• The Fibers program was featured in the 2009 Spring issue of Surface Design Association Journal. Faculty and student work were highlighted.
• The Visual Communications program has restructured requirements in the major to encourage Study Abroad, semester-long internships and alternative semester opportunities. These changes are in effect for the 2009-2010 catalog. For details, please contact Rusty Nelson or Matt Derezinski.
• The University Art Gallery has a new security system.

• Kelsey Wiskirchen received an assistantship/scholarship to attend University of Arizona (Fibers MFA).
• Allison Meadows continues her work in Art History and Anthropology at Oxford University in the UK.
• Katharyn Reed is now serving in the Peace Corps teaching art at the School for the Deaf in Ghana.
• Dr. John Garton finished his first year as professor of Art History at Clark University in Massachusetts.
• Dr. Mike Murawski is employed as School Services Director at the St. Louis Art Museum.
• Valarie Lazalier and Ruby Jenkins are returning from study abroad in Italy and Sam Lyons from study abroad in France.
• Megan Dowdy received multiple awards including Best of Show at the 5th Annual Design Conference in Dallas, Texas.
• Victoria Weaver's illustration work was also accepted 5th Annual Design Conference.
• Megan Dowdy and Victoria Weaver's design and illustration work were accepted and published in Creative Quarterly 15 Magazine.
• Rosemary Melton received an internship to work at Firecracker Press running letterpress and screenprinting.
• Galen Gibson-Cornell received a research grant to study lithography.
• James Lang (BFA Painting – 2009)is pursuing a law degree.
• Alex Merchant (BFA Painting) accepted a position with Residential Life at University of Arizona.
• Heather Macionus (BFA Painting – 2007) is the studio manager for Swoon, a street artist turned renouned installation artist.
• Dusty Folwarczny has a sculpture piece in the 2009 Lakefront Sculpture Exhibit in Chicago

The art faculty participated in a group show, Truman State University Faculty Invitational Show – Art Gallery, Indian Hills Community College, Ottumwa, Iowa

– John Bohac is currently working on a new body of work.

– Julia DeLancey presented at:

• Continuity, Conflict, and Change in Indian Cultures and Societies, Asian Studies Development Program Workshop, Johnson County Community College September 18 – 19, 2008.
• Mapping Color: color sellers in the urban fabric of Renaissance Venice, Renaissance Society of America Annual Conference, Chicago (invited paper), April 2008

– Matt Derezinski exhibited works in 27 exhibits from local, national and international competitions including the Salmagundi Club – NY, NY; Williamsburg Art & Historical Center –Brooklyn, NY; Mystic Art Center – Mystic, Connecticut; Limerick Printmakers Studio and Gallery – Limerick, Ireland and a traveling exhibit to Milan, Italy. Was published in Best of Photography 28th Annual 2008 by Photographer’s Forum Magazine. Received second at 17th Annual Juried Photography Competition in St. Simons Island, Georgia.

– Aaron Fine received a summer research grant to study political graphics in Mumbai.

– Priya Kambli returns from sabbatical and has recently received…

• PhotoLucida 2008 Book Award Winner, Portand, Oregon
• 2009- 2010 Artist-In- Residence, Light Work, Syracuse, NY
• 2008 – 2010 Midwest Photographers Project, Museum Of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
• 2008 -2009 Flat Files, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO
• 2009 Solo Show, Color Falls Down, SRO Photo Gallery, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX

– Jim Jereb has been invited to exhibit prints in Oni', Japan and has served as Guest Curator at two museums in Wyoming and Colorado. Jim is currently restoring an 1800's era printing press for the Deutschheim Museum near Hermann, Missouri.

– Rusty Nelson completed a 7 ft. x  38 ft. mural for the local post of the VFW in April and an illustration was accepted into the CQ17 online exhibition of Creative Quarterly Magazine.

– Sara Orel was elected a Councilor in the new Arts and Humanities Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research and will be curating an Egyptian pottery show in the Spring semester.

– Wynne Wilbur exhibited work in the following shows:

• Yunomi Invitational – AKAR Art, Architecture and Design gallery, Iowa City, Iowa
• Group Invitational – Strecker-Nelson Gallery, Manhattan, Kansas
• Group Installation Purchase – Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community, Manhattan, Kansas
• Solo show at Lone Star Community College in Houston
• also was published in 500 Plates and Chargers: Innovative Expressions of Function and Style, Suzanne Tourtillott Ed., Lark Books, Asheville, North Carolina, work pictured pp. 132, 160.

Please visit the exhibit of artwork created last year by the 08/09 new majors. Artworks from Drawing I and II and Design I and II are featured in the exhibit. Where? OP Atrium.