Foreword It is a great pleasure to invite our visitors back to the Miami University Art Museum and to celebrate the artistic community of the Department of Art faculty and alumni through this wonderful exhibition and publication. As echoed below, this time of reopening and reconnecting allows us to reflect on why art and the process of making art is an essential part of being human. Through times of isolation from art and culture, we have become more aware of the importance of museum and gallery spaces where visitors can interact with art as well as each other. The works were created in a range of media and speak to many themes, connecting with our core mission which is to celebrate artistic diversity. We also encourage the artists and their works to be part of an ongoing dialogue with and about visual culture. We extend our profound thanks to Professor Elizabeth Reitz Mullenix, Dean of the College of Creative Arts. and for our ongoing partnership with the Department of Art and Chair and Professor of Art, Robert Robbins. We are very grateful to the Members of the Art Museum, who, among others, help support our exhibitions and programs. We thank our Curator of Exhibitions, Jason E. Shaiman, who has provided thoughtful curation of the artworks within the museum galleries and for editing the publication. It is also important to recognize the contribution of Art Museum staff including Laura Stewart, our Collections Manager/Registrar, David Dotson, our Preparator and Building Manager, Sherri Krazl, our Coordinator of Marketing and Communications, and Wendy Owens, our Program Associate. Special appreciation to Dr. Robert S. Wicks, who recently retired as Director, and Cynthia Collins, retired Curator of Education, for developing the associated programming. Each has played a part in bringing this exhibition to fruition. Lastly, we thank the artists for their contributions and for making this possible. John (Jack) D.M. Green Jeffrey Horrell ‘75 and Rodney Rose Director and Chief Curator Miami University Art Museum
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ARTISTS
FACULTY Stephanie Baer, Associate Professor Stephanie Danker, Associate Professor Tracy Featherstone, Professor Della Reams, Assistant Teaching Professor Geoffrey Riggle, Assistant Teaching Professor Robert Robbins, Professor Dana Saulnier, Professor Michael Stillion, Assistant Teaching Professor Todd Stuart, Associate Teaching Professor Roscoe Wilson, Professor Jennifer Yamashiro, Professor Jon Yamashiro, Associate Professor
EMERITI Larry Winston Collins, Emeritus Professor Susan Ewing, Emeritus Professor Jeannie Langan Heins, Emeritus Professor Robert Wolfe, Emeritus Professor
ALUMNI Lorene Anderson, BFA 1988 Andrea Barone, BFA 2008 Erin Beckloff, BFA 2006 Gary Beeber, BFA 1971 Jeremy Blair, BS 2006, MS 2007 Jan C. Boone, BFA 1975 Eric Scott England, BFA 1987, MFA 2016 Katherine J. Fries, MFA 2014 Ann M. Gorbett, BFA 1984 William E. Greene, BFA 1972, MFA 1978 Lucille A. Hautau, BFA 1972, MA 1978 Tara Hayes, BS and BFA 2017
Pamela L. Hignite, BS and BFA 1995, MFA and MA 2002 David B. Johnson, MFA 1986 Sarojini Jha Johnson, MFA 1984 Kirsten I. Ledbetter, BS and BFA 2017 Travis Linville, BA 1999 Susan Lynn Mahan, BA 1973 Thomas Maltbie, BFA 1976 Michael May, MFA 2010 Kim McAninch, BFA 1968 Robert Lee Mejer, MFA 1968 Marjorie Morrow, BFA 1967 Todd Mosley, BFA 2001 Tim L. Parsley, MFA 2013 Carrie E. Pate, BFA 1985 Joseph Paushel, MFA 2016 Julie Marie Pawlowski, BFA 1999 Jill Sarver, BFA 2003 Michael Seeley, MA 1979 Billy Simms, MFA 2017 Alison A. Smith, BFA 2006 Sherry Rogers Stoffer, BFA 1981 Nicole Trimble, BFA 2011 Jean Brandow Vance, BS 1968 Austin Wieland, BFA 2011 Mark WIlliams, BFA 1997 Ben Willis, BFA 2005 Stephen Wolochowicz, MFA 2005
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Curator’s Statement After a year and a half of limited viewing, Miami University Art Museum opened its doors for this quadrennial exhibition without the need to make a reservation so that art lovers can again freely engage with art in person. Also without reservation, faculty (current and emeritus) along with alumni had been busy creating new works and conducting original research for their contributions to this exhibition. Some artists and scholars responded to the world-wide pandemic, while others sought refuge through an introspective lens or reflected on the impact of other external forces. Not only does this represent the diversity of featured works, but also the very nature of artistic and scholarly creation – a response. The 55 individuals featured in this exhibition were given the opportunity to freely express themselves without the requirement of responding to a predetermined theme. Sixty-four pieces in this exhibition deliver an array of topics and meanings, through diverse forms, materials and presentation. As a result, the assemblage of work offers great depth. Each piece invites the viewer to look deep into personal and collective interpretations, and what it may say about the artist or scholar and the time in which it was created. In organizing this exhibition, submissions by current faculty, emeritus faculty and alumni are not paired by the artist’s affiliation with Miami University. Pieces are interwoven and arranged according to known or perceived contexts, as well as evident imagery, thus playing pieces off one another to inspire viewers to see connections. Arranging an exhibition of this format is akin to taking 64 puzzle pieces, each from a different puzzle, and assembling them to make a composite image. The result is an artistic and exploratory investigation of the creative spirit by the diverse and talented art faculty and alumni at Miami University. Special appreciation is extended to Robert Robbins, Chair of the Department of Art, for his commitment to this collaboration. Additional recognition goes to Logan Bowers, Curatorial Intern (Spring 2021), for her assistance in developing this exhibition. Final acknowledgment to Cassidy Gebhart, undergraduate Communication Design major, and advisors Erin Beckloff and Kristen Pericleous, for the wonderful contemporary design of this exhibition catalog. Jason E. Shaiman Curator of Exhibitions Miami University Art Museum
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Art Chair’s Statement Much like a loved one leaving a meal and a note for you when you come home late, art is there waiting to nourish you and remind you that someone out there cares. As we emerge from a year of physical distancing, social unrest and racial tensions across the country, art persists, and even thrives. Art has the power to bridge both physical and cultural divides. Art unites us. Art gives us hope and perspective. Art allows us to stand in the shoes of one another and experience the world as they understand it. It creates connections and it builds empathy, two things we desperately need in these difficult times. Art lets us express our losses and our victories, and it lets us feel as others do. In many ways, this exhibition is going to be a celebration as we start on a path back to normalcy. Prior to the pandemic we took for granted the opportunity to stand together in the same gallery and experience an artwork. Whether in person, or only in spirit, this exhibition brings faculty, emeriti and alumni together for a celebration of the creative energy expressed every day as a result of the incredible community of artists that are what makes the Department of Art so wonderful. I am humbled by the amazing work we see in this exhibition and the great tradition of the department, and I am proud to be able to contribute in my own small way. I invite you to enjoy this exhibition with a new perspective on the power of art to bring us together and gather as a whole in this amazing museum. Sincerely, Rob Robbins Chair and Professor of Art Department of Art
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FACULTY
Stephanie Baer Associate Professor Oxford Campus, 2014–present Art Education Being Your Own Advocate: Insights from Novice Art Teachers, 2019. Published by DIO Press Inc, NY. 204 pages. 6 ¼ x 9 ¼ inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Stephanie Baer is an Associate Professor of Art Education who began her career as a K-12 classroom teacher before earning her PhD. She received her BA in Fine Arts with an emphasis in photography, followed by an MA in Secondary Teaching, and PhD in Educational Studies at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. She has taught elementary, middle school, high school, and post-secondary (undergraduate and graduate). Subjects and courses Baer teaches include art foundations, fine arts, teaching methods, and philosophy-based courses. Her research interests center on preservice teacher education, teacher confidence and identity, storytelling, and technology in teaching and learning.
This book invites preservice, practicing, and veteran teachers to live within those tenuous and exciting first years of teaching. The personal stories of six novice art teachers highlight the need for and inevitability of advocacy in the early years of their careers. This work is based on a longitudinal study that asked participants to create a weekly video diary, reflecting on their teaching experiences. While the study aimed to identify common issues for new art teachers and explore new ways for them to reflect on their experiences, the result was a narrative about the role of advocacy and the empowerment of new art teachers.
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Stephanie Danker Associate Professor Oxford Campus, 2014–present Art Education Myaamia Ribbonwork Event Poster, 2019 Letterpress on paper 12 x 18 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Stephanie Danker earned her PhD in Art Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition to teaching Art Education, she is the coordinator of the undergraduate Art Therapy minor and co-major. Her research interests include art integration, teacher professional development, and social justice pedagogy with focus on the Freedom Summer Project (1964) and Myaamia (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma) culture and imagery. She was elected Higher Education representative (2019-21) and Chair (2021-23) for Professional Learning through the Research Working Group of the National Art Education Association. Danker was named the 2020 OAEA Higher Education Art Educator of the Year.
Since 2017, I have partnered with the Myaamia Center to collaboratively create resources with art education students for local K-12 outreach efforts about aspects of Myaamia culture and imagery. This work and the relationships that have developed have been transformational to me personally and professionally. I created this letterpress poster as a student in Erin Beckloff’s class, to promote the Spring 2020 Ribbonwork exhibition at the Miami University Art Museum. I was excited to give posters to Myaamia Center staff and Tribal leadership at the January 2020 Winter Gathering in Miami, Oklahoma. (Geometric pattern designed by Myaamia student and Studio Art major, Megan Sekulich). 11
Tracy Featherstone Professor Oxford Campus, 2003-present Art Studio (Printmaking) Third Eye Pill, 2019 Multi-block relief print, collage and colored pencil on paper 27 x 35 inches
BIOGRAPHY Tracy Featherstone is a Professor of Art and Head of Printmaking at Miami University. She earned a BFA from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA from the University of Arizona. Her environmentally creative practice includes sculpture, printmaking, textile and clay. Featherstone has exhibited internationally and taught art in Asia and Europe. In 2006 and 2013, she was awarded by the Ohio Arts Council Award, and completed a 3-month residency in Prague, Czech Republic supported by the US Embassy. One of Featherstone’s interactive sculptures is featured at Cincinnati’s Contemporary Art Center. She is currently transitioning Miami University’s print shop into a non-toxic, environmentally friendly space. 11 12
ARTIST’S STATEMENT In this series, I blended abstraction with illustrative imagery from Asian art sources that reappeared in my sketches and studies. Unsure how to include the images without losing the open conversation with the viewer, I made a type of printmaking “game.” I printed one block over another without a predetermined outcome. My working instinctively at the press allowed the imagery to emerge and be hidden between layers and stencils. When a state of complexity was achieved, I manipulated the prints through cutting, collaging and intermixing between prints. The result is a set of collages that function as sketches, as well as finished work.
Della Reams Assistant Teaching Professor Oxford Campus, 2015-present Art Studio (Fashion) Flora Dress, 2020 Draped digitally printed fabric 60 x 18 x 16 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Fashion Professor Della Reams has been creating one-of-a-kind textiles and apparel since earning an MFA in Textiles from RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) in 2005. Collaboratively developing digitally-printed fabric designs based on paintings, she makes them into patternfocused dress designs for gallery exhibition. Reams’ work has been shown in nine countries and earned several awards. Her work has appeared in Boston Globe Magazine, Self Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Surface Design Journal and other periodicals, as well as books Artistry in Fiber Vol 3: Wearable Art, Textiles: The Art of Mankind, and The PATTERNBASE.
Utilizing fine art painting, digital printing, fashion draping, and sewing by hand and machine, I made this collaborative dress with African-American, New York-based artist, Larry Rushing. My work is inspired by color, the female body form and Rushing’s paintings in the context of their relationship. Rushing’s paintings are inspired by an erotic interpretation of femininity as the center of creativity, and the improvisational rhythm of jazz, utilizing his anima to express an exquisite sense of color. The painting that inspired this dress is titled Flora Rush. 13
Geoffrey Riggle Assistant Teaching Professor, Oxford Campus, 2010-present Art Studio (Metals and Jewelry) Untitled: Body 17, 2020 Copper, silver, enamel, PLA and steel, 4 x 4 x 1 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Geoffrey Riggle received a BS in art education from Ball State University and a MFA in metalsmithing and jewelry design from Miami University. With a firm foundation in traditional metalsmithing techniques and jewelry design practice, his research spans the mediums of metals/ jewelry, sculpture, photography, and forges ground in digital design and practice. Riggle has exhibited nationally and internationally, and has been featured in a number of publications. Currently, Riggle is Head of Jewelry Design and Metalsmithing in Miami University’s Department of Art.
Inspired from life’s events, dilemmas, and day-to-day interactions, my work is an exposé of a continuously reflective dialogue. By combining jeweler’s skills with both precious and non-precious materials, my current body of work both explores and celebrates relationships, growth, progression, and the human spirit. Through the use of metaphorical constructs in conjunction with sacred archetypes and form, I poetically point to a symbiotic awareness of our world and lives.
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Robert Robbins Professor Oxford Campus, 2017–present Art Studio (Painting) Loveland, 2018 Oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Robert Robbins received his BFA in Fine Arts from the Columbus College of Art and Design and an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University. His work has been awarded fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Ohio Arts Council and the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Robbins’ work has been exhibited at the Butler Institute (OH), The Chateau Museum (Rochefort-En-Terre, France), Springfield Museum of Art (OH), Sears/Peyton Gallery (NY), Carnegie Center for the Visual Arts (KY) and the Maryland Institute of Art, among others. Robbins is a Professor of Art and Chair of the Department of Art at Miami University.
These paintings are about traveling at speed, the ephemerality of sensory memory. They are about being in multiple states and places all at once. They are about the feeling of doing one thing while thinking about something else. They are about being distracted and about noticing something small and unexpected. They are about the quotidian strangeness of the everyday.
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Dana Saulnier Assistant Professor Oxford Campus, 1997-present Art Studio (Painting) Late November, 2019 Oil on linen 76 1/2 x 101 1/2 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Dana Saulnier lives on a few acres of rural land where he tries to keep his senses alert to the fragile rhythms of time and form. Saulnier’s painting practice is historically self-conscious, aligning with traditions of the figure in landscape. He received a BFA in Painting from the University of Cincinnati and an MFA in Painting from Cornell University. Saulnier teaches Painting, Drawing, and Theory, at Miami University. He has exhibited his art in over one hundred exhibitions, including more than thirty solo shows. Saulnier’s work is represented by First Street Gallery in New York.
The nominal subject of the work is ‘the figure in landscape’, evoking our transience and continuous uncertainty. The sense of encompassing time in painting the figure in landscape sustains themes of tragedy and comedy as repeating projects within history. My dialogue with historical paintings locates both my connection to the past and my distance from the past. The distance is crucial to my work. I seek to make works that are absolutely specific while being productively resistant to analysis. Painting lives best when it devours our attempts to theorize.
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Michael Stillion Assistant Teaching Professor Oxford Campus, 2014–present Art Studio (Painting) Set in Stone, 2020 Oil on canvas 36 x 45 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Michael Stillion is an Artist, Teacher and Curator who received a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design and an MFA from Indiana University, Bloomington. He is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Miami University teaching painting and drawing. His honors include two Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, a Joan Mitchell full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, and a full-year fellowship to the Roswell Artist in Residence. His work has been exhibited at the Columbus Museum of Art, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Roswell Museum of Art, Marshall University, Art Chicago and SpringBreak Art Show, New York.
This murky, moody painting began at the start of the pandemic in 2020. My painting went from punchy, chromatic imagery to a slow, meticulous and monotone composition. Inspired by grisaille paintings, particularly Van Eyck’s The Annunciation Diptych, these paintings represent still-lifes made of stone perched on contained pedestals. The stone subject cracks and crumbles under the erosion of history, reflecting our current conditions.
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Todd Stuart Associate Teaching Professor Oxford Campus, 2014-present Arts Management Reverence, 2020 Archival pigment on paper 16 x 16 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Todd Stuart is an artist, entrepreneur, and educator. He holds a BA from the University of Florida, and an MFA and MBA from the University of South Carolina. Stuart has worked as an entrepreneur in theatre, design, and consumer goods. He has exhibited in group shows at A. Smith Gallery, The Atlanta Photography Group, Pop Revolution Gallery, PhotoPlace Gallery, and in both the Dayton Artist Society and Mohawk Gallery as part of the 2020 FotoFocus Biennial. Stuart has also exhibited internationally at the PS21 Gallery in Budapest Hungary. His first solo show was at the Art Lobby/Miami University this fall.
There is beauty in moments that pass us by so quickly. I am inspired to create an image by light, movement, color, subject, feeling, or any combination. I work through 5 interconnected steps - seeing, capturing, editing, printing, and reflecting. No one step is more important than the other. Each step in making the finished image, if an image is ever finished, provides more clarity. While my work presents the way I see and feel, to complete the work. What do you see?
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Roscoe Wilson Professor Hamilton Campus, 2003–present Art Studio (Drawing, Painting, Sculpture) 87 Days (triptych), 2020 Charcoal, gesso, graphite and plastic bags on paper Three pieces, each 44 x 30 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Born and raised in Northern Indiana and raised in Southern Michigan, respectively, Roscoe Wilson’s environmental values were shaped by experiencing nature and discovering an awareness that only a forest, lake, and field can offer. He received a BA from Wabash College (IN), an MA in Painting and Printmaking from Purdue University (IN), and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. It was at the latter that he furthered his interdisciplinary education by studying printmaking, sculptural installation, and painting. Wilson studied the history of environmentalism at UWM, drawing inspiration for his art from former Wisconsin residents and environmental pioneers like John Muir and Aldo Leopold.
My work involves the dilemma of consumerism and waste in contemporary society, and the human condition in which we consume to live but we do not need to live to consume. We buy and sell, save, collect, and ultimately discard practically everything. The problem originates when we buy habitually and compounds when we waste apathetically. We desire the next great invention propagating planned obsolescence instead of sustainable products. These serious issues are more important as the world becomes more connected and our population soars. It is my responsibility to bring this paradoxical dilemma of consuming and wasting to the public eye through art. 19
Jennifer Yamashiro Professor Hamilton Campus, 2006-present Art and Architecture History “Visual Data: Alfred Kinsey’s Collection on Sexual Behavior in Humans.” Sex & Sexuality, Marlborough: Adam Matthew, 2021.
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Jennifer Yamashiro received her BA in Art History and English literature from St. Olaf College in Minnesota. She spent her junior year at Manchester College, Oxford University and attended summer school at Gonville and Caius, Cambridge University in England. Yamashiro received an MA in English, followed by graduate studies in Art History receiving an MA and a PhD from Indiana University. She is Professor in the Department of Humanities and Creative Arts, where her teaching is informed by a passion for curating, leadership, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Yamashiro is a recipient of Miami University’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion award.
The Kinsey Institute has a stunning collection of more than 185,000 items that unite art and science. While conducting oral histories to study human sexuality, Alfred Kinsey and his team amassed supplementary sexually explicit material, including photographs, films, art, artifacts, and less conventional items. Kinsey spent years embroiled in a federal obscenity case to retain his academic freedom to acquire relevant materials. This overview of the Institute’s collection highlights visual works and introduces the scientists’ use of imagery for their pioneering research. Adam Matthew’s digital resource provides broader access to this unique archive for scholars for the first time.
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Jon Yamashiro Associate Professor Oxford Campus, 1993–present Art Studio (Photography) After School, Christin 2, 2020 Toned gelatin silver print 22 x 26 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Jon Masuo Yamashiro was born and raised as a third generation Okinawan American in the “cultural pastiche” of Honolulu, Hawaii. He received a BFA in 1985 from Washington University in St. Louis, followed by an MFA (Photography) in 1991 from Indiana University. In 1993, Yamashiro began teaching photography at Miami University. He has exhibited his photographs regionally, nationally and internationally. In 2009, he received the prestigious Effective Educator Award presented by Miami University’s Alumni Association for his devotion to students. Yamashiro lives in Liberty, Indiana with his wife Jennifer and their son Luke. Their daughter Lydia is a junior at Miami University.
As a kid growing up in Hawaii, the hours after the school day ended were special. My friends would ask, “What you doing after school?” The question was full of potential and the promise of adventure. I remember it as a time when we were free to use our imagination and play for a few hours before dinner. That’s what these photographs represent. Bits and pieces of my adult life, visually lived like it was “after school.” They were made while on class field trips, spending time with my kids or when I was just out wandering, looking, playing.
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EMERITI
Larry Winston Collins Emeritus Professor Oxford Campus, 2005–2021 Art Studio (Drawing & Foundations) Pandemic Series #1 - The Virus, #2 - The Spread, #3 - The Isolation, #4 - The Cure, 2020 Rub prints on paper 18 x 24 inches (each)
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Larry Winston Collins received his BFA from the Columbus College of Art, and Design, in Columbus, Ohio, and his MFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. He is the recipient of a fellowship to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Collins is an Emeritus Professor, having taught Painting and Foundations at Miami University. He received many awards throughout his career, including grants from the Ohio and Greater Columbus Arts Councils. His work, ranging from drawings to prints, and mixed media paintings, is exhibited nationally and internationally.
This series of works, titled Pandemic, was inspired by the COVID-19 virus. The subject matter reflects my spiritual, physical and emotional responses to the pandemic during the early months of confinement. These works were created from an original printmaking technique utilizing paper rubbings from relief plates. In the past, I have made art using a variety of techniques, including drawings, mixed media and printmaking. Many diverse compositions, themes and patterns can be found in this body of work. Realistic forms and images are embedded in abstract compositions. The use of color, texture and spatial relationships provoke varied states of awareness. 22 23
Susan R. Ewing Emeritus Professor Oxford Campus, 1981-2015 Art Studio (Metals and Jewelry) Memento Mori: Vessel with Ghost, 2019 Earthenware, chalk, beeswax, bone and chalk 12 x 11 x 6 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Susan Ewing earned an AA from Stephens College, and her BA and MFA from Indiana University. She was the Senior Associate Dean of the College of Creative Arts, Miami University, and a recipient of the University Distinguished Professor award. In 2018, Ewing became the Director of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. Ewing taught as a J.W. Fulbright Senior Lecturing Scholar, Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague and as a Masterclass Professor, Royal College of Art in London. She was honored twice at The White House by the Clinton’s in the first “White House Collection of American Craft.”
None Provided
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Jeannie Langan Heins Emeritus Professor Oxford Campus, 1995–2014 Art Education Teinopalpus Imperialis, 2020 Oil & acrylic on canvas 30 x 51 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Jeannie Langan Heins studied from an early age at the Art Institute of Chicago, before receiving a BFA, MA, and a PhD from the University of Illinois. She is an Art Professor and Graduate Faculty at University of Alabama/Huntsville, and teaches online at Eastern Illinois University. Langan’s art centers around inspiring respectful preservation of wildlife and the human soul. Her scholarly publications explore Artistic Development, Native symbolism, and Community. Langan’s artwork has traveled on the space shuttle Atlantis, and shown at the Kennedy Space Center. She participated in Christo’s NYC Gates Project, and in a collaborative project with Maya Angelou.
Sila: to protect; a (Buddhist) code of conduct embracing a commitment to harmony and freedom from causing harm. My paintings/ installations, from my abstract butterfly wing series, center around themes of conservation in nature/wildlife. I speak for wildlife that cannot speak for itself, hence this story of Teinopalpus Imperialis, an endangered species. She has nobody to speak for her. The diptych shows this rare butterfly from the forested Himalayas, pulled apart; being slowly blotted out. Though law forbids it, she’s hunted (for her rarity), as slash and burn agriculture degrades her habitat. The gift of Sila can preserve her beauty. 24 25
Robert Wolfe Emeritus Professor Oxford Campus, 1963-1990 Studio Art (Drawing, Painting and Printmaking) Gilt Fantails, 2020 Tempera, watercolor and gilt on paper 19 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches (each)
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Robert Wolfe received his BFA in 1952 and a BS in 1955 from Miami University. After serving as an Army artist/illustrator, Wolfe obtained his MFA in 1960 from the University of Iowa. He also studied at the Cincinnati Art Academy and at the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico. After European travel (1960-63), Wolfe obtained a printmaking position at Miami University. He has exhibited in over 200 competitions and 25 one-person shows. In 1972, he was honored by the Governor of Ohio and the Ohio Arts Council. In 1992, students and the Miami administration honored him with the Miami Effective Educator award.
As time passes I find that the observation of nature has always been important to my work, whether in print, drawing or painting. However, the subjects are not used for descriptive or literary purposes. The aesthetic meanings are derived through the manipulation of the elements of art: color, form, light and shadow, and the rhythms of the subjects. Whatever the media, the meanings are developed through change and modifications, often through drawing beforehand, hoping for new understandings and appreciations.
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ALUMNI
Lorene Anderson BFA 1988 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Metals, Jewelry and Painting) Hypnagogia 1, 2020 Acrylic on matte with transparent Dura-Lar 12 x 9 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Lorene Anderson received her BFA from Miami University and an MFA from UC Berkeley, where she received the Eisner Award for painting. She has been exhibiting her work in museums and galleries internationally. Anderson completed residencies at the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts (NY) & La Porte Peinte Center for the Arts (France). Recent solo exhibitions include the Markel Fine Arts (New York), George Lawson Gallery and K. Imperial Fine Arts (SF). Anderson lives & works in Oakland, CA.
Hypnagogia 1 is a 2-sided painting on transparent synthetic paper. The title, Hypnagogia, references the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep. My work explores movement, energy, turbulence and gesture. Layers and stripes bend the two-dimensional space into a churning, vibrating composition, referencing things such as parallel realities, topology, subatomic particles, shifting light and sound waves.
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Andrea Barone BFA 2008 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Metals, Jewelry and Painting) Enter Red, 2018 Oil on canvas 36 x 32 x 1 1/2 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Andrea Barone is a painter who approaches her work through interdisciplinary exploration. She was born in Ohio and completed her BFA at Miami University followed by a Post-Baccalaureate at SMFA Boston, and an MFA from SUNY Purchase. She currently lives and works in Maine.
Perception is elusive. I am interested in experiences that exist on the edge of understanding: visceral feelings; illusions; the transient environment of dreams. I am searching for what is real. I advocate for active seeing and for noticing.
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Erin Beckloff BFA, 2006 Oxford Campus Communication Design (formerly Graphic Design) Star Cluster, 2019 Letterpress printing, wood and metal type and rule 10 x 10 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Erin Beckloff is a letterpress printer, designer, educator, and filmmaker (Pressing On, 2017) who preserves anecdotal and technical knowledge of printing history and culture with a focus on education and community. She received her BFA from Miami University in 2006, and an MFA in Graphic Design from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Beckloff has presented at ATypI Antwerp, two Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum Wayzgoose conferences, UCDA Design Education Summit, Type@Cooper New York, College Book Art Association Conferences, as well as taught workshops and lectured at universities across the US and UK.
Star Cluster represents the idea that history is a web of connections between people through time. The multigenerational letterpress community’s expansiveness through time is like a gravitationally bound star cluster. Referencing a NASA photograph of a star cluster (globular cluster NGC 1898), I created the composition in Adobe Illustrator from scans of my type collection. The print was created with metal rule cut and spaced to create long curves; wood type including texture dots from Moore Wood Type; metal circles/ornaments; and metal type Greeting Monotone, inked in a split fountain and rotated 90 degrees for four overlapping impressions.
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Gary Beeber BFA 1971 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Photography) and Communication Design (formerly Graphic Design) DRIVE-THRU, 2020 Archival ink-jet print on paper 39 x 29 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Gary Beeber is an award-winning American photographer/filmmaker who has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world. His documentary films have screened at over 85 film festivals. Solo exhibitions include two at Generous Miracles Gallery (NYC), two at the Griffin Museum of Photography, and upcoming exhibitions at PRAXIS Photo Arts Center, and the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (RICPA). Beeber’s work is held in the collections of Fortune 500 companies, including Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Goldman Sachs and Chase Bank.
The Passages series, from which this work comes, is about the passage of time, what things were and what they are now. The subjects of this series are essentially found objects, each one a discovery for me.
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Jeremy Blair BS 2006 and MS 2007 Oxford Campus Art Education Meridian, 2019 Photogram (cameraless photograph) on paper 18 x 15 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Jeremy Blair is an Assistant Professor of Art Education at Tennessee Tech University. He received his BS and MS in Art Education from Miami University and his doctorate from the University of North Texas. Before moving to Tennessee, he worked as a K-12 art teacher in Savannah, Georgia, and a curator at the University of Colorado Art Museum. Blair exhibits his alternative process photography nationally and regularly participates in artist residencies.
I investigate the intersections of place and self by developing site-based cameraless photograms that reconstruct my lived experiences. My on-location creations in rural outdoor environments use a custom-designed light-proof tent. I place foraged objects on photosensitive paper, expose the paper to light, and develop the work through a sequenced eco-friendly chemical bath. My mobile darkroom is relocated throughout the day, allowing me to experiment with multiple exposures, and welcome variables like weather, water temperatures, and pH levels. In this body of work, organic materials and environments interface with light, water, and chemistry, leading to intimate connections with place, material and self.
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Jan C. Boone BFA 1975 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Painting) Another Time, 2020 Oil on canvas 31 x 24 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Jan Boone grew up on a farm in northwest Ohio. She graduated with a BFA in painting from Miami University and went to work at Gibson Greetings. Marriage and kids resulted in a very creative family, excelling in sculpture, theater set design and oil painting. She is active in art clubs, teaching painting at an art center, gardening and painting in her home studio. Boone’s favorite subjects are people in ordinary settings, farm scenes and cats.
This painting is about reflection. The woman is reflecting on her past, and there are interesting reflections in the old windows across the street. I’m often captivated by people out in public. This subject was wrapped up in her own mind, thinking of another time.
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Eric Scott England BFA 1987 and MFA 2016 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Drawing and Sculpture) Cosmic Awareness, 2018 Wood, paint and found objects 12 x 19 x 6 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Eric England was your archetypal American boy growing up on Pop-Tarts and Pop Culture; G.I. Joes and comic books, who came to love excessive speed (motorcycles), ocean kayaking, sci-fi, screenplay writing and Thai food. Remarkably, England still enjoys the creative process, superheroes, and an occasional Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tart with a cold glass of milk - the engines of invention.
The base material and technique of these pieces are a reflection of the fundamental archetype found in mythology itself. Faceless, they are Everyman. The female Talismans emanate strength and vulnerability; simultaneously embodying the Cradle of Life and the unabashed tenacity and conviction of a warrior. One may also point to implicit Priapan allusions in the male Talisman morphology in reference to his role as Defender in a rudimentary correlation to superhero vigilantism. Though the works are diminutive, they embody aspects of gods/ spirits as did the kachinas, as well as the vicarious status and shamanic powers analogous to the totems.
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Katherine J. Fries MFA 2014 Hamilton Campus Studio Art (Painting) Something Blue for the Circle City, 2018 Monotype print on Rives BFK 20 x 20 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Katherine Fries, a studio artist/educator specializing in printmaking, letterpress, foundations and painting, explores storytelling and preservation through the understanding and use of objects as biography. Fries, an Associate Professor of Studio Art at the University of Indianapolis, holds an MFA from Miami University. She actively shares her scholarly pursuits by exhibiting her work regionally and nationally, and by presenting at national and international conferences.
This is part of a continuing series Memory Maps that explores the artifacts left by the artist’s paternal grandparents, and how they act as surrogates for stories and relationships. The printing process acts as a metaphoric space that entangles both the objects and individuals’ representation with the embodiment of reflection/memory.
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Ann M. Gorbett BFA 1984 Oxford Campus Communication Design (formerly Graphic Design) and Studio Art (Drawing and Painting) Cocktail Hour, 2020 Oil on board 16 x 16 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
After graduating from Miami University in 1984 with a BFA, Ann Gorbett found her way to Boston where she has lived for 30 years working for the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Now a full time painter, Gorbett’s work can be seen at The Artist’s Studio & Gallery at Patriot Place in Foxboro, MA and The Red Inn in Provincetown, MA.
I enjoy recreating old family photos as oil paintings as a way of capturing the period fashions, the architecture, the furnishings, and the memories from these nostalgic times. This painting was inspired by a 1970s family photograph of my mother and two friends at a holiday gathering. I found the photo among our family’s many photo albums and it reminded me of our home in Cleveland, and the living room that we were only allowed to use when company came over. The 3 gold keys on the wall were one of my mother’s favorite decorating elements (she was a Kappa at Miami as was I) and they moved with us wherever we went.
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William E. Greene BFA 1972 and MFA 1978 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Printmaking & Sculpture) and Art & Architecture History Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall, 2018 Oil on canvas 54 x 42 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
William Greene received a BFA in 1972 and an MFA in 1978, both from Miami University. Greene worked at Shillito’s in Cincinnati for several years and in Connecticut for one year working for an animations company. Greene started his own company building large animated displays and props for department stores and shopping malls. Since most animation work was seasonal, Greene worked as a freelance sculptor and as an adjunct art instructor. Later, he worked at GE Aviation for 10 years before retiring to do freelance projects and his own artwork.
Humpty Dumpty, like most nursery rhymes, has a number of interpretations. This painting is based on an English Civil War (1642-1651) cannon that was nicknamed Humpty Dumpty because of its shape. In 1648, during the Siege of Colchester, the Humpty Dumpty cannon was mounted on the tower of St. Mary-at-the-Wall church where it defended the town for 11 weeks. Finally the wall was destroyed and the cannon toppled to the ground, unable to be resurrected. An egg was never mentioned in the verse and was probably added in the late 1800s to make the rhyme easier for children to understand. 36 37
Lucille A. Hautau BFA 1972 and MA 1978 Oxford Campus Communication Design (formerly Graphic Design), Studio Art (Metals and Jewelry) and Art & Architectural History Tennoji Pagoda Temple, 2020 Sterling silver; 8.0 mm checkerboard faceted Rhodolite Garnet 3 1/2 x 3 x 1 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Lucille Hautau’s passion is pattern. She creates intricate designs in gold and silver using embossing, reticulation (interlacing lines), etching and inlay techniques to weave a tapestry of pattern. Hautau specializes in distinctive design and unfailing attention to detail. Each completed work inspires a frenzy of new ideas. She strives to create jewelry that is intriguing, well-crafted and exquisitely designed. Embarking on a new challenge both excites and calms them. Hautau views her creations today as the heirlooms of tomorrow.
Asian and Mediterranean art and architecture fascinate me. In 1977, Miami University brought to Craftsummer the esteemed Japanese artists, Hiroko and Gene Pijanowski. I learned Japanese techniques, tools and patinas that I still use. This pendant is photo-etched, constructed then oxidized. Lastly, the Garnet was “snapped” into a pre-cut groove using tension to float it in place. Inspired by the Tennoji Temple, I constructed a sanctuary to enshrine the pendant. This piece empowers the wearer.
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Tara Hayes BS 2017 and BFA 2017 Oxford Campus Art Education, Studio Art (Painting) and Art & Architectural History They Roll their Own Dice: A, 2020 Acrylic, ink and pastel on canvas 56 x 32 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Tara Hayes is a fine artist who works primarily in painting and 2D media. She has exhibited in Ohio and Boston, with work held in private collections. In 2017, she earned a BFA in Studio Art and a BS in Art Education from Miami University. Hayes is a recipient of the 2018 Yeck College Artist Fellowship at The Dayton Art Institute. In 2020, she earned an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Hayes lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA.
My practice begins in the physical landscape. I often encode physical mapping, boundaries and rules of play, and elements of spatial distortion in my work. I use this form of topological manipulation to construct visual spaces that are overloaded. This creates areas of questionable spatial stability. Each work is created in contrast to the experience of true spaces. Through this relationship, they assume their own form, which no longer resembles a legible map. Movements become fragmented where they were once continuous. These abstracted paths mimic blurred feelings and reflect a recognition that space can be true, altered, and fictional. 38 39
Pamela L. Hignite BS and BFA 1995, MFA 1997 and MA 2002 Oxford Campus Art Education and Studio Art (Ceramics and Painting) Reliquary, 2020 Ceramic, paper clay and acrylic 29 x 18 x 9 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Pamela Hignite was born and raised in Hamilton, Ohio, and grew up a tree climbing, mud pie making, portrait-drawing tomboy. She evolved into a sculptor and art educator after a jaunt through motherhood with five rambunctious children. Hignite now exhibits in galleries and juried competitions on a national level and sells work via online venues. She holds a BS, BFA, MFA, and MA from Miami University. Hignite received the Lilly Endowment for Teacher Creativity in 2012 and 2020.
I grew up with a love for nature and an appreciation of the human form. My affinity for the art of primitive cultures and a desire to insert that genre of sublime power make their way into my own work. I feel very strongly that everything is connected and that we are all one. These connections encompass the realm of our ancestors; flow into the present, and on to our future generations. My work is a recurrent attempt to capture these elusive connections within a sculptural form.
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David B. Johnson MFA 1986 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Printmaking) In Walked Bud, 2018 Chine-collé intaglio and letterpress accordion book 10 X 4 1/2 X 1 (36 inches open)
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
David Johnson was born across the big river in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He attended public school, baled hay, walked beans and earned a BFA at the University of Iowa. He was a liquor store clerk, worked in a K-Mart Pet and Garden Center and stacked boxes at the Sears Catalog Warehouse in Minneapolis. Johnson earned his MFA at Miami University where he worked with Robert Wolfe. He has taught Drawing and Printmaking at Ball State University since 1988, and has shown his work in over 400 exhibitions.
The words are by John Hendricks to a tune by Thelonious Monk.
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Sarojini Jha Johnson MFA 1984 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Printmaking) Full Moons, 2019 Artist’s book intaglio 8 X 9 inches (48 inches open)
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Sarojini Jha Johnson worked with Professor Emeritus and award winning artist Robert Wolfe more than three decades ago when she earned an MFA in printmaking at Miami University. She has taught intaglio printmaking at Ball State University since 1985. Johnson has been making intaglio prints continually and currently has added artist’s books to her studio practice. Thematically, her works are inspired by the natural world and the adverse effects of climate change on flora and fauna.
My family emigrated to the US from India many years ago. As a result, my works reflect my impressions of India as experienced through journeys there and stories told by my parents. Certain objects and images are emblematic or evocative, from mundane to sublime, such as datura plants and images of deities such as Ganesha and Lakshmi. Uprooted people often experience a longing for things that remind them of their former home. I believe that the dialog about culture and nationality is vital and that the visual arts are an important forum for communication of the subtleties and variations of individual viewpoints.
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Kirsten I. Ledbetter BS and BFA 2017 Oxford Campus Art Education and Studio Art (Ceramics and Painting) 12 Juli, Rodenkirchen, 2020 Graphite, watercolor and sunlight on Arches watercolor paper and transparency paper 23 x 29 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Kirsten I. Ledbetter is an artist and educator from Cincinnati, Ohio. She received a BS in Art Education and a BFA from Miami University, and her MFA and Museum Studies Certificate in 2021 from the DAAP program at the University of Cincinnati. Ledbetter is a mixed media artist who works in cyanotypes, drawings, paintings, and textiles. She is intrigued by process, light, and the ideas of the temporary, and explores critiques of the value structures of western culture.
The work I create is a contemplative process that critiques the value structures ingrained in western society and the pace with which we, as a society, live our lives. My work captures fleeting and ephemeral moments of subtle beauty, stillness and slowness. This calm in the visual provokes thought in the viewer to shine a light on the inherently flawed rat-race structure of our capitalist society that emotionally and physically drains so many.
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Travis Linville BFA 1999 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Photography) Still Life, 2018 Wet plate collodion print 8 x 10 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Artist and educator, Travis Linville, resides in Elgin, IL. His recent work is rooted in 19th-century photographic processes and in response to 21st century issues related to technology and competitive behavior. As an educator he has taught photography, drawing, and computer graphics at Clemson University, Georgia Southern University, and Georgia College. Currently, Linville serves as Associate Professor of Photography and Digital Media at Elgin Community College.
Having studied the wet plate collodion process for a few years now, I’ve discovered that control is elusive, and demands continual adaptation, openness to changing conditions, and a calm persistence. While I incorporate and am impressed by the extensive possibilities provided by digital technology, I’m drawn to the immediacy of the analog photochemical process. Not the immediacy of time, but the connection to the physical aspects of how what sits before the lens becomes recorded on a surface. As photography has become less and less tangible, I find myself pursuing the forms of photography in which the finished image is again an object of importance.
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Susan Lynn Mahan BFA 1973 Oxford Campus Art Education Paddle On, 2020 Acrylic & dye, monoprints, graphite and thread on paper 15 x 30 x 1 1/2 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
After graduating from Miami University, Susan Mahan taught high school art for over 30 years. In 1985, she earned an MA in Art Education from Xavier University where she is currently an Adjunct Professor. Mahan’s work has won many awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award at “Art Comes Alive,” a nationally juried exhibition. Her work is in many corporate collections, including Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Columbus Children’s Hospital, UCAN Cincinnati.
My mixed media work is inspired by my love of color and pattern. Monoprints, photos and random bits of found paper enhance my work in unexpected ways and specifically when combined with several layers of paint. Each piece is then detailed by using sewing techniques. The many layers of my work engage the viewer to linger. It is my desire to focus on the beauty of nature and everyday life.
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Thomas Maltbie BFA 1976 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Ceramics and Drawing) and Art & Architectural History Hidden in the Most Unlikely Place, 2020 Terracotta, porcelain, poplar, cedar, bamboo, rice paper, and cotton cord 20 x 14 x 3 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
After receiving a BFA from Miami University, Thomas Maltbie earned his MA and MFA degrees at Bowling Green. He has worked in a studio in Southeastern Indiana for 40 years, developing art in both clay and kiln-formed glass. Maltbie’s artworks are included in many corporate collections, and in the American Museum of Ceramic Art. Now a retired educator, he taught in higher education, and for 32 years shared a studio with a few thousand kids at South Ripley Elementary School in Versailles, Indiana.
I make stuff. I use mostly earth-sourced, traditional craft media . . . to make stuff. My imagery alludes to the processes that humans have been using forever, portraying our history, surroundings, our home. If you find a particular sunset moving, or you find the amazing craft of a bird’s nest moving, . . . be moved. Likewise, if you see something in my work that moves you, I am grateful.
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Michael May MFA 2010 Oxford Campus Studio Art Painting Unripened Fruit, 2020 Gouache on paper 21 x 17 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Since graduating from Miami University in 2010, Michael May has been painting, drawing and teaching art at several universities in the Midwest, and now in the Southeast. Currently, he teaches Drawing and Painting at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. His recent work uses subtle humor and cultural symbols to tell stories that are not funny. He still proudly wears his Miami University t-shirts and defends his alma mater from all the Hurricane fans.
This painting is part of the Garden Party series, which tells the story of a bad person who achieves a position of power and ultimately does good things. This image is part of a subset of images that represent the journey to the protagonist’s position of authority through beautiful patterns and things that grow, which are not naturally in a state of usefulness.
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Kim McAninch BFA 1986 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Painting) DISRUPTOR 17, 2020 Oil, pastel, ink and pencil on paper 18 x 18 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Kim McAninch, a member of the National Association of Women Artists and Women’s Caucus for Art, currently works in Longboat Key, FL and Stony Point NY. Her background as a fabric, wallpaper and interior designer has laid the groundwork for her unique painterly style. Through the expressive use of brush and palette knife, she conveys an emotion, a mood and the pure joy of color. McAninch’s work offers elusive and intangible qualities to the viewer, who in turn add personal experience, giving life to her work.
I recognize that my work involves disruption as an evolutionary process, to which there is no direct path. As a result, I have become competent in the landscape and learned to trust myself and create as if there are no mistakes. But as a disruptor, success is not an immediate requirement. In each, I have found ways to incorporate information that temporarily interrupts the path of the eye. It is the painterly marks, the ones that give hints of perceived information, that I call DISRUPTORS. While some merely interrupt an otherwise quiet landscape, others are inflicted upon the view, commanding your attention.
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Robert Lee Mejer MFA 1968 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Drawing and Painting) Take PC: Open Book #4, 2020 Watercolor on paper 25 x 33 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Robert Lee Mejer is currently a Distinguished Professor of Art and Gray Gallery Curator-Founder since 1968 at Quincy University, Quincy, IL. He is a charter member in Watercolor USA Honor Society (WHS)-Board Member since 2000 & President 2012-16. Mejer received the City of Quincy Arts Award as an individual artist in 1990. In April 2018, the Quincy Art Center held his 50-Year Retrospective (available on YouTube). Mejer is listed in “Who’s Who in American Art” and “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.”
I am a Geometric Abstract Intimist that operates out of a collage-space tradition. My watercolors emanate from small 6” x 4” paper collages. I express various emotional situations using a layering process in order to create visual drama via opposites, that equates to the pulse of life! I agree with Kandinsky that the circle is the most peaceful shape and that it represents the human soul. In my work I hope TO PRESENT (inside to out) rather than REPRESENT (outside to in).
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Marjorie Morrow BFA 1967 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Painting and Printmaking) Greenhouse Gases, 2019 Acrylic and charcoal on canvas 30 x 24 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Marjorie Morrow is an abstract painter in New York’s Catskill Mountains, relocating there after 50 years in Manhattan. She focuses on developing special collaborations, most recently the 4-person “RE: Nature” at Howland Cultural Center, Beacon, NY. She created Art Orbit®an online presentation featuring her art and collectors. Recent exhibits include a 2-person show at Denise Bibro Fine Art, NYC, and “Ask the Old Trees”, in Callicoon, NY. Her work is a permanent part of the 9/11 Memorial Artists Registry, NYC.
Though I am an abstract painter, my work draws inspiration from the natural landscape. I’ve focused on trees for several years, creating rubbings from the actual bark, and that has led to an involvement with environmental issues & the impact of climate change. Trees represent what has sustained us, and the vulnerability that lies ahead. In my mixed-media paintings, I contrast fabricated grids with textures found in nature as a metaphor for our dilemma-human coexistence with the natural world.
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Todd Mosley BFA 2001 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Painting) State of Imaginary Grace, 2019 Resin-coated flash and acrylic on paper, mounted on wood panel 16 x 27 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Todd Mosley holds a BFA from Miami University and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Both degree concentrations were in painting. Mosley has been a visual arts teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Cincinnati, OH, since 2010, where he has served as the Fine Arts Department Chair since 2014.
This artwork was created in a stream of consciousness style and refined over numerous studio sessions. It’s themes revolve around positive and negative spatial relationships, emotional direction through the use of a warm color scheme, and visual movement.
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Tim L. Parsley MFA 2013 Oxford Campus, Studio Art (Photography) Passage, 2018 Oil and gold ink on muslin over canvas 10 x 13 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Tim Parsley earned his BA from the University of Cincinnati and his MA from Miami University. He is the Program Director and Associate Professor of Studio Art at the University of Saint Francis, School of Creative Arts in Fort Wayne, IN. As an artist primarily working through painting, drawing, and collage, Parsley’s work navigates the history of America and the complicated tensions caused by its constructive ambition.
My work navigates American history and the complicated effect of its constructive ambition. Focusing on the originating stories of America, I appropriate and piece together scraps of historic imagery and collective memory, reconstructing the American narrative of progress to reveal and reinterpret a nostalgic anxiety about the past. The construction of America was a dichotomous and implicated mixture of hope, pride, destruction, and dominance culminating in a conflicted national history. We live in the wake of this complicated history and continue to play out the same drama in our individual lives. My paintings, collages, and drawings explore the undercurrent assumptions that cultivate this phenomenon.
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Carrie E. Pate BFA 1985 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Ceramics, Painting and Photography) Article 23, 2018 White stoneware with glazes and acrylics 18 x 18 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
In the past 30 years Carrie E. Pate has been in over 40 exhibitions combined of solo and group shows. She earned a BFA from Miami University, as well as an MFA from the University of Cincinnati. Permanent public work by Pate includes the Earthwork ‘Sacred Embrace’ located in Dayton, Ohio. She presented at the Society of Ecological Restoration’s International Conference in San Francisco, California as an Earthwork Artist. Pate continues to educate herself on various new art techniques by studying with mentors at various venues, most notably in 2003 with ceramicist Arthur Gonzalez.
This piece pays homage to the Women who died in the 1911 Triangle Factory Fire where 123 Italian and Jewish immigrant women perished. These deaths inspired the rise of Unions, where even prior to the inferno these women were brutally beaten while peacefully protesting their inhumane workplace conditions. During the tragic fire on March 25, 1911 many of the women jumped to their death through the windows to escape the pain of being burned alive. The exit doors were routinely locked during work hours.
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Joseph Paushel MFA 2016 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Ceramics) Swallowing the Rocks from Our Pockets so We Can Breathe, 2019 Low-fire earthenware with glaze 35 x 23 x 6 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Joe Paushel received his BFA in Sculpture and Intermedia from West Virginia University, and his MFA in Ceramics from Miami University. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Paushel is a recipient of the Ohio Art Council’s Individual Excellence Award. His works are included in collections at the National Museum of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the Mark Rothko Art Center in Daugavpils, Latvia, and the Cluj Art Museum in Cluj- Napoca, Romania.
To navigate vulnerable feelings, I make many molded copies of written-off objects and cast, deconstruct, and hand-build on them using many professedly unrelated construction techniques. Ceramic glaze, nail polish, and a found plastic curler can now exist within the same framework. The discarded becomes celebrated. At times, decorative and bodily forms break down, become fluid, and resemble many things at once. In other cases, they seem to get caught up in a game of dress-up or pretend play while trying to fit into surroundings. Eventually, they find themselves negotiating new categories on and off the wall as the decorative grotesque.
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Julie Marie Pawlowski BFA 1999 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Painting and Photography) Grandpa Horning’s 1952 Ford Truck / Horning Nursery, North Canton, Ohio, November 10, 2019, 2019 Archival inkjet print 28 x 32 inches
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ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Julie Pawlowski is an American artist working predominantly in photography. She explores societal and cultural hidden narratives with themes including the human condition, identity, and community. Since 1999, her work has been exhibited internationally including the US and China, in both solo and group exhibitions.
Part of the Re : Connecting series, images from The Horning Nursery documents my dad’s reconnection to his grandfather’s farm while presenting my first impressions of a history never told. After nearly 60 years, a recent visit uncovered answers to family mysteries, revealed lost items long discarded, and presented a new story to include in my identity.
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Jill Sarver BFA 2003 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Painting) Anonymous (Iran), 2020 Oil on claybord 7 x 5 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Born in Bowling Green, OH, Jill Sarver received her BFA in Painting and BA in Spanish from Miami University, before obtaining an MFA in Painting from Western Connecticut State University and an MA in Painting and Drawing from Eastern Illinois University. Along with her studio practice, Sarver is Deputy Director for the Rome Art Program, a New York-based educational nonprofit in Rome, Italy. She has curated independent exhibitions and taught art education throughout the Midwest and New York metro area.
Using ‘anonymous’ portraiture as a vehicle for expression, this painting is a visual response to U.S. threatened destruction of Iranian cultural heritage sites.
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Micheal Seeley MA (Arch) 1979, MFA 2014 Oxford Campus Architecture and Studio Art (Painting) Untitled/Melissa, 2019 Mixed media on cradled panel 9 x 12 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Michael Seeley’s professional career was as an architect working with utilitarian building types and structures not generally associated with much visual aesthetic. Over time, Seeley developed an appreciation for some of the strange and intriguing scenes found in and around construction sites. Three-plus decades of construction administration and site visits became the source material for what is now a full-time painting practice.
My recent painting practice has begun to focus more on the temporary means and methods used in construction, and less so on the actual “architecture” itself. Inspired by my wife’s work and photography as an environmental scientist, I have also begun to slowly incorporate some natural and organic elements in my work, as a counterpoint to the orthogonal geometry common to construction.
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Billy Simms MFA 2017 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Printmaking) Penelope: from the Ulysses Project, 2019 Cast bronze 4 x 9 x 13 1/2 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Billy Simms is an artist, educator, and curator. He holds degrees from The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (BA in Theatrical Design, 1984), The Johns Hopkins University (MS in Special Education, 1999), and Miami University (MFA in Studio Art, 2017). He currently works as The Western Center Coordinator for the Western Program at Miami University, adjuncts for Miami University’s Department of Art, and teaches at the Fitton Center in Hamilton, OH. He lives in Hamilton with his wife and four cats.
This sculpture is a portrait of the character of Molly Bloom from the novel Ulysses by James Joyce. It is from an ongoing series of pieces that I am making in various mediums that are inspired by Joyce’s novel. The title of the piece, “Penelope,” is the title of the final chapter of the book in which we read Molly Bloom’s stream of consciousness monologue.
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Alison A. Smith BFA 2006 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Photography) Still Life with Dried Peonies & Wasp Nest, 2019 Archival inkjet print 24 x 30 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
In 2006, Alison A. Smith earned a BFA in Studio Art with a minor in Women’s Studies from Miami University. Four years later, she obtained an MFA in Studio Art from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia. Smith is a photographer who is interested in the built environment, domestic spaces and arranged still life. Her work has been exhibited in national photography galleries, centers, and in university galleries and museums.
The works in the series, Vestige: Still Life, capture arranged, smallscale domestic scenes inspired by the classic and contemporary stilllife genre. The compositions feature a mixture of “antique” objects – purchased or inherited, cultivated or wild plantings from the land around my home or newly produced goods. I create subtle tensions by contrasting the natural and artificial or by presenting the objects in different contexts in order to accentuate a sense of ambiguity or mystery. Serving both symbolic and indexical functions, the objects and the use of only ambient, natural light also points to the passage of time, changing of seasons, growth, aging and loss. 58 59
Sherry Rogers Stoffer BFA 1981 Oxford Campus Communication Design (formerly Graphic Design) View from South Bass, 2020 Pastel on paper 15 x 18 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
A Miami University graduate from 1981, Sherry Stoffer has 40 years of experience in graphic design and advertising. She has worked for various agencies and studios in the Cincinnati/Dayton area, and has freelanced for 25 years. While freelancing, Stoffer has taken numerous pastel workshops from many well-known pastel artists, including Wolf Kahn, Albert Handell and Stan Sperlak. She loves to travel and hopes to share her interpretations of the land and sea as she experiences it through hiking and sea kayaking.
I captured this scene at the end of a long day of sea kayaking in South Bass Island (Lake Erie). The stillness at sunset was welcomed after a long eight mile paddle.
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Nicole Trimble BFA 2011 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Painting and Printmaking) Among the Tall Grass, 2018 Oil on canvas 36 x 60 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Nicole Trimble holds a BFA in painting and printmaking from Miami University, and an MFA from the University of Cincinnati. She currently lives and works in Cincinnati, OH. She is an Assistant Professor of Electronic Media Communications at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. Her studio practice is grounded in painting and observation of the human figure while exploring ways this traditional medium can intersect with digital media.
Working primarily as a painter, I’m interested in both the history of the medium and how this material can be translated to a contemporary context. I seek to create a dialogue with painting and the intersection between this traditional media and our current digital culture. My work is inspired by historical images and compositional devices, the language of portraiture and figuration, and an exploration of art tropes and archetypes in a pointedly experimental and sometimes surrealist fashion.
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Jean Brandow Vance BS 1968 Oxford Campus Art Education and Studio Art (Painting) Italian Coppersmith, 2019 Watercolor on paper 22 x 28 inches
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ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Jean Vance earned a BS from Miami University, and an MA and MFA from Bowling Green State University. She teaches at Miami University, and the Middletown Arts Center. Vance also conducts private classes and workshops for Miami University’s CraftSummer and for the University of Cincinnati. She is a signature member of the Ohio Watercolor Society and the Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society.
A true craftsman needed to be remembered.
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Austin Wieland BFA 2011 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Ceramics) and Arts Management TEXT, 2019 Earthenware, underglaze, glaze, paint, Arduino board, LCD screen, on/off button and electrical cord 12 x 10 x 6 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Austin Wieland, hailing from Bryan, OH, received his BFA from Miami University in 2011 with a concentration in Ceramics and a minor in Arts Management. In 2015, he graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with an MFA in Ceramics. Wieland has completed a number of residencies and is a featured artist in numerous national and international exhibitions. Currently, Wieland is the Assistant Professor of Ceramics and Sculpture at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia.
My work addresses different associations with both function and clay as a material. Many recognize ceramics as an art medium, but fail to consider its applications in industry. I reference the versatility of clay by creating distressed metallic surfaces. The notion of function is explored by incorporating interactive elements using Arduino boards and electronic components. This piece is influenced by personal experiences and frustrations I encounter when interacting with technology. It incorporates humor to show how technology has changed our language and the way we communicate with others. 62 63
Mark Williams BFA 1997 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Painting and Printmaking) Six Color Lower Carlsbad, 2020 Acrylic and screen print on dyed fabric 30 x 48 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Mark Williams earned his BFA from Miami University in 1997 followed by an MFA from the University of Connecticut in 2004. His work has been written about in many publications and has been featured in over 100 exhibitions. Williams’ work is in several public and private collections, including The LeWitt Collection, Great Meadows Foundation, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
My current work is based on cave interiors, especially the formations of flowstones, stalactites, and stalagmites. During the past eighteen years, I have visited nearly 100 caves photographing the settings. This painting is inspired by these images. Nostalgia is often referenced in the use of decades old fabrics for the base of paintings. Repeated imagery becomes a rhythmic pattern to suggest that one is looking at something that is part of a larger, unseen whole. My artwork alludes to the fact that we are all part of a larger realm measured in geologic time.
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Ben Willis BFA 2005 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Sculpture) Ashurst Lake, 2020 Acrylic, aerosol, glitter, resin and vinyl on panel 10 x 10 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Ben Willis, a Cincinnati-native, received a BFA with a concentration in sculpture from Miami University in 2005. Afterwards, he attended the Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts where he completed an MFA in Painting. Professionally, Willis is a preparator at the Phoenix Art Museum and adjunct faculty at Phoenix College. Willis’ work is currently represented by Fort Works Art located in Fort Worth, Texas.
My work creates vibrant juxtapositions using architecture, collage, geometric abstraction and pattern. I use ‘Candy Man’ moniker as it lends itself to activating senses and is realized through my color palette and materials generally ranging from acrylic, aerosol, glitter, metal, paper, plexiglass, resin, vinyl and wood. My work is often tactile and visceral, designed to function as a metaphor for treats that satisfy and or stimulate desire.
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Stephen Wolochowicz MFA 2005 Oxford Campus Studio Art (Ceramics) Pink Torp Tank, 2018 Ceramic with pigment 26 x 12 x 11 inches
BIOGRAPHY
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Stephen Wolochowicz was born and raised in New Jersey. He has a BFA in Ceramics from the University of Delaware and an MFA in Ceramics from Miami University. He has lived and worked in many areas of the country, with appointments at Central Michigan University, University of Central Missouri and The University of Notre Dame. He is currently an Associate Professor of Art in Ceramics at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.
It is intriguing to me how the use of color and texture in tandem with simplified forms can convey deeper meanings and retain aesthetic appeal. Incorporating vivid equiluminant colors with metallic surfaces seem to play off of each other in interesting ways. Notably, the contrasting tone of fun and serious. My work utilizes abstract industrial shapes with organic features. It encompasses concepts of human invention, environment and progress through networks of industrial themes.
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Catalog Design Design Supervisors
Cassidy Gebhart, Senior, Communication Design and Interactive Media Studies (MU ’22) Erin Beckloff, Assistant Professor, Communication Design, Department of Art
Kristen Pericleous, Instructor, Communication Design, Department of Art Editing Printing
Jason E. Shaiman, Curator of Exhibitions, Miami University Art Museum
Oregon Printing Communications, Dayton, OH
All photography is courtesy of the artist, unless otherwise noted All work pictured is from the collection of the artist, unless otherwise noted. Copyright 2021 Miami University Art Museum Published 2021. All rights reserved.
Dr. John D.M. Green, Jeffrey Horrell ‘75 & Rodney Rose Director and Chief Curator 801 S. Patterson Ave. Oxford, OH 45056 (513) 529–2232 artmuseum@MiamiOH.edu www.MiamiOH.edu/Art-Museum 67