EVENTS
01-12-2009
6:00 p.m.
“A Time for Every Purpose: A Sampler of Mountain Religion” Photographs by Warren Brunner
A long-time resident of Berea, Warren Brunner is a portrait and documentary photographer who has lived and worked in Appalachia since 1954. Brunner began photographing Appalachia extensively during the “War on Poverty” years, and his images are known for the dignity and sensitivity with which he portrays his subjects. He has collaborated with Al Fritsch, Deborah Vansau McCauley, and Loyal Jones to illustrate several important books on the region. James Still wrote that Brunner’s work “helped Appalachia see and remember itself.”
(Free and open to the public)
On display until 02-06-2009
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
02-09-2009
Exhibit of Photographs of Milton Rogovin
Through his prints Milton Rogovin was able to depict the extreme inequalities that exist in the world and convey that message through beautiful works of art. His work speaks of the humanity of working people, the poor, and the forgotten ones. Rogovin, now 99 years old, never intended to be an artist. Though his entire collection is housed by both the Library of Congress and the Center for Creative Photography, his prints are his protests — and his only concern is the fight for social justice. Rogovin’s sole purpose, as timeless as it is universal, is to help the viewer see the people in his photographs in a new light, as people of dignity and strength.
(Free and open to the public)
On display until 03-06-2009
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
02-10-2009
6:00 p.m.
Second Tuesday Old Time Traditional Music Jam Session
All ages and abilities are welcome to bring acoustic instruments and join in playing and singing old time, traditional music. We will begin with a half-hour slow jam for beginners, then move to playing at regular speed. Feel free to come and go and listen as you please.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
02-17-2009
7:30 p.m.
Film: The Rich Have Their Own Photographers
Milton Rogovin, the optometrist and artist who was shunned by the media and society at large after being declared “The Top Red in Buffalo” back in 1957, stands as the subject of director Ezra Bookstein’s inspirational documentary about the value of standing up for your rights in the face of social injustice.
In the aftermath of his blacklisting, Rogovin, a die-hard activist, decided to use the medium of photography in order to let his voice be heard. At first, he began documenting Buffalo’s poorest and working classes, photographing the disenfranchised, the marginalized, and those he considers the forgotten ones. His renowned series includes miners around the world, a collaboration with Pablo Neruda of Chilean villagers, and a Buffalo neighborhood across three generations. Today, Rogovin’s photographs stand as some of the most powerful protest images ever captured, and sit well-protected in the vaults of the Library of Congress and Center for Creative Photography.
The film will be presented by Milton Rogovin’s daughter, Paula Rogovin, a longtime social activist, New York City public school teacher, and author of books on education.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
02-23-2009
3:00 p.m.
Book Signing: Ron Eller and Tom Kiffmeyer
Authors Ron Eller and Tom Kiffmeyer will sign copies of their recently-published books on Appalachia and engage in conversation.
Eller is professor of history and former director of the Appalachian Center at the University of Kentucky. His most recent book, Uneven Ground: Appalachia since 1945, takes up the narrative of Appalachian history begun by his earlier work, Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930. In Uneven Ground, Eller examines the politics of development in Appalachia since World War II with an eye toward exploring the idea of progress as it has evolved in modern America.
Tom Kiffmeyer is associate professor of history at Morehead State University. In Reformers to Radicals: The Appalachian Volunteers and the War on Poverty, Kiffmeyer illustrates the rise and fall of the Appalachian Volunteers, a controversial group of anti-poverty activists organized in 1964 by the Berea-based organization, Council of the Southern Mountains.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
03-10-2009
6:00 p.m.
Second Tuesday Old Time Traditional Music Jam Session
All ages and abilities are welcome to bring acoustic instruments and join in playing and singing old time, traditional music. We will begin with a half-hour slow jam for beginners, then move to playing at regular speed.
Feel free to come and go and listen as you please.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
03-13-2009
7:30 p.m.
Jayne Anne Phillips, Appalachian Heritage Featured Author Reading
Jayne Anne Phillips, author of the novels Lark and Termite, Motherkind, Shelter, and Machine Dreams, will read in the Appalachian Center Gallery in the Bruce Building on the Berea College campus. This will be a celebration of the Winter 2009 issue of Appalachian Heritage, of which Phillips is the Featured Author. Photographer Tom Martin, Featured Artist for the Winter 2009 issue, will also be present with copies of his prints and books available for purchase.
Refreshments will be served at 7:30 p.m. and the reading will begin at 8:00 p.m.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
03-15-2009
3:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m.
2009 Affrilachian Poet bus tour
Affrilachian Poets will roll through Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia with a series of daily literary readings, creative writing and performance workshops, a theatrical/dance production, and film screenings at community centers, colleges, universities, libraries, and high schools, as part of the collective’s mission “to help make the invisible visible.”
The Lexington, Kentucky-based writing group has slowly established a regional and national presence with their collective publishing efforts, accumulated awards, and reputations as accomplished teaching artists at some of the nation’s most notable institutions and writing programs. Their efforts reached a significant milestone in 2006 when the word Affrilachian became an entry in the Oxford American Dictionary. That definition includes the following: [as modifier ] Affrilachian poets.
Readers taking part in Berea will be Frank X Walker, Ricardo Nazario Colon, Bianca Spriggs, Amanda Johnston, Bernard Clay, and Norman Jordan. Sponsored by African and African American Studies, the Department of English, Communication, and Theatre, the Black Cultural Center, and the Appalachian Center.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
04-9-2009
1:00 p.m.
Speaker: Larry Gibson, Kayford Mountain Keeper
Larry Gibson’s family has lived on or near Kayford Mountain in West Virginia since the late 1700s. For more than 15 years Gibson has fought to save Kayford Mountain and his family cemetery—where more than 300 relatives are buried—from mountaintop removal mining. His efforts have been chronicled by such media outlets as ABC’s Nightline, 20/20, U.S. News & World Report, and The New York Times. Join us as Gibson shares his first-hand account of the environmental degradation that accompanies mountaintop removal mining and speaks about the need for sustainable energy production and use.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
04-14-2009
6:00 p.m.
Second Tuesday Old Time Traditional Music Jam Session
All ages and abilities are welcome to bring acoustic instruments and join in playing and singing old time, traditional music. We will begin with a half-hour slow jam for beginners, then move to playing at regular speed. Feel free to come and go and listen as you please.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
04-15-2009
11:45 a.m. –
1:00 p.m.
Dinner on the Grounds: His Paintings and Puppets: A City Feller Came to Appalachia and Stayed!
Professor of Art, Neil DiTeresa, talks about his work with Berea College’s Summer Puppetry Caravan for Appalachia and the influence of the region on his painting. This program coincides with an exhibit by the artist in the Appalachian Center Gallery.
A light lunch will be served.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
04-29-2009
11:45 a.m. –
1:00 p.m.
Dinner on the Grounds: “The First Appalachia: The History of Northern New England”
Learn about an often forgotten area of Appalachia — its northern tip — and celebrate the career of Gordon McKinney as he retires from his position as Julian-Van Dusen Chair in the History Department. McKinney also served as the third director of the Berea College Appalachian Center, from 1995-2005.
A light lunch will be served.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
05-01-2009
7:30 p.m.
Pamela Duncan, Appalachian Heritage Featured Author Reading
Pamela Duncan, author of the novels Plant Life and Moon Women, will read in the Appalachian Center Gallery in the Bruce Building on the Berea College campus. This will be a celebration of the Spring 2009 issue of Appalachian Heritage, of which Duncan is the Featured Author. Screen printer Debbie Littledeer, Featured Artist for the Spring 2009 issue, will also be present with copies of her prints and cards available for purchase. Refreshments will be served at 7:30 p.m. and the reading will begin at 8:00 p.m.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
05-02-2009
Dedication of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center
At its October 2008 meeting, the Berea College Board of Trustees voted to name the Appalachian Center after Loyal Jones, the founding director. The College is planning a celebration to honor this name change, along with the Board’s decision to name the Campus Christian Center after Willis D. Weatherford, Jr., on May 2. A public ceremony and reception are planned for the afternoon.
Those interested in attending will want to consult the Appalachian Center website, which will feature final details.
05-12-2009
6:00 p.m.
Second Tuesday Old Time Traditional Music Jam Session
All ages and abilities are welcome to bring acoustic instruments and join in playing and singing old time, traditional music. We will begin with a half-hour slow jam for beginners, then move to playing at regular speed.
Feel free to come and go and listen as you please.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
06-12-2009
7:30 p.m.
Appalachian Heritage Featured Author Reading
A panel of writers will speak and read in honor of Jim Wayne Miller, Featured Author of the Summer 2009 issue of Appalachian Heritage. This includes his widow, Mary Ellen Miller; former Appalachian Center director, Loyal Jones; and Morris Grubbs, editor of the Jim Wayne Miller reader forthcoming from the University Press of Kentucky. He is also the editor of Conversations with Wendell Berry and Home and Beyond: An Anthology of Kentucky Short Stories. The reading will be held in conjunction with the Alumni Office during the Summer Reunion, as both Jim Wayne and Mary Ellen Miller are alumni of Berea College.
Refreshments will be served at 7:30 p.m. and the reading will begin at 8:00 p.m.
Location: Appalachian Center Gallery, Bruce Building
06-16-2009 and
06-30-2009
Noon –
1:00 p.m.
Exhibit Lunch
A series of informal lunch programs where our Artifacts & Exhibits Studio student curators present work-in-progress from summer exhibit projects. This is an exercise in formative assessment–showing your work and getting feedback while developing the project.
Everyone is welcome–students, faculty & staff! Light lunch is provided.
Location: Bruce-Trades Connector
07-7-2009 and
07-28-2009
Noon-
1:00 p.m.
Exhibit Lunch
A series of informal lunch programs where our Artifacts & Exhibits Studio student curators present work-in-progress from summer exhibit projects. This is an exercise in formative assessment–showing your work and getting feedback while developing the project.
Everyone is welcome–students, faculty & staff! Light lunch is provided.
Location: Bruce-Trades Connector