Please join us in the University Art Gallery tonight (Monday, April 30th) at 6:00 p.m. Seniors working towards the BFA Art: Visual Communications degree will be displaying portfolios of their graphic design work. It's a great chance to see some wonderful art and congratulate these seniors. Hope to see you there!
News and Events
BFA Studio exhibition up this week; opening reception on Tuesday!
This week the University Art Gallery (OP 1114) features the work of three Seniors, Jennifer Fank, Brittni Jakuboski, and Hannah Rosell, all painters. The work displayed in the exhibition was made in partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree. An opening reception will be held on Tuesday, April 24 at 6:00 p.m. in the Gallery and presents a great chance to see the work and to congratulate these young artists. The show will close on Friday, April 27. As always, Gallery events are free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!
Stay tuned also for more information next week's BFA Visual Communications portfolio show on Monday, April 30th!
Felt workshop with alumna Danielle Yakle
Here are some great photographs sent by Prof. Julia Karll from the felt-making workshop that she arranged a few weeks ago. Art Department (Fibers) alumna Danielle Yakle worked with Truman Art students on making felt and showed some of her own felt work, including the great mask shown in the last photograph below.
Student Research Conference on Tuesday
The twenty-fifth annual Student Research Conference will take place at Truman State University on Tuesday, April 17. On that day, classes are cancelled so that the entire university can participate in and attend presentations (in a wide variety of formats) of research conducted by students at Truman. The conference includes spoken presentations, poster presentations, exhibitions, and performances, and also includes a campus-wide lunchtime lecture as well. For more information on the Conference, a full schedule, and more please visit the conference website.
Nine Art Department majors will be presenting their work at the conference. Congratulations to everyone, students and mentors alike!
The following three students will exhibit their work on the South Atrium gallery space in OP; their artwork will be on display from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday; these students will also be present in the Atrium space from 1:00 – 2:15 p.m. to answer questions about their work. Click on the title for more information.
Exploration and Alteration of Wheel-Thrown Ceramic Forms
Rose E. Runser
Elements
Claudia E. Convers
Photographic Printmaking Process
Michael K. Sistek
In addition, four senior Art History majors will present aspects of their year-long Senior Thesis research on Tuesday morning in OP 2210 from 8:00 – 9:15 a.m.
The Modern Muse: Women in the Work of Gustav Klimt
Amy M. Hall
Couture: Elsa Schiaparelli’s Surrealist Object
Mary M. Sauerwein
Frida Kahlo: Mexicanidad y Mujeres
Rebecca A. Pursley
Beyond the Outside: Inside Henry Darger's Legacy
Victoria L. Smith
Two additional students will present work as part of other sessions:
Photo Manipulation
Kristine Campbell, 9:45 OP 2210
Effect of Working with Clay on Mood States and Stress Levels in College Students
Claire M. Schueler, 8:30 a.m. MG1090
Also of interest may be presentations in a session on Disability and the Arts, to be held in OP 2210 from 1:00 – 2:15 p.m.
And, also of interest, will be a reception for the Cabinet of Curiosities at the Ruth W. Towne Museum and Visitors Center at 2:30 p.m.
And finally, the University Art Gallery will host an exhibition of work by students in partial completion of the requirements for the BA Art degree. The opening reception will be at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday in the University Art Gallery.
We hope to see you at some or all of these events!
International speaker to address collecting of Egyptian art
On Wednesday, April 18th, we have a visiting speaker who will talk about Egyptian Archaeology and Museum Studies. Dr. Aidan Dodson, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology & Anthropology at the University of Bristol (United Kingdom) and Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Egypt Exploration Society (London), received his B.A. from the University of Liverpool, and his M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Cambridge University. Dr. Dodson was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2003, is the author of some fifteen books, of which eight are in the Truman library. His latest book is Afterglow: Egypt from the end of the New Kingdom to the Saite Renaissance, due to be published by American University in Cairo Press in the spring of 2012. He is also a contributing editor of Kmt: a Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt. This is his fourth visit to Truman and his talks are always entertaining and reflect new and interesting developments in the field.
Dr. Dodson will be speaking on “Collecting Ancient Egypt” at 6 p.m., April 18th, in OP 2210.
Student artwork commissioned for theatre production
Studio Art (Ceramics) majors Emily Frierdich and Lauren Thomeczek were commissioned recently to create the sculpture above for the Theatre Department's production of the French Existentialist play No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre. During the play, their sculpture sat in the center of the stage. Congratulations Lauren & Emily.
Friends of the Gallery reception
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.
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.