Arts and Culture
Liz Lerman: Transforming Dance From Abstract Art to Animated Storytelling
Liz Lerman was determined to memorialize her mother's passing in dance, but quickly found that there were no elderly dancers to portray the characters. That's when she started teaching dance in a senior home and ultimately led to her founding of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.
John Abele: Serendipity, Social Networking and Finding a Needle in a Haystack
As a leader of the Grunion expedition, Abele recently rediscovered the WWII submarine his father disappeared on in 1942.
Tony Hsieh: For a Good Time, Call Zappos.com
Zappos.com wunderkid talks about his company’s customer-centric approach to killing the competition.
Natalie Jeremijenko: No One Trusts an Artist
Blending biochemistry, physics, neuroscience and precision engineering, the artist shares some creative experiments from her environmental health clinic.
Paola Antonelli: Revealing the Human Spirit Through Design
The MOMA senior curator gives her take on the design process and it's ability to understand the increasingly complex nuances of consumer preference.
Rita King: Virtual world muse of the new digital reality
Fervent advocate of online virtual world Second Life, Rita King shares a story about a recent project called “Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds.” In this video, King shows the true potential of virtual worlds – which is to enable an honest exploration of humanity without the hindrance of restrictive norms.
Jeffrey M. Sparr
Through his Peace Love Organization Jeff hopes to help others find what brings them peace to help deal with whatever challenges they are facing. As Jeff says, “Let’s face it, everyone has something they are dealing with. If there is a way to help people find the thing that brings them peace, be it art, music or whatever that “thing” may be, I want to help them find it. Finding my own peace through painting has changed my life and helped me not only cope, but thrive despite this debilitating disease.”
David H. Stull
On behalf of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Dean of the Conservatory David H. Stull accepted the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in February 2010. This signature honor is a capstone to his tenure as the conservatory’s chief academic officer, which began with his appointment in 2004.
David Macaulay
Macaulay is probably best known for a very thick book called The Way Things Work (1988). Co-authored by Neil Ardley, this exhaustively researched compendium presents the hows and whys of much of the technology we take for granted. It was followed by Black and White (1990), a considerably slimmer volume and winner of the 1991 Caldecott Medal. 1997 saw the publication of a pigeon lead tour of the Eternal City called Rome Antics, and in the fall of 1998, The New Way Things Work, a revised edition of the ’88 book lumbered onto the stands. Building Big, the companion book to a five part PBS television series about major engineering feats around the world was published in 2000 and two years later Rome and pigeons once again took center stage for a book called Angelo.
Eva Koleva Timothy: One Flower + One Moment = Freedom
Sit back and watch Eva Timothy's warmth radiate from the BIF-7 stage. Growing up in Bulgaria behind the Iron Curtain, Eva yearned for a life in the United States. That desire enabled her to shift her "lenses", and "see" the world differently (a skill that would prove tremendously beneficial for a fine arts photographer). Get lost in Timothy's words, and find your inner explorer.