Renowned Typographer Subject of  Book Arts Lecture at Wells College

Herbert H. Johnson of Rochester Institute of Technology will present this fall’s Susan Garretson Swartzburg ’60 Memorial Book Arts Lecture at Wells College. The lecture, entitled “Bruce Rogers at the Riverside Press,” will be given at 8:00 pm on Sunday, December 8 in the Art Exhibit Room of Macmillan Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Herb Johnson, a professor in the School of Printing Management and Sciences at RIT, will speak on the early work of the renowned typography Bruce Rogers. Bruce Rogers (1870-1957) was a typographic adviser and book designer for such renowned printing establishments and publishing houses as the Riverside Press, William E. Rudge, Cambridge University Press, and Harvard University Press. Based on Nicolas Jenson's Roman type of 1470, his elegant 'Centaur' type, commissioned by the New York Metropolitan Museum, is considered by many to be one of the most perfect typefaces ever designed. His reputation as the leading American classical typographer of the first half of the 20th century remains unchallenged.

Following the lecture, a reception will be held in the Book Arts Center in Morgan Hall where participants may speak with Johnson and view an exhibit of Rogers’ work. The exhibit will remain on display through March 8, 2003. A catalogue especially printed for this exhibition by Bixler Press of Skaneateles will be available for sale.

The lecture series is made possible through the Heiland-Garretson Book Arts Lecture Fund, established and sustained through the generosity of Susan Garretson Swartzburg, Wells College Class of 1960.

Wells College has an incomparable resource in the Book Arts Center, which consists of the Wells College Press and the Class of 1932 Bindery. The BAC functions as a learning center, sponsoring classes, exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations, workshops and symposia in the fine arts, literary arts, bookbinding, printing, publishing, and related fields. It is a classroom, laboratory, and a library for information and inspiration, and serves as a magnet for all who wish to study the art of the book.

November, 2002

Senior Dance Show, Puzzled, Performed at Wells College

The Wells College Performing Arts Department presents Puzzled, a senior thesis in dance show.  This world premier work by Shannon Funke, class of 2003, has been choreographed and directed by Shannon, and will be danced by Shannon and seven other Wells students. The cast will intrigue audiences for just two nights, Friday, December 6 and Saturday, December 7, at 7:30 pm in Phipps Auditorium, Macmillan Hall.  Puzzled is free and the public is warmly welcome to attend.

Puzzled explores our search for identity in a world full of stereotypes. The piece begins by introducing Funke's character and then the rest of the ensemble. Throughout the performance, the ensemble confronts Funke with popular images. The piece moves rapidly, filling the space with each character telling her own story from within the group and through solo dance.

Funke choreographed Puzzled collaboratively, encouraging ensemble members to add their own input and ideas. The creative process involved collage making, journal writing, small choreographic studies, and improvisation.  Together, the ensemble created both the dance itself and a cohesive partnership. “They are not only eager to see and hear my ideas but also eager to share their own and be an active part of the creative process,” said Funke. “They really helped this piece come alive and tell a story.”

The piece is staged in the glow of original light design by Wells alumna Dena Borders ’01.  Sarah Jo Beck ’05 and Kiri Anne Green ’06 provide additional technical support, as well as stage manager Dana Finegan ’04. Associate professor of dance Jeanne Goddard supervised the students in their efforts.
For more information about Puzzled or the Wells College dance program, please contact dance professor Jeanne Goddard at 315/364-3213.

November, 2002

Artist Gives Slide Presentation and Gallery Talk at Wells College

Award-winning artist Todd Ayoung will give a slide presentation and gallery talk at Wells College on Thursday, November 21.  Beginning at 3:00 pm in Morgan Hall room #2, Ayoung will discuss his ongoing collaboration with Colombian artist Carlos Andrade. The two have had their latest exhibit, “Intensive,” on display in Wells College’s String Room Gallery this fall. The exhibit runs through Friday, December 6, and is free and open to the public for viewing. The public is also invited to Ayoung’s lecture on November 21.

Following the discussion, the group will move to the String Room Gallery, where Ayoung will do a walk-through of the exhibit, providing insight into each piece. Andrade and Ayoung have collaborated since 2000 on artworks that engage the spectators’ perception of representations of the aftermath of disasters, both natural and human-made. The main body of "Intensive" contains 20 monotypes on paper which reflect the visual aftermath of such disasters. It is tempting to relate this exhibit to the events of September 11. However, Ayoung and Andrade have had a long-standing interest in the definitions of disaster, and these pieces were actually created in February 2002 during an artist residency at Lafayette College in Easton, PA.

Carlos Andrade is a native of Colombia. Andrade earned his B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has exhibited his work in group and solo displays in the U.S. and internationally, including Denmark, Colombia, Monaco, and France. Todd Ayoung is originally from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. He earned his M.F.A. in Sculpture from Yale University, and has shown his work in solo and group exhibitions in the United States and in Denmark, Austria, and England.

String Room Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Wednesday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. while school is in session. For more information about the lecture, the exhibit, and the artists, please contact art professor Bill Roberts at 315/364-3237.

November, 2002

Prize-Winning Poet to Read at Wells College

The Wells College Visiting Writer Series is pleased to bring renowned poet X. J. Kennedy to campus on Wednesday, November 13. The reading will take place in the Art Exhibit Room in Macmillan Hall at 8:00 pm. The occasion for his visit is the publication of his seventh book of poetry, The Lords of Misrule: Poems 1992-2001. There is no charge, and the public is welcome to attend.

Mr. Kennedy is one of the country’s best known and most respected anthologists, editors, and writers of literature textbooks. His Cross-Ties: Selected Poems won the Los Angeles Times Book Award for 1985, his textbook, An Introduction to Poetry, is in its tenth edition, and he has received the Aiken Taylor Award for Lifetime Achievement in Modern American Poetry as well as Guggenheim and National Arts Council fellowships. He is the much-loved author of eighteen books for children, including novels and collections of poems and nonsense verse. He has been called one of "the most energetic and versatile of American poets," and he is certainly one of the most entertaining. A reading by Mr. Kennedy is regarded by those who have experienced one as an event not to be missed.

Copies of X. J. Kennedy’s books will be available at the college bookstore and at the reading. Kennedy’s work is also on display in the Long Library at Wells College. Mr. Kennedy is this year’s Virginia Kent Cummins Writer-in-Residence. His visit is made possible by both the Virginia Kent Cummins endowment and by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.

For more information about X.J. Kennedy and the reading, please contact Bruce Bennett at 315/364-3228. Members of the media may arrange an interview or photo session with the speaker by contacting Gwen Webber-McLeod, director of communications, at 315/364-3260.

November, 2002

Fargo Renovations Move Forward

Exterior renovations to the Fargo, a restaurant and bar on Main Street, Aurora, are underway. The Fargo will remain open through the holiday season for the benefit of the community. The restaurant is scheduled to close in early January 2003 for interior renovations. A March 2003 reopening is anticipated.

The red brick Federal-style building, located across the street from the Aurora Inn, was constructed in 1834. In keeping with historic pictures of the structure, plans call for moving the front door to its original center opening and adding a porch across the front of the building. Inside, two original fireplaces will be uncovered and made operable, and the kitchen will be updated. New restrooms and a poolroom will be added at the back of the restaurant, increasing the size of the pub area.

Plans also include adding a new pizza parlor on the first floor of the Fargo building. Its menu will feature fresh homemade pizza and submarine sandwiches. There will be seating for twenty, as well as carryout and delivery service.

According to the college, upgrading the Fargo and adding a pizza shop will increase social opportunities for students and increase services in the village.It will also provide a future source of revenue for the college.

The Aurora Foundation is overseeing the project.  The Aurora Foundation is a partnership between Wells College and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation whose purpose is to support the college's mission by improving the college's commercial properties and enhancing economic development in the village.  The college retains ownership of its commercial properties and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation provides the capital for renovations.

For more information, please contact: Ann S. Rollo, Wells College vice president for external relations, at 315. 364. 3416 or Catharine B. Waller, executive director of the Aurora Foundation, at 315. 364. 7253.

November, 2002

Table Music Performed by the Frogwork Consort at Wells College

Wells College and the Aurora Community Enrichment Program join together in presenting Table Music, a concert by The Frogwork Consort. The recital will take place on Friday, November 8 at 7:00 pm in the String Room Gallery, Main Building, on the Aurora campus. This special music is free and the public is warmly invited to attend.

In Shakespeare’s time, music was often played at home after a meal, providing the evening’s entertainment. The gentry would sing and play while sitting around the table; thus, this type of intimate, and often intricate, chamber music was called “table music.” The Frogwork Consort, a group of viols, will perform music of this type composed by 17th century English masters Gibbons, Locke, and Tomkins.

The Frogwork Consort is comprised of three extraordinary musicians. Susan Sandman, Wells College professor emerita of music, is a founding member of and performs with Elizabethan Conversation, as well as with the Viol Consort of Schola Cantorum of Syracuse. Alexander Raykov performs internationally on viol and lute, and is the viol master of the Schola Cantorum. Lee Johnston is the minister of music at the First English Lutheran Church and Collegium director at Syracuse University. He works at Onondaga Music Services and plays also with the Schola Cantorum. The name Frogwork refers both to the block that separates the bow hair from the bow wood on the instruments, called a frog, as well as to the frog-like position viol players often take to hold their instruments. Two of the instruments played by Frogwork, the tenor and bass viol, were built by local musician Derwood Crocker in his Aurora workshop.

For more information about Table Music or The Frogwork Consort, please contact Susan Sandman at 315/364-8406.

November, 2002
 

Earlier Articles in Wells College News:
 

October, 2002	September, 2000. - May.,2001	May,1998	May - June,1997
September, 2002	September, 1999 - August, 2000	April,1998	March - April,1997
August, 2002	August,1999	March,1998	February,1997
September, 2001. - May.,2002	May,1999	February,1998	November - December,1996
	April,1999	January,1998	October,1996
	February -March, 1999	December,1997	September,1996
	January,1999	November,1997	June - Aug.,1996
	Fall,1998	October,1997	May,1996
	August,1998	September,1997	April,1996
	June -July, 1998	July - August, 1997	February - March, 1996

Last updated 04/04/2003