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Nicholas Homoky, head of ceramics at the University of the West of England in Bristol, works on a soup tureen while giving a lecture/demonstration Monday to students in the College of Fine and Performing Arts. (Photo: Richard Wright) |
Two visiting faculty spent time in the College of Fine and Performing Arts as part of the college's International Teaching Artist Program.
Henriette Rantalaiho, a violinist from Finland, and Nick Homoky, a ceramist from England, arrived the weekend of Feb. 27 for a three-week teaching residency.
Rantalaiho is working with students in the School of Music. She is a faculty member at the Sibelius Institute in Helsinki, Finland, where she teaches violin and violin pedagogy. She is being hosted by David Neely, assistant professor of violin.
Homoky is working with ceramics students in the Department of Art and Art History. He is on the Faculty of Art, Media and Design at the University of West England in Bristol. He is being hosted by Gail Kendall, associate professor of art and Pete Pinnell, assistant professor of art.
"It's exciting to see different people," said Rantalaiho, who is giving lectures on violin pedagogy and demonstrations. "Every nationality has something special."
The school systems in Finland and the United States are very different, she said. "In Finland, you go to music school for private lessons and everything. Here, you're learning in the schools in groups.
"I like the way students have interaction with their teachers," she said. "[In Finland] I don't have my own teaching room." Instead, she teaches five different classes in three different buildings.
Every student in the soloist program studies pedagogics for two years. "We believe everyone will teach sometime," she said.
The Sibelius Academy, where Rantalaiho is an instructor, is the only university of music in Finland and the largest in Scandinavia with more than 1,700 students. There are 20 violin teachers, including two professors and seven lecturers.
She has visited area high schools and is working with students of UNL professors David Neely, Clark Potter and Karen Becker.
Ceramist Homoky said he came because he was "curious to see another ceramic program in the United States."
Homoky's described his own work as post-modern. "My work is purely visual and not functional. It is hard and industrial but handmade on a potter's wheel. I'm obsessed with creating interesting spaces and exploring what decoration is."
His work has evolved through repeated exhibitions and from being collected. "I keep replacing the pots I missed," Homoky said.
Homoky received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of West England in Bristol. He received his Master of Fine Arts from the Royal College of Art in London.
After college, he taught at Cardiff College of Art as a ceramics lecturer "rather than set up my own workshop," he said. He has been at The University of West England for 18 years and is now the head of ceramics.
Homokey believes American art students have a more varied timetable than his students in England.
"Here, they are obliged to take other subjects," he said. "Our students in Bristol elect to do their art full time. The only requirement is a history of art lecture that culminates in a 6,000 to 10,000 word thesis as part of their finals.
"In Lincoln, there is this principal of a rounded person, which is a marvelous concept that is much lacking in Britain. We tend to over-specialize too early."
While on campus, Homoky gave two lecture/demonstrations, including one where he assembled and finished a sculptural vessel.
The College of Fine and Performing Arts International Teaching Artist Program brings artists and faculty in music, dance, theatre and visual arts from other countries to our campus for teaching residencies of three weeks to a full semester of 15 weeks.
-Kathe Andersen, Fine and Performing Arts
t in Concert April 4The climax of the 33rd third season of Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music concerts will take place at 8 p.m. April 4 with the performance of the world-renowned St. Petersburg String Quartet in Sheldon Gallery.
The St. Petersburg Quartet, which has achieved enormous acclaim in its relatively brief existence, was formed by graduates of the Leningrad Conservatory. Soon thereafter the then-"Leningrad" Quartet won the prestigious All-Soviet Union String Quartet Competition and several "best" awards at Russia's Shostakovich Competition. This auspicious beginning led to international recognition.
In 1989 the ensemble captured the Silver Medal and a Special Prize at the International Competition of Chamber Ensembles in Tokyo. When the same competition was held two years later in Melbourne, Australia, the Quartet achieved its greatest recognition to that time with a First Prize and the coveted "Grand Prix Musica Viva." Since that time the ensemble has received rave reviews, performing before standing-room only audiences in the course of tours across America, Europe and Asia. The Quartet has been honored with appearances at music festivals at New York (Lincoln Center), San Diego, Yale and Princeton Universities, Cleveland, Tennessee, San Antonio, Connecticut, Arizona and Colorado to name only a few.
The Quartet, which began performing in 1985 under the banner of the Leningrad Conservatory, consists of Alla Aranovskaya and Ilya Teplyakov, violins, Konstantin Kats, viola, and Leonid Shukaev, cello.
For its Lincoln program the Quartet has chosen to perform the Third Quartet of Shostakovich, the Tchaikovsky Quartet No. 1 and Borodin's Second String Quartet in D, which contains the melody popularized in America some years ago as "Stranger in Paradise."
The 8 p.m. concert will be preceded at 7:30 p.m. by program comments by John Bailey, UNL faculty flutist. Following the performance a reception for audience and artists will be held in the Great Hall of Sheldon Gallery. Parking for persons with special needs is available in the lot north of the Gallery. Individual admission, paid at the door, is $25 for adults or $5 for students. For more information call 435-5454.
St. Mark's on the Campus Episcopal Church will stage a reading and discussion of George Bernard Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell" at 7 p.m. March 29 at the church, located at 1309 R St. "Don Juan in Hell" explores notions of hell, heaven, happiness, and suffering in a brilliantly witty dialogue of ideas.
Coordinated by the SMOC Committee on the Arts, members of the community and congregation will read and discuss the play. The presentation features Steve Enersen as Don Juan, Julie Enersen as Dona Ana, William Burke as the Devil, Fr. Don Hanway as the Statue, and Bette Anne Sperry as the narrator who will read Shaw's stage directions. Peg Sheldrick will direct.
George Bernard Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell" is part of a much longer play, "Man and Superman," but it can stand alone as a brilliantly witty and ironic dialogue of ideas in which conventional notions of heaven and hell, happiness and suffering, are re-evaluated and even turned upside down. But although Shaw was criticaI of conventional morality and religious belief, he was not a skeptic or cynic. He might indeed be compared to the Old Testament prophets, who challenged their society to question superficial or complacent beliefs in order to revitalize and deepen their own commitments.
As Louis Crompton, professor emeritus of English, puts it, "Don Juan in Hell" is a "statement of Shaw's theology of salvation" and a "profession of faith." Although written over 90 years ago, it remains an entertaining and provocative drama which should appeal to anyone who is concerned with ultimate values and meaning.
Professor of English Robert Stock will lead discussion following the reading. Questions will focus on Shaw's conception of heaven and hell, on the reasons why people find themselves in heaven or hell, and on relationships between the sexes.
For more information, contact Saint Mark's on-the-Campus Episcopal Church, 474-1979.
The University of Nebraska Alumni Association and School of Music's Scarlet and Cream Singers will present shows across Nebraska March 20-24 during their annual spring break tour.
Public performances on the swing across the state include (all times local):
The Scarlet & Cream group, now in its 25th year, is composed of 22 NU students, including 16 singers, four band members and two technicians. The spring tour concerts feature song and dance routines from the Roaring '20s, World War II and the 1970s; numbers with Frank Sinatra and James Bond themes; Scarlet and Cream all-time favorites; and school spirit medleys.
Ticket sales are being handled by each community. Contact the local facility for details or call the Nebraska Alumni Association, (402) 472-2841.
-Andrea Cranford, Alumni Association
The Acting Company supports a unique mission. It provides young and highly gifted actors the chance to develop their craft by touring in a repertory of classic and contemporary plays. Now in its 25th season, Acting Company alumni include some of the best actors appearing on today's stage.
The company brings its talented troupe to Kimball Hall April 2 and 3 for 8 p.m. performances. The Acting Company is presented as part of the New Voices series supported by the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
The company performs William Shakespeare's tragic Romeo and Juliet on April 2. The April 3 performance, Love's Fire, is a new production of short plays, written by some of America's finest playwrights, inspired by Shakespeare's sonnets. Love's Fire contains material some may deem inappropriate for young audiences.
Romeo and Juliet is the tragic story of love beset with family hostility and hate. It has been popular with young audiences since its creation and has spawned numerous film versions and stage revivals. Love's Fire is an evening of one-act plays commissioned by The Acting Company. Love's Fire playwrights include Eric Bogosian, William Finn, John Guare, Marsha Norman, Ntozake Shange and Michael Weller in collaboration with Ann Cattaneo, dramaturg of the Lincoln Center Theater.
Since its founding in 1972, the company has produced more than 200 alumni including Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone and David Ogden Stiers. Its alumni are in high demand both on and off-Broadway, testimony to the repertory theatre's tradition of developing enduring talent.
The 13 actors touring this season bring new meaning to some of the finest language ever spoken in the theatre.
Tickets for the 8 p.m. performances are $26 and $22. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska Wesleyan University and Doane College students and youth 18 and younger with proper identification can purchase tickets for half-price. Target "Treatseats" discount coupons are available at participating Target stores.
Call the Lied Box Office at (402) 472-4747 or toll free, 1 (800) 432-3231 for ticket availability.
Ikebana, the art of Japanese flower arranging, will be the feature of the "Celebration of Spring" March 31-April 5 at the Lentz Center for Asian Culture.
Ikebana was introduced in Japan in the sixth century by Chinese Buddhist missionaries who had formalized the ritual of offering flowers to the Buddha. The first school of flower arranging in Japan was founded in the early seventh century. Based on a harmony of simple linear construction and an appreciation of the subtle beauty of flowers and natural material, ikebana has separated into several major schools according to historical periods and differing theories of artistic composition.
The Lentz Center's "Celebration of Spring" will honor the 60th anniversary of the Ichiyo school of ikebana. In conjunction with Marilyn Hoskins, master of the Ichiyo school and her colleagues, the center will present a total gallery installation of spring flowers. Hoskins, who now lives in Lincoln, studied ikebana for five years in Japan and continues training at seminars in the United States.
The floral arangements will be of a variety of sizes, including the usual table size and the larger floor installations used in theaters and hotel lobbies.
Lentz Center hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday. It is closed Monday. There is no admission charge to the Lentz Center, but a $2 donation is suggested for Morrill Hall visitors over the age of 2. Parking is available next to the building.
-Tom Simons, Public Relations
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