1995_05 The Daily Collegian May 1995

              -A&E
Hye Sharzhoom
Eleventh Annual Saroyan Festival
By Karen Karabian
e Sharzhoom
Ben Ara^khanian wasoneman
i a vision! A vision of unity,
aation, and recogrution that
sin 1985. Itwastbecelebra-
1 of Fresno County's anmver-
f and Ben led a walk through
rmenian town." The
s and participation was so
d that the William Saroyan
Festival Committee was formed to
r a remarkable literary talent
"Saroyan was a persistent
r with a style of his own. He
! fast on a bicycle. Saroyan
d telegrams on his bike and
> first twenty dollars be made
was spent on a typewriter. Itwasa
time when making a living as a
writer was unheard of," Ben re¬
called
To mark Saroyan'sriding days,
the Festival win feature two days
of bicycling for 400 racers. Satur¬
day, May 20, there will be an eight
mile course east of town and Sun¬
day, May 21, riders will tackle forty
laps around tight city blocks.
Other activities include: The
Saroyan Armenian Historical Walk
on April 29. Thursday and Friday,
May 12 and 13, two plays written
by William Saroyan will be per¬
formed live on stage at the
Laimdromat Performance Space,
1114 N. Fulton—The California
Boyhood of William Saroyan'' and
"The Best Year in the History of
the World" For tickets caD 222-
0674.
The committee also sponsors
a writing contest for students first
grade through college. Treasury
bonds are awarded to the winners
and their names will be anno* meed
on 88.1 FM June 4 at 8:00.
On June 26, the Saroyan in the
Park Band Concert will take place
teginingat6:30atWoodwanlPark.
An expected 3,000 will be present
to enjoy the festivities.
Fifty short stories written by
William Saroyan about famous and
not so famous people be met will be
available only at the Festival.
The first obstacle appeared
when the com mittee attempted to
implement its tradition of activities
by publishing a general calendar.
This approach was hit and miss
since the majority of the public
remained unaware of the festivi¬
ties. Recently a public relations
man under former Governor George
Deukmejian has organized a media
guide, mailing list, and press re¬
leases in order to take advantage of
the main sources of publicity.
Tnf- main nwnty ryinp Ctmiit-
man Don Eskender and committee
is to ensure thai all events go off
smoothly. The committee hopes to
expand then activities in the future
toencompass as much of the public
as possible. They have shown an
interest in including adults in the
Saroyan writing contest
Saroyan is the only writer to
receive the prestigious Pulitzer
Prize (although he did not accept it)
and honored with the Drama Critic
Circle Award in the same year.
Saroyan's Oscar is on permanent
display at the Fresno Met
The William Saroyan Festival
Committee anticipates a huge tum-
out of Armenian and non-Arme¬
nians. 'Tor Saroyan was a famous
native son, be was bom in America
and became an American writer,"
said Ben Amirkhanian.
The Festival Committee is a
way of appreciating Saroyan.
Amirkhanian stated, "It represents
the deserving recognition for
Saroyan's literary works, Broad¬
way plays, and as many as 150
unpublished books yet to be dis¬
covered.''
Armenian Painting Course
creates student interest
By Sean Clark
Hye Sharzhoom
What is Armenian art? Art cre¬
ated by Armenians seems like a
reasonable answer. However, is an
Armenian artist painting New En¬
gland barns creating Armenian art?
Perhaps, then, by definition it is art
done in Armenia. Would that
qualify an Italian artist sketching
Armenian churches? Our need to
categorize creativity with labels
falls short when describing con¬
temporary works. There was how¬
ever, one time-period from which
an can be separated and identified
as purely Armenian. Manuscript
illustration or miniature painting
done by Armenian artists, with
Armenian scribes, bound by Ar¬
menian bookmakers in Armenia is
an excellent window to the origins
of Armenian art The earliest frag¬
mented pages beginadramatic pro¬
gression of art and storytelling,
beginning from copied works-of-
ten of foreign sources-leading to
the unique masterpieces of the Ar-
This journey was recendy di¬
rected, as a course of study at Cali¬
fornia State University Fresno, by
Dr. Dickran Kou ymj ian, Haig &
Isabel Berberian Professor of Ar¬
menian Studies. The intensive
three-week study incorpecatingfive
ceiituries of Armenian Gospel inin-
s was only an introduction to
nroensity of the subject One
d not think the study of manu-
s over a millennia old as on-
g process, but thereisstill much
o be discovered The information
s extensive and the trained schol¬
ars are few, therefore the class was
encouraged to offer independent
points of view. The attendance was
composed of students currently
enrolled and members of the com -
munity-at-large eager to investi¬
gate this rare opportunity of study.
The class was assigned the role
of the scholar. So much is still
unknown about these miniatures
that many interpretations are open
to fine tuning. We looked at the
images deductively and learned
from them simultaneously. The
dynamic of the course was to be
exposed to as many miniatures as
possible. The emphasis of indi¬
vidual description was association
to time period and other related
material. The three week course
benefited from these approaches
by immersing us in the total schol¬
arly experience. We absorbed and
assimilated the material more effi-
ciendy than had the format been
the normal twelve weeks.
Even with the compressed time
advantage the amount of data was
over and above what can be cov¬
ered in a three unit section. There
are over 30,000 known manuscripts
with some 5,000 to 7,000 contain¬
ing coe « rnore miniatures. In the
first meeting alone, we viewed over
one hundred slide reproductions and
still barely scratched the surface.
Starting from fragments attributed
to the late 6th century we discov¬
ered images dated beyond 1,000
AD. The challenge put to us was to
find the correlations between im¬
ages, and then relate them to other
known sc*raies,whcnterAuiie*iian,
Byzantine, Latin or Persian. Indi¬
vidual topics included references
to iconography, text, binding,
parchment and even Sunday School
lessons for the Biblical stories. In
all, Dr. Kouymjian covered more
information than time would al¬
low.
We learned that to our instruc¬
tor Armenian niiniatnre painting
was more than a subject to be taught-
tnis is his life's work. The slides of
the miniatures were photographed
by him. Major scholarly studies
have been published by him. And
the advancement of the field is his
focused priority. For us, on the re¬
ceiving end, we drew knowledge
directly from the source. It is true
that a group of students can be
overwhelmed by quantity: over
twenty-five years of research do
wx condense easily into three week¬
ends. Despite these limitations, the
depth and beauty of the miniatures
came through, as did Dr.
Kouymjian's own passion for these
rarities. His efforts continue in a
fashion that bespeaks an expertise
not often found at the California
State University.
Beyond the course. Dr.
Kouymjian seeks to advance the
study of the Armenian Arts. His
devotion to manuscript research has
put mm on the cutting edge of tech¬
nology. Currendy he is in the midst
of initiating the first CD-ROM da¬
tabase of the Index of Armenian
Ait, an enormous undertaking un¬
precedented initsbreadth.lt is that
kind of vision that Armenian Min¬
iature Painting 121 came out of.
ARMENIAN STUDIES PROGRAM
FALL 1995
SCHEDULE OF COUftSBJS
AnnS 10-Intro Arm Studies 101O1100 MVVF
ArmS 10-Intro Arm Studies 0945-1100 ITh
Arm S 10-Intro ArmStudies 1245-1400TTh
Armenian LA- Elem Arm     ni0-1200MrVvT<
Arm S 45- W Saroyan 1245-1400 tTh
Arm S108A- Arm History I 090O-10CK>MWF
Arm S 120T- Arm Film 1816-2200f T
ArmS120T-AnnCooldhg  1710-2200 F
0910-1790$
Course meets the weekend of Sept. 29,30
Ann S120T- Arm Church    1710-2200 F
091O4700S
V Course meets the weekend of Oct 13,14
V               - ; , s
Books and Gifts
to ASP
Gifts to the Armenian Studies
'Program Saha tdjian Library
and Avedian Archives
Professor Dickran Kouymjian
and the Sahatdjian Library of
the Armenian Studies Program
would like to thank the authors
and publishers for the following
books and periodicals.
Books
Beled ian, Krikor, LesArminiens,
in the series Fils d*Abraham,
Maredsous, Belgium: Editions
Brepols, 235 pages with maps
andcolorplates. Ahandyover-
view of the religious history,
literature, and art of Armenia
by one of France's leading
authorities on Armenian lit¬
erature. Krikor Beledian is
Professor of Armenian in Paris
and Lyon and a poet
Der Mugrdechian, Jr., Bob, for a
copy of Volume 5 of the
Gantzasar Armenian Theo-
logicaJJournal.ThtJoanulis
published by the Diocese of
the Armenian Apostolic
Church of Artsakh.
Kamalyan, Seyran, Avon mer
achkerov [Avo through Our
£yej;,Erevati:NaiTi, 1994,238
account of Monte Melkonian
and how he was loved and
respected in Armenia and
Karabagh.
Sbemmassian, Vahram, for an
important collection of Arme¬
nian language books on Ar¬
menian history. These books
cover a wide period in Arme¬
nian history.
Varoujan Mardirian. Sculptures
1985-1994, Beirut, 1994, 95
pages, beautifully illustrated
with color and black and white
reproductions. Available
through Marine Mardirian,
1331 Barrington Way. Glen-
dale, CA 91206. A stunning
catalogue ofMaruman*ssculp-
turesinwood.
Whitmore, Jon, William Saroyan.
A Research and Production
Sourcebook. Westport-Lon-
* don: Greenwood Press, 1994,
268 pages. A particularly rich
guide to Saroyan's theater with
synopses of his major plays.
Pull of new information on
. production and archival mate¬
rial. Jon Whitmore is Dean of
the College of Fine Arts at the
University of Texas in Austin
and holder of the Effie Marie
Cain Regents Chair in Fine
Arts.
Etian Appointed Peace Corps
Director for Armenia
Sylva Etian has been appointed
to the position of Peace Corps Di¬
rector for Armenia. She has been
working in the field of international
development since she served as a
TEFL volunteer in the Ivory Coast
in 1973.
From 1990 to 1994 Ms. Etian
was employed by the Centers for
Diseae Control as a technical advi¬
sor for AIDS and child survival to
the Nigerian Ministry of Pubhc
Health.
From 1983 to 1987 Ms. Etian
workedfor TJSATD as the regional
director of the Center for Nutri¬
tional Planning, an institute of the
Zairian Ministry of Public Health.
Ms. Etian is very excited about
the challenges of working and tiv-
ingin Armenia. She is the daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. Hovig Etian of
Clovis.