BGSU Arts Extravaganza planned Dec. 8

BOWLING GREEN, O.—The Bowling Green State University School of Art will host its third annual Arts Extravaganza from 6-10 p.m. Dec. 8 at the campus Fine Arts Center. 

The entire school will be open to the public, showcasing the range of work by School of Art faculty, staff and students. In addition, the evening will showcase student performers from the University's Dance Program, College of Musical Arts and Department of Theatre and Film.

“We're trying to create a more collaborative environment within the arts here on campus, and this event is attempting to do that with the students from these different programs,” noted Dennis Wojtkiewicz (voit ke' vitch), a BGSU professor of art (painting) and coordinator of the Arts Extravaganza.

Featured artwork will include the annual faculty and staff exhibition, in the Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery, and the Robert “Bud” Hurlstone memorial exhibition, in the Willard Wankelman Gallery. Hurlstone headed the glass program in the School of Art for 28 years until his death in November 2005.

The Hiroko Nakamoto Gallery, adjacent to the Bryan Gallery, will host an informational presentation by BGSU Tea Master Akiko Jones and her students about the Japanese Tea Ceremony from 6:30-8 p.m.

Displays of undergraduate student art will be found throughout the building, and graduate student studios will be open as well. Demonstrations in glass, jewelry and other media will also take place at various locations. 

Holiday shoppers can make a bid at a silent auction of faculty artwork in the main lobby—with proceeds to benefit the new Hurlstone scholarship—or make selections from various artwork sales that help support student organizations in the building. 

Dance students will demonstrate the Korean drum dance and tap dance from 6-6:30 p.m. Then, at 8:30 p.m., the Dance Program will present “Footfalls,” a concert of modern, jazz, tap and world dance, in the Whitney Dance Studio, located in 222 Eppler North. The concert will feature student choreography of solo and group modern dance works; solos by graduating dance majors Carrie Bell of Hilton, N.Y., and Jessica Priehs of Bowling Green, and “Thunderstorm,” a dance and drumming piece by the University Performing Dancers. Tickets are $5 and will be available at the door a half hour before show time.

Providing music in the Bryan Gallery lobby will be BGSU's Early Music Ensemble, directed by Dr. Mary Natvig, from 5-6 p.m.; a flute trio, from 6-7 p.m.; “Student Loan,” a bluegrass band, from 7-8:30 p.m., and a saxophone quartet, from 8:30-9:30 p.m. A flute duo will perform in the Wankelman Gallery from 7-8 p.m.

Students from the Department of Theatre and Film will entertain guests in 2000 Fine Arts Center, beginning with stand-up comic Tyler Ward from 6:15-6:30 p.m. Performances will continue until 10 p.m., including a reprise of this year's Newcomers Showcase, “All the World's a Stage,” a series of scenes, songs and dances about life in the theatre that was staged in October.

Throughout the evening, visitors may view wraps designed by BGSU students for Toledo's TARTA buses, outside the building's main entrance; digital animations by graduate and undergraduate digital art students, in 1101 Fine Arts Center, and a collaborative animation video by the University's Chapman Learning Community, in 1106 Fine Arts Center. Caricatures will be available throughout the building and, on the second floor, Mid-American Review and Prairie Margins, BGSU's literary magazine and undergraduate journal, respectively, will have an information table.

A Children's Activity Center will be available from 6-9 p.m. in 132 Fine Arts Center, where students from BGSU's art education program will coordinate arts and crafts for children.

The event is “a more casual environment for people to come in and take a look around at what's happening with the arts at BGSU,” added Wojtkiewicz. Admission is free, and guests will be able to talk to faculty, staff and students.

Parking will be available in Lots N and 14, located off Ridge Street just northwest of the Fine Arts Center.

Sponsors of the Arts Extravaganza include the colleges of Arts and Sciences and Musical Arts, along with the School of Art, the Department of Theatre and Film, and the Dance Program, housed in the School of Human Movement, Sport and Leisure Studies.

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(Posted November 27, 2006)