FARMINGTON — From the innovative Emery Community Arts Center to the parking area behind the University’s psychology building, the University of Maine at Farmington will showcase the creative arts throughout campus with its sixth annual arts night events.
Arts night will present visual and performing arts events by UMF students and faculty at venues around campus over the course of three afternoons and evenings from Monday, April 29 to Wednesday, May 1.
Among the featured events this year will be the sixth annual Pixel Hunter Festival — a screening of the best student video and animation projects. Past entries from this time-based media exhibition have appeared at the Maine International Film Festival and the Portland Biennial.
Phil Carlsen, composer, conductor, musician and UMF professor of music, will jump start the next day’s events with his newly-composed piece for automobile orchestra. The “Car-Car Can-Can” will line up more than 24 cars for a “song-and-dance routine for automobile chorus line.” This is the fifth installment in Carlsen’s series of traffic jam sessions.
UMF ARTS Night(S) events include:
MONDAY, APRIL 29
4:30 p.m. The Splendid Drunken Twenties Salon
A 1920s-style salon celebrates what novelist Carl Van Vechten called “The Splendid Drunken Twenties” with readings of works by 1920s authors, music of the 1920s, and surrealist games.
Performance Space and surrounding area, Emery Community Arts Center
7 p.m. Pixel Hunter Video and Animation Festival
A screening of the best UMF student video and animation projects
Performance Space, Emery Community Arts Center
TUESDAY, APRIL 30
4-9:30 p.m. Performances from SPVI Project 3 and THE 278 Commedia dell’arte classes:
Performance Space and surrounding area, Emery Community Arts Center
Faeries of Midsummer: Spectacle and Concept — A runway presentation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” faeries with costume and makeup designed by Patrick Rizzo of Brockton, Mass.; and Jade Wells of Pittsfield.
Fighting Students: Part 1 — A choreographed comedic stage fight by Ahnna-Balai Beane of Anson; Austin Hayes of Gorham; and Cassidy Small of North Monmouth.
Fighting Students: Part 2 — A second choreographed stage fight with surprise elements.
The Audition: The Beginning of the End — An audition piece performed by Sarah Nadeau of New Portland.
Do I Dare Disturb the Universe? — A performance by Matthew Buckley of Gouldsboro, based on T.S. Eliot’s poem.
The Fall of the Empire — A performance of contemporary composer Frederic Rzewski’s “The Fall of the Empire.” Percussion performance by David Carr and Gustavo Aguilar.
Alumni Theatre
Stations: Connections Through Solitude — Nathan Vallette of Farmington creates a participatory music performance.
5 p.m. “CAR-CAR CAN-CAN”
For the fifth year in an arts night celebration, the return of Phil Carlsen’s automobile orchestra
Parking lot behind UMF psychology building
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1
1-2:30 p.m. Student Artists Talks on Senior Art Exhibit “Amalgamate”
UMF Art Gallery and Flex Space in the Emery Community Arts Center
4 p.m. Film and New Media
Performance Space, Emery Community Arts Center
Phenom-anon — An installation of light, sound and photography by Brian Parise of Rye, N.H.
Different — A short film by Richard Russell of Rumford.
The Record — A short film adaptation by Kyle Morison of Sidney, of a play dealing with suicide and depression as captured by the lens of video blogging.
Whispers — A sound installation by Kaitlinn Paquin of Nobleboro.
5:30-6:30 p.m. Adult Education: The Power of Possibility
A service-learning collaboration among Franklin County Adult Education, Somerset County Jail, students enrolled in Professor Gaelyn Aguilar’s ANT 250S: Ethnography course, Professor John Messier and student researcher Marina Giovannini, of Columbia, Conn.
Performance Space, Emery Community Arts Center
All “ARTS Night(S)” events are sponsored by the UMF Department of Sound, Performance and Visual Inquiry and the Emery Community Arts Center. They are free and open to the public.
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