Celebrate National American Indian Heritage Month by joining Lakota Native, UO alum and star of the hit comedy “Rutherford Falls” at the BE Series “BE Indigenous Joy,” or pop over to the Museum of Natural and Cultural History and view the work of artist and Common Reading author Robin Wall Kimmerer, the featured artist for the 2022 “Oregon—Where Past is Present” exhibit.
Latinx Heritage Month continues with the el Dia de los Muertos celebration. November is also packed with musical events, from jazz and chamber music performances to a marching band festival and a Tubafest, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
Celebrations
The 41st annual celebration of el Día de los Muertos begins Nov. 1. In Mexico, it is the day when the souls of the dead return to this world for a few brief hours each year and are welcomed with a feast of all the foods and drinks that pleased them in life. Join the Día de los Muertos procession through the UO campus and experience a traditional Day of the Dead celebration with performances by Los Musiqueros, dancing by Ensamble Identidad y Folclor, and an art exhibition by Grabadores Guanajuatenses. The ofrendas, or alters, will be on display to the public through Nov. 2.
Join marching bands at Autzen Stadium on Nov. 5 for the Festival of Bands, a fun, family-friendly event that gives high school bands an opportunity to perform in a college stadium.
Performance
Art
Sarah Bond will present “Royal Purple and Indigo: The Hidden Labor Behind Luxurious Dyes,” part of the “New Perspectives on the Ancient World” speaker series on Nov. 1.
Marie Watt, an American artist and citizen of the Seneca Nation, will present “Calling Companion Species,” a lecture on her interdisciplinary work that draws from history, biography and Indigenous teachings Nov. 10.
On Nov. 17, Kate McNamara will speak on contemporary strategies for survival, allyship, empathy and love based on two recent exhibitions in “Staying with the Trouble” and “Oddkin.” Both events are part of the Visiting Artist Lecture Series.
Exhibitions
Botanist, author of this year’s Common Reading title “Braiding Sweetgrass,” and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Robin Wall Kimmerer is the featured contemporary artist at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History’s “2022 Oregon—Where Past is Present” exhibit. Drawing on her life as an Indigenous scientist, a mother and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices.
For more than three decades, photographer, installation artist and cultural activist Lonnie Graham has traveled the world taking photographs of individuals and recording a corresponding conversation. Seventeen prints from his “A Conversation with the World” series is currently on view at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.
In 2016, the UO Libraries and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art formed the UO GLAM Alliance. The collaboration produced six digital exhibits, ranging from the history of Portland’s Morningside Psychiatric Hospital to the story of the 1963 March on Washington to Japanese calligraphy and Yōkai Senjafuda, or Japanese votive prints,.
Theater
Dive into the game world of Dungeons and Dragons as University Theatre opens the first play of its 2022-23 season Nov. 4 with “She Kills Monsters.” Following the death of her parents and sister in a car accident, the surviving sister discovers a module her little sister had written for the Dungeons and Dragons game. With the aid of a Dungeon master, the fantasy world of the game and reality collide as she dives deep into the game and discovers how much about her sister she never knew.
Music
November is overflowing with music events!
The UO Campus Band performs Nov. 16, the UO Wind Ensemble and Oregon Wind Symphony on Nov. 17, and Jazz Big Bands and UO Jazz Ensemble on Nov. 18. Come out for Chamber Music on Campus and Trombone Choir on Nov. 19. Barbara Baird will give an organ performance as part of the Faculty Artist Series on Nov. 29. Closing out the month at Beall are performances by the UO Symphony Orchestra on Nov. 22 and the Campus Orchestra and Repertoire Singers on Nov. 30.
At Berwick Hall: Karen Esquivel and Gustavo Castro will present a Faculty Artist Series vocal performance on Nov. 18. Join Anson Sin Nov. 21 for a doctoral Lecture “Shi-Guang Cui’s Piano Concerto.”
Catch a new media performance by Future Music Oregon Nov. 19 in the Frohnmayer Music Building.
On Nov. 22, the UO Symphony Orchestra will perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts.
Crafts
Get crafty at Freebie Fridays from noon to 2 p.m. at the EMU. Feeling stressed? Drop by Nov. 4 and make an aromatherapy bag filled with fragrant dried plants such as lavender and rosemary. Learn how to print precarved blocks for the last Freebie Friday of the term on Nov. 18. All UO students are welcome at these free weekly events.
Cinema
The Department of Cinema Studies offers UO Presents film screenings. Drop by Lillis Nov. 2 for “Black Girl” and Nov. 16 for “Secrets and Lies.”
The Romance Language Graduate Student Association presents screenings of three Iranian films, including “The Cow,” Nov. 4; “Where is the Friend’s House;” Nov. 11; and “Bashu the Little Stranger,” Nov. 18
Lectures
Join Jennifer Johnson, an expert in helping musicians move according to the design of their bodies to prevent playing injuries, for Body Mapping for String Players on Nov. 1 at Beall Concert Hall. Following the lecture, Johnson will participate in a musicians wellness roundtable.
Streaming resources
Can’t get to an event in person? Google Arts & Culture is a great starting place for finding exhibits, collections, audio, video, images and more.
Explore the UO Channel for a variety of livestreamed events, Department of Art Visiting Artist Lecture Series videos, guest speakers and more.
—By Sharleen Nelson, University Communications