Stanford Report, March 31, 2004

THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED 25,000 TREES on campus and -- as those who have followed along on one of Grounds Supervisor HERB FONG's seasonal "Tree Walks" can attest -- Fong seems to know an interesting fact or bit of history about every one of them. On Thursday, April 8, Fong will lead Stanford Staffers on a lunch-hour walk launched from the Clark Center, where Fong promises sightings of unusual flora, including the largest campus planting of timber bamboo and a new Metasequoia (dawn redwood) tree. Fong's walking commentary includes horticultural tips gleaned from more than three decades spent tending to campus horticulture; the groundskeeper oversees a staff that looks after more than 1 million square feet of shrubs and 1 million square feet of lawns, watered by 2,000 automatic irrigation valves. The tour, which is open to all, will begin at 12:05 p.m. in the Clark Center's interior court.

ONE OF THE GOALS CURATOR HILARIE FABERMAN had in mind as she organized the exhibit "Picasso to Thiebaud: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Collections of Stanford University Alumni and Friends," was to make the 65 borrowed paintings and sculptures look better in the museum than they did in their owners' homes. Despite the marbled elegance of the Cantor Arts Center, it was no easy task, says Faberman, curator of modern and contemporary art. Lenders to the exhibit, which includes work by DAVID HOCKNEY, JACKSON POLLOCK, ROY LICHTENSTEIN, LARRY RIVERS, HENRY MOORE and JASPER JOHNS, have "the most gracious homes," she said. Faberman reports that some of the works are destined to eventually become permanent Cantor residents, as future gifts to the museum. Among the promised works are Courtesan with Hat by PABLO PICASSO; Carriona Figure No. 1 by MANUEL NERI; Untitled, a bronze horse sculpture, by DEBROAH BUTTERFIELD; Woman Playing Solitaire by DAVID PARK; and Bistre II by HELEN FRANKENTHALER. The exhibit, the first of its kind in decades on campus, was created with the assistance of students enrolled in classes taught by Faberman and PATIENCE YOUNG, curator for education. "It seems to have worked out really, really well," Faberman said. "The students are happy; the lenders are happy." And the public is happy: Exhibit attendance is so brisk, museum staff added another docent-led tour to the schedule.

THE CHICANO/LATINO GRAD STUDENT Association will host its second annual Noche de Queer Performance on April 1 with Black Folks Guide to Black Folks, a one-woman show by playwright and poet HANIFAH WALIDAH at the Nitery Theater. Walidah portrays an entire neighborhood's worth of characters in the work, which was originally titled Straight Black Folks Guide to Gay Black Folks. Free performances are at 5:30 and 8 p.m.

Write to Barbara Palmer at barbara.palmer@stanford.edu or mail code 2245 or call her at 724--6184.

Barbara Palmer