Posted on Feb 15, 2002

Visual Arts presents a dual exhibition relating to current world events – “Pilgrimage & Clips” – through March 21 in the Arts Atrium Gallery.

“Pilgrimage” is a series of photographs of visitors to the World Trade Center site by Kevin Bubriski, a Vermont-based photographer who has received Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships as well as a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Some of this series was published in a recent special edition of DoubleTake magazine.

“Clips,” curated by Martin Benjamin, professor of photography, features a selection of news clips pertaining to photography coverage of recent world events from sources such as the New York Times, New Yorker and Life.

In that issue of DoubleTake Bubriski wrote:

“I found people experiencing a profound sense of community, but also the deepest kind of personal reflection on loss and mortality … most visitors appeared to finally grasp the horror of the images on television and in magazines and newspapers.”

There will be a reception on Thursday, Feb. 28, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Arts Building.

For more information, call ext. 6714.

“September 25, 2001” — One of the photos by Kevin Bubriski featured in a dual exhibition on the Sept. 11 tragedies running through March 21 in the Arts Atrium Gallery. See next page for more.

Posted on Feb 15, 2002

Sculptor Steven Siegel, known for making art out of what
many might regard as trash, will speak on his work on Tuesday, Feb.
19, at 6 p.m. in the Reamer Campus Center Auditorium.

Siegel, of Red Hook, N.Y., considers himself a
traditional artist who gravitates toward unconventional materials
and methods. Often relying on community support for
materials and construction, he uses things like discarded newspaper,
plastics and shredded rubber to create sculptures that sit in
bucolic outdoor settings that change or corrode over time. A
committed environmentalist, he is quick to point out that he creates art,
not political statements: “I'm fascinated by fundamental
questions of aesthetics – how and why do we find beauty?”

Siegel studied at Pratt Institute, Hampshire College
and the University of Colorado. He is a 2002 artists' fellowship
recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts.

The talk is sponsored by the Mandeville Gallery at
Union College's Nott Memorial, and the Environmental Clearinghouse
of Schenectady.

Posted on Feb 15, 2002

The Union College Jazz Ensemble, under the direction
of Prof. Tim Olsen, will present a concert in the Reamer
Campus Center Auditorium on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 8 p.m.
Admission is free.

Posted on Feb 15, 2002

Robert Wells, the Chauncey Winters Professor of History
and Social Sciences, will speak on “Facing the `King of Terrors:'
Living with Death in American Society” on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 4:15 p.m.
in Humanities 019.

Wells' talk will be based on the research he did for a book of
the same title about changing attitudes about death in American society.

His talk is the last in a three-part series, “Wednesday Works
in Progress,” sponsored by the College's Center for Bioethics
and Clinical Leadership.

For more information, call ext. 8045. For information on
the Center for Bioethics and Clinical Leadership visit www.bioethics.union.edu.

Posted on Feb 15, 2002

David Kaczynski, executive director of New Yorkers
Against the Death Penalty, will speak on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. in
the Nott Memorial.

Kaczynski joined NYADP after a career in social
work counseling troubled teens. He and his wife Linda Patrik, professor
of philosophy at Union, approached the FBI in 1996 when they
began to suspect that David's older brother, Theodore, was the
so-called Unabomber, responsible for a series of mail bombs that
killed three people and injured 23 over 17 years. Kaczynski has said
the couple felt betrayed when the U.S. Justice Department broke
several of its promises and sought the death penalty despite
Theodore's serious mental illness. Although his brother's life was
ultimately spared in a last-minute plea bargain, David received what
he called “a disturbing glimpse into the dishonesty and brutality
of the nation's capital justice system.”

In 1999, the couple traveled to California and
lobbied unsuccessfully for clemency for Manny Babbitt, a mentally
ill Vietnam War veteran. Babbitt, a poor African-American,
was turned in by his brother Bill to the Sacramento police,
who promised that Manny would receive help for his mental
illness and not get the death penalty.

Since Babbitt's execution, Kaczynski has given
numerous speeches and appeared on several national television shows
voicing his opposition to the death penalty.

“The death penalty is wrong in principle, arbitrary and
unfair in implementation,” he said. “In effect, we've linked the impulse
for revenge with a system that reflects the gamut of social inequalities.”

The talk is sponsored by the College's chapter of Pi
Sigma Alpha, the political science honor society. A reception will follow.