In Brief

Public Affairs seeks updates
for online experts guide

The Office of Public Affairs is in the process of updating the NIU Experts Guide.

The guide is a searchable, online tool for members of the news media who are looking for experts to comment on particular subjects. Faculty and staff are encouraged to visit the guide at http://experts.niu.edu and check their listing by searching the guide by area of expertise or academic department.

If your listing needs updating, or if you are not listed and would like to be, click on the “Add or Update a Listing” button and fill out the online form.

For more information, call 753-1681 or e-mail publicaffairs@niu.edu .

FIT Program opens
spring registration

New and returning members are eligible to register for the FIT Program during the following days/times in Anderson Hall 127. Contact the FIT staff at (815) 753-0335 or via e-mail at fit@niu.edu for more information.

Today: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., returning members only.

Wednesday, Jan. 11: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., new members only. Each of the first 10 new members to join the FIT Program this spring will receive a free water bottle.

Friday, Jan. 13: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., open registration.

ITS hosts workshop
on best practices

ITS will host a free workshop Friday, Jan. 13, that will address the development and procurement of accessible electronic and information technology resources. Experts from the University of Illinois , Great Lakes ADA and Southern Illinois University are invited.

The workshop takes place from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center Hunt Room. A box lunch will be provided. Registration is required, and space is limited.

For more information, click here. http://www.its.niu.edu/its/PublicRelations/Access-Workshop-January13-2006.shtml

NIUTEL announces
new hours for 2006

NIUTEL has changed its opening time to 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. Call (815) 753-0963 for more information.

NIUTEL offers
office calendars

Poster-size 2006 calendars from NIUTEL are now available. They feature Julian dates, and university holidays and academic dates are highlighted. Calendars for anyone who pre-ordered are set aside. Remaining calendars are available for pick-up on a first-come, first-served basis. Call (815) 753-0963 for more information.

Parking Services closes
lobby for January

The service lobby at Campus Parking Services will close temporarily for maintenance through Tuesday, Jan. 31.

A temporary service office is open on the main floor of the Holmes Student Center near the computer lab. Visitors to this location can purchase parking permits, obtain temporary or visitor permits, file parking ticket appeals, report lost or stolen parking permits and make ticket payments.

Office hours through Friday, Jan. 13, are 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Extended office hours for Jan. 17 to 31 are 7:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Fridays.

Customers still can use the depository on the east side of the Campus Parking Services building for making ticket payments. Call (815) 753-1045 for more information.

Law Library posts
hours for spring

The David C. Shapiro Memorial Law Library has announced hours for the spring semester.

Hours from Tuesday, Jan. 17, through Friday, April 28, are 7:15 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:15 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 11:30 p.m. Sundays.

Hours during Spring Break are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, March 13, through Friday, March 17. The library is open from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 11, Sunday, March 12, and Saturday, March 18. Hours Sunday, March 19, are noon to 11:30 p.m.

Call (815) 753-0505 for more information.

NIU professor to discuss
future of Supreme Court

Artemus Ward, an assistant professor in NIU's Department of Political Science, will present “Justice John Roberts and the Future of the U.S. Supreme Court” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19.

The program will be held in the Staff Lounge located on the lower level of Founders Memorial Library. Call (815) 753-8091 for more information. There will be an opportunity for discussion and light refreshments following the presentation.

NIU Community School
announces spring classes

Musicians, artists and thespians of all ages and abilities have much to choose from this spring at the NIU Community School of the Arts.

Lessons, ensembles and classes meet weekly and many begin in January. Teachers with the community school are NIU faculty and students, as well as community artists. All classes and lessons are taught on campus.

Private Lessons

Weekly private lessons are available on all instruments, as well as in art and theatre. Suzuki lessons for young children are also available on violin, guitar, and piano.

Music Ensembles

The community school has a number of ensemble opportunities for those who enjoy playing in a group setting. Join a jazz combo, a full or string orchestra, a Celtic band, or a flamenco guitar ensemble.

Music Classes

For Young Children

Prelude, Gavotte, and Development are fun music classes for young children and meet on Saturday mornings. Prelude is for ages 1 and 2, Gavotte for ages 3 and 4 and Development for ages 4 through 6. Teacher Laurie Rodriguez brings a fresh approach to these appealing and popular classes.

Carol Stubbs brings her skill and experience to the Music for Children with Special Needs class for children ages 18 months to 8 years old. Thanks to grants from several local Kiwanis groups, first-time students pay no tuition to attend this class, which meets on Thursday evenings.

Piano Players 1 is a group piano class for children ages 6 to 9 to learn the basics of music and piano. Graduate student Mabel Kwan teaches this class on Mondays.

For Teens and Adults

Beginning Jazz Arranging and Composing is taught on Wednesdays by jazz band director Johan Eriksson.

Music and Computer Technology and Electronic and Computer Music Overview are taught by Mike Taylor on Sunday afternoons.

Two group guitar classes, one for children ages 8 to 12 and one for ages 13 to adult, are taught Mondays at 7 p.m.

New this spring

Jazz Combo for Adults (ages 18 and older) and the Jazz Improv Class (ages 12 and older) meet on Wednesday evenings and are taught by jazz saxophonist and director Johan Eriksson.

The Harp Circle is for ages 10 and older and meets once, on Feb. 4. Teacher Carl Johnson demonstrates the basics; then, everyone gets to play.

Art for Children

Children ages 4 to 12 enjoy Art Express, a five-week class that meets Saturday afternoons beginning February. This long-running and popular class offers a variety of art experiences in different media, all tied to a central theme.

Art for Adults

Danielle Barton teaches beginning portraiture beginning in January and open studio beginning in March. She is offering a new class for older adults, Drawing for the Timid, beginning in March.

Victoria Peel teaches Using Perspective in Drawing on Saturdays beginning in January.

Theatre Classes

Children ages 6 to 9 are encouraged to bring lots of energy to Kinetic Energy, a unique theatre games class. Telling Tall Tales is a general survey class of storytelling for ages 10 to 15. Both classes are taught by NIU theatre student Kristine Stephens on Saturday mornings.

NIU Art Museum hosts
video art installation

The NIU Art Museum announces “Estuarine Spaces,” a solo showing of video and multimedia installations by noted Illinois artist Joan Truckenbrod.

The exhibition takes place in the South Galleries of Altgeld Hall from Tuesday, Jan. 17, through Saturday, March 11. The opening reception is from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18. A special closing reception and artist talk will take place Thursday, March 9, with the reception from 5 to 7 p.m. in the museum galleries and the artist's slide talk at 7 p.m. in Room 315 of Altgeld Hall.

The NIU Art Museum Altgeld Galleries are located on the first floor, west end of Altgeld Hall. Gallery Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. The Galleries are accessible to wheelchairs, and exhibitions are free and open to the public.

The programming of the NIU Art Museum is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, the Friends of the NIU Art Museum and the Arts Fund 21. For more information, call (815) 753-1936 or visit www.vpa.niu.edu/museum.

NIU Art Musuem exhibits
'rotating' installation

The NIU Art Museum announces “Jin Soo Kim: roll-run-hit-run-roll-tick-,” a sculpture-sound installation in the Rotunda Gallery of Altgeld Hall from Tuesday, Jan. 17, through Saturday, May 13.

The exhibition will change monthly with the additional installation of NIU students' work created during a series of workshops with Kim as a visiting artist. The opening reception for the exhibition will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, followed by a public slide talk by the artist in Room 100 of the Visual Arts Building (Jack Arends Hall) at 7 p.m.

The installation, consisting of eight 10-inch-tall-by-8-foot-long steel tunnels and an audio element featuring layered sounds of ticking clocks, breaking light bulbs and clanging plates from railroad tracks reverberating from speakers within the tunnels, emphasizes the physical and psychological nature of travel, experience and memory. It first was exhibited in the NIU Chicago Gallery in the fall of 2003.

Participants in the workshops (Feb. 3 and 4, March 3 and 4 and April 7 and 8) will explore materials and methods including drawing, assemblage, installation, poetry and recorded sounds, to address issues of displacement, immigration and travel, memory and loss.

Each workshop will culminate in the installation of the participant's work in the NIU Art Museum Rotunda Gallery where it will remain on view until the next workshop. A public reception will be held in the museum on the Saturday of each workshop from 5 to 6 p.m.

“roll-run-hit-run-roll-tick-” was funded in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, Friends of the NIU Art Museum and the Arts Fund 21. The workshops were funded by the NIU School of Art Visiting Artist Fund.

For more information, call (815) 753-1936 or visit www.vpa.niu.edu/museum .

NIU Art faculty show
works at Chicago gallery

The NIU Art Gallery in Chicago announces the Biennial Exhibition of Work by NIU School of Art Faculty through Feb. 25.

Thirty-one artists, featuring work in a variety of media including painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, fiber, jewelry, performance and design, reflect and celebrate the diverse interests and disciplines of the School of Art faculty.

Exhibiting artists include Jeffrey Morgan Adams, Jon Ashmann, Michael Barnes, Karen Brown, Todd Buck, Andrew Byrom, Yale Factor, Billie Giese, Aleksandra Giza, Debra Grall, Larry Gregory, Manny Hernandez, Katie Kahn, Frank Kulesa, Yih-Wen Kuo, Andrew Liccardo, Christine LoFaso, Kimberly Martens, Ron Mazanowski, Ashley Nason, Jamie Obermeier, Steve Quinn, Charlotte Rollman, Lee Sido, Deborah Smith-Shank, Kryssi Staikidis, Mary Stewart, Adrian Tió, Frank Trankina, Elizabeth Vallance and Harry Wirth.

The NIU Art Gallery in Chicago is located at 215 W Superior , 3rd floor. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 312.642.6010 or visit our website at www.vpa.niu.edu/museum.

NIU art alums featured
in local exhibition

Three NIU fine arts graduates will lead off the 2006 exhibition schedule at the DeKalb Area Women's Center in a group show titled “Recent Graduates: aka Grads A-Go-Go” until Jan. 27.

The artists, Sarah Beth Woods of Palatine, Lori Ann Ayers of DeKalb and Jennifer Krantz of Machesney Park , will be present for a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, which is free and open to the public.

Woods will exhibit new work in the On Stage Gallery including a large-scale painting on handmade paper, an artist's book made of handmade paper illustrated with woodcuts, and small gouache paintings. “Pattern is a reoccurring theme in my work,” Woods said. “I use it to create narrative languages that explore certain emotions and aesthetics. My patterns often morph into landscapes, creating their own environments, never wavering from their feminine ideologies.”

Ayers' paintings are created in gouache on paper. Her powerful images depict aerial views that take the form of idealized environments. In describing her work, she stated, “The artwork is intensely colorful and portrays a vastness of space along with a distanced isolation. Each piece achieves harmony within contradictions.”

A marketing communications professional, Ayers relocated to DeKalb three years ago to complete her degree in painting at NIU. Also, her work is currently showing at an online Web gallery at www.emergingartistsgroup.com in the Sarah's Vineyards Submissions space.

From her “Opulent Indulgences” series, Krantz presents 10 chandelier paintings inspired by the antique chandelier that hung in her 1920s-style home. Her paintings incorporate a translucent linear style, a use of pattern and a complexity that plays with space within the paintings. Her focus is to create aesthetically pleasing paintings that capture a complex beauty, mystery and a feeling of nostalgia. “My paintings work to convey a sense of beauty, intricate pattern and a decorative quality,” she said.

The DAWC is located at 1021 State Street in DeKalb, and the exhibition is open for public viewing from 7 to 9 p.m. Fridays, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. the first and third Saturdays, and by appointment.

Parking is available in the newly paved lot one-half block south of the building off of Eleventh Street . The handicapped accessible lift can be reached from the alley north of the building. For further information or to arrange a group showing, call (815) 758-1351.

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