Arts and Humani t ies

Entrepreneurship in MusicRamon “Ray” Ricker visited campus on September 20 to

present the opening lecture at the second annual Music

Forum Series. He spoke about entrepreneurship in the arts

and his recently published book, Lessons from a Street-Wise

Professor: What You Won’t Learn at Most Music Schools. Ricker

is the senior associate dean for professional studies at the

Eastman School of Music, director of Eastman’s Institute for

Music Leadership, and professor of saxophone in the school’s

Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media Department.

Documentary Series DebutsConsider the Alternatives, a new documentary film series

presented by the Communication Department and the

Burchfield Penney Art Center, draws on an eclectic array of

subjects to present a common message: it asks the audience

to consider the alternatives, from exploring responses to

social problems to ways of living and organizing families

and societies.

The series is curated by Meg Knowles, assistant

professor of communication, and Mike Niman, associate

professor of communication.

Music Graduate WinsEastman CompetitionAfter winning the Eastman School of Music’s Guitar Concerto

Competition, Kahlil Sarikey, ’10, a classical guitarist and graduate

of Buffalo State’s music program, will perform with the Eastman

Philharmonia this spring. Sarikey wowed the judges with his

performance of Concerto Elegiaco by Leo Brouwer. Sarikey

transferred to Buffalo State in his sophomore year after discovering

classical guitar at Finger Lakes Community College. He is currently

working toward a master’s degree in music at Eastman.

Alumni Spotlight: Dylan Carrow, ’10While at Buffalo State, Dylan Carrow, ’10, focused on digital

recording through courses offered by the Music, Theater, and

Communication Departments. He now works as the audio

supervisor for Playwrights Horizons theater in New York City

and is responsible for everything that makes sound on stage at the

prestigious Pulitzer Prize–winning company. “If a cell phone

needs to ring on stage, we need to find a place to hide a speaker,”

said Carrow.

As a student, Carrow worked at the Performing Arts

Center at Rockwell Hall and racked up other professional

credits through internships. He also participated in an impressive

lineup of landmark productions in New York, including War

and Peace at the Metropolitan Opera; Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s

Cell Phone, starring Mary Louise Parker, and Nicky Silver’s Three

Changes, starring Dylan McDermott, at Playwrights Horizons;

and Rajiv Joseph’s award-winning Animals Out of Paper at

Second Stage Theatre.

Predolino Zelasko, Cockaphant Personality, 2011, low-fire white ceramic▲Cele

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Dean’s OfficeSchool of Arts and HumanitiesRockwell Hall 222Buffalo State College1300 Elmwood AvenueBuffalo, NY 14222-1095

Nonprofit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 277Buffalo, NY

Benjamin C. Christy, Dean, School of Arts and Humanities

Carolyn Fusco, Executive Assistant to the Dean > Susan Kendt, Secretary

to the Dean > Kerran L. Sanger, Associate Dean > Ronald D. Smith,

Interim Associate Dean > Denise M. Zenicki, Secretary to the Dean

EDITOR > Anthony Chase, Assistant Dean

ART DIRECTOR > Lynda H. Donati

DESIGNER > Chantel D. Kutzbach

PHOTOGRAPHER > Bruce A. Fox

Produced by the College Relations Office.

This publication is available in large print or other accessible formats upon request. Buffalo State College is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution that subscribes to all federal, state, andSUNY legal requirements and does not discriminate against applicants, students, or employees on the basis of race,sex, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, or marital or veteran status. Any violation of this policy should be reported to the Equity and Campus Diversity Office, Cleveland Hall 415, (716) 878-6210. It is the policy of Buffalo State College that no otherwise qualified person with a disability shall, solely by reason of the disability, be excluded from participation in employment or access to programs of the college.

1112-37

&arts humanitiesBuffalo State College > Rockwell Hall 222 > 1300 Elmwood Avenue >

Buffalo, NY 14222 > (716) 878-6326 > Fax: (716) 878-6914

www.buffalostate.edu/artsandhumanities

Students Meet Spike LeeAspiring filmmakers from the television and film arts

program at Buffalo State were treated to a meet and

greet with Spike Lee before the legendary director spoke

to a sold-out crowd at the Performing Arts Center this

fall. Lee offered the students insights on pursuing film-

making careers and discussed how modern technology

is changing the art form. The creator of such films as

Do the Right Thing, The Original Kings of Comedy, and

Summer of Sam, Lee is widely regarded as one of

America’s premier filmmakers.

Marking the Year with ArtA calendar featuring works by Fine Arts Department

faculty members has been produced in celebration of

Buffalo State’s Year of the Arts. Each month features

a work by a different faculty member. Copies are

available from the Fine Arts Department.

Casting Hall ProductionsThe 2011–2012 Casting Hall spring season includes a lineup of thought-provoking works including:

The Laramie Project, by Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic TheaterProject, is a powerful reaction to the 1998 hate-crime murder ofUniversity of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.

Working, a musical based on the book by Studs Terkel, celebrates everyday working people.

Alternative Dimension: A Multi-Sensory Experience, is choreographed by department faculty.

Visit www.buffalostate.edu/theater/events for more information.

www.buffalostate.edu/artsandhumanities

French Film and TheaterIn association with the French American Cultural Exchange, the

Modern and Classical Languages Department is presenting the

Tournées Film Festival on campus in 2011–2012, with featured

screenings of White Material; Des Dieux et Des Hommes (Of Gods

and Men); Un Homme qui Crie (A Screaming Man); Potiche; and

La Belle Endormie (The Sleeping Beauty). The festival is made

possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French

Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture.

In addition, two one-act plays in French, La Peur Des Coups

(Afraid to Fight) and Voix Humaine (The Human Voice) were

presented by the Modern and Classical Languages Department,

the Burchfield Penney Art Center, and L’Alliance Française de

Buffalo, as part of Buffalo State’s Year of the Arts programming.

Buffalo State College > The Newsletter of the School of Arts and Humanities > Spring 2012

Celebrating the Year of the Arts

&arts humanities

President Aaron Podolefsky declared the 2011–2012 academic year to be the Year of the Arts at Buffalo State, saying:

“The arts are something we do very well at Buffalo State. They’re crucial to our mission as a public university. The arts

are a source of pride as well as sustenance. And I believe this is the perfect time to highlight and celebrate them.”

The Year of the Arts includes an eclectic schedule of more than 300 visual and performing arts events. From

plays and concerts to exhibitions and readings, these activities display the wealth of artistic talent offered by Buffalo

State’s students, faculty, and community.

To brand such an extensive undertaking, Benjamin Christy, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities,

called on the Design Department to create an official Year of the Arts logo. In a unique collaboration between

the School of Arts and Humanities, the College Relations Office, and the Design

Department, associate professor Stanley Friesen’s multimedia class accepted the

challenge to create a mark that conveys the importance of the arts at Buffalo State.

Twelve upper-level students participated in the competitive process,

and the quality of their work was impressive. With a dozen professional-

grade logo designs from which to choose, the College Relations Office ultimately

selected an edgy, expressive mark—a circle of orange with a splash—created by David

Koszka of Orchard Park, New York. Koszka’s design process illustrates what the Year of the Arts

is all about—celebrating the impressive creative talent and energy that exists on the Buffalo State campus.

For more information about the Year of the Arts and a complete schedule of events, visit

www.yearofthearts.com.

The An

ne Frank Project

▲

L e a d e r s h i p i n C r e a t i v e E x p r e s s i o n

Letter from the DeanWe are very excited that President Aaron Podolefsky designated 2011–2012as the “Year of the Arts” (YOTA) at Buffalo State to highlight our continualcelebration of the arts and humanities and campus-wide creativity—bothdistinctive hallmarks of the Buffalo State experience. This recognitionprovides increased opportunity to share student and faculty talents withthe region, enhanced community connections, and expanded recognitionof our accomplishments through the focused efforts of the CollegeRelations Office.

A widely-representative steering committee envisioned and implementedthe project with impressive results. In addition to staging more than 300YOTA events, we are enhancing academic quality in the arts through anew master’s degree program in museum studies, a completed proposal tothe State University of New York for an online master’s degree in musiceducation, and new co-curricular activities, such as our first television andfilm arts program field trip to the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

Students will also soon benefit from remarkable facilities improvements,making 2011–2012 a watershed “Year for Facilities” as well. As we nearcompletion of new art conservation laboratories and a music recital hall,recording lab, and piano studio in Rockwell Hall, the visual arts and theater faculty are collaborating with architects to design a $47 millionrenovation of Upton Hall. In addition, we are in the planning phase for a $30 million facility addition for the humanities. There is much tocelebrate in the School of Arts and Humanities!

A taste of YOTA community outreach includes a dance/wine pairing concert with the hospitality administration program, an alumni art exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, the first-ever WindEnsemble performance at Kleinhans Music Hall, an interactive EthicsBowl presentation at Canterbury Woods Retirement Community, arts-related presentations at the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium, and a daylong celebration of 100 Thousand Poets for Change.

Internationally, faculty conducted art conservation work in Rome, wemarked the 50th anniversary of the Siena study abroad program with celebrations in Italy and Buffalo, and fine arts faculty organized “MakeYour Mark,” a joint exhibition of faculty artwork at Capital NormalUniversity (Beijing) and Buffalo State. New international student travelincluded a journey to Rwanda to advance the ideals of the Anne FrankProject and collaboratively develop theater pieces with Rwandan students,and a short-term visitation of dance students in Beijing.

Although 2011–2012 has been official tagged as the “Year of the Arts,” inreality, every year at Buffalo State is an ongoing celebration of the wealthof creative expression emerging from Arts and Humanities, across thecampus, and along the Elmwood Avenue cultural corridor. Please join uswhenever you can!

Sincerely,

Benjamin C. ChristyDean of Arts and Humanities

Ceramics in SeattleWork by ceramics major Sarah McNutt was accepted for the 2012 National Student Juried Exhibition, held annually

as part of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference. Forty student works, selected from

593 entries submitted by undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, and graduate students, will be shown at the University

of Washington’s Jacob Lawrence Gallery in Seattle this spring.

01fig.

Sarah McNutt,Body Documentation, 2010,low fire clay, black copper

oxide, pastel, and pins

▲

Students Visit RwandaIn January, a group of Buffalo State theater students traveled to Rwanda

on a theater-based and compassion-fueled study trip as part of the Anne

Frank Project. Theater professor Drew Kahn and humanitarian Carl

Wilkens, the only American to stay in Rwanda and provide aid during

the country’s 1994 genocide, accompanied the group.

The Buffalo State students shared selections from American contemporary

theater with students from the Mashirika Theater Company in Rwanda.

Buffalo State fine arts students, working under the direction of Los

Angeles–based artist Augustina Droze, painted a mural depicting

scenes from each of the six Buffalo parks designed by landscape

architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The mural, commissioned by the

Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, is located behind McKinley

High School, adjacent to Buffalo State, and is visible from the

Scajaquada Expressway.

Twenty-four students in the televi-

sion and film arts (TFA) program

got the experience of a lifetime

when they attended the Toronto

International Film Festival in

September.

Along with viewing four

movie premieres, the students

participated in a private tour of

the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the home

of the film festival, met one on

one with Canadian producer Don

Carmody—the “Steven Spielberg

of Canada”—and met members of

the band Pearl Jam and acclaimed

director Cameron Crowe, whose

documentary Pearl Jam Twenty was

featured at the festival. Students also

met director Francis Ford Coppola

and actor Val Kilmer, who were

promoting the film Twixt.

“The festival is not about star

gazing but about getting to ask people

who work in the business how to break

in,” said Jeffrey Hirschberg, associate

professor and director of the TFA

program. This is the second year that

film students have attended the festival.

02fig.

Olmsted Mural

Furniture Design FinalistsFurniture design students Adam Kessler and Nathaniel Hall were

chosen as finalists in the 2011 Fresh Wood Student Competition

at the Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers Fair in

Las Vegas, Nevada. Kessler received the People’s Choice Award and

second place for postsecondary tables—and a job offer with the

Datesweiser Furniture Corporation!

Youth CulturesThe Art Education Department’s

third annual graduate class exhibition,

Youth Cultures: The Multiple Worlds

of Adolescents, was displayed in Upton

Hall as part of the “Evening for

Educators” event which honors

educators of Western New York.

Professional ReviewThis fall, prominent area professionals advised interior design students

on career paths and portfolio presentation. The panel discussion was

attended by Julie Deuble (Artisan Kitchens and Baths), Corrine

Harms (Smith+Associates Architects), Denise Juron-Borgese (Ciminelli

Development), Michael Longo (Uniland Development), Brooke Pelc

(Nest Interiors), Colleen Robinson (Carmina Wood Morris), Jane Siebert

(Roche & Company), and Cheri Weatherston (Iskalo Development).

Table for Dali by Adam Kessler▲ Motomorphic Chair by Nathaniel Hall

▲

In turn, Mashirika students performed a piece of African theater.

Hope Azeda, artistic director of Mashirika, and Kahn then

collaborated to direct a performance fusing the two groups and

styles. The Buffalo State students also visited museums, genocide

memorials, orphanages, and hospitals, and earned three credit

hours for their participation.

Toronto Film Festival

03The annual interior design student show in the Czurles-Nelson Gallery

showcased outstanding studio projects from the freshman sequence, which

includes residential and retail space, public buildings, office lighting, and

interior detailing in the forms of audiovisual media, drawings, physical models,

renderings, and computer renderings and animation.

Arts and Humanit ies

fig.

Interior Design Student Show

‘Rattlesnake Pete’ Outfit ConservedThe Art Conservation Department recently conserved

an outfit owned by Rochester legend Peter “Rattlesnake Pete”

Gruber (1858–1932). Gruber moved to Rochester from

Pennsylvania in 1890 to open a

museum and saloon showcasing

his snakes and odd collectibles.

The department treated his

jacket, pants, vest, and hat,

which all belong to the

collection of the Rochester

Museum and Science Center.

George Bruce on CampusAuthor, entrepreneur, producer, and social activist George Bruce

read from his work and answered questions in Ketchum Hall in

November. Bruce is cofounder of the award-winning Russell

Simmons Presents Def Poetry on HBO and editor of The Bandana

Republic: An Anthology of Poetry and Prose by Gang Members

and Their Affiliates.

Faculty-Student ColloquiumEach semester, the Philosophy and Humanities Department hosts a

colloquium series to discuss novel concepts, emerging theories, and new

ideas. In the fall, faculty members present their work, which is critiqued

by students. In the spring, students present their work, which is critiqued

by peers. This fall’s presentations were “The First Trial of Socrates,” by

George Hole, Distinguished Teaching Professor; “Atheism and the

Meaning of Life,” by Kimberly Blessing, associate professor; “Aristotle,

Eastwood, Friendship, and Death,” by Jason Grinnell, assistant professor;

“Ontic Emergence: An Argument from Chemistry 101,” by Justin

Donhauser, lecturer; “Exploring the Limits of Toleration,” by John

Draeger, associate professor; and “On the Temporal and Modal Profile

of Institutional Ontology,” by Julian Cole, assistant professor.

100 ThousandPoets for ChangeArea poets and poetry lovers

gathered in Rockwell Quad on

September 24 to participate in the

global social and political initiative

100 Thousand Poets for Change.

With more than 600 individual

poetry events in nearly 100 coun-

tries taking place simultaneously,

the global gathering was dubbed

“the largest poetry reading in

history.” David Landrey, professor

emeritus, English, organized the

Buffalo event, which focused on a

theme of “healing” and included

an evening of music and dancing in

the Bulger Communication Center.

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