Provocative visual artists, an internationally acclaimed poet, a group that uses theater to explore the lasting impacts of war, and a young leader in the field of modern dance will be among the visiting artists working alongside faculty and students in MSU's Residential College in the Arts and Humanities this spring and presenting public performances, lectures, and exhibitions.
Artists-in-Residence during Spring 2012 include:
February 13-17: LaShawnda Crowe Storm -- An independent, community-based artist from Indianapolis, Crowe Storm uses quilting, installations, postcards, and monumental figures to engage her audiences in investigating the past and its impact on the present. Since 2004, she has focused on art that explores unspoken chapters of our history. Her “Lynch Quilts Project” uses a traditional American art form as a springboard for discussions of racial history. An exhibition of Crowe Storm's work in the LookOut! Gallery from February 13 - March 2 will complement her residency. She will spend most of each day in the gallery, where campus and community members are invited to join her at work, sewing in the community section of the exhibition, and for conversation. This exhibition is the first in a new annual RCAH series called “Perspectives on African-American Experience: Emerging Visions” and is made possible by support from the MSU Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives. Website: http://www.wix.com/indynow2010ls/lashawnda-crowe-storm
March 25-27: Theater of War -- Theater of War presents dramatic readings of Sophocles' plays Ajax and Philoctetes to communities across the United States as a catalyst for dialogue about the challenges faced by military service members, veterans, and their caregivers and families. In addition to the company's three-day RCAH residency, two public performances will be offered: the first, on Sunday, March 25, will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road. The second, on Monday, March 26, will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Kellogg Center Auditorium, 55 S. Harrison Road. Both performances are free and open to the public. Website: http://www.outsidethewirellc.com/projects/theater-of-war/overview.
March 26-30: Combat Papers Project -- The Combat Paper Project uses art-making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture. Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp, and formed into sheets of paper. Veterans use the transformative process of papermaking to reclaim their uniform as art and begin to embrace their experiences in the military. During the Project's residency at MSU, three public workshops will be offered. Website: http://www.combatpaper.org.
April 4: Luis Rodriguez, 7 p.m. in the RCAH Theater -- Luis Rodriguez has an incredible story to tell. At age 18, facing a six-year prison sentence, Luis Rodriguez got a second chance. He left behind a life of drug addiction and dedicated himself to conscious revolutionary thinking and activity, expanding his organizing efforts to parts of East LA as well as Watts/South Central LA, LA's Harbor area and Pasadena. In his mid-thirties, he began to concentrate on his writing, resulting in books of poetry and non-fiction.
April 9-13: Billy Bell, performing a free concert at 7:30 on April 12 in MSU's Fairchild Auditorim -- The Juilliard-trained dancer Billy Bell first came to the attention of the American public when he competed on Season 7 of the FOX series "So You Think You Can Dance." In 2010, Bell founded the Lunge Dance Collective, which includes some of the world's best dancers and choreographers among its members, to create dance experiences for diverse audiences.
April 18: Naomi Shihab Nye, 7 p.m. in the RCAH Theater: Known for poetry that lends a fresh perspective to ordinary events, people, and objects, Nye has said that, for her, “the primary source of poetry has always been local life, random characters met on the streets, our own ancestry sifting down to us through small essential daily tasks.” Nye received her BA from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and she continues to live and work in that city. Her poetry collections include Different Ways to Pray (1980), On the Edge of the Sky (1981), Hugging the Jukebox (1982), Yellow Glove (1986), Invisible (1987), Red Suitcase (1994), Words under the Words: Selected Poems (1995), Fuel (1998), and You and Yours (2005). She has also produced fiction for children, poetry and song recordings, poetry translations, and a book of essays, Never in a Hurry (1996), and has edited several anthologies, including the award-winning This Same Sky (1992), which represents 129 poets from sixty-eight countries.
April 25: Jane Taylor, 7 p.m. in the RCAH Theater: Taylor is a poet, editor and teacher with a special interest in creative collaboration. Her first book of poems was a duet with poet Judith Tate O’Brien titled By the Grace of Ghosts, a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award in 2005. In 2007, Jane collaborated with poet Anita Skeen in a collection of poems, When We Say Shelter. These poems were inspired by their shared experiences teaching at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. In 2008, Jane and Anita co-edited a collection of essays, poems and stories by Ghost Ranch writers titled Once Upon a Place: Writing from Ghost Ranch. What Can Be Saved, poems in two voices, was published by Finishing Line in 2009, and a full length collection of narrative poems, The Lady Victory, is forthcoming from Turning Point. For the performance, students from Professor Anne White's 291 Class adapted and performed poems from The Lady Victory, and Taylor read selections from What Can Be Saved.
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