UAlbany 2013 Spring Semester Cultural Offerings: Best-Selling Writers, Art Exhibits and Renowned Musicians

James Salter's A Sport and A Pastime (1967) is considered one of the best novels of the 20th century. Salter will visit UAlbany on April 4.

ALBANY, N.Y. (January 14, 2013) – This semester, the University at Albany will host a number of renowned authors, art exhibits and a special concert commemorating Black History Month. These activities are open to both the campus community and the community-at-large.

New York State Writers Institute

Best-selling authors Ann Hood and James Salter will visit the University as part of the New York State Writers Institute's Visiting Writers Series. Hood (The Knitting Circle, 2007) and UAlbany author and Professor Emeritus Eugene Mirabelli will host a reading in the University's Campus Center at 8 p.m. on February 26. Salter (A Sport and its Pastime, 1967) will deliver a reading in UAlbany's Campus Center on April 4 at 8 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

Other visiting authors include:

• Best-selling futurist Jorgen Randers, February 6
• Novella writer George Saunders, February 20
• Photographer Christa Parravani, March 7
• Poet and travel writer Gretel Ehrlich, March 12
• Short story writer Nathan Englander, March 14
• Biographer and journalist Marguerite Holloway, April 11
• Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson, April 17
• Fiction writer and mathematician Manil Suri, April 19
• Novelist Chris Bohjalian, April 25
• New York Times columnist Gail Collins, April 30
• Historian Russell Shorto, May 3, and
• Nanoscientist and author K. Eric Drexler, May 6.

University Art Museum: Exploring Artists Obsessed with Recording Day-to-Day Activities

The University Art Museum will host Day After Day: The Diaristic Impulse from February 5 to April 6, with an artists’ reception on February 12 from 5-7 p.m. in the Art Museum. The exhibit examines the work of artists who explore the obsessive desire to record day-to-day activities, document private worlds, or chart the passage of time.

At times confessional in tone and presented in a range of media from journals and sketchbooks to video and sound recordings, these artists draw upon self-imposed rituals, secret narratives, and personal longings to give tangible form to fleeting ideas, experiences, and emotions. The artists include: Guy Ben-Ner, Simon Evans, Ray Hamilton, Byron Kim, Meridith McNeal, Laurel Nakadate, David Shapiro, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Harvey Tulcensky, and Martin Wilner.

Core Ensemble will perform at UAlbany on January 31, starting off a celebration of African American culture during Black History Month.

The Art Museum will also host the Masters of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition from May 3 through 19, featuring the work of UAlbany students who have completed the Art Department’s 60-credit hour program of intensive study in fine art practices.

Performing Arts Center: Core Ensemble Celebrates Harlem Renaissance

Noted chamber theatre group 'Core Ensemble' will offer a concert at UAlbany's Performing Arts Center in celebration of Black History Month with "Of Ebony Embers: Vignettes of the Harlem Renaissance" on Thursday, January 31 at 7:30 p.m. This chamber theatre work celebrates the lives of three great African-American poets: Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen and Claude McKay, as seen through the eyes of the great muralist and painter Aaron Douglas. This performance marks the Core Ensemble’s second visit to UAlbany after last season’s performance, "Ain't I a Woman."

Tickets for the performance are $15 for the general public, $12 for seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff and $10 for students. For reservations and further information, contact the PAC Box Office at (518) 442-3997.

This performance kicks off a series of events celebrating black history during February at UAlbany, including the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon on February 7 with keynote speaker Lani Guinier.

The University will also host a special symposium honoring the life of abolitionist icon and Civil War veteran Harriet Tubman on March 8 and 9, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Tubman’s death.

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