• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Ransom Center Magazine

  • Sections
    • Art
    • Books + Manuscripts
    • Conservation
    • Exhibitions + Events
    • Film
    • Literature
    • Photography
    • Research + Teaching
    • Theatre + Performing Arts
  • Archive
  • Print Edition

James Turrell

Julia Alvarez to receive National Medal of the Arts

July 28, 2014 - Alicia Dietrich

Julia Alvarez speaks with students during a visit to the Ransom Center in March 2014. Photo by Pete Smith.

Novelist, poet, and essayist Julia Alvarez will receive a 2013 National Medal of the Arts today “for her extraordinary storytelling.” The award will be presented by President Obama. The White House notes in the citation, “In poetry and in prose, Ms. Alvarez explores themes of identity, family, and cultural divides. She illustrates the complexity of navigating two worlds and reveals the human capacity for strength in the face of oppression.”

Alvarez’s archive resides at the Ransom Center and is currently being processed. Alvarez was born in New York City but raised in the Dominican Republic until she was 10. In 1960 her family was forced to flee the Dominican Republic when it was discovered that her father was involved in a plot to overthrow dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Much of Alvarez’s work is considered semi-autobiographical, drawing on her experiences as an immigrant and her bicultural identity. Alvarez’s unique experiences have shaped and infused her writing—from such award-winning novels as How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies to her poetry.

Alvarez’s extensive archive consists of manuscripts, correspondence, journals, and professional files. The manuscripts span her writing career and include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, and unpublished works, often in multiple drafts.

Image: Julia Alvarez speaks with students during a visit to the Ransom Center in March 2014. Photo by Pete Smith.

Filed Under: Authors Tagged With: archive, Bill T. Jones, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies, James Turrell, Julia Alvarez, Linda Ronstadt, Maxine Hong Kingston, National Endowment for the Arts, National Medal of the Arts, President Obama

James Turrell events on campus this weekend include talk by Turrell and tour of Ransom Center display

October 18, 2013 - Alicia Dietrich

Photo by Florian Holzherr.

To complement The University of Texas at Austin’s new James Turrell piece The Color Inside opening on campus this week, a selection of books and artworks associated with Turrell are on view at the Harry Ransom Center in the third-floor Director’s Gallery. Several events are planned around campus today and tomorrow to celebrate the opening of the new Skyspace on the roof of the Student Activity Center.

Today at noon

Conversation with James Turrell

Friday, October 18, 12-1pm

Student Activity Center Ballroom

Artist James Turrell and Lynn Herbert, former senior curator of the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, discuss The Color Inside, a Skyspace on the rooftop garden of the Student Activity Center at The University of Texas at Austin. Free and no reservations required; limited seating available.

 

Saturday, October 19, 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Tours of The Color Inside, the Blanton Museum of Art, and the Harry Ransom Center

Various locations on campus

The tour begins on the rooftop of the Student Activity Center with a music performance by a string quartet from the Butler School of Music inside the Skyspace. The tour will walk to the Blanton to view a large-scale aquatint by Turrell entitled First Light, Plate B1, which is on display through mid-December. The tour concludes at the Ransom Center with James Turrell: Deep Sky, an exhibition of seven aquatints created by Turrell in collaboration with the publisher Peter Blum Editions, on display through December 13. The tour will last between 60 and 90 minutes.

 

Saturday, October 19, 2 p.m., 3 p.m., and 4 p.m.

Music Performance

Inside the Skyspace, rooftop of the Student Activity Center

On opening day, Landmarks presents three unique performances of Lightscape, a new composition by University of Texas graduate student, assistant instructor, and award-winning composer Joel Love. Landmarks commissioned Love to create a composition inspired by The Color Inside. Lightscape will be performed by Butler School of Music students Yunji Lee, Chloe Park, Andrew Haduong, and Mic Vredenburgh.

Filed Under: Art, Exhibitions + Events Tagged With: Art, James Turrell, James Turrell: Deep Sky, The Color Inside

Primary Sidebar

Archive

Tags

acquisition Alice's Adventures in Wonderland archive archives Art Books Cataloging Conservation Council on Library and Information Resources David Foster Wallace David O. Selznick digitization exhibition Exhibitions Fellows Find Fellowships Film Frank Reaugh Frank Reaugh: Landscapes of Texas and the American West Gabriel Garcia Marquez Gabriel Garcia Marquez archive Gone with the Wind I have seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America Lewis Carroll literature Magnum Photos Manuscripts Meet the Staff Nobel Prize Norman Bel Geddes Norman Mailer Performing Arts Photography poetry preservation Publishing Research Robert De Niro Shakespeare theater The King James Bible: Its History and Influence The Making of Gone With The Wind Undergraduate What is Research? World War I

Recent Posts

  • Finding Henry Street: the Broadway Revival of Funny Girl and New York City Dramaturgy
  • Summer Intern: Malachi McMahon
  • Collaborating To Conserve
  • Michael Gilmore’s Life in Objects
  • Archive of Poet James Fenton Acquired

Before Footer

Sign up for eNews

Our monthly newsletter highlights news, exhibitions, and programs.

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

About

Ransom Center Magazine is an online and print publication sharing stories and news about the Harry Ransom Center, its collections, and the creative community surrounding it.

Copyright © 2023 Harry Ransom Center

Web Accessibility · Web Privacy