Pistachio Vessel #5 (2000) by Lindsay K. Rais, copper wire, glass beads and pistachio nut shell, 5 x 5 x 5 inches; courtesy of Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston
Union College's
Mandeville Gallery presents a show about simple objects – baskets – pushed to a
new level as objects of art.
No Boundaries: Contemporary Basketry runs July 6 through August 15 in the
Mandeville Gallery, in the Nott Memorial at the center of the Union
College campus. The gallery is open
daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibit is free and open to the
public. For more information, please call 518-388-6131.
Basketry is widely accepted as the
oldest known form of craft. However, for the past quarter-century, artists have
been taking the simple basket form and pushing it in new and exciting
directions, creating objects infused with content and meaning.
Working within already broad
traditions, the artists in No Boundaries: Contemporary Basketry are
inventing new methods of construction, often using highly unconventional
materials, and creating both utilitarian and non-utilitarian vessels, and even
abstract sculptures.
Baroque Boat Basket No. 9 (2003) by John Garrett, copper, 14 x 24 x 16 inches
The show presents the work
of some of the most innovative American basketry artists. Curator Beth Ann
Gerstein, executive director of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston,
selected six established basketry artists to contribute pieces to the
exhibition and asked each one to invite an emerging or lesser-known artist to
participate.
The exhibition includes brief
artist statements along with information about each work. Text panels provide a
history of basketry and explain the interpretation of traditional utilitarian
objects by these contemporary artists.
No Boundaries: Contemporary
Basketry is a nationally touring exhibition and is a program of Exhibits
USA, a national division of Mid-American Arts Alliance.
Ross Marvin '07 with vintage vinyl at the WRUC studio
What's a guy to do when he can't throw a Frisbee? Spin vinyl, of course.
Extracurriculars were important to
me in high school. So, I wanted to get involved at Union.
Was I bred for the environmental club? Was I mechanical enough for the robotics
team? Could I throw a Frisbee? The answer was a resounding “No.”
However, I knew I liked to listen
to music.
I'm not talking about Britney
Spears or Jessica Simpson here either. I'm talking about the kind of music you hear
in those vintage record stores, like the one in the movie High Fidelity, where
employees' sole purpose in life is to complete their set of bootleg tapes from
the Grateful Dead's 1972 European Tour. I'm talking about meaningful, powerful
music, the kind of music that isn't always played on commercial radio.
I had always enjoyed listening to
independent college radio. Where else could you hear the whole side of an album
commercial free? I felt that Union's historic radio
station, WRUC – “the first station in the nation” – was just the outlet I
needed to share my music with the world (or at least anyone within the
station's 20-mile radius).
I'd
listened to rock radio long enough to know that what I needed was an on-air
partner with some charisma. I found him across the hall in West
College dormitory in the personage
of Peter Wilson. Pete and I shared
similar taste in music and were ready to take the airwaves by storm. We decided to call our show the “Intensive
Care Unit,” hoping our show would help ease the pain of a stressful work
day. Pete graciously agreed to change
his name on the show to “Doc” to go along with the theme. We signed on for the year in a mid-day
timeslot and were told to report to the studio for a training session.
When
we walked into the studio, we both felt as if we had died and gone to heaven. Here,
in three little rooms sat very large speakers; speakers that would send classic
rock and roll throughout the studio and provide us with a nice break from our
studies twice a week. Along with the speakers was the mixer that Pete would be
using to put us on the air while we sat ready at the microphones with headphones
wrapped around our ears. The adjacent room was crammed with equipment and
software that was soon to be used as a recording studio, and the last room was
filled floor to ceiling with records — that's right, vinyl albums. We were
determined to put these relics to use rather than allowing them to collect
dust. Thus was born our “all vinyl hour.”
Throughout the year I thoroughly
enjoyed our hour of song and dialogue. We talked about everything from upcoming
concerts to Rolling Stone magazine to movies. Though we didn't have a large fan
base (most often the streaming connection on the internet told us we had 10
listeners) we knew our small but supportive audience was cheering us on from
the second floor of our dormitory.
We took our job seriously and felt like maybe we were doing
something important. We were keeping alive the independent spirit of college
radio. Every time we would “Get the Led Out” (playing a Led Zeppelin song) or
played a “D-d-double Dose of the Dead” (back-to-back songs by the Grateful
Dead), or told our listeners what happened “Today in Rock History” we were
preserving that classic image of the radio pioneers that first spun an Elvis
Presley single or abandoned the status-quo of playing three-minute pop songs
and let Bob Dylan's “Like a Rolling Stone” reach listeners in all its six-minute
glory.
When we began to notice people
listening to the songs we had played on our show around the dorm, there was a
rewarding feeling of accomplishment. When we would get a rare request for a
song we knew people were really out there listening to what we were doing.
Coming to Union,
I knew I wouldn't be the guy to break athletic records. So I make my
contribution to the college community by spinning records twice a week in the
WRUC studio.
Ross Marvin, a sophomore political science major from Clifton Park,
N.Y., returned to the airwaves this fall with “Intensive Care
Unit.” He also serves as PA announcer at Union's men's
and women's basketball games, and as an intern in the College's Office of Communications.
Millikin, Ill.-Senior Sean Washington finished seventh in the
100-meter dash at the NCAA Division III outdoor track and field championships
at Millikin University. Washington qualified for the finals by turning in a
10.84 in the second heat of the preliminary round. The Dale City, Va., native
ran an 11.02 in the championship round.
100
Meter Finals (Wind = -1.8 m/s)
1
Nick Wetherby, Fr., SUNY-Cortland 10.69
2
Bret Blake, Jr., Nebraska Wesleyan 10.78
3
Matt Pagel, So., Wisconsin La Crosse 10.85
4 T
J. Jennings, Sr., Emory University 10.88
5
Eric Walton, Fr., Wisconsin Oshkosh 10.91
6
Gregg Wiersema, So., University of Dubuque 10.97
7
Sean Washington, Sr., Union College (N Y) 11.02
8
Marcus Winston, Jr., Millikin University 11.02
100
Meter Preliminary Round
Heat
winners plus next five fastest advance. Last year's winner: 10.71; Chaz
Clemons, Sr., Lincoln University NCAA Championships record: 10.19; Chaz Clemons,
Lincoln University, 2002 Lindsay Stadium record: 10.45; Jonathan Wade, River
Cities TC, 7-5-01 US Olympic Trials qualifier: 10.25
Junior attack woman Molly Flanagan (Simsbury, Conn./Loomis
Chaffee) was named a first-team national All-American by the Intercollegiate
Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association/United States Lacrosse Association.
Senior
defender Corinne Hennessy (Mahopac, N.Y./Choate Rosemary Hall) and junior
attack woman Kathy Dolezal (Clearwater, Fla./Williston Northampton) were named
to the second and third teams, respectively.
Molly Flanagan
Flanagan
had a remarkable year with the Dutchwomen, especially considering she returned
after a season-ending knee injury that cost her the last four games of the 2003
season. Flanagan led the Dutchwomen in scoring with 97 points on 69 goals and
28 assists this year and will enter her season second on the program's all-time
scoring list with 217 points on 163 goals and 54 assists. Already the 30-year
old program's all-time scoring leader, Flanagan trails Nina Mandel '03 by just
two points.
Hennessy,
a four-year starter for the Dutchwomen, helped lead Union to a four-year record
of 46-20. Her efforts led the Garnet into postseason tournaments, the ECAC this
year, the New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association (where the
Dutchwomen won their second championship) and the NCAAs, respectively.
An
all-around performer, Hennessy concludes her career 19th on the
all-time scoring list with 67 points on 50 goals and 17 assists.
Dolezal,
who finished second on this year's scoring chart with 51 goals and seven
assists, will enter her final season ranked 14th on the all-time
scoring list with 94 points on 84 goals and 10 assists. She looks to become
just the 12th player to crack the century mark.
The
2004 Dutchwomen established a program record for wins in a season with their
final standard of 15-5. Union, which finished second in both the UCAA's regular
season and championship tournament, also finished second in their first-ever
ECAC Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament.
Susan Bassett, who guided Union College's men and women's swim teams to several
New York State championships, received the Jean Giambrone Service Award at the
26th annual WHAM Sportswomen of the Year Awards Luncheon at the Clarion
Riverside Hotel in Rochester. Bassett, director of
athletics at William Smith, is the first collegiate administrator to win the
award in its 23-year history.
Bassett, director
of athletics since 1995 and past chair of the NCAA Division III Management
Council, was recognized for her three decades of service to intercollegiate
athletics as a swimming coach and administrator.
Susan Bassett
Bassett enjoyed
an extraordinary coaching career before moving into the director's chair. In 15 seasons as head coach at William Smith and Union colleges, she coached 114
All-Americans, including three national champions, and was named the 1993 NCAA
Division III Women's Coach of the Year.
Bassett, who
came to Union in 1987, guided the Dutchwomen's program to an eight-year record
of 63-10. Union won its first-ever state title in 1990 and also won the state
crown in 1994 (the only two New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic
Association crowns in Union's history). The 1990 Dutchwomen completed the
regular season with a record of 9-0, the only perfect record in the sport's
history.
Under Bassett's
direction, 42 Dutchwomen qualified for the NCAA meet with 20 earning
All-American honors (a top eight finish) and 42 others taking home honorable
mention status (by finishing nine to 16). Julie Benker won the national
championship in the 100 backstroke in 1993, Union's only female national
champion.
Bassett took
over the men's program prior to the 1987-88 season and finished with a
seven-year record of 42-20. The 1989-90 team completed the program's first
winning season since 1969 and the following years the Dutchmen enjoyed a 7-2
record, their best effort since 1966. Bassett led the 1995 Dutchmen to their
first-ever New York State championship.
In all, 19
Dutchmen qualified for the NCAA meet, earning 13 All-American awards and 17
honorable mention trophies. Kevin Makarowski won the national title in the 200
IM in Bassett's final season of 1994-95.
Named Union's
assistant director of athletics in the spring of 1993, Bassett earned three New
York State “Coach of the Year” awards.
During the
luncheon, the Heart of Gold Children's Foundation (the event's charitable
beneficiary) with the help of its 17 luncheon patrons, awarded four designated
gifts totaling $4,000 to Rochester-area youth organizations in surprise podium
presentations. The Boys & Girls Club of Geneva Youth Girls Basketball
League's Equipment Fund, thanks to a designated contribution from the ESL
Federal Credit Union, was awarded a $1,000 check in the name of Susan Bassett,
who is a volunteer head coach in the Youth Girls Basketball League.
Bassett has
added three varsity programs during her tenure as the Herons' director of
athletics; has overseen the renovation of Winn-Seeley Gymnasium; and has played
a key role in the overall upgrade of the College's athletics facilities.
A national
powerhouse before her arrival, William Smith has continued its championship
tradition during the Bassett era, winning two national championships and three
ECAC titles, as well as dozens of conference championships under her direction.
A member of the
NCAA Management Council from 1999 through 2004, she served her final year on
the Council as chair, overseeing the development and passage of the
wide-sweeping reform package that was adopted during the 2004 NCAA Convention
in January.
A 1979 graduate
of Ithaca College, Bassett received a master's degree in physical education
from Indiana University in 1980.
