A&D NEWS

February 17, 2012

Sadashi Inuzuka Awarded Thurnau Professorship

A&D Professor Sadashi Inuzuka has been awarded a University of Michigan Thurnau Professorship, the highest award for undergraduate teaching conferred by the University.  The Regents officially conferred upon Professor Inuzuka the title of Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at their February meeting.

Inuzuka, professor of art, School of Art & Design, is considered a pioneer in the design and implementation of community engagement courses in A&D. For more than a decade, Inuzuka has created courses that enable students to see first-hand the role art can play in social change. Through his seminars and workshops, students develop communication skills, a reflection on the role of art making in other people’s lives and an appreciation of alternate modes of perception, colleagues say.

Students recognize this genuine concern for their personal and artistic development and consider Inuzuka to be one of the most influential faculty members of their collegiate careers. As one colleague writes, “He is a warm and caring humanist who regards each student and colleague as special and encourages each to be a better human being, artist and citizen.”

Professor Inuzuka’s selection also honors the School of Art & Design.  Previous A&D recipients are Professors Vince Castagnacci (1999), Takeshi Takahara (2005), Georgette Zirbes (2006), Jim Cogswell (2008), and Ed West (2010).  The School’s total of six Thurnau recipients since 1999 confirms our unrivaled commitment to undergraduate education. 

http://www.ur.umich.edu/update/archives/120217/thurnau

February 15, 2012

Steve Coy Receives Coleman Fellowship, Knight Foundation Grant

Steve Coy (BFA 2001) has received Coleman Fellowship and Knight Foundation Grant to fund “Minipreneurs” in Detroit.

Students from Lawrence Technological University will be paired with a group of youth from Detroit to explore principles of entrepreneurship in art and design disciplines. This will emphasize group-based interdisciplinary collaboration and model projects after real-world business scenarios. Projects are based around an entrepreneurial opportunity rooted in the many community needs of Detroit. Students are expected to promote and market their project and find the appropriate venue to deliver their product to market. Projects will be funded based upon business proposals. The program operates out of PonyRide, a community creative business incubator space purchased by Detroit entrepreneur Phillip Cooley. The program space has been named, by the particpants, Nelo (short for Neon Lounge): Bright Ideas!

Our mission statement reads: A creative collective empowering community through micro-entrepreneurship in the discipline of art and design. Through this creative collective, formed by the students and Detroit youth, new businesses will emerge.

February 15, 2012

hygienic dress league featured in Detropia

hygienic dress league, an art project by Steve Coy (BFA 2001)  in collaboration with his wife Dorota, was featured in Detropia, a documentary film about Detroit that premiered at Sundance.

hygienic dress league (HDL) is an ongoing public art project by husband and wife duo Steve and Dorota Coy that uses a corporation (officially registered in the state of Michigan) as a new and original form of art. HDL, headquartered in Detroit, uses traditional and non-traditional modes of advertising such as street art, internet, video sharing websites, hype, word of mouth, magazines and newspapers as well as other media outlets. HDL billboards and signs activate abandoned structures in post-industrial areas and cleverly draw meaning from their locations. These various marketing tactics are used to disseminate its “Brand” and create a social identity, while delivering a fantasy narrative through an interrelated multi experiential art project to an unsuspecting public audience.

DETROPIA is a cinematic tapestry that chronicles the lives of several Detroiters trying to survive the D and make sense of what is happening to their city. An owner of a blues bar, a young blogger, an auto union rep, a group of young artists, an opera impresario and a gang of illegal “scrappers” make up an unlikely chorus that illuminates the tale of both city and a country in a soul searching mood, desperate for a new identity. Detroit’s story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century— the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim Crow; the rise of manufacturing and the middle class; the love affair with automobiles; the flowering of the American dream; and now . . . the collapse of the economy and the fading American mythos. With its vivid, painterly palette and haunting score, DETROPIA sculpts a dreamlike collage of a grand city teetering on the brink of dissolution. As houses are demolished by the thousands, automobile-company wages plummet, institutions crumble, and tourists gawk at the “charming decay,” the film’s vibrant, gutsy characters glow and erupt like flames from the ashes. These soulful pragmatists and stalwart philosophers strive to make ends meet and make sense of it all, refusing to abandon hope or resistance. Their grit and pluck embody the spirit of the Motor City as it struggles to survive postindustrial America and begins to envision a radically different future.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/story/2012-01-21/detropia-detroit-economy-crisis/52725988/1

February 9, 2012

Robin Street-Morris Featured

“Fourche La Fave River” and “Starling Circle with Morning Star (at Cahokia Mounds)”, two works by Robin Street-Morris (BFA 2000) have been juried into EAC:II, opening at Edwardsville Arts Center on February 17.

“EAC:TWO” All Media Juried Exhibit, February 17 - March 16
Opening Reception: Friday, February 17, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Juror: Robin Hirsch, Associate Director & Gallery Director of Art St Louis
The Edwardsville Arts Center is proud to exhibit its 2nd All Media Competition, juried by Robin Hirsch of Art Saint Louis.
http://edwardsvilleartscenter.com/2012/01/12/eactwo-juried-show/

February 9, 2012

Here Come the Brides: Holly Hughes and Other Writers on Gay Marriage

A new essay “I’m Not From Here,” by Holly Hughes is included in the new anthology Here Come The Brides: Lesbian writers on Love and Marriage, published by Seal Press.

Hughes’s essay discusses her recent performance project, “Let Them Eat Cake,” as well as her complicated response to the issue of same sex marriage. On one hand, marriage and the right to serve in the armed services are two key components of citizenship. At the same time, Hughes wonders what will happen to the vibrant gay cultures that emerged in the shadow of legal discrimination.

February 7, 2012

Wildwood Press: Eva Lundsager

Wildwood Press, founded by A&D Alumna Maryanne Ellison Simmons (BFA 1971), is hosting artist Eva Lundsager’s newest print collection, Works in Progress.  The collection consists of seventeen one-of-a kind prints. The exhibit will open on Thursday evening, February 16, 2012 from 5:30 - 8:30 pm at Pele Prints, 9400 Watson Road, Crestwood, Missouri 63126.

February 7, 2012

Egress

The Art & Design Exhibition Organization has organized EGRESS, a series of shows taking place in the Slusser Lounge from January - March 2012.  Interested in participating?  Look up A&D Exhibition Opportunities on facebook for more info and updates.

TABLE VS. CHAIR
Jan. 24 - Feb. 6
Curators: Dylan Box and Teshia Treuhaft

Meeting for the first time in a fight for the record books: In the far corner, sleek and modern, 12 fights and 11 knockouts to his name weighing in 14lbs (6.35029 kg if we are in Scandinavia) we have CHAIR. Defending champion, reigning title holder, standing (typically) at 36 inches, we have TABLE.  Come check out the contenders, strap on your boxing gloves and place your bets at Slusser Lounge.

POSTERS Exhibition
Feb. 7 - 20
Curators: Mike Wang, Arlene Zhao

The poster has always been a great way for businesses and organizations to get their message out into the world, whether it is a new movie or the family garage sale. Yet, the poster has never been displayed in the gallery, at least not like this. So be prepared to be overwhelmed.

Livewire
Feb. 13 - 20
Curator: Brian J Muscat

To engage the viewer in a way that they are not only a spectator but become part of the spectacle themselves. This interaction is caused through the location and positioning of the “light.”

EAT
Feb. 21 - Mar. 12
Curators: Nicole Hankus, Lisa Gross

eat. is a multifaceted encounter with our american food culture eat. explores the practices associated with and the objects of consumption eat. investigates the nature of what we eat

Identity
Mar. 6 - 19
Curators: Madalyn Hochendoner, Callie Stewart, and Keyana Thompson-Shaw

Art is a way in which we project to others who we are and how we not only understand our own identities, but are able to communicate identity to others. Through our exhibition, we would like to embrace the feeling of anonymity and explore the benefits of it.

January 30, 2012

Science Gallery Serves Up “A Taste of Things to Come”

As members of the Center for Genomic Gastronomy, Zack Denfeld (MFA 2007) and Cat Kramer have curated a new exhibition for the Science Gallery at Trinity College, Dublin which opens Feb. 9th 2012.

Edible: a Taste of Things to Come will explore how we reshape the planet through the food choices we make. The Center for Genomic Gastronomy have assembled a diverse group of artists, scientists, restaurateurs and foodies whose work is set to challenge our perception of what ‘edible’ really means. The show runs through the biodiversity of the kitchen and includes ingredients like mutagenic peppermint, transgenic zebrafish, 8 fermenting fruits, 10 heirloom potatoes and desserts that let you taste smog. The exhibition also includes 3-D printed insect snacks, an edible wall of seaweed and a range of centrifuged foods. At twice-daily feeding times, visitors will have a chance to sink their teeth into a vegan version of the cruelest recipe ever invented, dine on the kimchi quesadilla and sample other recipes especially created for EDIBLE by artists, chefs and scientists.

http://www.sciencegallery.com/

January 30, 2012

Shannon Kohlitz: Toronto International Film and Video Awards

Shannon Kohlitz (BFA ‘11) has won the award for Best Experimental Film from the Toronto International Film and Video Awards.
Her piece used a series of kinetic sets, culminating in a screening and an installation about immigration, love and World War II.  Over 500 films were submitted in a variety of categories.

January 27, 2012

Margaret Parker featured in Momentum

The Women’s Caucus for Art is having its 40th anniversary show “Momentum” from February 17 - March 2 to coincide with “Pacific Standard Time”, a Los Angeles region-wide celebration of art.  It gathers work from across the country curated by Rita Gonzalez, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Ann Arbor artist and A&D alumna Margaret Parker’s installation, Kali: she who destroys regenerates, will be part of the exhibition.

Parker’s work has been gaining attention this year: in February, a piece was featured in “HiddenCites” at New Century Artists Gallery in NYC. Her large installation C’ood: a democracy experiment, first seen at ArtPrize in 2010, was displayed in Lansing for three months in “City Streets” sponsored by the Lansing Art Gallery. Her work was also featured in a four-person show at Flint’s Buckham Gallery, where two large installations and 3 smaller pieces made from cutup cotton T-shirts were shown.

“T-shirts are like our second skin,” Parker says, “they’re the generic shape of the human torso. But when they’re cut apart,they can become anything, they allow me to explore what humans can become. I carve into them, but always leave them in one whole piece. Viewers recognize the familiar shirt, imagine the original shape, and then figure out the steps in between. The imaginative process that the viewer goes through makes the art work theirs.”

Parker was also one of only eight Americans to have work featured at the 2011 Windsor Biennial in Windsor, Ontario, curated by Ian Baxter, professor of art at University of Windsor School of Visual Art.

http://www.margaretparkerstudio.com