The Felt Art of Janice Arnold ’78 on Exhibit during Return to Evergreen

Posted on October 15, 2013 by R.J. Burt

Palace Yurt on display in the Evergreen Gallery, main floor, Library Building during Return to Evergreen.

Update: Tacoma News Tribune ran a nice story on Janice Arnold’s exhibit now showing in the Evergreen Gallery.

Return to Evergreen Highlight: By happy coincidence, the work of Janice Arnold ’78 will be on display this Saturday in The Evergreen Gallery, Library building, main floor. The exhibit, “Palace Yurt: Deconstructed,” continues through December 11, 2013.

The dreamily diaphanous installation has the twin effects of soothing the mind while igniting the imagination. It also offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of textile art – how such works come to be, from inspiration to raw materials, technical drawings and logistics, culminating in the final artistic manifestation. palace-yurt-deconstructed-postcard-image

Janice Arnold ’78 has pushed the artistic boundaries of handmade felt for more than 10 years. Her massive installation, “Palace Yurt,” a contemporary translation of traditional Mongolian structures, was the centerpiece of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s 2009 “Fashioning Felt” exhibition in New York.

Once you see this exhibit, you will want to hear from the artist herself. Happily, Janice will speak on campus Wednesday, November 20 at 11:30 as part of this year’s “Artist Lecture Series.” The Artist Lecture Series is free and open to the public.

The Academic Statement: Recommitting to an Essential Evergreen Experience

Posted on October 12, 2013 by R.J. Burt

Faculty member Rita Pougiales ’73 and first-year students during academic statement session, Orientation Week ’13. Photo: Shauna Bittle

Reflection upon one’s learning, as all Greeners know, is a hallmark of an Evergreen education. It will be even more valuable in the future.

As part of a multi-year review of teaching and learning at Evergreen, the commitment to self-evaluation has become more rigorous – and probably a lot more meaningful to students in the long run.

Read the full post in “Inside Evergreen,” the excellent blog from Evergreen Photo Services.

Heather Barry ’04 (MPA) Honored as Community Leader

Posted on October 11, 2013 by R.J. Burt

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Heather Barry ’04 (MPA) honored in Colorado. She is fourth from the left., (Photo: David Zalubowski, Special to The Denver Post)

Heather Barry ’04 (MPA) was honored as an outstanding community leader by the Colorado Black Women for Political Action. Here is an excerpt from the original article published in the Denver Post on October 17, 2013:

HEATHER BARRY, director of business affairs and external relations for Denver International Airport. The daughter-in-law of former Denver Bronco Odell Barry also serves as a commissioner with the Colorado Department of Transportation and held mayoral appointments in the administrations of Michael Hancock, Guillermo “Bill” Vidal and John Hickenlooper. A native of Washington state, Barry has a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in public administration/public policy from The Evergreen State College. Before moving to Denver and marrying attorney Damon Barry, she was employed by King County Metro Transit in Seattle, providing strategic planning on policy issues and implementing transit-oriented development in conjunction with local businesses, communities and regional transportation providers.

Congratulations to this outstanding Greener!

Dedication of the Costantino Recreation Center

Posted on October 10, 2013 by R.J. Burt

CRC Honoring former Vice President of Student Affairs Art Costantino for his years of service, Evergreen will dedicate the Recreation Center (CRC) as the Costantino Recreation Center. The ceremony falls on Return to Evergreen Saturday – October 19 – between the two Annual Alumni Basketball Games. The women’s game leads off at 1:30 pm to approximately 3:30 pm. The men start immediately after the dedication and should wrap up around 5:30 pm in time to catch the live music and Greener Beer Garden that cap off the day. All activities in the CRC on October 19 are free and open to the public.

Evergreen’s climbing wall.

Art was an avid supporter of the Recreation and Athletics Program at Evergreen. Under his leadership, intercollegiate basketball came to Evergreen, opening up a new college pathway for student athletes seeking a strong liberal arts education.

The swimming pool is a central part of Evergreen’s fitness and wellness program.

The CRC is home to an astounding array of activities from ballet to martial arts. Academic programs are frequent users of the several dance studios. There are racquetball / handball courts, a wide array of cardiovascular fitness machines and a large, well- equipped weight room.

Student Watch: Troy Mead ’15 Chemist-Cartoonist

Posted on October 8, 2013 by R.J. Burt

Living the Liberal Arts: Troy Mead ’15, CPJ Comics Editor, Scientist, Performance Artist, Future Zookeeper or Biologist, or ….

Troy Mead is an alumnus of the first graduating class of the Health and Science High School, a magnet school in Beaverton, Oregon. Where does he think he’s headed? Somewhere in art or science; Troy doesn’t seem concerned, nor should he be. With his talents, interests, early accomplishments and energy, Troy is likely to achieve whatever his Evergreen Mind aspires to.

realcat Troy was comics editor for the Cooper Point Journal (CPJ) last year. Among his many published works is a riff on “Schrodinger’s Cat,” a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics that states a physical system such as an electron – or a cat – exists partly in all its particular theoretically possible states simultaneously until it is observed, at which time it exists only in the state corresponding to the exact instant of observation. Don’t see the humor? Look what Troy does with the concept.

Troy says he’s always drawn comics,
just as he has always been devoted to academic disciplines surrounding zoology, biological research or conservation work, the fields to which he aspires. His first published comic Troy describes as “horrible but incredibly clever.” – irreverently playing with William Blake’s “The Lamb.” The biggest challenge for Troy is creating humor that appeals to the non-scientific mind. Finding himself creatively frustrated at 3 am, unable to come up with joke ideas that are not abstrusely science based, Troy says he either processes his creativity through a computer word generator or bounces ideas around with a “web buddy.” Other sources of inspiration? At the moment, the cartoonist Randall Monroe, author of “XKCD” is his muse.

We’ll keep in touch with Troy and share more creations from his Evergreen mind.

Evergreen’s 2013-14 Artist Lecture Series Kicks off

Posted on October 5, 2013 by R.J. Burt

David Brody’s “Road Paint Room #1”

The Art Lecture Series takes place in Lecture Hall 1 at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, on 4-5 Wednesdays per quarter, from 11:30-1:00 pm. Free to the public, Evergreen’s visual arts programs offer an opportunity to hear local, national and international interdisciplinary artists, writers and art workers speak about their work. For more information, contact Faculty Member Shaw Osha.

Kicking off this term’s Artist Lecture Series is David Brody who speaks Wednesday, October 9.

David Brody was born in New York City, did undergraduate work at Columbia University and Bennington College, and received an MFA in painting from Yale University (1983). In addition to solo exhibitions at Gallery NAGA in Boston, Esther Claypool Gallery in Seattle, Gescheidle in Chicago, and Galeria Gilde in Portugal his work has been featured in over seventy group shows including ones at the Chicago Center for the Print; the Center on Contemporary Art (COCA) and the Frye Art Museum in Seattle; The Museum of Fine Arts at the University of Florida, Tallahassee; and at The Painting Center, Alternative Museum, and Bridgewater Gallery in New York City. His work has also been shown at the Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporàneo (ARCO Art Fair) in Madrid, the RipArte Art Fair in Rome, the Trevi Flash Art Museum, in Trevi, Italy, the FAC Art Fair in Lisbon and at Art Chicago in the US. He is represented in Seattle by Prographica, Fine Works on Paper. Continue reading →

Agriculture’s Youth Movement Standing Strong on The Soul Brothers Farm

Posted on October 4, 2013 by R.J. Burt

Current Evergreen students Alex Mutter-Rottmayer and Ross Finn (left and right, respectively) and Austin Carrier ’12 (center) on their Olympia farm. Photo by Tony Overman, Tacoma News Tribune Staff Photographer.

Meet the face of farming today. No, not Archer Daniels Midland. The other face: sustainable, local, organic and young.

Austin Carrier ’12 studied architecture at Evergreen. His partners, Evergreen students Ross Finn and Alex Mutter-Rottmayer are studying evolutionary biology and chemistry, respectively. Together, they are The Soul Brothers and they run a farm.

Carrier handles land management and buildings. Finn’s biology & behavior education gives him dominion over the animals. Mutter-Rottmayer puts his chemistry studies to work detecting and solving soil problems. Natives of Tennessee, none of the Soul Brothers have farming experience. They have built the farm with the help of happy accidents, serendipity, and You Tube (short course on how to butcher animals). Read the full article in the Tacoma News Tribune.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/09/18/2791005/the-accidental-agrarians.html#storylink=cpy

Morgan Chambers ’08, Olympia’s Newest Entrepreneur

Posted on October 3, 2013 by R.J. Burt

Morgan Chambers’ new thrift shop in downtown Olympia

Let’s see, where to go for first-generation transformers? Ebay? Seattle? San Francisco? How about downtown Olympia? Morgan Chambers ’08 and his partner Nick Poulakidas have opened a new thrift shop, Capitol Eclectic Merchants, that is sure to attract lots of Evergreen students and anyone with a sense of whimsy and adventure. Hot tip: Issues of Mad Magazine are only $2.00 and, in the “priceless” category,” a Star Wars Monopoly game with pewter game pieces. Read the full story in The Olympian.

It’s Almost Time to Return to Evergreen

Posted on September 30, 2013 by R.J. Burt

It will be an amazing day. Take a look at all the workshops, tours, seminars, and evening entertainment. It will be the best $25 you’ve spent in a long time ($15 for students). Come one, come all.

A Poetic Look at the Online Catalogue

Posted on September 29, 2013 by R.J. Burt

Andrew Reece, Evergreen Faculty Member, Author of The Online Catalogue

Editor’s Note: This poem was read by faculty member and academic dean Andrew Reece at the 2013 President’s Brunch, one of the events kicking off the academic year. It is composed from questions lifted directly from program descriptions. Hope it brings back happy memories.

2013-14 Undergraduate Index A-Z at Evergreen, or: The Online Catalogue, by Andrew Reece, Member of the Faculty

Yes or no?
Is a good life one full of pleasure and devoid of suffering?
A moral life? A long and healthy life?
Is there such a thing as a Caribbean culture,
or are identities complex amalgams
that defy easy categorizations
such as Caribbean,
Dominican American,
creole Martinican,
Afro-Cuban,
East-Indian Trinidadian?
Would you like
to really understand
“buzz terms”
the media uses
such as sustainability,
green materials,
climate change,
the water crisis,
the energy debate,
genetic engineering,
DNA fingerprinting and cloning?
Must quotidian always be associated with humdrum?
China: A Success Story?

What?
What kind of knowledge do we encounter
in fiction and poetry? What
are the psychological mechanisms involved
in the larger action of the human imagination,
urging us to explore new avenues, to see
what others have not seen, to create what
no one has yet created? What do you know
when you know a language?
Sustainability – what does it mean?
What can the study of play teach us
about the nature of power? What
are the limitations on the use of culture
when one has limited political
and economic self-determination?
Who’s Got What? What’s
been handed to you, and
what will you hand on?

Where?
Where did that Walmart come from?

How?
How does a group of indigenous people
from different countries create an activity
to reclaim ancient knowledge? How does imagination
respond to the emotional self, the physiology
of the body, and the psychology of the mind? How
does one’s understanding
of the physical environment shape
ways of writing and understanding the world?
How can we develop and nurture
the “civic intelligence” that will help ensure our actions
produce the best outcomes? How
can music and dance be used to transform lives?

Why?
Why do humans keep pets and
at the same time raise animals for food?
Why is it that humans can handle ambiguity,
but computers have such a difficult time?

The Evergreen Mind

The official alumni blog of The Evergreen State College

Author Archives: R.J. Burt