CCC&TI Watauga Cancels Night Classes for Feb. 9
Due to weather conditions, the Watauga Campus has canceled all day and night classes for Tuesday, Feb. 9.
Artist Kent Paulette to be Featured at Studio 140 on Saturday
On Saturday, February 13th from 6 to 10 p.m., Studio 140 will host an opening for artist Kent Paulette. Paulette will be painting live inside the gallery and will also be unveiling his newest painting, Wild is the Wind.
“I prepared for this painting with about fifteen hours of solo sledding in the woods here at Powder Horn Mountain during the recent snow storm,” Paulette says. “On the morning that I started Wild is the Wind, I waded through Laurel Creek barefooted and grabbed handfuls of snow from its banks. I mixed it with the acrylic paint to get those snowy washes that stain the canvas. As the snow outside melted over the next few days, I switched to using creek water and then finished with rain water. The title, Wild is the Wind, was inspired by the Nina Simone album as well as the fact that as I was taking photos of this painting, the wind suddenly came out of nowhere and tried to carry it off!”
Studio 140 is located at 140 Azalea Circle in downtown Banner Elk. More info can be found at www.facebook.com/Studio140 or by calling (828) 352-8853.
Baha’i Devotional Meeting Set for Sunday
There will be a Baha’i devotional meeting at 11am on Sunday 14 February at 167 Lomax Street in Chapel Hills near Boone. The theme of the meeting will be “Compassion and understanding are the foundations of harmony in society” All are welcome. For more information and directions call 262 5857.
Lettuce Learn Educators Workshop Feb. 20
Lettuce Learn will be offering their second workshop for educators at Mountain Pathways Farm Camp in Boone, NC on February 20, 2016. The professional development workshop will last from 10am-2pm, and will include three learning stations focused on the theme of “Growing Math and Literacy in the Garden”, lunch, and a raffle.
This workshop is an excellent opportunity for teachers within the public school system to learn more about how to successfully incorporate gardening into their daily classroom routines. It will cover how to start a class garden and sustain student interest, how to use technology in the garden, and also reading and writing in the garden. The workshop is open to all educators grades PreK-12th grade.
The first station, “The Practical: Building & Sustaining Student Interest in the Garden”, will be taught by Kristy Hackler as she shows educators how to plan and successfully run their school garden. She will teach a variety of important skills such as outdoor classroom management techniques, succession planting, garden design sketching, and year-long garden planning.
Station two, taught by Shannon Carroll, “Technology in the Garden: From Row Covers to Smart Phones”, will focus on using technology for season extension techniques and useful technology tools to document, analyze and share what’s happening in the garden and greenhouse.
In the third and final station, “Find Peace & Literacy in the Garden: Reading, Writing, and Relaxing in the Garden”, Courtney Baines Smith will teach about the emotional and sensory benefits of a school garden as well as practice a kid-friendly “veggie yoga” series that you can share with your students outside or in.
The registration for the workshop is $15, and the deadline for registering is February 15. The first 10 educators currently working full-time in preK-12 setting will receive their own copy of The Growing Classroom, a $40 resource & curriculum book from Life Lab.
For more information and to register visit http://www.lettucelearn.org/garden-math-and-literacy.html
Appalachian Concert Band to Perform Feb. 22
Well-known works for concert band will be performed by the Appalachian Concert Band Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. at Appalachian State University. The performance venue will be Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall. Admission is free. John Stanley Ross is music director for the band. Graduate conductors are Matthew Brusseau and Onsby C. Rose.
The band will perform Alfred Reed’s “A Festival Prelude” to open the concert. The composition is considered one of Reed’s most powerful works for the modern concert band.
Next on the program is Ron Nelson’s “Courtly Airs and Dances,” written in 1995. The suite of “dances” is based on formal dances of the 1500s from France, England, Italy, Spain and Germany.
The somber “Dusk” captures the reflective calm of dusk, paradoxically illuminated by the fiery hues of sunset, according to composer Steven Bryant. “I’m always struck by the dual nature of this experience, as if witnessing an event of epic proportions silently occurring in slow motion. ‘Dusk’ is intended as a short, passionate evocation of this moment of dramatic stillness,” Bryant wrote.
Rounding out the concert are “Incantation and Dance” by John Barnes Chance and “The U.S. Field Artillery March” by John Philip Sousa. Chance’s composition features contrasting tempos and styles, opening with a short, mournful legato before the percussion, brass and winds build to a dramatic conclusion.
Sousa composed more than 130 military and patriotic marches during his career. “The U.S. Field Artillery March” is the most famous of the composer’s World War I compositions. It was written at the request of an artillery officer. The short and lively march was based on the well-known “The Caissons Go Rolling Along.”
Appalachian Wind Ensemble, Tubaist Bethany Wiese to Play Feb. 20
Tubaist Bethany Wiese will join the Appalachian Wind Ensemble for a Feb. 20 performance at 8 p.m. in the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts at Appalachian State University. The ensemble is directed by John Stanley Ross, unless otherwise noted.
The concert is in conjunction with the Northwest District Band Clinic being hosted on campus by the Hayes School of Music. Admission is free.
Graduate student Onsby C. Rose will open the evening as he conducts his transcription of “The Olympic Spirit” by John Williams. The familiar composition was written in 1988 at the request of the NBC Sports Division to accompany parts of their visual presentation of the Olympic Games held in Seoul, South Korea.
Next on the program is a setting for wind band of Puccini’s “Nessum Dorma,” an aria from the final act of Puccini’s opera “Turandot.” Kevin Gray Richardson will direct the wind ensemble
The wind ensemble turns to Spain for its next piece, “La Procession Du Rocio” by Joaquin Turinia and arranged by Alfreed Reed. Turina’s composition was inspired by Spanish folk music. “La Procession du Rocio, which depicts a festival and procession, became one of his best-known works.
Bethany Wiese will be featured on Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Concerto in F Minor for Tuba and Winds.” Composed for the golden jubilee of the London Symphony Orchestra, the short, three-movement piece demonstrates Vaughan Williams’ harmonic and rhythmic style.
The wind ensemble will also perform William Schuman’s rousing “George Washington Bridge,” inspired by the composer’s commute along the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York.
Graduate conductor Matthew Brusseau takes the podium to direct “Molly on the Shore” by Percy Aldridge. The composition features two contrasting Irish reels, “Temple Hill” and “Molly on the Shore.”
A reflective piece, “Give Us This Day” by David Maslanka, will conclude the concert. The composition was inspired by the writings of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh regarding world peace, which he says will occur only if individuals become deeply mindful of themselves and deeply connected to who they are.
About Bethany Wiese
Bethany Wiese is an instructor of tuba and euphonium in Appalachian’s Hayes School of Music. Previously, she spent two years as a fellow of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. She has been named the winner of several recent competitions, including the International, the Musician’s Club of Women Scholarship Competition in Chicago and the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Scholarship Competition in Chicago.
She also was named a semi-finalist in the Aeolus International Wind Competition in Germany, a finalist in the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference Competition, and she received second prize in the Leonard Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Competition.
Wiese has also participated in summer festivals including the Tanglewood Music Center, National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute and Aspen Music Festival. She has been invited to give recitals nationally as well as internationally. She also has performed with U.S. and international orchestras. Wiese is currently completing a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at Northwestern University. She has a Master of Music degree from Yale University and a Bachelor of Music Degree from Lawrence University.