Vassar College Campus News

Best-selling author and comedian Andy Borowitz to deliver Krieger Lecture, 2/21.

Vassar College Media Relations — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—On Tuesday, February 21, Andy Borowitz, one of America’s favorite humorists, will deliver the annual Alex Krieger ’95 Memorial Lecture at Vassar College. Borowitz’s presentation will be filled with his irreverent and insightful commentary, known by millions of followers around the world from his satirical website, BorowitzReport.com.

Called a “Swiftian satirist” (Wall Street Journal), “America’s satire king” (The Daily Beast), and "one of the funniest people in America" (CBS News Sunday Morning), Borowitz also topped Time’s recent poll of the 140 best Twitter feeds. He is the first-ever winner of the National Press Club’s humor award and has been a two-time finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. His work regularly appears in The New Yorker, among other publications.

A New York Times best-selling author, Borowitz is the editor of Library of America’s anthology of American humor, The 50 Funniest American Writers (2011). His other books include: The Republican Playbook (2006), The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers (2004), Governor Arnold: A Photodiary of His First 100 Days in Office (2004), Who Moved My Soap?: The CEO's Guide to Surviving Prison (2003), and Trillionaire Next Door: The Greedy Investor's Guide to Day Trading (2000).

A graduate of Harvard, Borowitz was the president of the Harvard Lampoon. His work for television includes The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (creator). In addition, he co-produced the film Pleasantville, which was nominated for three Academy Awards.

The February 21 program will begin at 8:00pm in the Students’ Building (second floor) and will be followed by a question-and-answer session and book signing. While free and open to the public, please note that seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

About the Alex Krieger ’95 Memorial Lecture

This annual lecture series is given each spring in memory of a Vassar student, Alex Krieger, who was killed in an automobile accident during the spring of his freshman year. One of Krieger’s keenest interests was distinguished American writing that incorporates humor as a primary element. In consultation with his family, Vassar has invited outstanding American writers and humorists to deliver the annual speech, including Tom Wolfe, Wendy Wasserstein, John Irving, P. J. O’Rourke, Calvin Trillin, Jules Fieffer, Oliver Sacks, Tony Kushner, David Sedaris, Michael Chabon, Sarah Vowell, Gail Collins, Augusten Burroughs, Frank Rich, and, most recently, Ira Glass.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations at Vassar should contact the Office of Campus Activities at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available. Directions to the Vassar campus are available at www.vassar.edu/directions.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Computing error caused Vassar College website to list erroneous admissions information for some early decision applicants.

Vassar College Media Relations — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY -- During the first half-hour a special website for Vassar College early decision applicants was live this past Friday, January 27, a computing error caused mistaken information to be posted on the site about the admissions status of a number of these applicants. Before the error was corrected approximately 30 minutes later, 122 applicants logged onto the site. Of those, 46 read a correct letter from Vassar stating that they had been offered admission to the college. The 76 other applicants read a mistaken letter stating they had been accepted for admission, when in fact they had not been admitted to the college. A little more than two hours after Vassar corrected the error, the college had determined who all of the affected applicants were and apologized to them via email for the error.

“We are terribly sorry about the confusion and disappointment the erroneous information posted online caused the students," said president Catharine Hill. "Our admissions process is a careful deliberation over several months, so it is so unfortunate to have this communication error happen at the end of that process for some of our early decision candidates. We understand how very upsetting this is for those students who viewed the inaccurate decisions that we posted online, and we are very sorry to have added to the overall stress of the college admissions process for these students and their families,” said Hill.

While there were 254 total applicants in this early decision group, only a portion of them -- 122 applicants -- logged onto the special Vassar admissions website during the half-hour it posted the inaccurate information.

The college’s early decision application program is intended for freshmen candidates who have decided that Vassar is a clear first choice. Early decision applicants are making a binding commitment to attend Vassar if they are offered admission, and they can only have one early decision application to one college pending at one time.

Vassar offers two opportunities for early decision application during its annual admissions process. The applicants affected by the January 27th computer error had met a January 1st deadline. An initial group of early decision applicants met a November 15, 2011 deadline and were notified of their admission status the following month.

Regular decision applicants to Vassar College represent the vast majority seeking freshmen enrollment. They also meet a January 1st application deadline, and are notified of their admissions status in late March. Vassar received an overall total of 7985 applications for this past fall’s freshmen class of 671 students.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Peace Corps ranks Vassar among the top 20 small colleges whose graduates currently serve in the program.

Vassar College Media Relations — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY -- Vassar College ranks twentieth on the Peace Corps’ newly released list of small colleges whose graduates currently serve in the international program. Peace Corps noted 17 participating Vassar graduates -- up from 12 in the previous year -- in Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jordan, Lesotho, Morocco, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Senegal, Sierra Leone and South Africa. These Vassar alumnae/i work in such areas as agriculture, education, environment, health and HIV/AIDS, and business development. Since the Peace Corps was founded by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, 237 Vassar College graduates have served in the program.

Vassar alumna Nikki Eller, a Washington state native currently serving as a water and sanitation volunteer in Peru, credits Vassar with preparing her for overseas service. “I have developed a much deeper appreciation for my education, now that I’ve met hundreds of people who do not get the opportunity to study past the age of 16,” says Eller, who graduated with a Neuroscience and Behavior degree in 2010. “Besides skills such as writing and presenting, which I actually use quite a bit, Vassar left me with a curiosity to learn more, an analytical approach to problems, and the resources, motivation, and confidence to try and solve them.”

This month 2011 Vassar graduate Samantha Leonard began her Peace Corps training on the eastern Caribbean island of Grenada, where she will work as a Youth Developer. Leonard will initially live with a host family to become immersed in the country’s culture and language. Then in April she’ll be sworn into service and assigned to a community in Grenada, where she’ll live and work for two years. “I’m very excited about teaching and working with children and adolescents,” says Leonard, a Vermont native who majored in anthropology-sociology. “I’m also hoping to have the opportunity to either work with an existing art and theater group or start my own.” [Read more about Samantha Leonard at http://info.vassar.edu/news/2011-2012/120127-aavc-peacecorps.html.]

The Peace Corps ranks its top volunteer-producing schools in three categories of schools, according to the size of their student bodies. Vassar was in the top 20 among colleges that enroll 5,000 or fewer undergraduates (more than 2,400 students currently attend Vassar).

About the Peace Corps

Peace Corps service is a 27-month commitment and the agency’s mission is to promote world peace and friendship and a better understanding between Americans and people of other countries. Since President Kennedy established the Peace Corps by executive order on March 1, 1961, more than 200,000 Americans have served in 139 host countries. Today, 9,095 volunteers are working with local communities in 75 host countries.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Every Vassar physics professor currently supported by a National Science Foundation grant, amidst college's larger success with federal agency.

Vassar College Media Relations — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY -- When the National Science Foundation (NSF) recently began $263,000 in funding for a research collaboration between physics professor Jenny Magnes and biology professor Kathleen Susman, Magnes and her three fellow physics department members also crossed a rare threshold together; all of them are now receiving grant support from the NSF as either a project leader or participant. Notable as their joint accomplishment is, it’s indicative of the college’s exceptional recent success securing funds from the highly sought federal agency.

In fact, while the NSF website reports an approximate overall funding rate of 27.5% -- or 11,000 proposals funded for every 40,000 received – 61.5% of the Vassar faculty’s proposals for new support submitted in the 2009-2010 academic year were approved for funding. All told these proposals gained $3,591,823 in NSF funding for professors in the Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Education, Mathematics, and Physics departments.

What are Vassar professors doing so right?

“Projects must first and foremost distinguish themselves on their intellectual merit and broad scientific impact,” says chemist Marianne Begemann, Dean of Strategic Planning and Academic Resources.

Magnes and fellow physicists David Bradley and Brian Daly currently hold NSF grants for a wide variety of advanced research, ranging (respectively) from architectural acoustics, to ultra-thin materials for semiconductor chips and other nanoscale technology, to three-dimensional optical analysis of microorganisms. Department chair Cindy Schwarz is part of two project teams currently supported by the NSF: with three fellow Vassar professors she is preparing students to teach science and mathematics in high-need public schools; and with two peers from other colleges she is developing new undergraduate curricular materials for the study of nuclear and particle physics.

Vassar has always cultivated a very dynamic relationship between research and teaching. That’s why the college has consistently hired faculty members dedicated to both aspects of academic life. The college also invests in quality research facilities for scholars like Brian Daly, who’s currently funded by a 3-year $214,000 NSF grant. Since joining the faculty in 2005 Daly has found Vassar to be a very fruitful home. “I do serious research and submit papers to the top journals, basically giving Vassar undergraduate students work that I’d be giving graduate students to do if I were at a big school,” remarks Daly. “I’ve found that while the teaching load and absence of grad students keeps me from the quantity of research most scientists in my field produce, I’ve been able to maintain a high level of quality in my work.”

Since Vassar scientists rely on undergraduate research assistants, the college provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in stipends each academic year that support more than 80 part-time student researchers. And to help Vassar professors and students take full advantage of the summer for research -- when classes aren’t in session -- the college established its annual Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI) in 1986.

Over two months URSI provides students a paid full-time opportunity for Vassar students to not only participate in a professor’s research but also to originate their own research projects. What began more than 25 years ago as a program that could only support a handful of students and professors, had grown by 2011 to include more than 50 students and 35 faculty members, serving all of the sciences with a budget of more than $150,000. Significantly, all of Vassar’s physics professors worked with students during the 2011 URSI program.

“Vassar is a very hands on learning environment that allows you to pick up the needed lab skills quickly. There really isn't a part of the research process I've been left out of,” says Rebecca Eells, a senior physics major. “Professor Magnes will brainstorm with her research students, teach them to prepare the samples and collect and process the data, help them to interpret what the data means, and she wants student input on her publications.”

Physics chair Cindy Schwarz believes that Vassar’s commitment to providing undergraduate students with such rich opportunities to contribute to faculty research is a significant added value that Vassar scientists can incorporate into their grant proposals.

“Weaving research and teaching is the heritage of the sciences at Vassar, and an agency like the NSF has come to understand how strongly the college supports this model,” Schwarz says.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Powerhouse Theater presents a reading of playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s new work, Abigail/1702, 2/11.

Vassar College Media Relations — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—Vassar & New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater will present a special free reading to help beat the mid-winter blues on Saturday, February 11.*

A story of a woman’s quest for forgiveness for past sins, both real and imagined, Abigail/1702 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, explores what happened to The Crucible’s Abigail Williams once the Salem witch hunts were over. Award-winning playwright Aguirre-Sacasa is a writer on the hit television series Glee, an author of Marvel Comic Books, and his plays include Good Boys and True and The Mystery Plays. Casting to be announced shortly.

Free and open to the public, the reading will begin at 5:30pm in the Martel Theater of the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film. A reception will follow. Reservations are suggested. Go online to http://vassar.tix.com or visit powerhouse.vassar.edu for more information.

Vassar & New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater will present this reading in conjunction with the 10th annual Modfest, a campus-wide celebration of the arts of the 20th and 21st centuries. Each summer Powerhouse Theater presents new plays and musicals in development. Some of those that are currently running in New York or are soon to be performed include: Michael Mayer and Peter Parnell’s re-imagining of Lerner & Lowe’s On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, starring Harry Connick Jr. (St James Theater); Seminar by Theresa Rebeck, featuring Alan Rickman (Golden Theater); Gabriel Kahane & Seth Bockley’s new musical February House (Long Wharf and The Public Theater); and Storefront Church, John Patrick Shanley’s final installment to his “Church and State” trilogy that began with Doubt (Atlantic Theatre Company).

Information about the 2012 Powerhouse Theater season will be announced this spring, but mark your calendar now to see exciting new theater during Powerhouse’s 28th season, June 22-July 29. For additional information, see powerhouse.vassar.edu and www.newyorkstageandfilm.org.

About the playwright

Born in Washington, DC, award-winning playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is a 2003 graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Recently he has re-written the book to the Broadway musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, is writing for the hit television series Glee, and working on commissions for Arena Stage, South Coast Rep, and Center Theatre Group. Among his laurels for playwriting, he received the prestigous Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award for The Mystery Plays. From 2003 to 2005, he was the playwright-in-residence at 2econd Stage Theatre, in New York City, through a grant from TCG/NEA. He has been invited to the O’Neill Playwrights Conference twice: In 2003, to develop Dark Matters, and in 2007, to develop Good Boys and True.

He has written many critically acclaimed plays, including Doctor Cerberus (premiered at South Coast Rep, recorded for the radio by LA Theatre Works), an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda, MD), King of Shadows (The Working Theatre in New York), Good Boys and True (Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, 2econd Stage Theatre in NYC), Based on a Totally True Story (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Mystery Plays (2econd Stage, Yale Rep), The Velvet Sky (Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington D.C.), The Muckle Man (City Theatre in Pittsburgh), Dark Matters (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in NYC), Rough Magic (Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York), and The Weird (an evening of short pulpy plays at Dad’s Garage Theatre in Atlanta). His early comedies Golden Age and Say You Love Satan have been produced around the country and were both nominated for GLAAD media awards. For Dallas Theatre Center, he wrote a new book to the classic Charles Strouse/Lee Adams musical It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s SUPERMAN. He also writes for the Emmy nominated HBO series Big Love.

About Vassar & New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater

Powerhouse Theater is the result of a unique collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College, the program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus (124 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY) during which more than 250 professional artists and 40-50 apprentices live and work together to create new theater works. Award-winning writers, directors, and actors all converge in Poughkeepsie, New York, for six weeks each summer to create exciting new work in an intimate setting.

Each summer New York Stage and Film (Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director; Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer, Leslie Urdang, Producing Directors) and Vassar College (Ed Cheetham, Producing Director) have offered discerning audiences a chance to see new works, which have included the the multi-award-winning Doubt (2004); the re-imagined classic On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (2010), now on Broadway; the groundbreaking Broadway musical American Idiot (2009); and A Steady Rain (2006), produced on Broadway in 2009 with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig.

The Powerhouse Theater Season at Vassar College strives to make its performances and facilities accessible to all our patrons. If you have questions, would like to request an accommodation or service, or would like to receive additional information about accessibility at Powerhouse Theater, Martel Theater, or the Shiva Theater, please contact us or visit our website:powerhouse.vassar.edu/accessibility. For additional information or if you have questions, need assistance, or an accommodation not mentioned on the website, please contact the Powerhouse Theater Program office at (845) 437-5907 or powerhouse@vassar.edu.

*This reading was originally scheduled for January 21, however has been postponed. All reservations will be honored.

Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre's 30th annual Bardavon Gala on February 25-26, 2012.

Vassar College Media Relations — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—The Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre (VRDT) will present its 30th Annual Bardavon Gala with two performances on Saturday, February 25 at 8:00pm and Sunday, February 26 at 3:00pm.

“For 30 years the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre has been performing at the beautiful Bardavon 1869 Opera House - an achievement we are very proud of,” remarked VRDT director John Meehan. “Consequently our 2012 Gala Performance is a special celebration with strong repertory of both existing and brand new works and very talented company of dancers. The best kept dance secret in the Hudson Valley this is not a concert just for the Vassar Community, but for all people who enjoy dance.”

The VRDT repertoire will include faculty and student choreography as well as Balanchine’s “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux” and two new works by Edwaard Liang and Larry Keigwin:

Larry Keigwin, a renowned modern dance choreographer, created “Take Off” at Vassar for VRDT in October 2011. Set to the music of exciting young composer Jonathan Melville Pratt, “Take Off” celebrates youth, energy, dance and flight.

Edwaard Liang, who danced with New York City Ballet and later performed on Broadway in the musical Fosse, has developed his distinct choreographic voice using a vocabulary that fuses traditional ballet and contemporary movement. His mysterious work “Whispers in the Dark,” set for VRDT, is a radical reworking of a contemporary ballet last seen in the repertoire of the Bolshoi Ballet. The gala will offer its North American debut.

To celebrate the company’s 30th year at the Bardavon Opera House, George Balanchine’s dazzling “Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux” will be added to the repertoire. John Meehan noted that “Balanchine’s pas de deux is classical ballet at its most exhilarating and will feature brilliant young Vassar students Juliana Rodzinski and Brian Heil.”

Katherine Wildberger, senior lecturer in dance and drama and assistant director of VRDT, collaborated with adjunct artist and VRDT resident composer, Howard Kilik, to create “Drumlin,” based on the poem “Buck in the Snow” by alumna Edna St Vincent Millay ’17. A live string quartet will perform Kilik’s commissioned score.

Steve Rooks, chair of the Department of Dance and VRDT resident choreographer, has created “Social Network(s)” a dramatic piece of three abstracts on the connections/disconnections of our social lives, set to music of the composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Stacey Widelitz, and Thomas Newman.

The jazz work “Voodoo Rendezvous,” was created by Abby Saxon, adjunct instructor in dance. Co-choreographed with Martha Ross ’83 Tobias, “Voodoo Rendezvous” was first presented by VRDT during the 2005–06 season. Set to the music of Ben Charest, this entertaining piece returned to the current repertoire by popular demand.

The gala program will also highlight VRDT’s classical ballet dancers as they perform “The Dance of the Odalisques,” from the Marius Petipa ballet Le Corsaire with music of Adolphe Adam and Cesare Pugni. This excerpt was set by VRDT Director John Meehan.

“Jai Ho,” the hit song from the movie Slumdog Millionaire (written by A. R. Rahman) inspired the VRDT company finale, choreographed by the dance faculty in collaboration with the dancers of VRDT.

Student choreographers represented in the program will include Mickey Mahar ’12 (“Untitled”), Elly Dembo ’13 (“Chiaroscuro”), Michael Graceffa ’13 (“Contact 3 2 1”), Niya Nicholson ’14 (“Jigsaw”), Matt Ortile ’14 (“Brightside”), and Emma King ’15 (“If I am Not Beautiful”).

Tickets for the 30th anniversary Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre Bardavon Gala are $11 for general admissions or $9.00 for students, seniors, and the Vassar community. You may purchase tickets by calling the Bardavon Box Office at(845) 473-2072 or through Ticketmaster at(800) 745-3000. Group rates are available through calling the dance office at Vassar, please call(845) 437-7470 for information. Tickets will be on sale at Vassar College at the College Center Information Desk located in Main Building and at the Dance Office in Kenyon Hall.

About the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre

The Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre is the resident company of the Vassar College Department of Dance. Since 1983, VRDT has provided Vassar dance students with an opportunity to perform significant dance works of the classic ballet and modern repertoire, as well as original works by faculty, student, and visiting artists in the dance field (http://blogs.vassar.edu/vrdt/).

About the VRDT Director John Meehan

John Meehan performed as a Principal Dancer with the Australian Ballet and the American Ballet Theater; appeared frequently as a guest artist at the New York City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and toured with Stars of World Ballet. His has choreographed ballets for The Australian Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Washington Ballet, Metropolitan Opera Company, and Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Meehan was also the artistic director of Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet (1990–93), The American Ballet Theatre Studio Company (1997–2006), and the Hong Kong Ballet (2006–2009). Before taking his current position at Vassar.

About the Department of Dance

The Department of Dance offers a non-major, elective course of study at Vassar. The faculty consists of three full-time professors (Jeanne Periolat Czula, John Meehan, Stephen Rooks), one full-time lecturer of dance and drama (Katherine Wildberger), and one part-time jazz instructor (Abby Saxon). Dance’s resident lighting designer, David Ferri, lights all dance department productions. There are three adjunct artists who serve as accompanists and who compose, direct, and sometimes perform with the student company, the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre, which is directed by John Meehan (http://dance.vassar.edu/).

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Comprehensive retrospective exhibition of artists’ books published over 30 years by Women’s Studio Workshop on view at Vassar, 1/18– 3/2.

Vassar College Media Relations — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—Archives and Special Collections of the Vassar College Libraries will present a retrospective exhibition of artists’ books created and published for over 30 years by Women’s Studio Workshop (WSW). Hand, Voice & Vision: Artists' Books from Women's Studio Workshop, on view from January 18 – March 12, 2012, will include works by some of the most influential contemporary book artists in America. On Wednesday, February 1, art professor Lisa Collins will discuss the artists’ books of WSW in a public presentation at 5:30pm in the Class of 1951 Reading Room of the Thompson Memorial Library.

The works in Hand, Voice & Vision celebrate three facets that characterize the artist’s book program at Women’s Studio Workshop: the hand-made mark of the book-maker, the unique voices and viewpoints of a broad and diverse range of artists, and the visionary nature of artwork that forges new directions in the medium of book arts.

The Vassar College libraries are an official repository for the collection of artists’ books produced by Women’s Studio Workshop, which since 1979 has grown to become the largest publisher in the country of these hand printed and hand bound works. The Women’s Studio Workshop is based in nearby Rosendale, NY, and its artists’ books gain their first Hudson Valley archive with this Vassar partnership.

Vassar’s interest in books and book arts is an example of its long-established tradition of learning by “going to the source.” Ron Patkus, Head of Special Collections and Associate Professor of History at Vassar College, says, “The Vassar repository reaches its fullest potential not just through collecting, but also by creating and realizing possibilities for teaching, research, and ongoing collaboration.” This exhibition is one example; another was a course that art professor Lisa Collins and Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center curator Mary-Kay Lombino offered last spring titled “Artists' Books from the Women's Studio Workshop.”

This exhibition was curated by Kathleen Walkup, professor of book art and director of the Book Arts Program at Mills College in Oakland, CA. It originated at the Grolier Club in New York City, and was on display at University of Southern Maine in Portland, ME as well as Smith College in Northampton, MA. Following the exhibition at Vassar, Hand, Voice & Vision will travel to Carleton College in Northfield, MN and Scripps College in Claremont, CA.

A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue is available. It contains more than a dozen essays on the topic of artists’ books and WSW’s role in the field, written by artists, teachers, librarians, and curators, including Mary-Kay Lombino and Ronald Patkus.

Related Events

February 1, 2012
5:30pm
Presentation by Lisa G. Collins, associate professor of art at Vassar College
“Hand, Voice & Vision: Artists' Books from Women's Studio Workshop”
Class of 1951 Reading Room, 2nd floor of the Thompson Memorial Library

About the Women’s Studio Workshop

Since 1974, Women’s Studio Workshop has provided close to 200 artists, both emerging and established, with studio facilities and technical expertise to produce limited edition artists’ books. Currently the publishing program at WSW adds five new artists’ books each year. The variety in form and content of the books in the exhibition demonstrates the breadth of the Workshop’s publications, reflecting an assortment of ideas, topics, and methods spanning thirty years of women responding to pressing political and cultural issues, as well as themes of a social or personal nature. (www.wsworkshop.org/)

About Archives and Special Collections

The Catherine Pelton Durrell ’25 Archives and Special Collections Library is the principal repository of the College's noteworthy collections of rare books, manuscripts, archival records of Vassar College, and other special materials.

Works in Archives and Special Collections are accessible for research and review. To make an appointment, call(845) 437-5799 or email spcoll@vassar.edu. For additional information about Archives and Special Collections, see http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations at Vassar should contact the Office of Campus Activities at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available. Directions to the Vassar campus are available at http://www.vassar.edu/directions.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center presents the solo exhibition "Marco Maggi: Lentissimo," 1/20 – 4/1.

Vassar College Media Relations — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0500

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College will present the solo exhibition Marco Maggi: Lentissimo from January 20 to April 1, 2012. Curated by Mary-Kay Lombino, the Art Center’s Emily Hargroves Fisher '57 and Richard B. Fisher Curator and assistant director for strategic planning, Lentissimo is an exhibition of 14 colorful new works by Marco Maggi made expressly for the occasion of this exhibition.

Named for the Italian word for very slow as well as the musical tempo that denotes only 40 beats per minute, Lentissimo explores the artist’s relationship to time while inviting viewers in for quiet, careful observation. The works on view represent not only the slow pace required for viewing the work, but also reflect the intense concentration, introspection, and attention to detail involved in the artistic process. For example, works in Maggi’s Hotbed series which will be on view on the floor of each gallery, are at once large-scale, site-specific installations and a series of miniature sculptures, inspiring the viewer in to experience them on two levels – from a distance and then up close.

Maggi, who resides in the Hudson Valley community of New Paltz (NY), “is an extraordinary draftsman known for his painstaking attention to process and minute detail,” remarked Lombino. “He takes ordinary mass-produced materials such as reams of colored paper, rolls of aluminum foil, empty slide casings, eyeglass lenses, white envelopes, and acrylic parking mirrors as the starting point for his work. He then transforms these everyday items through his intricate, often repetitive, and sometimes obsessive patterns that spread across their surfaces forming amorphous landscapes, imagined topographies, or elaborate diagrams that serve as a commentary on the high-volume, technology-driven speed of the world in which we live.”

“Maggi’s labor-intensive drawings can be seen as a visual response to that over-stimulation. They require time and close physical proximity on the part of the viewer to engage with the work,” explained Lombino..

In his Hotbed series, an ongoing installation initiated in 2000, Marco Maggi uses simple reams of photocopy paper, one of the most basic (and soon to be obsolete) modes for recording data. In previous versions of Hotbed reams of blank white photocopy paper were perfectly laid out on the floor in a grid mode to create corridors and avenues. The top sheet of each ream is marked with incisions; creating folds of micro monuments that project sharply cast shadows onto the paper. The floor installation becomes a wall-to-wall carpet of white paper from which tiny scenarios emerge. Three new Hotbed installations will be created for this exhibition at the Art Center and, for the first time, the reams of paper will be not white but yellow, blue, and red.

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Marco Maggi has exhibited extensively throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. His work is included in several public collections including: The Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum, and Guggenheim Museum (New York City), Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Hirshhorn Museum (Washington, DC), and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Exhibition Events

Friday, January 20

5:30pm
Opening reception and lecture
"Gently Subversive – The Artistry of Marco Maggi"
A lecture by Linda Weintraub, educator, author, artist, and curator.
Taylor Hall, Room 203

6:30pm
Reception
Art Center Atrium

About the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center was founded in 1864 as the Vassar College Art Gallery. The current 36,400-square-foot facility, designed by Cesar Pelli and named in honor of the new building's primary donor, opened in 1993. The Art Center's collections chart the history of art from antiquity to the present and comprise over 18,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and glass and ceramic wares. Notable holdings include the Warburg Collection of Old Master prints, an important group of Hudson River School paintings given by Matthew Vassar at the college's inception, and a wide range of works by major European and American 20th- century painters. Vassar was the first U.S. college founded with a permanent art collection and gallery, and at any given time, the Permanent Collection Galleries of the Art Center feature approximately 350 works from Vassar's extensive collections.

Admission to the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is free. The Art Center is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, 10:00am–5:00pm; Thursday, 10:00am–9:00pm; and Sunday, 1:00–5:00pm. Located at the entrance to the historic Vassar College campus, the Art Center can be reached within minutes from other Mid-Hudson cultural attractions, such as Dia:Beacon, the Franklin Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt national historic sites and homes, and the Vanderbilt mansion. The Art Center is wheelchair accessible. For additional information, the public may call (845) 437-5632 or visit fllac .vassar .edu.

Directions to the Vassar campus are available at www .vassar .edu /directions.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.