Andrew Chatfield

Director, Arts Communication, Wesleyan University

Feet to the Fire Commissions by Sam Long ’12 (Mar. 31) & Ethan Cohen ’13 (Apr. 14-22)

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Sewon Kang ’14 talks about student commissioned works by Sam Long ’12 (March 31) and Ethan Cohen ’13 (April 14-22).   

The Center for the Arts Creative Campus Initiative is proud to present two student commissioned works that address the ever-growing challenge of environmentalism in exciting new blends of art and science. These student commissions are part of Feet to the Fire programming, a major undertaking on Wesleyan’s campus to examine critical environmental issues through art and science.

At 2pm on Saturday, March 31, 2012 in Memorial Chapel, Sam Long ’12 will perform his senior thesis project, which combines environmental studies and music in a special collaborative performance inspired by the Connecticut River, one of Middletown’s most spectacular local resources. The performers call themselves The Honey and the Sting and will play all original music on a stage powered by students on bicycle energy generators. Celebrating what the earth provides without contributing negatively to the problem, such a performance has never been attempted at Wesleyan before.

Scoreboard is an installation by Ethan Cohen ’13 that brings together the romanticized American image and the aesthetic of energy efficiency. It replicates the “home” score, an isolated section of the standard football scoreboard, first using traditional incandescent light bulbs. This ideal is then contrasted with a version of the same board that utilizes more energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs. The comparison of the two nearly identical boards side by side challenges viewers to decide for themselves whether or not the soul of an object can be retained in energy efficient form. Scoreboard will be installed in the Science Library during Wesleyan’s Earth Week Celebration – Saturday, April 14 through Sunday, April 22, 2012.

Request for Proposals: Student Commission 2011-2012

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The Center for the Arts is accepting proposals from Wesleyan students for the creation of a visual art work/performance connected to the Feet to the Fire: Fueling the Future theme. The proposal should consist of a project idea and timetable for a project to be created and executed by the end of each semester. One project will be awarded each semester. The Wesleyan University Creative Campus Committee will evaluate the proposals and the selection process will be based on the creativity of the submission, the connection to the Feet to the Fire theme, evidence of cross-disciplinary thinking and the feasibility of the project. Selectees will be awarded up to $250. The Center for the Arts will provide assistance in the realization of the selected projects.

Proposals should include:

  • 1-2 page written description
  • Timetable
  • Visual work should also include a visual representation of the proposed project such as a photograph or sketch (jpeg or pdf preferred)

Proposals for the fall semester are due by midnight on September 25, 2011.

Submit proposals to Program Manager Erinn Roos-Brown by email to eroosbrown@wesleyan.edu or delivered to the Center for the Arts office (located above Zilkha Gallery).

Asphalt Orchestra’s Stephanie Richards on “Trading Futures”

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A statement from composer Stephanie Richards of Asphalt Orchestra for the performers and witnesses about her work for the Common Moment, Trading Futures:

Essentially, futures trading can be defined as such: investing in or against the future success of a given commodity.  Last Friday, as a community, we embraced the present moment and began the mission of investing in the success of our futures. We embraced alternative and creative ways to appreciate the very things that fuel our daily lives. A tin can became a musical instrument, a dance partner, an artifact of industrial design: a collective heartbeat.  We examined the place newspapers and the media have in our society and questioned their intentions and reach of power. Embracing the importance of education, statistics, and questioning our sources for information. Becoming a vessel for theatrical emotional expression, we literally roared in frustration from the overwhelming mass of media disinformation, ripping our newspapers in half and in the end moving collectively as a community toward one, same, unified goal: the success of our future.

Earlier that day, you discussed the determinacy of oil, and its limited future.  That we are dependant on a commodity with a limited lifespan foretells a future we very well need to trade. In embracing creative alternatives (through art, education, science), we will find a solution. You discussed the disappearance of wetlands of Southern Louisiana and their inherent loss of culture as a result. And yet we performed a piece of music last Friday with rhythms and homage to the Zydeco musical tradition, encouraging the longevity of a vibrant part of American tradition.

It was important to me that we challenged our ideals of what constitutes a musical instrument and challenged preconceived notions of what could be considered art.  It was also a priority to use recycled and highly recycle-able materials in consideration for the future we owe ourselves and future generations to come.  Tin cans, fabric and newspapers were donated from both the Wesleyan community and Materials For the Arts in New York City.

Each instrument and choreography that you all performed has meaning to me conceptually and compositionally. But I will wrestle my urge to explain the abundant literal and abstract meanings I have envisioned and encourage you to find your own message in each movement and instrument. Ultimately, its significance and beauty exists only in your consideration and embrace.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Pamela Tatge, Barbara Ally and Erinn Roos-Brown at Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts for making the event possible.  I’d like to thank Mark DeChiazza for his creative insight and collaboration in choreographing the event.  And lastly, thank you to Asphalt Orchestra and Wesleyan’s class of 2015 for the privilege of composing for you and performing with you.

A full score complete with aerial images of choreography and directions are posted on my website for you all.

Freshman Writing Contest: First Year Matters – Fueling the Future

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To all writing-enthusiasts in the Class of 2015: the Wesleyan Writing Workshop wants to hear from you – they are eager to shine a spotlight on the talented writers of this year’s freshman class! If you are interested in the Writing Certificate, write frequently in your spare time, are hoping to break into a writing-intensive field or simply want to prove yourself as a promising writer at Wesleyan, please submit your work to the Freshman Writing Contest.

Your challenge is to respond creatively or critically in roughly 1,000 words to some aspect of this year’s First Year Matters theme, fueling the future. In your entry, make sure to respond to at least one of the FYM readings, citing where appropriate. If your reference is not explicit (for instance, if you chose to write a creative piece about a future America completely overpowered by nuclear plants), note which article(s) you are responding to in a footnote.

Consider the following questions as you begin to formulate your response:

  • How do you define “American power”?
  • What can we – as students, artists, scientists, poets, journalists, activists, etc. – do about “fueling the future”?
  • What must we do to ensure our future is sufficiently “fueled”? With so many different problems in need of solutions, where do we even begin?
  • Where should we draw the line between idealism and practicality when seeking solutions for these problems?
  • How is your daily life impacted by energy politics?
  • How can art be an effective medium for discussing broader political issues?
  • Check out Mitch Epstein’s website, www.whatisamericanpower.com, for ideas and inspiration. Which featured definitions of “American power” do you agree with? Disagree with? Do any of the pictures strike a chord with you?

The Wesleyan Writing Workshop will accept all types of submissions: opinion pieces, research papers, investigative journalism, short stories, the sky’s the limit! They will limit submissions to one entry per student. The winning entries will receive a twenty dollar Amazon.com gift certificate and be published on the Wesleyan Writing Blog. This is a fantastic opportunity to establish yourself as one of the most promising writers of your class.

Please send your submission in an email attachment to writingworks@wesleyan.edu by noon on Saturday, September 24. To complete your submission, you must also fill out the Contest Submission Sheet which you can find on the sidebar of the Wesleyan Writing Blog.

For additional information, please contact this year’s Ford Fellows Anya Backlund and Katherine Mechling at writingworks@wesleyan.edu.

Liz Lerman: Embodied Knowledge

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“When excellence comes to excellence, and is sparked, there’s just nothing like that!” In this video, Liz Lerman discusses the innovative convergence of dance and science at Wesleyan University:

Liz Lerman: Embodied Knowledge

Many of you know that Wesleyan was the lead commissioner of Liz Lerman’s Ferocious Beauty: Genome, her groundbreaking work about the repercussions of genetic research.  One of Liz’s Wesleyan collaborators, Professor of Biology Michael Weir, wrote to her after the world premiere with an idea:

“Imagine a biology or genetics course that begins and ends with students experiencing [the Ferocious Beauty: Genome] piece, and imagine during the semester, when issues like Mendel or gene regulation or bioethics are covered, related parts of the piece were shown to the class. I am imagining that this experience would cause many students to build a new kind of framework in their minds causing them to be more inquisitive and thoughtful about the biology and its significance. They would make associations with the choreography and dance, and I wonder whether their thinking would be qualitatively richer?”

Five years later, with the support of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Wesleyan and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange developed Science Choreography – a website that’s a digital textbook with a plethora of tools for teachers who are teaching genetics, evolution and other related issues.

Liz Lerman and Elizabeth Johnson from the Dance Exchange, and Laura Grabel, Michael Weir, and Laurel Appel from Wesleyan’s Biology Department are discussing Science Choreography as part of the Hughes Program‘s special summer symposium in the Life Sciences.

Abigail Horton ’11 on Gulf Coast Experience

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Abigail Horton ’11, Wesleyan Summer Session Teaching Assistant, describes her experiences in Louisiana.

The students will present an open rehearsal of their works in progress, which have developed out of their research in the Gulf, on Friday, July 1, 2011, from 1pm to 3pm in Woodhead Lounge (Exley Science Center).

Samuel Sontag '14 and Eli Timm '13
Samuel Sontag '14 and Eli Timm '13

Seven students of the class The Deepwater Horizon Tragedy: A Scientific and Artistic Inquiry traveled to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana to explore the Deepwater Horizon oil spill almost a year after the spill occurred. The class was structured as an investigation – a scientific, artistic, and human investigation into Louisiana’s relationship with the oil industry, how it led up to the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, and how the people of Louisiana deal with it a year after.

The students interviewed over twenty people who were involved with the oil spill: An oysterman whose ninety-year-old family business was wiped out by the governor’s actions during the oil spill. A woman who would abandon her beloved Louisiana in order to save it. One biologist who concludes that we have turned the page since the spill, and a different biologist whose experiments conclude that there are lasting effects from the oil spill. The politician who dealt directly with President Obama during the spill. The first female oilrig worker in Louisiana, and many more passionate, interesting and conflicting voices of the story that is Louisiana, the oil industry, and the oil spill.

The class explored the southern-most rural areas of Louisiana and went to the coastline that was first affected by the spill. We talked to professors and experts at Nicholls State College and Louisiana State University. In boats, the students went out to the wetlands where oil is still caked on the coastal sands, witnessing first-hand the power of the substance to destroy land. Out in the Gulf, we saw the clean-up crews still slowly working to clean the wetlands. The class got into the Gulf and helped professors from the University of New Orleans troll for shrimp and fish to take data on the ecosystem. The class explored New Orleans, and enjoyed the Gulf seafood that Louisianans are so passionate about. Through all of out explorations, we learned how deeply embedded the oil industry is with Louisiana’s history and culture and the complexity of the story.

Perhaps one of the most powerful moments for the class was when we met with a New Orleans-based artist and activist.  Her art has examined the environment, the oil spill, and how nature is trying to recover. She looks at the fragility of the landscape and humans’ role in shaping that. She told the students, “make art about what pisses you off and what blisses you out.” This artist demonstrated to the students how powerfully art can communicate the environmental issues taking place along the Gulf coast, exactly what this class is striving for.

As the teaching assistant for this course, I was able to watch the students delve into this subject with curiosity and sensitivity. As the trip went on, the students became more involved and invested and came to understand the intricacies of the science, human, and political sides of the story. It was an incredible experience for all involved and it is clear to me the students’ dedication to telling the story of the oil spill with accuracy and thoughtfulness.

An interview with Barbara Fenig ’11

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Katherine Bascom ’10, the Russell House 2010–2011 Arts Fellow, interviews Barbara Fenig ’11.

Barbara graduated this past Sunday, May 22, but will be staying at Wesleyan for a post-graduate year as the Shapiro Center/Russell House 2011-2012 Arts Fellow. Congratulations Barbara!

You’ve got some serious writing skills. Tell us a little bit about your creative thesis.

This year, I wrote a collection of linked short stories that revolve around breaks in normalcy. In the stories, the corporeal has magical powers: lips take on supernatural abilities, the brain houses the reality of the afterlife, and heartlessness becomes a medical condition.

Who inspires you to write?

Aimee Bender and Amy Bloom, Andre Aciman, Paula Sharp, Douglas A. Martin, and Deb Olin Unferth (my Wesleyan writing professors).

What plans or ideas do you have for your post-grad year at Wesleyan as the Shapiro Center/Russell House Fellow?

As next year’s Shapiro Center/Russell House Arts Fellow, I look forward to planning the reading series and to hosting events for Wesleyan’s writing community. I am hoping to establish a series of informal workshops where students can get to know one another. Students will write for a bit and then share their work. I’m hoping that different faculty can offer a few prompts, either in person or before the event. As a writing student at Wesleyan, I really appreciated the writing community and am eager to cultivate new outlets for students to share their work.

What anticipations do you have about spending another year at ol’ Wes?

I’m really looking forward to being at Wesleyan next year and am thrilled that my day to day will be spent in the Russell House, the Shapiro Creative Writing Center, and Downey House– my favorite spots on campus.

If you could have any author or poet come to Wesleyan next year, who would it be & why?

I can’t choose! I’m just so excited to see what the calendar will offer!

Tell us about your summer plans.

I’m traveling to London, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, and Venice for a few weeks after graduation. Then, I’m a member of the student staff at the Wesleyan Writers Conference. I’m taking a course at Columbia in July and will be back at Wesleyan in August. It’ll be a lovely summer (fingers crossed!).

Cardinal Sinners, May 8

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Watch this short video of the Cardinal Sinners rehearsing “It Don’t Have To Change” by John Legend in the Music Studios on May 3:

Rehearsal: Cardinal Sinners “It Don’t Have To Change” 5/3/11

The Cardinal Sinners Spring Concert will take place on Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 8pm in World Music Hall.

As Wesleyan’s oldest all-female a cappella group, the Cardinal Sinners have developed an eclectic repertoire of songs for performance on the Wesleyan University campus, as well as benefit events in the greater Middletown community.