Mikey Arsnow ’14 is a member of the Deansmen. Here he explains the dynamic within Bates’ oldest all-male a cappella group.

The Bates art museum is closed during summer 2013 for the replacement of its old halogen lights (shown in this image of Fransje Killaars’ 2013 exhibition “Color at the Center”) with energy-saving LEDs.

The Bates College Museum of Art is closed for the summer for the installation of a state-of-the-art (so to speak) lighting system.

New LED lighting will dramatically cut the museum’s electrical consumption, because LEDs not only use less electricity than the museum’s current halogen lights, but run much cooler, reducing the air conditioning burden.

Other benefits will directly affect the experience of viewing art in the 27-year-old museum, explains director Dan Mills. For one, the new fixtures afford more flexibility in aiming and shaping the projected light. “We’ll have a menu of lighting solutions that we can apply to our artworks and exhibitions,” Mills says.

The new system will also protect artwork. For one thing, the LEDs don’t emit ultraviolet light, which can degrade artwork. They can be dimmed without changing the color of the light, which will enable the museum to display light-sensitive works more effectively under reduced lighting.

A far cry from the feeble red light-emitting diodes of the 1970s and ’80s, today’s LEDs “are a technology that has evolved significantly in recent years,” Mills says.

Totaling more than 100 fixtures, the new lights will be installed in exhibition areas on both floors of the museum, located in Bates’ Olin Arts Center, on Russell Street.

The system will cut electrical consumption by 60 percent just for running the lights, with additional savings in climate control. Though LEDs cost more up front than other lighting systems, they pay for themselves relatively quickly through energy conservation.

The LED units are made by Lighting Services Inc. of Stony Point, N.Y.

The units are not base fixtures with replaceable bulbs like halogen or incandescent lights, but instead come as single integrated pieces. They have a life expectancy of at least 17 years, Mills says. Such longevity will spare museum staff considerable trouble. In the main-floor gallery alone, bulbs in the old system failed at the rate of 10 or so per exhibition, Mills explains.

“This meant we’d have to rent a hydraulic lift a few times per show, and staff would have to go up to replace lamps. With the new system, we’ll only need the lift once per exhibition,” to aim and adjust the fixtures.

The dimming controls are “computer-controlled and very sophisticated,” he adds, “allowing us to set and closely manage manage light levels.”

The installation will require rewiring and structural work in the ceilings. At the same time, floor and wall surfaces will be replaced.

The work is estimated to total some $221,000, with the lighting work accounting for $190,000.

The museum reopens Sept. 13 with the exhibition Redefining the Multiple: 13 Japanese Printmakers.

Bates Museum of Art interns Eliza Pyne ’13, at left, and Irem Ikizler ’15 discuss the art of Fransje Killaars in a March gallery talk for Killaars’ “Color at the Center,” an exhibition they helped prepare. Photograph by Michael Bradley/Bates College.

Until last winter, “I never handled a work of art other than my own,” says Doug Welsh ’14, a studio art major from San Ramon, Calif.

That changed when Welsh became a curatorial intern at the Bates College Museum of Art. Working with museum director Dan Mills, Welsh helped produce an exhibition of prints by Max Klinger, an intriguing 19th-century German artist whose work anticipated Surrealists like Salvador Dalí.

Welsh got to examine the Klinger prints up close and personal — wearing white cotton gloves and making notes with pencil, not pen, to avoid any risk of smudges or stains on the art.

“It was really cool,” Welsh says. “It’s entirely different when the art is outside of the glass and not on the museum wall.”

“To work directly with objects, to handle and learn about them and from them, to care for them, is an invaluable experience,” says museum curator Bill Low.

It’s an experience that a small museum “can provide in amazing ways” for students, he adds.

“When they study extraordinary works, or works by great artists, students are understandably awed and excited,” Low says. ” ‘Yes, this beautiful drawing is actually by Matisse. Yes, Cezanne worked directly on this rare lithograph.’ ”

Doug Welsh ’14 worked with art museum director Dan Mills, left, to organize an exhibition of prints by 19th-century artist Max Klinger. Photograph courtesy of the Bates College Museum of Art.

Welsh was one of five interns involved in organizing exhibitions at the museum during the fall and winter of 2012-13. Two more curatorial interns, Cara Garcia-Bou ’13 of Eastchester, N.Y., and Nell Wachsberger ’13 of New York City, assisted with the exhibition Selections from the Permanent Collection: Recent Acquisitions, a showcase of museum purchases and gifts from alumni and friends.

For those three, the work entailed research into the artworks and artists, in addition to preparing the artworks for showing.

Two other students had a very different kind of experience. Eliza Pyne ’13 of Atherton, Calif., and Irem Ikizler ’15 of Nashville, Tenn., worked side-by-side with renowned Dutch artist Fransje Killaars on the creation of Color at the Center, a powerful exhibition of fabric installations that was divided between the Bates museum and Museum L/A, located in a former textile mill in downtown Lewiston.

Pyne and Ikizler were an important part of an installation crew of museum and facilities staff and local artists. “It’s unusual for students to have an opportunity to work so closely with a noted international artist and with community members,” said Mills. “They also presented a fine gallery talk about the Killaars exhibition and shared their insights with the public.”

For Ikizler and Pyne, working with the energetic and exacting Killaars was an unmatched experience. There was physical work (including ironing) and for Pyne, the opportunity to participate in a performance at the show’s opening while draped in one of Killaars’ fabric creations.

Most important, the pair were privy to many of the negotiations between artist and institution that led to a completed exhibition. “This understanding of collaboration is a concept that will ultimately serve me well in any field I work in,” says Ikizler.

Choosing works for the exhibition of recent additions to the museum’s collection, Wachsberger and Garcia-Bou had to make decisions about representing and explaining different media, and what to tell viewers in wall texts.

Seniors Nell Wachsberger, standing, and Cara Garcia-Bou helped prepare an exhibition of recent museum acquisitions. Photograph courtesy of the Bates College Museum of Art.

That gave Garcia-Bou insight into the factors a museum considers as it reaches out to diverse audiences. “At first the responsibility was a little scary,” she says. “But once we started thinking about who our audience was, it was easier to make the decisions.”

Welsh, too, needed to draft wall texts. There was library time involved, but because Welsh turned up only three books about Klinger (one by the artist himself), Mills urged Welsh to include his own interpretations of the work along with historical or technical perspectives.

He kept a museum journal and visited the works at length to develop sound impressions. “It was very personal and reflective,” says Welsh. A work like “Fallen Rider,” with a man pinned under his horse as a wolf and a flock of ravens look on, was rich with possible meanings.

“Klinger’s subject matter is just so fantastical and strange, and he plays with ambiguity and multiplicity,” Welsh says.

The Bates museum hosts three to six interns per semester — most often art and visual culture majors, but “we’ve had interns majoring in education, American cultural studies, women and gender studies, and more,” says Low. Interns work with education curator Anthony Shostak as well as Low and Mills. Access to the collections is integral all to the internships.

In addition to curatorial interns, there are collection-management interns who do research, process new acquisitions, maintain the collection database and assess the condition of works.

The staff prepares readings for the students to provide theoretical context for the hands-on work, and coordinates with the students’ advisers to ensure the experience is supporting the students’ larger academic goals. The interns produce reports at the end of their projects.

With a small staff, the museum benefits from the interns’ help. But what the students gain is irreplaceable: “a comparatively rare opportunity for hands-on work in a museum setting,” says Low. “It’s high-level work, access to collections and really professional training.

“It’s harder for larger museums to provide those kinds of opportunities.”

Corey Harris performs in 2008 at Bates College, where he is a member of the class of 1991. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College.

Enjoy three distinctly different approaches to that quintessential American music, the blues, as Bates College presents its new outdoor music series, Concerts on the Quad.

Concerts on the Quad performances take place at 6:30 on three summer Thursdays on Bates’ Historic Quad, at College Street and Campus Avenue. Admission to the series is free, and audience members are encouraged to bring picnics and chairs or blankets.

Blues, gospel and jazz singer Francine Reed returns to Bates Aug. 15.

Taking the place of the college’s Midsummer Lakeside Concerts, the new series continues Bates’ long and popular tradition of presenting outdoor music for the whole family. For more information, please call 207-786-6400.

Here are the Concerts on the Quad performers:

• Corey Harris, a singer-songwriter featured in the Martin Scorsese blues documentary Feel Like Going Home, opens the series with a solo show on July 18.
• A Portland bluesman praised as a “guardian of lightning,” Samuel James offers a solo performance on Aug. 1.
• In her third visit to Bates, veteran blues, gospel and jazz singer Francine Reed performs with her band on Aug. 15.

Bargain hunters descend on Underhill Arena for Bate’s popular Clean Sweep sale.

A “garage sale” on a massive scale that benefits the environment, community organizations and countless satisfied shoppers, Bates College’s Clean Sweep returns for the 13th year from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at Underhill Arena, 145 Russell St.

As students pack up to leave Bates at the end of the school year, they donate to Clean Sweep all kinds of still-valuable possessions — electronics and toys, household goods and small furnishings, bikes and books, sporting goods and more. Faculty, staff and the college itself also donate items.

It’s a win-win-win-win situation: Shoppers find treasures at bargain prices, still-usable goods are kept out of the waste stream and the proceeds go to local nonprofits, who in turn supply volunteers to staff the sale.

To learn more, please call 207-786-6207.

Bates is one of a number of colleges and universities nationwide that hold such sales. Last year’s event at Bates raised a record $21,223 that was divided among 14 local nonprofit organizations.

Located in Lewiston except as indicated, the nonprofits taking part this year are: the Caleb Group (River Valley Village); Catholic Charities of Maine’s Seek Elderly Alone, Renew Courage and Hope (SEARCH) Program; the Creative Trails Program at Support Solutions; the Dominican Sisters; First Universalist Church, Auburn;

Also, the Justice, Ecology and Democracy Collective, Greene; the Life Center at John F. Murphy Homes, Auburn; Lots to Gardens; the Root Cellar; the Share Center, Auburn; Somali Bantu Community Association; TriCounty Mental Health Services and its Social Learning Center; and the Trinity Jubilee Center.

Kristen Cloutier of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships (kcloutie@bates.edu, 207-786-6202) is coordinating the campus response. In addition to the efforts outlined below, Bates is working to bolster the relief efforts in as many ways as possible, including volunteer recruitment and transportation, food provision for shelter residents, and campus fundraisers. This page will be updated with additional information as it becomes available.

Key Locations: Lewiston fires and the Bates and community response

How to Help

Donate

Given that donation needs are changing daily, some charitable organizations are currently encouraging the public to provide monetary and gift card donations.

On campus, monetary and gift card donations will be accepted at the Harward Center during regular business hours (8am-4:30pm M-F).

Maine Governor Paul LePage has chosen United Way of Androscoggin County to administer the Lewiston Fire Relief Fund. Donations can be made online at volunteermaine.org or in person or by mail at United Way of Androscoggin County, 66 Ash Street, PO Box 888, Lewiston, ME  04243 (hours are 8am-4:30pm M-F). Checks should be made out to United Way of Androscoggin County and indicate Lewiston Fire Relief Fund in the memo line.

Additional avenues of support

• The American Red Cross – United Valley Chapter is accepting monetary donations. They may be made through the website or mailed c/o Executive Director Jennifer Gaylord, 1180 Lisbon St., Lewiston, ME. Memo line: Lewiston Downtown Fires.  Rainbow Federal Credit Union is also accepting donations for the American Red Cross at its Main Street location, 381 Main Street, Lewiston, ME  04240.
• The Salvation Army is accepting clothing donations dropped off at their thrift store location at 720 Main St., Lewiston (hours are 9am-6pm M-Sat). The Salvation Army is also accepting nonperishable items and toiletries at its facility at 67 Park St., Lewiston (hours are 9am-2pm M-F). Contact number for other items: 207-783-0801.

Volunteer

The Androscoggin Emergency Management Agency has been tasked with the distribution of material goods to fire victims as they move into their newly-leased apartments. Volunteers are needed to help deliver items like new mattresses to these apartments. If you are willing to receive volunteer requests for such work during the next 2-3 weeks, please email kcloutie@bates.edu with your name and preferred email address. You will be added to an email list that will only exist for 2-3 weeks for the sole purpose of recruiting and mobilizing volunteers for short stretches (less than a half day) of volunteer work.

Additionally, Maine Housing and other agencies are asking landlords with vacant apartments to post their vacancies for free on MaineHousingSearch.org. MaineHousing also maintains a list of subsidized housing units in Maine.

Take Part

On Wednesday, June 12, Former Governor John Baldacci invites you to a Mama Baldacci Spaghetti Dinner at Lewiston High School (156 East Avenue, Lewiston).  This event runs from 4:30-7pm.  Only $5 per person gets you Mama Baldacci’s own spaghetti and meat sauce, salad with Italian dressing, rolls and butter, desserts, coffee and punch.  Additional contributions will be gladly accepted!

A new Facebook page has been created as a follow-up to the Lewiston Unites: Community Discussion, which took place on May 22 at Longley Elementary School.  The forum offered an opportunity for residents of Lewiston to share their concerns and seek community solutions in response to the downtown fires that took place in May.

The Lewiston Unites Facebook page offers a place to share positive things happening in the community and is a gathering spot for information, events, and activites.  Please visit: https://www.facebook.com/lewiston.unites.

Hathorn Hall is silhouetted against a Bates fireworks display. Photograph by Ken Zirkel.

Residents in the neighborhood around Bates College shouldn’t be surprised to hear and see some pyrotechnics this weekend.

A student group at Bates will present fireworks over the college’s Lake Andrews starting around 9:15 p.m. Sunday, May 12.

An organization promoting Asian and Asian-American awareness, identity and fellowship at Bates, Sangai Asia sponsors a fireworks show near the end of every academic year.

GAME Day, which stands for “Gaining Athletic Mentors’ Experience,” is a collaborative effort put on by the Bates Career Development Center, the Friends of Bates Athletics and the Department of Athletics. At Saturday’s event, a panel of alumni shared how students can leverage their athletics experience for career success.

The Hot Club of San Francisco. Photograph by Lenny Gonzalez.

The Olin Arts Center Concert Hall is the setting for two don’t-miss jazz performances in May.

Masters of the sophisticated French-Gypsy swing pioneered by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, the Hot Club of San Francisco presents its Cinema Vivant film-and-music program in a joint presentation with L/A Arts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 10.

Led by a guitarist who “combines an astonishing command of the fingerboard with a seemingly endless flow of melodic invention,” according to Soundstage, the Sheryl Bailey 3 performs in an Olin Arts Alive presentation at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 17.

Tickets for the HCSF show are $20 by reservation at the L/A Arts ticketing site. Tickets for Bailey are $12, available at batestickets.com. Free tickets are available to the first 100 seniors and students who make a reservation at olinarts@bates.edu.

The Olin Arts Center is located at 75 Russell St. For more information, please call 207-786-6163 or email olinarts@bates.edu.

Hot Club of San Francisco

Jazz guitarist Sheryl Bailey.

The Hot Club of San Francisco, a quintet of accomplished and versatile musicians, celebrates the music of Reinhardt and Grappelli’s pioneering Hot Club de France.

The HCSF borrows the instrumentation of violin, bass and guitars from the original Hot Club while breathing new life into the music with innovative arrangements of classics and originals by lead guitarist Paul Mehling. The band features the amazing violin of two-time Grammy Award winner Evan Price and a swinging rhythm section.

To hear the ensemble is to return to the 1930s, the intimate jazz clubs of Paris and the elegant lounges of the Hotel Ritz. Often called Gypsy jazz, the music of the Hot Club of San Francisco has entranced audiences around the globe for more than 20 years.

“We have a swing-or-die approach to the music that’s distinctly American,” says Mehling.

At Bates, the band presents Cinema Vivant, an evening of silent films accompanied by live Gypsy swing. Two films are by European filmmaker Ladislaw Starewicz, a pioneer of stop-action animation: The Cameraman’s Revenge, a charming piece about the marital troubles of beetles, and The Mascot, an adventure story about lost toys.

From the other side of the Atlantic comes There It Is, a recently rediscovered film by American Charley Bowers, who revolutionized film in the 1920s by combining animation with live action.

Sheryl Bailey 3

“The most essential quality in a jazz musician is one’s sense of groove — time,” Bailey told guitarnoise.com writer David Hodge. “Listening to a lot of jazz is also important to get the ‘sound of jazz’ in your ear, and also, your heart.

“If you treat jazz as a science experiment, it will always sound like that — falling in love with the music is the key to open the door.”

A composer and player ranked among the foremost bop-based guitarists to emerge in the 1990s, Bailey brings organist Ron Oswanski and drummer Ian Froman to Bates for a night of hard-swinging contemporary jazz. It’s a melodic collaboration that Allaboutjazz.com reviewer Elliot Simon describes as a “communal musical journey.”

Bailey has toured extensively in the U.S. and around the world as a member of David Krakauer’s Klezmer Madness and the Jazz Guitars Meet Hendrix quartet. Her 2011 CD For All Those Living (PureMusic Records) is the most recent of her eight CDs as bandleader, and her catalog also includes the concert DVD The Sheryl Bailey 3: Live in NYC (2008, Mel Bay Records).

Bailey was chosen as a Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department in 2000 for a South American tour, and earned third place in the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Guitar competition in 1995. Hailing from Pittsburgh, Bailey studied at Berklee College of Music, where she now teaches.

Seth Warner.

The BatesDowntown concert series presents an evening of classic country, folk, blues and other roots music by the Seth Warner Trio and the duo Day for Night at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 11, at 22 Park St.

Admission is free, but tickets are required, available at batestickets.com. To learn more, contact 207-786-6163 or olinarts@bates.edu.

The Seth Warner Trio plays folk, blues, Americana and old-time country. Guitarist-singer Warner, whose performances have been described as “ethereal” by the Portland Press Herald, has appeared at venues as diverse as the Stockholm Folk and Blues Connection, the Boston Early Music Festival, WGBH radio and recently at Joe’s Pub in New York City.

Highlights from his two-decade career include performances and collaborations with the Parker String Quartet and tours with the extraordinary blues singer Francine Reed. Warner manages the Olin Arts Center at Bates and has served as executive producer for several internationally acclaimed classical recordings.

Also in the trio are Michael Desrosier, who plays electric guitar, and Tim Webb, who performs on upright bass.

Day for Night.

Hailing from northwest Portland, Doug Hubley and Gretchen Schaefer are Day for Night. They support their harmony singing with guitar and mandolin. Their inspirations include Merle Haggard, Webb Pierce, Lefty Frizzell, George Jones and some of country’s premiere brother acts — the Stanley Brothers, the Everly Brothers, the Louvin Brothers.

The pair, who first made music together in the 1990s as members of the Cowlix and the Boarders, combine wry humor with a bedrock reverence for musical tradition as they cover about three decades’ worth of country music — in addition to a growing list of Hubley originals, including “Bittersweet” and “The Ceiling,” both available on their ReverbNation site. “The Ceiling” is also for sale on iTunes.

Day for Night is a popular attraction at the annual Cornish Apple Festival and performs regularly at the Portland wine bar Blue. The band has also appeared at the Cornish Inn; the Frog and Turtle Gastropub, Westbrook; the Last Church on the Left, Portland; and in a variety of Bates productions.

Like Warner, Hubley is a Bates employee — college writer in the Bates Communications Office.