Holiday Hours

Just two more weeks to catch Faculty Show 12!  The Museum will be open through the New Year but please note the following holiday schedule.  The Museum is closed December 24-25 and will re-open on December 26 with normal operating hours through the end of the month.  The Museum will also close on December 31, 2012 and January 1, 2013 re-opening for normal operating hours on January 2nd.

More Homecoming Pictures!

Here are some more pictures from the Faculty Show 12 Homecoming reception held at the Muscarelle in October. All pictures courtesy of the Art and Art History Department.



Professor Elizabeth Mead and Chief Curator John T. Spike discuss her work.

John Lee, Visiting Professor, and his wife Laura view the exhibition.

Professors Brian Kreydatus, with son James, and Ed Pease.

Nicole McCormick Santiago, Associate Professor, and her daughter Susan.

Final Faculty Friday at Five post

Thank you to all who came to the final installment of Faculty Fridays at Five on November 30th. This talk featured Naomi Falk and Nicole McCormick-Santiago. Below, I have included a few pictures from the evening.

 






Nicole McCormick-Santiago

Naomi Falk

 

 

 

Our galleries become classrooms

Here are some pictures of faculty artist, Brian Kreydatus, and his printmaking class looking at the Faculty Show as well as a variety of prints from the museum's permanent collection.

Please see below for his teaching philosophy.

 

 

"As a teacher, I constantly stress the fundamentals of drawing, design, and color.

Without a thorough understanding of these principles, an artist cannot speak clearly...."

 

 

 

 

"Every semester I bring my printmaking students to the museum.

Melissa Parris- the museums registrar, always goes out of her way to accommodate my class by bringing out the works I’ve requested plus a few surprises.

For the students, being able to investigate a Durer or Kollwitz print directly is a transformative experience."

 

LAST FACULTY FRIDAY AT 5 PM - THIS FRIDAY!

Just a reminder that this Friday at 5 PM is the LAST installment of our three part series. Naomi Falk and Nicole McCormick-Santiago will be presenting on their works featured in the show. We look forward to seeing you then!

Q&A with Elizabeth Mead

Here is a short Q&A with faculty artist Elizabeth Mead. Click here to visit her website.

Q: What do you think is the importance of quiet contemplation and the act of just "looking"?

A: I think it is important to understand things, and that takes time. Today we seem to think we can do multiple tasks simultaneously and that we should be able to suss information up immediately. We fool ourselves. This does not give us the chance to really know something deeply. I leave this to Blaise Pascal who said, " We never keep to the present. We anticipate the future as if we found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that are not ours and blindly flee the only one that is. The fact is that the present usually hurts.” The short answer to your question, the importance of quiet contemplation and looking, is, to be present in the moment and take the time necessary to carefully and thoughtfully consider all that around us. This is what it means to me to just look.

 
Q: How do you think “art” is defined? What is “art” to you and how do you think your work contributes to that definition?

A: I tend not to think of my work in these terms. Instead I view the act of making as a form of inquiry, a way of coming to know and understand the world. The process of making is simply another way of thinking.

 
Q: Do you feel your work contributes to a more personal internal level of understanding or a greater awareness of the general human condition or neither?

A: I don't think my work is any more personal than any other form of investigation is personal to the individual carrying it out. If I am a scientist I am curious about X and therefore that is what I investigate. If I am a writer then I figure out my way of being and understanding the world through the act of writing. As a sculptor I tend to need to investigate the world physically by making objects and at other times through drawing. We are all seeking, each in our own way, a greater awareness and understanding of the world at large.

Faculty Fridays at Five: Part 2

Thanks to all who attended the second installment of Faculty Fridays at Five this past Friday evening, November 16th! We were excited to see another good turnout to support our very talented faculty artists. This week's presenters were Professor Brian Kreydatus and Professor John Lee. I have included below a few pictures taken at the event.

 



"I think of acrylic [paint] like a veggie burger...
 If you expect a veggie burger to taste
like Five Guys, you're going to be sorely disappointed.
Acrylic doesn't have the same meatiness that oil does."

 

Professor Kreydatus in front of his works.





Professor Lee discussing his works
and his view on the importance of color awareness.

 




"The soul exists partly in eternity and partly in time.” 
~Marsilio Ficino

 

 

The third (and FINAL) installment of the Faculty Fridays at Five will take place on November 30th at 5 pm! Naomi Falk and Nicole McCormick-Santiago will be presenting on their works featured in the exhibition. We hope to see you there!!

Faculty Fridays at Five TONIGHT

Hello All!

Do not forget TONIGHT (November 16th) at 5 PM, the second installment of Faculty Fridays at Five here at the Muscarelle Museum of Art.
Tonight the speakers are  Brian Kreydatus and John Lee. We hope to see everyone tonight!

Holding class at the Museum

Yesterday, faculty artist Brian Kelley brought his 2D Foundations class over to the Museum to view the Faculty Show as well as several works from the Muscarelle's Permanent Collection.  Below, is a picture of Professor Kelley talking about print techniques.

Opening Night

I know this post is coming a little late, but I have included below a few pictures from the opening of the Faculty Show, which took place on October 26, 2012.  

 

 

 

Lively gallery

Faculty artist John Lee

 

 

 

Faculty artist Brian Kelley

First Faculty Friday at Five (11/2/12)

Thanks to all who came out to the first installment of Faculty Fridays at 5 -- we were so excited to have such a great turnout! I have included below a couple snapshots from the evening. Don't forget there are two more opportunities to hear our faculty artists speak about their work! Don't miss out! The next installment will be on November 16th at 5 PM, and will feature Brian Kreydatus and John Lee. We look forward to seeing you there!



Professor Mike Jabbur discussing his ceramic works




Professor Elizabeth Mead in front of her installation

First Faculty Friday TONIGHT at FIVE

TONIGHT is the first in the series of Faculty Fridays at Five! This evening will be featured artists  Elizabeth Mead and Mike Jabbur . There will be a gallery walking tour of the Faculty Show, during which time the artists will each speak about their respective work.  Please join us THIS evening at 5 PM for a great discussion with two of our very talented faculty artists!

Interview with Suzanne Demeo

Below is a short interview with Suzanne Demeo, Adjunct Instructor in the Art and Art History Department. A grouping of her watercolor paintings are on display in the Faculty Show.

Q: All of your work in this show depicts a similar stretch of road in the Nevada desert, what appealed to you about this area?

A: When my parents retired 15 years ago they moved from Connecticut to Nevada. Since then I have visited them at least once a year and I have been photographing the landscape and using the photos to inform my artwork. Over the past two years my parents have passed away. During my last visit I found a box filled with photographs my mother had taken of the cloud formations over the mountains behind their house. The sky is so vast in the west, the vistas stretching so far because of the lack of trees and the clear thin air. My mother was really taken with the variety of cloud formations and the way the “weather” moved through the valley. I have been painting the Nevada landscape off and on for many years but I never really thought much about painting clouds. Five out of six of the paintings in this exhibition were taken in part from my mother’s photographs. The exception is “Field on Fire” which is based on a photograph that I took very early in the morning as the sun was coming up over the mountains. The color of the light in the west is different and the shadows are crisper than ours because of the lack of humidity. I find the whole area infinitely beautiful and am grateful to my parents that I have had an opportunity to explore that part of the country. I am feeling the loss of my parents and also the loss of subject matter for future work.

Q: Why did you choose to use the medium of watercolor for these scenes?

 A: I have not painted in any other medium since college and did not attempt watercolor until about twelve years ago. Before that I used paper collage and pastel mostly. Prior to this series I was working with mixed media; combining watercolor, pastel and gouache. I wanted to limit myself to watercolor only for this series of paintings. The medium requires that you think ahead. It is an additive process. Areas of whites and lights need to be “reserved’ because you cannot go back and add them later unless you use an opaque medium such as gouache which gives the work a different look. There really is no such thing as white watercolor paint. I spent a lot of time on the preliminary drawings which I really enjoyed. Then there is the surprise element of watercolor because of the way the water and paper influence the paint.

Q: What artists or periods of art history inspire the subjects and /or aesthetics of your work?

A: Although I appreciate many different types of art and artists, I found out a long time ago that looking at a particular artist or period in art to find inspiration does not usually work for me. It becomes too much of an academic exercise and I just end up getting lost.  Usually the inspiration for my work comes from the colors and forms of nature or manmade objects. For a while I was interested in the colors of rust on metal surfaces. When I initially moved to Virginia I made a series of paper collages with flower and plant forms because I was inspired by all of the different things that grow in the South compared to New England. This time my inspiration was my father. He was an incredibly creative guy and a really good artist. I inherited several of his oil paintings, watercolors and drawings and have them hanging in my home. After my mother died I went two years without working in my studio in any serious way.  Between May and July I made twelve paintings. With my mother’s cloud pictures, my father’s beautiful watercolor brushes and a stack of their old CD’s, I thought about them as I painted their big back yard.

 

Faculty Artists Featured Elsewhere!

Happy Friday everyone!

I was just recently alerted to the work of two of our faculty artists in other venues, so I thought I'd pass them along!

Elizabeth Mead's work is currently being exhibited at the Seldon Gallery in Norfolk in an invitational exhibition entitled, SUBSTRATA: Layered Meanings in Contemporary Art curated by Amy Brandt, who is the McKinnon Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk.

Untitled (Matoaka) on display at the Seldon Gallery
Image Courtesy Elizabeth Mead

You can also see Mead's work in a collaboration with dance professor Joan Gavaler on a dance piece called, "The Molting," which is part of Dancevent this weekend at Phi Beta Kappa Hall at the College.

• SUBSTRATA: Layered Meanings in Contemporary Art opened October 4, 2012 and will run until November 24, 2012. The Selden Arcade is located at 208 East Main St. Norfolk, VA.

• Danceevent in Phi Beta Kappa Hall runs only through this Saturday night, October 27, 2012. Shows are at 8 pm. Tickets are between $5-$10.

Naomi Falk also has work currently being exhibited at the Arlington Arts Center in Arlington, VA. The interactive part of the exhibition is entitled ONE on ONE Conversations with Artists and it is part of the FALL SOLOS 2012 show.

Shift on display at the Arlington Arts Center
Photo Credit: Naomi J. Falk

• ONE on ONE Conversations with Artists will take place on November 10, 2012 from 4-6 PM.

• FALL SOLOS 2012 will run through December 23, 2012. The Arlington Arts Center is located at 3550 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA. You can also access it on the Metro via the Orange Line: Virginia Square.

 Click here to read the Washington Post review of Fall Solos 2012

Almost Show Time!

Hello all!

Getting close to completion on the installation of Faculty Show 12!
Here's a small look behind the scenes!

A ladder and the title wall!

Installation in progress!

Homecoming Heads-Up

Click here for an article in the W&M News!

Interview with Mike Jabbur

Below is a short interview with Assistant Professor of Ceramics and artist, Mike Jabbur.  Several pieces of Jabbur’s work will be included in the Faculty show that opens THIS WEEKEND!  Also, be sure to check out his website!

Q: Your artist statement emphasizes the dual nature of your pottery- both the utilitarian and aesthetic. Do you intend that your pieces SHOULD be useable or are they meant to be more aesthetic displays?

A: This is a very timely question for you to ask.  For a long time form has been my top priority, and it has only been important to me that my pots can be used.  I’ve explored that relationship in many ways.  For a while, I intentionally challenged the idea of use within my work, and thereby hopefully challenged the user/viewer to engage more “actively” with my pots.  More recently, I have been comfortable with the idea that my work is for “special occasion.”  This was under my assumption that users would be more willing to accommodate the challenges of use if the occasion was somehow highlighted or enriched through that challenge.  More and more, especially very recently, I have been making subtle changes that simplify use within my work.  I’m approaching this very carefully, as I don’t intend this shift to include a demotion of form to a lesser priority.  Instead, it’s an opportunity for me to challenge myself in my studio, to push the ease of utility without sacrificing my ideals with regard to form and aesthetic.


Q: Do you conceptualize/visualize in your head before you begin what your pieces will look like when they’re done, or do the pieces evolve as you work on them?

A: New forms within my body of work usually first present themselves as flashes in my mind, generally vague and somewhat foggy.  Sometimes they generate because I’ve been thinking about a given function, so the seed is planted in my subconscious.  Other times, I see an object and immediately see it through the lens of my process.  I draw a lot, especially when I’m developing new forms.  It’s so much faster to work through ideas.  I can get through a week’s worth of studio trial and error in an evening with my sketchbook.  But drawings seldom work exactly as I hope they will in 3-dimensions.  So I bounce back and forth between drawing and potting for a while until things start to come together. My process is more controlled than it may appear, and I can predict to a fair degree what I will end up with.  But I’ve also developed a process over time that includes the opportunity for variety, chance happening, sometimes disaster, and every now and then something magical to happen.

 
Q: What appeals to you about the art of ceramics? Who or what inspired you to pursue pottery?

A: My initial interest in pottery was not about process or the act of making.  What first attracted me to pottery was the idea that art and utility could coexist within a single object.  I was then, and am still today, enchanted by pottery’s ability to enrich occasions, beautify a meal, spark a conversation, and fulfill the very human need and desire for beauty within our daily lives.  I was inspired to pursue pottery because I felt an overwhelming desire to devote my livelihood to such experiences. 

A Forklift, A Pallet Jack and a Hoist walk into the Museum...

If Superman can’t make it, how do members of the Muscarelle Museum of Art staff install a 1-ton sculpture in the Museum’s draft lobby? Answer: A lot of heavy machinery.

The arrival of the sculpture Conscious of Her Shores by exhibiting artist Jayson Lowery yesterday presented a unique challenge because it was so heavy. The sculpture is made out of marble, limestone, steel, and cast iron and the process of removing out of the trailer it arrived in and getting into the museum proper was an intricate one. Below, I have included some pictures of the installation. (Click on images below to enlarge.)

Sculpture is standing upright, attached via steel chains to be lifted out
via forklift; on the left is the artist.

Sculpture is moved to the door of the museum onto the
waiting pallet jack.



Pallet jack helps to move sculpture into the Museum's draft lobby.



The hoist then helps to place the sculpture and take it down
from the pallet jack to the plywood.

   

The sculpture is moved into place.

Artist Mention in the Daily Press

Check this out!

Courtesy of the artist and the Charles H. Taylor Arts Center

A work by Linda Carey, a member of William & Mary Art Department faculty, is currently being featured in a show in Hampton, Virginia at the Charles H. Taylor Arts Center. The show will be up through this Sunday, October 14, 2012.  Here is a link to the details about the show.

Homage to Leslie Cheek, Jr.

Leslie Cheek, Jr. (1908-1992)
“The peculiar value of Mr. Cheek’s work at the College of William & Mary has been in his perception
of the irreplaceable importance of art in college life today. Not art only as a field for amateurs, but art as a field for intelligent and trained appreciation; art as a medium of self-expression and, above all, in the long years of leisure that lie ahead, art as a source of fuller culture, and as a stimulus to continuous growth.”

-John Stewart Bryan, President of the College (1934-42)

Leslie Cheek, Jr.

 

As we prepare for the 12^th exhibition of art by the faculty of the Department of Art and Art History at the Museum, I think it is important to take a moment to acknowledge the achievements of the person responsible for bringing a Fine Arts department to the College -- Leslie Cheek, Jr. Mr. Cheek dedicated his career to furthering and promoting the study of the arts at the College and in the greater community.

Leslie Cheek, Jr. studied art at Harvard University and architecture at Yale University. He graduated from Yale in 1935. After graduating from Yale, Cheek came to Williamsburg to paint landscapes. Shortly after arriving, he became friends with James L. Cogar, a curator at Colonial Williamsburg and with John Stewart Bryan, the President of the College of William and Mary. Cogar had also studied at Yale and taught in the History Department at the College of William and Mary. So, when Cogar left for a semester abroad, Cheek was offered his position. During his tenure, he utilized the first photographic slides ever used at William and Mary.

At the College, Cheek founded one of the first Fine Arts Departments in the south in 1937. Originally the Department was housed in Taliaferro Hall, a converted dormitory that was also the first air-conditioned building in Williamsburg. Andrews Hall, which currently houses the Department of Art and Art History, opened in 1968.

The 1930s was an exciting time in Williamsburg. Cheek hosted architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who presented a lecture based on select works that MoMA loaned to the College. He also brought Georgia O’Keeffe back to Williamsburg after a thirty-year absence. She received an honorary degree and the College hosted an exhibition of her work. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller donated a Georgia O’Keeffe painting to the College. This painting, White Flower (1932), is now an integral part of the Muscarelle Museum of Art’s collection.

Cheek also served as the Director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from 1948-68. He was the second director and the longest-tenured director in the museum’s history. Meanwhile, in 1955, Cheek opened the Virginia Museum Theatre to bring the performing arts into a museum space.

As part of his legacy, Cheek created an endowment at the College in 1986 to establish a national award for outstanding presentation of the arts. The Leslie Cheek Jr. Medal is presented to a person whose achievements significantly contribute to the furtherance and promotion of the fields of museum, performing, or visual arts. The director of the Muscarelle Museum of Art in conjunction with the heads of the Fine Arts Department and the Theatre Department choose the recipients of this prestigious award. In 1983, Leslie and his wife, Mary Tyler, were instrumental in the building of the Muscarelle Museum of Art on the College’s campus. 

Introduction

“As a university museum two of our goals are to utilize

the museum as a laboratory for learning and to

collaborate with the faculty of The College.

This exhibition provides us the opportunity to do both.”

 

-Aaron De Groft, Director of the Muscarelle

 
Hello! My name is Laura Conte and I am a Registrar’s Fellow here at the Muscarelle. These are exciting times here at the Museum and I’m happy to report that there are only four weeks until the opening of the Faculty Show 12! This exhibition is a longstanding collaboration between the Museum and the fine arts department at the College.

The 2012 show will showcase the current studio works of fifteen faculty artists from the College of William and Mary Department of Art and Art history. Their works represent a broad range of media including installation works, paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, photographs, and prints.  The show opens on October 27, 2012 and will run through January 6, 2013.

Students and members of the community will be provided opportunities to engage faculty members through several gallery talks that will take place during the month of November in a series called Faculty Fridays at Five, which are scheduled for November 2nd, November 16th and November 30th at 5:00 p.m. Faculty members will be on hand in the galleries to discuss their works.

I will be keeping you updated as the show’s arrival gets closer with personal interviews with the artists, interesting tidbits, photos and so much more.