Dion engages with art students in visit

Conceptual artist Mark Dion visited the School of Art, Art History & Design last fall as part of the Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Lecture Series.

Dion’s work examines the ways in which dominant ideologies and public institutions shape our understanding of history, knowledge and the natural world. He frequently collaborates with museums of natural history, aquariums, zoos and other institutions mandated to produce public knowledge on the topic of nature.

Dion, who visited with students in printmaking, sculpture and painting/ drawing during his visit, said he enjoys working with students.

“When I studied, there were a handful of people around me who really mentored me and saw in me something, a level of commitment that was something that they really fostered,” Dion said. “So I always thought that, in some way, fostering the next generation is part of the job if you’re an artist. It’s really important.”

As part of his visit, he collaborated with three graduate students in the School of Art, Art History & Design to create an edition of prints— Hannah Demma, Sarah Jentsch and Kim Tomlinson. Undergraduate students also assisted with the project.

“We did a sort of experiment where we’ve taken this same basic image, but we’re using two different techniques to produce this, silkscreen and lithography,” Dion said. “So it’s a way of being able to judge these two techniques against each other. It’s a good way of teaching these already advanced students about editioning and the rigors of editioning versus just printing for yourself. When you’re printing for other people, you have to be even more demanding than printing for yourself.”

Demma said she enjoyed the process of working with Dion.

“It was just fun to see a professional artist,” she said. “He’s pretty dang famous, but he’s really approachable and a good teacher, and he was super generous with his time.”

Visit go.unl.edu/markdion to read more about his visit.  ■

Left to right: Graduate students Sarah Jentsch, Kim Tomlinson and Hannah Demma with the edition of prints they created with Mark Dion. The image is of a lobe-finned fish surrounded by a list of terms that refer to corruption.

Mark Dion (third from left) tours Morrill Hall with Director Susan Weller and graduate students from the School of Art, Art History & Design. Dion also toured the research collections with museum curators.