Keeping you in...
The Loupe
The newsletter of the UA Department of Art and Art History ART.UA.EDU/RESOURCES/NEWSLETTER-THE-LOUPE/
Spring 2015
Alumni Issue: 70 Years of the B.F.A.
T
he year 1945 was pivotal for UA and the art department. After Congress passed
the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (better known as the “GI Bill”) at the end of World War II, schools around the country, including The University of Alabama, prepared for a large influx of new students as soldiers returned. In 1945, newly hired professor Richard Zoellner established a printmaking concentration in art at Alabama, one of only two schools in the Southeast that offered it. Also, that year, the department began to offer the professional degree for artists: the Bach-
elor of Fine Arts. In September of 1945, amidst other announcements about higher education across the nation, the New York Times ran a short notice: “Recognizing the growing demand for professional training in art in addition to the art program generally offered by Southern colleges on a cultural basis, the University of Alabama has instituted a curriculum leading to the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts. The university, which plans to erect a new Fine Arts building after the war, is setting up temporary headquarters for the enlarged department. There will be five studios, two classrooms, six offices and a large gallery.”
d
Our Front Page Image: Pictured above is a painting from 1965 by UA art alumna BARBARA PENNINGTON (BFA 1955, MA 1957) titled Selma, inspired by voting rights protests the same year in that city. Read the full story on page 7. image credit: Museum purchase with funds provided by Peggy and Bob Culbertson, the Romare Bearden Society, Sally and Russell Robinson, Mary Lou and Jim Babb and a gift of the Moreland Family. 2014.79. Collection of the Mint Museum. Image © Mint Museum of Art, Inc., reproduced here courtesy of the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC.
STUDENT NEWS ~ DEPARTMENT NEWS ~ STUDENT NEWS
Our 2015 Art Ambassadors reflect the wide variety of career choices open to art majors, both history and studio. They are, from left to right: Erin Hein, Kelby Cox, Katherine Langner, Amanda Miller, Julia Stewart, Rachel Jones, Kathryn Bornhoft and Charla Davis.
ART AMBASSADORS
three years! Katherine Langner, from San Francisco, will graduate in August with a double major in art history and public rela-
Encouraging Students by Example
tions. Kathryn Bornhoft, from Los Angeles, is a BFA track major with a concentration in sculpture and ceramics.
This year, Martha Sears cultivated a new crop of Art Ambassa-
An Array of Career Choices in Art
dors. Art and art history majors KATHRYN BORNHOFT, KELBY COX, CHARLA DAVIS, ERIN HEIN, RACHEL JONES, KATHERINE LANGNER, AMANDA MILLER and JULIA STEWART greeted and gave tours to
The variety of career plans among our ambassadors is dizzying,
potential students, parents and other visitors. Our ambassadors
proof of the wide-ranging possibilities for studio art and art
introduced themselves at the Majors Fair and Get on Board Day
history majors. Hein plans to go into art conservation. Miller
and participated in Homecoming festivities on the main quad.
wants to teach high school art and then go into arts adminis-
These students share an enthusiasm for art and a desire to “give
tration. Davis aims to be a graphic designer. After she earns an
back” before they embark on their next life stage. Some, like
MFA in illustration, Jones says “my dream job is working as a
Rachel Jones, think it is important to let prospective students
concept artist, designing for video games or graphic novels.”
know how valuable “the traditional university” experience can
Stewart says that she will “pursue a career in art galleries.” Cox
be. Jones, from Knoxville, is a BFA track major with a minor in
is applying to graduate school in art history and hopes to go into
the Blount Undergraduate Initiative program (BUI). Erin Hein, a
museum work. Langner wants to work for an art auction compa-
double major in art history and biochemistry (and a minor in the
ny. Bornhoft plans to go to graduate school and then into teach-
BUI program) from Wheaton, Illinois, “loves” her experience in
ing. Bornhoft’s words sum up quite well the driving force of all
the department and wants to share that with potential students.
of these young women: “art as an experience enriches life at all
Amanda Miller, from Cullman, is on a BFA track with a concentra-
levels and is something that should be accessible everywhere.”
tion in painting. Studio major Charla Davis, from Birmingham, is concentrating in digital media with a double minor in BUI and art
AROUND THE QUAD
history. Julia Stewart, also from Birmingham, is majoring in art history with a minor in Spanish. Kelby Cox is a double major in
Woods Quad Dedication
art history and studio art with a concentration in ceramics. Cox recently added a minor in Italian and graduated this spring, in
In the 1870s, Woods Quad was a drill field; in the 1970s it was a hangout for students and faculty. Since the mid 1990s, Woods Quad has been home to a growing number of outdoor sculptures,
The Loupe, published since 2002, is the newsletter of the NASAD -accredited Department of Art and Art History, in The University of Alabama’s College of Arts and Sciences, for students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the department. Please send correspondence to Rachel Dobson, Visual Resources Curator, rachel.dobson@ua.edu.
some definitely temporary, some possibly permanent. This past summer, Dean of Arts and Sciences Robert Olin officially dedicated the quadrangle as the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden. Billy Lee’s Homage to Brancusi has made the southeast corner of the
(loop), n. 1. a small magnifying glass used by jewelers or watchmakers, or for viewing photographic transparencies. Spring 2015
little quad its home since the sculpture won the 1993 Alabama Biennial Purchase Award. Since then, alumni artists Joe McCrea2
STUDENT NEWS ~ DEPARTMENT NEWS ~ STUDENT NEWS ry’s Goldie 1971 and Lindsay Lindsey’s Fibonacci Spiral have been ensconced in the two north corners. Associate Professor Craig Wedderspoon’s Montgomery Marker sits in the southwest corner at Manly Hall. His Vessel Series #3, part of his solo exhibition at the Birmingham Museum of Art, is the latest sculpture at the quad’s center. For more about the sculpture garden, go to http://art.ua.edu/gallery/public-sculpture/.
Ceramics graduate student Sydney Ewerth’s work was recently accepted into a national juried exhibition, Graphic Clay: A Sur-
MORE STUDENT NEWS
vey of Illustrated, Printed, and Innovative Surfaces, at Baltimore Clayworks (MD) with juror Jason Bige Burnett. Ewerth’s ceramic work was also accepted into a new national juried
UA’s art historians hosted the 20th Annual Graduate Symposium
competition: the First Annual Dirty South Mug Competition at
in Art History this year.
the River Oaks Square Arts Center in Alexandria, Louisiana. More
Amy Williamson, UAB ARH
about Sydney Ewerth here: http://wp.me/p4Zowu-2xe
graduate student and Shane Harless, grad student from Tulane (and Alabama native) shared the inaugural prize for the Best Paper. This new award, funded by Jim Harrison III, was presented March 6 at the symposium, held annually since 1996 by UA and UAB’s joint program for the MA in Art History. More info about our symposium here: http://wp.me/P4Zowu-2a Two photographic works by graduate student Sarah Austin were accepted into the 2015 SPE Combined Caucus Juried Exhibition at the Society of Photographic Education Conference, Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans this spring. The jurors were Deborah Willis, acclaimed artist and chair of the Department of
MFA candidate Claire Lewis Evans has been a whirlwind of activ-
Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU,
ity. Lewis Evans was awarded Best Three-Dimensional Artwork
and Carol McCusker, eminent scholar and Curator of Photography
for her paper and bamboo sculpture Messenger and for her paper
at the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego. More about
and reed sculpture Satellite in the online exhibition Chasing the
Austin here: http://wp.me/p4Zowu-2xs
Light (Finding the Shadow) at the virtual Still Point Art Gallery. She presented her MFA exhibition, Passages, at Northport’s The Grocery in April. The sculptural works featured in this show reflect Lewis Evans’ interest in material, process and time. Her explorations of form and space allow her to help create the universe, shaping matter and experience as the work unfolds. While her work can be approached by the viewer simply as abstract CONTINUED ON PAGE SEVEN above left:
Yummy symposium cake designed by Dr. Rachel Stephens; Sarah Austin, Fortune Teller, archival injet print, 11X16" one of the two works in 2015 SPE; top: Sydney Ewerth, Mind the Gap, ceramic, at Baltimore Clayworks; middle: Claire Lewis Evans, Passages: installation view featuring Mayflies and Suchness. Art images courtesy of each artist. bottom left:
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Spring 2015
GRANATA~GALLERY SELLA-GRANATA ART GALLERY~SELLA
Spring semester in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery... After an interactive exhibition by video artist Erin Colleen Johnson, Master of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts shows and the BA Senior Exhibition, EXIT 2015, dominated our spring semester schedule in the Woods Hall gallery. See more: http://art.ua.edu/gallery/sgg/
top row, l-r:
Josh Whidden, elemental; Sarah Austin, Through; Turner Williams, work in Twang of the Void; Ali Hval, Together, Apart; Sarah Austin, Retreat; Anna Katherine Phipps, Stretch at the First Blush of Morning; Installation view, Twang of the Void. bottom, l-r: Heather Whidden listens as Associate Professor Craig Wedderspoon and graduate students critique Whidden’s installation piece, Who Could Hang a Name on You, during her MA exhibition with Josh Whidden, Bilateral: Memory & Experience. middle row, l-r:
Spring 2015
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GRANATA~GALLERY SELLA-GRANATA ART GALLERY~SELLA
...and in galleries around West Alabama. The UA Gallery in the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center, Harrison Galleries in downtown Tuscaloosa and The Grocery on Main Avenue in Northport (started by three of our alumni) are frequent venues for exhibitions by our students. More photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/uaart/collections/72157623555959241/ top: Angie Brown, Cathy Pagani and Martha Sears (left) give out awards at Department of Art and Art History Honors Day ceremonies in the SGG. 2nd row, l-r: Ali Jackson, Snuffles, at the Annual BFA Juried Exhibition in the UA Gallery downtown; a painting by Ali Hval in her BFA exhibition; a visitor to EXIT 2015 BA Exhibition. 3rd row: view at the BFA juried show; visitors discuss Things That Fall Apart by Ali Jackson at her BFA exhibition Degeneration; Jackson, detail of External. bottom left: Claire Lewis Evans and friend at her MFA exhibition, Passages, at The Grocery in April.
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Spring 2015
PERMANENT~SARAH MOODY GALLERY OF ART~COLLECTION FACULTY-STAFF NEWS~ FACULTY-STAFF NEWS~ FACULTY
New Curation Area for the Permanent Collection The new curation area for the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art’s Permanent Collection opened in the fall with an open house and re-
ception sponsored by the Office of the Dean. With the support of the College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Alabama and the Farley Moody Galbraith Support Fund, 1,880 square feet of curation and storage facilities have been added for our expanding collection of Modern and Contemporary art. Both flat file and vertical storage capabilities have been enhanced with state-of theart storage and updated climate control systems. Future developments include enlarging the area where the gallery staff prepare works for exhibits and service works in the collection to add to their stability and safekeeping. A recent addition is the William and Sara Hall Collection (see page 11). Read more about the Permanent Collection here: http://art.ua.edu/smga/past-present-and-future-the-smga-permanent-collection/.
above left: Visitors tour new curation facilities at the Open House held by Dean Robert Olin in December 2014. center: Gallery Director Bill Dooley gives Dean Olin a tour of the space. right: Among the visitors were Associate Dean Tricia McElroy, Chair Cathy Pagani and Paul R. Jones Collections Manager Emily Bibb.
SARAH MOODY 2014-2015 EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
clockwise from top left:
Exhibitions coordinator Vicki Rial (left) gives a tour of Redefining the Multiple: 13 Japanese Printmakers in September; Richmond Burton, Architectural Yellow in Alabama Oval; Susanne Doremus, Body, in Urban Virtue with Cora Cohen; Astri Snodgrass, in a moment of temporary blindness, with detail inset, from her MFA exhibition VERSO | RECTO; Minor White, Schoodic Point, Maine, 1967, donated by Pamela and Michael Murray, from Contemporary Treasures (our annual Permanent Collection show); and Richard Ross, three works from Juvenile-in-Justice.
Spring 2015
6
-STAFF NEWS~FACULTY-STAFF NEWS~FACULTY-STAFF NEWS
FACULTY-STAFF NEWS
lo’s Medals in the Guantieri Chapel in Verona,” in the 2015 issue of The Medal 66. Jones’ collaborative course project (ARH 373) with the Birmingham Museum of Art and the Alabama Digital
In November, Rachel Stephens
Humanities Center was featured in the March issue of Dialog:
received one of two “Educator
http://dialog.ua.edu/2015/03/the-art-of-collaboration/
of the Year” awards from the
“Whether students go on to become curators, engineers or ad executives, in the ‘real world’ one needs to know how to research a problem, analyze relevant data and present findings in a clear and cogent way. This project is designed to aid students in building those skills,” — DR. TANJA L. JONES in Dialog
Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society, for her efforts to teach students about the importance of nineteenth-century architecture. The society’s president, Ian Crawford, recognized her for her work educating students about the history of architecture both in Tuscaloosa and the state of Alabama. In 2014 she organized field trips to historic structures, led research projects about local architecture and organized a digital database of historic Alabama structures to which her students contributed. Stephens was also selected by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) as the 2015 recipient of the President’s Faculty Research Award for Arts & Sciences – Humanities for excellence in her field.
In October, Lucy Curzon, director of education and outreach for the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art at UA, spoke to students from Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary and Westlawn Middle schools at the PRJ Gallery as part of the gallery’s inaugural K-12 Fellows program. After a ribbon-cutting by A&S Dean Robert Olin, Curzon talked to students about how to look at and think about the art in the gallery before they went back to their classrooms to make their own art. More photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/uaart/sets/72157648130194349 . . . FACULTY-STAFF NEWS ~ CONTINUED ON PAGE ELEVEN
Read about our Honors Day Awardees online:
This fall, Bryce Speed’s mixed media paintings were exhibit-
http://art.ua.edu/resources/newsletter-the-loupe/
ed with works by sculptor Jack King in a two-person show at Valdosta State University. Works by Speed and Matt Mitros were featured in Paper or Plastic? at The Grocery in Northport this fall
STUDENT NEWS ~ CONTINUED FROM PAGE THREE
and new works are featured there in May.
sculpture, it is deeply informed by her longstanding interest in Tanja Jones recently published “Ludovico Gonzaga and Pisanello:
spirituality and the environment, as well as more recent reflec-
A Visual Campaign, Political Legitimacy, and Crusader Ideology,” in
tions on the fragility and resiliency of art and life in the face of
Civilta mantovana. Forthcoming is “Crusader Ideology: Pisanel-
the unknown. More here: http://clairelewisevans.com/
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Spring 2015
~ ALUMNI NEWS ~ ART DEPARTMENT HISTORY ~ ALUMNI
THE HUMANITY OF ART As part our 70th anniversary commemoration of the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, we are recognizing some of our alumni who have received the degree. Stories and images from our BFA alumni are found on pages 10-12. Following is a compelling and timely story about one of them. Barbara Pennington (BFA 1955, MA 1957) dedicated her life to painting and art education until her death in 2013. From teaching art therapy to Bryce Hospital patients to her provocative paintings of the Civil Rights Movement to her later intensely colored abstract works, Pennington always expressed compassion for humanity through her art. Pennington grew up in Tuscaloosa and attended Tuscaloosa High School. She won a four-year full scholarship to UA from the National Scholastic Art Awards and received her BFA and MA in painting and printmaking. After graduation, she taught in public
An Exceptional Painting
schools in Alabama, lived in New York from 1960 and then moved to Connecticut in 1968 where her high school students received many state art awards. In 1977 she returned to Alabama and set
While living in New York City in the 1960s, Pennington made
up her studio and an antique business in Gordo. Pennington was a
at least three figurative paintings about the tumultuous and
member of the Crossroads Arts Alliance, a group of artists in and
horrifying events going on in Alabama during that time. In Selma,
around Gordo that included the late GLENN HOUSE, Sr. (BFA 1957)
painted after the 1965 voting rights marches, she contrasted the
(see The Loupe Back Page).
solemn demonstrators emerging from a church with the violent police beatings of citizens in the streets and a giant, ghostlike Ku
In 1957, while working on her master’s degree, the Tuscaloosa News ran a story on April 23 about her work teaching art to Bryce
Klux Klan figure menacing over all. The painting’s monumental
Hospital patients “44 hours a week.” Pennington’s Bryce students
size and the stylization of its figures enhances its iconic charac-
mirrored widespread attitudes about abstract and non-figurative
ter. Pennington painted a slightly smaller canvas, Riot, about five
art at the time: “At first they thought it was ridiculous,” she said
feet wide, after the Watts Riots in Los Angeles that occurred just
in the interview, “and now they won’t do anything else.” The
a few months later. At the time, they were the worst race riots
article explained the students’ change of heart: “With abstract
the country had ever experienced. She also made an abstract
art, they paint emotionally rather than technically and therefore
painting titled Selma March and at least one drawing after a
are not imposed upon by the restrictions of realistic art.” Later
bombing in Birmingham. Recently, we exchanged emails with Pennington’s niece, Vicki
her writing about her own work revealed a similar approach for herself, “My aim is for the work to be experienced in an uncon-
Moreland, a freelance writer and the executor of Pennington’s
scious way, bypassing the analytical and going straight to pure
estate. This is an excerpt from our questions and her responses in
feeling—to a sense of beauty and joy.”
which she says more about her aunt’s art:
Abstract art was Pennington’s purview and her preference. Do you know if [your aunt] was making abstract work at
However, a few times, she felt strongly enough about her subject
loupe:
to change her nonfigurative approach. When she passed away
the [same] time that she painted Selma and the painting, Riot?
at the age of 81, she left behind a studio full of paintings and
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE
a legacy that has become more than she ever imagined. After Pennington’s death, her niece, Vicki Moreland, and Moreland’s
top:
Barbara Pennington proofing a lithograph print with Professor Richard Zoellner. In 1945, Zoellner founded the printmaking program in the art department, the same year that the BFA degree was introduced. Photo by Laurens Pierce, a photographer in Montgomery who made a number of photographs of UA subjects in the 1950s. Photo from the collection of Barbara Pennington; reproduced here courtesy of Vicki Moreland.
husband found previously unknown and rare figurative works by the artist. The largest painting, Selma, 9 feet wide by 6 feet high, has become well regarded in the short time since the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, announced its acquisition of the work (see page one). Spring 2015
8
~ ART DEPARTMENT HISTORY ~ ALUMNI NEWS ~ CAMPUS
ALUMNI NEWS
Did she change to a figurative style because that was the best way she found to express her ideas; or was she painting in that style and changed to abstract later on? Have you ever found any
BFAers Since 1945
other figurative works from that same time? moreland:
Here are a few more of UA’s BFA graduates in art: WILLIAM O.
There are a few other figurative works from that time
PARDUE (1951), WILLIAM WALMSLEY (BFA 1951, MA 1953),
frame, such as the self-portrait on her website, but she worked
BETHANY WINDHAM ENGLE (1955), FRANK GUNTER (1956), GLENN
primarily in abstract before Selma and Riot. My mother [Penning-
HOUSE, SR. (1957), SYDNEY HAUSER (1967), DANIEL MOORE
ton’s sister] and I believe that Selma was painted first and Riot
(1967), EDITH FROHOCK (1968), WILLIAM HALL (1973), LARRY
later. I also know that she did an abstract representation, Selma
NEWBERRY (MFA 1977, BFA 1975), LEE ANN LUTZ (1979), DAVID
March. That painting was found in New York and [was] believed
BETAK (1990), PAT SNOW (1990), MICHELLE MCKNIGHT DAVIS
to be rent payment for an apartment she had there. It is distinct-
(2003), MARTHA MARKLINE HOPKINS (2004), PAUL OUTLAW (2004),
ly different from Selma and Riot. I can’t speak to the reasons she
LIZ WUESTEFELD (2009), JOE STALNAKER (2010), MOLLY BROOKE
chose a figurative style for these paintings, but I suspect it
THREADGILL (2010), JACOB DAVIDSON (2011), JEREMY K. DAVIS
was the best way to clearly represent her feelings on the
(2011), AMBER JONES (2011), MICAH CRAFT (2012), ADAM HILL
subject. In the ‘70s she started painting impressionistic land-
(2012), BROOKE HOWELL (2012) and ERIC NUBBE (2014). There
scapes inspired by her travels to the Southwest and Midwest,
are many more BFA alumni than we have listed here. Following
her garden, and the landscapes of Alabama. But she returned to
are a few post-BFA stories. Please send us yours!
abstracts in the ‘80s with a series of mixed media works, watercolors (her Earth Auras), oils and oil pastels. I believe in time she
BILL HALL (BFA 1973) has already made an impression on the
began to prefer abstract to other styles because it allowed her to
SMGA’s Permanent Collection (Loupe Spring 2011). As Master
express freely her feelings about art. loupe:
Printer at Pace Prints in New York for almost 30 years, he has had
Have you ever found any
unparalleled access to renowned
writing by Barbara about her early
artists making exquisite work.
paintings? Did she ever talk to you
Over the years, he built a col-
about her feelings about the Civil
lection that he and his wife have
Rights Movement? moreland:
now donated to the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art’s Permanent Collec-
Unfortunately, I don’t have
tion, already a formidable gather-
any writing by her about her early
ing of the work of internationally
paintings, nor did she ever talk to
acclaimed artists. Selections from
me about the Civil Rights Move-
the William and Sara Hall Collec-
ment. I have heard from others
tion of Contemporary Prints will
though that to discuss her painting Selma was sometimes a som-
be on exhibit through June 10 in the UA Gallery downtown in the
ber experience. She also talked about the Freedom Riders, and I
Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center.
believe these events saddened her. I have a rough sketch she did entitled Birmingham Bombing, of a cross, buried in the rubble of
JENNY FINE (BFA 2006) has come back home to Alabama with
the church, and a body on the ground. I do not believe that she
her latest installation performance project, Flat Granny and
ever painted this scene. We did discuss Riot and she commented
Me: A Procession in My Mind. Its latest incarnation was a lecture
that subconsciously she created the buildings without windows or
and performance in January at the Wiregrass Museum of Art in
doors and believed it to be a commentary on the lack of oppor-
Dothan.
tunity for the young men in the painting. They were “trapped” figuratively and literally on the campus.
Fine uses performance, photography, installation to create and
d
tell stories about her family and her childhood experiences. Flat Granny and Me has been more than a yearlong project with Flat
above:
Bill Hall talks to visitors about collecting at the recent exhibition Selections from the William and Sarah Hall Collection downtown at the UA Gallery in the Dinah Washington CAC.
Granny, a life-sized photographic costume of her grandmother. CONTINUED ON PAGE TEN
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Spring 2015
& CAMPUS HISTORY ~ ALUMNI NEWS ~ TOWN & CAMPUS tor at the SLC Public Library). Viewers are invited to share their
CONTINUED FROM PAGE NINE
beautiful words as well. I’ve done this piece in Toronto, Boston and Helsinki, so I’ve collected a great list of words!”
Fine writes, “A Procession in My Mind is a collision of the agricultural
The prolific MARTHA MARKLINE
history of my hometown
HOPKINS’ (BFA 2004) painting
of Enterprise (“City of
Corinthian White was chosen
Progress” and home to
for the online gallery exhibition
the Boll Weevil Monu-
Dark sponsored by Arc Gallery,
ment) with my family’s
San Francisco. Her Pink Moire
present day relationship
was chosen for the exhibition
to the landscape of our
Voices: An Artist’s Perspective,
south Alabama farm. This
Women’s Caucus for Art, NYC.
live theatrical perfor-
She lives in Fairhope.
mance and room-sized diorama began as a re-imagining of the year my grandmother was named Enterprise, Alabama’s ‘Woman
In the Spring/Summer 2012 issue, we published a photo by LARRY
of the Year.’”
NEWBERRY (BFA 1975, MFA 1977) of a group of art students in Woods Quad. Only one person remained unidentified - until
After receiving the MFA from The Ohio State University, Fine served as studio assistant for Ann Hamilton, artist-in-residence in
now! JAN HOLLAND KIMBROUGH (BFA 1974), then known as JAN
Dresden, Germany, and at the The Wellington School in Colum-
HURSTON HOLLAND, was that person and she sent us an update:
bus, Ohio. She has also taught in China and worked at an orphan-
Holland came to UA in 1970, like Barbara Pennington, on a 4-year
age and women’s shelter in Nigeria. She lives near Enterprise,
scholarship from Scholastic. “It was kind of a big deal because
where she keeps a studio. JEFFREY BYRD (BFA 1987) is professor and chair of the Department of Art at the University of Northern Iowa. A video and per-
“[Art] taught me to think ‘outside the box’ and to creatively problem solve even in a totally different work setting.” — JAN HOLLAND KIMBROUGH, BFA 1974
there were no fellowships, foundations or endowments for art students like there are today. Art was not a mainstream field of study and art students were understood even less! I
formance artist, he exhibits and performs around the world, from
have had an exciting art career working for Occidental Petro-
Lincoln Center to Beijing. This year he performed in Berlin, Salt
leum Corporation in Tulsa, as assistant art director for Horizon
Lake City and a little town
Magazine (a national fine arts magazine published in Tuscaloosa)
in Poland. He writes, “My
and a free-lance business, Holland Studios. In 1990, I began work
recent work is inspired by
for a degree in medical social work and earned an MSW from the
my job as an administra-
university in 1992 and had a 10-year career as a hospice social
tor. This piece [pictured
worker with Montclair Hospice and a case manager at Lakeshore
this page] attempts to ele-
Rehabilitation Hospital, both in
vate the mundane tools of
Birmingham.” Holland emphasizes
office work (Post It Notes)
the value of an education in art: “It
to the level of visual po-
taught me to think ‘outside the box’
etry. In the performance,
and to creatively problem solve even
I write beautiful words
in a totally different work setting.”
from many languages on
In late breaking news, BFA graduat-
the notes and hang them
ing senior ALEXANDRA (ALI) HVAL was
on a glass surface (in this
awarded one of only ten nationwide
case it was a glass eleva-
Windgate Fellowships this year. Her
top left: Jenny Fine at the Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, 2015. bottom left: Jeffery Byrd, Symphony #4 (Beautiful Notes for SLC), photo by Kristina Lenzi. top right: Martha Markline Hopkins, Pink Moire, 24’x24’x3”, shaped acrylic painting. bottom right: Larry Newberry, photo, detail. See the original photo in the spring/summer 2012 issue of The Loupe (page 9). http://issuu.com/uaart/docs/loupespg12email?e=3441389/9263148
Spring 2015
10
ALUMNI NEWS ~ FACULTY-STAFF NEWS ~ ALUMNI NEWS sculpture, Genesis, is pictured above. Other UA alumni awardees are Adam Hill in 2012 and Jenny Fine in 2006, both BFA graduates. More in the next issue and online.
Assistant Professor MATT MITROS, instructor and alumna VIRGINIA ECKINGER and representatives from Crimson Clay (and grad students) SYDNEY EWERTH and JOANI INGLETT (all pictured above) attended the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference in Providence, Rhode Island, in April to recruit students. As we go to press, Mitros has just left for LjubljaWe have more alumni stories on our website. Read them here:
na, Slovenia, to attend the opening reception of III International
http://art.ua.edu/loupe/spring-2015-more-alumni-news/.
Ceramic Triennial Unicum at the National Museum where his work was accepted. His Rubble Trouble Mug won Best in Show in the new juried exhibition MUG Shots at the LUX Center, Lincoln,
above: Ali Hval, Genesis (detail), 2015, silk chiffon, muslin, panty hose, plastic wrap, piping, paracord, 6’x10’x12’. top right: Matt Mitros, Virginia Eckinger, Sydney Ewerth and Joani Inglett at the NCECA conference. Photo courtesy S. Ewerth. bottom: Pete Schulte, Build-A-Fire, installation view. Art images courtesy the artists.
Nebraska and his work was juried into the 7th Annual Beyond The Brickyard Juried Exhibition at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. His Pre-Columbian Rave was featured in the February 2015 issue of Ceramics Monthly. Currently Mitros and BRYCE SPEED have a two-person exhibition, Paper or Plastic?, at
FACULTY-STAFF NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE SEVEN
The Grocery on Main Avenue in Northport, Alabama. The Arts Council of Tuscaloosa awarded Jamey Grimes Visual Arts Educator in its Druid Arts Awards for 2014, recognizing his many contributions to education in the community. Past awardees include Virginia Rembert, Al Sella, Gay Burke and Robert Mellown. In November, Sky Shineman exhibited new works in the exhibition Seismic Shift at the Arts Council Gallery downtown. Shineman was awarded a research grant by The University of Alabama to investigate new painting materials including powdered pigments and organic mediums. She said these works are “a product of this inquiry, serving as a record of elemental relationships and physical processes.” In the spring of 2014, Shineman’s work was included in 51st Annual Juried Competition at the Masur Museum of Art in Louisiana. The juror was Kelly Shindler, associate curator at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis. Shineman also
Enthusiastic reviews for PETE SCHULTE’s one-person exhibition
was juried into 20”x20”x20”: National Compact Competition and
Build a Fire at Atlanta’s Whitespace Gallery in March included
Exhibition at LSU’s newly renovated Student Union Art Gallery,
Matthew Terrell for Burnaway.org (“a new door in the mind for
juried by Shana Barefoot, exhibitions and collections manager
seeing art”) and Faith McClure for Artsatl.com (“Zen draughts-
for the Museum of Contemporary Art Atlanta.
man”). Schulte will be at Yaddo artists’ retreat this summer.
11
Spring 2015
The Loupe
Back Page In Memoriam: Glenn House, Sr. Earlier this fall, Glenn House, Sr., passed away. Besides being a BFA alumnus of our department and creator of a Tuscaloosa icon (the Moon Winx neon sign in Alberta), House was at the hub of a vibrant network of artists centered in Gordo and reaching far beyond, especially book artists and printmakers, as well as many others. In memory of Glenn House and in honor of his former professor, Gay Burke, who retires from UA in August, we reprint his recollection of his time in Gay Burke’s photography class (and events leading up to it):
Being smarter than your average Alabama redneck, and being fully funded as a college assistant professor, I learned to save a lot of film by paying other students to download my film. I then made the terrifying discovery that my long-suffered darkroom chemical allergy was about to reclaim its former territory, so I paid to have my negatives and prints done as well. When I realized that my continuing to force a total lack of photographic skills onto the photographic world was causing more harm than good, I quietly laid aside my camera. Gay Burke recognized that I was capable of somehow plucking a positive viewpoint from the most mundane photograph and, being the super-human being that she is, allowed me to continue to participate in classroom critiques. Then, with that certain twinkle and grin, she asked, “Well, Glenn. When are you going to bring some work?” —GLENN HOUSE, Sr., BFA 1957, MLS 1978, Ed.S. 1983; Assistant Professor Emeritus, Book Arts
In 1989...I received a call from my old bottle-digging psychiatrist-buddy and photographer. Dr. Jim Morris got right to the point, “You need a hobby.” He prescribed that I join him in Gay Burke’s Thursday evening black and white photography class. I showed up at a following class to check it out. Dr. Jim met me at the door and introduced me to Barbara Lee Black, whose first question made me feel right at home, “Is that your mother who has the museum at Gordo?” Then I met a host of other nice folks. It turned out that Gay Burke (whom I had known for years) had made a practice of accompanying her classes to my mother’s museum to photograph the weirdness. Also in that first class was Kathy Fetters. I sold a binding press for $250, bought a 35 mm camera, and signed up for an audit. I am not really claustrophobic, but I do need more elbow room than Gay provided for double-left-handed people to download bulk film from canister to cartridge.
Glenn House, Sr., at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts, Northport, Alabama, October, 2013.
Read more about our notable alumni and faculty online: http://art.ua.edu/alumni/notable-alumni-faculty/