Exhibition marks Hurricane Katrina anniversary
This past August — five years after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans — an exhibition opened in the Clifford Gallery that gave visitors the sense of living in the Crescent City following the devastation. Behind the Levees is a progression of Francis Cape’s art that began in November 2005, when the New York–based artist was hired to help the Louisiana State Museum salvage some of its contents.


A photograph from Francis Cape’s Waterline exhibition.

    Cape’s New Orleans–inspired work began with a series of photographs titled Waterline. Taken in the Gentilly neighborhood, the pictures are of
homes that not only share the common theme of destruction, but also have visible water stains showing how high the floodwater stood.
    Although he is a sculptor, not a photographer, by trade, Cape said, “People were showing me what happened to the city and I felt like I was being asked to tell a story.” Buying some basic film from a drugstore, he snapped shots as he walked around. During this walk, he was struck by the otherwise ordinary nature of Gentilly. “It could be here in Hamilton, it could be in the Midwest — this is a typical American middle-class area,” he said. “This could be my neighborhood; it felt very close to home.”
    Wanting to bring that feeling of home to the gallery, he mounted the photographs in regular domestic frames. Below the pictures, he set murky yellow wainscoting at the same height as the water level in one of the photographed houses, to give visitors the feeling of being immersed in the floodwaters.
    Cape expanded on Waterline after visiting New Orleans in subsequent years. The piece Four Folding Chairs consists of chairs that frame photos of the FEMA trailers that served as makeshift homes. Cape took the photos in 2006 when following the same route he walked for Waterline. “Folding chairs, like trailers, are for camping and temporary use. They’re about as much use to people in a flood zone as a trailer,” he explained.
    In 2007, Cape again walked through the Gentilly neighborhood, set up a tripod in the same spots where he took the first set of photographs in 2005, and shot comparison images. The series New Orleans 2005/2007 shows how, in some cases, the houses look almost exactly the same, in others, they are rebuilt, and some houses no longer exist. The series was printed into a book, funded by Colgate’s Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts, and sold on campus. All of the proceeds were given to the Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education for its outreach work in New Orleans.
    Cape’s exhibition also featured several furniture sculptures, two of which address the BP oil spill. Colgate is the first site where those pieces were on exhibition, and this was the first time all of Cape’s New Orleans works were shown together.
    Art professor DeWitt Godfrey noted the importance of Cape’s continuation of the project. “It’s really interesting to see the evolution of an idea,” Godfrey said. “We’re not only presenting culture, but I also see part of our mission as helping produce culture,” he said on behalf of the institute, ArtsMix, and the art department. Godfrey added, “So that an artist like Francis has the opportunity to realize a project, using the university as a laboratory for creative practice.”

Alumni rock out for New York musicians
Musicians helping musicians. That was the purpose of the first Jubilee event hosted by the Musician’s Aid Society of New York (MASNY), an organization founded by Greg Koerner ’88 and chaired by Paul Schupf ’58.


Greg Koerner ’88 (standing, in white) plays with his band, Gent Treadly, and jazz pianist Henry Butler (keyboard) at the MASNY Jubilee. (photo by Jean Koerner)

    As The Jewel cruised New York City’s East River on August 19, approximately 300 attendees on board — including about 40 Colgate alumni spanning six generations — danced to the music of Koerner’s band, Gent Treadly. The band was joined by legendary New Orleans jazz pianist Henry Butler and other luminaries such as Buddy Cage.
    The Jubilee raised funding for MASNY, a nonprofit organization that helps provide resources for the artistic growth of musicians in the New York metropolitan area. In addition to Koerner and Schupf, Tim Murphy ’82 serves as MASNY’s vice president, Derrick Hussey ’88 is a board member, and Mario Marsicano ’88 has also been a contributor.
    Koerner, who has been jamming on the bass since the age of 13, said he started MASNY because “I’ve seen how difficult it is for musicians [to survive] in New York.” A New York City private practice attorney, Koerner has had an impressive second career as a musician, which has included touring with the Dark Star Orchestra. Gent Treadly — described on gent-treadly.com as offering “bluesy improvisational roots rock” — has previously been joined onstage by members of the Grateful Dead, Phish, The Band, and other well-known performers.
    “Greg is deeply committed to music and to the well-being of fellow musicians,” said Schupf, who has known Koerner since he was a Colgate student.
    “I have quite a bit of experience in the nonprofit world, having worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, as well as a stint with the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan,” Koerner said, “but Paul’s incredible generosity has enabled me to lead a grassroots effort that provides direct support to musicians in need.”
    MASNY plans to host future events and is coordinating a program with the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in order to provide musical instruction to children in the Bronx.    
    “The Jubilee was a major step to making MASNY a long-term, viable, and productive foundation,” said Schupf.

From football to Faulkner
Like the name of his arts review website, Fogged Clarity, Ben Evans ’06 is something of a dichotomy. A football player while at Colgate, Evans himself points out that his career path as a poet wasn’t to be expected. In fact, he recently wrote an article for the Good Men Project magazine about his conflicted identity in college.
    Now, having reconciled his multifaceted nature, Evans has built Fogged Clarity into one of the most comprehensive online and printed arts reviews in the country. “Creation is the most important thing that a human being can do, and I wanted to create a forum for artists around the world to share their work,” he said. What makes the site unique, Evans explained, is that it streams an album and exhibits visual galleries every month, in addition to publishing poetry, fiction, interviews, reviews, and creative nonfiction.
    Because “the Clarity” is his brainchild, Evans wears many hats, from reviewer to editor to event coordinator for the shows the journal hosts. To build the site’s presence and fundraise for the nonprofit organization, Evans coordinates salon-style readings and concerts in New York City, Chicago, and western Michigan, where he is based in Muskegon.
    The site has a loyal audience that ranges between 12,000 and 16,000 visitors every month. When big-name authors such as T.C. Boyle, Daniel Pinchbeck, or Peter Carey were interviewed, the site attracted upward of 23,000 hits.
    One of Evans’s favorite aspects of the job is interviewing artists.  “I like to get inside an artist’s process, because not only does it help me when I sit down to write, but I also think it helps our readers and listeners understand the influences and intention behind the work,” Evans explained. His own writing has been published in more than 20 journals, and he is a blogger for the Huffington Post’s arts section.
    After a year and a half online, Evans got the first print edition of Fogged Clarity published last July. Among others, it includes pieces by John Hemingway (Ernest’s grandson); Michael Tyrell, a former poetry editor of the New Yorker; Bruce Smith, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; and Plimpton Prize winner Benjamin Percy. “Everything evokes a similar tone in the book, and that is one of urgency, an aesthetic that possesses what I like to call a ‘stabbing eloquence,’” Evans said. “The artists featured in Fogged Clarity are in tune with the ache and elation of the human condition. It’s the kind of work that gives me shivers.”
    He and his staff also value the importance of highlighting pieces by lesser-known artists. “It’s about celebrating the work that touches us and that we find to be poignant.” Even Evans’s former political science professor Joe Wagner has been featured.
    Evans intends to pursue an MFA in poetry next fall, while continuing to expand the reach of Fogged Clarity. It seems the former fullback who reveres Kantian philosophy has stepped out of the fog and found some clarity.

Film fans find plenty to like at Hamilton festival
An array of provocative and entertaining feature and short-fiction films resulted in sold-out screenings at the second Hamilton International Film Festival in August.
    The village of Hamilton was brimming with film enthusiasts from far and wide. The festival also included panel discussions with filmmakers, a charity walk to benefit the Hamilton Food Cupboard, and a dance party at the Palace Theater.
    The August festival was organized by Slater Brothers Entertainment, which was founded by Grant Slater ’91 and his brothers, Todd and Wade. Their father, Terry Slater, was the head hockey coach at Colgate for 15 years.
    “It feels great to give back to the community in which my brothers and I grew up,” said Grant. “It was a tough task selecting the films; there were many more submissions this time around. We feel proud to see that all the films we screened touched a chord with the audience.”
    The festival brought many alumni back to Hamilton, including John Chaklader ’03 and Michael Tringali ’04, founders of the Shapna coffee and tea community project, who provided refreshments at the reception.
    Filmmaker Joe Berlinger ’83 moved the audience at the Palace Theater with his award-winning documentary Crude, which focuses on the infamous Amazon Chernobyl environmental lawsuit. After Crude and the short-fiction film Wednesday were screened, Mark McKay ’91 and his band performed, providing the final touch to a red-carpet evening.
    “In just a year, the film festival has become bigger with more award-winning documentaries, ESPN films, and short-fiction films,” said Todd. “The fact that we had to turn people away and had sold-out screenings is a big deal in the film-festival world.”
    Chuck Fox ’70, manager of the Hamilton Movie Theater, where a majority of the films were shown, spoke about the festival’s impact. “The Hamilton community’s response to the films, as witnessed by ticket sales, has been great,” he said. “It has been a matter of great prestige for a small well-knit community like ours to host an international film festival.”
— Ruchira Rajan ’12



Preview



ArcheDream for Humankind presents Deep Blue
Saturday, November 20,
8–10 p.m.
Palace Theater, 19 Utica St.
$20 adults
$10 students/youth
315-824-1420; palacetheater.org

This internationally touring mask and dance theater company creates archetypal characters, performing allegories to personify vital issues pertaining to our lives. Merging ancient ritual and storytelling with modern technology, Deep Blue is a magic journey through the elements of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire.

Founder Alan Bell creates African-influenced masks and hand-painted costumes, merging playful elements of tribal dance with the shocking glow of black-light reflective paint for a visually stunning experience.


For information on other arts events:
www.colgate.edu/arts