Noted: The singer, rapper and producer (who goes by his first name) is halfway to earning an art degree at UW-Madison, where he is also working toward a certificate in Afro-American studies. The outspoken campus activist released an excellent album in February, Dequadray! A Black Sitcom, and is currently writing and experimenting with new songs while carving out a path in Madison as a queer, black artist.
Category: Arts & Humanities
Real World: Cinematheque explores the promise of documentaries and alumni achievements
UW-Madison alums will be the focus of Cinematheque’s “Spotlight on Documentary” series, Sept. 6-7.
Lingua Franca: How Americans Speak
If you really want to know how people use the English language in North America, you will find one consistently reliable peer-reviewed source of information, four times a year: the journal American Speech, sponsored by the American Dialect Society and published by Duke University Press. And though it is scholarly and research based, there’s a surprising amount of information that is intelligible to anyone, even without special training in linguistics. The current editor is Thomas C. Purnell of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
UW Band Director Michael Leckrone steps down after 50 seasons
Michael Leckrone, longtime director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band, announced Saturday that he will step down at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.
Badger band director Leckrone stepping down after 50 years
University of Wisconsin marching band director Michael Leckrone says he’s stepping down at the end of the school year.
Creating Mural Alley
Noted: At the center is an enormous portrait of Freddie Mae Hill, the first African American to graduate from UW-Madison. Hill’s family is well-represented at the event, dressed up and posing for pictures in front of their now-famous relative.
War of the Past, War of the Future: Netflix Tries Both
I have no doubt it’ll be an interesting picture, as Mr. Chazelle is an interesting and energetic filmmaker (although his work isn’t always entirely compatible with my taste). FilmStruck’s Criterion Channel is now showing a chat with Mr. Chazelle, conducted at the University of Wisconsin, as part of its “Masterclass” series of film supplements. The movie he lauds therein is “Chronicle of a Summer,” the 1961 French documentary directed by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin.
Manitowoc Art Slam: Rebecca Jabs offers observation of nature with hint of narrative
She has also been selected as artist-in-residence at Isle Royale National Park, Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, and UW-Madison Center for Limnology Research Station at Trout Lake.
Announcing the 2018 M List: Innovation in the Arts
Honored: Chris Walker, artist director, First Wave Hip Hop Theater Ensemble at UW–Madison
UW–Madison Center for the Humanities, Sara Guyer, director
Specific programs recognized are HEX-U, Humanities Without Boundaries and Humanities NOW
Johannes Wallmann, UW–Madison Jazz Studies
Tandem Press, printmaking studio and gallery, UW–Madison School of Education
Timothy Yu, poet and professor, UW–Madison English and Asian American Studies
‘Electric Dylan’ Helps UW-Madison Student Identify Meaning Of ‘Folk’
Having grown used to the solo, acoustic performances and revivalist lyrics that flowed from Bob Dylan, his fans cried a united foul when he showed up defaced by commercialism at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
What Is ‘Folk’ Music?
When Bob Dylan showed up to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival with an electric guitar and a full backing band, many fans decried he had turned his back on folk music. It turns out this debate over what exactly is “folk” has been happening for a long time.We speak to a UW-Madison student who was recently awarded a fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution to zero in on how people in 20th century America defined “folk?”
UW-Madison student pursuing piano career despite rare blood disorder
A University of Wisconsin-Madison student isn’t letting hemophilia stop him from pursuing his dream of both performing and teaching piano, but an expensive medication is allowing him to do so.
Topsy-turvy operetta: Madison Savoyards try their hand at “Die Fledermaus”
Noted: Fledermaus, which runs July 20-29 at UW-Madison’s Music Hall, is also the first directorship for Shelton, a lyric tenor who has performed in theaters around town and in the blockbuster opera, Dead Man Walking (Madison Opera, 2014). For a director whose heart is in comedy, Fledermaus is a perfect fit.
How Northwestern Mutual quietly supports local artists through a stunning collection
Noted: Jose Lerma, who earned a master’s degree in painting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been involved with the Green Gallery since its earliest days, was commissioned to create a diptych, which is installed in an expansive marble passageway.
UW pianist shares musical gift despite health challenge
Kangwoo is a doctoral student in piano at UW-Madison and a teacher who’s won at least 10 prestigious competitions. He’s performed as a soloist with the UW Symphony Orchestra and on Wisconsin Public Radio.
A writer learns to listen
Lucy Tan’s ambitious debut novel, What We Were Promised, grew out of a short story she penned while she was a part of UW-Madison’s prestigious master’s program in fiction writing … Since graduating from the MFA program in 2016, Tan has split her time between NYC and Shanghai, but she’ll be back in Madison this fall as part of the UW-Madison faculty; she has been selected as this year’s James C. McCreight fiction fellow. She corresponded with Isthmus by email about what it means to her to return to Madison just as the novel that was born here makes its arrival into the world.
LunART festival shines light on female composers
Iva Ugrcic moved to the United States because, as a musician, she was frustrated with gender inequality on her home continent.
Women take center stage
Noted: In 2005, she won a scholarship to study in Paris, earning a master’s in solo flute performance. She taught in Belgrade and Paris before moving to pursue a doctorate at the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music on a fellowship in 2014. She’s performed internationally and regionally with orchestras and as a soloist, and with jazz, blues and alternative ensembles, including Madison’s Sound Out Loud collective. She’s recorded two CDs — one classical and one by a contemporary female composer from Romania — and won awards for her performances and leadership.
Cook a meal, invent a game, imagine a new world of food at the Sustainable Meal Hackathon
Noted: Clark and Peterson, two University of Wisconsin-Madison professors known in their collaborative artistic work as Spatula & Barcode, planned a Sustainable Food Hackathon for about two dozen people on a recent weekday.
Madison Symphony names Kyle Knox associate conductor
Noted: Knox holds degrees from UW-Madison and The Juilliard School.
Three Aspiring Chicago Creatives on Why Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton Debut Inspires Them
Noted: Once upon a time, the new men’s artistic director of Louis Vuitton was just a regular middle-class guy from the Midwest. Abloh went to Boylan Catholic High School. He was an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned a degree in civil engineering, later receiving his master of architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. After a stint spent deejaying, Abloh’s fellow Chicagoan and BFF, Kanye West, put him on the fashion path, and in 2009 he scored an internship at Fendi. Today, Abloh is the first African-American to take on the role of creative head at a European luxury fashion house.
Why Lorrie Moore Writes
Wisconsin, where Moore lived for much of this book’s composition, makes glancing appearances throughout, first as ambivalently but tellingly described as Moore’s husband, and then, with the benefit of distance—a divorce, a move from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to Nashville’s Vanderbilt—regarded in full, with reserved, bone-chilling candor, in a review of Making a Murderer.
Diversity, Politics Likely Topics at Publishing Convention
Noted: Dohnielle Clayton, an author and COO of the grassroots #weneeddiversebooks, will appear on two panels this week, including one hosted by her organization. She said there has been progress in the industry, but cited a recent study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center School of Education, based in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, showing that children’s stories remain predominantly by and about whites.
Were 50 Million People Really Killed in the Inquisition?
Edward Peters, from the University of Pennsylvania, is the author of Inquisition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989). Henry Kamen, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, wrote The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).
A mesmerizing story
Shawn Francis Peters couldn’t believe his luck. After writing 2012’s The Catonsville Nine: A Story of Faith and Resistance in the Vietnam Era (Oxford University Press), the instructor in UW-Madison’s Integrated Liberal Studies Program was searching for an intriguing Upper Midwest-based true-crime subject when Harry Hayward entered his life.
Once Upon a Time Creators Will Oversee Apple’s Amazing Stories Reboot
Now that “Once Upon a Time” has ended its lengthy run at ABC, executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are moving on to a new adventure. The duo have signed on as writers and executive producers of Steven Spielberg’s revival of “Amazing Stories” for Apple.
Brooks Kerr, Piano Prodigy and Ellington Expert, Dies at 66
Two years before Duke Ellington died at 75, he spent a week at the University of Wisconsin in Madison with his orchestra, teaching and performing in concert. Among the indispensable members of his entourage was a lean, legally blind 20-year-old pianist from New York to whom Ellington referred students in his master class.
Scans reveal secrets of medieval ‘Harry Potter’ book and medical texts at Penn
Using high-tech scanning equipment, so far Connelly and her partners — from the Library of Congress and the University of Wisconsin-Madison — have begun to analyze stains in two dozen medieval manuscripts.
Brooks Kerr, Piano Prodigy and Ellington Expert, Dies at 66
Two years before Duke Ellington died at 75, he spent a week at the University of Wisconsin in Madison with his orchestra, teaching and performing in concert. Among the indispensable members of his entourage was a lean, legally blind 20-year-old pianist from New York to whom Ellington referred students in his master class.
Bucky on Guard, Merrill teacher contributes to Madison art display
But in all her years of drawing, the Prairie River Middle School teacher has never had an art project this big.
Milton artist’s work included in ‘Bucky on Parade’
On Monday the Madison Area Sports Commission unveiled Bucky on Parade, starring 85 6-foot-tall Bucky Badger statues on display throughout downtown Madison, the University of Wisconsin campus and beyond. They represent the work of 64 Madison area and regional artists including award-winning Milton artist Larry Schultz.
Retired director of Chazen Museum exhibits his photography
From curator to curated, Russell Panczenko follows his retirement last September as museum director of the Chazen Museum of Art with an exhibit of his own photography.
Bucky on Parade: A look at the statues
Photojournalist Jeremy Nichols shows you dozens of these statues, some familiar faces, and the stories behind some of them.
Get to know all 85 of the Bucky on Parade statues
Bucky on Parade, which officially launches with unveiling of the statues on Monday morning, is scheduled to run through Sept. 12.
Fair-trade start-up sells Badger gear made from Alpaca fiber
Campo, a fair-trade start-up that sells high quality Badger gear made from Alpaca fiber, has launched its Kickstarter.
Yoni Ki Baat returns to UW to center stories of women, non binary folks of color
Fellow community members came to Fredric March Play Circle to hear several women and non-binary individuals share their experiences as people of color.
‘Tangled’ presents diverse cast of models, designs from School of Human Ecology
The annual “Threads” fashion show, hosted by the School of Human Ecology, displayed a culmination of three semesters’ of hard work this past weekend.
Dan Egan’s ‘Death and Life of the Great Lakes’ keeps stimulating discussion
Noted: The University of Wisconsin in Madison has selected Egan’s book as the Go Big Read selection for 2018-’19. Copies will be given to first-year students at the Chancellor’s Convocation for New Students, and the book will be incorporated into some classes. (Past Go Big Read selections include Matthew Desmond’s “Evicted.”)
Varsity Band concert wows with popular tunes, technical feats
Mike Leckrone does backflips for Badger fans during musical spectacular.
Kwame Alexander, Newbery Medal winner, talks about Rebound, book tour, Versify
Noted: The year “The Crossover” was published, the number of diverse children’s books began to increase — those written by and/or about people of color, this according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an organization that has been collecting statistics about diverse books since 1985.
UW-Madison 2018-2019 Go Big Read pick announced
MADISON, Wis. – Earlier this week, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced its pick for the 2018-2019 Go Big Read book: “The Death of the Great Lakes” by Dan Egan.
UW Jazz Week salutes 50 years of music and growth
These days it’s not unusual to hear a lot of jazz at UW-Madison. You can find it in classrooms, practice rooms and concerts featuring any of the Mead Witter School of Music’s six jazz ensembles.
Making a Difference: “Humorology” celebrates 70 years
It’s been a spring tradition on the UW-Madison campus for 70 years–“Humorology”. Students spend much of the year creating and rehearsing mini-musicals, and then compete against each other in the juried show at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
UW announces Go Big Read will explore ecological catastrophe in Great Lakes
’The Life and Death of the Great Lakes’ hits home for 80 percent of incoming freshmen.
University announces next year’s Go Big Read selection
UW-Madison selected “The Death of the Great Lakes” as the 2018-’19 Go Big Read, according to a UW-Madison press release.
UW Hospital staff recycle through art
While walking through the halls of UW Hospital, you might notice art unlike anything else. Physicians in the hospital’s anesthesiology department decided to find something useful for used vial caps that were once thrown away.
Kewaunee Students Participate in State Conference
Kewaunee High School was among those from around the state that sent students to the Great World Texts Annual Student Conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 9.
UW-Madison Marching Band’s annual concert will celebrate Camp Randall centennial
The UW Varsity Band Concert takes place over 3 nights, Thursday through Saturday. Plus, there’s a very special theme — Camp Randall Stadiums Centennial.
Expectation v reality: Is this the first meme?
Is this 1921 cartoon the first recorded meme? When this comic was posted to Twitter, it caused excitement as people began to wonder if it was the first meme ever published.
Humorology makes community stronger for 70 years
For 70 years a UW-Madison institution has been changing the community for the better. Humorology, the largest student run nonprofit in the state, pits original mini musicals against one another in the spirit of philanthropy.
UW Varsity Band Concert
For 48 of Camp Randall’s 100 years, the band marching on its field has been led by Mike Leckrone.
Is a Modern Chinese Navy a Threat to the United States?
Indeed, if war were to break out among the major powers today, don’t discount the possibility that it might come from a naval clash over Chinese bases in the South China Sea rather than a missile strike against North Korea or a Russian cyber attack.
Alfred W. McCoy is the J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wisconsin Film Festival: Short films with local roots explore love, loss and late night radio
These shorts, presented Sunday in Union South, ranged from an oddly funny, repetitive experimental feature, “This One’s for Mikey,” that felt like three minutes of aquarium-themed Vine videos to a slice-of-life documentary set on Homecoming night in small town Oklahoma.
Local artist finishes giant Bucky Badger statue
The statue will be one of the 100 hand painted Buckys in the “Bucky on Parade” free public outdoor art event.
It’s about recognition: In ‘Islandborn,’ Junot Diaz writes for immigrant children
Only about 8 percent of the 3,700 new children’s books published in 2017 were by Latino, black and Native American authors, according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. About 8 percent were by Asian authors.
Video: Mike Leckrone shares what to expect at the 2018 UW Varsity Band Concert
Mike Leckrone says the 2018 Varsity Band Concert will celebrate Camp Randall’s 100th anniversary. The concert will be April 19-21.
Inspired Abstraction at Gallery of Wisconsin Art
Quality always aces quantity; for instance, check out the quality in the swoozy marks made by artist Claudette Lee-Roseland in Swing Theory, consider the fun jazzy canvases of Melissa Dorn Richards and the sensational, clunky assemblages of Aristotle Georgiades. UW-Madison is heavily represented.
Here are your finalists for the NCS ‘Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year’ award
Besides being an Eisner Hall of Fame cartoonist, Barry teaches at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she helps people learn to “speak” in the language of comics.“My personal reaction as a cartoonist is a feeling-combo of honored, giddy and delighted,” Barry says of the Reuben nomination.
Trailblazing bass clinic at UW-Madison marks its 25th anniversary
Ben Ferris, the popular Madison jazz bassist, recalls when he first attended the Richard Davis Foundation conference in seventh grade. The event, a two-day clinic for young bassists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, left a huge impression.
University of Wisconsin grad Virgil Abloh named top menswear designer at Louis Vuitton
Virgil Abloh was named the top menswear designer at Paris-based fashion brand Louis Vuitton Monday.