1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

See 1,000 handmade dolls at community potluck April 4 at Kentucky Theater; project sponsored by Transylvania’s Community Engagement class

LEXINGTON, Ky.—If you spot a handmade doll hidden in the nooks and crannies of Limestone Street in the next few weeks, feel free to pick it up and give it a good home. It will likely be one of the 1,000 fabric, clay and wooden dolls that Transylvania University students and community members have made as part of the university’s Community Engagement Through the Arts (CETA) class. The public is invited for a sneak peek at the dolls during a community potluck dinner Wednesday, April 4, at 7 p.m. at the Kentucky Theater. The event will also feature live music and Lexington Mayor Jim Gray will speak at 7:30 p.m. The 1,000 Dolls project is the latest in a series of projects spearheaded by the class, whose goal is to strengthen the relationship between the university and the community by engaging in artistic community projects. Previous CETA classes have made quilts and applied temporary murals to downtown buildings, all while interacting and working with residents of Transylvania’s downtown neighborhood. The popular class, taught by art professor Kurt Gohde and English professor Kremena Todorova, has developed somewhat of a following, with community members regularly attending class sessions. The idea for the 1,000 Dolls project came from local artist Ed Franklin, who makes and hides dolls around town and posts clues to finding them on Facebook. Those who find the dolls get to keep them. This spring, CETA class members have coordinated

Transylvania University’s art program graduates the largest class of art majors to date; senior exhibition, "Ten," runs April 2-20

Hansel’s Sewn. LEXINGTON, KY—Transylvania University’s art program is graduating a record 10 art majors this year: Isabel Barr, Alison Cahill, Sara Escobedo, Allison Fender, Kara Hansel, Ryla Luttrell, Alexis Schuman, Julia Sebastian, Megan Wainscott and Kayla Weber. The culminating event of their Transylvania arts education is their senior thesis exhibition appropriately titled, “Ten,” opening April 2 and running through April 20 in the Morlan Gallery. There is a reception for the artists on Friday, April 20, 5-8 p.m. as part of the Lexington Gallery Hop. The gallery is open weekdays from noon-5 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Barr is a studio art and education double major. She grew up in Takoma Park and Bethesda, Maryland. She plans to receive a master’s degree in art therapy from the University of Louisville and create an after-school program for special-needs children. Cahill is an art major and art history minor from Richmond, Ky. Her primary medium is photography and she has recently worked with Triple Play Productions taking sports action photography. After graduation she plans to pursue her passion for art. She is currently looking into the photography and ceramic fields. Escobedo is a studio art major minoring in biology and Spanish from Wheaton, Ill. She hopes to pursue a career that will lead her to working with animals and expanding her artistic endeavors. She works in digital illustration, ceramic, mixed media sculpture, carving, painting and costume-making. Fender is

Transylvania’s Concert Band and Chamber Orchestra to present free concerts April 3 and 4

Transylvania’s music department is offering two concerts, April 3 and 4, in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. Both performances are free and open to the public. The Concert Band will present Seitz’s “The World is Waiting for the Sunrise,”  Arnold’s “Peterloo” and Piazzolla’s “Oblivion,” featuring Joe Carucci on the alto saxophone, on Tuesday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Haggin Auditorium. The Chamber Orchestra will offer Mozart’s “Horn Concerto No. 3, first movement,” featuring Alex Yaden (photo at left), “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and Bizet’s “Suite from L’Arlessienne,” the following evening, Wednesday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater.

Award-winning poet Bianca Spriggs to deliver Transylvania University commencement address on Saturday, May 26, at 9:30 a.m.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Affrilachian poet, multidisciplinary artist and Cave Canem Fellow Bianca Spriggs will deliver the commencement address at Transylvania University on Saturday, May 26, at 9:30 a.m. on the steps of historic Old Morrison. Spriggs, a 2003 graduate of Transylvania, was named as one of the Top 30 Performance Poets by TheRoot.com, is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a recipient of multiple Artist Enrichment Grants and an Art Meets Activism Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women. In partnership with the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association, she is the creator of “The Swallowtale Project,” a creative writing workshop dedicated to the women inmates at the Federal Prison Camp, and the creator and artistic director of the Gypsy Poetry Slam featured annually at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. She has taught poetry and creative writing classes at Lexington’s Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning and is currently in the doctoral program for creative writing at the University of Kentucky. She was visiting writer and instructor in Foundations of the Liberal Arts at Transylvania from 2008-09. She is the writer, producer, editor and director of the film “Waterbody” and the author of poetry books “Kaffir Lily” and “How Swallowtails Become Dragons.” Her work may also be found in the anthologies “New Growth: Recent Kentucky Writings” and “America! What’s My Name?,” and in the journals “Union Station Magazine,” “Tidal Basin Review,” “Muzzle,” “Caduceus,” “Alehouse,” “Reverie,” and  Appalachian Heritage Magazine, among others. Spriggs currently serves on

"Jewish Views of Jesus" lecture at Transylvania March 29, at 7 p.m.; free and open to the public

LEXINGTON, Ky.—The theological boundaries and historical relationship between Jews and Christians is the focus of a pair of back-to-back lectures offered by rabbi, speaker, author and professor David Sandmel this month. The lectures are part of the Moosnick Lectureship in Judaic Studies, sponsored by the Moosnick Endowment. Sandmel’s lectures are presented by Transylvania University, Lexington Theological Seminary, Ohavay Zion Synagogue and Temple Adath Israel. Both lectures are free and open to the public. Sandmel will present the first lecture, “Jewish Views of Jesus,” Thursday, March 29, at 7 p.m. in Strickland Auditorium in the Brown Science Center at Transylvania. The lecture is free and open to the public. The second lecture, “Jews, Christians, and Israel” is March 30 at 5 p.m. at Temple Adath Israel. The lecture is free and open to the public. Sandmel is the Crown-Ryan Professor of Jewish Studies at the Catholic Theological Union and Rabbi Educator at Temple Sholom, both in Chicago. He is a former director of the National Jewish Scholars Project, a major initiative to promote discussion within the Jewish community and between Jews and Christians about the differences and similarities between the two traditions. He is the co-editor of “Christianity in Jewish Terms.” In addition, he is the lead editor of “Irreconcilable Differences? A Learning Resource for Jews and Christians,” which focuses on core theological issues on the boundary between Judaism and Christianity. Sandmel is also involved in Jewish-Muslim dialogue and in the