A&D NEWS

June 10, 2013

(in)Habitation Reviewed

The work of Stamps faculty Osman Khan and Matt Kenyon is featured in (in)Habitation, currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. The show, which opened on Friday, June 7, 2013, has been reviewed on artfizz.

artfizz blog: (in)Habitation :: MOCAD

June 6, 2013

Millner at Robischon Gallery

Andrew Millner (BFA ‘89) is exhibiting his work in Denver’s venerable Robischon Gallery from May 16 to June 27, 2013. The show “Materialized” includes concurrent solo exhibitions by Millner, Jae Ko, Lisa Stefanelli, and Linda Fleming.

Robischon Gallery
1740 Wazee Street
Denver, CO 80202

June 4, 2013

Janie Paul’s Work Included in Venice Biennale

Janie Paul‘s work is included in the Small Works Project, a collaboration between The Library Street Collective Gallery in Detroit and Bennetton. This project will be included in the 2013 Venice Biennale.

Library Street Collective is proud to announce an exciting partnership with the Luciano Benetton Foundation based in Treviso, Italy. A few months ago, Library Street Collective had the honor of giving Luciano Benetton an extensive tour of our great city. Luciano, founder of the global fashion brand United Colors of Benetton and Benetton Group S.p.A, has since taken an interest in the work of several Detroit artists. It was during his visit that the Benetton’s asked Library Street Collective to curate a social project and exhibition titled the Small Canvas Project. We were given the task of selecting over 100 artists throughout the United States to participate in this exhibit. The artists were encouraged to use their vision to explore themes ranging from complete abstraction to photorealism in whatever medium they felt represented them best. Through this communicative process the artists would introduce themselves to a broader audience and remind us what characteristics make them unique. We are happy to say that many of the artists selected have roots in the City of Detroit.

We are also exited to announce that the collection of small works will be exhibited at the 2013 Venice Biennale. Coinciding with the exhibition, the photographs of all the works as well as the biographies of the artists will be compiled into a book. There have been books published based on similar artist exhibitions sponsored by the Benetton Foundation in Eastern Europe (Looking Eastward) and Latin America (Ojo Latino). The book will also include a two-part Introduction written by gallery co-owners Matthew Eaton and Anthony Curis. The gallery will have copies of the published book in the coming months.

http://lscgallery.com/our-partnership-with-the-luciano-benetton-foundation/

June 4, 2013

Francie Hester Exhibits at Capital Arts Network

This month, Francie Hester‘s (BFA 1982) work will be exhibited at Capital Arts Network, a newly opened art center in the Washington DC area.  The inaugural show was curated by Judith HeartSong, the founder and director of CAN. Hester will be showing her Connectome Series, which is inspired by the scientific studies of mapping the brain - an ongoing study to unlock the mystery of memory by charting the mind’s electrical currents.

A Grand Obsession
Artists: Francie Hester, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Michael Enn Sirvet, Betsy Stewart, and Eve Stockton
Exhibition Opening: June 7th from 6 to 9 pm

Capital Arts Networks
12276 Wilkins Ave. Rockville, MD 20852

June 4, 2013

Shiva Ahmadi at Venice Biennale

Shiva Ahmadi’s work is included in the Small Works Project, a collaboration between The Library Street Collective Gallery in Detroit and Bennetton. This project will be included in the 2013 Venice Biennale.

Library Street Collective is proud to announce an exciting partnership with the Luciano Benetton Foundation based in Treviso, Italy. A few months ago, Library Street Collective had the honor of giving Luciano Benetton an extensive tour of our great city. Luciano, founder of the global fashion brand United Colors of Benetton and Benetton Group S.p.A, has since taken an interest in the work of several Detroit artists. It was during his visit that the Benetton’s asked Library Street Collective to curate a social project and exhibition titled the Small Canvas Project. We were given the task of selecting over 100 artists throughout the United States to participate in this exhibit. The artists were encouraged to use their vision to explore themes ranging from complete abstraction to photorealism in whatever medium they felt represented them best. Through this communicative process the artists would introduce themselves to a broader audience and remind us what characteristics make them unique. We are happy to say that many of the artists selected have roots in the City of Detroit.

We are also exited to announce that the collection of small works will be exhibited at the 2013 Venice Biennale. Coinciding with the exhibition, the photographs of all the works as well as the biographies of the artists will be compiled into a book. There have been books published based on similar artist exhibitions sponsored by the Benetton Foundation in Eastern Europe (Looking Eastward) and Latin America (Ojo Latino). The book will also include a two-part Introduction written by gallery co-owners Matthew Eaton and Anthony Curis. The gallery will have copies of the published book in the coming months.

http://lscgallery.com/our-partnership-with-the-luciano-benetton-foundation/

June 4, 2013

Ann Bartges Exhibits in Melbourne

Ann Bartges (MFA Candidate 2014) will exhibit her recent video installation, Siren Song, as part of the NOW 13 exhibition at Dark Horse Experiment in Melbourne, Australia. The exhibition will run from Saturday May 15th to Saturday July 13th, 2013.

Exhibition curator Georgie Roxby Smith writes: “NOW 13 brings together a diverse group of research artists from Australia, United States and Asia on the cutting edge of new media art, game art, animation and experimental digital media. From the controversial to the irreverent, these artists work to deconstruct the digital interface through networking, interactivity and medium as they challenge and question the global reality of living in a digital age in series of works never seen before in Australia. The artists form a loose collective, having met and shared common research objectives in digital art festivals, studio spaces and graduate programs, reconnecting for NOW13 across virtual and physical divides.”

Dark Horse Experiment
110 Franklin Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Australia

Opening hours: Wed to Sat 12–6pm

May 31, 2013

Richard L. Sears: 1924-2013

We have learned that Professor Emeritus Richard Sears passed away on May 25, 2013. Dick was a beloved faculty member and colleague, and a dedicated artist who continued to create and exhibit new work long after his retirement from the University in 1989. Dick’s wife Robin A. S. Haynes shared with us the following announcement about this remarkable individual:

Richard L. Sears, a beloved, kind, and gentle man, died on May 25, 2013. Born and raised in the small towns of the high desert of southern rural California, “Dick” grew up expecting life to be framed by mountains. The only child of Mildred and Harold Sears, the dreamy boy drew sailing ships and World War I-era airplanes, far beyond his experience, but not his imagination.

After service in Africa and Europe during World War II, Dick received an education he never thought possible, thanks to the GI Bill. After graduate work at the University of Iowa and a MFA from University of California, Berkeley, he came to the Midwest as an instructor in drawing and painting at the University of Michigan in 1953. He retired in 1989 as a full professor in the Department of Art and Design from the same institution. Ignoring the administration as best he could, Dick focused on what mattered most to him – teaching students to see better, while trying to increase his own ability to perceive the spatial compositions of his environment in paint, pencil, sculpture, and photography. Thousands of students benefited from his encouragement, corrections, and reminders to measure, all delivered in a sneakily relaxed manner.

Upon retirement, Dick moved to Maine and returned to his real work of full-time seeing, painting, and drawing, particularly enjoying the trees and rocks of Maine. Richard Sears exhibited from Maine to California, often more appreciated by the eyes of other artists than by the public at large. His last show, which was in Bath, Maine during the fall of 2012, contained numerous examples of his joyous and colorful works, particularly watercolors of recent years.

Richard Sears is survived by his wife Robin A. S. Haynes of Bath, his daughters Anne L. Sears and Alison de los Santos, both of Kalamazoo, Michigan, son-in-law Robert Mata de los Santos, and the family of close friends and former students who treasured him.

His memory is best honored by remembering the ideas he taught and looking daily at the beauty of a loved one’s face, the fascinating and shifting movements of the open sky, and the simple lines and intricacies of all landscapes - – none of which, like Dick, is ever only ordinary.

May 29, 2013

Bryan Rogers: 1941 - 2013

Bryan Rogers in 2012 wearing a jet pack and helmet, retirement gifts from the Stamps community.

It is with profound sadness that the Stamps School of Art & Design announces that former dean Bryan Rogers passed away on May 28, 2013 following a lengthy illness. He was at his home in the loving care of his wife Cynthi and son Kyle.

Bryan was appointed dean of the Stamps School in 2000, following a successful tenure as head of the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. As soon as he arrived on campus, Bryan set about to transform the School and the arts at Michigan. His vision for the Stamps School was three-fold: (1) to make the arts part of the intellectual DNA of the wide-ranging domains that compose the University of Michigan, (2) to connect A&D students and faculty with their creative pursuits and the wider world through interdisciplinary collaborations, regional outreach programs and global learning exchanges, and (3) to send into the world well-rounded individuals with a strong set of technical and conceptual skills, a deep well of creative confidence, a capacity for continuing self-education, an appreciation for other cultures and perspectives, a well-honed critical intelligence, and an abiding passion for engagement with their communities and their world. His pioneering vision—honed during his time as Carnegie Mellon and fully realized at the University of Michigan—has led the way in transforming art-design education at American universities and in championing the critical role of creativity in education. His work has inspired a generation of creative thinkers and practitioners to move beyond centuries-old conventions and embrace new paradigms grounded in critical engagement, community and global awareness, and an understanding of the significant role artists and designers play in society.

Bryan’s successes in achieving his vision are everywhere - an endowment for the School that ensures a bright future for the visual arts on campus; a curriculum that encourages thoughtful, creative, interdisciplinary problem-making and problem-solving; a tenured/tenure-track faculty that doubled in size during his tenure and reflects the range of contemporary creative practice; expanded and improved facilities including private studio space for faculty, graduate students, and seniors; thriving national and international engagement programs that move art-design out of the classroom and into the local and global communities; a dedicated and professional staff capable of supporting ambitious programs and services; and, a hard-won recognition of the importance of art and design on campus, including the founding of ArtsEngine.

University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman confirms: “The engaging learning that students experience in the Stamps School of Art & Design is due to the vision and leadership of Bryan Rogers. His belief in a program that is global, creative and connected led to dramatic changes that advanced the Stamps School. We will miss his gentle spirit, and will continue to benefit from his important work as a scholar, dean and leader.”

“For those who worked closely with Bryan, he is remembered most for his wry and often wicked sense of humor, his grace and devoted friendship, his love of music and reading, and the many acts of kindness that he performed without an expectation of thanks or recognition,” said Guna Nadarajan, current Dean of the Stamps School of Art & Design. “I will always remember fondly and with deep appreciation the generosity of spirit and support he extended me as I transitioned into my position as Dean at the school. Bryan has left both a professional and human legacy that we can all aspire to.”

A celebration of Bryan’s life will be held at a later date, and information will be shared as soon as it is available.  Until then, cards and notes for Bryan’s family may be sent to Stamps School Dean’s Office, 2000 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor MI,  48109.  Please feel free to leave remembrances or messages on Facebook, or via email.

May 28, 2013

Nick Tobier in Brussels

Nick Tobier’s performance project Music Box Marching Band has its European premiere on Wednesday May 29 in Brussels, Belgium. Music Box Marching Band threads solo performers through the streets of Brussels, each cranking a tiny music box to form a marching ensemble that plays Frank Sinatra’s My Way. Nick is in Brussels as an artist in residence at ISB/ The International School of Brussels, and is also a visiting faculty member at final juries for two art and design programs in the city, ENSBA/ St. Luc and La Cambre.

http://www.everydayplaces.com/

May 28, 2013

Rebekah Modrak Awarded OVPR Creative Projects Grant

Associate Professor Rebekah Modrak has been awarded support from OVPR for the production of a new work to premiere in August 2013. The piece, Re Made Co., is a recreation of the Best Made Co.’s website and video about their American Felling Axe. The OVPR award is supplemented by cost-sharing contributions by the Stamps School of Art & Design.