The Friends of the Gallery, a group of supporters of the University Art Gallery, recently held their annual fundraiser in the Gallery. As usual, Friends had a chance to enjoy some great art, meet and mingle with others interested in the arts, and support the Gallery's great programming. This year, they also had a chance to hear a poetry reading given by students of Dr. Jamie D'Agostino (English & Linguistics) who teaches creative writing (in particular poetry) at Truman. For more information on the Friends of the Gallery, please contact Gallery Director Prof. Aaron Fine at afine@truman.edu.
Author: art history faculty
Congratulations to Reina Koyano
Congratulations to Vis Comm student Reina Koyano who just heard that her poster, shown above, has been selected for publication in Creative Quarterly, an art and design journal.
Art History Alumna Traveling Europe
We recently heard from alumna Ruby Jenkins (Art History, 2011) who also sent us the great picture above. Ruby is working this year for Travel for Teens (www.travelforteens.com) traveling all over the United States doing camp fairs, school visits, and home visits talking to people about Travel for Teens; this summer, she will return to the work she has done for the past few years leading trips abroad for teens from the States. The picture above shows Ruby (in yellow) at the top of Giotto's bell tower in Florence, looking towards Brunelleschi's famous dome for Florence's cathedral. Great news and happy trails!
The Cabinet of Curiosities in the Ruth Warner Towne Visitors Center.
Dr. Sara Orel is teaching a new course this semester in Museum Studies. The class is designed to provide students with an introduction to both the practical and theoretical sides of the field. In addition to classroom activities, they have worked with the local Adair County Historical Society to write grant proposals, with the University Gallery to take down an exhibit and hang the next one, and with the E.M. Violette Museum to help organize the storage space. The first project for the semester was to collect objects for and install a “Cabinet of Curiosities,” a sample of the collections we have at Truman State University, both in departments and faculty personal collections. Rich individuals and families of the Renaissance and later would have a display case or even a room filled with a wide variety of natural and man-made “curiosities” to show their education and sophistication, and these collections eventually developed into some of the world’s great museums. At Truman, we included geological and biological specimens, intriguing tools, scientific and musical instruments, art objects (including reproductions), and a wide variety of fascinating artifacts to reproduce one of these old-style collections.
The official “opening” for the exhibit will be during the Student Research Conference on April 17th, but if you wander by the Ruth Warner Towne Visitors Center now, you can see the case on display.
Objects in the Cabinet of Curiosities include handmade screwdrivers, an alligator purse, nineteenth-century dancing slippers, Coptic dolls from Egypt, and fragments of the Berlin Wall.
Art History majors Danielle Bell (freshman), Rebecca Pursley (senior), and April Johnston (sophomore) examine some of the stuffed animals loaned by the Biology Department to the display.
New honorary art society at Truman State University!
The Art Department at Truman now has the newest chapter of Kappa Pi International Honorary Art Fraternity. Truman's chapter–the Theta Eta Chapter of Kappa Pi–will be officially installed at some point during the Spring 2012 Semester when the President of Kappa Pi will visit Truman's campus to conduct the Chapter installation and Charter Member induction (specific date and further information forthcoming). Truman's chapter of Kappa Pi is the direct result of a student initiative and petition effort lead by current art majors Emily VanGelder, Andy Doering, and Andrea Linskey.
Kappa Pi is a 100-year old honorary art fraternity that through the "artistic interests and influence of its members, upholds the highest ideals of a liberal education; [and] provides a means whereby students with artistic commitment meet for the purpose of informal study and communication…to raise the standards of productive artistic work among students…" (from the Kappa Pi Constitution). Among the goals of Theta Eta chapter will be the promotion of the visual arts on the Truman campus and within the broader community and the enrichment of the creative environment within the Art Department. Membership in Kappa Pi is a recognition of excellence in and dedication to the visual arts. All art majors — studio, visual communications and art history — will be eligible for membership once the chapter is officially installed.
Student solo show in the Student Union!
Congratulations to Art major Sarah Harford (Studio Art: Fibers)! Her solo show of her fibers work has been up all week and the reception will be Friday, March 23, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. in The Hub. Well done Sarah!
Felt Making Workshop in Fibers!
Wednesday, March 21st, from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m., alumna Danielle Yakle (Studio Art: Fibers) will be giving a felt making workshop. The workshop will cover basic felting techniques and will provide an opportunity for participants to create a three-dimensional felted vessel.
Before the workshop, at 12:30 p.m. will be a potluck lunch that will include an artist's presentation. All are welcome to the potluck; no sign-up required.
Questions? Contact Prof. Julia Karll who has organized this great event!
News from Prof. Kambli!
Priya Kambli, Me (Inoculation), 2008 (archival inkjet print)
In honor of International Women's Day (March 8, 2012) Prof. Priya Kambli (Studio Art: Photography) has been selected by the editors of the Lens Culture, an on-line magazine and weblog as one of "55 remarkable female photographers who are making the world a better place". You can see their page on Prof. Kambli here.
Also this month, Prof. Kambli's internationally recognized body of work, Color Falls Down, will be exhibited by the Houston Center for Photography from March 9 – April 22, 2012; the exhibition will also feature an artist's talk by Prof. Kambli. These events are part of Houston's FotoFest 2012, the 14th Biennial of Photography and Photo-related Art. FotoFest is one of the oldest celebrations of photography in the world, and is the biggest and most long-lived such festival in the United States.
Congratulations, Prof. Kambli!
Art history alumna update
We just received this update from alumna Taylor (Klein) Worley (BA, Art History, 2009) on the great things she's been up to:
I am currently in my 4th of 6 semesters with Emporia State University pursuing a Masters in Library Science and Information Technology as well as a Certificate in Archival Studies. I am currently interning with Operation Breakthrough, an non-profit organization formed in 1969 by two Catholic Sisters through St. Vincent’s Catholic School. The organization takes care of over 500 needy children daily from the metropolitan Kansas City Missouri area. They focus on early education and after school programs as well as providing necessary health services for the children and their families. They operate through both public and private funding but are not affiliated with any specific organization. My role is to work with two other students and take approximately 40 years of photographs, slides, negatives, and documents and create a workable collection for authors, journalists, and the employees of Operation Breakthrough to use. A large part of my role is to weed out the unnecessary items from the collection, develop a working finding aid, and to select and implement the necessary software (databases, finding aids, websites, etc.) to keep the archive running in the future. As far as career plans I am looking to work with a museum, historical organization, or special collections department in an academic library. I am looking to stay west of the Mississippi, though those plans are up in the air right now. I am also considering future graduate studies in Art History or Preservation as well as a dual JD/PhD in Library Science to pursue Law Librarianship.
Congratulations, Taylor!
If you are an alum and have news for us, please drop us an e-mail at art@truman.edu OR fill out this form.
Congratulations students
Congratulations to the following students, each of whom had at least one (and in many cases more than one) artwork chosen by the juror, Prof. Armin Mühsam (Missouri State University) to be included in the Annual Juried Student Art Competition. As a reminder, that exhibition will be up in the Gallery until Friday, April 6th.
Adam McMichael, Aerin Melvin, Albert McCormick, Alexandra Olson, Allison Sissom, Alyssa Vannoy, Amanda Bell, Andrea Hock, Andrea Linskey, Andy Doering, Anna Christian, Antonia Brister, Arayna White, Ashley Buhmann, Carley Robison, Carly Winchell, Cate Chaney, Daniel Riekena, Danielle Naeger, Danielle Tobar, Emily Frierdich, Emma Dunlap, Emma Howard, Emma Roeder, Erica Robertson, Jake Wittrock, Jonathan Moeller, Kat Klebenow, Katharyn Sutton, Katie Brewer, Kristine Campbell, Kyle Pappalardo, Lauren Radix, Lauren Thomeczek, Linh Dao, Lona Moody, Mason Einspahr, Meghan Doil, Rebecca Fels, Rebecca Greiner, Reina Koyano, Sam Meisenbacher, Sarah Harford, Shannon Spickler, Shawn Griffin, and Zhaoli Ge
Congratulations everyone!