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SOUTHEAST CONFERS 835 DEGREES AT SPRING COMMENCEMENT
Degrees were conferred on 835 students during spring commencement exercises held May 15 at Southeast Missouri State University.
Former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon presented the commencement address.
A complete listing of graduates, sorted by hometown, was sent via U.S. mail to area media outlets. If you did not recieve one or would like one, please contact the news bureau at (573) 651-5910.
STATE MERIT EXAMS TO BE ADMINISTERED AUG. 7 AT SOUTHEAST
State Merit Exams will be administered Aug. 7 on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.
Written exams will be administered at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. in Academic Hall Room 337. Performance exams will be held in Academic Hall Room 348 at 2 and 3 p.m.
Applications must be sent to Jefferson City, Mo., and candidates must have an admission ticket to be tested. Applications are available from Testing Services, Academic Hall Room 347, Southeast Missouri State University, One University Plaza (MS3790), Cape Girardeau, MO 63701.
For more information, call (573) 651-2836.
SCHRIEVER PROVIDES GIFT TO BENEFIT UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
George Schriever of New York City has established a $100,000 gift annuity with the Southeast Missouri University Foundation to benefit the work of the University Museum.
Proceeds from the annuity, at the time of Schriever’s death, will be placed in the Placide Daus Schriever Fund, to support a variety of the museum’s activities, including exhibitions, programs, conservation efforts and acquisitions.
Wayne Davenport, vice president for University Advancement and executive director of the Southeast Missouri University Foundation, said “this is the latest example of Mr. Schriever’s enormous generosity to boost the ongoing mission of the University Museum.”
Schriever and his late wife, Placide, have been long-time patrons of the Foundation and Museum, donating both important works of art as well as cash and deferred contributions. Earlier this year, Schriever donated three pieces of artwork and furniture and provided $30,000 in unrestricted funds to benefit the long-term growth of the Museum.
Among the pieces of artwork was a small pastel portrait of Christian Heinrich Meyer. He is believed to have been a Lutheran seminary director, perhaps in this section of the country. Schriever acquired the piece from an antique dealer on the East Coast. The piece is believed to have originated in the mid-1800s.
Also among the pieces were two pastel works by New York artist Violet Baxter. Both are depictions of scenes from New York City and were completed in the 1990s. Baxter’s work has been displayed in a number of solo and group exhibitions, and her work has been reviewed by numerous publications.
At the same time, Schriever donated a suite of three pieces of Biedermier furniture, which he and his late wife, Placide, purchased many years ago while living in Germany.
Schriever is the University Museum’s most significant living patron. He and his late wife are Southeast Missouri natives. The Schrievers’ affinity for Southeast Missouri State University took hold years ago when Schriever’s father-in-law graduated from Southeast. The Schrievers’ relationship with Southeast Missouri State was strengthened in the 1970s, when George and the late Placide participated in the Elderhostel program on campus and became acquainted with program director, Dr. Frank Nickell. During their stay here, the Schrievers became acquainted with then University Museum Director James Parker, and their interest in the Museum began taking shape.
George Schriever had a lengthy career in the arts, which included a stint as curator of the Anschutz Collection in Denver, Colo., which is the largest collection of art of the American West. Schriever also has worked for the prestigious Kennedy Art Galleries in New York.
In 1997, Schriever donated several other important works of art to the Museum and provided it with a $75,000 cash contribution to create the Placide Daus Schriever Fund to help support the work of the Museum. Among the artwork donated at that time was a bronze sculpture, “Bird Rattler,” by the artist Hans Egon Reiss; a print by Charles Quest; a mask from Gabon; and a watercolor landscape by a Missouri artist.
SALEMME DONATES GOUACHE TO UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
Lawrence Salemme of New York has donated a gouache titled “The Hour on the Square” to the Southeast Missouri University Museum through the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.
The 26-by-22 gouache on paper is the work of his mother, Lucia Autorino Salemme. The piece is valued at $20,000.
The nationally acclaimed painter Lucia Autorino Salemme paints and lives in New York City, where she was born. Beginning her impressive career just after high school, Salemme’s accomplishments are many and varied. Her work has been included in as many as 12 Annual Exhibitions of American Art at the Whitney Museum, and is represented in many collections around the country, including the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery of Art and the Chicago Art Institute.
In the capacity of educator, she has held positions with the Works Progress Administration, the Art Students’ League, the Museum of Modern Art and New York University. In the 1940s, Salemme won two Guggenheim Fellowships to study at the School of Non-Objective Painting, later to become the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Salemme also has authored three widely-used texts, including Color Exercises for the Painter (1970); Compositional Exercises for the Painter (1973); and The Complete Book of Painting Techniques (1983).
In 1997, University Museum patron George Schriever donated a painting by Salemme to the University Museum’s permanent collection. Entitled “Radar Message to the Moon,” the oil painting exemplifies Salemme’s style: a brightly-hued, abstracted, prismatic composition which references urban architectural motifs.
The University Museum hosted an exhibition of Salemme’s work in late 1998.
CHORAL UNION TO PERFORM NEW AMERICAN CHORAL WORK, ‘FOUR AMERICAN FOLK HYMNS,’ TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS MUSIC
The Southeast Missouri State University Choral Union, the area’s renowned community choir, will begin its fall rehearsal schedule Aug. 24 for a Nov. 30 performance of Mack Wilberg’s new “Four American Folk Hymns” and Robert Shaw and Robert Russell Bennett’s “The Many Moods of Christmas.”
Regular rehearsals will be held on Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. in Brandt Music Hall Room 205.
The Choral Union is a non-auditioned, “open membership” choir that draws singers from the area-wide community. The 100-plus voice choir specializes in major choral and orchestral works, and performances of such masterpieces as Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” Honegger’s “King David” and, most recently, Thompson’s “The Testament of Freedom” and Handel’s “Messiah,” which have attracted capacity crowds. Dr. John Egbert, director of choral activities at the University, is the director.
Anyone interested in singing in the Choral Union or wanting additional information is encouraged to contact Egbert at (573) 651-2342.
“It’s simple,” Egbert said. “Although we are always interested in recruiting more men, we are just as interested in anyone who wants to sing. Surprisingly, although everyone tends to think that there is an abundance of sopranos, we actually need additional sopranos this year because of the literature we have programmed. As always, there are no fees, and there is no audition for membership. That’s quite a deal in today’s market.
“Many of our community patrons will remember three years ago, as a concert finale, we performed a new -- and at that time, unpublished -- setting of the traditional American folk hymn, ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,’ which had a dramatic impact on the audience and performers alike,” he added. “Consequently, I have received repeated requests to do it again. Well, this spring saw the completion and printing of the complete work entitled, ‘Four American Folk Hymns,’ and I can say, unequivocally, that they are spectacular.”
The concert will conclude with ‘The Many Moods of Christmas’ (Suite III), a setting of traditional Christmas carols for orchestra and choir.
“The ‘Four American Folk Hymns’ and ‘The Many Moods of Christmas’ are a look back at our heritage as we prepare to enter the next millennium,” Egbert said. “It gives us a sense of lineage and, to some extent, who we are.
“The community’s reception of our performances has been outstanding and attendance at last year’s performance of ‘The Testament of Freedom’ and ‘Messiah’ was phenomenal,” he said. “These Choral Union and Orchestra concerts have evolved into significant cultural events in our community and have proven to be a wonderful musical experience for the performers and the audience alike.”
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