On Friday, Apr. 14, I made my way to the John and Joan Mullen Center for the Performing Arts to attend Sunday in the Park with George, the final production in Villanova Theatre’s 2022-2023 season. I entered the show with high hopes and left with high praises.

Certainly a striking way to end the 2023 season, this critically acclaimed musical was created by esteemed musical theater composer, Stephen Sondheim, whose repertoire includes the (in)famous Sweeney Todd, and James Lapine. A powerhouse pair, after Sunday in the Park with George, the duo went on to create Into The Woods, another beloved musical.

Sunday in the Park with George brings French painter Georges Seurat’s paintings, including his famous pointillist painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, to life, with some creative liberties, of course. The musical follows two Georges, one posed to be Georges Seurat himself and the other a modern artist inspired by Seurat, juxtaposed by their counterparts, Dot, Seurat’s mistress and model, and Marie, modern George’s grandmother.

Sunday in the Park with George grapples with legacy and with human connection, with getting swept up in creating something beautiful without stopping to look at the real beauty around us, and Villanova Theatre’s production brought this world of art to life with excellent casting, musical performance, and set design, which transforms the stage into Seurat’s world of dots, light, and color.

The performers in Villanova’s production were lively and engaging with stellar vocal performances. Ryan Skerchak (as George) gave a frustratingly accurate portrayal of a preoccupied artist wrapped up in his own world, and Taylor Molt (as Dot/Marie) gave an endearing and compelling portrayal of falling in love with someone who refuses to be swept away with it (and an absolutely hilarious yet heartwarming portrayal of an old woman). The entirety of the cast truly brought Seurat’s art and Sondheim and Lapine’s vision to life.

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For more on Villanova Theatre’s production of Sunday in the Park with George, including the amazing cast and crew, check out the virtual playbill here.

Want to hear from the Dramaturg, Sloan Elle Garner? Check out the production’s Dramaturgy website here for a glimpse into her vision and inspiration, the show’s production and behind-the-scenes content, content information (including a glossary), and more.

If you’re looking for something fun to do on campus this weekend, I would highly recommend seeing Sunday in the Park with George for its closing weekend. If you’re in the mood for a post-show drink (for those of-age) and an interesting discussion with the Sloan Elle Garner, you can attend the Apr. 21 show and stay for the post-show Drinks with the Dramaturg. Tickets are available here.

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Annie Stockmal is a graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

In Finding Nemo, Dory said, “When life gets you down, do you wanna know what you’ve gotta do? Just keep swimming.”

Happy Monday, Wildcats! I hope you’re enjoying a relaxing, stress-free Easter Break! With only about a month left in the semester, we’re in the home stretch now. You only have to get through a few more weeks before exams are over and Summer Break begins (or, if you’re graduating this Spring, before you walk across that stage).

At the risk of using a quote that reignites an inescapable earworm that may have followed you through life since 2003, even as the semester gets more difficult and stressful, just keep swimming.

THIS WEEK AT FALVEY

Tuesday, April 11

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Wednesday, April 12

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Thursday, April 13

Scholarship@Villanova: Alessandra Seggi, PhD, on “Youth and Suicide in American Cinema: All the Silence We Don’t Talk About” | 4 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Friday, April 14

Villanova Gaming Society Meeting | 2:30-4:30 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Public

Sunday, April 16

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 3-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

HOLIDAYS THIS WEEK

Today, Apr. 10, is National Siblings Day, a day to appreciate (or lovingly bully) your siblings, by blood, law, or choice. And if you don’t have any siblings, Wednesday, Apr. 12 is your day to shine, as it’s National Only Child Day.

Wednesday, Apr. 12, is D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) Day. Although I probably wouldn’t recommend actually dropping everything, it’s a great opportunity to curl up somewhere cozy and crack open a good book. If you’re out of books on your list, you are always welcome to stop by Falvey and browse the stacks.

Saturday, Apr. 15 is World Art Day, a day to let your inner art-lover run wild and appreciate the art around you. If you’re feeling especially festive, you can make some art of your own. If you’re looking for a fun weekend activity, stop by an art gallery. If you’re looking to spend the day off-campus, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is always worth visiting. If you’re looking for something more local, Villanova’s on-campus gallery is a great way to see some art from artists in our own community, or you can take an art class (perhaps one with wine, if you’re of-age) with some friends. If you’re into (slightly) more modern art forms that are more than simply visual, Saturday is, fittingly, also Anime Day.

In a charitable mood? Sunday, Apr. 16, is Good Deeds Day, a day to do something good for someone else (without the intention of recognition). Whether its donating your time or money to a good cause, doing something kind for someone who needs some help, or even picking up some trash on your way to class, put some positive energy into the world by doing a good deed.

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Annie Stockmal is a graduate student in the Communication Department and graduate assistant in Falvey Library.

By Ethan Shea

On Nov. 4, Falvey Library will be co-sponsoring two events that explore the artistic potential of birds and birdwatching. A writing workshop with Nathalie Anderson, a Philadelphia poet who recently retired from Swarthmore College, will give attendees opportunities to consider the various ways of putting visual observations of these spirited creatures into words. This exercise will be supplemented by discussions of pictures and videos of birds.

A second event will celebrate the publication of a book titled Birds of North America. This book will be displayed at The Drawing Room in Philadelphia with images by Susan Hagen and poems by Nathalie Anderson and Lisa Sewell, who will all attend the event.

The first event will take place at 4 p.m. in SAC 300, and the second will occur at 6 p.m. in Falvey Library, room 205. Both will take place on Nov. 4.

To prepare for the upcoming festivities, I’ve provided a few links for those who want to dig deeper into the intersections of birds and art. In addition to literature regarding birds and bird-concerned artists, I’ve found some images of birds, all available in Villanova’s Digital Library, that will get your creative juices flowing.

Dickinson Electronic Archives

These archives give curious readers the opportunity to explore anything and everything about Emily Dickinson. Her poem A Bird, came down the Walk is one of the most famous examples of bird-inspired poetry. In fact, the upcoming writing workshop is named after this piece of literature!

The Raven

This poem by Edgar Allan Poe is another well known example of bird poetry. Published in 1845, The Raven is an incredibly eerie piece, giving a very different impression of bird imagery than Emily Dickinson.

Birds in Medieval English Poetry

Michael Warren’s book, Birds in Medieval English Poetry, takes readers back to the Medieval Ages in his discussion of birds as symbols in Medieval texts. The relationship between the poems Warren studies and the natural world is highly debated in this piece.

Here is a list of pictures and paintings of birds available for viewing in Falvey’s Digital Library:

• Delafield’s Ground-Warbler
• Great Auk
• Lapland Lark Bunting
• Peacock

Susan Hagen’s website is another great resource for bird images. I encourage you to check it out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ethan Shea is a first-year English Graduate Student at Villanova University and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Memorial Library.

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On Friday, Sept. 30, Villanova students attended an Art and Identity Painting Event in honor of the University’s Inclusion Week. Sponsored by the Center for Access, Success, and Achievement (CASA), Jeanne Brody, PhD, Art History Professor, discussed the role of public art, identity, and representation while students created art reflecting their identity, culture, and experience at Villanova.

Anna Jankowski ’23 CLAS, a junior communication major and Falvey Library Student Employee, says, “I loved attending this event for Inclusion Week to learn more about how art can be both functional and meaningful! I titled my piece ‘Eye-Dentity’ because I used complex colors and symbols inside my eye which represented a part of me. I included some aspects that were very obviously tied to my identity, like my astrological birth sign. Other symbols, like a flower, were more abstract and represent the growth I’ve gone through to bloom as my current self. I included a nature collage around my eye to represent the beautifully complicated world we live in and how I, and the things I love, fit into that world.”

Stop by Falvey Library’s first floor to see Jankowski’s painting and art crafted by students who attended the event!

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Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 

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By Anna Jankowski

This year marked the inaugural Inclusion Week at Villanova University. The series, which ran from Sept. 27-Oct. 1, was sponsored by the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) in partnership with many groups on campus. In honor of the series, the Center for Access, Success and Achievement (CASA)  and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) invited students to an “Art and Identity” painting event on Thursday, Sept. 30 in the Idea Lab (ground floor of Falvey Memorial Library). This painting event was one of the final events of the week, which celebrated the various intersecting identities on campus.

Students learned about how identity closely impacts art and how we may not be conscious of the ways that art is all around us. Public art on campus includes The Awakening, also known as the “Oreo,” as well as St. Augustine’s Students in front of the St. Augustine Center. Students learned and discussed the differences between these two art pieces on campus in terms of interaction with the pieces and their significance to our community.

During this Courageous Conversation workshop, students were able to create their own art projects linked to their unique identities. First, students took a close-up selfie of one eye, and then they sat down to sketch their own eye on a canvas. Next, students picked various symbols or drawings to represent their experiences and identities. Some students chose the Spotify logo, and some chose flags of countries from which they originate. Some students represented their major through a beaker full of chemicals.

Each student interpreted the project in a different way! No two eyes looked alike.

This was a great way to cap off Villanova’s Inclusion Week and to celebrate the various individual intersecting identities at Villanova.

You can see these art pieces displayed on the first floor of the library from October to November. Take a closer look to see if your own identity resonates with any of the pieces displayed!

 

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Anna Jankowski CLAS ’23 is a Junior Communication Major from the Baltimore area who ​​works as a Communication & Marketing Assistant in Falvey Memorial Library.

 

 

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By Ethan Shea

To keep with recent “Cat in the Stax” themes of exploring different forms of art, and to honor the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, I want to call attention to a few visual artists of Latin-American descent.

Gaining access to these artists’ works was made easy with the help of Falvey’s Art History subject guide and a database called Artstor. Here, I was able to find plenty of images of paintings and sculptures by several artists. Scrolling through this database was like walking through a museum without ever leaving my desk, so if you enjoy visual art, I recommend you check it out! There are also plenty of art books located in our stacks that are a pleasure to thumb through.

Research aside, here are a few artists definitely worth knowing!

Graciela Iturbide

Graciela Iturbide has been featured in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as well as The J. Paul Getty Museum for her photography that focuses on the daily lives of indigenous people in Mexico. She is lauded for her ability to vividly document the lives of those she photographs in a manner that is not exploitative. Iturbide was born in Mexico City and introduced to photography as a child through her father, who would take pictures of Iturbide and her family members. Other points of inspiration for Iturbide are women’s rights and migration.

Doris Salcedo

Born in 1958, Doris Salcedo is a sculptor of Colombian descent who uses common household items to represent trauma and loss. Salcedo has witnessed family members go missing in her home nation of Colombia due to political turmoil, and she uses these personal, trumatic experiences to represent the feeling of emptiness loss brings. Salcedo has had her art featured in the Guggenheim Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the University Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico among several others. Earlier this year, Salcedo’s installation, Fragmentos, made headlines when the Colombian Ministry of Culture was accused of exploiting the piece for their own purposes, breaking from the anti-war messages carried by the piece.

Yunuen Cho

Based in New York City, Yunuen Cho is an Asian-American and Latina artist of Mexican descent, specifically of the Tarahumara people. Her piece featured here, Cow Community, is a painting inspired by Labor Day. There are many food-related elements in the piece that pay homage to the Mexican working class. Cho has several family members who are essential workers in the food industry, and this painting brings light to the fact that essential workers like them do not have the privilege of enjoying a day off like others. There are also references to specific historical events in the piece. The mushroom holding a flag with text that translates to “Land and Liberty” represents Emiliano Zapata, a leader of the Zapatista movement, a cause that fought against the Mexican government in the early 20th century in the name of agrarian rights. Cho was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, so many of her other pieces, such as Food City, are inspired by the experience of living in the American Southwest. You can find more of Yunuen Cho’s art here.

 

 

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Ethan Shea is a first-year English Graduate Student at Villanova University and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Memorial Library.

Can you feel the change in the air? Summertime is almost here!

This Friday Vibes is courtesy of Molly Proctor, the artsy “rock star” daughter of Shawn Proctor, Communications and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Library.  Are you rocking summertime, too? Send in your best photography to shawn.proctor@villanova.edu or tag @villanovalibrary on Instagram!

Earlier this year, we acquired an album of sketches by English artist Esther Borough Johnson. The album has been digitized so you can peruse it at your leisure. The album depicts various places in England, Italy, France, and other European countries. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is probably the most widely-recognized landmark in the album.

Some drawings are labeled with the name of the place depicted, but many are not. Many of the drawings are undated as well, but the dates noted in the album include 1921 and 1922.

The drawings are mainly done in graphite, although some have had color added. Many of the sketches are unfinished, likely quick drawings in situ that may have been used later as references for completed works. In addition to cityscapes, Esther drew a number of street scenes and portraits.

Esther’s art provides an intimate glimpse into several European locations in the early 1920s with an eye for more than just the typical tourist scenes. The art has been assembled into a larger album, but many of the works are done on smaller pieces of paper. It is easy to imagine Esther pulling out a small sketchbook whenever a particular scene caught her eye.

The complete album of Esther’s sketches can be viewed in our Digital Library. Elsewhere online, you can view three examples of Esther’s finished paintings at ArtUK. ArtUK also has a portrait of Esther painted by her husband Ernest Borough Johnson. The Suffolk Artists website has a brief biography of Esther.

 

 

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Check out this throwback to 1991. Students walk on campus with The Awakening statue, or what is now fondly known as the “Oreo,” in the background. The statue has been a well-loved campus landmark since 1985.

For more information on the Oreo sculpture, check out this sweet blog by Alice Bampton.

Photo Credit: Alan Nyiri, 1991.

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Regina Duffy is Communication and Marketing Program Manager at Falvey Memorial Library. She is a big fan of mint Oreos.

“As a scholar, I recognize the labor and time that goes into the composition of these #books. Each book is a unit of human time. I’m searching for a way to acknowledge what it means for that time to be over.”–Professor Alice Dailey, discussing her art project, which will transform nearly 500 deselected #shakespeare books into #art reflecting the passing of time