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UA Studio Faculty Showcase Summer Surprises

CONVERGENCE: UA STUDIO ART FACULTY
The University of Alabama Gallery
June 1- July 23, 2020, and online:
Flickr.com | Facebook.com

The summer semester is always a slower time around Tuscaloosa. Many faculty are working on studio and art history research projects. In that respect, despite COVID-19, this summer is no different and the director Daniel White has organized a thoughtful and surprising summer show of recent faculty work for The University of Alabama Gallery. While Tuscaloosa and The University of Alabama practice safe distancing, the gallery’s exhibition will be open by appointment only. And, online exhibitions have been posted at our Flickr site and on Facebook, as well as examples of the faculty’s artworks below.

Check out this virtual tour of the exhibition, thanks to Daniel White, UA Gallery director:

William Dooley’s studio research in painting and drawing explores the effects of compression and concentration, of pigment, line, form and other elements, including the visual assertiveness wielded by a small artwork, a force often many times larger than its object reality. His work has been included in numerous regional and national juried exhibitions. He is director of the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art and associate professor of art in drawing and art museum practices.

Allison Grant‘s artworks have been widely exhibited at venues including the DePaul Art Museum, Azimuth Projects, Catherine Edelman Gallery and the Weston Art Gallery. She was the 2019 recipient of the Developed Work Fellowship from the Midwest Center for Photography and shortlisted for the 2019 FotoFilmic Mesh Prize. Her works are held in public collections at DePaul Art Museum (Chicago), Columbia College Chicago, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and 4-Culture (Seattle, Wash.). She is assistant professor of art in photography.

Jason Guynes works extensively in oil on canvas and in drawing media and exhibits his work nationally in competitions, galleries and museums. He also has completed major mural commissions in Mesa, Ariz., Joplin, Mo., Philadelphia, Pa., Livingston, Ala. and Mobile, Ala. Guynes has had academic appointments at universities in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Alabama. He was professor and chair of the Department of Visual Arts at the University of South Alabama and department chair at the University of West Alabama before coming to UA. Guynes is professor of art in painting and chair of the UA department of art and art history.

While Christopher Jordan’s photography has engaged many styles, ranging from classical large-format, black-and-white images to experimental digital forms, a common denominator is a sense of place and how photography can be used for reflection, memory, and contemplation. His photographs have appeared in Diffusion: Unconventional Photography, Lenscratch, the national traveling photography exhibition, Spinning Yarns, and numerous exhibitions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. A book of his photography, Nowhere in Place: Where Photography and Meditation Meet, is scheduled for publication in 2021. Jordan is associate professor of art in photography and digital media.

Giang Pham’s art practice stems from her traumatic childhood in Vietnam and the painful adaptation in her adopted America. Her works highlight the intangible effects of social and political structures on the body. She works with the materials of sculpture, fiber, video, drawing, collage, and verbal language through larger installations and performances. Pham’s research has been exhibited nationally and internationally in Canada, Pakistan, Korea and across the United States. She was a fellow for the I-Park Artist Enclave in East Haddam, Conn.; the Hambidge Artist Residency in Rabun Gap, Ga.; and the ACRE residency program in Steuben, Wis. Pham is assistant professor of art in studio foundations.

Amy Smoot’s ceramic artwork has been included in group exhibitions including ArtFields 2019, Lake City, S.C.; Small Favors, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Penn.; Currents 2018: An Honest Attempt, Gary R. Libby Gallery, Gainesville, Fla.; and After School Special, an NCECA Pop-Up Exhibition, Pittsburgh, Penn. Smoot has been a demonstrating artist at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts, has participated in workshops at Penland School of Crafts and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Smoot gives frequent workshops, classes and demonstrations, including a 19th-century ceramics presentation at historic Lyon Hall in Demopolis, Ala. Smoot is a full-time instructor in ceramics.

Craig Wedderspoon‘s work focuses on the examination of the intrigue of process and the potential of material to communicate thought in the expression of visual philosophy. Originally trained as a glass and crystal carver, Wedderspoon now specializes in metal and wood fabrication and works in a variety of scales for both indoor and outdoor, permanent and temporary installations and exhibitions. He has shown his work nationally and internationally, including Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL; Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY; Sanat Yapin Gallery, Ankara, Turkey; Suzhou Institute Gallery, Suzahou, People’s Republic of China; Southern Illinois University Museum, Carbondale, Ill.; and University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind. Wedderspoon is professor of art in sculpture.

Charlotte Wegrzynowski‘s drawings and book arts work have won awards at the SECAC Juried Exhibition and the West Alabama Juried Show, and have been juried into exhibitions including the Meridian Museum of Art and the Alabama Women’s Art Caucus. She has exhibited across the South, including a solo exhibition at The Arts Council Gallery in Tuscaloosa. She teaches in a variety of capacities: drawing, design and watercolor at UA, as a guest lecturer in art appreciation and anthropology, and as a volunteer. Wegrzynowski is a full-time instructor in art foundations.

Tom Wegrzynowski has been regularly exhibiting work for two decades, including Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Ala.; Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans; and Delaplaine Visual Arts Center in Frederick, Md.; Contemporary Arts Center, Las Vegas; and Transmission Gallery in Oakland, Calif.; and Meridian Museum of Art in Mississippi. His awards include the Trudy Williamson Award for Excellence in Two Dimensional Work from the St. Tammany Art Association in Covington, La. and the Howard & Michael Goodson and Richard Zoellner Purchase Award from The Arts Council of Tuscaloosa. He is a past recipient of an emergency support grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation. Wegrzynowski is a full-time instructor in both studio art and art history.

The University of Alabama Gallery is located in the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center, 620 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa, Ala., 35401.  For more information about this exhibition and all our programs, call (205) 345-3038.

For more information about The University of Alabama’s programs in art history and studio art, visit our Degree Programs page.