Monday, September 21, 2015

AU Art Majors Serve As Research Assistants to "Power of the Press" Art Exhibition

One of the goals of the exhibition Power of the Press, which features socially and politically themed prints, was to provide a unique opportunity for Ashland University art majors to be fully immersed in the experience of planning and implementing an art exhibition.  Senior art majors, Kaylin Henry (graphic design), Danielle Rhonemus (art education and printmaking), Randi Schimmoeller (printmaking), and Hannah Thome (art education) were selected as research assistants, bringing a broad range of artistic knowledge and skills to the project.  Beginning in fall semester 2014, these students worked closely with the exhibition curator, Dr. Wendy Schaller and Coburn Gallery director Cynthia Petry to plan the exhibition and determine how best to engage and educate viewers through the experience of the art of the print.  Initial brainstorming sessions led to the decision to complement the Ashland University print collection with a juried exhibition of contemporary prints that shared a similar theme.  Students assisted in writing the call for entries for this portion of the exhibition which received a very positive response from artists across the United States.   These students designed the marketing logo, advertising posters, postcards and even a Power of the Press t-shirt.  They prepared the gallery space and installed the works of art.  At the exhibition opening they demonstrated printmaking techniques and fielded questions from the public.
Additionally, they volunteered through the Art Saturday program to educate area school children by creating prints that focused on the theme of bullying.  Most notably, these students engaged in research on the historical artists featured in the exhibition as well as into the various printmaking techniques represented in the show as a whole.  Students were then tasked with learning how to condense their research into concise, but engaging and informative panels that would speak to a broad audience.  Given the success of this initial project, we hope to be able to offer similar opportunities for our students as a regular part of Ashland University’s art program.

Friday, September 11, 2015

Traci Molloy-Artist & Activist Lecture October 8

The Coburn Gallery welcomes artist and activist Traci Molloy October 8-9 as part of the visiting artist program. Molloy will be working with AU students in a hands-on art collaborative project that relates to Social Justice while expanding participants thinking around activism and social change.

Molloy is known for her works that explore adolescent culture, loss, and violence through photography, digital arts, installation, painting, and printmaking. Molloy has worked with youth who lost a parent on 9/11 through American Camps, with refugees at the Center for Grieving Children's Multicultural Program, with high school students in the Bronx to address race and gun violence, and has taken on the theme of human trafficking in "Freedom Expressions" at the Atlanta airport

The public is invited to a special artist lecture on October 8 at 7:00pm Dauch-Ridenour Center. Admission is free.

Molloy has exhibited her work in over 130 different venues. Select venues include: Taller Boricua (New York City), SPACE (Pittsburgh), Ruby Green Gallery (Nashville), IPCNY (New York City), The Shore Institute of Contemporary Art (Long Branch, New Jersey), Triple Candie (New York City), the Kansas City Artists Coalition, The Contemporary (Atlanta), Artemisia (Chicago), SPACES (Cleveland), and the Columbus Museum of Art (Columbus, Georgia). Her artwork has been reviewed in national and regional publications, including Art Papers, Review Magazine, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Reader, and Creative Loafing. She has been interviewed on NPR in Atlanta and eHarlem TV in New York. 

Her collaborations have been exhibited in Johannesburg, New York City, Tokyo, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Cleveland, and featured on Good Morning America, WPIX Channel 11 News (New York City), WCVB Channel 5 News (Boston) and CBS Evening News (Atlanta).  Molloy has participated in residencies at the Lower Eastside Printshop, the Newark Museum, and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art (forthcoming).
Molloy’s visit is made possible by the generosity of the Art Department, Coburn Gallery, Ashland Center for Nonviolence, Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology and Student Activities.

For more information, events and programming, call (419) 289-5652.