Research and Creativity Activity - Oct. - Dec. 2009

PUBLICATIONS

Simone Osthoff, associate professor of art, is the author of Performing the Archive: The Transformation of the Archive in Contemporary Art from Repository of Documents to Art Medium, published in September 2009 by Atropos Press. Among the concepts examined are Vilém Flusser’s techno-imagination and Lygia Clark’s and Hélio Oiticica’s participatory aesthetics. Writing alongside the artists, Osthoff examines the archive mise-en-abyme, as it grows increasingly recombinant and generative.

Kelleann Foster, interim department head and associate professor of landscape architecture, is the author of Becoming a Landscape Architect – A Guide to Careers in Design, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. In addition to details that describe the variety inherent in the profession and tips for young professionals, the book includes interviews with more than 50 noted landscape architects. Several Penn State alumni are among those interviewed.

Taylor Greer, associate professor of music, will have an essay, "The Unfolding Tale of Charles Griffes's 'White Peacock'" published in the spring 2010 issue of Gamut, the Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic. This interdisciplinary study, which combines historical analysis of late-Victorian Aestheticism with close readings of William Sharp's voluptuous poem and Griffes's musical setting of it, will appear in a Festschrift issue titled "A Music-Theoretical Matrix: Essays in Honor of Allen Forte."

Leo Mazow, curator of American art, Palmer Museum of Art, will have his book, Thomas Hart Benton and the American Sound, published by Penn State University Press.

Vincent Benitez, assistant professor of music theory, had an article, "Reconsidering Messiaen as Serialist," published in an issue of Music Analysis (vol. 28, nos. 2-3, 2009).

PRESENTATIONS

Robin Thomas, assistant professor of art history:
~ will be presenting a paper, “From Naples to Madrid: Charles III and Civic Architecture of Reform,” at the annual meeting of the American Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies, Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 18-21, 2010;
~ will be presenting a paper, “Luigi Vanvitelli as Reader and Author,” at the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, Venice, Italy, April 8-10, 2010.

Elizabeth J. Walters, associate professor of art history, will present a paper, “Important Evidence for Temple-Town Hierakonpolis in the Archaic Period,” at the Fifth International Conference on the Geology of the Tethys, South Valley University, Luxor - Qena, Egypt, January 5-7, 2010.

Sarah K. Rich, associate professor of art history, will be presenting a lecture in the public symposium, A New Look at Postwar Art: The Collection of Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, East Building Auditorium, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2009. The other speakers will include Graham Bader, Yve-Alain Bois, and Harry Cooper.

Nancy Locke, associate professor of art history, presented a paper, "Unbridled Enthusiasm: Sargent and European Marine Painting in the 1870s," at the symposium Sargent and the Sea, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., November 7, 2009.

Alissa Walls Mazow, visiting assistant professor of art history, presented a paper, "Cy Twombly, John Cage and the Art of Hunting Mushrooms," at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts, Decodings, Atlanta, Ga., November 5-8, 2009.

Denise Costanzo, visiting assistant professor of architecture, gave a presentation, “Rome, Philadelphians, and the Architectural Revival of the Postwar American Academy,” at the Society of Architectural Historians Philadelphia Chapter meeting, Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, November 3.

Nancy Locke, associate professor of art history, presented a paper, "Cézanne, Color, and Forgetting," at the state-of-the-field conference: Is Paris Still the Capital of the Nineteenth Century? The Painting of Modern Life Now, at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, October 30–31, 2009.

Katarin Parizek, instructor in digital photography, Department of Integrative Arts, presented the results of her research on fracture zones endangering the tombs in the Valley of Kings, Egypt, at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, Portland, Ore., October 18, 2009.

Melissa Mednicov, Ph.D. candidate in art history, will be presenting a paper, “An Islamic City in Europe? Parisian Urbanism Redefined,” at Incongruities, the 44th Annual UCLA Art History Graduate Student Association Symposium, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, October 23, 2009.

Carmen McCann, Ph.D. candidate in art history, will present a paper, “More than Just an Allegory: Life and Death in Eugène Delacroix’s Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi,” at the Florida State University 27th Annual Symposium for Graduate Students in the History of Art, Tallahassee, Florida, October 23-24, 2009.

Kimberly Parsons, Ph.D. candidate in art history, will present a paper, “The Mysterious Death of Sienese Art: Misguided Perceptions of Domenico Beccafumi,” at the Southeastern College Art Conference, University of South Alabama, Mobile, October 22-24, 2009.

EXHIBITIONS and PERFORMANCES

Randy Ploog, coordinator of international programs and grants advisor, has an exhibit, Manierre Dawson: Engineer/Artist, in the Diversity Studies Room, 109 Pattee Library, through January 8, 2010.
The exhibit traces the evolution of Dawson’s work and shows how elements of his paintings leading up to and including his first abstractions and his conception of abstract art itself are directly related to his civil engineering training. The exhibit is the result of 10 years of research by Ploog, who earned a doctorate in art history at Penn State.  For the full story, click here.

Katarin Parizek, instructor in digital photography, Department of Integrative Arts, is exhibiting her work, “Ekmek Marker,” in a group exhibition, Portraits, at The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colo., November 6-28, 2009. For more information, visit http://www.c4fap.org/.

Mama Was An Andalusian Jet Skier or How To Breed Heterosexuals, written and directed by Robin Reese, assistant professor of theatre, Penn State Altoona, is appearing in New York City’s Shortened Attention Span Horror Fest at the Players Theatre Loft, New York, October 22-25, 2009. Clay Anthony Hasychak, senior integrative arts and communications major, is the featured actor in this piece. This is an Actors Equity Production Showcase. For more information on the festival, visit http://www.shortenedattentionspan.com/. For ticket and venue information, visit http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/theaters/the-players-theatre-loft_4739/.

Mathew Kaylor Toronto,assistant professor of theatre, had his short film, Even Felons Fall, screened at the Flint Film Festival, October 17, 2009. Matthew directed this film, which has already been screened at the Muskegeon International Film Festival and won a Gold Remi Award at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. The film has also premiered online and may be viewed at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1458437/.

Enrico Elisi, assistant professor of music in piano:
~ had a concert tour in Asia in May 2009. He performed two solo recitals at Pusan National University in Busan, South Korea, and Taipei National University of the Arts in Taipei, Taiwan, and a duo recital with Korean violinist Byung Won Lim at Kyung Sung University in Busan;
~ taught master classes at Pusan National University, Kyung Sung University, Catholic University of Daegu, and Taipei Municipal University of Education as well as numerous Korean and Taiwanese cities including, Seoul, Suwon, Bundang City, Daegu, Busan (Korea), and Taipei (Taiwan);
~ gave a master class at the Accademia delle Marche in Recanati, Italy, June 2009;

Enrico Elisi, assistant professor of music in piano, had a concert tour in Texas and Missouri in April 2009. He performed three solo recitals at Texas State University, Missouri State University, and Missouri Southern State University. His live recital at the MSSU Spring Piano Festival was broadcast on KGCS radio (MO) throughout Missouri. Elisi met several students and was given the opportunity to teach two master classes during the tour.

Salvatore Schiciano, M.F.A. candidate in painting, is exhibitng his work in a solo exhibition, “50 Iconic Puns,” at Gallery XIV, Framingham, Mass., October 9-November 19, 2009. His show is an ongoing collection of miniature oil paintings that satirize iconic individuals and play with the ideas that they represent.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Gary Kesler, associate dean for undergraduate studies, received a 2009 American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA for his monograph Cultivating Breadth: One Hundred Years of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois.

Anthony Cutler, Evan Pugh Professor of Art History, has been invited to be a visiting professor of art history in the Karl Jaspers Centre at Heidelberg University, Germany, June 2010. He will be a part of the university’s Cluster of Excellence interdisciplinary cultural studies project, “Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flow.”

Bill Doan, associate dean for administration, research and graduate studies, has been elected the next president of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), which was founded in 1986 to serve as an intellectual and artistic center for producing new knowledge about theatre and performance-related disciplines, cultivating vital alliances with other scholarly and creative disciplines, linking with professional and community-based theatres, and promoting access and equity. Doan previously served ATHE as its treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee.

Lisa Bontrager, distinguished professor of music and director of the Penn State Horn Studio, has been elected to a three-year term on the Advisory Council of the International Horn Society. Her term will start July 2010 during the International Horn Symposium in Brisbane, Australia.