1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Transylvania hosting volunteer projects on campus for Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service; program honoring King planned for Jan. 19

LEXINGTON, Ky.—This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, and in 1994, the holiday was designated by Congress as a national day of service, charging Americans to make the third Monday in January a “day on, not a day off.” On Monday, January 17, Transylvania students, faculty and staff will celebrate the 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service by joining members of the Lexington community to perform service projects. Six of Lexington’s service activities will take place at Transylvania and include donating blood, writing letters of thanks to troops for serving overseas and knitting squares to make blankets for the Build-A-Bed Project. Transylvania has traditionally been very involved in Lexington’s effort, providing 25-45 percent of the volunteers. Projects at Transylvania Donate Blood (with Kentucky Blood Center) William T. Young Campus Center Corner of Fourth Street and Broadway Noon-4:30 p.m.Bring photo ID Make seedling starter planters for community gardens Rosenthal Commons (Rosenthal Residence Hall) Fourth Street 1 p.m. Write letters of thanks to the troops William T. Young Campus Center, conference room A Corner of Broadway and Fourth Street 1 p.m. Make valentines for Adult Day Center William T. Young Campus Center, conference room A Corner of Broadway and Fourth Street 1 p.m. Make sandwiches for the Hope Center Forrer Hall, Presidents Room near dining hall Broadway, between Third and Fourth streets 1 p.m. Knit blanket squares for Build-A-Bed Rosenthal Commons Fourth Street,

Successful Empty Bowls Project returns to Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery Dec. 6-8

LEXINGTON, Ky.—The art program at Transylvania University invites the community to help feed the hungry by doing some early Christmas shopping for beautiful handmade ceramic bowls at the Morlan Gallery Dec. 6-8, noon-5 p.m. Transylvania University ceramic and design students, along with local potters, have created and donated several hundred beautiful ceramic soup bowls available in the Morlan Gallery for $10 each. In addition to soup bowls, there will be larger individually priced bowls and wall tapestries designed to visually correspond to the graphic motifs on some of the soup bowls. When the Morlan Gallery last hosted this event, in 2008, almost 600 bowls sold in just hours. This year, local potters have been added to the gallery event to augment the supply of handmade ceramic bowls. Started 17 years ago, the Empty Bowls Project is an opportunity for local artists to donate handmade ceramic bowls that are made available for purchase, with the proceeds benefiting community agencies that feed the hungry. Over the last ten years, the Morlan Gallery bowl sales have raised $31,000 for local agencies such as Moveable Feast, the YMCA Spousal Abuse Center, the Community Action Council and the Hope Center. “Local artists can still donate bowls for sale as part of the Empty Bowls Project,” said Morlan Gallery director Andrea Fisher. “Functional or nonfunctional artists’ bowls of any media: wood, glass, fiber or paper mâché would be wonderful additions to this worthy event.” Customers browse

"Noel: Four Centuries of Christmas": Women’s quartet Anonymous 4 to perform at Transylvania Dec. 8; performance part of the Smith Concert Series

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Renowned women’s quartet Anonymous 4 will perform “Noel: Four Centuries of Christmas” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8, in Transylvania’s Haggin Auditorium as part of the Dorothy J. and Fred K. Smith Endowed Concert Series. For two decades, Anonymous 4 has delighted audiences with their mesmerizing a capella versions of medieval music and poetic performances. This spectacular holiday concert experience combines the most popular carols and hymns, the most moving motets and chants from the group’s medieval Christmas programs:  “On Yoolis Night,” “Christmas Music From Medieval Hungary: Legends of St. Nicholas,” “Wolcum Yule” and “The Cherry Tree: Songs, Carols and Ballads for Christmas.” Anonymous 4 has performed on radio and television, and their albums have sold almost 1.5 million copies and topped the Billboard classical charts. Their most recent album, “Four Centuries of Chant,” is their 21st record and was released in September 2009. It mixes medieval chant with more traditional polyphonic music. Where most groups adapt chants into melodies and sing them, Anonymous 4 decided to restore and perform them. Free tickets, while they last, are available at Transylvania’s William T. Young Campus Center (corner of Broadway and Fourth Street) Monday-Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Friday from 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday from noon-8 p.m. and Sunday from 1-10:30 p.m. For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120 or the fine arts office at (859) 233-8141. This is the fourth concert in the Smith

Transylvania to host Lexington mayoral candidate forum Tuesday, October 26 at 7:30 p.m.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—A public forum for the two Lexington mayoral candidates, incumbent Jim Newberry and challenger Jim Gray, will be held on Tuesday, October 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Carrick Theater in the Mitchell Fine Arts Center. The forum, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Community Action Council, the Child Care Council of Kentucky, God’s Pantry Food Bank and the Lexington Urban League. Questions for the two candidates will address poverty, child development and other human services issues. The event will also feature an interactive Twitter session, allowing those with Smartphones to tweet comments and questions which will appear on a screen next to the candidates. Student volunteers will be in the audience to help those without Smartphones to tweet their thoughts and questions. For more information or to submit questions for the candidates, contact Kara Cecil at 244-2221 or kara.cecil@commaction.org.

"Memories of the Past": Morlan exhibit of world-class contemporary Chinese ink brush paintings runs October 29 through November 30

LEXINGTON, Ky.—A world-class exhibition, “Memories of the Past: Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting,” opens Oct. 29 in Transylvania University’s Morlan Gallery. The exhibit, curated by eminent Asian art historian Kuiyi Shen, features 15 internationally recognized contemporary Chinese artists and runs through Nov. 30. The featured artists are from mainland China, the United States and Taiwan, and include Xu Bing, Pan Gongkai, Lu Fusheng, Wang Dongling, Zhang Yu, Wang Tiande, Qiu Deshu, Feng Bin, Xu Lei, Li Huayi, Zhang Hong, Wu Yi, Zheng Chongbin, Li Huai and Luo Qing. “This selection of contemporary ink art represents the highest caliber work by important Chinese artists working in the medium today,” said Julia F. Andrews, an expert in Chinese painting and modern Chinese art, who has written extensively on the subject and curated many important exhibitions in the United States, France and China. “The paintings in the exhibition present an extremely refreshing, even surprising, view of the many ways Chinese artists are finding to build upon and surpass their tradition. The power of these images testifies both to the contemporary quality of contemporary ink painting and to the continued vitality of an art form that has flourished in China for a millennium.” Morlan Gallery Director Andrea Fisher credits Transylvania art history professor Wei Lin for orchestrating an exhibition of this caliber. “Dr. Lin is a scholar who specializes in Asian art history and has worked closely with Dr. Shen to bring the work of