WINOOSKI -- "An old building, especially one that is no longer in use or in its original use, can be a powerful stimulus for the imagination," says Champlain College professor, Tim Brookes. At the Champlain Mill in Winooski, Vt., this act of re-imagination is especially rich.
Architects and engineers have altered the mill throughout history, according to their own inspirations and styles. As the Mill changed, the city's landscape, economy, population, and cultural life did as well. The Champlain Mill has become a symbol of Winooski as a whole, representing the fervent imagination and ability to be constantly remolded.

"Imagining Winooski," a visual arts and performance event on May 7 and 8, 2010, springs from this group of ideas. Champlain College will be working with the City of Winooski to host the event during the College's commencement weekend activities. Imagining Winooski will feature works by members of the Champlain College Communication and Creative Media and Graphic Design students and faculty, as well as the creative and energetic community members of Winooski.

The Champlain Mill, situated on the Winooski traffic rotary, has a rich and varied history. Originally a textile mill, the building has taken on diverse identities as new owners and city residents have transformed it, much like the city of Winooski itself, which has "been conceived and re-conceived time and time again, each wave of imagination abruptly and radically changing the city's landscape, its economy, its population, its cultural life," says Brookes.

The Champlain Mill has long been a hub of technology and innovation. The textile looms that used to reside in it represent the first use of punch-card technology, making them incredibly advanced for their time.

Today, the Champlain Mill houses Champlain College's Emergent Media Center (EMC) which works directly with industry, public institutions, and non-profits to provide a laboratory and studio environment for discovering concepts, processes, and applications in electronic games and emergent media. At the heart of the EMC's educational value are two key objectives: to enable Champlain students to become thoughtful leaders in areas of technology, media, and learning; and to help define the future of immersive mediums and technologies.

Champlain College Director of Public Information Stephen Mease, says Champlain students involved with the EMC are working to "to enable Champlain students to become thoughtful leaders in areas of technology, media and learning; and to help define the future of immersive mediums and technologies." Imagining Winooski will focus on the many ways that emerging technology has helped to shape and reshape Winooski.

Saturday evening will be centered on the city of Winooski, featuring local artists, performers, and speakers from the city of creative energy and change. Friday night primarily features Champlain students and faculty, though many works presented have a strong thematic focus on Winooski as well.
Students from Brookes' Introduction to the Writing Profession class will be showcasing imaginative original multi-media works inspired by the city of Winooski.
ENDANGERED ALPHABETS

Brookes' own work, the "Endangered Alphabets Project," will also be featured. The exhibit focuses on the endangered and extinct languages of the world intends to inform viewers not only about each distinct script, but also about the issue concerning the loss of many of our world's languages and the scripts in which they have been traditionally written in.

"One unfortunate by-product of globalism is that many of the world's languages and their unique alphabets or writing systems are in danger of extinction," Brookes says. "As the world becomes rapidly smaller, these languages, especially in their written form, have been shoved aside by more standardized and international forms."

"When people see these pieces of text, they're fascinated," says Brookes, author, carver, and painter of The Endangered Alphabets Project. "First of all, they're blown away by how strange and how beautiful the texts are - really, some don't look like writing at all as we think of it. Then, as soon as they start finding out how each writing system came to look the way it does, and how it came to be endangered, they're totally hooked."

The Endangered Alphabets Project reproduces 12 scripts that are either extinct or have been replaced in everyday use, only to be used on rare occasions, like in ceremonial documents, magic spells, or secret love letters. Each script has been meticulously hand-carved and hand-painted by Brookes into a slab of wood. While each language is different, each carving expresses article one of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In addition to the exhibit, an accompanying book about endangered alphabets is to be published and released with the help of the innovative Champlain College Publishing Initiative. David Crystal, author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, wrote the introduction to the book.

Champlain Professor, Bob Selby, will be presenting works from two of his sections of Concept Painting for Game Development.

"Visitors to the final exhibition can expect to see all manner of subjects in the student art, including mounted dinosaurs, wolves, soldiers, Samurais and a murder of two," Selby says.

Fellow art and design professor, Toni-Lee Sangastiano's freshman and sophomore students are also working on pieces that will be featured at this event. Sangastiano and Selby, along with their students, seem to agree with Brookes and have found, first-handedly, that "an old building, especially one no longer in use or in its original use, can be a powerful stimulus for the imagination."
In addition to the visual art exhibits that vary just as much as the Mill's past, live music will be provided as well.

Imagining Winooski will also extend outside of its vicinity of the Champlain Mill. Ali Wisch, a senior in the Professional Writing program, will also be participating in the weekend dedicated to visual arts and performances. Her play "25 Squirrels," which was self-published through the Champlain College Publishing Initiative, will be performed at the Alumni Auditorium on Champlain's main campus in Burlington. The performances will take place Friday at 9:30 PM and Saturday at 8:30 PM.

MORE ABOUT CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE
Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a private institution located in Burlington, Vermont. Champlain is passionate about educating future leaders through career-focused classes and programs. Champlain was recently named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges 2010. For more information about Champlain, see www.champlain.edu.

FOR PHOTOS
Champlain College Writing Professor Tim Brookes working on his "endangered alphabets" project: http://app.readmedia.com/news/attachment/14891/Khmer_paint1.jpg
Champlain College Writing Professor Tim Brookes working on his "endangered alphabets" project: http://app.readmedia.com/news/attachment/14892/Khmer_paint2.jpg