Performed by Margareth Kammerer, All Good Everything Good is director Jay Scheib’s choreographic work based on Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. Kammerer was the sole performer in this “minimal study on the unrequited love disguised as unreasonable revenge” in Clifford Art Gallery, sponsored by Colgate’s Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts.
‘Placebo’ takes effect on Colgate community
20
scene: Summer 2009
Students, faculty, and Hamilton residents packed into the Hamilton Movie Theater at the end of April to see some familiar sights on the big screen. Placebo, a new short film directed by Henry Prince ’07 and produced by Jacob Lindauer ’08, was filmed on and around Colgate’s campus last October. Placebo was a work in progress for 10 months, and the weekend before the showing in Hamilton, it premiered at the Palm Beach International Film Festival in Florida. It was also chosen to be part of the Los Angeles United Film Festival in May. The story line follows a cool con man who travels from one college town to the next selling “drugs.” But he’s not selling the uppers and downers he claims to have; he’s really peddling cold medicine and sugar pills. In the narrative, the main character, Derek, explains that he’s selling the “experience of buying drugs.” His
Amputechture by John Emison ’09
open and full of cement bricks, “as if the cargo space had been filled up with stone,” he described. “I joked that it was the most interesting thing that I saw all day, until I realized that it really was the most interesting thing that I saw,” Emison said. The image stuck with him until he decided to begin executing an art piece. “The final realization of that idea came across very strongly as a tomblike structure within the car, which made sense because of my interest in anthropology and minor in sociology and anthropology. Along with the
Studio Technician, Department of Art and Art History What was your background before coming to Colgate in 2002? I was a Macintosh support technician for a consulting company in the Utica area. I did photography and drafting in high school, and graphic design in college. I worked in the printing field for quite a few years, which led back into graphic design as we got into computer-based design and typesetting.
prehistoric context, there is a material comparison that I find interesting — the stone and the decaying metal, paint, plastic, and glass,” he explained. Emison hopes to leave the piece in a space for several years “where the local vegetation can grow over and around it, allowing the earth to reclaim it, and periodically revisit the piece to see how the car continues to decompose while the stone stays rather unaltered.” To see more senior art projects, visit Arts & Culture at www.colgatealumni. org/scene.
Tell us about your job. I help students with their projects in Video Art, Digital Studio, and studio arts classes, such as with scanning and Photoshop for printmaking. I give demonstrations such as how to use InDesign and our large-format printer to make posters for art history thesis presentations. I do technical and software support for the department — we have an ITS technical support assistant, but they come to me first because I’m right here. I design postcards and brochures. Working with the students is the fun part. I can help them, and it gives me a little bit of a creative outlet. What’s the neatest project with which you’ve ever helped a student? This year, Amanda Katz [’10] has been sculpting a big ship out of welded metal. As part of it, she was working with an outside vendor to rout words into wood. I helped her determine how she could set it up on a computer program for him to create what she wanted.
In the spring University Theater production of The Lady’s Not for Burning, Ela Dugan ’12 (left) played the character Jennet Jourdemayne, who, at the end of the play, has been cleared of charges of witchcraft and convinces Thomas Mendip (played by Alexander Korman ’09, right) to run away with her.
What’s this giant ampersand doing on your table? Lynnette Stephenson [art professor] just gave me that. She had one like it in her office. I was joking with her one day. I told her if she keeps bugging me, I’ll take her ampersand. So she bought me one! I’m kind of an amateur typographer. What do you do when you’re not working? Last year, I started the Kirkland Cyclocross Race (the cycling equivalent to cross country) in Clinton, where I live with my wife, Janice. I’d been involved with cycling for quite a few years. I’ve been a runner even longer — I’ve run four marathons. I just got involved with the Colgate photo club; we’re doing an exhibition in the Barge. What are your go-to websites? Because I’m such a Mac head, MacDailyNews. For cycling information, VeloNews.
Senior art project: Amputechture John Emison ’09 explained that his senior art project, Amputechture, is a “portmanteau of amputate, technology, and architecture.” The idea for Emison’s project was sparked on a trip with his senior studio seminar to the Chelsea galleries in New York City. Between two of the many galleries the class visited that day, he saw a van with its back doors
Andrew Daddio
Warren Wheeler
Get to know: Mark Williams
What three things would you want to have if you were stranded on a desert island? I guess a computer wouldn’t be much good! A bike could serve a dual purpose of transportation and entertainment. A survival manual. Some kind of hunting weapon. I guess I think functionally. Luke Connolly ’09
Derek Soter
pioned the film because they identified with some part of its message. At the screening, the audience was treated to a preview of Ramis’s newest comedy, Year One, which was released June 19. Film students in one of the earlier classes saw 36 minutes of the “biblical comedy,” which stars Jack Black and Michael Cera and is directed by Ramis and produced by Judd Apatow. Ramis also showed a preview to Hamilton Central School students, who were thrilled to have a chance to spend an afternoon with him. He told them that plans are progressing for Ghostbusters III, in which he expects to have a cameo role along with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Rick Moranis. — Megan Foley ’09
he said. He also shared one of his special talents with the class — his ability to do accents. He performed his lines from the movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story in which he was required to speak in Yiddish. At a screening of Groundhog Day in Golden Auditorium, Ramis talked about how the film, which he directed and co-wrote, was not fully appreciated at first, although the reviews were good and the audience was solid. What really struck Ramis about the movie was the overwhelming response from different communities. He said everyone from Hasidic Jews to Buddhists to psychoanalysts all cham-
Warren Wheeler
arts & culture
Placebo director Henry Prince ’07 (right) offers direction to actor Jon Prescott.
scheme is threatened when he crosses a campus safety officer. As Derek’s 1969 purple Plymouth Road Runner drives through Hamilton and nearby Earlville, you see Broad Street fraternity and college houses, Andy Kerr Stadium, and Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology, where some scenes were shot. “We wanted a picturesque college campus for our location,” explained Lindauer. Some familiar faces are in the movie, too. Patrick Slevin ’09 and Matthew LaTronica ’09 had larger roles, while a number of students played extras and were production assistants. Area resident Greg Hilcox appears in a scene at the Hourglass tavern, where he is a bartender in the movie and in real life. They acted alongside professional actors Jon Prescott (Derek), who has been on As the World Turns and Law & Order, and Jamie Benge (Officer Bain), who has been in a number of short films and commercials. “I nervously accepted, knowing that I would be on camera with professionals,” admitted Slevin. “Filming was actually much more relaxed than I thought it would be. The experience was surreal, but fun.” Prince and Lindauer’s former film professor, John Knecht, helped them get the word out to involve students with the making of the film. And Hamilton Movie Theater manager Chuck Fox ’70 was kind enough to leave the marquee on when the film was being shot at night, in addition to agreeing to host the Hamilton premiere. Returning to Hamilton for the screening was the filmmakers’ way of thanking those in the community who participated. “We think it’s so important for people who work on films to see the finished product and be proud of the work they did,” said Prince. “This movie could not have been made without Hamilton, without the Colgate students.”
News and views for the Colgate community
21