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In the News

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Tyler Formal Gardens

Annual Lecture Celebrates 25 Years of Garden Restoration

 Bucks County Community College, which was founded on a former baronial estate more than 60 years ago, invites the public to the 17th annual Tyler Formal Gardens & Landscaping Lecture at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 26. The keynote speaker will be John Vick, Executive Director of Andalusia Historic House, Gardens & Arboretum in Bensalem Township. He will discuss how gardens and landscapes shape our understanding of the past and the role historic gardens play in building a happier, healthier future. One of those historic gardens is right on the College’s Newtown Campus. The one-acre Tyler Formal Gardens were constructed in the early 1930s on the estate of George F. and Stella Elkins Tyler. Two hundred acres of the Tyler Estate later became the home of Bucks County Community College, which originally held classes in the mansion starting in 1965. In 1987, Tyler Hall and the Tyler Formal Gardens were placed on the National Register for Historic Places. For the past 25 years, the gardens have been painstakingly restored to their original glory by the BCCC Foundation and the College’s Historic Preservation Program. Boxwoods, pear trees, irises and more have been planted based on original plans by Willing, Sims & Talbutt for the four-tiered, Italianate garden. The prestigious Philadelphia architectural firm also constructed the Tylers' mansion, service cottages, and support buildings. At Andalusia, Vick oversees public site visits, ongoing preservation efforts, and research into more than two centuries of residency on the property and nearly 350 years of the Biddle family in America. Before coming to Andalusia in 2022, Vick worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for 13 years, curating and contributing to more than 20 exhibitions and books on diverse topics. The lecture begins at 10 a.m. in the Zlock Performing Arts Center on the Newtown Campus, where there will also be an opportunity to purchase raffle tickets to win garden accents for your garden. An exhibition by Bucks County artists, “Garden Glories,” sponsored by the Hicks Art Center Gallery, will be on display in the Zlock lobby. Tours of the historic Tyler Formal Gardens will immediately follow. Students from the College’s dance program will perform “Movement Expression of Praise” in the formal gardens. Tickets are $15 for the general public, $10 for veterans and BCCC alumni, and free for BCCC students with current ID. To register, complete the online form. For more information, contact foundation@bucks.edu or 215-968-8224. All proceeds benefit the Stella Elkins Tyler Gardens Endowment and the Historic Preservation Program at Bucks. The College is located at 275 Swamp Rd., Newtown, Pa., 18940, where there is ample free parking. For a campus map and directions, visit the Newtown Campus page.
High School Short Fiction Winners

Pennsbury Senior Wins BCCC Short Fiction Contest

 Olivia Beno, a senior at Pennsbury High School in Fairless Hills, has won first place in the annual Short Fiction Contest for High School Students, officials at Bucks County Community College announced. Beno was awarded first place for her story “The Lake.” Sarah Lueck, a junior at Central Bucks High School West in Doylestown, won second place for “In the Bleak Midwinter.” Sophia Ogden, a junior at Pennridge High School in Perkasie, took third place for “On the Corner of Turpin and Thistledown.” Dr. Cecile Kandl Anderson of the College’s School of Language and Literature, which runs the contest, made the final selections. The winners will receive certificates and awards of $200, $100, and $50, respectively. Anderson noted that Beno’s story “The Lake” was “…rich in sensory detail, creating a sense of immediacy as the reader follows along with the narrator’s journey.” “Childhood fears juxtapose disappointment as the narrator worries about disappointing someone they love,” Anderson wrote of the first-prize entry. “In this compelling narrative we are treated to a series of events that lead to a memorable conclusion. Indeed, the reader witnesses an emotional journey that is as compelling as it is profound.” Lueck’s story “In the Bleak Midwinter” follows a protagonist caught in a blizzard, who struggles with a lack of self-worth even as he tries to save his life. “His salvation, and his ability to connect with others, comes from an unexpected source,” Anderson noted. “Well-crafted details create an experience wherein the reader feels like they, too, are trapped in the snow. Rich imagery and memorable characterization demonstrate the author’s ability to spin a tale that is certainly worthy of recognition.” Ogden’s story “On the Corner of Turpin and Thistledown” is about a magical building that a woman returns to throughout her life. “We see how beautifully elevated language, which recalls Austen, addresses the reader rather formally,” Anderson noted. “The author demonstrates a deft ability to move the character throughout her life, from young womanhood, to newlywed, to mother, to widow. Additionally, the story brilliantly considers how a neighborhood evolves over a generation — or more.” Bucks County Community College’s School of Language and Literature runs two short fiction contests each spring: one for high school students, and one for Bucks County residents 18 and older. For more information, contact the contest coordinator Professor Elizabeth Luciano at elizabeth.luciano@bucks.edu.
Picture of Christopher Bursk Bursk's Work Beloved Poet’s Words Put to Music

Beloved Poet’s Words Put to Music in ‘Bursk’s Works’

Prof. Jeff Baumeister performs songs he composed to the poetry of Dr. Christopher Bursk (1943 - 2021) Friday, April 25 at Newtown The voice of the late Dr. Christopher Bursk lives on in the hundreds of poems he wrote over many years. But for the first time, that voice will be heard in song on April 25 at Bucks County Community College, where he taught for nearly five decades until his passing in 2021. That’s when the College’s Cultural Affairs Committee presents “Bursk’s Works: An evening of Poetry and Music to Celebrate the Life and Works of Dr. Christopher Bursk” at 7:30 p.m. in the Zlock Performing Arts Center. Music Professor Jeff Baumeister used a sabbatical project to compose songs based on the poetry of the beloved Bucks professor, mentor and poet. He said the idea came to him suddenly, before he’d even read any of Bursk’s poetry. “I love all music and have written several jazz pieces, but I wanted to venture more into writing rock songs,” Baumeister recalled. “Out of the blue, as I was writing a sabbatical proposal to help me do this, Chris Bursk popped into my head. Maybe it was his recent passing, but I didn’t know Chris very well. I decided to propose the idea of writing songs based on his poems,” said Baumeister. “After I received word that my sabbatical was approved, I went to the library and checked out some of Chris’s books. The Bursk’s Works concert is the outcome.” A recipient of NEA, Guggenheim, and Pew Fellowships, Bursk (1943 - 2021) was the author of 18 books including his final, “With Aeneas in a Time of Plague” (Ragged Sky Press, 2021). He was grateful to have had his writing recognized by the AWP Donald Hall Poetry Prize, the Allen Ginsberg 49th Parallel Awards, and the Milt Kessler Book Award, among others, but most importantly, to have been the proud grandfather of six. Baumeister says the songs are a mix of styles, including rock, funk, jazz, folk, and gospel. In addition to Baumeister on piano, the concert features faculty and alumni from the School of Arts and Communication as musicians and vocalists. Typography students from Professor Michael Kabbash’s class have visually interpreted the words to some of Bursk’s poems, which will be projected during the concert. Bucks County Poet Laureate Lake Angela will perform a dance she choreographed to one of the songs, joined by Bucks dance students. Volunteers from the Volta Center for Writing Arts will be selling Bursk’s books during intermission, and each purchase includes a limited-edition 3-D printed bookmark to commemorate the event. Tickets for “Bursk’s Works” can be purchased online for $12 each, including fees. All proceeds from ticket and book sales benefit the Keri Barber Scholarship Fund, where Bursk had requested donations in his honor to be contributed. The Zlock Performing Arts Center is located on the Newtown Campus at 275 Swamp Rd., Newtown, Pa., 18940, where there is ample free parking. For a campus map and directions, visit the Newtown Campus page.