Launched in the fall of 2016, the Grum Project is Williston’s five-year visiting artist program, which has featured artists in a variety of genres. Guests have included a Grammy-Award-winning multi-instrumentalist/ethnomusicologist, a poetry-slam champion, a photographer whose work explores social media, and a dancer-filmmaker transfixed on athleticism of baseball.
Funded by a generous alumna from the Northampton School for Girls, the Grum Project brings artists to campus for mini-residencies so that the entire Williston community can participate. This year’s artists:
- Heralded for its “warm, lithe, and beautifully blended” sound (New York Times), “impeccable musicality” (Boston Globe), and unfailing display of the “elegance, power, grace and beauty of the human voice” (Boston Music Intelligencer), Boston’s Lorelei Ensemble is recognized nationally for its bold and inventive programs. On October 17, the Lorelei Ensemble perform a private concert in the Phillips Stevens Chapel after which Caterwaulers and Widdigers will attend a reception and Q-and-A session with them in the Reed Campus Center.
- Kiel Johnson‘s drawings and sculptures tell tales; layered narratives speak of his travels and adventures through everyday life. Johnson received his MFA at California State University, Long Beach (CA). He has received prestigious awards and honors including the Pollock-Krasner Grant, Durfee Foundation ARC Grant, and the CSULB Outstanding Creative Achievement Award. In residence at the Williston Northampton School for a week in January 2020, he specializes in crowd-sourced projects with many components.
- Rosemary Feit Covey was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Her work is housed in more than forty major museum and library collections worldwide, including the original collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the New York Public Library Print Collection, the National Museum of American History, Harvard University, and the Papyrus Institute in Cairo, Egypt. During the winter trimester, she will share her environmentally-focused art and work with students on learning to think creatively in order to innovate.
- Shamsia Hassani is the first woman graffiti artist in Afghanistan. She teaches art at Kabul University and has painted murals in the U.S., Turkey, Italy, Germany, Norway, India, and Vietnam. In April 2020, Hassani will work with Williston Northampton School students to create a mural for the recreation room in the basement of the 194 Main Street dorm.
“The Grum Project has allowed us to enrich our Arts program in ways that enhance our curricula and expose our students to new and exciting artists and experiences,” said Grum Project coordinator and Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair Natania Hume.