Stories about "Arts"
Carrie Cushman to join Bates as director of the Bates College Museum of Art

Thursday, May 15, 2025 8:00 am

Cushman comes to Bates from the University of Hartford, where she is the Edith Dale Monson Gallery Director and Curator at the Hartford Art School.

Taking place in the spring of each year, this exhibition highlights work selected from the thesis projects of graduating seniors in Studio Art. This year, seven emerging artists will present work in various media: Lilah Schaefer ’25 with her work in her Olin Studio Elizabeth R. Barrow Miryam Keller Avery Lehman Erin McCarthy Alex Provasnik Lila Schaefer Danny J. Zuniga Zarat Thesis projects vary from student to student, each pursuing an individual interest. The emphasis of the program is on creating a cohesive body of related works through sustained studio practice and critical inquiry. The year-long process is overseen by Art & Visual Culture (AVC) faculty, and culminates in this exhibition. The Bates College Museum of Art maintains a close relationship with the college’s AVC department, and is committed to supporting the work of Bates students through this Annual Senior Thesis Exhibition. To see more about the artists’ work, visit the website: https://www.bates.edu/museum/exhibitions/senior-thesis-exhibition-2025/
Portraits of the student artists in the 2025 Senior Thesis Exhibition

Friday, April 25, 2025 10:08 am

Read selections from this year's seven studio art majors' artist statements, illustrated with photographic portraits of the seniors in their Olin Arts Center studios created by Phyllis Graber Jensen.

Sophie Hafter ’25 of Brooklyn, N.Y., crafts faux birch trees for upcoming performance of ‘The Seagull’ by Anton Chekov Serene but surreal: Sophie Hafter ’25 and the art of making theatrical magic How magic is made: Sophie Hafter ’25 crafts faux birch trees for upcoming performance of ‘The Seagull’ The magic touch: Sophie Hafter ’25 brings theater to life with scenic arts creations Shown in the set shop where she paints the paper that will be wrapped around cardboard to make birch trees for the Schaeffer Theatre stage; shown on Alumni Walk with her paper trees amidst the real birch trees; and then back in Schaeffer Theatre where she continues fashioning trees. Shown with Professor of French and Francophone Studies Kirk Read who performs in the play, and with director Joshua N Hsu. Konstantin is a young playwright struggling with his artistic identity and complicated relationship with his famous actor mother, Arkadina. Konstantin’s also in love with Nina, a naive aspiring actor, who’s also infatuated with the more successful writer Trigorin, Arkadina’s lover. Aspirations, family, and romantic entanglements inevitably collide, testing Konstantin and Nina’s sense of worth and purpose. Chekhov’s wry classic skillfully intertwines the ordinary with the poetic, illustrating the duality of human existence: an existence where our dreams give us the drive to move forward, but our decisions haunt us at every turn. “The Seagull” is a darkly comedic exploration of unfulfilled ambitions, unrequited love, and the bittersweet nature of artistic success. Content Warning This production includes strong sexual content, mental illness, self-harm, intentional self-injury, discussion of suicide, alcohol abuse, offstage gunshots, simulations of using tobacco, and a realistic-looking firearm prop.
As the multitalented stage manager for ‘The Seagull,’ Sophie Hafter ’25 barks up the right trees

Wednesday, March 5, 2025 10:00 am

It’s winter, but birch trees have sprouted in Schaeffer Theatre — crafted by stage manager Sophie Hafter '25, whose scenic artistry helps "The Seagull" glide between realism and the avant-garde.

7–8pm | MLK Day Spoken Word Festival Presentation: The Multifaith Chaplaincy celebrates the voices that propelled the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with performances from poets, spoken word artists, and musicians. The second annual MLK Day Spoken Word festival brings together powerful poetry and soulful song around the theme “Bending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence.” Featured artists for the evening are acclaimed poet and co-executive director of Maine Inside Out, Joseph Jackson, and beloved singer Kenya Hall whom Rolling Stone dubbed a “soul powerhouse.” Students Misaki Fukushima ’25, Ahmednoor Hassan ’27, Bora Lugunda ’25, and Oleksii Sverbyvus ’28 will also perform pieces at the festival. Location: Gomes Chapel Program Welcome: Raymond Clothier Spoken Word: Joseph Jackson Music Kenya Hall Poetry: Oleksii Sverbyvus ’28 Poetry/Dance Misaki Fukushima ’25 Spoken Word: Ahmednoor Hassan ’27 Poetry: Bora Laguna ’25 Spoken Word: Joseph Jackson Music: Kenya Hall
Slideshow: Hour by hour on MLK Day 2025 with Bates faculty, staff, students, and friends

Friday, January 24, 2025 11:20 am

This year’s MLK Day celebration, themed “Bending Toward Justice: Peace and Nonviolence,”…

A visit to the Looking Ahead Clubhouse in Lewiston by the Gather Hear Tour by pianist Miki Sawada (seen at the piano). Looking Ahead is a program for adults with mental illness based on the Clubhouse Model of Rehabilitation. Jahan Baker-Wainwright ’25 (blue crewneck sweater), a biochemistry major from Cottage Grove, Wis., performed Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata, op. 13, the third movement, on the piano. Assistant Professor of Music Zen Kuriyama (down coat) sang Franz Schubert’s “Der Doppelgänger” and “An die Musik,” accompanied by Miki Sawada on piano. Marrich Somridhivej ’26 (quilted pullover), a biology major from South Windsor, Conn., performed Amy Beach’s “Summer Dreams,” op. 47, no. 2 and 3, with Miki Sawada on the piano (four hand). Chiharu Naruse (glasses, black coat), Bates piano teacher, collaborative pianist, is seen at the picnic table and as a page-turner when the wind came up.
At a Lewiston clubhouse, a musical performance that’s ‘less about perfection, and more about connecting’

Friday, November 1, 2024 1:24 pm

Two Bates students and a newly appointed professor of music helped to bring the soothing beauty of music, through piano and voice, to an audience at the Looking Ahead Clubhouse, a vocational center in Lewiston for adults living with mental illness.

Bates Alumni and Students in the News: Nov. 1, 2024

Friday, November 1, 2024 12:14 pm

This edition’s items include a new documentary celebrating civil rights leader Benjamin Mays, Class of 1920, astonishing art sales by painter Takako Yamaguchi ’75, and humanitarian efforts by Army veteran Christine Quinn Antal ’98.

bluejay mural
Picture Story: A new wave of public art in downtown Lewiston

Friday, September 13, 2024 2:48 pm

Colorful, surprising, and shared by all, a new wave of downtown public art builds community in Lewiston.

“I’m having a blast working with a student. She’s absolutely wonderful.” — Grounds and maintenance worker Ian Brownlie enjoys working with his summer colleague, Vyshu Viju ‘26 of Atlanta. The two took a break from beautifying the campus by trimming bushes, weeding, and raking mulch. “The favorite part of my summer and Short Term is working with students,” Brownlie says.
Slideshow: This Summer at Bates

Thursday, August 22, 2024 1:04 am

When it comes to this summer at Bates, life flows on — gently and purposefully, and steadily preparing for the new year to come.

In Gomes Chapel, a Buddhist healing ritual grows, one grain of sand at a time

Friday, June 28, 2024 11:50 am

Created in Gomes Chapel this week by Tibetan nuns, the colorful, exquisite sand mandala will be dissolved into Lake Andrews, but its healing energy will remain.

From ‘Rugrats’ to 50th Reunion, Norton Virgien ’74 traces his career as a Hollywood animator

Thursday, June 6, 2024 10:21 am

"My career has alternated between projects that I've loved, and time looking for the next project that I'm going to love,” said Virgien, an award-winning TV and fiml animator, this year's Distinguished Alumnus in Residence and a member of the 50th Reunion class returning to Bates this weekend.

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