9
A&E
The Pioneer ISSUE 11 NOV. 19, 2009 Page 9
Art salon provides unique opportunity for students by MERRETT KRAHN Staff Reporter The annual Winter Student Art Salon, which will run from Dec. 4 through 18 in the Sheehan Gallery, takes on new importance this year with the recent opening of the Fouts Center for the Visual Arts and a redoubled effort on the part of the gallery to engage the local community. The salon puts on display a selection of works by all students, not just those who major in Studio Art. Students may submit a maximum of three entries until the deadline of Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. Exhibitions and Collections Manager with the Fouts Center Kynde Kiefel spoke enthusiastically about how much support the students give each other. "It's just an incredible support and surprise to the student body that their peers are capable of such amazing creations," he said. The main goals of the exhibition as well as its format remain essentially unchanged. "One of the things this exhibition does is that it provides an opportunity for students who are non-art majors . . . to have the experience of having their work in a professional gallery setting," said Dawn Forbes, director of the Sheehan Gallery. "I think it's a really nice thing to do because we have a lot of students who are very talented, who participate in the classes here on campus, and it gives them an opportunity to showcase their work. I think part of it is giving recognition to those students outside of just the studio majors." Students are involved in more than just creating the art that will be displayed. "We have a wonderful student staff. Last year, they helped a lot," said Kiefel. "We gave them some freedom to design the show since it's for students and about students, and it was somewhat by students too. They helped a lot and were pretty excited about getting to help with the aesthetic design of the exhibition and just kind of help around the promotion and all of that as well." In addition, the exhibition helps to prepare the senior studio art majors for their own exhibitions in the spring. "Some of the senior thesis students are
invited to assist in setting up the exhibition so that they can learn the actual process of installation. It satisfies a lot of different tasks. They learn how to use certain tools, what would work in certain spaces. That's a nice training for the spring, when they will again have to consider what their work would look like in a nice setting," said Kiefel. In past years, the community has been welcome to attend the event, but this year is the first time community members have been allowed to submit art for consideration. "This year, we may have the art club at Walla Walla Community College coming to campus. They've asked and we've agreed to allow them to come and participate in this event. It will give them a chance to see how a student show is run and learn some things about exhibition design and preparation. It's really wonderful because it's not just a campus-wide activity, but is now also reaching out to a larger community as well. It's a chance to share what's going on with the larger community." said Forbes. With the opening of the Fouts Center for the Visual Arts last year, Forbes thinks it both interesting and significant that the salon still takes place in the Sheehan Gallery, which is located in Olin Hall, adjacent to the former Olin Hall studio art wing. "I think that now the art department has moved across campus, it's a really nice way to maintain and demonstrate the relationship that the gallery has with the art department. I know that when the art department left, a lot of the faculty and staff in this building [Olin] expressed disappointment and concerns because they really enjoyed having the students work here in this space. I felt it kept the building really alive and I always loved to see what the students were doing, so the exhibition sort of gives us a chance to maintain that in a way," said Forbes. She also believes that by maintaining Sheehan as a viable, usable gallery, the department can keep students living near Olin informed of and involved with studio arts. "While there is high traffic over there in Fouts, not everyone on this side of campus makes it over there to see what's going on," says Forbes.
B AND SPOTLIGHT
King Friday shakes up campus bands scene
HARDEE King Friday band members Alex Folkerth, Bailey Arango, Boris Sagal and Matthew Sweeney. .
COMMENTARY
by CAITLIN HARDEE Staff Reporter A couple weekends ago, I was held prisoner in the basement of the Palace. On that typical Whitman Saturday, there were about five events going on. I needed to move to the next party. But as student band King Friday played through a set, I was too captivated to leave. It’s hard to pin down the appeal of this band, because their style eludes neat categorizations. King Friday is comprised sophomores Matthew Sweeney and Alex Folkerth, first-year Boris Sagal and junior Bailey Arango. They joined me in the KWCW studio for an exclusive live acoustic session and interview during The Pioneer News Hour, where we discussed the nature of their sound. I proposed the label “indie rock with a lot of soul.” “I’ve never identified with either of those,” Sweeney said. “I’ve identified with indie rock,” said Folkerth. “I’d describe it as ‘60s slash ‘90s alternative, but then there’s Bo [Sagal],” said Arango, laughing. “Bo likes metal. Bo’s the armor on the King.” King Friday are nothing if not diverse. Sweeney plays guitar and sings, as does Arango. Sagal plays bass and sings, and Folkerth plays drums and other improvisational percussion instruments—everything from an instrument case to a trash can to a tambourine. During our brief acoustic session, the guys frequently swapped instruments with each other and alternated lead
guitar and vocals. The number of capable singers in the band affords them harmonizing and layering opportunities beyond the range of most live bands. The overall sound, funky and raw, seemed too powerful for these four unassuming guys and the tiny KWCW studio. Some of that depth springs from their long involvement with music. Sweeney and Folkerth have known each other since fourth grade, and recorded King Friday’s first album, Enter The King, last year at Whitman. All members of the band have been playing their instruments since grade school or middle school. Additionally, all members are intensely involved with the creative process. Although they enjoy playing covers, the band has a vast repertoire of original songs. “[Sweeney and I] did an album last year that has 12 songs on it,” said Folkerth, “and then Bo’s got entire albums written and recorded himself.” Sweeney and Folkerth released Enter The King digitally, through small label Broderham. The album can be downloaded through the label’s Web site, or purchased through the band’s MySpace page. The guys also addressed some of the challenges they face as a student band. “Practice space, and drugs,” Folkerth said with a straight face. His bandmates cracked up. “Come on, dude!” “Practice space. Our building is remarkably kind about us practicing in it, but it’s really loud,” said Arango. “Actually my biggest barrier is, like, going to college,” Folkerth said, laughing. King Friday are mostly occupied with gigs here at Whitman, but have made occasional forays into other venues. And how far do they hope to take their music? “Boyer Avenue,” Folkerth said in a deadpan, eliciting laughter from the guys. “Whatever’s possible,” Sweeney said. King Friday rounded out the week with performances at Marcus on Thursday, Nov. 12, and Coffeehouse on Friday, Nov. 13. To hear their interview and acoustic session at KWCW, go to our Web site at whitmanpioneer.com/arts.
BULLION Devin Petersen ‘11 designed the production sets which disintegrated throughout the course of the play. From left: Trevor Cushman ‘11, Marcial Diaz Mejia ‘13, Kelsey Yuhara ‘10 and Zach Simonson ‘11.
‘Frenzy for Two, or More’ illuminates the absurd by C.J. WISLER Staff Reporter Both farcical and unsettling, “Frenzy for Two, or More” attempts to bridge the gap between Theater of the Absurd and artistic drama. Set in the midst of a generic, unspecified revolution, a volatile and ridiculous argument erupts between a man and a woman. The internal and external battles both mirror and influence one another: The couple argues over whether a tortoise or a snail is the same thing, and the strange battle wages on without rhyme or reason. As it builds up in violence, the house, the couple’s relationship and the boundaries between reality and absurdity begin to dissolve. Harper Joy’s recent production of the play, directed by Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Jessica Cerullo, attempts to rectify this confusing yet remarkable play with incredible artistry. Her creative stage directions, as well as the actors’ strong choices, help to introduce this absurd and disturbed world. While the original list of characters includes only the couple, this play provides three, who interchange and mix as the play progresses. Cerullo also took a big risk with her
actors and the characters they portray: Not only did the couples mix during the show, each night the three male and female leads played different parts. In other words, it was literally never the same show twice insofar as the characters are concerned. This gave the show an even more frenzied and intense atmosphere because the actors had to learn more-orless on the spot how to interact with their respective and ever-changing partners. The lead male roles, played by junior Trevor Cushman, junior Zach Simonson and first-year Marcial Diaz Mejia, all play up different aspects to the same character, anonymously called He. This creates a character that is many-sided and, strangely enough, a representation of an “Anyman.” The same goes for the female leads: senior Kelsey Yuhara, sophomore Justis Phillips and sophomore Surabhi Veenapani, who play the same eccentric and contrary She. The actors not only appeared comfortable with one another but easily played off of one another’s choices and worked well together, no matter with whom they were. Junior Devin Petersen’s set design gave the audience an intimate look inside the
lives of the characters, opening up the Friemann Stage space, giving the illusion of an actual home, complete with a neighboring hallway and room. Furthermore, the mirrors break, chunks peel off the wall to reveal random shapes of the same items that fall through the ceiling and transparent drips of blood appear on the walls. Creative, funny and thoughtful, Petersen’s design helped make the universe more complex and compelling. Subtle and artistically driven, “Frenzy for Two, or More” is another fun and challenging play carefully crafted by Harper Joy Theater and the theater department. While difficult to comprehend with its many pieces, Cerullo and the cast and crew of this show put on something very different and enjoyable for the Whitman and Walla Walla community.
See slideshow at www.whitmanpioneer.com/a&e
MOVIE REVIEW
Humor simmers in ‘Pirate Radio’; Emmerich lugs plot along in ‘2012’ by BECQUER MEDAK-SEGUIN Movie Reviewer “Pirate Radio” As contemporary films like “Cadillac Records” tend to reveal, music is all about hearing and nothing about listening. Richard Curtis’s latest cutesy British flick, “Pirate Radio” (somehow translated from the British title, “The Boat that Rocked”) follows suit, inspired by a little-known, strange-but-true tale from the ‘60s: The British government’s attempt to eradicate rock ’n’ roll music from the airwaves before the British invasion. Curtis has offered us those heartwarming British movies you keep on your shelf for whenever you need a little something to cheer you up or a little something to make you say, “Awww!” (His highlights are “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Notting Hill” and the Whittie favorite “Love Actually.”) With that cadre in mind, “Pirate Radio” is perhaps a little less romantic, but a lot more comedic. Yet with such a quirky story whose moral and political implications cannot be ignored, it’s quite a shame that Curtis didn’t turn this formulaic rom-com into a memorable satire that might compete with Armando Iannucci’s marvelously woven satire-comedy “In the Loop.” The ensemble cast, led by Phillip Seymour Hoffman (please, see “Synecdoche, New York”), takes turns stealing scenes from each other—especially once Rhys Ifans’s character makes a suave return as the “king of the airwaves”—but the comedy never boils into laugh-out-loud exchanges; rather, it maintains a brisk simmer from beginning to end. The quirky story begins with the arrival of Carl (Tom Sturridge) aboard the pirate radio ship christened “Radio Rock” by the gods of the airwaves. He attempts to fit in
with cutesy bohemian DJs and rock music lovers, one of whom is his godfather, Quentin (Bill Nighy). Carl has recently been expelled from school and is hoping to find a new direction in life, but, instead, “Radio Rock” provides him with a softcore version of the age-old triumvirate, “sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.” At the same time that party is taking place, Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh), a prude government minister, tries to find any way possible to sink the ship and with it rock music. A true aficionado of rock music understands that its beauty lies in the mutual relationship it creates with its listener. Unfortunately, there is no mutual exchange in this film—you can’t get no satisfaction. All “Pirate Radio” wants you to do is hear, not listen. “2012” OK, I know what you’re thinking. But let’s try to give this ludicrously unbelievable, conspiracy theory-promoting Hollywood epic a chance to win over our indie-loving, granola hearts. Director Roland Emmerich has gone from the beginning of mankind to the end in a matter of years (“10,000 B.C.” was his last flick), yet it seems as though the special effects he employs are no different. Perhaps “2012” marks a return to the epic disaster movies of the late ’90s, including “Volcano, Deep Impact” and the one and only, “Armageddon,” that so dearly wanted us to consider the ethical implications of deciding who lives and who dies when Earth is no longer habitable. But do they really? They tried to argue that the younger, healthier, stereotypically ‘normal’ people should repopulate the human species, but has human ethics only progressed so much since “10,000 B.C.”? Emmerich seems to think so, still using a cookie-cutter moral dilemma to carry—no, lug—this movie from begin-
ning to end. The film begins with a story that could only make astronomers and astrophysicists cringe: In 2009, geologist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) learns that neutrinos from a massive solar flare have penetrated and are beginning to rapidly heat Earth’s core. He quickly finds his way to the President of the United States (Danny Glover) and, suddenly, the issue is swept under the rug. Should the government warn its people of an eminent catastrophe? Apparently not. (I didn’t want to read too far into this thoughtless film’s social critique, but the parallels with our current government are unavoidable.) That’s one storyline from the (present) past. The next storyline follows Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a part-time famous science fiction writer and part-time limousine driver for a Russian billionaire. While off on a camping trip with his children to Yellowstone National Park, Curtis meets the want-to-be-one-with-nature conspiracy theorist Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), who convinces him that the supposed Mayan prophesy is correct: The last date on the Mayan calendar is Dec. 21, 2012 and, therefore, the end of the world. Of course, “2012” would not be a movie if the false prophesy weren’t true. Quite remarkable CGI ensues: We see cities ranging from Los Angeles to Río de Janeiro crumbling before our eyes. Yellowstone erupts, San Francisco sinks, the Vatican falls to pieces, India floods and every world monument you could possibly imagine is destroyed. Somehow, once the explosions settle, the apocalypse turns diluvian. I’m not going to try to make sense of this movie. In the end, it becomes one huge CGI behemoth that should’ve been extinct by now. Perhaps that task is better left to those credulous beings who think they can understand Mayan archeology.