Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 137, Issue 13 - 23 Jan. 2014
www.hillsdalecollegian.com
Art students learn, draw the human form Jordan Finney Collegian Reporter Studio Incamminati hosted a nude drawing workshop at Hillsdale Jan. 6-10, providing a professional nude model and instruction from artist JaFang Lu for the 12 students registered. “Having a professional, live model that we could work with was amazing,” sophomore Phoebe Kalthoff said. The week began with an intensive study of human anatomy using a skeleton and basic figure drawing techniques, and quickly progressed to include ample studio time for the student artists. “If you’re going to make art with a human subject, it’s incredibly important to have a working knowledge of anatomy,” sophomore Forester McClatchey said. “Professional sculptors and painters are basically as knowledgeable as surgeons about the human body. It’s an unnecessary veil to have clothed models.” Students began their study of human anatomy by looking for specific marks on a skeleton. As the week progressed, the instructor placed small, red stickers on the live model to indicate which parts of the human body the artists needed to focus on to create realistic drawings. Junior Maggy Smith said she learned proportions and linear construction by studying the human form. “The human body is a simple, rhythmic form,” Smith said. “It is also extremely complex and hard to draw.” Drawing the human form is a delicate endeavor. Smith said
changing even one small aspect in a sketch inevitably affects the entire drawing. “Being able to see and understand everything without it being distorted by clothing is very helpful,” she added. Hillsdale students learned under the direction of Studio Incamminati’s JaFang Lu, a wellknown contemporary realist artist who has taught drawing workshops for the past decade. “Having that outside perspective was really important. Our art department is incredible, but after a while, you come to know all of the teachers’ approaches quite well,” Smith said. “No artist is the same.” Lu often began the morning with a demonstration, then gave her students five minutes to warm up with gesture drawing, during which the students tried to capture the motion and form of a model’s brief pose. “There’s a process of warming up to drawing that is one of the purposes to gesture drawing,” freshman Joel Calvert said. “As a former athlete, I think of it as warming up for a race. It was pretty relaxed but rigorous at the same time—intense in a fun way. Take five minutes, then slowly build up the time into more finished drawings.” By the end of the week, students were drawing based off a model holding her pose 40 minutes at a time. They often worked in the studio for eight hours each day. “It is actually physically taxing,” Calvert said. “People were tired at the end of the day. The long hours were really helpful
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Theater students Conner Gleason, Hailey Morgan, Eileen Thoma, Alie Cuccinelli, and Anastasia Dennehy act out a scene during an improvisation master class at the Sage Center for the Arts. The improv group “Broadway’s Next Hit Musical” performed on Jan. 17 to a sold-out crowd. (Courtesy of Caroline Green)
Improv group performs at Sage Morgan Delp Sports Editor
Peals of laughter erupted from Markel Auditorium on Jan. 17 as professional comedians sang about wiggling wombats, furry caps, jazzy cats, and sparkling snowflakes, all in the hopes of winning the “Phony Award,” a parody of Broadway’s Tony Award. For an hour and a half, a soldout crowd enjoyed the musical and theatrical talents of “Broadway’s Next Hit Musical,” an awards-show style production that combines fast wit and musical talent. The New York City-based improv troupe performed songs from musicals they made up within seconds, complete with
Holocaust survivor speaks on campus
piano accompaniment, choreography, and storyline, all based on prompts audience members wrote on slips of paper in the lobby before the show. After each of the four artists performed their part, the audience applauded for its favorite, and the entire cast then performed a mini musical based on the winning scene. “Down and Out Down Under,” the story of an unlucky Australian businessman who relies on wombat friends to lift his spirits, won the Phony Award for the Hillsdale performance. The mini musical included a dance move from an audience member, which resembled a one-legged pepper-grinding hop. The show was part of Hillsdale’s Professional Artist Series, which brings in professional art-
ists for free performances for the college and local Hillsdale community. “I booked this group a year ago,” Professor of Theater George Angell said. “We used to have an improv group that came through regularly, but I haven’t booked them for a number of years. Broadway’s Next Hit Musical is a good company, and the all-music-based improv is fun to watch and tough to do.” Students in fine arts classes are encouraged and even required to attend such performances, but senior chamber choir member Ian Swanson said he would have attended even without Professor of Music James Holleman’s prompting. “I laughed a lot,” Swanson said. “I can really appreciate how much talent those guys have and
how they can literally roll with anything that happens.” Swanson said he found the star of “Christmas No More,” Katie Hammond, to be absolutely hilarious. Theater major and senior Katherine Denton agreed that Hammond‘s physical humor was a highlight of the performance. “When Hammond came out as the wife and was so obnoxious and so hilarious and managed to set up the entire motivation for the scene, I was so impressed. They also kept bringing back the same jokes and had wonderful physicality,” Denton said. Deb Rabbai, another star, taught an acting class to Hillsdale students. Denton said it was one of the best of the Performing Artist Series classes she has ever
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Morgan Sweeney Assistant Editor Miriam Winter said goodbye to her family when she was only 8 years old. From there, she was moved from village to village in the Polish countryside, keeping her Jewish identity a secret, and being careful never to cry. “What happened then was traumatic and freezing. I was like a stone. I was like a frozen potato,” she told The Collegian, while sitting in her Jackson, Mich., home. “My life all those years — it was nothing. It was completely nothing.” Winter, 81, is one of the few remaining survivors of the Holocaust. She, her husband, and her son immigrated to the United States in 1969, and she has now lived in Jackson longer than any other place in her life. “And I’m not moving,” she said, smiling. “They can carry me out by my legs, but I’m not going.” In 1997, she published “Trains,” a book documenting the story of her survival. She will be sharing some of her story with students on Hillsdale College’s campus on Friday, Jan. 24 at 4 p.m. Professor of Politics Robert Eden attends the same synagogue as Winter, and after reading her book, wanted her to come to Hillsdale College’s campus. “When I read it, I was blown away,” Eden said. “I could tell that it had taken tremendous concentration to recover her childhood experiences. I was very, very impressed by the quality of her writing and by the content of the book.” That’s one of the most no-
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Holocaust survivor Miriam Winter poses with her grandchildren. Winter is speaking about her experiences on Jan. 24 at 4 p.m. in Philips Auditorium (Courtesy of Iris Winter) ticeable things about Winter: her intensity is inescapable. She talks like a teacher and a mother, thoughtfully selecting her words, watching your eyes, making sure you’re catching her meaning. Though her accent is still strong, her elocution is excellent. “The older I become,” Winter said, “the more important it becomes to me, as it does for other child survivors, to make sure that people know what happened and don’t forget.” When Winter was 60 years old, she began the process of digging into her past, revisiting memories of her childhood, and
attempting to recreate her story. In a journey that took her all the way to Israel and through the concentration camps of Poland, she pieced the fragments of her past together. Though her story contains much suffering, her talk on Friday will focus on the brave men and women whose courage stands in brilliant opposition to the cruelty of those years. Winter was 6 when German forces swept through Poland and forced her family into the Warsaw ghetto. But her memories there are of her loving family,
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Student Federation President Arielle Mueller swears in Vice President Heather Lantis in last week’s Student Fed meeting. The organization is welcoming proposals from campus clubs and other groups at next week’s meeting. (Anders Kiledal/Collegian)
Student Fed sworn in Kate Patrick Collegian Freelancer Student Federation President junior Arielle Mueller swore in Vice President junior Heather Lantis and Secretary junior Anna Teigen at last week’s Student Fed meeting. Due to her surgery on a broken leg, Treasurer and sophomore Marie Wathen was not sworn in. After the ceremony, Mueller reviewed the basic responsibilities of representatives and as-
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signed chairmen to Student Fed committees. Sophomore Tyler Warman is chairman of the publications committee, sophomore Randy Keefe is chairman of the club oversight Committee, sophomore Alexis Allen is chairman of the elections committee, and sophomore Lucia Rothhaas is chairman of the professor of the month committee. “I think it went really well,” Mueller said. “Everyone was comfortable.” As chairman of the club oversight committee, Keefe said he
would like to change the way the committee deals with club proposals. “I think what we’re going to do is approach the [prospective] clubs and see if there’s anything we can assist them with,” Keefe said. “We’ll just let them know that we’re there to assist them.” Student Fed is now welcoming proposals from campus clubs and organizations at their next meeting on Jan. 23 at 5 p.m. in the Knorr Room in the Knorr Student Center.
2013