homefry sketchbook: Multiversity : Faculty Artists

Hanging on right, Kevin Turner's porcelain piece, table in front by Alphonse Mattia, me on plinth, Maura Keeny painting, Ivan Fortushniak on far wall of front room.

Opening last night to a cold and snowy February evening on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania was the first art department faculty exhibition in fourteen years. The exhibition is being shown at the University Museum located in Sutton Hall in the heart of the IUP campus. The show features all the current faculty including the art historians(exhibiting a catalog for another show where a fwd. was written and an art history text book...really?...really.) and our visiting artist in the wood department. This being said, as much as they were trying to include everyone, they left out both our techs for the department. In particular, one Michael Stadler who has a large piece hanging in our Performing Arts Center and another at one of our branch campuses. It should also be noted that a couple years back Mr. Stadler received and completed a public commission that was larger(physically and monetarily) than what I would bet 98% of the exhibiting faculty have ever received or will ever receive in their life. Oh well, it is what it is I guess and minus that and a couple things, the museum folks, who are 99% volunteers, did a nice job of wrangling the faculty and putting together an exhibition that should have happened long before now.

I believe it important to be critical of exhibitions and this blog is a rather safe format for me to be a bit snarky, especially when I am talking about work by my colleagues and administration. I am not bad mouthing this show...in fact I believe it to be a really good exhibition with strong work by people I respect. Where my criticism lays is in the details...I never received a postcard for this exhibition, not one...the catalog, although great to have, looks from the cover to be a slick instructional manual for a new H.D. T.V and suffers from a extraneous use of an odd font while the Dean's forward says less about the exhibiting group of "faculty artists" than his dedication to a couple of early University Museum pioneers. Again, it should be noted that out of the 16 people featured in the catalog 6 are considered temporary, on semester to semester or yearly contracts...like myself... and another guy(doing a great job as our temp.sculpture prof.) was left out completely...so make that number 7...chalk this up to the state of educational funding today. I also did not attend the private reception or the public reception...I was opening our big exhibition in Kipp Gallery by artist Joelle Dietrick on the one night...my dates for the opening in Kipp Gallery had been set for almost a year and the public reception was held on a Saturday night and would have meant a great deal of travel for me in dicey weather. Honestly, I am nitpicking and was a little peeved about the dates, but it is this same attention to schedule that I am held to as the Director for the art department's gallery...I check calendars, look for conflicts.

Ok, other than my own bitching and moaning, it is a really good show and I wanted to highlight work from me (of course) and some of my colleagues. I am pleased to be a part of this exhibition and to be considered as one of the faculty. The importance of showcasing the personal work of the professors within our department is eye opening to students and other campus folk alike. If you happen to be in the area...check it out. Pictures tell the story that my words are only nipping at the heels of... criticism is for the critics...lets enjoy the work....click on the images to view bigger.