Ovation by Union College

OVATION Union College Arts & Culture

The “banner stamp” art for this issue of Ovation is inspired by (obviously) fall. It’s so beautiful here in October. Readers, Welcome to another edition of “Ovation.” We have much going on this month that we’re anxious to share. Along with the arrival of fall, October has many boasting points. One in particular is specific to Kentucky and is outlined on this very page in our cover story. Inside, you will find information on the upcoming fall play, and also an article about a big achievement for one of Union’s arts and humanities instructors.There is also a brief preview of some of the events that will be featured during the Daniel Boone Festival in Barbourville. With fall upon us, there will be plenty of wonderful opportunities for photography. As much as we would like to be able to capture all of those pictures ourselves, we know there is just no way. That’s why we need your help. Send us your pictures of the vibrance of fall, and we will feature them in our next edition. But for now, we hope you enjoy what we have put together for you this month!

October 2012 | Volume 2 | Issue 2

October celebrating the influence of the arts in Kentucky’s culture

October is National Arts and Humanities Month, and Kentucky is officially participating. On Sept. 27, the Kentucky Arts Council announced Governor Steve Beshear’s proclamation that the state would share in the monthlong celebration. According to Beshear’s statement, “The arts play a major role in telling Kentucky’s unique cultural story from our earliest days. National Arts and Humanities Month recognizes the Commonwealth’s rich and vibrant artistic legacy.” Kentucky’s culture is molded in many ways by arts and humanities. Berea, for example, is home to many artisans and is well known for its shops, studios and galleries. Some cities and communities are more strongly defined by the performing arts, while others are better known for offering goods that are branded by distinct local influences. To help celebrate, the Kentucky Arts Council is urging Kentuckians

experience something that gets you in touch with your artistic side. To help you do that, the council has planned several events. Those include: American Craft Week, from Oct. 5-14, where Kentucky Crafted Retailers will host special activities, demonstrations, open houses and promotions; and the Governor’s Awards in the Arts on Oct. 9, which will feature presentations of the state’s highest awards in the arts. According to the Americans for the Arts website, National Arts and Humanities Month is “a coast-to-coast collective recognition of the importance of culture in America.” For more information about the celebration, you may visit the website, www.americansforthearts.org. There you can also find a place to search for any events in your area that coincide with National Arts and Humanities Month. You can also post events you wish to host.

daniel boone

festival

schedule of events

October 8-9 Art, Photography and Quilt Registration, 4:00-7:00 pm, City Hall, $5.00 entry fee October 9 Daniel Boone Festival Gospel Concert, 6:00 pm, Knox County Middle School, tickets $15.00 October 11 Flute Entertainer, 4:00 pm, Concert Stage October 11 Knox County Porch Pickers Dulcimer Music, 5:00 pm, City Hall October 11 Bluegrass Music, 5:00-8:00 pm, Front Stage October 11 Talent Show, 7:00 pm (registration begins at 5:00 pm), Concert Stage October 12 Cherokee Indian Entertainment, 1:00 pm, Concert Stage October 12 Daniel Boone Festival Feast, 5:30 pm, National Guard Armory, tickets $6.00 October 12 Savannah Faith Band, 5:00 pm, Concert Stage October 12 Dewayne Spaw, 6:30 pm, Concert Stage October 12 Medleyboys, 7:45 pm, Concert Stage October 12 Little Texas, 9:30 pm, Concert Stage October 13 Pine Mt. Dancers, 1:00 pm, Concert Stage October 13 Daniel Boone Festival Parade, 2:00 pm October 13 Rachel Lynn Voices of Praise, 7:00-9:00 pm, Front of Court House Stage October 13 Dewayne Spaw, 6:00 pm, Concert Stage October 13 Sweetheart Mafia, 7:15 pm, Concert Stage October 13 Tye Brown, 8:30 pm, Concert Stage

All events are free unless otherwise noted.

Barbourville’s 65th annual Daniel Boone Festival begins Oct. 8 to kick off a week of activities paying tribute to a man who “embodied the pioneer spirit of Kentucky,” according to the event website. As is done each year, events at this year’s festival will include a parade, the Daniel Boone Festival Pageant and the Daniel Boone Festival Feast. There will also be the Art, Photography and Quilt Display, where people may submit their works to be judged. Pioneer Village, which consists of food booths, and the downtown carnival will also be going on through out the week. Other events include a 4 mile fun-run, the All American Lumber Jack Show (with various performances throughout the week), Cherokee Indian Dancers, street entertainment, family night, a talent show and more. This year’s big name performer will be Little Texas, known for their rock style country songs, which include “God Blessed Texas,” “What Might Have Been” and “Kick A Little.” Their performance will be Friday, Oct. 12 at 9:30 p.m. Additional concerts this year include: The Savannah Faith Band, Dewayne Spaw, Medleyboys, Sweetheart Mafia and Tye Brown. All concert times and places can be found in the schedule of events to the left, or on the event website. Any additional information may be found online as well.

Event Website: www.danielboonefestival.com

Little Texas will perform at this year’s Daniel Boone Festival.

ovation

on stage at

union college “Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty.” Father Flynn in “Doubt” Union College theatre’s fall production features a small cast of staff and students taking stage for a play that weaves comedy into seriousness. Written by John Patrick Shanley, the play follows four characters: Father Flynn, played by the Rev. David K. Miller; Sister Aloysius, played by Alex Estes; Sister James, played by Krystal Webb; and Mrs. Muller, played by Martika Wills. The four characters cross paths at St. Nicholas Church School, where Sister Aloysius is principal and Father Flynn is priest. Throughout the play, each character is forced to deal with the feeling of doubt, usually doubt in another character. As a central theme, doubt affects even the audience at the end. Diane Montgomery, Ph.D., who is making her directorial debut at Union with this play, says that she chose this production because a lot of the themes presented are relatable. “Without giving away too much of the play, it is extremely interesting and introduces many themes that other teachers may want to explore in their classes,” Montgomery said. “It is extremely serious and dramatic, but at the same time, it has some great comic moments.” Montgomery added that she is pleased to begin her career at Union with this play in particular. “I wanted to start with a small cast (because I don’t

know who I have) and a relatively easy set,” Montgomery said. The play is also better known in its film version, which stars Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The stage production originally debuted in 2004 at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and closed two years later. In 2005, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. The performance dates at Union will be Oct. 25-27 and Nov. 2-3. Times and cost of tickets are yet to be announced.

contemporary realism

display

Not all artists can tout having their work displayed in a museum. But for Union College instructor Dal Macon Jr., this is not all that unusual. Macon, who teaches arts and humanities, held an exhibit at Union in 2011 and regularly shows his art at the Ann Tower Gallery in Lexington and the B. Deemer Gallery in Louisville. Recently, however, he was selected to showcase his art in the 2012 Contemporary Realism Biennial exhibit at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMoA) in Fort Wayne, Ind. The exhibit began Aug. 11, and will run through Oct. 28. According to the FWMoA website, the exhibit “features top American realists,” which confirms Macon’s status among the elite in this genre. “There is a nice satisfaction in being recognized, like my art is good enough to be appreciated by a stranger,” Macon said. “It is a nice feeling of achievement, but it can open the door to other opportunities.” Such opportunities include a chance to exhibit his work at the Bernarducci.Meisel.Gallery in New York City. “The judge of the exhibit is a gallery owner in New York, Frank Bernarducci, and this could open a door for showing my art in New York,” Macon said. Contemporary realism, which stems from realism, is a type of art that has been around a relatively short time. Macon says that he chose contemporary realism, not because he doesn’t appreciate other types of painting, but because he enjoys the adventure that comes from painting in the style of contemporary realism. “When I paint, there’s an interaction between me and my response to what I’m looking at. My response is always showing me things that I never would have thought of, and I like that,” Macon said. Out of the 70 works of art featured in this exhibit, Macon has two pieces on display: “February Afternoon,” and “Saturday Morning.” However, the two pieces may have looked different compared to the ones they were hanging next to. According to Macon, while he does paint realistically, he sometimes strays away from the contemporary side, and paints art closer to what was done in the early 19th century. “My art does try to do some of the contemporary realism, but also is art which sometimes does come very close to older art,” Macon said. “A lot of the art (in the show) is not only principles of modern art, but subject

matter of the world we live in today, subject matter that didn’t exist back in the 19th century. But my subject matter could be from that time period.” The first piece of art, “February Afternoon,” is a landscape painting, which displays a gray overcast sky in February. According to Macon, the inspiration for this piece came from the endurance of winter, highlighted by the hope that all is not lost. “There’s something about the gray overcast sky that has a definite feeling to it. It is in February, when winter has been going on for three months, and there’s this perseverance of winter still going on,” Macon said. “But at the same time, there’s a line of sun coming through the clouds to give the feeling that all is not lost.” The second piece, “Saturday Morning,” shows a kitchen scene, just as the sun is coming up. “There were more art composition reasons that drew me to that painting,” Macon said. “But that general feeling of being up early in the morning, everyone else being in bed, the house being quiet and the seeing the sun coming up inspired this painting as well. I really liked that feeling.” To achieve the meticulousness and attention to detail in Macon’s paintings, he has to put a lot of time into each painting. The process usually lasts more than a year, sometimes up to three years. “I do feel it’s important to look at the scene at the time the scene occurs,” Macon said. Many of his scenes only exist for a few hours a day for a few months out of the year. “When the scene passes, I put the painting up for the next 10 months or so and don’t work on it,” Macon said. “But when the time of the year comes back, I pull the painting out and work on it again, so it can take years at a time to finish one painting.” Macon said he has not visited the exhibit yet, but he plans to make the trek on the last day. At that time, he’ll retrieve his paintings and see the other featured works.

Opposite page: Dal Macon Jr.’s paintings currently featured in the 2012 Contemporary Realism Biennial exhibit are, at the top, “February Afternoon” and, below, “Saturday Morning.”

ovation

find it

online

A website that prides itself on the attention to detail in their artwork. Gallery Direct lets you shop for art, but also lets you upload photos and create art from your own memories.

Bridge to the Past

www.gallerydirect.com

Gallery Direct

Are you someone who likes to read classic literature? Then you need to check out this site. You can download free classic e-books from an extensive list. You have the option to download them in one or two page versions. Visit the site to see what your options are.

www.planetebook.com Described as “the art lover’s online print and poster gallery,” this site has it all. You can search art prints by artist or category, and the samples come from all over. They also have limited edition and rare prints for you to choose from.

www.artrepublic.com Have a certain musical artist that you just can’t get enough of? If so, this site is for you. At Never Ending Playlist, you can enter the name of your favorite group or artist, and it will play every song they have ever recorded.

Green Dancers Art Republic

www.neverendingplaylist.com This site offers a broad selection, ranging from classic to abstract. However, all of the paintings are oils. You can browse through the wide variety to find the piece that fits your home, and as a bonus, they charge no shipping on any purchase.

www.toucanart.com

The Chesnut Door Toucan Art

ovation

color is

only beautiful when it means

something robert henri

the beauty

of orange In support of the Union College Bulldogs football and cycling teams, a group of students and staff helped paint the town orange. Above, student Caitlin Scheidt contributes her efforts to the project.

calendar of events n

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& PLAYS LS CA MUSI

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October 2 Minorities Day, featuring Anne Nurse, Ph.D., 9:30 am at Conway Boatman Chapel, free and open to the public October 25-27 & November 2-3 “Doubt”, various times at the Rector Little Theatre, cost to be determined October 5-14 University of Kentucky Opera Theare: “Phantom of the Opera”, various times at the Lexington Opera House, tickets starting at $60.50 October 11-13 UK Theatre Department presents “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” various times at the Singletary Center for the Arts, Lexington, tickets starting at $15.00 October 19-27 “Alice in Wonderland,” various times at Jelkyl Drama Center, Berea College, Berea, tickets starting at $5.00 October 23-28 “Beauty and the Beast” various times at the Kentucky Center, Whitney Hall, Louisville, tickets starting at $25.00 October 25-28 “The Liar”, various times at the Lucille C. Little Theater, Transylvania University, Lexington, tickets starting at $10.00 October 5-6 “Lady of the Camellias,” various times at the Kentucky Center, Whitney Hall, Louisville, tickets starting at $30.00 October 9 Parsons Dance, 8:00 pm at the EKU Center for the Arts, Richmond, tickets starting at $25.00 October 20 “Cinderella” various times at the Corbin High School Auditorium, tickets starting at $15.00 October 20 Dance Theatre of Harlem, 8:00 pm at the Kentucky Center, Whitney Hall, Louisville, tickets starting at $22.50 October 3 Antibalas, 8:00 pm at the Kentucky Center, Bomhard Theater, Louisville, tickets starting at $22.50 October 6 Reel World String Band and Nikky Finny present a Benefit for the New Opportunity School for Women, 7:30 pm at the Singletary Center for the Arts, Lexington, tickets starting at $19.00 October 7 Chamber Music Society presents Paul Galbraith, 7:30 pm at the Singletary Center for the Arts, Lexington, tickets starting at $22.00 October 10 Eunbyol Ko guest piano recital, 7:30 pm at the Carrick Theater, Transylvania University, Lexington, free and open to the public October 18 Vince Gill, 8:00 pm at the EKU Center for the Arts, Richmond, tickets starting at $60.00 October 18 Sweetback Sisters – Renegade Retro Band, 8:00 pm at Phelps-Stokes at Berea College, Berea, free October 19 Huey Lewis & the News, 8:00 pm at Newlin Hall at the Norton Center for the Arts, Danville, tickets starting at $60.00 October 20 Singletary Center presents, “Live at Birdland featuring the Birdland Big Band directed by Tommy Igoe,” 7:30 pm at the Singletary Center for the Arts, Lexington, tickets starting at $25.00 October 27 Tony Bennett 8:00 pm at the EKU Center for the Arts, Richmond, tickets starting at $75.00

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