Cate McQuaid’s glowing review of Double Solitaire

For those folks who haven’t seen it yet, perhaps Cate McQuaid’s review in this past weekend’s Boston Globe will persuade you.

posted in Davis Museum | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wildlife Reborn


A WONDERFUL guest post from Claire Shiplett, Wellesley Class of 2014, and Design Student Assistant in the Public Affairs Office. It’s a touching reminder to all of us of how rewarding it can be to look closely.

“The Davis Museum’s recent exhibition “Global Flora” features the fantastic botanical imagery of Isabella Kirkland. In her piece Back, Kirkland creates an exquisite and detailed portrait of plants and animals that have been successfully brought back from the brink of extinction. Using one of Wellesley’s amazing large format printers for the first time a few weeks ago, Kyra Gregerson and I were able to interact with Kirkland’s work in an entirely new and unique way. For a promotional arts event, we decided to blow up Kirkland’s piece to use as a backdrop, printing it to nearly four feet long. I hadn’t given much thought to the actual printing itself, but as the first lines of ink began to seep into the paper, the excitement and awe began to grow inside of us. We were told that the printing would take about half an hour and that we could wait and then come back, but Kyra and I were determined to watch, dragging up two chairs to sit directly in front of the printer.

We were mesmerized. I can only imagine how incredible it would have been to be able to sit and watch Isabella Kirkland draw the first outlines of each curling leaf and each little paw and beak, to see this vibrant fountain of life overflow from her paintbrush. As the printer head went back and forth and back and forth, each line of this beautiful piece of art was reborn. Every detail of Back became magnified as flower stems and leaves appeared to grow before our eyes and tiny hummingbirds and finches were revealed to us like treasure, the varied textures of the great owl’s feathers and the delicate pause of a butterfly like secret jewels. We found ourselves laughing and exclaiming, pointing as we suddenly discovered a detail neither of us had noticed when looking at the piece as a whole, delighted as each animal took shape. In general viewing circumstances, the viewer first sees the art as a whole piece, feeling its impact as a complete work. It is only later that the viewer is able to lean in and look more closely at the details, and this experience is always within the context of the complete work. As the large format printer slowly brought Kirkland’s bright, abundant world into existence, the organic lines, colors, and textures were each framed in concentrated doses, creating a deliciously rich experience. We were like children discovering the world of our backyard lawn through a magnifying glass, in awe of the intensified beauty contained within the single vein of a leaf. We were filled with such joy and inspiration when the piece was completed that I don’t think we could have been happier if we had in fact created the piece ourselves. We experienced the magical illusion of being involved in the art’s creation, as if we had been able to sit and watch a tree grow from a sapling with our noses pressed against the bark, transfixed by each notch and valley.”

posted in Davis Museum | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

A weekend with the bard

My cultural activities this past weekend had a lovely symmetry to them; I started and ended my weekend with Shakespeare.

Friday night’s date night consisted of going to Actors From The London Stage’s performance of The Tempest. For the record, my hubby, who works downtown near Government Center, was able to take the 5:35 pm commuter rail, and be out at Wellesley by 6:15 pm (plenty of time to get a pre-theatre snack; he recommends the lemon pudding at the Lulu cafe). I saw AFTLS’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dreamat Wellesley a year ago, was blown away, and couldn’t wait to see them again. To be perfectly honest, I was a bit ambivalent about seeing The Tempest, as it’s not my favorite of Shakespeare’s works. I find the character of Miranda rather insipid. However, I think that anything the AFTLS actors touches turns to gold, and I was excited to see what they would do with this play.

The performance was a revelation that made me reevaluate my prejudices against the play in general, and Miranda in particular. The AFTLS troupe consists of five actors who perform all the roles. Characters are distinguished by body language, minimal props, and accents. This seems like it would be confusing, but in fact, clarifies the relationships between the players. For example, the same actress played both the daughter Miranda and the spirit Ariel, a pairing that revealed the subjugated status of both characters! The actors are remarkably talented (it boggles my mind that they put together these productions without a director) and the two and a half hour performance flew by.

On Sunday afternoon, I went with a friend to see Opera Boston’s production of Beatrice et Benedict. Berlioz’s opera, based on Shakespeare’s As You Like It, is a fitting choice for the niche that Opera Boston seems to be carving out for itself as a company that revives underperformed works. It was great to see the Cutler Majestic so full on a Sunday afternoon, and the musicians were just wonderful. Baritones David McFerrin and Robert Honeysucker were divine, and mezzo-soprano Julie Boulienne’s voice was timbrally perfect for the role of Beatrice. I was a bit dubious about setting the opera in 1950’s Sicily, but it worked. The music was a whole lot of lovely (one sonorous piece after the other), and the staging didn’t do a lot to mediate the sameness of the score, but all in all a wonderful production. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing The Midsummer Marriage in February (and I heard a rumor that recent Wellesley alumna Stephanie Kacoyanis will be in the ensemble).

posted in fall 2011, Theatre, Wellesley alumnae | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Riveting review: Nina Revoyr

Nina Revoyr is at Wellesley today reading at the Distinguished Writers Series! I read the review of her novel Wingshooters in the LA Times. Sounds amazing!!

posted in Newhouse Center for the Humanities | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Inspired by the Davis: An artful affair

Wedding bells are a-ringing at Wellesley.

Not only were there three weddings at Wellesley’s Houghton Chapel over the Columbus Day weekend, but the Improper Bostonian also featured Global Flora: Botanical Imagery and Exploration in its’ fall wedding issue.

I think the concept of using art as inspiration for a wedding is fantastic! An artistically-inclined friend of mine got married out at MassMOCA a few weeks ago (thanks for letting me post your wedding pics Kathy btw).

Her wedding pictures in front of the Sol Lewitt installation are to die for! There are risks associated with pairing fine art with fine booze. After a few glasses of Berkshire Brewing Company lager, a groomsman definitely told me that he thought an installation looked like a latrine. Thankfully he didn’t use it as such!!

posted in Davis Museum | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wellesley’s South Asian Sampler

There was a wonderful article in Thursday’s Globe West section about upcoming South Asian performances:

“At Wellesley, a South Asian sampler”
Boston Globe – West
September 28, 2011
Nancy Shohet West

Bringing cultural diversity to its campus is a critical goal of the arts programming at Wellesley College, as a range of events taking place there within the next few weeks reflects. Three programs organized by three departments all have one common component: showcasing contemporary artists of South Asia, particularly India and Sri Lanka. The lineup kicks off at 8 p.m. Saturday with a classical Bharatanatyam dance performance by Malini Srinivasan …

posted in Art and Soul, Concert Series, fall 2011, Theatre | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Slice of Nigeria with a Side of Boston

A friend and colleague of mine, Sandy Kendall, wrote this wonderful review of Iyeoka’s performance at Wellesley last Thursday (it is an aspiration of mine to one day write as beautifully as she!)

I know you weren’t able to get to the concert last night; just thought I’d fill you in. Iyeoka was delightful–such a charming and positive presence and what a voice! Backed up by two talented guys on saxophone and various percussion (and impressive whistling), the sound was fantastic for a full house in the Multifaith Center.

The show was part of her “When Women Were Drummers” project (I might have that title slightly askew, but it was very like that), which was a slight departure from her YouTube video on Wellesley’s website. Less pop, more Africa. Felt a bit like an evening’s visit to her parents’ native Nigeria. She can sing and narrate in perfect accents of that second home of hers, and yet telling her self-effacing own how-I-got-here story, her native Boston sound rings true too.

Do you know her story?

After seven years at Northeastern University and a stable career as a registered pharmacist, she took a less (oh dear, pardon me) prescribed path…into poetry. And its cousin, music. Hard to imagine her big smooth vocals and tumbling poetry riffs stuck for always behind a compounding desk. A good decision!

Still she only finally hung up her lab coat in 2010. She also became a TED Fellow that year, pretty impressive. Around that time, too, I gather, she started learning the language of which her parents speak a dialect–Ishan, or Esan.

Old proverbs are helping her learn, and she’s turned them into hypnotic chants and songs. They made up a good portion of last night’s performance, and their rhythms are lodged in my mind though the unfamiliar words escape me. One lesson from the old country?

She who is being deloused
Should not lose her temper
Even when
Her hair is being pulled.

Well, who could argue? But Iyeoka asks, Hmmm, maybe, if we open our minds, the advice can go farther. That last break-up perhaps…?

I hope she’ll be back at Wellesley soon! And with active TED work, presentations at conferences and retreats, plus a new CD and a song taken up as theme song for a USA Network series, I’m sure we’ll see more of her somewhere.

posted in Art and Soul | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

blog I love: Jewett Art Gallery

John Udvardy Opening Reception at the Jewett Art Gallery

The Jewett Art Gallery is not only a wonderful place to see great art on campus (thanks to gallery director and studio art member extraordinaire Clara Lieu), I love their blog.

Clara always brings great, often local artists, to the college, as well as features the artwork of faculty, staff, and students. The work on the walls is constantly changing and the opening receptions have a tasty assortment of cheese and wine; what’s not to love.

I got to see a whole new side of Clara last September, when she participated in the exhibition Calculated Risks at the Davis. Here’s one of her beautiful, large scale drawings. It’s hard to get a full sense of the drama of her work from a little web-ready jpg. Her pieces are made of layered paper, are about ten feet tall, and capture a sort of exquisite loneliness.

posted in Davis Museum, fall 2011, Jewett Art Gallery | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

book clubbin’

Every year, when the Distinguished Writers Series rolls around, I always wish that I had gotten my stuff together, and read the author’s most recent work before they came to campus. This year, I am determined to get my act together.

I have a vision of a quorum of folks in the area getting together for a picnic lunch the week before the authors visit campus to informally chat about the book.

Having recently purchased The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis (great read, and the type of writing that I really want to hear spoken out loud), I am gung ho to get this book club party started before she comes to campus.

Any takers?

posted in fall 2011, Newhouse Center for the Humanities | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Historically Preserved

Map of Boston in 1630

A fab Wellesley alum friend of mine has spent the summer interning at the National Trust. I’m really glad that she told me about their big event on Saturday. American Express has awarded millions of dollars of grant money over the past five years to various historic sites across the country. This weekend, the grant recipients are holding open houses all over Greater Boston.

My favorite thing about the site is the thematic tour suggestions (I’m a sucker for a theme party). Perhaps I will experience Voices of Freedom, traverse from Pulpit to Politics, or hear the Echoes of the Civil War.

posted in fall 2011, Wellesley alumnae | Tagged , , | Leave a comment