THE FAMILY THAT PLAYS TOGETHER . . .

Even a wicked stepmother has a mother (Laurie Detenbeck) and a father (Ralph Blasting).

INTO THE WOODS ENTHUSIASTICALLY PERFORMED, ENTHUSIASTICALLY RECEIVED

The Creative Arts Committee and Dean Ralph Blasting (aka Mr. Mysterious) put on a sugar feast to celebrate the opening of the 2009 Siena production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods. Not-so-candid photos of the party:





Director Tony Rivera and Stage Manager Laurie Detenbeck

The Not-So-Charming Prince and Red-eyed Riding Hood

Director Rivera and CREA champion, Camille Hoheb, Chair Creative Arts Committee

TREES GROWTH IN FOY LOBBY

The production outgrew the space in the Beaudoin Theatre. Rehearsals moved well apace last week and so the construction of the proscenium trees moved out to the lobby. It was great to watch.

OCTOBER MEETING WITH STUDENTS: PORTFOLIO!

CREA faculty met with CREA majors October 14. We wanted to greet our majors as a group, let them know what we have to offer, and also, what they need to do to prepare for the world they will enter when they graduate.  Key innovation was the portfolio expectation of all Freshmen and Sophomores with suggestion that upper classmen seek guidance in preparing one for their next step. Students were advised to seek counsel with their advisors and CREA faculty for planning their 4-year programs.  When asked what advice upper classmen could give the lower classmen: Plan your schedule well ahead of time so you fit all the courses you need into your 39 hours for the major. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN was the take-home message.

Katherine Levinson's Logo is Cover Artwork

Creative Arts student, Katherine Levinson, developed of logo for the Siena Physics Firefly Project for the US space program last year.  That logo will be on the cover of the Council of Undergraduate Research's monograph on transformative research where Professor Al Weatherwax  and Joe Kojawski's article on their work with Siena students will be published.

Congratulations to Katey, and thanks to her faculty advisors.

Paul Ricciardi Joins CREA Faculty

Paul Ricciardi came to us from UAlbany theatre program. Here he is in his old office, working away at his syllabus.  We've moved to to FOY 304 where you will find him, when he's not on one of his many duties as the freshman faculty of the department.

Listening to the Audience Cheer

I'm in my office, trying to grade papers and write tests, but am constantly pulled into the Beaudoin Theatre, just across the wall. The audience is laughing, clapping, even shouting their appreciation of the performance of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) directed by CREA/Philosophy senior Paul Mayer. The three-man cast is built of Computer Science majors, Matthew Kemmer in his first-ever theatrical performance and Steve Maggio in his third. Francis Stanton graduates this year.  This cast captivated their audience, performing so naturally and enthusiastically that we cannot help but be proud. Alex Walkers Costumes and Props evoked the chaos the play introduces so gleefully. The precision of the performance was made possible by Assistant Director Will Frenzel, Stage Manager Jess Brennan, Assistant Stage Manager Brigitta Giulianelli.
The photos show the crowds of family and friends I caught in the lobby once I got my camera out.  Will try to get better photos posted when good photography is available.

Cathy Coonradt's New Do

Cathy Coonradt, who keeps the lobby sparkling,  has a whole new look, a bob.  She donated her tresses to the American Cancer Society to help victims who lost their hair during treatment.  Way to go, Cathy.

CREAsaints: TheCreative Arts Committee 2009

Just in case you're wondering who work selflessly on behalf of the Creative Arts Department, here are photos of a recent committee meeting at the St. Francis House.

At one end of the table sat Darrin Kibbey (mastermind of last spring's jazz concert at Cohoes Music Hall), Steve O'Connor (mystery-show producer); Tony Riviera (Cohoes Music Hall; directing our November production of In the Woods), Gordon Jevons, Jeanne Fitzgerald (organized the Trapp Family Concerts), and the infamous Ralph Blasting.

At the head of the table sat Robbie Booth, in blue, former chair, who generosly funded the Jazz Series a few years ago. Cam Hobeb in green is the current chair; she championed the collaboration with the Cohoes Music Hall; set up the Trashion Show in the Fall last summer. This year she's overseeing an in-house mystery performance, perhaps in January in Foy. All while  running a tight ship.

Thanks to you all for your generous gifts of time and moral support.

Konye's "Migrations" recorded by Kiev Philharmonic

Paul Konye, Ph.D., latest composition, “Migrations: A Global Portrait.” It has been released by Erm Media on the 14th volume of the album, Masterworks of the New Era.

Konye’s piece was recorded by Kiev Philharmonic and conducted by Maestro Robert Winston.

Audio clips from Konye’s composition can be found at http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=842751

Changes in Foy "Pit"

During remodellings this summer, we found out that the basement of Foy, where our Music studio, Theatre practice room and art studios have been implanted, used to be called "The Pit" when the basement was a Rathskeller. New nickname?

Foy 105, our Music Room, has undergone an "improvement" for the sake of acoustics: the removal of the moldy carpet and 6 layers of subflooring. Now the floor is the exposed cement block, with a few places of excess paste and tiles. I wrote "RAW" at the entrance door, so people will know that we are in the process... The floor will be finished when funds are available.

Our hero for this project is John Cozzy, lead maintenance man at Foy, who single-handedly got out all the dust and detritus left by the floor removal. Thank him if you're not breathing cement fumes! And thank him for his over 30 years of service to Siena.

A projection TV (discard from dorms) is now in place in Foy 107, The Actor's Studio, for the benefit especially of Acting for the Camera classes.

Professor Liz Blum spent a week cleaning up the Art and Design rooms. Thanks, Liz.

There are still things to be finished, but we have come quite a way in upgrading The Pit.

Eagle Rock September 11th Flight Crews Memorial

The “Eagle Rock September 11th Flight Crews Memorial”, designed by sculptor architectural designer, and college art instructor, Patrick Morelli (who taught in CREA in 2009), will be dedicated in a public ceremony on Friday, September 11, 2009 at 8am, at Eagle Rock Reservation Essex County Park in West Orange, New Jersey, overlooking the former site of the Twin Towers.

ABC-TV will telecast an interview with the artist by correspondent, Kemberly Richardson, at 8:25 am the same day.

Images of the Flight Crews memorial and the adja cent 160-foot granite "Wall of Remembrance" bearing 2850 names and the eight bronze sculptures of the “Eagle Rock September 11th Memorial”, dedicated on October 20, 2002--which the new memorial will complement--can be viewed on the artist’s website portfolio, www.MorelliART.com

Beaudoin Theatre Season 2009-20

October 1-3: Student Production directed by Paul Mayer

Nov 13-21: Into the Woods, Director Steve Fletcher, Music Ellen Rizzo, Sets Denise Massman, Costumes Karin Mason, Lights Lilly Fossner

March 10-14: Perfect Pie: Director Ralph Plasting, Sets Denise Massman, Costumes, Karin Mason, Lights Rob Thompson, Music Chas Marsh

April 22-May 1: Pygmallian: Director Paul Ricciardi, Lets Jason Cross, Dostume Denise Massman, Lights Lilly Fossner.

Videotaping is scheduled for a day prior to the opening of each production

RANSOM & NEW MEDIA

Artists' statement from the program of the show:

NEW MEDIA ARTISTS MAINE (NMAM) is an association of new media artists. Each artist has chosen the mission of exploring the creative realm within their discipline/s to produce new media art, rejecting commercial influences and popular culture as an objective. The term new media art as described here refers to an art genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, Internet art, interactive art technologies, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology. New Media concerns are often derived from the telecommunications, mass media and digital modes of delivery the artworks involve, with practices ranging from conceptual to virtual art, performance to installation.

The works presented here are as varied as the artists themselves. They are not always easily understood. They can challenge, provoke, confuse, outrage and even entertain. Just how they affect the viewer may not be immediately apparent. Much as we may not know the impact on our body of a recently digested meal, so a new media work’s effect may go unnoticed for some time. New media art, as all art, is mysterious. Ultimately it can only be experienced.. . .

The programs we offer consist of a selection of new media art and the presence of the artists who produced that work. This combination of the work being presented by the creator is integral to each program. The artists will speak about their method of employing their chosen medium (film, video, computer, other). This might involve using live action, stop motion, stills, animation, puppetry, found footage, electronic feeds, multi-screen, or a combination of techniques or other systems, which they have devised to produce their art. They will speak about the challenges and difficulties of being new media artists. Granted the mystery of art remains but our presentations hope to bring the viewer closer to the artists and their art.

AMANDA RANSOM

Faculty Siena College

Recipient Fulbright Fellowship,

Simon Foundation Award For Innovation In The Arts

Showcase Nanjing Museum, China

showed

MYSTERY BIRDS (2008), 12 minutes

Birds appear representing the unknowable forces that rule our lives.

VIDEO HAIKU (2006), 6 minutes

A video version of this traditional form of poetry, using seconds of footage to replace syllables of words.