APSU Visiting Writers Series opens October 11th with poet Helena Mesa
October 8, 2012
Clarksville, TN – This year’s Austin Peay State University’s Visiting Writers Series begins October 11th with Cuban-American poet Helena Mesa reading from her work at 4:00pm in the Honors Commons.
The event, sponsored by Austin Peay’s Creative Writing Program and the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, is free and open to the public. [Read more]
Austin Peay Downtown Gallery to present exhibition of new works by Paul Collins
October 4, 2012
Clarksville, TN – This month, the Austin Peay Downtown Gallery will present “Grow Where You’re Planted,” an exhibition of new works by APSU assistant professor of art Paul Collins.
The exhibit, which opens with a reception from 5:00pm-8:00pm on October 4th, will feature drawings and paintings inspired by the incredible rate of vegetative growth in the landscape of Middle Tennessee.
“Grow Where You’re Planted” exhibit by APSU assistant professor of art Paul Collins.
Washington Post reporter Eilperin to read from new book at October 6th APSU Autumn Salon event
September 21, 2012
Clarksville, TN – In the summer of 2005, Juliet Eilperin jumped into the Atlantic Ocean and found herself surrounded by sharks. The sleek, fierce-looking creatures were hungry and looking for food.
Luckily, they ignored her, but what’s most astounding about this incident is that Eilperin, a national environmental reporter for the Washington Post, jumped into the swarm on purpose. She was writing an article on the sharks for the newspaper and, like all great journalists, needed to see them first hand.
Juliet Eilperin author of “Demon Fish: Travels through the Hidden World of Sharks.”
Music and visual art blend in Frankenstein!! Concert at APSU on October 1st
September 20, 2012
Clarksville, TN – Several times during the conversation, the name Leopold was whispered. The three Austin Peay State University professors were referring to a fictional character played masterfully by Bugs Bunny in the 1949 Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoon “Long-Haired Hare.”
Barry Jones, APSU associate art professor, spoke in a quiet, reverential tone when mentioning the name. Kell Black, art professor, said it a bit more forcefully. But it was Dr. Gregory Wolynec, professor of music and conductor of the Gateway Chamber Orchestra, who almost shouted the name with gusto. He has a special fondness for the character since Bugs Bunny is in fact impersonating the famed British conductor Leopold Stokowski. [Read more]
Dr. Sharon Mabry to read from new book at Austin Peay Autumn Salon event September 24th
September 10, 2012
Clarksville, TN – Throughout Dr. Sharon Mabry’s 35-year singing career, she has rushed through airports to make connecting flights, slept in small, cavernous hotel rooms, performed on stages with inadequate acoustics and dealt with the stress of lost luggage.
Those trials mark the typical, yet unglamorous, side of any professional musicians career, and for many, those obstacles are more than they can handle. But, for the truly gifted, singing can be such a rewarding a career, which is why Mabry, an Austin Peay State University professor of music, set out to write her new book, “The Performing Life: A Singer’s Guide to Survival.”
Dr. Sharon Mabry to read from new book “The Performing Life: A Singer’s Guide to Survival.” at Autumn Salon event September 24th.
Ned and Jacqueline Crouch donate folk art collection to APSU
September 5, 2012
Clarksville, TN – The artist, a Civil War veteran and 19th century dentist, carved the peculiar little figurines out of wood. He placed the musicians with their instruments in the back row, and up front, connected to metal wires, stand the dancing couples. Other macabre figures, such as a thin man playing bones and a woman spanking a baby, populate the dioramic scene.
When a crank is turned, a series of pulleys cause the pieces to move and dance in an awkward, dreamlike manner.
“The Circus” is one of several folk art pieces recently donated to APSU by Ned and Jacqueline Crouch. (Photo by Beth Liggett/APSU Staff).
APSU to host reading by Young adult author Nnedi Okorafor
July 7, 2012
Clarksville, TN – The author Nnedi Okorafor doesn¹t write stories that feel tired or predictable. Her books, which mash up literary genres from African literature to science fiction and fantasy, stand out for their originality and their abilities to take young readers on unexpected journeys.
“There’s more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor’s work than in whole volumes of ordinary fantasy epics,” the celebrated author Ursula K. Le Guin wrote in a recent review. [Read more]
Famed young adult author Nnedi Okorafor to read at APSU on July 20th
June 28, 2012
Clarksville, TN – The author Nnedi Okorafor doesn’t write stories that feel tired or predictable. Her books, which mash up literary genres from African literature to science fiction and fantasy, stand out for their originality and their abilities to take young readers on unexpected journeys.
“There’s more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor’s work than in whole volumes of ordinary fantasy epics,” the celebrated author Ursula K. Le Guin wrote in a recent review. [Read more]
APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts helps restore Sculpture on Campus
June 7, 2012
Clarksville, TN – In 1985, a young Austin Peay State University art student named Mike Andrews used rebar, chicken wire and a bit of concrete to create a dazzling sculpture titled “Light Modulator.” The piece was a bright white, and it was designed to interact with the movement of the sun, playing with both light and shadow.
The sculpture was placed on a small, grassy hill outside the University’s Kimbrough Building, where it sat for almost three decades exposed to not only the sun, but also strong winds, downpours and numerous ice and snow storms. By last spring, “Light Modulator” was a dented, dingy gray slab of concrete that appeared to be sinking into the earth.
Christopher Burawa, left, works with artist Mike Andrews to restore Andrew’s sculpture, “Light Modulator.”
Robert Penn Warren and the High School Connection
April 25, 2012
Robert Penn Warren
Clarksville, TN – Ask the average college-bound high school student who Robert Penn Warren is and you might hear that the student has no idea that he was a writer.
Most probably the student wouldn’t be able to tell you that Warren was a graduate of Clarksville High School in 1921 or that he was born in Guthrie, Kentucky.
Even fewer would know that he is uniquely the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes, one for fiction and two for poetry; no other Pulitzer Prize winner can claim this accolade. [Read more]
