Featured Research + Creative Activity
Pushing the boundaries
On a daily basis, faculty and students in Cliffe College undertake innovative and impactful research and creative work. We value curiosity and focus on facilitating discovery. We create an environment that sparks imagination. We cultivate and support collaboration and transformation. And no matter our area of specialty, we continually endeavor to pursue new knowledge and provide pathways to augment contributions to our community and region.
Would you like to know more about our current research and creative work? Or would you like to learn about previous research and creative activities in which our faculty and students have been engaged?
Leading role: Donna Anna in “Don Giovanni”
Professor of music and theatre Misook Yun performed the leading lady role of Donna Anna in a performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at the Cascadia Chamber Opera Festival September 1, 2023 in Astoria, Oregon. The fully-staged production, accompanied by the festival orchestra, featured other cast members from New York, Oregon, and North Carolina.
Art in Embassies program
Professor of art Dragana Crnjak’s painting “No Luck Unlocking” was selected by U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill to be on display at the Serbian Embassy in Belgrade until 2025. The painting is Crnjak’s second to be selected for the Art in Embassies program. She previously had a painting displayed at the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina for four years.
Costume Rendering
As a costume designer, Katherine Garlick, Associate Professor of Theatre, first examines a script and discovers the characters. She subsequently determines how to use clothing and costumes to help tell the story to the audience—to help tell who the characters are. A large part of that process is called rendering, or putting design ideas on the page. Every costume must have a drawing, and she may use an array of drawing materials and tools to bring designs to life. Watch Professor Garlick’s process evolve from a blank page to a fully rendered costume design.
AALC VideoArt Festival
J. Dana Sperry, Professor of Art, had two video works screened at the ALC VideoArt Festival at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante in Spain.
Playing the Unplayable
Caroline Oltmanns, Professor of Piano, published Playing the Unplayable , an e-book titled after her blog post about tackling Liszt’s arrangement of Schubert’s Erlkönig. “It is a collection of bite size chapters about being a pianist, about practicing, concerts, and performing,” Oltmanns states.
Puppets take center stage
Todd Dicken, Lecturer of Theatre, developed a new minor in Puppetry. Open to all students on campus, the program focuses on innovative experiences in making objects come to life for the purpose of creating works of theatre.