By Victoria Mullen, WKTV

Grand Valley State University’s 17th annual Fall Arts Celebration features dance that combines movement and technology; art that challenges perceptions; music that captures the power and mystery of the sea; and more — this year’s events at Grand Valley State University are set to bring out ‘all the feels’. 

Zapatos Rojos | Red Shoes, an installation by Elina Chauvet

• When: Nov. 1, 2019-Feb. 28, 2020
• Where: Kirkhof Center Gallery, Allendale Campus

Zapatos Rojos | Red Shoes is an itinerant installation originally organized in 2009 by artist and architect Elina Chauvet in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Comprising 33 pairs of red shoes donated by the women of Ciudad Juárez — each pair representing a woman who had disappeared in that community — the piece is designed to draw attention to the fact that women were being killed without any consequences. 

A bit of back story on the artist’s use of red shoes as the focus of her work: Chauvet researched the disappearances extensively; in the course of her fact-finding, she discovered that many of the women who vanished had worked in shoe stores, had been buying shoes at the time they disappeared, or were looking for a job in a shoe shop.

Chauvet had also used shoes as a metaphor in the past to express her concern for the missing and dead women.

In 2017, Zulema Moret, Grand Valley professor of modern languages, arranged for Chauvet to direct an installation of Zapatos Rojos | Red Shoes in Grand Rapids. This exhibition documents many of the community groups that participated in painting the shoes, as well as the installation at the Richard M. DeVos Center courtyard on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

The Fall Arts Celebration shines a spotlight on some of the world’s preeminent artists, poets, musicians, dancers, and scholars. Each fall for the past 17 years, West Michigan audiences have enjoyed a series of six free events that celebrate the positive impact of the arts. For more information, visit gvsu.edu/fallarts.

More art

Art of Today: Contemporary Collections from Chicago

• When: Through Nov. 1, 2019
• Where: Art Gallery, Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Working with Chicago-based artists, gallery owners and collectors, Grand Valley has acquired a collection of contemporary art over the last 15 years.

Curated from Grand Valley’s collection and enhanced with additional loans from Chicago, Art of Today comprises more than 40 paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures and mixed media works — bold and minimalistic works exploring simplicity in design, society’s relationship to the environment, as well as the intersection of pop culture and art by artists Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, David Nash and Takahashi Murakami. 

The challenging imagery of other artists — such as Tony Fitzpatrick, Jane Hammond, Erika Rothenberg and Kara Walker — examines the meaning of identity, race, culture and sexuality.

Lecture

Jill Lepore: American History from Beginning to End

• When: Nov. 5, 2019; public reception at 5pm and lecture at 6pm
• Where: L.V. Eberhard Center, second floor, Pew Grand Rapids Campus

What do you see when you look at 500 years instead of the last five minutes? Jill Lepore, the leading narrative historian of her generation, offers a different perspective on history. Lepore asserts that the United States is an experiment founded on three ‘truths’: political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people. Her thesis will challenge your imagination to put yourself in a place in history to help give context to the present.

Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. One of her latest books is These Truths: A History of the United States (2018), on The New York Times Best Seller list. Her most recent book, This America: The Case for the Nation, was published in May 2019.

GVSU Art Gallery

For more information about Grand Valley State University art exhibits, call 616.331.2563 or visit gvsu.edu/artgallery.

Mathias J. Alten: An Evolving Legacy

• When: Exhibition dates are ongoing
• Hours: Friday and Saturday, 1-5 p.m.; closed on holiday weekends
• Where: George and Barbara Gordon Gallery, DeVos Center, Bldg. E, Room 103 and 202, Pew Grand Rapids Campus

Often referred to as the ‘dean of Michigan painters’, the German-born American artist Mathias Joseph Alten (1871-1938) worked in a traditional representational style, incorporating the aesthetics and techniques of the Impressionist Movement in his paintings. Based in Grand Rapids, Alten created more than 3,800 works over his more-than-40-year career, including landscapes, seascapes, portraits and florals, all infused with light and punctuated with deft brushwork. Grand Valley State University holds the largest public collection of Alten’s work in the world.

Wandering Seeds: Experiencing and Engaging Haiti Through Study Abroad

• When: Through Dec. 13, 2019
• Where: Blue Wall Gallery, DeVos Center, Bldg. B, Pew Grand Rapids Campus

In 2018, a dozen GVSU students and three faculty members traveled to Haiti as part of a study-abroad program, led by Peter Wampler, associate professor of geology. Designed to provide an opportunity to experience Haitian culture and gain an understanding of daily life in rural Haiti, students from various backgrounds participated in a variety of service-learning and community-based teaching experiences, allowing them to contribute their energy toward real-world problems in Haiti. 

Included in this exhibition are narratives and reflections by both faculty members and students who participated in the trip. Additionally, a number of photographs document their encounters, and a variety of original Haitian works of art attest to the vibrant and diverse artistic culture in the country.

Carnivals, Cognac and Cycling: Works of Art from the Robert L. Haskins and Erwin A. Raible Collection of Fin-de-Siécle Prints

• When: Through Dec. 13, 2019
• Where: Red Wall Gallery, Lake Ontario Hall, Allendale Campus

At the turn of the century, an explosion in print media occurred in Paris, one of the most vibrant cities in the world. Now-familiar artists — Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, and others — made names for themselves producing items such as posters, journal illustrations, theater programs and advertisements.

Drawn from the Robert L. Haskins and Erwin A. Raible Collection of Fin-de-Siécle Prints in the GVSU Print and Drawing Cabinet, Carnivals, Cognac and Cycling provides a view into the visual culture of late 19th-century France.

In 2019, 14 GVSU students conducted research for this exhibition for the course Modern Art and Modernity. Each student focused on one work of art for in-depth study, produced original research, and presented findings to classmates and now to a wider audience.

José Guadalupe Posada: Calavera Prints from the GVSU Print and Drawing Cabinet

• When: Nov. 1, 2019-Feb. 28, 2020
• Where: Eberhard Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus

José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) — a printmaker and engraver who illustrated historic scenes, board games and commercial items, religious images, various books and newspapers — is most famous for his use of calaveras (depictions of skulls and skeletons) to satirize and mock the corruption of the wealthy and political elite.

He created La Calavera Catrina, his most iconic image, in 1910 at the start of the Mexican Revolution. The image shows a grinning skeleton wearing a women’s feathered hat, pointing out that death comes to everyone, even those in the upper class.

This exhibition includes 20 reproductions of his prints, from the GVSU Print and Drawing Cabinet. The works were purchased in 2002 from the family of Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, who printed them using the original plates and press.

Performances from the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance

For more information about performances from the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance, visit gvsu.edu/mtd.

Faculty recital — Sookkyung Cho, assistant professor of piano, artist performer

• When: Nov. 4, 2019, 7:30pm
• Where: Sherman Van Solkema Hall, Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

Pianist Sookkyung Cho uses a thoughtful expressionist style in her performances. A founding member of the New York-based Almava Trio, Cho has appeared at venues that include Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Château de Fontainebleau in France.

Additional recital by Sookkyung Cho

• When: Nov. 23, 2019, 4-5pm
• Where: Sherman Van Solkema Hall, Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

The performance will include a variety of piano solo and ensemble music. 

ReACT! presents: Difficult Dialogues

• When: Nov. 17, 2019, 8-10pm
• Where: Kirkhof Center, Room 2263, Allendale Campus

Grand Valley’s anti-violence peer theater troupe will use low-risk, interactive performance and discussion methods to help participants prepare to better engage someone on difficult dialogues about sexual assault and sexual harassment.

Bard to Go: Tossing on the Ocean public performance

• When: Nov. 2, 2019, 1-3pm
• Where: Keller Black Box Theatre, Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus

A 50-minute program introducing audience members to Shakespeare, Bard to Go takes the audience on a sea-faring journey with Prospero, a powerful magician, and his assistant Ariel, a magical spirit with strange powers. When Prospero and Ariel conjure a storm to shipwreck Prospero’s enemies, their magic spills over from their own play, The Tempest, and causes havoc for many of Shakespeare’s characters. This production includes scenes from The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Pericles, The Comedy of Errors and The Merchant of Venice.

Grand Valley Writers Series

The Grand Valley Writers Series brings in distinguished and emerging writers to read from their work, visit classes, and interact with students. For more information, visit here. 

Craft talk and reading with Stephen Mack Jones

• When: Nov. 5, 2019; Craft talk 1-2pm, Reading and book signing 6-7:30pm
• Where: Kirkhof Center Room 2270, Allendale Campus

The first adult fiction novel by Stephen Mack Jones, August Snow, has received wide acclaim, including the 2018 Nero Award from the Nero Wolfe Society; it was also named a 2018 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan. Jones has received the Hammett Prize for literary excellence in the field of crime writing from the International Association of Crime Writers.

A poet, award-winning playwright and winner of the Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary Fellowship, Jones lives in the metro Detroit area.