April 2010 Programs

SALON - Series: So, What's the Story?

Friday, 4/2, 5-7pm

Part Thirteen: RISD Museum’s Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Jan Howard and Aurea founding members Consuelo Sherba, Chuck Sherba, and Nigel Gore in a conversation about Rilke as muse and mixing art forms.

Jan Howard’s exhibition (organized with independent curator Susan Harris), Pat Steir: Drawing Out of Line, now at the RISD Museum, is a 40-year survey focusing on Steir’s exploration of the vocabulary of drawing. Reflecting on Rilke, Part II,  is Aurea’s meditation through music, prose, and poetry, on the work of the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, whom Pat Steir has cited as one inspiration for her work. On Sunday, April 18, at 3pm, Aurea will present Reflecting on Rilke, Part II at the Museum’s Chace Center, Metcalf Auditorium,  as part of the special programs presented by the Museum to underscore topics related to Steir’s drawings; the program is free and open to the public.  In addition to relating to Steir’s work, this program will underscore the immense influence of visual artists Rodin and Cezanne on Rilke’s work. Join us for a conversation about how artists are inspired by work in media outside their own, and how they bring those influences and inspirations to their own art. (Note: Part I of Reflecting on Rilke will be presented, also free of charge, at Brown University’s Grant Recital Hall, Wed 4/14 at 8pm.) More on Aurea: aureaensemble.org, more on Pat Steir show: risdmuseum.org. 

Free and open to the public!

(Sponsor: risdworks, risdworks.com)

SALON - Series: So, What's the Story?

Friday, 4/9, 5-7pm

Part fourteen: RI Philharmonic Resident Conductor Francisco Noya and Festival Ballet Providence Artistic Director Misha Djuric on conducting, choreography, and performing live.

Audiences love live performance, whether dance or music, and best of all is a chance to enjoy both at once. But from the perspectives of the conductor and the choreographer, how do two directors share the stage? Join us for a conversation on the give-and-take of collaboration and the undeniable excitement made possible by its risks. More on RI Philharmonic: ri-philharmonic.org; more on Festival Ballet Providence: festivalballet.com.

Free and open to the public!

(Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz)

SALON - Brown Emeritus and Research Professor of Geology Terry Tullis on "Earthquakes: Haiti, China, Indonesia and the World."

Friday, 4/16, 5-7pm

Tullis will give us a geological understanding of the Haitian earthquake and will discuss other recent damaging earthquakes around the world, also earthquakes generally, and the situation in New England. On the faculty at Brown for 39 years, he has researched earthquake mechanics for 30 years, and is the Chair of the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council and a member of the Scientific Earthquake Study Advisory Committee, both of which are federally mandated to provide advice to the Director of the United States Geological Survey. He is also part of the leadership of the Southern California Earthquake Center and Chair of its Earthquake Forecasting and Predictability focus group.

For Athenaeum members and their guests; we encourage attendees to bring a donation of $10 or more to be given to Saving Haiti’s Libraries, an effort spearheaded by our friends at the John Carter Brown Library (make checks out to JCB and write “Saving Haiti’s Libraries” on the memo line); for more on Haiti’s libraries: Click Here.

(Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz)

WRNI presents Policy and Pinot, a timely conversation series on vital issues affecting our state.

Tuesday, 4/20, 5:30pm reception; 6pm program

Topic to be announced on our website by Fri, 3/19.

Event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required; reservations can be made starting on Mon 4/5, by contacting Amelia Allard at WRNI: aallard@wrni.org. More on WRNI: wrni.org.

SALON - Series: So, What's the Story?

Friday, 4/23, 5-7pm

Part Fifteen: Providence Public Library Special Collections Librarian Richard J. Ring on “To Beguile the Heavy Tediousness of the Cruise’: The Sailor and His Books.”

Images of sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries in the popular imagination do not often include those of a “tar” tucked under the beams of the forecastle with a good book.  Yet the evidence from logbooks and other sources prove that books were a valued and favored commodity among sailors, and that almost every ship afloat had a number of books on board which were passed about, read and re-read dozens of times, and traded when ships “spoke” each other on the high seas. Ring will lead a discussion about the reading habits of seamen in the age of sail, and talk about how books came aboard, what genres were popular, promoted, and prohibited, and where the evidence for this information lies. Examples of whaling logs from PPL’s Nicholson Whaling Collection, including recent acquisitions, will be on exhibit at the Salon that evening.

For Athenaeum members and their guests.

(Sponsor: M&S Rare Books, msrarebooks.com)

SALON - Fifteen Artist and Their Fluxus Book Project!

Friday, 4/30, 5-7pm

Providence-based artist Madolin Maxey gathered 15 artists to work in the Fluxus tradition to produce 16 unique books, each consisting of 15 envelope pages, with each envelope containing a work by one of the artists. That is, each book contains 15 works, one by each artist. Individual covers will be created and bound to the pages randomly.  Each time a unique book is encountered, it can be viewed differently. In the spirit of Fluxus, a reader can explore the contents of an envelope page fully or partially, as in a state of continual change. The history of Fluxus as an organized art form began in the early 1960’s when several New York artists, poets, musicians, and performers created works that were contradictory, metaphysical in tone, and never presented in the same order or with the same performers, thus keeping their nature “in flux.” So put down your Kindles for an evening! Join us for a conversation with artists making books to hold, explore slowly, and savor. Each book contains the collective works of the following artists: Madolin Maxey, Bob Rizzo, Kenneth Speiser, Norma Anderson, Regina Partridge, Marjory Dalenius, Christine Tillman, Garry Cerrone, Susan Clausen, Richard Harrington, David Hazlett, Paula Martiesian, Ken Carpenter, Eric Miller, and Craig Masten. More on Project Space Gallery: as220.org.

Free and open to the public!

(Sponsor: Antiques & Interiors, antiquesandinteriors.biz)