Ancient Images

Photo of the Week

Images like this one of the Acropolis in Greece will be on display at the OSU Faculty Club Jan 26-March 16. The exhibition -- Imaging Antiquity: Selections from the Jack Balcer Image Archive -- comes from the OSU Visual Resources Library in the Department of History of Art, which houses the personal slides of the late Jack Balcer, professor of Ancient History at Ohio State. A prolific photographer, Balcer employed visual aids to engage and instruct students about the past. The archive consists of nearly 30,000 slides documenting his research on the Athenian Empire, Greek and Roman Numismatics and the Persian Empire. An opening reception is planned Jan 26 at the Faculty Club.

Notable News

Archeologist William Saturno (University of New Hampshire, Harvard's Peabody Museum) will present a lecture at Ohio State at 4 pm Weds, Jan 31, in the Wexner Film/Video Theatre. His lecture -- Maya King and Country: Landscape, Mythology and the Origins of Civilization -- focuses on his discovery of the ancient murals and texts of San Bartolo, Guatemala. In 2001, while exploring in northeastern Guatemala, Saturno and his team discovered the remote archaeological site of San Bartolo and the oldest intact murals ever found in the Maya world. These, and more recent discoveries of text, date from a period when Maya civilization itself was just forming, around 400 BC. The lecture is free and open to all. A reception follows in the Wexner cafe. The lecture is sponsored by the Arts Scholars Program in collaboration with a wide range of areas within the university.

In 2003, a critical edition of Lully's Armide, by Lois Rosow (Music) was published by Olms. Now, the premiere performance of her version of the 1686 opera will be presented Feb 3 at the University of Maryland. She serves as musicological advisor for the concert production with fully staged dance. Music will be performed by Opera Lafayette, a period-instrument ensemble based in Washington, DC, with internationally acclaimed vocal soloists under conductor and artistic director Ryan Brown. Dance will be provided by the New York Baroque Dance Ensemble, under choreographer and artistic director Catherine Turocy (an OSU Dance alumna). Opera Lafayette will record this production of Armide for Naxos.

The Living Culture Initiative and OSU Department of Art Visitors Series welcome performance, video and new media artist Constance DeJong to campus for a lecture at 4:30 pm, Weds, Jan 24, in the Wexner Film/Video Theatre. DeJong's interdisciplinary work has been exhibited in spaces around the world, including the Dia Center, Whitney Museum of American Art, Hamburger Bahnhoff Museum (Berlin), Arc Festival (Graaz, Austria) and Moderna Museum (Slovenia). In 1978, she published her first novel, Modern Love, which she adapted into a 60-minute serialized radio text. The noted Philip Glass wrote an original score for the novel. Since that time, DeJong has continued to explore and experiment with hybrid forms. Her lecture is free.

Ken Rinaldo (Art & Technology) was one of the nominees for a 2006 TopCat Award presented by Tech Columbus. Topcat Awards recognize outstanding achievements in technology leadership. He was nominated in the catagory of "inventor of the year" for his work the Autotelematic Spider Bots. The awards were presented Jan. 18 in Columbus.

Playwright Geralyn Horton has published her experiences at last summer's OSU retreat for the International Center for Women Playwrights (ICWP). Her essay appears in the newsletter for ICWP, and can be viewed online by clicking here. According to Alan Woods (Theatre), who organized the retreat, Horton's comments about Ohio State and Theatre and the whole experience are very positive.