With the 86th Academy Awards just around the corner (Sunday, March 2), Musicology Now recently published an essay by associate professor of music Andrew Flory about Best Documentary nominee, “20 Feet From Stardom.” An audience favorite around the globe, the film, directed by veteran filmmaker Morgan Neville, tells  the “untold story of the backup singers behind some of the greatest musical legends of the 21st century.” Flory’s essay, “20 Feet From Stardom: Entertainment or History?,” offers an insightful and balanced view of the film, questioning the fine line between history and entertainment in modern day depictions of popular music history.

Four members of Carleton’s esteemed Chinese Music Ensemble were recently honored at the 2014 Huain Cup International Chinese Instrument Competition at the Le Petit Trianon Theatre in San Jose, Calif. A panel comprised of elite musicians and music scholars from the People’s Republic of China awarded a Gold Medal to Yawen Chen ’15 (China) on the Dizi (Chinese bamboo flute); a Silver Medal to Vicky Wu ’17 (China) on the Guzheng (Chinese zither);  and Bronze Medals to Xiaodi Wang ’16 (China) on the Erhu (Chinese fiddle) and Ken Wang ’15 (Canada) on the Sanxian (Chinese banjo).

The Counterfactuals, an indie pop band comprised of Carleton professors Daniel Groll (philosophy), Jason Decker (philosophy), and Andy Flory (music)—along with St. Olaf College philosophy professor Mike Fuerstein—were featured on the Jan. 9, 2014 broadcast of Minnesota Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.” Entitled “Northfield professors moonlight in a band,” the segment highlights the band’s debut release, “Minimally Decent People,” and notes that the four professors “will be taking a break from their academic pursuits for an album release party” in Northfield on Saturday, Jan. 11 at J. Grundy’s Rueb-N-Stein.

The Counterfactuals, a “prof rock” band comprised of three Carleton professors (Daniel Groll, Jason Decker and Andy Flory) and one St. Olaf College professor (Mike Fuerstein), are featured in the December 31, 2013 edition of the Star Tribune. The story chronicles the evolution of the band and notes their immediate acclaim among Twin Cities music critics and fans alike. The band will host a Northfield album release show, in support of their debut “Minimally Decent People,” on Saturday, Jan. 11 at J. Grundy’s Rueb-N-Stein’s Upstairs Rueb.

Fred Hagstrom, Humphrey Doermann Professor of Liberal Learning and Rae Schupack Nathan Professor of Art, has been named the 2014 Minnesota Book Artist Award Winner for his new piece entitled “Passage.” This annual award, presented by Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) and the Minnesota Book Awards, recognizes a Minnesota book artist or book artist collaborative group for excellence of a new artistic work, demonstrated proficiency and quality in the book arts through three pieces of supporting previous work, as well as an ongoing commitment and significant contributions to Minnesota’s book arts community.

Only two days after the digital release of their debut album, “Minimally Decent People,” Carleton and St. Olaf College “prof rockers” The Counterfactuals are pleased to announce that the first single from the album has been selected as the “Song of the Day” by national music tastemakers Minnesota Public Radio’s 89.3 The Current.

Fred Hagstrom, Humphrey Doermann Professor of Liberal Learning and Rae Schupack Nathan Professor of Art, has his work included in “Rethinking the Multiple: Matrix Alteration, Installation, Artist Books.” The exhibition had its opening on October 9 at the Occidental College Weingart Galleries in Los Angeles and runs until November 15.

The installation prominently features the work of Paul Mullowney, visiting printmaker from San Francisco. Mullowney’s work is inspired by Japanese woodcuts, contemporary pulp manga, and Catholic and Buddhist religious iconography. 

David Lefkowitz, Associate Professor of Art, will speak about his work “NRTHFLD” at the sixty-third meeting of the New York Comics and Picture-Story Symposium on October 7. The symposium will be held at the Parsons The New School in New York City.

Lefkowitz’s work in painting, installation, and mixed media addresses everyday paradoxes of perception, and larger questions that arise from them. Much of the work explores the blurry boundary between the human-built environment and the natural world.

NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium is a weekly series for artist/writers working in various text-image forms: comics, picture-stories, animation, etc. at which to present and critique current work.

Kelly Connole, Associate Professor of Art, held a solo exhibition Flights of Fancy at the Gallery Saint Germain in Saint Cloud from September 5th to September 28th. Mainly through the means of ceramic sculptural installations, Connole “explore[d] themes of obsolescence, collecting, and multiples through her depictions of a variety of animal forms.” The exhibition closed on October 1st with an artist demonstration of the coil/slab method she used to make her rabbits, crows, and other ceramic animals.

The exhibition, made possible by the McKnight Foundation, was reviewed by the Saint Cloud Times on September 20.

Stephen Mohring, Associate Professor of Art, opened his exhibition Play at the Soeffker Gallery of Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. At the opening reception on September 27th, the artist gave a talk about his sculptures and video work that “combine the visceral nature … and the seductive allure” of all locally-sourced wood. The showing of his sculpture and video work will run through November 21st.

Mohring has also designed the set for the upcoming Ten Thousand Things Theater production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which will run from October 1st through November 3rd.