Category: Arts & Humanities

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.

R

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.

If you have lived even a few decades, you know the excitement that comes with technological advances that change your assumptions about reality. Photographer Lisa Frank?s master?s thesis exhibition “<1>: “der” //Pattern for a Virtual Environment” takes viewers right through such a gateway to the future.

Reading the Hollywood Reporter story made me wonder if the new film script might be based on a 2007 title from the University of Wisconsin Press, Bill Drennan?s “Death in a Prairie House.” I did a column on that book when it was published, and Drennan ? a longtime UW-Baraboo English professor now at Appalachian State University ? told me he was astonished that a book on the 1914 Taliesin murders hadn?t been written earlier. But Drennan?s book was not the source material for the proposed Beresford movie, according to Anne McKenna, who handles subsidiary rights for UW Press. Instead, McKenna said “Death in a Prairie House” had been optioned by another filmmaker, Brent Harris.

A city commission laid out their plans for incorporating more public art in Madison during their meeting Tuesday.

The Madison Arts Commission and city officials looked at a proposal that would integrate art into city development projects, promote local cultural venues and encourage collaboration between artists and developers and engineers.

People know me as: Stew, fall 2011 artist-in-residence at UW-Madison, performing Monday at Vilas Hall with The Negro Problem featuring Heidi Rodewald. We are singers, songwriters, theater makers and adults.

Most inspiring moment at UW-Madison: The most inspiring moment I’ve had during my residency comes once a week when I get that songwriting assignment back from that student who is stretching her/himself as an artist in brave and challenging ways and not just coasting on their talents. Teaching is as rewarding to me as creating art, and far more heartbreaking.

If you haven?t been down to see the new and elaborate Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus, it?s well worth the visit. You?ll appreciate not only its diverse and impressive collections of paintings, sculptures and carvings ? including some contemporary Wisconsin art ? but also its contribution to the urban fabric of our great city. Step inside and you?ll think you?re in Chicago or even New York. The big city vibe is unmistakable and provides another engaging attraction for residents and visitors Downtown.

A trio of rhapsodies, a melancholy Russian quartet and some passionate late Beethoven marked the Pro Arte Quartet?s second concert of its centennial season.