by Myckelle Williams | Jan 25, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Artist and sculptor Thomas Sturgill was the featured artist in Monday night’s Hutcheson Gallery Exhibit, which displayed a variety of his unconventional paintings and sculptures. The John C. Hutcheson Gallery in the James D. Hughes Center opened fall 2010. Curated by Lipscomb art department faculty, the Hutcheson Gallery features a variety of exhibitions each semester. Sturgill used humor and a creative edge with his unique works, which included sculptured pieces displayed as a two-foot wide ball of multi-colored karate belts, a three-foot long group of over 600 discarded trophies, 50 basketballs with random inscribed names and a self-portrait composed entirely of action figures and accessories. Sturgill, who refers to his work as “individual experiments,” graduated with his BFA in sculpture in 2002 from the University of Tennessee, his MFA in 2006 from Carnegie Mellon University and has been teaching at MTSU in the Foundations department for 10 years. Sturgill currently works as a lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University and credits his inspiration to his parents, whom he says have made a practice of never throwing anything away. “My childhood stuff is still in their home; they don’t change,” he said. Before the art exhibit, Sturgill gave a lecture to the crowd and explained his background. He gave insight into his artistic choices and answered any questions the audience had. Sturgill said that in order to create his works, he browses through thrift stores and Goodwill bins looking for things that no one would buy. He found himself originally drawn to collecting old trophies and awards. “I enjoy creating situations out of objects that are as interesting to me as...
by Myckelle Williams | Nov 18, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
Loving is a historical-drama film directed and written by Jeff Nichols. It stars Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as Richard and Mildred Loving, who were the plaintiffs in the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, the landmark trial that invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage. The film was released in theatres on November 4, 2016, by Focus Features. Loving follows the courtship and marriage of Mildred Jeter, a black woman, with Richard Loving, a white man. Mildred becomes pregnant and they travel to D.C. to marry in secret. However, the two are soon discovered and arrested, each sentenced to prison in Virginia in 1958, because their interracial marriage violated the state’s anti-miscegenation laws. They are able to get probation if they agree to leave the state of Virginia for 25 years. Exiled to Washington, D.C., they sue the state of Virginia in a series of proceedings leading to the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Loving v. Virginia, which holds that laws prohibiting interracial marriage are unconstitutional. Director Nichols was able to tell the story of the Loving family as accurately as possible by relying on Nancy Buirski’s documentary The Loving Story (2011), which captured many details of the private lives of the Loving couple. The film was extremely poignant in its portrayal of the couple, who defied all odds to maintain their home and family. There was always a breathtakingly suspenseful undercurrent. The movie led the audience through one challenge after another as the couple fought to love and stay married, despite the fear and hatred that they endured daily. Edgerton’s performance was powerful. Determined but thoughtful and quiet,...
by Myckelle Williams | Nov 11, 2016 | News Slider
The Who Picked This Book? club featured Lipscomb English professor Dana Carpenter’s Bohemian Gospel on Tuesday in Beaman Library. Bohemian Gospel is a historical fiction thriller set in thirteenth-century Bohemia. The novel is Carpenter’s debut first and has appeared in The Arkansas Review, Jersey Devil Press and Maypop. The novel also won Killer Nashville’s 2014 Claymore Award. The novel tells the harrowing tale of a bold, fierce and unusual young orphan girl named Mouse, who is on a quest to uncover her past and find her destiny. Carpenter said that a lot of readers will be able to relate to Mouse’s challenges along the journey, as well as her courage during the process of self-discovery. “All of us can relate to that struggle, and isn’t that what we are here to do?” Carpenter said. Carpenter said she is a person of faith, and although her book is not a Christian novel, it is considered to be “deeply spiritual.” “Mouse’s experiences will cause the reader to examine the nature of Good vs. Evil,” Carpenter noted. “The book asks tough spiritual questions without an agenda. It encourages readers to start asking themselves the complicated questions and finding their own answers.” Her advice to other new writers is not to be too self-critical. “First drafts are supposed to be bad,” Carpenter said. “As a writer, you won’t always know what’s next. You may struggle and wrestle with the outcome and the direction of the story — but just don’t quit.” Bohemian Gospel is available at Beaman Library, Green Hills Branch Library, on Amazon and Kindle and in New Releases in Barnes and Nobles. The...
by Myckelle Williams | Nov 5, 2016 | News Slider
Created in 2016, the African Student Association (ASA) is seeking to unite students and faculty of African culture and heritage. The organization hosted its first open house on Thursday night in Swang. The event featured a variety of African symbols, flags and music, as well as complimentary African foods. “I am excited about this organization raising awareness for the African students at Lipscomb,” said Sena Seged, the first African Student Association President. According to its mission statement, the purpose of the African Student Association, is to “enhance, promote and recognize the diversity of African students, as well as to unite and embrace all African nations represented on Lipscomb’s campus.” Seged said that forming this organization is a positive step towards increasing cultural awareness and overcoming racial tensions that have surfaced across the country during the current Presidential elections. Seged noted that there are also a variety of challenges that are presented when seeking to promote diversity on a campus like Lipscomb which has a primarily (77 percent) Caucasian student body. She said that teaching cultural sensitivity towards minorities is key to making positive changes. “One of the biggest challenge is having students of all backgrounds accept and embrace African culture,” Seged said. “I have witnessed my friends having difficulty expressing their culture on campus. For Africans, it is important to have the ability to freely express their culture. Lipscomb needs to listen to and recognize and respect all cultures on campus.” Seged also pointed out that that there is confusion about the difference between the African Student Association with African American Student Services. The ASA was formed because many...
by Myckelle Williams | Oct 26, 2016 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
The John C. Hutcheson Gallery, which showcases a variety of exhibits each semester by local artists, students and faculty, opened an exhibit entitled, “And Most Slow I Have Been” on Monday, featuring local artist Karen Speaker. The exhibit was unveiled at 6 p.m. shortly after Speaker gave a brief lecture. After the presentation, she fielded Q&A for the moderately large crowd of curious students, faculty and local art-enthusiasts. “I love the physical connection that I am able to make when creating art,” Speaker said. “I don’t want to only relate to [my work] visually. Paintings have an interesting way of calling to our senses, but because they are images by nature, they are an illusion — so it is like a virtual sensation. I want people to imagine physically engaging in my work.” Speaker’s gallery paintings were all created in the past three years. Speaker said she has a fascination with creating “rockstacking” images, which initially presented a challenge for the new artist. She said was inspired by novelist Virginia Woolff, who committed suicide at age 59 by filling her overcoat pocket with rocks and drowning herself in a river near her home. Speaker cited historical French artist Henri Matisse as another main influence for her work. Matisse was famous in the early 1900s for his use of color and fluidity in his paintings. Fine Arts major and art-lover Ian Corvette expressed a great appreciation for Speaker’s artwork. “The pieces spoke to me,” Corvette said. “The sensitivity of the figures and colors have a dramatic, almost theatrical affect.” Speaker’s work will be featured and sold at Zeitgeist Gallery, located...
