Professor of Art Tripp Evans' book, Grant Wood: A Life, tells the great unknown story of the artist who created one of 20th century America's best-known and most-imitated (parodied) artworks.

Fox News Boston anchor Gene Lavanchy sits down with Professor Evans to talk about Woods and about the book.

Wheaton Professor of Art History R. Tripp Evans’s new biography Grant Wood: A Life (Alfred A. Knopf) will be released tomorrow, October 5. It already has received a big boost from a favorable review in the New York Times.

The New York Times review, which calls Evans’s book “provocative,” focuses on the fact the professor gets behind the façade of the artist who is best known for his painting “American Gothic.” Who doesn’t know that iconic couple with the stern faces and the pitchfork?

According to the New York Times review: “Mr. Evans offers intensive analysis of ‘American Gothic’ as well as many other Wood paintings, most notably ‘Parson Weems’ Fable’ (1939), which rivals ‘American Gothic’ for tacit but turbulent complexity…”

In addition to survey courses, Evans teaches courses in modern architecture, the art of the United States, and Native American/pre-Columbian art. He also has recently developed a number of specialized courses in African American art, the development of the skyscraper, and feminist art history.

Currently on sabbatical for the 2010-2011 academic year, the professor began his book tour last week at the Wisconsin Book Festival. He will continue the tour through December, visiting 16 cities overall in the United States and Canada, including stops at the National Portrait Gallery, and nine locations in the artist’s native Iowa. The full tour schedule (as well as an excerpt from the book) is available at www.grantwoodalife.com.

For the past few years, Evans’s scholarship has been devoted to the life and work of Grant Wood. “The book reflects my fascination with 1930s modernism, and in particular, with the way nationalist themes in American art have often been driven by highly personal motive,” he said. “This is a favorite theme in the American art classes I teach at Wheaton, and one that I hope to expand upon when I return next fall.”

Roxanna Azari '10 graduated from Wheaton with a far-reaching mission and the resources to pursue it around the globe.

A double major in women's studies and English with a concentration in creative writing, Azari won a Watson Fellowship to study the religious, political and personal meanings ascribed to the veils worn by women in many Islamic countries. This year, she plans to visit France, Morocco, Turkey, India and the United Arab Emirates, to uncover the stories of women behind the veil and reveal the diversity of opinions, beliefs and personal stories behind the clothing.

Currently in India, Azari appears to be striking a chord with people near the city of Mumbai, where she organized a poetry writing workshop and performance with a group of young women. The Mumbai Mirror described the scene this way:

While the loud Azaan from the nearby mosque silenced the crowd of 50 women and few men inside the tiny hall in Kurla, the enthusiasm of the performing poetesses hung thick in the air. After all, it was the evening of Bazm-e-Sukhan, wherein 12 young otherwise-shy Muslim girls from Mumbra were standing before an encouraging audience of family, friends and well-wishers, as they performed their own poetry in various formats. The inspiration behind this activity, Iranian-American Spoken Word poet Roxanna Azari, stood cheering each of her students-turned-friends.

Azari is the latest Wheaton student to win a Watson Fellowship. The Thomas J. Watson Foundation presents the awards to college seniors of unusual promise for a year of independent exploration and travel outside the United States. Nearly 1,000 students from up to 40 selective private liberal arts colleges and universities apply for these awards each year.

Michael Rotondi '92 ran for public office right after he graduated from Wheaton, winning the post of Town Moderator in Stoneham, his hometown.

The move, he told the Winchester Star, was inspired by his college experience.

“It was about serving local government and applying what I learned in political science at Wheaton College,” he said. “I figured I might as well get involved. How else are you supposed to learn about the experiences, the issues and the things that the common people are experiencing in the town?”

Now, with 17 years experience as the town moderator, Rotondi is running as an Independent candidate to represent the 31st Middlesex District in the Massachusetts Legislature.