Arts

Arts courses and extracurriculars prepare for the upcoming academic year

By Jacob Strier | July 24, 2020

Radio plays, at-home workshops and smartphone recordings of theater scenes are just some of the many adaptations Dartmouth community members are employing to maintain arts education despite the challenges imposed by COVID-19. 

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Arts

Review: 'Athlete A' yanks back the curtain on the horrifying abuse of Team USA gymnasts

By Shera Bhala | July 17, 2020

It can be difficult to acknowledge the near-ubiquitous prevalence of sexual abuse when victims are nameless, shapeless and unfamiliar.

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Arts

Professor Thalia Wheatley plays integral special effects role in new HBO documentary

By Savannah Eller | July 10, 2020

In one part of the documentary, “Welcome to Chechnya,” which debuted at Sundance earlier this year, a man identified as “Grisha” shares his harrowing experience of being arrested and tortured by Chechen authorities because of his sexual identification.

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Arts

Hopkins Center continues Hop@Home, begins collaboration with Dance Theatre of Harlem

By Christina Baris | July 3, 2020

As the Dartmouth community enters into a summer of continued health and safety precautions, the Hopkins Center for the Arts will continue Hop@Home — a program that streams live events into the comfort of one’s home. This summer, the Hop will also embark on a collaboration with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. 

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Arts

Review: 'The King of Staten Island' is a complete waste of time and money

By James Cronin | July 3, 2020

“The King of Staten Island” is not a good movie. There. I’d like to get that out of the way. Unlike the 136 minutes stolen from me watching this snooze fest, it will only take me a second to get to the point of this review: “The King of Staten Island” is incredibly boring, self-indulgent and not worth your time or money.

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Arts

Review: “Da 5 Bloods” a powerful story of the Black experience in Vietnam

By Charlie Palsho | June 26, 2020

Director and producer Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods,” released two weeks ago on Netflix, is an impactful Vietnam War story about the Black experience, following the journey of four middle-aged, Black veterans in the present day. In the film, the group returns to Vietnam to recover the body of their fallen captain and the buried treasure they left behind during the war.

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Arts

Student-curated exhibit portrays movements through an artistic lens

By Jacob Strier | June 26, 2020

Curatorial intern Allison Carey ’20’s exhibit “When Art Intersects History,” which opened in the Hood Museum of Art on March 7, focuses on 20th-century art that adds additional color and dimension to historical struggles for equality.

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Special Issue

Seniors reflect on their artistic journeys at Dartmouth

By Emily Zhang | June 14, 2020

While majors in the arts remain some of the least common at the College, Dartmouth’s arts programs continue to draw in students. In interviews with The Dartmouth, seniors reflected on their artistic development in the past four years — and while each story was different, all were bound by the unifying theme of art as an avenue for self-exploration. 

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Arts

Theater students turn to new formats for productions

By Dae Lim Chung | June 1, 2020

This term, theater students and faculty faced an unforeseen challenge when the College switched to remote learning. For some students, months of preparation and practice were put to the test as they scrambled to adapt to performing their projects remotely.

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Arts

Museum Collecting 101 offers students a hands-on experience with art acquisition

By Mia Russo | June 1, 2020

Have you ever wondered how museums acquire new pieces and organize exhibits? Since 2002, the Hood Museum of Art has worked to include students in the curatorial process, giving them a behind-the-scenes look into the museum through its Museum Collecting 101 program. The program is offered one term each year to students of all grades and majors, and provides the opportunity for students to select a work — typically a photograph — that the Hood will purchase.

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Arts

'Fine Forever' establishes indie pop band Varsity’s talent for storytelling

By Sathvika Korandla | June 1, 2020

Varsity, a five-person indie pop band from Chicago, has solidified its place in the genre of indie pop with its new album, “Fine Forever.” Composed of lead singer Stef Smith, guitarists Dylan Weschler and Pat Stanton, bassist Paul Stolz and drummer Jake Stolz, Varsity released “Fine Forever” on May 29 through independent record label Run For Cover Records. While the album’s self-aware lyrics touch on themes such as loneliness and heartbreak, the cheerful instrumentals infuse their songs with an optimistic quality. In “Fine Forever,” Varsity layers complex anecdotes with upbeat indie-pop sounds to stress a message of positivity amid the difficulties of life.

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Arts

Annual arts awards ceremony highlights student achievements in music, theater, studio art and film

By Lauren Segal | May 28, 2020

The Hopkins Center for the Arts hosted its annual Arts at Dartmouth Awards ceremony on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate exceptional student work in the theater, music, studio art and film and media studies departments. While the ceremony typically takes place in Spaulding Auditorium, this year’s event was livestreamed via YouTube to accommodate the remote nature of the term.

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Arts

Director Lana Wilson shares filmmaking advice, discusses recent Taylor Swift documentary

By Lucy Turnipseed | May 25, 2020

Anyone who recommends watching two movies a day gives good advice, at least in my book. One of those people is filmmaker Lana Wilson, who recently directed the Taylor Swift documentary “Miss Americana.” The film debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and is now streaming on Netflix.

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Arts

Spotlight: Mary Pedicini ’19 explores metaphysical ideas with 'Imaginary Tyrants'

By Sathvika Korandla | May 21, 2020

While many people disregard old objects, Mary Pedicini ’19 finds a new meaning for them through her sculptures. As one of five interns selected by the studio art department, she has spent the past year working as a teaching assistant and helping faculty prepare for classes. From her life-size honors thesis project to her philosophical exhibition at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Pedicini has developed a distinct style of creating sculptures out of found objects during her time at Dartmouth.

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Arts

Review: Charli XCX’s quarantine album, ‘how i’m feeling now,’ is a party of raw emotion

By Sathvika Korandla | May 18, 2020

Charli XCX’s latest album “how i’m feeling now,” released on May 15, is her most conceptually cohesive and emotionally vulnerable album yet. Created entirely during the COVID-19 lockdown, the album portrays the loneliness, fear and hope that she has encountered while isolated from the world.

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Arts

Review: Laura Marling's 'Song for Our Daughter' boasts compelling storytelling, dynamic instrumentation

By Jack Hargrove | May 14, 2020

In a genre as old as folk, it can be hard for anything to stand out against the large body of work comprising the genre’s canon. Artists like Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon cultivated the sound that became associated with folk singer-songwriters in the middle of the 20th century. While the sounds they played were by definition based on earlier American musical styles, these artists sounded novel and each presented a unique brand of folk. In recent years, however, artists like Ed Sheeran have figured out how to soullessly manufacture the singer-songwriter formula by repeating the same tired sound again and again. Faced with a barrage of mediocre music, modern folk singer-songwriters have been forced to innovate in an attempt to stand out.

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Arts

Art in quarantine: Students turn to creative expression to reduce stress, occupy time

By Paulina Marinkovic | May 14, 2020

Forced to stay at home amid lockdowns across the nation, several Dartmouth students have been inspired to pick up a new hobby and use art, in its many forms, as a creative outlet. For many, art has been a beneficial tool for stress relief, taking a break from the news and bridging the gap in interpersonal connection created by social distancing. 

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Arts

Tyné Angela Freeman ’17 highlights music career at WIB event

By Helen Liu | May 11, 2020

Last Thursday, former Women in Business member Tyné Angela Freeman ’17 MALS ’19 shared her experiences as an independent artist in the music industry in a Zoom event held by WIB.

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Arts

‘The Half of It’ is a beautifully bold stroke and the love story we’ve been longing for

By Chloe Jung | May 11, 2020

On May 1, Netflix released Alice Wu’s “The Half of It,” a film that follows Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) as she navigates love and personal identity as a queer, Asian American teenager. “The Half of It” transforms the common teen romance narrative into a funny, relatable and heartwarming work of art by pushing the boundaries of representation in mainstream romantic comedies.

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Arts

Review: 'What Kinda Music' is a creative triumph

By Charlie Palsho | May 7, 2020

Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes released their latest project, “What Kinda Music,” through the jazz label Blue Note Records on April 24. Their collaboration is an experimental album combining the upbeat, polished chords and production of Misch with the jazzier, more experimentally inclined sound of the drummer Dayes. “What Kinda Music” is Misch’s first project since his 2018 album “Geography” and is also Dayes’ first album release since 2017. “What Kinda Music” is exactly what the name implies — a genre-defying album, incorporating the best of both Misch and Dayes. It’s a project that’s part electronica, part jazz and part hip-hop. Dayes’ experimental inventiveness melds with Misch’s catchy chords and pitch-perfect voice (and a well-rounded range of featured artists) to create an original UK sound.

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