Muse Flashes
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Please send arts news items to MuseFlashes, in care of Kathleen Mellen, Box 299, Northampton, MA 01061, or email them to kmellen@gazettenet.com.
'Performance Project'
The Amherst College department of theater and dance will presents "Performance Project," an evening of original dance, theater and video works by students, Dec. 9 and 10 at 8 p.m. at Holden Theater on the college campus.
Included will be "Hide" by Amherst College student Grace Booth, a performance with a spell storm, a transformation and a rose that wants to rule the world; "Solstice Ritual," a recreation of the ancient Babylonian feast of Zagmuk by Amherst College student Philip Dupont; and "What About May," by Mount Holyoke College student Sarah Gawn, which draws on influences as different as Dijkstra's algorithm and sketch comedy. In "Other People's Children," Amherst College student Elias Johansson-Miller tells the story a mother who falsifies records so her children can attend a certain school.
Also on the program is "Off Like A Shot. Out Like a Light," a darkly funny solo by Hampshire College student Madison Palffy; "Flying Practice," a poetry movement theater duet by Hampshire College student Esmé Vaandrager in collaboration with Palffy; and "Among Tracings" UMass student Christine Reppert's investigation of the allusive mystery of people's memories.
Tickets are free, reservations are recommended. To reserve, call 542-2277.
Last chance
"Homage to Walter Kamys," an exhibit at the University Museum of Contemporary Art, is set to close Dec. 11. Kamys, who lived in Amherst and New York City, spent more than 20 years accumulating more than 600 drawings, prints and works on paper that represent the foundation of the permanent collection of the UMCA. The museum is located in the UMass Fine Arts Center. For information, visit www.umass.edu/fac/umca.
'Suessical' auditions
Starlight Youth Theatre will hold auditions for its spring performance, "Suessical," Dec. 10 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Anyone ages 7-18 and grades 1-12 are invited to audition at the Maple Ridge Church, 659 Amherst Road in Sunderland.
Starlight Youth Theatre, a non-profit community theater group, is directed by Cyn Strycharz.
To audition, you must reserve a spot by Dec. 9. Be prepared to sing 16 bars of a song and do scene readings, provided by Starlight. All auditioners will be cast. For information or to reserve an audition spot, visit www.starlight-youth-theatre.com.
Music at UMass
A student composers' concert" will take place Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bezanson Recital Hall at University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. The event is free and open to the public. For information contact mkushick@music.umass.edu or call 545-0018.
Emily's birthday party
The Emily Dickinson Museum will host a birthday celebration in honor of the 181st anniversary of Emily Dickinson's birth. The party begins on Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. - exactly 181 years and 12 hours after Emily Dickinson was born in the house where the museum is now located.
The celebration is also a fundraiser for projects at the museum.
On the program: A birthday party, "Glimpses into the Secret Life of Emily Dickinson" with award-winning novelist Jerome Charyn, from 5 to 7 p.m. in Valentine Hall at Amherst College.
Charyn is the author of the historical novel "The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson," which imagines a life for the poet far different than the one she is widely thought to have led. Each guest will receive a copy of the novel. Charyn will speak about "Emily Dickinson - Outlaw." There will be Dickinson-inspired sweets and savories as well as a toast to the poet.
At 7:30 p.m., guests will arrive at the Homestead for a candlelight soiree, complete with poetry reading, a masquerade tour and glimpses of the unexpected. The soiree includes a tribute to the late documentary photographer Jerome Liebling, who created the photographic essay "The Dickinsons of Amherst." A selection or Liebling's photographs from the book will be on view.
Tickets for the 5 p.m. birthday party cost $75; for both events, $125. To purchase, or for more information, visit www.EmilyDickinsonMuseum.org/birthday or call the museum at 542-5311. All but $25 of the ticket price is tax deductible.
Brassy benefit
The Valley Festival Brass will present a concert of holiday songs and carol sing-a-longs Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Amherst. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Amherst Survival Center.
The Valley Festival Brass is a group of some 25 brass players and percussionists, including professional performers, music educators, community members and college students, who donate their time to play in this annual benefit concert.
A donation of $5 to $10 is suggested. First Congregational Church is located at 165 Main St. in Amherst.
Hampden Gallery
Two exhibits featuring 37 artists, many of them from the Amherst/Northampton area, will open with a reception Dec. 11 from 2 to 4 p.m. and will remain on view through Feb. 18, 2012, at Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
In the main gallery: "Mix and Match," an exhibit of collage works curated by Klaus Postler, aims to combine things that are not related.
In the incubator project space: "A Novel Idea," curated by Anne LaPrade Seuthe and Sally Curcio. The artists - painters, sculptors, writers, filmmakers, printers and more - boldly bend, fold and mutilate traditional books until all that remains are discrete art objects.
Christian art
"Christian Folk Art From India," an exhibit presented by Georgana Falb Foster, will open with a reception Dec. 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. and will remain on view through Dec. 16 at the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The exhibit features paintings of Christian stories by artists who come from Hindu hereditary castes of storyteller/painters (Chitrakers) in Bengal province. Traditionally, they painted large narrative works on cloth for temples in South India. Since the 20th century, the traditional motifs and techniques have occasionally been used to portray Christian subjects. Included in this exhibit of bass crucifixes, clay creches, posters and other objects, is the work of Indian Christian artist Frank Wesley, a pioneer in painting Christian stories in an Indian setting and a founder of the Asian Christian Art Association.
Foster, 83, is an independent scholar of South Asian studies and a member of the American Association of Southern Asian Art.
The exhibit is free and open to the public. For information call 545-5177.
