Want to help aspiring art students and feel swanky at the same time? Make plans to attend the Alabama School of the Arts at the University of Mobile’s Black Tie Ball on April 4, at 7 p.m. in the Alabama Contemporary Art Center (301 Conti St.). The formal event’s ticket sales and donations will benefit students and programs of the school through the Dean’s Excellence Fund. Proceeds will help with scholarships, equipment, travel and other items which directly benefit students.
Guests at the formal event will be entertained by the University of Mobile Jazz Band, with tunes made famous by Michael Bublé. The event will be filled with great food, artwork, a silent auction and more.
Tickets are $75, $125 for couples. They can be purchased at umobile.edu/blacktie.
For more information, call 251-442-2383 or visit umobile.edu/blacktie.
Pulp tales at USA museum
Assigned as a project in visiting professor Kaleena Stasiak’s screen printing class, the exhibit “Pulp History” highlights Mobile’s lesser-noted historical events using informative, screen-printed posters. Students chose a variety of topics, like the Michael Donald lynching, the Crichton Leprechaun, the Clotilda saga and Mobile’s hockey team, and commemorated them in poster form.
The assignment was inspired by the “Paper Monuments” project in New Orleans, which tasked a team of designers and artists to represent the voices of people who are rarely commemorated in public memorials.
The exhibit runs March 17 through Aug. 25 at the University of South Alabama Archaeology Museum (6052 USA Drive S.). An opening reception will be held Tuesday, March 17, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Snacks and refreshments will be served.
The museum is open to the public Tuesday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and select Saturdays.
For more information, call 251-460-6106 or visit southalabama.edu/org/archaeology/museum.
Gulf Coast cultural fixture passes away
Longtime Mobile cultural mainstay Robert “Bob” Spielmann passed away March 8 at his home in Daphne. He was one month shy of his 93rd birthday.
A New York native and World War II veteran, the University of Rochester grad moved to Mobile in 1982 and retired as WKRG’s national sales manager in 1999. Spielmann served on the board for the Mobile Jazz Festival for over two decades and chaired the 2002 Mobile Tricentennial Jazz Festival. He was a founding member of the Mystic Order of Jazz Obsessed (MOJO) and served on their board of directors for nearly 20 years.
Spielmann was a contributor to the Pensacola Jazz Festival and served as an usher for the Mobile Symphony Orchestra, Mobile Opera and most Saenger Theatre events.
Spielmann was a finalist for a 2017 Mobile Arts Council Arty Award and was the 2017 recipient of MOJO’s Jazzalea Award.
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