51福利社 Frostic School of Art offering visiting artist lecture series
KALAMAZOO, Mich.鈥擳he Western Michigan University Frostic School of Art has launched a Visiting Artist and Scholar Lecture Series that is bringing artists from across the country to campus.
All of the lectures are at 5:30 p.m. on selected Thursdays in the Richmond Center for Visual Arts. The next presentation in the fall series is Thursday, Sept. 18, and will feature Frostic School of Art honors graduate Elizabeth Sauer, who is currently completing her graduate studies at the University of Florida. The program at the university in Gainesville, Florida, is recognized as one of the premier programs in the country for figurative sculpture.
Elizabeth Sauer
Sauer's work was featured in "500 Figures," published by Lark Books, as well as promotional literature for the University of Florida Department of Ceramics. In addition to ceramic art, Sauer practices installation and performance art. She is also trained in traditional Irish step dancing.
Sauer is one of eight up-and-coming or more established artists who are visiting the area through November. The series began Sept. 4.
The Richmond Center is staging the series of lectures in conjunction with its exhibition schedule in support of the thematic approach to its calendar of events. Presentations, gallery talks and workshops are being given throughout the 12-month schedule. The lectures are presented either in the center's galleries surrounded by art in the exhibitions or in the 120-seat, state-of-the-art lecture hall adjacent to the galleries, depending on with venue is deemed most suited for the audience. All presentations are free and open to the public.
Upcoming presentations
- Sept. 25: Paul D'Agostino.
D'Agostino is an artist, writer, translator and professor living in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where he has been curating art exhibits since 2008. He holds a doctoral degree in Italian literature and is adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at City University of New York, Brooklyn College, where he also works in the art department as a writing advisor.
- Oct. 16: Armita Raafat.
Raafat received her bachelor of fine arts degree from Al-Zahra University in Tehran and completed her master of fine arts degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008. She currently lives and works in New York. Her work has been featured in several solo and group exhibitions in Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Tehran and Seoul, South Korea.
- Oct. 30: Jorge Pineda.
Pineda was born in Barahona, Dominican Republic. A visual artist, his areas of work include painting, sculpture, installation, sketch and other mediums. Pineda is also recognized for his activism through his artwork, which has generated a multitude of works that address child abuse, environmentalism, gender equality and immigration issues.
- Nov 6: Molly Schoenhoff.
Schoenhoff is an artist, graphic designer and design educator with particular interests in regenerative culture, visual poetics, typography, design history and cultural studies. She graduated from University of Cincinnati and holds a master of fine arts degree in graphic design from Rhode Island School of Design. She resides in Athens, Ohio, where she teaches graphic design, bookmaking and letterpress printing and graduate studies at Ohio University.
- Nov. 13: Ranjana Khanna.
Khanna is the Margaret Taylor Smith Director of Women's Studies and professor of English, women's studies and the literature program at Duke University. She works on Anglo- and Francophone post colonial theory and literature and film, psychoanalysis and feminist theory.
- Nov. 20: Garth Lenz.
Lenz is an internationally renowned photographer and will discuss his work documenting the environmental consequences of oil exploration in Alberta, Canada. Drawing from images spanning 20 years, "The True Cost of Oil" illustrates and contrasts the beauty, diversity and biological significance of Canada's boreal forest with the world's largest energy project, The Alberta Tar Sands.
For more information, visit wmich.edu/art/exhibitions/visitingartists.