Tuscaloosa, Ala. — New and returning graduate studio art students in The University of Alabama’s Department of Art and Art History will exhibit recent work in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery September 4-27, 2018. On Thursday, September 6, beginning at 4 pm, each student will present a 5-minute talk about their work, followed by a reception for the artists, in the gallery at 109 Woods Hall. The reception on September 6 will be one of two during Art Night on Woods Quad, including an exhibition reception at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, 5-7 p.m. New students Sarah Dittmann (printmaking), Kelsey Meadows (ceramics), Amber Quinn (photography), Chris Byrd (sculpture) and returning students Katie Adams (sculpture), Jude Anogwih (painting), Nasrin Iravani (ceramics), Juan López-Bautista (painting), Patrick Hoban (ceramics), John Klosterman (printmaking), and Amy Smoot (ceramics) will all have art works on display. In the video below, featuring the graduate students from this year's show, Assistant Professor Allison Grant talks about how important it is for students to learn how to talk about their work: Art Graduate Student Exhibition from UA College of Arts & Sciences on Vimeo. Join us September 6 for an exciting afternoon as students reveal what they have been working on in their art over the summer! For more information about UA Department of Art and Art History programs, click here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.
Danish Architect to Speak at UA
The architecture of Denmark expresses the close connection between art and architecture in Danish culture. How does Danish (or any) architecture become art? Architect Morten Sonnenborg will give a talk on the aesthetics of Danish architecture on Tuesday, September 4 at 4:00 p.m. in Smith Hall 205 on UA campus. Sonnenborg has practiced architecture for almost two decades. He received his master of architecture (M.Arch.) from the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole) in 2000 and is the founder and owner of aNNeKS, a small architectural practice in North Sealand, on the Danish Riviera. In his firm, the architects "concentrate on the question of how people feel within the architecture." They ask the client, "Does the daylight fall into the rooms in a beautiful way? Are the rooms proportional and harmonic? Is the outside green space integrated with the interior?" Sonnenborg will give a talk on Danish architecture as art, and how architecture is practiced in Denmark. Morten Sonnenborg's visit is sponsored by the Department of Modern Languages and Classics and the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Alabama. For more information, contact Associate Professor Douglas Lightfoot: (205) 348-5054; or Professor Jason Guynes: (205) 348-5967. Smith Hall, 427 Sixth Avenue, Tuscaloosa, is a four-minute walk from the Campus Drive Parking Deck and Bus Hub on Hackberry Lane. Information about visitor parking is available here: http://bamaparking.ua.edu/visitor-information/.
UA Professor Researches Medieval Cathedral Sculpture
In medieval art, it is rare to know the name of an artist, but the names of the clergy who managed payment for construction projects are often in the records. Thanks to a UA College Academy of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (CARSCA) grant, this past June, Assistant Professor Dr. Jennifer Feltman traveled to Paris and Amiens, France, to study the books read and written by the clergy of the Cathedral of Amiens for a new project that proposes a way to understand how sculptural programs were designed. “I primarily consulted twelfth- and early-thirteenth century biblical manuscripts, but also some sermons and commentary—all of these manuscripts are unillustrated, which may seem a strange source for an art historian. But I was studying them not only for their textual context, but also for the layout of text and commentary on each folio. Bibles of the twelfth century were often organized into columns with a main text and commentary in the margins. It is my supposition that the façade of Amiens preserves a pattern of thought, shaped by the layout of texts; it also brings together a variety of texts available in the cathedral library. So, while sculptures certainly aren’t the same as a manuscript of the Bible, they might be called a stone Biblia, using the original sense of the word for Bible—a collection of texts.” Dr. Feltman is currently completing a book manuscript, Moral Theology and the Cathedral: Sculptures of the Last Judgment in Thirteenth-Century France. The book illuminates the ways in which Parisian moral theology was disseminated through clerical networks across the dioceses of France and made visible in sculptural programs at the cathedrals of Chartres, Paris, Reims and Amiens. With the support of the NEH, she has developed a companion website: Portals of the Last Judgment - Chartres, Paris, Reims, Amiens. Dr. Feltman teaches courses in medieval, Early Christian, Byzantine, and ancient art history. For more information about UA Department of Art and Art History programs, go here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.
Four UA Alumni Selected for Wiregrass Biennial
Art works by UA art alumni Anne Herbert, Meredith Knight, Rachel Ann Wakefield and Tom Wegrzynowski have been selected for the B18: Wiregrass Biennial, whose exhibitors are among the "most talented and engaging contemporary artists living and working in the Southeast." The annual juried exhibition opened July 19 during the Wiregrass Museum's Art After Hours reception and runs through September 29, 2018. Anne Herbert (MFA 2013) begins her fourth year teaching in the visual arts department of the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. Along with the B18, she has a solo exhibition at the Hoover Public Library in September and October, her work was chosen for Art of the South at Crosstown Arts in Memphis, TN, and she is part of the group exhibition, Unnatural Response: Contemporary Art by Claire Lewis Evans, Anne Herbert, Kelly Parvin, and Kelly Shannon, at Mississippi University for Women. Additionally, Herbert coordinated the UA Graduate Alumni Exhibition at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center in Tuscaloosa, which runs through Sept. 28. Her art website is http://anneherbertpaintings.com/home.html. Meredith Knight (MFA 2014, BFA 2011) serves as coordinator for Birmingham Museum of Art’s studio programs in the BMA’s education department. Knight has taught art through the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project, co-directed the Black Belt 100 Lenses program and taught art at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, as well as to middle and high school students. At the Birmingham Museum, Knight writes, "I get to teach classes and work with artists who share their passion for art with visitors. I balance working at BMA with maintaining my own active studio practice in my studio in Avondale. I feel lucky to be able to do both - my studio practice informs my work at BMA and my interactions with colleagues and students, and the great collection at the BMA inspires my studio practice." Knight's work is also included in the UA Graduate Alumni Exhibition in Tuscaloosa through September. About her sculpture in B18, Knight writes, "Meter is a sculptural abstraction that explores the multifaceted nature of reality. The form references an architectural element moving and twisting through time, suggesting an ongoing search for equilibrium by articulating a stream of moments." Rachel Ann Wakefield (BFA 2014, sculpture and painting) works as a painter and graphic designer in Northport, Ala. About her painting, See, which was selected for the B18, she says, "It is part of a conversation that I have been having through my work on 'Southern Realism' - a depiction of emotions and experiences. Often I represent this realism through the use of a figure emerged in a body of water. One thing that you learn in the South is that being in water is good for the soul. It’s something that we are born into this world of, and we gravitate towards when we need peace." Tom Wegrzynowski (MFA 2006) works in his studio and teaches studio and art history courses at The University of Alabama. The piece that was selected for the B18 was The Death of Caesar, part of his Lucky series of paintings, which examines aspects of culture. Wegrzynowski has exhibited recently at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, Contemporary Arts Center in Las Vegas and Transmission Gallery in Oakland, Calif. He has also presented solo shows at the Malone Gallery at Troy University (Troy, Ala.) and the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art in Tuscaloosa as well as two man shows at the Bagwell Center for Media and Art in Knoxville, Tenn. and the Meridian Museum of Art in Mississippi. Jurors for the B18 Wiregrass Biennial were Elizabet Elliott, Curator of Programs at the Mobile Museum of Art, and Jackie Clay, Director of the Coleman Center for the Arts in York, Ala. In addition to the B18, museum visitors will be able to see LETTERS etc., an exhibition by another UA art alumnus, Clayton Colvin (MFA 2005). For more information about UA Department of Art and Art History programs, go here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.
Two Receptions Hosted for September Art Night
Start your semester off with a double-feature Art Night on Woods Quad! The UA Department of Art and Art History will host two receptions in our two Woods Quad art galleries, Thursday, September 6, beginning at 4 p.m. and lasting until 7 p.m. At 4 p.m., in Woods Hall, the Sella-Granata Art Gallery hosts a reception for our annual Graduate Student Exhibition, showcasing work by our current and new graduate students in studio art. Works presented will be in ceramics, digital media, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture, and each student will present a 5-minute talk on their work beginning at 4 p.m. A reception for the artists will follow and be open until 6 p.m. Across the quad in Garland Hall, beginning at 5 p.m., the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art hosts a reception for its fall survey of the Permanent Collection, Com-bine. Works in this exhibition are from the Farley Moody Galbraith Collection, the Morgan Collection, the William and Sara Hall Collection and other generous gifts of artwork. The reception will go on until 7 p.m. Join us for Art Night in the historic heart of UA campus. Stroll between galleries through the Woods Quad Sculpture Garden with six outdoor sculptures, including a new one in Garland Hall's backyard by marketing major and studio art minor Paget Kern. Sarah Moody Gallery of Art Sella-Granata Art Gallery Historic Woods Quad is a five-minute walk from the Campus Drive Parking Deck and Bus Hub on Hackberry Lane. Information about visitor parking is available here: http://bamaparking.ua.edu/visitor-information/. For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in studio art and art history, go here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.
‘Alice Hohenberg Federico: The Liberation of Clay’ at the SMGA
Alice Hohenberg Federico, a New York artist and a Selma, Alabama, native, will present an exhibition of her ceramic works, The Liberation of Clay, at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art November 29, 2018 – January 11, 2019. Federico will present a lecture on her work Wednesday, Nov. 28, 6-8 pm in 205 Gorgas Library. The public is invited to the opening reception for the exhibition, Thursday, Nov. 29, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Federico works on the potter’s wheel to create sculptural vessels that transcend function and, as she puts it, “are metaphors that are abstractly figurative.” Her vessels are influenced by ancient Greek vessels as well as a fascination with potter Lucie Rie’s work. “Pieces are pulled and twisted, wrapped – they are expressive, singular. To me, some are even imperfectly perfect.” Federico is represented by George Billis Gallery, New York, NY. Selections from the Permanent Collection of the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art at The University of Alabama will be on display in conjunction with the Federico exhibition. The Permanent Collection is dedicated to works on paper including prints and photography. Paintings, drawings and small sculpture will also be featured. Image credit: Alice Hohenberg Federico, "1320," white stoneware clay, 14 inches high. The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art is supported by The University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Art and Art History. For further information, contact the gallery at 348-1891 or go to our website: https://art.ua.edu/gallery/smga/. Garland Hall is a five-minute walk from the Campus Drive Parking Deck and Bus Hub on Hackberry Lane. Information about visitor parking is available here: http://bamaparking.ua.edu/visitor-information/. For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in studio art and art history, go here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.
Pattern Thinking: Aboriginal Artists at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art
Tuscaloosa – Contemporary Australian Aboriginal art is one of the most significant art movements of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, according to Anne Keener, curator of the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art’s upcoming exhibition, Pattern Thinking: Australian Aboriginal Art from the Collection of Tom and Cynthia Schneider, which runs October 11 – November 16, 2018. NEW TIME: Curator Anne Keener will give a lecture about the exhibition Thursday, October 11, at 3:30 p.m., Lloyd Hall 226. Join us after the talk for a reception in the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, 103 Garland Hall at 5-7 p.m. The exhibition features work by Australian Aboriginal artists such as Elizabeth Kngwarreye, Johnny Possum Tjapaltjarri and Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, one of the founders of the Western Desert Art Movement. The exhibition’s title comes from a concept named by modern Aboriginal elders. “Pattern thinking,” in the Australian Aboriginal world, embodies the idea of the interrelationship of nature and culture and the sacredness of both. As the influential Aboriginal elder David Mowaljarlai stated it, “Pattern thinking is Aboriginal thinking…Patterns are about belonging. Nothing is separate from anything else. The land is not separate from nature, people, the heavens, ancient stories. Everything belongs in a pattern.” Pattern thinking – and the sense of belonging – is integral to indigenous Australian culture, according to Mowaljarlai and other Aboriginal leaders, and contributes to a balanced life and good mental health, and creates and encourages cross cultural dialogue. Indigenous Australian artists communicate the concept of pattern thinking in their work. Curator Keener explains: “The indigenous Australian paintings express stories of patterns of interrelation of the forces of all of life, laid down by creator beings.” Change of Schedule: Anne Keener will speak about the exhibition and the art on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018 at 3:30 p.m., Lloyd Hall 226. Join us for the reception, following the lecture, 5-7 p.m., in Garland Hall 103. The exhibition runs October 11 – November 16. Image credit top right: Johnny Possum Tjapaltjarri, Possum Dreaming, 2005, acrylic on canvas, 24.4 x 23.6 inches Image credit bottom left: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Snake and Kangaroo Dreaming, 1992, acrylic on canvas, 32 x 51.9 inches The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art is supported by The University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Art and Art History. For further information, contact the gallery at 348-1891 or go to our website: https://art.ua.edu/gallery/smga/. Garland Hall is a five-minute walk from the Campus Drive Parking Deck and Bus Hub on Hackberry Lane. Gold 1, Crimson, Blue and Bronze CrimsonRide buses stop between Garland Hall and Gorgas Library. Information about visitor parking is available here: http://bamaparking.ua.edu/visitor-information/. For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in studio art and art history, go here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.
Confluence by Jerry Uelsmann
The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art presents Confluence by Jerry Uelsmann March 21 through May 3, 2019. The exhibition features 58 photographs from the acclaimed artist’s recent work, produced from 2014 to 2017. These black-and-white photographs are inspired by the artist’s friendship with European art history scholar, Dr. Moa Petersen, who is currently writing Uelsmann’s biography. Uelsmann’s photographic process hasn’t changed much in the 50 years following his 1967 solo show at the Museum of Modern Art. By using multiple enlargers and masking and dodging techniques, he creates seamless composite negatives. “I try to create things that are authentically who I am. I’m inner-directed. I invent a reality that’s more meaningful to me — and hopefully to others — than the world we see with our eyes.” In 1967, Uelsmann said, “It is my conviction that the darkroom is capable of being, in the truest sense, a visual research lab; a place for discovery, observation and meditation.” Image credit: Jerry Uelsmann, “The Somnambulist's Dream,” 2014, gelatin silver print, 30 x 24 inches. This exhibition is organized by the University Gallery at the University of Florida, curated by Amy R. Vigilante and made possible by the Gary R. Libby Charitable Trust and Hector Puig. The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art is supported by The University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Art and Art History. For further information, contact the gallery at 348-1891 or go to our website: https://art.ua.edu/gallery/smga/. Garland Hall is a five-minute walk from the Campus Drive Parking Deck and Bus Hub on Hackberry Lane. Information about visitor parking is available here: http://bamaparking.ua.edu/visitor-information/. For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in studio art and art history, go here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.
Excavations: The Prints of Julie Mehretu
The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art presents Excavations: The Prints of Julie Mehretu, January 24 - March 8, 2019. Artist Julie Mehretu is best known for her densely layered abstract paintings and prints. She has achieved international acclaim for her large-scale paintings that take the abstract energy, topography, and sensibility of global urban landscapes as a source of inspiration. Commenting on her work Mehretu asserts, “By combining many types of architectural plans and drawings I tried to create a metaphoric, tectonic view of structural history. I wanted to bring my drawing into time and place.” Her monumental works integrate layered, complex drawing and mark-making, and include detailed references, building plans, and drawn components of known historic public architectural sites such as stadiums and notable government buildings. Mehretu has maintained a practice in the medium of printmaking throughout her career, most frequently experimenting with etching. Printmaking has allowed her to work with world-class ateliers such as Gemini Press, Crown Point Press and Highpoint Editions. Born in Ethiopia, her family fled the country and settled in East Lansing, Michigan, where Mehretu completed high school and college. She received her MFA degree from the Rhode Island School of Art and Design. Her work is featured in internationally acclaimed public and private art collections. Among her many achievements and awards, she is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship. This exhibition was organized for travel by Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis. Image credit: Julie Mehretu, Entropia (review), 2004, lithograph and screenprint 29 x 40 inches. Excavations: the Prints of Julie Mehretu is organized by Highpoint Editions, Minneapolis. The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art is supported by The University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Art and Art History. For further information, contact the gallery at 348-1891 or go to our website: https://art.ua.edu/gallery/smga/. Garland Hall is a five-minute walk from the Campus Drive Parking Deck and Bus Hub on Hackberry Lane. Information about visitor parking is available here: http://bamaparking.ua.edu/visitor-information/. For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in studio art and art history, go here: https://art.ua.edu/academics/.