Division of Creative Arts news & updates | November 2021

Dear Colleagues,


As we enter the last phases of the fall semester and prepare to take a few days off for Thanksgiving, we wish to initiate a Creative Arts Division newsletter in order to share and celebrate with one another some of the achievements of the past several months. We have much to be proud of. The content is far from comprehensive but it represents an attempt to share information across the Division, including news about faculty, students, staff and alumni along with reminders of funding opportunities and upcoming deadlines. Events will continue to be highlighted in the biweekly newsletter from Arts Engagement.


Please keep us informed of new and developing items in the coming weeks (see buttons on this newsletter and the Division website) so that we can include them in future installments of the Division newsletter. In the meantime, I want to wish everyone the happiest of holidays.


Charles McClendon

Head of the Division of Creative Arts

Sidney and Ellen Wien Professor in the History of Art

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Pictured: Joe Wardwell, "I'm Afraid of Americans" (2021). Vinyl wall installation, 105 x 130 in. Courtesy of LaMontagne Gallery.

Faculty News


CAST

  • Toni Shapiro-Phim curated the exhibition "between us" for the Kniznick Gallery at the Women's Studies Research Center, with a public component coordinated by her students. Last summer, Toni delivered the inaugural presentation for the Peace Research Institute of Oslo's INSPIRE seminar series.


FINE ARTS

  • Sonia Almeida has exhibitions at Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar, Lisbon; Galeria Nuno Centeno, Porto; and Galeria Cristina Guerra, Lisbon.
  • Gannit Ankori was co-curator with Circe Henestrosa of the exhibition Viva La Frida! Life and Art of Frida Kahlo at the Drentsmuseum in the Netherlands, on view through March 27, 2022.
  • Tory Fair received public art grants from the cultural councils of Arlington and Cambridge.
  • Alfredo Gisholt had a solo exhibition, Rituals of Perception, at Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston.
  • Peter Kalb's book "Art Since 1980" was translated into Korean and published by Mijin Publishing Co., Seoul.
  • Nancy Scott was honored by Austin College (Texas) as a member-elect of its Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
  • Sheida Solemani has created a seven-piece body of work, Coping Mechanisms, for Denny Dimin Gallery in New York. Sheida is also quoted extensively in an article in Hyperallergic on the use of live animals in contemporary art.
  • Joe Wardwell has a solo exhibition, "I'm Afraid of Americans," at LaMontagne Gallery in Boston, on view through December 18, 2021.


MUSIC

  • Eric Chasalow is composing a violin concerto for Miranda Cuckson and Boston Modern Orchestra Project, to be performed as an "intervention" in the Rose Art Museum on December 15, 2021. In the spring, Eric will be in residence at The Studios at Key West and the Bogliasco Foundation. 
  • Erin Gee had performances of "Mouthpiece II" at Festival Mixtur in Barcelona; Inter Feral Arts/New Music Festival in Malmö, Sweden; and the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris. Erin is also currently featured on the PBS series Resonant Bodies.
  • The Lydian String Quartet has been awarded a prestigious Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant to commission a new work by composer Kurt Rohde.
  • Sarah Mead performed, led a workshop and gave a lecture in the Josquin 500 Festival.
  • Yehudi Wyner received the Gold Medal for Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the organization's highest honor.


THEATER ARTS

  • Dmitry Troyanovsky directed "Life is Elsewhere," by Magda Romanska, for Speakeasy Stage's Project Resilience.
  • Robert Walsh directed the world premiere of "Think of Me Tuesday," by Ken Riaf, for Gloucester Stage Company.
  • Isaiah M. Wooden participated in REACTIVATING MEMORY, a virtual symposium hosted by Princeton University to mark the centennials of the Shuffle Along premiere on Broadway and the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921.


Comings and Goings


  • Eric Chafe (MUS), Susan Dibble (THA) and Marya Lowry (THA) have retired from Brandeis.
  • Bradford Garvey and Taylor Ackley have joined the Music faculty as visiting assistant professors. New adjunct instructors this year include Flora Hyoin Kim Han (THA) and Shterna Goldbloom (FA).
  • Eli Epstein has joined the Department of Fine Arts as studio art assistant.
  • Eileen Phalen has joined the Department of Theater Arts as communications and engagement coordinator.
  • Sarah "Val" Valente, PB '19, has joined Arts Engagement as community arts coordinator.
  • Christine Kahn, senior academic administrator for Fine Arts and Division administrator, and her wife, Becky, have welcomed a baby, Arlo.
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New courses for fall 2021

In Sculpture: Utilizing Waste Stream Materials (FA 5a), building on Tory Fair's research as an artist in residence at RAIR Philly, students collaborate with the waste stream culture on campus to access materials for fabricating sculptural ideas and installations. Pictured above, "The Ephemeral Now," a sculpture in moss and glass by Fijare Plous '24.


In Cindy Cohen's course Creative Approaches to Conflict Transformation and Sustainability (CAST 180a), students explore complexity theory, the nature of aesthetic engagement and distinctive qualities of engaging with arts and culture. The work is based on the report "Invite | Affirm | Evoke | Unleash: How artistic and cultural processes transform complex challenges," written by Cindy for the Porticus Foundation.

Student news

Maria Aranibar '22, Hisham Isaak '24, Alaysia Penso '23 (THA), Jolecia Saunderson '24, Logan Shanks '24, Khadija Wade '23 and Lily Zhang '23 recently received BIPOC Creator Grants from the Arts Engagement office. Grants are awarded monthly.


In the first round of Fisher Explorer Grants, the following seniors received awards to support their creative work. Applications for the second round of grants are due January 20, 2022.


  • Katie Ball (MUS)
  • Sienna Bucu (FA)
  • Vicente Cayuela Aliaga (FA)
  • Duomi (Amy) Chen (FA)
  • Matthew Kaufman (FA)
  • Anya Shire-Plumb (FA)
  • Marissa Small (FA)
  • Ashley Young (FA)


If you have student or alumni accomplishments to be considered for the newsletter, please send them using the button below.

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Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts

April 26-May 1, 2022


The 2022 Festival of the Arts celebrates BUOYANCY.


The arts lift us up to a place where we can take a second look at the world we live in. Through the arts, we find resilience, resistance, and renewal. We may find ourselves suspended in midair, or riding a wave, or floating calmly over the signs of growth below. We reclaim the joy of sharing communal space and the freedom to move. 


Grant applications for the support of new works created for the festival are due January 24, 2022. (A grant is not necessary to participate in the festival.)

Learn more about the Festival of the Arts
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BRANDEIS CONCERT SEASON AUDIENCE POLICY


Live music has returned to Brandeis! The Brandeis Concert Series schedule is now posted on the Department of Music website, along with new audience guidelines to help keep us all safe and healthy.


  1. Please use this form to reserve seats for any concert. Advance reservations are required and you will be asked to show ticket confirmation upon arrival.
  2. Brandeis audience members must have a green or yellow passport. Non-Brandeis visitors must be vaccinated and follow the campus Visitor Policy.
  3. Masks will be required for all audience members.
  4. Performers may unmask with a green passport (Brandeis) or proof of vaccination and a negative COVID test (non-Brandeis).
  5. Food and drinks will not be allowed (as always).
  6. Anyone experiencing symptoms related to COVID-19 should not attend performances.
Read more about the Brandeis Concert Season

FACULTY FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Cameron Anderson (THA), Sarah Mead (MUS) and Ramie Targoff (ENG) have received a 2021-22 Provost Research Grant to support A Renaissance Masque: Queen, Crones, and the Power of Women, a collaborative project on the court masque of the English Renaissance and the unique role it afforded to women performers.

Upcoming deadlines


More sources of support for research, creative activity and travel

STUDENT FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES


Upcoming deadlines



Grants with rolling deadlines


Undergraduate Research and Creative Collaborations Office

Live theater returned to Brandeis with the Theater Arts production of "In the Empty," an original devised movement piece conceived and directed by Sheila Bandyopadhyay '99. Chris Tedford, technical director, and Carolyn Daitch, assistant technical director, built an outdoor stage for the production, which enjoyed sold-out performances October 1-3.


Watch highlights of the production in this video by Anderson Stinson III '21.

Erin Gee (MUS) performs "Mouthpiece 29" with the Argento Chamber Ensemble in the Resonant Bodies Festival, 2019. Erin is currently featured on the PBS series Resonant Bodies. Watch the full 35-minute episode here.

2021-22 Creative Arts UDRs

CAST: Nicole Garmizo

Fine Arts: Sienna Bucu, Aria Smith (Studio Art); Mello Wilsted, Angela Sun (Art History)

Music: Katie Ball, Davina Goodman, Hannah Gudeman, Joanna Marcus

Theater Arts: Kat Lawrence, Kieran Whitney

FACULTY SEARCHES

THEATER ARTS

The Department of Theater Arts in the School of Arts and Sciences at Brandeis University invites applications for a tenure-track position in stage movement, physical theater, and/or dance at the rank of Assistant Professor, beginning in academic year 2022-2023.


We seek candidates who are practicing artists with multidisciplinary approaches to physical theater, movement, and/or dance creation. We are especially interested in candidates who can extend the department’s courses into one or more of the following new areas: non-Western movement techniques and methodologies, histories of global dance/movement, dance ethnography, and/or dance anthropology.


Details of the position may be found here. First consideration will be given to applications received by December 1, 2021. Questions about the position can be directed to Isaiah M. Wooden.


MUSIC

The Lydian String Quartet, at Brandeis University since 1980, announces auditions for the position of second violinist. Prize winners at multiple international competitions as well as the winners of the Walter W. Naumburg Award for Chamber Music Performance, the Quartet champions contemporary music as well as traditional repertoire. The Quartet has a biennial Commission Prize, works with young and established composers, premieres new works in concerts, and records works from the full range of the repertoire. Members of the Quartet hold faculty appointments in the Department of Music.


First consideration will be given to applications received by November 30, 2021. Details of the position may be found here. Questions about the position can be directed to Andrea Segar.

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