LIED CENTER FOR THE VISUAL ARTS
THIS IS WHERE
E YOU CAME IN
INTRODUCTION You are the reason the Ernst F. Lied Center for the Visual Arts exists. The building – whose spacious galleries and sun-flooded studios first welcomed Whitworth students in fall 2008 – was long awaited, eagerly anticipated, and sorely needed. During Whitworth’s early years in Spokane, the art department lived belowground, in the library basement. In 1947 the department relocated to a ward building from Baxter General Hospital that had been moved to campus, remodeled and bricked up. This structure served as the art department’s home for the next 40-plus years, during which time the department shared the space with the science program and then with the mathematics & computer science department. While Whitworth’s art students and faculty likely raced to relocate from the library basement to the fine arts building, later generations of art students experienced the old hospital ward as cramped, confining, dark, cluttered, creaky, drafty, uninspiring and downright depressing. This is where you entered the story and recast the future of the visual arts at Whitworth. Thanks to your generous support, the Lied Center grew from a need to a plan to a building. That building welcomes countless Whitworth students and art faculty, members of the campus and Spokane communities, other visitors from near and far, and professional artists from around the globe who create, teach, engage, discuss, enjoy, debate, critique and appreciate art. The Lied Art Center stands and serves because of you, and we’d like to say thanks. Please enjoy this palette of images and words highlighting the impact of your gift – past, present and future.
ART MAJORS OFFERED Art Track I: Two-Dimensional (Drawing/Painting and Printmaking) Track II: Graphic Design Track III: Three-Dimensional (Ceramics, Sculpture, Glass) Track IV: Art Education Arts Administration Art History Visual Design in Computing
ART MINORS OFFERED Art Art History Community Arts
THE CENTER
The $7.1 million, 20,000-square-foot Lied Art Center houses six studios, two gallery spaces, a state-of-the-art computer lab, and inspiring interior and exterior views. The two-story facility can accommodate long-term expansion and will serve Whitworth students for generations to come. Darkness rarely falls in Lied. The building remains open to students from 6 a.m.-1 a.m. every day that classes are in session. While Whitworth art majors claim the center as their home away from home, most students taking classes are non-art majors who are attracted to the facility and to the artworks on display, and who heed the advice of their friends to try an art class or two. Many of these students decide to pursue an art minor or area of concentration. Whitworth’s professionally active art faculty members, whose works are exhibited locally and nationally, encourage students to immerse themselves intellectually and spiritually in the creative process and to investigate the relationship between their worldviews and their work. Whitworth art majors also become prepared to excel in a variety of careers, from museum curator and professional photographer to 3D animator, art teacher and video producer.
Christina Hixson, pictured here touring the building, administered the Ernst F. Lied Foundation Trust, which provided the lead gift for and is the namesake of the art center.
NEW MAJORS Visual Design in Computing Launched in 2015, Whitworth’s visual design in computing major addresses the growing demand for tech professionals who are equipped with significant computing and graphic-design skills. The interdisciplinary major is supported by the Lied Center’s 25-station iMac computer lab, which also includes scanners, a color-laser printer, a professional photograph printer, and a full photography studio. An essential component of the new major is Bradley Oiler, who joined the art faculty in 2015 as Whitworth’s first tenure-track professor in graphic design.
Art History Whitworth began offering an art history major in fall 2016. Associate Professor of Art Meredith Shimizu, a 1993 alumna who joined the Whitworth faculty in 2008, was instrumental in designing the major, and she teaches many of the art history courses. Shimizu was named a Most Influential Professor by the Whitworth Classes of 2015, 2014 and 2012.
STORIES OF IMPACT
Every space has natural north light and lots of it. Even the Bryan Oliver Gallery has the ability to use natural light. Complementing the light are the air and height in the facility, which gives the light a space to live in.
“THE NEW BUILDING IS DESIGNED FOR LIGHT.” The ventilation system and ventilation booths make it possible for students to use a variety of materials and processes safely, and all of the studios are designed to accommodate the subjects and processes we teach. The studios are arranged to encourage students to move easily from one to another to create works with a variety of media. And the Mac computer lab is a significant asset – it’s used by multiple academic departments and fosters collaboration. The oil painting What Peter Saw, above, by Whitworth Professor of Art Gordon Wilson (pictured at left), was purchased with Ruby Funds. It depicts the Apostle Peter’s vision described in Acts 11. There is a degree of humor in the painting, since some of the “unclean” creatures would be dinner for others.
– Gordon Wilson Professor of Art and Department Chair (joined Whitworth faculty in 1976)
“THE BUILDING HAS BECOME A HAVEN FOR THE CREATIVES ON CAMPUS.” In my history as an artist, I have never had the opportunity to work in a building that was designed for the visual arts, like our Lied Center is. Lied is also designed to encourage safe studio practice and to be conducive to learning, and the building is adaptable for a wide range of creative practice. – Katie Creyts Associate Professor of Art (joined Whitworth faculty in 2008)
Creyts received a McMillen Foundation grant, “Making as Knowledge,” which brought five selected artists to the Lied Center to exhibit their work, present a lecture, and lead hands-on workshops with Whitworth students in fall 2015.
The space makes it possible for me to clear my head and work. Every part of the building feels expansive, with balconies and windows opening the architecture so that it may be filled with the students’ creativity. At the same time, it’s an intimate space.
“LIED HAS BEEN MY HOME FOR NEARLY FOUR YEARS.” To create artwork frequently means approaching your own vulnerabilities, which is more easily done in a familiar place. I have worked in all of the studios, and the pieces I create belong to each space nearly as much as they belong to my hands. Every artist needs a studio to collect her inspiration and vision, and Lied has given me that. – Elise Stoner, ’17
After graduating from Whitworth, Elise plans to work in a graphic-design position in Norway for a year. Long term, she plans to work as an in-house graphic designer.
I always say to people that the Lied Art Center is unique. The building is open until 1 a.m., giving students the opportunity to come in and express themselves at any time. Immediately, as I step into the art building, I feel happy, because it is quiet. The artwork displayed on the walls and bulletin boards is saying, “Welcome to Expression Land, a place where you can bring your ideas and creativity to life.”
“THE LIED ART CENTER IS A BUILDING WHERE ALL THE MAGIC HAPPENS.”
I notice a lot of details in each piece of artwork displayed in the building, and this gives me inspiration to express myself. Immediately, when I get these ideas, I walk down to my favorite spot: the computer room. – Ayobami Adedeji, ’19
Ayobami plans to earn a master’s degree and then return to Nigeria, where she will build an art school and gallery, with branches in Africa and abroad. Everyone will be welcome to come in and express themselves, whether in fashion, drawing, painting or music.
“IT IS A BEAUTIFUL AND EXCITING PLACE TO WORK AND EXHIBIT.” The old art building was definitely the biggest downside to enrolling at Whitworth because of how cramped the studios were. When the Lied Art Center opened my senior year, I was floored by the change. Not only did each disciplinary area get much-needed upgraded equipment, but the shift from working in a half-buried bunker to an amazing facility facing a beautiful pine forest cannot be understated. The natural light in the building is just incredible, and I, even seven years out from graduating, still find that I miss it. I noticed a shift when we moved into the new art building: The energy and professionalism of my peers seemed to grow to match the new location. I think it really raised the bar for students. – Bryan Putnam, ’09 Bryan earned an MFA from the University of Oregon and taught printmaking at that university for two years. He now lives in Twisp, Wash., where he owns and operates Woodshed Ink, a design and screen-printing business, and Pinetooth Press, which features his artwork. He also does freelance illustration and design.
Studying in the old building vs. the new building was like night and day.
“EVERYTHING IN LIED IS OPEN, AIRY AND LIGHT.” The old building really had no place to study; it was dark and depressing and only had, I think, two or three working computers. The only time I spent in there was for classes – nothing more. In Lied I was working and studying all the time. The Mac lab is by far my favorite part of the new building, especially since I was a graphic-design major. I also love the different rooms for different art mediums, because it changed up the scenery when I took ceramics or screen printing or mixed media. – Kat Wagner, ’10
Kat owns and operates Kat Skye Photography, in Spokane.
“I LOVE THE LOFTED CEILINGS THAT ALLOW ARTISTS TO THINK, BREATHE AND CREATE.” The tearing down of the fine arts building felt like a tearing down of part of my spirit. I had invested so many all-nighters in dim light finishing oil paintings or sculpture projects. I explored each of the building’s small and quirky rooms, and, most of all, I discovered there how to be an artist and photographer. Yet I was overjoyed to become acquainted with the Lied Art Center. The center is everything the fine arts building wasn’t. It is spacious, it has professional gallery space, and it allows students the freedom to express themselves. The expanded and upgraded computer lab gives graphic designers and photographers a fantastic opportunity to grow with a modern toolset. – Thomas Robinson, ’09
Thomas owns and operates Zoomdak Photography; he is also a front-end web developer for web-design firm Crowerks, and he is in the process of opening exploregon co-lab, a fine-art gallery in Bend, Ore.
IMPORTANT ACQUISITIONS AND THE COLLECTIONS
Ben Frank Moss Gift to the Permanent Collection In 2014, alumnus Ben Frank Moss, ’59, made a gift to Whitworth of nearly two dozen works spanning his six-decade career as a visual artist. The framed works in oil, acrylic and ink are displayed throughout campus, including in the president's office and home, in the institutional advancement office, and in the new Cowles Music Center. Whitworth’s most prominent alumni artist, Moss is a nationally known landscape painter and the former George F. Jewett Professor of Studio Art at Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire. He has exhibited extensively throughout the United States for more than 30 years. Moss has received numerous honors and awards, and his work has been shown in nearly 60 solo exhibits and 359 group exhibits throughout the U.S. In 2009 and 2012, Whitworth showcased collections of his work in the Bryan Oliver Gallery.
Jordan Works Join Permanent Collection through Daniel Endowment In 2015, Whitworth added five photographs from Chris Jordan’s groundbreaking Midway series to the university’s permanent collection. The acquisition was made possible by the Floyd and Shirley Daniel Endowment, which the Daniels established in 2008 to support photography and its role in the arts, creation-care programs, and environmental and sustainability education for students. Four of the life-size photographs feature the decaying carcasses of albatross chicks that died after consuming plastic from the polluted Pacific Ocean. The fifth photo shows an adult albatross caring for a hatchling. “Like the albatross, we FirstWorld humans find ourselves lacking the ability to discern anymore what is nourishing from what is toxic to our lives and our spirits. Choked to death on our waste, the mythical albatross calls upon us to recognize that our greatest challenge lies not out there, but in here.” – Chris Jordan, February 2011
Robert Ruby Collection and Endowment In 2008, Dr. Robert Ruby, a 1943 Whitworth alumnus, donated numerous pieces to the Lied Center from his wide-ranging personal collection. Ruby was inspired to make the donation because of Whitworth’s brand-new arts facility and the university’s enhanced capacity to house and care for works of art. Whitworth’s Ruby Collection features paintings and sculptures valued at more than $400,000, as well as artifacts and ephemera including books written and signed by every U.S. president since Herbert Hoover, two of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ chairs, and space-program memorabilia. Through sales of some of the donated items and an estate gift funded in 2014, after Ruby’s death, Whitworth established the Robert H. Ruby Endowed Permanent Art Collection Maintenance Fund. This endowment ensures an ongoing source of funding to support Whitworth’s growing collection. The fund provides for the maintenance or refurbishment of works in Whitworth’s permanent collection, supports the costs associated with the installation and security of artwork from the collection displayed on campus, and provides for the annual purchase of a work by a living artist. Indian Landscape, a lithograph by Fritz Scholder and a gift to Whitworth from Robert Ruby, ’43, was featured in the Lied Center’s grand-opening exhibit, Old Bones in a New Vernacular: Selections from Whitworth’s Permanent Art Collection.
The Francis L. and Vir Harrison Collection In early September 2009, a team of students and faculty gathered at the Lied Center to accept an exciting gift from Vir Harrison: the Francis L. and Vir Harrison Collection, comprising 54 works of art featuring biblical themes and imagery. After visiting the new Lied Center and touring Whitworth’s permanent collection, Vir said, “I can think of no other place I would like to have our art.” Most of the works are limited-edition lithographs; the Harrison Collection also includes a painting and a textile piece. Artists represented include noted Northwest artist Kenneth Callahan, as well as Salvador Dali, Sunol Alvar, Charles Bragg and Shlomo Katz. The Harrisons’ avocation was sparked when they began attending a Christian church that had no art displayed in the building. Vir and her late husband, Francis, began purchasing art for their church, including works designed for children, which were installed in the children’s ministry area. The Harrisons then began collecting out of a shared passion for the role art could play in teaching the Gospel. This passion led them to operate a gallery in the Seattle area from the late 1970s to the early ’80s that featured liturgical art. When the Harrisons found pieces they loved, they’d purchase two: one for their home and one for the gallery. The Lied Center is the beneficiary of many interesting artworks the Harrisons acquired during this era. The Harrisons’ connection with Whitworth developed through one of their daughters and a son-in-law, Whitworth alums Patricia (Harrison, ’68) and Ron Cramer, ’69. It was important for Vir to know where Francis’s and her artworks were going, and how they would be housed and used. The Lied Center provided the ideal home for the Harrison Collection. Above, Moses in the Basket, by Shlomo Katz. Right, Untitled (Evolution with Fish), by Kenneth Callahan; the Whitworth Permanent Art Collection includes several works by this significant painter and muralist.
PROMINENT ACQUISITION Premier Mexican-American artist and educator Ruben Trejo’s twopart sculptural series, Codex for the 21st Century #4 and Codex for the 21st Century #5, was acquired by Whitworth and now graces the stairwells in the Lied Art Center. Trejo worked in media including sculpture, mixedmedia installations, painting and drawing, and his artwork was influenced by formalism and the folk traditions of Mexico and American popular culture. Trejo, who taught art at Eastern Washington University, in Cheney, was renowned across the country; his work is part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, in Albuquerque, and the National Museum of Mexican Art, in Chicago.
THE EXHIBITS
The Lied Center features a professional exhibit space – the Bryan Oliver Gallery – and the Cowles Student Gallery. In October 2016, paintings by Leslie Barlow were exhibited in the Cowles Student Gallery as part of Barlow’s month-long residency funded by a McMillen Foundation Grant. “We would not have the opportunity for this residency without sufficient studio space for Ms. Barlow to work in and a second gallery for her artworks,” says Professor of Art Gordon Wilson. The Bryan Oliver Gallery is the namesake of the late son of Whitworth Trustee Walt Oliver, ’67 (left), and his late wife, Shirley, ’77, who gave a significant gift to the Lied Art Center. The gallery hosts an annual exhibit by Whitworth seniors, as well as a biannual exhibit by Whitworth art faculty members. Each year, the Bryan Oliver Gallery also features multiple exhibits by regional, national and international artists, who make full use of the gallery’s professional height, space, lighting and display opportunities. Each exhibit kicks off with an opening reception and a lecture by the artist; some artists also visit campus for week- or month-long grant-funded residencies during which they create new works and lead workshops with students.
LIED CENTER GALLERY EXHIBITS:
My Family Is Everything, Mi Familia Es Todo
Artist-in-Residence
SAGE PAISNER
LESLIE BARLOW
11.8.16-1.27.17
10.2016
2016
Between the Shadow & the Light A traveling exhibit featuring the works of 20 artists produced through R5: A Visual Arts Seminar and Studio in South Africa
9.13.16-10.28.16
Everything Seems to Be Coming Together
The Devil Is in the Details Selected Works
GALA BENT
JOHN HOLMGREN
BENJAMIN DEMOTT, CLAIRE HEDDEN, JOETTA MAUE, ANDY MESSERSCHMIDT, ELISABETH HIGGINS O’CONNOR
2.9.16-1.1.16
11.10.15-1.29.16
9.15.15-10.30.15
2015
Seattle-based photographer Chris Jordan examines American culture and mass consumption through the austere lens of statistics.
Force Drift
KATHERINE SULLIVAN 2.10.15-4.3.15
Running the Numbers: Portraits of Mass Consumption
Ceramics Invitational
CHRIS JORDAN
MATT BOLAND, GINA FREUEN, TERRY GIEBER, LISA NAPPA, CHRIS TYLLIA
9.11.14-10.31.14
2.18.14-4.4.14
2014
Pauline Haas was a talented artist who produced paintings, pastels and mixed-media work. She also inspired and mentored many Whitworth students and faculty, as well as community members. Haas taught in the Whitworth Art Department from 1964 to 1986, and after her retirement she remained deeply connected to the art program and to the Whitworth community. Many of Haas’s paintings are displayed throughout campus and are part of Whitworth’s permanent collection.
Poetics and Public Projection: Layered History – Redrawn Memory
Compulsive Continuation: A Celebration of Her 90th Year
A Pathetic Adventure
ROSE BOND
PAULINE HAAS
ZACH BENT
11.12.13-2.7.14
9.10.13-11.1.13
2.19.13-4.6.13
2013
Ben Frank Moss, ’59, the 2009 Whitworth Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient, is a renowned landscape painter. In his work, he seeks to establish a sense of place by observing light and space as they are shaped by time and season. He brings these observations into his paintings using color, form and gesture to evoke memories.
Gray/Grey: New Works
Mythical Landscapes
Infinitesimal
MICHELLE FORSYTH
BEN FRANK MOSS
GERRI SAYLER
11.13.12-2.9.13
9.10.12-11.2.12
2.21.12-4.5.12
2012
Bruce Herman, one of the most significant living Christian artists, is a painter and educator who holds the Lothlรณrien Distinguished Chair in Fine Arts at Gordon College (Mass.), where he has taught and curated exhibits since 1984. His artwork has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally.
Face to Face
The Embodied Project
Bridges
Underpinnings
BRUCE HERMAN
KENT ANDERSON BUTLER
ROGER FELDMAN
AMANDA KNOWLES
9.13.11-11.5.11
2.22.11-4.8.11
11.16.10-2.11.11
9.14.10-11.5.10
2011
Art + Text: Images, Concepts and Ideas CIVA TRAVELING EXHIBITION: ZACH BENT, WAYNE ADAMS, ANDREW BARCHUS, SANDRA BOWDEN, SANDRA JEAN CEAS, AMY DAY, GUY CHASE, RICO GATSON, JENINE HARD, JERRY HOLSOPPLE, JOHN REID PERKINS-BUZO, WAYNE ROOSA, GENE SCHMIDT, KAREN SWENHOLT, MARK PHILIP VENEMA, ALI WUNDER
High Noon
Recovery (Twenty Years) 2009
NIK MEISEL
THOMAS O’DAY
2.22.10-4.2.10
9.22.09-10.29.09
2.17.09-4.3.09
2009
History and Histrionics
Old Bones in a New Vernacular: Selections from Whitworth’s Permanent Art Collection New/Like New
LANNY DEVUONO
ROSS SAWYERS
BRYAN OLIVER GALLERY GRAND OPENING
1.6.09-2.07.09
10.28.08-12.5.08
9.9.08-10.19.08
2008
THE NUMBERS
GIFTS TO THE LIED ART CENTER
NUMBER OF ART DEGREES GRANTED (WITH TRENDLINE)