I n d e p e n d e nt
Issue no.
S t u d e nt
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September 2012
Volume 25
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Boise, Idaho
Top Stories
Bust a move
First issue free
Step on Nathan Craven’s art Jack Muirhead Staff Writer
“Try it with Tabby” explores the complexity of the Lindy Hop.
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Health food
New trends point college students toward healthy eating.
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Clean sweep
Women’s volleyball wins out at Boise State Invitational.
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The artist’s eyes flicked back and forth between the three or four people trampling all over his masterpiece, his frown idle as bare feet swept across the jigsaw of glazed multicoloured brick. He broke into a smile as two small children began to crawl across his “Construct,” a sprawling floor installation Nathan Craven, with the aid of gallery curator Kirsten Furlong, has brought to Boise. “Construct” is the first of two new exhibitions which opened on Friday and are curated by Boise State’s Visual Arts Center. Craven’s medium is unique, both in its approach to breaking down rules about interacting with art and in its construction and process. The main piece, laid out on the floor of Gallery One inside the Liberal Arts Building, consists of more than 14,000 pieces of brick, of which over 100 are unique shapes (including a singular alien head). The exhibition also contains four other pieces of Craven’s work. It is the main piece that grabs most attention, however. Complex shapes, cartoon font words and glazed and unglazed composite brick tiles make up the piece which is a few meters wide. It is also a progression of color from the dull, sandy yellows and ochre reds to a mix of glazed greens and deep blues. “The material itself is plain brick clay, but the way he uses colors and glazes creates something really interesting,”
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Nathan Cravens exhibition “Construct” is on display in the Liberal Arts Building. said senior illustration major Annie Martin. Interacting with Craven’s work can be a frightening experience at first. “I don’t want to break it,” a student said as she observed the sign instructing patrons to step onto the brick floor. “You could drive a truck over it, don’t worry,” Craven replied, taking pictures and a lot of enjoyment from the barriers his art breaks down. “The general public is usually forbidden from coming near art, you don’t get close to it and certainly don’t touch it,” Craven said, highlighting the history of ceramics and its use to create bowls and cups as well as tools. “It’s appropriate that people walk on it, touch and experience it.”
With Craven’s work, the viewer becomes a part of the art itself. “It’s very unique, taking your shoe’s off and walking on them is a really cool experience,” said Brandi Holaday, senior visual arts major. Craven described coming up with the idea and process behind the work as, “one of those rare moments, Aha!, where a light blinked on.” Fine-tuning the process took about five years. The process itself seems simple. Craven designs a stencil which is transferred via welding to form a metal shape. Fitting the shape on a large press, Craven is able to squeeze a ceramic mix through a press forming a long shaft in the shape he desires. Think about how a piping bag
Steven Keely BroncoTEC, located across from the Bookstore in the Student Union Building, celebrated its remodel with an open house all day last Thursday. Customers trickled in, alone or in pairs, to taste a variety of refreshments and submit an entry to win either the grand prize 19” COBY LED TV, a Samsung entertainment system with multiple speakers or a DVD player. BroncoTEC is the only Apple-authorized dealer where a student can get a deal and give back at the same time. “Much of the software has academic pricing that is better than they can get in an off-campus store,” Janis McCurry, technology buyer said. “We return all profits over our operating costs to the
general scholarship fund,” McCurry said. In the last year, over $1 million was contributed. McCurry has been with the Bookstore since March 2004 and she said she is excited about being an integral part of the Boise State technology team effort. “The mission is the same as the Boise State Bookstore’s mission, which is to provide students with the tools they need outside the classroom to be a success,” McCurry said. She also noted they are there to help quickly boost students into fully-functional computing users. In an informal way, BroncoTEC also helps launch new Apple computer users in coordination with The Zone. “I have to give kudos to OIT opening The Zone for students, which over the past years has not been the case. Now they have two
different Zones on campus, and that’s really helpful, because a lot of the problems students might have is just getting preferences and logging into our internet system,” said McCurry. “I always find everything and anything I need when I come in here, when it comes to fulfilling my technological needs and desires,” said Tim Hiatt, a sophomore geoscience major with an emphasis in hydrology. McCurry pointed out the 500 square feet of the store’s refreshed look and feel. She sees a real sense of added value for each of their product lines complimented by the high intense lighting effects, the new wall display cases, and the streamlined front counter. The new headphone listening stations attract attention by displaying the highly popular Urbanears and SOL Republic products, Michael Phelps’ headphone
From Juilliard to Boise State Del Parkinson takes the stage Tabitha Bower
Arts and Entertainment Editor
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An open house was held to celebrate the remodel. of choice. Riley Conrad, sophomore political science major with an emphasis in International Relations said, “You’ll never find better service than the guys here. They’re all a bunch of great guys. They got the best stuff for pretty good prices. This is where we come when we want great technology.” “I’ve been here before, but I’m not really a Mac person. I’m actually looking for an internet cable. I’m looking at prices and checking it out. Like the campus lay-
out— it’s easy to find everything,” said Chad Smurthwaite, a freshman athletic training major. After viewing a selection of iPads at the new “easyto-use display,” Yi Tong said, “I’m shopping to buy an iPad.” Tong is a freshman general business major from Kun Ming in Yun Nan province China. “This is my first time outside China. Many students and teachers helped me locate housing and foodservice. These are very nice local people.”
about that part.” “Impressionism” thematically paired paintings with subject matters of Debussy and Ravel’s compositions. Slides projected paintings behind Parkinson and his piano and changed in precise timing to the tempo and volume changes within the music. With movements of a classic artist, Parkinson’s dramatic yet eloquent lift of hands from his piano signaled the audience’s applause at the end of each composition. After performing seven compositions, Parkinson exited the stage, however, a standing ovation returned him to the spotlight to perform one final composition. “To complete the evening I have actually returned to Debussy to play his best know piece,” Parkinson said.
Before Parkinson could fully introduce the name of his final piece, audience members whispered “Claire De Lune,” and so the musical evening ended with Debussy’s most famous composition about moonlight. “To say Del is a fabulous musician is an understatement,” L’Heureux said. “His performances are flawless, full of excellent technique and beautiful interpretations. He clearly puts effort into his performances and the results are always exquisite.” Upcoming Faculty Artist Series performers will include cellist Brian Hodges, pianist Betsi Hodges, baritone vocalist Lynn Berg, clarinetist Leslie Moreau with the Faculty Wind Quintet and a Faculty Chamber Music Concert.
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works and you have the idea, just at a far larger scale. The long designs are dried, cut and fired in a kiln to harden. While simple, it is not an easy process and it takes its toll. “It’s a physically laborious, mentally draining process,” Craven said. In the last year of intense work, Craven has created three pieces, stretching his will and finding his limits. Craven said his relief comes from his wife, young son and daughter who sometimes help out. A second VAC exhibition, “Impressions,” is located at Gallery Two in the Hemingway Western Studies Building which is adjacent to The Liberal Arts building. Kirsten Furlong, who has been working with Boise State
for 12 years, curated both shows. Furlong has headed up the Visual Arts gallery for eight years and has worked hard over the last couple of years to bring new and interesting art to Boise. “We have four to seven shows throughout the year with a lot of people from the campus and quite a few members of the public,” Furlong said. “Impressions” is a collection of world famous contemporary prints on loan from Northwest Nazarene University. The exhibition is a mix of styles from the print genre including lithographs, photogravure pieces and hand coloring amongst others. There are 31 prints in total from over eight different artists such as Elizabeth Murray, a famous American print maker who recently passed away. Many “Impressions” artists have other pieces on display in famous museums around the world. While Boise State may not be the first place you would expect to find world famous works of art, having the opportunity is a boon for the school and the city. “It’s a really good opportunity to see works of art in person,” said Janice Neri, an associate professor of art history. “You can see the scale, size and the physical quality of the work.” Both exhibitions run through late October and are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and closed on weekends.
BroncoTEC gets facelift Staff Writer
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In a packed recital hall, Del Parkinson, music professor and world-renowned pianist, offered Boise State a glimpse of the talent true passion can create. Parkinson, who has studied at Julliard and performs globally, opened for the department of music’s 2012 Faculty Artist Series last Friday. “I have heard Del perform countless times over the years. Boise is fortunate to have such a phenomenal artist in the area,” Stephanie L’Heureux,
senior piano performance major said. Parkinson’s recital, “Impressionism,” which took place at The Morrison Center for the Performing Arts, was a perfect pairing of compositions by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel with impressionist art by the likes of Claude Monet. “I hope you enjoy the marriage of music and art,” Parkinson said while introducing “Impressionism.” Never giving up on being an educator, Parkinson walked the audience through each of the compositions before sitting down to the piano. His clever
narrations threaded together art and music history, humor and elaborate scene setting. “There is a deeper subject matter going on in the painting and it is that this was the time of great hardship for French people in general,” Parkinson said of Jean-Antoine Watteau’s painting Embarkation for Cythera. “This is part of Watteau’s statement, that yes the privileged few could do things like this, but the people in general were suffering. To be honest I don’t hear any of that suffering in Debussy’s wonderful piece about this island of joy, so if you could maybe forget
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