News
Center for Art and Theatre to host contemporary art exhibition
The Georgia Southern University Center for Art and Theatre on the Statesboro Campus will host “Mode/Code,” a contemporary art exhibition featuring paint, textiles, illustration and digital exploration, through Feb. 12. A virtual artist talk will be on Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m.
“I’ve followed the work of these artists for years,” said Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art Gallery Director Jason Hoelscher. “I have seen and shown some of their work before. I’ve never seen them exhibited together, however, and I look forward to seeing what visual and conceptual magic happens when their work converges in one gallery space.”
The virtual artist talk will feature emerging artists Trish Andersen, Andrea Caretto, Will Penny, Michael Porten, Jen Small, Britt Spencer and Ben Tollefson. Due to COVID-19, gallery capacity is limited and guests must wear a mask and stay 6 feet apart.
‘Surface Matters: Grit or Gloss’ features nearly 50 artists from around the world
Exhibition on view through Dec. 8; Virtual event set for Nov. 18.
Surface Matters: Grit or Gloss, opens this week at the Center for Art & Theatre on Georgia Southern’s Statesboro Campus. The exhibition features over 60 enamels-based artworks by nearly 50 artists from around the world. Organized by the Enamelist Society and juried by Charity Hall, Anne Havel, and Barbara McFadyen, Surface Matters conveys the spectrum of approaches and techniques at play in the vibrant world of contemporary enamels. Ranging from enameled metals, decals, glass and more, with works situated on pedestals, mounted on walls, or suspended from the ceiling, the artworks shown here run the gamut from the traditional to the experimental.
“I have to admit that I was not fully aware of the sheer diversity and dynamism of the world of enamels-based art,” says Center for Art and Theatre gallery director Jason Hoelscher, “but this exhibition alone is practically a crash course in just how much the field is thriving. Kudos to the jurors for putting together an exhibition that encompasses works across a spectrum from lace-like detail and complexity on the one hand, to bold imagery and sizzling color on the other hand, and thank you to the Enamelist Society for working with us to make this show a reality.”
Surface Matters will be on view in the University Gallery from Nov. 9 to December 8.
A Virtual Artists’ Talk will be held on Zoom on Nov. 18 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Registration is required prior to the event.
Georgia Southern Theatre Explores the Touch in a World where you can’t
STATESBORO, GA – Georgia Southern Theatre second production of the fall is a devised piece based on the idea of what touch means in a world where you cannot. Created entirely by the cast and production team, this piece is a collection of sketches, dances and songs that are a reflection of the lived experience of the cast and they have navigated life in the world of COVID 19.
The students began the process with discussions about what touch meant, how it has changed, what the experience of living in a pandemic has meant for them. Affectionately referring to the process as one in which they threw a bunch of ideas at the wall to see what would stick, the resulting performance is both funny and heartfelt. Original poetry, dance and song work next to sketches performed over the medium of zoom.
Touch will be streamed starting on Nov. 11th and will run through Nov. 15th. To access the streaming video go to http://georgiasouthern.edu/Theatre.
The production is available free of charge and will begin at 7:30 on Nov. 11th.
For more information email theatre@georgiasouthern.edu.
Adjustment to Fall Theatre Season
Dear Students,
We anticipate you are wondering just what this coming year is going to look like. Honesty, so are we. While the university is still working out how the return to campus will happen and how classes can be held safely, we have made some decisions about the season.
These decisions are based on our desire to offer you opportunities to do the creative work you are here to learn how to do and, at the same time, not put you or our audiences at unnecessary risk.
For the fall we have made several changes to the season. At this point Spring will happen as planned, with the caveat that nothing in these times happens as planned so be prepared to adapt. We have been discussing several options for presenting your work, and would like to give a nod to the directing class for their great ideas this spring, which have informed our conversations.
The Fall semester will start with Wham! Bam! Play Slam! as normal on the first weekend after classes start, August 21&22. Instead of a live event, it will be a virtual 24-hour play creation and party. Theatre South will hold a socially distanced gathering at the sweetheart circle where groups will be assigned before creating readings of new plays designed to explore the possibilities of video conference style live performance.
On the Statesboro Campus Riders to the Sea will be performed on August 28th; we will stream it live or record it and are looking at creating viewing parties.
Urban Rabbit Chronicles will be postponed until some future date. Nick will be directing Social Creatures by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Social Creatures is a dark comedy about a group of survivors hiding out in a theatre building from a pandemic which turns the infected into . . . Zombies. When someone (Who happens to be African American) enters the camp, he is placed into quarantine, and the survivors are forced to face who they really are and the things they have had to do to survive. We have worked out a deal with the playwright to record and present the play “Blair Witch” style with actors rehearsing and performing mostly in isolation against the backdrop of our own theatre building. It will go live on Oct 7 and will run through 11 as a streamed event.
Dancing at Lughnasa will also be postponed to some future season. Instead Lisa will be doing a devised piece centered around the idea of touch in a world where that is one of the things we can’t do. We will either do a live stream Zoom approach or will stream a rough edit of pre recorded material. Depending on what we create. This will be streamed Nov. 11 to 15.
The directing class will be creating scenes on some kind of virtual platform.
On the Armstrong Campus, Cabaret will be postponed until some future date and Pam will be directing an adaptation of The Every 28 Hours Plays with additional student-written scenes. This will be curated, recorded and streamed on November 5-8. A student-directed, streamed performance will run October 1-4 and the Last Laugh Improv troupe will have a streamed (and/or outdoor) performance during the 3rd or 4th week of October.
Information on auditions will be coming soon.
The faculty is working to create the best educational and creative opportunities for you in this uncertain environment. Your ideas, skills and engagement are so important, and we encourage you to continue to share them with us. We are all in this together; theatre requires collaboration and we welcome you as collaborators in this unprecedented time.
Please contact us at theatre@georgiasouthern.edu if you have any questions.
Your Faculty
Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art hosts first online exhibition ‘Form and Content’
The Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art (BFSDoArt) is hosting its annual juried student exhibitions this spring, but for the first time they will appear online. The first of three exhibitions, “Form and Content,” features student work from art foundations classes that include Drawing I, Drawing II, 2D Art and Design Foundations, 3D Art and Design Foundations and Digital Foundations. The exhibition is available to view online through April 12. Typically hosted in the University Gallery on the Statesboro Campus, the COVID-19 pandemic changed exhibition plans.
“While this spring’s exhibitions have posed a series of logistical challenges, I am excited to be able to host the exhibition online,” said Jason Hoelscher, gallery director. “This year we had a great selection of work across multiple disciplines and media. The fact that our students are already doing work at this level so early in their studies is impressive and I can’t wait to see what they will be doing as they progress.”
This exhibition was juried by Sheila Stewart-Leach, art consultant, curator and former head curator at the Averitt Center for the Arts in Statesboro.
The exhibit features works from 40 students including Julie Brown who was awarded first place for her piece, “Strong.” Brown is a sophomore and her work is made entirely of staples. Timothy Grant received second place for “Super Famicom Cartridge” and Peyton Bailey was awarded third place for “The Story of Me.”
For more information on the art exhibition and to view it online visit georgiasouthern.edu/digitalgallery.
Georgia Southern University, a public Carnegie Doctoral/R2 institution founded in 1906, offers 141 degree programs serving more than 26,000 students through nine colleges on three campuses in Statesboro, Savannah, Hinesville and online instruction. A leader in higher education in southeast Georgia, the University provides a diverse student population with expert faculty, world-class scholarship and hands-on learning opportunities. Georgia Southern creates lifelong learners who serve as responsible scholars, leaders and stewards in their communities. Visit GeorgiaSouthern.edu.