Things to Do, May 13-20, 2016

Cornell Cinema shows Chinese blockbuster "The Mermaid" from May 13-20.

BFA, MFA exhibitions

Senior bachelor of fine arts students in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning are displaying their work in a group thesis exhibition, showing through May 13 in the Olive Tjaden and Experimental galleries in Tjaden Hall.

The show, “KID PIX,” features work by artists Collin Budd, Sally Choe, Min Choi, Nicole Hamilton, Dabin Lee, Pablo Maggi and James Walwer, all BFA ’16. Free and open to the public, gallery hours in Tjaden are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“Something Came Over Me,” the 2016 Cornell MFA group exhibition, runs May 17-21 at Caelum Gallery in New York. An exhibition reception will be held Thursday, May 19, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the gallery, 508 W. 26th St., suite 315. Regular gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The participating artists are Carolyn Benedict Fraser, Frances Gallardo, Jesse Kreuzer, Ann Lee, Annie Raccuglia and Luca Spano, all MFA ’16; and Madeleine Cichy, Stephanie Clark, Diana Clarke, Jerry Lim, Na Chainkua Reindorf and Clayton Skidmore, all MFA ’17.

Both exhibitions are presented by the Department of Art. The MFA show also received support from the Cornell Council for the Arts. 

Exile studies

National and international scholars will discuss the historical and modern implications of enclosed nation-states, exile and mobility during a conference, “Exile and Enclosure,” May 13-15 at the Africana Studies and Research Center. Conference events are free and open to the public and begin with a reception May 13 at 3 p.m.

Keynote addresses include “Exile, Enclosure and Capitalist Archipelagoes,” by Cornell professor of history Raymond Craib (May 13), and “Kropotkin Really Was No Crackpot: Reflections on Exile and Mutual Aid” (May 14), with “Living at the Edges of Capitalism” co-authors Andrej Grubačić of the California Institute of Integral Studies and Denis O’Hearn of Texas A&M University.

Cornell participants Barry Maxwell, senior lecturer in comparative literature and American studies; Nick Myers, doctoral student in Latin American history; and Karla Peña, doctoral student in development sociology, will chair panels.

The conference is supported by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, the Institute for the Social Sciences and its Contested Landscapes Project, The Society for the Humanities, the Polson Institute for Global Development, the Latin American Studies Program, Jewish Studies Program and the Program in American Studies; and the departments of History, Anthropology and Development Sociology.

Cats! Mermaids!

For those who missed out on the sold-out event in February, Cornell Cinema hosts an encore presentation of the second annual Internet Cat Video Festival, May 14 at 7:15 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre. The cinema will donate $1 from each paid admission to the SPCA of Tompkins County.

The program, produced by the Walker Art Center, features video selections curated by “Henri Le Chat Noir” creator Will Braden, and approximately 100 cat videos selected from public nominations in comedy, drama, animated, musical, action, vintage and documentary categories.

Cornell Cinema also features Chinese box-office hit “The Mermaid,” May 13-20. Director Stephen Chow (“Kung-Fu Hustle”) delivers a sci-fi, fantasy, comedy and eco-thriller all in one, in a story of a group of mermaids fighting to protect their home from a real estate developer.

Wisdom from healing plants

Students in the course Healing Plants and the People Who Use Them, who spent spring break learning from healers in Belize and local herbalists, will discuss their experiences and present their final projects May 16 at 12:45 p.m. in 102 Mann Library.

Marcia Eames-Sheavly, a senior lecturer and senior extension associate in the Horticulture Section of Cornell’s School of Integrative Plant Science, led the course. Classroom activities went beyond learning how to identify plants. As a team, students engaged in topics including ethics and cultural sensitivity, appropriate use of technology, issues of identity and community, and how to ask good questions. One group traveled to work with Mayan healers in Belize; the other stayed in Ithaca to work with herbalist Tammi Sweet of Heartstone Herbal School.

Students learned traditional plant medicine and the spiritual ecology undergirding it; learned about preserving indigenous healers’ knowledge of medicinal plants; made salves, soaps and other preparations; and worked on a new medicinal plants nature trail. Other practical projects for specific lay audiences included narratives from interviews with healers, lesson plans, a grant proposal rationale, cookbook recipes, how-to flyers on growing medicinal plants, maps, and blending teas to help fellow students cope with stress.

Veterans Resource Fair

The Veterans Colleague Network Group will host a Military/Veterans Resource Fair for the Cornell and local communities, May 16 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in G10 Biotechnology, for veterans and military families to learn more about benefits, perks and resources.

Representatives from several agencies and organizations will be present for information on Veteran’s Administration, health, training and educational benefits; community services and career opportunities, including: the New York State Division of Veterans’ Affairs; the VA Medical Center in Syracuse, New York; Tioga County Clerk’s Office (on the Return the Favor Program); Southern Tier Veterans Group; Dryden Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW); American Legion Post 770, Trumansburg; Clear Path For Vets and the Institute of Veteran and Military Families at Syracuse University.

Cornell Veterans’ Working Group participants also include: Cornell Team and Leadership Center; the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives/Trailblazers; Cornell Small Farms Program; Cornell Recruitment and Employment Center; Offices of Financial Aid and Student Employment; the University Registrar; and Gannett Health Services and Work/Life Services.

Media Contact

Daryl Lovell