Alumnus hired at Portland Art Museum

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Mike Murawski teaching in the St. Louis Art Museum

Heartiest congratulations to Art Department alumnus Dr. Mike Murawski (BA Art History 1999) who has just beed hired as the Director of Education & Public Programs at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon.  Since graduating from Truman, Dr. Murawski earned a PhD in Education from American University in Washington D.C. and returned to the St. Louis area for positions first at the Mildred Lane Kemper Museum at Washington University and then was hired as Director of School Services at the St. Louis Art Museum.  While at SLAM, Dr. Murawski developed a popular Museum Education internship, in which a number Truman Art History majors have participated;  in addition, Truman students have been often hosted at SLAM by Dr. Murawski, and have benefitted from campus lectures by both him and his wife, Prof. Bryna Campbell who is a PhD candidate in Art History at Washington University in St. Louis working on early twentieth-century American art.  We will miss having Mike, Bryna, and their family so close by but send them all good wishes as they make this exciting move!

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Student Clubs Get Started

The Art Department hosts a wide variety of clubs for students interested in various areas relevant to the Department.  Most of those clubs are in the process now of getting started and seeking new members.

For example, Truman's student chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Artists (AIGA) is holding a barbecue this coming Thursday for any students interested in joining AIGA. The barbecue will be held on Thursday, September 6 at 6:00 p.m. on the Quad side of Ophelia Parrish.

And Art History Society (AHS), the club for any students interested in Art History, has already had their first meeting and is getting ready to unveil a new format for their long-standing service of hosting study sessions for students in any Art History class.  AHS meets weekly this semester on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in OP 2111 and can be reached by e-mail at ahstruman@gmail.com.

The Art Department also hosts the following clubs for the following areas:  The Bad Acids (printmaking);  Clay People (ceramics);  Fibers Club (fibers);  and Kappa Pi (national honorary art organization).  Stay tuned for more information about those clubs, or contact the Art Department at art@truman.edu with questions.

Congratulations TruScholars!

Congratulations to Art majors April Johnston (Art History) and Lona Moody (Studio), both of whom won competitive TruScholars fellowships for Summer 2013!  April conducted archival and museum research on mid-twentieth-century American painter Lee Krasner, and Lona Moody made new works using the cyanotype photographic process.

Both will present their work this Saturday, August 25 as part of the TruScholars Symposium.  The full schedule can be found at the Office for Student Resarch website.  The two Art majors will present as follows:

April Johnston
'Even When I'm Just Looking, I am Working': The Significance of Lee Krasner's Transitions
April is the second presenter in a
session that starts at 8:30 a.m. in the SUB Alumni Room
(mentor: Dr.  Julia DeLancey, Art History)

 
Lona Moody
Stream of Unconscious: A Work of Painted Cyanotypes
Lona will be giving an artist talk from 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. in the OP South Atrium
(mentor:  Prof. Priya Kambli, Studio)
 
Truman students who are interested in applying for the summer 2013 TruScholars Undergraduate Research Program can find more information here.  Hope to see you on Saturday!

Welcome back!

 

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Photo Credit:  Tim Barcus, campus photographer

Campus was buzzing today as begining-of-the-academic-year meetings for faculty and staff started.  Many professors had been active on campus all summer, with teaching, administrative duties, and the like.  Many others, were traveling locally, nationally, and internationally in relation to class preparation and their creative work and scholarship.  Here are some selections, below, of just a few of the things some of us have been up to over the summer term.

John Bohac (Studio:  Painting) exhibited work in a juried exhibition entitled "Blur" at Art St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri during June and July.

Sara Orel (Art History) was selected to participate in the Japan Studies Institute from the Japan Studies Association in Honolulu, Hawai'i.

Jamie Bates (Studio:  Ceramics) showed at the Plenum Space Gallery in conjuction with Kansas City First Fridays.

Aaron Fine (University Art Gallery and Studio:  Painting, Drawing) was selected, along with Chaya Chandrasakhar, as guest editor of the Spring/Summer 2013 AsiaNetwork Exchange journal.

Matt Derezinski (Visual Communication) visited Japan and saw an international design show.  Stay tuned, also, for a separate post about his solo show in Illinois.

Julia DeLancey (Art History) was selected to participate in an interdisciplinary National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute in Florence, Italy entitled "Leonardo da Vinci:  Between Art and Science"

Stay tuned, also, for updates to this post as we hear from more faculty!

Happy Summer!

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Photo Credit:  Tim Barcus (Campus Photographer)

The Art Department blog is on break until classes resume in late August…enjoy the summer, everyone, and be sure to check back again later in the summer to find out what's going on in Art at Truman!

Art History alumna update!

Natalie (Hall) Chardonnet (BA Art History) let us know recently that she has started the masters program in Nonprofit Administration at Lindenwood University in St. Louis.  Since graduating, Natalie has worked at St. Louis' Museum of Transportation, as an exhibit technician in charge of restoring artifacts, writing signage, designing exhibits, and cataloging artifacts.  Congratulations Natalie!

If you are an alum and have news for us (or just want to say hello), please drop us a line at art@truman.edu!

Digital Library News!

Truman's student-run KTRM News 36 recently did a story about Truman's Digital Library project that featured students from Dr. Orel's ART 428 Topics in Art History:  Museums & Collecting course!  The video is available here

From Truman's website: "The Truman State University Digital Library features digitized objects from the holdings of the Pickler Memorial Library Special Collections & University Archives. These include manuscripts, photographs, glass slides, vintage sheet music, and other unique and rare items. Please check back as new items and collections will be added on a continuing basis."

To view some of these interesting documents, please click here

Art History student presents at conference

Congratulations to senior Art History major, Amy Hall, who recently presented a paper entitled "The Modern Muse:  women in the work of Gustav Klimt" at the Baker University art history conference.  The paper was drawn from part of Amy's Senior Thesis project that focuses on issues of gender and women as subjects in the work of Gustav Klimt, a highly influential painter in late nineteenth-century Vienna.  Well done Amy!

Art History Alumnus Update

Stuart Henn (BA, Art History, 2002) recently accepted admission to Northern Illinois University's Masters of Arts in Art History program and will begin studies this fall.  
After graduation, Stuart worked at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy for a time until accepting a position with the Elmhurst Art Museum as Coordinator of External Relations.  While there Stuart authored the didactic panels for Sandra Jorgensen: Fitting In, an exhibition of recent acquisitions of work by Chicago Imagist artist Sandra Jorgensen.  Currently, Stuart is the Interim Educator at the Geneva History Center presenting adult and children's educational programming on local history to visitors and area school children.  
A former McNair Scholar, Stuart is eager and excited to return to school to pursue a Masters degree in art history this fall.
If you are an alum and have news to share with us, please drop us an e-mail at art@truman.edu!

Student Awards…congratulations!

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Photo Credit:  Matt Derezinski

Congratulations to the following Art majors who were given awards by the Art faculty…well done everyone!

Outstanding Student–BA Art:  Laura Wellington

Outstanding Student–BA Art History:  Amy Hall

Outstanding Student–BFA Art (Studio):  Brittni Jakuboski

Outstanding Student–BFA Art (Visual Communication):  Sara Rudder

Departmental Service Award:  Kristine Campbell & Rachel Vaught

The following students received Departmental Honors:  Kristine Campbell, Emma Dunlap, Hannah Rosell, Sara Rudder, and Rachel Vaught

The following returning students were awarded scholarships by the Art Department faculty:  Danielle Bell, Katie Brewer, Wes Harbison, April Johnston, Shelby Maggart, Lona Moody, Danielle Naeger, Jessica Poole, Lauren Radix, Colleen Ryan, Shelby Seaman, Kathryn Sutton, Valerie Weinhaus, Kristin Williams, Carly Winchell, and Jake Wittrock.

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