1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

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

Transylvania University invites high school students to two Fall Preview Days: Friday, October 22 and Saturday, November 13

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University invites high school students and their families to campus for two Fall Preview Days, Friday, October 22, from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., and Saturday, November 13, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Both events will take place in the Clive M. Beck Athletic Center on the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street. Fall Preview Day includes a welcome with President R. Owen Williams, faculty presentations, an academic information fair, campus and residence hall tours, a student panel discussion and a complimentary lunch. Students and their parents will have the opportunity to talk with faculty members and current students about all aspects of life at Transylvania, including scholarship and funding opportunities. For more information or to register for either Fall Preview Day, call Transylvania’s admissions office at (800) 872-6798 or (859) 233-8242, or visit www.transy.edu/admissions.

Leading world authority on the Gnostic Gospels will speak at Transylvania Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m.; free and open to the public

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Elaine Pagels, the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University, will speak at Transylvania University’s Carrick Theater Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public. Pagels is considered a leading world authority on the Gnostic Gospels. The topic of her talk at Transylvania will be “The Discovery of the Secret Gospel of Thomas,” also the subject of her New York Times bestseller “Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas” (2003).  Other books by Pagels include “Adam, Eve and the Serpent” (1988), “The Origin of Satan” (1995), “Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity” (2007) and “The Gnostic Gospels” (1979), which was named by Modern Library as one of the 100 best books of the twentieth century and won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award.   Pagels’ current project is a new book titled “Revelations” which will explore the New Testament Book of Revelation and other Jewish, Christian and Pagan books of Revelation written around the same time.  For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120.

Transylvania’s Morlan Gallery opens "The Illustrious Horse" exhibition in celebration of the World Equestrian Games

  Video artist Valerie Fuchs drew inspiration for her work, above, from Rosa Bonheur’s original sketchbook, below right. LEXINGTON, Ky.—In celebration of the World Equestrian Games, the Morlan Gallery proudly presents “The Illustrious Horse: Kentucky Artists Respond to the Clara Peck Collection,” an invitational exhibit of critically renowned contemporary artists from Kentucky. Twelve visual artists and one poet were asked to creatively respond to a horse image found in Transylvania University’s esteemed Clara Peck Collection. The Peck Collection, located in the Rare Book Room of Transylvania University’s library, houses collectable books dealing with the history of the horse and natural history. Exhibition participants are sculptor Steve Armstrong (Lexington); painter Gaela Erwin (Louisville); conceptual artist Kurt Gohde (Lexington); drawing and mixed media artist Michael Goodlett (Wilmore); video artist Valerie Fuchs (Louisville); photographer Guy Mendes (Lexington); painter Lennon Michalski (Lexington); fiber artist Arturo Sandoval (Lexington); conceptual artist Zoé Strecker (Harrodsburg); drawing and mixed media artist Lawrence Tarpey (Lexington); sculptor Travis Townsend (Richmond); sculptor Lavon Van Williams (Lexington); and poet Richard Taylor (Frankfort).   Original Rosa Bonheur sketchbook. These artists innovatively respond to the uncommon and diverse visual imagery of the Peck Collection. For example, Steve Armstrong replies to George Stubbs’ “1766 Anatomy of a Horse,” a virtuosic collection of drawings; Lennon Michaslski answers to “Hortusan Itatis” (Garden of Health), a rare illuminated manuscript from 1400; and video artist Valerie Fuchs finds inspiration from Rosa Bonheur’s original artist’s sketchbook, complete with the initial