With backgrounds in journalism and fine art, Sheryl Oring began her ongoing project I Wish to Say in 2004 from a concern that many people’s voices were not being heard. She started to take dictation from the public about what they wanted to say to the (next) President. Dressed as a 1960s secretary with a typewriter, she records whatever participants say onto a postcard, making copies with carbon paper. During larger events, a secretarial bank takes dictation. Oring mails the postcards to the White House and exhibits copies. To date she has mailed over 4100 postcards.
Michael Anthony Donato, a School of Visual Arts graduate, is an award-winning children’s book illustrator. His work on Squanto and the First Thanksgiving aired on Showtime and earned honors from the American Library Association. His illustrations for Tales Alive, a collection of global folktales, received a Parents’ Choice Award. Donato also collaborated with Simon & Schuster and the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Voyage Up the Nile. He currently teaches drawing and advanced painting at Monmouth University.
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers.
Free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack. This month’s novel is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.
Free and open to the public, but registration is required.
“On the one”—James Brown often defined funk as a groove, emphasizing the first beat, using the ‘one-two-three-four’ downbeat. However, as the Godfather of Soul would agree, funk encompasses more than just a rhythm: it’s about freedom, expression, and dance. If not for funk, disco would have never been born. How did the genre develop, and who were the central figures in the history of funk? This two-session virtual course taught by Kit O’Toole will trace funk through its blues, jazz, soul, New Orleans, and R&B roots. The class will culminate in discussing, among other funk pioneers, three of the music’s most important figures: Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, and George Clinton. The course includes multimedia presentations and class discussions.
Mike Richison’s Election Collection: 2004-2020 showcases 20 years of design and video art inspired by the presidential election cycle. Richison began working with this topic in 2004 when he created a short video loop of George W. Bush drinking water during the debates. This evolved into performances and interactive video projects that break down language into musical and abstract elements.
This two-session virtual course taught by Mike Farragher provides attendees with an introduction to basic modes for telling the stories of their lives. Working in a supportive workshop setting, students will enjoy engaging, wide-ranging discussion about the joys and challenges of bringing their memories to life. Instructor: Mike Farragher, Monmouth University alumnus and author of numerous works of fiction and memoir.
With backgrounds in journalism and fine art, Sheryl Oring began her ongoing project I Wish to Say in 2004 from a concern that many people’s voices were not being heard. She started to take dictation from the public about what they wanted to say to the (next) President. Dressed as a 1960s secretary with a typewriter, she records whatever participants say onto a postcard, making copies with carbon paper. During larger events, a secretarial bank takes dictation. Oring mails the postcards to the White House and exhibits copies. To date she has mailed over 4100 postcards. In this artist talk, Oring will discuss I Wish to Say, now in its 20th year, alongside her other socially practice art projects.
Jodie Comer’s (Killing Eve) Olivier and Tony Award-winning performance in Suzie Miller’s gripping one-woman play returns to cinemas. Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working class origins to be at the top of her game; defending; cross examining and winning. An unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge. Prima Facie takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience collide with the rules of the game. Justin Martin directs this solo tour de force, captured live in 2022 during a sold out run at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End.
“On the one”—James Brown often defined funk as a groove, emphasizing the first beat, using the ‘one-two-three-four’ downbeat. However, as the Godfather of Soul would agree, funk encompasses more than just a rhythm: it’s about freedom, expression, and dance. If not for funk, disco would have never been born. How did the genre develop, and who were the central figures in the history of funk? This two-session virtual course taught by Kit O’Toole will trace funk through its blues, jazz, soul, New Orleans, and R&B roots. The class will culminate in discussing, among other funk pioneers, three of the music’s most important figures: Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, and George Clinton. The course includes multimedia presentations and class discussions.
Michael Frankel, the author of Hurricanes of Color and Monmouth University alumnus will be giving an artist’s talk and book-signing hosted by Prof. Ken Womack and Prof. Joe Rapolla.
This two-session virtual course taught by Mike Farragher provides attendees with an introduction to basic modes for telling the stories of their lives. Working in a supportive workshop setting, students will enjoy engaging, wide-ranging discussion about the joys and challenges of bringing their memories to life. Instructor: Mike Farragher, Monmouth University alumnus and author of numerous works of fiction and memoir.
This fall the DiMattio Gallery is hosting I Wish That I Had Spoken Only of It All, an exhibition of Sheryl Oring’s social practice project I Wish to Say and related works (https://www.monmouth.edu/mca/event/i-wish-that-i-had-spoken-only-of-it-all/). Part of our programming will be a teach-in series from MU faculty about topics related to themes that intersect with Oring’s project as art reaches across disciplinary bounds. These teach-ins will be free and open to the public.
‘Argentina, 1985’ is inspired by the true story of Julio Strassera, Luis Moreno Ocampo and their young legal team of unlikely heroes in their David-vs-Goliath battle to prosecute Argentina’s bloodiest military dictatorship against all odds and in a race against time to bring justice to the victims of the Military Junta. Now a Golden Globe® winner for Best Picture – Non-English Language.—Amazon Prime Video
Fifty years after his passing, we embark on a journey through Pablo Picasso’s Paris, amidst sunshine and shadow, convictions and contradictions, from a young, impoverished foreigner to one of the most important icons of the 20th-century. The film moves continuously in and out of the Musée Picasso in Paris which has the largest existing collection dedicated to the painter with 6,000 masterpieces and 200,000 pieces of archive material, and follows Picasso through the Parisian neighborhoods where he lived, from the early days in ateliers with no heating to the large middle-class apartments where his success began: a physical and intellectual journey to gain a deeper understanding of his work and spirit.
A talk by Kristin Bluemel, Ph.D. Join us! 8th Annual Ink & Electricity: Advancing Liberal Learning in the Digital Age lecture . The enchanting black and white pictures featured in this talk tell a forgotten feminist tale of personal freedom and commercial success achieved by women artists whose creations of wood, ink, and paper brought joy and beauty into the dark days of the Great Depression and World War I.
It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman.
Free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Monmouth University’s Prof. Mike Richison (Graphic Design) will perform his Electo Electro 2024, updated for the 2024 election cycle. This interactive installation combines audience participation, music, news footage, and politics. The project allows participants to remix videos from political rallies, debates, and news in a structured sixteen beat loop. The touchscreen design is a parody of the system employed by the Accuvote, a voting system that is difficult to audit and susceptible to hacking. The parody continues into the format of the installation itself which will resemble a polling station.
On October 5, an ensemble of leading lights take the stage for Offenbach’s fantastical final work, headlined by tenor Benjamin Bernheim in the title role of the tormented poet. Hoffmann’s trio of lovers are sung by soprano Erin Morley as the mechanical doll Olympia, soprano Pretty Yende as the plagued diva Antonia, and mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine as the Venetian seductress Giulietta. Marco Armiliato conducts Bartlett Sher’s evocative production, which also features bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the Four Villains and mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya in an important company debut as Hoffmann’s friend Nicklausse. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.
$23 (general public); $21 (seniors), $10 (child) and $5 (Monmouth U. Students)
Distinguished NJ Songwriters Joe Rapolla and Joe D’Urso are back this year hosting the celebrated Songwriters by the Sea series at the Lauren K. Woods Theatre. What once started in a small coffee shop as an area for local songwriters has now grown into a series that features some of the top songwriters in the country. This year, the show features special guests Willie Nile and Emily Grove, as well as an opening set by student/artist Amani Lillian and Prof. George Wurzbach.
