Thanks for being a loyal reader of our Arts Spotlight blog. As we’ve enhanced our website, we’ve changed how we display these stories. From now on, to find posts about life at Williston, please click here, bookmark the page, and check back frequently.
Another way to stay up to date on Williston news stories is to follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). We also post content to YouTube and Flickr.
Digital artist Jessie Young learned as an adult she had a condition called “face blindness,” meaning her brain processes faces differently than typical brains and, as a result, she has a hard time recognizing people. “When I learned this it felt like discovering that everyone around me had X-Men powers,” she said.
In response to this revelation, she started studying faces, really looking at them. This led to doodling faces, which led to drawing faces. She now is about halfway to her goal of creating 100 vector drawings of faces, a challenge she invented for herself, in part to show her art students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School that she can walk the walk—that she works hard for her craft, as she expects them to do. Young also teaches at Putney School during the summer. She spoke about how her drawing muscles are getting stronger because of her mission to create 100 drawings to Adobe Create Magazine. She uses Adobe Draw on her iPad and Adobe Illustrator on her Macbook Pro. “No filters, no tracing,” she said, “just marks on a surface, and from time to time I hit ‘undo.'” Continue reading
To recognize the many Williston students who put exceptional effort into their artistic pursuits, we bestow Williston Working Artist Awards. The following six students (and one faculty member) were given awards in singing, visual arts, theater, and dance during an assembly on November 1.
Tori Zingarelli ’18, who sings in the Widdigers, Teller Chorus, and the WildChords a cappella group, is building her musicianship skills in AP music theory, and will be making music through Williston Scholars in the winter. She performs as a soloist every chance she gets in concerts and assemblies, and before games sings the national anthem. She dedicates so much of her time to her music and strives to make her performances consistently exceptional. She plans to focus on voice and music in college. Continue reading
Kicking off the 2017-18 exhibit schedule at the Grubbs Gallery will be Holyoke-based painter Susannah Auferoth. Auferoth uses oil paint and often resin and/or wax on wide stretches of paper or board, resulting in compositions that resemble flat horizons. Color palates differentiate each piece, as do the grades of hue in each stratum, and the subtle markings on each plane. Continue reading
A play cannot exist without a stage manager, especially a play with lights, props, entrances, exits, movement, story, and flow. The person who received the Williston Working Artist Award on May 10 is someone who remains invisible during performances, but without her, Williston literally could not have put on a show, theater director Emily Ditkovski said as she presented the award.
As stage manager of the spring production of Peter and the Starcatcher, Risa Tapanes ’18 was responsible for knowing every component of the production, including every actor’s blocking (movement on stage) and when each prop should come and go.
“When I am lost, I turn to Risa and she always has the answer,” Ditkovski said. “You probably don’t know that during each performance Risa sits high above the stage calling the show from the booth—telling our light board operator to change light cues (in Peter and the Starcatcher there were over 150). Risa isn’t just calling ‘Cue 3, standby. Cue 3, Go.’ She is living and breathing the performance with the actors, telling the story through these cues.”
Risa puts countless hours into her work inside and out of rehearsal making sure she knows the show backwards and forwards. “She is a leader,” Ditkovski added, “someone our cast and crew can always count on, and is one of the reasons our 1,000-plus audience members felt the magic of Peter and the Starcatcher.”
Williston conferred the Williston Working Artist Award on two students at an assembly on April 5. Triniti Slaughter ’18 and Yana Pyryalina ’18 received the awards, which recognize exemplary effort and mastery of an art form.
Emily Ditkovski, visual and performing arts teacher and director of the Williston Theatre, spoke about Triniti’s devotion to dance and acting. “With lines and blocking memorized, the cast of Peter and the Starcatcher are busy putting together all of the pieces of the show. With moving set pieces and actors swimming and flying across the stage, we have our work cut out for us. It is certainly not easy.” She continued: “The Williston Working Artist award in the theater goes to a cast member who has embraced this challenge fully. Never missing a beat (literally and figuratively) and always there for her fellow starcatchers, Triniti demonstrates the camaraderie, creativity, and focus an actor needs. Continue reading
Peter and the Starcatcher unfolds the origin story of Peter Pan, and in doing so, invites theater-goers to join a heroic journey. The Williston Northampton School’s theater program presents the play April 27 to 29, and May 4 to 6 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available here and go on sale on April 1. They cost $10 general admission and $7 for students and seniors.
The young adult book on which this play is based was co-written by humorist Dave Barry, and the play offers contemporary jokes and is told in a tongue-in-cheek style, said Williston Theater Director Emily Ditkovski. The Broadway production of Peter and the Starcatcher was nominated for a Tony award for best play in 2016.
According to Ditkovski, the play explores the often-dark path to find one’s best self. “There is no straight trajectory. The messiness of the journey is really important,” she said. “But that best self is there. It’s findable.” Continue reading
Justin Kim’s work, on view at Williston’s Grubbs Gallery through April 28, combines the grand tradition of figure painting with a contemporary sensibility, exploring themes including archetype, pastiche, authenticity, and the relationship between technology and the artist’s hand. In addition to landscapes and figures, Kim works on miniature collages, combining forms and figures from traditional painting. His work generates tension between artifice and reality while challenging traditional painting structures.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Kim received a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A. from the American University in Washington, D.C. He interned with the artist David Hockney, and has taught at Yale, Dartmouth College, Smith College, and Deep Springs College in California. The recipient of several residencies and awards, he has exhibited both regionally and nationally.
Winter is no time for hibernation in the Arts Department. Students are busy rehearsing, creating, and learning new techniques, and a raft of performances and exhibits will give them a showcase for their talent and hard work.
Speaking of talent and hard work, Mark Wei ’17 received the Williston Working Artist Award, bestowed to those who go above and beyond in effort and achievement in the arts. This fall, Mark returned to campus after a summer internship at a Beijing studio determined to become a photographer. “It’s obvious that Mark has found his passion,” said photography teacher Ed Hing ’77. “He spends most of his waking hours in the Photo Lab thinking, creating, and making images. He aims for perfection in pursuit of his vision. The results have been exceptional and inspiring.” Congratulations, Mark!
On the heels of a daylong visit from Berklee College of Music student a cappella singers Pitch Slapped (read more here), Williston welcomed pianist Aaron Diehl. Diehl is one of the most sought after jazz virtuosos, consistently playing with what the New York Times describes as “melodic precision, harmonic erudition, and elegant restraint.” Diehl’s meticulously thought-out performances, collaborations, and compositions are a leading force in today’s generation of jazz contemporaries, spearheading a distinct union of traditional and fresh artistry. He was on campus to deliver a master class to Mario Flores’ instrumental students before his performance at the UMass Fine Arts Center with Grammy-winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant and fellow pianist Adam Birnbaum, playing songs by Jelly Roll Morton and George Gershwin. Read more about his visit here.
But there is still more to look forward to!
Mario Flores’s instrumental students got a treat yesterday when acclaimed pianist Aaron Diehl stopped by campus and delivered an impromptu master class. “It was a fantastic opportunity for our students!” said Flores, who leads the Williston’s orchestral and jazz programs and teaches music here.
Diehl is a sought-after jazz virtuoso, playing with what the New York Times describes as “melodic precision, harmonic erudition, and elegant restraint.” He will perform tonight at the UMass Fine Arts Center with Grammy-winning vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant and fellow pianist Adam Birnbaum, playing songs by Jelly Roll Morton and George Gershwin.
“We had four students play and work with him,” Flores said. Students brought a piano piece they were working on, either already learned or just beginning to master. Diehl listened and then provided feedback and suggestions about everything from expression of emotion to concrete advice about fingerings and hand position. “It was a casual but professional learning moment for our kids,” Flores said.
