8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, July 23, 1997


Artists, visitors deem 1997 art fairs a 'success'

By Christine M. Paik Peggy Brown, a watercolor artist from
Daily Staff Reporter Nashville, Ind., has displayed her works
Despite a heat wave and a thunder- at the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair since
storm, the 1997 art fairs went off without 1971 and feels that the response from the
a hitch. From Wednesday to Saturday, crowds is always positive.
people braved the extreme weather to "Sales have been really good this year"
browse the kaleidoscopic booths of art- Brown said. "Ann Arbor is one of the best
work displayed throughout Ann Arbor. in the nation in terms of quality of work
Kathy Krick, director of the State and sales. It's like the queen of the art
Street Area Art Fair, felt that the three fairs. I've been to others, but there is
fairs accomplished a great deal. something about Ann Arbor that I love."
"It was very successful, and the weath- Philip Thompson, an artist from
er was great," Krick said. "Everything Bangor, Mich., who displayed etchings
went so nice and and prints, has attended the
smooth."r 4State Street Area Art Fair for
More than 500,000 115 years.
visitors attended the "It's been great,"
fairs, buying art, watch- Thompson said. "People are
ing performers, eating ;..so responsive to my work."
good food and people- The three fairs included
watching. artists' demonstrations,
Shary Brown, exhibiting techniques and
Summer Art Fair direc- s1{ Fair' processes. In addition, musi-
tor, said people from all cal artists rotated among
over the country are eight stages.
attracted to the event Bass singer Paul Felch of
because it appeals to a wide variety of the a cappella quartet 3 Men and a Tenor,
interests. from East Lansing, Mich., said he has
"People plan their vacations to enjoyed singing at the fairs for the past
attend this event," Brown said. "It's five years.
free. People don't have to pay a lot just "A lot of people are interested in our
to come watch." music," Felch said. "I love to be out-
Sharon Bartley, a resident of Lansing, doors. Everything is laid-back here, and
said she enjoyed her first year at the art most of the time, there's great weather."
fairs, despite humid temperatures. Children visiting the fairs enjoyed
"I haven't bought anything yet - I'm arts-and-crafts workshops.
still looking," Bartley said. "Everything Elaine Kolasa, a retired Ann Arbor
here is so nice - the art, the music and public school art teacher, has organized
the people. It's too hot, though" children's activities at the Ann Arbor

I

A youngster listens to the clever rhymes and beats of Belleville, Mich., drummer Nahru Lampkin at the 191
Musicians from all over the country traveled to Ann Arbor last week to share their talent with thousands o

Street Art Fair for more than 30 years.
"Here, the children get the opportuni-
ty to work on and produce art;' Kolasa
said. "Each day there is a new menu of
activities. The children love it."
Aside from the outside activity, the
Michigan Union hosted an exhibit of John

Lennon's artwork, "Music for the Eyes"
presented by his widow, Yoko Ono.
Scott Hann, executive producer for the
exhibit, said the show was a success.
"It was all of John's artwork," Hann
said. "Many people bought the litho-
graphs, serigraphs, his lyrics and some

original pieces."
Two-dollar donations at the exhibit
went to Ann Arbor's Food Gatherers
Food Bank to combat hunger. Ono has
traditionally donated show proceeds to
various charities, specifically those con-
tributing to AIDS research.

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RANKINGS
Continued from Page 3
Baker said the adjusted rankings still
will not adequately reflect the
University's academic quality or that of
other public institutions.
"The rankings display an inherent bias
against public universities because by
definition they don't, have the privates'
resources," Baker said. "There have been
some minor changes but (U.S. News)
hasn't done any-
thing to correct
these funda- This w
mental flaws."
A significant uS, NewS
problem arises
when a well- a step b
respected public
school like - M
University of
California-
Berkeley does not place in the top 25,
Baker said.
Simone Himbeault Taylor, director of
Career Planning and Placement, said
that while the magazine's rankings are
high profile, their importance is overem-
phasized.
"I'm not concerned about what (U.S.
News) is going to do about ranking
because much of the information (used
to compile the rankings) is subjective
and is not always fully comparable from
one school to another," Taylor said.
Employers' hiring decisions are not
based on rankings, Taylor said. Instead,
employers refer to an institution's strong
reputation and tradition along with the


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success of previous graduates.
University graduates are well pre-
pared to enter the workplace, Taylor said.!
"Communication, qualitative, analyti-
cal, leadership and multicultural skills
give University students a competitive
edge in the job market," Taylor said.
Michigan Student Assembly President
Michael Nagrant said that "although
they are probably not the most objec-
tive," the rankings are important.
"The rankings are sort of a bellwether
by which parents
and potential stu-t
l force dents measure
excellence of
to take schools," Nagrant
said. "The rank-
$k ,,, " ings are skewed
toward private
Chael Nagrant universities and it
ASA President is important to
reform the sys-
tem."
Last year, MSA coordinated with stu-
dent governments at Stanfor
University, U Cal-Berkeley and other
universities to convince administrators
to protest the magazine's classifications
by not submitting statistics to U.S. News.
Although MSA's efforts met some
resistance, the assembly is likely to press
the issue in the fall, Nagrant said.
"This will force U.S. News to take a
step back and reevaluate the ranking sys-
tem" Nagrant said. "If all universitie
decide to take a stand on this, it can b
effective:'
The 1997 rankings are scheduled to
be released next month.

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