Everything Nac

Soprano Dr. Sooah Park will present “Introduction to the Songs and Life of Poldowski” as part of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music’s Cole Performing Arts Series at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

This lecture recital will feature information on the life and works of Lady Poldowski, a Polish-British composer whose maiden name was Regine Wieniawska, followed by a performance of Poldowski’s songs and those of her more famous contemporaries, including Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn, and Ernest Chausson, according to Scott LaGraff, professor of voice at SFA.

Lady Poldowski was the youngest daughter of the celebrated violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski. She composed 35 published songs, mostly settings of the poetry of Paul Verlaine.

“Poldowski’s songs show the influence of the French school but are strongly original and individual expressions,” Park said. “This recital will present Poldowski’s settings of Verlaine poems with those by Debussy, Fauré, Hahn and Chausson. Performing these songs will honor the legacy of many other women composers whose works have remained unperformed for many years.”

An active opera performer, Park is a member of the voice faculty at UT Tyler. Her vocal talent was recognized at the 2007 Lois Alba Aria Competition where she was a finalist. She was also awarded honorable mention and 3rd prize for the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition in 2005 and 2002. Houston Arts Week praised her Oscar from Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera,” saying “Sooah Park shines as Oscar, and her singing is utterly delightful.”

Dr. Gjergji Gaqi, music faculty member at Tyler Junior College, will accompany the artist. Equally at home in solo and collaborative music, Gaqi maintains an active performing career throughout North America and Europe. Together with his brother, accomplished pianist Piro Gaqi, through the Gaqi Piano Duo, they have brought the varied, folk-inspired piano duo repertoire of Europe and North America to audiences of both continents.

Tickets 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.

Light bulb! Stephen F. Austin State University junior interior design majors Jessalyn Welch and Hayley Breshears had the right idea when they designed a feminine boutique called “Marguerite” for the Illuminating Engineering Society Lighting Competition in the spring semester. While Welch and Breshears worked on their project from February to May, the two were recently notified that they placed fourth in the competition out of 39 other entries representing four universities.

“We were both surprised and excited when we received the news,” Welch said. “It was an honor to represent SFA as one of the winners in the competition.”

Breshears agrees it was a wonderful feeling receiving the email announcing their win. She said she had to read the email a few times before she was able to absorb the good news. Their win earned them $250.

The pair completed their entry under the guidance of Dr. Mitzi Perritt, professor of interior design at SFA. The project was part of the curriculum in Perritt’s studio class.

The IES Lighting Competition required students to design unique lighting and interior layouts for the same retail space. Each contestant needed to include three custom-lighting fixtures that illustrated creativity and efficiency. Welch and Breshears used a garden as their inspiration in creating the feminine boutique Marguerite, which translates to daisy in French.

“In a garden, you think of the air being light, breezy and filled with sunshine, and that is what we went for with our lighting,” Breshears said. “Our three custom fixtures were a backlit Polaroid, an uplit curtain of crystals and a wall that appeared tufted with light shining behind the buttons.”

The curtain of crystals represented raindrops on rose petals, and the Polaroid furthered the feeling of nostalgia. Also, the students chose to use true white light to convey sunshine.

Throughout the project, Welch and Breshears continually developed their design concept and constantly looked for ways to improve their lighting ideas. Before sending their final draft to the judges, Welch and Breshears traveled to Dallas to present their ideas to industry professionals who offered critiques. Once the final revisions were made, the students submitted the final board and PDF to the IES competition.

“25 Veinticinco: Mexican-American Prints from UT San Antonio,” will open with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

“25 Veinticinco” is a suite of 25 prints by 25 Latino and Latina artists, and each print is signed, numbered and issued in a limited edition of 30, according to John Handley, director of art galleries for Stephen F. Austin State University.

The images are printed on 22-inch by 30-inch archival paper and were produced using various techniques, including stone and aluminum plate lithography, etching and aquatint, linocut and screen-printing, Handley said. The artists worked in collaboration with master printers Neal Cox, associate professor of art in SFA’s School of Art, and Steven Carter, who works in the print studio of The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Department of Art and Art History.

“The common thread binding all of the work together is the cultural heritage shared by the artists,” Handley said.

The most well known artist showing in the exhibition, Handley said, is the late Luis Jimenez, who died tragically halfway through the completion of his included work – a lithograph portrait of Cesar Chavez.

Before coming to SFA to accept an appointment as a professor in the School of Art, Cox acted as the master printer for the UTSA Collaborative Editions program. His primary task involved the technical execution of the prints to be exhibited in collaboration with each artist. Cox accepted his appointment at SFA before completion of the print suite and had in mind to exhibit the prints at SFA when the project was finished, according to Handley.

“25 Veinticinco” will show in Ledbetter Gallery. Opening the same night are two other exhibitions, including “The Devil You Say! The Saintly, and Not so Saintly, in Folk Art” in Reavley Gallery and “The Tenderness of Egocentrism: Drawings by Manuel Miranda” in the Reception Gallery. “25 Veinticinco” and the Miranda exhibitions run through Jan. 2, while “The Devil You Say!” exhibits through Jan. 16.

The exhibitions are free and open to the public. They are sponsored in part by the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts and the Nacogdoches Junior Forum.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For additional information, call (936) 468-1131.

“The Devil You Say! The Saintly, and Not So Saintly, in Folk Art,” an exhibition that explores folk art and its relationship to religious and cultural traditions, will open with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

The exhibition, curated by Michael T. Ricker, features a variety of works, including paintings, printed matter, bottles with wooden sculpture inside and sculpture in various media, including pottery, wood, metal, shell, straw work, coconuts, bone, stone and cast iron.

“Although some of the work is quite serious in nature, there are also examples that are playful and poke fun with a sense of humor,” said John Handley, director of art galleries for Stephen F. Austin State University. “Many items in this exhibition are rarely displayed outside of private collections, including early examples that date from the late 18th and 19th centuries.

“All works can be understood to some degree as religious in nature, from depictions of the crucifixion and saints to those of mythical devils and characters,” he added.

In the introduction to the catalogue for the exhibition, Handley explains that for centuries “people have been fascinated with the depiction of holy individuals, as well as monsters and devils, pitting the longing for piety and morality against a pantheon of temptations and evildoers.”

Handley goes on to write: “Christian icons as early as the 7th century show little devils pulling saints from a ladder as they strive to ascend heavenward. Such notable artists as Hieronymus Bosch and Michelangelo devised nightmarish scenes of hell where the condemned are in a state of constant torment, while in other scenes the saintly live on in bliss. ‘The Devil You Say!’ explores this rich iconography through the world of folk art, most of which was made by unknown craftsmen.”

“The Devil You Say! The Saintly, and Not So Saintly, in Folk Art” will show in Reavley Gallery through Jan. 16. Opening the same night are two other exhibitions, including “The Tenderness of Egocentrism: Drawings by Manuel Miranda” in the Reception Gallery and “25 Veinticinco: Mexican-American Prints from UT San Antonio” in Ledbetter Gallery, both of which run through Jan. 2.

The exhibitions are free and open to the public. They are sponsored in part by the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts and the Nacogdoches Junior Forum.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For additional information, call (936) 468-1131.

The pen and ink drawings of Mexican artist Manuel Miranda will be featured in an exhibition that opens Saturday, Oct. 24, in the Reception Gallery in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

“The Tenderness of Egocentrism: Drawings by Manuel Miranda” opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Joseph M. Bravo curated the show.

“These pen and ink drawings reflect a discrete body of work within the artist’s oeuvre,” writes Bravo. “These artworks represent a series of archetypal characters that are a satire of the follies of the human condition. Dancers, butterfly catchers, jugglers, performers and other eccentrics are examined as an exploration of the diversity of the human experience and the fracturing of caricatured identities that imply the risk of madness.

“The figures are both the observers and the observed, self aware yet delusional, conflicted in their identities and their relationships to each other,” Bravo continues. “They examine the dualistic nature of humanity and its inherent contradictions between egocentrism and social engagement. They function as an emotional X-ray rendered in an intuitive style that reflects the immediacy of unfiltered gesture produced through noncognitive automatism.”

“The Tenderness of Egocentrism: Drawings by Manuel Miranda” shows through Jan. 2. Opening the same night are two other exhibitions. “The Devil You Say! The Saintly, and Not So Saintly, in Folk Art” will show in Reavley Gallery through Jan. 16, and “25 Veinticinco: Mexican-American Prints from UT San Antonio” will show in Ledbetter Gallery through Jan. 2.

The exhibitions are free and open to the public. They are sponsored in part by the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts and the Nacogdoches Junior Forum.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For additional information, call (936) 468-1131.

Two faculty members in the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will perform when the InterHarmony International Music Festival opens the fourth of its New York Concert Series Friday, Oct. 16, in Carnegie Hall.

Dr. Jennifer Dalmas, associate professor of violin and viola, and her husband, Dr. Evgeni Raychev, cello instructor, will perform in the program “Between Worlds” at 8 p.m. Friday in the Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York.

The InterHarmony International Music Festival has been bringing together students, teachers and soloists from around the globe for almost two decades. For the opening night of the IIMF’s fourth annual concert series, Music Director Misha Quint presents a program that celebrates music’s role as a universal ambassador.

Dalmas and Raychev will present Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello, described as one of the great examples of the duo form. A conversational drama develops between the low and high voice, in which the roles of lead and accompaniment intertwine seamlessly. “They discuss polyphonically, disagree sharply, even as to the key, seduce and reject each other, moving imperceptibly but inexorably towards reconciliation in the final chord,” according to the program notes. The duo will also perform Mark O’Connor’s “F.C’s Jig.” “F.C.” stands for “Fiddle Concerto,” as the melody of this duet is taken from O’Connor’s well-known work.

The program also features Quint performing Dimitri Shostakovich’s Sonata in d minor for Violoncello and Piano, Op.40; violinist Yeon-Su Kim and Inga Kroll performing a selection of 10 of Luciano Berio’s Duetti per due violini; and pianist Washington Garcia performing Alberto Ginastera’s Piano Sonata No.1, Op.22.

A member of the SFA music faculty since 2003, Dalmas has performed with the Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and New World symphonies, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and the Apollo Ensemble. She has served as concertmaster for the Orchestra of the Pines and performed with other regional symphonies. An avid chamber music player, she has been a member of both the Alazan Piano Trio and East Texas Baroque. She and Raychev perform together as the Hachidori Duo.

Also a member of the SFA music faculty since 2003, Raychev is the founder of the Piney Woods Camerata, Piney Woods Youth Orchestra and a founding member of the Alazan Piano Trio. His newest endeavor is the foundation of the Cello Club in the fall of 2014, where cello enthusiasts of all ages are prepared online to gather together for a concert at SFA.