Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University student Lana Welford recently won the Women’s Collegiate Work Climb title at the 2017 Tree-Care Industry Association Expo held in Columbus, Ohio.

Welford, a senior urban forestry major at SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, said she entered the competition following encouragement from Dr. Hans Williams, dean of the college, as well as supervisors from her summer internship with SavATree, a professional tree and lawn-care company.

“I really wasn’t expecting to win anything,” Welford said. “I just thought this would be a great experience and something new under my belt.”

Welford said the work climb competition is the most applicable to real-life arboriculture practices. Competitors climb to the top of a designated tree with tree-care equipment and then maneuver along branches to tap bells located throughout the tree with a saw to indicate where a cut would be made.

“You receive points for speed, safety, efficiency or flow, and style,” Welford said. “I was intimidated because I had not competed in any of these events, and many of the schools present have students who competed for years.”

Aside from being new to the competition, Welford said the biggest challenge was the cold temperatures that limited the dexterity of her hands.

Although this was Welford’s first official competition, she spent the summer honing her climbing and tree-care proficiencies as an intern with SavATree in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The Tree-Care Industry Association Expo is the world’s largest tree-care show and conference, aiming to bring tree-care companies, equipment and product providers, and industry professionals together to share the latest developments and trends in the tree-care industry.

Story submitted by Sarah Fuller, outreach coordinator for Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Human Performance Lab in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Science is offering free health-related physical fitness testing to the university and Nacogdoches communities as a part of a service-learning project for kinesiology majors.

The fitness testing will take place between 7 and 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 7, in the Human Performance Lab, located in the Education Annex, Room 112, on campus.

The fitness testing will include assessments of cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition and musculoskeletal fitness. The testing is available to healthy adults who pass a pre-participation activity screening.

For more information and to sign up for available times, contact Dr. Dustin Joubert, assistant professor, at joubertd@sfasu.edu.

The Wind Symphony and the Symphonic Band at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the program “Monuments” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

The SFA Symphonic Band, conducted by Dr. Tamey Anglley, assistant director of bands at SFA, will open the first half of the concert with Jack Stamp’s “Cenotaph,” which will be conducted by graduate student Brandon Beavers of Livingston.

A cenotaph is a ‘statue or monument to a person not buried there,’ according to Anglley. The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument are familiar examples of cenotaphs. Stamp’s “Cenotaph” is a fanfare that connotes such a structure.

Symphonic Band will also perform “Giles Farnaby Suite,” transcribed by Gordon Jacob. The suite includes 11 movements for band that were transcribed from Farnaby’s pieces in “The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book,” which Anglley describes as “a treasure trove of late Renaissance and very early Baroque keyboard music.”

“A virginal is a small type of harpsichord with the plucked strings running parallel to the keyboard,” she explained. “The tunes reflect several classes of song and dance varying in rhythm, tempo and style.”

The Wind Symphony, conducted by Dr. David Campo, associate director of bands, will perform works by Clifton Williams, John Mackey and Michael Daugherty.

Epsilon Upsilon Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Evansville College commissioned Williams’ “Dedicatory Overture” for use in services dedicating their new music building erected in 1963.

The Wind Symphony will also perform Mackey’s “This Cruel Moon” in which the composer celebrates the literary monument of “The Odyssey,” written by Homer in the 8th century B.C.

“The work focuses on the adventures of Odysseus as he attempts to return home following the fall of Troy,” Campo said. “Odysseus falls prey to the seductions of the sea nymph Kalypso, and it is this episode that Mackey explores in ‘This Cruel Moon.’ The piece is an adaptation of the middle movement of Mackey’s ‘Wine Dark Sea: Symphony for Band.'”

The concert closes with Daugherty’s homage to one of the world’s greatest natural monuments: Niagara Falls.

In his “Niagara Falls,” Daugherty seeks to impart a musical souvenir, or, in his words, “a 10-minute musical ride over the Niagara River with an occasional stop at a haunted house or wax museum along the way.”

The concert is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music.

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.

The Contemporary Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will present a contemporary jazz/rock fusion concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The program will feature the music of John Scofield and Pat Metheny, Plini, Suda, Tribal Tech and others, according to Andrew Sperandeo, adjunct faculty in Sound Recording Technology and guitar instructor in the School of Music. Sperandeo said he chose a program that would focus on “some challenging, higher-level music.”

“Since it is essentially a jazz group, all members will be featured soloists at one point or another throughout the evening,” he said.

The concert will feature “So It May Secretly Begin” and “The Red One” by The Pat Metheny Group, John Scofield and Pat Metheny.

“Ever since I started playing and studying jazz, I’ve always been a huge Metheny fan,” Sperandeo said. “So much so, it was a bit challenging to decide which pieces to perform, since he composed so many great songs. These are some of my favorite tunes recorded by Pat Metheny.”

“Every Piece Matters” by Plini and “Suda” by Chon are favorites of the student performers.

“I wanted the students to have a say in what they wanted to include in this specialized group,” Sperandeo said. “These are two of the groups that the students introduced me to while teaching them over the last few years here at SFA. They are really interesting, modern instrumental groups. The Chon tune is especially difficult due to all the time changes and hits.”

Tribal Tech’s “The Necessary Blonde” and “Face First” are also favorites.

“This is another of my favorite groups growing up,” Sperandeo said. “Tribal Tech is a talented jazz fusion group from the ’90s that put out some amazing arrangements. ‘The Necessary Blonde’ is harmonically rich and includes some intricate time changes as well. ‘Face First’ is mainly an ‘in-your-face’ up-tempo, funk tune.”

Sperandeo said he was looking forward to performing with the students.

“I hope people come out and support these talented kids as they explore some of this more thought-provoking music,” he said.

The concert is a presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music.

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. Cole Concert Hall is located in the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building.

The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches will be open during a portion of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, gallery officials have announced.

Cole Art Center will be closed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 21 through 23. The gallery will be open during regular hours on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 24 and 25. The downtown gallery will continue its new Sunday afternoon schedule and will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 26.

Exhibitions currently showing include “Collective Transference: Houston Area Clay” and “The Patriotic Art of World War I in France,” both of which are showing through Dec. 30.

“Collective Transference: Houston Area Clay” is a ceramics exhibition, curated by Jeff Forster and Michelle Matthews, that features clay artists who highlight the quality and diversity of artists working in Harris, Montgomery, Fort Bend, Liberty, Galveston, Chambers, Waller and Brazoria counties.

“The Patriotic Art of World War I in France” features French WWI posters from the extensive collection of Dr. Jere Jackson, former Regent’s Professor of History at SFA and director of the Center for East Texas Studies. Topics of the lithographed posters made during WWI address issues concerning the war, and the exhibition includes some posters that focus on children during the war.

Regular gallery hours are from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

The exhibitions are free and open to the public and are sponsored in part by the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts, Nacogdoches Junior Forum and The Flower Shop. The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For additional information, call (936) 468-1131.