Truman is in to its summer season, with Joseph Baldwin Academy students on campus and incoming students visiting us to register for their fall classes. We welcome all of you, and hope those who are students already (and alumni) are having a great summer, whether working or interning, or just hanging out at the beach and painting or reading a really good book!
We look forward to seeing new and returning students here in the fall. 
May you have a wonderful summer wherever you may be.
Art student Elle Renault’s painting p53 was selected from the recent Flora and Fauna exhibition to be purchased and displayed indefinitely in Magruder Hall. Congratulations to Elle for being selected and having the honor of her work remaining on display at Truman State University! Thanks to Dr. Anne Moody for organizing this people’s choice award and to the science faculty that donated money to purchase the work! We hope to continue this interdepartmental tradition with subsequent Flora and Fauna exhibitions going forward. 
Assistant Professor of Art History Josh Hainy has had an article included in Visualizing the Body in Art, Anatomy, and Medicine Since 1800: Models and Modelling, edited by Andrew Graciano, and published by Routledge.
The article, “Grecian Theory at the Royal Academy: John Flaxman and the Pedagogy of Corporeal Representation,” grows out of research on John Flaxman that was a part of his dissertation at the University of Iowa.
Professor Laura Bigger recently exhibited her Elements series in a two-person show with sculptor Evan Reed at the University of Mary Washington gallery in Fredericksburg, VA.
(Photographs courtesy of Laura Bigger)
The Art Bus class this spring was a trip to Chicago led by painting professor Lindsey Dunnagan and printmaking professor Laura Bigger.
While there the class met with artists and curators, visited grad schools, and saw original works of art, such as Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, known colloquially as “The Bean” because of its shape.
Truman State University welcomed high school students from the Clarence Cannon Conference (CCC) of north east Missouri for the annual CCC Art Show on Wednesday April 10th, 2019 . With about eighty students we were able to see some amazing artwork from the high school students and show off our facilities. With many of the art professors delivering workshops the students were able to get some time with a professor and a taste of the university experience.
Congratulations to Maci Winters of Clark County for her Sunflower piece winning Best of Show honors and getting a $500 scholarship to Truman State University!
We have lots of great news, from some current students:
Daniel Degenhardt and Linnea Moody both have received Tru-Scholars fellowships for undergraduate research this coming summer. Both of them will be working with Photography Professor Priya Kambli.
Art major Abby Moreno will be doing research through the McNair program this summer. Dr. Heidi Cook will be her mentor for that project.
And Department Chair Aaron Fine writes:
Current Art Major Natalie Gruber was surprised but pleased by the response to her painting of “Mothman in Domestic Bliss” – a painting she created in her Painting I class. When she posted it on twitter it received over 23,000 likes and was shared over 8,000 times within just a few days. Comments included those begging her to sell prints of the image, so it seems this one post has led to a new side business for her.
And we have news from an Alumna of the department:
Painting alumna Megan Klco Kellner had her collection of poetry selected to be published as a chap book by Michigan Writers Cooperative Press. More information can be found in their Facebook Announcement:
Michigan Writers Cooperative Press — Chapbook Contest Winner
Michigan Writers Cooperative Press is pleased to announce the winner of our annual chapbook contest. This year we will be publishing one new author, Megan Klco Kellner and her poetry chapbook, “What Will You Teach Her?”
Megan’s book will be released at a celebratory reading and reception on Sunday, June 9, 2019 at 7pm. We invite the public to join us for this free event at the Writing House on the campus of the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Mark your calendars to help us celebrate Megan’s work.
Megan Klco Kellner writes poems and makes paintings in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She holds an MFA in painting from Kendall College of Art and Design. She started writing poems in earnest during late-night feedings after her children were born. She is, above all, their awe-filled observer.
Truman’s Art Department rounded up a bus and the students to fill it to go on a trip March 23rd to Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Students from several art and museum studies classes took advantage of the day-long adventure. Dr. Sara Orel and Associate Dean of Libraries for Special Collections Amanda Langendoerfer led the trip, and they were joined by Dr. Heidi Cook and recent Truman graduate Nick Phan while at the museum. It was a full day, but a fun one. Stay tuned for more student travel photos and stories, coming soon!
Nala Turner, whose 2018 BFA ceramics show consisted of a series of very large vessels inspired by important women in her life, is interviewed in the spring 2019 issue of All The Art, the Visual Art Quarterly of St. Louis. In addition to the two-page spread on pages 16 and 17, Nala’s work is featured on both the front and back covers.
Nala Turner now attends Pratt Institute in New York City, where she is doing well. For more information, take a look at her article. Congratulations on your recognition, Nala! We are really proud of you!
One of the joys of being in an art program is being surrounded by art of all kinds.
Student work in the alcove outside the Art History lecture room. The drawings below are by former faculty member Bob Jones.
Professor Lindsey Dunnagan’s 3D Design class has been busy “art-ing up” Ophelia Parrish Hall.