Senior Vice President of CBS News Speaks at Wells College

Marcy McGinnis to lecture on women leaders

The Wells College Arts & Lecture Series Committee is pleased to announce that senior CBS News officer Marcy McGinnis will speak on the Aurora campus. Ms. McGinnis will give an address entitled “She Leads Just Like a Woman: How Women Are Changing the Rules so Everyone Wins” on Wednesday, May 4 at 7:00 p.m. in Phipps Auditorium, Macmillan Hall. Prices are $3 for students and children, $6 for senior citizens and the Wells College community, and $10 for the general public. Groups will receive a special flat rate of $50 for between 20 and 40 attendees. Tickets are available at the door the night of the performance; please call 315/364-3428 to reserve.

Marcy McGinnis was named senior vice president of CBS News in June 2001. She manages worldwide news-gathering, breaking news, hard news and crisis coverage, as well as the operation of all national and international bureaus.

Ms. McGinnis was at the helm during the tragic events of September 11 and the subsequent war in Afghanistan. She oversees coverage of the war with Iraq, and the 2004 presidential campaign, including the political conventions, also fell under her direction. Ms. McGinnis received three Emmy Awards for CBS News’ coverage of the death of Princess Diana. 

A native of Allenhurst, New Jersey, Ms. McGinnis graduated with honors from Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia.  She holds an honorary doctorate from Hofstra University’s School of Communication and is on the boards of Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communications, and the International Women in Media Foundation.

The Wells College Arts & Lecture Series features professional guest artists and performers who are brought to campus to enrich the cultural and academic components of Wells as a learning community. The acts are selected annually by a committee comprised of Wells faculty, staff, and students.

For more information about Marcy McGinnis’ lecture and the Wells Arts & Lecture Series, please contact Meagen Mulherin, assistant dean for campus involvement, at 315/364-3428 and visit the college's website: www.wells.edu. Additional information about Ms. McGinnis may also be found at www.cbs.com.

April, 2005

President of Trinity University to address graduates on May 28

Wells College President Lisa Marsh Ryerson is pleased to announce that Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity University in Washington, D.C., will be Wells’ 2005 Commencement speaker. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 28 on the Aurora campus. 

“I am delighted the senior class has selected my colleague Pat McGuire as their Commencement speaker,” said Ryerson. “Her understanding of contemporary higher education and commitment to women make her an ideal speaker for this Commencement as we celebrate the accomplishments of the Class of 2005.”

A board member of the Women’s College Coalition and widely acclaimed for her commitment to women-centered education, Patricia McGuire also writes and speaks about a wide range of higher education issues and Catholic education. She has been a legal affairs commentator for the award-winning CBS children’s newsmagazine 30 Minutes and the Fox Television program Panorama in Washington. Her articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, and Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education, among others.

McGuire received her bachelor of arts degree cum laude from Trinity College and went on to earn her law degree from Georgetown University. Before becoming president of her alma mater in 1989, she was assistant dean for development and external affairs at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she also taught. Previous to that, she was project director for Georgetown's D.C. Street Law Project. 

During the Clinton Administration, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin appointed her to serve on the first citizen’s advisory panel on coinage, which chose Sacagawea’s image for the new dollar coin. Anthony Williams, mayor of Washington, invited her to join the Education Advisory Committee that oversees D.C. public schools. 

McGuire is currently on the board of directors of three prominent D.C. organizations: Greater Washington Board of Trade, Washington Hospital Center, and Washington Metropolitan Consortium of Universities. She serves on committees of the American Council on Education and the National Capital Girl Scouts. Previously, she has been on the boards of the Middle States Accrediting Association and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

Founded in 1897, Trinity is a comprehensive university enrolling more than 1,700 students in degree programs and another 3,000 students in continuing education programs. In 2004, Trinity College adopted the name “Trinity University” to describe the full scope of the school’s educational enterprise. The name “Trinity College” still refers to the historic women’s college at Trinity, which is part of Trinity University along with the coeducational School of Education and School of Professional Studies. Among Trinity’s many core mission values is a deep-seated commitment to the education of women. 

For more information about 2005 Commencement exercises at Wells College, please call Kelly Tehan, communications director, at 315/364-3260. Additional information about Patricia McGuire may be found at www.trinitydc.edu.

April, 2005

Wells Theatre Department Hosts V-Day Lecturer

Allison Prouty speaks about ending violence against women, girls

The Wells College Theatre Department is pleased to announce that stage director and producer Allison Prouty will lecture on Thursday, April 28 at 7:30 pm in Phipps Auditorium, Macmillan Hall. Prouty has long been associated with Eve Ensler’s original stage production The Vagina Monologues. Prouty will speak on her involvement with V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls which grew out of Ensler’s play. The lecture is free and the public is invited to attend.

In preparation for Ms. Prouty’s talk, there will be a free screening of the movie “V-Day: Until The Violence Stops” in the Sommer Student Center on Wednesday, April 27 at 8:00 pm. The film chronicles how The Vagina Monologues grew into V-Day, an international grassroots movement to stop violence against women and girls. More than just a group testimonial, “Until The Violence Stops” is a moving celebration of community awareness that leaves us with the hope that change can happen. 

Allison Prouty is associate artistic director for V-Day, founded by playwright and performer Eve Ensler. Prouty has been working with Ensler and V-Day for the past three years producing events such as Vaginas Vote, Chicks Rock at The Apollo Theater (in conjunction with MTV’s Rock The Vote), and many other V-Day events, fundraisers, marches, productions and tours around the world. Since 2002, over eight hundred cities have participated in V-Day celebrations by staging benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues.

Prouty’s other directing credits include Boston Marriage, How I Learned to Drive, Mother, The Maids, Miss Julie, and Keely and Du. She most recently served as associate producer for Ensler’s new Broadway play The Good Body. She has worked with the Hartford (Connecticut) Stage Company, the Hangar Theater in Ithaca, Icarus Theatre Ensemble, Williamstown Theater Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and O’Connor Casting in Chicago. She is a graduate of Skidmore College.

For more information about Allison Prouty’s lecture, please call visiting Theatre Professor Siouxsie Grady at 315/364-3232.

April, 2005

Wells College Students Selected to Present Research Findings at National Conference

2005 marks 17th year Wells scholars have participated in NCUR

Seven Wells College students were invited to present the results of their original research at the 19th National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) held April 20 – 23 at Washington & Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. Wells scholars have attended and presented at every NCUR conference since 1989.

This will be the 17th time Wells Professor of Chemistry Christopher Bailey has accompanied students to the conference. 

“Undergraduate research is the ultimate teaching tool,” says Bailey. “No matter what the student’s interests, Wells helps to foster faculty/student partnerships that allow for advanced and independent exploration of those areas. Student participation in NCUR bears this out - the 90 or so Wells students who have participated in NCUR over the past 17 years have represented all of the divisions at the college, and almost every discipline. This interaction occurs in all areas, not just the sciences, and NCUR is not just a science conference.”

The student presenters for 2005, their research topics, and their faculty advisor(s) are:

Kathryn Fong ’06, “Queer Media as Public Discourse.” (Spencer Hildahl)

Katherine Gero ’05, “Using Bioinformatics Tools to Visualize the Ligand-Receptor Complex of the Mel-1A Receptor in Gallus gallus.” (Christina Wahl, Christopher Bailey)

Sabrina Johnston ’05, “Religious Coping and Psychological Health.” (Jill Hill)

Melissa Patterson ’05, “The Effect of Reduced Gas Exchange on Hematocrit and Body
Weight of Chick Embryos.” (Christina Wahl)

Nicole Pellegrino ’05, “Student Satisfaction at Wells College and Its Link to Retention Rates.” (Deborah Gagnon)

Karen Stangl ’05, “Proteomic Profiling of Three Penicilium Species to Investigate Fungal Dimorphism.” (Christina Wahl)

Jin Joo Yun ’05, “Role of Vision in Mating Behavior of Male Nasonia vitripennis.”
(Candace Collmer)

Professor Bailey attributes Wells’ success in this area to the large number of faculty members at the College who believe in and support undergraduate research. Wells students have extraordinary opportunities to work closely with their professors on original research. Most majors offer academic credit for research activities, and students are required to complete a senior thesis or research project before graduation.

This emphasis on research in the undergraduate curriculum at Wells, similar to graduate-level studies at other colleges and universities, gives students an advantage, whether they plan to continue their studies or enter a career immediately after graduation.

The mission of NCUR is to promote undergraduate research scholarship and creative activity done in partnership with faculty or other mentors as a vital component of higher education.

Each year, NCUR participants come from over 300 colleges and universities representing almost every state in the nation. Since its inception in 1987, NCUR has become a major annual event drawing over 2,000 undergraduates, faculty, and administrators to hear and discuss undergraduate creative and scholarly work.  In addition, NCUR presents an opportunity to hear nationally prominent speakers and for faculty to discuss educational policy, programs, and funding for undergraduate scholarly work. More information about NCUR may be found at: www.NCUR.org.

For more information about Wells’ participation in NCUR or research possibilities at Wells, please call Chemistry Professor Christopher Bailey at 315/364-3286.

April, 2005

Wells College to Offer New Sport in Fall 2005

Cross-Country to be added to athletics offerings

The Wells College Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is pleased to announce the addition of cross-country to its list of athletic opportunities for students beginning in Fall 2005. Cross-country will be sponsored for both women and men.  In response to the Board of Trustees’ October decision to begin accepting men to the historically women’s college, Wells has already introduced men’s soccer and swimming teams at the club level. 

“We are in the midst of preparing for cross-country, and are excited about this latest addition to our cadre of sports offerings at Wells,” says Director of Athletics Lyn LaBar. “Student applicants have shown interest in cross-country and a search will begin immediately for a part-time coach to lead the women’s and men’s programs.”

Cross-country will be offered at the intercollegiate level in Fall 2005 and the team will compete at away meets and invitationals during the first year of the program.  Plans are underway to develop running courses on the Wells campus. 

Wells is an NCAA Division III member and currently offers six varsity women’s sports teams: field hockey, soccer, tennis, swimming, lacrosse, and softball. All six teams are members of the New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association (NYSWCAA), while field hockey, soccer, swimming, softball and lacrosse compete in the Atlantic Women’s Colleges Conference (AWCC). The intercollegiate men’s programs will also participate at the NCAA Division III level.

Wells offers students a variety of indoor and outdoor facilities. The Schwartz Student Center, which houses a swimming pool, gymnasium, weight room, a cardio room, and two tennis courts, will be renovated this summer to enhance existing spaces and accommodate the growth of programs and personnel. Outdoor facilities include four tennis courts, softball field, boathouse, a 9-hole golf course, and both practice and game fields for field hockey, soccer, and lacrosse. 

Wells plans to further expand intercollegiate athletic program opportunities for women and men during the next few years.

For additional information about new developments in athletics at Wells College, please contact Director of Athletics Lyn LaBar at 315/364-3410.

April, 2005

A Rockin’ Spring Weekend Planned at Wells College

“Springshine” rolls into Aurora

The Wells College Programming Board is pleased to announce Spring Weekend 2005. Scheduled for Saturday, April 23, this rockin’ event is sure to please everyone, especially the college crowd. Springshine will take place on the Wells College campus on Route 90 in the village of Aurora. The general public gets in for $5 at the gate; children 10 and under are free. Springshine is free for the Wells community.

Gates open at 11:30 and the fun begins at 12:00 noon on the lawn in front of the Sommer Student Center. A four band line-up promises lots of awesome live music. Local talent The Bottom Feeders of Aurora fire it up at 12:30 with their distinctive acoustic folk style. At 2:00, Ohio rockers Nemesis 3 hits the stage with their hard driving sound. A hip-hop band will play at 3:30. Wrapping up a great day of live tunes, renowned singer-songwriter Dar Williams brings her special brand of pop-folk to the stage from 5:00 – 6:00 pm. A brilliant fireworks display will cap off Springshineat 9:00 pm.

General admission is $5.00 at the gate the day of the event. Special novelty activities include alien laser tag, gladiator jousting, spin art, a bungee run, sand art, key chain making, and airbrush tattoos. The public is invited to bring a blanket or lawn chair and enjoy vendor booths, games, dancing, a barbeque, craft tables, and more. Beer, soft drinks, and food will be available for purchase. No recording devices, coolers or outside food or beverages permitted. 

Springshine will be held rain or shine. For more information, please contact the Office of Campus Involvement at 315/364-3428 and check out the college’s calendar of events at www.wells.edu/whatsnew/calendar.htm. More band information may be found at  www.darwilliams.com.

April, 2005

Wells College Celebrates International Studies Day

NYU professor Teboho Moja speaks on higher ed in South Afric

Wells College will observe International Studies Day with a special guest speaker. Professor Teboho Moja of New York University will speak on  “Democratization of Higher Education in South Africa within the African and Global Studies Contexts.” Her talk will take place on Thursday, April 14 at 4:45 pm in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. The public is invited to attend this free lecture.

Professor Moja is a member of the graduate faculty at NYU’s Department of Administration, Leadership, and Technology in the School of Education. There she teaches a wide variety of courses, including International Perspectives on Reform, Diversity in Higher Education, the American College in a Global Context, Globalization and Higher Education, and Leadership and Women. 

Professor Moja received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, a master’s in Education from University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and two bachelor’s degrees from the University of the North in South Africa. She has participated in international higher education, including a recent appointment as one of three reviewers for the Partnership Project on Africa. This assignment was funded by four American educational foundations: Ford, Rockefeller, MacArthur, and Carnegie. Moja has also been a researcher and consultant with UNESCO at the Institute of International Education Planning and the Forum on Higher Education. In South Africa, Professor Moja has been a special advisor to the Minister of Education, as well as the general manager for educational broadcasting at the South African Broadcasting Corporation, and the executive director of the National Commission on Higher Education. She has published widely on issues of gender, pedagogy, globalization, and other topics in higher education.

For more information about International Studies Day and Professor Moja’s lecture, please call Wells History Professor Cynthia J. Koepp at 315/364-3224.

April, 2005

Wells Book Arts Center Presents Semi-Annual Lecture

David Pankow of RIT talks about the art, business of printing

The Wells College Book Arts Center is pleased to announce that David Pankow will present the 21st Susan Garretson Swartzburg ’60 Memorial Book Arts Lecture this spring. His lecture, entitled “The Paper Chase: Learning the Art, Craft, and Business of Printing,” will be presented at 8:00 pm on Thursday, April 21 in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. A reception will follow in Morgan Hall, offering attendees the opportunity to meet the speaker; the public is cordially invited to attend.

David Pankow is the curator of the Melbert B. Cary, Jr. Graphic Arts Collection at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. The Cary Collection is one of the country’s premier rare book libraries on the history and practice of printing. The collection also includes holdings on papermaking, bookbinding, type founding, and the art of the book.

A professor in the graduate program of RIT’s School of Printing, Mr. Pankow has written and lectured extensively, and is currently the editor of Printing History, the scholarly journal published by the American Printing History Association. In June 2000, he organized Bookbinding 2000, a conference attended by over 400 international bookbinders and conservators, followed that October by On the Digital Brink, a conference exploring the ways in which digital technologies are being used by scholars to study the history of the book. 

His talk at Wells College will focus on the degree to which art and craft are still relevant in today’s highly automated and commercially driven printing industry. He will look at where the book arts fit into printing education, and how they can be used to inspire students in a business- and digitally-oriented curriculum. 

David Pankow’s lecture is part of the Susan Garretson Swartzburg ’60 Memorial Book Arts Lecture Series that is made possible through the Heiland-Garretson Book Arts Lecture Fund, established by Susan Garretson Swartzburg ’60 and sustained through the generosity of her family. 

The Wells Book Arts Center was established in 1993 to instruct in all areas of book arts and technologies. Students in book arts classes and workshops 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. The Center is currently developing the inaugural Book Arts Summer Institute which will consist of two, one-week intensive courses to be offered June 19 - 25 and June 26 - July 2.

For more information about David Pankow’s lecture and the book arts at Wells College, please contact director Terrence Chouinard at 315/364-3420 and visit the website: www.wells.edu/bookarts.

April, 2005

Wells College Alumna to Give Public Reading

Playwright and author Christie Perfetti presents her work

The Wells College Visiting Writers Series welcomes back Christie Perfetti, Wells class of 2000. Perfetti will read from her book Revolutions Per Minute at 7:30 pm on Thursday, April 14 in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. The presentation is free and open to the public. A reception will follow, giving guests an opportunity to meet the speaker. Refreshments will be served.

Born and raised in Oswego, New York, Christie Perfetti now lives and works in Manhattan. While a student at Wells College, she received several theatrical and academic awards, was selected for Who’s Who in American University Students in 1999 and 2000, and earned a Kaufmann Entrepreneurial Scholarship which led to an internship with singer Joan Jett and music producer Steve Leber in New York City. 

After graduation, she worked with singer/songwriter Paul Simon, assisting with his 2003 reunion tour with Art Garfunkel. She then returned to work for Leber at Lifestyle Communications as a writer for rap singers Jay-Z and 50 Cent, and the hit TV series American Idol, as well as for several television pilots and Broadway shows.

Perfetti wrote, directed, and produced Carnival Girls, a full-length off-off-Broadway production which debuted at the Pantheon Theatre in July 2004. Its run was extended, and reopened at the Kraine Theatre in August 2004.

Her first novel, Revolutions Per Minute, was released by PublishAmerica in 2004. A culture novel for the post-9/11 era, Perfetti creates a male protagonist in his early thirties, John Atlas, who faces a tragic turn of events and twist-of-fate from which he seeks to free himself of all obligation. John fights to wipe the slate clean and create a different life-all the while loving, hurting, and learning.

For more information about Christie Perfetti’s reading and visit, please contact Bruce Bennett, Professor of English, at 315-364-3228.

April, 2005

Wells College Presents Lecture by Gay Activist

Amber Hollibaugh talks about sexuality’s role in society

Amber Hollibaugh will speak at Wells College on Monday, April 11. Hollibaugh’s talk, “Creating the Possibilities for Desire: Engaging Our Feminism with a Radical Politics that Builds Hope for the Future,” will begin at 7:00 pm in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. The lecture is free and the public is invited to attend.

Radical movements of all kinds have debated sexuality’s role and importance in their vision of a new society. The women’s liberation movement and later feminism have long been split over differing understandings about sex and power, sex and the erotic, sex and race, sex and class, and sex and possibility. Hollibaugh’s talk will explore these differences.

A well-known activist, artist, writer, and community organizer, Amber Hollibaugh has been working on cutting edge issues of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered liberation movement since its beginnings in 1969. Hollibaugh is a senior strategist at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Previously, she worked at SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) where she served as the Director of Education, Advocacy and Community Building. SAGE is the first national organization dedicated to providing services and advocacy for LGBT senior citizens. For many years, she created innovative national HIV and AIDS programs and was the first director of the Lesbian AIDS Project at Gay Men’s Health Crisis. She is author of My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home. 

Hollibaugh is co-producer and director The Heart of the Matter, a documentary about women’s sexuality and HIV risk, which won the 1994 Sundance Festival Freedom of Expression Award and ran on the PBS series, P.O.V. Hollibaugh is on the advisory panel of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation, is a board member of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), and is a founding board member of Queers for Economic Justice. She is one of the nation’s leading experts on LGBT senior issues and HIV in women.

The lecture is sponsored by the Women’s Studies and Psychology Departments, the Division of Social Sciences, WRC, LBQTA, and the Dean of the College. For more information contact Professor Victoria Muñoz at vmunoz@wells.edu or 315/364-3248.

April, 2005

Wells College Displays Ithaca Artist’s Work

Karen Allaben Confer’s birds on exhibit through May 12

The Wells College Art Department is pleased to announce the opening of its latest exhibition. A selection of paintings and illustrations of birds by Ithaca artist Karen Allaben Confer will be on display in the String Room Gallery from April 13 through May 12, 2005. The exhibit is free and the public is cordially invited. An opening reception to be held on Wednesday, April 13 from 7:00-9:00 pm offers an opportunity to meet the artist; refreshments will be served.

Karen Allaben Confer was first introduced to the world of birds by her husband John, an Ithaca College professor, aquatic ecologist, and ornithologist. She learned how to sketch and paint birds from life at the Asa Wright Nature Center in Trinidad. Now, birds and all that relate to them consume the couple’s professional and personal lives. They travel extensively to Canada, Maine, and the far north to learn and gain inspiration.

Born and raised in Ithaca, New York, Karen received a B.A. in biology from Ithaca College. “I have come to believe that nature tells its own story, that science is tied inexorably to art,” says Karen. “…I hope my art reflects the knowledge, responsibility, and passion that…influence my interpretations of birds in art. All that I have learned and achieved…enters into the visual and musical realm of birds and other beings of nature - filling my life and art with song, color, texture, light, and shadow - and always - wonder!”

Karen was invited to census birds for the Canadian Ministry of Natural Resources in the Hudson Bay Lowlands, and for 30 years has canoe-trekked through remote wilderness areas of Ontario and Saskatchewan. In 2000, she took over “Backyard Birding,” a monthly column featured in the Ithaca Journal.  She plans to gather her articles and stories into an anthology one day. 

Confer is an active member of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca. She has won numerous art awards and exhibited her work across the northeast and Canada. She won the George Miksch Sutton Award for Ornithological Art; the prize-winning work was featured as the frontis piece of The Wilson Bulletin, an international journal for professional ornithologists. Her entries have also been accepted by the esteemed Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin, and with other selected works, have traveled with the “Birds in Art” tour for nine years. 

In 2001-02, “Birds in Art” came to Wells College through the generosity of alumna Alice Woodson Smith, Wells class of 1970. Karen Confer was the invited guest speaker at a special opening reception in the String Room Gallery. 

The String Room Gallery is located in Main Building. 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 exhibit, please contact art professor and String Room Gallery director William Roberts at 315/364-3237..

April, 2005

Wells College Announces New Communications Director

Kelly Tehan no stranger to Wells; takes on new duties

Wells College Vice President for External Relations Ann Rollo has announced that Kelly Tehan has been appointed Communications Director.  Kelly was most recently Rollo’s assistant in the External Relations Office at Wells. She began her new duties on March 16. 

“I am delighted that Kelly Tehan will be Wells’ new Communications Director,” says Rollo. “Her strong writing skills, dedication to quality and timeliness, and professional disposition will serve the college well.”

In her new role, Tehan will share the college’s mission and news with internal and external audiences; promote Wells’ academic, recruitment, development and alumnae relations programs; manage publications; and continue to oversee cultural enrichment event publicity. 

She holds an A.A.S. degree in Hotel Management from Paul Smith’s College, and graduated summa cum laude from Ithaca College with a B.S. in Corporate Communication. At the time, she worked in the School of Business at Ithaca College as the associate dean’s assistant. 

“I am pleased to be serving Wells College in this new role,” says Kelly.  “I had been handling some of the responsibilities since the college began the transition to coeducation. It is gratifying that my work was recognized, and I am excited to be given the chance to step up and help guide Wells into a new time in her history.” 

Kelly is actively involved in the local community. She currently represents Wells in the Leadership Cayuga class of 2005; serves on the executive board of the Aurora Arts & Merchants Association; directs the King Ferry Presbyterian Church youth group; was elected vice chair of the Wells College Staff Forum; is a member of the American Association of University Women, and is a class agent for Paul Smith’s College.

For more information, please contact Ann Rollo at 315/364-3416.

April, 2005

Wells Book Arts Center Presents Papermaking Workshop

Artist Carol Blinn shows participants how to decorate paper

The Wells College Book Arts Center is hosting a creative papermaking workshop weekend Saturday, April 9 and Sunday, April 10 on the Aurora campus. Entitled "Decorating Paper with Colored Paste, or Finger Painting for Adults," workshop participants will have the opportunity to work with Massachusetts artist Carol Blinn from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm both days. The workshop is limited to 10 people; advance registration is required. Cost is $150 per person and includes materials. More information may be found at www.wells.edu/bookarts or by contacting the Wells Book Arts Center at 315/364-3420.

"Decorating Paper with Colored Paste, or Finger Painting for Adults" will loosen up creative energies and unleash the need to get messy. Using paste, acrylic paints, and basic tools, participants will learn to design and create attractive papers that can be used for a variety of purposes. Students will leave the workshop with samples of a dozen different patterns and methods. Both professional book artists and those who wish to learn a satisfying and beautiful craft are welcome. 

Carol J. Blinn has been making and using decorated paste papers in her own book making work for more than thirty years. She is the proprietor of Warwick Press in Easthampton, Massachusetts, and is known for her typographic design, letterpress printing, limited edition books, and her decorative papers. One can see the range and scope of her work on-line by going to: www.warwickpress.com.

The Wells College Book Arts Center was established in 1993 to instruct in all areas of book arts and technologies. Students in book arts classes and workshops 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. The Center is currently developing the inaugural Book Arts Summer Institute which will consist of two, one-week intensive courses to be offered June 19 - 25 and June 26 - July 2.

For more information about the decorative papers workshop or the Summer Institute, please call 315/364-3420, email Sarah Roberts at smroberts@wells.edu or visit www.wells.edu/bookarts.

April, 2005

Poetry Reading at Wells College

Wells English professor Bruce Bennett reads from his latest book

The Wells College Visiting Writer Series is pleased to welcome back published poet Bruce Bennett. Bennett will read selected poems from his latest book Web-Watching at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, April 6 in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. The public is invited to attend this free reading.

This reading by Wells College English professor and poet Bruce Bennett will feature poems from his new chapbook, Web-Watching, which won the 2003 Bright Hill Press Poetry Chapbook competition. Bright Hill’s founder and director Bertha Rogers will introduce Professor Bennett.

Web-Watching is a collection of 24 poems which examine the ordinary phenomena of life while raising questions about the nature of design in the world. In her comments on the book, author and critic Judith Kitchen observes: “Web-Watching addresses large issues by looking at the small worlds of moth and loon and dragonfly. Form mediates: it delights and instructs.” Editor Peter Makuck writes: “At the heart of Bruce Bennett’s work is wonder of vision and rigor of craft. These brilliant poems repay our attention with dramatic images and luminous moments; they wear their wisdom lightly and quickly connect in a human and intimate way. Bennett makes us see and feel a mysterious web of infinite connectedness.”

Professor Bennett is the author of numerous books of poetry and poetry chapbooks. Booklist cited his Navigating the Distances: Poems New and Selected as “one of the top ten poetry books of 1999.”

This reading and the Wells College Visiting Writer Series are made possible in part by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.  Poets and writers are invited to campus throughout the academic year to meet with students, present writing workshops, and read from their respective works.

For more information about Bruce Bennett’s reading and the Visiting Writers Series at Wells College, please contact Bennett directly at 315/364-3228.

April, 2005
 
 

Wells College News Archive
 

Last updated 06/17/2005