Fine Arts Center Gallery

“Cellblock Visions 2009: Prison Art in America,” an exhibition of drawings, paintings and objects made by men and women inmates of jails and penitentiaries in six states, will be featured in the University of Arkansas’ Fine Arts Center Gallery September 21 – October 16, 2009. The exhibition curator, Phyllis Kornfeld, will be on campus to present a lecture surveying prison art in America on Thursday, October 15 at 7:00 pm in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, located in the Fine Arts Center. On Friday, October 16 Ms. Kornfeld will present a Gallery Talk at 2:00 pm in the Fine Arts Center Gallery. Both events are free and open to the public.

The exhibition includes art forms typically created by prisoners, such as handkerchief art and decorated envelopes, as well as more traditionally executed paintings and drawings by these mostly self-taught artists. Also featured are examples of prison ‘folk arts’ such as soap carvings and toilet paper sculpture. “These artists tell the truth, without self-consciousness, unfettered by concepts and theory. This pure expression of individual personality has produced a wide variety of styles and imagery, and at the same time, the commonalities of their imprisonment color every piece.”

Phyllis Kornfeld is the author of Cellblock Visions: Prison Art in America. She has been conducting visual arts programs with incarcerated men and women for twenty-five years – from county jail to death row – in eighteen institutions in seven states. She also has a website, www.cellblockvisions.com.

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.

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.

Christopher B Crosman, Chief Curator of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, will present a lecture on Thursday, November 20 at 5:00 pm in Room 213 of the Fine Arts Center. Crosman’s talk will focus on works in the museum’s collection, many of which are on loan to other museums across the country while the Bentonville museum is still under construction. A reception in the Fine Arts Center Gallery will follow the program, which is free and open to the public.

A traveling exhibition, curated by Jennifer Heath of Boulder, CO, opens this week in the University of Arkansas Fine Arts Center Gallery. The Veil: Visible & Invisible Spaces features the work of over 30 artists from around the world and includes videographers, filmmakers, and new media artists, as well as painters, sculptors and installation artists. In this exhibition “the veil” is not limited to the traditional Islamic women’s head covering, but includes interpretations of bridal veils, the nun’s habit and examples of veiling in other cultures, as well as in nature. The Veil exhibition continues through Friday, October 24.

A Gallery Talk lead by the exhibition curator, Jennifer Heath, will be held on Tuesday, September 16 at 4:00 pm in the gallery, followed by a reception and book-signing at 5:00 pm. Heath is the editor of The Veil: Women Writers in Its History, Lore, and Politics

(University of California Press), a collection of 20 essays, including a contribution by local author and UA faculty member, Dr. Mohja Kahf. Dr. Kahf will present readings in the gallery on Wednesday, October 15 at 5:00 pm.

A public lecture by art educator Dr. Themina Kader, “Images & Identity: Muslim Women’s World View” will be presented in Giffels Auditorium (Old Main) on the UA campus on Thursday, October 9 at 8:00 pm.

The UA Fine Arts Center Gallery will present an exhibition curated by Benjamin Schulman (Springfield, MO) featuring work by 15 artists who have taken clay beyond the traditional qualities of the medium and brought content — be it political, cultural or ephemeral — to the forefront. Participating artists include Tanya Batura (Los Angeles, CA), John Byrd (Tampa, FL), David S. East (Baltimore, MD), Jeannie Hulen (West Fork, AR), Thomas Hirschler (Berlin, Germany), Nicholas Kripal (Elkins Park, PA), Rain Harris (Columbus, OH), Jeff Mongrain (New York, NY), Richard Notkin (Helena, MT), Adelaide Paul (Philadelphia, PA), Denise Pelletier (East Greenwich, RI), Robert Raphael (Brooklyn, NY), Jeanne Quinn (Boulder, CO), Julie York (Blaine, WA), and Kaja Witt (Berlin, Germany). Schulman’s recent work will also be included in the gallery installation, which continues through February 15, 2008.

A Ceramic Symposium, Crafting Content, will be held January 31 – February 2 at the University of Arkansas and other local venues. For more information about the symposium or to register: http://art.uark.edu/ceramics/info/

Santa Fe-based artist Edie Tsong will be a guest on the University of Arkansas campus on Monday, November 5. Tsong will create a performance piece in the UA Fine Arts Center from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm and will present an informal talk at 5:00 pm in Fine Arts Room 213.

Tsong’s performance piece, “Still Life (The Audience As Reflected By My Face),” invites people to interact with the artist in creating a work of art, which will be presented in the first floor hallway of the Fine Arts Center. Her talk will reference her experiences with artists residencies and other ‘non traditional’ means of supporting oneself as a working artist. The general public is invited to both events.

The fall semester opens with a traveling exhibition, curated around the theme of ‘healing.’ Over fifty works in a variety of media fill the Fine Arts Center Gallery and the adjacent hallway display cases. Artworks created for healing, about healing and during healing by thirty artists, both American and international, are included in the exhibition.

Exhibition Co-Curator, Dr. Peg Speirs, of Reading, PA, will present a lecture on Thursday, September 20th at 7:00 pm in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Center. A reception will follow in the gallery.

FALL GALLERY HOURS:
9:00 am – 5:30 pm Monday – Friday
1:00 – 4:00 pm Sundays
Closed Monday, September 3 (Labor Day)