Visual and Performing Arts News

Author: Heather Powers

Heather Powers is a Associate Director of Digital Content in University Marketing and Communications (UMC) at Michigan Technological University. Powers is responsible for all content aspects of UMC's recruitment and reputation web properties and proactively improves and maintains quality, benchmarks, and tests to innovate key sites and pages to meet integrated marketing, brand awareness and reputation, and recruitment goals.

WW1CC Art & Warfare will run again next week

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WW1CC logo with Quincy MineDue to popular demand, the “World War I & the Copper Country” exhibit, “Art & Warfare,” will run for four days next week in the Immersive Visualization Studio, EERC 510. There will be special hours:

  • 5-6 p.m. Monday (10/29)
  • 3:30-5 p.m. Tuesday (10/30), Thursday and Friday (NOV. 1-2)

This exhibit features the sketches and paintings of the Official Artists of the American Expeditionary Forces, a group of eight accomplished artists sent to France to visually depict the war.

Their work is dramatically displayed on the Immersive Visualization Studio’s screen wall—twenty-four 48” screens supported by eight computers—and accompanied by jazz renditions of contemporary wartime popular songs arranged and performed by Bill Carrothers from his collection, “Armistice 1918.”

“Art & Warfare” realizes the integration of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) by facilitating multisensory reflections on aesthetics, technology and warfare.

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Welby Altidor, of Cirque du Soleil, Presents “Creative Courage” Lecture

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Welby AltidorWhat does it take to spark innovation in life, art, business, engineering and technology? According to Welby Altidor, former executive creative director of Cirque du Soleil, it takes courage. But not just any courage—it takes creative courage.

Join Michigan Tech Career Services and the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, to hear Altidor speak.

Altidor spent more than 20 years at the cutting edge of theatre, storytelling, human performance engineering and technology. In his book “Creative Courage: Leveraging Imagination, Collaboration, and Innovation to Create Success Beyond Your Wildest Dreams,” Altidor explains why fear and the status quo are the enemy of innovation.

During his presentation, he will address ways to unleash creative genius by practicing collaboration and controlled failure. Altidor believes that each of us possess creative genius, but it must be cultivated and developed through practice. Creative courage is more than practical tools and strategy, it’s a way life for Altidor and those who dare to embrace it.

On Wednesday, Nov. 7, Altidor will meet with a small group of Michigan Tech faculty at 8 a.m. and with a select group of students at 9 a.m. for an interactive discussion and Q&A session. Advanced registration is required to attend.

As a sought-after creative leader, Altidor continues to serve as a consultant for creative firms around the world and has been an invited guest speaker for Fortune 100 companies like Nike, Sephora and SAP.

He is currently the group chief officer for Cityneon, where he oversees international projects that include partnerships with Marvel (Disney) and Jurassic Park at Universal Studios.

Tickets are free and available now by phone, 7-2073, online, in person at the Central Ticketing Office in the Student Development Complex or at the Rozsa Box office the night of the show. Note the Rozsa Box Office is only open two hours before performances.

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Free Film Screening with Pianist Clay Hilman

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WW1CC logo with Quincy Mine“World War I and the Copper Country” presents “The Big Parade” (1925) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 25) at the Carnegie Museum of the Keweenaw. Musician and KC Bonkers co-owner Clay Hilman will accompany the silent film on piano. Admission is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Metro-Golden-Mayer’s “The Big Parade” was directed by King Vidor and based on the autobiographical novel “Plumes,” written by war veteran Laurence Stallings. “The Big Parade” enjoyed huge box-office success as the highest-grossing silent film at the time. The film held exceptionally long bookings at picture palaces with full musical orchestration such as the spectacular Grauman’s Egyptian theater in Hollywood and New York’s Astor on Broadway, where it took in $1.5 million alone during a ninety-six-week run. Reviews praised “The Big Parade” as the greatest of war dramas, and Vidor became known as one of Hollywood’s best directors.

Film synopsis:
James Apperson (John Gilbert), the idle son of a rich businessman, reluctantly joins the army when the U.S. enters World War I. He is sent to France, where he becomes friends with two working-class soldiers. While awaiting their orders to the front, James meets a young Frenchwoman, Melisande (Renée Adorée) and falls in love. Life is good for all of them until the soldiers move to the front where they experience the horrors of war, and James is forever a changed man.

Clay Hilman is a local pianist known for his improvisational style. He has played for 35 years, and started performing regularly for public engagements at the age of 12. His accompaniment will mimic the improvisational nature of live musical accompaniment in small picture houses in the 1910s.

This screening is part of “World War I in the Copper Country,” an extensive program of events and exhibits commemorating the centennial of the WWI Armistice, and is sponsored in part by the Michigan Humanities Council.

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STEM Stories at the 41 North Film Festival

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41 Film Festival logoThis year, the 41 North Film Festival will screen five films about history, issues and accomplishments related to STEM innovation in its lineup of more than 20 films.

Films include stories about:

The festival runs Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 1-4 at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. Times and information for specific films and events can be found online. The festival is free and open to the public.

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Rocky Horror Picture Show Party and Movie at Rozsa

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Lips lickingJust in time for Halloween, the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts presents a late-night showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” at 11 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 27). Audience participation and costumed debauchery are highly encouraged.

Perhaps the oddest, most off-the-wall cult film ever made, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” is a kinky, rock and roll, science fiction, horror musical, and is everybody’s favorite late-night show. Survival kits will be provided (no hot dogs please). Come early for a pre-show party at 9 p.m. with MC Joey Black, co-hosted by the Keweenaw Young Professionals.

It’s astounding; Time is Fleeting; Madness takes its toll.

The story centers on a young, engaged couple whose car breaks down in the rain near a castle where they look to call for help. The castle is occupied by strangers in elaborate costumes celebrating an annual convention. They discover the head of the house is Dr. Frank N. Furter, an apparent mad scientist who actually is an alien transvestite who creates a living muscle man in his laboratory. The couple is seduced separately by the mad scientist and eventually released by the servants who take control.

Initially a critical and financial failure, the film soon became a favorite “midnight movie,” with audience members dressing as their favorite characters and often performing scenes live as they appeared on the screen. In many respects, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” launched the careers of Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick and Academy Award-winner Susan Sarandon.

Tickets are on sale now at $10 each, with Michigan Tech Students admitted free with the Experience Tech Fee. Tickets are available by phone at 7-2073, online, in person at the Central Ticketing Office in the Student Development Complex or at the Rozsa Box office the night of the show.

Please note the Rozsa Box Office is only open two hours before performances.

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Club Rozsa Presents a Jazz Buffet

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Student playing a saxThis weekend, you’re invited to Backstage Jazz or “Club Rozsa” featuring the Jazz Lab Band and the Research and Development (R&D) Big Band. The stage of the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts will be transformed into a historic jazz club with a vintage atmosphere, complete with café tables and a cash bar. The concerts are a jazz buffet with something for everyone—swing, funk, blues, Latin, fusion and originals.

The pop-up jazz club on the Rozsa stage with an intimate atmosphere is the perfect setting for the R&D Big Band and the Jazz Lab Band. Under the baton of Tech’s Director of Bands Mike Christianson, they will loosen the reins on creativity and capture the flow of jazz.

Tickets for Backstage Jazz at the Rozsa are on sale now, $15 for adults, $5 for youth and no charge for Michigan Tech students with the Experience Tech fee. Tickets are available by phone at 7-2073, online, in person at the Central Ticketing Office in the Student Development Complex or at the Rozsa Box Office the evening of the performance.

Note the Rozsa Box Office only opens two hours prior to performances.

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Rozsa Concourse Gallery 2018-2019 Artists

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The Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts Concourse Gallery is featuring two artists this year: jd slack and Michael Letts.

jd slack: what makes a wall

Small red house on a cliff
Field with a slat wall
Rocky landscape

jd slack is a pastel artist and professor of communication and cultural studies. Her paintings integrate brilliant color, provocative imagery, and thoughtful engagement with physical and imaginative worlds. She lives and works in the Traprock Valley on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, but travels the world to gather images and inspiration.

The obvious wall, the build-a-wall-and-make-Mexico-pay-for-it wall, makes an appearance here, as it must. But that wall, like all walls, makes its appearance where there were once no walls. Real people build walls: With our imaginations: with hate, fear, and the very belief in separateness. With what we do or don’t do … with teaching what to value or not. With real stuff: wires, rocks, pebbles, metal, and earth.— JD Slack

Michael Letts: Ancient Coast Series

Rocky landscape
Ancient Coast #4

Michael Letts lives and works in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as a practicing artist and Professor of Art Education at Northern Michigan University. He holds an MFA in Painting from The Ohio State University. His paintings have been shown in numerous regional, national, and international exhibitions.

This series depicts spaces, and contemplates the energy that is trapped in the boundaries of physicality … Rocks hold ancient strength … water too is a force, and a source, it separates, dissolves, erodes, and unites at the same time. It contemplates the eternal and ephemeral …  solid and spirit, all together, in the world, existing as a whole. — Michael Letts

For more information on all our gallery events, visit our events calendar.

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Call For Vendors: Home for the Holidays Gift Mart

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Lobby of the Rozsa during Home for the Holidays.Vendor booth applications are now being accepted for the 21st Annual Home for the Holidays Gift Mart. This festive event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24 in the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts.

The Home for the Holidays Gift Mart is a juried show, guaranteeing patrons an excellent and varied assortment of quality hand-crafted items. A total of 50 vendors will be accepted this year and local crafters and artists are encouraged to apply.

Those interested are asked to contact the Rozsa Center for a booth application via email or by calling 7-2858. Early applications will be reviewed Friday (Oct. 19), and vendors will be notified of their acceptance next week. Applications received after this Friday will be reviewed upon receipt, with the application deadline Nov. 16.

For complete vendor details, contact Mary Ann Struthers, 7-2858.

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41 North Film Festival Program Now Online

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41 Film Festival logoThis year’s 41 North Film Festival will be held November 1-4 in the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. The complete program is now online. The festival will feature events with several filmmakers, including Houghton native Heather Courtney (Where Soldiers Come From) who will be here with her new film, “The Unafraid”.

There will be panels on rural healthcare, STEM education, mining history, and a special work-in-progress screening of “Copperdog” (working title) about women mushers in our own Copperdog 150. The festival is free and open to the public. If you are not a student, please reserve a ticket. Only one ticket needed for the entire event. Students should bring their Michigan Tech ID.

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