Junior Brianna Robinson performs “My Angry Vagina” at last year’s performance of “The Vagina Monologues.” Photo by Jane Suttmeier
Female students will intersect femininity and ethnicity in a pair of performances centered on the empowerment of women.
âThe Vagina Monologues,â first performed at Ohio Wesleyan University in 2006, will be joined by Yetta Youngâs âButterfly Confessionsâ in the 2014 show.
Auditions for both performances were held this past weekend in Smith Hall and were open to all self-identified female students.
âThe Vagina Monologues,â which is a play by Eve Ensler, is formatted into a series of monologues that tell womenâs stories and experiences.
The pieces discuss empowerment, sexual violence, positive sex, and seeking justice and healing for women who are survivors of sexual violence.
âButterfly Confessionsâ is similar to âMonologues,â but explores the relationship between womanhood and ethnicity. As Young describes in her LinkedIn profile, ââButterfly Confessionsâ is a love letter to women and girls of color that reveal heartfelt emotions about intimacy, sexual responsibility and overcoming adversity. Audiences will be taken from girlhood to womanhood as âButterfly Confessionsâ airs our dirty laundry.â
Sophomore Kaila Johnson auditioned for a part in the performance, and plans to be as involved as possible in the show.
âI am very eager and excited about the fact that we have brought (âConfessionsâ) to OWU,â said Johnson.
âI think that the women of color on this campus often get left out when it comes to discussions about the different issues and problems that exist in todayâs world.â
Senior Claire Hackett said âConfessionsâ was added to expand the movement to those not reached by âMonologues.â
âWomen of color should have a space where their voices can be heard and everyone else can listen,â Hackett said.
Echoing Hackettâs statement, junior Brianna Robinson said the event developed as a result of âa group of women who are passionate about the voices of all women being heard.â
âConfessionsâ discuss topics such as colorism, sexuality, AIDS, and self-love. The directors for the performance include Robinson, Nola Johnson, Khristina Gardner, Kaila Johnson and Felicia Rose.
In last yearâs Monologues show, Robinson performed âMy Angry Vagina.â
She also read a piece titled âRespectâ by activist Kimberly Crenshaw that echoes many of the same themes as âConfessions.â
âThe Vagina Monologuesâ co-directors Hackett, senior Margaret Knecht, and junior Zoe Crankshaw conducted their auditions separately in order to determine each candidateâs comfort level with various subject materials.
âIt was very stress-free,â said sophomore Claudia Bauman, referring to her audition process. Last year, Bauman read the monologue âMy Vagina Was My Village.â
âMy Vagina Was My Villageâ describes the experiences of Bosnian women who survived wartime rape in the early 1990s.
âFrom the moment I picked up (âThe Vagina Monologuesâ) I fell in love with it,â Bauman said.
âI love reading womenâs stories, the good and the bad, from around the world, which in turn, opens my mind to hardships and to understanding others.â
Owtsiders, Ohio Wesleyan Universityâs only co-ed a Cappella group, has six new voices.
Sophomore Camille Mullins-Lemieux, Owtsiders co-director, said the auditions went well but she hoped that more people would have come.
Sophomore president Julia Stone said she agreed with Mullins-Lemieux.
âI think the cold weather deterred some people from coming out,â Stone said.
âWe were able to find all the singing parts that we need though, and Iâm happy with the talent we found.â
The audition process consisted of three parts: a prepared song, a blending exercise and a test of oneâs range.
Junior Katie Butt said she messed up the words to her Rihanna mash up of âDisturbiaâ and âThe Monster.â
âBut no one noticed,â she added.
The groupsâ new members range in grade level, with three freshmen, one junior and two seniors. Mullins-Lemieux said she is excited about the full sound and fresh energy that these members will bring to the group.
Freshman Curtice Taylor, who is also involved in the Choral Arts Society, said he is looking forward to singing a cappella, as well as being a part of the Owtsidersâ community specifically.
Butt was previously a member of the Owtsiders, and the female a cappella group Pitch Black, but had to leave both due to the intense time commitment.
She said she was excited to learn that the Owtsiders were having auditions again.
âI missed that environment – just hanging out with people and creating beautiful music together,â Butt said. âItâs laid-back and a lot of fun,â she said.
Freshman Megan Marren wanted to audition in order to be more involved on campus.
âIt wasnât a hard audition, but it was nerve wracking sitting around and waiting until my turn came up,â Marren said.
In the past, the Owtsiders have performed at Ollieâs Fine Ice Cream, a local ice cream parlor.
They also sang on stage at âA Cappellooza!â an event sponsored by Campus Programming Board that featured a cappella groups from OWU and surrounding schools.
Stone said that the group has plans to sing at J. Gumboâs, a local restaurant, on Mardi Gras and to have more sporadic performances in the atrium of Hamilton-Williams.
âIâm hoping that we are able to have a great semester full of new music and more performances,â Stone said. âWeâre going to start the semester by working on Counting Stars by One Republic and Royals by Lorde.â
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, dead at 46. Photo from Wikimedia Commons
The image Philip Seymour Hoffman left imprinted in my mind is his exceptional portrayal of rock critic Lester Bangs in  the 2000 film âAlmost Famous.â
With needle still in arm and evidence of drug abuse throughout his apartment, actor Hoffman, 46 years old, was found dead on Sunday morning.
According to the New York Daily News, Hoffman was discovered by friend David Katz. Officials suspect the overdose was caused by heroin injections considering the 70 bags of the drug found scattered around Hoffmanâs apartment.
Hoffman was best known for his role in the 2005 film âCapote,â as well as his Academy Awards and Tony Award nominations. His ability to transform into enticing characters transports audiences to new worlds and isnât that what art is all about?
In the aftermath of  events such as these there arise two kinds of people: those who mourn the loss of a fellow human, and those who mourn the loss of an entertainment source. In the case of any death, those who care for the deceased usually experience a spat of selfishness. Especially when the death could be seen as self inflicted,  friends and family may blame the deceased for âplaying Godâ and removing themselves from the world.
Personally I see people blame celebrities for robbing us of their talents. In any case with celebrities it is not our place to criticize. We are unaware of the personal circumstances involved in the death. Particularly with Hoffmanâs case, who had been clean for two decades, the overdose was most likely unintentional.
Other drug related celeb deaths, such as that of âGleeâ actor Cory Monteith, not only raise awareness of the ever escalating drug problem in our society, but a question of why? Is there a high concentration of fatal overdoses within the world of celebrities because there is more coverage? Or is there a specific variable in that culture that pushes many actors over the edge?
We may not be able to answer why after 23 years Hoffman resorted to drugs but we can accept his passing, appreciate the performances that he has given us and not resent him for those he will not be able to.
Beehive Books, located at 25 North Sandusky St., is closing on Jan. 31 because the two owners, Linda and Joe Diamond, could not find a buyer to purchase the bookstore.
âWe want something that will complement Delaware,â Linda Diamond said. âWeâve had a few offers but the business must be good for Delaware and be comparable to Beehive.â
Beehive has been open for more than six years and sells local artistsâ work, various books and magazines, coffee, and handcrafted merchandise. It hosts events such as book signings and readings by local and national authors.
Senior Naomi Abrams, member of the Interfaith House, said she used to do homework there and held a book club for her house project at Beehive.
âThe place is cozy, like everyone knows everyone, somehow,â she said. âThe owners were super accommodating and even charged us less for books.â
The Diamonds also own the space where Global Village, Button-Up and Whitâs Frozen Custard are located. Linda Diamond said their decision would not affect these businesses, stating she and her husband decided to sell the bookstore so she could focus on her job at the Health Department and because of Joeâs ailing health.
âWe had to stop and think where we wanted to spend our time,â she said.
Lisa Ho, associate chaplain and Beehive Books employee, said the Diamonds told employees it would close at the storeâs annual Christmas party.
âIt sounds kind of crass, but it wasnât,â Ho said. âThey wanted us all to know at the same time.â
Ho said the Diamondsâ search for a Beehive buyer had been public knowledge for a few months but she did not know the store would close.
Some customers are upset about the closing. Greg Myers, a Delaware resident, said he had gone to the bookstore every weekend since it opened for a latte and to read Baronâs magazine.
âIt was my Saturday morning habit,â he said. â[Beehive] has this energy. It was like a focal point for the community. You canât get that anywhere else.â
Junior Taylor Johnson, who had just started working at Beehive two months ago, said she had wanted to work there since she was a freshman. According to Johnson, the store is closing partly because of financial reasons, in addition to slow business.
âItâs like, if you really wanted to keep it open, you should have been here,â she said. âBut they get, and we all get, that this is the best decision for the owners. Itâs just sad to see it go.â
The bookâs prices have been marked down for the past three weeks and all artwork and furniture is sold.
Diamond said Delaware residents have been the most avid buyers. âPeople come in and say, âI want something from Beehive to remember it byâ and so now bits of Beehive are scattered throughout Delaware,â she said.
Diamond also said she will sell the leftover books to other bookstores, the closest of which is twelve miles away. She also said she would donate books to organizations in the town.
On the last day the store is open, the Diamonds are hosting an Irish wake so the community can say goodbye to Beehive.
âJoe and I are both Irish and we want to celebrate, not to mourn,â Diamond said.
Ho said a committee has formed to recreate the atmosphere and opportunities that Beehive offered. The Community Education and Outreach committee will meet within the next month to find a place where community members and OWU students can attend educational events. Places like Choffeyâs Coffee, Something Sweet and Barley Hopsters have been discussed as options.
These innovative rules brought new and entertaining features to the world-renowned exhibition basketball team.Fan rules included challenges such as âMake or Missâ shooting competition and âHot Hand Jersey.âThe Globetrotters allowed the stadium audience to dictate the rules of the game, giving a more hands on experience to fans.The famous Harlem Globetrotters took Branch Rickey Arena by storm last week while on their âFans Rule World Tour.â
A big theme of college is the idea that you get an opportunity to recreate yourself to the image that you would like. However, we’re still at a malleable time in our life where we’re living in an environment where you are interacting with fellow students every day. These interactions can help or hinder your process of finding your own identity and self-worth. This photo series, titled “Hello, My Name Is,” tries to look at the way labels and the way people address us and how it affects our creation and preservation of self-identity. I went around Ohio Wesleyan’s campus and asked students to write down what is applied to them by others. These were some of their answers.
Some images contain profanity.
SweetOMG! Your so funnyGreek WomanYoung ladyStonerFrat Boy/Fraternity Gentleman
CocksuckerAsianHippySouthernerInterracialSolitaryCity BoyYou’re always so happy!Terrorist
“You’re pretty enough that I didn’t think you would be smart.”WeirdoBlack struggle
In 2012 they put out the strikingly dark âReign of Terror,â a contrast to their debut âTreats,â and promoted it with a tour supported by Brooklyn-based black metal band Liturgy and acclaimed DJ Diplo. The followed up with another national headlining tour, including a stop in Columbus last November.
In October, just a year and a half after âReign of Terror,â they released the more upbeat âBitter Rivals,â proceeded to embark on a cross-country tour and will return Columbus on Saturday. As vocalist Alexis Krauss put it when I spoke with her over the phone last week while she and guitarist/producer Derek Miller were in Atlanta, the album âfeels like a fight,â and from how active and motivated they are, itâs certain Sleigh Bells will go down swinging if they go down at all.
Alexis and I talked about the bandâs restlessness and how it helps them put out albums so quickly, their fond memories in Columbus and boxing, their newfound loveânot surprising, considering the sound âBitter Rivalsâ achieves.
Noah Manskar: Where are yâall right now? Youâre on tour, right?
Alexis Krauss: Yeah, I am currently in Atlanta, Ga., andâI guess weâre about midway through the tour, so itâs been really incredible so far. The shows have been a lot of fun, and weâre looking forward to keeping it going.
NM: What do you like best about touring, and what do you like least about it?
AK: I like best the fact that you wake up in a different city every day and get to meet new fans and experience new places. I feel incredibly grateful and appreciative that I get to do this for a living and that I get to see so many different parts of the country and of the world. What I like least about touring is probably being on a bus with nine guys and dealing with their lack of hygiene and all that comes with touring with nine boys. But that being said, we all love each other, weâre a really close knit touring family. But stepping on dirty socks and dental floss is never fun.
NM: So yâall are gonna be in Columbus on Nov. 9, and you were there a year ago, almost exact to the date. What do you think of Columbus as a city? Are you excited to come back?
AK:Yeah, no, absolutely. Weâve had a lot of great shows in Columbus, and we play there quite a bit. I remember the show at the BoMA in Columbus was probably one of the craziest shows weâve ever played. It was a Halloween show, and it got insanely raucous. So yeah, lots of great memories in Columbus, and weâre excited to be playing again. You know, a lot of people kinda give us shit for putting out records so close to one another. It almost seems like they want us to kind of just disappear for a while and take a break. But for us the fact that weâre going back to a lot of the cities that we were in last year is really exciting. We have new music and we wanna share it with our fans, and we never get bored of visiting places like Columbus, because itâs incredibly rewarding to return to these places and see familiar faces and get to re-engage with a fan. So it brings us a lot of pleasure.
NM: You mentioned that you get a lot of shit for putting albums out pretty fast compared to a lot of other artists. What is your process like that makes that happen?
AK: Honestly we finished recording âReign of Terrorâ in 2012, and we left the studio on an incredible high note, because the last song we recorded was âComeback Kid,â and Derek and I both felt really re-energized. He had just come out of a really dark period in which he was dealing with the loss of his father and his mom being very sick, but by the time we recorded âComeback Kid,â things were really looking up and we were just feeling great about our personal working relationship with one another, and we never really stopped writing. And so every time we would finish a tour, we would get into the studio with our engineer Shane Stoneback and weâd work for maybe two days, sometimes weâd work for a week, and we started having these fully formed songs that we were super proud of. And once we finished touring âReign of Terrorâ in March, we went into the studio full time, and we would work for as long as we felt energized and productive, and then weâd go home and take breaks. So the recording schedule for us was always really enjoyable. Nobody was forcing us to do it, we never felt like we were spreading ourselves too thin, we never felt like we were lacking ideas. And so after a few months we had 10 songs that we felt were really strong. We recorded about 15, but in the end we felt that those 10 were the ones that really deserved to make the record. And instead of sitting on it and instead of engaging a really long press lead, we just decided to put it out. âCause if I was a fan of our band, I would just kinda wanna hear the new material and then go to a show. There can be a lot of bureaucracy in the music business and a lot of people telling you what you should do. We tend to ignore all that and do things ourselves and put out music when we wanna put it out, and we control our artwork and weâre very involved in the routing of our tours. And so it comes from a real restlessness and a real desire to keep producing records, and so thatâs kinda why we do what we do.
NM: You talked a little bit about âReign of Terrorâ and the dark tone it took in your work, with Derek and what he was going through. This record is a lot lighter than âReign of Terrorâ and even âTreats.â Where did that come from?
AK: I donât want to sound cliche, but this record is really a reflection of where we were as people in terms of just feeling really healthy and strong and energized and happy. We had a lot of silly moments in the studio, which i think we captured on this record. We didnât take ourselves too seriously on this record. WE did things we enjoyed. We took a lot of risks. We looked at each other and questioned if this music was sleigh bells music, but ultimately we decided that we werenât going to be inhibited by peopleâs expectations or by what we had sounded like in the past. Ultimately we wanted to make a record that weâd never made before and we wanted it to sound fresh and innovative and new. But ultimately it was just the music that was coming out of us. This was a much more collaborative record, and so I think a lot of it is much more strongly influenced by pop and R&B, because those are really my biggest influences. And from a guitar point of view, itâs much sort of scrappier and leaner and a lot less dense And the production just feels really upbeat. It still has an abrasiveness to it, but itâs definitely a lot less heavy. But at the same time, I still feel like itâs sort of our toughest record to date. We didnât really have a vision for it; it was just about making the songs that were coming out of us at that time.
NM: What do you mean when you say it was the toughest record?
AK: To me, this record sort of feels like a fight. It feels really kind of tough and deliberate. I donât know, it just sounds really kind of badass to me. When I say it feels like a fight, it just feels like it goes in full force, but ultimately ends in victory. It doesnât end in sort of melancholy and despair. It has a lot of go, a lot of pep. Itâs abrasive, but victorious.
NM: Speaking of it sounding like a fightâwhich I totally got, I listened to the record a lotâI also read that you and Derek took up boxing recently while you were producing this record.
AK: We did, yeah.
NM: So how did that happen? How did that come about, and how did it influence this record in sounding like a fight?
AK: I donât wanna get too literal about it. Boxing has influenced this record in terms of infusing us with a lot of energy and a lot of positivity. It was something we got into. We were doing it togetherâweâd start our day off at the gym and then go into the studio, which was just a really healthy, productive way to start the day. Obviously we used the boxing glove for the record artwork, but I donât think it had any more of an influence beyond that. I think itâs more of just a coincidence. I think if we were boxing when we were making âTreats,â it wouldâve made just as much sense, you know? Our music always has a bit of a pugnacious quality about it.
NM: So you said this was more of a collaborative record than in the past.
AK: Definitely.
NM: In what sense was it collaborative? Where did you and Derek come together on this one more than you had in the past?
AK: Weâre still a relatively new band, and I think because we met as complete strangers and didnât have any prior working relationship with one another, it took us some time to learn to trust one another creatively, and it took some time for Derek to be able to release some control around the songwriting process and to entrust me with the writing. I think itâs just a matter of time before you start opening up and feeling comfortable sharing ideas in a collaborative way, and so that was what happened for âBitter Rivals.â He would work on a track and then we would sit down and talk about lyrics, and I would go home and I would demo the song on my laptop using GarageBand and I would fully arrange all the vocals, and 9 out of 10 times I would come into the studio with essentially a completed demo, and he would love it, and we would just record it properly from there. We kinda found a groove and found a formula that worked for us, and I think for this record it proved successful.
NM: You talked a little bit about the artwork and the boxing gloves for âBitter Rivals,â and with âReign of Terrorâ you used a lot of patriotic kind of symbolism with the Purple Heart and the flag and the canteen and stuff like that. Some of that stuff I noticed has carried through in the content of âBitter Rivals,â too, like on âYou Donât Get Me Twiceâ thereâs the lyric, âItâs a terrifying thing, the American dream.â Iâm just wondering, where does that kind of comment on American life, I guessâwhat are you trying to say with that, and where does that come from for you all?
AK: Itâs kind of two different perspectives. For âReign of Terror,â a lot of thatâwell, not a lot of it, all of itâwas actual personalâthe Purple Heart was Derekâs grandfatherâs, the canteen was his grandfatherâs. And for him that was more of a document of his fatherâs history and his family history and sort of a reflection of a lot of the artifacts that he had gone back and rediscovered after his fatherâs death. So that was much more a personal reflection on his familyâs history and whatnot. And for Bitter Rivals, that line in âYou Donât Get Me Twiceâ is more of a commentary on where we are currently as a country, and Derek and I are very interested in how societyâs changing and what people are prioritizing, and how it can be a bit disconcerting thinking about what people consider to be measures of success now, and the obsession with materialism and technology, and how thatâs kind of causing people to seek out things in life that arenât the most meaningful and important. We donât necessarily consider ourselves a political band, but that particular line is definitely a commentary on, honestly, how terrifying it is, what a lot of people want in this life. Weâre not judging, weâre just reflecting.
Sleigh Bells are performing at Newport Music Hall on Saturday, Nov. 9. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $22.00 in advance and $25 on the day of the show.
Listen to full interview with Alexis Krauss at owutranscript.com.
On Oct. 25 and 26, Alan Morrison performed two recitals on the newly restored Klais organ in Gray Chapel. To commemorate the event, alumni and members of the Keller and Blanchard families appeared to hear the performances.
The Klais organ arrived to OWU in 1980; the organ had not received any restoration since, until a fundraising effort to improve and restore the organ began in September of last year.
The new renovations to the organ included a thorough cleaning of the entire organ, which involved the removal of all the original 4,522 pipes and windchests and the installation of an additional 122 pipes.
In addition, workers repaired any defects with the organ. The slider seals, which function to prevent the organ leaking wind when it exits from the windchests, were also replaced.
Once the cleaning process was finished, the 400-500 pound pipes were placed into the organ stop by stop. Â The term stop refers to the admittance of pressurized air into a set of organ pipes. Organ voicers made sure each stop spoke correctly at the proper volume, while other stops were made louder or softer, and others were completely revoiced.
Robert Griffith, an organ teacher at OWU, said there were, âfive people who upfront gave seed money to get the project underway.â
âMost people were alums and former students,â said Griffith, who studied under Rexford Keller.
Most importantly, the new division of an additional 122 pipes, called the Blanchard Memorial Bombarde division, was added to the organ. Â The division is named after Dr. and Mrs. Homer D. Blanchard, who were both in the class of 1933.
Dr. Homer Blanchard began studying the pipe organ at the age of 13. Blanchard became a major proponent to acquire the Klais organ in Gray Chapel during his time teaching German at OWU in 1963.
After his death in 1988, his wife Gwen Blanchard established the Homer D. Blanchard Memorial Organ Recital Series Fund, which provides an opportunity for future performances on the organ. The family and friends of Dr. Homer and Gwen added the division, which includes two trumpet stops that will add a new voice to the organ.
University President Rock Jones opened the concert with a speech, detailing the history of the organ. Â He also recognized the family members of the Keller and the Blanchard families who attended the concert.
He then introduced the performer Alan Morrison, who has played the organ since he was a senior in high school, and is currently known as one of Americaâs premier concert organists.
Morrison graduated from The Curtis Institute of Music and The Julliard School of Music. He has played internationally in Canada, Europe and South America. He has been chosen to perform at four national conventions of the American Guild of Organists.
Morrison began the program with âPhoenix Processionalâ by American composer Dan Locklair. He followed with âConcerto in A Minor, BWV 593â by Johann Sebastian Bach, a piece that Bach transcribed after Vivaldiâs piece for the organ.
This was followed by âCiaconna in B-flat Majorâ by Johann Bernhard Bach, which Morrison said to the audience was, âsomething [Bach] would have improvised while inspecting organs.â The piece also featured individual voices of the organ, while the previous two-piece served as ensembles.
Morrison then performed âAndante Sostenutoâ by Charles Marie Widor, a French composer who composed the piece specifically for the Christmas season. The composition featured the strings and flutes of the organ. This was followed by âScherzo, opus 2â by Maurice Durufle. Morrison described the piece as âa game of chaseâ that features the âlush strings and beautiful flutes of the organ.â
After intermission, Morrison performed âFive Dancesâ by Calvin Hampton, an American composer. Morrison said to the audience that the piece âworks beautifully on this organ.â Morrison finished with âVariations on Sine Nomineâ by John Weaver, an American Composer.
Morrison described to the audience that this piece was a ârompâ of the tunes âThe Saints Come Marching Inâ and âFrom all the Saints.â
Morrison closed the concert by recognizing those involved with renovating the organ. He described the process as, âsuch an overwhelming taskâ and âvery labor intensive, a labor of love.â
Morrison said that the Klais organ, âhas a lot of character,â and described it as âone of the best.â
Melinda Rosenberg’s “Anaphase” from her exhibit “Nature’s Edge,” open at the Ross Art Museum Photo by Adelle Brodbeck
By Adelle Brodbeck
Transcript Reporter
Sunday, Oct. 13, the Ross Art Museum welcomed two new exhibits from local artists Melinda Rosenberg and Rod Bouc.
Rosenbergâs work transforms reclaimed wood into creative sculptures while Bouc takes to another side of nature through his intricate landscapes and portraits of rainclouds.
The opening reception matched the artâs sophistication. Students and community members roamed the gallery admiring the different pieces and sipping lemonade while a live harp played in the background.
Both Rosenberg and Bouc agreed the opening was a success.
âThe harp was beautiful, snacks yummy and a bunch of friends and family came,â Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg decided to showcase her work for OWU due to her many connections with the surrounding community, including her membership at the North Unitarian Universalist Church.
She also said she had previously shown at the Ross at the beginning of her career in 1987.
âI wanted to complete a cycle of making and showing by showing again at Ohio Wesleyan,â she said.
Bouc said it was a privilege to show at OWU and enjoyed the opening reception. He said he thinks the Ross is âone of the best exhibition spots in Ohio.â
âThere was a nice crowd and the show looked great,â he said. âI love showing my work to others.â
Rosenbergâs creates geometric and visually exciting sculptures from old barn sidings, ladders, rocking chairs and various trees such as pine and maple.
âMy work is very much about Ohio and its changing landscape,â she said.
Her series titled âHokey Pokeyâ playfully recreates the beloved but somewhat corny dance through repurposed bits of rocking chairs.
âThe arms and legs of rocking chairs needed to do something,â she said about her inspiration for the series. âIt started with the fact that a rocking chair has body parts. I also wanted to do something playful and free.â
âAnaphaseâ shows a more serious edge to Rosenbergâs work. Itâs made from a pair of wood blocks sanded down and painted to create an emphasis on the space between the two and their connection. She also added a bundle of roots âto add to the sense of pulling apart and earthiness of the piece.â
âWhen I was looking for a title I looked up division in the thesaurus to find âanaphase,ââ she said. âAnaphase is the moment in cell division just prior to the separation of cells, which seemed to capture the tension of the piece.â
Boucâs exhibit, titled âNatureâs Edge,â takes the same concept of tension within our natural world and presents it in vivacious paintings and drawings.
âIâve been fascinated with how places in the country or the sky can inspire you, calm you, frighten you,â Bouc said about his inspiration. âWe go places to evoke feelings. We look to the sky and are awestruck. Itâs very interesting to me. I try to evoke those feelings in my (art).â
Boucâs exhibit features art from three different areas, charcoal portraits of clouds, landscapes of serene farm life and depictions of threatening tornadoes.
One particular pair of paintings in the exhibit, âFields and Duskâ and âFields at Dusk (Ghost),â show Boucâs talent and resourcefulness. The works are monotypes, involve creating a painting on glass, transferring that paint onto paper and then using the residue to create a ghostlike reprint of the first image.
âMonotypes go back centuries,â he said about the technique used to create the paintings. âYet, they are not well known. I did my first monotypes in graduate school at OSU in the late 1970âs. Monotype is a great process of printmaking for painters like myself.â
Monotypes Bouc said that what he finds particularly interesting about the process is that it always produces a distinctive image.
âOften, I work on and run the plate through multiple times and get a kind of series of prints that result in images that are similar, yet unique,â he said. âEach print is original. Itâs a very creative process and there are very few rules as in most art-making.â
Bouc said his exhibit shows a culmination of his work throughout his many years as an artist.
âItâs all experimentation,â he said. âAs you can imagine, the work reflects where I am in my life, how I feel, is echoed in the work. Itâs not necessarily intentional. I donât say, âI feel sad today, Iâm going to make a sad painting.â It just comes out during the process of making the work.â
A cappella groups may have just recently become a hot trend in pop culture with shows like âGleeâ and movies like âPitch Perfect,â but Ohio Wesleyan has been making unaccompanied singing magic since 1999.
Currently there are three a cappella groups on campus: the two youngest are Pitch Black and the Jaywalkers, and the oldest is Owtsiders.
Pitch Black, the womenâs a cappella group, was founded in 2005 and continues to grow and improve each year. They recently held auditions for new members and out of over 30 girls who auditioned, only eight made the final cut.
Junior Grace Thompson, Pitch Blackâs director, said the audition process was fairly stressful.
âIt was a really tough decision,â she said âHonestly, everyone that auditioned had a great voice.â
Thompson joined Pitch Black her first semester and by the end of freshman year she had earned the role of the groupâs director.
âI wasn’t sure if I wanted to take on such a big role after only a year in the group,â she said. âBut I was encouraged by some older group members to go for it, so I did.â
As director, Thompson had to make tough decisions concerning new members, but she said other members provided a good support system.
âOur group is very trusting and honest,â she said. âWeâre very good at keeping each other in the right mindset.â
Junior Emma Buening, one of Pitch Blackâs new members, said she is very excited to finally become a part of the group. After a failed attempt to join her freshman year, she took voice lessons to help improve her singing.
âI really think (the voice lessons) helped my confidence,â she said.
Buening said âfind(ing) your own voice)â is important to having success with a cappella.
â(T)rying to make your voice sound like someone else’s will never pan out,â she said.
Junior Todd Zucker has been a member of Jaywalkers, the menâs a cappella group, since the second semester of his freshman year.
Zucker said a cappella has been a very rewarding experience.
âIt is something that I enjoy very much,â he said, âIt’s a pretty relaxing moment twice a week to be able to sing with the group, who have become my close friends.â
âPeople always seem to be pleasantly surprised to hear it,â he said.
Sophomore Jerry Lherisson joined Jaywalkers his freshman year as a way to continue pursuing his passion for singing. In high school, Lherisson started a coed a cappella group as well as belonging to a menâs group, so singing unaccompanied is not something new to him.
âThe best part about being a Jaywalker is the atmosphere that such an eclectic group of guys develop,â he said. âWe all contribute to a very enjoyable and fun atmosphere.â
Lherisson said one of the other positive aspects of being a member of the Jaywalkers is the groupâs vast diversity.
âThere is a wide range of backgrounds, ideologies and interests in the group,â he said. âThere are athletes as well as actors, members of SLUs as well as fraternities, and there are fine arts majors as well as politics and government majors.â
The third a cappella group that belongs to OWU is Owtsiders, the only co-ed group of the three. The group was started in 1999 when two students wanted to bring a new and exciting club to the school that would allow people to embrace their passion for singing.
Sophomore Julia Stone said the Owtsiders still sing some of the same arrangements as the first members did in 1999. Stone also said other members are allowed to suggest songs or present their own arrangements, but her favorites to perform are âValerieâ by Amy Whinehouse and âHide and Seekâ by Imogen Heap.
Stone said she has been involved in singing in choirs since the third grade and hopes to continue singing after college. Many other members of Owtsiders share her experience of being involved in singing for a long time, and it is one of their many interests.
âThere are a lot of people in the group with different majors,â Stone said. âWe have quite a few music or music education majors this year, but also several others in the sciences or humanities.â
OWUâs three a cappella groups display the wide range of interests of the students, as well as the immense talent that they all possess.