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.