OCR Text |
Show ••I IN~f 11 H;J '1 •;J •If---------------------- ARTS &LEISU THETHUNDERBIRD· S0UTHERNUTAHUN1VERSITY• MONDAY,MARCH8, 1993 • PAGE 9 Braithwaite exhibit-sharing distracts from quality contents REVIEW BY BEN WEST Thunderbird Corre,pondent The finest from Utah's communication arts field are fean1red this month in the large exhibit area of the Braithwaite Gallery. The exhibition pieces, featuring de igns for posters, magazine and newspaper ads, letterheads and billboards, were selected by the Art Directors of Salt lake City for the show curren.tly displayed not only at SUU's Braithwaite Gallery, but at all university galleries statewide. While there are apparent benefits to exhibiting this show at all university galleries simultaneously (giving all Utah graphics srudents a chance ro see whar is being done locally), this exhibit-sharing distracts from the show's content, calling attention to a sense of usurface" orienration, making it seem omewhat superficial. Rather than having reproductions of the final de ign, it might have been more interesting for viewers (and more helpful for graphics students) t have included original earlier sketches and ideas for each design, documenting the idea process, adding insight, originality, a history, and above all, a greater sense of each work' depth. Additionally, the informal way of displaying these works (fa tened di rt.'Ctly to the wall) and the occasionally poor job done in mounting them ( for example the More Cups than Dixie design for the Crossroads Mall) are further distractions from the acrual content of the show. But the actual content, in the end, overcomes any flaws, and reflects well on the quality and degree of ralent working on design in Utah. While it is usually difficult to feel "dose" to artworks designed for commercial use, and while chat is the case, to a certai n degree, with some of the works presented here, one must judge these pieces with a separate criteria from usual gallery content, for, essentially, it is not d1e function of graphic design to establish a personal repertoire between viewer and artist, but instead, to establish relations between viewer and client. Several designs function supremely on chi , and several other artistic levels. One app reciates and admires the luminous bird designs of BYU's graphics department, and one can discern the quirky influence of illustrator Heinrik Dresher in the Soiree a la card design fo r the Utah Aids Foundation. Al o, the Modest Genius woodcut by Kate H. Joh n on for Salt Lake's Phillips Galleries makes use of tl1e full and startli ng effects of that media. Occupying the gallery's small display area this month, and somewhat bala ncing tl1e mo re commercial aspects of the larger show, is a senior student exhibit of ceramics by Stephen Jones. Jones' work, an impressive and thorough study of glazi ng techniques, seems to focus itself around manners of making the ceramic media durable yet delicate. His onion-shaped Ash vase and Lattice #I are intriguing by in tilling a sense of fragility into a media not usually associated with such ideas. Stephen E. ]ones, a senior art major at SUU, explairu his artwork to Paige Eynon, a ,ophomore an Tl'llljor. Jones' work is on display in the nnaU gallery ac the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery. Small Ensembles Concert is scheduled for Tuesday The winter quarter Small Ensembles concert will be pcesented by the SUU music department Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Thorley Reciral Hall. The performing groups will include the large and small brass ensembles, directed by Gary L Reeves, SU associate professor of music; the flute choir, directed by Virginia K. Stitt, associate professor of music; and the string ensemble, under the direction of Thomas E. Silliman, assistant professor of music. The small brass ensemble will open the concert with compositions by Edward MacDowell, Giovanni Gabrielli and Joseph Moureaut The Moureaut piece is titled Rondeau, and is most commonly heard by the public as the theme music for PBS' Ma.sterpiece Theater. The flute choir will perform the Paoone by Gabrid Paure and Da~a Mexicana by Jacobo Datshlcovslcy. The large brass ensemble will present woTk.s by Matthew Lxke, Randall Croley and Aaron Copland. The Copland piece will be the popular Fanfare fOT the Common Man. The string ensemble will conclude the program with the Siwer and Gold Wal~. by Franz Lehar and the Holberg Suite by Edward Grieg. Chekhov's classic 'The Sea Gull' well presented REVIEW BY JEFF HOWARD Thunderbird Sraff Writer Opening night of The Sea Gull was a success. The play, at two and-a-half hours in length, is a fairly Literal reading of Chekhov's classic. Part comedy, part drama, the audience was surprised, shocked, and amused. Everything was extremely well presented. The scenery was fairly straightforward, no doubt at the directors request The large set piece used in the third and fourth actll was very effective and well conceived. The cosrumes served their purpose by not detracting from what was being said by the actors. Something a bit more flashy or opulent might have been considered for the Madame Arlcadina character. The makeup was very well done on some characters especially Sorin and Nina, though on llya and Polina we are expected to believe that they are old enough to be Masha's parents-it's a stretch. The performances ranged from fantastic to adequate. The best performances were by Jeannine Tidwell as Nina and Shannon Otte as Trigorin. It helped that they had many scenes together and much dialogue but they were both simply wonderful. Jeannine possessed the angelic radiance that made her character so easy to watch and likeable. When it came rime to rum on the fire in the third and fourth acn. she was quite convincing. Shannon, on the other hand, appeared troubled from the first cene. His longer sides done facing the audience were intriguing and sufficiently foreshadowed his character's role in this complex play. R. Matthew Benton was a plea ure to watch as he played his part ro its full comic potential. He was so good that I found myself watching him when I should be watching one of the leads. Pam Baheshti can emote like few others. The dull fury that bums in her character was conveyed extremely well with minimal dialogue. I could fell the heat coming off of her in the fourth row. I can't forget Christy Tice. Her portrayal of Madame Arkadina was so convincing, so professiqnal, that I got the impression she might be a member of Actor's Equity or an artist-in-residence. She should be more careful with diction in extremely emotional scenes-I desperately wanted ro hear what she was saying but some of it got lost in her accent.' Not to be insulting to the other players but no one else truly st.cod out This is, in several cases, due to the narure of Chekhov. Some characters sttuggles are more in~malized and not meant to be in the foreground of the action. However, I think that the character of Kostya should possess a little more of the tension and confusion that h.is dialogue would indicate. Although nothing new, Richard Bugg's staging of The Sea GuU is very good and should be seen by all. It's refreshing to see some "serious drama" being done outside of the Shakespearean Festival. |