The Leading Edge

Events

Tuesday, May 2

Art of Languages — Learn about the history of writing and art of calligraphy from the Etthiad region from 3-5 p.m. in the SEC lobby. This event is sponsored by the Etthiad Cultural Center with support from the College of Liberal Arts.

The Songs of the Trees — Over several years David George Haskell visited a dozen trees, sitting with each to listen to its story. The trees are located in very different places – the Amazon rainforest, Shakerag Hollow in Sewanee, the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, a city park in Denver, an ancient hearth in Scotland. The Songs of the Trees: Stories from Nature’s Great Connectors is the story of his encounters. 7 p.m., The Arts Center, 700 SW Madison.

Wednesday, May 3

Interviewing for Success — This interactive presentation by CLA Career Advisor Breanne Hiivala will cover what students can expect in an interview and how to prepare for success. Noon, Bexell 214. Please encourage your students to attend.

OSU Oboe and Bassoon Studio Recital. 7 p.m., Benton 303. 

The OSU Woodwind Studio Ensembles perform at 7 p.m. in Benton Hall Room 303. All are welcome

Thursday, May 4

Professor Thomas J. Christensen, William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War at Princeton University, will speak on U.S. — China relations from 4-6 p.m. in 228 LInC. This event is sponsored by the Asian Studies Program in collaboration with the Citizenship & Crisis Initiative. Former information, contact Hua-yu Li, Director for Asian Studies Program. 541-737-6235.

The Material Body Conference – Kennewick Man The Ancient One and Repatriation — In February 2017, the 9000-year-old bones of the man known as “the Ancient One,” or, to scientists, “Kennewick Man” were buried at an undisclosed location on tribal lands near the Columbia River, where his remains had originally been found. Thus ended two decades of scientific debate and legal challenges, centered on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).  In this conference, a part of the Horning Lecture Series, three expert speakers will look at all sides of this debate and its outcome. 1-4 p.m. LaSells Stewart Center, Ag. Room. 

Friday, May 5

CLA Open House — Come to Bexell 214 from 3-5 p.m. on the eve of OSU’s Family Weekend to tell your students parents an families about your work. Contact Celene Carillo if you plan on stopping by.

Oregon State University will celebrate the blue pigment discovered at the university and its impact on art, culture and industry at an event called “The Colorful World of Pigments.” Hosted by the College of Science, the event will include a discussion of color by a panel that will feature the pigment’s discoverer, Oregon State chemist Mas Subramanian; Christopher Manning of the Shepherd Color Company, OSU’s licensing partner for the pigment, named YInMn blue; a color theorist from Nike; and the curator of Harvard University’s 2,500-specimen Forbes Pigment Collection, a scientific catalog of color that includes YInMn blue. The discussion will be moderated by SAC director Lee Ann Garrison. This event is part of SPARK: The Year of Arts and Science at OSU. The event runs from 8 a.m. to noon in The LaSells Stewart Center, with the panel taking place from 9 – 10:30 a.m.

OSU Disability Network: Join a group of OSU community members interested in discussing Disability Studies teaching and research, in general, and the development of a DS curriculum at OSU, in particular. Qwo-Li Driskill will present, “Toward Decolonizing Disability Critiques” at noon, Milam Hall 301.

Music à la Carte —  Work OSU Music Production students. Noon, MU Lounge. 

Saturday, May 6

Masterclass: Jon Kimura Parker. All are welcome to come and observe Parker working with OSU piano students. 3 p.m., Benton 303.

Sunday, May 7

OSU Flute Choir. 2 p.m., First Baptist Church, 125 NW 10th.

Corvallis-OSU Piano International Steinway Series — Jon Kimura Parker. 4 p.m., The LaSells Stewart Center. For ticket information, visit corvallispiano.org.

Recurring Events

Oregon State University will host “Cultural Conversations,” an exhibition of prints from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Schnitzer Family Foundation, April 3 through May 3. Schnitzer is a Portland businessman, collector and philanthropist who owns one of the country’s largest private collections of contemporary prints and multiples.  Pieces from the exhibit will be displayed in the Fairbanks Gallery as well as in four cultural centers on campus. The exhibition was curated by Kirsi Peltomäki, associate professor of art history at OSU.

The Microbiome Art Project — This project is a collaboration between OSU’s research community and The Arts Center in Corvallis. The project focuses on microbial systems that affect human health, biodiversity of animal species, and air, earth and water quality. This exhibition asks both artists and researchers, How Can We See the Unseen? Through this exhibit, the arts will document and interpret complex research concepts and bring greater understanding for artists and the public, as well as offer a unique perspective to the scientific community. April 13 – May 27, The Arts Center, 700 SW Madison Avenue. This exhibit is a part of SPARK: Arts+Science@OSU.

Oregon State University’s Center for the Humanities is hosting an exhibition of work by Assistant Professor of Art Kerry Skarbakka titled “Blackout,” through June 8. This is Skarbakka’s second solo exhibition in Corvallis in a year. The installation is comprised of objects of art and understanding, encapsulated in the medium used to line the beds of trucks, and thus blacked out, or rendered void. Utilizing the significance of the Center for the Humanities and coinciding with the March for Science and Earth Day on April 22, the Skarbakka says the exhibition provides “a message of solidarity against attempts to defund and silence the arts, the sciences and the humanities.”

The Little Gallery proudly presents Betty LaDuke’s “Bountiful Harvest and Border Crossings,” April 3 – June 16. LaDuke’s wood panel murals document and narrate stories of Latino farm workers who work on farms in Oregon’s Rogue Valley. For more  information: 541-737-2146. 

Current Research, Publications and Creative Activity 

Sharyn Clough, SHPR, published a peer-reviewed, co-authored paper “Empiricist and Rationalist Approaches to the Design of Concrete Structures” in the Journal of Preservation Technology. This paper was the result of a collaboration with Thomas Boothby an engineer from Penn State who sought Clough to help solve a philosophical puzzle in the conception of architectural preservation projects.

Ron Mize, SLCS will present: “The Bracero Program and Workplace Surveillance,” Invited Presentation, Color of Surveillance: Government Monitoring of American Immigrants, Georgetown Law School Center for Privacy and Technology, Washington D.C., June 22, 2017. He recently presented “The State of Latin@ Oregon,” Invited Presentation, Unid@s Cohort V, Latino Network, Portland City Hall, Portland, April 21, 2017.

Director of choral studies Steven Zielke was a resident conductor and professor at Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska. In addition to teaching, he rehearsed and conducted a performance of Dan Forrest’s “Requiem for the Living.”

Instructor of music Jay Chen guest conducted the OSU Trombone Choir on Sunday, April 23 as part of the Tilikum Community Choir (an OSU-affiliated ensemble) at a performance in Milwaukie, Oregon. 

Director of bands Chris Chapman lead a performance of the Oregon Brass Society on Sunday, April 23 at Linn Benton Community College in Albany. Chapman is artistic director of the ensemble, which is the only British-style brass band in the state of Oregon. Chapman was also busy as an invited clinician in recent weeks: on April 26 he was a guest conductor of the Southridge High School Wind Ensemble in Beaverton, Oregon; and on April 28-29, was a clinician at the Heritage Band Festival in Seattle, Washington, where he worked with 20 high school bands and orchestras from across the country.

Director of percussion studies Bob Brudvig and West Albany band director Stuart Welsh organized and hosted the 3rd Annual High School Percussion Ensemble Festival in Corvallis last week. He also acted as an adjudicator and clinician at the event, along with guest clinicians Joel Bluestone (Portland State University) and Alan Keown (Alan Keown Drum Camp). 70 students from Corvallis, Albany, Lebanon and Roseburg participated in the event. 

Instructor of music Ann Grabe (cello)  collaborated with local musician Abigail Sperling (flute) on April 22 in a performance of W.A. Mozart’s Flute Quartet in C Major, K. 285b. Joining the ensemble were Stephen Nelson (violin) and Michelle Rahn (viola).

Instructor of music Sean Paul Mills led performances of the Salem Philharmonia on April 22 and 23. The program included Gabriel Faure’s “Pelleas et Melisande Suite”; Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concert in D Major, featuring soloist Jessica Lambert; and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in d minor. Mills is the artistic director and conductor of the ensemble.

Instructor of music Jan Looking Wolf Reibach and his band performed at the historic Elsinore Theatre in Salem, Oregon last Friday as part of an non-profit event for an organization providing medical assistance to those in need. The ensemble opened for Laila Ali, women’s boxing champion, humanitarian and daughter of Muhammad Ali.

Kerry Skarbakka, assistant professor of photography, has been awarded a $4,000 College of Liberal Arts Research Award for his proposed project, “Welcome to Whiteville,” for the period June 1, 2017 through June 1, 2018.

Julia Bradshaw, assistant professor of art and new media communications recently spoke at a Science Photography Brown Bag Lunch on campus. Also speaking were Tom Carrico, astrophotographer; Randall Milstein, instructor and Astronomer-in-Residence for the Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium; and David Reinert, senior faculty research assistant in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.