Featuring the work of the Monmouth University Department of Art and Design Faculty and Adjunct Faculty. Opening Reception: Friday, Jan. 27, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Drones are in the news. They carry out targeted killings; they are manned with cameras to record movements on the ground; hobbyists fly them in public spaces; Amazon wants to use them to deliver their products. Appropriating visual juxtapositions from the surrealists and kitsch sic-fi invasion films, Karina Aguilera Skvirsky’s Drones, is a series of photo-collages that put flying objects into our aerial landscapes. This series includes landscapes from US, Ecuador and other unidentifiable locations. Skvirsky is a multi-disciplinary artist who works in photography, video and performance. Her work has been exhibited internationally in group and solo exhibitions. She teaches at Lafayette College and The New School, Parsons School of Design. Lecture: Feb. 2, from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. in Wilson Hall Auditorium. Opening reception: Friday, Feb. 2, from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
The Women In the World…A Visual Perspective, art exhibit ties into the theme for Women In Media – Newark’s 8th annual Women’s History Month Film Festival, and takes a broad look at the struggles and triumphs experienced by women globally. This exhibition, exquisitely curated by the renowned Gladys B. Grauer, uses the work of a socially and culturally diverse group of New Jersey based women artists to explore this seemingly simple topic. The images in this exhibit are not necessarily intended to be a literal interpretation of the theme, rather they often offer a metaphorical relationship to the theme. This inspiring exhibit is not to be missed! Opening Reception: Feb. 10, 6:30-8:30 PM. Exhibiting Artists include: Sybil Archibald, Anonda Bell, Cathleen McCoy Bristol,
Eleta Caldwell, Caren King Choi, Dominique Duroseau,
Anne Dushanko Dobek, Adebunmi Gbadebo, Evelyn Graves,
Donna Conklin King, Yolande Skeete-Laessig, Grace Graupe Pillard,
Patricia Arias-Reynolds, Melissa Saenz, Danielle Scott, Armisey Smith,
Nette Thomas, Toni Thomas, Shoshanna Weinberger, and Adrienne Wheeler.
REAL BOY is the coming-of-age story of Bennett Wallace, a transgender teenager on a journey to find his voice as a musician, a friend, a son, and a man. Navigating the ups and downs of young adulthood, he works to gain the support of his mother, who has deep misgivings about her child’s transition. As tension mounts at home, Bennett is taken in by his idol, Joe Stevens, the lead singer of the alt-Americana band, Coyote Grace. Exploring how our search for personal identity also involves those closest to us, REAL BOY is a nuanced look at the new American family and the people we turn to when our given families are unavailable. There will be a post screening Q&A with the director Shaleece Haas.
Liz Moore is a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction. Her first novel, The Words of Every Song (Broadway Books, 2007), centers on a fictional record company in New York City just after the turn of the millennium. It draws partly on Liz’s own experiences as a musician. It was selected for Borders’ Original Voices program and was given a starred review by Kirkus.Roddy Doyle wrote of it, “This is a remarkable novel, elegant, wise, and beautifully constructed. I loved the book.” After the publication of her debut novel, Liz obtained her MFA in Fiction from Hunter College. In 2009, she was awarded the University of Pennsylvania’s ArtsEdge residency and moved to Philadelphia, where she still lives.
The Mitzvah (“The Good Deed”) is a one-person play that dramatically explores one of the most shocking stories of the Second World War. More than a hundred thousand German men — classified as “mischlinge” (the derogatory term the Nazis used to describe those descended from one or two Jewish grandparents) — fought in the German armed forces.
The story of one such mischling is at the center of The Mitzvah and actor (and child of survivor) Roger Grunwald seamlessly transforms himself into an array of characters to tell that story. In addition to Christoph (the “mischling”), other characters include Schmuel, a Polish Jew from Bialystok and the play’s Chorus who offers edgy commentary that probes the boundary between the absurd and the horrific. The Mitzvah is a touching and tragic tale told in a powerful one-act solo performance created by Grunwald and Broadway veteran Annie McGreevey.
Caladh Nua is a tightly-knit, vibrant and staggeringly talented band with its origins deeply rooted in the Southern counties of Ireland. Comprised of five versatile musicians and singers playing a wide selection of instruments – from banjo to fiddle, guitar to bodhran and tin whistle to button accordion – the band has captured the essential qualities of traditional Irish music and balanced them finely with an innovative contemporary flair.
Through a series of international tours and festivals across the globe, which saw the band take the stage in cities such as Paris, Vienna, Copenhagen, Berlin, Mumbai and Vancouver, Caladh Nua has cast a uniquely captivating net of Irish music and song over an ever widening worldwide audience.
A long list of TV and radio broadcasts of their performances and two acclaimed recordings includes American Public Radio, the BBC, and RTE. Performing a vast repertoire of haunting songs and evocative Irish tunes, Caladh Nua is a young ensemble on the rise.
Sonya Yoncheva brings her acclaimed interpretation of the doomed courtesan Violetta Valéry to Live in HD audiences for the first time.
Distinguished NJ Songwriters Joe Rapolla and Joe D’Urso are back this year hosting the celebrated Songwriters by the Sea series at the Lauren K. Woods Theatre. What once started in a small coffee shop as an area for local songwriters has now grown into a series that features some of the top songwriters in the country. This year, the show features James Maddock, a fixture on the Folk and Americana scene and expatriate Irish writer and musician Larry Kirwan.
An April 2014 review in Relix Magazine puts it this way: “James Maddock possesses the kind of lived-in craggy voice that would sound authoritative if he were singing the sports pages. Fortunately, he doesn’t need to do that because his compositional skills are a match for his delivery.” After fronting the Columbia Records band Wood, whose debut Songs From Stamford Hill was featured prominently on TV shows such as “Dawson’s Creek,” Maddock moved from England to New York City in 2003. His 2009 album Sunrise On Avenue C won a New York Music Award for Best Americana Album, while follow-up Wake Up And Dream ranked among the top albums of 2011 in WFUV’s (NYC) Listener Poll. He has performed with Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nile, Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors) and David Immergluck (Counting Crows).
Larry Kirwan (born in Wexford, Ireland) is an expatriate Irish writer and musician, most noted as the lead singer for the New York-based Irish rock band, Black 47 Kirwan has also written and produced eleven plays and musicals, some of which have been performed in the United States and Europe. The plays deal mainly with Irish history and politics. Monmouth University Blue Hawk Records’ artists Julia Whary, Nicole Govel, and guest Isabella Rose, will open the show.Sponsored by the Leon Hess Business School and Business Council
