Dance on Film

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The Department of Dance presents "Dance on Camera" this Weds, Oct 8 at 7 pm in Sullivant Hall Theatre. The film -- Water Flowing Together by Gwenolen Cates (USA, 2007, 77 minutes) -- is a feature-length documentary that chronicles the life of New York City Ballet principle dancer Jock Soto. It explores his connection to his Navajo Indian/Puerto Rican heritage and follows him through the last two years of his career. Tickets at the door, $10 general admission; $5 senior citizens, OSU faculty, staff and students with BuckID.

Notable News

Emeritus Professor Sid Chafetz (below, left) was joined by nearly 200 people at the opening of the exhibition in his honor -- Sid Chafetz: Engaging the World -- Sept 26 at the OSU Urban Arts Space (above). Chafetz, who addressed the attendees at the evening reception, has commented on his world, political issues and the timeless aspects of the human condition during his artistic career. The exhibition continues until Oct 25.

Henri Cole’s Blackbird and Wolf (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) was chosen by the Academy of American Poets to receive the 2008 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, which awards $25,000 to the most outstanding book of poetry published the previous year. According to the announcement, "Henri Cole has become one of his generation’s most assured and accomplished poets, and Blackbird and Wolf is a powerful and masterful book: powerful in the psychological directness of its self-scrutiny, and masterful in its achievement of a poetry so artful it almost seems artless."

Congrats to OSU Art Education student Katie Cahill, who is the recipient of the Ohio Art Education Association Scholarship.

Columbus art collector Ron Pizzuti, chairman and CEO of the Pizzuti Companies, will discuss "Contemporary Collecting from Local to Global" as part of the Big Picture lecture series at 2 pm Sunday, Oct 12, at the Columbus Museum of Art. The lecture is presented in conjunction with the current exhibition, Objects of Wonder from The Ohio State University. Named by ARTnews as one of "the world's top 200 collectors", Pizzuti has amassed a collection of international contemporary works from Asia, America and Europe. The Big Picture lecture series is a collaboration of the Columbus Museum of Art and the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities at Ohio State.

Authors Lawrence Connolly, Michael Arnzen, Lucy Snyder, and Gary Braunbeck (above) were on campus Sept 26 to talk about the writing life. “The Business/Life of Writing Horror & Dark Fantasy” was sponsored by the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing.

Robert Ladislas Derr (Art) spoke about his ongoing Chance performance and video installation series at Ohio University’s 15th annual conference on Critical Geography on Saturday, Oct 4.

Art Education alumna Eleonora Redaelli (above) spent part of the summer at the International Conference for Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR) in Istanbul. She says, "It was a wonderful opportunity for professional development and personal enrichment. The level of
presentations was inspiring and the city is fantastic."

Recycled Art

The OSU Urban Arts Space hosted "The Iron Artists Challenge" on Weds, Sept 25, where four groups of artists took part in an hour-long competition to create a work of art from recycled materials, explains Liz Celeste, organizer. The teams -- including the Couchfire Collective, Franklinton Arts District, downtown Columbus and Free the Planet -- used items such as old pipes, fabric, skis, yarn and even faucet handles to create sculptures. Couchfire Collective artists -- including Anne Holman and Adam Crum, above -- were judged the winners. The event was presented as part of Welcome Week at OSU.

Notable News

Governor Ted Strickland has announced new appointments to the Ohio Arts Council Board of Directors, including Karen Bell (Arts and Culture). Bell joins three other new members, Charles McWeeny of Athens, Louisa Celebrezze of Columbus and Steven Allen of New Albany.

Exciting sights, sounds, and aromas appeared on the South Oval Sept 22 when the Foreign Language Center held its fourth annual Langfest during Ohio State's Welcome Week. Designed to showcase the more-than 30 languages offered at Ohio State, Langfest features performances, music and food that bring these languages and cultures alive.



Robert Ladislas Derr (Art) is exhibiting in the Mirror Stage, Independent Museum of Contemporary Art in Cyprus, Sept 17-28. He also has work in the 2008 Freewaves Festival HollyWould in LA Oct 9-13.

OSU's new Office for Arts and Culture has a just-created website -- artsandculture.osu.edu -- that promotes the arts around campus and in the community.

The OSU Community Orchestra is seeking members. This ensemble, conducted by Marshall Haddock (Music), is open to all OSU faculty, staff, students and alumni and all instruments are welcome. The orchestra rehearses once a week and includes a performance with the OSU First Year Orchestra. For information, call 292-2870.

An orchestra piece by Tom Wells (Music), Echoes from the Southern: A Ragtime Overture,
will be performed by ProMusica Chamber Orchestra Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Southern Theater. The work was commissioned in 1998 for the grand opening of the Southern.

On Sept 21, 24 new Arts and Humanities faculty and family members were welcomed to Ohio State by Interim Dean John Roberts at a new-faculty brunch at the Blackwell Hotel ballrooms. The newcomers were introduced to colleagues and senior administrators of both colleges.

John King (English) and James Bracken (OSU Libraries) have been selected to direct a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers. Entitled “The Reformation of the Book: 1450-1650,” the seminar will explore continuity and change in the production, dissemination and reading of Western European books during the 200 years following the advent of printing with movable type.

Sid Chafetz Show Opens Downtown

The OSU Urban Arts Space in the historic Lazarus building downtown presents Sid Chafetz: Engaging the World, which opened last week and continues through Saturday, Oct. 25. Chafetz, professor emeritus, has commented on his world -- from local and national political issues to timeless aspects of the human condition -- throughout his career. A survivor of the Battle of the Bulge in WWII, a two-time Fulbright scholar, world traveler and internationally exhibited artist, Chafetz is one of the treasures of Columbus. An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, Sept 26, 5-7 pm at the OSU Urban Arts Space. (Above, Three Politicians, 1951, etching)

Notable News

Ann Hamilton (Art) has been honored with the 2008 Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities for "a body of work that has established her as one of contemporary art's most influential voices." She is one of five recipients of the 14th annual awards recognizing the extraordinary achievements of individuals in the areas of Arts and Humanities; the Environment; the Human Condition; Public Policy; and Technology, the Economy and Employment. The Heinz Award announcement says, "A provocative visual artist, Ann Hamilton's installations around the world have woven a broad palette of media into engaging sensory environments. Her work is truly transformational, both in its visual beauty and the visceral impact it has had on the communities that have helped create and sustain it." The awards were established by Teresa Heinz in 1993 to honor the memory of her late husband, US Senator John Heinz and are administered by the Heinz Family Philanthropies. Award recipients receive a medallion and an unrestricted cash prize of up to $250,000.

Award-winning choreographer and dance professor Bebe Miller and her company premiere their latest multimedia piece Necessary Beauty at the Wexner Center Oct 1-5, the culmination of a two-year creative residency at the Wexner Center and OSU.

You're invited! Arts and Humanities faculty and staff are invited to Warhol Free Thursdays on Thurs, Sept 25, 4-8 pm at the Wexner Center for the Arts. Enjoy free admission to Andy Warhol: Other Voices, Other Rooms; a cash bar; and food from Cam's on Campus.

Theatre alums are in the news in NYC: Randy Skinner (BA, 2007) is choreographing the new Irving Berlin's White Christmas that will tour and play in New York over the holiday season, and former student Leah Hocking is featured in Billy Elliott this fall.

There are those who call themselves Buckeyes and then there are those who truly “walk the walk and talk the talk.” This is the case for Ohio State alumnus Charles William “Chuck” Thomas and his wife Donna who recently hosted a party for members of the OSU American Sign Language program in their Columbus home’s “Buckeye Room.” Also in attendance were Arts and Humanities Interim Dean John Roberts, Foreign Language Center Director Diane Birckbichler and Development Director Margo Wolanin. Longtime supporters of the university, Chuck and Donna recently extended their generosity to ASL, creating two funds that support programming, student financial aid and travel.

H. Lewis Ulman (English) and Melanie Schlosser, assistant professor for OSU Libraries, were the recipients of a Digital Humanities Start-Up Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for their project "Reliable Witnesses: Integrating Multimedia Distributed Electronic Textual Editions into Library Collections and Preservation Efforts." This award encourages innovations in the digital humanities through projects that are particularly innovative and have the potential to make a positive impact on the humanities. Working with electronic editions of materials in OSU’s Rare Books and Manuscript Library, the project will create a model for coordinating the efforts of faculty scholars, library professionals and IT support staff to develop, catalog, publish and preserve electronic texts that require ongoing support from multiple units.

Barry's Arts Blog (News, Advice and Opinion for the Arts Administrator) recently published a listing of the "Top 25 Most Powerful People in the Nonprofit Arts." Number 18? Ohio State's Margaret Wyszmirski, (Art Education) who tied with Rand Corp's Kevin McCarthy, and was recognized for her research, which is "rigorous, academic and sets the standard for inquiry into the measurable aspects of arts evaluation and research.

The OSU Percussion Ensemble was named a winner in the 2008 Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition......and will play a showcase concert at the convention in Austin, Texas, in November.

Bob the Dog...and More August Fun

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Meet Bob! Bob is top dog in photographer Tony Medoza's home
. . . and the subject of the faculty member's upcoming book, Bob, to be released in early 2009. (Mendoza earlier published a popular book Ernie, detailing life with his cat.) Bob and Mendoza will make a special appearance at a "Dog Days of August" event at the OSU Urban Arts Space on Weds, Aug 27, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. You can meet Bob and learn some tips from Mendoza about snapping great photos of your favorite pets. They will be joined by canine friends from the Franklin County Animal Shelter in a dog adoption event. More details below.

Notable News
Welcome to the Arts and Humanities Blog! We will begin weekly updates of the blog when the academic year begins, with photos and news about the activities, events and accomplishments of faculty, staff, students and alumni in the College of the Arts and the College of Humanities. This is a late-summer update of the blog -- which has been in existence for two years in the Arts -- to let you know about some August events. Feel free to send Arts news to Victoria at osuarts@osu.edu or Humanities news to Melissa at soave.2@osu.edu. Each week starting Sept 22, we'll update the info and send you an email with a link to the blog. Your feedback is welcome!

Dog Days of August. The OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St in the historic Lazarus building is "going to the dogs" this month. In addition to the Aug 27 event (see photo above) with Bob, a noon-1 pm program on Weds, Aug 20, features a reading by Michael Rosen from Why We Love the Dogs We Love. The author reads from a new collection of heartfelt essays by well-known writers. Bring a photo of your dog and Rosen will draw a quick portrait of your companion in a copy of the book with purchase. For more information, call the OSU Urban Arts Space at 292-8861.

Downtown a Hub of Activity on Aug 28. In what is taking shape as a late-summer mini-festival in downtown Columbus, Thurs, Aug 28 boasts an array of arts and cultural events! the OSU Urban Arts Space presents Art Builds Bridges from 4 to 8 pm. The evening includes a community dialogue 4-6 pm, When Art Builds Bridges: Art, Environment and Community focusing on the place of art and river ecology in civic identity and featuring artists, educators, arts and water advocates and co-curators Rick Livingston and Prudence Gill. A wine-tasting of organic wines (6-8 pm), informal gallery tours (6 and 6:15 pm) and tours of the building's "green" rooftop garden (7 and 7:30 pm) are also planned. Later that evening the Wexner Center for the Arts takes its Wex Drive-in Outdoor Film Fest downtown with a free, open-air screening at dusk of the film The Talk of the Town (1942) with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur. For questions, call the Urban Arts Space at 292-8861 or the Wexner Center at 292-3535.

Mary Jo Bole (Art) opens Through the Hourglass, an exhibition of her work at Olin Art Gallery, Kenyon College in Gambier, Aug 28. An artist talk with Bole is scheduled at 7:30 pm on Thurs, Sept 11, in Olin Auditorium with a reception following in the gallery. The exhibition -- which includes Good Bye Victorians (cast iron, with nickel and chrome plating), left -- continues until Sept 27. Photo by Jeffrey Machtig.

Taking the Studio Outside

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A group of graduate and undergraduate dance students took their rehearsal outdoors last week for Bebe Miller's piece PatchPath, a site-specific work Miller created with her new repertory class. It was then performed last Friday outside of Page and Sullivant Halls and the Wexner Center, with live music by Terrence Karn, Ed Luna and Michael Wall. In the photo above are, left to right, dancers Vickie DeRenzo, Katie Brock, James Graham, Joanna Reed, Bernice Lee, musician Terrence Karn, Caitlin Ewing, Alix Keil and Romina Delosantos.

Message from the Dean:

To all of our College of the Arts students who graduate this weekend: Please let me extend warm congratulations to you from the college, and wish you much happiness and success as you begin your life journey. It has been a pleasure watching you on our stages and in our concert halls, viewing your work in studios and galleries, and reading about your research and scholarly work. I know we will continue to hear about you as you make your way out in the world, and I hope you always fondly remember your time with us at Ohio State as time well spent. As of Sunday, you will join the ranks of our illustrious alumni and we look forward to keeping in touch with you and welcoming your involvement in our Arts Alumni Society. As new alums, please be sure to let us know where you are heading next. It has been a joy having you in our college and I wish you all the best.
Karen A. Bell, Dean

Notable News

The Department of Design presents its annual student exhibition Tuesday, June 3, through Friday, June 13, at the OSU Urban Arts Space in the historic Lazarus building. The exhibition will showcase the thesis projects of more than 50 graduating senior students in the areas of industrial, interior space and communication design. Two special events are planned -- professionals night, June 3, 5-8 pm; and an opening reception, June 4, 5-8 pm. During the same time, the OSU Urban Arts Space upper gallery will host works in the Department of Art bachelor of fine art (BFA) exhibition. For more details about the BFA show, click here.

OSU art undergraduate student Rachel Widomski was seriously injured recently by a hit-and-run driver outside of Haiku restaurant – where she was a waitress – in the Short North. This weekend the Short North Arts District is dedicating Gallery Hop weekend to Rachel. Find out more about activities to support her and her family here.

HALOS for New York City (above) is a temporary public art project by Michael Mercil (Art) for the Battery Park City Authority. The installation uses beams of reflected sunlight from three computer-controlled heliostats (large mirrors) mounted on a residential tower to reveal a visual play of words on the pavement below. Inspired in part by the Sun-Down Poem of Walt Whitman, HALOS tracks the daily movement of light and shadow across lower Manhattan to slowly unscramble six three-word phrases -- WATCH & SEE; LEAP & SHOUT; SELF & SUN; TABLE & BOOK; KISS & TELL; OVER & OUT.

Meanwhile, Mercil (left) can occasionally be found on the Oval at Ohio State where he is Reading the Daily News as a public service of the Department of Art, Living Culture Initiative. For 365 times, he will read from all sections of the given day’s edition of the Columbus Dispatch. The newspaper is then stamped and added to the Living Culture Initiative archives.

Damian Bowerman (Theatre) is part of the cast of Catco’s The Foursome, which opened in Columbus over the weekend. The production – revolving around four old buddies who get together during a college reunion for a game of golf – was reviewed on Sunday by Columbus Dispatch theatre critic Michael Grossberg, who called it a “well-staged and well-timed season finale” that opened to “ample laughter.” He also says, “As golf-neophyte Donnie, Damian Bowerman may have the most amusing but least-complex role. Yet his easygoing, emotionally centered approach to the happily married father of five makes the character interesting and welcome.” Other OSU theatre alums involved in the show are costume designer Mary Yaw McMullen, lighting designer Ryan Osborn, director Jon Putnam and stage manager Allison Walker.

MusicWeb International recently reviewed American Fantasies: Arnold Schoenberg and American Music – which includes Fantasy for violin and piano by Donald Harris (Music). Of Harris’s piece, the reviewer says, “This is a thoroughly enjoyable piece that deserves to be in the repertoire and is an excellent introduction to the composer’s style." Read the review here.

Alumna Martha Michael (Art Education) announces the opening of her new gallery – Suite C Gallery – at 4601 N High St in Columbus on June 7 and 8.

Robert Ladislas Derr (Art) will perform Chance: Earlville, a psychogeographical walk performance wearing four video cameras through the streets of Earlville, NY, with his journey determined by the viewers' dice rolls. The resulting 4-channel video will be exhibited in a solo exhibition at the Earlville Opera House Gallery through July 26.

Spring Fever

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Enjoying a little sunshine and conversation between classes on a gorgeous late-spring day are freshmen music students (l-r) Natanielle Mikalov, violin performance and musicology, and Erin Chiparo, violin performance. Summer is right around the corner!

Notable News

Earlier this month, high school students from the Arts & College Prep Academy in Columbus shared stories told through dance, music and readings for National Storytelling Day at the OSU Urban Arts Space. They performed during one of the free lunch-time programs at the downtown galleries. . . and ended the event with a happy bow to the audience (above).

OSU is airing the WOSU-produced TV program iMix on the Big Ten Network May 22 at 5:30 pm, May 26 at 5:30 pm and May 28 at 11:30 am. The episode features the OSU Urban Arts Space and the MFA exhibition, and talks with Karen Bell and students Sonya Lucas, Michael Ohgren, Ryan Ross and Megan Shevenock. The show also takes a look at a telescope observatory in Arizona and virtual surgery. Take a look at our piece here.

Students, faculty, alums -- going someplace interesting this summer? The OSU website is collecting O-H-I-O photos! Consider taking a digital photo and submit it to http://www.osu.edu/O-H-I-O/

The Ohio State University's Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) and Department of Theatre present an evening of undergraduate and graduate student work at the Student Video and Animation Screening, Tuesday, May 27, 7 pm in the Wexner Center Film/ Video Theatre. The screening of narrative and experimental shorts will be followed by a brief Q&A session with the creators of the work. This free event is open to anyone interested in video and animation.

Twenty-one students from the College of the Arts participated in the 13th annual Denman Undergraduate Research Forum on May 14. They were part of the 415 students university-wide who showcased 374 research projects at the event. Congrats to all of the participants! And special congratulations to winners from the college in the Art/Architecture category -- 1st place winner Meagan Grund (Dance) for Columbus Cares: A Benefit Dance Performance; and 3rd place Sarah Lehman (Dance) for Taking Care of a Dancing Body.

The Box at the Wexner Center prsents First Person Video June 1-30, curated by Robert Ladislas Derr (Art) and Marcy Freedman. The video includes the work of 11 contemporary artists, who have placed themselves in front of the camera. Using the first person perspective, the artists (Derr, Freedman and Austrian artist Erwin Wurm among others) engage viewers while exploring political, psychological, philosophical, social and artistic issues.

Christine Ballangee Morris (Art Education) received the 2007-08 OSU American Indian Student Service Award for her support and mentoring of American Indian students, leadership in developing the American Indian Studies minor and community leadership. The award was presented by the Multicultiural Center earlier this month. Her class, Visual Culture and Indigenous People, was also mentioned on a WOSU radio show about indigenous issues, where one of her students Ashlea Hilliard was interviewed.

Graduate student Jenai Cutcher (Dance) has been awarded a University Presidential Fellowship, which recognnizes outstanding scholarship and research ability. It provides recipients with the opportunity to devote full time to their dissertation, in this case Cutcher's film Thinking on their Feet, a feature-length docmentary about the women who revolutionized the art of American percussive dance.

More good news in dance -- Vickie Blaine has been chosen to receive the 2009 Alma Hawkins Distinguished Leadership Award from the Council of Dance Administrators. The award is given to an individual who has made long-standing and significant contributions to the field of dance. She will be presened with the award in Minneapolis in September.

Twelve Art Education faculty members and 14 graduate students gave presentations at the recent 2008 National Art Education Association Convention in New Orleans. Their talks ranged from "interpreting art with eighth graders" to "holistic art education and visual culture." Also at the conference, Christine Ballangee-Morris received the 2008 Art Educator of the Year Award for the Western Region from the NAEA Higher Education Division, and Pat Stuhr received the 2008 June King McFee Award from the NAEA Women's Caucus, presented in honor of distinguished contributions to the profession of art education. Congrats!

Gallery talk: Jennifer Eisenhauer (Art Ed) will talk about her exhibition admission at the Fresh AIR Gallery, 131 N High St, at 5:30 pm Tues, May 27. Gallery phone number is 225-0980.

'Jumping Off Point'

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The Department of Dance presents its annual peformance by graduating senior dance majors -- Jumping Off Point -- Weds, May 21-Fri, May 23 at 8 pm in Sullivant Hall Theatre. The 16 students present a program charged with aggressive movement, global influences and "feel-good" motives with techniques and styles ranging from modern dance and tap to jazz, ballet and video technology. Alum Kristina Isabelle choreographed a piece for 5 of the students and MFA grad Coco Loupe choreographed two pieces for the show. Other guest choreographers include Slam, current MFA students Adriana Durant and Jenai Cutcher and Shani Collins. Tickets at the door; call 292-7977 for info.

Notable News

British author and reviewer Alexander Waugh (Classical Music, A New Way of Listening; Time; God; Fathers and Sons) will be on campus May 19-23. Events include a discussion of his family of writers on Mon, a brown bag lunch Tues, a fireside chat on God on Thurs, and a public lecture on Fri. The Fri event -- at 3:30 in 100 Hughes Hall --is Empty Sleeve: The Extraordinary Story of Paul Wittgenstein, a one-armed pianist on whom Waugh is writing a biography. For details, go to the web.

MFA festivities! On Saturday, May 10, hundreds of folks -- including MFA student exhibitors and their families, faculty, staff and community members -- gathered downtown for a reception honoring the MFA Thesis Exhibition (above) at the OSU Urban Arts Space in downtown Columbus. Guests got a chance to mingle and talk with the artists and listened to comments from Karen Bell, dean; Gordon Gee, OSU president; Sergio Soave, chair; and generous supporter Jan Dilenschneider. Refreshments and a jazz quartet of School of Music students rounded out the evening. (Photo by alumnus Grant Fletcher.)

Five days later, the OSU Urban Arts Space hosted an annual meeting and reception for the College of the Arts Alumni Society, faculty members and student artists (above). All alums from the college are automatically members of the relatively new society; for information contact Victoria at osuarts@osu.edu.

The 19th William Poland Lecture in Music Theory presents Mark Lindley who will discuss the History of the Chromatic Scale on Weds, May 21, 4:30 pm in 109 Hughes Hall. Lindley is widely regarded as the world's leading expert on the history of tempered scales and their musical significance. He also will present a Lecture in Musicology at 4:30 pm Mon, May 19, in 109 Hughes, and a master class in Weigel Auditorium at 12:30 pm Tues, May 20. For info, call 292-0789.

At the OSU Urban Arts Space on Thurs, May 22: 12-12:45 pm a walk-in gallery tour of the MFA exhibition is scheduled. From 5:30 to 6:30 pm that day, a panel discussion on "Real and Concrete: The Abstract Painting of this Year's Ohio State Graduates" features Michael Mercil and Laura Lisbon (Art) and student artists Kimasi Barnett, Daniel Clemens, Scott Olson, Ian Magargee and Rob Thompson. For more info, go to arts.osu.edu/uas.

Theatre alum Kim Turney presents a Talk-Back Forum Thurs, May 22, at 3:30 pm in Roy Bowen Theatre, Drake Performance Center. She has worked for Disney and Buena Vista Pictures, and is an expert in theatrical combat. Most recently she has been involved in film work with the high-definition camera workflow system she devised.

The Natural World Museum and United Nations Environment Programme have notified Ken Rinaldo and Amy Youngs that they have been selected for the 2008 Green Leaf Award for artistic excellence through their participation in the exhibit Moving Towards a Balanced Earth. The annual awards are presented to artists participating in the UN World Environment Day exhibition and whose work inspires and engages the public in environmental awareness. Five awards are presented each year; they won in the category of Conceptual Installation. The two will receive the award in New Zealand in June.

Flute news! Alumna Kimberlee Goodman presented a flute recital and master class at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis in Feb, and the following month was involved in three events at the College Music Society conference in Montana, where fellow alum Nicole Molumby presented a flute recital. This summer, Goodman will present lecture at the Lifelong Learners program at Columbus State Community College, and will give a recital at the National Flute Association convention in Kansas Ciety with the Stratosphere Flute Quartet that also includes alums Niclole Charles, Jennifer Packard and Suzanne Shonkwiler.

ACCAD Opens its Doors

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The Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) hosts its annual Open House on Friday, May 16, 4-7 pm. All are welcome for a fun, interactive self-guided tour. Visitors will observe state-of-the-art computer animation and digital media performances, plus meet the artists and designers who created them -- ACCAD's graduate students, faculty and staff. ACCAD is engaged in developing new graphics technologies, evolving the art of digital storytelling, collaborating with researchers to visualize scientific discovery and more. The event is free. ACCAD is on west campus at 1224 Kinnear Rd; parking is available in the (north) OSU lot 4-7 pm. (Image is a still from an animated short film, The Fox and the Grapes, by Iuri Lioi with lighting and compositing by Sucheta Bhatawadekar.)

Notable News

The School of Music and Columbus Percussion have teamed up to bring critically acclaimed jazz drummer and bandleader Jeff Hamilton and his trio to Columbus on Tuesday, May 13, at 7:30 pm in Hughes Auditorium. The concert is a fundraiser for OSU Jazz Studies, with tickets available at the door for $8 students and $15 adults. Hamilton is widely regarded as one of the finest jazz drummers in the world, and has played with such jazz legends as Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Natalie Cole Woody Herman, Ray Brown and more. He is currently touring with Diana Krall. Call 292-0789 for details.

The Department of Theatre presents Working: A Musical by Stephen Schwartz May 15-23 in Thurber Theatre. Based on the best-selling book of interviwes with American workers by Studs Terkel, the play explores the American workday through the eyes of 26 workers who meet in a subway station. According to director Christopher Roche, though Working wasn't commercially successful in its Broadway run in the '70s, it has an incredibly huge cult following. For more details and tickets, call 292-2295. (Photo: theatre student Akil Babb appears as Working character Mike Dillard.)

A summer exhibition at the OSU Urban Arts Space has extended its deadline for entries until May 23. What Time is This Place seeks 6-10 artists of all disciplines to discuss "place" as an emblem of past, present and future time, through the creation of site-responsive and time-specific work. The exhibition will open July 10. For details and an application, click here.

During his May 1 and 2 visit to campus, noted alumnus Steve Martino -- director of 20th Century Fox's animated feature film Horton Hears a Who! -- met with students in Design (above) and at ACCAD. He also presented a free public presentation about animating the Dr. Seuss film.

Ohio State and the University of Alabama (UA) have embarked on an exchange program. OSU representatives including Margaret Wyszomirski (Art Ed), Kelly Stevelt Kaser (OSU Urban Arts Space) and Rick Livingston (Humanities) visited UA in April to explore its "Creative Campus" -- a student-centered organization devoted to the promotion of creativity and collaboration. One of the student founders of Creative Campus is Kristi Wilcox who is now working toward a master's in Arts Policy and Administration at Ohio State. Next fall, UA will visit OSU to explore that master's program in Art Education. Click here for an article about the visit.

Ohio State Fair seeks art entries! There's a call for entries out for the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, funded by the Ohio Arts Council and Ohio Expositions Commission. The exhibition is open to Ohio artists and typically awards more than $15,000. The exhibition includes more than 300 works of art in all mediums and disciplines and draws more than 34,000 visitors during the fair. Deadline is June 7.

30 MFA Artists Downtown

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The OSU Urban Arts Space presents the inaugural group MFA Thesis Exhibition through May 22 at the OSU Urban Arts Space in the historic Lazarus building in downtown Columbus. The exhibition features work by all 30 graduating master of fine arts (MFA) students in the Department of Art, with works in painting & drawing, printmaking, ceramics, art & technology, glass, photography and sculpture. A reception that's free and open to all is planned for Saturday, May 10, 6-9 pm, at the OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St. For more details go to the web. (Artwork above by Kumasi Barnett.)

Notable News

Kevin Tavin (Art Education) has been honored with a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award. Tavin will spend three weeks at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki as a Fulbright senior specialist in education. He will work with grad students on an intensive course on contemporary knowledge of visual culture in art education and take part in a docatoral student seminar. He'll visit classrooms, work with students and faculty and will give lectures throughout the department. Tavin also will visit local art institutions, museums and a local school to learn about Finnish art education. Congratulations!

The School of Music remembers Michael Davis, violin, in a memorial concert Monday, May 5, at 8 pm in Weigel Auditorium. Davis taught violin at OSU from 1976 to 2004 and returned as an emeritus professor in 2006. He died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) on March 2. The concert will be performed by Nelson Harper, piano; OSU School of Music faculty; and several former students and colleagues from the Columbus Symphony and ProMusica. The concert is free. Call 292-0789 for information.

Check out the annual Mother's Day Glass and Ceramics Sale! OSU art students will be selling a wide variety of glass and ceramics items -- including plates, cups, hand-blown vases, jewelry, paperweights and more -- Thurs, May 8, and Fri, May 9, 9 am-6:30 pm in Hopkins Hall Lobby.

The OSU Urban Arts Space announces free programs for the month of May. Check them out here.

Students in the School of Music are organizing an event Saturday, May 10, to show support for the Columbus Symphony. Matthew Brahms and Julianne Akins (Music) are planning an evening out for 160-200 students and faculty. For $15, the package includes tickets to the last Classical concert of the year, a SymphonySTRONG wrist band, "passion" t-shirt and a chance to meet-and greet Maestro Junichi Hirokami and symphony musicians after the concert at the After Five lounge, where music will be provided by OSU jazz musicians. Transportation provided by CABS buses, which will leave the School of Music at 7:15 pm. For details, go to the web. The event is supported by the OSU School of Music, College of the Arts and Colleges of the Arts and Sciences.

Robert Ladislas Derr's (Art) video installation in Theory + Practice at Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ, April 19-May 17, was mentioned in an April 29 review in a blog by L. Craig Schoonmaker. In addition, one of Ladislas Derr's videos is being screened in California -- in San Jose, San Francisco and Santa Cruz -- this month as part of The Show Starts on the Sidewalk, an exhbition that is part of Intervene! Interrupt! Rethinking Art as Social Practice (University of California, Santa Cruz).

Undergraduate student Rachael Moore (Art Education) has been honored with the John Mount Academic Excellence Award, which is presented to one outstanding senior who began studies at the OSU Newark campus and completed course work at the Columbus campus.

The Fresh A.I.R. (Artists in Recovery) Gallery in Columbus presents Admission by Jennifer Eisenhauer (Art Education) May 7-30 with a free opening reception May 7, 5:30-7 pm. The artist's installation (above) traces the intersections of historical and contemporary experiences that come to define a person's identity as a mental health consumer, client and/or psychiatric survivor. Fresh A.I.R. Gallery is at 131 N High St in Columbus, and is operated by Southeast Inc.

Dance Downtown: 10 Years Strong

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The Department of Dance heads to the heart of the city May 1-3 for the 10th anniversary of its playful, powerful and provocative show, Dance Downtown 2008. The shows, at the Riffe Center's Capitol Theatre, feature the work of four internationally acclaimed choreographers, three of whom were recent guest artists at Ohio State -- Tania Isaac, Amy Raymond and Ming-Lung Yang -- along with a work by Anna Sokolow. The show will be presented at 8 pm each evening with an additional 3 pm matinee on Saturday. Above, OSU dancers James Graham and Yen-Fang Yu.

Notable News

Noted alumnus Steve Martino -- director of 20th Century Fox's animated feature film Horton Hears a Who! -- will visit campus Thursday May 1 and Friday May 2 to work with students and give a public presentation. Martino earned degrees from Design and Art Education, and studied at ACCAD. Martino’s public presentation is Thursday, May 1, at 4:30 pm in Page Hall, room 10. The free event will include behind-the-scenes footage related to animating the film and how the directors translated Dr. Seuss’s images to 3D designs. He’ll discuss the film’s special effects development and the use of radiosity in lighting and rendering. Photo courtesy of Blue Sky Studios. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who! TM & c 2008 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

Check it out! Our Dean Karen Bell is featured on a new OSU "Do Something Great" video feature on Ohio State's website. In the feature, Art City, she talks about the OSU Urban Arts Space.

Eight graduate students from the College of the Arts -- 7 from History of Art and 1 from Music -- were invited to present their research in the Arts Division of the 22nd Annual Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum on April 12, according to Charles Massey Jr (Art), who served as an abstract judge. Students (and their awards) were Angela Anderson, Alicia East (2nd place award), Julia Fischer (first place), Sarah Getzelman, Lauran Whitworth, Carrie Wills (third place) and Yanfei Zhu, all from History of Art, and Brandon Hollihan, Music. Other judges from the college were James Arnold (Design) and Pheoris West (Art).

Five College of the Arts students have been awarded $500 grants from the Undergraduate Student Govenment Academic Enrichment Grant program. They are Rachel Alto and Vera Cremeans (Music), Laura Bradigan and Benjamin Newman (Art) and Meagan Grund (Dance). Congrats!

All College of the Arts alumni are invited to our Alumni Society's 2008 General Alumni Meeting and Gallery Reception at the new OSU Urban Arts Space in the historic Lazarus building Thursday, May 15, 5-6:30 pm. On view -- Master of Fine Arts: Thesis Exhibition
featuring the artwork of 30 MFA students from all areas in the Department of Art. The evening will include alumni gathering and vote on board officers (5:30 pm), gallery talk by Sergio Soave, chair, Art, and Michael Mercil, professor of art (5:45 pm), self-guided tours with current MFA exhibitors, a Student Glass Club sale and refreshments. The evening is hosted by Karen Bell, dean, and Mary Hickey, Arts Alumni Society president. RSVP by May 12 to (614) 292-5171. Click for details and parking information.

Hours have expanded at the OSU Urban Arts Space. New hours are 11 am to 6 pm Tuesday through Saturday, with extended hours on Thursday to 8 pm.

New free public programs have also been announced at the OSU Urban Arts Space, including lunchtime discussions and after-work discussions and performances. Check them out here.

There's still time to fill out the Greater Columbus Arts Council's Artspace Project survey -- a study about a potential arts community in downtown Columbus. The online survey is available until May 20.

A solo exhibition of new work by Ryan Agnew (Art) called Going to Sheep opens May 2 at the Root Art Center in Mt Vernon, OH, and continues through May 30.

Kevin Tavin (Art Education) has one article and one commentary essay appearing in the most recent issue of Studies in Art Education. the article -- Scopic regime chanage: The war of terror, visual cutlure and art education -- was co-written with OSU grad student John Derby.

Scot Olson -- one of the MFA students whose work is among those featured in the MFA exhibition that opens at the OSU Urban Arts Space April 28 --also has a debut show in New York City at Taxter & Spengemann in Chelsea. Plus, Olson's work was included in an April 19 New York Times article, "Is Painting Small the Next Big Thing?"

Honey Stop the Car!

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Drivers and pedestrians on Front Street and the now-closed Town Street downtown are being confronted with a huge work of public art staring at them from the windows of the former Lazarus building and commanding them to QUICK HONEY STOP THE CAR! The 10.5 by 55 foot vinyl sign is an artwork by master of fine arts (MFA) student Herb Vincent Peterson (Art). The piece, which was installed April 11, will remain in the historic building’s windows indefinitely, and was developed for the exterior of the same building that houses the OSU Urban Arts Space. Peterson says QUICK HONEY STOP THE CAR! explores and combines the relationship between design and art. “I love the impact the words make on the side of the building," he says. "It really draws you in. Despite its scale, the idea to 'stop the car!' on a street that is unavailable to cars is quite humorous. It’s also interesting to see the multiple interpretations that have already begun – maybe we need to stop the car to look at art and what’s happening at the OSU Urban Arts Space.”

Notable News

The Department of Dance's Black Dance Alliance was invited to be a part of the performing arts assembly series at City Year's 2008 Spring Break Camp in Columbus. Camp City Year was held at Windsor Elementary School and focused on World Cultures, according to Melanye White Dixon (Dance). Student members of the Black Dance Alliance -- DeAngelo Blanchard, Erika Harris, Aureyl Pitts and Robyn Young -- performed a spiritual dance work and conducted a movement session with the campers in grades kindergarten to third grade. In the photo above, DeAngelo Blanchard (in back of room), who choreographed the dance, watches as Aureyl Pitts (dancer in back), Erika Harris and Robyn Young perform for the youngsters.

American mime Gregg Goldston will present a talk-back forum open to all at 3:30 pm April 24 in Roy Bowen Theatre, Drake Performance Center. During the event, Goldston will perform a selection of his solo works that show the unique elements that form the art of modern mime. He will talk about the history of mime, his years with Marcel Marceau and lessons learned from performing a wordless art for more than 30 years. Theatre and dance grad students from his residency classes will also present works they've developed. For info, call 292-5821.

The School of Music presents the third Zoe and Jack Johnstone Woodwind Master Series, featuring the clarinet, April 30-May 3. Special guest for the event is D. Stanley Hasty, celebrated artist and professor emeritus at the Eastman School of Music. The series includes an opening concert with Kenneth John Grant (right) and members of the Columbus Symphony at 8 pm April 30 along with master classes, discussions and workshops. Other highlights include the renowned Verdehr Trio performing the premiere of Rhapsody for clarinet, violin and piano, composed by alumnus Daniel Perttu and commissioned by the Johnstone Fund for New Music. For complete details, go to the web.

A video installation by Robert Ladislas Derr (Art) is being exhibited in Theory + Practice at Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ, April 19-May 17.

Allyson Morgan, a 2004 BA alum from Theatre, has her debut today (April 21) on the soap opera As The World Turns at 2 pm on CBS. She has three scenes as the "sick babysitter".

Last month, nine dance students performed Anna Sokolow's 1968 choreographic work, Steps of Silence, in New York City in the "Sharing the Legacy Project: Works from 1960-1980". The work will be featured in the OSU Dance Downtown concert May 1-3 at the Riffe Center's Capitol Theatre, according to Valarie Mockabee (Dance). Pictured below is the student cast working with Lorry May, director of the Anna Sokolow Foundation.
A play running in Chicago in June involves three OSU Theatre alums and two students. North, which will be presented June 5-22 at the American Theater Company in Chicago, features MFA student Kal Pool, PhD student Chris Roche and alumna Christina Ritter as cast members; alumna Jennifer Schlueter as director and alum Brad Steinmetz as scenery and lighting designer. The play, which explores the charged meeting between Anne Morrow Lindbergh and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, was created by the for/word company.

Special Guest Conductor!

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The OSU Symphony Orchestra welcomed a special guest conductor for a two-hour rehearsal on Tuesday, April 8 -- Columbus Symphony music director Junichi Hirokami, who was invited by Marshall Haddock (Music) to rehearse Brahms Symphony No. 4. According to students, his energy was amazing and he offered great stories to get the sounds he wanted from the orchestra. For example, he wanted the timpani to play like King Kong.

Notable News

Too smart! Many of you guessed correctly that last week's photo was of climbing holds, designed by Tony Reynaldo (Design). The holds -- on exhibit in the third floor hallway of Hopkins Hall -- represent a landmark for Reynaldo, who has been designing climbing holds since 1997 when he studied with noted designer Louie Anderson in LA. After mastering the ergonomic, aesthetic and engineering aspects of climbing holds, he freelanced for companies and created some of the most recognized designs in the industry. Millions of his hold designs are used in climbing gyms and fitness centers around the world. In 2005 Reynaldo signed an exclusive contract with Crater Holds Inc, and last November he created his 2,000th climbing hold design -- a landmark in the outdoor industry. His goal by the end of 2008 is to create his 3,000th hold design!


Industrial design alumnus Ron Mason -- who lives in Pickerington -- played a big role in creating the new comedy film Smart People, which stars Dennis Quaid and Ellen Page. Mason served as art director for the movie, which was shot in Pittsburgh, and discussed his job designing the atmosphere and "settings" for movies in the Columbus Dispatch.

Photographs by Tony Mendoza (Art) will be featured in The Bob Show, an exhibition that opened Saturday, April 12, at the Chelsea Galleria in Miami, FL. The exhibition runs through May 6. On April 18 the gallery and the Humane Society of Greater Miami will host "Wagging the Dog: An Art for Animals Benefit" 6:30-8:30 pm.

The School of Music presents the 25th annual Central Ohio Flute Association Festival -- featuring guest artist Renee Siebert -- on Saturday (April 19) from 8 am to 5 pm in Weigel Auditorium. Siebert, second flutist with the New York Philharmonic, will present a 1:15 pm concert of sonatas by JS Bach and Martinu accompanied by Gary Hammond. Other activities include a masterclass with Siebert, the Marshall University Fife and Drum Corp and the OSU Fifes and Drums, exhibits, a flute choir concert (at 10:30 am) and more. For details, go to the website.

In the upcoming June issue of AmericanStyle Magazine, Columbus is heralded as the 10th "Top Arts Destination" among US cities. The national magazine ranks cities based on their public art, gallery offerings and institutional arts, according to reader polls.

Terry Barrett (Art Education) will speak at the 2008 Beijing International Festival of Photography this summer, with a talk about "appreciating the diversity of photographs."

What is it?

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Tell us what you think this is! Simply add your best guess about what's in the photo above in the "comments" section at the end of this post. Next week, we'll give you the scoop, and tell you why it's relevant to the College of the Arts.

Notable News

Congrats!! Ohio State’s MFA program in art is ranked 21st of 220 programs in America! According to the US News & World Report 2009 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools”, the MFA program in Art is ranked 21st overall in the US, compared to its previous 28th position in the last ranking report. The program is the highest ranked MFA arts program in Ohio and is tied with top programs within the Big 10. Several program specialties in art and design also were highly ranked in the new report. Industrial design climbed to a 5th place ranking, making it the highest ranked program at a public university in the US. Ohio State’s ceramics program and glass program each were ranked # 6 in the country.

Ardine Nelson (Art) has been awarded a 2008 fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Hers is one of 190 fellowships awarded across the country – and one of three at OSU -- to artists, scientists and scholars. Fellows were named from a group of more than 2,600 applicants, with awards totaling $8,200,000. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed on the basis of stellar achievement and exceptional promise for continued accomplishment. This year’s field represents 75 disciplines and 81 institutions; they range in age from 31 to 98. Additionally, OSU alumnus Fredrik Marsh – who earned an MFA in the Department of Art, and who is Nelson’s partner – was named a 2008 Guggenheim Fellow. They are the first couple to receive individual Guggenheim fellowships in the same year; an article about them appeared in the Columbus Dispatch. (At left is a piece by Nelson -- Schregergarten #59 - 2004, Dresden, Germany.)

Robert Ladislas Derr (Art) performed Chance: Boston -- a psychogeographical walk through the streets of Boston determined by viewers’ dice rolls -- at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts for Contaminate 3: Live Art Festival April 4. An article about the performance appeared the same day in the Boston Globe. He also lectured about the Chance project last month at the Fifth Annual Visual Cultures Symposium: Intended to Provoke Social Action in Visual Cultures at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. Closer to home, Ladislas Derr will exhibit In Play at the Weston Art Gallery, Aronoff Center for the Arts, Cincinnati, April 11 – June 7. Opening reception is April 11, 6-9 pm; he'll give a talk April 29 at 7 pm.

Also at the Weston Art Gallery, a site-specific installation by Suzanne Silver (Art) called Seeing the Fugitive opens there April 11 and continues until June 7. Through the creation of a visual vocabulary, her piece examines the contradictions and elusiveness of language. Her installation uses "fugitive” materials such as powder, dust, and metal leaf, and more lasting materials such as wood, metal and concrete to find unexpected connections between words, objects and places. A gallery talk takes place April 29 at 7 pm and an education workshop is May 17 at 10 am.

OSU Theatre folks are playing a big part in the current CATCO play Doubt, running through April 27. The production includes faculty member Mandy Fox and alumna/lecturer Christina Ritter as cast members. The set is by alumna Carla Chaffin; costumes by faculty member Kristine Kearney and lighting by alum David Atkinson. It's directed by alumnus Geoff Nelson, who is CATCO's artistic director.

OSU Theatre alumna Annette Reid, who graduated in 1985, is in a new comedy play called In the Wings, which stars Mariette Hartley, at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks, Cal. The play opened March 28 and continues until May 11.

LOL this Weekend

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Just for Laughs -- a madcap comedy revue featuring OSU alumni from the ‘60s -- returns to campus April 4-6 to raise money for student scholarships. Just for Laughs stars Jeffrey Weissman who played George McFly in Back to the Future II and III along with OSU alumni Denis Freeh and Richard D. Farshler, and features live music and a cast of wacky characters that pay tribute to comedy in America. The troupe will present a weekend of benefit performances Friday, April 4 and Saturday, April 5 at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, April 6 at 3 pm in Roy Bowen Theatre on campus. All proceeds benefit scholarships in the Department of Theatre. The troupe has its roots in a 1963 OSU experimental theatre production called the Esoterics at Large, created by Freeh and Farshler and resulting in standing-room-only crowds. Tickets are $25 (tax deductible) available at the door or by calling the box office at (614) 292-2295. For details, call the box office or go to the web.

Notable News

Also this weekend, check out the 31st Annual OSU Jazz Festival in Weigel Auditorium April 3-6, featuring concerts, university and high school jazz bands and internationally recognized artists like Eddie Bayard (left) and Tony Monaco. Tickets at the door; for info, call 292-0789.

Alumnus and filmmaker Michael Stickrod (Art, Sculpture) who went on to earn an MFA at Yale has been honored with a major award from the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City -- one of four Altoids Awards for emerging American artists. The winners are nominated and selected exclusively by artists and include Stickrod (New Haven, CT), along with artists from New York City, Portland and Houston. They were selected from 46 nominees by a jury of artists, and each receives a $25,000 prize. In addition, their work will be hosted in a joint exhibition June 25-Oct 12 at the museum. The Altoids Award (named for its mint-making sponsor) is an initiative that will be organized biennially by the New Museum.

Artists' opinions needed! The Greater Columbus Arts Council has partnered with Artspace Projects, a Minneapolis-based national, non-profit developer, to study the space needs of the creative community in the Columbus area. Results of the study will help in the development of affordable space where artists may live and work, and where arts organizations and creative businesses may thrive. Any artist -- student, faculty, alumni, professional artist, etc -- is welcome to fill out a survey between now and May 20.

Save the date! The Department of Dance presents Dance Downtown 2008 at 8 pm May 1-3 incuding a matinee on May 3. The 10th anniversary of the playful and provocative show includes 4 Columbus premieres, and will be staged at the Riffe Center's Capitol Theatre. Tickets are available from CAPA (469-0939) or Ticketmaster (431-3600).

Speaking of surveys, design student Kevin Miller wants your opinion! Miller is researching how folks use the College of the Arts website; results will help him redesign the website for his senior thesis project. The online survey is anonymous and confidential.

Music student Samantha Mowery (MM 06, DMA 08) has been cast as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Virginia Opera, which has engaged her with a 5-month contract. In OSU Opera, Mowery recently was Adina in Elixir of Love and the Queen of the Night in Magic Flute.

Chelsea Galleria in New York City presents an exhibition, Lente Latino -- Latin American Photography through May 3. The show features photos by five artists including Tony Mendoza (Art).

Special events this week at OSU Urban Arts Space: April 1, noon-1 pm, History of Lazarus with Brian Ezzell. Thurs, April 3, 5:30-8 pm, Carnival Closing Processional with students from Columbus Africentric Nubian Dance and Drum Co, and 7-8 pm Jump 'n Wave. Fri, April 4, noon-1 pm, Artist Talk with Robin Van Lear, artisitc director of Cleveland Museum of Art's Parade the Circle.

Art & Technology alum John Sherman Lathram III, along with undergraduate students Adon Newman, Jennifer Cooke, James Mericle and Ross Smith, exhibited robotics sculptures, digital images, sound installation, video and computer animations in the Fuse Factory exhibition Ignition in Columbus.

To expand Design's international student exchange program, Reinhart Butter and Heike Goeller (Design) traveled to Mexico to meet with representataives from universities in Guadalajara and Monterrey. Both universities' programs in industrial design and interior architecture are compatible with OSU's educational philosphy and offerings. Agreements are likely to be signed in time for student exchanges to begin as soon as fall quarter 2009. While there, Butter also made presentations about transportation design and collaborative student projects at OSU.