On Tuesday, September 13, 2016 Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth ’78 spoke with artist Charles Traub, Chair of the M.F.A. in Photography and Related Media Department at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, about the here is new york project. Mr. Traub, a noted photographer, was one of the original organizers of the exhibition in 2001. Mr. Roth is a historian, curator, and writer who has authored books on the topic of trauma and memory, and has often turned to photography and film as he considers how people make sense of the past.
Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography
The Second annual Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter festival featuring live music, visual art installations, children’s activities, environmental education exhibits, food trucks, and a craft fair was held on Saturday, May 7, 2016 in Middletown’s Harbor Park.
Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography and Tom Dzimian.
An opening reception was held to view the talents of the seniors in the Art Studio Program of Wesleyan’s Department of Art and Art History. Works featured by Milo Farley, Molly Grund, Nathan Harris, Caroline MacNeille, and Evan Ortiz were on display in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery from Tuesday, March 29 through Sunday, April 3, 2016. Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.
Pamela Tatge, Director, Center for the Arts. Image by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.
It is astonishing to me that Friday April 1 is my last day at Wesleyan University, after nearly seventeen years. I wanted to send you a note to thank you for being patrons of the Center for the Arts. There is simply no way we can ever welcome artists to Wesleyan without the presence of an engaged and committed audience. You have no idea how wonderful it was for me to look out at you from the Crowell Concert Hall or CFA Theater stage, or to see you at an opening in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. I knew that you were there to join me in celebrating what the arts can tell us about other cultures and other worlds; how they can help us to make sense of the world in which we live; and how they can make us feel both the exhilaration and the sadness of what it means to be alive. I want to thank you, in particular, for the times you bought a ticket to a performance by an artist whom you didn’t know but, because we at the CFA felt it was an important artist or group, you took the risk.
In these last days at my desk overlooking the CFA Courtyard, I am reflecting on so many great moments when we shared such joy and excitement not only for visiting and faculty artists, but also when we marveled together at the virtuosity and creative power of Wesleyan students and all that they have to offer us.
I will miss my Wesleyan and Middletown families greatly, but as an alum and parent of a member of the class of 2016, I know that I will return often and continue to experience the arts as only Wesleyan can present them. I also want to take the opportunity to introduce Laura Paul, Interim Director of the Center for the Arts, who will lead the CFA in its next chapter. Together we have been planning a 2016–17 season of performances and exhibitions that I know you will enjoy.
If, by any chance, you are free this Friday, April 1, I will be in Crowell Concert Hall at 8pm to introduce the great Wu Man and the Shanghai Quartet. I would love the chance to say goodbye and thank you in person; if not, I hope you will come to visit me this summer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts (if you missed the announcement in January, I’m going there to be their new Executive Director)!
Thank you again for your generous support of the Center for the Arts.
“We Chat” exhibition Guest Curator Barbara Pollack moderated a panel discussion about issues facing the post-Mao generation in China on Saturday, February 27, 2016 in the Ring Family Performing Arts Hall.
Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.
In connection with the exhibition “We Chat: A Dialogue in Contemporary Chinese Art” on view in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, performance artist Yan Xing worked closely with students to stage a happening at Olin Memorial Library on Friday, February 26, 2016.
Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.
An opening reception was held for “We Chat”—A Dialogue in Contemporary Chinese Art on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. The exhibition features works by ten young artists that reflect the state of China today, and raise questions about the sustainability of national and cultural identity in an increasingly globalized world.
Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.
R. Luke DuBois presented a generative composition for musicians that used data sets and real-time information as the basis for its score on Friday, November 20, 2015 in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery.
Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.
New media artist, theater director, and designer Reid Farrington conversed with composer, artist, and performer R. Luke DuBois on Thursday, November 12, 2015 in the CFA Hall.
Click here to view the full album on Flickr. Photos by Sandy Aldieri of Perceptions Photography.
Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug performs the New England premiere of “OQ” on February 12, 2016 as part of the Performing Arts Series.
The Center for the Arts is one of the rare places in the state where you can consistently experience arts from around the world. This semester is no exception. In January and February, the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery hosts the work of ten contemporary Chinese artists born after the Cultural Revolution who are challenging traditional notions of Chinese identity and inventing new ways to shout out in the global arena. In February, Syrian singer Gaida brings her band to Crowell Concert Hall. At a time when her country is under siege, her soulful voice will remind us of the beauty and power of Syrian music and culture. And playwright Guillermo Calderón will discuss his award-winning works about Chile in the aftermath of the dictatorship.
Finally, the Music Department will host a March symposium on the work of the legendary experimental music composer David Tudor and, in April, the Theater Department offers Wes Out-Loud, a site-specific work created by Assistant Professor Marcela Oteíza and her students.
The semester ends on May 7 with Feet to the Fire: Riverfront Encounter, the second annual eco-arts festival featuring world music bands, educational exhibits, and site-specific performance works by area organizations at Middletown’s Harbor Park, located on the bank of the Connecticut River.
