September 22, 2005: Events: Headlines: COS - Niger: Art: University of Massachusetts: RPCV Gretchen Beck, associate professor of art and director of the art department at Concordia University in Irvine, California, will exhibit her drawings based on the degradation of the Nigerian landscape, the Djarma and Fulani cultures and the art forms made by the Nigerian people
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Niger:
Peace Corps Niger :
The Peace Corps in Niger:
September 22, 2005: Events: Headlines: COS - Niger: Art: University of Massachusetts: RPCV Gretchen Beck, associate professor of art and director of the art department at Concordia University in Irvine, California, will exhibit her drawings based on the degradation of the Nigerian landscape, the Djarma and Fulani cultures and the art forms made by the Nigerian people
RPCV Gretchen Beck, associate professor of art and director of the art department at Concordia University in Irvine, California, will exhibit her drawings based on the degradation of the Nigerian landscape, the Djarma and Fulani cultures and the art forms made by the Nigerian people
With a population that continues to increase, Niger continues to lose its natural resources and suffers from desertification. Desertification occurs when arrid lands become "desert-like" due to a lack of rainfall, loss of topsoil, and timber. Thus the barren landscape challenges geometric structure to highlight the importance of regiment in Nigerian culture.
RPCV Gretchen Beck, associate professor of art and director of the art department at Concordia University in Irvine, California, will exhibit her drawings based on the degradation of the Nigerian landscape, the Djarma and Fulani cultures and the art forms made by the Nigerian people
Gretchen Beck: Torridity
Add to my calendar
torridity
Gretchen Beck, associate professor of art and director of the art department at Concordia University in Irvine, California, will exhibit her drawings based on the degradation of the Nigerian landscape, the Djarma and Fulani cultures and the art forms made by the Nigerian people.
Beck's work takes place in what the Djarma people call saaji fimbi or severe desert. In her artist statement, Beck writes of Niger being a predominantely Muslim country where rituals such as alms giving, washing before prayer and facing to the east five times a day brings a sense of order to an uncertain existence. In her drawings on exhibit in Central Gallery, Beck chooses to emphasize geometric structure to highlight the importance of regiment in Nigerian culture.
With a population that continues to increase, Niger continues to lose its natural resources and suffers from desertification. Desertification occurs when arrid lands become "desert-like" due to a lack of rainfall, loss of topsoil, and timber. Thus the barren landscape challenges geometric structure to highlight the importance of regiment in Nigerian culture.
Beck's drawings reference Niger's indigenous trees. The medium of drawing serves as an effective tool to express Beck's experience living and working in Niger. Beck believes that drawing's slow and patient nature invites onlookers into the artistic process.
Thursday, September 22 - Thursday, November 3
Central Gallery
UMass Amherst Campus
Free Admission
When this story was posted in October 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| 'Celebration of Service' a major success The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here. |
| Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. |
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
| Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong 170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: University of Massachusetts
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Events; Headlines; COS - Niger; Art
PCOL22571
32