John Waters is talking about his memories of Andy Warhol at the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater Friday night.  I don’t know if there are any tickets left, but I know students could pick up free ones, so if you want to go find out ASAP.

Mid-Ohio Con is Saturday 10am-6pm and Sunday 10am-5pm.  A schedule of session topics and appearances is available at the website.  I was all psyched about Lou Ferrigno being there until I found out the guy who played Pencilhead, one of the guys who was trying out to be a superhero in Mystery Men was going to be there!  (Yeah, he was Pan in Pan’s Labyrinth, in both Hellboy movies and played the Silver Surfer among a zillion other high-profile rolls, but c’mon - MYSTERY MEN.   AWESOME.)

Titration 2:  Park Fiction will be on display in Coffman Park in Dublin from now until October 20.  Todd Smith of Le Grage, KY, Jeppe Hein of Copenhagen, Denmark, Danielle Wallis of Alameda, CA and Daisuke Shintani from Japan are the artists this year.  Only one of the 4 public sculptures will be permanently installed, so catch the others while you can.

Sunday Blacklick Woods Metropark is offering free tram rides around the park.  The 4-mile-long rides will run continuously from 1-4pm beginning at Ash Picnic Grove.  Relaxing!

 Have a good one!  Gretchen

Benedetto da Maiano.  Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, c. 1470.  Marble.  Image courtesy metmuseum.org.

Thus, here are Cosme Tura’s organ shutters featuring the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of Christ.  There is much speculation about the presence of a rodent on Mary’s side (is it a symbol of the earthly nature she did not possess?), but all I can say is if he drops that nut on her head, I’m totally going to laugh.

Cosme Tura.  Annunciation, Tempera on canvas.  Museo del Duomo, Ferrara.  Image courtesy wga.hu.

 10 fun things to do during OSU’s Welcome Week:

Okay, most of the OSU events are free, so you shouldn’t feel guilty about shelling out a little coin for 1 non-OSU event.  Monday night go see the stars of the movie Once at Palace Theater.  I loved this movie and if I didn’t have tentative plans already, I would go.   

Buckeye Kick-Off is a giant pep rally taking place in the south stands of Ohio Stadium on Tuesday.  Learn some cheers, and meet Brutus and the cheerleaders.  Jim Tressel will get everybody psyched up with a welcome-to-OSU speech.  4:30-5:30.

Tuesday 11am-4pm at RPAC, Buck-i-Frenzy is basically companies trying to win the business of new students, which means lot of FREE STUFF. 

Community Commitment!  Tuesday at the French Field House OSU students can participate in the nation’s largest campus-based volunteer project. Register at 8:30am and get transported to a community volunteer site.  More details are available on the OSU Welcome Week website.

The Wexner Center’s Welcome Week Party is Tuesday from 7-11:30pm.  Free pizza, an outdoor screening of The Birds, and silkscreening workshops - SCORE!

Wednesday night The Urban Arts Center downtown is having a pizza/pop party and an Iron Artist Challenge.  It only lasts 6-8pm and you can get there on the #2 bus.

Since it also starts at 6pm on Wednesday, your non-arty friends can enjoy the Rock Climbing Social over at ARC (the rec center, not the library).  Alpha Psi Lambda sponsors it and it lasts until 8pm. 

Priorities, people!  On Thursday Cold Stone Creamery is serving up free 3 oz. ice cream treats at the World’s Largest Ice Cream Social, from 5-8pm. This is taking place at all their stores nationwide, so call the folks and tell’em to get in line!

Also Thursday is Swampfest at the OSU Wetlands Research Facility on Ackerman Rd.  From 5-10pm the Wetlands will host a series of events including bluegrass music, rock bands and a lecture. 

Thursday night on the Oval watch Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for free!  This was a pretty fun movie.  From 9-11pm.

Friday is Dump and Run, the giant yard sale at Jessie Owens North Rec Center from 11am-6pm.  Sponsored by Student for Recycling.

Saturday Fun Recreational Evening Events (FREE) is hosting F.R.E.E.’s Kick-Off Carnival at the South Campus basketball courts.  They promise “carnival foods.”

Welcome Week Events run through Sunday evening and there are literally hundreds of activities going on, almost all free.  Details for official OSU events can be found at http://welcomeweek.osu.edu/.

It’s here, people!  The much-anticipated exhibit Andy Warhol:  Other Voices, Other Rooms finally opens Saturday.  No need to be scared off by the $8-for-adults admission fee…it’s free every Thursday evening and the first Sunday of each month.  If you DO want to attend during other hours, consider joining the Warhol Club.  This $25 pass will get you in and out of the exhibit anytime it’s open for the entire duration of the show.  Students with an ID and kids under 12 are free all the time.  Score!

Personally, the weather report makes me a little concerned for the success of this year’s Via Colori.  The sidewalk-chalk festival is returning to Goodale Park this year with over 100 artists.  The free festival runs 10am-11pm Saturday and Noon-7pm Sunday. 

Hey, my little cousin Matt is a freshman at Wittenberg University this fall, and it’s good to know that when I go visit him I will have something cultural to do.  Springfield (the land of my birth) is home to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Westcott House which is celebrating it’s 100-year anniversary.   The festivities include a glass exhibit entitled Michael Scott Rozell:  Overlay through October 5.

I recommend every person living in Columbus try to see Jack Hanna live at least once.  The Director Emeritus of our Columbus Zoo is hosting Jack Hanna’s Fall Fest at the zoo this weekend which includes in-person appearances by the frequent David Letterman guest, as well as pumpkin carving and animal shows.  If your kids are too little to care about Jungle Jack, they may be interested in the fact that next weekend the festival continues with a Dora the Explorer Weekend, which promises Dora, music and “fall treats.”

Celebrities abound this weekend, though I guess it depends what your definition of ‘celebrity’ is.  Vern Yip, the best designer ever to grace Trading Spaces, will be at the Best of Fall Home Show (admission to the show $5) twice on Saturday at the Expo Center.  And David Eigenberg, the guy who plays Steve on Sex and the City will be appearing at a Planned Parenthood benefit at the Lodge Bar Sunday ($25 donation). 

Have a good one!  Gretchen

Paul Gauguin’s painting Where Do We Come From?  Where are We Going?  What are We? is a very mysterious, probably allegorical painting that most likely shows the stages of life from infanthood to old age.  But the biggest mystery is this: what are those two white kitties doing in the foreground?

Paul Gauguin. Where Do We Come From? Where are We Going? What are We? Oil on canvas.  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Image courtesy en.wikipedia.org.

Woot!  Saturday at Dublin Coffman High School an open-to-the-public rally will be taking place at 6:45pm with Senator Barack Obama and his running mate Sentaor Joe Biden.  One of the best things about living in Central Ohio is the excitement of political season.  So bring your camera, your autograph book and your homemade “Yes We Can!” poster. 

Clint says this weekend is “all about football.”  Youngstown State will battle our Bucks at home for our season opener.   Terrelle Pryor will be making his debut in the scarlet-and-gray.

Monday is my favorite outdoor craft show, the Upper Arlington Labor Day Arts Festival.  10am-5pm in Northam Park in Upper Arlington.  The shuttle bus which picks you up at Kingsdale Shopping Center (the triangular shopping plaza at that weird Tremont Rd./Fishinger Rd. intersection) and takes you to the festival runs back and forth every few minutes. 

If you are coming to campus on the 6th for the OSU/Ohio University game, keep a lookout for the Seinfeld Tour bus outside St. John’s Arena.  The bus houses a travelling museum of memorabilia from the show including the original Fusilli Jerry, the ASSMAN license plate, the Manziere, and the doll that looks like George’s mother, among other treasures.  In addition there will be free show-related snacks including Junior Mints and vistors will have the opportunity to play the new Seinfeld edition of the Scene It dvd game. 

Have a good one!  Gretchen

Whoo!  What a weekend!  Former student-employee Andrea Freerksen’s wedding (above, coming ‘down the aisle’) went off without a hitch on Saturday in Cincinnati and Sunday the Donelson Family Reunion  made Jeromesville, Ohio party central!  I’m just recovering and it’s almost the weekend again.  What to do, what to do… 

Brutus is on Parade, people!  Well, I don’t think the Brutus On Parade project went exactly like was originally planned…the goal of having over 200 Brutus sculptures placed all over Columbus didn’t quite pan out, so the 30-40 finished sculptures are being exhibited around the Schottenstein Center, which saves everyone the gas money of driving all over town trying to find them.  They will be auctioned off in October.  I wanted to decorate one but couldn’t find a studio space to work on it, so I’m sort of jealous of the finished pieces.  Oh well.  They are all really nice and who knows if mine would have turned out or not.  Oh, and there’s another one out on Lane Avenue.  The money from the auction of the finished sculptures will go to help out with the cost of the new Thompson Library building.

The annual Craftin’ Outlaws craft show has a change of venue this year, moving to BoMA on Broad St.  The first 100 people in the door score a goodie bag!  Noon-7 Saturday. 

Been to the Urban Arts Space yet?  Looks like they finished work the parking lot across the street so you don’t have to park a zillion miles away at City Center anymore.  They are having an exhibit through August 30 that I could totally get into, called Ways of Knowing Water.  This group exhibit has, as you may have guessed, a water theme and includes works in all kinds of mediums.

Now through October 12, the Riffe Gallery has an exhibit going entitled Midwestern Visions of Impressionism 1880-1930.  I like the picture of the pooped lady with her tennis racket by Otto Bacher (above) that they are using on the promotional materials.  The Riffe Gallery is awesome because it’s small enough that even people who don’t like art museums don’t get bored, and the quality of the works are always top-notch. 

The first annual Art Al Fresco will take place in the Short North on Saturday from 3pm-midnight.  This festival of public art will take place on the street, in shop windows, fire escapes, etc.  The highlight?  Either the giant Lite-Brite or the so-called ‘controversial’ art pieces that have been promised.  Awesome!

Have a good one!  Gretchen