Happy Hour Dancin'

Photo of the Week

MFA dance students Jeff Fouch and Jaclyn Thompson (above) along with Sarah Hixon present a Graduate Dance Performance of Happy Hour, Thursday, March 1-Saturday, March 3 at 8 pm in Sullivant Hall Theatre. The production includes a restaging of Cafe Barcelona, which was choreographed in 1984 by John Giffin (Dance); as well as an excerpt from Sophie Maslow's work Folksay (1942); Sebastian, a collaboration between Fouch and alumna Kristina Isabelle, performed on stilts; and a new choreographic work by Hixon called Within the Interstice. Tickets are $5 at the door.

Notable News

The Worthington Arts Council presents "The Art of Performance: Dance" at 7 pm, Wednesday, Feb 28, at the Worthington Presbyterian Church, 773 High St. The program, moderated by Karen Bell (College of the Arts) will take a peek at BalletMet's Whodunit? with Susan Hadley (Dance) and Bradley Sowash discussing the mystery piece where film noir meets pink tulle. Dance alumna Kristina Isabelle's Highjinks Dance Company will also be on hand to discuss the ups and downs of creating a dance compnay. Tickets are $10 general admission; $5 students and seniors; call 431-0329 or visit the website.

An interdisciplinary symposium has been added in connection with the Department of Theatre's production of Dead Man Walking. The symposium -- Being Alive in the World: Public Discourse on the Death Penalty -- takes place 3:30-5 pm Friday, March 2, in Thurber Theatre. A panel discussion about the death penalty will involve panelists Rex Zent, retired prison warden; David Jacobs (Sociology), Joshua Dressler (Law), John Bender, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Maureen Ryan (Theatre) and Mark Shanda (Theatre). The symposium is free.

The 2007 International Photography Contest is accepting entries! The contest is open to all students enrolled at Ohio State. Entry deadline is 5 pm Friday, April 13. First, second and third place awards will be presented, along with honorable mentions, in three categries: People, Places and OSU Spirit. Winning photos will be displayed in the Office of International Education during May 2007. For entry forms and more information, click here.

Charles Csuri (ACCAD) was one of the presenters at Megaconference Jr, a global Internet event Feb 22 that gave students and teachers around the world the opportunity to communicate and collaborate using advanced, multi-point video conferencing technology. Csuri showed some of his work, and described the process of creating computer art and the role creativity plays in the process. He also had a Q & A session for the students. The conference was sponsored by the Ohio Supercomputer Center.

Cosmos -- Katherine Borst Jones, flute; Jeanne Norton, harp (Music); and Mary Harris, viola -- will perform in upcoming concerts premiering a new work commissioned and written for them by Stephen Main. They'll also play music by Debussy, Ibert, Libby Larsen and Andrew Boysen. In Columbus they will play on the Celebration of Sound Series at the Worthington Presbyterian Church, 773 High St, at 7 pm March 11. On March 17, Cosmos will perform on the Musical Arts Series at Firelands Port Clinton.

Ann Hamilton (Art) and Joan Simon participated in a book signing Feb 24 in New York City in celebration of the publication of Ann Hamilton: An Inventory of Objects, with text by Simon. The book was published by Gregory R. Miller & Co. and is a major catalogue of Hamilton's object-based work from 1984 to 2006.

Hilary Apfelstadt recently conducted the Kentucky All-State High School Choir in Louisville. She also was the featured choral clinician a the Texas Music Educators Conference in San Antonio earlier this month.

Drums Downtown!

photo of the week

The mesmerizing production of Drums Downtown IV (above) will be presented this weekend by the School of Music at 8 pm Friday, Feb 23 and Saturday, Feb 24, at the Riffe Center's Capitol Theatre in downtown Columbus. The popular concert is a collaboration with the acclaimed Department of Dance. Drums Downtown IV is an unforgettable evening of percussion sounds and dance, headlined by the OSU Percussion Ensemble, directed by Susan Powell and Joseph Krygier. They will be joined by choreographers and performers from the Department of Dance. New choreography will be presented by Adriana Durant, Melanie Bales, Maria Glimcher and Annie Beserra. In addition the show will spotlight choreography and tap dancing by John Giffin and Jenai Cutcher and a special performance by the Pendulum Percussion Duo (Powell and Krygier) performing carpe diem by Powell, with 3-D computer generated animation by Matthew Bain, a design student studying at ACCAD. The OSU Fife & Drum Ensemble also makes its official debut. Tickets are available through CAPA, 469-0939, or Ticketmaster, 431-3600.

Notable News

The opening reception for the 15th annual Fergus Scholarship Exhibition is tonight, Feb 19, 5-7 pm in Hopkins Hall Gallery + Corridor. The exhibition presents selected works by the recipients of this year's Fergus Scholarship Awards, a juried competition open to all studio-based undergraduate and graduate visual art and design majors. Recipients are Dina Sherman, Doo-Sung Yoo, Aaron Lenard, Erin Pfeifer, Katharine Hanlon, Latosha Matthews, Joshua Smith-Brennan, Guy Davis, Ryan Ross, Meredith Host, Charlie Roberts, Casey Doyle, Naomi Cleary, Rain Harris and Erin Hewgley. The exhibition continues through March 9.

Chas Wetherbee, violin, performs with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra Feb 23-25. From the Gypsy abandon of Ravel to the elegance and showmanship of Saint-Saens, Wetherbee's agile bowing makes this concert one to see. A video preview is available here. The concert, Classical Masterworks No 9, will be conducted by Junichi Hirokami. For more information, visit the symphony's website.

Katherine Borst Jones, flutist, and Jeanne Norton, harpist, (Music) have released their first compact disc, Paradise. It features the music of Bach, Debussy, Faure, Marcello and Ravel.

Michael Davis (Music faculty emeritus), violin, will perform with Nelson Harper, piano, at 3 pm Sunday, March 4, at Burke Recital Hall at Denison University.

An Oscar for Scrat?

Photo of the Week

A short animated film created by Blue Sky Studios Inc. -- which was founded by OSU alumnus Chris Wedge – has been nominated for an Academy Award in the animated shorts category. The film, No Time for Nuts, was produced by another Ohio State alumnus, John Donkin. Wedge also served as executive producer and provided the voice of Scrat, the fuzzy, lovable main character.

Both Wedge (MA, art education, 1985) and Donkin (MA, art education, 1986) studied at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts & Design (ACCAD) at OSU. Their 7-minute short was created with 3-D animation, and stars the acorn-loving Scrat. It was shown prior to the start of the animated film Ice Age 2, which was also produced by Blue Sky Studios Inc. The Academy Awards will be presented Feb 25 in Los Angeles. (image c 2007 Fox. Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment)

Notable News

Christine Ballengee-Morris (Art Education) has an article, Exploring Everyday Altars, in the Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education 24(1). And her son Jeremy (Jack) Meisel's photo of a 911 victim's impromptu altar is featured on the journal's cover. Meisel graduated from the Department of Art last spring. Pat Stuhr has an article in the same journal -- Miracle's Gates: Altars for a White Buffalo.

Upcoming programs at the OSU Melton Center for Jewish Studies:
• Mordechai's Refusal to Bow - Did He Do the Right Thing?, 7 pm, Sun, Feb 18, Wexner Heritage Village, 1151 College Ave. Elliott Horowitz, Bar Ilan University.
• Annual Pearl and Troy Feibel Lecture on Law and Judaism: Whose Jerusalem? The Status of Jerusalem in International Law, 7:30 pm, Sun, Feb 25, Moritz School of Law, William B Saxbe auditorium, 55 W. 12th Ave. Harry Reicher, international law scholar, Agudath Israel World Organization and University of Pennsylvania.

Alisa Prudnikova, editor in chief of ZAART Magazine Russia, director of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and Jubilee Fellow with CEC ARTSLINK NY will present a lecture on "Contemporary Movements and Innovation in Russian Art" at 4 pm Mon, Feb 26, at the Wexner Film/Video Theatre. The free lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Art, Art & Technology, Center for Slavic and East European Studies and the Wexner Center.

Ken Rinaldo (Art & Technology) has published an article in NY Arts Magazine with the author Regine Debatty of We Make Money Not Art, a well known web blog covering contemporary art. Click here for the interview and here for the web blog. His work also was reviewed in the Feb 1 issue of Alive magazine. See the story by John Ross. Another Artistry with Robots by Peter Cleveland appeared in Product Development and Design.

Tickets are on sale for the fourth annual Drums Downtown, the popular event that pairs drummers and dancers at the Riffe Center's Capitol Theatre. The show is set for 8 pm Fri, Feb 23 and Sat, Feb 24, and features the OSU Percussion Ensemble. The program also spotlights new choreogrpahy, dancers from the OSU Department of Dance and the official debut of the OSU Fife & Drum Ensemble. Directed by Susan Powell and Joe Krygier. For tickets, call CAPA at 469-0939 or Ticketmaster at 431-3600.

Our Town: Tribute to Bowen

Photo of the Week

Jimmy Bohr (above), OSU's new assistant professor in theatre, rehearses Our Town, which opens this Thursday, Feb 8, and marks his directorial debut at Ohio State. Our Town, by Thorton Wilder, is being presented as a tribute to the late Roy Bowen (left), professor emeritus in theatre. The play was one of Bowen's favorites and will be staged in the theatre that bears his name in Drake Performance Center. It runs through Feb 24. The production will feature theatre students, along with some children and guest artists, including Equity guest and theatre alumnus Glenn Peters. Damian Bowerman (Theatre) and Alan Woods (TRI) also will be part of the cast. For tickets, call the Ticket Office at 292-2295.

The Ohio Music Education Association's annual professional conference comes to Columbus this weekend . . . and many OSU faculty, alumni and grad students -- like Ray Wise (right) -- will be on hand to make presentations or direct performances. Wise's regional gospel choir will perform at the conference on Thursday, while other OSU folks cover topics ranging from how technology can enhance marching band rehearsals to how to evaluate your teaching. Those involved include Susan Powell, Wise, Timothy Gerber, Robert Ward, Richard Blatti, Robert Gillespie, Jon Woods, Lisa Galvin, Paul Robinson, Patricia Flowers, John Fedchock, Ted McDaniel, Caron Collins, Patricia Flowers and David DeCarolis.

Vesta Daniel (Art Education) curated the 2007 Art for Community Expression (ACE) Juried Invitational Exhibition of 26 African-American and African artists, which opened Jan 28 at the Cultural Arts Center in Columbus. It continues until Feb 18.

Christopher Gose (Art) has artwork featured in the show "Not Right: Artists Altering Natural Schemes" at SUNY Brockport's Tower Fine Arts Gallery. The show continues until Feb 18.

The Art & Technology Society sends a reminder that it hosts meetings Thursdays at 4 pm in the Fergus Gilmore Computer Studio. See: http://osuartandtech.blip.tv

Amy Youngs (Art & Technology) has artwork in an exhibition in Toronto called "Zoo," opening Feb 2. Click here for more. She also will have pieces in an exhibition, "Phantom Power," in Buffalo starting Feb 17.