In Brief

RedBall Project
comes to NIU

It’s big, it’s red and it’s popping up unexpectedly on campus and in town. It’s the RedBall Project.

Join artist Kurt Perschke in exploring and noticing our unique local architectural spaces through the punctuating drama (and humor) of the giant red ball.

A Museum without Walls project, presented by the Northern Illinois University Art Museum with the support of the Fine Arts Committee of the NIU Campus Activities Board, Perschke will be in residence working with NIU students, both art and non-art majors, through Saturday, April 10.

Perschke will present a public slide talk about his artwork at 6 p.m. today in Room 100 of Jack Arends Hall (Visual Arts Building) on the NIU campus. A meeting for those interested in working with Perschke in selecting sites for the work to be installed in DeKalb will follow. Installations of the RedBall will take place both on campus and in the community later in the week.

Perschke’s RedBall Project is an international series of temporary site-specific installations that respond to the built environment we inhabit and the sculptural space embedded throughout that architectural landscape.

Conceived to expand into space where it doesn’t quite fit, the 15-foot RedBall acts both as visual punctuation to the perception of our surroundings and as a surrogate to our own body’s navigation of those spaces. Oversized, expanding and contracting, it both questions and celebrates the environments we have built for ourselves.

For further information please contact the NIU Art Museum at (815) 753-1936.

Huskie Pup Camp
registration begins

Registration begins today for NIU’s Huskie Pup Camp, a recreational day camp for children ages 6 to 12. Ten weeklong sessions are offered from June 1 through Aug. 6. Camp hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Huskie Pup Camp provides children with an exciting, well-rounded summer experience. Children participate in arts, crafts, sports and games and go on a variety of field trips to local attractions. Experienced, caring counselors, many of whom are pursuing degrees in education, lead these activities.

Campers can attend one or more of the 10 session; each week is different and filled with activity. Junior Huskie Pup Camp is planned for ages 6 to 8, while Senior Huskie Pup Camp is for ages 9 to 12.

Camp fees are $120 per week ($72 per week for sessions 5 and 6) for Office of Campus Recreation members and $150 per week ($90 per week for sessions 5 and 6) for non-members. A non-refundable deposit of $10 per session-per child is required at time of registration. Space is limited.

Registration must be done in person at the NIU Student Recreation Center front desk, located on the southwest corner of Annie Glidden Road and Lucinda Avenue, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

For more information, call camp coordinator Amy Fawcett at 753-0516 or the OCR at 753-0231.

DeKalb Area Women’s Center
features NIU student exhibitions

Two NIU students are this month’s featured artists of the month at the DeKalb Area Women’s Center.

In “Dreams – The World of Fugitive Pleasures,” Taiwanese student Po-Wen Liu is exhibiting slab-built ceramics, referencing traditional Chinese culture in the form of pillows, once functional, now sculptural objects of glazed porcelain. Liu expects to receive his master’s of fine arts degree in ceramics from NIU in May.

Liu’s wife, Eun-Hee Lim of Korea, with a specialty in the fiber arts, is exhibiting installations titled “Family Where You Are,” in which she arranges four 10-foot weavings to fit the exhibition space. Lim is pursuing a doctoral degree in art education.

Some of the artwork will be available for purchase. The galleries are open from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays and at other times during special events. A closing reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 30, and is free and open to the public

For individual or group showings by appointment, please leave a message at 758-1351. Off-street parking is available one-half block south of the building. Enter the alley from 11th Street (between State and Market streets).

A handicapped accessible lift is located in the alley between State and Pleasant streets, north of the center. Please call ahead to arrange for the use of the lift.

NIU Percussion Ensemble
plans ‘world’ concert

The NIU Percussion Ensemble will present its world percussion concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 8, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the Music Building. Assistant Professor Orlando Cotto will director the concert with the assistance of graduate students Mark Breen and Ben Wahlund.

Audience members will be treated to a variety of world percussion music from Brazil, Cuba, North America and Puerto Rico.

The concert is free. For more information, call 753-7891 or 753-1546.

Vermeer Quartet presents
‘Seven Last Words’

The world renowned Vermeer Quartet will present Franz Joseph Haydn’s “The Seven Last Words of Christ” at 8:15 p.m. Friday, April 9, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the Music Building.

Quartet members Marc Johnson and Richard Young will offer a pre-concert lecture at 7:15 p.m. in the concert hall. Father Andrew M. Greeley, a Catholic priest and professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona, is the evening’s guest speaker.

The Vermeer has played “The Seven Last Words of Christ” across the world. Since their first “live” broadcast of this work in 1988 over Chicago’s WFMT radio, more than 100 different speakers have collaborated with the Vermeer, including some of the most renowned religious figures in the English-speaking world. Their performances have by now reached an estimate 75 million listeners.

The concert is free. For more information, call 753-1546.

Nominations sought for
2004 graduate TA awards

Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center has established Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards to acknowledge and recognize outstanding graduate teaching assistants for their contributions to the teaching mission of NIU.

Each recipient of the award will be presented with a plaque and recognized at a reception held at the end of the spring semester.

Each academic or academic support unit that employs graduate TAs for teaching and related activities is invited to nominate one outstanding graduate teaching assistant from its department for the award. The nominations can be submitted by the head of the unit or designee and are due by Friday, April 9. Nomination guidelines can be found at http://www3.niu.edu/facdev/ta/tasupport.htm.

Five copies of each nomination should be submitted to Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards Committee, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center, 240 Gilbert Hall.

NIU Latin Jazz Ensemble
to perform spring concert

The NIU Latin Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Assistant Professor Orlando Cotto, will perform its spring concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 10, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall.

Dancing in the aisles is permitted – and encouraged.

The evening of Latin jazz will feature music by Poncho Sanchez, David Torres, Cal Tjader, Mark Levine, Eddie Palmieri, Cedar Walton, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Osvaldo Farrés and Sonny Bravo.

Cotto founded the ensemble in 2002. The group performed at the House in DeKalb last year, and received a standing ovation for its performance at the 2004 Illinois Music Educators Association’s annual conference in Peoria.

The concert is free and open to the public. Call 753-1546 for more information.

NIU Jazz Ensemble hosts
annual spring jazz concert

The legendary NIU Jazz Ensemble will play its annual spring jazz concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 15, in the Duke Ellington Ballroom.

The concert will feature vocalist Catherine Moody and jazz great Byron Stripling on vocals and trumpet. Stripling, who also will conduct an improvisation clinic at noon Thursday at the School of Music, formerly played with the Basie Orchestra, the GRP Big Band and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.

Admission is free. Call 753-0643 for more information. People interested in reserving seats for their bands should call Lynn Slater at 753-1546.

NIU theater continues
storytelling tradition

When the NIU School of Theatre and Dance presents its seventh annual Storytellers Theatre from April 15 to 18, audiences will be treated to both modern and classic stories told by students who have spent the semester learning the craft.

Storytellers director Professor Patricia Ridge teaches a class devoted solely to the art of storytelling, and she’s more than qualified to do so. Ridge herself is a professional storyteller who performs regularly at schools, libraries, bookstores and festivals across the country.

“Storytelling has an inherent healing quality, something that is indispensable in our country right now,” Ridge said.

Storytellers Theatre runs April 15-18 at the Corner Theatre in the Stevens Building. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. All tickets are $3 and are available only at the door.

Workers needed for
Huskies football games

NIU Intercollegiate Athletics will host a job fair for people or fundraising groups interested in working at the 2004 home NIU football games this fall. Job openings are for ticket takers, ushers and parking personnel.

The job fair will begin in the east concourse of Huskie Stadium at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 15, before the spring football game.

The fair is organized by the facility/event staff within Intercollegiate Athletics. For more information, call Sue Hansfield, director of athletic facilities, at 753-9544.

Child Care Center
hosts open house

The NIU Campus Child Care Center will be hosting an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 23, in celebration of its 25th anniversary and the Week of the Young Child. NIU faculty, staff and students are invited to attend.

Visitors may tour the facility and gain information about the program as well as early childhood education in general. Door prizes will include mugs, T-shirts and framed children’s art work.

For more information, contact Chris Herrmann at 753-0125.

Shapiro Law Library sets
end-of-semester hours

The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced its hours for the end of the semester.

From Saturday, April 24, through Thursday, May 13, which includes Reading Day and final exams, the library is open from 7:15 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:15 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday.

The library is open from 7:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, May 14.

From Saturday, May 15, through Friday, May 21, and from Sunday, May 23, through Friday, May 28, hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The library is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 22.

Hours for Memorial Day weekend are 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 29, and Sunday, May 30. The library is closed for Memorial Day.

Call 753-0505 for more information.

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