Artists in Residence

Residencies bring professional performing and visual artists, composers, creative writers, and filmmakers to the UCA campus for one or more days for the purpose of expanding student learning experiences. They offer the general student body exhibits, lectures, performances, readings, and screenings that enlarge awareness and appreciation of the arts, and provide students participating in the arts with master classes, presentations/discussions, and workshops that enhance understanding and professionalism.

The UCA Artist in Residence program is funded by the UCA Student Arts Fee, with additional funding through Engage Management. At UCA, we believe that a rich and vibrant arts culture is valuable and necessary to the education of all students, regardless of major or background. All events are located on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway, AR 72035, unless otherwise specified. All events are free to UCA students and open to the public (no reservations/tickets are required unless otherwise specified).

All events are free and open to the public.
For more information, contact Dr. Gayle Seymour at gayles@uca.edu or (501)-450-3295.
   

 

 


SUE SCHROEDER | dance, arts activism and CHRISTIAN MEYER | video projection, installation, film | MAR 24-28

In 44 years of work in the arts, Sue Schroeder has created more than 110 original dance works for theaters, museums, green spaces, architectural works, and water environments. She holds an MFA in Theater Arts with a dance concentration from the University of Arizona at Tucson. Educated under dance greats Bill Evans, Anna Halprin, Hanya Holm, Oliver Kostock, and John M. Wilson, among others, Schroeder has additional experience in the extended studies of Body-Mind Centering, Contact Improvisation, Modern Dance, and Composition. Her work has appeared throughout the United States, as well as Canada, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Mexico,  Poland,  Slovenia, Sweden, and United Kingdom. Schroeder is known for her site-specific museum, and immersive creations for  Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, Berlin’s Martin Gropius Bau Museum, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Dallas Museum of Art, Houston’s Menil Collection and Diverseworks ArtSpace, Lawndale Art Annex – University of Houston, University of Central Arkansas’s Baum Gallery,    and Varmlands Museum, Karlstad (Sweden). Schroeder’s long-standing relationship with Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts  has led to 12 commissions to exhibitions featuring the work of Carlos Cruz-Diez, Diane and Bruce Halle Collection of Latin American Art, Diego Rivera, Isamu Noguchi, John Alexander, Jules Olitski, MoMA’s Heroic Century, Pablo Picasso, and Sol LeWitt. Schroeder has also received 20 site-specific commissions from the Bayou City Arts Festival. Additionally, Schroeder is recognized as a leading arts activist and mentor, and the founding artistic director of Core Dance, dual-based in Atlanta and Houston. As a contemporary artist and dance maker, Schroeder focuses on the creative process, movement research and exploration, and dance-making as a catalyst for social change. Schroeder’s work also leads her to share what she knows about bodies in movement with isolated populations including those dealing with abuse, homelessness, language barriers, eating disorders, refugee status, substance abuse, aging, and HIV/AIDS.

Christian Meyer is a Berlin-based, award winning composer, musician, fine art photographer, and filmmaker. His work and collaborations span a wide array of mediums and genres, including original scores for films, commercials, dance/theatre performances, and sound installations. Meyer has performed live both in interactive choreography and narrative pieces, as well as in more traditional music performances in venues around the world. In addition to his sound work, he explores visual creativity with his fine art photography and has had exhibits at Berlin’s Meinblau Projektraum and Noiselab at Berlin’s Teufelsberg, among others. Meyer has received awards from the Association of German Film Critics for his film music and from London’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

 

Part of the Eclipse Festival Series

 

1830EST: Artists Talk (Live Stream) a brief moment of alignment, a new dancework by Sue Schroeder in collaboration with filmmaker and composer Christian Meyer
Mar. 21, 2024 | 6:30 pm (CST) | Zoom

Open Dress Rehearsal: a brief moment of alignment, a new dancework by Sue Schroeder in collaboration with filmmaker and composer Christian Meyer, with Conway performers Wanda Eason, Hannah Hanshaw, Aida Quinterro Kuettle, and Nakeya Palmer
Mar. 27, 2024 |7 pm reception; 7:30 pm performance | Reynolds Performance Hall

Pre-Performance Reception and Public Performance: a brief moment of alignment, a new dancework by Sue Schroeder in collaboration with filmmaker and composer Christian Meyer, with Conway performers Wanda Eason, Hannah Hanshaw, Aida Quinterro Kuettle, and Nakeya Palmer
Mar. 28, 2024 | 7 pm reception; 7:30 pm performance | Reynolds Performance Hall


RUSSELL CROTTY | drawing | MAR 28-APR 6

Russell Crotty has made important contributions to contemporary drawing since the early 1990’s. Utilizing ballpoint pen as his primary medium, he is especially renowned for his distinctive drawings on paper-coated suspended globes and within large-scale books. His work engages astronomy, landscape, mapping, surfing, coastal studies, along with an idiosyncratic commentary on the natural and manmade worlds. Russell ambitiously broadens his vast body of work by incorporating bioresin, collage, and non-traditional materials, exploring new ideas that investigate and expand the notion of “works on paper.”

As a serious amateur astronomer, Russell has studied the night sky for decades, utilizing his own array of telescopes with occasional sojourns to professional observatories. He has made important observational contributions to accredited astronomy organizations such as NASA and ALPO (Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers). He obsessively and enthusiastically documents the night sky and celestial phenomenon. The resulting body of astronomical work is informed by scientific research by contemporary astrophysicists, romanticized by his extensive knowledge of exploratory 19th century science, and fueled by his immense passion for the cosmos. Russell’s work has been extensively exhibited nationally and internationally and is owned by private collectors, museums and public collections. He is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow.

Part of the Eclipse Festival series

 

On View: Russell Crotty, A Look into the Vast
Mar. 28-April 26, 2024 | M-F, 10 am-4:30 pm; April 6th, 10 am-4:30 pm; April 7th, 2-8 pm | Windgate Center Art Gallery

Russell Crotty Gallery Talk
Apr. 4, 2024 | 3:30-4:30 pm | Windgate Center Art Gallery

Russell Crotty Drawing Workshop
Apr. 5, 2024 | 12-1 pm | Windate Center, Baldwin and Shell Drawing Studio room 115 

Russell Crotty Gallery Talk
Apr. 6, 2024 | 3-4 pm | Windgate Center Art Gallery


MORTON BROWN public art consultation/management | APR 1-4

Morton Brown is a public art consultant operating in Pittsburgh, PA. His professional areas of interest and expertise include managing conservation of outdoor works of art; administering new commissions of public art; artist selection and fabrication; facilitating collaborative art-making processes with artists, architects, community and commissioning agents; space planning for the integration of works of art in the landscape and managing the creation and commission of public art. Morton is an artist, and is also a part-time faculty member of Robert Morris University, teaching history of visual communications, foundation drawing, 2D and 3D design courses since 2020.

Originally from Arkansas, Brown completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Central Arkansas in 1996. While he earned his Master of Fine Arts in painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Brown also worked as a mural artist with the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program completing two murals before moving to Pittsburgh in 2001. From 2003 to 2007, Brown helped create and administer the Sprout Public Art Program, a program of the nonprofit Sprout Fund. During Brown’s tenure, the program hired local artists to paint more than 30 community murals throughout the region. From 2009-2015, Brown served as the Public Art Manager of the City or Pittsburgh. In this role, Brown completed all activity under the oversight of the City’s Art Commission, including approval of proposals for new permanent structures on City property, maintenance of the City’s collection of art, conservation and relocation of artworks and the creation of new permanent and temporary works of art.

 

Part of the Eclipse Festival Series

 

Eclipse-themed STEAM assembly and workshop with Morton Brown and UCA Art/Math/Science faculty
Apr. 1, 2024 | 9-11 am | Morrilton Intermediate School

Eclipse-themed STEAM assembly and workshop with Morton Brown and UCA Art/Math/Science Education faculty
Apr. 2, 2024 | 9-11 am | Carolyn Lewis Elementary School

Class Visit with ART 3315 Students (Contemporary Media)
Apr. 3, 2024 | 2:40-5:20 pm |  Windgate Center 3D Studio 105

Public Lecture: “Inflatable Public Art, LUNA the Eclipse Superhero,” by Morton Brown
Apr. 3, 2024 | 7-8 pm | Windgate Center Lecture Hall 167

Eclipse Kick-off Event with Sean Ardoin and LUNA the Eclipse Superhero, by Morton Brown
Apr. 4, 2024 | 1:40-2:30 pm | Estes Stadium


SEAN ARDOIN AND THE KREOLE ROCK AND SOUL BAND Creole and Zydeco music | Apr. 2-4

Sean Ardoin is an American Zydeco musician, singer and four-time Grammy award nominee, who is known for high energy, live performances from Carnegie Hall to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Born in Eunice, Louisiana, Sean is a descendant of Amédé Ardoin (the Father of Zydeco) and noted creole musician Alphonse “Bois Sec” Ardoin. Ardoin’s 2009 album, How Great Is Your Love, marked the first notable zydeco Gospel album. The release of his 2018 Kreole Rock and Soul album redefined the genre of zydeco music and was nominated for a 2019 Grammy Award in the category of “Best Regional Roots Music Album.” Ardoin was also nominated in the category “Best American Roots Performance” for the song “Kick Rocks.”

Ardoin has performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, MTV’s Road Rules, Real World, Fraternity Life, Sorority Life, BET’s Comic View, and was featured on CBS Primetime’s NCIS New Orleans, Bravo TV’s Southern Charm New Orleans, and Queen Sugar on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network. In 2020, Ardoin released a single, “What Do You See,” which became a viral anthem of the George Floyd Protests and appeared in a feature on the Grammy.com website. Ardoin and his band, Kreole Rock and Soul, were nominated for a 2023 Grammy in the “Best Regional Roots Music Album” category, for Full Circle, which featured groundbreaking recordings with LSU’s Golden Band from Tigerland, of which Ardoin was a member.

Part of the “Our Louisiana Heritage in Arkansas” Series

 

Part of the Eclipse Festival Series

 

Part of the Windgate Collection Concert Series

 

Public Presentation: Zydeco Music Speaks!
Apr. 2, 2024 | 1:40-2:30 pm | Windgate Center Concert Hall

Class Visit and Q&A with FREN 3312 Students (French Civilization)
Apr. 2, 2024 | 2:40-3:30 pm | Windgate Center Art Lecture Hall 167

Eclipse Festival Kickoff and Community Extravaganza 
Apr. 4, 2024 | 1:40-2:30 pm | Estes Stadium

Public Concert: Sean Ardoin and the Kreole Rock and Soul Band*
Apr. 4, 2024 | 7:30 pm | Windgate Center Concert Hall

*UCA students can obtain two free tickets to this event by visiting the box office at Reynolds Performance Hall or Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts. Students must present their UCA Bear Card to receive tickets. Tickets at uca.edu/reynolds or call the Box Office 501-450-3265.


MICHAEL DAUGHERTY | music composition | APR 21-24

Multiple Grammy Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty has achieved international recognition as one of the ten most performed American composers of concert music, according to the League of American Orchestras. His orchestral music, recorded by Naxos over the last two decades, has received six GRAMMY Awards, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2011 for Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra and in 2017 for Tales of Hemingway for cello and orchestra. Current commissions for 2020 include new orchestral works for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Omaha Symphony and a concerto for violinist Anne Akiko Meyers who will give the world premiere with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in 2021. This residency will feature Daugherty’s 2016 song cycle, This Land Sings, a composition for two singers and chamber ensemble the composer wrote as a tribute to the American singer-songwriter and political activist Woody Guthrie. In This Land Sings, Daugherty divides the composition into 17 numbers, the overture of which recalls Guthrie’s iconic folksong “This Land is Your Land.” Other numbers reference themes such as workers’ rights, suffrage, and the Dust Bowl.

Dress Rehearsal: This Land Sings, Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie
April 21, 2024 | 7-9 pm | Windgate Center Concert Hall

Presentation/Discussion: The Chamber Music of Michael Dougherty
April 22, 2024 | 1:40-2:30 | Snow Fine Arts Recital Hall

Pre-Concert Panel Discussion: This Land Sings: Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie
April 23, 2024 | 6:15 pm | Windgate Center Choral Rehearsal Hall

Public Concert: This Land Sings, Inspired by the Life and Times of Woody Guthrie
April 23, 2024 | 7:30 pm | Windgate Center Concert Hall

Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band Concert featuring the music of Michael Daugherty, with post-concert Q&A
April 24, 2024 | 7:30 pm | Windgate Center Concert Hall