Category: Art

Welcome to the 2017-18 Rozsa Arts Season!

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Immerse yourself in the arts at Michigan Tech
Season Tickets on Sale August 1
Single Tickets on Sale September 1

What happens when you combine Chinese martial arts, dance and acrobats in “China Gold,” a dark and physical interpretation by PUSH Physical Theatre of the gothic tale “Dracula,” world-class modern dance “Ailey II,” and an award winning all-new play from LA Theatre Works about the last 24 hours of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, “The Mountaintop”? You get the Rozsa Visual and Performing Arts 2017/18 Season!

Welcome to the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, the home of Visual and Performing Arts at Michigan Tech. The Rozsa Visual and Performing Arts 2017/18 Season is nearly here. Season Ticket Packages go on sale August 1, with the best discounts available on all the season has to offer!

Season tickets are available for a limited time only, so find out more today!

There are five Season Ticket Package options this year, offering savings of 20% – 40% off single ticket prices: A Full Season Ticket Package, a pass to all the arts at Michigan Tech! Enjoy the biggest discount available off the single ticket price on all Rozsa and VPA events. The popular “Pick 6” Season Ticket Package has returned, and is an even better value this year. New this year, we have both “Pick 3” option for people who want to get their discount now and pick their shows later, and have brought back the very popular new “Family Pack” option that will help you bring the whole family to a big show at an affordable price. We hope there is a package that works for you! Thank you to all of our long-time Season Ticket holders, we’re holding your seats.  For new Season Ticket buyers, welcome, we look forward to seeing you this season.

Not interested in a Season Ticket Package? Single ticket sales begin September 1, 2017. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Michigan Tech Ticketing Services at the Central Ticket Office (SDC), at 906-487-2073, or visit our new webste mtu.edu/rozsa.

See the exciting variety of events produced and presented by the Rozsa Center and Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Gordillo Presents Exhibit “Prohibido Orinar Aqui” in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

Lisa Gordillo, Assistant Professor, Visual and Performing Arts, presents a new collection of sculpture and installation at the Centro Cultural Efrain Recinos in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, July 15-Aug. 1. The exhibit, titled “Prohibido Orinar Aqui,” was developed from Gordillo’s spring exhibit, “ChickenBus,” in the Rozsa Gallery. The works of art in the exhibit are inspired by US-Guatemalan relations.

Gordillo is also sculptor-in-residence at Tierra Adentro, the International Poetry Festival of Aguacatan, Guatemala. This year’s festival is dedicated to immigrants and displaced people. Gordillo will create an art installation, titled “Caminante” (Someone Walking) along the Aguacatan river and a migrating book as part of the festival.

Antigua - Guatemala - January 24, 2013: Traditional Guatemalan local "Chicken Bus" station in Antigua, Guatemala. It is located behind the busy street market in Antigua.
Antigua – Guatemala – January 24, 2013: Traditional Guatemalan local “Chicken Bus” station in Antigua, Guatemala. It is located behind the busy street market in Antigua.

Rozsa’s Jennings Earns National Honor

Mary bw 6.1Jennings Earns National Honor for Strengthening the Rozsa Center’s Community Ties

Mary Jennings, Director of Programming and Development at Michigan Tech’s Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, has earned a place among 25 national arts professionals chosen to participate in the third cohort of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) Leadership Fellows Program.

This program invites arts professionals who show outstanding commitment to building collaborative processes in the performing arts to participate in a 20-month intensive Arts Leadership mentoring and training program. “The Leadership Fellows Program examines core questions around content and scope of leadership development for the performing arts field. It highlights, supports and helps participants understand and define the many reaches of leadership and its capabilities through peer-to-peer mentoring and creating a community of support,” says Mario Garcia Durham, president and CEO of APAP. In addition to a curriculum-based, five-day intensive at the University of Southern California (USC), the program focuses on the opportunity for participants to learn from and mentor each other over the course of the 20-month arc through annual gatherings at the APAP|NYC conference in New York City and continuous engagement in an online resource and discussion platform.

According to Jennings,

“To be a accepted into their national Leadership Fellows Program is a great honor and privilege. The Rozsa Center has long been an APAP member, and former Rozsa Directors have regularly attended their annual conference to find exceptional touring artists to bring to the Keweenaw as part of the Rozsa Presenting Series. The relationships and opportunities cultivated through our involvement with APAP have been invaluable to the efforts of the Rozsa Center to bring enriching, entertaining, and elite level performances to our Upper Peninsula audiences.”

This honor is no surprise to those working with Jennings at the Rozsa Center. While serving as interim Rozsa Director in 2014, then named Director of Programming and Development in 2015, Jennings created more than a dozen successful collaborative engagement activities. From backstage tours and master classes with local dance schools and the Russian National Ballet, to coordinating a Q&A for local media, Michigan Tech communications students and professionals with a senior editor of The Atlantic, to interactive displays in the Rozsa Lobby involving copper country youth robotics teams and Mind Trekkers during the Cirque Mechanics show in the finale of the 2017 Presenting Series season, she has invited many organizations and individuals to find common ground, across diverse fields, to make arts more integral to our community.

APAP Leadership Fellows Program

Building upon the program’s inaugural launch in 2015, the APAP Leadership Fellows Program’s goal is to expand the knowledge and proficiency among professionals in the performing arts field. Kenneth Foster, director of USC’s Arts Leadership Program, and Scott Stoner, APAP’s vice president of programs and resources, are co-directors of the Leadership Fellows Program. A core group of industry professionals will also lead the cohort and guide them through the program including: Dan Froot, producer/performance artist; Stephanie McKee, executive artistic director for Junebug Productions Inc.; Andre Perry, executive director of the Englert Theatre; Beatrice Thomas, multidisciplinary artist, artist coach and consultant; Cathy Zimmerman, creative consultant.

Cohort III (June 2017-January 2019)

  • Linsey Bostwick, senior producer, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi – New York, NY
  • Andre Bouchard, principal, Walrus Arts Management and Consulting, LLC – Vancouver, WA
  • Ben Cohen, senior agent, Cadenza Artists, Los Angeles, CA
  • Brett Elliott, executive director, Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center – Old Saybrook, CT
  • Liza Green, associate director, NC State LIVE – Raleigh, NC
  • Leslie Hanlon, director of fundraising and marketing, Fine Arts Series at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University – St. Joseph, MN
  • Mary Jennings, director of programming and development, Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts – Houghton, MI
  • Chanon Judson, associate artistic director and BOLD coordinator, Urban Bush Women Inc. – Brooklyn, NY
  • Joshua Kane, artist and founder, Wild Baboo Productions LLC – New York, NY
  • Leah Keith, manager of artists and attractions and booking agent, Opus 3 Artists – New York, NY
  • Damia Khanboubi, program associate, Junebug Productions – New Orleans, LA
  • Michael Liu, director of Chinese Community Initiatives, Flushing Town Hall – Flushing, NY
  • Sam Livingston, director, Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall – New York, NY
  • Miro Magloire, artistic and executive director, New Chamber Ballet – New York, NY
  • Stephen Manuszak, program director for international initiatives, Arts Midwest – Minneapolis, MN
  • Emily Marks, founder and director, Lionheart Youth Theatre – Austin, TX
  • Jack McLarnan, manager of Fine Arts Programs, Seattle Theatre Group – Seattle, WA
  • Heena Patel, founder and CEO, MELA Arts Connect – Edison, NJ
  • Ronee Penoi, associate producer, Octopus Theatricals – Princeton, NJ
  • Theresa Remick, managing director, Performance Center at Saint Mary’s University – Winona, MN
  • Sarah Rodriguez, associate director of Institutional Giving, Apollo Theater – Harlem, NY
  • Bonnie Schock, executive director, Sheldon Theatre – Red Wing, MN
  • Alexandra Rachelle Siclait, professional development program manager, Creative Capital – New York, NY
  • Daniel Singh, executive artistic director, Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company – Washington, DC
  • Dexter Story, artist in residence/production consultant, Community Coalition – Los Angeles, CA

The APAP Leadership Fellows Program is partly funded by the American Express Foundation, The Wallace Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information about the program please visit www.apap365.org.

About APAP, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals

APAP, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, based in Washington, D.C., is the national service, advocacy and membership organization dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it. Our 1,600 national and international members represent leading performing arts centers, municipal and university performance facilities, nonprofit performing arts centers, culturally specific organizations, foreign governments, as well as artist agencies, managers, touring companies, and national consulting practices that serve the field, and a growing roster of self-presenting artists.

As a leader in the field, APAP works to effect change through advocacy, professional development, resource sharing and civic engagement. APAP is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization governed by a volunteer board of directors and led by President & CEO Mario Garcia Durham. In addition to presenting the annual APAP|NYC conference – the world’s leading forum and marketplace for the performing arts (Jan. 12-16, 2018) – APAP continues to be the industry’s leading resource, knowledge and networking destination for the advancement of performing arts presenting.

Guatemalan Kite Making

Colorful handmade kites for sale on the street. Locals display huge circular kites called barriletes & fly smaller ones each year in the cemetery on All Saints' Day to honor spirits of the dead.“Barriletes: Guatemalan Kite Making” will be held from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, June 3 and from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, June 4 at the Copper Country Community Arts Center, in Hancock.

Join Lisa Gordillo and Hugo Gordillo for an introduction into Guatemalan culture and the art of Guatemalan kite making.

Day 1: The class will learn about the cultural traditions of the barrilete, or Guatemalan kite. Each student will build his or her own barrilete in class.

Day 2: The group will meet outside (location TBD) for a picnic and will fly their new kites.

This class will be taught in both English and Spanish. (No knowledge of either language is necessary to participate!). The fee is $60 and there is a materials fee of $25 due to the instructors on the first day of class for kite supplies.

The deadline to register is tomorrow, May 27. Call the Arts Center at 482-2333 for more information or to register.

Student Art Exhibit Opens

Rozsa GalleryThe Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts and the Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA)  announce their semi-annual student showcase, “Measure“.

The exhibit features works of art created by Michigan Tech students who are participating in Project Learning Lab, an innovative arts classroom based inside of Rozsa gallery b. Pieces on display were created by students in Lisa Gordillo’s traditional sculpture, advanced sculpture and advanced drawing classes. Students from many campus disciplines are represented, including forestry, materials science and theatre arts.

The exhibition opens Monday and runs  through April 22.  A reception will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday (April 20). The reception is free and all are welcome. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday – Friday and 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Students in Traditional Sculpture study traditional ways of making art around the globe, including Guatemalan kites, Shona carving and Italian clay work. Students in Advanced Sculpture are encouraged to work with the gallery’s architecture and to create large-scale installations in the gallery. Students have been inspired by artists such as Alberto Giocometti, Tara Donovan, Do Ho Suh, Ai Wei Wei and Maurizio Cattelan. Also on display, in the Rozsa Gallery’s adjoining A-Space, is the ongoing exhibition Amusement Park Avenue: Works by VPA faculty and staff.

Student artists represented:

  • Kassie Baril
  • Luke Dixon
  • Hannah Fisher
  • Charles Heckel
  • Wyatt Hurst
  • Alyssa Leach
  • Anastasia Rogers
  • Olivia Smith
  • Cambry Totten-Wade
  • Tiffani Whipple

For more information Lisa Gordillo at 7-3096 or by email lijohnso@mtu.edu.

Michigan Tech Faculty Member Art Exhibit in Hancock Art Center

tom-co-sculpture_1The Copper Country Community Arts Center presents “Gestures and Facture,” recent work by Hancock artist and Michigan Tech faculty member Tomas Co in the Kerredge Gallery April 6-29.

A gallery talk is scheduled for 6:20 p.m. Thursday, April 13. Co’s recent work includes sculpture in stone and bronze as well as sumi-e (black ink) paintings.

This exhibition is supported in part by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The public is invited to a reception and gallery talk on from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 13. Refreshments will be provided.

The Copper Country Community Arts Center is located at 126 Quincy Street in Hancock. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. For more information call 482-2333 or visit the website.

“I found that gestures in the sculptures and gestural strokes in paintings provide an interesting, raw, tension between the hidden and the exposed, both within the subject and within the artist. Moreover, based on the facture (or manufacture) of the pieces, all the ingredients: the materials, texture, weight and time allow different approaches for the artist to communicate and negotiate with the physical world in the attempt to extract the invisible. My personal struggle is to find a place in which the banal, pretentious and clich’d constructs in my works (and there are plenty) are balanced with enough honesty, raw (even primal) aesthetics and personal attachments to make the art still worthwhile to make.”

Rozsa Gallery A-Space Presents “Amusement Park Avenue”

ferris wheel blurred motion colouredWhy do we love amusement parks? From side-shows to ferris wheels, we’re drawn to the excitement of the buzz, the sounds, the bright colors, the sensory extravaganza.

The Department of Visual and Performing Arts and the Rozsa Center announce “Amusement Park Avenue: The 2017 VPA Faculty & Staff Exhibit. Faculty and staff of VPA will exhibit a variety of works of many different media and concepts, touching upon all five senses and inspiring curiosity, as if walking through an amusement park avenue.

Fifteen artists will be represented: Jared Anderson, Anne Beffel, Mary Cyr, Kent Cyr, M.C. Friedrich, Terri Frew, Lisa Gordillo, Roger Held, Bethany Jones, Susie Kilpela, Jeremy Littlefield, Josh Loar, Elizabeth Meyer, Christopher Plummer, and Jess Portfleet.

The opening reception is at 4 p.m. Friday, March 31 in the Rozsa Gallery A-Space. The exhibit will run until April 28 and is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Volunteers Wanted for Every Color of Eyes Art Project

Macro shots of human eyes. Shallow DOF. Developed from RAW; retouched with special care and attention; Small amount of grain added for best final impression. 16 bit Adobe RGB color profile.Anne Beffel is asking for volunteer participants in her “Every Color of Eyes” art project. This project makes visible our differences and our common humanity through the metaphor of eye color. Beffel, along with assistants Rebekka Guyon, Alex Pohl, J.P. Rewer and Phillip Wildner, are gathering eye color samples as the basis of a long scroll painting of color-filled circles.

Beffel is asking those who want to help to either email pictures of their eyes to info@EveryColorOfEyes.org or submit them here. Volunteers can also stop by the Studio for Here and Now, located in Wadsworth Hall G04W, from 3 to 5 p.m. today (March 22) or Wednesday, March 29

Beffel’s “Every Color of Eyes” will become part of the faculty and staff gallery exhibition, “Amusement Park Avenue,” from March 31 to April 31 in the Rozsa Gallery A-Space. An opening reception will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, March 31. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, contact Beffel at 7-1732.

Rozsa Gallery B Presents “Come In We’re Open”

e8ac25bbdd992e4868e3a2f42968943769650d53The Rozsa Center and Department of Visual and Performing Arts presents the Rozsa gallery b show “Come In We’re Open,” an open house exhibition of student sculptors’ works in progress, as a part of the “Project Learning Lab” alternative classroom project. “Project Learning Lab,” a cutting-edge Visual Arts experiment that takes place within the Rozsa gallery. Students in 3D Design and Sculpture will use the Rozsa Gallery as an active and alternative classroom, transforming the space into a real-time work of art during the semester. Student work will be shown twice each semester. A mid-semester showcase will open the gallery for our community to see work in-progress; the end of semester exhibition will welcome community into a fully transformed space.  As part of Project Learning Lab, our Visual Arts Faculty are working alongside our students as Resident Art Fellows.

Come In We’re Open” will run from Monday (Feb. 27) to Saturday, March 4. The gallery will host a public reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 2. The reception is free and open to the public.

Rozsa gallery b is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. Visitors may walk through at any time.