Fine Arts Center Gallery

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!

Currently featured in the Fine Arts Gallery are drawings and prints by Jon Swindler, Assistant Professor of Art at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia in Athens. Swindler’s recent work includes graphite and latex drawings on paper and several series of mixed media relief prints. His large-scale works in woodcut, stencils and chine colle’ utilize recognizable – but not quite familiar – symbols to interpret his view of the suburban landscape. Two series of etchings employ similar graphic symbolism but with the addition of broader color. A group of intimate-scale lithographs complete the range of the exhibition. “New Hybrids: Ink & Graphite” runs December 3 through January 23, 2009. (NOTE: The Fine Arts Gallery will be closed during the University’s Winter Break, December 20 – January 4)

Jon Swindler received a BFA in printmaking and art education from Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas and earned an MFA in printmaking and drawing from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

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.

“Small Works on Paper”, the Arkansas Arts Council’s 21st Annual Competitive Exhibition, featuring 40 works by 39 artists from throughout the state, will open in the Fine Arts Center Gallery on November 3. A reception will be held on Sunday, November 9 from 2 – 4 pm in the Gallery.

Three artists from Northwest Arkansas have their work in this exhibition: Don House and Joanne Jones, both of Fayetteville, and Steven Wise of Rogers. The juror for the 2008 “Small Works on Paper” exhibition was Arlette Klaric, Curator of Art Exhibitions for the Mid-America Arts Alliance/ExhibitsUSA.
In addition to selecting the artwork for the exhibition, the juror named four purchase award winners:
Jeri Hills of Hot Springs, Benjamin Krain of Little Rock, Virmaire DePoyster of North Little Rock, and William M. McClanahan of England. These purchase award works become part of the Small Works on Paper permanent collection.

As the title of the exhibition implies, each work is limited in scale and media. Framed dimensions cannot exceed 24 x 24″; however “on paper” allows for a wide range of artistic mediums, including photography, printmaking, collage, drawing, painting and — in one example — simply handmade paper itself.

If you’ve had the opportunity to walk through the Fine Arts Center this month, you may have seen the drawings in the cases that run along the north-south corridor. Francesca Pastine’s “Iraqi Casualty Series” consists of 16 works on paper created from New York Times newspaper pages.

Using a very soft graphite pencil, Pastine obliterates all but selected images and text from the newspaper columns to focus attention on the stark reality of the current war in Iraq. Like the 19th century Spanish artist Francisco Goya’s “Disasters of War” series of prints, Pastine’s work illuminates the horrors of war, but within a rich — almost silver-leafed — texture.

Francesca Pastine lives and works in San Francisco. Her drawings will be on exhibit in the Fine Arts Center through October 31.

Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Dr. Mohja Kahf, will read from her novel, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf, as well as new work, in the Fine Arts Center Gallery on Wednesday, October 15 at 5:00 pm.

This event is free and open to the public.