Soundbites newsletter June 2016

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President: Tuajuanda C. Jordan, PhD

Carrie Patterson, professor of art

June 2016

Carrie Patterson has been a member of the faculty since 2004.

Carrie Patterson is a professor of art at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Her areas of expertise are in geometric abstract painting and observational drawing and painting. Her work has been featured in exhibitions across the country. In 2013, she founded Yellow Door Art Studios in Leonardtown, Md.

A newsletter for the community, faculty, staff and students.

Have you always wanted to be an artist? How about a teacher?

When I was an undergrad I wanted to be a lawyer. I was an English major, and in high school I participated in mock trials and went to the Virginia Supreme Court. But I was always taking art classes and learned from great teachers. I was especially inspired by second-generation abstract expressionists.

What is the appeal of conveying space in abstract form?

Painting abstractly is like writing a poem rather than composing a novel. Abstraction is not new. It did not start in 1950. The conceptual ideal of translating something that you experience into an abstract form is an ancient practice. Abstraction allows me to mine a subject for layers of meaning. Through the act of painting, I hope to create an object that poetically speaks to the human condition.

How do you come up with a new concept for a piece?

I’m always thinking about our relationship to the spaces that we occupy. I don’t necessarily sit down with a fully realized intention. I opened my studio, Yellow Door Art Studios in the old Breton House, which is a really interesting building, both visually and historically. So I am currently working on a body of work related to the Breton House.

I set a goal for myself to create five drawings per window in the house, and there are 26 windows total. It’s a way to get to know the space and understand the history, as well as feel and translate the stories within the building. The relationship between something old and actual material and a world view from our current existence is what interests me.

What is your process for developing a new piece?

Carrie Patterson

relate to conceptual ideas, I start cutting, stacking, painting, gluing and assembling.

Do you have any art projects currently underway, in addition to drawing the Breton House?

I have a solo show at Mary Baldwin University in October titled LightBox. The show will consist of 5-8 painted cardboard constructions as well as a free standing stacked cardboard cube. And I am currently working on an exterior mural for Raley’s Furniture store in Lexington Park. The mural will be painted by me, other local artists, and several SMCM students.

What was your inspiration in founding the Yellow Door Art Studios?

Alternative forms of Art Education and participating in community art have always been a part of my life. My goal for Yellow Door is first to provide a studio space for myself and other artists. Secondly, I want to create a space where many people of all ages can enjoy learning new visual art skills from painting to ceramics. Finally, I want to add to the life of the community where I live.

Commencement 2016 | Address by Kojo Nnamdi SMCM welcomed radio personality Kojo Nnamdi as the keynote speaker for the 2016 Commencement ceremony.

Nnamdi is host of WAMU’s “The Kojo Nnamdi Show” and “The Politics Hour.” He has been named by Washingtonian magazine as one of the “150 Most Influential People in Washington.”

He told the graduates: “Let the record show you have been declared ‘mission ready.’ Now go out and save the world.”

Strategic Plan Approved

If you had to pick a favorite color, which color would you choose and why?

No! I can’t! Don’t make me!

Color is relational. So my favorite color is determined by other colors and I cannot separate them.

For more: http://www.carriepatterson.com/

My process depends on drawing, walking, looking, and reading.

Once I find visual events that

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News, Student and Faculty accomplishments: www.smcm.edu/news Campus Events Calendar: www.smcm.edu/events/calendar 240.895.2000 | www.smcm.edu | SoundBites is produced by the Office of Integrated Marketing & Strategic Communications.

“Our aspirations do not stop with this document. We feel confident, however, that the goals outlined in this strategic plan are attainable within three years.”

President Tuajuanda C. Jordan announced on May 13, 2016 that “A Time for Rebirth,” the 20162019 Strategic Plan for the College was approved by the Board of Trustees.

The Strategic Plan contains five goals:

1. Attract intellectually ambitious students who thrive in and respect a diverse, collaborative learning community.

2. Engage students in a rigorous, experiential, flexible, innovative academic environment that capitalizes on our unique geographical location.

3. Attract and retain a diverse staff and faculty who achieve excellence across the liberal arts in the teaching, scholarship, creative works, and practice of their disciplines.

4. Graduate prepared, responsible, and thoughtful global citizens and leaders.

5. Create and maintain state of the art, modern facilities, systems, and infrastructure.

The plan is scheduled to be implemented in the fall of 2016, and will run through 2019.

For more information on the strategic plan visit: www.smcm.edu/ strategicplan.

Hannah Lewis ‘16 Elizabeth Nance ‘16

Stu d en t R es earch S po t l i g h t :

Transmitting the Solar System:

The Construction of a Radio JOVE Telescope While other students were finishing up SMPs, stressing about finals, and panicking about graduate school applications and post-graduate opportunities, Hannah Lewis ’16 and Elizabeth (Lizzie) Nance ’16 were doing all of that – and they were building a telescope.

The Radio JOVE project is a nonprofit educational program supported by NASA that helps students to build and to operate their own radio telescope kits. The goal of the project is for participants to receive radio sounds from the sun, Jupiter, and other terrestrial and extra-terrestrial sources.

Lizzie Nance had built a Radio JOVE telescope last summer at her internship at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

She says, “I wanted to bring it [the Radio JOVE Project] to SMCM because it was a really cool educational project and I thought that it would be beneficial for future students.”

The project was challenging. Lizzie says that, “There ended up being a lot of troubleshooting, and even reordering of parts, to get the entire telescope constructed.” Hannah claims that the radio telescope itself was difficult to operate: “And after we tuned the receiver to pick up the correct frequencies from the sun and Jupiter, it was really hard to keep it tuned. Every time we moved the receiver box or bumped it even a little bit, we lost the signal.”

Yet the project was ultimately successful: Lizzie and Hannah were able to tune the telescope to receive data and radio waves.

Hannah admits: “Most of what we were seeing was probably background noise from the galaxy or from nearby radio stations, like the Naval Base.” That being said, Lizzie and Hannah were able to observe solar flares by confirming and crosschecking their work with signals from the Radio JOVE database. Hannah describes the process as, “really exciting and super rewarding to finally see the telescope working.”

Hannah Lewis ‘16 and Lizzie Nance ‘16 with the Radio JOVE Telescope

Joshua Grossman, assoc. prof. of physics, noted: “The Physics Department is thrilled with the Radio JOVE project. It reflects very well on our students – particularly as the project was initiated and carried out entirely by them. Lizzie and Hannah developed a written proposal for the project. They included scientific, educational, and outreach motivations, along with a detailed budget. They then recruited and managed another dozen student volunteers in assembling the radio telescope over the course of the semester.

Going forward, the radio telescope can serve as a source of projects, including even SMPs, for future students.”

Hannah plans to continue her education at the University of Virginia as one of twelve Jefferson Fellows. There, she will be a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Astronomy. Lizzie plans to take a year off to work and potentially apply for a Fulbright Scholarship.

Afterwards she hopes to attend graduate school in either observational astronomy or astronomical instrumentation.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s River Concert Series (RCS) launches its new season on June 17. The resident ensemble, The Chesapeake Orchestra, plays a diverse range of musical styles ranging from classical compositions to jazz.

Amanda Durst ’16, a three-time RCS summer music intern, says the experience has “helped me realize the work that goes into putting together a concert series of this magnitude, and [has] given me a more well-rounded perspective that I wouldn't have gotten just playing in the orchestra. Preparing a full-length concert every week has also helped me become… much more efficient [at practicing].” After her time as a RCS intern, she plans to apply to graduate school for music performance.

For more information about the River Concert Series, visit www.smcm.edu/events/riverconcert

RCS Intern: Amanda Durst

Sensational Students

Mayumy Rivera ’16 has been awarded a Dept. of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Mandarin this summer in China.

Matthew Flyr ’16 was the valedictorian for the Class of 2016. His next step: a master’s in agriculture and resource economics at Colorado State University.

Kudos to...

From left to right: Köse, Düzenli, Larsen, Nishikawa, Xu, Koch, Morris, Mirabile, Bartow, Arnett (Doggett missing from photo).

Part of the telescope created in the Radio Jove Project

What’s Happening in Sports

Congratulations to these five faculty members who were promoted to full professor: Katy Arnett (edu. studies), Joanna Bartow (Spanish), Laine Doggett (French), Andrew Koch (chemistry), Randolph K. Larsen III (chemistry).

Congratulations to these six faculty members who were reappointed with tenure and promotion to associate professor: Faruk Eray Düzenli (economics), Emek Köse (mathematics), Scott Mirabile (psychology), David Morris (edu. studies), Shizuka Nishikawa (economics), Jia Xu (economics).

For the second year in a row, the SMCM sailing team qualified for dinghy, team, and women’s national championships. As of press time, the Seahawks placed third in the team event. Racing continues through June 3.

Laine Doggett (prof. of French) has a new book: “Founding Feminisms in Medieval Studies: Essays in Honor of E. Jane Burns” (D.S. Brewer, 2016).

Louis Hicks (prof. of sociology) will participate in the NEH Summer Institute on American Veterans in Society at Virginia Tech.

Karen Raley (sr. dev. officer) has been selected for the Leadership Southern Maryland Class of 2017.