November Ex Opening Reception Photos

Ashland University’s Coburn Gallery is hosting two exhibitions in late November; AU Senior Art Exhibition and ceramic works by Cleveland artists Stephanie Craig and Todd Leech, from Nov 30 to Dec, 17, 2017. The Senior Art Exhibition includes graduating art majors Danielle Smith+Anamarie Coors and highlights graphic design, digital art, web design and animation. An opening reception was held on Thursday, November 30, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Upcoming Exhibition Opens Thursday November 30th

Ashland University’s Coburn Gallery will be hosting two exhibitions -- the 2017 AU Senior Art Exhibition as well as a ceramic works exhibition by Cleveland artists Stephanie Craig and Todd Leech -- from Nov. 30 to Dec. 17, 2017.

The Senior Art Exhibition includes graduating art majors Danielle Smith and Anamarie Coors and highlights graphic design, digital art, web design and animation. An opening reception is planned for Thursday, Nov. 30, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

“While the 2017 Senior Art Exhibition provides the capstone experience for graduating art majors, it represents more than just students’ studio art experiences,” said Cynthia Petry, director of the Coburn Gallery. “For these students of the liberal arts, the exhibition is the culmination of their undergraduate careers at Ashland University.”

Smith, from Warren, Pa, will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Commercial Art-Graphic Design with a minor in Entrepreneurship. Smith is the eldest daughter of Kerwin and Loraine Smith of Warren, Pa., and she is a graduate of Warren Area High School.

Smith’s work has been exhibited in the Juried Student Art Exhibition numerous times and was awarded the Alumni “Wink” Award and the Dean’s Award. Smith also was awarded sophomore and junior Academic Honors on behalf of the Art Department. Serving as the Art Club president during the 2016-2017 school year, Smith has been an active member of the art community on campus. Smith also was involved in religious life during her time at Ashland and served as a Well student leader. During her junior year, Smith served as the graphic design intern at Bookmasters located in Ashland, Ohio, where she assisted in catalogue design. Following this experience, Smith completed two additional web design internships. Smith plans to secure a graphic design position in the Cleveland area after graduation.

Coors hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, and she will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in Digital Art. Coors is the daughter of Christopher and Teresa Coors and she attended Boone County High School in Florence, Ky., where she received her scholarship to Ashland University.

She has been involved in many organizations on campus, including Art Club, Knitting Club, Women’s Chorus and the CAS Undergraduate Research and Creative Symposium in 2017. Coors also has exhibited in student juried art shows while at Ashland University. Coors future plans include obtaining internships with companies such as Disney and Pixar to expand her skills as an animator and story board artist.

The ceramics exhibition includes Craig’s abstracted tower structures that are part of a sculpture series which are fueled by her memories of persons and place. Leech’s platters are an exploration of surface and texture while utilizing both hand building and wheel throwing techniques in the construction. The glazing process is a critical stage in his work, as Craig is interested in the textural qualities of shino glazes and non-traditional glaze surfaces.

Both Craig and Leech received their MFA in ceramics from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Presently, Craig divides her time between teaching Ceramics and 3D Foundations at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio, and pursuing a professional studio art practice. Leech is a full-time studio artist, managing the operations of a fully equipped ceramics studio in Cleveland, Ohio.

For more about the exhibition or events at the Coburn Gallery, visit www.ashland.edu/coburngallery or find us on Facebook. The Coburn Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12 noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Strength through Connections Opening Reception Photos

Thanks to all of the Coburn Gallery patrons that attended our Strength through Connection opening reception last night. Stop by the Coburn and help build the Community Conversation sculpture. 

Open M-F 10am-5pm & Sat/Sun noon-4pm.

Strength through Connection Exhibition Opens Thursday

The Ashland University Coburn Gallery will be hosting an exhibition titled “Strength through Connection” featuring a selection of works by animation artist Tracy Miller-Robbins and graphic designer Jonathan Frey as they address building a better understanding of our diverse community through race, class and religion. The exhibition will run from Oct. 26 to Nov. 17.

In conjunction with this exhibit, the gallery will host “Thy Neighbor,” an international mail art show that focuses on the connection through our neighbors and encourages more active engagement within our communities.

Both exhibitions are co-sponsored by the Coburn Gallery, the Department of Art & Design and the College of Arts and Sciences Symposium “Against Indifference.” An opening reception, which is free and open to the public, is planned for Thursday, Oct. 26, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Exhibiting artist Miller-Robbins creates animated drawings about interpersonal experiences. Influenced by Ben Shahn and Caroline Leaf, her works strive to capture this essence through both gestural marks and figurative gesture. The expression and limited palettes of her work results in pointed thematic motifs that are embedded in seemingly abstract forms. The works, which merge the practices of sketching and animation, have been nationally and internationally presented in festivals and galleries.

Frey is an artist and designer who currently resides in central Pennsylvania. His work broadly explores the influence of ideology on contemporary culture. By evaluating the significance of the grid within in the context of architecture and game structures, Frey is able to consider issues of connection and disconnection that occur within local and global communities. He also explores the potential of graphic design to be used as a medium for public awareness and social critic.

For more about the “Strength through Connection” exhibition or events at the Coburn Gallery, visit www.ashland.edu/coburngallery or find us on Facebook. The Coburn Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12 noon to 4 p.m. Saturday/Sunday.

Obsolescence Opens August 31

The Ashland University Coburn Art Gallery and the Department of Art and Design proudly announce the opening of Obsolescence, a group exhibition of new works which examine the idea of extinction, on view from August 31- October 15, 2017. The exhibition was curated by the Coburn’s director Cynthia Petry and includes the following artists: Mike Richison, Judith Brandon, Robyn Moore and Adrian Hatfield. 

Richison is a professor at Monmouth University in New Jersey, where he teaches Motion Graphics, History of Graphic Design, and Typography. Much of Richison’s work deals with manufacturing, consumerism, evolution, appropriation, and obsolescence. Amidst the detritus that is continuously thrown away, he  searches for connections and relationships between materials and concepts while utilizing 3D printing technologies.

Judith Brandon attended the Cleveland Institute of Art where she earned a BFA in enameling and drawing. Brandon has been awarded numerous Best in Shows across the country for her large dynamic drawings as well as an Ohio Arts Council Grant and several solo exhibitions. Brandon’s work has currently been accepted into the National Weather Biennale in Norman Oklahoma and Drawing Discourse and international juried show at the University of North Carolina, Asheville.

Nature makes Brandon expand with wonder and shrink with trepidation at the possibility of being devoured by it. To be an artist on this planet, with so many losses and so many discoveries and Brandon addresses this juxtaposition through her paintings and drawings.

Robyn Moore is an Assistant Professor of Photography at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY. Moore has had her work exhibited widely, including at the South Australian Museum (Adelaide, SA, Australia) and the National Archives of Australia; Sydney College of the Arts in Sydney, Australia; the Texas Photographic Society in Johnson City TX; the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel MS; the Meridian Museum of Art in Meridian MS; the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham MA; Harvard University’s ‘Composer in Red Sneakers’ collaborative project series; the Cambridge Art Association in Cambridge MA; the San Francisco International Film Festival; the Ann Arbor International Film Festival; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Moore’s Present, Near, and Deep is a series of photographic artworks that focuses the investigation of biological remains and traces, such as fossils, bones, and preserved scientific specimens, through the creation of images made with hand-coatedliquid silver gelatin photographic emulsion.

Adrian Hatfield is an Assistant Professor of Painting at Wayne State University. Hatfield has been showing his work both nationally and internationally with solo and two-person exhibitions which include Altered States at Jack the Pelican Presents in Brooklyn, NY, Recent Work at ARC Gallery in Chicago, IL and Suitable Illusions at the Northern Arizona University Art Museum. Recently, Adrian was invited to take part in the NES Artist Residency in Skagastrond, Iceland.

Hatfield’s work consists of paintings and collages that sample and recombine art historical imagery, specifically from the industrial revolution and Romantic era, as well as scientific imagery to reflect on current and imminent environmental concerns.  As he explores this dualistic theme through the remodeling of art-historical and scientific imagery, the resultant pieces are mournful, unnerving, and yet oddly hopeful.

An opening reception is planned for Thursday, August 31; from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12 noon to 4p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and is free and open to the public. For more information about the reception or exhibition, call 419.289.5652 or visit us on

Facebook.

"Time Will Tell" Exhibition Closing Reception photos

Thank you to all of the artists and guests who stopped by the Gallery today for the closing reception for the 2017 Time Will Tell Exhibition!