News

The UofL Board of Trustees has approved the promotion of Dr. Delin Lai to full professor. Congratulations!

In the last five years, Dr. Lai has published eight key works, including two books, five articles in refereed journals, and one book chapter. His most recent book "The History of Modern Chinese Architecture" is a five-volume anthology published in August 2016, sponsored by the National Publication Foundation of China. Professor Lai was the chief editor of this book project, working with co-editors Drs. Wu Jiang, and Xu Subin, and over 50 scholars and 30 researchers from 32 universities in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, France, Germany, and the United States to complete this extensive book project. This book is a significant landmark in the study of modern Chinese cities and architecture, and will provide a new foundation for the future development in this field.

Professor Calvert's work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions including Lawrimore Project in Seattle, E.TAY Gallery in New York, and Carl & Sloan Contemporary in Portland, OR. She is a recipient of a Geraldine R. Dodge Fellowship and residencies at the ArtOmi International Arts Center (NY), I-Park Foundation (CT), and Djerassi Resident Artists Program (CA). In 2010 she was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Her current studio research investigates the relationship of digital media to the reception and perception of images.

Her 2017 Olorunsola Award proposal, "Hybrid Painting in the Expanded Field,” will pursue producing four large scale abstract fresco paintings on three-dimensional relief surfaces, carved using 3D modeling. The use of old and new technologies will explore pictorial space in contemporary painting.

http://www.tiffanycalvert.com/

Professor Ying Kit Chan presented at the 16th Biennial Foundation In Art: Theory and Education (FATE) Conference (April 6th-8th, 2017) hosted by the Kansas City Art Institute. His talk was "Integrating Sustainability into the Art Curriculum." Professor Chan was the organizer of the first FATE biennial conference hosted by the University of Louisville in 1986.

http://www.foundations-art.org/conference-history

Jessica Bellamy (BFA 2012, summa cum laude) who graduated with double tracks in both graphic design and 2D studios, has been selected as a fellow for the Unschool of Disruptive Design. She will participate in a week-long program for emerging leaders this April in San Francisco. [http://unschools.co/fellowships]. Through her own business — GRIDS : The Grassroots Information Design Studio — she's been bringing her energy to "creating conscious and responsible design." This is a deserved recognition for what Jessica is already doing in the world of design, community engagement, and social change.

https://www.gridsconnect.me/single-post/2017/03/03/Jessica-Bellamy-is-a-2017-Design-Disruptor-Fellow

Cressman Center for Visual Arts
On View: February 10 - April 8, 2017
Reception: February 10, 2017 6-8 PM

Much of the work on display in “Painting in the Network” involves outsourcing composition too, although in these cases to an algorithm or a program. Gabriel Orozco’s animation video, for example, demonstrates how his Samurai Tree paintings are made according to a complex rule involving the moves of the Knight chess piece. However, in this work “deskilling” operations look more like “reskilling.” That is, most of these artists are very talented computer programmers—talent evidenced by their elaborate digital compositions and sophisticated algorithms. By “outsourcing” the job of composition to a program that they write, these artists retool and reboot their artistic labor. 

 “Painting in the Network” includes work by Siebren Versteeg, Gabriel Orozco, Cory Arcangel, Tabor Robak, Davis Rhodes, Laeh Glenn and Alex Dodge. It is on view from February 10 through April 8. 

image: Tabor Robak, Darkroom (still), 2016, generative animation on custom PC, dimensions variable, AP1, Edition 3/3, 2 APs. Courtesy of the artist and Team Gallery, New York

View Press Release

In "FireSigns," Professor Skaggs introduces a semiotic theory of graphic design, exploring semiotic concepts from design and studio art perspectives and offering useful conceptual tools for practicing designers.

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/firesigns

Chuck retired from teaching graphic design at San Jose State University, but continues freelance design through his studio Chuck Byrne Design in Oakland. From 1986-95 he was a contributing editor for Print magazine. Chuck's works are in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Modern Art, N.Y.; Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design; Harvard University; Detroit Institute of Arts; AIGA Archives in the Denver Art Museum; and U.of L. Photographic Archives.

Photo: Chuck Byrne standing in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in front of the portfolio, “Twelve Around One,” he designed with Buckminster Fuller.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/64-meena-khalili-tripple-threat/id1081610301?i=1000379755830&mt=2

On a recent morning, students from Hite Art Institute’s Design for Public Issues course gathered one last time before the semester’s end to present an important Christmas present.

They passed a binder, wrapped in gold paper, off to members of the Louisville Climate Action Network, the nonprofit they were tasked with working with for the semester.

The binder held the brand standards guide for the new suite of marketing materials the students had designed for the group – everything from a new logo, website, print materials, social media elements and environmental graphics for a proposed brick and mortar outreach center called the EcoDepot.

Like passing off a driver’s manual, the brand standards will allow LCAN to use the students’ designs to fulfill its mission of educating locals on how to reduce their carbon footprint.

“It makes us feel good to see it all out there in the world,” said Leslie Friesen, class instructor.

Since 2010, the course has served as a culminating, service learning experience for BFA students in the Graphic Design program, where they can apply all they’ve learned in their prior two years of classes. Students work as a team with a nonprofit to develop materials that effectively communicate the organization’s message and provide a strong, cohesive visual identity.

“The overall goal is to increase awareness, involvement and support for these nonprofits,” Friesen said.

Organizations selected have limited resources and couldn’t otherwise afford the work.

For example, Friesen said a private agency would likely have charged LCAN as much as $200,000 for the the number of hours that the team of 13 students put into the project. 

“This is the huge advantage of having a metropolitan research university in this city – the focus on service. Students and faculty take the education process and apply it to the needs of the community as they’ve done here,” said Barry Zalph, an LCAN board member.

Zalph said the experience was educational for them as well, as they were exposed to tools they hadn’t even considered using.

The group had a simple website, a Facebook page, a few flyers, but not much else.

“They needed everything from soup to nuts,” Friesen said.

To help with the large task, the class visited Humana’s Digital Experience Center where members of their creative team, which included several Hite graphic design alums, lead them in a workshop that introduced their process of designing collaboratively. That process was incorporated into this year’s class as they developed initial design ideas for LCAN’s work.

“It got us building off each other’s work,” Friesen said.

Students said they felt proud of the end product.

“I’m surprised by how much work we got done,” said senior Jenna White.

“… and how well we worked together,” agreed Jennie DiBeneditto, also a senior.

written by Niki King

On view: January 12^th through February 24^th
Opening Reception: January 12^th
Schneider Hall Galleries

The University of Louisville Hite Art Institute is pleased to present “Unseen: Visualizing Ecological Systems,” an exhibition curated by critical and curatorial studies master’s candidate Madison Sevilla. “Unseen” features sculptures and drawings by Stephen Cartwright and Shohei Katayama that explore the intersections between art and ecology.

Cartwright’s data visualization sculptures function as self-portraits created through detailed documentation of his life and routines. The sculptures contrast graphed data about his geographical location (such as wind patterns, temperature, and precipitation) against his activity levels, forms of activity, and mental health. Cartwright has compiled over 150,000 data sets over the past seventeen years and analyzes various trends to examine the scope of his existence. The artist then renders the data into a three-dimensional illustration. His colorful graphs such as those in his “Floating Data” series are encased in a transparent acrylic while his kinetic sculpture transcribes data into an active oscillating visual form.

Katayama’s work is ecologically aware, and he utilizes his drawings and sculptures as a catalyst for environmental conversations. His work examines the underlying patterns and forces of nature by showcasing unseen relationships in ecology. Katayama uses materials like magnets, iron flakes, and oil-based sharpies to create work that embodies the philosophy associated with ecological examination. Through his work, Katayama demonstrates the entanglements that are present between such systems and illustrates the disruptions that can occur when individual components are manipulated.

“Unseen: Visualizing Ecological Systems” provides viewers with the groundwork to contemplate the impact on and interactions between the various systems that surround us. Cartwright and Katayama offer up visualizations of the infinite and continuous ecologies that constitute our routines.

Stephen Cartwright is an Associate Professor and the Associate Director for the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, IL. He has exhibited work in various exhibitions around the country and works with a range of materials including glass and acrylic resins. Cartwright received a BA in Studio Art from the University of California at Davis in 1996 and his MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 1998.

Shohei Katayama is a Japanese American artist based in Louisville, KY. He has exhibited works in multiple exhibitions along the East Coast and works with materials that often play between the organic and inorganic. In 2010, Katayama received his BA from Bellarmine University and is currently working towards his Master of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, PA. 

View the press release

Professor Ben Hufbauer was interviewed on “UofL Today with Mark Hebert" radio show. Professor Hufbauer discussed President Obama’s presidential library and the history of presidential libraries. Listen to the interview this Tuesday, December 13 at 6 p.m. on 93.9 FM TheVille.

Mark Hebert interviews Professor Ben Hufbauer.

Lady Bird Johnson and Lyndon Baines Johnson in front of the Johnson Library and Johnson School of Public Affairs, on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, 1971. Architect: Gordon Bunshaft. Photo Courtesy of the Johnson Library.

The Hite Art Institute is pleased to announce the opening of the Fall 2016 BFA Thesis Exhibitions at Schneider Hall Galleries. The exhibition displays artwork in a variety of mediums from those students graduating with a Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Hite Art Institute.

Each BFA candidate contributes their unique vision as represented by a concentrated body of work developed to demonstrate their readiness to enter the professional art world upon graduation.The exhibition features the artwork of Blake Beam, Mary Clore, Lauren Cockroft, Kathryn S.W. Harrington, Robyn Kaufman, Jordan Marcum, Ian Pemberton, and Jen Smith.  The exhibition runs though Friday, December 9. 

https://www.facebook.com/Hite.Art.Institute/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10154745757406214
 

Kathy McQuade Olliges (M.A. in Sculpture, 2006) is in the exhibition entitled "The Future is Female" at 21C Museum opening Friday, November 18 (reception from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.). The title of her piece in the show is "Supply & Demand."

The Future is Female:
https://www.facebook.com/events/604359109766010/

On Saturday, November 12th at the Hite Art Institute, Professors Barbara Hanger and Rachel Singel, and Nick Baute and Robert Ronk of Hound Dog Press led a free workshop on Bookbinding and Printmaking in the Age of Shakespeare as part of this fall’s “Will in the Ville” festivities. Participants had the opportunity to bind a book of their own, set their names in type, and print a copy of Hamlet's Soliloquy. In addition, Professor Rachel Hilmer (Theatre Arts) worked with the participants in a reading activity to better understand the evolution of the text's publication.

Thank you to Professors Andrew Rabin and Mark Mattes of the English Department for making this workshop possible! And thank you to to graduate students KCJ Szwedzinski, Monica Stewart, Miranda Becht, and printmaking students Lucas Keown and Ed Laster for helping to make the event such a success!

Hite Graphic Design Professor Steven Skaggs is one of 15 calligraphers whose work is included in Manuale Calligraphicum, a tribute to the late Hermann Zapf. The preeminent type designer of the twentieth century, Zapf taught summer courses in calligraphy and type design for nine years at RIT (Skaggs studied there in 1980 and 1981). For Manuale Calligraphicum, 15 of Zapf's former students were asked to submit a calligraphed alphabet or quotation in the manner of Zapf’s Pen and Graver of 1950. In an edition of 325 copies published by the Rochester Institute of Technology on handmade paper, hand printed and bound, the book was released in October and is already out of stock.

For his text, Professor Skaggs chose a quote he heard from Hermann Zapf during his first summer course in 1980. Standing before an enormous type specimen book in RIT’s Cary Library Special Collections, Zapf pointed to work of 18th century master Giambattista Bodoni, and said “We are, each of us, brothers and sisters in this art - ink is our lifeblood.” Skaggs jotted the line down in his journal that evening. He thought of the quote when invited by David Pankow, Librarian Emeritus of the Cary Library and director of the tribute project.

Students and professors from Hite Art Institute participated in this year’s "I am Public Art" event hosted by The Carnegie Center for Art and Art History at the New Albany Riverfront Amphitheater. The event included pop-up public art created by students from Hite Art Institute, Indiana University Southeast and Kentucky College of Art + Design. Hite’s contribution, WOVEN HISTORIES / THREAED PATHS consisted of a fiber based sculptural representation of the Ohio River.

The group took their cues from New Albany’s deep history in the textile industry and New Albany as a beacon and navigational point on the Underground Railroad. Fabrics were collected and tied into the river structure as a way to speak of community. Additionally, community members helped in the making of the work after it was placed on site. The finished work lit up LED light “stars” at night and extended approximately 25 feet in length. Participants include Professors Kate Byun, Mary Carothers and Maggie Leiniger, MFA candidates Miranda Becht, Marie Elena Ottman and Monica Smith, students from Maggie Leiniger's 3-D Design class and numerous community members from New Albany. All photos by Tom LeGoff.