arts

Art Professor Honored for Civic Engagement

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Associate Professor of Art Sarah Lindley receives an award
Associate Professor of Art Sarah Lindley received the Michigan Campus Compact Faculty/Staff Service Learning Award.

Michigan Campus Compact (MiCC) honored Associate Professor of Art Sarah Lindley with its biennial MiCC Faculty/Staff Community Service-Learning Award, the highest honor that MiCC bestows on faculty and staff in the state of Michigan.

Lindley has made outstanding contributions in service-learning, and she has inspired students to become involved in service-learning through modeling, influencing, and instruction. She was nominated by Alison Geist, director of the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement.

Since 2005 Lindley has taught at least one community-engaged arts course every year, and her students have completed multiple projects involving a wide variety of community partners and thousands of residents. Lindley has worked with the County Center for Health Equity, Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, Michigan Commission for the Blind, the YWCA, Education for the Arts, Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, the Black Arts and Cultural Center, Ministry with Community, and Art Hop. She and her students have used arts as a vehicle for community and personal transformation, creating work that is useful, thoughtful, and inclusive. Lindley created the new Kalamazoo College Community Studio in the downtown Park Trades Center, and she has previously been honored with the Marcia Jackson Hunger Awareness Award by Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes.

MiCC is a coalition of college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the public purpose of higher education. The organization helps students develop into engaged citizens by creating and expanding academic, co-curricular, and campus-wide opportunities for community service, service-learning, and civic engagement.

FIREBUGS Alights

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Three students rehearse for "The Firebugs"
Mikey Wecht ’14 (left, Chorus Leader), Madison Donoho ’17 (center, Eisenring) and Jack Massion ’14 (Biedermann) in a scene from THE FIREBUGS. Costumes by Elaine Kauffman. Photo by Emily Salswedel, ’17

Festival Playhouse of Kalamazoo College presents Max Frisch’s The Firebugs on Thursday, February 27, through Sunday, March 2, at the Nelda K. Balch Playhouse. The reprise (the play was originally staged and directed by K theatre arts professor Nelda Balch in 1964) celebrates the 50th anniversary of Festival Playhouse, which was founded by Balch.

The Firebugs is a satirical comedy that tells the story of Biedermann, a man who foolishly allows two arsonists into his home. Fearful of offending of them, he goes out of his way to accommodate their outrageous requests, much to his own—and others’—detriment.

A comedy that Frisch himself described as “a learning play without a lesson,” Firebugs nevertheless delivers a serious and timely message. Dramaturg Belinda McCauley ’16 says, “It has been speculated for decades that Biedermann’s dilemma throughout the play is allegorical to the way humans unintentionally allow evil into their lives, most specifically how the Nazis worked their way into the lives of average German citizens.”

Director Nora Hauk ’04, currently working on her doctoral dissertation in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Michigan, emphasizes that Biedermann chooses political correctness over what he knows to be true and right—with dire consequences. “The Firebugs is a play about the trouble that people can get into as they try to maintain the status quo and their own social standing in the face of major challenges,” explains Hauk. “Despite all the warning signs, Biedermann fails to take a stand.”

“There are many messages one could possibly take away from The Firebugs,” says McCauley, “but perhaps the one to be concerned with is the way words are used. What do your words say about you? Do your words start fires? Or do your words save lives?”

The production’s design team includes Professor of Theatre Arts Lanny Potts (scenery), Elaine Kauffman (costumes), Lydia Strini ’14 (lights) and Lindsay Worthington ’16 (sound).

The show opens Thursday, February 27 (pay what you can), at 7:30 PM. Friday (February 28) and Saturday (February 28) performances begin at 8 PM. Curtain rises for Sunday’s performance (March 2) at 2 PM. For all performances except Thursday’s tickets are $5 for students, $10 for seniors, and $15 for other adults. Tickets may be purchased at the door. For more information about these and the remainder of Festival Playhouse’s golden anniversary season (including Peer Gynt) call 269.337.7333 or visit the Festival Playhouse website.

Gail Griffin, Iris Parker, and Keeney Swearer ’13 Display Their Creativity This Weekend

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Iris Parker
Iris Parker displays this and other photos from her “Zulu Marriage Rituals” exhibit during the Feb. 7 Art Hop from 5-8pm at the Black Arts & Cultural Center in the Epic Center, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall in downtown Kalamazoo.

Professor Emerita of English Gail Griffin has written a 10-minute play that will receive its first public reading on Sat. Feb. 8 at 2pm during the Theatre Kalamazoo New Play Festival at the Epic Theatre in the Epic Center, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall in downtown Kalamazoo.

During the Friday Feb. 7 Art Hop, ACSJL Visiting Fellow Iris Dawn Parker will exhibit her photos of Zulu marriage rituals in South Africa from 5-9pm at the Black Arts and Cultural Center in the Epic Center, Suite 202, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall.

Also during the Feb. 7 Art Hop, Keeney Swearer ’13 will display his newest artwork from 6-9pm at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center in the Park Trades Center, Suite 103A, 326 W. Kalamazoo Ave.

The Art Hop and the New Play Festival are free and open to the public.

Extraordinary Women: Real and Imagined

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Festival Playhouse invites you to meet some extraordinary women, real and imagined.

Senior and junior directors Arshia Will ’14 and Jane Huffman ’15 will share their work (Maria Irene Fornes’ Mud and a compilation of Shakespeare scenes titled What She Wills) at Festival Playhouse’s Senior Performance Series, presented in Kalamazoo College’s Dungeon theatre February 13-16. The works offer two highly contrasting portrayals of women—one places Shakespeare’s female characters in a new setting with fresh voices; the other portrays a woman’s uncompromising effort to carve out her own life amidst severe poverty and abusive relationships.

Huffman chose to direct Mud in part because she sees the character Mae as a later-day Antigone: “Cunningly and aggressively, she subverts the paradigms that oppress her. She is a mirror. She is a call to action. She is a singular voice that resounds with that of countless women who have been rendered voiceless.”

In What She Wills, Will  has provided an opportunity for Shakespeare’s female characters to be heard from a woman’s perspective.

“Shakespeare may not have written roles for women actors since every role in Shakespeare’s time was played by men, but the women characters he created are complex and compelling,” says Will.  “The characters are so rich they can be found throughout history and today. We have seen countless Juliets and Lady Macbeths, and they will continue to live on. What She Wills takes these famous Shakespearean women and puts them in new environments and under ’new lights.’ It illustrates how enduring and relevant Shakespeare is today.”

The Senior Performance Series also features the work of three senior designers: Kelly Eubank (costumes), David Landskroener (sound), and Mary Mathyer (set). Sophomore Katie Lee is the lighting designer.

The show will open on Thursday, February 13, at 7:30pm, and run Friday and Saturday, February 14 and 15, at 8pm. The show closes on Sunday, February 16, at 2pm. Tickets are $5 and may be purchased at the door. For more information about these and the remainder of Festival Playhouse’s golden anniversary season (including The Firebugs and Peer Gynt), call 269.337.7333 or visit www.kzoo.edu/theatre.

The Senior Performance Series continues the tradition of featuring the work of Kalamazoo College students creating their own theatre.

FREE BEER Among the BEST

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Kalamazoo College Writer in Residence Di SeussWriter in Residence Di Seuss’s poem “Free Beer,” originally published in the Missouri Review, was selected by Terrance Hayes for the Best American Poetry anthology, which is due out in September of this year. When the poem appeared in Missouri Review, Di included an author’s note. “As I child,” she wrote, “I lured adults to my puppet show by offering free beer.  We didn’t have the money for beer or puppets.  I wasn’t lying; I was imagining, which is a form of hope.” Di’s second book of poems, Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open, received the Juniper Prize for Poetry. Her third book, Four-Legged Girl, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press.

Kalamazoo College Symphonic Orchestra Presents Valentine Concert

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Beethoven saying Hey, GirlEnjoy a musical valentine when the Kalamazoo College Symphonic Orchestra presents a concert of romance on (of course) February 14, at 8 PM in Dalton Theatre of the Light Fine Arts Building. The event is free and open to the public. Selections include Exhilaration (Larry Clark); Scheherazade (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov): Wedding March (Felix Mendelssohn); music from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein); Fur Elise (Ludwig van Beethoven); Dans Bacchanale (Camille Saint-Saens); and Mambo (Leonard Bernstein). The Symphonic Orchestra is conducted by Thomas G. Evans, professor of music and director of bands.

Kalamazoo College Faculty News

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Some recent news about Kalamazoo College professors:

PUBLICATIONS and EXHIBITS
Carol Anderson (Religion) published “The Possibility of a Postcolonial Buddhist Ethic of Wealth,” an article in Buddhist-Christian Studies…Rose Bundy (Japanese Language and Literature) published “Beneath the Moss,” a set of translations by Fujiwara Shunzei, in the new translation journal Transference…Henry Cohen (Romance Languages) published “The Eldorado Episodes of Voltaire’s Candide as an Intertext of Augusto Roa Bastos’ Yo El Supremo: A Utopia/Dystopia Relationship” in Revista De Estudios Hispanicos…Kiran Cunningham ’83 (Anthropology and Sociology) published “Structured Reflection for Transforming Learning: Linking Home and Away,” in the Salzburg Global Seminar’s Creating Sites of Global Citizenship…Péter Érdi (Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies) co-authored three papers: “The Past, Present, and Future of Cybernetics and Systems Research” in the journal Systems; “An Integrated Theory of Budgetary Politics and Some Empirical Tests: The U.S. National Budget, 1791-2010” in the American Journal of Political Science; and “Anxiolytic Drugs and Altered Hippocampal Theta Rhythms: The Quantitative Systems Pharmacological Approach” in Network: Computation in Neural Systems…Jim Langeland ’86 (Biology) and Blaine Moore (Biology) are co-authors of a paper accepted for publication in Molecular Biology and Evolution that contributes to the understanding of Alzheimer’s disease. The project was partially funded by a GLCA New Directions Initiative and had four Kalamazoo College students or alumni as co-authors (see a recent K News & Events article about this here.)…Amy Lane (Anthropology and Sociology) published “Religion is not a Monolith: Religious Experience at a Midwestern Liberal Arts College,” an article in Journal of College and Character…Sarah Lindley (Art) exhibited her sculptures in shows at Eastern Michigan University, Alma College, and Hope College…Bruce Mills (English) published An Archaeology of Yearning, a book by the Etruscan Press…Siu-Lan Tan (Psychology) co-authored three chapters and served as primary editor for the book, The Psychology of Music in Multimedia (Oxford University Press, 2013).

AWARDS and GRANTS
Kiran Cunningham ’83 (Anthropology and Sociology) has been awarded the 2014 Dr. Winthrop S. and Lois A. Hudson Award, awarded biannually for the purpose of honoring outstanding K faculty members…John Fink (Mathematics) has been awarded the Lucasse Lectureship for Outstanding Teaching at K…Alison Geist (Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Civic Engagement) was awarded one of the first Kalamazoo County Spirit of Health Equity awards…Binney Girdler (Biology and Environmental Studies) has been awarded grants from the Michigan Botanical Foundation and from the Central Michigan University Institute for Great Lakes Research…Bruce Mills (English) has been awarded a GLCA New Directions Initiative grant for his work on building a civil rights oral history archive…Lanny Potts (Theatre Arts) was awarded the 2013 Wilde Award for “Best Lighting Designer of the Year” in the state of Michigan for his work on “The Light in the Piazza” at Farmer’s Alley Theatre…Regina Stevens-Truss (Chemistry) has received funding from the GLCA Expanding Collaboration Initiative to study digital resources for learning experimental science.

NEW POSITIONS
Alyce Brady (Mathematics and Computer Science) is an Arcus Center Faculty Fellow. She will work collaboratively with universities in Sierra Leone to develop sustainable open-source academic record-keeping software…Reid Gómez is Mellon Visiting Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies, focusing on campus climate, faculty development, and curriculum development…Starting July 1, 2014, Mike Sosulski (German and Media Studies) will serve as Associate Provost and Paul Sotherland (Biology) will be the inaugural Coordinator of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Effectiveness.

ENDOWED CHAIRS
The following Kalamazoo College faculty members are the recipients of newly endowed chairs: R. Amy Elman, William Weber Professor in Social Science…Laura Lowe Furge, Roger F. and Harriet G. Varney Professor of Chemistry…Gary S. Gregg, Ann V. and Donald R. Parfet Distinguished Professor of Psychology…Ahmed M. Hussen, Edward and Virginia Van Dalson Professor of Economics and Business…Richard Koenig, Genevieve U. Gilmore Professor of Art…Amy MacMillan, L. Lee Stryker Assistant Professor of Business Management…Ed Menta, James B. Stone College Professor of Theatre Arts…Taylor G. Petrey, Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Assistant Professor of Religion.

Important Film Will Shed Light on Use of Rape as a Weapon of War

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Ivana Ivkovic Kelley
Ivana Ivkovic Kelley

Ivana Ivkovic Kelley ’95 has launched a Kickstarter campaign to complete post-production of a documentary film she is making on the use of systematic rape as operational military doctrine during the Bosnian War. The fundraising campaign is the second associated with the project. A successful first campaign of $16,000 supported travel, filming, and production costs of the project, which is titled Persephone Speaks: The Forgotten Women of Bosnia. “The sexual violation of women erodes the fabric of a community in a way that few weapons can,” she wrote. “Rape’s damage can be devastating because of the strong communal reaction to the violation and the pain stamped on entire families. “I’m excited for this film to shed more light on the issue of sexualized violence, and hope this will be the first of many documentaries to come.” Ivkovic was born in Croatia and emigrated to the United States (Chicago) as a young child. Growing up she spent alternate summers “home” on the Adriatic coast with Croatian friends and relatives. Her first year at K was the year the Serbian army invaded Slovenia and Croatia, beginning the Bosnian War. For her Senior Individualized Project, Ivkovic worked for Kareta, a small nonprofit feminist group Zagreb, assisting survivors of Serbian rape-death camps.

After graduating from K (political science and women’s studies) Ivkovic earned an M.F.A. (playwrighting) from the University of Southern California and then worked for a number of small production companies and large studios in Los Angeles. She has interviewed many survivors of the war in Bosnia and recently left her studio job to devote her full time to completion of the Persephone project. The second Kickstarter campaign has less than a month to complete; readers are invited to participate.

Kalamazoo College Launches “Praxis Center” Online Resource for Social Justice Scholars, Activists, and Artists

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Kalamazoo College today announced the launch of “Praxis Center,” an online resource for social justice practitioners hosted by the College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. Accessible via www.kzoo.edu/praxis, Praxis Center contains scholarly articles, teaching resources, images, and links to videos, blogs, and other websites, as well as information on conferences, events, publications, research, and other items of interest to social justice scholars, activists, and artists.

“There are many single-issue resource sites available online, but few such as Praxis Center where multiple issues and resources intersect,” said Lisa Brock, Praxis Center senior editor and Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) academic director. “Praxis Center is a crossroads where social justice leaders can learn, share, and connect across disciplines and issues.”

Praxis Center is arranged around seven themed sections, each with a contributing editor: Science and Social Justice; Race, Class, and Immigration; Human Rights; Global Health; Genders and Sexualities; Environment, Food and Sustainability; and Art, Music, and Pop Culture.

Under each themed section are five action buttons: Posts (an archive of previously posted articles), Teach (where teachers can post social justice course syllabi and teaching tools), Read (a list of social justice bibliographies), Watch/Listen (videos and other audio visual materials), and Act (listings and links to upcoming social justice events, conferences, and other engagements.)

Praxis Center editors will update the site weekly, while encouraging comments and contributions from an engaged readership. Original artwork (changed monthly) that matches the themed sections is also featured.

“We envision Praxis Center to be a marketplace for the free and open exchange of information and ideas on all social justice issues,” said Brock. “From action research and radical scholarship to engaged teaching and grassroots activism, from community and cultural organizing to revelatory art practice, Praxis Center will make visible all the critical social justice work being done today across the country and around the globe.”

Iranian Cultural Center Graffiti Action 2009
Photo: “Iranian Cultural Center Graffiti Action 2009” by Naeem Mohaiemen, a writer and visual artist working in New York City and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Chicago-based educator, cultural organizer, activist, and writer Alice Kim serves as Praxis Center editor. ACSJL Program Coordinator Karla Aguilar is managing editor. Read all editors’ bios at www.kzoo.edu/praxis/about.

The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership was launched in 2009 with support from the Arcus Foundation (www.arcusfoundation.org), including a $23 million endowment grant in January 2012. Supporting Kalamazoo College’s mission to prepare its graduates to better understand, live successfully within, and provide enlightened leadership to a richly diverse and increasingly complex world, the ACSJL will develop new leaders and sustain existing leaders in the field of human rights and social justice.

Kalamazoo College (www.kzoo.edu), founded in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1833, is a nationally recognized liberal arts college and the creator of the K-Plan that emphasizes rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, leadership development, and international and intercultural engagement. Kalamazoo College does more in four years so students can do more in a lifetime.

Face Time

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We love faces; our lives depend on it from an early age. And a close-up on a face is one of the most notable differences between the experience of a movie and the experience of live theater. When we choose to see a film instead of a play it may be, in part, because were drawn to the human face. In her latest installment of her Psychology Today blog (What Shapes Film?) Associate Professor of Psychology Siu-Lan Tan explores what attracts us to cinematic face time. Her article is aptly titled “3 Reasons Why We’re Drawn to Faces in Film.” Maybe it should be four reasons, because music plays a big role as well. It’s a fascinating read, and Tan demonstrates her points with faces from some pretty famous films, including Amelie, It’s a Wonderful Life, Saving Private Ryan, and Toy Story 2, among others. Of particular interest is how facial close-ups make us, the audience, both mirror and blank-canvas-and-painter, depending on a face’s intensity or nuance, respectively.