Art Afterhours lures students

Art Afterhours can be enjoyed as a formal sit-down concert or as a stroll through the galleries with music floating in the background. People can dress up or down. As Coordinator of Education at the Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) Megan Burness said, "It will be experienced in different ways by different people."

Friday, April 24 the AMAM will host Art Afterhours: An Evening of Art and Music from 7 to 9 p.m. This event is meant to promote the Museum as a place to be enjoyed by the entire Oberlin community and is expected to attract over 300 people.

"It's just a fact that you can graduate from Oberlin College and never have visited the Museum. This is one way to attract students who don't have academic reasons to come here. Art can be accessible," said Burness. Art Afterhours is promoted as an event for students, faculty and staff.

According to AMAM Education Intern Nathalie Ryan, Art Afterhours is meant to make the museum "less intimidating and more fun. This is not the usual wine and cheese reception. It's not a reception, it's more of a party. I'd like to think of it as a conversation between the arts."

Burness agreed, "First and foremost our interest in starting Art Afterhours last April was to open the galleries in such a way that the focus on hard-core looking at art would be taken away. We are more concerned with the social atmosphere. The focus is diffused in that there is more than one thing going on."

"We usually highlight our special exhibitions. This time we are highlighting Albert Chong's installation "Winged Evocations" as well as "The Romantic Project", Ryan explained. "We tried to select an ensemble that would speak to the special exhibitions." "The Romantic Project in Europe" highlights the Museum's collection of British, French and German works from the 18th and 19th centuries. "Winged Evocations" is a sculptural piece based on the artists' self-image, inspiration, and dream.

The �lan Trio, which formed this semester due to a common interest in 20th century music, will play Carl Maria Von Weber's Trio in G Minor for flute, cello and piano and Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) for Three Masked Players by contemporary composer George Crumb.

It is Ryan's intention that the �lan Trio, featuring sophomores Claire Chase, Kivie Cahn-Lipman, and junior Phyllis Chen, will compliment Chong's meditative piece entitled "Winged Evocations" with the innovative, contemporary piece "The Voice of the Whale". Weber's Trio, as the work of one of the German founders of the Romantic movement, compliments "The Romantic Project" exhibit.

The trio was selected to perform at Art Afterhours through an application process which seeks to make "links between the ensemble's choice of works and the museum; both the art and space itself," said Ryan.

Chase said that although she "couldn't imagine two more contrasting works" they are linked in that Weber pushed the limits of the classical tradition towards the Romantic style just as Crumb is pushing contemporary music in creating his own style.

During the theatrical Crumb piece, the performers will wear masks, be surrounded by a deep blue light and, as Chen said, "our relationships with our instruments change."

"For instance the sing-flute," interjected Chase. Chase will combine her voice with that of the flute. She added, "And Kivie gets to make seagull noises." Chen then demonstrated the rattling noise her piano will make due to insertion of a glass rod on the strings.

The trio believes in the importance of expanding traditional performance space. Chen said they are looking forward "to playing for an entirely new pool of people. We were saying this is how it used to be in the days of Weber. It's literally chamber music but on a larger scale."

Cahn-Lipman said, "Musically, the sound here is different from anywhere else, in a good way. It's much more informal as chamber music should be and once was." Chase added, "the audience will be much more diverse than at a normal chamber music event in the Con."

The trio has been meeting every week all semester under chamber music coach Kathleen Chastain. Chastain said, "They practice on their own. They happened to pick these pieces which are difficult enough to fill up the entire semester...Vox Balaenae is one of Crumb's best pieces."

As Chase remarked, Art Afterhours will be about taking time to enjoy the "beautiful space, wonderful food, wine, art and music." Ryan and Burness hope it will be a refreshing, relaxing and thought-provoking evening.

Art Afterhours takes place this evening beginning at 7 p.m. in the Allen Memorial Art Museum. Beverages will be served.