Wells College Announces Group Art Exhibit

Four regional artists display a variety of media

The Wells College Art Department is pleased to announce the opening of its latest exhibition. A selection of work by four regional artists will be on display in the String Room Gallery from November 12 - December 12, 2003. The exhibit is free and the public is cordially invited. An opening reception to be held on Wednesday, November 12 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. offers an opportunity to meet the artists; refreshments will be served.

A variety of media will be presented by an eclectic group of artists. Brian Elder will show his abstract paintings. Brian is a professor of art at Central Michigan University who received his MFA from the University of Indiana at Bloomington. Born in Germany, Eileen Pleasure O’Brien paints in the abstract expressionistic style. She currently teaches and paints in Buffalo, and received her master’s degree in behavioral psychology from the University of Buffalo. 

Mark Iwinski is a sculptor who works in both wood block printing and abstract wood sculptures. He is a visiting professor of art in the sculpture department at Cornell. Damon McArthur, a recent graduate of Hobart College in Geneva, NY, teaches painting at Western Illinois University. He will be displaying his still life paintings.

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. For more information about the show and art classes at Wells, please contact art professor and String Room Gallery director William Roberts at 315/364-3237.

October, 2003

Wells College Students Present Fall Drama Production

Anton in Show Business - Three Independent Women…One Stage 

The Wells College Theatre Department proudly presents Anton in Show Business as this fall’s student drama production. The comedy will be featured on Friday, November 7 and Saturday, November 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Phipps Auditorium, Macmillan Hall on the Aurora campus. Prices are $3 for students and children, $5 for senior citizens and the Wells College community, and $7 for the general public. Tickets are available from the box office the week preceding the show, and at the door the night of the performance. Please call 315/364-3456 or email  boxoffice@wells.edu to reserve seats.

Anton in Show Business is based on Anton Chekhov’s famous The Three Sisters classic, yet reveals writer Jane Martin’s own edgy twists. The play features an all-female cast, and tells the tale of three unique independent women who come together to mount a stage production of The Three Sisters in San Antonio, Texas. They encounter every imaginable obstacle and confront many controversial issues of modern life, from plastic surgery to racism. 

The hilarious comedy, rated PG-13 for strong language and adult content, presents three Wells College students: freshwoman Beth Anne Nelson plays Lisabette Cartwright, a hapless third grade teacher and newcomer to the stage; glamorous television star Holly Seabe is played by freshwoman Rebecca Cooper; and junior Lauren Noyes portrays the jaded, off-off Broadway actress Casey Mulgraw. These women comically contemplate their different relationships with the stage, and poke tongue-in-cheek fun at the stereotypes and revealing backstage realities of the world of theatre. At the end of the day, they realize they have more in common than they ever dreamed.

Anton in Show Business is directed by visiting assistant theatre professor Siouxsie Grady of Ithaca. Grady works as audience services manager in Cornell’s Theatre, Film and Dance Department. She received her Master of Theatre Education in Drama from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a B.A. in Speech and Theatre from the University of Montevallo in Alabama. Siouxsie has taught theatre workshops and classes across the country and most recently at Ithaca’s Kitchen Theatre Company and the Hangar Theatre.  Scenery and lights are designed and presented by technical director Joe DeForest. 

In addition to the three lead characters, Wells College students comprise the rest of the cast and crew: Rachel Crosbie (cast), Dana Finegan (cast and props), Margaret Irving (props), Zoe Malinchoc (board op), Rebecca Miles-Stiener (board op), Isabelle Ramos (cast), and Whitney Sampson (cast). Deborah Dhuy is assistant director, and Angela Azevedo and Cindy Cicarell serve as stage managers. Cast member Lauren Noyes also doubles as costume designer.

For more information about Anton in Show Business and performing arts classes at Wells, please contact theatre professor and director Siouxsie Grady at 315/364-3232 or email sgrady@wells.edu. 

October, 2003

Friends & Family Weekend 2003

Each fall, students invite their families and friends for a festive weekend. This tradition usually includes a reception with the president, a special dinner dance, campus activities, and field trips to regional locations of interest. The Office of Campus Involvement coordinates the weekend. For more information, please contact Meagan Mulherin, assistant dean for campus involvement, at 315/364-3428.

Schedule

Friday, November 7

1:00-5:00pm  Check-in       Main Lobby
(5pm-on, check-in will be located at the Office of Campus Safety) 

5:00pm  Welcome by class officers    Chapel

6:00pm  Dinner on own (please see “Dining Options”) 

8:00pm  Family Movie “Finding Nemo”   Sommer Center
 

Saturday, November 8

7:00-9:00am  Continental Breakfast    Main Lobby

10:00am-12 noon Class receptions 

• Senior Class Mother/Daughter Brunch AER
• Junior Class     Faculty Parlors
• Sophomore Class    Sommer Ctr.
• First-year Class    Main Smoker 

12 noon  Lunch on own

1:00pm  Friends and Family Weekend Trips:
(Sign ups will be located at check-in, and then at Campus Safety after 5:00pm on Friday.  This is first come, first served, however, you may take your own vehicle to the various locations.)

• Winery Tour        Front of Main 

Visit King Ferry and Long Point Wineries
 
• Historic Homes     Front of Main

Visit the historical sites of the Harriet Tubman and Seward Homes 
 
• Women’s Hall of Fame of Seneca Falls    Front of Main

6:30-11:00pm  Dinner Dance    Sommer Center
           (Open to pre-registered friends and families only)
 

Sunday, November 9

7:00-9:00am   Continental Breakfast   Lobby of Main

9:30-11:00am  Morning Tea & Tours of the Newly Restored Aurora Inn   Meet at Aurora Inn

12:00 noon     Lunch on own
Concert with Whirligigs, Henry’s VIIIs and Gospel Choir          Dining Hall
 

Other events and activities going on during the weekend:

The Wells College bookshop is open on Friday from 8:30am-5:00pm, and on Saturday from 10:00am-2:00pm

7:30pm on both Friday and Saturday: Wells College Theater Dept. presents: Anton in Show Business       Phipps Auditorium 

11:00am, Saturday  AWCC Swim meet w/College of Notre Dame 
Schwartz Student Union

2:00pm, Sunday: The Wells College Concert Choir and Chamber Singers Fall  Concert         Barler Recital Hall

Original Quilt Show 
“Stitch, Color, & Cloth” will be shown through December 15
The quilts will be shown in the lobbies of the Long Library from November 1 – December 15, 2003. The exhibit is free and the public is cordially invited to view the installation.   Long Library lobby hours are Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday 12:00 noon to 6:00 pm, and Sunday from 12:00 noon to 9:00 p.m. 
 

Dining Options:

In an effort to leave your dining options open, and keep your registration costs to a minimum, The Friends and Family Weekend Committee has not included meals other then the Dinner Dance in the weekend’s programming.  There will however be a continental breakfast served both Saturday and Sunday morning at no charge.  Please see below for dinging hours and prices.  By doing this, there is no obligation to stay on campus and you have the option to leave Wells freely for your dining pleasure at any of the local restaurants.

The $30 registration fee goes toward all of the weekend’s programming that was designed collaboratively by the Officers of the Classes of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 and the Office of Campus Involvement. 

Dining Hours and Prices

Full Breakfast/Brunch Saturday & Sunday 8:00am-1:00pm  $4.25

Dinner    Friday 5:30-7:00pm     $7.00 
             Saturday 5:00-6:00pm 

October, 2003

New Edition Recounts History of Wells’ Book Arts Center

The Wells College Press has released a much-needed and finely printed volume chronicling the history of the Victor Hammer Press at Wells and the revival of Hammer’s legacy in the 1990s through the founding of the college’s Book Arts Center.

Written by current Victor Hammer Fellow Sarah Roberts and designed by the center’s Director Terry Chouinard, A History of the Book Arts at Wells College begins by profiling two historic figures responsible for bringing the art of the book into the college’s liberal arts curriculum and into the heart of the community.

This new edition serves as an excellent companion piece to two other books: Sincerely Yours, Victor Hammer (a collection of Hammer’s letters written to poet and novelist Janet Lewis, published by the Wells press) and The Woodcut Art of J.J. Lankes (a special Wells press edition produced in collaboration with David R. Godine). 

According to Roberts, nationally recognized artist Julius John (J.J.) Lankes came to Wells in 1932 at the urging of his friend Robert Frost.  He collaborated with faculty members, illustrated books for R. Tristam Coffin (a well-known poet of that era who taught at Wells), and produced a stunning series of woodcuts depicting the Wells campus and surrounding landscape. 

While at Wells, his book A Woodcut Manual was published by Henry Holt. Lankes brought to the campus community an appreciation of woodcut art. He also heightened appreciation of the interplay between illustration and text, a focus that has endured in art classes and literary studies for decades.

Victor Hammer arrived at Wells in 1939, having fled the Holocaust. He was a highly accomplished painter, calligrapher, type designer, and printer whose sensibilities were firmly rooted in the Old World. Existence in America, which he found laden with nearly intolerable contradictions, perplexed, amused, and annoyed him; however, it sparked his creativity.

He established the Wells College Press in 1941, giving students the opportunity to participate in book production. During his years in Aurora he printed editions by William Carlos Williams, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Rainer Maria Rilke. He also produced several historically significant type faces. “Victor Hammer was a dedicated and accomplished teacher. The books produced by Wells students under his guidance demonstrate sensitive design and beautiful printing,” writes Roberts.

Following Hammer’s retirement, the Wells College Press was idle for 45 years. A former associate of Hammer’s, Robert Doherty, convinced members of the campus community they had an unrealized treasure in Hammer’s connection to the college and the materials he left behind. Doherty’s plan for a revival was enthusiastically supported by alumnae Jane Webster Pearce ’32 and Susan Garretson Swartzburg ’60, among many others. When the Book Arts Center opened in 1993, it was obvious their efforts had exceeded all expectations. 

Today, the Book Arts Center links the liberal arts tradition with hands on learning for Wells students. Their studies range from age-old book crafts to digital design; they produce books and broadsides for well-known literary figures as well as their own creative projects. The center includes the Class of 1932 Bindery and the Wells College Press and has gained recognition as a premier location in the United States for the study of the book, literary production, and conservation.

Roberts writes, “With abundant resources, dedicated faculty, friends, alumnae and students, the Book Arts Center has grown. New courses are being developed, more students are becoming Book Arts minors, and a new understanding of the importance of this broad and dynamic discipline has spread throughout academe.”

To learn more about Sarah Roberts’ A History of the Book Arts at Wells College, visit the book arts website (www.wells.edu/bkarts/info.htm) and the college bookshop website (athena.wells.edu:6080/bookshop/info.htm).

October, 2003

Original Quilt Show on Display at Wells College

“Stitch, Color, & Cloth” will be shown through December 15

Thirty original quilts will be exhibited at Wells College this fall. Created by Wells’ technical director Joe DeForest and his wife Kathy, the quilts will be shown in the lobbies of the Long Library from November 1 – December 15, 2003. The exhibit is free and the public is cordially invited to view the installation. A reception with the quilters will be held on Sunday, November 9 from 4:00-6:00 pm in the library lobby; refreshments will be served.

The quilt show, titled “Stitch, Color, & Cloth,” is presented by Joe and Kathy DeForest of Genoa. Kathy, an operating room nurse and a life-long seamstress, began quilting in 1989 when she enrolled in a class. Her Mariner’s Compass quilt “Sun Burn” was published in the Fall 1996 edition of American Quilters Society magazine. She has taught classes in machine quilting in Skaneateles, and was the guest curator for the antique quilting show held in 1998 at the Cayuga Museum of History and Art in Auburn.

Kathy’s husband Joe was bitten by the quilting bug in 1992 when the two of them worked together on a piece dedicated to Kathy’s mother called “Tucson Ruth.” Joe is a three-time judge at the annual Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center’s "Quilts = Art = Quilts" show in Auburn, and serves as technical director and facilities manager for Wells College’s theatre department. 

Now nationally recognized for their textile art, Joe and Kathy’s quilts have received ribbons at many shows, and have been featured in several magazines, calendars, and industry newsletters. The couple works independently and collaboratively to create original quilts in their studio, located in the loft of their restored Greek Revival farmhouse. Flamboyant color is their trademark, used with abandon as they explore various designs and themes in their work. Together, they are also owners and operators of Shakelton Hardware in Aurora.

The dates for “Stitch, Color, & Cloth” have been intentionally chosen to coincide with the Quilts=Art=Quilts show which runs November 1 – January 4 at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, and with the Amish quilt exhibit to be displayed at the Cayuga Museum of Art from November 2 – January 11.

October, 2003

Stephen L. Zabriskie Named Wells Board Chair

Continuing a family tradition of service to the college going back nearly 150 years, Aurora resident Stephen L. Zabriskie has been elected chair of the Wells College Board of Trustees. His responsibilities in this new position began this summer. 

Steve joined the Wells board in 1996. Previous to being named chair, he served as the board’s secretary and then vice chair. He was chair of the Critical Issues Action Committee that first convened in 1997 and is now a member of the college’s Sustainable Wells Action Team. 

“I enjoy working with faculty, staff, and administration on many different projects. Most of the professors are personal friends, and it’s been good to make common cause with them in trying to mold the future of the college,” he says.

Since graduating from Ithaca College with a degree in English, Steve has distinguished himself through extensive public leadership and service. He was supervisor for the Town of Ledyard, a past president of both the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Cayuga County and the Auburn Memorial Hospital, and has been a board member of the Cayuga Lake National Bank for 28 years.

Currently, he is president of the Auburn Hospital System Foundation. He chairs the Cayuga County Planning Board, the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board, and was also recently appointed a trustee of the Masonic Medical Research Laboratory in Utica, New York. 

The Morgan/Zabriskie tradition of service to the college began in the 19th century when entrepreneur Edwin B. Morgan helped Henry Wells establish Wells. Zabriskie Hall is named in honor of Steve’s grandfather, Nicholas Lansing Zabriskie, who was a Wells trustee for 50 years. Wells’ elegant guest house (formerly known as French House) was a gift given to the college by Steve’s parents, John L. and Lesley Wead Zabriskie. 

Steve says, “My first recollection of Wells is coming to the campus in the fall with my mother, trampling through the amphitheatre and woods, gathering leaves. The college seems like a home to me, and I think of it now as I’ve known it for 30 or more years – a fine institution for women..”

Steve and his wife, alumna  Randi Shaw Zabriskie ’74, have a daughter, Haley, who recently graduated from Colby College in Maine; their son Charlie attends Middlebury College in Vermont. 

October, 2003

Renaissance Scholar And Poet Gives Reading at Wells College

Linda Gregerson will read from her work, give poetry writing workshop

The Wells College Visiting Writer Series is pleased to announce that well-known poet and scholar Linda Gregerson will give a public reading of her poetry at 8:00 pm on Thursday, October 16 in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. The free reading will be followed by a reception with an opportunity to meet the speaker; refreshments will be served.

In addition to being a celebrated poet, Linda Gregerson teaches Renaissance literature and creative writing at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her poems have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Poetry, Ploughshares, the Yale Review, and many anthologies, including The Best American Poetry 2001. Her most recent book of poetry, Waterborne, was published in 2002. She is the author of two previous volumes, Fire in the Conservatory (1982), and The Woman Who Died in Her Sleep (1996). Gregerson is a recent Guggenheim fellow.

Poet Edward Hirsch has called Waterborne Ms. Gregerson’s best book yet, and says that in it "…we are borne along by a language that is at once rich and luminous, lyrical and discursive, reckless and well crafted, ancient and new." Another critic, Grace Schulman, has written: "In Waterborne, Linda Gregerson portrays nothing less than the soul of America, from the Massachusetts colonists to residents of a contemporary town. She writes of people whose dreams and sorrows become our own, capturing their idiom in lines enlightened by biblical and historical truths. The grit of daily life enters her vision, but so does its beauty…."

Ms. Gregerson comes to Wells as part of the college’s Visiting Writers Series, which brings several distinguished writers of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction to campus each year. The Visiting Writer Series is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Virginia Kent Cummins Writers-in-Residence Fund, and the Mildred Walker Fiction-Writer-in-Residence Fund.

During her two-day visit, Ms. Gregerson will participate in classes and conduct a poetry-writing workshop in addition to her reading.

For more information about Linda Gregerson and the Visiting Writers Series at Wells College, please contact English professor Bruce Bennett at 315/364-3228.

October, 2003

Wells Professors: Students Say “Caring, Dedicated, and Phenomenally Knowledgeable”

Susan Talbot, elementary and secondary education director and education instructor, received the college’s 2002-03 Award for Excellence in Teaching. Eleven professors were nominated for the honor by Wells students.

She is described as energetic, innovative, willing to help, caring, and phenomenally knowledgeable. To quote one student, “Professor Talbot comes into class excited because she can teach what she loves. She uses her enthusiasm to get us motivated and on our feet to solve problems. She is always eager to hear what we have to say.” Another wrote, “I want to be this professor when I grow up.”

Susan earned her B.A. from S.U.N.Y. Oswego and her M.S. from Syracuse University. She teaches Introduction to Teaching, The Inclusive Classroom, and Elementary Methods: Teaching Math and Science, among other courses.

Associate Professor of Anthropology and Religion Ernie Olson was chosen from among eight nominees to receive Wells’ 2002-03 Excellence in Advising Award.

In her nomination a student wrote, “This year I became aware of the time and effort Professor Olson devotes to advising. I cannot even count the hours he spent providing feedback on my thesis and coaching me through graduate school applications.” Another student commented, “Good students don’t just appear; they are coached by attentive faculty. My academic accomplishments at Wells are a direct reflection of this professor’s wonderful mentoring skills.”

Ernie received his B.A. from the University of Montana and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. The classes he teaches include Indigenous Peoples of North America, Cultures and Religions of the Pacific, and Ritual Studies and Anthropology. 

October, 2003

Papermaker Gives Book Arts Lecture at Wells College

Peter Thomas presents slide lecture on the books as aesthetic art

The Wells College Book Arts Center is pleased to welcome California papermaker Peter Thomas to campus. Thomas will give a slide lecture at 7:00 pm on Monday, October 6 in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. All are invited to hear this book artist’s presentation. The free lecture will be followed by a reception with an opportunity to meet the speaker; refreshments will be served.

Papermaker Peter Thomas will present a slide lecture entitled “The Literary Book as a Work of Art: Books as Four-Dimensional Art.” The talk will focus on his understandings of the book as art, using selections from his 25-year career as a designer, painter, lettering artist, and collaborative bookmaker.

As a student in the mid-1970s, Thomas’ heartfelt longing was to be a book artist, yet he was perplexed by the then-accepted dogma of book as container and art as something else. He sees the advent of computerized text as liberating the book from its time-honored function as information storage and allowing it to be enjoyed solely as an aesthetic object. Thomas graduated in 1978 from the University of California – Santa Cruz with a degree in Aesthetic Studies. He and his wife Donna have worked collaboratively and individually since 1976, making paper, letterpress printing, and book binding to create books. 

Inspired by Victor Hammer, founder of the Wells College Press and an internationally renowned calligrapher, painter, printer and type designer, the Wells Book Arts Center was established in 1993 to instruct in all areas of book arts and technologies. Students in Wells book arts classes learn the history and philosophy of their craft as they develop hand skills in the fabrication of books. 

They gain international perspective on book arts with visits from accomplished lecturers, writers, and artists, and with field trips to the area's remarkable collection of libraries, presses, paper mills and binderies. Current classes teach design, typography, the evolution of letterforms, letterpress printing, bookbinding, and the history of the book. Though it embraces historical arts and technologies, the Center is not an atavistic curiosity; it actively investigates and incorporates innovations of our digital age. The Wells Book Arts Center supports the mission of the College by revealing the essential role of the book in Western culture and the liberal arts.

For more information about Peter Thomas and the Wells College Book Arts Center, please contact director Terry Chouinard at 315/364-3420 or visit the college’s website at www.wells.edu/bkarts/info.htm.

October, 2003

Earlier Articles in Wells College News:
 

September, 2003
Summer, 2003
May, 2003	Sept.,2000.-May.,2001	May,1998	May - June,1997
April, 2003	Sept. 1999-Aug.,2000	April,1998	March - April,1997
March, 2003	August,1999	March,1998	February,1997
Jan.-Feb., 2003	May,1999	February,1998	Nov. - Dec.,1996
December, 2002	April,1999	January,1998	October,1996
November, 2002	Feb. - March, 1999	December,1997	September,1996
October, 2002	January,1999	November,1997	June - Aug.,1996
September, 2002	Fall,1998	October,1997	May,1996
August, 2002	August,1998	September,1997	April,1996
Sept.,2001.-May.,2002	June -July, 1998	July - August, 1997	Feb - March, 1996

Last updated 11/06/2003