Book readings, art and a lecture highlight Fanfare’s upcoming week

Book readings, a lecture and art exhibit openings are the highlights scheduled during the upcoming week of the 41st season of Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University’s annual fall festival of the arts, humanities and social sciences.

First up is a New Books Reading with Southeastern authors David Armand and Jack Bedell in the Writing Center, located in D Vickers Hall, room 2095. Scheduled Oct. 6, at 2 p.m., Armand will read from his latest novel “We Own the Night,” and Jack Bedell will share work from his latest book “Flight Nights.”

Also scheduled the same day is the opening of Artist-in-Residence at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Addolay Dzegede’s solo exhibition in Southeastern’s Contemporary Art Gallery. Titled “Arsenal,” the exhibition looks back to the middle of the 19th century when a monumental shift in color began to take place.

The next Then and Now lecture is Oct. 7, in the Student Union Theatre. Historian and Attorney Anna Dow of the Department of Visual Art + Design will present “The Acquisition of Art by Napoleon Bonaparte: The True Story.” 

“Many scholars have written about Napoleon Bonaparte’s seizures of Renaissance and Classical Art while invading European countries and Egypt,” Dow explained. “However, his motivation was not an appreciation of art and antiquities. Instead, the reasons for his need to forcibly take the art were based more on promoting his career and pleasing his first wife, Josephine Beauharnais, who liked fine art and Egyptian antiquities.”

Closing out the week is an opening reception for two exhibitions at the Hammond Regional Arts Center from 5 until 8 p.m. The Main Gallery will house the Hammond Art Guild’s 64th Annual Judged Exhibition, coordinated by the Hammond Art Guild. The Mezzanine Gallery will showcase the exhibit “Canned Art” by Kaycie Coppock. The reception is free and open to the public. Additional information is available at www.hammondarts.org.

For more information, contact the Columbia/Fanfare office at 985-549-2999.