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Alumni News

 
Medley
Ian Schneller, BFA 1984, Sculpture, and musician/composer Andrew Bird in Sonic Arboretum, a live performance at the Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York as part of the three part Dark Sounds summer concert series of musical performances. In conjunction with the Haunted: Contemporary Photography/ Video/Performance exhibition currently on view at the museum, Sonic Arboretum will come to life one night only on Thursday, August 5, 2010 in a site specific performance of Andrew Bird’s music broadcast through a landscape of Ian's horn sculptures. The sculptures, ranging in size from 3 to 8-foot tall horns resembling old Victrola speakers and a two-headed spinning speaker horn, will blanket the museum rotunda floor serving as the sole sound system for Andrew Bird's violin performance.
Alumni Spotlight
BFA 1995, Fiber Arts

Ian makes his home on the west side of Chicago where, for nearly 25 years, he has owned and operated the very successful Specimen Products, specializing in building superior quality custom electric guitars, basses, violins, and mandolins, as well as creating the audio horn speakers featured in the upcoming Sonic Arboretum. Specimen Products has been featured in numerous publications, including Rolling Stone, Home Entertainment, New York Press, Nuvo, and Cool Hunting. Ian's horn speakers have been featured in performances on the Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

To learn more about Ian and Specimen Products, visit www.specimenproducts.com. Ian's horns in a live performance with Andrew Bird can be viewed at www.specimenproducts.com/david_letterman.html .

From the Guggenheim Museum press release, "For Dark Sounds, Bird will collaborate with sculptor, inventor, and luthier Ian Schneller of Specimen Products to present Andrew Bird & Ian Schneller’s Sonic Arboretum, an audiovisual landscape featuring audio sculptures scattered around the rotunda floor that project sound skyward. Schneller has been designing and building his own line of custom guitars, tube amplifiers, and audio horn speakers for more than 25 years. With a master’s degree in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, his creations are sonic, kinetic, structural investigations that blend modern and vintage aesthetics and technology. Alone, the sculptures vaguely resemble a union of Victrola speakers and plant life, while Sonic Arboretum’s cumulative effect evokes a symphonic field of poppies, a prairie of sound, a forest floor of hornlings––all parts of one “ecosystem.”

From the Artist, "When I was attending MCA (then the Academy), 1980-84, I discovered two special secret rooms. The projection booth and a room to the left of the auditorium stage. With reluctant permission from the powers that were, these were transformed into sound laboratories. Our band, the Odd Jobs, started here. We also experimented with projections and audio visual presentations from the projection booth. We beefed out the PA for true early sound surround experiences. Truly, the willingness of the faculty to allow us all to experiment with off the beaten path media, in conjunction with our regular assignments, was empowering. These early experiments proved to be a foundation for my current work and continue to remind me how important exploration is in rudimentary design curriculum. I cherish my memories from that first year. It was much like bootcamp, and somewhat grueling, but also immensely rewarding. Here, a foundation was laid. I found out so much about myself and established a lifelong work ethic during this brief time. The rudiments of 2D and 3D design, color theory and life drawing have been absolutely indispensable in ways I could never have imagined at the time. You could say that the Sonic Arboretum started in Memphis at the Academy (now College) in that little secret room off the stage with a handful of electron tubes and speakers, informed by Conte crayon, newsprint paper, and not quite enough sleep."

 
Images and Video Courtesy of Specimen Products

Earlier this month, MCA alumni, current and future, teamed up with the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Memphis for its production of Mary Poppins. To the delight of matinee theatre patrons, Dakoda Davis, BFA 2009, Illustration, Alex Harrison, BFA 2006, Illustration, Siphne Sylve, BFA 2010, Illustration, and current student RahLeeCoh Ishakarah created themed sidewalk mini murals outside the theatre entrance throughout the day.

 

Parkland Art Gallery, owned by Kevin Greeland, MFA 2007, Studio Arts, was recently featured in the Gallery Around the Corner segment of YourObserver.com. In the article, Kevin discusses what he looks for in an artist, modern misconceptions, the kind of art found in his home, and the gallery's hottest new artists, including Claudia Quintero, MFA 2008, Studio Arts. Says Kevin, "Claudia creates builliantly delicious surreal oil paintings on antique plates." To read the article in its entirety, visit www.yourobserver.com/news/Parkland-Art-Gallery.

Image left: Oil on Glass Plate by Claudia Quintero

 
 
 

The Junkyard Museum, brainchild of Lisa Williamson, BFA 2001, Painting, celebrated a very successful first Junkyard Art and Music Camp with construction of the museum's first permanent exhibit – a sound sculpture built from metal and plastic tubs, license plates, pipes, coffee cans, old pots and pans, and other recycled materials. For more information, visit www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/in-with-a-bang.

 

 

Elisheba Israel, BFA 2006, Computer Arts, has been selected to participate in the New York Comic Con and Anime Festival this year from October 8 through 10. Elisheba will be found in the Anime Artist Alley where she will be creating original work on site and selling her anime art and comics. To learn more about the festival, visit www.newyorkcomiccon.com/NYAF/, and to view more of Elisheba's wonderful anime art, visit www.flickr.com/photos/tightdesign/sets.

 

We welcome your thoughts and suggestions!

This year, as Memphis College of Art prepares for accreditation reaffirmation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), a large part of the process requires the institution to select a carefully designed course of action addressing a topic that focuses on improving student learning. This project is called a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), and identifying the topic or issue to be addressed by the plan requires broad-based institutional participation of all campus constituencies. To that end, we seek your input and ideas in identifying areas of student learning that can be enhanced by this undertaking through a brief survey. Some examples of what other schools have done include revising math programs, encouraging student involvement, initiating collaborative teaching methods, and enhancing online learning. As alumni, your suggestions are very important to our continuing improvement. The survey should only take a few minutes. To participate, please go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/MCA_QEP.

Ongoing and Upcoming Exhibitions

The first exhibit of the 2010/2011 academic year in our Alumni Gallery will feature collaborative new works by Rob Hart, BFA 1994, Sculpture/Painting, and Melissa Ford Hart, BFA 1993, Painting. Terrariums opens on August 20 and will remain on view through October 1, 2010. The Artists' Reception is Saturday, September 11 from 6-9 pm.

Melissa and Rob currently make their home in Brooklyn, NY. Melissa is Principal and Co-founder of the very successful Ernest Neuman Studios, and Rob is a recognized independent artist.

Image left: Terrarium 2

 

Sitting Up With The Dead, featuring works by Melinda Eckley, MFA 2008, Studio Arts, and Chris Nadaskay is the current exhibit at Gallery 210 located at Lifelink Church, 1015 S. Cooper Street in Memphis. From the Artist: "The show will exhibit a museum-like atmosphere in an attempt to encapsulate the feeling that each piece is a 'remnant of some future past' – excavated and historically meaningful." The exhibition will remain on view through August 15, 2010.

 

Plastic. Man. The Emancipation of Ken, featuring collage and assemblage by Kevin Mitchell, BFA 1994, Graphic Design, opens at D'Edge Arts & Unique Treasures, 550 South Main Street in Memphis on Friday, July 30, and will remain on view through August. The Opening Reception is Friday, July 30 from 6-9 pm. From the Artist: "Plastic. Man. takes a probing look at Barbie’s other half, Ken. A series of images based on a side of Ken that is rarely seen. The world gets a peek into his therapy sessions as he deals with subjects ranging from his loss of masculinity to the realization of approaching his fiftieth birthday."

Kevin's works are also currently featured in Man. Enough., on view through August at Caseworks, a contemporary exhibition space located in the lobby adjacent to the Museum at the University of Memphis, 142 CFA Building. From the Artist: "Through the use of cutout shapes of “hats” which have come to symbolize hyper-masculine behavior, Man. Enough. explores the struggle between the image of ourselves we choose to show the world and who we really are on the inside." Dwayne Butcher, MFA 2008, Studio Arts is the current curator for the Caseworks exhibition space.

Images left: Plastic. Plastic., collage on board (upper); It Never Happened (lower)

 

Lance Turner, BFA 2007, Painting, is currently exhibiting in two shows: Gateway to Imagination at the Farmington Museum at Gateway Park, located on Main Street in the center of Farmington, NM, and the International Contemporary Master III exhibit at the Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Art, 450 Fremont Street, Las Vegas, NV, on view through September 4, 2010. Works from the ICM exhibitions will appear in the International Contemporary Master 2010 book.

Lance has also been selected for a three-room installation at the Andrews Art Museum, housed on the mezzanine floor of the Cultural Art Center at the corner of Chestnut and Third Streets, Andrews, NC. The Opening Reception for Lance's installation is Saturday, September 4 from 7-9 pm. The installation will remain on view through October 4.

Image left: Hannah, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2010, 48" x 72"

 

I see myself there, where I am not, featuring new work by Mary Cork, BFA 2002, Photography, opens on Saturday, July 31, in conjunction with the official launch of the Hackney Wicked Art Festival 2010, at Forman's Smokehouse Gallery, Stour Road, Fish Island, Hackney Wick, London, and will remain on view through August 29. The Special Opening is Thursday, August 5 from 6-9 pm.

 

Spatial Schemes: Observations of Nature, an exhibition curated by Susan Shockley, BFA 1981, Painting and featuring paintings by Lisa Rivas, BFA 1980, Fiber Arts, continues on view in the West Gallery of The Parthenon, located in Centennial Park, West End at 25th Avenue, N, Nashville, TN, www.Parthenon/Galleries/Galleries-West.asp through October 30, 2010.

Image left: Homage, digital image printed on canvas with archival pigmented inks, 2006, 50" x 31"

 

I Am America: Celebrating the Faces of American People, featuring the works of Siphne A. Sylve, BFA 2010, Illustration, will remain on view at GYA Community Gallery, operated by members of the YeYo Arts Collective, located at 2700 Locust, St. Louis, MO, http://yeyoarts.blogspot.com through August 30, 2010.

Shades of Summer, featuring current works by Jeni Stallings, BFA 1996, Painting, and Pamela Hassler, BFA 1971, Metal Arts, continues on view at L Ross Gallery, 5040 Sanderlin Avenue, Suite 104, Memphis, www.lrossgallery.com through July 30.

Images left: Stallings: Lotus with Koi, oil and encaustic on panel, 48" x 60" (upper) and Hassler: Wetlands 1, oil on canvas, 48" x 60" (lower)

building a proper wall, featuring new works by Tim Crowder, attended 1976-1979 will remain on view at David Lusk Gallery, 4540 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, www.davidluskgallery.com through July 31.

 

Header artwork by: Cynthia Bringle, BFA 1962, Clay (left) and Carroll Todd, BFA 1976, Sculpture (right). Different alumni artwork will be featured every few months. If you are interested in showcasing your work in the newsletter, forward your images to alumni@mca.edu.

We want you to stay in touch! Send your news, volunteer to mentor, nominate a spotlight candidate, or submit for a show in the Alumni Gallery to alumni@mca.edu.
Memphis College of Art, 1930 Poplar Avenue, Memphis TN 38104, 901-272-5100, www.mca.edu