End of 2020

 Saying goodbye to 2020.

Image from the fall B.F.A. Group Exhibition.

Cup-Nest and Pod

 A pairing - both found at the Prairie Restoration at Big Woods Lake - an abandoned Red-eyed Vireo cup-nest and a Milkweed pod. A glorious November day in Iowa.

At the Irvine Prairie

 With Mark (Ace) at the Irvine Prairie, La Porte City/Dysart, IA.

In Sync, Part II

 We are not publicly promoting this Collection exhibition in the Gallery, which I have curated and installed in the Main Room, because its purpose is to offer only art students, staff, and faculty a place to view art during in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are 20 objects on display from Romare Bearden to Sonnenzimmer, from Mary Snyder Behrens to Robert Arneson, from Mark Tobey to Kee-ho Yuen, to three of our UNI photography alumni. It was conceived as a continuation of the summer 2018 single-day exhibition presented in association with  partnership with Cedar Valley Chamber Music concert titled L.A. Stories: Forgotten Composers of the Silver Screen.

 

 

Artwork Pickup in Minnneapolis

 Yesterday's trip to the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis, MN (in the MIA museum building) was uneventful with calm streets and calmer weather. I met with conservators Dianna Clise and Jen Neville who handed over the many boxes containing all 44 art objects from the UNI Permanent Art Collection that they'd conserved over the past year and a half. Congratulations to them on such hard work!

All objects are home safe.

 

Public Art Conservation at UNI

Contractors repainting Fletcher Benton's Balanced/Unbalanced Beaks (1993) on the path past UNI's Curris Business Building. Image taken July 22, 2020.

It was time to brighten the university skyline.

New Mural in Waterloo, Iowa

The "Diversity Is Our Strength" wheat paste mural in Waterloo.

Completed in June 2020.

Lovely, powerful!

Diversity Is Our Strength

A glimpse of new work

Below is a screenshot of some collages I've completed over the past couple of weeks. Since I realized I was making art again - as opposed to just working through some thoughts about isolation and/or well-being and/or loneliness - it's become clear that these works might need to be assembled into some other form, not just within the confines of a blog. I'm sharing the latest six, but not really. I can tell you that left and center columns are entrances/passages and the right column is radials/mandalas.

More on this path later.

For May: In the Blooms

Laying in euphorbia with spiderwort, ragwort, and wild tulips.

For May: some greenmen

Greenmen and Jacks, May 2020.

Blog-collages from Isolation

Past and Present:

Venus by the Bay, collage and drawing, 2008.

Amor Volat Undique (Love Flies Everywhere), collage and drawing, 2008.

 

Garment Walks, 2020.

 

Blog-grids from Isolation, continued

Noticing Shapes & Patterns.

Inspired by a Walk on May 3, 2020.

Blog-grids from Isolation

Social Distancing - Work

Social Distancing - Walks in the Sun

Baker/Maker

Noticing Shapes & Patterns

Sunshine during the pandemic

A weekend walk through the restoration prairie, into the woods, around the lake and ponds, and back again. I needed sunshine and time away from the television. There were lots of folks with the same idea, but everyone kept their distance.

Throwback - 10 Years Ago

Never Chaste was an invitational group exhibition presented by the UNI Gallery of Art, which emphasized the sensuous form and the classical nude. It was the first in a yearlong series of events featuring UNI Department of Art alumni and included Jensen Barnes, Thaddeus Erdahl, Gerard Huber, Gary Kelley, Ken Rowe, and Libby Rowe. A beautiful show that I remember fondly.

Social Distancing

A walk in Deerwood Park keeps us away from the crowds but in the healthy air. Can COVID-19 be on the way out as spring marches in? Could we have that please?

Sign of the Times: Gallery Notice

Well, it's happened. The UNI Gallery of Art has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Posted today, Thursday, March 12. Scary times. Stay safe!

Documentary Review: Merce Cunningham

Read this excellent review of the Merce Cunningham documentary, Cunningham: Moving From Then to Now by old friend and UI Intermedia colleague Alan Murdock. Alan has also embedded several videos that illustrate Cunningham's work.

Murdock Media Production, LLC

The New Administrator at Iowa Arts Council

David Schmitz will be the new Administrator at the Iowa Arts Council! I'm sure the Dubuque Museum of Art will be sad to see him go. Wishing him and his family great and grand things in Des Moines.
5 Questions with UNI Alum David Schmitz.

The distinction I deserve

Paper Giants make Prints

The brilliant artists of Paper Giants, Meg Lipke, Vicki Sher, and Ky Anderson, making a collaborative print series in the Printmaking Lab at UNI, Jan. 24, 2020.

2020 Birthday Comestibles

 ...from Troy

 ...from Anastasia

...from Bev & Bob

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Women Artists at the UNI Gallery of Art

Celebrating women artists at the UNI Gallery of Art, January to early March 2020.

Below: Paper Giants, a collaboration between Ky Anderson, Meg Lipke, and Vicki Sher. The exhibition also includes Paper Goliaths, truly enormous works of art. Sponsored in part by the Florence Hartwig Foundation and in association with the UNI Printmaking Labs.

 Below: Empowered, a UNI Permanent Art Collection exhibition co-curated by me and by Dr. Elizabeth Sutton. The show includes loaned objects from Professor Byrd and UNI Special Collections.

Gorgeous, colorful, powerful art all round.

Xmas 2019 in DC