All Entries in the "Arts Briefs" Category

ARTS BRIEFS

Wind Ensemble

May 2 – 7:30 p.m.

The Pima Community College Wind Ensemble will perform in concert on May 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the West Campus Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

With Mark Nelson directing, the ensemble with open with “Overture in Bb” by Caesar Giovannini.

Other selections include “Host of Freedom” march by Karl King and “Suite Francaise” by Darius Milhaud, a musical portrayal of five French provinces.

Performances by brass, woodwind and percussion ensembles with be interspersed throughout the concert.

The program will close with “Chorale and Shaker Dance” by Jon Zdechlik.

Tickets are $6, with discounts available. For information, call 206-6986 or visit here.

Chorale and College Singers

May 5 – 3 p.m.

The Pima Community College Chorale and College Singers will hold a final spring concert on May 5 at 3 p.m. in the West Campus Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

Under the direction of Jonathan Ng, the Chorale will sing American folk songs. Selections include “The Water is Wide” and “Hymn of America” by Stephen Paulus, “Shenandoah/He’s Gone Away” by Mark Hayes and “Silent Noon” by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The program will also include choruses from “Dido and Aeneas” by Henry Purcell.

The College Singers will perform “Missa Sancti Nicolai” (Mass No. 6 in G).

The choruses will join to perform “We Shall Walk in the Valley in Peace” by Moses Hogan and “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho” by Mark Hayes.

Tickets are $6, with discounts available. For information, call 206-6986 or visit here.

Orchestra

May 12 – 3 p.m.

The Pima Community College Orchestra will present a Mother’s Day concert on May 12 at 3 p.m. in the West Campus Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

Directed by Alexander Tentser, the orchestra will feature ballet music by Charles Gounod from the opera “Faust” and two pieces by Bedrich Smetana from “The Bartered Bride” opera.

The program will also include Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Finale” from the Eroica Symphony and “Concerto Grosso” for strings by Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni.

Tickets are $6, with discounts available. For information, call 206-6986 or visit here.

-Compiled by Bruce Hardt

Arts briefs: jazz ensemble, theatre workshop, wind ensemble

Compiled by BRUCE HARDT

Jazz Ensemble concert April 30

Pima Community College Jazz Ensemble will hold a spring concert on April 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the West Campus Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

Under the direction of Mike Kuhn, the performance will feature an 18-piece band performing big-band styles and arrangements.

The program will showcase arrangements by lead trombonist Roger Wallace. Vocalist Rachel Ezonnaebi will sing two arrangements, Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “At Last,” made famous by Etta James.

Kuhn will perform a small group arrangement of his own piece, “Love and Warr,” dedicated to his fiancée. Other selections include “Wind Machine” by Sammy Nestco, “Chameleon” by Herbie Hancock and “Groovin’ Hard” by Don Menza.

Tickets are $6 with discounts available. For information, call 206-6986, email centerforthearts@pima.edu or visit pima.edu/cfa.

Workshop brings theater to life

The Pima Community College Musical Theatre Workshop invites you to “Being Alive” on May 1 at 7 p.m. in the West Campus Center for the Arts Recital Hall.

Under Nancy Davis Booth’s direction, the audience will experience theater students amid the rehearsal process in all its fun, difficult and delicious discontent. Audiences are encouraged to come celebrate the surprise, challenge and success of a student performance.

Program selections will include scenes from “Ragtime,” “Carousel,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Godspell,” “Mame,” “Fiddler on The Roof,” “The Fantasticks,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Once Upon A Mattress” and “Jekyll and Hyde.”

Tickets are $6 with discounts available.

Wind Ensemble performs May 2

The Pima Community College Wind Ensemble will perform its final concert of the spring semester on May 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the West Campus Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

With Mark Nelson directing, the ensemble with open with “Overture in Bb” by Caesar Giovannini. Other selections include “Host of Freedom” march by Karl King and “Suite Francaise” by Darius Milhaud, a musical portrayal of five French provinces.

Performances by brass, woodwind and percussion ensembles with be interspersed throughout the concert, which will close with “Chorale and Shaker Dance” by Jon Zdechlik.

Tickets are $6 with discount available.

ARTS BRIEFS: Tuba, art events

PCC presents April 11 faculty tuba recital

Pima Community College will feature a tuba recital by Mark Nelson at the Center for the Arts Recital Hall at West Campus on April 11 at 7 p.m.

The annual faculty recital will feature Nelson and guest musician Kelly Thomas on euphonium performing “Double Concerto for Euphonium and Tuba” by James Grant.

The program will commemorate the 20^th anniversary of Grant’s “Three Furies for Solo Tuba” in a tuba performance by Nelson, accompanied by Marie Sierra on piano. Grant will provide commentary on the works.

Faculty members Rob Boone, trombone, and Victor Valenzuela, horn, will team with Nelson for “Trio” by Hungarian composer Frigyes Hidas.

The program will also mark the 10th-anniversary performance of “Tango Images,” written for Nelson by Adriana Figueroa Mañas.

Tickets are $6 with discounts available. For information, contact 206-6986, centerforthearts@pima.edu or visit pima.edu/cfa.

-By Bruce Hardt

Student art reception April 17

By NELLIE SILVA

The annual Juried Student Art Exhibition is on display through May 3 in the Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery at Pima Community College West Campus.

A reception will be held April 17 from noon-3 p.m., with an award ceremony at 1 p.m.

The exhibit is divided into two sections: media and fibers. Jean Marie Nutt’s fiber works, “Nuclear Family” and “Studio Portrait,” were named Best of Show.

The exhibit gives students from each PCC campus an opportunity to present their work in a professional venue, gallery director David Andres said.

“Every year we ask students to send in three possible entries, then I hire three jurors that are known throughout Southern Arizona to choose students who they think fit the idea of the exhibit,” Andres said.

The gallery received 77 entries from 70 different artists.

This year’s jurors were Bailey Doogan from the University of Arizona School of Art, Liz Allen from the Arizona State University Northlight Gallery in Tempe and Ben Mckee from Cochise College in Sierra Vista.

Gallery hours are Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Fridays 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and before most evening theatrical performances. Admission is free.

For further information, call 206-6942 or visit pima.edu/cfa.

Arts: ‘Vagina Monologues,’ student art and poetry workshop

‘Vagina Monologues’ returns March 28

The “Vagina Monologues” will return to Pima Community College West Campus on Thursday, March 28, at 7 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

“Vagina Monologues” features stories from real women who have suffered and been abused, but also includes funny tales. The cast consists of PCC students and employees.

Student government has hosted the event each year since its introduction to PCC in 2011. Due to its success, the “Vagina Monologues” has become a West Campus tradition.

Xail Hernandez, a PCC student and member of M.E.Ch.A, came up with the idea of hosting the first performance.

This year, the organizers are Cynthia Ramirez and Edith Granillo. Both students have participated in the event in previous years.

Admission is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted, to benefit The ELLA Group, a local women’s organization.

-By Celeste Orendain

Student juried art exhibit opens April 1

Pima Community College’s Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition will be held from April 1 through May 3 in the Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery at the West Campus Center for the Arts.

A reception will be held Wednesday, April 17, from noon- 3 p.m., with an awards ceremony at 1 p.m.

The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

The exhibit represents an important event for emerging artists in southern Arizona, giving students from all PCC campuses an opportunity to present their work professionally and publically.

Gallery hours are Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and before most evening theatrical performances.

For information, call206-6942, email centerforthearts@pima.edu or visit pima.edu/cfa.

Downtown Campus hosts poetry workshop

Poet Steve Kowit will lead a creative writing weekend workshop April 5-7 at the Downtown Campus.

The workshop will offer a focused, intensive exploration of poetic writing with a variety of activities and hands-on practice.

Kowit is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and two Pushcart Prizes, and has been conducting poetry workshops for years.

Current students can enroll through MyPima. Non-students may fill out an admission form at pima.edu and enroll from there.

For information, contact Josie Milliken at 206-7156 or Brooke Anderson at 206-7350.

-By Bruce Hardt

SandScript wins top regional award

By BRUCE HARDT

SandScript, Pima Community College’s literary and arts magazine, won first place in the Southwest division of a 2012 competition sponsored by the Community College Humanities Association.

“For the aspiring artist or writer, the literary magazine is an opportunity to get their work published in a nationally award-winning magazine,” SandScript adviser Joshua Cochran said via email.

Each spring, SandScript students create a magazine showcasing prose, poetry and visual art by Pima students, faculty and staff. Sandscript has won numerous regional and national honors over the past 20 years.

An unveiling ceremony for the 2013 magazine will be held in May.

“Writers read their work and visual artists have their work recognized,” Cochran said. “It’s a great opportunity for artists to bring their families to share in their success.”

For information, visit aztecpressonline.com/sandscript or facebook.com/sandscriptmag, or email sandscript@pima.edu.

A&E Briefs: Concerts coming to West Campus

Wind Ensemble concert March 7

The Pima Community College Wind Ensemble will hold its first concert of the spring semester on March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre on West Campus.

Under the direction of Mark Nelson, the program will feature “Tubby the Tuba” by Paul Tripp and George Kleinsinger. Guest Windy Shaffer will perform the tuba solo, with narration by Jennifer Dawson.

The program will also include “Flashing Winds” by Jan Van der Roost and “Elegy for a Young American” by Ronald Lo Presti. The latter performance will honor the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The band will also perform “Toccata” by Girolamo Frescobaldi,” “Three Revolutionary Marches” by Bedrich Smetana and the “Third Suite” by Robert Jager.

The concert will feature woodwind, brass and percussion small ensembles.

Tickets are $6, with discounts available. Box office hours are Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m.

For further information, contact 206-6986 or visit pima.edu/cfa.

-Compiled by Bruce Hardt

Chorale & College Singers concert March 5

The Pima Community College Chorale and College Singers, directed by Jonathan Ng, will present a mid-semester concert on March 5 at 7:30 p.m. at West Campus’ Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

The concert will feature the Chorale singing “Wayfaring ” by Merle J. Isaac and “O Mistress Mine” and “The Turtle Dove” by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Also included in the program are choruses from “Le nozze di Figaro” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and “Ching-A-Ring-Chaw,” an early minstrel.

College Singers present “Krönungsmesse” (Coronation Mass) KV 317 by Mozart. Both choruses join to perform “Come, Let Us Sing a Song of Joy” by Giovanni Gabrieli.

Tickets cost $6, with discounts available. Box office hours are Tuesday-Friday, noon to 5 p.m. and one hour prior to performance. For more information, call 206-6986 or go to www.pima.edu/cfa.

Arts briefs

Instructor headlines Feb. 10 vocal recital

Tenor Jonathan Ng.
Photo courtesy of PCC

The Pima Community College music department will host a vocal concert featuring faculty member Jonathan Ng on Feb. 10 at 3 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Recital Hall on the West Campus.
Ng, a tenor, will perform art songs by Beethoven, “Bel Canto” (beautiful singing) repertoire from George Frideric Handel’s oratorios and operas, and music by Renaissance composers performed by a male quartet.
Countertenor Jose “Chach” Snook, tenor Stephen Warner and bass Darryl King will join Ng in the male quartet.
Soprano Krista Flora and pianist Suzanne Eanes will also perform.
Ng is known internationally as well as locally. He teaches studio voice while being the director of the PCC Chorale and College Singers. He is also conducts the Arizona Choral Society and is director of music at Catalina United Methodist Church.
Recital tickets are $6, with discounts available.
For ticket information, call the box office at 206-6986 or email centerforthearts@pima.edu.
Information can also be found at pima.edu/cfa.

Novelist reading set at Downtown Campus

Author Meg Files will read from her new novel, “The Third Law of Motion,” on Feb. 13 from 7-9 p.m. at the Downtown Campus Writing Center (LB-140).
Files, chair of the Pima Community College West Campus English and journalism department, has published a variety of short stories, poems and novels in addition to nonfiction pieces.
Her works include “Meridian 144,” “Home is the Hunter and Other Stories,” and “The Love Hunter and Other Poems.”
Files received a Bread Loaf Fellowship and the James Thurber Writer-in-Residence at Ohio State University and was the recent subject of an Arizona Daily Star profile.
Light refreshments and conversation will follow the reading of “The Third Law of Motion.”
For information, contact Shelly Dorsey at 206-7045 or visit megfiles.com.

- Compiled by Bruce Hardt

Five student music concerts on tap

By BRUCE HARDT

Pima Community College will present five musical concerts in nine days from Nov. 27 to Dec. 5.

Student groups performing at the Center for the Arts complex on West Campus include the Jazz Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, College and Chorale Singers and Music Theatre Workshop.

Tickets for each concert cost $6, with discounts available. Box office hours are Tuesday-Friday, noon-5 p.m., and one hour before performances.

For more information, call 206-6986 or visit pima.edu.cfa.

Jazz Ensemble

Nov. 27 – 7:30 p.m.

The Jazz Ensemble will perform Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the West Campus Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

Under the direction of Mike Kuhn, the 18-piece big band will perform jazz favorites spanning decades.

Selections include “Tiger of San Pedro” by John LaBarbera, “Harlem Nocturne” by Earle Hagen, “Filthy McNasty” by Horace Silver and “Birks Works” by Dizzy Gillespie.

The concert will showcase soloists in improvisational roles, with vocals by Rachel Ezonnaebi and arrangements by lead trombonist Roger Wallace.

Wind Ensemble

Nov. 29 – 7:30 p.m.

The PCC Wind Ensemble will perform with the University of Arizona Wind Ensemble on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the West Campus Proscenium Theatre.

The program’s first half will feature the PCC Wind Ensemble under the direction of Mark Nelson.

PCC selections include “Flourish for Wind Ensemble” and “Folk Song Suite” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Siciliano” and “Rondo” by Malcolm Arnold” and an arrangement of “Amazing Grace” by Frank Ticheli.

During the second half, the UA Wind Ensemble will perform under the direction of Gregg Hanson.

UA selections include “Four Scottish Dances” by Malcolm Arnold and “Suite of Old American Dances” by Robert Russell Bennett.

The finale will combine both ensembles for “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson.

Orchestra

Dec. 1 – 3 p.m.

The Orchestra will perform on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 3 p.m. in the West Campus Proscenium Theatre.

Under the orchestration of Alexander Tentser, the concert will feature W.A. Mozart’s “Symphony No. 34” and the “Overture” to “The Marriage of Figaro” opera.

Other program selections include J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Sinfonia” and Arcangelo Corelli’s “Concerto Grosso No. 8,” also known as the “Christmas Concerto.”

The concert will end with “South American Overture,” arranged by Merle Isaak.

Both college students and community adults perform in the PCC Orchestra.

Chorale and College Singers

Dec. 2 – 3 p.m.

The Chorale and College Singers will perform their winter concert under the direction of Jonathan Ng on Sunday, Dec. 2, at 3 p.m. in the West Campus Proscenium Theatre.

The Chorale ensemble will sing “If Music Be the Food of Love” by David C. Dickau, “Six Folk Songs” by Johannes Brahms and “Four Slovak Folk Songs” by Béla Bartók.

The College Singers will perform “Adieu, Sweet Amaryllis” by John Wilbye, “Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone” by John Farmer, “Cantate Domino” by Z. Randall Stroope, “The Blue Bird” by C.V. Standford, “My Spirit Sang All Day” by Gerald Finzi and “Alles hat seine Zeit” by Joseph Haydn.

The two choruses will join to perform “Locus iste” by Anton Bruckner, along with several holiday pieces.

Musical Theatre Workshop

Dec. 5 – 7 p.m.

Students enrolled in the Musical Theatre Workshop will perform “Friends & Lovers” on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. in the West Campus Center for the Arts Recital Hall.

Under the direction of Nancy Davis Booth, the performance will give the audience a glimpse of the rehearsal process while celebrating the challenges of successful student performances.

Program selections include scenes from “Oklahoma,” “Damn Yankees,” “The Fantasticks,” “Company,” “A Chorus Line,” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”

The workshop helps students explore singing, acting and stage movement by studying musical theater scenes. Part of the semester is devoted to solo audition techniques, with mock auditions before professionals.

Sessions also prepared students to audition for PCC’s spring musical, “All Shook Up.”

SandScript winter deadline Dec. 1

The winter deadline to submit work for the 2013 edition of SandScript is fast approaching. Students submitting work for the fall semester must have it in by 5 p.m. on Dec. 1.

SandScript is a literary and visual art magazine published annually. It contains poetry, prose, artwork and photos by Pima students, faculty and staff.

Students may submit up to two fiction or non-fiction works, five poems or five pieces of visual art. Submissions may be made in different genres but each submission requires its own form. Submitted work must be previously unpublished.

For more information or to obtain submission guidelines and forms, email sandscript@pima.edu, visit the Facebook page at facebook.com/sandscriptmag, or check out the website at aztecpressonline.com/sandscript.

-By April George

Concert celebrates 20 years of performances

To commemorate 20 years of playing together, musicians Michael Keepe and Allen Rodriguez will perform at the Pima Community College West Campus Center for the Arts Recital Hall on Sunday, Nov. 18, at 3 p.m.

The duo features Pima instructor Keepe on saxophone and Rodriguez on piano.

The performance will include world premiere pieces written for the duo. Other selections are a piano solo of Mozart’s “Rondo” and a solo tenor saxophone rendition of “Beat Me” written by Barry Cockroft, a leading Australian contemporary composer.

Tickets cost $6, with discounts available. Box office hours are Tuesday through Friday, noon-5 p.m. and one hour before performances.

For more information about the Rodriguez and Keepe Duo, visit their website at rodriguezandkeepduo.com.

For more information about the concert, call 206-6986 or visit pima.edu/cfa.

-By Bruce Hardt

Tucson celebrates Modernism Week Nov. 9-11

By BRUCE HARDT

Pima Community College will sponsor Tucson Modernism Week with 23 events Nov. 9-11.

Events, lectures and tours organized by the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation will focus on the modernist buildings on Broadway Boulevard between Country Club Road and Campbell Avenue.

Some events require tickets and reservations.

“We are honored to be able to play a role in building a greater appreciation of our city’s historic character,” interim Chancellor Suzanne Miles said.

PCC collaborated earlier this year on a preservation project that brought four historic neon signs to the Downtown Campus.

“The Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation considers Pima an invaluable partner in our effort to protect Tucson’s heritage,” said Demion Clinco, the organization’s president. “By sponsoring Tucson Modernism Week, Pima has found a new and exciting way to enrich and educate our community.”

The weekend’s worth of events will start with a speech by Anne Rysdale, previously Arizona’s only registered, practicing female architect.

The festivities end at noon on Sunday, Nov. 11, with a walking tour of the Tucson Community Center landscape designed by the landscape architect Garrett Eckbo.

Other events will include a “Big Retro Slide Show” by Charles Phoenix, a lecture on neckties of the 1940s, an exhibition on midcentury automobile design and more.

Complete schedule and ticket information is available at http://tucsonmod.com.

For more information, contact C.J. Karamargin at ckaramargin@pima.edu or 206-4850.

Seven new sculptures adorn East Campus

Compiled by Liam McInerney

Pima Community College’s East Campus has added seven new sculptures to its landscape as part of an ongoing Sculpture-On-Campus project.

The artists and their works are:

• · Jason Breitenbucher, “Solvolaré”
• · Jason Butler, “Donald Judd, The Cubes Alone Were Never Enough!”
• · Kevin Caron, “Wherever You Go, There You Are”
• · Joe Dal Pra, “Control and Obsession 2”
• · Elizabeth Frank, “Earth and Sky”
• · Barbara Jo McLaughlin, “Anticipation”
• · Joan Waters, “ultimate reality show”

Dal Pra and McLaughlin are both full-time PCC art instructors, and Butler is an adjunct instructor.  Butler, Caron and Waters have previously displayed other works on campus.

East Campus has displayed 19 sculptures since the project began in 2004.

Participation is open to all Arizona residents. Each artist commits to a minimum time for the selected work to be displayed, but many leave their works much longer.

East Campus art instructor Mike Stack, who helps coordinate the project, said his group chooses sculptures that inspire the type of creative thinking that is essential for any academic institution.

Here’s a look at five artists who responded via email to Aztec Press inquiries:

Jason Butler

Sculpture: “Donald Judd, The Cubes Alone Were Never Enough!”

Describe the title of your sculpture:

“The title references a minimalist sculptor, Donald Judd, who made very sterile, exact cubes that were placed flat on the floor and empty. I always felt there was no human touch with Judd’s work.”

Describe your sculpture:

“The cubes are up and not placed flat on the floor. They are filled with what one thinks are curvy shapes that are erupting out and the corners peeled back, something Judd would never allow.”

What defines you as an artist?

“I am attracted to the common, strong, historic and industrial nature of steel. I transform off-the-shelf shapes toward a higher level of creative expression through forging, bending and twisting.”

Kevin Caron

Sculpture: “Wherever You Go, There You Are”

Describe your sculpture:

“My artwork is the large torus outside the west entrance of the library. I believe my title is a great name because the torus is a three-sided, single-plane object so you never get to a different side. It only has one side. Accordingly, wherever you start, you end back at the same place. It took eight months to build and a large part of my work space.”

What is the inspiration behind your design?

“My inspiration was a love of the geometric design and the complex but simple shape. It is a great metaphor for your journey through life. Not only do you start in one place and travel through your early, middle and later yours, you start as a helpless being and often end up as one, too.”

How does it feel to have your artwork on display?

“Like any good parent, I feel a sense of pride seeing my work in a public setting. I love seeing people stop to look and understand what they are seeing. Anytime I can help people see things in a new way or touch them emotionally, I feel I am succeeding as an artist.”

Joe Dal Pra’s “Control and Obsession 2″

Joe Dal Pra

Sculpture: “Control and Obsession 2”

Describe your sculpture:

“It is imagery of industrial and non-industrial stereotype/figures of the 1800s shown opposite each other to ponder the relationship of the two. Caricatures of Western industrialist and the Western view of non-west people as an exotic other, look across at each other on a steel tower structure. The form of the structure references early train trestles and oil drilling towers.”

What is the inspiration behind your design?

“An interest in the dynamic of human conflict and cooperation. And, rather loosely, the book ‘Dominance and Affection’ by Yi-Fu Tuan.”

How does it feel to have your artwork on display?

“Very nice, very nice indeed.”

Barbara McLaughlin

Sculpture: “Anticipation”

Describe your sculpture:

“My sculpture is painted with auto body paint with a UV blocker to withstand the harsh Arizona sunshine. It is designed as an abstracted wave and is located on the edge of the wash that runs through the campus.”

What is the inspiration behind your design?

“I wanted to design something that was site specific to the East Campus. I chose to place a wave on the bank of the wash to create expectation as the wash anticipates the water that will fill it during monsoon storms. I have always loved the Japanese print, ‘The Great Wave’ by Hokusai and began with this idea. Working with fiberglass always makes me think of Corvettes and the piece began to take on a retro look with the color that I chose to paint it: a turquoise that was used on old Corvettes.”

How does it feel to have your artwork on display?

“As a very dear friend of mine once said, ‘Art is a language and I don’t enjoy talking to myself.’”

Joan Walters

Sculpture: “ultimate reality show”

Describe your sculpture:

“The sculpture is made of sheets of steel with a plasma cutter, bent and welded together. It is located outside the student center and positioned so people coming out the door can see the courtyard activity through the TV screen. I did all the work myself and when it was finished, I applied patinas to give it the rusted, weathered look.”

What is the inspiration behind your design?

“The television set creates a viewing frame for the public to observe daily life – the ‘ultimate reality show’. The sculpture isolates a view of the world and challenges to viewer to consider it in a new way. The iconic television set is based on the design of an antique model. One of the questions the sculpture asks us to consider is how our perceptions of life are created or altered by viewing two-dimensional images on TV.”

How does it feel to have your artwork on display?

“I’m excited to have my work at the campus. I hope people will interact and have fun with it, as well as consider it food for thought.”

ARTS BRIEFS: Wind Ensemble to play American tunes

The Pima Community College Wind Ensemble will play a mix of mostly American compositions on Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the West Campus Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

Under the direction of Mark Nelson, the Wind Ensemble will perform Claude T. Smith’s “Emperata Overture,” Robert Smith’s “Brazil: Ceremony, Song and Samba” and Harry Alford’s “The Purple Carnival.”

Also featured will be Robert Smith’s “Incantations,” Eric Whitacre’s “Lux Aurumque” and Luigi Denza’s “Funiculi, Funicula.”

In addition the woodwind, brass and percussion ensembles will perform selected features.

Tickets cost $6, with discounts available. Call the box office at 206-6986 or visit pima.edu/cfa for further information.

Singers celebrate fall with Oct. 21 concert

The Pima Community College Chorale and College Singers will perform a fall concert on Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. in the West Campus Center for the Arts Proscenium Theatre.

Under the direction of Jonathan Ng, the Chorale will sing selections by John Rutter, Daniel E. Gawthrop and Randall Thompson.

The College Singers will feature works by Michael East, Edward Elgar, Eric Whitacre and Joseph Haydn.

Both choruses will perform “The Snow (SSA)” by Edward Elgar and two American folk songs by Aaron Copland, “Simple Gifts” and “At the River.”

The program will conclude with a rendition of John Leavitt’s “Festival Sanctus.”

Tickets cost $6, with discounts available. The box office is open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and one hour before the performance.

For additional information, call 206-6986 or visit pima.edu/cfa.

-Compiled by Bruce Hardt

Photos courtesy of PCC Center for the Arts

“Crazy Heart” author speaks Oct. 11

As part of a speaker series, Pima Community College will host Thomas Cobb, author of “Crazy Heart.”

Cobb is coming to Pima to speak about his newest book, “With Blood in Their Eyes.” This non-fiction book outlines the 1918 Power Affair in Arizona, including a deadly gunfight between lawmen and men evading the draft.

Cobb is the same author who wrote the novel “Crazy Heart” in 1987. In 2009, it was made into a film starring Jeff Bridges that won an Academy Award. It tells the story of Bad Blake, a country music singer and songwriter who becomes involved with a much younger journalist (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal in the film).

The University of Arizona Press has released a number of Cobb’s works, including his most recent book, which came out in September.

Some of his other books include “Shavetail,” the story of a 17-year old boy in the army braving the Arizona Territory in the 1870s, and “Acts of Contrition,” a compilation of short stories.

Cobb was born and raised in Tucson and studied writing in Houston, Texas. He currently lives in New England. The early Arizona desert and Wild West setting are featured prominently in his books.

He has worked as an English and fiction-writing professor at Rhode Island College.

Cobb spoke in Tucson earlier this year as part of the Pima Writer’s Conference. Speakers at the conference discussed their personal and professional writing experience with their audience.

Cobb’s upcoming reading is the first in a new author series at Pima. More authors will read in the spring, including writer Leslie Marmon Silko.

“The new series will feature readings by nationally well-known authors, Pima faculty, and Pima students as well,” Meg Files, chair of the West Campus English and journalism department, said.

Cobb will speak at West Campus’ Center for the Arts on Thursday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Meg Files at mfiles@pima.edu or 206-6084.

FYI:

Where: West Campus Center for the Arts

2202 W. Anklam Road

When: Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.

More info: 206-6084

Photo by Eugene St. Pierre

RinCon 2012 plays its own game

By THOMAS F. JOHNSON

RinCon, Arizona’s premier gaming convention, will be returning to Tucson this year after a hiatus in 2011.

Several prominent game designers will be attending, most notably James Ernest, owner of Cheapass Games and creator of “Kill Doctor Lucky,” and John Wick, who has done prominent work on the “Legend of the Five Rings” role-playing game and created the critically acclaimed RPG “7th Sea.”

The con will have many events, such as a cosplay-themed fashion show, a flea market for old gaming paraphernalia, and panels on everything from funding RPGs via Kickstarter to making gaming more inclusive.

Below is an interview with Seth Jaffee, a con coordinator.

How did you start RinCon?

I was around when RinCon first started five years ago, but I wasn’t directly involved. In its first three years, the convention grew and grew, and was very popular. However, the board of the Southern Arizona Gamers Association, the organization that started up to run events such as RinCon and monthly board game days and role-playing days, dispersed. Some members got busy; others moved out of town.

As a result, in 2011 RinCon did not happen. Some local gamers rallied and put on a charity gaming event called Not-A-Con in its place, but there were some that wanted to see RinCon back. I was one of those people, so I stepped up to be President of SAGA, and I recruited some people to help me put on RinCon again.

I’ve never run an event like this before, but I’ve been to a lot of them. I just gathered all the information I could, and jumped right in! Fortunately I wasn’t alone – SAGA has a whole new board, and they’ve been very helpful in resurrecting RinCon.

What’s in the future of RinCon?

Well, in the immediate future is RinCon’s triumphant return! Down the road, who knows? I hope that we will see the growth and popularity reminiscent of the first couple of years so we can do some of the more ambitious things we would like to do at the con.

What is the most promising new board game to appear at the convention?

Well, there are so many, it’s hard to answer that question! As Head of Development for local game publisher Tasty Minstrel Games, I’m incredibly biased. TMG will be demoing several upcoming games such as “Ground Floor” and “Skyline”, “Captains of Industry” and an expansion to my own game “Eminent Domain” – as well as popular titles “Belfort,” “Homesteaders” and “Village.”


Do you have any advice for newbies to tabletop role-playing?

My advice would be to worry less about the rules and more about the story. Let the GM worry about the rules – you are there to play the game. If everybody does that, then in my opinion everybody’ll have more fun!

What are the best board games that you don’t think receive enough attention?

The obvious answer is my first published board game “Terra Prime.” Due to production issues it didn’t really get much exposure. But soon it may be available on an online portal, and I hope to one-day do a second edition with the completed expansion included.

What do you think are the next big innovations coming soon in the board game market and tabletop RPG market?

If I knew what the next big innovation was, I’d be working on a game using it.

FYI

RinCon

When: Friday, Sept. 28 at 12:00 p.m. to Sunday Sept. 30 at 6 p.m.

Where: Tucson Airport Holiday Inn, 4550 S. Palo Verde Road

Hotel phone: 746-1161

Costs: Friday and Saturday only, $20, Sunday only, $10, whole event, $40

Website: http://rincongames.com