WHAT'S NEW

The renaming of the science building lobby in memory of William C. Hansen and his presidency has been followed by a commissioned stained glass project. Mark Brueggeman, senior lecturer in art and design, designed the stained glass piece. “One of the aspects of this project was the challenge to develop an image that could take on iconic properties. This was also a rewarding opportunity to employ student assistants and allow them to contribute to the campus image”. According to Brueggeman, two UWSP students contributed to his stained glass project. Stevens Point native Nicholas Danczyk graduated this May with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Ripon native John Pahlas is a sophomore majoring in art. “Nick worked for me the longest on this, during the pattern making and glass fabrication. John worked for me in the preliminary stages of designing and producing imagery,” said Brueggeman.

“Eco-tivity – environmental art in process” was a show held during the month of September at the Peninsula School of Art in Fish Creek, Door County, WI. The three artists involved were Dan Engelke, Professor Emeritus in Art from Purdue University who installed a series of floating lit sculptures in Tennison Bay off Peninsula State Park, Karl Saliter from Connecticut created an eight foot cube using local stone and steel rebar as a permanent piece on the grounds of the School, and Bill McKee, Instructor at UWSP who harvested invasive plants (honeysuckle and Scotch pine) and used those materials for an installation in the Guenzel Gallery at the Peninsula School of Art.

Gary Baseman, cartoonist, illustrator, toy designer and three-time Emmy award winning animator, spent the day in the Department of Art & Design on September 9, 2009. Baseman visited with two classes, and gave a presentation to 150 people in the NFAC courtyard. His visit coincided with the exhibition titled "Tarnished Reality", which included three pieces by Baseman.

Fumiko Amano (BA 1993) had a one-person show of her paintings and mixed media work at the Murnau Art Gallery, in Seville, Spain. The exhibition, titled "Everything is Alive", ran from April 27 to May 30, 2009. Fumiko's website address is http://www.fumikoamano.com

Five graphic design students had work included in the 2009 SIGGRAPH Space-Time poster competition. Ryanna Christianson won first place in the competition. Other accepted posters were designed by Matt Korpal, Amy Kucksdorf, Tony Knapton, and Julie Sittler. The award winning posters were exhibited at the SIGGRAPH 2009 annual conference in New Orleans in August. Siggraph is an international organization made up of a diverse group of researchers, artists, developers, filmmakers, scientists, and other professionals who share an interest in computer graphics and interactive techniques

Additional congratulations go out to Ryanna Christianson for having work accepted to be published in Issue #16 of Creative Quarterly Magazine! Issue 16 can be seen online: http://cqjournal.com/currentissue.html

UW-Stevens Point art & design alum Christopher Engebretson recently was awarded a plaque in recognition of his numerous hours of work to restore and replicate a local icon, "The Boy With The Leaking Boot," which stands in front of the Stevens Point Fire Headquarters on Franklin Street. The statue, one of seven known to be left in the world, has become a prized asset to the firefighters and community. After being vandalized twice, firefighters had the statue repaired each time but any future incident might make it irreparable. Engebretson accepted the task of making a mold of the figure and recreated it out of concrete, which is easier to repair if damaged again. Engebretson put more than 150 hours into the project. The new state stands is standing in front of the fire station until a decision on how to properly display it in a secure but public location is chosen.

tivityIn May and June 2009 Art & Design faculty teamed up with faculty from Interior Architecture to teach a three-week summer class on Art, Architecture and Design in Greece. In addition to several days visiting sites and museums in Athens, the class visited key monuments throughout the Peloponnese, as well as several key sites on Crete. Classical sites included Delphi, Olympia, Corinth and Athens, while the Bronze Age (the Homeric era) was covered by Mycenae, Tiryns, Phaistos and Knossos. In addition to the ancient sites, the major early Christian and Byzantine centers of Mistra, Monemvasia and Gortyn were included, as were a number of spectacular fortified harbors such as Naupactos and Navarino/Pylos. Greek food, music and beaches were included under the rubric of “Littoral Zone sociological independent research”. Much learning, three Art History credit hours and a good time were had by all.

This past June a new public sculpture titled, “Ascension” was unveiled in front of The Pineries Bank in Stevens Point. Art 398-Public Sculpture, taught by Bill McKee, was the catalyst for the piece designed by the class and approved by the Pineries' Board of Directors. Students in the class included Shannon Piette, Douglas Somers, Matthew Piepenbrok, Kandra Shefchik, Michael Butcher, Todd Hebal, Stephanie Jones, Justin Young, Matt Lison, Christina Wardall, Chelsea Fuller, and Amber Fuller.

Built with local services and materials of historical content, the sculpture includes reclaimed hemlock timbers from the floor of the former Lullaby Factory and fieldstone from the farms of Fran and Dan Zaborowski in Polonia and the Henrietta Hintz farm in Rosholt. Local craftspeople assisted with the work, including Dan Michor and Joe Thorn of Metal Crafters, Juda Haas of Alchemy Concrete, Jay Goska of Powder Coating Specialists, engineer Troy Hanson of Merrill, County Concrete, Gimme Shelter Construction, Home Team Décor and Dennis Bauer Sandblasting.

In return for this monument, an endowment has been established to provide scholarships to UWSP art and design students.

Twelve nationally and internationally recognized artists form the United States and abroad have been invited to the Department of Art & Design at UWSP for a week long workshop to make prints with students and faculty. The event will culminate in a one night gala opening and sale of work created by the artists in the Carlsten Gallery located in the Noel Fine Arts center on the UWSP campus.

May 29-June 4, 2009

Sale and Exhibition - Thursday, June 4th, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

For more information visit the Monoprint 2009 website.

The Susan B. Murphy Piotrowski Ceramic Awards began in the late 1970's by Mr. and Mrs. Harold Murphy of Stevens Point, in honor of their daughter who was a ceramicist. Professor Emeritus Richard Schneider supported and encouraged his students to participate in this prestigious award, where First, Second and Third Place winning ceramic pieces became part of the University's Permanent Collection, under the direction of the Curator of the Edna Carlsten Gallery.

Currently the judges for this award are: Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, Professor Caren Heft, Gallery Director/Curator of the Edna Carlsten Gallery, Professor Diana Black, Chair, Department of Art and Design and Professor Anne-Bridget Gary, professor of Ceramics in the department.

Professor Susan Morrison’s work has been exhibited in a number of venues recently including a two-person show at the Fred P. Giles Gallery at Eastern Kentucky University, a solo exhibition at the Edna Carlsten Gallery, UW-Stevens Point, a five-person exhibition at the Buckham Gallery in Michigan and the 23rd International Juried Show 2009 at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. This show contained artists' work from six countries and twenty three states.

The UW-Stevens Point Department of Art & Design announces the 2009 BFA Exhibition. The exhibition will be held on Friday, May 8, 2009, in the Courtyard, balcony and Edna Carlsten Gallery, UWSP Noel Fine Arts Building, from 3–6 pm. This exhibition is the capstone experience for the 2009 BFA graduates. Graphic Design majors present their professional portfolios. Studio majors present a body of work in their chosen areas.

Please join us to celebrate the accomplishments of our graduating seniors.

Diane Bywaters won first place for landscape in the International Small Works Award Show in Richeson75 with her oil painting of the Milwaukee vista. She has also been selected as an artist-in-residence in Jentel, Wyoming in August; and has work in a juried exhibition called "Truth Seekers" in West Palm Beach; and a piece in the Wisconsin Biennial 2009.

Bywaters participated in the Faculty/Mentor Exhibition at Wisconsin Lutheran College by invitation of UWSP alumni and Associate Professor Kristin Gjerdset.

UW-Stevens Point hosted the 5th Annual nowHERE Design Conference this past March 6th and 7th. The conference featured inspiring workshops, lectures, portfolio reviews and other activities designed to bring together graphic artists from around the Midwest. Go to www.nowhereconference.com for more information.

Monotype Senior BFA students Travis Lester, Nick Danczyk and Jamie Karoses had one print each selected for the 22nd Annual UW-Parkside National Small Print Exhibition in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This the second straight year that Travis and Nick have had their work selected for the show. This exhibition draws entries from professional and student artists from the United States and Canada who work in the printmaking, works on paper and book arts discipline. Traditionally there are approximately 900 entries for the show from which 80 are chosen for the exhibition.

Mild steel, 5.5m x .5m x .5m Collection of Skulpturenpark Katzow. Katzow, Germany Negotiating memory was built in a sculpture park residency in the East German town of Katzow. During this residency I found myself thinking a lot about the construction of memory and differing views regarding the past. Placed like childrens blocks, eleven half meter cubes are stacked leaving the 12th on the ground, as if about to be raised or just fallen.

Professor Bob Erickson had two intaglio prints accepted in to the 2008 Minnesota National Print Biennial at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota. He was also one of two artists selected from the exhibition to be interviewed about their work and then have the interview printed in the catalog for the show.