Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Art will open the exhibition “Devon Nowlin: Don’t Deny Your Heart” with a reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in Griffith Gallery on the SFA campus.

The show, which runs Oct. 20 through Dec. 9, features paintings and altered digital prints. Nowlin’s work reflects a personal and market-driven desire to, in her own words, “curate environments and personas that aspire for a lifestyle of casual luxury,” according to John Handley, director of galleries at SFA.

“The intersection between art and commerce is an important aspect of her work, where she is interested in drawing parallels between today’s art industry and the world of marketing, personal image and cultural attainment,” he said.

Handley describes Nowlin as an up-and-coming artist who lives in Fort Worth. Primarily known for her figurative paintings, she also explores relationships of figures, forms and concepts through works in diverse media.

“Her depictions of the human form rival that of the old masters – reminiscent of artists like Botticelli in his treatment of the female form – sensitive, somewhat mystical, and placed within a lush and verdant landscape,” Handley said.

According to Anthony Mariani, editor for Fort Worth Weekly who covered her recent exhibition, “Casual Luxury Complex,” “The star (of the show) has to be Frank, a small black-and-white-checkered dog sculpture of polymer clay that ‘went missing’ in late March during a group show at Artspace 111. (He has since been returned.) The lovable pooch pops up in several ‘Casual Luxury Complex’ pieces, including the spellbinding ‘Don’t Deny Your Heart,’ a sprawling oil on canvas that harks to the Devon Nowlin we all know and love, the precise photorealist who specializes in the human figure.”

In the 60-by-80-inch piece, a young blonde wearing a white top with spaghetti straps is shown in profile cradling Frank in a lush forest dripping with eerie greens and aquamarines.

“Here, material and carnal desires get all mixed up, splendidly,” Mariani wrote. “You’ve never seen a painting like this.”

Nowlin’s recent exhibitions include “co action” in collaboration with Margaret Meehan at 500X in Dallas, “Relationship Status” at Craighead Green Gallery in Dallas, and “Go Figure” at Artspace 111. Nowlin has taught at Texas Christian University, The Modern and the Rachofsky Warehouse, and she is currently the assistant registrar for the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Her large-scale mural “Trailing the Trinity,” commissioned by Fort Worth Public Art, can be viewed from the Trinity River Trails at the Clearfork Main Street Bridge. More information about the artist may be obtained at: http://devonnowlin.com/

Nowlin will be at the reception to discuss her work, Handley said.

The Texas Commission on the Arts, SFA Friends of the Visual Arts and Nacogdoches Junior Forum are sponsors of the exhibition. Admission is free.

Gallery hours are from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. For more information, call (936) 468-1131. Griffith Fine Arts Building is located at 2222 Alumni Drive.

Inside Stephen F. Austin State University’s American Sign Language Lab, a black sign with neon lettering outlines the rules, including, “No voice. None at all. Not even whispering.”

The lab, which provides recording booths, web cameras, games, books, DVDs and more, gives students who are enrolled in ASL courses a place to practice signing and provides a point of contact for the community’s deaf.

While in the lab, people must use only sign language and facial expressions, known as facial grammar, to communicate.

Maggie Patterson, ASL lecturer and lab coordinator, has transformed the lab into an active-learning area with resources available to SFA stakeholders and community members.

“The lab has really evolved during the past three years. It’s a place for people to practice sign language to help facilitate communication for deaf people,” Patterson said.

ASL students are required to complete lab hours each semester. Patterson explained students register for 30-minute time slots, which are almost-always booked.

The lab, located on the third floor of the Human Services Building on the SFA campus, is open 40 hours a week with two deaf lab workers present to manage it.

“Both of our lab workers are deaf, so people can go to the lab and sign with the lab workers. They can talk about life, do homework, play games or work on projects,” Patterson said.

For more information about the lab, contact Patterson at (936) 468-1140 or mhpatterson@sfasu.edu.

The Wind Symphony and the Symphonic Band at Stephen F. Austin State University will present “Tricks and Treats,” a selection of music in the spirit of the season, when the bands perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

The Symphonic Band, directed by Dr. Tamey Anglley, assistant director of bands at SFA, will open the concert with John Mackey’s “Night on Fire. This four-minute piece was commissioned by a consortium of student music organizations at The University of Texas in recognition of Richard Floyd’s tireless and passionate advocacy for music education in the State of Texas, Anglley explained.

The band will also perform “Melodious Thunk” by David Biedenbender, who was guest composer-in-residence at SFA Oct. 9 through 11.

“This piece was inspired by famous jazz pianist Thelonious Monk,” Anglley said. “Monk’s wife, Nellie Smith, nicknamed him ‘Melodious Thunk’ because of his clunky, awkward and brilliant piano playing and his somewhat scatterbrained and disoriented nature.”

Another piece will feature two of SFA’s percussion faculty, Brad Meyer and Keith Lloyd, who will perform “Wu Xing,” which is a concertino for two percussion and band by James Syler. Anglley and the SFA Symphonic Band were part of the commissioning consortium for “Wu Xing” with the financial help of the SFA chapters of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. The Wu Xing are the traditional Chinese five phases – wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The work features two solo percussionists playing a variety of sounds organized by instruments made of, or representing, metal, water, wood, fire and earth.

The Symphonic Band will conclude the first half of the concert with Karl King’s “Cyrus the Great.” Written in 1921, it is a Persian march that was dedicated to George W. “Cy” Tremain, who was a bass drummer and the manager of the Fort Dodge, Iowa, Municipal Band from its founding in 1901.

The Wind Symphony, directed by Dr. David Campo, associate director of bands, will open its portion of the concert with Donald Grantham’s “Baron Piquant on Pointe.” Baron Piquant is one of the four voodoo family Ghede, the spirits in charge of the intersection between the living and the dead.

“All of the Barons are notorious tricksters with a fondness for brandy and tobacco,” Campo explained. “Grantham has captured the comical solemnity of these spirits in his four ‘Baron’ pieces for band.”

“Daybreak Crossing” by David Biedenbender is a program selection that Campo describes as “cut from different cloth.” As the composer states, “I lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for seven years, and I wanted to capture some of the spirit of that wonderful place in this piece. There are many images and experiences that come to mind when I think of Ann Arbor: warm summer evenings, quiet autumn walks and incredible, exciting concerts in Hill Auditorium, just to name a few.”

The piece “Voodoo” by Daniel Bukvich exists at the intersection of music and theatre, Campo said. “Bukvich calls for extended techniques from all instruments, singing and aleatoric moments, all performed in a darkened theatre … definitely spooky!”

The Wind Symphony will conclude the concert with Karl King’s “Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” a march featuring the tubas and bassoons.

The concert is a presentation of the 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 Stephen F. State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present “Captured Memories: The Songs of Charles Ives” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The concert will feature music faculty members Debbie Berry, Charlotte Davis and Emily Milius, sopranos; Nita Hudson, mezzo soprano; Scott LaGraff and Chris Turner, baritones; Garry Leonberger, tenor; Christina Guenther, piccolo; and Ron Petti, piano.

“American composer Charles Ives wrote music for a wide variety of musical genres, including songs for voice and piano,” said Petti, director of accompanying at SFA. “Of his approximate 150 songs, a common thread in the text is an idea of a memory, either past or present. A musical picture is created.”

Milius, an SFA alumna and current adjunct music faculty member, will provide a short history of the composer and his song output to begin the concert.

“No Charles Ives song concert would be complete without a performance of the well-known cowboy song ‘Charlie Rutlage,’ so, naturally we will include it on this program,” Petti said. “Ives’ compositional range is enormous. There will be moments of musical tenderness, comedy, anger, romanticism and a touch of downright ugly dissonance. What is certain is that by the end of the concert you will be tapping your foot to the music while laughing merrily in your seat.”

The concert is part of the Cole Performing Arts Series. 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.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Braille and Cane Club will host a White Cane Day parade and activities from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, on the university campus in honor of National White Cane Safety Day.

The day celebrates the growing independence and self-sufficiency of people who are blind in America, and also works to recognize the white cane as the symbol of independence and self-reliance, according to the National Federation of the Blind’s website.

Laura Kiefer, SFA Braille and Cane Club president, is coordinating the event.

“This day is very close to my heart because my mom is visually impaired and uses a cane. I know she often encounters people who believe in the many misconceptions associated with blindness,” said Kiefer, a Fort Worth senior studying rehabilitation and orientation and mobility at SFA.

Open to the public, the festivities will include a parade through campus along Vista Drive, North Street and East College Street. Parade participants are encouraged to wear white and should meet at 9:30 a.m. in the first floor lobby of the Human Services Building on the SFA campus. The parade will end at the SFA fountain.

“This event is incredibly important in providing public awareness to the fact that people who are blind are happy, productive and independent members of the community,” Kiefer said.

In addition to the parade, club members will host a public awareness event beginning at 11 a.m. in front of the Baker Pattillo Student Center and a bake sale near the SFA fountain. Funds raised from the bake sale will support the club’s annual Christmas party for local children with visual impairments.

Whether cleaning out gutters, raking yards or painting homes, statistics produced by the Stephen F. Austin State University Office of Student Engagement show SFA students logged almost 200,000 hours of volunteer service in 2015-16.

“There is a proven added value to a college experience when students are exposed to, and directly serve, the local community,” said Molly Moody, SFA assistant director of student engagement, leadership and service. “The Office of Student Engagement, through leadership and service programs, promotes a variety of opportunities for students to engage with the Nacogdoches and global community.

“Whether it be The BIG Event, volunteering with Nacogdoches ISD, at a local senior care facility, or at Millard’s Crossing, students are able to learn about the residents who live in this city all year, the history of a place that they call a home away from home, and the many ways that they can contribute to a culture of caring that will impact this community for a lifetime.”

Students volunteered a total of 193,337 hours assisting communities in 2015-16 compared to 106,775 hours in 2014-15. Moody said the increase resulted in part from an added emphasis on service-hour reporting.

“The amount of service our students humbly pour back into this city is phenomenal,” said Moody. “So much so that many chose not to record their hours of service because they do not feel they need the praise. I honestly believe a truer figure is around 500,000. Leadership and service programs focus our conversation on the importance of service and the added value it brings to the educational experience.”

The BIG Event is, as its name suggests, the largest volunteer event of the year. Approximately 1,500 students served more than 120 sites in Nacogdoches County on a single day during the 2016 event. Other small volunteer events occur throughout the year, including out-of-town service events hosted during spring break.

Though projects ranging from small to large are ongoing all year, organizations that log the most service hours traditionally include Driving Jacks, Traditions Council, Students Activities Association, Dancers Against Cancer and Jack Camp.

“As an institution, we are constantly reminding students that the most important project in college is themselves,” Moody said. “Service-learning experiences, be it volunteer work or serving in a leadership role in a service-driven organization, are some of the most transformative experiences in which a student can participate.”