Category: Arts & Humanities

Chris Walker, a professor of dance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Walker, says in Marley songs like “No Woman, No Cry,” “Three Little Birds,” and “One Love,” a message of “love and redemption and equal rights and justice comes through that caused the world to be so in love with the music, those basic human ideas.” In “FACING Home: Love & Redemption,” to be staged Thursday through Saturday in Lathrop Hall on the UW-Madison campus, Walker and choreographer Kevin Ormsby put those stated values “in dialogue” with Jamaica’s rampant homophobia.

Last May, artist Laura Anderson Barbata turned downtown Madison into a giant parade, as “Strut!” brought puppets, dancers and musicians into the streets of the Capitol Square.

When Ron Wallace accepted a teaching position in the University of Wisconsin’s English department in 1972, he got some practical advice from Frank Miller, a family friend and professor at Washington University School of Law.

With a reputation as a gifted teacher, violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino will get to practice what she preaches at her Nov. 13 Madison debut recital in Mills Hall.

The UW School of Music’s new violin professor will share the stage with pianist Martha Fischer in a demanding program that includes Bach’s Sonata No. 3 in C major for solo violin, Brahms’ second violin sonata, Ives’ Violin Sonata No. 2 and the soaring “Romance” by Amy Beach.

[T]his weekend, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music offers a rare treat: a homecoming of celebrated alumni composers. They’re presenting exciting work, some of it postmodern, some of it emphasizing novel, symbolic staging and motion — along with a few world premieres.

Cartoonist Lynda Barry has a new exhibit at the Madison Children’s Museum called “Drawing Fast and Slow.” She joins us to talk about why children inspire her, the power of drawing and the stories behind some of her new creations.

There will be no more School of the Arts at Rhinelander.

Noted: In her drawn and written introduction to “The Best American Comics 2008,” Ms. Barry copies other cartoonists’ styles, demonstrating the ventriloquial skills that helped her learn her craft. Also featured: 18 original drawings from Ms. Barry’s latest book, “Syllabus: Notes From an Accidental Professor,” inspired by her students at the University of Wisconsin.

University Opera’s opening night of Mozart’s magical romp proves to be worthy on most every level—and not just allowing for a “student” production.

Noted: A series called “Serpent” made by Michael Velliquette, a member of the UW-Madison faculty, is comprised of a collection of small hand-cut paper sculptures.

Noted: Wallace is a professor of poetry and co-director of the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His earlier books include “For a Limited Time Only” and “God Be With the Clown: Humor in American Poetry.”

When Kelsey Van Ert (“Kelsey Pyro”) was a freshman in college, she got a phone call that changed her life — an offer of a full-tuition scholarship to UW-Madison.

One day in the 1980s, Jennifer Angus was traveling through Northern Thailand researching the dress of tribal minorities when she stumbled on a traditional “singing shawl,” whose tassels were embellished with green metallic beetle wings that made a tinkling sound when they knocked together.

“Chapter a Day” narrator, Cynthia Woodland, talks about why she chose “Just Mercy” to be featured during the month of October. The memoir charts the experience of Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer and social justice activist, who worked with incarcerated African Americans in the South.

In a time of obvious oppression against blacks in the Jim Crow South, where did Asian-Americans fit during segregation? Or did they at all?

I’ve written before about Jerome Chazen, founder and chairman of Chazen Capital Partners, and his wife Simona. The Chazens are major art collectors with more than 500 pieces by 200 modern and contemporary artists. A lot of the couple’s art philanthropy focuses on New York, where the Museum of Arts and Design,  Lincoln Center of Performing Arts, MoMA, Roundabout Theater Company, and others have received support.

Many of us have seen the home movie footage that captured the grim images of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy – also knowns as the Zapruder film. This footage proved to be invaluable to the assassination investigation, and to this day it is one of the most studied pieces of film ever shot.

UW assistant professor Lori Kido Lopez has started “Asian-American Media Spotlight,” a mini-film festival of five movies playing for free on the UW-Madison campus this weekend.

Preview of “Black, White, and Color” exhibit that opens Monday in the Commons Gallery on the first floor of the Old Education Building on the UW-Madison campus. An opening reception will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Preview of the “Harmonious Spaces: Wei Dong and Feng Shui Culture” exhibition at the Ruth Davis Design Gallery on the UW-Madison campus through Nov. 15. Wei Dong is a professor of interior architecture at UW-Madison.

Madison is filled with fans of Tandem Press, the University of Wisconsin–Madison-affiliated organization that collaborates with artists from around the world to create contemporary fine-art prints. If you count yourself among them, don’t miss the new Fall Art Showcase at Promega.

Interviewed: Esty Dinur, chair of artistic selection, Madison World Music Festival; director of marketing and communications, Wisconsin Union Theater; host of ’A Public Affair,’ WORT 89.9 FM

Feature on Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, the UW Arts Institute’s interdisciplinary artist in residence for fall 2015.

New York art collectors Jerome and Simona Chazen, both of whom attended UW-Madison in the 1940s, have made a “firm commitment” to donate 30 major artworks by contemporary and modern masters, museum director Russell Panczenko said. Many of those artworks were on display in Madison in the museum’s 2005 exhibition “Dual Vision: The Simona and Jerome Chazen Collection.”

The theatrical version of “Learning to Stay” is set to have its first staged reading on Saturday, Oct. 3, in the Fredric March Play Circle in the Memorial Union. (The author, Erin Celello, is a assistant professor at UW–Whitewater and is married to Aaron Olver, managing director at University Research Park.

The film, directed by UW graduate Chad Garcia, won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It follows an eccentric Ukrainian artist named Fedor Alexandrovich who is investigating a conspiracy surrounding the Chernobyl disaster. Alexandrovich’s exploration of Soviet-era secrets and brutality mirrors the present day strife in his own country, as Russian Premier Vladimir Putin threatens Ukraine’s sovereignty. Indie film distributor FilmBuff has bought the rights.

Q&A with Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, UW Arts Institute’s Interdisciplinary Artist in Residence for the fall. He’ll be very busy in Madison, putting on performances (including an Afro-Cuban All Stars performance at Overture Hall on Oct. 2), teaching two classes, and putting on free public lectures on Cuban music and culture.

Before she was the internationally known art-pop singer Zola Jesus, Nika Roza Danilova was a UW-Madison student with an avant-garde radio show and eclectic taste in music. Now Danilova, 26, is making that music in spectacular fashion and will be back on campus with a three-member backing band for a free show Thursday at Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater.

In 2007, Karen Bishop took fellow opera fan Dan Shea aside and broke the news: She was ill, and had to step away from her role with UW Opera Props. In January, Bishop, 54, died after a 20-year fight with breast cancer, leaving behind a family and a gift expected to change the history of opera at UW-Madison. A gift of $500,000 from Bishop’s husband Charlie, along with a matching grant from the John and Tashia Morgridge Foundation and funds from University Opera supporters, has ushered in a new era for the art form on campus, supporters say.

Also reviewed: Various Artists, “Folksongs of Another America: Field Recordings from the Upper Midwest, 1937-1946” (Dust-to-Digital/University of Wisconsin Press, $60). This fascinating, important book, four-CD and DVD compiles field recordings made in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

The years between the ages of 3 and 6 are particularly precious. That’s the period kids begin school, start to establish their independence … and form their racial and ethnic prejudices. Attempting to counteract that last, problematic development has been a longtime goal of the creators of educational television series. Sadly, however, a research team led by Marie-Louise Mares of the University of Wisconsin–Madison reports the impact of such shows appears to be extremely limited.

A hefty biography of controversial Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. A sharp collection of Milwaukee-based stories that question the notion of a “post-racial” society. A cookbook featuring pies and other Dairy State delights derived from Scandinavian tradition. A moody murder mystery set in Door County. And a verse translation of Sophocles’ greatest Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex.

A door is such a rich symbol. It can’t help but imply opportunity—perhaps a risk taken, a secret revealed or a journey started. In the case of Olivia Baldwin, it involves all three. door in the mountain: Works by Olivia Baldwin is a creative exhibition at Gallery 1308 at the Union South of paintings by Baldwin, an artist who now lives and works in Sugar Loaf, New York.

A cross-discipline team of researchers at UW-Madison is working to develop a “teaching machine” that would develop ideal lesson plans, UW-Madison News reports.

Dennis Lloyd could be forgiven if he felt nervous about his new job. After almost 10 years at the University Press of Florida, Mr. Lloyd has just taken over as director of the University of Wisconsin Press. Running a nonprofit scholarly publishing operation, especially one in a state-university system handed major budget cuts, isn’t a walk in the park these days.

Noted: “Modern Family,” by University of Wisconsin-Madison alum Steve Levitan, received six nominations, including one for outstanding comedy series — an award the show has won each of the past five years.

The Tony Award-winning actress is doing her first stint as a director this summer with “Fugitive Songs,” produced by University Theatre and featuring the musical talents of UW-Madison students and recent graduates.