a made-inheaven opportunity to connect the dots of her own life. “I realized that everything I had ever done I could apply to the festival,” she says.

“It was the perfect job for me, or I was the perfect person for it.”

PLAN TO ATTEND Events sponsored by the Department of Art and Visual Culture take place in the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St., and at other campus locations.

They are usually open to the public at no charge.

Learn more: bates.edu/art-visual-culture

Events

Open Studios and Senior Thesis Exhibition In the fall, senior studio majors began working towards their thesis exhibition, which opens in April 2013 in the Bates College Museum of Art, Olin Arts Center. The majors often hold open studios to show work in progress to fellow students and the public.

Class Work-in-Progress Installations Students in a course often stage events and install work for public exhibition. Examples include an installation marking the International Day of Climate Action and A Series of Unfortunate Ideas, presented by a visual-meaning class in the New Commons Building.

Artist Visits Artists invited to work with classes frequently offer public lectures.

In 2012, a featured speaker was Xiaoze Xie, a renowned artist whose work appeared at the Bates College Museum of Art in Amplified Moments (1993-2008).

Lectures by Visiting Historians and Critics In connection with courses, and in collaboration with other programs and the Museum of Art, the department hosts leading curators and other scholars who provide public lectures. Speakers have included: Susan L. Ward, art historian at the Rhode Island School of Design; and Thomas Denenberg ’90, director of the Shelburne Museum, in Vermont.

Pianist Frank Glazer, artist in residence,

Photo: Dan Mills

Fall events are rooted in our teaching and are often announced at short notice. Please watch the Bates events site (bates.edu/events/) for announcements of lectures and exhibitions — including the following types of activity that are usually offered at the Olin Arts Center:

has celebrated some remarkable

“Artists tend to teach themselves by falling in love with other artists’ work.”

— Robert Feintuch, internationally known painter and senior lecturer in art and visual culture at Bates

Alumni in the Arts In addition to visits by practicing artists, the department, with the Museum of Art, presents talks by graduates working in the field.

These have included Victoria Browning Wyeth ’01, an authority on the renowned paintings of her grandfather, Andrew Wyeth, and of her uncle, Jamie Wyeth; Joshua Holdeman ’93, international director of contemporary art at Christie’s; and Brandy Gibbs-Riley ’96 — a faculty member at Colby-Sawyer College and a graphic designer whose clients include IBM, PepsiCo, Duracell and Johnson & Johnson.

Presentations by Interns and Grant Awardees Connected with their work at Bates, students often receive internships at auction houses, galleries and such leading museums as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Smithsonian; and in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Frick Collection. These students, as well as Bates Museum of Art interns and students who have conducted independent projects off campus, describe their work in talks presented to the campus community and the public.

anniversaries at Bates, including the 70th anniversary of his New York debut, in 2006, and the 80th anniversary of his first performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1, in 2009.

Glazer was 13 when he first performed the Mendelssohn.

collection in programming for the public schools. Such as the Thousand Words Project (see below) or Rollin’ to Olin, an art-and-music program for fourth-graders that’s open to the public, too.

What had been written about the genre’s artistic side? And had similar exhibitions been done, or would Bates be boldly going where none had gone before?

In addition, the Global Lens film series returns this fall. “Bates is the Maine presenter of these international films, which premiere at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, then tour throughout North America,” says MoA Director Dan Mills. The films are incorporated into the Bates curriculum, but are also open to the public at no cost.

That difficult but essential research ended up in the hands of MoA intern Charlotte Weidlein ’09 — just one example of the important work at the museum done by student interns in varied disciplines. Encompassing all kinds of projects at the museum, even organizing exhibitions, their work supports museum operations.

But it’s also a valuable part of their Bates academic experience.

“It’s a fine opportunity to do preprofessional work in a museum setting,” says William Low, MoA curator. “They receive access to collections and professional training.”

For students considering any kind of visual arts career, “knowing how museums work will be an asset,” adds Shostak. Weidlein, in fact, now works at the New York auction house Sotheby’s.

Just as the MoA serves the College’s academic mission, it’s an important educational resource for the region, using its world-class exhibitions and

The museum is widely esteemed for its ambitious, adventuresome exhibitions. Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography, one of the first-ever exhibitions to explore the artistry of astrophotography, speaks to humanity’s long fascination with the heavens. Starstruck presents more than 100 images by 37 artists, including world-renowned astrophotographers and contemporary artists, as well as 20th-century photographic pioneer Alfred Stieglitz.

The exhibition’s substantial and beautiful catalog presents new scholarship for this rapidly evolving field. Starstruck is also the object of exciting interdisciplinary collaborations at Bates. Learn more below and in the Music and Theater + Dance sections — and watch bates.edu/museum.

...From The Permanent Collection This ceramic stirrup vessel is one of nearly 150 pre-Columbian artifacts donated to the Museum of Art by David Whitehouse ’36 and his wife Constance. Representing a variety of ancient cultures from Mexico to Argentina, the collection includes ceramic vessels and figures, as well as textiles and jewelry. This beautiful depiction of a sleeping warrior reveals the technique and aesthetic for which Moche ceramics are known. This collection has become an important resource for courses at Bates from anthropology to art and visual culture to music.

PLAN TO ATTEND The Bates College Museum of Art is located in the Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St. Except as noted, there is no charge for museum admission.

Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday– Friday (until 6 p.m. Wednesdays during the academic year). Learn more: 207-786-6158 • bates.edu/ museum

Photo: Seth Shostak

Museum of Art

As Anthony Shostak, the Bates College Museum of Art’s Curator of Education, began organizing the 2012 exhibition Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography, he had questions.

Douglas Vakoch of the SETI Institute.

EVENTS Sept. 7 Lecture, Reception and Star Party With J. Kelly Beatty Friday at 6pm J. Kelly Beatty is a senior contributing editor for Sky & Telescope magazine, and chairs the New England Light Pollution Advisory Group.

Weather permitting, a star-watching party follows.

Olin 104 and Museum of Art

Oct. 27 Homecoming Weekend Lecture, Reception and Star Party Saturday at 2:30pm Boston-based photographer Sharon Harper discusses her works in Starstruck and her forthcoming book. A reception takes place at 3:30 and, weather permitting, a star-watching party follows.

Olin 104 and Museum of Art

Oct. 6 Parents & Family Weekend Lecture, Reception and Star Party

Nov. 3 Cosmic Questions Lecture and Star Party With Douglas Vakoch, SETI Institute

Saturday at 2:30pm Jeffrey Kenney ’80, professor of astronomy at Yale University, offers a Cosmic Questions talk on how to capture and interpret beautiful images of astronomical objects, and what they teach us. A reception takes place at 3:30 and, weather permitting, a star-watching party follows.

Olin 104 and Museum of Art

Saturday at 6pm The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (aka SETI) seeks evidence of civilizations beyond Earth. The director of interstellar message composition at the SETI Institute explores how we might convey the aesthetics of humanity to extraterrestrials.

Olin 104

Sharon Harper, Sun/Moon (Trying to See through a Telescope), 2010 June 2 3:30:43 AM–3:31:05 AM, Ultrachrome print on Epson Enhanced Matte paper.

Artist Talks and Cosmic Questions Lectures

Solar Telescopic Viewing at noon Wednesdays, in partnership

Rollin’ to Olin Nov. 1, 8 and 15

Dates TBA; please visit bates.edu/ museum.

Jacqueline Woods: West Coast artist Woods discusses her evolution from creating traditional photography with a camera to producing the cameraless photographic monotypes in Starstruck.

Babak Tafreshi: Founder of the website “The World At Night” (twanight.org), Tafreshi is an Iranian-born artist, journalist and advocate for the night sky’s importance to humanity.

Alicia Soderberg ’00: An assistant professor of astronomy at Harvard University, Soderberg offers a Cosmic Questions lecture.

Olin 104

with the physics and astronomy department and the Bates Astronomy Club. Weather permitting.

Beginning Sept. 12.

Thursdays at 12:30pm Open to the public, this arts-literacy program brings local fourth-graders to Bates for visual art presentations and a musical performance.

Other Starstruck Events Oct. 17–20 Astrophotography Workshop With Babak Tafreshi Travel to Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness to image the stars from West Branch Pond Camps for four nights.

For workshop details, please visit: bates.edu/museum.

Star Parties feature telescopic views of the cosmos guided by members of local amateur astronomy clubs.

Please visit bates.edu/museum.

Gallery Talks at 12:30pm Wednesdays, led by MoA education staff and interns.

Beginning Sept. 12.

ONGOING EVENTS Life Drawing Sessions Wednesdays at 6pm Throughout the academic year.

Models, drawing benches and dry media easels provided. $7.

Olin 259

Global Lens Film Series Screening information TBA The 2012 series features films from Albania, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Iran, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda and Turkey. For screening details, please visit: bates.edu/museum

Thousand Words Project This innovative program invites K-12 teachers to connect the visual arts with literacy and other subjects through animations, interviews with artists and writers, and lessons including technology integration strategies.

Learn more: thousandwordsproject.org • 207-753-6904 • 207-786-8302 Museum of Art

“I know that many of the children don’t experience any

Learn more:

of this outside

207-753-6904 • 207-786-8302.

Olin Concert Hall

of school. The exposure to music and art mattered to them.”

— Carmen Dufresne, fourth-grade teacher

Mata Suegra | Emily Cull ’12 It’s the “Mother-in-law killer”, not just a firework but a screeching bundle of light, a man made storm lacerating the sky, a celebrationon so violent

Language Arts Live

that I half expect the stratosphere to collapse on our open faces, the night torn to smitherines

and Richard Ford; Grace Paley, Marge Piercy and Dinaw Mengestu.

Bates alumni who have authored prize-winning first books have also returned to read, such as Jessica Anthony ’96, Christian Barter ’90, Gabriel Fried ’96, Christina Chiu ’91 and Craig Teicher ’01.

nothing but black dust

PLAN TO ATTEND

where constellations used to be

from a street vendor with a dilapidaded wooden cart

Language Arts Live readings are held in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave., and are open to the public free of charge.

of snacks and pyrotechnics

Learn more:

“We’ve got terrorism in our pockets,” Tonio laughs,

207-786-6256 • 207-784-0416

and I can’t help thinking of surrender,

SEPTEMBER

We buy coke, chips, and la mata suegra

about the white t-shirt that Tonio once told me hung from the window of his family’s apartment, their own message of fear and defeat to the Shining Path, as if that might protect their neighborhood from car bombings and kidnappings, as if they had any say at all in their own survival.

But I just laugh with him, watching him ignite his own colorful bombs, fireworks like exploding comets leaking conterfeit light all over the ground, because what do I know about perishing or white flags or terrorists who kill with kitchen knives

Sept. 27 Poetry Reading

By Brian Turner Thursday at 7:30pm Formerly an infantry team leader in Iraq, Turner has two collections published by Alice James Books, Phantom Noise (2010) and the prizewinning Here, Bullet (2005). He appeared in Operation Homecoming, a documentary exploring the experiences of military personnel. Presented in collaboration with L/A Arts.

so as not to waste bullets,

OCTOBER

because the biggest problem on my street growing up

Oct. 24 Fiction Reading

By Sarah Braunstein

was the golden retreiver that ravaged front yards, digging up all the flower beds.

The idea is to challenge students out of their habitual approaches to the page.

— Robert Farnsworth, poet and senior lecturer in English • Research the science and the literature pertaining to a particular animal, and then write a poem about it.

Wednesday at 7:30pm Author of the novel The Sweet Relief of Missing Children (W.W. Norton, 2011), Braunstein was one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” fiction writers. Based in Portland, she teaches in the University of Southern Maine’s lowresidency MFA program.

• Take an old or abandoned poem, and, line by line, write its opposite.

NOVEMBER

• Write a poem about an outcast from a group, and draw on your own dread of expulsion and exclusion.

Nov. 8 Poetry Reading

By Richard Blanco

Those are among suggested exercises for students in Advanced Poetry Writing, taught by Robert Farnsworth. The idea, says Farnsworth, is to “locate resistances, and work them — to challenge students out of their habitual approaches to the page.”

The course opens many other routes to successful poetry, too — through intense classroom discussions, close engagement with existing literature, attention to revision and similar activities in tune with the larger goals of a Bates education.

Since 1991, with the establishment of the creative writing concentration as part of a comprehensive English curriculum, the department has hosted public readings and residencies by more than 75 acclaimed poets and writers, including Nobel Prize laureates Seamus Heaney and Derek Walcott; Pulitzer Prize winners Elizabeth Strout ’77, Yusef Komunyakaa

Thursday at 7:30pm Blanco was conceived in Cuba, born in Madrid and raised in the U.S. His prizewinning books of poetry, City of a Hundred Fires (1998) and Directions to the Beach of the Dead (2005), explore universal themes of identity and homecoming.

The University of Pittsburgh Press published his Looking for The Gulf Motel in February 2012.

More of the Arts at Bates • Bates music professor Bill Matthews composing a new piece for the October 2012 inauguration of Bates President A. Clayton Spencer.

• The Midsummer Lakeside Series whose lively, family-friendly concerts bring locals and visitors alike to the banks of Lake Andrews.

• New internships, made possible by a Bates parent, that enabled a Bates student and a recent graduate to work during summer 2012 at the TacchiMorris Arts Centre in England.

In short, you just can't generalize about the ways Bates people get involved in the performing, literary and visual arts. Not surprisingly, students provide much of the variety.

Take the student dance clubs, whose performances are among the most popular on campus. The Bates Ballroom Society presents a busy schedule of lessons and socials. Sangai Asia and Bates Masti represent Asian traditions.

The dynamic African American step-dance style is front and center courtesy of the Dynasty Step Team. And Sankofa explores the vibrant cultures of the African Diaspora through music, poetry and prose as well as dance.

The clubs are a "dynamic reflection of the cultural diversity of the campus," says dance program director Carol Dilley. That diversity is also reflected by the Freewill Folk Society, whose monthly contradance — a social dance form distinctive to the Northeast — attracts folk dancers from all over the region.

One of the most active student arts organizations is the Robinson Players, founded in the 1920s, whose theatrical offerings run the gamut from traditional musicals to avant-garde one-acts.

Student-edited publications provide contemplative venues for expression and reflection: SEED Magazine for word and image, the photography magazine Blonde and The Garnet, Bates' student literary magazine since 1922.

A regular presence on statewide television, Bates a cappella singing has a long and beloved tradition that began in 1957 with the all-male Deansmen.

Sharing the stage these days are the male Manic Optimists, co-ed ensembles Crosstones and Takenote, and all-female Merimanders. Not strictly a cappella but equally exciting are the Gospelaires.

The student-run radio station, WRBC-FM, is an eclectic outlet for volunteer DJs from Lewiston-Auburn as well as Bates broadcasters. The station, too, sponsors concerts by Maine and national performers. Learn more: bit.ly/ facebook-wrbc.

Also importing top contemporary performers is the Chase Hall Committee, which books such diverse musicians as the Kinsey Sicks, Trey Anastasio and Lupe Fiasco, as well as comedians and magicians. Learn more: bates.edu/chc Beyond the student realm, college offices and academic departments outside the arts often present cultural events of interest to the campus and the Lewiston-Auburn community — such as the Multifaith Chaplaincy's contemplative {Pause} gatherings that feature performances in the Chapel every Wednesday. Learn more: bates.edu/chaplaincy.

Finally, demonstrating just how integral the arts are to the academic enterprise at Bates, signature campus events often incorporate performances, exhibits, screenings and readings.

The evening performance on Martin Luther King Day by Sankofa is always eagerly anticipated. And the Mount David Summit, a showcase of student achievement that's as lofty as the hill for which it's named, includes student photography and literary presentations, and coincides with major performances of dance and music.

2 Andrews Road Lewiston, ME 04240-6028

Held on the banks of Lake Andrews when the Bates campus is at its most beautiful, the free Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series is eagerly awaited by local families, who picnic under the pines while enjoying folk, jazz, brass band and other styles of music.

Š 2012 Bates College Bates Arts Collaborative Designer: Victoria Blaine-Wallace Bates Communications Office: Photographer (except as noted): Phyllis Graber Jensen Writer and Editor: Doug Hubley Writer: Victoria Stanton