Fine Arts Venues

Link for more information on this event: https://benton.uconn.edu/drawing-workshop/

Join us for EARTH/ART, an evening Earth Day arts festival on the Branford House Lawn (UConn Avery Point). April 22, 6:30-9pm. For more details, visit http://avsgallery.sfa.uconn.edu/earth-art

For its fourth online installment of the 2021 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host “Puppetry, Game Design, and Digital Performance” with Eddie Kim of EK Theater and UConn Digital Media and Design faculty Samantha Olschan and Kenneth Thompson, on Thursday, April 22 at 7 p.m. ET. This forum will take place on Facebook Live (http://facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and will be available afterwards on Facebook and the Ballard Institute YouTube Channel (http://youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg).

Innovations in digital culture, including motion capture technology and the use of avatars in video games have sometimes been labeled “digital puppetry”; but what exactly are the overlaps and differences between puppetry’s analog objects in motion and their cyber cousins in the digital world? This exciting puppet forum will examine these important connections by considering Eddie Kim’s retellings of classical stories through live acts of video game puppetry; Samantha Olschan’s storytelling projects combining animation, design, and experiential narrative; and video game designer Kenneth Thompson’s work pushing the boundaries of gameplay experience. This forum is co-sponsored by UConn’s Digital Media and Design Department.

Eddie Kim is a multimedia artist and the artistic director of EK Theater (http://ektheater.com), a video game puppetry troupe that he founded in 2007. The company’s mission is to retell classical stories through live acts of video game puppetry. His plays have been performed at venues such as the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA; the NRG Center in Houston, TX; and the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The New York Times has called his work “an impressive feat of engineering, coordination and storytelling.”

Samantha Olschan is a transmedia artist with a M.F.A. in Film, Video, and New Media: Animation from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a B.F.A in Fine Arts: Electronic & Time-Based Media from Carnegie Mellon University. Having worked across broadcast design, animation, compositing and time-based visualization for television, films, documentaries and media agencies, she continues to research the future of storytelling through animation, design and experiential narrative.

Kenneth Thompson worked in the game industry for eight years as a Game Designer and Lead Designer before coming to the University of Connecticut. His responsibilities included directing game projects from start to finish, programming unique scenarios using game development tools, and working with publishers such as SEGA, Electronic Arts, and Activision. He has worked with Blockbuster franchises such as Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, Madagascar, Shrek, and over a dozen others. His work in the video game industry has received Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Award for best video game, Indie Game of the Year, and Innovation Awar

Tap your powers of observation and investigate a single work of art through close looking and discussion with Amanda Douberley, Assistant Curator/Academic Liaison.

This month we are featuring works of art in the exhibition, Käthe Kollwitz: Activism Through Art.
This week’s subject is "In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht" (1920) by Käthe Kollwitz.

Offered via Zoom Meetings – registration is required and space is limited.

Registration Link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0kd-ypqjsuHtXMCRxCNg3TtPMp5Za-DgT-

Your registration will be approved if space is available. You will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting or put on a wait list.

Thomas Jensen will give a Live Streamed composition recital at 6:00 PM on April 23rd. Please click: https://youtu.be/5yxYZOsG1wE
Friday, April 23, 2021, at 6:00 p.m.
via Zoom


Voyage at Rest


Thomas Jay Jensen, composer and trombone


Dominic Parrella, guitar
Christina Sack, violin
Marlow Hubbard, violin
Max Hurtubise, viola
Sofia DiNatale, cello
Niccolò Meniconi, piano
Bryce Doherty, bass trombone


Serendipity for Classical Guitar Thomas Jay Jensen (b. 2000)
Dominic Parrella, guitar


String Quartet No. 1 Jensen
Mvt. III: Strife
Christina Sack, violin
Marlow Hubbard, violin
Max Hurtubise, viola
Sofia DiNatale, cello


Perseverance Landing for Piano Jensen
Niccolò Meniconi, piano


At Least We’re Going Somewhere for Jazz Trombone Duet Jensen
Thomas Jay Jensen, composer and trombone
Bryce Doherty, bass trombone


THOMAS JAY JENSEN, a UConn junior from Sandy Hook, CT, is pursuing music composition and the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program in music education with an emphasis in jazz studies. Mr. Jensen has studied composition under Christopher M. Lee and Dr. Kenneth Fuchs. He has studied trombone and bass trombone with Jim Marbury, Dr. Matthew Russo, and Prof. Sean Nelson. At UConn, he has been in the Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Combos, Symphonic Band, Chamber Orchestra, Trombone Choir, Brass Quintets, Marching Band, and Pep Bands. He composes and arranges for a wide array of musical idioms, including Jazz Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Chamber Ensembles, techno music, and children’s music. His piece Circa Finem was a 2018 recipient of the National PTA Reflections Award of Merit in Composition. Mr. Jensen would like to thank Dr. Fuchs, his fellow UConn composers, and the performers of this recital for helping stitch this concert together.


DOMINIC PARRELLA is a UConn senior from Stratford, CT. He is pursuing a BM in music theory.


CHRISTINA SACK is a UConn junior from Southington, CT. She is pursuing the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program in music education. Ms. Sack plays violin and piano.


MARLOW HUBBARD is a UConn junior from York, ME. She is pursuing the Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program in music education, as well as a minor in French. Ms. Hubbard plays violin and clarinet.


MAX HURTUBISE is a UConn sophomore from Clinton, CT. He is pursuing both a BM in music composition and a BM in music theory. Mr. Hurtubise plays viola and sings.


SOFIA DiNATALE is a UConn sophomore from Glastonbury, CT. She is pursuing a BM in instrumental performance (cello and piano) and a BA in political science.


NICCOLÒ MENICONI is a UConn senior from Greenwich, CT who grew up in Foligno, Italy. He is pursuing both a BM in instrumental performance (piano) and a BS in engineering physics with a concentration in mechanical engineering.


BRYCE DOHERTY is from Newtown, CT. He is pursuing a major in environmental science and a minor in music at the University of Vermont. Mr. Doherty plays trombone

As part of its 2021 Spring virtual programming, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to present The Perils of Mr. Punch by Modern Times Theater on April 24, 2021 at 4 p.m. ET via Zoom.

The Perils of Mr. Punch features the one and only Punch and Judy, presented live, and updated for the 21st century. Allow Mr. Punch to deftly remove your bad mood, whilst he exhausts your child! Gawk as Judy struggles to balance a checkbook before being eaten by the carnivore du jour! Feast your eyes upon the diaper change that should not be! It’s a melodrama of epically small proportions but so funny that audiences forget they aren't in the room. The hand puppets are created from up-cycled designer trash and performed in an eccentric itinerant puppet stage. The show is hosted per tradition by a “bottler”, the uku-lady Rose Friedman. Justin Lander, showman of the absurd, portrays all the characters. The program is rounded out with live music played on a variety of instruments, from the cornet to the bicycle pump. It’s a low-tech old-time spectacle, entertaining to people of all ages: from one to one hundred. This performance lasts approximately 45 minutes and will include time for questions and answers with Modern Times Theater after the show.

Modern Times Theater has been adapting and updating Punch and Judy puppet shows for over a decade. Co-founders Rose Friedman and Justin Lander are a husband and wife duo, producers for Vermont Vaudeville and alumni of the Bread and Puppet Theater. Parents themselves, they strive to present quality entertainment that the whole family can enjoy.

Ticket price: $10/household. Tickets can be purchased online at https://bimp.ticketleap.com/punch-virtual/. A surcharge will be added to online purchases. Attendees should purchase one ticket per household. While we ask for a minimum payment of $10/household, we greatly appreciate any additional support! A Zoom link will be emailed to households one hour before the performance.

For more information about these performances or if you require an accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.