~Yale Arts Library Blog~

Bright Ideas: The verdict is in on Arts & Ideas 2008. New Haven Advocate Christopher Arnott 7.1.08

Posted by: Tanya

The Art & Architecture Addition: What Would You Have Done? Lawrence Biemiller Buildings & Grounds 6/3/08

“But before the harsh words start flying in earnest, ask yourself what you would have done in Charles Gwathmey’s position… Do you imitate your professor’s building, if you can, and subject yourself to criticism for not doing something original? Do you come up with a design that’s completely different and then take the heat for being unsympathetic? Do you ask yourself what your professor would have wanted you to do? He certainly didn’t put up copycat buildings himself—in 1963 he was celebrated for his originality. Would he have failed you for doing something imitative?”

Posted by Chris

Check out Tom MacMillan’s excellent blog covering art and music in New Haven, Signals and Noise.

He recently covered the Olive Tree Circus’ (seen above) fund raiser for their trip to Palestine. More on the circus here.

Posted by Chris

“Last summer, Indiana Jones took over downtown New Haven and now a comedy is filming in Wooster Square.”

More movie magic in New Haven WTNH.com May 27, 2008

Find some of last year’s photos of New Haven decked out for the new Indiana Jones movie at This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow

Posted by: Tanya

The Mayor’s Community Arts Grants Program has been designed to support the community by providing financial, marketing and technical assistance for arts and cultural related programs, projects and events which occur in New Haven neighborhoods.

Individuals who are presenting, teaching or practicing artists and non-profit arts organizations working with neighborhood-based community and/or youth or senior groups in the City of New Haven. Eligible activities include: festivals, parades, exhibitions, murals/public art, children’s activities, inter-generational programs, arts education, film, public performances, neighborhood collaborations and apprenticeships.

The application deadline is June 4, 2008. A total of $25,000 will be awarded through grants up to $2,000. The grant application package is available for download on the City’s website, visit this website. For more information about the program, please contact Kim Futrell at (203) 946-7172 or kfutrell@newhavenct.net.

Press release here.

New Haven’s legal attitude towards graffiti—populist art medium or sign of urban decay?—may be decided within the next few weeks. Aldermen Joseph Rodriguez and Erin Sturgis-Pascale of Fair Haven have drafted a law that would ban individuals under the age of 18 from purchasing spray-paint cans.

Gameliel Moses, program director for Solar Youth, said the Fair Haven youth “are the ones who identify and choose the problems, and then we support them. We try to teach the kids in our program that graffiti isn’t always bad. Graffiti is an art form—it all matters where and how you do it.”

Vandalism inspires anti-graffiti law for minors Emma Larson The Yale Herald 4/1/08

More reporting and plenty of debate at the New Haven Independent, here and here.

Posted by Chris

“What was so unbearable about the wooden corpse? It looked like an oversized carved saint dragged from a church to be surrounded by armed men, and was—for a time—at the center of The Lot on the south side of lower Chapel near the intersection of Church and Orange sts., in New Haven. Installed by Artspace, it was a dominant element of Baptiste Ibar’s work ‘Guided Men’ until someone decided to steal it.”

Trying to Remember: War memorials made and unmade. By Stephen Vincent Kobasa New Haven Advocate 4/10/08

Posted by: Tanya

To Grove Street Cemetery: Tear down that wall Paul Needham Yale Daily News 4/4/08

“When Vincent Scully ’40 GRD ’49 was master of Morse College in the early 1960s, he made a habit of cross-country skiing in the nearby Grove Street Cemetery. His route was, by necessity, circular — there is only one gate with access in and out of the expansive walled cemetery.

“In a telephone interview Thursday from his home in Florida, Scully was not thinking much about snow. But he would still like to see a less confined cemetery sitting in an area of New Haven that is also an increasingly important part of Yale’s campus.”

Posted by: Tanya

Good article in the Courant about two architectural mistakes made by Yale in New Haven and how they are being remedied.

Yale’s Architectural Do-Overs Philip Langdon Hartford Courant 3/23/08

“Yale’s other significant recent architectural mistake occurred in the mid-1990s when the university built Henry R. Luce Hall. Designed by New York architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, Luce is strange-looking and widely disliked. It faces Hillhouse but is set far back, behind a grassy forecourt. The rear of the building, with narrow slits for its most prominent windows, is visible from Prospect Street, yet it seems aloof from that street as well. The result, architectural historian Vincent Scully has said, was ‘the instant destruction of two great streets.’”

Posted by Chris

Ryan Cassella

Listen to Dr. Christina Baum, Director at Southern Connecticut State University’s Buley Library, discuss the future of libraries on NPR.

The Future of Libraries WNPR 12/5/07

“The old-fashioned library is quickly becoming a thing of the past. The dusty stacks of little-read books, the earnest volunteers urging “quiet” are being replaced by coffee shops,concert series, and increased connectivity.”

And read about a forward-thinking library known as the ‘idea store’ here.

Posted by Chris

Downtown New Haven/Route 34

“The Downtown New Haven / Route 34 Blog is an open civic forum about New Haven, Connecticut and the future of its Route 34 Corridor. Topics include neighborhood revitalization, economic development, downtown retail, transportation planning, politics, arts and culture.”

Posted by: Tanya

“Despite the downturn in the national economy, economic development in downtown New Haven continues apace.”

“Irons in the Fire: “Updating major downtown development projects” Karen Singer Connecticut Business News Journal 3/17/08

Article talks about all of the new development projects in New Haven, including plans for Science Park, Union Station, and the Cooperative Arts High School.

“By the end of this month, passersby are likely to be stopping to stare at the exterior panels of the 150,000-square-foot Cesar Pelli-designed regional magnet high school under construction on College Street between Crown and George.”

Posted by: Tanya

Allan Appel

“Hill Regional Career High School seniors Malik Graves and Lorraine Gabriel know plenty of people their age who have enlisted in the armed forces for the bonus money. They are exactly the audience artist Baptiste Ibar hoped would view his ‘Guided Men,’ Artspace’s latest installation in The Lot, tucked away just in from the corner at Chapel and Orange.”

“Guided Men” at the Lot Allan Appel NHI 3/4/08

Posted by Chris

Award-winning Yale building design projects are highlighted in traveling exhibition February 22, 2008|Volume 36, Number 19 Yale Bulletin

“Two Yale building design projects received Honor Awards from American Institute of Architects (AIA) Connecticut and are featured in the group’s traveling exhibition, which will be on view throughout the month of March at the New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm St.”

Posted by: Tanya

“It may be easy to miss, but wedged between News Haven and Ten Thousand Villages on Chapel Street sits a door that leads to a world-class architecture firm.

“It is the office of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the firm of former Yale School of Architecture Dean Cesar Pelli. And just a few blocks away, two firms that are in many ways Pelli’s offspring sit firmly planted in New Haven long after their principals received Yale degrees. Even so, the architectural renaissance that has taken place in the Elm City is not altogether surprising, given its history: John Davenport’s nine squares, plotted out in the 17th century, made New Haven the first planned city in the United States.”

New Haven: An architect’s hidden mecca Yale Daily News 2/22/08 Nora Wessel

Posted by: Tanya