Conversation Pieces

Grant Kester discusses the disparate network of artists & collectives united by a desire to create new forms of understanding through creative dialogue that crosses boundaries of race, religion, & culture.

Born of the Sun begins with the awakening of Miatron, High Priest of Upper and Lower Egypt, to his divine mission. He is disheartened by the fact he is nearing the completion of his life with only banal repetitious spiritual ritual to show for his many years of existence. Suddenly he hears a voice telling him the bloodline of the Pharaohs has been corrupted by interbreeding and instructing him to seek a woman of pure blood to be the new queen to the aging Amunhotep III. He and three young apprentices set out in secret to search for this maiden. They must each find her through their own intuition as to her identity, for her protection is a secret even to her own family. Found in a small village near the Caspian Sea, young Tyi, future Queen of Egypt, returns with them and is placed under the guardianship of the temples until she becomes of age. Once she begins her flow she is married to the Pharaoh. Her winning personality and uncanny wisdom soon make her the favorite wife and advisor to Amunhotep III. She soon becomes pregnant with Akhenaton. Opposing her position are another son of the Pharaoh and some of the Amun priests. They plot to prevent the birth of ascension to the throne through a number of maneuvers. Miatron and Tyi speak consistently to the child in the womb to give it precognition upon its birth. Born Amunhotep IV, the child is sheltered by mother and High Priest to prevent his corruption by the Amun priests. Finally, forced to enter his training for succession to the throne, the young prince ignores most of the temple teachings in favor of those of Tyi and Miatron. Immediately upon his father's death he disappears, called to training by the ancient masters hidden away in caves near the Nile halfway between Thebes and Memphis. Inside these caves are secret Temples of Light, there since the days of the lost continent of Atlantis. During his absence a number of ploys are attempted by his half-brother, Akenset, son of one of the lesser wives and other discontented officials to defer his coronation in Akenset's favor. The popular Tyi and Miatron solely prevent this, now on his deathbed. Upon his return Amunhotep IV is crowned under his new name, Akhenaton. For a time, Akhenaton attempts to bring about a gradual movement away from the corrupt Amun priesthood to the one God, Aton, and Source of All Creation from the Central Sun. This was not an original idea, as he was taught in the Temples of Light, but a return to Source which had been diluted by the myriad of gods that filled the Amun temples of Egypt and Babylon. Resistance to change was entrenched by a priesthood enriched by a public only too willing to pay for their supplications to the angry gods instilled by irreverent predecessors to maintain control. Akhenaton finally felt he was left with no alternative but to destroy the symbols of the lesser gods in the temples. This further alienated him from the priests and many government officials. He lost the loyalty of the army, foreign minister, and minister of affairs by his pacifist beliefs, refusing to support military ventures or to increase requested taxes to support them. Tyi was a unifying force, strong in support of her son, but flexible in negotiation. Both she and her son were popular with the masses. His half-brother, Akenset, now High Priest of Upper and Lower Egypt was displeasing to all. Always in the front of Akhenaton's mind was the vision of a City of Light to be located near the Temple of Light in the caves. Finally, left with no choice but to remove his government from the corruption of Thebes, he began the construction of the city, Akhetaton. His loyal and adept mother remained in Thebes to outmaneuver the government officials and priests left behind. His beautiful and charming queen, Nefretiti, remained to entertain the

Come join this comprehensive workshop with actor, teacher, artist, Jeffrey Dreisbach as he shows you the best methods, techniques and inside tips that can launch your professional voice-over career. Whether you are new to this potentially lucrative performance art or an accomplished actor looking to broaden your skill set, this Master class will guide you every step of the way. From copy interpretation techniques and audition tools to choosing the right material for your demo, each chapter provides in-depth information in an upbeat, humorous and conversational style...Just as if you were in the studio taking Jeffrey's workshop in person. Actor, artist, teacher and author Jeffrey Dreisbach began his professional acting career at an early age in Michigan. He received a BFA Degree from Wayne State University after performing at Walt Disney World (Cal Arts) and advance theater training in London, England (Roger Williams College). For the next 20 years, Jeff found success acting in New York, accumulating theater, film and television credits. On Broadway, he was in the original cast of A Few Good Men and A New York Summer. He played, Norman Van Buren on NBC's Another World, national tours of Grease, Boys Next Door, Nurse Jane Goes to Hawaii and in numerous regional theater productions. Feature film roles include, Splash, Die Hard 3, Thomas Crown Affair, Monday Night Mayhem, among others. It was during this period Jeffrey performed in several national commercials and voice-overs. Notable clients included, KFC, Pepsi, Spidel watch, Palmolive, HBO, etc. as well as animation voices for Mattel Toys and voice chip manufacturer, Pragmatic Designs. A short time later, Jeffrey served as executive director of the nation's oldest and largest group broadcast training schools. He remained in this capacity for 12 years. As teacher and administrator, he developed unique voice-over and on-camera presentation training techniques and course curriculums. Using his acting experience, technical and teaching skills, Jeffrey now incorporates his unique background and energetic personality at colleges, universities and professional training programs looking to enhance and broaden their performing arts programs. Conversation Pieces out of the studio, The voice-over workshop for professional actors is his second book. Conversation Pieces out of the Woods, his first book, is a pictorial collection of of tree, branch and root furniture hand crafted by Jeffrey.

Shortlisted for the 2018 Apollo Book of the Year award Pioneered by William Hogarth (1697-1764) and his peers in the early 18th century, and then revitalized by Johan Zoffany (1733-1810), the conversation piece was an innovative mode of portraiture, depicting groups posed in landscape or domestic settings. These artists grappled with creating complex multi-figured compositions and intricate narratives, filling their paintings with representations of socially, nationally, and temporally precise customs. Paying particular attention to the vibrant (and at times fabricated) interior and exterior settings in these works, Kate Retford discusses the various ways that the conversation piece engaged with the rich material culture of Georgian Britain. The book also explores how these portraits served a wide array of interests and concerns among familial networks and larger social groups. From codifying performances of politeness to engaging in cross-cultural exchanges, the conversation piece was a complex and nuanced expression of a multifaceted society. Published in association with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Professor Praz traces the history of the conversation piece which is am intimate group portrait usually of small dimensions and is a genre which arose in the Low countries, flourished in 18th-century England, and declined with the invention of photography.

These essays explore both literal and metaphorical crossings of the globe, addressing the cultural significance of maps, paintings, travel writing, tourist manuals, cultural identities, island gardens, and other topics in order to lend insight to our perception of global culture during the long 18th century.

An utterly delightful collection of responses to poems written across the centuries, these modern poems are not only engaging themselves but also capable of casting surprising new light on the poems that inspired them.

Shedding light on an important and neglected topic in childhood studies, Anja Müller interrogates how different concepts of childhood proliferated and were construed in several important eighteenth-century periodicals and satirical prints. Müller focuses on The Tatler, The Spectator, The Guardian, The Female Tatler, and The Female Spectator, arguing that these periodicals contributed significantly to the construction, development, and popularization of childhood concepts that provided the basis for later ideas such as the 'Romantic child'. Informed by the theoretical concept of 'framing', by which certain concepts of childhood are accepted as legitimate while others are excluded, Framing Childhood analyses the textual and graphic constructions of the child's body, educational debates, how the shift from genealogical to affective bonding affected conceptions of parent-child relations, and how prints employed child figures as focalizers in their representations of public scenes. In examining links between text and image, Müller uncovers the role these media played in the genealogy of childhood before the 1790s, offering a re-visioning of the myth that situates the origin of childhood in late eighteenth-century England.