Category: Arts

Categories
Arts Stories In Focus

Film Review: Get Out

We all have different thresholds for confrontation. For some, all they need are a few off-handed comments diminishing their favorite book or an uninformed insinuation that grains are the most important food group to go flying off the verbal handle. Yet for others, the benefit of the doubt will still remain intact even after the “local neighborhood chainsaw salesman” they let into the house has started swinging at them. “I’m sure it was just an accident.” It is in this relational ambiguity that Jordan Peele’s recently released film Get Out finds it’s home, and manages to unnerve the viewer in ways that are far deeper than its genre format may initially suggest. Paranoia runs rampant in the uncomfortable and the awkward, when people are just a few degrees away from understanding each other, but can’t quite connect. What people do to each other within this disconnect is what’s truly terrifying.

The film centers on Chris Washington, played by Daniel Kaluuya, who is black, and his girlfriend Rose Armitage, played by Allison Williams, who is white. Chris knows this shouldn’t be a big deal in modern society, but the desire to preface a relationship in such a way is often culturally expected even though distinguishing between “interracial relationships” and whatever painful phrase indicates a “same race relationship” can lead to strange confrontations. So when he leaves the city to visit his girlfriend’s family for the first time, he is prepared for the worst. While they are not nearly the prejudiced suburban family that he imagined living deep in the woods, he can’t help but feel that they interact with him in a way that’s quietly unsettling. When the groundskeeper and maid start behaving oddly, Chris begins to think that the family has planned something sinister for him.

It is incredibly difficult to talk about this movie to people who haven’t seen it. No matter how much you gush about its impeccable pacing, tremendous performances, and witty writing, it can’t be proven until it is seen. This film is bonkers, yet it manages to restrain itself and worm its way into your mind with silent, subconscious tension. It’s brilliant, and worth seeing if you have even the tiniest of stakes in the cinematic landscape of the modern world.

Get Out is delightfully clever, and from the film’s first moments it is clear that you are in the hands of a methodically constructed work of fiction. It knows its audience is intelligent, and treats them in kind, which is a refreshing experience from a low-budget horror film. When the pieces of the plot start fitting together and you think you are getting ahead of the story, characters will chime in to explain that they’ve made the same connections, just to remind you that the movie knows what it’s doing. This is usually the result when a brilliant writer and director are working in tandem, and in this case, both are Jordan Peele. While Peele showcased some of his directorial prowess on his often brilliant sketch show Key and Peele, this film proves that he can easily translate his skills to long-form drama while still keeping an air of wit and comic relief that is more than welcome when the tension starts growing unbearable. There has never been such an organic balance between dread and humor in a movie of this kind, and it is a genuinely wonderful experience to feel tonal balance shift back and forth with ease.

This movie is weird, sincerely odd, and it’s all the better for it. It is tightly plotted, scripted, directed, shot, marketed (but please avoid the trailer if you can), and is easily a masterwork of genre filmmaking. Go see this movie, you will not regret it. And if somehow you do, find a friend to talk it over with because part of Get Out’s design is that it is meant to be discussed, parsed, and obsessed over. If you have any desire to watch a movie from a perspective you haven’t experienced before and come out a changed person, albeit with a slight aversion to lacrosse sticks, hypnotism, and deer, you will not be disappointed.

 

Categories
Arts

Anchorage

Anchorage played in the Java coffeehouse Tuesday night, and covered a variety of songs by numerous artists. Members of the band include: Hannah Henry, Garren Barna, Josiah Bonifas,
Anthony Burdo and Jon Eckendorf.

Anchorage Coffeehouse1

Categories
Arts

Homecoming Spot 2013 Review

SPOT hosts Hannah Lily and Will Strowe made their way on stage in sweatshirts and sweatbands, in a tribute to Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky”, to kick start the 2013 Homecoming SPOT this past Saturday. A new spin on the structure of SPOT featured student acts of talent along with the usual videos, skits, dances, and songs that elicited laughter – for the most part. This year’s addition of crowd questionnaires filled in the awkward gaps between acts and kept the crowd engaged, while the surprise stage visits of Houghton graduate celebrities “Beardo” and “Dreads” kept the audience on their toes. From ‘What Does the Fox Say?” to raps to German accents, SPOT displayed a broad array of talents and wit from faculty and students alike.

SPOTCAB was two for two in their video contributions; their “Valentine’s Day” movie trailer depicted the almost inexhaustible joke of awkward Houghton couples and revealed the identity of stars within our midst. Their “Valentine’s Day” video was followed up by a rendition of “The Hunger Games” in which Sodexo kept a careful eye on the fruit to student ratio. First year students were comforted in their fight against the freshmen 15 by Hanz and Franz’s “Buddy Workout” video. The final contender in the video section, a remake of the recently viral YouTube music video “What Does the Fox Say?,” did not disappoint in its ridiculous hilarity and continuously perplexing question: what does the fox say?

While the SPOT videos were largely accepted as solid contributions to the expected humor of the night, the skits faired a harsher fate. Alumni Derrick Tennant, ‘93, received a mixed reaction to his lengthy stand-up comedy act; half the time the audience was unsure whether to laugh or “aww” at the jokes that more often than not poked fun at his own partial paralysis. Other skits, while possibly written with good intentions of entertainment, made light of serious issues and events that crossed the line into rudeness and insensitivity.

The new inclusion of purely talent acts was most evidently displayed in the dance performances. The audience was impressed by the skills stepped, jigged, lept, and tapped across the stage, such as when a student trio performed a tap from the Broadway musical “Newsies.” And while there was no stepping, jigging, leaping, or tapping done by the goat brought in for Taylor Swift’s song “Trouble”, he was an automatic crowd pleaser.

An historical crowd favorite, Danny Kim came back to his former glory as a “big deal” with a rap performance that, despite slip-ups, was carried off with style by him and Cory Martin. “Matilda Jane” however displayed less style and more confusion – who is Matilda Jane again? And no doubt was left in anyone’s mind what dessert the Hardy twins ask for their birthday. Modified songs from Hercules, Veggie Tales, Pitch Perfect, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon vocalized the musical talents and creativity of various students; and Dean Jordan apparently originated from Mt. Olympus not Philadelphia, as previously understood.

While some acts fell flat of their intended comedic effect, resulting in boredom or downright offense, homecoming spirits created an atmosphere of camaraderie and geniality that encompassed both the audience and performers.

 

Categories
Arts

Recommended Reads: Jon Arensen’s “The Red Pelican”

Jon Arensen is as masterful a storyteller as he is a lecturer. As a freshman, I recall leaving his classroom and thinking, “I want to do what he does”. This is what his stories do: they inspire. In the pages of his most recent book, The Red Pelican, (the third of Arensen’s “Sudan Trilogy”) are the stories of Dick Lyth and his fifteen years spent in Sudan, a collection of tales that hold tragedy and thrill, faith and culture, peace and war. As the pages turn he’ll have you saying, “I want to do what he does”.

Courtesy of twitter.com
Courtesy of twitter.com

In 1939, Dick Lyth graduated from Oxford and moved to southern Sudan as a young man of 21 years, full of enthusiasm for mission and for adventure. Shortly after his arrival, WWII began. Lyth enlisted and was drafted into the Sudan Defense Force. He finished training as a Major and 120 local men were placed under his command. Posted to a remote and harsh corner of the country, Lyth was given a brief but serious task: to secure the Ethiopian border by holding the Italians at bay and thereby cutting off their access to the precious Nile. This assignment meant guerrilla warfare. In the ensuing months, Lyth and his small band of men, although outnumbered and pushed to every limit, were successful owing greatly to their strength, innovation, and luck. However this victory was not without loss—a loss you feel as you read as Lyth takes aim at his first human target. At the conclusion of the war, Lyth’s role and title changes from Major to District Commissioner, from defender to peace builder. As an overseer of an expansive Murle region, Lyth carried out his work in many ways; as a missionary, administrator, linguist, anthropologist, surveyor, husband, and father. The Murle people named him Kemerbong—Red Pelican; peacemaker. His coworkers endearingly called him the “Commissionary”—well-loved commissioner and missionary. He was an ever-adventurer, ever-seeker, and ever-learner with steadfast faith and commitment—characteristics attested to in his personal writing: “I am loving this life, so free and so essentially positive…I am out adventuring with God…I am His, absolutely and forever. His to use or not to use…I will laugh with Him and I will weep with Him. Above all and in all and through all I will delight to do His will forever and ever”.

Engrossing and engaging, The Red Pelican will draw you in and turn you out, outward to the longing for a life and story far bigger than the conventional, the safe, the mediocre, or the comfortable. Arensen, near the end of the book, describes Lyth’s evening ritual: swimming in the Akobo River. Dick would dive underwater and grab the village boys’ legs, pretending to be a crocodile—“the game was made even more exciting because of the real crocodiles in the river”. I want to live where the crocodiles nibble my toes; to choose a life of adventure and of learning, not only for myself and for my gain, but for a better and deeper understanding of the world; for the seeking, finding, and displaying of God’s glory… available for Him “to use or not to use”. Intercultural Majors, pick up this book and read it. Read and learn as Lyth navigates the territory of cross cultural sensitivity, immersion, and conflict. Heck, whatever your major—pick up this book and read it. Embark on Lyth’s adventure, then go and embark on your own.

Categories
Arts

Sanctus Real to Perform at Houghton on “Run” Tour

This Sunday Houghton will be welcoming alternative Christian band Sanctus Real to the stage for a performance in Wesley Chapel. Twice nominated for a Grammy, once for Best Rock Gospel Album, We Need Each Other in 2009, and once for Best Contemporary/Pop Gospel Album, Pieces of a Real Heart, in 2010, the group has achieved both critical and commercial success in Christian spheres.

Courtesy of logancountyfair.org
Courtesy of logancountyfair.org

The stop in Houghton is to be part of a national tour with several stops in Canada for their tenth album Run. Released in February of this year, its single “Promises,” written mainly by the band’s drummer Mark Graalman and lead songwriter Matt Hammitt, reached #1 on Billboard’s US Hot Alternative Christian/Contemporary Radio and peaked high on other Christian charts as well. The album’s title refers to a departure from the walking and stumbling through doors of opportunity in the band’s past and that “with God’s help, [they’re] ready to run.”

Having originally formed the band in 1996 as teenagers interested in ministry through music, the band has since undergone several lineup changes, the most recent being the departures of guitarist Pete Provost and bassist Dan Gartley and the entry of bassist and producer Jake Rye. When asked about the motivating force behind the band’s continued unity, drummer Mark Graalman cited a “career that felt like a steady climb,” explaining that “each record is built upon the one before it.”

Graalman stated that the musical tastes among band members remain varied, spanning from ‘80s and ‘90s pop acts like Phil Collins and Sting to alternative groups like U2 and Coldplay to current alternative bands like Fun, allowing for multiple influences to show in production. Run itself shows a continued departure from the band’s original grunge rock roots that were heavily influenced by ‘90s rock bands like Foo Fighters and Weezer towards a more radio-friendly pop-rock sound.

“Our sounds has definitely changed, grown, evolved,” said Graalman, adding that their current style has a more “mature pop-rock sound … compared to the youth” of their past. However, the band has intentions of exploring their original sound in new releases. When asked about developments in the production of Sanctus Real’s eleventh album, Graalman stated that the record will contain more “youthful angst” with a “throwback feel” comparable to their second and third records. Lyrically, the band intends to explore material that is “deeper and more philosophical,” asking questions such as “Where is God in our worst and best times?”

Despite changes in sound, Graalman says the band’s intent remains the same—that of ministry through music. “I want people to be encouraged,” he said, adding that “God’s strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.”

Sanctus Real will be performing this Sunday, October 6, in Wesley Chapel at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in the Student Center.

 

Categories
Arts

Recommended Reads: Jorge Luis Borges’ “Other Inquisitions”

This past week my wife Nancy mentioned that Pope Francis and I have something in common. Naturally I was thinking of the all-too-obvious humble piety connection that everyone would notice between he and I. “No,” she said, “sorry. Pope Francis stated in an interview that two of his favorite authors were Dostoevsky and Borges.” Neither of these authors surprises me as being special for Pope Francis. Dostoevsky remains important to most believers (and many non), and Borges is Argentine, as is Pope Francis. Being the most admired author from his native country it really makes sense…though Ernesto Sabato would reject this assumption.

Courtesy of themodernword.com
Courtesy of themodernword.com

The Brothers Karamazov remains my most treasured reading experience…but second to this would be Other Inquisitions by Jorge Luis Borges. Published in 1952, it was not widely read in English until 1964. Borges is world famous for his mysterious labyrinthine short stories. He was also a poet and a writer of essays. Other Inquisitions is a collection of his essays from 1937-1952.

Like T. S. Eliot, Borges published many of his essays before his more famous poetry and short fiction. Both writers used published essays to prepare a reading public to comprehend (at least to be prepared for) the work to follow. His essays read like his short stories; they are packed with complex circular associations.

Borges was remarkable for his erudition. He had few peers who could keep pace with his prodigious memory. Borges appeared to have read everything from obscure Icelandic sagas to Arab poets to Egyptian mystics, to modern authors like Chesterton, Faulkner, Joyce and Paul Valery.

These essays cover topics such as metaphysics, dreams, absolute languages, the age of the earth, time, and history, and of course the power and meaning of Art. One of his most celebrated essays is “A New Refutation of Time.” It is the longest and most complex essay in the book…notice the irony of the title? Read it again.

“The Wall and The Books” is a highly anthologized essay where Borges reflects upon the Chinese Emperor Shih Huang Ti, who both constructed the Great Wall and decreed that all the books of the empire be destroyed; he wanted history to begin with him. Borges was most gifted with his ability to see metaphors. He made brilliant connections. He asks in this essay what symmetry there might be between an Emperor walling in an empire, while at the same time decreeing that this most ancient and historically sensitive of people eradicate their past. To Borges there was some meaning there. He concludes this essay with a sentence found frequently among those who search for definitions of things ineffable like beauty and art: “Music, state of happiness, mythology, faces shaped by time, certain twilights and certain places, try to tell us something, or they told us something that we should not have lost, or want to tell us something; this imminence of a revelation, which does not occur, is, perhaps, the esthetic phenomenon.” Yes that sense of something just about to become clear and yet…and yet…

The first time I read this I knew I had encountered something special. Right there was succinctly stated that truth about what I felt when I looked at Vermeer’s Girl With A Pearl Ear Ring or read the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop, or lost myself in the final movement of Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde.”

Borges had given this experience a form for which I had no words.

Each essay is a work of art. Each a careful and complex luminous mediation upon persons and ideas: Pascal, Zeno’s Paradox, The Partial Enchantments of the Quixote, The dream of Coleridge, the mystery of the authorship of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

While running from the Burning-House-of-literature (I owe this description to Billy Collins) this would be the second book I would grab. Borges rewards re-reading. Although his writing is short, it is dense and you end up re-reading them enough to feel in retrospect that these short works are among the longest ever written.

In the epilogue Borges muses about his collection and states that he notices certain elements to be a feature of all the essays. The first is his tendency to weigh philosophical and theological ideas in terms of their aesthetic worth, “…what is singular and marvelous,” and the observation that the number of metaphors possible for the human mind is limited, but like the apostle can be all things to all people.

Borges has, more than any writer, been my most formative influence. His desire to see and live a life aesthetically has sustained me during many a dark time in my life. Borges believed that reading was an act of art- no less important than the act of writing (and by extension listening and looking). Borges established the post-modern idea of how we as readers create new works each time we experience them.  Every reader makes new connections and continues the creative process. He elevates reading. In one of his most celebrated essays he discusses Kafka and his influence. He refers to them as both precursors and also writers on whom he had influence. One of these is Pascal. Every college graduate should perk up at such an assertion. How indeed can a writer of the 20th century have had any influence upon a writer of the 17th century? How indeed. Borges notes that it took Kafka for us to connect the dots- to detect a common theme. It was in one sense not there until Kafka revealed it to us…hidden in plain sight. The existential thread that leads us through the author of Ecclesiastes to Lucretius to Augustine to Pascal to Kafka is imaginatively engendered by the “active artist reader”. None was ever so engaged as Jorge Luis Borges.

I like a Pope who reads Borges. The leader of the Catholic Church keenly understands that the great skeptic Borges can in his own circuitous pattern ultimately restore us to our Faith, an irony thick and no doubt satisfactory to Borges (who died in 1986). Some would say that there is no way he can enjoy something since he is dead. Readers of Borges know “not so fast”.

One final point: Borges, who remembered and read more than almost any person in the 20th century, who could quote indexes from memory and spoke when he met Anthony Burgess in “Old English”, who could recite Shakespeare and Quevedo and had nearly the entire Comedia of Dante committed to memory…was blind from the mid 1950 until his death some 36 years later. Blind.

It beggars the mind.

Categories
Arts

Houghton Pops Orchestra Ushers in Third Year

Courtesy of Jon Hardy
Courtesy of Jon Hardy

The Houghton Pops Orchestra (HPO), birthed in 2011, was the dream of organist Robert Martin (class of ’13). The model of a popular-music orchestra was new at Houghton and finding the right spot for such an ensemble required unflappable determination on the part of the founders and was a matter of some discussion in the CFA and the SGA, who regulate student clubs. The first concert, “Heart of the Highlands,” was a kind of a trial run which the orchestra managed to pull off with little time and almost no money. Most of the funding for sheet music, venue and recording fees, not to mention the signature bagpipes, was paid out of pocket by orchestra members, Robert Martin himself, and a few generous supporters. Fortunately for the future of HPO the concert was a smashing success.

“I am obsessed with Celtic music,” said Martin, “I thought it would be a great place to start with a new orchestra, seeing as it is music that is generally liked by and accessible to a wide variety of people.”  That motto, “likable and accessible” are the watchwords of HPO. Current HPO conductor Nathaniel Efthimiou (Music, ‘14), commenting on his plans for the ensemble says, “…[I] hope that HPO can be a place where anybody can come and have a good time making music together. Music is one of those things that can bridge the walls we set up with each other and I think HPO can help in building up our Houghton community, in the breaking down of those barriers.”

Music majors make up a large portion of the performers in HPO, but their ranks are swelled by students from numerous other departments: Communication, Computer Science, Education, English, Philosophy, Physics, Theology, just to name a few. Attendance at the concerts has also been diverse drawing large numbers of community members and faculty and staff in addition to students.  Music brings Houghton students from all over campus to strive for excellence together in a way not otherwise experienced.

Part of this goal is accomplished by the music itself. Repertoire is chosen by the conductor based on a theme he has in mind, such as Celtic music for Robert Martin or John Williams film music for Kevin Dibble (BMus ’11 and MMus ’13), and what sheet music can be purchased with the club’s funds. Within this framework, however, is the willingness to take on pieces or cut out pieces based on the makeup of the orchestra and the ability of the members. Enjoyable, recognizable and catchy music for both the listener and the performer goes a long way toward an enjoyable rehearsal and concert.

With the first concert of the year several months away on November 22nd, the orchestra members and their conductor have a long road ahead of them. If the past is any indication however, it promises to be one filled with insanity and laughter, friendship, struggles and triumph, Purple and Gold and bagpipes.

Categories
Arts

“Repave”: Just Another Bon Iver Album

A friend of mine recently asked me if I thought Justin Vernon was talented or simply creative. This struck me as an interesting and stupid question. Aren’t they synonymous? In lieu of comparing Webster’s definition (you all have iPhones, look it up yourself), I’ll say, after some reflection, I don’t think they are quite the same.

Courtesy of facebook.com
Courtesy of facebook.com

Either under his moniker Bon Iver (French for “good winter”) or with a number of different side projects, Justin Vernon has been a name in indie-alternative music since 2007. Among his best forays is his Volcano Choir collaboration with the WI based post-rock group “Collections of Colonies of Bees.” Their album Unmap was well received in 2009, and it was only a year after this success that the group began writing for the recent August release of Repave.

Though Vernon discourages the comparison, Repave is just another Bon Iver album. Of course, saying that it’s just another Bon Iver album is like saying that it’s just another Alex Glover SPOT song. It’s just another wildly original and captivating work of genius. Far from criticizing, I note the similarity between Repave and Bon Iver only to emphasize the indelible, pervasive vocals. Vernon’s soaring falsetto and chanting refrains stand out, no matter the venue. Not only does it sound the same, but, like Vernon’s last Bon Iver album, Repave is lyrically inscrutable. Even if you manage to make out a line here and there you will likely be perplexed with what you find. Consider the end of the song “Keel”, where Vernon moans out the lines, “Not before, I was in front, of the pekid fountain, The whole time.” Pekid isn’t even a word. At one point in “Comrade” he squeal-yells the words “Terra forming.” No, you’re not missing something; the words just don’t make any sense.

In a generous mood, Keats might say that Vernon has latched on to some serious negative capability. That is, he is effectively communicating without necessarily making himself understood. Vernon’s writing –like Eliot’s Four Quartets and beat era poetry—pillages words for their aesthetic leverage while caring little for any sort of categorical communication. It is hard to quantify this achievement. It’s not that his songs are about nothing. They are simply about things that usually go unsaid either because we don’t know how to say them or nobody is listening. You can point to them and say, yes, exactly, this guy gets it. You can sing along with him. But beyond that your explanations are bound to go awry.

While the vocal delivery and mystical “songwriting” is similar to Bon Iver, Repave does fall short of delivering the breadth of experience found in Vernon’s other work. This is an abstract criticism for an abstract work, but let me try to explain. Part of what makes Bon Iver’s first album so great is that each track sets itself apart from the others. The pieces of “For Emma, Forever Ago” are self-contained as individual expressions webbed loosely together in notions of isolation, dejection, and longing. They are thematically related but stand on their own as subtle modulations of tone and delivery. Bon Iver’s second album maintains this variety but imbues everything with a full-bodied, anthem-rock atmosphere. As a whole, the album is more confident and assertive. Volcano Choir’s Repave goes one step too far in this direction. The album throbs irrepressibly onwards without providing necessary space for reflection or development. Instead of delving a range of emotions and responses, Repave presents a limited, authoritative tone. It is too sure of itself, and, as a result, it is monotonous.

In answer to my friend’s question, I would say that Justin Vernon is creative. I’m not at a loss to explain how he made this album. In other words, his talent as a musician or songwriter doesn’t blow me away. I know he used computers, digital effects, lots of angst, and a hefty dose of spontaneously overflowing powerful emotions. He is one of many artists that could do this. But what sets him apart is not what his work means, but how it means. Not how does he make the work, but how does he make it work. That’s the headscratcher.

Categories
Arts

“Survivors” Photography Exhibit Installed in CC Basement

The Houghton Coffeehouse is now featuring a photography exhibition entitled “Survivors.” This exhibition, which has received national recognition, is by freshman Sandra Uwiringiy’imana and her brother, Alex Ngabo.

Sandra“Survivors” is a collection of pictures taken at refugee camps in Burundi, depicting Congolese survivors of the Gatumba Massacre which took place August 2004 in Burundi. The collection was first shown at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York in 2011 as part of a series on genocides that they were featuring in that exhibition.

According to Uwiringiy’imana, this collection is intended to not only relay the story of what she had been through, but also to communicate to her audience that the “world is bigger than Rochester.” For Uwiringiy’imana, this exhibition tells the story that she “didn’t know how to express through words,” and by using photography as a means of expression, she was able to put “all her feelings into it” without “having to worry about finding the right words.” A subject as large as the Gatumba Massacre is a story that Uwiringiy’imana said is not just hers to tell. As she said, “this didn’t just happen to me, it happened to hundreds of people,” She hoped that this exhibition is her way of getting their stories out as well as her own.

The exhibition has had a history of national and international attention. In 2011, after the exhibition had been installed for a time in Rochester, a representative from Newsweek called the gallery, asking to speak with Uwiringiy’imana. Upon returning their call, Newsweek asked Uwiringiy’imana to allow her exhibit to be a part of the annual “Women in the World Summit” that is co-sponsored by Newsweek and The Daily Beast. After accepting the offer, Uwiringiy’imana was asked to also speak at the Summit about women and war with host Charlie Rose alongside other female activists, including Angelina Jolie and Tina Brown. For Uwiringiy’imana, this venue with an audience of over three thousand people was the first opportunity she had to share her story with a “non-church” audience. As a result, this opportunity “opened a lot of doors” for Uwiringiy’imana in the realm of activism, leading to involvement with women’s refugee programs, the United Nations for World Refugee Day, and the organization 10 x 10, a global ambassador for the education of girls.

Uwiringiy’imana received “support from back home,” as she continued to share her story through “Survivors” and also through her newfound activist platform. She said that her support back home was enthusiastic about her activism, as they “had never seen one of their own speak for them.” Uwiringiy’imana was also faced with negative reactions alongside the positive ones, and said that she would often hear people remark that a “teen couldn’t express opinions on this issue well enough to the national government.”

Uwiringiy’imana said that Dr. Ndunge Kiiti was instrumental in bringing this collection to Houghton, with the help from a donation made by Al and Lyn Barnett, as an addition to the Faith and Justice Symposium. Upon the collection’s arrival at Houghton, Uwiringiy’imana said that it left her feeling “really vulnerable,” but that she hopes it motivates people to act, while giving them a sense of hope at the same time, reminding people that “God’s got your back.”

Categories
Arts

Master Ceramicist Coming to Houghton

Houghton alumna Jennifer DePaolo is a ceramicist who will be visiting Houghton next week. Gary Baxter, the ceramics professor here at Houghton and her former teacher, remembers her fondly and said, “She was a good student, got into a prestigious program.”

Courtesy of chceramics.wikispaces.com
Courtesy of chceramics.wikispaces.com

After graduating from Houghton, DePaolo traveled as a studio artist to Kenya, Tanzania, Mexico, Britain, China, and Spain. During these travels, she sought out the culture of art around the globe along with other artist connections.

She then acquired her MFA from New Mexico State University and decided to stay as a faculty member, teaching ceramics. Acting as teacher’s assistant and field coordinator, she also participated in the Land Arts of the American West program offered by New Mexico State University. DePaolo has been featured in several exhibits, such as Dispersal/Return Exhibition at the University of New Mexico Art Museum, the Land/Art statewide exhibition (also through the University of New Mexico Art Museum) and Art in Craft Media at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY.

Now DePaolo is in New Mexico working at the Harwood Art Center as the community outreach coordinator. Her work includes working with the volunteer corps, networking with the adult art community, and writing grant proposals for all the Harwood programs. Additionally she curates exhibits, mentors interns, and helps to develop programs. At the same time she is also working as a studio artist.

DePaolo will bring her wealth of experience and skill to the Fine Arts Seminar class this semester, benefiting students and faculty alike. She will also be giving a demonstration in Gary Baxter’s ceramics classes on throwing clay and using slip as a decorative paint.

During the week of October 2nd when DePaolo is here at Houghton, she will be glazing and wood firing many of her pieces which she is either shipping to Houghton or bringing along with her. As a practicing artist, she never stops making work. Much of DePaolo’s work is about food and hunger, which echoes the theme of the Faith and Justice Symposium for this year, and will be an interesting addition to the thoughts that have already been stirred starting Wednesday of this week.