Photo Exhibition At Custom House Features Works By Students From Washington College, Corcoran College Of Art And Design, And University Of Delaware

Chestertown, MD, March 4, 2003 — The Washington College Department of Art, Art History Club, and C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience present the first Student Invitational Art Exhibition, featuring photographic works by students at Washington College, the Corcoran College of Art and Design, and the University of Delaware.

Organized by Jennifer O'Neill, visiting assistant professor of art, this unique three-way art exhibit consists of color, black and white, and digital photography, as well as alternative processes such as Cyanotypes (a non-silver photographic printing process invented in 1842), and Van Dyke Browns (a process that utilizes the action of light on ferric salts to create prints on regular paper). Entries were juried by Donald McColl, Chair of the Department of Art at Washington College; Muriel Hasbun, Program Coordinator of Fine Art Photography at the Corcoran College of Art and Design; and Priscilla A. Smith, Program Chair of Photography at the University of Delaware.

The free exhibition will be open from Monday through Thursday, March 10 to March 27, 1-4 p.m., at The Custom House, 101 S. Water Street, Chestertown. For information call (410) 810-7156, or visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu online.

Photography Exhibit Explores The Living Character And Personality Of The Inanimate

Chestertown, MD, March 4, 2003 — Washington College's Department of Art is proud to host an exhibit of photography by Jennifer O'Neill, visiting assistant professor of studio arts. Titled “PHOTOGRAMS”, the exhibit is free and will be open to the public daily, 12 noon to 4 p.m., from Monday, March 17 to Saturday, March 22, in the College's Tawes Gallery, Gibson Performing Arts Center.

O'Neill received her BFA in photography from the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, DC, and her MFA in photography from the University of Delaware. She has taught numerous courses at the University of Delaware and is currently teaching photography and graphic design at Washington College. Her photography has garnered awards and been well received in both regional and national exhibitions. Her work has also been published in The Photo Review.

According to O'Neill, the photographs comprising “PHOTOGRAMS” explore the fine line that separates fantasy from reality, and the manner in which inanimate objects can be perceived to have a life, character and personality all their own. “I use miniature clothing as photographic subjects to suggest a series of characters free from particular human personages,” says O'Neill. “In a sense, I am attempting to free these inanimate objects from human subjects so that their own individuality can come through.”

A closing reception for the exhibit will held Thursday, March 20, at 4 p.m. in the Tawes Gallery, and the public is invited to attend.

College Equestrians To Host IHSA Show

By Cooky McClung, Kent County News

Chestertown, MD, February 28, 2003 — Shota Goto is the embodiment of the Washington College equestrian club's team. He loves horses, he enjoys each second he spends in the saddle, and he believes the club is not only one of the school's best assets, but the perfect answer to his longtime ambition.

'All my life I wanted to ride, but it was much too expensive to even think about doing in the city,' said the 20-year-old sophomore, who grew up in Tokyo. 'When I found out that I could join a club right here at the college to ride horses, I was very excited about it. The first time I got on a horse out at Airy Hill Stables,' he searches for the English translation; 'I cannot explain the feeling. And it is the same every time I ride.'

Goto, whose parents attended the University of Pennsylvania, began learning English at 12 years old. By age 15, he had decided to come to the United States to attend college.

'I was most interested in studying psychology, which is my major, and to learn better English, which I hope I'm doing,' Goto said. 'After high school, I was given a choice of 20 American schools, and I picked Washington College.'

After arriving in the United States in 2001, Goto spent the summer at the University of Toledo in Ohio taking crash courses in American culture.

'I was part of a group of 15 Japanese students who were all going to different colleges. We went to Toledo to learn some about living in America,' said Goto, 'because it is very nice, but very different from Japan.'

While he enjoyed the Ohio school, Goto said he was glad to come to Chestertown. 'Toledo was a little scary,' he confided. 'There were places I didn't feel so safe. Not like here.'

But he admits adjusting to the American way of life in a small college town turned out to be more difficult than he'd anticipated. 'It was hard for me to make friends,' he said frankly. 'I didn't have a roommate my first year, and although I'd studied English grammar and I'd read English a lot, learning to speak it in conversation was hard,' Goto said. 'In places like the dining hall, where a lot of people were talking all at once, I had trouble understanding the conversation. So it was pretty hard.'

Then he discovered the new riding club and life got a whole lot easier and a lot more fun. Ironically, the push a year and a half ago to form a team capable of competing in the prestigious nation-wide Intercollegiate Horse Show Association originated with Caitlin Patton, then a 14-year-old home-schooled student who was auditing classes at the college. With a plan in place to enter the college that fall, Patton believed being a member of a competitive riding club and majoring in writing would allow her to combine her two loves, and allow her to continue showing her horses. Patton approached Washington College professor Kate Moncrief, also an experienced rider, who agreed to become their faculty advisor. From that moment, the club took form. And took off.

With only a handful of riders who had show experience under their belts, and many more, like Goto, who had never actually been on a horse, the club began honing their competitive edge under the tutelage of coach Sandy Griffiths. A graduate of the Fulmer School of Equitation in England, and an instructor at several top Maryland stables, Griffiths understood the odds of working with a less-experienced team. But, despite their collective lack of experience, Griffiths kept her eye on the prize, envisioning her team as competitive challengers. Last year the fledgling club finished the season in sixth place in its region, beating many larger, more- established programs. More than half their riders advanced to the regional championships, and student Annette Bangert led the team to its first appearance in the IHSA National Championship.

'They've done an incredible job in a very short time,' said Griffiths, who says the club currently includes several 'A' show circuit riders and has drawn applicants eager to attend Washington College because of the riding team.

In addition to making impressive competitive strides in less than two years, the riding club has been the impetus to add a 14-week basic horsemanship course, including riding lessons, to the college's curriculum. Geared to novices, the course is open to riders and non-riders.

Last year several team members added another dimension to their club through an innovative method of fund-raising. Several members, including Kerri Davis and Zena Hense, spent many a chilly night on 'baby watch' during foaling season at Thornmar Farm, one of the country's premier thoroughbred breeding farms, just outside Chestertown.

Currently in the upper rankings of its 14-school region, Washington College hosts its first IHSA show with the University of Pennsylvania team on Sunday, March 2 at their training base, Crimson Stables on Route 291 (Morgnec Road.) Nationally renowned trainer Phil Ake, who has horse farms in Church Hill and New York, and his assistant, Jen Shaw, have offered their expertise to school riders and horses, and have provided equipment and valuable technical advice for Sunday's show, which is expected to host at least a dozen teams.

'This show is a very big deal for us,' said Griffiths. 'It's taken a tremendous amount of effort and coordination, and we're counting on it to be very successful.'

Although he's still a long gallop from inclusion in the top tier of their riders, Goto, who remains one of the club's strongest supporters, hopes to compete on Sunday.

'I'm not experienced yet, and I just walk and trot right now,' Goto explains. 'I'm not very good at riding yet. But I always have a lot of fun on a horse.'

The IHSA show begins at 9 a.m. on March 2. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Washington College Capital Campaign Poised To Surpass $90 Million

Chestertown, MD, February 27, 2003 — The Campaign for Washington College is close to surpassing $90 million in total funds raised, and has reached $89.2 million as of March 1, 2003—over $17 million raised above the original five-year $72 million goal. With 10 months remaining in the fund drive, the Campaign will continue to raise all it can by its slated completion on December 31, 2003.

The Campaign's recent fundraising successes have been spearheaded by the College's Milestone Council, a group of 22 alumni, trustees and other College supporters convened last fall and chaired by College trustee Thomas H. Gale of Centreville, MD. The Milestone Council has been instrumental in securing several major gifts that push the Campaign closer to the $90 million mark. Significant recent support includes $1.7 million from The Hodson Trust; $500,000 from two anonymous individuals and $300,000 from the Davenport Family Foundation for the College's new science center; $200,000 from The Starr Foundation for scholarships; $100,000 from an anonymous foundation for Geographic Information Systems equipment in the Center for the Environment and Society; and $100,000 from the Thomas H. and Barbara W. Gale Foundation. The College also recently received a $50,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation for teacher education programs conducted by the Center for the Environment and Society in conjunction with the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

One of the top priorities of the Campaign's Milestone Council during the coming months is funding $19 million for the planned 45,000-square-foot new science center and for renovations to the existing science buildings. In addition to the gifts above, more than $365,000 has been raised for the new building through the work of the Joseph H. McLain Memorial Committee, chaired by former Washington College chemistry professor and alumnus John Conkling '65. The McLain Committee hopes to raise $1 million to name the three-story, glass atrium in the new science center.

Speaker To Discuss The 2000 Presidential Election And The Context Of American Suffrage March 4

Chestertown, MD, February 25, 2003 — Washington College's Guy Goodfellow Memorial Lecture presents “Election 2000 and the Limits of American Democracy,” a lecture by Alexander Keyssar, Professor of History and Social Policy, Harvard University, on Tuesday, March 4, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The lecture is free and the public is invited to attend.

While the conflict with Iraq and the war on terrorism have preoccupied our nation since September 11, 2001, before that fateful day few subjects commanded our attention more than the controversy surrounding George W. Bush's upset of Al Gore for America's top political position. Dr. Keyssar is the author of the 1986 book, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States, which was named the best book in U.S. history by the American Historical Association and the Historical Society and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and Los Angeles Times Book Award. In his lecture, Dr. Keyssar will examine the 2000 presidential election in the light of his research on the history of suffrage in America. Although the history of suffrage has been portrayed as a steady and gradual extension of the franchise to broader categories of American society, Dr. Keyssar argues that this history has been consistently challenged by doubts about democracy itself, resistance to expansion of suffrage, and by measures meant to reduce opportunities to vote. The 2000 election brings to the forefront the questions of disenfranchisement, the limitations of the Electoral College, and the role of the Supreme Court in presidential selection and has caused Americans once again to consider the strengths and weaknesses of democracy in the United States, who has the right to a voice, and how the voices of American citizens should be balanced in the election of their leaders. Dr. Keyssar will offer insights into those debates and suggest how our political process will continue to evolve from its contentious foundations.

The Guy F. Goodfellow Memorial Lecture Series was established upon Dr. Goodfellow's death in 1989 to honor the memory of the history professor who had taught at Washington College for 30 years. The intent of the endowed lecture series is to bring a distinguished historian to campus each year to lecture and spend time with students in emulation of Dr. Goodfellow's vibrant teaching style.

Washington College To Launch New Transdisciplinary Program in Geographic Information Systems

Chestertown, MD, February 25, 2003 — A $123,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and an anonymous $100,000 foundation grant will help Washington College establish an new transdisciplinary Geographic Information System (Trans-GIS) program at the College. Trans-GIS is state-of-the-art computer-based technology for community and environmental planning, resource management, and business planning. The Trans-GIS program will be structured to include students from across the College's curriculum—computer science, business management, environmental science, archaeology, sociology, history and other disciplines—working with faculty to create a computer-based graphic and analytical GIS tools useful to the Eastern Shore region.

“The ultimate goal of having the Trans-GIS program at Washington College is twofold,” said John Seidel, assistant professor of anthropology and environmental studies, who will develop the program. “First, Trans-GIS will enable Washington College students to learn and understand GIS technology, which is rapidly being applied to subjects ranging from mapping the historical past to planning sustainable futures. Familiarity with GIS will make them more competitive in and prepared for today's technology-based fields. Secondly, Trans-GIS will be a resource in the region through which Washington College students under faculty supervision can become involved in real-world projects that address significant environmental and social concerns on the Eastern Shore.”

The Trans-GIS program will be administered through Washington College's Center for the Environment and Society, which is coordinating outreach programs for the Eastern Shore, such as the recently implemented Rural Communities Leadership Program developed in collaboration with the University of Maryland's Institute for Governmental Service and funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.

“The Center is especially interested in the working landscapes of the Delmarva Peninsula,” said Dr. Wayne Bell, director of the Center for the Environment and Society. “GIS is a powerful analytical tool that helps us assess how land uses such as agriculture, forestry, and conserved open space are distributed in the region today and, through more informed planning, how such working landscapes can be sustained in the future.”

The Trans-GIS program is made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, founded by the son and daughter of the famed business entrepreneur, banker and philanthropist Andrew Mellon in honor of his memory. The Foundation currently makes grants in six core program areas: higher education, museums and art conservation, performing arts, population, conservation and the environment, and public affairs.

Washington College Concert Series Hosts The Lyric Brass Quintet March 3rd

Chestertown, MD, February 20, 2003 — The 51st season of the Washington College Concert Series welcomes the Lyric Brass Quintet to the College's Tawes Theatre, Gibson Performing Arts Center, on Monday, March 3, 2003. The concert begins at 8 p.m. Single tickets at the door are $15.00 for adults and $5.00 for youth and students.

Since forming in 1998, the Lyric Brass Quintet (Elisa Koehler & Kevin Dines, trumpets; Larry Williams, horn; Stan Wilkerson, trombone; and Andrew Spang, tuba) has distinguished itself as one of the premier brass chamber groups in the region. Winners of the 2000 Baltimore Chamber Music Competition, they performed at Baltimore's ARTSCAPE Festival of the Arts, and their debut CD, Daydreams, Desires and Diversions, was released the same year to critical acclaim. They have been featured artists on the Baltimore Composer's Forum, the Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust Concert Series, and at the Foxboro Orpheum in Boston. Last season they performed Eric Ewazen's concerto grosso, Shadowcatcher, with the Peabody Wind Ensemble and were featured artists on Virginia's Catch a Rising Star Concert Series. The Lyric Brass Quintet is sponsored, in part, by Stu's Music Shop in Westminster, MD, and serve as artists in residence at the Goucher Summer Arts Institute. Most recently, the Quintet's second recording, Christmas Around the World, was released in December 2002. The members of the Lyric Brass Quintet are strongly committed to education. They have given clinics and master classes at festivals and schools throughout the country.

For ticket information and a 2002-2003 Washington College Concert Series season brochure, call 410-778-7839. Season tickets are available for $50.00 per person, and individual tax-deductible patron sponsorships begin at $75.00. Season tickets can be purchased by check or money order through the mail from the Washington College Concert Series, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, MD 21620-1197.