“This book covers the big issues that drove the decade,” said Levitan. “Civil rights, urban renewal, the growth of the University of Wisconsin, the efforts to build a civic auditorium [Monona Terrace], and the student anti-war protests.”
Category: Arts & Humanities
UW-Madison professor nominated for second Grammy
University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Jim Leary was nominated for a second Grammy.
UW Medical Orchestra provides outlet for faculty, staff, students
An orchestra comprised of University of Wisconsin Madison School of Medicine and Public Health faculty, staff and students performed their inaugural concert Sunday evening.
UW Marching Band seamstress plans to retire with Mike Leckrone
After 50 years, UW Marching Band Director Mike Leckrone led the band for the last time at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday. As he prepares to retire, so does the band’s seamstress. Lois Levenhagen has kept the band looking sharp since 1991.
‘The War at Home’ review: When UW-Madison lit the fires of revolution
Back in a 4k digital restoration, “The War at Home” returns this week to the Gene Siskel Film Center. The legitimate question: What can a nearly 40-year-old documentary, covering a decade (1963-73) of anti-war turbulence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, offer anyone contending with the societal casualties of 2018?
Honoring the legend
When Warrington Colescott died on Sept. 10, staff at the Chazen Museum of Art knew they had to do something. The 97-year-old teacher, satirist and printmaker was a giant, not only at UW-Madison but nationally.
Wisconsin roots of the man behind ‘Manitowoc Minute’
UW-Madison Journalism School graduate explains the success of “Manitowoc Minute.”
Photos: Scenes from the 50-year career of UW band director Mike Leckrone
Known for extravagant antics, including riding an elephant and a camel onto the field, Leckrone will retire at the end of the 2018-19 academic year, which also marks his 50th year leading the band.
UW-Madison marching band director nears end of career
Nostalgia has laced much of Leckrone’s last football season: In the back of his mind and in his assistants’ and students’ minds is a ticking clock, counting down the days, the rehearsals, the games he has left.
“Every event, someone will say, ‘This is the last time you’re going to do that,'” Leckrone said.
Wisconsin Singers prove ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’ with latest performance
Emcee Argyle Wade, interim dean of students, left the audience with groan-laced grins after showcasing his recently acquired dad jokes.
‘Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City’ is the 2019 Fox Cities Reads pick
Noted: Desmond is a professor of sociology at Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. in 2010 from University of Wisconsin-Madison and has studied poverty in America, city life, housing insecurity, public policy, racial inequality and ethnography. (“Evicted” was the 2016-17 Go Big Read selection.)
Wisconsin Singers prepare for “hometown” show
A group of students from UW-Madison will perform more than 50 musical theatre numbers in their newest show, Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now!
Children’s Books Get More Political and More Progressive
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison examines thousands of books for kids and teens published each year, and in 2015, it found that about 14 percent of American kids’ titles were about people who weren’t white.
Remembering Lenny
Noted: But fear not. The pianist will be Christopher Taylor, professor of piano at UW-Madison. Taylor, who is also a mathematician, has gained a reputation as one of America’s leading pianists by conquering some of the most complicated music on the planet.
At 75, jazz great Ben Sidran is looking back and enjoying his ‘third act’
2018 has been a year of looking back and lightening the load for Ben Sidran. He and his wife Judy were the instigators of The Madison Reunion on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, a celebration of the city’s pivotal role in the 1960s culture and social justice movements … He donated his archives to the UW-Madison Libraries, including almost 100 boxes of recordings, letters and photographs.
New biopic will introduce Freddie Mercury’s music to the Spotify generation
Quoted: Jeff Smith, a film professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison whose research focuses on the use of music in film, predicts that “Bohemian Rhapsody” will give a boost to Queen’s recordings. It wouldn’t even be the first time a film has been a boon for the band.
Warrington Colescott prints on display at Chazen Museum
The artist Warrington Colescott came to UW-Madison for a one-year appointment in 1949 — and stayed for 37 years, helping to build one of the nation’s foremost art department printing programs and an international reputation of his own.
Temporary art piece aims to spark public discourse
An art piece installed in front of Memorial Library invites passersby on Library Mall to interact with it. The piece, created by UW-Madison graduate student Matthew Vivirito, was constructed Thursday morning.
Uncomfortable conversations: “In Good Company” spotlights veterans’ artworks
Noted: After receiving a bachelor’s in fine arts from UW-Madison in 2011, Pino launched Veteran Print Project to encourage dialogue among veterans, artists and the general public. Now the printmaker is curating and coordinating In Good Company: An Exposition of Emerging Veteran Artists, a citywide showcase for veteran artists.
8 classic Hollywood comedies with Wisconsin ties
Noted: “Back to School:” Rodney Dangerfield plays Thornton Meloni, a wealthy businessman who heads to college as an adult in the 1986 comedy “Back to School.” Meloni attends Grand Lakes University, but the school is a stand-in for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where many of the scenes were filmed.
Musician, TV personality Amara La Negra discusses being Afro-Latina in entertainment industry
The Afro-Latina musician and star of “Love & Hip Hop: Miami” discussed colorism, identity and her experience in the entertainment industry in a discussion Thursday evening at Memorial Union.
The Words of a Young Jewish Poet Provoke Soul-Searching in Lithuania
In July, I accompanied Freund, of the University of Hartford, and two geoscientists, Harry Jol, from the University of Wisconsin, and Philip Reeder, from Duquesne University, to find Matilda’s final resting place.
Free-flowing ideas: “Displaced Horizons” is a multimedia work based on a fascination with water
Noted: The project started after Lundberg read William Fulton’s 1997 book The Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles. The book details the early city’s critical need to seek water in other regions. “That opened my eyes to this huge re-engineering of water,” says Lundberg, who is studying at UW’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies while also pursuing a law degree. “I was fascinated by these gigantic systems that allow us to live and profit in these ways, but without seeing the infrastructure that make them happen.”
The Arb wins an Oscar: Well, it was back in ‘54, but it still matters
As UW Arboretum heads into the fall burn season, we rediscovered a piece sent to Isthmus by Thomas J. Straka, a forestry professor at Clemson University in South Carolina. While studying forestry at UW-Madison, Straka spent much time at the Arboretum and he wants our readers to know about the Arb’s role in the Oscar-winning documentary, The Vanishing Prairie (available at Amazon.com).
Founders of the Spooky Boobs Collective create feminist art
The women bonded as MFA students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, sharing stories about sexist treatment they’d witnessed or experienced.
New movies include restored 1979 documentary about Vietnam War protests
The War at Home: This is a 4k restoration of a 1979 documentary about Vietnam War protests at the University of Wisconsin’s Madison campus. Directed by Glenn Silber.
The M List 2018: Innovation in the Arts
Honoring 30 Madison groups and individuals, including several from UW–Madison.
UW Odyssey Project’s “Night of the Living Humanities” a Unique and Fun Pre-Halloween Fundraiser
If you ever wanted a chance to meet and chat with amazing historical figures like Maya Angelou, Duke Ellington, Walt Whitman, Sojourner Truth, Mahalia Jackson, Walt Whitman, Frida Kahlo, and Frederick Douglass, you will get your opportunity at the UW-Madison Odyssey Project’s 4th annual “Night of the Living Humanities” fundraiser this Thursday, Oct. 25, 5-7 p.m. at The University Club.
‘A Moment of Magic’ puts smile on kids’ faces
A new organization on the UW-Madison campus is connecting people in costume with chances to put a smile on a kid’s face.
Literary visionary: Raphael Kadushin leaves UW Press with legacy of LGBTQ publishing
Wisconsin might seem an unlikely place for a publishing house that specializes in LGBTQ literature. But over the last three decades, the UW Press has become known as a national leader in publishing some of the finest — and most diverse — titles from LGBTQ authors.
Over A Thousand Recordings From ‘Twilight Zone’ Creator Digitally Preserved By UW
The University of Wisconsin-Madison recently received a grant to digitize recordings of scripts, correspondences and notes the prolific screenwriter recorded in the 1960s on a now defunct piece of technology, the dictabelt.
Over A Thousand Recordings From ‘Twilight Zone’ Creator Digitally Preserved By UW
The University of Wisconsin-Madison recently received a grant to digitize recordings of scripts, correspondences and notes the prolific screenwriter recorded in the 1960s on a now defunct piece of technology, the dictabelt.
Go Big Read author Dan Egan to speak at UW
Dan Egan, author of “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes” will speak at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Oct. 16.
A New Biography of a Brilliant Playwright Who Died Too Young
Noted: At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where Lorraine studied painting and sculpture and acted in plays, she single-handedly integrated a women’s dorm. Early in her writing life, she was mentored by both W. E. B. Du Bois and Langston Hughes. And yet next to nothing is broadly known about her life, beyond the facts that she was black and a woman and, maybe, that she was a communist and queer.
New Film Explores Innovate Work of UW First Wave Students
“This is the type of learning that will light a fire in you. You learn more from the burning in your throat than all the time spent in limbo.”
Those words help kick off “Hip Hop U,” a documentary detailing the rise of hip hop in a college academic setting that is now available on the Wisconsin Public Television website. Hip Hop U, which premiered two weeks ago, tells the story of a one-of-a-kind academic program offered at the University of Wisconsin.
‘Go Big Read’ event looks at Great Lakes
Each year the University of Wisconsin-Madison picks a common book for the entire campus to read and discuss called the Go Big Read program. The book for the 2018-2019 school year is “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes” by Dan Egan, a Milwaukee Journal reporter and senior water policy fellow at UW-Milwaukee.
WSUM’s new livestream creates space for free expression
With more student DJs than hours of airtime to give them, WSUM?—?the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s radio station?—?started an online-only livestream earlier this year. Called FreeFlow, it abides by looser rules than the station’s federally regulated FM stream.
UW-Madison Professor speaks on misogyny in hip-hop
Alexander Shashko, a lecturer in the Afro-American Studies department at UW-Madison, spoke to students about misogyny and hypermasculinity in hip-hop at a Men Against Sexual Assault meeting Wednesday evening.
Paul Bunyan murals return to Memorial Union
Decades-old murals depicting Paul Bunyan and various associated folktales officially returned to the Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin on Friday.
Superstars and local luminaries: The Wisconsin Book Festival continues to burst out of its four-day confines
Noted: Among the dozens of authors scheduled to appear are several notable Wisconsin writers. They include journalist Stu Levitan, whose comprehensive narrative history, Madison in the Sixties, will be published in November; Madison Magazine columnist John Roach, whose second book of essays is titled While I Have Your Attention; and UW-Madison literature instructor Heather Swan, who wrote Where Honeybees Thrive: Stories from the Field, a book about the honeybee population that won the 2018 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award.
A towering legacy
He’s a renowned bassist with a wondrous resume in jazz, classical and rock; venerated UW-Madison professor; healer of racial injustice. Richard Davis has filled many vital roles in his 88 years. They’ll all be celebrated Oct. 11 at Overture’s Capitol Theater at a multimedia event titled Passing the Bass: A Global Tribute to Richard Davis.
Four Madison artists make new work, ask questions and build community
Noted: Artists from the Art Department featured in cover story.
Community, dedication, music: Retiring UW Band director Michael Leckrone’s legacy lives on
After 50 years as the UW band director, Leckrone looks back on the defining moments of his music career.
Marshall Cook, on the mend, awaits book launch
Cook in 1990 helped found the UW–Madison Writers’ Institute, a campus seminar that gained a national reputation and continues today.
UW Band performs at Lambeau Field, one final performance for director of 50 years
The University of Wisconsin’s Badger Band performed at Lambeau Field for the last time under band director Mike Leckrone Sunday afternoon. After 50 years of leading the band, he’s retiring.
Please don’t take Carrie Coon too seriously
Noted: Coon didn’t shed her outdoorsy impulses while earning her master’s in acting at the University of Wisconsin–Madison or while apprenticing and acting for four years at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. The current artistic director of the theater, Brenda DeVita, recalls that Coon could often be found lying on her back in the woods “just taking in the trees,” or swimming in the Wisconsin River. Onstage, Coon was “like a gazelle,” DeVita says. “She has an energy that fits the outdoors, that fits the space.”
Cambridge artist wins top state honor
WRAP began at UW–Madison in 1940 to foster creativity in rural areas. Now part of Continuing Studies, WRAP partners with the nonprofit Wisconsin Regional Artists Association (WRAA) to showcase artists in rural and urban areas statewide.
An Artist Who Champions and Channels Female Voices
Ms. Coyne’s references to writers will be the focus of an exhibition in 2021 at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Amy Gilman, director of the Chazen, finds the sculptures “evocative in the way that great literature stays with you,” she said. “Petah’s work exposes private things without being explicit, these deep wells of memory and meaning and relationship.”
An Artist Who Champions and Channels Female Voices
Noted: Ms. Coyne’s references to writers will be the focus of an exhibition in 2021 at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Amy Gilman, director of the Chazen, finds the sculptures “evocative in the way that great literature stays with you,” she said. “Petah’s work exposes private things without being explicit, these deep wells of memory and meaning and relationship.”
Students, scientists and artists collaborate for exhibit
Art and science joined forces as part of a recent collaboration among area high school students, UW-Madison physicists and Madison-based writers and visual and performing artists.
Warrington Colescott
Noted: After two years as an instructor at Long Beach City College, Warrington came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison on a one-year appointment and stayed for the rest of his long teaching career. Serigraphy, that is, silk-screen prints, began to replace his paintings by the mid-1950s although water-colors were to remain essential as preliminary studies for his prints.
Former UW First Wave Poet Danez Smith Becomes Youngest to Win Prestigious Forward Prize in London
Former UW-Madison First Wave Urban Arts performance poet Danez Smith has won the prestigious Forward Prize for Best Collection in London, England, and at age 29, he’s the youngest poet ever to win.
Printmaker, satirist and ‘mad-dog’ artist Warrington Colescott dies at 97
Warrington Colescott, a printmaker and former art professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been described as a “social scold” and a “mad-dog attack artist” with a humorous and deeply humane side.
Great Lakes-focused book selected for ‘Go Big Read’ promotes awareness of environmental issues
Go Big Read is a program promoting the enjoyment of literature among students on campus as well as members of the surrounding community. Each year, UW selects a new, academically focused book for participants to read, as well as hosts a variety of classroom discussions and campus events about it.
New BLINK temporary exhibit illuminates East Washington Avenue building
The exhibit is a Madison Arts Commission BLINK temporary public art project created by Ben Orozco and Emily Leach, two BFA students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
World Music Festival Brings Global Flair to Madison Starting Tonight
The goal of the festival is to broaden horizons, particularly for UW students, and serve as a platform for artists who may be very well-known in their countries but haven’t performed in the United States yet.
The Bucky we’ll miss
It was all worth it. That is, the recently concluded Bucky On Parade program, aka a giant gauntlet of latter-day Hummel figurines, aka let’s decorate different versions of the same sculpture 85 whole times and place most of them within a few blocks of each other, but also put a real scary one all by its lonesome in Sun Prarie, was worth it because it gave us Visible Bucky.
Dane County Bids Goodbye To Bucky On Parade
A four-month public art display of 85 colorful, life-sized Bucky Badger statues wrapped up this week in Dane County. Bucky on Parade encouraged families throughout the city, and state, to see all 85 Bucky statues.
Ben Sidran Looks Back on 4 Decades With Live Music Box Set, Shares ‘The Funkasaurus’
Noted: The timing was certainly right, coming right after Sidran had compiled personal papers and artifacts for his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin. “I had gone through all these tapes, so I knew what was there,” Sidran tells Billboard. “I knew where all the great stuff was, so it came together very quickly. I had literally hundreds of tracks to choose from. “
Wisconsin Regional Art Program announces local winner
WRAP began at UW-Madison in 1940 to foster creativity in rural areas. Now part of Continuing Studies, WRAP partners with the nonprofit Wisconsin Regional Artists Association (WRAA) to showcase artists in rural and urban areas statewide.