College of Arts & Communication at UW-Whitewater

On December 1, 2012 UW-Whitewater’s Music Department is hosting its annual Gala Holiday Concert, Dinner and Silent Auction; the Department’s major fundraiser. Last year Gala raised over $16,000 and has set a goal of $18,000 to benefit the Department scholarship fund.

Items to be auctioned at the silent auction have been donated by individuals and area businesses.  These items range from art work, gift certificates, luggage, sporting equipment, food, music and theatre tickets. Unfortunately a complete list of this year’s items is not yet available as items are still arriving. The silent auction begins at 7:00 pm, prior to the concert, and will pause at 7:25 to ensure guests can get to their seats for the start of the concert. Bidding resumes at intermission and closes 5 minutes prior to the start of the second half of the performance. Also prior to the start of the concert, as well as during dinner, intermission and after the concert, small student ensembles will be performing throughout the Young Auditorium.

Giles Swayne

This year’s Gala concert is boasting a world premiere of Giles Swayne’s The New-born. Giles Swayne was born in Hertfordshire, UK in June 1946. He has lived in Singapore, Australia, Ghana and parts of England. He began composing at the age of ten, and went on to study the piano at Cambridge. Upon leaving Cambridge, Swayne won a composition scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, London. After living in Africa, Swayne developed a major interest in Africa and African music that has influenced his work both directly and indirectly. Swayne’s works are mostly performed in England and have generally been theatrical and engaging; The New-born however is a classical style Christmas carol. So how did UW-Whitewater earn the pleasure of being the first to perform this work before the English? The answer is simply, timing. The English men and boys choirs wait on their Christmas concerts until the start of Advent which is December 2; so by Gala being on December 1 we are able to be the first. Being that Giles Swayne now lives in London we were not able to bring him to see this historic event however the Department hopes that some day it will be possible.

Another addition to Gala is Emanuele Andrizzi, the new Director of Orchestras at UW-Whitewater.  Andrizzi comes to Whitewater after finishing his education at Northwestern and is also the Assistant Cover Director at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Andrizzi will be conducting two pieces for Gala,Vivaldi’s Magnificat and Regina Coeli from Mascagni’s opera Cavalleria Rusticana.

The concert begins at 7:30 pm in Young Auditorium.

Parking at UW-Whitewater’s Greenhill Center of the Arts has always been interesting thus patrons are encouraged to utilize both Lot 1 in front of the Greenhill Center/Young Auditorium and Lot 2 between Greenhill Center/Young Auditorium and Laurentide Hall.  Please make a note that there is also a Theatre/Dance Department event on Saturday and the parking lots may be congested.

Horns, such as the oboe and bassoon, are specialty instruments.  Many programs do not teach them since they are seen as too challenging for beginners.  This may be a legitimate roadblock in the world of horns but it needs to be moved aside.  If the middle and high school students do not learn the proper techniques of these instruments it will be even more difficult to have quality players at the college level.  The first UW-Whitewater Fall Horn Festival was created in 1999 to promote horn playing at younger levels.  Linda Kimball, the Horn Studio Professor at UW-Whitewater, hoped that by hosting a festival focused around the horns, for hornists of all levels, she could increase the number of horn players; as well as awareness of importance.  “I didn’t want the horn to become the dinosaur of public school band programs,” Kimball says.

Hornists hard at practice

Lucky for Kimball, many of the students who have come to the festival once come back again.  A major benefit to the familiar faces the festival has created is that it has proven to be a great recruiting tool for the UW-Whitewater horn studio.  Kimball believes, “all of my current horn students attended either the horn festival, or the UW-Whitewater Summer Band Camps.”

Now-a-days the Fall Horn Festival is centered on themes, but they weren’t always. Music for the first couple of years was chosen from existing horn ensemble repertoires.  Sometimes the themes are based off of particular styles of music; such as last year’s “Jazztastic Horn.”  Horn is not usually played in the jazz style but why not start a trend?  Young hornists that want to play jazz are generally discouraged from playing anything but trumpet; Kimball says she “wanted to have them experience playing the jazz style on horn.”  Other times Kimball selects a theme set off of a piece of music, like this year’s theme “The Intergalactic Horn.”  The Festival attendees will be playing arrangements of some of the movements of Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets.”  The remainder of the program will feature other “galactic” themed music ranging from Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star for the less experienced players to music from Star Trek and Star Wars for the more practiced musicians.  The Festival faculty with also perform with an arrangement by Linda Kimball of Henry Mancini’s beautiful song “Moon River.”

Holiday Hornaments pictured above

Past themes have included: Holiday Hornaments, Fall Horn Fiesta and Horns Go Hollywood.  One year the theme was “A Truly Moooo-ving Experience.”  For this festival Kimball had the attendees lok into the ancient history of the horn; literally cow horns and conch shells.  Kimball says she incorporates a lot of fun into the Festival, “If people are going to give up a Saturday to come to Whitewater, I want them to have a great time, have some fun. Play some great melodies and learn something new about the horn.”

The 1999 Fall Horn Festival saw 40 high school hornists attend to the tune of $15 a musician.  Three years later, the Halloween themed Festival was the largest recorded for UW-Whitewater, with almost 120 hornists!  Kimball jests, “we really didn’t fit very well on the recital hall stage!”

For the 10th anniversary festival in 2009, Kimball invited former UW-Whitewater horn students, and other adult hornists to come and play.  There was a good turn-out of adult players, all who said they had a great time and encouraged Kimball to include an adult ensemble every year.  “This is an important group of people who can inspire young hornists to see how they might make horn playing part of their adult life,” Kimball explained, and she has since brought back the adult ensemble for every Festival.  If one looked at 100 horn students, only a handful will study music at the college level and go on to be music educators, or professional players.  This is just one more reason that the introduction and accessibility to the horn is so important.  Last year’s adult ensemble had folks that were grade school principals, nurses, computer programmers, band directors trying to improve their horn skills, therapists, etc. All of them were, at some point, hornists, and they all seem to have a great time meeting others like them who play horn as a hobby.

This is the End My Friend: Visions of Post Apocalyptic Worlds is open in Crossman Gallery until November 17, 2012.  This is a free exhibit that showcases both historic and contemporary works illustrating The End that has been seen in the Mayan calendar to take place on December 21, 2012.

Crossman Gallery is fortunate to have in its permanent collection a number of works created in Post World War I Germany.  Internationally renowned collectors Marvin and Janet Fishman donated the items and the work demonstrates the depth of the devastation that took place in Germany following the end of the Great War.  This group of drawings and prints by George Grosz, Rudolf Schlichter and Wilhelm Höpfner depict macabre scenes reflecting the post war chaos and destruction of lives and property.

In work by more contemporary artists there is evidence of another round of anxiety brought on by fears of global conflicts and economic collapse.

The exhibit will include examples from the permanent collection and special loans from artists and collectors.  Proposed artists included John Balsley, Tom Berenz, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Jeffrey Bogartte, Steven Burnham, Sue Coe, Warrington Colescott, Jessie and Ronald Cooper, Reverend Howard Finster, George Grosz, Wilhelm Höpfner, Karl Jahnke, Maxim Kantor, Käthe Kollwitz, Norbert Kox and William Thompson, George McCormick, Susan Messer, Richard Notkin, Jean-Pierre Roy, Rudolf Schlichter, James Stephens and Keiichi Tanaami.

An additional small exhibit is on display in the gallery concurrent with this exhibit.  Art history student Samantha Landre, working under the direction of faculty Art Historian Deborah Wilk, are examining depictions of women in German works on paper from the collection.

Gallery Hours

Mon-Fri: 10am – 5pm
Mon-Thur: 6pm – 8pm
Sat: 1pm – 4pm

Posted by Serena Sretenovich, Theatre Management and Promotions Major, UW-Whitewater Class of 2012

The UW-Whitewater Music Department has a long history of legendary guest artists from Austria and France to New York City.  Their master classes have helped make UW-Whitewater one of the leading names in music education; I sat down with Adam Zolinksi, Alex Nettesheim and Jess Erbe-music majors-to get the inside scoop.  The Music Department brings in a guest artist mostly every other week with some months having one every week.  The students are required to attend the artists that specialize in their particular instrument; however, they are strongly encouraged to participate in every class in an attempt to better round out their musical experience.

The master classes take place the week of the guest’s performance.  The students all gather and play for the guest artist to receive personal feedback. “I like that we get guest artists to come listen to us.  It gives us a fresh opinion and style ideas for a piece,” saxophone player, Zolinski pointed out.  He also went on to say that while he didn’t think that he danced while playing, one guest told him to stop.  Turns out he was slightly moving his shoulders; which another artist thought to be a great addition to the piece.

Like differences in favorite radio stations, or composers, the students have found they do not like certain artists; however, they respect them.  Nettesheim (trombone) and Erbe (flute), spoke to the personal aspect of the master classes.  Several artists are harsher in their critiques than others which can sometimes be discouraging.  Other guests like to tell their success story to give hope and realization that the results are worth the hard work.  One guest moved to New York from Chicago; and with no training since grade school, made a name for himself out of small club gigs.

So how does the UW-Whitewater Music Department get all these world class musicians?  Several of them were fellow students of the professors or teachers.  Most of them are professors at other great musical universities and thus are easy to research and contact. Those guests who are strictly professional musicians often go on tours of America and on their open days make appearances at colleges and programs much like UW-Whitewater’s.  There is a fund-the Visiting Artist fund- that is designated by the college to help bring talented people to the departments.

The next guest artist concert is on October 22 at 7:30 pm.  It will be a trio of violin, cello and piano: the Sook Myung Trio with Myung Hee Chung.  For tickets call 262-472-2222.  General public $5, Over 65 $4 and under 18 and UW-Whitewater students $3

Posted by Serena Sretenovich, Theatre Management and Promotions Major, UW-Whitewater Class of 2012

artWORK

through October 6.

While it may seem to be stating the obvious, artists make artwork, a process of labor, and also create artwork that depicts labor.  Whether it is scenes of farming, fishing and logging in prints created by noted educator and artist Robert Von Neumann or WPA textile designs, our state has a rich history of work and working people.  The recent demonstrations at the State Capital in Madison emphasize the power of workers and the depth of feeling about work and working conditions. The exhibition will utilize material from the holdings of the Crossman Gallery Collection and special loans to create a multi layered exhibit.  Elections in both local and national political races will provide an apt background for the exhibit.

Visit the Crossman Gallery website (http://blogs.uww.edu/crossman/) for additional information about this exhibit and other upcoming events.

Gallery Hours

Gallery Contact

The College of Arts and Communication and the Department of Art and Design are holding non-instructional evening figure drawing sessions this summer.

The sessions will occur on Monday evening’s  through Monday, August 20^th. There will not be a session on Monday, July 2^nd.  Drawing time will be from 6:00pm-9:00pm, and the cost per person is ten dollars a session. These sessions will be held in the Greenhill Center of the Arts, Room 2055 N/S.

The drawing sessions are open to the public. If a participant is under the age of 18, they will need to bring a signed release from their parents or related adult because the department will be using nude models.

It should be noted that roads near the Whitewater campus are experiencing construction this summer, and may require participants to use detours. For more information on the roads that are under construction, and what alternatives are available, please refer to this link http://www.uww.edu/news/archive/2012-04-construction.

For more information, please contact the department of Art and Design at 262.472.1324 or through email at art@uww.edu.

Download a poster – Figure Drawing – Summer Session Info

When most people think of college they think of reading a text book, learning other people’s ideas and then applying that to a test.  But there are a few students that get to apply their own original ideas into the field they are studying.  A few of the UW-Whitewater music majors are among those students that are active composers that contribute to the music field.

Johnny Kermott; a Junior pursuing a B.A in Music with a minor in Sound Production for Film Instruments: Violin, Viola, Guitar, Piano, Accordion, Mandolin, Trumpet, Cello, and Trombone

Johnny Kermott has been composing for about 8 years; he started composing both piano pieces and for his rock band.in 8th grade.   Towards high school graduation he began to include more classical elements into his compositions.  After taking lessons this year, from the composition professor, Dr. Jeff Herriott, Kermott feels that he is, “emancipated from presupposed ideas in music and what music is supposed to sound like.”  This allows him take his music wherever his inspirations, such as nature, books, other music, and philosophy lead him to.

Kermott always keeps a small notebook with him so that he can write down an idea when an inspiration comes to him.  He tries to sit down every day at set times to compose claiming, “When you write every day you begin to know yourself as a musician and how you compose better as well as a person’s creative cycles.”

Triebold has only been composing for the last 8 months but his path to composing started while in high school; when he would arrange pieces of music for different instrumentation.  One of his most memorable arranging moments from high school is when he arranged the Mortal Kombat theme song for a cappella choir for his high school madrigal dinner.  During which, he was able to participate in the sword fight that was accompanied by his piece.  To arrange the pieces, he would dictate them by ear and then arrange the pieces in a software program for musical notation.  Starting last semester, Treibold took a composition class with Dr. Herriott and began to write compositions and continued taking private lessons this semester.

Even though Kermott and Triebold have a huge difference in how long they have been composing, 8 years to 8 months respectively, they both contribute to the music field.  In both composing and performing they have their pieces played right alongside each other and always show support of each other’s musical endeavors.

Both students will have will have compositions performed at the Sonict: Student Composers Concert on Tuesday, April 24^th at 7:30 pm at the Light Recital Hall.  As performers, both students are performing at Rock For Peace on Thursday April 26^th with Triebold at 8 pm and Kermott at 9 pm at Jitters Coffeehouse. http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/110774702388596/

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On Saturday, December 10^th, 2011 the UW-Whitewater Warhawks football team had a tremendous opportunity to host the semi-final game against the University of St. Thomas, whom they have not played since 1990, before some of the players were even born.  The game was broadcast live on ESPN3, the sport network’s online streaming site, which was an amazing opportunity for UW-Whitewater since no major broadcasting network has ever come to campus to broadcast a Warhawk sports game.  This provided opportunities for the College of Arts and Communication in association with the cable news station, as ESPN3 needed help on game day with communication and analysis of the game.  Three students from the College of Arts and Communication –Kyle Wallace, Britin Kastein, and Jason Nichols were given the opportunity to see how a major sports network broadcasts a game.

Kastein is senior broadcast journalism major and Wallace is a senior broadcast journalism major with a public relations minor.  Their experience as the Warhawk’s basketball and football announcers, combined with Wallace’s internship at 540 AM ESPN’s Milwaukee station the past three summers, made them a perfect fit for the job.  Kastein was in charge of gathering stats for the booth announcers from the field for the game.  This opportunity coincided perfectly with his goal to become a play-by-play announcer for a major sports network.  The announcers, who normally don’t cover division III football, relied heavily on the students’ involvement on providing them with stats for both teams.  Wallace spent the game up in the booth between the two announcers with headphones on and was able to listen to all the communication on the field.  Kyle was acting as a talent statistician and kept track of the big players and potential big plays that were made, which parallels with Wallace’s carrer track of being a live sport analyst.

Spectators may have noticed a man dressed in red on the field during the game, this was Nichols, who was responsible for being the communication between the referees and the booth.  This was particularly important for this game because they had to work the game around ESPN3’s commercials that they aired, not usually a factor when UWWTV broadcasts games.  This experience prepared students for future jobs because as Wallace said, “I received a lot of great contacts from working with ESPN3, it was a great networking opportunity.”  Britin’s comments were similar, “This was the greatest opportunity that I could have going to college for my future career.

Not only was this a positive experience for the students but the ESPN3 crew and affiliates were also grateful for UW-Whitewater as they said in a letter to the Athletic Director, “UW-Whitewater has what other Division I and II schools could only dream of.”

These opportunities turned into victories for both the students involved in the behind the scenes work and for the Warhawks football team by going on to win the football game (20-0) putting them in the finals against Mount Union, who they defeated again (13-10).  In the end it was a win-win situation for students attending the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on and off the field.

Whether it’s brewing coffee or supporting the arts, this alum has a Sweetspot for UW-Whitewater and the community. The successful alum, Lacey Reichwald, is co-owner of the SweetSpot Coffee Shoppe located on W. Whitewater St in downtown Whitewater. Reichwald graduated in December of 2007 from the College of Arts and Communication with a degree in Interpersonal Communication and a minor in Psychology. Originally, Reichwald planned on working in family communication; however, that plan changed when she started working at the coffee shop.

When asked about how her Communication major has influenced her new career path, Reichwald explains, “I use my communication degree every single day. The one thing I did not realize was how much I would use the skills I learned in my communication classes. Effective communication can make or break an organization and I strive to utilize the direct communication skills I learned in school in my daily life.”

The SweetSpot Coffee Shoppe opened in 2006 and Reichwald worked there roughly 30 hours a week while she was still a student at UW-Whitewater. Although accepted to Marquette for graduate school, Reichwald took a leap of faith and became 1/3 owner of the coffee shop and full-time manager. Business was increasing steadily for the Sweetspot, which led to adding a full, quick-serve lunch menu. With the new kitchen in place, the Sweetspot expanded their space, offering a new dining and gallery area.

Reichwald has always had a passion for the arts and wanted to incorporate that into her business so she teamed up with the Whitewater Arts Alliance to display a monthly gallery of local artist’s work. November’s featured artist was Eric Appleton, a playwright and professor at UW-Whitewater. The gallery showcased his collection of collage artwork. Other featured artists have included Mark McPhail, Dean of the College of Arts and Communication, and local artists and alumni Tom Jewell and Marilyn Kilpin Fuerstenberg.

This gallery is a unique way to appreciate all the local talent in Whitewater. When asked about why she wants to keep the art gallery local to Whitewater, Reichwald said, “I love working with faculty, staff, and students on community events, arts events, and promotions”. Which in turn directly effects the mission of the SweetSpot, to provide the best customer service experience in Whitewater while serving high quality pastries, coffee, and food to a range of customers.

By the end of 2008, the original owners sold their share in the business and Reichwald found new investors to add equipment and make improvements to accommodate further growth. Now, Reichwald, her mother, Karen, and a silent partner are all owners of the business and have expanded even further to a pastry kitchen. They celebrated with an open house on December 2nd.

To learn more about Ms. Reichwald and The SweetSpot Coffee Shoppe visit their website, check them out on Facebook  or just stop in for a coffee and a tasty sweet treat!

post by Kylee Flister, UW-Whitewater BFA Theatre Management/Promotion major.

Nationally-acclaimed strategists to headline Social Media for Business and Entrepreneurs forum in Whitewater Sept. 28; program open to the public

Sara Meaney

Whitewater, Wis. – Sara Meaney, nationally-acclaimed social media strategist, will be the keynote speaker at the Social Media for Business and Entrepreneurs forum at the Whitewater University Technology Park Innovation Center on Sept. 28. Meaney will share insights on why social media is more important now than ever in today’s competitive business climate driven by digital and mobile technology. A pioneer in the industry with dozens of national clients, Meaney is a partner and vice president of Social Media and Public Relations at Hanson Dodge Creative in Milwaukee.

Other program highlights include a social media roundtable of regional experts who will present best-practices on how businesses and entrepreneur can enhance their brand, outreach and relationships with key stakeholders. Featured speakers include strategists from Edelman, Staples Marketing, American Standard Process and GMWrites.

Matt Scherer

Matt Scherer, an expert in online networking for businesses and individuals, will conclude the program with a presentation on how to use LinkedIn to enhance organizations’ reputations and online communities while building loyal stakeholder groups.

The social media program is designed to help small business owners, entrepreneurs and anyone else interested in using social media help grow their company or business or personal brand. $30 registration includes free After-Hours Power Networking and refreshments; discount rates for students, faculty, alumni, tech park board members and Innovation Center clients.

The Social Media for Business and Entrepreneurs forum runs from 1-4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at the Whitewater Innovation Center, 1221 Innovation Drive, Whitewater. To register for the event, visit www.bit.ly/uwwic or call (262) 472-3165.