Students in Professor Dunnagan’s Painting II-V courses created site-specific artwork around campus for the project, “Creative Surprises.” Can you find them all?
Department
Faculty Exhibitions on east and west coasts
Congratulations to printmaking professor Laura Bigger, who has a solo show of her “Elements” series at the Crary Art Gallery in Warren, PA, and another in Nashville.
Congratulations also to painting professor Lindsey Dunnagan, who had a solo exhibition this year. “Pursuing Echoes,” a solo show by Lindsey Dunnagan, was on display from February 7 – March 10 at the Art Gallery at Umpqua Community College in Roseberg, Oregon.
Truman Alumnae have big hearts
Kayla Decker poses next to the heart she painted for the Kansas City Parade of Hearts
Kayla Decker, a Design alumna who now works as a Graphic Designer at Hobby Lobby Corporate Headquarters, in Oklahoma City, writes that she painted a heart design for the Kansas City Parade of Hearts in Kansas City now through June. There are 154 painted hearts around the city by 123 artists.
There is an app available on which you can track the hearts you have seen. Kayla also tells us that Jessica Endaya Keefer, also a Truman Design graduate now working for VMLY&R, a marketing form in Kansas City, MO, painted a heart for the parade as well.
Jessica Endaya Keefer poses next to her heart, painted for the Kansas City Parade of Hearts.
Aaron Fine’s New Book
Congratulations to our Department Chair, Professor Aaron Fine, for his new book!
Color Theory Cover
This book discusses color theory from its ancient origins to the present, and provides a fascinating contribution to art theory using one of art’s essential building blocks. Professor Fine discusses aspects of color that are long-recognized as important but by analyzing “colonialist and gendered attitudes, materialist and romanticist perspectives, spiritualist approaches to color, color in the age of reproduction, and modernist and post-modernist color strategies” (from the Amazon description of the text) he provides a new framework that allows the application of color theory to practical applications. Published by Bloomsbury Press and gorgeously illustrated, you can order direct from the publisher or from your local bookstore or through Amazon. Congratulations, Aaron!
Last Chance to See!
This is the last week of the Student Juried Show in the University Gallery. We have pictures of students with their award-winning art if you need encouragement to see what students have been doing over the past year.
Phuong Duong, Intuitive, Spray paint and acrylic Winner of the Student Union Purchase Prize
1st place: Maggie Adams, Sink or Swim, Cotton, fishing line
Third Prize: Natalie Gruber, A Fly in the Ointment, Watercolor
Best in show: Wesley Scafe, Market Worship, Wood, 3D printed plastic
2nd place: ZuZu Smugala, Pink Rock, Acrylic on canvas
Congratulations to Student Juried Show Award Winners
Heidi Cook, our gallery director, has announced the winners of this year’s juror prizes and the Student Union Purchase Prizes. Our juror this year was Nick Satinover of Middle Tennessee University, and he assigned the following juror’s awards:
Honorable Mentions:
Rachel McCary, Restless Wanderer, Oil on canvas
Shania Montúfar, Brain Fog, Inkjet print
Maddie Morris, Self Portrait Six Ways, Watercolor
Kristen Buck, Flowers leaping, Paper and wire
Kristen Buck, Flowers Leaping
3rd place ($50):
Natalie Gruber, A Fly in the Ointment, Watercolor
2nd place ($50):
ZuZu Smugala, Pink Rock, Acrylic on canvas
1st place ($75):
Maggie Adams, Sink or Swim, Cotton, fishing line
Best in show ($150):
Wesley Scafe, Market Worship, Wood, 3D printed plastic
Wesley Scafe, Market Worship
Each year selected Truman staff and student workers get to vote on two works to purchase for the Student Union Building Purchase Prize for $250 each. This year they chose
ZuZu Smugala, Pink Rock, Acrylic on canvas, Course: Painting III
Phuong Duong, Intuitive, Spray paint and acrylic
Congrats to our award winners! Please brag about this to all of your friends and family.
Congratulations to Laura Bigger!
Professor of Printmaking Laura Bigger has been selected as one of the Missouri Artists of the Month by the Missouri Arts Council. In her artist’s statement she writes:
My work explores the relationships that exist among humans, animals, and ecosystems, particularly in terms of the food chain, raw materials, and the human tendency to exert control over natural systems. My art considers existential quandaries such as what it means to be a human today, how we can live in the world responsibly, and what our obligation is to do so. As a multimedia artist, I question anthropocentric viewpoints and interpret the manmade environment primarily through print, drawing, and installation.
Gallery has three shows this month!
We have three great shows opening on Tuesday March 16 in the University Art Gallery! Our 2021 Annual Juried Student is packed with works that show off the hard work and creativity of our Truman students – you won’t want to miss it. In the cube, you’ll find the work of this year’s juror, printmaker Nick Satinover, whose works place words and pattern together to explore the passing of time. And in the Charlyn Gallery, our professor of graphic design, Aaron Neeley is showing some of his latest work.
While Nick Satinover visited Truman State University to jury the student exhibition and mount an exhibition of his own work, he also printed an edition of multiple color stone lithographs using his signature method of reductive flats.
Alumnus Shows at Indian Hills
Truman alumnus Joe Hermann has an exhibition up at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa. Joe did his AA degree at IHCC, then came to Truman where he majored in painting. He then went on to the University of Delaware, where he earned his MFA.
Joe is “interested in the infinite aspect of art making, capturing moments in time. His painting are full of the nuance and drama that makes life interesting.” The gallery is open Monday-Thursday and Sunday afternoons. His exhibition is up until Thursday, March 25th. Congratulations, Joe! It looks like a wonderful show!
Exhibition in the Charlyn Gallery
Watchers by Natalie Gruber, detail
Laura Bigger’s Intermediate and Advanced Drawing Exploration students present Drawing – Implied in the Charlyn Gallery. The works in the exhibition explore “drawing,” the verb, in the abstract and test the limits of what one considers a drawing. Each artist created a wall-based installation that emphasizes formal decisions to create something that reads as a drawing, considers implied line or line created by both traditional and nontraditional means, and intentionally incorporates light and shadow to draw in a three-dimensional space.
Artists include: Maggie Adams, Sarah Early, Jamie Foutch, Natalie Gruber, Abby Moreno, Stephen Poindexter and Wesley Scafe.
The exhibition runs February 1st through 25th.