America the beautiful, the Wellesley edition

One of my favorite parts of commencement is the music. I know it’s a little corny, but I always get a little sentimental when I hear “Pomp and Circumstance” being played ad infinitum by a brass ensemble amidst a sea of caps, gowns, and proud families.

Many colleges have special traditions that make their commencement ceremonies a little bit unique.  At my husband’s graduation from Middlebury, every graduating senior was given a cane in honor of distinguished alumnus Gamaliel Painter.  My sister’s graduation from Bates was the shortest graduation I have ever been to, because all the graduates have just pulled an all-nighter  (the seniors have a traditional all-night party that ends with everyone climbing the local mountain and singing Free Bird as the sun rises).  As a proud Wellesley alumna, I am without a doubt biased, but I just love the little musical tradition that is part of our commencement.

After the conferring of the degrees at Wellesley’s commencement, the new graduates, led by the choir, sing America the Beautiful (Katharine Lee Bates, Wellesley class of 1880, wrote the lyrics).  At Wellesley, there’s an important change to the text, one that hopefully Katharine Lee Bates would have approved of.   The chorus to America the Beautiful, the Wellesley College edition, is “and crown thy good with sisterhood, from sea to shining sea.”  It always makes me smile.

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Lydia Davis is coming (back) to Wellesley

I was disappointed that Lydia Davis wasn’t able to make it to Wellesley to kick off the Distinguished Writers Series Spring 2011 program on February 1. However, I think she definitely made the right decision to postpone her trip, as we had a major snowstorm that day.

Word is that she has rescheduled her visit to Wellesley! She will open the Fall 2011 Distinguished Writers Series this coming September

I love the irreverence of her work; I never know if she is pulling the wool over my eyes, or I just witnessed something really, really profound (guess we’ll find out in September).

At the Edinborough International Book Festival, Lydia Davis read five short stories in two minutes. Her reading at Wellesley will be longer.

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The hidden inscription on Wellesley’s meantone organ

This past Saturday I attended the final concert of Wellesley’s 2010-11 concert series.  Organist James David Christie presented a fantastic hour-long program on the Fisk meantone organ to a large and enthusiastic crowd. The concert honored the 30th anniversary of the installation of the organ at the college and the 50th anniversary of C.B. Fisk organ builders, the company that built the instrument (and an organization peppered with Wellesley alumnae).

At the post-concert reception (there was a birthday cake to the organ and glasses of prosecco!) I had a chance to catch up with Margaret Angelini, an alumna who was at Wellesley the year the organ was installed. She told me the most touching story about how Owen Jander, beloved professor emeritus from the Music Department and the man who brought the organ to the college 30 years ago, christened the instrument shortly after it was built.

The Fisk meantone organ was designed especially for the performance of 17th century north German organ music. It has so many quirky details; the reeds and stops were inspired by various organs across Europe, there’s a sun carving that sits atop the organ and spins, making a tambourine-like sound, and the instrument has enormous manual bellows. These belows are pumped by stepping on what looks like an ancient stair master. Someone literally pumps the organ with her feet, supplying wind to the pipes (Wellesley’s bellows system was built especially for the average height and weight of a woman).

It goes without saying that pumping these bellows is a laborious endeavor, but rewarding, in that it provides the air, the lifeblood of the organ’s sound. There is an electric bellows for the organ, but choosing to use the manual bellows is a way of paying homage to the authentic way that these instruments used to be performed. When the instrument was inaugurated, Owen Jander wrote Wellesley’s motto, Non Ministrari sed Ministrare (which means “not to be ministered unto, but to minister”), on the hand bar of the manual bellows as inspiration to the scores of women who will literally breathe life into the instrument with their footsteps.

Owen’s inscription is faint, but still legible today:

Here’s a picture of the manual bellow for the organ. Anyone can walk up to the balcony to look at this instrument, which is considered one of the three most important historic organs in the country.


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Behind the scenes at the El Anatsui installation

Lisa Fischman, director of the Davis, told me a great story the other day.  An alumna visiting campus stopped her and asked how in the world she managed to get El Anatsui, the most famous artist alive, to not only come to Wellesley, but also have the college host the U.S. debut of his career retrospective. It’s a real coup for the Davis and the college, as his work is part of the collections at the MoMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pompidou Center, the British Museum, and the Smithsonian, to name a few!

A friend snapped this photo from the install, which sounded wild. The pieces are rolled up on what looks like giant rolling pins and shipped in crates. The works of art are then unfurled and hung on top of foam mounted on the wall. It’s then folded and tucked (I think of it like ruching, which is certainly not the proper art term for this procedure), so that each piece looks a little different every time it’s installed.

The piece they are putting up in the photo is called Three Continents. It is made out of thousands of folded up Nigerian liquor-bottle caps.

El Anatsui: Three Continents

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Welcome to Artsee

A seasoned blogger friend warned me that the hardest blog post to write is the first one. The post, where you attempt to explicate, in 300 words or less, why you have something unique to add to the blogosphere.  At the risk of sounding cosmic, trite, or (God forbid) cutesy, here goes:

One of the things I admire most about Wellesley College is how the arts are a vibrant part of everyday life here.  When Madeleine Albright came and spoke at the Albright Institute two years ago, she mentioned that in her travels, she would always try to take in the local arts and cultural scene because that helped her “get to know” the communities she was visiting (she then went on to say that her peers didn’t understand why experiencing art from other cultures was important when there were pressing world issues to discuss). Madame Secretary’s instinct to seek out art as a way of learning about yourself and the world mirrors the role that the arts play on this campus.  The arts are at the heart of the academic, social, and cultural life at Wellesley.  Engaging with the arts, as an observer and participant, is a core part of the Wellesley experience.

I have the pleasure of working at my alma mater as the director of publicity and coordination for the arts.  Because of my job, I am quite well versed in the arts and cultural happenings on campus, and many an evening you will find me, and if I’m lucky my favorite date–my husband, Marcus–at an event somewhere around campus. Our weekend adventures out at Wellesley have also led us to develop an encyclopedia-like knowledge of where to get a good cocktail in the Wellesley area after 10:30 pm, but that is for a later post.

Artsee will share with you some of the things that I have the opportunity to see behind the scenes of the arts at Wellesley.  Hopefully Artsee will become a place for people to talk about the arts, share their opinions about an exhibit or performance, or ask a question.

More soon!

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