Insider Moment at the DAM with Hamilton Artist Brian Knep

Watch an artist at work in the museum and hear the back story at this Insider Moment. Join master teacher Heather Nielsen for a special look at new media artist Brian Knep and his interactive installation for the museum, Exempla.

For his artwork Exempla, Boston-based artist Knep was inspired by a three-year-old’s drawings that he saved from a friend’s recycling bin. This moment will take place mid-installation and you’ll have the opportunity to see how the cartoonish creatures in the artwork multiply and cover the gallery walls reacting to the changes we impose on their world. Hear how his vision came to life using new technology and see how you, the visitor, can interact and change the artwork.

Free with general admission. No reservations needed. Please meet on level two of the Hamilton Building in the Precourt Family Discovery Hall, near the elevators.

Link to the Denver Art Museum's website here for more information.

Marsico Visiting Artist Lecture Wednesday April 25, 6 pm!

New Media Artist Denis Summers will talk about his project to connect painting and physics as well as several other works, including his environmentally-concerned Crying Post installations, his "moving color field paintings" from the Phase Shift Video Series, and his animation of Marcel Duchamp's Large Glass.

Dr. Susan Huntington Shares Her Exciting New Research

Dr. Susan Huntington, Distinguished University Professor Emerita at The Ohio State University gave a lecture entitled “Early Buddhist Art and the Emperor’s New Clothes,” on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 6 pm in SAB 119.  This event was sponsored by the Mary Lanius Endowed Lecture Series which supports events on Asian Art in the School of Art and Art History.

Professor Huntington spoke about her ground-breaking research on early Buddhist Art.  In early publications on this type of imagery, scholars assumed that images of the Bodhi Tree, Wheels, and Stupas conveyed symbolic representations of the Buddha’s presence.  Instead, Dr. Huntington interprets these images as reflective of pilgrimages made by the laity to significant sites of early Buddhist worship.  In her lecture, she exposed some of the Eurocentric preconceptions of early scholarship on Indian Art, and discussed the ways in which statues of the Buddha were imbued with reliquary power by the addition of scrolls and wooden backbones. 

Rokeya Sultana, visiting artist and Fulbright scholar discussed her paintings, prints and experiences visiting the US in the Printmaking Studio - Shwayder top floor room 230 April 18, 2012
 
Visiting art Fulbright Scholar Rokeya Sultana, professor of art and faculty of fine art at Dhaka University in Bangladesh

o Sultana is researching how to use fewer chemicals in printmaking. Her thesis is titled "Possibilities of Etching and in Representation of Identity."
 
o Her main focus is to explore the idea of womanhood in a changing world of a slowly progressing society using materials that are chemical-free and easy to apply.
 
o Rokeya's art is a reflection of loss and displacement, and the impermanence in life. She was influenced in her formative years by the tumultuous 1971 revolution that created Bangladesh, and the evolution of a strong cultural identity in her country's art and society.

Mixed Media Blog: The New Source for all SAAH News!

 All previous news stories from the SAAH website can now be found below!!

 

 Artist and SFS alumna Cornelia Carpenter Kenya Fall '09 is mapping the land -- and spirit -- of the Australian rainforest.

 

State of the Art A new building brings renewed focus to DU’s School of Art and Art History. Read Full Story

 

Ralph and Trish Nagel: Cultivating Creativity  Ralph and Trish Nagel can spot opportunity even if it’s buried under sod and trampled by short-cutting pedestrians. Witness the  read more...

 

Rolling Stones album cover part of upcoming Warhol show at DU gallery  This 1977 album cover designed by Andy Warhol is among a number of works by the noted pop artist that  read more...

 

Trygve and Victoria Myhren: The gift of a gallery  He is inspired by intersections, by the marriage of communication, technology and creativity. She is drawn by color and abstraction  read more...

 

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MFA Student, Allie Pohl Featured in Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/art/ci_14795304

 

SAAH Professor featured on Fox News!
http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-du-gaming-020210,0,7996170.story

"DU Today" Celebrates Professor Maynard Tischler

Link to the article here:  Zen and the Teaching of Art

Dr. Mary Ann Scott Honored

Dr. Mary Ann Scott taught Art History at DU from 1985 until her untimely death in 1988.  She was a scholar of seventeenth century Dutch Art.  She had written her Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Maryland on the Dutch genre painter Cornelis Bega, under the direction of Dr. Arthur Wheelock, who remains the Curator of Northern Baroque Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.  Dr. Scott was completing a book on Bega when she died.

  Recently Dr. Wheelock informed us that he contributed  to an exhibition, “Cornelis Bega: Elegance and Uncouth Manners,” that opened in March 2012 in Aachen, Germany at the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, traveling onto the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen in Berlin in July.  The catalog of the exhibition is dedicated to Mary Ann because of her pioneering work on this little known artist.  It is a great honor and tribute to her hard work locating his paintings in collections around the world.  A special tribute was paid to her at the opening reception.   

  A small fund established in her memory within the School of Art and Art History awards promising students who choose to study the history of art.  Donations in her honor are always 

welcomed.  

Michael Salter, Associate Professor of Digital Arts at the University of Oregon, is an artist concerned with the proliferation of graphic icons that are used in contemporary advertising, invading all public space.  With a background in sculpture and graphic design, his art work today includes electronic media, paintings and sculptures, including giant robots made from discarded Styrofoam computer packaging.  Sponsored by a Marsico Visiting Scholars Grant, Salter gave a lecture on his work on Thursday, February 16 to a full crowd in the HyperCube on the third floor.  He worked earlier in the week with eMAD students to produce a wall of his designs rendered in vinyl. 

      He has shown his art nationally and internationally in Brussels, New York, L.A., Portland, London, Amsterdam, Miami, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Seattle, Atlanta and Chicago. His work has been featured in Art In America, Best Art NY 2009, Dot Dot Dash, Pictoplasma2, Grab Magazine, Arkitip Magazine, Repellent Magazine, and LoDown Magazine.  

DU SAAH Faculty Triennial

As students spilled out of class, a crowd had already gathered for the opening of the School of Art and Art History's Faculty Triennial. There was a great mix of excited students, experienced artists and dedicated art lovers - snacking and imbibing as they perused the incredible offerings of DU's faculty. A scan of the room quickly reveals the skill, creativity, and unique perspective of the instructors. This inspiring show was deftly curated and designed by Dan Jacobs and his gallery staff, grad students Anna Estes and Nessa Kerr. Students do not grow without the knowledge and inspiration of their teacher, so it is a great opportunity to celebrate the art of these important motivators. 

Marsico Visiting Artist Toni Mosely's Workshop: Creating Prints with DU Students

Toni arrived on Tuesday January 10 and started by setting up that afternoon. Catherine Chauvin's "Experiences in the Visual Arts" class helped her mix ink. It was a typical snowy Wednesday in Denver, the perfect day for the Workshop to start. First, the "Screen Print" class created rubbings all around the Shwayder Art Building. These became the base of several photo-screen prints which were used as the base of prints created by workshop participants. They then used the screens to print their own textures, layering hand cut stencils on top. Since the class used this method in their assignments, the preview of this tricky process helped immensely. 


On Thursday, Susan Meyer brought in two drawing classes to participate in the workshop. The first class had beginning students who used the textures and hand cut stencils to create their prints. Then, the intermediate class used a water based monotype process in order to have a more drawing-based experience. The day flew by with many students stopping by from 2-D Foundations to Advanced Problems, all looking forward to making prints. By the time Catherine’s Experiences in the Visual Arts class met, they found all the ink they had mixed had been used!  They decided to make a group piece – based on an Exquisite Corpse and each of them printed an individual piece as well.  All in all, over 50 people participated in the workshop, all printing in one day.  After that, Toni was “a bit knackered”  (exhausted) for her talk that evening – but it was well attended and she shared with the students a different view of artmaking and maintaining a studio practice wherever you go!

By Catherine Chauvin

Hamilton Visiting Artist Rupprecht Matthies' Public Lecture

On Monday October 17 at 6 pm Rupprecht Matthies delivered a public lecture on his work. The lecture was in the HyperCube space, located in Shwayder Art Building (top Floor).  Rupprecht Matthies was the third in the series of Hamilton Visiting Artists.  Thanks to the generosity of the Hamilton Family Fund, the Visiting Artists program has created opportunities for students to work with internationally recognized professional artists, while also strengthening the ties between the School of Art and Art History and the Denver Art Museum, where these artists are also doing installations or giving additional lectures. 

Rupprecht Matthies’ work focuses on communication and discussion. He considers himself a mediator and concentrates on words that express life, or that signify something important, or that are simply the favorite words of his subjects. Using the power of each remark, he creates an installation that ultimately distills the desires of humankind.

While in Denver, he re-interpreted his installation "¿Being Home?" from the Embrace exhibition at the Denver Art Museum, for a new exhibition opening November 12, 2011. In addition, he conducted workshops at Centro San Juan Diego and at DU - where students, community, faculty, and staff were welcomed to participate.

We want to thank the Hamilton Family Foundation for their generosity in sponsoring this Visiting Artist series.

Link to the an article about Matthies from DU Today

"Changing Landscapes" in the Myhren Gallery

George Inness,  Approaching Storm, 1869

On October 6th, a student curated show featuring nineteenth century landscape paintings opened in the Victoria H. Myhren Gallery in the Swayder Art Building. This show was created in conjunction with a Curatorial Practicum class, taught by gallery director Dan Jacobs. Students were allowed direct access to the works, most of which come from DU's collection. The students chose individual works to research and interpret, and they worked together within the class to develop the theme and layout of the exhibition. These students gained first hand experience in curating an art exhibition, experiencing many of the challenges that accompany exhibitions. These challenges included, among other things, the conservation of the works, which is a process that requires time.  The final hanging of this exhibition was exciting and rewarding for the Curatorial Practicum students. As with any curator, having the works in the gallery, is the culmination of hard work, love, and patience.