summer 2010
uga
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l a m a r d o d d s c h o o l o f a rt
art . uga . e du
university of georgia
R o na l d Ar n h o l m
Legacy
page
abcde Message from the Director Art at UGA: A Brief History
inside
Perpetual Instantaneous: Visiting Artist Michael Fried What is an Art School? Legacy Legacy: Ron Arnholm Speaks the Language of Type Faculty Roundup The Circle of Giving The Lamar Dodd School of Art Galleries
n e ws fr o m th e lamar d o dd sch o o l o f art A T U G A
message from the Director Soon we will be celebrating a new ceramics facility planted less than a five-minute walk north of the main art building on River Road. Construction on the $2 million building to house undergraduate and graduate ceramics is underway with an opening date of fall 2010. Also of note, improvements to Sculpture, Jewelry and Metals,
Paul Kos in December who built an artistic community and an
and Interior Design facilities will start this summer. Still there is
enclave of petanque enthusiasts that embraced civic engage-
much to do to ensure quality programming and state of the art
ment. Hallways, stairwells, ceilings, bathrooms, vending machine
facilities for the entire School of Art on the Athens campus as well
niches, and windows were filled or covered with work by students who also exhibited in the School of Art galleries
as the campus in Cortona, Italy. In the midst of much excitement about the new ceramics building, the School of Art remains committed page
to the value of community that quality facilities provide. The academic breadth of the School of Art is a defining strength of Lamar Dodd. The capacity to work together in close proximity will ensure creative and intellectual synergy inherent in our diverse programming. The 09–10 academic year began with an impressive solo exhibition by Professor Scott Belville. Many emerging as well as established artists and scholars visited campus to give lectures, seminars, workshops and critiques. One notable visiting scholar was Dave Hickey, MacArthur Fellow, contemporary critic and cultural gadfly. Hickey gave a provocative critique to
as West Coast artist, Arthur Gonzalez.
ATLANTA ARE TO BE RECOGNIZED AND COMMENDED FOR THEIR TREMENDOUS WORK THAT THEY DID FOR SPECIAL EVENTS THIS YEAR.
The closing celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Cortona Study Abroad Program was staged in Atlanta at the Chastain Arts Center with an exhibition of work by School of Art faculty who taught the Cortona Program. Active alumni mounted an exhibition that was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of more than two hundred supporters that drove through harsh winter weather to celebrate one of the nation’s best study abroad programs. Alumni in Atlanta are to be recognized and commended again for the tremendous work that they did for special events this year. Julian Cox, photography curator at the High Museum in Atlanta, juried the first School of
the 2010 MFA students, discussing their diverse
Art student exhibition. Being the first “Salon de
work in the spring MFA show with gritty banter
Refuse” the exhibition generated a response with
and humor. Stuart Horodner, artistic director of the Atlanta
uga
along with established contemporary artists such
ALUMNI IN
attitude from energized students who participated.
Contemporary Art Center, also counseled students this academic
Three of our distinguished faculty members will retire in
year, offering valuable professional guidance and mentoring to
2010 with a combined record of more than 100 years of commit-
the School’s emerging artists. We said farewell to Dodd Professor
ted service to the Lamar Dodd School of Art and the University
lamar dodd school of art university of georgia 270 river road athens, georgia 30602 7 0 6 .5 4 2.15 1 1 art.uga.edu
Michael F. Adams President University of Georgia
Chris Hocking Associate Director Lamar Dodd School of Art
Garnett S. Stokes Dean Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Asen Kirin Associate Director Lamar Dodd School of Art
Georgia Strange Director Lamar Dodd School of Art
Suzi Wong Director of Development for the Fine and Performing Arts Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Thom Houser Associate Director Lamar Dodd School of Art
Julie Spivey Designer and Assistant Professor Lamar Dodd School of Art
Alan Flurry Newsletter Editor Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Sara Kay Alread BFA ’09 Graphic Design Design Assistant
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page
of Georgia. Director of the Cortona Program, Rick Johnson, Professor Judy McWillie, and Professor Frances Van Keuren will transition into new opportunities with much deserved veneration for their myriad accomplishments in teaching as well as research and creative activity. They have served this institution with integrity and generosity and improved the lives of countless students over four decades. Please consider a personal note thanking them for their tireless contributions. The second School of Art graduation ceremony this May featured Atlanta’s distinguished visionary arts leader, Fay Gold, as the commencement speaker. Since 1980, Fay Gold has run one of the most prestigious contemporary art spaces in Atlanta. By convincing such artists as George Segal, Robert Rauschenberg, Irving Penn, Cindy Sherman, Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe to exhibit at her gallery, she succeeded in putting Atlanta on the national radar. The major driving force behind a multitude of
Alumni and friends of the School of Art are critical to our
private and corporate art collections, Fay Gold continues to wield
national leadership in preparing future artists, designers and
great influence on behalf of emerging regional talent. We wel-
scholars. Your active engagement in shared stewardship of the
come her as an inspiration for our newest graduates.
School will make a difference in a student’s educational experi-
With great excitement and anticipation, I draw attention to
ence and future opportunities. Consider becoming an active
a new initiative spearheaded by Dr. Asen Kirin, the Georgia Gaze
partner of the School of Art in some capacity such as the Take a
Project. Kirin has shepherded the School’s response to the uni-
Seat campaign when choosing to make a gift to the School. One
versity’s mandate as a land grant university to serve the state of
can honor the accomplishment of earning a degree, recognize an
Georgia. Building on successful visits to the School of Art by high
important teacher, remember a friend, thank a family member or
school students and civic leaders from small towns in Georgia,
highlight a favorite artist. Recently, Bernini, Eva Hesse and our
Kirin is now facilitating the Georgia Gaze Project. The project is
own Richard “Ole” Olson joined many other greats in our large
a collaborative effort between the School of Art and the Archway
auditorium. Working together we can ensure that the School of
Partnership, a division of the Office of the Vice President for
Art will continue to nurture creativity and critical thinking in
Public Service and Outreach. In its initial phase School of Art
a community of future artists, designers, scholars, teachers and
faculty member Michael Marshall and his students will photo-
architects of new career paths and pursuits as innovative life-
graph people and places in the following counties in Georgia:
long learners.
Colquitt, Washington, Glynn, Clayton, Hart, Sumter, Pulaski, and Whitfield. One of Kirin’s goals is to have the High Museum showcase our students’ work to delight the eye and the mind of thousands of visitors from Georgia and elsewhere.
top: layout drawing and above : architectural rendering of the new ceramics building
n e ws fr o m th e lamar d o dd sch o o l o f art A T U G A
Art at the University of Georgia
A Brief History
BY G I L B E RT H E A D, M . A . ‘ 10
The systematic study of the fine visual arts at the University arrived in the academic year 1925–26, when the catalog listings for Home Economics listed several classes in the ‘Related Art and Clothing Group’, including a two-hour credit class in “Drawing and Designing” and a companion two-hour class in “Advanced Design”. These offerings would be joined in the 1928–29 catalog by classes in “Water Color Painting”, “Applied Design”, “Pottery”, and “History and Appreciation of Arts”, the last course encompassing three terms, and taking up, in turn: Prehistoric, Ancient, and Classical Art; Early Christian and Medieval Art, including Italian Renaissance; and the art of Northern Europe and America. A P L A C E O F FO C U S A ND IN T E L L E C T UA L IN Q U I RY, A P L A C E O F SYN T H ESIS A ND O U T R E A C H ,
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A ND U LT I M AT E LY A P L A C E W H E R E A RT IST I C E X P R ESSI O N C A N F IND N U RT U R E A ND G RO W T H . A November 1927 issue of the Georgia Alumni Record (Vol. iii,
of contemporary art, including representative works from the
No. 2) presented an article noting the creation of a “Chair of Art.”
students involved in the department. All of this was undertaken
The article reported that the initial placement of the chair of fine
to enlighten the people of Georgia and the Southeast as to the
and applied arts was in the State College of Agriculture, rather
importance of art and its practice and appreciation in the lives of
than “the University proper.” Both were in Athens at the time,
the citizenry.
though the “University proper” lacked the funds to get the new
The first few years of Dodd’s tenure saw the expansion of the
program up and running, while the College of Agriculture, with
curricular offerings, supplementing the continued fine work in
its ability to draw on federal dollars, had the extra funds to begin
decorative arts by Annie Holliday and Mildred Ledford through
the program.
the hiring of Alan Kuzmicki and Earl McCutcheon in the 1941–42
The program was officially transferred to the University
school year. That same year the emergence of strong programs
following the reorganization of 1932. Over the next several years,
in printmaking and ceramics (McCutcheon in particular would
classes in art were added to the curriculum, but a fundamental
energize the ceramics program well into the mid-1970s). Those
change arrived in the 1935–36 school year, when the degree pro-
early years also brought renowned muralist Jean Charlot to
grams were modified to include Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees with
Georgia. He served not only as an artist-in-residence but also an
Majors in both Art and Music. The major in art required eight
author and director of a series of murals that graced both the
courses, and an additional four art elective classes.
pa ss i o n to th e j ob of l e a d i n g th e U n i v e r s ity ’ s art program i n to th e cr e at i v e a n d s chola st i c for e fro n t.
School of Commerce and The Fine Arts Building.
This was the academic framework found by
This new program needed a home. The original home for art
Lamar Dodd when he became first head of the Art
classes at the Chancellor’s House (which once stood on the site
Department in academic year 1936–37. University
of the present-day Main Library) gave way in the early 1940s to
President Harmon W. Caldwell made a commit-
the University’s Fine Arts building, designed as a space for Music,
ment to bring Dodd to the University of Georgia
Theater, and the Visual Arts. This would be home to classes, and
first as artist-in-residence because he recognized
also a place for exhibits and shows, all designed to raise the profile
that it was necessary for the university to offer first-
of the fine arts in and around Athens. At a cost of $450,000 (in
rate programs in the fine arts if Georgia was ever
that moment, the costliest building ever built at the University),
going to move to the top tier of national universi-
it was dedicated on May 31, 1941.
Do d d brought gr e at
ties. Caldwell’s point man in bringing Dodd from
As the program grew in the early 1940s so did the organiza-
Alabama to Georgia was Hugh Hodgson, the man responsible for
tions and institutions that surrounded the arts. The honorary fra-
a parallel (if slightly earlier) growth of the Music Department at
ternity for art major, Kappa Pi, was founded and the Art Student’s
the University.
League experienced rapid growth. Also the Art School introduced
Dodd brought great passion to the job of leading the
an annual auction of work by both student and faculty that was
University’s art program into the creative and scholastic fore-
designed to raise fund and the consciousness of Georgians to the
front. Under his guidance, a robust program of guest lecturers
importance of an appreciation of art as a fundamental compo-
began in the late 1930s, as did a program of obtaining a collection
nent of a quality liberal arts education.
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Late in the 1940s, under the sponsorship and oversight of
Even as continued robust growth of the holdings at the
Alfred Heber Holbrook, the first Georgia Museum of Art would
Georgia Museum of Art would lead to their taking up a new East
emerge to share space in the old Library building (today, the
Campus residence in 1996, by the early 2000s it was obvious that
Office of the President). The building would be home to the
the dispersed programs of the Lamar Dodd School of Art (housed
Georgia Museum of Art from 1948–1996.
in seven separate locations) also needed a new home in which the
The 1950s would be a time of growth for the program, and
shared synergistic space could propel the various programs of the
also an era of controversy as some forms of modern art found
school into the future. Work was begun on the East Campus struc-
slow acceptance at uga. Perhaps the most contentious piece of all
ture in 2006, and by 2008, over 1,200 students, staff and faculty
was the Iron Horse, created by uga sculptor Abbott Pattison. After
had a new $39 million home. Though not all programs joined in
several defacements, the sculpture was removed from public view
the move from the Jackson St. facility, the East Campus structure
at Reed Hall and placed in a field overlooking Georgia Route 15 in
reunited many of the formerly isolated areas of study. It serves
Oconee County.
today as the central space for the creative energies of the ldsoa,
The clash with the “modern” was not over, nor was the growth
a place of focus and intellectual inquiry, a place of synthesis and
of the program. The Art School was so successful that by the late
outreach, and ultimately a place where artistic expression can find
1950s, the department was again in need of a new home. By 1960,
nurture and growth. Lamar Dodd’s observation in 1946 that “One’s study is never
Wells on a new $900,000 home for the visual arts programs. The
finished” certainly guided his leadership of the art program of
design was revolutionary. The building was opened to natural
Georgia and has also been absorbed as a guiding philosophy by
light, had large areas dedicated to formal and informal exhibition
the faculty, staff, and students of the Lamar Dodd School of Art
spaces, and studio design was a dominant feature. Formally dedi-
ever since. g
page
work had begun by the Atlanta firm of Toombs, Amisano, and
cated on January 21, 1963 with a speech by John W. Gardner, the building variously branded ‘the ice plant’, ‘that monstrosity on Jackson Street’, and ‘Dodd’s Folly’ was home to 800 students a day, and was for a while one of the most visited buildings on the UGA campus. Indeed, the edifice so reflected the spirit of Dodd that it would be renamed in 1995 as the Lamar Dodd School of Art. As the 1960s drew to a conclusion, not only was the art department in Athens flourishing, but UGA was moving into more international environs with the commencement of the Studies Abroad program in Cortona, Italy, in 1970. This would be only the first of a number of UGA foreign residence programs that over the last 40 years have become central to the teaching, research and outreach missions of the University.
Above : Chancellor’s House , on the present site of the Main Library on North Campus. Far left: Visual Arts Building, with Jackson Street Cemetery in foreground. Near left: Fine Arts Building.
n e ws fr o m th e lamar d o dd sch o o l o f art A T U G A
BY NE L L A ND R E W
Perpetual INSTANTANEOUSNESS FOR CRITIC MICHAEL FRIED, KEEPING THE VIEWER IN A STATE OF PRESENTNESS IS THE PRIMARY SIGNIFICANCE OF ANY ARTWORK.
practitioners might be, for Fried, this wasn’t working in the realm of art. Art for him should, like his Modernist paintings, need no viewer to fulfill its significance, should continuously regenerate itself complete so as to keep the viewer in a state of presentness. Fried assigned to Minimalism the non-art status of being literalist and theatrical, and from there, battle lines were drawn. His
In October, the Lamar Dodd School of Art welcomed art historian,
argument is of course complex and nuanced and therefore as
critic, and poet Michael Fried as part of its Visiting Artist and
often misread or misunderstood as not—certainly it’s been
Scholar series. I joined the School of Art’s faculty in Art History
oversimplified, as it must be here. But to this day in my courses
last spring, and among the most exciting and impressive aspects
and in scholarly debate, this 1967 essay retains incredible potency.
of my new artistic and intellectual community at the Dodd is the
It is an essay that really must be attended to in any discussion of
year-long program of critical encounters with remarkable thinkers
painting and sculpture of the 1960s; and its judgments against
and makers of art. My colleagues in art history gave me a generous
literalism and theatricality continue to underlie and to check any
welcome when they put forward my nomination of Fried for this
endorsement or critique of the relation between art and beholder
year’s art scholar talk. Michael Fried is Professor of Art History and
in Modern art.
Humanities at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. From my first studies in art history his ideas and methods have been both model and challenge for me page
as I research and write across the fields of Modern art, film and dance. I hoped that his career-long breadth not only as an art historian, but also as a contemporary art critic, and creative poet would generate both the excitement and opposition for which he has come to be known. I knew that our art history program would benefit from his presence, and that I, myself, would relish the time with him, but with the manifesto-like title of his most recent book, Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before (Yale, 2008), I knew we could surely count on a certain other area’s notice too! As it turned out, there was full attention during his threeday visit. From his afternoon seminar, to his individual critiques with MFA students, to the full house at his evening lecture, I witnessed with delight the engaged and demanding student body of the School of Art. Michael Fried first began publishing his ideas on art in 1961; and it is no exaggeration to say that conversa-
still image from Anri Sala’s “Long Sorrow ”, 2005. Super 16mm HDV. Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, New York .
tions, which he initiated in his earliest writings, are still vibrantly under discussion nearly a half-century later. His first
As a professor of art history and humanities, Fried has worked
years as a critic were encouraged and shaped by an early appren-
in the dialectical role of art historian and critic. Though these
ticeship with Clement Greenberg, that giant of mid-century
are two quite separate endeavors in his experience, we can none-
art criticism, whose evaluative and formal method of criticism
theless follow the convictions Fried articulated about art and
Fried has shared. But Fried also developed his ideas in the 1960s
beholder in the critical context of 1960s into his career-long
through close relationships with some of the most important art-
historical scrutiny of beholding in art since the Enlightenment.
ists of the 20th century, including Frank Stella, Kenneth Noland
His first major book in art history Absorption and Theatricality:
and Anthony Caro.
Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot (Chicago, 1980), was
It was in the sphere of these artists that he wrote perhaps
the first book I remember reading after determining to follow a
his most well known piece of art criticism. His 1967 essay, “Art
career in art history—this was my first conscious model for art
and Objecthood,” was written in response to the emergence of
historical scholarship, and remains for me a lasting example of
Minimalism as a dominant strategy alongside Modernist painting.
how to look, research and argue. As it turns out, any student who
Fried sensed that Minimalist art’s emphatic presence in space, its
studies Modern and Contemporary Art at Georgia can’t help but
shifting temporality, and its critical position to remain an object,
be indirectly influenced by him as well. Dr. Isabelle Wallace and
created a real-time, contingent and individual experience for the
I were each directed in our doctoral studies by two of Michael
viewer that outweighed any meaning inherent in the work itself.
Fried’s first students. I guess this makes our students generation
As interesting as this might be, as committed as Minimalism’s
three who will learn from and to battle with his legacy.
summ e r 2 0 1 0
Exhibition Schedule 2010–2011 SUMMER 2010
Cortona Faculty Exhibition
William Itter and Philip Ayers
Gallery 307
Gallery 307
On View: January 14–January 28, 2011
Opening Reception June 4, 6–8pm
Reception: January 28, 2011 7–9pm
Artist’s Talk in the Gallery in coordination with THINK TANK
Dodd Chair Exhibition Gallery 307
Two books followed Absorption and Theatricality—Courbet’s Realism, (Chicago, 1990) and Manet’s Modernism, or the Face of
FALL 2010 EXHIBITION SEASON
On View February 4–February 24, 2011
Painting in the 1860s, (Chicago, 1996)—to form a trilogy that
Drawing: Contemporary Approaches
Reception: February 4, 2011 7–9pm
traces the development of a particularly modern struggle in paint-
Kathleen McShane & Barb Bondy
ing, one which I might crudely summarize as a struggle to get
Gallery 307
around the fact that even the most genuine paintings are made
On View: August 16–September 14, 2010
Photography Fellow Exhibition: June Yong Lee
by someone with the knowledge that they will be seen by others.
Reception: August 20, 2010 7–9pm
Gallery 101 On View: February 18–March 9, 2011
Fried’s books demonstrate that at best, the self-consciousness of
Reception: February 18, 2011 7–9pm
this fact can interfere between creator and beholder, and thereby
The Other Side of the Mask
distract from the ideal of an authentic expression and reception.
Thom Houser: Installation & Photography
At worst, it may encourage in art a kind of pandering to the viewer
Gallery 101
BFA Scientific Illustration
in an empty theatrical way.
On View: August 16–September 14, 2010
Gallery 307
The trilogy traces this concern from the 18th through the
Reception: August 20, 2010 7–9pm
19th centuries in France, but Fried’s oeuvre also include studies of 19th-century painting in Germany and America with Eakins. He has published three books of poems, most recently in 2004. Add to that scores of essays— and frequent appearances in journals such as Art Forum and Critical Inquiry—on topics that range from Caravaggio to Jeff Wall. This range of intellectual interest explains the topic of his book, Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before, which turns attention to yet a new medium and a new century, but it shows the characteristic integrity with which he attends to and carefully labors to communicate the endeavor of art making. Fried is a thinker and writer whose investigations and arguments begin and end with his convictions in front of works of art. At the School of Art, his lecture on artist Anri Sala’s “Long Sorrow,” a 13-mintue video work that includes disorienting and vertiginous perspectives of jazz-artist Jemeel Moondoc playing
Aaron Wilson and Tim Dooley: Installation & Printmaking
MFA Exhibition
Gallery 101
Gallery 101, 307, Orbit Galleries
On View: September 20–October 19, 2010
On View: March 21–April 12, 2011
Reception: September 24, 2010 7–9pm
Reception: Friday, March 21st, 6–9pm
Ceramic Faculty Exhibition Gallery 307
BFA I: Graphic Design, Jewelry/Metals, Photography, Printmaking
Reception: September 24, 2010 7–9pm
Gallery 101, 307, Orbit Galleries
Student Juried Exhibition
Reception: Friday, April 15 7–9pm
On View: April 15–April 22, 2011
Gallery 307 + Orbit Galleries On View October 25–November 9, 2010
BFA EXHIBITION SEASON BFA I: Drawing and Painting + Ceramics Gallery 307 On View: November 12–29, 2010 Reception: Friday, November 12 7–9pm
BFA I: Art X + Sculpture
BFA III: Interior Design, Fabric Design Gallery 101, 307, Orbit Galleries On View: April 30 – May 6, 2011
On View: November 12 – 29, 2010
May 14th Graduation
Reception: Friday, November 12 7–9pm
the entirety of the video loop through an exquisitely detailed,
Gallery 101, 307 + Orbit Galleries
even poetic account of what he had seen. We were then asked
Plaza Gallery + Bridge Gallery
to hold the weight of the work’s presentness as he endeavored
On View: December 3–13
to come to terms with the artist’s statement that in this piece he
Reception: Friday, December 3 7–9pm
wanted to capture “the intention to make music.” December 17 Commencement
alities, up-to-the-second status updates, and play-by-play narration of even our most trivial daily experiences via mobile phone,
spring 2011 EXHIBITION SEASON
Fried’s method is a reminder what rewards are to be won by a
Photography by Jim Fiscus
sustained involvement in a single work of art, by asking what it is
Gallery 101
we should want from the experience of art, and by demanding to
On View: January 14–February 9, 2011
know how and why good art strikes us as such.
Reception: January 14, 2011 7–9pm
g
On View: April 21–April 29, 2011 Reception: Friday, April 22 7–9pm
Reception: Friday, April 30, 7–9pm
screened the 13-minute video work and then carefully described
For those studying today, in an era of shifting virtual person-
Gallery 101, 307, Orbit Galleries
Gallery 101 + Lobby Gallery
BFA II: Photography + Printmaking/ Book Arts + Fabric + Jewelry/Metals + Graphic Design
his saxophone from a building ledge high above Berlin. Fried
BFA II: Art Education, Sculpture, Drawing/Painting
Visiting Artists and Scholars 2010–2011 Nick Cove September 19–23, 2010 Donald Lipski October 10–14, 2010 Lola Brooks November 7–10, 2010 Claudy Jongstra January 2011 Janet Koplos, Critic March 28–30, 2011 Jas Elsner, Art Historian April 7–10, 2011 Folkert de Jong April 10–14, 2011
page
books on Adolf Menzel and Thomas
On View February 28–March 11, 2011 Reception: TBA
n e ws fr o m th e lamar d o dd sch o o l o f art A T U G A
BY A L A N F LU R RY
WHAT IS AN
Art School?
Early in the summer of 1952, the designer George Nelson received
foster understanding and creative capacity so that these qualities could
a call from a painter with a connection to a school in Georgia,
be employed in any situation? And if this were the real problem, how
Lamar Dodd. Nelson, one of the leading forces in the advent of
would a school go about meeting it? Is intensive instruction in drawing
American Modernism, had heard of Dodd but initially resisted his
and modeling the best way? Or is this method used simply because it has
invitation to come down to Athens for a day or two of talk, “with
always been the art school method?
no particular assignment.”
Discussions followed and difficult questions were broached
Lamar Dodd, head of the Department of Fine Arts at the
directly with the faculty. Nelson reports that the responses were
University of Georgia had recently received a grant from the
“quick and intelligent” and that a sentiment developed for
Rockefeller Foundation, funds he could dispatch as he pleased,
re-examining these objectives and concocting some experi-
without administration approval. He wanted to use the grant to
ments in educational techniques, an attempt to expand the
import someone who would stimulate, if not provoke, his depart-
evaluation though without any idea what these techniques might
ment. What transpired is a little-known episode in UGA history,
be. Undeterred, Nelson agreed to come back in the fall. Dodd
one that had wide ramifications at the time and continues to reverberate today. Bringing in some of the nation’s foremost page
leaders in mid-century design opens up many questions. Among them: were mass design and manufacturing techniques transferable to education? The Department of Fine Arts at UGA in the 1950’s was a large department, arguably one of the strongest in the country. Although the department was very popular with students, very few of them pursued art careers after graduation. Nelson:
and like similar departments at other universities its functions are widely varied. The majority of the student group consists of undergraduates taking art as a major, not as a rule with any intention of making it a career, but simply because they like it. Many of them are girls who believe it will help them as future homemakers, presumably by improving their taste in decoration. Each year a sizable group comes in from the department of home economics, no doubt for the same reason. A small percentage of the students, particularly those in textiles and ceramics, go onto establish careers in these fields. But essentially the department is one which turns out laymen interested in the arts rather than professionals. So Nelson agreed to come to Athens to spend a couple of days in the department and give a lecture. Not without classroom experience, having taught architecture at Yale and Columbia, the teaching of painting and sculpture were yet new to Nelson: As a necessary part of the discussions I was to have with the faculty,
suggested the formation of a small advisory committee; Nelson
a tour through the various classes was arranged. Everything I saw was
asked him to invite the noted American designer Charles Eames.
familiar: courses in theory, classes in drawing and painting, classes in
At the Fall meeting, Eames and Nelson repeated the earlier
design, craft workshops for weaving, screen painting, ceramics and
routine of visiting classes and asking questions:
so on. At this point several uneasy thoughts came to mind. Here was
Now that we had asked the basic questions, it was perfectly clear
a place functioning exactly like any art school, but it was supposed to
that much time was being wasted through methods originally devel-
turn out nonprofessionals. All art schools, obviously, turn out one or
oped for other purposes. For example, one class was finishing a two-
the other, but what seemed a little odd was the lack of visible differ-
week exercise demonstrating that a given color is not a fixed quan-
ences between the two kinds of instruction. To the outside observer, it
tity to the eye but appears to change according to the colors around
seemed that there was possibly a confusion in both methods and objec-
it. In a physics class such a point would have been made in about five
tives. Does it make sense for a girl whose main ambition is to become
minutes with a simple apparatus, and just as effectively. We cited
a homemaker to pretend for four years that she is aiming for a career
this example in an effort to establish a principle by which teaching
in sculpture or painting? Perhaps it does, but isn’t the real problem to
effectiveness could be evaluated. We suggested that if a school knew
summ e r 2 0 1 0
The Art X Experiment, the 1950’s, the first-ever multimedia project, Lamar Dodd, George Nelson, Charles Eames, and UGA fairly precisely what it wanted to communicate, a yardstick could be
high-speed techniques for exposing the relationships between
used for checking its methods. The yardstick was a clock. In other
seemingly unrelated phenomena.
words, given the intention of communicating something specific,
No small number disciplines in academia are presently wres-
the shortest time taken to do this-without loss of comprehension or
tling with the multifarious impacts of complexity upon their
retention-represented the best method.
subject matter, its study and dissemination. Holism and complex
At this point storm warnings began to go up. Were we propos-
systems are buzzwords across academia. Recognizing the impor-
ing to apply time–motion studies in the painting studio? Maybe, we
tance of a holistic approach is an acknowledgement of the many
retorted, such schools as this had no business teaching painting. The
complex interrelationships that envelope any systematic study
discussion became an argument, then a free-for-all.
or intellectual pursuit. Whether it is economics, engineering,
That night, Nelson and Eames discussed the turmoil that had
or art education, any one subject has an inherent connection to
arisen based on what they considered to be rather innocuous
history, biology, language and a dozen other disciplines of which
proposals. The designers’ intuition here to widen their thinking
a general familiarity must be gained as a point of entry to specialpage
ization. These relationships are the skeleton for our body of knowledge. So
the
integrated,
holistic approach that began as the definition of
modern
ecology—
also at UGA, by the way — has become an essential part of the way we assimilate and transmit knowledge
between
teacher
and student, practice and practitioner. These interrelationships are at what Eames and Nelson were hinting at these interrelationships. Being the innovative thinkers they were, they just invented a different way to show it. With their charge to develop high-speed techniques for exposing relacannot be overstated; instead of getting defensive, rejecting or
tionships between unrelated phenomena, their tools would be
countering the faculty’s confusion and uncertainty,they embraced
films, slides, sound, and narration. With the subject of the
it as their own. They saw through the confusion to what they
imaginary lesson to be ‘communication’ Eames, Nelson and now
perceived as the essence of the subject — communication. There
Girard divided up the task into the packages that could be devel-
had been a breakdown, but instead of an end they perceived this as
oped separately. That art itself serves as a kind of communication
by George Nelson, “Problems of
a beginning. Communication itself was the key, and the medium,
was not lost on the group, searching for opportunities among the
Design” Whitney Publishing, 1957,
to what they were trying to say. The next day, the two proposed to
broadest possible subject.
make a presentation, of a specific example of their thinking, in
Five months later the “Art X” company met in Athens, burdened
the form of a sample lesson for an imaginary course, promptly
with as much equipment as a traveling medicine show. There was
labeled “Art X.”
a 16-mm. projector handling both film and magnetic sound. There
Eames and Nelson requested a third member of their commit-
were several tape recorders. There were three slide projectors, three
tee, the textile designer Alexander Girard, for the preparation of
screens which filled the end of the auditorium, cans of film, boxes
the lesson. Eames and Nelson left Athens with the idea to develop
of slides, and reels of magnetic tape. Girard’s exhibit arrived in a continued on page 10
Editor’s Note: Details of this story are taken from a report
and “George Nelson: The Design of Modern Design” by Stanley Abercrombie, MIT Press, 1995.
n e ws fr o m th e lamar d o dd sch o o l o f art A T U G A
THAT ART ITSELF SERVES AS A KIND OF COMMUNICATION WAS NOT LOST ON THE GROUP, SEARCHING FOR OPPORTUNITIES AMONG THE BROADEST POSSIBLE SUBJECT.
slide sequence becomes a triple-slide projection. Simultaneous exterior views change to interior views. Organ music crashes in as the narration stops. The interior becomes a close-up of a stained glass window. Incense drifts into the auditorium. The entire space dissolves into sound, space and color. Nelson related that though this portion took perhaps only four minutes, a very complex communication had been completed. Pre-existing biases, swift adjustments, unexpected juxtapositions were all brought to focus on the concept, in a way that may have a required a lecturer an hour to explain. It is important to note that
page
these were not employed in making art or teaching of the making
series of mammoth packing cases and he also brought a collection
of art but in teaching art.
of bottles of synthetic smells, to be introduced into the room via the
The students in the equation are the primary constituents.
air conditioning system at various points in the show. Seventy-two
And what do we know about them? They mostly do not become or
hours later when we had staggered through the first creaky perfor-
intend to become artists. So what should they be taught?
mance, we found that it took eight people to run it.
The Nelson-Eames-Girard experiment was no doubt based in
What had happened during the months of work was that our ideas
the optimism of the era — an outlook that infused so many of
had outstripped technical resources. As an example, while running
their designs, with a confidence that students could be at once
off some slide sequences, it occurred to us that two slides run at
dazzled, entertained and cultured with educationally-oriented
once could illustrate certain contrasts. We liked the simultaneous
technology. The idea seems certainly naïve, if not intentionally
projection so much that we tried three slides and found ourselves
so, in the internet age.
with a kind of poor-man’s Cinerama on our hands. But to carry out
But the project is more than a remnant, as the number of
this simple notion required three projectors, three screens and a
students streaming into Art X classes in ldsoa each term, with
magnetic tape playback.
nary an idea about George Nelson, surely attests. They are making
What was the show about? Any multi-media project that is
things, even if part of what they make is questioning whether it
more than a series of stills and sounds cannot be described but in
is necessarily art. They are cross-purposing ideas with objects and
its own terms. Take for example the short section relating to the
artifice in ways that traverse mediums — whether it is blogs or
idea of ‘abstraction’:
films or photos or iPhone apps. While not engaged in exactly the
A slide goes on the screen, showing a still life by Picasso. A narra-
same activites the trio outlined fifty-plus years ago, the boundar-
tor’s voice identifies it, adds that it is a type of painting known as
ies and relationships plus the constraints they place on an art
“abstract,” which is correct in the dictionary sense of the word,
school have kept us all asking what might still be the essential
since the painter abstracted from the data in front of him only
question that Lamar Dodd himself brought them down to ask:
what he wanted and arranged it as he saw fit. The next slide shows
What is an art school?
a section of London. The dry voice identifies this as an abstrac-
For George Nelson, the last word:
tion too, since of all possible data about this area, only the street
Art X said its piece in an industrial vernacular because industry has
pattern was selected. Then follow other maps of the same area,
given us more and better ways to say things than we had before. The
but each presents different data-routes of subways, location of
pictures, which flickered across the multiple screens were made by
garages, etc. The voice observes that each time the information is
machines, developed by machines and projected by machines. The
changed, the picture changes. The camera closes in on the maps
voices, music and sounds were electronically recorded, amplified
until only a few bright color patches show; the communication
and played back. But it was people who said the words, wrote the
is now useless to the geographer, but there is something new in
music, and made the final statement. This is why there is no need to
the residue of colors and shapes. Then a shift to a distant view of
be afraid of our tools-even in education. The teacher may become
Notre Dame, followed by a series “which takes you closer and closer.
less visible in the new classroom, but he will still be there. g
The narrator cites the cathedral as an abstraction-the result of a filtering-out process which has gone on for centuries. The single
summ e r 2 0 1 0
2010. Art X: Expanded Forms Lamar Dodd School of Art
MICHAEL OLIVERI, CHAIR
Q: So, they’re not becoming digital media specialists or installation artists? Oliveri: Maybe, but that’s a small percentage of the students that pass through. For most of the students they take what they learn in this unique program and apply it to whatever they choose to do. My question is; what can we do to increase and expand their approach to life? How can we better prepare them for what the world needs and what it’s becoming. We live in a world where the problems are not being solved by specialists but by collectives of many disciplines. We are increasingly seeing industry seeking the unusual suspect for employment. Q: So we should have a degree program where we do this? Oliveri: Yes. Absolutely. Our program is a great compliment to the many other programs we have at Lamar Dodd. It provides a place for the creative students who do not define themselves by the medium but by ideas. Q: Are those other disciplines still important for an art school? Oliveri: Yes, very. The art department provides a strong foundation where students develop a work ethic, skill sets and historical context. ArtX focuses on the evolution of ideas into form through conceptual direction and skill development. Q: Communicating an idea like that sounds a lot like what Nelson and Eames were up to all those years ago. Is that he best way for us to connect the two eras? Oliveri: Time has made the connection. We currently live in a world full of visual communication. What our predecessors did was combine Art and Engineering giving us a stylized process. It’s why Apple grows stronger every day and the PC workhorse falls behind. We desire beauty whether it’s in a mathematical equation, computer code, sculpture, painting, or household product. We are only continuing what they started and expanding our idea about how and to whom we are teaching art. There will always be those who continue on to be fine artists. It’s those other students, the majority, who are committed to their creativity but want to apply it outside the art world and into the world at large. That’s why we as an institution should be concerned with them. I think what Nelson, Eames and Girard did enhanced the potential of the artist, and awakened the world to the power of visual communication. They turned up the visual volume on conversation, and we hope to turn it up more.
page
Q: Are you teaching students to become artists? Oliveri: Not always. Some of our art students become professional artists, but they were going to do that anyway. ArtX is about visual communication and thinking creatively. The goal is to inspire students to see the creative potential in many disciplines once they leave the BFA program. They pursue a range of professions in architecture, medicine, product design, and digital media at some of the best graduate programs across the country. One of our student got into the very prestigious industrial design school at Stanford. And still many go on to pursue their MFA while others after the ArtX BFA program go straight to work in media related professions. Our students leave with strong art and design knowledge, but mostly they leave with the ability to problem solve using a broad vernacular.
n e ws fr o m th e lamar d o dd sch o o l o f art A T U G A
legacy
LEGACY BY A L A N F LU R RY
page
RON ARNHOLM SPEAKS THE LANGUAGE OF TYPE, VISUAL STRUCTURE AND SUBTLETY In the present era, far more than ever before [where typing on
production, though still a function of the human hand, was fresh
computers is the standard operating procedure for practically all
upon the minds of young artists. As a youngster he was enthralled
formal communication and most design tasks], most everyone
as he watched his brother Charlie letter signs and trucks, making
has become familiar with fonts and the choices available to us
a perfect O in one stroke, or hand stripe a fire engine or antique
to help, hinder, strengthen or emphasize what it is we’re trying
car, making perfectly straight lines with a long dagger brush. He
to say. But for some, maybe a relative few, fonts have long been a
worked as a sign painter during his high school years and became
primary concern. For an even smaller number, they have been a
initially interested in type through the industry publication Signs
preoccupation. For Ron Arnholm, they have been a passion and
of the Times, which featured an article each month about the
a calling.
analysis of a typeface.
Through them he has been able to do what so many wish
While still an undergraduate, Arnholm had his first typeface—
for and so few are able: to build a legacy. Legacy Serif, Sans
of over 100 to date—accepted by Photo-Lettering, Inc., a mainstay
Serif and Square Serif, that is. The ITC® Legacy® family was
of the advertising and design industry in New York since the 30’s.
designed for the International Typeface Corporation, part of
The man who bought the type, Ed Rondthaler, went on to become
Monotype Imaging. Introduced sequentially
one of the founders of ITC (International Typeface Corporation).
beginning with the first two in 1992, with the
In 1980, Arnholm was commissioned to re-design the head-
Square Serif and Serif Condensed in 2009,
lines for the new design format of the Los Angeles Times, and in
h e ha s b e e n
Arnholm’s Legacy family of fonts has won plau-
1985 to re-design their classified type, the world’s largest classified
dits and accolades the world over. Most recently,
advertising section. “It took two years to complete, but they were
abl e to d o what
the Legacy Square Serif was among the winners
able to get the paper out a lot quicker with the new font in place
of the TDC 2010, the thirteenth annual type-
instead of the many they were using previously,” he recalls. All the
face design competition sponsored by the New
while, he was putting together ideas for what would become his
York Type Director’s Club. Only 16 entries out of
legacy—the designs for the first Legacy Sans and Serif in the 1990’s
176 submitted from 29 countries were selected.
that today are a family of 35 fonts.
through th e m
so ma ny w i s h for a n d so f e w ar e abl e : to
Arnholm’s entry, selected as a “Judges Choice,”
“The new typefaces add up to what I would call a typographic
will appear at the front of the TDC 2010 section
tour de force,” writes Monotype Imaging Director of Words and
bu i l d a l egacy.
of the annual showcase Typography 31. He will
Letters Allan Haley in the introductory press releases formally
receive a certificate of Excellence in Type Design
adding the Legacy Square Condensed families to the company’s
this summer, when the TDC Awards Exhibition
ITC collection. “The designs are not only extremely handsome
opens in New York, to travel the United States, Canada, England
but also highly versatile for a broad spectrum of creative projects.”
France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Russia and Spain. Arholm’s discussion of his entry reads, in part:
Arnholm went to graduate school at Yale, where he studied with Paul Rand, the graphic designer known for his corporate
Rounding out my ITC Legacy family is the square serif version,
lettermark for IBM as well as the original UPS logo. During this
begun as pencil sketches on tracing vellum. I worked alternately
time he was putting together a kind of unified theory of visual
over specimens of the serif and sans, with the square serif concept
structure, an ongoing project that helps him and his students
being my hypothetical interpolation between the two styles.
begin to envision, understand and communicate about design. His
Final sketches, scanned and brought into Photoshop for editing,
syllabus for the last six years has included a handout that Arnholm
allowed me to work in a manner similar to that of pre-computer
hopes to expand into a book: Envisioning Vision: A Vocabulary and
days, before moving to Fontographer.
Syntax for Visual Structure and Subtlety.
As an undergraduate at the Rhode Island School of Design
And therein lies a clue to other passion of Ron Arholm—
in the late 1950’s, Arnholm came of age at the height of post-
a student of visual information and as a professor in the ldsoa,
war design innovation. The energy of automation and mass
a conveyor of his insights and passion to generations of students.
summ e r 2 0 1 0
th e probl e m i s that i n to d ay’s worl d e v e ryth i n g v i s ual i s “Everybody knows about using fonts now, and they know that you can condense them, but are unaware of the subtleties of spacing between letters, words and lines of type,” Arnholm says. “The problem today is that in today’s world everything visual is happening at the same time and often at warp speed—and as an educator I have to slow everything down and point out the subtleties. A seventy-second of an inch, which is a point, is important in typog-
happe n i n g at th e s am e t i m e a n d oft e n at warp s pe e d.
raphy. Graphic design—and typography in particular—is really all about nuances. I must get the students to see.”
I decided to go in this direction, having no idea that it would result in a final design that in text sizes looks more like the original Jenson model than the Legacy Serif itself does. All serifs are unrounded and asymmetrical. The lowercase foot serifs are much longer on the right,
with minimal bracketing; the left foot serif is slightly tapered,
Arnholm briefly introduces his students to the vocabulary,
much shorter and with much greater bracketing. This serif treat-
which he believes is the key to design: understanding visual struc-
ment, while it resembles that of the Jenson model, is actually
ture. The eight-word lexicon encompasses all of the content that
crisper, since my serifs are unrounded, becoming slightly softened
can be seen—the components of visual reality: space, threshold,
when reduced to text size.
mass, color, semblance, contrast, transition and affect. The lack
At a microscopic level, the infinite number of serif corners
of neutrality connoted in the last term is also important, and
in a sentence or paragraph, help to create a very strong edge
Arnholm notes that almost all perceptions have some sort of affec-
definition for the baseline, x-height and cap height, to an
tive or emotional tone.
extent even greater than the Jenson model itself. This, plus the serif asymmetry, the humanist stress which creates interlacing between letters, the two degrees of bracketing and the subtle
or non-objective. When the elements are combined, a syntactic
tapering of some serifs, produce a forward momentum and
structure starts to come into view: for instance, “an objective sem-
a feeling of warmth and humanity. And all of this prevents the
blance would be a similarity of images of Elvis, or apples; a non-
font from being too crisp. The sentences are like braided rope
objective semblance would be a similarity between colors, shapes
or cable, other square serif examples more like a chain; the square
or textures,” Arnholm explains. “As well there are different kinds of
serif is like music, and other styles more like the mere repetition
transition; a scanned transition, in which it is the eye that moves,
of sounds.
rather than what we are seeing—as in reading—or a serial transi-
After 46 years at UGA, Arnholm remains energized about
tion, as with a photograph or drawing of a row of dominoes as they
design. He teaches his students by theory and example, and that,
begin to fall sequentially.”
in the age of the computer, some of the most important and subtle
And while devising methods to talk about design benefits the
page
Most of the elements are also given qualifying states, e.g., mass can have size, shape, texture and density; semblances are objective
parts of the equation are often formed by hand. g
teacher and the students, Arnholm is also convinced on the point of working by hand to get a feel for what you are making. “I don’t start on a computer,” Arnholm says of sketching out a new typeface. “For me the most important tool for conceptualizing isn’t a computer, but paper, pencil and eraser. I have to feel the letter in my hands, and have instant feedback to what is happening visually,” he says. Working on existing specimens of the sans and serif, he sketched the essential components of the square serif over five days on vacation in 2005. Listening to Arnholm talk about his type can sound like poetry, as he describes seeing nuances in the fifteenth century type of Nicholas Jenson, on which the roman is based, and how it influenced the design of the square serif version:
ABOVE : Ron Arnholm. far lef t: Arnholm’s design for Brown Thrasher Books imprint, UGA Press. Near lef t: Arnholm’s logo for American Tube and Controls.
n e ws fr o m th e lamar d o dd sch o o l o f art A T U G A
FACULTY Roundup Associate professor of Art Education Tracie Costantino is the
of New Bulgarian University in Sofia and conduct research on the
recipient of a 2010 Richard B. Russell Undergraduate Teaching
Bulgarian artist Vladimir Dimitrov and the fresco portrait images
Award at the University of Georgia. Three Russell Awards are made
found in the monasteries of Bulgaria.
each year to recognize excellence in undergraduation instruc-
Associate professor and co-chair of Art Education Richard
tion by faculty members early in their careers. Awardees receive a
Siegesmund has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award to
$5,000 cash award from the Richard B. Russell Foundation.
teach at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland,
Isabelle Wallace and Nora Wendl were recipients of the secac 2009 Award for Outstanding Exhibition and Catalogue of
page
Siegesmund’s work in Dublin will include a course based on his book, Arts-Based Research in Education: Foundations for Practice;
Historical Materials. Wallace received a Center for Humanities and Arts Subvention
a second course based on community arts. The first of two public
Grant from the Wilson Center to subvene the cost of publish-
lectures will focus on his work with the national art and design
ing the anthology she is co-editing with Jennie Hirsh, Assistant
curriculum, ThinkTank; and a second public lecture based on the
Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, MICA: Contemporary
aesthetic thought of John Dewey and its foundation to arts-based
Art and Classical Myth, forthcoming Ashgate, 2010.
research methods in the social sciences.
Visiting Artist and Assistant Professor, Didi Dunphy exhib-
Assistant Professor Julie Spivey’s design for the 2008 and
ited variations on her “Playscape” installation works including
2009 issues of the School of Art newsletter has won various
see saws, skateboards, rockers and vinyl graphic designs this
design awards including most recently a 2009 case iii Special
past fall at the Roy C. Moore Gallery at Gainseville State College
Merit Award from the Council for the Advancement of Education.
and this Spring at the Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College
Spivey and Associate Professor Alex Murawski’s collaborative
in Atlanta. “Limitless” at the
work on a promotional poster for the annual Blind Willie McTell
Dalton Gallery will include new
Blues Festival in Thomson, Georgia was recently published in
works created with the technol-
Print magazine’s Regional Design Annual and was exhibited in
ogy of laser etch and cut acrylic.
Illustrators 51, the annual exhibition of Society of Illustrators in
Didi is a panelist this Spring at
New York.
gmoa, which includes a screen-
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ART EDUCATIOn TRACIE COSTANTINO
during the 2010 fall semester.
In November, three pieces designed by Spivey’s students,
ing of new film, “Who Does
including an original project design, were published in The New
She Think She Is?” and Emory’s
Graphic Design School by Quarto Press, London.
Art Criticism Conference. The
Professor Stephen Scheer has been accepted into the Artists
new Professional Practices class
& Scholars Residency Program at the American Academy in Rome
is hosting a dozen guests from
for July 2010. Scheer will serve as visiting artist, shooting photog-
various creative fields such as
raphy on location of historic architectural sites and monuments
intellectual property law, textile
in a contemporary context.
design, public art policy, web
Eight images by Scheer have been selected for featured article
branding, grant writing and
on his involvment with “Street Photography” for the London-
many others.
based magazine Publication in May 2010.
Professor James Barsness
Scheer is also contracted for a three-picture feature in the
had a solo exhibit of five elabo-
upcoming book Horizontal New York by Maria Hamburg
rate and large scale paintings at
Kennedy, designed by Richard Padisco, to be published by Rizzoli
Catherine Clark Gallery in San
International in spring 2011.
Francisco this past April entitled “Dharma Bums” Barsness will
Associate professor Tad Gloeckler has been selected as
have a solo exhibit at the George Adams Gallery in New York City
the Spring 2011 Artist in Residence in the Interdisciplinary Arts
this coming October.
Residency Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts
Two ldsoa faculty members have been awarded Fulbright
Institute in Madison, WI. Responsibilities during the residency
Scholar grants for fall 2010. Professor Diane Edison, chair of
include teaching an interdisciplinary arts studio class culminating
drawing and painting, has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar
in a presentation/performance of student work, a presentation of
grantee to Bulgaria. The title of her grant is “Portraiture Re-defined:
his own work at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art with
Interdisciplinary Influences on Teaching Beginning Courses.”
an associated public workshop, and participating in an artist’s
Edison will work alongside colleagues in the Fine Arts Department
residency at Taliesin in Spring Green, WI. g
summer 2010
opened doors to otherwise-unattainable,
Circles are perfect: 360 degrees of precisely
life-changing learning experiences.
equal angles that manifest radiant beauty in
Rick Johnson, now Associate Professor of Art and Director of the Cortona Program,
the guise of geometry. Circles evoke balance, harmony, con-
went to Cortona for the very first time as a
nectedness, closure. They symbolize full-
student. This spring he received the Richard
ness, and paradoxically, emptiness. A circle
F. Reiff Internationalization Award in re-
has no beginning and no end.
cognition for his lifelong work at and for
As a fundraiser at the University of
the Cortona Program. At the presentation,
Georgia, I often hear “circle” as a metaphor
he talked about his initiation to Italy and
in conversations with donors. They allude
recounted a conversation with his teacher
to it in relation to their charitable impulses,
and then-department head, Lamar Dodd:
THE CIRCLE OF GIVING: A MEDITATION ON GENEROSITY BY S UZ I WON G
OPPORT U NIT Y
LD: You should study in Cortona.
I feel as if I’m coming full circle.” Or “I’m
You’d learn a lot there.
writing this check because I want to com-
RJ: Sir, I’d like to go, but I can’t afford it.
I’ve heard that the ldsoa is starting a new
plete the circle.” Or “I wouldn’t be where I
It costs $750.00 (…a lot in the 1970s)
Maymester program there. I want to help
am today, if it hadn’t been for uga. Can you
LD: Well, how much do you have?
give someone that opportunity because
help me circle back to honor my teachers?”
RJ: I think I can scrape together $250.00.
studying in another country changed my
LD: All right. Let’s see if this will help.
life!” Testimonials like this richly illustrate
cate that their gift is a way of “giving
Dodd took out his check book and
back.” In giving back to their alma mater,
handed Rick Johnson $500.00, and THAT
they are actually giving thanks. Thanks
has made all the difference, not only for
And here’s how to travel the circle of
for courses that provided knowledge and
this student turned artist turned profes-
giving: keeping in mind that there is no
skills to launch successful careers. Thanks
sor turned director, but for the Cortona
end and no beginning, let’s begin at the top
to professors whose dedication provided
Program and all the faculty and students
of the circle (or 12 o’clock). We see that the
memorable teaching, and whose eccentrici-
who have been there under his leadership.
spirit of generosity prompts the donor to act
the arc or path of the “circle of giving.”
ties and character provided unforgettable
Travel scholarships continue to make
or make a gift. The gift, itself, produces an
role-modeling. Thanks to classmates and
a huge difference and are needed more
amazing opportunity for someone or some
roommates, whose friendship enriched the
than ever. In the global society, today’s
group. That opportunity enriches the life
college years with interpersonal learning
art students must have access to interna-
of the beneficiary, creating a deep sense of
and emotional warmth.
tional education to acquire the linguistic
appreciation or gratitude. And that gratitude generates the spirit of generosity, again.
Often, the alumni who give most
and cultural sophistication of their peers
ardently are the ones who have benefited
in other disciplines. Anyone who has lived
No matter where you start on the circle
from
They
abroad knows that the experience radically
of giving, you take part in something that
appreciate how their life was transformed
changes us; it affects our understanding
never ends. As you give back, you give to
through education and how their dreams
not only of the world and that “foreign”
the future. What you give as a remem-
were realized through the help of a gift. I
country, but also of ourselves, our sense of
brance of things past becomes your legacy…
love listening to donors’ stories about how
identity. Recently, an alumnus called to ask,
and someone else’s bright beginnings. The
remarkable, unexpected acts of generosity
“How much is a plane ticket to Costa Rica?
circle of giving keeps giving. g
scholarships,
themselves.
how to participate in the arts with a gift to the lamar dodd school of art 1 Send a check to make a tax-deductible gift any time through the year. Make check out to the Arch Foundation or UGA Foundation, LDSOA. LDSOA General Fund Art Building and Equipment Fund Purpose or Area (i.e. scholarships, ceramics, visiting artists) 2 Visit our website: www.art.uga.edu and click on “Make a Gift” to see a menu of options of ways to benefit the school; then, follow the links to make a secure, on-line gift 3 “Take a Seat” in the auditorium; your name (plus class year, business, etc.) will be engraved on a pewter name-plaque to be installed on the arm of the seats in the LDSOA’s state of the art lecture space. Seats may also be named in honor of or in memory of a friend, mentor, or loved one. Some
of our seats have been named in honor of donors’ favorite artist. When you visit www.art.uga.edu, check the “Take a Seat” option under “Make a Gift.” New name plaques are installed at graduation each year. 4 Contact Suzi Wong, Director of Development for the Fine and Performing Arts, to ask about making gifts of stock transfers, insurance policies, pledges, estate plans, etc. If you would like to discuss the possibility of making a major gift (such as a scholarship or professorship or naming a gallery), please contact Suzi: (706) 542-9867 or swong@uga.edu 5 If and when you are called by UGA fundraisers during its annual phone campaign, exercise your option to designate your gift to the Lamar Dodd School of Art.
page
“Suzi, I’m so excited. In making this gift,
Alumni use these very words to indi-
GIFT
Who can resist the allure of the circle?
G RATIT U D E
G ENEROSIT Y
ATHENS, GA PERMIT NO. 11
“Robert Indiana: Art, Autobiography, and America”
by John Wilmerding, Christopher B. Sarofim ‘86
Professor of American Art, Emeritus
September 23, 2010 at 5:30pm
Save the Date: S h o u ky S h ah e e n L e c t ur e
PAID
L A M A R D O DD S C H O O L O F A RT U N I V E R S I T Y O F G EO R G I A 27 0 R I V E R R O A D AT H EN S , G A 3 0 6 0 2
NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE page
the L amar D o dd Scho o l o f Art
Galleries BY JE F F R EY W H IT T L E
Philip Ayers Now That we Are Here, 2007 Oil on Canvas, 48 x 36in.
Revolving exhibitions of interactive media, large-scale painting, and magical ceramic sculpture were some of the many highlights of the 2009–10 Gallery Season.
sculptural and experimental approach and an ongoing dialogue with
contemporary
In my second year as Gallery Director I was thrilled to see attendance expand
culture. In celebration
and diversify, as each art reception became an event for visual dialogue and a
of the opening of our
gathering for the exchange of ideas. No less impressive were the string of student
new ceramics facilities
exhibitions, particularly the BFA Exit Shows and a stellar MFA Exhibition in the
on River Road this fall,
spring. Our inaugural Juried Student Exhibition was a huge success with a large
we will be showcasing
student participation in both submissions and the organization of the show.
the work of ceramic fac-
The juror was Julian Cox, Curator of Photography at the High Museum and
ulty past and present.
featured over 100 works representing every studio practice. The resulting show
And later in the fall we are pleased to have the
was well attended, well-received and reminded me of the thriving community that we inhabit at River Road. The Fall 2010 Exhibition Season opens with Drawing: Contemporary
second annual Juried Student Exhibition, juried by Stuart Horodner, Artistic Director at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.
Approaches, a showcase of artists who push the boundaries of conventional
In Spring 2011 The Lamar Dodd School of Art Galleries are proud to host
mark making. Michigan-based artist Kathleen McShane stretches tradition with
the photographic works of Jim Fiscus. Fiscus is an award-winning photographer
physically unexpected works conveyed with an intrepid and witty attitude,
and pioneer in digital imaging. Voted International Photographer of the Year
while Canadian Barb Bondy’s work is informed by the intersection of science,
for 2006, Jim Fiscus has had work featured on two communication arts covers
art, and philosophy as a graphical dialogue with the human mind and brain.
and was named #1 on Campaigns 2008 list of top photographers in the United
Running concurrently in Gallery 101, Thom Houser’s site-specific installation
Kingdom.
The Other Side of The Mask explores contradiction and self-deception. He
The ldsoa Galleries always seek to showcase technical mastery, provocative
employs still and video images, built environments, sound and original poetry.
investigation, and art that speaks to our time. Our Galleries strive to create a
During October, the dynamic printmaking duo of Aaron Wilson and Tim
direct discourse between innovative contemporary artists and the University
Dooley will bring their “Printstallation” and collaborative spirit to Athens.
and Athens audiences, especially with our students as they make their own
Widely exhibited and celebrated printmakers, they are known for their
contributions to this ongoing dialogue. g