2013 Staff ArtFest features variety of talents

ASU staff members are a talented group. Their “off-the-clock” talents include painting, poetry, gardening, music and jewelry-making. Some will show off their avocations during the 2013 Staff ArtFest, sponsored by The Devils’ Workshop.

More events may be added, so check back for updates.

The schedule for the seventh annual event includes:

Jewelry

Friday, July 26
Emeritus College, lower level of Old Main (go down ramps next to stairs in front of Old Main)
Jewelry designer Pam Howard, lecturer in American Sign in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science, demonstrates off-loom bead weaving: peyote, brick stitch, Ndebele and right angle weave.

Folk music

Wednesday, July 31
Union Stage, lower level of the Memorial Union
Folksinger Jennifer Rhodes, a career specialist senior in ASU Career Services, will perform. Rhodes has been playing guitar for approximately 21 years and enjoys performing folk and acoustic rock covers ranging from the ‘60s to present day. 

Bonsai

Friday, Aug. 2
Emeritus College, Lower Level of Old Main
Araxi Hovhannessian, graduate adviser in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, will talk about how to create and maintain bonsai trees.

Pipe organ

Tuesday, Aug. 6,
Organ Hall, Music Building 
William Swayze, accompanist in the Herberger School of Dance, will play the Fabulous Fritts Organ.

Carillon

Thursday, Aug. 8
Listen in front of the Memorial Union or at the carillon, on the Lower Level of Old Main
William Swayze, who also is a University Carillonneur, will play a concert on the historic Symphonic Carillon.

Native American music

Friday, Aug. 9

Organ Hall, Music Building
Artificial Red is a musical ensemble comprised of Native American artists Randy Kemp (Choctaw/Euchee/Muscogee Creek), performing with various Native American flutes, and Dean Yazzie (Dine’/Navajo) on acoustic guitar.

“Our music is a blend of original, contemporary guitar arrangement with expressive flute responses, while intermittently fused with spoken word poetry of Native American life, themes and views,” they say. Kemp is an environmental graphic designer, senior, while Yazzie is a technical analyst associate at ASU Data Center Operations.

Pipe Organ

Thursday, Aug. 15

Kevin Snow, Team lead, sales floor supervisor, Sun Devil Campus Bookstores, will play the Fabulous Fritts Pipe Organ in Organ Hall, School of Music. Snow is also a University Carillonneur.

Watercolors

Tuesday, Aug. 20
Emeritus College, Lower Level of Old Main
Painter and poet Kalani Pickhart will show and discuss her watercolors and poetry. Pickhart, a 2009 graduate of ASU and Barrett, The Honors College, is student services program coordinator at Barrett.

As a former concert promoter, she is inspired and fascinated by the communities and cultures surrounding local music scenes. She is also an advocate for mental health awareness and suicide prevention in young people, and believes we should all work together to make the world a little kinder. “As a result,” she says, “most of my bright artwork is aimed to encourage positivity and is usually inspired by song lyrics and my favorite books, yoga and California’s sunny Golden Coast.”

Everyone who attends an ArtFest event will be entered into a drawing for prizes, to be held at the conclusion of the last event.

Grand prize is two tickets to AnDa Union’s October 10 performance at ASU Gammage, courtesy of ASU Gammage.

Other prizes include two $15 gift certificates to the ASU Art Museum Store; an Artificial Red CD; and two turquoise bracelets.