VOLUME ONE, ISSUE ONE 1
Photo by Emily Wade
When the College of Fine Arts moved into the former Noyes Buick dealership Shifting Gears in 1954, the phrase “adaptive reuse” had not yet entered widespread usage. But this spirit of simultaneous preservation and adaptation, the sentiment of making better, rather than just making do, is a feeling that all artists share. Inspired by the industrial Welcome to Spark, the new bi-annual “bones” of our building, and eager to tell the stories of our artistic community, we have re-conceptualized and reengineered what was once just an events calendar publication from the College of Fine into a publication that fully celebrates the College of Fine Arts.
Arts at Boston University. We hope you’ll be excited by our events, and stirred by interviews with our energetic, extraordinary students and faculty. Without further ado, let the sparks fly!
IN THIS ISSUE volume one, issue one
02 Up, Up, and Away 03 Lynneterview 04 Sharing the Stage 06 Fall Events 08 Studio Practice 09 On the Road 10 The Big Pcture 11 Around the World 12 Overdrive
855 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215 2 SPARK VOLUME ONE, ISSUE ONE 3 Up, Up, Just Call Me LYNNE
and Away Lynne Allen, Dean ad interim and former Director of the School of Visual Arts, talks about bringing a fresh perspective to the mission of the College in An interview with Photography a candid discussion with School of Theatre senior, Sam Farnsworth Lecturer Toni Pepe
proved unsuccessful. A physical oceanographer at Woods Hole Observatory plotted and estimated GPS coordinates of the floating The role of experimentation is important. Students see, firsthand, that cre- payload over the next few days, and hypothesized that the balloon ativity is a process involving trial, error, failure, and the unexpected. would most likely wash ashore in Nova Scotia. The students worked together as a team to reconfigure the design of the payload, where the camera should be placed, and how the different components (balloon, parachute, and payload) should be tethered. “The role of experimentation is important,” adds Pepe. “Students see, firsthand, “The project has both theoretical and practical goals,” says Pepe, that creativity is a process involving trial, error, failure, and the unexpected. Photography Lecturer at the College of Fine Arts. “The students are exposed We send this balloon up taking care, prior to the launch that it would be to technology they have either never used, or have very little practice with. successful, but there are elements that were out of our control. Students learn Few students in the class had ever used a satellite GPS unit, and none had to be flexible, and to work with instead of against spontaneity.” ever handled a weather balloon.” Pepe plans to further develop the weather balloon launch for the Spring More importantly, students come away with an understanding of the 2016 semester, but hopes to schedule the project earlier in the syllabus to
limitations of human sight and appreciation for how the camera has opened allow students to create an art piece that explores what the project means SAM Thanks for meeting with me today. Do you know you’re going to be good at something this year where freshmen are signed up for a course, the rest of the University the talent that we have here. up new worlds previously unseen or rarely seen. “I can’t go into space. I and how they can respond to it. like that? Of course not. You have no idea. But when similar to what students do in Theatre, where students In an interdisciplinary project incorporating STEM disciplines, students can’t personally get an aerial view,” continues Pepe. “The camera gives us a Additionally, Pepe’s spring Digital Photography course plans to continue First question… do you want to go by Dean Allen, or to you work with other creative people, it helps you hone are required to go to other events at the College, whether And, I think we need more outreach within the continue being Lynne? those skills. I’ve learned from a lot of other people. I’ve it’s an opera performance or a concert, and then, at community of Boston. This past spring, the School of in Toni Pepe’s Experimental Photography course set a weather balloon perspective of the Earth that we otherwise wouldn’t have access to.” collaborating with the School of Music in a project called The Sensory learned what not to do, and I’ve learned what sorts of the end of the semester, they write a paper about what Visual Arts painted a mural at Roxbury Prep. They are aloft, visually chronicling its ascent to the upper atmosphere. With the Akin to the scientific process of trial and error, the Wachusett launch Photograph, in which students work with graduate students from School of LYNNE I prefer Lynne. Even with the incoming students things I should be doing. they’ve experienced. It’s not even graded, but it’s part working with communities in areas where they can offer help of collaborator Don McCasland, Director of Blue Hill Observatory, was the students’ second attempt at the project. The first launch, from Music to create a visual response to musical pieces (from improv music to during Orientation, I told them to call me Lynne. I think of what’s expected. some talent, and I think we can do more of that as well. the students used a weather balloon kit configured with a satellite GPS Littleton, MA, resulted in an overestimated trajectory. That balloon landed prepared pieces) in different environments. they appreciate the fact that it’s a little bit more informal. SAM Is there an example of that you can share? I’m in meetings with Ty Furman, the Managing Director for retrieval, and attached to a GoPro camera, to launch the balloon over twenty miles off of Provincetown, MA, in the Atlantic Ocean. The GPS unit “The project drives students to think creatively about what a photograph I think it’s really valuable to go see other students at the of the BU Arts Initiative, and Julie Burros, the new Chief Wachusett, MA, where it traveled for nearly two and a half hours before became water logged, and attempts to retrieve the balloon by the U. S. Coast can be beyond the 2-dimensions on paper,” continues Pepe. “The result is SAM You have a lot of things set up in this incoming LYNNE Well, the people who nurtured me, that have seen College doing what they do. I would like to see that course of Arts and Culture under Mayor Marty Walsh. We want year for incoming students to get the chance to talk that I have a certain propensity to think imaginatively, be a College-wide thing. There should be a lot of synergy. to be more involved in Boston. We need to be part of landing in a swamp near Bridgewater, MA. Guard, the Provincetown Harbormaster, and a local whale watching crew an extraordinary intersection between the oral and visual world.” to you, right? What are a couple of those that we have allowed me to take that initiative. We want our students to connect when they’re in their that conversation. Students come here and are blown can look forward to? away by how hard it is, how much they learn, and how much they love it. We need to voice these sentiments LYNNE Dean Juárez had a wonderful tradition with As a faculty, we are all passionate about what so that the world hears it! Donuts with the Dean. I want to continue his legacy, but am expanding it to include Lunch with Lynne, we do. We all struggled very hard to get where we SAM It’s going to take a lot of coffee to get through that, a way to sit down and converse over some pizza. isn’t it? But, I hear you drink decaf, is this true? I have are. We all had the same ambitions and fears when no idea how you survive on that. I also want to set up town hall meetings, where students we got out of school. And I’m wondering, ‘How can can come and talk with me. I want student input because LYNNE I’ve been drinking decaf for years. I have enough I’m putting together a task force of faculty to develop the the College help that? How can the College energy without the coffee. With caffeine, I was too future vision for the College. Where do we want to go energetic… I had to give it up for the sake of my staff. with the College; what are our best assets? I need student actually make that road easier?’ input for that too. SAM Well, it’s good to know we have a cool, calm, and And, when you start doing that, you start to understand, actual learning environment, because who knows how collected Dean. Thank you for taking this time with me. As a faculty, we are all passionate about what we do. We “Well, wait a minute, I can actually do this.” important that will be further in their careers. Are there any parting words that you would like to give all struggled very hard to get where we are. We all had the student body as they’re either coming in, the same ambitions and fears when we got out of school. I also try to do that with the people I work with, not to SAM So, we’ve talked a bit about the kinds of things or finishing their time here? And I’m wondering, “How can the College help that? micromanage them, but to give them the chance to grow we’re doing in CFA. What are some of your hopes How can the College actually make that road easier?” themselves. That’s key, I think. looking outside the College of Fine Arts to Boston? LYNNE Looking back, those four years of undergrad go by very fast. I urge students to take risks; take subjects you SAM What sort of passions led you to where you are SAM Well, thank you. I know that, in School of Theatre, LYNNE Well, let’s start with Boston University, then never have before. You never know what you’ll enjoy or today? I know that’s a long journey, but in kindergarten collaboration is something that we work to teach we’ll get to Boston. Most people at the University don’t be good at. It’s such a valuable time, where you can really art class, you weren’t thinking, “Ah, now this is going to students from Day 1. It’s tough to learn, but once you know what happens at the College of Fine Arts. They absorb everything around you. lead me to be a Dean of a College? start, everything starts to… think painters are having fun dabbling and musicians are playing their instruments, and actors are hopping around Get to know your professors really well, and bond with LYNNE No, I wasn’t even thinking that in high school. LYNNE What’s really marvelous about Theatre is the and screaming, and doing all kinds of things… your community. Make friends across the board. Those [Laughs]. That’s very interesting you say that. My collaborative nature of it. It’s like one big theatre friends are going to be with you through the rest of your life. background is pretty varied. Even though my Masters company; all of the students are in it together. You feel like SAM [Laughs] That’s not incorrect… And finally, explore as many things as possible. Reach out of Fine Arts (MFA) is in Painting and I have Master you’re a family; you feel safe with the people around you. and embrace the city, and all of the life that is around you, Printmaker certification, I was trained as an art teacher LYNNE I know it’s not incorrect, but I think nobody because those are experiences that are going to nurture and have two degrees in Art Education too. And, I would say that in Music and Visual Arts, that’s really understands the work and doubt involved in you for the rest of your life. the case as well, because they’re also very cohesive. studying the arts. It also takes too much effort for busy But, there were things in my life that sort of made But, then musicians and visual artists go off to their students to come to our space, there has to be a reason. Sam Farnsworth (CFA’16) is a senior Theatre Arts me a risk taker. I lived in Europe for seven years. I studios and practice rooms, and they’re alone, which They have to want to go to a theatre performance; they major focusing in playwriting and dramaturgy. Sam moved there when I was 23, and came back when I doesn’t really happen with theatre. I guess you could have to want to go to a music concert. is currently working with his fellow senior Theatre was 31. It had an impact on how I looked at the world, go off and practice your lines and things, but I think Arts majors on S.T.A.M.P. (Senior Theatre Arts Majors how I viewed different cultures and different people; musicians and painters go off in their own spaces, I think we need to be out in their faces. Why can’t we Present), a theatre company aiming to put on a and also, how I problem-solve, especially if you don’t and work inside their heads, practicing and painting. have pop-up theater, Romeo and Juliet talking to each season of plays this spring. Sam is also a member of speak the language, because you have to learn how to They don’t really have time together until they get out other across Marsh Plaza, or an art exhibition inside a Playwright Collective in Boston that works together get from A to B. of their studios, and come together in the orchestra Marsh Chapel? Why can’t we have musicians playing to keep college students generating new work. or in the painting classroom. during finals, where students can sit down, and listen to When I came back to the states, I went back to school, beautiful violin music to relax? and I got a job, and I moved up the promotion track SAM What are some other places you’re hoping to get partly because of my art career, but also because of some crossover happening, where we can work as a It takes effort to organize things like that. Faculty and my ability to problem-solve, take risks, and to think student body to actually do that besides just going up, students need to want to go out and meet the public. independently. To think, “Well, why are we doing it that and saying “Hey!” to each other? There’s been talk about creating a mural program on way? Why can’t we do it this way?” I was given some campus, where we actually put murals on blank walls, like leadership roles which honed those skills. LYNNE The School of Visual Arts is trying an experiment we have in the CFA parking lot. I think we need to show
Photos courtesy Toni Pepe 4 SPARK VOLUME ONE, ISSUE ONE 5
Photo by Emily Wade
Within the rigor of a conservatory setting, how and Petosa have come to greater appreciate this with the Opera Institute, teaching acting from the much room is there for collaboration? For Jim Petosa, opportunity for their students to collaborate. core repertoire. It is the first time Petosa is using song Angels in America, 2015 Square photos by Oshin Gregorian School of Theatre Director, and William Lumpkin, “Watching the activity; the interactions between as material in the course, and speaks to the state of Director of the Opera Institute, the stage offers the orchestra who are fans of the singers; and the operatic repertoire today. ample space to experiment. theatre students, whether designers or directors “Audiences now demand a theatrical opera,” adds “Often with cross-disciplinary pursuits, there’s or actors, who in any other instance, would never Lumpkin. “Working with Jim is a perfect storm. inherent fear of compromise,” says Petosa. “But, interact, is something that is really special and He is passionate about both opera and theatre. that’s not the case at all. What started as an unique to us,” says Lumpkin. Our students are excited to collaborate.” investigation has grown to be a unique way to Petosa and Lumpkin approach each opera as “This collaboration is quite effortless,” adds Petosa. intertwine the dramatic content of an opera and a unified whole, directing each play from the whole “We function with mutual respect, and value our the musical aspect of a score.” score. While one may have a primary role at a difference in perspective. Anything we have Since 2002, the pair have produced over 20 rich particular rehearsal, the other is never absent. They’ve that is worthwhile comes from the totality of this and diverse productions, from the new or rarely yielded incredible results, aggressively adopting perspective, not individual pursuits. This collaboration Sharing the Stage performed works of the annual Fall Fringe Festival the principles into their curriculum to better is a warm and sustaining part of our lives.” to staging Thérèse Raquin, The Rape of Lucretia, prepare their students for life beyond the classroom. Petosa and Lumpkin are looking forward to and Owen Wingrave to reinventing the narrative “We teach students to be responsible for their the continued investment and investigation into of Postcards from Morocco. processes, to take an aggressive role in their creativity, collaboration within the program. “Each year, there’s An interview with School of Theatre Director Jim Petosa Last winter, Petosa and Lumpkin wowed and to have high standards, regardless of the a new crop of students,” continues Lumpkin. “We audiences in a beautiful presentation of Angels in professional bar,” says Petosa. “Students graduate select titles that despite being staged time and again America, an opera based on the award-winning play with the tools to be creative in any construct.” are fertile enough to serve the curriculum and and Opera institute Artistic Director William Lumpkin by Tony Kushner, set during the early stages of the This fall, Petosa and Lumpkin are working to performance needs for music and theatre.” AIDS pandemic in 1980’s New York City. “With each produce Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins, the year, we take on greater challenges,” continues Petosa. opening production of the 2015 Fall Fringe Festival. In addition to the Fringe Festival programming, “Angels is theatrically complex, humanly complex, Widely considered among Weill’s masterpieces, which includes both The Seven Deadly Sins and musically complex. Nothing is easy about that this is the story of two immigrant sisters who (October 2–4) and Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera piece. Both of us were stretched to the max.” embark on a seven-year odyssey through seven (October 9–11), the Opera Institute will stage two Pushing the limits is a hallmark of this partnership, vice-laden cities, as they try to earn money to well-known masterpieces this spring, Cosí fan creating a “lab” for students to fully explore productions build a family home in Louisiana. tutte (February 25–28) and A Midsummer Night’s from the ground level work to the more complex Petosa plans to use this opportunity to connect his Dream (April 14–17). nuances that stretch and challenge tradition.” Lumpkin curriculum to the annual festival in his Acting course 9/24 — 12/4 November 19, 8pm Performing John Williams’ Sound the Bells!, Eric 11/9 Ticket Information Whitacre’s Lux Arumque, Bruce Broughton’s Excursions for Trumpet Willie Cole: AQUAHALLIC and Band featuring Terry Everson, Gunther Schuller’s Symphony for Brass Contemporary Perspectives All events are free and open to the public and Percussion, and Alfred Reed’s Russian Christmas Music. Lecture Series: Huma Bhabha Internationally acclaimed artist creates sculptures and installations David Martins, director • Tsai Performance Center unless otherwise noted. For a full listing that transform everyday materials into works with multiple Sculptor Huma Bhabha pushes the limits of human figuration with autobiographical, art-historical, and socio-political meanings. of CFA events, visit bu.edu/cfa/events. sculptures of grotesque dignity made from everyday materials like Responding to the history and architecture of 808 Gallery, a former 10/9 — 10/11 wood and Styrofoam. Her figures are powerful metaphors for the global Cadillac showroom, as well as larger cultural and environmental citizen: precarious, unstable, prone to misinterpretation; yet highly general admission; $3.50 CFA Membership; issues, Cole exhibits a series of chandeliers and a 1959 Eldorado, Fringe $7 Water by the Spoonful frenetic, adaptable, and charged with a sense of fierce autonomy. created specifically for the exhibition from repurposed water bottles. free with BU ID, at the door, day of performance, subject Jacob Sleeper Auditorium • 6:30pm Opening Reception: September 24, 6–8pm • 808 Gallery Quiara Alegría Hudes, playwright • Judy Braha, director Winner of the to availability. 2012 Pulitzer Prize. Family boundaries and community are stretched across continents and cyberspace in this heartfelt meditation on lives on New Rep/CRC $20 general public; $18 WGBH and WBUR 11/10 9/24 the brink of redemption. TheatreLab@855 members, Huntington Theatre subscribers; $15 seniors, students, Dimmock Vocal Award Recital and groups (10+); $10 CFA Membership; free with BU ID at the door, Akihiro Sakiya day of performance, subject to availability. 10/17 + 10/18 Sopranos Erika Anderson and Rose Lewis with pianist Shiela Kibbe Jaen International Piano Competition gold medalist performs works perform works by François Couperin, John Woods Duke, Steven Harlos, $12 general admission; $10 BU Alumni, WGBH by Alexander Scriabin, Johannes Brahms, Olivier Messiaen, Ludwig van Theatre George Orwell’s 1984 & William Robert Schumann, and Richard Strauss. CFA Concert Hall • 8pm Beethoven, and Franz Liszt. Tsai Performance Center • 8pm and WBUR members, Huntington Theatre subscribers; $6 CFA Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Membership; free with BU ID, at the door, day of performance, subject to availability. Clay Hopper, director Performed by Classic Repertory Company, 11/11 — 11/22 9/29 + 10/29 New Repertory Theatre’s flagship educational touring company. BCAP $20 general admission; $18 WGBH and WBUR members Boston University Theatre • Ticketing Code: New Rep/CRC A Taste of Honey Boston University and Huntington Theatre subscribers; $15 seniors, students, and Symphony Orchestra Shelagh Delaney, playwright • Jim Petosa, director Boston Center for groups (10+); $10 CFA Membership; free with BU ID, at the door, 10/19 American Performance (BCAP) presents one of the great taboo-breaking plays day of performance, subject to availability. September 29, 8pm Performing Stephen Hartke’s Pacific Rim of the 1950s, the story of a working-class, adolescent girl and her relationships (Boston premiere), Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 98 in Cimarrón: Virtuosos of the with the black sailor who makes her pregnant, her homosexual roommate, her BCAP/BPT $30 general admission; $25 seniors and groups (10+), B-flat, and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat, “Rhenish”. saloon-frequenting mother, and her mother’s new husband. BU Theatre, Lane- WGBH and WBUR members, and Huntington Theatre subscribers; David Hoose, conductor • Tsai Performance Center Colombia Joropo Llanero Tradition Comley Studio 210 • Ticketing Code: BCAP September $15 CFA Membership; free with BU ID, at the door, day of Grammy-nominated seven-piece Colombian ensemble led by harpist and performance, subject to availability. October 29, 8pm Performing John Harbison’s Remembering Gatsby: composer Carlos Rojas astonishes audiences with its unbridled sound, Foxtrot for Orchestra, John Wallace’s Symphony (world premiere), melodic and rhythmic virtuosity, percussive drive, and Colombian flavor. Part 11/12 + 11/16 + 11/18 + 12/9 Symphony Hall $25 general public; $12.50 CFA Membership; 9/11 — 10/25 and Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 2, The Four Temperaments. of the Global Lunchtime Music Concert Series. CFA Concert Hall • 12pm free with BU ID and student ID. • bso.org • 617–266–1200 Ariel Freiberg: Unquenchable Thirst David Hoose, conductor • Tsai Performance Center Center for New Music November 12, 8pm “Focus on America”—Sound Icon perform works Ariel Freiberg’s (CFA’04) work explores notions of fragmentation and by American Master Roger Reynolds, Rome Prize winner Ken Ueno, wholeness. Her large and sensuous canvases depict partially obscured 10/19 Box Office: 617.933.8600 the winner of a call for scores, and the BU student competition. faces of women that appear to blend into or emerge out of densely painted Contemporary Perspectives CFA Concert Hall bostontheatrescene.com substrates or veils. Parted lips, flushed cheeks, and seductive glances October become a vivid means of gaining or deflecting attention. Lecture Series: Michael Berryhill November 16, 8pm JACK Quartet perform works written for them by Opening Reception: September 11, 6–7:30pm • Sherman Gallery 10/1 + 10/27 + 11/17 A Texas-born, New York-based painter, Berryhill’s modestly sized, BU composers. Tsai Performance Center brightly colored works border between abstraction and recognizable imagery. Referencing Post-Impressionism and Surrealism through November 18, 8pm Internationally acclaimed JACK Quartet performs Venues 9/11 — 10/18 Boston University Chamber Orchestra a contemporary sensibility, Berryhill’s paintings are abound with art new work written for them and recently premiered in New York by A Call for Peace: Iri and Toshi historical references and evidence of process. His paintings are picture- John Zorn. Other works featured explore Just Intonation and alternate October 1, 8pm Performing Samuel Barber’s Essay No. 2 and Knoxville puzzles that require careful, slow looking to decipher their playful yet approaches to time, framed with movements from Pierre Boulez’s Boston University Art Galleries Maruki’s Hiroshima Panels and Summer of 1915, and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1. Tsai Performance psychologically charged content. Jacob Sleeper Auditorium • 6:30pm seminal livre pour quatuor. CFA Concert Hall 808 Gallery 808 Commonwealth Avenue Artifacts from the Bombings of Center • Tiffany Chang, conductor December 9, 8pm Chicago-based Dal Niente Ensemble perform Sherman Gallery 775 Commonwealth Avenue Hiroshima and Nagasaki October 27, 8pm Performing works by Franz Joseph Hadyn and George 10/19 stunning recent works from Austria and Germany by Enno Poppe, Frideric Handel with Boston University Singers, conducted by Scott Mathias Spahlinger, Mark Andre, Johannes Kreidler, Carola Bauckholt, Stone Gallery 855 Commonwealth Avenue Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima Allen Jarrett. Tsai Performance Center • Tiffany Chang and Scott Allen and Helmut Lachenmann. Tsai Performance Center and Nagasaki, A Call for Peace presents six of the 15 Hiroshima Panels Muir String Quartet Jarrett, conductors produced over 30 years by Nobel Peace Prize-nominated painters Iri In Residence at Boston University and Toshi Maruki. Gallery presentation includes an installation of 26 Boston University Performance Venues November 17, 8pm Performing Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring Performing Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in Eb, Op, 12, Béla 11/23 artifacts from the bombing sites provided by the Hiroshima Peace (Suite for 13 Instruments), Ludwig van Beethoven’s Creatures of Bartók’s String Quartet No. 3, and Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet Boston University Opera Institute Memorial Museum. Opening Reception with presentation by Maruki Prometheus: Overture, and Richard Wagner’s Sigfried Idyll. featuring pianist Michele Levin. Tsai Performance Center • 8pm BU Symphony Orchestra & nd Gallery Curator Yukinori Okamura • September 10, 6–8pm Stone Gallery 808 Commonwealth Avenue, 2 Floor Tsai Performance Center • Tiffany Chang, conductor Chorus at Symphony Hall Performing Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem and Igor Stravinsky’s Perséphone. Boston University Theatre & Lane-Comley Studio 210 9/19 + 10/6 + 10/22 + 11/5 10/30 — 12/13 10/2 — 10/25 David Hoose and Scott Allen Jarrett, conductors • Symphony Hall 264 Huntington Avenue Printer’s Proof: Thirty Years 8pm • Ticketing Code: Symphony Music Faculty Recital Series 19th Annual Fringe Festival Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, Wimberly Theatre September 19, 6:30pm Soprano Lynn Eustis performs an intimate All- at Wingate Studio The Seven Deadly Sins Two immigrant sisters embark on a seven-year American program with selections from art song and musical theatre, An exhibition to celebrate 30 years of artistic production at 527 Tremont Street odyssey through seven vice-laden cities as they try to earn money to featuring James Demler, baritone, and Matthew Larson, piano. Wingate Studio in New Hampshire. Approximately fifty prints build a family home in Louisiana. Kurt Weill, composer • Bertolt Brecht, BU Opera Institute and books by artists such as Sol LeWitt, Louise Bourgeois, Walton December librettist • William Lumpkin, music director • Jim Petosa, stage director CFA Concert Hall Ford, Ambreen Butt, and Gideon Bok, document the history 855 Commonwealth Avenue October 6, 8pm “American Perspectives”—Collaborative pianist Shiela of the studio under founder and master printer Peter Pettengill. Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera A Belgian folk competition over the Kibbe performs works by André Previn, Jennifer Higdon, and Eddie Opening Reception: October 29, 6–8pm • Stone Gallery 12/9 — 12/13 town’s most melodious bird sets forth a journey into the minds of the Bass, featuring Klaudia Szlachta, violin, Linda Toote, flute, and Don competitors and their struggles with deception, loneliness, and love. George Sherman Union + Metcalf Ballroom Lucas, trombone. CFA Concert Hall Rosmersholm David T. Little, composer • Royce Vavrek, librettist • Allison Voth, 775 Commonwealth Avenue music director • E. Loren Meeker, stage director Henrik Ibsen, playwright • Translation by Rolf Fjelde • Bryn Boice, October 22, 8pm Pianist Pavel Nersessian and violinist Peter Zazofsky director In Ibsen’s rarely produced masterpiece, a former clergyman lives performing works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Jacob Sleeper Auditorium Delirium A hilarious, brutal, and tragic reinterpretation of The November peacefully now that his wife has died, thanks to Rebecca West—his wife’s Beethoven, and Sergei Prokofiev. Tsai Performance Center Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky’s classic and compelling tale of companion who has conspicuously stayed on at the Rosmersholm after her 871 Commonwealth Avenue family rivalries. Created by Theatre O • Enda Walsh, playwright death—until an overdue visit from Dr. Kroll results in a torrent of rumors, November 5, 8pm Pianist Pavel Nersessian performing works by Jonathan Solari, director 11/6 — 12/18 scandalous admissions, and the premonitory return of the town specter. Ludwig van Beethoven. Tsai Performance Center Symphony Hall BU Theatre, Lane-Comley Studio 210 • Ticketing Code: Theatre Fringe Festival performances held at BU Theatre, Lane-Comley Hannah Cole: Caring for Surfaces 301 Massachusetts Avenue Studio 210 • Ticketing Code: Fringe 9/24 Cole creates acutely detailed observational paintings that focus on elements of her everyday surroundings. Most recently, she has turned 12/10 — 12/18 TheatreLab@855 Tim Hamill Lecture: Maya Lin her attention to her Brooklyn neighborhood and Manhattan in a series 855 Commonwealth Avenue 10/8 + 11/19 of paintings and cut paper works that depict industrial fragments Exposed Best known for her Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in and urban fixtures such as manhole covers, water main rings, and Robert Brustein, playwright • Steven Bogart, director A BU New Play Washington, D.C., Maya Lin is an American artist and designer whose Boston University Wind Ensemble architectural grates. In these works, Cole reflects a keen sense of the Tsai Performance Center Initiative production co-produced by BCAP and Boston Playwrights’ projects resonate with quiet dignity and a profound sense of historical visual geometry and lyricism of the urban quotidian. 685 Commonwealth Avenue October 8, 8pm Performing Paul Dukas’ Fanfare from La Peri, Kathryn Theatre, Exposed takes a ferociously sardonic wink through the lens narrative. A staunch environmentalist, Lin’s works often spark dialogue Opening Reception: November 6, 6–7:30pm • Sherman Gallery Salfelder’s Shadows Ablaze (Boston premiere), David Maslanka’s Give of Molière’s Tartuffe to lambast contemporary America and greed in about the human impact on the natural world. Metcalf Ballroom • 4pm Us This Day, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 103, all its guises. Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, Wimberly Theatre and John Mackey’s Redline Tango. David Martins, director Ticketing Code: BCAP/BPT 8 SPARK VOLUME ONE, ISSUE ONE 9 Studio Practice: New Class On the Road Takes on the Real World with Classic
An interview with Graphic Design Professor Nicholas Rock Repertory Company
As Founder and Principal Designer for Station, proposal, presenting their ideas in a work session students’ control, training them to shift their ideas and The branding group presented two concepts to the a small design firm based in Providence, RI, Graphic with a real-world client. offer fresh perspectives on the problem or the objective clients alongside Rock’s two concepts. The client narrowed An interview with Director of Classic Repertory Company Clay Hopper Design Professor Nick Rock is in a unique position to “They sat in on working client sessions and candid of the client, whatever that might be.” their final two concepts down to one from the students bring his professional projects into the classroom. conversations that a junior level designer wouldn’t Not only did the classroom physically morph into and one from Rock. They ultimately chose Rock’s design, “I often think about how I can take advantage typically have access to,” explains Rock. Students in a design studio with walls covered with every sketch but that fact is really beside the point. Located in nearby Watertown, New Repertory Theatre Because the majority of CRC’s performances take of that and give students real-world experience, ” the course formed two teams, and while Rock couldn’t proposed, the class modeled itself after a design firm. “It’s not just about the output of product. The students has distinguished itself as one of the Boston area’s place in unconventional venues such as high schools, explains Rock who often references his design disclose the name of the clients, one student group “I wasn’t the professor, I was the art director, and were learning about the strategy at play. Sometimes it’s premiere theatre companies. As Director of Classic civic centers, or senior centers, these adaptations are practice in his teaching. worked on an identity/branding assignment for the students were junior designers. I was engaged in about imagining the future of the business. Redesigning Repertory Company (CRC), New Repertory Theatre’s aesthetically designed to be produced anywhere. This past summer Rock a logo might be visually flagship educational outreach program, Clay Hopper “It doesn’t even need to be in a theatre,” adds Hopper. found the perfect match to transforming a company, (CFA’05) has assisted young actors, including CFA alumni, “That’s what’s so cool about it.” bring the “real world” directly but deeper than that I wasn’t the professor, I was the art director, and the students were to navigate the sometimes challenging transition from the For those involved, it means a great deal to reach into the classroom. Rock’s the company might be classroom to a professional theatre company. Throughout out to underserved, younger populations who may be studio partnered with The transforming its work,” junior designers. I was engaged in the process and the year, CRC brings live theatre and educational units to experiencing their first theater production; often the Epic Decade, a design think explains Rock. schools, senior centers, universities, and summer camps impact of their work goes well beyond the 90-minute tank that agreed to work inspired by the process as much as they were. They got to see This fall,Studio Practice throughout New England, creating theatrical experiences performance. Company members come away with with both Rock and his will be offered to second- directly how I work, and learn from my working process. that are both educational and artistically compelling. a higher-level of understanding about what the theater students. The class,Studio year graduate Graphic “The mission of Classic Repertory Company is basically can do. “It’s almost a social consciousness,” says Hopper. Practice, takes on real Design students. A longer two-fold,” says Hopper. “Our goal is to develop new “BU tends to cultivate students in this way. We make actors clients, real projects, and real deliverables in a way a multi-million dollar company while the second tackled the process and inspired by the process as much as semester, the course will be more intense than the audiences by presenting classic plays, while acting as who have their eye on the bigger picture.” that a typical graphic design course can’t. a research project involving a possible new line of business they were. They got to see directly how I work and learn summer session and feature a new set of clients and a bridge between academia and the professional theatre. This year’s company includes second-year Scene “It is truly a merger of an academic environment related to book publishing for a growing company. from my working process,” says Rock. projects to prepare the students for a career in graphic Macbeth, 2015 We help new artists grow; it is often a springboard into Design graduate student Ghazal Hassani (CFA’16), and a work environment,” says Rock. Charged with re- “The course blends traditional design work that is The group working on the book publishing research design. “It’s really a peek behind the curtain,” says Rock. the professional theatre community here in Boston.” who is the Production Designer for the season, four imagining their business, students focused on the client’s done within the classroom with the experience and know- presented their findings and recommendations based Hopper has directed CRC since October 2012, when School of Theatre alums, Laura Detwiler (CFA’15), Grace identity and their brand, gaining hands-on experience how of being fluid and introducing different solutions,” on case studies and an extensive research and discovery he rebranded the company and reshaped its mission. Woodford (CFA’15, CAS’15), Lily Linke (CFA’15), and in design thinking and design strategy, exploring models, adds Rock. “As we work through the project I can point process. “That group really learned how deep you have He kicked off the first season with a new adaptation Hayley Sherwood (CFA’14), as well as four young theatre and searching for inspiration. out lessons. So often studio work involves client direction. to go to conduct rigorous research, and came to a greater of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, which he artists from area Colleges. They learned important lessons such as how to ‘Stop this. Change that.’ The course connects specific understanding of how the landscape and big picture workshopped at BU. The adaptation starred five Hayley Sherwood returns to New Rep after making run a lient meeting, and how to prepare a design lessons with real world practice on things out of the informs your work,” Rock says. alums, three of whom were later cast in New Rep’s her CRC-debut playing Lady Macbeth in the company’s staging of Hopper’s adaptation. adaptation of Macbeth. Passionate about the program, “New Rep is a supportive and nurturing company,” Sherwood who also played a leading role in Of Mice and says Hopper. “For these young artists, having this Men during the 2014–2015 season, grew more interested introduction to the community in this way has helped in CRC’s development and was given the opportunity to propel them in the theatre community. They are very busy.” become New Rep’s Education Associate, managing the The new model has become the blueprint for the day-to-day logistics for the tour, ensuring its success. company, which always produces a Shakespearean “Our goal simply boils down to encouraging empathy classic as well as a 19th or 20th century novel adapted for these classic characters so that their stories live on,” for the stage, presented in rotation for eight months says Sherwood. “My hope is that our company engages throughout New England. audiences in fresh ways, giving them a new perspective on Hopper looks for works that are curriculum-based classics that invigorate their personal thirst for storytelling.” and public domain so that he can freely create his own Sherwood looks forward to making new partnerships 90-minute adaptations, complemented by workshops and throughout New England: “We hope to continue to make talk-backs to engage the audience. Altering the story is unique educational experiences that further reinforce sometimes unavoidable, but while Hopper does take some the role of the performing arts as a core learning tool.” liberties in making changes, he never strays too far away from the original text. “These are important works of the This fall, Classic Repertory Company will tour 20th century,” says Hopper. “Everyone should have exposure William Shakespeare’s political tragedy Julius Caesar to these works. Any changes we do make must serve the and George Orwell’s classic novel 1984, including
story dramaturgically.” Hopper’s number one priority is two public performances at Boston University Of Mice & Men, 2015 growth for the company, providing more opportunities for Theatre (October 17–18). young actors in the community.
BU tends to cultivate students in this way. We make actors who have their eye on the bigger picture.
Photo courtesy of Nicholas Rock A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2015 Photos courtesy New Repertory Theatre 10 SPARK VOLUME ONE, ISSUE ONE 11 The Big Picture
New Structure, More Synergy for the Boston University Art Galleries
Artistic Director, Lynne Cooney, and Managing years by Nobel Peace Prize nominees Iri and Toshi Willie Cole (September 24– Director, Josh Buckno, are now at the helm of Boston Maruki, and also includes an installation of twenty- December 4). Cole creates University Art Galleries, the newly formed consortium six artifacts from the bombing sites. sculptures and installations comprised of the Stone Gallery, 808 Gallery, and “The Hiroshima Panels, completed over many that transform everyday Sherman Gallery. decades, act as a document, response, and an activist materials, such as irons, Having just returned from a yearlong Fulbright movement for peace displaying the power of art shoes, and bicycles, into Fellowship in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she from transforming trauma to empowerments,” adds works with multiple developed an urban-based museum project with the Buckno. “The Marukis painted from a personal place, autobiographical, art- University of the Witwatersrand’s Wits Art Museum, but the themes are universal.” historical, and socio- Cooney served previously as the Exhibitions Director In the spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration, the political meanings. For for the 808 and Sherman Galleries. gallery welcomes Maruki Gallery Curator and author the 808 Gallery, Cole will “Merging the galleries was an idea that was put of The Guide to Non-Nuclear Art Yukinori Okamura exhibit a series of 7-foot forward nearly ten years ago,” says Cooney, “but it for a special presentation on the evening of the show’s tall chandeliers, as well took the right people, the right time, and the right opening on September 10th, as a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado, opportunity for everything to align.” as well as a number of public programs including created specifically for the “It is a fantastic moment for the University,” says a Butoh-inspired dance performance by Boston exhibition, constructed Buckno, who oversaw the Stone Gallery exclusively artist Sara June, and a screening of Hellfire, the 1985 entirely from repurposed undergraduate and graduate student shows. this past season. “Art is ever changing, and the merger Academy Award nominated documentary produced water bottles. These works both respond to the specific helps the galleries change with the time, allowing us to by John H. Junkerman and John W. Dower which history and architecture of the 808 Gallery, a former be more effective with our communication, and more follows the Marukis as they create Cadillac showroom, as well as to larger cultural efficient in collaborating within the College, with the their monumental artworks. and environmental issues. Photos by Marié Abe BU Arts Initiative, and with other departments, colleges, According to Cooney, the Galleries will continue “What I like about the Cole show,” says Cooney, and programs on campus.” to present temporary exhibitions that focus on “is that it announces itself as an exhibition, but also Boston University Art Galleries aims to build upon contemporary international, national, and regional art merges with the architectural details of the 808 Gallery.” its extremely competitive program and expand the developments. The Sherman Gallery, traditionally dedicated to galleries’ visibility within the city. Up for the challenge, In the coming season, celebrating School of Visual Arts’ alumae, will present Cooney and Buckno consider the next few years to be the Stone Gallery will host Printer’s Proof: Thirty Years four alumni shows in its final season as a gallery space. Around the World transitional for the galleries as they explore the galleries’ at Wingate Studio (October 30–December 13), an This year’s schedule includes new and recent work vision and mission for its inaugural season in Fall 2017. exhibition commemorating thirty years of artistic from Ariel Freiberg (CFA’04), Hannah Cole (CFA’05), “This is a great opportunity for the University, production at Wingate Studios in New Hampshire. Stacey Piwinski (CFA’99,’00), Erika Hess (CFA’09), and we’re really excited to be leading this charge,” adds Featuring fifty prints and books by artists such as Sol Nina Stoltz Bellucci (CFA’09), and Stacy Mohammed in a Lunch Hour Cooney, who plans to establish an Advisory Committee LeWit, Louise Bourgeois, Walton Ford, Ambreen Butt, (CFA’10). The gallery plans to close at the end of the for the galleries this coming year. “Our identity will be one and School of Visual Arts Associate Professor season as Boston University Art Galleries shifts its focus of collaboration. We’re fostering synergistic relationships of Painting Richard Ryan, the exhibition documents to enhancing the 808 and Stone Gallery spaces. across the University. The Advisory Committee will likely the history of the studio under founder and master “We are continuing to sort out how to dedicate space An interview with Musicology and Ethnomusicology Professor Marié Abe include faculty from the School of Visual Arts, Department printer Peter Pettengill. to alumni exhibitions,” says Cooney, who mentioned of History of Art and Architecture, and the College of “As a Master Printmaker focused on intaglio, Peter the possibility of a larger alumni exhibition every few Communication, to name a few.” Peter Pettengill has worked with several venerable years. “Our alumni will always be included in An active performer and improviser of the accordion a new audience; it’s easily accessible for not only those Initiative, the African Studies Center, and World Music/ Karbank provided Abe with a grant for the coming This fall, in commemoration of the 70th anniversary artists as well as a number of talented young artists exhibitions as appropriate.” and piano, Musicology and Ethnomusicology Professor who are already curious, but also those who just happen CRASHarts, a nonprofit organization celebrating world season from the Karbank Fund for World Music. of World War II, the Stone Gallery will host A Call for since establishing Wingate Studio thirty years ago,” Marié Abe is a member of the World Music circuit, to be passing through the building or campus.” The result music throughout the Greater Boston area, to bring This fall, Abe is looking forward to hosting the series’ Peace: Iri and Toshi Maruki’s Hiroshima Panels and adds Buckno. “These prints merit attention, and with In addition to the fall exhibitions, this spring, the Stone performing with the Boston-based Ethiopian groove has been the extraordinary opportunity to offer audiences The Nile Project to campus. Conceived by Egyptian first Latin American music ensemble, Cimmarrón, Artifacts from the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki the recently established Printmaking major in the Gallery will present a memorial exhibition for Joseph collective Debo Band, which has been featured in the intellectual insights and hands-on experiences in diverse ethnomusicologist Mina Girgis and Ethiopian singer performing October 19th in the CFA Concert Hall. (September 11–October 18). Presented in collaboration School of Visual Arts, the exhibition offers students a Ablow, Professor Emeritus of Art and former Director New York Times and Rolling Stone Magazine, and on NPR. performing arts from various parts of the globe. Meklit Hadero, the Nile Project is a collaborative enterprise “With a wild, powerful, and unbridled sound, the group with the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels chance to see exquisite prints made only 90 miles away.” of the School of Visual Arts who passed away in 2012; Abe launched the Global Music Lunchtime Concert The series has been wildly successful, with students whose mission is to “educate, inspire, and empower the lives up to the meaning of their name, untamed” says Abe. and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, A Call for Peace This September, 808 Gallery will hostAQUAHALLIC , and the 808 Gallery will present works by South Series in the Fall of 2011. The series showcases from not only the College of Fine Arts, but also from citizens of the Nile basin to foster the sustainability of the The Grammy-nominated Columbian ensemble is presents six of the fifteen panels produced over thirty a special exhibition by internationally acclaimed artist African artist Paul Emmanuel, in addition to the annual musicians, dancers, and performing artists steeped the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Nile River’s ecosystem through music.” During their 5-day known for creating a fiery kind of music called música in folkloric, vernacular, popular, and traditional General Studies. “I started knocking on doors across residency, the artists offered workshops, panel discussions, llanera and the fast-paced, triple-meter dance music music from the world over, and is accompanied by five- campus for potentially relevant partners, which wasn’t class visits, a matinee concert for school-aged children joropo, played on harp, bandolaand cuatro, and minute pre-concert lectures, workshops, and post- always easy,” says Abe, “But in the end, it helped me from the Boston area, and a final public performance accompanied by bass, cajón, and maracas. The seven- concert Q&A’s (with a translator) whenever possible. get to know more people.” With documented success, through the World Music/CRASHarts partnership. piece all-star team of instrumentalists and singers, led by In the past four years, the series has presented music Abe has fostered interdisciplinary connections with Most recently, Abe’s reputation for hosting high-caliber harpist and composer Carlos Rojas, astonishes audiences from Japan, the Middle East, China, Ethiopia, Ukraine, faculty from the Department of Modern Languages talent attracted the attention of BU alum Steven Karbank with its melodic and rhythmic virtuosity, percussive Mali, India, Serbia, and the Nile basin. and Literature, Art History, Anthropology, and more, (CAS’79), a Member of the Board of Overseers and alum drive, and sabor Columbiano, or Columbian flavor. “I saw the need for a little more diversity in who bring their students to relevant concerts. of the Department of Philosophy. An avid music lover who programming,” says Abe. “I chose lunchtime to build This past spring, Abe worked with the BU Arts had always desired more music programming on campus, For more details, visit bu.edu/cfa/globalmusic.
I saw the need for a little more diversity in programming. I chose lunchtime to build a new audience; it’s easily accessible for not only those who are already curious, but also those who just happen to be passing through the building or campus.
TOP LEFT: Photo by Chris Yager. Ariel Freiberg, Unquenchable Thirst, Oil and iridescent pigment on linen, 24" x 24" • TOP RIGHT: Photo by Ellen Denuto. Willie Cole BOTTOM: Photo Courtesey of the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels. Iri Maruki & Toshi Maruki, Hiroshima Panels X ‘Petition’ (Detail), Paper, Indian Ink, Coloring, 71" x 283" Overdrive
Tim Hamill Lecture: Maya Lin Inspiring Young Alumni Awards
Maya Lin is an American sculptor and designer whose projects range in scale from the intimate Join us as we honor: to the monumental. She is perhaps best-known for her Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Uzo Aduba (CFA’05) Emmy Award-winning Actress, Orange is the New Black National Mall in Washington D.C., a project she submitted to a public design competition at the David Delmar (CFA’06) Designer and Founder, Resilient Coders age of twenty-one, and her body of work continues to resonate with quiet dignity and a profound Greg Hildreth (CFA’05) Acclaimed Broadway Actor, Cinderella sense of historical narrative. Lin is a staunch environmentalist, focusing on sustainable design Visit bu.edu/cfa for details • 808 Gallery and creating artworks meant to spark dialogue about the human impact on the natural world. In 2009, she launched What Is Missing?, a vast multimedia project focused on the global biodiversity crisis. She considers this project to be “her last memorial.” Among her many other public and architectural projects are the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, the Peace Chapel at Juniata College, and the Museum of the Chinese in America in New York City. September 24, 4pm • Metcalf Ballroom
IMAGE CAPTION: Maya Lin, installation view of Uzo Aduba photo provided by Adam Krause/Redux the exhibition Platform: Maya Lin. Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York, July 4 to October 13, 2014. In the foreground, three works in marble: Equator (2014), Latitude New York City (2013), and Arctic Circle (2013. On wall, Pin River—Sandy (2013), steel straight pins. Courtesy Pace Gallery, New York. Photo: Gary Mamay.
Muir String Quartet In Exposed Residence at Boston University A BU New Play Initiative Production, The Grammy Award-winning Muir String Quartet has called CFA its physical and artistic home co-produced by the Boston Center for American for more than thirty years. Named for the renowned naturalist and Sierra Club Founder John Muir, Performance and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre. the ensemble was inspired by influential groups such as the Budapest String Quartet (1917–1967) By Robert Brustein • Directed by Steven Bogart and is committed to advancing contemporary American music. Comprised of Viola Professor and Principal Violist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra Steven Ansell, Cello Professor Michael When Texas billionaire Seymour Sackeroff is Reynolds, Violin Professor Peter Zazofsky, and violinist Lucia Lin, Muir has performed at the in need of some forgiveness, he goes straight White House and has premiered new works to God’s right hand—Dick Cockburn, the commissioned for them by leading composers Christian televangelist who talks to the Lord such as Joan Tower, Sheila Silver, Richard on a regular basis—or so he says. But when Danielpour, Richard Wilson, and Charles Cockburn comes to roost in Seymour’s Fussell. On October 19th, Muir opens their mansion, all Hell breaks loose. A play with 36th season, performing Felix Mendelssohn’s music and rhythm from the author of King String Quartet in Eb, Op. 12, Béla Bartók’s of Second Avenue and the Shakespeare Trilogy String Quartet No. 3, and Antonín Dvořák’s (The English Channel, Mortal Terror, The Last Piano Quintet featuring pianist Michele Levin. Will), Exposed takes a ferociously sardonic October 19, 8pm • Tsai Performance Center wink through the lens of Molière’s Tartuffe to lambast contemporary America, the Right, the Left, the NRA, AIPAC, and greed in all its guides. IMAGE CAPTION: Based at BU’s College of Fine Arts since 1983, the Muir String Quartet comprises Lucia Lin October 10–18 • Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston (clockwise from center), Michael Reynolds, Steven Ansell, Center for the Arts, Wimberly Theatre and Peter Zazofsky.
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Spark Editorial Team volume one, issue one
DESIGN Marshall Lambert INTERVIEWS Laurel Homer and Brooke Yarborough ARTICLES Brooke Yarborough CONTRIBUTING WRITING + EDITING Laurel Homer and Emily Wade