The University of South Carolina Arts Institute
228 Sumwalt Building
1212 Greene St.
Columbia, SC 29208
803-777-5492
803-777-0342 fax artsinstitute@sc.edu
Arts Faculty News and Notes
Creative work by Carolina's arts faculty enriches, inspires, and entertains
the University community, the nation, and the world. Here we publish a
regularly-updated list of faculty news, achievements, and activities.
Check in often to see what your favorite Carolina artists are up to!
If you are a member of our arts faculty, or a professor in another department
who is involved in an arts-related project, we invite you to submit information
about your work to the web editor at haynswor@mailbox.sc.edu.
David Bajo's novel The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri was published in June by Viking and is currently being translated into ten languages. His summer appearances include the West Cork Literary Festival (Ireland) and the Squaw Valley Writers Conference (California).
Rebecca Schalk Nagel, professor in the School of Music, has released a new CD on the Centaur Records label. The CD titled "Synthetic Dances", features 20th century music for oboe and includes compositions by composers Hendrick Andriessen, Allan Blank, Libby Larsen, and John Valerio. Other performers on the recording include Marina Lomazov and Phillip Bush, piano, Peter Kolkay, bassoon, and Doug Graham, clarinet. More information can be found at http://www.centaurrecords.com/
Kwame Dawes, Louise Fry Scudder Professor of English, received an Honorable Mention in the 2008 Knight-Batten Awards for Innovative Journalism from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for “HOPE: Living and Loving with HIV.” Featuring Dawes’s poetry along with audio experts, video, music, and photographs from Jamaica that document the lives of those with HIV/AIDS in that country, the project was honored for its innovative layout and content integration. To learn more about the project, visit http://www.livehopelove.com. To learn more about the Knight-Batten awards, visit http://www.j-lab.org/batten.shtml.
Ben Greer’s, play Little Tin Gods made its debut at Longstreet Theatre this summer. Directed by Ann Dreher, the play tells the story of Lettie Howard, an ex-Broadway star who’s given a chance at a comeback—about which her Southern family is not at all thrilled. Little Tin Gods represents a new literary medium for Greer, who has previously published poetry, nonfiction, and several novels.
Elise Blackwell has recently given fiction readings at Johns Hopkins University, the Decatur Arts Festival, and the West Cork Literary Festival in Bantry, Ireland. In August she will be a featured author at The Gathering: A Literary Conference for Readers, Writers, and Thinkers." This year's Gathering will focus on the theme of food, considering creative ways of feeding Earth's peoples and regarding food as metaphor in literature and art.
