Promoted to full professor in May 2011, Kirk Read is professor of French and chair of the Division of Humanities. A specialist in early modern French literature, he concentrates on pre-Revolutionary France and Francophone North Africa. Released in April by Ashgate Publishing, his Birthing Bodies in Early Modern France: Stories of Gender and Reproduction investigates gender, sex and sexuality in medical discourse and across various literary genres building on an acute knowledge of early modern gender and culture as well as contemporary gender theory.

In collaboration with colleagues and students at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, Read has developed a multimedia course in oral French that follows the adventures of a fictional North African heroine, Marie Malika d’Alger — an endeavor that combines his interests in language, culture and theater. Read has served as chair of French in 2011 and also chairs the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Arts Collaborative, a campus-wide initiative promoting and advancing the arts at the college.

Read received his doctorate and master’s in French literature at Princeton, and a bachelor’s degree in French at Dartmouth. Prior to arriving at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in 1990, he taught at Princeton and Dartmouth. He is also an
exhibiting photographer, and has written and recorded
nearly 20 audio commentaries for Maine Public Radio.

• Story: The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ We’re everywhere!”
• Video: On the
• Image: The
• Slide show: An
• News story: A Rumford Falls Times reporter describes ““
• Video: In a prelude to the Arts Crawl,
• Stories: Previews of theand
• Report: The Arts Collaborative’s recent work (pdf) outlined in President Hansen’s Choices newsletter

The Arts at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ 2011

“The arts are a vital, dynamic daily presence at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ — intense, rigorous, messy, energetic and utterly transformative, like all the best education.” — President Elaine Tuttle Hansen

For more info about the arts at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, be sure to check out the  Arts 2011 calendar.

and while you are there you can also download a printable version of the schedule!

Four students gyrated in slow motion around Chase Lounge watched by an audience of 20 or so. Sometimes in pairs, sometimes a foursome, sometimes a trio with an odd woman out, they stayed in constant motion — but also in constant contact with one another. Arms around, shoulders rolling against shoulders and hips against hips.

Called “contact improvisation,” this practice is basic to modern dance training, explained Rachel Boggia, acting director of dance at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. It helps dancers learn what they’re capable of. It makes them more aware of what others around them are doing. And it inspires new ideas for their work.

Like contact improvisation, there’s no telling what new inspirations will come from ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ first-ever Arts Crawl, held Jan. 28. This Friday evening smorgasbord of the arts at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, performing and literary and visual, empowered the art makers and showed the campus the breadth and depth of creative work that happens here.

The Crawl told campus, “We’re here! We’re everywhere!” says Kirk Read, associate professor of French and chair of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Arts Collaborative, the group that mustered up the event.

He adds, “Seeing all of these students involved in such marvelous, often impromptu arts events was invigorating and affirming of the arts on campus.” Despite other events worthy of attention that evening, including men’s and women’s basketball wins over Wesleyan and the Asia Night variety show, “I thought the overall engagement on campus was fantastic.”

The Crawl comprised simultaneous presentations and performances, mostly by students, from Olin Arts Center to Chase Hall. Equipped with a large, colorful and timetable, crawlers could:

• sample the book exhibition and talk to student artists in their studios at Olin;
• catch music, from gamelan to folk fiddling, in Perry Atrium;
• hear poetry at Coram and see dance and theater at Chase.

Not to mention surprises awaiting along the way, such as strolling a cappella singers, snow sculptures on the Quad and soft colors emanating from glow sticks buried in snowbanks.

The Crawl culminated ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Arts Week. Manifesting the renewed emphasis on creative work mandated by the Choices for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ strategic planning process, the week began with an that brought three experts in community-based arts to campus for a Monday panel discussion, an evening performance by spoken-word poet and hip hop dancer Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and class visits by the visitors.

Mosaic of the arts

Wrapping up Arts Week on a cool starry evening ideal for strolling, the Crawl was by design a show of shows, a big-picture mosaic composed of short impressions.

Leaving the contact improvisers in Chase, an observer stopped next at the Imaging Center, in Coram Library, where large poetry excerpts hanging in the windows advertised the happenings inside: students in Eden Osucha’s poetry course reading their own and others’ verses.

One student read a favorite poem suitable to the weather, Billy Collins’ “Shoveling Snow With Buddha.” Another, presenting her own work in public for the first time, hung her heart on her sleeve with a piece about her parents’ divorce.

Perry Atrium and the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Gamelan Orchestra offered an oasis of tranquility. Spare, cyclical, the pure timbres of the metal pot-like and gong-like instruments seemed to emanate from the very bones of Pettengill Hall. Listeners sat still, feeling the sound in their own bones, and the players didn’t move much either, striking their instruments with intense deliberation.

Student artwork in the Olin lobby was charmingly irreverent. A set of line drawings traced the metamorphosis of the farmer from “American Gothic” into a chimp. Sets of paper dolls and their outfits included “Devout Women from Around the World,” posing in their underwear adjacent to habits, niqabs and the full prairie-style dresses favored by women in certain American cults.

If the lobby display (and adjacent Dining Services buffet) was a popular draw, the art studios down the corridor were jammed with visitors — and the energy level rose still more with the arrival of a group of college trustees and faculty, led by President Elaine Tuttle Hansen.

Pouring it out

A cappella was a dominant flavor of the Crawl, with three ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ singing ensembles turning up around campus in scheduled appearances and at large. Heading alongside the frozen Puddle, an observer encountered the Deansmen singing Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” the flat bright light from a pole fixture subbing for Morrison’s autumn moon.

Leaving Commons and campus after a driving display of dance by the Dynasty Step Club, an observer could hear the Merimanders all the way from the Coram terrace, fresh voices pouring it out into the night.

A dance solo in Chase Lounge, a work in progress by senior Lindsay Reuter, was the last stop for a number of spectators. “It was a perfect ending,” says Read. “Lindsay asked our indulgence and reactions. It really warmed the hearts of trustees and faculty who know the value of rehearsal, critique and generous input that happens in a place like ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.”

Will this crawl be the first of many, or the one and only? “I know that students are energized about sustaining this higher visibility,” says Read. “The idea of a moonlight stroll through a campus that’s on fire with the arts in winter is something that has legs.”

As part of an ongoing exploration of ways to connect to community audiences and enhance the campus environment for the arts, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College holds an “Arts Summit” Jan. 24-25 that includes events open to the public at no cost.

At 4:15 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24, in a presentation titled Artists in the Liberal Arts: Guest Perspectives, three visiting artists discuss their work and the value of the arts in a liberal arts education. A Q&A follows the presentation.

The artists are Lynne Conner, chair of the theater and dance department at Colby College; Amara Geffen, a professor of art at Allegheny College who focuses on environmental, economic and community themes; and Marc Bamuthi Joseph, a renowned spoken-word performer and hip hop dancer. The panel takes place in Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St.

Staged readings from works by Joseph follow at 8 p.m. on Jan. 24, also in Schaeffer. His Word Becomes Flesh (2003) uses dance, poetry and music to document a pregnancy from a young single father’s perspective. A work in progress, Red Black & GREEN: A Blues is a multimedia piece designed, the artist says, to “jump-start a conversation about environmental justice, social ecology and collective responsibility in the climate-change era.”

Finally, in a related event later that week, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students and faculty present a variety of creative work in a campus “Arts Crawl” beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28. Modeled on downtown programs that feature a mix of performance and arts events, such as Portland’s First Friday, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Arts Crawl offers attractions at several stops around campus.

A map and schedule will be available. The Arts Crawl will be followed at 7 p.m. by the annual Asia Night of student performances, food and fashions in Schaeffer Theatre. For more information about the Arts Summit, please contact 207-786-6381 or nsalmon@bates.edu.

“The Arts Summit will reach both outward and inward to celebrate art within the liberal arts,” says Kirk Read, associate professor of French and chair of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Arts Collaborative, a group of faculty and staff charged with strengthening the arts at the college.

“Our guests, these respected and innovative artists, will enrich our discussions about connecting the arts on campus and in the broader community.”

“We have invited these artists because of their experience creating art in academic settings, with all the inherent delights and challenges,” adds Nancy Salmon, summit coordinator. “In addition, they are experts in using their artistry to connect with and build audiences.

“We’re excited about the perspectives and opportunities they might expose here at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.”

The college’s renewed investment in the arts is one aspect of Choices for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, a collaborative college-wide strategic initiative, led by President Elaine Tuttle Hansen, that is also reinforcing diversity, collaborative learning and pedagogy in math and the sciences.

A playwright, director and scholar, taught at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh before coming to Colby. Her publications include Pittsburgh in Stages: Two Hundred Years of Theater (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007) and In the Garden of Live Flowers, co-authored with Attilio Favorini (Dramatic Publishing Company, 2003).

Conner’s research focuses on the history of audience behavior and psychology in order to guide cultural institutions toward more effective and inclusive participation practices.

, a ceramicist, sculptor and professor at Allegheny since 1982, is the director of the college’s Center for Economic and Environmental Development, which involves Allegheny students with the local community through projects involving sustainability.

Known to local audiences from his work at the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Dance Festival, is a National Poetry Slam champion, Broadway veteran, GOLDIE award winner and inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s “greatest living artists.”

Descriptions of his work range from “electrifying” (Houston Chronicle) to “ever-elegant” (The Washington Post). In its review of Word Becomes Flesh, The New York Times called his work “eloquent . . . seamless . . . and remarkable.”