'Marriage' comes to Mershon

OSU Opera and the Department of Theatre present Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30 at 8 pm in Mershon Auditorium. Set in an English manor in the late 20th century, this updated version of a timeless love story will be sung in Italian with English surtitles. Discount ticket prices for students, senior citizens, OSU faculty and staff (with ID). Above, students Amedee Moore and David Wilson rehearse.

Notable News

Ohio choreographers are invited to submit works for a new project that's a partnership of the Dublin Arts Council, OSU Department of Dance and OhioDance. The project involves the development and performance of a site-specific outdoor contemporary dance work. A chosen choreographer will create the work, using the Dublin Arts Council grounds, a grassy sloping location with a rolling hill descending to the Scioto River. For more information contact Jane D'Angelo at ohiodance@hotmail.com or find the invitaiton for submission here (scroll down to Sept events).

The Arts Initiative's offices present a new exhibition May 29-June 19 -- One Year in a Lifetime: A Celebration of First Grade. OSU alum Cavin Bodouin, first grade teacher at New Albany Elementary presents large-scale murals created by his 23 students as they explored a wide variety of subject matter throughout their first grade year. Opening reception is Friday, May 29, 5-7 pm.

Ohio State's popular Percussion Ensemble Pops Concert takes place on the Oval on Tuesday, May 26, at 6:30 pm. Bring a lawn chair or blanket to this free outdoor concert and enjoy the School of Music's Mallet Ensemble with music from the Ragtime era and the golden age of the xylophone.

ART Party with President Gee

The Ohio Union sponsored a special event, "ARen'T you glad you're with Dr Gee" at the Arts Initiative office at South Campus Gateway last Friday. Ohio State students with "ART" in their names -- like Arthur and Martha -- were invited to the evening event where students mingled with President E Gordon Gee and painted sun visors and bow ties. . . and even got a lesson in how to tie a bow tie. The winning bow tie was chosen by Dr Gee and will be framed and presented to him later. The event was held in conjunction with Big Arts Week, and South Campus Gateway was hopping with the sounds of live music on the plaza. Photos courtesy of Ohio Union.

Notable News

Apply for a Digital Storytelling Workshop by May 4. Would you like to tell the story of your teaching, research or outreach through a video or audio project? OSU's Digital Storytelling team invites you to apply for an intensive, hands-on Digital Storytelling Workshop to be presented Tuesday, June 16 through Thursday, June 18. Project ideas related to teaching, research or outreach will be given preference according to Liv Gjestvang, coordinater, Digital Union. Apply online here or read more here. Application deadline is May 4.

Walkscape OSU -- Join the campus-wide experiment in creative bipedalism by going for a walk. Visit new places, take new routes, look with a fresh eye. Walk by yourself, in pairs, in small groups, en masse. Document your experience with words, images, objects or sounds and contribute to the Walkscape Scroll that will be on the Oval May 20, 10 am – 4 pm. Sponsored by the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities and the Arts Initiative at Ohio State to inspire creativity on campus. For ideas, suggestions or to leave a comment, visit the walkscape blog or email livingston.28@osu.edu.

Day by Day....

The Ohio State Department of Theatre partners with CAPA to present the musical Godspell April 16-19 at the historic Southern Theatre in downtown Columbus. Originally conceived by John-Michael Tebelak, with music and new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, the Ohio State production is directed by Mandy Fox. For tickets call (614) 292-2295. Above, (l-r) Kristen Russell, Meredith Lark, Danny Ferguson and Gabriel Lopez rehearse a scene. Photo by Eric Mayer.

Notable News

The Organization of Art School Students Union (OASSU) will host an artist talk with Chris Martin at 4 pm Weds, April 15, in room 262, Hopkins Hall. Martin is an abstract painter who creates poetic works bursting with color, employing elements of collage and landscape imagery.

The Wexner Center will announce its slate of summer films -- indoor and outdoor series -- on Weds, April 15, at 2 pm via live streaming video.

Don't forget about Big Arts Week at Ohio State next week -- with a whole slate of events planned on and around campus. Enjoy performances, art exhibitions, improv, films, jazz, dance, bands and more!

Got an interest in the relationship of the cosmos and the psyche? Richard Tarnas, professor of philosophy and cultural history at the California Institute of Integral Studies, presents a lecture and workshop Fri, April 17, and Sat, April 18, at First Community Church in Columbus. The events are sponsored by the Jung Association of Central Ohio. Full time students may attend the Fri lecture for free; bring ID. For details, click here.

Synchronous Objects Launched

It was a packed house at a symposium April 1 at Ohio State celebrating the launch of the interactive web project Synchronous Objects for One Flat Thing, reproduced. The symposium featured choreographer William Forsythe and web project collaborators Maria Palazzi (ACCAD), Norah Zuniga Shaw (Dance) and other Ohio State researchers from a wide range of disciplines. It was held at the Wexner Center, concurrent with the opening of the exhibition William Forsythe: Transfigurations. The interactive web project (above), now available to the public, is the result of a multi-year collaboration with The Forsythe Company, based in Germany, and Ohio State. The project presents an original collection of screen-based visualizations (video, digital artwork, animation and interactive graphics) that reveal interlocking systems of organization in the choreography. It has been featured in the New York Times, the Columbus Dispatch and the online site Information Aesthetics.

Notable News

It's never hard to find things to do around the Ohio State campus . . . but for one week in late April, there's a big bunch of arts events all going on at once! We're calling it Big Arts Week and it includes everything from a student organization-sponsored arts festival to exhibitions, a film fest, variety show and the always popular OSU Jazz Festival.

Call for artists! The second annual Art Al Fresco, a day-long event in the Short North to spotlight the power of public art, is seeking entries for this year's event, scheduled for Aug 15. Last year, the outdoor event drew over 10,000 people. Up to 50 artists will create temporary public art installations in outdoor venues, from parks and courtyards to rooftops and sidewalks. Applications, due May 22, are available online.

Student filmmakers take note! InMyShorts.com is seeking submissions for an online film festival. Submit your work online by April 11 and compete with other OSU students for prizes and recognition. Top-rated films will be shown at the Landmark Gateway Theatre on April 11 at 7 pm. Go to the website, "join" the Ohio State University group and upload your video to enter the competition. Videos must be under 10 minutes and under 50 mbs. All categories are accepted, and can be anything from experimental to musicals to Hollywood!

The media-savvy Builders Association returns to the Wexner Center April 16-18 for Continuous City, a show that looks at how our "networked selves" are stretched to occupy multiple locations. Sequences filmed in Columbus will be integrated in Continuous City's globe-spanning dreamscape.

Student Musicians Wow Crowd

An audience of more than 300 community leaders enjoyed the talents of more than 20 Ohio State students and faculty from the School of Music at last week’s Columbus Council on World Affairs awards luncheon at the convention center. Ohio State was recognized at the event as the International Organization of the Year; President E. Gordon Gee accepted the award and was keynote speaker. A student jazz combo (left) played cool jazz tunes as people registered and networked in a reception area. Percussion students (above) – led by Susan Powell and Joe Krygier (Music) – provided upbeat entertainment on stage during the event, as did 11 opera singers (below) – directed by Peter Kozma and accompanied by Edward Bak – who belted out the finale from the Marriage of Figaro.

The OSU Urban Arts Space and its February 2008 grand opening event (below) and opening exhibition, Midnight Robbers: The Artists of Notting Hill Carnival (co-curated by Lesley Ferris, Theatre) were honored last week with the Artistic Excellence award by the Greater Columbus Arts Council. The $10,000 prize is given annually to an arts organization that has demonstrated innovation, risk and artistic excellence. Several of the other nominees have close ties to Ohio State too – including the Columbus Museum of Art, led by alumna Nannette Maciejunes (Art History), and its Objects of Wonder exhibition, curated by alumna Melissa Wolfe (Art History), and the Columbus Dance Theater, headed by Dance alum Tim Veach.

Twenty school teachers from central Ohio public schools – including Metro High School, Linden-McKinley High School and its feeder schools, and Reynoldsburg City Schools – have been chosen as the first participants in the Ohio State / Royal Shakespeare Company Partnership. They include 11 high school, 2 middle school and 7 elementary school teachers. Starting this summer, the group will work with RSC actors and educators and OSU faculty in an intensive teacher education program based upon the Stand Up for Shakespeare experiential learning program. Plans are also underway for a one-day workshop next fall for teachers from a wider range of schools.

Speaking of the Royal Shakespeare Company, you can catch its production of King Lear, starring Sir Ian McKellen, on WOSU TV/HD at 8 pm March 25 and on WOSU PLUS digital channel at 8 pm March 26. The 3-hour show is presented by Great Performances.

There’s never a shortage of arts events on campus. . . but the area around campus is ripe with live music and arts events too. One newcomer to the university area is Wild Goose Creative, an organization committed to “creativity, hospitality, education and community.” Formed by six friends who went to college together in Michigan – including Nick Dekker and Jessie Boettcher (Theatre) and alum Beth Dekker – the group recently moved into space at Summit and Hudson Streets. Wild Goose Creative hosts a Third Thursday group – where an artist is invited to share his or her work – as well as a painters’ and writers' groups, a Shakespeare group and more.

Voting has begun in the Music Video Challenge sponsored by the Ohio Film Office. You can give your opinion by logging on the YouTube site and casting your vote.

Guggenheim Features Hamilton Work

Ann Hamilton (Art) has an installation -- human carriage -- in a new exhibition, The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia: 1860-1989, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The exhibition, which opened Jan 30 and continues until April 19, features 250 works by 100 artists and literary figures in a broad range of media, including the site-specific commission by Hamilton. The show explores the impact of Asian art, literature, music and philosophical concepts on American art. Hamilton's piece was created for the Guggenheim's rotunda. Focusing on themes of transmission and transformation, she devised a mechanism that traverses the entire Guggenheim balustrade, in the form of a white silk "bell carriage" with Tibetan bells inside. As the cage spirals down, the purifying bells ring. The system is propelled by a pully system and weights composed of thousands of cut-up books. According to Hamilton, the elements of human carriage compose a visual metaphor for the processes of "reading which leaves no material trace but which might forever change you."

Notable News

Drums Downtown VI comes to the Riffe Center's Capitol Theater this Fri, Feb 27, and Sat, Feb 28 at 8 pm. The popular production features percussion, dance, art and multimedia, with OSU’s Percussion Ensemble and guest students and faculty from OSU Dance—a tour de force collaboration! Click here for details and ticket info.

Calling artists! Ohio Staters Inc. and Major Campus Events Committee (MCEC) are interested in your talents. During the week of April 20, the groups will host Festival of the Finest to showcase the artistic variety and skills of OSU students and student groups. Any and all mediums, from fine art to performance, are welcome to apply. Click here for guidelines and an application. Submissions and questions should be directed to applications.osu@gmail.com by 5 pm March 6.

The Ohio Film Office launched the Ohio Film Music Video Challenge Feb 18. A production team has 3 weeks to partner with a musical act, create a concept, shoot the music video and post it (to be judged) on the official YouTube challenge site. Winners will be selected from a panel of professionals in the music and film/video industries.

Central Ohio Schools Join RSC Partnership

A group of about 20 Ohio public school teachers will be the first to participate in an extensive teacher leadership education program that’s at the core of a new partnership between The Ohio State University and UK’s Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), according to Karen Bell, associate vice president, The Arts Initiative at Ohio State. The first cohort of teachers will come from Franklin County’s Metro High School; Columbus City Schools’ Linden-McKinley High School and its feeder schools; and Reynoldsburg City Schools. The schools are STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) schools affiliated with the Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN).

“We’re delighted to be working with these central Ohio schools in the venture with the RSC,” says Bell. “At first it may seem like a surprising fit to explore Shakespeare in STEM schools, but in fact it’s a perfect fit. Like scientific investigation, the RSC’s drama education program is all about creative learning, experiencing and exploring.” For the entire story, click here. (Photo of the RSC's Stand Up for Shakespeare program by Ellie Kurrtz.)

Notable News

Art Ed alumna Ivy Chevers (PhD) has orchestrated upcoming events celebrating the life and music of Bob Marley, at the King Arts Complex in Columbus. Events include a documentary film on Fri, Feb 6, at 6:30 and 9 pm, and a Marley tribute concert at 8 pm Sat, Feb 7. For info, click here.

The Ohio Art League presents its 98th Annual Spring Juried Exhibition at the OSU Urban Arts Space in downtown Columbus through March 27. The exhibition features works -- including this one by Ardine Nelson -- selected by juror David Pagel. For more, see the OAL website.

John Hemingway, grandson of Nobel Laureate Ernest Hemingway will read from and discuss his new memoir, Strange Tribe -- which explores the similarities between his transsexual father (Hemingway's youngest son) and Ernest Hemingway -- at a talk on Tues, Feb. 17 at 7 pm in the Wexner Center Film and Video Theatre. This talk is co-sponsored by the Department of English, OSU Sexuality Studies Program, Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities and the Wexner Center for the Arts.

A community choir based at the campus-area church Summit on 16th will join forces with choir and band students from Indianola Middle School to present a short concert (and lots of chocolate) on Sat, Feb 14, 6 pm, at Indianola Middle School, 420 E 19th Ave. The community choir of about 25 singers under the direction of Sheena Phillips will sing choral arrangements of love songs by the Beatles, Elton John, Cole Porter and George Gershwin, and some up-tempo gospel music. Admission is free; donations will benefit the music program at Indianola.