Art – Page 48 – Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics

Moot Court Scrimmage: Aftermath

After an intense 24 hour period competing and observing Moot Court proceedings, the LEAP Ambassadors, Moot Court participants, and members of the pre-law cohort decided to relax a bit, explore the history of Dallas on a Segway, and fill their bellies.

The relaxation involved some downtime at the hotel, followed by an ice-cream treat.

Shortly thereafter, another treat was in order. We stopped by Segway Nation for a tour of Dallas on a segway.

It was a beautiful time of day, what movie-makers call “magic hour,” and we made the most of it with pictures.

But, of course, with it turning a bit dark, Austin felt he need to serve as a protector of the group, and adopted a secret-service/tough guy look.

At first, not everyone felt totally relaxed…

…but eventually everyone got the hang of it, and we headed off to see Dallas.

The segway tour took us to Pioneer Plaza, a large outdoor sculpture that consists of 49 bronze steers and 3 riders created by sculptor Robert Sommers. Note that it appears that Alex is saluting when, in fact, that it is a longhorn projecting in front of her face.

The tour, led by excellent guides Doug and Jack, also took us by I. M. Pei’s Dallas City Hall, where we were able to turn and see the beautiful Dallas skyline which, according to our guides, is regularly listed as one of the five most beautiful in the US.

The tour also took us by the Kennedy assassination site on Elm Street. The students had a chance to get off the segways and walk to the “X” spots, which mark where the Oswald’s shots hit Kennedy.

We also entered the Kennedy Memorial, designed by Philip Johnson, one of the great architects of the 20th Century.

Speaking of Johnson, we were also able to go to Thanksgiving Square, a public space he designed in the 1970s as a means of racial and cultural healing. With a replication of Rockwell’s “Golden Rule” painting…

…and the “Ring of Thanks,” where visitors are encouraged to stand and offer thanks. From the center of the ring, the sound reverberates, symbolically echoing the many things for which we are thankful. In our group, thanks went to family, opportunities, school, and even the LEAP Center.

Thanksgiving Square also has a spiral chapel adorned with one of the largest stained glass assemblages in the world. The glass, designed by Gabriel Loire of France, is designed to become brighter as it ascends and moves to the center.

In the midst of such beauty, it was easy to be thankful.

And with that, we returned to the segway base, where we shed our helmets and headed to Hoffbrau Steaks (thanks for the recommendation, Doug!) and enjoyed a robust end-of-the-day dinner.

But before heading out we gave a few more thanks: to our LEAP Ambassadors, who came to Dallas to cheer on their Moot Court friends; to the Pre-Law cohort, who came to check out the action and consider joining the team for next year; for Kristyn, who decided to stick with the “team” rather than go home; and to our coach, Jean Loveall, who spent a lot of time teaching us the finer points of law.

Moot Scrimmage: Day One Showdown!

It’s been an educational weekend for SHSU’s first-ever Moot Court team. Following a pleasant evening at the Art Department’s Gala (where the students spent some enjoyable time with Dan Phillips)…

…the Moot Court Team embarked on a late-night trip to Dallas, where the UNT Law School’s Moot Court scrimmage was scheduled. More than fifty teams competed, making this the largest scrimmage in the Texas Undergraduate Moot Court Association’s history.

The set-up for such a scrimmage is as follows:

Day One: There are three rounds of tournaments, which serve as qualifying rounds. Each team is scored in points, with the points determining which team wins and which team loses. The won-loss record then determines whether the teams compete on Saturday (teams need to win two of their three rounds, with a tie-breaker based on a complex system of schedule strength and points). The points are further used to determine individual awards.
- Points: Speakers are scored on four dimensions, each constituting up to 100 points. An award-winning speaker will likely accumulate 360 or more points (90+ average) over the four dimensions: knowledge, response, forensics, and demeanor
Day Two: Day two then follows in a playoff-style system, with winning teams proceeding to the next round. There are four such “playoff” rounds, moving from the “Sweet Sixteen” to the finals.

The logistics alone are a daunting enterprise. Registration, for example, ended at 11:30am on Friday, and only then could tournament directors begin the pairings and room scheduling processes. Between 11:30 and 2:00pm, a series of orientations (e.g., bailiffs, coaches, competitors) took place, while other tournament officials tried to finalize the schedule. It was an impressive display of organization!

We were a bit anxious, but we tried to enjoy ourselves….

…pairing off into teams during orientation…

…

Between orientations and a quick lunch, we grabbed what study time we could come by…

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…with help from our coach.

…but, ultimately, game-time arrived, and we began the tournament.

The Tournament

A typical contest includes an 18 minute argument from the petitioner (split between the two team members), followed by a 20 minutes argument from the respondent (again, split between the two-team members), followed by a two-minute rebuttal from the petitioner (the time for rebuttal can be modified up front, but two minutes is a typical time).

The tournament is run by a tournament director. This tournament’s director was Andrew Sommerman, who is the founder of the American Undergraduate Moot Court Association and a local Dallas attorney. Also helping run the show was Dr. Kimi King, who works tirelessly to help her students and to help keep the tournament moving on schedule.

Three judges oversee the competition, interjecting as they see fit. A “hot” panel interjects often; a cold panel interjects rarely. Some contestants enjoy the give and take; others do not. A good judge will pose questions designed to assess the competitors’ knowledge, strength of arguments, and ability to think on their feet. Some judges are better than others at directing such questions.

Following the contest, the competitors (and audience) leave the room, giving the judges time to complete their ballots and prepare remarks. Once the ballots have been completed, the judges ask the competitors to return and go over the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors. Good judges mix specific and general advice and do so constructively. Less helpful judges speak in vague generalities or offer idiosyncratic advice based on their personal/ideological reactions. Fortunately, few judges fell in the latter category, and even they can be helpful, because such judges exist on the bench in real life.

For our team, the rounds were immensely helpful. While they didn’t turn out well in terms of wins and losses, they did turn out very well in terms of gaining information and experience. For Kaitlyn Tyra, she said it was a good opportunity to “gain a realistic view of the competition in the state.” This, she continued, was particularly helpful for a first-year team such as SHSU, which hasn’t seen the competition before. For Austin Campbell, the trip was helpful because it helped build “synergy among most of the team’s members.” For Kristyn Couvillion, it allowed “observation of the state’s best speakers, and the skills they have, as well as the benefits of receiving specific feedback from judges.”

Photos are not encouraged in the tournaments (especially for those in smaller rooms, where they can be distracting), but we have a couple of action photos. One is of Kristyn…

…and one is of James Perry…

By the end of the evening, teams waited patiently to see which ones would make the cut, and perform on Saturday.

Sadly, this did not include SHSU teams. It was, however, a good end to the day, and the students were satisfied with their work.

For the winning teams, the day would start early the next day, with coin tosses at 8am. Most of the losing teams went home. SHSU’s moot court team, however, didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to see the winning teams in action another day, hear more of the questions that judges ask, and to learn more about the process. In that spirit, we went back to the hotel, to prepare for another day of Moot Court.

Art + Community = A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening

The Art Department sponsored a nice evening for friends and supporters of the arts, honoring alumni, former faculty, and local artist/builder Dan Phillips. With all the LEAP Center Ambassadors on hand, plus some of the “friends of the LEAP Center,” it was a great way to kick off the end of the week.

This was the Art Department’s second such gala and, again, chair Michael Henderson emceed the proceedings. He was gracious and thankful, and repeatedly thanked the sponsors and the many people who support the arts in the community.

Community, in fact, was the explicit theme of the evening. We were happy to note that of the 29 registrants for heART of Huntsville, 19 were attendees at the Gala!

The stars of the evening, however, were those being honored. Henderson invited Linda Pease to memorialize local artists who passed away in the last year…

…and the Department honored alums Kim Cook and Dan Pratt; Art Department Scholarship winners; local art supporter and POLS faculty Jim Carter, who passed away in 2013; and former faculty Emmette Jackson, Charles Pebworth, Gene Eastman, Jimmy Barker, and Stanley Lea. While the former faculty were not able to attend, Lea’s wife, Ruth, did attend.

Mayor Mac Woodward introduced the the major award of the evening…

…which went to Dan Phillips for his support of the arts in the local community. Phillips, of course, is a local builder, whose previous careers include work in Military Intelligence, the Dance Faculty at SHSU, and newspaper writer.

Phillips said very nice things about his wife, Marsha, who is a partner in the Phoenix Commotion enterprise and works as a part-time mentor at SHSU after a long career teaching at HISD. Fifteen years ago, the two embarked on a new career building homes “made from unwanted materials for low-income people.” They’ve now completed 24 projects, and their structures dot and enrich the community, adding character to a small, historic town, work that earned Phillips this well-deserved honor from the SHSU Art Department.

Postscript: Following the gala, seven of the LEAP attendees headed to Dallas for their first-ever Moot Court scrimmage, which will be described in future posts!

Art and Architecture in Huntsville

With the fourth week of heART of Huntsville came a focus on architecture with, of course, a healthy dose of art. After weeks focusing on campus art, outdoor sculptures, David Adickes, performing arts, and Richard Haas, the final week of the program focused on three homes in the Huntsville Cultural District: The “Bone Home,” the Kellogg-Pritchett House, and the Wynne Home.

Part of what made the final week special was that Anina Moore, the Director of Communications for the Texas Commission on the Arts, traveled to Huntsville to observe the program. This was her first real visit to Huntsville, and we hope she enjoyed it!

Her visit, and our final week, kicked off with a tour of Dan Phillips’ Bone Home. For many of the Ambassadors, it was our second visit to the home, but for Ambassador Kaitlyn Tyra, it was a first-time visit. Phillips began with an overview of his philosophy, his company (Phoenix Commotion), and his work.

His talk is always engaging, mixing construction realities, with political preferences (e.g., recycling, sustainability), and philosophy (aesthetics).

From there, the tour began. The students posed with Phillips in the kitchen…

…where observers can note the intriguing floor patterns, and the bone-top counters. They also got a good look at the bone-bedecked stairway…

…and the bottle-cap bedroom floors.

The back-door patio, which connects the home to the studio, is also worth noting. The wall is adorned with decorative bones…

…and guests can rest in the bone chairs and bone table-top…

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…and enter the studio through a door equipped with bone handles.

The studio was determined by Constance to be the perfect place for a selfie or a groupie:

…and she may have gotten every person in the photo! Mr. Phillips is in the front center, alongside Huntsville artist Lee Jamison, the owner of the Bone Home, George Boone, and the aforementioned Anina Moore.

Following the Bone Home tour, we made our way to the Kellogg-Pritchett House, where Mary Laura Gibbs offered a wonderful tour.

The foyer, Victorian parlor, and Gazebo room were the highlights, although the top-secret attic is always a treat. Adding to the pleasantness and education of the evening was the presence of Lee Jamison, who did much of the artwork in the “KP” house. In particular, he did Gazebo room, which is painted in mural fashion as though it were an actual gazebo, replete with sky-views, vine-covered lattice, and the obligatory animals (e.g., hummingbird) attracted to foliage. The artwork also gave participants a chance to search for these animals, including the Texas-themed butterfly, seven-legged spider (said, Lee Jamison: “I’m an artist not a mathematician!”), and red, white, and blue snake.

And Constance enjoyed the photographic possibilities of the parlor.

As SHSU students, it was also helpful to learn about “Professor Joe Pritchett,” who owned the home, and who was the Dean of Students for more than three decades. Interestingly, he rode his horse to school until the 1930s.

With a fond farewell, to the KP house and its four porches…

…we headed to the Wynne Home, where we enjoyed their community art exhibit and heard from Ms. Moore about the work of the Texas Commission on the Arts.

The food, prepared by Sharon Rose, and sponsored by the Friends of the Wynne, was wonderful! It contributed greatly to everyone’s cheerful time:

The heART of Huntsville program brought many wonderful people together, and it was an amazing opportunity to learn more about art, artistic venues, local artists, and the community in general.

The heART of Huntsville will be offered again next year in September and October.

Down with the Downtown

For the third week of heART of Huntsville, participants were taken to Huntsville’s historic downtown to see parks, art, and fine arts at multiple locations, followed by a fine dinner at Carboneras.

Leading this tour was Linda Pease, the city’s long-standing public art authority. Pease isn’t an artist, but she has been behind much of the beautification of the community for the past forty years or so, and she offered an oral history of Huntsville’s art scene.

The tour began at Founders Park, on the southeast corner of 10th and University. This small park was created in the late 1980s at the springs that served as a meeting place between Huntsville’s founding father, Pleasant Gray, and the Bedias Indians. From the spring sprung Huntsville, as more settlers settled, business thrived, and civilization eventually flowered. The site recreates the springs with a small, shallow pond, and artists Monica Taylor and Larry Zink created statues of Indians at the site.

Taylor and Zink also contributed to the downtown area by assisting Richard Haas with his revitalization of the downtown square. Haas, an artist, informal architect, and unofficial “urban planner,” created 14 art works in the downtown area in the 1990s.

Perhaps the finest of these artworks is the three-part mural of Sam Houston on the east side of the Smither Building on University Avenue and 11th Street. This mural depicts Sam Houston in battle, with the Indians, and as gentleman of Huntsville, Texas.

Other key works include the faux Roman ruins, the mural of Leadbelly on Sam Houston Avenue, and the movie posters on the front of the Old Town Theater.

Speaking of which, the group also got a tour of this theater during a rehearsal of King Lear. Participants were able to explore the theater’s balcony…

…watch portions of the play…

…and meet many of the cast and crew…

…and truly see “behind the scenes”…

Bruce Chabot, a professor at SHSU’s English Department, is the director of the play, and the production crew graciously provided some comped tickets to members of the first-ever heART of Huntsville cohort.

Another downtown treat is the Art Department’s “Satellite Gallery” at 1204 University Avenue. Here, art students and art alumni display their work for the public. Following a quick tour of this gallery, the group headed to the historic Cafe Texan, where Linda Pease shared more information about Richard Haas….

…pointing out the work he did on the Leadbelly Mural…

…and discussing many of the other Haas detailing around the square.

Interestingly, Haas has produced more than 60 exterior murals in his career, and more than twenty of them have been destroyed by the elements or, more often, by construction projects. But his work still exists around the world, in Fort Worth…

…in New York…

[Richard Haas wall painting on South Street and Peck Slip.]

…St. Louis…

…and many other cities.

Interestingly, however, the largest concentration of his works is in Huntsville, Texas.

With help from the LEAP Center, Art Department, and the Huntsville Public Library, Richard Haas will be in town November 19th, 2015. He’ll deliver remarks on campus and at the Huntsville Public Library, where he has donated the studies for his Huntsville murals.

Outdoors with Huntsville’s Sculptures and Indoors with Huntsville’s David Adickes

It was a fun second week for participants in the LEAP Center’s heART of Huntsville program. The week involved a behind-the-scenes tour of David Adickes’ “Big Sam” at the Huntsville Visitor Center, a bus tour of the city’s outdoor sculptures, dinner at the new Eclectic Studio, and a wonderful tour of the Adickes’ Foundation.

Jamie Matthews at the Visitor Center offered an informative and welcoming environment for us beginning at 6pm, with snacks and water on hand. We were treated to a viewing of the short animated feature introducing the building of the Sam Houston Statue (and Sam Houston, the man)…

…which was produced by SHSU students in the animation program of the University’s art department. Following the video, we visited the statue, gathered for a group picture….

…and learned cool facts. Did you know, for example, that there is a door to the interior of the statue, allowing people to climb to the top of Big Sam?

We also had an hour-long bus tour of Huntsville’s outdoor sculptures. We would bet that most Huntsville residents don’t know the city has more than 30 such sculptures, including work by world-renowned artists such as Charles Pebworth (“Totem Number One” behind City Hall), Jesus Moroles (two outdoor sculptures on SHSU’s campus and four on the Wynne Home grounds), and Pompeo Coppini (Sam Houston’s grave monument)? While those sculptors may be some of the more famous, there’s also the abstract Christ statue by Brother Melvin Meyer, who completed more than 10,000 sculptures (mostly from recycled materials) before passing away in 2013? Or that one of Stuart Kraft’s two Huntsville sculptures was lost by Huntsville Independent School District? Or that John Stewart’s “Reclining Figure” was inspired by the work of Henry Moore, perhaps the greatest 20th Century sculptor? Or that the seven trees surrounding the “reclining figure” represent the seven astronauts lost in the 1986 Challenger explosion? And how many people know that architect Harry Payne completed more seven or eight structures in Huntsville (e.g., Smither-Martin law firm, Sam Houston Memorial Museum) that are still standing? The arts are just one of the fun things to explore in Huntsville!

For most of us, our dinner was the first time to visit Eclectic Studio, but the food and the art will be bringing us back for more!

Although normally specializing in vegan and vegetarian fare, the chef (Jennie Dickenson) catered to our meat-eating group with scrumptious ribs, potatoes, pasta salad, and wonderful hummus and chips.

One of our participants, Betsy Maloney, even had some of her art work on the walls, along with art by Lee Jamison and Jennie Dickenson. We’d like to thank the POLS department at SHSU for sponsoring this week’s activities and dinner!

The highlight of the evening was the tour of the Adickes’ Foundation, the old Huntsville High School on Avenue H. Containing more than 300 pieces of art by Adickes, it is a wonderful place to spend an evening….

…although, at times, there were so much art to see, we didn’t know which direction to turn!

Each of us had our favorite Adickes’ painting, and we made sure we got him in the picture with us, whether it was Karla…

…or Megan…

….or Alex…

…or Kaitlyn…

…we all had fun. Even Ms. Woodward got into the selfie spirit!

But the most successful was a group selfie…

The LEAP Center Ambassadors have been to many art galleries as a group: the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ohr-Okeefe Museum in Biloxi (designed by Frank Gehry), the High Museum in Atlanta, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Blanton Museum of Art, the Ransom Center, and more. But as one of the Ambassadors noted, “We’ve been to art museums all over the country, but this one was the coolest, because the artist is with us!”

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He spent time discussing how he made certain pieces (one he used coffee to get the color right!), of how tapestries were made, or the art that was in Elvis Presley’s home…

…the stories were as interesting as the art.

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And for students who are political science majors, it was a treat to hear about the night he spent in the White House, when he had the privilege of going to the Kennedy Center with George H.W. and Barbara Bush, followed by a night in the Lincoln Bedroom.

It was a fun, educational evening!

Exploring Art in the heART of Huntsville: Session One

Driven to learn more about the community, LEAP Ambassadors are participating in the heART of Huntsville program, which promotes local arts in the Huntsville area. The program consists of four meetings, each with a different artistic theme, tour guides, and participatory activities.

As Ambassadors, we were excited to once again learn more about our campus and community. This excitement, however, was dampened–literally–when, just minutes before the program began, it began to rain heavily. Ambassadors President Megan Chapa, in charge of driving one of the golf carts, arrived from across campus a bit worse for the wear. Professor Yawn, also driving a cart, arrived with one leg completely drenched. It occurred to us that the program’s participants would probably find the campus’s art much more appealing if they weren’t having to stand in the rain to view it. Fortunately, the rain calmed eventually and we all managed to arrive at the Art Department to kick off our first meeting with staff, locals, and faculty, albeit a bit belated and somewhat damp.

We began at the Gaddis Geeslin Gallery, where Professor Henderson, the chair of the art department, kindly welcomed us and gave us some background of the art department.

At that time, Dr. Melissa L. Mednicov introduced us to the “Still Summer” exhibit, with work by Debra Barrera and Kelly O’Connor, and gave us a closer insight at the background of the exhibit.

While O’Connor’s work emphasizes memory, fantasy, and fiction; Barrera’s work emphasizes personal memories, specifically relating to her childhood participation in sports such as swimming, seen in most of the art in the exhibit, such as “Pool Rules” or “Bottom of the Pool”. Another piece of work we found fun and interesting was “Selfies on Mars/Selfies on Earth”, where we of course could not miss our group selfie with Mrs. Woodward, Mrs. Pease, and Dean Shields.

Before heading out to the Lowman Student Center Art Gallery, we all took a survey to test our knowledge of Huntsville community art so far. By the end of the program we should be able to see an improvement in knowing and recognizing artwork locally. Next, we arrived at the LSC Art Gallery where we enjoyed an exhibit offered by Professor Trish Ramsay, whose Family and Consumer Science class produced scarves and other textiles. The pieces were beautiful and creative.

As a bonus, we learned a bit about the large piece of art outside the LSC art gallery. Turns out, it is a piece by James Surls, who graduated from SHSU. The piece, unlike almost any of his other work, was done when he was a student at SHSU in the 1960s.

Following the scarves exhibit, we moved to the Gaertner Performing Arts Center where we enjoyed a walking art tour. Craig Brossman, the Facilities Manager of the GPAC, gave us a tour of the Concert Hall, Dance Theater, and Recital Hall. Turns out, an acoustician (!) was hired to design the rooms in such a manner as to make the sound optimal, while also providing state-of-the-art technology. This tour was filled with interesting information (Recital Hall fits 790 people!) and provided rich information about a building that was named among the twenty-five most impressive University Art Centers in the United States.

Professor Henderson was also on hand to discuss many of the pieces of art, such as the “Around the Flower Wall” by James Surls, the previously mentioned internationally known sculptor and a former undergraduate SHSU student;

“Elemental Mandela,” by Kathleen Ash;

“Diamond Waves Column” by Jesus Moroles, an internationally known granite sculptor whose work the LEAP Ambassadors have had the pleasure to see in Fayetteville, Houston, New Orleans, Norman, Austin, and Birmingham; “Firedance” by Jason Lawson;

and various pieces by Stanley Lea.

To end our educational evening, we had dinner at Austin hall, the oldest educational building in continuous use west of the Mississippi and the most notable landmark on campus. We are so thankful to Dean Shields and the College of Mass Communication and Fine Arts for sponsoring such a wonderful evening. We left stuffed with food and knowledge, eagerly awaiting the coming weeks of fun and surprises. Next week we will focus our attention on the outdoor art of Huntsville, Texas and the artwork of David Adickes.

The Noise of Laughter Fills “Noises Off”

While many students take weekends off from school and learning opportunities, LEAP students took this Saturday to grow culturally by going to dinner together and attending a play in Houston. We began the evening by dining at a small cafe near our main entertainment for the evening: Cafe Express. The Cafe Express provided us with an abundance of choices ranging from flavorful salads to decadent pastas. I enjoyed their Harvest Salad, which included fresh spinach, strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, feta cheese and delicious strawberry vinaigrette dressing. While conversing about the beginning of school and classes, we got our fill of salads and pastas before the play. It was a wonderful choice as our meal before we headed down to Playhouse 1960 for the showing of “Noises Off”.

Playhouse 1960 is a non-profit community theatre that was founded in 1973 and has since been providing their community with memorable theatre productions. “Noises Off” was very much a memorable play. The first act made it very clear to the audience that it was a play within a play, and when everyone was focused on watching the stage, we were caught off guard when we heard the voice of the director, Lloyd Dallas, shout from behind our backs. Act One is the actor’s disorganized dress rehearsal, which presented us with ditzy actors missing lines, prop malfunctions and confusion coming from the stage.

It delivered abundant laughter in the audience. The intermission gave everyone a chance to catch their breath from the laughter.

Interestingly, the intermission also gave us the chance to see the stage machinations in action. Unlike most theaters, much of the scenery changing occurred with open curtains.

Act Two was a behind the scenes look at the matinee performance of “Nothing On”. This act showed the entangled romantic relationships among the cast, which led to many on-stage missteps and misspoken lines. While all of the other characters were caught in their romantic turmoil, Selsdon Mowbray (the burglar with a fondness for alcohol) provided plenty of comedic relief along with the comical actions that were taking place back stage. This act was filled with behind-the-scenes whispering and misunderstandings among the cast while they performed their play. The act ended with a cliffhanger with the announcement of a pregnancy, which left us wanting to know more.

In Act Three, the actors are on their last show of the tour. With all of the relationship mishaps between the actors, we could see the growing tensions. The tensions were resolved with the more rational actors trying their best to tie up the play. Once the play had reached a point of no return, it ended with a quick confusing wedding ceremony. The entirety of “Noises Off” had us laughing until the end.

Afterwards we were even able to have our group picture taken with the entire cast!

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