Friday, March 21, 2003
USI Colloquium showcasing work of husband-wife team
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A Liberal Arts Colloquium featuring Michael Aakhus, USI professor of art, and Patricia Aakhus, USI instructor in English, will be presented at 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 28, in Kleymeyer Hall in the Liberal Arts Center on the University of Southern Indiana campus. "The Knight and the Lion: A Faculty Research and Creative Works Award Grant" will be the topic of their presentation. The couple received a $4,750 award from USI to study, translate, and create images for a hand-printed fine art book of Chretien de Troyes’ 12th-century epic poem, The Knight with the Lion. With the support of the grant, they traveled and studied in France in the summer of 2001 and completed the book in 2002. Only two copies exist. One was auctioned for $2,000 at the 12th annual Toast to the Arts hosted by the USI Society for Arts & Humanities. Michael produced the book’s original intaglio images, and Patricia translated Chretien’s 7,000-line poem from medieval French. The poet is credited with creating the Arthurian romance genre. “Chretien’s The Knight with the Lion is as brilliant and complex as the jeweled windows of a gothic cathedral, with magic rings, storm producing fountains, elixirs, giants, demons, true love, and alchemy,” Patricia said. “But the alchemical allegory has a twist. The aim of the perfection of the soul, the turning of lead into gold, is not the rejection of the world for heaven, but the taking up of problems in the real world: military aggression and bravado, trial by ordeal, and the oppression of women and workers. It is a very rich and rewarding text.” In the colloquium, the Aakhuses will show the book, Michael will discuss the images, and Patricia will deliver the lecture, “The Golden Lion and the Emerald Fountain: Alchemy and a French Arthurian Romance.” Patricia joined the University in 1995 and holds an M.F.A. from Norwich University. She also recently completed a libretto based on her translation of The Knight with the Lion. Michael joined the faculty in 1977 and holds an M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University. He also created artwork for two other books auctioned by the Society for Arts & Humanities: Stones of Izapa and Amatle. The colloquium is a free lecture series featuring faculty research in the School of Liberal Arts. The public is invited. |
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