Author Alix Ohlin to speak on relationship of nature, art

Author Alix Ohlin to speak on relationship of nature, art
Campbell Lecture Series furthers the study of literature

BY CHRISTINE MEDINA
Special to the Rice News

Acclaimed author Alix Ohlin will examine the relationship between nature and art as she delivers the Campbell Lecture Series at Rice University Oct. 23-25. Hosted by the School of Humanities, all lectures are open to the public and begin at 7:30 p.m. in Sewall Hall, Room 301.

ALIX OHLIN

Ohlin will structure the three talks around Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” discussing artists who change the way people look at nature; crises in the natural world; and birds in art and literature.

“Our world is changing so rapidly that we seem to live in a kind of tempest; one that continually alters the way we live, our perceptions of the environment and our understanding of its importance,” Ohlin said. “These lectures will examine the relationship between nature and art in a time of confusion and flux.”

The first lecture, “Prospero’s Island,” will look at artists whose work leads to a re-imagining of the natural world. Ohlin will discuss how, like Shakespeare’s Prospero, artists are magicians who use their powers to transform the way people experience the world. She will cite artists Andy Goldsworthy and James Turrell and the Center for Land Use Interpretation for embracing the beauty of landscape while breaking down the separation between human and natural.

Ohlin’s second lecture, “Hearing from Caliban,” will discuss how the natural world’s crises  — urban development issues, Hurricane Katrina and global climate change — are effects of human creation. Ohlin will ask and try to answer, What role can art play in disaster? 

The third lecture, “Ariel and Audubon,” will look at how birds are used as metaphors and subjects in literature and art. Ohlin will also discuss how birds act as barometers for the relationship between humans and nature.

Ohlin’s debut novel, “The Missing Person,” was a 2005 Booklist Top 10. Her book of short stories, ‘Babylon,” was published by Knopf in 2006 and short-listed for The Story Prize. Her stories have been selected for both Best New American Voices 2004 and Best American Short Stories 2005 and have aired on NPR’s “Selected Shorts.” She teaches at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

The Campbell Lecture Series was established by Rice alumnus T.C. Campbell and the School of Humanities as a 20-year public lecture series to further the study of literature.

Chaired by Gary Wihl, dean of Humanities, the series’ advisory committee includes Karl Kilian, director of programs at the Menil Collection and founder of Brazos Bookstore; Rich Levy, executive director of Inprint Inc; James Gibbons, opinion page editor of the Houston Chronicle; Edward Hirsch, president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and former faculty member at the University of Houston; Susan Wood, Rice’s Gladys Louise Fox Chair in English; and Alan Thomas, editorial director for the humanities and sciences at the University of Chicago Press.

For more information about the lecture series, call 713-348-6152.

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