On February 20, Transylvania University held its first TEDx Event, an independently organized TED talk that that was coordinated by Dr. Adam Evans. The event included a series of three talks, given by Professor Kurt Gohde & Dr. Kremena Todorova, Jason T. Mitchel, and Debra F. Faulk, whose talks were centered around the theme “A Better Look At Ourselves and Those Around Us.” The speakers gave presentations on the “reflection of our own perspectives and ways that we might strengthen that understanding by looking to the world around us,” according to the TED website.
In a previous article, Dr. Evans commented on the process of organizing the event, which involved following strict TED guidelines and working with Transy students and faculty in terms of scheduling. Once the physical recordings of the talks were completed, Dr. Evans and Professor Gohde edited the videos, which are all now live on the TEDx Talks YouTube channel. Following the event, surveys were sent to those who attended the talks; attendees answered a single question that asked how likely the viewer was to recommend the event to a colleague or friend. Out of the 33 participants in the survey, 30 “promoted” the event, while 3 were “passive,” meaning that 91% of survey participants are very likely to recommend the event.
I am not a necromancer
I don’t talk to the dead
can’t call me on
your ouija board
I won’t resurrect
what I’ve buried
beneath my flowers
I am not clairvoyant
I can’t see you
haunting
you can throw shit all you want
you poltergeist
I don’t do black magic.
I am not a necromancer.
and I won’t talk to you.
This week’s playlist is a collective mix of heavy beats and some good ole’ fashioned indie vibes to get you through a chill weekend.
As for our Arts Events of the Week, we have not one but two senior recitals over the weekend. Tim Baker will be performing “A Musical Autobiography” in Carrick Theater on Saturday, March 24th at 7 PM. Baker will perform a mix of recorded and live acoustic pieces along with a video that accompanies a song he produced for a class with Dr. Polashek, and a multi-instrument, live looping piece of a bluegrass classic. Baker said, “every piece in the program is in some way tied to my overall musical journey.” This is a must-see show, folks!
Art by Moira Hedrick
And on that note, we also have organist Allen Fletcher, who will perform his Senior Recital in Haggin Auditorium on Sunday, March 25th at 3 PM. He will be performing a variety of music, including “at least one piece from every major musical period (Pre-Baroque, Baroque, Romantic, and 20th century)” Fletcher said. “There will be a little of everything: trumpet tunes, a Bach prelude and fugue, and the famous ‘Widor Toccata’.” This will be another show you won’t wanna miss!
There will also be the Electronic Music Student Recital in Carrick Theater on Tuesday, March 27th at 7:30p.m. This recital will mainly feature music created by Transy students (myself included)! Please come out and support your fellow music students!
February 23, the Morlan Gallery opened it’s new exhibit. “Lavish!” is an exhibit created & curated by Art Professor Zoé Strecker. Strecker showcases intricate works of embroidery inspired by Pine Mountain located in southern Kentucky.
Photo by Kayla Gross
Pine Mountain is one of the most biodiverse forests in the world, according to Strecker. She spent time in each region of the forest, taking pictures and recording the sounds around her that visually defined each area. Strecker then printed out the images on a screen and hand embroidered over these screen prints to create marvelous works of art.
Strecker’s art pieces are set up in a large circular structure made of wood and screen. This method of presentation really immerses the audience in the forest art and creates a very minimalistic atmosphere that makes each piece of art stand out. On the other side of the Morlan Gallery stands the side exhibit, “Inspired by the Wild Places” which showcases the work of artists, Rebecca Allan, Vallorie Henderson, Erika Strecker and Brian and Sara Turner. These pieces of art are inspired by Pine Mountain but are displayed in other forms of art such as painting and photography.
On top of the beautifully displayed art, the exhibit’s opening included an embroidery workshop presented by a local artist. People crowded around him to ask questions about his work or simply watched as he hand embroidered a scenic landscape.
Photo by Kayla Gross
Lavish! is a beautifully put together art exhibit that has transformed the Morlan Gallery into a place of nature and minimalism. The 360 degree display wall created an immersive experience for the audience and made for an overall creative take on the traditional art exhibit.
Arts Editor Taylor Mahlinger spoke with Strecker about her process for creating this exhibit. Read about it here!
This week’s blog will be a little different than past ones, since I had the pleasure of speaking with and interviewing the inspiring artist, Langhorne Slim. He’s playing a sold out show right here in Lexington at The Burl on Saturday, March 17th (St. Patrick’s Day!!!) at 9pm.
Langhorne Slim’s charismatic yet laid-back personality have as much depth as his soul-bearing lyrics, and this was easy to tell from the moment I picked up the phone for the interview. This is an artist who not only bleeds pure talent, but is a pure soul as well.
His unique name, Langhorne Slim, (aka Sean Scolnick), was inspired by his hometown of Langhorne, Pennsylvania. He “used to write various band names when I was sitting and feeling a little day-dreamy when I was a kid in school,” Slim said. “When I left Pennsylvania at 18, I didn’t have a band and started playing solo, and was, and still am a lover of old blues and folk music. Kind of as a nod to a lot of the stuff that I was listening to, where guys and gals would take the name of the places they were from and sometimes put ‘slim’ on the end. I just thought that was a cool move, and so I integrated it into what I was doing, and didn’t necessarily think that’s how it would be all these years, but the name just sort stuck and here I am years later with the same name.”
Structure isn’t really Slim’s thing. I asked if he creates his set lists to fit the venue (he does not). “I think in all the years of being on tour, maybe it’s 15 or so, I think we’ve had about two or three set lists which were never followed, and therefore I don’t write set lists. If anything, I write down a bunch of songs that I’ve written over the years so that I have some guide in case I get lost in my brain up there, I can glance down” he chuckled. “If I put out a new record like I just have, I wanna play a bunch of those songs and then I kind of just feel out what the heck is going on, and it’s sort of like a boxing match of love, or a roller coaster ride or something.”
Being spontaneous is something Slim holds dear to his heart. “If there’s no element of spontaneity, it can become rigid, and my worst fear, formulaic, where just like ‘this is my job’. Though there are challenges to anything that anybody does, I never want that sense of freedom or joy or risk-taking taken out of it, because then, I just don’t feel like it would be as fun” said Slim. “I think performing when I was a little kid was just considered misbehaving and I would get sent to the principle’s office, and thankfully now, hopefully people will come and see me and applaud…I mean, most of the time” he laughed.
He then proceeded to turn the tables and become philosophical. “Now here’s a question for you. There’s a worm—I’m outside of a hotel—there’s a worm on the cement, and I just picked it up and put it in the grass because I can’t bear to see the worm squiggle on the cement like that. Do you think I should do that, or that I should not interfere with the wildness?”
He then added, “I feel like we’ve interfered with the wild anyway by building this hotel here, and therefore, the worm is at a disadvantage, and helping it out is okay.”
His free thinking and down to earth nature led us to a conversation about humanity in general. “If I play a concert that children are allowed to be at, it’s usually the children that are dancing and singing freely and often the adults that have a harder time breaking out of that shell, which is fascinating because I think we’re all born, not necessarily to be singers and dancers, but to sing and dance, and I don’t think any of us don’t have that desire.”
When asked about playing for smaller audiences, lots of artists will comment on the idea that it gives them more of a connection to their audiences, but Slim went even deeper with his answer. “I find that when the thing I don’t have any words for happens, it exists on like more of a spiritual dimension or plane. It can happen in front of thousands of people, and it can happen in front of twenty five people, and it can’t happen sometimes in front of whatever amount of people. It’s just an elevated energy that it feels like there’s truly a connection and a feeling of…I don’t know, love is the right word maybe? It’s a broad term. It’s more of an ancient thing that people have been doing probably since people existed and there was anything to bang on or to strum on. I’ve kind of lived for that connection with an audience.”
As Slim said himself, “I ain’t no cookie cutter man.”
His well-wishes for all of you were just like he is: thought-provoking and kind. “I say hello, I look forward to coming back [to Lexington] after a few years, and I’ve got a new record that’s called Lost At Last Volume I that I’m very proud of, and hopefully people can get that wherever they get their music.”
He then added, “Don’t believe the hype. Don’t believe the division and the fear and all that. Human kindness and compassion are not hippie ideals, they are ancient, and they are things that we can practice today, and we can all use a little bit more sweetness in the world.”
There ya have it, folks. With his unique, vintage folk sound, this talented artist is sure to bring an electric energy to the room that cannot be found anywhere else. Be sure to give this playlist that’s made up entirely of my personal favorite Langhorne Slim songs, a listen.
Do you hear that? It’s the clock counting down the seconds until we leave school for nine glorious days. It’s almost like a miniature version of summer break. Whether you’re hitting the beach, heading home to see the fam, or binging your favorite Netflix shows while under a mountain of blankets (because it’s actually below freezing outside), we have you covered with this go-to spring break playlist! It’s a mix of fun beats and chill vibes to kick off your break the right way. I included some classics like “Island In the Sun” by Weezer and “Runaway (U & I)” by Galantis that are sure to get you in a spring mood, even if it doesn’t feel like it outside.
As far as arts events over break, the latest exhibit in Morlan Gallery, Lavish: New Work by Zoé Strecker will be on display now through Friday, March 30th. The exhibit will be a part of the Lexington Gallery Hop on Friday, March 16th, so if you happen to be in town, go check it out and appreciate some interesting art!
There will be a special event the Wednesday we come back on March 21st called World Voices Event: George Wakim, Evening of Arabic Music. This music event will be held in Mitchell Fine Arts’ Carrick Theater at 7:30p.m.
Don’t forget to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th and wear something green so you don’t get pinched. Legend has it, this tradition of wearing green began in the 1700s when Americans thought that wearing that color would make a person invisible to leprechauns, who were known to pinch those not wearing green. People still wear green today and pinch those who do not as a fun reminder about the leprechauns. May the luck O’ the Irish be with you.
I’ll leave you with this little piece of advice to mull over for nine days: Have fun, stay safe, and most importantly, listen to some chill music.
Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day, and yet so many people skip it. But why? Well, one reason is that people complain about not having time to make breakfast, especially in those early mornings when they are rushing to get to class or work. But no more! Overnight Oatmeal is the perfect meal to solve the early morning breakfast dilemma. This easy recipe made overnight is the perfect grab-and-go breakfast. Not only that, but it is vegetarian as well. I do not know if a vegan recipe is possible since one of the main ingredients is Greek yogurt, but the milk could probably be substituted for almond or soy milk. And the best part? It is packed with key nutrients like protein and iron to keep you energized throughout the day.
Photo by Moira Hedrick
I was skeptical of Overnight Oatmeal when I first found recipes for it. It sounded just like yogurt with oats and fruit in it. But through some experimentation and variation, I found that overnight oatmeal is actually rather delicious. It tastes just as good as a pastry, with all the nutrients you need. They key is making sure everything gets mixed really well. The first time I made it, each bite was either just Greek yogurt or a clump of oats. Fully mixing the ingredients is the best way to have an optimal breakfast.
Overnight Oatmeal is wonderful because it is ridiculously easy to make. All you have to do is mix ingredients in a jar and then stick it in the fridge. To start, you are going to need a mason jar. It does not have to be more than 2 cups. I start with the wet ingredients, but honestly it does not matter what you put in first. Pour 1/3 cup milk, ¼ cup yogurt, 2 tablespoons of honey, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 2 tablespoons chia seeds, and 1/3 cup rolled oats. Rolled oats are also known as old-fashioned oats by some brands. Essentially, you want to use oats that have been rolled, not steel-cut, and that are more whole instead of the papery type of oats found in instant oatmeal.
This is also where I added ¼ cup of granola. The kind of granola I used had a dark-chocolate almond blend, but it is really up to personal preference of flavor what kind of granola you want to use, if any. For me, it gives the oatmeal a bit of a sweeter and nuttier taste that I like.
Photo by Moira Hedrick
Now, this is the important part. Seal the lid tightly and then shake the jar really well. You want to be sure all the ingredients are well-blended in that jar, or you are going to have random clumps of yogurt or honey that will not taste good. The best way to tell is to open the jar and stir the mixture with a fork to make sure there are not clumps of anything.
For the next step, you add any fruit or other ingredients you want in your oatmeal. I used strawberries, but there are tons of possibilities here. Using blueberries was a popular choice on the internet, as was adding bananas. Just about any kind of fruit will work. Also, nuts would go well in the dish. If you want to be a little unhealthier to satisfy your sweet tooth, you can add some chocolate chips. It really just depends on what you want your oatmeal to taste like. Oatmeal by itself is rather bland, so the flavor is up to you. Experiment! Fold the ingredients into the mixture with a spoon. Fruit does not hold up as well with vigorous shaking.
The last step is to seal the jar and to stick it in a fridge for about eight hours. That is why it is best to make this breakfast the night before, so that when you wake up, it will be done. Take it to go with a spoon. It may not seem like much, but I made it and felt energized the rest of the morning. If you are a more active person it may not satisfy your hunger as long, but it is sure to give you an energy boost that you need to kickstart the morning.
Photo by Moira Hedrick
Overnight Oatmeal Recipe
Ingredients
• ¼ cup Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 tsp. honey
• ¼ cup rolled (old-fashioned) oats
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Any extra fruit, granola, or nuts you might want to add
Directions
1. Pour honey, yogurt, milk, oats, chia seeds, and cinnamon into a mason jar.
2. Seal mason jar with lid and shake ingredients together until completely blended
3. Fold in any extra ingredients you want to use to give the oatmeal flavor.
4. Seal jar with lid and refrigerate jar for about 8 hours
5. Enjoy!
“If people fall in love with something, they’re more likely to take care of it, so I thought, ‘what suggests care and love’, and I thought that embroidering was an interesting one because we embroider things we care about.”
Lavish!: New Work by Zoé Strecker is the latest exhibit on display at Transylvania University’s Morlan Gallery. Its purpose is to showcase the beauty of Pine Mountain, which is a natural community of the most biodiverse forests in Kentucky.
“It’s actually the second most biodiverse temperate forest in the whole world, like the entire planet, except there’s a spot in China that’s very similar but has greater elevation differences,” said Strecker, “This little treasure is just three hours from here and maybe unappreciated. I just wanted to do work about it and had started making notes, doing some writing, and it just was an idea that grew from how do I help other people fall in love with this place.”
Strecker gathered embroiderers, mainly volunteers, from various places around Kentucky and from across the nation. These volunteers stitched over top of images taken primarily by Strecker of the natural communities of Pine Mountain, which she also edited into a circular shape and printed out onto silk organza. The stitching enhanced the images by giving them depth with a 3D appearance. Some of the photos taken were close-ups of tree trunks that had moss or some sort of growth on them, and this is where Strecker or one of the volunteers would stitch to create an interesting effect for people.
Preparation in Strecker’s studio
“I imagine [the images] as windows into each of the types of forest communities,” Strecker said.
Good news doesn’t always spread quickly, but in this case, it did. Finding volunteers wasn’t difficult, Strecker said. “Here in Lexington, I just invited people that I knew, and people associated with Transy friends, and then they invited friends or posted to Facebook, and their friends said ‘that’s so cool, may I come stitch?’”
While the pieces themselves are stunning, the design of the exhibit is certainly something to be noted. The major, circular installation that holds the pieces measures 22 feet in length and 10 feet in height and is positioned off to the left side of Morlan Gallery.
Strecker stitching over image photographed on Pine Mountain
Strecker said she designed the space to help people feel as if they were surrounded by nature. “I made a bent wood frame and it has sheer walls and then these [panels] hang on it. Everything was done to be as minimal as it could be so that it has a very meditative, ethereal feeling in the space, and I also have audio of the forest; I have sounds of the background, water, wind, trees, and bird sounds and bird calls. I also have aroma in the show, so all of these things are gonna come together,” she said.
One of the most interesting things about this exhibit is that it will continue to evolve, even after opening in the gallery. “The project will continue during the exhibition; it will continue after the exhibition, so we will keep stitching. There will be at least three more images, and then there are lots of small ones also that are individual organisms. It’s a living work in progress” Strecker said, “It will continue at least through the end of the summer for the stitching part because there are three more big ones, but I’ll look for more exhibition opportunities that may include more stitching too.”
The process of putting this show together took place over a period of years and required extensive research and time. Strecker has been formulating the ideas for Lavish! since 2014, and she began to conduct the research and do the traveling over the following few years.
Lavish! is unique from other art exhibits with aromas accompanying the artwork. “I had spent a fair amount of time over the last few years on and off researching perfumers who dealt with non-traditional smells, in other words not just flowery types of perfumes you think about wearing, but smells that you connect to a place, and I found several different individuals and companies that do that, and in the end I was able to get some that were affordable that are separate accents,” Strecker said.
She visited perfumers in their spaces to explore and research the scents, but in the end, “I just had to smell them with my nose,” she laughed. “I have six separate things that will be emanating through the space and I have them in little miniature vaporizers that look like little humidifiers, and I mix a very little of the perfume with water, and it just sort of gently emanates through the space.”
Strecker is eager to see how the scents play out in the space she was given. “I’ve tested this all out in my studio, but to put it in that space which has a different square footage and a different heating system and has different objects in it, I’m just so eager to see how well it works, but it’s up for a month, so I can tweak it. I can start with how I think the scents will be most powerful and then increase or decrease things. It’s definitely a living project,” she laughed.
A display of images concealing a small vaporizer placed behind on a small shelf
It was easy to see that Strecker was eager to finally get the show open after all the work she and everyone else has put into this exhibit. “I guess what I’m really curious about is whether it creates this sort of meditative, contemplative space I think it will and because I worked on the parts separately and they’re coming together for the first time all in one space in the show. I personally want to see if it is creating that space the way I think it will. And of course I get a chance to see how other people react, and that’s the fun and also maybe the terror of putting something in public. But I feel that this has been so supported already by people involved in it that I’m not really afraid; I’m more excited.”
These pieces appear all around the circular structure, imitating how they would appear in nature.
The idea for this project originated almost twenty-three years ago, when a naturalist for the state, Marc Evans, discovered what he thought was an old growth forest while doing aerial surveys of the Pine Mountain area. Strecker said, “It was way bigger than he thought, and they saw that the massive tree crowns went further and further than he ever imagined, and they checked on the ground and found that it was true.”
Evans was in the same circle of friends as Strecker, and Pine Mountain sparked her interest when she heard about the discovery. “I’ve always loved wild places; I’ve always been a hiker and an outdoors person ever since I was tiny, so I just became fascinated and kind of got involved.”
Strecker said that besides taking the photos for the project, she loved being out in the secluded forest. “Being out in the forest for long stretches of time, just sort of getting to know the sounds and the visuals of the place and the smell—all of those things, I just love them so much.”
An image that was heavily embroidered to create a 3D effect
“For a few of the natural communities, I went with botanists who were doing fieldwork, so there were two people from the Kentucky State Nature Reserves Commission who were full time botanists, and they go out and do field work. I asked if I could come along, and they went off trail and they were counting species; I was just looking for photo opportunities. That was really fun, you know, we had to move by GPS and we had to wear snake gators because we were going way off the trail, and we carried bear repellent in case, so we were very far out there.”
In addition to the main pieces in the exhibit, there is also an exhibition within the exhibit on the other side of the gallery by artists who are a part of the Pine Mountain Collective, which is a retreat that lasts three days at Pine Mountain and is co-hosted by Strecker. The retreat has been attended by over 100 artists, some of whom have work displayed in Morlan Gallery.
The artists chosen for the Inspired by Wild Places exhibit were Brian and Sara Turner, Rebecca Allan, Erika Strecker, and Vallorie Henderson. “We have a show within the show and an evening of musicians and readers,” Strecker said.
Lavish! is on exhibit in Morlan Gallery through April 2nd. There will be an art talk with Strecker on Thursday, March 8th at 6 p.m. in the gallery, and Wild Things: Selected Artists from the Pine Mountain Sessions on Friday, March 23rd from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m. in Carrick Theater, which is also located in the Mitchell Fine Arts building.
Every Monday, the Rambler will release a 20 Questions Video. This series will feature a different staff member each week and we hope will allow the campus community to learn more about and feel more connected with our unique staff. This week’s video features the Writing Center’s Administrative Assistant Becky Mills.
I have been witness to Holocene unheard of.
Where we walk, dead flowers wane in wilt,
filling our footsteps with their shrinking corpses
like the marks of sacrilegious prophet:
leaving cloven hoof prints in the garden of once Eden.
I am perched,
like fading murmuration of bird, preening on barbed fences fraught with fallacy,
on charged cable bridges built from bones of collapsing home,
blood of churning factory workers, weeping,
on perverse pipeline of superfluous greed: garish.
I am coiled,
lifeless, coated in gloss of certainty unsatisfied,
the polish of unjust scales, seeping into salient black abyss of eyes.
I shiver forward, s-shaped, venom pooling in voluptuous teeth,
sinking but into shadows, sallow.
Feel me slouched,
at roadside, twitching toward tallow vultures, shuddering,
oh, my turkeyheaded nurses, oiled black with shame
of first kiss wrapped in burn of 18 wheeler rubber,
the smack of frail skull against asphalt.
I have screamed into the garbagestrewn winds,
clutching cellophane in crinkling fists,
roped by marleychain of plasticbottled corpse
and waste, their heave and sigh in the thickening heat
punctuating the extinction of my anguish:
the haunting chorus of my generation, dying.
