254 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 23510
757.451.4711
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Winter Newsletter 2019-20
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GSA is offering 5 different summer camps in 2020
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Fall 2019
a few things our students experienced....
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Learning to use our talents in service to others
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Visual Arts students created centerpieces for Champions for Children.
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Instrumental Music students created an “instrument petting zoo” at a Virginia Symphony Concert.
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Vocal Music students performed for patients at Norfolk Sentara Heart Hospital as part of the Music in Medicine program.
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Visual Arts students provided face painting at the 5th Annual NEON Festival in the NEON District.
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The Dance Department had the unique opportunity to perform a work created by internationally renowned choreographer Heidi Latsky. ON DISPLAY is Heidi Latsky’s response to the stigma attached to difference. It is a deconstructed art exhibit and commentary on the body as spectacle and society's obsession with body image. ON DISPLAY turns a cast of diverse and extreme bodies into a sculpture court where the performers are the sculptures. GSA dance alumna Meredith Fages came in from New York to stage the work on our students. We also collaborated with students from Salem High School in Virginia Beach. Thank you to the Chrysler Museum and the Neon Festival for sponsoring these performances.
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Photo by Eleise Theuer Photography
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Thirty-eight Musical Theatre and Instrumental Music students traveled to Japan in November 2019 on a two week mission trip of good will and peace. This trip was a cultural exchange in which our students met Japanese students in three different schools, lived with host families in three cities, met dignitaries and presented them with gifts from the five cities we represented, and performed everywhere! The students were truly ambassadors of GSA, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the USA.
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The Vocal and Instrumental Music departments presented
Amahl & the Night Visitors
in the historic Monticello Arcade in downtown Norfolk. Two sold out shows demonstrated community support for this project in this special venue.
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The orchestras of Old Dominion University and The Governor’s School for the Arts performed an evening of Rachmaninoff at Chrysler Hall on November 14, 2019. It was the first time these two orchestras collaborated in a Side By Side Concert and the first time the GSA orchestra performed at Chrysler Hall. This performance was sponsored in part by generous grants from the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Portsmouth Museum & Fine Arts Commission and the City of Portsmouth.
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Visual Arts Installation Class
The newest class for the Visual Arts department is an installation class for storefronts. Partnering with the MacArthur Center, this Art Installation Class is the first of its kind and offers students hands on, real world experience with installation art. The students combined their ideas and focused on the year-round importance of the bee population to the rest of the ecosystem. The final product is a lush and mysterious landscape. The students added snow and special twinkling lights to make the art work feel cozy and inviting. The name of the work is “Winter Tide”.
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Back at Origin Gallery
The Visual Arts department is back at MacArthur Center in our very own Origin Art Gallery. This opportunity provides a beautiful and spacious venue in which our students can exhibit and sell their art as well as provide original art for the public to view. Below are some examples of the latest fall juried art show titled “Camouflage”.The juror for this exhibit was internationally acclaimed photographer John Wadsworth.
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Katarina Gibson "Poker Face"
mixed media
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Holden Craig “Shared Perceptions”
mixed media
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Nyla Halsey "Flat Personalities"
Acrylic on Canvas
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Theatre & Film Residencies
The Theatre Department hosted Jason Peterman, a world renown multimedia video artist, as a visiting artist in residence for the tech/design students. This two-week residency was sponsored in part by a generous grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Our students learned about projection design and video mapping. Video mapping is a technique to project images on any object so anything can be a display surface for video projection. This is a relatively new field and one in which our students completely immersed themselves.
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Alumnus Van Hughes was in residence for a week to work with our actors on personalizing monologues. Van has been in several Broadway shows including
American Idiot,
Hairspray, 9 to 5, and Spring Awakening.
Donna Oblongata toured her one person show,
All 100 Fires,
and gave a magnificent performance as well as two days of master classes in devised theatre.
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October 10th marked our first official fundraiser for student assistance. The GSA foundation board, our not- for- profit organization, raises funds to assist our students in a variety of ways including materials, instruments, special clothing, trips, college auditions, productions and much more. This year the board put together a great event at which our instrumental jazz and musical theatre students entertained the crowd with a great jazz vibe while guests had the opportunity to play craps and blackjack. Everyone had a super time and we exceeded our goal!.
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Connectivity
Jeff Phelps, GSA Instrumental Music Department Chair and Conductor, held the baton for the Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s Peanut Butter and Jam concert in October. Our dancers took the stage as well to create a magical experience for the audience!
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Honors
Joni Petre-Scholz, Associate Chair of the Dance Department, was honored at the Women in Dance Leadership Conference held in Philadelphia this past October. Twelve GSA dancers traveled with her to the conference to perform her work titled, “Past is Prologue”. The conference focused on ways to provide opportunities in accessing broader and more visible platforms, expanding the voices of artist scholars, and strengthening the capacity and vibrancy of women in dance- making and dance related fields. It was an educational and uplifting experience for our students!
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