Author: Kara McVey
Last week Occidental hosted its second annual Spring Arts Festival, with numerous arts events spanning from April 12 to April 18. The festival began last year as a response to President Veitch’s recommendation that the college showcase its arts programs and try to build a relationship with Los Angeles’ artistic community. This year, event planners chose to feature a dozen events that demonstrate the creativity of Occidental’s students, faculty and local artists. “We see [the Spring Arts Festival] as a way to collect the arts and artists of Oxy into a single time period and also highlight the art of Oxy’s faculty and students,” Arts Coordinator Zachary Kaplan ’07 said.
This year’s festival dwelled on the interaction between art and public space. “Between Oxy Freewaves and the Oxy Street Arts Exhibit, the real thrust of the event has been towards a consideration of public space, the public sphere and public action and activities,” Kaplan said. The program events sought to explore the relationship between public space and the individual, with an emphasis on using art to initiate open discourse. In addition to the Oxy Freewaves and Street Arts Exhibit, the Spring Arts Festival offered events hosted by the college’s music department, library and more.
The Occidental-Caltech Symphony Orchestra performed Saturday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Thorne Hall. The concert began with a piece from Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The orchestra played the “Procession of the Nobles,” a selection from Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1890 opera-ballet “Mlada.” The program continued with “Symphony No. 6 in C major, D. 589” from Austrian romantic composer Franz Schubert.
The piece was one of Schubert’s earliest works, written between 1817 and 1818 when he was only 20. The orchestra performed the piece in its entirety and heavily featured its string section.
The concert concluded with “Symphony No.1 ‘Afro-American'” by American musician and composer William Grant Still. The band performed all four movements of the landmark piece, which premiered in 1931 and was the first major symphony piece written by an African-American. The song features blues-inspired melodies and jazz progressions. The audience greeted the piece with enthusiastic applause. “[The song] is not a common type of music for a string orchestra. It’s jazzy and brassy and not exactly traditional, but the audience seemed to receive it really well,” piccolo player Shelby King (sophomore) said.
The Mary Norton Clapp Library curates exhibitions throughout the year to spotlight Occidental’s history, distinguished alumni and local art. This spring the library displays cloth sculptures from local mixed-media artist Penni Montalbano, who entitled her exhibit “Notions.” Her works line the hallway into the Ahmanson Room and are hand-sewn using pieces of fabric passed down from her family. The library has also chosen to display some of the student book arts projects from last semester’s Book Arts and Letterpress class, taught by Adjunct Professor of Art Jocelyn Webb Pedersen, as well as projects from Professor Linda Lyke’s Silkscreen Printmaking class. The exhibit is on display in the New Wing of the entrance floor. Current exhibits also include a permanent gallery of renowned painter David Siqueiros’ works from his “Mexican Suite,” collection located on the entrance floor of the library. Library curators and staff are glad that the library is being included in the Spring Arts Festival. “This is an opportunity for people to see books both as art and as technology… we’re really happy to be part of this festival,” Special Collections Librarian Dale Stieber said.
On Sunday, April 17 at 5 p.m., Feast hosted a reception in the Mullin Gallery coinciding with the release of the annual literary and arts magazine. The magazine has existed in various incarnations for many decades and has a long history of showcasing Occidental’s poets, authors and visual artists. This year, Feast magazine winnowed down contenders from dozens of student submissions, choosing to publish the best student poems, short stories, paintings and photographs they received. At the reception junior Margaret Gabuchian performed her poem “Slow Fall From Grace,” while senior Anahid Yahjian read from a short story entitled, “Patty Explains.” ECLS Professor Martha Ronk, who worked with Feast as a faculty advisor this semester, came to give her congratulations to the Feast Magazine staff and talk with student contributors about their work. Sophomore Tania Flores, who worked as Feast’s Managing Editor considered the event a success. “The event was a wonderful chance for students, friends and family to come and support each other. [Feast] is a representation not only of the abilities and talents of the student body but also the diversity of the student body in terms of intellectual and artistic perspective and values,” she said.
On Sunday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m., the Music Department hosted a Student and Faculty Composers’ Forum in Bird Studio. The program included pieces written by sophomores Jeff Leblow and Andrew Chang, junior Ryan Seong and exchange student Aisling Brouwer (senior). All of the students’ works were performed by a wind quintet, with Brouwer’s piece also incorporating an accordion played by senior Michael Kutan. After a brief intermission, the concert resumed with music composed by faculty of Occidental’s Music Department. Assistant Professor Andre Myers presented a song he wrote for a female vocalist with piano accompaniment from a musical he has been working on for the past few years. The piece, entitled “Anytime You Walk Through the Door,” was sung by alumnus Reba Buhr ’10. The concert continued with a new song, “De una piedra de gracia,” from Adjunct Professor of Music Bruno Louchouarn. The piece was written for piano and explored the Mayan tradition of cyclical growth through developing rythyms and experimental harmonies. The final pieces presented were from Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music Jennifer Logan. Logan used sequences of digital electronic feedback to evoke ideas related to her three pieces, entitled “Lion,” “Goddess of Trees” and “Goddess of Fire,” and accompanied by improvised music on the piano.
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