Exhibitions: Francesca Baldarelli: 54 Phillips Way | Tobias Layman: Grinding Away Dates: February 2-16, 2017 Where: Sella-Granata Art Gallery, 109 Woods Hall, UA campus Reception: Thursday, February 2, 4-6 p.m., Sella-Granata Art Gallery The University of Alabama Department of Art and Art History is pleased to present the Master of Arts exhibitions of Francesca Baldarelli and Tobias Layman, February 2-16, 2017, in the Sella-Granata Art Gallery. Layman's exhibition, titled Grinding Away and Baldarelli's exhibition, 54 Phillips Way, will have their opening reception on Thursday, February 2 from 4 to 6 p.m. Join us then to meet these artists and experience their work first hand! In her exhibition, 54 Phillips Way, Francesca Baldarelli salvages and reuses discarded or re-gifted materials. As she describes it, she combines the objects “to create curious moments of memory,” for herself and the viewer. “As time passes,” Baldarelli explains, “they transform. A crack here, a bend there, they slowly become different.” Changed, the objects move into the future, to create an open-ended experience for the artist and viewer alike. In this exhibition, Tobias Layman creates wood and metal sculptures that celebrate motion. Shaped like gears and other moving parts, Layman presents a sensory experience to the viewer, of sound, sight, texture, as well as an experience of the art works’ imperfection. “The gears are not cast from a mold or cut with state-of-the-art technology," Layman explains, "They are created by hand. Over and over. The gears do not align perfectly and they do not spin effortlessly.” In fact, Layman says, their flaws transform them beyond the realm of machines. “The imperfections warrant a sense of mortality. Their life span is unknown, and that unpredictability helps augment them and give them life.” About the Artists Tobias Layman is a graduate student in sculpture, with an assistantship teaching Ceramics I and Drawing I. Layman received the BFA, cum laude, in ceramics, from Jacksonville State University in 2014. He has exhibited in national and regional exhibitions including 35 Live: CoCA Member’s Show, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA; DAMNED IX, Detroit, MI; A Different Vision, Plymouth, MA; The Big Dance Exhibit, a juried exhibition in Des Moines, IA; and Abstracts Art Exhibition, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, where he received an honorable mention. Layman has been a studio assistant for the Department of Art at Jacksonville State University, an assistant instructor at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, and an instructor and ceramic technician at Earthworks Pottery Studio in Rome, GA. He is a recipient of the Thames Endowed Scholarship and the Joseph and Allen Sella Endowed Scholarship at UA. His art website is http://talceramics.weebly.com/. Francesca Baldarelli is a graduate student in printmaking with an assistantship. She currently teaches Introduction to Printmaking and assists in Color Theory. She has assisted in Drawing II and Intro to Printmaking. Her work combining printmaking and ceramics will be in the group exhibition, Clay Review 3 at the Abernathy Arts Center in Sandy Springs, GA, in January and February, 2017. She has exhibited her work in the Chautauqua Institution Student Exhibition at the Fowler Kellogg Gallery, Chautauqua, NY. Her Graduating BFA Show was held at the John J. McDonough Museum, Youngstown, OH and she has been included in several group exhibitions at Bliss Hall Gallery at Youngstown State University. Baldarelli received the BFA, cum laude, in painting and printmaking from Youngstown State University in 2012. She attended the Chautauqua Institution School of Art in Chautauqua, NY, in 2014 and the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice in 2010. She received a UA College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Council Fellowship in 2015, the CISA Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institute Scholarship in 2014. At YSU, Baldarelli received a four-year American Legion Auxiliary Scholarship, a Study Abroad Grant, Venice, Italy, in 2010 and the Student Art Association Painting Award in 2009. Her art website is http://fmbaldarelli9.wixsite.com/portfolio. A thesis exhibition is one of the requirements for the successful completion of the Master of Arts program in the UA Department of Art and Art History. For more information about our graduate programs, visit this page: http://art.ua.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/. GALLERY VISITOR PARKING ON UA CAMPUS The Campus Drive Parking Deck at the corner of Hackberry Lane and Campus Drive provides visitor parking at a nominal cost, and is only a five-minute walk to Garland and Woods halls. Buses also run on varying schedules from the deck. To walk to Woods Quad from the parking deck, exit the main doors of the parking deck and cross Hackberry Lane southwest to Margaret Drive. Follow Margaret Drive to Capstone Drive, which runs between Gorgas Library and Garland Hall. Follow Capstone Drive to Garland Hall and the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, and to Woods Hall and the Sella-Granata Art Gallery. For more information on bus schedules, go to http://crimsonride.ua.edu/
UA Art and Art History Students Create City Bike Racks
If you ride your bicycle into downtown Tuscaloosa and you need a place to park it, look for the funky new bike rack at the intersection of 4th Street and 23rd Avenue. The bike racks, with bright red curving shapes that undulate before your eyes, were designed by recent Art and Art History graduate Alli Sloan and built by Sloan and engineering-turned-studio art major Brandt Deeds for the City of Tuscaloosa. Sloan and Deeds are former and current students of sculpture professor Craig Wedderspoon. They also created sculptures for Nucor Children’s Charity Classic silent auction. City of Tuscaloosa officials asked Professor Wedderspoon if his sculpture students would design and build bike racks to go all over Tuscaloosa - and his students have accepted the challenge. The design in each location around town will be different. The next racks will be placed at Alberta Park and will be designed by Brandt Deeds. Deeds hopes to have them completed early in the spring of 2017. Images courtesy of Craig Wedderspoon. Source: Professor Craig Wedderspoon, craig.wedderspoon@ua.edu or (205) 348-1898. Contact: Rachel Dobson, communications specialist: rachel.dobson@ua.edu or (205) 348-1893.
UA Sculptures Break 3-Year Auction Record for Children’s of Alabama
Steel sculptures created by UA Department of Art and Art History members in 2016 were auctioned off for the largest total donation to Children's of Alabama the department has made since it began participating in the Nucor Children’s Charity Classic live auction three years ago. Children's of Alabama is the only medical center in the state dedicated solely to the care and treatment of children and serves as the primary site for University of Alabama at Birmingham pediatric care. UA Art and Art History undergrad art majors, a staff member (who is also an alumnus), and a professor raised $78,000 for Children’s of Alabama this year. Engineering-turned-studio art major Brandt Deeds and New College major and art student Nick Jackson together made their first sculpture for the charity auction, a collaborative project that brought in $12,000 to the pediatric care facility. BFA alumnus Eric Nubbe, who now works as Foundry Specialist for the department, has designed and created works for the last three charity auctions. Two of his steel sculptures brought high bids of $15,000 and $11,000 each. This year, Nubbe and Professor Craig Wedderspoon collaborated on a piece that brought $21,000. The high bid of $25,000 went to a steel version of “Simon the Lion,” Wedderspoon’s third year casting the Children's of Alabama mascot. The two previous “Simons” were cast in bronze and brought in $15,000 each. This year, Wedderspoon collaborated with UAB’s Metallurgical Engineering foundry to cast “Simon” in Nucor steel. Nucor donates all the materials for the sculptures. After the auction was over, Wedderspoon said one of Nucor’s CEOs commissioned him to do another steel "Simon the Lion" for an additional donation to the hospital of $20,000. Wedderspoon said, “We had an incredibly successful night…This brings our three-year total to $176,000, every penny of which goes directly to the hospital.” Wedderspoon attended the auction and banquet and listened to stories about some of the facility's patients. He said that participating in Nucor’s fund-raising for Children’s of Alabama makes him grateful for many things. “I am reminded of how truly incredible it is to be alive and to be afforded the privilege of working to teach young men and women how to use their skills, knowledge and passion, not only to be successful in life, but to share what they have learned and to contribute to their community.” Images above courtesy of Craig Wedderspoon. Images of the sculptures and their creators from 2015 and 2014 are below. Source: Professor Craig Wedderspoon, craig.wedderspoon@ua.edu or (205) 348-1898. Contact: Rachel Dobson, communications specialist: rachel.dobson@ua.edu or (205) 348-1893.
Graduate Student in Art to Present Research at Gender Studies Conference
Graduate teaching assistant Heather Whidden presented her paper, “Interpreting the Stitch,” at the eighth annual ACS Gender Studies Conference, titled "Gender Across...," at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, in February. Whidden said that the paper is the first half of her MFA thesis explaining the gesture of stitches in her work. Here is an excerpt: The stitch: it passes through, passes through, again and again until the two bodies it connects are one object connected by the recorded and repetitive action. Two entities are now tied together with this running, weaving and repetitive mark. Repeated stitching reinforces relationships and tethers their future. Recurring stitches build a familiar bond where a single stitch is a mere acknowledgement that the two may belong. When gesture satisfies, conclusion is recognized; the separation is mended, restoring the relationship. It is not enough for the two to be joined. Gesture insists on telling how it was mended and how identity was built. Whidden, a candidate for the MFA in art from The University of Alabama in May, 2016, taught courses in 3D Design and assisted in courses in sculpture and ceramics during her time as a graduate student. She presented her MFA thesis exhibition, (Re)pair, at the UA Gallery in Tuscaloosa’s Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center in April. She was also juried into the 5th Annual National Juried Exhibition at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. For information about our graduate studio programs, go here: http://art.ua.edu/academics/graduate-programs/art-requirements/ or call us for more information: (205) 348-5967. [s16]
Arts Technicians to Attend Inaugural Conference at Duke University
UA Department of Art and Art History Arts Technician Senior Patrick O'Sullivan and Assistant Arts Technician Mike Eddins will be attending the first annual Student Shop Managers Conference hosted by the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University in Durham, N. C., in July. The goal of the conference is to provide a professional forum that will bring together managers and directors from colleges and universities across the US to discuss and learn about topics such as safety, training, procedures, instrumentation and design software, including Simulating Virtual Machining software. The keynote address will be "Integrating the Student Shop Experience into the Classroom," by W. Neal Simmons, Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke. A panel discussion on "Models of Different Student Shop Operations," with panelists from Harvard, Clemson, University of Texas, Georgia Tech and University of Minnesota will also allow questions and comments from the attendees. This is the first conference of its kind anywhere in the country. Commenting on the conference's focus on safety training and procedures, O'Sullivan noted, "We're always trying to standardize our [in-class] demos so it's nice to know that other places are interested in this, too." The conference will also help the arts technicians stay abreast of the latest technology. "A lot of student shops are heading in that direction by adding the machining software as well as 3-D printers and cutting lasers. We want to get familiar with these so down the line we will be able to use them," said Eddins. [LpF15]
Ephemeral Sculpture by Claire Lewis Evans
MFA candidate Claire Lewis Evans has been a whirlwind of activity. Lewis Evans was awarded Best Three-Dimensional Artwork for her paper and bamboo sculpture Messenger and for her paper and reed sculpture Satellite in the online exhibition Chasing the Light (Finding the Shadow) at the virtual Still Point Art Gallery. She presented her MFA thesis exhibition, Passages, at Northport’s The Grocery in April. The sculptural works featured in this show reflect Lewis Evans’ interest in material, process and time. Her explorations of form and space allow her to help create the universe, shaping matter and experience as the work unfolds. While her work can be approached by the viewer simply as abstract sculpture, it is deeply informed by her longstanding interest in spirituality and the environment, as well as more recent reflections on the fragility and resiliency of art and life in the face of the unknown. More at http://clairelewisevans.com/. [Loupe Spring 2015]
The Marrow of It – Meredith Randall Knight MFA Exhibition
The Marrow of It - Meredith Randall Knight MFA Exhibition, The University of Alabama October 2, 2014 through 2015, Bamboost Park at Kentuck Park, Northport Reception: October 2, 2014, 5:00 pm MFA candidate Meredith Randall Knight will present her master of fine arts thesis exhibition, The Marrow of It, at Bamboost Park, 3495 5th St., Northport, opening October 2, 2014. The work will be on display through 2015. A reception for the artist will be held Thursday, October 2 from 5 pm until dark. There is no admission fee to the park. Artist's statement: Everyday materials, such as plastic grocery bags and packaging foam, are embedded within each form and serve as the marrow of each piece. These typically discarded materials are resurfaced with concrete to create pieces that are insulated outdoors and explore ideas of nature and its manipulation. The works reference cycles of growth and erosion in a Southern landscape. The pieces were installed in late July to allow the surrounding environment to grow up around them as if they were remnants of past natural forms and architectural constructions. The landscape has been manicured to provide a way to navigate the space while allowing a natural environment to surround these synthetic creations. For more photos, go to Meredith Knight's website: http://www.meredithlrknight.com/the-marrow-of-it-meredith-knight. This exhibition is in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree in the Department of Art and Art History at The University of Alabama. For more information on the graduate programs of the UA department of art and art history, visit this link: http://art.ua.edu/academics/graduate-programs/art-requirements/.