Ohio University School of Art + Design Alumni News: Winter 2015-16

Art + Design Newsletter WINTER 2015–16

ALUMNI NEWSLETTER FALL & WINTER 2015–16

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR Dear Art + Design Alumni, Welcome from the School of Art + Design! Fall semester is nearing it’s end, and our students and faculty remain fully engaged in their creative and scholarly endeavors. It’s a diverse group of dedicated and talented individuals.

We worked very hard last semester, and summer, to hire several replacement personnel. Four new faculty joined us this year, including Stacey Stewart in Graphic Photo provided by Design, Tim Bearse in Trans-Disciplinary Art, Luke David LaPalambara.

Stettner in Photography + Integrated Media, and Sam Dodd in Art History. Courtney Kessel also returned to Ohio University as our new gallery coordinator. We are fortunate to have them.

Looking to complement our rapidly expanding array of digital fabrication equipment, the School of Art + Design recently acquired a new laser cutter and several 3D printers. This is an exciting area of expansion in the school. I expect we will have more exciting news to report on this in our next newsletter.

We also opened the year with a noteworthy, standing-room-only lecture, and studio visits, by renowned graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister. This was an important event that attracted visitors from across the region. We continue to work hard to support and connect our close-knit Athens community to the broader national and international art world.

This is a small selection of the exciting recent news from the School of Art + Design. I hope you enjoy the other updates in this newsletter, and please don’t hesitate to stop in during your next visit to Athens. It would be great to catch up with what you’re doing!

Sincerely, David LaPalombara Professor and Director

KEEP IN TOUCH WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO? We’d love to include your updates, stories, and accomplishments in our next newsletter. Stay in touch with the College of Fine Arts by emailing us: finearts@ohio.edu

DIDN’T RECEIVE THIS NEWSLETTER VIA EMAIL? If you didn’t receive a copy of this newsletter in your email inbox last December, subscribe to our digital edition of our alumni newsletter by visiting us at www.ohio.edu/finearts/newsletter 2 OHIO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ART + DESIGN

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CREATE_SPACE UPDATES TO FUEL STUDENT RESEARCH

BY TOM TIBERIO AND DANIEL KING Thanks to a grant from the 1804 Fund, the result of a proposal by Nathaniel Berger, CREATE_space operations coordinator, added creative production tools and improved computer workstations are now available for faculty, students, and staff desiring new and better tools for creative research.

Nathaniel Berger, Operations The CREATE_space is an Coordinator at the CREATE_space. interdisciplinary resource for all Ohio Photo by Ben Siegel.

University students, faculty, and staff.

Its use is for creative research exploring Arts, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Berger, whose co-investigators for the proposal were School of Art + Design faculty members Melissa Haviland and Mark Franz, said funding was used to purchase three additional 3-D printers and a new vinyl cutter, as well as for updating and maintaining computer work stations.

“The purpose of this grant more or less is to really help expand what the CREATE_space does in terms of audience—so that we have more contemporary tools for undergraduate research on campus,” Berger said.

Supported by the College of Fine Arts and located in Putnam Hall, the CREATE_space currently hosts undergraduate and graduate students and classes, plus loans out equipment. Its purpose is to promote creative research supporting the arts, technology, and entrepreneurship.

The 1804 Fund, which was established by the Ohio University Foundation and endowed by a gift from the estate of alumnus Paul C. Berger shows students how to inspect 3D Stocker, supports projects that enhance printed objects for defects. a learning-centered community.

Photo by Matthew Forsythe.

Berger said the additions have already supported numerous projects on campus, including the Athens City Transit Poetry bus, which was done in collaboration with the CREATE_space. “Because of that grant we were able to cut out the poetry from vinyl for this bus with the grant funded vinyl cutter.”

“We directly supported the Startup Weekend in the fall, with one of the teams taking home a prize thanks to the object they prototyped [here],” said Berger.

Franz, currently an assistant professor and the chair of graphic design, teaches courses in visual arts and interactive design. Haviland, an associate professor of art, teaches printmaking and papermaking. Both have strong connections to the CREATE_space.

An OHIO alumnus, Berger graduated with a B.F.A. in art history in 2005 and began working with the University shortly after graduating. He currently is working on a master’s in digital visual culture through the Individual Interdisciplinary Program.

Established in 2004, the CREATE_space serves as a creative studio designed to support creative research and is open to all OHIO students, faculty, and staff.

“Our mission is to help students create and document their creative research,” Berger said.

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ALUMNI NEWSLETTER FALL & WINTER 2015–16

EARLY RETIREMENT OPENS NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR TEACHING ARTIST DON ADLETA

BY DANIEL KING Don Adleta arrived at Ohio University in 1994 and has served as the chair of the graphic design area for 17 of Don Adleta at his farm, which he calls those years. He continued building the Brokebank Mountain, referring to the cost of renovations. Photo by Fred Toner.

Bachelor of Fine Arts curriculum, and his implementation of the Master of Fine Arts degree in graphic design a major contribution to program. Don’s book, Focus Drawing, a case study of one of his drawing classes, reveals the taxonomy of his teaching process. Through directing students toward rigorous research, and the expectation to visualize multiple solutions for any one design challenge, the book illustrates how his technique prepares design artists to contribute to graphic design meaningfully.

Recent M.F.A. alumnus Daniel King spoke with Adleta about his plans for the future.

Daniel King: What’s on the horizon for you?

Don Adleta: I’m really looking forward to the change of early retirement, because I can focus on the classes. I foresee more traveling as well. Further out, I’m finishing the second book, of a set of five, on design education. And I’m also planning to reprint the Adleta Perpetual Calendar. And I’d like to find more time to garden at home, on the farm.

DK: Tell me a little more about your perpetual calendar.

DA: It has won international design awards, and has been available in design stores at The Guggenheim, it sold out at the Museum of Modern Art. It’s an analog gem. The initial research was to develop a system within a system. Once I pulled together the mechanism and tested it, all of the sudden I was on to a really powerful vehicle. The process that it defines echoes the process that was in the Basil School of thought, but no one ever articulated it in that way. It’s almost like industrial design in combination with graphic/ai design—I love math. The imaginary number was probably part of my initial quest. I’m aiming to reprint for the 25th anniversary—by 2020.

DK: You mentioned traveling, where would you go?

DA: Among many wish list cities, I’d like to visit the National Institute of Design in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, one of the top design programs in India. I taught a workshop there in ’92, and have been invited to visit again. I took my sabbatical in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. It is a design mecca, and I wouldn’t mind returning. Greece is a cultural hub, with all of the roots of philosophy and the roots of architecture—it’s all there. 1980 I went to Basel. I’ve gone back several times; I did a workshop discussion there two summers ago, and produced a documentary from that experience.

DK: What are you most proud of from your time here?

DA: I’m most proud of the placement of the students, through the mechanism that we have put together for networking. I have always tried to take an

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uninhibited approach in fostering what was best for the student. We began planning what we called the senior trip, taking students to major metropolitan areas like New York City, Boston, San Francisco, Mexico City, London, and Amsterdam. We would visit the top tier design firms, to let students witness those work environments. They opened their doors...I asked them to talk about their philosophy. Students would have their design portfolios critiqued. After a while our alumni would be giving these tours, because they landed these positions after graduation.

OHIO GRAD’S PAINTING CHOSEN FOR LONDON ART GALLERY

BY TOM TIBERIO “Ever since I knew that this show existed I’ve wanted to be a part of it,” said artist Frank Oriti Following the news of Oriti’s inclusion in the exhibition, Professor Painting: Clarity, by Frank Oriti.

John Sabraw said, “It’s epic! It’s the © Frank Oriti most prestigious award in terms of portraiture, without question.”

Oriti, who earned his M.F.A. in painting from the School of Art + Design in 2011, attended the opening reception in London to see his oil painting, Clarity, hanging amongst 54 others, selected from a record 2,748 submissions from around the world. The exhibition was on view for three months at the National Portrait Gallery.

Oriti’s portraiture focuses on subjects—including his family and friends—who grew up in the “suburban landscape” outside of Cleveland, where he was raised.

After college, Oriti spent time working at a local steel mill and later, while at Ohio University, he began a body of work that is inspired by what he calls “blue collar culture.”

Like many of the paintings that will be featured at the London exhibit, Oriti’s work is characterized by the high level of detail involved.

“The difference with Frank’s realism is that realism isn’t the end goal,” said Sabraw. “The end goal is the soul of the sitter—the person that he’s trying to portray.”

Describing the experience as “a dream come true,” Oriti expressed thanks to the people who have “played a part in getting me to this point so far.” He credited Sabraw and other professors at OHIO for pushing him in the right direction.

Days after the show opened, Oriti received some unexpected international media coverage following a protest incident at the National Portrait Gallery. The afternoon of June 5, four masked individuals attempted to steal Oriti’s painting right off the wall. The incident was reported as an attempted protest, the individuals were apprehended, and the painting was not damaged.

“The whole thing was pretty crazy to hear about via all the news outlets,” Oriti reflected.

His work has been represented at the Richard J. Demato Gallery, in Sag Harbor, New York, and the Bonfoey Gallery, in Cleveland.outlets,” Oriti reflected.

His work has been represented at the Richard J. Demato Gallery, in Sag Harbor, New York, and the Bonfoey Gallery, in Cleveland.

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REMEMBERING DONALD ROBERTS: MASTER PRINTMAKER & DEDICATED TEACHER

BY DANIEL KING This year Ohio University mourned the loss, and celebrated the life, of a longtime member of the School of Art + Design community, and a seminal figure in the collection of prints and paintings at the Kennedy Museum of Art. The late professor emeritus, Donald Professor Donald Roberts.

O. Roberts passed away at his home in Photo courtesy of University Athens, in March, at the age of 91. He Communications and Marketing. served as a professor of art in the Ohio University School of Art from 1953 to 1991, and was a longtime member of the local art community.

Growing up in Boston, Massachusetts, he eventually became a nationally known lithographer, painter and sculptor as well as a highly-respected teacher during his long career at Ohio University, during which he maintained a philosophy that original art, rather than looking at reproductions, was essential to learning.

“Frequently he would talk about his early years at Ohio University and how he worked to develop the printmaking department,” said Ed Pauley, Director of the Kennedy Museum of Art. “He was a great storyteller.”

Mary Manusos, OHIO professor emerita of art, credits much of what the School of Art + Design is today as initiated by Roberts and former Dean of Fine Arts, Henry Lin. “He was a stellar faculty member, artist, and teacher. He loved Ohio University, the program, and his students,” said Manusos.

Pauley echoed what others have said about how Roberts had a great memory.

“He had a great love for Ohio University and could tell you in great detail about his history here, as well as of the College.”

According to more than one source, Roberts understood the role art played on campus, and within the community of Athens. He had a close relationship with the local community—the Kennedy Museum of Art and the Dairy Barn in particular.

Roberts married OHIO alumnus June Carver Branham, in 1949. She earned her bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1958. After retirement, Roberts continued to live in the community, said Pauley. “He and his wife traveled and worked on their own art, remaining close-by. Roberts wife preceded him in death in January 2002.

The Kennedy Museum of Art maintains two main print collections; one that is a collection of prints by well-known artists, and the other, the result of the visiting artists who came to campus and left a print after leading a workshop. Many of the prints in this collection were purchased under Roberts’ guidance, and are associated with the 1960s and ’70s print revolution.

Two recent exhibitions were mounted at the Kennedy Museum in the last years of his life, A Space in Time: Works by Donald Roberts on view in 2013, and The Print Collection: Works Selected by Donald Roberts, shown in 2013–2014.

In 2011, recalled Pauley, the renowned artist and OHIO alumnus, Jim Dine (B.F.A. ’57) made a point while visiting Athens for his Exhibition, Jim Dine: Sculpture and Large Prints, to see Donald Roberts and honor him on stage as one of two people who had a big influence on his work.

Donald Roberts is missed, yet his legacy will live on in the Kennedy Museum of Art’s print collection, and in the lives and work of the many students he taught.

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PRINTMAKING PROFESSOR GARNERS INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

BY DANIEL KING Professor Art Werger was recently recognized with the grand prize at the third biennial International Mezzotint Festival in Ekaterinburg, Russia, a printmaking festival exhibiting artists from all over the world.

Werger, a professor of printmaking Art Werger’s mezzotint print, Rising Tide, in the School of Art + Design, was completed in 2015. Courtesy of the artist. honored to stage a solo show of his prints alongside the festival, housed in the Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts. This summer, He was also recognized in Guanlan, China for his printmaking work at the 5th Guanlan International Print Biennial in May. “This recognition is indeed good for Werger, personally and professionally, and it reflects well on the School of Art, the College, and the University at large,” said David LaPalombara, director of the School of Art + Design.

According to Werger, there is a resurgence of interest around the world for mezzotint printmaking processes and artists, though it remains somewhat marginalized here in the US. “China has a highly supportive community of printmakers, including a huge museum of printmaking recently built in Guanlan,” which is part of the city of Shenzhen, north of Hong Kong.

The work recognized by the jury in Ekaterinburg includes a selection of smaller works revealing human figures in domestic and urban spaces, as well as a larger print titled Rising Tide, completed earlier this year. Werger describes his penchant for what some call realism, as a means to develop representational subject matter that becomes universal human metaphor.

When asked about how he became interested in the mezzotint process, he recalls his first attempts while teaching a printmaking class years ago, “as a demo, showing my students the technique, yet it actually turned into a final print. It was probably the only time that’s happened for me, so maybe because of that, I began to associate spontaneity with a medium not usually thought to be spontaneous.”

LaPalombara describes Ohio University’s printmaking artists as a growing presence at national conferences, both students and faculty, due to a “concerted effort by Art Werger and his colleagues and students to engage in the printmaking arts community both in and outside of Ohio University and Athens.”

Wergers work is in the permanent collections at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Boston Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among many others.

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John Sabraw mixing dry pigments made from acid mine drainage chemicals into usable paint. Photo by Louise O'Rourke.

PULLING PIGMENTS FROM POLLUTED WATERS

BY DANIEL KING Artist John Sabraw was born in Lakenheath, England. A self described activist and environmentalist, Sabraw’s paintings, drawings and collaborative installations are produced in an eco-conscious manner.

One of his current collaborations involves creating paint and paintings from iron hydroxide extracted in the process of remediating polluted streams. He is partnering with professor Guy Riefler to develop these colorful pigments in developing the natural iron oxides, which are inexpensive, non-toxic, and occur in a wide range of colors – from pale yellows, rusty oranges, earthy reds and browns to black.

Sabraws most recent works have been referred to as “toxic art,” and covered over the last few years in publications far and wide, including Smithsonian Magazine, Washington Post, and Fast Company among many others.

“It’s given me an incredible opportunity to meet with community members and bring so much attention to the issue of acid mine drainage.”

Sabraw collaborates with professor Guy Riefler, an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering with the Russ College of Engineering, to develop a process of manufacturing pigments from acid mine drainage, while removing the toxic elements from the groundwater in the process.

Ultimately both artist and engineer want to create an exportable technology, to develop it to be replicated elsewhere. “We intend to create this process and provide the science of it, the chemistry of it, to anyone with this problem– whether it’s in West Virginia, or Southeastern Ohio, or Wyoming,” said Sabraw.

In the works for over three years, the team can now control with much better accuracy, the consistent color qualities of paint pigments made from this raw material.

Whether in the research and development or the quality control mode, the interdisciplinary nature of the collaboration means letting go of the antiquated notion of the separate silos of learning, that once dominated higher education.

“I find there is an absolute necessity to forget labels, forget professions...forget those things, and always first make the connection to people.” said Sabraw.

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Aethelred Eldridge talks with guests at a rededication ceremony under the Seigfred Arch on October, 9, 2015. Photo by Daniel King.

ELDRIDGE MURAL REDEDICATED AT THE SEIGFRED ARCH BY TOM TIBERIO AND DANIEL KING Originally painted in 1966, the black-and-white mural is a familiar sight to students, staff, alumni, and the local community. Now in its fourth iteration, Eldridge painted the first version of the mural in 1966.

The School of Art + Design held a rededication on October 9, to celebrate the recently restored Aethelred Eldridge mural seen by generations as a cultural landmark in Athens, Ohio.

Held under the arched mural in the walkway beneath Seigfred Hall, the celebratory evening included refreshments and live music by OHIO alumnus Aaron Butler, and the NO.BROW Collective.

This summer, graduate students Barry O’Keefe and Amanda Morris, took on the task of restoring the mural to match its design, painted by Eldridge in 1987.

As part of the restoration process, the opposite wall and staircase were painted gray—minus the newly restored risers, which include details repeated from the larger mural design.

The project, which was funded by Arts for Ohio, involved scrubbing down the walls, as well as graffiti removal by building services workers. Morris and O’Keefe then began touching up the figures, shapes, and lettering with a variety of brushes.

The team consulted historic photos and videos to recreate parts that had been covered up or were no longer visible. David LaPalombara, director of the School of Art + Design said they took care not to alter the original work wherever possible.

Morris, 3rd year printmaker said, “When you’re that close to something you’re going to notice details like how a single brush stroke is working, and to discover the different layers of past murals beneath the surface.”

“I’ve always liked this mural,” said O’Keefe, also a third-year printmaker, “I think Aethelred’s a super interesting part of the history of OU.” Through the course of working on the mural, O’Keefe began seeing this restorative project “as a way to preserve his influence on the school.”

LaPalombara said that Eldridge gave his blessing to the project, “he was absolutely thrilled.”

Eldridge, a professor emeritus of painting, started teaching at the University in 1957 and is something of a legend around campus and beyond.

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Honors Tutorial College alumnae Megan Marzec, Rosemarie Basile, Dean Jeremy Webster and Honors Tutorial College alumnus Henry Kessler.

ROSEMARIE BASILE RECOGNIZED FOR HTC MENTORSHIP BY TOM TIBERIO & DANIEL KING “It was really very overwhelming and humbling,” said Basile, Assistant Professor of Art, who mentored three HTC students during the 2014-2015 school year, and received the Outstanding Tutor Award for her “ongoing teaching excellence in honors tutorials.”

Three professors from the College of Fine Arts have received awards from the University’s Honors Tutorial College recognizing their role as mentors.

Rosemarie Basile, assistant director of undergraduate student services for the School of Art + Design; Roger Braun, Professor of Percussion with the School of Music; and Nathan Andary, Assistant Lecturer of Dance, in the Division of Dance, were recognized at the Honors Tutorial College (HTC) graduation dinner, held in May. The Honors Tutorial College allows its students to create a customized curriculum, largely through one-on-one tutorials, based on their creative interests. Both Basile and Braun were nominated for their respective awards by former students.

Rosemarie Basile, from the School of Art + Design, won the Outstanding Tutor Award.

“It was really very overwhelming and humbling,” said Basile, Assistant Professor of Art, who mentored three HTC students during the 2014-2015 school year, and received the Outstanding Tutor Award for her “ongoing teaching excellence in honors tutorials.”

Roger Braun, Professor of Percussion, won the Distinguished Faculty Mentor Award. In describing Braun, former student Natalie Klco wrote, “If you take a moment to glance around the percussion studio, it seems that everyone carries a piece of his presence.”

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Braun first met Klco while she was being recruited as a high school student.

So it was especially rewarding for the professor to guide Klco through her thesis project, which involved a nearly 30-minute concerto with the marimba.

“It was a huge journey, and it’s one of the great things about teaching,” said Braun. “They [students] come in, and by the time they leave, they’re transformed as people and musicians—and you get to be a part of that.”

Nathan Andary, Assistant Lecturer of Dance, won the Outstanding New Tutor Award.

Andary, who earned the recognition after serving as an HTC tutor for the first time, called the honor “amazing” and “completely unexpected.”

“Being at the dinner and the awards banquet—it confirmed in me the level of research and scholarship these students are so grossly engaged in,” Andary said, and that receiving the honor reminded him of how much he appreciates collaborative learning.

“I don’t do it for these moments,” said Andary, “but it was lovely.”

All three honorees said they were impressed with the accomplishments of the graduating HTC students, whose projects were highlighted at the event.

A publication of the College of Fine Arts at Ohio University Rachel Cornish Director of External Relations Sheldon Andruss Manager of online, graphic, and digital marketing Daniel King Writer & Editor Matthew Forsythe, Qing Wang Design & Layout

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