Please Join us for the Opening Reception of
CHU: A Solo Exhibition of Ceramic Sculpture by Yanlin Hu
Visual Art Installation Space, Art Building Room 109
Monday April 16, 2018, 6:30-8:30pm
#uconnart
Design Students Study Abroad in London and Explore the UK Design World
Junior-year Communication Design students are spending their Spring Semester studying at Central St. Martins in London, one of Europe’s premier art schools. In a unique curriculum, they undertake projects collaboratively with their UK counterparts. The program also incorporates an ambitious schedule of visits to design studios and museums. To find out more, visit the UCdesignUK blog.
Freshmen Students Visit New York City
Professors Deborah Dancy, Ray DiCapua and John O’Donnell led a group of 35 freshmen students from the Foundations class on a fantastic day trip to New York City’s Chelsea gallery district. They visited an amazing slew of exhibitions, including Louise Bourgeouis, Neo Rauch, Judy Pfaff, Arturo Herrera and many more. Along the way, they made time for a short stop in at Printed Matter, a walk on the High Line, and a lunch break. The art was challenging and inspiring, and a fabulous group of students totally rocked it!
Education Abroad Expands Creative Vision and Enhances Professional Readiness
Higher education has embraced rigorous education abroad programs to encourage students to think like global citizens. The Institute of International Education notes that international experience is one of the most important components of a 21st century education.
Globalization is changing the way the world works, and employers are increasingly looking for workers who have international skills and experience. Alum Shane Milano (BFA Studio Art: Communication Design ’12), a designer at national ad agency Hill Holiday, notes that during job interviews prospective employers asked many questions both about his internships and also about his study abroad experiences. Art history students aiming to build careers in museums and non-profits need global experience to complement their studies.
Our Study Abroad programs are faculty-led and provide classroom and experiential learning opportunities that are directly integrated with our curriculum. The semester-long program in Florence, Italy, focuses on observational drawing, painting, and photography, and uses the city and its art traditions for inspiration. The semester-long program at Central St. Martins, London, takes students to a leading European art school to study design, typography, and book arts alongside their English counterparts. Art History students often participate in UConn’s Florence and Paris programs, both of which offer specialized art history courses. Learn more by visiting UConn Education Abroad.
New Stop-Motion Labs Open This Semester
Our new Stop-Motion Labs in Bishop Center are open and Professor Alison Paul is teaching her first classes there. The students will experiment with a range of materials and methods in creating their stop-motion animations. The shooting stations in the lab are state-of-the-art and were built for maximum installation flexibility and image quality. Graduate students in the class have a separate lab. Demand for the course is high, with students from Puppetry and Digital Media joining our Art & Art History students.
Alum Chris Cater publishes first cartoon in The New Yorker
Alum Chris Cater (Illustration) published his first New Yorker magazine cartoon on August 1, 2014. Chris’s hard work and creativity has landed him a spot in the magazine noted for a being a venerable showcase of the smartest cartoonists publishing today.
Contemporary Art Galleries Recognized as Top Ten Place to View Contemporary Art
The Culture Trip, an influential website, has named the Department’s Contemporary Art Galleries as one of the Top Ten places to view Contemporary Art in Connecticut. The article notes that CAG focuses on “forefronting the biggest trends in contemporary art and exploring interdisciplinary crossover. Architecture, design, photography, performance, music, film, video and fine art all rub shoulders within and on its walls, and series of artists talks and art criticism also provide debate and discussion.” CAG is in good company on this list, which also cites the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, and Real Art Ways.
Art & Art History Students Excel, Win Prestigious University Awards
Art & Art History students have proved themselves to be high achievers, sweeping some of the University’s most prestigious awards for undergraduate academic achievement and research.
Three Art & Art History students have been awarded University Scholar status, the highest honor for academic achievement, and one which enables students to undertake an independent research project with a team of faculty advisors. To put this achievement in context, only twenty-two awards are given.
Six Art & Art History students received IDEA grants, which enable students to pursue an independent project that i s creative, innovative and entrepreneurial. Only twenty IDEA grants are awarded to the entire student body.
“We’re very proud of the academic and creative success of our students,” said Department Head Anne D’Alleva. “This reflects the faculty’s strong commitment to mentoring our students, and the University’s willingness to embrace and promote achievement in the arts.”
Illustration Student Wins Highly Competitive National Scholarship
BFA student Hayato Jin Kawai’s illustration, “FUN WITH KIM AND DENNY”, has been officially selected by the Society of Illustrators in New York, for their Student Scholarship Show. In addition, Jin was one of a select few students to receive a scholarship from the Society.
The Society of Illustrators exhibition is truly the top showcase for up-and-coming illustrators, and we are proud to have Jin be a part of it. His work will not only be exhibited in the Museum of American Illustration in New York, but it will also be featured in the Society’s catalog, which is distributed to editors and art directors around the world.
This is the first time the University of Connecticut has had a student selected. The selection process is highly competitive, as the Society only selects about 5% from their pool of entrants for the exhibition. Of those, only a select few receive scholarships.
AAH and Creative Writing Establish Counterproof Press
Counterproof Press is an exciting new collaboration between the Creative Writing Program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and programs in Printmaking, Communication Design and Illustration, as well as the Design Center Studio, in the Department of Art + Art History at the School of Fine Arts.
Counterproof Press will facilitate collaborative studio projects whereby students, faculty, and visiting artists/scholars from various disciplines collaborate to produce limited edition art objects, artifacts, and publications.
We will develop a collection of yearly projects, events, and collaborations that will be documented and published by Counterproof Press.
Counterproof Press also plans to initiate internships, courses, donor subscription programs, membership programs, fundraising events, and operate on a regional, national, and international level by leveraging internal and external funding support.
This initiative will have high visibility via its online presence with a dedicated identity, website and associated exhibition, print, social media marketing, PR and promotion.
FACULTY MEMBERS
For upcoming projects in 2014 and 2015
Penelope Pelizzon: Creative Writing Program, English Department
Mary Banas: Communication Design, Art + Art History Department
Cora Lynn Deibler: Illustration, Art + Art History Department
Alison Paul: Illustration, Art + Art History Department
Laurie Sloan: Printmaking, Art + Art History Department
Edvin Yegir: Communication Design & Design Center, Art + Art History Department
Mark Zurolo: Communication Design, Art + Art History Department
VISITING / CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS for 2014
Paul Muldoon: The 51st Wallace Stevens Poet, English Department
Sharon Butler: Visiting Artist in Residence; Art+Art History Department
UPCOMING INTERDISCIPLINARY PROJECTS / PUBLICATIONS in 2014
PROJECT 01
PAUL MULDOON / WALLACE STEVENS POEM PROJECT
Widely considered to be the greatest English-language poet of his generation, Paul Muldoon was born in Ireland in 1951. He has published over a dozen collections and has been honored with the Pulitzer Prize and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He will visit UConn on April 10 as the 51st Wallace Stevens Poetry Program guest. His visit is sponsored by The Hartford, the UConn Humanities Institute, and the English Department Speaker’s Fund in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Mr. Muldoon will generously allow students to print one of his new poems as a limited-edition letterpress booklet created by Design Center and hand-printed by student artists in the Printmaking studio. This will be the inauguration of what we plan as an annual project to coincide with each year’s visiting Wallace Stevens Poet.
PROJECT 02
HAPPENSTANCE CHARRETTE
Happenstance involves a collaboration/encounter between a group of student poets, artists, and designers. Happenstance is an improvisational and experimental creative charrette to be held at the Printmaking facilities in Bishop to facilitate dialogue between poets and visual artists; this encounter will result in a collaborative product in the form of a limited edition publications and an exhibition.
PROJECT 03
SHARON BUTLER PRINT SERIES
Sharon L. Butler, an artist and writer, maintains an award-winning art blog, Two Coats of Paint, blogs for The Huffington Post. Her art work is included in private collections in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore, Tampa, Philadelphia, Providence, Berlin, London and Kyoto.
Sharon Butler will be in residence throughout this semester to create a series of prints. Students will benefit by learning to professionally edition the works and by observing Sharon’s art and process.
AAH Convocation: Brave New Art World
Featuring “Two Coats of Paint” art blogger and artist Sharon Butler and New Zealand multimedia artist Shigeyuki Kihara, this panel will explore the contemporary art world from two perspectives. What are the emerging trends in contemporary art? How can young artists get their work shown? How does social media affect what happens in art? Sharon Butler is a long-time commentator on and participant in the New York art scene, and Shigeyuki Kihara is a visitor to New York, currently serving as artist-in-residence at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in Brooklyn. Kihara has exhibited recently at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the Trondheim Museum, Norway; and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. Butler is represented by Pocket Utopia gallery in New York, and has exhibited at Real Art Ways in Hartford and Season in Seattle, WA.
“Brave New Art World” will take place Thursday, September 19, at 6 pm. This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Art and Art History and the William Benton Museum of Art, with the generous support of the Gene and Georgia Mittelman Lecture Fund. It is free and open to the public. All Art and Art History students are required to attend.