Artful Musings
Programs exploring literature in combination with other art forms Fashioned Forward, February 7, 7:30 p.m.
Chip Kidd: The Art of the Book, February 27, 7:30 p.m.
Jonah Lehrer, March 23, 7:30 p.m.
Madeline Miller, March 29, 7:30 p.m.
Alan Lightman, May 20, 7:30 p.m.
  
  
Fashioned ForwardA Musical Exploration of the Creative Spirit of Fashion Icon Jean Paul GaultierTuesday, February 7, 7:30 p.m.
Horchow Auditorium
Inspired by the exhibition The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk Jean Paul Gaultier, who ingeniously reinvented underwear as outerwear, is renowned for his creative construction of garments ranging from the sublime to the avant-garde. His portfolio of impeccable craftsmanship and calculated innovation has both garnered praise and fueled controversy around the world. Using Gaultier’s creative spirit as inspiration, six musicians respond to his collections in a one-of-a-kind, one-night-only performance with musical selections ranging from Mendelssohn and Madonna to Gershwin and Gaga. Fashioned Forward revels in the fusion of French fashion with the eclectic musings of Diana Vreeland, Mark Doty, and Jean Paul Gaultier himself. This marks the seventh collaboration of Arts & Letters Live with artistic programmer Ryan Taylor, who will create a multimedia extravaganza blending visuals of Gaultier’s work with musical and literary excerpts designed to resonate with the imagination of this celebrated French couturier, designer, and social provocateur. Musicians: Angela Mannino, soprano Jamie Van Eyck, mezzo-soprano Andrew Bidlack, tenor Chad Sloan, baritone Joseph Li, piano Wes Yoakam, guitar Prior to the performance, ticketholders are invited to a private viewing of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Ticket Prices
Full $37
Reduced $32
Student $15
Purchase tickets online or call 214-922-1818.
  
Chip KiddThe Art of the BookMonday, February 27, 7:30 p.m.
Horchow AuditoriumTake a peek behind the covers with Chip Kidd, one of the best-known book jacket designers working today. Described by USA Today as “the closest thing to a rock star” in graphic design, Kidd is universally recognized as an American master of contemporary book design. His iconic book covers—from the famous T-Rex for Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park to designs for other literati such as David Sedaris and Cormac McCarthy—have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. Author James Ellroy has called him “the world’s greatest book jacket designer.” In addition, Kidd is the driving force behind the Pantheon graphic books program, which includes the work of Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, and Marjane Satrapi. He is also a novelist whose books include The Cheese Monkeys: A Novel in Two Semesters and The Learners, both of which draw from his experiences as an art student at Penn State University. In 2008 Time magazine selected him as one of the 100 Most Influential People of the Year. Kidd is currently Associate Art Director at Knopf, an imprint of Random House. At this event, he will share his insights on the artistic and commercial process that goes into modern book jacket design. “Books, regardless of their form, still need a face.” —Chip Kidd
Ticket Prices
Full $37
Reduced $32
Student $15
Graphic Design Professional $15
Purchase tickets online or call 214-922-1818.
 
Jonah LehrerFriday, March 23, 7:30 p.m.
Horchow AuditoriumIn partnership with Big Thought
Hailed as “an important new thinker” by the Los Angeles Times, Jonah Lehrer has challenged us to look at the convergence of art and science in new ways. A Rhodes scholar, Lehrer began his career working in the lab of Nobel Prize–winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel. While waiting for an experiment to finish, he read Proust’s Swann’s Way and was immediately swept away. He says, “That’s when I first had the idea that Proust had anticipated my experiment with memory.” The seeds were then planted for his groundbreaking 2007 book Proust Was a Neuroscientist. In the book, Lehrer deftly weaves between art and science in eight graceful portraits of artists who have foretold scientific future better, at times, than scientists. His follow-up book was the instant bestseller How We Decide, which examines recent neuroscience research, as well as real-world experiences, to elucidate the roles of reason and emotion in the decision-making process. The London Observer noted, “This book could change the way you think about thinking.” At this event, Lehrer will discuss his forthcoming book, Imagine: How Creativity Works (March 2012), a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few; it’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively. Imagine reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind and its essential role in our increasingly complex world. “Jonah Lehrer’s clear and vivid writing—incisive and thoughtful, yet sensitive and modest—is a special pleasure.” —Oliver Sacks
Ticket Prices
Full $37
Reduced $32
Student $15 Purchase tickets online or call 214-922-1818.
 
Madeline MillerThursday, March 29, 7:30 p.m.
Horchow AuditoriumPresented by the Boshell Family Lecture Series on Archaeology
Madeline Miller's love of ancient Greece was ignited at age five, when her mother began reading her the Greek myths. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in Latin and Ancient Greek from Brown University, where she currently teaches both languages; she also studied at the Yale School of Drama, specializing in adapting classical tales for a modern audience. Her copy of The Iliad accompanied her one summer to Greece, where she worked on an archaeological dig. She says, "There, wandering in olive groves and swimming in the Aegean, I began to think of how I, too, could sing of these ancient tales." Her debut novel, The Song of Achilles, has been ten years in the making. Bestselling author Ann Patchett praised it saying, "The Song of Achilles is at once a scholar's homage to The Iliad and a startingly original work of art by an incredibly talented new novelist. Madeline Miller has given us her own fresh take on the Trojan War and its heroes. The result is a book I could not put down." 6:30 p.m. Join Dr. Anne Bromberg, The Cecil & Ida Green Curator of Ancient and Asian Art, for a pre-event tour of art inspired by the Trojan War.
Ticket Prices DMA Members: FREE
Adults: $10
Seniors 65+/Military: $7
Students: $5
Children under 12: FREE
Purchase tickets online or call 214-922-1818.
 
Alan LightmanSunday, March 20, 7:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church of Dallas408 Park Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75201Community Partner: First Presbyterian Church of Dallas Situated at the intersection of art and science, Alan Lightman’s work boldly bridges the gap between these two very different but similar worlds. A theoretical physicist at MIT and Harvard, Lightman is also an award-winning novelist. His provocative bestseller, Einstein’s Dreams, envisions a series of fables that Einstein might have dreamt while putting the final touches on his theory of relativity. The Los Angeles Times praised the book saying, “Lightman is an artist who paints with the notion of time.” His forthcoming novel, Mr. g, is the story of creation as narrated by God, and explores scientific, philosophical, theological, and ethical issues. The idea for Mr. g developed from a Boston group of MIT scientists and playwrights Lightman convened to discuss the merging of science and the arts. He noticed how often the subject of religion came up and asked himself "What are the boundaries of science, and how does science know what it knows and how does religion know what it knows?" Mr. g is a stunningly imaginative work that celebrates the tragic and joyous nature of existence on the grandest possible scale. "As human beings, don't we need questions without answers as well as questions with answers, questions that we might someday answer and questions that we can never answer?" —Alan Lightman
Ticket Prices
Full $37
Reduced $32
Student $15
Purchase tickets online or call 214-922-1818.
Arts & Letters Live is presented by  . Additional support provided by the Kay Cattarulla Endowment for the Literary and Performing Arts at the Dallas Museum of Art, TACA, The Hoglund Foundation, The Eugene McDermott Foundation, Annual Series Supporters, and Friends of the Dallas Public Library.
Air transportation provided in part by American Airlines. Hotel accommodations provided in part by The Adolphus. In-kind partners include ArtsDistrictDining.com and Einstein Printing. Promotional support is provided by  and 
|
