Artifacts 1/31/14

Telethon Idol auditions to be at mall

Singing auditions for the ninth annual Telethon Idol will be Feb. 22 in the J.C. Penney Co. wing of West Park Mall. Auditions will begin at noon, with registration at 11 a.m. There is a $10 registration fee. All ages are welcome to audition, including past winners. Competitors will sing a cappella. Those selected will perform live at the Kenny Rogers Children's Center Telethon on March 29. They will be competing for a grand prize of $1,000. For more information, call Christy O'Neal at 472-0397, extension 207, or go to kennrogerscenter.org.

Crisp Museum to host prep artists' work

"Exhibiting Excellence," the 36th annual high school art exhibition, will be displayed from Feb. 9 through March 16 at the Crisp Museum at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus, with an opening reception scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. Feb. 9. The juried exhibit will feature the works of juniors and seniors from high schools in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. Awards will be given for sculpture, ceramics, print making, mixed media, photography, fibers, drawing, painting, the Art Academy and Best of Show. The juror for this year's show will be Jennifer Meroe Kennedy of Pomona, Ill., a teacher. More information is available by calling 651-2260 or emailing museum@semo.edu.

Talk to explore life of Frederick Douglass

Dr. Debra Foster Greene will present a talk titled "Without Struggle There Can Be No Progress," about the life and work of Frederick Douglass, from 2 to 4 p.m. Feb. 23 in the Geraldine Hirsch Room of the Cape Girardeau Public Library. The presentation includes how Douglass escaped slavery and rose to the highest levels of American society as an abolitionist and a leader for black Americans in the Antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Green is a professor of American history at Lincoln University. For more information, call the library at 334-5279.

-- From staff reports