CWU To Host Glass Artwork Post-Installation Ceremony

March 25, 2005

Contact: Linda Marra (509-963-1816/fax 509-963-1239/e-mail: marral@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Central Washington University will celebrate the installation of a new work by artist John Rogers in the grand foyer of the CWU Music Building on Friday, May 6.

The ceremony, which will also be the featured event for Ellensburg's "First Friday Art Walk" in May, will begin at 5 p.m. with light refreshments, followed by remarks from CWU President Jerilyn S. McIntyre, Peter Gries, music department chair, and Rogers, who will discuss his work and the new sculpture.

The university's art selection committee chose Rogers, whose new CWU work is described as a glass sculpture with color-changing properties. A native of Portland, Ore., Rogers specializes in large-scale art commissions. His light-kinetic sculptures are installed at sites including at Florida State University, Boeing Co., airports in Miami and Portland, Ore., and other public and private facilities.

A musical performance will follow the remarks, featuring "Glass Works," an original 1996 composition by Mark Goodenberger, CWU music professor. Goodenberger and members of the university's percussion ensemble will perform it.

The CWU chamber choir, directed by Christopher Aspaas, CWU music professor, will also perform John Tavener's "Song for Athene." The choir will sing the unaccompanied work as they mingle among the assembled guests in the grand foyer of the new university facility, which opened last fall and is home to Central's renowned music program.

For more information about the ceremony, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call (509) 963-1216, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143.

Rogers' work was obtained through the Art in Public Places program, which facilitates acquisition and placement of artwork in publicly accessible places throughout the state.

New state-funded construction or renovations costing universities more than $200,000 generates percent-for-art funds, which can then be used to purchase artwork through the Washington State Arts Commission.