By Samantha Burfiend
webchief@suunews.com
Summers typically bring a variety of art, dance and theatre to Cedar City, but the 2017 summer brought SUU College of Performing and Visual Arts faculty a time to visit locations they typically don’t during the traditional school time and work on personal projects and growth.
Sam Davis: Sam Davis, assistant professor of photography, spent his summer traveling to England to view museums including: Tate, Tate Modern, V&A, National Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum and Science Museum. Davis said he also traveled to Colorado to dismantle and bring back a new darkroom for his at-home studio. To keep his photography and work out and inside of classes up-to-date, he traveled through north and central Utah scouting locations for upcoming projects.
Mary Anne Anderson: Adjunct Professor, Class Piano, Staff Accompanist Mary Anne Anderson drove the Mormon Trail backwards with her husband, putting over 4,500 miles on their car. The Mormon Trail is described as a 1,300-mile stretch from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City where members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled. According to members of the church, this trek is a valued part of the LDS history.To those looking to travel the trail: it is a part of the United States National Trails System, known as the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail.
Peter Sham: Peter Sham, associate professor of theatre arts, spent his summer sharing his latest project at the Cedar City local Neil Simon Festival. Sham wrote the book, lyrics and music to his new project, “Under Construction: The Blue Collar Musical.” Brandon Grayson, music director for the Neil Simon Festival and senior musical theatre major, arranged and transcribed the music. SUU faculty like Piano Staff Accompanist Lydia Feild also helped with the project.
The story of ‘Under Construction’ follows a small group of people that come together over strange circumstances, and includes a female actor playing a character named Fred (played by Feild), as well as a central character who is dead. The show displays an unusual romance, and is filled with humor. For more information on Sham’s work this summer, see our upcoming issue of the University Journal that will be on stands later this month.
Brain Hoover: This summer Brian Hoover, professor of art, had two paintings accepted into a national juried exhibition titled: “The Sugar Rush Show,” in Sugar Hill, Georgia, which opens October 21. According to Hoover, 77 artists, including Hoover, from the United States, and internationally were selected for the exhibition. A Master of Fine Arts graduate from The State University of New York at Buffalo, Hoover has been teaching at SUU for 22 years and still makes time to produce pieces regularly. His style can be looked at towards a symbolist view, and his art is typically sold outside of Utah.
Carol Ann Modesitt: This summer Carol Ann Modesitt, professor and director of opera/voice, travelled Eastern Europe with her husband. The couple started in Prague where they went to the National Theater where “Amadeus” was filmed, and where “Don Giovanni” premiered. They also went to the Lobkowicz Palace where the original manuscripts of Beethoven’s “Eroica Symphony No. 3,” Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation,” and Mozart’s original orchestration of Handel’s “Messiah” were housed. They then took a bus to Passau and boarded a ship which sailed on the Danube. The couple visited Bratislava, Vienna and ended up in Budapest. Modesitt said they had concerts all along the way and they called it, “Symphony on the Danube.”
