Category: Arts & Humanities

With her long braids, oversized glasses and off-kilter wit, Lynda Barry ? the groundbreaking cartoonist, creative spark and yes, Wisconsin farm girl ? is not hard to spot on the UW-Madison campus. The university?s 2012 Spring Artist in Residence, Barry is packing lecture halls and filling up Madison workshops designed to help participants dig out creativity buried since childhood. When her spring semester course ?What It Is: Manually Shifting the Image,? was announced, 92 people applied for 24 slots.

Anthony Shadid had dozens of bylines in the Wisconsin State Journal during his time with the Associated Press in Milwaukee in the early 1990s. But in April 2002, Shadid?s name appeared in the State Journal not as a byline, but as the subject of a story. It was an indication of the life he chose and the distance his talent took him.

One of these years the Wisconsin Film Festival should invite Joe McBride back to town to tell stories of the glory days of film on the UW-Madison campus, as well as what happened to him later when he went Hollywood.

An arts festival designed to highlight creative works that came out of the 2011 ?Wisconsin Uprising? is on again. Last week, the Cap Times reported that an ?Art in Protest? event was called off after the office of Rep. Steve Nass, R-Town of La Grange, got wind of it. That festival was being sponsored by UW-Extension?s School for Workers and originally was scheduled for March 29-31 at the Pyle Center on the UW-Madison

One of these years the Wisconsin Film Festival should invite Joe McBride back to town to tell stories of the glory days of film on the UW-Madison campus, as well as what happened to him later when he went Hollywood. In fact, why not this year?….Originally from Wauwatosa, in September 1966 McBride was taking a beginning film class taught by charismatic UW-Madison professor Richard Byrne. ?Kane? was screened one day in class, and the young McBride was blown away.

There will be some changes behind the scenes at this year?s Wisconsin Film Festival.

Alumni and friends of Anthony Shadid have established a memorial fund in his honor, UW-Madison announced. Shadid, the 1990 graduate of UW-Madison who went on to win two Pulitzer Prizes for his reporting in the Middle East, died last week from an apparent asthma attack while on assignment in Syria for the New York Times. He was 43 years old.

Anthony Shadid learned the skills of a journalist at the University of Wisconsin, from which he graduated in 1990. But the New York Times reporter, who died this week from an apparent asthma attack while covering the ongoing violence in Syria, chose to cover the Middle East because of an interest with the region nurtured by his Lebanese-American family.

Madison native and former Monona High School teacher Gayle Weitz comes from a family of animal lovers. Her research into animal/human interfaces led to the creation of “Humanimals,” a thought-provoking and witty series of people-sized functional sculptural cabinets now showing at Memorial Union.

They?re only baby steps, but the University of Wisconsin-Madison is making important strides toward potentially establishing a new College of the Arts. In the coming weeks, the campus community is being invited to a trio of town hall-style meetings designed to spark further discussion about the merits, challenges and opportunities associated with a more unified approach to arts education.

Veterinarian Sara Greenslit is the author of two novels: “The Blue of Her Body” (2007) and “As If a Bird Flew By Me,” which came out last September and ties a contemporary Midwestern woman to an accused witch, hanged during the Salem witch trials. Her writing is a mix of fiction and nonfiction and the witch in question was a distant relative from 17th century New England.

As boys, Jim and Pat Healy were obsessed with movies. They?d read Roger Ebert?s reviews in the Chicago Sun-Times, then bike down to the bus stop to go see a flick. As adults, both brothers have turned their passion for movies into a career, although they?re different careers. Jim Healy was always interested in presenting and talking about films, and he?s now the director of the UW-Cinematheque film series on campus. Pat Healy, on the other hand, wanted to be in movies. He’s now a busy character actor with more than 20 films including “Rescue Dawn” and “Ghost World” to his credit, as well as a screenwriter.

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A century after it was first proposed, a broad pedestrian corridor that will serve as a new gateway to the University of Wisconsin here is close to its final form.

A seven-block pedestrian corridor links the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison to rental apartments and businesses.

The corridor, called the East Campus Gateway, includes private developments, university buildings and two public gathering places, one owned by the university and the other by the city. A recent burst of construction has given students a new services center and a shopping mall geared to their needs called University Square.

Making his first public appearance in Madison, new Overture Center President Ted DeDee voiced confidence in the arts center?s future and vowed to reach out to the community as he takes the reins of a $205 million facility with enormous potential and challenges. DeDee, who takes over for Tom Carto on April 2, said he wants to quickly begin a dialogue with staff, resident companies, donors, city officials and UW-Madison, understand the organization “inside and out,” and look at revenue streams and explore untapped financial opportunities.

Every four years, professors from the art department step away from studios, critiques and syllabi and into the spotlight at an exhibition in the Chazen Museum of Art. The first faculty show to be exhibited in the new expansion is Compendium 2012: Art Department Faculty Exhibition. Opening with a preview reception Friday night, Compendium 2012 showcases the work of 34 current faculty and staff artists and 12 emeritus professors, spanning the temporary exhibition galleries in both the Chazen and Elvehjem buildings.

The new show “Battleground” is being touted as the first original scripted series for Hulu.com, a website better known for putting popular TV shows online. But for Madison viewers, “Battleground” provides an extra dose of entertainment: The 13-episode “dramedy” series about a youthful band of campaign workers was filmed right here, against a backdrop that includes Capitol Square, well-traveled Madison streets and iconic Madison restaurants.

Because they come along only once every four years, exhibitions that showcase works by the entire faculty of the UW-Madison art department are always an event. But the 2012 faculty art quadrennial offers new surroundings, new faces and new sensibilities as well. Arcing through many of the old and new galleries at the Chazen Museum of Art, “Compendium 2012” will feature works by 34 current faculty and staff, and 12 emeritus faculty.

They read poems about past loves and current ones, about insects, computers, football Sundays and chocolate. Six writers displayed their word artistry as they read from their works on Sunday at Avol?s Books, in the first session of the Winter Festival of Poetry 2012.

In his 2003 book, ?They Marched Into Sunlight,? author David Maraniss told the story of two events that happened on October 17, 1967? A battle in Vietnam and a protest against the war at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Cartoonist Lynda Barry brought tremendous empathy and a finely tuned sense of interior life to Ernie Pook?s Comeek, the alternative comic that ran in 70 papers nationwide, including Isthmus.

In the bright daylight of Oct. 17, 1967, a U.S. infantry battalion known as the Black Lions marched into an ambush in the Vietnamese jungle that left 61 of its members dead. Just 20 miles away, a young soldier named Scott Higgins, who?d arrived in country a few days before, was celebrating his 22nd birthday.

Two singers have gone from performing in drafty Mills Hall on the UW-Madison campus to singing for a world class opera company in the windy city. At noon this Saturday, Jan. 7, soprano Emily Birsan and tenor James Kryshak will perform a recital under the auspices of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Now is the winter of our pop culture discontent. With the thermometer dropping and the UW-Madison classrooms sitting empty, there?s not a whole lot going in January for people who like to get out there and see live music, or good movies, or quality theater.

Here is what?s No. 1 on Eyeworthy?s list of New Year?s Resolutions: See more art! It?s an excellent goal for the soul, the brain and the heart, and it?s easy to achieve in an arts-rich community such as Madison. Begin your 2012 with a trip to the newly expanded Chazen Museum of Art. At not even 10 weeks old, the Chazen addition is a dazzling New Year?s baby indeed.