USM

Endings and New Beginnings

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Graduation was this weekend, grades are turned in, my office is almost fully packed up… and I only have a few more tasks left to do at the University of Saint Mary before I turn in my keys and equipment. It’s all moving so quickly that it feels a little surreal. I’m not the only one leaving, though; my Department Chair of five years, amazing mentor, and fantastic professional role model Dr. William Krusemark is retiring this year after 41 years of service to USM. That’s right - 41 years!

I’m not sure it’s possible to overstate what a good human being Bill is. I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to work with and learn from him, and so I wanted to give him a really nice retirement gift. I ended up deciding on a very risky option: I would paint him a portrait of his daughter Abby. This was high risk for a couple reasons - the main one being that I’ve never met Abby and so I’d only be working off of a few small photos I got Bill’s wife Susan to email me. It was also the first human portrait I’ve ever painted (I am much more interested in wildlife and mediated nature, professionally).

I’m happy with how it turned out, and I hope that the time and effort I put into it are evident.

I hope Bill has a wonderful retirement. His tireless work and devotion has built an enduring legacy in the many lives he’s touched, and it’s time for him to start his own new chapter - beginning with a cruise to Alaska!

Citizens Savings & Loan Debit Card Design Scholarship

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F19 debit card design.JPG

Citizens Savings & Loan has partnered with the University of Saint Mary to offer a university-branded debit card that raises money for student scholarships - and they put out a contest call a few months ago for designs. The winner was to receive a $500 scholarship and have their design printed as the inaugural card… and sophomore art major Adeline Pagan Sanchez won with the submission to the right!

Addy took the initiative to compete and worked very hard on this contest. She created and submitted a variety of designs since she wasn’t sure what aesthetic - cartoonish, sporty, refined - the selection team was looking for. Her classy, modern take on the USM spire and surrounding architecture hit the mark. Here’s a picture of us presenting her with the award, via an oversized ceremonial check!

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I’m proud of her and look forward to more of her successes. For further details, check out USM’s press release, which was published in the Leavenworth Times too!

Guest Artist Kelli Scott Kelley's Alternate Realities

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I am honored to share that my former graduate school professor Kelli Scott Kelley is exhibiting in USM’s Goppert Gallery, with an opening reception this afternoon! Here’s the press release for more details. Come join us if you’re in or around Leavenworth today, or stop in over the next couple weeks!

Fall 2018 Teaching Schedule!

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It's that time of year - this morning USM held its annual matriculation ceremony, and tomorrow classes start!  I will be teaching Sculpture, Painting I, Typography, and Art Career Internship.  I'm looking forward to meeting new students and hearing how returning students have spent their summers!

The Spring Student Art Exhibition and the End of the Academic Year!

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We had a great Spring Student Art Exhibition, which was accompanied by the annual judging for Miller Art Awards.  Our guest judge this year was alumna and graphic designer Lea Whitson!  Here are some photos of the show, but there were so many more pieces than what you'll see in this slideshow.

This Saturday was also our graduation, and it is always wonderful to see my students walk across that stage but just a little bit sad knowing that I won't see them return again in fall.  I hope they go on to do great things but also stay in touch!

One of My Non-Art-Major Students Is Now a Commissioned Artist!

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Exercise science student Sam Schoon took my Advanced Honors Seminar in Interdisciplinary Art last year, and in the segment on physics and art learned about liquid dynamics and how artists can create beautiful abstract patterns through pouring slightly higher density paint onto a lower density one from our guest lecturer Dr. Pat Bunton of William Jewell College's Physics Program.  She gave her two small pieces of liquid dynamics artwork to Pat at the end of the course, and he hung them in his office.  A while later, his Department Chair saw them and liked them so much she had Pat reach back out to Sam this past fall and ask if she'd be willing to do a much bigger piece sometime this year for departmental decor.  Sam took up the challenge even though it was outside of her comfort zone, and she recently delivered the finished piece to Pat!  Below is a photo of us with her artwork right before she handed it over and was paid.

I'm proud of Sam for taking this on, working hard, and overcoming surprise obstacles in the process to accomplish this very cool goal.

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Kristina Carbrey's Being Human Solo Exhibition in Goppert Gallery

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Kristina Carbrey's lithograph Place in My Heart

Kristina Carbrey's lithograph Place in My Heart

Graduating senior Kristina Carbrey's senior thesis solo exhibition is on display in Goppert Gallery - it opened with a reception on Friday, April 6th from 3-5pm, with normal gallery hours of 9am-3pm April 6-20.  Kristina is a very talented artist interested in the human form and psychology and she put together an impressive body of work for this exhibition so I encourage you to check it out!  She's also donating all proceeds from sales through this show to the Ulman Cancer Fund and spending her summer biking 4K across the US to raise money and awareness for this charity.  I think it will be an amazing adventure!  If you'd like to donate directly to this cause, here is her link.

Here's the press release from her show - come take a look and also see if any of her work wants to accompany you home!

Photo Teaser from My Exhibition Reception!

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This Friday was my opening reception for my Goppert Gallery exhibition Finding Light.  I will share a more comprehensive set of photos with you in a bit, but here's a teaser!  The show is up through March 9th if you want to experience it firsthand.

Joy Anne Duquette's 'Sightings and Daydreams' in Goppert Gallery

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We are hosting an interesting spontaneously-added exhibition this week in USM's Goppert Gallery - Joy Anne Duquette's Sightings and Daydreams, with the opening reception having taken place on Friday, January 26th.  Since it wasn't in our original gallery schedule, it's only up through this next Friday, February 2nd at 3pm, so if you want to see it you should come by soon!  Here's the press release for the show.

A New Year, a New Semester!

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It's that time again!  Spring 2018 at USM will start on Monday, January 15th, and with it, my courses: Introduction to Printmaking, Computer Graphics, Advanced Honors Seminar in Interdisciplinary Art, and Art Career Internship, Advanced Studios, and Senior Exhibit (the latter three counting together as one course load).

I look forward to seeing new and returning students and all the new artwork they'll produce!

The Rashel's Immigration & Community Engagement Exhibition

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As part of a campus-wide interdisciplinary focus on social justice, immigration, and human rights, with events centering on on these topics will take place throughout the month of September, we in the Art Program brought A K M Jabed Rashel and Tajreen Shupti Akter to USM's Goppert Gallery with their show The Rashel's Immigration & Community Engagement Exhibition.  Here's their press release!  

If you're in the area, you should not only come and check it out but consider buying - all proceeds will be donated to the relief efforts supporting Rohingya refugees.  The show will be up through October 6th.

USM Baptism Stole

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Last week, University of Saint Mary President Diane Steele dropped by one of my classes to ask me or one of my students to decorate a baptism stole for one of our own esteemed colleagues who is getting baptized this Friday.

Given the seriousness of the event and the once-off support media, I chose to take the task on myself so as to make sure it was a well-executed piece.  I took pieces of some of our logos and printed them out at the proper scale, handcut them into stencils, and painted them onto each side of the stole.  I then freehand-painted somewhat stylized fire and water below the stencils.  I took my time in doing it, and it even surprised me how long it did take - around 7 hours!  But I think it turned out quite well.

Arcilia Gonzalez's Senior Art Exhibition

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My student Arcilia Gonzalez is graduating this spring, and her senior exhibition is having its opening reception tomorrow!  Come to Goppert Gallery between 3-5pm on Friday, April 7th to take in Not Just Beautiful, but Alive and Breathing - or if you absolutely can't make it then, it will be up through April 21st.  Here's the press release!

Arcilia's graduation marks the fourth year that I've been teaching at USM, so hers is the first class I've seen all the way through from freshmen to graduation.  She's also been a work study student of mine, and is an interesting, good person, so I'll miss her in a number of ways.  Arcilia has another show in the region this winter, though, so I'll get to see her again after she graduates in the not too distant future.

Spring Classes are Coming!

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The Spring 2017 semester is almost upon us!  At the University of Saint Mary, we commemorate Martin Luther King Day instead of taking it as a holiday, so Monday was slated to be out first day of classes... but the weather has other plans, and to avoid the predicted ice storm and attempt to help unravel the resultant travel complications our students are already facing, we have canceled classes on Monday and will instead begin Spring 2017 classes on Tuesday.

This semester, I am teaching an overload (five classes instead of my typical four): Basic Design, Drawing II, Typography, Honors Seminar: Interdisciplinary Art, and Art Career Internship/Advanced Studios/Senior Exhibit.  The overload is due to taking on the Honors Seminar; I'm very excited about it as I got to create the class entirely with our honor student population and my own academic interests in mind.

Speaking of Student Work...

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One of my students, Ryan Hill, just sent me this video he made featuring a time lapse of our recent Goppert Gallery installation as well as a tour of the exhibition!  It's super cool:

Info] The art setup on 7 December 2016 at the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth. Artwork displayed in the video by various members of the Saint Mary students.

My Art Majors' New Websites!

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As a part of my Portfolio Seminar class (basically a career preparation course), I require my students to make a website if they don't already have one.  None of these enrolled students already had one, so these are all brand new - check them out!

anthonyiii.com
arciliagonzalez.com
dravenwood.weebly.com
freedominked.com
kristinacarbrey.weebly.com

Goppert Gallery Exhibition Photos!

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Here are some images of the show!  I got sidetracked by an alumna when I was walking around photographing so I haven't taken pictures of the whole of the show yet, but that just means there's more to experience if you want to stop by - the show's up through the 15th.

An image of my wall of artwork from the exhibition.

Looking at my wall from the other side.

Goppert Gallery Exhibition

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I'm exhibiting my series of botanical-garden-themed mixed media reliefs made on residency this summer at La Maison Verte in Marnay-sur-Seine, France, as well as the first three paintings in my ongoing puffin series inspired by my 2014 Icelandic residency in the University of Saint Mary's Goppert Gallery!  My work is in its own distinct space, but the Gallery has a number of rooms to it and is also simultaneously exhibiting student artwork from this past semester as well as our graduating senior Brandon Handy's senior thesis exhibition, "Nature from Afar and Close-Up." The gallery is free and open to the public, with exhibition dates and times as follows:

December 9-15, 2016, 10am-4pm with an opening reception today from 3-5pm - complimentary refreshments will be served.

If you'd like to join us, Goppert Gallery is on the ground floor of Xavier Hall on the University of Saint Mary's main campus found at 4100 S. 4th Street in Leavenworth, KS.  Here's the full press release if you're interested, though since we sent it out we've changed a few details so this post has the most current information.

I'll upload some photos shortly!