A series of free lectures will be presented in conjunction with the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh exhibit at the University Museum.
Lectures will begin October 7, 2010, and are designed to connect the viewer to the artist's work. The Access Artists Lecture Series will be presented by artists including Chuck Biddle, Vaughn Clay, Ron Donoughe, Adrienne Heinrich, Irene Kabala, Brenda Mitchell, and Ned Wert.
All lectures will be held in the University Museum, on the first floor of Sutton Hall, except for the lecture October 28, which will be held in Sprowls Hall's McVitty Auditorium. All lectures will begin at 7:00 p.m.
The exhibition, Beyond City Limits: Associated Artists of Pittsburgh at IUP, opens the University Museum's 2010–2011 season and celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. It opens September 27 and will be available through December 4.
The show highlights the work of association members who have a connection to IUP as faculty members, graduates of the visual arts programs, or as artists living and working in the region surrounding the university. The show features the work of forty regional members and former members of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh.
The exhibition is curated by Vaughn Clay, who taught painting at IUP and has served as president of the association. Artists include lecturers Donoughe, Heinrich, Kabala, Mitchell, and Wert, as well as Peter Calaboyias, Donn Hedman, Chuck Olson, Anna Marie Schnur, Kamal Youssef, and Hisham Youssef. Oil and watercolor paintings, drawings, pastels, photography, ceramics, and sculptures will be featured.
The lecture series opens October 7 with Heinrich's “AAP Celebrating the Centennial.” She is an award-winning artist and this year's winner of the AAP Anna B. Greib Memorial Award.
She will discuss the one-hundred-year history of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and talk about three educational programs: visual arts career orientation, professional artists mentoring future artists, and middle-schoolers researching art donated to public schools over the last ninety-four years.
On October 14, Biddle, an IUP graduate, will present “Written in Light: Images of Mid-Century Neon.” Biddle's work reflects his childhood familiarity with neon signs. He will discuss his endeavor to preserve that mid-twentieth-century nostalgic signage through his art.
On October 21, Wert will present “Artist-Teacher.” Wert, professor emeritus of Art at IUP, is a former director of the University Museum. He will present his views on being both a teacher and a producing and exhibiting artist.
The series concludes October 28 with a panel discussion, “Access Artists: Conversations between Artists and Viewers,” in McVitty Auditorium, Sprowls Hall. Panelists are Clay, Donoughe, Kabala, and Mitchell.
Clay holds a doctorate in art education from the University of Pittsburgh, and he works in a genre of political satire and social commentary through a body of work he calls the “Gasoline Dreams Series.”
Kabala teaches art history at IUP, and her research focuses on the way images function together with performative events to enhance viewer experiences.
Mitchell also teaches art history at IUP, and her research interests include feminist art and contemporary Japanese art.
Donoughe, a graduate of IUP, has been painting the landscape of Western ϳԹ for twenty-five years. He is this year's recipient of the AAP Clara C. Wittmer Award.
In addition to participating in the panel discussion, Donoughe will present a workshop, “Plein Air Painting,” October 2 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The workshop is $75 per participant. Space is limited, and pre-registration is required by September 28 by contacting Sally Daskivich, College of Fine Arts, at 724-357-2397 or via e-mail at sdaskivi@iup.edu.
Workshop participants will meet at the University Museum and will paint outdoors.
For more information about the series or the museum, contact Daskivich or visit the University Museum website.
The University Museum is free and open to the public on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2:00 to 6:30 p.m., Thursday from noon to 7:30 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 4:00 p.m.