Truman State University Art Department

Internship Congratulations!

Art History junior Valerie Lazalier has just been awarded a Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum Internship for June & July 2009.  CONGRATULATIONS, Valerie!

To learn more about the Truman Library & Museum, please visit http://www.trumanlibrary.org/index.php  To learn more about the internship, please visit:  http://www.trumanlibrary.org/voluntee/intern.htm or contact Dr. Jeff Gall (History) at jgall@truman.edu.  A link to Valerie's Rome study abroad blog also appears on the right of this very blog.

Art History alumna graduates from Oxford

Allison Meadows (BA, Art History, 2008, Truman State University) recently received an MS degree in Material Anthropology and Museum Ethnography from Oxford University in the U.K. and sent us this picture.   Congratulations, Allison!

Art History Majors to Present Out-of-Classroom Experiences

On Monday, October 26 at 5:30 p.m. in OP2210, four Art History majors will give presentations about their Out-of-Classroom experiences.  These experiences are part of the Art History major and students may choose to do anything that takes them out of the classroom and allows them to apply their art historical knowledge in new settings.  In the past, students have done internships, learned art-making techniques such as fresco, studied abroad, participated in archaeological digs, and so on.  The following students, who completed their Out-of-Classroom Experiences during Summer 2009, will present on Monday:

Ruby Jenkins, study abroad in Florence

Valerie Lazalier, study abroad in Rome

Samantha Lyons, study abroad in France

Cecilia Muruato, study abroad in Rome

The presentations will be followed by an informal reception including snacks and are organized by the Art History Society (the club for students interested in Art History). 

Alumnus Dr. Ryan Gregg to speak about Florentine Renaissance art

Dr. Ryan Gregg, who graduated from the Art Department (Art History) in 1999, will return to campus in mid-October.  Since graduating from Truman, Dr. Gregg has worked at the Art Institute of Chicago, earned a master's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, and received his Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance Art History from The Johns Hopkins University.  He currently teaches Art History at Webster University in St. Louis.

During his visit, Dr. Gregg will meet with Art History and other students as well as with the student club Art History Society.  In addition, he will give a public lecture about his research.  Information about that talk follows:

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False Advertising in the Renaissance:  Fabricating Military Architecture in Images of Siege Warfare

It was common practice in the Renaissance to include a bird's-eye view of a city in images of warfare.  Such images normally offered a recognizable portrait of the city.  Occasionally, however, artists would alter or embellish a city's fortifications for propagandistic purposes. This paper, after first explaining how such city views were made, will discuss an example by the Florentine artist Giorgio Vasari of such fabrication, found in his painting in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence celebrating Europe's 1532 defense of Vienna against the Islamic Ottoman Empire—a battle that never actually occurred.

Monday, October 19, 2009

6:00 p.m.

OP2210

Free and open to the public.

This event is generously sponsored by the University Art Gallery.

Jill Weinreich to speak and answer questions about living in Venice and working with the Venice Biennale

Jill Weinreich has lived and worked in Venice for thirteen years, working most recently as on-site logistics coordinator and project manager for the American pavilion at the Venice Biennale (biennial international contemporary art exhibition held in Venice, Italy).  At the Biennale in 2003 Ms. Weinreich worked with the Fred Wilson exhibition and this past year, 2009, with the Bruce Nauman exhibition ("Topological Gardens") which won the Lion d’Oro award for Best National Participation.  Jill will give a brief informal presentation about living in Venice as well as about her experiences working with artists and exhibitions in Venice.  To be followed by Q&A.  Ms. Weinreich holds a BA in Arts and Humanities from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MA in Arts Administration from New York University.

For more information about the Venice Biennale, see for example:  http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/index.html

For more information about the Bruce Nauman exhibition "Topological Gardens" see for example: http://www.naumaninvenice.org/

There are also You Tube and other clips with video footage of the exhibition so happy surfing!  Hope to see you there!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Ophelia Parrish, Room 2210

Truman State University

6:00 p.m.

Free and open to public.  This event sponsored by the Truman State University Art Gallery (special thanks to Prof. Aaron Fine).

Survey II students explore Renaissance manuscripts

(The picture above was taken during last year's visit to Special Collections with director of Special Collections Elaine Doak)

Students in Survey II (ART223 Art in Europe and America from the Renaissance to the Present Day) spent this morning's class time exploring Truman State University's Renaissance manuscript holdings.  Students paged through and studied French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin manuscripts dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and including the University's beautiful late fifteenth-century book of hours. This semester's visit also featured manuscripts on loan to the University from The Remnant Trust (on view in the west display corridor until November 6, 2009), including a mid-fifteenth-century Latin manuscript with beautiful illuminated initials.  The visit connected with class study of Renaissance art history and students' research work with primary sources. 

(Page spread from the Book of Hours (France, late fifteenth century) showing the Adoration of the Magi on the left page)

Special Collections is on the third floor of Pickler Memorial Library (PML303) and is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. so go see these manuscripts yourself!  http://library.truman.edu/departments/specialcollections.asp

Gallery Faculty Show Reception

Join the Art Department tonight in the University Art Gallery at 6:00 p.m. for the opening reception of the new exhibition of Aaron Fine, Priya Kambli and Wynne Wilbur's artwork. See you there.

Welcome

Welcome to the Art Department Blog. This is a new feature for the department this year. My intention is for faculty, students, prospective students and alumni to interact through this site. Hopefully, this is where all the current activity in the department will show up. If you are an alumni, student or student group, please email me if you want to participate and contribute to the great things we are accomplishing in the Art Department.

Rusty Nelson
Art Department Chair
rlnelson@truman.edu

Program News

• The Fibers program was featured in the 2009 Spring issue of Surface Design Association Journal. Faculty and student work were highlighted.
• The Visual Communications program has restructured requirements in the major to encourage Study Abroad, semester-long internships and alternative semester opportunities. These changes are in effect for the 2009-2010 catalog. For details, please contact Rusty Nelson or Matt Derezinski.
• The University Art Gallery has a new security system.

Student and Alumni Accomplishments

• Kelsey Wiskirchen received an assistantship/scholarship to attend University of Arizona (Fibers MFA).
• Allison Meadows continues her work in Art History and Anthropology at Oxford University in the UK.
• Katharyn Reed is now serving in the Peace Corps teaching art at the School for the Deaf in Ghana.
• Dr. John Garton finished his first year as professor of Art History at Clark University in Massachusetts.
• Dr. Mike Murawski is employed as School Services Director at the St. Louis Art Museum.
• Valarie Lazalier and Ruby Jenkins are returning from study abroad in Italy and Sam Lyons from study abroad in France.
• Megan Dowdy received multiple awards including Best of Show at the 5th Annual Design Conference in Dallas, Texas.
• Victoria Weaver's illustration work was also accepted 5th Annual Design Conference.
• Megan Dowdy and Victoria Weaver's design and illustration work were accepted and published in Creative Quarterly 15 Magazine.
• Rosemary Melton received an internship to work at Firecracker Press running letterpress and screenprinting.
• Galen Gibson-Cornell received a research grant to study lithography.
• James Lang (BFA Painting - 2009)is pursuing a law degree.
• Alex Merchant (BFA Painting) accepted a position with Residential Life at University of Arizona.
• Heather Macionus (BFA Painting - 2007) is the studio manager for Swoon, a street artist turned renouned installation artist.
• Dusty Folwarczny has a sculpture piece in the 2009 Lakefront Sculpture Exhibit in Chicago