1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Transylvania to scare up biggest-ever PumpkinMania on Oct. 24

 LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s PumpkinMania will be re-“vamped” this year because of the event’s increasing popularity. This Lexington Halloween tradition will continue on Tuesday, Oct. 24, when the university lights hundreds of jack-o’-lanterns on the steps of historic Old Morrison off West Third Street. The community is invited to attend this event, which will feature: •6-7 p.m. trick-or-treating, music, food trucks•7 p.m. jack-o’-lantern lighting Free, nearby parking will be available for the event. “We’re really excited about the changes we are making for this year,” said Michele Gaither Sparks, vice president for marketing and communications. “This will be our biggest PumpkinMania ever. We are closing off Third Street in front of the university, creating a larger trick-or-treat area, and bringing in food vendors and live music. Much of this year’s expansion is made possible by community partners such as our lead inaugural sponsor, White, Greer & Maggard Orthodontics.” Transylvania also will host a public pumpkin carving all day Sunday, Oct. 22, in Back Circle off Fourth Street. The Lexington community can still enjoy PumpkinMania after Tuesday’s lighting. The jack-o’-lanterns will be glowing each night through Halloween. “What better place to celebrate Halloween than Transylvania University?” Sparks said.  

Studio 300 Digital Art and Music Festival

Composers, performers, artists and technologists from around the country will visit Lexington on Thursday, Oct. 5, and Friday, Oct. 6, for Transylvania’s Studio 300 Digital Art and Music Festival. Hosted by the university every other year, Studio 300 offers an exclusive front row seat at the leading edge of the international digital art and music scenes. Participants will present their work and interact with the public as well as Transylvania students, faculty and staff. This year’s event will double the number of artist talks and demonstrations. Read more.

Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery to present works by renowned Southern painter

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University will present Stories to Tell: The Work of Winfred Rembert from Sept. 8 through Oct. 13 in Morlan Gallery. Rembert is known for colorful paintings on leather sheets that depict life in the rural, pre-Civil Rights South. He will visit the gallery on Sept. 8 for an opening reception along with Vivian Ducat, who directed an award-winning documentary about him. “Rembert paints stories that look back to his youth in the days of segregation,” according to Adelson Galleries, which loaned the artworks to Morlan Gallery. “Despite the often grim working conditions he encountered (not to mention a near-lynching and years spent on a prison chain gang), Rembert’s works focus on the joyous aspects of black life in the 1950s South—the strong family and community bonds, the cultural vibrancy and the many colorful characters that lifted the spirits of those who had little choice but to labor in the region’s cotton and peanut fields.” The Adelson Gallery describes the Cuthbert, Ga., painter’s works as “marked by tactile surfaces, saturated colors, and lively, rhythmic patterning.” Rembert has been compared to acclaimed African-American artists such as Hale Woodruff, Jacob Lawrence, Horace Pippin and Romare Bearden. “Rembert, who is self-taught, lives and works in New Haven, Conn. His paintings are represented in a number of important public and private collections, and were the subject of a major exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery in 2000.” Morlan’s Rembert exhibition will be

Project SEE Theatre continues professional residency at Transy with “Marie Antoinette”

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Project SEE Theatre will present playwright David Adjmi’s satire, “Marie Antoinette,” in Transylvania University’s Little Theater for five performances from May 17–21. “Marie Antoinette” marks the second annual production of the university’s professional theater residency program, which is sponsored by the Dixon/White Theater Fund. The fund also underwrites the cost of tickets, which makes professional productions free to the Lexington theater-going community. The Project SEE residency gives students a chance to work and perform alongside theater professionals, said director Sullivan Canaday White, who is a Transylvania professor and a Project SEE Theatre co-founder. While depicting the past, the upcoming production of “Marie Antoinette” will resonate with modern audiences. “Adjmi’s acerbic wit and unflinching depiction of class warfare offers a cautionary tale for America in the 21st century,” White said. “Though the play begins with royal diversions and regal amusements, it quickly descends into the chaos and violence of the French Revolution. I don’t think the historical ending needs a spoiler alert, but the death spiral of the French aristocracy clearly portrays what can happen when the billionaire-class loses touch with the needs of the 99 percent.” Hailed by Time Out in New York as a “jagged yet elegant historical riff,” Adjmi’s contemporary take on the ill-fated queen of France unmasks an aristocracy whose addiction to entertainment turns their dream of untold wealth into a nightmare of resentment and revenge. Read more about the production, including the cast and crew,

Transylvania senior thesis exhibition opens Friday

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University’s senior thesis exhibition, In Case You Missed It (or #ICYMI), will open Friday with a reception and art talks. The Morlan Gallery exhibition will feature works in a variety of media, from tennis balls to textiles. A catered reception will be from 6-7 p.m., followed by 15-minute talks by the artists about their work. The show, reception and talks are free and open to the public. Featured artists Carrie Billet, from Harlan, Ky., is a studio art major who works in textile, video and paint to create a narrative about the relationship between place and self. Henry Kramer, of Cincinnati, is a studio art major working in the traditional media of paint and the not-so-traditional media of tennis balls to investigate his personal life and what he describes as “important things in my way.” Hannah Logsdon, from Georgetown, Ky., is majoring in studio art and history. Her work is primarily ceramic, but she includes drawing, painting and metal work in her thesis exhibition. Logsdon, who explores the human form and artwork as a living being, said: “I like the physicality of artmaking; there is a tangible partnership the artist has with the work, both in the manipulation of material and the relationship to the subject.” Theodora Salazar, originally from Chicago, is a self-designed social practice art major. She has created a series of mixed media pieces exploring social and community responsibility and self reflection. The Morlan Gallery, which