February 6, 2009    

AMHERST, Mass.—On Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 8 p.m., the Mead Art Museum kicks off a semester-long series of Evenings at the Mead, a combination of art and music hosted by student docents with the participation of Amherst College’s a cappella groups. Evenings at the Mead are made possible with support from the AAS and are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served afterward in the Mead’s lobby café.

During each of the semester’s six events, five art objects on view in the Mead galleries will be the focus of individual presentations, each by a student docent, who will then turn the floor over to a thematically linked vocal performance. The Feb. 11 event will feature the ever-lively Zumbyes with selections including the uplifting “Higher Ground,” popularized by Stevie Wonder and paired with Thomas Moran’s Green River of Wyoming, and the somber Irish ballad “Lochlomond,” alongside George Inness’s Landscape with a Farmhouse.

Successive Evenings at the Mead will also take place on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Mark your calendars now for Feb. 25, March 11, April 1, April 15, and April 29. A complete schedule of events is also posted on the Mead’s Web site: www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/programs.

The Mead Art Museum houses the art collection of Amherst College, totaling more than 16,000 works. An accredited member of the American Association of Museums, the Mead participates in Museums10, a regional cultural collaboration. During the academic term, the museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to midnight and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. For more information, please visit the museum’s Web site, www.amherst/museums/mead, or call 413/542-2335.

###