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PROGRAMS
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Reader's
Theatre |
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In
the early days of the Corvallis Arts Center, Reader's Theatre
was a key, ongoing program. In January of 2002, we brought Reader's
Theatre back to our stage. For those new to this art form, it
features rehearsed readings, often organized around a specific
theme. The creative and organizing committee for our Reader's
Theatre is comprised of well known actors/directors Joe Malango,
Jean Heath, and Jean Bonifas--or as we affectionately call them,
"The 3 J's." Opportunities are ongoing for readers,
directors, people to read and select material for the performances,
and other volunteers. If you are interested in helping with
our Reader's Theatre productions, please call Joe Malango at
(541) 753-2904 or email him at malango@cmug.com or call Jean
Bonifas at (541) 752-1399 or jeanbonifas@proaxis.com
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Pacific
Northwest Writers Series |
The
Corvallis Arts Center co-sponsors, with Grass Roots Bookstore,
a series presenting outstanding Pacific Northwest writers. Grass
Roots Bookstore selects the participating writers who will read
from their work in the Main Gallery of the Corvallis Arts Center.
Audiences will have an opportunity to ask questions and chat
with the writers; book signings will follow the readings. For
more information about this series, check the Grass Roots website
(http://www.grassrootsbookstore.com)
and our Corvallis Arts Center calendar. |
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Public
Art |
Public
art, defined as sculpture, murals and reliefs accessible to
the general public, is well supported in Corvallis. The Corvallis
Arts Center has a dynamic partnership with both the Corvallis
Parks & Recreation Department of the City of Corvallis
and the Madison Avenue Task Force (MATF) to secure and place
public art.
An example of this partnership
is the mural on 3rd Street designed in the summer of 1996
for the Environmental Center by Dale Draeger and involved
participation by the Youth Corp with funding by the Corvallis
Arts Center. The mural shows a typical Northwest landscape
with children at play. The mural was specifically designed
to accommodate the technical skills of the high school students.
The late nineties were very productive
for public art funded by the Corvallis Arts Center, specifically
1996. An example of our MATF partnership is the Alley Art
Surprises. The Madison Avenue Task Force started the program
Alley Art Surprises, which the Corvallis Arts Center adopted
and continues until this day:
- In
the spring of 1996 the Blackberry Picker by Steve Gardner
was realized. The piece is located on the east side of the
Leading Floral Building, in the alley near 5th Street and
Madison. Steve Gardner is a Corvallis native, and was a
student under ceramics teacher Dennis Staats. He is now
in Seattle and successfully pursues a career as a ceramist
in sculptural work, both for indoor and outdoor purposes.
- In
the fall of 1996 Heitho Bokides Reuter installed the ceramics
relief on the Madison Plaza Building. It is the abstract
image of The Shopper. Reuter incorporated found materials
and specifically coins from different countries. The main
material is a colored concrete; the ceramic shards are part
of her work in majolica tiles. Heitho Bokides Reuter lives
in Lebanon and works as a ceramist.
- Sean
McGinty, a sculptor and jeweler from Corvallis, was chosen
from a competition to create a windvane on the gazebo in
Central Park. The wind vane is designed as a circle with
a cut out of the historic lanterns used in downtown Corvallis.
McGinty is known for sculpture in which he combines different
woods and metals. His imagery deals with folktales from
the Northwest, but occasionally include silver astronauts.
- In
December of 1999 Tim Foley from Corvallis unveiled "Ascending",
a bronze tree frog, in a ceremony that included a young
princess kissing the frog (which remained a frog). It was
Foley's first large scale sculpture. The frog is located
on the Lucidine Building, in the alley between First and
Second Street, close to Madison.
- When
the City Hall entrance steps were renewed and redesigned
in 1998, an area for art was incorporated as an integral
part of the steps, including a fountain. Devin Lawrence
Field from Portland designed the overview of a stream with
some salmon swimming in it. Field is a sculpture who works
in metal, stone and cast concrete. His work will be represented
in the Riverfront Commemorative Park.
Hester
Coucke, Curator for the Corvallis Arts Center, serves the
City as staff for the Public Art Selection Commission. All
art that is proposed for public spaces, and/or becomes City
property, either by donation to the City or by City funding,
needs to be evaluated by this Commission. Private pieces for
private buildings that will be privately maintained fall outside
the jurisdiction of this Commission.
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Visual
Arts Committee - da Vinci Days |
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The
partnership between da
Vinci Days and the Corvallis Arts Center goes back to
the founding days of this unique 3-day festival. The Corvallis
Arts Center helped the festival get its start and since then,
has served as the Visual Arts Committee for the festival,
coordinating the annual Community Art Project, housing the
main visual arts exhibition at the Corvallis Arts Center,
creating unique art installations in different sites of the
festival, and in general, giving ideas for the overall visual
look of the festival.
For
information regarding visual arts programming for the festival
contact ArtCentric at (541) 754-1551.
For
specific festival information, contact the da Vinci day office
(541) 757-6363 or http://www.davinci-days.org/.
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ARTrageous
Adventures |
ARTrageous
Adventures is a dynamic and enriching arts travel program offered
as part of the arts education outreach of the Oregon State University
Craft Center and The Corvallis Arts Center. Each ARTrageous
Adventure is designed to provide unique and spirited opportunities
for artists and audiences to connect through a diverse palette
of artistic experiences, cultural exchange and behind-the-scenes
access with the creators.
Since 1994, from Mexico to Spain,
hundreds of enthusiastic travelers have hopped on the ARTrageous
bus, train, boat and plane for colorful, inspirational and always
artistic adventures.
Created and led by art educator
and ARTrageous Director Barbara Sobo Gast and other arts professionals,
ARTrageous is deeply committed to arts education and advocacy
and well reputed for its ARTrageous edge, innovative programming
and insider's access.
For more information or to receive
ARTrageous trip mailings and arts flashes, please contact Barbara
Sobo Gast, ARTrageous director at (541) 456-4331 or by e-mail:
bgast@cyberline.com.
ARTrageous Adventures welcomes you! |
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The
Docent Program |
The
Docent Program began in January of 1990 and is an important
part of ArtCentric's educational outreach programs. Docent comes
from the Latin word "docere," meaning to teach. And
that's what the Corvallis Arts Center Docents do. Their goal
is to gain knowledge of the arts and to be informed about current
exhibitions at the Corvallis Arts Center - they then share that
knowledge with others. A dedicated group of volunteers, the
tours they offer are primarily aimed at students from elementary
through high school age, but any other group is welcome to request
a tour. The tours are offered free of charge.
Recently the Docents started a
new service for schools. They will bring the current exhibit
to the classroom, by bringing two or three pieces of the present
exhibit and giving a fifteen to twenty minute presentation.
Docents can also give suggestions of hands-on activities as
a follow-up classroom activity.
To schedule a tour, please call
Judy Rudolph two weeks in advance at (541) 757-8510. To select
an exhibit you want to tour, please check our annual roster
or call our Curator, Hester Coucke at (541) 754-1551.
If
you are interested in become a docent, you must meet these
requirements:
- You
need an appreciation of art, a desire to increase your knowledge
of the arts - and a desire to pass that knowledge on to
others. Each exhibit at the Corvallis Arts Center opens
with a reception and an informative talk. Docents are required
to attend these talks as much as possible. The Gallery Talks
are done often by the artists, Hester Coucke, our curator
gives a reprise of the talk in the Docent business meeting.
In addition, Docents are encouraged to add to their knowledge
by attending other exhibitions, visiting artist's studios,
taking classes when appropriate, and by their own readings.
- Docents
need to be willing to give tours at the Arts Center and/or
go out to the schools to give presentations on current exhibitions.
New docents are encouraged to be an "observer"
on CAC-tours before giving one themselves.
- Docents
are required to be Corvallis Arts Center members; in addition,
they pay a $10 docent membership fee annually.
- Docents
meet the third Wednesday of the month at 10:15 a.m. at the
Corvallis Arts Center. They do not meet in July/August or
November/December months
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LIT
CITY |
This
fall, Corvallis celebrates "Lit City," a book festival
showcasing the literary riches of the community and OSU. "We
have gifted writers who live and work here, acclaimed literary
presses, superb libraries and bookstores, a new MFA Writing
Program at OSU, and many outstanding literary readings, events,
and reviews," said Victoria Fridley, Executive Director
of ArtCentric, one of the partners in the Lit City collaboration
that includes Oregon State University libraries, bookstore,
and English Department, the Corvallis-Benton County Public
Library, Calyx, and Grass Roots Bookstore.
Lit
City kicks off Friday, October 17 with "An Evening with
Jane Hamilton." The internationally-best-selling author
of A Map of the World and The Book of Ruth, Hamilton will
read from her work at the Majestic Theatre, 7:30 p.m., and
answer questions from the
audience. Hamilton, who lives, works, and writes in an orchard
farmhouse in Wisconsin, was awarded the PEN/Hemingway Award
for best first novel in 1989, for The Book of Ruth, which,
along with her second book, A Map of the World,which was later
selected for inclusion in "Oprah's Book Club,"sending
her book sales into the millions world- wide. Her third novel,
The Short History of a Prince, won the Heartland Prize for
Fiction in 1998, and was short-listed for Britain's prestigious
Orange Prize. The Boston Globe has called it "arguably
her best, for it matches its range of emotion with a technical
precision both masterful and haunting...Hamilton has eased
time and memory throughout her novel with the expert abandon
of a dancer in full pirouette." Her latest novel, Disobedience,
tells the story of a teenaged boy who discovers, by reading
his mother's email, that she is having an affair. According
to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "Hamilton has again charted
a new and risky course for fiction...She is a novelist of
surpassing gifts, wit, and wisdom about the human condition
as it persists through challenging times." Information
about other
Corvallis literary groups and events will be available during
the festival and on the public library's literary website.
On Saturday morning, October 18, at various locations in Corvallis,
Hamilton, along with award-winning creative writing faculty
from OSU and local children's authors, will conduct writing
workshops in poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction.
Other Lit City events include a Saturday afternoon film screening
of Hamilton's A Map of the World starring Sigourney Weaver
and Julianne Moore, and a 7:30 p.m. Calyx Books Reading and
Reception at the Corvallis Art Center, honoring the nationally-acclaimed
publisher of women's writing based in Corvallis, now in its
26th year.
For more information on the Lit City events, or to register
for one of the Workshops for Writers, please call ArtCentric
at (541) 754-1551.
Lit
City is sponsored by the OSU Libraries, the Friends of the
Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, ArtCentric, the OSU
College of Liberal Arts, the University Honors College, the
OSU Department of English, Grass Roots Books and Music, and
the OSU Bookstore.
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Lit
City's FREE Writing Workshops for teens and children: |
This
year, as part of Lit City, Corvallis' first book festival,
two published authors will be offering writing workshops for
children (2nd - 5th grade) and teens (6th through 12th grade).
Please encourage your student writers to pre-register at the
Corvallis-Benton County Public Library for these workshops
on October 18. Space is limited to 12 students in each workshop.
Registrations will also be accepted the day of the event.
Both of our presenters are published authors and enthusiastic,
experienced teachers of writing-in-the-schools. A great opportunity!
Saturday,
October 18, 10-11:30 a.m.
Main Meeting Room, Corvallis-Benton County Public Library.
Writing Workshop for kids from 2nd to 5th grade with Jessica
Lamb, poet and teacher.
Saturday,
October 18, 10-12 a.m.
Board Room, lower level, Corvallis-Benton County Public Library
Writing Workshop for middle and high school students with
author Tom Birdseye
About the authors/instructors:
Jessica Lamb teaches with Portland's Community of Writers,
Oregon Arts-in-Education programs, and the Northwest Writing
Institute at Lewis and Clark College. Her work has appeared
in many journals, including The Southern Review, Willow Springs,
and Open Spaces.
Tom
Birdseye, author of several books for children and young adults,
grew up in North Carolina and Kentucky, an ardent fan of anything
that smacked of sports, crawdads, mud balls, forts built in
the woods, secret codes,bicycles without fenders, butter pecan
ice cream, and snow. He was, however, decidedly uninterested
in writing-or any academic aspect of school, for that matter-never
imagining that someday he would become a published author.
And yet thatis what happened. Life, it seems, is full of who'd-a-thought-its.
Lit
City's writing workshops for children and teens are made possible
by the generous sponsorship of the Friends of the Corvallis-Benton
County Public Library.
*PLEASE
NOTE THAT THE WORKSHOPS WILL BE LIMITED TO 12 participants.
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