Friday, April 25, 2008

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

Fifth Senior Show to Open

Chester College is pleased to announce that the fifth, and final, senior show of the Spring 2008 semester will open on April 30th, showcasing the art of Jaime Furtak, Courtney Brown, Beth Russell, Stacey Brunette, Thomas Elmore, and Heather Cahill. The opening festivities will last from 7:00-9:00pm on the 30th, with a senior reading by Morgan C. Reynolds at 8:00pm.

Interview with Jaime Furtak
1.Does your exhibit have a title? (What is it?)

No

2.What was your inspiration?

The movie Grindhouse and the posters made for it, old things, film in general.

3.What was the most difficult part of bringing your project together?

Having a long time before the deadline because I don't do anything if I know I've got tons of time on my hands and nobody is telling me when things are due. PROCRASTINATION!

4.Did you ever find yourself stuck during the art process?

I forced myself to start doing posters and eventually I got back into it and got excited again.

5.What was your reaction when you finished?

"Holy SHIT, after this I graduate!"

6.How has your time at CCNE shaped you as an artist?

I guess it was more like a few specific teachers who helped shape me as an artist. If things sucked, then they sucked and they let you know. It's the only way to know to work on things and get better.

8. Do you have any insight for incoming freshmen?

Don't SLACK because you will be screwed. ALSO, LEARN HOW TO USE THE PRINTER AND DON'T BREAK IT!!!

9. Do you have any plans for after graduation?

Working full time at my design job if they so choose to hire me, owning lots of pugs, and being totally sweet.

Interview with Beth Russell
1. Does your exhibit have a title? (What is it?)

It’s not really titled... it’s just my senior show. I can barely title the pieces; I'm bad at naming things.

2. What was your inspiration?

My inspiration was the music and cartoons I've been watching a lot lately... Mostly Metalocalypse. Metal and violence... and its funny.
My show isn't funny really but there's metal music and violence.

3. What was the most difficult part of bringing your project together?

Keeping myself from getting distracted, which basically meant I couldn't work at home.

4. Did you ever find yourself stuck during the art process?

Yes. I make up my animation sequencing as I go along; I also got bored with any related imagery to my project.
I got through the block by finding better ways to work on it, and in some cases, starting over.
After overhauling some stuff it got better because I wasn't letting myself get caught up in the details.

5. What was your reaction when you finished?

You'll know the day of the show, because that’s the day it’s officially done.

7. What was the most difficult of your craft to polish?

It's not exactly polished but... trying to keep my work diverse enough so that everything doesn't look exactly the same or like I did it is a tough one. That one's in progress and probably will be forever.

8. Do you have any insight for incoming freshmen?

Learn the f***ing programs. Try different styles, different color schemes, rip people apart in critique (it’s usually helpful even if it hurts) and always make sure your work is that much better. Watch lots of TV, listen to lots of music, and try stuff that's outside of your preferred genre. Wash your hands, don't share beverages, don't piss into the wind. The friends you make here will last a lifetime if you don't piss them off. Laugh loudly at the people who suck, there are plenty of them in the world and they are there for your entertainment. Befriend a few of them regardless because they can teach you a lot about yourself and change your perspective on things.

9. Do you have any plans for after graduation?

Short-term: Party, visit family, work, and maintain my friendships.
Long-term: Begin therapy so I recuperate from this schizophrenic year of irritation, disappointment, hyperactivity, and lethargy.
Become a successful member of society and never forget just where the hell I came from, even if I leave parts out.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Third Gallery Opening a Success

This past week’s senior show showcased a number of different techniques, outlooks, and styles. Jessie Richardson presented her mixed media paintings, dubbed Violins, each possessing its own number, and a documentary movie, Year of the Northern Forest, about the time she spent in an agricultural “intentional community.” This movie played in Wadleigh’s Conference Room and continues to play throughout the week in the gallery space. Rachel Russell displayed three separate series. The first set comprised a film, A Visual Discourse in the Abatement of the Cylindrical Filaments Characteristically Growing From the Epidermis of a Mammal (A Study in Removing Hair), and a dress made of wax strips covered in her hair, both dealing with outward perceptions of physical beauty. The second series, Untitled, was a group of receipts glued together, representing consumption and memory. The third, and final, series is entitled Pussy Paintings, a set of texture paintings; viewers are encouraged to touch them. Mindy Kern displayed two sets, one a series of 55 Paintings on Metal, which used acrylic, gouache, and watercolor on aluminum, the other a group of three mixed media artist’s books, Doll, Untitled 4, and Wanderings. Mindy dedicated her display to Nick Greenberg, a Chester College alumni who died almost a year ago. In addition to displays, two Creative Writing majors presented readings of their work. Ben Cardoza read several poems and an excerpt from his new novella, Black Wolves Contingent. Finally, Dawn Coutu read from a book of her collected poetry, entitled Draped in Constellations. The gallery opening was a large success.

Poem & Cookie Day

Read any poem and get a cookie.

Wednesday April 30th, 12:00 pm at the picnic tables.

Poetry + Cookies + Jenn Monroe
what more could you want?

Fourth Senior Show To Open

Chester College is pleased to announce that the fourth senior show of the Spring 2008 semester will open on April 23rd, showcasing the art of Morgan Kristy Reynolds, Emily Couture, Joshua Dix and Matthew Masloski. The opening festivities will last from 7:00-9:00pm on the 23rd, with senior readings by Chris Christie, Jess Marshall, and Erika Bluemel at 8:00pm.

Shown here are three sample pieces by Emily Couture (left), Joshua Dix (right), and Morgan Kristy Reynolds (center).












Jack McCarthy – “A Stand Up Poetry Guy”

On Sunday, April 20th, Chester College will be graced with the presence of a legend. Jack McCarthy has been on multiple slam teams, including competing in the National Slam Individual Semi-Finals in 2000. His commanding presence has granted him a powerful reputation in the world of poetry. The Boston Phoenix has named him “Best Standup Poet.” He is currently touring the east coast, to be followed shortly by the west coast.

Jack McCarthy has hypnotized listeners since his first open mic in 1993. He walks into a room humble, unassuming. He’s known for staying through an entire open mic, for giving respect for other readers. And yet, once he assumes control of an audience they belong to him until he is finished. The words themselves are easily accessible, no quote too hard to decipher. Behind them, however, the meaning pursues the exact substance that makes us human.

His hypnotic voice is reminiscent of early radio. His CD, “Breaking Down Outside a Gas Station,” is available as a representation of his spoken work. His new book, “Actual Grace Notes,” is also available online. Both, including other products, will be available at the reading in Dalrymple at 7:00 Sunday, April 20th. Chester College is proud to have this living example of a successful writer to show their students that it is possible not to have a day job.

Two Chester Award Winners Announced

Rachel Lieberman, a Chester College sophomore majoring in creative writing, has won first prize in the Lyric's college contest.

The Lyric is the oldest magazine in the United States devoted to traditional poetry. Founded in 1921, the Lyric has "worked to preserve the art of traditional verse in the face of the vacillations in poetic form," as expressed on their website. Each year, this journal holds a contest open to college students in the United States and Canada, and Lieberman is the third student from Chester College to win first prize in the last three years.

Her winning poem which appears in the latest edition of the Lyric, is entitled "Ballad of the Beamish Boy," based on "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll.

The Lyric is dedicated to publishing new poets along with seasoned, published ones.

http://www.chestercollege.edu/news.php?pageID=90&newsID=208

Emily Brochu, a graphic design major, has won the Great American Downtown logo contest. GAD is a public outreach organization in Nashua, New Hampshire, begun in 2002.

http://greatamericandowntown.org/documents/WinningLogoEntry.pdf

Friday, April 11, 2008

Second Senior Show Features Diverse Perspectives

By Kristen Koczarski

The second senior show opened on April 9 in the Wadleigh Gallery and showcased a wide array disciplines. Danielle Provencher, a Graphic Design major, presented large-scale typographic pieces done in red, white, and black fabrics. The typography is completely in Cyrillic in order to force people to focus on the form and shape of the text and not to read it. Georgianna Jennison, an Interdisciplinary Arts major, displayed an array of photos taken by herself and group of eleven girls ages nine to twelve who took part in the Girls of Opportunity program created by Georgianna for her project. The young girls were given cameras and taught for six weeks the basics of photography and encouraged to capture their lives as a way to empowerment. In addition to the exhibits on the wall, the show also displayed two installation pieces, also from Interdisciplinary Arts majors. "Under the Wendy Tree" is a sort of self-portrait by Wendy Mierop and is a trunk made of composition books full of tiny ink comics and ends in a canopy of hanging origami cicadas and moths. All the text is written in Norse Runes and are not readable. The other installation is a living room: "In Action and Apprehension" by Caleb Banciu and presented by senior Marie Stern. The work is an installed novella about Caleb Banciu who has discovered a nonexistent street, which is destroying his memory, and instead of being written traditionally, it is written in texture, environment, smell, and object as well as in words. "Readers" are encouraged to invade his space, read his journals, eat his food, and piece together his story. In addition there were two readings at the gallery opening, one an unsettling reading by Marie Stern of some of Caleb Banciu's stream of consciousness writing, and the other by poet, Michelle Daugherty who read, as she puts it, "autobiographic drivel." Really, she read nonce sonnets of a profoundly strong and personal nature that left the audience speechless. The show will be up until Sunday, April 13, 2008.

College Invitational Results

The Nashua Area Artists Assocation invited Chester College students to participate in an art competition on April 5th at Gallery One in Nashua.

The judges were a very distinguished panel of local artists. Lisa Lynch is the Director of the Arts and External Relations for the Women‚s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University, Lynn Thomson is the Head of Youth and Family Programs at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, and John Weidman is an international known and acclaimed sculptor.


College Invitational Winners,
Chester College, 2008

Best in Show: Nicole Gonzalez, Masculine, Blue, Green and Red

Oil:
1st - Emma Haskins, Still Life #2
2nd - Paul Andrews, Still Life #2
3rd - Vanessa Laboy, Girl
HM - Paul Andrews, Still Life #1

Acrylic:
1st - Matthew Grubb, Respirate
2nd - Peter Isherwood, Protean Nude
3rd - Eryn Murphy, Self Portrait

Watercolor:
1st - Kelly Johnson, Star Dust
2nd - Ken Huntley, Same Sex Monster is A-OK
3rd - Emily McCoomb, Untitled Tree

Pastel:
1st - Kelly Johnson, Black Shirt
2nd - Wyatt Lynch, Self Portrait
3rd - Nicole Gonzalez, Pastel Lorenzo
HM - Geraldine Nonnewitz, Untitled

Photography:
1st - Mike McCracken, Thai Boy at Ban Hin Turn School, Thailand
2nd - Georgianna P. Jennison, Hagia Sophia
3rd - Jesse Cloutier, Papercosm
HM - Kendra Coyle, Committed
HM - Shannon Malloy, Sexual Beings #3 Vulnerable

Drawing:
1st - Ramon Perez, Will
2nd - Jessie Jaremczak, This Isn‚t Bacon
3rd - Vanessa Laboy, Repose
HM - Tahlia Goupil, Figure Drawing

Sculpture:
1st - Wyatt Lynch, The Old Guitarist
2nd - Ken Huntley, Attack on Space Station Elvis Costello

Mixed Media:
1st - Julia Maranto, Red Balloon
2nd - Zach Shields, Influx
3rd - Jessie Richardson, Equinox
HM - Rachel DeCicco, Symbols 1

Creative Prose:
1st - Tiffany Etter, selected poems
2nd - Matthew Williams, selected readings
3rd - Dawn Coutu, selected poems

Order SO Good's Inaugural Issue

SO Good, Chester College's Student Annual will publish its first issue this spring. SO Good, Vol. I will feature the visual and written work of 23 students. This full-color publication will be listed at $10, but Chester College students (who can prove that they are Chester College students) will be able to purchase the magazine for just $5. To order yours, send your name, address (campus and summer), and a check or money order to:

SO Good
c/o Prof. Jenn Monroe
Chester College of New England
40 Chester Street
Chester, NH 03036

You can buy more than one (they make great gifts). You also can stop by Prof. Monroe's office--12 Lane--and give her your information and your cash.

The plan is to have the magazines available before graduation. Sometimes bad things happen. Make sure you give us both your campus address AND where you'll be during the summer.


Third Senior Show to Open

Chester College is pleased to announce that the third senior show of the Spring 2008 semester will open on April 16, showcasing the art of Rachel Russell, Jessica Richardson, and Mindy Kern. The opening festivities will last from 7:00-9:00pm on the 16th, with senior readings by Dawn Coutu and Ben Cardoza at 8:00pm.

Shown here are three sample pieces by Jessica Richardson (Left), Rachel Russell (Bottom, Right) and Mindy Kern (Top, Right).

Friday, April 4, 2008

Beat Generation Class Howls

by Christopher Anderson
Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing & Literature

It all began a few minutes before Beat Generation class. Midterms approaching, and I was trying my best to avoid administering a formal test. I think they’re a real drag.

We’d been reading selections from Allen Ginsberg and a few other poets associated with the Beat Generation. Everyone had come to life when discussing Ginsberg’s “Howl,” a poem of mad bravery that may have sparked a revolution. We read about this bearded hipster, a man who began his life with the cards stacked against him. His mother was on a downhill path toward the insane asylum and lobotomy. McCarthy was hunting down communists and paranoia permeated the culture (Allen had attended Communist Part meeting with his mother as a child). The Bomb had recently been dropped on Japan, a ghost that would haunt everyone. Even worse, young Allen Ginsberg was gay. In 1940’s America. You do the math.

After fighting to understand the confusions that made up his life, as well as a brief stint of his own in a mental hospital, Ginsberg had to make a choice: Follow his mother into the depths of insanity, or come out—all the way out, in every possible way, and embrace this mad world. The result was “Howl,” a poem that began “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical naked…,” a poem that addressed the overwhelming pressures weighing on him, and everyone he knew. And for the rest of his life Ginsberg lived that way—open, free, naked (often literally), possessed of a desire to simply change the world.

I think we can all recognize something essential in this story. We all have a desire to break free from the pressures of society and family, of history and government. Today, we live in a time of mounting absurdity—the Iraq war, the Patriot Act, Britney Spears. Terrorists! Dorm life! And so I asked my class to write their own Beat poems. They didn’t have to be good; they only had to be honest. I wanted to know what they had to howl about.

Here are a few of those poems. I am pleased by their honesty and purity, a warts and all approach to channeling anger into a more righteous place. We had our own beat reading for our mid-term, and it was wonderful.

You say you want a revolution? Perhaps it begins right here.


Beth Ann Miller

Matt Williams

Leah Guilmette

Robert Doe

Emily Couture

Emily McCoomb

Second Senior Show to Open

Chester College is pleased to announce that the second senior show of the Spring 2008 semester will open on Wednesday, April 9, showcasing the art of Danielle Provencher, Georgianna Jennison, Wendy Mierop, and Marie Stern. The opening festivities will last from 7-9 p.m. with senior readings by Michelle Daugherty and Marie Stern at 8 p.m.




At left is a sample piece by Marie Stern.

Chester Colleges Stages The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

The Chester College of New England Players will perform, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) Friday, May 2 and Saturday 3 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 4 at 2 p.m. in Wadleigh Library.

Head director Derek Laurendeau and co-director Matty Williams promise a night of comedy at the expense of arguably the greatest English playwright to, well write. Watch as Romeo and Juliet is performed by three people, Titus Andronicus is performed as a cooking show, and the angst of Hamlet is condensed into a single act!

The performances are free for students. A $5 is requested from all others.


Cast:
Jen Bailey
Ken Belsito
Charles Boucher
Ben Dennison
Jackie Grande
Derek Laurendeau
Rachel Lieberman
Linda McGriff
Eric Notaro
Lisa Pike
Matty Q. Williams