January 24, 2020
ArtsUW Roundup: Preserving Elephants in the Age of Extinction, Brian Brooks Moving Company, The Best of Everything, and more
This week in the arts, experience a free concert at Benaroya Hall commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, attend a lecture about the story of Shawn Wong’s rediscovery of “No-No Boy,” and more! To learn about more events taking place, visit ArtsUW.
Music of Remembrance: Art from Ashes – Free Concert Commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz
January 27, 5:30 pm | Benaroya Hall
Seattle-based Music of Remembrance (MOR) presents Art From Ashes, a free community-wide concert marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In this program commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Music of Remembrance’s ensemble joins forces with the Northwest Boychoir, the Seattle Girls Choir, and the University of Washington Chamber Orchestra.
Free, RSVP required | More Info
Art Wolfe and Dr. Samuel Wasser: Preserving Elephants in the Age of Extinction
January 29, 7:30 pm | Town Hall Seattle
Legendary for their size and intelligence, elephants are one of the most charismatic of megafauna. That they are under siege from poachers is no secret, and the rapidity of their declining numbers is horrifying. However, amidst the steady stream of bad news, photographer Art Wolfe and author Dr. Samuel Wasser offer hope that all is not lost.
Wolfe and Wasser make their way to Town Hall with inspiring accounts from their book Wild Elephants: Conservation in the Age of Extinction. Through stunning visuals and groundbreaking research, Wolfe and Wasser show how global education about these gentle giants seems to be succeeding, and recent government crackdowns are lowering the price of ivory and discouraging poachers. Join Wolfe and Wasser to celebrate local and government initiatives that are rising to preserve the natural heritage of elephant population, and learn what we can do to safeguard the survival of this magnificent species.
Art Wolfe is an award-winning photographer who has worked on every continent and in hundreds of locations over his forty-year career. His stunning images interpret and record the world’s fast-disappearing natural treasures.
Dr. Samuel Wasser has participated in conservation programs around the world and is acknowledged worldwide as a pioneer of noninvasive wildlife monitoring methods. He is the director of the Center for Conservation Biology and holds the endowed chair in Conservation Biology at the University of Washington.
$5 tickets | More info
Friends of the Libraries Annual Lecture: ‘No-No Boy’: The Story of How a Novel Goes From 1,500 Copies Sold to 158,000 Copies
January 30, 7:00 pm | Kane Hall
In the early 1970s, Shawn Wong and group of young Asian American writers discovered the novel, “No-No Boy” by John Okada, in a used bookstore for fifty cents. Originally published in 1957, it had not sold out 15 years later. No one had read it and the author had died believing his novel was rejected and forgotten. Wong will share rediscovery story of “No-No Boy” — how young Asian American writers urged a new audience to recognize the book’s importance and launched its journey from obscurity to canonical work in Asian American literature.
January 30 – February 1, 8:00 pm | Meany Hall – Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater
The Brian Brooks Moving Company is, as its name suggests, all about moving, and the audacious choreographic style of Brooks continues to “shatter conventional notions of the human capacity for strength and endurance” (Dance Magazine). In this Meany Center performance, Brooks investigates the intimate spaces between bodies on the stage and within the virtual space created by immersive technologies. The program includes two world premieres developed during his UW residency: a solo piece performed by Brooks and Closing Distance,an ensemble work with music by Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw. Also included are the Seattle premieres of Torrent plus the intricate duet, MOTOR.
Arrive early to experience Drawing Room, a lobby installation using augmented reality movement tools developed by Brooks during his residency at the UW.
Discounts available for UW staff, faculty and students | More Info and Tickets
Marisa Williamson: Angel of History
Exhibition: January 28 – February 28 / Reception: February 7 (RSVP)| Jacob Lawrence Gallery
The 2020 Jacob Lawrence Resident, Marisa Williamson, will present newly commissioned work in the exhibition Angel of History.
In Walter Benjamin’s interpretation of the Paul Klee painting, Angelus Novus (New Angel) in his Theses on the Philosophy of History, he explains Klee’s angel as moving away from something he is fixedly contemplating. Since 2013, Williamson has been fixedly contemplating the life, work, choices, and legacy of Sally Hemings, enslaved mother of four of Thomas Jefferson’s children. This exhibition moves out from that extended contemplation, engaging with questions of monument and memory.
Free | More Info
The Best of EverythingFebruary 1 – 16 | Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse
Adapted by Julie Kramer from the book by Rona Jaffe
Directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton
A sensational career, thrilling adventures, and a husband and children (eventually)—that’s what the women in the Fabian Publishing typing pool want: nothing less than the best of everything. UW Drama faculty member Valerie Curtis-Newton directs Julie Kramer’s adaptation of Rona Jaffe’s 1958 novel, a funny, candid, clear-eyed glimpse into the lives of working women in Mad Men-era New York, through the gaze of the women themselves (as well as fabulous costumes, of course.)
$8 – $20 Tickets | More Info and Tickets
