PC|Bluestocking

Last Friday was the grand opening of the PC Senior Art Exhibit.  This was event was a chance for seniors and other art students to exhibit their work and impress not only the campus community, but also visiting art critics and enthusiasts.

As an attendee, I can tell you that if you were not able to come you missed one of the highest attended Fine Art events I have seen on campus for quite some time.  The Harper Art gallery was packed to capacity for the event and more and more people kept streaming in.

The Senior Exhibit displayed the artwork of the following seniors:   Gabby Ballenger, Kelsey McKee, Billy Schilling, Elizabeth Styron, Michelle Thilges, Samantha Thomas, and Maggie Wyman.  All of these seniors not only displayed their artwork, but also offered it for sale.  Prints created by non-seniors were also on sale for interested buyers. All sales of student artwork go directly to their respective artists.

I encourage readers of this article to support PC’s artists by going by the Harper Center sometime this week and, if you have the money, buy some student artwork.

Photography by Akeem Favor

All artwork are the sole property of their respective creators.

This week there are two chances to register to vote with College Republicans and PC Democrats.  The first was Monday (sorry for the belated article, there was trouble publishing) and the second is Wednesday (February 24, 2010).  You can register at Greenville Dining hall and Springs.  There are forms for those from North and South Carolina, as well as Georgia, but you can fill out an online form on a nifty website which will email you a completed form to print off.  The best part, is that you don’t have to mail a thing.  The PC Dems and C Reps will take care of it for you, saving you stamps and seconds.  While you’re at it, pick out a neat T-Shirt from PC Dems.  They cost $12 dollars, and you can look at  the design before you make up your mind.  Just ask about it.

Who doesn’t love Mardi Gras.  It’s one of the few Christian traditions that does not have a pagan date.  Basically, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  Since people traditionally use Lent as a good opportunity to hunger strike (or fast), it makes since to store up those fat reserves the day before.  And even if you’re not going on a hunger strike (or fasting), it’s a good opportunity to revel in sin and debauchery before the solemn traditions associated with Lent.

Well French Club and Carol International House have teamed up for an extravaganza involving sin (gluttony), debauchery (mask making and activities), and obesity (see gluttony; also jumbalaya and king cake).  King cake, for those who don’t know, is a giant circular “ring” cake with colorful frosting and decoration on the top stuffed with a representation of a baby (pro-lifers still welcome).  The party starts next Tuesday (for those who don’t know, this is Mardi Gras) at 8:00 PM in the CIH lobby.  It will end around 10:00 (PM or AM…I don’t know).  Much fun will be had by all.  Also, you might learn stuff about the culture associated with it, but the sin and debauchery is more important, right?

It’s Oscar time, and no I do not mean our wonderful Chilean guest at PC, but the more annoying award ceremony that decides to take several amazing films of the year and give only a handful the awards that they all deserve.  Here are the nominations (for categories people actually care about).

For Best Picture the nominees are Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air.

The Best Actor Nominees are Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker).

Best Supporting Actor Nominees include Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), and Christopher Waltz (Inglourious Basterds).

For Best Actress we have Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia).

The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are Penelope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), and Mo’Nique (Precious…).

Finally, Animated Films: Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, and Up.

Okay, so we have some interesting choices (The Blind Side?  Really?), and a few shattered expectations (10 BP nominations?).  I’m glad Up was nominated for Best Picture, the first animated film since Beauty in the Beast to pull that off.  Still, I’m not excited about the dang awards since the main problem with any award ceremony is that it forces people to pick one good movie when there are several good ones.  Take my advice, and see all of the movies nominated for Best Picture.

Although insanely small and creepily exclusive, the PC bubble is indeed mobile. How can we be so sure? This past weekend, several of us students scooped it up and moved it over the state line for the college’s annual Winter Conference. The event was held in the beautiful little mountain town of Montreat, North Carolina, which serves as a conference center for all kinds of church groups. Over 100 PC students attended the conference and stayed, played, and ate  in the cozy Assembly Inn which overlooks Lake Susan. Goofy-in-a-good-way energizers were performed, Powerful songs were belted out by the extremely talented band full of PC’s own, and inspiring speaker Lucy Cummings shared her thoughts on faith. The weekend theme was Creation, but Cummings touched on different ideas each day. One relative and interesting issue was how sites like Facebook and Twitter are disconnecting us and making real life contact “awkward.”  She encouraged everyone to take a chance, look someone in the eye, and legitimately ask and care how they are doing. What a frightening, but genius suggestion.

On Saturday night, a delightful talent show was put on full of music, dancing, comedy, and dramatic readings. The awesome madness ended with Lee Catoe and Ellison Cavedo’s  acoustic version of Beyonce’s hit “Halo.”  Overall, the weekend was a nice getaway with no painful popping of our precious bubble. And hey, all attendees got rockin burnt orange t-shirts out of the deal too. Jealous a little?

“What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Germany?” –Mary Ellis

“Hitler.”–Student

This simple quote started off last night’s CIH event which confronted the issue of cultural and national stereotypes with a light-hearted approach. To be fair, other words were tossed around too, such as beer, Oktoberfest, and pretzels, before someone mentioned Hitler, but I digress.

The country specific stereotypes confronted last night included: German, French, Irish, American, and South Korean.

Mary Ellis started off the event with a slide show presentation on Germany and an amusing video of the famous song “Springtime for Hitler” from Mel Brooks’ The Producers.  Following the introduction was a surprising amount of statistical information and facts.  For instance, did you know that the Tuetons, an ancient tribe in Germany, used to consider beer a significant offering to the gods?  Another interesting fact about Germany was that statistically speaking, almost every German male owns a pair of lederhosen , but only wears them during significant cultural events?

Gwen, our own visiting French student, prepared a presentation on her very own country.  Imagine how shocked I was to see the first slide of her presentation: a frog wearing a beret accompanied by a block of cheese and a glass of wine.  I was so shocked in fact, that I missed taking a picture of it (which says a lot to people who know me).

Among other things, including a crash course on how to cook escargot, Gwen discussed the characteristics regarding the typical French stereotype.  Interestingly enough, the infamous beret was originally worn by French fishermen before fashion designers decided to make it a mark of high fashion.  In regards to the French’s love of cheese, Gwen had this to say: “Cheese is France!  I’m not ashamed to say it!”  As for the stereotype that the French are always having sex, ( and if not, at least always thinking about it), Gwen with a laugh and a wink said that this one stereotypical characteristic was “true”. To get to the heart of the matter, she ended her presentation with a clip of everyone’s favorite amorous French skunk, Pepe Le Pew.

If anyone reading this knows Conall (our international student from Ireland) personally, then you know his presentation on the Irish stereotype was one of great amusement.  Before formally starting his presentation, Conall took advantage of having everyone’s attention to call the French football (soccer) team “…a bunch of dirty cheaters.”  Apparently this is a recurring inside joke between him and Gwen regarding a previous football match between Ireland and France in which, I suspect, that France emerged victorious.

Conall went on to examine the stereotypes regarding the Ireland and its people, from the belief that the country looks like a postcard wherever you go and that all the Irish have red hair.  The latter was confirmed to be false on two accounts: Conall obviously does not have red hair and that Scotland actually has the highest percentage of redheads.   One stereotype that I was previously unaware of was that people think that the Irish are addicted to potatoes, which seemed strange to me.  However, Conall was quick to enlighten us: “I love potatoes.  I complain about American potatoes, because there is something off about them.  They. Just. Don’t. Cut. It.”  Conall also confirmed that the Irish do indeed like to drink and ended with a clip from Family Guy in which Peter visits his father in Ireland.

Jordan Anderson took on the task of dealing with the stereotypes of Americans among the international community.  In order to find out exactly what these stereotypes were, Jordan interviewed the international students living in CIH.  Apparently we are described as being greedy, lazy, ignorant of foreign culture, and uncaring about the environment.  Jordan combated these stereotypes by presenting facts and relevant statistics.

Finally, Mary Ellis wrapped up the program in an interesting way.  Although she wanted to do a presentation on South Korean stereotypes, she was intrigued to find out that there were none.  So instead of giving a presentation on South Korean stereotypes she gave one on South Korean facts and statistics.  Did you know that the martial art known as Tae Kwon Do originated from South Korea or that South Korea has the 13th largest economy?

We also learned the reason for why South Koreans ask that guests remove their shoes when entering a house.  First, and most obviously, it makes the floors dirty.  Second, there are heaters in the floorboards in Korean homes, so the floor is warm and comfortable.  Finally, South Koreans believe that if you wear your shoes for too long, your feet begin to stink.  Therefore, they encourage the removal of footwear as often as possible to prevent “the stink.”

All in all, I had an awesome time attending the event.  So saying, I would like to take this time to put in a plug for upcoming CIH events which will be announced as their corresponding dates approach.  Do your part to disprove the stereotype that Americans don’t care about foreign culture by coming to at least one CIH event this semester.

Remember, only you can disprove stereotypes.

Links:

“Springtime for Hitler”

“Pepe Le Pew”

“Family Guy Goes to Ireland”

Photos by Akeem Favor

RAs get the coolest jobs.  They essentially get paid very little compared to other colleges to resolve crises, be on-call on certain nights, and do rounds.  Okay, okay, so I may be selling it quite short, and I’m told it can be a rewarding job.  It’s not a cushy job, yeah, but it’s a good one to pad your resume with, and you do get paid $1,452 a year for newbie RAs and $1,507 for veterans.

So RA paperwork is due soon, next Monday (the 25th of January) to be specific.  I’m told there are around 30 RAs on campus, and the highly intense selection process begins on that Monday with applications and recommendation forms due.  Returning RAs get interviewed sooner (January 28) and then newbies get their turn on February 5th.  The next day, the decisions are made and you have a week to decide whether or not you want to work where you’re assigned (the other option being to decline the job).  Obviously, not everybody will go where they want to, but I’m told the office tries hard to satisfy everybody.

Applications and recommendation forms are on the PC website (go to campus community than residence life then RA forms) so go out there and apply.

For those who believe that Ms. Ballew’s work was created solely through the use of a computer, do not be ashamed in your assumption for I too was mistaken.  Ms. Ballew’s work is unique in the fact that it is a hand painted pixilated work of art which incorporates 2,304 squares worth of art.  One student commented that “…from a distance, it has a stained glass effect.”  Personally, I have a great love of anything that requires someone to work or think in order to experience its full effect and view its entire beauty.

Ms. Ballew’s statement of purpose for her final project was the following: “I wanted to create a work where it became clearer as you walked away.”

Photos by Akeem Favor

Artwork by Renee Ballew

The first person up is Ben Sims.  According to Mr. Sims, his overall goal was to explore how paintings change when an artist plays with color values.  The first three sets used card suits to show depth and were inspired by a game of bridge during the artist’s Thanksgiving break.  Of these three sets, the first set showed depth through the use of overlap, the second used bigger shapes and contrasting colors to create a day and night effect, while the third set used looser paint brush strokes and primary and secondary colors.  The process behind the development of the third set was said to be like “a science project where you tweak something in order to see the results.”  The fourth and final set was created through the use of a hands-on technique in which the artist used his hands to create the background and a combination of paint and gravity to create the foreground’s streaking effects.

Photos by Akeem Favor

Artwork by Ben Sims

About two weeks ago, the One-Hour Art Studio class presented their work for critique and I was able to sneak in to watch the event.  Five minutes into the event, I realized that I didn’t even need to sneak in the first place.  While generally the event acts as a way for art students to get honest feedback for their artwork, I was greeted warmly and allowed to not only ask questions, but also take photos.  Despite the severe bad weather outside at the time and the tornado warning that sent us all scrambling for the basement, everyone was very excited to show off their work.

Which brought me to my first conundrum: how do I best go about showing their work to the rest of the PC campus community?  Secondly, what format should I use to draw in the maximum amount of readers?   The best way I could think of doing this would be to give each artist their own article with as little text as possible in order to highlight their artwork more than my writing.  The reasoning behind this is that people are more inclined to read short articles. I waited till now to post this string of articles so that people would not be distracted by exams and school work.

So to conclude, starting tomorrow there will be one article up for each of the presenters I was able to watch present per day.  The text will be minimal in size and feature some of the comments made by fellow One-Hour Art Studio artists.  I hope you will enjoy the students’ respective artwork as much as I enjoyed the presentation.