Everything Nac

The Heterodyne Duo will present a program of selected pieces that are highly varied in their compositional styles when the duo performs at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, in Cole Concert Hall on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

The duo features Dr. Nathan Nabb, SFA professor of saxophone, and Dr. Brad Meyer, director of percussion studies at SFA. They will perform “West, or Evening Song in Autumn” by Masakazu Natsuda, “The Metaphysics of Notation” by Mark Applebaum and “Walk the Walk” by Michael Daugherty.

Some of the pieces draw influence from jazz and funk, while others are influenced by non-Western music and include extended timbral possibilities for both saxophone and percussion, according to Nabb.

The Natsuda work is “a beautiful, meditative soundscape for soprano saxophone, multi-percussion and drone,” Nabb said.

“The timbral changes, pitch-bends and micro-tones in the soprano saxophone draw strong allusions to the Japanese shakuhachi flute, while the percussion parts evoke the taiko drumming traditions,” he said.

The score for Applebaum’s piece is done entirely in graphic notation, which means that the performers react and improvise to the images found within the score, Nabb explained.

“Perhaps what makes this piece unique, even within that realm, is that the score scrolls and is projected so that both performer and audience see the visuals,” Nabb said. “As the title suggests, it is a philosophical work that is concerned with chance and notation and how different notational types yield varying results.”

The Daugherty piece is a fun and exciting work for baritone and multi-percussion. It is heavily influenced by popular music, including funk and rock and roll, and derives its main thematic material from the popular tune “My Girl.”

Tickets for the concert are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The work of artist Kent Rush will be showcased in an exhibition that displays Jan. 20 through March 10 in Griffith Gallery on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

Black and white photographs, drawings and prints are featured in “Kent Rush: Photo-Syntax,” curated by Neal Cox, faculty member in the SFA School of Art, who describes Rush as his mentor.

“Though this is largely an opportunity to pay tribute, Kent’s work alone merits exhibition,” Cox said. “A pleasant blend of graphite drawings, prints and photographs, his works show how one idea can have multifaceted executions and maintain a distinct aesthetic transcending the single-media approach.”

The exhibition will include “mainly close-up images of odd urban infrastructure, much of it discarded or vestigial, photographed through the plastic lens of a toy camera,” according to Cox.

Rush spent his formative years absorbing the artistic, intellectual and political milieu of the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s, studying art, drawing and printmaking. He earned a B.F.A. from the California College of Arts and Crafts, a master’s degree from the University of New Mexico where he studied art and lithography, and an M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin while teaching at the San Antonio Art Institute. After returning to California to show his work and teach for a brief time, he returned to San Antonio where he has spent the last 27 years making art and teaching at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

His work has been exhibited extensively in the United States in solo, two- and three-person shows and group and competitive shows. Internationally, he has also shown in London, Brazil, Peru, Mexico and France.
Coming from a background in printmaking, drawing and painting, Rush, over the past 20 years, has appropriated photography as a means of making images, Cox explained.

“Specifically, he collects (on film) mundane objects and surfaces (primarily concrete) from urban and suburban sites and presents them in a monumental format,” according to Cox.

Rush will give a talk at the School of Art at 4:45 p.m. Thursday, March 10, followed by a closing reception from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Griffith Gallery, which is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

SFA Gardens at Stephen F. Austin State University will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14 in the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St. in Nacogdoches. Adam Black will present a lecture titled “Collecting Amazing New Plants for Gulf Coast Landscapes.”

Until recently, Black managed the forest health laboratories at the University of Florida, assisting in forest pathology, entomology and symbiology labs. Black also assisted in student research and in the molecular diagnostics lab. His work in these areas has evolved from his life-long interest in botany.

In his spare time, Black collects unusual or otherwise esoteric plants, with further interest in finding interesting mutations of ornamental value — an obsession that spawned his rare plant nursery called Xenoflora. His goal at Xenoflora is to introduce new and interesting plant selections with an emphasis on disease resistant, native and eco-friendly exotic species adapted to the harsh conditions of the Deep South.

Black was recently hired as the director of horticulture for Peckerwood Gardens in Hempstead, Texas. He plans to bring many of the rare and exotic plants in his Florida collection with him to Texas, and will feature many of them in his lecture on Thursday.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month at SFA’s Pineywoods Native Plant Center. A rare plant raffle will be held after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public. Donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are encouraged.

Parking is available at the nearby Raguet Elementary School, 2428 Raguet St., with continual shuttle service to the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building.

For more information, call (936) 468-4404 or email SFA Gardens Research Associate Dawn Stover at dawnstover@sfasu.edu.