Arts Across Campus

The performing and visual arts are integral to a liberal arts education. The arts inspire us and fire the imagination. They teach us creative problem solving, and how to meet challenges with flexibility, invention, and vision.

At the University of the South, we have multiple dedicated exhibition and performance spaces and series across campus, weaving the arts into life and study across the college. In addition to our designated spaces, our campus overall is regularly ranked as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States.

All of campus is designed to inspire, and all of campus is a stage.

Upcoming Events

Free Patch Work Project

Free Admission

Artist Jessica Wohl will be in the UAG at the mending station in the University Art Gallery from noon to 1 p.m. on select Thursdays (Nov. 18, Dec. 2, Dec. 9) and from 3 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays (Nov. 10, Nov. 17, Dec. 1, and Dec. 8) as part of the Free Patch Work Project. Drop by and learn how it’s done, and share your stories about your clothes as they’re mended.

On November 11, from 3 to 5 p.m., please join us in the UAG for a mending circle! Bring a garment to mend from the pile you never quite get to, any other sewing project, or simply your curiosity, and join us for some hot apple cider and cookies, and time making both literal and figurative repairs.

Even if you cannot attend when Jessica is present, you are welcome to come by the UAG with a piece of clothing needing repair, select your patch from the wall, your thread color and stitch pattern, and leave your garment with us for care!

Ongoing

Arts Amplified Screening

Free Admission

Arts Amplified will offer a screening of selected short films by current students in the University Art Gallery on Dec. 3 at 7 and 7:15 p.m., prior to the SSO concert Christmas on the Silver Screen at 7:30 p.m. Come early and see what our students are up to!

CHRISTMAS ON THE SILVER SCREEN

Free Concert In Guerry Auditorium

Christmas on the Silver Screen

Sewanee Symphony Orchestra

Tiffany Lu, conductor

Friday, Dec. 3, 2021

7:30pm

Guerry Auditorium

The Sewanee Symphony Orchestra presents a light family-friendly concert featuring music at the intersection of Christmas and the Movies. Spotlighting favorites like Carol of the Bells, Greensleeves, and well-known music from The Polar Express, Home Alone, and Schindler's List, this concert will also present the world premiere of film music by Prakash Wright, Professor and composer from the Department of Music, presented live with film. The SSO Percussion Ensemble will also present other Christmas favorites, along with a special prelude in the University Arts Gallery courtesy of the Film Studies department and the Arts Amplified initiative.

Friday, December 3, 2021, 7:30 PM

Eurydice - LIVE IN HD

Tickets Required

Eurydice - LIVE IN HD

MATTHEW AUCOIN / LIBRETTO BY SARAH RUHL

This Saturday, December 4th, the Ralston Listening Room in DuPont Library on the campus of the University of the South, proudly hosts the second showing from the Metropolitan Opera's LIVE in HD series. This week, featuring a live performance of Eurydice.

TICKETS are now on sale! ($25 for patrons / $15 for Sewanee students)

The performance is from 11:45 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Tickets for current Sewanee students are available at a reduced price.

Please use ticket code at checkout: MET4STUDENTS

The Ralston Listening Library is located on the 2nd Floor of DuPont Library.

Seating will be available beginning at 11:15 a.m.

Please reserve/purchase your tickets in advance if possible as seating is limited.

Please note, masking is required while attending the performance.

For questions regarding this MET LIVE HD event (or others in the future),

please call 931-598-1903.

Saturday, December 4, 2101, 11:45 AM - 3:00 PM

UNIVERSITY JAZZ ENSEMBLE’S FALL CONCERT

Free Concert

The Department of Music at Sewanee presents the

UNIVERSITY JAZZ ENSEMBLE’S

FALL CONCERT

Under the direction of Kevin Gatzke

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021

6:30 p.m., St. Luke's Chapel

Wednesday, December 8, 2021 6:30 p.m.

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Current Exhibitions

In the University Art Gallery

open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday

Jessica Wohl's Imagining Matriarchy
An exhibition of vibrant, dazzling quilts by artist and Associate Professor of Art Jessica Wohl.

In the Museum Gallery

William R. Laurie University Archives and Special Collections
open 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday

Impact & Influence
photographs by Paul Caponigro, professor of art Pradip Malde, and David Dennard

A selection of archival items related to Sewanee’s history will also be available for viewing in the adjacent Lytle Reading Room.

In the Carlos Gallery

Studio Art Building
open 8 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

Picking Up the Shift
Donna Woodley and Karen Seapker’s
Recent paintings by two visiting professors of art.

Performances and Events Highlights

Keep An Eye On

Art Forum

Art Forum is an organization dedicated to promoting the visual arts and facilitating artistic opportunities at the University of the South. We offer a creative space for students to promote art within a positive community. In doing so, we foster a stronger Sewanee community and appreciation for the arts.

Arts Amplified

At the University of the South, the arts model interdisciplinarity and collaboration. Special events like gallery walks and Arts Amplified events bring distinct disciplines in the arts together for inspiration and learning, and give our students and faculty multiple and diverse opportunities to experiment, collaborate, show their work, hone their skills, and reach audiences - all across campus.

Arts Fellows Scholarship

Students with exceptional promise in performing or studio arts can apply for Fellowship in the Arts. They are awarded to candidates with interests and accomplishments in visual studies, art history, film, dance, theatre, or music. Students selected for these fellowships will have the opportunity to dive more deeply into the life of the arts at Sewanee. Incoming students are invited to apply after they are admitted to Sewanee. These stackable fellowships, valued at $2,000, are renewable for four years. For more information, please email your admission counselor.

Dynamics

Dynamics seeks to bring together the performing arts at Sewanee by mixing student-choreographed dances with vocal and instrumental pieces. Student performers are invited to try on new styles and concepts with the goal of simply being creative.

Guarisco Scholarship

The Guarisco Scholarship is endowed for students who intend to pursue art or art history at the undergraduate level and who have demonstrated extraordinary promise in artistic endeavors. On Sewanee's gorgeous 13,000-acre mountaintop campus and around the world, Guarisco Scholars will have the resources to study and advance art. The scholarship includes full funding (tuition, room and board) for four years of study at Sewanee as well as stipends for research, internship and study abroad opportunities.

Live Music Sound Nation

Live Music Sound Nation is a contemporary instrumental multi-media ensemble, focusing on the production and performance of modern rock and film score shows. Using a highly collaborative approach, the next generation of talented musicians and artists rehearse music and prepare visual displays for arena-style rock and movie concerts. We use the latest in sound, lighting effects, and design as we perform the compositions of the great musical artists of the modern day.

Performing Arts Series

The Sewanee Performing Arts Series features a wide variety of performances throughout the academic year.

Some of the recent solo and ensemble performers have included:

American Spiritual Ensemble
Grammy nominated PUBLIQuartet
Aaron Diehl
Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal
Vienna Boys Choir
Olivier Latry
American Shakespeare Center
Chanticleer
Rooftop Records

Performances take place throughout the academic year and are made available to students at no cost.

Perpetual Motion

Perpetual Motion (PMo) is a student-led dance organization designed to give students an opportunity to perform and to expose the Sewanee community to a variety of unique styles of dance. Through diversity and inclusion, we strive to recruit dancers of all levels and expose them to a variety of dance genres. To fulfill our mission, we will work with other dance organizations on campus as well as the Dance Program to reach as many students as possible.

Sewanee Praise

Sewanee Praise ministers the Gospel in song to the campus and surrounding communities. The choir’s diverse membership is made up of students, faculty, and community members from various backgrounds and experiences. Its repertory covers spirituals, traditional and contemporary gospel, contemporary Christian, and praise and worship. Sewanee Praise performs two concerts—one each semester—as well as other campus events and regional tours.

Sewanee Symphony Orchestra

The Sewanee Symphony Orchestra (SSO) presents a full range of the symphonic repertory and includes a wide variety of musical styles and genres. As a key component of the liberal arts environment, the orchestra not only collaborates with other music ensembles but also often participates in campus-wide interdisciplinary projects. Sewanee's orchestra is a vivid reflection of our community. It is common for students to play alongside their professors, University administrators, and community members.

University Choir

The University Choir plays an important role in Sewanee's musical life, singing at weekly services in All Saints' Chapel, monthly evensongs, and other campus events. A highlight of each year is the annual Festival of Lessons and Carols. This service regularly attracts 3,000 visitors to campus and has been featured in Southern Living and Garden and Gun. As an active touring ensemble, the choir has performed extensively throughout the United States and England.

University Jazz Ensemble

The University Jazz Ensemble started as a small ensemble and has grown into a 17-to-19 piece big band that covers the repertory of large ensemble jazz ranging from Duke Ellington and Count Basie to big band arrangements of popular songs by the Beatles and the Jackson 5. The Jazz Ensemble focuses on developing student jazz musicians by providing an opportunity for a challenging ensemble experience while encouraging performers to explore jazz improvisation. The Jazz Ensemble offers two performances on campus each school year, and also plays in local venues as requested.

The William Ralston Listening Library

The William Ralston Listening Library and Archive is located on the second floor of duPont Library at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. The state-of-the-art facility offers an unparalleled teaching and learning resource and was created in memory of beloved Sewanee professor Father William Ralston, C’51. The Library houses his world-class collection of recordings inside what many reviewers and audiophiles consider to be the best publicly available sound playback system in the world. Years in the planning and decades in the dreaming, the Ralston Listening Library exists to bring a stunning, life-changing sonic and aesthetic experience to students and visitors of all ages. In the best spirit of Father Ralston, the Library's mission is entirely philanthropic, designed to spread a love and appreciation for great music and audio to those who would not otherwise have access or knowledge of such things.