Fine Arts Center Gallery

Forty graduating art majors from both the BA and BFA programs will present their work in the Fine Arts Gallery May 3 - 10, 2009. The annual “Senior Showcase” is the culmination of these students’ undergraduate studies and features artwork in a variety of media, including sculpture, ceramics, photography, painting, and visual design. A reception to honor the Seniors will be held on Friday, May 8 at 6 pm.

Kyle McKenzie presents his MFA Thesis Exhibition, Empty Walls,in the Fine Arts Center Gallery from April 20 - 30, 2009. This exhibition features a series of paintings that depict interiors from the artist’s childhood home, which was recently purchased compulsorily to allow for the extension of a street. After his parents vacated the house, McKenzie revisited the empty space, which he describes as a “shell of (my) former home,” and his paintings document his observations of the empty space.

“I have always been struck by the peculiar way in which light and shadow sculpt the visual world, and I was drawn to the newly abandoned house as a sort of laboratory to observe these situations… the naked simple architecture held a quiet enigma. Increasingly, closely held associations and personal memories flavored my perceptions. The resulting paintings are universal in their depiction of simple domestic spaces, but hold deeply personal reflections on the specific home.”

A reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, April 25 from 2:00 - 4:00 pm in the Gallery. For more information: kyle.mckenzie@yahoo.com.

“Physical Reminders” showcases the work of seven internationally and nationally distinguished artists who approach sculpture as physical indicators of time, space, identity, and invisible systems. The object is a point of departure for these artists. In several of the exhibited pieces, the artists see themselves and the viewer as the object in their work, as subject and spectator equally affected by their environment or factors beyond control. Elements of painting, photography, design, and architecture collide with kinetics, sound, light, and real-time information in the same space. Compared to the way sculpture traditionally has been experienced through the sense of sight, these works presented together reflect an information overload in that they require our full attention on additional sensory levels….

Each work in this exhibition challenges the viewer to process and index their work accordingly. Remembering requires recognition and exertion to recall what has been experienced. These works can be seen as strings tied to fingers, sticky notes, to-do lists, and electronic notifications - all visual cues meant to enhance prospective memory. They are also suggestions, ranging from physical to virtual, of an anticipated act which may or may never materialize. (from the Statement by the Exhibition Curator, Bethany Springer, Assistant Professor of Art, University of Arkansas).

The seven artists whose work is featured in “Physical Reminders” are David Gurman (San Francisco, CA), Michael Jones McKean (Richmond, VA), Greg Pond (Nashville, TN), Micki Watanabe Spiller (New York, NY), Claire Watkins (New York, NY), Mike Wsol (Charlottesville, VA), and Lain York (Nashville, TN). Christopher Cook, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Kemper Museum of Art in Kansas City, was the moderator for a panel discussion with Jones McKean, Pond, Watkins, Wsol, York and Springer on Wednesday, March 25, which followed presentations by each of these artists about their work.

An intimate group of ceramic teapots and mugs, created by Visiting Artist Kurt Anderson, are now on exhibit in the hallway case in the Fine Arts Center. A studio potter from New York, Anderson will be on the University of Arkansas campus Thursday, February 26 for a Wheel-Throwing Workshop @ 1:30 - 4:30 pm (Ceramics Studio, 326 Eastern Ave.) followed by a Lecture @ 5:30 pm in Room 213 of the Fine Arts Building. The Wheel-Trhowing Workshop will continue on Friday, February 27 @ 9:30 am - 12:30 pm and 2:00 - 4:00 pm, again at the Ceramics Studio. For more information: jhulen@uark.edu or 479-575-2008.

Dr. Paul Crenshaw of Washington University, St. Louis, will present a lecture, “Value and Judgment in Rembrandt’s Hundred Guilder Print” on Monday, March 9 at 5:00 pm in Room 213 of the Fine Arts Center. Dr. Crenshaw will also give an informal gallery talk focusing on the Rembrandt prints in the current exhibition, The Inspired Line: Selected Prints of Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt van Rijn from the Thrivent Financial Collection of Religious Art, at 2:30 pm on March 9. The exhibition will continue through Friday, March 13.

From the Thrivent Financial Collection of Religious Art, by way of ExhibitsUSA and Mid-America Arts Alliance, comes this exhibition featuring 40 works by two of the most famous printmakers — Albrecht Durer (German, 1471-1528) and Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669). Both artists are considered “masters of the line” and this exhibition demonstrates their facility with various printmaking techniques — from woodcut to engraving to etching with drypoint. The Inspired Line opens on February 4 and will continue through Friday, March 13, 2009. The exhibition is sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans and is brought to the University of Arkansas through the Fine Arts Fee.

An illustrated lecture, “Durer and the Art of the Print” will be presented by Dr. Jeffrey Chipps Smith, Kay Fortson Chair in European Art at the University of Texas, Austin on Thursday, February 5 at 5:00 pm in Room 213 of the UA Fine Arts Center. A reception for The Inspired Line exhibition will follow in the Fine Arts Center Gallery.

Dr. Chipps Smith will also be giving a gallery talk on Thursday, Feb 5 at 1:30 pm. The public is invited to attend both events. For more information: 479-575-7987 or smitche@uark.edu.

The reception for Hank Kaminsky, originally scheduled for Thur, Jan 29, had to be cancelled, due to the ice storm that closed the UA campus this week! We hope to re-schedule later this spring…

Fayetteville sculptor, Hank Kaminsky, has installed three sculptures from his “Pages from the Book of the Earth” series on the University of Arkansas campus. The three bronze and steel pieces, Cloud Landscape, A New Spirit is Rising, and Compassion are located on the plaza area between the Arkansas Union and Mullins Library, where they will remain throughout the spring semester.

A reception commemorating the placement of these sculptures will be held on Thursday, January 29 from 4:00 - 6:00 pm in the Fine Arts Center lobby. The sculptures honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and are part of the related UA campus-wide celebration of Dr. King.

(NOTE: Lecture has been re-scheduled from the original date of January 27)

Mel Chin, the 2009 McIlroy Family Visiting Professor in the Visual Arts, will present a lecture on Tuesday, February 3 at 7:00 pm in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, Fine Arts Center, University of Arkansas campus.

“Trauma & The Mutative Process” is the title of Mel Chin’s talk, which will relate to his current project, Fundred, designed to highlight the issue of lead contaminated soil in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Chin’s work has frequently dealt with social and political issues and recently he has turned to addressing matters related to the environment and sustainability. During his month-long residency at the University of Arkansas, he is leading an advanced conceptual art course and engaging the community in the Fundred project.

The Fine Arts Center Gallery will be closed December 20 - January 4. Best wishes for a peaceful holiday season!