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Voors serves National Park Service

Last summer, Michael Voors held a highly-coveted Artist-in-Residency post at Mesa Verde, the first national park of its kind in the United States.

Voors was one of four artists selected in a national search. He traveled to southwestern Colorado and met with park rangers for an intensive back country training program. Following initiation and orientation, he was given free access to the UNESCO World Heritage site for a two-week period.

“It takes a few days to adjust to the site,” Voors said. Each day, the professor awoke at 6:00 a.m., entering the park as early as possible. “There’s a ‘getting acquainted’ phase,” Voors explains, in which he used notebooks to capture drawings that connected him with the site. “Drawing is an important tool for investigation and the most direct way to respond.  Once you find a motif, its then possible to focus in a more sustained effort on larger sheets of paper. Media is kept very simple–mostly watercolor, graphite  and pastel.”

“Working on location is an exciting challenge–most of the sites were reached by narrow trails down steep canyon walls. Materials had to all be packed in.”

“My hope is to go beyond the documentation of place.  I am interested in visual phenomena which moves toward larger meanings and associations- a kind of poetry of information.”

These drawings, coupled with a plethora of photographs, formed the basis of Voors’ research and fieldwork, from which richer pieces could then be drawn at a later time  “Back in the studio environment I can increase scale, adjust shapes, and alter surfaces allowing both memory and imagination to come into greater play.”

Mesa Verde National Park includes 4,300 archeological sites and 600 cliff dwellings, the most famous of which is Cliff Palace. Ancestral puebloans have been in the area for 10,000 years, but began an exodus around 1,300 AD, probably as a result of gradual drought and crop failure.

The site was rediscovered in 1765 by Don Juan Maria de Rivera, exploring under orders from the New Mexico governor. In subsequent years, the effects of tourism and artifact removal prompted an 1886 editorial in the Denver Tribune Republican to call for federal or state protection against “vandals of modern civilization.”

“The park has a dramatic level of natural beauty—at over a 7,000 foot elevation the mesas and cliffs are a complex environment,” Voors says, “but the uniqueness is the cultural heritage.” Voors says that theft of archaeological artifacts remains a contemporary issue. “I didn’t want to leave an imprint or damage any of the site by accident.  I was very conscious of the fact that these sites were the ritual centers of  Native Americans and needed to be approached with a great deal of respect. When I’d see pottery sherds or artifacts lying on the ground, you leave them there out of respect—and the law.”

“It’s important for students to realize that as teachers, we’re also visual artists working in the field or studio,” Voors says. He has worked at excavation sites in Pompeii, Jerusalem, the caves of Qumran in Israel and at a site in Cologne, Germany. He’s also been inspired by travels to the Roman ruins, Neolithic monuments in Wales, Ireland, Great Britain and Carnac in Northwest France.

“I see the work as a tool for participating in a larger mystery,” he says. “I’ve always had an interest in sites that have a sacred or historical character. I hope I can set a good example when students are trying to find direction. I can share what my experience has been and how one tries to take one’s experience and give it new life in the form of drawing and painting.”

As a requirement of the residency, Voors offered a public lecture, “Ancient and Sacred Places: A personal journey.” The talk included slides of Neolithic Ireland and Wales, as well as ancient Rome. Within the year, Voors will gift a work of art to the permanent collection of the national park, adding his interpretation of the site to the legacy of artists that served before him.

“To me the most transcendent moments are when everyone has left the park and the light is fading and you’re in that silence,” Voors says. “That’s the magical hour.”

Tahaney creates cultural fusion

What do you do when you fall in love with a foreign town? For Michael Tahaney, you share it with students.

Tahaney, assistant professor and BFA coordinator for musical theatre, led a group of seven School of Theatre and Dance students to San Miguel de Allende, an UNESCO World Heritage site located the highlands of central Mexico. Together, they immersed themselves in the history of the Mexican nation, creating a 60-minute theatrical interpretation that reflected 3,000 years of converging cultures. They mounted the original production before a sold-out crowd of nearly 200 at the Rancho Los Labradores theatre.

Titled “FUSION,” the performance was an impressionistic perspective of Mexican history, ritual and tradition told through music, dance, narration and physical theatre techniques.

Tahaney’s itinerary began in Mexico City, where he and his students first reviewed European-influenced architecture and the history of the capitol.   “We dug into the multi-tribal history of central Mexico and toured the ruins at Teotihuacán,” Tahaney said. Teotihuacán was the religious center of Mesoamerica. Its skyline dominated by two enormous pyramids the Aztecs called the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, both still stand today. Gazing upon these majestic sights “The students slowly started to grasp the mysticism and mythology of the region.”

After further research, the group collaboratively wrote a show that married dance, indigenous instrument performance, storytelling and choreography. “We called the work a contemporary outsider’s perspective,” Tahaney said.  Students were challenged to support the project in academic areas often unfamiliar to them. 

“I was very impressed with the work—the music, the choreography, the costumes. It took the training the students get in class on campus and put it into a practical application.”

Student participants (Kate Blain, Tyler Griffin, Daniela Hart, Ian Meeks, Christopher Minor, Anna Stainback and Ashley Willis-Webb) represented concentrations in dance education, costume design, musical theatre, acting and theatre education.

Tahaney explains that under his tutelage the students were not destined for a tourist package sort of experience, but rather were placed as temporary residents in the culture of San Miguel. “They lived in the town, shopped for food and essentials,  and did their own laundry,” he said. “It’s empowering for young people to learn that they can function in a completely foreign environment.”

The experience wasn’t without challenges. The group’s Spanish vocabulary often fell short when seeking select props and shopping for costuming, but Tahaney reports that the challenges of mounting the production under a tight deadline—with an entire, curious community watching the process—was a part of the adventure, and infinitely rewarding.

“San Miguel is a place where people really live life, where extremes collide, where cultural arts are steeped into the life of everyone,” Tahaney said. “I knew the students would feed on that and fall in love with it, and they did. This was not a passive experience for these students. They owned it.”

Tahaney also directed an experimental version of the musical “The Last Five Years” as a second performance project. The work is distinctly American and modern. It offered Broadway style-theatre to San Miguel audiences, many who are American, Canadian or European. The hour-long, one-act, two-character musical was highly challenging for singers Christopher Minor and Kate Blain. Tyler Griffin served as accompanist. With Tahaney, these three students stayed in Mexico for an additional 14 days to stage the production.

Student wins Young Artist Piano Competition

ECU Student-designed Sculptures Installed at Coastal Carolina Regional Airport

When the Coastal Carolina Regional Airport Authority sought to expand their presence as a purveyor of public art, they called the ECU School of Art and Design.

Students of sculpture professors Hanna Jubran and Carl Billingsley presented 17 flight-themed concepts to a jury of airport officials and artists from the Craven County Arts Council. In late March, eight ideas were selected for development and installed on the airport grounds in New Bern.

Students received grants for materials and spent the majority of spring break working to meet the installation deadline.
Some works are abstract, such as James Dudley’s “Around the Farm,” a steel interpretation of wind passing over a form. “I love the broad range of materials,” he says. “There’s no limit to what you can do with sculpture.”

Veronica Plankers’ “Air Sell” represents rudimentary paper airplanes in an abstract formation. The Castle Hayne senior says she designed the work to be as simple as possible. “That isn’t how I usually work,” she said.

Eric Justin White, who double-majors in sculpture and art education, created “Interconnected.” “A lot of my work deals with human interaction and the mode of transportation where people connect with one another,” White explains. The Youngsville senior says a web of red steel on his work illustrates flight paths against a backdrop of formed wings.

Matt Amante’s “semi-circle balance study” references industrial creation through its form, while reminding the viewer of similar forms found in nature.

Other works are literal, such as Justin Campbell’s “Energy.” The piece embodies an eagle and an allegorical dead tree, both anchored to a 55-gallon steel drum. The work is a reminder that human progress can have a negative effect on the human condition.

Junior Jessica Bradsher, president of the student art education association, created a tribute to man’s feat of flight, “Pegasus.”
Garrett Stowe’s “Tailwind” is a tribute to modern aircraft technology. The sculpture is inspired by classic aeronautical propulsion, combined with modern jet turbines, painted with colors reminiscent of WWII aircraft.

Each work will remain in exhibition for a year, with the exception of Abigail Cochran’s “The Travelers Three.” The whimsical indirect reference to flight as portrayed by seeds being whisked away by the wind was purchased by  the Coastal Carolina Regional Airport for their permanent public art collection.

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Litwin’s work earns a Gold Medal

“My Name is Not Isabella,” a children’s book illustrated by Mike Litwin (BA ’01), received a Gold Medal in the 2008 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards. It was one of two Gold Medal awards received in the “Picture Book 4-8 Year Old” category, beating more than 300 entries. Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are designed to bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to support childhood literacy and life-long reading.

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Pirates inspire in Wilmington

If you’ve seen the work of Inspire Creative Studios of Wilmington, you’ll notice a subtle common theme—Pirate pride. Jonathan Medford (BS ’05) and Curtis Thieman (BS ’05), two of four partners running the business, are products of the School of Communication.

About half of the firm’s marketing work serves clients in the Greenville area, including the Pitt County Development Commission and Suddenlink Communications.

One print ad for the development commission—Some things just naturally rise in the East—features a vibrant sunrise that runs through a spectrum of colors, but lingers predominantly on Pirate purple.

University Chophouse, one of Greenville’s most sophisticated dining establishments, hired Inspire to create their logo, which is purple and gold, of course.

An elder dame, standing poolside in a plastic surgery advertisement, sports—what else?—a fetching Pirate purple bathing suit.
There’s even a purple plastic tractor-trailer featured in one advertisement in a national trade magazine campaign touting the viability of the plastics industry in Pitt County.

Thieman and Medford bleed purple. Both attend Pirate football when their schedules permit, and Medford legitimized the Minges Maniacs by transforming the motley crew of avid basketball fans into an official Student Government Association-recognized organization.

Inspire isn’t only about purple-themed work. Despite offices in Wilmington, the agency is relevant in the lives of Greenville residents.

Inspire developed the branding for the Drew Steele-Skip Holtz Golf Classic, a fundraiser benefiting the Special Populations of Pitt County.

You’ve seen the agency’s work on the Daily Grind’s website, menus and commercials; as well as logos for the Marley Fund, Inner Banks Media, several radio stations and the Daily Reflector’s 125-year anniversary masthead.

But there’s another side to the business...

The shop—a minimalistic suite that defines great style—includes Inspire Productions, a full-service media production company.
The company was hired by Island Def Jam Music Group Network, owned by Universal Music Group, to film five concert videos at the 2009 South by Southwest music festival in Austin. They’ve produced an episode of “Subterranean” for MTV2. The program aired in April and featured PJ Harvey and John Parish.

The company is cutting edge in both project and process. They’ve shot pilots of a red-blooded travel show, “Music, Monuments and Beer.” The host,  singer-songwriter Josh Kelley (actress Katherine Heigl’s husband), packs the show with hilarity, local culture and local ales.

They’ve shot commercials with the RED One, a high definition camera so new to market that filmmaker giants like Lucas and Cameron are still experimenting with it. (The movie “Knowing,” starring Nicholas Cage, was shot with RED equipment).

“Over the past four years we’ve been able to acquire the equipment we need to be a full service production company,” Medford says. They’ve rented equipment to a variety of production companies filming in the area, including the group that produced “Nights in Rodanthe.” They’ve also acquired the experience needed in all areas of production, running sound for a day on “Talledega Nights” and working on shows like “American Chopper.”

“There’s world class talent in this town,” Thieman says. “And anything we do is going to be a fraction of the price of what the companies in New York and L.A. can do, and I guarantee we put out as good or even better a product.”

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