Week exposes USU’s artisitic side
The Caine College of the Arts presents a week filled with humor, entertainment and art as they host their very first Arts week Jan. 18-22 to mark the start of a new tradition.
“This is going to be an exhilarating week for all students, staff, faculty and community members,” said Craig Jessop, Dean of the Caine College of the Arts. “Student will have activities that they can just make a quick stop at any time throughout the day depending on their class schedule. There will always be something going on during arts week.”
Interim music department head Cindy Dewey said, “I feel like a kid looking forward to summer vacation. I am just counting the days until the fun begins.”
Arts week launched with the construction of the “paint-by-gum” wall mural in the lobby of the Fine Arts Center. Jessop explains that the mural will be completely made of chewing gum in an assortment of colors. The mural will need a total of 55,000 pieces of gum for its completion, so they need everyone to contribute to the art piece. Jessop placed the first piece of chewed gum onto the mural, Tuesday morning.
“There will be plenty of gum in all colors being handed out in the Fine Arts Center, or people can contribute their own gum already in their mouth,” Jessop said.
Dewey said when she and her students are not preparing for, or performing in, an Arts Week activity, they will be adding to the mural.
“We will all contribute to the chewing gum art piece.” Dewey said. “With 55,000 pieces of chewed gum needed to fill it, we will all have to chew, chew, chew.”
Special guests filled Tuesday evening’s dinner at Hamilton’s Steak and Seafood. The speakers included artistic director of Maine State Theatre Steve Peterson, and Pam Coats, independent consultant with Digital Domain Wes. Both Peterson and Coats have extensive backgrounds in the arts. Peterson was most recently seen on stage as an actor in the role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray. Coats’ worked as head of the creative development department for Disney Animation, where she helped produce “Mulan”, “Lilo and Stitch,” “Treasure Planet,” “Brother Bear,” “Dinosaur,” “Tarzan” and “The Emperor’s New Groove,” to name a few.
Wednesday’s Raising Caine concert will be performed by faculty, staff and students, including Jessop.
“It is going to be a farce,” he said. “Think of hasty pudding.”
Following the performance will be the unveiling of Utah’s largest ice sculpture, Electrifies, created by John Simpson. The sculpture will be figures of blocks with “Caine College of the Arts” etched in the middle. Electrifies will be illuminated following Raising Caine.
A halftime dance will be performed by CCA faculty, staff and students during the Utah State Men’s Basketball game that evening.
When asked for more details about the performance, Jessop said, “I am not going to tell you what the performance is going to entail. Let’s just say it will be a riot. This will be something you don’t want to miss because Big Blue is going to appear in a wonderful costume, and yes, I will be there.”
The gala Friday night will entail performances from members of the music theater, an exhibition from art and interior design, and will be honoring three outstanding seniors from each department.
A special tribute will also be given to Kathryn Caine Wanlass and Manon Caine Russell, the two daughters of Marie Eccles Caine.
“We have special portraits of the two sisters commissioned and they will be unveiled at the gala, Jessop said. “This will be the start of the Founders Hall for the Caine College of the Arts.”
The artist, Heidi Darley, also painted the portrait of Norma Eccles Jones that is on display in the Education Building.
“One of the purposes of this particular Arts Week is to honor the founders of the college, the Caine family,” Jessop said.
Dinner and a show will end the week with the revived performance of the Old Lyric Rapporteur’s Complete Works of Shakespeare. “It is a huge farce for three actors,” Jessop said. “The show will start at 2 in the Caine Lyric Theatre and then we will go to the Blue Bird Cafe and have dinner.” The dinner and performance combination will cost $20, or $15 for just the show.
“A lot of events are ongoing,” Jessop said, “such as the art exhibition, one-act plays, selling T-shirts at the Fine Arts Center, and the CCA Buskers performances.”
The Buskers, Jessop said, are Caine College of the Arts music students that will be performing with a variety of instruments in various buildings throughout campus.
Dewey said Arts Week gives the art students an opportunity to express their creative abilities in a variety of ways.
“This is an opportunity for us to create unique artistic experiences that might not fit into the regular annual programming,” Dewey said. “In the music department we are having a lot of fun, planning concerts that feature both students and faculty; concerts that include a great mix of styles and more comedic elements than normal.”
Caitlin Barney, a USU senior majoring in music therapy, said, “This dedicated week will give USU students a peek into the art scene on campus. Not only will it be fun, but it is very important to be educated about many other fields of study that are not your own. It makes up the well-rounded individuals we are training to become.”
Jessop said, “This is our first arts week marking our first year as a college. We wanted to build a tradition for the college and for the university.”
– kayla.barclay@usu.edu