UW News

January 26, 2012

Arts Roundup: Music, filmmaking, photography and ‘Hungry Planet opens at the Burke Museum

UW News

A farmers market in Zumbagua, Ecuador.

A farmers market in Zumbagua, Ecuador.Peter Menzel

There will be music, film, photography and food, glorious food featured in the arts the week of Jan. 30. The Burke Museum opens an exhibit on what the world eats, UWTV resumes its series on filmmaking, guitar students play, UW Tacoma has a new art class on glass — and a blogger explains the legalities of “Downton Abbey.”

This weeks Arts Roundup remembers it was Mark Twain who said, “To eat is human, to digest, divine.” And also kinda wonders: Are you going to finish that pasole?

“Hungry Planet: What the World Eats,” opening celebration, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Jan. 28: What we eat is essential to our connections to each other and the earth. The Burke Museum presents  Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, a traveling exhibit that provides a place to gather and discuss a feast of 21st century food issues, from sustainable farming to cultural survival. The exhibit introduces families from 10 countries around the world through photographs of family members at home, at the market, and surrounded by a weeks worth of groceries. Hungry Planet runs until June 10 and will begin with an opening celebration from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28.

The Burke also is offering a local perspective to Hungry Planet with a companion display,”Salish Bounty: Traditional Native American Foods of Puget Sound that focuses on the revival of traditional Native foods. There also will be a weekly event series throughout the run. Learn more at the Burke website.

“Backstory: The Filmmakers Vision” season two premiere 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28. Independent filmmakers can spend years taking their vision from their minds eye to the silver screen. Hear first-hand how a film project goes from script to screen as Andrew Tsao, UW associate professor of drama, interviews filmmakers about their craft. Then tune in for a screening of the entire film being discussed and a wrap-up that follows. “Backstory: The Filmmakers Vision” airs Saturdays at 9 p.m., only on UWTV.

“Organ and Dance,” 3 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 29. Students of Carole Terry will perform a concert exploring the relationships between dance and concert music in a program of organ music inspired by collaborations with the UW dance and film departments. The concert is in Kane Halls Walker-Ames Room. Program selections include works by Naji Hakim, Josef Rheinberger, J.S. Bach, Petr Eben, Dietrich Buxtehude, Ad Wammes and Stephen Paulus. Its part of the 20th anniversary Littlefield Organ Series. Tickets are $15, cash or check at the door. To learn more, call 206-685-8384 or visit the School of Music online.

Guitar Ensemble, Friday, Feb. 3: Students of Michael Partington will perform guitar works for solo, duo and group arrangements in a concert at 7:30 p.m. in Brechemin Auditorium. Tickets are $5, cash or check at the door. Call 206-685-8384 or visit online to learn more.

'Soldier: Mickelson-Length of Service Undisclosed,' 2005.

"Soldier: Mickelson-Length of Service Undisclosed," 2005.Suzanne Opton

Photographer Suzanne Opton speaks, 7 p.m., Feb. 3. Opton will discuss her series at the Henry Art Gallery, “Soldier” and “Many Wars,” at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, in the gallery auditorium. There will be an artists reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2. The exhibits will run through Feb. 11. In the two series, Opton photographs American soldiers close up, laying their heads before the camera, and American veterans who are draped. The subjects are all young, active-duty soldiers from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the photographs were presented as billboards in nine American cities from 2008 through 2010. Reviewing them for The New Yorker, photography critic Vince Aletti wrote: “The posture is vulnerable and startling intimate, as if these young men and women were facing someone in bed or on a stretcher … Opton catches soldiers both on guard and off, looking out and inward simultaneously, and we can only imagine what theyre thinking, what theyve done, and what they dread.”

Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville in the popular series 'Downton Abbey.'

Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville in the popular series "Downton Abbey."

“Downton Abbey” law explained: Anyone here a fan of  “Downton Abbey”? OK, it was a rhetorical question. Of course we are, and were glad to see Mister Bates back at Downton where he belongs. All this Downton talk is because of a Tweet from the UWs Gallagher Law Library the other day about a blog entry by Seattle attorney James Nagle, who explains the complicated legalities at work in the fictional series. Hes guest-writing on the entertaining blog Austenprose, edited by Laurel Ann Nattress of Snohomish, Wash. It might come in handy to consult before going to see the School of Dramas production of Austens “Emma,” Feb. 8 to 26 at the Jones Playhouse.

New class on glass: UW Tacoma and the Museum of Glass are partnering to pilot a new art class that will provide an introduction to studio glass-making methods within the context of glass as a visual art material. Students will have access to the exhibitions in the museum galleries and use of its state-of-the-art Hot Shop for their work.  The theme of this session is “objects of devotion,” inspired by the museums exhibit, “Beauty Beyond Nature: The Glass Art of Paul Stankard,” which will run through June 17. The course began with winter quarter, and plans for a spring quarter offering are alread
y under way.