Weston exhibit examines living with HIV
In conjunction with the 45th anniversary of the Alpha Phi Alpha Zeta Beta Chapter, Fred Weston, founder of Ferris State University’s first African American fraternity, will have his artwork highlighted at Rankin Art Gallery through April 29.
Currently a New York artist and living with HIV, the work of the Ferris alumnus will be on display in the university’s Rankin Art Gallery from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; it’s free and open to the public. Weston’s prints, drawings and collages will highlight who he is as an African American and as a person living with HIV.
He plans to visit campus April 28 through April 30 to personally share his work with the community and to celebrate the fraternity’s continuous success. Part of Weston’s work deals with the emotional and physical aspects of living with HIV.
A lecture will be held on April 28 in the Rankin Art Gallery from 11 a.m. to noon and a roundtable discussion from 6 to 7 p.m. by Weston himself. The closing artist reception will be held April 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the gallery. Images, programs and memorabilia will be on display from each era of the Zeta Beta Chapter dating back to 1966.
Weston also helped found the guerrilla artist group Underground Railroad in the mid-1990s, which produced street art and outdoor installations.
The exhibit, which opened on April 5, is sponsored by the Diversity and Inclusion Office mini-grant program. For more information, contact Carrie Weis at ext. 2538 or weisc@nullferris.edu.
To learn more about the Rankin Art Gallery, visit ferris.edu/gallery/.
Prism writing and art competition award winners
The Prism is the annual student writing and art competition at Ferris State University sponsored by the Department of Languages and Literature. There are cash prizes in each category, and winners will be honored at an awards banquet in the spring as well as in print in The Prism journal published in fall 2011.
The Prism International Creative Writing contest is made up of a short fiction contest in which a $2000 grand prize is awarded to the best original, unpublished story (maximum 25 double-spaced pages) and the winner receives publication payment in the Fiction Contest Issue. First place was given to Michael Hylton, “An Exercise in Caution,” and second place to Kristen Saunders, “Responsibility.”
The poetry contest is a $1000 grand prize awarded for the best original, unpublished poem and the winner receives publication and payment in our upcoming Poetry and Fiction Contests Issue. $300 and $200 are awarded to runners-up. First place was given to Michael Hylton, “The Saxophonist,” and second place to Jonathan Kelly, “The Dancers.”
As part of the Freshman/Sophomore Essays, first place went to James Young, “The Bequeathing,” followed by Rebecca Young, “Human Truffle” in second.
For the Mary Kilgallen Award: Freshman/Sophomore Research Paper, first place went to Tabitha London, “Imagining the Exotic: The Narrator’s Perception in Joyce’s ‘Araby.’” Second place was granted to Matthew Agnone, “Alternative Energy Sources.”
As for the Junior/Senior Essay, in first place was Michael Hylton, “‘The Cask of Amontillado’: Vengeance Personified,” and second place was Joel Gardner, “Important Achievement and the Individual.” Last, Junior/Senior Research Paper, Michael Hylton, “The Electronic Language: Technology’s Effect on English” won first place followed by Jenna Schreur, “The Tragic Flaw and Fall of Doctor Faustus” coming in second. n